//------------------------------//
// Ain't No Rest for Zealotry 
// Story: Utaan 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Eat healthy, soldiers!" Commander Keris shouted, trotting across the valley of gravel and sand.  Hundreds of members of the Central Guard sat on the dunes, biting into their rations and sipping from their canteens.  "But be quick about it!  And sparing!"

His magenta eyes hardened as he threw his voice across the saturated landscape.  Pockets of salt water rippled with starlight in between the clustered group of armored veterans.

"There are yet many miles between us and our destination!  We need to survive the trip back as much as the initial journey to the world's edge!  Do not forget about our families at home!  We owe it to them to return as much as we owe it to Rohbredden to find the Rainbow Rogue!"

The soldiers continued eating, separated into a dozen murmuring, mulling groups.

As Keris caught his breath, Sergeant Raptr flew over to join him.

"Well said, Commander," the rookie remarked quietly.  "I think it's a super smart idea to put into these ponies' heads that we're coming back from this nonsense."

"It's more than an idea, sergeant," Keris muttered.  "It's a healthy goal to aim for.  However..."  His eyes sliced the distance between where he paced and a certain chariot parked in the sand.  "...I'm not certain the Defense Minister shares my optimism."

"Well... uh..."  Raptr gulped, smiling hopefully under his beak.  "He hasn't lifted a hoof to stop your speeches yet."

"True.  Although..."  Keris sighed.  "Perhaps he knows that my words are falling on deaf ears."

Raptr blinked.

Keris turned to gaze tiredly at him.  "Chandler has picked this particular elite group of guardians for a reason.  Each and every one of them is passionately bent on ripping Rainbow Dash's heart straight out of her chest."  He inhaled and exhaled exasperatingly.  "I might be able to calm their nerves now... but when we approach Bleak's Plummet...?"

"Yes, well..."  Raptr cleared his throat.  "What if it's a ruse, Keris?"

"Sergeant...?"

"I mean... what if she's not at Bleak's Plummet?  What if the ponies back at the blighted farms were wrong?"  The rookie blinked.  "I mean... realistically speaking... what are the odds that we're actually going to run into her after she had such a head start?"

Th-Thwooosh!  Starstorm and Windburst touched down simultaneously.

"Commander..."  Starstorm wheezed, then pointed northeast.  "Don't look now... but guess-who is returning."

Keris pivoted about.  He and the other members of the Talon watched as Seraphimus and four other guardians glided in from a distant speck of cluttered structures on stilts to the far north.

"Defense Minister," Seraphimus firmly spoke before she even landed.  She took off her helmet and bowed before Chandler.  "We just returned from the trading depot.  The dwelling has a population of approximately fifty-five ponies.  Most of them fishers and merchants."

"Yeah yeah..."  Chandler impatiently nodded, frowning.  "And?"

Seraphimus took a deep breath.  "And they do not recall having seen anypony matching the features of the Rainbow Rogue."  The group around her groaned in frustration.  Nevertheless, the griffon maintained her steely resolve.  "However..."  She gestured as she spoke.  "Their well-paid sentries—who are adept at spotting midnighter pirates at a distance of three miles—testified to having seen a small group of equine figures passing by the settlement to the south."  She pointed.  "About a mile further from where we are located.  This group was supposedly heading east."

Murmurs erupted across the camp.

Chandler glanced about, blinking hard.  "If that's true... then how come our scouts didn't spot any hoof prints?"

"The surface of the coastline is mostly gravel and sand," Seraphimus spoke above a roll of thunder.  "The wind here could easily have masked their path since they first passed by.  Besides..."  She gestured at the abundance of watery pockets and estuaries.  "...the group likely trotted through the shallows, further hiding their prints."

Chandler huffed.  "So... let me get this straight... all we know is that the group might have been spotted passing south of us on an eastward course?"  He fidgeted in his bulky armor.  "I fear we'll need more than that to go by."

"You might be pleased, then, to see this."  Seraphimus snapped her claws at one of her wingmates.  The pegasus produced a scroll from beneath his armor and hoofed it to her.  "This, Defense Minister..."  She held the parchment out ot him.  "...was given to us by the settlement's elder."

Chandler's green eyes narrowed.  "Did you have to barter with them?"

"She agreed to my terms," Seraphimus said firmly.  "I assure you that there would have been no other outcome."  She pointed at the sheet as Chandler unrolled it in his grasp.  "It's a map that the township has held onto for ages, drafted from several collective generations' worth of knowledge."

"I see..."  Chandler muttered.  "...and how is this of use to our cause, precisely?"

"Because it takes several hundred years' of observation into account," Seraphimus said.  She pointed at a gray patch of color along the right edge of the parchment.  "And approximates the most likely location of the midnighter pirates and their base of operations."

"In other words..."  Chandler's muzzle hung agape.  "...the location of Bleak's Plummet."

"Precisely."

The soldiers sat up straight, their ears perking.

Chandler exhaled heavily.  "Well, what are we waiting for?!"  He scrolled the map up tightly and grinned devilishly.  "Everypony!  Rest time is over!  Take wing!"  He stood up, fumbled, and waddled into his chariot.  "We make way to Bleak's Plummet!  On my mark!"

The starry air filled with shouts and murmurs as the soldiers recollected their belongings and re-suited up.

Seraphimus calmly trotted through the group... icily passing by Keris without making eye contact.

Keris sighed, his headcrest drooping.

Raptr cleared his throat and smiled awkwardly.  "Maybe... uh... a dozen more speeches?"