//------------------------------//
// Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her 
// Story: Utaan 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	The caravan had completely stopped.

In the center of an arid valley—bathed in stones and starlight—a ring of manatorches had been lit.

Bard sat in the middle of the flickering light.  He was not alone.

Ariel, Logan, Flynn, and Wildcard stood evenly around him.  They each wore a prismatic band around their forelimb.  Logan and Flynn carried serious, deadpan expressions.  Ariel shook with scarcely-contained enthusiasm.  And Wildcard...

The feathery Desperado bore an endless smirk beneath his beak.  He saluted Bard, then glanced aside as a certain wyvern stepped up, holding an ancient tome in two claws.

Kepler stood on a pronounced boulder in the center of the valley.  "Ah-ah-ahem..."  Adjusting his spectacles, he flipped a page in the book and spoke boldly:  "...we have all assembled herre to usherr in a prrotectorr... a seventh soverreign to complete the sacrred cirrcle established forr the sake of prreserrving the Austrraeoh, and maintaining harrmony now and forreverrmorre."  The wyvern glanced up, his lenses reflecting Bard's grizzled face.  "The Herrald of Angels calls to the most selfless of herroes... since beforre rrecorrded time... as the beacons beckon and the horrizon deliverrs..."

Nicole and Echo watched from a distance.  Nicole bit her lip, her eyes locked on her brother.  Echo rested a hoof on her shoulder, and she relaxed... bearing a proud smile.

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity hovered above the scene, watching with wide eyes and curious grins.

"...gone arre the trrifle concerrns of this morrtal rrealm, and the prrotectorr is rready to embrrace the call of the cosmos beyond... in honorr of the angels fallen... and in spite of the demons brrooding."  Kepler flipped a page and kept orating.  "Forr the glorry of all forrms of life on Urrohrringrr and beyond, this fearrless crreaturre pledges blood, spirrit, and faith."  Kepler lowered his glasses and looked up.  "Barrd... Johnny, Desperrado of the Twilight Lands... do you commit yourrself to completing the Soverreign Seven... so that the Rrainbow one may fulfill herr jourrney... the chiefest and most imporrtant jourrney that has everr been underrtaken?"

Bard took a deep breath.  "Uhhhh..."  He glanced at Wildcard, and then the rest.  "Would an 'aww hell yeah' be out of form?"

"Better than Big Show's," Flynn grumbled.

"Hey!"  Logan frowned.  "I was poetic!"

"You were drunk."

"Hrmmmff..."  Logan brushed his bangs back.  "If you're gonna embrace a new calling, might as well do so passionately."

Ariel giggled.

Wildcard rolled his goggled eyes and signaled Kepler.

"Hah Hah!"  Kepler nodded.  "Verry well.  Let cerremony be cerremony.  This desperrado brrotherr of ourrs has morre than earrned his wings."  He held a prismatic band out to the griffon.  "Brrave Wildcarrd, perrhaps you can do the honorr by passing our symbol along."

Wildcard bowed, took the band, and walked over to Bard with it.

Bard took it from him, glancing up.

Wildcard gestured a phrase or two with his metal-and-flesh talons.

"Heh..."  Bard took his hat off.  "Dun make this weird, mofo."

"Ahem!"  Kepler flipped another page.  "We herreby induct you into Odrrsjot... ourr frrantic companionship.  May you balance peace and chaos so that the jourrney rreaches completion, and the worrld enjoys becoming whole once again, in a futurre designed by the angels and magnified by all life."

"Hey..."  Bard casually slapped the band around his forelimb.  "If this means I get to kick more keister in the name of good guys... than show me where I can sign in blood."

"Heh... no need forr that, brrotherr..."  Kepler slapped the book shut and smiled through his tusks.  "You arre now a memberr of the Seven."  The wyvern took a shuddering breath.  "I've no doubt that the Mountain Matrron would b-be prroud..."

Bard looked at Wildcard.  "Is now a good time to whoop?"

Wildcard gave a thumb's up.

"Yeeeeeeeeee-hah!"  Bard tossed his hat.

Logan, Flynn, and Ariel cheered.  They and Wildcard converged on Bard, patting him on the back and shaking his hoof.

Pinkie Pie and Rarity smiled at Applejack.  Applejack rolled her eyes and chuckled while Twilight and Fluttershy applauded.

A bit further away from the scene...

Rainbow Dash sat beside the wagon along with Remna.  Both equines sat in the shadow of stars, apart from the group, like the veterans of the eastward journey that they were.

"It's... not as much ceremony as I thought," Rainbow Dash muttered.  "That's kinda cool, actually."

"Hrmmmff..."  Remna's violet nostrils flared.  "What precisely did you expect?"

"I dunno.  Something creepy and... cultish?"  Rainbow scratched her chin above the pendant.  "I mean, let's face it... Khao always did kinda sorta leave me with a foul taste in my muzzle."

"Her zeal was undoubtedly strong."  Remna nodded.  "Alas, she did not possess a proper way of filtering such dedicated passion."

"She didn't have a Mortuana, you mean."

"Take from that whatever you desire."

"Shouldn't you... y'know...?"  Rainbow Dash shrugged in the direction of the gathering.  "Be joining them?"

"Hrmmmff..."  Remna folded her forelimbs.  "I do not see why I should."

Rainbow Dash glanced up at her.  "You're a member of the 'Sovereign Seven' and all that jazz, aren't you?"

"I am wearing the shell of a pony who deserves that title," Remna huffed.  "Nothing more."

Rainbow smirked.

Remna's green eyes darted towards her.  Upon noticing the expression, they briefly morphed to draconian slits.  "What?"

"Do I detect a whiff of regret?"

"Hrmmff... I have performed my role for the Austraeoh," Remna said.  "And—in all honesty—I could have performed it better."

"What do you mean by that?"

"None of my efforts have been exemplary in protecting you from Verlax's influence."

"Yeah, but... like..."  Rainbow Dash shrugged.  "...you've still kept me alive.  Especially when I didn't ask for it."

"I did what I had to do."

"And Mortuana trusted you."  Rainbow Dash winked.  "That should count for something, shouldn't it?"

Remna sighed.  "I fail to see why you of all ponies would be trying so hard to commend me."  Her violet ears twitched.  "Lest we forget how our paths first converged."

"No, I don't forget."  Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed.  "It's a little bit hard to lose track of the whole 'dying-and-coming-back-to-life-after-being-a-murderous-chaos-beast' thing."

Remna exhaled.  "Indeed."

"... ... ...however..."  Rainbow Dash pivoted where she sat to face Remna directly.  "I also couldn't help but notice that you—Axan, a female doggish dragon made into female doggish flesh—suddenly and inexplicably dropped all of her grumpiness when we landed at Blue's ranch."

Remna blinked.

"It's true.  Don't pretend that it isn't."  Rainbow cocked her head to the side.  "Weeks ago, you would have murdered to get my fuzzy blue butt moving east.  But suddenly—here we are on the edge of the world—and you just let me give Bard the time he needs to get all of his crap squared away."  She smirked.  "I mean—I'm not complaining... but what the heck is up with that?"

"There is nothing 'up with that,'" Remna muttered.  "The Austraeoh desired that we conduct business at that farm, so I chose to be patient with it."

"Horse hockey," Rainbow grunted.  "Your grumpiness has never tolerated my wayward desires before.  So what changed?"  She gulped.  "Was it my dizzy spell?"

"Must you be so inquisitive?"

"Call it a force of habit from being reunited with a ghostly egghead."  Rainbow Dash took a deep breath.  "Was... was it the death of Verlax?"

Remna gazed aside at that, her glossy eyes filled with stars.

Rainbow bit her lip.  "You know... you may have done some awful... awful things in your time, Axan, but nopony—or no dragon, for that matter—deserves to watch their closest flesh and blood die... twice."

"Your sympathy is noble," Remna droned.  "If not more than a little bit misguided."

Rainbow cutely propped her chin on her hooves.  "Care to re-guide me?"

Remna sighed.  Eventually she muttered:  "If there has been a change, it is chiefly this:  I recognize now that mortal beings are bound to complicate their lives with the needless weight of emotional baggage."  She glanced towards the group as Echo and Nicole trotted in.  Bard met Nicole in a dear hug, and the two siblings clung to one another in the twilight.  "However... seeing that your life spans are so finite... so delicate... I suppose such 'needless weight' must necessarily carry with it a supreme importance... perhaps enough to sacrifice oneself for."  She gazed aside at Rainbow.  "It almost makes me wish that I had chosen more strategic words to share with my sisters."

Rainbow fidgeted slightly.  "You... uh... you gave your sisters more than peace of mind, Axan," she said.  "You gave them peace."  She gulped.  "I wish I had half as much guts as you did."

"You have the tenacity to be something more than sheer strength," Axan said.  "I am the Divine of Flame... the living epitome of Power and Might."  Slowly, she shook her head.  "And yet... the salvation of Urohringr does not lie in my paws.  It is in the hooves of mortals that all of destiny hinges.  I've come to understand that.  And perhaps..."  A sigh.  "...the time has come for me to respect that."

Rainbow Dash blinked.

"There may or may not come a time to regret the passing of my sisters.  In truth, our demise is inevitable.  I seriously doubt that we will last long enough to see the reunion of the Urohringrs—should such a fortutious event actually take place.  Nevertheless... their legacies live on in my actions... so long as I do all that is within my power to assure a healthy future for all living things."

Rainbow swallowed.  "Well..."  She smiled hopefully.  "...when you and I reach the Dark Side... and we find Endrax together?"  A wink.  "You can have a chance to share such feelings with a sisterly Divine then.  Huh?"

Remna stared at Rainbow... then past her.  "I should be so fortunate to be in her good graces..."

Rainbow opened her muzzle to say something—but just then the air tingled with silver luminescence.  The pegasus flinched.

Several steps away, the Herald noticed it.  Echo was the first to gasp, his slitted eyes suddenly lighting up in a bizarre fashion.  He spun about, fangs glinting.  Bard and Nicole stopped hugging to look over in the same direction.

Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked around in confusion.  Pinkie was twitching in a dozen random places, and Twilight—

The ghostly unicorn gasped, her horn glowing bright.  She looked in Rainbow's direction, grinning brilliantly.

But before Rainbow could respond—

"Hello?"  The heavens rang with a regal voice.  Rainbow Dash's pendant shimmered with silver brilliance.  "Rainbow Dash?  Please, speak.  Are you there?"

Rainbow Dash looked straight up.  A tear or two squeezed out of her ruby eyes, reflecting the full moon above.  Sniffling, the mare held a hoof to her pendant, smiling ecstatically.  "Hello, Princess Luna..."  A hiccup, and she smiled even harder.  "Girl... am I here and a half!"