Utaan

by Imploding Colon


The Bearer of Luna's Blood

"Flutters!" Pinkie looked aside. "Has she... y'know... dragon-croaked?"

"It's hard to tell!" Fluttershy squeaked. "She's not the same as other living equines, you know."

"Kepler!" Rainbow motioned the wyvern over as she scampered to Remna's side. The sarosians who fished her out backed off as the two examined the muscular mare's body. "Can you get a read on her?"

"Well, Rrainbow one..." Kepler slipped his spectacles back on and grasped one of Remna's fetlocks in two claws. "In my most esteemed opinion, it would appear that our draconian friend—"

"Hrkkkkkkt!" Remna's body suddenly convulsed. Curling up, she opened her violet maw wide and vomited a copious amount of seawater out onto the rusted bulkheads.

"...has surrvived." Kepler smiled through his tusks. "Ha-Hah! Motherr Matrron, yourr exceptional spells still do not disappoint! Even long afterr yourr passing!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and draped against the hull with a sigh. "I know I shouldn't complain and all... but I'm getting really super tired of things switching from 'absolute suck' to 'absolute sick' on a dime."

"Grkkk..." Remna wheezed, her eyes clenched shut as she winced and writhed. "...is there ever a lifetime in wh-which you cease your relentless ch-chatter, Austraeoh...?"

"Oh go buck yourself with a chainsaw," Rainbow growled. "You almost pulled a Nevlamas just now."

"No need... grkkk... to insult me..." Remna forced her thin eyes open, crusty from seawater. The green slits reflected a bright, silver glow. "Hrmmm... the moon alicorn's enchantment... so it has worked..."

"These dudes aren't trying to kill us anymore," Rainbow said. "At least, I don't think—"

"Echo!" Nicole's voice exclaimed.

Rainbow turned to see the farm mare in question scampering across the deck full of pirates.

"Now... grnngh..." Bard struggled up to his hooves, wincing. He hobbled after her. "Not so fast, Nicole! Give him space! The poor varmint may be hurt bad—"

"Echo!" Nicole knelt close beside him, shaking his shoulder. "Speak to me! Can... can you feel your limbs?"

"Nnnngh..." The velvety body beneath her stirred, cracking stiff joints and wincing. "Mrmmfff... four out of five of them... shit nuggets."

Nicole sighed, fangs showing. "Why d-didn't you say something earlier? I thought you were dead!"

"Still wish that I was, actually." Echo sat up, squinting through one eye. The left side of his face was badly bruised, and he spat blood from his muzzle. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh it's great to be back home."

Bard called out over his shoulder, "Are we all still in one piece?"

"Nothing's broken over here," Ariel sputtered.

"I'm still fat and pissed off," Logan growled.

"Rrrrgh!" Flynn was standing up and limping towards the cabin. "Forget about me! What about my Princess!" He grimaced as he gazed into the engine room. "Ughhhh—Wildcard! This place is a mess now! Couldn't you have taken your crazy-ass fight elsewhere?"

"Oh hush, needlehead!" Bard picked up Flynn's loose eye-lens from the cabin, dried it against his fetlock, and tossed it to the unicorn. "He's the only reason we lasted 'til Luna gave her big speech!" He walked over and held his hoof out to the griffon in question. "You still kickin', Dubya?"

The griffon sighed, nodding. He grasped the other Desperado's hoof with his flesh talon, then stood up. Teetering slightly, he gave Bard back his metal staff.

Bard took it, exhaled, then smirked. "Always gotta show me up, huh?"

Wildcard shrugged.

Bard rested a hoof on his feline shoulder. "Ain't no gettin' off this train we're on." He looked down at his partner's limp prosthetic. "Blew a fuse, huh?"

Wildcard merely clenched his beak tighter.

"Yeah, well, we'll have Flynn look at it."

"There're dints all over my manacrystals!"

"I said he'll fix it!" Bard snarled. "Goddess dayum... I swear, if my guitar has a single string broken..."

"Priorities, ponies," Ariel said, floating across the deck. She stared wearily at each of the sarosians standing dead-still. "Uhm... sooooo..." She looked at Rainbow. "Are they... y'know... not-bad-guys now?"

"Princess Luna?" Rainbow tilted her head to the heavens. "Axan and the rest of the Herald appear to be okay. Echo—our sarosian friend—is a bit banged up... but none of the pirates are attacking us anymore. Uhm... what exactly did you tell them? Just so we can be on the same page'n'stuff..."

Silence.

Twilight and Rarity exchanged worried looks.

"Your Highness?" Rainbow asked.

"Rainbow Dash, this is Celestia," the voice said as the light flickered. "Luna is here, and she is doing well. However... she needs a few minutes to recover from channeling that much energy. I do hope you can understand."

"Yeesh..." Rainbow Dash gulped. "I... I-I guess I had no idea it took that much out of her."

"Neither did I. She may have spoken at great lengths to you all these months, but my beloved sister is... not nearly as gifted in the art of communication as you and me."

"Uhhhhhh... no offense, Princess." Rainbow smirked as she looked at the humbled bodies around her. "But she seems gifted enough to me."

"Rainbow..." Fluttershy squeaked, pointing past her. "Look."

Rainbow spun around to see that the pale warrior with the pronounced ears and scarred nostrils was trotting directly towards her.

"Moment of truuuuuuuuuth," Pinkie sing-songed.

Echo and Nicole watched worriedly as the intimidating pirate crossed the distance.

Logan, Bard, and Ariel gathered protectively around Rainbow Dash. The four remained still as the warrior approached.

When she arrived—she immediately knelt down, bowing low. At long last she looked back up, and her slitted eyes narrowed. Her voice was a breathy thing, and the ringlets dangling from her fangs added a ringing percussion to her dark tone. "You are the one that the Mother of Nightmare calls Rainbow Dash?" The long ears twitched. "The... 'Austraeoh?'"

"Heh..." Applejack smirked aside. "She got her phonetics down good and proper."

"Sarosians are great vocalists," Twilight added, murmuring. "They can master almost any language."

"They just like to whinny in their own when murdering ponies," Pinkie droned.

"Girls. Please." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow. "Now's a good time to announce yourself, Rainbow."

Rainbow nodded. "Yes." She took a bold step towards the kneeling warrior. "I am Rainbow Dash... a royal subject to Princess Luna, your... uh... Maiden of the Moon."

The sarosians all murmured in one hushed voice.

The warrior cocked her head to the side, her necklace of bones rattling. "The Mother of Nightmare's voice burns in our eyes and our heart. Truly, she has sent you. W'ynlppa yln H'luun."

Rainbow squinted. "Uhhhhhh... what does that last part mean?"

The warrior's one nostril flared. "Blood of Luna. Her chosen vessel. Much like the Maria Matriarchs." Her fangs glinted in the starlight. "As it is written in the Book of Saros: 'The Mother's blessing is our blessing.' Forgive us—foolish and wayward foals—for assaulting you, the avatar of moons."

"That depends..." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "Are you on my side from now on or what?"

The warrior's jaws clenched. She stood up on all fours and unsheathed a whalebone dagger. Schiiiing!

Bard and Logan flinched.

The warrior raised the dagger.

"Rainbow—!" Ariel squeaked, muscles coiling.

"It's alright," Applejack said with a calm smile. "She ain't gonna harm any of us."

"Then what is she doing—?" Rainbow stopped in mid-sentence.

The pale warrior drew the dagger across her own chest, adding to the multitudinous scars etched in her coat. She collected the flowing blood in her fetlock and held it up—glistening—to the moonlight. "I am Enix. W'ynlppa yln N'ymym. Nightblood warrior... and protector of the Maria Matriarch." He eyeslits narrowed. "The Mother of Nightmares has spoken. She has sent her avatar, Rainbow Dash, the 'Austraeoh.' I give my blood for the Blood of Luna. As do we all—the foals of Saros."

Rainbow looked at Enix, then at her outstretched hoof dripping with blood. Pensively, she reached a hoof out. Rarity stifled the urge to vomit as Rainbow hooked her fetlock's in Enix's. The blood dribbled down both their outstretched hooves.

"Thank you, Enix," Rainbow Dash firmly said. "Now... if you don't mind... could you make my ship a teensy bit last crowded?"

Without wrenching her eyes from Rainbow Dash, Enix shrieked out the side of her muzzle: "Skriiiiiiiiii!"

FWOOOOOSH! Every single sarosian lifted off the Stardust in a single, combined wingflap.

Ariel blinked.

"Well..." Rainbow Dash slowly exhaled. "That's a start."