Utaan

by Imploding Colon

Guess Who's Easting to Dinner?

"She's become a mercenary?!" Raptr's voice cracked.

Starstorm frowned from across a small torch-lit chamber within the Frosted Shelves. "Haven't you heard a single word that the Lieutenant's been telling us?"

"Seraphimus has self-demoted herself to a common soldier of the Central Guard," Windburst droned. "And Brye Chandler is capitalizing on this by appointing her as his personal body guard."

"But... but she's a member of the Talon!" Raptr exclaimed, beak rattling. "One of us!"

"Correction." Keris leaned against a wall of granite, staring down the long narrow corridor leading into the heart of the prison. "She was one of us. But after the death of her family, she threw away her commission." He exhaled, his headcrest drooping. "I should have refused her... fought her."

"To what end?" Starstorm asked. "If somehow we had convinced her to maintain her position of Commander, then we'd all be heading towards the edge of the world to combat Rainbow Dash."

"Just what does she hope to accomplish, anyways?" Raptr remarked. "I mean... I feel bad for our Comm—... former Commander." He gulped. "Really, I do. But even if Rainbow Dash was responsible for all the bad that befell her, then how will killing the pegasus bring her contentment? Her family will still be dead."

"How many comrades have you lost in battle, rookie?" Windburst remarked. He glared across the dim room. "There's no telling how far a warrior is willing to go to restore the honored of those who have fallen. Especially if it was an unjust death."

Keris sighed. "Goddess knows—before I found out what truly happened to Jordan, I had... felt quite passionate about avenging his death from time to time."

"Yeah, but you're cool-headed, Lieutenant!" Raptr exclaimed. "But Seraphimus..." He winced. "She's really... really gone off the deep end."

Keris clenched his beak muscles. "I only wish that I had found a way to reach out to her before she sold herself out to Chandler."

"You've been balancing countless things, Lieutenant," Starstorm said. "You and Professor Mane both."

"It can't be easy to look out after the Rohbreddenites, the wyverns, and the Talon..." Windburst added. "Especially if our former leader is so intent on a mindless hunt into the dark."

"What if..." Raptr paced, his talons clawing the ground. "...there might be some sort of statute within the Talon rule book that can... y'know..." He swiveled about, glancing with bright hawkweyes. "...relieve a soldier due to psychological reasons?"

"And if Seraphimus was still a full-fledged member of the Talon, that might be possible," Windburst grumbled.

Keris nodded weakly. "So long as she's working for Chandler, he won't let her go... no matter how we might excuse her psychological condition."

"Then... there's nothing we can do?!" Raptr gestured wildly. "We're just going to sit here and watch Seraphimus fly off into oblivion?"

"I can't fathom a solution," Keris spoke, his tone briefly raspy. "Not so long as Brye Chandler wields control over Seraphimus and the Central Guard."

"Then it sounds like the real problem here is Chandler," Windburst said coldly. "Before and after the 'death' of Verlax, he's always been the one and only problem."

Keris squinted his way. "Where do you presume to be going with this statement, Sergeant?"

"Simply that the death of a Defense Minister seems like small potatoes after the 'murder' of a Goddess."

"Sergeant..."

Windburst pulled an invisible trigger in the air. "Just one crossbolt, and all our troubles are over—"

Keris marched towards him, growling: "Only to open up an entire reservoir of chaos and collapse!" He stared Windburst down. "We are here to preserve the peace!"

"But—"

"We both know that Chandler is a fool and a charlatan, but unlike with Verlaxion we do not have the luxury of his preordained death!" Keris fumed. "If we eliminate him, not only will we be sacrificing our own morals, but we will be shattering the tenuous faith that the citizens of Rohbredden have in the remnants of this beleaguered kingdom!" He gestured towards the walls, still rumbling with the stampede of windigoes outside. "With our present issues at hand, can we really... truly afford a structural implosion from within?!"

Windburst shook in anger. "We are the Talon, Lieutenant. It is our job to protect the kingdom—"

"And that is precisely what I aim to do!" Keris exclaimed. "But this will not be accomplished by murdering our own kind! Especially souls that have been entrusted by the power of the Court!" He exhaled, relieving some of the tension in his voice. "If we wish to protect the foals of Verlaxion from the likes of Chandler, than we must strive to be better than him. Conspiring to assassinate from within doesn't sound like something the Talon would do, does it?"

"No." Windburst gulped, his headcrest drooping. "It... sounds precisely like something Chandler would do." He hung his head with a sigh. "I... I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I care for Seraphimus just like you. It's just... so frustrating..."

"I know, Sergeant." Keris rested a hand on the other griffon's shoulder. "Believe me. Theanim and I have felt this same frustration every day since the windigoes sprang upon us." He turned about, facing the others. "We have the righteous burden of truth to carry in this time of crisis. I doubt it will get any easier than it feels today." He slowly shook his head. "All our lives will we have to deal with this."

Starstorm brushed a claw over her headfeathers. "Did... you ever g-get to tell Seraphimus the truth?"

Keris stood in silence.

"Did you tell her about Verlax?" Starstorm reiterated. "Like you wanted to?"

At last, Keris nodded. "Yes." He gulped. "It was a belated revelation, but I told her." A shuddering breath. "It should have been sooner, but..." His eyes fell to the floor.

"Uhhhh..." Raptr grimaced. "Why aren't we all hanging by nooses by now?"

Windburst looked over. "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean..." Raptr gestured. "Seraphimus would have told Chandler and Hymnos and the rest by now, r-right?!" His hawkeyes twitched. "After the Lieutenant dropped that bomb, shouldn't we have all been outed?! And the whole story bursting into flames?!"

"Seraphimus... was convinced that my mind had been polluted by the Rainbow Rogue and her blight," Keris said.

Starstorm sighed, hanging her head.

"She has lost all sense of reasoning," Keris continued. "All she possesses is anger... sorrow... and an unquenchable thirst for revenge."

"And now Chandler's harnessing all of that as his ultimate weapon," Windburst droned. "Just when do they intend to head on out?"

Keris stared at the walls as the vibrations beyond the Frosted Shelves lingered. "The latest stampede has been subsiding over the past three hours." He gestured. "Within a day—I suspect—the windigoes will move on. That will give Chandler and his entourage of soldiers the window they need to take off and fly east."

"Do they even know where they'll be going?" Raptr asked.

"Word from reconnaissance is that a group resembling Rainbow Dash and the Herald have been spotted within the central agricultural prefectures of the Twilight Lands," Keris said. "Assuming Rainbow hasn't flown directly to the Sixth Seed and beyond, there is still a slight chance that Chandler and Seraphimus... could... catch up with her. They have the best-trained fliers in all of Rohbredden on her side, after all."

"Do you really think they could bring down the Rainbow Rogue?" Starstorm asked.

Keris' feathery brow furrowed. "History suggests that they can't. Still, with the combined might of Chandler and Seraphimus..." He looked up with a pale expression. "There simply is no way to tell. I don't think I'm the only one here who believes that Rainbow Dash could do with as few interruptions as possible on her way to the Dark Side."

"So, in other words, not only is Rainbow Dash being threatened here," Windburst grumbled. "But the whole future of this plane... assuming there's even a down feather's chance of the Central Guard stopping her."

"Not exactly an ideal situation," Starstorm muttered. "I'm certain Rainbow and the Herald expected more from us since leaving Starkiss."

"What they expect of us is to maintain order here in Rohbredden," Keris remarked. "And that is precisely what we've been attempting to do. Otherwise... the sacrifice of truth will be for nothing, and our society will collapse in the Rainbow Rogue's wake."

"Yeah, but... can we really just let Seraphimus fly off to confront Rainbow Dash?" Raptr asked. "If either of them die in battle... then what will be left of our honor?"

"Believe me, Sergeant," Keris murmured. "It vexes me too." He folded his forelimbs and sighed. "But so long as our presence is required here, I don't see how we can go anywhere and still maintain the structural integrity of Rohbredden."

Raptr leaned against a wall with a drooping expression. "Almost... makes you wish that the Court could send us to the Twilight Lands in Seraphimus' place."

Silence.

Keris blinked. With a sudden burst of energy, he stood up straight. "What did you just say?"

Raptr glanced up. "Uhhh..." He shifted. "Just that—if the Court commanded us to go where Chandler and Seraphimus are going—"

"Sergeant..." Keris slowly, gradually smiled. It was a bright thing, like a sunrise. "I think you just might be promoted for this."

"Huh?" Raptr grimaced. "What for?"

"Quick, Talon!" Keris rushed out of the corridor, wings spread. "We must make haste! Before the windigoes depart Frostknife!"

Starstorm flew after him while Raptr floundered about.

"I don't get it!" Raptr's voice cracked. "What did I say?"

"Come on, rookie..." Windburst smirked as she flew after the other two. "I'll explain to your green butt along the way."

"Grrrrrnngh..." Frowning, Raptr took up the rear. "I am not green." A sigh. "Just stupid..."

"That too."

---

"I dunno about you, but..." Ariel leaned with her back against a barn wall. "...couldn't we make the rest of this trip without a bunch of new supplies?"

"A most perrilous suggestion, young one!" Kepler remarked. He perched atop a well in the center of the starlit farm. The rest of the Herald—sans Bard—lingered around the spot. "Therre is much land and sea to trraverrse yet! If therre is even a smidgeon of a possibility of gaining morre food and supplies, then we must capitalize on it!"

"Yeah, but..." Ariel fidgeted. "I really don't like the sort of pressure we're putting on Bard to make it happen. I mean—I can't be the only one who senses just how uncomfortable he is in this place."

"I know, right?" Logan belched. "Beats the Hell outta me, too. I mean... these ponies and griffons seem pleasant enough."

"Seems like he only takes issue with a few of them," Flynn said. "Or—to be more precise—a few of them take issue with him."

"What could he have done, though?" Ariel blinked at the others. "I mean... Bard doesn't seem like the double-crossing kind of guy!"

"He's a Desperado," Logan grunted. "What hasn't he done?"

Ariel pouted. "What the Hell is that even supposed to mean?"

"Namely that Bard and Wildcard have been stupidly cryptic mysteries ever since they ditched the rest of the us Job Squadders and went off to freelance on their own." Logan glanced across the clearing. "How about it, Wildcard? Any deep, dark secret about 'Johnny' that you're not telling us?"

Wildcard paused in whittling a new toothpick from a block of wood. Sighing, the griffon gestured with his metal and flesh talons.

The rest "read" him. At last, it was Flynn who responded: "And you just... let him keep those secrets? Without question?"

Wildcard merely stared back.

Flynn blinked at his own reflections in the goggles. Eventually, he sighed. "Right. Forgot who I was talking to."

"Wildcard..." Ariel cleared her throat, smiling. "Jordan... we know who you are now. And we're fine with it!"

"The Talon are a bunch of pussies," Logan grunted.

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Most of us are fine with it." She slapped Logan's scalp with her tail ("Yeowch!"). "And we're still the Herald! Ticking and clicking like a fine oiled machine!" She shrugged. "What's the harm in... y'know... Bard revealing all of the background behind 'Johnny?'"

Wildcard swiftly replied with precise claw-swipes.

Flynn groaned. "I dunno about you, but I'm kinda sorta wanting to hop off that dayum train already."

The griffon merely shrugged and returned to his whittling.

"Neverr underrestimate the valiance of a frriend's confidence," Kepler remarked with a tusked smile. "And let us not lose faith. Surrely if therre was a darrk secrret to Barrd's past, he would have found it in his powerr to sharre such alrready."

"I fail to see how any of this matters," Remna grumbled, suddenly present. She marched across the scene with heavy hoofsteps. "Bard has proven himself valuable, but he is still not a member of the Herald."

"Oh, come off it, dragon," Ariel spat. "Mortuana sacrificed herself for him as much as the rest of us."

"Perhaps." Remna's violet nostrils flared. "But she also desired us to make a swift trek to the Sixth Seed. And right now—because of Johnny's 'baggage'—that has not happened."

"But—"

"I respect the solidarity of the Herald as a whole. Your respect for Bard is—by extension—my respect. However..." Her brow furrowed. "If we do not make progress soon, then I will be forced to urge us onward with our journey. If supplies are so damnably important, then we shall procure them on our own between here and our destination. By force, if necessary."

"You know that's not the Herald's way," Flynn said.

"Look around you," Remna said. "You may notice that the Sacred Seven are now Six." Remna snorted. "There are many things that haven't been 'the Herald's way' since my sister's death. All that matters is getting the Austraeoh to her destination. I shall not suffer any more delay, and I would hope the Mountain Matron's foals would not either." And she trotted off with cold finality.

Logan rubbed the scruff of his chins. He glanced anxiously at the others.

Kepler sighed. "I would be lying if I said that I was not trroubled by our stationarry position herre in the Twilight Lands." The wyvern gulped. "It is only a matterr of time beforre the forrces of Rrohbrredden discoverr us. Orr—even worrse—the windigoes."

"Yeah, but if Bard can get us some supplies, that'll make the voyage over sea less stressful," Ariel said. "When or if we run into the sarosians, we'll want to be on our A-game. Don't you think?"

"Do you even think that's a possibility?" Flynn asked.

"What? The sarosians are spread all across the edge of the world. We're absolutely bound to run into them—"

"No, I mean do you think it's possible that Bard can get a conversation out of these ponies, much less some free supplies?" Flynn remarked, grimacing. "That Tim dude was grumpy as Hell. And I'm not sure this 'Blue' patriarch is any better."

"If therre is a rremote chance, then it would behoove us to trrust in Barrd forr an opporrtunity, would it not?" Kepler said.

"Seems like a slim chance to me," Logan grumbled. "I want stuff to munch on like nopony's business before we butt heads with midnighters, but is it even worth the time?"

Tense silence hung over the crowd.

"I... don't know what to think anymore," Ariel said with a sigh. "I wish Mortuana was here." She gazed sadly across the starlit fields. "Ol' Morty was good at keeping us calm and centered."

"You forrget that we still have a leaderr," Kepler remarked, smiling. "I don't speak—of courrse—of the drragon in pony's clothing."

The group gazed collectively at the petite pegasus standing off to the side.

"What do you think, Rainbow?" Flynn asked. "You've been awfully quiet lately."

Rainbow Dash leaned against the barn, rubbing her chin in thought. Her pendant reflected moonlight—but not enough to glow with Luna's enchantment.

Ariel cleared her throat. "Rainbow?"

"...?" Rainbow looked up with a jolt.

"What are you thinking right now?" Ariel asked.

"... ... ..." Rainbow's ears twitched. At last, she spoke: "I think... I have to go make water." She stood up straight, wings flexing. "Anypony seen an outhouse around here?"

The Herald glanced at one another.

"Uhhh..." Logan pointed due north. "Over that way. Past the fungal vineyard... thingies."

"Thanks." Rainbow waved, then flew off. "I won't be long."

"Just... uh... hold your breath!" Logan smirked. "I know where it is 'cuz I made two trips in the last twelve hours!" Silence. He glanced at the other members of the Job Squad. "What? You have your own way of losing weight!"

"Grnnfgh..." Flynn face-hoofed. "Shoulda left you at Wyvern Point, I swear."

"Love you too, sweetheart."

---

Rainbow Dash glided slowly over the farmhouses and sheds of Blue's ranch.

"Rainbow, darlin'...?" Applejack hovered evenly with her. The ghostly mare's eyes were thin. "Is there a reason why you just lied to them?"

Rainbow sighed.

"Wait!" Pinkie gasped, clutching at her facial muscles. "You mean Dashie doesn't have to make water?! My whole world is turned upside down!"

"Knock it off," Rainbow grumbled. She glanced aside at Applejack. "If you must know, I wanna go check on Bard."

"Don't ya trust him enough to let him do this on his own?" Applejack asked.

"It's not about trust, AJ," Rainbow said. She fidgeted in mid-glide. "The Desperados and the Herald have been there by my side through thick and thin. Even when..." She shuddered. "...even when I did everything I could to shove 'em off."

"I'm pretty sure that Bard has forgiven you time and time again, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said gently.

"It's not about forgiveness either." Rainbow's face tensed. "It's about returning the favor to a friend."

"If Johnny-boy was in over his head, wouldn't Wildcard be helping him?" Pinkie said.

"I'm not Wildcard," Rainbow grumbled. "I've been taught the value of friendship and loyalty differently." She glanced aside at Twilight Sparkle. "And I just can't leave Bard alone on this."

"That's a noble thought, Rainbow," Twilight said. "But—realistically speaking—you might make things worse if you stick your nose into his business with Blue."

"If Bard's yer friend, ain't it enough to just trust him to pull through for you and the Herald?" Applejack asked.

"Normally, yes. But now?" Rainbow shook her head. "There's too much at stake. Remna might be the Queen of Female Dogs, but she's right about more than a few things. Time is of the essence." She glanced up at the waxing moon. "And we gotta get our tails in gear."

"What's your plan, exactly?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "You... want to eavesdrop on Bard and Blue?"

"I don't think I could do that without getting spotted," Rainbow said. "But..." She glanced aside at her friends. "I know a few awesome ponies who can."

Fluttershy gulped. "I'm not sure I like where this is going."

"I do!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "Woohoo! One Mare Sneaking Mission! Well... Five Mare Sneaking Mission!" Her eyes crossed. "Erm... Five and a Half?"

"I dunno..." Applejack fidgeted slightly. "Seems awfully..." She fumbled for words, then eventually blurted: "...unfair."

"Look, we're going nowhere by remaining in the dark," Rainbow said. "If neither Desperado is willing to play ball, then—I'm sorry—but I gotta take control of the situation." A deep breath. "Bard isn't the only one whom the Herald's depending on, after all."

"What do you have in mind?" Fluttershy asked.

"I park my butt somewhere and let the rest of you glide in close and listen in," Rainbow said. "Then you can tell me what's up and we'll work from there."

Rarity nodded. "Seems like a doable plan." She looked at the others. "I don't see why any of us should feel so hesitant. After all we've been through, I think it would be refreshing to pursue the truth for once."

Applejack sighed. "Just not a fan of how we're fetchin' that truth."

"You said it yourself, AJ," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Bard's been lying ever since we got here. The same with his so-called brothers and sisters." Her blue frow furrowed. "If anything's going to work smoothely at this farm, then something's gotta give."

"A curious statement," Rarity remarked. "Given the passion of our dishonest actions in Starkiss."

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth.

"Right." Rarity sweated, smiling crookedly at the others. "Can somepony else speak for me from now on?"

"Ahem..." Fluttershy pointed. "Bard is a bit to the northwest, Rainbow." She gulped. "He's with Blue and Tim at the moment."

"Hooo boyo!" Pinkie shivered. "This should be nifty."

"Twilight... you're the best judge on everypony's anchorage." Rainbow looked aside. "How close do you think I can get and still give you guys freedom to observe the conversation?"

"Uhhhhh..." Twilight glanced at where Fluttershy had pointed. Doing math in her ghostly head, she eventually pointed at a woodshed situated to the west. "There. That'll give us enough space. Plus, you should have plenty of cover. Nopony will see you."

"Cool." Rainbow Dash touched down. "Fluttershy, as soon as you sense a pony coming close to me, fly back and give me a warning so I can fly off unseen."

"Uhm... sure thing, Rainbow."

"You girls ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Applejack muttered.

"Now now, raise your spirits, Applejack," Rarity said with a smile. She and the others glided north towards where Bard was. "Just how dreadfully dramatic could this possibly be?"

---

"Ya damned selfish flankhole!" Blue spat, his hunched figure shaking from head to tail. "I shoulda done left ya to drown in a well when you was a colt!"

Rarity and Applejack winced heavily.

"Oh... dear..." Rarity gulped. "I've heard of family squabbles, but this is more akin to a bloody melee."

"You said it, Rares," Applejack slurred.

"Shhhhh!" Twilight insisted. "Listen!"

Bard rubbed his head, sighing. "Look, ol' timer... will you cut with the dramatics already? You know as well as I do that I dun need much to get by. But this ain't about me." He stared up, eyes glaring from beneath the rim of his hat. "This is about my friends. You see, they've got a long voyage ahead of 'em and they need—"

"They need to soak their big fat heads, is what!" Blue hissed. "And so should you, ya damned varmint! You hook yerself up to a bunch of self-righteous bums and you expect me to think that you ain't got more in common than the cowardly hoofprints ya leave behind?!"

"For all that is holy..." Bard frowned. "Will you stop callin' me a 'coward?!'"

"As soon as ya stop bein' one," grumbled a far deeper voice. Tim shuffled out of the barn beside them, hauling two bales of hay across his muscular backside. "But t'ain't in yer nature, Johnny. Reckon nothin's changed since ya done ditched the family years ago."

"I didn't ditch no one." Scowling, Bard pointed at Blue. "He knows dayum well why I skedaddled from this here hellhole." A sigh. "Figures he would have told you ages ago... though by his own twisted logic..."

"And there ya go again," Tim huffed, tossing the hay bale onto the ground besides an identical pile. "Always puttin' the blame on ol' Blue. Do you have any idea how much he's given up for the likes of you? For Ray and James? Marie and lil' Nicole?"

"Yes... yes... yes..." Bard rolled his eyes. "I've heard this speech before. I was raised with it. And for the longest time, I even believed it." His nostrils flared. "But then he had to go and ruin everythang that ever meant a damn to me."

"Hmmm..." Applejack rubbed her chin.

Twilight looked aside. "What is it?"

"Funny..." Applejack squinted. "Bard came awfully close that time."

"He came close to what?"

"The truth," Applejack muttered.

Before Twilight could comment—

"You was the one who ruined everythang, Johnny," Tim snarled. "What you did?" He spat on the ground. "It was turnin' yer back on this here family. If ya ask me, you got what was comin' to ya."

"Is that what Blue has told you all these years?!" Bard shook, struggling to contain his anger. "That I somehow betrayed the farm?!"

"The moment you disobeyed Blue—after all he has done for us, after all that he continues to do for us—"

"You only believe that 'cuz for years you've been plowin' the soil to the beat of his drawlin' voice!" Bard turned to frown at the old stallion. "Ya dun know him like I do, Tim. You dun know how insecure and defensive he is... and how he can wreck an entire life over stupid... petty thangs..."

"You'd better watch yerself, boy," Blue rasped, doing his best to out-glare his foster child. "If I was really... truly 'petty,' then you wouldn't be here right now... standin'... breathin'..."

"After all Blue did to clean up after yer messin' around," Tim scoffed. "You should be thankin' the stars above us that he kept you in one piece the way he did."

"Well, I ain't much a fan of what he took away to keep me here!" Bard's voice was shouting at this point. He didn't wrench his eyes off the elder. "Or did he tell you about that, Tim? Huh? Did he tell you how he decided to punish me in some... pathetic attempt to keep me stupid and loyal?"

Blue glared back, refusing to flinch.

"Mrmmmf!" Tim dropped another bale of hay, sweating. "He told me enough. And I still think yer overreactin'. You always were, Johnny. It's in yer blood... the blood of a yellow-livered artist. And when it got too tough to face yer own loyalties—instead of stickin' around long enough to face the truth—you skipped town and decided to live yer own sorry-ass life elsewhere."

"Tim, I know you." Bard finally turned to gaze at the larger stallion. "You taught me all about loyalty, and for that I'm mighty thankful." His nostrils flared. "But I've since learned that it's possible to be loyal to a fault. If there's anythang I'm truly cowardly for, it's that I decided to leave this ranch as it was instead of tellin' everypony the truth!" He pointed at Blue. "The truth about him and how he's twisted everythang to make him look like some dog-gone saint!"

Blue sighed, rolling his eyes and glancing off.

"Johnny..." Tim's tone was actually calm—almost sympathetic for a change. "If this whole 'tough guy' business is about Melody, we've been over that. It was a damned accident—"

Bard stomped across the clearing until he was growling in Tim's face. "You will not mention her name ever again!" His teeth showed. "Not after what Blue's done! Not after all he has already taken from me!" He bent his fetlocks so he was as close to Tim's height as possible. "If ya dun change the subject this instant, I swear to Goddess, I will spread yer teeth like seed across the farm. I dun care how badly you might tear my muscles apart for doin' it. Do. Not. Go. There."

Cold silence.

Fluttershy trembled. "C-can we spy on another conversation, pl-please?"

Rarity gently patted the mare's shoulder, her eyes plastered to the scene.

Tim frowned in Bard's face. "And you say yer not a coward," was all he had to murmur.

Bard glared and glared... then eventually sighed. He stepped back, rubbing his brow in exasperation.

It was Tim's turn to exhale. "Johnny... what happened to you?" He waved a thick fetlock. "You used to have a spine. You used to face yer problems head-on... like a stallion. Then, out of nowhere, you just... gave up on bein' strong. After all this time, yer back again... and still you won't own up to it?"

"If that's all you gotta say on the subject, then yer blinder than I thought, Tim," Bard grumbled. He straightened his hat and stared dully across the starlit fields. "I can't expect ya to know..."

"Know what?"

"That life ain't so simple when yer problems ain't yer problems." He clenched his jaw muscles. "The only reason you've had an easy life here on this ranch is because Blue wants you to think it's easy... that t'ain't nothin' else in this world but fungus and family."

"Well, since neither are any of yer concern, I dun see why yer still lingerin' around," Blue muttered. "Why not take off for the end of the world already?"

"Because I can't," Bard grumbled, swiveling about. "I've got friends... and my friends got needs."

"Dun see why we gotta sacrifice for 'em," Tim muttered.

"I'm not askin' for no sacrifice!" Bard exclaimed. "Just some vittles and supplies for our journey ahead. I know y'all got a buncha stuff holed up in the bunker to the south!" Bard gestured. "And dun tell me there ain't! I helped build that bunker!"

"You did not—" Tim began.

"I did too!" Bard frowned. "Back when I was the older one, Tim, and I coulda lifted you on my shoulders. I dug the first half of the ditch on my lonesome! That bunker is practically mine!"

The ghostly mares exchanged confused glances.

"'When I was the... older one?'" Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rarity exhaled.

"That even confuses me!" Pinkie stammered.

Blue spoke: "Johny, that shelter is for emergency reasons only! You know that!" He frowned. "What if midnighters attacked us and ripped the farms to shreds? What would we have to subsist on?"

"Blue, dun be silly. There hasn't been a midnighter attack in decades—"

"Still, it could happen!" Blue drooled, pointing with a bony hoof. "Or-Or-Or windigoes! I hear they're all flyin' about like in ancient times! What if they soared in out of nowhere?!"

"Now yer just makin' excuses," Bard grumbled. "Why not just come out with it and say that you dun wanna give me and my Herald friends anythang!"

"How 'bout tellin' us just where yer friends are comin' from and where they're goin'?" Tim snorted. "And then maybe we'd have somethin' to lean on?" He squinted at his foster sibling. "A lot of dark shiet has been goin' down this past week... ever since somethin' befell the Queen in central Rohbredden. Already there's rumor of farmlands bein' turned to ice and squadrons of the Central Guard flyin' all over the Twilight Lands. I dun suppose this has anythang to do with you and yer buddies havin' to high-tail it outta here all speedy-like...?"

Silence.

The mares' eyes fell on Bard.

Bard took a deep breath. "I... can't rightly do that."

"Hmmff..." Tim smirked bitterly. "Cowardly as always."

"Oh, will you learn a new tune already!"

"Same could be said for you, 'Bard.'"

"Y'know what? How 'bout a new angle!" Bard frowned, folding his forelimbs. "The sooner y'all give us a share of what's stored down in the bunker, the sooner we all can be out of yer manes!"

Blue and Tim exchanged dull glances.

"Face it..." Bard grunted. "I can't be the only one who hates this whole reunion to high Hell." His ears drooped. "Never mind Ray, Kelly, James and the others. The three of us? We ain't gonna forgive each other. So let's just call it quits, huh? You do me this one favor, and I'll never show up on this here farm again." He gulped. "Ever."

Fluttershy bit her lip. She looked worriedly at the other mares.

Applejack merely stared in contemplative silence.

"We'll..." Blue turned to look at Bard. "We'll think about it."

"That's it?" Bard's muzzle dropped. "That's all I'm gonna get?"

"Dun pretend yer in any place to ask for more, boy," Blue coldly droned. "Just sit tight. Reckon I got some thinkin' to do... just as much as you do."

Bard blinked. With a groan, he rolled his eyes and trotted off. "I swear... if this is just yer attempt to make me feel like I owe you more..."

"Yer standin' on my farmland, ain't ya?" Blue shouted after him. "If ya weren't so desperate, you shoulda left hours ago!"

"Jury's still out on that, old stallion!"

"Hrmmfff... I bet it is..." Blue and Tim parted ways, returning to far ends of the ranch.

Twilight looked at Applejack. After a shared nod, they and the rest of the mares flew off in ghostly streaks, returning to Rainbow Dash.

---

"For a moment there, it almost felt as though we was goin' to learn the truth about what went down between Bard and his family," Applejack said.

Rainbow blinked. "The truth?"

Applejack sighed. She adjusted her hat as she said: "For a moment, Bard stopped lyin'."

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie nodded. "And he almost got through to Blue and Tim!"

"He did?" Fluttershy remarked.

Pinkie looked aside. "Well, yeah! You heard their voices! For a brief moment, they stopped being all grrrrrrrrrrrs and raaaaaaaaughs!"

"What... changed?" Rainbow asked, ears twitching. "I mean... how did Bard get through to them?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight said. "But once a certain named was dropped, the whole tone of the conversation shifted."

"What name?"

Twilight gulped. "'Melody.'"

Silence.

"Applejack?" Rainbow looked aside. "Is this... 'Melody' somepony important?"

"Ohhhhhhhhh yeah." Applejack nodded. "Important enough to set Bard on edge. For a second there, he sounded ready to tear Tim apart for even mentionin' the name. And I whole-heartedly believed it, too."

"I'd pay to see that!" Pinkie said. Upon receiving a glare from Rarity, she smirked. "Whaaaat? I totally would!"

Rarity sighed, then turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Whatever the case, Bard eventually made his request for supplies. It's now in Blue's court."

"Blue's and Tim's," Twilight corrected.

"Whatever." Rarity shrugged. "They made it sound as though they would think about giving us a sample of what they have stowed away in their... erm... storm shelter."

"Storm shelter?" Rainbow asked.

"Seems as though they have a large underground chamber for... uhm... storing food, supplies, and the like," Fluttershy said.

"It's true," Rarity said with a nod. "I've been sensing a large open space in the center of the ranch. Up until now, I assumed it was a large well or reservoir of water. But now that I know it's a shelter, I can... sense a passageway leading diagonally into it."

"Should we bring it up to the rest of the Herald?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure they would like to know about it."

"No," Rainbow said, shaking her head. "Let's not talk about this yet."

"Why not?" Pinkie asked.

"Because I don't want Bard knowing that I had you gals eavesdrop on him," Rainbow said. "Not yet." She felt Applejack's eyes burning into the back of her neck. Sighing, she turned towards the mare. "If the truth is going to come out, I want it on Bard's time, not ours. Spilling the beans any earlier might throw the Herald's journey into jeopardy."

"Ya sure about that, sugarcube?" Applejack muttered.

Rainbow gulped. "Just think of what Axan will do if she knows where some easy-to-grab supplies are? As soon as she finds out, she might do something stupid and ruin whatever chance Bard has of making friends with his former foster family."

"That... seems like a weak argument, darlin'," Applejack said. "Just sayin'."

"I'm with Rainbow Dash, though," Twilight Sparkle said. "It helps that we know a little bit about what's going on with Bard... but I don't think anypony can benefit from sharing any of it. Not until Bard is ready to talk about it, at least."

"Yer mighty fast to take the side of fibbin'," Applejack said. "And—I know it's not my place to judge'n'all. I've only joined ya at the latter end of this whole... eastward gallopin' business." A sigh. "But... it just dun seem right dancin' in the dark like we're aimin' to. After all... you gals heard the argument between Bard and Blue and Tim." She looked at the others. "Seems like there's a big ol' mishandlin' of truth between the whole lot of 'em. I'd venture to say it's the source of all their problems."

"Yes." Fluttershy nodded. "That... and whoever this 'Melody' is."

"You've seen the ponies on this farm," Rarity remarked. "Aside from Tim... erm... and this 'Blue' fellow, I suppose..." She cleared her throat. "The majority of them appear to be happy. Quite content, actually."

"You mean like the foals of Verlaxion are 'content?" Pinkie remarked. "Now that their Queenie is deader than a doornail?"

Rarity bit her lip.

At last, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "So... Blue and Tim are mulling over the supplies?"

"It would seem that way," Twilight said.

"Then I guess it's out of our hooves for the moment," Rainbow said.

"You say that as though we have all the time in the world!" Pinkie remarked.

Rarity glanced up at the moon. "Just how much time until we can speak with Luna?"

Rainbow glanced at her pendant. The ruby lightning bolt was still dull. "Hours, I'm guessing."

"We can't wait for forever," Fluttershy said. "I'm not one for impatience, but..."

"We get it darlin'." Applejack nodded. "About time we start moseyin' along."

"Still..." Rarity cleared her throat. "Without those supplies, this journey will be a great deal more daunting. We have a lot of water to cover, do we not?"

"And a bunch of sarosians to worry about," Rainbow grumbled. She looked up. "Speaking of which, where's Echo?"

Fluttershy pointed east. "Out by the cattle fields."

"With Nicole?"

"Uh huh."

"Thinking about giving a pep talk, Rainbow?" Twilight remarked.

"Thinking about giving something," Rainbow muttered. "Better than just standing around, gathering dust." She spread her wings and flew off. "Bard will look after Bard. That's the way it's evidently been for years, and that's how it's gonna go down here. Right now, I gotta make sure that the rest of the party is smoothed out."

"If you ask me..." Fluttershy smiled slightly. "...Echo is getting smoothed out enough as it is."

"Fluttershy!" Rarity gasped. "No reason to be uncouth!"

Pinkie gigglesnorted. "Well, she's right, isn't she?"

Rainbow sighed, smiling slightly. "Well... there's one good thing, at least."

---

Glowing horns flickered across a herd of cattle. Night bison roamed loosely within their pen, munching on blue-tinted grass as their luminescent skulls lit up the sleepy twilight.

Strolling alongside the fence, two sarosians lingered in casual conversation.

"Even when I was starting to become a coral-huffing bum, he stuck by my side. Theams bailed me out of various nautical prisons, using his own well-earned bits." Echo sighed, brushing his midnight mane back as he gazed at the grazing livestock. "In fact, it wasn't until I started... uhm... making deals with the soulless assholes of Mudtop that he finally... left me."

Nicole nodded. "It was the straw that broke the camel's back, huh?"

"It wasn't so much as breaking as... pulling lint from one's armpit." Echo kicked loosely at the dirt beneath them. "My guess is that Theams had hope in me all these years... hope that I would change. Become a better pony. Maybe even a damned scientist. Heh." His leafy ears drooped. "We drifted apart. Simple as that, really. But when we reunited—thanks to Rainbow Dash—he was still mad as hell over what I had done with my life. I'm certain that—had I not limped off to Mudtop—he'd still have stayed by my side."

"You don't blame him, then?"

"How could I?" Echo shrugged. "He gave his all. Any other self-respecting pony would have ditched my ass years ago."

"From the sound of things, you had ponies treating you like less-than-filth from all sides," Nicole said. "It's a miracle a midnighter like you lasted so long before... uhm... doing 'corrupt' stuff."

"That's still no friggin' excuse," Echo muttered. "All that time, I had Theanim's faith in me. He treated me like an actual living, equine being... and not just some bat-like freak from a Goddess forsaken sea." His velvety nostrils flared. "Even the gangs back at Bleak's Plummet thought I was a shitty waste of life... and yet Theanim always... always believed in me. You think that would have been enough for me to glean from... but..." He exhaled. "Guess I was just blind. Blind and selfish."

"But you came together in the end, didn't you?" Nicole smiled, fangs showing. "His faith won out in the end. And thanks to this Rainbow Dash pony—"

"I still didn't come around," Echo said. "In the end, I had to go cold turkey in a prison cell to get anywhere."

Nicole giggled. "You don't give yourself enough credit. If you really... truly wanted to spite your friends, you would have have dragged your hooves. But I think part of you finally wanted retribution."

"Well, when one gets sober enough, you realize how shitty the scent of life can be," Echo said. "And... how nice it can smell when you work hard to clean it all up." He coughed. "Just like those around you have worked tirelessly for years... only you've been too stupid to lend them a hoof... even knowing it can only help the two of you all in the end. Guess I was just... lucky. Everything came together just right."

"The way I see it, you did what you always wanted to do," Nicole said. "You broke free. And you had just the right friend waiting for you in the end."

"Yeah. I guess so," Echo said in a contemplative breath.

Nicole smiled sweetly. "You must love Theams very much."

Echo opened his muzzle, but no words came out. He blinked into the starlight. His ears folded back as he finally murmured: "Yeah, well, I left him back in Frostknife. I'm always... always leaving the best parts of my life behind."

Nicole shook her head. "I can't imagine you would have done it at this point unless it was for a very special reason."

"Uh huh..." Echo's nostrils flared. "Not my reason."

"Think you'll ever see him again?"

"Heh..." Echo's slitted eyes scanned the eastern horizon. "I'll be a lucky little shit if I can see tomorrow in one piece."

"Because you're heading out?" Nicole blinked. "You and your friends? You're headed towards the end of the world?"

"One way or another, I just know I'll be crossing paths with the jerkoffs of Bleak's Plummet."

"I think that's very brave of you."

Echo snorted. "You don't even know why I'm doing it. How can it be brave?"

"Returning home after so long... after so many mistakes?" Nicole shrugged. "Seems super brave to me."

Echo raised an eyebrow. "Like 'Johnny?'"

Nicole was silent.

Echo cleared his throat. "Sorry. Bad move on my part. Heh."

"No. It's fine." Nicole leaned against the pen, staring at the cattle and their glowing horns. "It's just that... I don't really believe that Johnny has been living a life of mistakes since he left the family."

"He's friggin' named 'Bard' now."

"Heehee... okay..." Nicole rolled her slitted eyes. "So he's made one mistake."

"But still..." Echo leaned against the fence beside her. "Sounds like there are ponies here who think he's the scum of the earth. Like Blue... and Mr. Steroids-On-Ballsacks."

"I've never... understood Tim's anger over our older brother," Nicole said, kneading the edge of the fence with soft fetlocks. "Then again, he's never been one to talk about it."

Echo blinked. "'Older brother?'"

"Yeah... it's complicated..."

"'Cuz Tim sure as hell seems older to me. And bigger..." Echo smirked. "In more ways than one."

"Okay, first off... ew."

Echo chuckled.

"Second..." Nicole turned around, tossing her mane as she leaned back against the fence. "...he really is younger than Johnny."

"Huh..." Echo shook his head. "I never would have guessed."

"Johnny's the oldest of all of us," Nicole said. "He was the first foal that Blue adopted. Back when..." She gulped. "Back when his wife was alive."

Echo cocked his head to the side. "You never knew your foster mother?"

"No. Not really. She died long before I showed up here at the ranch. Perished from pneumonia, or so I'm told. She was a very old mare. Very frail... feeble. But very sweet, though. At least that's what Marie and Tim tell me."

"How, may I ask, did you get adopted?"

Nicole fidgeted slightly.

"I can't help but be curious. I mean..." Echo shrugged. "I'm Seventh Tribe material. Heh... if some Rohbreddenite found me alone and abandoned along the side of the road... I figure I'd become manticore food in a blink."

"Yes, well..." Nicole gulped. "The reality isn't all that different."

"Ah shit." Echo winced. "My bad."

"No, it's okay!" Nicole smiled. "I'm not sore over it or anything!"

"You sure?" Echo raised an eyebrow. "I mean... a bat-chick like you being this far from Bleak's Plummet seems... like a recipe for tragedy."

"I'm sure it was... or at least it almost was," Nicole said. "Official word is that I was found washed up along the midnight shores."

"You mean the east coast?"

Nicole nodded. "An expedition of cattle ranchers found me. One of them happened to be a friend of Blue's... loosely related to one of the families who sharecrops on this land. That and that alone is the reason why I'm alive today. I was rescued from the muck as an infant and brought back to this farm... where Blue instantly had compassion on me and raised me... alongside Ray and James and Mike and the rest."

"Huh..." Echo cleared his throat. "Forgive me if this sounds unsympathetic, but... it almost sounds like you've memorized that entire life story."

"Yes, well..." Nicole stared off with a bittersweet smile. "Blue has told and retold the tale enough for me to know it by heart." She gulped. "And when senility began taking its course, Tim took up the mantle. He's the real backbone of this whole family. He reminds us of our place. It's really... responsible of him."

"'Responsible?'" Echo blinked. "Sounds a bit like brainwashing to me."

"Only a pony from outside the ranch would say that."

"Yeah, and?"

Silence.

Nicole fiddled with her fetlocks. "I know what you're going to say." She sighed. "'You're all too close-knit. You smile and laugh like everything's okay with the world. And it's very... very strange that the only ponies who are angry or grumpy are the ones who are in charge of the family.'"

Echo slowly shook his head. "I... wasn't going to say that, actually. But now that you have, I gotta admit... you tell it way better than I could ever pretend to."

Nicole bit her bottom lip.

Echo stretched his wings, leaning casually against the fence post. "Is life on the ranch not all that it's cracked up to be, Nicole?"

"We... are happy here. And... uhm... though Blue and Tim might be temperamental... I kinda understand it. I mean... they have a lot of pressure on their hooves... and it's getting tougher and tougher to sell our harvest to Central Rohbredden bidders." She winced. "And that's without having to panic over the sudden onset of windigoes and Goddess-knows-what now..."

Echo squinted. "'However...'"

Nicole sighed. She brushed her silken bangs back and murmured: "I... kinda envy you."

"Me?" Echo smirked, fangs glinting in the light from the cattle. "Didn't I just finish telling you how shitty my life has been?"

"Heheh... well..."

"All the horrible stuff that a midnighter like me has had to do to get by in this cold, uncaring world?" Echo shrugged. "All the nasty supervillains I had to make friends with?"

"Well, sure, a lot of it was bad. But you found goodness in the end, didn't you?"

"Or goodness found me, yeah, sure." Echo nodded. "But it was still a bunch of bullshit."

"Still..." Nicole looked tenderly at him. "It was your bullshit."

Echo blinked.

Nicole continued, softly: "No matter how much I try to think about it, I just... can't hate Johnny. I refuse to believe that he left us because he was some sort of coward or because he hated Blue and Tim and the rest of the family."

"Do you wanna be free?" Echo asked. "Like him?"

"It's... not freedom, exactly," Nicole said. "It's just that... well... I've lived here all of my life." She cleared her throat. "Literally."

"Uh huh..."

"And though Blue is always telling me how horrible the world is... and you're kinda proving it to me..." Nicole frowned briefly. "...I feel like I can't believe any of it until I see it for myself. Like... I can't imagine that other midnighters are so bad that they would have left me willingly. I mean... you're pretty cool and all!" She giggled. "And you're just as much a 'batpony' as me."

"I'm also the only other midnighter you've ever met," Echo said, arching an eyebrow. "Aren't I?"

"Yeah. But you're nothing like what Blue's described."

"What... exactly has Blue described?"

"'Midnighters are a buncha foal-murderin' freaks and thugs, the whole lotta 'em.'"

"Yeesh." Echo frowned. "What a tool."

"He's just concerned for me, that's all!"

"Sure, he's fed and sheltered you, but a douche is still a douche in my book." Echo squinted. "Maybe Bard left 'cuz he was tired of bumping elbows with a bastard. Heh..." A bitter smirk. "Talk about irony."

"Whatever the case, all I ever know about the world is what I hear... and most of it very passionately negative," Nicole said. "Would it really kill me to... go out and see it for once? So I can know for myself?"

Echo stared blankly. "... ... ...you want the truth."

"Yeah..." Nicole shook slightly, straightening her stubborn bangs. "I guess I do."

Echo sighed. "Nicole... I hate to break it to ya..." He swung a hoof west. "But if you go out into the world... I promise you... truth is the last thing you're gonna find. At least nowadays..."

Nicole's muzzle scrunched. "What do you mean by that?"

Echo instantly clammed up.

Miraculously—at that very moment—a streak of colors landed beside the other two ponies. "Whoah!" Rainbow stumbled, balancing herself in a wobbly manner. "Darn twilight. The ground's a lot cl-closer than I thought."

"Hello, Rainbow!" Nicole spoke pleasantly. "Come to look at our cattle?"

Rainbow blinked. She turned and glanced at the livestock with flickering horns. "Hey. Glowy cows." Another blink. "Neat." Silence. "Ahem..." She turned to face Echo. "It's a few hours before I can speak with Luna again. I was wondering if we could go over a few things."

"What's there to go over?" Echo shrugged. "The Mother of Nightmares speaks from the heavens. I piss all over myself. Then rinse and repeat."

Nicole giggled.

Rainbow Dash glanced at the mare. "You really think this joker's funny?"

"No..." Nicole caught her breaths in time to smile. "As a matter of fact, I think he's the second-most-amazing pony to have strolled through this farm."

"Heeeeey..." Echo smirked. "Now there's the niftiest compliment I never thought I'd die hearing."

"Uhhhh..." Rainbow stared stupidly. "Who's the first-most-amazing?"

"I'll give you a hint.' Nicole winked. "I'd kill to have a mane as colorful as yours."

"Err... what mane?" Rainbow brushed a hoof over her fuzzy skull. "It's not even grown out."

"Still, I bet when it is, it's absolutely brilliant," Nicole said. "We... uh... don't get much color out here."

"So what?" Echo shrugged. "You're pretty dang shiny, girl."

"Really?"

"It's like your mane was made to catch the starlight like a goddamn mirror."

"Awwww... that's so sweet and vulgar all at once!"

"Heheh... when it suits, dive into the shit!"

"Heehee! Better plug your nose for the plunge!"

"I'm an expert, girl. You don't even know—"

"Anyway!" Rainbow Dash hovered between the two. "I... uh... got some important business to discuss with my little punk here, so... as much as I hate to cut a conversation short... I was wondering if—"

Swooosh! Bard landed. "Howdy, Nicole."

"—a Desperado might make a spontaneous entrance," Rainbow wheezed. "'Kay, then..."

"Johnny!" Nicole pounced him.

"Whoahhhhh there, missy!" Bard stumbled a bit, then caught the sarosianette in a nuzzling hug. "Heheh... yeesh, yer just as small as ever." He raised an eyebrow. "Is somethin' the matter?"

"Yeah, something's the matter!" She pouted, her starry eyes reflecting his. "We haven't had a chance to hang out!" She leaned in, nuzzling him softly. "I might not get a chance to share a hug with my big brother ever again."

"And just what makes you say that, darlin'?"

"Oh Johnny..." Nicole sighed through a tired smile. "You and I both know how Blue and Tim feel. If they had their way, you'd be out of here by the next Fivelight."

"Yes, well... I'm workin' on that. So dun you worry." Bard set her down and patted her head. "Just... gotta smoothe some wrinkles out."

"Heh... more like some damned mountains."

"Horses for courses, sis." Bard looked at Rainbow Dash. He blinked. "Somethin' the matter?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh... no! Nothing's the matter!" Rainbow smiled awkwardly.

Bard's eyes narrowed.

Rainbow gulped. "Just... uhm... wondering... uhhh—"

"The supplies?"

"Err... yyyyyeah..."

Bard sighed. "Reckon I gotta hear back from Blue when he's ready for me to hear anythang."

"Huh?" Nicole blinked. "What's this about? Supplies?"

Echo droned: "Rainbow and the rest of us have a long journey ahead of us."

"You mean to Bleak's Plummet?"

"Right." Echo nodded. "As you can imagine... that's not an easy trip to make without some food to eat and a bucket or two to shit it all into."

"Flynn's got a boat hidden someplace for us," Bard said. "But he done moored it so long ago that any food he would have stored away would surely have rotted by now."

"So... what are you waiting for?" Nicole remarked. "Let's get you some stuff for the trip!"

"Wait..." Rainbow gaped at her. "You can get us what we need?"

"Yeah! Why not!" Nicole shrugged. "I know where they're keeping it."

"The shelter," Bard remarked.

"Right. It belongs to the family. And you're one of us, Johnny. You always have been."

"Reckon t'ain't what Blue and Tim want," Bard said.

"So? It's what you and your friends need, right, Johnny?"

"Yeah, Johnny," Echo grumbled. "What's the big deal?"

Rainbow's eyes calmly danced from Echo to Bard.

The Desperado fumbled for words. At last—in a dry tone—he spoke: "Nicole... as much as I would appreciate it... I dun wanna cause a bigger rift than there already is."

"What are you talking about?" Nicole shrugged. "Blue and Tim will get over with."

"Nicole... you..." Bard gulped. "You just have no idea... what horrible thangs ol' Blue can do when he has a grudge." He scowled. "He will destroy you from the inside out and then pin it all on you from now 'til kingdom come."

Nicole blinked.

"You believe him, don't you?" Echo remarked—making Nicole flinch. "Just what kind of crud has this Blue guy done?" He turned to Bard. "Come on. Spill it."

"Just..." Bard waved a hoof. "Just let it be, Echo—"

"Bard, you of all ponies should be the first one telling us what went down here." Echo gestured. "Life isn't exactly all hunky-dory in this mushroom hole. Nicole knows it."

"Well, I-I..." Nicole stammered.

"And I know it." Echo pointed at Rainbow. "I'm sure Rainbow and her ghost-lesbians can sense it. So why hold it in? Our supplies are on the line and we got places to be. So why fritter and waste the time anymore?"

"Look, I know y'all are tryin' to help... but..." Bard clenched his teeth, then finally blurted: "I figured that... after Starkiss... y'all would know how... h-how important it is to just let thangs be."

Echo merely blinked in confusion.

"Bard..." Rainbow trotted forward, calmly murmuring. "Just what are you trying to protect?"

Bard was staring at Nicole. The mare's head was hanging.

Rainbow leaned her head aside. "Bard...?"

"Sometimes the best way to protect ponies is to not even try," Bard muttered. "Especially when... you've already lost so many of 'em..."

Rainbow's lips pursed. Just as she was about to say something—

Fwooosh! Ray and James landed, carrying baskets full of fungal growth across their flanks. "Oh! Hey, Johnny!"

"Hiya, Rainbow! Nicole!" James briefly squinted. "...midnighter."

"Hiya, handsomes!" Echo waved, smiling. "How are your mushroom tips?"

"Echo..." Rainbow face-hoofed. "...for the love of Celestia—"

"We haven't seen you for the past hour, Johnny!" Ray said, smiling through is beak. "For a second there, we thought you skipped town with the rest of your friends!"

"Yeah, well, I'm sure Tim would be mighty pleased."

"Oh please, Johnny." James waved a hoof. "Just 'cuz he's sore over a few random spats in the past—"

"It goes deeper than that, Jimmy," Bard grumbled. "Best that we don't get into it."

"Yes. Right. Of course. Still, though..." James brightened. "It's culmination of fivelights!"

"Oh. Right." Bard squinted towards a series of flickering crystals erected high along the west end of the ranch. "Reckon it is."

"Heheheh..." Ray chuckled. "You've been stuck in the daylight too long. Your body's all out of whack."

"Reckon I can't help it. So... uh..." Johnny tilted his hat back. "Y'all headed in for supper?"

"You bet! We're famished!" James said. "Granted... we'd be even more famished if you and your friends hadn't helped us with the barn raising."

"Yeah. That was a real life-saver... not to mention a back-saver," Ray remarked. Suddenly, the griffon gasped. "Oh wow! I just had the best friggin' idea!"

Bard gulped. "Uh oh."

"You and Rainbow and your..." Ray glanced at Echo. "...other friends should totally join us for dinner!"

Rainbow winced.

"Uhhhhh..." Nicole glanced at Bard.

"Errrrr..." Bard glanced back. "I... uh..." He gulped and smiled nervously at his foster brothers. "I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea."

"Why not?! It'd be like old times again!" Ray beamed. "Besides, it's the least you deserve! Healthy vittles for everypony!"

"Yeah, Johnny!" James nodded. "Twilight hospitality!"

"I'm mighty thankful for the gesture. Just... I dun think this is a good time for it."

"Good time for it?! Johnny, you and your friends are heading out soon! There may not be another 'time' for it!"

"Yeah, well... I-I really dun think Blue would approve. And Tim—"

"Tim can go sit on a weathervane and rotate!" Ray spat. "We're family! And you deserve a proper meal! Come on!" He motioned. "Mike and Marie are already cookin' up some grub as we speak! In the old house!"

"Our table's still big enough for all of us! And more!" James added.

"I think Bard's right," Rainbow Dash interjected. "It's probably for the best that we decline."

"Jee, I dunno," Echo spoke with a smirk. "Dinner with a show, for free?"

"Echo, would you like to choke on the Element of Loyalty?" Rainbow spat.

James stared curiously at the group. "I... I don't get it. Is there a problem?"

"Just a nice family dinner! One for the road!" Ray insisted. "That's all I ask!"

"Ray... listen to me and listen hard," Bard said, staring the griffon down. "There ain't no way on earth or in the Spring Havens that yer gonna get me to sit down and eat vittles at the same table as ol' Blue... ever."

---

Thirty minutes later, Bard sat across the table from Blue, his limbs locked in place and his muzzle frozen in a frown.

Blue frowned back, his body hunched over—even as he sat in a rickety old chair.

A few spaces down from Blue, Tim sat, his forelimbs folded. Ray and James sat on either side of him, smiling... squirming... passing the soundless moments with awkward breaths.

Marie, a pegasus with a brown coat, hovered clockwise around the table, spooning forth a casserole onto each plate from an enormous pot. Kelly, Mike, Nicole and a few other members of the extended family sat, picking nervously at their food as the silence lingered on.

With a deep sigh, Marie glared at the guests, proceeding towards the next few seats and plates. The Herald sat in a tense line on both sides of Bard. Wildcard was silent as a statue. Ariel and Flynn exchanged nervous glances. Kepler folded his claws meditatively while Remna fumed from where she sat on a stool that was three times too small for her violet frame.

Rainbow Dash and her ghostly friends glanced nervously around the candle-lit wooden hall. She eyed the furthest corners of the table, blinking at every face—both grave and yearning. She looked to her left where Echo sat. Echo shrugged, mouthing something. Soon, both ponies were looking to the right.

"Mrmmmff... hrmmfff..." Logan eagerly spooned several scoops of casserole deep into his muzzle, scarfing away with great noise and slurp noises. "Hrmmmff... gwddssshhh... hmmmff..."

Marie fluttered by him, huffing. She produced the first words of the last five minutes: "Want thirds, Mister... Big Show?"

"Mrmmff... yes." Logan belched, holding an empty plate out in two hooves. "Please and thank you, babe."

"Guhhh..." Marie held the pot out at limb's length as she piled more onto his platter.

"Huaaaaaaah... now this is what I'm talking about!" And Logan continued to gorge himself.

Flynn sighed, nearly collapsing in his chair. Ariel smiled it off, taking a dainty sip of from a wooden cup of water. Wildcard and Remna barely touched their food.

Kepler nibbled on a humble spoonfull of casserole. "Mmmmm..." He licked his lips between tusks, then smiled. "A humble yet exquisite delicacy! I am rratherr fond of the seasoning that you have applied to the noodles. It cerrtainly isn't native to the Twilight Lands, as farr as I know. Perrchance you might have acquirred it thrrough a chance run-in with a trravelling merrchant? I happen to know that many grriffon chefs fly the main thorroughfarres of this agrriculturral nightscape. In fact, accorrding to the season peddlerrs of Opal Prrefecturre—" He froze in mid-speech.

Several ponies and griffons stared at him blankly.

"Errm..." Kepler's scorpion tail curled up. "...much humble thanks forr the... vittles. Ha-Hah!" He swiftly quieted, taking a meager bite as his ears twitched.

More silence.

Logan scarfed and scarfed away.

Clearing her throat, Kelly leaned forward, smiling. "So... uhm... I heard that your group goes by the name 'Herald.'"

"What?" Remna's brow furrowed as she sat up halfway. "How?! Who told you?!"

Kelly leaned back, instantly grimacing.

"Axan..." Rainbow hissed out the side of her muzzle.

Remna grumbled, ears folding. "We have... been called many things." Her violet features tightened. "None of which are of any consequence."

"Oh." Kelly blinked. "I just... uh... thought that it was a very nifty name, is all."

Remna's eyes narrowed like daggers. "It signifies the righteous purpose with which the ancient organization of seven individuals were charged—"

Bard coughed.

"...again... nothing of consequence," Remna droned.

"I... see..." Kelly nodded limply.

More silence.

"Is... uh..." Ray pointed at Wildcard's plate. "...is everything okay with your food?"

Wildcard merely stared.

"Dun mind Dubya," Bard said. "He dun eat much."

"Oh..." Ray nevertheless smiled. "Something to drink, then? We've got mead."

"Actually... he dun talk much, either."

"Like, not at all," Ariel said.

"Darlin'..." Bard grumbled aside.

"I was only trying to help!" Ariel squeaked, glancing at Rainbow.

Rainbow could only smile nervously.

"I'd call these ponies party poopers," Pinkie murmured. "But I don't think there's a deep enough latrine in all the world!"

"Uhm... which ponies, precisely?" Rarity asked. "Them or us?"

"Both!" Pinkie said, grimacing.

"Would it be statin' the cotton-pickin' obvious in sayin' that nopony actually wants to be here?" Applejack remarked.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Sounds like a family to me."

Marie looked over from where she was placing the pot down. "What was that?"

"Uhm..." Rainbow Dash leaned forward, grinning plastically. "What a handsome family you have here!"

Twilight face-hoofed.

Marie sighed. "Please. Do dig in." She slumped in her chair, trying not to frown. "I made plenty for everypony. And I do mean plenty."

As Rainbow picked away at her platter, Rarity leaned in towards the ghostly group: "Just what crawled into her bonnet and laid moth eggs?"

"She... doesn't seem to appreciate us that much," Fluttershy said, gulping. "Not like Bard's other 'siblings.'"

"You can say that again," Applejack remarked. "Reckon I sense two schools in this here family."

"Like classrooms?" Pinkie Pie blinked.

"I think she means to make a fish analogy, Pinkie," Twilight said.

"Right." Applejack nodded. "And that 'Marie' lady is swimmin' the same currents as Tim and Blue."

"Oh, how wonderful," Rarity droned.

"So..." Marie cleared her throat, folding her hooves from where she sat. "...I hear you're needing some supplies for your trip."

Ariel nearly dropped her fork.

Echo leaned towards Rainbow Dash. "Seems like Tim and Blue weren't too quiet about their discussion."

Rainobw nearly nodded. After a bite or two, she faced across the table and spoke up: "I guess you could say that we're on a... special ambassadorial mission to Bleak's Plummet."

"Right..." Marie nodded back, eyes narrow. "What else could I say about your trip?"

Rainbow blinked.

"Guess that explains the midnighter," Mike said, pointing at Echo. "Makes sense that you'd want to bring a batpony along if you wanted to talk with the others."

"Yeah, well, you know us!" Echo threw on a thin grin. "Guano tossing at twenty paces!"

"Echo..." Bard growled.

"Oh... don't be so hard on 'em, Johnny." Tim munched on a loaf of bread. "Ain't no other way of dealin' with them Seventh Tribers. Nothin' but thieves and scoundrels, the lot of 'em."

Nicole frowned as she stabbed into another mess of casserole and shoved it into her muzzle.

Flynn glanced at her, then at the rest of the family. "Regardless, it's a very important mission. And... we would greatly appreciate anything you might be willing to generously give us."

"Yeah..." Ariel nodded. "We'll help around the farm any way we can."

"She's right, y'know," James said, smiling aside at Blue and the others. "Why... the Herald helped out in barn raising earlier! At around Second Light!"

"Hrmmf..." Blue finished drinking from a cup and snorted. "Any dumbass can raise a barn. A bunch of dumbasses dun deserve to be rewarded for it."

"Yeah..." James fidgeted. "But—"

"I said what I said, didn't I?" Blue snarled.

Tim glared at James.

James bit his lip as his ears folded.

"Well... uh..." Flynn cleared his throat. "If there's something else that can be done to make things easier around here—"

"Life here on the farm is easy enough as it is," Blue said. "Unless you think it shouldn't be."

"What? I... I didn't mean to imply that... erm..." Flynn silenced himself with a few spoonfuls of casserole.

"Rainbow...!" Twilight hissed aside. "Everypony at the table knows that you're the reason Bard and his 'friends' are here."

"Yes, darling," Rarity whispered, as if it was necessary. "Perhaps you should take the stand. Say something to center the conversation."

"We're having a conversation?" Pinkie glanced at Fluttershy. Fluttershy shrugged.

"I... uhm..." Rainbow Dash picked randomly at her food. "...I'm pretty impressed by this farm."

"You?" Tim sniffed. "Impressed? How come?"

"Just... so many diverse ponies and griffons living under one roof... as one community." Rainbow smiled. "It reminds me of home."

Blue squinted. "And just where does a fuzzheaded pegasus like you hail from, exactly?"

"Careful, Rainbow," Twilight said.

Applejack's muzzle scrunched. "Why should she be?"

Rainbow stared calmly across the table. She smiled. "Ponyville."

Bard looked aside.

"It's a little farm town in the center of a kingdom called Equestria."

"'Equestria'... huh?" Marie raised an eyebrow. "That's a fancy name."

"Heh... I figured it was kinda lame and commonplace, actually," Rainbow said.

"She means it sounds fake," Tim remarked.

Rainbow stared squarely at him. "Well, that's rather unfortunate, Timothy."

"It's just 'Tim,'" the stallion said. "Plain and simple."

"Yeah..." Rainbow calmly took a bite. "Mrmmff... so I gathered."

Tim's muzzle dropped.

Pinkie snorted, stifling a giggle. Rarity and Twilight nervously glanced at one another.

"And... in this land of Equestria..." Blue folded his wrinkly fetlocks together, looking at her. "You've got griffons and ponies livin' together in harmony?"

"Oh... you betcha! Saro—er... midnighters too." Rainbow swallowed her last few bites and nodded. "We've got things so orderly that we even shape the seasons and wrap up the weather together."

"Wow..." Kelly blinked. "That must take a lot of pegasi!"

"And magic!" Mike added.

"Or bullcrap," Tim said.

Ray glanced aside. "Tim..."

"Yeah, what? Somepony's gotta say it!" Tim frowned. "This group is totally full of it and that one—" He pointed at Rainbow. "—most of all!"

"Rainbow's my friend and she's tellin' the truth," Bard muttered. "You wanna exercise some Twilight hospitality, then how 'bout takin' her word a mite bit more politely, brother?"

Tim fumed.

"Hmmm... the truth, eh?" Blue took on a wrinkly smirk, leaning forward. "Well then, Miss Rainbow Dash... these Equestria ponies that live so harmoniously..."

"Yes, Mr. Blue?" Rainbow blinked. "What about them?"

Blue smiled. "Were they always so peace-lovin'?"

Silence. Rainbow's friends looked at her.

She kept her eyes locked on Blue. "Well, if you must know, no... not always."

"I knew it!" Blue slapped the table-top, leaning back. "I bet they was warrin' with each other somethin' awful! Just like the Six Ancient tribes!"

"Long, long ago... yes. But like you said... it's Ancient history, Mr. Blue—"

"Still, it's in yer blood."

"By that argument, it's in your blood too."

"But we've shaken off the blood. Dun ya see?" Blue waggled a hoof in the direction of his foster children. "All of my sons and daughters... they come from different households... all that saw fit to abandon them."

Nicole sighed, gazing past her half-eaten plate.

"Tossed them out!" Blue grunted. "Like garbage!" He pointed at Bard. "Him too! And I brought them in under my wing—all fatherly-like. Gave 'em a place to live... not in the name of flesh... but in the spirit of bein' better than the rest of the world! You see... our union is our home. Always have been."

"Where... exactly are you going with this?" Rainbow asked.

Echo grumbled: "You would friggin' ask that?"

"Let her ask!" Blue snorted, then frowned at Rainbow again. "The point I'm tryin' to make is that there's a mighty fine reason to question the motivations of a pony who's so far from home... tryin' her damnedest to be somewhere else."

"What if I told you it was a mission of utmost importance?" Rainbow remarked. "With the fate of this whole world in the balance?"

"Rainbow, could you have put it a better way?" Twilight squeaked.

"Twilight, she was saying exactly what you would have said, darling," Rarity said.

"I know!" Twilight barked. "Which is why it was a bad idea!"

In the meantime, Tim had responded: "I see no important mission befittin' a bunch of thugs and murderers."

"Thugs?" Ariel spat.

"Murderers?" Flynn gasped.

"Hrmmmf..." Remna glanced aside. "...well."

"Mr. Blue... Tim..." Rainbow bore a serious expression. "I assure you... my friends and I are nothing more than friendly, peace-loving adventurers. There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of." With a sigh, she glanced at her bent utensil, then looked aside. "Wildcard... would you mind passing me another fork?"

The goggled griffon nodded, then stretched out his metal hand. Schiiiiiiiing! He magnetically flung a sharp instrument across the table and into Rainbow's hoof.

"Gaaah!" Kelly flinched so hard she nearly fell out of her seat. Mike had to steady her.

Rainbow sighed long and hard. "...thanks."

Marie folded her forelimbs and spoke: "If you're a bunch of peaceful ponies on an ambassadorial mission... then why—precisely—are you headed into midnighter territory?"

Bard paused in sipping from a cup of water to glance across the table at her.

Marie raised an eyebrow. "As anypony in the Twilight Lands can tell you, those who deal with the Seventh Tribe are asking for trouble."

"Yeah..." Tim scoffed, smirking. "Or bringin' it."

"Has it everr occurrred to you..." Kepler calmly remarked, adjusting his spectacles. "That the only rreason that the shadowy equine rrace has everr built up a notorriety in the firrst place was due to a serries of unforrtunate misunderrstandings hailing back frrom a time that none of us have the faculty to rremember?"

"Them's some fancy speech," Blue said. "Comin' from a wild savage, far from home."

Echo winced.

Kepler blinked. "I beg yourr parrdon...?"

"Uhhhm..." Bard raised a hoof. "Let's gab about somethin' else, ya reckon—?"

"Dun think that we're a bunch of illiterate yokels just 'cuz we live so far from Frostknife!" Blue snarled. "We heard all about y'all's Queen-murderin' conspiracy! Just what else were ya cookin' up in those hallowed sanctuaries up in Wyvern Point?!"

"Ohhhhhh here we go..." Rarity sank through the floor.

"And now y'all are bringin' a traitor to the edge of the world... through my very own home just to deal with more scoundrels!" Blue said.

"You... don't underrstand." Kepler fumbled for words, glancing aside at Rainbow and Bard. "It... it isn't at all like you think."

"Oh, sure... everythang's a big heapin' load of misunderstandings wherever you happen to tread!" Tim grunted. "Ever thought that you was goin' about thangs all subjective-like?"

"Duck and cover!" Echo wheezed. "They're trying to get philosophical—"

"We ain't the ones twistin' anythang here, ya varmint!" Blue pointed at the sarosian. "Yer just waitin' to get back with yer own kin! Mixin' it up like the real villains!"

"I wouldn't talk about inbreeding if I were you," Echo droned.

"What was that?!" Blue sat up.

"Okay... uhm..." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "Let's get back to the casserole, please—"

"I worked my whole life to keep this here farm clean from the mess that everypony else has made of the world!" Blue spat. "I won't have you bringin' it down by gettin' us tangled up with them good-for-nothin' fanged shitmongerers!"

"Grnngh!" Nicole slapped her fork down and scooted loudly out of her chair. "That's enough!" She stormed off, sniffling through a frown. "Do I have to hear this every Fivelight?!"

"And where do ya think yer headed off to?!" Blue scowled at her.

"Do you have any idea how much Blue has protected us from the rest of your kind?!" Marie added.

"Marie, please," Ray insisted.

"Nicole..." Mike reached for the sarosian as she passed by.

"Just... b-buzz off!" Nicole huffed, tearing up. "I need... t-to breathe. Just... stay away."

"Whoah..." Echo stood up, wincing. "Babe, wait—"

"'Babe?!'" Tim stood as well, pointing. "Now see here, ya blood sucking shitheap."

"Oh, go choke on a fat one, you overblown mountain of ass!" Echo spat, slapping the table with an angry hoof. "You shovel nothing but bullshit into a poor mare's ear all her life and what do you expect? Love? Pffft... yeah right. I've been to prison and still I haven't heard of worst forms of sodomy!"

"That's it!" Tim frowned. "You get out of my father's house and you stay out—"

"He's right, Tim," Bard said.

"And you!" Tim frowned. "If you don't make like a bear's behind and split—" CLAKKA! Tim leaned back, his crossed-eyes staring at the end of a metal bo-staff aimed squarely between his nose.

Bard snarled from his end of the weapon. "For once in yer damned meaty life, sit down and listen like a good colt." He turned his steely frowned until it fell on Blue. "You call yerself a lovin' father... a fosterin' example of all that's good and wants to be good in Rohbreddenite harmony..." He blew out the side of his muzzle. "And yet you insult yer very own daughter? You treat her like trash and you make her feel sorry for even tryin' to stand up for herself?"

"You ain't been here, 'Bard'," Blue grumbled. "So dun pretend like you can talk about family."

"I've been gone for ages... which is precisely why I can." He stared broadly at Tim, Blue, and Marie. "Have y'all gotten so negative... so venomous and untrustin' of all thangs that walk and fly this earth... that ya gotta turn this household into a prison?"

"It's not like that, Johnny," Marie said.

"Seems an awful lot like it to me," Bard growled.

"She's... sh-she's right, Johnny." Ray gulped, but nevertheless smiled. "We... we get along fine on the farm!"

"Only because you have no dayum choice in the matter."

"We've... had no reason to choose otherwise," Mike said.

"See?! That's the problem!" Bard swung the staff until it was pointing at Blue. "He's never let you have a choice! He just clouds yer heads with scary, paranoid thoughts and pretends to call it 'love' and 'respect.'" Bard leaned back with a sigh. "Well, the moment that bubble breaks, t'ain't no sense in tryin' to hole yerself inside it once more."

"That's why you left, then, isn't it?" Marie said. "You suddenly 'saw the light' that nopony else here saw... and suddenly you were right about everythang and the rest of us wrong?!" She frowned. "Dun you realize how selfish that sounds?"

Bard hung his head. "Now Marie, I never done made any demands from the rest of the family—"

"But you are now," Tim grumbled. "That's what it all comes down to. Havin' yer way... even at the expense of the farm!"

"Tim—"

"At the cost of all that Blue has built! For us!" Tim pointed. "Haven't you learned yer lesson from Amber?"

Applejack winced.

Rainbow glanced curiously at her in confusion. Then she looked at Bard.

The life had utterly left the Desperado's eyes. Even Wildcard could see it. The griffon shifted uneasily in his seat.

"That's right," Tim continued, nodding with a brooding expression. "You had yer chance at another kind of life. It was a foolish choice... but you made it. And look where it got you!"

Bard closed his eyes. After a deep breath, he muttered: "Tim... yer trottin' on wet soil..."

"Dun think that you can threaten me. I know the truth."

"No..." Bard still had his eyes shut. "...you only know the truth as Blue wants you to."

"What?" Kelly glanced about curiously. "What's he going on about?"

"Never y'all mind," Blue grumbled, eyeing Bard. "Yer older brother ran into trouble... trouble that he would never have ran into if he didn't insist on disobeyin' his elder."

"Is..." Ray cleared his throat. "Is she the one, Johnny?" He looked across the table. "The one that Tim is always talking about...?"

"I told you not to mind—!" Blue insisted.

"And why shouldn't they anymore?!" Bard finally opened his eyes—and they were flaring. His grip of the bo-staff tightened until his fetlock whitened. "I thought it would do them good to live on like it was nopony's problem but my own. But reckon I was wrong about that! "

"Johnny—"

"You just couldn't stop layin' it on thick, could ya, old stallion?!" Bard spat. "Y'know... for a second there, I thought we almost had something in common so many years ago. I thought we reached a position where we might have respected each other! But then Melody shoulda taught me different! Or at least, it should have!" He hollered: "All you wanna do is make the whole world miserable!"

"That's enough—"

"I could move on, but you couldn't!" Bard shouted. "Why do ya have to make the whole world feel the pain of yer dead wife!"

"Johnny!" James exclaimed.

"Rrrrrgh!" Blue sat up, shaking all over. "That's it! You are out of here! All of y'all!"

"Mister Blue, please—" Rainbow started.

"I mean it! If y'all aren't out of here by First Light, then I'm tellin' the local Guard! And I can bet every last ounce of blood in my body that the criminal likes of ya won't wanna be caught by them!"

Bard shook... huffed... and finally stormed out on heavy hooves.

Wincing, Wildcard immediately flew after him.

Blue was still shaking as he spat: "And y'all can forget about yer damned supplies! Ain't no way in hell we're helpin' ya get nowhere! Even if it ends at the end of a midnighter noose!" He grunted. "Y'all can go throw yerselves off the edge of the world and drown on yer own!"

Silence.

Rainbow and her friends watched as the rest of Bard's "siblings" sat in silence, hanging their heads.

One by one, the members of the Herald quietly... awkwardly abandoned their meals and trotted out of the room.

Remna stood up with a surly breath. "It was generous of you to share the meal. I wish I could say that I enjoyed it, but..." Her violet ears flicked. "...your company was very miserable... even by draconian standards." She turned tail and left.

Rainbow shared a pained glance with Twilight as she left.

Logan was the last one lingering at the table. "So... uh..." He blinked, rubbing his stained muzzle. "...guess this means that a fifth helping is out of the question, huh?" He burped, then put on a nervous smile.

Comments

[RoboRed]

Ohhhhohoho....I am just waiting for everything to explode. The truth behind Bard's history with the farm, Chandler's forces that are invariably on their way to the farm...stuff's gonna get messy soon.

But god damn...I cannot wait for Blue to get his comeuppance. What a stubborn and downright ignorant asshole. I was sooo expecting it to happen during the dinner.

Looks like the Talon have a plan to head over to the Twilight Lands as well.

Also, I can't help but get the feeling that Nicole might be leaving with the group. We'll just have to see what happens in the next few hours.

Nicole smiled sweetly. "You must love Theams very much."

...Why do I think I hear the sounds of ships setting sail?

"And I know it." Echo pointed at Rainbow. "I'm sure Rainbow and her ghost-lesbians can sense it.

Pfffft.

[Frodo]

Breaking three million words with the longest chapter to date? Austraeoh milestones all around!

But seriously, congratulations to IC are in order. Not many authors have the stamina or skill to keep such a high quality fic going so long. Here's to several more great years of Austraeoh!

[Saturn Scribes]

So no Luna but we got some more poking at the bear that is Bard's past. Whelp either way this things bound to explode at some point. Everybody grab your bomb gear and hide in the shelter! This things set to blow! *takes own advice*

[IceKitsune]

Ok a nice long chapter glad to see it! Bard saying he used to be the older one is really interesting it kind of makes me think possibly clones or some form of necromancy is going on here. It would explain Nicole's recollection of her life and the lack of kids. Its likely that Blue refused to resurrect Amber which is why Bard finally left.

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

Mr. Big - Gov't Mule

[Sharp Quill]

Back when I was the older one

Obviously, time flows more rapidly in the twilight lands, so the others aged far more than Johny while he was out desperading. This also gives them more time than you'd think for them to be on their way before Chandler et al catches up to them.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

By the throne... No wonder Bard left that place, Blue is an absolute buffoon, idiot and jerk wrapped into one! Seriously, it's bad enough that he's trying to get rid of Bard, but insulting his foster daughter by saying bad things about bat ponies?! That's just over the top abuse!

Logan was the last one lingering at the table. "So... uh..." He blinked, rubbing his stained muzzle. "...guess this means that a fifth helping is out of the question, huh?" He burped, then put on a nervous smile

And God damn it Logan!

[IceKitsune]

7294068

Wouldn't Axan know that though? Or any member of the Herald for that matter, which would mean that they would know they didn't need to rush.

[Centerpoint360]

I feel like we're gonna hear something like "600 years on this farm" or some shtick.

Something big is goin on. Can't wait to see.

[Sharp Quill]

7294082 Eh, I was trying to be funny. Unless it turns out I was right. Then I'll claim I called it.

[Swan Song]

Okay.

[Rayvinne]

"It's like your mane was made to catch the starlight like a goddamn mirror."

This reminded of Victory Goddamn Sullivan from Uncharted.

Also, ghost lesbians.

[Acceleron]

Woo this family sure has some skeleton in the closet they don't want out. Probably cannibalism or something just as egregious that makes Bard hate Blue for not telling the truth. It must be bad enough that it would be like lighting a match in a room full of gas if it got out.

Hope we get a new chapter tomorrow, guess IC has been busy.

[Cotton Fluff]

"If we eliminate him, not only will we be sacrificing our own morals, but we will be shattering the tenuous faith that the citizens of Rohbredden have in the remnants of this beleaguered kingdom!"

Yes, lets not save Rainbow Dash the trouble of having another hunt for her blood because it's inconvenient. It would only shatter the citizen's faith if word got out that he was murdered, it's all in how you sell it. There are many ways for the Minister to die that would not be immediately connected to internal strife.

I don't think I'm the only one here who believes that Rainbow Dash could do with as few interruptions as possible on her way to the Dark Side."
"No." Windburst gulped, his headcrest drooping. "It... sounds precisely like something Chandler would do."

This whole scheme is something Chandler would do, why not go a little deeper.

"So, in other words, not only is Rainbow Dash being threatened here," Windburst grumbled. "But the whole future of this plane... assuming there's even a down feather's chance of the Central Guard stopping her."

You had a perfectly good solution a few paragraphs before, let's go back to that.

Raptr glanced up. "Uhhh..." He shifted. "Just that—if the Court commanded us to go where Chandler and Seraphimus are going—"

Interesting, might the Talon be rejoining the East Horse party?

Nice to see Echo getting some screen time here rather than just a source for witty one-liners, It would be great to see him become more of a main character like Bard and WC instead of just a side character like the rest of the Herald.

This ended pretty horribly, and there is about no way that Blue and family won't tell Chandler everything when he comes a knocking.

[Phoenix Kitten]

"I'd pay to see that!" Pinkie said. Upon receiving a glare from Rarity, she smirked. "Whaaaat? I totally would!"

Careful Pinks, Pinkamena seems to be lurking just below the surface now.

"And I know it." Echo pointed at Rainbow. "I'm sure Rainbow and her ghost-lesbians can sense it. So why hold it in? Our supplies are on the line and we got places to be. So why fritter and waste the time anymore?"

*snnnnnrk*

"Ray... listen to me and listen hard," Bard said, staring the griffon down. "There ain't no way on earth or in the Spring Havens that yer gonna get me to sit down and eat vittles at the same table as ol' Blue... ever."
Thirty minutes later, Bard sat across the table from Blue, his limbs locked in place and his muzzle frozen in a frown.

Gilligan cuts are amazing.

Nicole frowned as she stabbed into another mess of casserole and shoved it into her muzzle.

We might have another companion, the fact that she knows how to get at the supplies in the shelter is just another flag.

I kind of want Blue try to get Tim and Marie to try and beat up on the Herald, and see them all get planted in the ground.

Someone mentioned infanticide awhile back...did Blue kill Bard's son?

-Companions are abound, frozen spectres hound. Utaan.

[KMCA]

"...your company was very miserable... even by draconian standards."

For AXAN to complain about that when her standards of keeping equines company include imolation, crusifixion and the death of entire civilizations.

Wooow. That's an insult far beyond the likes of any others thrown around lately.

[Krazyfan1]

I sincerely Hope Blue gets turned into a shivering gibbering mess, realizing how utterly wrong he is, and gets left where he is...alone

[Spade-Heart]

I just realized... If IC hadn't broken the 'one chapter per day' tradition, we'd over one quarter through the next book. I'm not complaining here, it's just something I noticed.

Anyways, Nicole is cool and I'm glad we got to see more of her. Something for those very few who were salty about EchoxAriel never happening. And by very few I mean myself.

I kinda wish Bard would have whacked Tim. That would have been quite satisfying.

[YoshiFawful64]

Is there some weird time travel/stasis stuff going on with Bard?

"I do!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "Woohoo! One Mare Sneaking Mission! Well... Five Mare Sneaking Mission!" Her eyes crossed. "Erm... Five and a Half?"

Wouldn't that be more like one and five halves? And could that be simplified to a 3.5 Mare Sneaking Mission?

PS: I know 7293977 already pointed it out, but...

THREE MILLION WORDS!

*awkward cough* That is all.

[Moonlit Oasis]

I feel like IC is prepping us to the idea of Nicole joining them. I could totally see that coming in handy somewhere.

[Luminard]

there are no supplies in that bunker is there....IT'S ACTUALLY PEOPLE!!

[Phoenix Kitten]

7294334
I take all blame for that one, for pointing out that at the one chapter a day pace we'd only have another year and a half of this series at most.

[Codaulux]

I'm all for seeing Axan substitute the burning of mortals for the burning of mortals.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Flynn groaned. "I dunno about you, but I'm kinda sorta wanting to hop off that dayum train already."

I seriously hope this doesn't mean what I think it means.

That aside, the awkward dinner where almost everything comes out, was hilarious up until the reasons that made it awkward started coming out. Now hopefully comes mending those bonds, or at the least the resolution of the conflict in some form. This farm sounds a lot like North Korea in a way, they say everything is so horrible outside of where they are, and while it is true that there are awful things out there, there is also joys beyond ones wildest dreams.

[Kepler]

This is depressing.

[Hestia]

It's all secret and lies on this farm . . .

[Hap]

"Well, I ain't much a fan of what he took away to keep me here!" Bard's voice was shouting at this point.

Aww shit, is Bard a gelding?

"If you ask me..." Fluttershy smiled slightly. "...Echo is getting smoothed out enough as it is."

Also, is Fluttershy implying what I think she's implying with this comment?

[Cynderfall]

Ooo Ooo Ooo!!! What if under the farm is a magic pool like the Mirror Pool?!

Someponies like Amber and Melody could have left the farm and died, making Tim and Blue mad while everyone else stays and gets revived, restored, ect by the pool.

But that's just a theory, a mad theory. Thanks for reading.

[Booster Spice]

Im now thinking the farm works by extracting life force, life time, by the crops, or those little pouch things are breeders or Dune World style Womb Tanks.

That, and Blue and Tim needs to be used as clubs for beating up the local guard if they arrive, and each other until they do so.

This entire place is giving me the feeling that they all need to be sat round the tactical nuclear fireplace.

More likely Im really low on sleep and halucinating badly again.

[mastermenthe]

7295053
Was that House Ordo or House Tlelaxu?

[zaponator]

Bard's a changeliiiing~

[Acceleron]

7295264

That's a pretty good hypothesis. What if the changelings under Chrysalis that stayed behind were not killed by Verlax but, had their memories wiped.

[Keris]

I am rather curious what will be behind all this secret and lie stuff at this farm, i don't suspect something on a super villain level.
Maybe some bandit activity and the foster children where 'adopted' since they where the only ones left alive or something but then there probably would be more traffic around the farm, or maybe it was just like that in the past.
Then again what was bard saying when he said back when he was the oldest, does that mean tim was adopted later or do they have another system they just call age on this farm.
I guess there is simply not enough information out yet to make any theories, or i just don't see it yet.

also

Bard will look after Bard.

I guess its supposed to mean Wildcard will look after Bard unless Bard suddenly became a loner.

[MercySewerPyro]

Augh, the suspense is killing my poor pyro butt. What's the big secret?? Clearly it has something to do with the dead wife and Melody and the weirdness... But it's driving me up the wall!

[Velvet]

Climactic chapter

[Xarchels]

It took me 4 months but I've finally caught up ! That was amazing awesome !
And now let's wait for the next chapter.

And after reading austraeoh abridged, I was thinking. If the sword of solstice is in Val Roa and rainbow can talk with Luna non-stop for 3 days, could we have some Noble Jury in the next chapter ?

[Emotional Flight]

Luna is going to be so confused...

[MidnightReflection]

"She has lost all sense of reasoning," Keris continued. "All she possesses is anger... sorrow... and an unquenchable thirst for revenge."

There is a word for that. A name.

Shell

[Phoenix Kitten]

7296144
Welcome aboard the Noble Jury/Lunar Ninth.
Your cabin is on the 4th floor, please, take every opportunity to keep it well stocked with status cures and comfort food.
The kitchen is on the same floor, and the gym is in the auxiliary hangar, if you need to grind your endurance stat.
Please, enjoy the rest of the flight.

[Metal Aura]

I am disappointed that the table was not flipped over.

In all seriousness this chapter was well worth the wait because if you divide word count by the number of days hiatus you get an average length chapterset. Echo is the best character in these past few chapters.

[Keebroo]

Tense tensions tensing.

[Eyes of Avo]

Well Blue, you tell that guard and you'll never see the next fivelight. Remna might just get an old taste for pony back....and nothing would make happier.

[Rudy45]

7296467 My cabin is right below yours and I tend to practice my bagpipes when I wake up, so I apologize in advance. Hope you enjoy loud jigs!

[destinedjagold]

He gestured towards the walls, still rumbling with the stampede of wyverns outside.

Methinks this is a typo.

"Jee, I dunno," Echo spoke with a smirk. "Dinner with a show, for free?"

"Echo, would you like to choke on the Element of Loyalty?" Rainbow spat.

"Ray... listen to me and listen hard," Bard said, staring the griffon down. "There ain't no way on earth or in the Spring Havens that yer gonna get me to sit down and eat vittles at the same table as ol' Blue... ever."

---

Thirty minutes later, Bard sat across the table from Blue, his limbs locked in place and his muzzle frozen in a frown.

DOUBLE LOL

[Revan]

Past 3 million words (as Frodo and YoshiFawful64 have noted; congrats IC. #theeastneversleeps), and the tension's ratcheting higher and higher. Everything's on a collision course - Byre, Seraphimus, Blue, Tim, Bard, the Herald, and Rainbow Dash. Everyone please evacuate to the 'Armageddon Survival' Bunker.

[Leftover of Saikano]

That always happens when I have dinner at a friend's family's house.

[Hazard]

Not resolved, yet. I calculate a high chance that excrement shall impact the rotating air-moving device.

7296731 tension so thick you'd smell it if not for the fungus.

[Quiet Wind]

What a lovely family.

[Nevlamas]

A friendly reminder that Bard and consorts for some reason consistently seem to forget about: they have an infinite martial superiority over the locals. Nothing stops them from burning the whole place to the ground and then commence plundering and pillaging their merry way to the edge. If they were the shady figures the regional eminences are so incompetently trying to paint them as, they wouldn't be sitting there discussing it with them.

Talking about honesty, here's another reminder that we still don't know Echo's actual name.

7294453 TWILIGHT BUNKER IS PEOPLE

7300209 You end up threatening people with combat staffs?

[Revan]

7294234 I agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. Also, it's spelled 'Crucifixion'. Don't feel bad about it, though. I've screwed it up too.