The morning sun rose over purple mountains, its golden bands casting shadows between the sharp crags of rock that divided a myriad of sloping hillsides bespeckled with dewy glass and pastel wildflowers. For miles on end, the earth undulated with jagged spikes, breaking the topsoil in several places so that the calcified grayness of the world met the dawn's eager glow. A majestic hush fell over the land, with nary a bird or a semblance of rustling life to be heard.
In the middle of this beautifully empty landscape, within the nebulous shadow of a lingering cloud, an assortment of wooden beams and splintery lumber lingered in chaotic disarray. Curved pieces of oak rose like discarded whalebones, protecting nothing but the scattered refuse of crumbled supply crates and the remnants of rusted metal weaponry.
It was an airship—at least in some past life. The scars of war had faded from its once-varnished surface, and years of neglect within the abandoned valley had rendered the rickety surfaces to a jaded brown mesh of water-logged detritus. Curiously enough, a flimsy shred of fabric had survived the atrophy, and for a minute or two it flapped like the glorious banner it once was in the valley's wind before once more crumpling to a limp death. The faded colors of a once-lauded matriarch blended with the shadows, surrendering to the silence of that forgotten part of the world.
It was here that the silence finally broke. With a rustling of feathers, a quartet of hooves plopped down atop the plush grass bordering the wreck for the first time in decades. The pony lingered, fidgeting a bit. Then, with a shake of a midnight blue saddlebag, she shuffled around the wreck, her sapphiric legs breaking through the scattered beams of light that the crumbled bulkheads of the zeppelin had made.
She lingered at a cannon-sized gap in the port-side hull of the vessel. Crouching low, Rainbow Dash dipped her head into the space before her. A ightning pendant rattled from where it hung from her neck, and her ruby eyes squinted as they peered into the dimly lit space between the earth and the whalebone spine of the crashed vessel.
With a flaring of her nostrils, she pulled her head out and trotted lonesomely around the bulk of the craft. Another gust of wind blew through the valley, making her ears twitch. She came to a scuffling stop along the edge of the ship's battered bow. Her hooves knocked loose pebbles that rattled down a series of craggy stone steps, as if the landscape that the airship had crashed into years ago was constructed of natural stairs. Her eyes followed the tiny rocks rolling loose, until they disappeared into the high grass of a cleft of earth below.
Then, with a bilnk, her eyes caught something else. With a single flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash coasted down by about two dozen feet. She landed before a flat plot of land, lingering just east of the crashed zeppelin. Here, there were four mounds of stone lying equidistant from one another. What's more, in front of each stone, a rusted sword or a polearm had been stabbed deep into the shallow earth. She trotted past each, glancing at the hilts, noticing as tiny lengths of metal fiber hung from each. The last one in praticular was more intact, she realized, for a tiny tag hung off the end of it. With a gentle hoof, she raised the tag and turned it around until the lettering glistened in the dawnlight.
The words were rusted. Faded. Try as she might, Rainbow Dash could not make out a name. She did, however, recognize the name of the country. Glancing down, she saw that the sword that the tag hung from was skewering the shredded remains of a brightly colored beret, pinning it permanently to the earth.
With a calm breath, she looked around the immediate area. She spotted a patch of earth that was slightly raised than the rest. Softly, she trotted over, giving the ground a scrutinizing glance. She saw another sword, this time lying on its side and entangled deep with the roots of the valley's grass. A slender white shape clung to the hilt, the color of eggshells. Rainbow Dash dug two of her hooves into the soil, parting the top layer a bit. Sure enough, the skeletal frame of a unicorn lingered just a few inches beneath the ground. As soon as she made out a horn poking through a helmet of armor, she withdrew her hooves and left the body alone.
Stepping back, she gazed at the body in its relation to the four piles of rocks. The pony appeared to have been seated, facing west towards the four graves when it died, sword in hoof. She couldn't begin to guess how long ago the flesh had begun to decompose, its body adding nutrients to the grassy valley.
With a sigh, Rainbow Dash turned to leave, but she stopped herself. She glanced down at the earth. Between the body, the stones, and the airship, a patch of lavender flowers had bloomed. Their petals added brilliant color to the muted malaise of the abandoned valley.
Not even thinking twice, the pegasus reached down and plucked a stem or two with the crook of her hoof. She examined the delicate flora closely, her eyes a bit too jaded for what was otherwise a whimsical gesture. Nevertheless, after a few seconds of quiet observation, she opened a pocket of her satchel and gently deposited the delicate strands within.
Once she was done, the pegasus spun around, broke into a swift gallop, and veritably launched herself at the east horizon.
Hours later, the foggy haze refused to clear up. Perpetual rolling mist greeted Rainbow Dash from jagged peak to jagged peak of the lifeless highlands. And yet, with each line of craggy earth that the equine scaled, she saw flimsy bands of color.
The lavender she had plucked from the airship ruins didn't stop there. Wildflowers had utterly penetrated the deathly landscape over the centuries, devouring whatever patch of rich soil was available between the rows of exposed stone. In a way, they formed a path for her, a highway of pastel joy amidst utter bleakness. She followed them lazily, if nothing else but for the fact that they gradually led her eastward.
Rainbow Dash was flying at a leisurely pace, for what it was worth. She flapped her wings only once every half a minute, allowing the cool winds and the constant breeze through the sloping valley to carry her for miles upon miles. As she glanced down at the serpentine flower fields, her eyes registered neither joy nor lethargy. Everything about the flight was like clockwork, and her feathers sprang into action only when they needed to, lifting her forward and upward just in time to avoid yet another mountain peak that sliced ineffectually towards her fuzzy blue belly.
There were times when Rainbow Dash rested; there were times when she didn't. Occasionally, she would stop flying altogether, typically picking the eastern clifface of a given land ridge to sit and face the direction that the sun had risen hours earlier.
During one of these "rest stops," her stomach gurgled outrageously. She promptly opened her saddlebag and unwrapped a daffodil sandwich. It was freshly baked: both the bread and the contents thereof. As soon as she took a crunchy bite of it, she hummed in delight, though her face didn't register a smirk. A lingering silence hung off every expression she had to donate the landscape around her, even as she scarfed down a delicious treat. When her meal was done, she sat for a while with her forelimbs hugging her lower legs, her eyes plastered to the gray horizon before her. For a while, she appeared as distant as the mountaintops looming around her.
Eventually, with a sigh, Rainbow Dash kicked off the cliff and flew directly eastward. She may not have looked it, but the pegasus had been reenergized. The meal had a part to play in that, and when Rainbow Dash found even slopes of earth, she actually touched her hooves down to gallop for a space in time instead of fly. When her hooves got tired, she simply flapped her wings instead, easing her body into a delightful glide.
In such a fashion, she continued with her quiet and graceful scaling of the world.
Once every hour, the pegasus would glance to her left—towards the northern horizon. The sky was empty, and the hills were devoid of life. Still, that didn't stop her from glancing—more and more frequently with each passing hour.
At last, about two hours after her meal, she craned her head towards her left and squinted once more. She saw it: a pulse of light that matched the color of the flowers in her saddlebag. The pegasus' heart skipped a beat, and she slowed her flight so that she could make a better observation of the otherworldly beacon.
The lavender pulse loomed beyond the shadowed bodies of mountains, as if something indescribably bright was capable of piercing the high-altitude rock formations from the opposite side. As Rainbow Dash slowed down, it appeared as if the source of the light was speeding up. The pegasus flapped her wings and twirled her tail, adjusting her wind speed so that—as best as she could tell—she was flying parallel to the phenonemon.
This type of navigation continued for another hour or two. The day was coming to a close, forming dim shadows across the sharp mountain peaks that Rainbow Dash continued to skim by. As darkness approached, the lavender light grew no brighter. It stayed consistent, like a star, save for its gradual movement along the horizon north of her.
Rainbow felt a shudder roll through her as the chill of evening melted into the valley. To throw off the growing goosebumps, and also in anticipation of the nocturnal journey ahead, she flapped her wings, accelerating her flight so that she flew ahead of the lavender beacon. The craggy hills grew darker and darker. As a precautionary measure, Rainbow Dash gained altitude, flying high enough until she felt certain she could coast along into the starlight, unimpeded by any mountainsides looming ahead.
It was then that the world bequeathed Rainbow Dash its most beautiful canvas yet. In the absence of maretropolises and their incessant torchlight, utter darkness loomed across the valley, and through this onyx field bled a tapestry of stars, nebulae, and milkyway bands. Rainbow Dash craned her neck multiple times to look up into the violet haze of distant star systems twinkling against oblivion. At some point, she let out a breath and simply twirled until she was gliding upside down.
She coasted over the world like a leaf gliding across a black pond, all the while her eyes drank in the cosmos looming before her. The cold chill of night numbed her wing muscles, so that she felt as if an invisible hoof was carrying her forward, dragging her like a blue sled across the universe, with all the colors and specks of light available for her eyes to devour.
When she exhaled, it was the most lonesome of breaths, and yet it had a squeaky sound to it, like the starved semblance of a song. Her lips almost curved into a smile.
Pebbles rattled loudly as her flank brushed against the knifing edge of a mountainside. With a voice-cracking yelp, Rainbow kicked off the rock before her body could plunge into the errant plateau in front of her. Her heart beated swiftly like a shrew's for a minute or two, but she calmed down, curving around the jagged mountain until she evened out into a steady glide once more.
Catching her breath, she looked fitfully north, as if in search of her anchor.
It took a bit of scanning the blacker-than-black horizon, but she eventually saw the lavender glow. In spite of how brightly it pulsed, there was no hint of a reflection across the pale stone mountains. She couldn't even discern a shifting of shadows from the slowly shifting light source.
Somehow, this didn't surprise the pegasus in the least.
Rainbow Dash yawned. Having a near-brush with death had very little effect on the onset of exhaustion. With a muted groan, Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her pendant and ran the edge of her hoof against the ruby lightning bolt. She hummed in a low tone, as if channeling something deep and earnest through her being. With little delay, a crimson beam swam forth from her necklace in a swath, illuminating the mountaintops directly beneath her.
Rainbow scanned cliff after cliff. At last, she saw an even slab of stone along a slope's eastern edge. With a twirl, she landed swiftly atop the bed of rock. Reaching into her saddlebag, Rainbow Dash pulled loose and layed out a white blanket that still smelled of having been freshly laundered. She stifled another yawn, trotted around three times, and eventually plopped down, lying in a curled fashion across the plush fabric.
The scent of the blanket soothed her, and her ears twitched as if serenaded by the phantom sounds of laughter. For the first time in nearly twenty-four hours, a smile alighted the pony's lips, and she allowed it to carry her softly into the starlit throes of slumber.
When Rainbow Dash awoke the next morning, the lavender light was miles ahead of her. She caught up with it in no time, "no time" being a brisk and breezy three hours.
The night's exhaustion still hadn't peeled away from her body. She solved this by dousing it completely. Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash spun through the air, twirled, and divebombed her way into the edge of a deep river. She broke through the cold currents like a torpedo before kicking against the banks and leaping back out of the surface with an explosion of water droplets. It took only three or four swift spins in the air to become comfortably "dry," again, and Rainbow Dash was left with a lingering chill that didn't allow for any sleepiness. To stave off the shivers, she let loose a giggle or two, embracing the frenzied moment with a bit of foalish whimsy.
She found herself glancing towards the north, eying the lavender pulse with greater and greater fervor. Somehow, just the mere sight of it brought warmth, forming an equilibrium with the chill of the impulsive water dousing. Rainbow glanced back at her midnight blue saddlebag, then winced with folded ears at how stupidly she had soaked the article along with herself. Pausing on a hilltop, she opened the bags and examined the contents. The interior of the satchel was dry. She exhaled with relief. The container was made of solid stuff—royal stuff.
Kicking off the ground, Rainbow Dash resumed flying east, this time following the slithering river that had collected at the feet of the mountain range to the west. Here, the landscape evened out, sloping donward into an emerald valley where the soil was richer and the grass lay thicker.
The wildflowers did not end; as a matter of fact, they flourished here, and Rainbow Dash wondered if perhaps this lush valley was the source of their pollinating. A wonderful fragrance filled the air, tempting Rainbow Dash to fly lower and lower so that she could enjoy the aroma. She gave in, and soon she found herself clipping over the top of waving trees. To the east, beyond a bend in the river, a dense forest loomed. Here, birds flitted from branch to branch, filling the air with a song that Rainbow had sorely missed over the past three days.
Around noontime, the beacon to the north had slowed to a crawl. Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-air, hovering in place, gazing persistently at the pulsating light with a mildly worried expression.
An hour passed, and the beacon shifted north, albeit slightly. The lavender light fluctuated every few minutes, as if a pulsar was being reborn in the distant heart of it. The longer Rainbow stared at it, the more she felt the onset of a dizzy spell.
So, she took her mind off it, and her eyes as well. She touched down on the edge of the forest and trotted leisurely through a cluster of trees. Cicadas rattled away on either side of her as her hooves kicked over the warm blades of grass. The smell of fruit lingered in the air, and she practically gasped. Spinning like a prismatic top, she darted her eyes from tree to tree.
At last, she saw splotches of pale color lingering among lower branches. Galloping towards it, she suddenly skidded to a halt, blinking. They were peaches. She made a wretching expression, turned around completely, and resumed her trot east.
As afternoon fell, the lavender light lingered to the north, and so did she. Rainbow Dash sat with her back against a tree, dangling one lower limb over another. She chewed absent-mindedly on the stalk of a dry piece of high grass that she had plucked from the earth. Lazily, she sat there for hours, watching birds chase each other from branch to branch among the fruit trees.
The place was fragrant, like nature's perfume shop. All Rainbow had to do was look down, and she saw that she was practically wading in flowers. A bee or two zipped from bud to bud, with one of them landing errantly on Rainbow's left rear hoof. She simply let the leg go slack until the insect blurred away, stinger and all, and she resumed her anxious squirming.
At some point, tiredness set in, and she napped without thinking about it. All was black and blissful, save for a last second clashing of gray-soaked images, like mortar shells splashing across a bed of dry bones. Rainbow awoke with a gasp, her muzzle shining with a coat of sweat. She caught her breath, feeling the warm weight of the world drape once more around her like a blanket. She jerked her head to the north. The beacon had moved slightly ahead of her, though its pace was still just as lazy.
With flaring nostrils, Rainbow allowed her eyes to fall once more to the earth. The flowers there matched the color of the beacon, and she couldn't tell if it was ironic or just plain silly.
Still, a completely different impulse overtook her. She reached down, plucked four stems loose, and slid the lavender petals into her satchel. Then, after stretching and cracking her limbs, she flapped her wings and took off into the air for some much-needed flight.
Rainbow Dash swiftly overtook the northern light. It didn't bother her in the least. She figured that the two would be even with each other again after a few hours. This confidence carried her in a wholesome glide, sailing over denser and denser trees as the landscape rose gradually skyward. There were no mountains here like in the craggy range to the west, but the entire continent nonetheless felt like it was ramping upwards towards the fall of evening. Rainbow Dash marveled at lush trees clinging to every slope and cliffface and plateau within sight. The whole world took on a dark green tint, like an emerald bedsheet spread beneath a dire eclipse.
As the first of several stars broke through the clouds, something shone brighter than the rest. At first, Rainbow Dash thought it was the beacon, but she was only having a momentary lapse of reason. She was awoken by a beam of energy emanating from her pendant of all places.
A gasp escaped her lips. Her muzzle shone pale upon the onset of darkness, and she flew up higher and higher until she had an unobstructed view of the horizon around her. It took a twirl or two, but at last she saw the source of the light, the same source that had seen her first.
Breathless and wordless, Rainbow Dash bolted southeast, heading directly towards a cleft of earth rising sharply out of the ground. Here, she perched on the branch of a tree planted precariously along a hilly peak. She stepped out onto the very edge of the wooden limb and tilted her upper body until her ruby lightning pendant caught the silver glow completely.
High above, a moon rose. A full moon. It took only a few seconds—almost more easily than the pegasus remembered—but the enchantment within her pendant zeroed in on its source, and a nebulous voice wafted magically across the chilly sky, settling around the pony's fuzzy ears.
"Rainbow Dash? Art thou present? We seek ye, our little pony. How doth thou fair?"
With a deep breath, the pegasus' voice cracked. "I'm awesome, Luna. Thanks for asking."
"Alas, it fills us with great joy to once again be hearing from thee. Thy voice carrieth good health with it. We trust thou hath traveled a great distance since the last time we enjoyed a wholesome conference."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, shrugging her shoulders from side to side. "Eh... kinda sorta... I-I guess..."
"Rainbow Dash...?"
"Yeah, your highness?"
"Something troubleth thee. The feelings of an equine lost in the night hath no way of escaping our esteemed vision. Hath thou endured more trials over the past month?"
With a sigh, Rainbow Dash smiled tiredly. "Yeah, Princess. As a matter of fact, things happened." She plopped down on her haunches and fought off a yawn. "Y'know... just a few things..."
"It appeareth to us that thou hath been through a great deal of duress, and yet thou hath performed admirably, Rainbow Dash."
The mare's ruby eyes twitched in the moonlight. She tilted her head up and spoke towards the stars. "Huh? How... how can you say that?"
"How can we not? Thou hast endured so many disastrous trials, and yet thou hath emerged triumphantly, and with beloved companions who are willing to call thee a trusted and valued friend."
"But... like... at what cost, your highness?" Rainbow Dash gulped as the pendant around her neck flickered. "I used to be an element of harmony. You remember harmony, don't you, Luna?"
"Verily, we do."
"So how can you possibly be proud of me? I've... y'know..." Rainbow's ears drooped as she allowed her snout to fall towards the twigs and leaves of the tree beneath her. "I've broken a few huge 'no-no' rules since I first set out from Equestria."
"Wouldst thou care to elaborate on them? Or would it be far too taxing of thy spirit?
Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth. After half a minute, she exhaled with a flick of her tail and murmured, "When I first started flying east, I wasn't exactly... the most cheerful of ponies. And, yet I was. It's weird."
"We art listening..."
Rainbow Dash rolled over like a pegasus on a velvety couch and sighed towards the heavens. "Everything went by so fast. I must have scaled two or three continents in less than two months. I just wanted... y'know... to fly fly fly flyfly..." She gulped. "I wanted to dazzle ponies... to make a bunch of them drool at my awesomeness, but I never wanted to make friends."
"Indeed. We acknowledge that such was the nature of thy countenance at the time."
Rainbow's face was pale as she murmured, "You think I was a little bit suicidal, Your Highness?"
Luna was silent for a while, but eventually her voice emanated from the pendant along silver streams. "'Self-destructive' wouldst be a better term to describe thee at the time, Rainbow Dash, for we do not think that it was necessarily the daring pegasus on the outside that thou had desired to destroy..."
Rainbow droned, "I was a monster, Luna. I was half chaos and all miserable." She rolled to her side, nuzzling the branch like it was a pillow as she gazed lonesomely into the hazy miles of moonlit forests. "I expected to be dead in a month. And yet, I didn't pass away. Heck, I'm still alive, and I'm not even sure I know how that works. I mean, it's been—what—eight months already?"
"Eleven, our little pony."
She winced at that. "Yikes." He gulped. "Chaos metal coffins do wonders, huh?"
"Thou hadst possessed more than the components of chaos to extend thy livelihood, Rainbow Dash...."
"Like what, huh?" Rainbow chuckled bitterly. "What's really, truly so awesome about me that has kept me alive while all of my best friends have bit the dust?" She tilted her head north, gazing at the distant speck of lavender drifting slowly towards the east. "A year ago, nothing seemed to matter to me. I wanted to reach the Midnight Armory, sure..." She gulped. "But did I really ever expect myself to?"
Luna was silent.
Rainbow Dash continued, "It wasn't a very nifty thing, Luna. The way I felt about myself, I mean." She gulped. "There's a part of me that had always hoped that someday I'd meet my friends again... that... that Twilight and... th-the others would just be someplace safe... someplace happy... waiting for me..." She bit her lip. "But, like, at the time... I couldn't believe in that. Even if such a fantasy was possible, I knew I would never meet up with them, in spite of whatever killed me. If there was someplace happy and peaceful, it would be in a place where I wouldn't deserve to go." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Because I was the one who sent them there..."
"We doth believe that thou hath yet again forgotten the finer details of what truly extinguished their flames—"
"It doesn't matter, Princess..." Rainbow Dash reopened her eyes. They were like bloodsoaked daggers in the moonlight "And it definitely didn't matter at the time. So, y'know, nothing was sacred, and it didn't bug me in the least that I tore chaos monsters around Windthrow a new one." She shrugged. "Or that—y'know—I probably sent one or two of those jerkfaced minotaurs to the grave when I freed all of those ponies from their digging site." She ran a hoof through her mane and shuddered. "And then there were the dragons that I beat up... the children of Axan... right in front of her. I know many of them didn't live through the crap I put them through."
A cold breeze billowed through the trees, rattling the leaves all around Rainbow Dash.
She shuddered a she continued, "And then I woke up in Ledomare... and there were all these really, really evil ponies doing truly evil things. They were killing equines left and right. They were friggin' massacring innocent mares and stallions." Her nostrils flared. "Well, they had imprisoned me as a monster from the west, and so that's exactly what I gave them. I dunno how long I let that justify the things I did, but..." She winced heavily as she squeaked forth, "I-I stopped keeping count."
"Of what, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow ran a hoof over her eyes before they could water. "Of how many of them I friggin' smoked, Luna. Of how m-many of them are dead because of me." Her teeth gnashed upon the next breath. "And then over Foxtaur... and in Searo's Hold... and in Blue Nova..."
"In all of the details that thou hath related to us, we hath yet to identify a singular moment of unjustifiable force."
"That may be easier to say on your end, Princess. But—face it. Nothing I've done in the past ten, eleven, whatever lunar cycles has been very harmonious." She frowned. "Many of these soldiers... these guards and fighters and the like—they had families, Luna. They had families, and I snuffed their lives out and tore them from their loved ones. And for what? Nopony is perfect, but we at least have the ability to be more awesome than we've been told to be... or allowed to be. What ever stopped me from trying to talk some sense into them? From trying to find... I dunno... a middle ground or something? Something way the heck more peaceful than bucking their faces into next century?"
"These Ledomaritan and Searonese cretins wanted nothing more than to bring an undesirous end to thy companions, yes?"
"But don't you get it?!" Rainbow Dash stood up, sneering. "The only reason I feel horrible about all of this is that I actually have friends again! I've got a reason to practice harmony, but none of the... y'know..."
"Confidence?
Rainbow slowly shook her head. "I was gonna say 'virtue,'" she muttered in a distant voice, gazing once more towards the north horizon as a slight chill ran through her body. "Don't get me wrong, Luna. Everything is pretty darn straight and cool right now, but... even with all the friends that I've gotten..." She gulped. "The monster is still there, y'know? She still remains, hidden beneath it all with dizzy spells and shivers. I don't know if she can stick around at the same time as virtue. One has gotta beat out the other, and with my life being squeezed out of me one month at a time, I'm a bit scared of who's gonna become the champion before all is said and done. For all I know... I... I-I might lose my friends all over again. And I'll once more be the pony responsible for it..."
"It is not easy living with the cost of peace, Rainbow Dash," Luna's voice said. "Much like thee, we too hath ceased keeping score."
Rainbow Dash tilted her muzzle towards the heavens. "Your Highness...?"
Luna's voice came through solidly, though with a shaky twinge of remorse. "For millennia hath we and our sister struggled to maintain equilibrium in Equestria, the center of the known world, for it is here in the heart of all that exists that it is most important to combat chaos. Simply choosing this one necessary spot to control the heavens and the elements has always been a decision that hath cost the well-being of civilization along the outer fringes, much less whatever life may continue to thrive on the dark side..."
Rainbow Dash slowly nodded as she listened.
Luna continued. "But it is folly to establish a fantastical distance between oneself and the immediate repercussions of one's actions, be they royal or not. Since the dawn of our prestigious rule, our sister and I have fought several nefarious forces. Nefarious—in that they hath desired to wield power over those who didst not possess the ability to defend their likelihood. With the likes of Discord, we resorted towards imprisonment. When... we were corrupted by the taint of Nightmare Moon, banishment was the chosen option to salvage harmony from the unfortunate situation. However, such alternate forms of punishment weren't always accessible. There was once a detestable despot by the name of King Sombra. He sought to enslave an entire kingdom of ponies, stripping them of both love and harmony. When we defeated him, his body was utterly destroyed, and his spirit was lost to a chaotic pocket of the world. We only wish that he was the only example of a battle that ended in the absolute destruction of a potentially redeemable soul..."
Rainbow Dash fidgeted before murmuring, "How m-many ponies, Luna, did you have to take down in the past?"
"It is difficult to say..."
Rainbow Dash winced. "I was afraid of that. I'm sorry..."
"No need to apologize. We simply mean to say that there is no quantifiable number to estimate it."
The pegasus paled upon hearing that.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before Luna continued. "Very rarely do individual equines become grandiose villains, Rainbow Dash. Their evil is almost always measured in the minions that they produce out of innocent, needy souls. When we clashed with the nemeses of harmony in the past, it was seldom with the despots of such movements alone; they brought their armies with them. As much as we hadst desired to save their misguided souls, and in spite of the majority of spirits we indeed didst bring back to the light, there were inevitably great casualties... too great to document to the full extent of the honor that is due them, though we have endeavored to do so throughout the years, with very little success. There simply isn't enough stone throughout the whole of Equestria to engrave, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow shuddered, sitting down on her haunches with a foalish look of regret across her face. "I'm... uh... I-I'm sorry I asked."
"Fret not. We art not sorry to have answered thee. There was a time when we rationalized that being in a place of royal leadership meant bearing the burden of unthinkable acts. In time, however, that changed, for we hath come to realize that it is simply our place to think about them, and to think about them all the time. As we process morality and ethics, we taketh the opportunity to bequeath mortal ponydom with what we hath learned. Not to enlighten them, though..."
"Then to do what?"
"To see if they hath an answer to assist us as well. Immortal or not, we art all the same companions to this universe, and subject to as many of the same laws and bouts of confusion."
Rainbow's lips went tight. "I guess I should have known better than to expect you to have all the answers, Your Highness..."
"Perhaps it is not so much an answer that thou seeketh, but rather a means to reach your own understanding? Hence, a manner in which we can relate, child?"
"Oh yeah? Like how?"
"We too hath wrestled with self-doubt, with the fear that something deep and dark and monstrous exists within us, for—quite simply—it very much does."
Rainbow winced. "Nightmare Moon..."
The pegasus could almost feel the nodding expression through the pendant. "Verily..." Luna murmured. "Not a day goes by when we haven't feared that she might return. As you can imagine, this would not be an opportune moment for such a horrible taint to infect us again, especially wince we are currently tasked with both the sun as well as the moon."
"Yeesh. I never once thought of that..." Rainbow clenched her eyes shut and groaned. "Chalk another one up to yours truly..."
"It is not our goal to bring thee further guilt—simply to state that we understand fully how difficult it is to wrestle with one's duties to ethics while at the same time possessing a spirit that is completely devoid of it, constantly desiring to gain dominance. However, it is our firm belief that such a struggle is what giveth us strength."
"Heh... It's not exactly an enjoyable fight, is it?"
"Nay, but it alloweth us to discern equilibrium from chaos, while at the same time not denying ourselves the acknowledgment of the ill-spirited elements that lie on the fringes of our domain. Thou hath said that thou lost count of the casualties thou hast inflicted since thy journey began, yes?"
"Uhhhh... yeah..."
"Our tally is at twelve."
Rainbow Dash made a retching expression. "Twelve? But how could that—" She immediately winced. "Oh, jeez... I-I'm sorry, Your Highness. That was a totally uncool reaction on my part..."
"Fret not, Rainbow Dash. We completely understandeth thy reaction. Thou art right to question it, for it doth not reflect the actual number of souls whom our measures to maintain peace hath inevitably brought to an ill-fated end. Such a number would exceed the tens of thousands. It is... not something we discuss much in the presence of our subjects, as thou couldst imagine."
Rainbow simply nodded.
"But one day, millennia ago, it occurred to us that to focus all of our emotions on the sheer weight of the number would be self-detrimental. After all, it is not the number that matters, but the souls attached to it. To that extent, we picked an arbitrary number, and used that to counterbalance the negative emotions that constantly affected our ability to maintain concentration on our royal duties."
"Okay. So... uh... why 'twelve?'"
"One for every month of the year."
Rainbow blinked. "Oh..."
"And so it is, upon every new moon, when the night's sky is the darkest—we taketh the time to visit a memorial erected in the lunar wing of the castle, and we spendeth the entire day in thoughtful meditation... and mourning. We do not deny ourselves the painful emotions of regret, Rainbow Dash. We simply corral them, harness them, then exorcise them all in one swift act of careful contemplation. In such a manner do we embrace the darkness, without giving into it. For as guilty as we may be, there is still much work to be done, and we cannot allow ourselves to be defeated by regret. The need for equilibrium in this world outweighs the cost."
"And... uh... you really believe that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"We hath no choice."
"I just... I just can't believe that it could ever be that simple..."
"We never meant to imply that it was. However, do ask thyself this, Rainbow Dash. If thou didn't believe the same—in even the most dire moments of thy battles with the cretins of that landscape—would thy friends still be alive today, and in such a device of conveyance that is currently carrying them out of such dangerous territories?"
Rainbow Dash shuddered, her eyes slightly moist. "I only wish..."
"Wish what?"
"Th-that I did in fact save all of them..."
There was a pause, but then Luna finally spoke. "Wouldst thou desire to know a secret, Rainbow Dash?"
"A secret from a princess?"
"Indeed."
"Uhhh... sure. Shoot."
"It is very rarely possible to save everything... and everypony." A grave pause. "Equilibrium, after all, worketh both ways..."
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but snort. "You call that a secret?" She smiled bitterly. "I have no doubt that I'm gonna lose something for saving so many awesome ponies."
"Oh...?"
Rainbow nodded towards the heavens. "Myself," she droned.
Rainbow Dash trotted forward on soft blue hooves. She squatted down along the edge of the forest. The morning light illuminated an arid patch of earth where several pebbles had collected along a dry riverbed. Within the crook of two large rocks, a single throng of lavender flowers bloomed. Delicately, Rainbow Dash plucked a pair of them loose, turned the petals about in the cool air, and stuck them into her saddlebag.
With a liberal flapping of her wings, Rainbow Dash galloped forward, took off, and flew towards the eastern line of trees. As the wind whistled in her fuzzy ears, it brought back the sound of Luna's words just a few hours before sunrise.
"Thy life is a short one, Rainbow Dash. We can only relate to thee as an observer, for our days art many. Regardless, we feel that it is supremely important to impart some wisdom to thee. Thou art resilient, courageous, and responsible. Even still, thou art still too young, too fragile, and too precious to obsess so much over loss."
Rainbow Dash glided over a shallow lake. She flew just a few inches from the placid surface, turning her blue face from side to side as she inspected her teeth. She looked back at her tail, frowning at a clump of sap still stuck to the prismatic fibers. With a few heavy flicks, she doused the hairs in the water, breaking the reflection and sending ripples all across the mirrored sky. With flexing muscles, she ascended just in time to scale a line of wind-swept pines.
"We understandeth that loss has been a great deal of thy life, but we insist that thou not alloweth the bleakness of death become thy obsession. That which liveth soweth death, but it is still conducive to life. And, far more importantly, it is conducive to harmony. Harmony is a two-edged sword, allowing some elements and refusing others."
Rainbow Dash broke through a cloud, throwing a breathless glance to her west. From her high altitude glide, she could see the lavender shape floating at an even pace. She tried not to focus too long on the pulsating sight, or else she might suffer a cold spell and lose her tail wind. As she looked ahead, she almost got a wing full of brown feathers shoved into her muzzle.
Grunting, she shifted to the left, trying to recover from the shock. Her ears echoed with a symphony of quacks. A flock of geese had gathered to her right and were cruising their way at a leisurely pace. To Rainbow's amusement, they didn't seem the least bit frightened by her. So, with a smile, she flapped her wings at a slower pace and glided easily along with them, practically filling the missing gap of their majestic "V" formation.
"In the end, that which we do to promote the tranquility of this world measures the most. We have great faith in thee, Rainbow Dash. We have great faith that though thou might be experienced in death—yay, also in pain..."
Rainbow Dash sat lonesomely on a thick branch stretching from a tree planted along the edge of a massive canyon. As she took another lazy bite from a daffodil sandwich, her lithe body formed a dark sihouette against a red and pink sky. The sun cascaded into the west horizon, casting amber bands across the grand valley of lush green forests stretching wide beneath the pony's dangling hooves.
"...thou art still a sower of life. Thou maketh this universe, as imperfect as it already is, something far more worth living in. Remember that, and remember the lives that thou hath blessed as thou continueth your journey."
As the sky turned into a dull, dark gray, Rainbow Dash touched down on a pile of lonely rocks lying horizontally in the center of a forest clearing. She squinted curiously down at the enormous slabs, jumping up and down as if to test how loose they may have been. She was surprised to feel how solid they were.
Shrugging the discovery away, she flapped her wings, preparing to perform another flight. A cold shock ran through her body. She gasped, flinching, expecting a horrible spell to floor her. Instead, the sensation ended just as swiftly as it began. She stood in a precarious lean, squinting confusedly into the shadowed treeline of the clearing around her.
Then, with a knowing breath, she spun and faced north. She caught the horizon just in time to see the lavender light dying out, going cold, then pulsating with a pattern that she hadn't seen yet. It strobed slowly, like a giant's pink eye lazily winking at her, beckoning her.
To her relief, it no longer made her dizzy to stare at the sight.
Rainbow's limbs jerked. She almost took off right then and there, but something made her stop. She bit her lip, looked down at the slabs of rock, and then reached back for her satchel.
"We art proud of you, Rainbow Dash. It is our promise to you, until the very end of time—whether it cometh in a few centuries or a few eons—we shall forever preserve the mightiness of thy name, so that generations upon generations shall be inspired by thy legacy. Although, we do not believe that we will have to do this, Rainbow Dash. Thou art one in a million. Thou art they own legacy, for thou liveth it. Sooner than later, this whole world, this whole universe, will no longer be the same."
Rainbow Dash took off, staring down at the clearing and the stones in the center. She smiled to herself, a smile that turned gradually into a devilish smirk. Then, in a sapphiric blur, she spun around and tore her way north, cutting across the last sunlit lengths of the sky.
In her departing shadow, several bright shapes marred the topmost slab of rock, weighed down by heavy pebbles. They were stalks of lavender, twelve of them total, arranged in a neat little ring. Even upon the death of daylight, they positively shimmered.
"If thou still hath death in thy precious heart, then speak of it with thy new friends. We trust thou wilt see the truth in their eyes."
"You've got it, Beardo!" Props lifted her goggles and beamed across the hum of the Noble Jury's engine room. "Just a few more heaves and hoes!"
"Nnnngh!" Josho grunted, his fatty muscles sweating as he thrusted his upper body forward. His horn glowed brighter as he telekinetically lifted a black metal cage over the runic dais where the lavender tome floated. "I'm used to the latter more than the former in my life..."
"You can make funny after you make metal!" Props slid down, her blonde tresses flouncing as she motioned towards the lowering cylinder. "Easy... easy does it... just a feather's sneeze..."
"Grrrghh!" Josho finally cut the mana off in his horn, slapping the cage over the dais with a firm thud. "Jeez... what the hell is that crap made out of?" He wiped his brow and leaned back against an instrument panel. "Elephantturdenite?"
"Heehee! Good guess!" Props wrangled a wrench out of her tool belt and began ratcheting the cage in place, rivet after rivet. "Remember that big, dusty quarry we stopped at three weeks ago before we sent Rainbow Dash on her merry way?"
"I... guess...?"
"Whelp, it certainly wasn't gophers that we dug up!" Props licked her lips as she scurried around the cage, fastening it tighter. "This is pure, Grade-A arcanium, buckerooni! I'm surprised that the Ledomaritans left so much of it behind!"
"Oh, I heard of that stuff..." Josho squinted at the material. "They use it to harness manashields around military bases. Even manticores can't belch their way through the junk."
"And, it will hopeful-dutily-do the trick of staving off the aura from this book!" Props hopped back onto her haunches and wiped the grease from her cheek. "That way, Rainbow Dash can fly back to us and we can be a slightly happier family of starved fugitives again!"
"Instead of..."
"Being bored out of our skulls! Or antlers!" Props winked and pivoted towards the far end of the engine room. "Isn't that right, handsome?"
"Hmmph..." Hornless, Floydien stood within a doorframe that led towards the bow of the ship. "Glimmer is glimmer. All Floydien cares to know is if this will secure the womb of Nancy Jane."
"The energy source is snug as a bug now!" Props banged the cage with her wrench, smiling wider. "Think of it this way! The bun in her oven is toasted now!" She giggle-snorted.
"You know, every time you equate this engine room with a mare's womb, I wanna kill myself a little bit more."
"Follow your spit before lunch, or else it'll make all the boomers gag," Floydien grunted. "Just make sure Sailboat doesn't know."
The door on the opposite end of the engine room swung open.
"Hey!" Props brightened even more, if that was possible. "Speak of the devil!" She waved wildly. "Hiya, Ebony!"
"You!" Ebon snarled, pointing an angry burgundy hoof across the compartment, focusing on a particular elk in the headlights. "I've been looking all over for you! How does a creature your size hide in this friggin' ship?"
"Right..." Floydien spun about and immediately galloped down the corridor. "Floydien's got skies to split like stale bread. Yes yes yes..."
"Oh no you don't!" Ebon stumbled after him. "You wanna talk stale bread?! I barely have enough of that to feed an anthill, much less nine ponies and a Frankensquirrel—Gaah!" He tripped over a mass of wires and cables. "Darn it, Propsy! Didn't we have this talk about cleaning the floorspace?"
"Hey..." Props shrugged with a smile. "It's Nancy Jane's womb! Not mine! So what if she didn't have the talk about cleaning her own—"
"Don't you friggin' begin..." Josho said in a steely breath.
Meanwhile, Ebon floundered to dash out of the engine room after Floydien. "Hey! Cosmic elf! I wanna talk with you, darn it—"
"Close the chamber to beloved's chamber!" Floydien stopped to snarl back at the earth pony. "Or by the sky's spit, I'll throttle Sailboat boomer's chamber! Do we want lavender lace to spill through the bulkheads? No no!"
"Nnngh..." Ebon politely shut the engine door behind him and trotted across the lush navigation room where a zebra sat diligently at a drawing bench. "Now that I got your attention, finally, we need to have a talk about the ship's rations."
"Floydien merely guides Nancy Jane along Nancy Jane's path. What concern should Floydien have for what boomers want to stuff down their spit-holes?"
"Because with Rainbow Dash gone, Pilate busy mapping our course, and Roarke being a skulking no-show, you're the closest thing we have to a captain on board this metal bottle!" Ebon barked, his voice reverberating against the bulkheads and bookshelves. "I'm working off of crumbs in the kitchen upstairs! Seriously, I'm down to daffodils and parsley! I'm surprised the crew hasn't mutinied by now on account of the sheer boredom of what's sliding down their gullets!"
"I don't suppose you can take this quarrel elsewhere?" Pilate muttered from where he drew a line across a map. "I'm having a difficult time making us a path to Gray Smoke." His brow furrowed beneath the metal plate. "And remember, it was only two days ago that somepony was kind enough to inform me that the city itself moves through the clouds."
Ebon winced. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, Pilate. It's just that I've had so much on my mind..." He frowned and growled at Floydien. "And so little in my cupboard!"
"What does Sailboat expect Floydien to do about it?"
"Let's just stop somewhere and forage for more foodstuffs!" Ebon grunted as he followed the elk into the observation room near the bow of the ship. Sunlight drifted in through the domed window beneath which a little foal played with a chirping squirrel next to an array of drifting hammocks. "There's no sign of Ledomaritan Enforcers or Xonan patrols in the area. Rainbow Dash certainly isn't going to ditch us. Plus, with Propsy's work being finished, she's bound to intercept us at any hour now."
Floydien climbed up the vertical crawlspace towards the cockpit located a floor and a half above. "All the reason to speed our way out of glimmer-glimmer land!"
"What's your blasted hurry?!" Ebon called up the chamber. "Didn't you just hear me?! We're safe! We've been safe for a while now! I know that you're shaken up from the Deep Ridge stuff, but htat was three weeks ago! Why so paranoid?!"
"Why so burgundy!"
"Unnngh..." Ebon facehoofed. "It's like talking to a child..."
"Hey! Sailboat!" Kera called from a swaying hammock. "Check this out!" She gripped Simon like a taser and yanked at his tail. "Fire one! Fire two!"
With frenzied barks, the rodent shot miniature bolts of lightning from his tesla-coils. The energy beams ricocheted off the bulkheads of the observation room before fizzling out.
"Heehee!" Kera grinned wide. "Ain't that cool?! We'll use it on the first battlecruiser that tries to shoot us out of the sky! Won't they be scared?"
"Don't... call me... 'Sailboat.'" Ebon grunted with each rung of the crawlspace's ladder he climbed.
"Meh. Go dunk your head in a cloud."
Ebon scaled the middle floor, passing crew quarters and auxiliary controls. He finally reached the cockpit where Floydien presently sat in the pilot's seat, his antlers reattached and brimming with energy.
"Mr. Floydien, just hear me out..." Ebon squatted on the floor and swiveled to face him. He smiled tiredly. "A supplied kitchen means a good meal. A good meal means a happy crew. A happy crew means a functioning Noble Jane... I-I mean Nancy Jury... I mean... darn it!"
"Floydien thinks Sailboat should sail on and let Floydien do the legwork."
"It's not all about you, y'know!" Ebon frowned. "Maybe this thing was easy to operate when it was just you and Simon, but you had to know that it'd be housing a lot more hooves on deck at some point! I mean, why else would there be so many rooms and such a large mess hall in this place?"
"Floydien made plenty of messes in his day. All the better to keep it away from beloved's womb."
"Ungh! Fine! That's it!" Ebon tossed his hooves and trotted out onto the open deck, into the wind. "I give up!"
He passed by Bellesmith and Eagle Eye who were just trotting up.
"Give what up?" Eagle Eye asked.
"I hope you enjoy being so darn skinny, my little ponies!" Ebon growled as he tossed a hoof backwards at the cockpit. "It's the Floydien Diet! Plenty of exercise and two bowls of misery between sunrise and sunset!"
"Oh dear..." Belle sighed and turned towards the cockpit. A thin mat of delicate brown fuzz had collected along her scalp and the back of her neck. "Mr. Floydien, must you?"
"Spit it out before you spit it out," the elk grunted.
"Ebon's got his hooves full of providing what he can for the lot of us." Belle smiled as she trotted forward and rested a forelimb on the pilot's shoulder. "I know that this is your ship and your livelihood, but he's just as important to this journey as you, me, Pilate and the rest of us."
"I..." Eagle Eye fidgeted, glancing down at his slender legs. "I'm not that skinny, am I?"
"EE, please, you've been hanging around Josho far too much."
"No way! I smell too?!"
Belle rolled her eyes, then smiled. "Maybe you should go try to cheer Ebon Mane up."
"I dunno. He's probably in the kitchen by now."
"Well, that goes without saying. What's the problem?"
"Well..." Eagle Eye gulped. "The kitchen is right next to the hangar."
"So?"
"So... that's right where Roarke's been hanging out!" The petite stallion shivered in place. "Brooding in the darkness, like a vampire bat... m-made of metal."
"She's fine, Eagle Eye. She was out and about yesterday."
"Yeah, shooting missiles into mountains and yelling at the top of her lungs."
"Who are we to dictate how Searonese should or shouldn't deal with stress?"
"What stress?! It's been the utter definition of boring for the past three weeks!"
"You saying you liked it when we were being shot at and shelled by the enemy?"
"Ugh! No! It's just..." Eagle Eye shrugged. "I really wish Roarke wouldn't treat the rest of us as strangers. She could be doing something productive instead. Especially while Rainbow Dash is gone."
"She's been through a lot, Eagle Eye."
"And we haven't?!"
Belle frowned slightly. "We're all different. Pilate has his studies. Floydien has the ship. Props has the engine."
"At least I didn't ask for a son in addition to a daughter."
"Hahaha!" Eagle laughed in a foalish tone. "That's funny! You sai—" He blinked, cross-eyed. "Ew, wait. Huh?"
"And as for Roarke, she just... needs her space, that's all," Belle said with a shrug. "If you ask me, I think she deserves it, especially after all she's done to protect us time and time again."
"I only wish she wasn't so... freaky about how she needs her space."
Belle nodded. "She can come across as a bit gruff from time to time."
Eagle Eye glared at her with dull eyes. "The last time I bumped into her, she threatened to pull my colon up through my nostrils... with a fish hook."
Belle winced. "Yes, well... uhm... I-I guess I'll have to have a talk with her about that." She turned towards Floydien. "And in the meantime, Mr. Floydien, I agree with Ebon."
"Of course boomer does," he grunted.
"I'd say, in general, a pause in our journey would do us some good. Not all of us have antlers that can communicate directly with the ship." She smiled. "It would do us some good to feel some grass and flowers beneath our hooves."
"Speak for yourself," a voice cracked as it touched down along with a quartet of blue limbs. "Grass and flowers are overrated." Rainbow Dash sniffed, sniffed again. "Ungh... it smells like a perfume shop in here." She glanced to her side and smirked. "Oh, right. Eagle Eye. It's nice to be home."
"Rainbow!" Belle smiled wide, her eyes lighting up. "You're here! And you're not dizzy!"
"Heh..." Rainbow grinned devilishly and trotted towards her. "The jury's out on that last part, no pun intend—Gaaah!" She fell back under a lavender weight.
"Heeeeee!" Eagle Eye nuzzled her dearly with a tender embrace. "You're back! You're back! By the Spark, it's been so boring without you!"
"Snkkkt... Y-you don't say..." Rainbow disentangled herself from him and smiled awkwardly. "Nice to see that nopony tried to blow you guys up out of the sky."
"Impossible," Floydien grumbled. "Paintbucket was gone the whole time."
"Good to see you too, Floydien."
"Pilate will be so thrilled to know that you're back," Belle said, trotting over to nuzzle her lightly. "And we could certainly use a pony to chat with Roarke."
"With Roarke, eh?" Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "Well, there's only one thing to do."
"What's that?" Belle asked, then jolted as the pegasus rubbed her fuzzy scalp furiously. "Buh?"
"So, now that you're back..." Kera murmured, her tiny hooves waddling across the bulkheads to keep up with Rainbow Dash. "You're going to be hanging around with us, right?"
"I guess," Rainbow said, trotting past the cramped crew quarters as she made her way towards the stern through the ship's middle floor.
"That floating book thingy isn't going to make you dizzy anymore?"
"I guess..."
"You can totally kick the flank of any evil ponies that try to blow us out of the sky with their death cannons?"
"I guess—I mean... I hope I don't have to. I mean..." Rainbow winced and paused before the door to the next chamber. "Look, kid. I'd love to stay and chew the fat, but can it wait until dinner tonight? I gotta find Roarke."
"What for?"
"Because I gotta make sure she's alright."
"What for?"
"Because she's as important to this journey as anypony else and I feel like it's my place to look after her."
"What for?"
"Kid—aren't you late for playing hide and go-seek with Belle or something?"
"Meh." Kera shrugged. "Belle's too easy to find in this ship. I can tell she's hiding in a room when I walk in and the whole place is lit up as if with a golden light bulb."
"Maybe you should try it blind folded next time."
"Nah. Besides, I hate to bug her." Kera suddenly grinned wide. "You should check out my new playmate! Simon! He's like a tiny little foal who can blow stuff up!"
As if hearing her voice from afar, a loud barking sound echoed against the bulkheads, followed by a spark of magically generated electricity billowing in the distance.
Rainbow Dash winced. "Yeah, well. You have fun with that. Ahem." She blinked. "You gonna join us for dinner?"
"Yuck. It's more daffodils, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so."
Kera spun and trotted off. "Have Sailboat call me when he's caught some fresh grasshoppers."
"Yeah, well. Did you ever try lying on the ship's bow with your mouth open?"
"Huh?"
"Nothing!" Rainbow Dash passed on into the next corridor. Along the port side to her right was a tiny lavatory and to her left was an even tinier infirmary. The door to the medical closet slid open, and Belle popped out.
"Rainbow! There you are! I thought I heard your voice!"
"Yeah. Uh huh. Look, I have to go chat with Roarke."
"Before you do, I scrounged something up while you were away that might be of some use!"
"Wuh oh..." Rainbow smirked slightly. "What are you pushin', Belle?"
"It's not like that!" The mare frowned as she slid open a cabinet besides a tiny medical bed and produced a canister of pills. "These are for headaches and nausea! I bet if you swallowed one of these twice a day, it would take care of your dizzy spells!"
Rainbow Dash squinted. "But... uhhh... I thought Props and the rest of you guys fixed the floating book platform thingy so that it wouldn't make me dizzy anymore."
Belle bit her lip and blushed slightly. "It wouldn't hurt to take precautions..."
"Belle..."
"You always look so distressed when the dizzy spells hit. I'd hate for you to go through that again."
Rainbow Dash pointed at the canister. "Just how old is this stuff anyways? Floydien doesn't strike me as pony who made a lot of supply stops before he met us."
Belle shrugged with a bashful smile. "I'm sure the shelf life isn't all that bad!" She suddenly grimaced as three tiny cockroaches scurried out of the canister of pills. Biting her lip, she avoided Rainbow's gaze.
"Heh..." Rainbow slowly lowered her hoof. "Have Pilate take a note. We need to pick up more than just food on our next stop."
"Right. I'll... uh... get on that."
"Sure thing—Gaah!" Rainbow gasped.
Belle was leaning forward, nuzzling her dearly. "It's so great to have you back, Rainbow Dash. I hope you know that."
"Know it. Feel it. Smell it." Rainbow patted her back. "Good to know the shower's working."
"Actually... uh... it's not."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. We have to take a basin up to the top deck and collect rain water."
"Yeesh."
"Until we fix it, that's the only way to keep clean around here. I'll get the schedule from Pilate so that next time you'll know when it's the mare's turn for the top deck."
"Right. And in the meanwhile the stallions can just... I dunno... twiddle their hooves or headbutt each other."
"Right..." Belle rolled her eyes and smirked. "Whatever it is stallions 'do.'"
"What about Simon? Does he count?"
"I'm afraid to get him close to water."
"Agreed." Rainbow Dash swung open the next metal door and marched into the middle floor's mess hall. Trotting past a series of plush lounge chairs, she approached a long, long table where Josho could be seen, polishing a mana rifle.
"Welcome back, Candy Mane. Have a nice trip?"
"You know, back where I come from, that was the name of a real pony?"
"What, 'Trip?'"
"Erm..."
"Might explain where you inherited your dizziness."
Rainbow frowned. "My dizziness is not inherited."
"I figured it came from the same family tree as your cracking voice."
With a sigh, the pegasus trotted past him. "I see you're still weighing the ship down as usual."
"Heh..." Josho smirked as he cleaned the rifle's barrel out. "Not for long. Not with this threadbare flower crap Mr. Burgundy keeps shoving down my throat."
From up ahead, stern-side, a voice shouted through the kitchen doorway, "It's not my fault! Take it up with Floydien the Red-Nosed Thunderskull!"
"You want thunder?!" Josho hollered back. "Fix us up something meaty for once! I'll give you thunder!"
"Ungh... I don't know what you're lacking more, old stallion. Grace or gratitude."
"You kidding?!" Josho grinned wide. "On the battlefield, that was the best way to thank the company cook! Also it was a good way to prepare the privates for chemical warfare!"
"You know it's a long, long way down to the earth below us, right?" Rainbow Dash muttered. "A boulder your size would probably crunch through the machine layer."
"If they're serving steak there, I'm game."
"Ungh, Celestia..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I thought I was done with kingdoms where ponies ate meat."
"This world would have to run out of meat first."
"The hay are you doing, anyways?"
"Oh... this...?" Josho lifted the greasy barrel up and shrugged. "I asked the god-deer piloting this hunk-a-junk if we had any weapons to spare. We kind of sort of have a bunch of pissed off armies on our ass, after all."
"Right..."
"So he talks about this crate full of rifles holed up in his hangar bay. So I sneak in to grab it. Of course, they're all rusted and out of shape, but I think I can make them squeaky clean once again. Granted, it would have been a heck of a lot easier pulling them out of the Jury's butt without almost having my throat ripped out from under my chins."
"Huh?" Rainbow squinted. "I don't get it..."
"You're buddy... y'know... with the bucket for a head?" Josho pointed towards some nebulous spot beyond the hull of the ship's stern. "She's one high-strung melon fudge. Girl, I'm telling ya..."
Rainbow sighed. "What did you do to tick Roarke off, Josho?"
"You mean besides being born?" Josho grunted. "With balls?!" he grunted again. "The mare's got issues, and the first one of them is demanding space. Look, I know I'm not exactly the tiniest stallion in the world. A certain fruit basket's got that job taken."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"I wasn't talking about you, ya life raft!" Josho grunted back towards the kitchen. He turned and stared at Rainbow with thin eyes. "Thing is, we gotta share the space on board the S.S. Eastfart evenly, y'know? If we're gonna be making a stop for the cook and his ego here anytime soon, then we gotta clear out space in the hangar for stocking stuff. That means Roarke can't afford to do her warrior backflips across the emptiness anymore."
"Well, funny you should say that. I'm going to go talk with her this second."
"Make sure you bring a loaded weapon, just in case." Josho fidgeted then shrugged at his pile of messy riffles. "Not one of these, I'm afraid. It's gonna take a while before one can fire. I'm only tending to them to stave off boredom, not to mention the horrible vacuum that's consuming my belly."
"We're likely to implode with a stomach like that."
"Don't give me any ideas." Josho muttered. As Rainbow trotted off, he growled, "And don't be eating half of our remaining reserves of daffodil sandwiches, ya friggin' metabolic meteor! I know it's crud, but it's crud that could be used to fill me!"
"Jee, what a tragedy that would be." Rainbow next stepped into the kitchen where Ebon Mane was busy making an alfredo out of the leftover flowers. "Hiya, slick!" Rainbow smiled. "How's it sailing?"
The cook's knife rang against the edge of a pot full of boiling water. "Don't..." His growling voice echoed off the shiny metal walls and shelves of the tight compartment. "For all that is holy, don't you even let your tongue tread there."
"Eh heh heh..." Rainbow Dash sweated nervously as she side-stepped around the pony. "You hanging in there alright?"
"Would be a lot less stressful to 'hang in here' if I didn't have sharks nipping at my hooves the whole time." Ebon sliced the flower stems. "And by 'sharks' I mean ponies." He sliced and sliced. "And by 'ponies' I mean ravenously starved psychopaths without a patient bone in their bodies!"
"Yes, well, I'll let you get back to feeding the sharks... er... sharkponies." Rainbow briefly went cross-eyed. "Shonies?"
"It's not your fault, Rainbow Dash," Ebon grumbled. "If anything, now that you're here, maybe you can convince Floydien to let us make a rest stop."
"I'll see what I can do." Rainbow trotted backwards towards the stairwell. "At least it's nice and quiet in here! You can concentrate!" She turned around—
"Rainy-Bow-Bow!" Props exploded in her face.
"Gaaah—Jeez!" Rainbow flew back into a rack, causing pots and pans to rattle to the floor. Ebon sighed as the pegasus tried to compose herself. "For the love of Celestia, Props! Somepony should put a bell on you!"
"Why?!" Props blinked her blue eyes. "Is it foggy out?"
Rainbow stared at her, then leaned forward with a squint. "What?"
"I'm so bubbly inside!" Props pumped a hoof as her blonde tresses flounced over her goggles. "You're back and you're not dead and you're not dizzy! My Uncle Prowse used to tell me that dizziness is worse after you die! That was after the bridge fell on him, of course."
"Err..."
"So, you're not feeling all swirly-twirly in the skully-whirly?" Props leaned in and poked through Rainbow's frazzled mane. "Boltnuts! That must mean the cage is working!"
"The... c-cage...?" Rainbow's eyes went crooked.
"That's what they ended up putting over that magical book," Ebon explained. "I dunno how it works, exactly. Something to do with arcanium."
"Arcanium, huh?" Rainbow Dash scratched her neck in thought. "Y'know, now that I think about it, the Princesses back at home used stuff by the same name to keep a lot of their spellbooks safe. I remember Twilight talking about it a lot. Heh, she thought I was bored asleep when she used to ramble to me." Rainbow sighed, staring off into space. "She was wrong..."
"Uh oh!" Props gasped wide. "You're not getting dizzy-wizzy again, are ya?"
Rainbow glanced curiously at her. "Uhhh... No. Why?"
"Cuz your cheeks are all flushed and stuff!"
"Heh... Nah, Props..." Rainbow waved a hoof. "It's okay. I was just..." She shuddered slightly. "I was just remembering good times..."
"So, you're rosy because you're healthy?" Props asked, leaning in.
"Uhhh... yeah..." Rainbow leaned back from her, nostrils full of the inquistive mare's scent. "Thanks for asking... uhm..."
"Wow! You're getting healthier! Now your shoulders are red! Heehee! Fancy that—"
"Yeah, uh... Props?" Rainbow Dash gulped dryly and fidgeted. "Could you check on the ship's... auxiliary... energy... capacitor thingies? I think I hear a rhythmic clanking sound."
"A rhythmic clanking sound?!" Props inhaled like a vacuum and galloped towards the ship's bow. "Those are the worst kind of sounds!"
As the mare left in a platinum blur, Rainbow cleared her throat and spoke hoarsely to Ebon. "Say, we got a freezer inside this soup can?"
"Believe it or not, yeah..." Ebon pointed towards a cabinet at the far end. "How Floydien managed it, I dunno. It needs a new pair of doors, though..."
"Good enough." Rainbow flung the thing open, turned around, and shoved her feathers deep into it. She took a great deal of time exhaling.
Ebon blinked. "Uh... Rainbow? Are... are your wings okay?"
"Hmmmf..." She glared ahead of her as her face returned to its normal blue complexion. "They are now. Ahem." Slamming the fridge shut, she coiled her feathers by her side and proceeded beyond the stairwell in a huff.
The Noble Jury's rear hangar was a two-story chamber, easily tall enough to fit over fifteen ponies stacked on top of one another. The space was wide enough to fit a miniature Ledomaritan managlider, or at least Rainbow Dash could easily imagine this. There was presently so much empty space within the cargo hold that it was almost frightening. The chamber was virtually empty, with most of the junk having been deposited at Aurum when the current crew split with their former companions three weeks previous.
Rainbow Dash had entered through one of the air-tight doors along the top level of the stairwell. A "U"-shaped platformed hugged the port and starboard sides of the cargo hold. Leaning against a railing, Rainbow looked down onto the spacious bottom floor of the hangar. She scanned the bulkheads, but found no sign of an inconspicuous bounty hunter. All she could see was the slitted metal door pressed tightly against the stern of the vessel, from the ceiling to the bottom lip where a retracted ramp rattled with the gentle sways of the ship.
"Hmmmph..." Rainbow Dash leaned back with a flick of her tail. "Maybe she skulked herself into oblivion."
"Don't sound so hopeful..."
Rainbow Dash looked up.
Roarke's body swung upside down, her exposed brown coat glistening with sweat between the hydraulic plugs situated across her back and limbs.
With a jolt, Rainbow gawked at the mare. Roarke hung from the ceiling where her lower limbs had wrapped around an aluminum rafter. Taking deep breaths, the Searonese athlete performed nimble athletic curl-ups, her mane's ringlets rattling with each head toss.
"Well... uh..." Rainbow Dash stirred where she stood on the upper platform. "That's a neat trick."
"There's no trickery when one's getting exercise," Roarke droned.
"So that's what you've been doing all this time?"
"I'm not all metal, you know," Roarke muttered between tight breaths as she curled and curled and curled her body. "There are parts of me that will waste away with neglect. There once was a time when synching myself up with a more powerful energy source would do the job for me. However, seeing as my ship is now a burning chunk of wasted metal lying east of a major maretropolis..."
"Eheh... yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and said, "You can only ride on that ticket so long."
Roarke paused and dangled sweatily. "Excuse me?"
"Yes, I know that your ship got busted up. And I'm sorry. I've said 'I'm sorry' Celestia knows how many times." Rainbow pointed. "But you gotta remember, you're on a new ship now. There's still plenty of ways to get exercise... and to get exercise in the process."
"Do tell..."
"Like, you could have been playing wing-pony to my friends while I was gone." Rainbow shrugged. "If I had my way, I would have escorted them through these skies. But, as you know, I got the case of the dizzy-dizzies and I couldn't lend my awesomeness nearly as much as I wanted to!"
"'Dizzy-dizzies?'" Roarke's upside down brow furrowed above (or below) her lenses. "Is that what you're calling your sickness now?"
"Look, it doesn't matter anymore!" Rainbow Dash grunted. "The fact of the matter is, Props slapped some fancy cage over the glowing book and now it's not making me all barfy whenever I'm around it! How else do you think I'd be standing here, talking to you?" She paused, then frowned. "And it's not a 'sickness,' okay? It's... it's just part of who and what I am..."
"And it's part of who and what I am that I haven't played 'wingpony' to your buddies here," Roarke said. Kicking off the rafter, she flipped and landed nimbly on the bottom floor below. "Every time I fly, I use up a chunk of my manacore. And that isn't exactly refillable at the moment. So, take the stick out before you start preaching to me."
"Hey, I'm not trying to pull a guilt trip or nothing!" Rainbow Dash flew down to her.
"Well, you're doing a pretty good job at it," Roarke muttered. "Something you picked up from Equestriaville?"
"No and no." Rainbow frowned. "Look, I really don't see why you have to be hanging out in this place all alone!"
"It gives me lots of room for exercise."
"And what about fresh air?" Rainbow pointed beyond the bulkheads. "You ever think of that?"
"If I still had the same lungs I did when I was born, then maybe that would matter," Roarke muttered. "Look, unless you have a new ship or a bounty for me, I'm afraid I'm about as useful to you ponies as a fifth leg."
"Unnngh..." Rainbow Dash ran a hoof over her face. "Roarke, we've had this talk. What did we say about you and bounties?"
"I know what you said."
"And...?"
"You've yet to prove that you can pay me more than any potential customer out there."
"Can you just forget about money and mana and all the junk in between for one measly second?!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Remember Ledomare? Remember the bad guys? Remember how they want us dead? Remember how we took this radical airship on a nonstop course east so that we could staynot dead?"
"I seriously doubt it will be nonstop," Roarke said. "The crew needs food. The ship needs supplies. I need mana..."
"And we can get you all of those things! I promise you!" Rainbow Dash smiled wide. "I'm here now! I'm not gonna be held back by the dizz—er... I'm not going to be fainting all the time..."
Roarke wandered over to where her armor lay in pieces. "A likely story..."
"I mean it! I'm gonna get you the stuff that you need!" Rainbow trotted closer to her. "And the more we work together to make sure that everypony gets the stuff they need, then the less stops we have to make in the long term! We'll be out of the Ledomaritans' and Xonans' manes for good! From then on, it's freedom-bound!"
"Sounds like a long, arduous, and thoroughly dull sojourn," Roarke muttered while attaching legpieces with hydraulic hisses.
"But just think about it..." Rainbow leaned in. "It's the smart path to take. I mean... what other choice do you have?"
"Exactly..." Roarke's nostrils flared as she fidgeted with her helmet piece. "Which is the precise reason I'm here in any capacity whatsoever."
Rainbow teetered back, her ears drooping in defeat.
"I'm not here to make friends, Rainbow Dash," Roarke muttered. "You and all of your fellow companions have had their turns at being a prisoner. Right now, I fear, it is my turn. Be thankful that I am not like other Searonese, or else I would be unleashing my frustration on those who don't deserve it. Thankfully, I'm better than that."
"Then prove it," Rainbow Dash said in a dull tone. "Don't do this to yourself. Don't be a no-show. Offer more than your mind or your metal to these ponies and things will be more awesome!"
"Seriously..." Roarke gazed dully at her. "I really wish I would know what you want from me at times."
Rainbow gave a fragile smile. "I would like you to be happy." She gulped. "It's... it's not something I'm able to give Imre."
Roarke was silent. Stillness permeated the hangar.
Just then, a sound stone lit up along an intercom console. "Hey, everypony. Guess what!" Ebon's voice tried to be as chipper as possible. "Daffodil alfredo! Come get it while it's hot! Because without spices and appetizers, that's about all I can guarantee you all! Hot! Serving in the mess hall in five."
Rainbow cleared her throat and pointed towards the intercom. "I'm gonna join everypony in the mess hall. I've been looking forward to my first meal inside the Noble Jury with you guys."
"Have fun," Roarke muttered.
"I want you to come with."
"Have a prayer."
"Roarke, come onnnnn..." Rainbow sighed. "I mean it."
"It's pointless," the metal mare muttered. "It wouldn't even benefit me. Daffodils do nothing for my manacore."
"So what?" Rainbow Dash flew into a hover, her pendant reflecting a devilish smirk. "It's not all about munching stuff down our muzzle, y'know!"
Roarke's lenses pistoned in. "What?"
"It's about talking! Socializing! Sharing stories and all that junk!"
"What I've discovered from Floydien's maps is that the ravines located in this part of the continent are a great deal more erratic in configuration than the canyons to the west," Pilate said from where he sat at the middle of the table.
"Don't be ridiculous," Josho grunted as she shuffled up to an empy plate. "Ravines can't have babies, much less get aroused."
"He said 'eratic,'" Ebon muttered as he dumped a steaming pile of daffodil alfredo upon the stallion's dish.
"I know what he said!" Josho frowned as he levitated a pair of forks and tried to keep from drooling. "Honestly, I'd rather the zebra not say anything. This time should be for munching."
"His name is Pilate," Belle said with a glare, sitting down next to her beloved's side as Ebon poured them their share of the meal. "And I don't see the problem with chatting it up while we're eating it up."
Eagle Eye levitated his plate towards Ebon with a polite nod. "Somepony explain to me: what's so significant about the way canyons are shaped here versus the west..."
Pilate replied, "Well, it's commonly known that an ancient civilization of caribou dwelled within this continent. Long before Ledomare or all of the previous incarnations of the same Confederacy, this land belonged to a race of beings who dwelled in harmony with nature."
"Heh..." Rainbow Dash sat at one head of the table, her back to the kitchen door. "Imagine that."
"And they were known for their versatile skills in irrigation," Pilate continued to explain. "Records claim that they funneled so many canals into their local rivers that they carved the tributaries into the smooth, serpentine ravines that pockmark much of the Ledomaritan landscape today. But here..." Pilate gestured out the nearest porthole where the sunlight had already grown dim. "The ravines are shallow, craggy, and considerably more unpredictable in their jagged patterns."
Props launched herself into her seat, causing the entire table to rattle. "Which means they weren't irrigated by caribou bubblies!"
"Precisely," Pilate said with a nod as Kera crawled up to her chair beside him and Bellesmith. "Albeit... with a little less poetic nuance."
"So this place wasn't inhabited by ancient caribou, huh?" Ebon remarked as he finally sat down to his own plate. "I don't rightly blame them. It's kind of... ehm... thick out there."
Belle raised an eyebrow. "Thick?"
"It's so dense and wild and woolly..." Ebon shrugged as he grasped a fork in the crook of his hoof. "I can't imagine anyone settling in this place, antlers or no antlers."
"You do realize I'm speaking about a margin that spans over a thousand years," Pilate remarked after swallowing a bite of daffodils. "That's plenty of time for an entire landscape to be dramatically altered."
"Where I come from, all of our history was told in terms of thousands and tens of thousands of years," Rainbow Dash said. "I guess that's what you get for having two immortals running the show from their high tower."
Ebon looked aside at her. "Oh yeah? How old is Equestria?"
"Uhhh..." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Beats me..."
Ebon blinked. "But I just thought you said that your history—"
"Look, I said we had a history; I never said I paid any attention in school."
"Ahhh..." Ebon nodded.
Belle chuckled, meanwhile Kera picked at her plate with a scrunched-up expression. "Ungh... Daffodils, again?"
Ebon almost fell into his own plate with a sigh.
"Eat up, Kera, darling," Bellesmith said. "One way or another, you need your fill. There's no telling when things might heat up the closer we get to the battlefront."
"But absolutely nothing has happened for three weeks!" Kera's voice cracked as she folded her forelimbs. "Nothing except for clouds, mountains, and daffodils."
"Look, I'm sorry, everypony," Ebon said in a droning tone. "I'm doing my best to spice it up for you all..."
"Which is an achievement without the spice," Josho said between scarfing mouthfuls.
"And I'd love to get you guys more! Believe you me!" Ebon chuckled breathily. "I have the skills to give you all a royal banquet! Just... y'know... none of the resources!"
"Well, I think they're just daffodillydandy!" Props said with a sparkling grin. "I could eat these for the rest of my life!"
"You probably will be eating them for the rest of your life," Kera muttered, receiving a nudge from Belle.
"I'll scout ahead first thing in the morning," Rainbow Dash said with a cheery grin. "I'll find us some oranges or potatoes or—hey!—even some apples!"
"By the Spark..." Pilate managed a sigh. "What I wouldn't give for a red delicious apple at this point..."
Eagle smiled at him. "What would you care whether it's red or golden?"
"Believe me," Pilate said with a nod. "I can tell."
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash took a sip out of a goblet of water. "The golden ones taste like Belle."
Belle thrusted forward, spitting out a stalk and beating her chest.
"You okay, Belle?" Kera asked.
"Ahem..." Belle caught her breath and threw a glare in Rainbow's direction. "Yes. Just thinking what kind of dessert to give Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out. Ignoring her forks, she dunked her head into her plate and gobbled down a mouthful.
"I appreciate the offer, Rainbow, but I don't think it's up to me," Ebon said. "You'd better bring it up to the elk who's running this ship, cuz so far he hasn't budged a single centimeter off course."
"All for the better," Pilate said. "If we wish to make it to Gray Smoke before our food runs out, we'd best keep flying at a steady pace. Now that we've got Rainbow Dash on board, we can afford to accelerate some."
"Well, if we can afford to go faster, then what's stopping us from taking a rest, stretching our hooves, and refilling our food reserves?!" Ebon exclaimed. "That's what I keep trying to convince Floydien about!"
"Don't look now, but here comes handsomenesssss!" Props sang.
"What spit is this about the Floydien and the coming?" He trotted in, hornless, and stood at the far end of the table.
"I already served you your plate, Mr. Floydien." Ebon pointed at the plate in question, then took another bite. As Floydien sat, he grumbled, "Though you could be eating something much finer if you just let us stop to forage a bit."
"There is nothing wrong with daffodils," Floydien muttered as he sat his big brown self down in the middle of the mess hall. "They are most filling to the gullet gullet. Nancy Jane flies good and proper with or without the flower food."
"No offense intended, Mr. Floydien, but ponies can't live on flowers and flowers alone." Ebon pointed beyond the darkening portholes. "We need variety or else we'll go mad."
"Yeah, besides..." Eagle Eye squinted curiously at his plate of food. "Is it just me, or is daffodil a source of toxic material when consumed in large quantities?"
"Where in the heck did you learn drivel like that?" Josho asked.
Eagle shrugged. "The Confederate Field Manual."
"Ugh... that thing..." Josho groaned as he picked at the last of his meal. "Those books were only meant to incite fear and get stallions to march in line. Otherwise, it's written with the factual knowledge belonging to a tube worm. Read far enough into one of those pamphlets and they spout out bullcrap about using trout to scrape out berries from a riverbed."
"Heehee..." Kera covered her grinning muzzle. "Fish berries..."
"Kera, honey..."
"Alright, alright..." Kera rolled her eyes and picked a fork up. "I'm eating..."
"Paint bucket," Floydien called forth.
Rainbow Dash gulped some flowers down and replied, "Brown muzzler."
"The wings are reacquainted with sky glimmer?"
"I can now fly around the Noble Jury without fainting like a blushing bride, yeah, if that's what you're asking."
"Perhaps the boomer's talent in flitting would be fitting in examining the Nancy Jane's belly."
"I thought that was Props' job," Rainbow Dash said while pointing.
"Mmmmf! Mmmmf!" Props shook her head and waved a hoof. "I work in the womb! He's talking about her navel!"
Rainbow frowned. "Why do I gotta check out a flying airship's belly fat?!"
"Nancy Jane flew through a lightning storm four days ago. Much scrapes both dastardly and dire need to be examined."
"Yeah, but I'm not exactly qualified for that, don't you think?" Rainbow Dash pointed at the blonde mare again. "Why not land the ship and let cheerleader here check it out?"
"Would be most cloud-friendly to remain earth-unfriendly, yes yes?"
"I don't think so. Check it, Floyd..." Rainbow leaned forward and waved her hooves for emphasis. "We've got an opportunity to do two things here. Killing two birds with one stone."
"Oooh!" Kera gasped. "I'd love to see that!"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Being figurative, kid."
"Awwww..."
"Ahem..." Rainbow narrowed her eyes on Floydien from afar. "We can park your beloved Nancy Jane, let Props take a look at the hull, and then send Ebon and a team out to fetch some food!"
"She has a point, Mr. Floydien," Pilate said as O.A.S.I.S. flickered between him and his meal. "Once we take off again, we can pick up the pace, and we won't lose any time in the end."
"Hmmmf... It seems as if all the boomers are set in their mind against Floydien," the elk grumbled.
"Hardly anything of the sort!" Bellesmith exclaimed. "We're doing this as a team!"
"Yeah!" Eagle gulped some flowers down and said, "We're all in this together!"
"Don't be redundant, fruit basket," Josho muttered, stifling a legitimate belch.
"Well, I don't hear you contributing anything to this conversation."
Josho belched again. "Crotchboobs."
Eagle facehoofed. "Nnngh... That's it. I'm moving my bunk a space down."
"You love it, girl."
"Go stuff your face."
"I already did."
"Fine," Floydien grumbled. "Enough spit. The boomers have won. Down to the earth with Nancy Jane, lightly, Floydien shall allow."
"Let's set a schedule!" Ebon exclaimed, almost hopping out of his chair with excitement. "Tomorrow morning! Ten o'clock sharp!"
"Why do you gotta make it sharp, sailboat?" Josho grumbled.
"Ten o'clock sounds good!" Kera hummed. "That's when all the grasshoppers are about!"
"Not sure if you want the grasshoppers from this side of the world, kid," Rainbow Dash said while munching. "You'd get a case of Maretezuma's revenge." She gulped. "With legs."
"I'll manage!"
"We'll see, Kera," Belle said. "Not all of us are keen on eating meat..." She squirmed and gave Rainbow a nervous glance.
The pegasus sighed. "Look, I know I'm the outsider around these parts. I'm not about to trounce on what you guys believe is or isn't cool. I just..." She grimaced slightly. "...don't wanna be around for the spearing and gutting, okay?"
"Well, that's a shame," Josho said. "With your flying skills, you'd be perfect for helping us nab a rabbit or a wild boar."
"I wouldn't push it, old stallion," Eagle Eye said with a nervous titter. "Asking Rainbow Dash to hunt is like asking Mintians to grow their manes out."
"Or like asking you to not shampoon yours!" Josho grinned.
Eagle seethed. "Who was making the analogy here, anyways?"
"Well, what about Roarke?" Ebon asked.
"Yeah!" Props grinned. "Now there's a pony who would love to sock it to-y with her rockitooey!"
"Eh... I dunno, guys..." Rainbow Dash sighed. "I don't think Roarke is up to doing much of anything lately."
"A hunt?" Roarke's metallic voice rang out as she trotted into the room from the kitchen. "Absolutely. When and where and what do I kill?"
Rainbow spun and gawked at her. "You... came to dinner."
"Nonsense. I came to position myself in the place of social gathering, but all of that may be changing—dependent on the revelation of this bloodshedding." She kicked a table and sat reverse on it, her eye-lenses pistoning out. "So, out with it. What needs to be blown up?"
"Well, nothing needs to be blown up, per se," Pilate exclaimed.
"The less glimmer the better," Floydien muttered between mouthfuls.
Pilate continued. "It's just that we were discussing how and where to go about getting new food, and only some of us are vegetarians, you know..."
"I understand completely." Roarke's jaw went tight. "And the only solution is cattle."
"Awwwww... cows?" Rainbow Dash winced. "Really?"
"I know that they do not make for challenging game, but if you want your plates full—"
"It's not that!" Rainbow shuddered. "It's just that, where I came from, they... y'know..."
"No, I do not know," Roarke said, her lenses reflecting Rainbow Dash.
"Well, they talked, okay?" She frowned. "They talked and they lived in barns and they... well... do you need anything more? They were sentient."
"Are you sure they were sentient?"
"Pfftchyaa. They voted."
"For what?" Josho gestured. "For what to hang around their necks?"
Rainbow Dash frowned at the rest. "You seriously never grew up with talking cows?!"
"In Gray Smoke, my Uncle Prowse used to have a dead bull that talked!" Props exclaimed. "But that's because he used its stomachs as a recessive steam ventilator and the when the exhaust escaped the metal grill that was placed within the stuffed thing's jaws—"
"Mine!" Josho levitated it over to his side immediately while Eagle Eye rolled his eyes.
"Well, alright then..." Ebon spoke while nodding. "Let's make a rule for tomorrow. Roarke?"
"Sailboat?"
"If anything you hunt tomorrow pleads for its life, then don't kill it. Cuz then it would be sentient."
Roarke's head cocked to the side. "Does screaming count?"
"Unnngh..." Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "Can't we just—like—go to a river and fish like sane ponies?"
"What?" Kera glanced over. "Fish don't talk where you come from?"
"I never got a chance to find out, on account of all the bubbles."
"I still think we should settle for grasshoppers."
"They would not make for a very heroic hunt," Roarke said. She turned back towards Rainbow Dash. "I'll see about finding something that has plentiful meat and yet will not count as possessing a 'soul,' at least by Equestrian standards."
"Nnnngh... fine..."
"If you would rather judge for yourself, then you're welcome to join me." Roarke's brow furrowed above her lenses. "Although, you would have to participate in the hunt."
"I trust your judgment..."
"Are you sure?"
"Hold on a tick..." Josho scarfed a few more daffodils and pointed. "Why's she running everything by Rainbow and not the deer?"
"Duh!" Kera rolled her green eyes. "Rainbow Dash is our leader, stupid!"
The table froze.
Rainbow Dash fidgeted.
Everypony slowly exchanged glances.
"Isn't she?" Kera chirped.
"Uhm..." Ebon squirmed.
"I... I thought that was the case too," Eagle Eye said.
"Fine with meeeeee!" Propsy sang between bites.
"I, for one, support Rainbow Dash's authority in our travels," Pilate said. "I'm simply acting as navigator to facilitate for our trip as a whole."
"I know... it's terrific," Josho mumbled. "The blind leaving the blunt."
"Look, I'm more or less the reason that we're all taking this journey," Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, face it, none of you would be taking this option to get the heck out of Ledo's dodge unless I hadn't gotten tangled up with your lives to begin with." She cleared her throat with a rattle of the loyalty pendant and said, "But I'm not exactly leader material. If you want me to call the shots about stuff, then I'll do what I can. Experience and all that jazz, y'know? But, hey, to be fair... this isn't my ship, and I think it's best that we toss the issue over to the one elk who knows this thing inside and out—"
"Fine. Whatever. Spit away," Floydien grumbled, his red eyes boring into his meal as he ate. "Just keep all boomerthings outside of beloved's head. Nancy Jane's brain is a nook for Floydien and Floydien alone."
Props giggled.
Eagle Eye shrugged with a smirk. "Well, okay then! I suppose that settles it!"
"Though, I doubt very much that it was a matter of questioning it to begin with," Belle said.
"Well, I wanted to know!" Kera said with a pout.
Belle sighed and smiled. "Consider it a learning experience."
"So, in that case, I'd say we do it!" Rainbow Dash said with a proud grin.
Belle blinked. "Do what?"
Rainbow Dash's ears drooped. "Uhm... what we j-just talked about. Y'know... with the rest stop for food and examining the ship's hull."
"Where's a good place for Nancy Jane to plop down?" Floydien asked.
"Might I suggest an open field besides a treeline?" Pilate asked. "Preferably besides a body of water?" He tapped the manasphere as he said, "I mapped out four such locations that should be within reach after sunup. It should give us the space, the lighting, and the ground we need to search for food, fruit, and more."
"A river or lake would be a good place to drive stupid unsuspecting creatures to their deaths," Roarke said. After a few seconds, she glanced dully at Rainbow Dash. "For food."
"R-right..."
"And then it's off to Gray Smoke again!" Props pumped her hoof. "Woohoo!"
Eagle Eye giggled. "Wow, you're excited." He leaned forward on folded forelimbs. "I bet your Uncle Prowse must miss you a great deal."
"Oh, you bet! He couldn't throw wrenches at my forehead across half the continent!"
Eagle Eye grimaced. "Er..."
"And, besides, the stuff that I could stuff his head with from being part of a Nightshade think tank and... stuff! Mmmm! That's gonna get greasy!"
"It's a shame," Belle said. "You seem to have gotten attached to the Noble Jury's engine room."
For once, the blonde mare looked sad. "Mmmm... I know. And such wonderful sparkly magic stuff being channeled into the womb too. I wish I could spend more time studying it... tinkering with it..."
"Well, you know what they say," Eagle Eye remarked. "'Every pony's gotta leave the nest.' Or, in this case, the 'womb.'"
"But it's so warm and comfy in therrrrre!"
"Yeah..." Josho grunted. "Let's stear the conversation away from this, please..."
"What about you, Mr. Mane?" Bellesmith remarked. "You must have friends and family that you're looking forward to as well."
Ebon was hoofing through his plate of daffodils.
Belle blinked. "Mr. Mane—"
"Hmmm?" Ebon jumped, then smiled nervously. "Oh, right. Well..." He chuckled breathily. "I got this one killer restaurant that's been lacking a skilled cook since I was abducted. I do hope they haven't gone under while I was away. I swear, they made a living off of my biscuits alone."
"Is there cheddar involved?" Josho asked.
"Pffft... Like I'm going to tell you," Ebon mumbled. "You'd eat us right out of the clouds."
"If worse comes to worse, I'll find a place to use my culinary skills," Ebon said with a fragile smile. "Whatever the case, at least I won't be locked up by Nightshade meatheads against my will."
"I really don't know how we're going to survive without you two," Pilate said with a sad expression. "Aside from your skills, we're going to miss your pleasant company."
"Oh, don't your fret your stripes over us!" Props tossed a hoof as she said, "Ebony and I have been through thick and thin! We know how to survive! And besides! We'll pass on the best we have to you! I'm sure Uncle Prowse has a Third Tier Rapid Mana Conversion Generator to lend to Nancy Jane's womb! He'll even give it a spitshine!"
Josho droned, "What, the generator or the womb?"
"Both, if you pay him well enough!" Props winked. "But I'll make it a discount! Heck, he needs me to breathe!"
"Then..." Eagle Eye winced. "How do you know he's gonna be alive by the time you get there?"
"That's a blue, blue stallion!" Props slapped the tabletop and giggled madly.
"Heheheheheh..." Ebon chuckled. "Hehhhh... I only ever get half her jokes."
"Now I'm worried," Bellesmith remarked in a sad tone. "Just how are we gonna manage it without both our star cook and our star engineer?"
"I suppose we'll come up with a solution when the time arrives," Pilate said. "Best not to dwell on it."
"But it's also best to plan ahead, beloved."
"And I have been. Trust me. With the aid of O.A.S.I.S, I've been studying every manual about the Noble Jury's engine there is. I think we'll have enough knowledge to go on, at least."
"Just better make sure the zebra doesn't lose his sense of hearing or smell in the meantime."
"Ungh!" Belle rolled her eyes and frowned. "For crying out loud! His name is Pilate!"
"At least he's not living up to it in the cockpit."
"Heheheh..." Pilate smirked. He felt the heat of Belle's glare, then shrugged. "What? I actually found that quite amusing..."
Belle rested a hoof against her forehead. "There are too many stallions aboard this ship."
"You sure?" Josho smirked. "I thought Eagle Eye here tipped it in your favor."
"Yeah, he thought that I—hey!" Eagle frowned at Josho and slapped him in the shoulder.
"Next time, try me with your purse. It might actually tingle."
"Grrrr..."
Roarke leaned in before Rainbow could interject. "Actually, if you need help in managing the engine room, I'm certain my experience with manaships could be of service to you all, once we've left Gray Smoke."
Rainbow gave the mare a double-take. "Wow. That's... quite selfless and generous of you."
"Is it?" Roarke glanced back, deadpan. "I didn't notice."
"Good. Don't notice it." Rainbow smirked. "It's a good direction."
"Meh. If you say so."
Rainbow sighed, then glanced out the porthole. Her eyes lit up as she saw a pale sheen to the clouds.
"What are you thinking about, Rainbow Dash?" Eagle Eye asked.
"I'm thinking..." Her smirk grew wider, and she swiveled her head about to toss it at the group. "I'm thinking that there's a friend of mine I'd like to introduce you guys too."
Bellesmith and Pilate smiled.
Kera scratched her bushy green mane. "A friend? Like who?"
"Oh, I get it!" Props spontaneously gasped. "Because the apple would be gold, like Belle!" She keeled over, slapping the tabletop and laughing. "Ha ha ha ha ha!"
"I... I don't get it, is something supposed to happen?"
"Shhh! Can't you see she's trying to cast a magic spell?"
"How? She's got wings, not a horn."
"What do any of us know what a pegasus is capable of?"
"Aren't all pegasi tomcolts with squeaky voices?"
"Okay, now you're just being facetious."
"Gesundheit."
"Grrrrr..."
"Belle? What are we doing up here? It's super dark and chilly."
"Just give it a few more minutes, Kera. Besides, aren't you used to the cold?"
"The grasshoppers warmed me up."
"Egads, will the both of you be quiet about the grasshoppers over there?"
"Hey! She used to be a street urchin! Cut her a break!"
"I'd start at cutting her hair. Yeesh. That stuff gets everywhere when you pass her by below deck."
"Then keep your muzzle shut when you're around her."
"Heehee! Yeah! Keep your muzzle shut when you're around me!"
"Hey! Can I stick my mane into other ponies' mouths too?"
"No, Propsy."
"Awwwwwww..."
"Shhh! I think something's happening."
"Ugh. Finally."
"Quiet! We might all blow up if something goes wrong with the spell!"
"Nope," Rainbow Dash said, spinning about in the moonlight as she turned to face the rest of the crew. "Nothing to worry about!" She pointed at the pale glow wafting off her pendant in a steady aura. The skystone above them all likewise flickered with a dull crimson as the vessel cruised lazily over mountaintops on autopilot. "The line's connected! We should be hearing you anytime soon, princess!"
"Princess?" Ebon Mane squinted across the deck. "Is she talking to Propsy? Bellesmith?"
"She certainly isn't talking to me," Roarke muttered metalically.
"Isn't it obvious?" Josho fought through a yawn to say, "She's talking to fruit basket over here."
"Ugh!" Eagle Eye rolled his pretty violet eyes. "I thought once I said goodbye to Crimson and Phoenix, I wouldn't hear anymore of this! For the last time, I don't want to hear anything about—"
Luna's regal voice drifted magically from the air around Rainbow Dash and her pendant. "Greetings, beloved Rainbow Dash. We beseech thee yet again."
With a soft gasp, Eagle fell back on his haunches with sparkling eyes. "Oh blessed spark a real-life princess..." He squee'd.
"Whoah..." Ebon Mane murmured.
"That's so coolerific!" Props interjected.
"How interesting," Luna's voice hummed. "We see that thou hath reunited with thy companions. However, we heareth more than we had assumed thou hadst possessed a month ago."
"Yup!" Rainbow Dash smirked. "I've got myself a convoy! Pilate and Bellesmith, you already know." She pivoted about on hovering wings. "Say hello, Pilate and Bellesmith!"
Like timid foals in a pale spotlight, Pilate and Belle leaned against each other and collectively mewled, "'Hello, Pilate and Bellesmith.'"
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.
Belle bit her lip and smiled nervously. "Eheheh... I mean... ahem... Your Highness, Princess Luna of Equestria, it is an honor once again to be in your presence."
"Your royal subject Rainbow Dash has done many things for us since we last had a discussion," Pilate added. "Her loyalty is amazing, beyond description."
"Unngh..." Rainbow Dash facehoofed and grumbled under her breath, "Again with the wrong A-Word..."
"Is this for real?" Kera leaned into Belle and attempted to whisper. "We're talking to a horse princess from another part of the world?"
"A foal!" Luna's tone took on that of mild surprise. "We had not anticipated somepony of thy statue, young one. Please, tell us, what bringeth you to this juncture, our little pony?"
Kera's eyes went wide like green saucers. "Uhhh... uhhhh..." She nervously crawled and hid herself behind Belle's flank. "Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Belle chuckled and patted her bushy head.
"Kera's the kid whom Belle and Phoenix picked up in Blue Nova," Rainbow Dash said with a calm smile. "Remember me telling you about it last night, Your Highness?"
"And what a long and elaborate tale it was, Rainbow Dash." The pale light fluctuated slightly. "We take it the mercenaries from Franzington are no longer in thy presence?"
"Well, one is," Rainbow Dash said. "Though, I think the pony's seventy percent less 'merc' and just thirty percent more 'nary.'"
"Snkkkt—Don't introduce me yet!" Eagle Eye hissed. "I... I-I don't know what to say! I m-might explode!"
"Fear not, fair one. Our power is that which maintaineth harmony. We have not caused anypony to explode in over five thousand years, and we seriously doubt that we wouldst break such a record now, especially when dealing with such a kindly sounding mare as thyself."
"Uhm..." Eagle Eye shivered while Josho tried not to snort beside him. "I'm a stallion, Your M-majesty..."
Luna was silent for a while. "How fascinating..." Some more silence. "And you once carried a sword?"
Eagle Eye blushed redder than the skystone above him. Josho leaned in. "Ahem. He's not only swung a sword around, Moon Princess Lady, but Eagle Eye has saved my fat flanks on more than one occasion. Don't let his copious mountains of sissiness overwhelm you or whatcrap."
Rainbow Dash was gritting her teeth so hard they almost cracked down the center. Shew flung the mother of all glares in the former enforcer's direction.
"My my, how poetic this one is. We detecteth many layers of military experience in this one."
"Heh... Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I am a soldier," Josho said with a smirk.
"He used to kill a lot of Xonans," Eagle Eye muttered. "If that counts."
"Right. Same thing. Plus rations."
"It is simply inherent in his tone. What is thy name, if we may so politely inquire, veteran one?"
"Josho, Your Moonness."
"Thou art a bold and fearless one, Sir Josho. We hath been around mortals enough to know the depths to which they have extended their fragile selves in this turbulent world."
"Heh..." Josho smirked aside at Eagle Eye as he nudged the petite stallion. "She knows about that one night in Bangclop."
"Uhhhhhhh..."
"Oooh! Me! Me!" Props rolled forward like a blonde ball and beamed. "Tell me about my mortality next, Pretty Pink Princess Pony!"
"Props..." Rainbow Dash groaned. "Princess Luna is neither Pink or—" She went cross-eyed, winced, and blurted, "She'snotpinkokay?!" She panted nervously.
"Fear not, Rainbow Dash. We understandeth thy meaning, and we are quite certains the others do as well."
"If you're not pink, then what are you?! Huh? Huh?! Huh?!"
"We dwelleth not on the superficial nature of our external qualities, but if thou wisheth to know so much, we possesseth a coat and matching mane that are dark blue and mysterious as the night."
"Ooooooooh..." Props smiled wide. "I bet you'd look really good on a day that I was thirsty."
"Yeah, she would—" Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "What?"
"Hey, uhhhh, Princess of Moon-stuff?" Props waved her hoof.
"What is it, child?"
"Heeeeee! She called me a foal! Ahem..." Props teetered forward. "Is there a reason why you sound like you've got a bunch of ponies rattling around in your head?"
Rainbow Dash facehoofed for the upteenth time that night.
"It is a difficult thing to explain to outsiders beyond Equestria, much less those who dwelleth in our kingdom today. We have recently been recovering from one thousand years of disconnect from our royal subjects. A millennium ago, it was customary for a figure of our regal standing to speak to our subjects in the royal 'we' and to use intense volume when addressing the Court of Canterlot. So far, we hath managed to speak at a far quieter tone. As it stands, speaking through traditional means hath proven to be a difficult habit to introduce into modern society."
"Well, if it's so hard, why not just drop it?" Props asked with a wide smile.
"Props, come onnnn..." Rainbow Dash moaned.
In the meantime, Luna was recovering from an awkward lapse in speech. "Curious..." She eventually muttered, "It did not occur to us to simply drop the tradition altogether. We suspect that this might make things a great deal less uncomfortable during weekly meetings with the royal cabinet."
"She... uh... she didn't mean it, Your Highness!" Rainbow Dash said with a nervous titter. "She's just spitballing! Props does that a lot..."
"Hey!" Props frowned with her forelimbs crossed. Ebon chuckled a few steps away.
"Do not be so quick to judge her harshly, Rainbow Dash. She is your friend, and though she may have an eccentric way of expressing her feelings, her knowledge and intelligence rings true."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Er... right." She pivoted about, although avoiding Props' gaze. "I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have been so quick to—"
"Why does paint bucket fumble over herself?" Floydien grumbled. "This is most glimmerific spit Floydien has heard in years."
"Thou must be the pilot of the Noble Jury. Rainbow Dash told me about thy curious qualities."
"What what what?!" Floydien stood up, throwing Simon off his shoulders as he dragged a cloven hoof threateningly across the deck. "What has paint bucket said about Floydien?! Intends to steal Floydien's soul, she does! Yes yes?"
"Nothing of the sort, brave elk. As a matter of fact, she described thee as possessing a great deal of generosity and patience."
For once, Floydien's red eyes calmed down swiftly. "Brave...?"
"Thou hast been through many ordeals, as we understandeth it. The name of thy ship speaketh for itself. Thou possesseth a great deal of nobility to have assisted Rainbow Dash and her dear friends so much. If thy exterior was far less abrasive, we suspect that thou wouldst win the hearts of ponies instantly. Thou hast already won their trust, after all."
Floydien's shoulders relaxed as he lowered back on folded limbs. "Floydien... is only abrasive because so many boomers have tried to steal him and Nancy Jane..."
"It is a different situation now, yes?"
"Mmmm... yes yes yes..." Floydien gazed off into the stars with a dull expression. "Floydien has shared Nancy Jane with friendly boomers. They are annoying, but they don't wish to harm Floydien or Floydien's beloved." He gulped. "Simon, on the other hoof..."
Kera blinked, then chuckled nervously. "Eh heh heh heh..."
"We heard another stallion chuckling earlier. Were we incorrect in this assumption?"
"Pssst!" Props looked over. "Ebony! The Pretty Princess Pony is talking about you!"
Ebon gulped and raised a hoof. "Uhm... h-hey there, Princess Luna, Your Majesty, Ma'am. It's just me... Ebon Mane..."
Luna was silent.
Ebon began sweating. He and a few other ponies exchanged curious glances.
"Your Majesty?" Rainbow Dash squeaked. "Is everything okay?" She blinked, then pivoted to glance up at the moon. "I wonder if the spell got disconnected—"
"Thou hast a fascinating voice, sir. Tell us, Mr. Mane, from what land doth thou hail?"
"Uhm... Not really a land, Your Highness," Ebon remarked, shivering slightly. "I've lived for over a decade in Gray Smoke. It's a city in the air."
"And thou art not a pegasus?"
"I'm afraid not, Your Highness. No wings. Just the hooves of a starving culinary artist. Eheheh..."
"Thou art a cook, then?"
"Well, I at least try to be, Your Highness. Lately, it's been a bit difficult to grab the materials I need for cooking."
"We see. Rainbow Dash, this stallion is quite talented. We can hear it in his humble demeanor. You wouldst do well for thyself and thy friends if thou were to provide him with the supplies that he needeth. There is nothing that holdeth a group of traveling companions together better than a pony talented in food."
"Heh... We'll get right on that tomorrow, Your Highness," Rainbow Dash said in a relieved breath. "We were already planning on stopping somewhere in the morning to gather fruit, grain, and meat."
"Meat?"
Rainbow Dash paled. "Erm..."
"She's lived a long time," Roarke's voice rolled like quiet thunder. "I don't suppose she's got any hunting tips."
"Do we hear the tone of an experienced warrior?"
Roarke said nothing.
Rainbow Dash waved her hooves with a wild expression.
Roarke sighed, then eventually droned, "You are right, Your Highness. I am quite experienced in chasing down game. However, for your loyal Rainbow Dash's sake, I'm going to stick to creatures who can't talk."
"I'm totally not chowing down on whatever Roarke catches, Your Majesty," Rainbow Dash swiftly squeaked. "Just because these ponies eat meat doesn't mean I'm gonna!"
"Fret not, Rainbow Dash. We trust that thou hast the proper wisdom to acclimate oneself to this culture, much less the myriad of kingdoms thou hast passed through already." The pale aura flickered. "Roarke, we senseth a disgruntled tone in thee."
"Jee, you think?" Roarke grunted. The entire deck shuddered; Rainbow nearly choked on her own tongue.
"We suspect that thou hast lived under the reign of royal authority for a long time, and thou hast come to regret it."
Roarke took a deep breath, the hairs on her coat rising and falling. "I've come to learn that, to get by in life, one has to rely on one's own talents and one's talents alone." She cast a pair of reflecting lenses in Rainbow's direction. "Depending on a higher power makes one weak."
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Doth thou consider us to be a goddess?"
Roarke took a deep breath, then uttered, "I've only ever known one goddess in my life. She died ages ago. If you ask me, that's all goddesses are good at."
"We have been alive for many years, and if there's anything that we've learned, it is that the things that truly deserve to be immortal are that which cannot be salvaged from the jaws of death."
Roarke sighed and gazed aside at the drifting mountaintops. "Yeah... that's pretty well put..."
"We wouldst like to know more about thee in time, fair Roarke. It wouldst seem as if thou knoweth quite a bit about immortal qualities."
She frowned. "If you could see me, then you'd know I'm not exactly 'fair.'"
"And yet, thou art in Rainbow Dash's company."
Roarke's brow furrowed curiously at that.
"Aha ha ha ha..." Rainbow Dash brushed the sweat off her blue brow and grinned with reflective teeth. "Isn't that cute? Ahem... so... anypony else have anything left to say to the Pretty Moon Princess?"
Kera raised a hoof.
"Uhhhh—Kera!"
"Is life lonely on the moon?"
Rainbow Dash's hung open. She pivoted her plastic grin about. "Anypony else?"
"It looks pretty cool, Your Highness," Rainbow Dash said from where she reclined lazily on the bow of the Noble Jury's hull. She gazed up at the shimmering heavens as her pendant pulsed like a torchlight. "The moonlight, I mean. Even from so far away, in a country screwed over by war and slavery, your glow is still strong."
"It pleaseth us to hear that detail, at least. Admittedly, we art not too proud of the negative attributes of that landscape."
"Hey, what can you do?" Rainbow Dash shrugged with a smile. "Besides... erm..." She winced. "B-besides raise and lower the celestial bodies and stave off chaos from devouring the heart of Equestria, I mean."
"We hath a great deal to discuss with thee concerning thy travels abroad, Rainbow Dash."
"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash sat up. "Shoot."
"We wouldst not wish to bore thy companions."
"Heh... Don't sweat it. They've all gone to sleep." Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder at the cockpit windows where a lone elk gazed at his controls with glittering antlers. "Well, most of them, that is."
"You certainly hath acquired a motley crew, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "They're a bit wonky, but I like 'em. Even the annoying ones like lardo and thunder horns."
"We beg thy pardon?"
"Ahem. Josho and Floydien."
"Ah, but of course."
"So... uh... you said you wanted to talk about some serious stuff?"
"Affirmative. Thou remembereth Axan, the Queen of Flame?"
Rainbow Dash fidgeted, flapping one of her wings instinctually. "Erm..." She gulped. "H-hard not to."
"As thou may well know, she is one of five Matriarchs known as the Divines. They were brood queens, siblings who were responsible for fostering the draconian population of this world. They hath been on this earth for as long as the Alicorns of Harmony, and for many millennia we worked in tandem with one another to maintain peace and equilibrium."
"Well, looks like things didn't work out that well, huh?" Rainbow Dash said with a sullen expression.
"Indeed. The alicorns dwindled in population, and both our magic and our resources grew thin. We suspect that the Five Divines—if they still took it upon themselves to protect this world—subsequently spread to the furthest points of the physical plane."
"And you all lost contact with one another..."
"Indeed, and if what Axan told us remains true, then the Divines have acquired more knowledge about this world than our sister and ourself hath been capable of learning. Chiefly, the fate of this very plane..."
Rainbow Dash gulped. "Do you really think it's all going to end?" She gazed at the jagged horizon, christened by stars all around her. "It's such a big world. I can't imagine it going kaput overnight, even if 'overnight' counts as a few hundred years."
"Nor can we. To that extent, we have attempted to bridge communication with the Divine Queen located west of Equestria."
"Oh?"
"Her name is Sturke, Queen of the Equinox, and apart from Axan she has been the last of the Divines with whom we and Celestia have associated. In the past, Sturke hath proven to be a great deal more agreeable than her four siblings. We art hoping that if Sturke is still alive, then she will be able to help us in areas where Axan has only proven to be both cryptic and adverserial."
"But... like... how do you plan on reaching this 'Sturke' Queen? From what you're telling me, she's just somewhere 'west' of Equestria." Rainbow Dash rubbed her scalp through her prismatic mane. "Seems like you'd need an expedition of some sort..."
"Precisely."
Rainbow Dash did a double-take to the heavens. "Wow... no kidding?"
"Princess Cadance, a mortal alicorn in high standing within the Canterlotlian Cabinet, and an ambassador of love and harmony, is flying west with a convoy of five airships. She is being accompanied by Shining Armor and Flash Sentry, two esteemed stallions of the Canterlot Defense Force. Overall, the expedition numbers in over three hundred Equestrian explorers. We are in constant communication with Cadance much like we are with you."
"Whoah whoah whoah—Wait! Does that mean you're interrupting your talk with them by chatting with me?"
The air was silent for a few seconds, as if occupying the space of regal laughter. "Fear not, Rainbow Dash. We art in possession of pluralized speech. Hath thou not stopped to consider that we art likewise in possession of pluralized hearing?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Uhm... no..." She chuckled. "So, like, how long ago did this western expedition thingy begin?"
"Two weeks prior to now. We had hoped to inform thee about it during this lunar cycle."
"And you totally did. Heh... Fancy that..." Rainbow Dash smirked. "That's like a story in and of itself."
"Indeed. All of Equestria is quite fascinated with the nature of the expedition."
"We hath no intention of informing the populace of the world's ill-fate, at least not until we art in a position to ascertain more truth. We can speak for Celestia in this manner as well."
"Well, right. But I was kind of asking about—"
"Nor have we informed any pony about thy terminal condition. This is a secret that we wisheth to keep secret, in thy honor.
"Yeah. Okay. Good." Rainbow Dash sat down with greater ease. "So... Princess Cadance, huh? Can't say I've heard of her."
"That surpriseth us. She is a prominent figure in Equestria, to say the least."
"But 'Shining Armor,' that totally sounds familiar. Didn't he marry the Princess or something?" Rainbow Dash's face scrunched up, and then she gasped. "Horseapples! That's right! He's totally Twilight's big bro, isn't he?"
"That he is, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash shuddered, resting her muzzle against a pair of crossed forelimbs. "Well... uhm..." She gulped. "I really hope he has a safe and successful mission."
"We carry the absolute same sentiment."
"You'll... uh... you'll fill me in when or if they make any contact with this 'Sturke' of the Equinox Dragon Queen person, right?"
"Indubitably. For gaining more knowledge on your own travels and the words of Axan is the very crux of that expedition."
"Plus, I bet it wouldn't hurt for Alicorns and Dragons to shake hooves again... or claws..." Rainbow slicked her bangs back, then blinked. "Hey, Your Highness, just who are the other Divines?"
"Axan, Queen of Flames, you already know personally."
"R-right..."
"Then there is Verlax, Queen of Frost, known for her conniving wit and occasionally duplicitous ways."
Rainbow Dash shuddered. "How pleasant..."
"Nevlamas, Queen of Magic, was once a close companion of Celestia and myself. However, she was the first of the Divines to break communication with Equestria. The last we heard from her, she had retreated to a distant part of the world, concerned about a deep-seeded darkness seeping through the plane. Considering Axan's dire words as of late, we now hath reason to suspect that Nevlamas may have been onto something."
"Eh... maybe. Seems like all you immortal types like to talk with a bunch of mystery." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "No offense."
"None hath been taken."
"Was there another one?" Rainbow Dash gulped. "Another Divine?"
Luna's voice was gravely silent for a while. At last, she uttered, "Endrax. Queen of Shadow. If thou wisheth to have an archetype for mystery, she most certainly was the very epitome of it."
Rainbow Dash's teeth felt like chattering for some reason. She kept her cool. "What's her deal, exactly?"
"Not long after Nevalamas disappeared, Endrax vanished, but only after making a bold claim."
"Which was...?"
"She was heading towards the Dark Side of the world. For what purpose, she did not specify. Sturke attempted to reason with her. Axan was ambivalent. And Verlax... well... it hath always been hard to read Verlax, but she almost seemed amused with the entire situation."
"Yeesh... Glad I don't have any sisters."
"Rainbow Dash, the departure of Endrax was nearly thirty millennia ago. There simply is no telling what plans she had in mind for the Dark Side of the World, whether it was benevolent... or something quite the opposite. All we know is that the speed and intensity with which she exited the realm of light suggesteth something dire."
"I feel like you're really bent on telling me this for some reason," Rainbow Dash uttered, squinting into the starlight.
"So many eons hath passed by, Rainbow Dash. We cannot pretend to know what awaits for you upon the moment you reach the Midnight Armory. But it is quite likely that Endrax will be there, in some for or another. And if Axan has already been so adversarial to you..."
"Princess... Princess, please..." Rainbow Dash smirked as she waved a hoof. "I do my best thinking in the here and now. And tomorrow, I gotta look after a zeppelin full of ponies, as well as go about a way of finding them food before we get to some floating city in the sky."
"We cannot help but think in the long term, Rainbow Dash, especially since..."
"I'm honored that you would do so much for me and my journey, Princess Luna. And I promise—for your sake as well as for this western expedition of yours—that I'll get as much information as I can for as long as I'm able. But face it..." She exhaled heavily as she looked forward towards the moon-kissed eastern horizon. "The odds of me reaching the Midnight Armory, much less the edge of the world..." Her voice trailed off.
Quietly, Luna's voice filled the void. "We believeth in thee, Rainbow Dash, with all the might and intuition at our disposal."
"Yeah... well..." Rainbow Dash blew some bangs out from her brow and smirked tiredly. "Even immortals can't resist awesome..."
Ebon Mane’s hooves carried him softly through the middle level of the Noble Jury. He hummed lightly to himself, his voice muffled quietly by a scroll of paper clamped between his teeth. He glanced left and right, eying the solid metal doors to the small crew quarters. The light sounds of snoring breaths could be heard through the bulkheads.
The stallion smiled to himself, trotting until he came upon a door that hung open along the port side. He shuffled through the frame, entering his cramped bunkroom. Quietly—so as not to wake the ponies next to him—he closed the door with barely a sound.
He was cast into darkness for a while, at least until a hoof reached up and twisted a knob along the upper wall. A single bulb of manalight flickered to life, casting a dim amber glow over his features and the bunkbeads lining the wall perpendicular to the door. Exhaling heavily, he dropped the scroll onto the lower bunk’s pillow and reached towards a metal locker pressed tightly to the opposite wall. Pulling two drawers out, he produced an inkwell and a pen.
After cracking the kinks in his neck, Ebon sighed, then climbed onto the lower bed. He folded his limbs beneath him, squirming slightly as his weight settled into the weight of the mattress. With a contented smile, he then stretched the scroll out across the mattress, dipped the pen into the inkwell, and began scribbling across the top of the paper with his mouth.
Dearest Mother,
I talked to a Princess today. According to Rainbow Dash, her name is Princess Luna, and she controls the very stars above us from a magical land named Equestria. Can you believe that? After so much war and craziness, there’s still plenty of surprises that this world has yet to share with me. The nifty thing is, I’m not anxious about it. Not in the least. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel safe.
Yes, I feel very… safe with the Noble Jury. It’s almost as if I have friends again. And I don’t mean just Propsy, but such wonderful and interesting characters as Bellesmith and Floydien and Eagle Eye. Nopony’s perfect, of course. Many of us are biting at each other’s muzzles from time to time. But hey, dysfunction is the way of life, at least for most of the world. It almost feels like… a family…
In the morning dawnlight, the Noble Jury coasted over a final line of emerald trees before hovering above a spacious valley that stretched alongside a riverbank. Rainbow Dash flew eagerly along the starboard edge of the ship. She gasped wide at the rolling hills and waved dramatically towards the cockpit from where she flew with a bright grin.
Floydien signaled back with a waving hoof. Bellesmith and Eagle Eye smiled at each other as the ship lowered down to a grassy hill besides a bend in the river. With a flare of rockets, Roarke leapt off the stern of the ship and drifted down until she stood just beneath the vessel’s lowering hood. She gestured with two forelimbs and shouted commands, guiding the ship to a safe stop against the earth. Just seconds after it landed, the hangar in the back slid open, its metal door slats rattling loudly in the morning air.
One by one, ponies stepped out: Josho, Props, Kera, and Ebon Mane. They flexed their legs, enjoying the feel of the soft earth. With a giggling squeal, Kera began running in circles, her horn slicing through the dewy air.
We each have our own individual parts to play on board this remarkable vessel. It’s almost too good to be true. But, with what I keep hearing from the likes of Bellesmith, Pilate, and Rainbow Dash—the originators of this epic pilgrimage—luck is just part of the whole grand adventure. And I certainly am feeling very lucky.
Floydien runs this ship flawlessly and he knows the vessel from the inside out… almost a little too well. Eagle Eye is great at spotting distant things on the horizon, so as to help us hide from Ledomaritan patrols or Xonan raid parties. Propsy, of course, is a natural in the ship’s engine room—or the “womb” as she likes to call it. Roarke is a great thinker and warrior. Can you imagine that? Pilate is a genius; his skills in navigation and history is impeccable. Belle gives us all moral support and Kera knows how to make everypony laugh. Even Josho, for all of his slovenly habits and raunchy attitude, is priceless for his knowledge of the warfront and what areas we’d best avoid in our flight east.
And then, at the head of the entire group, is Simon the Squirrel. No, I’m just kidding, Mother. It’s Rainbow Dash. And she’s a fabulous specimen of a pony, to say the least. Never mind the otherworldly wings she’s sporting or the magical amulet that she carries around her neck or her seemingly ethereal connection to a prehistoric plane of existence—the mare is simply the best there ever was. And she carries it with her wherever she goes, proudly, unabashedly, loudly. I wish I could possess even a fraction of that confidence, much less inspire it so easily in others.
Just what is it that I do, you wonder? Why, I’m the ship’s cook, or at least I am until we reach our elusive destination, Gray Smoke. This has made me both the center of attention as well as the center of contempt on board this ship. The latter can be blamed on a severe lack of resources, but all of that is about to change. Yes, I do believe things are about to get a lot more wholesome around here.
Kera telekinetically carried a basket of thickly bundled edibles: flowers, dandelions, daisies, daffodils, and marigolds. She smiled proudly in the air as Bellesmith trotted after her, chuckling at the filly’s enthusiasm as she herself trucked three thick baskets full of four times as many flowers. Trotting in the opposite direction, Josho and Eagle Eye carried fishing gear as they made for a lake beyond a thick line of trees. With a gust of air, Rainbow Dash floated down from a towering fruit tree and held out three different types of fruit before Ebon Mane’s grasp.
Ebon Mane turned around from a basket full of pears and squinted curiously at the various samples and their respective colors. He rubbed his chin in thought. Unfolding a knife from his saddlebag, he unpeeled a part of one fruit and gave it a tiny lick with his tongue. He tilted his head skyward as he studied the taste. With raised eyebrows, he did the same with the second sample, unpeeling the fruit slightly and touching it with his tongue. He immediately spat into the ground with a wincing expression.
Rainbow Dash smiled bashfully. Her ruby lightning bolt reflected his burgundy hoof as he grasped the last fruit and gave it a test as well. After a few seconds, he smiled, then raised the first and third fruits before Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus nodded with a bright grin and rocketed back into the trees to collect more of the selected fruit. As she did so, a loud roaring sound rolled across the valley. Ebon Mane turned to look, as did several other ponies.
Josho and Eagle Eye came galloping out of the line of trees, tossing their fishing gear and screaming at the top of their lungs. On thundering paws, an enraged manticore chased after them, its mane flaring as it sped angrily towards the Noble Jury.
Pilate threw himself before Bellesmith’s and Kera’s trembling figures. He gritted his teeth, facing the direction of the intense vibrations. With bloodlust, the manticore rushed towards the hapless equines.
With a flash of metal, Roarke shot down and landed in front of the beast. Her helmet flickered a menacing red.
The manticore paused briefly, then reared its claws as it flew angrily at the Searonese mare.
All Roarke had to do was twitch her neck, and a manarifle popped out of her shoulder armor. One single shot echoed across the valley.
Everything just fits together so well. We really click well as a group. Oddly enough, though, I find that this happens the best whenever Rainbow Dash is around. Even though she’s a stranger to this part of the world, and even though there’s a lot of things she doesn’t indulge in as much as we do, I can’t help but feel as though she’s the backbone of this entire group. For all of her talk and bravado, all she really needs to do is be around, and everything is just… harmonious.
How odd for a creature who is so obsessed, so guilt-ridden, and so vexxed over the part she has to play in “chaos”...
The next evening, as the Noble Jury floated through the dark clouds, Ebon Mane finished sliding the last plate of smoked meat onto the table inside the mess hall. Josho grinned ravenously before giving the stallion a nod of gratitude. With graceful telekinesis, he levitated a fork and knife and dug into the meal.
Ebon Mane smiled proudly, sitting at the head of the table beside the door to the steaming hot kitchen. He chatted pleasantly with Props and Pilate and others as they enjoyed their portions. In the meantime, Bellesmith trotted out of the kitchen with a tray balanced across her back. She paused to give Pilate a gentle nuzzle, and the zebra paused in his meal to reciprocate. The mare exited the mess hall, trotted down the crew quarters, and climbed up the crawlspace to the top deck of the ship.
There, squatting on her haunches in the open wind, Rainbow Dash squatted with her face in her hooves. She felt a gentle tap of a golden hoof on her shoulder. She looked over just in time to see a wooden bowl full of sliced fruit placed beside her. Rainbow smiled gently.
Belle smiled back, then squatted beside the pony with an identical bowl. Together, the dear friends dug into their fruit slices, talking and laughing over mutual stories as the stars bled through the heavens.
I know that I will be parting with this group soon. So will Propsy, and though I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to associate with her in the future, I feel as though a great part of me won’t ever be this happy or secure again.
There’s something special about this group of ponies. I can feel it in their laughter, in their gazes, even in their scowls and their sighs. These are genuine souls, Mother. They care for each other, and—furthermore—they know that they can count on each other if push was to come to shove.
No, I truly don’t think I’ve ever been with a group which had such a firm grasp on… loyalty.
Rainbow Dash sat at the far end of the observation room, her body silhouetted by the stars beyond the bubble-shaped windows. The mare was busy with dramatically waving her forelimbs while her mouth moved a mile per minute. Her expression morphed with every word as she flung her story between dramatic highs and suspenseful lows.
Several Noble Jurors watched and listened intently. Props leaned forward so much she felt on her chest repeatedly. Kera and Eagle Eye were already lying side by side on their bellies, their faces plastered with identical, foalish grins. Bellesmith and Pilate sat in the corner, nuzzling as they smiled at the scene.
Rainbow charaded giant butterfly wings, then made a sound as they “went up in flames.” The whole observation room gasped as a certain pony plunged to her death, only for Rainbow Dash to plunge heroically after her.
Roarke sat in the doorframe, polishing her helmet. Her lenses pistoned outward upon hearing the latest leg of the tail, and she let loose a grunt of indifference.
Ebon Mane rolled his eyes at her and lay back on a hammock, engulfing himself with the story, almost falling asleep to the drift of the ship between the punctuations of Rainbow’s words.
Good things never last forever. I, of all ponies, definitely know this. But I’ve adapted to troubles in the past and I should know how to get by in the hard times to come. For the meantime, I’m quite pleased to enjoy the moment while it lasts. I really don’t think the world would frown on me for doing so. I sincerely hope you wouldn’t either.
Someday, I will see you again, Mother. While I hope to make you proud, I hope to also make you feel—as I have come to feel—for there are things left in this world that aren’t quite so hopeless. They’re worth living for… and dying for. I think, right here and right now, I would settle for either.
I suppose that’s the nature of “peace.”
Goodnight, Mother.
Sincerely,
-Ebon Mane
The stallion finished writing. Ebon planted the pen back into the inkwell and gave the scroll a glance over. With a satisfied smile, he placed both the parchment and the writing tool away.
Twisting the the mana-powered knob so that it dimmed to a low glimmer, he pulled the covers over himself and rested his cheek against the pillow. He fell asleep with a contented sigh, his breaths rising and falling with the drifts of the airship.
“Well, we’ll be stocking up in Gray Smoke, then heading southeast through a place called Azure Pass,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice rolling through the night air. “According to Josho, it’s south of one of the largest military fronts in the war.”
”How doth thou intend to deal with the nefarious Xonans? Surely there wilt be many of their patrols in the area.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and answered Luna’s glowing aura. “That’s where we hope the speed of the Noble Jury will go into full effect. Since we’ll be fully restocked at Gray Smoke, we won’t have any need of parking Floydien’s ship anywhere. We can just cruise on through Xonan territory and not look back.”
Rainbow Dash smirked as she lazily hung off the edge of the top deck’s railing. “Well, you know what they say about really stupid plans…”
Luna’s voice took on a wavering tone, like it was rising and falling from a watery surface. ”Rainbow Dash, we fear that our communication cannot persist for much longer. Both the night and the full moon wavereth.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow’s nostrils flared as her face stretched sadly. “I kind of figured…”
”It will be another long month before we can once again speak with thee.”
“We’re gonna be okay, Your Majesty,” Rainbow Dash said. “Don’t you w-worry…”
Silence.
Rainbow Dash’s muzzle scrunched up. “Luna…?”
”Doth something troubleth thee, our little pony?”
Rainbow Dash winced. “I… uhm…” her voice cracked. “Actually, I was curious about something…”
”Please, do elaborate while thou still hath time.”
“Twilight Sparkle really admired you, y’know? I mean, she may have been super duper close to Celestia, but she always had a great deal of respect for the Princess of the Night.”
”We certainly had no doubt of that. Regardless, hearing it from thy words is a solacing thing.”
“Heh, yeah, well…” Rainbow Dash looked down at her dangling hooves and the mountains looming below the drifting zeppelin. “She used to tell me stuff about you and the job you had over the heavens at night…”
”Indeed…”
“And… uh… she talked about something you did. An old, stuffy ritual called the ‘Cosmic Prayer.’”
”Nothing stuffy about it, Rainbow Dash. The Cosmic Prayer is nothing less than our nightly blessing given unto the mortal equines who sleep under our benevolent rule, imploring the stars that their destinies meet fortuitous ends.”
“So, like… you say this prayer every night?”
”Indeed, and we repeat it every morning, when our labors traditionally ended. As you can imagine, in this day and age, the prayers hath quadrupled while we engage the rising and setting sun.”
“Yeah. I… uh… I-I guess that makes sense,” Rainbow Dash said. She sniffled and murmured, “Do you… ever give your blessings to specific ponies in particular? Like… knowing that they may be out there somewhere, under your moon or your sun, really needing some help?”
”Doth thou have a pony that thou wishest us to entreat the stars for, Rainbow Dash?”
“Mmmm… yeah…” Rainbow’s eyes quivered, and a lone tear rolled down her cheek. “Her n-name is Imre…”
”’Imre,’ a very noble name.”
“For a very n-noble pony,” Rainbow Dash shuddered as she wiped her cheek dry. “She’d be right at home on board this vessel, but she isn’t.” She swallowed a lump down her throat and gazed dully into the stars. “Somewhere, she’s out there all alone, and it’s my fault. If I can’t do anything awesome for her… th-then perhaps you can…”
”She wilt be with us in our prayers, Rainbow Dash. The stars shall echo with her name. This, we promise thee.”
Rainbow’s face produced a fragile smile. “That’s really t-terrific, Your Highness. You rock…”
”So we hath been told.” The alicorn’s voice faded in and out. ”We likewise hath a request to impart upon thee, Rainbow Dash, while there is still time.”
“Shoot.”
”We do not wish to spark panic or concern…”
At that, Rainbow’s ears perked. She sat up straight on the ship’s edge. “Uh… okay…”
”You sayeth that thou wilt be parting ways with two ponies soon, yes?”
“R-right…” Rainbow Dash nodded. “Once we get to Gray Smoke.”
”The stallion who calleth himself Ebon Mane…”
“Yeah…?”
Luna’s voice flickered in and out of solidity. ”We trust that he is a benevolent pony, but there is something about him that concerneth us. The essence of his soul doth not translate through the spell as doth the souls of thy other companions.”
Rainbow Dash squinted. “What… d-do you mean by that?”
”We cannot rightly tell, for the explanation is beyond us. All we know is this: the stallion called Ebon Mane is hiding something, and it vexeth him greatly. It may prove to be nothing, but if thy companionship with those ponies is built on trust, then it may be a wise thing to keep a close eye on him while he remaineth in thy party. Whatever the secret is, we feareth it may be as much a concern for thee as it is for himself.”
Rainbow Dash nodded limply. “Right… uh… I’ll be sure to watch over him.”
”Do not be rash, Rainbow. Honesty is still a relevant element of Harmony in this world. If it wouldst console thee, simply confront the stallion and…” The voice cut out.
Rainbow’s pendant stopped glowing.
She looked down at the ruby lightning bolt, touching it with a limp hoof. A cold shudder left her lungs as she gazed at the wooden deck of the ship under darkness.
Rainbow slept in the Noble Jury’s observation room. That dawn, like every morning previous, she dangled precariously over the edge of a swaying hammock, snoring doggishly towards the rattling bulkheads.
Beyond the bubbled windows, the clouds parted, and the rays of the rising sun tore in through the glass frames as regularly scheduled. Their golden beams swam over the wall, the hammock supports, and finally over Rainbow Dash’s blue coat. Her muzzle twitched from the warming touch. She flinched, clamping her drooling mouth as she curled up into a fetal position with a trilling sound of protest.
There was no escaping the dawn. As always, the sunlight thoroughly engulfed her. With a prolonged groan, she squinted her filmy eyes open, immediately wishing she didn’t. She clenched her eyes shut and sat up, stretching each joint with sloth-like motions. As her limbs crackled, she tossed back her mane of bed hair and squinted towards the source of the rude spotlight.
“Mmmmmfff… nnnghhh…”
She brought a hoof up and rubbed tight circles across her muzzle, flicking her ears as she tossed off the weight of the night, as well as the trailing words of a moon princess who was continents away.
She flapped her wings and prepared to hover. She stopped midway through, choosing to yawn instead. After a thorough stretch of her forward limbs, she gazed lethargically at the window.
Her wings stopped twitching.
With a pensive breath, Rainbow Dash raised both eyebrows. “Httt!” She forward-flipped from the hammock, landed nimbly on the observation room’s floor, and pressed herself up against the glass, squinting.
Her breaths quickened nervously, casting a layer of condensation against the translucent surface. Nevertheless, she managed to look beyond the sheen, the clouds, and the mist beyond. There were shapes in the sky… dark shapes and shifting shapes. Rigid. Metallic.
“Crud…”
Hissing, Rainbow Dash backtrotted, tripping over a blanket that had fallen from one of the many hammocks.
“Crud crud cr-crud!”
Galloping now, she sped into the adjacent corridor and clambered up the vertical crawlspace.
“Megacrud on a crud cracker!” her voice echoed.
Josho trotted limply down the middle level from his quarters in time to see her. “Mmmmf--Hey…” He spoke while telekinetically brushing his teeth. “The lavatory’s down that way if you gotta go so bad, ya windsock.”
Rainbow Dash paid the stallion no attention. She shot into the cockpit like a blue torpedo, almost tackling Bellesmith and Props.
“No time to laugh it up!” Rainbow Dash squawked, pointing a flailing hoof out the window. “Bogeys at twelve o’clock! Ledomaritan battlecruisers are on the horizon!”
“Shhh…” Belle calmly placed her hooves on the hysterical mare’s shoulders. “Rainbow, relax…”
“No time for that! They’re gonna attack us!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. “We gotta pull around and find a higher altitude to speed off from!”
“Will some boomer put a cork in her spithole?!” Floydien grumbled, his antlers sparkling away as he pulled the ship fearlessly towards the floating black masses. “Is too early for paintbucket to spill all over Nancy Jane’s skull.”
“Are you guys crazy?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “You wanna become flak fodder?!”
“My hometown isn’t gonna turn us into flak fodder, silly!” Props said with a gigglesnort.
“Huh?!”
Props raised her goggles and pointed out the cockpit window. “Take a gander for yourself, gander-goose!”
Rainbow Dash brushed aside Belle to squint over Floydien’s brown shoulder.
The clouds parted some more, allowing the sunlight to illuminate the immediate horizon in greater clarity. The black masses congealed into one singular structure, floating amidst the heavens and conjoined in several swiveling, swaying places. Buildings and platforms came into focus, affixed to gigantic cylinders broiling with steam and mana. Before Rainbow Dash, a floating city port appeared, framed by clouds, swarming with zeppelins of all sizes and shapes, and not a single one of them bearing the flag of Queen Ledo.
“I… I don’t see any enforcers at all…” Rainbow Dash murmured.
“That’s because Gray Smoke doesn’t fall under Ledomaritan jurisdiction!” Props grinned wide. “It’s run by a bunch of smart airheads who know how to keep ahead of the air!”
“Basically, they fly just within close enough range of the battlefront below that the airspace above is nebulously defined,” Belle added. “According to Props, here, they’ve been keeping this up for the past thirty years. That’s how Gray Smoke remains neutral.”
“Making bits off of stabby stabby war…” Floydien almost spat into the consoles. “Would be most sick sick of boomers if it wasn’t so cleverific. Yes yes?”
“Hey! It’s how Uncle Prowse always raked in the bits!” Props shrugged. “So long as ponies leave their guns inside their ship, it’s free range to barter, boast, and barf!” She pumped her hoof, cheering towards the ceiling. “Wooohooo! Back home in the heavens!”
“Not so loud!” Floydien grumbled. “Nancy Jane has sensitive ears and so does her beloved!”
“Woops! Sorry, handsome!”
“It’s not very…” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “...’gray.’”
“Wait till you see it from the inside.” Props said with a wink. “The grime is tasty! I promise you!” She brightened. “Oooh! I gotta go tell Ebony! No doubt the smell has woken him by now!” She scampered over to the wall and slid down the nearest crawlspace. “Hey! Ebonyyyyy! Whip out the sky spatulas! We’re home! We’re home! Heehee!”
Belle leaned against a wall, sighing with wonder. “Isn’t it marvelous?” The mare shook her head with a smile. “Amidst all of this chaos and imperialism, some ponies have figured out how to live… relatively free.”
“Yeah, well…” Rainbow Dash fidgeted. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Belle winked at her. “Something tells me you’re about to.”
Rainbow Dash gazed back at her, then looked towards the window as Floydien cruised the Noble Jury carefully into the dense traffic buzzing around the outer docks of the sky metropolis.
"Josho..." Eagle Eye stood at the top of the stern's stairwell. He motioned with his hoof while his eyes remained plastered on the sights looming about the ship. "Come on up, old stallion. You have to come see this." As a tired, obese unicorn trotted up the steps, Eagle Eye galloped eagerly towards the edge of the top deck, peering over the port side railing of the Noble Jury.
The closer the ship approached the body of Gray Smoke, more and more ships joined a floating tributary of traffic. Zeppelins and dirigibles puttered on either side of Floydien's aircraft as vessels came in and out of docking. Smoke rose from several levitating platforms while sparks of steam engines lit the horizon.
Soon, Props came bouncing gleefully out of the stairwell, followed by Kera on scampering hooves, then Ebon leading Pilate by the hoof. As the sounds became more and more cacophonous, the zebra's ears twitched.
"It's like we're entering a train station," Pilate muttered. "A train station in the sky."
"Yuppers!" Props chirped to the heavens. "And my Uncle Prowse is one of the conductors."
"You don't say...?"
"Okay, well, so maybe he's one of the engineers..."
"He repairs visiting ships?"
"Alright, so perhaps he's more of a selective scrapper of maintenance parts," Props said, blushing.
Pilate smirked. "Well, it's good to know his niece has gotten around more in life."
"Yup! I'm a regular balloon!"
"There're just so many airships," Kera cooed as she leaned up towards the railing. She gulped and murmured, "How come none of them have tried shooting at us yet?"
"Because they're not on the Ledomaritans' side," Bellesmith said as she trotted over and placed a loving hoof on the filly's shoulder. "For all that we know, they probably haven't gotten a clue that we're wanted fugitives."
"And besides," Roake muttered from where she perched on a skystone support strut beam overhead. "The only ponies worth collecting bounties have lost their main base of operations."
Belle did a double-take, peering straight up. "How long have you been there?"
"I've always been here."
Belle shrugged, smiling out at the line of warehouses, factories, and markets floating along steam-powered and mana-conductive engines. "You ever been here, Miss Roarke?"
"A few times, as a matter of fact, Miss Smith."
"'Belle' is just fine. Ahem. What is the atmosphere like?"
"Is that supposed to be some sort of pun?"
"No. Simply curious."
"It may be neutral, alright." Roarke touched down on four heavy hooves. She trotted up to the edge of the deck. "But 'neutral' doesn't mean friendly. Gray Smokers are all about earning bits at whatever cost, even if it means swindling it from you. They have been milking the war all these years, after all."
"Smells like a bunch of punks to me," Josho grumbled.
"Well, at least we know not all ponies from Gray Smoke are bad news!" Eagle Eye turned and winked at Ebon Mane. "Isn't that right?"
Ebon took a deep breath, forcing out a weak smile. "Yeah... not all of us..."
Eagle Eye blinked. He looked like he was about to say something with a heavy engine noise rumbled across the deck.
Simon scampered by, shrieking, while Kera clung to Belle. "Gaah! What is that?! Nightshade?! The enforcers?!"
Just then, a floating dirigible with junk for a hull levitated just within a few feet of the Noble Jury's port side. Powered by propellors and steam vents, the craft slid open its starboard side, unveiling a dangling assortment of fruit, meats, and vegetables.
"Scrkkk—Fresh foooooood!" A diamond dog's grinning teeth lit up in the morning air as he stood on the other side of the floating sails counter. He pointed at Josho. "Meatttt for the grizzled veteran!" He pointed at Kera. "Broccoli for the growingggggg little filly!" He juggled a bunch of peaches. "Royal slicesssss of fruit! Delicioussss as the day they were picked!" He pointed at Eagle Eye. "Will do wonderssss for your radiant complexion, Miss!"
Eagle's lavender ears drooped. "Some days, I wish I still had my sword and shield..."
A blue figure blurred over his violet mane and snarled into the vendor's face. "Look! We don't need none of your stinkin' peddling!" Rainbow Dash growled, waving her hoof. "So why don't you buzz off!"
"And milkkkk!" The vendor waved a jug around with grinning canines. "Best way to soothe the savage beast with wingssss!"
"Scram!" Rainbow Dash roared.
"Fine! We will be in Flying Copper district if weary travelers change their mind!" The dog waved his paw and pulled a cord, retracting the starboard side wares back into the rusted hull as the vessel puttered away. "In the Smoke, our signal shines the brightest! Come see!"
Rainbow Dash exhaled, hovering down to her hooves in the smoldering breeze.
"You know, Rainbow..." Belle smiled as she trotted up to the pegasus' side. "Just because you've been around us for so long doesn't mean you have to treat ponies who aren't your friend as complete vagabonds."
Rainbow glared at her. "Forgive me if I don't really trust the ponies of this place."
"But you've never been to Gray Smoke!"
"I meant Ledomare... or Xona—heck, this whole continent!"
Josho yawned. "Not everyplace can be Eclopia, you know."
"Equestria, and trust me, everypony." Rainbow Dash trotted leisurely towards the other side of the top deck. "I'm not nearly as paranoid as you think I am—"
Another flying hunk of junk, even smaller than the first, raised up past the starboard side. "Fresssssh fisssssh!" a mule sang from a rickety window smelling of smoked salmon and bass. "Just the early morning vittles you need for a healthy day of trade!"
"How about I find a whale's mouth and toss you in, huh?!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
Roarke suddenly yanked the mare down by her tail and sighed towards the group. "Perhaps we should start doing the talking for once."
"Hey! Let go of that thing!" Rainbow Dash batted Roarke's metal horseshoe away and cuddled her own hairs. "I spent days growing it back, y'know!"
"It would do us well to find out where Floydien could land this," Pilate muttered.
Clearing his throat, Ebon suddenly trotted towards the starboard side and smiled at the vendor. "We have our fill of food at the moment, thank you. But perhaps you could let us know which of the loading docks are open right now? Presumably the ones that don't charge out the plot."
"Hmmm... I don't know..." The mule scratched his chin as he spoke over the whipping winds between the two vessels. "Someone who has money to save has certainly got money to spend."
Ebon's nostrils flared. "But of course." He turned and smiled at Props. "Propsy?"
"Righto, Ebono!" She stuck her tongue out while digging two hooves deep into her blonde mane. At last, she pulled out a pair of golden bits and tossed them Ebon's way. "There ya go! I didn't need to buy myself a new wrench-warmer anyway!"
"Gotta admit," Josho leaned in to Eagle Eye. "She picked a good place to hide them."
"I didn't notice."
"Meh. Of course you didn't..."
"Here, good sir," Ebon tossed the bits at the mule, who was used to catching items thrown from ship to ship. "Now, about those loading docks..."
"Well..." The mule smiled calmly. "For a ship your size, it won't be cheap. You could try the Rusted District. They've got two yards open for docking as of last night."
"The Rusted District is full of scoundrels, though," Ebon remarked.
"You've got the Gray Soot on ya, buddy," the Mule said with a smile. "You'll survive in those streets."
"I'm more concerned about my friends."
"Ah. Whitewashed, huh? Though the Searonese one looks like she has some teeth on her."
"I could use more," Roarke said in a steely tone. "Mule-sized."
"Down, girl," Rainbow Dash whispered.
"Are there any places above the rust?" Ebon asked. "Don't worry about us. We can earn the bits."
Rainbow Dash and Bellesmith raised their eyebrows at that.
"Well, if you insist." The mule pocketed his fresh new coins away. "Bronze District should have a dock available as of two hours ago. Upper level, southwest side."
"Does any pilot know about this?"
"Yours would be the first, since I done told ya."
"Ya hear that, thunder elk?!" Josho "Southwest side of the Bronze District!"
"Just look for three smokestacks flanked by a metal dome!" Ebon added.
"I heard every spit the boomers had to toss!" Floydien's voice called back from the cockpit while Simon barked in the background. "Making way through the smolder smolder!"
"Thanks, you've been a big help," Ebon said with a salute.
"Hey..." The mule shrugged as his vessel puttered away. "Any conversation is an excuse to ignore the stench of a fresh catch!" He swiveled about and headed towards another floating vessel. "Fresssssh fisssssh!"
"Nicely done, Mr. Mane," Pilate said with a calm smile. "I knew all this needed was a cool head."
"And yours is certainly the coolest," Eagle Eye said. He blanched, then grinned with fluttering eyes towards Rainbow. "Though, not exactly the awesomest."
"Hmmmph..."
"Woohoo!" Props hopped up and down. "The Bronze District! That's only five blocks away from my garage!"
"Well, that's useful," Josho said. "Helps to have a bit of familiarity around this floating vomit bucket."
"That was awfully nice of you," Bellesmith said. "Lending us some gold just now."
"Oh, plenty more where that came from, I'm sure!" Props winked a blue eye. "Uncle Prowse owes me big time! Especially after that one time I saved him from the Abominable Snow Trout."
"While that's awfully nice of you, we still need to come up with some gold ourselves," Pilate said as Floydien sped the ship towards the docks. The floating buildings and platforms of Gray Smoke crowded around the vessel like the boughs of an immense metal tree. "Something tells me that an extended stay in this place isn't exactly cheap."
"Not at all," Ebon said, shaking his head. "But it's also easy to find jobs in this place. I'm sure—between the nine of us..."
Simon barked.
Ebon blushed. "Ten of us—we can come up with enough gold to float."
"Screw floating," Josho said. "We need to fly."
"Yeah! What he said!" Rainbow Dash pointed. "This place seems spiffy and all, but what we really wanna do is stock up on stuff and make our way east!"
"Uncle Prowse can help us load up!" Props said in a melodious tone. "He's got lots of mechanics at his beck and call to spare!"
"That sounds terrific!" Belle exclaimed.
"A little too terrific, if you ask me," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"Oh, Rainbow, will you lighten up?" Belle smiled. "I think we can definitely take care of ourselves around here."
"I'm sorry, Belle," Rainbow Dash said with a shudder. "But the moment I feel like relaxing is when I realize it's the best time to panic."
"Well, how about this, you can stick around me and Pilate the whole time if you're that scared."
"Pfft! I can kick the crap out of any pony who tries something!" Rainbow Dash rumbled.
Belle winked. "I meant so that you could protect us, not yourself."
"Oh... right..." Rainbow touched down beside Belle, exhaling. "Yeah, that would be cool."
Belle giggled.
"Ewww..." Kera waved a hoof before her scrunched up nose. "It smells really bad here..."
"Really?" Josho droned. "I didn't notice."
A dark shadow swam over the vessel as it slowly pulled into an enclosed docking port, surrounded by partially rusted walls and support struts.
Roarke looked up. "It's about to smell a lot worse." With that said, she automatically shut her glossy helmet around her head like a clamshell.
“Hey.” An earth pony covered in grime and grease leaned back on his haunches, holding his forelimbs in an indignant manner. “Take it or leave it, buddy!” He gestured towards where the Noble Jury was docked alongside a metal support strut of the dimly-lit hangar. “Preferably in another sap’s station, cuz we ain’t givin’ no space for free!”
“That’s robbery!” Josho’s chins wobbled as he snarled at the equine on the loading platform. “Even in cities as stuck up as Blue Halo, they barely charge more than forty bits for a night’s docking!”
“Does this look like Ledomare to you, pal?” The pony sniffed, rubbed his muzzle, and scribbled something across his clipboard. “Don’t make me hit the ejection valves. They’ll do a number that pretty hull of yours.”
“You want ejection, buddy? I see an earth pony who could use a new blowhole himself!”
“Josho! Please!” Pilate shuffled up along with Belle and Props. Rainbow Dash hovered cautiously overhead. “No need for shouting!” the zebra said with a smile. “Let’s not get off on the wrong hoof with this proprietor. Now, what’s the reason for all this racket?”
Josho spun about. “He wants to charge us two hundred bits!”
”Two hundred bits?!” Pilate roared, his stripes positively rattling.
“Ahem…” Belle rested two hooves gently on Pilate’s shoulders as she leaned forward towards the deck’s railing. “Forgive us, sir. We’re not from around here. We’re rather shocked to find out just how… erm… inflated the economy is around here.”
“Inflation ain’t got nothing to do with it.” The earth pony pointed at the massive girth of the Noble Jury. “That’s a big vessel for a tiny station like this. Lots of well-paying pilots are chomping at the bit to park their junk here. Literally! If you can’t pay, then you can’t stay! Simple as that!”
“The hay are you talking about?!” Rainbow Dash gestured towards the wide empty slots along the breezy station’s metal support struts. “There’s plenty of space for parking here!”
“Nope. No can do.” The pony sighed into his clipboard. “Those docks are broken.”
“Broken?”
He turned around and pointed towards a high-hanging lattice where four stallions in working gear were presently attempting to pull a massive chunk of machinery towards the support struts of a gigantic platform.
“A bunch of smugglers parked their crud in here two months ago. When the station managers found out they were holding stolen goods, they sent a security detachment. The smugglers freaked out and disembarked without detaching from the docking couplers. They smashed half of the hangar in their attempt to flee. After all of their junk was confiscated, they had nothing to reimburse us with.”
“Yeesh!” Props squeaked, her face grimacing heavily. “Sleezy peezy!”
“Tell me about it,” the earth pony muttered. “I don’t know who sent you here, but until we get that junk fixed, there’s no way we’re charging any cheaper than one hundred and fifty.”
“But…” Pilate fidgeted. “What if we were to pay it over time? We could even negotiate interest.”
“Sorry. It’s all or nothing up front. Final offer.”
“I don’t suppose bartering would work?” Belle remarked.
The earth pony scratched his head. “Hmm… it depends…” He squinted and pointed the corner of his clipboard up at Rainbow Dash. “You got anything of legitimate value?”
Rainbow blinked her ruby eyes. “What, me?”
“Ahem…” Belle cleared her throat.
Rainbow looked at the mare. Belle gestured at her neck. Rainbow felt her ruby pendant. She immediately gasped. “Heck no! No deal!”
“Hey…” The earth pony shrugged. “Forgive me for tryin’ to be frickin’ flexible here!”
“Let’s just go,” Josho grumbled, hopping back onto the Noble Jury’s top deck. “He’s had his head up in the clouds too long. He’s hopeless.”
“Yo, I heard that, pal.”
Josho spun. “Yeah? Well, stick around long enough and you can also smell it, pal!”
“I’m with Josho on this one,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “I don’t think it’s worth all the kerfluffle.”
“Heeeeey…” Props hopped up onto the platform suddenly. She pointed at the heavy grunt work the stallions above were going through to lift the machinery. “Why are you using a rudimentary pulley system? Couldn’t you use a quad-powered mana distributor to lift that hunk-o-junk?”
“Pffft! Yeah, if we could afford it!” The earth pony cackled, his greasy lips smiling. “Our boss would have to fire half the staff to even begin saving up for one of them things! Heh… guy knows he’d get too many death threats overnight if he even tried it.”
“Well, it looks like utter torture trying to heave that all ho style!” Props grinned wide. “I know the Sooters of the Bronze Blocks don’t have much to limp by, but couldn’t they at least hook themselves up with a power crystal manifold?”
“Heyyyy…” The earth pony squinted at her. “You ain’t whitewashed, are ya?”
“Twenty-two years, born and raised, and all of them bouncy! Heehee!”
“Nnngh…” Rainbow Dash looked towards the far end of the hangar, trying to hide her reddening face. “Celestia, help me.” Belle chuckled beneath her.
“There’s been a choke on the Bronze trade,” the earth pony muttered. “If we wanted to get a power crystal manifold, we’d have to send some stallions Goldside, and the mist hasn’t been too sheen on our backs ever since the Merchants Guild started dabbling with the Upper Roost.”
“Pffft! Those tropofarters!”
“I know, right?” The earth pony smirked. “Perhaps you could try haggling for a manafold yourself, bright eyes. You look like the mist would be friendly to you.”
“Ugh!” Props rolled her blue eyes. “I hate the Upper Roost! They smell like diced onions and old roses!” She smiled with a bounce. “But what if I told you that I’ve got something better than a power crystal manafold?”
“I’m listening…”
“Something that could get the job you’re doing done in hours! Not weeks!”
“Now I’m really listening!”
“Float right there!” Props frolicked off the platform, jumped onto the top deck of the ship, and scampered into the cockpit.
There was a rustling noise, and Floydien’s voice could be heard. “Bah! Boomerette! Rette of boomer, lay off your spit hooves! What is this?!”
“Don’t worrrrrryyyyy!” Props bounded back with something squirming in the crook of her hoof. She stood at the edge of the railing and held up a dangling squirrel with dimly-sparkling tesla coils sticking out of his skull. “Taaaaa to the daaaaaa!”
The earth pony’s mouth hung open. He blinked. “Is this some sort of a joke?”
“Only if you like your jokes with super mega awesome junk-lifting power!” Props shook the rodent. “Come on, Simon! Give him a demonstration!”
Simon merely let out a long, ear-splitting squeak.
The earth pony winced. “You know what, I take that back. I worry for your sheen, lady.”
“I don’t get it!” Props frowned briefly, turning the squirrel over and upside down. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Ahem…” Kera waddled up out of nowhere. “Allow me.” With a pulse of her horn, she tugged on Simon’s tail.
The rodent barked, and the clipboard levitated straight out of the dock worker’s hooves.
“Hmmm…” He rubbed his chin, squinting in thought.
“Guaranteed to be at least ten times better than normal unicorn magic!” Props grinned. “That’s like ten horns crammed inside a fluffy, furry sack!”
“No strings attached!” Belle added with a nervous smile.
“I see where you’re going with this…” The earth pony re-gripped his glowing clipboard. “But you’re gonna have to be able to lift stuff way, way heavier than that.”
“Done!” Kera hopped up and bit onto Simon’s tail.
The creature shrieked, and Josho lifted off like a rocket.
“Whoah! Frak! Frak! Frak! Frak!” The obese stallion hollered as he flailed upside down.
“Hah!” The earth pony grinned wide. “That’s more like it!”
“Who said you could turn me into a friggin’ balloon?!” Josho snarled.
“Hehehehe…” Kera grinned mischievously. “Like you need any help, old stallion!”
“This was the fruit basket’s idea! Wasn’t it?!”
Rainbow Dash flew up and settled Josho in mid-air. Slowly, she guided him back towards the docks while looking at the worker. “So, how about it?”
“How about what?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Rainbow Dash pointed at the nasty labor transpiring overhead. “You let Props and her squirrely friend here help you get your stuff fixed up all nice, and then we get to stay here for a few days.”
“That’s rather presumptuous of you,” the earth pony said. “To think I’d give in so easily to something so blatantly simple.”
“Well?” Rainbow Dash leaned in with a frown. “Take it or leave it!”
“Yeah!” Josho muttered, green in the face. “What she--Urp--said…”
“I’ll make sure everything gets floated safely in place!” Props said as she took a moment to nuzzle Simon like a small dog. “Heehee! I’m good at connecting stuff together!”
“Hmmm…” The earth pony eventually sighed. “Well, it’s hard to argue with a blonde goddess of a Sooter, a zebra with a metal forehead, a magical squirrel, and a horse with wings.” The earth pony flipped a sheet of his clipboard and scribbled something with finality. “Fine. You get to stay. The faster I help you guys get situated and out of here, the less I have to question whether or not I’m having a major crystal-huffing dream.”
“Sounds good to us!” Pilate said with a smile. “And Props? Do be a dear and ask Mr. Floydien for permission before abducting his rodent companion.”
“So… fuzzy… and sparkly…!”
“Ahem. Miss Props?”
“Oh… right…” Props jumped onto the dock and galloped towards the work site. “I-I’ll keep that in mind, only after we fix this crud up!”
“Props!” Belle called after her. “Don’t you want to go see your Uncle Prowse?!”
“Perhaps Rainbow Dash should go after her,” Pilate muttered.
“Let her be, dear,” Belle said with a smile, patting Pilate’s shoulder. “Once a gearhead, always a gearhead.”
“So, what now?” Rainbow Dash asked with a shrug. “Without Props, we’re kind of crapping in the dark when it comes to restocking our ship!”
“We could always ask Floydien to lend us a hoof!” Belle remarked.
“Does that space elk really strike you as a fan of bustling crowds in the sky?” Josho remarked.
“Oh…” Belle’s ears folded as she winced. “Right…”
“There’s always Ebon,” Pilate remarked. “Mr. Mane seems right at home in this atmosphere.”
“Uhmmm…” Rainbow Dash squirmed, biting her lip.
“Something wrong, Rainbow?” Belle asked.
Rainbow put on a blazing smile. “Nope! Just thinking that… uh…”
“Yes?”
Rainbow gulped. “We should… all stick together. Make sure that we don’t get lost in such a strange place.”
“Agreed. And if Mr. Mane is so willing, perhaps he can lead us around before we part ways.”
“The best thing to do is ask him,” Belle remarked. “The sooner we leave, the better. I wouldn’t mind getting some fresh air!”
“Me too! Me too!” Kera hopped in place. “I wanna see everything in this cool flying place!”
“That’s not going to happen, darling.”
“Awwww!” Kera stomped her hooves with a pouting expression. “Why not?”
“Not so soon, at least.” Belle trotted over and knelt before her. “This is a strange and potentially dangerous town, Kera. I don’t even know if other foals live here, much less if you’ll be safe.”
“But I’ll have you guys around, won’t I?”
“Still, I think you’re better off sticking around here with Floydien and Props,” Belle remarked. “For your own good.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” Pilate said with a nod. “Once we’ve scouted this place out, then we can determine whether or not it’s okay to bring you on a second trip.”
“Second… trip…?” Kera’s eyes sparkled. “You mean we’re gonna be here for a few days?!”
“Seems like it,” Rainbow Dash droned with rolling eyes.
“Yaaaaay!”
Eagle Eye trotted up. “So… uhm… how’s it going? Did we find a way to dock here or what?”
“It’s your lucky day, EE,” Bellesmith said, standing up with a knowing smirk. “We’re off to go shopping.”
“Oh, please…” Eagle Eye rolled his violet eyes with a smirk. “As if I’m so predictable to go ga-ga over a thing like that…”
Josho said, “Actually, the dock worker earlier told me that they sell lavender shampoo by the carton in some place called the Gold District.”
Eagle’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. A foalish squeal came out of his lips as his hooves did a tiny dance in place. “You’rekiddingme! You’rekiddingme! Let’s go! Let’s go now--” He froze in place, then grimaced at his ears drooped. “You are kidding me, aren’t you?”
“Snkkkkt--Ha ha ha ha…”
“Ungh!” Eagle Eye trudged away, snarling. “Roll over and die, you old fart!”
“Only after I’ve lived to see your bridal shower!”
The Bronze District of Gray Smoke didn’t exactly live up to its name. Most of the metal shingles and wooden frames that made up the buildings of each block had turned rusted, splintery, and worn down. A deep, dark smog hung over the place, pierced in random places by dangling lamps filled with flitting, luminescent insects of unknown hatching. The place was beyond noisy, with the sounds of metalworks and carpentry echoing out of every establishment.
Across a bridge and blessed with a breeze of high winds, the east section of the Bronze District was a great deal easier to breathe in. Here, market bazaars were lined up with various merchants attempting to peddle all sorts of wares from across the continent. The populace was heterogeneous, consisting of ponies, rams, mules, diamond dogs, and various forms of equines.
To Rainbow’s surprise, the crowd was remarkably amiable. She couldn’t tell if their cheer was an artificial product of their intense desire to sell wares, or if perhaps there was a genuine, humble euphoria hanging about the impoverished place, so high up in the sky beyond the cares of any Ledomaritan gun or Xonan soldier. Still, she was too encumbered with two things to make a firm judgment. For one, she had a group of fellow ponies to look after. For another, she was trying to weather an intense coughing fit.
“Well, perhaps if you didn’t hover so high off the ground, Rainbow,” Belle said in a slightly chiding tone as they trotted along East Bronze District. “Maybe the smog wouldn’t get to you so badly.”
“I don’t get it…” Rainbow wheezed as she eventually relented, hovering down to trot at the street level alongside her friends. “This city is so high up in the clouds! Wouldn’t they know better than to trash it all with this pollution?”
“You speak as if you’ve been in a sky city before,” Josho grumbled from where he trotted alongside Roarke.
“For your information, I was born in one,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Heh!” Josho grinned into the ashen mists. “Like where? Stratopolis?”
“Stratopolis is a myth,” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“But this place certainly isn’t!” Ebon Mane exclaimed from where he trotted ahead of the group. He spun about and walked backwards while grinning at them. “Say all you want about the air quality, but don’t you agree that this place is just… bustling with life and diversity and emotion?”
“I feel like I’m flying over a tobacco farm that’s caught on fire,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Wow, there really is no pleasing you, is there?” Ebon smirked. “Either you’re griping about soldiers chasing us or the smog!”
“Hey!” Rainbow frowned. “That’s so not true! I’m not hard to please!” She blinked. She glanced aside at Pilate and Belle. “Am I?”
“Erm…” Belle shifted where she walked. “Well…”
As Pilate leaned on his beloved for guidance, he tilted his head over in Rainbow’s direction. “You are prone to a great deal of stress and worrying, Rainbow. I’d judge it as a simple byproduct of your intense care for your fellow ponies.”
“Look, I’m not an uptight kind of a mare! Really!” Rainbow Dash smiled innocently into the haze of the streets. “I’m totally chillaxed! I mean, look at me right now!”
“Unngh…” Roarke moaned into her helmet. “I don’t see the whole point of this leisurely stroll.” She swiveled about. “I’m going to check out the lower rust districts for something to resupply my gear--”
“No you friggin’ don’t!” Rainbow suddenly shrieked, her eyes wild. “We are not splitting up! No way! No how!”
Belle stifled a giggle.
Rainbow spun about and gawked at the group. “What is it now?”
“‘Not an uptight mare,’ Rainbow?” Belle smiled.
“Well, it’s just that… I…”
“She’ll get the picture eventually.” Roarke waved as she trotted off on her lonesome. “I’ll head back to the docking station after I’ve found what I need.”
“Don’t go off like this!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. She sounded like a teenager trying to shout down her parents. “I mean it.”
“Eh, just let her go, Rainbow,” Eagle Eye said in a dull tone. He smirked. “Do you honestly think you can tell her what to do even if you wanted to?”
Rainbow frowned, her hooves squirming against the surfaces of the street. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I mean… ponies are bound to be looking for us. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Rainbow, we’re hundreds miles away from the last place the Ledomaritans ever conceivably saw us!” Belle exclaimed. “And we scaled the distance in a vehicle that was easily four times faster than their major flagship!”
“And we’re in neutral territory!” Ebon chirped. “As neutral as it gets!”
Rainbow Dash squinted icily at him. “Riiiiight…”
Eagle Eye blinked at her expression, at Ebon, then back at her. “Is there something wrong, Rainbow?”
“No…” The pegasus sighed, gazing down at the floor as she trotted along. “Not really.” Her muzzle scrunched as her ears folded back. “Okay, maybe one thing.”
“What is it?”
Rainbow lifted her head and looked around at the various equines milling about the bazaar. Several of them were looking in her direction. “I can’t help but feel that… like… everypony is staring…”
“Staring?” Pilate remarked.
Rainbow gulped. “At me.”
“Well, I can certainly think of a reason,” Ebon Mane remarked with a smirk. “You have something that all the ponies who live and work here wished they had. Because it would make their lives a great deal easier to live. I would know!”
“And that is…?”
“Pfft… heheheh… wings, you fuzzhead!”
Rainbow blinked, glancing all around her as several pairs of eyes reflected her embarrassed gaze. “Oh. Right. That.”
“Funny…” Eagle Eye smiled. “I’ve almost gotten used to them myself.”
“I can’t even see them and I am used to them,” Pilate said. Belle giggled.
“Ugh. I’m surprised, really,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “These ponies have obviously seen a lot of creatures come and go. Why would they be so shocked by a mare with feathers?”
“Oh, I’m sure they have mares here with feathers,” Josho said as he pointed towards an establishment up ahead, flanked with neon lights. “Only, they don’t stay on long. Heheheh…”
“Ungh…” Josho rolled his eyes. “Such an animal. I swear.”
“Hey. Survival of the fattest, pal.”
“Meh.”
“Well, they’re just gonna have to get used to me,” Rainbow Dash muttered. She looked at the others as she trotted along. “Not that it matters. We’re not gonna be here for very long anyways--” She bumped into a stallion carrying a tall stack of antique dishes.
“Unngh!” The merchant fell back with a grunt. He looked up and gasped at his airborne wears. “My pl-plates!”
Without a second thought, Rainbow Dash zipped into action. Wings blurring, she flew to each falling piece of kitchenware and snatched them up in agile blue hooves. In no time at all, she had them balanced once more in a neat stack. Breathing easily, she floated down and placed the stuff before the recovering merchant.
“There ya go, bro. My bad,” she said with a nervous smile.
“That… you… h-how…” the Bronze District native stammered.
“Whoah! Did you see that?!” another merchant exclaimed.
“That was incredible!” gasped a shopper. “She’s faster than lightning!”
“Amazing!”
Several equines began clapping their hooves against the floor, smiling jubilantly.
Rainbow Dash blinked, gazing back at them as a nervous twitch swam from ear to ear. “Look, I was just trying to save his stuff. I bumped into him, after all.” At a jingling sound, she looked at her hooves to see a pair of gold bits rattling to a stop. “The hay is this?”
“Do it again! Do it again!” a shopper exclaimed with a bright grin. Several other ponies had gathered around.
“Please…” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “My friends and I are just passing through.”
“Awwww… but those wings are fantastic!”
“Yeah. So I’ve been told. Ahem.” Rainbow hissed over her shoulder. “Ebon, could we get a move on, please?”
“What’s the matter, Rainbow?” Belle whispered, smiling. “We both know you’re not a pony who likes to pass up an opportunity like this.”
“The heck do you mean by that?”
“Hey, everypony!” Josho trotted up and telekinetically stretched one of Rainbow’s wings out. “Who wants to see the amazing winged pony do some air tricks?!”
Several cheers lit the air.
“Hey!” Rainbow frowned and jerked her feather appendage away from the stallion. “Jerk! Let go! What’s the big idea?!”
“What do you think?” Josho pointed at the ground as another pair of bits rattled to a stop. “They have no idea what they’re in for, red eyes.”
“We certainly could use the currency,” Pilate stealthily added.
“Uh uh! No way!” Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches with a frown. She folded her forelimbs and grunted, “I am not some sort of sideshow freak for you guys to show off!”
“Who says anything about freakishness, Rainbow?” Eagle Eye smiled. “Come on! This is your opportunity to dazzle a crowd for once instead of beating evil bad guys to a pulp! That’s ‘harmonious’ in some way, isn’t it?”
“Uh uh!” Rainbow shook her head vigorously. “I’m not doing it! It is completely, totally uncool!”
“Hahahaha!” Rainbow grinned as she spun several flips in the air above the marketplace. “This is so, totally cool!” She spun upright with a devilish grin. “Alright, ya smog huffers! Who wants to see me do a triple spinning barrel roll?!”
Over a hundred ponies had gathered at this point, and they were cheering like mad. Gold bits flew into the air, which Belle and Eagle Eye promptly collected, pouring into a saddlebag that a smiling Pilate was holding.
“With these sparklers!” A merchant ran up and tossed some lit pyrotechnics up at the pegasus. “They’re available in Northern Bronze District! Five per bit!”
“Ya hear that, everypony?!” Rainbow Dash snatched four sparklers, one in the crook of each hoof. “Best place to buy flashy things! Norther Bronze District! Tell ‘em Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pegasus in the smoldering skies, sent ya! Now feast your eyes!”
She proceeded to fly up into the air, twirling. The air flashed with sparks all around her. Then, with an ear-splitting dive, she shot back towards the street, spreading her wings and rolling over the crowd, raining innocuous sparks on their chuckling and cheering heads. The applause redoubled.
“Wow…” Eagle Eye grinned. “She’s a natural!”
“Heh. Only you would be an expert on fabulousity,” Josho muttered.
“Oh, shove off.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Josho pointed towards a local tavern. “You lemme know if she flies a hole into something.”
Eagle Eye frowned. “You’re not gonna get sloshed, are ya?”
“What do you take me for, fruitcake?” Josho returned with a grin as she shuffled away from the growing crowd. “Don’t worry. I just figured I’d get familiar with the local crowd. It’s high time one of us talked to these locals anyways, you think?”
“Hrmmmm…” Eagle Eye squirmed as he glanced aside at the others. “I’m a bit worried.”
“What?” Ebon Mane shrugged as he smiled up at the twirling pegasus. “He’s committed to staying on the wagon, isn’t he?”
“No, I mean, won’t Rainbow be upset that we’re kind of splitting up more?”
“I don’t think she’s in the position to care at the moment,” Ebon said with a wink. “She’s happy. We’re happy. It works.”
“Heh. Yeah, if you say so.”
“She certainly sounds cheerful,” Pilate said. “I fear, however, that we could be taking advantage of her.”
“Oh, beloved, please,” Belle replied with a soft smile. She likewise gazed up at Rainbow as she continued her elements. “She’s in her element right now. Even if she doesn’t realize it. It’s not in the battlefield or in the machine world. But it’s here.” She sighed slightly. “I think her old friends would be proud.”
“Oh?”
“She’s still managing to be herself after all these months.”
“That’s a good point.” Pilate nodded, then readjusted his grip on the bag full of money. “This is starting to get ridiculously heavy.”
“Want me to hold it, darling?”
“No, that’s not an issue,” Pilate said while Rainbow zipped and spun overhead. “I just wonder if these streets are safe enough for us to carry it very far.”
“You’re the last pony who needs to be paranoid right now, Pilate.”
“Huh?”
Belle leaned in and nuzzled him with a smile. “Just relax. If this town was bad news, I’m sure we would have run into trouble by now. Face it. The battle is over.”
“Yes… Yes, I suppose it is,” the zebra said with a calm voice.
Far behind them, beyond the crowd, a robed figure watched the scene. The equine was still, its features shrouded. Its head tilted up to gaze at Rainbow’s loopty-loops, and the hood fell back slightly. Swiftly, the pony raised a hoof up to slide the hood forward once more. In so doing, a trio of colored bands could be seen just above the fetlock: red and green and blue.
Quietly, like a fading shadow, the cloaked figure snaked into the nearest alleyway and became one with the smog.
Steam vents sighed on either side of Roarke, condensing moisture along the surface of her red and black helmet as she trotted through the shadowed underbelly of Gray Smoke. Here, the walls and floors were made of the same miscellany as the ceiling: haphazard planks of inordinately proportioned metal, and most of it decrepit from age, poverty, and neglect. Every other step was answered with the creaking of aluminum and the groaning of loose iron slabs. Barrel fires illuminated the junctions of these foul-smelling sky tunnels, reflecting off of Roarke’s metal-reinforced joints as she trotted past the squinting gaze of curious vagabonds huddled in errant clusters.
At one point, Roarke sense a haze of blue light. She was confused at first, her helmet tilting left and right. Suddenly, there was a crunching noise, and the metal mare lurched forward. Her hoofs scuffled sideways, catching her balance. Her helmeted head gazed down a loose hole in the floor, through which she saw sunlight and the blue-green haze of a lake-riddled plain lying hundreds upon hundreds of feet below the body of Gray Smoke.
She hummed a single tone, stealthily stepping back and shuffling around the unkempt hole that led to a fatal fall. After two more bends around the tunnels, she found a one-story warehouse sandwiched between the rattling floor and the rusted ceiling above. A quartet of kerosene-lit torches billowed at the entrance, along with dangling signs that spun on metal cords, advertising various items and utilities with each gravity-induced spin.
Trotting through a curtain of metal mesh and beads, Roarke entered a hazy shop, colored amber by a pair of heat lamps flanking the sales counter. From behind a rack of supplies and machine parts, a mule looked up and tossed away a five-year-old magazine.
“Welcome to Municipal Engines!” The mule smirked, a tooth or two missing from his tobacco stained jaws. “I’m Clipper, and you’ve just stepped into the best store of airship console parts in the whole Rust District!”
“A curious name for a shop that’s located in the sky’s infected plothole,” Roarke muttered through her helmet. “Exactly what is it that you sell?”
“Everything from sound stones to top tier mana conduits!” Clipper leaned against the counter with a smirk. “You see, we’re all about providing the best ship parts to all travelers who wander through this wonderful station in the sky! As you can see, we are all about promoting the commerce in this city! So, what would you happen to need? I bet you I can find it at a more-than-affordable price.”
“Hmmmm…” Roarke leaned casually against the counter. “I’m in need of some… parts…”
“Heh. Well, that much is obvious, ma’am.”
“But I don’t need parts that will connect mana conductors or steam vents,” Roarke ran a metal hoof along the counter, admiring its wooden finish. “I need parts that will… well… heat up a good part of the sky once they’re removed from their place of housing.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were describing an incendiary weapon,” the mule said.
“And who said donkeys were stupid?”
He blew through wet lips and leaned back, forelimbs crossed. “I don’t know what you take me for, Madame Mystery! You must be blind and deaf behind that helmet of yours! Otherwise, you’d plainly notice that I’m as honest as they come!”
Roarke’s helmet leaned forward. “Oh really…”
She slapped her hoof across the counter. Somewhere beneath the wooden surface, a spring activated. Three rows of shelves revolved, exposing miniature missiles and bullets and rifle pieces.
The mule bit his lip, sweating.
“‘Clipper,’ was it?” Roarke murmured.
He cleared his throat and squinted at her. “Uh… yeah?”
“Would that happen to be ‘Clipper the Crafty,’ the eastern weapon smuggler single-handedly responsible for equipping no less than six different air pirate factions along the northern fringes of the warfront?” She pretended to examine the end of her horseshoe. “Last time I checked, there was a mighty big price on your head. Sadly, none of the factions have been able to send any of their hitstallions or hitmares through the outer blockade. This is a ‘neutral’ city, after all.”
“So you have a gift of hearing ill-founded rumors,” Clipper snorted. “What’s it to you, lady?”
With a flick of the neck, her helmet retracted, and her Searonese lenses glistened in the light of the heat lamps.
The mule’s ears drooped even further as he rocked back, eyes wide. “Oh… me muffins…”
Josho pushed his way through a pair of swinging wooden doors. The smell of cigar smoke and cheap booze lit the air. He took one heavy inhale, his nostrils wincing slightly at the tell-tale scents of urine and vomit.
“Hmmmmm… It’s good to be alive.”
He gazed across the rustic interior.
Under lamplight, several equine shapes lurched about. At least a dozen gray bodies were hunched over tables, drowning in their sorrows. An inebriated stallion and a colorfully painted mare were dancing in the corner, their waltz interrupted by an imbalanced shuffle and raucous laughter. Towards the far end, three stallions sat at a table, playing cards beneath a flickering lamp.
Josho stared at the last group in particular. He gave his rump a scratch before stumbling his way towards the bar.
A bartender trotted up, gazing at the obese stallion’s hairy neck and face. “Hey there, Sooter,” he said. “What’ll it be?”
“It ain’t soot,” Josho grumbled. “It’s just gray hairs.”
“Hey, whatever floats your zeppelin.”
“And as for me…” Josho licked his lips, rubbed his hooves together, and gazed longingly at the wall of bottles. “I’ll have a nice, tall…” His mouth hung open. He gazed towards the edge of the room, then the opposite corner. A heavy sigh ran through his body, and he muttered through an exhausted smirk. “Root beer. With ice, assuming it hasn’t melted on the way here.”
“Root beer…” The bartender slowly, slowly backed away from the bar counter. “Coming right up, buddy.”
“And no eye-rolling!” Josho grumbled. “I get enough of that on the airship I ride on!” He sighed as he turned around to lean against the line of stools. “Friggin’ fruit parade in the sky, I swear to the Spark…”
He took the time to look at the table again. The stallions were chuckling with one another, managing a smirk or two amidst all the smoke and misery. An empty chair rested beside them.
“Here ya go, pal,” the bartender slid a foamy glass of soda across the counter.
Josho levitated a pair of bits and let them rattle to a stop besides the glass. He took a long sip, feeling the suds as they cascaded across the inner lining of his mouth. He swallowed and sighed long and hard. “Sorry it ain’t the same thing, liver, but it’s gonna have to do.”
He finished the rest of his beverage in silence. Wiping his mouth with a forelimb, he strided firmly over towards the table. The stallions heard his approach and looked up with mixed expressions.
“Got room for another hoof?” Josho asked with a smirk.
The stallions looked him over, then exchanged amused glances. One of them cleared his throat and said, “It’s a military game…”
“‘Wheat and Whinny.’” Josho nodded towards the card. “I played quite a bit of it in my day. But hey…” He juggled half-a-dozen bits with a magical glow. “If you don’t want to increase the odds of winning…”
“Pfft. What do you take us for?” Another stallion smirked. “A bunch of old cowards.” He slid the chair over with a weathered horn. “Sit your whitewashed flank down.”
“Please, you compliment my ass far too much,” Josho said as he sat beside them.
The table chuckled, and the dealer slid over a hoofful of randomly shuffled cards. Josho folded them in the air before him.
“Uhhh…” He sighed. “Lemme see how good my card face is now that it’s got fuzz all over it.”
“Don’t speak ahead of yourself,” a stallion said.
“I prefer that he didn’t speak at all,” another grumbled. He gazed at him through a scarred eye. “What are you? A One-Runner?”
“Oh please…” Josho’s lips curved. “I became a yellow-bellied coward after years and years of service, not just one battle.”
“Likely story…”
“I doubt you wanna hear it.”
A stallion leaned forward, beating his chest with a stub of a hoof. “Blue Peaks! Both before and after the outer breach!”
Josho whistled. “That was a wonderful battle. Too bad the city being defended was crap.”
After a few chuckles, another stallion spoke over his cards, “I’ve seen both sides of the Opal River before I was discharged. Just what makes you so high and mighty?”
“Yeah… dish it out, whitewasher.”
“Hmmmm…” Josho scooted more tightly into his chair. “Northern Blue Fields. Ledo’s Run.”
The stallions merely chuckled at him.
Josho’s eyes darted towards him as he quietly added, “Sapphirico.”
The old soldiers went dead quiet. One of them mutely mouthed a prayer to the spark.
At last, one of them muttered of his cards, “Is it true what they said about the graves?” He gulped. “That both sides used the same ditch?”
“Just let him deal his hoof,” another muttered.
“Oh no, it’s quite fine,” Josho droned as he shuffled through his cards. “The fact is, there wasn’t really a ditch. But there were graves. You couldn’t tell once we advanced over the Xonan line. It was very wet those four months, after all, and between the mud and the bodies piled in… well… I don’t think anypony ever got to marking them.”
The table was silent even longer, until one finally spoke, “There are few who walk these smoldering planks who know how terrible it’s really gotten. Even with all the ones who’ve come here to die.”
“I rather prefer the number to remain small.” He dealt a card and looked up, smiling. “But I’d rather not pick old wounds. I’m curious what calm and collected bunch of heroes might happen to know about the front as of late.”
“Why? You wanting to get back into the fray?”
“You kidding?” Josho smirked. “I’m fixing to leap the hell over it.” He leaned forward. “So, what have you fine fellows have to share?”
“Oh… my… gosh…” Eagle Eye whimpered, his eyes turning to wet mirrors reflecting nothing but sparks. He raised a vial of golden liquid in his telekinetic grasp as he nearly fell back in the tiny vendor stand. “Nowhere in all of Franzington do they sell even a drop of this…”
“Eagle Eye, darling…” Bellesmith nudged his shoulder with a delicate hoof. “We just won ourselves a bunch of gold. Now’s an opportune time for us to buy necessities, nothing else.”
“But… but…” He gazed at her and nuzzled the body wash. “Honey jasminnnne…”
Belle rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Okay. But we really have to conserve how much we allow ourselves to spend on frivolous things--”
“What’s this bottle full of?” Eagle Eye’s face scrunched up as he shoved an ugly brown tome out of the way. “I can’t see it--”
Belle practically shrieked. She caught the book before it could fall to the metal floor beneath the bazaar. “Blessed Spark Below! It… It can’t be!”
“What?! Wh-what?!” Eagle Eye jumped.
Belle’s lips quivered; she struggled to keep the book balanced in her golden hooves. “‘Hay of Darkness’ by Jockey Coltrad!”
“Ewwww…” Eagle Eye’s ears folded back. “How’d that get here?”
“I don’t know! But this is amazing!”
“Really? Everypony’s read that old, stuffy thing.”
“Yes, but don’t you see?! Right here on the binding?!” Belle practically sang as she spun the floating book around. “It’s a first edition print! Oh goodness! Oh goodness, this is so magical!” She nuzzled the book like a fragrant pillow, her cheeks smiling. “I have to buyyyy ittttt.”
“Oh… go drink some perfume and pee out butterflies!” Belle reached into her satchel full of gold bits. “Just this once. Just this once.”
“I’m telling Pilate.”
“You do and your stomach will smell like honey jasmine! I swear!”
“You know, you’re really cute when you try to threaten ponies.”
“Oh jeez! I don’t have enough room in my satchel to carry this!” Belle panicked, her hooves dancing in place as she looked all around. At last, she tilted her head up and gasped, “Rainbow! Rainbow, would you please… please be so kind as to carry this back to the Noble Jury in Luna’s saddlebag!”
The pegasus in question was hovering above the vendor, staring over her shoulder towards the opposite side of the marketplace where Ebon and Pilate were negotiating prices for a freshly bundled survival kit.
“Unngh…” Rainbow turned around. “Just… got my mind on stuff.”
“You should buy something for yourself, Rainbow!” Eagle Eye said with a happy smile. “You could deserve a luxury or two.”
“Ehhhhh…” Rainbow hovered down and landed beside the two. “I dunno…”
“How about a fresh hammock?” Belle asked. “You seem to have taken a liking to sleeping in that observation room!”
“Yeah!” Eagle Eye beamed. “You can buy one that isn’t already tainted with Mr. Floydien’s dreadful elk musk!”
Belle lightly thwapped Eagle on the shoulder.
“Owie!” He rubbed his shoulder and frowned at her. “Well, I sure as heck am not using the honey jasmine on it!”
“I’m not really into… getting stuff,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “All the things I’ve ever wanted in life were things I felt like I could win, y’know?”
“Oh, like medals and trophies and such?” Eagle asked.
Rainbow Dash dug a hoof against the floor, paused, and glanced up with slightly red cheeks. “More like friends, I guess…”
Eagle Eye blinked.
Belle smiled rosily. “Well, you’re anything but a loser in our presence, Rainbow.” She winked. “And I for one think you deserve to indulge in something that won’t explode in your face for once.”
Rainbow Dash fidgeted. “You really think so?”
“Hey!” Eagle Eye patted the heavy, bulging bit bag. “You earned us all this money, didn’t you?”
Rainbow Dash looked around. “I… uh…” She gazed at vendor after vendor selling glittery knick-knacks. “I want… uh…” She gazed past fruit and vegetable stands. “Uhhhh…” Her eyes danced across a luxurious two-story building with red banners where lacily-clad mares stood, batting their eyes at wandering, lonely pilots.
“You want what, Rainbow Dash--?”
“Soda!” Rainbow spun to face them with a twitching grin. “I-I want nice… c-cold… icy soda!”
“Uhhhh…”
“Comeonlet’sgofindasodafountainokay?!” She shot ahead of the pair in a blue blur. They scratched their heads, shrugged, and paid for their things before galloping briskly after her. Only once the group was gone did one… two… three cloaked figures in the background begin to move.
“Twenty thousand bits,” Roarke murmured as she leaned casually against the rustic store’s counter. “That’s not exactly chump change.” Her lenses pistoned in and out as she spoke in an icy tone, “I only passed it over because I had a bunch more and smaller gigs that were paying my keep over the mountains of Ledomare.”
Clipper gulped, his bumpy body beginning to tremble as his mule eyes darted left and right across the store.
“After all, it’s quite an expense to travel all the way here,” Roarke said as she picked up a cartridge of manabullets and turned the thing over in the metal crook of her hoof. “Especially for a carcass as sniveling and smelly as yours. I was just giving you an average bounty scale, by the way. The Sky Foxes were wanting thirty five grand for your head. Can you believe that? Furry little bastards probably chase their tails around all the time because they think they’re made of gold. Too bad all things aren’t.”
“So, just are you here for…?” Clipper stealthily slid back, his right forelimb reaching beneath a wooden stool.
“Sight seeing, really,” Roarke said. “For instance, I’m seeing you, and it’s a sorry sight. I’m surprised somepony hasn’t done something to clean this corner of the crudhole clean. With you dealing weapons to all sordid interests, you’re quite the boil on this city’s flying buttocks, y’know?”
“I’m important to many customers,” Clipper said, sneering. His hoof made contact with something cold and metal beneath the stool’s seat. “If you take my head, there’s gonna be a horrible vacuum here and you know it. So don’t pretend to be concerned over the grand picture, ya metal vomit bucket.”
“If by a horrible vacuum, you’re admitting how much you suck, then I’m inclined to agree.” Roarke tilted her head aside. “By all means, Clipper, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you in and become twenty thousand bits richer overnight.”
The mule smirked. “I’ll give you six.” Snarling, he snatched the metal weapon. In a flash, he was aiming a metal revolver down the pony’s muzzle.
Roarke spun.
Clipper got one shot off.
Roarke dodged the bullet, all the while launching her prehensile tail out from her suit. The air hummed with magnetic energy.
Several items atop the seller’s counter shifted forward. With a gasp, Clipper lunged forward, dragged through the air by the revolver. At last, he lost his grip of the weapon.
It flew through the shop and landed against the end of Roarke’s glowing tail with a clank. She retracted her tail, bucked her rear hooves, and snatched the gun in the crook of her hoof. “Hmmm…” She calmly gazed at the thing, fitting her metal horseshoe through the large trigger mechanism. “The blast sounded clean. It’s good to know you scrub the barrel so well between uses.” There was a menacing glint to her lenses as she then aimed the weapon at him. “How would like a new hole of your own? I doubt very much anypony can clean it quite so well.”
“Look… I-I’m sorry!” Clipper sat back on his haunches, stretching his forelimbs towards the rickety ceiling. “You say pirates are gunning for me?! There are three times as many whackjobs out there who would skin me alive if I threw my business away overnight!” He gulped. “Please, you gotta spare me! There’s more to this than just one lousy mule!”
“I’m well acquainted with the big picture, you talking dollop of your mother’s filth,” Roarke hissed. “You’re not worth the piss that’s running down your leg. So what if you could earn me a couple thousand bits? I could sneeze on the same lousy fortune that you’d croak on.”
“Then just what is th-this?!” Clipper stammered, his muzzle covered in sweat. “Homicide?! Sadism?! Petty revenge?!”
“It could be a little of all three…” Roarke tilted her head up. “Or…”
“What?! Please!” Clipper gulped and leaned forward. “I’ll do anything!”
“Maybe… just maybe…” Roarke gestured towards the plethora of weapons exposed and hidden around the shop. “You’d be willing to part with your high tech weaponry.”
The mule glanced at the shop, blinked, and looked forlornly at her.
She cocked the gun and aimed it between his eyes. “For free.”
“Hmmmmm…” Josho smirked as he laid his cards down across the tavern table. “I fold.”
“Heh…” Another stallion smirked as he held out his hoof.
Several groans alighted the table.
The old soldier reached in and collected his earnings. “Well, at least one of you has learned some caution through the years.”
“A nasty habit that I hope to kick before I roll over and call it quits,” Josho said.
“I hear ya.”
“You know…” A stallion squinted across the table at the obese pony. “For a moment there, I thought you were just talking crap in order to swindled us out of some bits. But you’re for legit, aren’t ya?”
“I’m not a recovering alcoholic because I did insurance for a living.” Josho took a deep breath. “Let’s say that the only reason I’m not wearing one of those fruity little berets today is because the army had a disagreement with me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“My C.O. threw me over a cliff.”
“Pffft. Lucky.”
“I know, right?” Josho sipped another glass of root beer, swallowed, and leaned over the card game. “So, then, it’s not just a nasty rumor? The Ledomaritan front is retreating?”
A stallion sighed and muttered, “I had a friend who was a surviving member of the Eastern Brigade before sky pirates did him in. He told me about how the Xonans were pushing from all angles. The entire campaign was a continuous retreat, with the forces of Ledo burning every resource left and right. I mean, it’s not like there’s any part of that continent that hasn’t been blown to ashes already. The only thing of value is which nation gets to stick its flag into it. Right now, the Xonans have been doing all the flag-sticking, but Ledomare is dedicated to burning away all the topsoil so that there’s nothing to stick it in.”
“That’s what she said,” Josho belched. The others laughed, and he continued, “So, then, how come the entire front hasn’t buckled?”
“Word is that the main army is holding up at a point about fifty miles north of the Sea of Shards.”
“Oh?” Josho blinked. “I remember years ago when we had advanced beyond the port city of Riverdowns.”
“That town’s a frickin’ crater now.”
“You don’t say.”
“Mmmm… And there’s some sport fifty miles north that Ledo is not giving up,” a stallion said.
“More like one stallion,” another grunted. “One general-ian Executive Enforcer--is holding his ground, at the cost of many… many lives.”
Another stallion spat on the tavern floor, frowning. “May the Spark melt his balls off…”
“Has he gone rogue?” Josho’s brow furrowed. “I know the war turns the best and worst of us into stupid heroes.”
“He’s getting an influx of resources, so obviously the Council of Ledo is hoofing him weapons to blow up more mountains with. But the Xonans have almost blockaded his army three times. They’re hanging by a thread. I don’t care how many shells they have to dish out on those tattooed flankmunchers; they’re in deep manure and they know it.”
“Who’s the Executive Enforcer?” Josho asked. “Sounds like a young idiot.”
“Quite the opposite,” another stallion said. “Word is that he’s an old fogey. Like us. Makes you wonder why he doesn’t know any better.”
“His name is… is…” A graying stallion rubbed his balding scalp. He shuddered. “Sector… Secular…”
Josho’s brow furrowed. “Seclorum.”
“Yes!” Another pounded the table and pointed. “Exactly--” His words trailed off as he and the other stallions saw the pale expression on Josho’s face. “Do… do you know this pig clopper?”
Josho gulped and breathed out, “Yeah. You could say that.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“I’ve known plenty of jerks in my career.”
“I mean… it’s unfortunate you didn’t pop a manabullet into the guy’s head when you had the chance,” another stallion replied, giving Josho a dull glare. “He’s holed out there in the jaws of death, and he doesn’t care how many stallions join him in the bloody mess. I tell you, if he just withdrew from that Spark-forsaken choke point, then maybe Ledomare would still stand a chance in this war.” He spat out the side of his muzzle. “Not like I care at this point…”
“He and I…” Josho shifted where he sat. “Well, it’s complicated.”
“I would hope so. You’re here and he’s there.” A stallion smirked. “One of you did right by yourself.”
Josho ran a hoof through his graying mane and shuddered. “More like one of us got lucky…” He gulped. “We met the right ponies at the right time…”
“Heh, then I suggest you stick where you are. This ain’t no retirement home.” A stallion gestured towards the run-down, slovenly interior of the tavern. “Don’t end up an old ghost like us.”
“Speaking of old ghosts…” One of the stallions snickered and pointed across the way. “There’s old Oppy now.”
“‘Oppy?’” Josho made a face, turning to look.
“Oporst,” a stallion clarified, pointing towards where a skinny, frail specimen of a unicorn sat before a tall bottle of rum. The equine was severely rattled, and it took both forelimbs the steady the glass long enough to pour it down his emaciated throat. “He used to hang out with us. But something in him… snapped. I guess he got one too many flashbacks after one or two pirate sieges a few months back. He remembers stuff more vividly than the rest of us.”
“You don’t say…?” Josho remarked.
“Yeah. He may not look it, but he’s at least two decades younger than the most spry of us.” A stallion shuffled through his cards as he spoke, “Supposedly he was part of the Blue Spear campaign.”
Josho’s ears twitched. He turned and glanced at the others. “Blue Spear, huh?”
“Did you serve in it?”
“Hell, no,” the obese stallion retorted. “That was well after I was relegated to guard duty.”
“Lucky you,” a stallion muttered. “Barely five percent of the soldiers survived the failed invasion. Oporst is one in a million. He likely saw many Xonans--both inside and out--but mostly their insides.”
Josho’s nostrils flared as he stared at the basket case from afar. “Does he talk?”
“Only after trying to bite your jugular for so much as breathing on him.” One of the stallions heartlessly chuckled. “You seem awfully chatted, stranger. But I wouldn’t give it a shot with him. You’ve got years left to enjoy the fruits of life.” He muttered, “Wherever the hell they may be.”
Josho nodded slowly. He turned towards the group and smiled. “I’ve shot at a rainbow colored pegasus and swapped leylines with a magical zebra.” He stood up, his chair scraping across the tavern floor. “I think I’ve lived enough…”
“Heh… Your funeral, buddy.”
As Josho trotted over towards Oporst’s table, he muttered, “I hardly deserve one.”
Oporst was a jittery specimen of a stallion, and when Josho’s hooves so much as brushed over the floor beside him, he jumped against his table. He somehow managed to sneer and stutter at once, “Ain’t got nothing, man.” He pointed at his bubbly glass. “Th-this was on my t-tab.”
“Relax, handsome.” Josho slid a chair over and sat beside him. “I’m not here to yank any bits out of you.” He raised an eyebrow. “Besides, even if I was, you’re young enough to beat the crap out of me.”
“I… I…” Oporst quivered, staring sideways at the obese stallion as he rattled in his chair. “I hurt ponies. A lot of ponies. At least… used to… used to, I-I did…”
“Funny,” Josho muttered. “They give you a weapon, a rank, and a number. But they don’t give you something to cloud over your conscience.” His nostrils flared. “It’s no secret that you’ve seen a lot of the bad stuff, kiddo. The stallions over there at the table say that you were in the Blue Spear campaign.”
Oporst jerked a glance to the table, then back at Josho. “Th-they sent you to c-come here and dig old wounds?” A mouth with broken teeth snarled, “I’ve given th-them half of th-their scars, ya know!”
“For some reason, I don’t believe ya.”
Oporst shot up, standing solidly for once as he barked, “You calling me a coward?!” His voice caused every occupant of the tavern to glance over.
Josho kept his cool. He leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “No. But you are scared. And from what you’ve been through, nopony has the right to blame you.”
Oporst fumed… fumed… then finally sat down. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. “What is it that you want from m-me,” he droned.
Josho swallowed and said, “I wanna know what it is that you saw.”
“Heh…” Oporst’s grin was demonic. His eyes burned into the hazy shadows of the place. “You don’t want to know what I saw. You don’t want any part of it.”
“Oh, I believe I do.”
Oporst flashed him an angry glare. “Why, you have a death wish?”
“Quite the opposite.” Josho leaned forward. “I’m going to be flying over the front soon, and I want to know what I’m in for.” He took a deep breath. “And what my friends are in for…”
Oporst started jittering more. He stared at Josho’s aged muscles, then at his grizzled face. “You… you’ve seen action…”
“Some, yes.”
“It’s slathered all over you,” Oporst muttered. “You almost look like a Sooter.”
“Hey, if it helps me blend in…”
“And yet you somehow have friends left?” the stallion asked.
Josho merely nodded.
Oporst gulped. “Lucky…” He hissed, “If you want to lose all of them, then go ahead.” He spat. “Fly east.”
“We’re back! We’re back! We’re back!” Eagle Eye sing-songed as he, Pilate, Ebon, Belle, and Rainbow returned to the dimly-lit docking port. The ex mercenary waved a bag full of things. “And we bear gifts!”
“Oooh! Oooh!” Kera galloped up to the edge of the Noble Jury, leaning against it with Simon perched on her flanks. “You got stuff?! I like stuff! Lemme see some of the stuff!”
“You’re just in luck, girl!” Eagle Eye winked as he telekinetically reached into his bag and pulled out a levitating brush. “I got you just the thing for your hair! You can kick those emerald tangles goodbye forever!”
“Erm…” Kera bit her lip, leaning away from the utensil. “That’s… so very… sweet of you, EE. I… uh…”
“Kera, there you are!” Pilate smiled as he fumble briefly, then trotted evenly onto the Noble Jury’s top deck. With the aid of O.A.S.I.S., he lifted something out of his own bag. “I got you a slingshot.”
“Ooooooh! Cool!” Kera beamed as she floated the thing with her magic and pranced happily around the ship. “This is so awesome! Pilate is best zebra!”
“Heheh…” Pilate smiled. “I try.”
“I gotta test this on something!”
Almost immediately, Simon let out a shrill bark and scampered to the furthest part of the ship.
“Hey! Come back! You can totally help me aim it!” Kera galloped after the sparkling rodent. “Simonnnnn! Don’t run awayyyyy!”
Eagle Eye stood still, blinking at the filly running off. He sighed, then smirked dryly at the brush. “Oh well…” He rolled his eyes with a flippant smile. “Guess I just have to have a second brush for my tail.”
“Yes yes, Eagle Eye, that’s nice…” Belle trotted blindly onto the deck of the Noble Jury, hobbling as she held a book ahead of her in one forelimb and trotted with the other three. “Oh my goodness…” Her eyes watered as they scanned the pages. “Marelowe’s trip up through the Africanter jungles is just… just… so beautifully written…”
“Yes, if you don’t mind the purple mosquitoes,” Pilate muttered from the distance as he made his way down the stairwell.
“Hmmph! You rant too much about purple!” Belle muttered as she trotted across the deck. “Besides, aren’t you beyond color metaphors?” She stepped over the edge of the ship’s railing, stretching a hoof out.
Rainbow Dash flew down just in time to stop her and point her towards the stern’s stairwell. “Thattaway, bookworm. Nice and easy.”
“The pages smell so good,” Belle cooed, trying to hold her tears in.
Rainbow Dash folded her forelimbs, shaking her head with a smirk. Her ears pricked to hear Ebon and Eagle Eye talking over by the side.
“Looks Propsy and Simon did a lot today,” Ebon said.
“Is their work done?” Eagle asked, still fumbling with his bag of things “Simon’s here, but where’s Props?”
“I think I saw her on a higher platform, chatting it up with the dock workers. They’ll probably want to get more help for fixing this place tomorrow and beyond.” Ebon smirked and trotted away. “I’ll go check up on her and give you a quick update!”
“Ebon, you sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I mean… you’re home, aren’t you?” Eagle Eye remarked. “It’s not like you’re indebted to us or anything.”
“Heheh… Please…” Ebon chuckled, waving a hoof. “I’m in no hurry to gallop off anyplace. I’m back where I belong, and th-that’s what matters.” He smiled thinly. “I wouldn’t sit right with myself if I ditched you guys without at least helping you float right.”
“Well, it sure is nice of you. I’m not sure where we’d be without you guiding us around the upper districts,” Eagle Eye said with a bright grin. “You’re the very definition of selflessness. You know that?”
“You bet I do.” Ebon slapped his own chest. “I’m a cook who isn’t fat. What are the odds?”
Eagle Eye giggled.
Ebon saluted and trotted off. “I’ll catch up with you later. Go… brush your hair or something.”
Eagle gave a mock gasp. “You’re a mind reader!”
Ebon chuckled and was gone.
Rainbow Dash stared at him as he ascended a series of steep metal stairs, climbing up to join Propsy and a bunch of dock workers in a conference overhead. As a gust of wind came in from the bright, blue world outside, the pegasus became aware of a lavender shade to her side.
“Something the matter, Rainbow Dash?”
“Nah…” Rainbow stared at Ebon.
“You’re certain of that?”
“Yeah…” She squinted as he drew into the distance.
Silence, then: “You’d like to sample some vanilla scented body wash?”
“Yeah…” Rainbow went cross-eyed. “I mean, no! I mean…” She finally ripped her gaze from Ebon and looked down at Eagle. “What is it that you want, EE?!”
“Whoah whoah whoah!” Eagle waved a forelimb. “This isn’t an interrogation, girl!” He leaned forward with a concerned expression. “You seem… distant, is all.”
“Yeah, well…”
“Is it because of how you earned our bits today?” Eagle Eye smirked. “It’s okay. I always get a bad taste in my mouth after I show off before a crowd myself. At the Franzington Grade School Spelling Bee, I won second place. The day I got it, I didn’t mind all the applause and cheers that I got. But afterwards, everytime I looked at the ribbon, I felt this weird itch that I could scratch…” He sighed. “Or it could also be because my dad spilled gin on it and blamed it on me…”
“Uh huh…” Rainbow Dash murmured, staring at Ebon again.
Eagle Eye blinked. “You know that if something’s troubling you, Rainbow, you could totally tell us, right?”
“Right…”
“Because… because we’re all in this together, and you’re the most important member of this group.”
“I… uh… huh?”
“Face it, Rainbow. It’s totally true.”
Rainbow shook her head. “Eagle, look, it’s nothing! Seriously!”
“Then why are you so close to freaking out?”
“I am so not freaking out!” Rainbow Dash freaked out.
Eagle Eye bit his lip.
She hovered in place, panting. Then, with a groan, she ran a hoof over her face. Hovering limply, she gazed back and forth. The deck was clear, the stairwell was empty, and Floydien was minding his business inside the Noble Jury’s cockpit. At last, the mare floated closer to Eagle Eye and murmured, “Could you do me a favor, EE?”
“Anything, Rainbow.”
“You’ve got good peepers.”
He smirked. “I would hope so.”
“Would you… uhm…” She fidgeted in midair. “Perhaps you could keep an eye on Ebon Mane or something?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Ebon?”
“Yeah…”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a lot better than me at noticing small details. We both know that.”
“No, I mean, why Ebon?” Eagle Eye’s face stretched with concern. “Is he sick? Is he coming down with something?”
“What? No! I mean…” Rainbow Dash ran a nervous hoof through her mane. “I don’t think so…”
“Then what?”
“It’s just…” Rainbow groaned inwardly. She pivoted and stared evenly with the young stallion. “Promise not to tell anypony.”
He blinked once. “Okaaaaay…”
“But… uhm… last time I talked with Princess Luna…” Rainbow bit her lip and rubbed the ends of her hooves together. “She told me something…”
“Told you what, exactly?”
“That there was something about Ebon… something off...”
“Off?” Ebon’s face wrenched. “In what way?”
“Basically, she told me she had reason to believe that he was hiding something.”
“Hiding something?”
“Yeah…”
“How?”
“Huh?”
“How does Luna know he’s hiding something?” Eagle Eye tilted his head curiously aside. “She’s thousands of miles away.”
“Yeah…”
“I thought she was the goddess of the stars and moon. What, is she the goddess of lie detection now?”
“Yeah! I-I mean no! I mean… nnngh…” Rainbow pointed. “Look. She’s tens of thousands of years old. She’s--like--super wise.”
“Does wisdom make somepony psychic, now?”
“I dunno.”
“Well, what do you know?” Eagle Eye frowned. “Cuz it looks like you’re making a guess based on a royal guess that is sketchy at best!”
“You gotta admit, a pony that old and magical has gotta have more intuition than mortals like you and me.”
“Well, sure, but come on Rainbow!” Eagle Eye stamped a hoof down. “Hasn’t it occurred to you to simply ask Ebon yourself?”
“Huh?”
“Bring this up to him!” Eagle Eye pointed towards where the stallion had ascended the platforms. “Talk to him face to face! Look him in the eye!”
“I’m not gonna grill him for no reason!”
“Oh, but you’re gonna ask me to spy on him.”
“I wasn’t asking you to spy!” Rainbow frowned her forelimbs folded. “Erm… not really.”
“Rainbow Dash, you’re the most loyal pony that I know,” Eagle Eye said with a sigh. He looked at her with a sad face. “But, don’t you know? Loyalty takes a great deal of trust, and I’m not seeing much of that right now.”
“But Luna said--”
“And I know you care for Luna! She’s an amazing pony and she’s done a great deal for you! But though she may be loyal to you, she only knows your friends by association.” Eagle pointed up at the platforms once more. “Ebon is your friend, isn’t he?”
“Well, yeah--”
“So treat him like one! Go to him and bring the issue to heart!” Eagle Eye gulped. “And, to be honest, you’re not the only one feeling a bit worried about him.”
Rainbow turned and squinted at the stallion. “Oh really?”
He sighed, digging at the wooden deck of the ship with his hoof. “He’s… just so cheerful, and so carefree. Not in Props sort of way, though. Ebon has no excuse to be with us anymore. We’re at Gray Smoke, aren’t we? So why isn’t he heading on home? Why is he still here?”
“You see?” Rainbow Dash pointed. “He totally is hiding something!”
“So, let’s bring it to him!” Eagle Eye said with a frown. “What’s wrong with that?” He gulped and gazed sadly towards the distant reaches of the hangar. “If I could roll back time and just… bring both Phoenix and Zenith aside and ask what was really bothering them before it was too late, then maybe they’d both be still alive right now. Maybe… a whole lot of bad things wouldn’t h-have happened.”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but had nothing to say. She hovered limply there, cooled by the mute flaps of her wings.
“Look, I’ll do what you ask,” Eagle Eye said. “I’ll keep an eye on him and see if he does something suspicious. But… you’re better than this, Rainbow Dash.”
She looked up. “Huh?”
He gazed at her with a gentle smile. “You’re dependable… strong… and overall awesome. Please… don’t let your sincere devotion turn into foalish paranoia. The moment you have to divide your trust among your friends will be a sad day indeed.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash gulped and gazed at the deck below them. “I guess… I-I’m just really freaked out about losing ponies I care about for stupid reasons.”
Eagle Eye bit his lip, but not forever. “You realize that Imre left because she chose to, not because of anything you did?” he blurted.
Rainbow Dash’s jaw went tight.
Eagle Eye shuddered. “Right. I’ll… uh… I’ll go put my things away.” He trotted quietly down the stairwell. “See ya at supper? We’ve got some fresh celery now. If Ebon’s leaving soon, we all gotta learn to cook in his absence.”
“Right…” Rainbow Dash nodded without looking at him. She muttered, “I’ll join you soon.”
As he left, another pony approached the airship. Rainbow pivoted about in time to see a mare drawing a doubly-stacked wagon full of bulky items beneath a black tarp.
“Uhhhh…” Rainbow’s face twisted. “Did you… enjoy shopping?”
“I just had to collect a few necessities,” Roarke said, all the while disentangling herself from the wagon. “I take it you found a way to earn bits?”
“Yeah. Kinda.”
“Good.” Roarke began shifting through her things with metal hooves. “Maybe you could buy yourself some polish for that necklace of yours.”
“Yeah. That’s not happening.” Rainbow squinted. “How the heck did you afford all of that junk yourself?”
“Oh…” Roarke shrugged as she briefly uncovered one of many miniature missile racks. “I found them on discount.”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “Jeez, Roarke! I sure hope that they were cl-clearing house!”
“Oh, they were…” Roarke reached to her forelimb, opened a metal panel, and slapped a hoof over a glowing red button. “They just didn’t know it yet.”
“You don’t understand!” Clipper spat at two other mules as he stood several feet outside his ship in the fire-lit Rusted District. “The Searonese know where I am! I gotta grab my stuff and get the heck out of Gray Smoke while I can still breathe! They’re all gonna be after me!”
“Whoah… whoah… settle down, fella,” another grimy equine remarked.
“Yeah…” The third mule nodded, his chin flaps waving. “Besides, didn’t ya hear?”
“Hear what?” Clipper remarked, blinking.
“The Searonese? They’re over and done with, dude.”
“Huh?!”
“Yeah, word is that their big mountain hold in the sky went kablooey from the inside out. Some sort of rebellion, or whatcrap.”
Clipper blinked. “Why… that flaming sky fart!” He hissed, spinning around to frown at the ramshackle entrance to Municipal Engines. “She totally lied to me! I have a good mind to--” His eyes bulged.
Three explosives were rigged to the metal wall of the building, just beyond the firelight where they couldn’t be seen--until now. They flickered with bright red lights in a timely fashion.
With a cacophonous blast, a wave of fire and debris flew out everywhere. The entire shop crumbled as dozens of ponies gasped in shock. Clipper and his companions were tossed onto their rumps. He sat up, wincing heavily.
“And while we were attaching the support girders, Simon started chattering like crazy!” Props exclaimed in between massive bites of celery. The other crew members of the Noble Jury sat across the long table from her. Night had fallen, and the smell of food and merriment wafted through the mess hall. “Turns out he discovered a structural fracture within the walls of the place! I mentioned it to the dock workers, and they looked at me like I was insane! But then I showed them the fracture with an enchanted sub-structural analysis shard, and sure enough, it looks like the ponies who built this hangar way back in the day hadn’t done everything up to code. According to Article Twelve of the Statutes of the Upper Roast, the owners of this place were lied to when they bought it, and that entitles them to some financial assistance from the city treasury.”
“Well, that’s certainly fortunate for them,” Belle said. “The Council of Ledo provides for many ponies, but not to that degree.”
Props winked. “Wait till you see the price it takes to own a place like this, and then you might think twice.”
“Still.” Eagle Eye paused to nibble on his celery, swallow, and then speak. “It looks like you cut them a break.”
“Oh, totally!” Props grinned wide. “The silly-heads were blushing, they were so embarrassed and thankful. Embarrathankfulassed! Heehee!” She scarfed some vegetables down and smiled. “They’re letting us stay indefinitely! That should give me plenty of time to help them attach the rest of the support struts! Assuming Simon’s got the noggin to knock ‘em in place! Heehee!”
“Do you not wish to see your Uncle, Props?” Pilate asked. “You’ve been through quite an ordeal, and several hours have gone by already.”
“Yes!” Belle added with a nod. “You’ve done enough as it is for us, Props. Certainly you’re dying to see your loved ones.”
“Hmmmm…” Props rubbed her peach-colored chin. “The guys here are gonna have to take their sweet time in getting the next round of supplies.” She smiled, her blue eyes fluttering brightly. “Bouncy-bouncy my way home, I think I’ll go!” She giggled.
With a shudder, Rainbow Dash turned to look towards the other end of the table. “Maybe we can do it first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Pilate said with a nod. “I certainly wouldn’t mind visiting a few more marketplaces.”
“Why?” Eagle Eye asked. “You looking for a sweet jacket or something?”
“Oh, no… no…”
“Because I could totally help you find--”
“Ahem.” Pilate cleared his throat. “I would like it if I can find some new maps of this place. All the ones that Floydien has in the navigation room are great and all. But…”
“Yes yes yesssss…” Floydien nodded over his bowl of greens. “Could use more brown and grass where the glimmer glimmer has parted over boomer years.”
“Er… Yeah…” Kera turned her slingshot over in her telekinetic grip, almost entirely ignoring her celery. “What he said.”
“Spitting of spit…” Floydien looked curiously at the rest of the table. “Where has the rotund one gone?”
“I was beginning to wonder that myself,” Rainbow Dash said, her brow furrowing. “I don’t suppose he fell through one of the streets and hit the earth, do ya?”
“If so, the mountains below us would have shattered,” Eagle Eye grumbled.
“That wasn’t very nice, now, was it?” Pilate remarked with a smirk.
“You’re right.” Eagle Eye grinned. “I’ll apologize to the mountains.”
“Heheheh…”
“Is everypony enjoying their vittles?” Ebon Mane asked from the kitchen door.
“It’s wonderful as always, Mr. Mane,” Belle said with a smile.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be leaving soon?” Kera asked. Belle and Pilate winced.
Ebon chuckled breathily. “I just want to make sure everyone here is taken care of.”
“Yes, thank for helping me with the dinner,” Eagle Eye said, his lavender coat turning into a sharp ruby color. “I don’t know how you do things so naturally.”
“You have the gift of a cook’s gene within ya.”
“I dunno. I mean, sure, I made soup and oatmeal for Crimson and the rest while we stayed in Foxtaur, but that was food for fugitives. Fugitives of war.”
“Boomers present are no different, yes yes?” Floydien remarked with his mouth full.
Eagle Eye’s ears folded back. “Eh heh… I guess.” He cleared his throat. “Still, with practice, I think I can make it more than edible.”
“You mean tasty?” Kera grunted.
“Er… yes…”
The filly chuckled.
“At least you’re good for more than one thing,” Roarke muttered, suddenly trotting into the room on heavy hooves.
“Miss Roarke. A pleasure to hear you as always,” Pilate said. He gestured a blind hoof towards the table. “Are you actually going to join us for once?”
“Not for eating.” She pulled a burlap bag off her side and placed it onto the table before Eagle Eye with a thud. “There you go.”
Eagle Eye blinked. “Uhm… I give up. Is it a cook book?” He gulped. “Made out of dragon bones?”
“Simply unwrap the parcel and discover for yourself, breeder.”
“Mmfff… fiiiiine.” Eagle Eye levitated the bag up and unraveled it.
Roarke looked over his shoulder. “I do believe you possessed something of similar nature when you first attempted to face me in combat. You remember that occasion? I completely defeated every other pony in your company except for Rainbow Dash.”
“Jee… your memory is impeccable.” Eagle Eye finally slid the bag off and his lips parted. “Whoah…” He levitated a gladius and a heavy shield. Both were made of steel with gold bands swirling from hilt to tip. “Now this is… is…”
“Acceptable, yes?” Roarke raised an eyebrow over one of her brows. “You fought under the traditional form of Franzington sword and shield, if I’m not mistaken.”
“The… the weight is absolutely perfect…” Breathless, Eagle Eye stepped back from the table, levitating the two items in front of him. With perfect mental precision, he began twirling the sword and stabbing it into the open air above the table.
“Oooh! Shiny!” Props cooed.
“Yeesh!” Belle winced. “EE, must you? We have food and fillies present.”
“Har har,” Kera muttered.
“It’s… it’s absolutely fantastic!” Eagle Eye stammered with sparkly eyes. He turned to gawk at the Searonese pony. “Thank you! Wherever did you find them?”
“You are not the only pony who engages in shopping.” Roarke then trotted over to Belle and Pilate and slapped a pair of heavy metal pieces onto the table, rattling their plates. “And you two. Rainbow Dash is constantly having to save your flanks from one situation or another.”
“Eh heh heh…” Belle smiled nervously. “You noticed?”
“Indeed.” Roarke pointed at the helmets. “These were designed for unicorns, but you’ll find that they will fit a zebra or a mare without a horn just the same.”
“Wow, Roarke. They’re… uhm…” Belle’s smile was a flimsy one as she tilted the helmet left and right. “They’re certainly…”
“Sturdy,” Pilate said. O.A.S.I.S. flickered as he pivoted his head towards his beloved. “Mulesteel, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Nopony’s been using it.” Roarke pointed towards the general area of the unseen hangar. “I have matching armor for it. Next time that we’re in a pinch, you can be better protected.”
“For once, a smart boomer,” Floydien said matter-of-factly. “Floydien approves.”
“I also bought some weaponcraft for Josho,” Roarke said as she shuffled around the table. “But Goddess only knows where the fat breeder went to.”
“I’ll give you a hint,” a tired voice said as the stallion in question suddenly strolled into the mess hall with a weary expression. “It wasn’t to breed.”
“Josho!” Eagle Eye spun to grin at him, brandishing the sword and shield. “You’re back! And look it! Aren’t they shiny!”
“Very pretty, kid. Now go sew yourself a sweater.”
“Hmmph!” Eagle Eye frowned as he galloped through the kitchen and up the stairwell. “I’m gonna practice my form!” His voice called back. “I’m getting rusty!”
“Welcome back, Josho,” Pilate remarked. “Good to know you’re in one piece.”
“For the time being.” The obese stallion made his way straight for Rainbow. “I think we should have a chat.”
“Oh?” Rainbow Dash blinked at him. “Don’t you want to eat first?”
“No.”
Everypony was silent.
“Yowsers…” Rainbow leaned back, gaping at him. “This must be serious.”
“Can we go above deck somewhere, sparky?” Josho said in a tired tone. His eyes were cold, cutting. “We need to talk about what waits for us east of this flying turd.”
Beyond the hangar doors, night had fallen, and zeppelins puttered back and forth, forming pinpricks of flickering light against the bluish haze of the evening sky beyond. A dull hum persisted inside and outside of Gray Smoke, a city that refused to sleep just as much as it rebelled against gravity. Atop the docked Noble Jury’s deck, Eagle Eye was twirling about, practicing sword slashes and shield thrusts with his new weaponry Every now and then, he would pause and train an ear towards a group of ponies gathered closer to the bow of the ship.
“So you spent all this time talking with Ledomaritan soldiers?!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. “Dude, they could send their goonies after us any second!”
“Former soldiers, ya vomit bucket,” Josho grumbled. “These guys would much rather pick up a tall bottle of gin over a rifle anyday. They’d soon toss themselves off the edge of this city than get back into action, after all the crud that they’ve seen.”
“I’m surprised you got any words out of them,” Rainbow grumbled. “Instead of getting into a drunken bar fight at first sight.”
“Jeee, thanks for the vote of confidence, ya sky scrub.”
“Rainbow, give him an opportunity to share what he’s learned,” Bellesmith said. She turned towards Josho. “Did they know anything about the Eastern Front?”
“A little bit,” Josho said with a nod. “Apparently the Xonans are pushing west, except for in one key position that’s being held by a stubborn old fool named Seclorum.”
Belle gasped, her chestnut eyes shrinking. “Seclorum…”
Pilate tilted his head towards her. “You’ve heard of him?”
She gulped and nodded. “He’s got a secret alliance with Madame Nightshade. Or, at least, he used to. With Nightshade’s zeppelin having crashed and her stash of stolen airships having been stolen--”
“Not to mention her precious flame and think tank confiscated,” Pilate added with a wry smirk. “And the Deep Ridge facility exposed. Hundreds of former employees defecting…”
“Right.” Bellesmith nodded. “Her empire would surely have crumbled, both financially and structurally. I have no doubt that Seclorum had a lot to do with how she illegally confiscated so many airships to begin with, but for the most part the two were operating a long distance… erm… partnership.”
“Undoubtedly Seclorum wanted the flame,” Pilate said. “From what Jasper Clark had said, it sounded like a part of the machine world had been exposed somehow to the surface world. I wonder how…”
“Probably from a bunch of shelling and crap,” Josho grunted. “Seclorum always was a fan of using bombs like a cheap prostitute.”
“You say that as if you know him,” Rainbow Dash said.
“I do.”
Everypony stared at him.
Josho winced and sighed. “At least, I used to.”
“You knew the guy who helped Nightshade steal a bunch of ships and kidnap a bunch of ponies?!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “How?”
“Hey…” Josho frowned back. “I was in the army for a long, long, long time.”
“Stands to reason that you would have brushed shoulders with quite a few individuals,” Pilate said. “Both low and high up.”
“Oh, he’s high, alright,” Josho said with a bitter smirk. “Not sure what he’s been smoking to get him to think that this crap is acceptable.”
“Erm… what ‘crap?’” Belle asked.
“He’s holding up in a choke point, sacrificing a lot of good stallions in what can only be described as bloody stubbornness,” Josho moaned. “The Xonan Incursion is being halted in one spot, and because of this the Eastern Front hasn’t broken. However, it ain’t nothing to dance and cheer about. The Ledomaritan forces are suffering a lot from it. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna screw the Confederacy in the long run, and Seclorum’s at the heart of it.”
“I bet that must make your skin crawl,” Eagle Eye said from where he was practicing his fighting form.
“Ehhh.” Josho belched. “The Queen can choke on it. If Ledo was really as big as she thought she was, she would have chopped off the heads of Seclorum--and the Council for that matter--ages ago and have done something really smart about this war.”
“Like what?” Rainbow asked.
“Like ended it!” Josho spat.
Rainbow sighed and said, “So, then, what do we do? Fly somewhere far north or south of this choke point? Cuz if the battle is heaviest at this Seclorum guy’s camp, then maybe there’ll be less Xonans where his soldiers aren’t hanging around.”
“It’s not the Eastern Front that’s got my saddle in a twist,” Josho grunted. “It’s what lies beyond it.”
“Hey, I’m not expecting Xona to be a flight through fluffy clouds!” Rainbow Dash tossed her forelimbs with a smirk. “But getting past the warzone has gotta be the hard part, right?”
Josho was silent.
“Right…?”
“I just had a talk with a pony at the tavern,” Josho muttered. “A poor old skeleton of a dude who had seen the worst that the Xonans had to offer. He was part of a campaign called Blue Spear, ya see. He’s lucky to be alive. Or unlucky. Depends on how you look at it.”
Belle leaned forward, curious. “Wh-what did he say?”
Josho looked back at the group.
“I’m telling you, it’s r-real,” Oporst stammered hours ago as Josho sat across from him in the tavern. “Their religion! Their spirits! Their karma or ghosts or voodoo or whatever the hell you wanna call it! It’s real! It’s all real!”
Josho’s eyes narrowed. “How do you mean?”
Oporst rubbed his forelimbs together as his eyes stared into a horrified space between the two stallions. “They don’t fight with manarifles or with blades or with tasers like we do. They… they…” His pupils shrank as he squeaked, “Th-they fight with demons. They summon them from someplace beyond. Their tattoos glow like pieces of the moon fallen to earth, and the air fills with banshee screams.” Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. “And then, your friends are screaming, for these… these things are clawing out their insides, munching on wh-what they had for breakfast, then turning everyone you love and tr-trust into hollow husks.” He began hyperventilating. “The demons come from the air… the ground… the rivers. And the Xonans… those evil witches and warlocks… they come in from the flank and finish off whatever shred of meat is left of you. And they’re praying the whole time. They’re praying and worshipping their demon goddess, and you’re the offering. You’re nothing but the morsel of some demoness, and that’s all you are. That’s all you ever are…”
With a jerk, Oporst slapped his forelimbs across the table in a desperate attempt to grab his drink. Josho telekinetically steadied it for him, and the weary soldier took a hearty sip. He almost choked on the sudsy quaff as a sob ripped through him, and he dropped the glass altogether, burying his face into a forelimb.
“Nnnnngh… blessed Spark, save me. I hear them at night. The demons are c-coming for me. They’re c-coming for all of us. Unnnngh… Spark alive…”
The group was silent as Josho continued speaking across the deck of the Noble Jury.
“He got through his hysterics just in time to tell me a bit more, for what it’s worth,” the obese stallion grumbled, pacing. “The Xonans were always well-practiced mana users. They fought with technology inferior to Ledomaritan weaponcraft, but at some point--very recently--the tide turned. Oporst said he was briefed on this before he engaged the enemy through the Blue Spear Campaign. They had heard of a mountain located a few hundred miles east of the front where a… temple of sorts had been established, a place of worship. Something inside this temple held the explanation for what had given the Xonans so much power as of late. A few tattooed soldiers had been captured and tortured by Seclorum, and they eventually spoke of a Xonan Monarch, a princess--Buch Tania Lasairfion--who had made her station in this temple. The Blue Spear Campaign was an attempt to charge through the lines, siege the Temple, and take this Princess Lasairfion chick for hostage. But… well…”
“It didn’t succeed,” Pilate said.
“I’m not sure that Queen Ledo would have won the war even if it did, but it certainly would have given the Xonans a run for the money,” Josho said. “But, before the attack force even got halfway towards their goal, the Xonans attacked. It was a small defense group, but somehow they overwhelmed all of the enforcers, including Oporst’s unit.”
“With…” Bellesmith gulped. “...these demons?”
Josho’s jaw clenched. “Look, I don’t know what the guy was babbling on about. Could be that he simply hallucinated half the stuff. I mean, he didn’t strike me as being right in the head. All I know is that something really horrible happened to a bunch of strong, well-armed Ledomaritan soldiers, and it only took a small amount of tattooed bastards to do it.”
“So, we’re talking about extra-freaky-magic?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Instead of just normally-freaky magic?”
“I’m not sure. However, if you ask me, it looks like the bad guys are a lot badder than we’ve anticipated. So long as this Princess Lasairfion has her royal flanks parked just east of the warfront, defense has gotta be tight. Demons or not, it ain’t gonna be easy to fly through that mess.”
Pilate stroked his chin in thought. He tilted his head Belle’s way.
Belle sighed and sat back on her haunches. “It’s not as if we’re going to have things easy in Ledomare or any of the places west of the warfront.”
“Gray Smoke doesn’t seem half that bad!” Eagle Eye added with an optimistic smile.
“I’m not inclined to stay here forever,” Pilate remarked. “It may work for the likes of Props and Ebon Mane, but even a blind zebra can see just how cutthroat this place is.”
“And one way or another, the Spark needs to head its way east towards the edge of the world--” Belle began.
“Hey, whoah whoah whoah…” Rainbow Dash stopped hovering and touched down besides the beloveds’ sides. “Let’s forget about my destiny and whatcrap for a moment. I’m not the only one on board this ship and all.”
“But Rainbow…” Belle gazed at her with quivering eyes. “You’ve been traveling for so long and from such a grand distance--”
“You think I don’t know that?” Rainbow smirked as she rested a hoof on the mare’s golden shoulder. “And one way or another, I’m gonna continue my flight. But you guys have done a lot for me, and I wanna repay the favor. If flying east is too dangerous for everypony at this point, then… then…” Her face grimaced as her words trailed off.
Everypony gazed silently at her.
She gulped and forced a smile. “We could--I dunno--go south! I mean, there’s an ocean down there and stuff, right? Maybe we can find a land somewhere beyond where you and Pilate and Kera could live peacefully and jazz.”
“Don’t sell yourselves short.”
Everypony turned and looked up.
Roarke was perched on one of the support struts for the ship’s skystone. “You’re all made of strong stuff. You’ve battled zeppelins, evil corporations, and entire armies. Don’t pretend that you don’t deserve any less than a destination that will make you happy and whole.”
“Hey, I want to find someplace safe and friendly to start a new life just like any other pony!” Eagle Eye exclaimed. She pointed towards Pilate and Belle. “But we’ve built something here that’s better than a home! We’ve got some really fantastic companionship going on, and it would be a shame to ruin all of that on an unnecessary risk!”
“Don’t make me vomit anymore than you’re already tempting me to, breeder.”
Eagle Eye stomped his hooves. “Darn it! Stop calling me--”
Roarke landed before him with a thud.
He jumped back with a gasp, his weaponry rattling.
She leaned forward and hissed, “I don’t expect you to know what it means to defeat something. You’re a fighter, yes, but you’ve only ever fought while on the run from something or somepony. It takes a whole lot more courage and tenacity to invade someplace.”
“Hey!” Belle frowned. “We’re not soldiers!”
“And are you any less righteous?” Roarke swiveled about. “You speak of things you want and things you need, and yet you’re afraid to take the steps you need to seize it.” She paced through the group. “So long as we stay here, in this land, in this air, west of the stupidity and chaos that defines this horrible continent, then we’ll never get anywhere.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a frown. “But you guys are my friends! And I’m not about to risk them over a daredevil attempt for freedom!”
“Then you’ll never be free,” Roarke droned. “What kind of a friend would that make you.”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth--
“We all know you’re loyal,” Roarke continued. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be lame as well.”
“I…” Rainbow fidgeted, her pendant rattling. “I’m not. I just… I just don’t want anything bad to happen to us…”
“We have what it takes to fly beyond that,” Roarke said. “We can kick flank, outrun the enemy, and soar our way to freedom. This is the best team I’ve ever had the honor of being part of.” She stood straight. “And I mean it.”
Pilate cocked his head aside at that.
“Roarke…” Belle gaped at her. “We had no idea that… you actually thought so highly of us…”
“I didn’t feel like it was necessary to speak the obvious,” she grunted. “But then you started talking like cowardly idiots.”
“Heh…” Josho smirked. “I like you, lady, even if you are a bucket of greased-up servos.”
“Tuck it in, soldier.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Look, I want to get us all out of this place,” Rainbow said, sighing as she rubbed her forehead. “I really do. But this is all so much! The Ledomaritans were one thing. But Xonans? A princess in a temple? Ravenous demons being summoned?”
“Could be worse,” Pilate said with a smirk. “They could have giant centipedes.”
“Hey.” Rainbow pointed. “Don’t even start.”
Bellesmith giggled.
“Wasn’t there something you said once, Rainbow Dash?” Eagle Eye remarked. “‘The stupid plans are the ones that tend to work the best?’”
“Yeah!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. “And flying into this mess that Josho described is completely stupid!”
Eagle Eye merely smiled at Rainbow with bright, violet eyes.
Rainbow groaned and facehoofed. “I just… I just need to sleep on it. Really, guys. Is that too much to ask?”
“Hmmph.” Roarke marched off towards the stairwell.
Belle turned to whisper at Rainbow. “She means well, Rainbow. I, for one, would never call you ‘lame.’”
“Yeah, well, after years of flying my wings off, I’m starting to wonder.”
“I think some rest would be a good idea indeed,” Pilate said with a nod. “After all, we should help Props meet with her Uncle tomorrow.”
“Yes. She’s supported us.” Eagle Eye grinned. “We should help her back!”
“Agreed,” Belle said with a nod. “Let’s all get a good night’s sleep.”
“Pffft… yeah…” Rainbow Dash fluttered away, rolling her eyes. “I’ll be sure to have some good dreams after this mess.”
“Heeheehee…”
Far away, inside the hangar, a lone figure stood, perched atop a lone strut besides the shipyard’s entrance. The robed equine had a hoof outstretched, gripping onto a tool with four soundstones outstretched on dimly glowing prongs. Aiming at the Noble Jury, the figure picked up the faint sounds of the group’s conversation from afar. Once the conversation had come to a close, the pony gave a flick of her hoof, and the prongs snapped shut.
Three colors flickered across her forelimb in the cold starlight as she pocketed the tool away. Turning around, she aimed towards the edge of the strut, galloped forward, and dove clear off the side. Her body plunged into the open air, then disappeared from sight.
Seconds passed by.
Like a ghost, the cloaked figure rose again into view, gliding across the stars and banking left as soon as she cleared the mouth of the hangar.
“Triple barreled, huh?” Josho grinned in the morning light of a new day. He telekinetically rotated a manarifle before his gaze with an approving nod. “I could think of at least four different jokes to say right now, but none of them are appropriate for a filly’s ears.”
Kera turned from playing with Simon, frowned, and shot a ball bear at him with her slingshot.
“Gah!” He reached back and rubbed his sore flank. “Ya little scampster!”
“Kera!” Belle snapped, frowning as she paused in exiting the Noble Jury’s top deck. “Bad filly!” She turned her nose up, suppressing a smirk. “Aim lower…”
“Heheheh…” Pilate chuckled as he trotted ahead with Eagle Eye and Ebon Mane.
“You’re a horrible influence,” Josho grumbled at Belle as he continued squinting at the rifle. “Still, she’s a way faster draw than me at this rate.” He turned and frowned at the only Searonese pony in the hangar. “Would it have killed you to have cleaned this first before lending it to me?”
“Look, I said it was a discount from the Rust District, didn’t I?” Roarke grumbled metallically through her helmet as she clopped forward on steel hooves. “And I’m not lending. It’s yours, you dinosauric breeder.”
“Hmmph… well, at least I’ll get an excuse to examine it,” the stallion muttered.
“And look after Kera, right?” Belle asked. “I’d trust Floydien, but he usually has his head caught between his antlers.”
”Floydien heard golden boomer’s spit!”
“The golden boomer is well aware of that!”
“Don’t you worry, Missy,” Josho said as he patted a hoof on Kera’s forehead. “She’s safe and sound by my side while you all go do your welcome wagon thing for Props.”
Kera frowned and lit her horn.
“Gaah!” Josho grunted as his fetlock caught fire. He shook it out, blew on it, and sighed. “I think I’m safer playing with this new gun…”
“Just don’t be using the squirrel for target practice,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she fluttered ahead, coasting over the bouncing, bouncing figure of Props.
“Wooohooo! Over the rust and through the grime, to Uncle’s house we gooo-ooo-ooo!”
“You make it sound like there’s a palace waiting for us!” Eagle Eye said with a bright smile, his sword and shield clattering along his lavender flanks.
“Uncle Prowse’s shop is better than a palace!” Props spun around and backtrotted. She grinned and rearranged her lopsided goggles as the group made their way out of the hangar and into the bustling marketplaces of the Bronze District. “It’s got steam engines and factory parts and recycled manacores!”
“Sounds positively enchanting,” Pilate said with a smirk.
“Is it really safe to be around that much open machinery?” Rainbow Dash asked. She scratched her head as she hovered protectively above the group. “All the zeppelins of this place have ever done is try and hunt me down dead. I can’t imagine it a good idea to be around their exposed parts.”
“Don’t be a silly filly, silly filly!” Props spun about and pranced forward with her eyes happily shut. “Uncle Prowse knows better than to leave hazardous materials lying in the open! After all, he’s all about delivering the best tinkering service to customers from all corners of the sky! Both Sooters and Whitewashed alike!”
“Besides, I’ve been to her place tons of times,” Ebon said with a smile. “I’ve not experienced anything worse than a slight taste of metal in my mouth.” He tongued the insides of his cheek and muttered, “And a nosebleed…” He shuddered as his smiled dissolved. “For… uhm… th-three hours straight.”
Clang! Rainbow Dash rammed into a hanging store sign. “Ow!”
“Careful there, Rainbow,” Belle said from below.
“Unnngh…” Rainbow rubbed her wincing forehead as she caught up with the group. “I hate to be the selfish elephant in the room, Props, but what are the odds that your Uncle Ponky--”
“Prowse.”
“Whatever. What are the odds that he could--I dunno--take a look at the Jury for us before we ship off? I mean, like, you’ve done a whole lot of stuff for us already and that’s super cool, but if he’s taught you everything you know, then surely he’s the best pony around these parts to give Floydien’s ship a once-over.”
“Or a twice over,” Pilate said, smiling.
“Yeah. What he said.”
“Oh! You bet!” Props grinned from ear to ear. “He’ll be so happy to see me that he’ll bust a nut!”
“Uhhhh…”
“His left forelimb is a prosthetic. Two models behind, unless he replaced it while I was gone.” Props winked behind them as they trotted down the hazy end of the Bronze District. “He always loses a rivet or two when he’s stretching to reach something.” She giggle-snorted. “Or using the outhouse!”
“Any help he would give us would be appreciated, Miss Props,” Pilate said.
“Perhaps he’d be willing to rig some weaponry to the vessel’s hull,” Roarke droned.
“Roarke, honestly!” Belle exclaimed.
“Don’t tell me that it’s not a good idea, considering what’s in store for us.”
“We’ll approach that unthinkable precaution when the time comes.”
“And why not now?”
“They have…” Eagle Eye’s cute face scrunched up in thought. “...outhouses up here?”
Ebon Mane leaned in. “You’re best doing your business on board the Jury.”
“Right. I actually got it to smell reasonably nice just last week.”
“Yes. Yes, you did.” Ebon Mane trotted ahead to join Props’ bouncy side.
In the meantime, Eagle Eye glanced behind him… then up.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She caught Eagle’s gaze, then looked back.
Eagle Eye stared.
Rainbow Dash stared back.
Eagle Eye cleared his throat and motioned with his head towards Ebon Mane.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
Eagle Eye motioned more emphatically.
Rainbow Dash sighed, flew ahead a bit faster, then caught up with the stallion in question. “Uhm… say… Ebon…”
“Hmm? Yes, Rainbow?”
“I was… uh… just wondering if… I mean… that is…”
“Heh… cat got your tongue, Austraeoh?”
“Shhh!” Rainbow Dash hissed, hovering lower. “Don’t call me that in public!”
Belle glanced at him. “Are you a Ledomaritan spy, darling?”
“No, but I certainly know how to make my way around the shadows…” He leaned in and nuzzled her before murmuring something into her ear.
“Pilate!” she gasped, shoving him with a playful laugh. He chuckled as he struggled to regain his straight walk.
Roarke groaned and kept her distance.
“Ahem… Seriously, Rainbow Dash,” Ebon spoke, looking aside at Rainbow. “What did you want to ask me?”
“I… wanted to ask… if…” Rainbow Dash’s mouth lingered.
Eagle Eye leaned in, his ears twitching.
With a sigh, Rainbow Dash grumbled, “You would teach me how to make cinnamon bread before you go.”
“Oh! That’s it?” Ebon grinned. “Rainbow, there’s nothing wrong with a secret desire for baking sweets!” He patted her blue side and resumed trotting along with Props. “I’ll be sure to pass you along a recipe before I take my leave!”
“Yeah. Awesome. That would be…” Rainbow Dash floated back as she winced into the distant storefronts. “...awesome.”
Eagle Eye facehoofed, then trotted along with a heavy breath.
“Just one more bend!” Props sing-songed as she skipped around a corner. “Ohhhhh I do hope he finished that Three-Pronged Multi-Energy Mana Converter! That’s just what I need to make the non-stationary weather buoy launcher! It’ll help the Sooters of Gray Smoke days in advance so we can plan our sales accordingly!” She giggled with a high-pitched voice as the group came upon a sun-lit clearing of metal and mortar cobblestones. “That’ll give us a leg over the Upper Roost! Or a wing! Or a tailfeather! Ha!”
Ebon Mane gasped, freezing in his tracks. A similar breath came sharply from Belle’s mouth as she leaned worriedly against Pilate. Roarke was silent while Eagle Eye gaped and Rainbow Dash hovered to a stop. The pegasus murmured, “Whoah…”
“I know!” Props reared her front hooves with a toss of her blonde mane. “Isn’t it spectacular? Especially how the neon sign shimmers above the red-painted entrance?”
“Uhhhh…” Ebon gulped and pointed ahead. “...Propsy?”
“That’s my name! Don’t wear it out!”
The stallion merely continued pointing.
“Huh?” Slowly, Props turned around. She blinked at the scene.
There were no neon signs. In fact, there was hardly even an entrance. An entire building had collapsed into a burnt mesh of brittle brown bulkheads and tangled insulation. Rusted red slabs stuck out at awkward angles like broken ribs. The entire courtyard was a dead end, through and through, with no sign of movement or any engineering to be seen from within.
“Ohhhh…” Props’ ears sadly drooped on either side of a blank expression. “Poop.”
“This was not caused by regular manafire,” Roarke droned as a beam of red emanated from her helmet, scanning a chunk of local debris. “Most of the structural pieces are frayed at the top, suggesting a force collapse.” She turned and looked to the side. “Breeder?”
Pilate ignored the address and continued scanning a fallen pylon with his manasphere. He pivoted about from the fringes of the collapsed building. “There’s a thick layer of sediment over the other, older stains. It’s obvious that this place has seen its fair share of exhaust and smoke, but something cataclysmic happened here to level the entire place to the ground.”
“Yeah… uh…” Rainbow Dash flew circles around the ruined site. “You think like a friggin’ explosion?!” She frowned. “It’s nice of you guys to be studying this junk so closely, but how is this getting us anywhere?”
Bellesmith and Eagle Eye trotted up from within a hollow part of the warehouse that was still standing. “We just got done scouring the interior,” Belle said.
Eagle gulped and added, “There’s no sign of any bodies. Actually, the place is kind of ransacked. I mean, we know it’s a blown up building and all…”
“But there’s no sign of any possessions,” Belle remarked, shrugging in the sunlight wafting down through that remote section of the Bronze District. “No bed. No desk. No office work.”
“And certainly none of the large metal stuff that you’d find inside a shop for working on engine parts,” Eagle Eye said. “I really doubt all of that stuff would have been incinerated in one single swoop.”
“Looters,” Roarke grunted. Everypony looked at her as she muttered through her helmet, “The ponies of this place would easily leap into a burning building to grab something they could resell on the black market. Half of the junk that was in here when the missile hit is likely lining the shelves of some illicit shop in the Rust District.”
“Now, wait!” Belle frowned. “We have no way of knowing that a Spark-forsaken missile hit this place!”
“Don’t we?” Roarke gestured towards the mess. “There are plenty of incendiary burns.”
“And yet no metal fragments suggestive of a foreign projectile,” Pilate added. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“What if it was arson?” Rainbow Dash asked from above. “Like… maybe somepony burned this place on purpose?”
“Or maybe it was all just a horrible accident?” Eagle Eye asked. “All it takes is a single engine core going bad or… y’know… a stove…”
“I don’t think there’s any way of telling for sure,” Roarke said.
“Indeed.” Pilate nodded. “Whatever happened here, it was an incredibly long time ago.”
Rainbow Dash rubbed her head and asked, “Like, what? Days? Weeks?”
“Months, most likely.”
Belle bit her lip. She looked at the others, then at a blonde figure standing, drooped before the mess.
Rainbow Dash let out a breath. She hovered down to the pony’s side and approached her gently. “Hey. Props. Look… this is pretty horrible and all, but there’s still so much we’ve yet to figure out. So, uhm, chin up and all, okay?” Rainbow Dash smiled nervously. “Like Belle and EE said, they didn’t find any… I mean… they didn’t see… uh…”
“Uncle Prowse loved this shop almost as much as he loved me,” Props’ voice said from behind her goggles. Nopony could see her long face from where she was quietly perched. “It was his life… his livelihood…” A single sniffle lit the air. “How could he possibly let this happen?”
Belle leaned in and whispered into Pilate’s ear. “Beloved, what if the Ledomaritans--right after kidnapping Props, that is--”
He nodded and patted her shoulder back. “The thought did occur to me. Shhh. Let’s not be so swift to jump to conclusions.”
“Sounds pretty conclusive to me,” Roarke droned.
Belle hissed at her to be quiet.
Rainbow Dash gulped. “Props. Come on, girl. Look at us. We’re in this together. Where else could your Uncle be if not here, huh?”
“He…” Props’ body shuddered. “H-he…”
At that precise moment, Ebon Mane trotted out with something. “Uhm…” He bit his lip. “Propsy? I found an object inside. And… uhm… well…”
“What is it, Ebony?”
“I… I don’t know how to break this to ya…”
“Just show us, Ebon,” Rainbow Dash said.
The stallion sighed. Fidgeting, he revealed a metal forelimb in his grasp. The hinges were snapped clean at where the brace would have attached to a grown pony’s shoulder.
Props held the thing gently in her hooves. She gazed at it intently, her shoulders starting to buckle. “This… this is…”
“Oh, Props…” Belle, misty-eyed, trotted closer. “I’m so… so very sorry. Is there anything we can do?”
“This is… is…” Props spun about with a bright grin. “So super fantastic!”
Belle blinked. “Buh?”
“Woohoo!” Props hopped and bounced in circles. “I knew the old stallion wasn’t no idiot! Heehee! Oh, Uncle Prowse! You are a genius! A super awesome crafty cleverific genius!”
“I… uh…” Eagle Eye scratched his head with the edge of his shield. “I don’t get it.” He turned aside to the others. “Did she get her wires crossed?”
“Nope, and neither did my Uncle Prowse!” Props stood tall and proudly waved the metal forelimb about, pointing at the shoulder joint. “See the fasteners?! These go to the prosthetic attachment plugs attached to his body frame! They’ve all been unscrewed neatly! This wasn’t blown off or pulled off or even yanked off!”
“She has a point,” Roarke said. She slid her helmet open and pistoned her lenses out to get a better look. “I’ve seen Imre work on similar things for young Searonese in training. This is the work of somepony masterfully detaching this from a body. I doubt any explosive or fire would have detached these pieces so cleanly.”
“So… it was removed on purpose?” Pilate remarked.
“Abso-tap-dancing-lutely!” Props squeaked. “Uncle Prowse was always talking about making a new forelimb someday! I’d tell him, ‘Why, Uncle! Why not make it sooner? You’re growing older and your beard is like a rose bush by now!’ And he’d be all, ‘Nope! Nosiree, Propsette! Not until I’m ready to go on an expedition, wee lass!’ And you know what this means?!” She grinned a crescent moon. “He’s finally decided to make the trip that he always wanted! He’s probably halfway to the storm reaches in the north by now! Or the southern seas! Or… anywhere! Woohoo! You go, Uncle!”
“I… uhm…” Rainbow Dash gulped. “I’m not sure this could mean that--”
“I gotta go see if he left any other stuff lying around here!” Props galloped around the wrecked building. “Maybe in the back!”
Roarke groaned and clopped after her. “Better make sure she doesn’t trip and fall on something that’ll skewer that smile of hers.”
“I’m just freaked out by the fact that she’s still smiling,” Rainbow Dash said.
Ebon Mane shrugged. “That’s Propsy for you.”
“Is there any truth to it, though?” Belle asked with a concerned expression. “Could her uncle have gone off somewhere, Mr. Mane?”
“I don’t know,” Ebon said.
“And just why would he have burned this place after he left?” Eagle asked.
“I don’t know!” Ebon growled. “Perhaps other ponies did it, for all we know! I wouldn’t put it past half the Sooters who live in this place!”
“Perhaps some of the local ponies might know something about it,” Pilate remarked.
“I agree,” Belle said with a nod. “We should ask around. Try to see if there’s a friendly soul hereabouts who knows what went down here.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Rainbow Dash said, following Pilate and Belle as they trotted off. “Let’s split up.” She did a double-take and glared back at the others. “But not for long! Okay?! Let’s meet right back here and tell Props what we find!”
“Sure, okay,” Eagle Eye said with a nervous nod. “I’ll… uh… hold the fort here.”
Rainbow and her two closest friends exited the dead end.
Eagle Eye shifted his weight from one side to the next. After a pause, he turned and looked into the burnt, collapsed building.
Ebon Mane was trotting lonesomely, quietly inside, resuming his search. His body became a depressed shadow amidst the dimness of the shattered domain.
Eagle Eye bit his lip. He turned and gave one last glance towards where Rainbow Dash has flown. Then, with a deep breath, he trotted in after Ebon.
Eagle Eye’s hoofsteps made quiet clatters as he trotted into the dark interior of what remained of Props’ uncle’s shop. Beams of morning light streamed through the multiple rifts overhead, raining across the brittle floor like platinum strings. In the corner, rummaging lethargically through a collapsed locker, stood Ebon Mane. His burgundy coat made him blend with the overall dimness of the shattered place.
Eagle Eye shuffled to a stop, his sword and shield rattling slightly. He gulped and murmured, “Ebon…”
“Props used to let me use this locker to keep stuff in,” Ebon said. “Whenever I visited to cook her and her uncle food, she practically shared this place with me like I lived here. It meant a lot to me. She’s always been so very kind. Almost too kind.” He sighed as he glanced across the decrepit wall and its burn marks before him. “I hate to leave her like this, with so much loss. She didn’t deserve it. Neither did her uncle.”
“We’ll find out how this happened, Ebon,” Eagle Eye said. “Rainbow Dash doesn’t quit for anything.” He smiled. “Nor do her friends.”
“Oh, I know that. And I hope they find some answers from the ponies on the street.” Ebon gulped as he turned about with a fragile smile. “But, it doesn’t change how terrible this is.”
“You really care a lot about Props, don’t you?”
“I care about all of you--” Ebon’s face grimaced at the end of that. He tried smiling, but it only came as an even greater wince. “I’m… going to really miss having you guys around. Even when some of you are super annoying.”
“Hey, if I got used to Josho, anypony could.”
“How did you know I was talking about the old stallion?” Ebon smirked. “Are you a mind reader, EE?”
“No…” Eagle Eye shook his head. “I’m not. As a matter of fact…” He lingered. He turned and gazed out the smashed front of the creaking structure, as if searching for a living piece of the blue sky. At last, he groaned and muttered, “Ebon…?”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
Eagle Eye gazed calmly at him. “Is there something that you’re not telling us?”
Ebon simply blinked. “I… I don’t get it.”
“Is there something you have to share?” Eagle Eye asked, taking a pensive step forward. “Something that’s weight on your mind? Or your heart? Or… heh… any of the squishy stuff in between?”
“Wh-what?” Ebon chuckled breathily. “Are you serious?”
Eagle Eye bit his lip.
Ebon gestured towards the bent walls of the place. “Props’ home is blown to crap, her uncle is missing, and you’re worried about me?”
“I’m not so much worried about you as I am about Rainbow Dash.”
“What does Rainbow Dash have to do with this?”
“She… that is… uhm…”
Ebon smirked. “Now who’s got something to get off his mind?”
Eagle Eye fiddled with his purple locks as he cleared his throat and murmured, “Rainbow Dash asked m-me to keep an eye on you.”
“Why? She was afraid I might slip and fall off one of Gray Smoke’s platforms? I’ve got soot on me, EE. I know my way around here, even if I don’t have wings.”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Then what is it?”
“She… she said that she knew that you were hiding something.”
“Hiding something?”
Eagle Eye gulped. “That’s right.”
“What on earth gave her that idea?”
“Not what,” Eagle Eye muttered. “Who.” Slowly, his head raised to meet his gaze. “Her immortal ruler, Princess Luna, told her that she sensed you were withholding something from the group.”
Ebon Mane’s smirk left him.
Eagle shifted uncomfortably, not sure what would happen next.
Slowly, Ebon pivoted towards the corner.
The place silent, save for the groaning of collapsed metal beams and the distant engines of zeppelins.
At last, Ebon murmured, “Did the Princess tell you yourself or something?”
Eagle Eye shook his head. “No. Rainbow Dash told me.”
“She’s gone through so much length to take care of her friends. She wants what’s best for them. If there was something that she didn’t understand--she’d have every right to be cautious about it, especially if it dealt with her friends. I guess Princess Luna shares in that caution.”
“Is… there something for her to be cautious about?” Eagle Eye asked.
“I… d-don’t know…” Ebon’s voice wavered. “I wish I could say I did, but I don’t know.”
“Then tell me all you do know, and then maybe we can figure it out together!” the ex-mercenary insisted.
Ebon’s shoulders shook, then went still.
Eagle Eye leaned forward. “Ebon…?”
With a sigh, the stallion turned around and gazed lonesomely at the unicorn. A tear rolled down his cheek. “I… don’t have a home, EE.”
Eagle simply stared at him.
Ebon sniffled and shrugged. “I… never really have, to tell the truth. I’ve hopped from kitchen to kitchen here in Gray Smoke, surviving off of one job or another. Cooking appears to be my specialty. I don’t know why.”
“It’s not your special talent?”
The stallion pointed at the sailboat on his flank. “Do I look like I know what my talent is?!” he briefly snapped, but then shuddered with another tear rolling down his cheek. “Truth is, I’m lost. I’m a bum, through and through. I’ve wondered the streets of this city with no hope for so long. It was Props who gave me the light of day. If I hadn’t met her…” He quivered, gnashing his teeth for a few seconds. At last, his voice squeaked, “I don’t know where I would be. Really, I don’t.”
Eagle swallowed a lump down his throat and quietly asked, “Does she… does she know?”
“She knows as much as I tell her.” Ebon sniffed, then suffered through a brief chuckle as he dried his cheeks with a forelimb. “The mare kind of has tunnel vision, you know. I could easily hang out with her without having to expose too much about myself.”
“And what would you be exposing, exactly?”
Ebon’s lips quivered. He gave Eagle a helpless look. “That… I-I don’t know what’s there to share? I… I don’t… have memories, Eagle Eye.”
“Memories?” Eagle leaned his head aside. “Memories of what?”
Ebon fought back a sob. “Everything.” He avoided Eagle’s gaze. “My family. My home. Where I was born.”
“You… seriously don’t remember any of that about yourself?” Ebon asked.
“You h-have to understand…” Ebon sighed as he held a forelimb over his moist face. “I’ve… never told anypony this… th-this much. I never wanted to come across as helpless. But you guys have been so… so warm and welcoming and inviting and… I-I felt like I fitted in, y’know? I felt like I paid my dues. Because, seriously, as bad as it was that Jasper and Props got kidnapped by Nightshade’s cronies, being imprisoned in Blue Nova was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Eagle Eye raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah. I had a place to sleep, ponies to feed, and friends to talk to on a regular basis. What’s more, everypony was too busy worrying about the situation to bother asking about me or where I came from…”
“Props trusts you,” Eagle Eye said. “Tunnel vision or not, I don’t think she would place her faith in you unless she felt it was deserved.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” Ebon murmured as he looked up at him. “Deserve it. Only, I didn’t want to come across like I was trying too hard. I just…” He fought back another sob. “You guys have some really, really serious stuff to get done in this world. I would only be a burden if I… if I…”
“What, tagged along?”
Ebon Mane clamped his mouth shut.
Eagle Eye smiled. “Ebon, you wouldn’t be a burden! Are you kidding? You think any of us can cook nearly as awesomely as you? There are times when everypony on board the Jury is either bored out of their skulls or wants to murder the others. You and your culinary voodoo is what keeps the whole darn ship afloat!”
“But think about it!” Ebon frowned. “Would you really want my hooves digging around in the kitchen, preparing your food?”
“Why not?”
“I’m a pony who doesn’t remember his past!” Ebon stamped his hoof for emphasis. “Doesn’t that freak you out in the least?”
Eagle Eye blinked. “Floydien’s a space elk with a telekinetic squirrel. Josho’s hunted down Xonans and Franzington rogues in cold blood. Roarke’s a flipping bounty hunter. Rainbow Dash has to carry a necklace around her head that keeps her from going into a terminal chaos state. You really think you’re that much scarier than the rest of them?”
Ebon merely hung his head.
Eagle Eye fidgeted before taking a pensive step forward. “You… uh… really don’t remember anything?”
“No,” Ebon said bitterly. “I don’t.”
Eagle winced slightly at that.
But then Ebon spoke, “No.” He sighed. “That’s a lie. I remember one thing.”
“Oh?” Eagle Eye looked at him. “What’s that?”
“I…” Ebon’s brow furrowed as he navigated the clouds of confusion. “I remember my mother. At least… I remember her kindness… and her love for me.” He gulped. “I know that she’s still alive somewhere. I don’t know how and I don’t know where, but something happened that separated us. She’s far away, and I’m here. I’m alone. But… but I get this sense that some way, some how, I’m going to return to her…”
Eagle Eye smiled. “I think we’re all looking for our families in some way or another, Ebon.”
Ebon squinted at him. “Even those of us who are flying away from them?”
Eagle twitched slightly. He cleared his throat and glanced down. “Yes, well…”
“I try not to think too hard about it,” Ebon remarked. “Because when I do, I get scared. And I don’t want to share that fear with others. If I share my feelings too much, I’m afraid that--” He froze, his eyes briefly widening in terror.
Eagle Eye saw it. “What? Afraid of what, Ebon?”
Ebon shuddered. “You’re all good ponies. I just don’t want to c-complicate things with you guys, is all.”
“Ebon…”
“I can find a place to live here. I’m sure of it. The rest of you can go searching for Prowse and some home east of here--”
Eagle closed the distance and placed two hooves on the stallion’s shoulders. “You’re coming with us, ya hear? You need a home and we don’t need to starve.”
“But… but…” Ebon sniffled. “Rainbow Dash! She doesn’t trust me…”
“Something tells me that she’s about to,” Eagle Eye said with a friendly wink. “You let me worry about Rainbow Dash and the others. In the meantime, just concern yourself with… well… yourself.”
“H-how do you mean?”
“I think the most important pony whose trust you have to earn is your own.” Eagle’s gaze hardened as he spoke firmly. “You’ve been alone for far too long, punishing yourself for stuff you can’t be blamed for.”
“But… that’s just the thing! What if I did deserve what happened to me?” Ebon’s eyes teared again. “What if this is for something I did and I don’t even know about it?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“But Eagle--”
“You’re a good pony, Ebon,” Eagle Eye said with a bright smile. “That’s what matters. And a good pony is what we need on board the Jury.”
Ebon blinked, then smiled back. The tears had become overwhelming at this point and his legs buckled. Eagle leaned in and gave him a shoulder to lean over. He gently patted his back as the stallion let loose a few shuddering breaths, followed by a quiet murmur.
“Thank you…”
“Hey… Thank yourself…” Eagle Eye chuckled. “Once a Jurist, always a Jurist, right?”
“The Prowse Shop?” A pony’s face scrunched up from where he struggled to unpack a crate full of zeppelin parts inside his ship. “Heck, that burned down months ago!”
Rainbow Dash sighed from where she hovered above Bellesmith and Pilate. “Look, we know that! Everypony in the Bronze District has said the same thing!”
Belle leaned forward. “We were hoping, sir, that you or somepony else might be able to fill us in on what happened to Mr. Prowse himself.”
“Oh?” The pony smirked as he heaved, lifted an exhaust manifold out, and slapped it over a table. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Then…” Pilate stammered. “You know something about him?”
“I would hope so. The three legged fart and I exchanged lots of engine parts. Good stallion… even if a little crazy. When his factory burned down, nopony was really surprised, honestly. He only ever did well cuz he had his even crazier niece to keep him in check. Heh… the two of them somehow canceled each other out, if you can believe it.”
“Well, she’s back now,” Belle said. “And she’s extremely worried for her uncle.”
“Well, the thing to know about Prowse is that he tried selling his business several times before the crud went up in flames.”
“Really?” Pilate asked. “And nopony around here was willing to own that piece of real estate? It’s rather cramped around here. I figured… uh… ‘Sooters’ would be desperate.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. He’s got a nice little niche and all, but his warehouse was never a very pretty place. I’d been in there a few times,” the pony said. “Heh. I think the fire actually improved it.”
“We don’t get you,” Rainbow Dash said, squinting from above.
“Prowse’s place was crappy. And he always got crappy parts too. Still, someway, somehow, that stallion had the magic touch. He could take a hunk of junk and turn it into gold…. gold that worked. Only he knew the secret to that. If he tried selling his house and possessions to another pony, though, it would just be a heap of crap to the pony who didn’t have his gift, Sooter or Whitewashed or whatever.”
“So, when he couldn’t sell his property,” Belle muttered, “What then?”
“Well, that’s when the fire happened,” the pony said with a shrug. “We all figured it was a lame attempt at insurance fraud. The Upper Roost has been pretty generous with provisions lately, so it was just the right season to try and cash in on that. Only…”
“Only what?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well, it simply wasn’t like Prowse, y’know? The stallion was brilliant in engine work, but not exactly conniving in doing… er… shady stuff, if you catch my drift.”
“Trying to,” Rainbow said with a nod. “So, you think another pony set it on fire?”
“Could be possible. I mean, the guy was scoring it pretty big for a while.”
“Huh?”
The pony sighed and gestured with his forelimb. “The dude bought himself a new leg. He had a prosthetic, in case you didn’t know. But the crap was wearing out, and he didn’t have his niece around to tinker on it and make it all better. So he bought something from the Gold District of all places. Top notch quality. Heck, I bet he could fire lightning bolts out of that thing if he wanted. Anyways, last time I saw him, he was trotting around with that shiny thing, looking pretty healthy… if not a bit anxious.”
“Anxious?”
“He was always in a hurry, galloping instead of trotting, y’know? For a moment, we all thought he was just exercising with his new leg. But, if you asked me, it felt as though he was in a hurry to get somewhere and he was preparing at the last second.”
“Go where, exactly?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Beats the heck out of me,” the pony remarked. “All I know is that this place is a lot less exciting with the guy gone. I hope he’s doing well for himself, wherever he is. As for myself, I gotta get this stuff prepared for a client by sundown! So, if you’ll excuse me…” He waved the three ponies off.
Rainbow Dash sighed as she followed Pilate and Bellesmith into the open street. Ponies milled about all around them as they made for the far end of the widely stretching bazaar.
“Well, that was helpful,” Belle said.
“Was it really?” Rainbow frowned. “That’s the fourth pony we’ve chatted with and I don’t feel like we’ve gotten any further.”
“We know that Prowse was in a good place when the shop burned down,” Pilate said.
“Yeah, and?”
“It means that he couldn’t have had motivation to burn it down himself.”
“You don’t say…”
“Or…” Pilate thought aloud as he trotted beside Belle. “It could mean that ponies were envious of his talents and burned it down in order to ruin his business.”
“Unngh… Then I think we’re talking to the wrong ponies!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “We should be talking to ponies in a less… uhm… bright district.”
“How do you mean?” Belle asked.
Pilate jumped in. “I do believe that is what Roarke is doing at the moment in the Rusted District.” He smirked slightly. “She does seem to have the skills necessary for conversing with equines in… less savory parts of this city.”
“Unnnngh…” Rainbow Dash slumped in her flight.
“What is it, Rainbow?” Belle asked.
“I just really, really, really, really, really don’t like the idea of us splitting up like this.”
Belle smirked. “Even you can’t talk Roarke out of something when she puts her mind and metal to it.”
“I know, it’s just that she’s smarter than that. Heck, we’re smarter than that! We shouldn’t have let her go into the lion’s den! We shouldn’t have abandoned Props and Ebon and EE at the shop! Heck, I almost wish we didn’t leave Floydien’s ship with Josho, Kera, and the elk to begin with!”
“Rainbow, darling, your concern is endearing,” Belle said. “But, please, don’t destroy yourself with stress.”
“But--”
“It’s Props whom we should be concerned about at the moment!” Belle exclaimed. “We’re doing the right thing for her right now.”
“Besides,” Pilate asked with a smirk. “You of all ponies should know that a high spot in the sky is the absolute safest place to be.” Just then, a cloaked figure darted out of the crowd, hopped over Bellesmith, and snatched the zebra with a color-banded forelimb. “Gaaaah!”
“P-Pilate!” Belle gasped.
“Whoah!” Rainbow Dash went wide-eyed.
Pilate wheezed, the breath being forced out of his lungs as he was dragged with extraordinary speed towards the far end of the bazaar by the banshee figure. The attacker glided like smoke beneath its rippling cloak; the zebra couldn’t even make contact with the floor to drag his hooves.
“Somepony! Anypony!” Belle yelled and pointed. “Stop him!”
“I’m on it!” Rainbow Dash blurred her wings, only for them to be ensnared in a tense net. “Wh-what?!” She slammed into the ground with a rattle of her pendant. Opening her eyes, she looked through a dizzying glance to see three more figures darting out of the crowd, their bodies clad tightly in brown cloaks. A mess of limbs reached for her. There were colors… colors…
“Nnnngh!” Rainbow Dash reverse somersaulted, uppercutting two shadowed muzzles with her lower hooves. As two bodies flew back, a third advanced on her. Rainbow Dash spun, tripped the figure with her tail, and spread her wings. “Gaaaaaugh!” With intense concentration, she was able to snap the net binding her feathers. She gave the appendages one heavy flap, knocking the attacker off its hooves.
“Rainbow! Look out!” Belle shouted as two more attackers jumped down from a nearby roof. The shoppers and workers in the street gasped and scrambled for cover. The air filled with sweat and thundering hooves as the strangers converged on Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow snarled, rolling to the side and kicking a market stand full of metal parts towards the pair. The floor spilled all over with nuts and bolts, causing the first attacker to trip awkwardly. The second cloaked figure hopped over its partner and dove at Rainbow with a thunderous kick.
Rainbow took it hard to the muzzle. “Ooof!” She flew back into a metal stand, causing the entire shop to collapse. The figure stood its ground, then spun around to face Belle.
Belle gritted her teeth, looked left and right, and grabbed a fallen metal pole in the crooks of her hooves.
The figure dashed towards her, outstretching a forelimb with three flashing colors.
Belle’s eyes latched onto it. She snapped swiftly to reality, spun, and slammed the pole against the back of the figure’s head.
“Ghhhkkt!” The pony stumbled forward.
With a growl, Belle spun and uppercutted the figure viciously.
The pony fell back, landing painfully on the metal floor of the Bronze District. Its hood fell back, revealing a stallion with a braided, multicolored mane. What was more, a small cluster of multicolored feathers dangled from an earring in his left ear.
Belle’s face twisted in confusion. She heard a stirring sound, and spun with her metal bludgeon.
The other four figures were getting up. Adjusting their cloaks, they stood before their fallen comrade, dragged their hooves against the floor, and advanced on Belle.
Belle gulped and held her weapon forward, gritting her teeth.
Just then… “Rnnnn-gaaaaugh!” The store behind them exploded, and a blue blur surged out. Rainbow tackled three of the ponies at once, knocking them into a mess of storefronts. Wooden splinters and metal knick-knacks went flying everywhere. Rainbow Dash hovered away from the mess, snarling through a bruised muzzle. She spun towards Bellesmith. “Did you see where Pilate went--” A lasso wrapped around her neck from below. “Snkkkt!”
The stallion with a braided mane held the rope in a pair of tight jaws. He yanked and pulled with his thick neck muscles, pulling the pegasus back down to street level. Right at that moment, a glossy metal shield with golden bands slammed across his head. The stallion’s eyes rolled back, and he fell in an unconscious heap at Eagle Eye’s hooves.
“EE!” Belle gasped.
Ebon Mane and Props watched, wide-eyed, as Eagle Eye galloped into the fray, engaging the other four ponies as they came out of the collapsed storefronts. “I’ve got things here, Rainbow!” the petite unicorn shouted, blurring heroically into the fray as the enemies unsheathed daggers and gripped them in their teeth. “Go get him! Go get Pilate!” He deflected the metal blades and knocked several of the ponies back, dominating the fight.
Rainbow Dash finally yanked the rope free from her neck, nodded, and rocketed down the road where the first figure had stolen her zebra friend.
As the sounds of the fight grew distant in her ears, they were replaced by the bass heartbeats throbbing in Rainbow’s ears. She gnashed her teeth, panting as she looked left and right down each available avenue. At last, she detected a spark of mana in the corner of her eyes.
“O.A.S.I.S.!” she gasped.
Rainbow looked right.
The cloaked figure had Pilate in its grasp and was galloping to the very edge of the Bronze District. Blue skies and the black shadows of Gray Smoke’s other floating districts lingered in the distance beyond the artificial horizon.
“You!” Rainbow Dash snarled, diving down towards the scene. “End of the line! Pick on a blind zebra, will ya?! I’m gonna rip out your kidneys and sew them shut beneath your eyelids, punk!”
The figure galloped, undeterred, towards the edge of the platform. Pilate’s breath left him as he felt the gust of cold winds.
Rainbow’s eyes bugged. “Whoah! Whoah there! Stop! Wh-what are you--?”
The figure plunged clear over the edge with Pilate in tow. Five seconds later, the cloak parted on either side. A pair of leather wings shot out, fastened together by metal beams. Gusts of steam shot out from where the pony’s tail should have been. The cloak billowed, and Rainbow saw patches of metal and leather. Powered by the glider, the abductor carried Pilate in a wide arc, angling towards the adjacent districts beyond.
Rainbow had very little time to gawk at the scene. Gritting her teeth, she angled her wings tight and dove at the target like a blue torpedo.
"Hang onto your stripes, Pilate!" Rainbow Dash plunged over the platform's edge, spread her wings, and soared after the gliding shape and the hostage in tow. "I'm coming for ya, buddy!"
The zebra's voice could be faintly heard bellowing from a distance, "Sounds like they're using st-steam modulated wind gl-gliders! You sh-should be able to outfly th-them once you hit a straightaway!"
"Save the friggin' science lecture for after I've royally kicked their flanks!" Rainbow Dash snarled, angling her wings to accelerate after the cloaked pony with the blind stallion in its grasp. "No sir. I am not about to lose my friends to the Emo Cloak Crew!"
As if hearing her words from afar, the zebranapper angled its wings and banked left, soaring over and under an array of bridges attaching the Bronze District to the Gold District's platform. Bustling ponies gasped and flinched as the two blazed past them. In her desperate bid to catch up, Rainbow Dash nearly knocked three equines off a bridge. She grunted as luggage, metal airship parts, and multi-colored fabrics exploded all around her. Gnashing her teeth, Rainbow twirled through the mess and caught sight of her target soaring to the right and into the mid-level section of the Gold District.
With the wind screaming past her ears, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and shot hard right. She and her target threaded through a thin space full of cramped market shops and flickering neon lights. Ponies dodged every which way as the two thundered through the claustrophobic compartment, blazing past angrily shouting vendors who tossed their less expensive wares at them.
Sooner than Rainbow Dash would have expected, the compartment opened up to pure sky once again. The world exploded with light, and when Rainbow's eyes refocused, she saw a thick line of puttering steamships hovering in dense traffic.
"Luna Poop!"
She veered hard left, barely avoiding the surface of a lumbering dirigible. Swiftly skirting the far edge of the craft, she found herself soaring head-on towards a solid line of airships. Somewhere far ahead she spotted Pilate's stripes, and the billowing cloak of the figure that had enveloped him. Her target was fearlessly flying against traffic, and somehow making good speed doing so.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash accelerated, daredevilishly flying against airship after airship. Startled pilots gasped and yanked at their controls, causing the line of densely packed traffic to weave back and forth in the air. Rainbow paid the nearly-colliding airships no heed, instead doing all she could to gain distance on her elusive target.
At one point, the cloaked figure set its hooves down on the top balloon of a large airship. Dragging Pilate along, the pony flicked a rear hoof, and a series of metal spheres flew out from underneath its brown coat. The ball bearings bounced off the airship, swished through the air, and soared towards Rainbow's skull. In expert timing, they exploded with bright flashes of light and smoke.
"Gaaagh!" Rainbow winced, momentarily blinded. As soon as she reopened her eyes, she found herself soaring straight into the windshield of a large passenger aircraft. With no other option, she stretched her body out like a living torpedo at the last second.
The world around her shattered. She flew through the glass, barreled through a compartment full of gasping pilots, soared down several rows of screaming passengers, and burst her way out a porthole near the stern.
With a twirl, Rainbow pulled back up in the open air, sailing towards the northeast side of Gray Smoke, a hulking platform full of smoldering smokestacks and spinning metal windmills. Hyperventilating, she shook the shards of glass off and looked past the nearby array of hovering aircraft. "Nopony—and I mean nopony craps grenades at me and gets away with it!"
Up high, passing the glare of the noonday sun, she spotted Pilate and his abductor at a great distance. After climbing sharply, the two dove low, gliding towards the underbelly of Gray Smoke's industrial district. The smog there was dense, and—combined with the shadows of the large metal platform—it was only a matter of seconds before Rainbow lost sight of her target entirely.
"Oh no you don't!" her voice cracked in a fit of anger. She shot past the last streams of dense air traffic and dove after the attacker. Her athletic body parted the smog down the middle. It was getting harder to breathe with all the smoke. So, taking a page from her sudden nemesis, she decided not to. She spread her wings to her side and simply glided, angling herself past the burning exhaust ports and weaving through the dangerously sharp windmill fans lingering above her now.
Soon, it became dark as night from the huge mess of metalwork looming overhead. From Rainbow's perspective, it almost looked like she was flying upside down over the horizon of a metal world. She slapped herself once or twice to keep her focus, all the while not inhaling too much of the fumes pumping all around her. Her glazed ruby eyes scanned the blackness above her, and at last she saw a streak of movement.
With bursts of steam, the figure was propelling herself upward, eventually threading through a crack in the platform. Birds and bats flew out, frightened from their hiding places with errant shrieks. Rainbow Dash flew through the flapping flocks, gritting her teeth as she bore the brunt of their leather and feathery wings. At last, the world turned pitch black, for she had entered the bowels of the industrial district. Steam pipes and boilers churned all around her, shooting gusts of gray mists against her sweating body.
Coming to a gentle hover, Rainbow stretched her forelimb up and rubbed a hoof in gentle circles over her pendant. The Element of Loyalty glowed, shining a crimson spotlight forward through the grimey domain. Rainbow Dash made a face as her pendant illuminated slime-covered pipes and rusted, rotating gears. Spiderwebs dangled from connecting manaconduits, and various small, gangly things skittered away from the light, hiding in the extreme corners of the place.
"Pilate?!" Rainbow called out. Her echoes were swallowed up by the bass reverberations of grinding gears and rattling chains. She flew over conveyor belts, pulley systems, and hissing steam vents as she flew towards a dimly-lit part of the domain. "Pilate?! Are you there?! Give a shout out!" She started to pant, her face sweating from more than the sheer heat of the place. "Oh jeez. Oh jeez. Please tell me I didn't lose 'em. Please, Celestia. I swear. I'll do anything—"
"R-right here, Rainbow D-Dash..." A voice sputtered from below.
Rainbow spun, eyes wide. She dove down, threaded her way through two webs of criss-crossing pipes, and came upon a platform made of stationary gears looming beneath a wide stretch of translucent windows aglow with golden sunlight. Sitting perfectly in the center of the dim halo was Pilate. The stallion rested on his haunches, clutching the O.A.S.I.S. sphere to his chest as he tried to regain his bearings.
"Pilate! Heck yeah!" Rainbow touched down and placed a pair of hooves on his shoulders. "You're in one piece! What are the odds—?" She froze, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Spinning about, she snarled like a canine into the darkness beyond the halo of light. "Where is the punk?! Where did he go?!"
"I... I don't know..." Pilate stammered. "As soon as we entered this... this pl-place full of heat and noise, she dropped me!"
"Why in the hay would he simply just drop you after all of that—?" Rainbow Dash did a double-take. "Wait, did you say 'she?'"
"This... was definitely a mare..." Pilate muttered, still panting for breath.
"How do you know?"
"Because she spoke to me, Rainbow..." Pilate gulped. "Right before she dropped me here, she said 'It's not you we seek. You are just a means to an end.'"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, standing up straight as her wings coiled up defensively. "Then somehow I doubt that we're actually alone right now..."
"No, you are most definitely not alone," a voice said from beyond the clattering noise. "Not so long as we are here to mind the wind that carries you aloft."
Rainbow Dash spun around. "Who are you?! Show your face so I can smash it back to your mother's womb!"
"Rainbow," Pilate hissed. "I don't think we even remotely have the drop on her."
"I'm not gonna just let punks like this lecture to us from the shadows..." Rainbow reared her head. "You hear that?! You wanna chat?! Come out and let's talk with our hooves!"
"You need to hear what we have to tell you, or else you will surely endure nothing but suffering... Austraeoh."
Pilate gasped.
Rainbow Dash went pale. She fidgeted, ultimately lowering her haunches to the rusted gear beneath her and her friend. "Alright..." She muttered. "I'm listening..."
“Jeepers creepers!” Props gasped as she ducked a chunk of shattered debris flying overhead. “Where did these creeps jeep’d from?!”
“I have no clue!” Eagle Eye panted as he twirled and met an attacking figure with his shield. He shoved and slashed at the attacker’s cloak with his sword. “But they don’t seem to be wanting to tell us!”
“They grabbed Pilate!” Belle shrieked. “Rainbow Dash flew after her!”
“Pilate?!” Ebon shivered from where he huddled on the sideline of the street fight. “But what would they want with--?!” He gasped. “EE! Behind you!”
Eagle Eye gasped and spun to face two cloaked ponies charging in from the sidelines. He successfully blocked the dagger-slash of the first figure. The second came charging in from the side, stabbing at the mercenary’s flank.
The air whistled as a wrench spun past Eagle’s head and slammed into the figure’s hood, grounding the aching pony to the ground.
“Ha!” Props smirked, her body relaxing from the heavy toss. “Take that! How dare you attack his hairdo!”
Eagle Eye was too breathless to shout his gratitude. He smacked the first attacker upside the skull with his shield and spun in time to deflect the charge of two other figures. “Gaaaaugh!” He gnashed his teeth as he was shoved back on all fours by the combined strength of the assailants. “Belle!” he sputtered towards the golden shape in his peripheral vision. “Take the others and run for cover! I-I’ve got this--”
“Haaaaugh!” Belle charged in, smacking both ponies’ skulls with a metal pole. She spun low, sweeping their hooves out from beneath them before propelling herself up with the staff and bucking the pair into a produce vendor with her rear hooves. Some Gray Smoke resident may or may not have loudly bemoaned the fate of his cabbages.
Eagle Eye blinked.
Belle stood, propping her sweaty self up with the pole gripped in the crooks of her hooves. “Wh-what?! You need help!”
“I… I…”
“Thought I was only good for brushing your mane?”
“Well, yes--I mean no--I mean--”
“At your six!”
Eagle Eye spun until he and Belle were flank to flank. Together, the two fended off a growing number of cloaked equines rushing in and stabbing with serrated blades. The street clattered metallic noise and showering sparks.
All the while, Props kept throwing every tool she could muster into the fray, knocking random attackers back, one by one. “Shoo! Shoo! Go dunk your head in something that stains, ya meanie popcorn farts!”
“Where in blazes is the security force?!” Ebon shouted as he huddled besides Props. “It’s not like them to waste this much time!”
“Whoever these creeps are, they probably got them distracted!” Belle grunted between parries.
“Yeah!” Eagle Eye panted as he telekinetically twirled his blade towards an advancing line of figures. “And if I didn’t know better, I’d say they were just wasting our time! Otherwise, we’d be dead by now!”
“Yeah, but why?!” Ebon shouted.
Props’ ears twitched. “Hey. Does anypony hear a faint whistling sound?”
“Huh?” Eagle Eye glanced up. He gasped and plowed immediately into Belle’s body. “Hit the deck!”
The figures dove in, only to be blown back by a metal body landing like a comet in the very center of the street, denting the cobblestone in a hundred places. As the thunderous thud settled, Roarke’s body stood up straight, then pivoted icily about to face the off-balance gang. Her visor flickered, reflecting a dozen shadowed faces. Then, with a whurr of metal parts, she extended several missiles from her suit.
“Who’s first to suckle on the teats of death? Any takers?”
The figures exchanged glances. Less than two seconds passed before three of them tossed pellets onto the ground simultaneously. The Bronze District filled with instant smoke. Ebon and Props coughed. Belle wheezed as she leaned on Eagle Eye. Even before the haze had settled, the mercenary was glancing around with squinting eyes.
“Th-they’re gone!” he exclaimed. “They tore off!”
“Hmmph…” Roarke retracted her projectiles. “Cowards.” She spun about as the fog dissipated. “Is anypony injured?”
“No…” Belle coughed and hacked. “Thanks to you…”
“I banged up all my tools trying to shoo them away!” Props pouted as she examined a scuffed wrench up close. “Ohhhhhh… maybe Uncle Prowse left because he was ashamed of my carelessness!”
“I hate to sound insensitive, Propsy,” Ebon stammered. “But there’s something a bit more pressing right now.”
Roarke cocked her head to the side. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Pilate!” Belle gasped, snapping back to reality. Her eyes moistened as she grasped Roarke’s armored shoulders. “It’s Pilate! They’ve taken him!”
“Who, exactly?” the bounty hunter’s voice metallically rang.
“Those creeps! Those creeps just now!” Eagle Eye exclaimed, kneeling down to examine the shredded scraps of brown fabric from his sword swings. “I’ve no clue who they are, but they’re well-trained and they move fast!”
“One of them ran off northeast of here, dragging Pilate along!” Belle cried. “As a hostage!” She gulped and added, “Rainbow Dash gave chase! But that was nearly ten minutes ago! Roarke, you have to help!”
“Calm down…”
“Please! I’d give anything to have him back--”
“I said calm down!” Roarke grasped Belle’s hooves and opened her helmet to stare at her through her lenses. “Now… tell me. Did the breeder have his manasphere with him?”
“You come from a great distance, Austraeoh,” the figure said within the bowels of Gray Smoke’s Industrial District. Large gears and pendulums undulated around her as she stood opposite the pegasus on the rusted platform. “You’ve made many sacrifices, and I would venture to say you haven’t understood the significance of it… until recently. Until you started opening your eyes to the multicolored light of the past.”
“What…” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “Is she talking about…?”
“Maybe if you gave her a breath, Rainbow,” Pilate murmured, fidgeting nervously. “She’ll venture to inform us.”
“Unnngh… Goddess, I hate villainous monologues…”
“I assure you, you’ve had more than your fair share of psychopaths and vagabonds,” the mare said. “But for no longer, not so long as you accept the escort that I and my Order have to give you.”
“Heh… yeah right…” Rainbow Dash frowned. “If you’re so friggin’ benevolent, then why kidnap one of my best friends?!”
“You have a grand, courageous spirit, Austraeoh,” she said. “But from what we’ve witnessed, you also possess a supremely narrow mind. This was the only way we could get your attention, to bring you to a position where you would be forced to listen to and perhaps even accept the truth.”
“Hold the soundstone…” Rainbow raised her hoof. “What do you mean ‘you’ve witnessed?’ You’ve been following me?”
“For quite a while, ever since the Divine brought your battered body upon this continent. That was how we knew that the Age of the Harbinger had begun.”
“The ‘Divine?’” Pilate murmured.
Rainbow’s throat went tight. “Axan…”
“We observed from afar to see if your actions would confirm the prophecy of the Host, and we were not disappointed. You displayed every trait of the Harbinger, up to and even beyond the acquisition of the Relic.”
“Look, I’ve been through too much crap and too many explosions to learn a whole new vocabulary book of horse hockey!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward with a snarling expression. “Just get to the point! Who in the hay are you and what do you want with me?!”
“We want that which the Angelic Host wanted,” she said. “To dispense with the last barricades to fate that haunt this afflicted world, and once more reignite the spark to the terrestrial heart. Only then will the ring become complete once again, and all that lives will be reunited with brothers and sisters abroad.”
“The ring…” Pilate’s mouth fell agape. His ears twitched as a rune lit up on his skull. “My stars! The vision that Bellesmith had while sequencing with Nightshade’s children!”
“Buh?”
Pilate leaned in and whispered in Rainbow’s ears. “She saw several planes--much like ours--split apart, where once they were a solid circle.”
“Do I look like a jigsaw puzzle to you?”
“What say you, Austraeoh?” the mare asked.
“Snkkt--Stop calling me that!” Rainbow frowned her way. “You didn’t friggin’ answer my question!”
“Very well.” The figure bowed. “We went to great lengths to intercept you in this one neutral spot in the whole continent. Now would be a superb time to start building a foundation of trust.” She reached up to her hood with two forelimbs.
Rainbow’s eyes instantly caught the prismatic bands tattooed over her hooves.
At last, the mare shook her mane loose. Her hair was braided into countless dreadlocks, and each strand was dyed with a different color of the spectrum. A series of multi-colored feathers hung from her ear, and white wing marks were painted across her muzzle.
“I am Khao, Lead Wing of the Herald of Angels.” Khao’s amber eyes narrowed. “And we are your Eljunbyro, Austraeoh.”
Pilate tilted his head towards Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus stared, her mouth hanging open. After several seconds…
“We were trained all of our lives for this moment,” Khao said. “The day the Harbinger would come, we would take our rightful place by her side and escort her to the Edge of the World.” She stood tall and proud, surrounded by rust and metalwork. “Austraeoh’s quest is a long and perilous one, and the fate of this plane depends on the completion of it.”
“Look…” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof around as she spoke. “I don’t know all that much about the ‘fate of this plane’ or whatnot, but…” She smiled nervously as she gestured aside at Pilate. “I already have my Eljunbyro. Pilate, his beloved, my friends--they’re helping me make this journey, for what it is worth.”
Khao’s nostrils flared. “I fear that you are sadly mistaken.”
Rainbow’s brow furrowed. “Excuse me?”
“A great tragedy has befallen you, yes?” Khao asked, leaning her head at an angle. “Something horrible that had stripped all harmony from your life, replacing it instead with utter chaos? At the start of your journey, you were lost in the throes of utter oblivion. Alone. Friendless.”
Rainbow Dash was silent.
Pilate tilted his head in her direction. “Rainbow…?”
She took a deep breath and uttered in a dry voice, “How could you possibly know all this…?”
“The Herald has existed for longer than most civilizations,” Khao explained. “In the Age of Dawning, when the Ring was whole, the Angelic Host befriended us. We were lowly mortals to their spectral radiance, and yet they imparted their wisdom, their magic, and their foreknowledge of the future events to come--both tragic and glorious.”
“Spectral… radiance…?” Rainbow Dash murmured.
Khao raised her forelimb, exposing the multicolored bands of her hoof in the dim light wafting through the window behind her. “They governed more than just the air in the wind. They gave it color, beauty, and purpose. This plane belonged to them, long before it ever belonged to earth ponies and unicorns, long before even the alicorns arrived. The Angelic Host has since vanished, and yet the essence of their glory still remains. The ancient texts speak of their spirits having been absorbed into the very rainbow itself. And then, of course, there are tomes such as the Relic, with which they have given us instructions to prepare for the coming of the Harbinger. Alas, you are here, Austraeoh, and it is time for the Herald--the Eljunbyro of prophecy--to assist you in your journey, as is the will of the Host.”
“Okay, look…” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I always knew I was born with a ridiculously awesome fashion statement…” She tossed her mane for emphasis. “But this is just a stupid little coincidence! I mean, like, what if you were called the ‘Order of the Lime?’ Would you go all nutso if a lime green unicorn happened to prance through your cathedral?”
“You are the first of your kind to have crossed this continent in millennia,” Khao said. “We believe you are none other than the Harbinger.”
“And I believe that several thousands of years is a long enough time to make stupid errors in judgment!” Rainbow Dash grunted.
“She makes a good point,” Pilate said. “I’ve done some extensive studies into the ancient languages of this continent. Many of the texts I’ve perused could very easily be the same scriptures your order reveres so deeply. Terms such as ‘Austraeoh’ and ‘Eljunbyro’ and ‘Innavedr’ are very broadly defined. Even my beloved, Bellesmith, who has sequenced with several fossils of ancient pegasi has had a difficulty ascertaining--”
Khao suddenly snapped, “If she had her mind fused with the husks of Angels, then she is deceived! The Host’s spirit has departed this plane eons ago! All that remains has been defiled and corrupted!”
Rainbow Dash made a face. “The heck are we talking about now…?”
Pilate spoke out loud, “The winged pony fossils whom Nightshade’s foals were sequencing with. Perhaps they were a lot older than any of us thought…”
“The defilers of this land have no sense of decency,” Khao murmured in a calmer voice. “Those bodies were kept in our shrine to the north, our last physical refuge. After the demoness of Blue Nova raided our stronghold, we’ve been lost amidst the clouds, having to scavenge for food and resources in our quest to protect the ancient scriptures.” She took a deep breath, then said, “However, all of this only falls in line with prophecy. Eljunbyro would go through great trials and tribulations before crossing paths with Austraeoh in time to assist the Harbinger with her journey.”
“Look, Eljunbyro did go through crap!” Rainbow barked. “Bellesmith and Pilate here lost their livelihood, their homes, and dang-well-near their sanity! All because they had to get tangled up with me!” She reached a hoof out around Pilate’s shoulder, frowning at the mare. “But we’re doing fine now! Do you know why? Because we’re heading east together, and we’re looking after each other, and we don’t need no stupid, cryptic texts to help us along the way!”
“Is that so?” Khao leaned her head aside. “Then what is it that dwells within the engine room of the elk’s airship?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “This… ‘Relic.’ You know how it works? Do you even know how to read it?”
“We most certainly do,” Khao said. “But it is not your place to ascertain it, zebra.” She turned to look directly at Rainbow. “This is the now and forever the task of Eljunbyro. The relic is ours to assist the Harbinger with. We allowed her to acquire it as a test, and now that we know that she is indeed Austraeoh, it is time that we combine our forces and perform the trip to the east.”
“Wait…”
“You have tarried too long in this place. We understand the cost of the chaotic energies that empower you. If you remain anchored in this landscape for too long, you will dissolve into dust, and then what will become of the spark needed to reunite the planes?”
“Just hold on a second…” Rainbow Dash took a few trots forward on the rusted platform. “I’m totally for speeding past all the bullcrap of this continent, but… what happens to my friends? Huh? I mean, if any of what you say is true, then you obviously got the power, ponies, and ancient book smarts to get the whole of us beyond the Xonan territories. Heck! You could even get us out of this continent, r-right?”
“No, Austraeoh.” Khao shook his head. “We cannot do that.”
“But, I thought you said--”
“Just you,” Khao said. “You and just you. Your… companions are unnecessary distractions. Much like the various misadventures that you have gotten yourself into--Ledomare, Foxtaur, and the wasteland of the Divine to the West--they only serve to distract you. They have even very nearly killed you on multiple occasions.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “These are my friends. I need them.”
“What you need… what the world needs is for Austraeoh to reach her destination. This supersedes everything else. For a pony who has dealt with alicorns and Divines alike, surely you can understand the gravity of this journey.”
“Yeah, well, I happen to be pretty darn skilled at defying gravity!” Rainbow Dash spat. “But I don’t expect you to know that!”
“We are the Herald of Angels. We have eons of scripture to bolster our resolve.”
“You’re a bunch of punks!” Rainbow Dash grunted. “Maybe if you hadn’t attacked my friends and kidnapped Pilate and tossed grenades at my flanks, I’d be willing to hear you out! But face it!” She pointed an angry blue hoof. “Maybe you all started out as really cool guys! Maybe you were once the pets to a bunch of flying rainbow donkeys! But something since then has screwed you up super bad! Maybe it was the jokers who ran this continent since then, or perhaps something in the water, but I am totally not buying your sincerity! So you can take your whole ‘Herald’ schtick and shove it where the apples don’t glisten!”
“Rainbow Dash…” Pilate nervously stammered.
“And if you don’t like it, I’m more than happy to go tooth and muzzle with you right here and now!” Rainbow Dash growled. “I’ve dealt with minotaurs, dragons, and beret-wearing fodder! I could chew you up and barf out prayer hymnals for all I care!”
“Rainbow…” Pilate hissed, shuffling closer to her. The manasphere hanging from his neck flickered. “We’re not alone…”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash flashed him a look.
He cleared his throat.
Rainbow Dash blinked, then looked over her flank.
Shadows emerged along the penumbra of the dim sunlight. Amidst the moving gears, belts, and pulleys, several figures stood in place, their cloaks spread over stretched leather gliders and metal steam parts. Several brass-tinted rifles and mana-bristling weapons were aimed at the rusted platform.
“Nothing can defy the absolute power of prophecy,” rang Khao’s voice with a newfound menace. “We cannot afford to let you waver from your true path. The world cannot afford it.”
Rainbow slowly, icily turned to glare at the mare.
“You are courageous, but also blind, Harbinger,” she continued. “You do not truly understand the sort of danger that you are flying into. There is something at play here. Something far more venomous and dastardly than Ledomaritan generals or Xonan zealots. There is a great evil in this land, a source of deceit and corruption that has planted seeds of discord within this very continent for one express purpose.” She narrowed her eyes. “To spring a trap for Austraeoh…”
Rainbow Dash squinted. “Spring a trap… for me?”
“We weren’t the first group to sense your coming, as much as it pains me to admit it,” Khao murmured. “Someone else is here. Someone ancient, someone powerful who wants to consume you and what you stand for. If you stay on this path, with these so-called friends of yours, you will surely perish long before you make it to your destination. It is our place as the Herald of Angels to make sure such a terrible fate does not befall you. For the greater good, you must relinquish the Relic to our hooves, and join us for the rest of the voyage. I promise you that we will get you past the danger that awaits you, and all eyes seeking to trace your journey with malicious intent.”
Pilate chewed on his lip. His ears twitched as he tilted his head towards Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash took a long, deep breath. Frowning, she blurted, “No deal, featherbrain.” She scraped her hooves against the ground. “I’ll take my chances.”
Khao’s responded a lot more swiftly than either the pegasus or zebra had anticipated. “We were afraid you would make such a foolish decision. Alas, we are prepared to teach you the consequences thereof.”
“If you mean to say that you’re ready to take me on with this little ‘posse’ of yours…” Rainbow Dash smirked as she waggled her ears towards the figures in the shadows. “You’ve got another thing coming.”
“You are the Harbinger,” Khao said calmly. “You cannot be defeated; merely persuaded.”
“Huh…?” Rainbow Dash’s face contorted.
“We allowed you to take the Relic because we thought you were ready to make a very serious journey,” Khao said. “Obviously, that is not yet the case.” She drew the hood back over her dreadlocks with finality. “As such, we are ready to take it back.”
“Take…” Rainbow blinked. “...it back?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Pilate hissed, his O.A.S.I.S. sphere fluctuating. “I’m sensing a surge of magic!”
Rainbow was confused, but then flashed a look at Khao. The mare was activating a crystal communicator on her other forelimb.
A gasp escaped Rainbow’s lips. “Awwww Luna poop…”
“Pow pow!” Kera chirped, strafing sideways across the deck of the Noble Jury with the empty slingshot in her telekinetic grasp. “You’re dead, old stallion!”
“In more ways than one,” Josho grumbled, hiding a smirk on his stubbled face as he continued fiddling with the managun. “But seriously, kid, you gotta learn how to find some decent cover to hide behind if you wanna really live long through a firefight.”
“Pffft! I’ve gotten three headshots on you already!”
“Sure you did,” Josho chuckled. “That’d be a lot easier to boast about if you’re using live ammo.” A ball bearing ricocheted off his skull. “Augh! Darn it! How’d you like to become the ship’s official pincushion!”
Kera stuck her tongue out and galloped away, giggling, with a barking squirrel in tow.
“It would please Floydien beyond spit if doughnut boomer and his anti-niece took their racket somewhere far away from the skull of Nancy Jane,” grumbled a voice from the cockpit.
“Right, right…” Josho sighed as he stood up and shuffled towards the stern. “I can take a hint. You have fun… nngh… playing with your antlers, or whatever the heck it is you do in the pilot’s seat.”
“Never you mind!”
“Ugh… I gotta find a way to clean this thing,” Josho talked to himself as he trotted down the stairwell at the rear of the ship. “Looks like it was put together in the rectum of a sperm whale. I swear to Ledo…”
Kera continued running little foalish circles, making zeppelin noises with her lips while chasing Simon. Unbeknownst to her and Floydien, several shadows shifted along the upper docking ports, growing denser and denser with the rippling of cloaked garments. Moving like one large serpent, the silent assailants closed in on the Noble Jury, unholstering steam pistols from beneath their garments.
“Awwww… come down, Simon!” Kera giggled as she squatted before the middlemost mast of the top deck. She gazed up at the rodent who was perched halfway up to the enchanted skystone. “I promise I won’t shoot at you anymore! I just wanna pet ya!”
The creature barked between flashes of its tesla coils.
“Of course I’m telling the truth!” she barked. “I swear on… uhh… uhhhhh… Belle’s mane! Yeah!” She smirked. “It’s gotta grow back at some point, right?”
“Leave Simon’s furriness alone, boomerette,” Floydien grumbled as he trotted out of the cockpit, sans antlers. His muzzle twitched as he said, “He doesn’t understand the whim of foal foal.”
“Well, maybe I can teach him!” Kera turned to pout at the elk. “He hasn’t had much friends, has he?” She blushed beneath her tattoos. “Besides you, I mean.”
“Hmmph…”
Kera raised her eyebrow as he trotted swiftly past. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”
“The room that is both small and belonging to little elks.”
“Huh?” Kera’s face twisted. At last, she exhaled. “Ohhhhhh. Jeez. Say it. Don’t spray spray it, yes yes?”
Floydien paused. He turned to squint at her.
She stuck her tongue out.
With a sigh, the pilot continued shuffling forward. “Scampity scampness…”
Kera spun about to return to the mast. Something darted in the corners of her eyes. She jerked to the side. “Huh?”
Three shadows loomed across the platform.
She brightened. “Belle! Pilate! You’re back!” She galloped to the Noble Jury’s edge. “Didja bring me more ball bearings? Huh?” She skidded to a stop, her jaw dropping. “...huh?!”
Multicolored feathers hung within the shade of each equine’s hood. With a ruffle of their cloaks, they dove forward.
“Gaaah!” Kera fell back on her haunches, hyperventilating. Her wide green eyes reflected the approaching trio of ponies.
“What the what?” Floydien spun about.
All three figures flinched upon seeing him.
He gritted his teeth. “Off!” He galloped forward, his massive hooves thundering over the deck. “Off off! My beloved’s wooden flank is not for your smelliness!”
Two ponies side-stepped. A third simply braced himself. When Floydien headbutted him, he took the brunt of the blow. His partners dove in, suddenly latching chains around Floydien’s body in a flash.
“Raaaugh! Rotten boomers of rot rot!” Floydien snarled and thrashed between all three of them. “Nancy Jane did not invite your glimmer!”
“Hey!” Kera stood up, gulping as she summoned an angry frown. “Get off him, ya creeps!”
Above, Simon let loose a shrill bark. With his mana-nodes shimmering, he launched a vaporous bubble of telekinesis. The magical blast knocked all three ponies to the ground.
Floydien shook half of the chains loose. Panting, the frenzied elk flashed a look towards the cockpit. His sparkling antlers were several feet away, fused to the ship’s energy manifold. He limped forward, dragging a rear leg encumbered in chains. He was barely within reach of the source of his magic when a fourth figure dove in, slamming into Floydien’s body hard.
“Aaaugh!” Floydien flew into the railing of the ship’s edge.
Simon shrieked again. It spun towards the other side of the mast and prepared another blast.
One of the first three ponies got back up, pulled out a steam powered tube, and fired a dart at the rodent’s neck.
A needle stuck deep through Simon’s skin. The creature hissed, its black eyes clamping shut as it fell from the mast like a sack of birdseed.
“Simon!” Kera stammered.
Two more cloaked ponies glided down. Along with the others, they grabbed Floydien from all sides and held him to the deck while a seventh landed holding two needles that glistened in the hangar’s lantern light.
“Nnnngh! Remove your hooves before Floydien bites them off!” The elk growled. “I had enough of the stabby stabby at Deep Ridge! Do the boomers hear Floydien?! No more! No…”
His eyelids went heavy as the serum was introduced to his bloodstream. With a groan, Floydien’s heavy body went limp. His slumbering breaths wheezed against his captors’ limbs.
A ball bearing flew against the back of a cloaked figure’s skull. Calmly, the pony turned around, glaring.
Kera seethed. She dropped her slingshot and grinded her hooves against the ground. “If you don’t wake him back up, I’m gonna make you pay!”
The figures said nothing. All seven turned about and slowly approached the lone foal.
“I-I mean it!” Taking a deep breath, she exhaled her lungs’ worth in a high-pitched war cry. “Yaaaaugh!” Horn sparkling, she charged the six large ponies directly.
One of them met Kera’s charge, unsheathing a razor-sharp dagger from beneath his sleeve.
“Listen!” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed against the metalworks all around her. “Don’t do this! If you want to teach me a lesson, fine! But don’t steal the book! Don’t take it out on my friends!”
“It is too late,” Khao said coldly, stepping back and flexing her limbs. “It is already done.”
“You… uh… you wanna be my Eljunbyro?!” Rainbow frowned. “Then fine! You can join us! We could totally use a guide! But let us just work things out together! No need for all of this intimidation crud!”
“You do not know the sheer immensity of that which you face in the long course of your journey,” Khao said as the shadows closed in from all sides. “It amazes us that in spite of all the pain and anguish that you have been through, Harbinger, you still need to be taught the gravity of your quest.”
“Rainbow…” Pilate leaned in to nervously stammer, “If they were swift enough to get the drop on you…”
“I know, dude.” Rainbow nodded as she looked over her shoulder. Several ponies trotted closer and closer. “We gotta get back to the Jury. And now.” She gripped his side. “Hold on tight!”
With a gust of air, Rainbow Dash launched herself directly towards the ceiling. She and the zebra were airborne for no less than five seconds when three gliding figures slammed into her simultaneously.
“Gaaah!” she grunted, immediately losing her grip of Pilate.
The zebra fell, then went tumbling onto a slowly rotating gearhead. He winced, his manasphere flickering like mad as he fought to ascertain Rainbow’s location.
The pegasus was presently wrestling with three figures in the air, struggling to get a hoofhold over one of them in order to shove them off. “Ugh! Get off--I said, get off!” She finally slipped one hoof loose and uppercutted one of the figure’s cloaks off. As his body fell back, she spread her wings wide, knocking two of them off of her. Twirling in mid hover, she bucked another across the jaw and prepared to punch the third.
A fourth figure slammed into from behind, followed by fifth on steam rockets who was swinging a length of metal chain.
Rainbow Dash flew through the underbelly of Gray Smoke, gliding through pulleys and past swinging pendulums as she struggled to disentangle herself from the two equines. At last, she freed herself by headbutting one pony and biting onto the chain of the other. With a jerk of the head, she guided his trajectory into the path of a conveyor belt, smashing his gliding gear into leathery bits as his body went ragdolling to a platform below.
“P-Pilate!” she sputtered into the noisy ear.
“Down here, Rainbow!” Pilate stood up on wobbling hooves. “I… I-I can’t tell what I’m standing on!” Unbeknownst to him, the gear was rotating his body slowly into the murderously fast swing of a metal pendulum.
“Awwww shoot…” Rainbow Dash dove down. “Pilate! Gallop forward!”
“But I’ll fall!”
“Just do it!” She shouted above the swishing sound of figures diving at her. She held her breath, twirled, and threaded through the ensnaring forelimbs of half-a-dozen attackers. “I’ll catch you!”
Pilate bit his lip and trotted blindly forward, just in time to avoid being impaled by the machinery behind him. He fell like a limp sack of meat into open air. “Gaaugh!”
Rainbow plummeted towards him, just meters away from catching his body.
In a brown blur, two enemies glided by and snatched Pilate. They carried him--gasping--towards a mess of platforms above.
“Hey! Hooves off his stripes, ya melon fudges!” Rainbow spun about, dodged three more attackers, and kicked off a rotating gear. With the extra boost, she ascended through the metal mess, catching up to the two captors. Just when she was within a sneeze of his tail hairs, Khao flew into view.
Rainbow gasped.
Khao hovered on steam thrusters, calmly shoving two hooves forward to catch Rainbow’s chest. “Relinquish yourself.”
Rainbow snarled and swung a hoof at the mare’s face.
Khao calmly caught in the crook of her forelimb. Her nostrils flared. “Then endurance remains unborn.” With a breath, she spun and used their combined momentum to launch Rainbow through the sunlit window.
When Rainbow’s eyes stopped rolling back, she saw nothing but glittering shards. A stab of sunlight glistened between her and the multiple projectiles, and she instinctively curled her body into a ball. Only by doing so did she realize just how terribly her body ached. Several cuts and bruises had formed along her upper body and shoulders. She sucked her breath in, weathering the throbbing pain as she attempted to ascertain where gravity was taking her.
A metal platform answered her all too swiftly. With a thud, she collapsed hard and rolled towards the edge of an aluminum ledge. Glass settled in a splash around her, ultimately rattling over the edge and falling forever into a hazy brown vista below. She gasped, picking herself just inches away from plummeting into the lower troposphere beneath Gray Smoke.
She heard a startled cry from within the bowels of the floating city. With a gasp, she spun to face the window frame to the shattered glass. Three figures could be seen with the zebra in their grasp, throttling upwards towards the higher platforms in columns of steam.
Snarling, Rainbow spat blood loose, flexed her wings, and took off. She was barely a millisecond in her ascent when two bodies flew into her side.
“Ooof!” She found herself entangled in the two zealots, their leather-clad limbs seeking to overpower her.
“Stand down, harbinger!”
“Listen to the wisdom of Eljunbyro, harbinger!”
“Friggin’ let go of me, ya pigskinned salamanders!” her voice cracked as she wrestled with them in midair. No matter how many times she flapped her wings, their thrusts of steam compensated for the wind resistance and overpowered her. She found herself being torn further and further away from Pilate’s trajectory.
“You must complete the journey!” one of the two figures chanted.
“Grrrrrghhh…” Rainbow Dash seethed through her teeth. “You’ve got a trip of your own to make, pal!” Using her teeth, she clamped onto a hydraulic coil built into one of the ponies’ suits and pulled viciously. Mist spurted out in every direction as the equine’s suit lost its thrust. As the stallion scrambled to fix it, Rainbow Dash headbutted him, then gave him a savage buck with both rear legs.
“Yaaaaugh!” He fell back, twirled, and slammed so hard into the side of a floating platform that his armored body formed a loose crater. His dizzied body was cratered as two more ponies flew up to intercept the fight.
Rainbow Dash hooked her right wing out and twirled, spinning the weight of the other pony clinging to her. With a prolonged yell, she twirled three times and flung the leathery body into the two ascending figures. Both collided with the rattling of limbs. They fell for several hundred feet before regaining their instruments and performing a sharp ascent once more.
By that time, Rainbow Dash was already rocketing skyward, her eyes locked on Pilate and the three ponies who were holding him. They must have sensed her frenzied pursuit, for they bobbed and weaved around the lateral support struts and giant rotating fans that lined the edges of the massive platforms. Rainbow Dash’s agility came to good use; she was twirling over and around moving structures, blazing through smoldering smoke stacks and closing in on her targets at five meters per second.
“I’m not gonna ask you a third time!” Rainbow Dash yelled into the winds howling around Gray Smoke’s exterior. She raised two heavy forelimbs. “Give me back my--”
Khao’s body slammed into her like a missile.
Rainbow Dash veered off course, twirled like a loose comet, and grinded to a stop against a sloped ledge of metal plates. “--horseapples!” She rubbed her aching limbs, sitting up as Khao came to a steam powered hover in front of her.
Khao’s amber eyes calmly peered out from beneath her billowing hood. “We’ve had eons to prepare for this moment, Harbinger.” Four ponies touched down on the ledge between her and Rainbow Dash. They retracted their leather gliders and aimed dart guns. “Tell me, are you prepared to make the necessary sacrifice yourself?”
Rainbow hissed. “Go choke on a whale!”
“Hmmph…” Khao’s jaw tightened. “Then you do not deserve the Relic.” She backflipped, extended her glider wings, and rocketed skyward on a column of steam.
Rainbow Dash hissed. She jumped up on four hooves. Four darts landed within centimeters of where her limbs were. She froze in place, glaring at the quartet.
“Please, Austraeoh,” one of the thugs said. “Don’t make us do this. The Harbinger must make this decision on her own.”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something. She heard a sharp whistling sound. Before she could so much as blink--
Smash! Roarke landed through the body of one pony. His limbs twitched with the sickening crackle of bones.
The other three spun, gasped, and fired their darts at the Searonese mare. With an innocuous splash of sparks, the needles merely bounced off the bounty hunter’s metal armor.
Roarke pivoted her helmet at them. “Cute.” With a clattering sound, six panels opened in her armor, each launching a missile straight back at them.
The thugs shrieked, bailing from the ledge for dear life. The metal plates exploded beneath them, tossing their singed bodies into the wild blue yonder.
Rainbow Dash coughed from the smoke and haze as she stood up on wobbly limbs. Roarke pulled her out of the path of the fumes with a metal hoof. “Seriously…” Roarke droned through the red flicker of her helmet. “When will you stop being so damn popular?”
“The Noble Jury…!” Rainbow hissed. “It’s under attack!”
Roarke locked gaze with Rainbow.
“They’re after the Relic!” Rainbow wheezed, rubbing her aching shoulder. “They think I’m sort of prophesied goddess pony thingy!”
“Then they truly are idiots.” Roarke’s thruster engines burned. “We have to head back--”
“No! Not yet!” Rainbow Dash was already taking off. “Pilate! He needs us!”
Roarke glanced up, eying the squadron of steam-powered equines taking off with the zebra. With a sigh, she rocketed up and joined Rainbow in vengeful formation. “Breeder lover…”
A dock worker trotted along the edge of the hangar platform, carrying a box of tools on his flank. He froze in place, his face scrunching up. Turning, he cast a look at the Noble Jury, gasping at all the cloaked bodies. “Whoah! What the hay?!” He dropped his tools and ran to the edge of the platform, frowning. “What is going on here--” A dart flew up and into his neck. “--grrkk!” His eyes rolled back, and he fell to the floor, twitching.
Meanwhile, Kera watched with wide, emerald eyes. A single figure held her in place, a forelimb pressed over her mouth, muffling the foal’s frantic attempts to shout as the other thugs rolled Floydien’s and Simon’s bodies into the cockpit. No less than fifteen cloaked ponies galloped across the top deck of the Noble Jury. With careful precision, the zealots fashioned together a metal cage in the center, each equine contributing with his or her personal pieces to the bizarre, engineering puzzle.
Once the object was successfully constructed, four of them gathered about, using metal-reinforced limbs to carry it down the stairwell along the stern of the ship.
They crawled down the steps until they were at the bottommost level.
“Careful with that!” one exclaimed. “Khao wants us to be swift, but we cannot damage the Relic!”
“Everypony remain calm,” another said as he fumbled with the door. “The Harbinger, at last, is here. This a moment of… nnngh… glory…”
“What is it?” another asked, craning his neck to look over the cage.
“The door to their engineering compartment,” he stammered. “It’s locked from the inside.” He fumbled some more with the controls. “It’s almost as if--”
The door suddenly swished open, and a triple-barrel rifle poked through. Thunder rolled, and the foremost pony flew back along with half of his brain matter.
The other three gasped, dropping the cage.
Josho stood, frowning, with the smoking weapon levitating in his grasp. “I cleaned my gun.”
The trio unsheathed their daggers at once. “For the Harbinger!” they yelled.
The obese stallion spat back. “For the Hell of it!” He aimed the gun straight into the charging fray. “Come onnnn!”
And the Engineering compartment erupted in sparks and manafire.
“Yaaaugh!” The three surviving zealots violently rushed Josho.
He got two shots off, pumping mana into the stairwell space. Faster-than-lightning, the figures spun, dodged his blasts, and plowed into him all at once.
Josho took the brunt of the blow. All four ponies went sprawling into the spacious engine room. The attackers tackled the ex-enforcer from all sides, but he kicked off the floor, sending his hulking body ceilingward.
The ponies flew off him like water splashing off of a rock. When he stood evenly on all four limbs, he spun, cocked his gun, and fired once more.
Yet again, they dodged, and the manablast ricocheted off a bulkhead.
“Fast lil’ farts, aren’t ya?!” Josho grunted as he backtrotted from a pony’s advancing dagger swipes. “Let’s light you up!”
His eyes narrowed as he channeled magic into his horn and pulled a manaconduit loose from the wall behind him. Without wasting another breath, he shoved the thing forward into one of the assailant’s stabbing motions. The equine wailed in pain as energy coursed through his dagger, up his hoof brace, and into his body. He fell back in a smoking heap while the other two pounced on Josho.
“Ooof!” Josho and the two ponies plowed through the opposite door and went flying into the navigation room. “Rrrrrrgh!” Josho bucked one pony off him so that he went crashing through Pilate’s study table. The second pony wrestled Josho from behind. The fat stallion magically twirled his rifle around to blast the zealot’s skull off, but the attacker deflected the blow with a dagger-swipe. The triple barrels fired into the ceiling, showering sparks onto the combatants’ ringing ears.
Gritting his teeth, Josho threw his weight backwards, slamming the pony’s body into a row of bookcases. Pamphlets and folders fell through the air. Josho slammed the pony a second time… a third time… and twisted his head aside to bite onto the equine’s forelimb. Using his neck muscles, he flung the pony over his body, then spun and bucked the attacker hard in the side.
As the two ponies collapsed into each other, two more suddenly rushed in from the observation room towards the bow.
“Hey, three’s company!” Josho turned, cocking his gun. “Five’s a funeral!” He punctuated his line with two thunderous shots.
One pony fell back, moaning in pain as he clutched his bleeding shoulder. The other dove low and extended a leathery glider wing, tripping Josho’s legs out from under him.
“Gaaah!” He fell on his flanks, legs flailing like a fat cockroach’s. “Cheating little turdmeister!”
The attacker pounced on him, soon joined by the other two ponies in the room. All three of them grabbed a limb as they pinned the obese stallion to the floor.
“Stay down!”
“Nopony shall defile the Age of the Harbinger!”
“Rrrrgh…” Josho hissed through clenched teeth. Sparks flew out the tip of his horn as energy coursed through his body. He then let loose a scream that was devoured by an enormous void. All four ponies disappeared…
...and rematerialized a dozen feet above the top deck of the Noble Jury. They landed like a cargo net full of tanned meat.
The zealots still up top turned and gasped. Kera’s eyes widened from where she was being held.
The three ponies who had tackled Josho rolled across the wooden surface, bruised and disoriented from the rapid teleport. The ex-enforcer took the opportunity by standing up, twirling about, and taking pot shots at the various assailants.
Two flew off the ship’s edge, bleeding profusely. The rest jumped up, took the air, and glided about the hangar.
“For the love of the Queen’s butt cheeks in spring!” Josho yelled as he cocked and reloaded his gun. “For once I’d like to fight a creep who doesn’t cheat on me!”
However, in expert precision, the formation of attackers swooped down at him from three converging sides.
Josho swiveled and took a shot at one group.
The foremost flier spun around and combined his wing-gliders into a dense leather shield. He absorbed the blow while the other two jumped off his body and launched themselves at Josho.
Josho grunted as the ponies flew into him, shoving him clear across the deck, past Kera’s twitching figure, and against the railing on the other side. Wrestling with the ponies, Josho angrily triggered the rifle again with his horn. An errant hoof kicked it out of his telekinetic grasp.
The rifle went flying. It landed on a platform adjacent to the ship, where it instantly fired, launching a quadruple manacharge across the hangar. Fatefully, it impacted a yellow-painted fuel tank, which erupted immediately. The concussive blast alone was enough to knock everypony off balance. The heat that followed caused steam to rise off every surface of the surrounding metal support struts.
The air filled with yelps as every assailant collapsed, either landing like dead bats across the surface of the Noble Jury or falling to their doom past it. The stallion holding Kera fell on his side while the foal sprawled forward.
Wincing, Kera looked up, gasping as she saw a chunk of metal beams falling loose from the ceiling of the shipyard. It swung like a pendulum and smashed into the far wall, showering the ships docked below with brick and mortar. The filly scrambled for dear life, diving into the cockpit where she huddled besides the unconscious bodies of Floydien and Simon just as the curtain of dust collapsed, covering everything with sediment and haze.
Up above, in the Bronze District, a shudder ran through the body of Gray Smoke. Several ponies who were still cleaning up the mess of Khao’s attack gasped as they wobbled on their haunches.
Bellesmith, Ebon Mane, and Eagle Eye rocked from side to side. Belle managed to catch Ebon by his hoof while Eagle fell on his flank with a clatter of his sword and shield.
“What in Spark’s name was th-that?!” Eagle Eye stammered.
“Felt like it came from somewhere in the lower floors!” Ebon exclaimed. “An explosion of some sort!”
“Or maybe we’ve been rammed?” Belle said. “Maybe we’re under attack? Maybe Ledomaritans caught up?”
“There’s no way enforcers would have attacked Gray Smoke!” Ebon remarked. “Nopony in their right mind would attack this city unless they did it from the inside! Like those punks did to us just now!”
“From the inside…” Belle spoke out loud. Suddenly, her breath left her. With wide eyes, she cried, “The Jury!”
The stallions gaped at each other.
“Come on!” Belle galloped off down the street as Ebon helped Eagle Eye to his hooves. “We gotta hurry!” She panted in mid-run, her brown eyes already starting to water.
The ponies carrying Pilate’s shrieking figure plunged into the streets of the upper industrial district. Their bodies soared past smokestacks, chemical tanks, and silos of all shapes and sizes as they barreled down a curved road filled with hovercraft, trams, and bustling ponies. Various equines gasped and ducked as the gliders soared low through the streets, followed by the air-splitting figures of Rainbow Dash and Roarke.
“Rainbow!” Pilate’s voice could be heard warbling.
“Just hang on, Stripesy!” Rainbow’s voice cracked as she weaved her way through a traffic jam of wagons carrying aircraft scrap. “We got ya!”
“They’re trying to lose us in all this mess,” Roarke’s voice broadcasted through her helmet.
“Not half a bad idea, actually!” Rainbow Dash’s pendant glinted as she flung a glance to her left. “Stay on their tails! I’m gonna do something badflank!”
“You can’t be serious…”
“Just watch me!” Rainbow Dash held her breath, hooked her right hoof out, grabbed a metal pole, and swung around it twice before propelling her down an avenue to the left. She shot off like a blue bullet, shouting back at Roarke. “Don’t let them out of your sight!”
“I wouldn’t think of it,” Roarke grumbled. She flattened her legs by her side and fired her thrusters even harder. The air around her heated up, causing various guild banners and window awnings on either sight of her flight to catch fire. Ponies collapsed, dropping their wagons and wares as they retreated from the living Searonese missile. “I just refueled too, for Goddess’ sake…”
The three kidnappers turned left and glided down a straightaway. One of them kept holding Pilate while the other two rolled around in mid-flight and fired multiple steambolt rounds back at the bounty hunter.
Roarke flung her forelimbs ahead of her. She decelerated slightly, but managed to deflect the projectiles with her horseshoes. “You’re making it awfully hard not to want to skin you creeps alive!” Roarke hissed through the thunderous air.
“Stay back, Searonese fool!” One of them shouted as they protected the lead abductor. “Our business is with the Harbinger!”
”You want her?” A voice echoed from a side alley. ”You got her.”
With a shower of glass, Rainbow Dash smashed through the window of a factory to the ponies’ left. She hurled herself into the two attackers at a perpendicular angle.
They looked aside, barely affording the time to shriek.
Rainbow slammed her rear hooves across the cheek of one equine, snapping his jaw off its hinges. As he plummeted into the streets, she flew into the body of the second, clutching his glider and yanking hard. With a loud crack, she ripped the left wing off his flying machine and kicked off his body like a trampoline. He went sailing--and screaming--into a shattering market vendor with a splash of engine parts. Propelling forward, Rainbow Dash barreled towards the zebra-napper.
The pony looked back, her hooded eyes reflecting a pair of blue pegasi swinging the leathery glider wing like a softball bat. She spat blood as Rainbow’s bludgeon slammed across her muzzle. As she plummeted, Rainbow dropped the bent wing, grabbed Pilate, and leapt off the attacker’s limp figure. The pony fell into the street and rolled noisily into a row of canned garbage.
As the noise of the pursuit died down, Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings, hovered, and landed herself and the stallion in the middle of the street. Several ponies trotted nervously out of hiding, gawking at the mess made.
“Hah!” Rainbow panted and wiped her sweaty brow. “All the prophetic mumbo jumbo ain’t got nothin’ on a pony who can fly faster than the speed of buck-it-all!”
“Rainbow, what are you d-doing?!” Pilate sputtered, reeling on dizzy hooves. “Don’t you see? This was all a distraction!”
“Jee, you’re welcome,” Rainbow Dash muttered. With a roar of thunder, Roarke touched down beside the two. “Would you like it back in the forelimbs of the Church of Stinkheads?”
“Rainbow, I’m serious!” Pilate exclaimed. “Khao and the others are after the Relic! The Noble Jury is in trouble! I just know it!”
“Pilate, Khao just got a lesson in Steampunk Humility 101!” Rainbow Dash tilted her head up. “She’d be a total idiot to try and stage something now after what we just--”
Pilate suddenly grimaced, his ears twitching.
Roarke tilted her helmet aside. “What is it?”
As if to answer her, a projectile whizzed down and embedded into the cobblestone of the industrial district below them. They all glanced down to see a pineapple shaped object attached to a dart. With a clicking sound, it started to vent steam.
“Grenade!” Roarke shouted. She shot cables out of her suit and used them to knock Pilate and Rainbow Dash away.
“Gaaah!”
“Whoah!”
The street exploded with fire and rubble flung sky-high. Gray Smoke residents galloped every which way in panic. As the debris settled, Roarke sat up, her armor scuffed up and smoking in several places. “Unnngh…”
“Pilate?” Rainbow Dash panted, sorting through the mess. “Pilate! You okay?!”
“I’m right here, R-Rainbow…” The blind stallion coughed as Rainbow pulled him out of a mound of sediment.
“Whew! Thank Luna! Belle would kill me if I let something bad happen to you!”
“Roarke…” Rainbow calmly turned around. “Any idea where that bomb came from--?”
She was answered by a gray body flying into her.
“Ooof!”
Pilate gasped and Roarke spun about. They watched as Khao and three other ponies glided down, shoving Rainbow Dash towards the western edge of the Industrial District.
Roarke hissed, dragged her metal hooves, and grunted aside, “Find some place to hide, breeder.”
“B-but--”
“I can sense where you are! We’ll come back for you!” Roarke galloped off. “It’s about time all these distractions ended!” She jumped, fired her thrusters, and billowed westward. “Rainbow! We gotta throw them off! This is leading us nowhere!”
Pilate shivered, using O.A.S.I.S. to guide him as he retreated into the shadows of a nearby warehouse.
“Rrrrrgh!” Rainbow Dash fought and wrestled with Khao as the two spun in mid-flight. “Learn a new tune, lady!”
“You care for these so-called ‘companions’ of yours…” Khao grumbled as the two flew low, whizzed through a hangar, and burst out the other side with a shower of debris. “It will be your undoing.”
“Oh yeah?!” Rainbow Dash tried headbutting her.
Khao expected the move. She caught Rainbow’s neck in her forelimb and snaked around her body until she gripped her from behind. She extended her wings further and hissed into the pegasus’ ears. “You are courageous, Harbinger, but misguided. It is my task to steer you along the right path.”
“Yeah…” Rainbow grunted as the two sailed off the edge of the platform and through careening air traffic. “Some p-path!” She shot her wings at an angle, spun, and tried throwing Khao off.
But Khao fired a steam-propelled hook into a nearby zeppelin. It embedded, and once the cable pulled tight, she swung herself and Rainbow until they landed into the hull, with Khao’s weight pressing Rainbow to the wooden surface.
“Ooof!” Rainbow grunted.
“Right now, the Relic falls into our possession,” the Herald’s leader said. “Don’t make me take what you foolishly value from you as well.”
“What… wh-what…?!” Rainbow sputtered.
Khao’s amber eyes narrowed. “You will grasp your truth path, Harbinger, even if I must clear every friend of yours from it like an errant weed.”
Rainbow’s teeth grinded against one another. She sneered, “You just made the wrong threat.” Her eyes flickered red on yellow, and a bolt of energy pulsed out from her pendant.
“Augh!” Khao’s face flinched as she jerked back from the ruby blast.
“Rrrrrrgh--” Rainbow gave her a savage right hook, then a left hoof to the gut.
“Ooomph!” Khao dropped her grip of the hook and fell back.
But Rainbow wasn’t done. “Yaaaaugh!” She dove off the zeppelin’s hull, plunged through the criss-crossing aicraft, and came into contact with Khao’s body, repeatedly punching and smacking her with every limb available. “You… will not… hurt… my… friends!”
The three other ponies dove after their leader. They extended dart guns from their forelimbs and took aim at the offending pegasus.
A single concussive missile flew in and exploded between them.
They gasped, their bodies spreading apart from the vaporous blast. Roarke dove in, knocking one side, kicking another, and grabbing the steam components of a third. With a grunt, she ripped the hapless stallion’s glider apart and tossed the rig backwards. It exploded with a wave of shrapnel, reducing one of the ponies to a bloody mess. Roarke tossed her screaming victim, forcing the third to dive after his fallen companion.
Panting, Roarke pivoted her helmet towards Rainbow Dash’s angry fight. “Rainbow!” she shouted, growling beneath her gear. “Damn it! Enough!” She dove heavily. “Didn’t you hear the zebra?! We have to get to the Jury! Rainbow?! Rainbow!”
Inside the engine room to the Noble Jury, one zealot stirred on the floor. With a groan, he stood up, shifting his muscles, still sore from electrocution. He crawled towards the collapsed cage that he and his cohorts had assembled before carrying it down there.
With a shuffle of hoofsteps, two disheveled ponies trotted down from above.
“Is the relic intact?!” one of them asked.
“We… were attacked…” The bruised pony stood up, shaking his head and readjusting his hood. “That explosion j-just now. What…?”
“We ran into a formidable fighter. We’ve lost several brothers and sisters.”
The pony on the floor nodded. “It’ll all be for not if we do not claim the Relic for the Host.”
“Here…” The two recruits carried the cage over. “Can you open this infernal contraption?”
“Already on it.” The pony pulled an elaborate tool from beneath his cloak. Attaching hydraulic cables from the steam rig attached to his body, he powered the device and used it to unlatched the container holding the floating tome in the center of the Engine Room. In less than a few minutes, the ponies opened the container. Rivets fell to the floor, followed by a metal panel that collapsed with a loud ringing clang. At last, they reached in and grasped the book.
Once it was freed from its restraints, the runes across the pages flickered. A bright lavender aura rippled across the room, enchanting the air with sparkling magic.
“Do you hear me?!” Rainbow Dash snarled, her muzzle taking on an animalistic expression as her hooves found their way to Khao’s neck. “Leave us alone! I don’t want a replacement Eljunbyro! I don’t want anymore crazy ponies trying to kill us! I don’t… don’t…” Her eyelids grew heavy as an intense shudder ran through her system. “No… n-no, don’t…” She whimpered and shivered. “Celestia…”
Khao flinched, only to feel Rainbow’s hooves slip away. She looked through the whipping winds to spot Rainbow Dash falling like a dead bird towards the distant earth below. Before she could angle about with her glider, however, a metal body plowed to her in the pegasus’ place.
“This attack ends now!” Roarke hissed. “Remove your troops before I remove your skull!”
“I am simply a mortal,” Khao wheezed, albeit her face remained calm and confident. She spoke above the howling winds, “I serve the Angels of the Ancient Ages. Even if I die, my brothers and sisters are already accomplishing the will of the Host.”
“How do I know you’re not bluffing?!” Roarke shouted.
“The same way I know that you will not let the Harbinger perish anymore than I would,” Khao said, pointing straight down.
Roarke’s helmet twitched. She tilted her head down.
Rainbow’s body was a blue speck, plunging ever faster towards the bosom of the world.
“Oh for Goddess’ sake…” Roarke grunted. She shoved Khao away, backflipped, and fired her rockets in a vicious, earthbound plunge. Soon, she was simply a black dot burning after Rainbow’s limp form.
Khao fired her steam thrusters, angling about. Several ponies flew to her side. She signaled to them, and they rocketed off in formation. Giving Rainbow’s plight one last look, Khao took a deep breath, murmured a mute prayer, and joined her fellow acolytes as they flew into obscurity beyond the clouds.
Rainbow’s eyes fluttered open. She tried inhaling, but gravity had turned her lungs to mush in her upper chest. She saw hazy splotches of dark metal looming high above, growing more and more distant. Gray Smoke was sailing away, and the pegasus was cognitive enough to know that soon she’d be plunging out of reach of the city altogether.
“H-help…” She pleaded, though she didn’t know to whom. There was a glint of red light off in her peripheral vision, followed by the dull roll of rockets, but she was already twirling over, wheezing helplessly into her own dizziness. “Please, h-help them…” A lavender glow pulsed to the upper west, and it made her want to vomit towards the billowing clouds below. “My friends… Khao… The Herald…” She squeaked. “They’re gonna hurt… going to h-hurt my...”
Up above, Roarke dove as swiftly as she could. Moisture condensed across her visor, turning into a fine frost along the edges. She seethed as she saw a heavy black shape looming in the path of Rainbow’s descent. “For Goddess’ sake…” She murmured against the whipping winds. “Help me, Searo…”
A large freight zeppelin was puttering along a lower air current, with a skeleton crew that was minding its own business. Unbeknownst to the ponies on board, a blue pegasus was about to be impaled on their ship’s front propellor blades.
“Dammit, Searo!” Roarke hissed as she fired her rocket thrusters to the melting point. “You owe me, bitch!”
Just as she said that, a while yell hollered from two zeppelin spaces away. Roarke jerked, glancing out the side of her helmet.
A blonde figure was swinging along a length of reinforced chain suspended from a small steam-powered dinghy. She flew in the direction of Rainbow Dash and swooped the winged pony up within the crook of her forelimb. “Hooo-haaaa! Guess who earned her biscuits tonight!”
Roarke hovered to a stop, relaxing her thrusters as she panted into the confines of her suit. “I don’t friggin’ believe it…” She switched on the sound stones in her helmet and shouted, “Props! Is that you?!”
“I sure hope so!” Props swung about and landed nimbly atop the bobbing aircraft, laying Rainbow Dash in the rear seat of the swaying vehicle. “Because if I’m dreaming, it’s missing at least four muscular stallions and five buckets full of whipped cream! Heeheehee!”
Roarke landed heavily on the craft, unwittingly throwing its weight off. Rainbow nearly fell off, but Props--flailing--threw herself forward and swiftly caught her.
“Whoah there, girlfriend!” Props gigglesnorted. “You gotta wait until after we’ve eaten before you try to make me toss my cookies! Otherwise you’ll forfeit the game! Heehee!”
“How on earth did you know we were in trouble?!” Roarke asked.
Props’ blue eyes blinked. “You were in trouble?” She raised her goggles and tapped her chin. “Huh. I thought you were just playing steam tag with explosions.”
“Props…” Roarke grumbled.
“The b-book…” Rainbow Dash hissed, her face covered with sweat as her petite body recoiled from the source of the lavender glow. “It’s… out of its cage. I c-can feel it…”
“You’re sure of this?!” Roarke opened her helmet to shout. “Is this what’s causing you to collapse?”
“What else c-could it friggin’ b-be?” Rainbow grunted through a pained frown.
Props gasped long and hard. “No way!” She stomped her hooves, causing the dinghy to rock some more. “Who would dare soil Nancy Jane’s womb?!”
“Props…” Roarke turned to the mare. “Fly up to the western industrial district. Scan for a manasphere. Once you’ve found Pilate, bring him and Rainbow to safety.”
“Aren’t we already in safety?”
“Not even in the damned slightest.” Roarke closed her helmet, perched on the edge of the airship, and leapt off. “And if you see any strangers in cloaks, shoot to kill!”
“You mean like ‘bang bang lie down you’re dead’ kill or the ‘Frolicker’s Maremorial Home for colonial wasters of life and limb’ kill?”
“Just draw blood first! Damn!” Roarke hissed as she roared off in an angry plume.
“Hmmph…” Props folded her forelimbs. “I don’t care how gruff she is. I can smell the whitewash from a mile!”
Rainbow Dash threw her head over the side with a wet, hurling noise.
Props gasped at her. “Rainbow! You cheated!”
One hoof at a time, Kera crawled out of the Nancy Jane’s cockpit, shaking the heavy layer of soot off her body. She saw several zealots milling about, picking up their fallen or injured comrades and shuffling towards the bow of the ship. Kera felt a cruel wave of heat, and she squinted towards her side.
Beyond the ship’s port side, the hangar was on fire. Smoke ran like an upside down river rapid across the ceiling, spilling out into the afternoon sky--turned dull and brown from the intense blaze. An obese shadow hung before the mess, stirring with a deep-throated tone.
“Josho!” Kera gasped. She looked towards the recovering Heraldites, then back at Josho. Biting her lip, she abandoned the unconscious bodies of Floydien and Simon, dashing over to the ex-enforcer’s side. “Come on, fat pony! Get up! There are bad guys around! Can’t you kick their butts a little more?”
“Can’t…” Josho hissed, his eyes tearing as a fine layer of grit lined his nose, lips, and muzzle. “C-can’t breathe. Friggin’ steam sucking cloud cowards… unngh…”
“Big guy, come on!” Kera shoved and nudged and shoved him again. It was like a dove trying to shove a mountain cross-continent. “I mean it! You gotta get into action mode again!” She panted, glancing over his figure at a glinting object. “Here!” She hopped over him. “I’ll grab your gun!” But as soon as the filly picked it up, she winced, for the barrels had blown apart like an inside out, smoking umbrella. “Ewwww… that’s kind of crudtastical.”
At that moment, she heard a loud vibration enter the air of the hangar.
Suppressing the urge to cough from the smoke, she hid behind Josho, peering over his round belly.
A large managlider glided through the open doors of the hangar. Piloted by other members of the attacking party, the zealots brought the vessel to a calm hover beside where the Noble Jury was moored. Several ponies on room cleared room in the center of the deck and latched a wooden ramp down, connecting the small airship to Floydien’s larger one.
In the meantime, several shadows rose up out of the stairwell near the bow of the Noble Jury. Kera watched with bright eyes as the cloaked ponies carried a large cage containing the floating, shimmering sight of the runic tome.
“No way…” She coughed quietly, wheezed, and spoke through tearing eyes. “They took it…”
Shouting directions at each other, the two groups came together, lifting and sliding the cage onto the smaller craft. With bursts of steam, they flew off the deck of the Noble Jury, collected their injured, and took their seats in the escape vehicle.
Kera blinked, and in that moment, something inside her snapped. She spat up grimy saliva and snarled. “No… it’s not theirs…” She stood up on quivering limbs. “It’s not theirs!” She grinded her hooves, bounded over Josho, and galloped straight towards the starboard side of the vessel. “That belongs to Rainbow Dash!”
“Unnngh…” Josho stirred, his pained eyes squinting open just in time to spot the darting image of the filly. “K-kid…?”
The bridge between the two ships unlatched. The zealots veered off, turning the managlider around so that its stern faced the hangar’s entrance. The caged book flickered with each swaying motion the ship took as it made a hasty exit.
“No!” Kera shouted, this time in full gallop. “Give it back, ya ugly clowns!” She met the starboard edge of the Noble Jury.
One pony saw her. Spinning about, he aimed a dart gun and fired.
But the filly did something he didn’t expect: she jumped clear off the ship, utterly dodging the projectiles by a mile. Her body went airborne like a green-haired hoofball, and she slammed into one stallion, horn-first.
“Ooof!” He fell back, his skull colliding painfully with the cage.
Two ponies stood up to grab her.
“Munch on some mana!” her voice cracked as she aimed her horn at the two equines.
They fell back, blown to their haunches by the shocking display of telekinetic force.
“Nnngh!” Kera tilted her head neck and right, shoving each pony back as hard as she could while the ship puttered its way towards the exit.
When half of the zealots were lying on their haunches, Kera took the moment to dart ahead, grasping the cage with two hooves.
“Hnnnnnnngh!” She grunted, squealed, struggling to yank the container off the deck of the ship. “Come on, ya stupid bird cage! Budge!”
A heavy-set stallion took the opportunity to stomp over and pull her up by her tangled tail-hairs.
“Whoah! Let go! Let me go--” A hoof stretched over her mouth as another pony rushed in, wielding a taser.
“She’s gonna fire more magic!” the stallion shouted. “Try to cut off the leylines!”
“I-I’m trying!” a mare’s voice stammered from beneath her hood. It took several jostling attempts, but she finally zapped Kera’s horn with the taser.
“Aaaaaugh!” Kera hissed in pain. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she went limp in the stallion’s grip. “Unnnngh…”
“How in the Host’s name is a child that powerful in m-magic?” shouted the driver.
“The Harbinger must be inspiring company.”
“Speaking of which…” Another pony pointed.
Several of the equines on board turned to look.
Bellesmith, Ebon Mane, and Eagle Eye were galloping down the stairs from the Bronze District. They braved the smoke and flames, descending until they were at even level with the docks. While Belle and Ebon stumbled through the smog, it was Eagle who froze in his tracks, gasping.
“Oh blessed Spark,” he murmured.
Belle turned to gawk at him. “What is it?!”
“Th-they got the book.” Eagle gulped. “And Kera…”
Belle’s jaw dropped. She spun about with a numb expression.
“Hey!” Ebon shouted, snarling as he raced towards the edge of the Noble Jury. “You creeps! Give her back!”
“If the Harbinger sees us attacking any more of them…” one stallion on the ship murmured.
“Khao’s waiting for us!” Another slapped the cloaked shoulder of the pilot. “Fly!”
“But we can’t just--”
“We’ve lost too many of our brothers and sisters to waste another second! Now fly!”
Gritting his teeth, the pilot put the vessel into a higher throttle. The ship sped forward.
“No…” Belle shrieked, galloping limply towards the edge of the Noble Jury. ”No! Kera!”
Josho wheezed. He clenched his teeth and stood up, galloping past a helpless Ebon Mane. He took a deep breath--ignoring the caustic taste of smoke along his throat--and plummeted clear off the ship. His horn sparkled like the burning head of a flare. “Raaaaugh!”
The group of zealots were nearly one hundred meters away from the edge of Gray Smoke when a heavy sack of living meat materialized above them.
“Heads up!” a stallion shouted as he aimed a dart gun up high.
But then, Josho landed, his heavy body tipping the managlider viciously towards its port side.
The assailants on board shrieked. The thug with the dart gun was flung forward, receiving a savage hoof to the face, courtesy of Josho.
Without a wasted breath, Josho bashed another zealot with his skull, bucked a third, and reached a hoof forward, grasping desperately for Kera. His hoof brushed against her mane, then clutched at her slumbering face.
“Hnngh!” A stallion kicked him square in the face.
Josho spat blood. He reeled back, then sparked more mana through his horn.
The stallion threw his whole body into it this time, forcing the entire vessel to reel as he kick two hooves into Josho’s chest.
“Guh!” Josh fell.
The glider regained balanced, fired its steamthrusters, and rocketed skyward towards a red-tinted speedship bursting out of the clouds right then and there.
“Call ahead!” the pilot shouted. “We got the Relic! Now to meet Khao at the rendezvous point!”
Josho barely heard this, probably from the violent gusts of air ripping past his aching ears. He fell like a lead boulder, yelling with each spin of his flailing body. With very little grace, he plummeted into a criss-crossing line of traffic, and his body came into contact with the bulbous read balloon of a market dirigible.
“Ooof!” The inflatable surface bent with his impact, and he slid down until his body got caught up in the roped webbing surrounding the structure. “Mmmmf… unnngh… friggin’ flankswipes!” He panted, coughing up smoke and blood. His ear twitched at the sound of rocket thrusters. The ex-enforcer looked out the corner of his eyes.
Roarke was ascending from the shadowed underbelly of Gray Smoke. Upon first glance of Josho, her helmet jerked aside.
“Don’t stop for nothin’, lady!” He howled as she soared by. He flung a fat hoof towards the red vessel above. “They’ve got Belle and Pilate’s little scamp!”
The air around Roarke exploded in response. She accelerated her ship until pieces of the suit flew off. She winced from the heat seeping through and burning her flesh. And yet, just as she was within a missile’s toss from the two escape vessels…
The managlider docked with the speedship. The aircraft twirled about, extended three planks of glowing red crystal, and shot off like a crimson comet, burning due west.
“Rrrrrgh!” Roarke shouted into her cracking helmet as she fired a full salvo of missiles. The projectiles flew ineffectually into a cloudbank, exploding in the hot vapor trails left by the escaping vessel. She hovered to a stop, her suit cooling as her breaths grew hotter. “Skystone!” she growled. “Putrid mother filth!”
The thunder of the exiting ship dissipated, and Roarke found herself surrounded by clouds and chaos.
Her body slumped in mid-air. With a dull sigh, she twirled about and descended towards where Josho precariously hung.
“Bad news, fat loins…”
“Unngh…” Josho fought and struggled with the roped webbing as she hovered to his side. “You don’t friggin’ say?”
“Yeah…” Roarke grumbled. “I’ve suddenly run out of idiots to kill…”
“Wowwwwwwww…” Props’ blue eyes sparkled. “Not one, not two, but three skystone pylones?! That’s incredible!” Her ears drooped as she winced heavily. “Well, aside from the stupidly violent attack and heartless foalnapping… eh heh heh…”
“Grrrr-raaugh!” Rainbow Dash kicked the dinner table and resumed pacing around the Noble Jury’s mess hall. “Where the heck did they even get that crud?! I thought it was rare!”
“Not rare,” Props explained from where she sat besides Ebon and Eagle Eye. “Just really hard to get.”
“Floydien had to brave tempests at northern world ridge to get a piece for Nancy Jane’s wings,” the elk muttered in the corner, examining one of his antlers in his grasp. “If the new stabby stabby are crazy enough to attack paint bucket and call it friendship, then they’re crazy enough to get anything they want.”
“And from the sound of it,” Pilate muttered from where he sat besides a visibly shaken Bellesmith. “They had a great deal of time for this moment and this moment alone.”
“So all of this was premeditated from years ago?” Eagle Eye remarked.
“More like millennia ago,” Pilate remarked.
“But I don’t get it!” Eagle Eye gestured wildly as he spoke. “If they wanna help Rainbow Dash so much, why outright attack her and steal the book of runes?!”
“‘Cuz they’re friggin’ idiots,” Rainbow Dash grunted in mid-pace.
Pilate sighed. “Think of it as a great deal of knowledge invested with increasing degrees of presumption over the eons. It’s very possible to execute the wrong idea in all the right ways.”
“Tell me about it,” Rainbow Dash muttered, still pacing. “They knew absolutely nothing about who I am and what I’ve been through, but they knew enough about me to be--like--thirty dang steps ahead! Unngh! I could barely catch up with their jerkface of a leader! It was so frustrating!”
“They certainly lost several members of their fold to accomplish what they thought was important,” Roarke said from where she sat in the corner. Her eye-lenses pistoned out. “Sadly, none of them lived long enough for me to interrogate.”
“The idea is… much appreciated, Roarke,” Eagle Eye said nervously. “But, now we gotta deal with the fact that we’re stranded here.”
“Stranded?” Ebon asked.
“The beautiful colt is right,” Props said with a pouting expression as she leaned forward. “The super special thing about that glowy book was that it cycled power through the augmented engines and gave the skystone something to recharge itself with! Until I find a power source that’s even remotely as spiffy as what those baddies stole, we’ve got less than three days of flight! And even then, we’d only make a top speed of seventy miles per hour tops! And then all systems would just power down from there!”
“Couldn’t we find something here?” Rainbow Dash asked, gesturing out a nearby porthole. “Why not find a new power source, hook it up, and then go after those psycho clowns?!”
“Nancy Jane is a sensitive, meticulously beautiful beloved!” Floydien said with a snarling tone. He plopped his remaining antler back into his skull and glared across the room. “No simple operation done in a day would make her fly right!”
“Even if we could solve everything overnight, we haven’t enough money to buy the sort of energy source that’s required!” Props said. “Plus, my Uncle Prowse isn’t around anymore. I don’t really have the same influence to haggle our way to a solution here.”
Rainbow Dash hung her head with a sigh.
Props then tapped her chin in thought. “Unless…”
Rainbow’s wings arched as she glanced up at her. “What?” She leaned forward. “Unless what?!”
“Well, I suppose I could refit the womb to Floydien’s beloved with a steam engine and cycle pipes along the manaconduits. The energy left in the skystone should be enough to heat the water and produce enough thrust to operate for a long distance at one third the normal speed. It’d certainly make us go faster than we’re going now.”
“Great!” Rainbow Dash grinned wide. “How long would it take to go all steam punk on this bucket of bolts!”
Props bit her lip, blushing. “Erm… f-four days, and that’s if we somehow manage to buy all the parts at affordable prices.”
“Guhhhhh…” Rainbow Dash hung her head.
Josho trotted into the room, telekinetically levitating an ice pack against his swollen crown. “Ungh… are we still going at this?”
“Yes, old stallion,” Eagle Eye said with a frown. “We are.”
“I’d say the solution is simple,” the ex enforcer said as he found a chair besides Floydien. “Tell the head haunchos of the Upper Roost here that we know the punks who are responsible for all the crap that went down.” He felt a heavy antler-thwap to his shoulder. Sighing, he silently scooted a space away from the elk and continued. “Wouldn’t they want to track these idiots down so they could at least pay restitution?”
“You forget just how neutral Gray Smoke is,” Ebon Mane said. “They’ll look for a loophole that’ll get them to claim that this was just a matter of an outside conflict, then force the remaining party to pay for damages.”
“Sooooo…” Josho furrowed his brow. “Meaning, us.”
Ebon bit his lip and nodded. “Yup. ‘Fraid so.”
“Well, that’s utter mule muffins!”
“Look, I didn’t say I liked the Upper Roost either!” Ebon exclaimed, then sighed. “I wish there was a simpler way to get back the Noble Jury’s energy source, but there doesn’t seem to be an easy away to it.”
“Who cares about an old book full of prophetic nonsense?!” Bellesmith growled. She sniffled, glaring across the table with glossy eyes. “What about Kera Tin Mehjj?!”
Ebon bit his lip and lowered his gaze towards the tabletop.
Silence filled the room.
Belle shuddered, her voice shaky as she stammered, “These creeps attacked Rainbow Dash, abducted my beloved, attacked Floydien and Simon, almost killed Josho… and what for?! Some ancient string of words that a bunch of ancient pegasi may or may not have written?”
“That seems to be the long and short of it,” Roarke droned. Rainbow Dash winced.
Belle frowned even harder. “Just what kind of horrible things could they be doing to a foal like Kera?! Huh?! That should be the focus of this conversation! I’m sorry, Props, Mr. Floydien, but I could care less about how we power up this ship!”
“But, beloved,” Pilate spoke softly, squeezing her shoulders. “As long as we’re dead in the water, we can’t even begin searching anywhere.”
“Then we need to think of another solution!” Belle snapped, her voice echoing across the bulkheads. “We need to find a way to get Kera out of that and deal with that situation first!”
Rainbow Dash fidgeted where she stood. She turned about, squinting towards a blank spot along the wall.
Ebon glanced at her. “What are you looking at?”
“I can still see it…” Rainbow Dash muttered. “No matter how far away it is.”
Eagle Eye sat up straight. “You m-mean… the book?!”
Rainbow solemnly nodded. “Wherever it is, they haven’t bothered to destroy it.”
“Naturally, they wouldn’t,” Pilate said. “They consider it a holy relic.”
“But they almost destroyed Rainbow Dash, didn’t they?” Josho remarked. “What makes you think these flankswipes would bother to keep the book in one piece?”
“I don’t think they ever meant to kill Rainbow Dash,” Pilate said. “Rather, I think they know that she’s made of stronger stuff, and this sort of message--albeit melodramatic--was the only way to get her to do what they want.”
“Which is…?” Eagle asked.
Pilate’s mouth lingered before uttering, “Abandon us, abandon her friends, and continue her journey with them instead.”
“Yeah… heh…” Josho chuckled, wincing from his bruises. “That would be a fun romp. Hey, look it this way, bubble streak.” He smirked in her direction. “With freaks like that, you’re bound to have three times as many explosions.”
Rainbow Dash’s wings coiled tightly. “What…” She almost hissed the words out. “What if… I gave them exactly what they want?”
Josho blinked. “Look, I wasn’t trying to be serious, shortround…”
“What are you saying, Rainbow?” Eagle Eye asked, his face full of fright.
“Simple…” Rainbow Dash spoke with a deep breath. “I’ll fly to them.”
“Rainbow!” Belle stood up from her chair. “No! Out of the question!” Pilate stood nervously beside her as she exclaimed, “I don’t care how much harm they’ve done to this team! Don’t do something like that! Don’t sacrifice yourself out of guilt--”
“I didn’t say anything about giving myself up, ding dong!” Rainbow Dash retorted. “I know these punks are just that--punks. If anything, I’m gonna save Kera with my own hooves and totally teach them a lesson!”
“Oh…” Belle blushed furiously, her face hung between a grimace and a frown. “Of course you will…”
“I can see where they are at all times, right?” Rainbow Dash pointed in some vaguely western direction. “And, well, odds are they’re gonna use more collateral on me than some stupid book. They know we need that tome to run the ship, but they also know how precious my friends are to me.”
Pilate nodded. “They’ll hold Kera as ransome.”
Rainbow gulped. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“How do you intend to snatch her from their hooves once you reach them? If you reach them?” Roarke asked. “Or the book for that matter?”
“I’ll… y’know…” Rainbow Dash gestured wildly. “Bash some heads n’stuff!”
Roarke frowned. “I asked you a serious question. The least you could give me is a serious answer.”
“I just did!”
“How do you even expect to get close to the book?! Even when it’s a mile away, the energy from that damn thing makes you collapse like a drowning fish.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Rainbow’s ears folded as she gazed guiltily away. “That.”
“You’ve been through so much as it is, Rainbow,” Eagle Eye said. “We can’t expect you to risk tooth and hoof over a long distance suicide run.”
“Do we really have any other option?” Ebon asked. “This ship may not be able to catch up with those guys, but Rainbow sure can!”
“Not by herself, she won’t,” Roarke said.
Rainbow flashed the bounty hunter a double-take. “Huh?”
“Face it. This isn’t a journey worth taking alone,” Roarke said. “And once you get within proximity of the target, you’re going to need somepony you can rely on who’ll not be susceptible to the effects of the enchanted book.”
“Heh… yeah… and you’ve got an idea in mind, Roarke most Rare?”
Her Searonese brow simply furrowed over her eye-lenses.
Rainbow Dash blinked. “You gotta be kidding me…”
“Do I look like a joker to you?”
“Err…”
Roarke glanced up. “Hey. Gorgeous.”
“Y-yes?” Belle stammered.
Roarke frowned. “The other gorgeous.”
“Oh…” Belle blushed.
Props leaned in. “Phwee?”
“I need as many fuel canisters as you can muster.”
“Phwee!” Props hopped up on the table and bounded off towards the stairwell beyond the kitchen.
“Pilate, we’re also going to need maps, soundstones, and perhaps even a way to chart the stars.” Roarke pivoted about. “Ebon, I know you’ve been talking about leaving the group soon, but could you fix us something portable to eat over several days?”
Ebon grinned as he scrambled towards the kitchen. “You bet it, Madame Metal!”
“Whoah whoah whoah, hold on!” Rainbow Dash spun and squinted at Roarke. “You’ve been nothing but silent and brooding for days on end. What suddenly turned you into our illustrious leader?”
“I don’t know if you heard me the first time,” Roarke growled. “But I’ve run out of ponies worth killing. You wanna save that little green bush with a horn or what?”
“Well…” Rainbow glanced nervously at her two best friends across the table. “Of c-course! But…”
“Then we’re going to stick together through this whole thing or else we’re not coming back at all!” Roarke’s eye-lenses pistoned forward threateningly. “Or would you like me to force you to do the killing once we meet up with these wastes of sperm?”
Rainbow gulped. “No, ma’am.”
“Good.” Roarke trotted through the kitchen and headed towards the hangar where her weapons were stockpiled. “Then pull your wings out of your plot and get ready for some much-needed exercise.”
Rainbow Dash trotted limply after her, pretending to not be glancing at her own waist.
“Okay, if I can just ask one key question…” Ebon Mane fidgeted near the stern of the Noble Jury. “How the heck are you both getting back once you’ve saved Kera’s precious head?”
“The same way I was able to save the zebra’s precious head,” Roarke muttered. “I’ll keep a reading on his manasphere’s frequency from a distance.”
“Can the onboard manaconduits of your suit do that? I thought that was something only your old ship did.”
“I got an upgrade in the Rust District.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever…” Roarke finished attaching the last of many surplus fuel cannisters to the middle of her suit. It was late at night inside Gray Smoke, and the ship was hovering several spaces away from where dockworkers were busy attempting to salvage what was left of the hangar’s burnt mooring platforms. “In the meantime, we’ll keep in contact over soundstones and find a way to coordinate a rendezvous. Preferably someplace east of here.”
“Crazy metal boomer will get no argument from Floydien,” the elk grumbled. “As soon as blonde blonde rigs the steam up to Nancy Jane’s room, Floydien is throwing this city away with yesterday’s spit.”
“I wouldn’t fly too close to the Eastern Front if I were you,” Rainbow Dash said. “But, someplace where there aren’t a bunch of noisy, psychotic, dogmatic ponies wanting to tear this group to shreds would be nice.”
“I’ll try to find a good spot on the map, Rainbow Dash,” Pilate said.
“And I’ll guide us away from most of the heat,” Josho said. “I found out enough to know where the most bombs are going off.”
“Right…” Rainbow Dash nodded firmly. “I believe in you guys. I really do. Keep the ship in one piece, and I promise I will bring Kera back in one piece.”
Props waved her hoof. “But, you’re totally gonna do that for the itty bitty filly, either way, right?”
Before Rainbow Dash could answer, Roarke stuck her helmet in. “I’m still new to working without being paid, but we’ll do our best.”
Rainbow Dash glared aside at her. “By the way, I’m pretty sure it was me who saved Pilate yesterday.”
“Whatever.” Roarke shrugged. “You’re writing the history books. Not me.”
“Do you really have to have an attitude about it?”
“I’m not the pony with a murderous fan club.”
“Grkkk! They are not a fan club! For the love of Celestia, don’t you ever friggin’--” Rainbow Dash jerked to face the others with a plastic grin. “Is there anything else we should cover, you guys?”
“You’d better get a move on,” Pilate said. “At the rate at which they’re flying with that triple skystone supply, they could be a week’s distance at normal wingpower.”
“Don’t worry…” Roarke trotted towards the very edge of the ship. “I’ll drag her faster west with my rockets if I have to.”
Rainbow hung her head with a sigh. Quietly, she trotted over to her best friends. “I’m gonna get her back, and then--I swear--we’re gonna burn our way through the clouds and leave this goddess-forsaken continent in the dust, once and for all. Okay?”
Belle nodded quietly.
“Hey…” Rainbow Dash reached forward and tilted the mare’s chin up. “It’s gonna be okay. Ya hear me?”
Belle blinked at her. The mare’s lips pursed, and her eyes watered. “Yeah…” She sniffled and nodded with a weak smile. “Yeah, Rainbow. Everything’s gonna b-be okay…”
Rainbow smirked, then pivoted to punch Pilate in the shoulder. “You’d better give her lots of tender zebra loving while I’m gone.”
“Derrrr…”
“Props!” Rainbow trotted past the blonde in question. “Thanks for sticking with us. I know that you still need to find your uncle and all, but we can use all the help we can get.”
“Aye, pegasus my pegasus!” The mare saluted with a bright smile. “I’ll get Nancy a steam powered diaphgragm! Just you see!”
“Er… yeah…”
“And don’t you fret, Rainbow Dash,” Props cooed, leaning in to give the mare a close, fragrant, friendly nuzzle. “We love you to bits, girl,” she purred. “Even if you get smashed to a bloody pulp against a big granite mountainside, we’ll always remember your charm, your niftiness, your beauty--”
“Okaaaaaaaaaay!” Rainbow Dash blindly shoved the mare away, her cheeks burning red. “Thank you, Propsyyyy… ahem.” She nodded to Floydien and Josho as she trotted by. “Gentlecolts.” She came upon Ebon and froze, fidgeting.
Eagle Eye blinked at Rainbow Dash, looked at Ebon, then back at her. Simon chirped randomly in the background.
“Ahem…” Rainbow bit the corner of her mouth before uttering, “Guess you’ll be sticking around too, huh, Ebon?”
Before Ebon could open his mouth, Eagle Eye suddenly stepped between the two. “Yes, Rainbow, he is.”
Rainbow’s blue brow furrowed.
Eagle’s eyes remained firm, resolute.
At last, Rainbow blinked, her ears drooping slightly. She closed her eyes, sighed… and then smiled. “That sounds great.” She reached forward and flicked the edge of his violet mane. “You should consider adding a streak to that.” With a swivel of her hooves, she joined Roarke on the ship’s stern.
Eagle Eye, meanwhile, blinked, fluffing his mane as he glanced curiously at a few of the silken strands. He gave Ebon a glance, and the fellow stallion shrugged with an innocent smile.
“Whelp, Gray Smoke isn’t getting any brighter,” Rainbow said as she perched besides Roarke. “Ready to shove off?”
“You got a bearing?”
Rainbow Dash squinted out the hangar’s exit. She saw the lavender glow like a sliver of dim light in the distance. “Yup.”
“Then shove away,” Roarke muttered. “You’re the expert on this cross-country long distance winging. I’ll just follow you in my missile sight and pretend not to have a violent flashback to one of Pestiferous’ notorious clan battles.”
Rainbow sighed. “At this rate, we’re gonna paint the mountains red instead of purple…” With a grunt she kicked off the stern and glided out the hangar exit. Roarke followed with a burst of her thrusters. Together, the mares made for the starlight horizon, bending around so that they were gliding due west.
The crew lonesomely waved them on. Belle exhaled heavily and leaned her head on Pilate’s shoulder. She closed her eyes and murmured, “Blessed Spark, imbuer of harmony, please keep Kera at peace, wherever she is.”
The little foal sat up in a gasp, her bushy mane flouncing. She looked all around.
She was seated inside a cramped metal compartment. The room swayed with slow drifting and bobbing motions. The walls were thin, and she could hear the creaking sounds of shifting cargo, as well as the muffled voices of multiple equines in tense conversation outside.
Chewing on her bottom lip, Kera crawled forward. She felt forward through the dim space, her hoof ultimately brushing up against a bent metal door. Holding her breath, she tried pushing on it. A crack of light formed along the door’s edge, but the thing refused to budge all the way.
She hissed through clenched teeth and gave the panel several more shoves, trying not to make a rattling noise or else she might alert the bodies from beyond the walls. At last, she leaned forward, wincing slightly from a dull pain deep inside her horn. With careful concentration, the magical prodigy felt the other side of the door. Her telekinesis revealed a simple pair of latches to her wandering mind.
One at a time, she unlocked them, and the door gave way with a light creaking sound. Kera held her breath again, and as soon as she slipped out of the metallic crawlspace, the voices became much clearer.
“...wouldn’t have had to take the child if things had gone according to plan!”
“Well, they didn’t, and now we have to explain things to Khao.”
“Khao has enough to explain for herself! None of her calculations accounted for the sheer amount of resistance we ultimately received at the hooves of the Harbinger’s false companions!”
“The prophecies tell us all that we need to know about Austraeoh. They provide no guidance for those whom the Harbinger wrongfully associated with. As emissary of the prophetic word, it was Khao’s task to inform us about the nature of Austraeoh. She did not fail in this department, and I do not see why you are blaming her.”
“I’m not blaming her! I’m just saying that the prophecies also maintain that we must look after our fellow ponies! And… and we l-lost so many brothers and sisters in acquiring the relic! Many of them died under Khao’s very own watch! How… h-how could she let that happen to them?!”
As Kera’s vision came into focus, she saw a large cargo room full of various steam packs, hanging bags of produce, and various metal tools in dangling nets. Amber lanternlight cast nearly a dozen shadows against the brown metal bulkheads. Several equines were just a trot or two away, seated beyond a line of packing crates. Kera could even feel the heat from their breaths as she nervously sneaked towards a door on the far side.
“In our quest to reunite the broken pieces of the grand encompassing world, there are sacrifices to be made. Austraeoh must have her endurance reborn, or else she will not possess the spark she needs to bring harmony to the waystations. These… companions of her are a false Eljunbyro, and she must be forced to break from them at all costs.”
“But they’re just innocent, normal ponies!”
“They’re a deterrent to the path of the Harbinger! All they’ve done is slow Austraeoh down! She’ll never make it to the dark side of the plane at this rate!”
“I just think that if Austraeoh’s purpose is to restore Harmony and balance, then shouldn’t every action that Khao directs us to do be indicative of the prophet motive?”
“The prophets were the holy ones. They communed with the Angels. We are the Herald, and we sing their song with the throats of mortals. We are not worthy of the glory that Austraeoh will bring back. That is a luxury that the Penultimate Ones will relish when the ring becomes whole once more…”
“And it will lead to the rebirth of angels. Yes, I know, but I feel like it is our task to leave a proper legacy as well as bring Austraeoh towards the one true path.”
“It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done. We have the Relic, and once we reunite with Khao’s party, then we’ll have the means of drawing Austraeoh to us.”
“Blessed Angels, what if she dies trying to get here?”
“Impossible. The Harbinger’s pain is also her healing. It says so in the prophetic words.”
“True. True. I just hope that, in the end, we receive the Austraeoh’s blessing for our sacrifices.”
“We may, or we may not. That is up to the Harbinger when the moment of truth comes.”
At last, Kera had made it to the door. She chose to use her telekinesis instead of bare hooves to open it. As soon as she did so, she wished that she didn’t, for a huge gust of air blew immediately out of the room, knocking over several crates and causing numerous tools to fly off their hangers.
The zealots stood up, their hooves scuffling loudly across the metal floor.
“What was that?!”
“Is it Ledomare?! Are we under attack?”
“No, there was no shelling. Stay here, I’ll go investigate.”
Kera panicked. She darted through the door--paused--then darted back. Flinging her horn from afar, she forced the tiny compartment’s door shut and locked the latches in place. Quickly, before the stallion’s heavy hooves stomped around the corner, she threw herself into the cold, cold air.
Kera almost immediately ran into a metal railing. She stared out into a thick sea of mist, mist, and more mist. Her eyes twitched as a deep chill ran through her body. The air was freezing, and her tiny breaths weren’t getting her enough oxygen. Wheezing, she nevertheless stumbled her way down a wobbling deck. She caught the sight of a bright red pylon of sky marble looming beneath her, having retracted tightly into the dark hull of the stationary manaship. As she heard vibrations of the stallion’s hooves behind her, she scurried towards one pointed end of the ship, looking for a structure--any structure--to hide behind.
At last, she chose a vertical stem of metal steam vents. She crouched low and flattened herself against it, taking the biggest, longest, and deepest breath of her life. She got a modicum of oxygen, but decided it was enough to survive on. Clamping her mouth shut, she curled into a little peach ball and hid there, shivering.
The door could be heard creaking open, creaking shut, and creaking open again. The stallion grumbled aloud, his body still. Half a minute passed. The door slammed shut, and a series of heavy footsteps trotted down along the deck, following the path Kera had taken.
The foal’s face tattoos were blue at this point. She clenched her mouth tighter, her lungs feeling like they might burst at anytime. At last, the stallion’s hooves came into view, the color bands of the fetlocks brimming in the misty morning air. The pony stopped, looming just besides Kera.
Kera couldn’t help it. Her body burst, and her mouth flew open for a deep, desperate inhale. Almost immediately, she heard the stallion shout.
“Hey! Heyyyy!”
She felt like sobbing.
“Brother! Brother Zaid! Over here!” The stallion raised a hoof to raise it. There was another series of steps. A second zealot trotted over, his hooves stopping just a few feet before the first’s.
“What is it, brother?”
“Have we changed course?”
“No.” The voice belonging to Zaid said. “We’re waiting here for Khao’s party, just like she instructed us to.”
“Then we didn’t just pivot the ship about?”
“Not that I know of. I’ve been guarding the deck since we took cover in the clouds. Why do you ask?”
“The door to storage flung open. You know how loose it is. I figured we may have adjusted course and just wanted to be kept up to speed.”
“Heh… I wouldn’t move this ship even if the Harbinger told me to face to face. We barely skirted past a dreadnaught on the way here. Ledo’s got claim to these skies. We’d be dead the first moment we showed ourselves in the daylight.”
“And with the Relic aboard, we couldn’t afford that.”
“I was thinking of my skin, but sure.”
“Unnngh, Brotherrrrr. Keep talking like that and you’ll never earn your feathers.”
“What, and get to be Khao’s suicidal wingponies?” The second pony chuckled. “Hey, I believe in the prophetic word and all, but I’m staying alive long enough to read them all! If you catch my drift…”
“Fine. Keep up with your humble post, Zaid. I’m returning to the others.” The first stallion’s hooves shuffled away.
The other marched off in the opposite direction. “Don’t pretend you’re no less a coward!”
“Good bye, Zaid…”
Kera waited for a minute… two minutes…
She fell back and plopped across the deck, wheezing for even breaths. Her eyes teared as she fought for enough oxygen to stay conscious. At last, her breaths evened out, and her adrenaline coasted towards a normal level.
“I wonder…” She gulped and panted. “If one of them was called ‘Zaid...’”
Another few minutes passed. At last, she stirred, getting up and staring at her surroundings. The mists were wafting about in undulating motions, and it was impossible for her to figure out which direction of the railing led to the bow of the ship or the stern. She daringly peered straight down over the edge of the ship, seeing nothing but cloudy soup.
“Okay…” Kera murmured aloud, trying to settle her nerves. “If I jump over the edge here… and it’s land beneath me… then I’ll die pretty quickly. If it’s… erm… water.” She gulped. “Then I’ll die almost as quickly, but I might get to hug a fish or two before my organs squirt out of my body.”
With a fidgeting expression, she turned about and ultimately decided to skirt along the edge of the hull. She crawled along, ready to dash back to the obscure cluster of steam pipes at a moment’s notice. She was just rounding a bend when she heard a series of hoofsteps and gasped sharply.
“Oh crud! Zaid alert! Zaid alert!”
She spun around in a blurry, tattooed circle. She caught sight of a door to her immediate left. With a tug of telekinesis, she fought the rusted thing open.
“Nnnnnngh!”
At last, the panel budged, and she threw herself in like a living missile. Slamming the thing shut behind her, she locked it from the inside and planted herself against the frame, panting. The filly felt a trickle of sweat running down her brow. At first, she thought it was from pure fear, but as she ran a hoof to her head, she realized that it was stiflingly hot inside that room.
“Whoah…” She gulped. “What gives? Is something b-burning?” She turned around, squinting, then realized she was staring straight into the source of the flickering, ruby light. “No waaaaaaay…”
Before her, in a dark cage, an infamous book hovered, powered by blistering runes.
With softly clopping hooves, Kera trotted up to the container and squinted at the glowing book within. As the hovering tome slowly spun about, she spotted one shimmering word after another, spelling out words that she only half understood.
“Why do they even want this thing so bad anyways?” she murmured to the bulkheads of the manaship around her. “I mean, I know it’s kind of cool looking, but it’s not like you can read the darn thing!”
She heard the faintest sound of larger hooves shifting through the walls around her. She gasped, flinching as a tremble ran through her body. After a few seconds, she steeled herself with a long, deep breath.
“Well, if they want it so bad, then I don’t want the cloud huffers to have it.” That said, she glanced around the room and saw an extra pair of robes hanging in the corner. The filly smiled mischievously, then turned to approach the cage. She leaned up against it, standing on her rear limbs while her forelegs clasped the bars of the thing. Studying the slender surfaces of the cage, she found several joints where screws had been tightened in place. “Ugh, what a sloppy job.” She licked her lips as she charged a beam of energy into her horn. “This should be as simple as a plate of grasshoppers.”
Mana twinkled between her and the cage. The bars began to shake as the screws lit up, one by one.
“Nnnnnngh!” Her face tightened as she focused all energy into the screws. “Come on… it’s j-just like stealing fr-from post boxes back in Blue Nova…!”
Sweat ran down her face, but at last one screw started rotating. After several long, agonizing seconds, it fell loose and rattled to the floor. Kera took one deep breath and continued struggling through the next bunch of fasteners. Hoofsteps sounded through the nearby bulkheads, and she attempted to hurry in her task.
A second screw clattered loose, then a third and a fourth.
At last, the upper bars slid loose from the lower half of the cage. Kera grunted, pivoting her horn to the side in time to catch the bulk of the structure. Then, panting as if she was in labor, she tilted upper half of the cage high enough so that a large space appeared in the center. Through this, she reached a hoof in, grasped a piece of the book’s binding, and yanked it out.
Success: the tome was hers.
Without thinking, she cut off her manastream completely. The cage fell with a cacophonous ringing sound, shaking Kera to her core.
Whatever hoofsteps were plodding around the manaship, they completely and utterly stopped. A few seconds later, shouting voices rang through the bulkheads.
“Crap.” Kera dragged the heavy book between her teeth and shuffled backwards towards the edge of the room. “Mmmmmmfff-crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!”
The heavy hoofsteps galloped closer and closer.
Kera made it to a bench where the spare cloak was resting. She picked it up, fumbled through the brown fabric like it was a collapsed tent, and finally found a spacious pocket inside, presumably sewn to fit a zealot’s steam rigging. She slid the tome inside, hiding the glow through the material. She then slipped the thing over her and bunched the fabric enough so that she couldn’t trip on it. As the hoofsteps bounded up to the very door outside, she threw the hood over her head and flattened her body up against the wall besides the entrance.
With a heavy cranking noise, the door flew open. Air rushed out into the cloudy mists as three ponies rushed in.
“What in the Host’s name was that noise?”
“Hmmmph. I think it was just a pocket of air that we hit.”
“Think again! Look!”
A voice gasped. “The Relic!” Three bodies shuffled up to the loosely dangling, empty cage. “It’s gone!”
“By the Angels…”
“Why didn’t we have somepony guarding this?!” One growled to the others. “I thought I said that somepony should be watching this at all times!”
“But we’re alone out here! If anyone did this, it was one of us!”
“No time for hoof-pointing! We have to search the whole ship for the book!”
By this point, Kera had made an awkward yet silent exit. With a great length of the cloak trailing behind her, she slid out of the room behind the gawking ponies and galloped out onto the outer edge of the deck. Adjusting the weight of the book hanging in her robes, she followed the metal railing and rushed towards the stern.
“Th-there’s gotta be a perfect place to hide in here,” she murmured to herself. “Some place where these idiots aren’t smart enough to check--”
“Hey! You there!”
Her ears flattened beneath her hood. “Thundercrap!” she hissed.
The hoofsteps of two ponies approached her from behind. “Where did you come from just now?!” one exclaimed.
“Hey, uhm…” The voice of the second pony dripped in. “Since when did we have a brother or sister that small?”
“What the…?!” The first shifted closer. “By the Host, you’re right. Hey! Stop where you are! Turn around!”
Kera sighed, then tightened her limbs. “If you say so.” She spun around, flung her hood off, and threw her horn forward with a burst of telekinesis. “Haaaaaaaa!”
A vaporous burst of air sailed down the deck, knocking the foremost zealot clear off her hooves. “Gaaaah!”
“Whoah!” The second one gasped, snarled, and produced a dart gun from beneath his sleeve.
“Farts!” Kera hissed, stumbling backwards. “I-I forgot they had those!”
He fired two professional shots.
Kera thought fast, firing up a translucent shield in front of her that deflected the darts. Glancing to her side, she saw a metal tool box hanging off the wall and immediately flung it at the stallion. “Nnnngh!”
The magically lifted tools flew in a wide spread, forcing the stallion to duck low and shield his head. Before he could look up, Kera was scampering towards the far end of the manaships, hyperventilating. The mists of the cloud enveloped her little robed figure.
A group of ponies ran along the deck, crossing the distance between the room with the empty cage and the two collapsed guards. “What’s all the noise?!”
“It’s the child!” one said as he helped the other get up--wincing--in a sea of fallen metal tools. “She’s escaped her hold! The magic she can wield is incredible…!”
“D-did she come from starboard side?”
“I… uh… y-yes! Yes, we saw her trotting quietly along the deck here!” The stallion pointed into the misty lengths of the ship. “She galloped that way! The foal’s wearing one of our cloaks! It’s three times too large for her!”
“Great…” A stallion grunted. “She must have done it. She must have stolen the Relic!”
“We have to find her!”
“Search every inch of the ship! Every door and every deck! She could be hiding anywhere!”
“We must find that book! The quest to summon the Harbinger depends on it!”
“Go! Go!”
Kera fought tears as she scampered from one deck to another, clinging to the walls, minding the railings. As the seconds bled into minutes, she heard rattling hoofsteps from all directions. Bodies darted in and out of the mists, and it was through sheer miracle alone that she remained undetected for so long. Ten minutes into the frenzied ordeal, she found a spot towards the bow of the ship where she could squeeze her body in the groove of two adjacent bulkheads. There, she clutched the weight of the tome to herself and silently prayed that nopony could spot a hint of the glow through either the brown fabric or the white fog surrounding her.
At last, she heard a group of voices, clear as day. Her every inch froze as she came to the realization that the windows to the ship’s bridge must have been directly over her shivering head.
“Sister, we’ve searched every floor! Wherever she is, it’s not inside!”
“You’re certain of this?”
“Absolutely! But we can keep searching if you--”
“No, that’d be a waste of time. This child is more than just an elusive foal. The Harbinger has evidently taught her fantastic skills in the art of stealth. There’s no telling if she’s found a way off this ship already. If we can’t find her in this mess, than we need to even the playing field!”
“How do you mean?”
“Take the wheels and bring us down.”
“Wait--you mean--”
“Yes.”
“But! But that’s too dangerous!”
“She has the Relic! Imagine what danger we’ll be in if she gets away with it!”
“But--”
“Just do it! Khao’s counting on us!”
“Yes, m-ma’am!”
Kera blinked, then gasped as the whole ship groaned. Steam vents thrusted on the far ends of the vessel, and the weight of the entire thing tilted forward. She fumbled as she found herself leaning forward. Rolling across the deck, she slid into the railings and gripped it nervously. Before her, the mists parted, blinding her with sunlight and a bright blue sky.
As her squinting eyes came into focus, she stared in wonder at a gorgeous plain looming with spacious forests stretching east and west as far as she could see. A glistening blue river ran north and south through it, flanked with marshlands brimming with wildlife.
“Oh jeez…” She swallowed dryly as the ship dipped all the way out of the thick cloud above it. “Where in the heck are we?”
“There!” a voice shouted from behind. “There! I see her!”
Kera spun with a gasp. “Oh crap, that was f-fast!” Without a second thought, she galloped towards the port side.
“Quick! She’s running!”
“Port side! Port side!”
“Cut her off!”
Kera’s legs blurred beneath her cloak, but there was no use. Equine bodies doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in her peripheral vision. With no mists to obscure her tracks, she stood out like a black stain against a white sheet. Her hooves limped to a stop as she froze along a length of railing halfway down the ship’s deck. She stood stock-still, fidgeting, glancing left and right at the solid ring of zealots closing in on her.
“Wait!” one shouted, holding her hoof high. For some reason, her face was awash with concern, and she approached the foal slowly. “Do not be afraid. We will not hurt you.”
Kera’s face scrunched in confusion. She looked at herself, at the obvious weight of the tome beneath her cloak, and to how close she was to the edge of the ship.
“We never had planned for you to jump aboard our managlider in the first place--”
“Back the crap off!” Kera grunted, raising a bundle of the cloak and aiming it for the edge of the railing. “Or else!”
Everypony jerked still, staring at her with tense expressions.
“Just… just calm down,” a stallion said, waving his hooves. “No need to hurt yourself…”
“Buffalo biscuits!” Kera scowled. “You dudes don’t give a flying feather about me! You just want the stupid book back!”
“‘Flying… feather…?’” one murmured out loud.
“She’s been an audience to Austraeoh,” a mare grumbled, then turned to face her. “Look, child, we did not lose so many of our brothers and sisters just to have the book go to waste. You will hoof it over to us and you will do so now.”
“Oh will I?” Kera grinned evilly as she leaned closer to the ship’s edge.
The mare frowned. “The Relic is a construct of Angels and Prophets far more powerful than mortal kind. That book is impervious to damage.” Her eyes narrowed. “You, however, are not.”
Kera blinked. “What… wh-what are you trying to say?”
A stallion shuffled closer to the mare. “Sister, please, don’t--”
“Silence!” she hissed at the others. “We all know what Khao would do to all of us if we failed to meet the rendezvous successfully! This foal is expendable. The Relic is not.”
“But there has to be another way! Let’s just talk it out! There’s no need for--” The stallion froze.
The mare had frozen too.
Everypony grew pale with horror, their wide eyes staring into the west, past the port side, past Kera.
The foal blinked. “H-huh?!” Her eyes darted across each pallid expression. “What the heck’s going on around here?” Fidgeting, she twirled around… and then her eyes widened too.
A large gray shape loomed on the western horizon, casting a grim shadow over the forests below. With roaring propellers, a hulking battleship five times’ the size of the zealots’ manaship turned about, coming to face the Herald’s vessel directly.
“Blessed Angels…” A stallion stammered. “Ledo…”
“Ledomare!”
“Enforcers!” The mare spun and shouted towards the others. “Bring us back up! Get us cover--”
Twin beams of light flickered across the battleship’s hull. Seconds later, the sound of thunder reached them, followed by a loud whistling sound. And then a chunk of the manaship exploded.
“Unnngh!” Kera shrieked, her body sprawling across the deck as pieces of burning metal flew overhead. Screams and panicked hoofsteps rang out around her. The sky tilted as the vessel began reeling.
“Get the engines back online!”
“One of the skystone pylons took a hit! We’ll fly off course!”
“Whatever it takes to get away from them!”
“Gaugh! The deck’s on fire! I can’t get to the bridge!”
“Follow me to the starboard side! We’ll get in through another passage--”
Thunder rolled again.
“Incoming!”
“Brace for impact--”
The air whistled as two more cannonballs landed deep into the metal hull of the ship. The railing bent apart as strips of the deck flew into the sky with fiery debris. Half-a-dozen ponies were blown off their hooves. The mares and stallions plunged--screaming--into the green expanse below.
Kera watched with twitching eyes as the landscape around her began spinning.
“A second pylon’s been taken out! We’re d-down to one piece of skystone!”
“We have no other choice! We have to land this thing!”
“They’ll finish us off before we reach sea level!”
“Empty the portside steam vents! Maybe we can mask our descent!”
“Gaaaugh!” a mare screamed as a series of pipes exploded in her face. Her burnt corpse slid down the deck and rolled past Kera, falling into the twirling landscape below.
The air whistled again. All was wind and screams.
“Look out--”
A piece of the stern flew apart. The ship veered harder to its side, flinging Kera like a loose stone.
“Aaaaack!” she shrieked, flinging a hoof out and clutching onto the first thing she could. The foal dangled, gripping onto a loose bar of railing as the manaship reeled to its portside, dead in the air. “Unngh… oh please… oh please oh please oh please d-don’t slip…” She grimaced as the unthinkable began to happen. She could swear that the weight of the tome was the thing pulling her down, and she felt her sweaty hoof slipping gradually from the metal spoke, one centimeter per second. “Mmmmnngh… no… n-no!”
She slipped.
Kera screamed as she fell to her death--
A strong hoof flew down and grasped her by a length of cloak.
She gasped, eyes wide as she found herself hoisted up.
“Gotcha, kiddo!” A stallion pulled her into a strong embrace, then kicked at the sharply angled deck as he drew the both of them up onto an even chunk of debris.
The foal panted, clinging to the random zealot in the middle of the chaos. She glanced up at him.
He was a young pony, and a similarly panicked expression mirrored hers across his face. The wind kicked at his yellow-streaked mane.
“Brother Zaid!”
He turned towards the voice.
A mare waved from an upper deck. “Get her to the starboard side! We’ll grab steam riggings and fly off the ship in formation! Maybe we can outrun them… in… the forests…”
“Sister?” he stammered.
“They… they stopped firing.”
Kera and the stallion looked west.
Not only had the battleship stopped firing, but it had pivoted about so that its starboard side faced them entirely. There was the glint of something--like a mirror from far away--and the ship’s propellers came to a stop. Then, with a hum of manaengines, a skiff detached from the craft and glided towards them.
Several surviving zealots had gathered nearby, gawking in disbelief.
“What are they doing?”
“Should we fire on the raft?”
“You kidding?! One more cannon blast and we’re all dead!”
“Let’s… let’s just see what th-they want…”
The ship fell into cold silence.
The Ledomaritan skiff drew closer, closer. The shapes of lavender berets came into focus. Once the vessel was within shouting distance, several enforcers trained floating manarifles on every zealot within sight.
A mare trotted up to the edge of the shattered ship. “What… wh-what are your terms?”
“The Xonan.” The lead stallion waved his rifle and nodded towards Kera. “Give her to us.”
Kera ran a hoof across her tattooed face, blinking.
The zealots exchanged glances. They looked back at the soldiers. “But, we do not understand--”
The speaking pony was rewarded with a new hole in her head. She slumped down in a wet splash as her “brothers” and “sisters” gasped in horror.
“There is nothing to understand!” the Ledomaritan shouted, cocking his smoking rifle. “The child! Hoof her over! Now!”
Kera bit her lip. She felt the weight of the stallion behind her shifting. He eyed the enforcers warily as he stood up, gripped Kera in two strong hooves, and held her over the edge of the ship.
The skiff ran abreast the battered vessel. Two enforcers lowered their guns and aimed their horns towards Kera instead.
The foal gasped as she was telekinetically hoisted off the Herald’s vessel and onto the floating skiff. She was forced to sit between two uniformed unicorns. Almost immediately, the skiff drifted away, turned about, and glided due west towards the battleship.
The lead enforcer holstered his rifle and spoke into a glowing sound stone. “It’s done. We have the child.” He put the stone away, and once the skiff was a hundred meters away from the manaship, he spun his hoof wildly in the air.
Thunder boomed. Two burning streaks skimmed the air above the skiff. Kera hissed from the turbulence. She turned and looked over her cloaked shoulder.
One second, the battered manaship hung in the air. The next second…
Kapow!
The craft exploded in the center. With a shower of screams and bodies, the manaship broke into two parts. The burning halves plummeted towards the forests below, filling a chunk of the atmosphere with smoke and effluent manasteam.
Kera bit her lip, shivering as she clutched the weight of the tome under her cloak. Then, after suffering a frightening thought, she let go of the book altogether, instead choosing to smooth out the fabric of the robe, obscuring the shape of the secret book in her possession. Her heart pounded harder and harder as the skiff came to a slow glide, then moored with the hulking battleship.
"Unnngh!" Kera grunted, her hooves fumbling as she was shoved forcefully across the battleship's deck by three stallions. "Stop it! Stop shoving me, already!"
"Sir?" One enforcer ignored her entirely, speaking to the stallion directly behind her. "Should we search the wreckage or continue advancing east?"
"That ship wasn't our target."
"Then we are to leave the burning refuse alone?"
"I'll tell you once the Prime Enforcer tells me."
"Sir, the crew has waited long enough! When's he going to show his face, at least?"
"Patience, damn it!" The one stallion growled as he held Kera firmly with a telekinetic grip. The foal looked up to see a series of cabin doors, their windows reflecting dozens of nervous, emaciated stallions hard at work around the deck. "When the Prime Enforcer has a plan ready, I'll let you know! No sooner!"
"Mmmnngh... Aye, sir..."
The stallion knocked on the door to the cabin. Something muffled responded from within; Kera couldn't hear from the blood rushing through her head. With a burst of magic, the stallion opened the door and started pushing Kera.
The filly suddenly panicked. All she saw was shadow, and there was a rusted smell to the interior. A buzzing sound lit the far corners of the place, causing her heart to jump in fear. She tried galloping away, but only tripped on the folds of her extra large cloak. The weight of the hidden book pulled her down, and she collapsed onto the interior's floor with a grunt. "Ooof!"
Almost immediately, a quartet of pale, heavy hooves stormed across the cabin. "How dare you?!" An enraged voice shouted, causing the stallion who shoved Kera inside to flinch. "Is she some sort of lump of meat?! I told you that no h-harm was to come to her!"
"Sir, I-I apologize! But, to be perfectly honest, it's a miracle that we got her out of there in one piece to begin with! By the time you spotted her, the ship was already burning up!"
"It'll be a miracle that you live to see another day if you ever harm another child! Not on my ship! Not on my continent!"
Kera hyperventilated. She looked past the forest of legs and saw a bed in the corner of the dark place. She scurried over, slid, and squatted low beneath the mattress, shivering.
"Sir, again, I'm sorry..."
"This is about more than you or me. Or the crew."
"I know, sir, but the crew is what we need to get us to where we need to go. They're growing antsy, sir. Do... d-do we have orders?"
"Head east. Scan for skystone. Shoot anything we find."
"Uhh--"
"But look for children first this time!"
"But of course sir. And in the meantime, about gaining more rations—?"
"Are you deaf, enforcer?"
Silence. Then: "N-no, sir. I apologize, sir. We shall follow through with your orders."
"See that you do."
The younger stallion trotted out, closed the cabin doors with a creak, and cast the place into darkness.
Kera was still panting. She courageously attempted to stick her head out and get a better look at the place. As her horn brushed across the wooden floorboards, she noticed a distinct discoloration. While she glanced down, a series of candles happened to be lit that very moment. She saw several dark red stains in the woodwork. In the corner adjacent to her, a foreleg was lying on its side, and next to it she saw the ivory hint of bone: a set of teeth and two empty eye sockets. Flies were buzzing.
The foal gasped—swiftly slapping two hooves over her muzzle as she lay under the bed in wide-eyed silence.
Candle after candle, the room grew brighter. Shadows danced in a crimson hue. The floorboards creaked and creaked, getting closer. The hooves stopped. Silence. A stool grinded against the floor and came to a stop just a few feet away. Fetlocks shuffled into view. The stool shifted from the weight of an aged flank sitting down on it.
"You're safe now," a deep voice said. "Those amoral vagabonds won't hurt you anymore. I've actually stumbled upon their kind before. They attack Ledomaritan installations, disobey the queen, and malign the Spark. And yet... they are not the target with skystone that I was looking for. You see, it was an honest mistake, and though I am making a lot of those lately, I know I owe it to you to keep you well-protected. I'm... sorry that you got caught in the crossfire." Nervous silence. "Again..."
Kera's eyes darted left and right over where her hooves continuously clamped over her muzzle. Something glinted in the corner of her eyes. She saw a floating dagger and her body jumped against the hanging mattress of the bed.
"There are so many evil ponies in this world," he said, twirling the blade and lifting it somewhere beyond Kera's view. "So many treacherous souls. So many enemies of the state. I know that if I tried to find them all, I would be flying forever. You were right about that. I just... I d-didn't have the foresight to realize it before." The air filled with a metallic ringing noise, rhythmic and repetitive. "But that's all changed now. All I care for is my target. Once I have her, once I've thrown her back into the hooves of the Council, everything shall end." The noise echoed and repeated, adding a melodic tone to his otherwise dull voice. "I will stop chasing. I will come home. We can be together again."
White flakes littered the wooden floorboards. Kera glanced just beyond the edge of the bed. She flinched as a sliver or two fell closer to her nose, fluttering across the floor like stripped barks from a tree.
"I hope you do realize that I'm not mad at you. It's simply not something I'm capable of expressing. But you know that. I would like to think that you've always known that, but I can't speak for you." The blade was put away, and something slender levitated just within view from where the foal lay. She craned her neck to look at it, but all she saw was a hole carved through at the base. "But I intend to stay close to you... to keep you close... and maybe, just maybe, if I'm not capable of hate... then maybe—over time—I can learn how to love, or at least how to properly love. I know you deserve that. Every child does."
With a rattling sound, a length of beaded metal levitated towards the white object, threading through the hole at the bottom. A necklace was made, and only when the thing drifted up out of view did Kera realize it was a unicorn horn, snow-white and shaved of all its skin, and carved smooth at the base.
"It's the children who suffer the most. I realize that now, too. I promise that I will make you proud of me. I will do what I can to make sure that the biggest monster of all is put down... the very same monster who took you from me..."
Kera bit her lip. She looked around, and saw a space on the other side of the bed large enough for her to crawl through. On shuffling limbs, she inched her way towards it. Suddenly, though, her body glittered all over with expert telekinesis. She let out a slight shriek as she was hoisted out from beneath the bed and into the scarred face of an old stallion with a disheveled gray mane.
"Please..." He stammered with a quivering lip. "Believe me, Imre. I do feel. Even if all I feel... burns me up inside." A tear ran down his one good eye as his uneven breaths tickled the coat hairs of her tattoos. "But it's a good flame, one I owe to you. I thank you for that, and I pray... I seriously hope and pr-pray that you'll have the mercy to f-forgive me..."
Kera's wide eyes quivered. She glanced down at his dangling necklace, eying the pale horn. Its smoothely carved bone matter glistened in the candlelight between them. A synapse or two fired in the little filly's head, and she looked back up at him in time to murmur a reply.
"Of c-course, Daddy." She swallowed and spoke in a dry voice. "I-I forgive you."
Shell's face leaned to the side. His jaw flexed and unflexed, as if uncertain whether to produce a sob or a laugh. Ultimately, he hung his head and shuddered. "I... I will make it w-worth it for you, Imre." His head darted back up with pursing lips. "I..." He reached a hoof forward.
Kera flinched, but didn't fight it as he caressed her cheek, tracing the designs around her muzzle.
"I will m-make them pay for what they've done to you..." His breath had a heated stench to it as it suddenly growled. "I will make her pay for all that she's done. And then we will be a happy family together again."
Kera stifled a yelp as she felt herself being lifted up and across the room. The folds of a mattress beant beneath her petite weight. Blankets lifted up and over her and the book in her cloak. Before she realized what was happening, Shell leaned over and kissed her on the forehead before nuzzling her mane.
"Rest easy, Imre. If your mother was here right now," he said in a deep voice. "She would be proud of how strong you've become. I can only wonder if... if she would be proud of me for keeping to the promise I made—"
Just then, there was a heavy knock on the door.
Shell's head hung, his gray hairs tickling Kera's chin. His body shook, and when he spun about, he growled in another voice. "What in blazes do you want?!"
"Sir, I-I'm so sorry!" a stallion replied from the other side. "But there is a stormfront ahead. If we fly through it like the last one, we might suffer more structural damage!"
"And just what is it you want from me?! Am I a god of the weather now?"
"Sir, if you were to just look at the navigational charts, we have two or three alternate routes already planned."
Shell grumbled. He took a deep breath and patted Kera's forelimb through the blanket. "Just sleep for now, my beloved Imre. Later, we can share warm stories of home." Then, with a rattle of the horn necklace, he thundered his way towards the entrance of the cabin and flung the doors open to the bright world. "Fine. Take me to the navigation room. But need I remind you? The target doesn't brake for storms!"
"Most likely not, sir, but this will give us the advantage of surviving in one piece while she threatens herself and her whole crew—"
"She threatens her crew simply by existing, for I shall eradicate every bleeding heart that attaches itself to her. Now, let's be quick about this..."
The doors closed, shutting Kera in with the candlelight.
The filly was in the process of weathering a series of dry heaves. When she finally managed to shove the taste of bile back down her throat, she kicked off the bed and jumped onto the floor. The book shifted underneath her cloak, and she held it shut from swinging any further. Gnawing on her lip, she glanced up from the book towards the door, then back at where it hung.
A shudder escaped her lips as she spun about and ran along the length of the wall. She tapped the wooden boards in multiple places, looking for a sign of weakness in the structure. She momentarily tripped over something. Flies flew up in her face as her ears twitched to the rattle of calcified objects. Pressing on, Kera finally knocked a piece of wall paneling that resonated with a deep echo. There was a hollow space on the other side.
Casting one nervous glance over her shoulder, Kera turned back and aimed her horn at the panels. It took some concentrated effort, but she was able to rip the board off from its foundation. There was a slight creaking noise, but she succeeded. Crouching low, she crawled through the space and closed the plank behind her.
It was supremely dark inside the space, and after one single hoofstep, Kera fell about three feet. She shrieked, tumbled, and landed on an even plane. Taking deep breaths, she adjusted the folds of her robe and attempted to crawl forward. Parting the cloak a bit, she allowed a rune or two of the tome to peak freely. The lavender light illuminated a long path, skittering with spiders and rats. It led almost the entire length of the ship. Kera could hear the muffled sounds of clopping hooves, twisting machinery, and stallions' voices.
Weathering a shudder or two, she nevertheless crawled forward, creeping towards what she presumed was the stern of the vessel. It mattered little; all she wanted was to get out of there... and away from that room full of rust and flies.
Kera snuck her way down the central crawlspace in the heart of the Ledomaritan battleship. As she passed crossbeam after crossbeam, the flimsy hint of light danced through the thin spaces between the wall panels and floorboards. She passed a room with steam machinery, and her tangled mane flounced from tufts of mist hissing through the fine grooves. After that, she found a thin vertical space leading towards a lower part of the vessel. Using the book, she illuminated the drop below, eying the total height and its copious collection of cobwebs.
“Nnnngh… There’s gotta be a way off this stupid flying goose,” she muttered to herself. A cold chill ran through her shoulders. She glanced back the way she came. “I am so not spending the rest of this voyage with Captain Conniption Fit.”
So, with a deep breath, she flexed her limbs and jumped down the space. Stifling the urge to shriek, she cast her horn down and channeled a burst of magic into the wooden floorboards before she could land. The energy acted as a cushion, and she landed with relative ease, her ears picking up dozens upon dozens of muffled voices.
Kera judged that she was in a hollow wallspace between two separate crew quarters. The wooden corridor led in the opposite direction from which she had crawled down the upper level. Kera figured that she had access to the greater length of the ship now, seeing as she was below deck level and she had started in the cabin near the stern.
So, with gentle hoofsteps, she crawled her way towards the far end, unfurling her cloak every now and then so that the runes of the book would give her a forecast of the dusty sojourn ahead. She had to keep her hoofsteps slow and steady, or else the aging wood might creak under her meager weight. As she proceeded, she heard the muffled voices of crew ponies in greater clarity.
”...the second week in a row. You think he would have given us some express instructions from the Council by this point. Say, you remember those days? When the Prime Enforcer would actually brief us?”
”He’s got more pressing concerns…”
”Like what? Babysitting?”
”Huh?”
”What business does the stallion have with a tiny Xonan filly?”
”That was a filly?! I didn’t notice. I was too shocked that we hadn’t eliminated the target after all.”
”I know, right? I never knew so many ships piloted with skystone. That was the third one since we left Blue Nova. The source of propulsion is super rare material, isn’t it?”
”Heh, well it’s rarer now. That’s for damn sure.”
”Say what you want about the Prime Enforcer. He’s certain efficient.”
”I was gonna say ‘cold.’ When do you think he’s gonna level with us?”
”Beats me. I never signed up for a ‘secret mission.’ Sheesh… what I wouldn’t give to be allowed to send just one message to my beloved through sound stones.”
”I swear, everything’s changed since the Captain died. Evans is good and all, but I think he takes his position a little too seriously.”
”If you were the only stallion the Prime Enforcer talked to, you’d be super dead serious too.”
”Or just super dead.”
”Tell me about it. That foal doesn’t stand a chance.”
Kera gulped, finally crawling beyond earshot. As she proceeded down the corridor, she brushed past another muffled conversation to her right.
”...to do something. We’ll be running out of rations, and the morale is low.”
”Shhh! We agreed not to talk about this!”
”Look, I’m just being realistic!”
”You’ll be dead! You know who we’re dealing with!”
”No! No, I don’t! For Spark’s sake, he’s got everypony wound tight around his fetlock! And for what?!”
”My break is ending soon. I just want to make my bed, clean my gun, and get back to my post…”
”This is a wild goose chase! You know that, r-right?! The moron’s gonna take us straight into Xonan airspace and we’ll be blasted out of the heavens just like all those poor saps with the skystone!”
”Just what in Ledo’s name do you wish to do about it?!”
”He’s just one stallion. Just one. Think about it!”
”No. He’s just one stallion who has killed more mares, monsters, and airships than either of us will ever see in our lives. I’m not about to touch that, pal. You wanna prepare your own funeral, be my guest.”
”You see, it’s that sort of attitude that’s gonna be the end of all of us! I swear! Why don’t you agree with me?”
”Buddy, I’d rather be alive than sensible. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got…”
Kera exhaled once she was a good dozen paces away from the crew quarters. The shadows grew darker towards that end of the crawlspace, and she heard fewer and fewer voices. The air grew stuffier, and she sweated through to her cloak. Nervously, she approached the last few beams and leaned towards it, attempting to look through the seams.
She saw a supremely dark room. There was a dim, dim torch lit somewhere in the distance, as if in an adjacent hallway. It cast a slight sheen over the floor on the other side of the wall panels, illuminating a throng of randomly placed straws of hay. Kera took one inhale, and she nearly gagged at a horrible stench of mold and equine filth.
“Nnnngh! Jeez!” She waved a hoof before her muzzle. “Is this what I think it is?”
She shuddered, glancing back over her shoulder at the way which she came.
“Mmmf… buck it. I want out of this flying wooden casket.”
One panel at a time, she shuffled across the wall, pressing against each square inch with her forelimbs and shoulders. After ten minutes of scrutiny, she finally stumbled upon one panel in particular that creaked from her shoving limbs. Holding her breath, she shoved and shoved and finally kicked against it. The panel dislodged from its frame, opening slightly ajar. Holding her breath, Kera squeezed on through, dragging the length tails of her cloak along with her.
When she finally emerged into the room on the other side, she was surprised to find out that it wasn’t a lavatory. She stood up straight, blinking at her nearby surroundings. At last, as her eyes adjusted to the new layers of darkness, she noticed black bars erected before her.
It was a jail cell; she was in the brig.
Biting her lip, Kera trotted forward, feeling around until she found a hinge. Tracing the metal door up, she found a flat panel and shoved against it. A rattling sound echoed from the other side.
“The lock…” She squinted at the round, dangling shape. “Seems simple enough.” She licked her lips. “Guess these idiots forgot to design it for unicorns.” Her horn glowed, and with careful concentration she was able to fiddle the tumblers free from the inside out. With a victorious clicking sound, the lock feel free, thudding to the wooden floor. Kera pushed against the door, and the metal hinges squeaked hauntingly into the darkness.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the main corridor of the brig. She turned to face the dim torchlight from the far end, only to discover shadows arriving from the adjacent hallway.
“Oh crap!” She stammered, trotting backwards as a panicked hyperventilation filled her petite body. “WhatdoIdo? WhatdoIdo?”
Before she could even answer herself, a grimy pair of hooves flew out of the darkness like spider legs and clamped over her mouth.
“Mmmmmf!” Kera gasped, her green eyes wide as she was dragged back into the dark corner of the cell.
Kera shivered, her eyes darting left and right across the tiny dark cell.
The figure holding her from behind leaned forward, whispering into her ear. “The guards are coming, and they know that I can’t break it on my own.” As prophesied, hoofsteps came closer from the hallway adjacent to the brig. The dim lamplight was being blocked out altogether. “If they find it disturbed, they’re going to beat me up, and then they’re going to get ahold of you. Or even worse: they’ll throw you into the forelimbs of that monster.”
The filly gulped. With a glowing horn, she lifted the lock from a distance and clapped it shut around the handle of the cell door. As soon as she was done, the figure spun around, pressing the startled foal to the ground. The prisoner’s cloak and body obscured Kera completely from sight.
The guards arrived, accompanying a stallion from the mess hall. They leaned on the bars while the jittery pony in the center slid a tray full of moldy oatmeal through a space at the bottom of the cell.
“There you go, traitor. Prime leftovers, just the way you… well… guess it doesn’t matter if you like it or not.”
“Heheheh…”
“You should count yourself lucky. After all you did to those kids, we really should be feeding you rat droppings and nothing more.”
Kera bit her lip. The figure huddling with her said nothing, didn’t even move.
“Hey! Did you hear what I said?!”
“Pffft. Leave the filth be. Probably dead.”
They all trotted away.
“That’d be fine in my book. Not even sure what use we have anymore in the vagabond.”
“Well, Evans says that if we were to find the target--”
“Are you kidding? We’re never going to find the target at this rate. I just wanna be sure that that piece of crap is even more miserable than we are for the rest of this voyage.”
“Hah. Yeah, okay, I feel ya there.”
The footsteps faded in the distance. As soon as it was silent again, the figure let go of Kera completely. The foal scurried out of the folds of the pony’s cloak and planted herself--panting--against the edge of the cell, gawking at the figure.
“I know you want to get out of here. I share the sentiment.” The figure stood up. “Neither of us want to be here to begin with. You have incredible skills, however… I’ve been on this frigate far longer than you. I know a way out that you can take, but you have to take me as well.”
Kera gulped, narrowing her eyes. “And just what do you want in return?”
There was the faintest hint of a calm muzzle from beneath the adult’s hood. “For you to stay alive, darling. This is no place for a foal like you.”
Kera’s brow furrowed. She looked at the lock then back at the prisoner.
“Go ahead.” The pony nodded towards the cell door. “They won’t be back for a while. They get bored when I don’t respond to their heckling.”
Kera took a deep breath. Jerking towards the cell door, she telekinetically unlatched the lock and let it drop into a patch of hay in the corner of the room. No sooner had the bars swung open when the figure behind her was rushing forward, shoving the two of them into the dark corridor beyond.
“Gaaah!” Kera flinched, scuffling on loose hooves. “What are you--?”
“We have to be swift,” answered a hoarse voice. “I know the way out. Trust me.”
“Why?!”
“Because if you want off this vessel as well, then that means we are the only ponies who haven’t gone mad.”
Kera was silent. She scurried along with the figure, in and out of dark rooms and past dark corridors as they silently navigated the deepest, blackest niches of the ship’s underbelly. She paused only to fidget with the tome, making sure the book was staying safely in pocket of the Heraldite robe she was wearing.
At one point or another, the two had to pause as stallions galloped past a nearby hallway, carrying piles of ordinance over their spines. Once the coast was clear, the figure led Kera into a large room reinforced by metal beams positioned at forty-five degree angles. The walls were filled with racks holding bombs, shells, and cannonballs. The floor was curved, and Kera could spot a long seam down the middle.
“Where… where are we…?” Kera asked. She heard a ticking sound and realized that she had been so fixated on the room she hadn’t been paying attention to her stealth companion. “The heck is that sound?”
The prisoner shuffled over with a billowing cloak. “We need to hurry.”
“What for?”
“Best not to stay around and find out.” The pony began ripping a length of the cloak’s material, leaving only the hood and what looked like a scarf about the equine’s neck. With expert hoof movements, tying one length of fabric after another, two chutes were fashioned. “There. Crude, but efficient. The General wrote to me about such things in the field.”
“General?” Kera barked. “General who?!”
“Shhhh…” The prisoner reached over to a lever. “Let’s not make much more noise than we are about to.”
Kera blinked at the pony, then at a shelf where one of multiple mortar shells had been tilted to its side. It was ticking madly, and the middle-piece was slowly rotating counter-clockwise. The filly felt like shrieking, but then a bright light shimmered below, followed by a heavy gust of cold winds.
A bomb bay door was opening wide, revealing rivers and marshland below. The waters glistened in the sunlight, and somewhere the faint reflection of the looming battleship glistened.
“What gives?” Kera asked.
“It’s best that you hold onto me tight.”
Remembering the close shave in the cell, Kera nervously obeyed. “I don’t get it. What are you doing with all that fabric?”
The pony tied each sheet to a separate hoof. Soon, both chutes were dragging behind her. “You’re a clever pony. Need I really explain it to you?”
Kera frowned. “No friggin’ way! That crap isn’t supported enough to act like a parachute!”
“Right.” The prisoner patted Kera’s head. “That’s where your magic comes in.” And the two plummeted through the wide doors.
“Gaaaaaaaaaieee!” Kera shrieked. She held onto the adult’s body for dear life as the two fell like a pair of lopsided stones. A bright, bright world of madness and wind surrounded them. Somewhere, in the middle of the mayhem, she glanced up in time to see a large explosion rocking the belly of the battleship above.
“Effective misdirection!” Her companion shouted into the wind. After a gulping breath. “Now would be a g-good time, child.”
“Nnnnngh!” Kera’s tattooed face tensed up as she shot a vaporous beam of telekinesis into the lengths of fabric. The chutes opened wide, supported by the filly’s expert magic. Catching air, they slowed the pair’s descent, just like the escapee had obviously predicted. Overhead, the battleship hovered to a stop. Kera almost imagined the panic and fear going through the stallions attempting to put out the flames, but she needed to concentrate on the task before her.
Two minutes passed, during which the two descended in a brisk, cyclonic path. Kera felt the muscles of her companion shifting, obviously guiding the movement of the impromptu hangglider. The whole process was taking its toll on the filly’s head, and her horn was beginning to short out. Just as her face was getting covered in beads of sweat, her hooves struck soft grass, and so did the limbs of the prisoner with her.
“Ooof!”
“Unnff!”
The two went sprawling, rolling, and sliding to a stop. The fabric fell between them as they lay on the springy ground, attempting to catch their breaths. The battleship above was a distant, smoking speck. For all intents and purposes, they were free.
Kera was the first to sit up. She panted, clinging to the book under her cloak and looking at the spreading trees with hanging moss. All was crickets, mosquitoes, and babbling creeks as far as she could see. The stench of algae filled the air, and she felt like throwing up.
Just then, the prisoner stirred, standing up. “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it? I knew you more than had the talent to get us out of that--”
“Haaaugh!” Kera spun and shot a blast of magic at the voice.
The prisoner flew back six feet and landed in a nearby creek with a splash.
Kera stood up, frowning. “Shut up and cut the act!” she shouted. “I know who you are! I’m not stupid!”
“Mmmnngh…” The pony stood up, dripping. “Indeed. I never would have implied such. However, you are resourceful.” She disrobed, shaking a sopping wet mane loose. “You knew you’d stand a better chance with me than with those butcherers in the sky,” Nightshade said, her face calm and placid in spite of her many, many bruises. “I’m rather proud of your choice.”
“No duh, you are!” Kera stuck her tongue out. “All you’ve ever wanted was to chop off my horn and stick me into a brain-frying machine! And now you think you got me again, huh?! Well, go drown yourself! We’re off the stupid ship! I don’t need you anymore!”
“I don’t expect gratitude, child,” Nightshade said, disentangling herself from the last remnants of her cloak. “But is some recompense a little too much to ask for? After all, I’ve saved you twice from certain peril.”
Kera’s face scrunched up. “Tw-twice?”
“Just now from the Steel Wing, and years ago from the pitiful township of Lerris--”
“Hey! I had a family in that farm town!” Kera spat. “They may have been old and stuffy and boring but they actually gave a crap about me! Unlike you!” She stomped her hooves. “And they certainly wouldn’t have ripped my horn off and tried to turn me into a choir filly for science!”
“No, but you would have met a disfavorable end at some point,” Nightshade said, trotting slowly towards her. “The village was anything but the novel place to raise an adopted orphan like you. Smack dab between warfronts, it was a time bomb ticking… ticking for you. If the Ledomaritans reclaimed Lerris, they would have surely thrown you to the wolves. And if the Xonans captured the town, do you honestly think they would have welcomed a foal like you with open forelimbs? You’ve been tainted by the apostate filth of the heartless Queen. You’d be a slave to their sacred code in an instant.”
“Shut up! Just shut up!” Kera stepped back, glowing her horn threateningly. “We’re done! I have…” She gulped and clutched the hidden book in her grasp. “I-I have nothing more that you want…”
Nightshade stood still. “No. Perhaps you don’t. However, I have something that we both want.”
Kera was silent, frowning.
“A path to freedom, child.” Nightshade pivoted about. “These are the Blue Marshes. South of here, only two dozen miles’ distance, I have a facility named Moss Point. It’s abandoned, but there should still be a communicator array accessible. It’s a series of highly-advanced sound stones, purchased at no small price, mind you. Only I know the code for accessing the apparatus, and I intend to use it to order a ride out of here from the only trusted ally I have left.”
“Fine!” Kera shouted, grinning. “Go there! Get lost! I hope you trip and drown inside a swamphole!”
“And what of you, darling?” Nightshade glanced at her. “What are your plans?”
“Duh! I’m gonna go find Bellesmith and Rainbow Dash!”
“And just how do you expect to do that?” The mare’s eyes narrowed. “You’re just one filly with no food, no provisions, educated by city life with no knowledge of the marshlands. I know this place like the back of my hoof, and you don’t. Just how long would you last on your own? And with unthinkable creatures that prowl the swamps of this place at night?”
Kera bit her lip, trembling slightly. “I… I-I think I will take my chances.”
“You do realize that I’m incapable of magic, right?” Nightshade pointed at her broken horn. “We both know that you’re infinitely stronger than me, so how could I possibly do something to harm you?”
The filly was silent, her trembles increasing.
“All I offer is a way out of this mess that neither of us asked for, child.” Nightshade began trotting south, her hooves plodding through the wet mud and muck. “I think, after all that’s happened, it would help us both to know you’re someplace safe. It’s your choice.”
The mare trotted away, and Kera stood on her own. She looked over her shoulder. Suddenly, shadows of unnamed things appeared to be shifting beneath the glossy waters of the marshland. Mosquitoes buzzed louder and closer. The smoking battleship still lingered above.
With a prolonged moan, Kera produced and iron frown and waddled indignantly after Nightshade.
The mare spoke calmly without looking back. “We must stick to the trees,” she droned. “In case my distraction backfires, we need to make sure they can’t track us. Then, fate permitting, we’ll use the river currents to quicken our path.”
“A little more of the trotting and less of the monologuing,” Kera muttered, scowling at her own reflection in the creeks.
Rainbow Dash squinted… then squinted some more. She groaned inwardly as she attempted--however uncomfortably--to fly towards the setting sun. She looked over her shoulder.
Roarke was a few dozen feet behind, gliding at a slower pace, firing the thrusters of her suit every now and then in order to keep the distance from getting any greater between the two mares.
Grumbling inwardly, Rainbow Dash turned back towards the western horizon. She closed her eyes tightly shut, her bangs blowing in the cold breeze of the high mountain air. Through her closed lids, slightly to the left, she saw the faint touch of a lavender shape strobing like a lone firefly in the dead of night.
Reopening her eyes, she tilted her wings and pivoted slightly to the south. The air thundered from the sound of Roarke compensating with her thrusters. As the metal mare closed the distance some more, both ponies banked to the left and glided over several jutting mountain peaks.
Rainbow Dash fumbled through foliage, rustling past leaves and pine needles. At last, she reached forward through the outer layer of a dense forest and pulled down a thin branch. She gazed through the thin space she had made.
West, beyond the crest of a steep hill, a township lay. Several unicorn and earth pony shapes could be seen milling about from building to building, bartering and trading materials from all across the continent. Towards the north end of the village, a tall wooden tower loomed, and a small dirigible was hovering up to dock in place.
Rainbow took a deep breath. She turned and looked over her shoulder.
Roarke trotted up, her face and eye-lenses exposed. She glanced at Rainbow Dash inquisitively.
In response, Rainbow turned and stared intently at the township. She blinked several times, then pivoted her head towards the southwest.
The lavender light loomed beyond the hilly valley.
Rainbow Dash shook her head and pointed towards the southwest.
Roarke nodded, clapped her helmet off, and took off with a burst of rockets. Rainbow flashed the village a worried glance, but none of the ponies were looking up at the source of the noise. Sighing heavily, Rainbow let go of the branch, flapped her wings, and flew up, threading her way through the pine trees before ascending into the murky clouds along with her bounty hunter companion.
Stars twinkled above as Rainbow Dash and Roarke made their way west. A foggy overcast lingered beneath them, shifting and bubbling with every gust of high wind. The moon was starting to wane, but it was still bright. Two lunar shadows rolled along the cloudtops beneath them, like a second pair of flying ponies.
Rainbow Dash stared at them, and the dark grayness of it all began to blur. Shadows grew in her peripheral vision, and the constant roar of Roarke’s thrusters was becoming downright hypnotic. Her ruby eyes grew thin, and her head bobbed on several occasions. At last, she drifted downward, and her eyes closed. Her lips pursed and her wings started growing limp--
Roarke flew over suddenly and smacked Rainbow Dash upside the head.
The pegasus jerked in the air with a start, her ruby eyes wide. A pulse of light came from her pendant, and she hyperventilated in mid flight. Blinking, she eventually cast a glare to her left.
Roarke waved back, pointing down through the clouds.
Rainbow Dash shook her head furiously.
Roarke simply stared at her…
With a sigh, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings hard and flew faster.
Roarke watched her. A metallic groan rang through her helmet, and soon she was burning her fuel more swiftly to catch up.
Together, the pair pierced the clouds and skimmed several winding tributaries below. The flickering reflection of moonlight constantly stabbed at Rainbow’s eyes, annoying her, keeping her more alert.
In the glow of a pale sunrise, Roarke sat atop a stack of boulders. She had stripped off half her armor, and was busy ejecting the fuel manifold from the suit’s backplates. Reaching into the satchel Props had prepared for her, she grabbed a fresh canister and loaded it into the fuel intake.
With a deep breath, she looked down towards the crook of two trees lying in the shadow of the boulders.
Rainbow Dash was curled in a tight blue ball, hugging herself as terrible shivers wracked through her system. The mare’s teeth clattered, but not from cold. Her eyes squinted open, and they flickered red on yellow then returned to their normal ruby glaze. The pendant rattled around her neck, until the shivers eventually went away.
Exhaling heavily, she tried sitting up, but was too dizzy. With a frustrated grunt, she fell back onto the soft grass, looking like a slain sapphiric caterpillar. She hadn’t been sulking for long when a set of hooves trotted by, then dropped a bag of celery right in front of her muzzle.
Fighting nausea, Rainbow glanced up at her companion.
Without saying a word--or so much as looking at her--Roarke took of, testing the new fuel cells as she scouted out the western edge of the valley.
Rainbow blinked, then sighed. With a dull expression, she stuck her tongue out, hooked a stalk of celery into her mouth, and began lethargically munching on it.
The two bent south again, gliding over fields and riverscapes. The setting sun lingered to their right, casting shadows that threaded east past their majestic bodies.
As stream after stream flew beneath Rainbow’s eyes, she blinked a few times, then furrowed her brow. She glanced to her side, only to see Roarke glancing back.
Over a line of hilly ridges, a wide field stretched before them, broken by three rivers threading through it. However, the entire landscape was filled to the brim with giant wooden skeletons: the battered, weathered framework of dozens upon dozens of fallen zeppelins.
Rainbow Dash instantly recognized the Ledomaritan constructions. Even without any surviving banners, the make of their cannons and steam turbines brought instant jolts to her beating heart. No matter how hard she narrowed her vision, she couldn’t make out a single living body amongst the massive field of scrap.
As she and Roarke rounded another line hills, Rainbow finally understood the true age of the spectacle. Hundreds upon hundreds of skeletons were scattered abroad, their bones battered and strewn with the overgrowth of weeds and grass. Between the bodies lay rifles, poleaxes, and numerous other weapons rusted with time and neglect. Several equine skulls had fallen loose from their hosts, rolling downhill until they came to an eerie stop along riverbanks, where they resembled beached buoys bleached by the sun. Their horns stretched silently towards the sky like forsaken pikes.
The two mares flew further southwest, and the air filled with a rusted smell. In place of the dense wood, Rainbow saw fallen hulls of metal, like giant iron sarcophagi. The surfaces of these shells had become dull with age, but Rainbow got the distinct feeling that they all had once been painted a deep blue, like that color of a tropical ocean. Across the peeling surfaces, Rainbow spotted the hint of white bands, depicting what she could only determine was a giant serpent. This motif repeated itself across most of the derelict vessels lying beneath her, though she didn’t have many to go one. The number of crashed Ledomaritan zeppelins outmatched these by about four to one. What was more, there were no bodies to be found strewn about the southern wreckage.
With a pensive expression, Rainbow Dash gladly glided past the mess, threading her way past the edge of a ravine, then following the canyon as it carried the river streams along a westward bend. Roarke’s engines echoed across the steep earthen walls, drowning even the most sullen of the pegasus’ deep thoughts.
“Any luck on your end?” Rainbow Dash asked above the sound of the beating wind. “As soon as we fetch everypony’s favorite scamp, it’s gonna be just as long a journey back. It might be really, really cool if we could meet you guys somewhere halfway.”
”Scrkkk! Props is searching all over the Bronze District for one of her Uncle’s hidden warehouses,” Pilate’s voice said through the pegasus’ glimmering sound stone. ”According to her, he kept a stash of steamworks lying around for emergency use. It could be just what the Noble Jury needs to earn itself some temporary propulsion until we can afford to get the book back.”
“Yeah, if we get the book back,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she and Roarke pierced the morning sky over a sandy valley. They flew in a southwest direction, their bodies being pushed eastward by a swift wind. “The jury’s still out on that one. Uhm… no pun intended.”
”I, for one, intend to remain optimistic. So is Props; she’s hardly had any sleep, the poor pony. When she isn’t looking for Prowse’s abandoned supplies, she’s performing menial tasks around the Bronze District with Simon for bits. We still have a backup plan to buy ourselves better transportation if we have to, but it’s not easy with the economy of this floating city.”
“If anypony can deal with finances, Pilate, it’s you, buddy,” Rainbow Dash muttered, her eyes squinting against the wind. “Heck, while you’re at it, maybe Ebon could deliver pizza for a few extra bits.”
“Funny you should say that. Ebon has offered his services to a few culinary places around here. He hasn’t been able to bring us much, but every little bit helps.”
”I know it may not feel like it, Rainbow Dash, but we are all in on this together. You’re doing your part, and we’re doing ours. Even Josho.”
Rainbow winced. “What in Celestia’s name is he doing for money, as if I really want to know…?”
”Well, he’s not killing anypony, for one.”
“Heheheh… Yeah, okay.” Rainbow Dash smiled. After a few breaths, she bit her lip, then stammered, “Pilate?”
”Yes, Rainbow?”
“How… h-how is Belle holding up?”
The zebra’s voice sighed heavily on the other end. ”She keeps herself busy. Since Ebon hasn’t been around, she and Eagle Eye have been working on daily meals in the mess hall. She’s also kept Floydien company, since the elk hasn’t been in that good of a mood following the pilfering of his--erm--Nancy Jane.”
“But, like… is she in good spirits? At all?” Rainbow gulped. “Is she smiling?”
”Not a day goes by that I don’t wish that I could see her beautiful, smiling face, Rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Yeesh. Sorry, Pilate. Slipped my mind.”
”It’s perfectly fine, Rainbow. She is doing much better than she was two days ago. She has faith in you, as do I. But remember, Rainbow…”
“Yeah…?”
”Do what you can to save Kera, to salvage the book, whatever. But come back to us in one piece, okay? And Roarke as well. The last thing we need is for more of our beloved companions to fall into the hole that this wretched Herald has made.”
“We’re coming back with Kera or we’re not coming back at all, Stripsey.”
”Rainbow. You’re heading in a direction that is unnatural to you. We both know that.”
Rainbow bit her lip.
”Just be careful. We miss Kera terribly, but we miss you as well. This world wouldn’t be worth exploring with your colors gone.”
Rainbow smiled painfully. “Coming from a blind stallion, that’s a pretty adorable compliment.”
”Wrong A-word, good friend. Signing out. Scrkkk!”
Rainbow Dash sighed and slid the sound stone back into Luna’s saddlebags.
“Well, he sounded chipper,” Roarke muttered from a few blurring feet away. “For a breeder who’s having to console his hysterical mare.”
“Jee. How sympathetic of you,” Rainbow Dash droned. “I liked it better when you were quiet.”
“The target is still southwest of us?”
“It’s… kind of bending almost directly south now,” Rainbow said, squinting towards the horizon in question. “And what’s more, it’s somewhat lower.”
“Lower?”
“Yeah. Like somepony’s carrying the book on hoof.” Rainbow’s jaw clenched. “I bet they landed somewhere. Or maybe they’re in a cave.” She sighed heavily, her eyes dull and lethargic. “Goddess above, they’d better not be in a friggin’ cave…”
Roarke’s helmet glinted as she looked straight down. “Or perhaps they plummeted into the ground.”
“Don’t you think the book would have been torn to bits if that happened?”
“I do believe we are about to find out.” Roarke pointed down.
“Hmm?” Rainbow glanced at her, then at a patch of sand below. Her jaw dropped, and her ruby irises turned to pinpricks. “Oh no. Oh no no no no no no--!” She dove down like a blue anvil.
“Rainbow!” Roarke exclaimed, then groaned as she pivoted her thrusters and glided after her.
Rainbow was panting, hyperventilating. Her body whistled through the air, and it was only when she was less than ten feet from splattering into a bloody pulp that she pulled up, landing on four weighted hooves as her mouth hung agape. She took a few uncertain steps forward, her lips quivering. The shattered stalk of a skystone pylon reflected off her eyes.
Roarke landed on the edge of the wreckage. She opened her helmet, gazing at the remains of the Heraldites’ ship with pistoning eye lenses. The silence of the moment was like a wintry holocaust, and she melted it when her voice droned, “The hull is charred in several places. Looks like a fire caused by cannonfire.”
Rainbow Dash said nothing. She stood dead-still, her eyes moist.
Roarke paced around the strewn pile of debris. “I do believe this ship was shot down. However it came down, it obviously fell from a great height--”
“Look! Shut up! Will you just shut up for a second?!” Rainbow Dash galloped frantically about the craft, her breath coming out in rapid little squeaks. “K-Kera?!” She circled and circled the mess, her ears twitching involuntarily against the wind. “Kera! Kera, do you hear us?!”
“Rainbow…”
“We’ve come to rescue you, Kera!” Rainbow Dash picked up an errant plank of metal and lifted with all her might. “Nnnngh! Just g-give us a shout! Where are ya, girl?!”
Roarke slapped a hoof over Rainbow’s forelimb. “If she was in a crash this horrible, she wouldn’t have the throat left to answer you with.” Her brow furrowed. “Much less a spine.”
“Grrghh!” Rainbow Dash shoved her back. “What do you know?!” she spat, fuming. “You’re an expert on killing ponies! Not saving them!”
Roarke stared at her, frowning. “And was what I did with Imre murder? Or with you? Or with all the breeders you call friends?”
Rainbow Dash seethed… seethed… then spun away, gripping her forelimb. “Nnnngh-Graaaaugh!” She slumped to her belly, shutting her eyes tight as hot breaths slithered in and out of her clenched teeth. “Mmmmf… Celestia… Celestia, please.”
Roarke turned from her. With a rattle of her mane’s braided ringlets, she trotted slowly, calmly about the craft.
“I know I keep asking for help… but help me…” Rainbow gulped. “Help Kera. Please.” She gritted her teeth. “I’m so sick and t-tired of losing friends…”
“Keep praying to your pretty princess sky god,” Roarke muttered. “But do it quietly. I’m attempting to concentrate.”
“On what?!” Rainbow snapped.
“Hmmmm.” Roarke’s lenses pistoned out while she pressed a hoof to a crystal diode on her left armored sleeve. “What indeed.” A red beam shot out of her suit and scanned a patch of sand just south of a chunk of wreckage that was still intact.
“Come on!” Rainbow Dash jumped up, still breathless. “If you know something! Spill it! I’m coming apart at the seams here!”
“That much is obvious,” Roarke droned. “And it’s not so much that I know something, but that am coming close to an educated hypothesis.”
“For the love of oats, girl! Less eggheading and more metalheading!”
Roarke’s nostrils flared. Nevertheless, she pointed at the debris. “This part of the wreckage didn’t suffer as much damage. It’s possible that ponies located in this area of the ship weren’t killed upon impact.”
“And how would you know?”
“Because…” Roarke stepped aside so that Rainbow Dash could see blatant tracks in the soft sand. “Hoofprints. Somepony walked away from this.”
Rainbow’s breath left her. She blinked her eyes dry. “No way…”
“And that’s not all.” Roarke pointed at a pair of lines following the hoof tracks. “They were dragging something. Perhaps a makeshift sled.”
“Carrying salvaged stuff?”
“Or maybe fellow survivors.” Roarke pivoted to face the pegasus. “Whatever the case, somepony lived through this mess. And they might know what caused the Herald’s ship to meet its less-than-glorious fate.”
“Or what happened to Kera…” Rainbow Dash murmured.
“The tracks lead due west,” Roarke said. “Are you still seeing the lavender book south of here?”
Rainbow Dash flung the horizon in question a glance and spun back. “Uh huh.”
“Curious…” Roarke exhaled. “If somepony had carried the book away from this wreck, I would have found their tracks with my scanner. This place doesn’t look like it’s seen much precipitation in over a week, and this wreck could only be four days old, tops. I think whoever attacked them may have taken the book.”
“So, like, it could be in the hooves of air pirates or Xonans…” Rainbow Dash paused to wince. “Or Ledomare.”
“Rainbow, if we wish to power up the Noble Jury, we have to get that book back at all costs,” Roarke said. “Without it, our ship can’t even hope to pass through Xonan territory in one piece.”
Rainbow Dash glanced south, then at the tracks leading west. She winced, shuddered, then stomped her hooves down. “No! We gotta find out if Kera’s still alive! We owe it to her! We owe it to Belle and Pilate.”
Roarke sighed long and hard. “How did I know that you were gonna say that…?”
“Come on, girl!” Rainbow Dash took off without a second’s hesitation. “You’re the resident bounty hunter extraordinaire! Let’s find this crazy cultist as quickly as possible!”
“Theoretically, it shouldn’t take long.” Roarke thrusted after her, echoing the noise of burning engines into the air. “Considering that they’re on hoof and we’re tracing them from the air.”
“Not everypony can move at the speed of awesome.”
“Almighty Searo,” Roarke said in a dull tone. “I stand corrected on that one…”
“I believe it would be a far wiser thing to let me take point,” Nightshade said.
Kera frowned, marching ahead of the mare as the the two trotted south along the steep west bank of a rapidly flowing river. “There’s no point to prove. In fact, I’d like it better if you didn’t talk at all.”
“No, I said ‘take point,’ meaning to march in front of you.” Nightshade gestured towards the dense line of trees lingering ahead of them. “After all, I know where we are going, and it would be best that I be the first to bear the brunt of any dangers that may lay before us.”
“All we’ve dealt with so far have been a few snakes and a bunch of bugs,” Kera grumbled, trying not to trip on the brown fabrics of her cloak. “I really don’t think it makes a difference.”
“I simply do not want you to get hurt while I’m around to look after you--”
“Darn it!” Kera spun to seethe at the mare. “Stop pretending like you give a crap about me!” She trotted backwards with a sneering expression. “I know what your game is!”
“Do you now, child?”
“You want to snap my horn off and hook me up to a machine so that you can learn about an ancient ringworld that belonged to a bunch of dead pegasi!” Swiveling about, Kera faced south, trotting a little bit faster this time. “Well, it ain’t happening!”
“You’ve obviously have no grasp of the big picture at hoof, little girl,” Nightshade said. “I am far beyond the capacity of hooking anypony to anything.” Her nostrils flared as her haggard face gazed into the raging rapids below. “I’ve been branded an outlaw, had all my assets seized, and every ally west of the front alienated.”
“Then just where the heck are we headed, anyways?”
“I still have scattered facilities spread throughout the continent,” Nightshade said. “Hidden laboratories, supply caches, communication arrays…”
“And brain tubes, huh?” Kera gnashed at her teeth. “Bet you can’t wait to turn me into one of your drooling information slaves.”
“I have sequencing chambers hidden in key places as well. But they are of no use to me, now. Besides, unlike my supply stations, their locations have likely been compromised the very moment the Ledomaritan Enforces infiltrated my headquarters.”
“So, sucks to be you, lady.”
“I’m more resourceful than you think,” Nightshade replied. “My family would never have amassed fortunes in the first place if we didn’t have a set protocol for salvaging a worst case scenario. I was prepared to move all of my belongings and closest associates to a place of safety before the Council of Ledo caught up with me, but--alas--a living pegasus and her accomplices wrecked everything I had ever put into motion.” She sighed. “But all is not lost. I still have friends in the military. Even if they can’t save this continent, they can give me sanctuary until I can think up a new way to bring about a benevolent revolution.’
“You’re still on that garbage, huh?!” Kera scoffed, smirking over her shoulder. “Give it up, lady! You’re washed up! There ain’t nothing to fight for!”
“My brother is still alive,” Nightshade murmured, her face solid and eyes piercing. “Novus now lies in the hooves of heartless fascists, and at any moment his life could be made forfeit… if it hasn’t been already.” She bit her lip, but persisted in her gait. “I mustn’t give up hope. None of us should give up hope.” She gazed ahead. “Even you, child, could have a future. Once I get back on my hooves, I can even give you a solid livelihood--”
“Buck off!” Kera growled, glaring back at her. “Seriously! You’re no pony! You’re a creepy, creepy cow that lost her horns in a straight jacket accident! I don’t want no part of you!”
“And just who will provide you a better future? Hmm?” Nightshade tilted her head aside. “Dr. Bellesmith? Her disabled beloved? That audacious pegasus pathetically attached to them? They’re fugitives of the state, child. Everypony swearing allegiance to the Queen wants nothing less than to murder them and mount their heads on a zeppelin’s bow. This far out, their only escape route is through Xonan territory, and if you think those religious fanatics are any more merciful than the Queen’s Army, you are sorely mistaken.”
Kera bit her lip, gazing down at her hooves as they scuffed along the rough edge of the river bank.
“That is hardly a healthy lifestyle for anypony, much less a young filly who’s still growing up… and with such marvelous gifts to boot.” Nightshade’s voice carried over the rippling of cold water below. “You think I only meant to rob something from you. What worth is a horn? It’s the mind that’s worth being stimulated, so that the knowledge can free the spirit inside. So many ponies for so many decades have been focused on the exterior, on might, on the savage thrust of a sword, when we should be seeking to enrich what is inside. You could very easily have partaken in that enlightenment, but you choose to ally yourself with total vagabonds.”
“Enough…”
“As if the only ponies you can afford to love are those stuck to the lost streets of this world--”
“Will you shut it already?!” Kera turned back, trotting blindly forward. “I don’t want to hear another word until we get to that communication array! And once we get there, you’d better call me a ride to Grey Smoke.”
“Grey Smoke? What an interesting choice. Somepony you know there?”
“None of your business--” Kera slipped. “Aaaaie!”
“Look out, child!”
Kera fell down the steep bank. Her cloak billowed and her body spun head over hooves. She slammed against a mound of dirt, bounced off an exposed tree branch, and plunged deep into cold, cold water. The rapids surged all around her. She flailed her limbs wildly, trying to reach the surface of the rolling currents. She finally found dry air, bobbing upside down. Rolling over, she gasped and sputtered, struggling to keep her chin above water as the stream carried her violently forward.
Up above, Nightshade was shouting something. Through the filly’s peripheral vision, she thought she saw the streak of a pale body with a dark mane.
“I.. c-can’t… c-can’t…” Her muzzle was dragged under. Her body spun and rolled before bobbing up again. Her breaths came in panicked gasps, with the bone-chilling water threatening to spill down her throat and drag her at any second. The cloak weighed a ton by this time, with the tome-shaped bulge acting like a lead anchor. Kera found herself fidgeting between desperate dog-paddles and foolish attempts to keep the book from surging out of her grip.
The cold knifed into her skin, and soon her nostrils were surrendering to the splashing rapids. Bubbles and bubbles and more bubbles exploded around her. Kera sank into a deep darkness, her eyes rolling back as she surrendered to the submerged grave.
One beats. Two beats. Three beats. Four beats.
Warm air flew down Kera’s throat.
She thrashed like a fish. Her head arched up as her esophagus vomited up river water. Following that, the filly coughed, sputtered, and wheezed for breath. At last, delicious oxygen filled her lungs, and she curled up into a fetal position, quivering all over. “Mmmmmph… B-Belle… Belle…” Tears squeezed out of her eyes as she lifted her shivering head, squinting at an ultrabright grassy knoll on the edge of the winding stream. “Where… how…?”
Her gaze spun about, and she caught sight of Nightshade’s concerned face.
“You’re alive. Hmmm…” Nightshade tilted the filly’s chin up. “Resilient.”
The filly gasped and jerked away from her. Shivering, she realized she was naked, then flashed a look to her side. Her sopping wet cloak lay in a damp heap. She scurried over towards it, fell, and resumed her gallop. Sliding to a stop, she felt the bundled mess of fabrics.
“Well, at least we know you’re still healthy.” Nightshade stood up. “See what I said about allowing me to take point?”
Kera was too busy feeling the damp fabric. To her relief, the book-shaped lump was still there, hidden between the mass of Heraldite material. She collapsed on the grass with wheezing breaths, relishing in the touch of golden sunlight.
Nightshade sighed heavily. “Right. Well, while you recover, I’ll go search the nearby area for food. However, I insist that I lead the way from now on. It’s only the smartest choice, yes?”
Kera squinted at her, biting her lip. “Why…?”
“Hmmm?”
“Why’d you d-do it?” the filly repeated.
Nightshade actually looked hurt. “What kind of monster do you take me for?”
“...”
Shaking her head, Nightshade silently trotted away, leaving the filly to her own wet thoughts and shivers.
Pilate tilted his head about from where he sat in the Noble Jury’s navigation room. “I beg your pardon?”
“That’s where my Uncle Prowse went!” Props hopped up and down in place. “Wooohoo! Yeah! Go Uncle!”
“I do apologize, Miss Props, but… uhm…” Pilate pivoted about and leaned forward. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. Kingdom of… Zab… Zabuu…”
“Zabubadabu!” Props insisted with a frown. “It says so right here!” She waved a sheet around, then blushed. “Oh. Right. Ahem.” She yanked the stallion closer. “Get your knowledge ball out.”
“Gaaah! Well… if you insist!” The zebra cleared his throat, concentrated, and levitated the O.A.S.I.S. sphere. The device scanned the sheet as the runes along his metal brow flickered. “Where in Spark’s name did you find this?”
“I remembered that Uncle Prowse had a partnership with the Upper Bronze Iron Welders! Traditionally, Sooters around these parts share storage lockers, and their joint container hadn’t been opened in months! That meant it was untouched since before I got captured by the Lame Mares! So, I trotted up there with Ebon Mane and we had a look-see. Sure enough, a bunch of my Uncle’s stuff is there! Including a few steam parts, a bit bag with two hundred gold, and this here map!”
“It certainly appears to be… uh… a diagram of sorts,” Pilate said. “But a map? I do find that to be a bit of a stretch.”
“Oh come on, Stripesey! Don’t tell me you can’t see the path to the magical Kingdom Zabubadabu!”
“Miss Props, it isn’t even labeled with that name, much less any title whatsoever.”
“I know one of my Uncle’s obsessive map sketches when I see it!” Props slapped the sheet with her other hoof. “For years upon years, he’s asked ponies from far and wide about this old, old kingdom where the streets were made of silver and the foundation fashioned out of pure manacrystal! According to folklore, Zabubadabu was an immaculate utopia, a work of engineering genius! I mean, the city’s sheer weight in silver has got to be four times the entire fortune of the rest of the world!”
“I… fail to see what any of this has to do with our current plight.”
“Don’t you get it?! My Uncle was always rambling on about this maretropolis, about living long enough to find it someday! It was always an archaeologist’s dream of his to land himself in the city and be the first pony in eons to take a survey of the fantastical place!”
“I thought your Uncle was an engineer.”
“Yup! And he was an archaeologist, a pediatrician, and a bricklayer on the side!” Props blinked, smiling. “And sometimes she flipped the switch!”
“Er… flipped what switch?”
“Anyways, it makes perfect sense why left now!” Props sing-songed. “He must have finally found the kingdom! I mean, this map is the most advanced sketch of the place I’ve ever seen, and this was last updated months ago! Who’s to know how many more discoveries he’s made since?!”
“And you think this whim was enough for him to have completely abandoned his way of life here?”
“Well, Uncle Prowse sure did get bored easily, and he was always wanting a break from the boring clang-of-clang of wrenchwork. So, like, maybe my disappearance was the last straw that broke the seagull’s beak, and he decided to take the first lead that came to him!”
“That’s a touching thought, sad even, but still purely hypothetical.”
“Just think of it! If he’s out there somewhere, looking for the Zadubadabequines, then that means we may still be able to find him! I mean, check out this legend with your brain balls!” Props grinned as she pointed emphatically at the side of the map. “This is totally east, right?! When Rainbow Dash comes back with Kera, we could swing by, pick my Uncle up, and enjoy the spoils of his discovery together! Heck, maybe we could buy our sexy way out of Xona! Huh? Huh?!”
“First thing’s first, Miss Props,” Pilate said, lower her hooves with a gentle forelimb. “I know how desperately you wish to find your Uncle. Don’t forget, there’s somepony very close to me and Belle whom we’re trying to relocate at the moment as well.”
“Oh, I know! And I think the gold that I found in Uncle’s stash should be enough to get us a steam manifold for Nancy’s naughty bits!” Props giggled as she galloped towards the stern. “Heee! This is so great! First, we save the foal, then we track down Uncle, then a bunch of question marks, then profit! Heee hee hee!”
As the mare scampered down the thin hallway, she nearly ran over Josho. The stallion slid to the side, blinked, and trotted into the Navigation room. “And just what’s stuck in her moist craw?”
“Miss Props has found a way to acquire a steam manifold for us, which is fantastic progress.”
“Is that why she’s laughing out both ends like a jester with gas?”
“And… uhm… she believes she may know where her Uncle has gone.”
Rainbow Dash squinted, then squinted some more. She leaned back from where she perched on a hilltop, surrounded by dense shrubbery.
Roarke spoke. “It’s a village--”
“I can see that it’s a village!” Rainbow Dash grunted, pointing at a cluster of buildings huddled around a bend in the river. A bridge connected two halves of a bustling marketplace while wooden riverboats rolled in and out of the densely packed docks. “But, like, who does it belong to? Ledomare? Xona? Psychopathic cultists with the thirst for random violence?!”
“I think it’s simply what it looks like, Rainbow Dash,” Roarke droned through her helmet. “It’s a trading village on the river. There are dozens more just like it all across this part of the continent. Locals traverse the multitude of streams between here and the Southern Ocean, carrying spices and farming tools on riverboats.”
“And you’re sure this is where our target ended?” Rainbow Dash asked, glancing down at the soft earth where the hooftracks had ended, along with the twin grooves of a dragged sled. “What if he or she took a riverboat from here? If so, they could be anywhere north or south of us!”
“I doubt that very much.”
“Why so?”
“What these ‘Heraldites’ possess in steam tech, they appear to lack in gold. And a piss-poor religious zealot on a mission to woo a prophesied pegasus doesn’t make good hitchhiking material. Besides, the ponies of these marshlands aren’t known for their hospitality. More than likely or not, our misfortunate little survivor was robbed blind, and his body left beaten in a ditch somewhere.”
“Well, that settles it, then.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and began hovering. “Let’s go scanning for ditches--”
Sighing, Roarke hooked a cable of metal around Rainbow’s tail and yanked her back down to earth.
“Owie!”
“I didn’t mean literally, ‘Harbinger.’ Realistically speaking, he’s probably being held somewhere against his will. They’ll likely try to put his body to good use, like selling him to slave traders the next time they paddle up to the market here.”
“Yeesh.” Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Y’know, you ponies have some serious problems with that kind of junk this far east.”
“I never said I was the biggest fan of the circumstances, though they have done quite a bit to assist my lucrative efforts in the past.”
“Spoken like a true flankhole.”
“Cute.” Roarke pivoted and motioned towards a three-story wooden building affixed to a rotating water mill. “I suggest we go there first.”
“Where? The mill?”
“It was likely something to that extent decades ago, but judging from the elaborate facade, I do believe it’s been converted to a tavern of sorts.”
“A tavern…”
“Yes.”
“Why a place that serves drinks, huh?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not hopping off some invisible metal hiccup wagon, are ya?”
“If we stand to risk losing our target, it’s best that we question those who may be responsible for his or her disappearance. And there’s no better place to do that than where all shifty and morally-bankrupt characters congregate.”
Rainbow Dash stared, blinked. “The post office?”
Groaning, Roarke stood up. “Fine. Stay here and make jokes, I’m going to go knock answers out of a few skulls.”
“Whoah whoah whoah…” Rainbow Dash held a hoof on the mare’s metal shoulder. “You can’t seriously be expecting to just march in through the front saloon doors in all that junk you’ve got hanging off your flank!”
Roarke’s head pivoted towards the side. “Why not? I’ve done it before.”
“Oh yeah?!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “And just how many of those places were still standing by the time you were done doing your business?”
Roarke stared off. She shrugged as her voice rang through the helmet. “One or two of them didn’t burn to the ground… that badly.”
“Yeah, uhm, I know we’re desperate to find out what happened to Kera and all, but I’m not about to raise discord over the bodies of a bunch of clueless yokels!” Rainbow Dash pointed down at the tavern. “You yourself said that these aren’t exactly the hospitable bunch. What guarantee do we have that they won’t just try and tear you to pieces and sell your parts to sky pirates?”
“I think my incendiary missiles might have an argument with them.”
“Yeah, and that’s the kind of stuff I want to avoid!” Rainbow Dash growled. “For all we know, Kera herself may even be in there! What if we accidentally hurt her?!”
“I think you’re overthinking this.”
“And I believe you’re underthinking this, Doarke most Rare!” Rainbow scowled. “Can we keep the body toll to a minimum, please?”
Roarke sighed, shaking her head. “Just what is it that you want from me, Rainbow…?”
“Do what you do best!” Rainbow blinked, then winced. “I-I-I mean what you do second best! Use your brain! Find us a way to get in there so that the guys and gals hanging out will wanna talk the trade instead of bash our brains in! Cuz there’s a whole lotta the latter going on, and it’s driving me bananas!”
“Can’t we just let me do an aerial bombardment?” Roarke droned.
“Over my dead body!” Rainbow barked.
Roarke leaned forward. She tapped the tip of her helmet in thought. “Hmmm… that’s not such a bad idea.”
Rainbow blinked. “What.”
“And then…” A red-faced earth pony teetered on his stool, spitting across the hazy air of the tavern. “I said, ‘Girl, if you could fit an entire trout up there, why’d you dump me in the first place?!’ Hah hah hah!”
The pony next to him slammed his mug into the stallion’s laughing face. The first pony gargled on his juices and fell to the ground in a twitching spasm. “Unnngh… What an insult to trout.” He turned and slapped the counter top. “Bartender! Another beer! This time with less blood in it!”
Just then, the tavern doors busted open from behind.
Two dozen unsavory figures swiveled about in their seats, squinting over ale froth and tobacco smoke.
Roarke stood in the doorway, and she had a body slumped over her spine. “What are you breeders looking at?!” she hissed through her helmet, trotting forward on heavy horseshoes. “I’ve just made the catch of my life, and I’m waiting here for my client to arrive. Any of you wastes of sperm touch the merchandise, and I’ll send your skin straight to Searo’s grave for the Goddess’ ethereal foals to suckle on.”
“Oh no…” Rainbow Dash muttered, her bored eyes gazing past her quadruply bound hooves. “I am so totally captured. This is the worst thing in the history of everything.”
“Quiet, you!” Roarke shrugged her shoulders, tossing Rainbow Dash like a wet slab of meat over the end of the bar.
“Ooof!” Rainbow Dash turned and squinted angrily at the metal mare. “Hey, watch it--Mmmmf!”
Roarke had shoved an empty mug between Rainbow’s gaping jaws. “As you can see, she’s a chatty one. Ledomare wants to pay a Queen’s fortune for her, literally, though I don’t know why.” She sat down, opening the panels in her shoulderplates so that everyone within glaring distance could see the glinting shape of her housed missiles. “Chased her down a quarry eel cave and fought her in a cesspool of reptile filth. Not sure what the featherbrained fool was doing down there to begin with. Heh. The bitch apparently loves caves.”
“Mmmfmmmf-Mmmmff!”
“No, I did not mean that metaphorically!” Roarke punched Rainbow’s chest, causing the pegasus to wheeze out through her tight nostrils. “Nnnngh!” She slammed the bar counter again. “Where’s my blasted drink?! Do I have to piss first before I’m allowed to get some nectar down my gullet?!”
“Here you go, uhm… tr-traveler,” the bartender stammered as he slid a container over.
“That’s more like it.” Roarke raised the mug and opened her helmet so she could take a sip with her naked lips. “Hmmmfff… Tastes like river runoff, but that’s to be expected for a minnow pond like this. Oh well. It’ll suffice until I get to sample the white wine I’ll be rewarded with after finishing this job.”
A half-dozen stallions had already gathered around the mare and her captured “bounty” by this time. One whistled, smirking at the sight. “That’s some crazy stuff right there. A winged pony? Bartender, I think you poured something special into my last mug.”
“Your eyes don’t deceive you, breeder,” Roarke murmured, took another sip, and sighed. “Though, with how lonely it is in these marshlands, I’m surprised you haven’t done anything to go blind by now. Bet you and your scummy brothers here keep each other company, huh?”
“You only get to poke fun at me because you’ve got the missiles to match that mouthy muzzle of yours,” the stallion retorted with a frown. “I’m a respectable businesspony around here, and I gotta say--this is about as exotic as it gets.” He trotted closer. “Tell me. Just what are those beret prancing Queen nuzzlers paying you for this, huh?”
“If you want in on the score, you’re dreaming, runt.” Roarke finished her mug and slapped it down onto the counter. “I know she’s a fat one, but I’m the one who reeled her in and I’m the one collecting the score.”
“Well, that’s too bad.” Another stallion leaned in, smelling of cigars and spit. “A mare of your talent can obviously get the job done, especially if it means chasing down brightly colored gooseponies. Tell me…” He rubbed his moldy cheek, smirking. “You ever thought of getting into the trafficking business?”
“Nope. It’s just bounties for me,” Roarke said. “Unless you know of any wanted equines around here, I’m moving on to far more luxurious prospects.” She spun her empty mug around, then blurted, “Still, a little bit of slave-trading on the side could be nice for some extra income.” Her eye-lenses pistoned towards the group. “Would you happen to know of any hard luck cases who’ve shown up around these parts as of late? I certainly wouldn’t want to step on any other ponies’ hooves.”
“Sure. Heh… let’s talk shop, hotplates.”
“Watch it before you lose it, bucko.”
“Heh. Right. But of course.”
As Roarke and the huddled group of stallions conversed, Rainbow Dash finally spat the mug out, frowning. “Seriously. ‘Fat one?’ Where the hay is this coming from all of the sudden?”
“I don’t--HIC--think you look thick at all, dude,” slurred a voice from the side.
“Jee…” Rainbow Dash muttered, rolling her eyes. “Thanks a lot, Mr… Mr….”
“Ain’t ponies downright cruel these days?” A young stallion with a yellow-streaked mane smiled tipsily at her. He reeled in his seat, and the flicker of an overhead manabulb illuminated several fresh cuts and bruises along his muzzle. “They order you around… then blow crap out from underneath you… then call you scum as soon as you walk into a place. So what if I smell like pondwater?! I’ve been burrowing through the stuff for hours! The only way I was able to pay for this here beer was cuz I stumbled upon a sand dollar and somepony in the marketplace was high enough to buy it off of me!”
Rainbow Dash squinted at him. “Why are you still talking to me?” She waved her bound hooves. “Don’t you see that I’m a prisoner?”
“We’re all prisoners to the system, duuuuude…” The stallion smiled and sobbed at the same time, a thing that Rainbow didn’t think possible until she witnessed it from the edge of a brown-stained bar counter. “Like gravity, it tears us down and… ruins our center… like a crushed doughnut. And… and…” His sandy eyes blinked. “Where was I?”
“Uhm…”
“A sand dollar! Can you--HIC--believe it?! It’s like a sign, dude! It’s a sign that things are gonna be looking up for me from now on!” He leaned forward and nuzzled the mug in front of him. “Hmmmm… that would be nice. I could trot back to the beach. Whew… things were just so righteous at the beach. I…” He blinked. “I had sponges.”
“Those are…” Rainbow Dash squinted at his figure. “...are a lot of nasty bruises on ya, buddy.”
“I know, right?” He smirked. “Still, I’m not nearly as bad off as my buddy Frank here. Hey, Frank!” He turned and kicked at a wooden sled on the floor where a canvas blanket lay over a bloody heap. “Say hi to the sparkly space turkey, Frank! She’s got feathers for days, yo!”
“Uhhh… Did you ever tell me your name?”
“Zaid.” He turned and smirked at her. “It’s short for…” He blinked. His eyes rolled over the wall, ceiling, and opposite wall. He blinked again. “...’Zaid.’”
Suddenly, Rainbow gasped. “What the heck?!”
“Yeah, I know, dude. Total bummer that my parents named me that. I swear, I have nothing at all in common with Queen Zaid of the Zaidmare Genocidal Era. Hic! Look on the bright side, though! Two and a half centuries and three million dead caribou later, it’s no longer a girl’s name! Hic! That’s something to smile about, right?”
Rainbow Dash was panting, her wide eyes situated on the rainbow colors wrapped around his fetlock.
“Hey… Wait a minute!” Zaid pointed at her with a rosy-cheeked smile. “I know you! You’re that… that…” His face scrunched, then unscrunched. “Oh yeah! The harbinger! Only the one mare me and my church buddies have been trying to track down for months. Well, for me it was months. I was delivering lettuce out of a rusted blimp for three winters beforehand, but that all went up in smoke. Heh…” He winked. “If you catch my vocal parentheses, pegasister.” He turned and grinned at the sled. “Hey! Frank! Check it out! Australioh in the flesh!” He blinked. “Oh… You’re dead.” He leaned back to his drink. “Ain’t that a burn? The bum owed me twenty steambolts.”
“Nnnnngh!” The binds of Rainbow’s hooves snapped. In a flash, she leapt off the bar counter and plowed the unsuspecting stallion to the floor. “You!”
“Whoah!” Zaid spasmed from underneath her, chuckling drunkenly. “Hahah! At least let me put on some music first, girl! Whew!”
“Where is she?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “Kera! The little Xonan foal that you jerkmeisters kidnapped! Did she survive the airship crash?! If so, what did you friggin’ do to her?!”
“Uhm…” Roarke shuffled over towards her. “Rainbow…”
“Tell me!” Rainbow Dash howled, then resorted to slamming Zaid’s skull multiple times against the floorboards of the tavern. “Rrrrrrgh!”
Zaid spat between each jolt. “Stupid. Watered. Down. Discount. Beer. I swear!”
“Rainbow Dash!” Roarke hoisted the mare back by her tail. “You’re not exactly leading by example here!”
“But I found the survivor, Roarke! It’s totally him!” Rainbow pointed, breathless. “He might know where Kera is! He might even--” She froze, blinking. Slowly, her head pivoted towards the rest of the tavern.
The stallions had gathered tightly together, gripping clubs, knives, and various other unsavory items. “So, a bunch of scammers, huh? There’s nothing that we hate more than cheapscapes in this town, but there’s one thing we love to do to them.”
“Uhhh…” Rainbow Dash smiled nervously as she and Roarke backed up against each other in the center of the crowded establishment. “What’s that?”
Zaid’s bruised head lifted up. “Hey, I know!” He smiled, blinked, then hiccuped. “Wait, no I don’t.” He slumped back down with a heavy thud.
“I do believe it’s missile time,” Roarke muttered as her suit began to whir.
“No, wait!” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves. “We don’t want to mess around with you guys! Honest! All we want is the stallion here! There’s no need for a bunch of unnecessary bone breaking--”
A hidden stallion slammed a bar stool over Roarke’s unsuspecting head, sending the metal mare crashing through a nearby table with a stifled grunt.
Rainbow Dash blinked. She sighed, her ears drooping on either side of her skull. “Buck it.” Then, with a howling scream, she dove into the crowd, knocking them across the tavern like bowling pins.
By the time Rainbow Dash had taken her third breath, she had already knocked over eight ponies to the ground. A retaliatory wave of angry stallions charged forward, flinging all manner of blunt bric a brac at her feathery appendages. She backflipped, reverse-somersaulted onto her hooves, grabbed a barstool in her mouth, and swung it like a club across three faces in a row. Blood and teeth littered the floor, then rattled in every direction as Rainbow slammed a pony down into the tavern’s foundation with a downswing of the stool.
The bartender leapt onto her backside, screaming bloody murder as he broke a bottle over a nearby table and jabbed the sharp end towards Rainbow’s neck.
She was already flapping her wings, sailing straight up so that her spine flattened the miscreant against the ceiling. The shattered shingles of brittle tile fell, along with the groaning weight of the bartender.
No sooner had Rainbow landed when a fresh wave of angry equines galloped her from the side.
She spun, hissing through clenched teeth as she reared her hooves in readiness.
Just then, a metal prehensile tail whipped through the air, knocking everypony to the floor. Roarke icily stood up, brushing the wooden splinters of a shattered table off her helmet. “Alright,” she murmured. “Time for swampville to enter the nuclear age.” She protruded several missiles at once.
Gasping, Rainbow pounced her and forcefully shoved the projectiles back in. “No!”
Roarke gave her a double-take. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” her voice droned through the helmet.
“For the last dang time, no missiles!” Rainbow frowned. “We don’t have to kill these guys!”
“You weren’t so quick to stop me when we were fighting in Gray Smoke!”
Rainbow spat. “Do these look like a bunch of heartless cultists to you?!”
Zaid stood up, smiling dizzily. “Hey, I’m a cultist!”
Rainbow Dash blindly backhoofed him in the chin. “Shut up, cultist!”
“Get ‘em!” A stallion at the far end stood up and pointed an angry hoof. “Tear them limb from limb!” He and twenty other ponies galloped as one furious herd.
“Well, then, Madame Morality.” Roarke lasso’d Rainbow’s forelimb with her tail and flung her forward. “Looks like you just volunteered your limbs.”
“H-hey!” Rainbow gasped, then fiercely guarded her upper body as she found herself rolling beneath an angry forest of kicks, bucks, and stomping limbs. “Nnnnghh-Hghhh! Quit it! Sonuva--Knock it off!” This last exclamation was accompanied by a wing-flapping uppercut. two ponies were knocked back into the growing mosh pit while four more leapt on Rainbow from behind.
Clenching her teeth, Rainbow spun about in a circle, her blurring body accelerating as she tossed shrieking stallions into walls, windows, tables, and countertops.
From afar, Roarke pretended to not be watching, instead examining a length of scuffed-up armor along her forelimb.
Groaning, Zaid stood up yet again, rubbing her forehead. “Unnngh… Is it just me, or did a blue tornado start doing a cheerleader act in here since I was last under?”
“She does a fair amount of sucking from time to time, if that’s what you mean.” Roarke pointed behind him. “Well, would you look at that? It’s your face in the tabletop!”
“No way!” Zaid spun and grinned into his varnished reflection. “Where?!”
Roarke kicked the back of his skull. He headplanted into the table and slumped to the floor, cold.
“Hmmphh. Breeders.” Roarke wrapped a length of metal cable around him and dragged him out the back of the bar.
In the meantime…
“Haaaaaaaugh!” Rainbow’s voice violently cracked. “This is… why I… gave up… the cider! Nnngh!” Just as she thought she had tossed the last of the cretins off her body, a particularly large stallion gripped her from behind. Two more gripped her limbs while three struggled to hold her wings in place. “Hey! No fair! Gimme back my legs! Grrrgh! I need them for shoving awesomeness down your throats!”
“End of the line, Miss Sass!” A pony approached her, rubbing his bleeding lip. “You don’t come into our town, trying to make us look like idiots!”
Rainbow sneered. “Who says I had to try, doofus?”
“We’ll see how smug you are once you’re using them wings of yours for gruntwork!” He leaned forward with a smirk. “First thing’s first.” He grasped the edge of her pendant. “You need a new collar.” Others chuckled around him.
She gasped. “No! Don’t even friggin’ think about it! That’s the worst idea in the history of the worstest!”
“Like you’re gonna do anything about it.” With that, he yanked the pendant clear off.
Rainbow’s eyes rolled back as a spasm ran through her body. She hissed, writhed her head from side to side, then reopened her sockets with a pulse of red and yellow light.
An overcast sky hung above the village.
One second, the tavern lay still.
The next second…
Kaplow!
Every window, door, vent, drain, and chimney exploded outward. Pony bodies sailed out, flying for at least two dozen feet before splashing into the river or rolling to a painful stop atop the docks. As the dust and debris settled from inside the imploding building, several stallions limped out, leaning on each other for support as they hissed and wheezed in pain. The joined their brethren who were climbing out of the riverwater as they booked it towards the far side of town, running as quickly as their panting lungs could carry them.
A minute later, Rainbow Dash limped out, her mane having exploded into a fuzzy ‘fro, like bolts of colored lightning stretching in every direction. She finished clasping the pendant of loyalty back in place. She sighed, bearing the brunt of her shivers beginning and ending in a blink. Once her eyes stopped glowing, she relaxed, resting back on her haunches as she tried in vain to shake her mane straight.
Just then, a familiar stallion’s voice shrieked through the air.
Rainbow Dash gasped, then spun around. After a few blinks, her face bore a menacing scowl.
“Roarke…”
On heavily plodding hooves, she galloped down the docks and bulleted towards the water mill where the shrieking voice echoed from.
“Roarke!” Rainbow Dash rounded a corner of the village marketplace.
She saw a pair of figures beside the town mill. She didn’t recognize them until one of the two fired a beam of crystal energy from her shoulder, breaking a piece of the water wheel’s axle.
Seething, Rainbow shook her mane loose and galloped towards the site. “Roarke! What the hay went on back there?! Why’d you leave me in the middle of that fight?!”
“Why did you instigate the fight to begin with?” Roarke muttered as she fastened Zaid--upside down and writhing--to the paddles of the water wheel with steam clamps.
“Yes… but… I…” Rainbow Dash went cross-eyed, then shook her head with a snarl. “Look! That doesn’t matter! So I screwed up! I thought we were a team! That means we look out for each other! I mean, they tried to rip my pendant off, for crying out loud!”
“Then maybe you should consider wearing it inside yourself from now on.”
“Grrrrr… Roarkkkke…”
“Do excuse me, Rainbow,” the bounty hunter metallically rang as she finished attaching the stallion to the wheel. “I’m a little tied up at the moment.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, squinting awkwardly at the scene. “You’re tied up? What the heck are you even doing--?”
“Shhhh…” Roarke tilted the wheel up. “Finding Kera for you.” She threw her forelimbs down.
“Gaaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaaiiie!” Zaid shrieked as the water wheel plunged--loose on its melted axle--from Roarke’s forceful metal hooves. His body went sailing deep into the stream. “Bllblblblblbblb!”
She gave him a thorough five-second rinse before pushing up against the wheel, raising him up out of the river’s currents. “So then. The Herald.”
“You doin’ this to get m-me sober, girl?!” Zaid gasped and sputtered. “I only had three shots! I can handle eleven!”
“What did they and their boss Khao do with the little filly they snatched from Gray Smoke?”
“Unless you count that one time in Haytona Beach! But ponies were betting on me so they fed me bigass mugs of coffee in between each serving--”
“Not helping.” Roarke pulled the wheel down.
“Aaaaah--Blblblblblbblbll!”
“Uhm…” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “Roarke, what are you doing?”
“Not being told about Kera so far,” she droned. “Perhaps you should ask what he’s doing.”
“I don’t think I’m half as intimidating as you.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” Roarke yanked again at the wheel.
Zaid rose up, sputtering. “Alright! I lied! It was New Samarena Beach!”
Roarke hissed. “Kera. The filly. The little Xonan with a mane the color of dragon phlegm. What did you and your extremist brothers and sisters do with her?!”
“Oh, whoah, you’re talkin’ about a little girl?!” Zaid stammered, his face thoroughly drenched as he dangled from his restraints. “I couldn’t make you out earlier cuz of all the water in my ears.” He wheezed. “Also, I think I may have pissed myself.”
“Uh huh.” Roarke shoved again.
Zaid took the plunge. As his body hit the river, he cackled, “Whoah! Warm water! Looks like I definitely pi-blbblblblblb!”
“Don’t you think you’re overdoing it?” Rainbow remarked.
“I don’t take kindly to ponies wasting my time.” She tilted her head until her helmet reflected Rainbow’s gawking face. “He’s delaying an answer to the question.”
“He’s being an idiot. Cut him some slack.”
“Do you want to find Kera or don’t you?”
“Yes, but not this way!”
“Do you have a better plan in mind?”
“Air! Air!”
Roarke frowned beneath her helmet. “We’ve already tried searching for her from the sky.”
“No, you melon fudge!” Rainbow shoved at the wheel, forcing Roarke to draw him up. “I mean, that’s enough!”
Zaid rose up, dripping and wheezing. “Ohhhhhh-wow! He gasped and gasped again. “The only thing that flashed before my eyes was this one time in second grade when I picked my nose and found a pill bug inside myself. Is that bad?”
“Tell us where the girl is!” Roarke barked.
“What, you mean the cute little thing in the robes that the beret toters took away?”
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. “You gave Kera away to enforcers?!”
“Well, I think they were enforces.” Zaid squinted towards the gray sky. “If so, that explains why they were blowing the crap out of our ship. Y’know, Khao ticked them off one too many times. I think it could have been her whole ‘your Queen is an apostate false shepherd and we have come to cleanse the imperial dogma from this land’ schtick. Or it could have been that she double-parks her zeppelin. I mean, whew, that got me super cheesed the first time I saw her at the helm at Blue Canyon, and I don’t get pissed off that easily. Unless of course you rub grilled cheese sandwiches in your armpits before serving it, but that only happened once in Sarasaddle Beach and I think the guy had drunk too much seawater.” Dripping, he turned and smirked at Rainbow Dash. “Hey, I like your mane, by the way.”
“Right.” Roarke shoved the wheel again. “You don’t deserve those lungs anymore.”
“Roarke, quit it!” Rainbow Dash clamped both hooves over the wheel, forcing it back up. “We’re not going anywhere with this.”
“Well, certainly not with you interfering half the time.”
“I mean you can’t torture the guy!” Rainbow Dash pointed. “He’s a moron!”
“Everything knows pain, Rainbow Dash,” Roarke said. “It goes without saying that over ninety-five percent of those things know how and what to do to avoid pain.”
“Yeah, well, having been in a few pretty nasty scrapes myself, I sympathize with the five percent!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“Hey! I sympathize with koala bears!” Zaid said with a grin. “Can somepony cut me off of this big wooden bagel now?”
“I know that you’re queasy when it comes to doing dirty work, Rainbow,” Roarke said. “That’s why you should trust me to find Kera for you.”
“Girl, he’s already telling us!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. “He just confessed that Ledo got ahold of her!”
“I doubt his conviction. He’s likely making the story up to misdirect us.”
“I’m telling you, he’s not like the others!” Rainbow frowned. “Take him off the wheel! Now!”
“You can’t have everything your way all the time, Rainbow Dash,” Roarke said as she placed both hooves on the wheel again. “Especially when you don’t have what it takes to acquire it--”
Rainbow’s hooves flew across Roarke’s helmet. Before the bounty hunter could recover, Rainbow Dash flew into her with a vicious headbutt, slammed two hooves into her gut, punched her in the side, stomped on two of her hooves, caught her as she was off-balanced, and viciously suplexed her through a pair of wooden crates. “Haaaaugh!”
Roarke went sprawling across the edge of a dock, her metal suit sparkling in several places. As she struggled to look up, Rainbow slammed down onto her, pressing the full weight of her furious body.
“Excuse me?! Excuse me?!” Rainbow snarled, her teeth showing. “I don’t have what it takes?! I… who beat you within an inch of your measly life when you were nothing but a punk who still believed she had a chance with Lady Pestiferous McCrabBot?!” I… who was the only pony who bothered to keep you from becoming a melting tabletop when Foxtaur burned all around you?! I… who single-hoofedly saved countless civilizations from chaos bats, minotaurs, fire dragons, and drunken psychopaths wearing gas masks?!”
Rainbow hoisted Roarke’s head up, gave her helmet a slap, and forced the thing open so that she was glaring down the metal mare’s eye-lenses.
“I was flying sonic rainbooms and taking names long before I ever needed your cowardly missiles and pew pew lasers, lady! I’ve only kept you around for the same reason a mare keeps a raincoat handy: when the weather permits. So long as we’re all working for the same goal--which is to get our butts as far east with as little mayhem as we can--then I’m good with having you on board with the rest of the ponies I’m willing to call my ‘friends!’ But the moment you give me sass and try to make me feel like an idiot for doing something we both know is wrong, then you’re out of the equation, Roarke! And not because I’m right, but because I can and will beat the ever-loving-snot out of your metal flanks from here to the Edge of the World if you ever… ever try and talk me down again!”
She leaned down, hissing into Roarke’s face.
“Do I make myself clear?”
Barely two seconds had passed, and without flinching one bit, Roarke replied in a calm voice. “Agreed.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, and all the anger instantly flew from her face. “Buh?”
Roarke stood up from beneath Rainbow Dash. “You’ve proven your point, and now I will remove his restraints.” She brushed herself off and did just that. “As far as I’m concerned, this interrogation is over.”
Rainbow watched nervously as the metal mare removed the soaking wet stallion from the wheel. “You’re… not going to fight me to the death because I just royally beat the crap out of you?”
“No need to fight, and you did not beat the crap out of me.” Roarke dropped Zaid like a grunting wet bag to the docks. “However, I’ve always known that you could. Now that I know that you will... well…” She trotted over and paused at Rainbow’s side. “I’m glad.”
Rainbow squinted. “You are?”
“Yes. And for the first time since you dropped like an anvil at Gray Smoke, I’m no longer worried about your resolve.” She trotted off towards the tavern. “I’m going to see if those malcontents dropped any valuable items. He’s all yours.”
Rainbow gaped at her as the mare trotted away. She slumped back onto her haunches with a confused expression. At last, she snarled and barked, ”I. Don’t. Get. You!”
Zaid gasped, sputtered, and rolled onto his back. He gazed up at her with a drunken smiled. “Dude… you both are sooooooooooo hot together. Heheheheh--ow, m-my lungs.”
“Pffft…” Rainbow glared to the side as she muttered, “Shut up, cultist.”
Inside a very, very dark place, full of dust and scattered metal furnishings, a light scuffling could be heard. This scuffling turned into a rhythmic knocking sound, until a panel was discovered on the outside. Steambolts latched and unlatched. A dial turned, clicked into place, and sank into an echoing metal sheath within the building’s framework. Immediately afterwards, crystal stones glowed to life, shining dull beacons on an atrium covered in fine sediment.
Then, running vertically from the ceiling to the grand floor, a thin sliver of light pierced the darkness, expanding, widening. It was a pair of doors, groaning as they widened and widened to a sunlit marshland outside. Trees swayed in the wind as two figures trotted through the opening passage, one tiny and the other adult.
Nightshade trotted into the center of the room, squinting as the light from the widening doors illuminated shelves full of steam machinery parts, rows upon rows of crystal mana conduits, and--at last--a complex energy console on the far end of the place, laced with spiderwebs. As the doors grinded to a halt, the mana coursing through the building from Nightshade’s password entry finally spread to the communication array, causing the thing to hum to live with the twirl of twin fans. Dust rose, then settled, causing a translucent haze to float about the abandoned place.
“It’s good to know that everything is in one piece, at least.” Nightshade muttered as she shuffled forward. “For a while there, I was concerned that some miscreants had attempted to break into this place and pilfer all the valuables. Thankfully, my security system was money well spent, though I can’t imagine a sky pirate desperate enough to search the foliage for a remote building such as this.”
Kera could barely pay attention. Her robes had become tattered, threadbare things at this point, and the tome hanging against her side weighed a ton. She trotted up a series of low steps and utterly collapsed onto a platform. A cloud of dust flew from her figure as she slumped down, panting, fighting the veil of sleep.
Nightshade turned and gazed calmly at her. “You can get some shuteye, child. There’s no shame in being tired.”
Instantly, Kera frowned. She crawled forward and pulled herself into a sitting position against a bass railing along the platform. “I’m fine.”
The mare’s brow furrowed. “You’ve been trotting through swamplands for two days straight. It would be unnatural to not need rest--”
“Like I’m gonna close my eyes shut around you!” Kera finally growled.
“Oh, please. I think we both know that I stand a far greater risk of having my throat slit in the middle of the night than you. Your telekinesis gives you an edge in any circumstance. We both know that.”
“We also both know you’re full of grasshopper poop!”
“Then why didn’t you take your anger and distrust out on me when you had the opportunity?” Nightshade gestured as she spoke. “I’ve slept at least three times since we joined each other’s side.”
Kera clamped her mouth shut. She shivered, saying nothing.
“Hmmph…” Nightshade turned and trotted up to the communications array. “It’s just as I thought. Even though you’re not willing to admit it, you need me just as much as I need you.”
“I could ditch you in a second, lady!” Kera spat. “Don’t try and sound so smug!”
Nightshade paused in operating the array. She turned and raised an eyebrow at the distant foal. “Then perhaps you would desire to contact your friends in the air?”
Kera opened her mouth, but hesitated.
“Do you even know how to, child?”
Kera sighed heavily through her nostrils. “Y’know, just because I don’t know how to do something doesn’t mean I have to owe you diddly squat!”
“And yet, I’m providing us means of escape from this humid purgatory,” Nightshade said while hijacking a frequency and sending a coded message out. “If you’d rather make allies with the mosquitoes, then be my guest.”
Kera stood up weakly but regained her balance in time to hiss, “Just who are you contacting, anyways?! It’d better not be the enforcers!”
“Don’t be silly,” Nightshade retorted. “The last thing I want to do is call in the same stallions who had me locked up for weeks on end, rotting away in that horrible hellhole in the sky.” She sighed heavily, her eyes staring out a thousand miles beyond the console directly in front of her. “I’d want nothing to do with the ponies who stripped me of my resources, threatened my brother, and further spun this world into despair.” She gulped, shook her head, and said, “No. I have friends to the east, situated near the front. They should get the both of us further away from Ledomaritan Territory, and from there we can go about salvaging this situation.”
“Screw your situation! I wanna get back to Bellesmith and Rainbow Dash!”
“But of course you do,” Nightshade droned. “And I shall facilitate that. But first thing’s first--we are useless here on the ground. My friends have been charged with awaiting a signal that only I can send, and once they receive it, they’ll give us the means to contact anyone by air, including your so-called friends.” She pivoted around from the buzzing array. “Though why you would want to associate with them is beyond my understanding.”
“Face it, all you care about is your stupid business!” Kera grunted.
Nightshade calmly shook her head. “All I want is the proper salvation of this world, dear.”
“Through what? Capturing innocent little foals?”
“No…” Nightshade trotted slowly towards her. “And you would do well not to insult the family I had established in Blue Nova.”
“Well, your ‘family’ were way happier off with their Moms and Dads from Deep Ridge!”
“A triviality,” Nightshade stated. “As soon as they realize all of the luxuries, resources, and knowledge that they’ve been deprived of, they’ll regret ever having given into Dr. Bellesmith’s deception.”
“Heh…” Kera smirked. “Fat chance.”
“Tell me…” Nightshade knelt on the other side of the railing, looking up at the filly atop the platform. The shiny brass bars reflected her face in three fragmented places. “Where will your friends take you?”
“To some place far away from here!” Kera’s voice cracked. “Where there’s no Queen Ledo, no military, and no stuffy spinsters wanting to chop my horn off!”
Nightshade’s eyes narrowed. “And where would this place be, by chance?”
“I dunno. East of here!”
“How far east?” Nightshade leaned her head to the side, her eyes constantly trained on the foal. “Past how many rivers? Oceans? Deserts? Battlegrounds? To what extent will your new ‘family’ have to bribe, fight, maim, or kill to get to a place that they can deem as ‘safe?’”
Kera’s brow furrowed as she briefly avoided Nightshade’s gaze. “I… I…” She gulped. “That’s not up to me.”
“Blind trust is the surest way to self-destruction,” Nightshade said. “Your friends are vagabonds, child. They live off of luck and happenstance, and at some point that is going to run out. And just how loyal do you think they will be to you then?”
“They love me…” Kera frowned, glaring back at the mare. “Pilate and Belle. They love me.”
“A love based on convenience is a hollow thing,” Nightshade said. “I’m not entirely ignorant of how my empire crumbled, child. You were an elemental part in stealing the flame from my Tower, were you not?”
Kera fidgeted, keeping the weight of the book close to her. “Yeah, well…”
“And abducting my children? And helping Doctor Bellesmith locate Deep Ridge?” Kera stood back from the railings. “You were an instrument of their agenda. And for several weeks, you’ve helped supply them with what they needed to make their trip as far as they have. But now that you’re gone, do you think they will actually… truly spend the resources needed to bring you back into their fold? Especially now after so much progress has been done?”
“They… they need me!” Kera exclaimed with a bright expression. “I can be useful to them!”
“In what way? Do you power up their ship? Do you provide them with navigation?”
“I… I…”
“I’m a businesspony above all else, and I know a thing or two about having to cut losses. Now, I have it within my power to salvage the mission I set into motion years ago, but to do it… I will have to make sacrifices.” She lingered, her lip quivering for a moment. Clearing her throat, Nightshade stood up straight and said, “Novus is the last link I have to family, and yet I cannot afford to go back for him, not until my work is done. I can fool myself into believing that he is alive and well, and that he will remain so throughout the course of my endeavors, but that is a blatant lie. He’s quite likely dead as we speak, but that cannot stop me from doing what is most important.”
“Just what’s so special that you gotta ditch your own flesh and blood?”
“The eternal livelihood of my flesh and blood,” Nightshade replied. “If I do not do something to stop this war, if I do not activate the power of the machine world, then this war will go on and on, consuming the entire future of this continent. This cannot be.”
“And just how do you expect to do anything about it now?” Kera squinted. “You’ve lost everything.”
“Not quite.” Nightshade trotted back towards the communications array. “I have a backup plan.”
“Oh do you?”
“Yes…” She nodded without looking back. “Which is something I seriously doubt your so-called ‘friends’ possess. You know, you can still join my side. I am not beyond forgiveness, and even if I don’t succeed, I can find allies in remote places who can keep you safe and secure. It’s only because I stand to make such slight deviations to my plan, which is the least I can say about your companions.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I do believe they’ve already cut their losses; they’ve cut off you.”
“They won’t stop for nothing until they find me!” Kera stammered.
“Then why haven’t they yet?”
“Because… Because…” Kera slumped back on her hooves, hugging her robes to herself. She merely bit her lip.
Nightshade sighed, tweaking with the controls again. “I do reiterate what I said earlier. You should get some sleep. If not for your body’s sake, then at least for your spirit. I do suspect it will suffer quite a severe blow once it finally wakes up…”
As the mare typed away at the apparatus, Kera stifled a whimper. She snuck a peek under her robe, squinting into the lavender glow of the book. The flame was bright and strong… but suddenly it did not warm her.
The darkening evening flashed with unnatural lightning. Sparks and shrapnel flew as a hulking metal battleship veered hard to port. Several massive chunks had been blown out of its blue armor, sending emblems of a giant serpent sailing towards the yawning chasms of the uneven landscape below. Equines scurried across the deck, fumbling towards their emergency stations. A set of magically-glowing sails billowed in the heated air as the vessel attempted in vain to pull away from the looming mountainside.
Another flash of lightning: a stream of cannonballs flew through the air and impacted the ship’s stern, sending a ruptured wave of destruction up the central body of the craft. Screaming ponies flew over the edge, engulfed in flames.
As the ship swayed towards the granite peaks ahead, a ship twice its size roared through the heavens. It bore Ledomaritan colors, and its double dirigibles pivoted as the full weight of the vessel’s brown steel hull bore down on the smoldering target. A pair of turrets pivoted towards the bow, aimed at the enemy ship’s plight, and fired four massive shots.
The cannonballs flew true, impacting the heart of the veering craft. The blue ship cracked in two, and both halves grinded against the mountainside. The glowing sails tore to shreds, and the remnants of its hull rolled down the granite slopes, bursting into flames with the shrieks of the unfortunate occupants within.
The Ledomaritan ship hovered to a stop while its deck rang with uproarious cheers. Crew members jumped in place, telekinetically waving their berets and rifles and cannon loaders. Towards the bow of the ship, atop a command platform, a decorated stallion stood, calmly staring out a pair of binoculars. He lowered the item from his weathered eyes and sighed out through his nostrils.
“That will teach those tattooed bastards to dirty our skies.” He hoofed the binoculars to a fellow officer. “May they choke on the Spark’s dust in the eternal abyss.”
“That couldn’t have gone more perfectly, Prime Enforcer Fortis,” an officer said. “They barely even put up a fight.”
“You saw the way it went up in flames when it finally ruptured?” Prime Enforcer Fortis pointed towards the burning debris below. “The ship’s got three times more supplies in its belly than corpses.”
“Then it was restocking the enemy front?”
“More than likely, lieutenant.” Fortis marched slowly down the steps of the platform while the deck rang with cheers around him. “Which explains the lack of otherworldly mumbo jumbo at their disposal. These weren’t fighters; they were deliverers. But it matters little. Xonans are deluded fools, all the same.” He turned with a flash of a rapier hanging at his flank. “With the extra firepower the Council gave us, I was hoping we’d see more of a fight. Still, not a bad way to start our maiden voyage.”
One of the officers glanced at the continually cheering crew members. “Should I… order this crowd into silence, sir?”
“Don’t stifle the enthusiasm, lieutenant. However, it would do us good to salvage whatever we can find from this wreckage.” Fortis motioned with his hoof. “Bring the Lightning Bearer into a lower hover at the base of the mountain. Send two teams on skiffs to inspect the rubble. Look for anything resembling polished white silver or brittle bonestrips.”
“Sir…?”
“We need to get to the heart of the Xonans’ secret weapon, lieutenant,” Fortis said with a slightly growling tone. “The Lightning Bearer might be the best ship in the fleet, but that doesn’t mean we’re at liberty to fly the skies, murdering weak enemy vessels at luxury. Prime Enforcer Seclorum is depending on us to choke the enemy line, so we cannot linger here forever.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Nnnngh. While we’re at it, somepony fetch me a drink. A victory is a victory, no matter how meager.”
Basso was a big, big stallion, though his face’s complexion belonged to an equine easily three times smaller. He wandered down the decks of the Lightning Bearer, bumping awkwardly into one equine or another with his massively thick fetlocks.
“Oh… uhm. Sorry. Excuse me. My bad.”
“What’re you so nervous about, Basso?!” A stallion grinned, stopping at one spot in the corridor to brohoof the other crew member. “We just sent a bunch of tattooed freakjobs to their graves!”
“Uhm… yes!” Basso adjusted the beret atop his sandy brown mane and tried to punch his hoof back. “Go us!”
“Gaah!” The stallion stumbled backwards from the sheer force of Basso’s forelimb. “Whew! Heheh. Dude, next time we find a dreadnaught, we oughta launch you at them instead. We’d take the enemy out in one shot!”
Basso frowned. “Very funny.”
“Where you headed to in such a hurry?”
“My C.O. has asked me to check up on Zetta’s progress with the eavesdropping. Have you seen where she went?”
“Pfft. Where else could she be?” The stallion pointed down the hallway. “Communications. Deck C.”
“Er. Right.”
The stallion galloped off with several others. “I’m off to do a checkup on the mana conduits in the starboard auxiliary chamber. Catch me in the mess hall at twenty-three hundred! We’ll have drinks!”
“I’ll… uh… I’ll think about it.”
“Ha! Come on, Basso. Throw your weight around!”
Basso snorted once the fellow crew members were out of earshot. “I try not to…”
Deep in the bowels of the Lightning Bearer, where the hallways and corridors were increasingly tinier, a mare sat at one of several brightly-lit stations. She leaned a glowing horn forward, positioning it within the space of three alternatingly strobing crystals lowered on an adjustable metal arm. Her eyes were closed beneath her beret as she focused on a myriad of different noise frequencies squelching through the maddening array of sound stones before her.
“Zetta?” Basso’s voice dripped down into the Communications room, joining the white noise. “Zetta, I--Guh!” The large stallion winced, stumbled, slid, and shuffled his way into the cramped interior. His muscular limbs squirmed together as he finally found a “comfortable” place to stand. “Whew. Ahem.” He smiled. “Zetta, Lieutenant Straker wants to know how the project is coming along.”
Zetta’s forehead tensed. “Mmmmff… Basso? Has anypony ever told you that your voice has the tonality of a brown bear when it finds honey from a tree?”
Basso blinked towards the confining bulkheads on either side of him. “Uhm. No.” He smiled. “However, if I try really hard, I can do a spot-on impersonation of Hugoats Weaving.”
“Liar.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Basso hung his head.
With a sigh, Zetta tilted the metal arm with the crystals away. She pulled her beret off, tossed a red and gold mane, and rubbed her scarlet forehead. “Sometimes I get so immeshed in the noises, I think I’ve already joined the Spark.”
Basso squinted. “You think eternity is a bunch of white noise?”
“It’d be a relief from this stupid war.” Zetta turned and glanced calmly at the stallion. “As for the report Straker wants, I’m afraid I’ve not got much to bring to the table. There are definitely Xonans out and about in these clouds, but where they’re coming from--I’ve no idea. Their language is so garbled that sometimes it’s easy to get mixed up with background noise. Also, it doesn’t help that… well…”
“What?”
Zetta’s petite figure squirmed in her seat. “There has been a recurring noise, something new and somewhat disturbing. I noticed it as soon as the Lightning Bearer made it into the east skies after its initial deployment from Blue Summits.”
“Could it be an enemy base?” Basso asked. “Maybe we’ve finally found the Princess of Tattoos?”
“Who? Lasairfion?” The corner to Zetta’s lips curved. “What, you want to ask her out on a date or something?”
“What?!” Basso jolted back, banging his horn against the bulkheads. “Ow! Nnngh. No! No way!”
“She’s kinda sorta the leader of the Xonan detachment that has been slaughtering Seclorum’s forces left and right. You sure she’s your type, Basso?”
“I want nothing to do with her! She’s the enemy!”
Zetta giggled.
Basso frowned, his muzzle taking on hard lines. “Darn it, Zetta…”
“I’m sorry, Basso.” Zetta leaned back in her seat with a calm smile. “You’re just too cute to tease, ya big lug.”
“Can you please give me something to go on? I don’t want to face another one of Straker’s angry lectures.”
“Pfft. Please. You could eat the tiny enforcer whole.”
“And spend the rest of my career making gravel in Blue Yards? No thank you.” Basso nodded towards the communications array. “This strange new noise you keep hearing. What is it?”
Zetta’s face scrunched up as she gazed at the array of flickering sound stones. “It… it’s so odd. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it resembled whale song.”
Basso did a double-take. “Whale song?”
“Deep sonar reverberations undulating through a dense medium. Honestly, I think it’s just a massive leyline entanglement causing feedback off the soundstones. But if that’s the case, it’s a supremely large entanglement. The biggest I’ve ever witnessed. I’d not pay it much attention, save for the fact that it’s increasing in volume and… and…”
“Yes?”
Zetta shuddered slightly. “It almost feels like the noise has emotion. Severe, painful, loathsome, remorseful emotion…”
Basso took a deep breath and said, “I think you’ve had your horn used as a tuning fork for far too long, Zetta.”
“Mmmm. Maybe.” She smirked up at him. “You wouldn’t happen to know a strong, handsome stallion who knows how to make a mare relax, do you?”
“Uhhhhh…” Basso shuffled backwards, fidgeting and sweating. “Uhmmm… I… I…”
“Hmmm?” Zetta giggled. “Well?”
Just then, a corner of the soundstones glowed red and began flashing. A loud buzz echoed over the soundwaves.
Zetta spun towards the console. Her lips pursed. “Hello. Who’s a pretty songbird?”
“What is it?”
“It’s an automatic alarm.” Zetta lowered the metal arm so that the crystals aligned with her horn once more. Her hooves swam across the console in a flurry of twisted dials and yanked levers. “The energy manifold is alerting me to a specific signal being picked up.”
“Huh?”
“I wasn’t here when the console was built, Basso. Somepony must have engineered the leylines of this thing to flash an alarm as soon as it picked up a particular signal.” The stones flashed before her in a sudden pattern, and her features paled. “And now I see why.” She gulped. “It’s Seclorum’s Beacon.”
“Seclorum’s Beacon?” Basso struggled to inch forward for a better listen. His face was washed over with concern. “What’s that mean? He needs help at the front?”
“No. It’s something I was briefed on before I was even stationed on the Lightning Bearer,” Zetta said. “Seclorum’s Beacon is a specifically coded frequency meant to convey a message.”
“What kind of message?”
A stallion’s raspy voice spoke from the entrance to the Communications Room: “That we at last have what we need to end this war.”
Zetta and Basso looked over. Basso stood up straight with a gasp. “Lieutenant Straker--!” Bonk! “Ow!”
A uniformed stallion with a smokey coat and a straight black mane trotted forward, icily glaring at the two. “Well? Is this truly it? The signal that Seclorum has been waiting for all these years?”
Zetta cleared her throat, adjusting the diodes of the communications array. “Without a doubt, sir. From what I can tell, it’s been broadcasting only as of recent. This must have been activated not that long ago. Maybe less than a day, even.”
“Where is the signal situated?”
“Due west. I’m getting the coordinates as we speak.”
“Good. Once you’ve come up with an estimated source of the broadcast, meet me on the top deck. Prime Enforcer Fortis needs to hear about this.”
“Sir?” Zetta glanced aside. “Shouldn’t I get another expert in here to cross-check and analyze--”
Straker’s eyes narrowed. “Are you deaf, soldier?”
“Ahem.” Zetta gulped and shook her head. “No. No, sir. I’ll report to the top deck, right away, sir.”
“Good.” Straker made to leave, but paused to glance at Basso. “Basso, you come too.”
“Sir?”
“You’re a part of this discovery. It’s only fitting that you assist in delivering the report. I expect to see you with your beret on.” With that said, the lieutenant spun about with a billowing black tail and was gone.
Basso nervously placed his article back onto his head. “Just what did I do? This was all your work?”
“You took up space,” Zetta muttered.
“Hardy har har…”
“And from tracing the leylines back to their source and calculating from the frequency of the manastream fluctuations surging back and forth, I’ve determined that the source of the signal is the Blue Marshes, just north of the Azure River Junction along the Great Sea’s coast.”
Prime Enforcer Fortis nodded. “Very good job. Very good job indeed, Enforcer…”
Zetta stood up straight alongside Basso. “Zetta, sir. And Enforcer Basso here, to my left, assisted in the discovery.”
“I see the academy has been training our new soldiers well,” Fortis said with a proud grin. He turned towards Straker. “Lieutenant? How far away are the Blue Marshes for the Lightning Bearer?”
“Thirty-six hours, sir. But half that if we engage top speed.”
Fortis stroked his chin as he gazed out on the granite mountains around him. “I would have wished to demolish more Xonan supply vessels, maybe even a dreadnaught or two. But if Seclorum finally has his Beacon, then it would be indescribably damaging to the war effort to ignore it.”
“There will always be Xonan ships to destroy, Prime Enforcer.” Straker’s eyes jerked towards him. “This Beacon is a one-time thing.”
“Hmmm. Indeed.” Fortis swiveled about and shouted across the deck. “Bring the ship about! We’re heading west! Set course for the Blue Marshes!” He glanced aside at Straker. “Set manathrusters on high burn. We cannot afford to lose the source of this. Especially if she’s wanting to bestow her gift to Seclorum.”
“Aye, sir.” Straker trotted down the steps and began shouting commands at the flurrying crew members.
Zetta and Basso continued standing stock still, until the stallion muttered towards the mare, “Who’s ‘she?’”
“I don’t know, Basso.”
“Sounds like somepony close to Seclorum.”
“Why?” Zetta’s lips curved slightly as she stared forward. “You jealous?”
“Yeah, well--Hey!”
“For the love of the Queen, Basso, put a cork in it. You can’t have every lady in this war.”
“Grrrrrr…”
She chuckled into the windy air as the Lightning Bearer turned about, then roared its way westward.
“Whoah, no way. So she was really Xonan?” Zaid grinned as he teetered back against a cobblestone wall. “Hah, and I thought those tattoos were stick-on!” No sooner had he finished saying this when an ice cold bucket of river water was tossed over his face. “Gaaaaaie!”
“Sober up, featherbrain!” Rainbow Dash placed the empty bucket down and leaned forward. “So you got a good look at the foal’s face?!”
“Gaauchkt! Jeez…” Zaid spat and shook his soaking mane. “You know, I thought your fillyfriend was doing the water torture. Not you.”
“Don’t be stupid. I’m just keeping you awake, pal.” Rainbow blinked, then scowled, “And she’s not my fillyfriend!”
“Uhmmm…” Zaid smacked the left side of his head, shaking water droplets out of his right ear canal. “Petite little filly. Peach coat. Dark tattoos from head to tail. If that ain’t Xonan, then I’m a big leather suit full of chipmunks!”
“Did she say anything at all when you supposedly caught her from falling to her death?!”
“Ain’t no supposedly about it, Harbinger… Austroganoff… Rainbow Goddess Pony thingy…” Zaid squinted at her. “What the hay should I call you anyways? All those stuffy old books were super vague about it.”
“Will you please just talk to me about Kera?!”
“How about ‘Har-Har?’”
Rainbow Dash snarled. “No. You most certainly will not call me ‘Har-Har.’”
“Cuz I could call you ‘binger,’ but… heheh… knowing me, that’s like the pot calling the kettle black--”
Rainbow Dash lunged forward and fiercely gripped his shoulders. “The foal! The foal, darn it!”
“Alright! No, she didn’t say anything! I mean, we were kinda busy being blown to bits by the Ledomaritans at the time!”
“But they stopped?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “And then they came for Kera?”
“It’s like they saw the little filly from afar or something. I gotta tell ya, ‘binger, we’ve bumped heads with those beret fetishists a bunch of times, and they’ve never once showed us any moment of compassion. I’m surprised they would have stopped shelling us for anything, much less to protect a little kid. I mean, how did they know she wasn’t with the Herald? Khao hired a bunch of super young ponies to guard the ancient winged pony bones. It didn’t work much. They still got stolen by agents of ‘Nut Shear Industries.’”
Rainbow’s face scrunched up. “Nightshade? Nightshade Industries?”
“Whatever.” Zaid shrugged. “All I know is that Khao was super-merry-go-ground-pissed when the fossils went missing. Heh. The lady sure does love her bones.”
“Why were you chasing Kera around to begin with?” Rainbow asked. “I thought she was held inside the ship after she was kidnapped, not out on the deck.”
“Beats me. I’m thinking the little bugger escaped. She seemed like quite the scamp, before the bad guys hauled her off and sent me and the rest of my co-workers sailing to our inevitable doom, that is.”
“Well, I hate to break it to ya, pal.” Rainbow Dash folded her forelimbs with a frown. “But your ‘co-workers’ attacked my friends and I without our asking for trouble. You’re looking like the bad guys from this angle, too.”
“Yeah, well, I gave up being a saint after this one year in college when I realized that my really wicked sexy dream wasn’t a dream at all.” Zaid slicked his yellow-streaked mane back. “Whew! Tell ya what. It’s one thing to score with twins. But to piss them off? There aren’t enough eyes on a stallion to turn black! Heheh…”
Rainbow Dash leaned back. “Ugh. You’re grosser than gross, pal. I expected all of Khao’s lackeys to be total meat fodder, but hypocrites? You make me wanna barf.”
“I’m not all that fond of mirrors myself, lady.” Zaid smirked. “Though, for what it’s worth, being with the Herald paid pretty well. I didn’t do much but patrol the deck and bum cigarettes off of passing merchant ships. I tell ya, the wheat they feed you at devotionals is tangy to the tongue and all, but it clogs up the nose like tar when you smoke it.”
“Was there, like, a test to pass in order to qualify for their brotherhood/sisterhood thing?”
“Yeah. They asked me if I thought the world was miserable and incomplete. I said ‘yeah.’ So they then asked if I wanted to help restore balance to the universality of all life. And I was like ‘Will there be grilled cheese?’ And they were all ‘certainly.’ So I was all ‘cool!’”
Rainbow Dash face hoofed, sighing. “I can’t believe I didn’t just follow the lavender light…”
“Oh, so you know what she did with the book?”
Rainbow Dash did a double-take, bringing her hoof down. “Huh?!”
“Wait…” Zaid’s face twisted. “Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen one slice of grilled cheese sandwiches--”
Rainbow Dash thrusted her muzzle into his face. “What do you know about Kera and the book?!”
“Well, she has it. Right?” Zaid blinked. “I mean, that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? The book she stole?”
“She… she stole it?” Rainbow Dash stammered.
“Yeah! You know what, she totally did!” Zaid smirked. “That’s why we were all chasing after her! Well, they were all chasing after her. I was trying to get this lighter to work, and suddenly we were being shelled. Then next thing I knew, this poor little kid was falling over the edge and I was all, ‘Jee, that would suck to die so young and never get old enough to smoke, and here I am getting all worked up over a lighter… and being shelled to death.’” Zaid blinked. “Come to think of it, it didn’t make much sense at the time. I guess it was instinctual. I didn’t even see a book on her until I pulled her onto the deck, and by then she had hidden the thingy when the Ledo lugs sent a skiff with enforcers to take the girl… and her thingy. Her girlthingy.”
“That… that means they have Kera…” Rainbow Dash winced. “And the book!” She spun towards the southeast, staring at a distant speck of lavender. “Unnngh-Dang it!” She fell upon the ground and tugged at her mane. “I’m such a moron! Why didn’t I fly faster?! Why didn’t I let Roarke take point or something?! Rgggh!”
“So, like, Khao said that your eyes can see the ancient book wherever it happens to be,” Zaid said. “That right, ‘binger?”
“Mmmm… stop calling me that…” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Well, if you’re so hell-bent on finding the little scamp, why not go after her now?!”
“She’s with a crapton of enforcers now!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “On a battlecruiser! If I fly within one hundred feet of the darn thing, I’ll be weaker than soggy noodles! They’ll blow me out of the sky and then the only pony who can save Kera is Roarke, and I’m not entirely sure I can predict how trustworthy she is anymore!”
“Ew, the book conks you out, ‘binger?” Zaid squinted. “Why not just use the odor’s jut?”
Rainbow Dash flashed him a look. “What what?”
“Y’know…” Zaid motioned with his hoof. “The odor’s jut! The rune! I mean, you keep a bunch of them around you while making your trip to save the world from dying and stuff?”
“Uhhhhh…”
“Hold on a second. I’ll show you what I’m talking about.” Zaid reached for his fetlock. He pulled the rainbow-colored band off, inverted it, and showed its dark underside. “This right here. Don’t tell me you haven’t got one!”
Rainbow Dash leaned forward, taking the hoofband in a nervous grasp. Her lips parted as she gazed at the symbol before her.
The emblem consisted of three parallel horizontal lines flanking a central stalk. Towards the right of the center line, two angles floated, one small and the other large, with their lines meeting at the right. Within the larger angle, a half circle was housed. The whole symbol resembled a complex arrow in a way. Rainbow’s hoof felt the grooves that the lines made in the ex-Heraldite’s band.
“‘Odrsjot…’” Rainbow Dash muttered.
Zaid raised his eyebrows. “Oh, so that’s how you pronounce it?”
“According to… well… according to a very good friend of mine.” Rainbow Dash gulped. “A mare who’s desperately wanting to see Kera again.”
“Did this mare explain to you how to use the thing?”
“Use it?” Rainbow Dash glanced up. “Use it how?”
“Well, according to Khao, whoever holds the Text of the Prophets with this thingy will be imbued with Angelic Power. She gave us all one to carry around, so that if we had to hide from the Harbinger’s eyes in a pinch, we’d invert it and grab onto the book.”
“What… for?”
“I dunno.” Zaid shrugged. “But according to Khao, the runes were all originally etched in pages belonging to the book. They were taken out ages ago and turned into a stencil by monks who really had nothing better to do with their lives. Heh.”
“The… the rune cancels out the power of the book?” Rainbow Dash spoke aloud as she gazed across the gray trading post. “Then, with this thing, I j-just might be able to snatch Kera from the Ledomaritans, no problem!”
“Uhhhh… sure?” Zaid shrugged. “You can have the thing if you want. It totally isn’t a chick magnet. Heck knows, I’ve tried. Heheh… unless… uhm… y-you count, of course, but Khao said that the Harbinger would be a ‘lonely soul seeking no comfort besides what Elk June Burrow can provide.’ She said nothing about her having an angry metal sarcophagus with legs for a fillyfriend.”
“She’s not my fillyfriend!” Rainbow Dash waved the hooflet around, frowning. “You ever actually tried this thing, genius?! How do I know you’re not making this garbage up?”
“What?!” Zaid chuckled. “You kidding?” He slipped his mane back and smirked towards the overcast sky. “It’s been years since I’ve eaten out of garbage!”
“And so you think this band you’re wearing will protect you from the adverse effects of the tome?” Roarke asked as the two flew swiftly southeast.
“That’s what I’m hoping!” Rainbow Dash nodded and spoke over the whipping wind. “We’ll track down this airship, find a way to sneak on board, grab Kera, grab the tome, and book it back to Gray Smoke! No pun intended!”
“Sounds like a plan!” Roarke shouted back. “I only have one question!”
“Shoot.”
Roarke grumbled through her helmet. “Why in the name of Searo’s titanium uterus are we bringing that breeder along?!”
Rainbow Dash glanced down at the breathless, wide-eyed stallion flailing in her grasp as the two soared over trees, marshes, and forests. “Look, I’m not entirely sure just how the book ticks, ya feel me? And this guy’s been with the Herald long enough to possibly have a clue. There’s no telling how badly things will go down when the book is in our grasp! We could use him, still!”
“That is a stupid and foolhardy choice,” Roarke droned. “But knowing you, I suspect there’s no arguing the point.” Roarke faced ahead and accelerated. “Just try not to get any of his stallion sweat near me.”
“You hear that, dude?!” Rainbow Dash shouted down at the dangling equine. “She’s no longer wanting to kill you!”
“I have bugs in my teeth!”
Rainbow shrugged. “Good enough.” And she flapped her wings harder and tailed Roarke under the fall of evening.
“Mmmmf…” Kera stirred. “Nnnngh…” Kera’s eyelids clenched tighter. “But I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. C-can I just stay here with you?” She clenched her jaws, shivering as she curled into the folds of her robe. “I’m… I-I’m not scared. Just… just cold…” Her teeth clattered. “Just so c-cold…”
At last, the foal’s eyes fluttered open. A strong draft was blowing into the dank building, and the light of dawn rolled in after it.
“B-Belle?!” She sat up, panting. Slowly, her breaths slowed. Her ears drooped, and she frowned at her immediate surroundings.
A few seconds passed, during which she familiarized herself with the sound of loons and buzzing insects just beyond the hideout’s doors--a pair of doors that were currently wide open.
“Mmmmf… h-huh…?” She shaded her tattooed face with a forelimb, squinting towards the entrance. Groaning slightly, the foal got up and stumbled her way towards the gaping doorframe. Her shuffling hooves echoed with scuffing sounds. Soon, she stood in the face of the cold air rushing in, her eyes squinting out upon the glittering ponds and marshlands.
After a few seconds, she realized that she wasn’t supposed to be alone. She spun about, looking every which way. There was no sign of the mare who had brought her here. Even the communications station within the shelter was abandoned.
“Where… how…?” Kera murmured. Just then, the hairs of her ears twitched, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. The insects buzzing to her left and right sped up and hid into nearby bushes. The leaves of that very shrubbery began shifting and swaying. Beyond that, Kera noticed, the pond water rippled with a sudden disturbance.
She opened her mouth to say something, only to discover that the air around her was being stolen by a new kind of thunder. The atmosphere roared, suddenly, as if a meteor was sailing down at high speed. She instinctively squatted down low, squeaking in fear. Glancing up, her green eyes reflected a large hulking shape blotting the sky.
Suspended on two dirigibles, the largest battleship Kera had ever seen in her young life throttled in from the northeast. The trees of the marshland swung and danced from the manathrusters, even at several hundred feet’s distance. As the massive vessel came to a hovering stop, it practically blew water out from the nearby reservoirs.
Kera shivered. She turned to gallop back into the shelter, only Nightshade was standing in her way.
“She’s magnificent, isn’t she?” the mare said, causing Kera to fall back on her haunches in surprise. She calmly tilted her head up towards the noisy behemoth above, speaking in a placid tone. “The Lightning Bearer. I designed her. Well.. most of her. I couldn’t get the weight distribution and outer hull dimensions right, but the engine and the propulsion? Those came about from long, long hours of late nightly battles with blueprints.”
“You… you…” Kera gulped. “That’s what you c-called?” The filly glanced up in time to see two hovercraft exiting the port side of the ship and coasting down towards them. “With the communications array?”
“I think it’s rather fitting that a weapon that the Council of Ledo thought was completely and utterly bred for war would in fact be an ark for this continent’s destined salvation.” Nightshade looked down at Kera. “The place it will take us, Kera, is undoubtedly fraught with peril. But it is also the road to peace. You have helped made that possible, and I promise you--when all is said and done--I will give you the home and the family that you deserve.”
“What… what do you mean?” Kera glanced up at the incoming aircraft, grimacing at the sight of their Ledomaritan colors. “You… y-you know what?” She gulped and backtrotted across the marshes. “I-I’ve changed my mind! I think I’ll take my chances with the marshes! You can have your enforcer luxury cruise! I’m not getting on board that ship!”
“Dear child…” Nightshade gazed at her with eerie warmth. “Your ‘choice’ has been an illusion since before you and I reunited.”
Kera blinked. Sneering, she turned to gallop away--only to have a hovercraft land loudly several feet in front of her. She gasped and skidded to a stop, just in time for several enforcers to hop out, their uniforms flashing brightly in the light of dawn.
Another ship touched down behind Nightshade. A well-dressed stallion trotted out, lowered his beret, and stood before Nightshade with a pleasant expression.
“Prime Enforcer Fortis…” Nightshade curtsey’d. “I didn’t think you cared enough to pay me the personal courtesy.”
“You’ve been loyal to Seclorum and myself all these years. I don’t care what the rumors from Blue Nova say; your heart is bound to the service of Ledomaritan Victory in this war.”
“Indeed,” Nightshade coolly said before him and his fellow soldiers. “If it weren’t for the traitorous actions of Prime Enforcer Shell, I would have helped the warfront sooner.”
Kera watched intently as the conversation went on.
“So it was that chaotic rogue who had abducted you?” Fortis frowned. “Bah! The Council has put a ransom for his head and horn. Judging from the unaccounted for personnel, it would seem that he’s appropriate his own personal army. It’s the last thing we need in these trying times.”
“It was no small miracle that I escaped. You can thank my surrogate over there.” Nightshade turned and pointed at Kera. “She holds the promise to victory that I’ve been promising Seclorum all this time.”
“You mean…” Fortis leaned forward, his aged face stretched with surprise. “You managed to smuggle it out of the maretropolis?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Kera stammered. “I’m not her daughter! And I certainly don’t have any--”
“The book is in her possession,” Nightshade said, casting the foal a glinting glance over her shoulder. “She thinks that I haven’t noticed it, but it’s there--hidden beneath her cloak.”
Kera gasped, her eyes twitching as she clutched the weight under her “diguise.”
“She’s done a very good service to the Confederacy,” Nightshade said. “I suggest we make east with it before Seclorum’s ongoing sacrifice becomes a case of futile martyrdom.”
“At last…” Fortis took a deep breath. “A light to the wasteland of the Sea of Shards. My only regret for this war ending soon is that I’ll have a state-of-the-art battleship with nothing to do with.”
“Well, today you have something.”
“Indeed.” Fortis nodded towards the enforcers all around them. “Escort these ladies to the Lightning Bearer. And have somepony send a message to Prime Enforcer Seclorum! Today, we make for the Eastern Front!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Aye, sir.”
“No!” Kera shrieked. She spun and barreled her way towards the distant marshes. “I’m not going! I’m not!”
“It would be wise to catch her…” Nightshade muttered.
“Soldiers--!” Fortis shouted.
Two enforcers stood in Kera’s way. The foal boldly shot a beam of magic forward, knocking both stallions off their legs. She ran towards an open space between swamp grass, only to have a pair of retaliating soldiers effortlessly yank her body up with telekinesis. Kera fought, struggled, and kicked at the air, but she was ultimately hoisted onto one of the hovercraft while simultaneously stripped of her robes and book.
The glowing tome levitated over to Madame Nightshade. As she and Fortis trotted by Kera’s ship to go to their own, the mare spoke to the foal: “Don’t fight what’s good for you, child. This is the second time in two days that I’ve saved your life.”
Kera sneered at her, then trembled as the ship she was in lifted off, flying with the other craft towards the hulking body of the Lightning Bearer above.
“Uhmmm…” Rainbow Dash blinked into the high winds of a morning sky. “Uhhhh…”
Roarke tilted her helmet aside, gazing at her wingpony as they both hovered over a thick bed of clouds. “Anyday now.”
“Uhhhhh…” Rainbow Dash gulped. “That’s… uh… that’s a big ship.”
Roarke returned to gazing at the hulking body of the Lightning Bearer as it lifted up from the marshlands below and rumbled its way east. The ship’s twin dirigibles blotted out the sun as it coasted towards the horizon. “Eh… I’ve seen bigger.”
“Well, no wonder you and Khao’s other lackeys got totally, righteously owned,” Rainbow remarked, glancing down at the stallion in her grasp. “That friggin’ hunk of bolts could blast a hole through a mountain!”
“Actually… uhm…” Zaid’s eyes narrowed as he continued dangling perilously dangling from the pegasus’ grip. “That ain’t the ship that smoked us.”
“No?”
“Nah. It’s totally different. It’s way bigger, not to mention it has two dirigibles instead of one.”
“Maybe it ate the ship that took Kera,” Roarke muttered.
“Hey! Yeah!” Zaid smirked. “Maybe you’re right! It’s got a big enough metal belly for it!”
Roarke sighed, her voice taking a grumbling tone. “Rainbow, you certain the lavender light is situated inside that thing?”
Rainbow gulped. “I wish it wasn’t,” she said. “But it’s in there, alright, and it’s moving from the top deck to some place deep in the center of the thing.”
“I see,” Roarke muttered. “Well, attacking a Top Class Ledomaritan State of the Art Flying Fortress is a viable option. I very much doubt we’d live through it, but bucket lists certainly don’t kick themselves.”
“Look, let’s not freak out too much, okay?”
“Who said I was freaking out?”
“I can tell, alright? I’m already seeing the perspiration on your… erm… helmet.”
“Meh.”
“Let’s just rest a moment and think this through.” Rainbow Dash hovered to a cloud bed. She placed Zaid down and perched on the mist’s wispy edge. “If they’re not armed to the teeth, they’ll at least have a crapton of guards waiting to tear us apart--”
“Uhm…” Roarke fidgeted in mid-hover.
Rainbow looked up at her. “Yes? Does Roarke most Rare already have an idea?”
“No.” Roarke pointed. “Why’d you just drop the breeder?”
“Huh?!” Rainbow Dash looked down at the fresh, gaping hole in the cloud beside her. “Luna Poop!” She dove in a sapphiric blur.
Roarke watched, craning her neck patiently.
After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash hovered back up through the hole, grunting as she once again sported the weight of a frazzled stallion in her grasp. “Nnngh! My bad. Been ages since I sat on a cloud. My head’s in other places.”
“At least y-you g-got a head…” Zaid wheezed. He swallowed down a bubble of bile while his nostril lost a trickle of blood. “Wake me when the universe stops spinning.”
“If he dies, can I have his kidneys?” Roarke asked.
“No!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “Can we please talk about the situation at hoof?!”
“What’s to talk about?” Roarke gestured towards the hulking dreadnaught in the distance. “We’re obviously outnumbered. The only fortuitous thing to do is wait for the thing to engage another ship in combat and attempt boarding it while they’re distracted.”
“And wait for all sorts of horribad crap to happen to Kera in the meantime?!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “No way, Roarke! We owe it to her to act immediately!” She gazed up at the bright blue morning sky. “You know this place more than I do. What’s the weather like?”
“Uhm, muggy?” Roarke pointed at thin wisps of air drifting over the marshlands below. “Humid, hot, lots of moisture.”
“So I’m guessing convection is a big thing here?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Hot air collecting into tall, vertical clouds that breed thunderstorms in the late day?”
“If that’s how feathered ponies describe it, then sure.”
“I think it’s time I put my cloud kicking talents into work.” Rainbow Dash drifted over. “Here, hold the ‘breeder.’”
Roarke merely stared at Rainbow. “Do I have to?”
“Do you know how to shove clouds around and form an early afternoon thunderstorm?”
“I’m a metal mare, not a meteorologist.”
“Yeah, good thing you’re not both or else you’d have a lot more rust.”
“Bite your tongue!” Roarke snapped. “I do not have any rust!”
“Prove it.” Rainbow Dash shoved Zaid into Roarke’s metal grip. “Do some exercise. I gotta go make us some cover.”
“For what?”
“For awesomeness!” Rainbow Dash said with a devilish smirk. She shot eastward, bursting through a wave of mist and collecting the moisture with her wings. “And try to keep up with the ship! But don’t go too low or else they’ll see us before they need to!”
Roarke hovered, alone with Zaid in her grip.
“Uhhhh…” Zaid fidgeted. “Why would I be an accessory to exercise? Do I weigh a lot?”
“Ohhhh how I would love to test that,” Roarke droned.
“I’m not sure how to break this to you, but I think I could do with a bathroom break.”
“What’s stopping you?” Roarke drifted forward, her helmeted eyes on Rainbow Dash. “We could use some hailstones to knock sense into her.”
“Heh! Yaaay!” A trickling noise in the wind. “I’m being useful!”
“Escort the child to the spare officer’s quarters,” Prime Enforcer Fortis said to Basso and Zetta. They saluted as he added, “Make sure she has plenty of food and water. The child has been through a lot. It’s fitting that she get some rest.”
“Aye, Prime Enforcer Fortis, sir,” uttered Zetta.
“Only enemies of the state deserve the brig,” Fortis said as he swiveled about and paced towards the bow of the ship alongside Nightshade. “Keep a close eye on her at all times, you two. I’m not about to have a mistreated foal appear on my record.”
“Yes, sir.” Basso ushered Kera aside.
At first, the filly didn’t budge. She glared daggers in Nightshade’s direction.
The mare stood stock still, though the very corner of her eyes reflected the young pony’s frowning face. At last, with a sigh, Kera answered to Zetta’s and Basso’s urging, and she shuffled lethargically towards the nearest stairwell leading below deck.
“You could use some rest too, Madame Nightshade.” Fortis smirked slightly as he escorted her across the busy deck of the Lightning Bearer. “I hope you do not take offense, but I have seen soldiers on the battlefield who were less unkempt than you at the moment.”
“I like to think I keep my formalities in spirit, even if not in body, Prime Enforcer,” Nightshade muttered as she fumbled with a messy strand of mane hair. “So long as we reach Seclorum--with the book--then there’s still merit to my sacrifice.”
“I am truly, truly sorry for what transpired in Blue Nova.” Fortis frowned. “That wildcard, Shell--he’s virtually uncontrollable. If you would know any clue as to his whereabouts--”
“He’s still on an obsessive trip to capture a winged pony that the Council may or may not have once wanted,” Nightshade droned. “He’s resorted to attacking any ship possessing skystone, for he believes his elusive target has taken to the skies in such a vessel.”
“I am certain there will be a way to exonerate your good name,” Fortis said. “Granted, that will be in the hooves of the Council. Still, once our business with Seclorum is settled, I will easily assist you in any way that my influence can muster.”
“Right now, I’m more concerned about the foal whom your crew has taken in.” Nightshade trotted quietly for a few seconds, then lifted the glowing tome in her grasp. “Oh, and the book, of course.”
“It’s far more incredible than I had imagined,” Fortis remarked. “I never figured that I would actually feast my eyes on it. It’s practically otherworldly.”
“We are the ones who are otherworldly, Prime Enforcer,” Nightshade remarked. “This tome belongs to an era before our time. There are many ponies who hide among our numbers, thinking incorrectly that they know the truth that this book contains. However, they are too severely constricted by their own superstitions to harness its actual power.”
“And that is what you’ve done all this time?” Fortis asked. “Harnessed the energy from within?”
“A most remarkable endeavor,” Nightshade remarked. “It is like communicating with beings too powerful and too far gone to have shaken hooves with personally. And yet, they have managed to bequeath us such knowledge. I almost imagine it was simple fate that allowed somepony with the scientific expertise such as myself to grasp this. I owe a great deal to Kera, the child in my company, of course.”
“I must ask…” Fortis squinted at her. “Was she an orphan of war? Only once before now have I seen Xonan children with my own eyes.” He took a deep breath. “They were not nearly as full of life as her.”
“She is most definitely a lucky foal,” Nightshade said. “Even if she refuses to believe it.” A rumbling noise sounded off overhead. Nightshade craned her neck towards the darkening sky. “A stormfront? This early? How odd.”
“You must be new to the swamplands.” Fortis smirked. “Don’t worry. We’ll cut through this inclement weather in a heartbeat. It’s the rumbling of the Front that you’d best get prepared for.”
“I’ve been there once before, Prime Enforcer,” Nightshade said with a shudder. “And I never intended to return until I knew that I would be an instrument for peace.”
“When all of this is over and done, Seclorum and I will owe everything to you. So will the rest of the Confederacy, for that matter.”
“Your confidence is something sweet. I haven’t tasted of it in a long time.” Nightshade gestured towards the book in her legged grasp. “Would I be allowed to keep watch over this? Bad things have been proven to happen to most everypony involved when I’ve been separated from it.”
“By all means.” Fortis nodded as Nightshade took towards the nearest stairwell. “Keep it with you at all times. I trust that you of all ponies know how to handle it.”
“Still…” Nightshade’s voice flew back at him. “Some security would be essential. I’ve been attacked by far too many harlequin miscreants as of late to feel entirely safe no matter where I am.”
“I’ll be sure that you’re well protected, Madame.” Fortis turned and called towards the nearest officer. “Straker.”
“I want a security detachment to watch over the Madame’s quarters for the duration of this trip. Double the normal quota. And keep a pair of escorts with her at all times.”
“I’ll see to it, sir.”
“And be sure to check up on your subordinates, Enforcers Basso and Zetta. I charged them with looking after the Xonan foal who arrived with Nightshade.”
Straker blinked. He slowly tilted his head up. “Did I hear you say… a Xonan, child, sir?”
“Yes, Lieutenant.” Fortis narrowed his eyes on the stallion. “Is there a problem with that?”
Straker was silent for a few seconds too long. He was aware of it, and so he stood up with a clearing of his throat. “No, sir. Not at all. I am simply… intrigued that Madame Nightshade had a Xonan child in her custody.”
“Just make sure that you don’t let that intrigue turn into rumor,” Fortis said in a firm tone. “You’re an officer and a professional, Straker. See to it that your company treats the filly with attention and respect, like any other citizen of our land. You’re dismissed.”
“Aye, sir.” Lieutenant Straker backtrotted while Fortis approached the far end of the ship with other officers. The stallion shifted a bit where he stood, then cast a curious glance towards the darkening clouds overhead. His brow furrowed, and he almost looked ready to speak a thought out loud. After a few seconds, he shrugged it off, then trotted briskly down a nearby stairwell.
Half an hour later, a bulbous cloud of dark gray mists had clouded overhead, casting a deep, deep shadow over the landscape and the hull of the Lightning Bearer in turn. As swiftly as the vessel sped towards the east, the thunderstorm only intensified, growing louder and louder with each salvo of thunder.
Up above, peaking through a crack in the boiling wisps, Roarke hovered with Zaid in her grasp. She gazed down at the hulking vessel below. Zaid, in the meantime, had his eyes elsewhere.
“Wheww-weee!” He whistled, then smiled. “It’s like the sky’s having a tumor all around us and we’re a pair of scalpels!”
“You make analogies like you piss,” Roarke groaned. “It’s all over the place.”
“Oh, I’m sobering up now. Believe you me!” Zaid let out a girlish shriek as a patch of clouds lit up beneath him. “Uhm… what are the odds that one of these bolts might hit us?”
“Pretty slim, I’d say.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because this is hardly a natural formation.” Roarke motioned her head towards the south. “Or have you not been paying attention?”
Zaid glanced over in time to see a blue shape flying swiftly towards them, pushing a dense gray clump of mist. Rainbow Dash soared in like a wrecking ball, slapping the extra patch of thunderstorming clouds into place. In answer, the brimming bed beneath them all fluctuated with bright lightening. Zaid jumped again, meanwhile Roarke merely droned:
“You think that’s enough thunderclapping?” Her voice rang from beneath her helmet. “They’re going to realize something is up by now.”
“I don’t think so!” Rainbow Dash hovered, panting. “I don’t think these dudes know what to do with stuff that their cannonballs can’t hit!”
“Meaning…”
“All they know is that a thunderstorm’s brewing above them! They can’t outfly it, and they don’t want to be stuck in it. Sooooo…” Rainbow twirled about with a flicker of her ruby pendant. She rubbed her hooves together and smiled devilishly. “If I know anything about airship pilots, they’re gonna be doing it anytime now.”
“Doing what?” Zaid blinked. “Joining the Mile High Clop?”
“Wait for it… wait for itttt…”
Almost as if on cue, the ballasts of the massive ship shifted, and the entire body of the Lightning Bearer began rising.
“Yes!” Rainbow pointed while smiling boastfully at Roarke. “Check it!”
“They’re ascending so that they can fly above the clouds,” Roarke said.
“And when they pierced through the lightning storm I just made--”
“--we’ll have ample cover to sneak aboard the top deck, undetected.”
“Bingo!” Rainbow Dash struck a victorious pose. “Now, who said I was stupid?”
“I never said you were stupid!” Zaid gasped.
Rainbow frowned. “I wasn’t talking to you, stupid.”
“Hey, stupid,” Roarke droned, pointing at the approaching hull. “Perhaps now would be a good time to put all your hard work to use.”
“Okay. After me now.” Rainbow Dash held her breath and tilted her wings. “Three… two… one… dive!”
And they pierced the clouds just as the Lightning Bearer came up from the other side.
“We’re turning about again,” spoke one stallion to another as the two guards marched firmly across the side deck of the Lightning Bearer, close to the stern. “We’re headed back east.”
“I thought we had just diverted from our previous path half a day ago!” The other looked out into the dissipating gray mists beyond the hull’s edge. “I don’t get it. Fortis has never made an order this random before.”
“I heard that we picked up a very important pony. A mare from Blue Nova.”
“She’d better be important!” The one stallion frowned as the air around them rumbled. “And the sooner we ditch this weather the better.”
“You’d rather deal with enemy warships?”
“If it means killing some tattooed bastards, you bet!”
“Heheheh. Come on, let’s finish our rounds.”
The two trotted down a stairwell, leaving that spot of the deck empty.
A few seconds later, two mares--one colorful and the other clad in metal--climbed over the nearby railing. They hoisted a stallion onto the deck with them like a wet sack of meat.
“Ungh…” Zaid rolled over, wincing. “My body’s noodly in all the wrong places.”
“Get used to it.” Rainbow Dash panted as she nervously glanced around the area surrounding them. “And you’d better be sober! I need you around for when we grab the book.”
“I thought we were looking for the kid.”
“One thing at a time.” Rainbow Dash glanced over at the mare to her right. “Roarke?”
“Hmm?”
“Does your fancy helmet thingy see any dastardly beret dudes loitering about?”
“Hmm…” Roarke leaned forward, her helmet flickering with red light.
Rainbow glared. “You know, half the time I can’t tell when you’re thinking or just brooding.”
“Can’t I do both?”
“Your heart’s really not into this sneaking mission, is it?” Rainbow Dash leaned in to mutter. “You’d rather have gone in guns blazing.”
“Don’t be silly. I’d waste my ammo.”
Rainbow sighed. “Glad to know your priorities are straight.”
“The coast seems to be clear,” Roarke said. “Though that’s not the case with the area below deck. It’s practically crawling with equines down there.”
“I’m guessing that’s where they took Khao’s glowy magazine of runes?” Zaid remarked.
Rainbow Dash tilted her head around, ultimately sighting a lavender glint of light midway towards the bow, and below them. “Ugh. Why’s everything gotta be so mega-lame? I liked things better when it was… like… diet lame.”
“Just calm down,” Roarke said as she snuck towards a stairwell, spotting it for guards. “We’re more than equipped to get the foal, the book, then escape undetected.”
“I don’t suppose you picked up anything at the village back there that could help us?”
“Not quite,” Roarke said. “Just a couple of bits, a switchblade, a crystal detector.” She jerked, “Oh, and one of the stallions in the tavern had dropped a rather tasty sandwich made out of yellow cheese melted between two slices of toasted bread--”
“You mean you had grilled cheese and you didn’t tell me?!” Zaid shouted.
“Shhhh!” Rainbow Dash slapped him upside the head. “The next yelp out of you, cultist, and you’re goin’ out one of these ship’s cannons!”
“I’d proudly die with a smile on my face! Darn it! Why didn’t you share, girl?!”
Rainbow sighed and leaned in towards Roarke. “Any guards down there?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.” The metal mare droned as she grabbed Zaid. “One way to find out.”
“Huh--Gaaaie!” Zaid hissed as he was tossed mercilessly down the steps. His limbs made several thumping noises, then lay silent. After a few seconds, his voice echoed upwards. “He didn’t have a side of pickles with that sandwich, did he?”
“Works form me.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and glided down. “Let’s go!”
Roarke hurriedly trotted down after her.
Zetta shoved a tray across the cot. “Please. You need to eat something!” She blinked with worried eyes. “I can tell that you haven’t had a bite in ages! You poor thing. Don’t you want to feel better?”
Kera sat in the far corner of the bed, hugging herself tightly. She went through extraordinary lengths to avoid visual contact with the female enforcer.
Zetta gulped. She glanced up at Basso. The stallion shrugged, his massive shoulders taking up most of the space in the cramped officer’s quarters.
With a sigh, Zetta slid the tray against the wall, rotating the apples atop it so that their skin’s shine could reflect Kera’s jaded expression. “Well, we’ll leave it here in case you change your mind. And if you need anything, please don’t be afraid to ask one of us, okay?”
Kera gazed down at the bed, her expressions limp and emotionless.
Zetta smiled kindly. “I dunno what your folks in Xona think about us, but we’re not really that cruel. Honest! We’d never hurt a kid of theirs. That just isn’t right. I mean, once this war is over, you can go back… back to…” The mare’s words trailed off.
Kera was frowning at this point. Her teeth clenched tightly beneath her tattooed muzzle.
With a wincing expression, Zetta stood up and trotted quietly out the room with Basso. The stallion closed the door as the two stood alone in the hallway.
“Well, she was certainly chatty,” Basso muttered. “You suppose she even understands Ledomaritan Basic?”
“I dunno. Wouldn’t she? I mean, how else could Madame Nightshade have communicated with her?”
“Maybe Nightshade saved the kid from the warfront, and somehow she got stuck with the mare after what went down in Blue Nova.”
“Whatever the case, it looks like that kid has been through a lot.” Zetta gazed at the door with a sad expression. “I… I’ve heard stories of what the Xonans do to their foals: tattooing them at a young age, forcing them to practice mind-bending feats of magic. I didn’t want to believe it, but now that she’s here… and she’s so miserable looking…”
“Perhaps we should just stick to our task at hoof,” Basso said. “Fortis and Straker want us guarding the kid.” He turned around to face the far end of the hallway. “As long as we do that right, we should have nothing to be concerned about--”
“Ooof!” Rainbow Dash turned a corner and slammed directly into Basso’s thick chest.
Unmoving, the stallion glanced down towards the collapsing pegasus. “Oh! Uhm… hi there!” He smiled. “Did Nightshade bring you too?”
Rainbow Dash stopped rubbing her head and gasped. “Nightshade?!” She looked up, caught a brief glimpse of the stallion’s beret, and immediately flew towards him with murderous uppercut. “Raaaaaugh--” She bounced off him again. “Acck!” Thud.
Basso blinked. “So… is that a no?”
“Look out!” Zetta gasped, reaching for her taser.
“Rrrrrrgh!” Roarke flew in, rockets blaring. Behind her, Zaid pumped his hoof, cheering.
Zetta’s eyes quivered, reflecting the jet-burning figure of Roarke soaring straight at her.
The metal mare was within feet of smashing Zetta’s horn inside out when twin blasts of crystal energy struck her in the side. She took the impact with a grunt, coming to a sliding stop against the floor of the corridor. She spun and glared through her helmet down an adjacent hallway.
A line of five guards who chanced upon the scene stood in open view. They scrambled to reload their weapons, their berets nearly falling off their trembling skulls. “Come on! Come on! Shoot her!”
Roarke cocked her head to the side, cracking the joints in her neck. “Good morning, breakfast.” With a burst of engines, the Searonese fighter dove on them like a bird of prey. The stallions shrieked, and soon they were all over the place as Roarke spun and flung her metal bullwhips in the midst of their numbers.
Zetta gawked at the scene, then glanced over towards Basso.
“Nnnngh!” Rainbow Dash was flying circles around the massive stallion, punching and bucking and kicking every chance she could get. “Rgggh! Yaaugh! Haaugh! Take that!”
Basso blinked, craning his head about with a worried expression. “According to the soldier’s handbook, non military suspects can’t be attacked unless attacked first. I’m pretty sure you’ve attacked me at least twenty times… no, twenty-one, ma’am.”
“Why… won’t… you… go… down?!” Rainbow Dash resorted to pulling at his tail with her teeth. “Nnnnngh-Come onnn!”
“Not like that, Har-Har!” Zaid shouted from the sidelines. “Hit him where it hurts!”
“I’m…” Rainbow grunted through the side of her teeth. “Trying…!”
“Punch him in the nipples!”
Rainbow blinked, then glanced aside. “He’s a stallion!”
“Then punch him in the nipples harder!”
“I need to ask you to stop,” Basso said. “For your own good, and for my tail’s.”
“Uh uh! I don’t negotiate with Lame-o-maritans!”
Basso looked sad. “Now that’s just cruel.” He flicked his tail.
The tiny gesture was enough to fling Rainbow like a cannonball into the nearby wall. “Ooof!” The metal dented from her impact. Wincing, she exhaled heavily through her nostrils and snarled, “Alright, that’s it!” With a swift burst of her wings, she soared straight down the hallway. “I hope the acoustics in here are good, because we’re about to test a sonic rainboom indoors!”
Basso raised an eyebrow. “What’s a sonic rainboom?”
“The heck do I know?” Zaid said, then grinned wide. “But I sure as Hell wanna find out!” He turned and waved at the hulking pony. “Hi! I’m Zaid!”
“Hi, I’m Basso!”
“Grrrrr!” Rainbow Dash grinded her hooves, coiled her wings, then sprung forward from afar. “Ramming speed!”
In the meantime, a series of loud thuds struck the floor. Roarke had finished pummeling the cluster of enforcers on her end of the hall. She spun about, standing amidst the pile of twitching, groaning soldiers.
Zetta stared at her, lips quivering.
Roarke’s helmet flickered. She jerked forward.
“Aaaack!” Zetta dropped her taser with a clatter. She squatted low, covering her skull. “Please! Don’t hurt me! White flag! White flag!”
“Hmmph. Wuss.” Roarke trotted by--paused--then kept going. She looked ahead, and the very moment she saw Basso, her engines burned back to life.
Basso glanced aside. “Oh, hey, another one!”
“The one and only.” Roarke sailed towards him. “I don’t care how big you are! Any breeder can crack!”
Basso shrugged as he consumed Roarke’s vision. “One second, ma’am.” He looked ahead and hooked his massive hoof out in time to catch the body of another pony in from the other direction.
“Ulp!” Rainbow Dash gasped, losing all air from her lungs as her neck found itself in the crook of the stallion’s limb. All Basso had to do was twirl around, and the combination of his strength and Rainbow’s suicidal velocity flung her like a catapult into Roarke’s body.
“Aaaaugh!” The metal mare’s helmet shattered from impact. Both bodies went flying through the officer’s door behind the stallion.
“Holy crap monkeys!” Zaid exclaimed.
Basso winced. “Ah, for Ledo’s sake. Not again.”
Zetta looked up from the cowering little ball she had turned into. She blinked at the settling dust around the fresh hole in the room. “Basso…?”
“I didn’t mean to!” The stallion stammered, lumbering about in the battle-strewn hallway. “Honest!”
“That… was… so radical!” Zaid chanted. “Yeah!” He gazed up at the stallion with sparkling eyes. “Do me next?”
Basso fidgeted. “Okay, now this is just getting out of hoof…”
Meanwhile, inside the room…
“Unnngh…” Rainbow Dash lay upside down atop Roarke’s twitching suit. She lifted her head, fluttered her eyes open, and caught sight of a flabbergasted filly seated breathless on the nearby cot. “Oh, hey there, Kera. Cool.”
“Rainbow Dash!” She grinned wide. “You came for me!”
“Just gimme a second, kid.” Rainbow lay her head back down, wincing. “I gotta have a little talk with my concussion.”
“Rainbow, they have the book!” Kera hopped down and vigorously shook the pegasus’ shoulder. “Nightshade! She stole it! We gotta get the thing back and get back to Belle and--” Rainbow suddenly lifted up. “Whoah!”
Kera and Rainbow fell to the side, tangled with each other’s limbs. Roarke had stood up and was limping left and right, groaning and growling. “Nnnnrghhh… stupid… friggin’... last breath he ever breathes… I swear by Searo’s uterus… mmmff...”
“Hey, guys!” Zaid poked his head in under the noise of a repeating buzzer. “The alarm sounds like Khao after eating a Mintian quesadilla!” He blinked. “And did somepony just say ‘uterus?’”
“Kill ‘em!” Roarke hissed as her battered suit opened in two dozen places and activated twenty misguided weapons at once. “I’ll kill ‘em all!” Her angry shrieks were drowned by several tiny explosions and concussive blasts painting the walls with metal shrapnel.
“Whoah whoah whoah!” Rainbow Dash protectively hugged Kera’s body as she frowned over her shoulder. “Save the fireworks for after we’ve blown this joint, girl!”
Basso stuck his head in beside Zaid’s. “Actually, uhm, fireworks are explicitly banned inside the battleship according to Article VII subsection Z--”
“Kill!” Roarke’s eye-lenses flickered as she dove murderously at the giant stallion.
“Aaaaaaaah!” Basso barely flinched as Roarke mounted the back of his neck and repeatedly poked and prodded him with angry bright tasers. “Blood for goddess-damn Searo!”
“For who?” Basso asked, then winced. “Ow! Ow, that hurts!” He stumbled backwards out of the cramped, debris-filled room. “Come on! Stop it! I shaved for b-basic training!”
“Yeah, buck this…” Rainbow Dash stumbled achingly onto her hooves, standing Kera up beside her. “Let’s ditch this sky zoo already.”
“But Rainbow!” Kera stomped her hoof as she squealed over the sounds of Roarke’s bloody roar cries outside. “The book! We can’t let Nightshade get away with it!”
“I’m more concerned about getting your adorascamp flank back into Belle’s and Pilate’s loving forelimbs--” Rainbow Dash did a double-take with a rattle of her pendant. “Wait, did you say ‘Nightshade?’”
“You deaf or something?!” Kera frowned. “She helped me out of the Steel Wing, but then she stole the book from me!”
“You were on the Steel Wing?!”
“Darn it, Rainbow!” Kera barked, stomping her hooves again. “Let’s just get the book already!”
“I will, that is--as soon as Roarke stops waging war against testosterone incarnate.” Rainbow winced towards the sparkling madness outside. “Princess Celestia on a bicycle, what does that guy eat?”
“A bicycle? Really?” Zaid scratched his yellow-streaked mane. “I woulda figured your god would ride a moped.”
“Gaaaaie!” Kera jumped onto Rainbow’s back and hid her trembling face into her feathers. “A cultist! A cultist! You brought a cultist!”
“Hey! Chillax!” Rainbow grunted over shoulder. “He’s not gonna hurt you, kid!”
“Pfft! What?!” Kera raised her head just in time to frown. “You’re gonna tell me he’s as ‘good cultist?’”
“Eh… ‘stupid’ is more like it.”
“Hey! Not fair, dude!” Zaid attempted to frown. “I totally got my General Education Diaphragm… er… thingy!”
“Shut up, cultist.”
“Basso! For Spark’s sake!” Zetta shouted from outside. “Just toss her off already! She’s trying to kill you!”
“I think we’d… uh… better go out there.” Rainbow was already galloping while Kera held on for dear life.
“Is she really?” Basso stated as the group rejoined the fight outside. The stallion gripped the side of Roarke’s armor and held her high above the floor, dangling. “Whoah! She totally is! What’s up with that?”
“I’ll make you burn in a hundred righteous fires!” Roarke shouted, propping loose a missile launcher from the side of her armor. “So long as I still have warrior’s blood!”
Basso nodded. “Okay.”
“Roarke!” Rainbow shouted. “We got Kera! Leave him be, already! You’re letting your anger fill your head!”
“At least I’ve got a head!” The metal mare hissed as she launched the projectile. “Enjoy pumping iron in everlasting torment, you five legged sycophant!”
“Now what did I say about fireworks?” Basso frowned as he clamped a hoof over the missile.
The projectile launched… and went nowhere. Held by the stallion’s forelimb, the rocket thrusters blew back into Roarke’s suit, sending her flying off like a living torpedo in the opposite direction.
“Oh for the love of--” Smash! Her armored body made a hole in the wall, exposing a chunk of metallic manaconduits between there and the nearest corridor.
Basso winced, gripping the burning rocket like a coffee mug. “Darn it! This just isn’t my morning!”
“Good enough for me!” Rainbow shook the weight of Kera closer to the middle of her back and galloped through the hole. “Zaid, let’s make like a griffon and brush off!” She hoisted Roarke’s crumpled body up as she passed into the next hallway. “You too, champ!”
“Unnngh…” Roarke moaned, stumbling after the pegasus. “Did I burn a hole through his chest.”
“Oh. Uh. Sure! Me and Kera are totally eating his heart right as we speak.”
“T-tastes like waffle,” Kera added with a nervous twitch.
Roarke drunkenly smirked as she broke into an awkward trot. “Blood for S-Searo…”
Zaid was the last to pass through, pausing to spin around and toss a smirking gang sign with his two forelimbs. “Ha! You got Harbingered, suckah! Yeee-ah! Sky ponies represent!” And he disappeared into the mess, leaving the two enforcers alone with the buzzing alarm.
“Uhm…” Basso spoke over his shoulder. “Ya think we should report this?”
“Way ahead of you!” Zetta planted her hoof against a sound stone built into a nearby intercom. “Straker! Lieutenant Striker! We have intruders running amok along Level Three!” She turned--then did a double-take with wide eyes. “Basso!” she squeaked, pointing.
“What?” The stallion glanced at the rocket smoking in his grasp. He shrugged, then tossed it aside. The thing went off with a massive explosion, covering his muscled body with ashen debris. “Dang it! Every little thing today!”
“So! Who’s butt are we gonna kick next?!” Zaid asked, his eyes brighter than the strobing lights blurring past the group.
“We’re not kicking any butts!” Rainbow shouted, carrying both Kera on her back and the weight of Roarke leaning against her. “We’re jumping off this hunk-a-junk! And in case you haven’t noticed, we haven’t exactly done a bunch of butt kicking since we friggin’ got here!”
“Yeah?” Kera leaned down to stare at Rainbow’s face upside-down. “What’s up with that?!”
“Look…” Rainbow frowned. “I didn’t expect to be bumping skulls with a continent masquerading itself as a stallion!”
“No good, sandbagging cheapscape!” Zaid spat as the two rounded a corner. “Face it, girl, you know how to work a crowd. You’re the main event! The showstopper!”
“Are you sure he’s here to help us?” Kera asked, frowning.
“He’s been good for stress relief so far.”
“Stress relief?” Zaid stammered.
“When I regain my balance…” Roarke hissed, trotting limply with a shattered helmet. “...I’m using his skull as a bidet.”
“Oh! Hey look!” Zaid sweated with a nervous smile. “An exit!” He pointed towards a distant stairwell. “Right over there!”
“Great!” Rainbow Dash picked up the pace, breaking into a swift canter. “Hopefully there’re still enough thunderclouds left to hide our jump!”
“But Rainbow!” Kera squeaked. “The book!”
“Look, screw the book!” Rainbow frowned. “If Floydien’s Nancy Jane needs fuel so badly, I’ll just get out and push us the rest of the way to the world’s end!”
“Whoah, you’re headed there!?” Zaid grinned. “They serve the best ale!”
“Kera, do me a favor.”
“What, Rainbow?”
“His left ear. Don’t hold back.”
Kera swatted him. ”Ow!” She gazed back down at the pegasus.
“But the book is the whole reason I chased after the bad guys!” the filly exclaimed. “I can’t go back to the Jury empty hoofed?!”
“Why not?” Rainbow ushered the group towards the base of the stairs. “We’re all returning empty-headed. Okay, now let’s be careful. Once we’re on the top deck--”
Just then, a dozen soldiers rushed down the steps and aimed their manarifles. “Hold it right there!”
”Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash dropped Kera, flew up, kicked a metal panel loose from the ceiling, and came back down with the slab aimed towards the phalanx. She blocked the resulting fire, scuffling back so that the group could crouch with her. “One of theses days, I’d darn well better fly into a country full of swashbucklers! I swear!”
“They’re trying to kill us!” Zaid exclaimed.
Rainbow glared his way. “No, you think?”
“Thinking?” Roarke shook her snout and rubbed her aching forehead as she stood up behind Rainbow’s shield. “That’s my job. Normally.”
“Hey, copper girl!” Rainbow smiled, wincing as fresh dents formed in the metal from the bullet pings on the other side. “Think you’re ready to… uh… start not-sucking again?”
“I’ve got a few bones to pick with these ponies,” Roarke hissed, her eye-lenses glinting icily. “And all of them are about to get shattered.”
“Just… uhm… try not to get super angry like you just did again.”
“No promises.” Roarke coiled her bodies, sprang, and fired her thrusters. “Rrrrgh!” She spun into the group, sweeping several gunponies off their hooves and pummeling the skulls of those in the second line.
“Look at her go!” Kera exclaimed, peaking around the burnt plate of metal. “The four of us can totally get that book back, Rainbow! I know it!”
Rainbow sweated as she said, “Yeah, well, so long as we don’t run into any more huge lumbering mountains with hooves--”
“There! Those are the ponies!” Basso’s voice shouted.
“Luna poop!” Rainbow Dash swiveled around.
At the end of the hallway opposite of the stairwell, Basso stood besides Straker and a contingent of armed guards. “I think the one with the pretty mane is the leader.”
Straker craned his neck. “The one with the brown streak?”
“No, the other pretty one.”
“You sure that’s our intruder, Basso?”
“Uhhh…” Basso squinted. From miles away, the burnt metal panel flew and ricocheted off his skull with a cacophonous clang! He blinked, standing stock still. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
“Zaid!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she bolted down the hallway on furious wings. “Look after Kera!”
“Hey, when do I get my own ceiling panel to fling around?” the former cultist shouted.
“...Kera, look after Zaid!” Rainbow Dash spun in mid-air, dodged a trio of energy blasts, kicked off a wall, and landed in a fierce dive-kick. “Haaaaugh!”
Three stallions fell down in a blink. Basso turned, blinking as Rainbow somersaulted, galloped off a wall, spun off, and bucked another guard across the face.
Straker swiveled about. With an icy expression, he telekinetically unsheathed a double-sided taser from a holster at his side.
Rainbow Dash saw it. She spun from a pair of gun-toting enforcers and flew straight at him with multiple rapid kicks. “Ya! Ya! Ya! Ya!”
Straker backtrotted, carefully deflecting each buck with his sparkling bludgeons. He stabbed forward, hooked his weapon into Rainbow’s mane, and flung the thing down.
“Gaah!” Rainbow found herself being slammed into the floor by her mane. She grunted, struggling as Straker held her in place. Two guards aimed their guns at her prone figure. Snarling, she kicked her upper body up and twisted her weight on the weapon in Straker’s magical grasp.
The stallion grunted as his horn dimmed. He lost grip of the taser, for Rainbow Dash was twirling up from the ground with acrobatic finesse. The guards fired at her--missed by a hair on either side--and gasped as she ended her feat with a mane-toss in their direction. The double-sided weapon flew like a comet, uppercutting both of them to the floor.
Rainbow Dash spun around, snarling.
Straker was gritting his teeth. He reached a hoof up and snaked his forelimb into his uniform’s pocket.
“Nuh uh!” Rainbow pounced him. “I’m through with dirty tricks--”
She slammed into his body before he could pull a weapon out. Just milliseconds before they made contact, the mare spotted a flash of silver metal inside his coat. Her world instantly spun. She and Straker flew forward, tangled for a brief moment, and tumbled apart.
“Unngh… what…” Rainbow Dash struggled to her knees, shaking her head. “What the hay was that?”
“Lieutenant?” Basso trotted over on loud hooves, kneeling by Straker’s side as he helped the officer up. “I think we might need some backup.”
Straker winced, squinting at him. “And just what are you doing, enforcer?”
“Helping… you up?”
“Enforcer…” Straker sighed. “Didn’t we have a seminar on assertiveness or something?”
“We did?” Basso blinked.
”What in Spark’s name is going on here…?!” A familiar feminine voice exclaimed.
That shook Rainbow out of her spell. She looked up with a gasp, eyes quivering on a figure who had emerged from a connecting hallway with two accompanying guards.
Upon seeing the pegasus, Nightshade’s ears drooped on either side of her broken horn. “Austraeoh…” She shuddered. “Oh, Novus, if only you could see how close I was…”
Sneering, Rainbow Dash jumped onto her hooves. “You…!”
Nightshade stood firm, holding tight to a particular tome in her grasp. “How fitting that you would charge back into destiny…”
“Belle told me all about you!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
The two guards rushed forward, swinging tasers.
Rainbow smacked one upside the head and effortlessly bucked the other into a wall. She flapped her wings harder and soared like an angry missile at the mare. “I promised her I would deliver something to you!”
Kera watched breathlessly from afar. Her green eyes bounced between Rainbow’s pendant and the book.
“First class!” Rainbow shouted, flinging her best hoof towards Nightshade’s skull.
Just then, Kera gasped. “No, Rainbow! Don’t get close--”
It was too late. A bright flash of lavender emanated between the two. Rainbow’s charge ended with a harmless slide, stopping just inches before Nightshade’s hooves. “Unnngh…” She curled up, overwhelmed with nauseating dizziness.
Nightshade gazed down at her, sighing. “Will you ever cease being so misguided…?”
“Rainbow Dash!” Kera galloped over and squatted by the mare’s side. “Are you okay?”
“I… I thought…” With weak eyes, Rainbow gazed across the hall at Zaid. “You said the… the hooflet would… would protect m-me…”
“Yeah! You gotta be wearing the dang thing, Einstallion!” Zaid retorted.
Holding her bile down, Rainbow rolled to the side, vividly brandishing the mark of “Odrsjot” across her lower forelimb.
Zaid did a double-take. “Oh. You are.” His brow furrowed. “Well, what the crap?!” One of Nightshade’s guards had recovered in time to smack him across the skull. “Aaaugh!” He was forced down to his knees against the hard metal floor.
The ponies besides Straker and Basso had stood back up, wearily. At the same time, Zetta rushed in from a distant hallway with three times as many reinforcements.
Biting her lip, Kera spun about and shouted towards the stairwell. “Roarke!”
But the metal mare was dozens of feet away, headbutting the last of a thick group of armed enforcers.
“Roarke!” Kera cried.
Roarke spun about. Her eye-lenses shrank as a gasp escaped her throat.
Rainbow Dash lay in a limp heap besides Kera. Zaid was helpless to move under the guard’s grip. Nightshade pivoted about with the book, gazing coolly at the Searonese pony while Straker’s forces marched in, surrounding the pegasus on all sides.
“Bloody hell…” Roarke tried to prepare a missile, but her suit spat sparks and rattled. Her brown coat went pale.
“Rainbow! Get up! Get up!” Kera stammered, shaking the filly heavily.
Rainbow tried to move, but her face was awash with pain. She fell back, her ruby eyes rolling. At last, as the lavender light overwhelmed her, and she gave Roarke a pleading, thousand-mile stare. “R-Roarke…”
Straker followed the path of Rainbow’s sight. Upon spotting Roarke, he flew a hoof forward and shouted, “Shoot her!”
Roarke jolted in place, her augmented eyes still locked on Rainbow.
The pegasus hissed. In the throb of the moment, she mouthed one word: “Go!”
Roarke gritted her teeth. Cursing under her breath, she spun and rocketed up the stairwell--
--which promptly exploded under Ledomaritan manafire. The entire end of the hallway collapsed on top of Roarke, burying her in metal shrapnel and dust.
Kera screamed. Zaid moaned in pain. And that was when the forces of Ledo dragged Rainbow--and her friends--out of sight.
“I can't exactly carry these things,” Rainbow Dash sputtered, trying not to vomit. “I'm like—chaos-intolerant—or some crap.”
“Then how will get get these strips to that place you were talking about?!” Gold Petals exclaimed, watching as Windthrow citizens fled from sweeping swarms of monstrous bat creatures. “I don't think this place is gonna last another minute! I can't even see Mom or Dad—”
Silver strips fell into the young mare’s hooves.
She glanced down at the glowing artifacts. “Uhm...”
“I may not be able to carry these stupid things,” Rainbow Dash said. “But I definitely can carry you.”
“Carry m-me?” Gold Petals blinked, then gasped as she was hoisted off her hooves and carried towards the mountain face. “Daaaah!” With trembling forelimbs, she clutched the strips to her chest.
“You just got drafted, girlfriend!” Rainbow sped the two of them towards the mines. “Hey! Fart-faces!” She shouted behind her flapping wings with daredevilish vigor. “This way to freedom, you winged pieces of demon luggage!”
The leathery abominations of chaos spiraled about and chased after the two ponies with ear-splitting banshee screams.
Rainbow Dash gripped her ears, writhing. “Nnnngh… so loud… can still… can still hear them…” After a few agonized seconds, Rainbow felt a hoof on her shoulder. Her teary eyes flew open.
Kera bit her lip. At the sight of Rainbow regaining consciousness, she smiled somewhat. “Hey. You’re in one piece!”
Rainbow Dash blinked. Her limbs flexed, and she tried to propel herself forward, but her whole body collapsed in a heavy flop. “Unnngh… Where… the book… where…?”
“Somewhere close by,” Kera said, stepping back to reveal a cramped, brightly-lit prison cell.
Instead of jail bars, a force field of highly charged manacrystals barred the three ponies--Rainbow, Kera, and Zaid--from the rest of the brig. From a distance, intimidating guards stood at their stations, speaking with one another while keeping their eyes trained on the captured equiens.
Rainbow’s breaths were thin and ragged. Fighting nausea, she slumped against a wall and rubbed her head.
Kera fidgeted. “You’ve been asleep for a long… long time…”
Rainbow gulped. “How long?”
Kera avoided her gaze. “Two days.”
Rainbow’s eyes bugged. “Two… days…?”
“I gave you some water, but you might wanna eat.” Kera pointed towards a dish full of gray mush. “It looks like crud, but it tastes better than crud.”
“Yeah.” Zaid smirked. “Especially when you sprinkle the cell’s fleas over it.”
Rainbow took a deep breath and glared at the stallion.
Zaid winced and shuffled tighter into the corner. “Right. I’ll… uh… just be sitting here. Quietly.” He gulped. “Trying not to fart.”
“I’m so glad you’re awake again,” Kera said. “At least now I have somepony else to talk to.”
“What’s it matter?” Rainbow Dash muttered. “All I seem to be as of late is useless--” Her eyes widened. And she flung two hooves to her neck. She sighed with relief to feel the pendant still in place.
“They… uh… they took your satchel and stuff,” Kera said.
“What matters is this,” Rainbow muttered, feeling the weight of the ruby lightning bolt. “This and nothing else. I just… I just don’t get why…?”
“I think Nightshade talked them into leaving it on you,” Kera said. “I can’t guess half the stuff that stuck-up freakette knows, but it’s apparently enough to keep you safe… for whatever reason.”
“It’s not my safety I’m worried about,” Rainbow Dash said, nervously eying the other two ponies inside the tight cell with her. She shuddered. “Celestia, I got us in deep this time…”
“You… uh…” Kera squinted worriedly. “You were having a really bad dream when you came to. Heck, you were kind of fitful and squirming about the entire time you ‘slept.’”
Rainbow Dash sighed heavily. She tried standing up again, but only collapsed even harder. Kera jerked to rush over and help her, but Rainbow Dash let loose a deep grunt. The filly stood her ground as Rainbow slumped back onto her flank.
Kera finally opened her mouth to say something--
“She was a mare who was very special to me,” Rainbow Dash said.
Kera blinked curiously.
Rainbow looked halfway towards her. “I know what you were gonna ask.” She shuddered. “Let’s just leave it at that, ‘kay?”
Kera slowly nodded. After a few seconds, she asked, “Are… are the others okay?”
“Others…?” Rainbow Dash clutched her aching head. She winced from the pulse of lavender light glowing through the walls to her vision. “Nnnngh… the others…”
“Belle!” Kera’s mouth hung open in earnest. She leaned forward. “And Pilate! Eagle Eye! Propsy! That fat stallion who burps a lot?!”
“They’re fine. At least, I hope so.”
“Rainbow Dash…?”
“They were in one piece when I left to find you, okay?! That’s all I know! Will you chillax?!”
Kera clamped her mouth shut, digging at the floor with her hooves.
Rainbow sighed. She rubbed the pain away in her head momentarily and leaned forward. “Look, kid, I’m sorry. I… I-I don’t take losing well. Especially when ponies I care about have their lives on the line. I came all this way to save you, and look how it ended up!” She rubbed her head again. “Unnngh… Everything was… was so fine! We had freedom! We had the Jury! Just give it a few weeks, and we would have had a strong tailwind out of this stinkin’ continent!”
“I shouldn’t have jumped out of the ship and tried to get the book back,” Kera said. “That’s why all of this happened.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” Rainbow Dash said.
Kera hung her face.
“But…” Rainbow hissed in pain as she nevertheless crawled over and scooped Kera into a weak side-hug. “I’ve done loads of stupider things myself, and what makes me able to still boast about the crud today is how I’ve gone about fixing crazy situations while still in free-fall. Somehow, I always end up landing on my hooves.” She smiled dazedly. “For all the tumbles you’ve taken, I’d say you’ve made it this far in really good shape.”
Kera blinked up at her with worried green eyes. “How are we gonna fix this situation?”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. With a sudden sneer, she turned and growled towards Zaid, “Dude, what gives?!” She raised a hoof and pointed at her forelimb. “I thought you said this hooflet would--” She paused, realizing she was gesturing towards a barren fetlock. “Ungh!” She pointed wildly beyond the force field. “I thought yous aid the Odrsjot rune would keep the book from knocking me over the skull with its glowiness!”
“And it was supposed to!” Zaid exclaimed, waving his forelimbs. “That’s what Khao said, at least! That’s why she had all of us wear it!”
“Yeah, well, maybe she gave you all a bunch of phonies!” Rainbow frowned. “Did you ever think of that? I mean, the mare’s a cult leader. I’m pretty sure she has it out to deceive you suckers!”
“Hey, for a place to sleep, a place to exercise, a place to call home that isn’t the underside of a bridge?!” Zaid shrugged. “It seemed pretty swell at the time! Things didn’t go super stupid until Nightshade stole Khao’s bones and decided to cash in on the Herald’s real estate! Sheesh, can’t a lady make her own church of steam and explosions?!”
“Maybe you guys just weren’t using the rune thingy right?” Kera asked.
“Pfft!” Zaid pointed. “She’s the goddess-damn sky horse of destiny and sparkles! Who else is supposed to use the rune?”
Rainbow Dash swiveled about, clutching her aching skull with two hooves. “Nnnngh… what was it… what was the meaning…?”
“Rainbow…?” Kera gazed at her.
“I’m trying to remember what Belle told me about the stuff she learned while bumping skulls with the twelve kids Nightshade had held captive.” The pegasus hugged herself and rocked back and forth in a futile attempt to stave off the dizziness. “She had learned words… Xonan words… or at least the Xonans understood them enough to make heads or tails out of the stuff.” She flung a glance towards the filly. “You have any clue what ‘Odrsjot’ means?”
“Hey, I only know how to pronounce the stuff!” Kera retorted. “You’re the one who should remember a simple conversation with her best friend from weeks ago!”
Rainbow blushed slightly. “I guess I-I was too busy enjoying Ebon’s cooking at the time.”
“Oh yeah?” Zaid asked. “What was it?”
Rainbow limply shrugged. “Grilled cheese and--”
“Son of a carpenter!” Zaid angrily bucked the closest thing to him. Zap! “Ow ow ow ow!” He raised his forelimb to his muzzle and blew at the fresh scorch mark that the force field had made. “Nnnngh. Darn it! Seriously! Is the whole universe out to sack-tap me?! Totally unswell!”
“I wanna help you, Rainbow Dash,” Kera said. “Really, I do. But I’m just about as helpless as you are.” She sighed.
“Kid, don’t. Please… just don’t…” Rainbow gestured weakly at her. “You’re… y’know… you’re young enough to pull back into the race. Just because I screwed things up royally doesn’t mean all is lost… for you, at least. I’ll figure us out a way out of here, and when I do, I’ll make sure you never see another beret again. You’ll live to kick a thousand flanks and eat a million grasshoppers by the time you’re my… my…” Rainbow’s ruby eyes crossed. “Shucks, Luna, how old am I by now anyways…?”
“Rainbow…”
“Just gimme a bit of time to think!” Rainbow tried yet again to stand up, reeling instead into the wall. “Mmmf! I just… I just gotta get my senses together. This stupid ‘book energy’ isn’t enough to take me out. Just you see! I’m strong! Stronger than… than…” She blinked. “Say, where’s Roarke?”
Kera immediately paled. She hung her bushy head.
“Kera…” Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “It ain’t cool to leave a fellow mare hangin’. Where is she? Are they interrogating the poor rusted sap?”
“Wow, you were really swimming in vomitland for a long time, weren’t ya?” Zaid asked.
“The heck is that supposed to mean?” Rainbow frowned.
“You don’t remember, do ya?” Zaid shrugged. “She kicked the bucket, duuuude. Burst into flames from beret bombs.”
Rainbow blinked. Her lips pursed as--sickeningly--her memories came floating back to her.
“Sickest way to go down, though!” Zaid chuckled. “Y’know, we could all see that she was made out of metal. But in the end?” He stuck his tongue out and raised two hooves. “She was really… reallymetal!”
Rainbow Dash ran a shivering hoof through her mane. As a lump formed in her throat, she sensed a dark shape to her right. She glanced aside with a start.
Straker stood on the other end of the force field. His eyes narrowed on her, studying her colored mane and blue feathers. Just as the joint stare was starting to turn uncomfortable, the Ledomaritan Lieutenant swiveled around and marched icily out of the brig.
Rainbow sat on her haunches, clutching the pendant around her neck as a cold shudder ran through her body. A flicker of yellow light splashed briefly across her eyes, and when she closed them she saw blonde bangs, the blur of lanternlight against mine tunnels, and the bristled coat of minotaurs.
Straker trotted into a long hallway of the Lightning Bringer.
His hooves shuffled to a stop.
He stood in place, glancing over his shoulder towards the entrance to brig.
Almost subconsciously, his hoof wandered up and felt a shape pressed between his chest and the inside of his uniform. After a moment, his nostrils flared, and he trotted down the hallway with finality.
Before he rounded the corner, he had reached into a side pocket of his suit and telekinetically lifted a glittering sound stone...
“Prime Enforcer Fortis, I must protest.” Nightshade frowned as she stood before the stallion inside the Lightning Bearer’s briefing room. She wore a cleanly-pressed backup uniform and her mane had been brushed properly. “Keeping the pegasus and the religious zealot inside the brig--I can understand. But the child? She does not belong in there! Please, take her out so that I may take her to my quarters where she will be both safe and comfortable. I assure you: she will be no harm to anypony.”
“The Council would beg to differ, Madame Nightshade,” Fortis said from where he calmly sat, telekinetically shuffling observation reports across the table before him. “She was the reason the winged pony attacked us in the first place, and when the attempted break-out occurred, she proved to be in league with the attacker. Not only that, but a Searonese mare--however briefly--was involved. Quite frankly, the situation has turned too hot for just any enforcer to handle, and if I don’t keep them all securely locked for the duration of this journey--especially where we are headed--then I’ll likely have to turn in my skull to the Queen even if we pull out of this conflict victorious.”
“If I could have foreseen this incident, Prime Enforcer, I would have told you,” Nightshade said. “I am sorry about the damage that’s been done to your ship and your crew, but please--do not take it out on an innocent child.”
“I don’t intend to. She has food and bedding, just like you. And if you ask me, I’d say she preferred the company she was with, however motley.” The aged officer gestured towards the book in Nightshade’s grasp. “You can, however, continue to hold onto the artifact. So long as it is close to the prison deck, it appears to have the pegasus pacified. I do appreciate that; she seems quite the hooffull.”
Nightshade nodded with a shy. “You have no idea…”
Just then, an intercom buzzed. ”Enforcer Zetta reporting as you requested, sir.”
“Splendid. Let her enter,” Fortis said.
The metal doors slid open. The mare in question trotted forward, standing straight at attention. “Sir! Enforcer Zetta of the Communications Department reporting as ordered, sir!”
“At ease, soldier.” Fortis stood up with a weary sigh and shuffled towards her and Nightshade’s half of the room. “Any news from Lieutenant Straker as to the pegasus’ condition?”
“Yes, sir,” Zetta said with a nod. “She appears to have woken up from her comatose condition, albeit she is physically ill.”
“In what way?”
“She’s wrought with dizziness and appears unable to lift her wings.”
“Hmmm… the book really does seem to be having an impact on her.” Fortis rubbed his chin. “So many questions I have, still.” He blinked. “Can she talk?”
“The guards have described her as chatting with the child and the earth pony cultist.”
“Then maybe she can explain a few things for herself.” Fortis stood before the enforcer. “I want you to round up Enforcer Basso. He seems to have as dominating an impact on the pegasus as the book. Have him bind her wings… and then bring her to me.”
Zetta blinked.
Nightshade leaned forward. “Prime Enforcer?! Are you… are you certain about this?”
“I think we all know that she is incapable of doing much else besides hissing and spitting at this point,” the stallion said with a graying smile. “Between Enforcer Basso’s strength and the book’s luminescence, I doubt she has the will--much less the ability--to put up a fight. Somewhere in that weakened state is a pony I’m sure who is willing to explain herself, and I would very much like to know more about this ‘target’ that the Council of Ledo sicked Prime Enforcer Shell after.”
“I encourage any pony wanting to increase his or her knowledge,” Nightshade said. “But don’t we have more pressing concerns at the moment?”
“Dear Madame, the book is tied to the metal world beneath the landscape that Seclorum defends. If this pegasus has a direct reaction to the tome, then that means she’s connected as well. I appreciate all that you’ve researched and studied on this matter, but I’d like to know every bit of information possible before I send my own ponies into the riskiest venture this war has seen yet.”
He pivoted once more towards Zetta.
“Bring an armed escort to accompany Enforcer Basso. While you’re at it, see if you can find Straker and send him my request to be there for the questioning.”
“Aye, sir.” Zetta saluted.
“You’re dismissed.”
As the mare twirled and marched out, Prime Enforcer Fortis turned and smiled at Nightshade.
“It helps to have greater numbers than a single winged pony.”
“I do hate to inform you of this, Prime Enforcer,” Nightshade muttered, holding the book tighter. “But the pegasus has friends of her own too…”
“Thatta boy, Simon!” Props sing-songed. A pair of thick goggles magnified her blue eyes as she stood on her rear legs and gestured with her front hooves. “A little higher! A little higher!”
Simon chirped, his tiny face twitching as his energy field lifted a hulking steam array inside the Noble Jury’s engine room. With remarkable grace, he managed to slap the custom-crafted web of tubes and pipes to a panel of instruments adjacent to the empty mana cage.
“Just a little higher! Just a sneeze, you adorable little chipmunk fodder!” Props grinned wide, leaned forward, and hissed, “Aaaaaaaaaaaaand--Baddabingette! Hold it right there!” She flung a look to her right. “All you, boys!”
Eagle Eye and Josho trotted forward, levitating screws and nuggets into place along the frame of the steam array. Slowly, bit by bit, they fastened the apparatus to the wall of the engine room.
“You really think this is gonna provide us ample propulsion for a while?” Eagle Eye asked, sweating through his less-than-dainty effort. “It’s a very pretty backup engine, but still a backup engine.”
“I just think somepony’s obsessed with backing it up,” Josho muttered.
“Hardy har har. At least I don’t cuddle up to my stomach every night.”
“You should try it. A stomach can’t write back.” Josho smirked.
“Unnngh… Shoot me now…”
“Oh, it’ll get us to putter-putt-putt-putter along just like all the other Gray Smoking Gray Smokers!” Props smiled wide, pausing to pat Simon’s bushy tail in thanks. “But will we go as fast as we used to with the sky stone?” She sighed. “Noperooni. That’s something we’re gonna have to work out later.”
“Hey, Props?” Eagle Eye glanced over. “I think I’m short a nut or two--” He instantly flung a frown at Josho. “And don’t you even try it!”
“Heh heh heh…”
“Don’t worry, pretty pretty pony!” Props winked. “We’ve got more where that came from.” She pivoted about. “Belle?”
Silence.
Props’ goggled eyes blinked. She raised the article over her brow and whistled. “Yoohoo! Where’s your head at, gurrrrrrl?”
“Hmm?” Belle looked up from where she sat besides an organized pile of tools. “Oh. I… I’m sorry…” She dropped a few extra nuts and bolts onto a tray and hoofed it over to the two stallions. “I was distracted, I guess.”
“Heehee!” Props smiled. “And here I thought I was the inventor’s daughter!”
“It’s coming along nicely,” Belle hummed. “Really, it is. We owe you so much, Props.”
“Think nothing of it, nothing thinker! I’ve been jazzed ever since I found out that Uncle Prowse wasn’t Uncle Pony Being Eaten By Worms In the Ground! We’re gonna save Rainbow Dash, and then we’re gonna save him, and then we’re gonna save root beer! Cuz without all three of those, the world simply wouldn’t know what to do with itself! I know I wouldn’t!”
Belle smiled slightly. “Your enthusiasm is inspiring, Props. I just wish I had more to go on. I mean, it’s been nearly three days since we last heard anything.”
“Well, maybe it’s been three days since they had anything worth sharing!”
“Really?” Belle’s face twisted uncomfortably. “I just can’t imagine a reason why they would go silent… unless…”
“I wouldn’t dwell on that, Belle,” Eagle Eye said, looking over his shoulder. “Remember, Rainbow’s been in worse scrapes before, and she’s always come out on top.”
“The kid’s right,” Josho muttered, tightening a nut or two. “That pegasus has freaky levels of resilience. Nothing short of a meteorite to the face will stop her from finding your little scamp of a foal.”
“I thank you all for being so encouraging. I know I’ve been… rather moody as of late,” Belle said. “I guess it’s my own fault. I should find more things to be useful with on board this ship, besides helping Ebon Mane with the salads or… or…” She sighed. “Looking after Kera…”
“You’re useful just by being you, girl!” Props rushed up to nuzzle her. “Just talk to us, be happy, and for the love of motor oil--grow your mane out!”
“Pfft. Oh Props…”
“I wanna braid something that isn’t made out of metal filament for once!” Props nudged her. “‘Cuz Rainbow Dash won’t let me fiddle with her mane for some reason!”
“Er… uh… yeah…” Belle shifted nervously, sweating. “Imagine that…”
“Seriously! Heehee! What’s up with that--”
”Crrkk! Anypony there? Respond.”
Every equine inside the engine room jumped. Even Simon leaned forward on his perch, chirping curiously.
Belle fumbled, rushed, and finally swept the sound stone off the nearby table. “Oh dear Spark, please--Rainbow?!” She almost shouted, eyes wide. “Rainbow, is that you?! Are you safe?! Oh, please respond!”
”Snkkt--I’m safe, relatively. But I’m not Rainbow.”
The ponies stood stock still, stunned.
“Roarke…?” Eagle Eye murmured, squinting at the glowing stone.
“Where the heck are you?!” Belle asked. “It’s so noisy on your end!”
”That… is a little complicated to explain…”
Her suit battered and scorched in several pieces, the metal mare clung to a piece of the Lightning Bearer’s bottom hull. She was perched between two enormous mana crystals humming with thrust as they propelled the vessel east over jagged mountaintops. The landscape below grew more and more arid, with the vegetation completely disappearing.
“However, I do recognize the geography below me. I believe I am currently passing into the Lower Ashlands.”
”The… The Ashlands?! Why… that’s near the front! Roarke, that means you’re east of us now!”
“Indeed.”
”What in Spark’s name are you doing out there?! I thought you and Rainbow went west to find Kera!”
“And we did find her. And Nightshade as well.” Roarke took a shuddering breath. “And, as much as I hate to admit it, a hulking battleship filled with the most capable breeders I’ve seen since Aurum.”
”My goodness! Do you two need help?!”
“That remains to be seen…” Roarke’s eye-lenses reflected the thrusters on either side of her. “I’ve been observing this ship’s passage as stealthily as I’ve been able to manage. Kera, Rainbow Dash, and Zaid are still alive, so that’s a plus.”
”Who is ‘Zaid?’”
Roarke shuddered. “Perhaps you’re best off ignorant.” She swallowed. “But know this. We are headed to Prime Enforcer Seclorum’s battlefront, but something seems off.”
”How so?”
“Difficult to say. We’ve experienced almost zero resistance from Xonan patrols and… I’ve noticed a few more things suspicious. I get the feeling that we may need a swift and durable vessel to get us out of here.”
”Well, the Jury can do ‘durable,’ but ‘swift’ is another matter altogether.”
“Right. Guess that’s where I’m going to have to come in…” Roarke sighed towards the desert topography below. “Somehow. Stay tuned, alright? Roarke out.”
She slid the sound stone back into her armor and resumed crawling slowly across the belly of the Lightning Bearer.
“Hmmmf… should have taken a harem with me from Searo’s Hold, I swear to Goddess…”
Rainbow Dash looked up with a jerk, followed by Zaid and Kera.
Zetta and Basso trotted into the room. Between them, their expressions were practically apologetic.
“Ahem.” Zetta cleared her throat. “The Commanding Officer would like to have a few words with you.”
“Wuh oh.” Zaid gave a crooked smile. “It was nice knowing ya, Har-Har.”
“Rainbow Dash…” Kera stammered nervously, eying the enforces beyond the prison cell’s force field.
“I’m sure Khao would have wanted me to say a few words to honor the passing of the colorful flying horse of destiny, but I don’t give good eulogies on an empty stomach.”
Ignoring the former cultist’s words, Zetta turned towards the guards stationed at a crystalline console. “Lower the force field.”
“Yeah! I bet you’d love to do that!” Rainbow Dash snarled, grinding her hooves. “You wanna go round two?! Well come and get me! We’ll go…” Her eyelids fluttered as a fresh wave of dizziness ran through her body. “...round t-two…” With a groan, she flopped to the ground, lying sideways. Her ruby eyes blinked at her prone forelimbs, and she frowned up at the two soldiers without moving. “There! Now you run as fast as you can into my hooves! I dare you!”
With another buzz, the force field lowered. Basso trotted inside, followed by Zetta.
“You leave her alone!” Kera charged forward, snarling and zapping wave after wave of mana at the two with her horn. “Don’t you touch Rainbow Dash!”
Basso blinked as the filly’s tiny beams bounced off his thick fetlocks. “Sorry, lil’ miss, but orders are orders. The Prime Enforcer only wants to talk to her.”
“My flank, he does!” Kera hopped high, grabbed onto Basso’s tail, and began gnawing on it. “Grrrrrr-rrrrgghhh!” She spat a few hairs and growled from where she dangled. “You just wanna skin her alive and sell her insides to the Council!”
Zetta trotted over and lifted Kera off of Basso with delicate telekinesis. “You’re getting our Prime Enforcers mixed up. Fortis is concerned about the front, not about some bounty issued by the Council of Ledo.”
“You’re all in league with each other!” Kera hissed and thrashed from where she floated upside down. She kept her angry eyes locked on Rainbow Dash while she was being draped over Basso’s backside. The stallion carried her away and out of view. “Once you’ve seen one beret, you’ve seen them all!” She was placed down and instantly hopped on her hooves, scampering towards the cell door. “Bring her b-back!” her voice cracked.
It was too late. The door buzzed, and the force field flickered back to life. Kera received a shock and fell back. Zaid caught her before she could land on the floor. Wincing, she watched with a helpless expression as Rainbow was carted off on the back of the mountainous pony.
“Hey, I wouldn’t freak out too much if I were you,” Zaid said. “Maybe they just want the secret to how she does her hair.”
“Nnngh…” Pouting, Kera wriggled out of Zaid’s grip and stomped over towards the far corner of the cell. “Her hair is natural, doofus.”
“No way!” Zaid gasped. “And I’m Trot Hanks!”
Grunting, Roarke climbed her way up along the port side of the Lightning-Bearer’s massive hull. She pulled herself without any aid of her suit’s thrusters, using sheer strength and the metal grip of her horseshoes alone. Avoiding the portholes and cannon chambers, she finally reached the ship’s edge and peered over the side of it.
The air rumbled--briefly distracting the metal mare. She glanced towards her left, observing a bulbous cluster of fog collecting far off the ship’s bow. At the sound of heavy hoofsteps, however, she pulled herself tight against the hull once more and stared onto the deck.
Climbing out of a stairwell, Basso marched with Rainbow Dash’s limp body lying on his back. Zetta and several other guards surrounded the scene.
Roarke’s eye-lenses pistoned in and out, studying the scene with a thin layer of condensation dripping off the metal frames. She shuffled towards the bow--one fetlock at a time--in an attempt to keep up with Rainbow’s body.
At last, the pegasus was carried up a small flight of steps and onto an even platform where Fortis, Nightshade, Straker, and several other officers stood. Fortis turned around in time to greet Basso. Straker nodded at the massive stallion, and Rainbow Dash was lightly placed down before the Prime Enforcer.
“Unnngh…” Rainbow Dash reeled, her eyes thin and sickly. Gritting her teeth, she tilted her head up to stab Nightshade with a perpetual glare.
The mare said nothing. Soon, Fortis had trotted quietly between the two. He stood right in front of Rainbow Dash, his gray bangs blowing from the wind where they jutted out just in front of his beret.
“I am Prime Enforcer Fortis, and you are on board my ship, the Lightning Bearer.” The aged stallion’s hooves shuffled beneath him. “So, it’s true. You are a pony with wings.”
“Wow…” Rainbow Dash spoke out the side of her muzzle. “Who’d a thunk it? A stallion begging to get his teeth bucked out… gaaah!” She slumped back on her haunches like an infant foal, shuddering from head to toe.
“Ironic that a pony so important to the Council would end up being so infirmed.” Fortis paced before her. “The rumors are still circulating, but it would seem as if Prime Enforcer Shell has given up everything precious in his career to get ahold of you. And in spite of all the maniac’s desperate actions, here you show up on my vessel, completely incapable of making use of those feathered appendages of yours.”
“I don’t s-see you using your teeth either, bucko…”
“What a quaint attitude.” Fortis smirked slightly. “I’m beginning to see why you drove my fellow Prime Enforcer mad with his pursuits.”
“Guess it takes more than a few dozen needless lives to try and bottle awesomeness,” Rainbow spat, still reeling. “Tell me, Enforcer Fart-Cheese, do you feel safe for your stallions on board this ship knowing that I’m here?”
Zetta and Basso exchanged nervous glances.
Fortis took a deep breath and said, “I know that you hold a great deal of power, and that most of it is--how should I say it--corked in?” He reached forward and firmly tapped the pendant around her neck. “It’s almost as if you carry a seal in a way. But for what?”
“Gnnghhh!” Rainbow hissed, her eyes flickering from ruby to yellow to ruby again. She slumped forward on quivering forelimbs, breathless.
Fortis blinked calmly. “Fascinating…”
“What…” Rainbow Dash gulped and murmured, “What do you w-want from me?”
“Seriously?” Fortis even chuckled a bit at that. “After all this time, after weeks of playing cat and mouse with the most powerful ponies on this continent, you still don’t know what kind of a value you possess?” Fortis smirked. He resumed his pacing as he said, “Truth is, I’m rather in the dark about it myself. Isn’t that horrible? So many Enforcers report to the same Council, and yet the Council treats us all on a need-to-know basis. With communication that stilted, it’s no wonder we’re struggling to get an edge over the enemy in this war.”
“If you think that I-I’m some sort of secret weapon or s-some crap…”
“If you are, you’re not a very good one.” Fortis pivoted and gestured towards Nightshade. “The secret weapon is in her possession, as a matter of fact. Your connections to the flame from the metal realm are innocuous at best. You see, the blindness that the Council has erected works both ways, and several high ranking ponies who see an opportunity to save this beleaguered Confederacy have taken it upon themselves to bring a stop to this bloody melee once and for all. That’s where the book comes in, and the lovely Madame Nightshade who has ever-so-faithfully guarded it.”
Fortis trotted over and bent low to stare Rainbow in the face. “But your connections? I must admit that I am curious, but my intrigue is not at the heart of the matter. I brought you up here to find out what your other connections are.”
“Other… connections?”
Fortis nodded. “I simply cannot imagine that Shell would have given up everything to pursue a perfect stranger with no ties to the equines of this land, simply because she wore a pendant and bore wings. Tell me, my dear…” He leaned his head to the side. “Just what is your story?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. She glanced at Nightshade, then back at him. Her eyes rolled, and she took a deep breath before spouting: “I’ve flown thousands of miles from a magical kingdom named Equestria where ponies live in peace and harmony, their lives guided by the alicorn goddesses Princess Celestia and Princess Luna who are solely responsible for the revolutions of the Sun and Moon.”
Zetta and Basso squinted at one another.
Straker raised an eyebrow in Fortis’ direction.
The Prime Enforcer nodded. “Well, now I certainly see what kind of dementia infected the once-glorious Shell.”
“Look, I totally don’t belong here!” Rainbow Dash barked. “Not on your land, and certainly not on this ship! The first thing I wanna do is ditch this stinkin’ continent!” She sneered as she spoke above the sound of the billowing winds. “Just let me, the tattooed foal, and the loser with the surfer accent free, and I promise you that I will stay out of your mane! And everypony else’s for that matter!”
“You only want freedom for yourself and your companions?”
“Right!”
Fortis pointed at Nightshade. “The Madame says you want the book.”
“The Madame can go bobbing for corn kernels in an outhouse.”
“So you have no standing issue with Ledomaritan Confederacy whatsoever?”
“Exactly!” Rainbow Dash hissed through another wave of dizziness. “For the thousandth time, I just wanna fly east of here with my friends! I don’t even care about the book anymore!”
Fortis’ eyes narrowed icily. “Then what caused you to sneak on board my ship, attack my stallions, and even charge the Madame here?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
“I see…” Fortis nodded, standing tall and righteous. “So even winged horses are far from angelic. Very well. If you wish to be a mystery, then that’s how you will remain. A mystery. You will remained locked away in the belly of the Lightning Bearer for the extent of this war, and all anypony will ever know about you is a mere rumor.”
“Dude! I’m totally on board with telling you stuff you need to know about me!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I can already tell you’re a great deal cooler than Shell! Who cares if you’re in league with Madame Nutsack over there; I’m willing to play ball if it means getting my friends and I out of here!”
“I am sorry, dear,” Fortis said. “But you are simply too cryptic and dangerous for me to let loose to the winds anytime soon.” He blinked, then gazed suspiciously towards the sky. “Speaking of which, the gusts have increased quite significantly. Helmspony!” He shouted. “Are we approaching inclement weather?!”
A voice shouted back from below. “Negative, sir! Just a patch of gray fog far off the port bow!”
From where Roarke silently eavesdropped on the meaning, she craned her neck, her eye-lenses focusing on the ethereal mists once more. Before her sight, a glint of light shimmered, followed by a dark blue body emerging.
A whistle rang out, followed by a few bell noises. Shouts echoed from one patch of deck to the next, and a lowly soldier rushed up bearing a frenetic expression. “Sir, Prime Enforcer, Sir! Bogey sighted off the port bow! Estimated distance: two kilometers and closing!”
“Allow me…” Straker pivoted about, telekinetically lifting a spyglass to his face. He trotted up to the edge of the platform and studied the hazy clouds from afar.
“What do you see, Lieutenant?”
“Medium sized freight craft…” Straker’s mouth hung open as he relayed his findings out loud. “Weaponized. Low level cannon stock. Blue hull…” He lowered the spyglass, blinking. “Blue and gold colors. Serpent emblem.”
“Well, it was about time,” Fortis said, his muscles growing taut. “Sound the alert. Battlestations.”
An officer or two blew whistles while Straker leaned over the edge of the platform. “Everypony on deck! Battlestations! Xonan vessel sighted to the northeast, off the port bow!”
“You seem rather calm about this,” Nightshade said in a low tone as she and Fortis trotted past Rainbow Dash. “Is this a regular occurrence?”
“Terribly,” Fortis replied, though he managed a calm smile. “Unless you’re a fan of fireworks, dear, you might wish to travel down below for what is about to ensue. I know how terribly much you hate warfare.”
Nightshade fidgeted. She glanced down at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash blinked back.
“As long as she is up here…” Nightshade held the book tighter and glare at Fortis. “I stay here.”
“Very well.” Fortis nodded and trotted back to join Straker’s side. “You may wish to cover your ears soon, though…”
With each deck full of galloping, clamoring workhooves, the Lightning Bearer turned about, pivoted northeast, and bore down on the lone, unsuspecting freighter. The Xonan colors were soon blotted out by the Ledomaritan battleship’s massive hull.
Roarke watched all of this from where she clung to ship’s hull. She had crawled along to the vessel’s jutting bow, and from here she watched as the smaller aircraft drew closer at an alarming rate. Her eye-lenses scanned the quietly puttering vessel, then traveled back up towards the sky where the fog was the thickest. She studied how the mist collected most prominently in a patch of air due northeast of the Lightning Bearer, where the freighter had emerged just two minutes before. The metal mare’s brow furrowed in deep thought.
Up on the deck, Rainbow Dash panted. She pivoted about on her haunches, trying her best to make sense of the sudden movement as the battleship zeroed in on its target. Just a few feet to the afflicted pegasus’ side, Nightshade stood with the very book that was paralyzing her. Past the brooding mare, Prime Enforcer Fortis stood next to three fellow officers, levitating a pair of binoculars before his eyes.
“Keep the approach at sixty degrees high!” Fortis shouted. “With our luck, we’ll run them into the mountain without having to fire a shot! Just like the encounter at Gray Hills.”
One officer chuckled. Another shouted commands into a sound stone, and Rainbow could feel the mana thrusters of the huge ship thrusting so that the Lightning Bearer loomed just above its target.
“Wow, they don’t stand a chance!” Basso’s voice could be heard, filtering through the noisy shipwork.
“I know,” Zetta replied in a dull tone. “I’m rarely above deck when a battle happens. I didn’t realize it was this easy.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. She glanced from soldier to soldier, then at Straker’s figure.
The stallion stood still and quiet, his eyes calmly aimed at the horizon. While everypony scrambled around him, he remained eerily unmoving.
The mare’s lips pursed. Before she could dwell on the subject, however, the most intense wave of dizziness hit her. She almost squealed in pain, doubling over and sprawling out onto the deck. She hissed through waves of nausea, then gasped in shock when the sensation ended just as quickly as it began. She still felt weak, but it was as though a solid wave of stormy weather had passed. Her eyes felt sharper, and she could feel a fire behind them flickering boldly as she gazed towards the northeast.
Nightshade had witnessed all of this. With a trembling gait, she rushed over to Fortis’ side and murmured, “Prime Enforcer…”
“Load the forward cannon array!” the stallion was shouting. “Aim for the ship’s upper dirigible struts! Make every shot count!”
“Sir…” Nightshade leaned in further. “I believe something is amiss. Perhaps we should rethink our strategy--”
“Please, good Madame, not now.” Fortis waved her off. “I’m in the middle of vanquishing this blight from our skies.”
“The vessel doesn’t pose a single threat to us. Something isn’t right.”
“I would most certainly agree.” Fortis turned and briefly glared at the mare. “You are sticking your fair muzzle into military protocol. I’ve allowed you several luxuries so far, Madame, it would be most fitting if you showed gratitude by remembering your place--”
“Movement sighted!” a voice shouted towards the starboard side. “Off the starboard side!”
“Northeast! Forty-five degrees!”
Several officers gasped and stammered. Fortis spun--along with Nightshade--to squint at the foggy sky above the mountains.
Rainbow Dash turned, peering into the mist in time to see a near-indescribable event. Several rivulets of shadow danced through the air, more and more progressively outlining a spherical shape looming just above the Lightning Bearer. Just then, several loud shrieks pierced the heavens, like the ghosts of dying cats. The fog vented in several places, like a tea kettle cracking randomly along its ceramic surfaces. The shrieks doubled, tripled, then turned into a prolonged banshee siren as the sphere unraveled like living yarn. Writhing, squirming shapes flew out of a dense formation, fanning out like a murder of crows. The midday light glistened off of sharp fins, polished scales, and pale fangs.
At first, they looked like serpents. But the more the creatures spread apart and split up, they resembled giant floating manta-rays with extra-long tails twirling like the ends of living kites. Each abomination had six slitted eyes and two separate mouths with razor sharp teeth. They chirped with otherworldly resonance, twirling about like coordinated swimmers as they suddenly all dove at once, gliding like gray reapers towards the Lightning Bearer below.
It was only during their murderous attack that Rainbow Dash spotted colorful figures mounted on the backs of each of these monsters. She realized that ponies were riding them, ponies with brightly glowing horns that contrasted with the dark lines etched across their velvety coats like barbed wire sewn into the skin. As they spun about in the dim sunlight, alabaster slivers of metal glinted under each of their necks. They raised scimitars into the air, shouting in a tongue that ran shivers up the spine of every gawking workhoof across the battleship’s top deck.
“What in Spark’s name are those…?” a pony stammered.
“They’re riding beasts!” Zetta’s voice cracked. “Flying serpents and living monsters! Just like the Xonans in the report from Seclorum’s outpost!”
“Look!” Another pony shouted while pointing skyward. “Do you see?”
As the dozens upon dozens of serpents dove towards the Lightning Bearer, their spreading numbers revealed three massive blue shapes high above. A trio of huge Xonan battleships suddenly loomed, each bearing the same color as the helpless frigate below.
“An ambush…” Nightshade stammered.
Fortis gritted his teeth and shouted, “Turn about! Hard to starboard! Target the enemy vessels!”
“Sir, we can’t until we gain altitude!” a soldier shouted from below the platform. “They have us in their sights!”
“Then raise the ship and arm every cannon--”
“Sir! Bogeys incoming!”
The siren shrieks in the air magnified. The serpents dove low, sweeping the deck with their glistening jaws. Ponies scrambled left and right as the leathery bodies blurred overhead. Several unlucky stallions shrieked at the top of their lungs as the creatures’ sweeping jaws bit onto their legs and hoisted them clear off the deck of the Lightning-Bearer. Their mangled bodies were chewed up and spat onto the mountains below as the Xonans rode the serpents in a wide arc, coming about for a second attack.
And while they took their time to angle back, several percussions of thunder sounded off from above. Rainbow Dash jerked her eyesight up in time to spot multiple flashes of light. Mana-propelled missiles were sailing down at the Lightning Bearer as the vessel struggled to rise up and turn about.
“Incoming!” Basso shouted.
An officer besides Fortis’ flinching figure bellowed, “Brace for impact!”
Nightshade was already diving to the deck, covering the book with her body.
Rainbow Dash gripped onto a nearby wooden piece of railing.
As the whistling noise hit a fever pitch, Roarke found herself in the shadow of the diving missiles. She kicked off the hull of the Lightning Bearer with a grunt and skimmed its surface towards a relatively “safe” spot.
When missiles hit, the mountains below echoed with explosions and screams, through which the shrieking serpents effortlessly sliced, tripling in numbers.
"Aaugh!" Kera shrieked as she plummeted forward on slippery hooves. The entire prison cell was shaking as thunder rolled through the belly of the Lighting Bearer. Behind her, Zaid collapsed onto the floor while the lights overhead flickered in and out of being. "What in the crap was that?!"
"Beats me!" Zaid hissed as he pushed himself back up onto wobbling hooves. "Who the heck is flying this bucket of bolt?! Somebody should tell them to steer clear of roaming apocalypses!"
"That sounded like something hit us, though!" Kera squeaked. She suddenly gasped—pupils shrinking—as an intense wailing noise rang through the battleship, rattling from wall to wall.
Zaid blinked, his coat paling. "That certainly doesn't sound like any missile to me!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Kera helplessly yelled to the walls. "Rainbow Dash—"
The vessel rocked again. Kera flew back from the jolt. Zaid caught her, but it mattered little. Both fell to the floor as the lights flickered again, followed by the near-death of the force field in front of them.
Above deck, the situation was ten times as tense. Huge gaping holes had been blown into the hull of the ship. Enforcers ran left and right, telekinetically carrying buckets and canisters of flame retardant spray. The air below the oncoming assault was cluttered with shouts of paranoia.
Rainbow Dash witnessed it all from where she lay helplessly slumped against the deck of the ship. As her vision swam, she became aware of a change in pitch to the banshee screams high above.
"The... the shelling's stopped...!" Rainbow Dash sputtered.
Nightshade gazed up from where she cowered, trembling.
Zetta slumped to a stop, leaning against an empty cannister of fire extinguishing solution. "They're no longer bombarding us..." The mare's eyes traveled skyward and her jaw dropped. "Oh, blessed Spark... incoming!"
Everypony shot their gaze towards the heavens. Frightened eyes reflected an incoming wave of blue scales diving at the drifting, smoldering battleship from every angle. Giant airborne eels, manta rays, serpents, and hellbenders filled the sky, cascading around the beleaguered vessel with thick rippling muscles and razor-sharp fangs. The attackers twirled about in counter-clockwise formation, each beastly creature being ridden by a separate Xonan. Each equine warrior took turns pivoting in mid-flight and launching crossbolts at the ponies along the top deck.
Enforcers dropped by the dozen, either screaming from impaled limbs or gurgling for breath as they clutched at their wounded throats. Several others lined up across the top deck and returned fire. After a salvo of bursting manarifles, numerous Xonans fell off their mounts and fell bloodily to the valley below. Before the crew of the Lightning Bearer could afford a proper retaliation, though, the attacking formations split ways to allow a large serpent with gray scales to dive through. The elongated snout of the creature flew open with triple rows of shark teeth while simultaneously extending two razor sharp talons into the meaty surface of the ship.
From where Roarke clung to the ship's hull, she winced. Her exposed ears rang from hellish screams, and she craned her neck in time to see the gray serpent soaring past the ship's edge on streams of dark magic. The shredded ribbons of Ledomaritan victims dangled from its snout as the creature flew up into the air, climbed skyward, and swallowed its prey all the way down its throat before coming back for another approach. Atop its spined neck, a lone Xonan with thick blue armor perched, twisting and tugging at the reins. Without a word, the Searonese stowaway found a crack in the battered ship's armor and hid safely from sight.
Up above, Rainbow Dash was attempting to crawl across the top deck. She made her way towards Nigthshade, sweating profusely as she slithered past an increasingly thick curtain of fallen bodies. When the mare in question finally saw her, she glared at her forelimbs and hissed, "Toss it... toss the book..."
In response, Nightshade clutched the tome even tighter.
Rainbow frowned. "Friggin' let go of it! Throw it over the side!" She panted, panted, gulped, and stammered, "Look, the moment I get my strength back, I can kick a bunch of these freaks' butt, save Kera, and maybe even save you! Now will you just—Unngh!" Rainbow doubled over from an intense wave of dizziness. The air behind her billowed as several serpent-riders dove low, jumped clear off their mounts, and leapt onto the exposed surface of the top deck.
"Fas mul riel!" Xonan voices chanted amidst their vertical charge. Tattooed stallions and mares with glimmering bits of bone pale armor landed on metal hooves. "Hal mul saj rem! Rej dien, Ledomul!"
Several enforcers immediately ran up, firing mana rifles.
A few Xonans fell down, drowning in their own blood. The others twirled and spun with mesmerizing acrobatics. In mid lunge, the pale sheen of their armor slid off like white paint, materializing into eflugent tentacles with scales and claws. The offensive miasma converge, forming into four legged reptialian abominations that sprinted forward, trampling over several Ledomaritan defenders and biting the limbs off others along the flanks.
Soldiers ran up, their berets flying off as they screamed bloody murder and attacked the summoned creatures in droves. Their tasers slashed the glowing flesh to ribbons, but it was no victory. The creatures simply burst into white streams, with each ribbon materializing into a separate serpent that clung to the meaty flesh of the closest pony within sight.
In rapid succession, the Ledomaritans collapsed to the horrible onslaught of the attacking Xonans. More and more equines leapt down from their mounts, stomping across the deck as they sent their summons to do the dirty work.
Zetta crouched behind a crate not far from Rainbow Dash. She panted and panted as she fired a mana pistol at the approaching forces. She managed to put several bullts between the eyes of multiple, glowing creatures, but she ran out of ammo too soon. Three scaled monsters burst through a line of supply crates and hissed at her. Zetta fell to her haunches scooting backwards and flinching as the monsters dove--
"Hrrrnnngh!" Basso burst through the line, covered in scrapes and bruises. The huge stallion bucked the attacking creatures to pale dust. He stood before Zetta and spun around in time to meet the charge of three Xonan warriors. "Not nice!" Teeth gritting, the stallion slammed his hooves straight down, sending a shockwave through the top deck of the ship.
The Xonans fell back, grunting into their helmets at the unexpected show of force. High above, four more soldiers leapt off their diving mounts and pounced at Basso's figure. "Rem mul dien, Ledomul!"
Panting, Rainbow Dash flashed her eyes above. "Look out! Up top!"
Basso spun. He took a deep breath, fell back, took the brunt of the four stallions' dive, and kicked all of them clear off his body. The Xonans shrieked ineffectually as they flew several feet, pinballing off a mast and landing to the bloodied floor beyond.
Meanwhile, a slithering serpent glided in from the violent melee in the background and lunged at Basso's exposed neck. A wooden crate flew into its body, smashing it to an ashen pulp.
Basso turned around, watching as Zetta galloped up to his side, reduced to tossing several bits of wreckage at the attacking forces. "I'm all out of ammo! We're not going to last for long!"
"Where's the Prime Enforcer?!" Basso shouted, using his massive forelimb to block, then punch a reptilian creature in the face. "Where's Fortis?! Or Straker?!"
"I think it's just us now!" Zetta shouted. "We gotta abandon ship if we wanna stay alive!"
"With these nasty things flying about?!" Basso retorted. "How far do you think we'd even get?!"
Just as he said that, a heavy shadow glided overhead. The large gray serpent flew by with a shriek, then twirled as its heavily armored rider jumped off. The Xonan's blue figure glinted in the sunlight, twirled about, and landed with a heavy thudddd a dozen meters away. Basso and Zetta instantly locked eyes with the warrior.
Slowly, the stallion stood up, his armored figure steaming all over with dark magic. When he at last lifted his face, a pair of eyes strobed with menace. Before everypony's gaze, the stallion's blue armor floated off—plate by plate—reforming into a neatly arranged bastard sword hovering at his side. The weapon was easily twice the size of any full grown pony, and the Xonan's exposed tattoos glowed with ghostly brilliance as he trotted icily forward with the sword in tow. The warrior's nostrils flared, and a phantom voice echoed from his lips beneath a wildly billowing mane of silver hair.
"Resiul mennaren halukken thriul!" he hissed, pushing his trot into a thundering allop. "Hammen sarakul mal dien!"
A contingent of enforcers charged his flank, tasers sparkling madly.
"Hrrrrgh—Yaaaugh!" The warrior bellowed, swinging only once with the bastard sword.
Three enforcers turned into six, f lopping bloodily across the wooden deck.
Two soldiers fired pot shots from behind a stack of crates.
The Xonan blocked with his sword, spun, and slammed the heavy weapon straight down. "Raka dien, harra siul!" His blade sent a shockwave through the deck, splitting a deep chasm through the surface and knocking the ponies off their hooves and into a bed of flanking serpents.
Zetta panted, backtrotting. "B-Basso..."
"Rrrr-Raaaaaaaaugh!" The warrior came at full force, accompanied by hissing, transklucent lizards and half-snakes.
Basso backed up into a shattered mast. The thing teetered behind him. Thinking fast, he ducked low.
The stallion's blade flew deep into the vertical wooden structure.
With a splash of splinters, the tall object teetered. Basso stomped reptilian attackers to pulp as he spun around the far side of the pillar and through his muscular shoulder into it. "Hnnngh!" The mast fell forward, hinged on the warrior's huge sword.
Swiftly, in one breath, the warrior doubled back, spun around, and swung his blade into a lunging uppercut. He successfully split the mast down the middle so that its halves fell on either side of him. However, just as the wooden debris was settling—
Basso stomped forward, ending his charge with a swing of both hooves. "Haaaugh!"
The unsuspecting warrior took the blow to the face, falling back and sliding against a pile of shattered crates and bloody bodies. He slowly stood up, his glowing eyes thin and menacing.
Basso immediately gulped. "Oh jeez, I think I made a booboo..."
"Basso!" Zetta squeaked as she stood besides Rainbow Dash. "Let's get out of here! Come on!"
"You go on ahead!" Basso grinded his hooves, ignoring the sweat running down his muzzle as the Xonan slowly stood up. "I'll hold him off!"
"Basso, no!"
"Do it!" the stallion growled. "If I know I protected ponies who deserved to live, then that'll make this worth it!" He pointed towards the far deck. "Go!"
Zetta winced. In a flurry of limbs, she rushed over to Rainbow's side and swooped her up. "Madame! Madame Nightshade!" she exclaimed. "We gotta get out of here! Let's hurry!"
The Xonan was back on his hooves, angrily charging Basso. "Rrrrrgh-Yaaaugh!"
Panting, Nightshade scampered away with the other two, avoiding sprays of debris flying over their heads from the nearby fight.
Basso ducked every swing that he could, returning with savage bucks to the warrior's chest and flank. The two squared off—an even match in the middle of a sea of banshee-shrieking death. As Zetta and Rainbow Dash limped towards the far end of the Lightning Bearer, they swiftly realized how hopeless the situation was. The battle was coming to an end, with droves of surviving Ledomaritans squatting low on their knees while Xonan attackers towered over them, holding the equines hostage with rings of hissing serpents and other summoned beasts.
"Th-there's nowhere to go!" Zetta stammered.
Rainbow Dash gulped and said, "Toss us both over the side."
Zetta gave her a double-take. "Are you crazy?!"
"As soon as we put our distance between ourselves and that book Nightshade's got, I can fly us to safety!" Rainbow grunted.
"But what about Nightshade—?"
"Look, what about her?!" Rainbow growled. "I don't know you, girl, but you don't seem like a bad pony!" She glared at the mare carrying the lavender tome beside them. "Unlike some of us, I think you deserve a second chance! And so do my friends, cuz I'll be swinging back for them as soon as—"
Basso's bruised body fell through a stack of crates in front of them, sending wooden debris everywhere.
"Unnnngh..." The stallion went limp, his chest quivering in little spasms.
"Basso!" Zetta shrieked.
A loud shout filled the air, like a howling wolf's. Rainbow Dash looked behind them.
The warrior leaned against his battered blade, emptying the contents of his lungs in victory. When he lowered his gaze, he bore a sneer beneath his glowing eyes. "Havalun thriel dien, Ledomul." He licked his lips and flung a hoof straight forward. A silver strip of metal hanging from his neck pulsed. His tattoos strobed up through his forward body, culminating in a fountain of ghostly serpents leaping from his outstretched limb. The creatures flew their way directly at the surviving mares, biting and gnashing at the air with miniature dragonteeth.
"Oh, Spark!" Zetta shrieked. She fell straight to the floor, cowering—as did Nightshade.
Rainbow Dash didn't. In spite of her dizzied health, she stood resolutely before Zetta and the Madame. When the throng of serpents reached her body... they instantly dissolved. Rainbow Dash gasped, teetering backwards slightly as the floorboards in front of her were baptized with brittle ash and loose scales. The pendant around her neck glowed with ruby light.
The warrior's jaw fell. From a distance, several other Xonans gasped, watching in shock from where they held countless enforcers hostage.
"Mahjj lien thrul!"
"Kus hem laj trite!"
"Biin ruj thiul craj mett bliun..."
Rainbow Dash's eyes darted down to her pendant, watching as the ruby glow faded. Both elated and confused, she glanced back at the warrior.
Nostrils fuming, the warrior pivoted on his grip of the anchored sword and flung his other limb. "Haaaaugh!" A stream of pale energy materialized into three charging reptiles. They leapt as one at Rainbow Dash's figure.
The pegasus barely flinched this time. Before the monsters could make contact, they exploded against an invisible shield right in front of Rainbow Dash, dissolving to brittle bone dust in front of her. Once again, the pendant glowed, dimmed, and was calm.
"Basso..." Zetta stammered besides the stirring stallion. "Did... d-did you just see that...?"
"Nnngh... just five more minutes, Mommy..." Basso slumped back down with a delirious grin on his muzzle.
Meanwhile, the warrior spat against the floor. Frowning Rainbow Dash's way, he raised his hulking sword and began marching icily towards her.
Rainbow gulped, taking a dizzy step backwards.
Sneering, the Xonan warrior raised the massive blade high over his horn—
A manabolt flew into the hilt of his sword. He lost control of his telekinetic grip, and the flat end of the huge blade slammed into his backside. "Ooof!" He fell hard onto the floor, the glow completely leaving his face and exposing a pair of confused, blue eyes.
Rainbow Dash looked to the side. Madame Nightshade had just picked a manarifle up from a fallen soldier and was training the smoking barrel of the thing onto the warrior's prone figure.
"So brutish..." The mare grunted aside. "One day, we'll be done with this nonsense, but evidently that isn't today." As the warrior began to stir, she cocked the weapon and aimed it at his tattooed muzzle. "I wouldn't move if I were you, good sir. Now might be a good time to order your forces to fall back."
Rainbow's eyes glanced across the deck full of corpses, burning cannon holes, and surrendered enforcers. "Uhhhh... Really?" She squinted beyond the cloud of flying serpents as the three Xonan battleships drew near. "You really think that's gonna work?"
"I didn't see you coming up with a better plan," Nightshade grunted.
Rainbow gulped. "Good p-point..." Just then, a figure trotted up to their side.
Nightshade looked over, and she breathed with relief. "Lieutenant, good timing."
Straker shuffled up to the group. He stood over a dead body and picked up a rifle.
"We need to find Fortis and attempt negotiating a way out of this mess," Nightshade said. She once more squinted down her sight at the warrior. "I do believe I have their leader at a disadvantage. We might be able to use that as leverage so that we might—"
The hilt of Straker's manarifle flew violently across her shattered horn.
"Unngh!" Nightshade fell down in a meaty slump.
Rainbow winced while Zetta gasped behind her. "Lieutenant?!" the uniformed mare stammered.
Straker turned to glare at the enforcer. He turned over his shoulder and performed a sharp gesture. On cue, four Xonans marched up, dragging the battered body of Prime Enforcer Fortis. They dumped his body with a grunt onto the floor as more and more tattooed soldiers gathered around at the tail-end of the bloody battle.
Zetta stared, dumbfounded. Rainbow Dash watched silently while Nightshade stirred on the ground.
Slowly, the warrior trotted up. With each step he took, he dissolved the bastard sword, bit by bit. The plates floated back into place around his body, reforming dark blue armor brimming with dark magic. He towered above Fortis, fuming, then turned to gaze upon Straker with considerably more grace.
"Mazulen hrava tren sala thriul sen Ledomul, Dalen."
With a calm breath, Straker got on his knees and bowed low before the warrior. "Baj mek har dren vass kuun rahk, Zytharros Xon-Nagu'n. Mek Ledomul shren kar. Gress majj thriul, Xon-Nagu'n, Lasairfion."
The warrior nodded, then extended his hoof over Straker's horn. "Lasairfion samma lethielsen thiul sunna dien, Dalen." A pulse of energy formed between them. "Thiul Lasairfion, thiul Nagu'n, diennen 'Straker.'"
Translucent serpent figures rolled down from the warrior's limb, covering Straker's body from head to hoof. Then—poison drawn from a wound—Straker's entire coat color changed, peeling off his body to reveal a different colored fur beneath, segmented by glowing tattoos of elaborate design.
Zetta's ears drooped as she whimpered, "No flippin' way..."
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, eyeing the strip of pale metal hanging from the stallion's neck as his uniform also dissolved. "Way."
Once the tranformation was complete, the Xona stood up and bowed his head once more towards the warrior. He pivoted about, marching icily towards Rainbow Dash and Nightshade.
"Straker... how...?!" Zetta stammered. "Why...?"
"My name is Evv Sater Dalen, sworn servant to Kim Janzen Zytharros." the stallion hissed, his eyes glowing as serpents floated on either side of him. "Second Born to the glory of Nagu'n and her royal avatar, Princess Buch Tania Lasairfion." He came to a stop, glaring down at the huddled Ledomaritan masses. "And your heretical campaign ends today, you bastard foals of a corrupt queen!"
“Oomf!” Basso was thrown down onto his haunches alongside Zetta, Rainbow Dash, and Nightshade. The ponies who had been on board the Lightning-Bearer before the attack were forced into a straight line, held in place by patrolling Xonans with swords, crossbows, and--most intimidating of all--trained serpents at the ready.
Rainbow Dash reeled from the proximity of Nightshade and her book. Nevertheless, she sat straight, staring with a wincing expression at Straker-turned-Dalen and his superior, Zytharros.
Before everypony’s eyes, Fortis was being dragged towards Zytharros’ hooves. The Prime Enforcer was flung to the ground before him in a groaning slump. The air rang with mumbling chants as every watching Xonan in attendance stomped their hooves in rhythmic succession to the chorus of snake hisses.
At last, Zytharros raised his hoof, and every fellow soldier turned silent. He stepped into a brighter beam of light, and Rainbow could see that his tattoos were far more elaborate and detailed than several of the other Xonans in his company. With menacing grace, he turned from glaring at Fortis and spoke to Dalen. “Melen siul thremma hadren lesuttem. Rassar kreeliulen Ledomul vetta thrien?”
Dalen nodded, bowing slightly. When he spoke, the words came out stiff and awkward, as if he was putting extra practice into the diction. “Frej mehn luk radhk ehm sarkh Ledomul brien, Fortis niul vreen.”
“Niul vreenen hassala venuut?”
“Dreit, Zytharros Xon-Nagu’n.”
Zytharros took a deep breath. He turned and trotted icily towards Fortis, his hooves dragging along the ground.
The Prime Enforcer looked up, spitting up blood and sneering beyond his injuries. “You will not get away with this. We are the strongest army on the continent! You’ll suffer for channeling so much resources into one exercise! Once Seclorum finds out, he will tear a hole through your kingdom and fill it with fire--”
Zytharros flung his hoof forward. The metal strip hanging from his neck pulsed, and immediately a series of tattoos bled mana from his fetlock, materializing as a ribbon of serpents that launched out and coiled tightly around the Prime Enforcer’s neck.
“Hckkkkt--snkkkkt!” The elder stallion winced, dangling from Zytharros’ reptilian lasso.
Nightshade clenched her teeth and shivered from where she watched the confrontation.
Zytharros leaned over, his armored plates scraping against one another as a cold voice dripped from his muzzle. “It will keep the sniveling to most minimum,” he managed in a thick accent. “So that less time it spends with bastard tongue.” His eyes glowed, narrowing into blue slits. “It is the General Fortis, scourge of eastern skies, dreit?”
Fortis could only sputter and spasm.
The tattooed hairs rose on the back of Zytharros’ neck. “For months it has held back from the meeting of it, for the royal avatar, Princess Lasairfion, blessed by Negu’n, wants glory beyond its blood and thunder. Its ship belongs to the wrath of Negu’n now. Its flesh belongs to the wrath of Negu’n now. But it… the General Fortis… as it has made orphans out of many families, now it will bring orphans tears of joy as its skin is brought back to be blanket for foals.”
With that said, Zytharros leaned back, then lunged forward. The serpents redoubled, and this time they all flew straight into Fortis’ mouth, Fortis’ nostrils, Fortis’ eye sockets…
“Hmmph-snsklkls--slsspppspsppp!” Fortis’ body writhed and thrashed as the mana worms eviscerated him from the inside out. In less than a minute, his body slumped in two places: the coat in one direction and the bowels in the other.
Nightshade looked away, wincing heavily. A sob buckled at the back of her throat, laced with bile. Zetta held both hooves over her tear-stained muzzle while Basso held in a hissing breath.
Rainbow watched wearily as Zytharros whistled to his fellow soldiers. As prophesied, he gave them a fresh new strip of leather, dripping all over with blood. He then trotted over what was left of Fortis’ insides and mounted a stack of crates. With a deep breath, he soaked his forehead with the blood, channeled mana into every seam of his armor, and shouted high into the air.
In response, every Xonan soldier pumped their hoof into the air and chanted victoriously.
”Xon-Negu’n!
”Xon-Negu’n!
”Xon-Negu’n!
The chants bled into loud cheering as the Xonans stomped their hooves all across the hull of the Lightning Bearer. Zetta and Basso exchanged nervous glances along with the scores of other captured Ledomaritans.
At last, Zytharros dropped down onto his heavy horseshoes and shuffled across the top deck. He summoned Dalen with a sharp breath and spoke aside to him in a mumbling voice. “Vrediulen brennadren thrien Ledomul rasta krennen drass. Meliulen jastrak halaveen nudsta dressim.”
Zytharros nodded, then glanced Nightshade’s way. His nostrils flared, and he swung his forelimb in a final gesture. “Melekkehn diennen dren.”
Several Xonans nodded. They hoisted Nightshade up, tossed her against Rainbow and other nearby equines, and unsheathed their scimitars. They all raised their blades and prepared to lop off everypony’s skulls.
Rainbow flinched. Basso gasped and Zetta could be heard shrieking--
”Nahkk!” Dalen’s voice shouted. He was suddenly sliding in between the group and blocking the soldiers’ strike. “Poorj! Nahkk dren dien, poorj habb bleen!”
Zytharros frowned savagely. With a snarl, he shoved his way through a line of soldiers and practically chewed Dalen’s head off. “Raksanna graatu venna melu spelennen?!”
Dalen gulped, but stood his ground. “Jark krahk vren closs kien brak tuuth, Zytharros Xon-Nagu’n!” He pulled a sound stone out of what was left of his former Ledomaritan uniform and waved it for emphasis. “Benn trus frak jehn! Lasairfion Xon-Nagu’n rekt brent hahk trent!”
“Dreit.” Dalen nodded, then suddenly rushed over to Rainbow’s side. The pegasus grunted in protest as the stallion hoisted her body up, then stretched her wings out for everypony to see. Immediately, many Xonans gasped and murmured amongst one another. “Drek majj hrupp bleek.” He then yanked Rainbow’s head forward and displayed her multi-colored mane. “Yass? Yass bleek frem brast? Lasairfion Xon-Nagu’n rekt thiul trent!” He then lifted Rainbow up again and pointed directly at her pendant. “Yass. Jeehn frenn brak.” He let go of Rainbow, took a deep breath, and uttered, “Oss tray oh.”
The Xonans fell silent.
Zytharros’ eyes dimmed slightly. He pursed his lips, glancing with disbelief between Rainbow Dash and Dalen. “Austraeoh…?”
Dalen slowly, slowly nodded.
Zytharros fidgeted, an awkward thing to do in his noble armor. At last, he approached the pegasus, staring her down.
Rainbow Dash squinted tiredly up at him.
He gulped dryly before murmuring, “Austraeoh…?”
She wheezed back, “Every country makes the same mistake… and always with the same vowel.”
He instantly frowned. After a few seconds, he raised his hoof and simply tapped Rainbow on the forehead.
“Unnngh…” Rainbow fell back like a domino. Thud.
Zytharros sneered. He turned to Dalen, swiped the sound stone from his hoof, and smashed it against the deck. “Rekku lien jaat! Hrakka rektunu trenta Austraeoh?!”
“Grnnngh…” Zytharros turned about, glaring. At last, his eyes fell on Nightshade.
The Madame trembled.
With a growl, the warrior leaned down and ripped Nightshade’s robes to shreds. The mare gasped, losing grip of the book--which Zytharros instantly levitated before his sight, glowing runes and all.
Even more Xonans gasped.
For once, Zytharros’ muzzle hung in shock. “Nagu’n…” He gulped, his eyes reflecting the lavender shapes of the characters emblazoned upon the tome’s surfaces. “Vasulien fremma castarro lessen thriul…”
Dalen cleared his throat and said, “Nightshade sen Fortis rekht blass rehd thriul Seclorum sedh Ledomuul braak jaat.”
Zytharros glanced aside, staring fixedly at Rainbow Dash. He levitated the book further away.
Rainbow Dash breathed a little easier.
He levitated the book over her head.
She winced, shivering.
The warrior floated the book away once more.
Rainbow Dash relaxed slightly.
Zytharros’ brow furrowed. With a sharp breath, he tossed the book into Dalen’s grip.
The stallion caught it awkwardly, shuddering.
Zytharros pointed below the deck. “Rekhtuuna Austraeoh sen Ledomulien trenta drannaterriul thriul drakka.”
“Dreit, Zytharros Xon-Nagu’n,” Dalen said with a bow. He levitated the book while hissing at several other Xonans. Swiftly, Rainbow Dash and the closest ponies around her were dragged off their haunches and shoved towards the nearest stairwell.
“Hey! Come on!” Rainbow Dash grunted. “What gives?! Will somepony stop talking with lasagna in their mouth and just explain what the heck is going on?!”
“I do believe we are being imprisoned,” Nightshade managed.
“Nopony asked you!”
“We’re…” Basso stammered, wincing from his fresh bruises. “We’re turning around…”
“Looks like we’re heading east…” Zetta tilted her head, ears twitching to the sounds of mana-amplified voices channeling from one Xonan battleship to another. “I think they’re going to escort the Lightning Bearer into Xonan territory!”
“What for?!”
“Duh! Who wouldn’t want a ship like this on their side?!”
“But why keep us all alive, then?” Basso asked.
Zetta glanced over her shoulder at the limp figure of Rainbow Dash being dragged in close proximity to Dalen and the book. She stammered, “I don’t think it’s us that they’re concerned about…”
As the group was hoisted below deck, a lone figure in metal peered out from behind a battered coil of steam pipes. With masterful silence, Roarke took a survey of the battleship’s new bearings… then slinked away into darkness.
“Ooof!” Rainbow Dash was thrown into the brig, followed by several more Ledomaritan bodies. Nightshade, Basso, and Zetta rolled into the gasping figure of Zaid.
“Whoah! You got it all wrong, girl!” Zaid stammered. “We’re supposed to be busting out of this joint! Not in!”
“For once…” Rainbow hissed as she tried in vain to stand up. “Will you please… just… c-can it…?”
“Heh, sorry, filly. I tried that once, and lemme tell you, botulism is a bitch.”
“Unnnngh…”
“Rainbow!” Kera dashed over to the pegasus’ side, trying to pull her up by her hooves. “What happened?! We heard explosions and shouts and screams and crap!”
“Yeah, well…” Rainbow shuddered. “Looks like our cruise ship just got new management, kid.”
Kera turned and frowned at the sight of Nightshade. “What’s she doing here?”
Rainbow gulped. “I never said it was good management…”
In the meantime, Dalen was posting Xonan guards at the stations that the enforcers were occupying just minutes ago. “Hraak thremh less drakh thriul.” He pointed at the cell, then slapped the glowing tome into place atop a table, within close proximity of the pegasus. “Jekt drenn trent Oss tray oh thrien. Orr ken?”
“Dreit, Dalen.”
“Dreit.”
“Hey…” Kera leaned in. “Did that guy just say ‘Austraeoh?’”
“Shhhh!” Rainbow suddenly hissed. “Quiet, kid!”
But it was too late. Dalen was glancing over, squinting. His lips pursed, and he whispered, “Nagu’n…” He trotted closer to the cell’s force field. “Trent viel hem Xon…?”
Kera blinked. Her eyes widened as she shuffled backwards on trembling hooves. “Uhhh… uhhh…”
Rainbow gritted her teeth, her eyes darting helplessly back and forth. “Darn it. Get down, kid.”
“R-Rainbow D-Dash…?” Kera gulped. “What is this…?”
“I said get down!”
Dalen was fuming. He motioned towards the new guards, and the force field was lowered. He stomped into the cell and yanked Kera out with a strong, telekinetic grip.
“Gaah! Hey! Let go!” Kera’s voice cracked. “Let go of me, ya creep! Nnnngh!”
“No!” Nightshade stammered. “Not her!”
“Darn it!” Rainbow Dash winced as she tried crawling towards the scuffle. “She’s… not one of you…”
“I s-said let go!” Kera’s horn pulsed with mana, only to be snuffed out by Dalen’s stronger telekinesis. “Nnngh! Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow was about to shout something when a body blurred over her.
“Stop it!” Nightshade charged Dalen and slammed her hooves against his shoulder. “Get your filthy magic off of her!”
“Nnnngh--” Dalen spun about and blasted Nightshade to the floor with telekinesis.
“Ooof!” No sooner had Nightshade landed when she received a vicious blow to the chest.
Dalen furiously grunted as he kicked and kicked and bucked Nightshade’s writhing body like a bag of meat. When at last she was a bloody, sputtering mess, he leaned over and spat on her muzzle. “Shrak! Shrak menh srak teen, Ledomulien trent!” With a heated breath, he spun around and carried Kera--kicking and screaming--out of the brig altogether.
Rainbow Dash shivered. She crawled in vain towards the force field, but all she could see was lavender light, accompanied by the muffled sound of Nightshade’s gargling sobs.
The door to an officer’s quarters burst open and Dalen marched in. He practically had to drag a grunting, struggling Kera the entire way. Despite how much she kicked and bucked at his limbs, the Xonan stallion kept his motions slow and non-threatening. At last, when they were a third of the way into the room, he let go of Kera, and the little foal scrambled to the far end of the interior. Her breathless body knocked into a table, upsetting a picture frame that fell over and shattered across the floor. Kera squatted beside the broken photograph of Fortis smiling besides an old mare and three younger ponies. She hid behind the bed, hyperventilating.
Slowly, Dalen side-stepped until she was within sight again.
Hissing like a cat, Kera floated a lamp with her horn and tossed it across the dimly-lit room.
The object shattered across Dalen’s tattooed cheek. His head turned, but slowly pivoted back. He showed no signs of pain, merely staring at the foal with concern and wonderment. At last, he opened his lips.
He narrowed his eyes and spoke more emphatically, “Gremm bahkk leeh vrass staye? Kurn vas rekk thriul Ledomulian mehm?”
She said nothing. Her ears twitched slightly, but it was the only telegraph of her fear.
Dalen blinked. He turned and glanced over his shoulder, as if to see if any of his fellow soldiers were patrolling that section of the Lightning Bearer. After seeing no sight of another tattooed pony, he turned back and leaned forward, almost whispering, “Halasuthien meruut braasunuul rekkhu thriulen Ledomulian mehmasiel, trenttist Xon-Nagu’n?”
Kera’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she remained mute.
Dalen took a deep breath, as if preparing to take a dagger to the heart. At last, his tongue produced a honey’d sound. “M’dlen sas’tal lilithu’lialen siul rek’stakar thri’len Ledo’mul’n meh’naseen, tre’nt Xon-Nagu’n?”
Kera’s face scrunched up exagerratedly.
Dalen finally blurted, “You truly do not know any of the Serpent Tongues?”
“I only know one tongue, pal!” She leaned forward and pressed her lips together. ”Blblblblblblb!”
Dalen’s ears drooped. “How tragic. Just what have they done to you? By Nagu’n’s name, is nothing sacred anymore?”
“And just what were you doing up above?!” Kera growled, dragging her hooves against the floorboard. “And to my friends?! Huh?! Was it so peachy?!”
“Those whom you call friends are heretics, apostates, and war mongerers,” Dalen said as he trotted slowly towards her. “They rape and pillage this land in the name of heartless sciences, forsaking the glory that Nagu’n has placed before their hooves. They cling to the idea of peace, but they live out cold and amoral lives, even turning upon their own kind with cruelty and deception.”
“Not my friends!” Kera shouted at the top of her lungs. “In this whole rotten land, they’re the only ones who actually give a crap about one another, and I want you to let them go!” She stomped her hooves. “I want you to let us go!”
Dalen slowly nodded. “You are capable of so much anger. There is a great vacuum left in your heart from what has been robbed from you. I suspect you are too lost to hear the song of Nagu’n, but I can see that Her fury has found its way into your etchings.”
“Did you hear a single friggin’ word I said, bub?”
“Imprisoning the innocent is beneath me,” Dalen said. “When I sacrificed everything to take position among these hopeless sinners, I knew that the blood of foals would be on my hooves, one way or another. Better that my soul be blemished than a true warrior of Nagu’n, but to harm a child of Xon?” He slowly shook his head. “I would suffer my own shame a million times over than damn myself that way.”
“Then let me go already!” Kera stammered. “I don’t care if our lines match, dude! I need to be with my friends!”
“We will find you a home to rejoice with the glory that you deserve, but do not cling to those wretches you were with any longer.”
“Why not?!” Kera frowned. “I like those wretches just fine! We look out after each other!”
“They will only deceive you, child,” Dalen said. “And I suspect you have been a victim of deception for many lonely years--”
“Ungh! Fine!” Kera folded her limbs and turned her back to him. “If you’re just gonna spout a bunch of bullcrap instead of helping me, then get lost! I’ve got better things to do than listen to your nonsense!”
“I only wish to bring you back to the song of Nagu’n as you deserve--”
“I belong with my friends!” Kera sneered from over her shoulder. “As a dude who gets off by running around in sheep’s clothing, I can’t expect you to understand that!”
Silence.
Dalen exhaled a sad breath. He trotted towards the doors to the quarters, but paused. Looking over his shoulder, he said, “‘Clover.’”
Kera jerked her head about. “Excuse me?”
“That’s what it means.”
“That’s what what means?” she grunted.
“Your name,” he said. “‘Kera.’”
The filly blinked at that.
“I found out from the one called Madame Nightshade,” Dalen said. “It pained me to have you locked in that prison cell for so long, but I had to carry on the facade of ‘Straker.’ The security of Zytharros’ forces depended on me playing my part.” He slowly shook his head. “You were never meant for this life, a frantic flight from disaster to disaster, being hounded by militants, sadists, and cultists. Your name is like it’s meaning, child, something healthy and green with life, like the clovers that sway in the warm winds blowing through the Verdant Valleys of Xon’Nameh’naseen. Somewhere, beyond the righteous Song of Nagu’n, a mother and father wait for you with open arms to welcome their daughter into the Tides Unending. A lost soul like yours should not be forced to stumble into that warm surf with utter confusion, choked of meaning and love.”
Kera blinked, her eyes darting to the floor.
“Those companions of yours? They may have given you many material things.” He pointed at her. “But did they give you your etchings, child?”
Kera said nothing; she merely clutched her own limbs.
“You belong to something far greater and older than yourself.” Dalen tilted his muzzle up. “It is something far greater and older than all of us. What else would the Children of Xon fight for than to restore righteousness where it belongs? You deserve no less a restoration child, and my brothers and sisters and I will be there for you when such a time comes that you will be ready to embrace Her Song.”
He left, closing the door behind him. To Kera’s surprise, he didn’t even bother locking it.
And yet, she stood still, shivering slightly as she ran hooves over her multiple tattoos, studying them with sudden, reverent silence.
“Yo! Hey! I just thought of something!” Zaid’s eyes narrowed as he leaned across the air of the cramped prison cell. “What if they had someone on their side hidden inside this ship all this time?!”
Several of the ponies inside the cell with him groaned.
“They did have somepony spying on us!” Zetta grumbled. “Straker was a traitor in sheep’s clothing the whole time!”
Zaid’s jaw dropped. “No way…” He hissed angrily. “What did lambs ever do to these guys?!”
Zetta face hoofed, turning to gaze lethargically at Basso. “Why couldn’t we be imprisoned with a rabid manticore instead?”
“Maybe he’s yet to foam at the mouth?” Basso said.
“As much as that would relieve us all, I doubt we need an excuse to put him out of his misery,” Nightshade muttered from the corner.
“Hey! I resent that!” Zaid spun about, frowning. “I happen to like dogs!”
Nightshade ignored him. “The imbecile is part of the reason why we are all in this situation.”
The other Ledomaritans mumbled curiously.
“How do you figure that?” Zetta asked.
Nightshade replied, “It was his insistence that Rainbow Dash attempt a bold rescue of the Xonan child. He lured her into a false sense of security, and now her brash actions have helped instigate the full-on attack our enemy.”
“Well, excuuuuuuuuuse me, your prick-ness, but if you ask me this ship didn’t need any of my help getting into dreep bat guano!” Zaid frowned and folded his forelimbs. “Whatever these punks thought they were getting accomplished on this side of the continent, they were obviously playing into the tattooed guy’s hooves!”
“Prime Enforcer Fortis would never have willfully flown us all into harm’s way!” Zetta exclaimed.
“Well, he certainly did a lousy job of keeping his promise, didn’t he?” Zaid swung a hoof towards the walls. “Why don’t you go ask him how come he screwed things up so much! Oh! Wait! That’s right! You can’t ask him! You can only wear him! I sure hope the Xonans have sewn those sleeves up nicely so you can sip tea inside his coat without leaking blood onto the saucer!”
Zetta’s face scrunched up. Tears welled in her eyes as she gazed into the floor. Basso leaned over to give her a hug, all the while frowning at Zaid. “You know, there’s being just plain inappropriate, and then there’s you.”
“Hey, so what if the Xonans set the bar low?” Zaid shrugged. “I’m good at playing limbo, maaaaaan. That’s how I’ve lived so long as a roadie and not a victim of road rash! Heck, you all could learn a lesson from me!”
“In what way, pray tell?” Nightshade asked.
“Well, the Xonans haven’t chopped our heads off yet, have they?” Zaid said, “They must want us for something. So long as we play it cool and neutral, I suspect we’ll have plenty of days left to live… and maybe even friggin’ escape!”
“I doubt we’re the only ones th-they’ve spared,” Zetta managed to say.
Nightshade glanced over. “How do you mean?”
“This is a large ship,” Zetta said, eying the guards positioned at the far end of the brig. “Though not every room below deck is an elaborate security cell like this one, there are still plenty of key locations to imprison our fellow crew members.”
“They certainly have the firepower to do it,” Basso said. He then gulped. “Or ‘snake-power.’”
“Yeah, what’s up with all that junk?” Zaid’s face twisted in confusion. “I’ve seen some weird crap in my day, but since when did ponies command weird leathery reptile creatures with fart gas powers to do what they want?”
“It’s not the that the Xonans have mastered anything,” Rainbow’s voice muttered. “It’s the metal that they’re wearing.”
The Ledomaritans inside the room jolted in surprise.
“Whoah, she talks!” Basso exclaimed as the pegasus sat up wearily in the midst of the group. “I didn’t think she was capable of anything but yelling angrily!”
“Believe me, I wouldn’t want it any different with half the melon fudges in this room,” Rainbow’s voice cracked as she shook the cobwebs loose from her skull. “But, as it turns out, there’re bigger fish to fry… only they’ve done a really super job of frying us instead.”
“Making gross analogies isn’t going to help us any,” Nightshade said.
“Yeah? And neither is opening your Celestia-darn mouth, Madame Crapshade!!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “But you might have noticed that, in spite of every friggin’ reason in the world to do so, I haven’t slammed your skull into tiny bits against these bars!”
Zaid smirked. “Have I mention that you’re angry when you’re sexy?” He blinked, then went cross-eyed. “Er, wait…”
“You two know each other?” Zetta asked.
“Unfortunately…” Nightshade leaned back with a long sigh.
“You guys had better only believe half the crap she says,” Rainbow Dash said. “And then prepare to crush that stuff to a pulp with the other half. This snake-in-the-grass is worst than Lieutenant Traitor McMarbleMouth, or whoever the stallion was who took Kera away.” She reeled dizzily, rubbing her head as she glared at the lavender tome in the corner of the room beyond the bars. “I swear, if this dayum ship was full of diamond dogs and hydras, I’d still feel like I could trust everyone around me more than how it really is…”
“There’s something special about you,” Basso said, his eyes narrow. “Something unique. Magical, even…”
“Nice try, handsome,” Rainbow grumbled. “But not only are you barking up the wrong tree, a hurricane has torn it out by its friggin’ roots and the dog-catcher has you in his cross-hairs.”
“What he means is that something strange happened above deck,” Zetta said. “The monsters had no effect on you! When they came within close proximity, they all disappeared!”
“That pendant of yours…” Basso pointed. “It was glowing!”
“Maybe your pendant could save us all still!”
“Nope.” Rainbow shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way.”
“Then how does it work?”
Rainbow sighed. “Dude, I barely know.”
“Hey, she’s right.” Zaid pointed at her with a smirk. “She’s the most heroic idiot you’ll ever meet.” A blue hoof ricocheted off the back of his skull. “Ow!”
Rainbow sat back on her haunches, wearily. “I’ve run into these kinds of monsters before, believe it or not. Look, I’ve been to many places, mostly ‘cuz I’ve flown here from a place far, far away. Not like it would have mattered to you guys before everything here went to Tartarus.” She frowned. “You only had me locked up like some horrible beast.”
“Well, you attacked us like a horrible beast!” Zetta exclaimed.
“Did she?” Basso blinked, then stared at Rainbow fixedly. “Oh! Right! Right, she did!” He chuckled. “Heheheh--”
“Look, shut up!” Rainbow hissed, the blue hairs on her coat rising up. “The long and short of it: you had a good friend of mine captured against her will!” She spun and pointed at Nightshade. “And this sniveling melon fudge right here is the one to blame!”
“Once again, your metaphors are brutish and inaccurate.”
“Quiet, before I carve your skin off and feed you to bats!”
“Enough!” Zetta shouted, standing between the two mares. She sighed, brushed her mane aside, and looked at Rainbow Dash. “So, you said you’ve run into these kinds of monsters before?”
Rainbow Dash fought another dizzy spell, nodded, then said, “Those silver things around the Xonans’ necks? They’re called ‘chaos strips.’ Don’t ask me why, but the metal is especially enchanted with chaos energies.”
“Chaos… energies…” Basso muttered aloud.
Rainbow gestured as she spoke, “This world--as we may or may not know it--is floating in a big cloud of chaos. It’s been that way for a super long time, or so I’ve learned. Because our world is--like--a really big deal in the physical plane, this pisses off whatever spirits are living in that murky cloud stuff. At least that’s the way I understand it. Anyways, the spirits are looking for whatever excuse they can get to enter our dimension and tear ponies to shreds. At some point or another, someone or something created a type of metal that would act as a funnel for these freaky bad things to pass through. Apparently the Xonans have discovered a whole buttload of it, and that’s how they’ve tamed all these nasty-nasties to attack your ship.”
“Wow…” Zetta blinked. “You seem to know a lot about this ‘chaos’ stuff.”
Rainbow Dash sighed, rubbing her neck right above the ruby pendant. “It’s not like it’s a gift or something.” She gulped. “Let’s just say I… have gotten to know a major chaotician really personally.”
“I would take her words with a grain of salt if I were you,” Nightshade said. “Her extensive travels have given her a false sense of entitlement.”
Rainbow spun to frown at her. “My ‘extensive travels’ have given others a false sense about me, which is half the reason for why I’m alive here and now! And the same goes for you guys!”
“What does she mean by that?” Basso asked.
“Well, she is kind of a big deal,” Zaid said. “Destined Harbinger of the End Times, Deliverer of Harmony, Missing Link to the Age of Angels. Blah blah blah.” He crossed his legs and pointed towards the corner of the cell. “Say, is anyone else using the coffee can at the moment?”
“Evidently, moronic equines are inclined to believe that there is more to Rainbow Dash than meets the eye,” Nightshade said. “I suspect that the Xonans are no different.”
“Well, after their ‘chaos monsters’ splashed into nothingness after attacking her, I can kind of imagine why!” Zetta exclaimed.
“What was that word I kept hearing them say around you?” Basso asked the Pegasus. “Ostrich Hose?”
“‘Austraeoh,’” Rainbow Dash muttered. “It’s a long story not worth getting into, unless you’re really, really bored.” Her hooves squirmed. “Or masochistic.”
Zetta shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like we’re going anywhere.”
“Only we are,” Rainbow Dash said. “I heard the Xonans drop the name ‘Lasairfion’ more than once.”
“Whozzat?” Basso blinked.
“Wait, I’ve heard that name before too,” Zetta murmured. “While listening in for enemy signals, the pronunciation would appear every now and then through the white noise.”
“It’s the name of a super important princess of the Xonans or something,” Rainbow Dash said. “Before I ended up here, I heard that she was located near to the front in order to oversee the tattooed horses’ war effort.”
“What the heck would this ‘Lasairfion’ mare have to do with anything?”
“I dunno, but something tells me that I’m gonna find out soon,” Rainbow said, glancing at the others. “And you guys are probably gonna discover too, because I believe they’re bringing everypony else along for the ride.”
“But why?!” Zetta shrugged wildly. “What would the Xonans benefit from getting a close look at you?”
“And why haven’t they killed the rest of us off by now?” Basso asked.
“You mean you want to die, big fella?” Zaid cackled from the corner. “Whoops! Uh… hey, do we have a second coffee can by chance? Not like it’s an emergency or anything… heh heh…”
Basso sighed with folded ears. “My question still stands.”
“Look, I don’t have all the answers,” Rainbow Dash said. “If anything, I’m just as helpless as the rest of you dudes.”
“Well, we could certainly do with more information,” Nightshade said. “Otherwise, we are in the dark, waiting for anything terrible to befall us.”
Just then, Rainbow’s ears twitched. She blinked, then smiled thinly across the prison cell. “Maybe not…”
“Huh?”
Rainbow Dash grinned and raised a hoof. “Shhhh. Listen.”
Everypony was dead silent. As many equines held their breaths, a distinct scratching sound could be heard through the walls of the cell.
“What… what is that?” Zetta asked.
“That…” Rainbow Dash smirked as she shuffled over to the wall. “Is another brand of awesomeness at work, not to mention a potential ticket to freedom.” She looked through the bars, studying the guards from afar. When the Xonans looked distracted, she leaned her muzzle up against the wall and whispered, “I knew you weren’t dead, ya big ol’ rust bucket of winning!”
”Rainbow, what have I said about the ‘R’ word?”
“You’re going to have to kick my butt about it later. What’s the word out on the street, girl?”
Roarke sighed, her body squeezed within the metal-reinforced crawlspace of the Lightning Bearer. She slithered past mana conduits and glowing wires to press her face closer towards the wall of the jail cell from the other side.
“We’ve passed over several mountain ranges. I’m most certain that we’ve crossed the Eastern Front by now. One of the battleships has broken off to head north, presumably towards a location of conflict. If you asked me, I’d say the Xonans were confident that no Ledomaritan resistance will pop up its ugly head.”
”Are there other ponies being held against their will like us?’
“Only in every other room,” Roarke muttered. “I’ve done a fair amount of eavesdropping, but I must admit that my grasp of the language is somewhat limited.”
”There’s gotta be a Xonan guard around here who knows a thing or two about the Ledomaritan language.”
“What are you suggesting, Rainbow Dash?”
”That depends, girl. What are you capable of?”
“Oh, so is that the way it’s going to be?” Roarke frowned. After a few seconds, she sighed, then said, “I’ll see what I can do to learn more, but it’s not going to be easy to do. This place is crawling with tattooed warriors, and I’m doing all I can on an empty stomach to keep from being discovered.”
”If you show up within the next two hours, we might have something we can somehow pass through the wall to you. I swear, the Xonans feed us more than the Ledomaritan enforcers ever did.”
Roarke’s brow furrowed. “They feed you more, you say…?” She gazed up the thin, thin crawlspace. “Fascinating…”
”Roarke, tell me, have you at least gotten any bearing on where Kera is?”
The metal mare nodded. “She’s in the former Prime Enforcer’s quarters.”
”Lemme guess, under lock and key?”
“No.”
”No…?”
“I cannot explain it, Rainbow Dash, I can only observe it with the limited resources at my disposal, but I’ll do what I can to discover more…”
Rainbow’s ears twitched as she continued leaning against the wall.
”In the meantime, you should preserve your strength,” Roarke’s muffled voice said. ”At the rate at which we’re approaching Xonan territory, there’s no telling when the warriors will scoop you all out of there and dump you someplace less than pleasant.”
Rainbow’s face scrunched up. “Like where?”
”I’ve seen Xonan camps before, Rainbow Dash, when I once rescued Imre. These ponies may talk ‘pretty,’ but that’s as far as their eloquence goes.”
“Pffft. Super.”
”I have to keep moving. Somepony might discover the loose panel I opened to enter this crawlspace. Wait for my signal, and then we’ll share more information.”
“Hey… are you gonna tell Belle, Pilate, and the others about--”
”What do you take me for, Rainbow?” A shuffling sound: Roarke’s voice grew more distant. ”I am way ahead of you.” And the Searonese soul was gone.
“Whew!” Zaid crawled back, smiling. “I’m telling you, gurl! If that’s not true love, then I don’t know what is!” Nightshade smacked him across the head. “Ow! Dang it! Why the horn?! Always?!”
Rainbow sighed. “I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but…” She turned and smirked. “Thanks, Madame.”
Kera sat on the edge of the bed inside her cabin, fidgeting. Her green eyes locked with the door as the dull vibration of zeppelin engines hummed through the tight walls of that place. She bit her lip, glancing from the door to the floor and back. At last, with a sigh, she jumped off the bed and trotted over to the door. One nervous hoof outstretched, she grasped the knob and turned it. The door opened with a creak, pelting her with the cold winds of the battleship's high altitude voyage.
The foal stuck her head out, looking down both ends of the hallway. She saw no movement. With a tense breath, she scampered out and pressed herself against a wall. The door to the living quarters closed behind her. She stood there, inhaling and exhaling the cold gusts. At last, she galloped down the hall and made a right turn.
Daylight pierced through gray clouds to greet her. She saw mountains breezing by, as well as appropriately ashen forests of burnt trees. Curious, the foal trotted up to the edge and peered down. She saw a landscape pockmarked with craters and scattered zeppelin parts. Camps hung off mountainsides in the distance, but most of them were tattered, war-torn scraps of the past.
Hoofsteps sounded off against the deck. Kera gasped. Spinning about, she made for a door along the far end of the zeppelin. Halfway there, though, she tripped and fell flat on her belly. "Ooomf!" A wave of pain sat through her, and she struggled to stand back up.
The hoofsteps came closer. Her heart skipped a beat—especially when a pulse of telekinesis lifted her up by the scruff of her neck.
"Unnngh!" she hissed and flickered her horn. "Let go of me! I mean it! I—"
The pony had already let go. She spun around to see the tattooed face of a Xonan grunt, smiling. "Hejj munn lemh heit, trentte." He winked, chuckled, and trotted off. Two Xonans immediately followed him, one pausing to ruffle the filly's bushy green mane.
"Projj klem bess thriul Ledomulian browt, dreit?"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Heh heh heh heh... trentte flaas meen."
The group trotted off, heading towards a higher deck.
Kera stared after them, eyes wide. After another gust of wind, she turned and looked towards the lower decks. Curious, she trotted down a series of steps and into a wide, brightly-lit hall. The belly of the Lightning Bearer was crawling with Xonan soldiers, and a good half of them were simply lounging about, enjoying the spoils of war. Kera strolled daringly through the thick lot of them, her eyes darting left and right at the many sights and sounds.
Most of the Xonans were busy polishing their weapons and sharpening their armor. Some stood in a corner, casting die over who would get to take possession of one piece of Ledomaritan technology or another. Through a thin doorframe, Kera saw Xonans marching before a line of squatting prisoners, shouting and spitting at them. Through another door, Kera saw Xonans forming two rambunctious groups huddled around a makeshift arena where two ethereal serpents were being forced to duel one another.
She squinted—then nearly bumped into a tattooed body. "Ooof!" She stepped back, and her nostrils were instantly filled with the smell of roasted meat.
A Xonan glanced down at him. He stood with several others around a trio of steaming pots. He smiled and bent down low with an amused grin. "Havv null merr blait saat krem, trentte?"
Kera bit her lip. She stared fixedly at the pots, and her stomach growled.
The Xonan noticed it. He stood up, then whistled over his shoulder. Another stallion trotted over, telekinetically carrying a long rod with several skewered pieces of meat. He levitated it to the first pony who then offered it to Kera.
"Thien. Mress tuul raast meem sutt rejj!"
Kera fidgeted. Just then, her eyes narrowed on the strips of meat. At least two of them still bore the wispy signs of grasshopper legs. Another had dragonfly wings bent from the heat.
With a gasp, Kera practically leapt forward and swiped the rod from him. She scurried to a corner and began nibbling to her heart's content, enjoying the crisp and crunchy sensation of the meat morsels in her mouth.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Several stallions merrily chuckled, elbowing each other and pointing at the filly. "Greer blenn yuus thriel mark treen!"
"Heh. Dreit. Jaat malk benn teel."
"Suuk lemm trentte braak."
"Heh heh heh..."
Kera was almost halfway through her meal. Her eyes darted to the far end of the hallway where a stack of Xonan supplies had been heaped. She noticed several cages flitting with large insects. Her throat swallowed the succulent morsels with rapture.
"Its heart does not recognize the Song, but its stomach recognizes the flavor," a thick accented voice said from aside. "It is a good thing, dreit?"
Kera almost choked on a grasshopper leg. She dropped the rod completely.
Zytharros caught it in a telekinetic field before it could touch the floor. Calmly, the armored warrior lifted it back towards Kera. "Best not to poison blessings of Nagu'n with dirty Ledomaritan surfaces."
Kera was already scampering away from him, panting heavily.
Zytharros calmly said, "It has murdered many heathens, but never a child. Does it doubt this?"
Kera slowly peetered to a stop, hyperventilating. After a few shuddering seconds, she finally turned around and slowly trotted back towards the warrior. Her eyes darted up, blinking.
Zytharros lowered the rod of meat samples back towards her. "It does not wish to take from this world, but only to give back. The ponies of Ledo have robbed enough. It sees that the enemy is a different, darker color?"
Kera bit her lip until it nearly bled. With a grunt, she slapped the rod from his grasp and clasped onto it, biting onto the closest chunk of meat she could.
"Hmmm..." Zytharros stood back, nodding. "Again, its stomach does the speaking. Most natural daughter of Xon."
Kera paused briefly in mid-nibble. She glanced at the many Xonan grunts, then back at Zytharros. At last she swallowed and said, "You're different from them."
"Dreit."
"Why?" Kera scarfed another fried insect down and muttered, "If you're all 'sons' and 'daughters' of Xon, then what's up with the super weird tongue-baths?"
Zytharros' glowing eyes narrowed in utter confusion.
Kera nodded towards the background with her horn. "They all speak like they're grunting. None of them say long and pretty-sounding words like you." She took another bite, swallowed and said, "What's more, they've got super short manes. Like, they totally buzz below the ears, and yet you've got super long threads. What's up with that?"
"It simply knows its place within the Song of Nagu'n," Zytharros said in a neutral tone. "It is Second Born, whereas they are Third Born. Their place in the chorus is lower, and yet no less important."
"Oh yeah?" Kera gulped and leaned forward. "Then what about that Dalen guy? He's got a full mane like you, but he speaks as if he's one of those grunts."
Zytharros slowly nodded. "It is Second Born in blood only. Shame blankets its coat like mud. Until the grace of Princess Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu'n, washes it clean, it is bound to the lower chorus."
"Oh yeah?" Kera asked. "How come?"
"Is not important," Zytharros said in a breathy tone. He trotted closer to her. "It brings glory to Nagu'n, as do all children of Xon empowered by the Song. It leads us to victory over the unclean and fills the sky with rapture." His eyes narrowed with a shimmering glint. "Perhaps it has also felt it, now that its eyes are no longer blanketed?"
"What, you mean me?" Kera planted a hoof over her chest, frowning. "Look, I'm glad that you guys aren't binding me with a ball and chain or whatcrap, but this is still not a happy day!"
"Would it care to explain?"
"Do I really have to?!" Kera dropped the rod, now picked clean of meat. "This is the last place I wanted to be right now! Also, you've got my friends jailed up somewhere and I doubt you're giving them anything nearly so special to eat."
"Food shall come. Shelter shall come." Zytharros nodded. "Princess Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu'n, has summoned its colors."
"You mean Rainbow Dash?!" Kera leaned forward, gawking. "But, why?! She's not exactly 'princess' material!"
"Wisdom of Princess Lasaifirion, blessed by Nagu'n, is beyond it," Zytharros said. "It has fed Nagu'n with more than the song, and it has led us in victory over the Ledomaritan filth. It does not deserve to be questioned."
"So... this is just one big escort mission?" Kera's face scrunched up. "All the killing, all the imprisoning, all the gruntwork is just to get Rainbow Dash to Lasairfion, and not the ship?"
Zytharros shook his head as he paced around the foal. "It should not be confused. The ship is most important. It has a grand place in the Song of Nagu'n. But all things happen when the chorus demands it. Princess Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu'n, has a will that must be followed. The sons and daughters of Xon have benefited from her glory, ever since she entreated Nagu'n for the gift of serpents."
"Serpents...?" Kera's eyes reflected the white strip hanging off his armor. "You mean those glowy little monster things I saw?"
"They are the vanquishers of monsters," Zytharros said in a slightly growling tone. "Without their fury, we would be suffering shame at the hooves of Ledo's bastards." He spat on the floor and grunted, "Mehkuulien thrassa Ledomulian trenta hraakraat!"
With a calmer breath, Zytharros looked at her once again. "If it hasn't seen the taint of Xon's enemies, it will soon. Perhaps it will realize that ponies like myself and Dalen are long lost siblings in the Song."
Kera blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "Y'know, you've got me thinking. If I'm supposed to contribute to this super-special 'Song' stuff, then what would I be, huh?" She gestured with her hoof. "I mean, I'm just a lil' kid with tattoos who grew up on a boring farm and then galloped around the streets of a Ledomaritan dump. Exactly where would I fit in this happy family of yours?"
"It is not obvious to it?" Zytharros blinked. "It is Third Born."
Kera smirked. "Heh. Of course. Y'know, you're not making a very good sales pitch, buddy."
Zytharros' armor rattled as he fidgeted to say, "It is lost as to its meaning..."
"Gawd..." Kera rolled her eyes. "Not only are you religious as heck, but you've got no sense of humor! Yeesh... I think I was better off pulling a plow in Lerris."
Zytharros was about to say something when Dalen trotted up. "Jaas lien threnn marr, Zytharros Xon-Nagu'n. Haav flejj—" The stallion paused, blinking at Kera's presence.
Zytharros had spun to snarl at him. "Kaluum sateelium threnn, trenttu. Bleinuulum thrum!"
Dalen cleared his throat, turned towards Zytharros again, and bowed low. "Blaat blaat, Zytharros Xon-Nagu'n. Hreej yuun laast blemm sreit. Huum reen grejj Nagu'n gonne blenne."
Zytharros sighed, his ears drooping slightly. "Nagu'n gonnellen blennsuun?"
Dalen nodded, bowed once more, and trotted down the far end of the hallway.
"What was that sneeze-fest all about?" Kera asked.
Zytharros' face hung in a depressed haze for a few moments. At last, he turned towards Kera and said, "It may be Third Born, but it deserves to know the shattered sound."
"Nagun'n's," Zytharros said in a dull tone. "Her breath is ragged and She has been suffering an abominable affliction. It has forced a shattered sound into Her Song."
Kera did a double-take. "You mean this 'Nagu'n' thingy is actually real?!"
For the briefest of moments, Zytharros gave her a burning scowl.
Kera gulped and murmured, "I-I mean, eheheh... of c-course She is! Heheh... Glory to Nagu'n and stuff!"
Zytharros sighed again. "It is forgiven. This war must end swiftly if Nagu'n is to see the glory of Her Song. Or else it will be up to the Serpent Reborn in years to come. Princess Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu'n, has toiled much to bring the fruits of the Song to Her eyes, but time is of the essence, and feeding Her Voice is not enough, it fears."
"How do you know all this?"
"Her Song has fallen to pieces since this campaign started," Zytharros said. "It would have a better way to guage the fragments of the chorus, but the Second Born child of Xon most gifted in soundscapes has perished from Ledomaritan shelling."
Kera rubbed her chin in thought. She blinked, then brightened. "So, what you're telling me is that you need an expert in 'sounds' to see how Nagu'n is doing?"
"Dreit."
"Y'know, I think I might know a pony who could make the cut."
Zytharros squinted at her. "Truly?"
"It depends..." Kera smirked devilishly. "How much does 'it trust it?'"
The mess hall of the Lightning Bearer had been converted into a large interior prison-yard. All of the tables had been shoved to the side, and in every corner there was a Xonan situated with mana-brimming scimitars. They eyed the Ledomaritan masses in the center of the chamber with evident disgust.
At the turn of the hour, a side door slid open. A pair of former-enforcers trotted in, pulling wagons filled with trays of gray porridge. Several Xonans accompanied them, ushering them along at sword point. The tattooed stallions shouted, and the soldiers of Ledo acted as unwitting servants, passing the thick slop along to the unenthusiastic passengers.
At one point during the food serving, a wave of turbulence rattled through the chamber. A Ledomaritan dropped three trays at once, splattering the floor all over with the viscous stuff.
Immediately, a Xonan grunt trotted up, shouting and barking at him. The Ledomaritan frantically squatted down to clean the mess—only to receive a savage buck to the ribs. Instead of stopping their comrade, several other Xonans rushed in, kicking and striking with their armored hooves. This savage act soon turned into a game, with several of the stallions chuckling at the bloody body twitching them in a pile of oatmeal.
"Hey! He's had enough!" one brave ex-enforcer shouted. "Let him go already!"
The first Xonan to have inflicted the beating turned around. He smirked at his comrades, then spun about with a savage hoof to the speaker's cheek.
The stallion fell to the floor, hissing in pain. His associates ran to his side, only to be urged back by a bright glow of energy. The stallion looked up in time to greet the oncoming fangs of a translucent serpent.
The Xonan reined the monster in at the last second, allowing its jaws to snap and spit just inches away from the Ledomaritan's muzzle. "Haak bleen kru mest thriul Ledomulien deek!"
Several other Xonans laughed uproariously.
The Ledomaritan stood his ground, shivering slightly.
The Xonan looked over his shoulder. Then, with the flickering mana of his summoned beast playing a lightshow against his cold blue eyes, he leaned forward and hissed, "It must eat a lot, even if it must eat its own teeth, Ledomulien." He snickered as the tattoos shimmered along his upper shoulders and neck. "It is no longer in the country of Queen, dreit?" He spat into the ex-enforcer's face, as if disgusted with the forced twisting of his tongue "Pray to Nagu'n, it must! Her glory awaits it!"
That said, the Xonan trotted off, marched over the groaning stallion's body, and resumed his watch over the food distribution.
High above, peering through a loose metal panel in the ceiling, a pair of copper lenses glinted—trained on the Xonan with blue eyes. Seconds passed, and a mare's shadow slinked away, sliding the panel shut in place.
"You need me for what-now?" Zetta asked.
Dalen took a deep breath from where he stood on the other side of the force field. "You've been picking up a strange sound emanating from the east up until the Lightning Bearer switched hooves, dreit—?" He took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and re-uttered: "Correct?"
"Uhhh... yeah?" Zetta slowly nodded. "If there's still any of 'Straker' left in ya, buddy, then you know that I made a rapid report on the matter every shift!"
"The past reports of your listening station are not of importance," Dalen said. "If you attempted to, would you be able to pick up that undulating sound again?"
"In a heartbeat!" Zetta narrowed her eyes. "But what the heck brought this up?"
Kera stuck her head out from behind Dalen's body. She waved her hoof and smiled wide.
"The only thing that you are at liberty to know is that we are requiring your assistance in relocating and then making an assessment of that sound."
"You don't say?" Zetta glanced at Basso, then folded her forelimbs as she glared out the jail cell. "And what if I refuse?"
Dalen glared. "Do not pretend that you are in the position to bargain—"
"Bullcrap!" Rainbow Dash spoke in, surprising Zetta as she leaned dizzily towards the force field. "You obviously wouldn't have come here if you didn't need anything!"
"Believe me..." Dalen glanced at Kera out the corners of his eyes. "It was not my decision."
"Even still, you're here and you obviously need help!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "How about a little bit of tit for tat, sour tits?"
"Hey!" Zaid chirped. "Can I steal that?"
Dalen sighed. "What do you have in mind?"
"She agrees to help you, and you let some of us go!"
Dalen sneered. "Out of the question!"
"How about she agrees to help you—" Kera trotted around to face Dalen. "—and you move them into a better location!"
"Out of the question!" Dalen shoved Kera aside.
"Don't push her around like that!" Nightshade grunted.
Dalen pointed angrily. "I'm warning you—"
"Look, I'll do it!" Zetta's voice cracked.
"Zetta..." Basso began.
Zetta shoved his head back and stood up straight. "I'll do it. I'll help you with whatever it is you want me to study. But you gotta promise me one thing!" She pointed at the dozen ponies inside the cell with her. "You keep these ponies safe! If I screw up, don't take it out on them! Got it?"
Dalen opened his mouth, lingered, then slowly nodded. "That sounds like an honorable agreement." His eyes glared in Rainbow's direction. "Provided they don't do anything to provoke the wrath of Nagu'n."
"Prick me," Rainbow said, "Do I not kick your ass?!"
"Settle down, sunshine," Nightshade muttered, glaring into the floor. "This is delicate enough as it is."
"And could you give them decent food for once?" Zetta pointed. "Is that too much to ask?"
"Fine," Dalen said. "It is an agreement."
"So..." Zetta took a deep breath. "When do you need my help?"
Dalen gestured towards two of the guards by the lavender book. They operated the controls and the force fields fell. "Right now."
Zetta blinked. "Oh."
"Is that... a problem?"
"Not at all. Let's... uh..." Zetta trotted nervously towards the opening in the cell. "Let's do this."
"Zetta, think this through!" Basso insisted. He stood up, nearly bumping his bulky head on the ceiling. "There's no telling what they want!"
"It's okay, Basso!" Zetta smiled back as guards trotted closer to her. "You're all going to be safe! I promise!"
"It's you I'm worried about!" Basso murmured with a sad face. "If you screw up, what's gonna become of you?"
To that, Zetta only bit her lip. She yelped slightly as she was hoisted viciously away and into the hallway outside. The guards switched the force field back on with a dull hum. In the meantime, Kera trotted over to Dalen's side.
"Say, uhm, since I'm here and all, do you mind if I catch up with old friends?"
Dalen sighed. "I do believe we've talked about this, young one."
"Look, even if them, me, and some magical moose in the flower fields are all heretics, I still owe them my life ten times over. I mean—whew!—you won't believe how many times they've saved my etched keister from total death and explosions and stuff!"
"I do not need you entertaining any of their brash thoughts—"
"But I told you I owe them!" Kera bit her lip with a foalish pout. "Isn't it the honorable thing for me to do?"
Dalen's lined brow furrowed. "Alright. Ten minutes." With a breath, he shuffled out of the room. "You are learning the ways of your flesh and blood swiftly. I only wish it were different ways." He paused beside the guards. "Hass greim seit thruun thien trentte Xon-Nagu'n." And then he was gone.
As the guards watched on, Kera swished from side to side, hiding her smile from them as she slithered towards the cell. "Heeeeeeey, guys!" she murmured beneath her breath. "How's it hanging?"
Rainbow Dash's jaw was dropped. As soon as Zaid reached over to her chin, she batted the stallion's hoof away and leaned forward. "Kid! Are you hurt?"
Nightshade was by her side. "Did they damage you in anyway?"
"Did they feed you weird crap?"
"Are they looking after your health?"
Rainbow growled aside at the mare. "Hey! I'm the one worried sick for her!"
"By Spark's Flame, you are."
"Shove off!" Rainbow bumped her in the flank—reeling slightly from the exertion. "Nnngh! I mean it! Get your own foal!"
"I had twelve. Your friend robbed them from me!"
"How the buck do you have a receipt for twelve kidnapped foals?!"
"Guys!" Kera snarled, then flashed a look at the guards behind her. Speaking in a lower tone, she murmured aside, "I'm hoping this thing with Zetta will buy us some time."
"For what, pray tell?" Nightshade murmured back.
"Nothing you're going to do, pincushion head!" Kera grumbled. "But isn't this the sort of time when you... y'know..." Kera gestured towards Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow blinked wearily. "Do what?"
Zaid leaned in. "I'm thinking of a joke involving Mick Foaly and the Buck Show's right front hoof."
"Huh?" Rainbow gave him a double-take, then sneered, "No! That's not gonna work out for anypony! Not right now!"
"Why not, Rainbowwww?" Kera whined breathily. She flicked her head back towards the glowing runes. "Is it 'cuz of the book?"
"No, more like because of the evil serpent monster things surrounding us in a giant tin can floating over Xonan territory!" Rainbow hissed. "Face it, I'm glad that you're on the outside, kiddo, but right now we're going to have to wait on another helpful pony altogether!"
"Helen Horse?" Zaid asked.
"Guess again."
"What?! I loved her in 'Mane About You!'"
"Unnnngh..."
The Xonan's mouth hung open. Threads of mane hair swayed on either side of him.
"Mmmmnngh... ughhh..."
Slowly, his blue eyes fluttered open. He squinted, then tilted his head up... only to realize that he was tilting his head down.
Ashen valleys and jagged mountain peaks loomed belove. Cold winds blew between the buzzing turbines of red-hot mana engines on either side of his dangling body.
"Aaaah! Aaaaaa-haaaaaugh!" He flailed and writhed in panic. He tossed a sweaty glance at his flanks. His body was tied to a support strut along the underbelly of the Lightning Bearer, and an empty tranquilizer dart remained embedded in his flank.
Just then, with a roar of thruster engines, a helmet-less Roarke levitated in front of him.
"Huh, well that confirms a long-standing assumption." Her eye-lenses thrusted in and out. "Your tattoos turn just as pale as the rest of you."
"Uh uh uh..." Roarke leaned in, hissing against his quivering muzzle. "Be a good breeder and talk to my ears, not your bogus serpent god's."
"Nnnngh..." He merely growled at her. "Heen traas thien raak—"
She slammed him across the cheek. "Bad idea." Before he could breath, she punched him again—savagely this time. Then a third time. He was a sputtering mess when she leaned in to growl back, "I'll have you know that I can and will hit you until the marbles in your mouth become paste, so let's spit it out!"
He twitched, glaring at her behind a swolen face. "It cannot force anything from it, Searen horse!" His eyes narrowed on her. "Nagu'n guides its path with Her Song! Rekk sien muul trent Xon-Nagu'n!"
"Hmmm..." Roarke nodded. "Those are some fancy tongues you like using." She produced a blade out of her forelimb's armor. Chiiing! "Let's see which one you choose to scream with." That said, she sliced the cord fastening him to the hull with one swipe.
"Aaaaaaa-aaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaah!" The stallion fell to an agonizing death.
Thwwp! Roarke shot a metal cable out of her suit and tethered his grasping body at the last second.
"As far as anypony on board knows, you fell into a power manifold and died! Your fate is mine and mine alone to control! One drop of this cable, and all you'll ever be is a stain, blessed by Nagu'n!"
"What... Wh-What...?!" The stallion struggled to look up at her, his blue eyes filled with terror. "What does it w-want to know?!"
The crystals shimmered and sparkled, producing various degrees of static white noise. Finally, the frequency of the Ledomaritan console fixated one particular undulating sound. It resembled a song, wailing upwards and downwards with pitch.
Zetta, her horn glowing, turned and glanced aside. “This?” Her eyes narrowed. “It’s this, right?”
Dalen nodded somberly while two guards in the tight room beside him bowed their heads. “Xon lest dun Nag’un.”
She blinked. “Huh?”
“Shhh!” He hissed. “Do not break our reverent silence!”
Zetta’s face scrunched up. She glanced back at the console. After a few seconds, she stammered, “This is Nagu’n? This is the Xonan God?”
“Her Song permeates the cosmos and the depths,” Dalen said. “It is only fitting that she pierce technology as well.” He sighed, gazing pathetically at the apparatus. “Even if it was produced by abominable hooves…”
“Yeah, well, this ‘abominable machine’ has been picking this sound up for weeks and I didn’t know what the heck it was!” Zetta sighed. “Until now. No offense, but she doesn’t sound all that healthy.”
Dalen stood stock-still, his face long.
Zetta flinched. “Wow. I… k-kinda thought you were going to strike me for saying that… or something.” She gulped. “I guess I’m not far off.”
“The substance of Her Song is as mighty as ever,” Dalen said. “But the volume has been decreasing. Zytharros Xon-Nagu’n would give anything to be in Her presence once more, but this war has demanded him to be far from the Sacred Hold.”
“So, you want me to act as a goddess’ baby monitor, huh?” Zetta leaned forward. “To listen in on Nagu’n for you?”
“Provide us with your talents and we will provide your group with their provisions,” Dalen said, though his eyes narrowed intimidatingly. “As promised.”
“Alright, then.” Zetta cracked the joints in her neck and leaned forward towards the console. “I’ll give it a shot.”
“Be sure you give it more than that.” And Dalen turned around and exited the room, leaving the two guards behind.
Zetta sighed, frowning into the glowing sound stones. “It’s like trying to set a metronome to whale shrieks…”
“Baak suun reese Nagun’n, Ledomulian trent!” one of the guards snarled in response.
“Yeah yeah. Baak baak to you too, handsome.”
On the top deck of the Noble Jury, Bellesmith, Pilate, Eagle Eye, Ebon Mane, Props, Josho, Floydien, and even Simon all crowded around a glowing sound stone. The blind zebra held the item up while everypony listened in on the sound of Roarke’s voice.
”These Xonans are bringing the Lightning Bearer to a place called the Sacred Hold. From what I can tell, it’s a heavily defended camp where Princess Lasairfion herself is located. Not only that, but it seems as if this so-called Nagu’n is located there.”
“Nagu’n?” Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “As in the Xonan deity, Nagu’n?”
“Ah jeez,” Josho grumbled, glancing aside at Eagle Eye. “I’ve heard that word thrown around a few times.”
“Really?” Ebon asked. “When?”
Eagle Eye shuddered as he said, “In the Xonans’ death throes. It’s obviously something very important to their culture.”
”I’m a bit mixed on the ‘it,’” Roarke’s voice said. ”But they certainly seem fixated on the ‘who.’”
“The legacy of the deification of Nagu’n goes way back to the races of the ancient caribou who lived on this continent,” Pilate said. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard about an actual concrete manifestation of the Goddes.”
“Or a supposed deification,” Ebon Mane remarked. “Just because these Xonans are hardcore about their beliefs doesn’t mean that they’re right.” He shifted nervously and glanced at the others. “Right?”
“Even so,” Belle said, “How could an actual flesh-and-blood Goddess fit inside a Xonan camp?”
”Maybe she’s been stocking up on diet oatmeal?! How the Hell should I know?!” Roarke’s voice grumbled. ”Listen, everypony, it’s like this…”
Inside the thin crawlspace of the Lightning Bearer, Roarke scrunched herself up against a wall. She had the sound stone positioned to her left and the metal paneling to her right, and she spoke in a hushed tone with her voice echoing lightly against the framework.
“They’re taking us to this camp. They’re taking Rainbow Dash to Lasairfion. And they’re taking the ship to be used as a secret weapon against the Ledomaritan campaign.”
”Boy is that gonna get something stuck in Seclorum’s craw,” Josho’s voice emanated.
Rainbow’s voice cracked from the other side of the wall. ”Who cares about Seclorum?”
Rainbow was leaning into the wall while Basso, with the help of two other Ledomaritans, used his large body to block the sight of the illicit conversation from the guards on the far side of the force field.
“What matters is getting us off this ship and safely out of the heart of Xonan territory!”
”Everypony except that she-witch who’s with you!” Belle’s voice broadcasted lightly. ”You can leave her to become a mana-slave in their trenches!”
“Ah, Doctor, still full of blood and sass as always,” Nightshade droned. A hoof slapped over her broken horn. “Augh!” She rubbed her head and frowned over her shoulder.
“Heh heh heh…” Zaid leaned back, lowering the offending hoof. “You know what? That actually feels good!”
”Well, if we’re to perform some sort of escape plan, we have to do it swiftly,” Roarke’s voice said.
“Why’s that?” Rainbow asked.
”Because there’s something about our destination that I learned about, and it disturbs me.” A beat. ”The Xonan’s Sacred Hold… is moving.”
Rainbow Dash’s red eyes twitched. “Did you say… moving?”
Zetta’s eyes narrowed. Her lips pursed as her ears twitched on either side of her.
“By the Spark…”
She adjusted a few dials of the audio console, focusing tighter on the undulating siren song.
With a dry gulp, the Ledomaritan enforcerette said, “There’s… there’s a gradual change to the sound. I thought I noticed it weeks ago when I first picked this thing up, but now it’s more than obvious. With each passing wave of vocal emanation, the pitch lowers. It’s so subtle a change that the decrease is almost unnoticeable, but it’s there. I’ve witnessed the same sound produced from the throats of hydras and manticores. It’s something that non-equine species can pick up on, but for us? It requires a great deal of finesse and technology to even pick up a hint of it. At this rate, this pitch is going to lower and lower until there is no sound produced for any living auditory nerves whatsoever. And when that happens. Its--”
The mare froze. She glanced to her side.
The two Xonan guards simply stared at her, brows furrowed. Their faces were as blank as the walls around them.
Zetta blinked, then sighed. She leaned back towards the glowing sound stones.
“Well, okay, I guess I’ll just have to write my findings down.”
Nevertheless, she kept staring at the sound console with a worried expression.
”I don’t know what’s in store for the non-Xonan ponies on board the Lightning Bearer,” Roarke’s voice said from beyond the wall of the prison cell. ”But it’s a safe bet that they’re going to fill each station with Xonan soldiers.”
”Presumably, they would want to take the battleship into Ledomaritan territory,” Pilate’s voice drifted along with Roarke’s. ”A chance like this would be too much to pass up. They could strike a devastating blow against Ledo’s forces.”
“Yeah, okay,” Rainbow Dash voiced with a nod. “What’s that to us?”
”Well, it has the potential for destabilizing the entire region,” Pilate’s voice replied. ”Or, if nothing else, give the Xonans such a substantial victory that they could invade the heartland of Ledomare unimpeded.”
“And again, I ask, what’s that to us?” Rainbow Dash grumbled.
“Hey, watch what you say about the Queen’s Confederacy!” Basso grunted. “I know some ponies who live there!”
“And I know a bunch of ponies who like to enslave one another and murder indiscriminately there!” Rainbow Dash grunted. “Maybe what Ledomare deserves is a swift buck to the flank!”
“Even you can’t possibly pretend to be that apathetic,” Nightshade said with glaring eyes. “If you’re any friend of Doctor Bellesmith’s, then I think we both know you wouldn’t sit idly by and watch this continent drown in flames.”
“Look, don’t get me started, lady!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “The fate of this continent is none of my dang business! If I can get my friends and a hooffull of other ponies out of here, then fine! That’s totally doable! But I’m not about to pick sides in what’s only gonna be a stupid massacre anyways!”
“You’re a living phenomenon with whom the Xonan Princess has evidently taken interest,” Nightshade said. “If anypony’s equipped to do something about inevitable bloodshed, it’s you.”
“Look, I don’t have any solution to this anymore than you do!”
“But you did,” Nightshade. “For a while there. Your friend stole it, after all.”
Rainbow blinked, then squinted dizzily beyond the nearby force field. “What, the book?”
Nightshade nodded. “Yes, the book.”
Bellesmith’s voice sighed through Roarke’s soundstone on the other side of the wall panel. ”Ungh… Spark alive! Is she still going on about her ‘altruistic crusade?’”
“That book across the room from us has the power to bring peace to this entire region,” Nightshade said, pointing towards the lavender glow. “The Xonans only have it here because they want to keep this pegasus tied down. They don’t know what an impact the tome can have on this continent… on the future of everypony from sea to sea who will ever live in this region.”
“Look, girl…” Rainbow Dash stared at her with bored eyes. “This war started with a stupid idea, but it sure as heck isn’t gonna end with one!”
“I’ve worked on this plan for far too long for somepony like you to mess it up!” Nightshade growled. “The book must be returned to the machine world so that it can restore balance in this region!”
“You know, she ain’t all that far from the truth!” Zaid said with a nod. “At least, that’s what Khao taught us on Sunday mornings.”
Rainbow Dash squinted at her. “You went to Sunday school? You? An adult stallion?”
Zaid squirmed slightly. “They served pretzels and apple juice…”
”Rainbow Dash, we’re in this place up to our earballs,” Roarke grunted. ”I’ve gone to brand new lows to make sure that we’ve survived this far. I don’t think working with Nightshade is asking too much.”
Rainbow Dash leaned against the wall, frowning. “Whatchatalkingabout, Roarke?”
”The mare has ties with Prime Enforcer Seclorum, the closest general that the forces of Ledo have to this region. If word of the Lightning Bearer’s capture got out to him--including Nightshade’s imprisonment--then it’s safe to say that he might intervene.”
“She’s right, y’know,” Josho’s voice said. ”He and I go way back. The guy’s nutty enough to perform a full-scale invasion. I wouldn’t put it past him to even attack this ‘Sacred Hold’ place that the Xonans have… especially as of late. The guy’s gone into super hardcore mode.”
“Since when were we trying to help the friggin’ Ledomaritans?!” Rainbow Dash growled, then nodded her head towards the enforcers. “No offense…”
”In a perfect world, Rainbow, Floydien would fly the Noble Jury through that airspace and snatch you and the others up,” Pilate said. ”But we don’t have the same speed that we once did. Miss Props’ steam rigging can only get us so far. And even still, we would be naked and exposed before the chaotically-reinforced firepower that the Xonans evidently have.”
”Don’t you get it, Rainbow?” Bellesmith joined in. ”Getting word out to Seclorum could help us out! If they mount a full-scale attack on the Xonans who have you captured--”
”--the Noble Jury would have the sort of crazy distraction necessary to perform a rescue operation,” Roarke finished. ”You, Kera, and I get to make our exit, and the Ledomaritans and Xonans get to duke it out like they’ve always friggin’ wanted to.”
Basso turned and nodded. “You can bet your bottom bit that if a badflank stallion like Seclorum got info on these Xonans and their whearabouts, he’d send them back to the Eastern Estuaries.”
Several other Ledomaritans nodded and muttered in agreement. Their combined voices raised the volume of the muffled conversation, causing Xonan guards to glance over from their stations.
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. She leaned closer to the metal panel. “Okay, so, let’s pretend that we even consider a crazy plan like this.” Her muzzle tightened. “How in Celestia’s name do we even plan to get word outside of this place, guys? I’m deader than a doornail and Roarke barely has enough juice to fly loops around a pup tent!”
”I do believe that’s where the Jury comes in,” Roarke said.
“Huh?”
”She has a good point, Rainbow,” said Eagle Eye. ”After all, we’re on the outside, and we have transportation.”
”Not the fastest gallop to Nancy Jane, but Floydien’s beloved is most versatile. Besides, spreading spit to the stabby stabby is better than poking head into their stabspace, yes yes?”
“I dunno…” Rainbow Dash took a deep, shuddering breath. “Sounds really… really dangerous.”
”For you, for Roarke, for Kera…” Belle said, ”It is worth it. Everypony here is already nodding their heads.”
“But if you even get to Seclorum, what are you going to tell him that’ll convince him that we aren’t a bunch of rogue idiots pulling his tail--?!”
Nightshade suddenly shoved her way towards the wall and spoke hoarsely into the panel. “Ultimo Douglas Barbarian Forty Two.” She took a deep breath and said, “Relay those words in that order. He will comply. Understood?”
Silence.
”Did… did you get all that, Jury?” Roarke asked.
”Committed to O.A.S.I.S. Consider it memorized, though barely understood.”
“Best to keep it that way,” Nightshade said, leaning back.
Just then, the door to the brig opened, filling the room with an echoing clatter.
Rainbow Dash hissed as she crouched tighter behind Basso’s large body. “Roarke, scram! We’ll talk more about plans later! We’ve got company!”
”Out like a light…” Then, after a brief scuffle of limbs, the crawlspace behind the wall panel was dead quiet.
Rainbow Dash and Basso shuffled about in time to see two guards escorting a weary-looking Zetta into the prison cell. They lowered the forcefield just long enough for the mare to trot inside and take a seat.
“Zetta!” Basso bounded over towards her, giving her a pat on the shoulder. “You’re back!”
“How’d it go with the whole Uhayra skit?” Zaid asked.
Zetta took a long, shuddering breath. “I’ve written my findings down, but I’ve haven’t spoken out loud about it to Dalen or his superior.” She gulped. “I’m not sure I even want to…”
“Why not?” Nigthshade asked.
“Nnngh…” Rainbow Dash dizzily rubbed her head. “Yeah, what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal… is Nagu’n…” Zetta looked up at the others “She’s dying.”
“I’m moving! I’m moving!” Josho grunted as he pushed a cart full of equipment onto the Noble Jury from an adjoining platform. “Don’t get your pretty saddle in a twist. I wanna get out of here as much as you do.”
“Every minute we waste is another mile or two that the Xonans will have carried Rainbow and Kera into Tattoo Territory!” Eagle Eye grunted as he strained to pull a cart half the size as Josho’s. “Nnngh!” He struggled behind the obese stallion, his petite limbs covered in sweat. “Roarke’s given us the coordinates! Now we gotta… unngh… take off!”
“We don’t even know where we’re going, kid,” Josho exclaimed. “We could be taking a massive left turn at Seclorum’s for all we know.”
“Still, the sooner we… g-get out of here… the b-better!” Eagle Eye hissed.
Ebon Mane past Eagle Eye, pulling his own cart. He paused and cast the stallion a worried glance. “You need some help with that, EE?”
“No!” Eagle gasped. “I must… p-pull my own weight… for Rainbow Dash!” He strained and strained, legs quivering. “The mares… n-need us…”
Ebon smiled. “You know, there’s no shame in asking for help.”
“I’m not… g-gonna be… weak!”
“Who said you were, buddy?”
“Then let me do m-my part!”
Ebon shook his head, smirking. Adjusting the rigging on his shoulders, he continued pulling the scrap metal towards the edge of the loading dock.
Dearest Mother,
This is a stressful time, and yet I’ve never felt more relaxed in all my life. It helps to be in a place where you know who you depend on and who depends on you. These ponies… these friends of mine don’t know when to quit. Three of our closest companions are stuck far behind enemy lines, and yet every member of this ship is ready and willing to give their all for a seemingly suicidal rescue operation. Their faith and commitment to each other astounds me. I am lucky to be counted with their lot.
“For glimmer’s sake!” Floydien snarled from where he sat in the cramped cockpit. “Just drop the excess steam containers in the room of paper spit!”
“The navigation room?!” Pilate stammered. “But, Mr. Floydien, you can’t allow it! If one of the cartridges bursts and spoils all the books inside the library there--”
“Then striped boomer will have to wipe his flank with something else!”
The zebra’s muzzle hardened into a frown. “That’s not what I mean and you know it…”
“The world is in short supply of paint buckets. Let boomers dead and gone worry about words that are dead and gone. The room of navigation will become room of steam reserves. The boomer has seen one chamber of Nancy Jane’s womb; the boomer has seen it all.”
“Mr. Floydien…” Pilate scuffled forward across the metal floor. “I must insist.”
“Beloved, let it rest,” Bellesmith said, reaching a hoof forward.
“But… but…” Pilate turned towards her general direction with a pouting expression. “The books!”
“You know how much I love good reading,” Belle remarked. “I love Rainbow Dash and Kera more.” She smiled. “If that’s the only place we can afford to put the backup steam containers, then shouldn’t we accept a solution when it’s presented to us? Especially with such little time?”
Pilate sighed. Shuffling about with the aid of his manasphere, he trotted firmly onto the open deck. “What I wouldn’t give for a week when we could fly by squirrel wheel.”
A shrill barking sound.
“My apologies, Simon.”
“We should be ready to disembark soon, Mr. Floydien,” Belle said, turning towards the front of the cockpit. “I know that this is not the sort of thing you had expected to be doing after we escaped the clutches of Prime Enforcer Shell, and you undoubtedly have many things you wish to accomplish with Nancy Jane back in your possession, so I would like to apologize for--”
“Is boomerette going to stand there spitting or help with paint bucket retrieval?!” the elk snapped, his red eyes thinly glaring past the cockpit windows. “Floydien has a family to save, after all.”
Belle smiled, her eyes slightly moist. She leaned in and gave his massive body a hug from behind. “You’re one in a million, Floydien.”
“Gaah! You are touching the coat of Floydien! Stick to boomer’s side of Nancy Jane!”
Belle giggle and galloped off to resume the labors of preparation. Ebon watched as she breezed by, and he breathed in through a pleasant smile.
There was a time when I felt useless, as you likely know, mother. There was a time when I felt alone and without hope. In many ways, I still feel like the same weak, needy stallion. But somehow, I am able to blend in here. I’m not sure why I ever doubted it to begin with. With these ponies, I feel an impenetrable resolve. I suppose it is a good substitute for strength. Only time will tell, and thankfully these ponies have a great deal of just that to offer me.
“You mean it?!” Props leaned forward as if her toothy grin weighed a ton. “You’re gonna stick around with us?! Like… super-sticky-wicky stick around?!”
“Yes, I…” Ebon glanced towards the side. Past where Josho and Floydien were loading a last container with the help of Simon, Eagle Eye made eye contact. With a calmer breath, Ebon said, “I think I’m stuck with this ship for the long-haul.” He gulped and smiled at the mare. “Just like you.”
“Wooo to the hooo!” Props leaned in and hugged Ebon, spinning the three of them around twice. “Squeeeeee! I knew it! I just knew it! We’re totally destined to bump beauties!”
“Nnnngh--Ahem…” Ebon parted the hug and chuckled at her. “What?”
“Hearts, silly!” Props stuck her tongue out. “We’re like long lost twins of the spirit string! Some cosmic cat’s waiting to tug at us and it’s oh so supertastical! I can’t wait for us to reunite with Uncle Prowse again!”
“Heheh… yeah…” Ebon smiled. “And you can sure bet that after we bust Rainbow and Roarke and Kera out of their mess, we’re totally gonna find him and--”
“The Kingdom of Zabaduzabadu!”
Ebon frowned. “I thought it was’Zadubadabu.’”
“That too!” Props side-galloped towards the nearest stairwell of the ship’s top deck. “Heeeee! I’m leaking with heart juice! I can’t wait to plaster it all along the walls of Nancy’s womb!”
“Yeah…” Ebon turned about and waved at Eagle Eye. “You do that.”
The ex-mercenary waved back, smirking placidly.
There is no limit to what we can do or where we can go. It isn’t steam that runs this ship, or skystone crystal, or any magically glowing book. It’s our charisma, our trust, and our camaraderie that keep breaking the clouds before us. I worry for any Xonan, Ledomaritan, or “Nagu’n” that think they can stand in our way.
Eagle Eye crawled into the cockpit from the windswept top deck. “That’s it, Floydien! We’ve broken free from Gray Smoke’s air traffic!”
”Good riddance to all that soot!” Props’ voice said over the ship’s sound-stone powered intercom. ”The city’s great and all, but it doesn’t have the same ol’ lift when my Uncle isn’t around!”
“Another day another spitwad,” Floydien grumbled, adjusting several levers with his hooves. “Floydien is ready to try out this new propulsion. Is Nancy’s womb jacked up?”
“Snkkkt…” Pilate doubled over, hissing.
Belle looked over. “Darling, are you alright?”
“Ahem… yes…” Pilate tilted his head back up, fighting a furious snicker. “As fine as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”
“Hmmm…” Belle smirked. “Don’t worry. We’ll get Rainbow and Kera out of there.”
Pilate tilted his head towards her. “Who’s worried?”
Belle blinked, then smiled rosily. “Right…” With a warm breath, she gazed forward. “Right.”
”Ready to shoot some steam, handsome!” Props’ voice sing-songed.
“Now’s your chance, Mr. Floydien,” Ebon said. “Kick it.”
“Settle down, sailboat boomer.” Floydien charged magical energy through his antlers and into the flight panel. “Floydien never kicks his beloved. He nudges her.”
The ship’s manathrusters powered down, and the vessel wobbled slightly. After a slight drop, Belle stifled a shriek--but the ship recovered swiftly. In place of the dwindling skystone reserves, a loud ventilation of steam was keeping the vessel upright.
“One thing at a time, lavenderette!” Floydien growled into the nearest sound stone. “Blonde boomer?”
”Purring like a ghost kitten bursting out of a volcano! Let’s see how she accelerates!”
“Yes, let’s,” Ebon said. “The fewer psychotic analogies, the better.”
“If boomer insists.” Floydien pushed a lever forward.
The Noble Jury accelerated successfully, maintaining altitude as it sped up faster and faster. The ponies on board cheered, their merry voices accompanying the airship as it burned its way southeast and away from the hazy mass of Gray Smoke behind.
Yes, Mother, for the first time in ages, I no longer feel anguished or distraught.
I feel loved. And where there is love, there is hope. Wherever you are, I certainly hope that whatever you’re fighting for is just as noble. No pun intended.
“Mmmmf…” Rainbow Dash made little trilling sounds as she turned over in her restless slumber across the prison room floor. “Mmmm… just… j-just a little more…” She shivered from a dizzy spell, the edges of her eyelids turning moist. “Just a little more cider…”
Her ears twitched to the sound of the force field buzzing out. Several heavy hoofsteps trotted in, and with a telekinetic beam the pegasus was lifted viciously off the floor.
“Unnngh…” She instantly winced from a lavender glow in her face.
“Kii huu taa jaat, Trentte.” Dalen leaned past two burly guards, levitating the book of runes in his magical grasp. “The Princess awaits.”
Rainbow Dash could barely grunt a response. As she was being led away, her hooves brushed past Zetta, knocking the petite unicorn in the head.
“Mmmmmf…” The mare looked up, blinking. She gasped. “Hey… Hey!” She scampered up onto her hooves and rushed the exit. A guard trotted in and blocked her. “Where’re you taking her?! What is this?!”
Zetta’s commotion awoke, Zaid, Nightshade, Basso and the others. Soon, the entire cell of ponies was alive with confusion and anger. They rattled the walls and metal floorboard as more Xonans rushed in to hold them back.
“We’ve reached our destination,” Dalen spoke sharply over the crowd’s noise. “The pegasus is needed in royal company.”
“Not by herself, she isn’t!” Zetta exclaimed.
“Yeah! What happens to the rest of us, huh?!” a Ledomaritan soldier grunted.
“That is up to the glory of Nagu’n,” Dalen said, then motioned towards the guards carrying Rainbow Dash. “Juut senn hraak.”
“Dreit, Dalen Xon-Nagu’n.”
Zaid and Nightshade exchanged helpless glances.
“Funny thing about Nagu’n!” Zetta suddenly spat. “You wouldn’t have gotten a clue about how she was doing if it weren’t for a certain pony willingly giving her talents!”
Dalen froze in place. He closed his eyes and remained still.
“I had the honor and integrity to study her Song even though it was against my will!” Zetta frowned. “Have you an ounce of the same in that tattooed body of yours?!” She motioned at the group with her head. “This party is to stay safe!”
A heavy sigh ran through Dalen’s figure. He turned around, glaring lethargically at the mare. At last, he turned to the guards and nodded.
Several more shuffled in from the outside hallway. They formed a thick cluster around the guards, then ushered them single-file out of the brig and onto the deck above.
“Well done, my little pony,” Nightshade said as she trotted towards the front of the group.
“Yeah, for a unicorn with pockets you sure have some stones to fit in ‘em,” Zaid added with a wink.
Zetta shuddered as she shuffled ahead.
Basso leaned in as they trotted single-file. “Wow, you really know how to talk some sense into these Xonans, Zetta. I’m impressed.”
“Could you stay behind me, Basso?”
He blinked. “Uhhh… sure! What for?”
“If I faint, I wanna know I’ll fall on something I can trust.”
He gulped and nodded. “Totally. You can count on me.”
She bequeathed the walls a tired smile. “And that’s what keeps me going.”
Kera stood on the top deck, fidgeting. She chewed on her lip in a pensive manner, weathering the cold gusts of high altitude air blowing at her emerald bangs. When Rainbow Dash was at last carried onto the open surface of the Lightning Bearer, the filly spun around with a gasp.
“Rainbow!”
She scampered within spitting distance of the guards carrying the pegasus.
“Rainbow, are you okay? I haven’t seen you in two days! I was starting to get worried?”
“Never be worried, kid,” Rainbow stammered as she slowly regained control of her hooves. Her ears folded as her head tilted away from the tome and its lavender glow. “Try being bodacious instead.”
Kera’s eyes glanced worriedly between the book and Rainbow’s limp figure. “Did… did they beat you up?”
“No, but I almost wish they did.” Rainbow glared daggers at Dalen’s figure. “I almost think I prefer the murderous psychopath bad guys over the unfair advantage exploitation bad guys.” She paused to rub her head, but was shoved forward. “Nnngh! Hmmph… at least one of them I knew I could pummel in the face, no problem.”
“Where are the others?”
“Right behind me, scamp.”
Kera glanced back as several more ponies were ushered up from the stairwell. “Hey! It’s the mare with the pretty hair! And the big guy! Heeehee… and the funny guy!” Just then, her face hardened into a frown as her green eyes reflected Nightshade. “What’s she still doing here?”
“Sorry, I’ll beat her up eventually too.” Rainbow’s eyes searched the masts, rafters, and support struts of the dirigibles above.
“You looking for somepony, Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus muttered, “Can’t see a single thing.” She gazed forward in a tired lurch. “Which means she’s doing her job.”
“Laak suun dree mehk rekk!” Dalen shouted. Several Xonans lined up, their hooves slapping into place as they stood at attention. The small group of prisoners--about sixteen ponies total--stood nervously within a thick circle of heavily armored guards.
All around the ship, the air was gray, as if the world couldn’t decide where the fog ended and the clouds began. Several vertical columns of smoke hung across the horizon like pillars. Unless one squinted hard, it looked like the landscape had gone crooked, and everything was at a perpetual lean. It was very disorienting, and it made Rainbow Dash feel even dizzier.
With the sound of humming manaengines, the twin battleships escorting the Lightning Bearer roared off in opposite directions. A patch of dull haze parted through the cloudy sky, filling the air with an ethereal gray mist.
Zaid tilted his head about, blinking. “So, like, where’s this super badass leader dude who staged this whole take over?” No sooner had he finished uttering this when a salvo of high-pitched shrieks filled the air. Every prisoner except Nightshade and Rainbow Dash flinched as a flock of glowing serpents flew up past the port side of the Lightning Bearer.
Every airborne snake was being ridden by a Xonan warrior, and at the head of the group--flying the largest and most threatening serpent of all--was Zytharros. He spun around, banked hard, and came into a hover before the bow of the Lightning Bearer. His armor pulsed in sequence with his bright eyes as he shouted above the whipping winds.
All as one, the Xonans slammed their hooves down and shouted, their tattoos glowing for a sparse few seconds of absolute fury. ”Dres dunn darr Nagu’n! Trendt Xon-Nagu’n!”
Zytharros pulled at the reins of his beast and pointed towards a patch of gray sky. “Rekku blassuun thien varr!”
Two beast riders flew up alongside him. The mounted ponies levitated horns to their muzzles and blew liberally. A loud bass noise filled the air.
Rainbow Dash listened curiously. To her left and right, she heard the noise multiply. She and Kera and the other ponies looked to see several Xonans lining the edges of the top deck, blowing through identical horns.
Soon, the sound echoed from the horizons, as multiple airships appeared through the mists, their crew complements blowing at similar instruments. The entire atmosphere vibrated with the righteous noise. And when it ended, a different sort of rumbling cascaded through the heavens.
“Whoah…” Zaid pointed up high. “Far out!”
“What?” Basso craned his neck to see, along with Zetta. “What’s far out?”
Nightshade, however, was gulping with a pale expression. “Spark spare us…”
The heavens parted--not in one crack, but in several. Multiple schisms broke the air, for soon a piece of the sky was unraveling, one abomination at a time. The world above bent like a warped mirror reflected off the back of enormous manta rays. These devilish monstrosities fell back, shrieking in twisted birdsong as they descended from an enormous spherical cluster that they had been clinging to. As their muscles woke up, their scales rolled back, no longer reflecting the mirage of a gray sky. In the span of a minute, the entire illusion faded, and high above the Lightning Bearer--several hundred meters in diameter--hovered a massive globe made out of jagged rock and granite. Several glowing clusters of magically imbued crystal were placed within the surface--embedded in the thick crust--at equidistant intervals.
The gigantic Xonan stronghold hovered like a second moon, orbited by hundreds upon thousands of shrieking reptilian monstrosities on leather wings. Several large holes--like polished caves--loomed along the middle and upper sections, and they were brimming with airships, battlecruisers, and Xonans on mounted serpents.
“That…” Kera murmured, her jaw hanging. “...is kind of awesome.”
Zytharros shouted to the air and flew forward. The Lightning Bearer followed him, and soon everypony found themselves hovering into the largest cave, and into the heart of the Sacred Hold.
More horns sounded off. Serpent riders shouted to one another as they flew into the gaping mouth of a cave looming before the Lightning Bearer. Armed guards stood on metal platforms lining the middlemost entrance to the Sacred Hold. They kept their mana-powered cannons trained on the captured Ledomaritan vessel as it drifted icily into the interior of the floating mountain.
Rainbow Dash and her fellow equines shuddered as a cold shadow washed over them. In a matter of minutes, the entirety of the Lightning Bearer had entered the Hold.
Kera and Zaid glanced left and right, noticing several platforms chiseled out of the inner rock of the place. Xonans marched along the ledges, several of them wearing dull blue fatigues. Laborers gathered in droves, chanting in unison as their sweaty muscles pulled and tugged at various levers and machinery. A bizarre assembly was underway on either side of the passage, with hundreds of tattooed unicorns lowering chunks of powdery gray crystal into boiling pools. Steam filled the air as the sediment was burned off these samples and then transferred to lower platforms via brass-laden tubes.
Rainbow craned her neck to look at a passing ledge beneath the Lightning Bearer. She saw as the powdery substance was then heated into a molten broth, ultimately to be funneled into casting molds where they would be hammered into small, rectangular strips. A wave of dizziness overwhelmed her, and she tilted forward. A hoof yanked her back. She glanced tiredly, only to gawk at the sight of Nightshade. The mare cleared her throat and leaned Rainbow Dash before pretending to be absorbed with the passing scenery.
Basso and Zetta stared with their jaws dropped. As the sunlight from the entrance grew more and more distance, they became aware of a glowing pattern spiraling around them. Lining the rock walls between the platforms, there was an elaborate mosaic of swirling diagrams and geometric etchings. The patterns noticeably resembled the tattoos that so commonly illustrated the coats of the Xonans all around them. When the two Ledomaritans attempted to get a better look, several serpents screamed past them. Zetta flew back with a shriek; Basso easily caught her.
Flying snakes swirled around the Lightning Bearer, their fangs glistening in the aura cast off by the glittering wall art. One by one, they hovered alongside an upper row of platforms. Their riders dismounted, and lowly Xonan servants in blue fatigues marched up to disrobe them of their armor in ceremonial fashion. The creatures--in the meantime--flew up, up, and up until they found various crevices built into the ceiling. There, they clustered together like bats to a cave wall until their scales glossed over, cloaking along with the dull brown color of the Hold’s interior.
One serpent, however, did not retire. Zytharros rode his beast towards an immense torch-lit platform located at the dead end of the Lightning Bearer’s approach. Horns echoed loudly across the floating cavern, and the captured battleship drifted to a stop. A well-decorated Xonan and his entourage of fellow officers marched up. Unlike the servants, they wore elaborate suits of segmented, enchanted armor much like Zytharros.
The rider landed his serpent on the edge of the platform. While the Lightning Bearer moored, he hopped down, stripped his armor off, levitated the plates until they once more turned into a large bastard sword, and promptly stabbed the blade into a fitting crevice within the floor of the ledge. As the noble Xonan and his fellow officers trotted up to the blade, Zytharros bowed low and spoke.
“Ledmulian meethiulun drennadenne, Arcshod Xon-Nagu’n.” Zytharros stood tall and proud as he gestured back towards the Lightning Bearer. “Trenntennium diennum thrien. Trentte Xon-Nagu’n haalasiulen maasuun thriulen Lisairfion Xon-Nagu’n.”
The stallion greeting Zytharros took a deep breath and spoke in an even deeper voice. “Dreesum…. dreesum, Zytharros. Miulien. Haasa rassuul Ledomulien trenntar dienen?”
“Dreit.” Zytharros bowed again and whistled towards the Lightning Bearer.
Two First-Born Xonans hopped the railing and galloped up the length of the platform, carrying a canvas bag. They bowed low before the two officers, holding the item out for Zytharros.
Zytharros levitated it with his telekinesis, gave the canvas bag a flick, and immediately unsheathed a long, tanned pelt colored with an elder stallion’s still-silky coat hairs. “Fortis thriulen Ledomul. Drennadarsheen.”
Zetta covered her muzzle, her eyes twitching. Basso gritted his teeth, turning to glare in Dalen’s direction.
Dalen said nothing, merely presiding over the prisoners in his charge.
The stallion before Zytharros nodded. Slowly, his lips curved. “Haalith, Zytharros. Haalith. Lasairfion threnna mesuul kanalieth menh.”
Zytharros nodded. He levitated the pelt and hung it from the hilt of his bastard sword. The leathery fabric flapped in a cold breeze from the Lightning Bearer’s exhaust ports.
“Hanaluusen metriel, Arcshod Xon Nagu’n,” Zytharros said to the smiling Xonan. “Dressum rekkhar hennu thriul.” He cleared his throat, turned, and pointed towards the top deck. “Oss tray oh.”
The stallion’s lips parted. “Oss tray oh…?”
“Dreit.”
The stallion rubbed his dull gray coat. He stared Rainbow’s way, his brown eyes fixated on her multicolored bangs. After a while, another smile crossed his muzzle. He nodded and motioned towards the officers.
Dalen’s hooves slapped together. He spun and shouted at the grunts surrounding the guards. “Hreit! Haak summ less menn hraak threen!” He stepped back and blurted, “Graat! Graat! Graat!”
The Xonans around Rainbow’s group marched steadily forward, urging the prisoners along with them. Rainbow drew Kera closer as she, Zaid, Nightshade, and the Ledomaritans shuffled along as steadily as they could. As they dismounted the Lightning Bearer and stepped onto the polished stone of the platform, the uniformed Xonans eyed them closely.
Rainbow glared at the officer who had greeted Zytharros.
The stallion stared back, his smile not melting away for a single instant.
Rainbow would have spent more time studying him, but a dizzy wave overwhelmed her. She shuddered, and it took the combined effort of Zaid and Kera to keep her steady. A murmuring commotion rose above the uniformed Xonans.
Nightshade noticed it. She also noticed Dalen trotting off towards the side, temporarily leaving the group.
Dalen marched until he stood before Zytharros and the other stallions. He faced the smiling Xonan in particular, then bowed low with the lavender book in his telekinetic grasp. In a breathy, penitent voice, he murmured, “Hraat zuul mekk rekkh hraan thriun thiel, Dizzaaz Manathen Arcshod Xon-Nagu’n. Dren daas thien Ledomulien rekkh theen.” He floated the book out as an offering. “Murk lemh Xon. Murk lemh Xon, thien Nagu’n.”
He wasn’t even finished with his words when the stallion before him merely cleared his throat and shuffled past his kneeling figure. He spoke to Zytharros in a casual voice, gesturing towards the Lighting Bearer.
Zytharros stumbled a bit, giving Dalen a side-glance before trotting over to keep up with the other officer. “Dreit, Archshod Xon-Nagu’n. Ledomulien meeseem hessa landra thrien.” The two trotted off, along with the entourage of uniformed stallions.
Dalen remained kneeling where he was. With a shuddering breath, he clenched his eyes shut. A tremble ran through his body, two, but he soon relaxed. On wobbly legs, he stood back up, and shuffled lethargically after the group of prisoners.
By this time, Nightshade was being prodded forward. She and Rainbow and others were being ushered into a long, narrow tunnel. Behind them, a loud hissing noise filled the cavern.
Roarke heard it. She was perched in the only spot of the Lightning Bearer unseen from Xonan or reptilian eyes. Nestled between the main manathrusters, she craned her neck around the outer bulkhead in time to see massive doors opening on the port side of the battleship. A pair of Xonan hovercraft drifted up, their stallions training guns on the scene as huge planks were extended from the Ledomaritan battleship and onto an adjacent stone platform. Urged on by shouting grunts and hissing beasts, nervous enforcers were forced to march single-file off the ship and onto a loading bay in the glow of torchlight.
Roarke’s eye-lenses pistoned in and out, focusing on the spectacle. She bit her lip, fumbling between which of the two groups to follow. With a muffled grunt, she kicked off the hull of the ship, clung to the underbelly of a Xonan hovercraft, and continued her stealthy vigilance.
“I don’t mean to rock the boat much, but…” Eagle Eye looked across the windswept top deck of the Noble Jury. “...we’re going really, really, really slow now.”
“That’s to be expected, Eagle,” Pilate said, squatting before a book that O.A.S.I.S. was scanning. “While the skystone is acting as a reserve, it is no longer our chief source of propulsion. This steam can only push us so hard.”
“Well, I know that!” Eagle Eye nodded. “But still, could there be something we’re missing?” He gazed over the railing along the starboard side and watched as rolling plains oozed by slowly below. “Maybe if we tossed some of the spare scrap that we have over the edge, we could go faster.”
“I don’t think speed is our most important trait at the moment,” the zebra replied. “Safety, however, is paramount.”
“Heh… safety?” Eagle Eye smirked in his direction. “With nothing but Xonans and Ledomaritans waiting for us in the east? You’re expecting us to be safe?”
“Hey!” Floydien’s voice barked from up ahead in the cockpit. “What’s with all the spit?! We’re headed after paint bucket or aren’t we?!”
“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Pilate muttered, smirking as he flipped another page of the book he was reading.
Eagle Eye sighed as Bellesmith trotted up. “Me and my big muzzle.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, EE,” Belle said as she held some acorns up to her shoulder so that Simon--perched on her backside--could engage in a liberal meal. “When you’re concerned for your friends, you broadcast it in stereo. We all know this.”
“I just can’t help but wonder what it is that they want with Rainbow Dash!” Eagle Eye said, his face sad. “I mean, the crazy cultists--sure. I kind of understood that. But the Xonans?”
“I’m endeavoring to figure that out myself,” Pilate spoke out loud, flipping another page underneath O.A.S.I.S.
“Hmm?” Belle turned about, all the while petting Simon’s bushy tail. “That’s a rather old book, beloved. What exactly are you pursuing?”
“Hmmm…” Pilate’s metal brow flickered as he said, “It’s an old tome about past Xonan dynasties.”
“Yeesh.” Eagle Eye winced. “Where the heck did you find it? Ledo doesn’t like ponies possessing books about Eastern culture.”
“Mr. Floydien has a remarkable library in his navigation room. I’ve been meaning to read several of his possessions for the longest time, only…”
“Heh, right. Got it.” Eagle Eye smirked with a nod. “A lot of crud has been interrupting ‘reading time.’”
“I always knew you were well-versed in Xonan history, Pilate,” Bellesaid as Simon scurried off her shoulder with a shrill bark. “What new things could you possibly be learning?”
“It’s more like a brand new analysis than fresh knowledge,” Pilate said. “For the past fifteen hundred years, there have been three chief factions to Xonan royalty, which makes up the highest and most valued caste. You see, ages ago, three tribes were associated with having had a ‘divine revelation’ which led to a reformation of the Xonan religious structure. Those directly related to the tribes were labeled as ‘First Born,’ and they adopted the holy language that had previously only been used by Xonan priests and priestesses. Since then, Xonan royalty has lorded over the warrior class--Second Born--and the laboring class--Third Born.”
“But the First Born are divided into three groups?” Belle asked.
“Families, beloved,” Pilate clarified. “The Cecilen Dynasty, the Jaatso Dynasty, and the Tania Dynasty. For centuries, the three families alternated possession of chief executive power. There was literally an order to it: Cecilen then Jaatso then Tania.”
“So, once the king or queen who represented Cecilen passed away…” Belle spoke out loud.
“The chief monarch of Jaatso would take over and rule over the course of his lifetime.”
“But what about a ‘she?’”
“Ah…” Pilate lifted his hoof. “Now there’s the rub. Apparently, Xonan politics is very… well… chauvinistic to say the least.”
“How so?”
“Well, let’s just say that Xona would never tolerate a mare like Nightshade gaining the sort of power that she did.” Pilate sighed and said, “Apparently--even in a high caste--Xonan females are forced into a subservient social role. This means that if a monarch was to be a mare, the torch would either be passed along to a male relative or the torch wouldn’t be passed whatsoever.”
“Wait…” Belle blinked, then made a face. “You mean that one of the Dynasties would simply be skipped?”
“Precisely. Seems as though the Xonans would rather die than have a Queen rule over a King.”
“But wait a second…” Eagle Eye shuffled forward. “One of those three houses--’Tania,’ I believe it was--it sounded super familiar! Didn’t I hear that--”
“Yes, there’s a Princess currently ruling over Xona,” Pilate said. “This is precisely what intrigues me. This ‘Princess Buch Tania Lasairfion’ has inherited her name from three separate monarchs in her dynasty’s class. This isn’t odd, though. What’s strange is the fact that her name traditionally denotes that she would have been born within this generation, which means she can’t be any younger than you or me or Bellesmith. And, as it stands, the Dynasty has already switched hooves during her lifetime.”
“Meaning it passed from Jaatso to Cecilen?” Belle remarked.
“Yes. Tania has been passed over because their chief monarch is currently female. But… obviously… she’s in power again.” Pilate tilted his head towards the other two. “So, something has happened in the Xonan infrastructure to somehow force Cecilen to skip backover Jaatso and give the torch to Tania once more.”
“So not only is Xonan being ruled over by an unorthodox monarch, but she’s gotten her power in a very nontraditional way,” Belle said.
“Precisely, beloved.”
Belle ran a hoof over her short-short hairs, her face scrunched in thought. “That’s… somewhat disturbing.”
“In what way?” Eagle Eye asked, blinking.
“Well, EE, it means that there’s been some sort of rift in the power structure of Ledomare’s chief adversary,” Belle remarked. “It could explain their huge shift in battle strategies, what with these ‘chaos monsters’ they seem to be wielding.”
“I would also suspect that their latest reformation may have something to do with it.”
“Reformation?” Eagle Eye stammered.
“Yes.” Pilate nodded. “The way in which they evidently refer to ‘Nagu’n’ as of late, it’s downright disturbing. I think we’re witnessing a fundamental change in the Xonan religion, and whatever it means to them it’s giving them undaunted righteous fury in their military pursuits.”
“And what of their princess?” Eagle Eye asked with a shrug. “Is she the reason for all this change?”
“I’m willing to believe so,” Pilate said as a gust of wind chilled all three of them. “She’s evidently brought something to the table, and whatever it is, it’s brought the Xonans into a new level of communion with their patron deity. I hate to say it, but I think this quite literally happened ‘overnight,’ and that doesn’t bode well.”
“Why not?”
“Because if an entire culture such as the Xonans’ can experience a dramatic change that quickly, then either you and I have been following the wrong religion--or Lasairfion’s reformation is completely and utterly self-manifested.”
Belle squinted. “You mean…”
“I believe the Xonans are all being led by a power-grabbing cultist,” Pilate said. “Whether she’s seeking social change or revolution, it’s unclear. But she seems to desire only two things: bloody chaos… and Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash and her fellow prisoners trotted down a long narrow corridor of the Xonans’ Sacred Hold. As they did so, the walls around them danced with lavender light. Rainbow grunted, limping slightly as she tried to keep her balance from the proximity of the tome. Kera leaned in, attempting to steady the pegasus as much as she could manage.
In mid-trot, Nightshade turned around, looking behind her.
A few spaces away from the other guards, Dalen marched in a sluggish trot, his muzzle hanging beneath the levitating image of the runic book.
Nightshade blinked. Boldly, she spoke. “Once you become Third Born, I imagine there’s no going back.”
The stallion’s face tilted up.
“Unless I’m mistaken, that Arcshod fellow is being less than gracious with you,” Nightshade continued. “It must be insulting, considering all you’ve been through and sacrificed.”
“Hmmmph…” Dalen breathed tightly out the side of his muzzle. He glared ahead of her. “Keep moving, Ledomulian trennte, or I’ll slice your tongue out through your nostrils.”
“Hmmm…” Nightshade calmly stared ahead. “That confirms it then.”
Zaid caught the whole exchange through the corner of his eyes. He whistled and glanced ahead, sniffling. His brow furrowed. “Is it just me, or is starting to smell like a honeymoon suite in this place.”
“Hey, I notice it too,” Basso stated. “It’s not dank and foul like the rest of this… er… this place.”
“Let’s not talk about that, Basso,” Zetta muttered. “In fact, let’s not talk--period.”
“Zetta…?”
The mare gulped, shuddering slightly in mid-stride. “There’s something amiss about this place.”
“You mean besides the fact that it’s a huge floating mountain?” Zaid remarked.
“I… I feel something,” Zetta muttered, her ears twitching. “It’s like a vibration. When I concentrate hard, I can hear a song.”
“Song?” Basso cocked his bulky head to the side. “What kind of a song?”
Zetta shivered slightly. “The song.”
Basso’s face tightened in thought. Soon, though, his breath left him, for the hallway before them had opened up to a large, ampithreatrical chamber. The ceiling curved outward in all directions like the interior of a clamshell, and the rock walls were glazed over with immaculate crystalline surfaces. The dozen and a half unwitting prisoners found themselves staring at a fragmented series of reflections depicting themselves surrounded by scores of guards. The Xonans here wore dark blue armored plates with serpent motifs etched along the surface. Their tattoos were far more rigid and geometrical in design, and their horns had been painted over with a sea-blue color. They stood in a solid line with shields and polearms levitating before them. Upon seeing Dalen, the guards saluted and pivoted inward at about forty-five degrees.
A series of chimes rang from the distance. Masked in rising incense and torchlight, a Xonan mare trotted up, her body clad in swishing lengths of silken robes.
“That…” Kera murmured, leaning forward with squinting green eyes. “Is that the princess?”
“Nah, I don’t think so,” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. “She’s not froo-frooey enough.”
The mare tilted her hood back slightly, gazing fixedly at the small crowd of captured equines. Metal ringlets bordered the edge of her hood, and a pair of hollow silver eyes twitched under torchlight as she examined the visiting company. After a long pause, she turned towards Dalen.
“Oss tray ohh?”
Dalen shuffled up, staring at the mare. After a few seconds, he swung the tome close by Rainbow’s head.
“Unnngh!” Rainbow Dash immediately collapsed, shivering from head to hooves. “Mmmmffngh…” She snarled. “Son of a box cutter…”
“Rainbow, you okay?”
“Yeah…” Rainbow struggled to stand up with Kera’s help. “I’m holding onto hope that I get to barf on royalty.”
Meanwhile, the mare was exhaling in wonder. “Nagu’n…” She glanced at Dalen, then back at Rainbow Dash. After a deep breath, she spoke in a relatively thick accent, “It is interpreter,” she motioned to herself. “It knows both tongues of heathen and holies, and has sacrificed layer of birth to dance between the verses many.”
“Yeah, well, don’t quit your day job,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.
“It should spare its breath,” the mare said with a scathing frown. “Not my mercy it seeks. Oss Tray Ohh truly or untruly, the Princess it seeks to impress, not it.” She slapped her hooves together.
More chimes lit the air, and the guards parted ways further. Rainbow Dash and the others could now see many royal maidens waiting in the wings, each seated patiently with black spheres clasped in their robed hooves.
“It will interpret for the Princess, but must not look at it,” the mare in the center spoke. “Keep eyes locked with sight blessed by Nagu’n. The Daughter of Tania is the Chief First Born of Xon, and her eyes are holy, for it has brought us glory from the Goddess Eternal. Disrespect Nagu’n’s chosen, and face Goddess wrath.”
“Sounds like a party,” Rainbow Dash again muttered, this time wincing. “Ow ow ow…”
“I don’t think Nagu’n likes that,” Zaid said in a whispery tone.
“Yeah, well, Nagu’n can find a squishy part of me and hide his face there.”
“Yeesh, I can’t think of a better mare I’d gladly die with, dude.”
“Well, there’s one thing you can scratch off your bucket list.”
In the meantime, the interpreter had turned around. She trotted over to a large cluster of crystals built into the far end of the round room. Leaning forward, she braced her muzzle between two large spokes of reflective rock. The enchanted stone glowed around her, and she went into a trance--her lips moving slowly.
Soon enough, the glow spread. The entire cluster of crystalline fragments glittered brightly. The interpreter stepped back, and as she did so the mass of structures peeled away one sliver at a time. In a matter of seconds, the crystals had spread apart and reformed into a throne behind a single slap of rock. A depression in the ground lay before the slab, and a mare with an almond brown coat lay on folded legs. Her eyes flashed, then opened--shimmering with blue bands of light.
Slowly, the mare stood up, her body glinting with a silken polish. It was only when she stood up that Rainbow Dash noticed a fountain of black fibers issuing outward from her skull. The princess’ mane was epically long, stretching out like an onyx comet tail all across the full length of the stone slab. As she stood up, her horn glowed with a patterned strobe.
In response, the many maidens sitting in a half-circle stood up and released the black spheres in their grasps. The objects floated up under their telekinetic administration and floated towards the table.
As the regal mare trotted forward from the bed, her muzzle hung in a placid smile, and the spheres levitated at the far corners of her fanning mane. The black fibers looped through tiny holes, and then the spheres rotated towards her skull, bunching the hair up into multiple black clusters until she bore an intimidating headdress--like a dark halo about her flawless head and glowing horn.
The guards closed in on either side of the “visitors,” boxing them in so that none could so much as trot a single inch towards the Princess, though she approached them fearlessly and with utmost grace.
“M’beraathiule’n tre’entum, suluthen’driel less’luu them’niel mes’yntheen Buch Tania Lasairfion Xon-Nagu’n.” When she spoke, it was as if a dozen mare’s voices were all singing at once in the base of her throat. “Rekk’msim hala’theen lessu’drell.”
With scratching hooves, the interpreter pivoted about and said, “It welcomes it, the ponies most lost, to the holy haven of Princess Buch Tania Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu’n. It has arrived at the end of all evil and suffering.”
Nightshade’s brow furrowed.
Rainbow Dash simply stood there, glaring.
“Whew boy…” Zaid belched. “That is a crapton of hair.”
As Lasairfion shuffled forward, the interpreter kept abreast of her, waiting dutifully for her mistress and ruler to speak. At last, coming to a towering stop before Rainbow Dash, the Princess bore a calm smile and did just that.
The interpreter spoke, “It is is something more powerful than death that brings it here, yes?”
Rainbow Dash blinked. She glanced at the interpreter, then back at Lasairfion. “Brings what?”
Lasairfion’s head leaned slightly to the side. “Oss Tray Oh.”
Nightshade glanced aside at the pegasus.
After a deep breath, Rainbow fought her dizziness to say, “You have things mixed up. If you knew anything about me, you’d realize that I pretty much am death.”
Lasairfion giggled, filling the air with distorted bell-song. Her earth-brown eyes lit up as she said, “Y’taasu’ramnas thrie’len vree, Oss Tray Oh. Malaseen’drenna’duuroen hraa’kaat’seem, less’tenneraat vm’bassa’kun nela’driel.”
The interpreter droned, “If only that were true, Oss Tray Oh. It could easily have carried death into the grave instead of flying distance so long.”
Lasairfion paced around the pegasus, continuing to speak. Her rich voice tickled Rainbow’s ears. The mare remained locked to the floor, her heart pounding. It wasn’t fear nor dizziness, but something else that grasped at her heart, as if something in the regal equine’s very voice was stabbing straight through her gut and into her heart. She felt like she was standing on the balcony with Whitemane again, only all of the gentleness and sincerity had been stripped viciously away. Before she knew it, the Xonan regal’s sentenced finished with staccato punctuation.
It was the interpreter’s turn: “Its mind is full of more colors than its hair. All of them misleading. But not those blessed by Nagu’n. We have seen only one light, and it has prophesied its arrival.”
“The machine world…” Rainbow Dash guessed, eyebrow arched as the Princess passed another time. “Your soldiers got a look into the machine world, and somehow the place lit up in such a way to show that I was coming? Is that it?”
Lasairfion came to a stop, shaking her head with a teeth-glinting smile. She spoke with utmost confidence, her tongue like a conductor of waterfalls.
“It is the light given up by warmth, by sincerity most burning. It is a pony most lost, but its element bonds it to flames that never die.”
Rainbow’s lips pursed. Her eyes narrowed as she breathed, “Loyalty…?” Something flickered out the corner of the pegasus’ eyes, like a lavender shadow. Her head darted to the right.
Lasairfion was already there to stare her dead in the eyes. Rainbow didn’t see her lips move; she only saw her fiery gaze.
Sooner than later, the interpreter said, “Its love has brought it here, a love that surpasses death. Nagu’n blesses this moment, for it shall witness the power of love bring righteousness to this land. Death will dissolve, and no more ponies will be lost, by the power of Nagu’n.”
“You think what you’re doing here is righteous?!” Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. “I know a thing or two about those pale crystals you’re flinging around, lady! There’s nothing in your bloody campaign that screams of love! It’s all chaos!”
Lasairfion tilted her head towards the interpreter. The servant mare leaned in and clarified a few key words to the monarch. Slowly, Lasairfion turned back, and there was a briefly raspy tone to her voice when she spoke.
The interpreter delivered, “Then I am glad Oss Tray Oh has arrived at my doorstep, for it will be a timely addition to the glory of Nagu’n.”
“What…” Rainbow Dash blinked. “...do you mean?”
Lasairfion’s words had already dripped out, and the interpreter was swift to provide: “Texts of ancient words speak of the east bound horse, the deliverer of a righteous spark. Only now, the sunrisen scythe shall be mine to wield.”
“Final… summon…?” Rainbow’s face tilted towards the guards as she sensed them moving in on her suddenly. Her breath rode the serpentine lengths of the snake patterns on their armor. “No… no!” Rainbow jolted forward, only to be held in place by the Xonans’ criss-crossing pole-arms. “I am not your friggin’ sky monster to fight battles for you! Go summon something else!”
“Why should I?” the interpreter was already murmuring. “This is its one opportunity. An instrument of chaos becoming an instrument of love.”
“No! I will not do anything for you! Do you hear me?!” Rainbow Dash hissed, thrashing back and forth as the guards gripped her on all sides. “Nnnngh--Buck off!”
“Rainbow Dash--” Kera started, only to feel herself being tugged telekinetically backwards by one of Dalen’s fellow soldiers. As she, Zaid, Nightshade, and the others were shoved into a far corner of the room, Dalen trotted forward with a dull expression, hovering the lavender tome higher and higher.
Rainbow’s weak eyes reflected it, and her voice cracked from the nucleus of armored plates where she struggled. “I’m not a weapon! Darn it, I’m not… not…” Her eyes rolled back as she caved to the power of the lavender light. “Totally… totally about harmony… just… just…” A tear or two squeezed from her lids. “Just a little m-more cider… please…”
“Shhhhh…” Lasairfion cooed from beyond the spreading shadows, her voice just as thin and wispy.
”Relax, for it has been starved too long of love…”
“Unngh!” Kera grunted as she was shoved towards the wall of a large, open chamber. She clung to the rock wall and spun about, watching the parade of prisoners with a gaping expression. “What… what are you doing?”
“Stay there, child,” Dalen said, all the while directing his fellow guards to usher the dozen and a half ponies into a barred cell at the far end of a dark-lit stone chamber. As they were forced through the metal-hinged door, Zetta spun about--face aflame with anger.
“You promised that we would be safe!” She stamped her hooves. “You gave your word that my fellow enforcers and I wouldn’t be harmed!”
“And I kept that promise, Ledomulient trentte!” Dalen barked, the lines on his forehead growing thicker. “Believe me, compared to where the rest of the heathens are, you are very much safe.”
As Zetta blanched, Basso leaned against the bars. “What in spark’s name is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t have to know,” Dalen muttered. “Besides, you could not even begin to understand the glory of Nagu’n.” As the bars were slammed shut with a metallic clang, he stood in a breathy slump outside the cell. “She does not forgive those who cross her wrathful gaze. So, be thankful for where you are.”
Kera gawked at the cell, then at him.
Zaid sighed, pacing about until he found a spot to sit on the far end of the cell. “Well, I don’t know about you all, but for me this is an upgrade in real estate.” He groaned and rolled over, laying his head on the stone floor. “Wake me up when the apocalypse is over…”
Basso hung his head, but squirmed upon feeling Zetta’s shuddering figure beside him. “What is it?”
“The whining noise…” She clutched her head as her horn flickered at the tip. “I swear… it’s… it’s louder than ever before…”
“Just try and rest, Zetta,” Basso said, patting her shoulder with his thick hoof. “We need to preserve our strength.”
“I… I c-can’t…” Her eyes clenched shut, streaming with tears. “It’s getting louder and louder. It’s as if it wants me…” She gulped. “Wants all of us.”
Basso didn’t know what to say. Awkwardly, he pulled the mare into a tender embrace. Zetta leaned into his girth, sobbing quietly.
Dalen stared at the cell. After a deep breath, he turned to trot out of the room, but shuffled to a stop besides Kera. He turned and spoke to her, “You. Come with me.”
Kera gawked up at him. “What the crap for?”
“You are not one of them,” he said.
“Oh, and I’m supposed to be one of you, r-right?” She frowned.
“You misunderstand,” Dalen droned. “You are free to go as you please. The Sacred Hold is yours as much as it is mine.”
“Oh yeah?” Kera stomped her hoof and leaned forward. “Then put me in with them!” she hissed.
Dalen blinked. “You cannot be serious--”
“Look, you just told me that I’m free to go where I want so send me there!” her voice cracked. “Open the cell and let me trot inside to stay with them!”
“They are heathens and abominable enemies to the glory of Nagu’n,” Dalen snarled, his voice rising. “One of them is a manipulative mare who even betrayed your trusts more than once--”
“Yeah. And I’d rather hang out with them a hundred times more than the likes of you!” Kera spat.
Dalen was silent. Slowly, he sighed, and nodded towards a nearby guard.
The guard nodded back, then hesitantly opened the cell door with a metal squeak. Slowly, Kera padded her way into the room on tiny hooves. Everypony watched as she shuffled over to the corner besides Zaid’s sleeping form and squatted down.
As the door shut, Dalen sighed out through his nostrils. He turned to move, but his eyes locked with another pony’s.
Nightshade stood against the bars, staring him down with a piercing gaze.
Dalen bit his lip. The hairs rose on the back of his neck, and he frowned. With scuffing hooves, he spun about and marched firmly out of the room.
Nightshade remained close to the bars, staring into the shadows with thought.
“What is this?!” an enforcer shouted, one of a hundred--all cramped into a tightly a giant metal cage. He and several of his fellow soldiers slammed and rapped their hooves against the bars around them. “You can’t keep us in here like this! This is cruel! Let us out!”
“Let us out, please!” another voice echoed from the far end of a dark, dark corridor. “For the love of the Spark, let us free!”
“I want to see my beloved!”
“My foals! My foals need me! Please!”
The interior stretched for hundreds of feet. Rows upon rows of small cages lined the floorspace beneath blue flickering manatorches. Xonan guards marched up and down the aisles, training their weapons on these containers packed to the brim with sweating, panicked Ledomaritans.
“Just walk in here, you tattooed freaks! I’ll rip your tails off and shove ‘em up your nostrils!”
“Just wait until Seclorum finds this place! He’ll blow it out of the sky!”
“For the love of Ledo, just some water! Just some water, it’s all we ask for!”
“Get me out! Get me out! I… I wanna go home! I wanna go hooooome!”
Above all this, clinging agilely to a long series of metal pipes, a metal mare quietly slithered. One hoof at a time, she shimmied her way down flanking stalks of manatorches, eying the prisonscape below with reflective eye-lenses.
At last, Roarke hung over a lone cage where the occupants had formed a rough circle. She could see through the bars at the top--aside from one blue crystal that was obstructing the view. Inside, an elderly Ledomaritan officer had collapsed--breathless--and another soldier was hunched over him, struggling to resuscitate the stallion. As the efforts went on and on, unsuccessful, he stood up with a teary expression and shouted through the bars for help. One Xonan passing by shuffled to a stop, turned aside, glared at him, and lashed forward. With flicker of metal strips, a serpent materialized and flashed its fangs before the bars. The prisoners inside jumped back, and soon the Xonan kept marching on, apathetic to the plight of the dying stallion.
Roarke’s jaw clenched and unclenched. At that precise moment, a loud horn could be heard blaring through the corridor. Curious, she glanced towards the far end of the place. Several Xonans were galloping away from a random cage full with no less than eighty Ledomaritans. Right as they left, the horn’s noise dwindled away, and in its place came streams of synthetic thunder. The blue crystal at the top of the cage proceeded to flicker and brim with electricity. The occupants within gasped and clamored at the bars of their cell, flinching away from the phenomenon strobing overhead. In a matter of seconds, the electrical beams shooting from the blue crystal intensified, even sparking off the coats and limbs of the enforcers below. Then, with a great blue flash, everypony inside vanished. The nearby cells gasped as a heavy silence fell over the entire corridor.
Roarke’s brow furrowed. She scanned all areas around the empty cage, breathless to find an answer to what happened to the prisoners. Just then, the most horrendous sound imaginable echoed from the far end of the corridor: the noise of nearly a hundred equine voices screaming at once. They were hideous bellows, gargling on death rattles and shuddered breaths cut far too short.
A cold chill ran over the bodies of the occupants in the many remaining cages. Sobbing voices mingled with the angry outbursts, and soon a deep rattle echoed from cell to cell. The Xonans barked at the enforcers to keep quiet, but even their most threatening snarls were largely ignored at this point.
All the while, Roarke’s lensed eyes had finally locked onto a strange blue aura emanating from an opening at the far end of the chamber. An ethereal mist rolled in, then dissipated as soon as it made contact with the nearest manatorches.
Curious, Roarke crawled her way to a junction of pipes, then chose to shimmy her way down a length of ceiling-pipes that took her towards the source of that eerie light, passing over the cages full of panicked ponies below.
At the sound of shuffling hooves, Kera looked up from where she was hugging herself. She glanced through the bars as several Xonans re-entered the chamber on the far side.
Dalen had returned, along with several guards from the Lightning-Bearer. They carried with them boxes full of plundered loot and began piling them onto a stone slab in the corner of the room. As they placed down one box, it tipped over and fell, spilling its contents loose. One of them was Princess Luna’s midnight satchel. Another…
With a clattering sound, a familiar hoofband rolled across the floor. It had almost reached the bars when Dalen’s hoof came down, stopping it firmly. He telekinetically floated the thing up, ignorant to the Odrsjot symbol brandished before him, and marched back to the Xonan grunts. He chewed their heads off verbally, holding the hoofband up for emphasis. Slapping the item back into Luna’s saddlebag, he gestured for the ponies to keep stacking boxes. They obeyed, murmuring nervous monosyllabic words under his furious gaze.
As Kera sighed, she heard a voice murmuring from behind her.
“I keep thinking and thinking about it.”
Kera turned around. “What?”
“Didn’t know I was capable of thinking, did you?” Zaid smirked from where he reclined like a fancy mare.
Kera frowned. “No, I mean what do you keep thinking about?”
Zaid motioned out the cage with his head. “The hoof-brace. It was supposed to guard against the powers of the book.”
Kera raised her eyebrow. “Really, guy? Really?”
Zaid sighed. “At least that’s what I thought Khao had explained. But, like, it doesn’t make sense.”
“How so?”
“Well, I mean… the runes!” Zaid gestured with his hoof. “All those funny looking images that are all linked with the Austraeoh. You think they would all work for her and not against her, y’know?”
“Right…”
“So, why would the ancient pegasi angels or whatcrap invent a rune simply to help Austraeoh with some nasty effect that the rest of the runes--caught aflame--would give her? It just seems contra inuit.”
“Counter intuitive.”
“Whoah! Heh…” Zaid smiled. “Smart kid.”
“Yeah, well…” Kera glared across the way at Nightshade. “I’ve been in plenty of eggheaded company.”
“It totally burned my balls off that the thing didn’t work, though,” Zaid said. “Your colorful big sis probably thinks I had it out for her all along, but that totally isn’t the case. I mean, they gave us the hoof-brace thingies so we could help her. We were elephant jade brown, after all.”
Kera squinted at him. “You? You were Eljunbyro?”
“Well, again, Khao was pretty dead-certain about that. All she wanted to do, really, was help Austraeoh past all the crap of this world between here and the very edge.” He pointed at the bars around him. “Crap like this. Ya smell me?”
Kera slowly shook his head. “I don’t think any of you guys had anything figured out. But it definitely didn’t stop you from going in over your head and ruining the lives of others.” She sighed and glared at Dalen from beyond the bars. “Just like the melon fudges who run this place.”
“Hey, I wasn’t too hot on the whole ‘Herald’ thing myself. I only stayed for the food, to be honest.”
“And that somehow makes you less lame than the rest?”
Zaid bit his lip.
“I have two friends… two really, really swell friends,” Kera muttered. “The real Eljunbyro.” She gulped. “Pilate… Belle. They’re the first adult ponies in forever who really, really wanted to he.lp me, to give me a home n’stuff. And because of all the crap that your boss started…” Kera winced, her eyes growing misty. “That I started, I might never see them again. And that kind of sucks, because I was getting really close to… to calling them…” She went silent, biting her lip.
“Hey, s’all good, kid. I get it.”
Kera glanced over.
Zaid winked. “Who said you gotta be flesh and blood just to be flesh and blood, ya dig?”
The foal blinked several times. She jerked at the sound of another crate being stacked onto the stone slab outside.
Dalen was overseeing another container of Ledomaritan possessions being slapped into place. Once again, an item fell out--a trinket at the end of a necklace. This time, Dalen didn’t laugh at any of the Xonan laborers. He simply picked the thing up and opened the clasp. Some enforcer’s beloved and their young foal sat in black and white photos, smiling at the viewer. A cold breath fountained from Dalen’s lips.
“War separates us viciously from the ones we care about.”
Dalen glanced out the corner of his eyes.
Nightshade was leaning back against the inner bars, her shoulders to him. “It is one reason why I want this horrible debacle to end. Nopony benefits. Nopony ever did.”
The stallion’s jaw went shut. He clasped the necklace shut and shuffled over to the cell. “A mare so manipulative and cold does not deserve loved ones.”
“Of course she does.” Nightshade glanced over with a sharp eye. “How else does she learn to be manipulative and cold in the first place?”
Dalen shuffled to a stop, dead silent.
With a breath, Nightshade pivoted about. “His name is Novus. He’s my brother. The war tore his body to shreds, and though I’ll likely never be able to speak with him again, I at least owe it to him to bring the holocaust to an end. It’s what has driven me this far.” She grasped the bars with two feminine hooves and murmured, “I wonder, what is it that drives you? And is it something else just as ghostly and familiar?”
Instead of snapping at her, Dalen lingered, his gaze falling to the stone floor. “I will not attempt to gain sympathy from a Ledomulian heathen.”
“And do you sincerely plan to receive any more clemency from the zealots who lord over you?”
Dalen’s teeth gritted.
Nightshade tilted her head up towards the ceiling of the place. “I saw how the stallion disregarded your honorable offering. What title did you attribute to him? Arcshod?”
“You hear too much.”
“Only because you speak too much,” Nightshade said. “You are gifted in many tongues, but none of them are what you wish to express yourself with. What robbed you of that gift, I wonder?”
Dalen hung in silence.
Nightshade pressed forward. “What stripped you of being Second Born?”
Dalen looked up with a sad expression. “I did not want to associate with the filth of those who defile the very name of Nagu’n with their existence. I would much rather have acquainted myself with rats and vermin than the likes of you.”
“But something dirtied you in the first place.”
“I had no choice,” Dalen murmured. “My family’s honor needs to be restored.”
“And what did they do that was so treacherous?”
Dalen’s nostrils flared. At last, he blurted, “They died.”
Nightshade blinked at that.
“They perished at the hooves of a Ledomulien engagement along the southern seas,” Dalen muttered. “My mate. My two sons. My mate’s mother and brother. All slain in their homes.”
Nightshade slowly nodded. “A horrible tragedy to befall anypony.”
“It was shameful,” Dalen spat. “Do you not understand? They perished to the sword and bullet like weak chaff of the fields. They did not struggle and they did not fight.”
“They… were innocents,” Nightshade declared.
“They were weak,” Dalen muttered. “They cowered and fell out of chorus with Nagu’n’s song. And because of that, they are forever tainted.” He gulped. “I am forever tainted.”
After a few quiet seconds, Nightshade said, “That’s a harsh faith to keep.”
“The only thing harsh is the shame I feel for not salvaging their honor,” Dalen muttered. “I thought my sacrifice as the phantom ‘Straker’ would suffice. Alas, I was foolish.”
“And you think anything you’ll ever do from now on will exonerate you in the eyes of Nagu’n?” Nightshade cocked her head to the side. “Or Archshod?”
Dalen stared at her, lips pursed. Eventually, he frowned and said, “Arcshod and Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu’n, are the intercessors of the Most Holy Goddess. Only they will find me a place once again in the chorus of the Almighty Serpent. My family’s spirits will forever writhe in dishonorable agony unless I die a redeemed pony.”
Nightshade slowly nodded. “And will you feel like you’re honoring them, doing everything out of guilt than out of love?”
“I am prepared to die for their eternal legacy!” Dalen hissed.
“Then I would feel sorry to disappoint you,” Nightshade said. “But, so long as you’re endeavoring to impress the likes of Arcshod and Lasairfion, I feel as though the job is taken.” That said, she shrugged her shoulders, pivoted about, and trotted coldly towards the far end of the cell.
Alone, Dalen slumped in place, exhaling heavily. His face scrunched in painful comprehension, and he ran a hoof through his hair as he slumped back towards the stack of crates, hesitantly dropping the locket back in.
Breaking through a sun-lit cloud bank, the Noble Jury rocketed its way southeast on searing jets of steam. Along the top deck, Props scampered from stern to bow, thrusting her head into the cockpit.
“Hey! Handsome!” The mare gulped and rubbed the sweat from her brow. “We need two more canisters!”
“Already?!” the elk retorted, sending sparks from his antlers into the cockpit controls. “Blonde boomer has already restocked Nancy’s womb thrice!”
“Yeah, well, if somepony didn’t stop accelerating this ship after every wind gust, then maybe we would conserve the backups better!”
“Do we wish to save paint bucket or do we not?!”
“Hey, I wanna save every color of the rainbow and the adoracute ponies attached to them at the head!” Props shrugged. “But at this rate, we’re gonna ram Nancy into the ground! And not in the consensual way!”
Pilate and Belle shuffled in from the top deck. “What’s all the commotion? Is something wrong?”
“Mr. Pilate, maybe you can talk some sense into Mr. Handsome! We need to conserve our fuel and this totally isn’t the way to totally go about dotallying it!”
“Stop trying to sprinkle stars onto your spit! It glitters enough as it is!”
“No you!”
“Everypony, just calm down,” Belle said with forelimbs outstretched. “I’m sure we can reach a reasonable compromise. After all, we’re in this together and we mutually seek the rescue of Rainbow and her--”
”Scrkkkk! Hey. Striped breeder. You there? Answer if you can.”
Everypony’s eyes jerked to Pilate as the zebra jumped and whipped out the sound stone. “Uhm. Yes! Y-yes, Roarke, we read you! Do you have an update from your end of--”
”How close are you p-ponies to the w-warfront?” Roarke’s voice desperately asked.
Belle’s face flexed with concern as she stared at the other’s faces. “We… we suspect a few days at our current speed.” She gulped. “Roarke, is… is everything alright?”
”I-I really think th-that you should endeavor to f-find a way to get to Seclorum faster.”
“Roarke, darling…” Belle trotted closer to her beloved’s sound stone. “Are… are you stuttering?”
Silence.
“Roarke…?”
”I… I have seen things…” the voice stammered from the other end.
Roarke sat in a rocky alcove somewhere deep in the Sacred Hold, her body bathed in a faint blue aura as the echoing traces of a whining noise lingered like a dying siren all around her. Her body hunched tighter against the craggy stone as she hissed into the sound stone.
“In all m-my years of sp-spilling blood and collecting b-bounties, I thought I would be prepared… but… but…”
She lingered. Her teeth glinted in the blue light. As a shudder ran through her body, she leaned into the shadows and reached a hoof up to her face. There was a hissing sound as she removed her lenses and rubbed her eyes. A voice mewled from the darkness.
“Rainbow… R-Rainbow Dash…”
”Roarke? Roarke, what’s wrong? Is Rainbow there? Can we speak to her?”
Roarke took a deep breath. Her body went rigid, displacing the trembles in her limbs. She snapped her lenses back on and leaned forward into the blue light once again. “Never mind that. We’ve arrived at the Xonans’ Sacred Hold, and we need a way out of here. Now would be a good time to intervene on Seclorum’s behalf. If he’s the one pony who can provide a distraction, then so be it. The sooner we’re out of this place, the better.”
“Maybe if we used all of the steam reserve canisters at once!” Ebon Mane exclaimed, glancing nervously at the other ponies across the top deck. “Perhaps it could propel us towards the front faster!”
“No no no sailboat boomer,” Floydien grunted. “Nancy Jane’s organs are not built for that much cloud making. Break her into bitter bits it would, yes yes.”
“Besides, even if that somehow could work, then we’d need an entire flippin’ mountain of steam canisters!” Props leaned over and patted Ebon’s head. “No offense, Ebony, but keep your noggin’ to soup making, kay?”
“Meh.”
“But thanks for trying to come up with something!”
“Double meh.”
“I think it goes without saying that we can’t move the Noble Jury fast enough to get to Seclorum as swiftly as Roarke and Rainbow Dash need us to,” Bellesmith said. Simon perched comfortably on her shoulder as she turned to speak to everypony in attendance. “If you ask me, the key here is not to try and get ourselves to Nightshade’s ally in the field, but rather to get word out to him.”
“You mean a message?” Pilate asked.
“Yes, beloved,” Belle remarked. “Is there a way that we could somehow contact the Ledomaritans east of here through a sound stone network?”
“We’d need an incredibly large communications array,” Pilate said. “One far larger than anything the Noble Jury could house.”
“What if we found one between here and there?” Eagle Eye stated. “If Nightshade’s got communication stations lying around, then maybe--” He blinked in mid-sentence, then sighed. “No. No no no that wouldn’t work…”
“Huh?” Belle looked his way.
He brushed his mane back and said, “Nightshade had her stuff hidden because that’s the kind of mare she is. But any Ledomaritan communication stations? They’d be guarded like nopony’s business. At least no less than ten enforcers per post.”
“We’re not exactly in the position to expose ourselves to the Ledomaritans as it is,” Ebon said.
“Yeah!” Props pouted slightly. “How do Rainbow and Roarke expect us to ring doorbells when everypony wants to kill us?”
“We must not enter the houses of the stabby stabby,” Floydien grunted. “Even from a distant glare their shimmer would burn us ashways.”
“What if one of us tried slipping past enemy lines?” Belle remarked. “Somepony who could pass off as a soldier?”
“You mean somepony like me?” Eagle Eye asked, gesturing towards his intact horn “It could work, but there’s the matter of me getting from here to there.” He glanced around. “And the problem with that is that Ledomaritan security scans are strict. They’ll find out in a day’s time that I’m not Confederacy material and I wouldn’t even make it to Seclorum’s headquarters.”
“Besides, how would we even get Eagle Eye that far east? And ahead of us?” Pilate shook his head. “Face it. As battered as the Noble Jury is, it’s still the fastest thing we have.”
“It’s not like Propsy here can build us an ultra-lite skiff,” Ebon said. He then blinked and tilted his head towards her. “Could you?”
“It would take a few days.”
“Roarke and Rainbow might be dead by then!”
Props dug at the floor of the top deck. “I didn’t say they’d be happy days…”
“Well, what about another ship with skystone?” Eagle Eye asked.
“You mean…” Pilate leaned his head to the side. “A vessel like the Herald’s?”
Belle glanced up at the crystal positioned overhead, then frowned. “Absolutely out of the question!”
“Zealot boomers boom pretty quickly--”
“I don’t care, Mr Floydien! Even if we could somehow contact them, I am not about to make a deal with the likes of equines who threw Rainbow’s life for a loop and stole our Kera!”
“Belle, the fate of all our close friends--as well as our own journey--is at stake and we’re very low on options,” Pilate muttered.
“So what?!” Belle turned to snarl at him. “We simply toss away our common sense and make a pact with ponies who will only betray us in the end?! I love Rainbow Dash and Kera, Pilate, but we can’t let desperation make us stupid!”
“She’s got a point,” Josho said breathily as he trotted up to the group. “There’s no sense in relying on low-lifes such as Khao when you’ve got a solution right in front of you.”
“What kind of solution?” Pilate asked.
Josho was silent.
Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “You?”
“Lemme guess!” Props leaned forward. “You have a magical bond with Seclorum and you can get him to come to us!”
“I wish it were that simple, blondie.” Josho trotted over and stood at Eagle Eye’s side. “You’re looking for a way to get a message to our destination faster than sound stones or steam power can work.”
“Yeah, and…?” Eagle Eye squinted at him.
Josho turned to look at him. “Well, we both know that I’m more than capable of getting to places in a blink.”
Eagle Eye leaned back, his muzzle twisting in disbelief. “But… it… How?!” He frowned. “This is no time for joking around, old stallion!”
“Does it look like I’m joking?”
“We’re not talking about the span of a ravine! Or the distance it takes to exit out of a Killas’ labor camp!” Eagle gestured with his lavender hooves. “Seclorum and his army is miles away! Maybe over two hundred miles!”
“Yeah, no crap.”
“Do you honestly expect me--” Eagle Eye bit his tongue, shook his head, and restated, “Do you expect us to think you can jump across half the continent! I’ve seen you right after doing your little interspacial belch trick! It puts you out like a spent match!”
“That’s because all I’m relying on is my own mana conduction.”
“Don’t get all scienc-y on me!” Eagle Eye frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Josho calmly turned to gaze at Pilate. “Hey, stripes. You familiar with cross-leyline-buffering?”
“Uhm…” Pilate shifted where he stood. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
“How about the ‘Blue Streak Maneuver?’”
Pilate leaned back. “Ah, yes. When multiple unicorns work together to channel greater energy down a… lesser… conduit…” His mouth hung open for a moment. “Wait, are you meaning to suggest that Eagle Eye here somehow give a boost to your teleportation skill?”
“Something like that.”
“How do you know something like that would work?”
“Because I’ve done it before,” Josho said in a dull tone. All eyes were on him as he kicked at the top deck and further muttered, “It was a secret operation, about fifteen years ago. Me and a bunch of other meatheads had to perform this drop past a well-guarded mountain defense. It so happens I was in a division of stallions especially trained in… y’know… farting around with our leylines. We got a group of about forty well-trained mana-users together, performed a little magical pow-wow, and propelled about twelve stallions across enemy lines.”
“Did it work out well?” Belle asked.
“I’m alive, aren’t I?” Josho shrugged. “For what it’s worth.”
“Did you knock out the knock-outers?” Props asked.
“We kicked plenty of tattooed butt, for sure. They never saw us coming. We jumped about eighty miles in an instant. I think the only reason it hasn’t been done since is because we were afraid that the Xonans might catch on and learn skills of long-range fart-jumping themselves.”
“That sounds like a truly glorious moment, old stallion,” Eagle Eye said, then leaned forward. “There’s only one problem.”
“What’s that, glitterbug?”
Eagle Eye pointed at his horn. “Do I look like forty stallions to you?”
“No, but I bet you could make forty stallions look you over.”
“Unngh…” Eagle Eye tossed his forelimbs and paced off. “You’re flippin’ impossible, I swear by the Spark.”
“But wait…” Ebon leaned forward, squinting curiously. “Don’t we have something better than a bunch of unicorn soldiers?”
“Jee, now there’s a good question, boat butt,” Josho grumbled.
Belle glanced straight up again. “The skystone. Of course!” She gasped at the others. “It still has tons of untapped mana! It’s only because of the absence of the book that we’ve had to rely on the steam rig!”
Props nodded. “Very, sexily true. But even if that was the case, handsome’s ship would need something to channel the energy from up there--” She leaned in and tapped Josho’s weathered horn. “--into here!”
“Yes yes yes…” Floydien nodded. “It would have to be a mana channeling device far more glimmerific than any of Nancy’s nancyparts.”
“Like a military grade manaconduit,” Eagle Eye added.
“It would need to be something that could handle an extreme amount of energy and complex mana funneled through a teeny-tiny little slot in magicspace!” Props exclaimed. “Something reinforced by arcanium! Or maybe runes!”
Belle suddenly grimaced.
“What is it?” Eagle asked her.
“We… uh… we have something that’s better than military grade.” She gulped and fidgeted. “Uhm… beloved’s… b-beloved’s runic interface.”
Eagle’s jaw dropped. “O.A.S.I.S.?”
“Could it even take the stress of what we’re suggesting?” Ebon Mane asked.
“I’m pretty darn sure it could,” Josho said. “After all…” He paused to sigh. “It’s taken quite a beating before. I should know.”
Pilate gulped. “I happen to know too.”
“Buh?” Props exclaimed.
“I’m sure you’ve been told about it before,” Eagle Eye said, turning to look at both Props and Ebon. “In a central township within Green Slope Province, when Josho and Pilate first met, they had a coming together of heads… more or less.”
“You mean a leyline entanglement?” Props beamed. “Cool!”
“No, not cool!” Belle shook her head. “I don’t like where this is going. It already sounds dangerous for two ponies involved.”
“Belle, it at least seems feasible…”
“To do what, Pilate? Launch Josho blindly towards enemy lines?! If we could have done something like that all this time, why didn’t we throw him at Khao’s ship days ago?”
“It’s never that accurate,” Josho said. “What we can account for is distance. Wherever I’d happen to land my butt, I’d have to trot the rest of the way until I found Seclorum.”
“And what’s to stop you from materializing inside of a mountain or a flying Xonan fortress?” Eagle Eye asked.
Josho shrugged, scratching his bearded chins. “There ain’t no guarantee.”
Eagle bit his lip and pivoted towards the others. “I’m not sure I like this idea either.”
“Even if we did go with it,” Pilate said. “We need some form of counter-intuitive energy to cycle the mana from the skystone through O.A.S.I.S. and into Josho’s leyline.”
“Well, jiminy crap whiskers!” Josho smiled sardonically and sidestepped until he was nudging a certain elk. “Where do we have something like that?”
“The boomer is touching Josho.”
“Ahem. No pain, no gain, ya coat rack.”
“Handsome’s antlers… could act as a buffer to facilitate the energy transfer,” Props thought aloud.
“And what about a failsafe?” Belle blinked. “If the transfer was to backfire, we’d need a powerful force to protect both Floydien and my beloved.” Just then, a bushy tail tickled her ear.
All sets of eyes fell on the tesla coils brimming on either side of Simon’s head.
“Simon has enough glimmer to pull off almost anything,” Floydien said. “And he knows how to protect Floydien. Puny boomer is as resourceful as he is cutepheliac.”
Pilate rubbed his chin, his brow tense with thought. “By the Spark, it could work.” He turned towards Josho. “The ultimate risk is yours, though, friend. Even if everything goes correctly, you’d be thrust into nigh-unpredictable warscape. There’s no telling how perilous the rest of the trip would be, assuming you get anywhere near Seclorum.”
“Hey, you’ve all done your share of stupid things to make sure this journey goes off without a hitch,” Josho said. “I happen to have history with Seclorum, sooo…” He shrugged. “I figure now’s my turn.”
“But Josho! Think this over!” Eagle Eye stammered. “Assuming you do make it to Seclorum, and assuming you do get him to attack Lasairfion’s floating death city, then how are we going to get youback?”
Josho took a deep breath, shrugged, and said, “Three party members for the price of one?” He nodded. “I think I can live with that. And it’s been a long time since I felt like I could live with something.”
Eagle’s ears drooped defeatedly.
Props and Ebon exchanged glances.
“Whatever needs to be done, we must turn the spit into glimmer soon,” Floydien said, catching Simon out of the corner of his red eyes. “How ‘bout it then, hmm? Does paint bucket get the wind beneath her wings? Yes no yes no?”
"There's no point in denying it," Pilate muttered out the side of his mouth while Belle and Ebon positioned him so that he stood less than two feet directly in front of Josho. "This is bound to get our leylines caught in an entanglement." He gulped. "Again."
"Well, that's good for us, right?" Josho fumbled with the straps of a saddlebag being tied around his obese figure by Eagle Eye. "I mean, it'll be like long range sound stones, huh? I'll know what you're up to and you'll know how close I am to Seclorum..."
"In theory, it would function like a two-way guidance system, yes. But I've no clue when or if it would wear off."
"Well, don't sweat it none, stripes." Josho smirked tiredly and gestured aside to Eagle Eye. "That's what you've got lavender licks here for. He can unthread that yarn straightaway. Can't ya, beautiful?"
"Yes." Eagle Eye's jaw clenched as he pulled a satchel strap so tight it nearly choked the fat stallion beside him. "At least I know what I'm capable of doing," he spat. "It keeps me from going in over my horn."
"Awwww... you're cute as a button when you're bitchy."
"Knock it off, Josho!" Eagle stamped his hoof. "This is really, really dangerous—what you're doing!"
"You think I don't know that?"
"No! I don't!"
Josho sighed. Leaning back, he spoke over the sound of Props and Floydien rigging mana crystals to the base of the skystone shards above. "I'm being teleported hundreds of miles east-southeast in order to get a head up on warning Seclorum about the Lighting Bearer having fallen into enemy hooves."
"And Lasairfion and the floating mountain of doom?"
"Yes! I even wrote them down for prostate's sake!" Josho wagged his eyebrows. "Eh? Ehhh? Bit a joke there, ya see—"
"What if you materialize in midair?!" Eagle's voice cracked. "What if you find yourself suddenly falling for hundreds of feet?!"
"I'll have enough juice in me to teleport into an ascending motion at sea level. Eagle Eye, I'm going to befine," Josho sighed with a weary smirk. "I'm a big boy. I was murdering monsters far uglier than you when you were still in your mother's womb."
Eagle Eye sighed, kicking at a few flecks of dust along the Noble Jury's top deck. "It's so weird seeing you think things through. All you're ever good at is rushing into stuff, and this feels no different!"
Josho leaned forward, his eyes thin. "Good thing I had a helpful hoof to sober me up."
Eagle Eye bit his lip, starting to tremble slightly.
"Hey, kiddo..." Josho waved his hoof in front of the petite stallion's face. "What's eating ya? I think we both know I'm not the one here who's constipated with fear."
"It's just..." Eagle Eye shuddered as he murmured, "I decided not to go home to Franzington. I decided to head east and discover a new home for myself. And as much as I try to tell myself that it was a brave and courageous decision, I'm only lying. It's been hard... so very, very hard. And sometimes I think... th-that the only reason I've been okay with n-not seeing my dad ever again..." He sniffled, his eyes watering. "Was because I had a pony like you b-by my side..."
"We'll bump hooves again, ya little perfume bag. Don't bawl your eyes out."
"But how?" Eagle looked up through misty eyes. "You're going to be dead-center in Ledomaritan territory and even if they don't shoot you on sight for desertion—"
"After all that Seclorum and I have been through, if he tries shooting me, I'm totally kicking his flank first!" Josho growled. "Don't worry, pal. This little ship of ours is too much of a Spark-send for me to ditch it permanently. After all..." He smirked as he gave his saddlebag a little shake. There wasn't a single sound of clinking bottles. "...it did get me sober."
Eagle Eye smiled. Sooner than later, his lavender face scrunched up, and he dove forward, giving Josho a fierce hug.
The elder stallion wheezed, his chins shaking. "Yeah, okay. I got it, kiddo." He hissed and patted the stallion's back assertively. "I got it. I got it!" As Eagle Eye backtrotted, he caught his breath and muttered, "When I get back, we'll—I dunno... play ball or something."
"Or I-I could give you the shave I've always wanted!" Eagle Eye smiled.
"Yeah, uh. No." Josho pivoted towards the others. "We doing this crap or what?"
"Crap for spit, both is ready for the doing," Floydien said as he shuffled away from the array of crystal shards that had been planted against the underside of the skystone above. "Just as soon as Bloomdie gets done with the tweak-tweak."
"Unf!" Props landed and looked up through golden bangs and copper goggles. "'Bloomdie?'"
"Yes yes." Floydien blinked. "Boomer blondie."
Props' jaw dropped. "Oh... my... goddess!" She jumped up and down. "You gave me a nickname! That's so awesome!" She spun towards the horizon. "Hey World! Handsomeness just called me 'Bloomdie!'"
"Ahem..." Belle trotted forward. "Wrenches front, Props, darling."
"Ahem. Right-o-rooter." Props motioned Simon forward. The rodent scampered up to her head and was lifted onto Floydien's broad body. "Basically, it'll go like this. Mr. Handsome—fheehee—here will zap the crystals. The way in which they're arranged should transfer the energy to the targeted location, which—according to where Pilate is situated—is the runic plate along everypony's favorite zebra's skull. Then the energy will squirt its way through his manasphere and into Josho who's seated before him. This will act as a filter that will charge Josho's leylines without overriding his neural systems. Once Josho's got the power up, he can perform his rudimentary teleportation spell—only this time it will take him waaaaay way farther."
"Is there a risk of sending him too far?" Belle asked.
"I've calibrated for that," Props said, pointing at the skystone above. "So long as we make the charging process last no more than fifteen seconds, he should be good for the coordinates Roarke and Pilate estimated for us."
"And what about a leyline entanglement?" Pilate asked.
"Inevitable."
Pilate nodded. "I thought so."
"Sorry, stripes," Josho smirked. "Looks like you're stuck with me."
"Just don't eat any of the military bean rations while you're visiting your old friend," the zebra said.
Belle leaned forward. "Ew, really? Did it work like that?"
Pilate leaned back. "You really think it was Ledo that set fire to Foxtaur?"
"Uhhhh..."
"I'm not making any promises." Josho pivoted about. "While we're on the topic, east is thattaways, right?"
Floydien and Props exchanged glances. "Uhhhhh..."
Simon barked several times.
Ebon cleared his voice and pointed towards the bow. "The sun's setting and it's behind us. East is that way."
"Heh. Good thing I checked, huh?" Josho stifled a yawn. "Eyup. Let's do this. I'm not getting any younger here."
"You can say that again," Eagle Eye said.
"Look, you wanna give me a shave or not?"
"Okiedoodaloo!" Props rubbed her hooves together. "As soon as we start zapping the skystone, things are gonna get kind of bright. Simon?"
The rodent turned towards her, nose wriggling.
"We're counting on you, little buddy! You gotta maintain an equally distributed force field around the entire procedure so that both Floydien and Simon don't bust their heads while trying to force feed Josho's horn. You think you can do that?"
With a chirping noise, Simon tilted back and forward, waving his bushy tail multiple times.
Belle looked over, smiling. "I'm going to presume that's squirrel for 'affirmative.'"
"You certain?" Pilate muttered. "Sounded like he just wanted some nuts."
"Do not worry, beloved." Belle leaned in to nuzzle him. "I'll be right here beside you."
"Actualllllly..." Props smiled nervously as she waved her forelimbs. "You might wanna keep a distance or else your head might go 'kersplodey.'"
Wide-eyed, Belle cleared her throat and shuffled. "Don't worry, beloved, I'll be... right over here by about five paces."
"Nuts," Pilate said with a nod.
"We gonna glimmer glimmer or not?" Floydien grunted.
"Seems like we have everything together," Ebon remarked.
"I agree!" Props stood over besides Floydien. "Simon, ready?"
Shrill barking.
"Josho, ready?"
Belching.
"Righto! Handsome!" Props raised a stopwatch and nudged the elk at her side. "All on you!"
"Is it ever not on Floydien?" With stamping hooves, he thrusted his weight forward. "Nnnngh!" Sparkles of light shimmered through his antlers. A bright golden pulse materialized before his muzzle, shook a bit, then propelled itself like an otherworldly tennis ball into the skystone supporting the Noble Jury.
Almost immediately, the entire collection of crystal shards lit up like crimson fire. Even in broad daylight, the top deck of the ship fluctuated with the ethereal strobing. One by one, the crystal shards fixated around the base of the skystone illuminated. Then, with the brilliant noise of localized thunder, they shot a single bolt of red energy straight down into Pilate's skull.
The zebra only jolted slightly, his eyelids fluttering over a glazed expression. "Hello, there..." His muzzle twitched. "So that's what 'red' looks like. It's certainly been a while."
"Stay still, stripesy! Stay still!" Props sang. Her tongue rolled off her teeth as she watched her stopwatch with interest. "Aaaaaaaaaand—shazam!"
Right on cue, O.A.S.I.S. lit up and fired a scarlet lighting bolt into Josho's horn.
"Gaaah!" Josho hissed through his teeth, twitching slightly in place. "Hooooo boy! Ha! Forget the color red! I'm drinking friggin' scotch through my ear-throats!"
"Just fifteen seconds!" Props chanted, glancing up at Simon atop Floydien's back. "Keep the force field up!"
The squirrel clicked its tongue, dual tesla-coils brimming on either side of its skull. The air above shook and wavered with telekinetic energy.
"O.A.S.I.S..." Pilate seethed, shivering slightly. "So much energy. Remembering words. Faces. Years ago."
"Just sit tight, darling!" Belle cried, breathless. "You're strong! You can do this!"
"Ten seconds!" Props shouted.
"You can do it, Josho!" Eagle Eye hollered, smiling bravely. "The power's yours, old stallion!"
"Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally not helping my friggin' headache, ya milksop!" Josho droned, his gritting teeth brimming with lightning.
The skystone fluctuated brighter and brighter.
"Uh... guys?" Ebon murmured uneasily.
"Nancy Jane's hat is about to fly off!" Floydien shouted.
Props' eyes were glued to the stop watch. "Five... four... three..."
Sparks of red lightning flickered above the floating shield Simon was maintaining. The entire vessel began to wobble.
"Two... one...Now!"
Floydien ended his charge and Simon cut the bolts off at the base of the skystone.
"Ooof!" Pilate fell back as Belle rushed to his side.
As for Josho...
"Sweet... sweet kittens..." He lisped as he stood up. His horn glowed brighter than the sun, illuminating every single piece of stubble on his muzzle and chins. "Hoooo yeah. This is gonna be fun..." He turned around, stumbled towards the bow, and thrusted forward. "A real rip-roarin' good friggin' time—"
His voice ended as his throat ended, followed by his neck and torso, ribboning outward in dusty strands of twinkling crimson light, until nothing was left but his tail. Soon that too vanished. A pocket of air formed, expanded, contracted, and then—
Kapow!
Everypony shrieked as the ship rocked from side to side. As they fell back, they looked up to see a solid beam of red energy shooting eastward, parting the clouds and mists of the breezy afternoon sky. As soon as the thunder began, it settled, and soon everything was as calm as a placid lake's surface.
"He..." Eagle Eye gulped. "He's gone..."
"Honey?" Belle gently shook Pilate. "Do... do you feel him?"
"I feel..." Pilate sat up, rubbing his head as he leaned into the mare's embrace. "I feel..." After a few whaps to his runic plate, he stared blankly into space. "...I feel that he hasn't stopped yet."
Ebon bit his lip and turned towards Props. "You don't suppose we sent him too far, did you?"
"He's going fast," the mechanic replied with a nod. "But super fast is still slow compared to light."
Ebon leaned forward with a glare. "Meaning...?"
"Give it a few minutes, and he'll materialize!" Props smiled wide. "Wherever it is, he'll have reached there way faster than the rest of us ever could!"
"Then maybe there's still hope of him giving aid to Rainbow Dash and the others," Eagle Eye said.
"I'd say!" Props spun about. "Well done, everypony! We totally done did it! Especially you, handsome!"
Simon barked angrily.
"Whoops! My badskies!" Props leaned in and nuzzled Simon, muzzle-to-whiskers. "You too, handsome jr."
Simon chirped in a warm tone.
"Well, I guess that's one thing out of the way." Ebon Mane said. He turned around and trotted towards the stairwell towards the stern. "How about an early supper? I'll throw some asparagus into a boil and—"
A chunk of the ship's hull exploded from underneath them, sending shrapnel and chunks of wood flying in every direction. The air filled with shrieks as the Noble Jurists fell to their haunches, the breath thrown clear out of their lungs.
All except for Floydien's. "Thunderturds!" He hollered into the air as the entire vessel spun. "What in the spit was that?!"
"Sounded like cannonfire!" Eagle Eye shouted, only for his voice to be cut off by patches of flak exploding off the starboard side. "Gaaaugh!"
"Belle!" Pilate shrieked as his beloved fell away from him.
"Ooof!" Belle slid to a stop against a piece of railing near the stern. As the world spun around her, she looked up weakly. Her vision came into focus in time for her to spot a massive ship along the western horizon. As the broadside cannons flickerered, it illuminated the rest of the Steel Wing.
"Blessed Spark..." Mouth agape, she stared up at the skystone. The enchanted shards were still glowing with residual energy release. "Oh blessed Spark, he found us!" She turned and screamed. "Everypony run for—!"
Wood and flame erupted into Belle's body, sending her flying.
Far, far away.
In a broad, gray valley pockmarked with craters and covered in thick clouds...
The distant thunder of impacting shells could be heard. The northeast sky lit up with patches of blood red and fiery amber. The distant buzzings of damaged zeppelins could be heard screaming against the horizon. Out of nowhere, a cyclonic wind picked up, kicking loose piles of gravel and petrified strips of equine bones across the earth.
Krakow!
In a burst of red light, Josho materialized. He landed chest-first against the ash and rolled limply down the hillside. "Ooomf! Ungh! Gah! Dang it! Mmmf!"
At last, he slid to a stop, his nose inhaling smoke and the tainted air of war.
"Nnnnngh..." He slowly, achingly sat up. "Yeahhhhh..." Rubbing his smoking horn, he winced and glanced northeast. "Could have gone worse, I guess."
After a few minutes, he composed himself. The stallion stood up, tightened his satchel, and began trotting towards the burning horizon.
He had barely made five steps when he paused. Quietly, Josho pivoted around and squinted west. A pale expression washed over his face and muzzle. His lips pursed, and for a moment there he seemed starved of something to say. Wincing again, he rubbed his horn, shook the sensation off, and continued trotting towards his distant destination.
The ringing in Bellesmith’s ears was still settling by the time her vision returned. The first thing she saw was the horizon tilted at forty-five degrees. Smoke billowed out from the starboard stern of the Noble Jury, and it parted just long enough to reveal the looming shape the Steel Wing above.
“Pilate…” Her lips moved slowly. She pulled herself up, wincing. Her ears popped as she forced her jaws to open and shut. “Pilate, beloved, where… where…?”
Something pierced the ringing noise: a dull shout. In a blink, time resumed, and Belle spotted a mana-powered skiff hovering abreast of the Jury. The first of many stallions stood on the edge, training a manarifle on the top deck of Floydien’s ship.
A lavender body blurred past Belle. She felt her breath leaving her, but she still couldn’t make out the sound of her own lungs producing the ex mercenary’s name.
“Freeze!” The enforcer atop the transport vessel shouted. “Hold your ground--”
“Everpony!” Eagle Eye shouted to the air as he levitated his sword and shield in mid gallop. “Get below deck!”
“Eagle--” Ebon’s voice sputtered from the far end of the ship.
“Take him down!” The stallion aboard the skiff fired.
“Nnnngh!” Eagle blocked with his shield, spun, and swung his sword high. “Yaaaaugh!”
The blade sliced clean through the soldier’s rifle, littering his body with flying crystal fragments. As the soldier fell back with a gasp, two more jumped out and landed on the Noble Jury’s top deck. They drew sparkling tasers and twirled their way into Eagle with a series of rapid attacks.
The unicorn blocked and deflected, sparks showering between him and his foes. Sweating through his violet bangs, he caught the forelimbs of one attacker with his hooves and tripped him. Twirling his body, he launched the stallion’s figure like a club into his partner.
Three more stallions jumped down. They surrounded Eagle Eye on all sides.
Belle stood up. “Eagle Eye! Stand down!” her voice cracked. “They’re too much for--”
“Get off our ship!!” He charged one, sword-and-shield criss crossing.
The stallion knocked the blow aside and stabbed forward with his taser.
The attack grazed Eagle Eye in the shoulder. He hissed, bleeding from the sliced throw, and bucked the unicorn in the side.
Two more attacked his flanks.
He threw his shield at them then attacked as they ducked. He pressed his blade against their combined tasers, then gnashed his teeth as a beam of energy coursed through his horn. The air whistled, and then the sword flew back on lavender streams, ricocheting off the two enforcers’ skulls like coconuts.
A series of hooves landed heavily behind him.
“Raaaugh!” Eagle Eye spun, only to feel his sword freezing in mid-air. His body jolted to a stop from the telekinetic grip and his eyes widened.
Shell’s singular gaze narrowed in response. With a tattered gray mane blowing in the wind, he simply thrust his horn forward.
Eagle’s own shield uppercutted him across the chin. He fell back, only to be pummeled in the skull by the handle of his own blade. The petite stallion fell down to the ground in a crumpled mess, spitting up blood and wheezing in pain.
“Eagle Eye!” Belle shrieked.
Two stallions stood achingly up besides Shell. A beam of golden energy flew out of nowhere and slammed one to the ground. Shell’s head jerked to the side.
“Away with your stabby glimmer!” Floydien hissed, crawling up from behind Props’ and Simon’s writhing bodies. The elk gritted his teeth around a bloodstained muzzle as he charged across the deck with sparkling antlers. “Away with it! Blast you--”
With a dim aura, his antlers detached from his own skull. The elk’s energy field died out. Floydien’s eyes cooled to a panicked brown as he gawked at the floating branches--only to be pummeled several times in the face by the things. “Ooof! Auggh! Spit!” The antlers swept low, tripping his cloven hooves out from underneath him. Floydien fell down hard, his weight making the whole ship shake with a miniature thunderclap.
Shell’s horn stopped glowing. As the antlers clattered to the deck, he glanced aside and motioned to his fellow enforcers.
Getting up and gathering their weapons, the Ledomaritan soldiers swiftly and mercilessly dragged the crew of the Noble Jury into the center of the leaning deck. Props’ groaned in fitful spasms as she and Simon were shoved against Belle’s right side. Ebon and Eagle Eye were dragged and forced to sit behind her, with Ebon receiving a swift kick to the spine for good measure. And to Belle’s left--
“Ooomf!” Pilate hissed, half of his mane soaked in fresh blood. He twitched as he sat on bruised knees.
“Pilate…” Belle turned towards him, and she started to hyperventilate. “Oh, Pilate!” She leaned in, nuzzling him desperately. “I thought I had lost you! I thought I had--”
“Rrrgh!” An enforcer reached in and slammed Belle’s shattered horn with the butt of his rifle.
“Aaaugh!” Belle cried as she slumped to the top deck.
“Don’t touch her!” Pilate snarled with sudden menace. “Do you hear me?! Don’t touch a single hair on her--” The enforcer’s rifle swung again, this time across his lips. He spat blood and leaned over, sputtering.
A deep voice cleared its throat.
The bedlam died in an instant. All was wind and shuddering breaths.
Belle felt a cold, cold hoof tilting her chin up. She wearily complied, and the first thing she saw was a dangling pale horn at the end of a chain. She recognized the color instantly, and the taste of bile rose in her throat.
“My good doctor…”
With quivering lips, Belle was forced to tilt her head up. She followed the metal chain from the horn to the stallion’s scarred face.
“...I have come to collect one of two things,” Shell hummed, his one good eye twitching beneath a frazzled mane. “The Council’s target… or your cowardly spine.” He swallowed and leaned forward with a rattle of the necklace. “Do you not see? I’ve given you the gift of choice. Now…” He gritted his teeth as a hellish spark billowed behind his pupil. “...choose wisely.”
“She… she…” Bellesmith stammered between panting breaths. Her eyes darted to Pilate and the rest of the Jurists lined up beneath the trained manarifles of the collective Ledomaritans. “Rainbow Dash has… has…” Her chestnut brown eyes twitched, and she glanced up. “She’s abandoned us!”
Eagle Eye squirmed slightly, saying nothing. Ebon Mane watched with mouth agape as he embraced Props’ fallen body.
Shell stood above Belle, his eye carving a circle in the deck around her. “Has she, now?”
“We thought she was loyal!” Belle leaned up, gnashing her teeth as she spat, “But she wasn’t! She was a coward! We reached the Eastern Front, and she saw the resistance we’d be facing and she fled!”
“By wing or by hoof?”
“She fled, okay?!” Belle frowned, her eyes growing misty. “She took that heartless… b-bastard of a Searonese bounty hunter with her and the two of them flew southeast, past the front, in hopes that they could sneak quietly past Xonan territory together!”
Shell’s nostrils flared. As the horn around his neck clattered, he shuffled over, knelt down, and stared Belle face to face. The mare couldn’t help but flinch as his sullen breath cascaded across her muzzle. “Tell me, sweet sweet Doctor, would I abandon my own stallions? Even if facing the wrath of the Spark itself?”
Belle blinked, her eyes full of his scarred features and unkempt mane. She took two breaths, inhaling the rancid scent of his unbathed coat, and she whimpered, “No. No, you w-wouldn’t, would you…?”
“Then why should I believe you when you tell me that the target has done something so traitorous to her own beloveds?” Shell tilted her chin up as he hissed, “The Spark built a mirror, you see. A mirror painted with the blood of foals, and until my reflection fades…” His good eye twitched, and he almost sobbed the next few words out. “The father never yields. Never ever…” His teeth clattered, echoing the sound of the horn dangling from his neck. “I owe her that much. I owe you that much. I owe everypony… everypony who trots this world with respect and decency. The chase has to end, and only then will the blood mirror shatter.”
Belle’s brow furrowed. Her mouth opened, but she was at a lost for words. The blackness beyond Shell’s pupil was starting to consume her--
Just then, he stood up. “I gave you choices, doctor,” Shell said, his horn glowing. “And you chose the wrong one.” From beneath his uniform, a gun with a silver handle floated free. Its familiarity caused the likes of Eagle Eye and Bellesmith to gasp. “If there is nothing that I seek here, then there really shouldn’t be anything here.”
“Shell, she’s southeast with the Xonans, I swear to you!” Bellesmith exclaimed, starting to hyperventilate. Her eyes darted from the dangling horn to his face. “She’s in a giant floating stronghold run by Princess Lasairfion and they’ve captured the Lightning Bearer--”
“You’ve lied to me before. Why should I expect the truth now?” He loaded a bullet into the gun and cocked it. “Why should I desire the truth?”
“Because if the Xonans are stopped, it could end this war! Isn’t that more important than capturing Rainbow Dash--?!”
”Nothing is more important!” Shell hollered, his voice booming across the clouds. “I don’t expect you to understand! Then again, I don’t expect you to comprehend anything without a head!” He knocked Pilate aside, marched over, and shoved Belle to the floor. “Just as the target took my daughter from me…” He pressed his hoof against the back of her skull and aimed the gun barrel to her temple. “...so shall I take a beloved friend from her!”
“Belle--!” Pilate sobbed.
”Imre!” Belle shouted.
The silver gun’s trigger froze halfway. With loose magic, the weapon floated away. Shell leaned over, hissing, “What was that…?”
“I… I…” Belle gulped and glanced up at him through the corner of her eye. “I can reunite the two of you…”
Shell’s good eye narrowed.
She seethed and limped forth, “I can junction with her!” A nervous gulp. “I can open communication between the two of you. Let you hear words that she always wanted to tell her father. I… I…” She glanced at the dangling horn, shivering. “I can teach you to listen to her…”
Shell stared at her. For a moment, it looked like his eye was glistening, but one harsh blink got rid of that. “How is that even possible?” he droned. His hoof gripped the horn in a trembling gesture. “There is hardly anything left…”
“The horn is everything about a unicorn,” Belle stammered. “I should know this.” Her jaws clenched from beneath the weight of his hoof as she added, “And so should you. Even with the h-heart and the mind gone…” Her teeth gnashed together. “There is something worth salvaging.”
Shell was silent.
“Would you…. would you abandon her now, Shell?”
The stallion jerked back, his features paling. He took several heavy breaths as a cold wind blew at his mane.
An enforcer leaned towards him. “Prime Enforcer? Sir, are you--”
”Silence!” he barked, training the gun on him for a few trembling seconds. He let his face fall to the top deck as he shivered in place. After several moments, he finally calmed, and glanced up at the mare seated across from him. “What must be done? Do you need sequencing equipment?”
“What I need…” Belle glared icily as she stood up, staring fixedly at him. “...is for you to leave my friends, my beloved, and everypony on this ship alone.”
“Belle, what are you--” Pilate started.
“Do I make myself clear?!” Belle leaned forward, snarling. “If you must chase after Rainbow Dash, so be it! But if I do this for you, you leave everypony else alone!”
Shell stared at her. At last, his lips dripped. “Agreed.” He jerked aside, then motioned towards a pair of enforcers.
Two soldiers rushed up and grabbed Belle from behind. She winced as she was forced towards the skiff levitating alongside the Noble Jury’s port side.
“Belle, no!” Pilate stood up and galloped towards the sound of her scuffling hooves. “Belle, don’t do this!”
Belle leaned forward and nuzzled the zebra. “Darling, I have to. It’s the only way--”
“No, it isn’t!” he stammered, tears rolling down his striped face. “You can’t trust him! There’s gotta be another way!”
“You’re the smartest stallion in the world, beloved. But with all due respect, I thought of it first.” She smiled bitterly. She leaned forward to kiss him, but he was being yanked away by other soldiers.
“Belle…” Pilate sobbed, thrashing helplessly in the enforcers’ grasp. “Belle, I love you! Please! Don’t do this!”
“I love you too, Pilate,” she breathed, her face awash with tears. “That’s why I am…”
Ebon’s voice gasped from beyond view. Out of nowhere, Props was back on her hooves and rushing towards the mare. “Belle! Sweet, sweet Belle!” She somehow managed to reach her way through the enforcers and give the mare a tender hug. “You are so brave! So beautiful! And so… so sisterly!”
“Uhhhhh…” Belle squinted at her. “That is nice of you to say, Props--” She froze, her face blinking blankly as she felt Props’ right hoof slipping something deep into the cluster of her chestnut brown tail hairs, hidden. “Uhhh… Props?”
The enforcers forced the blonde pony away and onto the top deck. “You be a good mare, Belley Belley!” She winked through cracked goggles. “And we’ll speak again!”
“Yes…” Belle slowly nodded as she was ushered onto the floating skiff. “Yes, I think we will…”
One by one, the enforcers ditched the top deck of the awkwardly floating Jury and mounted the skiff. At last, it was Shell’s turn. He paused, staring at the injured crew members lying in separate piles across the ship. With a deep breath, he back trotted onto the miniature transport and grunted, “Back to the Steel Wing. All eyes on the doctor.”
As the skiff floated away, Belle kept her teary eyes locked on Pilate’s figure.
The zebra sat alone in the blistery high winds. As the vessel puttered away, he collapsed into a black and white heap, sobbing openly.
Belle’s eyes turned too cloudy to register anything at this point. She buried her face in a pair of quivering forelimbs. Somewhere in the midst of cold breezes and roaring manaengines, she heard Shell’s deep voice.
“Evans. This is Shell. Do you copy?” A deathly pause. “Fire when ready.”
Belle gasped, her eyes exploding wide. She spun in time to see the Prime Enforcer lowering a sound stone from his muzzle. “What… but…?!”
“We have work to do, doctor,” he said. Beyond him, the Steel Wing was pivoting so that its broad side faced the Noble Jury once again. The skiff lowered out of range. “Eyes front.”
“Shell, you monster!” Belle snarled, slapping her hooves against his muscled side. “You’ve got me for speaking with Imre! Isn’t that enough?!”
“It’s not a reunion, doctor. It’s a memorial. Nothing will bring back what the target has taken from me.”
“We had an agreement!” Belle shrieked. “We agreed that you would leave my friends alone!”
“And indeed, they will be left unbothered…” He icily turned to stare at her. “For all eternity.” He waved a hoof into the air.
Belle spun. The cannonshots masked her high-pitched scream.
All it took was two flashes. The starboard side of the Noble Jury burst into flames. The skystone buckled and the steam thrusters flew loose. Like a giant anvil, the entire ship plunged into the clouds below, falling to a burning death.
“The mirror reflects true, doctor…” Shell leaned forward, whispering into her ear as the hellish noise beyond settled. “Now you can join me and the target in the blood. We are finally equal.” He patted her shoulder lovingly. “My beloved Imre awaits us all…”
She was too busy sobbing Pilate’s name over and over, curled in a little golden ball as the skiff docked with the Steel Wing and was hoisted far away.
Hoofsteps thundered through the floorboards, drawing closer… closer.
With a flash of light, the door to the Steel Wing cabin room flew open. Belle was tossed unceremoniously inside with a breathy grunt. She leaned weakly against a wooden panel in the dimly lit recess, still trying to recover her nerves.
Shell’s frame stood like a broken obelisk in the doorframe. From the top deck, Evans trotted into view behind him.
“Ahem. Prime Enforcer, sir. Was the pegasus on board that ship?”
“She was not,” Shell droned.
“Then we are to continue with the search? Could she be on another skystone vessel?”
“The search is being put on hold for the time being.”
Evans did a double-take, his face blanching. “Sir?!”
“Set course for Far Ridge, maximum speed.”
“That… that will take us to the northern heights! That’s severely off course! After all we sacrificed, I thought--”
“My command stands, Evans,” Shell grunted. “How about you?” He turned to glare at the officer. “Are you putting those hooves to good use?”
Evans bit his lip. With a shuddering sigh, he saluted and backtrotted away. “Aye, sir.”
Belle was sniffling at this point.
Shell turned towards her. “You should be thankful, Doctor.” His eye glinted like a beacon in the sliver of sunlight wafting in. “I gave them a swift end. You had better not deceive me, or else I will not administer the same grace to you.”
With a swivel of his muscular form, Shell slammed the door and was gone.
Belle’s entire body jerked. She leaned her head back, listening to the enforcer’s hoofsteps as they grew more and more distant. She did not dare move--even to shiver.
At last, when all was dead silent, she spun around and reached into the base of her tail hairs. It took some fumbling, but she was eventually able to remove the sound stone that Props had placed in there. Squatting low, facing away from the doorframe, she wheezed desperately into the dimly-glowing shard.
“Bellesmith to Noble Jury. Bellesmith to Noble Jury! Are you there?!”
Silence.
“Noble Jury, please respond!” She began hyperventilating. “Pilate… Pilate, my beloved…” Her face caved in. She leaned over, weeping silently as her tears cascaded down her muzzle and past the sound stone against her lips. “Pilate, please… please come back to me. Blessed Spark, I beg you. I beg you I beg you I beg you…”
More silence.
Belle choked on a wailing voice. She bit on her forelimb to keep herself silent as the agonized waves ripped through her.
And then, from the darkness…
”B-Belle? Beloved?”
The mare’s breath sucked in savagely. She thrashed her head ceiling-ward with a weeping smile. Her voice cracked as she murmured into the sound stone.
“Pilate? Oh, thank the Spark! Thank the Spark! I-I thought… I thought I had lost you, darling.” She wiped her eyes and quivered. “I love you so much, Pilate. I love you and I wouldn’t know what… wh-what…”
”Shhh…” The voice coughed on the other end. “It’s alright, my love. we are… Another cough. I… am alive. I am not about to l-leave you.”
“You… you’re in one p-piece?” Belle panted between mewling breaths. “The Noble Jury survived?”
“Yes. Y-Yes, we did…”
“But, but how?” Belle swallowed hard. “How in Spark’s name did you survive?”
The zebra’s voice hesitated slightly. Eventually, he murmured, ”Not without a great price…”
Twenty minutes earlier…
“You be a good mare, Belley Belley!” Props said as Belle was led up onto the floating skiff. “ “And we’ll speak again!”
“Yes. Yes, I think we will…” Belle murmured.
“Back to the Steel Wing,” Shell said as he icily mounted the skiff beside her. “All eyes on the doctor.”
Pilate gnashed his teeth as he heard the engine of the hovercraft puttering away. Soon, the Noble Jury was alone, adrift in cold gusts, still reeling from the previous cannon shots.
“Nnngh…” Floydien limped onto his hooves, seething as he picked up his antlers one after another. “The boomers instabbied Floydien!” He kicked at a wooden panel. “Grrggh! A pox upon boomer bile tubes! Floydien’s a good mind to ram Nancy Jane into their eye sockets, yes yes?”
“We are very much lucky to be alive,” Ebon stammered. “Those cannons all but destroyed us--”
“Lucky?!” Eagle Eye barked, frowning. “Did you not see?! They took off with Belle!”
“It’s okay, everypony!” Props exclaimed, waving a sound stone around in her hoof. “I slipped one of these into Belle’s butt!”
Pilate swung his head towards her. “You what?!”
“Err… the butt of her tail, I mean!”
“Props, when they discover her with that on her body--”
“Hey! We wanna keep track of her now that she’s in the big meanie’s hooves, don’t we?!” Props managed a hopeful grin. “Well, now we can!”
“That means…” Eagle Eye let loose a breathy gasp. “We can still communicate with her! Maybe even track her!”
“Propsy, you’re a genius!” Ebon exclaimed.
Props blushed. “Only on Tuesdays.”
“Forgive Floydien if he doesn’t have time to giggle-spit.” The elk angrily marched towards the cockpit, waving away errant streams of smoke. “Nancy Jane deserves more to drift like hollow stones through the clouds--”
Two claps of thunder. Eagle Eye suddenly jerked, staring do west.
“What is it?” Ebon asked.
“Spark, spare us…” Eagle Eye grabbed the nearest pony he could--ultimately shoving Pilate and himself to the side. “Everypony brace yourself--”
The Nancy Jane veered hard to starboard. Only by the third time it had wildly spun did everyone see chunks of metal ribboning upwards into the sky. The ship was spiraling, plunging, and the sheer force of it spin was flinging every hoofed creature towards the precarious edge of the vessel.
“Spit on snow beams!” Floydien shouted from where he clung awkwardly to the doorframe of the cockpit entrance. “How much skin will they take from her?!”
“Mr. Floydien, we’re plummeting!” Pilate shouted into Eagle’s grip as the two were thrown against a railing. “Ungh! Where… where is every--” A beam slammed across his forehead, showering sparks from his runic plate. “Gaaah!”
“Props!” Ebon shouted from where he clung to a loose chunk of railing. As the clouds spun around him with blistering winds, the beam he was clinging to shifted by a foot and a half. He gasped, holding on by one hoof. “I-I’m slipping!”
“Hold on, Ebony!” Props slid over and flung her wrench at him.
The plank shattered beneath him. The earth pony went sailing into the blurring horizon with a maddening scream.
“Yuunngh!” Props extended her front body as far as it could reach.
Ebon’s hoof grabbed onto her wrench, anchoring him by a hair’s grip. The stallion flailed at the end of his hold for several frightening seconds, and then Props managed to yank him back so that the two embraced with their backs to the ship’s careening deck.
“Handsome!” Props shouted above the tumultuous noise. She winced through the blistering, whistling winds and yelled towards the cockpit. “The starboard thrusters are all shot! I think it’s ripped out the main steam rigging! We have nothing giving us either lateral or forward propulsion!”
“Floydien’s giving it all the glimmer he can!” the elk warbled back from where he fought with several splashing beams of electrical energy within the cockpit. “Nancy Jane won’t even out!” He slammed the bulkheads around him as he fought for an even grip. “Come on, beloved! Catch the wind! Catch the wind and bird bird!”
“Can we abandon ship?!” Eagle Eye shouted.
“And do what, plummet faster?!” Pilate exclaimed. “We have no means of parachuting--”
“I can see the horizon above us!” Ebon howled as mountains and treetops loomed on either side. “This is it!” He buried his face into Props’ side. “This is the end!”
“Mr. Floydien!” Pilate howled through a trickle of blood.
“Floydien can’t! Too much speed! Too much--”
Just then, everypony’s bodies shifted as the ship came to a shaky hover. Breathless, the ponies stared at each other. The horizon was locked in place, though it wobbled with every other passing second.
“Where…” Pilate stammered into the deafening silence. “How…?”
“We are twenty meters up!” Props exclaimed. “A mountain’s edge! What the McFuzz?”
“Nancy Jane…?” Floydien trotted out of the cockpit, glancing left and right. “What shines in you? Huh? How does--” His whole body froze as his red eyes locked on a site at the ship’s stern.
On a jutting beam just along the edge of the ship’s fresh gaping hole, a petite squirrel was mounted. Its body quivered violently as it spread both paws out towards the bleeding sky. Bolts of lightning shot randomly from the teslacoils mounted in its skull. With a long, painful wheeze, the rodent flexed its paws. With a lurch--at first--the ship descended, slowly, like a feather.
“We’re… we’re floating down!” Props exclaimed. “Fifty five meters! Fifty!”
“Simon…” Floydien stammered, his muzzle quivering numbly as his eyes reflected the trembling little creature. “Simon, watch the glimmer…”
“Forty meters! Thirty five…”
Floydien gulped dryly. “Watch the glimmer, little boomer…”
Simon shook. Buckled. A painful expression flashed across his whiskery face. He turned and pivoted his head aside. A tiny black eye reflected the elk from afar. His incisors twitched. A cold, shuddering breath. A tear.
“...Simon?”
That instant, bright manabeams shot out at all angles. The teslacoils along the rodent’s skull exploded. He fell like a damp brown rag.
“Simon!” Floydien howled, but then his body was flung forward as the Noble Jury beneath him plunged the last remaining distance.
The vessel fell for less than a second. When it landed, it did so with a thud, but barely a dent formed in the ship’s hull. Miraculously, it slid to a grinding stop along the foothills of the mountain looming above it. The bodies of the crew on board slumped to a stop, panting for breath.
Then all was silent.
“Nnnngh...” Eagle Eye sat up first. Wincing, he turned and gave Pilate a good shake. “Pilate! Pilate, you okay, friend?”
“It’s…” The zebra grunted as he rubbed the fresh wound alongside his skull plate. “It’s no worse than anything I’ve suffered before.”
“Just stay put, okay?” Eagle got up and galloped towards the other two bodies nearby. “Props! Ebon! Speak to me! Are you in one piece?”
“I… I think so…” Ebon grunted as he rubbed his elbow. “My leg is numb.”
“It doesn’t look so bad.”
“Yeah, thanks…” Ebon glanced aside, still shaking the cobwebs out as he sat on the slanted deck of the ship. “Propsy? Propsy, you okay, girl--”
The mare was inhaling sharply, covering two hooves over her muzzle. A pair of bright, blue eyes quivered as they looked over the ship’s side.
The ponies stood up and limped to the edge of the ship.
Positioned along the craggy rocks below, his body in a slump, sat Floydien. He was hunched over a scrap of leather with a bushy tail--a scrap of leather that refused to move. His shoulders quivered as he bowed over, nuzzling the remains of Simon with a tense, seething muzzle.
“I don’t get it…” Pilate exclaimed hoarsely as he fumbled with O.A.S.I.S. “Why is everypony so--?” His words broke apart. Tilting his head towards the mountain, he murmured, “Who was it? Which of the two…?”
“Simon,” Eagle Eye breathed.
At this point, Props was already sliding down the hull of the Noble Jury and trotting quietly up to Floydien’s backside. She fidgeted, her teary eyes hanging over a perpetual grimace.
“Oh… oh Mr. Floydien…” She whimpered slightly. After a deep breath, she reached forward and grazed his shoulder with her hoof. “Mr. Floydien, we are so… so sorry--”
“Yaaaaaaaaugh!” Floydien tilted his muzzle skyward. The air bristled with lightning as his antlers glowed brighter than the sun. Ebon yanked Props protectively back as the elk arched up and flung his head towards the mountain. Rampaging beams of burning mana flew into the rockface, pelting the crash-landed ship with pebbles and curtains of dust: a very dirty burial.
Spinning around, Floydien glared at the surviving equines, reflecting their distraught faces in his glossy, angry eyes.
“Sorry?! Nopony is ever sorry?! Only spit in the wind of glimmer!” He stomped at the rocky floor and stormed off. “Stabby stabby are the ones who should feel sorry! Sorry that Floydien is not goring them to a pulp! He swears to beloved!”
“Please…” Pilate craned his neck towards the stomping hooves. “Mr. Floydien--”
“Meat!” Floydien’s voice echoed back, wavering more and more with the distance the anguished sound carried. “Meat is all Floydien is! The meat of Deep Ridge! Allow Mr. Floydien to rot, you stupid, stupid boomers!”
And once that thunder was over with, the others hovered in silence, their shadows converging over a lone tuft of bushy hairs fluttering in the plateau’s wind.
Everytime she moved, she heard the rattling of metal chains. As shivers ran through her body, she heard the echoes of her agonized breaths against the tight walls.
Something warm and wet trickled down her forehead and over her muzzle. She opened her eyes. The world around her flickered red once… twice. She saw glowing manacrystals propped up on columns situated around a metal dais built beneath her.
More trickling; Rainbow Dash licked her muzzle, tasting blood. A throbbing sensation coursed through her body, fixated in two points across her skull. With a groaning breath, she hunched forward--only to find herself dangling along the lengths of her chains. She wasn’t standing, and yet she wasn’t hanging either. All four of her legs as well as her two outstretched wings were looped with metal shackles bound to a cubicle framework surrounding her atop the circular platform. As her eyesight fell to the floor, she spotted twin puddles of blood along the edge of her shadow.
Glancing back up, she saw her reflection in something. A frazzled pegasus stared back, and two knobs of gnarled brown bone were protruding from the pony’s forehead. It was around this time that Rainbow Dash realized that it was her ruby pendant--hovering in a manafield about two meters directly ahead--that was reflecting her.
Her neck was bare.
“N-no… no!!” Rainbow Dash shrieked. She thrashed left and right, rattling the chains. But her restraints pulled tight from all angles, and she couldn’t move her body a single inch. She hissed and wheezed as a nightmarish pain echoed through her skull. Her ears twitched from what could best be described as a burrowing sound, and she felt the two bony protrusions slowly twisting like wooden screwdrivers piercing the layers of her of her skin. “Guhhhh-haaaugh!” Her eyes flickered red on yellow and back to their usual ruby, in constant flux. “This… this isn’t right! I shouldn’t be here! I-I shouldn’t be like this!”
”La’gnimaasaal thr’aala’kameel thien sel’uusuru, hra’ma ja’lessurem tren’tassan.” A regal voice drifted into the chamber.
Rainbow Dash looked up, breathless.
Princess Lasairfion trotted in from a pitch black corridor adjacent to the platform. She was followed swiftly by the Xonan interpreter, who was already speaking for the silkily robed monarch.
“And yet it is still unharmed, the little pony?”
Rainbow watched with twitching vision as Lasairfion stared at her in her state and calmly spoke, “Th’nna Oss Tray Oh tren’tassan messul m’beraasa diulen hassul thriel.”
“Then why should it restrain from the voice of Negu’n?”
“This…” Rainbow hissed, floating helplessly in the web of chains. “Th-this is not power! This is chaos!” She gnashed her teeth as more blood poured down her head like an anointing. “It is very, very dangerous! I’m not being fearless by avoiding it! I am being smart!” She motioned with her head towards the pendant. “Now put that darn thing back on me and let’s be done with it! I’m serious!”
Lasairfion took a deep breath as she trotted around the circumference of the dais. Her voice drifted towards Rainbow’s ears like liquid gold. The interpreter tried in vain to emulate her Majesty’s grace.
“We knew it was coming because Negu’n felt it. Both beat with the same heart. Both breathe from the same skies. But where Negu’n has only slept, Oss Tray Oh has flown.”
“What…” Rainbow squeaked from the pain wracking through her body as she tried to keep her eyes on the Princess. “What are you trying to get at?”
Lasairfion shuffled to a stop and stared fixedly at the pegasus. She spoke in a firm tone.
The interpreter droned, “It needs it to commune with Negu’n, so that the glory of the Goddess will bridge the gap between the world and the sky.”
“You… you expect me to help you…?” Rainbow Dash was too exhausted to frown. “Like this?!”
Lasairfion smiled, her eyes glinting in the manalight as she spoke.
The interpreter said, “It will not help the Princess. It will not help the Goddess. It will help bring love and peace to this continent.”
Lasairfion leaned forward until she was practically purring into Rainbow’s twitching ear.
“It is not the pendant that saves it. It is loyalty that keeps it in this state, just as it is the Goddess’ noble devotion that keeps it in one piece, though infinitely pierced.”
“Infinitely… p-pierced…?” Rainbow Dash murmured.
By this point, Lasairfion was pacing towards the corridor from which she came. She paused, however, to stroke a gentle hoof across the surface of the Element of Loyalty. She spoke in a distant tone, though her regal smile never left.
“Breathe with Her. Commune with Her. Then She will learn to fly. There will be no need of pendant, nor fear. All will be the glory of Negu’n, as brought by Oss Tray Oh.”
The Princess left, and the interpreter followed her. Barely ten seconds after their departure, a loud mechanical grinding could be heard. The dais lit up beneath Rainbow Dash. She watched--breathless--as the entire circular platform spun in a slow circle. It lowered like a reverse drill, suddenly sliding down a deep cylindrical passage.
“Wh-what’s going on?!” Rainbow’s voice cracked as the chains rattled and rattled. If it weren’t for the glowing manastones around her, she’d be cast in darkness with her blood and pain. “Where are you sending me?! What is all this?!” She shook and grunted, but to no avail.
It was then that the cylinder gave way, and Rainbow Dash found herself lowering into a deep, cavernous abyss within the very heart of Sacred Hold. The air flew out of her lungs and her ears folded foalishly atop her head, for a loud, haunting noise was reverberating all around her.
A loathsome, wailing song.
Through the shadows below, something shifted, something cold, dark, and massive.
Rainbow Dash gulped as the platform rotated to a jolting stop. “Hoboy…”
After the cylinder came to a stop, Rainbow Dash hung between the tight chains, shivering. Darkness loomed all around her. Then, something shifted again from the pitch black ether. Loud grinding noises issued across the cavern, like the scraping of mountains against one another. She heard a voice—louder than a million muffled screams—and it shook her already throbbing head to the core.
Rainbow Dash winced. Her eyes flickered yellow and red again. Something glinted off the ruby lightning bolt of the Loyalty pendant ahead of her, and she was forced to glance forward.
Something was glowing from down below. A sea of dim silver shapes wobbled left and right, glowing closer, clearer. She saw pale white obelisks, blanketed in powdery sediment. The longer she saw them shifting and darting about in the darkness, the greater a bone-chilling shiver overcame her insides.
There was a prolonged, ragged breath. Some hideous wind billowed against her multicolored bangs, and the voice that came with it shook her fractured, mutating skull.
"Mrrmmmmmmmdoes it live? Hrmmmmmdoes it love? Doessssssss it haaaaate?"
The entire platform beneath Rainbow Dash shook with timely thuds. Something was marching towards her through the darkness, its massive legs pounding into unseen rock and granite.
The dim light intensified, a sickly pale glow of blue and aquamarine shine. Then two gnarled trees were hoisted up from below. Only—they weren't trees. Their jagged branches stretched upwards and outwards, dangling with brittle white crystals just as pale as the shards lodged in the creature's humongous backside.
As the head raised into view, Rainbow Dash squeaked inwardly. The massive thing had antlers. On top of that, half of its face was overgrown with soiled brown goat fur. She was almost too stricken by these details to bother taking in the snout of the creature as a whole. It was then that she saw the pale blue scales, the flaring nostrils with burning red embers, and at last two sets of reptilian jaws that opened up with teeth large enough to bite chunks out of mountainsides.
"Mmmmmmdoessss it feeed...?" The mouth of the thing lunged forward.
"Nnngh!" Rainbow Dash's neck tilted away. However, the jaws stopped just meters away from her Loyalty pendant.
Slowly, with tiny shivers, the creature's head drifted back. A pair of slitted eyes opened, paler than a full moon. As a ragged breath came from the creature, its sockets flickered red-and-yellow and back to the cataract-gray haze.
"Httttkkk!" The immense beast reared back, exposing the full length of its decrepit body and its two weakly thrashing tails. Over a hundred large chunks of white crystal were lodged in its backside, shoulders, and sides. As it tilted its snout aside to gaze at Rainbow Dash closer, the pegasus could see new and fresh obelisks of pale crystal pushing out from the cracks in its scales like alabaster postules. "No... thisssss one does not feed. Hckkkk-Mmmmmmlove is strong. Hate is—mmmmmmmm—strong..." It held a large, scaled hand over Rainbow's figure while its nostrils inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled—summoning a cyclone with each heated gust. "It smellssssssssnkkkt—of alicorns and flame. Mmmmmmm-the wombbbb of this false world. Hckkkkkktt!" A ghostly glow shot along the largest of its spine-pierced crystals. "Axan... Axannnnnnnn-beloved sisterrrrrr. You were here. Yessssss-snkkkt... you were here..."
Rainbow's lips pursed. In spite of her harrowing predicament, she stammered towards the beast. "You're... you're not a serpent goddess! You're a Divine!" She squinted at the white shards protruding all along the dragon's scaled figure. "Chaos... strips...?"
"Hrkkkk-Mmmmm-Austraeohhhhhh..." The dragon spread a pair of taggered wings, each leathery spoke dangling with craggy crystals of unnatural luminescence. "The flame of the gears and spokes of the wombbbbbb..." Her two jaws clenched and unclenched, drooling bile and blood. "My brood is good, for my brood has found itttttt. There is mmmmm-magic left on this false world. And where there is magic, there is hope, Austraeoh..."
"Magic... Magic..." Rainbow Dash thought out loud. More blood trickled down her forehead. She fought her way past a splitting headache, then gasped. "Nevlamas!" Her eyes darted up weakly. "You're Nevlamas! The Divine of Magic!"
"Axan spared herrrrr. But why...?"
"What..." Rainbow's jaw quivered. "What happened to you?"
"Of courrrrrrse. She rememberssss. She remembers where the flame goessss." Nevlamas leaned her mutated heard forward until her antlers were stretched on either side of the platform, shrouding Rainbow in even thicker shadows. "A blessinggggggg. A blessing of love and hate..."
"What are you doing?" Rainbow hissed through another wave of pain. She heard a crackling noise from her forehead. The hint of two bony stalks flickered in her upper peripheral. She glanced at her own forehead, then at the enormous draconian antlers looming on either side of her. "Oh, buck, no..."
"Does it understanddddd? Hckkkk—the whispers from beyond? The truth abouttttt love and peace...?"
"Nevlamas, listen to me!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked. "Something's wrong with you! These Xonans! These nasty, nasty unicorns have done something horrible to you! I know! I've met your sister Axan! The Divine of Flame! She wasn't screwed up with chaos shards like this! She was normal!"
"Austraeohhhh doesn't understand—Snkkkkkt!" The pale slits flickered red and yellow again. Rainbow's loyalty pendant rattled in its brace like an heirloom possessed. "My brood found me this wayyyyyyyy. My children carry me into greatness..."
"The friggin' heck are you even talking about?"
"She knowsssss... she will know..." Nevlama leaned forward so that its breath was almost inhaling the pegasus. "One of the same... the Divine and the eastward pony..."
"No!" Rainbow Dash suddenly snarled. Her lips bled as two of her teeth suddenly turned pointed and scraped along her lower muzzle. "We are... nnngh... n-nothing alike!" The knobs along her skull grew two more centimeters, and she sputtered into the trickling blood. "Hckkkkt!"
"One breath... summoned from the darkness... The shards around Nevalamas' neck lit up like a crystalline halo, shining a beacon onto Rainbow's likewise mutating figure. "And she will know her place. She will know... the path of Harmony..."
At that precise moment, bolts of electrical mana flickered between Nevlamas' antlers, and Rainbow Dash was in the center. The beams covered her in a pale blue flash!
"Aaaaaaugh!" Rainbow Dash flew backwards and gripped her skull, only to freeze in place. She blinked her eyes open, glancing at her flapping wings on either side of her. Twirling around, she found herself hovering in the center of a starry sky. "What... wh-what the heck?!"
"Deep in its equine heart, it knows," chanted a booming voice from beyond the cosmos. "The heartbeat to this world is a false one. It masquerades as truth beneath the veil of dull flame and rusted metal."
Rainbow Dash spun in circles, panting. She felt along her neck and forehead. The pendant was missing, and her growing antlers had disappeared.
"Austraeoh knows... she knows that the world is dying. And it is dying because the ring is not whole."
Thunder cracked. Rainbow Dash winced. A heated wind pushed at her tail, and she found herself gliding forward, diving past stars and constellations. As she approached the speed of light, an inconceivably enormous structured loomed before her, flickering like a crescent against the nebulae around it. But as she came closer, there were multiple explosions. With a burst of lavender light, what was once one became twelve, and they spread apart like leaves across a frozen black pond.
"The universe desires harmony. It craves the singularity, the beautiful peace and love of oneness, where everything is perfect and everything is assured. This is not possible in a world shattered like brittle stone. I have witnessed this, heard this, for it resonates through the leylines of magic like discordant notes, and I am the Divine of magic. I know that this world cannot be harmonic. The planes are like pieces to a song, and they are all scattered. I have taken it upon myself to rebuild it with a righteous chorus."
With another flash of light, Rainbow Dash found herself orbiting a lone crescent of continental metal. Only one end was lit by the Sun and Moon, while the other lingered in perpetual darkness. However, on all sides of the floating landscape, the cosmos had been blotted out by an anomalous cloud of distorted shadows. Figures darted in and out of the miasma, their serpentine bodies crowned with fangs and antlers as they flung their jackal screams into eternity.
"And yet, since the Sundering, the predators of malice, the chaos lords, have sought to shatter the bridge between harmony and eternal silence. They are selfish, wicked souls. Born from nothing and capable of everything. Ravenous demons, agents of cacophony. They rape and defile the broken pieces of the song, simply because they can. Their blood is the very essence of chaos. They know no love or peace. Blessed Endrax, beloved sister. You thought you could kill them. Your foolishness is enamoring, but it spells death to this shattered plane. That is why I chose to do that which you could not, which none of our Sisters could..."
Before Rainbow's twitching eyes, a draconian figure flew into the clouds of chaos. With an ear-splitting scream, Nevlamas' body burrowed into the onyx mess, and soon the darkness split apart, illuminated from within like a bone pale candle inside an obsidian cage. Pieces of dragoneqi flew every which way, and yet the aura that polluted them soon imploded, flying back into Nevalamas' figure. She hissed and shrieked, but ultimately curled up into a limp ball as her flesh split in a hundred places with brittle pale shards of metal and crystal protruding through her scales.
"And in the haven of my enemy, I realized the truth. The chaos lingers only because there is something for it to feed off of. Whatever caused the Sundering, it was simply hungry... craving pain and agony and suffering. If the feast was accelerated... if all the food was cleared off the table... then what would give chaos a reason to stay?"
With a bellowing shriek, Nevalamas thrashed her limbs in every direction. The darkness shattered, and in its wake Rainbow Dash found herself sailing down a metal trench at blazing speeds. Pedestal after pedestal of lavender flame soared past her, their flames flickering in and out of existence.
"The beacons... they burn for no one. Even you, Austraeoh, have found them weak and frail. They wither and fade like all light, for this world has a problem. It doesn't know how to die quickly enough. I now know what the chaos lords knew: that the only way to reunite all life is to eliminate all life. The ring was sundered for a sin so old that not even the Divines remember it. If we destroy the harborers of discord, then we create a vacuum, and all that can exist there is harmony."
In another flash of cosmic brilliance, Rainbow Dash had a vision of the twelve pieces of the ring floating together. Barren and stripped of color, the clouds of chaos dissipated, leaving the ring alone. As the stars dimmed in the distance, the twelve pieces made contact, and the lavender glow burned like a righteous beacon.
"And in that new world, from the clean slate of desolation, a new song will be born. There will be peace. There will be love. For the ark of all life will have been given a second chance, a righteous chance. This is the only path to redemption, Austraeoh. It is up to you and I to accelerate what has already gone into motion."
"No... No!" Rainbow Dash shook her head and yelled, "You've got it all wrong, Nevlamas! Don't you get it?! You've been twisted! Polluted! Maybe you started out trying to find harmony, but these... these chaos yahoos! These brothers and sisters of Discord or whatever—they messed with your head! Who ever heard about rebooting harmony by destroying everything?!" She panted and wheezed into the surmounting darkness of the universe. "You are a Divine of Magic! Not chaos! Fight it, Nevlamas! Fight it, and see what you've done to this... this poor, poor continent of warring ponies!"
"It is far too late for that. I have heard the song. The Princess found me in the ashes of madness. She cleansed my body and conveyed my new power into righteousness. Her children are now my children, and my brood will usher in the chorus of harmonic glory."
"Darn it, no!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Lasairfion is full of it! I don't know how she found you, but she's using you, Nevlamas! You smell the scent of Axan on me, don't you?! What about Celestia?! Or Luna?! Or Whitemane?! Remember who they are and who they stand for! You cannot rebuild this world through chaos! Destroying all that lives is not only super lame—but it's the total opposite of what you first started out to do! There's nothing about that's peaceful! Nothing about it that's loving! Nothing about it that's... that's... loyal—!"
Flash!
Rainbow Dash gasped. She sat in the center of Ponyville, and the air was filled with screams. She looked up in time to see her five friends explode, one after another, bathing the grassy floor with brittle white ash. Applejack's howl left a lingering noise in Rainbow's ear, like a tolling bell. The pegasus screamed into the deathly snow, and blood flew as antlers spread from her forhead and fangs grew from her muzzle.
She collapsed on the floor, writhing as her feathers peeled away, revealing leather wings. A serpent's tail thrashed left and right with tufts of goat fur. In front of her quivering face, the dust collected together, pooling into one amorphous blob of pale ash. Rainbow Dash looked at it, and her red-on-yellow eyes reflected a pulsing lavender glow.
From the ashes of her friends came a thick tome covered in ancient runes. The pages spread open, and from the words there came a cloud of chaotic sediment that mutated into Nevlamas' altered face. The two sets of jaws moved in time with the ghostly voice.
"Do you hear it, Austraeoh?! Do you hear hear the song and understand the cost of restoring harmony?!"
"Shut up!" Rainbow Dash's voice cracked as she lunged forward. "Leave me alone!" She clamped the book shut, hugging it close to her body. The pendant of loyalty materialized around her neck. With one pulse, it dragged her eastward like a leesh at a thousand miles per second. She soared through marshlands, forests, mountains, deserts, and cities. At last, tracing the fractured pathways of her mind, the book carried her into the crater-strewed wasteland of a perpetual battlefield. Ledomaritan and Xonan ships waged war on either sice of a gaping crevice. Rainbow Dash dove right in, carrying the book towards an exposed pedestal of the machine world, where the lavender flame erupted all around her, rekindled.
Flash!
All went dark. Rainbow Dash hung limply off the chains, her eyelids fallen shut as her bleeding forehead drifted in the currents of a breath from beyond.
"Mmmmmmkkkkt! A crevice... a crack in the wombbbbb of the world. So, I see." Nevlamas' battered body sunk back into the depths below. "Thankkkkk you, Austraeoh, for now we know where to send our brood... and the righteous venom of the song."
As Nevlamas slinked away, the cylinder hummed, raising Rainbow's unconscious body back up towards the summit of the cavern from whence it came.
“The warrior,” Nightshade said as the ponies all huddled inside the prison cell. “The one named Dalen--formerly ‘Straker.’”
“What about him?” Basso muttered.
“He is not quite with it,” Nightshade nibbled on a ration of moldy bread, swallowed, and said, “Mentally, I mean. The stallion is apparently struggling to reclaim a birthright that was once his, but was stripped of him due to unpreventable circumstances.”
“Why should we care?” Zetta remarked. “The pony betrayed us all. Let him rot in his own troubles.”
“The reason why we should care, my little pony, is because he’s made the error of exposing us to a vulnerability.” Nightshade’s cold eyes reflected the equines in the other room. “And when a pony willfully exposes a chink in his armor, that typically means a cry for help.”
“What would a Xonan like Dalen want from us?” Zetta asked in a whispery tone. “He’s betrayed us and sent all of our fellow enforcers to Spark-knows-where!”
“Yeah, he’s done nothing but herd us around like sheep since the Lightning Bearer was taken!” Basso said.
“The Madame is right on the noggin’, though,” Zaid said, stifling a yawn from where he was slumped in the corner of the cell. “That dude seems totally out of sorts. Ain’t nothing worse than being distracted on the job. If you ask me, I think it’s a matter of not liking his boss. Heh…” Zaid smirked. “I’ve been there.”
Zetta squinted at him. “I can’t imagine you ever having a job.”
“I usually have multiple ‘half-jobs.’ It all comes together in the end.”
“So, let’s say this is true,” Basso remarked, rubbing his muzzle. “If Dalen needs something, how can we take advantage of that?”
“I’m not all that certain we can,” Nightshade murmured.
“Then why’d you bring it up?”
Nightshade nibbled on some more bread and said, “Because it’s simply an observation worth noting. Every other warrior on this floating structure desires glory for their esteemed goddess and nothing else. But Dalen--this one stallion--cannot share that glory. No one pony can be completely selfless and humble all of the time. He’s falling apart at the seams; I know it. And yet the Xonans have entrusted him with the security detail over the book of runes. It seems like an opportunity too great to pass up.”
“Well, I’m afraid we’re going to have to pass it up,” Zetta said. “Not much we can do from in here. If Rainbow Dash’s Searonese friend was to pull off a trick--”
“Yeah, those mares are made for each other!” Zaid sat up. “But we haven’t heard anything yet! Which means--”
“Something terrible must have happened to one of them,” Basso said. He gulped. “Or both.”
“Listen to me,” Nightshade said in a firm tone. “We cannot rely on both of those mares exclusively.”
“Why not?” Zaid’s muzzle twisted. “Haven’t they caused enough explosions?” He smirked at the others. “I like to rate ponies based on their explosions-per-minute quota. Y’know, EPM?”
“Their luck will run out,” Nightshade said. “Assuming it hasn’t already. As for the rest of us…” She pointed at her stubby horn. “We need to use our intellect and our wits to get out of here.”
“But you said it yourself!” Zetta exclaimed. “None of us can reach Dalen!”
“That’s because he’s suffering from the same xenophobic mentality that possesses the bulk of his brothers and sisters. He’ll never trust a Ledomaritan, be it an enforcer, a technician…” She glanced aside at Zaid. “...or whatever the blazes you are.”
“I’m a temp worker.”
“Most certainly…”
From a few feet away from Zaid, Kera looked up, shivering slightly.
“Yes…” Nightshade finished the last of her bread, gulped, and said, “So long as none of us have tattoos or a brand of the Goddess Nagu’n on our flanks, then I fear we have no alternative but to wait here and see what fate destiny brings.” With a blink, her eye darted to the side, looking squarely at Kera. “If only our good fortune matched our courage…”
Kera bit her lip. She shivered some more, hugging herself as she fought to avoid Nightshade’s gaze.
Not long after, a loud rumble echoed throughout the chamber. The bars rattled while the confiscated materials on the table beyond the cell began shaking in their containers.
“What… what the heck is going on?!” Basso exclaimed.
“Earthquake!” Zaid squeaked.
“We are in a floating mountain, imbecile,” Nightshade droned.
Zaid blinked. “Skyquake!”
“Unnngh!” Zetta huddled, clutching her head as her horn glowed in random spurts.
“Zetta!” Basso held her, steadied her. “What is it?”
“The… the wailing noise…” Zetta squealed, her eyes tearing. “It’s louder than ever!”
The entirety of Sacred Hold rumbled around them, and then everypony felt their organs shifting as the whole room leaned a few degrees to the side.
“Fillies and gentlecolts…” Nightshade stood up, her eyes sweeping across the stone ceiling. “I do believe we are moving.”
Glowing serpents shrieked and twirled around one another, breaking the clouds up in the gray sky. Xonan battleships spread apart, giving the floating mountain a wide berth.
With the sounds of muffled thunder, the ginormous shape of the Xonans’ Sacred Hold pivoted northwest and accelerated towards the valley beyond the nearest mountains.
In the distance, the tell-tale signs of exploding shells lit up the smoky horizon.
With limply trotting steps, Ebon Mane shuffled up a cleft of rocks overshadowing the crash-landed Noble Jury. He adjusted the bangs of his mane in the breeze as he approached Eagle Eye and Pilate.
“Props… uh…” Ebon kicked at a few loose pebbles. “Propsy says it’s definitely repairable, but it’s gonna take her a while. She can make a rough patch for the hull along the starboard stern. That’s not the big issue, she claims. The hard part is fixing the steam propulsion. The network of pipes was kind of a junk job to begin with, something to temporarily replace the book of runes. So, having to fix it now is almost as hard as rebuilding from scrap.”
“Does she need our assistance with it?” Pilate asked, his head tilted eastward.
“She could use a helping hoof, yeah,” Ebon said, nodding. “But the heavy lifting is gonna be tough, what with… with…” He bit his lip.
Eagle Eye glanced between the two stallions. “Well, I never expected to hear myself say this, but we’ve got no excuse to go soft.” He turned towards Pilate specifically. “You’ve got a technical mind, Pilate. Maybe you can direct all of us as we assist Props with the labor.”
“I’ll be glad to do what I can,” Pilate replied. “As far as O.A.S.I.S. will allow me.”
“That would be much appreciated.” Ebon smiled hopefully. “We’ll get the Noble Jury up in no time! You’ll see! It will be as if…” His words trailed off. With a nervous breathed, he leaned forward and craned his neck to look past Pilate’s shoulders.
Off in the distance, a familiar elk could be seen along the hilly slopes, kneeling before a fresh mound of dirt.
Ebon bit his lip. “Is… is he doing better now?”
Pilate sighed. “He’s quieter now, for what it’s worth.”
“Are…” Ebon fumbled slightly. “Are you doing okay, Pilate? I mean… h-have you--”
“Have you heard from Belle at all since earlier?” Eagle Eye asked.
“Yes.” Pilate slowly nodded. “She…” He gritted his teeth. “The Steel Wing is headed to some place northeast of here, a place called ‘Far Ridge.’ Supposedly there’s an abandoned facility there with sequencing tools and other mana-driven devices.”
“And she’s going to try and help Shell to sequence with Imre?” Eagle Eye blinked. “Imre was Shell’s daughter?!”
Pilate said nothing.
“Well…” Ebon Mane exhaled. “At least we know she’s still alive.”
“Yes.” Pilate nodded. “But for how long?” He tilted his twitching ears towards the stallions. “He’s obviously not kept his word to her. How’s he expected to abide by any promises?”
“He strikes me as a stallion focused on his own interests alone,” Ebon Mane said.
“He strikes me as friggin’ nuts!” Eagle Eye’s voice cracked.
Ebon frowned and continued speaking, “So long as he’s made to believe that his best interests are being pursued, I think he’ll refrain from hurting your beloved.” He smiled gently. “Belle’s a genius of a mare, Pilate. She’ll know how to protect herself.”
“Until when?” Pilate murmured. “We mount some sort of glorious rescue? Rainbow Dash is far away. Our Searonese bag of tricks is also missing. We’re all down one supremely powerful telekinetic. And the ship…” Pilate shook, quivered, and groaned. “Spark alive, our ship…”
Ebon and Eagle Eye exchanged glances. Eventually, Eagle trotted over and placed a hoof gently on the zebra’s shoulder. “We’ve been through worse scrapes before. I know that’s hard to believe, but after having dealt with Killas and murderous foxes and exploding zeppelins…” He smiled gently. “I think I can take on the world, and I know that the rest of our friends can too.”
“You mean like what Simon attempted to do?”
“He… saved us, Pilate.”
“And I would gladly give my life up ten times over…” The zebra glanced blindly over his shoulder. “Just to know that my beloved is safe.”
Ebon cleared his throat. He shuffled forward and said, “What is it you’re always telling the rest of the Jury? Not to panic?”
“It’s not fear that grips me right now.” That said, Pilate shuffled quietly forward, navigating the loose rocks and pebbles with beams from O.A.S.I.S.
The other stallions stood in dull silence.
Floydien’s antlers cast a web of shadows across the ground. As a cold wind blew in random bursts, he sat along the edge of the plateau, hunched, his muzzle just inches from the fresh grave before him.
After a while, hooves scuffled to a stop behind him.
A voice murmured, “You have given us your gifts, your talents, and even your ship.”
Floydien tilted his head up slightly. Two dull eyes stared into the east horizon.
Pilate stood like a striped shadow behind the elk. “You were there for me when I was alone and helpless,” the zebra murmured. “You went out on countless limbs to save those most dear to me.” He sucked his breath in and said, “But I never… ever wanted you to give up this.”
Floydien’s eyes gazed into the stony earth yet again.
“Nothing… in life can excuse the loss of someone so close to us…” Pilate hoarsely said. “So tender. And when it happens… there’s the need for excuses. But I have none to give, my friend.” The runes along his plate dulled as he sat back on his haunches. “I’m so sorry that this happened, Mr. Floydien. I know that what Simon did was brave, but I keep going back in my mind and wondering how I could have prevented it somehow. And all I can think of is… is…”
Pilate clenched his teeth. Moisture lined the edges of his clear eyes.
“It… it is my fault…” He shuddered. “It is my fault for ever meeting you, for letting you get entangled in the perilous insanity that my life has become. Sure, you may not have gotten your Nancy Jane back, but perhaps that would have been a good thing. You could have lived another life, a safer one, cleansed of all the monsters that butchered the parts of you most precious. You could have washed clear the scars of Deep Ridge, instead of just making them bleed all over themselves. I…”
The zebra sniffled. He burrowed his face in two forelimbs as the the stallion wept openly.
“I could have given you so much better, Belle. Instead, it’s this nightmare all over again, my beloved. I was supposed to be the ship’s navigator. I should have known the skystone would have triggered an attack. I should have foreseen it. It’s my job, and I let you fall into the hooves of that monster again…” He seethed and whimpered. “We shouldn’t just stayed in Gray Smoke. We never should have come this far. We never should have pierced the wicked skies. Not for a day… an hour… a second…”
At that precise moment, a pair of cloven hooves hoisted Pilate to all fours. The zebra teetered, tilting his head breathlessly towards the elk.
Floydien leaned in with a scowl. “Little boomer did not save the stripes so that the stripes could drown in spit.”
Pilate gulped and murmured, “Mr. Floydien…?”
“A head of metal does the striped boomer possess. It’s not carved. It’s not pointed. It knows only the glimmer and none of the stabs.” Floydien leaned forward and whispered into the zebra’s ear. “A sharpness of dreamly teeth, that is what striped boomer has. Best to keep it that way, yes yes yes?”
“I… I…” Pilate shook his head. “Mr. Floydien, I-I do not understand.”
“Neither does Floydien understand,” the elk said, his eyes lost before the weight of the mountains around them. “The song in boomer breath. The taste and warmth of a beloved…” His muzzle loosened. “A true, true beloved.” After a few blinks, he said in a firmer tone, “But striped boomer knows, and is boomer’s job to live in the glimmer.” He shook his head. “Nancy Jane isn’t shattered, and neither is Floydien. After all, Floydien’s beloved forgave him a long time ago.” He trotted past Pilate.
Pilate stood, mouth agape. “Forgave?” He twirled about. “Forgave you for what?”
Floydien grinded to a stop. He turned and frowned. “All that Floydien has left is breaking stabs. And the biggest stabby-stabby of all has a fissure with Floydien’s name written on it.” His teeth produced sparks against one another. “Now, is striped boomer going to help Floydien or will Floydien have to bury him too?”
Pilate wiped his cheek dry. With a shuddering breath, he nodded. “You can count on me.”
“Good,” the elk said in a grunting tone. “Because it is difficult for Floydien when stripes stand under cloud cover.” He motioned as he broke into a gallop towards the Noble Jury. “Come through swift swift. The blonde boomer waits for no one.”
The battlefield lit up with bright streaks of surging mana.
One by one, Xonans fell to the ambush as the rifle blasts ripped into their flesh, fetlocks, and skulls. Those lucky enough to have avoided the first barrage of Ledomaritan gunfire galloped over the bodies of their comrades and lined up beside a stone embankment along the edge of a sundered plateau. Several of them shouted in terse, monosyllabic grunts before half of them pulled loose strips of bright silver metal from their uniforms.
At the front of the Ledomaritan ambush, a grizzled soldier shouted at his fellow stallions. “Don’t let them summon! Hit ‘em dead! Hit ‘em dead now--”
It was too late. Two Xonans caught ablaze like living candles, their tattoos shimmering against the dull shadows of the overcast sky. With hideous snarls, they came out from hiding and threw their upper bodies forward. Energy ribboned out from their body markings like liquid silver, coalescing into a river of nebulous snakes. These chaotic serpents grew fangs and bristles along their bodies as they leapt on the line of manariflers.
“Stand your ground! Fight them back! Fight--”
With banshee cries, the chaos monsters ripped their way through the battalion. Two enforcers immediately imploded into fountains of bloody pulp. The serpents burst through their flesh, their jaws brimming with loose muscle and tangled flesh.
Screaming, the Ledomaritans pulled a hasty retreat, hovering the rifles besides their skulls as they fired at the otherworldly reptiles chasing after them.
“Regroup!” One of them shouted. “Regroup by the crater west of the treeline--”
A serpent darted around, dove low, and took out his left front leg with one bite.
“Aaaaugh!” He collapsed on his bloody stub, dropping his rifle with a clatter. “Sp-spark!” His face contorted in agony.
A stallion rushed over to his side and tried pulling the stallion up.
“Nnngh--Leave me!” He panted, mistily eying a throng of more beasts slithering his way. “Leave me! I’ll only slow you down!”
“That… ain’t h-happening!”
“Dammit, I gave you an order--”
“Enforcers!” The other shouted as he cradled his rifle over the wounded stallion’s shoulder and aimed at the incoming monsters. “No more running! We got ‘em in our sights!”
A collective war cry sounded over everypony’s heads. The stallions made a last stand, unleashing all of their manarifles’ energy into the attacking throng of glowing pale monstrosities.
Three of the snakes exploded into brittle dust and glowing ribbon The rest coalesced into a giant wyrm. The large thing’s scales reflected the blasts as it sped around a fallen log, plowed through a mound of dust, and sprang towards the defending stallions with a ravenous shriek.
The injured equine and his comrade winced, preparing for the worst.
Just then, a heavy body charged from the opposite hill, slid to a stop, and unleashed a shotgun blast into the snout of the summoned serpent.
The creature flew back, smashing through a hollowed out tree trunk. It twirled around, leaking ethereal silver energy for blood.
Breathless, the weary soldiers glanced aside.
Josho stood up, using the butt of his crystal shotgun for leverage. “Unnngh… Friggin’ Hell, I’m out of shape…”
“Who in the Queen’s name are you?!” the injured captain hissed.
“You’re welcome,” Josho grunted. His eyes narrowed on the writhing serpent as it coiled its whole body up and stared angrily at Josho’s meaty form. “You guys might wanna step back. What happens next could be either hilarious or super wet.”
The voices of shouting, confused Xonans could be heard in the distance. Josho looked out the corner of his eye and saw summoners concentrating with glowing horns. He looked to the left in time to spot the nebulous serpent open its gaping jaws.
“What’s the matter?” Josho spat out the side of his muzzle. “Don’t know a Spark forsaken snake charmer when you see one?”
The creature reared back, flexed its translucent muscles, and sprang forward. As soon as its body impacted Josho, the stallion fell back and wrapped a hoof around the thing’s scaly neck.
There was a flash of light.
Both Josho and the wyrm disappeared.
The enforcers blinked in confusion.
“Where in Spark’s name…?”
Thunder rippled overhead, but somehow it sounded different than normal shelling.
“Look above!”
“By the queen’s bridle!”
The injured captain glanced heavenward with weary eyes.
“Rrrrr-raaaaaaugh!” Josho was falling with the serpent, all the while he pumped his shotgun full of furious mana into the serpent’s gaping jaws. Blam!Blam!Blam! Shot by shot, the summoned chaos fiend ribboned apart, its meaty bits dissolving into thin air. At last, when it landed, it was with a wicked splash of all its fleshy entrails splashing every which way. Soon, Josho stood in a miniature crater, his body covered with dissolving effluence.
The Xonans beyond the hillside stared with gaping jaws.
The enforcers were no less stunned, which is precisely why Josho glared at them the first thing he opened his eyes. “What are you standing around for? Share the murder, kiddies.”
The captain--twitching in pain--caught the flabbergasted Xonans out the corner of his eye. “Due south! Twenty meters! Take ‘em out!”
The enforcers crouched low, squinted down the sights of their rifles, and unleashed a punishing barrage of manafire.
The Xonans were caught unaware. Their horns snatched off and their throats collapsed from direct impacts. They soon fell into meaty piles, murmuring into their blood and glowing tattoos as death and fear consumed them.
For the briefest of moments, that little patch of the battlefield fell silent.
There was no time or energy for cheering. The surviving Ledomaritans somberly stripped their dead comrades of ammo while tending to their wounded captain.
“Augh! Mmmf…” He hissed as they swiftly cauterized and bandaged his dismembered limb. “Friggin’ tattooed monsters. Leave me with only three hooves to kick your flanks? Damnation!”
“Well, if you’re not the sporty type,” Josho grumbled as he holstered his shotgun into his saddlebag before rubbing his aching horn.
“You…” The captain squinted his way. “You’re no mercenary.”
“You mean I couldn’t get paid for this crap?” Josho glanced his way while weathering a headache from his leyline entanglement. “Well, shucks. I bet your rations suck to high hell.”
“It takes a pony with experience to do what you just did,” the captain hissed. “And only Ledomare trained stallions to teleport.”
“Well, it sure wasn’t a walk in the park to master the crap, I’ll tell ya that much.”
“Thanks for coming in when you did,” the captain said, being helped into a limp hobble by his fellow soldiers. “We’ve been losing ground for months now. If we had more stallions like you, though…”
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m one in a million,” Josho said, trotting forward under the echoing thunder of distant shells. “And so’s my old friend.”
“Huh? Who?”
“Oh, just a stallion with whom I’ve got a hollow bone to pick.” Josho took a deep breath and glared. “Seclorum. Prime Enforcer Seclorum. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the guy.”
A bitter snicker ran through the ranks.
Josho glanced left and right. “I was simply being sarcastic. I wasn’t looking for actual snickers.”
“You from the Council or something?”
“Why? I’m guessing I look fat enough.”
“Well, are you or aren’t you?”
“Nope. Just an old companion of his hoping to talk some sense into him.”
“What a shame.” The captain grunted as he and his fellow enforcers began trotting north. “If you were from the Council, then that might mean you could have done something truly useful.”
“Like what?” Josho asked. “Given him more supplies?”
“No. More like put a bullet in the cowardly stallion’s dense skull.”
Josho blinked. “Hmmm… sounds like Seclorum alright. Where can I find the melon fudge?”
Dalen sat before a shrine inside a small rock enclosure. Propped up against a set of candles was an engraving made of several tattooed unicorns standing as a group. He lowered his muzzle, mumbling quiet prayers to the streams of incense rising around him.
A series of scuffling hoofsteps interrupted his meditation. Clearing his throat, a Xonan grunt spoke towards the soldier from afar. “Haav sveen dreed thuun hrass thien, Dalen Xon-Nagu’n. Gremm seen trentte rekk thaym.”
Stifling a groaning noise, Dalen spoke out the side of his muzzle. “Rekk thaym vrien? Draas trentte rekk nuln?”
“Kera Tin Mehjj.”
Dalen’s eyes opened. He turned and glanced over his shoulder. “Kera niul trentte?”
“Dreit.”
The stallion stared into the wall. After a few breaths, he picked up the engraving, clasped it shut, and trotted firmly out of the sanctuary.
As soon as Dalen entered the prison cell, his ears were assaulted with a hideous wailing noise. The soldiers standing guard were gripping their agonized forehead. Even some of the pilfered belongings on the table rattled.
“Nagu’n!” Dalen hissed as he shuffled towards the barred group of ponies. “Bleen haahk trentte theem sneel?”
“Jaas ren kein, Dalen Xon-Nagu’n,” the messenger muttered as he trotted beside him.
“Hrmmm…” Dalen stood before the bars, narrowing his eyes.
In a far corner of the cell, Kera stood hugging herself and literally sobbing her skull off. Tears ran down her tattooed face and pooled on the stone floor. The Ledomaritans had all distanced themselves from her, including Basso and Zetta, who stood with nervous fidgets. Nightshade was rubbing her aching head while Zaid paced around like an expectant father.
“You! Thank the monkey gods!” Zaid rushed towards the bars and pressed his cheekbones to the door. “She won’t stop sobbing up a monsoon of salt! I think her tattooed genes have kicked in or some crap! The filly’s a goddess-damned siren, I tell you!” He reeled back, rubbing his head and hissing. “I totally picked the wrong friggin’ week to quit the cider!”
“That all sounds rather tragic,” Dalen coolly said with dull eyes. “Just what am I expected to do about it?”
“I dunno, dude! Do a Xonan mind-meld with her or some crap!” Zaid’s voice cracked. “Take her out serpent-hunting or get her a new tattoo of a frost wyrm on her butt or something! Bond with her! She’s driving us all bonkers! And according to my former boss, I was pretty bonked as it was already!”
“I’m quite sure I had already made her that offer.” Dalen’s brow furrowed. “And she personally requested to be positioned here, as if just to spite me.”
“But I-I was wrong!” Kera suddenly scampered to the bars, sliding on her slick tears. “Dalen, please forgive m-me! You were right!” She clasped the bars, her moist green eyes quivering as she fought snot and hiccups. “You were r-right! I don’t know what I’m doing here! My life is a waste! I’m throwing away my Xonan heritage! And for what?! Moldy bread and a stone floor to sleep on?!”
“You didn’t seem to be complaining before,” Zetta said, rubbing her already aching head. “By the Queen’s braces--as if the wailing song wasn’t enough…”
“You ever woken up and realized all the mistakes you made?” Kera snorted and gazed up at Dalen with puppy dog eyes. “I was so… so wrong to have thought I stood a chance with these… these…” She spat onto the ground. “Ledomulien trenttitties!”
Dalen raised an eyebrow at that.
“Please…” Kera sniffled, calming slightly as she gazed intently at Dalen’s eyes. “Will you let me in? I was so confused earlier. But now… now…” She smiled weakly. “I wanna know about my culture. Third born nor not--it doesn’t matter. I am a daughter of Xon and I wish to understand my place. For once in m-my crummy, short life, I wanna belong to something!”
Silence.
Eventually, Dalen turned and nodded towards a fellow guard.
The stallion and his associate practically scrambled to get the door open. As soon as it was a single inch ajar, the filly burst through and clung to Dalen’s forelimb, shivering.
“Oh thank you! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” She wept tears of joy and gazed up at him. “I promise you that I won’t let you down!”
“And what of your winged companion?” Dalen leaned forward. “As soon as the Oss Tray Oh realizes you’ve abandoned her--”
“Pfft! Rainbow Dash was asking for it! The stupid waste of spectral sperm!”
“Hmmm. Charming.” Dalen motioned with his horn as he turned towards the exit. “Come. The least we can do is get you cleaned up.”
“Oh… a bath!” Kera stammered. “What I wouldn’t g-give to feel clean again. And to be away from… from all this…” She turned and looked behind her. “...this misery.” For the briefest of moments, her sobbing ceased, and she smiled… then winked.
Zaid did a double-take. “Uhhh…”
Basso leaned towards the middle of the prison cell. “Did anypony else see that?”
“I most certainly did,” Nightshade murmured, her mouth agape.
“You say that as if it was meant for you,” Zaid muttered.
”Props thinks she can patch up the hull damage, but the steam engine is going to take an extra long period of time. We’re grounded for the time being.”
Bellesmith nodded, lying in the corner of the dark room as she cradled the soundstone in her forelimbs. “And what of Floydien?”
”Mr. Floydien is… angry.”
“But isn’t he always angry?”
”It’s different this time. It’s focused. It’s channeled. I shudder for anypony within earshot if he were to cross paths with your captor.”
Belle sighed. “Yeah, well, Pilate, he’s not the only one ready to blow a gasket at the sight of the enforcer.”
”How are you being treated, Belle? Has he hurt you terribly?”
“I… uhm…” Belle fidgeted. “I’ve been left alone for the most part.”
”Please don’t hide the details from me. I want to know everything.”
“I am being honest, beloved. Shell is… distant.” She gulped. “It’s almost as if he’s not really there. Quite likely he thinks that he’s done the worst he possibly can to me so far. I’m expected to bend psychologically to his will now.”
”Though I shudder to make the suggestion, it is probably prudent of you to play along, Belle. So long as he expects your fealty, I suspect he’ll keep you in one piece.”
“I don’t think I even fit much into the equation. He’s obsessed with his daughter, Imre.” Belle sighed. “May the Spark liberate her soul…”
”Did his love bring about her death?”
“I’m still trying to figure it out, Pilate. But however she died, it’s traumatized him intensely. He’s intent on communicating with her through sequencing. He’s in denial of a great deal of guilt. If it was any other stallion, I’d almost pity him.”
”Is that even possible?
“What? Sympathizing with Prime Enforcer Shell? Spark, no!”
”No, I mean sequencing with Imre so soon after her death.”
Belle bit her lip. “Theoretically, yes. I’ve heard of cases where it’s been done before. What matters is having the right equipment. And this Far Ridge place…” She shrugged into the shadows. “I simply do not know.”
”You just keep him preoccupied, Belle. We’ll find a way to get to you. I swear it.”
“Pilate, how can that possibly be an option?” Belle exclaimed. “It’s been proven time and time again that the Noble Jury is no match for battleships, and with the skystone on the fritz, what chance is their in outrunning Shell’s… erhm… shells?”
”We simply can’t leave you in his clutches!”
“We’ve been heading north, Pilate,” Belle said. “It’s in the opposite direction of where you need to be going.”
”Where… we need to be g-going?”
Belle’s face hardened as she said, “Go save Rainbow Dash, Pilate. Get her, Roarke, and Kera out of their predicament. Then you can worry about me.”
”B-but--”
“All that matters is Rainbow Dash, Pilate,” Belle said. She smiled painfully, her eyes moist. “Bring the wind to her wings, and she’ll take care of the rest.” The mare shuddered. “She always does.”
Silence.
”You have always been a beacon of hope and courage for me, beloved.”
“Now now, Pilate. Don’t speak with such finality.”
”I-I cannot help it…” His voice wavered with emotion. “Every time the stone goes silent, I’m convinced it’s the last time I will ever hear from you. I can’t sleep… can’t think straight, knowing you are where you are…”
Belle clenched her eyes shut, taking a few seconds to compose herself. Bravely, she changed the topic. “Any news from Josho?”
Pilate hesitated a bit. ”N-news?” He cleared his throat, and his voice evened out slightly. ”Not exactly. Because of the entanglement, I get… uhm… s-sensations, mostly. I feel a jolt every now and then, as if his pulse is quickening. I also find m-myself getting a little bit short with the other crew members.”
“Short?”
”Ebon asked me if I wanted dinner delivered to my bunkroom and I responded with a blunt request indicative of our pegasus friend.”
Belle managed a weak smile. “Yes, well, Ebon does have a habit of being nosy.”
”He only means well. He’s such a fantastic, sincere friend. Everypony on board is so fantastic, Belle. You… You should be with us. By the Spark, you should be…”
“I’m working on it, Pilate. It’s not gonna be easy. I have to find a way to convince Shell that… that…”
Silence.
”Convince him of what, beloved?”
There was a series of hoofsteps trotting towards the door to the room.
“Pilate, I have to go.”
”But Belle--!”
“Manawave silence!” She sneered, shoving the glowing shard into the fibers of her tail hairs. “I mean it!” She cleared her throat and folded her legs beneath her.
With a creaking noise, a wave of bright light wafted over Belle’s figure. She squinted into the outside world.
Evans’ shadow stood in the doorway, flanked by two guards. “We’re here,” he said in a dull tone. “The Prime Enforcer wants you.”
Belle exhaled slowly as she was hoisted up on all fours. “I’ll try to contain my excitement…”
“Ungh!” Belle grunted as she was shoved towards the edge of the Steel Wing’s starboard side. Her eyes were still coming into focus from so much prolonged isolation in the dark. Only when she stood before the ship’s railing did she finally capture the landscape in all its glory.
A bitter chilled tundra stretched beneath her. Pale blue and green grass loomed beneath sheets of permafrost. Sticking out of the wide-stretching plains, a shattered mesa lay in two shattered pieces, as if cracked down the center. Built into the fissure of the two halves of the miniature plateau, several tall concrete buildings stretched for the sky. Multiple platforms with decrepit mana turrets lay on the southern and eastern faces of the structures, their rusted machinery overrun with vines and moss.
“Everything is a graveyard, dear doctor.”
Belle jerked, glancing to her side. Shivering.
Past a line of enforcers standing at attention, Shell limped into view. The first thing the mare saw was the glint of the sunlight off the horn necklace rattling beneath his fuzzy chin.
“From former bastions against our enemies to the chambers where we hold our hearts,” he muttered into the icy breeze. “Life is full of strategic retreats, and all we have to return to is decay.” He tilted until his good eye rested on Belle’s figure. “Even if all you do is flee towards one horizon, the past has a way of catching up to you, exhuming old wounds.”
Belle took a deep breath before eventually muttering, “Leave it to you to know the heart of a coward.”
“A pony with nothing to lose has nothing to fear.” He drifted forward until she could smell his rancid breath. “You and I have that in common now. Do we not?”
Belle avoided his gaze. Her tail twitched, struggling to conceal the sound stone in her possession.
“But you and I are going to bring something back,” Shell said in a breathy tone. “The scabs of this war won’t stay concrete forever, not so long as you and I have gifts to share.”
“Sequencing won’t bring her back, Shell,” Belle said. “If it’s closure that you seek--”
“The target remains at large,” Shell said. “I’ll know no closure until she does.”
Belle’s lips pursed. “But I thought you said--”
“Don’t misunderstand me, doctor,” Shell tilted her chin up as he stared at his reflection in her gritting teeth. “If I learn anything from this, it’ll be what to tell her when I reel her in. It’s not just my own vindication that I seek, but Imre’s as well.”
Belle hissed through her clenched jaws. “And… if y-you’re wrong…?”
“For your sake, let’s hope that I am not.” He shoved her towards the railing and shouted over the ship’s deck. “Prepare the transport!”
Dalen trotted into the lavish parlor. He came to a stop, blinking.
Several Xonan servants stood in separate corners of the room, putting the finishing touches on their dutiful tasks. The ponies--all of them mares--dried a bathtub and gathered towels and cleaning oils. A pair stood at the back, hanging and straightening a traditional Xonan gown. Then, on the edge of a bed towards the side of the guest room, Kera sat, freshly scrubbed and dried. She winced as a mare squatted behind her, brushing the last of several long-lasting tangles from her mane. The filly’s hair hung straight for the first time in her life, resembling emerald silk.
Dalen rubbed his chin as he studied the scene. At last, three of the maidens trotted up and bowed before him. “Freet suun mekh thrien trentte bleen, Dalen Xon-Nagu’n. Punh reet fran slemm?”
“Nak veen.” Dalen bowed in response. “Haav reen trentte blunn vaar. Keev shreen rekkh maak glann.”
They bowed again--shortly this time--and trotted off with pleasant, humble smiles. In the meantime, Dalen approached Kera who was still wincing from the last of her tangles being brushed free.
“Do you now doubt our hospitality, child?” he remarked.
“I… uh…” She gritted her teeth. “I-I really could have gone without the two-hour bath and--ow ow ow ow!” She hissed, her entire head witching. “Skull-pull. Ungh…”
“A filly your age has no business wearing her mane in any other fashion,” Dalen said. He received a confused glance from the mare. Looking back at her, he swiftly murmured, “Hraak siul trentte muln riff thiul Ledomuul.”
“Ah…” The mare nodded, smiled, and resumed brushing.
“What’d you tell her?” Kera asked.
“That I speak to you in the unholy tongue of Ledo.”
“Ah…” Kera winced past another tangle or two. “Of course you did.”
“Feeling better now that you’re on the other side of the bars?”
“Oh!” Kera smiled as plastically as she could. “You know it! Those… f-filthy creeps! I couldn’t stand to be in the room one second longer with them!”
“Oh really…?”
“It took me such a long time to figure it out. But they’re all just wanting to save their own skin! They don’t care about me! They don’t care about… about…” Kera fidgeted. “Our Goddess.”
“Don’t you mean my Goddess?”
“No, dude! Ours!” Kera’s green eyes sparkled. “I wanna know more about Nagu’n! I… like… f-feel it in my heart! Her song is calling to me n’stuff!”
“I see…” Dalen slowly nodded. He then glanced over at the mare. “Rekk lum thiul cass thraat. Bleen.”
The maiden nodded. “Dreit, Dalen Xon-Nagu’n.” With a graceful bow, she got up and trotted away on dainty hooves.
Kera watched, her mouth hanging curiously agape. Once she was alone in the room with the stallion, his shadow loomed over her.
“Listen, child,” Dalen spoke, his eyes hard. “I did not become a double agent on board the goddess-forsaken Lightning Bearer because of my brawn. I’ve created veils of deceit so complicated that it would turn your precious mind inside out. I know that you are making an attempt to take advantage of my good nature and Xonan sensibilities. I think it would do the both of us a lot of good if you were to bring the charade to a close.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?” Kera’s teeth sparkled beneath twitching eyes. “I wanna be a true Xonan! Through and through! That’s all!”
Dalen’s gaze hardened like a chest full of daggers.
Kera bit her lip. With a sigh, she leaned back on the bed, pulling anxiously at her straight-as-razor mane. “What g-gave it away?”
“There was simply nothing to give,” Dalen said. “The child I first spoke to--the angry, resentful, and confused child--that is the true you, and I very much doubt that it has changed.”
“Yeah, well, what about the confused part?” She gazed sadly up at him. “You believe in that, don’t you?”
“I once did. But you’ve proven to be anything but cooperative in the past.”
“Well at least I have somepony that I believe in,” Kera said with a frown. “What about you?”
“My devotion to Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu’n, has not changed.”
“Then why haven’t you decapitated me by now?”
Dalen’s eyes twitched. “I beg your pardon?”
“You found me out, didn’t ya?!” she barked, shrugging her forelimbs to the walls of the parlor. “I tried to deceive you! I took advantage of your good grace and all that junk! Shouldn’t you be punishing me for being… uh… tainted by Ledomuul or some crap?”
Dalen sat back with a sigh. His eyes looked distant. “I do not harm foals…”
“I think it’s a whole bunch more complicated than that!” Kera hopped down from the bed and stood before him. Their eyes were almost at even level now that he was sitting. “I think you need somepony to actually care for!”
“What I do and the way I do it--I do it for my family,” Dalen said in a gravelly tone.
“Yeah!” Kera nodded. “Cuz so long as you’re stuck scrubbing the floors beneath other ponies’ hooves, they’re forever gonna be Third-Born, right?”
Dalen bit his lip.
“See, I’m not the only pony who’s see-through!” Kera smirked proudly. “You’ve got a ton of holes in ya, dude. If you were living out on the street like that, the other alley rats would rip you to shreds! It just ain’t safe! No wonder they haven’t promoted you yet!”
“They haven’t lifted me and my family back to glory because of my failure.”
“Nah, I don’t think it’s that clear-cut,” Kera said. “Zytharros and the other dude? They just don’t care! That’s all there is to it, huh? You’ve bent your back for them time and time again, and yet they don’t give you the light of day?”
Dalen was starting to breathe faster. His hooves scuffed against the floor as they coiled inward.
Kera saw it. She saw everything. “I think… what you need is somepony to talk to about this, dude. How long have you been going at it alone?”
“It is not something to be discussed with you,” Dalen muttered. “You deserve a righteous life, and it’s evident to me that all you wish to do is sneak your way around such an opportunity to gain what you desire.”
Kera leaned back, fidgeting with her mane. She then blinked and said, “‘You belong to something far greater and older than yourself.’”
Dalen’s eyes darted to meet hers.
“That’s what you said, y’know,” Kera remarked with a smile. “You’ve always been hell-bent on righteousness and restoration. If the other ponies can’t give it to you, then the problem is with them. Not you! Don’t you deserve to be Second Born again?”
“That is ultimately up to the glory of Negu’n,” Dalen said, though his breath shuddered at the end of the proclamation.
“Something tells me somepony isn’t all that sure about it,” Kera said. After a few seconds, she trotted over and plopped down beside him. “So, what’s the harm in telling me all about it?” She smiled up at him cutely. “What’s the deal with this Nagu’n Goddess anyways?”
Dalen glared down at her. “The righteous fury she possesses would crush your fragile little mind.”
Kera’s tattooed brow furrowed. “Try me.”
Dalen’s ears folded nervously upon witnessing that.
“Forty-three,” Zaid said dryly to the prison ceiling. “There are… forty-three bars enclosing the cell that we’re in. The ceiling has seventy-two panels, and there are th-three big cracks in the floor.” He swallowed as he sat up with his back shivering against the wall. “If you multiply forty-three by seventy and divide it by three and then produce the square root of all that…” His voice trailed off as his eyes grew wider.
“What…?” Basso looked over, weakly. “A pattern?”
Zaid whimpered, then glanced back. “It means I haven’t eaten anything in nearly twelve hours.”
Basso groaned and face-hoofed. He looked over towards Zetta who was shivering. “Zetta. Zetta, are you doing alright, filly?”
“The song h-has changed,” she remarked, curling her forelimbs towards her chest. Basso leaned over and hugged her, keeping the mare warm. “This Nagu’n… she’s determined to get someplace, and she’s bringing the entire Sacred Hold with her.”
“Maybe she’s ready to finish us off,” Basso said. “Or… or the war, I mean. Whoever these ponies believe in, it’s gotta be super tough.”
Zetta sniffled, her eyes moistening. “I wish it would just finish us off.” She whimpered. “Nopony else. My family is only two hundred miles from the front. If… if it reaches them…”
“Shhhh… Don’t even talk about that, Zetta.”
“I… I-I don’t know what to do, Basso,” Zetta quietly cried. “I feel like I heard this coming from leagues away. We should have done something to prevent it! I should have d-done something! And now… n-now my family… every family in Ledomare is going to suffer…”
“Don’t give into fear. We still have some aces in the hole.” He turned and looked over his shoulder. “Don’t we?”
Nightshade glanced back, saying nothing.
“Don’t look at me,” Zaid muttered in mid-yawn. “I only play Unoats.”
Basso groaned again.
Nightshade slowly stood up, wrapping a moth-eaten cloak tighter around her figure. “The cultist is onto something, though.”
“I am?”
She squinted through the bars of the place. “They haven’t fed us in nearly a day. For that matter, none of the guards have shown up in hours.”
“Yeah?” Basso muttered. “So?”
“So… they’re obviously detained by something,” Nightshade said. “It’s almost as if… as if…”
A scuffling noise.
Nightshade looked up.
Two guards fell from the ceiling, landing on the floor with a clatter of loose armor. Zetta gasped and Basso stifled a yell. The other enforces began murmuring in shock.
“Damn, if they haven’t got the weirdest sprinkler system in here!” Zaid spat.
“Shhhh!” Nightshade glanced from the unconscious guards to the shadowy space beyond the bars. “We’re not alone!”
Sure enough, with the twanging lengths of black cables, a metal mare descended from the ceiling.
“Hey!” Zaid brightened, galloping up to the bars. “It’s Sexsteel! Yay for Sexsteel!”
Roarke glared at him, then took in the rest of the ponies whose faces reflected off of her lenses. She glanced behind her, checked for signs of movement, then slithered towards the cell itself.
“Please tell me that you’ve come to break us out of here!” Zaid pleaded.
“Not right now,” Roarke’s voice rang forth, though somehow still maintained a whisper. “We are too deep into the Hold for a successful breakout of this many ponies. Besides, I suspect a moment of opportunity will arise that we can take advantage of.”
“Moment of opportunity?” Nightshade whispered. “Like what?”
“Hey!” Basso pointed as Zetta stared at the metal mare with a gaping expression. “I know that pony! She’s the one who spoke to us from beyond the wall of the other cell we were in!”
Roarke glared over her shoulder. “He will be getting out last.”
“Oh…” Basso’s ginormous earlobes drooped. “I’m sorry… for whatever I did.”
“I don’t get it!” Zetta squeaked. “What is this? Have you come to break us out or not?”
“All in due time.” Roarke gulped. “You ponies need to know…”
Nightshade leaned forward. “Know what?”
Roarke gazed weakly from beyond the bars. “What I have witnessed… of this ‘Nagu’n.’”
“Br-bringing home the southern b-birds, a pegasus’ job begins,” Rainbow Dash murmured as blood trickled down her face. The branches from her forehead had reached a good four inches by now, and the coat along her body had grown dull and shaggy. “And cl-clearing all the gloomy skies to let the s-sunshine in…”
A wave of pain flew through her. She writhed against the metal shackles chaining her to the dais. Her panting figure undulated with tiny whimpers.
“We m-move the clouds…” She gulped. “And melt the white sn-snow. When the sun c-c-comes up… its warmth and b-beauty will… glow…”
Hoofsteps.
With a weak sniffle, Rainbow Dash glanced up. Her foggy vision twitched from red to yellow and back. Three shadowed figures trotted into view, standing just beneath the anchored pendant of Loyalty.
Two Xonan guards in royal armor trained their poleaxes on the bound, mutating pegasus. In the center, a familiar equine in a gray robe trotted up.
“M’sella’nar vm’beraat’sun calla’sath,” the mare said, her blank muzzle moving like a ghostly mouth against the darkness of the chamber. She trotted a full circle around Rainbow Dash, observing the effects of chaos on her body. “Hmmm… Lasairfion Xon-Nagu’n rekk’arthan syl’rak’tuh drem’a’darr.”
“Dreit, trelliuth massadreen,” one of the guards said, nodding.
As the mare shuffled to the side, her robe unfurled slightly. A fetlock with red, yellow, and green bands flashed in the ruby light.
Rainbow’s breath sucked in. “You…” Her eyes darted up as she hissed in a dark voice. “You are n-not the interpreter…”
The two guards rattled in surprise, gazing straight at Rainbow.
The mare looked at her, then at them. She squatted low as something exploded from within her robe.
Th-Thunk! A steam bolt flew into one of the guards’ neck.
“Hckkkllt-pbkkkktkt!” He gurgled on his own blood.
“Ledomulian trentte!” The other rushed the mare, only for her to blast up on steam vents and drape the cloak over his face. He slammed blindly into one of the poles chaining Rainbow in place. As he stumbled backwards, ripping the robe free, the mare landed on his backside. In place of tattoos, she carried a complex rigging of steam tools and hydraulic cables. None of this weighed her down from the act of stabbing him repeatedly in the neck with a serrated dagger.
“Hraauckkt--Aaaughhhlghkkt!” He fell down like a wet sack of meat. Panting, the mare dismounted and sheathed her bloodstained weapon.
Rainbow Dash was already rattling furiously in her binds. “You?! How… how in the flying f-feather did you get here?!”
“I’m not the one you should be pointing a hoof at,” Khao said as she icily turned around and glared at the pony. “Didn’t I warn you, Austraeoh?” Her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t I warn you that horrible things awaited you in this part of the world?”
“Darn it!” Rainbow Dash hissed, her eyes rolling back as more blood trickled down her forehead. “I need to get free!”
“No,” Khao shook her head. “First, you need to see.”
Doors opened magically as Dalen trotted into a sanctuary full of murals, burning candles, and penitent ponies. “For eons, the Goddess Nagu’n has watched us from above the clouds. Only recently has she made herself visible before us. This, of course, was made possible by the glorious intercession of Princess Lasairfion, blessed by Nagu’n.”
“Yeah, I got a question,” Kera muttered, fidgeting alongside him in a silken gown. “Why am I wearing the dress?” She bucked one rear limb while fussing with her straight mane. “Guh! Darn it…”
“Shhhh…” Dalen adjusted the folds of his robes and knelt directly in front of a wall etched with carvings. The chiseled lines depicted a regal Xonan unicorn standing before the edge of a cliff, casting a spell as a ginormous serpent Goddess is summoned from the depths. “From the great abyss, Lasairfion heard Nagu’n’s song, and she reached out to him. In Her infinite grace, Nagu’n chose to spare Lasairfion’s head, and that is when she acted as the bridge of communication between mortals and the Serpent Eternal.”
“But… uh…” Kera fumbled to kneel down beside him. “Where does Rainbow Dash come into all of this?”
“The Xonans are the oldest civilized equines to live in this area,” Khao explained. With careful precision, she unclasped the fasteners anchoring the Pendant of Loyalty to the rigging right in front of Rainbow Dash. “They are so old that they share much of the same language as the Angels.”
She paused, turning to glare over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash’s bloodied face.
“However, like most heathens, they fail to understand the substance behind the ancient words. They believe that Austraeoh--the spark and the flame bringer--exists simply as a means of supporting their dragon goddess Nagu’n. You see, in their eyes, you are a false Harbinger. They’ll use you for their own wicked means. They already have.”
“Unlike you, huh?” Rainbow Dash seethed as another trickle of blood ran down her muzzle. “Nnngh… wh-what makes them so much more wicked than the Herald?”
Khao actually shuddered as she said, “Well, for one, we have never been prone to sacrifice.”
Rainbow’s ruby eyes blinked. “Sacri...f-fice…?”
“I was inspecting the prison bay,” Roarke said in a cold tone from beyond the bars. “Where they were keeping your fellow soldiers bound.” She gulped. “And I heard much screaming coming from a source of glowing light at the far end of the corridor. Now, I am not unaccustomed to atrocities done towards helpless ponies. I’ve come from a very merciless society, after all. But this…” She hesitated.
Basso and Zetta listened, breathless. Zaid fidgeted while Nightshade remained absolutely silent.
Roarke glanced up at them, her lenses glinting coldly. “This was different…”
”Blaak jeem rev sleen!” A Xonan shouted at the top of his lungs, aiming a scimitar forward that brimmed with hissing ghost-serpents. “Kaak suun maal brett, Ledomulian trentte!”
Several haggard Ledomaritan soldiers backtrotted from the various guards and their intimidating weaponry. They were forced into a tight cage lined with rusted black bars. When they were so thickly stuffed inside the compartment that they could barely move, the Xonans finally sealed it from the outside.
It was then that a large humming noise could be heard over the rattling length of the cage. The stallions sweated and panted in abject terror. Finally, one of them took a fateful glance upwards, and he let loose a shout. Several blue crystals were sparkling overhead, arching towards one another with electrically bright fingers. A grand shout rose through the group, but just as their paranoia hit a fever pitch--
Thunder. The crystals overloaded, and every stallion vanished with one swift scream.
“That, at least, would have been a mercy killing,” Roarke said. “But I suspected there was something more at hoof. After all, I had seen stranger things in my travels. So, I inspected the cavern beyond, and my assumptions were verified. The stallions weren’t being eliminated. They were being teleported. But, as for their destination…”
Roarke stopped in mid sentence. She stared at a blank spot in the floor of the prison. Slowly, her metal plates began to clatter.
The Ledomaritans landed across a metal slab. They grunted and hissed in pain as they struggled to stand upright. Only when they were on all fours did they realize how tall the metal walls were over three sides of the slab. The barricades were practically unscaleable. As they trotted around, several of them slipped. They looked down to see the surface of the slab coated in day-old blood and strings of vomit.
Hundreds of voices rose in a furious chatter as several of the ponies began hyperventilating. When they looked up, all they saw was pitch-black darkness, save for a pair of floating crystals that dimly lit the nightmarish platform upon which they stood.
It wasn’t until a full minute into the plight that a stallion or two dared to peer over the edge of the slab that wasn’t walled. When they gazed down into the abyss, they saw nothing at first, but then something bloomed from the darkness: scant sources of a dim silver glow. For a few seconds, they could make out white shards waving in the shadows.
That was when the slab started to move. The walled ends began rising and rising, tilting towards the unseen ceiling above.
The gravity of this situation thickened by the second. With each degree that the slab tilted, the stallions found it harder and harder to stand upright. Several of them cried in panic; the entire group scrambled towards the far end, struggling with their hooves, tails, and horns to grip onto something. Limbs slipped, throats shrieked, and bodies plunged into the darkness below.
As more and more stallions fell, a loud blood-curdling growl filled the cavern. A pair of slitted eyes opened from below, and that’s when the screams truly began.
“Aaaaugh!”
“What in Spark’s name is that?!”
“Climb! Climb!”
“I can’t! It’s too slippery!”
“Move, soldiers! Move!”
The air heated up like a furnace. Steam rose from the stallions’ twitching flesh as Nevlamas raised her burning snout. Bleeding crystalline dust, the ravenous Divine let out a furious roar before opening her twin jaws at the base of the tilting platform.
One by one, like scrambling mice, the stallions lost their grip and slid into her waiting mouths. Their screams only ended when their flesh did--burning to a crisp inside the crucible of her draconian throat. The feeding went on for far too hellishly long, with the last few brave Ledomaritans clinging to the very edge of the platform as they dangled above their end.
“Aaaaa-haaaugh!”
“Don’t let go! Don’t--”
“Blessed Spark, save us!”
“I don’t want to die! I don’t--”
“Yaaaa-aaaugh!”
The last of the sobbing stallions fell, their bodies curling into fetal positions as the bright white flame boiled their blood inside out.
“Lasairfion said that Negu’n had spoken to her in a dream,” Dalen murmured as the candles reflected off his distant eyes. “Our Goddess was no longer willing to wait idly by while we suffered at the hands of the Ledomulien oppressors. She had come to… absorb all suffering… and absorb all hate.”
He gulped dryly and glanced aside at Kera’s flabbergasted expression.
“That is the only way we’ve turned the tide in this war. She became a bastion of pain and vengeance, so that we may no longer suffer, but instead allow Her righteous fury to consume our enemies, in every sense of the act. She devours the Ledomaritan heathens and turns their filth into the power of the serpent.”
“Which is really just a lie that the tattooed bloodmongerers have subscribed to,” Khao said as she approached Rainbow Dash with the pendant. “The fact is, the Divine had corrupted herself long ago. She began an exhausting crusade against the powers of chaos, but gradually lost that war over time. Nevlamas is now an avatar of chaos, much like she is a goddess to these dogmatic fools.”
“Then Lasairfion is mistaken to have found what she thought was ‘Nagu’n,’” Rainbow Dash wheezed out loud. “She’s leading her own ponies astray.”
“Don’t be weak-minded, Harbinger,” Khao said with a cold glint to her eyes. “Look at this place that we’re in. Witness the monsters at the Xonans’ disposal.” Slowly, Khao shook her head. “No. Lasairfion is using Nevlamas to her own ends. How else would the monarch have risen to power when it was not her dynasty’s time to rule?”
Slowly, Khao reached forward and clasped the pendant of Loyalty around Rainbow’s neck.
Rainbow shuddered as her eyes flickered back to solid ruby. The shaggy coat hair along her limbs began shrinking into their roots.
“Nevlamas is no longer in control of herself,” Khao said. “She’s been fed too much.”
“The ponies…” Roarke sighed as she ran a hoof through her mane. The metal ringlets rattled, adding a cold punctuation to her tale. “They are the fuel to her spawnlings. All this time, the Ledomaritans have been battling their own kind--but in ghostly, nightmarish form.”
Lying at the bottom of a craggy cavern laced with steam vents, Nevlamas shuddered from snout to tail. As a dull moan emanated through her leprotic body, she allowed dozens of metal-suited Xonans to trot across her cracked scales.
The equines hissed through gas masks as they poked and prodded the Divine’s body with glowing white blades. At spots where the pale aura was the brightest, the Xonans congregated. They dug into the pliable flesh, parting it like shredded blubber as hard structures poked out with a burst of steam and silver blood.
One by one, giant white crystals protruded from Nevlamas’ flesh. Through the translucent surface, the battered and decaying forms of ponies could be seen. The Xonans crowded around these shards and zapped them with sparkling mana-sticks.
Suddenly, inside one of them, a partially-digested Ledomaritan’s eyes opened. He writhed and squirmed, his meaty stubs dissolving from underneath him. He tried to scream, but all that came out was red mist and scraps of entrails--all of which soon dissolved in a bright white fire that consumed him like melting ice.
Soon after, that shard--and all the ones alongside it--turned to a pure alabaster sheen. Only then did the masked Xonans pull the structures bloodily from the flesh of their Goddess.
Throughout the Sacred Hold, these large crystals were conveyed. Hundreds of Xonan grunts and laborers transferred them to a forge where they would be smelted into liquid form, then poured into framework that converted the essence into miniature strips.
Through hammer and chisel, the chaos metal was refined, then mutated into swords and necklaces and totems of various shapes.
At the far end of the elaborate industry, robed Xonans breathed into the finished strips, and glowing white serpents materialized around them, orbiting the priests as they cast a ghostly song into the air of the cavern.
“The Ledomaritans have been fighting an insurmountable war for the past few years,” Roarke explained. “And now, with fresh new legions at her disposal, the Xonans’ Goddess is going to stage a battle to end all battles with the Confederacy.”
Zetta clung to Basso. The other soldiers shivered as they heard Roarke’s words.
“Already, this mountain--the Sacred Hold--is heading towards Prime Enforcer Seclorum’s coordinates. I’ve caught word that Lasairfion herself intends to pilot the Lightning Bearer in order to pierce enemy lines and surprise the opposition. Between the captured battleship and an undead dragon incarnate, I doubt there’s a chance of Ledomare--or any civilization--surviving what happens next.”
“We will finally bring an end to this horrible conflict,” Dalen said, shutting his eyes in the candlelight. “And Nagu’n, with Lasairfion at Her side, will usher in an new Age of Xon.”
Kera blinked. She swallowed her throat dryly and leaned forward. “Then how come you don’t sound exactly thrilled about it all?”
Dalen’s eyes fluttered open. He glanced at her. “But of course I am.”
Kera shook her head. “Uh uh. I don’t believe it for a second. You’re bothered by something.”
Dalen said nothing.
Kera squinted. “Is it because something about how Nagu’n is doing all of this is really bugging you? Or Lasairfion for that matter?”
The stallion opened his mouth, but lingered. He glanced into the candles, sighing out his nostrils. “Things… do not make sense. Several of the Xonan Prophecies have been completely unfulfilled. If this is to be our Age of Retribution, then why isn’t Nagu’n speaking to each of us personally? Why must She rely on the blood of her enemies to spawn Her children? Where does Lasairfion come into play?”
“And Austraeoh?”
Dalen glanced nervously at Kera.
The filly smirked. “That’s what changed everything, huh? As soon as you saw the rainbow-colored mare with the swag around her neck, it turned your world upside down, didn’t it?”
Dalen swallowed and said, “The Oss Tray Oh is said to be a beacon from the past, and hope for the future. It… confuses me that Nagu’n would still be wanting to wage a war after having received her.”
“And you were the one to do it, huh?” Kera straightened her emerald bangs. “You and Zytharros, I mean? You both delivered Oss Tray Oh to your Goddess, and how do you get repaid? Lasairfion and this Archshod guy totally blew you off, dude!”
Dalen’s brow merely furrowed in thought.
Kera fought her shivers in time to say, “Don’t tell me that something isn’t fishy about all this! What is it that the Prophecies of Xon say should happen next?”
“The…” Dalen murmured towards the murals. “The flame.” He bit his lip. “Nagu’n must taste of the flame to ascertain true righteousness…”
“Well…” Kera grinned from ear to ear. “That can be arranged, don’tcha think?”
Two stubby antlers fell bloodily to the surface of the dais.
“Unnf!” Rainbow Dash collapsed onto her forelimbs. She winced as two wounds closed on her forehead.
Behind her, Khao fumbled to cut loose the last two bonds. The pegasus breathed easier and easier as the last vestiges of chaos left her body.
“Lasairfion is a traitor to her own kind,” Khao murmured. “And Nevlamas is beyond salvation. Yes, they might bring victory to the Xonan war effort, but at what cost? This land will be blanketed in suffering and chaos. You know this better than any other pony that exists, Harbinger. But you also have a journey to complete, one that I can still help you with.”
Khao trotted around to Rainbow Dash’s front and knelt low.
“But we cannot go without the book. You need the flame, Rainbow Dash. This world needs the flame. It needs the spark. Without it, all is good and dead--”
“Nnnngh!” Rainbow Dash suddenly pounced on Khao.
The mare was slammed into the ground. She writhed under Rainbow’s furious weight.
“Dead?!” Rainbow snarled, her muzzle caked with dry blood. “What do you know about what is good?! It’s all because of you that me and my friends are in this mess! You deceived me! Attacked me! And now you’re supposed to think that… that I’ll…” She grew faint, her eyes rolling back as she collapsed onto the ground beside Khao. “Unnngh…”
Khao calmly stood up, brushing herself off. “The book is still having an effect on you. The chaos within your body might be suppressed, Harbinger, but you are still weakened by powers you barely understand. I don’t expect you to appreciate the part I have to play in all of this. But, in all seriousness…” She knelt low, heaved, and lifted Rainbow Dash by the forelimb so that the two stood side by side. “What can you do to resist?”
Rainbow sneered out the side of her mouth. “I won’t even entertain the idea of trusting you. I can’t forgive you for what you did to Pilate… and to Kera!”
“I lost many brothers and sisters in the struggle to contain you and the flame, and yet I am willing to forgive you,” Khao said, glaring. She dragged the two of them along a pale bridge towards the edge of the cavern. “I was willing to sacrifice all that I hard to assume this identity and infiltrate this den of vipers. If we focus selfishly on our differences, we will allow something truly venomous to consume this world.”
“Nevlamas…” Rainbow Dash tiredly murmured as she limped alongside Khao. “She thinks she’s delivering righteous energy to the machine world.” She gulped. “She’ll only be injecting pure chaos into the foundation of this plane.”
“Indeed,” Khao said with a nod. “There are evil forces at work here that even the Herald has been powerless to stop. But--together--we can fight the Dark Divine and bring Harmony to this landscape. Lasairfion and all her lackeys will see their bloody dream collapse before them. But that matters little, for once we’ve stopped Nevlamas, it will be up to you to make sure that the same taint of chaos doesn’t curse the rest of this realm.”
“But…” Rainbow gulped. “How?”
“First thing’s first,” Khao said. “We need that book.”
Nightshade blinked. “The tome? But why?”
“Whoever has control of it determines the fate of Rainbow Dash,” Roarke said. “And if there’s anypony who can save this situation right now, it’s her.”
“Really?” Zaid squeaked. “Not you, rattleflanks?”
Roarke slowly shook her head. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe otherwise.”
Zetta and Basso exchanged glances. They looked back. “Then what do we do next?”
“Something incredibly stupid.” Then, with one swift smack, Roarke knocked the lock loose and opened the prison cell. “We’re making our way to where the tome is held.”
“But…” Zaid was the first to slither out. He gawked at the mare with a pale expression. “I thought you said it was suicide!”
“Do you see me changing the story?”
The former cultist bit his lip.
Roarke glanced at Nightshade, then rushed over to collect Princess Luna’s saddlebag from the table of pilfered items. “There is more at stake here than the whole lot of us. Only now am I coming to understand the gravity of it all.” As Ledomaritans rushed to restock on their stolen weapons, the metal mare’s hoof grasped a hooflet inscribed with a hauntingly familiar symbol. “We are a motley crew, a frantic group of ponies. But we’re all that she’s got. We must not fail.”
“Right,” Zaid nodded as he skirted past the lengths of the room to stare out the door for passing guards. “So long as somepony is serving tacos at the victory party.”
Nightshade said nothing. She stood along the sidelines, gazing into the wall in thought.
“This is a mistake,” Dalen murmured into torchlight as he and a petite filly stood at a junction of cavernous hallways. His eyes were fixated on a door where two guards stood at attention. “Even if Nagu’n was to hear this lowly servant’s plea, I doubt I’d last long enough to bequeath her the flame.”
“Shhhh…” Kera leaned into him and smiled. “You don’t strike me as the sort of stallion to lose faith in tight situations.”
He squinted down at her. “You are a presumptuous little filly. It’s easy to be brave when you have nothing left to lose.”
“That sort of makes the both of us, doesn’t it?” Kera asked. “I mean… y’know?”
Dalen sighed, then gazed firmly at the door ahead. “I do.”
Kera bit her lip.
“Stay behind me, child,” Dalen said. “You may speak much wisdom, but only I know the words that will get us through this.”
“I’ll try not to suplex anypony unless I have to.”
When Bellesmith trotted into the upper chamber of Deep Ridge’s lookout tower, the air was no cooler within than it was on the outside. She couldn’t help it; her teeth chattered as she traversed the coffin-cold hollow of the dimly-lit concrete structure. A glint of light shone across barren wallspace from where a slit of a window opened towards the gray, gray east. Belle blinked, and her eyes drowned in a deathly pale atmosphere, encroaching from all sides.
A sharp series of scuffling hoofsteps broke through the numbness. She glanced to her sides, still shivering.
A pair of guards trained rifles on her. Shell strolled among them, his glare melting through the scene like a beacon. When his sight swam across Belle’s, both ponies lingered, until at last one of them shuddered.
“You expect me to work in a place like this?”
“Of course not.” Shell motioned towards her.
Belle bit her lip. Hesitantly, she trotted up until they were within a breath’s distance.
He hoarsely said, “Like all best secrets, your tools wait for you in the dark.” He turned his head to the side. With a glowing horn, he forced a large door to open. Two slabs slid vertically apart, filling the hollow concrete tower with a gravely echo.
As light poured into the black interior, Belle could make out dangling threads of equipment. A curtain of dust rose, and she coughed and waved through the streams of sediment in order to see better.
“When… was the last time this was used?” she murmured.
“Twenty years ago,” Shell said. “During which the warfront had shifted marginally twice. This fell into Xonan hooves on more than one occasion. Thankfully, they didn’t know how to get inside.”
Belle grimaced as she spotted a ghastly shape in the corner of the freshly-lit hollow. “I bet they’d be thankful if they saw what was actually inside.”
Shell followed her line of sight. He trotted lightly towards a corner of the compartment where the bundled skeletons of three separate stallions lay side by side in tattered canvas rags. “Undoubtedly the cretins would have made totems out of these unfortunate souls.”
“Does the Council of Ledo have no decency?” Belle frowned. “These soldiers could have at least gotten a decent burial.”
“I make sure that all of my fellow comrades are buried, dear doctor.” Shell said, glancing at her. “The Prime Enforcers who came before me were no different. Xonan dissidents, however…”
Belle’s jaw dropped. She gawked at the skeletons. “Guinea pigs…?”
“Wayward fools,” Shell droned. “They made the mistake of not killing themselves like their brethren after we captured them. The enforcers who ran this place would surely have gotten valuable information about our enemy, but…”
Belle sighed. “Sequencing was primitive in those days. I’m surprised the Council didn’t fry their leylines through their skulls.”
“Who says they didn’t?”
Belle bit her lip. In the meantime, Shell grabbed a chunk of loose equipment, carried it over, and plopped it into her forelimbs. “You are a miracle worker, doctor, or you are a corpse.”
“Shell, all I have of your daughter is a horn!” Belle exclaimed. “How am I expected to find any spheres to sequence with?!”
Shell stared at her blankly. He turned and whistled behind his shoulder. Three straight-faced unicorns shuffled in, carrying a wooden container. They dropped it to the floor with a rattling noise. From within the rickety box, a scrap of flesh and a bony limb spilled loose from a canvas tarp.
Belle inhaled sharply, immediately turning away as she tried not to inhale the rising dust. As her trembles calmed, Shell leaned in and murmured into her ear.
“A miracle, doctor. You and I both know that I’m not the one who can sanctify this situation.” A pale color flickered through his face, and his gaze fell to the cold floor. After a weak breath, he whispered, “In a world full of demons, we must… do what we can to preserve the angels.”
Belle sniffled. Tilting her tearful eyes up, she frowned and said, “Then why are you still hunting one?”
Shell stared back. He moved.
Belle flinched, but the stallion marched firmly past her. She panted for breath as he paused by his guards. “Keep an eye on her,” he grunted. “She does not die… but she doesn’t sleep either.” He pulled the necklace off, turned it over a few times, and murmured. “Only the most righteous do.” And with a cold breath, he tossed it so that the last shiny piece of Imre spun to a stop at Belle’s hooves.
She looked at it, then up at him. Shell vanished into the pale grayness like a frigid shadow. Gritting her teeth, Belle fought both anger and tears as she burrowed her way into the frayed equipment and started pulling parts loose with a loud clatter.
The flashes of light drew closer and closer, as did the booming salvos that corresponded with them. They illuminated every haggard and stubby angle of Josho’s muzzle. And yet, as he trotted forward through the hellscape, accompanied by the injured captain and his company, he couldn’t help but feel like the most immaculate equine soul there.
When they arrived at the Ledomaritan forward camp, Josho hadn’t noticed. He needed the shouts of the hobbling, three-legged captain to inform him. Suddenly, as he glanced all around, he saw that they had reached the crest of a steep plateau jutting towards the east. Along the fringes of this ridge, several camps were positioned. They occupied what looked to be a gently sloping ravine. But then Josho saw slivers of impenetrable darkness, as if the ground was falling out from beneath the surface of the battlefield.
Something had blasted the geography to bits, and the stallion perceived that it was more than just shelling from above. The very foundation had collapsed, as if with demonic subsidence. The spectacle of this cataclysm was completely lost to the soldiers. The dark, smoldering air of the place was filled with notstop shouts and screams between the punctuation of bomb strikes. Soldiers galloped in solid trains, carrying weapons and supplies towards the lower camps… and returning with wounded, writhing ponies and bloody effects.
The smell of death was positively electric, and it leapt into Josho’s nostrils like ravenous leeches. He had experienced all of these senses before, but not this dense… nor this concentrated. It felt like twenty years of memories rolled into one grimy ball. He hadn’t realized just what an effect it was having on him until one of the young soldiers guiding the captain tugged at his forelimb. Josho looked down at himself and noticed that he was positively stumbling.
The soldier shouted something again. Obviously he was concerned. Josho replied, only he couldn’t hear himself over the wave of noise blanketing the landscape. Another shell had gone off, this time disgustingly close. Metal barrels and scraps of a tent flew up into the sky. Josho actually flinched, and doing so made him feel like a lone flea on the back of a bloated corpse. Everyone else was trotting, rushing, slithering in straight lines. They had places to be; tasks to accomplish. They were companions with death here, and Josho felt like a complete stranger.
Nevertheless, he ascended the crest of the plateau along with the company he had stumbled upon. As he climbed, he glanced east past a line of tents and saw a trench full of enforcers firing into the east. Flashes of bright blue energy flickered and was gone again. Josho heard serpent shrieks and monstrous yelps. The summons of the Xonans were being slayed by the minute, but the Ledomaritans did not rejoice. It would seem that slaying the enemy did not exactly kill them.
A loud siren filled the air. Josho’s ears twitched as he gazed up towards a distant splotch of the sky lit up with otherworldly amber. A zeppelin was plummeting into the deathly ravines, too far away to actually obliterate any ponies--at least within eyesight. Josho squinted and squinted, but he couldn’t tell the colors of the falling vessel. As he observed the dull, shellshocked figures huddled within the campsite around him, he realized very few of the veteran survivors cared.
Reaching the highest point, Josho could now look out upon the entire battlefield. It wasn’t a rewarding sight. He knew that the enemy surrounded this bastion at nearly two hundred and eighty degrees. He was essentially standing on a lone peninsula in the middle of death and desolation. All he could see was dusty streams of charcoal black refuse, a landscape too charred to render any visible colors.
Except for one sliver--a glowing sheen of otherworldly gold that shimmered like the edge of a cloud. Josho craned his neck, hoping to get a better glimpse. Something in the middle of the darkest ravine--just barely on the Ledomaritan’s side of the front--was glowing, even though there wasn’t any exposed sunlight above to cause the reflection. It took Josho a few seconds to realize that the entire Ledomaritan camp was built to defend that one point, and all the trenches with huddled enforcers had been dug at harsh angles that ran parallel to it at a few hundred yards’ advancement.
“Don’t stare too long into it or you’ll go mad,” a voice hoarsely said from behind.
Josho turned to look. “Huh?”
He hadn’t realized how close he was trotting alongside the injured, hobbling captain. The stallion--easily half his age yet twice his resolve--was limping on three legs with the assistance of his companions. He and Josho entered the south end of a long tent, and the air suddenly filled with the smell of the rust and the sound of suffering. Josho was almost too distracted by wailing, sobbing, pleading voices to register what the captain was saying.
“It’s not the Xonan monsters that’ll end you,” the captain said. “Not the death rattle of your best buds.” Orderlies in red-faded fatigues rushed in and helped him towards a spot between two cots where shredded soldiers lay, sobbing into their bandages. “But that… place that Seclorum is defending.” The captain winced as his freshly wrapped stub twitched for a few seconds. With a hissing breath, he muttered, “Either it’s not of this world, or we ain’t. Why we’re defending it, I have no clue.” He gulped dryly. “But ponies who have gazed at it for a long time, seeking solace? They’re the ones who are driven mad. Like a void has opened in their hearts. It sucks them in, and it’s cost us several dozen lives alone in this madness.”
Josho took a deep breath, his ears twitching from the sounds of moans and whimpers all around him. “I don’t think you can blame any of this on a place or an idea,” he muttered. A shell struck within a hundred meters and the whole tent shook. Bloodstained medical instruments rattled while foalish squeaks lifted and lowered back into the wailing cadence. “Where is he?”
“Seclorum?” The captain laid back and pointed upside down beyond the cart. “That’s where the bastard’s at.”
Josho followed his remaining good hoof. He saw a circular, reinforced tent lying at the northwest edge of the plateau.
“Right in the line of sight of the Xonans. Why those tattooed freaks haven’t blasted him to shreds and ridden us all of his arrogance is beyond me. Sometimes…” He coughed, wheezed. “...I think they’re keeping him alive to help whittles us down to nothing. So long as we’re holed up here… we’re wasting away all that Ledo’s got to give.”
Josho slowly nodded. “Yeah. I’m pretty much on top of that mountain of crap.”
“Just who are you, anyways?” The captain gazed up at him. “You have teleportation skills. No soldiers have utilized that since the initial days of infiltration. Are you from the Council? Paramilitary?” He gulped. “Fr-Franzington?”
“No.” Josho shook his head. “But I’ll tell you one thing I am.” Miniature bolts of lighting danced down from his horn and flickered between his eyes. “I’m pissed off. And it’s time I had a little chat with an old friend.”
The nurses and wounded soldiers gawked at him. “What are you--”
Flash! Josho vanished. The ponies around him gasped as a faint streak of the unicorn’s leyline went soaring through the MASH unit and towards the circular tent on the crest of the plateau.
“You idiot!” A surgeon snarled as he charged up to the scene. “Do you realize what you’ve done?! You’ve marched some sort of an assassin into this place!”
The captain squinted at him while the soldier in the next bed bled to death. “And you’re mad about this… why?”
“The enemy is putting pressure onto the south east quadrants,” a high ranking officer said from his end of the table. Dim mana lanterns hanging in the large tint cast a sheen over his and every other stallion’s graying manes. “I suggest we move our artillery to strike their advancing lines so that we can give the infantry located there time to dig a trench where they’re at.”
“Uhm… But I thought they were ordered to dig a trench four days ago.”
“Well, now they’re digging a better trench! And as for the enemy’s flank--”
“Uhm…” An enforcer raised his hoof and sniffed the air. “Sorry to interrupt, gentlecolts, but…” He blinked. “Does anypony smell something foul?”
“Like… Spark forbid, mustard gas?!”
Josho materialized in a flash of light. He landed with a thud on the meeting table, denting it in the center.
“Zounds!”
“By Ledo’s mane!”
“How the devil…?!”
“At ease, buddies,” Josho grumbled and stood up, still steaming all over with the mana of his long-distance teleport. “I’m sure you’re all doing the Queen some major service. Brownie points all around. Now…” He squinted and peered across the hazy tent. “Seccy? Seccy, where are you, ya old bastard?! We’ve got some fat to chew. Flaming, evil, tattooed fat--”
“A spy?!”
“Guards! Guards--”
Josho grunted, “Hey! I didn’t ask to see any guards! I just wanna have a word with my old buddy Seclorum--”
“How about we remove your head?!” One old stallion aimed up with his rifle. “Then you can talk to the pit of Xonan bones to the north of camp?!”
A flash of light. Somepony tapped on the officer’s back.
He turned around and gasped into Josho’s muzzle.
“Now now…” Josho telekinetically snapped his rifle in two and waved a hoof. “Never whip out your piece in front of another stallion.”
“Get him!” Another pounced.
Josho jolted forward with the weight of the officer on his back. His eyes rolled back. “Oh for the love of--”
Flash!
He materialized ten feet away, his body yanking forward as he flung the weight of the shrieking stallion teleported with him. “--oats!”
“Gaaaah!” The stallion flailed as he crashed through a gun rack.
The others pulled out their rifles and aimed at Josho. “Who do you work for?!”
Another burst of light. Josho materialized between them, knocking them to the floor with a stealthy blast of mana. “Tell me where Seclorum is and I’ll tell him!”
“We don’t negotiate with cloak and dagger assailants!” A stallion gripped onto Josho, trying to telekinetically cancel out the energy in his horn. “Especially this close to the front!”
“Nnngh! Fine then!” Josho snarled as more sparks danced between his eyes. “Negotiate with my ass!”
When he teleported this time, he materialized a dozen feet up, almost touching the top of the tent. He fell in reverse so that the officer was behind him. They collapsed through the table with the full weight of Josho slamming into the poor stallion’s body. The breath exited the pony’s lungs with the force of a hurricane.
Josho stood up, brushing himself off as a ring of Ledomare’s highest ranking officers writhed and moaned around him.
“Worst game of ‘Go Filly!’ I ever did play. Meh…”
A little belated, a thick phalanx of guards rushed in, cocked their weapons, and aimed at Josho’s fat figure. “Freeze! Do not move!”
“Really?” Josho turned and sighed. “Well, this is at least a slightly sexy way to go out.” He cracked the joints in his neck and prepared to out-port the enforcers’ weaponry.
”Stop!” A raspy voice boomed. “Everypony! Don’t move a muscle! That means you too, soldiers.”
The young guards glanced at each other nervously.
Josho swiveled around, squinting at a figure in the shadows.
“It takes a great deal for a pony to infiltrate this war room,” the pony said. His body leaned left and right. Hisses of steam echoed from his side of the tent. “It takes even more restraint to inflict no lethal damage when my bumbling excuses for subordinates have given you every damn reason to.”
Then, with grinding and rattling noises, the Prime Enforcer strolled forward. As Seclorum came into the manalight, metal rods of brass reinforcement glinted along his forward and rear legs. A metal brace surrounded the breastplate that hugged tight to his chest. Finally, a steel cap had been molded around his unicorn horn. A savage burn mark covered his upper right brown, and half of his mane on the same side of the skull refused to grow, causing him to part over the black and gray stalks from the left to cover the scarred areas. A pair of silvery blue eyes reflected Josho’s blank expression.
“Josho, as I live and die slowly,” Seclorum murmured. “I’ve known you to do stupid things before, but this takes the friggin’ cake.”
“Seccy…” Josho took a deep, warm breath as he gazed at his old friend. He blinked. “You look like shit.”
“I certainly feel like it too.” With a whirring noise, Seclorum raised his metal-reinforced forelimb and pointed dead-center at Josho’s obese form. “Which means my patience had worn thin months before you even lighting-bolted your way into this place using that freaky-ass special forces skill you learned ages ago. The only reason I haven’t ordered you shot is because I’m wondering why you haven’t drank yourself to death.”
“I wonder that at times too,” Josho muttered. “But we haven’t got time to bond over old, rosy-nosed memories.”
“Hmmph. Thank the spark.”
“But I did come to tell you that your butts are gonna be pumped full of manaplasma.”
“What, did you join the Ledomaritan navy all of the sudden?”
“No, you liver-spotted melon fudge!” Josho frowned. “The Xonans! They’ve captured the Lightning-Bearer!”
The room filled with shrill gasps.
Seclorum’s jaw fell. “Fortis’ ship? The Pride and Joy of the Queen’s Armada?”
“Look, I don’t care if it’s the Queen’s favorite turd!” Josho barked. “The tattooed freaks have stolen it, and they’re gonna fly that crap up here in hopes that they can sneak past enemy lines and fry us all to bacon from behind! And what’s more, their friggin’ Queen of Executive Powers is riding a magical floating mountain with some goddess-forsaken beast inside!”
Seclorum’s face twisted into a sicker and sicker scowl.
Josho blinked. “Is any of this coming to you straight, or am I gonna have to belch it?”
Seclorum frowned. “You must have really dove deep into the bottle to whip out this cute little number.”
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse yourself, soldier!” Seclorum hissed. “Or else you used to be one! Jumping in here, interrupting important battle strategies with some… pissed-stupid faerie tale!”
“Oh, and just what are you planning exactly?” Josho grumbled. “Carving yourself a smaller butthole to climb into while Xona marches all over us?! What the Hell is all of this accomplishing, Seccy?! It ain’t like you to be on the defensive! Where’d your balls hide? In that fancy new metal truss of yours?!”
“I don’t have time for this…” Seclorum waved to the line of guards. “Take him away. Find some… concrete box with a bottle of booze and leave ‘em there to rot.”
As the soldiers marched up and converged on Josho, he blurted in a loud voice: “‘Ultimo Douglas Barbarian Forty Two!’”
Seclorum--in mid turn--froze and held his hoof up.
The guards stopped just inches from wringing Josho’s neck.
Slowly, Seclorum pivoted around, his eyes icily staring at his old companion. “...Nightshade?”
Josho nodded.
Seclorum’s lips parted. “...the book of flame?”
Josho nodded again.
Seclorum stood still for a few seconds. His blue eyes darted around, then fell on Josho again. “You’re certain she’s on your side?”
“Please don’t ruin this,” Josho grumbled. “It took two-thirds of the cells still left in my brain to memorize that stupid crap.”
Almost a minute passed. Finally, Seclorum waved off the guards--and the officers as well. “Leave us.” When they hesitated, the veins showed in his neck. “Now!”
Awkwardly, everypony left.
“You…” Seclorum shuffled towards the far end of the tent with whirring, hissing limbs. “Waddle with me.”
“Hardy har har…” Josho trotted alongside him. “Jeez, look at you. Been seeing any sexy fire hydrants lately?”
With a groan of metal leg braces, Seclorum leaned over the small wooden table and poured two glasses of whiskey. “Some things never change,” the old warrior muttered. “The wounds get bigger and the drinks get bitterer.”
“You call what you got a wound?” Josho sat on a stool across from him and nodded with his horn. “You look like a bird cage with features.”
“If I knew twenty years ago I would have ended up like this, I’d have chosen a sexier line of work.” Seclorum took a sip, grimaced, and exhaled sharply before continuing, “Or gone on a suicide mission. Like you.” His eyebrow raised. “Porting into enemy lines? Not knowing where you’d materialize? Heh… I thought that had killed you, old stallion.”
“Sometimes I wish it did,” Josho grumbled. “I ended up stuck as a provincial prime enforcer for Blue Slope. For years, I guarded that pathetic dump of a place. The Council of Ledo called it ‘strategic repositioning.’ It’s all just a bunch of fancy bullcrap to avoid calling it what it is.”
“Retirement?”
“I was going to say ‘meat packing,’” Josho said. “But that works.”
“Well, I couldn’t tell from looking at you,” Seclorum said. “There’s a strange… shine to your coat. Almost as if you’ve caught a second wind, Josho.”
“Yeah. Fancy that.”
“Here…” Seclorum slid the shot glass towards him. “Have one for old time’s sake.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
Seclorum did a double take. “I beg your pardon?”
Josho adjusted his weight on the stool, giving the glass a thousand-yard stare. “I don’t drink.” He cleared his throat. “Not anymore.”
Seclorum stared at him long and hard. “Now I know that something is different about you.” His eyes narrowed. “Did you settle down, Josho?”
“Nah. Not even a bullet to the head would make something like that happen, Secchy.” Josho sighed. “Look. Enough about you and me. I risked my neck getting here for one purpose.”
“The Xonans…”
Josho nodded. “They’re coming, Secchy.” He stared with cold, chiseled eyes. “And I don’t mean any regular battalion of them, or some company of grenadiers or serpent-summoners. This is the real deal, pal. They’ve captured Prime Enforcer Fortis’ battleship and are preparing to plow their way into Ledomaritan lines. In the wake of such a nasty punch, they’re gonna tear this Confederacy a new one with several support cruisers all backed by a floating headquarters minded by none other than the chief Xonan monarch herself.”
Seclorum exhaled the name coldly. “Lasairfion.”
“You bet your plot.”
“And you’re certain about this?” Seclorum squinted at him from an angle. “You can cross long distances, old friend, but there’s a certain gap of reasoning that still needs to be bridged here.”
Josho tongued the inside of his mouth. Then, with a sigh, he leaned forward and said, “Okay, look, let’s be real with each other here. This situation that we’re both in? The news I bring isn’t just important to you. We each have something to gain from this. You and your army won’t have to be obliterated. And as for me? I have friends in the field who could benefit from the Xonan offensive being expertly blocked.”
“What kind of friends?”
“Ponies who I give a crap about, alright?” Josho frowned. “Look, I was in a party of like-minded stallions and mules who found themselves on the receiving end of one too many manarifles.”
“You mean enemies of the state.”
Josho sighed and shook his head. “Look, I didn’t say that.”
“Josho…” Seclorum’s lips curved slightly. “Have you gone rogue?”
“If you must know, I was betrayed by my commanding officer who tried to have me smoked without telling any of his subordinates the truth.”
“Oh yeah? Who?”
“Shell.”
Seclorum blinked. He leaned back, his mouth hanging agape. “You mean to tell me that you’ve crossed paths with Prime Enforcer Shell?”
“Yeah…?” Josho blinked. “Why? Did the bastard finally croak?”
Seclorum slowly shook his head. “We lost contact with him weeks ago. He was stripped of his power by the Council of Ledo. However, the messenger who was sent to detain him on board the Steel Wing was never heard from again.”
Josho’s muzzle grew tight. “Knowing how bonkers Shell had already gone, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s taken the role of Prime Enforcer way too friggin’ seriously. He’s on a vengeful mission to complete a wild goose chase, and hundreds if not thousands of innocent ponies have suffered because of it.”
“I’d rather not second guess a soldier who knows how to get the job done--”
“At the cost of the security of this friggin’ Confederacy?!” Josho growled. “Don’t defend the freak, Secchy! Or you’re liable to turn nutso too!”
Seclorum sighed, staring off towards the far end of the tent.
“What’s going on here, buddy?” Josho leaned forward, his voice briefly quiet, tender. “We’ve been through enough scrapes in the past that I deserve to know. What’s gotten you so insanely driven to defend this plateau? What is worth the sacrifice of so many soldiers who deserve to retreat and protect their homeland? The Xonans are gonna wipe out everything you’ve got holed up here at this rate, and this isn’t even counting the armada I’m now warning you about!”
The general’s leg braces whirred as he scratched his scalp beneath his capped horn. “Ledo thinks this war is all about protecting her royal interests and driving out the tattooed hoarde. But it’s turned into something far greater than that.”
“Something greater?” Josho frowned. “Like what? Is this about Nightshade?”
“The mare has a great deal of insight over what’s at play upon the dark horizon--”
“None of that poetic mumbo jumbo crap!” Josho growled. “Not you too! How hard is she grabbing you by the balls, huh? What’s really at stake here?”
Seclorum stared icily at the obese pony. At last, he stood up with a rattle of his metal braces. “Here, old friend. Come with me…” He made for the exit of the tent. “What you’re about to witness is a triply guarded secret.”
“Pfft…” Josho smirked as he trotted after him. “Can’t be anything worse than what I saw when we used to go skinny-dipping along the southern camps.”
Josho and Seclorum weren’t alone. A contingent of heavily armed enforcers escorted them as they trotted east down a winding path that scaled down from the craggy face of the jutting plateau. The air whistled with falling shells as the old friends and their fellow equines trotted into the depths before the trenches.
“We’re a bit exposed out here, don’t you think?” Josho remarked.
“Not so long as we keep tight to the walls,” Seclorum said. He pointed at the winding trench ahead of them, leading the ponies deeper and deeper into the muddied earth. “Besides, the Xonans won’t shell this spot directly. They know there’s something of value here. We just gotta make them think it’s worth preserving and they won’t cash in all their chips.”
“Not yet, you mean,” Josho said. “Lasairfion’s just a sneeze away from wiping you clean from the plateau.”
“She’d be a foolish monarch.”
“And you aren’t?” Josho frowned as the two came upon a straightway past an embankment. “This may be a well-fortified position, Secchy, but it isn’t exactly impervious.”
“Most of it is,” Seclorum said. “You’ll see.” He stumbled briefly, but picked himself up with help of his grinding braces.
Josho blinked. “Just what in the hay happened to you?”
“Meh…”
“Seriously, pal. You look like you made love with a water heater.”
“I was caught in the crossfire while personally overseeing the dispensing of enemy rangers,” Seclorum said in a droning tone. “I had third degree burns across most of my body. It damaged a lot of the nerves in my legs.”
“Seems like it did a number on your horn too, bud.”
“I’ve lost direct control of my leylines,” Seclorum muttered. “Without this device suppressing my magic…” He pointed at the aluminum cap on his horn. “I’ll literally rip my own body to pieces with telekinesis.”
“Yeesh, that sucks.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Guess gone are the days of frisking the mare enforcers at uniformed drills,” Josho said with a smirk.
Seclorum was silent.
Josho raised an eyebrow. “What? Not even a titter? That sort of crap used to have you in stitches. Literally.”
“A lot has happened to me since the last time we met, Josho.”
“Yeah. No crap.” Josho trotted closer, craning his neck to catch the old enforcer’s expression. “But your battered body aside, what’s gotten you so obsessed with this place? There’s just so much I don’t understand.”
“I’m hoping to show you.”
“What? Did you dig up a bunch of dragon bones or something?”
“It’s a great deal more complicated than that.”
Josho glanced up at the flashing gray sky. “We’ve trotted a long distance. How close are we to the actual front?”
An explosion rocked no more than twenty meters away. Mud and chunks of rock fell loosely over the trench. The enforcers shuddered in fright. Seclorum didn’t twitch one single muscle.
“We’re close,” he muttered.
Josho trotted in silent contemplation for a while. Not long after, the party reached their destination. The trench opened up to a sharp cliff hanging over an inexplicable hole in the earth. Walking to the edge, Josho peered down, and he could see layers upon layers of multicolored rock. Beneath the sedimentary slivers, a different landscape entirely caught Josho’s eyes with an otherwordly sheen. The breath left his lungs, for with each flicker and flare of the falling shells, entire swaths of light reflected off a veritable sea of metal. He saw conveyor belts, pendulums, and dozens upon hundreds of golden platforms. The metal looked very old, but also incredibly immaculate.
“Sonuvagarbagecan.” Josho gulped. “It’s friggin’ real after all…”
“So you know of it, then?” Seclorum pivoted to face him. “You know of the machine world?”
“I… uh…” Josho turned to look at Seclorum. It was hard to wrench his eyes away from the sight below. “I know a thing or two that a certain bird told me.” He blinked. “A bird with hooves and a rainbow colored mane.”
“We’re battling over the carcass of an old, old fossil, Josho,” Seclorum said. “This battlefield… this landscape… this world--it’s all bigger and grander than this war and all the wars that have happened before it and all that will happen after.”
“Your point?”
“Years ago, a Xonan transport ship powered by skystone plowed into this part of the earth at full speed after it was blasted to bits by Ledomaritan shells.” The prime enforcer spoke above the bedlam of landing explosives. “It exposed this secret world--something built by ponies older and wiser than any civilization known to ponydom--including the Confederacy. It was Madame Nightshade who personally inspected the brilliant flame located on a pedestal contained within. She had arrived to collect her brother, who had been terribly injured at the time of the Xonan crash. Only her company’s technology was capable of extending the poor soldier’s life. As it turned out, only her expertise could relocate the magical flame.”
“Yeah?” Josho leaned in, peering into the metallic abyss below. “Lemme guess, Nightshade’s brilliance gave you an excuse to cling to this thing like it was fool’s gold?”
“The flame isn’t mere magic! It’s part of this world beneath worlds!” Seclorum replied. “If we can harness it, we can control the power that runs the landscape itself! The battlefield itself will be ours to dictate in every dimension possible! We can turn back the tide of the Xonan Incursion and restore this continent! Hell! We can even invent new continents! Reshape the very fabric of this plane!”
“You realize how nutty that sounds?!”
“Josho, if we retreat or advance, we give up the most important discovery in the history of civilization!” Seclorum pointed over the cliff. “The war will go on and on, unceasingly, unless we do something dramatic to turn the tide!”
“And we’re all sitting ducks if we stay here!” Josho exclaimed. “The Xonans are onto you, Seclorum! They had spies infiltrating the Ledomaritan armada! That’s how they got ahold of the Lightning Bearer! Soon, they’ll get ahold of this place too!”
“Then what am I supposed to do?!” Seclorum shouted. “Give it up? If they get this, then we are all finished!”
“You know, this is how it started with Shell too!” Josho said. “He thought he had his hooves on a ‘final solution!’ But it turns out he was biting more than he could ever hope to chew! Soon, his task turned into an obsession and his obsession tore his life and his legacy apart!”
“I am in full control of my faculties!” Seclorum hissed.
“Like hell you are!” Josho pointed. “Look at you! You’re part refrigerator! I’ve never seen anypony like this before--much less my old friend!”
“Clearly you haven’t grasped what it means to truly sacrifice what’s necessary for the salvation of the greater good!”
“Don’t start with that bullcrap!” Josho growled. “It doesn’t fit you, Secchy! And, for your information, I sure as heck gave up a lot to bring my fat flank down here and try and talk some sense into you! So don’t screw it up!”
“Josho…” Seclorum folded his braced forelimbs. “I am not leaving this position.” He gulped, then dryly voiced, “And neither are you.”
“Huh?” Josho recoiled, only to feel a set of hooves slapping something cold and metal over his horn. He looked up, gasping to seen an aluminum supressor cap canceling out his leylines. “Oh Hell no-!” He tried bucking away, but four young stallions were holding his body firmly to the ground. “Nnngh! Get off me, ya beefcake vomit buckets!”
“The battlefield may surround us, old friend,” Seclorum said. “But the graveyard of all our past mistakes is here.” He nodded towards the enforcers, and they dragged Josho to the very brink. “You know, I always figured I would be the one to bury you. Looks like I’ll be the one to outlive you as well.”
“Dammit, Secchy! Don’t do this!” Josho began panting. “Nightshade! She has the book! If we can stop the Lasairfion and the Lightning-Bearer in its tracks, then we can still bring the damn thing here!”
“It’s too late for that, old friend,” Seclorum said coldly. “It’s too late for everything, flame or no flame. It is time for a new era. The ponies of this plane need a change.”
“What?! What are you babbling about?!” Josho’s hooves scuffed against the edge of the cliff. He struggled to fling one last, panicked glance over his shoulder. “None of this makes any sense!”
Seclorum opened his mouth to talk, but hesitated. A pale expression wafted over him, and his eyes dilated, moistened, like twin orbs bobbing at the surface of a deep lake. A blink, and they descended once again, dragging the rest of him away with a melancholic expression. “I don’t understand it myself, Josho. But I’ve… changed.” He swallowed dryly, gazing at the braces around him. “And it’s time that the rest of the world change too. All I know is that I’m waiting…”
“For what?!” Josho gritted his teeth. “A swift kick in the plot?!”
“Something like that.” Seclorum looked up, and this time his expression was blank, glazed. “But one thing’s for certain. You are not the pony to bring that change.” For a brief moment, Josho thought he spotted a flicker across the stallion’s eye, but then he saw nothing, for he was being flung full-force into the metal abyss below.
“You’re not alone. You’re not alone. You’re not alone. You’re not alone.”
Seething, Shell bucked a table over so that it crashed across the refuse-littered floor of his cabin on board the Steel Wing.
“I did not abandon you!” he screeched hoarsely into the shadows. “I gave you to her! The mare’s a friend of yours! Just like… just like she was.”
He gritted his teeth and covered his twisted muzzle in two twitching forelimbs.
“Nnnnngh… I have forgiven you. I have forgiven you, Imre. But why? Why? Why why why why why did you fraternize with the enemy? That was a life of danger. That was a life of peril. That was a life outside of the glory of Ledo. All that we have worked to build. All that I ever gave up!”
He knelt low and pounded the floor, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“Why did you do this to me?! Just give me a sign! Something beyond the dark nights and the infernal sunrise! I could have given you everything! I could have given your mother everything! Her final breath and your final breath! Nnngh… like acid under the skin! Don’t do this to me! Don’t… blessed Spark, don’t…”
He felt for a necklace around his throat, but it was gone. Heaving, the adult stallion curled over and sobbed into the floorboards.
“I love you. I… love you. Your father… your protector…” He gnashed his teeth and pounded the floor with his injured hoof, oblivious to the pain. “Just stay with me. Just stay with me a little longer.” He panted and clutched his skull. “We can make this work. She can make this work! Just stay a little longer! I promise things will be different! I can get you anything! Even… even…”
His panting breaths slowed. The trembles melted away. Icily, he sat up, his teary face drying as he gazed into the darkest corner of the room. At last, the glaze in his eye faded, and the cold weapon of war resurfaced.
“Even the target.” He inhaled deeply. “The perfect prize for the perfect daughter.”
He tilted his head to the right. He grabbed the severed leg of his cabin’s table in the crook of his hoof. His face was calm, tranquil, but with each passing second the pressure he applied to the leg caused the structure to buckle, crackle, and break.
“Daddy never breaks a promise.”
Snap!
”The latest announcement from Roarke isn’t all that promising,” Pilate’s voice said, muffled slightly by the concrete crevice Bellesmith had slid the soundstone in. ”The goddess ‘Nagu’n,’ as it turns out, is none other than one of the Divines.”
”Divines?” Belle panted as she lay underneath the central mana array of the sequencing machine at the far end of the dark room. Her hooves dug through a tangled mess of wires, putting the finishing touches on a herculean repair. “You mean--as in one of the sisters of Axan, the dragon who ravaged Rainbow Dash?”
”Pretty certain Roarke knows a Dragon Matriarch when she sees one. Whoever Nagu’n really is, she’s become tainted.”
“Tainted?”
”With chaos. It’s so horrible, beloved. The… the Divine feeds on the flesh of the living and turns the suffering into the roots of chaos metals. The very material that summons the horrible beasts that have attacked Rainbow Dash and Kera is being made from the agony of tortured equine souls.”
Belle visibly blanched in the middle of her tedious work. “That… is absolutely horrid.”
”Roarke is assisting Nightshade’s party as we speak.”
“What do you mean ‘assisting?’”
”Well, if they stick around where they’re at any longer, who’s to know how long it will be before they too are fed to Nagu’n? They seek the book to stave off Nagu’n’s power and stage a daring escape.”
”They’ll rescue Kera and Rainbow Dash too, right?”
”I think we both know that Roarke is a far more sincere pony than the bounty hunter she used to be, Bellesmith. If anypony can save the day, it’s her.”
“Or more appropriately Rainbow Dash through Roarke.”
”Agreed.”
“Then I think we have a problem, Pilate.”
”You mean aside from the fact that you’re there and I’m here and Rainbow Dash is Spark-Knows-Where?”
“What I mean is: obviously things have changed,” Belle said, wiping the sweat from her brow as she connected the last two wires. “Lasairfion will be attacking the Ledomaritan front at anytime, yes?”
”Correct. And Nagu’n will be right behind her with the Sacred Hold.”
“Then that means they’re headed towards Seclorum,” Belle thought out loud. “We had hoped Josho would act as a messenger to intercede on Rainbow Dash’s behalf. But instead we ended up sending him into the lion’s den. Now Roarke is staging a coup from the inside, and the Noble Jury isn’t anywhere near ready to pick up either Rainbow’s group or Josho…”
”Props says she’s half a day away from refitting the steam engine--”
“Beloved, it doesn’t matter. If Lasairfion is staging the attack now, then nopony’s going to have the time to avoid a sheer apocalyptic battle. We may actually be better off staying separated and waiting until a better opportunity for reunion presents itself.”
”Perhaps we can afford that. But Rainbow Dash? And Josho? I know that we are in fairly helpless situations, but that doesn’t change the fact that the others need us. Desperately.”
Belle sighed, her face twisting in bewilderment. “I just don’t get it, though.”
”What is that?”
“What is to gain from all of this? Even if Lasairfion wipes out a good chunk of the Ledomaritan army, the backlash will inevitably cost her a good majority of her own troops. It feels like all that this offensive is going to cause is pure death and devastation.”
”Well, she is being aided by a Divine corrupted by the spirit of chaos, beloved.”
“I can perhaps understand Nagu’n’s angle. But Lasairfion? She has all the power she needs. Why instigate so much bloodshed?”
”And Seclorum is another curious matter.”
“Oh?”
”He’s done nothing but stew in the crucible of death. He knows that he’s outnumbered by Xonans in the location he’s defending. Regardless of his ties to Nightshade, it would seem as though he’s had a suicide pact for years now.”
“One pony with a desire for death and another with a desire for killing.” Belle gulped. “It seems too perfectly miserable.”
”Belle, could it be that by bringing Rainbow Dash to this part of the world, we… well…”
“What is it, Pilate?”
”Could it be that we somehow triggered these events into action? W-with Austraeoh?
Belle bit her lip. She didn’t mean to be silent for so long…
”Belle…?”
Scuffling sounds emanated from the adjacent corridor.
Belle gasped. She snatched the sound stone from its niche and whispered hoarsely. “He’s coming, Pilate! I have to go now!”
”Be careful, Belle! I love--”
Belle stuffed the stone into the fibers of her tail hairs. She scrambled out from under the table and stood up--only to find herself being stared down by the cold muzzle of Prime Enforcer Shell.
Even after all of their meetings, the mare still couldn’t hide her shivers. “I… uhm…” She cleared her throat and brushed a hoof over her thin forest of mane hair. “I think I nearly have the thing operational. It didn’t take nearly as long as I thought. This may not be Nightshade tech, but it’s certainly military grade, which means I was able to replace the faulty parts with very little diff--”
“Where is she?” Shell droned as he shuffled across the decrepit concrete interior. He squinted his good eye at the far end of the machine. “Did you already attach her to the sphere-anchorage apparatus?”
“I…” Belle sighed heavily before continuing. “I put Imre’s remains in the fusion chamber, yes.” She gulped and glared at the Prime Enforcer. “But you have to understand. Her body is in such disrepair that I’m not certain the leylines will adequately find the spheres to anchor to. I have to examine the alicornia of her horn and see if I can find a spot to filter the mana through without creating feedback--”
“I’ve given you my daughter, dear doctor,” Shell’s voice reached a grating pitch. “That is not something I do lightly. Ever.”
Belle blinked awkwardly at him. “I understand. And I’m telling you that I have a few steps until--”
“Understand?!” He turned and snarled at her. “What could you possibly understand?! You’re no scientist! You’re a pioneer of heresy!”
“I am doing the best I can to help you and this isn’t doing me any--”
“I have given you my daughter, Doctor!” Shell snapped, shoving Belle onto her haunches.
“Ooof!” Belle collapsed, only to have the wired Sequencing Cap flung over her shattered horn with brash telekinesis. “Shell! Wait! Don’t--”
”And you are going to give her back!” he howled, eye twitching, and flung the switch to the infernal machine.
Belle’s eyes flashed with brilliant light. She threw her body back, screaming like a pony caught on fire. Sparks of loose mana flew from her skull as she thrashed about.
Shell backtrotted from the flickering anomaly, his body casting a cold shadow across the concrete. He watched Belle’s ordeal with a hungry, pale expression.
“Do not be afraid of the spark, dear Imre,” his voice murmured. “She is a messenger of hope.” A tear rolled down his scarred cheek. “Something your f-father could never afford to give you.” He choked back a sob. “Listen to her…”
The world ripped in two, dragging thunder across the horizon like screaming husks of meat.
I spun in the center of the maelstrom, hyperventilating.
“Hello?!”
The bedlam swallowed my voice. The only response I got was a brisk, bitter wind blowing through my bones.
I hissed, hugging myself as my chestnut mane whipped in the air.
“Unngh… Shell!” I grimaced as more lightning flashed, illuminating squirming shadows beyond the soupy barriers undulating around me. “Prime Enforcer! Do you hear me?! I have to disconnect! Without proper synchronization, my mind won’t last a minute! How will I be able to speak with your daughter then, huh?!”
More flashes of lightning. The wind grew colder, ripping across my skin with metallic talons.
“Mmmfff… This isn’t going to work! It’s not--”
Lightning erupted overhead. I looked skyward… and fell.
“Aaaaaugh!”
I flew and fell at the same time, sailing through the spheres as the thoughtscape dissolved around me. My body spun a million revolutions per second, and yet the clouds stayed the same. I looked through fevered blinks to see murky shapes marching one after another, as if lining up before a grand abyss. Where were they going? Where were we all going?
“Shell?!” I shouted.
Nothing. Absolute desolation covered me like a shroud.
I began to whimper. “P-Pilate?” The hallway spun to a stop as my hooves clattered over rusted metal and battered concrete. “Beloved?!” I slipped on a trickling river of scarlet fluids. The walls groaned and cracks formed in the ceiling. I rounded a corner under the cadence of foalish sobs. “My love, I cannot concrentrate. There’s just so much… so much to--”
A rattling noise exploded under my ears. I looked down and almost wretched upon seeing a veritable ocean of bloodstained scalpels and bonesaws. As my eyes traveled across the dirty instruments, I saw trickling tributaries of phlegm and the crimson ribbons of loose entrails.
“Do no harm for the right silver. Five strips. Ten strips. Twenty strips.”
My eyes quivered. I looked across the infirmary.
Squatting on a pile of shaved equine carcasses, a mare in a labcoat leaned over a medical bed while sawing viciously at something with a nerve-grating scraping sound.
“Forty to grow on. Eighty to die with. One hundred sixty the queen of type A, type B, type A positive, type B positive…”
“I… I am looking…” I hissed at a sudden pain to my scalp. It wormed its way down my sinuses and into my throat. Soon, I was leaning over, hacking and gagging. At last, I vomited out a series of tubes covered in sticky residue. With nervous hooves, I gripped a mucus-drenched stethoscope.
“What are you waiting for?!” She cackled and waved at me with a scarlet hoof. “Check the patient!”
I nervously trotted over the precarious carpet of surgical instruments until I stood across the bed from her. A pony’s body was lying face-up to the ceiling. Metal plugs lined the equine’s mutilated body. After a few seconds to compose myself, I pressed the plate of the stethoscope to the patient’s chest.
“Is she alive?”
“I… I…” I bit my lip. All I could hear was bell chimes. “I think?”
“Good.” With a heavy thwack, the surgeon slashed the patient’s cranium off with a hatchet.
I jumped back with a shriek.
Dropping the blade with a weapon, the pony stepped back. “There you go, Rainbow Dash. How do you like your new head?”
The decapitated mare sat up. Its shoulders shook, quivered, and then spread apart as a metal mask exploded out through the neckhole, dribbling with blood and engine oil.
“Hckkkkkkt!” Lady Pestiferous wheezed through her breathing slits. “Disgustingggg! It’sssss all justtttt too disgustinnnng!”
Lips quivering, I pivoted about and stared across the bed. “Imre?”
The surgeon froze in place.
I leaned forward. “Imre, is that you?”
She took a deep breath, spun like a top, and deflated. A cold gust blew her white labcoat into me like a ghostly sheet. I gasped, floundering with the fabric as I fell back and through the floor. Seconds later, when I finally fought my way free, I found myself drifting down a vertical river of stars. To my left, Xonan ships exploded one after another, casting loose shrieking serpents from their melting hulls. To my right, uniformed ponies trotted down glass chambers where various quadrupeds were affixed to mana conduits against their will.
“Ledo is righteous.” Antelopes shrieked. “Ledo provides.” Rams howled in agony. “Glory to the Queen of Queens.” Elks sobbed openly.
“I can’t handle it, Imre,” a cold voice said, collapsing at the breaking point.
Breathless, I pushed against the metal floor until I sat up straight. Gazing across Roarke’s cockpit, I saw the Searonese mare hunched over on the edge of the pilot’s seat. Her copper lenses lay loose on the dashboard, and she had her hooves over her face. Without her armor she looked thin, emaciated, and tears poured over her forelimbs.
“It’s like I will never find it…” Roarke hissed, then sobbed in a crumbling tone. “I keep searching and searching… and Goddess help me, I am never getting there…”
“Do not give up hope, Roarke.” Imre leaned in from where she sat and stroked the bounty hunter’s shoulder. “You found me, after all, didn’t you?”
“But…” Roarke’s voice shuddered in time with her quivering shoulders. “It’s like y-you’re never really th-there either…”
“Just worry about yourself, Roarke,” Imre said as she leaned in to nuzzle the mare’s head. “I know exactly where I belong.” Slowly, icily, the mare turned to glare at Belle.
I shuddered upon contact with those brown orbs. “Imre? It’s… it’s me, Bellesmith. Rainbow’s friend?”
Imre’s eyes went wide. A wave of pain racked through her as the Xonan stallion arched his head back, shrieking towards the ceiling of the laboratory. The wailing pleas for mercy didn’t stop the two Ledomaritan technicians from skewering his ribcage deeper and deeper with a manapowered electrode.
“He’s resisting! We’ll risk mana entanglement at this rate!”
“But the subject might perish!”
“He won’t last the night. Finish the mana convergence!”
“Initiating the tertiary wave.”
The stallion twitched once more, his tattoos shimmering with bright blue flashes of pain. The serpent designs slithered across the ground in a maze of bioluminescent patterns. At last, they spiraled around the figure of a young mare huddled in a shower stall, clinging to herself and sobbing repeatedly.
“I’m so sorry… mother… mother, I’m so sorry for what I’ve become.” She clenched her jaw tight as she pressed two scarlet hooves to her ears to shut out the screams and howls. “I’m turning into him. I’m turning into him. I know it. I just know it…”
“Imre…” Wincing, I trotted through the rain and approached her forlorn figure. “Imre, I haven’t much time. I need to bridge communication.”
“I had no idea. The children. The blood. I’ve broken every code.”
“Imre, look at me…” I knelt down low. “You’re not there anymore. You’re… you’re…” I shuddered as the world groaned and spun through the mountains around us. I looked up to see a sky full of burning zeppelins. “Blessed Spark, help me.” Closing my eyes shut, I took a deep breath, then gazed at her softly. “You are no longer here, Imre. But I am. Please. I entreat the traces of what used to be. I must speak to the memory, not the mare.”
“Nothing…” Imre shook her head as the moisture ran down her grief-stricken muzzle. “There… is nothing…”
“Imre.” I hesitated, fought it, but ultimately murmured, “Your father is here.”
Imre jerked. All her shivers stopped, as did the bulbs of moisture floating around her. Her brown eyes sliced their way across the cosmos until they reflected me.
“He’s going to kill me and the ones I care for unless I can give him something to know that a piece of you is somehow here--”
The droplets formed a cage around Imre. The cage turned into a sphere and the sphere became a manabullet. The chamber cocked, and the blast shot me backwards. I howled in fright as I soared through skin, flesh, bone, brain matter, and blood. After bursting out the other side, I rolled to a stop across Shell’s cabin of the Steel Wing. Sputtering for breath, I looked up, wiped the fluids off my muzzle, and gawked at the scene.
Rainbow Dash’s skull was frozen in mid-explosion. Lightning cracked, and the bone fragments flew back together, revealing my pegasus friend with Tweak’s manarifle aimed at her skull.
I whimpered. “You… you killed…” A tear rolled down my cheek. “You did it to yourself?! But I thought… thought…” A shadow crossed my vision. I looked up.
Shell icily turned towards me, glaring through his one eye. As we made contact, Rainbow Dash exploded into a cloud of sapphiric feathers, and the stallion came bounding through. His scarred eye ripped open--wide and bloodshot--as he lunged forward with the force of a cannonball and strangled my neck.
”There. Is. Nothing!” The prime enforcer shrieked.
“Haaauck--Gaaaukkkkt!” I wheezed for breath.
Shell’s voice thundered louder than the imploding crust of the upper earth as he shoved us through laboratories, over battlefields, and past field hospitals. ”My. Love. Is. A. Weapon!” He snarled in my face. I could smell the hearts of every family he had ever murdered billowing like sulfur from his throat. ”Use. It. My. Beloved.” Red bands of flesh peeled from his coat like stripes. A tumor bursted with flickering runes across his skull as O.A.S.I.S. emerged from Pilate’s veiny throat. ”Be. The. Dagger. Of. Righteousness!”
I could feel my skull lifting in two. Just like when Discord blew up all my friends. Just like when I tossed the friggin’ pendant at Celestia’s hooves…
No…
“No…”
I am not… not…
“Rainbow Dash isn’t here, Imre!” I fought Pilate’s hooves, gritting my teeth as I pried his steel forelimbs from my throat. I shouted above the howl of our bodies sailing through the heavens. “And neither are you! Her journey hasn’t ended, but yours has!”
”He. Won’t. Accept. Me.” Pilate sobbed, a tear rolling down Shell’s bloodied cheek. The stallion writhed. Our bodies decelerated through the madness as Imre’s voice squeaked through. ”Couldn’t. Run. Forever.” Fire and lightning. Everything melting. ”No. Solace. In. The. End.”
“Then go back to the beginning, Imre!” I shouted. “Where there was warmth! Where there was happiness!” The cyclone was deafening now, but I leaned in until I was practically kissing her ear. “Be the memory. Be all the good memories and rest, Imre!” I felt my skull pulling at the seams. My legs were dissolving.
Beloved. Oh, my beloved.
“Rest forevermore!”
With one tumultuous sob, Imre spread apart like shredded paper before me. I smelled freshly cut grass and heard the buzz of cicadas. Falling forward, I landed across a springy lawn in a golden afternoon.
Stifling a sob, I tilted my head up in time to hear something that made my ears twitch.
“Daddy! Daddy! It flew! Did you see it?”
“Heh… I most certainly did. You’ve become quite the fast runner.”
“I bet I can get it even higher next time!”
Eyes tearing, I gazed up across the plane of spheres.
Seated in a grassy halo in the middle of dark fog, a pair of lovers squatted on a picnic blanket. Their little daughter galloped towards them, dragging a kite by its string. The filly yanked on the stallion’s tail.
“I bet it’d go really high if you helped me!”
“Hmmm… If you insist.” He nuzzled his beloved before standing up and ruffling the filly’s mane. “But I can’t help you forever, Imre! Soon, you’re gonna have to make it fly on your own!”
“Dadddddd.”
“Alright. Alright.” With very little effort, the stallion gripped the kite string in his molars. He signaled for his daughter to stand in position, then sprinted briskly for the hilltop. As a sharp wind blew down from the nebulous sky above, he hissed through his teeth. “Now!”
With a gasp, Imre tossed the kite high. The father’s momentum carried it skyward, and soon it was levitating from a lofty position, flashing the illustration of a bright sun with seagull wings flickering across it.
“Yaaaay! You did it, Daddy!” Imre skipped around him as the mother chuckled from a distance. “Wow, it’s really high now!”
“It’s all in the fetlock, darling.” He leaned down and nuzzled her. The figures were graphite sketches against an onyx slate at this point. “Someday, when you’re older…” Echoes. “You’ll fly higher than me…”
Sparks flew from the machine. Bellesmith thrashed forward with a shriek. The Sequencing cap flew from her skull as her chestnut eyes flashed bright white and back to their dull hue. Covered in sweat, she gripped her skull and hissed in pain.
Shell stood with an incredulous look across his scarred face. His good eye twitched as he panted, hyperventilated. “What… wh-what happened?!”
“Mmmnnnghhh..” Belle leaned over, fraught with dry heaves. “Hraaaukkkth-guhhhhh…”
“Did… did it break?” Shell’s breath reached a fever pitched as he trotted up and down the length of the machine, gawking at the streams of smoke pouring out of it. “Mana overload? But… but…” He turned, brow quivering. “You were barely in there for ten seconds! How…”
Belle hugged herself, curling up in a fetal position as she coughed and wheezed.
Shell blinked. He lifted the mare with swift telekinesis and knelt before her. “Doctor.”
Belle shuddered and stammered unintelligibly.
“Doctor, look at me!” Shell slapped her cheek once, then again--harder. He glared into her vision. “What did you see?” He seethed, seethed… then held his breath. Gulping hard, the stallion embraced her muzzle and leaned forward. “Imre? Imre… are… are you in there, d-darling?”
Belle gazed up, her eyes rolling back. A gagging noise came from her throat.
“Imre!” Shell shook the mare, his eye moistening. “Can you hear me? Give me a sign. I need… I need to speak to you.” His voice cracked. “I… I need to tell you that… that…”
With a jolt, Bellesmith inhaled hard. Her eyes jerked into their normal position, and she muttered, “Pilate? Beloved? I… I was… I think…” At last, she blinked at Shell in a quizzical fashion. Seconds passed. “Prime Enforcer?”
Shell hung still.
Belle gulped and murmured, “Shell, did… is it over?”
Shell gritted his teeth. He snarled, spun--”Raaaaaugh!”--and flung Bellesmith across the room.
The mare didn’t even have time to shriek. She smashed through a table, knocking instruments across the concrete floor with a loud clatter.
Shell was already stomping towards her. “If there’s one thing I will not stand for, Doctor, is a fugitive of the state wasting my valuable time!”
“Shell, please… I-I just--” She tried getting up. “Let me--”
He swung forward and slammed his hoof across the pony’s face. ”What did you see?!”
Belle sprawled across her back, gargling her own blood.
Shell didn’t wait to punch her again, this time with an audible crack!”What did you see?!”
Belle spat across the floor, staining it red. With trembling hooves, she tried dragging herself away. The enforcer’s shadow loomed above her, and soon did his bones.
“Grrggh!” He pressed his weight into her spine and yanked her neck back in order to sneer into her pained ear. “Your winged abomination of a friend already took what’s precious from me!” Shell spat. ”I will not have you take her for a second time!” His horn glowed as he lifted a battered table leg to slam across her forehead. “Now are you going to give me something, or will I have to dig it out of your fragile…” His eyes trailed towards a sign of movement. “...skull?”
Belle’s hoof had stretched to the far side, and she was just then finishing a rough diagram in the dust of the abandoned facility. A diamond loomed before Shell’s sight, and in the center of the shape was the sketch of squiggly seagull wings superimposed over a solar crest.
Shell’s jaw fell slack.
Belle’s hoof went limp as she lost consciousness in the stallion’s arms.
Silence.
The enforcer’s upper body spasmed in tiny palpitations. With a quivering lip, he gazed at Belle’s still-smoking horn. “Imre…?” His face melted, followed by a salvo of sobs as he hugged Belle’s body close and nuzzled her until the tears flowed between them. “Oh, Imre… my little Imre, I am so sorry…”
He rocked the two of them back and forth in the concrete sarcophagus of shadows.
“Please, Imre, if you can hear me…” He cried. He wailed. “I am so… so sorry…” He gnashed his teeth and murmured unintelligible things, all the while caressing the unconscious’ mare fuzzy skull. “Mmmmm-haaaaaaaaughhhhh!”
“We’re happy that you’re helping us make a stealthy exit, Miss Roarke,” Zetta murmured as she, Basso, and several other Ledomaritans hurried through a shadowed corridor. “Especially since most of us are total strangers to you.” She gulped. “But what about Rainbow Dash and the little foal?”
“We’ll get them in due time,” Roarke said, adjusting her lenses in order to see better down the dim passageway. The hulking body of the Sacred Hold groaned and buckled around them. “First thing’s first. We need to get that book.”
“What’s so special about it anyways?” Basso remarked. He squinted towards the walls. “And is it just me, or is this giant floating mountain starting to rumble?”
“The book is everything,” Nightshade spoke as the group followed Roarke past a flickering manatorch. “There are forces at work here that mortals can barely see. I thought I was the only one who knew the flame’s true power, but I was wrong.” The lines in her muzzle grew hard as the madame growled, “We mustn’t let these zealous cretins get ahold of it. It’s just as important as Rainbow Dash, as for as the fate of this continent is concerned.”
“Does that mean that Roarke is gonna make out with the book once we get it?” Zaid said.
Basso sighed. “Dude, really?”
“Guhh!” Zetta suddenly stumbled, clutching her forehead.
With a gasp, Basso scooped her back onto her hooves. “Zetta! What is it?”
“The song…” The mare clenched her teeth shut as her horn fluctuated. “It’s g-getting louder…” She opened a pair of moist eyes. “More erratic!”
“Wuh oh…” Zaid glanced at the others. “The flying dragon goddess thingy?”
Roarke seethed. “We haven’t much time.” She broke into a gallop. “Stay five yards behind me at all times!” she called back. “I’m going to clear the floor between us and--”
“Haak thuun see breek!” Two guards lunged out of an adjacent corridor, swinging glowing scimitars at her.
“Searo’s Uterus!” Roarke slid, barely ducked the two slashes, and kicked off the floor with a burst of her horseshoe thrusters. She bicycle-kicked one guard across the head and tripped the other with a lash of metal coils.
Xonan shouts rang down the nearby passage. A thick line of soldiers came charging. With flashes of silver light, reptilian effigies flew in Roarke’s direction, brimming with chaos energy.
“Keep your distance!” Roarke shouted. “I got this!”
“You sure of that?!” a random enforcer shouted.
“Better they find out than me!” Roarke charged blindly into the group, whipping her prehensile tail like a serrated lash. “Haaaaaaaugh!”
Zetta winced, clinging to Basso. As hoofsteps sounded off behind them, the large stallion pointed at the flank-kicking bounty hunter.
“There’re two more on your right--”
“Ooof!” A flanking trio of Xonans were instantly clotheslined by the large pony’s forelimb. All three fell to the floor, groaning.
Basso blinked. “Whoops.”
Behind Zaid and Nightshade’s nervous figures, a lone, injured Xonan crawled away from Roarke’s melee and clasped his hoof over a crystal shard atop a slender pedestal. Bright blue lights strobed through the corridor as a loud alarm blared.
In the central hangar bay of the Sacred Hold, Dizzaaz Manathen Arcshod stood on the loading deck immediately adjacent to the Lightning-Bearer. A group of Xonan soldiers marched up, wearing plain gray fatigues. They turned and faced him. Arcshod shouted several words in a deep voice, then raised his glowing horn.
“Drenna’dennu Ledomulien thriul Nagu’n!” The troops shouted in unison.
Arcshod turned and signaled a group of robed Xonan priestesses.
Chanting in unison, the equines cast a bright spell over the phalanx of soldiers. Silver light cascaded over every pony. Then, like a glittering veil, they were covered from head to hoof in an enchanting glow. As the aura faded, their fatigues had altered to mimic the color of Ledomaritan enforcer uniforms. What was more, their tattoos had vanished--replaced instead by simple coats of non-Xonan quality.
Another shout lit the air. The disguised Xonans levitated berets onto their heads, swiveled towards the Lightning-Bearer, and marched firmly on board. Hot on their heels was another group of soldiers in fatigues. They turned to face Arcshod, and the high-ranking officer repeated his authoritarian shouts.
As the next spell was cast, Zytharros stood like a diligent sentry along the fringes of the scene, watching with a placid expression. The humming noise of floating barges loaded tons of weaponry and explosives into the central storage bay of the captured Ledomaritan battleship beside him.
Suddenly, a small shard of enchanted crystal strobed on his shoulder plate. He tilted his head down and squinted at the emergency. One ear twitched. Two. Then, slowly, he gazed up towards the rafters of the hangar bay. A curious expression crossed his chiseled, tattooed features.
A large rumbling noise rolled through the structure. The sheer vibrations alone nearly threw Khao and Rainbow Dash off their hooves. With a gasp, Rainbow stumbled forward, only for the lead Heraldite to catch her and help her back onto four legs.
“Lemme guess…” Rainbow muttered as the two limped along. “The Sacred Hold is passing a stone?”
“I knew that this would happen,” Khao muttered, pulling the two of them down a precarious ledge looming above a large chamber full of abandoned chaos metal strips. “Soon enough, Lasairfion herself will be departing.”
“What, you mean for the machine world?” Rainbow wheezed as bits of dust and debris littered the ground around them. “Where the Ledomaritans are holed up?”
“Indeed,” Khao exhaled as she kicked a door open and shoved Rainbow through it. The two were engulfed in darkness and dim torchlight. “And Nevlamas will follow soon after.”
“Wait… Axan’s sister?” Rainbow Dash blinked dizzily. “She’s not happy to have Lasairfion do all the dirty work for her?”
“It’s hard to say whose work is whose anymore,” Khao said. “I have every reason to believe that Lasairfion is the true puppet master at work here.” She pulled Rainbow Dash around a corridor and led her down a straightaway of doorframes and flickering candles. “With the power of Nevlamas at her command, she’s orchestrated every movement of this war for the past half-decade--like conducting an orchestrated symphony of death.”
“You don’t say…”
“Infiltrating the Ledomaritan army with agents… attacking Seclorum’s defensive line at key locations… summoning an army of serpentine monsters…” Khao slowly nodded. “She’s been using this war to create an age of suffering and chaos that no other continent on this plane has seen.”
“But… why?”
“For all the resources the Herald has its disposal, we still don’t know everything.” Khao glanced at the pegasus. “Even still, I suspect that your presence here as a great deal to do with this.”
“Like how?”
“You’re the catalyst for Lasairfion’s next plans, whatever they may be.”
Rainbow Dash shuddered, gazing down at the passing stone floor. “When Nevlamas… looked into my head…” She gulped. “She found out about the open machine world and where it was located.” She bit her lip. “The invasion was just waiting for me to show up and give Nevlamas’ and Lasairfion’s minions the coordinates.”
“I suspect they always knew where to go, Harbinger.”
“Then why wait for me?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “Why am I so important?! I refuse to be an agent of genocide!”
“You could have avoided it a long time ago if you had accepted my gracious offer.”
“Are we seriously gonna get into this again?!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “For the last time, you are not--” She froze in mid-speech, however, upon noticing movement to her right. She glanced to the side in time to see Xonan laborers lined up in one of the many chambers that they were passing. The low class Xonans knelt down before chaos strips. Murmuring tiny prayers, they summoned glowing white serpents who spun around until they faced the tattooed unicorns’ penitent bodies. Then, as the Xonans presented their forelimbs and necks, the serpents ravenously leapt upon them. Khao dragged Rainbow Dash along before she could see what happened next, but she could hear their horrific, blood-curdling cries. “Luna poop!” Rainbow Dash’s voice cracked. “What the buck are they doing?!”
“Lasairfion and Nevlamas are leaving!” Khao exclaimed over the bloody bedlam. “The Third Born have outlived their usefulness!”
“Then friggin’ take us back!” Rainbow Dash shouted, thrashing weakly in Khao’s grip. “We gotta stop them--”
“Don’t even jest,” Khao droned, not ceasing her gait for one moment.
Rainbow sneered at her. “Creeps or not, nopony deserves to just give up like that!”
“They gave up on life the very moment they subscribed to their false religion,” Khao said. “We would only doom ourselves and the fate of this plane if we put you unnecessarily in harm’s way.”
“Oh, you’re one to friggin’ talk, lady…”
“It matters little.” Khao paused by a junction of hallways, glancing down both corridors. “We need to get the book, reunite you with the flame, then leave Sacred Hold in time to rendezvous with my brothers and sisters.”
“And if I decide that I’d rather kick your flank in between now and then?”
“You’re welcome to try,” Khao said in a sighing tone. “Although, with the Sacred Relic in our possession, I seriously doubt your stubbornness will prove fruitful.”
Sure enough, Rainbow could only dangle limply from Khao’s shoulder as the Heraldite let her up a flight of stone stairs and towards a lofty corridor deep within the floating mountain.
“Raaaaaugh!” Roarke tossed two Xonans off her, slammed them against a far wall, and spun towards them with a snarl.
The unicorns shook off the pain and gripped their chaos strips. Just as their tattoos started brimming with otherworldly energy, their shocked faces lit up from the glow of rocket exhaust. A cluster of missiles exploded right before them, blowing a hole in the wall and knocking their flailing bodies into the open chasm below.
“Hah!” Zaid chanted as he, Nightshade, and the rest of the group covered the distance behind Roarke’s smoking figure. “I knew there’d be explosions eventually!”
“Hrmmmph…” Roarke retracted the missile launchers back into her armor. Tilting about, she trotted over the groaning, beaten bodies of Xonans and rejoined the group. “We haven’t much time. They’ve set off the alarms and will likely be sending an even bigger security detachment our way.”
Zaid reached over and patted Basso’s shoulder with a smirk. “Why don’t we just catapult this dude at them?”
Basso went cross-eyed. “Buh?”
“First thing’s first.” Roarke spun about with pistoning eye-lenses. “This should be the level where the book’s hidden.”
“Over there,” Nightshade said, pointing down the corridor. “The characters on the wall read ‘High Security Hold.’”
“H-how is it that you c-can transcribe written Xonan?” Zetta stammered, rubbing her aching head.
“I knew that I would be returning to the Eastern Front at some point,” the madame said. “Just… not quite in this haphazard fashion.”
“Whatever…” Roarke grunted as she approached the line of doors. “What we need to do is--” She froze in place, her armor rattling.
“Wh-what is it?” Basso asked.
“No…” Seething, Roarke dashed over a pair of collapsed guards and directly into the room beyond. “No no no no no no!” The body of the Sacred Hold rumbled all around.
Zetta stumbled on her hooves but managed to shout with a grimacing expression, “What’s wrong?! What do you see?”
After a few seconds, Roarke stuck her bewildered, pale face back out. “The book…” She gulped dryly. “It’s gone!”
The Ledomaritans mumbled insecurely. Basso and Zetta exchanged confused glances.
“Well, we’re boned,” Zaid belched.
“Rgggggh!” Roarke punched the wall with a metal hoof. Cracks and rivulets formed as she stood there, panting. “By Searo’s Womb! Who in the Hell could have wanted it more than us?!”
In the back of the group, Nightshade stood back in the shadows, saying nothing.
Stone doors slid open as Kera galloped eagerly into the Xonan brig. “Zaid! Zetta! Everypony!” She turned around and pointed at the doorframe. “Look what we got!”
Dalen stumbled nervously in, glancing left and right as he levitated the lavender book by his side. “Haluu’seem thriul meen’ess.” He gulped. “They’re gone…”
“What are you talking about?!” Kera beamed and spun about with a toss of her straight green mane. “They’re right where you left ‘em--” She froze, her emerald eyes blinking wide. The jail cell was completely empty, and the caged door hung wide open. “...friggin’ Hell.”
Accompanied by a train of royal maidens, Princess Lasairfion trotted gracefully on board the Lightning Bearer. Lines of Xonans--soldiers and laborers and officers alike--all bowed low as her hooves shuffled liquidly by. The only pony who wasn’t squatting low was Arcshod. The large officer stared at Lasairfion and gave an off-color smirk.
Lasairfion looked back at him. Slowly, her lips curved. With a flip of her lusciously long mane, she gestured towards the far end of the dangerously stocked vessel.
Spinning about, Arcshod shouted towards the disguised ponies on board. They stood up, shouting back in mesmerizingly melodic cadence. While they ran in opposite directions to mind their stations, the Princess descended a central stairwell and disappeared into the bowels of the massive Ledomaritan dreadnaught.
Then, with a slowly increasing hum, the hangar space of the Sacred Hold lit up like a giant blue candle. The engines of the Lightning Bearer came to life, heating up the air and blowing hot wind into the manes of rows upon rows of laborers who stood on the ledges overlooking the disembarking vessel.
The Sacred Hold rumbled all around. Bits of dust and debris fell onto the humble ponies’ manes. With deep breaths, they bowed and murmured prayers to Nagu’n, accepting their fate as the Lightning Bearer began its thunderous voyage, the Princess in tow.
“No no…” Kera trotted in tight circles, pulling at her oddly long mane. “No no no no no no! This cannot be good!”
Dalen glanced around at the emptied brig. His brow furrowed. “It would seem as though your friends valued their lives more than they desired your company.”
“There’s gotta be more to it than that!” Kera’s voice squeaked. “Maybe they were in danger! Or maybe they had to get away from the Princess’ lackeys. Or…” She gasped in a shrill voice. “Crap biscuits! They’re totally trying to find me, aren’t they?!”
“Child,” Dalen spoke above the sound of the rumbling Mountain around them. He floated the runic tome so that it avoided the curtain of dust falling down in a steady stream. “We do not have much time on our hooves. If I am to salvage the glory of Nagu’n, I must expose the book of Oss Tray Oh to her immediately. Everything else is forfeit.”
Kera collapsed to her knees. The unsettling vibrations through Sacred’s Hold only rattled her all the more. “Where could they have gone?” She clenched her eyes shut. “Think think think!”
“It will be a miracle if they make it to any form of escape in one piece,” Dalen said, trotting over to rest a hoof on her shoulder. “The Sacred Hold is experiencing hitherto unimaginable turbulence. It seems to me that the Goddess is no longer satiated by her song. She wishes to branch out and devour a new chorus.” The room shook again, but he managed to keep his balance. “However, if I can reach her beforehand…”
“Yeah yeah… I get it,” Kera muttered as she slowly sat up. “We might stop this giant egg from cracking.”
“That’s for Nagu’n to determine, not us mortals.” Dalen took a deep breath. “You were instrumental in retrieving Oss Tray Oh’s book back. I cannot ask you to undertake this next part with me.”
“No. I… I gotta help make things right.” Kera trotted lonesomely across the table in the center of the room. “I mean, I’ve stuck my head in deep enough as it is, and… and…” She suddenly gasped, her eyes wide. “The satchel!”
“The… satchel…?”
“Rainbow Dash’s saddlebag!” Kera pushed through the clutter of stuff. “It’s missing!” She blinked, then grinned wide. “That must mean she took it! Or one of the others did!”
“I do not understand the significance, child.”
“It means they weren’t taken somewhere! They busted out! Maybe they even have Rainbow Dash with them!” She let loose a girlish shriek, clamping her hooves over her tiny mouth. “Mmmmf--Awww shoot! They must be looking for me!” Shivering, she glanced up at the dust falling loose from the rumbling ceiling. “I’ll totally be the end of them and crud!”
“I must make haste.” Dalen was already trotting swiftly out the door. “I cannot ask you to follow me, child. But if you do, I will do my best to keep you safe.”
“H-hey!” Kera wadded desperately after the tattooed stallion’s swishing tail. “Wait for me, darn it!”
“Unngh!” Rainbow Dash nearly fell from Khao’s grip as another wave of turbulence rocked through the body of Sacred Hold. “Someone sedate that giant, two-mouthed whale already!”
“We’re lucky to still be alive,” Khao grunted. “At the rate at which Nevlamas is gaining power, she’s liable to tear this place to shreds any second.”
“When you say gaining power…”
“She hasn’t produced any chaos strips since the last time she’s fed.”
“So…” Rainbow Dash blinked as the two slinked through the dark passageways. “That means…”
“...she’s powered up to unleash as much chaos energy as possible.” Khao took a shuddering breath. “She will follow Lasairfion’s vessel to the Eastern Front….”
“...and she’ll unload all of her inner butt-fuggliness onto Seclorum’s camp,” Rainbow Dash murmured.
“The machine layer will be exposed to her wrath. Between Lasairfion and Nevalamas, nothing will stand in the way of the Dark Divine infecting the bowels of this world with pure discord.”
“That’s… uh… a bad thing, right?”
“Were you born yesterday?”
“I’m being serious here!” Rainbow winced as another wave of dizziness shook through her, coupled with the shaking of the Hold all around. “How the hay do we even stop something like that! I can barely trot an inch without fainting!” She frowned. “Your bracelet did crap, by the way!”
“My what?” Khao shook her muzzle as the two rounded a corner in the labyrinthine hallways. “Whatever the case, the rest of the Herald is waiting for us and the book. We just may be able to use the lavender flame--coupled with your power, Harbinger--to restore the glory of the Angels to Nevlamas’ senses, thereby canceling out her chaos energies before there’s a chance of ruining what’s left of the ring.”
“So, basically I’m just your tool all over again.”
“This is not something that deserves debating,” Khao muttered against the pegasus leaning on her. “The fate of this entire plane is at stake, and the Herald is ready to intervene on its behalf. Just what are you prepared to do?”
“What I wanna know is this…” Rainbow glared at her captor/savior. “The Ledomaritans… the Xonans… and all the ponies that are in the path of Nevlamas’ wrath. What happens to them? Do we somehow get to save them too?”
Khao’s face was coldly straight as she said, “They’re loss will be but a trickle in the ocean of necessity. It’s the world below--not above--that takes precedent.”
The blue hairs on the back of Rainbow’s neck raised as she frowned. “Now that’s totally uncool.”
“You can use any euphemism for it that you please.”
“And what if it would please me to shove my hoof up your--”
“Rggggh!” A mare’s voice rang from up ahead, followed by the sound of a metal hoof slamming hard into a wall. As Khao and Rainbow Dash rounded a final turn, they spotted twelve Ledomaritans, Zaid, Nightshade--and finally Roarke standing at an open doorframe. “By Searo’s Womb!” the bounty hunter growled. “Who in the Hell could have wanted it more than us?!”
Khao’s face went pale as a sheet upon seeing the opened doorway. “By the Host… the book…”
Rainbow Dash squinted tiredly. “Roarke…?”
Everypony jerked to look--including Nightshade. Zetta gasped. Zaid smirked. Basso blinked and turned to glance at Roarke.
“Rainbow… Dash…?” The metal mare almost smiled. Just then, her lenses glinted with a strange light, and she tilted her head aside until they reflected Khao’s glaring figure.
The Heraldite’s muzzle tensed.
Suddenly sneering, Roarke opened all of her leftover missile compartments at once and began a vicious charge. ”You get your slimy hooves off of--” The wall exploded behind her from the cleaving swing of a mana-glimmering broadsword. “Gaaah!”
With a shout, Zytharros slammed into Roarke’s armor, plunging the two of them through the next wall and into the chamber beyond. Dust and glowing serpent trails followed their maddening dive while everypony else collapsed painfully to their sides.
Rainbow sprawled over Khao in her helpless attempt to get up. “Nnnngh--Roarke!”
“Miss Roarke!” Zetta shouted in a panic, gazing through the fresh hole that the metal mare and Zytharros had made.
“Raaaugh!” With a thrust of her horseshoes, Roarke shoved the Xonan warrior off of her and spun to deflect his next sword swing with a slash of her tail. “Go! You and Rainbow Dash find the book and a way out of here!” She flipped, dodged another swing, and slammed her hoof across the soldier’s helmet before gripping his neck from behind. “Rgghhh--There should be plenty left in the tertiary hangar compartments! Get out of here before this giant turd flies apart!”
With a shout, Zytharros shrugged his leg-joints, knocking Roarke off of him. He spun with a telekinetic slash of the sword.
She slid under it, somersaulted, and plowed into him with a burst of engine thrusters. The two barreled off a ledge and onto a lower level of the chamber, sending chunks of stone debris flying everywhere.
As they leveled out, their bodies slid apart on scraping hooves. Zytharros floated his sword high, eyes shimmering. “It wishes to graze from the fields of death, dreit?” He spat. “Searonese trentte! It knew it was hiding like a snake in the Domain of Xon!”
“Yeah, well, it really wants to get its balls chopped off.” With a twist of her neck, Roarke popped two mana-blasters free from her shoulder plates. They hummed with burning blue energy. “The holier-than-thou hot air stops here, bucko.”
“It invites its own doom!” Zytharros snarled, pacing across from her as his tattoos brimmed with chaotic mists. “It would dare to taint Nagu’n’s moment of glory with its vile effluence!”
Roarke smirked. “Best compliment I heard all day.”
“Let it echo in the depths of its grave!” Zytharros charged straight at her. “Haaaaugh!”
Roarke squatted low, firing two steady streams of concentrated mana.
Zytharros blocked the blasts with his bastard sword, not once stopping his forward momentum. When he was within a spit’s distance, he jumped, forward-flipped, and brought the magic sword down so hard that it heated the air up by twenty degrees.
Roarke rolled aside--though the concussive blast of the enchanted blade sent her flying several feet. She took advantage of the momentum by firing her rockets, gliding through the air, and coming around in a vicious arc. When she returned to Zytharros, it was with all four hooves limbs bucking repeatedly.
Zytharros crouched his entire body behind the bulk of his blade and blocked the multiple strikes. He finally shoved back against her weight and lunged high with the blade.
Roarke, in the meantime had propelled off the sword into a backflip. This caused Zytharros to miss her by a long shot, and his body stumbled forward. In mid-descent, Roarke fired her metal cables and latched them around his forward hooves. With a grunt, she anchored her body against a slab of stone, flexed her armored body, and flung him like a living mace into a wall of wooden shelves.
“Unnngh!” Zytharros grunted as his body smashed through the material. He collapsed to the ground, leaning on his sword. At the sound of several roaring thrusters, he looked up. His eyes stopped glowing long enough to reflect no less than six miniature rockets flying straight at him.
Kapoww!
His entire half of the room exploded in flame and plasma.
Roarke stood, her body slumped within her armor. She panted and panted, then closed the rocket launchers along her sides. Swallowing, she stood up straight and pistoned her lenses to see better through the settling dust--
“Raaaaaugh!” A glowing blue figure flew at her with a savage right hook.
“Ooomf!” Roarke spat blood and saliva from the heavy punch.
Zytharros, his body covered in the armored plates that were once his sword, followed the blow with a kick to her chest. As she reeled, he lifted her with telekinesis, spun, and bucked her with both rear hooves to the side.
“Unngh!” Roarke went sailing towards a wall--smashing through it and landing in a rattling lump within the center of a long hallway. Xonan servants gasped and galloped away as Zytharros marched through, his heavily armored figure steaming with chaotic energies.
“Foolish hunter of bounties.” He sneered as he stood on her body, applying his weight to her beleaguered chest. “What does it live for?” He leaned down, sneering, as the body of the Sacred Hold rumbled around them. “The rattle of gold and the smell of silver? It is worthless!”
“Nghh… kaff… oh… y-you know…” She looked up at him, mouth bleeding, and smirked. “It’s the little things that keep me going.” Then, with a hiss, she shot her prehensile tail straight into his metal-armored crotch and fired an electrical current through it.
“Gaaa-aaa-aaaugh!” Zytharros thrashed in his armor and stumbled back, legs crossed. “Thiulen thuum thuum, Xon-Nagu’n!”
“Damn straight.” Roarke snapped her tail back into place, jumped up, and lunged at him. “Round two, breeder!”
Ninety seconds ago...
“Miss Roarke!” Zetta shouted in a panic
“Go!” Roarke shouted from the chamber below. “You and Rainbow Dash find the book and a way out of here! There should be plenty left in the tertiary hangar compartments! Get out of here before this giant turd flies apart!”
Zetta glanced at the others with a gaping expression.
“Aren’t we going to help her?!” a Ledomaritan enforcer exclaimed.
“She can’t handle a Xonan warrior all on her lonesome!”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure me and my bruises think she can,” Zaid chuckled. He turned and calmly nudged Basso’s shoulder as the corridor shook all around them. “Ain’t that right, big boy? Eh… who am I talking to.” He turned and blinked in Rainbow’s direction. “Oh! Look! Awesomeness has arrived!”
“N-now’s not the time,” Rainbow Dash sputtered, dizzily trying to stand up.
“Awwwww… but it’s never been the time lately!”
“Roarke… is…” Rainbow hissed. “...b-buying us some time.” Everypony gasped in fright as the Hold shook again, but Rainbow kept straight-faced. “First thing’s first! Where’s Kera?!”
“She was with one of the Xonans the last time we saw her,” Zetta said, gulping. “She put on an act to win Straker’s--I-I mean Dalen’s trust.”
“Damn… friggin’ scamp…” Rainbow Dash seethed towards rumbling walls of the place. “What did she think she would accomplish--?” Her eyes widened. “Horseapples!” She gawked at the others. “She went for the book! She’s the one who has it!”
“Question is, what would she be doing with it?” Basso asked. The place shook again.
“Exactly how is all of this conducive to us getting out on the spare Xonan ships?” one of the enforcers muttered.
“You shut your muzzle!” Zaid said, frowning as he shuffled towards Rainbow Dash. “Can’t you see that the game has changed?” He stripped of a very familiar midnight-blue satchel and held it in Rainbow’s direction. “Here ya go, sexiness. I’ve been keeping this warm for you.”
“Jee… thanks, Zaid.”
“You could at least try to appreciate a supporting character when you see one.” He blinked aside. “Oh.” He blinked again. “Hi, Khao. ‘Sup?”
“Khao--?” Rainbow Dash turned aside, only to be savagely thrown into a vice-tight legbar from behind. “Gaah!”
“Rainbow!” Zetta jumped forward, though Basso held her back.
“You…” Khao grunted, gripping Rainbow’s dizzied body from behind as she shuffled the two of them back. “You… all of you…” A clicking sound lit the air as she produced a dart gun along her left forelimb. “None of you matter. You are just chaff in the wind of destiny.”
“Oh great…” Rainbow hissed as she felt the tip of the dart to her ear. “Come on. What are you soap boxing about now, lady?”
“Yo! Stop ridin’ her, Khaogirl!” Zaid waved his forelimbs. “I know it’s been a while since you’ve delivered a sermon, but could you calm it down a notch?”
“Do I even know you?”
“Yeah. Brother Zaid, right?”
“...” Khao squinted at him.
“The dude who showed up for your Angelic Seminars after you picked me up in the north?”
“... …”
Zaid sighed, then waved his left hoof. “The one who always wrote complaints about the lack of grilled cheese sandwiches?”
“How in the Host did you get on board this infernal death mountain?” Khao spat.
“Hey… y’know…” Zaid shrugged with a smirk. “Checks and balances.” He cleared his throat. “Ya mind not waving the death plunger at Rainbow Dash’s skull anymore? Y’know… Harbinger? ‘Destined to protect the Harbinger?’”
“I am protecting her…” Khao sneered, starting to hyperventilate as the prisoners slowly shuffled towards her across the thin hallway. She backed up, clutching Rainbow tighter and tighter. “I am protecting her from Xona! I am protecting her from Ledomare! I am protecting her from all of you!”
“Could you protect me a little less harder?” Rainbow grunted. “It’s hell on my wings.”
“Shhh! Quiet! We must make our way out of here!” Khao frowned at the group. “Someplace where there won’t be any setbacks! Any wars! Any conspiracies in the wings!”
“Yo, the only one dreamin’ up shadows is you, sister,” Zaid said. “How about sprinkling a little less rhetoric on your fries and taking sips every other bite?”
“Who are you to call yourself a Brother of the Host?!” Khao frowned at him. “She doesn’t need this heathen company! It’s only threatened her journey! What she needs is the true wind beneath her wings! She needs Eljunbyro!”
“Dude, wasn’t that ‘Innavedr?’”
“Silence! You know nothing!”
“I know that she’s got Elephant Gyro right where she wants it, until our little clan of hymn chanters stole her from it! Don’t you think we’re overreacting a little?”
“You are blind to the chaos all around us…” Khao sneered. With a flick of her shoulders, she extended two wings attached to her steamrigging. “You would let her and this whole world burn before the ring could ever reform!”
“Burn?” Basso stammered.
“Ring?” Zetta added.
“Just be like me, Khaogirl!” Zaid smiled wide. “Take a chill-pill! Relax! Y’know… like whatshername does. Madame Shadenight!” He blinked, then squinted around. “Say, where did she go, anyways?”
“Night… shade…?” Khao’s face went pale.
“Yes.” A broken horn slithered out of the shadows behind her. “We meet again.”
Khao turned--
--only to take a savage hoof to the face.
“Spkkt!” Khao spat blood as she stumbled off of Rainbow Dash.
Nightshade wasn’t done. With liquid-like grace, she side-stepped onto Khao, pressed her weight into her middle, and snapped one of her glider wings off. She used the thing like a bludgeon, uppercutting Khao across the chin, and then piercing it straight down into the zealot’s steam rigging.
The mechanism on the equine’s figure sparked to life, firing steam vents at random. As a result, Khao’s grounded body slid like an out-of-control torpedo towards the opposite wall of the corridor.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--”Thud! Her rigging fell apart, peeling like the dry skin off a potato. The mare tumbled back and rolled to a stop, curling up in a painful little ball. “Unnnnghhh…”
Nightshade cracked her neck. “And the Board of Executives said I wasted time on the battlefield after salvaging my brother.”
“Whew! Quite the bump you took there, boss!” Zaid squatted over the zealot’s writhing figure. “You okay?”
“I… I-I think my h-hoof is broken!” Khao wheezed.
“You’re spiritual,” Nightshade muttered aside as she dragged Rainbow Dash to her hooves. “Pray about it.” She looked calmly into Rainbow’s ruby eyes. “Don’t we have a little filly to find?”
“Split up?!” Zetta gasped. The Sacred Hold shook all around her. “Are you serious?!”
“Pathetically, yes.” Rainbow Dash fumbled to strap Luna’s saddlebag back on. Nightshade leaned in to lend a hoof, but the pegasus writhed away from her, frowning as she finished the dizzying task herself. “As much as I need to fetch Kera, none of you ponies deserve to stay stranded on this crumbling rock for any longer. That’s why I suggest that the bulk of us go and jump aboard a Xonan aircraft, and I’ll go find the foal myself.”
“How can you expected to do that on your own?!” Zetta spat. “You’re in no shape to trot a hundred yards, much less fly through this collapsing mess!”
“Yeah!” Zaid exclaimed as he stretched the limp, quivering figure of Khao over his backside. “I love the little scamp and all, but I totally vote for you not becoming floating serpent house fodder!”
“Nnngh…” Khao’s face tensed as she clutched her injured forelimb. “Damned heathens! Damned heathens and apostate masses!”
“That’s uhhhh…” Zaid smiled with a sweating expression. “That’s Heraldese for ‘you got a point there, Brother Zaid!’”
“Do you even know where to look for her?!” Zetta exclaimed.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered as she teetered heavily to the left. Basso leaned in to support her. As the Ledomaritan prisoners watched nervously, the pegasus shook her muzzle, rubbed her head, and glanced down through the opaque floor with sheer focus.
“Yeah,” Rainbow muttered. Her thin ruby eyes spotted a flickering lavender light several hundred meters through the body of the floating mountain. “I know where she is…”
“She’s gifted with sensitivity for the lavender flame,” Nightshade spoke out loud.
”Ulp!” Rainbow Dash held a hoof over her pale muzzle. She gulped bile down and muttered, “Yeah, some gift…”
“Rainbow, perhaps we could make it to the escape ships without you,” Zetta said. More shaking, rumbling. She frowned as she said, “But you can’t possibly be expected to survive on your own!”
“Yeah!” Zaid squinted. “Won’t getting closer to the book make your head even conkier?!”
“Meh…” Rainbow Dash shook her head and tried to keep her eyes steady. “I’m open to ideas.”
“I think I should accompany her in her sojourn,” Nightshade said.
Rainbow frowned, but refused to look at the madame. “Besides her.”
“Do not pretend that your executive authority gives you the excuse to be ignorant of common sense!” Nightshade snapped. “We both desire the child’s safe return, and it would benefit us in our struggle against the Xonan menace to possess that book. Although I can be of great assistance to you, I fear that I am not strong enough to carry you swiftly and safely through these dark tunnels.”
“Pffft. Yeah?” Rainbow balked. “And I bet you know who is?”
Nightshade was silent. She turned around and looked at Basso. Zaid glanced at Basso. Everypony was staring at Basso.
The stallion blinked curiously. “Who? Zetta?”
”Haaaaaaaaaaaugh!” Roarke charged violently into Zytharros’ armored figure.
“Grggggh!” The warrior took the brunt of her galloping attack. The two flew back into a series of metalwork tools, knocking steel instruments across the stone floor in a loud, cacophonous thud. Briefly wrestling, the two rolled over abandoned chaos strip mold casts. At last, Zytharros bucked his legs out, tossing the Searonese attacker high in the air.
Roarke twirled close to the ceiling.
With gnashing teeth, Zytharros telekinetically hoisted several chunks of debris and flung them at Roarke’s body.
She twirled, fired her rocket thrusters, and soared along the length of the emptied metalworks. Twirling about, she dove low, twirled, and shot straight towards the stallion. With flicks of her forelimbs, her metal-laced hooves extended razor-sharp blades. “Rrrrrrrgh!”
Zytharros took a calm breath, telekinetically stripped his armor, and stepped back. He solidified the blade directly in front of him, closing the glowing blue plates around Roarke’s outstretched hooves.
Roarke gasped, jerking to a stop, anchored.
With a growling shout, Zytharros spun the sword vertically. The twirling motion threw Roarke in a tight circle. Her hooves slipped, and she flew into a series of suspended buckets and mechanical limbs hanging in the corner of the room.
Zytharros’ hooves stomp-stomp-stomped across the floor as he charged, spun like a top, and swung his sword as savagely as he could across the sweaty arena.
With a sharp breath, Roarke jumped back, juked, side-stepped, and reverse-somersaulted. In so doing, she escaped the razor-sharp blows with a hair’s grace. Chunks of metal debris rained down on her. Entire slivers of Xonan factory works rattled loudly onto the floor.
At last, Zytharros shoved her up against a series of smoke-stained glass windows. Roarke tripped and fell on her armored backside. She winced as the soldier rushed towards her, used his sword as a pole-vault, launched high, and came down at her with a murderously violent downswing. “Yaaaaaugh!”
Roarke held her breath and rolled back onto her forward shoulders, performing a hoof-stand. Thunkkkk! The blade embedded into the ground a centimeter’s sneeze from the nape of her neck. When her upper body fell back down, it reclined along the blunt edge of the blade with her rear hooves clasping around the glowing hilt.
“You wanna yell?!” With a grunt, Roarke pulled her entire body up until she was seated upright on the thing. From this position, she grabbed Zytharros’ startled muzzle in the crook of one hoof and aimed at his face with the other. “Do it on the way down!” She punched him once, twice--grabbed him--then threw herself back on the weight of the blade, tossing him savagely through the window. “Haaaaugh!”
Zytharros shrieked like a little filly, but the warbling sound was canceled out by the noise of shattering glass…
...as he plummeted through the window and straight into the central hangar of the Sacred Hold outside. As he flinched and flailed in mid-descent, he spotted an armored body diving out of the factory works and gliding after him.
Roarke wasn’t done with the warrior. Successfully catching up with the stallion, she straddled Zytharros’ body in midair and repeatedly pummeled his helmeted skull. “Rggh! Nnngh! Yrrrghh! Haaaugh!” Zytharros took it and took it, his armorless body spasming beneath her punishing impacts. At last, the two landed across the loading deck. Zytharros limply shoved Roarke off him, but it barely gave him the upper hoof. She rushed him and kicked the stallion aside. Stumbling, Zytharros cast a bleeding look towards the metalworks up above. His horn glowed with bright blue energy.
Roarke rushed him--but jerked to a stop, squinting at his shimmering mana. She turned and looked up in time to see a glint of sharp metal in the corner of her eyes. Gasping, she rolled sideways in time to avoid Zytharros’ blade slicing down and embedding into the ground beside her.
As Roarke got back on her hooves, she saw Zytharros limping towards the blade and leaning on it for a few seconds. The stallion spat a copious amount of blood onto the floor, tilted his head up, and glared at her. His eyes strobed with bright blue light, and the chaos strip around his neck twirled with otherworldly energy. Within seconds, hissing translucent serpents slithered out of his blade and swam menacing circles around his figure.
Roarke clenched her teeth, backing up on anxious hooves. “Typical breeder…” She cracked the joints in her neck. “Bringing snakes to a pony fight.”
Zytharros yanked his blade out from the ground and floated it besides his summoned beasts as he limped angrily towards her.
Meanwhile, several hundred feet away, the Lightning-Bearer floated in its moorings. Several disguised Xonans had spotted Zytharros’ plight and were murmuring in surprise. At least a dozen of them grabbed glowing scimitars and manarifles and prepared to charge onto the loading dock to assist their patron warrior.
At the sound of a loud, abrasive shout, they skidded to a stop in their tracks and looked behind them.
Arcshod stood tall and resolute, glaring at the group. He slowly shook his head.
The Xonans exchanged nervous glances, squirming in their Ledomaritan uniforms. Obediently, they bowed at the commanding officer and trotted reluctantly back to their stations.
Arcshod gave the distant duel between the metal mare and the Xonan warrior a squinting glance. After a few seconds, her smirked, then turned to shout towards the lead helmspony. Xonans passed the order down towards the far end of the ship. Ponies worked the instruments at their stations.
With a loud rumble of engines, the Lightning Bearer undocked and drifted away, cruising towards the mouth of the Hold’s immense hangar entrance.
Zetta, Zaid, and nearly a dozen Ledomaritans galloped briskly down a tight corridor.
“I don’t suppose there’s a chance of using the little pony’s room between here and there, huh?” Zaid panted in mid-run. “It’s been a while since I made sissy. Not sure about How-Now-Browned-Khao, here.”
“Nnnnnghhhhh…” Khao whimpered as her body flopped on his backside.
“You wanna take a leak?” Zetta frowned, stammering for breath. “Do it over the side once we’re a mile away from this collapsing mess!” As if on cue, the mountain rumbled around her. She gritted her teeth and glanced at the dust trailing from the ceiling. “Oh, I really… really hope they find the kid so that I can see Basso again.”
“I don’t get it, Miss Dash,” Basso muttered as he galloped forward on thundering hooves through a dark hallway. “How is it that you can see the book through walls?”
“Stop talking…” Rainbow Dash whimpered from where she was draped over the full length of his backside. “The vibrations are making me wanna upchuck…”
“Let’s simply proceed to our destination,” Nightshade grunted as she galloped after the two. “We’re at a junction, Miss Dash! What direction should we take?”
“Unnngh…” Rainbow squinted over Basso’s hobbling shoulders. “A sharp right. Look for stairs or something, cuz we gotta descend another two levels.”
“If you say so.” Basso turned a corner and approached a tightly sealed stone door. “I still don’t see why you chose to bring me along and not somepony else.”
“The door, if you can, good sir,” Nightshade said.
Basso shrugged his way into the doorframe, smashing through the stone slab as if it was made of paper.
The edge of Nightshade’s lips curved slightly. “Good Basso. Remain curious. It certainly helps the rest of us.”
“If you say so…”
Rainbow Dash’s frowning face winced under falling pebbles. “On second thought, keep talking, buddy,” she muttered. “That way I don’t get to hear her stupid voice…”
“That… uh…” Kera fumbled on her petite hooves, staring up, up up. With a gulp, she stammered, “That is a big door.”
Dalen looked back at her. “It’s hardly big enough, child.” Levitating the book at his side, he approached an enormous stone barrier fitted with circular runes and mana-etchings. A pair of crystals rested on either side of him, affixed to metal poles. “It is simply meant as a veil before the altar of Nagu’n. The Goddess Immortal could tear through this as if it was made of silk.”
“Then what’s stopping her, huh?” Kera asked.
“I cannot venture to guess,” Dalen muttered. “All of Nagu’n’s actions have been curious and alarming as of late. Nopony has had the brash courage to question it, much less bring such an issue to the threshold of Her holy Domain.”
The walls shook, showering dust and loose pebbles onto the equines’ heads. Kera gritted her teeth and squeaked, “No time like the present, right?”
“Normally, it would require the combined magic of the penitent priests and priestesses to open this door without incident.”
“Weren’t those the bodies we passed along the way here?” Kera asked. She took a shuddering breath, “The ones… y’know… with the bloody daggers in their own chests?”
Dalen hung his head with a sigh. “Malaas rejunaan semaat thiulen Nagu’n.”
Kera craned her neck. “Huh?”
Dalen murmured to the walls. “I wonder if perhaps this was my purpose. To bring the flame to Nagu’n in her time of need.” He shuddered. “Perhaps that would explain all of the trials and tribulations that I have been forced to endure.”
“Hey… maybe we can bring a stop to them both, huh?” Kera said, trotting forward and resting a hoof on his forelimb. “At least prevent the roof from collapsing over our heads? How about it?”
“And what of the Goddess Divine?”
Kera smiled nervously. “The flame of Austraeoh was meant to be seen by Her eyes, right?”
Dalen stared at her. Then, with a determined breath, he trotted until his head rested at an even level with the two crystals. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and produced a faint glow of magic through his horn. The light intensified, and soon he was focusing a beam in two directions at once. The crystals lit up, then shot streams of brimming manafire into the door. The etchings illuminated, as if burning with an unquenchable flame. Serpent designs writhed alive in the architecture, then strobed all as once in a swirling, circular pattern.
At last, the door shook and rotated within its frame. The rumbling of the Hold intensified as it rolled counterclockwise and towards the left, vanishing within the walls surrounding the door. Beyond was nothing but cold, black space. The temperature of the chamber dropped significantly; both the stallion and the filly could see the vapors of their breath spreading through the rancid air.
“No offense, buddy,” Kera said in a hushed tone. “But your Goddess’ home smells like a paper mill.”
“I think it would be best if you let me speak with the Deity of my civilization.” Dalen strolled forward, holding the book like a lavender lamp. “Though you’re small and have very little meat, I doubt it will stop Her from trying to consume you on a whim.”
Kera’s green eyes bulged. “You mean She eats ponies?”
“I gave you the option to abandon this sojourn.”
“Hey, not saying I regret it!” Kera nevertheless trembled as she scampered after the adult’s stride. “Just… wondering if I should have poured some mustard and mayonnaise on myself before trotting down here…”
The two of them, like drops of dew, dissolved into the darkness beyond.
A cold wind blew through the darkness, cycling in and out with tornadic gasps. Somewhere, the Sacred Realm shook and shuddered, but it could not be felt here. Dalen shuffled forward across the platform, one uneasy hoof after another. His eyes darted left and right, his peripheral vision illuminated by the pulsing glow of the lavender book, but nothing else.
Behind him, Kera faltered, struggling to maintain courage against the desolation of the Sacred Hold’s inner core. If it weren’t for the book or Dalen’s glowing horn, even the floor beneath her would be utterly blanketed in darkness. Her attention was swiftly stolen by a positively icy breath of frost that rolled over the platform. She glanced aside, shivering, only to realize that she was trotting blindly forward. Her muzzle bumped into Dalen’s tail and she skipped back, shivering.
Dalen glanced back at her, then calmly forward once again. The glow of the book revealed the very precipice of the platform in front of him. Nevertheless, he stood his place, clearing his throat and speaking bravely into the murky depths. “Haalaa suniul mejun rehm kastakraas siul threm, Nagu’n.” He bowed low, making sure to levitate the book beside him. “Trennu drendais rallana hranhem besuul missoner thriel.”
Silence. Something shifted in the darkness and was still yet again. Kera glanced around with nervous green eyes.
Dalen took a deep breath and continued. “Kraastuniul messa kren, Nagu’n.” He raised the book high over his glowing horn. “Jaas tru vanna greit lehm beeso druun! Trennte diul Oss Tray Oh threnna blehm hreesto thraist deigh!”
Aquamarine flames erupted out of nowhere, briefly illuminating fractured walls brimming with dangling white crystals. Then, with a searing breath of swirling vapors, a double-mouthed monstrosity rose out of the depths and loomed hundreds of feet above the two equines. There was no sight of where its body began or ended. Leprotic scales covered in chaos shards glistened in lavender light as the hideous abomination glared down at the puny pair.
“Guh-guh-guh-guhhh!” Kera hid behind Dalen’s body, shivering. Dalen held his ground, though his pupils shrank as a sincere breath limped out of him.
“Nagu’n…”
The Divine narrowed its pale, blind eyes. Nostrils flared, caught the scent of the Xonan, and forced its leering jaws to lower closer.
With a firm breath, Dalen tightened his hooves against the ground and spoke, “Nagu’n! Porjanna lestuun blehm kranna!” He opened the book so that its runes flickered before her in full bloom. “Trenntanna Oss Tray Oh rehkarrna thirul--”
”Ssssssssilence your sheepish brayingggggggg,” the monster hissed, causing the air around them to heat up and cool down within seconds of one another. ”You putridddddd piece of insectoiddddd filth. I care nottttt for the flame of Austraeoh…”
Dalen gasped, his eyes twitching. “Nagu’n! Thresuul vien…” He grimaced and twisted his mouth. “You ignore the sacred tongue. Should have I spoken as First Born to please you--?”
”All tongues are uselessss against the righteoussssss sound of my song.” A pair of claws lifted up, gripping the platform beneath the two ponies as the mutated dragon leaned forward. The chaos shards shimmered along the edges of its antler branches. ”Like the bookkkkkk, it illuminatesssss nothing. You ssssssniveling wretches are like the rest of ponydom. Your harmony is a falsssssse beacon! But I ssssssssssswear it on my Sisters’s asssssshes!” Her twin jaws opened wider as the volume of her shouts increased. ”The ring shall no longerrrrrrr float in darknesssss! Today, my brood bringssssss the true flame to the womb of the world! All will know peace in what’sssss to come after the blight of chaos has had itssssss way!”
Dalen’s eyes quivered. A tear ran down his tattooed cheek. “Then… then this horrible mission of death…” He clenched his teeth and squeaked, “It all falls within your divine will?”
”Divinnnnnne?” The creature reared back, thrashing its head of antlers across the darkness. The aura of chaos spread, causing the dimly-lit walls to buckle and fracture even more. Sacred Hold shook all along the outer core, with the monster piercing at the eggshell surfaces with her thundering voice. ”I wassssssssss born Divine! And I sssssssssshall die Divine!” She raked at the bottom of the platform with two mangy sets of claws. ”And with the help of my brood, this world will ddddddie divinely with meeeeeeeee!”
“But this was the prophecy!” Dalen shouted with an angry muzzle, waving the book higher. “The flame of the Oss Tray Oh was to assist the Goddess Nagu’n with her labors--”
“Uhm, Dalen, buddy?” Kera stammered as she glanced down at a growing river of cracks forming in the platform beneath them. “I don’t think she’s your super mega death snake anymore.” She gulped. “I think she’s just a regular super mega death snake.”
“How could you have taken the rightful seat of Nagu’n, whoever you are--?!” Dalen stopped cold in his breaths. His tears instantly dried up as he gazed with shock into the abyss. “Lasairfion…”
”Therrrrrrrre is only one harbingerrrrrr of righteousness. Hckkkkktt!” Nagu’n leaned forward with a vicious snarl. ”And ssssssshe ushers in the end! The end and the beginning are one!”
“Dalen!” Kera’s voice cracked, high pitch.
“Nnngh!” Dalen held the book out.
Flash!
The Divine’s jaws stopped just meters from the two ponies.
Both looked up, quivering.
”Hcrkkkkkt!” Venting mists of chaos, the diseased dragon lunged again.
Fl-Flash! Again, her bite stopped just a few feet away. This time, Dalen and Kera saw a curved aura of lavender light shielding the savage attacks.
Dalen blinked while Kera murmured, “Dalen… the book…”
“Oss Tray Oh’s flame…”
A loud crack went off beneath them. Both ponies looked to see the platform splitting in two.
”Sncraakkkkkkt!” Nevlamas shrieked as she gripped the platform with two arms stretched far beneath the book’s aura. She dug her claws in and pulled with all her might. ”Hrckkkkk-Graaaaaaukkktt!”
“Run, child!” Dalen flung Kera behind him as he trotted backwards, holding the book like a buckler against the glowing blue flames of Nevlamas. “The Sacred Hold is defiled! We must get away from here!”
“Don’t just stand there!” Kera scampered sideways, stumbling towards the brightly lit doorway. “Come on!”
“I’m right behind you!” Dalen turned and snarled at the hissing serpent. “You are a poison! A false prophet!” The hairs on the back of his neck as he snarled, “Haak salajuut thrennum diul Nagu’n, restraana bliul Xon! Rekharna drenna dun! Drenna dun!”
“Graaaaukkkt!” Nevlamas pulled at the stone platform beneath them.
The ground gave way.
Kera shrieked and flew off the edge--
Dalen caught her, galloping into the doorway with the book in tow. He had to leap as the platform crumbled one shard at a time, falling into impenetrable darkness. And just as they leapt through the buckling frame--
Nevlamas breathed fire onto them. Everything collapsed, drowning out the light… and the two ponies’s screams.
“Gaah!” Basso stumbled against the doorframe at the base of the stone stairwell. Pebbles and chunks of rock fell around him from the Hold’s latest tremor. “By the Spark! That last one was intense!”
“R-really?” Rainbow Dash hissed as she struggled to cling to his thick backside. “I couldn’t tell!”
“I think part of the compartment collapsed ahead of us!” the stallion said.
“Allow me to look.” Nightshade slithered around him and squinted into the blackness. Her eyes narrowed, then narrowed harder. “Shine your light,” she commanded.
With a slight shiver, the bulky pony did as ordered. The tip of his horn strobed, casting a pale blue aura over the lengths of the chamber. Before them, at about twenty meters’ distance, a veritable avalanche of stones and craggy rocks formed a brittle pile. Dust was still settling across the far end of the room as the three ponies’ gaze swam anxiously over the sight.
“Wow…” Basso uttered with a blink. “You don’t supposed anypony was on the other side of that collapse, do ya?”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
“Miss Dash…?”
“I… I feel…” Rainbow grimaced as her voice weakly cracked, “I feel the book’s presence from just beyond the pile of rocks.”
Nigthshade’s eyes twitched.
“Wait… for real?” Basso breathlessly stammered as he glanced back at the limp pegasus on his back. “In the rubble? You sure?”
“Nnnngh…” Rainbow Dash rubbed her aching head as the next words limped out of her. “Pretty sure…”
“Then… that means…”
Nightshade gritted her teeth together. “Brainless savages…” She seethed. “If I could break every one of those wretch’s horns, I would.”
“Now who sounds like a warmonger?” Rainbow rasped.
“Now is hardly the time, my little pony.”
“Don’t you friggin’ call me--”
“Wait!” Basso gasped, pointing with his muscular forelimb. “Look!”
Both mares gasped. A tiny patch of rock was shifting slightly from atop the massive pile of fallen chunks.
“Good heavens…” Nightshade exhaled, eyes wide. “She may still be alive!”
“Kera!” Rainbow squeaked.
Nightshade galloped forward, motioning at Basso. “Come! Come quick! Surely you may be strong enough to move most of this rubble!”
At that moment, however, Basso’s eyes were jerking from side to side. He gasped and raised his hoof. “No! Wait!”
“We cannot tarry!” Nightshade spat, flashing a frantic glance back. “Every second we wait suffocates… the child…. of oxygen…” Her words dissolved in her muzzle.
The pale light of Basso’s horn was being drowned out by the amber hue of a dozen torches. Xonan guards came rushing in, muttering to one another in Second Born tongue. All thirty regally armored warriors came to a scuffling stop, gasping in horror. Their wide eyes regarded the desecrated entrance to their divine Goddess’ Sanctum. Then, like clockwork, they swiveled their heads until they saw three strange ponies standing at the scene of the crime.
With snarling expressions, they unsheathed a flurry of scimitars, poleaxes, spears, and staves--all glowing with ethereal gray chaos energy.
“Rakhar drenna dremmun, Ledomulien Trentte!”
“Well, if that isn’t charming,” Nightshade muttered.
“B-b-b-but Miss Dash!” Basso stammered as he backtrotted from the menacing phalanx of blades. “They outnumber us ten to one!”
“Yeah? And you’re a Celestia-damned tank!” Rainbow swiveled her rear leg and swatted him firmly above the tail. “Roll with it!”
“Gaaaah!” With a nigh-mechanical whinnying sound, Basso thundered forward. His charge was so swift that Rainbow literally rolled off of him and fell like a limp bag of meat across the stone floor.
“Oooof!” Luna’s midnight satchel flew open, and the hoof bracelet featuring the rune of Odrsjot rolled loose. As it rattled to a stop several feet away, Rainbow tried getting up, only to fall in a breathy slump as the proximity of the book took hold of her. She quivered all over, rolling into a fetal position and resisting the urge to vomit.
Meanwhile, Basso had stumbled neck-deep into the screaming pit of armored warriors. No less than ten of them flew back instantly, clambering over their shields and weaponry.
“Oh jeez! Did something crack?!” Basso winced, his ears folding. “I-I swear I heard something crack! I’m sorry about that, buddy--”
“Raaaaaaugh!” A viciously tattooed stallion mounted him from behind, twirled a pair of floating scimitars, and prepared to sab meat-deep into his shoulders. “Raak’suun blenna drendar, thiulen Nagu’n--”
Basso’s ears flicked.
“Ooof!” The stallion’s skull suffered whiplash when one of the fuzzy lobes upercutted his muzzle. He spat out a chunk of a tooth and fell like an anvil to the floor. This didn’t stop three more stallions from pouncing on Basso’s backside and struggling to force the giant equine down. Panicking, Basso spun in a virtual circle, causing more and more armored Xonans to fly into one another, filling the air with the sound of metallic coconuts.
“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”
“Oh for the love of--” Rainbow Dash threw every muscle into the act of rolling over She looked past her spilled stachel and shouted. “Nightshade! Hurry, gosh darn it! Get ‘er out of there!”
“What does it look like I’m doing?!” Nightshade growled back. She mounted the rubble pile on dirtied knees and began clawing her way through the top layer of rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Several of them took the dainty unicorn several seconds to lift and roll aside. She panted heavily, her ears ringing with the increasingly cacophonous grunts and cries of Basso in the background. The chamber around her flickered with a deathly dance of magical light.
At last, after several palpitating battles with the rock, Nightshade felt warm air rushing up against her fetlocks in rapid bursts. She gasped, pausing to lean her ear towards the hollow pocket within the rubble beneath her.
She heard a voice, faint and desperate. It was close by, and breathing on her.
“Hold on!” she grunted, lifting the next slab of rock with extreme gusto. “Do not worry, child! I shall have you out of there!”
It took half a minute of struggle, but Nightshade finally managed to roll the last round slab away. Like street urchins hidden beneath a sewer lid, two equine shapes were revealed. Dalen gazed up, huddling at the top of a long vertical passage that led to pitch blackness. He was using his lower body strength to plant a pair of strong legs against the walls of the unnatural chute. His forelimbs were cradling Kera. At the sight of their surprise rescuer, both Xonans blinked in shock.
“You…?”
“No time to explain,” Nightshade stammered. “I need to get you out of here.”
“But… b-but…” Kera gulped, her tear-stained face craning to see beyond the dust and debris. “Rainbow? Where is--”
The Hold shook, sending sharm tremors down the crackling walls. Dalen slid down by an inch and a half, causing Kera to shriek in his grip.
“Nnnngh… Xon-Nagu’n…” he hissed, his face taut with strain. He gazed up with diamond-hard eyes. “Take the child! Quickly!”
Nightshade didn’t waste any time arguing. “Here!” She slumped down on her chest and reached both hooves down into the chute. “Float her up to me!”
“I-I think I can m-manage!” He said, though his horn was glowing. With a grunt, he flexed his forward muscles and lifted her up… up. His lower legs quivered, slick with sweat. It was around this point that Nightshade saw the lavender tome floating just beside his muzzle. She was almost deaf to his cries when he exclaimed, “Here! Take her!”
“I’ve got you!” Nightshade grasped Kera and rolled back. She placed the foal down on the sloping hill of rubble.
Wheezing, Kera slid, rolled, and slid some more until she was at the base of the pile. Her voice coughed and sputtered as she struggled to exhale all the soot and dust in her lungs. With thin eyes, she gawked at Basso’s furious struggle.
“Lessuul menno rastama…” Dalen exhaled with relief, though his muscles still struggled. “Now, please, help me next!”
“Give me the book!” Nightshade exclaimed.
Dalen did a double-take, his bloodshot eyes blinking. “But… but I’ve got it--”
“You know as well as I do what’s at stake if we lose it!” Nightshade shouted as she reached her hoof deeper, motioning upwards. “Give me the book and then I will pull you up!”
Dalen blinked… then slowly, slowly nodded. “Dreit… b-but of course…” He gritted his teeth, struggling to hoist the magical tome ceilingward with fading magic. “For the glory of Nagu’n…” His teeth showed in a painful grimace as his horn began to short out. “Must… g-give this to Austraeoh…”
Nightshade reached… reached… then finally grasped the book. She stood up straight, breathing heavily as she hugged the thing to her chest. She closed her eyes tightly, inhaling, then relaxing her tense body.
“Messuul rettrenehm, trenna taan!” Dalen hissed, his hooves slipping again. He fumbled to grasp onto the walls of the chute with his upper body, but his legs were already quivering like they were suspended on sliced marionette strings. He gave way one inch at a time. “Now help me up!”
Nightshade was silent.
“Please… I… I b-beg of you!”
Slowly, Nightshade reopened her eyes. She looked down at the tattooed pony. She scowled.
Dalen’s pupils instantly shrank. His muzzle quivered as he stammered. “Minnote… minnote lithen saalasem. Haiste. Haiste ruruuna!.”
Nightshade’s jaw grew tight. She lifted one of her lower legs… and slapped it fiercely down at the roof of the rubble.
The vibrations shot down like an earthquake. Dalen lost his grip before he could even scream. His horn sparked once or twice--followed by a stream of ghostly tattoos--and then he was swallowed by the darkness below.
“Look alive, snake charmer!” Roarke fired her rockets and dove down at Zytharros at a sharp angle.
The stallion braced himself on the edge of the loading platform and twirled his sword over his glowing horn. With a grunt, he deflected the mare’s sweeping attack and shoved her towards the far end of the spacious cavern. As Roarke toppled backwards in midair, he let loose an angry shout. In response, six glowing serpents flew up at her, fangs glistening.
She gritted her teeth and burned her thrusters, flying out of reach of the summoned monster’s lunging attacks. She skimmed the curved edge of the hangar, galloped upside down across the ceiling, and kicked off before a pair of chaos creatures could bite into her fetlocks. Cutting her engines, she plummeted like a weighted anvil, surging straight towards the platform’s edge where the Xonan warrior was situated.
Zytharros readied for the attack, swinging his bastard sword high.
Roarke opened side panels in her suit and fired two lashing coils of metal. They latched around the edges of Zytharros’ blade, gripping it in place like twin lassos. The two fought at a distance, struggling over dominance of the Xonan’s weapon. At last, the stallion pulled his blade towards him. As a result, Roarke inched closer, reined in by her own coils. Blue light shimmered between them as Zytharros unsheathed a glowing scimitar from his side, preparing to puncture between her eyes.
At the sound of otherworldly shrieks, Roarke glanced behind. Her lenses reflected all six serpents sailing at her. With a grunt, she fired the thrusters on her right horseshoes only. As a result, she spun like a horizontal top in mid-air, causing Zytharros’ blade to spin as well.
Thrown off by his own telekinetic grip, Zytharros collapsed onto the surface of the platform. The serpents, in the meantime, flew into Roarke’s rocketing engines. They tore to bits, flew past her, and splashed all over Zytharros like a puddle of ectoplasmic filth.
Roarke stopped spinning. Seeing Zytharros down for the count, she recoiled her metal cables and flew towards the hilt of the blade, desperate to grab it. Before she could reach it, however, the plates flew apart, spread around her, and rejoined on the other side in the shape of a glowing, grated barrier. The thing flew against her rear, sweeping her downwards in the air and towards Zytharros.
Tumbling in her fall, Roarke glanced upside down to see Zytharros standing up, readying the scimitar in full swing. Instead of accepting her fate, Roarke merely kicked off the armored wall pushing her and flew down at the stallion faster. He gasped and juked to the side, but it didn’t stop her from grazing his shoulder with a merciless swing of her bladed hoof-brace.
“Yaaaaugh!” Zytharros stumbled, hissing as his own juices stained the platform red beneath him. “Grnnngh… Searo’neean trentte!” Growling, he spun and stared daggers at her.
Roarke spun about and hovered at an even level above, panting. She didn’t have any time to relax, as her grimacing face showed. A glowing beacon from below illuminated every tight, worried line in her muzzle.
Combining the effluence of his slain summons, Zytharros swirled the glowing chaotic material into a portal. Emerging with high-pitched shrieks, an enormous viper with dangling tendrils ripped into reality. Its fangs still dripped with the spilled blood of devoured Ledomaritans. With an agile flip, Zytharros mounted the neck of the creature and pulled at a pair of rattling, metal reins. He twirled his sword high and whipped the creature into lunging at Roarke.
The metal mare hissed. “Bring it.” Roarke popped open her rocket launchers… only for them to click with empty chambers. Her eye-lenses retracted. “Then again.”
With a banshee shriek, the enormous snake’s jaws ripped their way towards Roarke.
Roarke held her breath, twirled past the monster’s slicing fangs, and rocketed her way towards the distant exit of the hanger, trailing the exhaust of the Lightning-Bearer’s exit.
Whipping the reins, Zytharros swung his beast around and sent it after her, screaming the entire way via a stream of chaos energy.
“Unnngh!” Basso cried out. The sheer weight of every guard pouncing him was finally too much. He stumbled, limped, and fell to his chest as they all tore him off balance. “Miss Dash!” he squeaked, gritting his teeth and struggling to shout over their hideous exclamations. “I… I-I can’t do it! They’re gonna take us all down--” Just as he said that, a stallion slammed the full telekinetic weight of his polearm against his muzzle, causing him to hack and spit up blood.
“Basso!” Rainbow Dash hissed. She rolled over limply. “Nnngh… N-Nightshade?! Darn it, we’re screwed! Do you have Kera or don’t you?!”
The madame was silent. She backtrotted away from the pile of rubble.
“N-Nightshade!” Rainbow’s voice echoed once more from a distance.
With a cold breath, the mare turned around… and nearly tripped over Kera.
The dirtied foal was staring with a gaping expression. Her eyes swam past Nightshade and fell to the dense pile of rubble, still spitting out clouds of dust and sediment. “You… you…” Her eyes moistened. “You didn’t… save him…?”
“He slipped,” Nightshade droned.
Kera’s green eyes twitched.
The mare held the glowing book tighter under her forelimb. “There was nothing I could do. Now, child, let’s go get Rainbow Dash out of--”
“Liar!” Kera stomped all four hooves. “You let him fall, didn’t you?!”
“Child, we cannot waste time. Rainbow needs us--”
“He had a family!” Kera snarled. “He had ponies he loved and cared about and he was only trying to restore something that was stolen from him!”
Nightshade suddenly growled with flaring eyes. “He was a murderer and a deceiver and he nearly intoxicated you with his venomous stratagem! If anything, dear child, you should be thanking me! By severing him from you forever, I ensured you a better fate!”
“Is that how you protect ponies?!” Kera barked, eyes tearing. “By killing others?!”
“Enough!”
Kera slid forward with a snarl. “Like you’ve murdered hundreds because of how much you ‘love’ your lame brother?!”
Nightshade’s face twitched. She leaned forward and raised the book above Kera’s fragile skull like a gavel. “Do not speak of darling Novus in that manner! My grace has spared him!” She spat. “Just as it has spared so many poor, lost children of the tattooed hoarde--”
Just then, the largest tremor yet rattled through the Hold. The ceiling gave way. Both ponies looked up in time to see a huge chunk of stone falling down. Nightshade merely gasped. Kera…
“Nnnngh!” She fired a blast of telekinesis straight up. The magical bolt impacted the falling stone, causing it to explode with a cloud of crystalline shrapnel. The sheer thunderclap of the blast spread throughout the chamber like flame, knocking the stallions off Basso’s bruised figure. Rainbow Dash grunted as she rolled several feet away, where she writhed in dizziness, blinded by the falling dust.
“Nnngh… crkkk… kaff… Kera…” She gazed weakly into the collapsing cloud. “K-Kera… where… where are you…?”
If the foal could hear her, she didn’t respond. She simply crawled through the settling dust of the hazy cavern. Sputtering, she tripped over Nightshade’s stirring body and almost collapsed face-first into the glowing book of runes.
With a miniature gasp, she scooped the heavy thing into her little hooves and darted a look to her side.
Nightshade’s muzzle was twisted in pain and shock from the magical blast just seconds previous. She curled up in a fetal position, murmuring incoherent words.
Biting her own lip, Kera grasped the book in her forelimbs and used her rear legs to push away from the madame. She inched like a little tattooed worm across the floor of the place, brushing aside loose clumps of stone and rubble in her path. The warriors’ torchlight cast an orange haze across the place, showing shadows stirring in the distance as the Xonan guards stumbled back up to their hooves.
Before Kera had time to panic, she ran into something else. Gasping, she glanced aside in time to see a familiar hoof-brace rattling into place. The symbol of Odrsjot reflected twice off her green eyes.
Xonan voices rose in the distance. Scimitars and staves scraped against stone. Once more, Rainbow Dash’s voice called out. Kera was numb to it all.
Her lips pursed as she stared harder and harder at the lone inscribed anklet.
“I keep thinking and thinking about it,” Zaid had said, his words reverberating off the edges of the prison cell. “The hoof-brace. It was supposed to guard against the powers of the book.”
Kera merely raised his eyebrows at him.
Zaid continued. “The runes! All those funny looking images that are all linked with the Austraeoh. You think they would all work for her and not against her, y’know?”
Kera fidgeted, gazing at Nightshade, Zetta, and the others as the stallion sighed and continued.
“They gave us the hoof-brace thingies so we could help her. We were elephant jade brown, after all.”
“You?” Kera had stated, squinting.
At some point, Zaid winked and replied, “Who said you gotta be flesh and blood just to be flesh and blood, ya dig?”
A warm breath left Kera. She laid the book on the ground and reached forward with two trembling hooves. At last, she grasped the circular object, picking it up so that she could stare closer at the pointed runes. The jagged arrows glistened in the distant torchlight, as if beckoning her to twirl the brace around in her hooves. Instead, she pushed in the arrows’ direction, collapsing the cylinder in on itself and making the thing thinner. Soon, it had shrunk to the size of a vial, wrapping around itself so that the rune had become nearly indistinguishable.
“I… I think I get it…”
By this time, Nightshade had regained enough strength to sit up. She gazed weakly in Kera’s direction, her eyes blanketed by dust. “Nnnngh… ch-child…?”
“Belle… Pilate…” She droned in a deep, contemplative voice. “I never really left you guys, did I?” That said, she lifted the thing up and slid it over her tiny, tiny horn. Instantly, the hoof-brace lit up, showering sparks of magic all over the foal’s figure. She clenched her eyes shut, grimacing slightly as her tattoos lit up like candles, flashing from head to tail. “I… I understand now…”
“Wh-what…?” Nightshade stifled a shriek as she inched away from the child’s glowing form. “What… are you…?”
Kera took a deep breath. Two sun-bright eyes opened, flickering in rhythm with her pulsating horn. “Eljunbyro.” Just then, the brace at the top of her skull flashed, sending a bright-blue aura in every direction at once.
The light splashed over the book, causing its lavender flickers to relax into a dim glow.
The light cascaded over the Xonans and Basso, freezing them in shock and awe.
At last, the light bathed over Rainbow Dash… and disappeared into her ruby pendant. The Element of Loyalty pulsed once, twice, and then relaxed to a steady shine. Almost instantly, her wingtips stretched out. Blinking, the mare sat up… then stood up. She gazed down at her hooves, almost surprised at how easily she was balancing herself. That was how she knew--just as everypony else in the room knew--that the perpetual dizziness had at last cleared.
Kera tilted her glowing eyes in Rainbow’s direction. It took concentration, but at last her green pupils reformed. “Rainbow Dash. Are… are you okay?”
Rainbow Dash was already flapping her wings. She hovered in place, feeling light as a feather. She glanced at Kera, then stared down at her hooves. She flexed her forelimbs, breathing evenly. Then, with a heavily furrowed brow, she turned until she was icily glaring in the Xonans’ direction.
The guards stared back at her. They rattled in their armor.
Rainbow Dash’s body angled into a veritable arrowhead. Before the visual spectrum could register the blur of her wings, a pocket of air had already exploded from behind her propulsive charge. The very next second, six whole guards were slamming into opposite walls, having been tossed dozens of feet in a single blink.
“Vemielen saat! Oss Tray Oh herannadren!” One shouted. “Rekhar! Rekhar--” His voice limped behind him as a prismatic blur pushed him so hard into a granite wall that his body made a deep, crackling impression.
A millisecond later, Rainbow Dash was backflipping off him, dodging scimitar swings, and diving into the screaming sea of guards. She straddled one’s chest, repeatedly pummeled his skull until his helmet spit in two, then tossed his body like a living club into two more grunting victims.
One guard tried puncturing her from behind with a poleaxe, but she was already grabbing it with two twisting wings. The feathers alone rotated, snapping the thing like a twig and yanking the Xonan into a pair of bucking hooves. Before the guard’s body could hit the ground, Rainbow Dash had blurred over in time to catch him, swing him by his tail, and club him across the craniums of the last bunch of Xonans scrambling to escape.
At last, a final guard galloped towards the distant exit, leaving his torch behind. Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash spun about like a top and flapped her wings in his direction. Thunder rolled as a cyclonic patch of air roared towards him, lifted him off his hooves, and slammed his cranium against an overhang of rock. He fell down with a groan, adding to the stark silence of the room.
Basso stirred. He stumbled to get up, but then felt a mighty tug to his shoulders. Blinking, he looked up in surprise at Rainbow’s easily hovering figure.
“At ease, ya big lug,” Rainbow droned. “The main event is back.” She spun and looked across the sea of collapsed, unconscious Xonans. “Kera? Kera!” In a blur, she darted over to the foal. “Whoah! Ease up on the eyes there, sparky! What gives?! Was it you who turned on ‘goddess mode’ all of the sudden?”
“I… uh…” Kera bit her lip and pointed up at the brace that was acting as a cap to her horn.
Rainbow blinked. “Huh.” The corner of her muzzle curved slightly. “Guess we now know that Khao royally sucks at accessorizing. Not that I’m the best judge.. heh…”
“Rainbow, I… I…” Kera bit her lip. Moisture steamed at the edges of her glowing eyes.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. She turned and glanced at Nightshade, regarding her gaping expression with suspicion. She then looked at the pile of rubble past her.
Kera’s lip quivered. Her voice took on a wavering tone. “He saved me, Rainbow Dash. He… he only wanted to fix what was wrong with Nagu’n. He helped me get the book, and he s-saved me. And Nightshade…” She clenched her glowing eyes shut and whimpered. “She… she killed… sh-she killed…”
Rainbow’s lips parted. On strongly flapping wings, she turned until she was looming thunderously over the madame.
Nightshade scooted away, her muzzle stretched between a grimace and a frown. “He’s betrayed Ledomare before. He was only going to turn on us! I swear it!”
Rainbow’s eyes icily narrowed. She jerked forward.
Nightshade flinched--
Rainbow soared over her, past her, and spun in the air. Then, with a deep breath, she flew straight down into the pile of rubble. Rocks exploded in every direction and the whole floor of the cavern shook. Nightshade and Kera shielded themselves as pebbles and shards of rock flew past them. They craned their neck to see a fresh hole in the rubble from where Rainbow Dash had begun burrowing, using both legs and wings in full force.
Basso limped up, standing beside Kera and resting a nervous hoof on her shoulder. The enchanted foal glanced up at him, still sniffling. She hugged the book of runes to her chest and gazed at the rubble, waiting… waiting.
Seconds passed. Minutes--
With a blast of rocks and heated air, Rainbow Dash surfaced, her back to the three equines. She hovered in place, levitating just meters above the mess of stone debris.
Kera and Basso leaned forward, breathless.
At last, Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at them. Her expression was blank. As she pivoted fully around, the others understood why. Dalen’s body hung limply in her forelimbs. The stallion’s neck hung at a sickeningly unnatural angle to his spine. His eyelids were folded shut and his mouth stretched open in a silent, eternal scream.
Kera gasped. Her face scrunched up and she hid her sobbing muzzle into Basso’s foreleg. The stallion patted her gently, though his eyes darted nervously about.
Rainbow Dash floated down to the floor. She laid Dalen’s body gently across the stone, taking careful time to fold his forelimbs across his chest until he looked at peace. The pegasus lingered there, hunched over, suffering increasingly deep and deeper breaths. Finally, her eyes tilted up, slicing the air with a venomous glare.
Nightshade received the bitter end of it. The glow of Rainbow’s pendant swam over her like a crimson funeral shroud. “I d-did what I had to do,” she murmured. “Just as you must do what you have to do!” She pointed at Kera. “Now that she’s found a way to cancel out the book’s effect on your senses, we must make our way to the--”
Rainbow Dash shot at her like a bullet. Nightshade’s jostled lungs were incapable of shrieking as she found herself being throttled clear across the cavern and down a dark passageway beyond.
“Rainbow!” Kera shrieked, flashing a horrified look in the direction of the ruby glow. She stomped her hooves. “Rainbow, wait! Please!”
No response.
“Uhhhhh…” Basso sweated.
“Quick!” Kera dried her tears and hopped-hopped at the stallion’s side. “We gotta go after her!”
“Is that even possible now?”
“Just move!” Kera squeaked as he lifted her up onto his backside. She gripped onto him and the lavender book as Basso galloped at full speed, bounding helplessly down the corridor in pursuit of Rainbow’s angry exit.
The light of day came in a great burst. Rainbow Dash shoved Nightshade into it. The tips of both ponies’ ears burned with rushing blood as she rocketed the pair onto the edge of a cave indented into the lower edge of the floating mountain that was the Sacred Hold. Two miniature manacraft hovered, docked along a metal platform. Far beyond, sharp ridges loomed at an angle. The entire body of the Hold was starting to drop, to plummet. Chunks of rock fell constantly from its upper surfaces, blotting out rays of the dying day as the mountain ran its doomed course slowly towards the earth.
Rainbow flew to the end of the platform, and she came to a stop several feet off the precipice. She held her hoof out until Nigthshade dangled in the crook of the pegasus’ drift.
“You disgusting piece of crap!” Rainbow Dash snarled. “I’ve tolerated keeping your miserable self around all this time only because I had no choice. But now--”
“Now what--Snkkkt?!” Nightshade hissed through gritted teeth as she struggled with Rainbow’s grip. Her legs dangled anxiously in the high winds. “It’s easy to hold malice deep in your heart, but to suddenly be able to make it manifestttt--hrkkkt…” Nightshade sputtered and wheezed. “P-power is envied by far too many ponies, and all of th-them fools!”
“Stop preaching to me, lady…” Rainbow snarled. “You’ve done nothing but murder ponies--”
“And you haven’t?!” Nightshade’s eyes rolled back as she struggled to hiss. “All those soldiers. All those poor, noble creatures--defenders of the Queen and penitent victims of Lasairfion alike. Just because you’ve dr-dropped equines like flies doesn’t make them any less worthwhile in the eyes of the Sp-Spark!” Nightshade grabbed onto Rainbow’s limbs for support, wheezed, and glared at her as she slurred, “You think I’m blind to what enrages you. I’m n-not! For you too must look into the dark pools of your heart and reach for slippery excuses to put your mind at ease each night: the pursuit of harmony, the cost of loyalty to your friends?! Friends are merely fragments thrown loose from the overall picture, my dear. Do you think you’re actually any b-better than I am?! Listen to me, Rainbow Dash. I’ve languished in the dungeons of evil. I’ve stared into the face of Prime Enforcer Shell himself, and I know how little a soul carries weight in the vacuum of that stallion’s being. There’s no denying that he kills ponies without mercy and he burns forests without qualms, but he only… chases… monsters, Rainbow D-Dash!” She spat, “He hunts you and only you! I didn’t have the capacity to believe it at first, but now I see that you are the most dangerous wildcard, the most destructive catalyst this continent has ever seen! And somehow your stasis as a fargone fossil of harmony excuses you for every wound you have inflicted upon this landscape?!”
“You did not have to kill that stallion back there…” Rainbow seethed, pointing at her glowing pendant with her other hoof. “He could have been saved.” Her ruby eyes flared. “I could have saved him!”
“And I could have saved you!” Nightshade howled back, her neck turning raw and red as she nearly slipped in Rainbow’s grip. “You and Doctor Bellesmith and the ch-child! And I still can!” Her eyes darted to the pendant. “You are whole again! The book is in our possession! Let us take it to the machine fissure, return it to its rightful place before Lasairfion can get there first! Th-then we can finally be done with the entire holocaust!”
“You miserable little turd…” Rainbow sneered. “You think I’m still gonna keep you along for the ride?!”
“If you want to know where the flame goes, yes, because only I can take you there,” Nightshade whispered, her cheeks and brow turning blue. “But, then again, you knew that all along, as soon as it occurred to you what Lasairfion wanted, despite her insanity.”
Rainbow Dash said nothing. She hovered limply in place, sweat running down her leg till it condensed in icy pools around Nightshade’s neck.
Behind her, loud hoofsteps scuffed to a stop. Basso stood, panting, with Kera dismounting off the stallion’s back.
“Rainbow Dash!” Kera stammered, her eyes widening at the sight of Nightshade. “What… wh-what are you doing?”
“The true art of power is not gaining it…” Nightshade stammered, at the end of her breath. “...but knowing what to do with it. I… snkkkt… suspect you’re not a pony who’s used to being the fulcrum of a machine far bigger than you can see.” Her eyes grew thin, the lids heavy. “Sacrifice… is hardly as noble as poetry would make it seem. Hckkt… For… in the end, the greatest heroes simply can’t afford to be g-good, Rainbow Dash.” She limply swiveled her head from left to right. “Not… if they want to g-get true business done.”
Rainbow Dash frowned at that, but a part of her blue coat paled over in the wind. She clenched her eyes shut as her upper body shook.
Basso bit his lip.
Kera’s mouth quivered. “Rainbow…?”
“Grggggg--Mmmmf!” Rainbow tossed Nightshade.
Kera gasped--
“Ooof!” Nightshade landed roughly on the platform. She hunched over and grasped her neck, coughing and wheezing for breath. Basso rushed over to examine her, but stopped as soon as Rainbow’s shadow hovered over him.
“The only reason you’re not rock paste on the side of a mountain is because I need you,” Rainbow Dash said. A second or two passed, and her face winced as she reluctantly said, “And also because you’re right. I’m not a pony who’s used to having the power to change the fate of a continent.” She then hovered lower, tilting her head down to glare at Nightshade face-to-face. “And if that makes me a horrible hero in your dirty eyes, then so be it. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to save you.”
Nightshade twitched at that. She looked up with confused, glossy eyes.
“I’m going to save you… save the Noble Jury… and save every Celestia-forsaken pony on this miserable continent.” She took a deep breath. “And if your narrow mind finds that too friggin’ hard to believe, then that’s a pitiful way to live. After all, I once found myself in a place where I couldn’t even save myself, and even still I made it.” She flapped her wings and hovered higher. “Miracles are miracles; I don’t care how much they smell of crap. I think you’ve been too busy for too long trying to make awesome things happen that you’ve forgotten what it means like to be them. So you wanna help out? Watch. Learn. And live.”
Rainbow shot a glance at the stallion.
“Basso. Take Kera, the book, and this slimy little thing on one of the zeppelins. Meet up with Zetta’s team and get as far as you friggin’ can from this falling piece of garbage.”
“Okay…” Basso nodded.
“And whatever you do!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew her way back into the dark cavern from which she came. “Do not let that lady drive! Heck! Don’t even let her speak! She doesn’t need a tongue to help guide us to the flame pedestal inside the machine world!”
Nightshade instinctually covered her muzzle upon hearing that.
Kera flashed a look from her to Rainbow Dash. “What about you?! Where are you going?!”
“To find and save a bounty hunter who’s probably gonna refuse my help!” And the pegasus was gone in a prismatic blur.
Basso gulped. He glanced at Kera’s capped horn, then at Nightshade’s collapsed figure. “You know… you could have lifted that thing off your head at any time just then.”
The tunnels stretched ahead of Rainbow Dash like collapsing intestines. The ruby haze from her Loyalty pendant revealed walls filled to the brim with ever-growing fractures. The longer she took to speed down corridor after corridor of the Sacred Hold, the more the ceilings buckled and the stone frames around her shattered.
Panting, she jerked left and right, making turns every split second. Her mind had to race twice as swiftly as her wings, which--stripped of their dizzied bindings--was no easy task. Rainbow bumped into corners and support columns a few time, but she brushed the impacts off as if they were nothing--just like she always had brushed them off. She felt faster than the wind itself, and she wasn’t about to waste the glorious sensation.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow banked hard around a corner and rocketed up a long flight of stone stairs. Air pockets exploded against the walls as she accelerated faster and faster. She could sense the corridor caving in around her the more that she disturbed the interior of the Sacred Hold with her rapid flight.
Regardless, she braked for nothing, finally returning to the last place she had seen Roarke in about one twentieth of the time it had taken Basso to charge down the opposite way. She hovered in place, panting. The walls hung crookedly around her, although the pegasus could sense that she was balanced upright with gravity. The Sacred Hold had to have been collapsing, careening. There was no telling when it would strike the earth and implode like a gigantic eggshell.
Flashing a look to the left, Rainbow spotted the fresh hole in the wall where Roarke and Zytharros had smashed through. Holding her breath, she dove forward. It was with good timing too, for a heavy slab of ceiling stone collapsed immediately after her flicking tail, filling the corridor behind her with dust and rubble.
“Everypony, look!” one of several Ledomaritans stammered from the top deck of the Xonan manaship that Zetta was piloting. The blue and silver vessel hovered parallel to the summit of Sacred Hold at about three hundred meters’ distance. Before everypony’s eyes, the massive mountain began its suicidal drift into the ground below. “It’s actually falling!”
“By the Spark!”
“Any moment now!”
“Will we even be safe at th-this distance?!”
Zetta gulped, gripping the controls tightly. “Stay brave, everypony! After all, we still have to wait up for Rainbow Dash and Roarke!” She bit her lip and murmured in a timid breath. “...and Basso…”
“They’re doomed!” Khao spat, wincing as Zaid laid her down on a space of the deck besides the starboard railing. “You’ve doomed them all to a pathetic fate!” She gritted her teeth and snarled. “I could have gotten her out of here! Do you know what her death means to the f-fate of this world?!” she barked.
“Hey hey hey…” Zaid stretched her leg out in spite of her writhing figure and began fashioning a splint for it with help from the Xonan vessel’s spare first aid station. “Quit that yapping, Khaolick! How else am I gonna remember the two and a half classes on zeppelin injury care that you taught us all at the introductory seminar?” He smiled a crooked smile.
She glared at him. “It’s hard to imagine that you could remember anything--Augh!--Ow ow ow ow!” She hissed through her teeth.
“If you could quit being a baby about being a baby, this will go faster,” Zaid said. “And smoother. Look, I may never have been your brightest pupil, but… let’s face it… I lasted way longer in the Harbinger’s company than you ever did.”
“You were captured along with her,” Khao spat. “Like a fool.”
“Seems like she’s pretty good at speaking foolenese.” Zaid said with a twinkle in his eye. “At least she understands it a heck of a lot more than douchebagois.”
Khao squinted at him. “What are you babbling about…?”
“Look…” Zaid paused to rest a hoof on her shoulder. “We all know how hardcore you are about helping out Austraeoh, but what if Eljunbyro just ain’t what we’re supposed to be?”
“I’d rather die than accept such a fate!”
“Yeah, well, that’s one way to finish your preaching career early.” Zaid cleared his throat. “For real, Khaopoke. Is it really that hard to help out the hero by cheering her on in the stands?”
“In… the stands?”
“It looks to me that she’s more than capable of handling herself,” Zaid said. “At least with the friends that she chooses to lean on. Would it hurt to be good little layponies and… y’know… have faith in her?”
Khao’s brow furrowed. “I’ve invested far too much to give up on her quest now.”
“Pfft. And she hasn’t?” Zaid smirked. “Live and learn, madamebosslady, ‘cuz this pegasus is totally gonna blow your mind. You just gotta take a chill pill and watch her in her element! How else are ya gonna have yourself some truly divine revelation, if you catch my drift?”
“Any sign of her yet?!” Zetta asked to her fellow soldiers.
“Which her?!”
Zetta frowned and shouted, “The ‘her’ that kicks flank!”
“... I still say you have to be more specific!”
“Oh for crying out--”
“Bogey!” A Ledomaritan shouted. “Bogey off starboard! Down low!”
Several gasping soldiers cocked an array of pilfered Xonan manarifles and aimed them off the ship’s right side.
“Whoah! Whoah!” Kera shouted, waving her forelimbs on either side of a glowing horn-cap. She sat in the middle of a miniature skiff that was puttering its way towards the larger ship on faint streams of mana. “Easy on the itchy trigger hoof, dudes! We come bearing lavender!”
“Yes…” Basso shuddered from where he pulled and pushed the levers of the ship’s controls. “I’m not even going to try and repeat that.”
“Basso!” Zetta gasped, a stupid grin on her face. She ignored the blank expression on Nightshade, seated in the back of the skiff, and barked at the other Ledomaritans. “Bring ‘em aside! Bless the Spark, that about makes my day!”
"Rainbow Dash is still in there!" Kera exclaimed while Basso helped her onto the larger vessel. "She's gonna find Roarke and come join us!"
"Rainbow Dash?!" Zetta gasped in shock. "But... how?!"
"The aura of the book is no longer making her dizzy!" Basso exclaimed.
"Huh?"
"Rainbow's got her groove back!" Kera squeaked with emphasis. "Now bring us closer so she can see us once she's found Roarke!"
“The relic…” Khao stammered, her eyes twitching as the miniature craft hovered alongside the vessel where the three ponies were helped aboard by cheering, exultant Ledomaritans. “They… th-they retrieved it?”
“Heh… why you look so surprised, boss?” Zaid smirked up at her in the middle of fixing her leg. “Don’t know a miracle when you see one?”
Khao merely bit her lip.
“Just you wait, girl.” Zaid glanced at the distant mass of the Sacred Hold and smirked. “The best is yet to come.”
With a rush of air, Rainbow Dash glided down a corridor littered with debris and the tell-tale signs of a monumental battle. After two or three more turns, she found herself skimming the careening edge of a chaos strip foundry. At last, a huge chunk of broken glass opened up to the looming hangar of the collapsing Hold beyond.
Exiting, Rainbow levitated in a nervous hover over the loading bays. The Lightning Bearer was gone. Every dock was devoid of a manaship. As the floating mountain slanted further and further in its collapse, the pegasus could see chunks of discarded supplies and entire crates of metal sliding towards their various ledges and plummeting into the great hollow below.
Rainbow Dash panted, her eyes darting about. Every source of light was dimming. Loud reverberations echoed through the chamber as larger and larger cracks formed in the walls of the place. Rainbow’s mind was the clearest it had been in days, and she could almost make out the wailing sound of the demonic dragon that lived deep within that doomed hovel.
Pivoting about, she shone her ruby pendant’s glow across the remaining platforms that hadn’t entirely crumbled to dust. It was then that she saw bodies: hundreds of them. Droves of ponies lay motionless, all of them Xonans. The tell-tale signs of self-inflicted stab wounds glistened in the light that Rainbow had to give. The grave smelled of rust and decay, and it continued to crumble beneath her gaze, spilling corpses into the shadows.
Rainbow took a deep breath, clenching her eyes shut. Her wings flapped, flapped harder, and angled about. With a snarling expression, she tore her way towards the exit, following the trailing exhaust of the Lightning Bearer.
The ship in question had cleared the exit to the Sacred Hold minutes ago. It lifted, pivoted northwest, and made for the air above the nearby mountaintops.
On the top deck, Arcshod marched down the lines of busily working crewmembers in their Ledomaritan disguises. Spying the mountain peaks looming ahead, he shouted a command, and the massive dreadnaught lifted the last few dozen meters necessary to clear the gasp.
Adjusting his uniform, he glanced over his shoulder at the Sacred Hold. He saw two bodies darting after one another, exchanging clashes of sparks and miniature explosions. The stallion smirked, and then--with a glowing horn--shouted once more to the ponies on board.
The Lightning Bearer’s engines lit up and burned with a powerful burst of energy…
...accelerating the ship far away on its northwesterly path towards Seclorum’s headquarters.
Roarke spotted it through the corner of her eye-lenses, but she had very little time to react. Zytharros’ magic spewed at her in bright flashes of lightning-hot arcs. She twirled, alternated thrusters from her right horseshoes to her left, and dashed to her left, skimming the craggy surfaces of the Hold.
All the while, Zytharros Followed the metal mare’s tail, whipping the reins to his chaos serpent. His eyes alternated strobing with the blinding pulse of the chaos strip around his neck. With terribly imbued power, he urged the reptilian abomination forward, forcing its fanged jaws to nip and snap at the bounty hunter’s flailing limbs.
“Friggin’ worm fetishist--Buck off!” Roarke spun in her flight, rigged a shoulder-mounted energy cannon, and fired at his skull.
Quick thinking, Zytharros floated the armored plates off his body and re-formed his blade just in time to deflect her attack. With a snarl, he spun on his mounted serpent and slashed his bastard sword straight into the stone surface of the Hold blurring past him. With telekinetic assistance, he launched a volley of hot burning rubble into Roarke’s face.
She grunted, covering her exposed face with two forelimbs. When she lowered her hooves, she saw two miniature summons being thrown at her muzzle. The translucent snakes sailed towards her jugular. She fought them up, but lost speed with the flailing motion.
At last, Zytharros made contact with her. The flat edge of his blade smacked against her spine, shattering her energy launcher to shrapnel shreds.
“Gaaaugh!” Roarke shrieked and lost her balance. Her body slammed against the Hold. She tried kicking up, but the warrior had caught up, shoving her in the chest with the flat of his hoof. He scraped her body viciously against the stone surface, drawing a shallow canal for several meters.
Hissing in pain, Roarke unlatched her tail and spun it around his fetlock. Before she could send a pulse of electricity, he telekinetically twirled his blade, severing her prehensile prosthetic. She shrieked from the sparks and tried kicking away, only to have the tail of the serpent wrap three times around her.
The chaos beast roared and slammed her repeatedly against the stone surface before tossing her at full force. Her body flew, spun, then collapsed against the summit of the Hold. She bounced like a skipping stone and came to a grinding halt, twitching all over.
“Nnnn-mmmff…” Roarke tried standing up, only to collapse on wobbling limbs. She smelled smoke wafting out of of the joints of her armored suit. “Goddess, grant me a good death…”
Thud! The cracked surface of the summit fractured even more from all four of Zytharros’ hooves landing. “It is willing to oblige.”
Roarke wiped blood off her chin. “I didn’t say I was going out alone…” A panel in her left forelimb spun around, exposing a flickering runic explosive. Spinning about, she fired a loop of metal coils around him and yanked towards her. “Let’s hug it out--”
Zytharros snapped the cables clean with his sword.
Roarke twitched. “Oh sh--”
“Haaaaaugh!” He had already closed the distance between them and was slamming the hilt of his sword into her chest. As she collapsed, wheezing, he raised his rear hooves and pummeled her foreleg repeatedly until the runic explosive had imploded to useless, powdery bits. “No. It shall perish slowly…” He hissed.
“Haukkkt… nnngh…” Roarke rolled over, snickering in pain. “Oh please… the day a Breeder knows how to sh-show me a good time--”
“Silence!” He lifted her with telekinesis, let out a hideous growl, and slammed the tip of his blade into her chestpiece.
“Aaaugh!” Roarke yelped.
“No more tricks,” he sneered. “No more hiding. And no more heathen filth!” He fired a pulse of chaos energy up the length of his blade.
Roarke gasped as every single plate and layer of her suit popped off one by one. Finally, the hydraulic plugs blasted loose, exposing her thin, muscular body and the pale brown coat she was used to hiding. Once every outer strip of metal was cast to the wind, she was magically tossed to the ground where she rolled to a wincing stop.
“It wants a fitting end?” The Xonan spat. He pivoted about and hissed into his floating chaos strip. “Then feed Nagu’n’s children.” As he spoke, several fissures opened around him, glowing bright silver as a dozen floating serpents slithered through, joined by the large snake he had rode the bulk of the battle on. “Feed them all…” His tattooed muzzle curved in a rvenous grin.
Roarke twitched and looked up, her lenses reflecting a solid wall of reptile. “Hmmph…” She droned. “Groovy.”
They converged on her in a mass of snapping, tearing jaws.
Zetta’s manaship had lifted high enough to give every pony on board a solid view of the plummeting Hold’s summit. As a result, the group had been given a front row seat to Zytharros’ and Roarke’s battle for the past thirty seconds. As Roarke collapsed under the assault of multiple chaotic summons, several of them gasped.
Kera ran to the port side railing and gripped it, her eyes wide beneath a shimmering horn. “R-Roarke!” she screeched with a cracking voice.
“She’s being torn apart…” Basso slurred.
Zaid looked up from Khao’s writhing figure. “So fly this hunk-o-junk over there and kick the baddy’s flank!”
“And risk the warrior cleaving our lonely getaway ship in two?!” Zetta cackled. “Roarke doesn’t need us! She needs--”
The entire ship bobbed and weaved as seven colors streaked by at the speed of thunder. Pockets of air exploded, popping everypony’s ears as they struggled for even-hoofing.
Kera, however, was too busy gasping with joy. “It’s her!”
“Buck yeah!” Zaid grinned wide.
Nightshade watched nervously, her mane frazzled.
The burning streak soared towards the falling mountain…
...and blew right past Zytharros.
“Oooof!” The stallion stumbled back. He had to use his bastard sword for leverage, shoving it into the earth and holding his weight before he could plummet clear over the summit’s edge. “Augh!” He dangled on the weapon’s hilt, his eyes thin, scanning. “Habullium trentte threnna?”
Milliseconds later, the blur materialized into a blue pegasus hovering right above Roarke. She spun in a circle, kicking each chaos serpent in the face, knocking the beasts off their Searonese prey. With a flip, she knelt besides the mare’s bruised, bleeding body.
The summoned snakes hissed, spun in a wide circle, and leapt at Rainbow all at once.
Rainbow snarled, holding Roarke with one forelimb and massively uppercutting the attacking fray with her other. “Raaaaugh!” The serpents dissolved into streamy bits, returning to the oblivion from which they spawned. “Roarke!” Rainbow Dash shook the mare, eyeing multiple bite wounds across her body. “Roarke, are you hurt bad?”
“Only my pr-pride,” Roarke stammered. She winced as greenish pools of venom poured out of her bitemarks. “Okay,” she wheezed. “Maybe my body as well…”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “Okay. I’m gonna get you out of here.” The mountain beneath them shook. The sound of a sword scraping across cracked stone lit the air. “I just gotta fix something really quick.” Rainbow laid Roarke down, took a deep breath, and looked up… glaring.
Zytharros aimed the full length of his sword at her muzzle. “Hava gunnagruun, Oss Tray Oh.” He sneered beneath his helmet. “It was meant to feed Nagu’n’s might, nothing more--”
Before he could finish that sentence, Rainbow Dash was in his face with a massive right hook.
“Haaauuck!” Zytharros’ neck jerked hard to the side. His helmet split in two and fell towards his stumbling hooves.
Rainbow wasn’t done. She flew into his chest, pummeling him repeatedly with two bucking hooves. When he tried swinging at her, she merely grabbed the hilt of the sword, spun around it, and slammed two rear legs across his face.
Zytharros rolled back several meters, uprighted, slid on scraping hooves, and anchored himself with his sword before he could slide off the Hold’s edge.
Rainbow Dash charged at him on stomping hooves, snarling.
Glancing up with a bruised, battered expression, Zytharros nervously blew into his chaos strip and summoned a dozen snakes. The hissing serpents flew at Rainbow Dash from all angles.
She merely side-bucked and headbutted them without losing her stride, her glaring eyes set on the warrior.
Panicking, Zytharros channeled magic through his horn. His sword spread apart, separating into a levitating flock of glowing metal plates. They spun in the air, hovered before Rainbow Dash, and closed all around her like an all-encompassing eggshell.
“Nnnngh--Gaaaugh!” Rainbow Dash grunted and struggled, feeling the levitating objects constricting her from all sides. She gasped for air, her hooves squeezing out and desperately trying to pry the bits apart. She failed, and soon she was encased in a floating sarcophagus.
Zytharros grinned, his lips bleeding as he concentrated harder, strangling Rainbow with the armored pieces.
But then, with a burst of thunder, all of the pieces flew in every direction. In the center of the sudden maelstrom was an angry pegasus spinning in an even angrier blur. With wings spread, she forced the pieces apart with explosive force, then levitated in midair, giving her body the leverage it needed to kick several of the bits straight back at their owner at the speed of bullets.
Zytharros gasped, diving low and rolling from side to side to avoid the streaking projectiles. Two of them grazed his body, spilling blood into the crimson sunset. “Gaaaaugh!” He lost concentration, and the warrior’s horn dimmed.
The rest of the pieces fell all around Rainbow Dash. In a clap of thunder, she flew towards him.
Zytharros stood up, summoned one last wave of magic, and channeled it into his chaos strip. A large portal opened behind him, and the largest serpent of all--his mount--poured out, fangs dripping with venom as it emerged into the real world and immediately charged Rainbow Dash. “Hresssshaaaa!”
“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and simply… flew through the beast. With her forelimb extended and her ruby pendant glowing, she shredded through the agonized abomination’s body from mouth to tail, ripping it to ethereal gray ribbons. All that was left was Zytharros on the other side, and Rainbow Dash flew into him like an anvil might handshake a songbird.
Thud! The two plummeted clear off the top of the Sacred Hold, burning through the air at the speed of screams. Rainbow Dash took every opportunity to punch, buck, and pummel Zytharros’ chest along the way. Sooner than either of them expected, they landed hard on a nearby mountain’s eastern plateau. Their bodies grinded to a stop across the dusty gravel with Rainbow Dash on top.
She was gripping his throat at this point. He wheezed, his glowing eyes tearing as his life hung by a thread.
She sneered, teeth gritting to the breaking point. A few seconds passed, and something flinched in her body. She took a deep breath, ears drooping as she tilted her head up and looked towards Zetta’s manaship hovering over the Sacred Hold. From afar, it was difficult to make out the ponies on board, but Rainbow Dash didn’t need to see them. In between blinks, she envisioned the worried expressions of Kera and Zaid, the cold glares of Khao and Nightshade. Then, in the last blink…
Bellesmith… Pilate…
“Awwww Luna poop…”
She stood up from Zytharros’ body.
He glanced up, shivering. Just then, the silver strip was pulled off his neck. The glow left his eyes as he twitched with uncertainty.
“Nnnngh!” Rainbow’s hoof slammed over the strip, smashing it to dusty bits. After leaching Zytharros of all power, she reached into Luna’s satchel at her side, fished around, and pulled out a flask of water and a bag of half-eaten bread. “There.” She tossed it down beside Zytharros.
The stallion glanced at it with a confused expression, then gasped as the pegasus’ face leered right before his muzzle.
“Turn east. Trot forward. Go home. And start a new friggin’ life.” The air around them exploded as she lifted off, blurring her spectral way back to the hold.
Zytharros trembled. He grasped the two items and hugged them to his bruised chest. A gulp.
“Dr-dreit…”
Cracks and fissures popped up all around Roarke. She was finding it hard to sit upright due to how uneven the stone surface had become beneath her.
Her muzzle hung open with panting breaths. A flushed expression ran through her body as her flesh throbbed around the multiple fang punctures. Her body began shivering, and soon her lungs made little wheezing noises.
“Coulda…” She gulped. “Coulda gone a little b-bit faster…” She slumped back down as pockets of air burst through the stone like miniature geysers. The entire Hold was continuously shaking at this point. Roarke’s lenses pistoned in and out, and all she could see was smoke against a bloody sunset. “I-I’m sorry, Imre. I… I tried…” Something like a sobbing whimper. “I really did…”
Roarke’s body shivered once… shivered twice… and lay still--
“Gotcha!” Rainbow shouted as she snatched the once-metal mare in two strong forelimbs. “Hold on, girl! This is gonna get b-bumpy!” She held Roarke tightly to her chest while skimming the surface of the Hold. Patches of stone were literally exploding at this point, blasting chunks of rock into the sky on either side of Rainbow’s flight. She zig-zagged around the bursting blasts as nimbly as she could. Finally, she found an open patch of air and kicked off the Hold’s summit, throttling skyward. The rock exploded beneath her, but she and Roarke outran the debris as they rocketed towards Zetta’s escape ship. Behind them, the Hold had turned practically molten, breaking apart before it could even strike the floor of the desert valley.
On board the manaship, Kera was hopping up and down. “They’re coming! Look! Look! They’re c-coming!”
Basso spun about and nervously barked, “Give ‘em some room!”
The Ledomaritans backed off, opening a patch of deckspace for the two mares to land.
Rainbow Dash did just that, slowly lowering herself and Roarke with gently flapping wings. At last, she laid the naked pony onto the floor. “Easy… easy…” She looked up with hard ruby eyes. “Nopony touch her! She’s been in better shape…”
“By the Spark…” A soldier stammered. “Are those fang bites?”
“Look at the venom!”
“Those abominable creatures finished her off…”
“Shhh! Stop it!” Kera grunted, close to tears. “None of you guys say that!” Gulping, she turned towards Rainbow with glossy green eyes. “Rainbow, I’ve n-never seen her like this! Please tell me she’s going to be okay…”
“Friggin’ idiots…” Roarke hissed, her body jerking with tiny spasms. A gagging sound lit the air, and foam trickled out of her muzzle. “Should have… sh-should have gone on without me. Urkkk... would have found the Jury f-faster…”
“Get it through your sexy thick skull that it’s not all about the easy way out!” Zaid grunted, only for Rainbow Dash to shove him out of the way.
“Everypony, stop crowding!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Gimme some dang space!”
“Why?” Zetta stammered. “What are you going to do?”
Rainbow gently clutched one of Roarke’s forelimbs. “Just… fl-flapping my wings here.” She gulped. “One feather at a time.” She took a deep breath… two… several. Then, closing her eyes, she leaned forward and placed her other hoof on Roarke’s palpitating chest.
Everypony watched in stunned silence. Basso bit his lip. Nightshade stared with thin eyes. Even Khao turned her head to glance at the scene. Her lips pursed as a red sheen suddenly glinted across her shocked expression.
Rainbow’s pendant was glowing brighter than ever. The faint sound of bells lit the air, like ghostly chimes were being struck above everyone. She leaned closer, and gritted her teeth, as if in tense concentration.
Kera felt a rush of energy. She glanced down at the tome that she was hugging to her chest. The runes were flickering across the book, one symbol at a time. At last, her horn glowed beneath the Odrsjot brace, and she found herself gasping, as if oxygen was being pumped into her lungs from nowhere. She looked up in time to see a stream of ruby energy flickering between Rainbow’s pendant and the body of Roarke.
One by one, the tiny puncture wounds across Roarke’s body lit up. The flushed redness of her body went away as streams of green venom literally flew out of the fang-marks in tiny, dissolving strings. In a matter of seconds, Roarke’s body was cleared of all poison, and she panted with long, strong breaths, wincing only from the pain of the minor lacerations alone.
“Blessed Spark…” Zetta gasped.
“All of the venom…” A Ledomaritan murmured. “She… sh-she sucked it out!”
“Harmony rendering chaos to nothing,” Nightshade said, drawing most ponies’ attention. She took a deep breath and folded her forelimbs. “It’s as if she was never poisoned to begin with.”
Rainbow Dash slumped back, taking a long breath as the glow of her pendant faded. Kera trotted over and nuzzled her side, smiling up at her. “Way to go, Rainbow Dash…” She smirked. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
She gulped and finally opened her eyes, glazed and weary. “Didn’t kn-know I could do it either.”
Kera stifled a giggle. “Either way, it was pretty amazing.”
Rainbow blinked, then rolled her eyes. “Pffft… ya little scamp.” She ran a hoof through her mane. “I’ll forgive ya for it this time…”
Kera giggled and smiled against Rainbow’s caress. From afar, Khao blinked, her expression melting between awe and confusion.
“Hmmph…” Zaid folded his hooves with a frown. “ I thought they were gonna friggin’ kiss.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaugh!” Zetta screamed, clutching her skull as she collapsed out of the pilot’s seat.
Basso gasped and galloped over to her side. “Zetta! Zetta, what’s wrong--?!”
But in a matter of seconds, everypony else could hear it too. They groaned in pain as the air filled with an ear-splitting, discordant note. Just then, a shockwave of disrupted air struck the ship, almost knocking it off its own manathrusters. The vessel spun, and only when it came to a stop did the equines see that the Sacred Hold had finally struck the surface of the valley.
But that wasn’t all that took place. The once-floating mountain was cracking apart from within. Pieces of it exploded upwards, with huge house-sized chunks of rock flying into the air. Then, with a burst of icy-blue flame, a fierce reptilian figure emerged from the crumbling mass as if it was a gigantic egg.
Nevlamas, the Dark Divine of Chaos, soared into the air and spread her decrepit wings, blotting out the setting sun in the west. With twin jaws spewing aquamarine fire, she tossed her head left and right, slicing the air with her crystal-studded antlers. Then, with tail thrashing, she roared her way northwest, following the path that the Lightning-Bearer had taken from a distance, and burning all that stood in her way.
“Not good!” Zaid stammered, pulling at his mane. “Not good not good not good!” He spun a sweaty look at the other ponies on board the manaship who were still struggling to get up. “Have I mentioned that this is not good?”
“She’s bent on p-pure destruction…” Zetta whimpered, her face streaming with agonized tears while Basso helped her to her hooves. She leaned against him and shivered, “Her song is the strongest I’ve ever head it! This is the chorus of pure destruction!”
“Then it is over…” Khao’s voice limped through the air, causing multiple ponies to gaze at her in shock. The sun was sliding icily beneath the western horizon, covering her face and everyone else in shadow as she said, “Her minions on board the Lightning Bearer will clear the path for her. And then she will have unobstructed access to the machine world. The very foundation of this world will breathe her chaos, and the venom will spread throughout the rest of this plane.”
Zaid blinked, then thrusted both hooves towards Roarke’s figure. “Are you blind as a fart cloud?! We happen to have somepony here who knows a thing or two about dealing with ‘chaos venom’ crap!”
“It is too late for everything,” Khao said. “I came here to bring the Harbinger to safety, so that she may continue her journey to bring balance to this world. But now…” She stopped weakly in mid-sentence, and it was with a meek expression that she gazed helplessly at Rainbow Dash.
Nightshade of all ponies interjected: “It is not too late. If we can get the book to the machine world before Nagu’n reaches it, then she will be powerless to fulfill the dark purpose of her song.”
“Not possible…” Zetta said, sniffling as she rubbed her aching head. “This is a fast manaship, but it can’t catch up to the Lightning Bearer.” She looked up, jaw clenched. “And it sure as Spark c-can’t catch up with an apocalyptic death dragon.”
“Then what do we do?!” Kera stammered. “Call in the Noble Jury?” She turned and gawked up at Rainbow Dash. “They… th-they could--I dunno--distract the dragon or something!”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
“They’d be burned to ashes,” Roarke sputtered, gathering the strength to sit up. “They’re battered enough as it is. Not to mention short two crew members, from th-the last time I talked to them.”
Roarke took a deep breath and nodded. “Simon’s dead.” She gulped. “And Belle is under Shell’s capture.”
Rainbow’s face paled.
“I’m… s-sorry you couldn’t find that out sooner, Rainbow…” Roarke wheezed, her mane’s ringlets rattling as she slumped against the ship’s railing. “Everypony’s been spread apart and you were dealing with some dr-drama of your own. The crew is patching up the ship and Belle is somewhere on board the Steel Wing. I… I-I wish I could have g-given you better news…” She hissed in pain. “For… f-for saving my life…” She gulped. “Again.”
Rainbow Dash blinked. She gazed a thousand miles away with twitching eyes. Her hooves moved on their own, and everypony moved aside as she paced restlessly across the top deck, ultimately coming to a stop near the bow. Slowly, she gazed up, spotting the distant flame of Nevlamas’ flight.
“Maybe…” Kera spoke up, her voice trembling in spite of her courageous smirk. “Maybe Josho got through to that battlefield place where the machine world is exposed! Maybe the Ledomaritans will hold off the Lightning Bearer--”
“And then the dragon?” Rainbow Dash slowly shook her head. “We can’t depend on Josho at this point… or on Seclorum either. Everything’s royally screwed up. We’re dealing with stuff that’s bigger than any of the big stuff I’ve ever dealt with before…”
“Then wh-what do we do?” Basso asked.
“One thing’s for certain,” Rainbow muttered. “Zetta was right about this ship not being fast enough to catch up with Lasairfion’s invasionary force.” She spread her wings. “But we’ve got something that is fast enough.”
“Huh?” Zaid blinked, and then his ears folded. “Oh crapsicles.”
Roarke looked up, her eye-lenses pistoning inward. “Rainbow Dash…”
“It’s up to me,” Rainbow said, stepping up onto the bow’s edge. “I have to be the one to do this.”
“Do wh-what exactly?” Roarke growled, struggling onto her four hooves. “Kill yourself?”
Rainbow looked back. “Every second we sit here and try to plan things, we waste time! Time that Lasairfion and Nevlamas are using to punch a bloody, chaotic hole in the world--And I’m not going to stand for it!”
“Stand for it?!” Roarke winced in pain and scowled at her. “Rainbow Dash, that antler-toting snake Goddess nearly consumed you!”
“Chaos can’t stand a beacon of harmony.” Rainbow nodded her head towards Roarke. “You’re a living testimony of that. If there’s anything that can catch up with the Lightning-Bearer, it’s me. And if there’s anything that can slow that chaos creep down…” She shuddered and tapped the pendant around her neck. “...it’s the Element that I carry.”
“Rainbow…”
“Do me a favor. Signal Pilate with the sound stone. Tell him and Floydien to fly towards where they sense Josho to be via the zebra’s manasphere. I’m willing to bet that Josho made it, but now he’s in the path of the dragon. Whatever happens next, we’re still gonna need the Jury to get the heck out of Dodge. Pffft… horseapples, we’re gonna need all the help we can get!”
“But Rainbow--” Kera started.
Nightshade trotted over the foal and exclaimed, “There’s only one way to ensure the machine world isn’t polluted!” She pointed at the filly’s tome. “We need to get that book to the pedestal beneath the surface!”
“As much as I adore the thought of lugging that lavender thing around…” Rainbow pointed at Kera’s horn. “There’s only one thing keeping it from grounding me for good. And I’m not about to risk separating the thing from the Odrsjot rune, especially when I’ll be flying in the company of dragons!”
Kera clenched her jaws. “Then take--”
“Nor am I going to risk Belle’s surrogate little scamp by carrying her into the flames with me!” Rainbow snapped. She looked towards Zetta. “This is still a fast ship. Set course for the Eastern Front, Seclorum’s camp. You know where it is, right?”
Zetta and Basso exchanged glances, then both looked at Rainbow. They nodded fervently.
“Good. If I do my job right, then there’ll still be a battlefield left when you arrive. Nightshade, that’s when you and I will deliver the flame to where it belongs. After that… sky’s the limit. And I hope to mean that literally.”
“What about Belle?” Kera mewled.
Rainbow frowned into the northwest horizon. “Shell’s gonna learn just how hollow he really is.” With a fuming breath, she leaned over the edge. “Right. Let’s do this--”
“Dammit, Rainbow! Wait!” Roarke stumbled up to the ship’s edge, all-but-collapsing against the bow’s railings. “Nnnngh… We can go after Belle together! We can save the Noble Jury… together!”
“No offence, Roarke, but you’re in no shape to punch a kitten, much less a Prime Enforcer in the face--”
“You know what I mean!” She snarled. “Now that we’ve got you all fit, why fling yourself into oblivion again?! It’s not worth it! It’s stupid and suicidal!”
“By now you should know that I kick most flank when I’m stupid and suicidal.”
“But it’s not worth it!” Roarke spat. “What has this continent ever done to you that made it worth saving?! It has nothing to do with your journey--”
“It has everything to do with my journey!” Rainbow shouted back at her. “Look, I know it sucks, but that’s just the way things are! I’m here for a reason! I started something and now I gotta see it through! It’s what the Princesses would expect of me! It’s what my friends would have expected of me!”
“But--”
“And it’s what I expect from myself! So… talk’s over!” Rainbow Dash lunged again. “Time to fly! It’s the one darn thing I’m good at--”
“Rainbow, don’t!” Roarke grabbed onto her tail hairs. “I…” She grimaced. “I won’t let you!”
Rainbow froze. She slowly looked back.
Roarke instantly looked away, sighing.
Rainbow leaned down and tilted Roarke’s muzzle up. She spoke calmly. “Don’t blush. It clashes with your plugs.”
Roarke blinked at that, then frowned.
Rainbow smirked. “You never let Imre down. What makes you think I’m gonna?” She fell backwards, wings spread. “Peace.”
With that, the pegasus toppled off the manaship’s edge, spun around, and blurred her way northwest, straight after Nevlamas’ flaming path.
“That’s it!” Props shouted, her voice reverberating off the frosty crags of mountain rock around her. “Give it more juice!” She kicked off her front hooves and stood on her rear legs, gyrating wildly. “A little more! A little more!”
”A ‘little more’ will be a lot more, Spit Mistress!” Floydien’s voice shouted from the top deck of the Noble Jury looming before her. “Does Floydien invoke the glimmer or doesn’t he?”
“Give it all you got, handsome!”
”There’s a good boomer!” The air filled with hissing steam. Metal-reinforced thruster ports spouted out hot air from the lower hull of the battered vessel. As the last rays of daylight glinted off the fresh patches of steel and aluminum covering the shattered pieces of the ship, the Noble Jury successfully lifted off, gaining altitude in a low hover. ”Burning mane monkeys! You’re aloft, Nancy!”
“Yes! Yes she is!” Props grinned from ear to ear. She hopped repeatedly in place with rattling goggles. “Yes she is yes she is yes she is yes she is!” She grabbed the nearest victim she could--who happened to be Ebon--and spun several times in a giggling embrace. “Heee-heee-heee-Yeahhh! I told you all the spirit of Prowse would win over!”
Ebon wheezed as he anchored the two in place. “Well, certainly n-nopony ever doubted you, Propsy.”
“Wait ‘til we get her really moving!” Props chirped, wiping her sweaty brow. “We’ll all have to dress as monks to stave off the sexiness! Woohoo!”
Eagle Eye chuckled, shaking his head. He wrenched his sparkling eyes off the sight of the hovering vessel above and looked to his right. “Looks like we’re back in business, eh Pilate?” He blinked, and his muzzle straightened with concern. “Pilate?”
“Nnnngh…” The zebra was teetering slightly, rubbing the metal plate along his skull.
Eagle Eye leaned in, pressing a hoof into his shoulder. “Is everything alright?”
“I… I don’t know…” He muttered. “I feel a strange sensation…” His teeth showed as he winced. “As if there’s a flutter at the end of my skull, but everytime I try to feel it with O.A.S.I.S., it’s like I’m slamming my head into a brick wall.”
Eagle Eye gulped and murmured, “You think it’s Josho?”
“Don’t know. I still feel him, but… it’s faint now. My head is so… dizzy.” He shuddered. “It all started at some point thirty-six hours ago. Everything was clear and loose… and suddenly…” He winced again. “It’s like I’m suffering half a migraine. It’s hard to explain.”
Eagle stirred nervously, but made no show of it. “You’ve certainly had a lot on your head lately.” He smiled. “Both literally and figuratively.”
“Haven’t we all, Eagle Eye?”
“Yes, well…” Eagle Eye dug at a patch of pebble-strewn earth. He bit his lip, then nervously stammered, “Have… have you heard at all from her?”
With a sigh, Pilate slowly shook his head. “It’s still silence on Belle’s end. I’m afraid to message her because… well…”
Eagle Eye’s jaw clenched tightly. “We’ll find her, Pilate. We’ll find her and get her somewhere safe. Just you see.”
“I… I-I’m not sure there’re any safe places left, Eagle.”
The ex-mercenary fidgeted for an answer.
Just then, a voice crackled over their heads.
”Hello? Hello?! Scrkkk--Noble Jury, please come in!”
Ebon Mane spun from Props, gasping. “Is that her? Is that Belle?”
“No,” Pilate all too quickly replied, fumbling at his choker with two hooves. “Wrong stone.” He finally pulled the enchanted shard in question out and spoke into it. “Kera? Kera, is that you, honey?”
”Pilate! It’s so good hearing your voice!”
All of the ponies huddled tightly around.
“Give us an update, Kera,” Pilate said in a firm tone. “Is there still time for us to rendezvous behind Seclorum’s line--?”
”Listen! A lot of crap has gone down! The Sacred Hold has exploded n’stuff!”
Everypony gasped in shock, wide-eyes a’plenty.
Pilate nearly choked on his own tongue. “Exploded? K-Kera, is everypony alright--?!”
”Rainbow Dash’s fine! Roarke’s fine! I am fine! Well… Roarke lost all her armor and got the flank-whooping of her life--”
Eagle Eye did a double-take. “She what?!”
”Snkkkt-I did not--”
Kera’s voice took over once again. ”Nightshade and a bunch of former Ledomaritan soldiers are with us! But it’s okay! We’ve got the book and we’re headed to the Eastern Battlefront by manaship!”
Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “It… what… th-the book?! You have it?!” Pilate’s teeth clenched as he hissed in confusion. “But, I don’t get it! Rainbow Dash! Where’s--?”
”She’s fine! The book isn’t affecting her anymore! Me and the Odrsjot band made sure of that!”
“Huh?” Ebon Mane’s jaw dropped.
Props’ nose scrunched up. “What’s an ‘odor snot?’”
“No,” Ebon shook his head. “I thinks he said ‘ogre sh--’”
”Everypony!” Pilate growled. “Please!” He raised the sound stone to his muzzle. “ Where’s Rainbow Dash right now, Kera?”
”Scrkkkk--She’s flying towards that dude Seclorum’s place! She’s in a big race against that nasty ship, the Lightning Bearer. The Xonans have taken it over. Even whatshername is on it! The evil princess pony!”
“Lasairfion?!” Eagle Eye exclaimed.
”Yeah! Her! Rainbow’s trying to cut them off at the quick!” A pause. ”Oh, and there’s also the giant flying two-mouthed apocalypse dragon of chaos…”
“The what?!” Ebon Mane leaned so far forward he fell on his muzzle. “Owch!”
“Apocalypse… dragon…?” Props whimpered like a scared foal.
“Nagu’n…” Pilate breathed out loud. He gulped. “So it’s true. A monster incarnate is aiding the Xonans…”
”And they’re totally gonna tear the Ledomaritans a new one! Starting with that exposed bit of the Machine World in Seclorum’s back yard!”
“More like starting andending with it,” Eagle Eye said, his eyes squinting gravely at the others. “If something that evil taps into the place where Rainbow Dash gets her flame…”
“It will be very grave for everypony indeed,” Pilate said with a nod. “For this part of the world and everywhere abroad.” He held the stone up again. “So you’re trailing Rainbow Dash, Kera?”
”B-barely! She’s way faster than us, so she’s on her own! But she doesn’t have to be for long!”
Ebon Mane stood back up, rubbing his face. “Unngh… Wh-what does she want us to do?”
”You still got your noggin’ attached to Josho, Pilate?”
Pilate winced as he rubbed his skull. Nevertheless, he responded, “Yes…”
”Good! Head towards him! Odds are it’s bad news for everypony where he’s at! But you might get there just in time to help us all get the heck out of there if things go super bad!”
“Instead of just regular bad?” Ebon remarked. Props jabbed him in the side. “Wh-what?!” He winced, rubbing his shoulder with a frown.
“You can count on us, Kera,” Pilate said. “Keep us updated on the situation with the book. Pilate out.”
Eagle Eye leaned forward breathlessly. “If something’s heading so swiftly towards Seclorum’s that it’s requiring Rainbow Dash to go after them on her lonesome….”
Pilate was already nodding. “We have to make haste.” He tilted his head to the side. “Ms. Props?”
“Ya hear that, handsome?!” Props shouted towards the heavens as the Noble Jury swiveled about. She and the other ponies galloped towards the cargo doors of the stern as they hung wide open a few meters above the rocky plateau. “We’ve got a giant death dragon to headbutt in its ugly face!”
”Death dragon?!” Floydien’s projected voice bellowed as the skyship revved its steam engines. ”What you spitting about, boomer?!”
Kera lowered the sound stone, taking a deep breath as the wind of accelerated flight kicked at her long, emerald bangs.
“Whelp, either they’re gonna help save our flanks…” She gulped. “Or I just sent them to their deaths.”
“Don’t be silly,” Roarke muttered from where she sat--slumped against the railing. The bounty hunter picked at a single surviving plate of armor clinging to the hydraulic plugs of her left front leg. “Rainbow Dash sent them to their deaths, along with all of us.”
“For Spark’s sake…” Zetta glared over her shoulder from where she piloted the manaship towards the dark northwest horizon. “For a pony who’s known her for so long, you seem to have very little faith.”
“It’s not faith that I’m worried about with Rainbow Dash,” Roarke muttered.
“That much is obvious,” Basso said with a snort.
The Searonese mare’s pistoning lenses gave the stallion a death glare. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh… uhm… uhhhh…” the oafish pony fidgeted. Bearing a charming attempt at a smile, he leaned back against the ship’s outer railing. “J-just conversation!” Snap! A metal bar cracked loose from beneath his weight. “Darn it!”
“Basso, really…?” Zetta grunted.
“Not my fault the Xonans built everything out of cardboard!”
“I’m sure it’s just you, big fella,” Kera muttered.
“Heheh…” Zaid shook his head from where he sat beside Khao’s figure. “Cardboard.” He smirked. “Of all the things I’ve ever snorted.” He fidgeted with the mare’s braced leg. “Looks like the splint I made is doing a bitchin’ job at jobbin’ the bitch!” He slapped his knee. “Ha! Ha ha… I thought of that just now! You like it? Huh? No? Meh…” He sighed, swiveled around, and fumbled through a crate of first aid materials. “Still, you gotta hoof it to me, I did pretty good on the ‘Tourniquet 101’ material.” His face scrunched up. “Or did we even have such a lesson plan? Ah well. I guess being with the Herald makes both memories and time fly, on account of all the--”
While Zaid wasn’t looking, Khao rolled aside, held her breath, and tossed herself clear over the railing of the manaship.
Zaid’s head did a double-take. Blinking calmly, he peered his head over the side.
Khao’s figure could be seen in the blossoming starlight. The cult leader twirled with her one surviving wing-brace, slowly cruising towards the ground in a descending spiral. Before her body could slam into the blurring mountainscape below, a sleek craft brimming with bright red skystone swooped by. Her figure flew inside and disappeared. A second later, the Heraldite craft pivoted about and rocketed towards the northern sky, vanishing into the night.
“Huh…” Zaid blinked again, scratching his stubby muzzle. “I wonder if I should report this…”
“Unnngh--Aaaaagh!” Bellesmith shot up in bed, but instantly regretted it. She winced, clutching her shoulders and writhing in waves of pain. As she inhaled, the pain doubled, and she found herself nervously clutching the edges of her muzzle. She instantly winced, feeling fresh welts along her face. It was difficult to see out her left eye, though there wasn’t much to see. Everything was pitch black dark. “Am… am I still sequencing…?” She winced, fidgeting with the soft quilt and bedsheets rolled up to her body. “Imre?”
“You are awake, darling…”
Belle gasped, her body jolting. She pressed herself against a wooden wall. As her hooves felt along the structure, she could sense the creaking bulkheads and jostling motion of an entire airship around her. “The Steel Wing…”
Before her, like a comet being born, a single candle lit. Shell’s tear-stained face appeared, gazing longingly at her from afar. He lit a second candle, a third, and cast a dim glow over the middle of the cabin.
“At last, after all th-these cold, punishing nights, I’ve found you, my beloved.”
Belle breathed… breathed… breathed… and froze, squinting oddly at him.
“I knew that you had not forgotten about m-me,” Shell said, his voice breathy and horrifically vulnerable. He bore a smile, and it chilled Belle more than any expression he had seen on the stallion’s weathered face. “She brought you back. I… I was wrong for doubting that she would. I… I’ve been s-so very wrong, Imre…” His muzzle grimaced, and he collapsed over the edge of the table, causing the candlelight to dance over his suddenly weeping figure. “About everything… all that I could have given you… all th-that I should give you…” He brought two hooves to his face and wept into his forelimbs, his shoulders shaking and quaking.
Belle bit her lip. She tried to stand up, but winced once more from the pain throbbing through her body. “Nnnngh… Sp-Spark…” She looked down at her forelimbs. Two huge bruises stretched across her coat. With a foggy head, she slurred, “Enforcer Shell… I… I-I think that you’re mistaken--”
He was suddenly lurching at the bedside. “Did it h-hurt, Imre?!”
Belle jerked back with a shriek, tilting her head as far back as she could from the stallion. There was no stopping the gentle caress of his once-broken hoof as it ran across her thin forest of chestnut mane hair.
“Did it hurt you coming back to the surface?” Shell’s one good eye glistened as he smiled bitterly. “C-coming back to the light?” He gulped. “To me?”
The mare clenched her teeth. Her eyes swam across the ceiling, then found the faint silhouette of a door beyond. Starlight swam across a slight crack in the entrance to Shell’s cabin. The Steel Wing was moving.
“Where…” Belle gulped, fumbled for words, and murmured, “Where are you t-taking us…?” She nearly vomited. “...f-father?”
“Far… far away…” Shell smiled, sniffled, and smiled softer. His hoof was now caressing her cheek. “Somewhere far away from this…” His venomous returned in a brief, curt hiss. “Away from Ledo! Away from death!” With a wheezing exhalation, he stumbled back onto his haunches and stammered, “A place where we can begin a move. And… and though your mother won’t be there…” He clenched his teeth and shook his head repeatedly. The next words came out in a pitiful squeak. “We can begin again. I know, it Imre.” He ran a hoof across his quietly weeping face. “I know it. I know it I know it I know it I know it…”
Belle stared nervously at him, her lips pursed in awe.
“So much… s-so much that I could have given you, dear Imre…” Shell’s voice droned, muffled against his forelimbs. “Nothing that I-I could have won… in bullets and bloodshed.” He stared up at her, one eye brimming with tears. “But now I know that I had given you enough.” His lips curved. “You remember the days… the warm days we had… you and I… and your mother…” His teeth shone as white as a sailing kite in some far off dream. “We can have that again. I’ll bring the warm days back again.”
“I…” Belle shuffled nervously. “Father, I-I think…”
“What is it, Imre?” Shell knelt at the bedside, grasping the mare’s hooves in his own. “What is it that you desire? Let me provide it for you!”
“Pr-provide it… for me…?”
“It’s alright…” Shell’s smile wavered between fear and sincerity. “We’re alone now. The Doctor’s vanished. The enemies and betrayers of our Confederacy are far away. It’s just you, me, the heavens, and the future…” He leaned forward. “I can take you there! I can take you anywhere! All you need to do is ask, Imre. Just… ask…”
“I don’t think that… that…” Belle winced. Just then, her tail twitched, and she felt the unmistakable weight of the sound stone lodged in her hairs. Gulping, she looked towards Shell and put on the most tender smile she could muster. “Actually… f-father, there is something.” She took a deep breath “Something that would mean the entire world to me.”
Shell leaned forward, eye bright as a moon. “Yes…?”
Beneath the dim glare of stars, Rainbow Dash soared after the trailing exhaust of the stolen Ledomaritan Dreadnaught. She gritted her teeth, flapping her wings as hard as she could. Prolonged whistling noises tickled her ears as her glowing ruby pendant acted as an enchanted windbreaker. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t seem to get a single inch closer to her target.
From far behind, the rear thrusters of the Lightning-Bearer flickered like a flock of burning blue falcons against the charcoal black night sky. Rainbow knew that she was speeding; the mountain peaks and treetops blurring beneath her were obvious indication of how swiftly she was slicing her way northwest. However, so long as the bane of Seclorum’s base remained just beyond a scream’s distance from her, she felt like no amount of progress was even remotely being made. She could just have well been riding the shells of snails to reach her foe.
Grunting, Rainbow angled her body straighter, turning into a veritable arrowhead as she skimmed the rocky faces of plateaus. Gradually, the air around her grew stale and staler. The forests withered away, giving way to broad valleys of gravel and arid rock. The temperature dropped as Rainbow chased the Lightning Bearer across a stretch of desert. The stars above glowed with greater majesty, but their shimmer highlighted nothing but black open space.
“Come on… come on wings…” Rainbow snarled into the wind. “Don’t buck things up now. This is for the gold. Horseapples, this is for the mother of gold! Get with it! Come on!”
Rainbow’s body twitched all along her spine. She wasn’t entirely sure how she managed it, but her wings blurred even faster. The air stopped whistling, instead spreading around her in a faint cone that refracted the starlight bathing her sweaty coat.
Rainbow panted… then panted some more. Her muzzle twisted into a proud smirk, but her body jolted at the sound of an immense rumbling. She darted her eyes left and right. Desert plateaus, stone mesas, and craggy ravines soared past her, stretching thinly beneath her.
Everything was dead silent--still and cold like a cemetery after dark.
“Where the frig is she anyways…?”
Biting her lip, Rainbow Dash bravely pressed forward, gliding away from the unsettling noise, her eyes locked on the Ledomaritan battleship as she slowly inched her way towards its burning stern…
“Unnnngh…” If Josho’s face had a taste, it would have instantly induced a pony to vomit. His muzzle was twisted into the mother of all grimaces. Rivulets of sweat ran down his skull as he stirred awake. “Somepony fetch the sound stone of that elephant that made love to my brain bone…”
“So? Most ponies my age deal with consciousness…” Josho sat up with the help of several friendly hooves. “Nothing that a little prune juice won’t solve.” At last, after rubbing his head for several seconds, he opened his eyes. Blinking, he squinted quizzically.
Several ponies stood over him. Most of them were unicorns, and they all had metal caps over their horns. There were stallions in uniform, field nurses in tattered gowns, and engineers in greased fatigues. They reflected the obese stallion’s expression with at least three dozen sets of wide eyes.
“Is this it?” Josho grumbled. “The afterlife is just a lame-ass, endless staring contest?”
“Alas…” An old soldier nervously smiled and shook his head. “This is not the Spark’s embrace, brave fellow.” He reached a hoof out and helped Josho onto his legs. “Though, we may all be heading there soon.”
“It’s…” Josho’s teeth chattered. “It’s so cold down here.” He rubbed his forelimbs. “And with blubber like mine, that ain’t no small thing to shake off.” He blinked at the others. “Where in the Queen’s fluff hairs am I?”
“We certainly hoped they’d throw down a pony for once who could tell us,” said a nurse. As she stepped aside, Josho became aware of a grand expanse behind her. Suddenly, there was a flash of light overhead, followed by distant thunder.
Josho glanced up. He saw a sliver of light, beyond which was gray mist and muddled starlight. As more thunder rolled, the flash of another shell erupted across the wartorn heavens. This time, its death beams ran down like bright fingers, glinting across every nook and crevice of the walls that had swallowed Josho and his sudden companions in one fell stream. The stallion caught dormant conveyor belts, frozen cogwheels, and dangling pendulums in the distance. Everything was made of the smoothest, most reflective metal he could imagine. Judging from the shine, it was an immaculate gold substance that he had never had the grace of witnessing before.
“Fartnuggets. What kind of upside down hallucinogenic bridal shower did I just land in?”
“What do you remember last, sir?” a soldier asked.
Josho frowned. “I’m the one asking questions here!”
“Just think about it…” The pony pointed. “You were tossed down here. But by what?”
“Not what…” Josho slurred. “Who.” He ran a hoof over his head, wincing. “Seclorum wanted to show me what he was protecting.”
The ponies jolted in shock. “General… Seclorum…?!”
“The one and only. I thought the old bastard was a friend of mine. Seems like he’s gotten a little too friendly with the ‘old’ and ‘bastard’ parts. Hmmph…” Josho rubbed his scalp some more. “No legit pal of mine would surround me with his guards and slap a cone over my--” He gasped, his hoof tapping the metal cap over his horn. “Seagull stroganoff! Now I remember! Secchy friggin’ hornblocked me! Why that liver-stained sonuvabitch!” Gritting his teeth, he spun towards the other ponies. “You guys gotta help me--”
The weary, emaciated equines avoided his gaze, their sad expressions weighted by an identical array of heavy metal cones atop each of their horns.
“Oh…” Josho blinked. “Well, this sucks like a baby humpback whale.”
“We were hoping you’d be a normal soldier,” a mare in a tattered uniform said. “Not another one of us.”
“Sorry to disappoint, lady,” Josho muttered, pacing across the frozen machinery in the dark. He paused, then glanced back at the crowd. “Just who is ‘us,’ anyway?”
“We hail from separate units,” one stallion said. “But we all have one thing in common.”
“What’s that? Bad luck?”
“We’ve asked too many questions. And now we are down here.”
“Yeah, well, what for?” Josho frowned. “Why didn’t Secchy just kill y’all if there was something that he didn’t want you around for?” He leaned his metal-capped head against a golden wall and groaned. “None of this makes any friggin’ sense. What turned him…?”
“Lekkun meniel thrassa…” A voice casually said in the shadows. “It brings much despair to its heart to see it betrayed by a friend of most dearness.”
“Buh?” Josho went wall-eyed. Shaking his head, he spun about. “Okay, who just spat out some evilsghetti?!”
Several ponies flinched from the stallion’s accusatory glare. At last, a pony with tattooed body markings stood in open view. “Ehhh… it is… how do you say it... full of the kill kill for it?”
“You!” Josho snarled, immediately thrusting forward. “What’s a mana-sucking deathbag like you doing down here?! Huh?!” Several young soldiers held Josho back, a combined effort that took no less than five equines. “Is this some sort of crazy Xonan plot for your bastard of a Princess?! Did she pollute Secchy’s head somehow?!”
A mare rushed up, waving her forelimbs frantically as she stood between Josho and the frightened warrior. “No! Don’t! Save your breath…” She sighed. “They’re harmless to us down here.”
Josho leaned back, his face scrunched in perplexity. “‘They?’” Slowly, his head pivoted about.
As his eyes adjusted to the dark basement of the metal world, he saw more ponies with tattooed coats. Suddenly, whole droves of them could be seen standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow Xonans and Ledomaritans alike. Everypony looked identical in their misery. The only bright thing about them was the occasional glint of the caps atop their horns when a shell lit up high above.
“I… I don’t get it…” Josho glanced at the closest ponies to him. “Who did this? Who put all these yahoos here?”
“The same ponies who have turned this battlefield into a murder-pit,” said a soldier in a grave voice, bearing a doubly somber expression. “And your ‘old bastard’ of a friend is working for them…”
“So let me get this straight…” Josho marched furiously down a narrow metal plateau, passing underneath dormant machinery. Dust fell as shells exploded high above on the surface. Below his thundering hooves, sheer drops into utter blackness loomed on both the left and the right. “The Ledomaritans… and the Xonans both simultaneously captured the whole bunch of you, slapped anti-magic condoms onto your heads, and tossed you down this oversized garbage disposal?”
“It does not happen… er…” A Xonan fumbled for words. “How do you say… simul of the taneously.”
“It’s been happening over a long period of time,” a Ledomaritan explained as he and a group of ponies closely followed Josho. “For instance, I was captured about four weeks ago. Most of the nurses? About two months. The field soldiers have pretty much been tossed down here at random. We’ve survived by scrimping off of whatever rations we had on ourselves when it happened. As for the first ponies tossed down here… well…”
Josho came to a scuffling stop, twirling around to squint at the stallion. “Well, what?”
“They… th-they all starved off.” He gulped. “Or so we could determine from the bodies that we found.”
“None of us are officers, though,” a nurse said. “Only enlisted personnel and field workers seem to end up down here.”
“So the Prime Enforcers and Admirals are spared the pit-toss,” Josho grumbled. “Lovely.”
“Or…” A soldier shifted uncomfortably. “They’re sent somewhere worse.”
Josho stared at him. He turned and looked over at a group of Xonans. “And what about you guys? Is every tattooed one of y’all a grunt?”
Several glanced nervously at a warrior in the middle, murmuring to him.
“Raajana draan!” he hissed, waving his forelimb at the chattering group. “Ledomulien nessu threnna craym!” He cleared his throat and looked Josho in the eyes. “It is Second Born,” he said, pointing at himself. “So is only two or three more of the children blessed by Nagu’n.” He shook his head. “But most is Third Born. Servants and peons of battle, yes. Most scared. Most confusingly.”
“I just don’t get it…” Josho’s brow furrowed. “Seclorum’s been hold up in this place forever. He’s been holding off the Xonan advancement, but I figured that the Ledomaritans were on the losing end. They’ve been borrowing recruits by the bucketload while the tattooed freaks just sit on their flanks and launch fireballs at his base.” He winced slightly and waved a hoof at the Xonans. “No offense.”
“Dreit. Is understandingly…”
“What I mean is…” Josho paced dangerously close to the edge of his metal platform as he spoke aloud. “...it just makes my head wanna go kersplodey. I’ve always known Secchy to be a stubborn stallion. Just moments ago, I’ve witnessed him at his most insane. Now I find out he’s being a traitor to his own Confederacy?! It’s just not like him!”
“He’s betrayed all of us to the weapons of the Xonans,” a stallion said, frowning. “I don’t care how well you know him, but he’s no longer on our side! Not since he decided to systematically destroy our defenses from the inside out by conspiring with the Xonans to make this into a death trap!”
Josho swiveled to face the tattooed warriors again. “You reckon this is true?”
The Xonans glared the Ledomaritans’ way, but remained calm, albeit shifty. “It has said this before: the children of Xon do not make deals with hordes most unblessed. Would be unforgivable sin in the eyes of Nagu’n. The Second Born who tossed it in here are betrayers to the song.”
“And yet, here you are!” a soldier said in an accusatory tone. “It’s because Seclorum is a Xonan spy! You child mutilators knew too much! That’s why you were thrown down here! To protect some horrible lie!”
The warrior snapped back at him. “It would do best to not make accusingly the demons here! Or else it may want its head replaced with its water maker!”
The growling stallions rushed each other.
“Whoah whoah whoah whoah!” Josho stood between them, holding the two factions back with his heavy-set limbs. “Let’s not go all ‘Rumble in the Grandfather Clock’ here! Look, we’re all in a crappy bind. Regardless of who we think means what in this Spark-forsaken war, the truth is that we’re suffering casualties on both sides.” He faced both groups as they reluctantly but calmly parted ways. “Xonans were tossed down here just the same as Ledomaritans. Now… what if Seclorum ain’t exactly on the Xonans’ side? What if he and a few choice Xonans just like my bastard of a friend are in fact in sick, moist cahooters with one another?”
The ponies murmured in nervous commotion as more shells thundered overhead.
“Why?” a nurse asked, looking concerned. “Do you know something that we don’t?”
“It has been above more recent than the other ponies,” the Xonan Second Born said.
“Look, I’ve been places recently. As a result, I’ve gotten a ear in on stuff that most ponies haven’t even heard about,” Josho said in a lower tone. “For instance, Seclorum has been making shady dealings with a certain pony long before he ever decided to toss his own flesh and blood around. I’m speaking of Madame Nightshade.”
“Nightshade?” A young soldier’s face scrunched up. “As in Nightshade Industries?”
Josho nodded. “The one and ugly.” He pointed up at the mouth of the ravine high above. “She struck a deal with him to maintain dominance of this battlefield just so he’d be in the right place to defend this spot once she returned with a magical artifact that she had found here ages ago, but now restored to its original condition.”
“What kind of magical artifact?”
“Oh, uh, a book.”
“What kind of a book?”
“A magical book about faerie farting--Look, I don’t know how to mumbo all the jumbo!” Josho frowned. “Just understand that Seclorum and Nightshade got it into their thick heads that they had to go all ‘paranormal archaeologist’ on this place, and that was the reason for Seclorum wanting to keep this place under his hoof.”
“If that’s even remotely true…” Spoke a soldier. “...then what would the Xonans possibly desire from it?”
“I didn’t get here by pure accident,” Josho muttered, straightening his mane in futility. “Believe it or not, I only have my own stupidity and bad intuition to blame on the fact that I’m standing here and smelling up a Dunce Ex Machina with a bunch of starving ponies. Truth is, I got information from a very reliable source that the Xonans have captured the Lightning Bearer and were heading towards this spot to destroy the machinery and everything above it!”
Several gasps lit the air. “The Lightning Bearer?!”
“Fortis’ ship g-got captured?!”
“No way!”
“Suck it up, my little ponies,” Josho grumbled. “It’s truer than donkey algebra. We’re all screwed with a ten-foot drill. I had hoped to warn Seclorum about it so that he could meet the attack head-on, but then he threw me here.”
“But wouldn’t he be destroyed too?” a nurse stammered. “And the Xonans here for that matter?”
“Heh… wouldn’t put it past a tattoo horse to sacrifice himself for bloody glory.”
Suddenly, one of the Xonans seized Josho’s foreleg. “The waiting! It is who that brings this wrath upon it all?”
Josho blinked at him. “Uhhhh… some crazy Princess broad. ‘Princess Laissez Faire’ or whatcrap.”
“Lasairfion…” The warrior then gritted his teeth. The coat hairs along his tattoos rose on end while the lackeys around him hissed all in filthy accord. “Drenduun ratta kulien trentte, Bak’Nagu’n!”
Every Xonan spat on the ground at once.
The Ledomaritans glanced awkwardly at one another.
“What… is it tattooed mating season or something?” Josho muttered.
“Nothing of sorting!” The Xonan exclaimed with a frown. “Only that Lasairfion brings a blight upon itself. It has corrupted the bowers of the Sacred Hold, and now it corrupts this… ‘Lightning of the Bearer.’”
“I… don’t think I read you.”
The Xonan’s ears drooped as he defeatedly muttered, “It has been exiled, and yet it has many fools who cling to it. It seeks a birthright that does not belong to it. None could predict; none could prevent. Now there is nationing size family of lost children in its hornbeam. Xon weeps daily.”
“You… wait a damn second…” Josho leaned forward, gawking. “Xona’s in a civil war?!”
“War most bloody. Hardly civil. But it calls it as it calls it.” The Xonan’s jaw tightened into an iron-wrought frown. “Much necks sliced in the name of a false Nagu’n. Only those in the lost Hold believe the song to be true. Now…” He sighed. “Now it fears it comes to kill us all.”
The machine world hung in dead silence.
“This is way smellier than I could have imagined,” Josho muttered. “If I had known any of this…” He gritted his teeth. “Friggin’ A… if my friends had known about this!” He clutched his skull and groaned. “I’d never have ‘ported here in the first place! Grgggh!”
A soldier blinked at him. “You’re a master of teleportation?”
“Yes, I’m master of the interspatial bait and switch.” He pointed at the cap on his horn. “But it’s not worth a hill of crap with this thing tying my leylines into a knot!”
“You’re certain you can’t jump your way out of here!”
“I dunno, cupcake. You certain you can’t float your mane back into a widow’s peak?”
The stallion merely sighed, trotting away in defeat.
“Please don’t be hard on ponies like him,” a nurse said in a chiding tone. “He’s just as desperate and fearful as the rest of us. All of us are simply waiting for… f-for time to run its course down here. We were hoping you might bring with you some answers.”
“Sorry, lady. All I’ve brought was a load of fat and regret.” He slumped on haunches, silent. Then, after a few seconds, he tapped his chin in thought. “Only… I’m certainly tied down to something.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… My horn may not be exactly useless…” He smirked to himself. “Hmmmm…” He reached up and tapped on the metal cap, thinking aloud. “After all, even a dead antennae--if tall enough--can be seen by the trained eye.”
Silence.
“Could… could you care to elaborate on that--?”
“Oh go choke on your own metaphors!” Josho spat. “Shhhhh! I’m trying to have a friggin’ epiphany here!”
“Come on… bring the stabbiest of stabs…” Floydien hissed, his fuming muzzle casting condensation across the dashboard of the Noble Jury’s cockpit. “Nancy Jane and Nancy Jane’s beloved have much bark spark to impart.”
“There’s no telling what kind of a mess the battlefield will be once we get there, Mr. Floydien,” Ebon said as he stood next to Eagle Eye and Pilate in the rear of the cockpit. “I’d strongly suggest against firing blindly on whatever we see once we reached Seclorum’s airspace.”
“Fire with what?” Eagle Eye squinted curiously at Ebon. The ship rocked through turbulence as it sped the ponies southeast through the cold chill of night. “Floydien’s ship here doesn’t have any armaments.”
“For real?” Ebon raised an eyebrow. “I would have figured we had a cannon or two…”
“Only gun is sailboat boomer’s nostrils after Floydien kicks his teeth into his sinuses for breaking Floydien’s concentration!”
“Whoahhhhh!” Ebon Mane waved his forelimbs, leaning back. “We’re all on the same side here, remember? Threaten death on me once I’ve deserved it, okay?”
“Too much spit for one hemisphere,” Floydien muttered. “Flip the skies light-ways and fill the the firmaments then!”
“What do you even have to concentrate on?” Ebon gestured towards the starry expanse beyond the dashboard. “It’s been nothing but smooth sailing so far! I bet all the Ledomaritan zeppelins are on the east end of the front!”
“It would be like the Queen’s army to put all of their strongest units forward.” Eagle Eye shuddered. “One fatal blow, and the most elite of Ledomare is kaput.” He glanced aside at his friends. “Tomorrow could be the last sunrise for the Confederacy.”
Silence.
“Good… g-good riddance, right?” Ebon Mane remarked.
“Mr. Mane…” Pilate sighed.
Ebon shrugged. “I can’t be the only pony thinking that! I mean, at least with this country finally kicking the bucket, we won’t have ponies chasing after our tails with eternal bloodlust!”
“Once a boomer stabs, he stabs for life,” Floydien grunted, his antlers sparkling.
“Yeah, but, you gotta admit, it’ll be smooth sailing once we’re rid of this horrible continent and its stupid war.”
“If Rainbow’s legacy is a testament of anything, Mr. Mane, it’s that the world brings trials and tribulations in many different forms, and none of them are anywhere near predictable.” Pilate glanced aside, his plate of runes flickering. “It’s best that we not obsess over a destination and simply work on the nature of the journey--” Every rune locked together in a continual glow, and the zebra teetered forward in pain. “Unnnngh!”
“Pilate!” Eagle gasped. With swift telekinesis, he lifted the zebra back and sat him on his haunches.
“You okay?” Ebon rested a hoof on his shoulder. “Your head kind of went… all ‘flashy’ just then.”
“I… I-I’m not sure…” Pilate seethed through clenched teeth. “O.A.S.I.S. just… overloaded right then.”
“Your head could handle that?”
“Of course!” Floydien barked, not bothering to look back. “Striped boomer’s skulliest in the clonk department!”
“Is it still acting up?” Ebon asked, nervously grazing a hoof along the plate across the zebra’s head. “You seem to be breathing easier.”
“Because I don’t feel as though my skull is on fire,” Pilate muttered, nevertheless rubbing the side of his head with twitching ears. “Spark almighty! What in blazes was that…?”
“Perhaps your leyline is losing connection with the entanglement?” Ebon asked.
“Impossible…” Pilate stood back up, albeit warily. “This felt like a spell gone wrong. I imagine it’s what a unicorn would feel when magic backfires--” He froze in place. He tilted his head towards the others.
Eagle’s violet pupils shrank. “Josho…”
“Is…” Ebon leaned forward. “Is he sending you a message?”
“Hard to tell.” Pilate’s face tensed in concentration. “Over the past twenty-four hours, I’ve been… losing touch with him. I assumed at first that it was because he was performing more teleportation jumps, or that he had crossed a greater distance than our mutual entanglement would allow. But, I can’t shake the feeling that something is… stale.”
“Stale?”
“On h-his end. As if Josho has entered a state of static motion. Feels like eating week-old bread and not feeling whole.”
“But, if that was the case, what just happened right there with your--?”
“Gaaaugh!” Pilate reeled again, this time colliding with the wall of the cockpit.
“Hey!” Floydien grunted. “Be kind to Nancy’s throat!”
“Pilate, what’s wrong?!” Eagle Eye held Pilate once more. “Is it happening again?”
“Yes…” Pilate winced. “And stronger this time.”
“Then s-sever the connection!” Ebon Mane exclaimed, leaning in to nudge Eagle Eye. “Like everypony says you did back in Foxtaur!”
“And lose track of Josho?!” Eagle Eye retorted. “He’s depending on us too, y’know!”
“But if it’s taking such a toll on Pilate--”
“No… No!” Pilate held a hoof out, panting as he silenced the cockpit. He stood up, brushing himself off. “Just… just give me air.” He gulped. “I need to concentrate. I… I think this is a message…”
Ebon and Eagle Eye exchanged glances. They gawked at the zebra. “What kind of a message?”
“Uhm…” Inside the metal world beneath the Eastern Front, a Ledomaritan soldier trotted into a group of huddled equines, all staring at the edge of the golden plateau. “What… is he doing?”
“Shhhh…” A nurse held a hoof before her lips, all the while staring at the obese pony seated before them. “He needs concentration.”
“Concentration to do what?” The stallion balked. “He’s capped just like the rest of us! That horn is useless!”
“It does not do just magic,” a Xonan remarked, craning his tattooed neck to get a better look. “A different spirit it has, full of hopefully and purposing.”
All the while, Josho sat on folded legs, his eyes squinting as he leaned his head forward. The metal material on the end of his cap glistened from the distant shelling above. He took deep breaths, his facial muscles tensing and untensing as he murmured in quiet little spurts.
“Come on… come on…” He gritted his teeth. “Feel the tug. Get a clue, Mr. Black-White-and-Egghead all over. I need a hoof and in the most bromantic way…”
The ponies simply watched in stunned amazement.
Josho barked, “Stop crowding around me! You’re making me smell my own body odor!”
Nervously, they backtrotted, giving him breathing room.
Pilate jolted, clenching his teeth. “Th-there it is again…”
“You okay--”
“No, I mean yes. It’s fine.” Pilate stood up straight, though he still winced from time to time. “If the books I’ve read are of any indication, I’m experiencing Acute Manafeedback Nausea.”
“Wh-what?” Eagle Eye made a wretching face. “But that’s impossible! You’re not a unicorn! Only ponies with magical horns experience A.M.N.” He blinked. “Or… y’know… unicorns who’ve lost their horns and… f-feel phantom nerve sensations…”
Pilate slowly nodded. “I’m quite aware of the symptoms, Eagle. Belle describes them to me all the time.”
“But how can Pilate be feeling them?”
“I don’t think it’s my senses at play here,” the zebra thought aloud. “But rather, a mutual friend of ours.”
Eagle Eye did a double-take. “Josho?” His jaw dropped harder. “Josho’s lost his ability to use magic?”
“And I’m the one suffering from the feedback, because I’m attached to his same leyline.”
“So, why’s it acting up now, all of the sudden?” Ebon asked.
“Josho must be trying to do a powerful magic spell,” Eagle Eye said.
“Not necessarily.” Pilate paced about in thought across the cramped cockpit. “He could be attempting a very basic spell, or maybe trying to teleport. The fact of the matter is--now, for some reason--I’m feeling it every time he attempts his mana-summons.”
“You think he knows that it’s having this effect on you?” Ebon asked.
Pilate stroked his chin. “Hmmm… it would be a feasible way of communicating something.”
“Communicating what?” Ebon remarked.
“That…” Eagle Eye bit the end of his lip. “That the old stallion needs our help? Somehow?”
“But what can we do?” Ebon exclaimed. “We’re still miles away!”
Pilate stopped rubbing his chin. His ears twitched in thought. “Perhaps it’s time that I perform my very first unicorn spell…”
The other stallions looked at Pilate as if he was on fire.
“The hay are you talking about?”
“I think it’s best that I explain it to Eagle Eye and Eagle Eye alone.” Pilate turned in the general direction of the unicorn. “Well? You think you’re up for saving your portly companion’s life?”
Rainbow's muzzle had grown numb from the pelting winds. Nevertheless, hours into her pursuit, she flew with heroic grace, all the while keeping the burning thrusters of the Lightning-Bearer in her sights. For the longest time, she pondered as to why an airship of such size and magnitude could actually outrun her. When she finally came within a close enough distance to discern the shapes standing on board, the pegasus began to understand.
There were rows of Xonans lined up at the stern. These were not disguised like the rest of the "Ledomaritan" soldiers; their tattoos glowed into the murk of night. Instead, they stood like battle-mages, channeling their horns into the mana assembly of the ship's engines. Rainbow Dash didn't understand how, but she figured that they must have been accelerating the ship in some fashion, empowering it to fly faster than its normal means.
Rainbow gritted her teeth beneath a smirking expression. She suddenly had a second wind beneath her wings, for she now understood a way that she could slow down the ship.
The speed at which she was going now was startling. During her northwest glide, she found herself whizzing by mountains, rock deserts, and buttes at an alarming rate. The scars of war blurred beneath her, but she didn't have the time or attention to observe them. Instead, she angled her wings until she was veritably whistling her way into the starlight.
The Lightning-Bearer's thrusters were menacingly bright things in her perspective at this point. Rainbow's ears rang with thunder and her eyes had to adjust to the bright-blue glow pulsating in a thick line before her. It felt like a summer's day by the time she came within spitting distance.
All of the sudden, the air heated up, and Rainbow Dash felt herself jerking forward—as if with an unexpected boost of acceleration. She gasped, finding the need to actually pivot her wings as split-second wind brakes. With careful coordination, she slowed down and kept a steady pace directly behind the vessel's thrusters. In her peripheral vision, she spotted wavering mirages. The starry night was distorted around her, and Rainbow realized that she must have reached a vaporous pocket positioned directly behind the massive, speeding battleship.
This was it...
Ascending slightly, Rainbow leveled herself with the warrior mages situated on the ship's stern. A fresh curtain of sweat ran down her brow, obscuring her view of the Xonans. She fixed that with a forelimb brushed across her face. Concentrating, she then pressed her hoof to her ruby pendant, rubbing the lightning bolt in tiny little circles.
None of the Xonans noticed her, which is what made this moment so perfect. Rainbow Dash held her breath. Her eyes flickered a bright red to match the ruby of her Element of Loyalty. Soon, her necklace glowed like a miniature star, and she tilted her neck so that the magnitude of the luminescence focused forward in a straight beam.
At first, it had no effect on the ponies lined up before the engine. Rainbow tried strafing sideways in mid-flight. It took some straining, but her eyes caught the glint of her ruby light flouncing across the Lightning Bearer's rear bulkheads. With careful precision, she moved and tilted her upper body so that the "lightning bolt" shaped spotlight swam over the Xonan bodies... and then came to a rest over a single mage's meditative face.
"Come on..." Rainbow Dash hissed, her wings beating, her coat sweating, her eyes and pendant glowing amidst the speed and fury. "Come on...!"
At last, something happened. The mage's face tensed up. His tattoos flickered—soon followed by his horn. At last, his magic dwindled as he lost all concentration. He opened his eyes and gasped inaudibly, his whole face flinching from the direct beam of Rainbow's pendant. As he stumbled back and fell to his side, Rainbow glided to her right and cast the beam over another Xonan's face.
This stallion reacted much more swiftly than the first. He opened his eyes, instantly regretted it, and stumbled sideways in a blind fashion—hissing in pain. In his clumsy collapse, he bumped into another mage, and both of them fell to the ground, writhing.
The rest of the line was clearly upset. Amidst the exchange of blue and red lights, Rainbow could make out their tattoos and horns flickering, like lightning bulbs burning out their fuses. That wasn't all that she noticed; the thrusters were suddenly looming towards her, as if the engines wanted to burn her alive. It took Rainbow two and a half thoughts to realize that the worst case scenario was actually the best. She was slowing the ship down, and now she had to decelerate in order to avoid being burnt to a crisp.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash grinned a crescent moon. The speeding mountaintops to either side of her were now coming to a slow glide. "Yeah! Yeah!" With a devilish smirk, she focused her ruby beam on the last few mages who were lined up. "Pull over and show me your licenses, ya melon fudges!"
"Reevuul thulien dranda keleen!" A helmspony shouted. He turned from the ship's controls and stared, wide-eyed, at his superior across the top deck of the Lightning Bearer. "Venuusen graat! Rekka fraan saladrenna mesuul thien!"
Arcshod trotted forward, his brow furrowed. "Dranda keleeniulen?!" He hissed through gritted teeth. "Mekkana hraajuut sutuulien bassim krein?"
"Dreit, Arcshod Xon-Nagu'n."
The lead Xonan rubbed his chin. Then, with a gasp, he slowly spun and stared at the stern of the ship. Several other disguised Xonans looked with him.
One by one, the line of mages fell, until there were only four.
"Threnna!" Arcshod snarled, breaking into a gallop. "Jaakulien burdreinnu trentte threnna!"
Berets fell to the ground as several "Ledomaritans" charged along with them. Soon, an entire company of disguised soldiers stood at the ship's stern. Many of them knelt down and tended to the dizzied mages. The others, including Arcshod, stood at the very edge, squinting through the massive glow of slowing thruster engines in an attempt to spot their enemy.
"Siulen!" One stallion gasped, pointing for the others to see. "Jaakuul rekkanna threnna!"
"Oss Tray Oh..." Another murmured.
Arcshod glared.
In open view, Rainbow Dash could be seen strafing to her right, shining her ruby pendant into the last of the vigilent mages. The effect was of her interference was undeniable. The engines puttered to their normal, dull hum, and in a matter of seconds the pegasus would be able to naturally catch up with any part of the monsterous battleship and even board it.
"Heradda drenna drezzu!" A warrior sneered. His tattoos briefly flickered through his disguise as he and several fellow soldiers pulled out their chaos necklaces and breathed on them. Portals started to open all around the soldiers. "Fekkara lassulien diul Nagu'n!"
But before they could do anything, Arcshod raised his hoof. The soldiers gawked at him, their portals disappearing as swiftly as they were summoned. "Selvatta melunmas, Arcshod Xon-Nagu'n?"
He slowly shook his head, a devilish grin sweeping across his large face. "Naasta, trennde diul Xon. Nagu'n rekkatharia." He looked up... up...
So did the other soldiers. And they smiled.
Rainbow Dash saw their expressions. Amidst her sweating, panting breaths, she glanced to the left and to the right. Everything looked normal... until the stars above disappeared.
"Huh?" She twirled until she was flying upside down and looked straight up at the heavens. "What the..."
A giant, wing-shaped figure blotted out the heavens. Two seconds later, that very same figure looked straight down at her. A pair slitted eyes pulsed with pale aquamarine fire, and then two burning mouths opened like demonic tears in the fabric of space. The air lit up with a ghoulish, falsetto scream, and spiraling plumes of flame soared down at Rainbow Dash, curling the tips of her feathers with their heat.
"Luna Poop!" Rainbow shouted into the approach of a roasting death.
Rainbow Dash jerked to the side, twirling like a damaged kite.
The first volley of fire dropped past her and the Lightning-Bearer, but it was followed soon by a second plume of aquamarine death.
Rainbow strafed to the other side, still struggling to keep up her pace with the stolen dreadnaught. This was not something that pleased Nevlamas, and soon the air resonated with her howling song as she angled her massive wings plunged like an armored mountain towards the flailing pegasus.
The pendant around Rainbow's neck had shorted out. Musical praises flew from the mouths of those on board the airship. Rainbow looked everywhere at once. All was chaos, fire, and starlight. Panicking, she dove towards the only patch of air that was still dark. From the shifting fluids in her ears, she sensed that she was plummeting toward the earth, though her eyes couldn't tell from all of the flames suddenly erupting before her. Rainbow Dash found herself plunging into a sea of chaotic plasma, and she did all she could to pull up.
Evening out, Rainbow realized that she had sunk below the Lightning-Bearer. With the ship having slowed immensely, she found herself skimming the bottom hull of the vessel. She spun until the battleship's dark surface became her lower horizon, and she raced towards the bow looming in front of her across quivering starlight.
Before she could blink, the hull lit up with an aquamarine sheen. Nevlamas had descended until she was below her target, and she let loose an ear-splitting shriek as she closed the distance between her and the petite pegasus in her enraged sights.
Rainbow Dash looked behind her. All she saw was the Dark Divine's crown of antlers sweeping through the air after her. Sparks flew as the crystalline tips scraped the metal belly of the Lightning Bearer on a path towards eviscerating the pegasus.
In a split second, Rainbow Dash relied on utter stupidity. She stopped flapping her wings altogether, kicked against the hull with her hooves, and flipped backwards. Angling her body, she miraculously twisted and slipped her way between the razor-sharp branches of Nevlamas' antlers.
Twirling, Rainbow pivoted herself upright and flew in theopposite direction, threading her way between the hull of the Lightning Bearer and the undulating spine of her possessed foe. This required careful zig-zagging, since the chunks of chaos crystals embedded in Nevlamas' backside constantly thrusted into Rainbow's face like a forest of teeth.
At last, she reached the thrusters of the dreadnaught again, and she felt as though she was in the clear.
Nevlamas' thrashing tail disagreed. With one massive swoop, it swung within meters of Rainbow Dash's position. The sheer concussion blast of the distorted air around the Divine's appendage was enough to knock Rainbow off her flight like a wrecking ball.
"Aaaaugh!" Rainbow's voice cracked as she twirled wildly towards the desert valley below. She had lost all of her senses for a brief blink in time. By the time she uprighted herself, the horizon was still reeling. Rainbow pivoted until she was facing northwest, and the Lightning Bearer loomed hundreds of feet away, growing more and more distant as the Xonans resumed accelerating the battleship beyond the pegasus' reach.
Before she could even resume her flight, two shrieking jaws consumed her vision, spitting fire.
With a yelp, Rainbow dove below the plumes of flame. She had to dive a second and a third time as Nevlamas' claws raked across the air, followed by her deathly tail. Rainbow flew northwest, but it had become a haphazard act. Having to dodge the attacks of Nevlamas caused her to lower to sea level, and now she was skimming the desert floor so closely that dust flew past her wings and obscured the stars to her left and right.
The entire time, Nevlamas' beating wings gave the moment its deadly percussion. Rainbow could easily see each boulder and crag of rock that she had to skirt around thanks to the light emanating from the Divine's gaping jaws.
As the air heated up, Rainbow's racing mind quivered between adrenaline and memories. When it came time that Axan actually wanted to kill her, the pegasus had barely lasted ten seconds before her body was torn to ribbons. Now a Divine of Chaos wanted her deader than dead. How could anypony outrace that?
A loud bass noise echoed from above. Rainbow's eyes darted up in time to spot the Lightning Bearer accelerating in a burst of magically imbued speed. It soared towards the northwest horizon... towards Seclorum's headquarters... without her.
"Okay, sister..." Rainbow Dash suddenly snarled. "You wanna have a race?" She pivoted so that she flew backwards, thrusting an angry sneer at the burning maw of the dragon behind her. "Then you darn well better keep up!"
Nevlamas answered with a breath of fire.
"Come on!" Rainbow Dash howled into the distorted vapor as she juked to the left, then barreled over the flames in a beautiful corkscrew. "Ngggh-Yaaaaaugh!" She shouted against the deafening roar as she pushed her body just inches past the skin-roasting plasma.
Her body darted behind a craggy mesa. Instantly, the air cooled, but Rainbow Dash didn't revel in the moment. She kept accelerating, keeping her eyes locked to her left. In a matter of seconds, she cleared the plateau, and aquamarine daylight swam parallel to her in the shape of an enraged dragon.
Nevlamas spat two more fireballs to her right, launching them at her speeding target.
Rainbow dodged the first one, dove down, and squeezed her way past a pair of boulders in order to narrowly escape the second. The rocks exploded behind her; Rainbow used the concussive blast to get a boost. It was good timing too; Nevlamas had launched a liquid plume of chaos flame, and it trailed after Rainbow's tail as the pegasus pushed her wings to the limit.
Squealing with strained muscles, Rainbow pulled up. The stream of aquamarine fire trailed after her. In a daring move, Rainbow backflipped, twirled around the flame, and curved her wings at an angle. Air-braking, she stalled, spun, and then flapped her wings so that she shot to the left... and straight at Nevlamas' mutated skull.
The Divine's eyes actually twitched. Her nostrils flared, and two mucousy crystals spat out from her snout. They fell and then hatched in mid-air, giving birth to a pair of hissing serpents that swam upwards on chaotic currents of energy. With hissing fangs, they launched themselves at Rainbow's figure.
Rainbow was already twirling before the snakes latched onto her. With a deep-throated growl, she spun and spun and spun until the twin serpents were dangling loosely like a pair of windsocks. At last, she thrusted her wings out, and the summoned beasts flew into dissolving starlight. Angling herself towards Nevlamas' skull, Rainbow growled and fired a bolt of ruby energy from her pendant.
The crimson beam flew true, lopping off a tiny branch at the end of one of Nevlamas' antlers. Before the Divine knew what was happening, Rainbow snatched the crystalline barb in her teeth, clutched the dragon's crown, twirled down the central shaft of the antler, and landed with her hooves planted atop the monster's brow. With a muffled scream, Rainbow stabbed the sharp end of the branch deep into Nevlamas' forehead.
Tainted blood sprayed across the night, followed by Nevlamas' howling scream. All the Divine had to do was toss her head once, and Rainbow Dash was thrown off like a prismatic tick.
Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash used the momentum of the dragon's toss and flapped her wings until she controlled her own velocity. She angled herself northwest, breathless. With twitching eyes, she caught the distant glow of the Lightning Bearer. She flew after the sight before it could disappear against the horizon, a task made intensely difficult as the angry snarl of Nevlamas grew closer and closer to her tail, followed by her heated breaths.
Sensing another burst of flame coming, Rainbow Dash looked everywhere. Glancing down, she saw the desert valley dipping into a series of craggy ravines. Soon, she dove along with it, quivering at the sight of the rocky walls lighting up with demonic aquamarine firelight.
Rainbow Dash dove low. The world was a howling mess around her, causing the stars to shake along the edges of her vision until they surrendered completely to shadow. Nevlamas descended upon the pegasus, her chaotically-charged breath heating the air up by twenty degrees in seconds.
Wincing, Rainbow threaded her way through the first ravine she saw. It was a narrow trench, winding north and south in a serpentine fashion. With every turn and bend, the tell-tale aquamarine glow of Nevlamas' menace flickered after her.
The walls opened up to a bizarre stone forest of jutting rock towers. Rainbow was too panicked to marvel at the formations; she jutted through them like a streaking comet. And Nevlamas—
"Hraaaaaauckkkkt!" The Divine exhaled a cloud of burning green vapors. Liquid fire oozed through the stone steeples and slender buttes. Like a horizontal veil of boiling plasma, the burning mess rolled after Rainbow.
She threaded her way through columns, whirled around quivering spires, and short forward down an open pass. The ends of her tail hairs curled as the flames caught up. The towers collapsed, raining boulders and chunks of rock down on her frantic flight. Just as the flames enveloped her, Rainbow darted a look to the right. She saw a boulder twice the size of her own body and she swiftly darted towards it. In mid-plummet, she pressed her body towards the north edge of the debris and clung to it. Flame erupted all around her, carrying with it the thunder of unbridled chaos.
Nevlamas stopped flapping her grotesque wings, slowing to a casual glide as she sneered with two grinning jaws at her roasted work. The entire valley smouldered with trailing bits of green ash and pale smoke. Seconds went by, and she saw no corpse. Her slitted eyes darted all about, and a rising growl emanated from her throat.
Unbeknowst to her, far below, a petite equine figure slithered out from the unscorched edge of a fallen boulder. Holding her breath, an unscathed Rainbow Dash darted straight up, ascending in time to fly level with Nevlamas' swinging tail. She burst into starlight, twirled about, and flew up the length of the gliding dragon. Rubbing a hoof across her pendant, she pivoted, aimed down, and fired a solid beam of harmonic energy all across the Divine's leprotic spine.
Nevlamas' scales split open in a straight line with postules of chaotic effluence, and several crystal chunks exploded into dust from her rear to her scalp. The dragon shrieked, and its body undulated like a bucking bronco. Rainbow dodged her bladed shoulders and wingjoints, but was a lot less successful when she tried threading through the Divine's thrashing antlers.
"Ooof!" Rainbow Dash grunted as her body toppeled through the ear, flinging westward towards the eastern face of the ravine. Several dark spots came into focus as she found her balance, hovering dizzily.
In the meantime, Nevlamas, wincing from her wounds, clung to the east wall of the massive canyon. She spun about, nostrils flaring, and fired a pure wall of flame at the pony.
Rainbow looked up. An aerial escape was blocked by a jutting, concave cliffface high above. She looked west. The dark spots along the eastern face of the trenched turned out to be—
"Awwww Luna Poop." She was already flying towards the holes in a desperate attempt to outsoar the fire. When she glided her way into one of the tunnels, she pressed a hoof to her pendant in an attempt to increase her Element's luminosity. She soon discovered she didn't need to; Nevlamas' flame lit up the interior with aquamarine light. Without wasting a millisecond, Rainbow darted forward, bobbing and weaving as she zoomed down junction after junction, blindly navigating the complex web of labyrinthine corridors.
The flames did not let up. They fountained closer and closer to Rainbow's tail, consuming the oxygen that grew staler and staler with each passing second.
"Come on..." Rainbow sweated; Rainbow panted. "Come on! Where's an exit? Where's an—?" She gasped.
A dead end.
As her vision twitched, so did her muzzle, and she sensed a tiny jet of cool air wafting towards her face. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow curled her legs inward and spiraled towards the craggy wall ahead of her like a missile.
"Nnnnnngh!"
She struck solid dirt right as the flames enveloped her.
Fire erupted out the side of a forested hillside. Rainbow Dash burst on through, her body outracing the flames and streams of loose soil. Spiraling, she plunged towards a thin forest of trees that had formed northwest of the desert. A large open valley dipped below, but it fell from her sight as her flailing body twirled wildly, struck the ground, and came to a grinding stop against powdery dirty and dying grass.
"Mmmfnnngh... guhhh..." The ends of her mane and tail hairs flickered with tiny sparks. Soot and sediment covered her from head to hooves.
But she was alive.
"Grnnngh... koff... haackkt..." Rainbow flexed her muscles, pushing up on quivering legs. "Celestia on a bike! I friggin' hate caves."
Gravity took over, and Rainbow slumped down onto her fuzzy belly. She moaned into the dirt, then tilted her head up towards the stars.
The bright sight of the Lighting Bearer loomed above. It was the closest she had seen it thundering overhead since Nevlamas shook the pegasus off her pursuit, but Rainbow had no energy to dart after it. She felt burns on her extremities, and her wings ached all the way to her spine. Every squirming movement her muscles made sent waves of anguish through her legs, tail, and feathers.
The stars faded, giving into blackness. The faces of Bellesmith, Pilate, and Kera dwindled in the dark, and as Rainbow fluttered her eyes shut, she imagined she was on a cloud over green fields and sapphiric ponds. The happy voices of friends rang beneath her, and she gave a devilish smirk.
"So... so easier this way..." she whispered into the air as the wind picked up. "I should have..." She clenched her teeth, curling into a fetal position on the grass as her burns surrendered to memories. "Should have just joined y-you guys..." Her eyelashes glistened with beads of moisture.
"Do not let the fires consume you, Austraeoh," the voice boomed.
Rainbow gasped, her eyes flinging wide open and dry. She looked towards the sky, twitching to spot the author of that noise. The stars broke with a shadow, then flickered naked once more. The pegasus could have sworn she heard the massive beating of wings, growing faint in the distant horizon.
"You are something greater than death." And just like that, the voice was gone.
"Nevlamas...?" Rainbow Dash stood up, wincing. Her knees quivered as she took a few limp steps down the dusty hill. "No. No friggin' way. That's..."
The mountain exploded above her.
She spun east and gasped, her ruby pupils shrinking.
"Hressshaaaaaukkt!" The Dark Divine burst through the hillside as if it was made of sand. With antlers brimming with chaos shards, she glared down at Rainbow Dash, her twin slits shining aquamarine beams through the desolation.
Rainbow gritted her teeth. With one beat of her wings, she was back in action, spiraling northwest across the valley.
"Raaaaaaaaauchkkkt!" Nevlamas tore through the air after her, launching sporadic burst of flame.
The fireballs sailed earthward, landing in the forest of withered trees and igniting their dry branches. As the chunks of plasma exploded, they gave birth to shrieking serpents who flew through the air, launching themselves at Rainbow's speeding body.
"Nnnngh!" Rainbow beat the first wave off with her legs, headbutted a second charge, then spun upside down through the trees with her head tilted downward to more properly expose her pendant to the night. With a bright strobe of ruby energy, she dissolved the shrieking companies of serpents attacking her head-on. Twirling about, she glided her way through the trees, with reptilian agents of chaos lighting up the parts of the forest that weren't burning as they attacked her flank.
All the while, Nevlamas coasted over the scene, her massive shadow spreading over Rainbow Dash in the starlight. With wings spread wide, she snarled and launched a wide swath of flame over the valley.
The aquamarine plasma formed a perfect ring of fire. Surrounded by sparks and leaping serpents, Rainbow Dash had no choice but to launch her body out of the forest. She shot up, the burning branches sliding out of her peripheral vision. There was a flash of starlight, then the Divine's two snapping jaws.
"Hressshaaaaa!"
"Gimme a dang break!" Rainbow's voice cracked. With agile grace, she twirled, missed both jaws, and planted her hooves against the edge of the dragon's lunging snout. Nevlamas' nostrils flared, raising the temperature all around Rainbow. The pegasus kicked off before twin spurts of flame could consume her body. Hurdling over Nevlamas' forehead, she aimed a ruby spotlight at her eyes. "Smile, gorgeous!"
"Auugh!" Nevlamas' skull reeled back, and she spung. A single wing sliced through the air, and its leathery scales smacked into Rainbow's body.
"Gaaah!" she soared skyward like a hoofball, being swallowed by the stars.
Nevlamas gazed up, her eyesight returning as she produced thunder with a growling breath. Beating her wings even harder, she sailed after the pegasus' loose figure. Gasping, Rainbow Dash ascended through a thin veil of clouds, flying as swiftly into the chilling altitudes as her wings could afford.
It was no use. Nevlamas caught up, her body causing loud explosions of distorted air with each wing-flap. With a deep inhale, her chest lit up like an aquamarine boiler, and she vomited so much flame into the air that the war-torn valley glowed with virtual daylight.
When the flash was over, and only starlight remained, Nevlamas stared through the settling smoke and ashes.
"Hchkkkkt...?!" Her body twitched, every bloody scale freezing over in confusion.
“You sure about this, Pilate?” Eagle Eye asked nervously from within the lounge of the Noble Jury. “I’m not even sure this is possible.”
“I’m quite certain that our friend Josho is attempting to send us a message,” Pilate said, seated carefully before Eagle Eye. “He wouldn’t be sending these feedback surges if he wasn’t in sincere need of help.”
“I’m sure Josho can hold his own in any situation,” Eagle said as Ebon Mane looked on anxiously from the dining table. “But what about you?” He pointed at the zebra’s metal choker. “I don’t want to be overloading that thingamajiggy of yours.”
“I wouldn’t be worried all that much about O.A.S.I.S.” Pilate smiled reassuringly. “My beloved built this thing to last. As a matter of fact, if anypony’s going to have to exercise caution, it’s you.”
“Me?”
“This will be your hoofwork, afterall. You’ve shown your telekinetic dexterity in disentangling my and Josho’s leylines before. This will be something similar. Only, instead of yanking the thread straight, you’ll be sending a ripple through it.”
“What kind of a ripple?” Eagle asked.
“Once you’ve pierced the barrier of O.A.S.I.S., you’ll essentially be hijacking Josho’s leyline through me, using the manasphere as a junction.”
“Hoo boy…” Eagle Eye gulped, fidgeting on his hooves. “Do I have to understand it to do it? Cuz you’ve lost this former mercenary, Pilate…”
“I trust it’ll come naturally to you once you’ve located his leyline,” Pilate said. “The next step will be to perform a simple repulsive spell.”
Eagle’s face twisted. “Repulsive spell?”
“Erm…” Pilate winced. “I suppose I do not know what to call it. It’s a basic telekinetic spell that would utilize magic in shoving something off of your horn, assuming it was covered with something.”
“Oh!” Eagle Eye nodded. “You just need me to… to…” His face scrunched. “Shoot, I dunno what to call it either.” He shrugged his lavender shoulders. “I just move stuff.”
“The wonders of unicorns…” Ebon droned.
“Yeah, don’t put us on a pedestal,” Eagle murmured over his shoulder. “We get vertigo easily.”
“But Belle never--”
“I... get vertigo easily!”
Ebon chuckled.
“Very well. Let’s give this a try, shall we?” Pilate leaned forward in the chair. “Concentrate on the sphere around my choker.”
“Okay…” Eagle aimed his horn forward.
“Now, relax, and try to funnel your spell into the body of the--”
Eagle blasted Pilate over the back of the chair.
“Oh crap!” Eagle hissed, wincing as if he was passing a coconut. “Pilate! You okay?!”
“Unnngh…” Pilate squeaked, stumbling up to his hooves. If he could see stars, they’d be spinning through his milky eyes. Ebon had rushed over to help the dizzy zebra up. “I think we may have confused a step there, Eagle…”
“Pilate, I’m sooooo sorry!” Eagle Eye collapsed on his knees. “I don’t think I’ve got the grasp of this ‘funnel through O.A.S.I.S.’ thing!”
“It’s… all well and g-good…” Pilate wheezed, shaking the cobwebs out of his skull. “We simply need to repeat the endeavor…”
“But next time I might send you flying through the bulkheads!”
“Nonsense!” Pilate managed hoarsely. He cleared his throat and patted Ebon’s hoof on his shoulder. “Mr. Mane here will be good enough to anchor me in place so that his body can soften the blow.”
“I will…? Ebon blinked.
“Yes.” Eagle frowned in his direction. “You will.”
Ebon smiled nervously and stood behind Pilate. “Good to know that the vote is unanimous.” He gripped the zebra’s shoulders tightly. “Ready for round two?”
“Be gradual with the manastream, Eagle,” Pilate said. “Don’t unleash all of your energy at once. This isn’t a battle. You’re simply sending a ripple down the leyline so that Josho can perform a spell that his own horn can’t produce. I’m sorry that I cannot explain it any better for you.”
“No, I think I get it.” Eagle took a deep breath. “Okay.” He gulped. “Ready?”
“I’m certain I can’t get any more bruised.” Pilate and Ebon both tensed. “Anytime now, EE.”
Eagle Eye bit his lip. He concentrated deeply, and his horn glowed softly this time. The luminescence intensified over time, casting a golden sheen across the interior of the Noble Jury. At last, a fine beam oozed through the air, almost like pixie dust. It channeled into Pilate’s choker, christening the air around the zebra with the sound of ghostly wind chimes.
All three ponies were still, but then, about a minute and a half in, Pilate twitched.
“Zounds!” he exhaled, gritting his teeth as a glow flickered across his eyes.
“What?!” Ebon panted. “You okay?”
“I… I think I’m actually seeing something…”
“Maybe it means you’re making a connection!” Ebon grinned wide. “Can you describe it?”
“It’s… a very muscular stallion, wearing a vest with… a familiar insignia…” Pilate instinctually blinked. His lips curved. “Oh! But of course! O.A.S.I.S. has a record! It’s the Franzington Blades Guild Crest!”
“Tell me what to do, Pilate…” Eagle Eye breathily stammere.d
Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “He… appears to be soaked from head to hooves with water and a copious amount of soap--
”Tell me what to do, Pilate…” Eagle Eye sneered, red-faced as he struggled to maintain the energy beam.
“Ahem.” Pilate bit his lip and said, “Okay, I believe you’re just at the leyline junction at the moment, Eagle Eye. I can feel the manacore of O.A.S.I.S. attempting to bypass the energy surge. You need to push harder.”
“Like… literally?”
“As if you’re levitating something across the room, only you’re doing it… uhm… through my skull.”
Ebon whispered, “Did Franzington even hoof out that much soap?”
“Shhhh!”
“Ahem… sorry.”
“I… I’m feeling…” Eagle Eye gritted his teeth. “Feeling something--Gah!” His eyes flashed wide, brimming with energy.
Pilate jerked slightly. “Eagle? I think your magic has passed on through. Do you sense anything?”
Silence.
Ebon glanced up. “Eagle Eye?”
Eagle Eye belched loudly.
Ebon grimaced, his ears folding.
“I take it you’ve encountered our good friend?” Pilate muttered with a smile.
Eagle smirked bitterly. “Oh yeah, it’s totally--
“--him in the disgusting flesh,” Josho uttered with an uncharacteristically higher pitch.
The Ledomaritans and Xonans glanced over at him, surprised at his sudden speech.
“Mr. Josho?” A nurse trotted across the metal platform. “Did you say something right now?”
“What is that perfume?” Josho purred. “Jasmine? With a touch of vanilla--” He growled and slapped his own face. A low, grumbling voice: “Friggin’ newspaper. I didn’t ask you to recruit him.”
“What?” a Xonan warrior asked. “What does it speak of?”
“Just hold onto your saddle sores, ponies,” Josho grumbled. He grinned gradually as he stood up. He quivered before the edge of the metal platform, and a pony or two rushed forward to catch him. “Stay back a bit! Not sure if this is gonna cause an explosion or not!”
“An explosion?!”
“The hay are you doing?”
“Nnnnguuuuuaaaaaamewaaaafwegggggh” Josho went cross-eyed as the cap at the end of his horn wobbled and wobbled. “Not so hard, fruitcake! We haven’t even ordered a honeymoon suite!”
“Uhhhh…”
“Swear to Ledo’s third testicle!” Josho dramatically thrashed his skull up. “Like I’m passing a kidney stone through my sinuses! Grrrrrr-Aaaaugh!” Then, with a flash of bright gold energy, the metal cap flew off his horn like a bullet, ricocheting off the pendulums and metalworks above. “Hah! Happy New Year, everypony!” He chuckled breathily, then collapsed dead on his muzzle.
“Mr. Josho!”
“Hey!” Eagle Eye grinned wide. “I think we did it!”
“An astute observation, EE,” Pilate droned. Blood trickled down from his left nostril. “Would you mind retreating from the entanglement, now?”
“Whoah! My bad!” Eagle Eye dimmed his horn. He slumped back, panting for breath as his eyes blinked to normal.
Ebon gently helped a similarly winded Pilate over to a chair. Patting his shoulder, he turned and nodded towards Eagle. “Well, that experience was certainly…” He blinked. “...metaphoric.”
“I think I need to take a shower.” Eagle sniffed his own fetlock and made a face. “Sheesh, does that dude always feel smelly on the inside?”
“I’ve kept the observation to myself…” Pilate muttered, sniffing as he wiped his bloody nose dry. “...lest I offend anypony.”
“Heh, you would, wouldn’t you?” Ebon said with a wink.
Just then, a high-pitched voice wafted across the lounge, rattling off the portholes full of starlight.
”Pilate?” It was whispery, frantic. ”Pilate, are you there, beloved?”
Ebon gasped, juggling the soundstone and pointing at it.
“Give it to me!” Pilate hissed, forelimbs stretched forward and waving wildly. “For spark’s sake! Hoof it over!”
Ebon swiftly complied.
“Belle!” Pilate practically shouted into the shard, trying not to hyperventilate. “Bellesmith, beloved! Speak to me!”
”I… I’m afraid I can’t, Pilate. Not for long, at least. He’s watching me. He’s watching everything I do!”
“Who?” Pilate grimaced, and then that grimace turned into a frown. “Shell?!” He gritted his teeth. “If he’s hurt a single hair of your coat, I swear by all that his holy--”
”I haven’t got time, Pilate! I needed to contact you!”
“I’m right here, darling.”
“We’re all here, Belle!” Ebon exclaimed.
“Yeah! We’re listening in!” Eagle added.
”Good. Then I need you all to promise me something.”
“What is it?” Pilate stammered.
”You are en route to Seclorum’s hideout, yes?”
“Yes, Belle. We are.”
”I need you to slow down.”
Ebon did a double-take. Eagle gawked at Pilate.
“Slow… d-down, Belle?”
”Just a little bit!” The voice faded in and out, then crackled with intensity. ”Pilate, promise me that you will not fly into Seclorum’s airspace until after the first shots have been fired!”
“First… shots?”
”Promise me! I don’t want you or anypony else I care for getting hurt!”
“I… I…”
”Promise me!”
“I promise!” Pilate exclaimed, then gulped. “But Belle… what do you mean by first shots?”
Silence.
“Belle…?”
The stone went dim.
Lips quivering, Pilate clutched the stone to his chest. He gawked in the direction of the others.
“Because if he dies, then how are we going to get out of here?”
“He was the first bit of good news to come in a while…”
“Shh! I think…”
“Did he just say something?”
“He’s breathing!”
“Quiet, everypony, he’s got something to say!”
Everyone leaned in.
A few seconds limped by.
“You are some damn nosy sonuvabitches,” Josho grumbled in the hooves of a nurse and a soldier. “Anypony ever tell you that?”
The group stopped leaning over, spreading apart as they fidgeted across the metal platform on squirming hooves.
“Rrrrgh…” Josho waddled onto his heavy hooves, shaking his skull. “Word to the wise… don’t go rubbing magical gossamer strands with cybernetic zebras. It always ends up fart-smelling.”
“We… uhm… are uncertain what just happened to you, Mr. Josho.”
“Oh will you shut up and just stand still already?” Josho spun about, his horn glowing.
A soldier blinked. “What do you mean--?” He gasped as he felt his horn slipping off with calculated telekinesis. “By Ledo’s mane!”
“Yupperooni.” Josho spun and slid the cap off a nurse, an engineer, and another soldier. “Everyone strip. The party’s starting and everyone but Seclorum is invited.” He paused, glancing over his shoulder.
The Xonans nervously stared back.
Josho sighed long and hard. His horn glowed brighter. “I’m getting too old for all this complicated gray area crap.”
The Xonans were freed from their magical shackles. Exhaling in relief, they whirled about and started stripping the caps off their companions’ skulls.
Pivoting towards the Ledomaritans, Josho spoke, “You’ll have to take care of the rest of your guys’ horns. For now, I have to jet. I’m sure with a buttload of telekinetic spells, you guys can finally get your rotting flanks out of this Spark-forsaken place.”
Many of the ponies nodded and rushed into the thick of the stranded group, freeing their leylines one at a time.
“What about you?” a warrior asked. “You’ve done so much for us. Where are you headed to now?”
“Where else?” Josho frowned, and sparks danced between his eyes. “I’ve got business kicking a certain conspiratorial punk’s skull in.”
Flash!
The ponies gasped as Josho vanished entirely.
”Hraaaaaaaauuuckt!” Nevlamas, the Dark Divine, cursed in frustration as she tore across the sky. Her shadow sliced across withered forests burning brightly with aquamarine flame. She spat her breaths left and right, adding to the blaze. At last, with widely flapping wings of frustration, she lifted high into the air, her glowing eyeslits entreating every horizon within view. ”Where are you, Austraeoh, you cowarrrrrrd?! If this is the powerrrrrr of harmony--hrckkkk--I am not impressed! I am annoyed!”
The dragon’s voice echoed in every direction, clearing the murky clouds from the starlight with each warbling decibel.
”Whether I end you swiftly… or devour you slowly, it makessss no difference!” she sneered, both sets of teeth gritting so hard they produced sparks. She orbited a steep mountain peak, her sheer wingspan causing the cliff faces to tremble and crack. ”Nothing shall stop me from imbuing this world with the desolate power of my all-cleanssssssing song! The false harmony-hrckkkk-of the modern era will end! Everrrrrrrything will be reborn!” She clasped onto the jagged mountain peak with two sets of talons and shouted into the heavens. ”So show yourself! Show yourself and perform your role as Austraeoh! Be the dying flame! For now and evermore!”
Silence reigned.
Nevlamas took a deep, deep, deep breath, then screamed flamingly into the wasteland.
”Hraaa-aaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaauckkkkkt!”
Clouds evaporated. Thunder rolled. The sky lit up like a supernova was consuming all of the nearby galaxies.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but wince. Her ruby eyes twitched as they reflected the Divine’s wrath. She took a deep breath, continuing to cling upside down to underside of the Dragon’s tale, right at the thick, scaly stem.
The limb thrashed left and right, almost flinging Rainbow Dash off with every movement.
She gripped tighter, careful not to apply too much pressure or else the Divine might feel her through those diseased scales. Biting her lip, she looked upside at her situation. It was hard to see at first through her own dangling mane, but she spotted the dragon’s massive talons gripping precariously to the jagged tip of the mountain peak.
The pegasus’ brow furrowed. She took a deep breath, meditated for a few seconds… then smirked devilishly.
Nevlamas snorted in frustration. She was angry, impatient… distracted.
Rainbow Dash had to time this perfectly. Licking her lips, she planted a hoof firmly over the ruby lightning bolt of her pendant. She began rubbing it in circles, faster and faster, building up a bright beam of scarlet energy from within.
It must have tickled Nevalamas’ lower abdomen, because her body twitched and she dipped her smoldering snout down to glance between her legs. ”Hressshhhkkt?”!
Rainbow Dash grunted, shot forward, and fired a full beam of ruby light into Nevlamas’ left leg.
”Haaaa-aaaauckt!” The Divine yelped in pain. Her talons immediately slipped, and she slumped forward, her entire body thrown off balance.
In the meantime, Rainbow Dash had darted up past the monster’s collapsing body. She spun about in the air, positioned her body like a living arrowhead, coiled her wings at her side, and came sailing down so that she slammed into the back of Nevlamas’ skull. The impact had the same effect as a giant blue gavel, and it sent Nevlamas’ sprawling.
From there, gravity took over, pulling the dragon down the mountain side.
“Have a nice trip!” Rainbow raspberried and shot her way northwest. “Send me a postcard once you arrive at--” Her irises shrank under an intense shadow.
Nevalamas’ flailing wing fell over Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus blurted: “...aw Hell.”
Wham!
Tangled in the leathery mesh of Nevlamas’ appendage, Rainbow collapsed with the Divine. Both pony and dragon fell down the mountainside, drowning in boulders and flames.
Nevlamas’ massive body ricocheted off the mountainside, turning her plummet into a twirl. Rainbow Dash toppled with her, bouncing against the perforated webbing of the Divine’s wings. She spun, struggling against gravity to find a way to slip through the dragon’s flailing limbs. Glimpses of whirring rock and faint starlight flickered in her peripheral vision. At last, she summoned a burst of strength and kicked against the closest solid surface to her.
It turned out to be Nevlamas’ chest. The dragon hissed as chunks of chaos crystal fragmented off her scales. She saw Rainbow darting away from her and swung her talons to slice her to ribbons.
Rainbow spun sideways, evaded the comb of claws by mere inches, and spun past Nevlamas’ snapping jaws. Before she could make a break for the open sky, several boulders that were falling with them overcame her. She dodged one rock, spun past another, and flew over a heavily toppling chunk.
Just as she crested through the other side, the boulder split into a hundred pieces. Nevlamas had shattered through it--snarling--and the resulting thunder knocked Rainbow off her balance. With gnarled talons, the Divine gripped Rainbow Dash, squeezing the breath out of her lungs.
“Auuckkkt--hckkk!” Rainbow Dash hissed, her eyes tearing as she pushed in vain against the cedar-thick fingers encasing her.
Nevalams lowered her snout to bite Rainbow’s skull off, and it was then that she realized she was falling upside down… and about two seconds from slamming into the feet of the mountain. Holding her heated breath, she spun her massive body around and spread her wings into a glide. Her belly scraped the rocky floor, sending bits of earth spraying everywhere.
The near-impact jolted through Nevlamas’ body, loosening her grip of Rainbow Dash. The pegasus kicked out of the Divine’s claws and whirled past her neck and snout. Nevlamas tried snapping at the pony with her jaws, but the collapsing boulders made it impossible. The debris landed violently all around the dragon’s speeding figure.
Rainbow Dash was small and nimble enough to slip through the collisions unscathed. Dodging another of the dragon’s bites, she twirled up and ran into a spread of branches. “Ooof!” She found herself dangling from the crystalline antlers sticking out of the Divine’s skull.
Nevlamas inhaled heavily. Her scales glowed aquamarine at the diseased seams. In a matter of seconds, she would have roasted the entire air in front of her.
With a jerk, Rainbow Dash daringly dropped down until she braced her body between the bases of the twin antlers. With one lower hoof against each mutant stem, she tilted her neck down and rubbed a forelimb over the Element of Loyalty. Summoning a deep growl, her eyes matched the flicker of the ruby lightning bolt. A steady stream of harmonic energy poured into Nevlamas’ skull, and the dragon’s scales roasted for it.
“Hraaa-aaaaauckkkt!” Nevlamas wailed. Her glide turned into a lurch, and soon her body slammed hard into the edge of a dried-up forest. The dragon’s body shook from head to tail, each violent vibration threatening to toss Rainbow Dash loose.
Rainbow let loose a long, heroic shout, channeling all of her concentration into the light that her Element was giving off. Steam rose from Nevlamas’ cranium, filling the air with the acrid stench of burning flesh. All the while, the Divine’s body plowed into the wasteland, sending chunks of rocks and uprooted trees flying heavenward. Soon, a long dragon-shaped trough had made its mark across the entire valley. When at last Nevlamas came to a stop… her antlers didn’t.
With a monumental snap, both branches shattered free.
“Gaaah!” Rainbow Dash backflipped, twirled, and dodged a veritable shrapnel storm of shattering branches. She found her balance, flapped her wings, and hovered backwards from the dragon’s punished body.
As the dust settled, Nevlamas’ meaty figure could be seen blemishing the wasteland like a beached whale. She stirred, her talons and wingtips scraping the ground.
“No… must… musssssst rebirth harmony…” Her eyes clenched tight, smoldering at the leathery edges. ”This… issss the only way, my Sisterssssnkkkt…” Her neck curled against the earth as her trembles lessened to a palpitating shiver. ”The only waaaaaay…”
Rainbow Dash hovered above the groaning creature, panting. She spun and glanced northwest. All she could make out was a faint, shimmering speck of manafire, and it was gliding beyond the vanishing point.
Wincing, Rainbow Dash turned and once again gazed down at the battered monster. She took a deep breath, her Element dimming ever so slightly.
“Harmony ain’t what it used to be. Deal with it.” With a ruffle of her feathers, she dashed northwest after her target. “I know I do.”
Nevlamas’ shoulders heaved once, but she deflated with a weathered exhale. Her scales twitched a few more times… and then she lay still.
“Hey Snublock!” Floydien grunted. “Stop crowding Floydien with your sailboat flank!”
Ebon groaned with ears folded. “My name is not ‘Snublock.’”
“Well maybe it should be! Floydien would sneeze you out better!” The elk shrugged his shoulder, knocking the young stallion backwards across the cockpit. “Now move it or massacre it! Floydien needs the utmost room for glimmer glammer!”
“Floydien, is there something the matter?” Eagle Eye trotted past Pilate who was seated tiredly at the doorframe to the cockpit. “You seem antsy. Well…” He smiled nervously. “More antsy than usual.”
“Then th-that would make it ‘mega-antsy!’” Ebon uttered with a frown as he picked himself up on the top deck. “How come he never shoves you guys around?”
“Fellow boomers want Floydien to bullet us to Josho?!” Floydien leaned forward until his muzzle condensed the glass surface of the windshield. “Then that is what Floydien intends to do! Would be failing boomers if he didn’t. Simon included!”
“Don’t forget what Belle told us,” Eagle said. “It’s a righteous thing to hurry there, but once we do--”
“No need to speak in the future tense, Eagle,” Pilate muttered.
“Huh?” Eagle turned and glanced down at the zebra. “Why?”
Pilate was rubbing his aching head. “I can practically feel his stubble on my own muzzle at this point.” He winced and glanced ceilingward, his clear eyes narrowing. “We’re almost on top of him.”
“Wait…” Eagle gawked. “You mean…”
“Hey, boyos!” Props climbed up out of the vertical crawlspace and stood inside the cramped cockpit. “And handsome.” She wiped sweat from her brow and exclaimed, “The manaconduits of the steam array are going haywire! If we keep it up, the entire propulsion system might go kablooey!”
“You crawled all the way to the cockpit to tell us that?” Ebon remarked.
“Well, something’s interfering with the Jury’s onboard communication system!”
Floydien’s red eyes narrowed. “Something… like glimmer most stabby?”
“Huh?” Props turned and blinked out the windshield. “Yup!” She smiled crookedly. “That might do it!”
“What might do it?” Ebon asked.
Eagle was already shuddering. “Blessed Spark…” His ears folded as his eyes twitched upon what he saw before the rest. “We’re there.”
The others stood behind Floydien. Those who could see craned their necks to get a good view of the overcast horizon being lit up by random shells.
Under the darkness of early morning, several Ledomaritan soldiers marched across the plateau where Seclorum’s compound was situated. The constant shelling to the east had lessened slightly, but every now and then a bright burst of explosives would continually sound out. A cold wind blew across the muddy promontory’s edge, causing the canvas flaps of Seclorum’s massive tent to ripple and sway.
The Prime Enforcer himself could be spotted, standing on the very edge of the cliff, gazing across the ravine at the deep trenches winding between Ledomaritan and Xonan forces. His decrepit mane billowed in the wind, his body framed by the metal braces encasing him like a sarcophagus’ framework.
After a long period of time, during which he visibly digested the carnage and decay east of his position, he turned around completely and shuffled into the interior of his tent.
His retreating figured reflected off a pair of glossy eyes. Josho blinked, staring from afar, and his jaws clenched tighter.
The obese stallion slithered back into the supply tent, standing above the two unconscious bodies of a pair of guards he had just whalloped stealthily from behind. Stepping over their writhing figures, he shuffled through an arsenal of mana-powered weaponry stacked towards the edge of the tent. At last, he chose a double-barreled shotgun equipped with crystalline shards of enchanted metal.
Taking a deep breath, he cocked the weapon and slinked towards the breezy exit of the tent.
“Whelp, it was a good friendship,” he muttered to the air. “Even if it was lousy at times. But you know what they say about all good things, Secchy…”
Josho took one breath… two… then charged briskly into the open.
He barely escaped notice of a group of wandering guards. Cursing under his breath, he dashed towards a wooden torchpost, waited for another group to march by, and approached the large tent of his target. In mid-stride, however, he shuffled to a stop. His jaw dropped as his pupils shrank, aimed southeast.
He wasn’t alone. Several other Ledomaritans had paused whatever they were doing, pivoting southeast as they heard a rising vibration along the overcast horizon. Stallions shuffled out of tents. Nurses peeked out of their MASH units. Generals and officers stood side by side, murmuring in shock.
“What… could it be…?”
“Why… that’s Fortis’ ship!”
“The Lightning Bearer!”
“The Lightning Bearer?! What is Fortis doing way out here?”
High in the air, glinting with the reflections of distant shelling, the massive airship had arrived.
Josho slumped to his knees, shivering all over. “Spark almighty. It’s too friggin’ late…”
Dizzaaz Manathen Arcshod stood at the ship’s bow. He looked over the edge, gazing upon the droves of Ledomaritan forces gathered atop and to the west of Seclorum’s jutting plateau. Many of the most valiant soldiers were still stumbling about in the trenches to the east, and all of the Queen’s artillery was pointed toward the Xonan forces on the ground. None of the weaponry was aimed south. The Lightning Bearer’s approach was virtually unchallenged.
The first line of disguised Xonans gave a massive shout. Orders were given from starboard to port, and ponies rushed to their station. The huge guns of the Lightning Bearer swiveled on their metal mounts, pivoting until they aimed at the unguarded flank of the encampment below. Soon, every weapon that the dreadnaught possessed was ready to fire.
Arcshod licked his lips. Shells lit up in the distance, highlighting a green sheen to his eyes, a pure hunger for chaos. “Naavaseel, Ledomulien trenna…”
Rainbow Dash skirted over a final line of mountains. The world opened up to her, revealing what amounted to an enormous puddle of mud and debris in the middle of the desecrated landscape. She gasped, braking in midair, then hovered, suspended by hyperventilation and nervous twitches.
Nearly two kilometers ahead, she saw the Lightning Bearer. It had hovered to a stop over a gray speck of tents and battlements. To the east, a dark ravine stretched, vulnerable to the airship and its looming shadow.
“Celestia, forgive me…” She stammered to the frigid winds. A gulp. “I’m too friggin’ late…”
Slowly, she stood up, then shuffled across the dark cabin interior with her long silken mane trailing behind her. Waving aside a group of maidservants, she made for a round aperture. With her hoof, she gracefully pulled at a lever. The brass panels opened from the center like a catseye, revealing a large round window staring into the desolate plains of the vulnerable battlefield that lay beneath the shadow of the Lightning Bearer.
Trenches, tents, and battlements full of helpless equine soldiers lay before her gaze.
Slowly, with a deep breath, she smiled.
That’s when the entire ship rocked.
Lasairfion gasped, gnashing her teeth as she rocked on her regal hooves in a desperate bid for balance. The servants behind her yelped as they fell to their sides. The body of the Lightning Bearer rocked from side to side.
On the top deck, everything was utter bedlam. Arcshod grasped for the nearest railing that he could while disguised Xonans collapsed to his left and right. The air still rang from an enormous clap of thunder. Through his peripheral vision, he saw a bursting plume of smoke. He looked left and instantly winced.
Tongues of flame leapt at his face and mane. He had to slink back to avoid being engulfed by a sudden fireball that was engulfing a chunk of the Lightning Bearer’s massive port side. Bells rang and ponies ran back and forth, shouting in their natural tongue as they fought to sway the vessel back into an even glide.
From afar, Rainbow’s ruby eyes twitched. Her jaw dropped and she shook her head several times in utter disbelief. There, before her eyes, the Lightning Bearer had been flung into a counter-clockwise twirl. The hulking dreadnaught drifted eastward as it struggled to even out.
As the smoke and flames from the sudden explosion dissipated, a massive shadow loomed towards the northwest over the killing fields.
“I don’t get it!” Ebon Mane stammered, joining the other Jurists as they stood, gawking out the cockpit’s windshield. “What hit the thing?!”
“I sure hope that wasn’t Rainbow Dash!” Props exclaimed. “I don’t think her mane’s flame retardant!”
“Maybe she stowed away on board?” Eagle Eye was already shaking his head as he thought aloud, “Or perhaps Roarke had an explosive snuck on board--”
“Everypony!” Pilate hissed. The rest of the crew glanced at him in time to see the zebra’s runic plate flickering madly. “Nnnngh… Something’s drowning out all the leylines around us?!” He stumbled, forcing Ebon to catch him. “N-north of us! Coming in fast! It’s h-huge!”
“What what what?” Props squeaked.
Floydien’s brow furrowed. He took one look out the cockpit. The entire hull was suddenly draped over with shadow. Gritting his teeth, he bucked a pair of levers with his hooves. Everypony flinched, their bodies jolting ceilingward as the Noble Jury suddenly dropped.
Like a heavy stone, the Noble Jury dropped. It was with good timing too, for the battered wooden hull of a massive battleship roared overhead, barely scraping the dormant skystone of the smaller aircraft as it dipped out of the way.
The air shook with sonic tremors as the Steel Wing dove upon the scene. Only when it was within three hundred meters of the Lightning Bearer did it slow down, turning broadside and launching volley after volley of cannonfire.
Two out of every three shots made its way to the Lightning Bearer’s hull, sending metal shrapnel and burning bits flying skyward, taking a good dozen bodies with the violent bombardment. The sky filled with ash and noise, above which everypony on board the Ledomaritan flagship could hear Shell’s shouting voice.
“Fire everything!” the haggard stallion howled, marching forward as crew members scurried from station to station all around him. The pale unicorn horn rattled around his neck as he bellowed, “Spare no ammunition! We’re going to send those Spark-forsaken bastards to the abyss even if we have to give them in smoldering ashes!”
“Sir!” Enforcer Evans ran to a stop, sweaty and panting. “I know we’ve been through this, but it’s Prime Enforcer Fortis’ ship! Shouldn’t we accept his surrender by the Queen’s terms--?”
“That is a ship of ghosts, demons, and imposters!” Shell spat. With a flounce of his disheveled mane, he spun and grinned at Bellesmith, his eyes wide as cracked saucers. “Isn’t that right, my darling?!”
Belle gritted her teeth, clinging onto a wooden mast for dear life. Despite her bruises, she managed a crooked smile, nodding. “Traitors. All of them.” She shuddered her way through the next exclamation, “Punish them for their treachery, father!”
“Sir! Honestly!” Evans pointed a hoof at the mare. “Aren’t you confusing her with--?”
“Rrrggghhh!” Shell suddenly skidded forward and snarled in the quivering officer’s face. “My beloved daughter did not spend her years in exile for nothing! She was gathering intelligence for the Council of Ledo! Don’t you see?!” Explosions lit the air, filling the overcast sky with burning ribbons of flak and mayhem. Shell strolled through it all, tossing his mane to the wind and cackling, “It all makes sense now! It was all a plan!” He pointed a hoof towards the battered, swaying sight of the Lightning-Bearer. “And they must suffer for it! The perpetrators of my offspring’s torment!”
“But sir--”
“Enough!” Shell jumped onto a stack of crates, dangling his hoof over a length of rope as he flailed his other forelimb forward. “Rain hellfire on their souls! All that stand before us are carcasses swimming in deathlight! They signed their putrid lives away the very moment they touched a hair on my beloved’s head!” He inhaled sharply, wheezed, and shouted at the full extent of his lungs, during which several cannons fired, blowing dust and gunpowder into his enraged muzzle.
Belle couldn’t help it. She clamped a pair of hooves over her ears as vaporous blasts of noise rolled across her beleaguered figure. With squinting, tearing eyes, she stared into the destruction rolling across the airspace.
“Ledomulien hraasta bleen!” A soot-stained Xonan clung to a shattered bit of portside railing. He turned and shouted towards the center deck of the Lightning Bearer. “Remmo naastaan rekku--”
The hull exploded underneath him, exploding his screaming body into scarlet ribbons. Blood and scraps of mane hair scattered across the deck, staining Arcshod’s hooves. He stepped back, grimacing from ear to ear. Howls of pain and terror rang across the portside platforms. Most ponies gravitated towards starboard, fumbling for fire extinguishers and everything else they could lift with horns or hooves. As they fought the flames, the ship spent an agonizing period of time turning about to face the Steel Wing Broadside.
A fellow officer scrambled up to Arcshod, his tattoos showing through his melting facade. “Arcshod Xon-Nagu’n!” He slumped against a metal stack of crates, panting. With imploring eyes, he stammered, “Jaalaastun mesuul renokeen brava thulien trenna drenden! Heeraastuun thriel jorjem Xon-Nagu’n?”
Arcshod gritted his teeth. He glanced over his shoulder at the hitherto untouched battlements of Seclorum’s camp. His eyes twitched upon the sight of the dark ravine lingering below.
“Arcshod…” the soldier pleated.
Stifling a snarl, the lead officer turned with a frown and nodded firmly.
The officer--with great relief--spun and shouted to his fellow soldiers. In response, several Xonans ceased what they were doing, stood resolutely still in spite of the continued shelling, and channeled vibrant streams of mana through their horns. Their tattoos lit up as their disguises dissolved. Several bright portals opened up between them.
Down below, several Ledomaritans stood outside their tents, gawking at the explosive sight looming high above.
“By the Spark!”
“That… that’s Prime Enforcer Shell’s ship!”
“What does he think he’s doing?! He’s attacking Fortis!”
“The traitor!”
“Everypony! Man the guns!”
“No! Fetch Seclorum first! He has to see this!”
“Can’t you see?! Our lead ship is under attack by a pyschopath and--”
“Look!” A soldier gasped. “The Lightning Bearer is glowing!”
“What in the Spark…?!”
Everypony’s eyes lit up, for high above, the larger of the two airships began shimmering with otherworldly light. The vessel pulsed at first, flickered, and then exploded with chaotic mana. Then, flying in devilish streams, dozens upon hundreds of gigantic translucent serpents orbited the massive vessel. The air filled with a hissing roar as the multiple reptilian creatures spun about, banked northwest, and flocked towards the Steel Wing.
“Blessed Spark, no…”
“It… it can’t be!”
“Xonans!”
“Those tattooed freaks took the Lightning Bearer!”
As ponies seethed in anger and shock on either side of him, Josho gathered his wits. Tightening his telekinetic grip of the shotgun, he galloped through the crowd of gaping ponies and rushed into Seclorum’s tent.
“See?!” Shell pointed, his bright eyes reflecting the chaotic summons swimming towards him. Several officers on board the Steel Wing froze in absolute terror, backing slowly away from the port side railings as the school of demonic creatures drew closer and closer. “Haaah! Traitors! Spiritual vagabonds! Every one of them! Curse the pony who doubted my beloved daughter! By Ledo, they are upon us!”
“Spark, save us…” Evans whimpered, his jaw quivering. “What have we gotten into…?”
“No!” Shell shouted, jumping down and giving Evans a swift kick in the rear. He marched forward, snarling as he flung several gasping stallions back to their stations. “We end this treachery! We restore honor in the name of our Confederacy! Even unto death!” He unholstered a manarifle and fired it violently into the air, shouting at the end of it. “Unto death!”
Belle flinched as random soldiers on either side of her shouted in desperate blood lust for courage. The bulk of the crew rushed to their stations while Shell and an elite few charged the very edge, readying their swords, tasers, and manarifles, facing the incoming rush of serpentine destruction.
“Leave nothing unbleeding!” Shell howled, lunging forward as the wave hit the Steel Wing, filling the vessel with venom and screams.
Even Rainbow Dash winced. Her wings flapped harder, lifting her body’s altitude so she could get a proper survey of the carnage taking place. With the Steel Wing swarming with chaotic summons, the ship reeled blinding, giving the Lightning Bearer a space in time to turn about and train its guns on Shell’s vessel.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She looked at the Steel Wing, at the Lightning Bearer, then at the dark ravine beneath Seclorum’s plateau. Then she clenched her eyes shut, growling deeply. A few breaths later, she beat her wings, dove forward… and glided straight for the Lightning Bearer like a ruby streak.
“Graast sennu besin thriel!” the first of several Xonan warriors shouted as he stood upon the muddy crest of a hill. Breathless, he turned and motioned wildly towards the early morning sky. “Haveraan! Haveraan! Zenkor messu thielen!”
Several more tattooed equines climbed out of the trenches along the eastern battlements, gawking at the blazing airbattle sending thunder and flame rippling across the western sky. They stammered in awe, their jaws dropping as they leaned on their crossbows and scimitars.
“Ledomulien?! Hayt-hayt!” A sharp-eyed Xonan pointed up high. “Veranna clast!”
Several stallions gasped as bright lights flickered around the Lightning Bearer in the shape of chaos serpents. The monstrous summons soared towards the Steel Wing, engulfing the vessel from bow to stern.
Amidst the rising commotion, an aged Xonan with scarred features and a gray mane trotted up. He took one squinting glare at the sight and hissed venomously. “Hayt. Haydenzien Ledomul. Lasairfion Xon-Malekken rekka thiulen siel…”
Several of his comrades grimaced in disgust while the aged warrior spat on the ground, his eyes locked on the dazzling phenomenon that had taken over the battle.
“Denden!” Arcshod shouted as the air whistled with the zipping scales of ethereal serpents all around. “Rekkeen drenna drenden thiulen Ledomulien!”
Xonan mages lined the partially demolished deck of the Lightning Bearer, summoning more and more portals from which the reptilian abominations slithered. With dripping fangs, they shot westward, flocking towards the Steel Wing and beyond.
“Heesul thrasta kenzen thiul!” Arcshod, breathless, spun and gestured towards a pair of ponies struggling to operate a pivoting port side gun turret which had been damaged from cannonfire. “Jeesuul masseniul drendeneen!”
The Xonans nodded, giving the base of the cannon a zap of telekinesis. At last, the weapon swiveled free, pivoting towards the Steel Wing that was being engulfed in demonic serpents. As they prepared to fire the Lightning Bearer’s first return volley, a blue streak zoomed by, bucking the weapon barrels hard. The Xonans gasped in surprise as their cannons fired off-target, impacting a mountain far behind the Steel Wing.
Arcshod jerked, looking up with a snarling expression. A hovering blue pegasus reflected off his cold, angry eyes.
“Hey! You gotta stop this! It’s over, don’t you see?!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. A serpent or two streaked by, lashing at her mane. She ducked down, dodged the rifle blast of a Xonan defender, kicked him into a line of gasping guards, and came to a skidding stop in front of Arcshod. “I’m not kidding! Pull this attack off! All you’re gonna do is kill and get killed!”
Arcshod carefully backtrotted from her, slowly approaching an overturned pile of smoldering metal crates. The deck wobbled beneath the two as more of the Steel Wing’s flak cannons impacted the air around them. Hissing serpents and shrieking pony voices added to the turbulent bedlam.
“Don’t pretend like you can’t understand me!” Rainbow frowned, dodging another guard and bucking him up the muzzle just in time to blurt, “Nevlamas is down!” She rolled her eyes, growled, and shouted, “Nagu’n is defeated! She’s down for the count! Tell Lasairfion she no longer has backup! Her plan has failed! This is only going to end in tons of ponies’ death!”
“Dreit…” Arcshod slowly nodded, his muzzle warping into a crooked grin. He reached behind himself, stealthily pulling a scimitar out of the metal crates with the crook of his hoof. “Dreit, Oss Tray Oh.” He sneered. “Trentte rekka drenden siulen!” Jerking forward, he slashed high at her skull.
Rainbow Dash jerked back, flapping her wings forward. The sword sliced just above her ears, lopping off a few multi-colored strands.
Air burst between them, causing Arcshod to fall back hard on his rear. As he collapsed, a line of valiant guardponies had formed, and they charged Rainbow Dash viciously with blades and bayonets swinging.
"For crying out loud, knock it off!" Rainbow Dash backflipped in mid-air, dodged three serpents, landed with her hooves against a metal mast, and kicked off before a thick line of manabullets could render her to ribbons. "What's the friggin' point of this--Gaah!" Bullets grazed her wingfeathers. She clamped her mouth shut as her body bravely twirled off the damaged port-side, plunging just in time to avoid the exchange of cannonfire between the two dreadnaughts.
Her flight turned into a plummet. She gazed straight up, and her breath left her.
While the Steel Wing was being punished with bright bursting shells, several dark shapes detached from the bottom of the Lightning Bearer. In tight formation, six large managliders flew loose, and half of them dove down towards Rainbow Dash with manacannons blazing.
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash took the only course of action that could keep the energy blasts from frying her alive. She soared low, twirled about, and skimmed the sundered landscape of the battlefront below. The three managliders fell close behind, screaming after her tail, leaving no single patch of air unheated from their punishing weaponry.
A patch of flak exploded off the Noble Jury's stern, throwing the entire ship forward.
"Ooof!" Ebon slumped hard against the back of Floydien's seat. He looked up, his wincing muzzle lit up by streaming serpents and explosions. "So, when do you think the 'fireworks' are gonna start?!"
"Floydien doesn't need sailboat's spit!" The elk channeled mana through his horns and into the ship's cockpit, causing the Jury to dip as low as possible, avoiding most of the errant shells and manablasts. The trenches of the wasteland loomed beyond the ship's rattling windshield, full of soldiers from both sides scurrying for their lives. "Keep with it, Nancy! The sky just has a disagreement with itself! Yes yes yessss!"
Everypony in the cockpit grabbed ahold of something as the Jury lifted up, skirted over the muddy surfaces of the battlefield, and lifted back up amidst explosions and artillery fire.
Shuddering, Props stammered, "H-how are we supposed to find Rainbow Dash in all of this cray-cray?!"
"I'm trying my best to spot her!" Eagle Eye shouted from deckside. He clung to the cockpit's entrance, his mane billowing from the ashen winds as he gazed thinly into the air battle around them. "There's just too much to take in!"
"Never mind Rainbow Dash!" Pilate shouted. "She can take care of herself!" His striped features hardened. "The Steel Wing! My beloved's on board! Is Shell's ship in one piece?!"
"Uhhhhh..." Eagle Eye paled as a chunk of burning wood flew off the vessel in question.
"Well?!" Pilate barked. "Eagle?!"
Eagle glanced back with a nervous titter. "Define 'in one piece.'"
"Aaaaaaugh!" A Ledomaritan crew member flew off the Steel Wing's shattered edge, flailing. Several shrieking stallions galloped across the fresh smoke and debris, furiously trying to prime the cannons.
The ship rocked, leaning hard to its starboard side as it banked towards the east. The deck slanted, dipping under Bellesmith's loose hooves.
"Unngh!" she gasped, slipped, and rolled several times. Her body plunged towards a battered piece of the hull. Deathly gray battlements loomed far below. She clenched her eyes shut and prepared for the fatal fall.
A strong hoof grabbed her by the tail at the last second and hoisted her onto a sturdy stack of crates. Breathless, she looked up, her body encased by a shadow.
"Fret not, dearest Imre," Shell snarled, turning to give the body of the Lightning Bearer a wicked, one-eyed glare through the smoke. "I shall vanquish our enemies until there is nothing left but the shriveled husks that they were born as."
Evans trotted up, coughing, his body covered with ash and soot. "S-sir! The enemy ship!" He pointed a shaky hoof. "They're coming about!"
"Well, won't they be damned?!" Shell spat. "We're coming about to!"
"But sir, between their cannons and those horrible abominations—" Evans shook as a wooden chunk of a mast fell between them. "We can't survive another wave!"
"Neither will they..." Shell jumped up onto a stack of crates and shouted. "Hear me, my little ponies! Focus on their demons aflight! I'll take care of the rest!"
"Sir...?" Evans stammered.
"Keep bringing us about! Ready the port side cannons!" He jumped down and approached the bow as the shadow of the Lightning Bearer loomed closer through the smoke and madness. "Fire at my command!"
"Aye, sir!"
"Aye sir!"
"Sons and daughters of Ledo!" Evans hollered. "Muster your courage! The enemy approaches!"
Shivering, Belle clutched to the stack of crates where she was situated. Her chestnut eyes darted towards the explosive skies. There was still no sign of the Jury. She exhaled with a shudder.
"Here they come!" shouted a stallion. His outburst was soon followed by waves of shrieks as an entire line of serpents darted their way. Some of the larger vipers were being ridded by Xonans with magically sparkling polearms in their hooves.
"Ready your manarifles, ponies!" Evans shouted.
Shell, in the meantime, stood at the railing's edge. Sneering, he unsheathed two double-sided tasers. The weapons flickered to life, slicing the air with vibrant energy on either side of him. He spun the weapons like burning pinwheels right as the serpents descended. He held his ground, slicing several of the creatures to ribbons. Soon, the swarm was hurling straight past him, scraping past his already battered body.
With a prolonged growl, Shell bravely stood his place. Cuts and bruises sliced across his flesh. Panting, he looked up. A single Xonan rider guided his serpent towards the Prime Enforcer, raising his polearm high.
Grunting, Shell lifted one of his tasers up and tossed it forward like a javelin. The weapon smashed through four snakes before embedding chest-deep in the armor of the gasping Xonan. Firing a charge of mana into the impaled soldier, Shell exploded the taser from the inside out. The Xonan turned to red mist, and the large serpent he was riding careened blindly into the hull of the Steel Wing. As its body flailed and fell, it was grabbed in glowing telekinesis. Writhing, the translucent viper was lifted by Shell, who positioned it just in front of his horn. With deep concentration, he dissolved the monster—one scale at a time—and absorbed the pulsating mana into his horn.
Across the rest of the deck, the attacking swarms were being dealt with by the frenzied crew. Weeks of fear, cabin fever, and food deprivation exploded outward from every pent-up soul. The Ledomaritans attacked each flying enemy with animalistic carnage, shredding the reptilian summons to ribbons. Those who were bitten or injured were carried down below, but they managed to fire a few pot-shots with their manarifles even while retreating.
Belle found herself having to buck and kick a few snakes that made their way to her. It wasn't until a ten-foot long python with flaring dragon crests lunged at her that she felt overpowered. She fell back on her flanks, scooting nervously away from the monstrosity. With drooling jaws, it snapped at her neck, only to receive a taser through the skull. Grunting, Prime Enforcer Evans hoisted the massive wyrm over and stomped on its spine. He cast a twitching glance at Belle and reached a hoof down.
Gulping, the mare took his forelimb. The stallion pulled her to her hooves... just as a heavy shadow loomed over the beleaguered vessel. As the snakes cleared, everypony nervously looked up.
The Lightning Bearer was hovering down, lining its virtually undamaged starboard cannons with the Steel Wing's damaged port side.
"Spark save us all..." Evans stammered, then winced at a pulsing glow to his left. He, Belle, and everypony else looked over.
By now, Shell had absorbed the entire viper into his leylines. The very end of his horn shook like a magnetized rod. As the air thundered from the Lightning Bearer's proximity, his eye reopened, glowing with bright blue energy. Snarling, he bent forward on tight limbs.
The first of the Lighting Bearer's cannons fired. Everypony on board the Steel Wing flinched, waiting for the inevitable.
Shell's body slid back, his whole face tensing. Only when the bursting gunpowder cleared could anypony see the enemy's cannonshell levitating in the air between the two ships. Something else sparked around his neck in time with his horn. The blinking light cut through the air like a lonely comet.
From afar, Belle gasped. "Imre...?" Her lips quivered.
She could no longer see the necklace pulsating, for Shell was galloping down the port side. The cannonshell levitated parallel to him, and soon it took on fellow siblings as—one by one—the Lightning Bearer's guns fired, and Shell nimbly caught them.
Evans and the other officers watched with amazement. The flames of war returned to their quivering eyes.
At last, Shell came to the end of his gallop. The last of the Lightning Bearer's cannons fired. After the entire affair, only three shells had gotten past Shell's shield, but the damage was minimal. As flames and chunks of wood fell, Shell collapsed, his telekinetic field loosening. The enemy's projectiles fell towards the earth, where they culminated with dull explosions, but not before Shell lifted his sweaty snout towards the sky and hollered: "Now!!"
Evans slid forward, howling. "Fire!"
The shouts of the Steel Wing's crew almost drowned out the resulting cannon blasts. They caught the stern of the Lightning Bearer before it could pass on by, and every cannon shell hit. Chunks of metal flew from the rear of the enemy vessel. The blasts were so intense that it caused the dreadnaught to pivot in a clockwise fashion, almost clipping the drigibles off the top of the Steel Wing in the process.
The ponies on board Shell's ship were too busy cheering to register the near-miss. Belle watched as Evans ran up to the controls himself, sterring the vessel hard to the right. The Steel Wing swerved dramatically through the air, and in its banking motion, the starboard side lifted up in time to face the underbelly of the burning Lighting Bearer as it thundered past above.
Shell sat up, his ears bleeding from his magical exertion. It didn't stop him from howling, "Shred them apart in Ledo's name!"
"Fire!"
"All starboard cannons! Fire!"
The bottom decks of the Lighting Bearer were instantly decimated. Chunks of debris exploded upward, incinerating Xonan engineers mercilessly as they floundered for safety on the inner levels. Inside the captain's quarter, Princess Lasairfion and her serpents grabbed ahold of whatever they could as the walls collapsed and shattered on either side of them. Huge metal panels fell, murdering screaming maidservants under their toppling weight.
Hissing for breath, Lasairfion gazed out the aperture window.
Through cracked glass, she could see a battlefield engulfed in explosions and intense shelling.
Disheveled, the Xonan monarch only smiled.
Flames erupted across the Lightning Bearer's deck. Xonans scrambled to put out the blazes as Arcshod marched through a plume of smoke, glaring angrily at the Steel Wing from beyond the crooked ship's edge. An officer ran up to him, pleading in a whimpering tongue.
Angrily, Arcshod shoved him away and whistled towards the ponies minding the swiveling gun turrets. The Xonan crew members gazed back at him.
The head stallion pointed towards the battlements below. Shouting, he launched several bloodlusting orders into the air.
Nervously, the Xonans nodded and piloted three out of the four turrets that had survived the most recent bouts of cannonfire. Gears grinding, they swiveled the weapons about and fired on Seclorum's camp below.
Props gasped. "Look!" She pointed at the Lightning Bearer through the careening Jury's windshield. "What's it doing?"
"Looks like it's firing on Seclorum's camp!" Eagle Eye exclaimed.
"Why?!" Ebon shouted. "The Steel Wing could finish 'em off on another pass!"
"I don't think the Xonans are out to win any war here..." Pilate said in a dark tone. "Just wage it..."
"Huh?" Props spun, blinking. The air outside the cockpit lit up with hissing shrieks. She turned to see two Xonan warriors having dismounted from their viper mounts and landed on the ship's open deck. With gleaming scimitars, they marched menacingly towards the cockpit. "Gaaaah! Ebony!" She hopped into the stallion's forelimbs. "Snake ponies! Snaaaaaaaaake ponieeeees!"
"Propsy!" Ebon wheezed, slumping under her weight. "For crying out loud—"
"Glimmer phlegmer!" Floydien shouted, glancing over his shoulder. "No worms allowed on Nancy's flank!"
"Everypony!" Pilate seethed, his runic plate flashing like an alarm. "We have company—"
Snarling, one of the Xonans lunged into the cockpit and lunged first at the zebra's throat.
Clank! A shield of industrial steel blocked the blade.
"Hrrrrgghhh!" Eagle Eye shoved back against the Xonan's sword.
The warrior stumbled back, bumping into his companion. Both tattooed ponies slid into the middle of the Noble Jury's top deck.
With a mad glare, Eagle unsheated his sword. His weapon and shield floated before him as he jumped onto the deck and faced off against the two invaders. The stallions' viper mounts orbited the Noble Jury as it roared through the air battle on sputtering steam thrusters.
After a tense face-off, the two Xonans finally dashed forward. Eagle Eye grunted, deflecting one off with his sword and the other with his shield. He criss-crossed his tools of war, causing the Xonans' blades to intersect. He drew back and then thrust forward again, warding the two off at the same time with his shield, then darted forward with his sword swinging. "Haaaugh!"
Ebon and Props watched nervously as their companion squared off with the two larger attackers. Meanwhile, Floydien had to dip the ship to avoid three managliders streaking past him. Little did the elk know that they were being piloted by Arcshod's stallions, and that they were in rapid pursuit of a prismatically-maned pegasus.
Rainbow Dash dipped low, panting and sweating as she fought to shake off her pursuers. Every other second was filled with bright flashes of light as they fired stream after stream of manablasts at her vulnerable figure. The chase bent low through a muddy path in the middle of Seclorum's camp. Soldiers and medics were running frantically from one tent to another while the Lightning Bearer's gun turrets sent pieces of earth flying sky-high with merciless ordinance. Dead bodies littered the mud, and those ponies who weren't dead found themselves having to fight off waves of otherworldly serpents descending upon them with thrashing fangs. Rifle ponies lined up, firing in loud phalanxes, cutting chunks of the reptilian onslaught to ribbons, but powerless to stop the shelling that continually reduced the battlements to rubble. All the while, the overcast sky boomed from the continual exchange of long-distance cannons between the Steel Wing and the Lightning Bearer above.
A pocket of earth exploded practically beneath Rainbow Dash. She covered her face with twitching forelimbs as she pierced the flying debris. Coming out the other end, she cast a nervous glance past her beating wings.
The managliders closed in. The Xonans on board reloaded the ships' mana cartridges. Crystalline dust flew into the air as they trained their sights on the pegasus and prepared to fire.
That was when the first of the three vessels exploded in brilliant flames.
Rainbow Dash gasped. Her left ear twitched, so she shot a glance to the east.
Heavy machinery had lined up across the trenches. Lights flashed. The air whistled.
A second managlider exploded. The leftover chunks fell, rolled across the ground, and careened into a Ledomaritan tent where it burst into chaotic flames. The last glider veered off, breaking from its chase and climbing high into the sky.
Rainbow Dash ascended to a safer altitude. From here, she caught a better look of the artillery that had lined up along the Xonan front.
"Rekku threen, trenna Xon-Nagu'n!" a gray maned officer shouted, thrusting a sword westward as hundreds of tattooed warriors charged over the trenches with one combined war cry.
Artillery cannons that had been rolled into position fired several murderous volleys over the charge, impacting both the Lightning Bearer and the Steel Wing. Neither Shell's nor Arcshod's forces were spared as the Xonan army took advantage of the chaos, charging desperately into Seclorum's battlements to finish what had been started decades ago.
The Ledomaritans rooted in the western trenches were ready, and several of them greeted the Xonan rush with manarifles blazing. Xonans fell by the dozen, but their combined gallop was simply too much. They dove into the canals like panthers, and soon everypony was fighting hoof-to-hoof, spilling blood and wet muscle into the sundered earth. The trenches filled up with clashing blades and screaming lungs. Soon, the battle formed a new line of demarcation as the sworn enemies held back no longer.
All of this, Seclorum watched from the open edge of his tent. His weathered eyes reflected every cannon fire and the hairs of his ears twitched in time with the booming artillery. He took a deep breath, not moving, not bothering to budge from that one spot.
When a set of heavy hooves shuffled behind him inside the massive tent, he barely flinched.
"Where is he...?"
Seclorum was silent.
"Where is my old friend?"
Slowly, Seclorum turned around. Through the bars of the metal brace that framed his skull, he made out the panting figure of Josho.
The obese stallion sneered, "The Secchy I knew was no coward, and he certainly didn't waste any opportunity to spill the blood of tattooed freakjobs." Gulping, Josho aimed his shotgun at the Prime Enforcer from afar. "So... what did you do to him?"
Seclorum swiveled until he faced the other pony across the quivering tent. He spoke dully beneath the errant claps of thunder. "You and I both died long ago, Josho."
"Bullshit." Josho gritted his teeth. "We had nothing to lose. That's why we joined Ledo's ranks in the first place. If there was anything worth protecting, we would have stuck with our beloveds and lived a simple, boring life." He narrowed his eyes. "But you and I both know what we're worth... what we've always been worth. That's why it pisses me off to no-end to see you bringin' the whole world down with you like this..."
"There's more to this world than you could possibly underst—"
"Understand what?!" Josho barked, squinting down the sight of his weapon. "That one morning you went bonkers and forgot what was most important about being a soldier?! At least I had booze and the memories of best-buds blown to bits! And I sure as Hell didn't make illicit deals with absolute demons!"
"Josho..."
"Turning Nightshade against Ledo? Shaking hooves with Lasairfion? Making a pact with a giant devil dragon?! For Spark's damn sake, Seclorum!" Josho hissed. "Why not piss on the continent while you're at it?! What's your gain in all of this mess?!"
"You came here to do something." Seclorum's eyes took on a knifing glint. "I think you should get it over with."
Josho's eyes twitched. He lowered his shotgun with a gaping expression. "Now I know my friend is truly gone." He gulped. "What's the matter, Secchy? Did they have to replace your spine as well?"
Something flickered across Seclorum's eyes, like the reflection of bright shells exploding behind him. He suddenly smirked. "You want violence?" He sneered. "I am violence."
Josho's mouth opened to retort—
With his rear leg, Seclorum lifted a table full of maps and war documents. He spun and bucked the thing in mid-air across the tent, sailing it straight towards Josho's skull.
Gritting his teeth, Josho stepped back and fired at the table. The object burst to wooden shreds, through which Seclorum was already bursting through with a steam-propelled leap. In slow motion, the augmented stallion flung his left forelimb forward. A blade extended from his brace, glinting in the lanternlight before landing a blow across Josho's left cheek.
"Gaaaugh!" Josho spat blood, reeling from the scarring blow.
Seclorum landed before him with four heavy hooves. With bursts of steam, he swiveled in his metal braces and slammed two limbs hard across Josho's chest.
"Oooof!" Josho flew back, smashed through a gun rack, and reverse somersaulted onto his flanks.
"Aaaaaaaaugh!" Screaming bloodily, Seclorum stomp-stomp-stomped towards him.
Josho readied himself, firing a blast of crystalline mana straight into Seclorum's metal-reinforced chest.
The canvas flaps of the tent billowed outward from the explosion resulting in the center of the Prime Enforcer's hideout.
The grimace across Rainbow Dash’s face was positively cataclysmic. From a high altitude, she glided over the carnage sweeping across the battered warscape. To the west, the Steel Wing and the Lightning Bearer exchanged whistling barrages of cannonfire. To the east, Ledomaritans and Xonans fought tooth and hoof in deep trenches. Directly below, the Ledomaritan camp was gradually decimated by row after row of artillery blasts.
Panting, the pegasus glanced over her tail, squinting towards the southern horizon. “Where are they with that friggin’ tome already?” Gnashing her teeth, she looked forward again. “If we can least still save the machine world--” Her pupils shrunk, and she suddenly jerked to her right.
A managlider screamed past her, flying in formation with several Xonans on mounted vipers. Two of the warriors spotted Rainbow Dash and swerved their chaotic beasts to intersect her.
“Come on, really?!” she chanted, but it fell on deaf ears. One pony lunged at her, his creature biting with a flash of fangs. Rainbow easily dodged him, frowned, and kicked mercilessly into the snout of the second rider’s beast. Her pendant strobed, causing her body to rip through the flying reptile as if it was made of tissue paper. With a shriek, the monster dissolved to ribbons, and the rider plummeted until he plowed what was left of his viper into the muddy craters below.
Rainbow Dash looked behind her.
The other snake rider flew off into the distance to join formation with his brethren. The managlider, however, banked around and zoomed straight after Rainbow Dash. All thre Xonans on board fired manarifles in tandem with the twin blasters at the bow of the vessel.
“Look, cut it out!” Rainbow shouted. “What are you jerkfaces even accomplishing with--”
They reached her. One Xonan reached up, swinging the crystalline bayonet of his rifle.
Growling, Rainbow grabbed onto the length of the rifle. She was jerked along with them, and soon she was wrestling with the middlemost Xonan on board the wildly speeding glider. The other two tried stabbing at her with levitating daggers. She twisted her body, flung her rear legs up, and bucked one Xonan upside the chin, then slammed her shoulder into the other. The middlemost pilot took advantage of her thrown balance and smacked her upside the chin with the butt of his rifle.
“Ooof!” Rainbow rolled forward, her weight knocking into the vessel’s controls.
With a howl of mana engines, the ship suddenly plunged towards the sundered wasteland below.
The Xonans shouted in surprise. Using their telekinesis, they heaved Rainbow off the controls. Rainbow gasped and flapped her wings, clinging to the foils of the spiraling craft. The ship twirled three more times in a deathly corkscrew, but at last a pilot pulled the thing straight. A ridge of battered rock loomed straight ahead. The pilot rolled the aircraft around the obstacle and pulled sharply towards the overcast sky. This finally shook Rainbow off, and she went plummeting towards a black, black ravine.
“Eeeyugh!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. She flapped her wings, caught her balance, and glided into nothingness. Tilting her head down, she breathed on her pendant, causing the lightning bolt to pulsate. Gazing back up, she saw a ruby spotlight shrinking against a solid wall of reflective metal. “Whoah!”
Rainbow flung her limbs forward, planted her hooves against the wall, and kicked off. She backflipped, flailed, and landed hard on an abandoned conveyor belt.
“Oooomf--Unngh!” She rolled to an ugly stop, her legs dangling off the end of a golden platform. There she lay, her feathers draped limp and still for the first time in hours. With weary eyes, she squinted towards the slit of gray clouds high above. Serpents, managliders, and streaming cannon shells surged overhead in brief streaks. She gritted her teeth, her body turning to jelly, begging for a respite. “For real. When did I stop flying east?”
With a grunt, she flexed her muscles and struggled to her hooves.
It was with a sharp, inward gasp that she greeted a hoof pulling her up out of the darkness. She stood up straight, and her ruby pendant illuminated several emaciated faces floating directly in front of her.
“Uhhhh…” Rainbow Dash blinked. The booming of shells echoed above, then silenced. “Hello?”
“A winged pony…” A Ledomaritan gasped, then gazed forlornly towards the heavens. “This truly must be the end times.”
“Is there anything of Seclorum’s encampment above?” a nurse asked.
“At this rate, not for much longer,” Rainbow muttered, her eyes drifting, drifting, then narrowing on a tattooed face or two. “Xonans? You’ve got Xonans here too?”
“Dreit. It threw in the bodies that be here.”
“It?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “It or they?”
“The ones who likely orchestrated this,” a Ledomaritan soldier slurred. “Someone or something wants both armies to slaughter themselve senseless.” He sighed. “And it looks like it’s happening.”
“And you guys have been suck down here all this time?”
“Oh, there were more of us!” a nurse exclaimed. “But a good chunk of our numbers were able to craft a platform out of metal scraps and use their telekinesis to lift themselves outside of this… erm… place just an hour ago.” She gulped. “The rest of us… we… w-we agreed to stay down.” Her eyes grew misty, but she took a breath of courage. “We don’t have families to return to like the others, and we are too few to lift ourselves, even with our combined magic.”
“I don’t get it. Why couldn’t anypony leave this place before?”
“That was before he came to help us.”
“Who?”
“The veteran stallion,” an engineer said, shivering. “The master teleporter.”
Rainbow Dash stared and stared…
The engineer blinked. “He was terribly fat.”
Rainbow gasped. “Josho was here?!”
“Dreit, it be its name…”
“Then he’s still alive! Which means…” She winced. “Jeez, I gotta save his neck before he saves all our necks by losing his own.”
“He said that he had business with Seclorum, his old companion.”
“Yeah, I bet he did. I gotta find him. I gotta find all my friends caught up in this mess.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings. “But first thing’s first. You guys…”
“What about us?”
“I gotta get you out of here.” Rainbow Dash extended her hooves. “Grab ahold!”
“You…” A nurse fidgeted. “You can’t possibly expect to carry us all out at once!”
“Duh! I’ll make trips!”
“With the Spark’s fury raging overhead?! We’d die in a heartbeat!”
“Hmmm… yeahhhhhh.” Rainbow Dash looked around, then glanced up. Bursts of manafire flashed past the ravine’s opening. Her lips curved. “Okay. I think I got a plan.”
“Rrrrrgh!” Seclorum swung his braced forelimb. The blade at the end of it whizzed through the air, cutting cold swaths out of the canvas material of the tent surrounding him and his opponent.
Josho constantly backtrotted, having to duck his bleeding face as the half-metal stallion swung at him over and over again. At last, Josho kicked a table over, tripping Seclorum. Pulled forward by the weight of his metal parts, the Prime Enforcer slumped to the ground with a grunt.
The obese stallion was instantly on top of him, using his shotgun as a brace to hold the old soldier down. “What do you gain from any of this?! You always had the hard-on for glory, Seclorum, but you never did anything as crazy and mindless as this!”
“You… wouldn’t understand…” Seclorum hissed.
“Understand what, Secchy?!” Josho spat. “That you’re a million miles flipped off your rocker?!”
“I know what my destiny is… my purpose!” Seclorum snarled. “You… you fat, oafish pile of broken dreams and jaded excuses! What do you have to live for?!”
“The funny thing is that I found it on my own!” Josho cocked the shotgun and charged mana into it. “And I can at least name the ponies who I’m trying to save! What about you, manurebag?!”
“Rrrrr-Haaaaaugh!” Seclorum suddenly flexed his metal-laced limbs with a wild show of strength. Carving chasms into the muddy floor below, he slid his hooves together and propped his body up, lifting Josho towards the top of the tent. Gasping, Josho fiddled with the shotgun, trying to get it disentangled from the metal beams of Seclorum’s suit that had now criss-crossed.
With a grunt, Seclorum spun and knocked Josho off of him.
The fat pony went flying. He landed through a table full of military reports, sending chips of wood and shredded bits of paper fluttering everywhere. Coughing, wiping blood from his cheek, Josho weakly stood up. “Okay, remind me never to call you ‘manure bag’ again.”
“This war… this entire conflict...” Seclorum slowly pivoted about on steaming joints. “It was all just a catalyst for something greater than all we’ve ever known or seen with our mortal eyes.” He gritted his teeth. “Ledo doesn’t understand it! Nigthshade doesn’t understand! How can I expect a lard of fat like you to even breach reality?”
“Then just explain it to me!” Josho hollered, panting and bleeding. “Tell me what’s going on here, Secchy! Cuz I really don’t want to fight you, ya old fart!” He hissed in pain, rubbing his neck. “Cuz I’m feeling really old and fartish here myself. Spark alive, my skull…”
“Everything is already in motion,” Seclorum said, his eyes glimmering once again from the flash of shells bursting beyond the shredded tent’s fabric. “It matters little what we say or do. All we have to do is wait.”
“For what?!” Josho ground his hooves against the floor. “Dammit, Seclorum, who did this to you?! Was it Ledomaritan inquisitors?! Xonan torture?” He leaned forward. “The Herald?! Cuz boy do I have a bone to pick with those fanatical poopjobs!”
“She… she is nebulous…” Seclorum suddenly stammered, wheezing. His pupils shrank as he stared off into a blank piece of space several million miles away. “And yet, I feel her breath on my muzzle at every sunrise.” He gulped and tried running a hoof across his face, but couldn’t on account of the cumbersome metal brace surrounding his upper body. “She speaks to me between each blink. Even now, I can hear her… like some age old song.” He gulped. “She… sh-she is near…”
“Who, Secchy?” Josho exhaled. “Who is near?”
Slowly, Seclorum’s muzzle hardened back into a frown. “You will soon know.” He snarled and flung a chunk of wooden debris Josho’s way. “You will all know!”
Josho’s horn was already spitting sparks of mana by the time the rubble could impale him. He disappeared with an inhale and rematerialized with an exhale… into Seclorum’s ears.
The Prime Enforcer gasped, his eyes darting back.
“Let’s go for a trip, buddy,” Josho snarled, propped on Seclorum’s metal-laced backside. Sparks flew from the fat stallion’s horn. “Just like old--”
Both ponies disappeared in a flash of orange lightning.
They reappeared in mid-air, a hundred feet above the rippling tent, bodies twirling together amidst flak and artillery explosions.
“--times!” Josho snarled as the two plummeted.
Seclorum thrashed and thrashed, trying to clasp a hoof around Josho’s body.
The teleporter stubbornly held tight to Seclorum’s shoulder braces, using the pair’s combined weight to swing them both so that Seclorum fell towards the earth first. They dropped past streaking mana blasts, shrieking serpents, and burning managliders. At last, they crashed through a supply tent. Seclorum took the brunt of the impact, but it barely showed. Less than half a second later, he was bucking Josho off him.
The obese stallion flew twenty feet, landed, and came to a sliding stop across twenty feet of mud. He looked up in time to see Seclorum bursting out of the canvas mess like an enraged automaton. The old soldier picked up a metal tent pole and bounded through the muck and debris, dodging two fleeing nurses and bursts of rifle fire as he roared his way across the lofty camp and swung the heavy bludgeon at Josho’s frame.
As Josho teleported in tiny bursts to avoid Seclorum’s violent swings, a Ledomaritan managlider flew overhead. Two Xonans piloted it, lining their deadly craft up with the trenches in order to get a good shot of the base’s remaining M*A*S*H unit.
Before they had the chance to fire, an adoracute pegasus rose up in their sights, smiling from fuzzy ear to fuzzy ear.
“Hey, guys! How’s it hoofin’?!”
The Xonans gasped, jerking at their controls in a startled fashion. The manacraft pulled sharply up, and Rainbow Dash found herself clasping onto the front of it and dangling wildly.
“Whoah! Talk about a skiff-hanger!” Her eyes sparkled. “Hah! Get it?!”
One of the stallions slammed his hoof over the weapon controls. Manablasts fired into Rainbow’s belly--only she had forward flipped at the last second to avoid the point blank attack.
“Y’know… I’ve been meaning to say this for a long time…” Rainbow Dash spoke as she casually glided over the pair’s craniums. “But gesundheit, ya snotty melon fudges.” She reached down with her hooves and flicked both stallion’s horns at once.
“Gaaaah!” Furious, the Xonans turned their aircraft about, sliced through the air in rapid twirl, and chased right after Rainbow’s tail.
“Yeah! Yeah!” Rainbow grinned as she darted up and down, avoiding their weapon blasts as she coasted east through the carnage of battle. “That’s it! Ask not for whom the Rainbow Dashes! She Dashes for you!” Sticking her tongue out, she avoided a heated stream of mana by a hair’s width and dove down past the plateau’s edge. “Last one in is an infected tattoo!”
“Heranna kell thriel!” one pilote shouted to the other as they both plunged the vessel deep into the ravine after her. Blinded by their rage, they barely made out the walls of the trench turning increasingly glossy and metallic on either side of them. The howling of their engines filled the metal world with a mind-numbing echo, confusing them as they squinted to see their foe.
At last, Rainbow appeared--this time as a bearer of a bright ruby lantern. She spun around and hovered to a stop besides a platform full of flinching mares and stallions.
“Hey! I brought a piece of the action!” Rainbow exclaimed breathlessly. “Say, do you guys have telekinesis?”
The stupefied ponies nodded.
Rainbow flinched in the headlights of the oncoming managlider. “Then now’s a friggin’ good time to use it!”
Snapping to the occasion, the majority of the stranded Ledomaritans and Xonans focused with their horns. A strong field of their combined magic formed translucently in front of Rainbow Dash… just in time for the managlider’s arrival. When the small craft hit the pocket of telekinesis, it stopped on a dime.
The pilots’ bodies did not.
“Aaaaaaaaah!” Both flew forward from their seats, flailing. They slammed simultaneously into a large, dormant pendulum. The object swung back from the impact as the two fell like ragdolls, only to be grasped in Rainbow’s dangling hooves.
“Hey! You survived near death!” Rainbow chirped. Her teeth glinted demonically. “Now kiss!” And she slammed their skulls together.
“Unnngh…” Both Xonans were out like a light.
“Hah!” Rainbow dropped their limp bodies to the platform directly beneath her. She dusted her hooves off and planted them on her hips. “Now that’s how you catch a ship!”
And then the heavy pendulum swung back, clonking Rainbow across the back of her skull.
“Hnnkt!” Sweating profusely, Eagle Eye spun across the top deck of the Noble Jury, deflecting one Xonan with his sword and the other with his shield.
Both soldiers jumped back, side-stepped, and attacked down low.
Eagle Eye planted one warrior’s blade against the deck, bounced off the hilt, and slammed him across the face with his shield.
“Ooof!” The Xonan stumbled back, sputtering.
Eagle went in for the kill--
Clang! The other attacker deflected his attack and swung at the petite stallion’s head.
Eagle jerked his skull to the side but took the swipe of the blade to his shoulder. Blood flew from the shallow wound. “Gaaah!” He seethed, then stumbled back as the ship veered hard to the starboard side.
In the cockpit, Ebon Mane and Props stood anxiously in the doorway, watching the chaotic fight. Props flung a distraught glance over her shoulder. “Hold it still, handsome!”
Ebon spat, “They’re gonna tear him to shreds if you don’t even us out!”
“What do boomers want Floydien to do?!” The elk growled as he jerked the ship left and right to avoid projectiles, mana blasts, and debris. “Is enough to avoid flying death dung, yes yes yes?” Just then, the Noble Jury flew full-force into a glowing viper and its rider. The Xonan’s body went flying as the giant serpent exploded across the windshield like a big gray water balloon. “Whoah dayum! That’s right, Nancy! You head butt the worm-worms!”
The goopy effluence of the serpent cascaded over the three fighting ponies on the top deck. One Xonan gasped, slipping on the chaotic fluids.
“Hrnnngh!” Eagle Eye lunged forward, knocking the blade clear out of the Xonan’s grasp. He tried grabbing it in mid-air.
The Xonan caught his balance and snatched the thing in his telekinesis.
Eagle’s horn glowed as he jerked his head forward. Soon he too was yanking at the enemy blade with his magic.
Both combating unicorns struggled, playing a game of invisible tug-of-war with the twirling blade between them.
“Haaaaugh!” The other Xonan came running, desperate to blindside Eagle amidst his mental wrestling match.
Eagle took a deep breath and jumped back, instantly letting go of his telekinetic grip.
The blade flew violently towards the Xonan. Unexpecting the force of its approach, the Xonan stumbled forward--and right into the sharp end of the blade. His eyes bulged as blood poured from his impaled chest.
Eagle Eye leapt high, jumped the charge of the second warrior, and slid down his tattooed backside. He landed on his flank, shooting a beam of energy straight ahead.
The mana surged into the hilt of the enemy sword, shot up the metal blade, coursed through the stabbed Xonan’s lungs, and sent a beam of power straight through his trachea. Pow! The invader’s exploding skull barely resounded above the distant salvos of the two dreadnaughts. As his corpse slumped over and off the edge of the Jury, Eagle Eye rolled backwards, blocking blindly with his sword-and-shield.
“Yaaaaugh!” The Xonan was slamming his blade straight down. It clashed with Eagle’s instruments, sending sparks flying across the deck. He swung his weapon again and again, pressing the full brunt of his weight across Eagle’s figure.
Eagle winced and twitched, sliding across the deck, rolling, and ultimately lying on his backside as he fought the closer and closer stabs of his dominating opponent.
“Eagle!” Ebon’s voice squeaked. He galloped forward. “Just hold on!”
“Ebony!” Props’ voice cracked.
“Mr. Mane! Don’t!” Pilate shouted blindly.
The enraged Xonan’s eyes jerked to the side, catching the approach of the ship’s cook.
Ebon skidded to a stop, gasping.
The Xonan thrashed to the side, swinging wildly at the soft of Ebon’s throat.
Panting, Eagle telekinetically tugged at the warrior’s tail.
“Gah!” The Xonan fell flat on his chest.
His blade grazed a few hairs across Ebon’s jugular, but fell ineffectually short. Ebon stumbled back, numb and breathless.
Meanwhile, the Xonan spun about and bucked wildly at Eagle’s chest and muzzle. “Hrkk! Grrrghh!”
Eagle was too late to block. He took one bash to the nose, and he spat blood across the reeling deck of the Jury.
The Xonan grappled with him, rolled the two over until he was on top, then stabbed down at Eagle’s face.
Thw-thw-thw-thwpp! A ratchet twirled in out of nowhere and knocked the blade out of his grasp.
The Xonan lurched forward, eyes wide. He glanced up.
Props leaned back from the heavy swing, her lips curved.
Before the Xonan could react, he felt his body being lifted towards the dormant skystone above. “Gaaah! Nagu’n!”
Eagle Eye lay flat on his back, channeling all of his energy into his glowing horn as he lifted the heavy weight of the Xonan as high as he could. His teeth gritted viciously, and his ear twitched to the sound of violently clopping hooves. Both he and the Xonan glanced over.
Ebon was charging a second time, this time throwing the brunt of his weight through his shoulder. “Oomf!” He slammed into the levitating Xonan’s ribcage.
Eagle let go of his magical grip at the right moment, and the warrior pinballed his way off a ship’s mast, over a starboard railing, and off into the screaming gray yonder.
Eagle Eye slumped to the ground, wheezing for breath--a task made difficult when Ebon scooped him up into a vicious, happy hug. “Oh that was so badflank! You totally owned them!”
“Would… like… to own… m-my lungs!”
“Erm… s-sorry…” Ebon stammered. “Here…” He led Eagle towards the cockpit and a first aid station. “Let’s take a look at that nose…”
“So long…” Eagle winced and sniffled. “...as th-they didn’t ruin my mane…”
Breathing with relief, Pilate tilted his head towards the elk. “Mr. Floydien, I do believe we’ve shaken our foes! Please, bring us at a safe distance so that we can monitor what’s happening to--”
“Jiminy jacksprockets!” Props yelped, pointing towards the exploding horizon. “Look at that!”
“Jeez!” Eagle Eye hissed as Ebon tended to his wounds. His violet eyes narrowed on a blistering exchange of cannonfire. “I’m surprised both of them are still airborne!”
Pilate jolted. “Who?! Who’s the worse for wear?!” The zebra stood up on wobbly limbs, grabbing for the first pony he could feel. He ended up shaking Props’ shoulders. “Is it the one Belle’s on?!”
“Uhm…” Props gulped nervously. “What’s… l-left of it?”
The pale parts of Pilate paled even more. He slumped limply to his haunches with a gaping expression.
“Floydien thinks striped boomer’s beloved has waited long enough…” Floydien glanced over his shoulder with a frown. “Too much stabby stabby in fireworks! Time to boomernap, yes yes?”
“Pilate, I know she told us to hold back,” Ebon remarked in a low tone. He gazed gently at him, his ears twitching to the wind and constant shelling. “But she needs us to be brave for her as she’s been brave to us.”
“If Floydien’s willing to risk it, then I’m sure Belle will forgive us for doing what’s necessary,” Eagle added. “Even if it compromises our location.”
Pilate took a deep breath. He nodded, then pulled out his sound stone. “I’ll tell her we’re coming…”
A chunk of the Steel Wing's bow exploded, sending waves of debris flying into the faces of most on board. Several ponies fell, clutching their bleeding limbs as screams filled the air. Grimacing, Evans spun from the devasation and shouted into the heated winds.
"It's just too much, Prime Enforcer!" The younger stallion winced as another salvo of the Lightning Bearer's cannons went off in the background. "This is a battle of attrition that they're going to win!"
"They cannot kill that which is righteous." Shell trotted forward, patted Belle's quivering shoulder along the way, and leaned his hoof against one of the surviving masts. "How close are we to the northern mountain range?"
"About to pass over, sir!" Evans shouted as another burst of debris lit up the starboard side. "If we use the peaks for cover, we just might be able to make our escape northwest with the geography shielding us from their long range bombardment—"
"No!" Shell snarled. "No retreating!" As his eyes twitched, a spark emanated from the tip of Imre's dangling horn. Evans was about to say something, but Shell had gripped his shoulders. "Take the wheel and follow everything I say!"
"But sir—"
"I will deliver us to glory just as surely as I will deliver our enemies to their graves!" Shell shoved Evans towards the controls and shouted towards the survivors on deck. "This is it! This is the moment we've all been preparing for! Let them taste the dark meat of oblivion and rot for eternity!"
Mixed shouts and screams filled the air. Belle clung to a series of wooden crates, watching with pensive fear.
Arcshod coughed and hissed, waving burning fumes from his face. The Lightning Bearer was battered in three dozen places, and the crew compliment had been reduced to a limping skeleton of what it once was. Nevertheless, the captured vessel maintained a fierce pursuit of Shell's ship, barreling after it as the airship scaled the southern face of a jutting mountain range.
"Ledomulien nessa thulien hasta kraan, Arcshod Xon-Nagu'n!" a pony shouted as he stood besides the one surviving gun turret towards the port bow. The rest of the tattooed equines limped to their stations, loading about seven barely-intact cannons. "Menuul jaatso rekku threen!"
Arcshod sneered, wiping slimy blood off his muzzle. He flinched suddenly, his eyes gleaming from the bright flashes beyond. He raised his trembling hoof and looked at the viscous fluid running down his tattooed limb—
"Draak! Heranna melulien threen!"
Arcshod glanced up, startled out of his distraction.
The pony besides the turret pointed up high. "Ledomulien nessa! Kaleena siulen maan!"
Every Xonan was muttering, gawking. The Steel Wing was climbing sharply, angling slightly off of the mountain's edge.
Arcshod's lips pursed as he squinted in confusion.
"Steady... steady..." Shell stood tall behind Evans' hunched body. He rested one hoof on the younger officer's shoulder as he grinned maniacally at the mountainside. "Pull us to forty-five... then graduate it to sixty..."
"Sir, we're going to teeter over at this rate—"
"Do as I say, Evans!" Shell snarled.
Shivering, Evans pulled back at several levers and used his telekinesis to keep the wheel steady.
Belle had to readjust her grip to the crates as gravity took over, pulling her body towards the ship's slanted stern. "Nnngh... Shell, what are—?!" She winced. "I mean, father! What is the meaning of this, father—"
"Have faith, my beloved!" Shell's teeth could cut glass. "For they are about to have all my wrath!"
Several crew members stammered in fear as the Steel Wing slanted even more. The bulkheads groaned and several loose chunks of debris rolled violently down towards the stern.
Evans gulped. Sweating, he looked through his peripheral vision at the hysterical captain. "Sir—?!"
"And..." Shell hoisted a hoof over a pair of levers himself. "Cut the engines!"
"Wait, are we going to—?!"
"On my command, steer us hard to starboard and prepare to reengage the enemy!" Shell shouted as the entire ship lurched down.
Arcshod's jaw dropped.
Before him and every Xonan on board, the Steel Wing had stalled and was currently plummeting towards the base of the mountain.
Sneering, the lead Xonan galloped towards the front of the Steel Wing, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Rekranna sendraak! Drenna drendar! Bleeken!"
The ponies at the bow fired the last surviving turret. Several mana shells soared at the Steel Wing, but Shell's massive ship was dropping too swiftly. The explosive ordinance flew clear over the enemy dirigible, instead impacting the surface of the gritty, gray mountain. The air lit up with thunder as several chunks of debris flew outward from the blasts... and enveloped the Lighting Bearer's top deck like an impermeable blizzard.
Arcshod and several of his fellow Xonans hissed and coughed, blinded by the dust field. Everytime he opened his mouth to shout a command, he got a mouth full of mountain. So, wheezing, he trampled his way to the controls and halted the ship's forward movement himself.
This took the course of forty-five floundering seconds, during which the Steel Wing had swung right, angled out, and flown directly beneath the Lightning Bearer, unseen. At last, it pulled up, banking left so that its port side was facing the Lightning Bearer once it ascended to an even level. Shell's voice shouted like a penultimate death knell, and then everything between the two vessels became lightning.
Craters formed in the metal surface of the Lightning Bearer's top deck. Bodies flew in opposite directions, their meaty halves being sliced to thinner ribbons by the resulting shrapnels sprays. Arcshod fell beneath a smattering of steel beams. He crawled into a patch of air and howled the command for return fire.
The cheers of Shell's crew were short lived. Just as they finished their pass, the starboard cannons of the Lightning Bearer fired. Half of the enemy guns hurled their ordinance into the valley, but two managed to clip the wooden ship's stern. Splinters and metal reinforcement beams flew wildly, clipping off the heads and torsos of more than one pony. One of the masts tore loose and rolled across the deck like a runaway piece of lumber.
Evans and Shell gasped, diving their separate ways. The control panel had been smashed to sparkling chunks, and a sea of debris rained upon the scattered corpses of the tortured, rogue crew.
"Ooommf!" Shell rolled onto his side, wincing, bleeding in several places. The Steel Wing was stuck in a slow spin, leaning limply towards its port side as smoke and flames billowed out of the stern. Grunting, the Prime Enforcer tried standing up, only to slump on his chest painfully. Imre's horn rolled along the length of the stallion's necklace. A spark or two flew out.
From afar, Belle saw this. Bruised and shaken, she pursed her lips in thought. That was when a crackling noise rattled the air between her and the Prime Enforcer.
"Crkkk! Belle? Bellesmith, beloved?!"
The mare gasped.
Shell's eye flew open, twitching. Slowly, like a wretched blooming flower, he sat up, his expression distant and dazed while his ears flicked to the voice.
"Belle, darling, please say something! We're coming to get you, honey."
Wincing, Belle reached back to her tail hairs, clasped the stone, nearly dropped it, then clutched it tighter. "Pilate! Now's not a very good—"
"That voice..." Shell murmured. Blood trickled down his face as he jerked his head aside, cracking ancient joints in his weary neck. "Like ripples in black water." He grimaced. "Blue... Shelf..."
"Belle, we can't wait anymore! If you stay there, you'll die!""
The mare hugged the sound stone to her chest, her panicked eyes locked on the Prime Enforcer while Pilate's ghostly voice wafted through the smoldering air.
"Look towards the sky! Floydien's bringing us closer! We'll take you to safety!"
Shell's brow furrowed. He tilted his scarred expression until he was staring squarely at the pony. His mouth hung open, as if to vomit some indescribable phrase.
"Father... Father, please..." Belle whimpered, already shivering. "You've almost vanquished our enemies. Just..." She glanced skyward with a jolt, then looked back at him. "Just a little longer, father..."
"You... do not have your mother's eyes..." Shell slurred. He shuffled forward and reached a hoof out, stopping within inches of caressing Belle's face. "And yet you did." He gulped. "Spheres within spheres. Like venom, poetry..."
Belle bit her lip, her shivers reaching a boiling point.
Shell looked at her, then leaned back. He gulped hard, and his face morphed into a steely frown. "Doctor Bellesmith, I presume," he croaked in a deep tone.
Belle's hairs stood on end. "Pilate!" she shrieked into the enchanted shard and scrambled onto all fours. "Pilate, come get me! Come get me now—"
"Rrrrrrr-Raaaaaugh!" Shell lunged at her. His hooves grabbed her tail.
She shrieked, fell, and bucked back at his horn. "Pilate! I'm in trouble! Please, hurry—" Belle gasped as the sound stone floated out of her grip.
Sneering, Shell telekinetically smashed the fragile shard against a crumpled mast. He leapt forward and grabbed one of Belle's thrashing legs.
She wriggled, twirled around, and found a loose plank of wood lying by her panting face. Grasping it in two hooves, she swung the thing like a club and smashed it over Shell's skull. "Nnnngh!"
"Hckkt!" Shell spat blood from the impact. He rolled back, letting go of the mare.
Hyperventilating, Bellesmith got up on all fours and galloped across the careening deck of the Steel Wing. She bounded over bodies, beams, and smoldering bits of rubble. An errant shell exploded off the starboard side, throwing her off balance. As she caught her bearings, she saw a glow of magic through the edge of her vision. Belle looked up to see a wall of debris floating towards her.
The obstruction flew hard into her side, scooping her across the Steel Wing's deck and into Shell's menacing forelimbs.
"Yaaaugh!" With a glowing horn, Shell tackled her, slamming Belle hard onto the ground. He pressed his weight down on the mare, sneering into her face. "You deceived me. You took everything from me!"
"Get off! Get off—!"
Shell snarled, eyes aflame. "My daughter! Where is she?! What have you done with my Imre, you demon?!"
Belle slipped a hoof free and punched him savagely across the face. "You murdered her you damned monster!"
Growling, Shell silenced her with a vicious headbutt. He gripped her quivering jaw in two hooves and spat, "Robber of graves! Defiler of decency!" With a psychotic snicker, the stallion plucked the pale horn loose from his necklace and telekinetically floated it between them. "You will bring Imre to me..."
"Snkkkt—What... wh-what...?!" Belle's wide eyes zeroed in on the floating piece of alicornia.
"You will give me Imre, Doctor..." Shell hissed as he floated the horn to the stub on Belle's forehead, rotating it in place. "Whatever it takes."
"Shell... your daughter's h-horn!" The mare sputtered, her eyes reflecting the tiny bolts of mana shooting off of it. "The s-sequencing must have enchanted it!" Her whole body winced as tiny forks of electricity danced between the shard and her leylines. "Nnnngh!" Her body tensed in excrutiating pain. "Shell, stop—"
"Whatever it takes!" Shell hollered, his horn glowing brighter. "Do you hear me?! Whatever it takes!"
More sparks jumped between the horn and Belle's skull. She squealed in pain, her eyes rolling back as a scratchy sound rose from the base of her throat. "Nnnngh... f-father..." Her voice warbled in and out. "Father, don't do this..." She sobbed. "Shell—you'll kill us both!"
Right then, a beam of golden lightning roared down from the heavens and slammed into Shell's body. The Prime Enforcer flew sideways with a grunt, slamming into a stack of wooden debris. Imre's horn rolled towards the edge of the deck. Free of it, Belle slumped back with an exhausted breath.
Wincing, Shell stood up, glaring skyward—
Another stream of golden lightning slammed into his chest, knocking him clear off his hooves.
Belle's eyes darted up.
With a hiss of steam thrusters, the Noble Jury lowered into sight, and Floydien stood at the very edge, his antlers glowing with unbridled wrath. "Get the stabby-stabby hooves off striped boomer's beloved, you glimmering puddle of skunk spunk!"
"Rrrrrrghh!" Shell jumped onto his hooves, levitating a mess of projectiles to toss back at them—
Floydien zapped him again, this time down low.
Shell howled and fell to his side as smoke billowed out from between his legs.
"Piss sideways, canned turds!" Floydien frowned, then hollered at Bellesmith. "Swift swift!" He motioned towards the rapidly gliding body of the Jury. "Make with the freedom and clopping!"
Breathless, Belle winced past her bruises and galloped towards the battered edge of the Steel Wing.
"Handsome! Slow us down!" Props hollered, her head poking up from beyond the railing. "She won't make at this rate—"
"And we are boomer bait if we do!" Floydien hurled himself back into the cockpit. In his place, Props, Ebon, and Eagle Eye leaned over the edge, offering their hooves.
"Come on, Belle!" Ebon shouted.
"Just a little further!" Eagle added.
"Move your tail, girly-girl!" Props squeaked.
"Please... oh please..." Belle's eyes streamed with tears as she blurred towards the edge. The Noble Jury was soaring by. "I-I can't make it—"
"Yes you can!" Ebon shouted, leaning harder over as shells erupted nearby, rocking both ships. "You're almost there!"
"Grab her, Ebony!" Props's voice cracked, for she and Eagle Eye were too far away at this point.
At last, Belle reached the edge, and it was there that she discovered five meters between them. Nevertheless, her face tensed in desperation, she leapt clear off the Steel Wing's edge. "Nnnngh!" She flew forward, forelimbs outstretched.
Ebon's bright face loomed within Belle's sight... and flew upwards. "Hkkt!" He reached as low as he could... and missed. "No!"
Belle exhaled, plummeting—
"Got you!" A striped limb caught Belle's hoof at the last second. Pilate dangled precariously over the Noble Jury's railing. His body began to slip.
Ebon and Props rushed over, hoisting the zebra's body back as Pilate dragged Belle on board. At last, with a telekinetic push from Eagle's exhausted leylines, they all collapsed as one onto the middle of the Jury's deck.
Belle and Pilate slumped together, but it swiftly turned into the mother of all hugging sessions as Belle wrapped her limbs around Pilate and sobbed joyfully into his fuzzy chest. Pilate clenched his gray eyes shut and held her close, stroking her mane and neck.
"I'm so sorry... I-I'm so sorry..." Belle whimpered. "I had to do it. He was b-beyond saving. I had to use him..."
"Shhhh..." Pilate nuzzled her tearstained face. "There is nothing for you to be sorry for, beloved. You did well. Do you hear me? You did well... for all of us."
"He's such a m-monster, Pilate..." Belle quivered, gnashing her teeth as she murmured into his chest. "I didn't want to d-die on you that way. I love you so much. You know I'd never leave you..."
He smiled gently, holding back his sniffles as he cuddled her close. "You never did, darling, and you never will. I love you. It's okay now. You've been so very brave, and now we're going to get through this together."
Eagle's eyes watered as he sat in his fresh bandages, watching his two friends reunite. Beside him, Ebon stared with an exhausted smile. Props held two hooves before her muzzle as she clenched her mouth shut, trying to contain a monumental squee. She resorted to tackling Ebon over and hugging the stuffing out of him as he gasped.
In the cockpit, Floydien glanced back. Slowly, he smiled, then looked forward with a glint in his red eyes. "Yeah, spit like that." He jerked the controls and accelerated the Noble Jury towards a higher patch of air above the heated portions of the battle.
As the Noble Jury zoomed away, Shell wasn't looking at it. Instead, he shuffled limply across the deck of the Steel Wing, his labored breaths growing more and more frequent with each battered corpse and patch of blood he found. His eye moistened, as if seeing all of the carnage for the first time. At last, his pupil jerked towards the sight of a pale rod rattling.
Gritting his teeth, he slid over on bruised knees and scooped up Imre's horn. He held it gently in the crook of two hooves as his muscles went limp.
The tiny piece of alicornia rocked back and forth in his grip. A spark or two randomly darted against his limbs, and then the horn was dormant yet again.
Shell's brow furrowed, and his limp lips stammered, "Beloved daughter...?"
A voice wheezed to his side.
Shell looked over, and his expression hardened. He slid the loose horn into a pocket of his uniform and crawled over to the source of the pained breath. Leaning down, he slid both forelimbs and cradled the body of Enforcer Evans.
A sharp shard of wood had impaled the young stallion's chest, and he gurgled blood as he lay in Shell's strong embrace. Weakly, his thin eyes traced the burning overcast sky until they fell on the Prime Enforcer's scarred face.
Shell took a deep breath. "At ease, soldier."
Evans winced. He reached a hoof blindly forward.
Shell gripped it.
"Have... h-have I been..." Evans gulped, then sputtered, "B-been a loyal officer, Prime Enforcer...?"
With a deep breath, Shell nodded. "The loyalest, Evans." He clenched his jaw proudly. "The Spark will reward you in the darkness beyond."
Evans exhaled, and a tear ran down his bloodied cheek. "I hope... the Spark rewards you t-too, sir..."
Shell said nothing.
Evans quivered once, twice, then lay still, his muzzle locked in some indiscernible grimace of horror.
The resulting silence pulled Shell's face forward. He buried his face in Evans' soft neck. Something pronounced erupted between them, like whale song at the bottom of a deep well. The Steel Wing shook, and when Shell looked up, his eye sliced a venomous swath through the atmosphere.
The Lightning Bearer loomed within view, its smoldering figure devouring the east horizon.
With a grunt, Shell dropped Evans' body, galloped over it, and rushed to the ship's controls. The instruments were smashed, but that didn't stop him from channeling a burst of mana through his horn, forcibly operating the manaconduits of the panel from the inside out.
"I'm not even bleeding." He spat out the side of his muzzle, wiped his face dry, and hollered out loud. "All enforcers! Grab ahold of something sturdy!" He shouted to everypony and yet nopony. Limp limbs and broken bones echoed his commands. "We bring the end directly into their faces!"
The Steel Wing groaned as its surviving propellers rattled to life, accelerating the ship so that the Lightning Bearer loomed closer and closer into view.
Shell tossed his mane back and heralded the coming cataclysm with an eye brighter than a lighthouse. "Ramming speed!"
Throttling from bow to stern and falling apart at the seams, the Steel Wing roared its way toward the metal target.
Arcshod was in the middle of hollering a command at the cannons when his whole body went limp. A broad shadow swam over his knees, chest, and tattoos. At last, the Steel Wing blotted out all firelight, piercing through the columns of smoke as it bore menacingly down on the Ledomaritan flagship.
Xonans fled from their posts, shouting pleas of mercy to Nagu'n as they galloped in vain towards the stern of the broken vessel. Arcshod stood his ground, his body paler than a sheet.
At last, the two ships met, their bows converging like fragile icebergs. Thunder flew in a cascade of metal strips and burning machinery as the Steel Wing burrowed its way into the hull of the larger vessel. The avalanche of debris rolled halfway across the deck, mangling Xonan bodies and causing several explosions to erupt inside and outside of the beleaguered target.
Then the two dirigibles imploded, leaking gas and flames high into the air. The Steel Wing lodged halfway into the Lightning Bearer's metal corpse. Their support beams and cables entangled like mutated vines. With their combined weight, they fell in a crooked spiral, rotating wildly towards the sundered battlements below.
The crew of the Noble Jury heard the noise.
Eagle Eye sat up, craning his neck to see. The startled gasps of Ebon and Props tickled his ears as he trotted past Pilate and Bellesmith.
He squinted towards the horizon, his lips pursing as he saw the two massively conjoined vessels drift towards sea level.
"Hnnngh!" Josho slammed the shattered piece of a tent pole against the upper frame of Seclorum's metal brace. As he prepared for another swing, the shockwave from the two colliding ships reached the plateau. He gasped, glancing towards the northwest.
The Steel Wing and the Lightning Bearer had struck the foot of the mountains and were sliding down, leaving a path of broken earth and scattered flames.
"Bitchin' bridles a-burning..." He muttered breathily.
"Haaugh!" Josho's opponent slammed into the obese stallion with a metal shoulder-brace.
"Gaah!" Josho slid away from the blow, telekinetically twirled his weapon, and met Seclorum's next attack. The two struggled and parried their way across the muddied streets of the crater-riddled encampment.
Towards the south end of the valley, barely within earshot of the bloody fight engulfing the eastern trenches, a group of ponies—both Ledomaritan and Xonan—gathered anxiously in the shadow of a muddy hillside. They looked skyward and gasped as a managlider coasted gently towards them.
"Easy! Easy!" Rainbow Dash flew alongside the craft, guiding it gently towards the open spot of wet earth. The group of ponies shuffled backwards as the pegasus assisted the vehicle in landing. "There! Okay, everypony! You can get out now!"
A cluster of weak, emaciated equines stumbled out of the craft. A few of them actually squatted low and kissed the earth, weeping for joy.
"That's all of us, right?" Rainbow looked at the Xonan warrior at the managlider's controls. "There shouldn't be anymore ponies down in that ravine... uhm..." She twisted her muzzle. "Dreit?"
The Xonan nodded. "Dreit. It is empty of all that lives."
"Well, that's super."
"Look!" a Ledomaritan soldier shouted, pointing northward.
"By the Spark!" a nurse shrieked.
Rainbow Dash spun about, and her ruby eyes lit up, reflecting flames. After a few seconds of seeing it, the shockwave from the two colliding battleships finally struck her, flouncing her prismatic mane. "Whoah..."
"Unnngh... gugghh..."
Arcshod pulled himself over a stack of smoldering debris. All around him, ponies moaned and whimpered in agony. He squinted his eyes, seeing a crumpled deck of a ship lodged in pale brown earth. Ashes littered his tattooed hide as he stood up, glancing left and right, his breaths growing shallower and more panicked.
"Nagu'n!" He positively yelped, his smile replaced by a perpetual grimace. "Lasairfion!" He spun and hollered to any Xonan still capable of moving. "Trenna tenuul sakkar Lasairfion Xon-Nagu'n! Bleen! Bleen!"
"Looking for something you pretend to love?"
Arcshod gasped. Trembling, he stared up towards the blunt, shattered keel of the Steel Wing.
A dark shadow stood against the smoke and wind. Pale teeth formed a grin as Shell shrugged into the ashes. "Death is happy to meet you." Snarling, he twirled two sparkling tasers and galloped towards Arcshod's flailing figure, slicing the throats of two soldiers along the way without breaking his stride. "Haaaaaaaaaaugh!"
It was with a puttering shudder that Zetta glided her manacraft to a stop. She pulled back at the controls, hovering the vessel in place as her jaw progressively dropped. Basso trotted to the front of the craft, gawking through the translucent wind guard.
“Spark on a biscuit…”
Other Ledomaritans craned their necks and stammered in mixed horror as they gazed upon the scene just north of the jutting mountain range.
”By Ledo’s mane…”
“Is that Seclorum’s camp?!”
“Is there anything actually left?!”
“It’s like the whole earth is burning!”
“Spark, spare them all…”
Kera glanced up from where she was nestled in the middle of the open vessel right beside Roarke. She stood straight, the Odrsjot ring glimmering around her petite horn. She hopped in place, trying her best to see.
Zaid quietly did her a favor by hoisting the little filly up onto his shoulders. As soon as Kera could see the mess, she immediately wished she hadn’t. She hugged the book of glowing lavender tomes to her tattooed chest, grimacing as she took in all of the grisly details: smoldering columns of black soot, two battered battleships collapsed against a mountainside, a virtual cyclone of serpentine beasts laying siege to a defenseless encampment, and endless bloodshed saturating the trenches to the east.
“So…” Zaid’s eyes twitched. “You think we missed the battle, or…?”
Slowly, Basso’s and Zetta’s skulls swiveled to stare incredulously at him.
Kera sighed, rolled her eyes, and slapped her hooves over the top of Zaid’s head. (”Ow! Sonuva…”) She clenched her teeth and squeaked towards the others. “Rainbow must be out there in all of that mess!”
“You really think she got here before us?” Basso asked.
Zetta grunted at him, “Do you even realize what you’re saying?”
“Uhm… some of the times?”
“Guys!” Kera hopped up and down again, slapping Zaid’s skull once more. “She’s totally out there and we gotta help her!”
“She can help herself,” Nightshade droned from the back of the ship. “What’s most important is getting that book--” she pointed at Kera “--into the machine world!”
Kera turned and frowned at her. “But--”
“We need her help, not the other way around.”
“You don’t know Rainbow Dash…” Roarke wheezed.
“And I suppose you do, Searonese gearhead?”
Roarked leaned up, wincing past her pain to hiss, “She gives and she takes. She’s not like any other pony I’ve ever met.”
“That much is certain,” Nightshade said in a dull tone.
“If she’s nowhere to be seen, it’s because she’s too busy saving those who n-need help the most!” Roarke coughed, wheezed, and growled, “Stop acting as if she’s only a piece of your plan and your plan alone. She’s trying to stop--”
“Stop what?! Utter carnage and chaos?!” Nightshade pointed towards the madness consuming the valley before them. “All of this would have been prevented if she and her companions hadn’t interfered with Nightshade Industries weeks ago!”
“Look, we’re here--and odds are Rainbow Dash is out there as well!” Zetta exclaimed, her voice loud and commanding. “Kera, you’ve got the book. Ms. Roarke, you have the communicator to Rainbow’s friends! Let’s coordinate a way for us all to meet with Rainbow’s allies and try and fix this before it’s too late!”
Zaid was suddenly squinting. “Or maybe we don’t have to move a single inch after all…” A petite set of hooves whalloped him again from above. “Ow! Goddess dammit!” He sneered and gripped Kera in front of him like a small cat. “I mean it! Friggin’ look, will ya?! Two o’clock, down low!”
Kera gasped, her body dangling in the stallion’s grasp. “Rainbow Dash! I… I see her!”
Roarke twitched, her muzzle going limp. “You… see her?”
Zetta and Basso leaned up against the console. “Where?!”
“Straight ahead! Besides a group of bodies!” Kera pointed excitedly as her horn flickered. “And… is that a managlider?” She squinted.
“I… I see her!” Zetta chimed. “But… she’s still so far away!”
“She’s totally expecting us to join the party, right?” Zaid asked.
“Maybe we should send her a signal,” a Ledomaritan soldier remarked.
Roarke droned. “I vote that we set Nightshade’s mane on fire.”
The Madame did a double-take. “I beg your pardon…?!”
Basso kicked a box open, startling Zetta. He reached in, fumbled around, and produced a pair of Xonan-issued flare guns. Popping the safety off with his teeth, he aimed towards the sky and fired a screaming volley of burning projectiles.
“Ooooh…” Zetta cooed. “Nice thinking there, big guy.”
“Lucky is more like it,” Zaid said with a crooked grin. “They’re Xonan tech. Praise the stars that they didn’t--like--shoot out ghostly glowing gila monsters or some crap.”
“Shhhh!” Roarke propped herself into a sitting position, wincing. “Does… does she see us?!”
“I gotta go check it out…” Rainbow Dash said, facing due northwest towards the collapsed airships still smoldering from their epic collision. “Last I heard, Shell had my friend Belle as a prisoner! And if she was still on board the Steel Wing…” A grimace ripped across her face. Her wings flapped harder. “You guys will be okay on your own. I gotta find out if she’s okay!”
“Wait! Wait!” A Ledomaritan nurse hopped in place, stopping her. “What about Josho?! Your stallion friend?!”
“What about him?! Look, he’s been in more wars than a dog has soiled a fire hydrant! Besides, from the sound of it, he’s locked in some sort of super crazy awesome death battle with his arch nemesis. Who am I to steal the guy’s thunder?!” Rainbow frowned. “Belle needs me! I’m gone like acorns in a squirrel stampede!”
“But… but if Seclorum defeats him--”
“Look! I know how dire this all is!” Rainbow growled, waving her forelimbs. “I’m here to save the day! But that doesn’t mean I can save every friggin’ hour!”
Just then, a loud howling noise echoed from the mountains looming above them to the south. Several Ledomaritans and Xonans alike spun to gasp at the noise. Rainbow Dash looked up, squinting.
“The hay was that?! Did a bunch of castrated cats join the battle?”
“No, look!” a soldier shouted. “It’s a signal of some sort!”
“A… flare?”
“Xon…” A warrior stammered. “Jaatso siulen Xon maseen…”
Rainbow glared. “Could you repeat that? I don’t understand tattooese.”
Another stallion spoke up in a thick accent. “It is of the design of Xon! One that belongs to it, as we belong to it!”
“The signal’s Xonan?! What’s a ship doing out of your guys’ formation this far south--?!” She frozed in mid-sentence, her pupils shrinking. Rainbow cracked an ecstatic grin while clopping her skull with a hoof. “Friggin’ duh!” Swoosh! She instantly elevated four dozen feet in the air and waved her forelimbs wildly. “Guys! Hey, guys! Welcome to the party! Boy, I sure hope you brought that smexy glowing book and more of Roarke’s catch phrases!”
“Yes!” Kera’s voice cracked as she hopped up and down in front of Zaid. “You see her?! I think she’s spotted us!”
“What in Ledo’s name is she saying?” Basso stammered.
“Uhm…” Zetta’s ears twitched. “Something about… books and catch phrases?”
Zaid sneered at her. “There is no dayum way you heard that and yet somehow ignored all of my pleas for grilled cheese sandwiches earlier.”
Basso frowned over his shoulder. “Will you let it rest, fella?! For the last time, we didn’t have any sort of provisions--”
“Yeah, well, it was a long-flank trip!”
“Gaaaaaugh!” Zetta doubled over, wailing in pain as she clutched her forehead.
“What?” Zaid shrugged. “Pffft… not like you’ve never complained over being hungry.”
“It’s not that, you stupid horse!” Basso held Zetta close, shaking her shoulders. “Something’s getting to her head!”
“Like what?” Nightshade asked.
“Guhhhh… so loud…” Zetta’s face streamed with tears. “Louder than ever before!” She looked up with a gasp, eyes quivering. “Oh blessed Spark… I knew something was wrong when I didn’t hear her when we first arrived…”
“Who?” Zaid stammered. “Hear who…?” Just then, the entire ship vibrated from the warbling decibels of an incoming roar. He winced viciously. “Ohhhhhh gunk grapes…”
Roarke was already sitting up, breathing steadily, her copper lenses reflecting an aquamarine glow from the south.
Kera’s body lines went pale. The lavender tome flickered brighter in her grasp.
“Everypony!” Nightshade shouted, shoving Kera, Zaid, and a few others to the floor. “Get down--”
Rainbow Dash stopped waving, her body going limp in mid-air. As her jaw dropped, her ruby eyes danced with fires burning brightly over the southern mountains. The ponies beneath her shrieked as--with a burst of molten earth--Nevlamas smashed through the granite peaks and glided her way down the craggy slopes. Her wings were leaking chaotic essence with each flap, and bright blue-and-green flames spilled out of every crack in her snout. She stained the edge of the valley with vile blood, and her putrid dragonflight carried her low over the Xonan hovercraft where several familiar ponies lay nestled and helpless.
”Hraaaaaaaaaauchkkkkt!” The Dark Divine hissed into the air, piercing the thunder of battle with her demon song. ”Raise your voicessss, my children.” Her slitted eyes streamed with lightning and plasma. “Herald the death of harmonyyyy…”
The air filled with a chorus of screams. Nevlamas’ shadow fell over Kera’s party, as did the Divine’s flames.
Rainbow Dash was still exhaling the full extent of her scream when Nevlamas soared violently over the heads of her and all her equine cohorts.
Several Ledomaritans shrieked, diving towards the muddied ground.
Most of the Xonan warriors—however—stood their ground, gawking at the Divine monstrosity.
"Malladraak siul Xon..."
"Merrana sen Lasairfion Xon-Ameek!"
"Berakka thennulien trentte bleen!"
"The false Nagu'n..." A warrior sneered.
Breathless, Rainbow glanced at him. "Huh?!"
He frowned while glancing at the burning swath the dragon was flying. "It stands for all of Lasairfion's treachery. Now it is a monster that seeks to devour both the friend and the enemy."
"Yeah, that's great! Like I give a flying feather!" Rainbow Dash hovered high, cupping two hooves around her muzzle as she shouted up the mountain slopes. "Keraaaaa!" She panted, panted, and bellowed, "Roarkkkkke!"
The nearby ponies craned their necks to look at the charred rubble where a manaship once hovered. "Who were they?" a nurse asked.
"Nnnngh!" Rainbow rammed into her, knocking the mare onto her flank. "Don't talk like that!" Darting upwards, Rainbow hugged the edge of the mountain, shouting with each leg of her ascent. "Kera! Roarke! Zetta! Anypony! Say something! Anything!"
Another pony helped the nurse up as she stammered, "Was it something I said?"
"I think that monster just burned her friends alive."
"Oh, dear Spark..."
"Well, we can't just stand here!" A soldier spun around, shivering. "If the Xonan bombshells don't take us out, then that giant winged freak will!"
"It matters little at the moment," a Xonan warrior said. "It needs our help for honorably helping the strangers in the darkness."
"Huh?!"
The Xonan glanced over. "Is it so full of thickness?"
Ponies exchanged confused glances.
"I think I understand him..." A Ledomaritan engineer trotted forward. "She lent us a hoof when we needed it. Whoever she is, should we abandon her now?"
A few ponies stared at their hooves. Others courageously nodded in agreement.
"Very well then." The engineer hopped onto the managlider. "Any volunteers?"
"Guys!" Rainbow dove towards a charred piece of wreckage. What remained of the manaship had melted into a blackened obelisk leaning crookedly over the edge of the mountain. The pegasus' eyes glossed over as she hovered over the smoldering site. "Nnnngh... Oh no. Oh Celestia, no." Her muzzle quivered. "I shouldn't have gone on my own! There was nothing I-I could have done to stopped all of this craziness." She drifted lower, her body dangling limply on pathetic wings. "I... I-I shouldn't have left you guys alone..."
Silence...
And then...
"Pffft! Unnngh! Darn right, you shouldn't have left us!"
Rainbow gasped, her eyes darting low.
A stallion with a yellow-streaked mane poked his head out from beneath the wreckage. "You totally could have fetched us some grilled cheese sandwiches along the way!"
Rainbow's mouth exploded into a psychotic grin. "Zaid!" She shot down in a prismatic blur. "You're alive!" She planted her hooves on his shoulder. "Omigoshomigoshomigosh! But—"
"Settle down, Rainbow Dash, we're all in one piece," droned Zetta's voice. Several more bodies crawled out from beside the ex-cultist. A perfect patch of unburnt soil lay beneath the charred surfaces of the overturned manaship. Zetta stood up, wobbling slightly until Basso steadied her. "Unnngh..." She flounced the smoldering edges of her roasted mane and sighed with a limp smile. "Well, we're mostly in one piece..."
"Zetta!" Rainbow Dash flew in and nuzzled her dearly. "Praise Luna! For a moment there, I almost had to kiss a stallion!"
"It's all Zetta's doing," Basso said with a smirk.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash glanced around as all the Ledomaritan survivors gradually stood up.
"Indeed." Nightshade emerged from the shadows, her mane a mess. "It was her bright idea to swerve hard and overturn the manaship so that its lower hull shielded us from the monster's flames. Aside from a few bumps and bruises, I'd say that we're rather—"
"Yes!" Rainbow's voice cracked as she beamed in Nightshade's direction. "You made it!" She flew forward, tossed Nightshade aside, and scooped Kera into a sweet, sweet hug. "Friggin' A, girl! If you burnt to a crisp, I don't think I'd ever sleep soundly ever again!"
"Guhh!" Kera grunted, wall-eyed from Rainbow's hardcore nuzzling. She managed a smile, adjusting her grip of the glowing tome. "And we all kn-know how you love your power naps."
"Nnngh..." Nightshade struggled up to her hooves, frowning as she dusted herself off. "I can only imagine..."
"Rainbow, stop squeezing me! It's hard to breathe from all the smoke!"
"Erm... s-sorries..." Rainbow placed the filly down in the shadow of the overturned manaship. "Where's Roarke?" She glanced across the many faces blinking at her. "Is she okay too?"
"I'm right h-here, Rainbow," grumbled a voice.
Rainbow spun about with forelimbs wide. "There you are! Hah! Praise Luna! You almost became Roarke Most Medium-Rare—"
A light brown-hoof slammed across Rainbow's face.
Kera, Zetta, and Basso winced.
Rainbow fell to the ground as Roarke loomed above her. "Are you mad?!" Roarke howled, her eye-lenses pistoning in and out with steamy fury. "You let that damnable thing live?!"
"Woohoo!" Zaid pulled Nightshade into a bouncy side hug as he watched. "Lover's quarrel!"
"The fuzz are you going on about?" Rainbow Dash barked, then rubbed the red whelt on her muzzle. "And darn it, girl! You sure you even need armor?"
"At least I have my wits about me!" Roarke leaned forward, spitting. "Why didn't you finish the dragon off when you had the chance?!"
"What makes you think I did have a chance?!"
Roarke pointed towards the aquamarine bearer of flames above the battlements to the north. "She obviously fell behind our manaship for a reason! What else in this Searo-forsaken continent could have slowed her down but you?!"
"Well, jeez! I'm sorry!" Rainbow Dash stood up, snarling into Roarke's enraged face. "Maybe I left my 'dragon-slaying' license back in Equestria!"
"You think I'm joking?!"
"Well neither am I!" Rainbow shouted. She pointed at her pendant. "In case you haven't noticed, I've got my hooves full with being the last bearer of Harmony! Not Homicide!"
"It certainly didn't stop you back in Blue Nova or Gray Smoke!"
"Well maybe I actually wanna be stopped!" Rainbow stamped her hooves. "Maybe I wanna stop all of this! Maybe I'm sick of death and destruction happening everywhere I friggin' turn!"
Roarke waved her hoof once more towards the carnage in the north. "Well, what a fine job you're doing so far!"
Rainbow hissed. "Why, you ungrateful, stuck up, rusted piece of—"
"Go ahead! Say all you want!" Roarked barked, grinding her bare hooves. "I don't need any metal to survive a beating from you—"
As the mares rushed each other, Nightshade was suddenly standing between them with forelimbs calmly stretched into their chests. "Ahem... if I may." She glared at Rainbow Dash. "All foolish mistakes aside..." She then glared at Roarke. "We can still stop this unnecessary catastrophe."
"Darn it..." Zaid leaned back, forelimbs crossed. "It was starting to get good, too."
"Screaming crabshells!" Floydien hollered, his voice fogging up the windshield of his cockpit. He wiped a cloven hoof across the glass until he could see once again. His red eyes twitched, reflecting a dark figure surging with aquamarine energy. "Who was the bright boomer who ordered a demon of flame flame?!"
"Eepsies!" Props jumped into Ebon's forelimbs, shivering all over from the sight. "That! Yeah! Let's fly away from that!"
"Gaaugh—Propsyyy!" Thunk! Ebon fell over as Eagle Eye trotted past the two ponies and stared out the windshield.
"It... it..." Eagle Eye's jaw fell. "It's a dragon."
"A dragon?" Pilate looked up from where he sat by the cockpit's entrance. His hooves stroked Belle's head as she lay exhausted in his grasp. "Then..." His ears folded as he gulped. "The monster that Roarke and Ms. Zetta spoke of over the sound stone. It's here?"
"Not just that, guys... but..." Eagle Eye backtrotted nervously from the front of the cockpit. "I... I think..."
"What?" Ebon and Props looked up.
Eagle Eye stifled a whimper. "I think it sees us..."
"Hraaaaaauckt!"
Nevlamas finished breathing a plume of flame over the north edge of the muddied trenches. Pony screams were drowned out by the thunderous flapping of her wings as she banked west, her slitted eyes twitching at a streaming sight in her peripheral. She spotted a darting airship propelled by steam, its skystone lying dormant under the dimness of early morning.
"Hrnnnnghhhh..." Her jaws clenched as streams of chaotic effluence poured out from the cracks in her neck, shoulders, and arms. "All that flies must answer to death." Nostrils flared, spouting out green and blue flames as she made swiftly for the swerving aircraft. "Until oblivion's rebirth brings its cleansing touch!"
The skies over the battlefield heated up as she throttled towards the fragile vessel. It loomed within a hundred meters of her lunging double-jaws.
"Hresshaaaaaukkt!" Suddenly, the flames pouring out of her shot in one wave towards the north. She winced, hissing in pain, then glanced south.
A pulsating lavender glow emanated from the mountainside, highlighting a slope of earth over which the Divine had initially entered the fray. A charred cluster of twisted metal and rubble lay surrounding the source of the Harmonic resonance.
Nevlamas slowed to a smoldering glide, roaring past the defenseless Jury as she stared at the phenomenon to the south. "Hrkkkkt! Harmony... convergessss..." Her teeth glinted in the last traces of starlight. "Austraeohhhhh..."
The overcast sky lit up with a brilliant flare of aquamarine fury. The dragon's scales burned from deep within, lighting her massive body like a torch as she spun to the south, twirled, smashed through two ineffectual artillery shells, and dove towards her long-distance target, shrieking the entire way.
"Yaaaaugh!" Seclorum charged at Josho across the ruined encampment.
Josho squatted low, concentrated, and teleported before the old stallion's metal-braced body could spear him to the ground.
He rematerialized over a collapsed tent. Spotting a pair of poleaxes lying along the fringes of a ruined armory, he lifted one of the weapons and prepared to charge Seclorum's flank. In mid gallop, Josho tumbled—probably because of the searing heat given off by the enormous dragon suddenly soaring overhead.
"Guhhh!" Josho fell flat on his belly. He winced as puddles of mud steamed on all sides of him. "Aaaaaaugh!" As soon as the searing heat filled the air, it dissipated. A raw burn formed a red streak across his backside, and the ends of his mane hairs sparkled as he stood up, wincing. With twitching eyes, he saw the Divine screaming its way towards the southern mountain range. "Grffff... now that's the ugliest turtle I ever did see."
Seclorum's charging hoof flew across his face.
"Aaaaugh!" Josho fell back, floated his poleaxe up, and parried Seclorum's next savage attack. Clank!
"All we have to do is get the enchanted book to the machine world!" Nightshade said. "Once we restore power to the metal layers below, it'll be impervious to the dragon's chaotic influence! This 'Nagu'n' or 'Nevlamas' or whoever will perish from her own wrath! You can already see how she's tearing herself apart!"
"I'd love to take the book down there!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "But the only thing keeping it from messing with my head is that ring-thingy around Kera's horn!"
"Precisely," Nightshade said with a gentle nod.
Rainbow's eyes twitched. "Wait... Hold on a second!" She frowned. "If you think I'm bringing the lil' scamp down into that dark ravine with us, you've got another thing coming!"
"Rainbow..." Kera tugged at the pegasus' spectral tail. "I can do it!" She smiled. "We can do it." The, a frown. "We have to do it!"
"No!" Rainbow shook her head. "There's gotta be another way!"
"There isn't," Nightshade grunted. "But you two don't have to go alone." She pointed at herself. "I know where the pedestal is that the book needs to return to. I've told you this before."
"Look, lady—"
Nightshade stamped her hoof. "I'll guide you in there! I'll make sure nothing happens to Kera, and once you place—"
"You think I'm gonna play your game any longer—"
"Once you place the book in its rightful position, you can forget about me!" Nightshade waved her forelimb. "I'll be out of your mane hair forever! Same with your friends!"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest, but sighed. She shook her head, then glanced at Kera.
Kera bit her lip.
Rainbow looked at Roarke. "How about you, cleverflanks? What do you think of all this?"
Roarke sat back on her rear, wincing. "You know what? I'm all out of rockets and manacannons. I really don't care what we do."
"Jee, thanks."
"How do you plan to get there?" Basso asked.
Rainbow glanced up.
Basso shrugged. "I mean, you're awesome and all—"
"Why, thank you."
"—but can you really carry a grown mare and a filly anda magical glowing book all at once?"
"Is this a riddle of some sort?" Rainbow arched an eyebrow. "Cuz my head has been full of fuzz since I got here."
"I hate to say it, but the breeder's making a good point," Roarke droned. "I can't fly, Rainbow, and our ship's beyond busted."
"Do you still have your soundstone?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes, I do believe I still have orifices to hide that in."
"Roarke..."
The once-metal mare sighed. "What, you want me to call your friends' ship or something?"
"Who knows how long it will take them to get here!" Kera stammered. "Besides... shouldn't they be going after Belle or—?"
Just then, the air kicked up with rumbling mana engines. Roarke hopped up into a warrior's stance—only to fall forward, weak and unbalance. Rainbow caught her, glancing north towards the source of the noise. She smirked. "Well well well... what comes around goes around."
"Huh?" Nightshade looked over.
A managlider coasted to a stop. A Ledomaritan engineer and a Xonan warrior stood up in the center of the settling craft.
"It needs help with its friends?" the Xonan remarked with a nervous smile. "It would like to provide honorable assisting."
Several of the Ledomaritans flinched. Even Basso held Zetta back with caution.
"No!" Rainbow dropped Roarke and fluttered over, hovering between the two groups. "It's okay! He's with me!" She pointed at the Xonan on the managlider. "I just saved him and a bunch of other ponies who were stuck in the machine world."
"There were ponies already down there?!" Nightshade remarked.
"Yes..." The Ledomaritan engineer atop the hovering craft nodded. "Dozens of us were thrown down there, our magic suppressed."
"Yeah?" Zaid's face was twisted with confusion. "By who?"
"We don't know." The Ledomaritan took a deep breath. "We suspect someone who wanted all of this to happen."
"Wanted what to happen already?" Nightshade asked.
"Confusion. Carnage." The engineer gulped hard. "Chaos..."
Kera glanced up at Rainbow Dash with a quivering jaw. "But... who would want all of this bad stuff to happen?"
"Yeah, it's like both Xonans and the ponies of Ledo are getting the bad end of the proverbial beat stick!" Zaid said.
Rainbow Dash hovered in place, her muzzle wracked with thought. Then, her eyes blinked wide. She glanced over at Roarke.
The Searonese's pony's eye-lenses shifted back. "Lasairfion..." she muttered aloud.
Cold silence.
"Okay. Look. No more time for thinking. We'll be here forever." Rainbow pivoted towards the managlider. "My friends and I gotta return to the ravine."
The Xonan did a double-take. "Buh?"
"Buh!" Rainbow nodded. "Trust me! We've got a mission to accomplish! I dunno about the war that's going on here, but I'm pretty sure it'll stop the dragon at least! This place has been a giant melting pot for misery since long before I even got here! I don't know who's to blame, but I think I know how to stop it!" She spun about. "Kera, stick close to me."
"O-okay!"
"Nightshade..." Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth but nevertheless pointed and said. "You just do what you gotta do and don't embellish it."
"Most certainly, after all, are we not together in this time of great adv—"
"Yeah, no." Rainbow turned towards the metal mare. "Roarke?! I'm gonna need another pony along for this! A pony I know and trust to keep a look out for Kera!"
"I..." Roarke hissed, struggling to stand up as her steam-plugs vented dry air. "I think that..."
"Roarke!" Rainbow rushed over, holding her up.
The pony winced. "I think I-I only had it in my manacore to throw one more punch..."
Rainbow blinked, then groaned heavily. "For Pete's sake. I think my idiocy is rubbing off on you."
"Yeah..." Roarke sighed, her muzzle straight. "Still, if you ripped my chest open, you could fashion the core into a cr-crude explosive."
"Yeah. Uh huh. Buck that." Rainbow swiped the soundstone from the mare's hooves and turned around. "Zetta! Think you could contact my friends for me and—" Her eyes bulged.
Zetta had fainted, lying limp in Basso's grasp. The large stallion glanced over, grimacing. His and everypony's ears shot up as a loud siren filled the air, laced with flames and hatred.
Rainbow Dash gently placed Roarke down. She trotted forward, emerged from the wreckage, and stood within the penumbra of a glowing aquamarine light. "Awwwwwwww Luna poop."
Nevlamas charged straight towards them, breathing flames and shrieking indiscernible words of discord and madness. Any spare vipers or serpents flying in the Divine's way instantly melted to brittle ash, dissolving in midair.
"Quick!" Rainbow stammered, pointing towards the engineer. "Get that thing revved up! We gotta make it to the ravine before—"
"It's no use!" Nightshade barked over the murmuring cries of the other ponies. "Maybe you can outrun that, but not the rest of us!"
"Rainbow!" Kera stretched her hooves out. "Take the book!"
"What?!" Rainbow gasped.
"I know it konks you out, but maybe you can still make it!"
"But... but..."
"Tell Belle I'm sorry I couldn't be with her again!" Kera murmured, her green eyes glossy. "Just don't let her know how straight my mane got! You kn-know how much she loves brushing it..."
"No... No!" Rainbow snarled, leaning down to hug Kera. The mountain shook as Nevlamas' fiery approach came upon them. "We can still make it work!" Nopony could hear her cries from the roaring song of the dark Divine. "We can still restore Harmony!" All was bedlam, the horrified screams of dying friends. Snarling, she took to the air. "Darn it! No!"
Kera cried after her. Roarke watched in stunned silence.
Charging the energy in her ruby pendant, Rainbow flew suicidally towards Nevlamas' charging form. She shouted at the top of her lungs, eyes flickering between red and yellow.
Nevlamas' jaws lunged forward to devour her—but then her neck jolted viciously to the side.
Rainbow braked in mid-air, gasping. She saw bright objects streaming in through her peripheral vision, and her body lurched back in time to avoid a pair of steam-propelled missiles as they flew their violent trajectory into Nevlamas' snout once again.
"Hreshaaaaackt!" Nevlamas bled fire and glowing blood. She flapped her wings, pulling up before she could plow into the mountain. With pained breaths, she ascended towards the clouds, but she was not alone. A sleek aircraft screamed after her, propelled by brilliant, burning skystone.
"Hey! Hey-heyyyyyyyyy!" Zaid hopped up and down, grinning from ear to ear. Everypony could hear his voice as the noise of battle drifted skyward and away from the cowering group. "How's that for the ol' one-two?! Stick it to her!"
"Huh?!" Rainbow Dash's head whipped between squinting at him and gawking at the inexplicable aircraft. "Buck me sideways! You mean to say that's—"
The skystone ship roared by once again, twirling like a giant metal sparrow as it dodged a return volley of flame from the dragon.
Inside the vessel, Khao gripped tightly to the hoofrests of the pilot's seat. Veering the craft around so that the Divine was in her sights, she shouted into a sound stone inside the cramped compartment.
"It worked! She's distracted!" She pulled at a lever with her one uninjured hoof and loaded another rocket. "We only have so many payloads! Let's pace it out! Keep her hurt and angry!"
"Aye, Sister Khao!" A voice from another compartment crackled. "But we took a hit from a Xonan shell coming in! The skystone is losing its enchantment every minute!"
"Keep the power up!" Khao shouted, jerking the controls to dodge more dragonflame. "Toss your robes into the broiler if you have to! We need every burning bit of energy to keep the demon off the Harbinger's tail!"
"Understood! We'll do our best!"
"That's because we are the best!" With a hard smirk, Khao slapped her injured hoof over the controls and snarled her way past the pain. "We may not be Eljunbyro, but we are the Herald." She threw the ship into a screaming dive, zeroing in on Nevlamas' spine. "And today the legions of darkness will feel the Angels' wrath!"
She slammed her lower hoof against a lever.
The skystone vessel jerked as it lost weight. A missile hurled its way towards Nevlamas' skull. Khao swerved her ship aside before it could be engulfed in the flames of impact.
The Divine's screams rattled the bulkheads as Khao's ship climbed towards the heavens, preparing to come around for another heroic pass.
As the Heraldite vessel came about for another pass, Nevlamas thrashed her neck skyward and blew fire at the crimson-streaking craft. Khao’s expert piloting twirled the ship past the aquamarine flames, angling out just in time to drop an explosive barrage of steam grenades across the Divine’s bleeding skull.
With a loud, wailing growl, the dragon took wing and glided hungrily for the thrusters of the speedy frigate. Khao’s ship banked north, ascending over the charred wasteland as the chaotic monster gave chase.
This gave Rainbow Dash and her group room to breathe, and it was all soon filled with gasps and murmurs.
“Who in the hay are they?!”
“That’s not like any Xonan or Confederate ship I’ve ever seen!”
“It’s okay,” Rainbow Dash said, her eyes following the streaking sight as it drew Nevlamas into the gray distance. “They’re on our side.” Her ears folded. “I think.”
“Does it matter?” Zaid asked.
Basso nodded waggedly. “What he said.”
“Rainbow! Now’s our chance!” Kera hopped up and down. “Let’s go do the flaming book thingy!”
“Kera…” Rainbow growled lightly as he faced her.
“We’ve been given a golden opportunity here,” Nightshade said. “Let’s not waste it.”
“It’d be a shame to have come all this distance for nothing,” Roarke wheezed.
Rainbow looked at Roarke, at Nightshade, then at Kera. “Fine. But if Roarke can’t come along, then I’m gonna need another pony to come with us.”
With her last remaining strength, Roarke bucked Zaid in the flank.
“Gaaah!” He stumbled forward into Rainbow’s side.
Rainbow grimaced. “Ew, you?”
“Hey, it’s a s-surprise to me too!” Zaid rubbed his flank with two hooves.
“Can you fly a managlider?”
“Does it involve steering clear of the earth?”
“Good enough.” Rainbow picked Kera up and placed her--and the tome--dead center in the managlider. “Hold on tight, kiddo, this is gonna be a little bumpy.”
“Uhhhh…” Kera nervously gulped, watching Zaid climb into the pilot’s seat. “You’re telling me.”
“A monster that ferocious can’t be distracted for too long,” Nightshade said as she climbed into the rear. “We’d better be swift.”
“That means you got some remembering to do, lady!” Rainbow said with a frown, then turned towards the Ledomaritans in the group. “Basso? Zetta?” She paused, fidgeting nervously.
The two nodded in one accord. “It’s been great working with you, Rainbow Dash,” Basso said.
“If it weren’t for you, none of us would have made it out of the Sacred Hold alive,” Zetta remarked with a sad smile. “So many ponies never got to see their families again, but we will.”
“Thanks to you,” Basso added.
Rainbow smiled, exhaling heavily. “Well… uh… actually, there is one thing I’d like to ask from you two.”
“Name it.”
Rainbow pointed at Roarke. “Take Roarke’s sound stone. Call the Jury and bring my friends around. She’s going where we’re going/ But if we need to give any of you guys a lift--”
“We belong here,” Zetta insisted. “However this ends, we need to make sure Ledomare has a prosperous future.”
Rainbow bit her lip. “It… might not end up the way you want it.” Her eyes swam over the Xonan who had piloted the managlider there. “For any of you.”
“It is bigger than all of us, and it must collapse.” The Xonan leaned forward and spoke ardently. “Do not let the world be cursed by monster of Lasairfion.”
“We won’t. You can count on that.” Rainbow turned towards the once-metal mare. “Roarke?”
“Bucking move your flanks already!” she growled.
“Right. There’ll be time for awkward hugs later.” Rainbow jolted ahead in a prismatic streak. “Zaid?! Gun it! For real!”
“Hey, uhm…” Zaid’s eyes squinted across the dashboard. “I think the emergency brake is on. I can’t get the wheels to budge!”
Nightshade hissed. “This is a hovercraft.”
“Oh, so that explains the altimeter!” Zaid smiled crookedly. “Just kidding. I totally know what I’m doing--” His hoof brushed over a lever, suddenly accelerating the three ponies like a bullet out of a gun. “Waaaa-haaa-haaa-hooooiee!”
Kera squealed from the adrenaline rush while Nightshade struggled to hold her lunch in.
Both Rainbow and the glider could be seen bobbing and weaving their way towards the dark ravine beyond. Basso trotted sideways, reaching down to take the sound stone from Roarke.
“Here you go, Zettta.” The stallion hoofed the communicator to the mare, then turned back to Roarke. “You’ve really been travelling across country with those ponies?”
“Yes,” Roarke nodded with a stifled groan. “Give or take a villain.”
“How is it that you’re still alive?”
Roarke’s jaws tightened. “I don’t know. Someday, I’ll have to do something about that…”
“What’s it doing now, EE?!” Props stammered, curled up against Ebon like an ostrich sticking hits head against a sailboat.
“Ahem…” Eagle Eye stood along the Noble Jury’s port side as the ship turned through the smoky air at a tight lean. His violet eyes squinted and squinted harder. “It appears to be attacking something in midair.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Pilate spoke as Belle nervously glanced up. “Perhaps its mind is just as diseased as its heart?”
“Wait!” Eagle leaned forward, pursing his lips. “I see it now! Yes--Something’s distracting the dragon!”
“Something like wh-what?” Ebon exclaimed, trying to shove Props off of him.
“I see what looks like a brown copper hull, red crystal, moving very fast…”
“Can it be?!” Props gasped, blue eyes lighting up. “Another skystone skiffy?!”
Floydien growled against the dashboard. “Is a very bad time for stealing stabbies.”
“But if those are the same ponies that took away Kera…” Pilate spoke aloud. “...then what are they hoping to gain by attacking Nevlamas?”
“Don’t judge me too harshly for going out on a friendly limb here…” Eagle Eye glanced at the zebra and the others. “But maybe they’re distracting it for some reason?”
Ebon suddenly pointed. “Maybe we’re about to find out.”
“Huh?” Pilate exhaled.
“Beloved,” Belle muttered, nudging him. “Your sound stone.”
“Oh!” Pilate gasped, holding the shimmering piece of enchanted stone up to his lips. “Hello?! Rainbow Dash?! Roarke?”
”I’m afraid neither, Mr. Pilate,” a voice calmly echoed from the flickering rock.
“Ms. Zetta?”
”But we have your friend, Roarke. She’s in one piece, but she’s seen better days.”
Pilate’s metal brow furrowed “Care to be more specific?”
”I’m afraid there’s very little time. Rainbow, Nightshade, and Kera have flown on into the metal world.”
“Wait, what?!” Belle spat.
Zetta’s voice continued. ”It looks as though one of Khao’s ships is giving Rainbow the time she needs to return the flame to where it belongs. I think the rest of us should be taking this opportunity as well.”
“For the love of elbow grease!” Props barked. “Why’s everypony so far ahead of us?! We’re the ones with the sexy ship!”
Pilate ignored her. “Ms. Zetta, where are you located?!” He and Belle slowly stood up as they approached the front of the cockpit where the elk stood. “Tell us, and we’ll be there in a heartbeat!”
The poleaxe that Josho levitated at his side was becoming bent, fractured from Seclorum’s repeated attacks. Breathless, running out of energy even to teleport, the obese stallion shuffled his way towards the northeastern edge of the plateau. A managlider had collapsed into the wall just beneath the wet earth’s jutting edge. Rising smoke licked the air in billowing waves, briefly obscuring the dark metal ravine and the trenches full of battling Ledomaritans and Xonans beyond.
“You’re slowing down, old friend,” Seclorum sneered, inching his way closer towards his stumbling adversary. “You should have stayed in the pits. Your end would have come faster that way.”
“How can you m-move so fast?!” Josho spat, wincing between each hyperventilating breath. He limped from the many bruises inflicted upon him by Seclorum’s metal-reinforced limbs. “You’re not even breaking a sweat!”
“I’m not the weak coward that you think I am, Josho,” the battered stallion said with a hissing tone. “I have a plan and a purpose here. This is to be the rebirth of all things…”
“Will you st-start making sense, for once?!” Josho growled, his rear right hoof slipping at the very edge of the cliff. He stifled a yelp, using the poleaxe to regain balance, however precariously. “What did they do to your insides while slapping metal chunks to your outsides?!”
“She wills that I stay here…” Seclorum’s glazed eyes shone with bursts of green bomb shells in the distance. “I must follow her wishes!”
“Who is she?!” Josho gritted his teeth. “Dammit, Secchy! I’m trying to save your flank! Don’t you realize that?!”
“I don’t need saving…” Seclorum’s neck jerked spastically, and he went in for the kill. “And neither will you!”
Josho flashed energy through his horn and doubled his telekinetic grip of the poleaxe. He deflected Seclorum’s charge, but it was a weak effort at best. With each lurching second, Seclorum shoved his old friend one savage inch after another, forcing Josho to rock on the middle of his back hooves, teetering upon the precipice.
Josho shook with the effort to keep himself upright. His muscles twitched as his nostrils flared. He started to lean back…
“Is striped boomer certain of this?!” Floydien grunted as he swerved the Noble Jury south, cutting through swaths of smoke and flak. “Nancy Jane might be better off without metal boomerette and angry-angry teeth! Too jarringly close to Nancy’s womb day in and day out, Floydien thinks! Yes yes?”
“We owe Roarke ten times over, Mr. Floydien!” Pilate said as he and Belle gripped to the side of the cockpit. “Besides, I’m sure that if we didn’t pick her up, Rainbow Dash would certainly tear us limb from--” Pilate flinched heavily. “Guhh!”
Belle gasped. “Beloved!”
The zebra collapsed to his knees, gripping his choker while wheezing.
“Pilate, what’s wrong?!” Belle knelt beside him, running a hoof through his mane. “Speak to me!”
“Friggin’... gonna kill me…” Pilate murmured, his tone undulating.
“Pilate…?” Belle winced.
“That sounded like roly poly!” Props chirped.
“Josho?!” Eagle Eye suddenly slid into the cockpit, eyes wide. “Pilate, what did you feel just now?”
“As if…” Pilate winced, panting. He gulped and said, “As if I was falling. J-just now.” His clear eyes squinted. “Though, not exactly. But… I… I mean he…” The zebra tilted his head up with a quivering muzzle. “Josho is in grave trouble.”
Eagle Eye’s ears folded as his lavender coat paled. He glanced at the others, then out at the mayhem blurring by them. At last, he clenched his jaw and looked Pilate’s way. “Can you pinpoint where he is, exactly?”
“Vaguely…” Pilate winced as Belle helped him back to his hooves. “If we slowed down and flew closer to the ground, then perhaps--”
“Floydien!” Eagle Eye shouted. “Bring us down to sea level!”
The elk flinched. “What you spit?!”
“Eagle…?” Ebon murmured.
“You guys need to drop me off!” Eagle Eye exclaimed.
“What in Spark’s name for?!” Belle stammered.
“Go on and get Roarke! I need to do this!” Eagle Eye floated his sword and shield beside him as he marched out and mounted the edge of the Jury. “Once you’ve got her, follow Pilate’s leyline back to me! Hopefully, by then, there’ll still be a fat fart attached to it!”
“Eagle, it’s a hellish warzone down there!” Ebon said, grimacing. “You won’t last ten seconds in that mess!”
Eagle Eye glared over. “I’m a soldier, Ebon. This place won’t know what jumped into it.” His eyes darted savagely the elk’s way. “Mr. Floydien, would you kindly lower the damn ship?!”
A Xonan stallion screamed as a sparkling taser punctured his chest, sending eviscerating webs of electricity through his melting body.
"Hraaaugh!" Shell retracted the weapon, spun about, and twirled the other taser so that it skewered the muzzle of a Xonan charging across the ruined deck of the Lightning Bearer. He pulled the spear out with a spray of blood and kicked the corpse down to the ground.
Arcshod hobbled backwards, hyperventilating.
Shell glanced over his shoulder with a fuming expression. His one eye flickered in tandem with the horn resting in his vest pocket. Snarling, he leapt over a burning stack of rubble and launched both tasers at the Xonan commander.
Arcshod dodged the first two swings, then gripped a metal pole in his muzzle. He twisted his tattooed head from side to side, deflecting the Prime Enforcer's blows as swiftly as he could. Sparks flew, illuminating the slain bodies lying all across the battered dreadnaught's hull.
"What's the matter, Xonan?!" Shell hissed, twirling his tasers like electrified buzz saws on either side of his menacing approach. "Afraid to use your horn?! Suspect that I'll explode you inside out from your own exposed leylines?!" He pressed both tasers to the commander's bludgeon and leaned forward, sneering. "As if I would make this that quick!" He headbutted Arcshod, kicked him in the chest, and side-swiped with one taser.
The sparkling tip sliced into Arcshod's flesh, interrupting the tattoos with a copiously bleeding gash. The stallion let loose a cry and hobbled backwards, bumping into a stack of crates.
"I've lived long enough to know disappointment like a drunken mistress..." Shell sneered as he trotted towards him. "But this exceeds all comprehension." He easily dodged one of Arcshod's panicked jabs, deflected the weapon, and stabbed him in the chest, giving the yelping commander a violent shock. "Why are you holding back?!" he hollered. "Make death sweat!" He jabbed and slashed again, sending the tattooed equine reeling. "What are you made of?!"
Arcshod scrambled, wheezing, and ran up a careening flight of steps towards a higher platform of the collapsed vessel.
Shell gritted his teeth and marched forward—only to collapse suddenly on two bent knees. "Gaaagh!" His face tightened and he leaned forward with a pulsating forehead. He brought a bruised hoof up, feeling the pocket in his vest where a severed horn lay, glowing with otherworldly enchantment. "Mmmgh... I'm sorry that sh-she hurt you, beloved. I swear that the Doctor will never touch your precious bones again..."
Arcshod gazed down, panting in pain and confusion as flames billowed around the two.
"Mmmmgnnghhh... yes... oh yesssss, dear Imre..." Shell tilted his head up. As the horn in his vest stopped glowing, his one eye strobed instead. "I will give you much... much blood..." Pulling himself up by a taser, Shell scraped the weapon across the steps as he climbed up, drawing ash and sparks from the fallen battleship. "What now, cowardly oaf?" Shell licked his lips as he squared off with Arcshod again. "I need your skin to fashion my daughter a kite..."
Arcshod gritted his teeth, juked, and came at Shell from a low angle, slamming the bar across the stallion's face.
Shell simply took the blow, his body barely swaying from the impact. He spat blood onto the deck, wiped his muzzle and smirked the commander's way. "Delicious. Now let me show you the love of Ledo." And he thrusted forward, swinging both weapons savagely at Arcshod's skull.
Splitting the air with a high-pitched whistle, Zaid piloted the managlider towards the dark ravine looming below. By then, the battle had congregated towards the east, where tattooed and non-tattooed equines were relentlessly slaughtering each other in the trenches. Their melee carried a prolonged roar of pain and anguish across the blood-soaked landscape, echoed in brief spurts by the Divine being bombarded by a Heraldite skyship in the west.
"Chaos in stereo!" Zaid hollered as he dipped the ship beneath an exploding patch of flak. "How's that for a notch on the bucket list?!"
"Can it, cheese-eater!" Rainbow Dash grunted as she flew alongside the glider's left wing. "We can make jokes when the job's over!"
"Yeesh, you're the worst supervisor ever."
"Rainbow!" Kera stammered, squinting into the black abyss as the metal walls swallowed them up. "It's so dark down there! How will we even see where we're going?"
"I've got that covered!" Rainbow Dash rubbed her pendant and summoned a ruby glow. "We should be able to see where our hooves go now, at least!"
"That's not good enough!" Nightshade shouted, her voice producing echoes as Zaid dipped them deeper into the ravine. "It'll take more than normal illumination to point us to where we need to go!"
"Then what's your bright idea, Madame Miserable?!"
Nightshade glanced at Kera. "Child, so long as you possess that band on your horn, you control the luminosity of the tome!"
"The crap is that supposed to mean?!" Kera's voice cracked.
"Concentrate. Relax your own leylines," Nightshade said. "I suspect that your suppression field will lower enough to allow the book to act as a beacon."
"But... but..." Kera gulped, hugging the tome harder. "Rainbow Dash might—"
"You are this alleged 'Eljunbyro,' are you not?"
"Uhhh... sure!"
"Then trust in the role that you have to play!" Nightshade shouted as the managlider's engines suddenly echoed all around them. "Relax and let the book illuminate the world around us—"
"Hey, uhm..." Zaid smiled, sweating. "That's a whole lotta wall!"
"Huh?" Nightshade glanced forward. The Madame shrieked. "Blessed Ledo!"
Kera and Zaid shrieked as the managlider hurled its way towards a solid barricade of polished metal.
With a blue blur, Rainbow Dash was suddenly in front of them, pressing her front hooves against the craft. She slapped her wings out, forming air brakes, and halted the vessel within meters of slamming into the metal wall. "Nnnnnnngh!" Gritting her teeth to the breaking point, she forced the craft stop, even going so far as to brace her rear legs against the flat surface of the wall.
At last, the ship hovered in place, and Rainbow helped gently lower the thing to a platform of gold looming directly beneath them. They could see it was colored gold because—
"Whoah..." Kera blinked. The band around her horn shimmered, for her relaxed mind had allowed the lavender glow of the runic tome to intensify magnificently. They could now see the entire machine world within three hundred feet in every direction. "I... I th-thought I had to be relaxed to make that happen!"
Nightshade shuddered, gagging once or twice to hold in her lunch. "I'm inclined not to argue the matter anymore."
"Hey!" Zaid smiled as Rainbow Dash lowered the ship onto solid ground. "You guys remember when I nearly smashed us all against a solid metal wall?! Heheh... funny stuff, am I right?"
Rainbow yanked Zaid out of the vehicle by his mane. "Stick to drama for a while," she grunted into his face before shoving him towards the foal. "Keep close to Kera!" Rainbow twirled over him. "Nightshade—!"
"Right!" Nightshade squinted, spinning around and taking a swift survey of the machine world. "Hmmm... a lot more pendulums than I remembered."
Rainbow winced, feeling the thuds of shell cannons far overhead. "Nightshade, will you—"
"Ah, but of course." Nightshade motioned before galloping off in a random direction. "This way! Do not tary!"
"Come on, guys!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew after the unicorn. "It's now or never!"
Zaid planted Kera onto his backside and galloped breathlessly after the two. Kera clung hard to both the book and the stallion's spine. The light followed them like a floating aura of gold and lavender shimmer, and soon they were lost in the depths of the machine.
"Hrrrrrghhh-Gaaah!" Seclorum pushed with all his strength.
At last, Josho slipped, his limbs flailing. He lost his telekinetic grip of the poleaxe and plunged over the cliff's edge.
The veins in the fat stallion's neck pulsated, and he summoned a burst of energy behind him with a remaining ounce of strength. The shockwave propelled him forward, but all he managed to do was grab onto the cliff with the crooks of his hooves.
He dangled loosely, his breath coming in quick, gunshot grunts. The cliff was slippery at best, and he felt himself already sliding down one centimeter at a time. It was hard to hear anything but shell cannons from beyond the pounding noise of his own heartbeats, but soon the shuffle of Seclorum's hooves tickled his senses. Josho looked up in time for his old friend's shadow to cover his face.
"Face it, Josho. We both died long ago," the stallion spoke against his rattling metal braces. "I'm simply doing you a favor. Soon enough, I'll even join you."
Josho frowned. "Go sit on your mother's forehead and rotate," he spat.
Seclorum's nostrils flared. "Ledo, you're fat." And he slammed his hoof over Josho's horn.
Only he didn't, for a floating shield blocked the fatal blow.
"Huh?!" Seclorum looked up, only to have that same shield slam into his metal frame. "Gaaah!"
As Seclorum fell back, Eagle Eye slid into view, anchoring himself with a sword stabbed into the muddy earth. "Leave him alone, you rust bucket!"
"'Rust bucket?'" Josho sputtered, slipping a little more. "That the best you can do, fruit basket?!"
"You're welcome, fatso!" Eagle Eye turned and tugged at Josho's upper body with his horn. "Nnnnnngh!" He pulled the stallion at least halfway up the cliff's edge. "Darn it, after all of that solo hiking, one would think you'd lost a few pounds—"
Josho pointed with his horn over Eagle's shoulder. "Look alive, princess!"
"Huh?!" Eagle spun, then swiftly crossed his weapons. "Whoah!"
Clang! Seclorum's metal-laced fits slammed into Eagle's guard. Sneering, the old stallion swung at him again, grunting.
Eagle jumped, jumped again, and rolled sideways through the mud to dodge the pony's constant attacks. As Seclorum drew him towards the rubble-strewn edge of the plateau, Josho watched nervously, using raw strength to pull the rest of his body up onto even ground.
"Hold on!" Nightshade chanted, galloping a little slower now. The horn-less unicorn led the group forward, over bridges and pedestals, past conveyor belts and looped chains. An elaborate labyrinth of machinery and metal mesh lingered on all sides of the lavender beacon that Kera was carrying towards the rear of the group. "It's all coming back to me..."
More shells went off overhead, even making Zaid tremble in mid-trot. Dust and sediment fell over the group as they took right and left turns at random.
Rainbow gulped. "Nightshaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade..."
"Just give me a moment!"
"We haven't got a moment!" Rainbow grumbled. "In case you haven't noticed, it's friggin' Ragneighrak up above us and here we are acting like a bunch of idiotic tourists on a stroll!"
"Only, we're not." Nightshade suddenly came to a stop. She took a few panting breaths and pointed ahead of her. "For there we are..."
Rainbow Dash, Kera, and Zaid looked on.
Upon the very edge of the book's lavender glow, an elaborate cylindrical pedestal stood. It marked the center of a long, narrow, golded bridge stretching over the black heart of the metal ravine.
"That's it?!" Rainbow cackled.
"Look, I promised you a destination, not a spectacle!" Nightshade instantly galloped forward. "Come! We're almost there!"
"So, we just gotta put the book on the pedestal, r-right?!" Kera cried out from Zaid's backside.
"Something like that!"
"Rainbow Dash! I thought you've done this before!"
Rainbow nodded in mid-glide. "I have! Only, there wasn't a book involved previously!"
"Uhm..."
"Look..." Rainbow hovered low above the pedestal, shrugging. "How hard can it be?" Nightshade, Zaid, and Kera caught up. "Okay. So, like, let's do this crap already! Zaid?"
"Right!" The stallion nodded. "I hoof you the book!"
"No..." Rainbow glared. "You hoof me the filly who then hoofs me the book!"
"Alright! Alright!" Zaid gently let Kera off, careful not to desposit her too close to the bridge's precarious edge. "It's all cool! I'm pretty self-aware of my supporting characterness!" He nudged Kera Rainbow's way.
"You ready for this, Rainbow?" Kera held the book out.
"Look, I've never been much for ceremony." Rainbow grunted as she grabbed the book from the foal's hooves. "At my Hearth's Warming Pageant, I bucked Chancellor Puddinghat off the stage."
"Really?"
"No, but that would have been a lot more awesome." Rainbow pivoted, faced the platform, and shoved the book at it. "Zoop!"
Flassssh! The book bounced off.
"Gaaah!" Rainbow reeled in midair. The tome went plunging towards the black abyss below.
Nightshade gasped heavily. She dove for the thing, catching it in a pair of jittery hooves before it could fall out of sight. She teetered on the bridge's edge, flailing, falling over—"Aaaaaaaa—!"
Rainbow caught her, levitating the Madame safely onto even ground. "Relax! You're not pony paste! Not yet..."
"Whew... praise the Spark..." Nightshade hugged the book to her chest—only to have Rainbow Dash wrench it out of her grip.
"What the crap happened?!" Rainbow sneered, ruby eyes digging ravines in Nightshade's forehead. "I thought the flame was supposed to leap out of the book or something?!"
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"Not exactly what I wanna be hearing right now!" Rainbow pivoted and pressed the book towards the pedestal again... and again and again and again. A splash of lavender light erupted each time, propelling the book back and knocking Rainbow off-center. "What gives?! It's not going in!"
"What do we do now, Rainbow?!" Kera whimpered.
"Ahem." Zaid cleared his throat and raised a hoof. "If I might butt in—not to steal your sexiness or anything."
"What is it?!" Rainbow snarled at him.
Zaid gulped and pointed nervously at Kera's horn.
Kera blinked, feeling the shimmering band on her forehead.
Rainbow gulped. "Odrsjot..."
"That thing is keeping the book in check, right?" Zaid said. "Stands to reason that maybe if you take the doohickey off..."
"Then the tome will regain full power," Nightshade muttered. She gazed at Rainbow Dash. "Seems simple enough."
Rainbow took a deep breath, hovering in place. "Yeah, okay."
"Rainbow, no!" Kera squeaked, shaking her head furiously. "Right here?! In the middle of this mess?! You'll be crippled!"
"Kera..."
"I won't do it!" The foal gripped the band around her horn and frowned into her tattoos. "We need you! I'm not about to let you become limp like a noodle again!"
"Kid, listen..." Rainbow dropped down and stood before her. She rested a hoof on the filly's shoulder and said, "This world needs the flame more. If we don't get that energy out of the book and into the pedestal, this machine world won't come alive, and it won't have anything to guard it against Nevlamas and her nasty chaos breath. Ya hear me?"
Kera's eyes watered up as she shook her head. "You'll be vulnerable! I won't let you take the risk! I-I've gotta bring you back to Belle and Pilate in one piece!"
"Hey..." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and leaned in. "You wanna know a secret?"
Kera merely blinked.
The pegasus smirked devilishly. "I'm at my awesomest when I'm vulnerable. Heck, we all are. How else do we manage to put on a spectacular show unless we have no choice to?"
The filly bit her lip.
"You gonna steal my thunder or what?" Rainbow gestured at the foal's horn. "Come on. Let's lose the bracelet. Who knows?" She shrugged. "As soon as we put the book in its place, I'll probably be fit as a fiddle, cuz the flame is where it belongs. You dig?"
Kera took a deep breath, nodding. "I-I dig."
"Okie dokie lokie." Rainbow Dash stepped back. Without losing her smirk, she stealthily whispered aside to Zaid. "Anything happens to me, you get the kid on the glider and out of here. Got it?"
"I hear ya." The stallion nodded.
"What?" Kera's eyes twitched. "Hear what?"
"It's now or never, child," Nightshade said, fidgeting slightly.
Kera closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and then—with careful telekinesis—she slid the Odrsjot band off her tiny horn.
The book instantly fluctuated with bright lavender energy, flooding the chasm with light.
"Guhhhh!" Rainbow Dash instantly stumbled, quivering all over.
Zaid gripped her tightly. "Steady there..."
"Friggin' A..." Rainbow hissed, shivering from head to tail. "Tastes like vomit and m-molasses..."
"It's not over yet!" Nightshade shouted. "Everypony, hang onto something!"
Kera winced as the book shimmered in front of her, sending a pulsating wave of lavender energy through the ponies' bodies and into the walls of the ravine beyond.
From afar, a band of bright energy could be seen shooting out of the ravine.
Nevlamas saw it. She turned, her jaws clenching shut as she hissed in surprise.
"Hrackkkkkkttt?!" She hovered in place, decrepit leather wings kicking at the heated air. As the sounds of battle echoed below, she gasped, then sneered with aquamarine menace. "Austraeoh..."
She gazed at the ravine for far too long, giving Khao's ship the opportunity to blindside her from the rear.
"This may be our last opportunity for a good shot!" Khao shouted into the the cockpit's communication console. "Let's make it count!"
"Scrkkkkt—Missiles loaded, Sister! Are we making the final approach?!"
"Already on it!" Khao gripped the controls tighter. She pivoted the diving vessel until the Dark Divine was clearly in their sights. "Glory to the Harbinger—"
At the last second, Nevlamas' snout turned. She glared into the ship's swift approach.
Khao's pupils shrank. "Angels, spare us..."
A plume of aquamarine fire consumed the entire bow.
"Graaaugh!" Khao yelped, flames erupting through the bulkheads and singeing her forelimbs. "Hold our fire—!"
It was too late. The missiles exploded, causing pieces of the hull to collapse inward.
A brilliant fireball consumed the Heraldite vessel. Scraps of skystone flew into the air as the burning sip hurled towards the earth.
Basso and Zetta and their fellow soldiers gasped, watching as the ill-fated ship slammed into the ground, rolled, and slid to a grinding stop in the distance. Nevlamas roared, filling the air with chaotic song before hovering over the smoldering wreckage.
Before anypony could stammer forth a response, a brisk shadow surged over them. Basso looked up in time to see another skystone ship hovering above their heads. An elk, a zebra, and a unicorn with a shattered horn peered over.
"Mr. Basso... Mrs. Zetta, I presume," Pilate remarked.
"You came for Roarke," Basso replied with a nod. Zetta slid the sound stone away as the large stallion shuffled over to the limp metal mare in question. "Not a second too soon. I fear we may have just run out of time..." He gulped while picking the Searonese invalid up. "For everypony."
"Guhh!" Seclorum stumbled back through the mud on metal-laced hooves. He sneered, eyes flaring. "Who the buck?!" A shield slammed across his haggard skull. "Ooof!"
Eagle Eye slid forward, snarling. "Me!" He barked. "I'm the buck! Yaaaaugh!" He charged at the battered stallion, slashing and stabbing and slicing with his sword. Sparks flew from each impact his blade made against Seclorum's rusted frame.
"Easy, k-kid!" Josho sputtered, slowly pulling himself up onto even ground. "The d-dude's a lot tougher than he looks—"
"So that gives him free reign to toss one of my best friends about like he's leftovers?!" Eagle's voice cracked as he leaned the weight of his weapons against Seclorum's blocking forelimbs. "Grrrrrrrghhh!" He spat. "You call yourself an 'old friend?!' Haaaugh!" He shoved Seclorum through the muck and wreckage as shells exploded overhead. "I don't care how round or smelly Josho is! Nopony uses him like a hoofball without asking me first!"
"You're feisty, soldier..." Seclorum hissed, eyes narrowing like daggers. "But headstrong." He reached through Eagle's defense and grabbed his shoulders. "Allow me to relieve you the burden of your skull!"
"Dammit, fruitstain!" Josho hollered.
"Don't worry! I've got this!" Eagle's eyes suddenly bulged as he was lifted skyward like a paperweight in Seclorum's grip. "Wait! I don't got this!" The metal-reinforced stallion flung him into the debris field of a collapsed tent. "Aaaaackies!"
"Eagle!" Josho snarled. He watched helplessly as Seclorum thundered towards the unicorn, tossing up mud and loose earth. With fatty muscles rippling, Josho rolled himself awkwardly onto the edge of the plateau. "Ggggggnnngh!"
"Rainbow...?"
The pegasus was curled in a fetal position, hissing into her folded forelimbs. "Mmmngh... j-just... just a hangover..." Whe wheezed. "Don't... don't sw-sweat it, AJ..."
"Rainbow..." A tiny hoof shook the pony's shoulder.
Rainbow's eyes popped open. The yellow and red melted away, instead reflecting a filly's gentle face.
Kera and smiled. "Good. You're awake." She gulped. "You think you might... uhhh... b-be ready to save the world, now?"
Rainbow's ears twitched. Instantly, her head swam with pain and dizziness. Nevertheless, she gritted her teeth past the agony and stirred her limbs. Zaid and Nightshade reached down, helping the mare up to her hooves. Teetering left and right, Rainbow struggled to keep her lunch in. She stared with bleary eyes at the book.
Kera stepped back, levitating the runic tome higher in Rainbow's sight. With the Odrsjot band clear from her horn, the book glowed brighter than ever. It almost made Rainbow pass out just to look at it.
"It's now or never..."
Rainbow shivered, then glanced over to her side.
Nightshade stared firmly. "You have to be the one to put the book in," she said. "You know this."
"Right..." Rainbow said with a shudder, limping forward towards the book. She almost stumbled, causing Zaid to jerk towards her, but she picked herself back up with outstretched wingfeathers and marched towards the golden pedestal. "Library duty in the face of an apocalypse. Heh. See, this is why I never got into egghead stuff."
"We're right behind you, Rainbow!" Kera said.
"Yes, well, you might wanna be a bit further behind me," Rainbow grunted from the middle of the metal bridge. "There's no telling what sparks might fly once I shelve this motherbucker."
"Whatever happens, it is for the good of this continent," Nightshade said in a low tone.
Zaid's eyes jerked towards her.
"Right..." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, then lurched forward with the book. "Here goes."
"Uhm..." Zaid squinted nervously at Nightshade, then back at Rainbow. "Is it too late for a time out—?"
It certainly was. Between Rainbow's disappearing figure and the unimaginably bright pulse of light devouring her, there were no more words to be said. Kera shrieked, falling back into Zaid as an enormous pulse of energy fountained outward from the pedestal. The Xonan filly teetered towards the chasm below, only for Zaid to catch her at the last second. He squatted low, hugging Kera deeply, aiming his shoulder against the wavering bands of energy.
Somewhere, Rainbow's voice could be heard, cracking loose a wheezing shriek.
Nightshade stood against the tumult, squinting her eyes, striving to see.
And all around them, the metal world became alive. Pendulums swung. Conveyor belts rattled. Gears spat loose millennia worth of dust as they turned and spun and spiraled.
The lavender light was all encompassing, filling every crevice and corridor, setting the entire ravine aflame...
Far away from the edge of Seclorum's encampment, Nevlamas touched down on putrid limbs. She hunched over the smoldering remnants of a skystone manaship, leering her leprotic snout through the rising flames. Hissing, the Dark Divine reached her talons forward, gripped the hull of the vessel, and peeled it apart like a giant soup can.
With sparks of loose mana and shrapnel, the vessel's cockpit lay bear. A battered, charred figure of an equine lay inside, barely breathing. Khao's teary eyes reflected the dragon of chaos looming above her. She didn't have enough strength to move, much less scream. The zealot leader simply sat—slumped and bleeding—in her cockpit, as her whole body lit up with an aquamarine spotlight.
Nevlamas opened both jaws wide, the air between her and her target distorting with heated vapors.
It was precisely then that the chaos fumes pouring out of her body suddenly billowed, blowing away from the ravine far away. "Hraaaauckkkt!" Nevlamas sputtered, her body going limp. Her shoulders buckled, and she almost collapsed entirely onto the fragile shell of the manaship. Eyeslits narrowing, she spun and looked past her tail.
A beam of lavender light spat out of the lacerated earth. It almost blinded her to even look at it.
"Graaautkkkt!" Nevlamas shuddered again. Her scales spread apart between each breaths, revealing a pained aquamarine glow from deep beneath her flesh. Her diseased skin fumed with thicker and thicker currents of chaotic runoff. "Hrgggghhh... no..." Her teeth gritted, producing sparks. "No! Austraeoh, you fool!" Snarling, she dragged herself away from the battered skystone vessel and bounded towards the source of the harmonic resonance. "Let this dying world die! You hearrrrr me?!" She stumbled her way towards the burning energy source, losing flanks of skin and dragon armor with each slithering stride. "Let it die!"
Khao shuddered, wheezed, and clenched her bleeding jaw shut, eyes closed to the misery engulfing her.
Rainbow's face slammed hard into the metal surface of the bridge.
"Ooof!" She clenched her teeth hard, shivering from head to tail as waves of lavender energy fountained from the pedestal, washing over her in torturous waves. She struggled to stand up, but her limbs were limp as noodles. The pendant of Loyalty around her neck pulsed, almost as if burning feedback from the intense pulse of the machine world's new heart. She opened her mouth to say something, but only a pronounced howl of pain and confusion escaped her throat.
"Rainbow Dash!" Kera's voice cried out. Somewhere across the luminescent hellscape, the filly clung to Zaid, struggling to stay conscious against the relentless onslaught of light and noise. "What's... wh-what's happening?!"
"Worst flippin' lightshow ever!" Zaid cackled. "Where's a goddess-dang smoke machine when you need one?!"
"Is it supposed to be doing that?!" Kera exclaimed. A rampaging pulse of energy rocketed outward, almost knocking her and Zaid clear off the bridge. "Rainbow!" Kera squealed in a hyperventilating tone. "Rainbow, please, wh-what's going on?!"
"I don't... I-I don't..." Rainbow gnashed at her teeth. "I don't g-get it! What... wh-why...?!" She finally found the strength to push herself into a standing position. In doing so, she only raised her body into the direct waves of the outflying energy pulses. She tilted her chin from left to right, and a dozen translucent phantoms flickered on either side of her—that of a dozen antler'd creatures thrashing their necks and screaming into the luminescent tumult. Seconds later, and the multiple ghostly heads converged. As they did so, their eyes became one, and they flickered open with red and yellow brilliance.
Flash!
Rainbow gasped.
She was flying.
Soaring.
A gigantic, curved world rotated beneath her, surrounded by stars and nebulae.
Rainbow stared down into the endlessly twirling horizon beneath her.
She saw continents, mountains, plateaus, shelves, ravines.
Metal platforms loomed within the slivers of darkness.
In the throats of each golden abyss, winged equines spun and spiraled.
In various places, they fluttered to a stop, landing on reflective platforms.
They approached shiny pedestals, armed with brilliant lavender torches.
Murmuring unpronouncible words, the figures brought their flames together.
The fire overwhelmed the pedestals.
The machinery spun into motion, accelerating at a phenomenal rate.
Seams flickered with bright beams of burning light.
The ravines burst with overcharged energy.
One by one, the joints of the metal world strobed like gaseous supernovas.
The lights pulsed one last time, then went dormant.
The canyons blacked out, going dormant.
The mountains trembled.
The continents shifted.
Then—one segment at a time—the world split apart.
The ring became many.
The whole became twelve...
Spreading...
Drifting...
Floating deeper and deeper into space...
Where shadows of shimmering dark chaos clouded, collected, and consumed them.
Flash!
Rainbow sputtered for breath, lying limply on the rattling bridge. The red and yellow fled from her eyes, washed away by a cleansing lavender glow. When at last she had her ruby pupils back, she gave the bright pedestal a million-mile stare, her muzzle quivering. Kera was crying something, but her ears couldn't register it. Slowly, icily, she turned and glanced back at Nightshade.
Nightshade was already staring back at her, as if she was waiting for it.
Rainbow didn't hesitate. "You!" She spread her wings and let the pulsing energy shove her back like a sail, so that she plowed into Nightshade's body, slamming the mare into the floor.
"Rainbow—?!" Kera gasped. Her and Zaid's heads spun to gawk at the scene.
"What's happening?!" Rainbow snarled, gripping Nightshade's throat and shoving her skull hard against the metal bridge. "What did the flame just do?!"
"It's too late to stop it now," the Madame calmly droned.
"Darn it! Tell me!" Rainbow slammed Nightshade's skull again. "I saw it! The energy coursed through me, and I saw it all!" She hissed and snarled. "They overloaded the machine world! The winged ponies at the beginning of everything! They collected enough flame to short circuit the whole thing, and they cast it all into darkness!" Rainbow hyperventilated, her voice cracking beneath the thunder of the rumbling pedestal. "And you just made it happen again, didn't you?!"
"Rainbow..."
Rainbow flashed a look aside.
Kera pointed nervously at Zaid. The stallion winced as he held his soundstone up. The enchanted shard was brimming with electrical sparks. Tiny fractures formed in its surface. No more than three seconds later, Kera's tattoos started flickering uncontrollably, as did her horn. The little filly gasped, rubbing frightful hooves all over her emblazoned coat.
Rainbow stared in shock, her eyes twitching.
"Gotcha!" Ebon stammered, hoisting Roarke on board the Jury as Basso lifted her up within reach. He and Props carried the limp mare towards the middle of the deck. "Just hang in there, girl. We'll find a nice bed somewhere to tuck you in so you can recover!"
"Stuff it, breeder," Roarke grunted, wheezing. "Or I'll make you eat that sailboat!"
"Yaaaay!" Props chimed. "Roarke's back!" Just then, the entire Jury fell. "Whoah!"
"Gaaah!" Belle slumped against Pilate as both fell towards the floor.
Thud! The Noble Jury slumped against the mountain's edge, causing the gathered ponies to gasp and jump back in fright.
"Grrrgggh!" Floydien slammed his cloven hooves against the cockpit's dashboard. "What the spit is up with this spit?!" Just then, his red eyes dimmed to a dull charcoal. He gasped, staring up. "My... my antlers..."
"Sp-spark!" Pilate stumbled, his clear eyes bulging.
"Beloved!" Belle shook him, squinting confusedly at his dormant manasphere. "What... what's wrong?"
"I'm..." The zebra gulped. "Good heavens, I'm blind." He seethed through clenched teeth. "Belle, pl-please... speak to me." He reached a hoof out, trembling. "Tell me you're still there..."
Belle nervously gripped his fetlock. Gulping, she spun towards the cockpit. "Propsy?!"
"I don't understand it!" The mare was banging at a dead console with her bare hoof. "The manaconduits! It's like they're all fried! I-I haven't seen anything like it..."
"K-kill me..."
Everypony on the Jury spun about.
"Huh?!" Ebon blinked.
"Nnnngh... kill m-me..."
Ebon looked down and instantly gasped.
Roarke was grasping at her chest. Her legs twitched in an unrelenting spasm as foam gathered around her muzzle. "Grrrkkk... my... m-my manacore..." She hissed and sputtered. "I... d-deserve a warrior's d-death..." Stifling a moan, she gripped a hoof savagely around Ebon's throat. "Please... k-kill me..."
"Hckkkt!" Ebon wheezed for breath. "Floydien... B-Bellesmith... s-somepony! Help!"
Belle was too busy holding Pilate close, gawking over the ship's edge as the one Xonan in Basso's group stumbled limply about, his tattoos pulsing uncontrollably. As he moaned in pain and confusion, the stallions and mares around him quivered, their horns flickering like dying light bulbs.
"Hraaaaaaugh!" Shell lunged at Arcshod, swinging his taser.
Arcshod took the brunt of the blow through his shoulder. He stumbled back towards an overturned mast and slumped against it, chest heaving. He stared wearily out the corner of his eyes as Shell slithered towards him.
Spitting blood, the Prime Enforcer raised his staff high, prepared to strike. Just then, Imre's horn flashed so hard it nearly burned a hole in the unicorn's vest. "Huh?!" He flashed a one-eyed look at it. Just then, his own horn pulsed. "Aaaaugh!"
Shell fell to his knees. The taser rattled towards the floor, nothing more than a dull stick.
Wheezing, Shell clutched his stomach and rolled sideways, gazing across the shattered deck. He saw the bodies of Xonans littered everywhere, and the tattoos on their corpses were strobing like lightning bugs. At last, his eye locked onto their pulsating horns.
A scuffling set of heavy hoofsteps loomed closer.
Almost gagging, Shell looked up.
Arcshod stared down at the stallion. In spite of his bruises, he stood tall and strong. Unwavering.
"Why... how..." Shell tasted vomit in his throat and he grunted, "How aren't you...?"
Grinning wickedly, Arcshod marched his icy way towards a fallen corpse and began prying a scimitar from the dead Xonan's grip.
With a grunt, Seclorum shoved at Eagle Eye's figure.
The unicorn backflipped nimbly, sliding to a stop in the middle of the muddy street.
"Josho always did choose complete idiots for friends!" Seclorum spat.
"Heh..." Eagle Eye twirled the sword at his side and scraped his hooves against the earth. "Well, then, let the best idiot win!" Floating the weapons along either flank, he charged Seclorum from a distance. "Rrrrrgh!"
Seclorum readied himself with sturdy limbs.
Just then, Eagle's horn shorted out. His sword and shield fell ineffectually to the side. Overcome with a splitting pain in his skull, he skidded to a stop with a slight shriek. He fell to his knees and glanced east, panting. His vision swam over his discarded weapons, past Josho's writhing figure, and towards the trenches where the battle had completely halted. Bodies slumped like a river of groaning misery. All of shells had stopped exploding; the artillery guns lay dormant.
"What...?!" Eagle gulped and weakly tilted his head forward. "I don't—"
Seclorum's massive hoof uppercutted him.
"Augh!" Eagle Eye flew back. He landed with a splat in the mud, lying limply as Seclorum easily marched towards him.
"Aaaa-haaaugh!" Kera clutched her horn, curling like a foalish infant in Zaid's arms. "Mmmmmm! B-Belle! Belle, it hurts! It hurrrrts!"
Zaid glanced up, giving Rainbow a helpless look.
Rainbow's ears were perpetually drooped in horror.
"Khao was wrong..."
Slowly, Rainbow pivoted until she was staring into Nightshade's face.
The Madame was deadpan. "They weren't angels. They were demons. Who else would tear apart somehing that was so whole, so perfect?"
Rainbow blinked. Slowly, the lines in her face hardened, and she punched the mare harshly across the face. "Nnnngh!" She shouted into her face. "You knew! All this time you knew!"
Nightshade wheezed and rotated her bruised eye to stare back at the pegasus. "In sequencing with the fossils, I saw what you saw, yes. But I also saw the only means of saving this beleaguered Confederacy!"
"And just how would bucking-up all mana solve an already bloody war?!"
"It's not just mana that the flame affects..." Nightshade growled against the unnatural storm consuming the bridge. "It cancels out all technology! This flame... this magnificent beacon will eliminate all weapons of war!"
"Yeah—and screw up all friggin' civilizations everywhere, you mean!"
"A necessary cost."
"How could you possibly get off saying that?!"
"Technology is war!" Nightshade hissed. "You think Ledomare is the only victim of its own ambition and hubris? I'm to blame for how far this war has accelerated, and so are millions upon billions of other ponies just as headstrong and blind as me, the Queen, and the legions of Xona!" Her eyes narrowed. "My brother was reduced to a hunk of meat because of this holocuast! How many others around the world are suffering for the sinful 'progress' of ponydom?!"
"Oh, and so one terrible holocaust deserves another, huh?!" Rainbow shoved the mare's shoulders against the floor. "Hypocrite! Belle told me all about the plans she found in your upstairs skyscraper! You had an entire steam revolution planned! You charged the flame from this pedestal to overload and you were gonna exploit this!"
"I was going to rebuild from the ashes of yesterday's mistakes!" Nightshade hollered back. "From the corpse of Ledo's pathetic empire, I would usher in an age of simplicity, coexistence, and peace!" She gulped and stammered, "But from the moment I saw you, I realized that you were only going to interfere with the path towards harmony that had been paved out! Just like the ancients before you!"
"Shut your lame, pathetic, coward-suckling muzzle!" Rainbow Dash kicked Nightshade and stood up, wobbling against the energy streams. "Nnnngh... What is one pathetic, lawless continent in exchange for the whole world?! Darn it all! I was right about you!" She shouted. "You're just as bad as Nevlamas! Why does everypony get so tripped up over something so friggin' simple?! That's not how harmony works!"
"It's the only it can work!" Nightshade retorted. She sat up with a groan. "Why else was the flame built to perform its one task?!" Her brow furrowed. "Which is sundering."
"Lady, my life is sundered!" Rainbow barked, planting a hoof over her chest. "And even in the face of death, I never stopped flying as fast as I could! Not so long as I could hold together what's left of me!" She stamped her hooves. "The one thing that all of my dead friends believed in! And when the faith of the dead make more sense than the ideas of the living, then—sister—it's a bad day indeed!"
"Rainbow..." Zaid gritted his teeth, pointing at Kera's writhing form. "I... I think we're losing her..."
"You think I would harm the filly?!" Nightshade shouted, shaking her head. "The energy overload is simply running its course! Give it time! Once it's through, every unicorn will recover, but technology will remain dead for years. Perhaps centuries!" She tilted her head towards the beam of light fountaining overhead. "The war will end, just like I promised Seclorum." She closed her eyes and took a tranquil breath. "Just like I pr-promised you, Novus..."
Rainbow Dash teetered left and right, overwhelmed with dizziness. She limped towards the fountaining pedestal, but it felt miles away... and receding. She groaned, rubbing a hoof over her head as her pendant grew dimmer and dimmer.
"Rainbow..." Zaid stammered over the sound of Kera's wheezing.
"No..." Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. She spread her wings and faced the pulsating beacon. She didn't squint. "It doesn't work this way." Her eyes flickered lavender. "It will not work this way!" One pounding hoof after another, she stomped her way towards the dais.
Nightshade opened her eyes and calmly glanced over. "It is useless, Rainbow. The tool of the ancients has been activated. All mana—including the very heart of the Machine World—will lay in hibernation, where it will no longer bring pain and agony to all that live and breathe."
"And what of ch-chaos, huh?!" Rainbow sneered, marching into the penetrating waves of light. "What's gonna guard against that?!"
"Nevlamas is a victim of her own hubris too!" Nightshade said. "The avatar of chaos will fall to the flame!"
"Well, she ain't got nothing on this!" Rainbow hollered. With one burst of her wing muscles, she flew blindly into the maddening pulse.
Zaid winced, hugging Kera tight.
Dumbfounded, Nightshade stood up. "What are you doing?!"
"You bet all your cards against the wrong avatar of chaos, lame-o!" Rainbow's voice echoed along the fluctuating light streams. "I... am th-the Spark..."
Just then, to Nightshade's gasping shock, the energy shorted, flickered, and dimmed altogether. As the bridge came into focus, Rainbow could be seen, perched before the pedestal with the book in her bare hooves. Snarling, she ripped the glowing lavender tome from the platform and tossed it behind her.
"...and the flame!" she finished.
The book landed with a thud before Zaid's hooves. Kera instantly went slack, her body breathing normally. Zaid looked up, jaw agape.
"Zaid!" Rainbow shouted, gripping the pedestal as the remaining energy pulsed all around her. Wincing like a mare giving birth, the pegasus climbed up onto the top of the dais, where her body literally caught aflame with lavender tongues of energy. "Take Kera, the book, and get the heck out of here! If I'm right... ghnnngh... the managlider will work!" She tilted her muzzle up and spread her limbs out. "Everything... is g-gonna work out!"
"Uhm... Rainbow?" Zaid planted Kera's limp figure on his backside and shuffled forward. "Not to ruin you goin' all Super Saddle n'all... but..." His eyes narrowed. "Are you really supposed to be glowing like a living candle?!"
"Will you friggin' go already?!" Rainbow stood up on her hind quarters as she became one with the pulsating light. "And if you see anypony... j-just tell them..." The hint of a devilish smirk, and then she was absorbed into hot burning lavender. "I got this!"
"No..." Nightshade gasped. Nightshade sobbed. "No no no!" She galloped violently towards the shimmering pedestal with a snarl. "You're ruining it! You're ruining it all! The Confederacy! I've worked so hard—"
A hoof slammed across her face.
"Ooof!" Eyes rolling, Nightshade plopped coldly to the metal floor.
Zaid rubbed his hoof. "Lady..." He smirked. "Ain't nopony lovin' this continent but you." With a deep breath, he clasped his teeth over the book, gave the pedestal one last look, then scampered back the way they all came, carrying Kera along with him.
"Come onnnn! Come on come on come one!" Floydien repeatedly kicked the dashboard, fuming. After a blink, he leaned in and nuzzled the Noble Jury's consoles. "Nancy Jane, Floydien is sorry for being a cruel boomer, but now is a bad time for beloved to turn into frigid nun of ice ice!"
Just then, the manaconduits flickered to live. The steam thrusters sputtered, throwing the Jury into a limp hover.
"Gaaah!" Floydien fell on his brown flank, gasping. "She melts! She melts! Yes yes yes!"
"Woohoo!" Props pumped her hoof, grinning from ear to ear as the ship twirled slowly about. "Back in business!"
"Propsy, what was that?" Ebon sputtered.
"I dunno!" The blonde mare glanced across the deck. "Zebra Zounds?! Any zounding?"
"Guhhh..." Pilate stood upright as O.A.S.I.S.' manasphere flickered back to life. "I can't believe I forgot what true darkness felt like..."
"Beloved..." Belle leaned over nuzzled him. She glanced over the edge as everypony in Basso's and Zetta's group recovered. "Are..." She looked at him worriedly. "Are you alright?"
"I fear I am the last pony to be concerned about," Pilate stammered, then waved his hoof towards the far end of the deck. "Mr. Mane...?"
"Uhm..." Ebon bit his lip. Hard. He grasped a quivering brown leg in his hoof, gently stroking the silky hairs around the metal steam plugs. He glanced up at the rest of the ponies. "It... it's not looking good, guys..."
"Unnngh..." Slowly, Kera's green eyes fluttered open. Her silken mane billowed in a cold breeze. She looked up, then gasped. "Huh?! What in the—Zaaaaaid?!"
"What?! What?!" Zaid gasped, accidentally veering the managlider left and right as it soared up and out of the ravine. "I checked the hoof-brakes this time, I swear!"
"What are you doing?!" Kera squirmed, squirmed, and fought her way into the rear seat of the vessel. "Rainbow Dash is back there and—" She briefly turned wall-eyed, then pointed at the lavender tome rattling against the seat cushions. "Why do we have the book?"
"Because... it's fundamental?"
"Zaid!"
"And I wouldn't be worried about Rainbow Dash at the moment..." Zaid spoke, then shrugged. "She's... uh... burning down the house at the moment."
"Huh?" Kera squinted towards the center of the ravine.
A newer, brighter, and wilder light was pulsating from the center, forming hard shadows against each exposed machine part.
Shell lay limply on his side, breathing raggedly.
The tattoos of the corpses lying around him suddenly dimmed. The horn in his pocket stopped pulsing. Seconds later, his eye opened, pulsing instead. He looked straight up.
"Ledomulien trennte!" Arcshod was in the middle of hurdling the scimitar straight down.
Shell swung two hooves up and clopped them against the broad metal body of the blade, stopping it a hair's width from his forehead.
Arcshod gasped, his eyes flickering green.
The Prime Enforcer droned, "'Trennte,' yourself, foal-eater." Then, with a pulsed of regained mana, he knocked the sword clear out of Arcshod's hooves.
The Xonan commandered stumbled backwards, gasping.
Shell kipped up to his hooves, landed on the edge of his taser, and flipped it up into the air. The thing came alive with sparks in time for him to catch it, swivel about, and hurl the thing like an electrified javelin straight at his foe's throat. "Haaaaaaugh!"
Arcshod would have shrieked... if it weren't for the spear that was impaling his neck. The blow sent him flying back like a skewered boar, knocking his body up a platform, so that it ragdolled over a railing and collapsed in a pool of its own, slimy blood.
Shell stood still, panting for breath. The edge of his bruised muzzle curled upwards.
"Did you see that, Imre?" He slurred as he limped towards the wooden stairs leading towards where Arcshod's corpse fell. "All it needed... w-was a good tailwind..."
Eagle Eye stirred in the mud. Writhing, he pulled himself into a low squat, gazing thinly across the wasteland.
The battle to the east was still stalled, and none of the shells were exploding. But he could see bodies stirring in the distance. Whatever had overwhelmed him and the forces of both armies had come and gone.
He blinked his violet eyes, face wrought with confusion. "I... what happened?" With a pensive breath, he turned around. "Josho—?"
A metal-braced hoof slammed into his side.
"Ooof!" Eagle Eye rolled over in pain.
"Nnnngh!" Seclorum kicked Eagle Eye in the chest... then again and again and again.
Eagle jolted from each violently punishing blow, ultimately curling up as she spat up blood and whimpered in pain.
Seclorum raised his hoof one last time to crush Eagle's skull... but hesitated at the last second. "Hrmmmf..." His nostrils flared as he stood back. "Pathetic. A colt like you... passing itself off as a soldier?" With thudding hooves, he trotted over, then picked Eagle's shield up with metal-braced limbs. He shuffled back, then squatted above Eagle, raising the shield high as he aimed for the small of Eagle's neck. "She'll be here soon..." The old stallion slurred, "And she'll finish you off."
With tear-stained eyes, Eagle looked up, twitching.
Seclorum's teeth glinted upon the knifing edge of morning. He brought the shield violently down... or at least he would have, if he still had his hooves mere seconds after Eagle Eye's flying sword lopped them off. "Graa-aaaaugh!" Seclorum fell back, howling in agony as he waved two metal-braced stubs in front of him.
The old stallion's body fell, revealing Josho standing behind him, his body slumped forward from the force of his weapon-toss. He stared at Seclorum, panting.
Seclorum tried clutching himself, but failed. The pony was reduced to a howling, bleeding mess. Half of his metal rigging was bent inward from the thrown weapon's massacring impact. Gurgling incoherently, he rolled over in the mud and lay still.
Josho clenched his eyes shut. "Shoulda taken up the navy, ya bastard..." He spat into the ground, seethed for a moment, then opened his eyes with a pained expression. After a few seconds, he shook it loose, then scrambled past Seclorum until he sat at Eagle's side. "Eyes up, sunshine." He cradled the petite stallion, lightly slapping his cheek. "Hey. Hey!" He forced Eagle's trembling chin up. "Look here." He waved the flat of his hoof before his lavender face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Eagle Eye squinted. "Wh-what...?"
"Trick question." Josho smirked as he ruffled the unicorn's mane. "Glad you could join the party, princess." He frowned. "Don't ever do it again."
"But... but Pilate sensed..." Eagle Eye looked over, and he gasped sharply. His eyes reflected a bloody, bloody mess. "Josho! Your fr-friend!"
Josho shook his head. "He ain't no friend of mine no more! Not after he almost—"
"No, you d-don't understand..." Eagle Eye quivered all over. He pointed a jittery hoof. "Josho, look..."
Josho did. His eyes went wide as his jaw dropped.
Slowly, step by step, Shell ascended the top most deck of the collapsed Lightning Bearer. As he ascended, his hooves nearly slipped. Calmly, he looked down.
Blood was trickling down the lopsided wooden partitions, only the fluid wasn't red. Much rather, the material was slimy, viscous... and green.
Shell raised an eyebrow over the unscarred half of his face. At last, he reached the top deck, rounded the railing, and stared down. He froze in place, unblinking, his jaw tight.
Limping side by side, Josho and Eagle Eye shuffled through the mud and wreckage. Their eyes remained locked on the body before them. Eagle had to clench his teeth shut to avoid the urge to vomit.
Quietly, Josho set Eagle down and trotted the rest of the way. When he reached the shuddering body in its metal cage, he knelt on limp hooves, leaning over. He inhaled and exhaled in shallow breaths, his eyes squinting over Seclorum's bloody stumps, the green fluid oozing out of his wounds, and the alien hollow spaces forming at random across the remaining lengths of his limbs.
Seclorum's breaths came in little whimpers. His eyes had glazed over, pulsing with a dim green glow from deep within his skull. As he lay like a limp piece of meat inside his metal braces, the color left his body—one length of coat after another—replaced instead by a glossy black gloss, like a shell. Seclorum's own eyes caught sight of a band of green energy rivuleting across his battered flesh, and his trembles increased.
At last, with pitiful little squeaks, his eyes swam up, met Josho's, and immediately teared. "J-Josho..." He coughed and whimpered, tiny fangs forming along his jawline. "What... wh-what am I...?"
Josho's mouth hung open. Silent, he simply shook his head before exhaling, "I do not know, old friend."
The creature's green eyes welled with tears. "I don't... I don't understand..." A spasm flew through the thing's carapace. "Grkkk... she... she promised... sh-she promised she would..." A pair of translucent green ear-clefts went limp, as did the rest of its body. Then, finally, a lasting jerk.
Josho didn't realize it, but he had reached forward to grasp the thing's shoulder. He and Eagle Eye watched with mute confusion as the remaining legs of the creature curled up with a crackling sound, and then all was still. In the deathly silence to follow, both unicorns could only gaze at each other, stupefied.
Shell knelt down, rubbing his chin in deep thought.
The taser lay skewered through Arcshod's neck, only it wasn't Arcshod. Some hideous creature with an equine shape lay before Shell in the Xonan's stead, its obsidian carapace glinting from the surrounding flames. Shell's eye traveled along the thing's slender body, studying a pair of flimsy membranes sticking out of the monster's back, made of webbed translucent gossamer, like dragonfly wings.
The Prime Enforcer's lips pursed. Before he could utter any sort of an exclamation, he heard a pronounced burst of energy. Gasping, he jerked his head up and gazed southeast with one wide eye.
A beam of lavender energy was shooting out of the ravine just east of Seclorum's encampment. Soon, the lavender light split into several, forming a dancing spectrum.
The living prism forced a breath to jump out of Shell's lungs. The horn in his vest pocket pulsed, and a single tear ran down his cheek.
The only thing burning brighter than Rainbow Dash was her eyes. She tilted her face towards the heavens, lighting up the whole Machine World with her body as the source of the pedestal's intense flame. After several deep breaths, her ruby lightning pendant pulsed in sequence with her gaze, and out from the conflagration—a smile emerged.
"Yeah..." Something deeper than thunder, brighter than gold "That's more like it."
Her wings spread.
Tongues of fire fountained outward, plunging into opposite ends of the chasm beyond the bridge. The machines stirred once again, slowly and liquidly this time, and not at the maddening pace as the enflamed book had forced them to earlier.
Rainbow's spine straightened out—as did the rest of her body—and she gave the pedestal beneath her a light push with her hooves, as if diving off the edge of a pool. Instead, she drifted up, slowly at first, then accelerated with each pulsing second, carrying the intense brightness of the Machine World's heart along with her.
Soon, she was zooming skyward, clearing the edges of the canyon, piercing her way towards the overcast heavens beyond as everything beneath her came alive with harmonic animation.
As Zaid and Kera glided their way towards the southern mountain range, a majestic clap of thunder boomed behind them. Zaid had to re-grip the controls as Kera shrieked and clutched the stallion hard. Both spun to gaze at the brightening sky.
A soaring equine shape shot its way up out of the earth, trailing with prismatic beams of light.
"Peaches 'n cream..." Zaid stammered.
Kera watched, jaw drop. And soon that dropped jaw formed a smile.
Several ponies gasped.
"Look!" Zetta exlaimed, pointing. Basso and the others watched in astonished silence.
On board the Jury, several ponies' faces turned to look. Floydien spat something unintelligible, but nopony had the strength or wit to respond.
Props leaned against the railing, her blue eyes sparkling as she tilted her head up, up, and up to follow the trail.
"What... what is it?" Pilate leaned against Belle, gritting his teeth. "What's happening now, for Spark's sake?!"
"It's..." Belle stammered, nuzzling him tightly as she watched "It's Rainbow..."
"Rainbow?!" Pilate gasped. "What's she doing?"
Belle gulped, smiling tearfully. "Being beautiful..."
"Aaaaack!" Props suddenly shrieked.
Everypony turned their heads once more, following the mechanic's outstretched hoof.
A giant, gangly beast had just reached the mouth of the ravine...
...and she leaned forward in her diseased foreclaws, squinting painfully at the streaming energy shooting over her snout.
"No!" Nevlamas hissed. She spread her decrepit leather wings, the fleshy web dissolving even as it stretched before the harmonic resonance. "This is not how it ends!"
Defying all odds, the Dark Divine flapped its massive wings and ascended, skimming the vertical trail of the rainbow streams, chasing after the luminescent pegasus.
"Harmony is dead!" Nevlamas shrieked, its twin jaws lashing closer and closer after Rainbow's fiery tale. "All must be reborn! In chaossssskkkt!" Her eyes flickered as she summoned a huge breath of aquamarine wrath from her burning lungs. "Only in darknesssssskkt—will there be a sssparkkk!"
Rainbow suddenly accelerated. Milliseconds later, the sky exploded with spreading bands of prismatic glory. Nevlamas howled in pain, a good half of her scales dissolving away from the impact of the sonic rainboom. All of her remaining shards of chaos crystals exploded like tumorous postules across her flesh, and she flew back from the blast in a limp plunge.
Rainbow Dash kept ascending, kept accelerating. The sky resounded with thunderous crash after thunderous crash as a second... a third... and a fourth sonic rainboom erupted across the heavens. With each harmonic band shot towards every horizon within view, the clouds cleared up, dissolving to reveal an ocean-blue sky of early-morning tranquility above the ravaged hellscape.
The first to see it was Khao.
The leader of the Herald stirred in her cockpit, groaning with the last vestiges of her anguish. Her teary eyes squeezed open, and she saw Rainbow's figure like a distant torch, dissipating at the end of her brilliant, rainbow arch. As the pegasus disappeared, her body was replaced by a beam of light from the east, as the morning sunrise—now unimpeded—gently kissed the tops of the battlements, chasing the smog and smoldering traces of war away.
Khao gasped, her burnt cheeks taking a last rosy hue beneath filmy eyes.
"So... so majestic... angelic..."
She sobbed. She smiled. She exhaled.
"I-I never knew..." Her grin faded. "...Austraeoh."
A breath, a quiver, and she drifted off in peace.
Ten seconds later, the shockwave of Rainbow's prismatic explosion soared over her, blowing at the dead mare's limp mane.
This same shockwave rippled over the bloodied fields, over the smashed tents and storehouses of Seclorum's encampment, past the huddled bodies of Josho and Eagle Eye, and finally made its way towards the trenches where so many dead and living had frozen in mid-combat.
Every Ledomaritan and Xonan soldier had frozen dead in their tracks, their shocked expressions locked on the light-show erupting in the atmosphere overhead. With the overcast sky cleared, uninterrupted daylight shimmered down on every pony—tattooed and otherwise. Every grisly detail of the bloody melee lingered before open sight, with blood and sinew laid bare before quivering eyesight.
At last, the shockwave washed over the flinching soldiers, covering them with an otherworldly fabric of spectral energy, harmonic and cleansing. They shuddered, shivering in place before looking at one another.
Only... it was then that they realized that several sets of eyes were different. Voices murmured in shock—both Ledomaritan and Xonan—as, in every few hundred paces, there stood a stranger in their midst.
Equines with black carapaces stood, hunched over, sporting manarfiles and tasers on the Ledomaritans side... or scimitars and serpentine armor on the Xonan side. These creatures wheezed and whimpered, gazing at the unchanged ponies with uncontrollable shivers. Then, one after another, they flitted skyward on gossamer wings, dropping their various sets of weapon and armor.
The soldiers left standing gasped in shock. It wasn't until several seconds had passed before a random Ledomaritan decided to do something about it, and started taking pot-shots at the creatures as they flew away. Soon, several Xonans joined the volley, firing skyward with their crossbolts.
Two creatures were hit, their shells rupturing and spilling green slime across the trenches. They fell to the mud, writhing in agony, before turning stiff with porous hooves curled towards their chests. The rest of the monsters flew off, forming a flock of at least two dozen—soaring due east without stopping.
As they disappeared into the sunlight, the Ledomaritans and Xonans stood in stunned silence, catching their breaths. Gradually, they looked blankly at one another, not talking, not moving.
Rainbow soared upwards, her body finally decelerating. Only at the end of her ascent did her figure stop shimmering. The prismatic light ribboned into her core, leaving a dull pulse in the center of her pendant. Wings and arms spread, she hovered briefly at the roof of the world, higher than any cloud or explosive or word could reach.
Her eyes fluttered shut, trailing with icy tears.
And she fell.
Her body toppeled, twirled, then fell limply towards the sunlit world-scar below.
Her plunge consumed the better part of a minute. When she was low enough to smell the faint traces of smoke, her eyes drifted open. She became aware of her terminal velocity, and she struggled weakly to spread her wings and glide to safety.
That's when the gnarled talon of claws grasped tightly around her.
"Hrkkkkk!" Rainbow's face turned ten times bluer. Her eyes bulged as pain wracked her torso.
Fiercely, she was raised towards the angry face of a diseased monster. Barely carrying herself aloft with spiderwebbed wings, Nevlamas levitated in place, gripping Rainbow Dash tighter. "You..." She hissed, sputtered for breath, and spat bloodied saliva past Rainbow's wincing figure. "I may notttt-skskkkktt have ended Harmony..." Her slimy irises narrowed. The Dark Divine's face was practically melting as she spoke. "But... I-I have enough ssssstrength in me to end the Harmony Bearer..."
Rainbow Dash didn't even have half-a-breath to retort. She gritted her teeth, tears forming in the corners of her pained eyes.
Nevlamas' fractured jaws opened wide, spitting spoke and aquamarine embers. "Behold... the death of Ausssstreaoh..."
Thunder boomed in the distance, taking on a voice as large as mountains. "Not until her journey is complete, Nevlamas."
"Scrkkkk!" The Divine's snout jerked towards the blinding sunrise. "Ssssister?"
Flying in like a comet, a pair of violet-red jaws with two sets of teeth clasped tight over Nevlamas' neck. The Dark Divine shrieked, instantly dropping Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus body flew, toppled—only to be caught in a larger, healthier pair of claws. These enormous fingers did not crush Rainbow, but instead held her safely as the rest of the behemoth's body shoved Nevlamas clear across the sky and into the southern face of the torn valley's bordering mountains in the north.
"Hraaaaaauckkkt!" Nevlamas' shrieked, tossing her neck back and forth in the jaws of its sudden adversary. She yelped and howled like a rabid canine as slowly the strength was leaked from her body. "Sisssster! Sister, let me go! Hrkkkk! I can... I-I can still solve this! I can ssssssstill patch up this f-fesssssstering wound in the cosmossssskkkttt!"
"There is nothing left to solve, Nevlamas," the majestic voice boomed back. Rainbow, weary and fading, felt herself being lowered gently to the edge of the mountainside. "Not by us, at least. It is up to Austraeoh now. She will bring the wind to the far ends of this ruptured world, just as she's brought the wind to you..." A pronounced snarl. "A task that I could not accomplish, as you very well know, beloved sister..."
Nevlamas tossed her head back, her body slumped against the crumbling mountain as if it was a giant bed of wilted roses. Her breath came out in ragged whines, piercing the ear that was already hazy from her dissolving life blood. "I fought so hard, Axan. I fought sssssso hard and for so long..." Nevlamas's eyeslits quivered, steaming in the far corners as she bled through every crackling scale. "Hckkkkttt... I sssssssought to succeed where Endrax failed..." She gurgled, spat out an oozing fountain of aquamarine blood, and whimpered like a whelp. "Thisssss world... is m-more diseased than I am. Tell me, Axan, where did we g-go wrong? Where did we fail?"
"We became old, Nevlamas. Old and jaded, and now even the mortals outshine us." A deep, fuming breath, and Rainbow caught sight of a pair of massive scarlet wings enshrouding the mountain like a veil, obscuring both behemoths. "Endrax waits for a spark, and Austraeoh carries it. There was a time when I didn't believe this, and it nearly cost this world everything."
The Dark Divine's voice was a whisper now, fractured and flimsy like the last vestiges of night. "She's one of them, Axan. A phantom of the betrayer'sssss blood-Hckkkkt!" A weathering shy. "What hope is left... under the cloudssss of chaos...?"
"Shhhhhh. Sleep forever, Goddess of Magic. If even you can find peace, then so can harmony." The sky heated up. Axan's wings glowed from the inside like a leather lantern, and Nevlamas' suffering shrieks were no more.
The silence reined Rainbow into tranquil blackness. She collapsed with a sigh.
Months ago, ponies on the outskirts of an arid farming village looked towards the west.
They gasped, dropped their utensils, and gathered together in frightened little clusters.
A massive figure swooped in from the Wasteland, carrying something in its scarlet talons. With a leering snout, it gave the farmers a burning glare, then touched down on its hulking haunches. Carefully, it laid out a limp, battered equine figure across the dusty earth.
With a claw, the dragon spread Rainbow's bandaged wings apart, pausing to caress and examine the pegasus' chin.
Nostrils fumed, and the Divine's red eyes shrank.
"If you are truly the vessel of both chaos and harmony..." the creature boomed, "Then you will accomplish more than just the restoration of a dying world. You will restore hope. Here and abroad."
As the ponies gawked, the creature took wing, and ascended towards the jagged mountains towards the northeast.
"I will be watching you from afar, Austraeoh..."
Rainbow Dash murmured something in response.
Only the wind answered, brushing her bangs like a friendly hoof. She reached up, blindly caressing the morning air.
"And I will keep watching over you," that same voice boomed, growing more and more distant. "After all, you restored my sister, even in her dying breath. For that... you have my faith, if nothing else..."
Rainbow Dash's eyes opened.
She saw nothing but lavender.
She blinked.
Dark shadows brushed against the mountain. The sound of leathery wings ripped through the air.
Rainbow stirred, jolted. She sat up with a gasp, looking all around. She heard and felt the rattle of her Loyalty Pendant around her neck.
She was alone, strewn on the mountainside.
Panting, Rainbow Dash stood tall. All of the dizziness was gone, and along with it the disabling waves of pain and numbness. She stared southeast, having to squint, for the sun rose bright and furious over a battered horizon. She saw the carnage of war in every detail: bodies strewn through the bloodied mud, managliders crashed and smoldering, row after row of demolished tents and shell fragments.
Her face grimaced in disgust. She shuddered, hanging her head down low to the ground. Then, slowly—one limb after another—she shook in vehemenent rage. She tilted her head back up, and when she did, she was sneering. Her gaze shot southwest, trailing the southern edge of the lower mountains.
She saw the Steel Wing and the Lightning Bearer fused together as one bloated, burning carcass.
With a deep gowl, Rainbow Dash took off, shot her way southwest, and hurled herself towards the wreckage.
Shell levitated a scimitar along his flank, studying the sharp edges of Arcshod's former weapon. At least... the creature that assumed the figure of his former opponent. Warily, Shell cast an eye towards the collapsed abomination, staring at its cracked carapace. He tongued the inside of his mouth, turned around, and proceeded to climb his way out of the wreckage towards a spare managlider he had seen a few moments earlier.
Not long after, a brisk wind soared by, blowing his graying manes.
Shell stumbled, gasping. He spun about, eye wide, just in time to see a prismatic blur shoot its way into the heart of the ruptured Lightning-Bearer.
"Is it her..."
Shell twitched. Shell hissed in fury.
"Imre, she dares..." He stomped his hooves and bellowed. "She dares!"
Shell's cries fell on deaf ears as Rainbow sailed into the hollow belly of the Lightning Bearer. Beams of the sunrise bled through the burning cracks, filling the interior with an otherworldly brilliance that bounced enchantingly across the battered bulkheads.
Rainbow landed on grinding hooves, kicking up dust and soot as pieces of lumber crackled and collapsed around her.
"Lasairfion!" Rainbow hollered. Her voice echoed across the bulwarks, flouncing the limp manes of dead Xonan maidservants. She trotted over bodies and pools of blood, the wages of the Xonan monarch's sins. "Lasairfion, it's over!" Rainbow yellowed, teeth bearing. "Come out and face me, you coward! You'd better still be alive, because I want the chance to beat you senseless!"
There was no reply. More wooden beams collapsed. Sparks of a half-stifled flame erupted to Rainbow's left, then smoldered into nothingness.
Rainbow began panting, her seething breaths reduced to an emotional hyperventilation. Turning and glancing—she suddenly jerked in place.
There, besides a fractured window with a bent metal aperature, the monarch stood, tall and proud, gazing into the eastern light.
Rainbow Dash hissed as she slithered closer to her target. "Only someone as lame and pathetic as you would find a way to cause all of this!" She slammed her hooves down and spread her wings. "Look at me, you stuffed-up, murderous melon fudge!"
Slowly, coolly, Princess Lasairfion pivoted around. Her leering eyes stood out within the shadow that the window's lit frame made.
Rainbow stood in the silhouette of her shadow, snarling angrily. "Look at this! Look at all this carnage that you've caused! And just what have you gained, huh?!"
Lasairfion was silent. Her eyes narrowed on Rainbow.
"I know you aren't on the Xonans' side! So whose side are you on?!" Rainbow Dash bellowed. "And bringing Nevlamas into this! Creating a monster of pain and agony?! Turning two gigantic armies full of angry ponies on each other?! What was it all for, you moron?!" She dashed an inch forward, slamming her hooves against the cracked wood for emphasis. "Answer me! Why did you have to bring chaos and hatred to this stinkin' continent?! Hasn't it suffered enough already?"
Silence.
And then... Lasairfion smiled.
"Hmmmm... you're as feisty as my children have told me, Rainbow Dash. It's a miracle you've survived this far without Applejack to bite onto your tail."
Rainbow Dash's eyes bulged. She limped backwards, one hoof raised, as if dealt a frigid slap to the face. "Who..." Her ruby pupils shrank and her voice cracked, "Wh-what are you...?"
A pair of fangs slid out of Lasairfion's mouth. Her voice took on a deep, vibrating tone, "It's all rather simple 'Austraeoh.' Hatred is just a very passionate form of love." And with that, her eyes flashed green. A ring of fire flashed around her as her mane lifted up, revealing a zig-zagged horn that fired a blast of emerald energy at Rainbow's body.
Rainbow Dash flinched. Her vision flashed, and in her next breath she found herself being blown a hundred feet back in the span of two seconds. Her body slammed hard against a wooden wall, sending pieces of brunt splinters flying everywhere. The moment she slumped to the ground, she heard the flitting sound of gossamer wings. Looking up, she saw a black body levitating over the spot where Lasairfion was. With the flicker of a vomit-green mane, the equine was gone, tearing its way out the hull of the Lightning Bearer and sending a climactic shiver throughout the entire structure.
The ceiling buckled. The walls were collapsing.
Rainbow winced, and that wince turned into a fuming snarl as she shook the cobwebs out, spread her feathers wide, and took wing. She blurred out of the hall of corpses just as the ship began its dreadful implosion.
On the outside, Shell clambered over a wall of debris to get to the exposed interior of the Lightning Bearer. Something sleek shot out the edge of his peripheral vision. He gasped, spinning about. His eye caught something soaring east, the sunlight pouring through its dragonfly wings and porous leg-joints.
Before he could react, a second body zoomed out of the ship beneath him. He gasped, spinning towards the prismatic blur. He levitated the scimitar above him, growling deeply as he attempted to skewer the figure in mid-air.
However, the structure of the Lightning-Bearer rumbled beneath him. He could hear the wooden cross-beams tearing. With something resembling a sob, the battered Prime Enforcer leapt clear off the side, just milliseconds before the deck beneath him collapsed. He fell—flailing—into the dusty mountain's edge as both the Lightning-Bearer and the Steel Wing succumbed to their combined weight behind him.
"Friggin' there you are!" Zaid spoke as he brought the managlider alongside the Noble Jury, both floating high over the smoldering remains of the camp. Below them, several Ledomaritan soldiers, nurses, and supply workers had come out of hiding, inspecting the overwhelming damage of the early morning battle. "I had to circle around twice to find you guys! Nice ship you got here. You could tap-dance with an elephant around it!"
"We... uhm..." Pilate shuddered, tilting his head towards where Josho and Eagle Eye stood hunched besides Ebon and the others. "We had to pick them up. They... they've discovered something. But... that's not what matters now—"
Belle almost knocked Pilate over as she rushed forward. "Zaid!" Her chestnut eyes were wide as saucers. "Are you Mister Zaid?"
"Only if you're nasty. Nice manecut, by the way. Very Sineigh O'Colter."
"Is she with you?!" Belle's voice squeaked. "Do you have her safe?!"
"Oh, you mean this little thing?!" Zaid smirked as he hoisted Kera off the managlider and held her forward, petite legs dangling. "I dunno if she's yours or not. The little scamp looks tagged."
Kera gasped wide. "Belle! Pilate!"
"Oh darling!" Belle slid forward and collapsed on her knees. "Kera, c'mere..."
Zaid let Kera down, and the filly scampered forward, dragging the book behind. She leapt so hard into Belle's grasp that she plowed the mare over. Both engazed in a savage nuzzlefest, serenaded by giggles and sobs. Soon, Pilate stumbled his way, felt his beloved's shoulder, and knelt down to join the embrace.
"I'm so sorry, you guys!" Kera squeaked, her eyes squeezing tiny tears loose as she buried her face in Belle's chest. "I'm so sorry for jumping ship! I wanted to stop them from grabbing the book! I-I didn't think!"
"Shhhh... it's okay... you're safe now..." Belle hiccuped, nuzzling the foal dearly in spite of her bruises. "You're safe. Oh, praise the Spark, you're s-safe..."
"Kera!" Props gasped, galloping forward with a hoof oustretched. "OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh!" She swept past the filly and picked the book up, nuzzling the glowing lavender runes. "You brought the Jury's energy source back! Squee!"
Kera rolled her green eyes and smiled up at the couple, sniffling. "What matters is that we're all safe! Rainbow saved the d-day! Again! Didja see?"
Belle smiled, but slowly that smile left. She bit her lip and gazed towars the floor. Pilate too hung his head in a somber fashion.
Kera blinked, her jaw dropping. "I... I don't get it. Why the long faces... erm... longer faces." She giggled, but got no response. Slowly, she gulped, and muttered, "Who... wh-who did we lose...?"
"We lost Simon, and... and now..." Pilate tilted his head aside.
Kera looked over his and Belle's shoulders. She gasped, cupping two hooves over her muzzle.
Zaid trotted forward as Props turned around, hugging the book sullenly to her chest. The stallion's ears drooped. "Awwwwwwwwwwww shucks..."
Silence...
Then the entire Noble Jury rocked.
Everypony glanced towards the bow.
Rainbow Dash had landed on all four hooves. Her pendant rattled to a stop as she coiled her wings tight to her chest, took a deep breath, and uttered, "'Sup?" Thud! She fell flat on her muzzle.
Zaid winced.
Belle reached over, still holding onto Kera, and helped Rainbow to her knees.
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow winced, squatting low. She narrowed her eyes at Belle, then tiredly uttered, "H-hey there, Ding-Dong. I wonder if you feel half as b-bad as you look right now, and I mean that in as friendly a way as possible."
"Rainbow, I'm... I-I'm so glad to see you, it's just th-that..." Belle grimaced.
Rainbow blinked. "What?"
"Well... uhm... it's..." Belle's voice shriveled into a stifled whimper.
Pilate placed a hoof on his beloved's shoulder as he spoke over Kera's trembling head. "Something happened while you were gone."
Rainbow mouthed those last words. She stood up straight, peering over everypony. She saw Josho and Eagle Eye hunched over Ebon's shoulder. She saw Props and even Floydien gathered around. The pony she didn't see was—
Rainbow's eyes twitched. Her cold breath fogged up the pendant around her neck.
Ebon Mane instantly shuffled aside when Rainbow Dash trotted up. The pegasus halted as soon as she got a clear sight. Her ears folded, and she stooped down on trembling knees. Gulping, she looked up, flashing a glance from one equine to another.
"I... I don't get it... wh-when?"
"Around the time the first lights flickered," Ebon said. "Every unicorn's horn was going haywire. And then... erm... and then the Jury--"
"Everything running on mana went down," Props said, squeezing the book in her grip as her blue eyes glistened. "At first, I thought it was engine failure, but then I realized it was happening everywhere and to everypony's tech..."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, staring back down with glossy eyes. "Her... her manacore." She gritted her teeth. "Friggin' A... that's what happened. It failed her."
"It all happened so fast, Rainbow Dash," Pilate said as he held Belle and Kera close. "There's nothing anypony could have done fast enough." He gulped. "Including you—"
"I'm not fast enough?!" she barked, sneering.
Pilate and Belle winced. The other ponies looked away, all save for Kera, whose face was trickling with tears.
Rainbow gulped and glanced back. "But... b-but the Jury is fine now! Maybe... maybe she c-can be fine too! Maybe she got better—"
"That was over thirty minutes ago, Rainbow Dash," Ebon Mane said. "She... sh-she's been cold ever since."
Eagle Eye's face scrunched up. He turned and hid into Josho's big shoulder before he had a chance to sob. The large stallion said nothing.
Rainbow exhaled calmly. The edges of her eyes shimmered as she gently reached forward, playing with the metal-ringlets at the ends of Roarke's mane. "Belle," she murmured. "Tell me... what am I doing wrong?"
Belle sniffled, then glanced aside. "You... Y-You've done nothing wrong, Rainbow." She leaned over and nuzzled the pegasus, pausing in her sobs just long enough to speak evenly. "You've given everything to save all of us—and more. This battle came to a complete halt. I wish you could have seen it." She smiled delicately. "One way or another, you keep on flying, and you're spreading harmony where the world needs it."
Rainbow bit her lip to the bleeding point. "Then... how come I keep meeting ponies... and they just k-keep dying?"
Belle stammered wordlessly. A tear rolled down her cheek as she hung her head.
Rainbow's nostrils flared. "This isn't what Imre would have wanted." Her face wilted in pain. "This... isn't what Twilight and the girls would have wanted." Her jaws clenched. A slight whimper fluttered in the base of her throat. "Celestia, why am I even still alive...?" She leaned her head down, her body starting to heave. Belle and Props reached over from opposite sides, rubbing the pegasus' shoulders.
The Noble Jury hung in silence. Even Floydien's red eyes grew glossy.
And then Zaid groaned. "Pffffft. Yeah, alright. Enough of this shiet—" And he fiercely shoved his hoof into the back of Rainbow's neck.
"Mmmmmmmfff!" Rainbow's lips pressed hard against Roarke's cold muzzle. She sputtered and lifted her face as everypony gasped. "Zaid?!?"
The stallion shrugged. "Well, that's how it always worked in my book!"
Rainbow was glaring daggers. "How whatworked?!"
"Gaaaaah!" Roarke suddenly inhaled, her whole body thrusting upwards.
"Luna Poop!" Rainbow fell back with a shriek.
"Spit!"
"Giggling Gagglesprockets!"
"Whoah dayum!"
"Haaah!" Zaid grinned a crescent moon. He jumped high and pumped a hoof into the air. "Biz-zowwww! Woooo! Yeah!" He slapped his hooves together. "What'd I friggin' tell you?!"
Roarke sat up straight, sputtering and spitting, her mane rattling like a throng of rattlesnakes while everypony (and elk) gawked.
"Storybook story, motherbuckers! Sleeping goddess-dayum-beauty! With explosions!" Zaid raised his hoof high. "Now who likes grilled-cheese?! Huh?! High-hoof!"
Floydien zapped Zaid into a mast.
"Ooof!"
As the stallion collapsed, Ebon shuffled over and sat besides the metal mare. "Roarke! How... in the wide world of hay alfredo are you still alive?!"
"Grkkkk..." Roarke quivered all over, clutching her lower abdomen. "B-b-backup... core..."
"You... you..." Ebon's eyebrow turned into ellipses. "You have a backup manacore?"
"Well of course she does, silly Ebony!" Props chirped, rolling her eyes. "Didn't you take Searonese 101? Why fill your body with two-thirds gizmos if you can fill it with three-fourths gizmos at thrice the cost?!"
"And just where do you have the room inside your cold, cold body for a backup manacore?!" Ebon squawked.
"Nnnnnghhh..." Roarke growled, her eye-lenses pistoning in and out. "You think a mare like me plans on using her b-birth canal anytime soon?"
"Oh, uhm, well I guess that makes—"
"You!" Roarke gripped his throat.
"Mmmmm-mommy!" Ebon wheezed.
"Why didn't you kill me when I asked you to, breeder?!" Roarke grumbled. "I told you I deserved a warrior's death!"
"B-b-but I couldn't! I-I didn't know how!" Ebon sweated profusely, trembling in her grip. "The only thing I know h-how to kill is an empty stomach!"
"How about I emptyyour stomach?!" Roarke shoved him hard across the deck and dragged herself up on trembling hooves. "Just reach in there and hollow it out with a Searonese war drill?! But I bet you'd love that, wouldn't ya, you sorry-tailed sissy?!"
"Heeeeeeeeee!" Eagle Eye plowed Roarke down to the deck, hugging her intensely. "Roarke, you're you againnnnn!"
"Grrrrrr!" Roarke snarled, thrashing helplessly at him with limp, un-armored limbs. "Get off me! I will murder you and your entire family!"
Instantly, the majority of the crew cooed and drew in, hugging the metal mare in a tight circle. Even Kera and Belle stopped sobbing long enough to nuzzle whatever piece of Roarke they could get a hoof-hold of.
Josho rolled his eyes, though it took all his muster not to bear even the slightest of smirks. Floydien stood tall in the background, cracking his neck joints. He caught a pair of ruby eyes from across the group, nodded, and turned right around before entering the cockpit. Slowly, with gusts of steam, the Noble Jury pivoted over the battlefield and glided its way east.
Rainbow Dash stared, her eyes darting back and forth from smiling face to smiling face. Roarke was throwing a hissy fit, in answer to which Eagle Eye merely giggled. Ebon laughed while Props hummed a merry little tune. In the middle of it all, Belle leaned back to take some time to nuzzle one another while Kera began dramatically weaving a tale of the last ten minutes inside the machine world.
Slowly, with an agonized groan, Zaid stood up. "Alright..." He raised a hoof and smiled crookedly. "I'll settle for some PB&J." That said, he collapsed onto the deck, out cold.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Slowly, her smile faded, and she gazed deeply—thoughtfully—into the eastern horizon, squinting against the sunrise, as Floydien made off for some nebulous destination.
As the Noble Jury roared off—a ruby skystone streak against the bright horizon—Basso and Zetta stood in a tight cluster with their fellow ponies. They held tight to each other, comrades in arms upon the valley of desolation.
As time passed, they heard hoofsteps shuffling up. The predominantly Ledomaritan group glanced down the hillside.
Several figures—mostly Xonan—were hobbling up the southern flank of the distant battlefield. A few Ledomaritans led the group. As soon as eye contact was made between the two clusters, the arriving ponies raised their hooves to show that they weren't armed.
Anxiously at first, the survivors of the Lightning-Bearer trotted forward, mingling with their long-lost allies, and keeping a wary yet peaceful distance from the tattooed equines. The warrior that had flown Rainbow Dash in from the ravine trotted up to speak fervently with the group, and many of his brothers' faces gaped in shock from the news he had to share.
Zetta gazed at the conference, and her weary eyes scanned the horizon, spotting forces from both sides congregating over the bloody fringes of the battleground. She gulped and said, "Are... are you seeing this?" She shuddered. "Is this really happening?"
Basso nodded dumbly. "I think it is, Zetta."
She stifled a whimper. "Basso, where do we all go from here?"
Silence.
He gave her shoulder a slight squeeze. "Is your head melting from any more evil dire death song?"
Zetta's face scrunched up, but ultimately she shook her head. "No."
The massive stallion shrugged. "Then I think we're okay."
She blinked at that, then giggled slightly.
He smiled as she leaned against him.
After a long sigh, Zetta gazed into the sunlit wasteland and murmured, "I wanna go home, Basso..."
He gently stroked her shoulder, not even hurting her in the slightest. "You know what?"
"Hmmm?" She gazed up at him.
"For the first time that I can remember..." Basso smiled, his eyes watering. "I know for absolutely sure that we can..."
Deep in the metal ravine...
A lone figure stood in the shadows of grinding machinery.
With a shuddering breath, she looked up, and her tearful eyes reflected a blue swath of sky.
High above, the clouds had cleared, and Nightshade saw pearlescent shades of untainted atmosphere. Wispy clouds formed in the distance, followed by black streaks of wayward birds. Even above the tumult of the buzzing apparati, the Madame of Blue Nova could hear signs of life, as soldiers from both sides—in mixed castes and mixed tongues—converged as one as they salvaged what they could from the dead.
The morning sun was rising, and its angular beams swam over the deep ravine for the first time in years. The light anointed the tip of Nightshade's stubby horn, and she retreated deeper into the shadows, wincing.
"Novus..." The mare hiccuped. A tear streaked down her face... followed by a second and a third, absorbing the last specks of darkness that the shadows had to give. "Novus, my brother..." She inhaled sharply. "My g-gorgeous, gorgeous children. What h-have I done...?"
Shuddering, she looked down... down into the murky depths below.
A minute passed. The sunlight finally reached the full length of the bridge. But by the time that it did, though, Nightshade was no longer there.
In a field of corpses, surrounded by blood and the detritus of war, a metal clanging sound echoed against the fractured remnants of the Lightning Bearer. Sparks flew, splashing across an intact managlider and a sack of cluttered rations.
The impacts grew louder, more and more desperate, and finally—with a resounding crack—they ceased altogether. In its place, a long and stifled groan rippled across the deathscape.
Silence... then a scimitar flew to the ground, its sharp edge bloodied and covered with scrapes of bone.
A crooked shadow rummaged from the nearby firelight. Huddled over, Shell quivered in pain, but nonetheless pressed a pair of hooves tightly to his forehead.
"Grrkkkk... hrckkkkk—You... y-your t-talents are no longer r-required, Dear Doctor. I c-cast you out of her... cast you out by th-the authorittttyy-grkkkkt... authority granted in me... by Ledo... m-most righteous... deliverer of wrath... of f-fury... and of fire...."
Slowly, heaving, Shell sat up. Blood streamed down his face in scarlet tributaries. He closed his eyes, accepting the christening gesture from the jagged stub on his forehead. With careful hooves, he finished tightening the end of a pale-pale horn to his brow. He took a deep breath, holding his forelimbs out as he licked his own blood on the way down past his lips.
"D-do you hear that, Imre?! Sh-she is gone... she and all of h-her friends are ashes! I... grkkkt... sw-swear it!" His eyelids tensed as he sputtered through his own juices, trembling savagely. "We are alone now, my b-beloved daughter! Together f-forever! Speak to me! Speak in communion of your father, and I-I shall grant your everlasting wish!"
He heaved.
He sobbed.
And then, his body locked still.
Slowly, like a candle being extinguished in reverse, a dull light ran up to the end of his bloody forehead stub. But it didn't stop there, for the cap at the end of it flickered with brilliant sparks, illuminating the graven tattoos of the bodies lying around him. Shelle inhaled, like a foal coming up for water, and something beamed from his face. His left eye open. And the scar on his right side peeled away, The meaty socket glowed from within, and a crackling grin flickered underneath the luminescent gaze.
"Grrrrkkkt... yes... yes, we will, Imre. We will make it so..." He hissed, wheezed, and sobbed through a smiling face. "Daddy loves us. Grnnghh... h-he does."
"It wasn't just Seclorum," Josho said, his bruised face staring into the wind. Noon sunlight glinted across his scruffy features as he spoke towards the ponies gathered on deck. "But there were tons of other ponies—on both sides: Ledomaritan and Xonan. As soon as color wheel here did her fireworks act, they all lost their disguise and took off."
"Towards the east, r-right?" Rainbow asked.
"Hell if I know. Eagle got a good look at 'em. Didn't ya, princess?"
Eagle Eye nodded, shuddering. "I saw at least two dozen of them, maybe more. They took off from the trenches where the ground battles was the messiest and flew towards the horizon." He gulped. "They all had dark coats—like Seclorum. Only... they weren't coats per se..."
"It was glossier...?" Rainbow Dash thought aloud. "Like... almost a shell?"
Eagle Eye bit his lip.
"Like a big frickin' beatle with features," Josho growled. "As soon as we lopped his forelimbs off, we saw all this green slime coming out of 'em. Poor bastard didn't know what he was too. I could see the look of pain and confusion in Seclorum's eyes—" Josho winced. "Er, I mean..." His voice trailed off.
Silence hung beneath the warm, windy gusts.
Belle leaned close to Pilate, all the while draping a protective hoof over Kera's shoulder as the filly sat beside her. After a nervous breath, the mares asked, "And the ponies inside the ravine that you found..." She squinted. "They were replacements?"
"Sure as crap sounded like it," Josho said. "Even before we saw the monsters take wing, I knew that we were dealing with something big here. Bigger than this whole war!" He frowned. "And then I learned that the Xonans had been split, all thanks to that Lasairfion bimbo."
Belle glanced over at Rainbow. "She was one of those creatures too, right? Didn't you say you saw her change?"
Rainbow fidgeted. "She was more than that. Crazier than what you guys are describing."
"How so?" Eagle asked.
"I dunno. She..." Rainbow sighed. "She... like... was bigger? And... like... she had this crooked horn that zapped me with some really powerful stuff. I'm pretty dang lucky I didn't have my neck snapped in two."
"Yeepsies!" Props gasped. "Who could do that to Rainbow Dash?"
"The list is pretty long, actually," Rainbow droned with a brief smirk. "But this mare-thingy? She packed quite the whallop. And then she..." She bit her lip.
"What, Rainbow?"
"Well, she changed into something else. Poof! Green flame and all that jazz—and she's gone. But... but that wasn't all. She... uh... she knew something about me."
Rainbow Dash's eyes twitched. She inhaled deeply, gazing across the Jury until her eyes fell on Pilate and Belle.
The couple were silent.
"She... she just knew stuff, okay?" Rainbow's lips went tight. "Friggin' mind reader or whatcrap. I dunno." Her head hung low. "Lasairfion—or whatever she was—flew away super friggin' fast and I was too dazed by the blast to catch up."
"What do you mean?!" Ebon gawked. "You're the fastest pony alive! Surely you could have—"
Eagle's hoof rested over Ebon's muzzle. The unicorn looked over. "After all you've done, Rainbow, nopony can blame you for losing your breath." He smiled sympathetically. "For a second there, it seemed like every unicorn's skull was going to explode."
"Don't forget what was happening to Handsome's ship!" Props exclaimed, motioning towards the cockpit with her head. "We were about twenty seconds from Kablooey before your explosion powers saved the day!"
"Yes, well, it's nothing to write home about..." Rainbow Dash teetered dizzily.
"Rainbow!" Belle leaned in just in time to catch the pegasus. "Are you okay?"
"Awwwwwww..." Props cooed. "Poor filly-willy must be poop-tired!"
"Eew. Yeah. No more of that talk. Thank you." Rainbow's eyes drifted Ebon's way. "Where's Roarke?"
"I... uh... dragged her down to the infirmary," Ebon said with a nervous smile. "I'm at about twenty-one death threats to my name right about now."
"Don't worry," Rainbow grunted, shuffling towards the stairwell at the stern in a zig-zagged motion. "I'm pretty sure we can find a bunch of gold loot somewhere to pay your bounty off." She wheezed. "Maybe."
Ebon's face paled. "Buh?"
"Right now..." Rainbow slurred, almost diving down the stairwell. "I got someplace to be."
"Like where, exactly?" Josho grumbled.
"Not here."
"You mind giving us a clue, paintbrush?!" Josho cackled. "Cuz I'm really super flankhurt about this whole shape-shifting monster crap!" He stomped a hoof. "What the heck did they do with Seclorum?! He wasn't down in the ravine! So where is he?"
"And for that matter..." Ebon gestured towards the skinny stallion standing amongst them. "What do we do with this dude?"
"Yeah!" Zaid nodded. "What do we do with me? And does it involve something edible?"
"Isn't he—y'know—part of the evil cultist lady's group?"
"You mean the mare who gave her life to save us when all was super crazy metal?" Rainbow hollered back.
"Erm..."
"Meh... Zaid's mostly harmless. Give him food, belly rubs, and cider and he'll sing for you. Speaking of which, a lullaby would be g-good right about now..." And Rainbow Dash disappeared down the stairwell.
"Will you let her be?!" Kera's voice cracked. "She's been through enough, y'know!"
"And just who hasn't, huh?" Josho remarked.
"Knock it off, old stallion," Eagle Eye muttered.
"Yeah, or what?"
Eagle gave him a glare of glinting violet. "How would you like to eat your own belly fat."
Josho blinked, then chuckled raspily. "Look at you. Tilling the balls farm."
"I mean it, Josho."
"Sure ya do." Josho slapped his hoof over the unicorn's back. "There's hope for you yet, kiddo."
"Gaaaaie!" Eagle plummeted to the deck.
Josho sighed, rolling his eyes. "Then again..."
"Pilate, if you don't mind..." Belle quietly nudged him.
He kissed her forehead and let go of her hoof. "Go check on her, beloved. I'll join you shortly."
Belle hurried down the stairwell, followed shortly by Kera on scampering hooves. In the meantime, Pilate tilted his head so that his ear faced the distant cockpit.
"What course did you take us on, Mr. Floydien?!"
"Any spit-forsaken direction but west!" the elk shouted back. "Unless striped boomer protests!"
"Not at all!" Pilate took a deep breath and faced the other ponies on board.
"You know..." Josho thought aloud in a dull tone. "If those creatures went east..."
"Right..." Pilate breathed deeply.
Silence.
Props leaned forward. "Insect horse dance party?"
Ebon and Eagle Eye simultaneously face-hoofed.
"At the risk of sounding like a total noob, is it okay to like her?" Zaid pointed at the blonde, smirking. "'Cuz I like her."
“Hammock hammock hammock hammock…” Rainbow Dash limped through the top floor of the Noble Jury. She climbed her way through the kitchen and trotted swiftly down the mess hall and lounge. “...hammock hammock hammock hammock…”
“Rainbow Dash!” Bellesmith squeaked. Wincing belatedly from her own bruises, the mare picked up speed, breaking into a swift canter in hopes of catching up with the pegasus. “Rainbow, wait up!”
Rainbow passed the infirmary. “Hammock hammock hammock hammock--hey Roarke--hammock hammock hammock.” A disgruntled voice groaned from the room as the pony zoomed by.
“Rainbow! Please! Just for one s-second!” Belle stammered.
“Hammock hammock hammock…” Rainbow galloped past the bunk rooms, slid down the crawlspace at the bow, and practically threw herself into the observation room. “Hammockhammockhammockhammock!” With a lunge, she fwoomped onto one of the hanging nets and cooed into the fibrous webs. “Hmmmmmmmmmyeahhhhhh…” Her legs and tail hung limp on the edges of the suspended bed.
Stumbling, Belle climbed down the crawlspace and stood on the even floor. She slowly drifted into the observation room, squinting against the sunlight glinting in through the skeletal frame of the bubble window.
“Hrmmmmmphhhhnnnghhh…” Rainbow Dash curled up in the hammock where she hung on the compartment’s port side. Her eyes fluttered, tensed, then opened. She gazed thinly at Belle, and ultimately smiled. “Hey, Ding Dong.”
Belle smiled softly, leaning against a bulkhead. “Hey yourself.”
Rainbow’s ears twitched. “Y’know, I had a dream that… like… there was this huge battle, and all my new friends were there, and I totally did the sonic rainboom in a chaos dragon’s face.”
Belle stifled a chuckle, slowly nodding. “How ironic. I remember a pony very close to me doing the exact same thing.”
Rainbow’s nostrils flared. She stirred on the hammock and stretched a limp hoof out. “Come closer, girl…”
With a shuffle of her hooves, Belle obeyed. She trotted closer until Rainbow’s fetlock grazed her cheek. The mare winced slightly, but simply turned her head, allowing the pegasus to study her still-red welts.
Rainbow’s jaw had tightened. After a deep breath, she grumbled, “Did you see what happened to him?”
Belle slowly shook her head. “I’m… pretty sure he was on board the Steel Wing.” She gulped. “When… when it went down.”
Rainbow nodded. “Good.” She retracted her hoof and curled up again. “Because Celestia help him if he was still alive…”
“He’s… uhm… he’s survived worse, Rainbow Dash.”
“So maybe he has.” Rainbow sighed into her forelimbs. “And so have I.”
Belle said nothing.
“Call it morbid, but--in his case--I’m happy to imagine the worse.”
“We have the book again, and it looks like it’s still powered by the flame Nightshade first found,” Belle said. “I’m… I-I’m pretty sure Props can hook it back up to Floydien’s engine and get us our skystone propulsion again.”
“Nnnngh…” Rainbow groaned into the swinging hammock. “Whoopty-flank.”
“What I’m saying, Rainbow, is that soon all of us will fly as fast as you!” Belle’s eyes lit up. “Khao obviously switched gears. I doubt the Heraldites would be chasing us anymore. And if any Ledomaritans were stupid enough to try to pursue us past Xonan lines--”
“You th-think that friggin’ matters anymore?” Rainbow Dash muttered. “Now we’ve got… like… pony bugs in sheep’s clothing.” She gulped. “You heard Eagle Eye, they were all heading east…” She gritted her teeth. “Along with her.”
Belle’s brow furrowed. She fidgeted nervously and struggled to come up with something to say.
“You’re all my friends,” Rainbow slurred. “None of you deserve this…”
Belle glanced up, eyes quivering. “Rainbow…”
“Just thinking about how he roughed you up.” Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth. “It boils my blood. And then all the crap Kera went through…” She gulped. “And Roarke,” she squeaked.
“We’re all in this as a team, Rainbow,” Belle said. “And look at what we’ve accomplished as a team!”
“You mean Simon croaking?” Rainbow snarled. “And Roarke almost biting the same bullet?”
“You saved Kera!” Belle leaned forward. “You stopped Nevlamas and--for all we know--also halted the war!”
“You mean Axan stopped Nevlamas,” Rainbow muttered.
Belle gasped, jaw dropping. “You mean… She’s b-back?” She rested a hoof on the hammock’s edge. “The dragon from Silvadel?!”
“Only she doesn’t give a flying feather about Silvadel anymore. I don’t think she has in a long time.” Rainbow took a deep, deep breath. “She’s following me, Belle.”
“Following… you…?”
“And why she never thought of intervening on our behalf before is beyond me.” Rainbow spat. “It’s all this stupid Austraeoh business! I never asked for it, y’know! I never asked for… f-for…”
Belle watched, lips pursed.
Rainbow stifled a whimper. “Lasairfion knew… or that creature who was Lasairfion knew. I dunno how… but she friggin’ knew!”
“Knew what, Rainbow Dash?”
“About… about Applejack,” Rainbow stammered. She opened her eyes and a tear rolled down her blue cheek. “How c-could she possibly know? How could anypony know?” She covered her face with two criss-crossing hooves. “I keep flying and flying and I-I just c-can’t friggin’ outrun it…”
Belle smiled painfully. “Oh, Rainbow Dash…”
“I sh-should have been d-dead months ago…” Rainbow Dash cried, her voice a dull and deflated thing as she shook and quivered in the hammock. “Why do I gotta keep carrying everything? Why c-can’t I just… just stop, already?”
Belle leaned in and scooped Rainbow’s upper body in a dear hug, nuzzling the mare’s quivering face. “It’s not easy being awesome.” She sniffled as her lips curved. “But we all love you for it.”
Rainbow surrendered into her embrace, hiccuping with tiny, squeaky sobs. Belle stroked her mane, weathering every jolt and shiver. She heard a scuffle of hoofsteps from behind, and she turned to look.
Pilate stood, leaning against the doorframe. His ears twitched, taking in the sounds of Rainbow’s quiet sobs.
Belle stared at him, then smiled gently as her eyes turned misty. She leaned her cheek against Rainbow’s forehead and quietly shut her eyes.
East of the battlefront, the scars of war dwindled, giving way to huge swaths of unblemished land stretching north and south. The mountains gave way, exposing wide and expansive fields of fertile soil. The air was mistier here, and the clouds darker. Everypony on board the Jury felt the temperature dropping with each passing day, so that Floydien had to pass out the key to a linen closet located within the auxiliary compartment located directly below the cockpit. At first, it was an awkward situation, with several ponies fumbling about in elk-sized coats, but it was nothing Eagle Eye and Bellesmith couldn’t fix with a good alteration and re-stitching.
Roarke recovered from her injuries, though it didn’t happen overnight. She would very easily have mended faster, if only she had endured the bedrest that was strongly urged upon her. Ebon Mane tried his best to keep watch on her, which was like asking a moth to guard over a cave full of bats. At every opportunity that presented itself, the once-metal mare limped out of the infirmary--usually during the night--in a vain attempt to scrounge the lengths of the Noble Jury for salvageable armor bits. She would typically be found inside the rearmost hangar at morning, hunched over the crate of weapons and explosives that she had pilfered at Gray Smoke, moaning over how all of the highly advanced tools were useless without a Searonese hydraulic suit to properly operate them all. This consumed most of her hours, very few of which were committed to eating, which drove Ebon to the depths of insanity. Her copper-lensed glares kept him from protesting too much, of course.
Kera kept her mane straight and long--and she hated it, or at least she claimed to. Everytime she fussed with it, Belle was not too far away to stroke the emerald strands back to lengthy brilliance. In spite of Kera’s urge to protest, she was very seldom away from Belle for too long. The two ate together, walked the deck together, fixed Floydien’s coats together, and even fell asleep together. By the third night, Pilate had picked up the habit of spending several late hours in the navigation room, distracting his tired mind with pile after pile of complicated cartography.
Floydien’s library contained many maps of the remaining continent, but the lack of information regarding what lay east of Xona troubled the zebra greatly. He found himself relying more and more heavily on old dusty books in the elk’s library concerning regional anthropology. Still, he was at a loss to come up with relevant data.
“It’s like nopony even bothers with the landscape beyond Xonan territory!” Pilate exclaimed, tossing his hooves into the air, blindly.
“Whelp...” Josho shrugged, leaning against the doorframe to the vertical crawlspace towards the bow. “It’s not like the tattooed mongrels gave a crap about anything more than worshipping snake gods and etching lines into their newborn foals!”
“Really, dude?” Zaid cackled from a lush sofa where he twirled a book in his hooves. “Aren’t we past by now? I mean, if the Xonans were still such a big deal, wouldn’t they have blasted us out of the sky by now? I mean, we’ve only been prancing about in their airspace for days.”
“First off, who said you were allowed to contribute to big pony talk?” Josho grumbled.
“Oh, I dunno.” Zaid turned the book over again. “I figured it was my goddess-given right as an equine being and all that jazz.” One page rolled out thrice, and his eyes widened. “OoOoOo… crotchboobs.”
“And second, the only reason we’re not shellshocked cannon fodder is because Floydien’s been sticking to the plan.” Josho levitated an apple to his mouth, took a hearty bite, and spoke through a mouth-ful. “Mmmff… Between that and--mmmf--Rainbow Dash playing point mare…”
“We owe a great deal to her scouting, yes,” Pilate said with a nod as he flipped through another book. “But I can’t help but feel as though Mr. Zaid is onto something. This journey as of late has been too…”
“What?” Josho gulped a wad of apple mush down. “Boring? Simple?”
“Succulent and round…?” Zaid drooled into the book.
“I was going to say fortuitous, but I see you two are infinitely more poetic than I am,” Pilate grumbled.
“So, like, what’s east of here anyways?” Josho asked before taking another bite of the fruit. “Mmmmf--I mean… mmmfffmmff… as far as you can tell.”
“There’s a large body of water…” Pilate droned, thinking aloud as O.A.S.I.S. scanned leaflet after leaflet across the desk before him. “And most of the continental landscape drags north. If we follow the terrain--like we have been--it’ll undoubtedly take us closer towards the frigid zone.”
“Explains the dayum chill, that’s for sure.”
“But I still haven’t gotten an idea where any of the major Xonan cities are.”
“Do you want to?”
“Well, it would be good to avoid them. If only Floydien’s maps made more sense than his usual banter--” Suddenly, Pilate gasped. His floating manasphere focused on the center of a large valley in the map he was holding before him. “Great Spark! I had almost forgotten!”
“Mmmf--What?” Josho gulped another bite down and leaned forward. “Some place you recognize?”
Pilate bit her lip. “Oh Belle… you’re probably not going to like this…”
“What, is it a zebra brothel or somethin’?”
Pilate growled low. “Josho…”
Just then, the thick door to the engine room squeaked open and a burst of steam wafted into the Navigation Room, followed by a disgruntled mare with tousled blonde threads and super-thick goggles. “Will you yucksters please stop yucking it up?! I’m trying to fuse the book back with its round metal book space of sparkles and it’s reallllly hard to do with all the yucks!”
“How in Ledo’s chocolate-filled uterus could you possibly hear us through all that metal and insulation?!” Josho snarled.
“My Uncle Prowse taught me how to hear the tiniest squeak through twelve layers of steal!” Props tossed her mane and flailed her hooves about her ears. “I’m like the goggled princess of sprockets up in this womb! So bucking stop with the yucking slop!” She turned and smiled like an angel Zaid’s way. “Not you. You keep staying silly.”
“Hah! ‘Silly!’” Zaid smirked and laid back, staring straight up at the unfolded contents. “Now there’s an adjective.”
“Phweeeeeeeeeeeeee--” Slam! And Props disappeared back into the engine room, along with the trailing steam.
“Any chance we could stop and pick up an engineer who isn’t mental?” Josho asked.
“What?” Pilate’s lip curved slightly. “And risk exposing ourselves to more ‘tattooed cretins?’”
“See? It just loses its friggin’ luster when you say it, brainstripes.”
“Heh heh heh…”
Just then, the entire ship wobbled. Pilate, Zaid, and Josho felt their bodies shifting towards the bow, then jerking back into place.
Josho blinked, dropping the apple. “Uhmmmm…”
“Yes, I just felt it too,” Pilate stammered. “It’s as if we slowed down suddenly.”
“I don’t remember any scheduled pit stops, do you?!” Josho frowned. “Friggin’ Ebon Maniac needs more mushrooms for his vomit-flavored soup, I bet.”
“Hey, I like mushrooms,” Pilate slurred.
“Yeah. I bet you would.”
Just then, a rapid series of metal clanks issued from the crawlspace towards the bow. Josho looked and Pilate tilted his head forward. Eagle Eye climbed down to the bottom floor, breathless.
“Guys, it isn’t good!” the unicorn stammered.
“Easy there, girl,” Josho grunted. “You’re looking extra lavender. What’s the deal?”
Eagle Eye gulped. “Xonans. Battleships. Big ones, too.” His violet pupils shrank. “I-I think they’ve spotted us.”
Josho and Pilate froze in place. Five seconds later, they galloped towards the crawlspace, furiously climbing their way up the top deck after Eagle.
Zaid, however, remained frozen on the sofa, humming to himself. “Hmmmmm…” He licked his lips, flipped a page, and chuckled. “Holy cheese monkeys! Somepony could lose an eye from one of those things! Heh…”
When Josho and Pilate reached the cockpit, they were greeted by a world of noise. Between Floydien's grunts, Kera's nervous cries, and Ebon's and Bellesmith's murmurs, it was difficult to make anything out. Josho stood upon the bulkheads first, and he used his telekinesis to yank Pilate up onto solid flooring beside him.
"Did we just enter the coocoo convention or what?!" Josho grumbled. "Somepony with a lick of sense mind explaining what's going on here?"
"The glimmer gripes have caught up with Nancy Jane!" Floydien spat towards the windshield.
Josho glared with knifing eyes. "How could you think I possibly meant you?"
"They c-came out of nowhere!" Bellesmith exclaimed, holding Kera's figure close to her side. Her short-short bangs flounced as she said, "It's as if they were lying in wait for us!"
"Bellllle..." Kera wheezed. "Stop hugging me so tight! I'm not scared!"
"Well, you should be, kid!" Ebon stammered. "We all should be!"
"Mr. Mane, quit it," Belle grumbled.
"All of you quit it." Roarke hissed as she suddenly stumbled in from the stern's side of the deck. She had a metal brace tied to her right forelimb with lengths of twine and she leaned the bulk of her trembling, bruised body on it. "If we keep our wits about ourselves, we can still salvage this situation. Now, how long ago did we spot the bogies?"
"Uhm..." Eagle Eye shifted from one leg to another. "About ten minutes ago."
"And they're approaching us or going away?"
"Best that you ask the pony who actually spotted them."
On cue, Rainbow Dash touched down onto the deck directly behind the Noble Jury's cockpit. Breathlessly, she stuck her tousled mane in and exclaimed, "Five battleships in total! All of them are heading our way!"
"Thunder turds!" Floydien grumbled. "Direct us to a cloud bank, then, paint bucket!"
"No can do—deer barrel!" Rainbow hissed with a frown. "There's not a darn cloud in sight!"
"Th-there isn't?!" Ebon Mane trembled.
"Nope. I tried scooping some moisture through the air with my wings, but my pegasus body couldn't make any. The sky's as clear as a town square on Hearth's Warming Morning!"
"Wh-what's Hearth's Warming?!" Ebon squeaked. "Does that involve airships being blown up?"
"Perhaps if we were to engage the skystone drive," Pilate said.
"Spoken like a true boomer of the stars!" Floydien slapped a cloven hoof over the intercom system. As the sound stone came to life, he growled through a scrunched muzzle. "Blonde Boomerette! We could use some major lavender flash flash right about now!"
"Scrkkkt—Say whaaaaaat?!" Props' voice crackled through. "What have I told you about crossing your antlers, handsome?!"
"Floydien has never been full of more serious spit in his life, boomer!"
"And you think I'm not?! I'm leg-deep in manaconduits, attempting to fuse together this steam-and-glowy-flame hybrid that we all voted on two nights ago! Not like my raised hoof made a difference! I still think the steam pipes should have been scrapped and reconstituted into a killer attack pony golem—"
Ebon Mane leaned into the intercom. "Propsy, we've got twenty seconds before we're blown out of the sky by Xonan cannons! Can't you make this thing go faster?!"
"Ratballing radiator stains! I thought Dashie was steering us clear of those baddies!"
Josho looked up, droning, "She thought Rainbow Dash was steering us clear of those baddies—"
"I know!" Rainbow Dash snarled. "And I made a mistake, okay?! I thought they were blue cloudbanks from a distance, and—" She did a double-take towards the deck. "Where did Roarke go?"
"Blue cloudbanks?!" Josho made a face. "Do pegasi use floating port-a-potties where you come from?!"
"The heck is that supposed to mean?!"
"Well, do you or don't you?"
"For your information, most of us used to just go wherever we flew."
"Oh, ick!" Eagle Eye batted at the air and flinched against a bulkhead.
"Dude! That was—like—back in Commander Hurricane's reign! Ancient times!"
"Ahem..." Pilate's ears folded. "Anypony terribly mind if return to the situation at hoof?"
"You mean the part where we all die horribly from tattooed gunships?!" Ebon cried.
"Just stay calm!" Belle exclaimed. "These aren't Ledomaritans! Maybe they'll... I don't know... have a code of honor or some such!"
"Since when?!" Ebon grimaced. "They certainly threw Rainbow, Roarke, and Kera for a loop, didn't they?"
"Those Xonans were different!" Belle frowned. "They were following Lasairfion!"
"Don't you mean fake Lasairfion?" Josho grumbled.
"Same difference!" Belle shook her hoof towards the dashboard. "I say we slow down, stay calm, and try opening up communication with the ships!"
"What's that gonna do?" Ebon asked.
"We just might be able to negotiate safe passage, silly!"
"Lemme talk to them, Belle!" Kera exclaimed, hopping. "If they see me on board, they'll know we mean no harm!"
"Or they'll just remove her from the ship and blow the rest of us to smithereens," Ebon muttered.
"I hate to admit it, but I'm on sailboat's side on this one," Josho exclaimed. "Any chance we can about-face and—like—duck behind a mountain or something?"
"We've been gliding over an open valley for over a day, old stallion," Eagle said.
"And so long as the Jury's operating on this steam crap, they'll overtake us in an instant!" Rainbow exclaimed.
Zaid suddenly stuck his head up from the crawlspace. "Hey, uhm, not a big emergency or anything, but do you guys know where I can find a paper towel roll somewhere or—?" A cloven hoof smacked him in the forehead. "Oooof!" He slid back down into the belly of the ship.
Floydien was already leaning into the intercom system again. "Boomerette, some speedy speed would really enchant this moment of horror horror."
"Scrkkkt—I'm tryiiiiing!" The sound of rummaging, clattering metal parts. "I'm tinkering as fast as I can! I'm also tinkling as fast as I can, ever since you guys mentioned the Xonan cannons!"
"Try not to burn a hole in Nancy's womb in the process!"
"It's okay! I got a bucket for that!"
Floydien groaned. "Not that! Nnnghhh... a barn full of darns! Why couldn't Nancy run on pigeons instead?!"
"Uhm, guys...?" Eagle Eye pointed at six glossy shapes looming large on the horizon. "They're coming at us." He gulped. "Fast."
"Right..." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings. "I'm going in."
"Hold up!" Belle gazed at her with bright, panicked eyes. "Going in to do what?!"
"What I'm good at!" Rainbow snarled, although it was interrupted by a nervous gulp. "Flying fast! Kicking tail! Taking names!"
"Of all the reasons to get yourself killed, Rainbow, this is the absolute stupidest!"
"You got a better idea, Ding-dong?!" Rainbow frowned. "I'm pretty sure they want only one thing from us!"
Clank! Roarke slapped a metal black cylinder against the port side deck's edge. "I can tell you one thing they're not gonna expect."
Rainbow jolted in mid-air, her pendant rattling. "What in the flea-ridden McFuzz is that?!"
"I promise, it's too tiny to launch you." Roarke then proceeded to slide one of several mortar shells down the throat of the cannon. "Rainbow, you distract them, and I'll aim at one of the foremost vessel's lateral manastabilizers."
"Come on what, breeder?!" Roarke's eye-lenses rotated at him. "We'll disable the first ship, and just maybe the others will flock to its distressed plunge, giving us an easy exit, so long as Rainbow provides a big enough distraction."
"For the last time!" Eagle Eye dragged his hooves while Ebon hold his fuming figure back. "I am not a breeder—!"
Ebon turned to glance over his shoulder. "He's got a point, though. Wouldn't firing bombs at them just exacerbate the situation?"
"Yup!" Roarke slapped the cannon shut and primed it. "Rainbow, ready when you are."
"I echo Eagle's and Ebon's sentiment," Pilate said. "The last thing we wanna do is go in, guns blazing—"
His voice was canceled by the sound of Josho cocking his crystal-loaded shotgun. "Alrighty. Which ship to I port to first?"
"Josho?!" Belle stammered.
"Well, we can't all depend on air-crapper here to provide all the distractions!"
"Darn it! I told you..." Rainbow hissed. "That was centuries ago!"
"Once a bird brain, always a bird brain. Say, why don't you eat a bucket of oats and fly over their hulls? That'll distract them."
"Hrmmm..." Roarke's muzzle curved ever so slightly. "That was actually rather decent."
"Love you too, rust-lips."
"Th-they're coming!" Kera squeaked, her glossy emerald eyes reflecting the incoming battleships.
"Floydien does not like the idea of Nancy Jane having a fireworks show!" Floydien cackled. "Come up with a different strategy with less glimmerstab!"
"Please! Can we all just calm down?!" Belle exclaimed. "I know we're used to using violence to solve a desperate situation, but can't we hold back for once?"
"It might be our only opportunity," Roarke droned. "As well as our last."
"I think it's a risk worth taking!" Belle said.
"I concur," Pilate said with a nod.
"Count me in." Eagle raised his hoof. "Not like we can outfly their cannons if we tick them off anyway."
"Rainbow?" Josho glanced up from his levitating shotgun. "Hate to say it, but you're the compass of this whole road trip in the sky. What do you think?"
"I... I..." Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She glanced from the Jury to the battleships and back again.
Everypony's faces were obscured by the first of several heavy shadows.
Rainbow gasped. She looked up. The dreadnaughts were upon them. She could see each scale of the serpents emblazoned across their hulls. The air rumbled from their combined mana engines and rotating propellers.
"Weapons down," she suddenly murmured.
"Hrmmmmmmmm." The hair's on the back of Roarke's neck raised like a cat's.
"Do it!" Rainbow barked.
Roarke lowered her cannon reluctantly. Josho dropped his gun towards the floor. By then, the entire deck was rattling from the proximity of the six vessels of war. Rainbow Dash flew limply at even level with the Jury. Eagle Eye and Ebon stared through the windshield with nervous eyes. Belle leaned in and held a hoof around Pilate's neck. The zebra gazed blindly into the bulkheads, breathing deeply with only a slight tremble.
At last, the Noble Jury passed through the line of vessels like a zeppelin threading a canyon... and nothing happened.
Roarke's lips pursed in shock. Josho raised an eyebrow. Rainbow, flying a bit higher, squinted her ruby eyes.
She saw Xonans trotting back and forth across the deck. Several warriors were gazing over the railing, their eyes locked exclusively on the body of the Jury. And then she spotted cannons sliding into position.
Rainbow jerked in midair.
However, nothing happened. The first ship passed by. Then the second. Then the third and fourth. All the while, the Xonans stared at the ship quietly, not saying a thing, much less a shouted command to fire.
"They... they're not attacking us!" Eagle Eye murmured.
"They're not even slowing down," Josho muttered. "If they wanted to inspect the vessel, they'd have asked us to pull up broadside by now."
"They saw you, Roarke, and Rainbow, though, right?" Belle spoke in a whispery tone. "They must obviously know we're not Xonans."
"I've no clue what they know, Ms. Smith," Josho grumbled.
Every Jurist watched as the last of the six ships roared by. The armada made its way west, undaunted, until they were glistening sapphire shapes along the crystalline horizon.
"Whew..." Ebon exhaled. "I knew we'd make it through that." He smiled.
"Sure you did," Eagle Eye retorted with a chuckle. A beat. He glanced at the stallion, realizing that the two of them had been hugging fiercely through the whole ordeal. He jumped aside, nervously straightening his mane.
"Ahem..." Ebon cleared his throat and glanced towards Rainbow Dash. "Did you see their faces, at least? Could you tell if they were angry or suspicious or something?"
"I couldn't see any of that," Rainbow Dash muttered. "All I know is that none of my friends are fried at the moment, and that's all that matters."
"Maybe..." Eagle Eye shifted where he stood. "Maybe they'll double back?"
"I doubt that," Roarke exhaled, pulling her miniature cannon up and leaning against it like a giant staff. "If anything, they saw that we weren't a threat and were likely conserving their ammo."
"For what?" Kera asked.
"It's more likely that they radioed some smaller, faster aircraft located deeper inland. They could be upon us at any moment now."
"Gaaah!" Ebon shook where he stood. "You really think so?"
"Or..." Belle thought aloud. "...they might not be wanting to attack us at all."
"What you spit?" Floydien snapped.
"Think about it," Pilate spoke up. "Something remarkable went down at Seclorum's camp. Both factions now know that there was a third party involved in the war. Not only that, but Lasairfion's rise and fall will undoubtedly have had significant ramifications on the Xonan infrastructure. From what Rainbow's group learned inside the Sacred Hold, I do believe there's enough evidence to suspect a coup that had undermined the monarchy's structure before the supposed 'civil war' began."
"So..." Kera glanced up. "Does that mean..."
"A cease fire..." Ebon Mane breathed.
Pilate nodded. "Precisely."
"You mean they're not going to try to attack any strange ship flying through their airspace?" Rainbow Dash asked with a shrug from where she hovered. "Can that even happen overnight?"
"Stranger things have happened on this continent," Pilate said. "You and the rest of us are living witnesses of that."
Rainbow Dash rubbed her blue chin in thought.
"Guys..." Eagle Eye spoke up from where he peered through the cockpit's windshield. "I think I spot a village down below."
"A village?" Belle remarked.
"A small town, from the looks of it, but they have a zeppelin tower." Eagle Eye turned to glance back at the rest of the Jury. "Might be a trading post."
"Your point...?" Roarke grumbled.
"Well, we are a tiny bit starved of supplies," Eagle said. "We've been through a lot since Gray Smoke. Wouldn't hurt to restock."
"Might be a good way to test our theory, Pilate." Belle glanced over. "What do you think?"
"We'll find out swiftly one way or another." The zebra's ears perked up. "Rainbow?"
Everypony looked at the pegasus, including Floydien.
Rainbow took a deep breath, folding her forelimbs. "I gotta level with you guys. I'm not super-chillaxed with this whole 'Cap'n my Cap'n' silliness."
"You'd rather Zaid be in charge?" Josho grumbled.
"Right." Rainbow took a deep breath. "Let's go down and take a look, but only a few of us at a time." Rainbow looked around. "Belle? Eagle Eye?"
"Let the prettiest go in first." Ebon smirked. "Got it."
"Uhhh... I'm going in too," Rainbow said.
"Meh." Roarke trotted back towards the rear stairwell near the stern. "I think I would have preferred blowing up from cannon fire."
"It's okay, Roarke!" Rainbow called after her. "You can remain inside the hangar with all your metals!" A beat. "Friggin' shut-in, I swear..."
Kera tugged on Belle's tail. "Can I visit the village? Huh?" She proudly flounced her straight mane. "I'm pretty too, now, see?"
"Derrrrrrrrrrrrrr..." Belle twitched.
"Scrkkkk!" The intercom crackled. "Hey guys! Good news! I got us some skystone juice! But only five seconds worth!"
"Buh?" Floydien did a double-take.
"Make it count, handsome!" The dashboard hummed, flickered, and then sparkled with mana.
Everypony shrieked, collapsing to the deck as the Noble Jury shot out from under Rainbow Dash, coming to an abrupt stop about one hundred and ninety meters ahead. Rainbow hovered with slacked shoulders, wincing at the sound of pained groans and wheezes.
It had taken the better part of a half-hour for the Noble Jury to moor itself to the tower situated on the fringe of the town. This was made all the more awkward from the complete and utter lack of dockmasters. Nevertheless, with firm resourcefulness, Floydien, Props, and the rest of the ponies managed to tether the ship adequately in place.
It wasn't long before Rainbow Dash, Bellesmith, Pilate, and Eagle Eye trotted down the grand steps of the wooden structure and leveled out on the grassy plain. There, a dirt road led southeast into the heart of the quaint little village. The path was noticeably littered all over with—
"Confetti?" Eagle Eye gawked, swiveling about to give the other ponies an incredulous glance. "Is... this confetti?"
Pilate grimaced slightly as his hoof slid through a swath of the fluttery stuff. "I would certainly hope so."
"I've seen my fair share of confetti in my days," Rainbow Dash muttered, watching as her wings blew some of the papery fragments around. "This is totally that."
"Maybe... uhm..." Eagle Eye squirmed as the four slowly marched into town. "Today's the birthday of their mayor... or something?"
"Do Xonans even celebrate birthdays?" Bellesmith asked.
"The key thing to remember is that this isn't exactly Xonan territory."
"Is it not?" Belle turned towards Pilate. "I thought most of their major cities were situated in the north. We're at a greater latitude than we've ever been, haven't we?"
"Yes, but most of the landscape we've covered over the past few days have been under dispute over the last three to five decades. I doubt either Ledomare or Xona could have laid claim to any township here, even if the Xonans have been ruling the airspace."
"Jeez, this is why I never got into the politics of the war," Eagle Eye muttered. "I was just happy to be given a sword and told what to charge at." He sighed. "Well, at least until Crimson taught me better."
"You... uhm..." Pilate gritted his teeth. "You did leave your weapons on board the Jury, yes, Eagle?"
"Hmmm? Oh, totally! Besides, with Rainbow Dash here, I figured that would have been overkill."
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Good. Because I think we have company."
"Huh?" Belle glanced around. "But beloved, I don't see—" Her ears folded. "Oh dear."
Ten ponies were charging up the hill, heading straight at them. The rumble of their hooves shook the ground under the group's hooves.
"Awwwwww fiddlepoops!" Eagle Eye squeaked.
"I knew it!" Rainbow Dash touched down before her friends with a thud! "I'll hold them off while the rest of you gallop back to the Jury!"
"But Rainbow—" Belle began.
"No arguing!" Rainbow growled, grinding her hoof. "I didn't fly halfway across the continent, butt heads with a dragon, and get preached to by a metamorph just to have you guys get impaled by a bunch of crazed yokels!"
"Rainbow, I don't think—" Eagle stammered.
"You've thought nothing!" Rainbow's glaring eyes reflected the muzzles of the incoming ponies. "Brace yourselves! Here they come—"
"Visitors!" A unicorn mare with a bright smile and even brighter, yellow eyes slid to a stop. She hugged Rainbow Dash and nuzzled the small of her neck. "Heeee! Oh, what wonderful timing! You have to join us!"
"Buhhhhh..." Rainbow's face positively melted in horrified confusion. "Buhhh... buhhhhh...?"
"Speechless?! So are all of us!" The mare leaned back and gestured with her hoof. A stallion tossed her a ring of flowers, and she hung the garlands around Rainbow's neck. "Didn't you hear?! The war is over!"
Rainbow Dash blinked. She glanced back at her friends—gawking—and at the villagers again.
"Oh! My apologies..." The mare held her hooves together, blushing. "Not speakers of the Western Queen's tongue? I think we can remedy that." She turned around and cleared her throat.
Two mares with tribal tattoos trotted up, bowed, and spoke, "Brekk theen rehk hadh trentte thiul spenn?"
Rainbow Dash and her friends simply stared with blank expressions.
The mares exchanged glances, and the other one leaned forward to speak. "Menna siulen crassa rehkkaren hadduh trenna thiulen spennadeer?"
More silence.
"Mmmmm... meladuun..." The Xonan mares fidgeted, rubbing their hooves together pensively. At last, one of them opened her mouth, her face twisted in the awkwardness of the next attempt. "J-jaat'solienna'threem m-m-mana'suli'nullakuken—"
"Look... uhm..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. "We're not exactly... Ledomaritan or Xonan." She gulped. "Or, more appropriately, we're really trying to just leave all of this stuff behind and find passage east of the whole shebang."
"Travellers!" The mare with yellow eyes spread her forelimbs wide. "Long-distance traders! Why didn't you say so?!" She winked. "Even better! For you have come at the right time and at the right opportunity to carry wares to lands that haven't touched the silk of Xona or the crystals of Ledomare in decades!"
"So... uhm... the war's really over?" Belle asked. "Because from where we come from—"
"Pffft! News never travels fast enough, these days," the mare said, waving her hoof. "But, thankfully, one of our brighter residents built a tall crystalline tower years ago, and it picks up leylines from all over the continent! They declared a cease-fire two days ago!"
"Any reason why?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Eagle Eye tapped Rainbow's shoulder. "Hey, uhm, Rainbow? If you're not particularly thrilled to be wearing that..."
"Right." Rainbow stripped of the garland of flowers and limply held it aside. "Knock yourself out."
Eagle tossed his mane so that he could hoist the soft necklace of petals over his head. "Squee!" he smiled rosily to himself.
"Rumors are still flying!" the mare from town said as her cohorts grinned wickedly. "Word is that an evil invader had infiltrated the ranks on both sides! What's more, Lasairfion—the evil bane of Xona's own kind—is no more! The Xonans broke communication first, and the Ledomaritans were actually willing to listen! Turns out their Council didn't want one of their major generals occupying a particular piece of real estate all along! Both sides had been fighting for years over reasons that none of the higher-ups knew about! But now all the mayhem is over!" She waved her hoof high in the air. "Free trade! Free trade for everypony! Woohoo!"
The villagers behind her cheered with identical gusto.
Pilate tilted his head in Belle's direction, his muzzle curved. She smiled back, nuzzled him, and gazed at the crowd. "Well, it seems like you're having quite the party!" she exclaimed.
"Why shouldn't we?" The mare chirped merrily. "Whichever way the territories go, this means one thing! An uninterrupted path of trade! Our town can only flourish! And—of course—the severe drop in death and mayhem is always a plus!" She and the other ponies chuckled.
"Yeah... uhm..." Rainbow Dash bit her lip, eyeing the group nervously. "Good for you guys."
"You got any other ponies in that beautiful ship up there?"
"Maaaaaaaaaybe..." Rainbow leaned back from them like a frightened cat.
"My stars!" The mare gawked. "Is that skystone?"
"Yeah, but it totally doesn't work at the moment," Eagle Eye muttered. "Hey... uhm..." He fiddled with the garland around his neck. "Are these lavender? They're unlike anything I've ever seen!"
"That's because you've got the sound of Franzington on your tongue!" the mare said with a wink. "You should take a look around our greenhouse! We have all sorts of flowers from the east! Things you've never seen!"
"Now just wait a second!" Rainbow Dash tugged at his tail. "We didn't come here to party!" she hissed.
"Didn't we, though?" Bellesmith chimed. "I, for one, want to learn more about this place!"
"My maps are only doing me so much good," Pilate said.
"Relax, Rainbow Dash! They only want us to feel at home?"
"Well, you'd better feel at home quicker!" The mare motioned along as the group ushered Eagle Eye, Pilate, and Bellesmith cheerfully towards the center of town. "The party can't last forever! Though we can totally pretend it will! Woohoo!"
The ponies cheered again, a few of them teetering drunkenly.
"It's just that... that..." Rainbow Dash winced, then drooped in mid-hover with a sigh. "Guhhhh... Fiiiiiiiine." She fluttered limply after the group. "Just—y'know—don't drink anything without me testing it first."
"Pfffft... Oh Rainbow," Belle giggled.
"I'm serious!"
"As well you should be!" The mare said. "A felicitous future deserves a pessimistic past! But cheer up! We'll roll the dust of war right off you!" She galloped ahead with a happy bounce. "My name is Collins! And welcome to Archer Point!"
It was when Rainbow Dash was about three blocks deep into the streets of Archer Point that she realized why the village was so easy to spot from afar. Many of the buildings stood over five stories tall, which was a queer thing—seeing as many of them barely covered more than one hundred square feet in area. Every structure was built tall, and to last tall, with heavy concrete foundations that also served as the perfect locations for basement storehouses. Many of the balconies were heavily decorated with hanging gardens, including every glittery kind of flower imaginable, as if the lofty neighbors were trying their damnedest to compete in some sort of high stakes floral decorating contest.
The structures of that town were merry, but the ponies themselves were merrier, especially on this day of all days. Ponies—children and elders alike—danced and frolicked around bonfires. Rainbow Dash, Bellesmith, and Eagle Eye saw equines—both tattooed and not—joining hooves as they pranced circles around smoldering pits.
Pilate's nostrils flared. He leaned into his beloved. "I smell something burning... like moldy paper..."
"They're throwing stuff into the bonfires," Belle murmured back, trying to speak above the noise of sheer ecstasy. "Looks like government sheets."
"They're mandatory ration notifications," Eagle Eye said. "We used to be issued them in Franzington when I was a colt."
"Really?" Pilate motioned his head towards the heat of a bonfire as they trotted on by. "What language is it in? Ledomaritan or Xonan?"
"Both." Eagle Eye blinked.
"Gather around, everypony!" Collins sang into the air, waving a hoof as the group entered the downtown area. "We've got our very first visitors from the west!" She stood up on a box and waved towards the four. "Trade routes are officially reopened! Here's our evidence, right here!"
"Erm..." Bellesmith blushed as she nervously stammered, "We haven't agreed to trading anything, yet..."
"Oh, and nopony's forcing you to, darling." Collins leaned in, whispering with a wink. "But, trust me, just the fact that you four ponies are here is a welcoming sign to the equines who make a living in this city."
"Uhm..." Belle gulped. "Okay..." She smiled nervously.
"Curious." Pilate leaned forward. "With trade routes starved over the recent past, just how has this community managed without open commerce?"
"Oh, by working together in social harmony, of course!" Collins chuckled cheerfully.
"You mean like a commune?"
"I guess you could say that." Collins pointed towards a series of warehouses. "See over there? We have storehouses full of foodstuffs foraged from the southeast forests. Granted, it took quite a bit of lengthy, arduous trips, but every few months—we managed to grab what we needed!" She turned and pointed to a larger structure. "And there's the town hall where we established a temporary house of treasury where we all pitched in—" She gasped, covering her muzzle as she stared awkwardly at Pilate's face. "Oh, good heavens! I j-just noticed your eyes! You c-can't see a single thing, can you? I'm so sorry!"
"Heh..." Pilate smiled as he stood close by Belle's side. "Nothing to be sorry about, Ms. Collins."
"No, truly, I-I can very easily get ahead of myself." She hopped down to lay a hoof on the zebra's shoulder. "Especially as of late." She giggled inwardly. "I-I'm just so excited about this conflict finally being over! I almost feel like a little filly again!" She leaned back with a sigh. "Why, I was barely at my cutie mark age the last time we could function without any imposed rations."
"Is everypony... sure that the cease fire is permanent?" Eagle Eye asked, shifting uncomfortably. "Because I've seen my fair share of action." He twirled about, facing the gathered crowd. "And usually this kind of stuff is called off within a matter of days, putting everypony's hopes up for no reason—" His pupils shrank and his ears droop. "Oh, darling, th-those silks are to die for!"
Two young mares in shiny dresses giggled and nodded.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, then turned to gaze at the architecture of the tall-tall buildings looming above them.
Meanwhile, Collins said, "I suppose it makes perfect sense to be pessimistic. But, you have to understand, living so far beyond the front from both sides—we hear all that there is to hear about the War, both coded and uncoded." She smiled with rosy cheeks. "This is the big one, folks! The Xonans have already committed to drawing back several miles to the east and the Ledomaritans are giving up several once-contested landscapes! There's already talk from both ends—in both tongues—of drawing forth several latitudes of neutral territory until both nations can come to a permanent agreement!" She hopped and hopped with a squee. "And guess who sits smack-dab in the middle of those latitudes?!"
The ponies cheered and hollered once more.
"Whew..." Belle turned to smirk at her mate. "This town's like kindergarten on the last day of school."
"So you're not the only one overwhelmed by their euphoria?"
"You mean you're not creeped out?"
"I'm not if you're not, beloved."
"Heh... deal." Belle nuzzled Pilate, then glanced at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow hovered limply, her lips pursed. Her eyes floated over the red, pink, and violet hues of the buildings' wooden finish. She stared at the overflowing flower pots, the dangling gardens of lavender and daisies. Finally, she stared longingly at the balcony railings and window shutters knotched with horseshoes and hearts and prancing pony silhouettes.
"Rainbow?" Belle tugged on the pegasus' tail, gazing sympathetically up at her. "Is everything okay?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah. Yeah sure." Rainbow swallowed and said, "It's just this town. It has..." She took a deep breath, her ruby eyes turning a bit glossy. "...some familiar qualities to it, is all."
Belle smiled. "Rainbow, you can relax."
"But—"
"Unless they plan on drowning us in flowers—" Belle paused to giggle. "—I'm sure we've got nothing to worry about. And even if we do—we've faced battleships, managliders, and a giant dragon. We can totally take whatever anyplace had to throw at us."
"OmigoshOmigoshOmigosh!" Everypony looked over to see Eagle Eye feeling the outstretched sleeve of a smiling pony mare. "You m-mean you sell this stuff in stallions' pajamas?" He bit his lip to the bleeding point, his hooves kneading the floor as the ponies chuckled around him.
"Then again..." Bellesmith rolled her eyes as Pilate chuckled.
It was then that Rainbow Dash noticed the crowd growing thicker around them. She looked—then gave the line of equines a double-glance. The bulk of them were staring up at her in particular.
"Wh-what?" her voice cracked.
"Rainbow..." Bellesmith hissed.
Pilate finished, "I imagine it's your wings that's drawing their attention."
"Huh? My wings?" Rainbow glanced at her flapping appendages, then back at the ponies. The veteran traveler's mind experienced a whiplash, taking her back to the warm, sunny days before dragonfire and cannon shells. "Oh. Right... Eheheh..." She fluttered down to the ground and coiled the feathers in question at her side. "I... kind of forgot those were a big deal."
Two elder ponies were whispering into Collins' ears. The mare listened, nodding quietly. Suddenly, her amber pupils shrank, and she made a face. "No way! It couldn't be!"
"What couldn't be?" Bellesmith asked.
Collins trotted past her and Pilate, pointing at Rainbow Dash. "Her... she... she's just a pony!" the mare exclaimed. "Granted, the wings are absolutely splenderifous! But the pony everyone's talking about was like a living flame! Trailing cosmic essence and billowing mana!"
"Uhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash leaned forward. "What pony is everyone talking about?" She gulped. "Is... th-there another pegasus?"
"Why, haven't you heard?" Collins smirked. "The only reason this legendary cease-fire began in the first place is because a beacon of living color shone upon the bloodlusting troops of the Eastern Front! One pony—a flying pony—single hoofedly revealed the true enemy that had been hidden among the ranks of both Xonan and Ledomaritan kind! Skystone conversations carried aloft on invisible leylines speak of an angelic figure bursting out from the earth, clearing the sky of all obscurity, and pouring the morning sunlight on the dead and dying! Demons in hiding were revealed, and they all fled from the light while every soldier stood in shock, witnessing the cost of their needless slaughter!" Collins grinned. "Apparently, it was quite the... religious experience to behold!"
"She was a messenger, I tell ya!" a pony in the distance barked.
"A sign of change and renewel!" a stallion pronounced.
"She also fired lasers out of her eyes and breathed fire!" a filly cheered.
Rainbow snarled. "I do not fire lasers out of my eyes!"
Everypony in Archer Point gasped, reeling back from the pegasus as if she was some messiah.
Rainbow winced, bowing her head low. "I mean... n-not that I know of..."
"It's... it's true!" a mare stammered.
"You're her, aren't you?!" another beamed, dancing in place. "And you came in with a skystone ship! Like the one ponies say fled the battlefield after dawn!"
"It's her!"
"It's the pony! The flying pony of light!"
"Look... look!" Rainbow waved her hooves high before the antsy, grinning crowd. "I don't know what you all think I am, but this is the simple, honest truth." She pointed towards the docked Jury beyond the edge of town. "My friends and I need to restock on stuff. Now, you haven't had many ponies visit you in a while, so odds are we might have things you guys could really be needing! So, if we could just discuss an exchange of goods and then be on our way—"
Bellesmith cupped two hooves over her muzzle. "Who'd like to donate food and metals to the Flying Pony of Light?!"
"Yeahhhhhhhh!" everypony jumped and cheered, making the ground shake.
Rainbow winced. She zipped over by Belle's side and hissed into her ears. "Ding-donggg?! What in the fuzzy brown belly of Discord do you think you're doing?!"
Bellesmith smiled. "Come on, Rainbow Dash. Since when weren't you a fan of the spotlight?"
"Nnnnngh... Belle? Seriously—"
"Seriously!" The mare smiled sweetly. "They could use some inspiration, you could use some cheer, and we both could use an exchange of wares!" She winked. "Strikes me as win-win-win!"
Rainbow's eyes swiveled over. "Pilate...?"
"She's my beloved for a reason." The zebra smirked. "Also, you have to admit, this is all rather fortuitous."
"Yeah..." Eagle Eye trotted over with a dizzy smile. "Fourteen tortoise..." He slumped down and nuzzled the closest thing. "Heeeeee... real... silk..."
Rainbow stepped aside, causing the lavender unicorn to collapse into the grass. "Unnngh... This was the last thing I signed up for..."
"Oooh! Ooooh!" A filly ran up, hopping up and down. "Tell us how you fought the dragon!"
Rainbow squinted at the kid. "Huh?"
Another foal ran up, staring with doey eyes. "We heard there was a big, nasty, terrible dragon on the battlefield! She was burning up ponies and doing awful things!"
"But you took her out, didn't you?!" Another filly grinned from ear-to-ear. "With your light from the deep earth n'stuff?"
"For your information, I wasn't the pony who took out the dragon," Rainbow grumbled, then stared off beyond the tall apartments. "But, rather, it was the sacrifice of a mare who... really surprised us all in the end."
"But you certainly went a few rounds with it, right?" A colt raised his hoovse and "boxed" the air. "Knocked out its teeth n'stuff, yeah?"
Rainbow Dash frowned. "Look... everypony, for real." She glared up at Collins. "War isn't pretty. Lasairfion was a huge phony who caused the deaths of tons of innocent mares and stallions. On top of that, the dragon was a really, really wicked creature and there was absolutely nothing cool about fighting it!"
An hour and a half later...
"And so I grabbed the crooked antlers of the giant freak and rubbed my pendant like this!" Rainbow Dash grinned wickedly as she touched her Element, causing a ruby glow to shine across the sparkling eyes of the foals and ponies gathered below her. "And—pewwwww! A big shimmering laser of unbridled harmonic energy goes pouring out of my necklace, melting all of the chaos crystals that had grown along the Dark Divine's skull! Crkkkkkk! And she's all "Hraaaaauckkkkkkkkkkkkkkttt-klik-klik-klikkkkkk! You stupid, courageous ponnnnnnny! You've destroyed my beautiful chaoticnesssssssckkkt-klik-klikkkt!"
"Whoahhhhhhhhhh!" Every young pony grinned clapped. The adults murmured, smiling, and gave into uproarious applause.
Rainbow smirked, hovering in a reclined position above the group. "Yup..." She rubbed the end of her hoof across her chest and stretched it behind her dangling mane. "She had no choice but to stop flying! Flew her right into a friggin' mountain, I did." She winked. "From the way my grip on her antlers felt, I swear—it felt just like suplexing her into sea level!" Her voice cracked "It was totally cool!"
"You brought down the dragon twice?!" a colt stammered.
"Well... only the first time, really," Rainbow Dash shrugged. "The second time goes to Khao, like I told you before, Celestia rest her soul." A beat, and then the pegasus brightened. "Hey! Wanna know about the super evil minotaurs I once fought?! I suplexed them too, y'know!"
"Hoooooooray!" The foals all cheered and clapped.
Along the fringes of the thick group of listening villagers, Collins shook her head, smirked, and turned aside. "She's certainly astounding. You're lucky to be such close friends with her."
"Hmmmm..." Belle nodded, leaning against Pilate as they both sat on folded hooves in Rainbow's shadow. "That we are."
"Though you may wish to think up a different adjective the next time you speak to her," Pilate said.
A pony trotted up and whispered into Collins' ear. The mare nodded, then gasped pleasantly. Folding her hooves together, she bowed towards the couple.
"Good news!"
"Really?" Belle smirked wryly. "That seems in abundant supply in this town."
"Heehee... truly, though. I've just received word from the Mayor. We were arranging a special community breakfast feast tomorrow morning, and we would be enraptured if your entire crew joined us."
Bell leaned in and murmured into Pilate's ears. The zebra's metal brow furrowed, and he tilted his muzzle up. "Would there be grilled cheese?"
"Erm..." Collins fidgeted with an awkward smile. "I'm... certain that can be arranged!"
Belle giggled. Pilate smiled and nodded. "I do believe we would be honored."
"And how would Ms. Dash feel about the invitation?"
"Uhhhh..." Belle glanced up at the pegasus, who was charading a pair of minotaur "horns" and "lumbering about" in midair. "I think it's safe to say that she won't be available for comment anytime soon." Belle turned. "Eagle Eye?"
"Hmmmm..." Eagle Eye wrenched his eyes off Rainbow's tall tale and blinked the mare's way. "Yes?"
Belle winked. "Go on and fetch the crew. Tell them that everything's alright."
"Oh! Uhm... S-sure!" Eagle Eye stood up from where he squatted besides a dozen children half his size. He blushed slightly, dusted off his knees, and galloped towards the zeppelin tower where the Jury was moored.
With a sigh, Belle leaned into Pilate. "Pilate...?"
"Yes, beloved?"
She closed her eyes and nuzzled him. "I love you," she whispered.
He smiled and slid a hoof over her shoulder, drawing her closer as they both listened to Rainbow's ramblings.
"Scarlet roses... Baby's breath... Xonan juniper and Eastern lavender!" Ebon Mane ran his hoof across a garden of flowers at street level. It was nighttime, and a bonfire in the center of town cast a glossy sparkle across his wide eyes. "Eagle, are you seeing all of these?!"
"Yes!" Eagle cooed, mane flouncing. "And I saw them all earlier! Aren't they beautiful?"
"Beautiful? Pffft!" Ebon Mane smirked. "I'm just thinking of the scrumptious broth I can make with them! When was the last time you swallowed down some real, earth-grown juniper?"
"Unnngh..." Eagle Eye rolled his eyes and trotted off in a huff. "Where's Josho? I think I'd rather go test the town's outhouses with him."
"What?!" Ebon Mane shrugged, scampering to catch up with the stallion. "That's what you brought me over here to see, right?! New ingredients for the Noble Jury's kitchen?! EE, wait upppp!"
Past a crowd of ponies gathered around a fire, Zaid leaned against a building corner, wearing a dark brown cloak. "So yeah," he said, nodding towards a trio of stallions standing before him. "I used to be a member of this religious group called the Herald, and then I sort of became a freelance adventurer overnight. But now that—like—I'm here in this killer little merchant village n'stuff, I figured I'd try my hoof at being a tradespony, y'know?"
"You just decided that overnight?" one stallion scoffed with a smirk. "And just what do you have to sell?"
"Well, confidentially..." Zaid glanced over his shoulder, then pulled out a book from his trenchcoat. He opened it and a center page unfolded three times.
The stallions all stared, bug-eyed. One or two of them may have even whistled.
"Wow..."
"Wow is right, pal," Zaid said with a smirk.
"I had no idea that they got that..." One blushed red as a beet. "...hefty."
"Hey, where I come from? Lactose intolerance would just murder a honeymoon! And—look at the bright side! Now that the war is over, you could carry your keisters west pretty darn soon and find out for yourselves!" He waved the book. "Consider this a sample, and I've got more like it."
"Uhhhh..." One stallion squinted, pointing at the corner of the unfolded pages. "What's that stain right here?"
"Certificate of authenticity." Zaid cleared his throat. "So, how about it?"
"How many bits are we talking about?"
"No bits, pal." Zaid leaned forward, practically sneering through clenched teeth. "Grilled. Bucking. Cheese."
Several trots away, Collins stood with Props, their ears collectively twitching from the laughter of nearby parents and their fillies by the bonfire.
"Whelp, but I'm really really really really super dilly needing is some sort of bifurcated hydraulic manifold that can interface with a central core of mana conduits and allow the express transferrence of both skystone energy and compressed steam!"
"Hmmm..." Collins rubbed her chin. "Long ago, there were merchants of the north who were lucky enough to harvest skystone, and they crafted steam/mana hybrids not unlike what you were describing. Unfortunately, most of them operated before my time, in a time when the war didn't consume this part of the landscape."
"Unngh! I know!" Props pushed her goggles up and wrangled her blonde mane. "Mmmphhghhh... if only I had an archetype for that stuff, and then I'd build the darn thing myself!"
Collins brightened. "You know, our town library has a few books that were passed down by descendants of the northern merchants who had decided to settle here! Maybe one of them would have a diagram that you could follow!"
Props gasped, leaning forward from the weight of her bright blue eyes. "Really?! You really really really really think so?"
Collins giggled. "I really really really really know so!"
"Squeeee!" Props bounced in a tight circle. "Oh you sweet, adoracute pony with a funny name! Do that, and I'll hang a hydraulic pipe around my waist, build myself into a steam stallion, and marryyyyyy youuuuuu!"
"Heheheh... I'm afraid I'm already taken." Collins winked. "But how about we barter for some of your ship's excess steam generators and work from there?"
"Dealio!" Props sing-songed, leaning in to hug the villager ecstatically. "Besides, I haven't pajamas for the honeymoon anyway!"
As Collins chuckled, a group of colts and fillies galloped by, joining the young little crowd that had formed around Kera.
"Wowwwww..." One filly cooed. "I've never seen a Xonan your age before!"
"Tell us," a colt stammered. "Did it hurt getting those tattoos on you?"
"Or were you foaled with them?"
Kera chuckled, basking in the warmth of both the attention and the nearby bonfire. "Well, I was given them shortly after I was foaled, actually. A few of them I got later. Thing is, I don't remember much of it."
"Probably a good thing. I bet you were too busy screaming."
"Pfft! Maybe you would be screaming! But not me!" Kera folded her forelimbs. "I hang out with Rainbow Dash, after all. Y'know... the pony who beat up the evil chaos dragon west of here?"
"Wowwwwwwwwww... really?"
"Yup! She can only fly with the strongest ponies in her posse!" Kera winked. "And that includes the strongest filly!"
"Uhm..." A filly reached out. "Is it okay if I touch 'em?"
"They won't bite." Kera smirked. "Not unless I command them to leap out and attack you."
"Eep!" The filly instantly hobbled back. "C-can they do that?"
"A fully grown Xonan warrior can strangle you with just his neck tattoos alone."
"No waaaaay!"
"Way!" Kera stretched her forelimb. "But these are mostly harmless. Check it!"
Two fillies and a colt reached out, feeling the etched lines across her coat and flesh. They all exhaled and giggled with wonderment.
A few meters away, Pilate sat next to Bellesmith, his ear trained towards the whole conversation.
"I hope that doesn't turn into a habit," the zebra muttered. "When she becomes a teenager, that's gonna be a lot less innocent."
"Oh come on, Pilate, don't be silly."
"I'm not the only one thinking it, am I?" Pilate shrugged. "Being around us gives her a sense of security that makes her fearless, considering all of the dangers we've run into and somehow squeezed by unscathed."
"They're just foals." Belle leaned against him. "Let her have her moment of socializing with ponies who actually care. From what I know of her days at Blue Nova, she rarely ran into a street urchin her age who didn't want to brutally harm her."
"I just can't help but wonder what all of this is going to do to her when she grows up," Pilate said with a sigh. "She isn't exactly having a normal foalhood, now is he? I mean... you and I have been through a great deal of trials and tribulations, but that didn't happen until we were adults."
Belle giggled... then giggled again. Her cheeks turned rosy as she nuzzled Pilate tighter.
The zebra's metal brow furrowed as he tilted his head her way. "What's so amusing?"
"I'm not amused so much as I'm tickled pink." Belle's lips curved. "I always felt you kept yourself a bit aloof around Kera, but here—listening to you go on and on—you really do sound like a worried father."
Pilate bit his lip. "I just think that we've had a major impact on her life and I'd like it to be for the best, y'know?"
"And I don't doubt you, Pilate. It's just nice hearing you actually say it."
"Well, it's been on my mind a lot lately, Belle. And quite frankly..." He winced slightly.
Belle noticed it, of course. "What, Pilate?"
He gulped. "Well, I was... doing some mapping—in the navigation room n'all..."
"Yeahhhhh...?"
"And O.A.S.I.S. stumbled upon a name that struck me as familiar. All it took was a little bit of thought, and then I remembered the place. And with the war apparently coming to an end and all..."
"What... are you getting at, Pilate?"
The zebra sighed. He patted Belle's shoulder and stood up on wobbly legs. "I think it's best that we continue this conversation someplace a little more private."
"By private, you mean away from Kera?" Belle muttered in monotone.
"Yes, Belle. Yes, I do."
The mare glanced worriedly at him. Nevertheless, she escorted Pilate towards a part of the village where the lights of the bonfire didn't reach.
Across the street, Rainbow Dash hovered at the second story level, folding her arms as a shiver fell across her body. Her teeth chattered, and she did her best to remain upright in her wing-flapping levitation.
"Havin' another one of your spells, there, color wheel?"
Rainbow glanced down. The fat image of Josho focused in and out of sight.
"Nnnnngh... yeah... kind of." Rainbow Dash rubbed her pendant, summoning a harmonic glow that she held her hooves in front of, as if warming them. "It's not so bad."
"You mean...?"
"It's not like what I went through with the book or with Nevlamas or with any of that crap." Rainbow Dash sighed long and hard. "It's just the same old-same old."
"Hmmm. Well if that doesn't suck."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Yeah...?"
Josho leaned his plump self against the building's foundation and muttered, "After all you've done, after all of the heroics n'crap, you're still sick as a dog."
Rainbow closed her eyes, hovering limply above him.
"Guess that was pretty low of me," Josho muttered. "Many of us have futures. It's pretty cruel to remind you that you don't."
"I have a future, alright," Rainbow Dash breathed aloud. Her muzzle formed the slightest of smirks. "It may be short. It may come to an end at any time. But, all things considered, I say the ride's been pretty sweet."
"Oh really?"
"I thought all of the crap I went through in Ledomare was for nothing," Rainbow Dash said. "But now—with this whole cease fire business—I'm starting to wonder if I actually made a difference."
"It certainly cost a lot of poor saps their lives."
"Yeah, well—what if the war had gone on for another few decades, huh? What if Xonan and Princess Lassy-Fish or whoever she really was pushed their way into the Confederacy?"
Josho nodded, scratching his scruffy chin. "You make a good point."
"Darn tootin' I do, buckaroo."
"Only... that wasn't what those freakjobs were looking for, was it?" Josho glanced up at her. "The shape-shifters, I mean. Like... from what you say, and from what I saw, it seems like those creepy-crawly things were running the whole bloody show."
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash's ears drooped. "And now they've teared their way east, doing Celestia-knows-what. I wonder if I'll live long enough to find out what they're actually up to." She gulped. "I wonder if I want to..."
"Well, if worse comes to worst, you have my promise that I'll kick each of their hard-shelled butts," Josho said. "For what they did to you... and for wh-what they did to Secchy."
Rainbow Dash winced. She glanced down. "Everything's been happening so quickly, and yet this crazily cheerful village feels like the biggest jolt of all. Still, it's no excuse for the fact that I haven't gotten a chance to tell you... th-that I'm sorry for what happened to your best friend."
"Eh..." Josho shrugged with a sigh. "Seclorum was my best friend, back when we were almost alive... and almost handsome. Only consolation I have about the whole matter is that the ol' bastard probably got a way better death than the one I was oblidged to give that friggin' imposter."
"He wasn't in that metal ravine full of replaced ponies n'crap?"
"If he did, he died long before the others placed there could have identified him. Hell, most of those guys and gals hated Seclorum's guts—blamed him for being tossed down there in the first place."
"Still, it sucks not to get much closure."
"Eh, I'll live. It's not the thing that's biting me the most."
"Then what is?" Rainbow asked. "Unless I'm prying."
"You? Pry? You'd need a forklift to get under my skin." Josho smirked dazedly into the distant bonfire. "All I ever knew for ages was this damned war. It consumed the better part of my life. At some point, I simply gave up believing that it could ever come to an end. So I surrendered to the bottle and became this lame-ass Prime Enforcer for a trading town in Green Slope." He sighed, then tilted his head up towards the town. "A trading town a hella lot like this one, which is what friggin' haunts me to no end."
"Yeesh. I never thought of that."
"And why should you? First time we met, you and I were playing boomstick tango in the center of downtown!"
Rainbow Dash winced. "Yeah. Uhm... Luna poop, you were one nasty shot."
"Heh... Good thing you didn't ever fight me when I was sober." He winced upon a sudden thought, gazing down into the flame once more. "It's like starting over... standing here... the fire and the stars all clean-like and pure." He gulped. "Now the war's over, my best friend's gone, and the entire horizon is peeled open in front of me. I'm thousands of miles away from the place I used to call home, without a house, without a beloved—and yet, it feels like I'm right back where I started. Hell... if I was a smart horse, I'd take advantage of that."
"Josho, are you..." Rainbow fumbled for words, fidgeting. At last, her voice cracked, "Are you actually thinking of—?"
"Staying here? Pffft. With how cheerful these Archer Pointers are, I'd be liable to shoot myself by week's end." The stallion shook his head. "Naw... The only thing I can think of right now is the one thing that made sense to me the past month and a half."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Moving forward."
"Damned if I'm not jealous of you and your wings sometimes, color wheel." Josho shrugged. "But that's all good. I've got the Jury, even if it is piloted by a mad deer-thing. And... besides..." He stared down at the ground and muttered. "More than anything right now, I kind of wanna see that the prissy little scamp makes it through all of this mess in one piece."
Rainbow Dash blinked. "What 'prissy little scamp?'" She glanced down at him. "You mean EE?"
"You breathe a single word to him and I'll make you eat that pendant around your neck," Josho grumbled. "I don't care how many months or years you have left to live."
"Heh... I gotcha." Rainbow smirked. "And on that note, I think I'm gonna go check on Roarke. Have you seen her, by the way?"
"Pffft. She never friggin' left the ship."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, probably back on the Jury playing hoofsie with Floydien."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Right. I get it. She's just sulking by herself in the hangar."
"Of course." Rainbow Dash turned around and floated towards the edge of town. "Try not to eat your weight in depression while I'm gone."
"Y'know, it wasn't a friggin' backup manacore that kept that dayum broad alive."
Rainbow Dash froze in the air and glanced over her shoulder. "Excuse me?"
Josho grunted, waved a hoof, and trotted closer to the blazes. "You know what? Forget I said anything. I'm gettin' frickin' ancient, I swear to Ledo's tailbone..."
Rainbow Dash watched him trot away. She was about to shrug the whole thing off when she heard a sharp noise to her right. Twirling about, she craned her neck, hearing a heated conversation reach a fever pitch. Flapping her wings, she edged herself around a building, finally spotting the shadows of a mare and a zebra in a dark alley.
"...even think of such a thing, Pilate!" Belle snapped. "You're more intelligent than this! Don't make... br-broad assumptions based on circumstance!"
"It has nothing to do with trying or not trying to be intelligent, honey! I'm not seeking to impress you, the Jury, or even her! I just think—"
"What?! That we can ditch her like some pathetic, unwanted toy?! Hasn't she been through enough?!"
"Okay, for one, I think you're being too overprotective of her—to the point that it's clouding your judgment."
"Oh, and since when were you expert on that?! You barely spend any time with her!"
"Belle, you're not even trying to listen to me! I'm just saying that we should stop by the place and let her see it for her own eyes."
"What good will that even pretend to do?!"
"Think of it this way. Years from now, when she's grown and matured, and she realizes that we never even bothered to give her an opportunity to witness and feel the town for herself, much less have a say in the matter, how do you think she's going to react?"
"I... w-well..."
"Are you prepared for her to be hurt? Maybe even be angry at us?"
"You can't expect it to be that way..."
"Belle, I can't expect anything! But it's healthy to anticipate anything. And it's high time we thought about her choice in the matter! I mean, this is her future, after all! And now that this war is coming to an end, the landscape may still be too hostile for us—but not for her!"
Pilate tilted his head while Belle looked up. The zebra clammed up while the mare hung her head, shivering.
Rainbow winced. "I... I-I'm sorry. That was totally uncool of me to intrude like that." She swallowed a lump down her throat. "It's just that... th-that I've never seen—"
"It's okay, Rainbow Dash," Belle stammered through a heavy exhale. She ran a hoof over her short bangs. "We weren't arguing about you."
"Oh, well... uh... th-that's great!" Rainbow chuckled nervously. A beat. Her brow furrowed. "Wait. Then just who were you...?"
As the pegasus' words trailed off, Belle bit her lip. Pilate kicked loosely at the shadowed blades of glass. Everypony was silent.
Rainbow blinked, and then her eyes twitched in realization. She turned and gazed pensively towards the center of the town, where the bonfire flickered like a distant star.
Roarke's copper lenses extended to their full length, magnifying the metal cannon in front of her. She peered right at the barrel of the miniature weapon, tilting her face as close to the instrument as she could. A bead of sweat rolled down her brown forehead as she reached towards a nearby table, grabbed a screwderiver, then planted it between her teeth. She tilted her head at such an angle so as to tweak a bolt or two holding the cylindrical metal frame apart.
Once she was done, she spat the screwdriver back onto the table, hoisted the cannon up, and pivoted it around to face the broad lower space of the Noble Jury's hangar. A pyramid of empty soup cans sat—stacked atop a metal crate towards the closed rear doors of the vessel. Propping the cannon against a pile of cargo, Roarke shoved a large metal ball bearing down into the throat of the weapon, stuffed it in tight with a rod, and ran her hoof towards the crystalline triggering mechanism. Taking a deep breath, she pistoned her left lens back and her right one out, "squinting" down the sight of the cannon.
She fired.
Phtooom!
The ball bearing flew violently... and overflew the soup cans.
Roarke hissed, wincing.
Clank!—Clank!—Clank!—Clank! The projectile pinballed all around the interior of the Jury's hangar, knocking crates over and showering sparks everywhere.
Rainbow Dash opened the door to the stairwell and emerged along the hangar's upper level. Crackkk! The red-hot projectile embedded into the doorframe just inches above her head. After two seconds, as the pegasus' prismatic mane was still settling, she calmly peaked over the edge of the upper floor's railing and said, "You know, you could have tried that waaaaaaaay back at Searo's Hold and have saved yourself the trouble."
Roarke's nostrils flared. She stared down at the metal bulkheads and grumbled, "I'd be lying if I said that the thought didn't tempt me at the time."
"Yeah, well, I'd be lying if I said that I thought you'd be lying about being tempted at the—" Thud! The ball landed to the floor behind Rainbow. She jumped, looked at it, and then glanced back over the railing. "—time." She cleared her throat. "What's with the potato launcher? I thought you were trying to rebuild your arsenal."
"Mmmmmf..." Roarke tossed the cannon into a pile of metal garbage. "I was. Thanks," she spat.
"Y'know..." With an air-whistling swoosh, Rainbow Dash glided down and stood besides Roarke on the bottom level. "Props says that Collins and the ponies of Archer Point have a bunch of scrap metal lying around doing nothing. Maybe you could use that to... I dunno... weld yourself a new stick to put up your butt." She smiled.
"I've been woefully teethless ever since I risked neck and spine to keep you and your friends alive in that damn floating mountain," Roarke grumbled. She slumped down in front of a work bench and fussled with a bunch of metal wires, attempting to sew together a bandolier of frag grenades. "I don't appreciate you making light of it."
"And you know that the rest of the Jury and I appreciate all of the sweat and blood you put into—well—giving us all more time to sweat and bleed." Rainbow Dash smiled nervously. "Would it hurt you to pretend that the whole debacle with Seclorum, Lasairfion and Nevlamas was a victory? Because... y'know... it kind of sort of was."
"Was it really?" Roarke's lenses pistoned inward as she glared over her shoulder. "Thousands of your friends' precious breeders died, and then there was the revelation of the creatures in disguise."
"Yeah, well..." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "An old friend of mine used to have this really wicked cool saying. Ahem..." She smiled rosily. "'Don't sweat the small stuff, sugarcube. It may be two trots back, but that's all the reason to make four trots forward.'"
"Sounds like you had a really lame friend," Roarke grunted.
Rainbow bit her lip. Hard. After a few seconds, she breathed, "No, she was really..." A sigh. "Really special." She glanced over with soft ruby eyes. "And so are you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." Rainbow's teeth showed. "Because I totally just did not kick your skull in for saying that about my other special friend."
Roarke slowly, calmly turned to stare at Rainbow.
Rainbow's brow stopped furrowing. "How come you only ever seem interested in what I have to say when it's laced with a veiled threat?"
Roarke sighed, then turned back to her wires and tools. "Did you come here to guilt-trip me into seeing some sunlight?"
"Actualllllly... it's night now."
"Super," Roarke droned. "Time to fraternize with your moon queen again?"
"Erm. No. It's not... wait." Rainbow stared at the bulkheads, eyes crooked. She shook her muzzle. "Ahem. No. That's not for a good few weeks, at least."
"Then what's the big deal?"
"You're a valuable member of this team, Roarke. And though a major battle may be over, we're not through the woods yet. We'd like you to get off the bench for once and help us with the rest of the game plan."
"You're pathetic when you resort to analogies."
"Well, fine then! I'll give it to you straight!" Rainbow reached in and rudely brushed the tools out from under Roarke's touch. She frowned. "Get your stinkin' flank out of this hangar before I kick it out."
Roarke fumed, but calmed herself in time to drone, "What for?"
"The Jury is having a little talk."
"I've already told everypony," Roarke grumbled. "I'm not in the mood to talk to happy-go-lucky tradesponies."
"Actually... this meeting isn't being held in town," Rainbow said, fidgeting. "It's being held on the top deck."
"And just where is this town?" Roarke asked, her forelimbs folded.
Pilate paced before the assembled group of Bellesmith, Floydien, Rainbow Dash, Josho, and the metal mare. Night hung cold and dark over the moored structure of the Noble Jury. "About one hundred and twenty miles northeast of here. Apparently, it's Archer Point's chief trading ally. During the latest campaign of the war, Collins sent several of her pony friends in a long-distance caravan to trade flowers and metals for foodstuffs and agricultural ingredients. But... Collins' testimony is not how I came upon discovering the village's location."
"Then how?" Roarke asked.
"You saw it in the map, didn't you?" Josho asked. "Early yesterday, while we were chatting downstairs in navigation?"
Pilate slowly nodded. "I knew that the name looked familiar. It took me a few moments, but then I remembered some facts Bellesmith had shared with me about Kera."
The mare took a deep breath, hugging herself as she looked off with a pained expression.
Rainbow Dash saw it. She stopped hovering and stood besides Belle, resting a hoof on her shoulder. The mare closed her eyes and nuzzled it while Rainbow glanced at the rest of the group. "I think we know where all of this is going. It's not that far away, and we totally wouldn't be backtracking by going there."
"Are the boomers getting rid of the little scamp scamp or what?" Floydien asked.
"Nothing of the sort!" Pilate said, but winced. "And yet..." He hesitated.
Belle looked up at him, misty-eyed.
Pilate sighed. "It was my idea initially, and I stand by it." He gulped. "As a foal first and a Xonan second, Kera has the right to witness her hometown before we risk passing it by. For all we know, she might have a reason to pay the place her lasting respects..." He cleared his throat. "Or more."
"I don't get it," Roarke muttered. "The little mare is resourceful. For all she cares, the Noble Jury is her home. Her attitude certainly reflects that."
"Even so, Miss Roarke, she was raised there by her parents." Pilate shuffled around. "Parents who, sadly, are no longer on this earth. Whether that was the work of the Council of Ledo or Nightshade or somepony else—it doesn't matter. She still needs to—"
"She still needs nothing." Roarke's lenses pistoned out. "I don't get it." She pointed at the couple. "She has you two. For whatever reason, that seems to make the little thing happy. Why unnecessarily make her retrace her steps?"
"She has the right to—"
Roarke frowned. "Because it almost seems like you're forcing it on her."
Rainbow looked over. "Roarke. If Pilate, Belle, Crimson and I had carried you forcibly all the way out of Foxtaur without you getting a chance to resolve all that crazy crap back at Searo's Hold, would you be nearly as sane as you are today?"
Roarke opened her mouth... but hesitated. She leaned back against the ship's edge, fuming. "I still don't think it's the same thing."
"No. No, it isn't." Pilate shook his head. "That's why we have to assume the worse."
"Being?" Roarke asked.
"That she'll grow up resenting us for robbing her of the chance of to live a safe, peaceful, ordinary life with ponies who very well may be her tried and true godparents." Pilate swiveled to a stop and faced the others. "Assuming she does choose to stay in her home town, which I doubt, think about what she now has in store." He gestured a hoof into the air. "Both the Ledomaritans and Xonans have pulled back. The war has come to a stop and free trade is opening up yet again."
"That's assuming the cease fire is something permanent," Roarke said. "I've been a bounty hunter for a long time—and lemme tell you, war is good for business."
"The stabby-stabby have pulled their glimmer back," Floydien said, his red eyes reflecting starlight. "Floydien has seen this. Never before has Nancy Jane had such clear skies to kiss."
Rainbow nodded at the others. "You gotta admit. Something's given the ponies of Archer Point to be high as a kite. And I don't think it's the flowers they grow."
Josho belched.
Bellesmith frowned at him. "Seriously, Josho? Is that all that you have to contribute to this conversation?"
"Actually, no..." The obese stallion scratched his chin and leaned forward. "I'll have you know that I do my best thinking while belching." He raised a hoof. "I think the really hard pill to swallow here is just what kind of a future would Kera have with us?"
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.
"Do I have to spell it out?" Josho grumbled, flinging a hoof eastward past the village and its blazing bonfires. "We don't know what kind of a world lays in wait for us out there, only that it's dangerous. Whoever or whatever did in the likes of Secchy and Lasairfion is out there... biding its sweet-ass time. Facing Ledomaritan managliders is one thing. Xonan chaos serpents is another. But friggin' shape-shifters? Giant bug-eyed freakazoids who can alter their form at will?! Something like that could swoop on board the Jury, replace one of us overnight, and bite into Kera's cute little jugular overnight!"
Bellesmith shuddered at that. She plopped down on her flank, staring worriedly into the wooden deck of the Jury.
"And that's just thinking about the little scamp among us!" Josho said. "Heck, every pony on board this ship is just cruisin' for a bruisin' by scaling any more longitudinal lines! If we were smart, we'd just park our flanks right down here and mill about until we die from boredom!"
"Like you can afford to do that..." Roarke muttered aside.
"You bet I can, sister! Open fields? Plenty of resources to start up a hobby? All the friggin' flowers I can eat?"
Roarke glared over with rotating lenses. "Neutral zone or not, you're a traitorous ex-soldier who's murdered countless Xonans in your day. You probably have half as many enemies on the eastern side of the Front than I do, and that's saying something." She snorted and glanced away from him. "As soon as word goes out about your fat breeder flank living it up in this valley, they'll send two dozen spies to strip you of your skin and auction off your pelt to the Highest Caste."
Josho bit his lip. After a few fuming seconds, he glanced over at Rainbow and bellowed, "Well, just what was your big stinkin' plan anyways?! Fly east until the skystone melts and we all fall into the ocean?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She glanced aside at Belle and Pilate. When they didn't answer, her voice cracked lightly, "Well... I... I-I've always had a goal in mind..."
Roarke's head swiveled to look at her.
Rainbow continued on. "I know I've told you bits and pieces. But, to put it lightly, my trip's never ending." She sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. "And yet, it is." She gulped. "I just don't know when."
Josho's forehead softened. With a twinge of regret, the stallion stared off towards the village below.
"Ever since the crap that grounded me in Aridstone..." Rainbow winced at the thought but continued. "...it's all been a matter of survival, really. I used to see this sort of flying-east thing as a challenge. Almost a sport, really. Heh." Her muzzle curved slightly. Then she sighed. "And then I started gathering friends up by the legful, and it... kinda stopped being all about my journey, y'know?"
Bellesmith gently patted Rainbow's shoulder. "We're in it with you all the way, Rainbow—"
"No," Rainbow softly said, shaking her head. "You're not."
Belle looked hurt.
Rainbow hovered close and clasped Belle's hoof with both of hers. "Don't even say that. You can't possibly even attempt what I am attempting."
Belle's lips moved to say something, but she had suddenly become breathless. Her eyes watered.
Rainbow took a deep breath and flung a glance Pilate's way. "Same goes for you, Pilate. You guys mean so much to me. But where I'm going?" She gulped hard. "It's not a place where any sane pony can follow. I started this quest on my own, and one day I'm going to have to finish it the same way. On my own. And it's not just because it's long and treacherous. It's... a lot more complicated than that, I guess. I've taken you guys past warfronts and fortress and barricades... but the very end of the frickin' world?! I'll be lucky if I survive the whole mess. Heck... I'm not sure I'm even going to."
"But Rainbow..." Belle sniffled, her voice shaky. "We're more than just hitchhikers whom you've picked up in Blue Shelf! We're your friends!" A tear blossomed along the bottom edges of her eyes. "We're Eljunbyro."
"And I love you guys." Rainbow smiled genuinely. "I really do. But if you're gonna put that kind of stock in the whole thing, then you gotta realize... you've done your part! You've brought wind back to my wings! You've given me the endurance I needed to continue this journey as far as I can take it! But what I'm destined for—freaky prophecy or not—it's bigger than the Noble Jury, bigger than this continent, bigger than even Equestria."
"But... but..."
"Belle, you know this. Pilate knows this. We all know this." Rainbow Dash nuzzled Belle closely with a shuddering breath. "We've even talked about it before, remember?" She sniffled. "The pl-plan was to take you as far as I needed to so that you wouldn't be hounded by all this Ledo nonsense. Well, we've outrun the Ledomaritans and—from the looks of it—the Xonans aren't gonna bother us anymore. All it takes is just a little more teasing of the eastern horizon and—voila—the promised land, ya d-dig?"
"But... but..." Belle choked back a sob. "Right now? So soon?"
"Unnngh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes and smirked. "Puh-lease, ding-dong! Josho was right. There's still a bunch of crap to deal with, and I'd be a total cup of jerk cider to ditch you guys now." She brushed Belle's cheek with a hoof, drying her tears. Slowly, her smile left. "But someday, I'm gonna have to leave you..." Her muzzle hung open a bit. "And when I do, I know... I-I just know," her voice cracked, "that it's gonna tear me to shreds inside." A sniffle, then a clenched jaw. "Just as I know you're being torn apart inside about Kera."
Belle exhaled sharply. She hugged herself tightly, gazing towards Pilate. Her beloved was similarly wordless, his stripes long and sad.
"If you ask me, I'm still in it for the little punks who don't know any better," Josho grumbled, staring out at the village and its bonfires. "Ebon. Props. Even that moron, Zaid." He took a deep breath. "But most especially Eagle Eye. None of them have futures here. They might think they do, but they'd be prisoners to a system that's been buckin' them senseless for gonzo years. But ponies like me?" Josho glanced back, frowning. "We ain't got no future. If I can help ponies like fruit basket and company find their place, then I'm in it for the long haul, even if it ain't the same as Rainbow's long haul." Josho squinted across the deck. "Floydien? I bet you can relate, can't you, ya crazy space elk?"
"The boomers helped Nancy Jane, and so Floydien wishes to help boomers." The elk's antlers swayed in the nightly breeze. "Distance doesn't bother Floydien. No no no—only spit."
"Mr. Floydien, you've given us so much already," Pilate said. "You even sacrificed Simon—"
"Simon's burial from glimmer shimmer is the reason why Floydien adamants it!" the elk snarled. "Not wise for striped boomer to question the gift when it is already his, yes yes?"
Pilate fidgeted. He opened his mouth—
"Beloved..."
The zebra looked over.
Drying her face, Belle shuddered, "Give Floydien the necessary coordinates. You're right. You were always right." She clenched her eyes shut and exhaled. "She deserves to make the choice for her own. This ship... this journey... it's may be a colorful place to grow up, but is it safe?"
"We can make it safe, Belle!" Pilate exclaimed.
"No, Pilate." Belle slowly, slowly shook her head. "We can't."
The zebra winced, then leaned back, rubbing a hoof over his straight mane.
"So, then..." Roarke looked at the others. "We set out in the morning?"
"Not right away," Rainbow Dash muttered. "There's this... breakfast thingy that the villagers have invited us to. Would be rude not to go."
"I see." Roarke nodded. "An excuse to make Breeder McNeckbeard here fatter?"
"Oh, hardy-har. Go make love to a fire hydrant."
"Given the options I've had as of late, it may be my only recourse."
"Ponies, please," Pilate grumbled. "Don't be a—"
"No, Pilate." Belle said, and she was smiling. "Let them have their fun, however they decide to go about it."
"Belle...?"
She sniffled, bearing a passive expression. "If these are quite possibly Kera's last days with us, I want her to feel right at home." She sighed. "Whether or not she decides to choose a different one..."
No less than two hundred villagers had gathered inside the main hall building of Archer Point. Several benches and tables had been set up, lying the length of the spacious interior with several burning braziers hanging from the ceiling overhead. Positioned in the very center, with elevated chairs facing the lengthy end of a thick oak table, the crew of the Noble Jury sat, along with several of the township’s gray-maned elders.
At least most of the crew was assembled. Two were absent: Roarke and--curiously enough--Kera.
“So much spit.” Floydien grunted, his ears twitching as his bulky body sat a good two feet higher than the rest of the breakfasting equines. His red eyes darted left and right in a supremely anxious manner. The elk’s pulse was visible in the throbbing of his neck and shoulder muscles. “So so so so so sooooooo much spit.”
“Please, Mr. Floydien, do relax,” Pilate insisted, sitting next to the elk as he dug through a plate of scrambled eggs with the help of O.A.S.I.S. “Nopony here is going to jump you, I swear.”
“Is not the jumping and the stabbing that Floydien fears,” uttered the elk with a spasm. “Is the carbon dioxide and the stupidity. Likely to melt Floydien from the outside in. Yes yes yes.”
“You’re blessing all of the villagers by being here,” Pilate said. “With Roarke being a no-show, you’re doing the Noble Jury a fine service. Now, please, eat what’s on your plate. It hasn’t killed me yet, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.” The zebra smiled for good measure.
“Floydien does not share striped boomer’s digestive track.”
“No, but you’ve not shared my social qualities all that much either.” Pilate nudged him. “And yet, here you are, learning to break the mold. What’s the harm in going just a little bit further, hmm?”
“Hmmmmnnnppphhnngh…” Floydien’s jaw muscles clenched and unclenched as he clasped a fork in the crook of his cloven hoof and poked/prodded at the plate of food. “Floydien is only doing this so that valley boomers supply Nancy Jane with bric-a-brac. Nancy Jane loves bric-a-brac.”
“Then let’s consider it a win-win situation,” Pilate said. “Oh, uhm… and Mr. Floydien?” Pilate cleared his throat and gestured towards his own upper skull, smiling.
Floydien blinked. With a sigh, he reached up, unclasped the bulky antlers from his head, and laid them down against the bench beside his flank. “There. No eyeboomerballs will suffer. Yes yes?”
“Such a polite elk.”
“Fwegh.”
“Beloved?” Bellesmith leaned in, a worried expression lingering on her face. “Uhm… where did Kera go?”
“Hmmm?” Pilate’s metal brow furrowed. “She isn’t here?”
“No, Pilate. She isn’t.” Belle craned her neck to look around. “For that matter, I haven’t seen her for nearly twenty minutes.”
“Hmmm. That sounds about right.”
“Huh?” she squinted at him.
“That’s when we arrived, correct?”
“Yes.”
“She said that she had to go use the little filly’s room before we sat down. She said she’d wash up before we return.”
“And she was alone?” Belle asked.
“Mmmmf!” Props spoke up from besides the mare. She washed a scrumptious bite of jellied toast down and chirped, “I had to go myself just five minutes ago! Remember?”
“Yeah…?”
“She was still there. Poor thing. I don’t think she handles the local fauna too well.” Props winked before taking another bite of toast. “Maretezuma’s Revenge and all that.”
Belle bit her lip and stood up. “I should go check on her.”
“For crying out loud, she’s fine,” Josho grumbled from besides Floydien. “If you’re gonna let the filly walk on her own someday, might as well let her crap on her own too.”
Floydien was inches away from shoving a morsel of food into his mouth, but upon hearing Josho, he sighed and dropped the fork back to his place at the table.
Belle frowned at Josho. “Don’t say it like I’ve already given up on taking care of her.”
“And you haven’t.” Josho took a drink from his mug and squinted back at her. “But someday you will have to, regardless of how long she sticks around the Jury.”
Belle sighed, staring down at her half-eaten plate.
“Just relaxe, Belle,” Pilate said. “This is a moment we’re meant to enjoy. Kera will be back soon to enjoy it with us as well.”
“I know. It’s just that…” Belle bit her lip. “I can’t help but wonder if we’re doing the right thing?”
“You mean in setting course for Lerris?”
“I mean in being secretive about it,” Belle said, bringing her voice down to a breathy tone as she gazed at the many-many faces of the villagers seated at the tables beyond. “It’s almost as if we’re conspiring against Kera.”
“She needs to make a very important decision soon, Belle,” Pilate said. “As much as I would love to simply ask her here and now, I feel that it would simply sway her choice in one direction.” He pressed a hoof to the mare’s shoulder. “But if Kera was to see Lerris with her own eyes… if she was to experience life at the village just as much as she’s experienced life on the Noble Jury, then and only then would she have a true grasp of what she would be gaining and what she would be losing. To introduce the thought of Lerris before exposing her to the real thing--”
“Yes, I get it.” Belle brushed a hoof over her head. “She would instantly say ‘no.’” She gulped. “Most likely...”
“It’s a decision that we’d both want,” Pilate said. “But, even more so, I think we both want what’s best for Kera, and that’s for her to make a decision that she won’t regret someday. This is precisely the opportunity that we’re giving her.”
“Hey…” Ebon leaned forward from several spaces down. “If you guys are gonna keep on chatting down there, can I have some of what’s on your plate?”
Belle glanced curiously at him. “Why? Are you that hungry?”
“I wanna sample everything these ponies make!” Ebon grinned wide. “I already nibbled on some of Propsy’s! They use a different season for each plate! I’ve never seen a tradition like this before! I want in on their secrets!”
“I’m sorry, Ebon, but I’m already halfway through most of mine--”
“Here.” Floydien practically tossed his platter down the table so that it landed before the earth pony. “Sail away, sailboat.”
“Hmmm…” Ebon scooped up some of the scrambled eggs and took a bite. He tongued the inside of his mouth was glancing up at the flickering firelight. “Black pepper. Most definitely. But then why did they use seasalt on mine?”
“Maybe they saw your cutie mark and took a friggin’ clue,” Zaid said, slumped depressively over his end of the table.
“Why so blue, you?” Ebon asked.
“Mehhh…” Zaid sighed. “Eggs and toast is good and all, but it’s… nnngh… just not the same.”
“I could show you how to make an egg salad sandwich with what’s on your plate!”
“We’re in the middle of two formerly warring countries!” Zaid cackled. “We’ve got Ledomaritans here! Xonans! A zebra, a pegasus and a friggin’ space elk!” Zaid snarled. “Why can’t there be any cows here?!”
“Even if there was a heffer here, I don’t think she’d give a crap about your spark-forsaken whining,” Josho said.
“I don’t want her to give a crap! Just a quart of milk!” Zaid sighed once more. “I swear, at this point, do I have to milk Props for some cheese?”
Ebon coughed and choked on his latest bite.
Props looked up, munching. “Hmmm?” She blinked through her bangs. “Somepony wants to milk me?”
“Pay no mind to the cultist behind the curtain of idiocy, blondie,” Josho said. He glanced at Ebon. “You okay, bucko?”
“Hckkkkt!” Ebon’s eyes watered.
A lavender hoof slapped him in the small of his back.
Ebon gulped down, then took a deep breath. He glanced aside at Eagle Eye. “Th-thanks.”
“Happy to be of service,” the stallion said with a smile, leaning over to take a dainty nibble of a floating fork. “Hmmmm… Isn’t this the life?”
Ebon raised an eyebrow. “You’re certainly living it up.”
“I can’t help it.” Eagle flung the end of a silken scarf around his neck. “Notice anything different about me?”
Ebon blinked. “You seem just as splendid as ever.”
Eagle frowned, however briefly. “See?!” He pointed at his brand new article. “It’s actual Crystal worm silk! From the southern shores! Apparently a small nation branching off of Xonan makes this stuff! I swear… it’s unlike any other fabric I’ve ever touched! I feel like I have liquid gold around my neck!”
“Well, I’m so glad that you and the scarf found each other.”
“Oh come on.” Eagle Eye stuck his tongue out. “You get to make a big deal out of a bunch of scrambled eggs. I can surely get giddy over nice linens.”
“What’d you have to barter for it?”
Eagle grinned wide. “Would you believe me if I told you nothing?”
“Nothing…?”
“Nope! The ponies of this town are just… just so generous!”
“Er, yeah…” Ebon Mane shifted awkwardly. “Do you know who gave this to you?”
“Mmmm-mfffmmf…” Eagle Eye swallowed and nodded. “I could never forget.”
“Are they in this room?” Ebon asked. “Can you point them out?”
Eagle turned and pointed across the town hall with his fork. “Why, there the fine mares are, right now.”
Ebon craned his neck to see across the torch-lit place. A trio of mares had been staring nonstop. Upon finally making eye contact with Eagle Eye, they all waved back, giggling wildly as three blushed faces erupted among them.
Eagle smiled and waved back. “So sweet and polite, too!” He returned to his food.
Ebon’s ears folded. He muttered aside. “You know, there’s a reason why they were so generous to you.”
“Mmmmmf-mmmf--really?” Eagle Eye dug through his scrambled eggs, shoveling more mouthfuls. “It’s because we’re the first outsiders in forever, right?”
“Nnnnngh…” Ebon rolled his eyes and returned to sampling Floydien’s plate. “Sure, why not.”
“I mean… we’re a symbol for the end of the war! For free trade! For the prosperous future of this village!”
“You know, for a stallion who sees so well, you really are blind.”
Eagle Eye blinked, looking up. He gulped and murmured, “Huh?” A pale hoof flicked his ear from behind. “Eeep!” He bumped into Ebon and glanced behind.
“Gotcha,” Kera said with a smirk as she skipped her way towards the empty spot between Bellesmith and Pilate. “Sorry I took so long.”
“Oh! Kera! There you are!” Belle scooted over to give her more space. “Are you… uhm… are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Kera sighed as she sat down. “I saw a bunch of grasshoppers in the field on the way back and--well--guess I totally let them distract me. Heh.”
“Heehee!” Props giggled in between sips of juice. “Never a rest for the tattooey!”
“Kera…” Belle squinted sternly.
“Oh, relax, Belle!” Kera grinned and fluffed her green mane. “I didn’t eat any of ‘em!” Her marked muzzled scrunched. “Little buggers outran me. Whew! I’m out of shape, I tell ya.”
“Spark, spare us.” Belle face-hoofed. “Well, I do hope you washed up.”
“Oh, definitely, Belle.” Kera leaned forward towards the table. She stared at her food, and then her green eyes lingered towards some unseen edge of the town hall in the distance. Her smile faded while nopony was looking. “You know I can take good care of myself.”
Before Belle could look at her--
“Say…” Pilate spoke up. “Forgive me for being blind, but where exactly is Rainbow Dash?”
“The paint bucket’s over there with the spittiest of the boomers,” Floydien grumbled.
“Where?”
“I believe she’s seated next to Collins at the head of the table, is what Floydien’s probably trying to say, dear.”
“Ohhhhh…” Pilate nodded, but then flinched. “Wait, really?”
“Those pneumatic joints and hinges have been lying in storage along with the spare manacoils for a long, long time,” Collins said, swishing about a glass of juice in her hoof as she smiled at the breakfast guest seated right next to her. “They were left by a bunch of privateers who used to scavenge from the spoils of war. Quite frankly, the ponies of Archer Point were always wary of them. I’m very glad to put them into the hooves of benevolent travellers.”
“Well, I can only think of one pony in our group who would need that crud,” Rainbow Dash muttered. “And she isn’t exactly benevolent.”
“Heheh… yes, well…” Collins winked. “If she’s flying under your guidance, then I’m certain she will put them to good use.”
Rainbow Dash smiled nervously, picking at her food in a limp fashion. “Look. You’ve all been super, super nice to us. And we’re really blessed for that.”
“Hey, you’ve given us loads of spare scrap!” Collins smiled. “With the inevitable influx of zeppelins, we’re bound to find merchants who will trade anything for the stuff!”
“Yeah, but are you gonna throw them all feasts and bonfires n’whatnot?” Rainbow Dash smoothed her bangs back and sighed. “Forgive me if I don’t seem all that thrilled. I really am glad that you’ve been so generous to us. I’ve just… I-I’ve been on edge so much and for so long that it’s made me stupidly paranoid.”
“I can only imagine.” Collins leaned her head on her hoof, gazing at Rainbow Dash through thin eyes. “All of those enemy skies you’ve flown through. All of the dragons, warriors, queens, and monsters you’ve fought…”
“I really can’t remember the last time a group of ponies were really kind to me… or to my buddies, for that matter.” Rainbow Dash looked at Collins. “I hope you know that all of my traveling friends are crazy-overjoyed at this treatment you’re giving them. It really means a lot, considering all they’ve been through.”
“Well, it’s hard not to want to shower them with affection!” Collins giggled. “We haven’t had visitors in years, and this really is the dawn of a new era for everypony in the valley! Besides…” Collins winked. “That lavender one? I’ve got a good mind to take him home and sit ‘em on a shelf somewhere.”
“Yeah… heh…” Rainbow nervously took a bite of toast and swallowed. “I detect a running gag. Make that a galloping gag.”
“Where do you plan on flying to next?” Collins asked as the hall continued to clatter and chatter behind them.
“Pilate--our super awesome zebra navigator--tells us that there’s a great body of water just beyond the mountains east of here.”
“Ah yes.” Collins nodded her head. “The Frozen Sea.”
Rainbow squinted at her. “So you know about it?”
“Only what travelers have told me about it,” Collins explained. “The weather is most turbulent there. According to the written word of flying merchants, the Frozen Sea is pretty large and covers many latitudes. However, because of a massive stream of violent winds that churns its way south all the way into the tropics, the only safe area to pass over the waters is far to the north. They call it the Strip of Flurries.”
“The Strip of Flurries…?”
“Indeed. The skies there are relatively calm.” Collins paused in mid-drink to blink akwardly into the torchlight. “At least, most of the year.”
Rainbow gulped. “Most of the year?”
Collins shrugged. “You have to understand, it’s been a long while since a merchant who hailed from across the Frozen Sea was here in the village to explain it.” She smiled wide. “I was only a tiny filly at the time!”
“Huh. Well… uh…” Rainbow Dash smiled awkwardly. “Thanks for the heads up? I guess?”
“Hey!” Collins grinned wide. “Our town library has a few surviving maps from the last known adventurer who hailed from that landscape! How would you like us to give it to your zebra navigator before you take off this afternoon?”
Rainbow grinned. “That’d be pretty snazzy, actually.”
“Anything we can do to help!” Collins nodded. “The Frozen Sea has always struck me as a kind of chilly venture. Maybe we could scrounge up a few spare coats too…”
“Please…” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof. “You’ve been kind enough as it is. And, believe it or not, the elk over there has plenty of woolie things to spare. Though, where he got the material to knit them…” Rainbow grimaced at the thought and threw it off with a shudder. “Anyways, between Belle and Eagle Eye, we’ll have plenty more stuff knitted, I bet.”
“Well, that’s comforting to know.” Collins smiled. “Seems as if you are all ready to face the unknown, as t’were.”
“Well, almost.” Rainbow fidgeted in her seat. “We’ve got this one last pit-stop of sorts before we take off for the wild blue yonder.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. A village not all that far from here.”
Collins grinned wide. “Lerris?”
“Uhhhh…” Rainbow winced, flashing a nervous look down the table at where Kera sat oblivious next to Pilate and Bellesmith. “Yeah. Just a quick stop.” She cleared her throat. “Nothing big.”
“Well, they’d be glad to see ponies like you! It would be a first for them in a long while as well!” Collins winked. “Although, I doubt they’d throw you a feast like we did. That village is a great deal smaller, and most of its occupants past their graying years.”
“Huh. I’ll… uh… keep that in mind.”
“I can’t believe you’re already leaving,” Collins said with a sigh. “It’s almost as if you just arrived here.”
Rainbow chuckled. “Well, it’s barely been two days.”
“I do believe that this calls for something grandiose.”
“What are you--?”
But Collins was already standing up. ”Ahem!” She tapped her glass with a fork and spoke loudly to the great hall. ”If I could have everypony’s gracious attention!”
The crowd gradually quieted, clearing their throats and putting down their eating utensils as over two hundred heads spun and faced the lead table.
“And that’s when I said, ‘Baby, that’s not a turtle, but doesn’t mean you should stop petting it!’” Zaid slapped the table and chuckled. “Get it?! Cuz it wasn’t a turtle! It was my--”
”Ahem.” Belle kicked Zaid’s hoof under the table.
“Ow! What the--Oh… right… ahem.”
A few breaths of laughter lit the air.
Collins rolled her eyes, smiled, and said, “We have with us here an inspiring group of travellers! Why are they inspiring? Because they have survived all odds to get here, and they have accomplished the bulk of their travels through good will, harmony, and the power of companionship! It is these same virtues that Archer Point will endeavor to practice as we accept new and newer visitors into our town! The war has made victims of many, so let us be quick to offer future travellers the same grace and kindness that we’ve so easily placed upon these fine ponies. Now, they have quite the journey that’s still ahead of them! I do believe this calls for a moment of inspiring speech! However, you neighbors and kinfolk have certainly heard enough of my rambling words!”
The entire hall chuckled good-naturedly.
Collins smirked. “Right. So, I think it is only fitting that the leader of their group gives us something to glean off of!” That said, she yanked Rainbow up to her hooves and gestured towards her. “Let’s hear it for Rainbow Dash!”
The pegasus watched with bulging eyes as the entire room erupted with applause and stomping hooves.
Eagle Eye and Ebon Mane whistled. Zaid and Props giggled. Josho and Floydien grumbled while Bellesmith and Pilate shifted nervously.
“Uhhhh…” Rainbow Dash sweated. Hard. She stammered aside, “A speech?”
“Well, we certainly aren’t waiting for a song and dance number!” Collins chirped, much to the laughter of the group.
And then the entire hall hung in patient silence.
Rainbow gulped, her cheeks flushing red. “Eh heh heh heh…”
“Look, okay, uhm…” Rainbow Dash fidgeted where she stood before the all-watching eyes, eyes, eyes. “I’m not exactly some inspirational pegasus. Nor am I Luna’s gift to ponydom come down to bless you guys with hearty words of wisdom or whatjazz.”
A few ponies chuckled. Eagle Eye grinned wide. Bellesmith and Pilate leaned towards each other over Kera, smiling.
Rainbow Dash saw their faces. She took a deep breath, wings twitching.
“Lemme just say that you dudes and dudettes have given us the nicest, warmest, awesomest reception we ever could have asked for. Seriously, when we first rolled into this town? All we wanted was to see what was happening and ask if some ponies wanted to spare a few resources for trade. And, like, here I am stuffing my own face with your super rad breakfast feast, and… I-I really don’t know what to say.”
More chuckles. A few ponies clapped their hooves.
All was silent by the time Rainbow’s voice picked up again.
“We’ve been through a lot. And we’ve… uh… even lost those who were close to us.” She bit her lip, then glanced Floydien’s way.
The elk said nothing, instead staring into the wooden finish of his side of the table.
Rainbow Dash went on. “But so many more of us would be goners if it weren’t for how well we agreed to work together as a team. And, when you think about it, it’s really not that hard to do. Ponies are just made to… to get along, y’know? You wouldn’t think it just from looking the world. Or, at least… most of the world.”
She rubbed the back of her head with a shuddering sigh.
“I’ve traveled far longer and farther than the rest of the ponies at this table--including the ones whom I’m happy to call friends. And in all the stuff that I’ve seen, maybe only two or three places were willing to extend a happy hoof to greet me. And this is one of them. All the rest?” She gulped. “All the other kingdoms and provinces and wastelands n’crap? They’re almost all full of danger and angry ponies and nasty stuff. And… y’know… that probably sounds really depressing and all, but I don’t think it spells a doomed world.”
Rainbow Dash stared at the warm, hearty hall as a whole.
“Something really great, something really snazzy and harmonious has been forgotten. The more I fly around, the more I realize that… like… I have this task--you see? I have this job to make sure that ponies remember what it means to be harmonious. We’re all born to gel with each other just right, y’know? But the world is so vast that many ponies don’t have it figured out. I mean, you guys do! Sure… but…”
A pause.
Rainbow breathed lightly and smiled with a nervous titter. “If I could make the entire world like this town--even the darkest ones--then I think all of my flier miles would be totally worth it.” She gulped. “And that’s why I’m gonna keep going, with friends or without, because I know there are ponies like you on this plane and the ones who aren’t like you deserve a taste, ya dig? So… thanks a lot for the pick-me-up.” She saluted while her wings flapped. “I’ll be sure to spread the love around… in a way that’s not as icky as that sounds.”
Voices chuckled, and that noise trickled into full-on applause. Propsy bounced in her chair, whistling. Ebon clapped loudly while Josho bore a mild smirk.
“Here here!” Collins stood up, raising to classes in the crooks of her hoof. “I propose a toast! To these adventurers and their future endeavors!”
The great hall echoed with resounding agreement.
“Here you go, Rainbow Dash!” Collins hoofed the pegasus a glass.
“Oh, uh… s-sure!” Rainbow Dash squinted at the smooth, brown quaff. “Just what is this, anyways?”
“Something we’ve been saving for a long time here in Archer Point!” Collins winked. “Only the finest apple cider in the valley.”
Rainbow winced as if a million chalk boards were being scratched all at once. “Oh, jeez. Uhm… thanks, but… I-I couldn’t. I mean, I won’t. I…”
“What’s wrong?” Collins blinked in confusion. “If that’s not to your liking, I could have a pony fetch you a glass of water for the toast--”
“It’s just that… I… erm…” Rainbow Dash’s lips trailed off. She blinked, then turned to gaze down the table.
Pilate and Belle sat, gazing up at her. Kera watched with glistening green eyes.
Slowly, softly, Rainbow exhaled, and she did so through a smile. “Yeah…” Her ears folded. “A toast with friends.” Her eyes turned glossy as she dipped her muzzle towards the glass. “I think I can do that now…”
Collins smiled and raised her glass. “To the Noble Jury!”
”To the Noble Jury!”
Everypony lifted their glasses, then drank. Or at least that’s what it looked like.
Rainbow’s vision had gone blurry. So she fixed it in two ways. She clenched her eyes shut, and then she drank from pure ambrosia for the first time in over a year. Her taste buds were too busy singing for her next breath to be a sob.
Roarke looked up with a jerk. She laid aside the pneumatic metal spoke that she was polishing and trotted up to the very edge of the Noble Jury’s top deck.
She spotted several familiar ponies trotting casually up the stairwell of the tower to which the skystone vessel was moored. At the very front was Floydien, looking very exasperated. The elk was followed by Props, Ebon, and Eagle Eye--all of whom looked very amused. Then Bellesmith and Pilate shuffled up with Kera, and Zaid and Josho took up the rear.
And as for Rainbow Dash…
“Stripeseeeey!” The pegasus slurred, lying like a loose blue noodle, draped over the zebra’s sturdy backside. “Anypony ever tell you--Hic!--that you’ve got a brush on your head?”
Belle took all her strength not to collapse into a fit of giggles as she led Pilate--and subsequently Rainbow Dash--on board. “Just you relax, Rainbow. We’ll have you dreaming of brushes and blue skies yet.”
“Searo’s Womb…” Roarke muttered, her eye-lenses pistoning in and out. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Dashie is now officially called Tipsie!” Props giggled, rolling her eyes around for good show. “Looks like the cider really, really, really goes through her veins!”
Roarke scowled. “You let our party leader drink a barrel of cider?”
“No, she just had one mug!” Ebon Mane said in mixed horror and shock. “That’s the funny part!”
“Funny for some, maybe,” Eagle Eye said in a dull tone.
“Pfffft… oh get off your high horse you lavender horse!” Rainbow Dash twirled until she lay upside down across Pilate’s flank with her head dangling--stupid smile and all. “Not like you never--HIC--dabbled in the quaff cloud! Hah! They said it couldn’t be said! But it’s been saiddddd-HIC!-wooo!”
“Tsk tsk…” Josho shook his head and leaned against the railing once he was on board. “Freaky. I can’t believe I was ever that worse off.”
“Yes, well…” Eagle Eye turned to wink at him. “You were a little less cute when you were, old stallion.”
“Damn. Hearing that from you, I’m liable to shoot myself.”
“Well then…” Roarke folded her forelimbs as she stared lethargically at Rainbow Dash. “Word to the wise. Keep the pegasus away from cider or she becomes a complete moron.”
“Hey! I’m an-HIC-awesome moron!” Rainbow Dash’s upside down head reeled as Pilate trotted past the bounty hunter. “Mmmmmm…” She tapped Roarke’s nose. “Hey Roarke! H1 to H6! Checkmare! Haa ha haa ha haaaaaaa-HIC!”
“Beloved… uhm…” Pilate fidgeted nervously at the rear stairwell. “I don’t think I can go down the stairs with Rainbow as easily as I went up them.”
“Right.” Belle rushed over. “EE? Would you mind?”
“Not at all.” Eagle Eye leaned in, using his telekinesis to lift Rainbow off Pilate’s back. “Nnngh… uhm… where--”
“On me, Eagle.” Belle winked with a smile. “I’m a big mare, she’s a little mare. You do the math.”
“Heh. Alright.” Eagle laid Rainbow across the pony’s back.
“Heeeeeee…” Rainbow nuzzled Belle’s back as she curled up precariously on her spine. “I have such fuzzy… fuzzy friendssss--HIC!”
“Easy there, girlfriend. Let’s get you to your hammock.”
“Hammock!” Rainbow Dash slurred. “That rhymes with ‘apple!’”
“... ...Yes!” Belle exclaimed. “Yes it does!” She and Eagle Eye carried Rainbow down towards the bottom decks. “Now, a little less squirming, Rainbow. Tuck your wings in--yes, just like that. That was a good speech you gave at the city hall…”
“Whew…” Zaid smoothed his bangs back. “I hate to say it, but if she keeps that up, I’m out of a job!”
“You don’t even have a job,” Josho grumbled.
“Then that puts you out of being out of a job!”
“Well, if you ask me,” Ebon Mane said, “I think she’s earned it. Erm…” He winced. “Not the inebriation and all, but… y-you know what I mean.”
“I take it that breakfast is over then,” Roarke muttered.
“There weren’t any grasshoppers,” Kera said with thin eyes. “It never even started.”
“You certainly had your fill, though, yes?” Roarke asked.
Kera blinked. She exhaled. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I did.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Roarke asked.
Just then, Collins trotted up to the tower’s edge. “She’s okay? She is okay, right?”
“She’s absolutely fine, Ms. Collins,” Pilate said, glancing in the mare’s general direction with a smile. “She simply hasn’t had her fill of cider in years. I suspect her blood was running thin.”
“Yeahhhhh…” Zaid smirked awkwardly. “Just a sneeze.”
“Dash-Dash just needs to take one of her nap-naps and then she’ll be all snazz-snazzy again!” Props chirped.
”Hey!” Floydien grumbled over the rising hum of the ship’s engines. ”Stop stealing Floydien’s spit!”
Props shouted back towards the cockpit. “Then you should learn to suck it up, handsome!” She giggled and shook her head at Collins. “Elk boys. They’re just as bad as non-elk boys, only slightly pointier.”
“Well, I do hope you embark on a good and successful voyage,” Collins said with a smile.
“Your grace has been beyond measure, Ms. Collins,” Pilate said with a smile. “We will never forget your hospitality, your generosity, your--”
“Please!” Collins chuckled, backtrotting from the edge of the tower. “You’d better stop or you’d never get out of here!”
“She has a good point, breeder,” Roarke said.
“Right.” Ebon nodded and shouted towards the cockpit. “Floydien, it’s go time!”
”Nancy is going! Keep boomer’s sail on!”
Kera leaned against the railing and waved wildly. “Good bye! Thanks for being cool ponies who totally didn’t want to kill us n’stuff!”
“Heh…” Collins smiled and waved as the ship and the tower gained more and more distance. “It’s something I’m proudly in the habit of! Save travels!”
Several voices shouted back and forth. Numerous equine shapes could be seen far below, waving as Floydien brought the Jury around and carried the vessel northeast.
“Wave, Zaid!” Ebon exclaimed with a bright smile. He glanced aside, blinking. “Why aren’t you waving?”
“Meh.”
“You know, they treated us like kings.”
“Kings and queens of the cheese-less ocean.” Zaid spun around in a huff. “Buck ‘em.”
“Heeheehee!” Rainbow Dash giggled like a filly as she fell back in the hammock. The roped canopy swung with a slight jostle, and she lay back with her hooves coiled at her chest. “Wow, I'm dizzy! HIC! Although...” Her muzzle scrunched. “I think it's the good kind of d-dizzy. Hic!”
Eagle Eye stepped back into the center of the Noble Jury's forward observation room. “I never thought I'd ever see her like this.”
“What?” Belle glanced aside at him with a smirk. “You mean stupidly drunk?”
He bit his lip. “Uh... I was going to say 'deliriously happy,' but sure.”
“Heeeeeey fuzzhead!” Rainbow Dash leaned over and rubbed Bellesmith's short-short mane vigorously. “Fuzzhead fuzzhead fuzzzzzzzzzzzheaddddddd!” She blinked. “Do I get a wish?”
“Uhm...” Belle blinked. “Absolutely!”
Rainbow Dash took a deep, deep, deep breath and spat out: “AllOfTheMaresInTheWonderbolts! AfterASpringRain! WetLeotards!” She hung off the edge of the canopy, ruby eyes darting across the room. “HIC!” She frowned. “Awwwwww shucks. Maybe I gotta rub your butt instead.”
Belle gently repositioned Rainbow into the center of the hammock while Eagle Eye giggled by the doorway.
“Well... then...” Belle turned to smile at the stallion. “I think I'm inclined to agree with you, EE.”
“As m-much as I'd love to stay and get blackmail material...” The unicorn winked as he began climbing the vertical crawlspace towards the cockpit a floor and a half up. “I'd better make sure we take off without a hitch.”
“Tell Pilate I'll be down here for a while.”
“Sure thing.”
“Hmmmmm 'Pilate,'” Rainbow cooed. “Such a funny name for a zebra. I wonder if he rhymes in his head but just doesn't have the guts to say it out loud.”
“Oh, I assure you...” Belle turned back and patted Rainbow's shoulder. “He has quite the talent with his tongue—” She froze, going wide-eyed at her own words.
“What?” Rainbow giggled. “You mean he can loop three onion rings over it at once?”
“Uhhhh... yes!” Belle cleared her throat. “Yes... precisely that!”
“Relax, gurrrrrrl...” Rainbow giggled as she turned over to her side, gazing across the observation room. “After all, I am!”
“Yes. I can see that.” Belle squatted by the dangling canopy. “I can also see why you've refused sips of cider for so long. It r-really does get to your head.” She giggles.
“Mmmmm... my head... my legs... my wings...” Rainbow Dash took a shuddering breath. “My heart.”
Belle said nothing.
Sunlight swam across the room. Rainbow tilted her head back, squinting out the bubbled front window of the compartment. “Mrmmfff... w-we're moving, aren't we?”
“Yes, Rainbow Dash, that we are.”
“Headed off to you-know-who's place?”
Belle bit her lip, glanced over her shoulder, and looked back. “Yes,” she nodded. “Shouldn't take too long to get there, either.”
“Good... good...” Rainbow Dash gulped. “And... and everypony's on board?”
“Rainbow Dash...”
“Even Zaid? Did we m-make sure he made it? Darn scrub has the stupidest habit of getting overlooked when nopony's smackin' him around.”
“Rainbow, it's okay,” Belle said, stroking Rainbow's forelimb. “Pilate, Floydien, and the others have everything under control. Everypony is on board and taken care of. We're safe!” She smiled. “Don't worry.”
Rainbow blinked blearily, then squinted up at her. “Then... why—Hic!—are you still here?”
“Because...” Belle exhaled gently, then smiled. “Because this is your first time under the effects of cider in ages, and I wanted to make sure that it was... as happy an experience as it could be.”
Rainbow blinked at her. “Nopony should ever drink cider alone.” She gulped, her eyes narrowing. “You remember...”
Belle nodded. “I remember more than you think, Rainbow Dash.”
“Even with... with all of the crazy sequencing that you've done...” She bit her lip. “With Blue Shelf and Nightshade...”
“I still have dreams that I'm sure you've dreamt from time to time,” Belle said. “You used to have such wonderful dreams, Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah... I did, didn't I?” Rainbow nodded. Her ears folded back. “Could you... t-tell me some of them?”
Belle blinked at that. She stared into the bulkheads for a few seconds before saying, “Well... there was always that... erm... awesome dream where you saved Ponyville single-hoofedly from a diamond dog invasion.”
“Heh... yeah...” Rainbow Dash stifled a belch and curled up in the hammock, gazing up at Belle. “That was pretty awesome, wasn't it?”
“And then you had that one dream where you showed up at flight camp and all the ponies were gone. And instead of panicking about schoolwork or lessons, you kicked every door open and flew madly through the school, breaking indoor speed records.”
“Heeheeheee... ughhhh... my imagination was so laaaaaaaaaaaame back then.”
“And then...” Belle bit her lip. She scuffled her hoof daintily across the floor of the room. “Quite a few times, more often then you ever told anypony, you dreamt that you had returned to Canterlot... for... f-for the Gala. And you were dancing. Dancing with... with...”
Rainbow Dash's mouth hung agape. She clenched her jaw and inhaled before murmuring, “Her mane looked so wonderful when it was braided. Like... friggin' golden rope. Silk smooth and on fire in the lamplight.” Her ears twitched. “She never liked to dress up. But she did it for the Gala and she did it for her family and she got nothing in return.”
Belle looked softly at her. “She earned your respect, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “She moved you enough that you dreamt about her.” She smiled. “I'm certain she would be proud of that.”
“Yeah... well...” Rainbow breathed out the side of her muzzle. “She'd be less proud about the dream where we both got stuck in a phone booth and we had to keep each other warm on Hearth's Warming Eve.”
Belle snorted. “Y-You serious?!”
“Hah!” Rainbow wheezed. “You don't know—Hic!—that one, do ya?!” She winked. “Got it locked away so dayum hard that your broken little horn can't find it!”
Belle giggled. “Oh, Rainbow...”
“Well, jokes on you, Ding-Dong! I never dreamt that! I day-dreamt that!”
“Day-dreamt?”
“Yeah! Helped out during—Hic!—long distance flights to and from Cloudsdale. Had to keep the wings stiff, y'know.” Rainbow winked drunkenly. “Pegasus stuff. You wouldn't understand.”
“Oh please.” Belle rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I think I understand plenty-y-y.”
“Heheheheh...” Rainbow Dash laughed. She placed a hoof over her face, chuckling, wheezing, hyperventilating. “I... I-I wish...” She suddenly seethed, teeth gritting. “I wish to Luna Almighty th-that I w-wouldn't be so sc-scared...”
Belle cleared her throat, gazing at her with concern. “Scared of what, Rainbow?”
The pegasus hugged herself. Her pendant rattled as she shivered. “Of being happy.” She gulped. “It freaks me out these days and it sucks.” She sniffled, avoiding Belle's gaze. “It sucks griffon feathers.”
“It's okay, Rainbow Dash.” Belle stroked her shoulder. “We're with you on this.”
Rainbow glanced at her with a glossy eye. “You guys can't f-follow me forever.”
Belle opened her mouth.
“You know this,” the pegasus grunted.
Silence.
At last, Belle squeezed Rainbow's hooves in between her own and said. “Then I promise, Rainbow Dash, that we will stick with you until you no longer have to be afraid of the journey.”
Rainbow stared back. She smiled. Then—quick as a falling anvil—she kerplunked into the hammock, eyes shut. ”Shnorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...”
Belle blinked at her. “Pffft...” She rolled her eyes and lovingly played with the mare's bangs. “Featherbrain...”
Outside, the landscape blurred as the Noble Jury cruised towards its next destination.
Belle trotted up the rear stairwell of the Noble Jury an hour later. The wind instantly pelted her face, causing a chill to run through her body. She trotted past Eagle Eye and Ebon Mane who were chatting along the port side railing.
“I think it’s a perfectly legitimate question!” Ebon Mane stammered. “And it depends on if you’re a country stallion or a city stallion!”
“I don’t see how it matters.” Eagle shrugged. “Where I end up staying is where I end up staying.”
“Well, would it kill ya to have some sort of personal outlook?” Ebon raised an eyebrow. “From what you’ve told me, you seem the small-town type.”
“I dunno.” Eagle shrugged. “From what little I saw of Blue Nova, I think life in a large city would be pretty snazzy.”
Ebon’s face twisted awkwardly. “EE, you were in that city for even less time than I was, and all I ever experienced was a frenzied imprisonment followed by an afternoon of explosions.”
“Yeah, but the skyscrapers were so pretty and shiny!”
“Unnnngh…” Ebon face hoofed. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
“Doing what on purpose?”
As Bellesmith passed by, she patted Ebon on the shoulder and winked. “He is.”
Eagle pouted. “Doing what?”
“Once we’re way the heck out of the territory of these warring kingdoms, I’m going to find myself a nice quiet trading post to settle in,” Ebon said. “A lot like Archer Point! Only… y’know… maybe a little less of the twenty-four-seven smiles.”
“Why’re you telling me this?”
“Oh… uhm… you know…” Ebon shrugged. “So that you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable if ever you decided to… to…”
Eagle raised an eyebrow.
Ebon cleared his throat and pronounced, “Visit.”
“Oh… visit…”
“Er… yeah…”
“I can’t imagine you’ll be lonely.” Eagle smiled. “Wherever you’re headed, you’re gonna have Propsy around, aren’t you?”
Ebon blinked.
“Well, aren’t ya?”
With a dull sigh, Ebon turned about-face and trotted towards the stairwell. “Now I know you’re doing it on purpose.”
“Buh?”
“Excuse me. I got some tomatoes to slice for tonight’s salad.”
Eagle remained standing along the edge of the ship, staring out at the passing mountains.
“Those! Those right there!” Josho exclaimed, pointing out at the snowy peaks towards the distant north. He stood close besides Kera and Pilate as the wind blew at their manes. “I have a manaphot of that back at Green Slope. Well, I did. Now it’s probably faded… or confiscated on behalf of the Council of Ledo since I became a ‘turncoat.’”
“What’s so special about that mountain?” Kera asked.
“It was the sight of a big friggin’ air battle--over fifty years ago! Back when massive atmospheric deployment was a rare thing for both sides.” Josho took a deep breath. “It’s a battle that Ledo won. Many coins had the mountain illustrated as a mark of the victory. Morning Star Point.”
“Oh… yes…” Belle exhaled as she stood by her beloved. “I… I-I do believe I have seen a coin or two like that!”
“Yeah. The new mint did away with the old Confederate bits.” Josho scuffled his hoof across the deck. “It was hard to celebrate the victory over a mountain when the enemy won it over within a decade and held it for nearly forty years.”
“It’s amazing to see it with the naked eye,” Belle said, shaking her head. “I’m trying to envision that quiet, solemn, unsuspecting mountain covered with zeppelins.”
Pilate smirked. “I’m trying to envision it, period.”
Belle rolled her eyes and leaned over to nuzzle him. “Oh, beloved.”
Pilate smiled and said, “I do appreciate the quiet here. I imagine the clouds themselves are stiller than ice.”
Kera smirked. “You imagine right.”
Pilate glanced at Belle. “How’s Rainbow?”
“Hmmmm…” Belle exhaled calmly. “Dead asleep. Almost as calm as the truest sense.”
“I can’t think that she’ll wake up with too pleasant of a head.”
“I doubt she’ll need much of a reason to fly, where we’re headed,” Josho remarked. “Coming from a pony who’s used to hangovers, I can vouch for her.”
“Well put, Mr. Josho,” Belle said, clearing her throat. “No need to elaborate any further.”
“We’re headed to Lerris, aren’t we?” Kera blurted.
Belle’s pupils shrank. Pilate had to lean on her to keep from pratfalling.
Josho stood dead-still, his eyes darting between the foster ponies and their filly.
Kera looked up, eyes calm as jaded emeralds. “My home town? In the middle of the valley?”
“Kera, darling, you have to understand.” Belle smiled awkwardly. “Just because we’re flying over Xonan occupied territory doesn’t mean--”
Pilate rested his hoof on Belle’s shoulder. The mare bit her lip and hung her head.
With a deep breath, Pilate said, “Yes, Kera. We are headed to Lerris. It was my decision.”
Kera slowly nodded. “I see…”
“Do you know why we’re headed there?” Pilate asked.
The filly opened her mouth, hesitated, and ultimately said, “I don’t know.”
“We assure you that it’s not because we wish to be rid of you,” Pilate said, causing Belle to shudder slightly. “As a matter of fact, we love you very dearly, Kera, and we’re more than happy to take care of you for the extent of our voyage. At the same time, I felt--and most of us mutually agreed--that you deserved to see the town with your very own eyes before we pass it altogether.”
“Because I grew up there, and there are ponies around who may have known my parents when they were alive.” Kera nodded again. “Yeah, I can get it. How about I ask you something?”
Pilate stood still. Ultimately, he blurted, “Ask anything.”
“How did you think I was gonna react, that made you felt like you had to keep it like some sort of big bad secret from me?”
Pilate tilted his head in her direction. He hugged Belle close with his arm. “I don’t know.”
Kera’s eyes narrowed. After a few seconds passed, she gazed out upon the passing scenery.
“If you don’t mind my asking…” Pilate said. “...would you care to tell us how you figured out we were headed there?”
Kera looked at him.
Hours earlier…
“What else could it possibly mean?!” Kera stamped her hooves as her eyes grew glossy. “They wanna get rid of me!”
“That isn’t true…”
“Yes it is!” her voice cracked, reverberating off the wooden exterior to Archer Point’s town hall. “I’m too much of a burden to them! They hate Xonans, grasshoppers, and bushy hair! Of course they’d be happy to get rid of me!”
“If you were not precious to them, why did they agree to let Rainbow Dash--their best friend and most trusted pony on this earth--leave on a treacherous voyage to rescue your flank from Herald, Nightshade, and the Xonans?”
“It’s… it’s never about me!” Kera grunted, folding her forelimbs as she stared across the dirt road down the center of the village. “It’s always about Rainbow Dash!”
“Kera…”
“If I had feathers and a vomit-colored mane, they’d not want to get rid of me!”
“Kera, they are weak ponies.”
Despite Kera’s angry disposition, she flinched at that.
“They are weak and they are frightened easily. If they were on their own, they’d be dead within days.”
“Don’t… d-don’t say that!” Kera sniffled, turning to frown over her shoulder. “Pilate’s s-super smart, and Belle can kick major flank when she wants to! I’ve seen it!”
“Then why do they act as if they forget it? Every single day? Why do they depend on Rainbow and Floydien and Props so much?”
The filly bit her lip.
“They’re victims of their own pasts. They’ve learned to cling to the affection of others, and that is the only way they know how to exist. Rainbow Dash has cemented this, and the only reason it hasn’t proven disastrous for anypony is because Rainbow herself is in the position to have ponies who want or need her right now. But she’s not alone. Pilate and Belle need somepony, and that pony is you.”
Kera bit her lip. “Need me… but… how? I’m not a strong pony…”
“It’s taken me a while to understand that what you stand for is as easily important as what you do. Someday, Pilate and Belle are going to have to split from Rainbow Dash. Hell, that day will come sooner than later. The problem is, none of them are ready for this dark decision. For Pilate and Belle, this means a great deal of heartache. But for Rainbow Dash, it means a lot more. Forming attachments and loyalties is the very crux of her being. And if she someday collapses from not being able to hold herself up, then it’ll prove a tragic thing not just for her--but for the entire world that she is inadvertently trying to save.”
“I don’t get it…” Kera wiped her chin as tears bubbled up. “What do I have to do with any of this?”
“Do you or do you not believe that you are Eljunbyro?”
The filly took a deep breath--shuddering--and said. “I do.”
“Kera, listen to me. This journey was never meant for you. It was never meant for Pilate or Belle either. The journey has been and shall always be Rainbow Dash’s. Sooner than later, she will have no choice but to become the amazing warrior I first witnessed her to be. When that time comes, it will be up for Belle and Pilate to let go of her. Only then will she know that she is once again alone in her task.”
“And what about Belle and Pilate?” Kera sniffled. “What will give them strength?”
“Do you wish to know the truth?”
Kera nodded vigorously.
“Knowing where you stand.” A pause. “Kera, a time is coming--and it is coming soon--when we all must decide how far we are to go in this adventure. For you, that time is coming sooner. Now Pilate and Belle think that they are doing you a good thing by not exposing you to the nature of our next stop. I do not agree with them. I think they are taking the easy way out of confronting you, because they’re too afraid of how angry and shocked and hurt that you will be.”
“Then… then what do I need to do?”
“You need to decide. And you need to make that decision firm. Do you stay in Lerris, and establish for yourself a life of peace and tranquility? Or do you pledge to stay by your new foster parents’ side, willing to suffer, hurt, and even die alongside them?”
“It… it can’t possibly be that bad…”
“Kera, look at me. And dry your eyes. Tears will not make the coming decision for you.”
Wincing, the filly did just that, gazing up at the mare’s face.
Roarke stepped forward, placing a hoof on the little pony’s shoulder. “What lies beyond the frozen sea is unknown, with the constant threat of shape-shifting evil waiting to prey on us.”
“But… but…” Kera bit her lip. “They all flew away, right? The big bug ponies? Rainbow scared them away.”
Roarke slowly shook her head. “No, Kera. Those creatures are more dangerous now than ever before.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because what nopony on board the Noble Jury will own up to is the fact that they can now be any one of us at any time.”
Kera gasped sharply, her eyes twitching.
“And when the time comes that these monsters decide to reveal itself…” Roarke’s lenses pistoned out. “You need to be strong enough to give your life for the ponies you care for… or else you shouldn’t be there at all.”
Kera stared and stared. She blinked, turned aside, and answered Pilate.
“Eh… it’s the mountains…”
She shrugged.
“Especially with how Josho was describing them and all.” She smiled faintly. “I recognized them. After all… I’m home.”
Rainbow Dash stirred with a trilling sound, her muzzle scrunching up as she rubbed her fuzzy face with twitching forelimbs.
A high pitched whine...
Rainbow's eyes opened, thin and bloodshot. She groaned inwardly, rolling left and right in her hammock. At last, she slithered out of bed, collapsing like a blue puddle on the floor of the observation room. Sunlight stabbed every orifice she had to give. Hissing, she stood up with a rattle of her pendant and spun towards the stern of the ship.
The pitch was coming from the heart of the Jury.
Stumbling like a zombified pony, Rainbow lumbered forward, past the crawlspace, through the navigation room, before finally reaching the thick door that lay cracked to engineering. She opened it all the way, instantly whimpering from the intensity of the whine pelting her skull. She clutched her head, heaved, and finally limped forward.
"Props...?!"
All was static, whining, and noise.
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow rubbed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and grunted. "Propsy!?" She looked to her left.
"Gaaah!" Rainbow jumped back—immediately slamming her head into a hanging steampipe. "Gnnngh—Double Gaah!"
"Top of the morning to you!" Props swung, climbed, and leapt her way to the port side where a broad desk of tools lay in the lavender glow of the caged tome that acted as the heart of the Jury's skystone interface. "Hey, you ever wondered if mornings have 'bottoms?' I mean, every pony is only ever talking about their 'tops' so it got me to thinking—"
"Guhhh... P-Props..." Rainbow hissed, rubbing both sides of her head in pain now. "Before you go on and on and on about whatever, you mind telling me just what in the hay is up with that whining noise?"
"Huh?" Props glanced back, adjusting the goggles over her bangs. "Whining noise? I don't hear no whining noise!" She turned back and resumed tinkering with the frayed bowls of an intricate cluster of radio transistors and wires. "Unless, of course, you're talking about my Super Experimental Long Distance Manacommunication Receiver 3000!"
"Your... uhm... Super... Expeedo Lemur...?"
Props giggled. "Super Experimental Long Distance Manacommunication Receiver 3000!" The blonde paused long enough to smile over her shoulder at the pegasus. "It's got far less crystal-dependent manaconduits than the Super Experimental Long Distance Manacommunication Receiver 2000! That makes it far more likely to pick up tiny signals from far-far-far-far away! Plus, 2000 is sooooooo yesterday. Heeheehee!"
"Look, Pinkie—I mean..." Rainbow went cross-eyed, cleared her throat, and grunted: "Props." She stomped her hoof. "Couldja, like, get rid of the whining noise?"
"But that means it's working!"
"Well, could you make it not work for a little while?" Rainbow exhaled with a painful shudder. "I feel like a dragon is passing a kidney stone in my brain and is punishing the walls of my skull for it."
"But this may be my only chance to catch up with Uncle Prowse!"
"What's your only chance?"
Props blinked. "Why, the Super Experimental Lon—"
"I get it. I get it!" Rainbow grunted. "You don't need to say the whole thing out loud."
"I'll work on getting the whining to be a teensy bit quieter!" Props said, eyes sparkling. "I'm so super sorry for hurting your head, Dash-Dash!"
"Props, it's..." Rainbow sighed, rubbing her head as she calmed herself with a deep breath. "Look, it's fine. I'm just a bit cranky this morning. I'm the one who'll have to wear off, not the whining noise." She lowered her hoof with a weary smile. "You just keep doing what you're doing. If it's the one way you have of finding your Uncle, then who am I to screw with it?"
"Ohhhh! Thank you!" Props giggled breathily. "You think I'd be full of things to do down here in Nancy's womb, but you have nooooooo idea how boring it can get!" She rolled her bright blue eyes and smiled. "At least now I can do two productive things at once!"
"How... uhm... do you expect this thing to work?"
"You mean with Prowse?" Props winked. "It's an old Sooter tradition. So many of my blood-kin live apart from one another. We keep in contact by sending the Sooter Signal whenever we feel like we need the other's help."
"Why would Prowse need help?" Rainbow asked. "I thought he was off looking for that... uh... Z-place."
"You can never be too sure. My Uncle is as fantastic as stallions get, but he's only got three legs to stand on and he's getting on with his whiskers." Props sighed, her ears drooping. "I guess the truth is that I need him more than he needs me. Still, if he ever fires the signal off, I'll be ready for it with my Super Experimental—" She winced, fidgeting as she avoided Rainbow's gaze. "Erm... with my gizmo-gadget-thing."
Rainbow smirked. "Well, there's no harm in that. Tinker away, girl."
"Ohhhhhhhh!" Props plowed into Rainbow, giving her a dear-dear hug as she lovingly nuzzled her soft cheek into Rainbow's quivering neck. "You're such a great captain, my Cap'n! Thanks for understanding!"
"Er... yeah..." Rainbow gulped. "Uh... Props? You can let go of me now..."
"Heeeeee!" the delirious mare deliriously cuddled her.
"Props? For real. Could you..." Rainbow sensed two jagged shadows in the room. She glanced back at her razor-stiff wings and rolled her eyes. "Friggin' Celestia, it's too early for this crap."
"Huh...?" Props glanced up, blinking innocently.
"Look, Props, lemme level with you... okay?" Rainbow Dash unpeeled the mare's forelimbs as gently as she could. "Cuz this has been a long time coming—er, I mean... climaxing, it—DARN IT!"
Props giggle-snorted. "Out with it, Dashie!"
"I've been really distant from you and... like... I've barely built up the courage to chat one-on-one, instead letting other members of the crew like Belle and Ebon do it." Rainbow gulped, avoiding the mare's blue-eyed gaze as she brushed one hoof against the other. "And it's totally not fair, because you're so insanely important to the Jury, and if we all wanna work well together then we gotta click, y'know? Like really gell n'stuff. But, you gotta understand, for me? It's... uhm... it's hard to talk to you... to look at you... to even be in the same friggin' room as you."
"Why's that?" Props asked, giving her luscious blonde locks a toss as she pivoted to sniff her own immaculate armpits. "Snffff-snfff!" She glanced aside with a moping expression. "Do I smell?"
Rainbow exhaled. "Oh yessssssss-No!" Rainbow shook her head, grimacing. "No! You don't! You totally don't! I mean... gnrnnnnnghhhh..." She clutched her skull, shaking. "This is stupid. I'm stupid."
"What's so stupid about sharing how you feel, Dashie?"
"It's not feels. At least... not the feel that you think." Rainbow glanced up over the edge of her hooves, blushing furiously. "You are really, really, really hot, Props."
"Well of course I am!" Props giggled. "I work in this engine room all the time!"
"No. I mean... like... you are smoking hot."
"Ewwwwww..." Props grimaced. "No way! Ever since Uncle Prowse nearly lost his lungs to the cancer sticks, I swore that habit off completely!"
"Oh come on!" Rainbow Dash stamped her hooves and snarled. "Are you totally yanking my chain?"
"I see a collar on ya, Dashie!" Props stuck her velvety tongue out. "But no chain! Heehee!"
Rainbow Dash was utterly still.
"Dash-Dash? You okay?"
"Erm..." Rainbow cleared her throat, blushing furiously. "Sorry. My brain needed ten seconds to recover from that last one."
"Maybe you're not feeling well. Perhaps you should go back to the hammock."
"You know what?" Rainbow approached the far door and opened it to the stairwell. "This whole area is almost sub-arctic. I think I'll go upstairs and... uhh... enjoy the cold, cold air."
"Uhhh... because it's too hot in here, r-right?"
"Yeah. That's good enough for me." Rainbow banged and banged and banged against the doorframe. At last she stood still, took a deeeeeeeep breath, sucked her wings in, and trotted into the stairwell with no further resistance.
"Huh..." Props scratched her head through her mane. "It's almost like I sexually arouse her or something." Silence. "Oh well!" She spun, humming a tune to herself, and once more approached the work desk. "Dum-de-dum—Ooooh! A manasprocket! I've been looking all over for you!" Sliding her goggles over her bright eyes, she licked her lips and shoved her limbs elbow-deep into the mess of wires and wires and more wires. "Heehee! Super Experimental Long Distance Manacommunication Receiver 4000, here I come!"
When Rainbow Dash emerged on the top deck of the Noble Jury, she saw Bellesmith, Pilate, and Kera standing close to one another beside the entrance to the cockpit. She shuffled her hooves and trotted directly towards them.
A strong hoof gripped her shoulder.
Rainbow paused and glanced aside. She sighed through a weary smile. "Don't you fret one bit, Josho. I can handle an aching head just as well as you can."
Josho snorted. "The kid." He motioned with his horn. "She knows."
Rainbow opened her mouth, blinked, and glanced towards the bow. "She does?"
"Yup."
Clearing her throat, Rainbow nodded. "Well, thanks for the update."
Josho released his hoof. "Don't thank me yet."
She raised her eyebrow at that. Nevertheless, she trotted onward, passing by Zaid who was fidgeting awkwardly at the sight of the pegasus. Rainbow half-saluted him and came to a stop besides her close friends.
"...were only a hoofful of foals my age. And when I say 'foals,' I mean they were all at least six years older than me and wanted nothing to do with a little filly." Kera sighed. "I swear. The village is full of old ponies, nothing but the dead and dying."
"A lot of time has passed, Kera," Belle said. "Maybe it'll be different than you remember."
"What's it matter, anyways?" Kera frowned. "The place is a huge bucket of lame. We all know the decision that I'm going to make."
"It'll be best that you visit the township, Kera," Pilate said. "For one last time before you leave it for good."
Kera's eyes sparkled. "What if I told you that the next door neighbor did horrible things to me when my foster parents weren't around?!"
Belle's brow furrowed. "And... you've waited until now to tell us something so terrible... why?"
"Unngh..." Kera groaned. "I knew that wouldn't work."
Belle rolled her eyes and sighed through a tired smile. "Oh, darling..."
"One thing's for sure. They never called me 'darling' there."
"Oh! Uhm..." Belle fidgeted. "Well, that's... uhm..."
Kera giggled and playfully kicked the mare's fetlock. "Will you chillax already? It's just like Pilate said—only a visit."
"Erm..." Belle nervously glanced at the zebra. "Right."
"What's this?" Rainbow Dash spoke up as she stood close to the trio. "Did we find a dentist out here in the middle of nowhere? Wow, what rotten luck, kid!"
"I do not need to see a dentist!" Kera barked, pouting. A second or two ticked by, and she ran her tongue along the length of her teeth, nervously.
"Rainbow Dash," Pilate remarked. "Nice to hear that you're up. We're making our way to... uhm..."
"Lerris. Right." Rainbow nodded. "A town with a name like that could certainly use a dash of awesomeness."
Kera giggled. "Ohhhhh yeah. Like you wouldn't believe."
"Lemme guess..." Rainbow leaned in, smirking. "Tiny town?"
"Pffft. Microscopic."
"Lots of old, dusty buildings?"
"You bet."
"Thatched roofs and dirt roads?"
"Exactly!"
"Tons of old ponies and boring farmers?"
Kera gasped. "Rainbow! How... how did you know?"
"I lived in the same town a good chunk of my life," Rainbow said with a wink. "Only it was called 'Ponyville.' And I brought awesomeness to it on my lonesome! Can you believe that?"
"Heh. You bet..."
"So, tell me something." Rainbow tilted her head aside, gazing at her curiously. "How can a town be totally lame if it gave us a pony as killer spunky as you?"
Kera blinked. "Uhmmm..."
"Give it a chance, kid." Rainbow reached in to ruffle the filly's straight green mane. "You might find out that Lerris will need this visit way more than you will. They've been having to tread water for the past few years without their coolest little citizen, after all."
Kera's horn glowed as she straightened her bangs, glancing up at Rainbow with a nervous smile. "Wow... I never thought of it that way."
"The key is not to think. That's what works for me." Rainbow pivoted towards the mare gawking at her. "Catching flies, Ding-Dong?"
"Uhhhhhh..." Belle closed her muzzle, gulped, and gave a faint smile. "It's very nice seeing you up, Rainbow."
"It's very nice being seen by you." Rainbow blinked. She craned her neck. "Zaid, how're you doing over there?"
"I'm... urp... rediscovering my airsickness."
"Airsickness?" Pilate's metal brow furrowed. "Blessed Spark, is that even possible?"
"No comment." Rainbow pivoted towards the cockpit. "Hey, elk-boy! Are we getting close?"
"Close to what, paint bucket?" grunted the pilot from where he sat.
"Floydien. Seriously. The parasprite's out of the bag. Are we getting close to Lerris or aren't we?"
"Floydien spots a hazy splotch on the horizon. If it is not the alleged village of filly filly, then Floydien guesses it's glimmer's mirage!"
"You know, there even times when he goes over my head," Pilate muttered.
"Well, I think I understood him just fine," Rainbow Dash said. She spread her wings. "Of course, you guys know what comes next."
"What're you doing, Rainbow?" Kera asked.
"Good idea, Rainbow." Belle rested a hoof on Kera's shoulder. "Just don't take too much time. You know how freaked out we get when you're silent for long."
"Maybe I'll sing a tune while I'm at it."
"And frighten them before the Jury gets there?" Belle giggled. "Rainbow, please..."
"Lerris Wrap-Up Lerris Wrap-Uppppp!" And Rainbow shot away in a prismatic blur, rocketing due east.
"I don't get it." Kera's muzzle scrunched up. "What's she doing?"
"Scouting ahead, I do believe," Pilate said.
"Hey!" Zaid shouted over everypony's heads, eyeing the flight of Rainbow. "Check to see if they have any cows!"
"Zaid, honestly!" Belle sighed. "She's beyond earshot at this point."
"Hmmmmph..." Zaid folded his forelimbs. "If there isn't even milk in that town, we ain't touching down. I swear!" A beat, and then his eyes crossed. "Oh right. Airsick." He spun and hurled his head over the Noble Jury's port side. "Blrrughghghhghghlll!"
As Rainbow Dash flew over the sloping hillside that led towards the small smattering of buildings, the first thing she noticed was a distinct rumble to the north. She tilted her head to the left, squinting. Dark clouds hung over a jagged set of snowy peaks several miles away. At first, she literally thought that there was a volcano spitting out its contents from the center of the geological mess. Her mind went into full gear, and she realized that it was only a storm front.
Relaxing in mid-flight, Rainbow's eyes trailed the churning sky. Most of the atmosphere was filled with thick gray clouds. It wasn't the same miserable look as what loomed over the battle of Seclorum's camp. Rather, everything felt calm, serene, and maybe a little bit too wet. She glanced down and noticed that the valley was pockmarked all over the place with rivers, lakes, and tiny ponds. The only patch of dry land was the very same spot upon which the village was built.
There was a "downtown" in the center, consisting of maybe five large buildings—but all the rest were tiny huts in comparison. To the west, several cottages stood like gravestones, sputtering tiny trails of chimney smoke into the moist air. To the northwest, three large patches of farmland stretched, sandwiched between a bog to the west and a rather large river in the northeast that connected to a series of rivers running south from the northern mountain range.
Rainbow glided close by the buildings, flying unabashedly low so as to take in as many details as possible. She saw that multiple rain-gutters lined every edge of the buildings' rooftops, and they led to a series of aqueducts that funneled through the city, passed under grated planks, and led to the farmlands in the northwest. Lerris was obviously a town used to a great deal of precipitation. At first, Rainbow guessed that this was the explanation for why there were hardly any ponies in the street. However, as she glided around the tallest building, she heard mumbling voices. Glancing down, she saw a thick group of ponies gathered under a wide-stretching overhang that shadowed the majority of a concrete courtyard—the town's only stonework foundation. At first, Rainbow was confused, until she gazed up at the sky. Though she could barely make out the glow through the overcast, she realized that it was high noon.
"Hmmmph... Lunchtime." She glanced down at the ponies—mares and stallions still oblivious to her levitating presence. "Taking a massive break midday? These guys must be old."
There was another roll of thunder to the north. Rainbow glanced towards the mountains. Once more, her eyes were drawn to the crystalline surface of the lake that gathered towards the northern edge of town. It was during this second glance that she spotted a dock with several small fishing boats. One stallion stood out in the open, seated on what looked like a stool, aiming his fishing line out into the rippling waters. Rainbow fidgeted in the air, stuck between the huge gathering of elders in the building beneath her, or the lone figure far away by the lake.
"Hmmmph... buck it."
She twirled about and flew north, passing through narrow streets and over flower gardens. A dog barked or two, and she swore that she heard a mare gasping from a second-story window, but other than that Rainbow swore that the town made no fuss about her entrance.
At last, she came within earshot of the stallion. This made a difference, for the old unicorn was singing casually to the rippling waters with a raspy voice.
"When the serpents dance by Nagu'n's chance, and gone is the sting that battle brings..." He cast his line again and hummed to himself, horn glowing. "Hmmmm... Then we will return to the stars. Yes we will, oh mountains, yes we will..."
"Gotta clear up those thunderclouds over them first, huh?" Rainbow said with a smirk.
The stallion's ears perked up. Pulling his fishing rod back, he tilted his head away from the rocking boats along the dock. "Greenbriar Melody? No... your voice is a different pitch. Then who...?" He turned around, peering at Rainbow Dash with blue eyes set deep and dark within a gray coat. Swirling lines stretched old and faded across his muzzle, collecting just beneath his throat. "An outsider..." It sounded like both an inquiry and a declaration. Whatever the case, the corner of the stallion's lips curved. "...how remarkable."
"Er... yeah..." Rainbow's ruby eyes remained locked on the faint tattoos touching a part of his face. "Uhhh... H-Hi there!" Rainbow waved. "My name is awesome, and I'm Rainbow—I mean... Darn it!" She seethed into the misty air. "Been so dang long since I met new ponies..."
"Those wings..." The stallion rested his fishing pole down and stood up from the stool, grunting from the effort of unflexing his brittle limbs. "You surely must be from the west." He took a deep breath, smiling tiredly. "Then it is true. The war is over."
"How... do you know?"
"Only with open borders could a pony like you reach a territory this deep beyond the front. And—as we all know—Ledomare is full of amazing diversity, even if many of the minorities are constantly trounced upon." The stallion trotted slowly around her, admiring her wings. "All that's east of here is Xonan cities and blizzards. I very much doubt you would have come from the lands across the frozen sea."
"Uhhh... yeahhhh..." Rainbow squinted at him. "And you? You're... you're..." She bit her lip. "Just what the heck are you?"
He chuckled. "Oh my. It's been so long since we had an outsider. I've forgotten how to give a brief explanation."
"Try me."
The stallion cleared his throat. "I was born Ledomaritan. But I lived a good two decades in Xonan lands. As you can see..." He pointed at his marked face with a smile. "It took some... cultural adjusting."
"Well, good to see that you survived."
"You kidding?" He chuckled raspily, coughed, and chuckled again. "They fed and clothed me more than when I lived for the Queen."
"But... like..." Rainbow Dash made a face. "Wouldn't you have been a total scrub in their society? 'Third Born' and all that crap, cuz you weren't born there?"
"It's amazing what kind of a lifestyle can bring you true happiness, so long as you have self-respect and honor intact," the stallion said. "Years ago, I came here because the war was turning even the most amicable of neighbors into monsters. I've been happy to live in a land where the only guarantee is the next day's rainfall." He wheezed, cleared his throat, and smiled weakly. "Even if the humidity is less than desirous."
"Well then..." Rainbow smirked awkwardly. "Good... f-for you?" she squeaked.
"Oh, do listen to me." The stallion sighed as he trotted over and leaned against a wooden post of the water-lapped dock. "I forgot how much I prattle on when there's a visitor." He gazed up at her. "You know a lot about Xonans. I can see from your expression that you've seen a lot. Maybe even too much." His eyes narrowed. "What brings you to our little village, Miss..."
"Rainbow Dash," she finally clarified. "And... uh... my friends and I are traveling east by a skystone ship called the Noble Jury and—"
"Skystone!" The stallion's blue eyes twitched wide. "Nagu'n, spare me!" He glanced north. "You'd have to blast your way past mountains, tornadoes, and lightning to even come near to those deposits!"
"Wait..." Rainbow squinted. "You mean to say that we're near to the northern edge of the world?"
"So you do believe it, then?" The stallion smirked.
"Believe what?"
"That there's an 'edge.'" He rubbed the joints in his neck and exhaled, "Any airship—or pony, for that matter—that bothers to fly north will eventually meet destruction. That's what makes skystone so rare, after all. It's a life-threatening occupation to harvest the stuff."
"You seem to know a lot about that."
"Mmmm..." He smiled with an ounce of pride. "Only because I tried harvesting it for two years."
"Oh?"
"Yes. And half of that time was spent recovering from my horrible injuries in the process." He winced. "I'd much rather travel east and see what's beyond the fabled Grand Choke."
"Grand... Choke..." Rainbow muttered aloud.
"You heard of it?"
Rainbow did a double-take against the horizon. "Yowsers. Yes, I have. Just... been a friggin' long time." She blinked, then gazed down at him with a smirk. "How come all you old ponies are the ones who know about the ends of the earth?"
He shrugged. "We spent our youths dreaming of them, and then our adult years realizing they were not worth seeing."
"Jeez. Sounds depressing."
"Not when I take into account the pleasantries of the life I've settled for." He gazed up at her. "This village... this Lerris... it brings me great joy. I have many friends here. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"Well, that's pretty snazzy."
"Hmmm... indeed." He nodded. "So, this Noble Jury..."
"Right. We're on a long voyage and—"
"And yet you stop here?" The stallion raised his eyebrow. "Wishing to do trade before scaling the Xonan mountains, perhaps? Surely you would have passed by Archer Point by now. I'm certain Rutledge's little filly, Collins, would have roped you into bartering things already."
"Actually, we met Collins and all of her sappy friends." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Talk about a bunch of bored villagers. Still, they were super cool to us, and we totally needed it after all the crap that we went through."
"Ah. So she gave you a warm welcome, then. Quite typical of her. I would very much like to meet with her elders again now that the borders are open."
"I'm sure you'll get your chance."
"I'm afraid that we're not exactly in the position to trade with any group besides Archer Point at the moment," he said with a humble smirk. "Unless of course you're in desperate need of rice or fish."
"Actually, it's not food that we're looking for." Rainbow fidgeted in midair. "We have something... er... somepony who needs to pay this place a visit. Well, at least we figure that it would do her some good..."
"Oh?" He blinked. "Are we talking about an ambassador? A delegate from the west?"
"Er... no." Rainbow gulped. "She actually lived here once. She's just a filly." She slowly looked up. "Kera's her name."
The stallion pronounced the two syllables quietly on the tip of his tongue. Suddenly, with a breathy gasp, his pupils shrunk and his body slumped back. "Radiant Moon... Benevolent Blue..."
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow leaned forward. "Excuse me?"
He gulped and dryly murmured, "They fostered the little foal of whom you speak." He brushed his graying bangs back and shuddered. "At least... they did until an entourage of Ledomaritans with violet uniforms snatched their child away in the middle of the night... and murdered them for attempting to resist."
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Nightshade."
The stallion's blue eyes fell upon the waters. "It's been nearly three years, and still our town weeps their tragic end. Not a day goes by when we don't think of the joy they used to bring to our halls and fields." He gulped and gazed up at Rainbow with a positively foalish expression. "You say... you s-say that their child lives?"
Rainbow slowly nodded. "I... uh... I came to scout out the place before the rest of us made a landing."
"You... brought her back here?"
Rainbow winced. "It's not quite that simple. You see, these two ponies..." She smiled slightly. "My friends—they've kinda sorta adopted Kera. They met the little scamp through a bunch of crazy events and now they're sticking to each other tighter than glue. But, the thing is, we've got a super-mysterious voyage ahead of us, and it sure as heck isn't going to be all that safe."
He nodded. "If you're attempting to pass through the frozen sea, then that can be assured."
"So, like, it was one of my friend's bright idea to bring Kera by this place—her hometown—so that she can see the place with her own eyes for one last time." She rubbed her shoulder, squirming in midair. "Or... y'know... for the first time, assuming she decides she's better off sticking around here."
The stallion gazed at her gently. "Sounds like your friends—these new foster parents—are quite wise. Not to mention selfless."
"Yeah..." Rainbow gulped. "I know."
Silence.
"Well..." The stallion winced as he shifted his old bones and trotted away from the dock. "The first order of business is to inform the rest of the villagers. Seems only fair, especially if your skystone vessel is nearly here."
"We can totally meet on your own terms n'stuff, Mister..."
He glanced up at her. "Huh? What? Oh..." He chuckled. "'Golden Happenstance.'"
"Huh..." Rainbow blinked. "That's an awful lot of syllables in your name, dude."
"Yes, well, that's true of most old pony names in these parts, Miss Dash." He chuckled dryly, then sighed. "If it makes anything easier, everypony around here simply calls me 'Hap.'"
"Very well then, Hap. Thanks for being so cool about all this."
"I have no other recourse but to receive this 'Kera' with open hooves. You see..." Hap gazed up with a twinge of sadness. "I was one of her godparents."
"Really?"
"Yes..." He nodded gravely. "Radiant Moon was my sister..."
"Gosh, we must have chatted for over two hours!" Rainbow Dash said with a grin. She floated before the closed doors of the Noble Jury's hangar. "He's a really swell dude. Not quite so boring and stuffy as you'd expect from a bunch of old ponies. In fact, while all these guys and gals were really nice n'stuff, there was some sort of... like... sincerity about them, y'know?" Rainbow Dash winced slightly as she said, "They didn't give me the creepily cheerful vibe as Collins' gaggle of grinning equines did back in Archer Point. Brrrrrr. But these Lerris ponies? I could totally chillax with them. Gray manes and all."
"Golden Happenstance..." Pilate smiled slightly into the dim manalight as the Jury swayed and wobbled. "Quite an articulate name."
"Are all the ponies super old?" Eagle Eye asked.
"Well... no." Rainbow Dash folded her forelimbs from where she hovered. "But a bunch of them are. There are still a few stallions and mares who are around my age if not a bit older. I'm guessing they're the sons, daughters, nephews and nieces of the older ponies."
"And it's a farming community?" Ebon Mane asked. "Lots of rice and wheat fields?"
"Look, the only type of farm I can recognize is one where red stuff grows from the branches." Rainbow shrugged. "When these ponies aren't scouring the crops or fishing in the lake, they're chatting it up like it's lunch time every hour in downtown. And I say 'downtown' lightly. The place is a sneeze away from being no more than a couple of wooden planks stacked up on one another."
"Sounds tranquil," Eagle said with a smile.
Kera hung her head, ears folded. "Sounds really really boring."
Belle patted Kera's shoulder. "Nothing wrong with saying what you feel, Kera. Though I might suggest a little bit of restraint around these villagers. Regardless of how long we stay here, it's probably not a good idea to offend them."
"But... like..." Kera rolled her green eyes. "Aren't I supposed to knowwwww them or something? All of this is sounding really weird and strange to me."
"It begs the question." Pilate tilted his head in her direction. "Do you at least recall a 'Golden Happenstance' in your younger foalhood?"
Kera's face scrunched up. She squinted against the bulkheads. "I... th-think I remember my foster parents mentioning an 'Uncle Hap' from time to time."
"Yeah!" Rainbow pointed with a nod. "That's it! He's a totally sweet dude!"
"He sounds really stale and whiskery..." Kera grunted.
"'Whiskery.'" Ebon turned and grinned at Eagle Eye. "I am so stealing that."
"Why are you even here?"
"Do you know the last time I sampled actual rice?"
"Do you know the last time I cared?"
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "But for real, this Uncle H—er... this Golden Happenstance dude seems A-okay. He knows a lot about this part of the world, Pilate, so I'm sure he's got a lot to teach you. And I bet he could give you plenty of cooking tips, Ebon." She turned and smiled at Kera. "And he's not as boring as you think, kiddo. Why, if Hap only had an extra layer of crust and cantankerousness to him, I'd say he'd even remind me of Col—" The pegasus winced suddenly, her wings going a bit limp. She salvaged the moment by clearing her throat and smiling gently. "...of an old st-stallion I once knew. Great guy. And so is Hap."
"I..." Kera bit her lip, trotting back and leaning close to Belle's legs. "I dunno about all of this..."
"Kera, look at me." Belle leaned low and caressed the filly's chin. "Nopony's asking you to talk to anypony, or to make any hasty decisions. You're perfectly free to stay by my sides at all times. In fact, I encourage it."
"Then why are we even doing this?" Kera trembled. "We all know the decision I'm going to make, right? So why fiddle around with this town?"
Belle bit her lip slightly.
Pilate cleared his throat and spoke up, "Coming to Lerris is about more than making a decision. Perhaps, with time, you'll understand how important this day is."
"Unnngh..." Kera rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's get this over with. Anything to keep me from hearing crap like that again."
"I was simply trying to emphasize how—" Pilate was silenced by a golden hoof placed over his muzzle.
Belle smiled gently, then turned to press a mana-powered intercom by her side. "How is our approach, Mr. Floydien?"
"Scrkkk! Nancy has completed the approaching! Boomers get ready for the arrival of ground!"
Almost on cue, the engines of the Noble Jury could be heard roaring its lower thrusters. The hangar shook once, jostled a second time, and then rattled as the entire ship made contact with the ground. Th-Thump! The engines cut off with a prolonged hiss, and all was still.
Belle looked across the way. "Ebon?"
The stallion nodded back, then pulled a lever along the bulkhead next to him. With a loud clatter of metal joints, the rear doors to the hangar started grinding open. A cold gust of frosty air flew in, along with a gray splash of bright sunlight.
Everypony instantly shivered. Everypony but Kera. She noticed, and it caused her to stare thoughtfully at her stone-still hooves.
"Do they know that we're even landing?" Eagle Eye asked.
"I certainly gave Hap enough foresight," Rainbow Dash said. "He should be showing up here towards the west of the village to greet us."
"Him and who else?" Eagle Eye asked.
"Pffft. I dunno. I talked to just him for the most part."
"Uhm..." Eagle Eye pointed towards the bright world outside. "You're sure you didn't make more friends than that?"
"Huh?" Rainbow turned around, and her eyes widened.
The doors to the hangar had opened all the way, and no less than thirty ponies were gathered outside. Most of them were old, but a few young couples and bright faces stood out among the crowd. They stood tightly together, craning their necks in quiet and concerned wonderment as the metal ramp of the hangar slid out through the open doors, hissing with deaffening hydraulics. At last, the ramp came to a stop, and one stallion trotted forward from the crowd, his blue eyes glistening in the sunlight.
"Welcome, ponies of the Noble Jury." Hap smiled, though his face beheld a twinge of nervousness. "You're certainly a fine looking group of equines."
Belle smiled and did a little curtsey. "Why, thank you, Mister..."
"Happenstance. Golden Happenstance, at your service." He tried bowing back, but his legs wobbled. Rainbow almost glided down to help him, but a middle-aged stallion had already steadied the elder. Golden Happenstance stood up, exhaling away the pain and putting on a weary smile. "A very fine ship you have, too. I almost couldn't believe it—but seeing it now with my very own eyes, it amazes me that skystone can still be put to good use."
"Assuming we can once more," Pilate said, nodding in the villagers' general direction. "Our engineer is currently in the process of rewiring the skystone to our... well... our energy source, to put it lightly." He shuffled down the ramp, followed loosely by Ebon Mane and Eagle Eye. "My name is Pilate. The lovely mare behind me is Bellesmith, my beloved."
"Beloved?" Golden Happenstance smiled. "Ledomaritans, I take it."
"Why, yes. Yes we are." Pilate nodded. "You already know our heroic pegasus friend, Rainbow Dash. And the rest..." Pilate loosely gestured, then fidgeted. "Uhm... EE?"
"Right, I'll take it from here." Eagle Eye smiled as he helped Pilate down the rest of the ramp. He looked up and smiled. "Greetings, sir. My name is Eagle Eye, from Franzington."
"A mercenary..." The old stallion muttered with a nod. "No doubt a veteran of many battles if you've ended up this far east."
"Erm... 'former-mercenary' is the better way to put it." Eagle Eye cleared his throat and turned towards Ebon. "And this is Ebon Mane. Our cook and all around friendly stallion."
Ebon smiled and waved nervously. "Hello. I'm from... from..." He winced slightly, and—after receiving a glance from Eagle—blurted. "From roundabouts."
"Parts unknown, I take it," the old stallion said, causing a few villagers around him to chuckle.
"Eheh... yeah..." Ebon gulped. "I would absolutely love to see how you fine ponies grow rice out in this place."
"We'd be happy to give you a tour. Although, I must admit..." Hap craned his neck. "I'm at a loss to see where...?"
Belle took a side step, revealing the suddenly-shy filly cowering behind her. "Kera, it's alright. Just stick close to me. These ponies would like to say hi."
"Uhhhhhh..." Kera gulped and waved a tender little hoof. "'H-hi...?'"
Golden Happenstance stood still, staring with lips pursed, thoughtfully.
As soon as Kera's tattooed coat kissed the daylight, at least a dozen elders from the crowd stirred and murmured.
"By the Spark..."
"Kera Tin Mehjj..."
"It is Moony's and Blue's child!"
"Nagu'n Below..."
Kera bit her lip. As she and Belle trotted down, she clung closely to the mare's side. When at last she brushed her hooves across the grass of the field, she felt something skittering by. She looked down to see a grasshopper and a mantis hopping in opposite directions. For a brief moment, the filly's eyes sparkled. Then a gray shadow wafted across the ground. She looked up, pensively.
"Hello, Kera," Golden Happenstance said with a soft smile. "My name is Golden Happenstance. I knew your foster parents." He took a cautious breath. "I... am your godfather."
Kera squinted at him, her eyes darting left and right, studying every shiny centimeter of his mane and eyes. At last, a breath squeaked out, breathy and honest. "Uncle H-Hap...?"
The old stallion leaned back, legitimately surprised by how swiftly she produced that. "Why, yes. Yes, I do believe that's what you were told to call me at one point." He chuckled raspily. "Uncanny, yes?"
Kera's eyes wandered across the villagers. "And... And..." She almost winced with the natural breaths that came out of her. "Aunt Frost. Miss Crystal. Mister Jayce. Cousin Gleam."
The villagers murmured more and more, many of them smiling with mixed emotion and glossy eyes.
"Kera!" one middle-aged mare exclaimed. She trotted briskly forward with a flounce of golden hair. "I can't believe it! Kera Tin Mehjj, it's really you!" She extended a forelimb. "I used to babysit you when you were just a—"
Kera shrunk back, biting her lip. She practically hid underneath Belle's legs.
The mare leaned back, blinking in confusion.
Hap glanced back and forth. He cleared his voice loudly and waved a forelimb before the crowd. "How about we all head back into town?! Our lovely cook, Sapphire Summers, has prepared a tasty fish filet for our guests. It would be a shame for that to go to waste, yes?"
The villagers nodded, trotting back towards the heart of town—though several of them glanced back with worried expressions, all of them locked on Kera.
"Kera..." Belle leaned down. "Are you okay? We don't have to go into the village yet if you're not ready—"
"No. I'm... I-I'm fine..." Kera took a shuddering breath. "Just... y'know... could you stick around me? Pl-please?"
"Of course, darling," Belle said in a warm tone.
"Do you recognize any of the ponies, Kera?" Pilate asked.
Kera's ears drooped. "Yeah," she muttered, eyes staring into the grass. "I recognize all of them."
Belle glanced at Pilate. The zebra had nothing to say.
"Fish filet?" Ebon Mane trotted briskly ahead. "This I gotta sample."
"Hey!" Eagle Eye frowned. "Not so fast! Furl your sail, why don'tcha?" He rolled his eyes and smirked towards the others. "We'll just be... uh... 'scouting ahead.'"
"But I already did that!" Rainbow's voice cracked.
"Well, consider this getting a second opinion!" And Eagle galloped after the other stallion.
Rainbow, Pilate, Belle, and Kera trotted slowly up the rear, growing further and further away from the rear doors to the Jury.
Inside the hangar, leaning against the railings of the upper level, a lone figure stood, watching them. Her eye-lenses pistoned out thoughtfully. As a cold wind rushed in, blowing against her braids, she said nothing.
As Zaid strolled through the Noble Jury’s kitchen, he passed by Josho who was biting into an apple from the storage.
“Hey, uh, should you really be digging into the stock without the ship’s cook knowing about it?” the thinner stallion asked.
“Hrmmmf…” Josho gulped and muttered, “What Ebon doesn’t know won’t break his neck and toss his body into a river.”
“You know, I’ve met plenty a pony back in the day who found overeating to be a dull substitute for the bottle,” Zaid said with a wink.
Josho glared at him. “The Hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You lemme know after the five minutes it takes you to squeeze through the door to the mess.”
“No, I mean, who told you that I used to have a drinking problem?”
Zaid winced from one side of his jaw to the other. “Ev… ery… po… ny…?”
Josho sighed. “Go frolic off in goofland. You’re worse than the rest of them.”
“I’m sorely tempted to give this town a visit. But I dunno.” Zaid bit his lip. “I didn’t see no cow pastures on the way in.”
“And they say I have problems…”
“Face it, I’m like your guys’ second compass,” Zaid said with a smirk. “The other one helps Floydien and Pilate navigate the ship. And I’m here to keep you guys from turning stupid.”
“It’s working so far.”
“Hey! Cool!” Zaid blinked crookedly. “I think.”
Josho bit onto another apple. “So long as you don’t take craps in my bed, I can live with ya.”
“Nice head full of humor. Wanna go air it out?”
“Hmmm?”
Zaid gestured beyond the bulkheads of the kitchen compartment. “It looks like a nice place to visit. A pony like you could benefit from stretching his legs a little.”
“Ehhh… no thanks…” Josho fidgeted. “From what Rainbow Dash said, most of the ponies here are old fogies, even older and fogiers than I am. I’d rather not walk through a living preview of myself two decades from now.”
“What do you mean?” Zaid raised an eyebrow. “They all sound super happy.”
“Excuse me?”
Zaid smiled awkwardly. “I… think I’ll go check out Props now.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Josho glared at the retreating stallion warily. “That’s what all the young ponies seem to be doing these days…”
A minute later, there was a knock on the rear door to the engine compartment.
Props paused in fusing a pair of wires together. “Mareshi mareshi!” she chirped.
The door to the stairwell opened with a creak. Daylight wafted through from the cracked door to the hangar as Zaid slithered in. “Hey, girl that is a girl. How’s the engine that is an engine?”
“I’ve given it a rest for the day!” Props said, adjusting the goggles over her blue eyes. “I’m still at an impasse over how to cross the central manaconduit over into the steam array.”
“Oh, does that have anything to do with making us go zoom zoom?” Zaid paced around, brushing his tail absent-mindedly against random instruments and hanging objects. “Seems like Floydien’s getting all impatient for the zoom-zooms.”
“Handsome wants what he wants when he wants.”
Zaid squinted at the lavender book floating in its “cage.” “Then just how do you manage dealing with him?” he asked.
“Belly rubs.”
“Buh?” Zaid flashed her a look. “How do you avoid being impaled by his brain bones? You do notice they stick out everywhere, right?”
“Oh no no no no…” Props glanced up from the workbench. “Not his belly. His beloved’s belly!”
Zaid blinked. “What, did he rope in a reindeer while I wasn’t looking?”
Props giggled. “You really don’t pay attention, do you?” The bulkheads groaned as the ship got reaccustomed to being parked on solid earth. “Whoops! I’m behind in my quota!” Props leaned over from the stool and stroked a hoof all over the metal floor. “There there, Nancy. I know it’s super super weird, but we’ll be flying again once we take care of all this business with Kera!”
“Uhhh… yeah…” Zaid gulped. “So what do you think about that, anyway?”
“Oh, I think it’s lovely! I mean, if I was made of metal and I had a mare inside my womb, I’d want her massaging me too when I got lonely.”
“No, not that--Not that it isn’t a ferociously interesting conversation to be having--but I mean this whole situation with the kid.”
“Hmmmmmmm?” Props hmmmm’d.
“Seems like they’re shoving a lot into her earballs just by taking her here and forcing her to endure all this nostalgiabombing.” Zaid raised an eyebrow. “Belle and Pilate seem to be swell quadrupeds and all, but what’s got their legs all in a knot?”
Props shrugged as she worked on the communication device. “I dunno what you mean! They don’t seem to be ribboning their hooves any! Besides, they’re not pink!”
“I mean, do they wanna get rid of the kid or what?” Zaid shrugged. “She seems pretty happy with them. I mean, she hasn’t set fire to anything since I got here.”
“Lil itty bitty Kera never set fire to anything, period, silly!”
“Oh.” Zaid blinked. “I must have dreamed that.” He ran a hoof through his yellow-streaked mane. “That explains why she spat fire and road an elephant across the blood ocean.”
“Yeah, I get that in my sleep after eating too many eggs as well.”
“Wouldn’t it have been easier for them to have just chained an anchor to the kid’s leg and dropped her from the sky? She’s going to be kicking and screaming at some point or another.”
Props giggled and smiled warmly the stallion’s way. “Look at you, Mr. Stranger!”
“What?” Zaid winced. “Is my third nostril showing?”
“I think it’s cute, is all.” Props winked bulbously from behind her goggled lenses. “You really care for the filly, don’tcha?”
“Well… sure! There aren’t enough hells or yeah’s to properly pair up and affirm that. I mean, who doesn’t love the little scamp! She’s like an inside-out porcupine with those coat-stitches of hers. Also, how often do you come across a pony who can rock green hair? I mean, Lady Gallop eat your empty black heart out!”
“From what Kera said, you looked after her a lot when things got super-nasty with the Xonans and the Herald!” Props grinned. “You even saved her adoracute little hideacute once!”
Zaid blinked. “Huh… yeah. I did, didn’t I?” He smiled and leaned against a table of tools. “Funny how easy you forget things when you’re starved of cheese--” The table fell over with a clatter of metal. “Gaaah!” Thud!
“Whoopsy-cakes!” Props placed her tools down and crawled over to pick the tools up. “Guess I’m re-alphabetizing my sprockets again! You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Nnngh… only my skull…” Zaid sat up, shaking his head. “I’m think I understand why Rainbow Dash never chooses me for away missions.”
“What missions?”
“Well, what else would you call them?”
Props smirked and squatted across the floor from him. “I can’t imagine for the life of me why Belle and Pilate would wanna split ways from Killer Kera. She’s like their own little daughter! They’ve been through thick, thin, and moderately dense! It would be like shooting themselves in the hoof!”
“I just wanna know that the little tyke gets what she deserves, you know?” Zaid shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind having a place to call home, but I think I’d rather roll with ponies I could trust all the same, right?”
Props pulled her goggles up and said, “You know, Zapp--”
“Zaid.”
“I’m super, duper, uber to be on board this ship, Zapp.” Props smiled gently. “I’m getting to work on skystone, see new places, experience awesomesaucical adventures. And yet, I’m pretty sure--no, I know--that if I didn’t get a chance to see Gray Smoke, if even for a teeeeeeny tinnnnny bit of time, I’d be a super downer pony.”
“How could you say that?” Zaid’s brow furrowed. “You lost your shop and your Uncle Pratchett went up missing!”
“His name is Uncle Prowse!” Props pouted. “Pay attention, Zapp!” She cleared her throat. “And, yeah, that was pretty cray-cray, but at least I know I didn’t have a future there!”
“Huh…?”
“Here, with the Jury, I have opportunity! I have mobility! And, once I get the Super Experimental Long Distance Manacommunication Receiver 4000 working, I may even have my Uncle again!”
“So…” Zaid squinted. “You’re counting all of this as a gain?”
“It freaks me out to think how aimless I’d be if I didn’t get to swing by Gray Smoke first!” Props exclaimed, her eyes dramatically wide. “Reallllly freaks me!”
“Yeah, but, like, what if you had arrived at Gray Smoke and everything was all hunky-dory?” The stallion asked. “Wouldn’t you have stayed?”
“I…” Props bit her lip. She fidgeted, then fidgeted some more. “I don’t know. Being here--with these ponies--and making this trip? With this tech? It means a lot to me.”
“Yeah.” Zaid scratched his neck. “But… like… more than your Uncle Prowse?”
Props said nothing. She sat still for the first time in days--if not weeks--gazing in impermeable thought upon that.
Kera's green eyes darted left and right with each step she took. A thin line of perspiration formed along her marked brow.
On household stoops and in storefronts, ponies stopped what they were doing to look. Mares and stallions gazed up from their lawnwork or from their gathering tables to glance at the miniature procession shuffling down the main street of the small town.
"The town is over three hundred years old. The valley is lush, and there are plenty of rivers and lakes nearby. But the ground is far too stony for trees to grow, which makes planting crops and raising orchards nigh-impossible," Golden Happenstance said as he led the filly, Bellesmith, Pilate, and Rainbow Dash down the path. A group of elders followed at a close distance, murmuring in wonderment amongst themselves. "We've survived by growing rice for local trade. And—of course—there are no better fisherponies than the mares and stallions of Lerris." He smiled and glanced back over his shoulder in mid-trot. "It's an old trade, perfected by old ponies, but there are a few young exceptions. Most of them are out by the lakeside at this time of day."
"And..." Belle leaned forward as she trotted closely besides Kera. "...the rest of you?"
"We bide the time peacefully. A good portion of us are veterans of the war who have done our good service. Others are estranged equines from the neighboring kingdoms who seek asylum in this humble place of neutrality."
"The war's never touched you?" Pilate asked.
"Depressed us? Maybe. Starved us? Sometimes. But we keep our ambition in check, making sure that we have enough provisions to keep ourselves warm and fed in the cold stormfronts that blow in from the north on a regular basis."
"Those are some sturdy looking buildings, I gotta say," uttered Rainbow.
"Heh..." Hap smiled up at the pegasus as they reached a courtyard with outstretched banners flapping in the wind. "They had better be. We've constructed and reconstructed them to survive hurricane force winds."
"Hurricane..." Kera blinked. "...force winds?"
"Oh, don't worry, child." Hap turned and smirked. "No building in Lerris has fallen in over a century. Above all else, we ponies of the valley are fantastic architects. Several tradesponies from the outlying cities have traveled hundreds of miles north to learn our secrets."
Kera shrugged. "I-I wasn't freaked out or anything. It's just that..." She gazed towards the northern mountains and the dark clouds rolling slowly over the jagged peaks. "...for a second there, this place was starting to sound like... like..."
"Boring City?" Rainbow Dash belched.
"Rainbow!" Bellesmith hissed.
But several elders were chuckling, Hap included. "It's quite alright. I imagine all of this sounds incredibly stale to a growing filly. Truth is, the peace bodes well for most of us who live here. We spend the time practicing our arts."
"Arts?" Pilate asked.
"Hmmm. Indeed." Hap nodded as he paced across the courtyard between buildings. Ponies gazed from where they sat in the shade along storefronts. "We have a good share of writers, painters, and sculptors among us. Every six months, there's a 'Festival of Rain' that attracts many of the local valley dwellers to our humble abode." The stallion chuckled. "Yes, we may not be quite as exciting and free-spirited as our Archer Point neighbors, but we enjoy our lives in our very own way."
"The key factor is that you enjoy life,period," Belle said.
"I'm afraid I don't read you, ma'am," Hap said with a curious blink.
Rainbow Dash levitated lower to speak. "It just... seems really freaky that you and Archer Point did so well for yourselves while there was a big freakin' war going on just beyond the mountains."
"The mountains had a lot to do with that, really," Hap remarked. "Other than that, there's the simple fact that neither our valley or Collins' has much in the way of... how should I put it..." He smirked. "...exploitable resources."
"Really?" Pilate asked calmly. "And what of conscription? Has either side tried to force your villagers over to their side?"
Golden Happenstance took a deep breath. "Once. Ages ago, before I settled in here. It was when the Ledomaritans had pushed the front forward. They took several able-bodied stallions, the strongest this village had to offer. Only a few of them ever survived their trials to return here, and that was over a decade later." He turned and gestured limply towards the graying population. "As you can tell, we haven't... entirely recovered from that."
"That's most unfortunate," Belle said in a sad tone. "You must be incredibly relieved to hear about the cease-fire."
"Relieved?" Hap smiled. "Most especially if it leads to an end of the conflict. Though, to be honest, this landscape has always been something of a demilitarized zone... at least over the past few decades. I suspect that very little will change in these valleys." He chuckled. "Save for the fact that we'll sleep a bit better at night."
"Well, that's always good in my book," Rainbow Dash said. At the sound of a rattling wagon, her ears twitched. She glanced up.
Two stallions and a mare were trotting in from the northeast, dragging a wooden cart full of whicker baskets. The air smelled of fresh fish.
"Hehk mikk leen sunn, Hap," the tallest of the three ponies said. He and his companions were considerably younger than the rest of the villagers, and the one stallion's muscles flexed with a richly tattooed coat as he piled the first of several containers onto the corner of a fish market. "The first catch of the week is here, and by Nagu'n if it's a good one," he said with a smirk.
Hap cleared his throat.
The stallion glanced up, eyes blinking bright and red between his marked face muscles. "Hmmmm?" he uttered in a soft voice. "Oh! Visitors? Did Collins send another group?"
"Beau, you might want to put a rest to your chores for the evening."
"Heh... what for, Uncle Hap?" Beau smirked. "If Collins' cousins want some fish so badly, they can lend a hoof and make it go... quicker..." His gaze fell on the visitors.
Rainbow Dash glanced between Kera and the stallion's gawking expression.
Beau gazed in wonderment, his muzzle agape. At last, Hap trotted over and whispered into his ear. The stallion's pupils shrank. "Nagu'n, below..." He looked at Hap. "Is... is it really her?"
Hap nodded slowly.
A smile crept across Beau's face, soft and tender. His eyes glistened as he said, "Bleen thiul semm. Now I know the war has come to an end if the world has returned... her to us..." Slowly, with pensive steps, he trotted over. "Kera? Kiki, darling?" He chuckled breathily. "It's been a long time. I—"
Beau froze in place. He winced, then breathed easier. With a calm smile, he lowered down onto his knees and spoke to her from a distance. "It's okay. I... really can't expect you to remember me. My name is Beau. I knew Radiant Moon and Bene—" He gritted his teeth, exhaled coldly, and said in a warmer tone, "I knew your Mom and Dad, Kera."
Kera glanced up at Belle, then over at the tattooed stallion. "Mmmm... what... wh-what did you call me?"
He smirked. "Kiki. It was a foal's name. You obviously outgrew it. You see, your parents were fisherponies. They and Uncle Hap here taught me everything I knew. I... uh..." He chuckled. "I foalsat for you often, when I was slightly older than you are now. There weren't many young foals in the village, and it was just... really cool to be able to take care of another pony for once. Especially... y'know..." He ran a hoof across his tattoed coat with a nervous grin.
Kera simply bit her lip.
Beau's smile fell, and his ears drooped. "Oh... Oh, well, yes... yes, I-I understand if you don't remember. But... but that's okay." He sniffled, his face lighting up again. "You're alive. You're alive and in one piece and... well... after all that happened..." He grimaced, his eyes growing glossier.
Hap trotted over and rested a hoof on the stallion's shoulder. "This is a time for celebration," the elder said. "That which was once lost is found. There's a new tomorrow—and though it may not be for all of us, we can rest assured it is for Beau and the rest of our youth." He turned and smiled at the rest of the ponies. "I do believe a feast is in order."
"Uhmmm..." Belle stirred nervously.
"We... appreciate the gesture," Pilate said with a thin smile. "But... you see..."
"Lemme guess..." Beau chuckled. "Collins fattened you poor saps up on the way here?"
"Something like that, yes," Pilate said with a nod.
"That's alright." Beau turned and winked at Golden Happenstance. "We're all light eaters here in Lerris. I seriously doubt Uncle Hap here is going to force anything on you, even if it wouldn't be... all that dense."
"Speak for yourselves!" Rainbow Dash blurred over her friends' manes and spoke with a cracking voice, "Lemme try out some of this rice you got!"
"Not a fan of fish, are we?"
"Please! I'm a vegetarian who's been suffering through an entire continent!" Rainbow rubbed her hooves together as she followed Beau through the chuckling crowd. "Shovel up what you got! I'll make it worth your while!"
"Oh, will you, now?"
"Yeah! I can... like... push away cloudstorms for a day or two!"
"You must be some sort of magical pony."
"What, are you blind? Feathers of awesomeness here!"
As the crowd dissipated, trotting every which way to set up the evening "festivities," Kera stood stock-still besides Belle.
"How are you doing, darling?"
"I... uh..." Kera gulped. "I'm doing okay..."
Pilate glanced over. "These are friendly ponies, Kera. But please, don't feel pressured to speak if you don't want to."
"This 'Beau' character couldn't be faulted for having a better memory than you," Belle said.
"No, that's... th-that's just it..." Kera winced, her voice wavering slightly. "I... I-I do remember him. And that name he'd call me. 'Kiki.' I hated and loved it all at once. He was... so nice..." Her lips curved slightly. "And funny."
Belle glanced at Pilate, then back at the filly. "Then... you remember things?"
Kera bit her lip, trembling slightly. "I'm starting to..."
The "feast" of Lerris was a very calm, quiet, and relatively subdued affair. Several tables had been set up across the centermost courtyard of the town. Here, ponies either sat with plates of fish and rice or they stood beneath torchlight, chatting and mingling. All the while, most eyes darted towards the center table, where Golden Happenstance sat along with Beau and the elite guests: Pilate, Bellesmith, and of course Kera. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen.
"Where'd she go, anyway?" Ebon asked.
"I saw her circling overhead just a few minutes ago," Eagle Eye remarked. He dabbed his chin daintily with a napkin and placed it atop his empty plate as he sat back in his stool, swirling a goblet of cranberry juice in his hoof. "It's just like her to get a survey of the land," he said with a smirk.
Ebon squinted up at the sky. "It's getting kind of dark, and she doesn't exactly have your eyes."
Eagle shrugged. "She's been doing nothing but chatting up the locals about Lerris for the past hour or so. I'd say she's having herself a little break."
"She isn't very social around strangers, is she?"
"I'd beg to differ," Eagle Eye said. "I think she's the kind of pony who's built to be the center of the spotlight. Only... well... because of her past and all, she's not altogether thrilled to get to know just anypony during her travels." He took a sip and smirked to himself. "Becoming a permanent friend to Rainbow Dash is like a supremely awesome accomplishment."
"What..." Ebon fidgeted. "What kind of past do you think she has?"
Eagle Eye bit his lip. "To be honest, I've only been told so little by Rainbow Dash. Even Belle—who knows everything about her—is hesitant to share information."
"Doesn't... that bother you?"
"Hey, most of us haven't had very pleasant pasts. Why should I judge Rainbow?"
"No, not that you." Ebon leaned his elbows against the table and sighed. "I mean, the fact that neither Rainbow or Belle are willing to volunteer much information about her past."
Eagle said, "I know that Rainbow's lost a lot of ponies that were close to her. I know that she's got a lot to be sad about but she puts on a brave face for her friends. In other words, I know enough that I wouldn't want to pry."
"I'm sorry..." Ebon bit his lip. "I wasn't really trying to pry either."
"Hey. It's alright!" Eagle Eye gestured at Ebon's full plate. "Aren't you going to have a bite, Mr. Cook? Just hours ago, you were going ga-ga over a chance to sample this place's food."
"I... uh..." Ebon winced. "I lost my appetite."
"Awwww..." Eagle pouted. "Why? You feeling sick?"
"Just thinking..." Ebon shifted in his seat. "It must be nice to have a past in the first place, even if it isn't altogether pleasant."
Eagle Eye blinked at that. His ears folded as he sighed, then pivoted to face Ebon. "Maybe, y'know, it's about time we told the others."
"Told the others what?"
"About how you don't remember anything." Eagle smiled gently. "I'm happy to keep the truth secret as long as you want me to, but I don't think it's too healthy to bottle it all in, y'know?"
"I... uh..." Ebon gulped. "I think the others have enough on their plate without me complicating their headspace with my own issues."
"So what?" Eagle smiled. "We're all friends here. We're here for you as much as we're here for Kera."
"Don't you get how special this is for the little filly, Eagle?!" Ebon's brow furrowed as he looked at the other stallion sharply. "She's getting acquainted with her hometown. All of this stuff means something to her, and she's relearning it all over again!"
"If you could say so," Eagle Eye said with a slight shiver. He glanced over at the main table. "If you ask me, I'd say she's been on pins and needles ever since she came here."
"Just you wait," Ebon said in a dull tone. "She'll come around. Already, she's starting to relax."
"Heh..." Eagle Eye chuckled. "How can you tell?"
"I can. I just... I just can..."
Silence.
"Ever the mystery, Ebon," Eagle Eye mused. "I'd say you belong with the Jury more than ever."
"Probably because—just like everypony else—I can't help it."
"Huh?"
Ebon looked at the ex-mercenary again. "Answer me this. If your father accepted you for who you are... if your family was more than willing to accept you in open arms... if there was nothing to ridicule or persecute you back in Franzington, would you really be with the Jury today?"
Eagle Eye opened his mouth, but he hung there in muddled thought. His eyes turned glossy in the torchlight as he eventually murmured, "No. No, I... I wouldn't be here." He gritted his teeth. "I wouldn't even have followed Crimson as far as I did, I guess..."
"Eagle Eye, the Noble Jury is my home," Ebon said. "At least... it's the closest thing I have to a home. The only place I remember where I've felt comfortable."
"Not even in Gray Smoke—?"
"I love Propsy to death. Don't get me wrong. But her innocence and naivete is oftentimes a barrier that isolates me. I'd be sad without her, but I can't exactly be myself around her either. But here? With so many unique and honest and upfront ponies? With somepony as courageous as Rainbow Dash? With someone as smart and thoughtful as Pilate? With... with..." Ebon shrugged and pointed. "Well, with you..."
Eagle blinked.
Ebon took a deep breath and smiled warmly. "I feel at home when I'm with you." A twitch. "The whole lot of you, I mean."
"Er... r-right." Eagle coughed. "Of course."
"But Kera?" Ebon turned to gaze melancholically at the table. "There's no doubt that she loves Pilate and Bellesmith dearly, just like I lean so much on Props' shoulders. But there's more to it than that. She's got an inner-strength, stronger than either of her foster parents, maybe even stronger than Roarke's and Rainbow's. She's survived on it for so long that she's grown callous to her own memories. And now, thanks to Pilate and Belle bringing us here, everything's all flooding back to her. And... and..."
"You think she'll drown in her memories?"
"No, Eagle Eye. I have every faith that she'll swim to shore. She's a strong mare beneath her young exterior. And while that's good for her... I... I feel sad. I feel very, very sad."
"Why, Ebon? Why so sad?"
The stallion sniffled, leaning against the table as he shuddered to say, "Because I feel... I know in my heart that a piece of my home is going to crumble away." He winced. "And I don't think I have the wherewithawal to catch myself as Kera does."
A lavender hoof gently squeezed his.
With a startled breath, Ebon was shaken from his sorrowful gaze. He turned to look at the petite stallion.
Eagle smiled. "Hey. You're going to have a home. Okay?"
"But... but if—"
"Even if Rainbow Dash was to leave us tomorrow. Even if the Noble Jury was to suddenly burst into flames." Eagle Eye winked. "I promise you, you'll find your home, Ebon, and you're going to be happy."
Ebon blinked, then briefly frowned. "You can't possibly know that."
"I don't care," Eagle Eye said, squeezing his hoof again. "You deserve the best life imaginable, and as a friend and a soldier, I'll defend your right to happiness to the bitter end. Okay?"
Ebon opened his mouth to protest, but said nothing. His gaze lingered on the warmth in Eagle's violet eyes as they reflected the first stars of the evening. He exhaled and produced a thin smile. "You really are a princess, you know that?"
Eagle's muzzle scrunched up at that. "What has Josho told you?"
"Nothing." Ebon smirked. "All he does is belch in my general direction."
"Yeah..." Eagle Eye giggled. "The old stallion will do that. Just wave your tail in his direction and he'll learn twice."
“You certainly gobbled that up quickly,” Golden Happenstance said with a gentle smile in the torchlight. “Did you want a second plate?”
“Hmmm?” Kera swallowed the last of her meal without thinking. He glanced up at the elder, then at her plate. “Oh. Uhm… huh…”
Belle chuckled. “There’s no shame in asking for seconds, Kera.”
“I-I don’t know where it went…” The filly shrank back in her seat. “It was… uh… pretty good for rice.”
“Blame it on the seasoning,” Hap said as he sat besides Belle and Pilate at their end of a table. “Trade Lerris secret.”
“Well. Uhm. It’s good. I didn’t really expect it to be… but…”
“It’s actually a very common meal,” Hap said. “Undoubtedly something Radiant Moon and Benevolent Blue prepared everyday, like most folks around here. That’s probably where you grew a taste for it, even if you don’t remember.”
Belle snuck a glance at Pilate.
Kera bit her lip, fidgeting in her seat. “You guys really cared about them, huh? My foster parents, I mean.”
Hap slowly, slowly nodded. “My sister meant a lot to me. Her husband was a very good stallion too. Their compassion and warm hearts aren’t easily forgotten.”
“Do… Do you know how they died?”
Hap tried not to wince. He placed his fork down and leaned back in his seat.
Pilate shifted uncomfortably.
Bellesmith leaned forward. “Kera, darling, this may be something to discuss when we aren’t enjoying the meal they’ve prepared for us--”
“No, she has every right to know,” Hap said. A weak smile. “The child has a lot of Radiant in her. Radiant Moon was never one for pretense. Above all else, she appreciated the truth, no matter how disturbing.” He turned to gaze at the filly. “Your foster parents, Kera, were accosted by the same ponies who abducted you from your home. They put up a struggle, from what we can tell. Before the strangers took off in their airship and flew west, they brought Radiant and Benevolent out behind their very own house… and shot them several times with manarifles.”
Belle grimaced.
“Blessed Spark…” Pilate muttered.
“I… wish I could say that the attackers were good marksponies. Truth is, they did not perish quickly. Radiant was luckier. She… was unconscious by the time that we discovered what had happened. Benevolent Blue was still able to speak with us. He lasted for about an hour before his heart gave out on him. When he wasn’t describing to us the faces of the ponies responsible for the atrocity, he was… expressing his deepest and most sincere affection for you… and f-for Radiant…” He cleared his throat and clenched his jaw shut at the end of that.
Kera stared up at him, dry-eyed. “Did Benevolent… I mean…” She squirmed in her seat. “Did my foster dad seem… angry that I brought those bad guys upon him and my foster mom?”
“Oh, child, no…” Golden Happenstance sniffled, leaning over from where he sat with a tender smile. “They cherished you far too much. And if you feel doubt in your heart, know this. My sister was a strong and responsible mare. But she wasn’t foolish. She knew the potential risk there was in being a Ledomaritan who adopted a pony with tattoos in this part of the world. She was respected and loved by everypony in Lerris, but she knew full well what would have happened if the Xonans moved in and discovered her with you or the likes of Beau.”
“You say that as if she’s adopted a Xonan kid before.”
Golden Happenstance merely smiled.
Kera did a double-take. She was nearly breathless when her voice cracked, “You m-mean I have brothers and sisters?”
Hap chuckled slightly, blinking his eyes dry. “Most of them have moved out of the village, and the only one you’re old enough to remember is Beau. But Beau was more of a nephew to Radiant and Benevolent. The ponies who primarily raised him live on the outskirts of the village. They’re sitting on the other side of the courtyard, if you would like to talk to them. They know a thing or two about your foster parents as well.”
“You guys seem… well…” Kera shrugged. “You’ve seen some nasty stuff, and yet you are so calm about it n’whatnot.”
“Hmmmmm. It’s a learned talent, and not one that one adopts to easily,” Hap said. “I must say, you’ve adjusted quite well yourself, darling.”
Hap blinked at that. Before he could think of something to say, a bunch of high-pitched voices murmured nearby. He glanced behind his chair.
So did Kera. “Whoah!” Kera scrunched down and hid behind her chair.
Three tiny ponies flinched as well, staring at her with wide, bright eyes in the torchlight. There were two fillies and a colt. One of the fillies had several lines etched in her coat.
“Uh… h-hi there,” the colt said, waving a hoof.
“What… what are you?” Kera muttered.
Belle smiled. She patted Kera’s mane. “They’re foals, Kera. Just like you.”
“Yeah… but…” Kera peaked her head out from behind the chair. “What are they doing here?”
“What else?” Hap chuckled. “They live here.”
“I wasn’t aware there were children here,” Pilate said.
“What you see is what you get,” Beau said as he stepped up and placed his hooves on two of the foals’ shoulders. “Well, except for the twins that belong to the Greenspires uplake. But they couldn’t make it tonight.” He squeezed the ponies’ shoulders. “What’d I tell you, guys? She’s just a guest. Let’s give her some space, alright?”
“Awwwww…”
“But she’s got tattoos like me!”
“She seems fine to me!”
Kera glanced up at Belle.
Belle smiled.
With a devilish smirk, Kera glanced back at the foals. “Hey! Can any of you do magic?”
Two of them--the colt and the tattooed filly--blushed beneath their stubby horns.
“No…”
“Daddy says that I should spend more time learning fishing than magic.”
“Pffft. That’s stupid. Check this out.” Kera tilted her head towards her part of the table. The empty plate lifted up, twirled around, and spun in the torchlight.
“Whoahhhhhhhhh…” the three foals stammered.
Beau whistled. “She’s a natural, Hap! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, I sure can!” Kera tossed the plate straight up, pivoted around in her chair, and caught it just centimeters from crashing into her tattooed face. She leaned back and pretended to balance the floating thing on the end of her glowing horn. “Ta-daaaaaa!”
The foals whistled and clapped their hooves, smiling wide.
Hap glanced at Belle. The mare was already nodding. “Beau…?”
“Hmm? Yes, Uncle Hap?”
“I do believe there’s no need to pull on the children’s ears. They’re only curious. I suspect so is our guest.”
“Hey!” The colt leaned forward, smiling wide. “They’ve got cinnamon sticks being passed out tonight! You wanna try some?”
“Hey, I was born to do two things!” Kera hopped down from her chair. “Kick flank and eat cinnamon!”
“Maybe you could show us some more of your cool magic?”
“Hmmmm… maybe.” Kera was already waddling out as she glanced behind her shoulder. “Pilate? Belle?”
“Go on, darling. But don’t leave the courtyard without telling us.”
“Sure thing!” She scampered off with the other foals, rambling into an awe-inspiring tale of one sort or another. The children stumbled after her, jaws dropped in the torchlight.
Beau glanced back and winked. “I’ll look after ‘em.” He followed at a distance.
“Well, that’s nice,” Hap said. “The kids around here don’t often see visitors their age. I quite honestly didn’t know how that would go.”
“Mr. Happenstance, thank you for being such a kind… understanding guest,” Pilate said. “As you can obviously see, Kera is certainly not one to cut corners.”
“One cannot fault her,” the old stallion said with a sigh. “And, if I may be so bold, I can tell that the two of you are a great deal more cautious about things than her.”
“We can’t help it,” Pilate said. “We’ve been through a lot. We tend to get paranoid.”
“As healthy parents ought to be,” Hap said.
Belle stirred slightly. “Mr. Happenstance, we obviously know about how Kera’s time with her foster parents ended. Perhaps you would be so kind as to… tell us more.” She smiled bravely. “So we can be better prepared to inform Kera herself.”
Hap nodded. “I would be happy to.” He leaned forward and began speaking as Belle and Pilate listened in.
High above the courtyard, on an outstretched crossbeam jutting out from the top of a three-story building, Rainbow Dash was perched. She loomed above the torchlight and the many, many heads of the ponies--both villagers and outsiders.
Her ruby eyes darted between her two best friends and the little filly who was giggling and weaving tales before the children she had just met.
With a deep sigh, Rainbow Dash leaned forward, resting her chin against her crossed forelimbs. She blinked into the night, and as the minutes dripped by while she gazed intently, her eyes grew glossier and glossier.
“Mmmmm…” Kera smiled, curling tighter against Belle’s backside as the mare carried her down the array of crew quarters on the Noble Jury’s second level. “And then they told me about high ball.”
“Oh?” Belle trotted forward as Pilate opened the door to Kera’s quarters. “What’s high ball?”
“It’s a game…” Kera paused to yawn. “... a game that the foals around here play.” She stretched, hanging her body off Belle’s flanks like a living towel. “They toss up a ball really high with unicorn telekinesis, and they all gotta run to a post and back to the place where they tossed it. Whoever’s closest to the center when the ball falls wins a point.”
“Hmmm… How interesting.” Belle shuffled into the cramped compartment and spread forth the blanket of a hanging cot. “Did you play with them?”
“It was… too dark for high ball…” Kera stirred slightly as Belle hoisted her off her back and onto the bed. “Mmmm… but… but they said I could play with them tomorrow.” Her eyes fluttered thinly open. “Are… are we going to be here tomorrow?”
Belle smiled gently in the lantern light of the room. “I know for a fact we will be, Kera. I’m guessing the kids’ parents wanted them to go to bed for the night. You should too.”
“Mmmm…” Kera grumbled, though her eyes fluttered shut. “Not… tired…”
Belle chuckled lightly as she drew the blanket over the filly’s tattooed figure. “Well, when you decide that you are, will you let me know?”
“Sure… sure…” Kera yawned again. She muttered. “...Belle?”
“Yes, Kera?”
“The ponies here aren’t so lame after all…” The filly turned over, wrapping herself tighter in the blanket. Another yawn, and then a squeaking breath. “They’re… actually k-kind of cool… in their own… quiet way…”
Belle nodded. “I… I-I know, Kera.”
Silence.
Belle raised an eyebrow.
Kera’s body was slowly rising and falling. Her breaths came out in quiet, tranquil wheezes.
Belle sighed. With a weak smile, she leaned in and nuzzled the filly’s green hair in her sleep. She lingered there for a few seconds, then drew back. Without wasting a breath, she turned the lantern off and backtrotted out of the room. She looked gently at Pilate.
Once she was still, the zebra remarked, “Fascinating how swiftly she lost her nervousness.”
“I’m… sure it’s still there, Pilate,” Belle murmured. “It’s just… briefly forgotten.”
“No doubt the young friends she made helped her relax a bit.”
“Or riled her up.” Belle smirked for a brief moment. “You know Kera, Pilate. She never backs out from a challenge. I’m actually a little bit concerned for the ponies she wants to be playing games with.”
“Maybe there’s nothing to be fearful about,” Pilate said with a shrug. “We’ve never… r-really seen her with other foals before.”
“I’m sure she’ll be okay tomorrow,” Belle said in a dull tone.
Pilate leaned in, nuzzling her. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
She bit her lip. Gulping, she nodded and nuzzled him close, resting a hoof over her shoulder.
“Tomorrow, I suggest we get up early and have a long talk with Golden Happenstance,” Pilate said. “I feel like I can gauge the feelings of a stallion of his calibre. I should be able to get plenty of information out of him.”
“You think he’s hiding something, Pilate?”
“No, beloved. Nothing of the sort.”
“Can… c-can you forgive me for being anxious?”
“Nothing to be sorry about. We just need all the facts, is all.”
“And so does Kera.”
“Right…” Pilate nodded. “R-right.”
Silence.
The two turned and shuffled slowly towards the ship’s stern, heading down the thin corridor towards where the deck opened up into the wide, brightly-lit mess hall.
“Did you see where Rainbow Dash went?” Pilate asked.
“I couldn’t help but notice. She was on the roofs most of the night.”
“Did she eat anything?”
“She had some of the rice, I think.”
“I appreciate a pony who sticks to her values.”
“Still, she did seem a bit… distant…”
“I think she’s more anxious than Kera is.”
“Yeah, why?” Belle asked, then looked forward. She jerked in place.
“Well, to be honest, she’s grown attached to everypony, and I don’t think she can easily handle--”
Belle nudged Pilate hard.
The Zebra winced, then froze, his ears twitching. He gave the mess hall a quick scan with O.A.S.I.S.
The entire crew sat, gazing silently at the couple, as if frozen in conversation. Rainbow Dash hovered over the table, forelimbs curled as her ruby eyes glistened wide in the lanternlight. Even Floydien and Roarke were there--the elk in the far corner and the metal mare beneath a starlit porthole.
Belle gulped and said, “We… we need time.” She winced slightly, then turned her head slightly towards the corridor from which they trotted. “Kera needs time. I know we want to get out of Xonan territory as swiftly as possible, what with the cease-fire and all, but--”
“No more spit,” Floydien grumbled, his eyebrow raised. “The little boomerette needs days? She will have it.”
“I could totally use the time to work on fixing the skystone overlay!” Props said with a nervous smile.
“I’m talking to the locals about storing loads of rice,” Ebon Mane said. “I’m bartering a few spices and fruit that they normally don’t get around here.”
“I’m scratching my butt a lot,” Josho muttered. “Does that count for something?”
Eagle Eye rolled his eyes.
Belle smiled. She took a deep breath and said, “Thank you, everypony. Really. This means a lot to us.”
“Uh huh…” Zaid shifted uncomfortably. “And…?”
“And what?” Pilate asked.
The room was dead silent.
Belle cleared her throat. “There’s… there’s nothing to say yet. Please… let’s not force her to make a decision either. This is about her and her livelihood… after all…”
Roarke’s eye lenses pistoned back. She turned and trotted quietly scuffled out of the room.
Rainbow turned to look at that. Roarke was gone by the time the pegasus’ ruby eyes swept over the kitchen doorframe.
“So… then…” Pilate took a deep breath. “Might I suggest a good night’s rest, everypony?” He smiled gently. “Tomorrow is hopefully a bright and sunny day…”
“No! No!” Props winced as a burst of steam blew over her head, ruffling her blonde bangs. “The outerspanner! Not the innerspanner! You silly anti-filly, you almost blew us to kingdom cogs!”
“Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, Propsy!” Zaid stammered as he fought to twist back a pipe that he had inadvertently rotated loose. The engine room filled with steam, forcing him to sweat profusely from the heat. “When I said I wanted to help, I didn’t actually say that I had a background in rocket science!”
“It’s not rocket science! You just gotta connect the pneumatic actuator to the bilateral compression node!”
“Uhhh… okay, who named them that and which one looks like a chicken bone doused in vinegar?”
“Ohhhhh…” Props turned red-faced as she brushed him aside and dug her hooves up into the web of metalworks. “Let me fix it back to being fixed!” She gritted her teeth as a sheen of sweat formed on her coat. “You worked on a skystone ship before! Why is this so flank over elbow for you?”
“Khao didn’t trust me to touch things that might explode.”
“I never had a pneumatic actuator go kersplodey on me before--” She inadvertently twisted the pipe looser and yelped from a gust of steam shooting into her ear. “Metal mulch! That sings!”
“Whoah!” Zaid reached up and examined her earlobe. “You okay there, girl?”
“Yeah, just a little steamed.”
“Would it help if I blew on it?”
“Rest this one out!” she blurted, sliding her goggles over a flustered face as she practically lemur-climbed her way into the mess of pipework. “Never ask a former cultist to do a former physical therapist’s job!”
Zaid did a double-take. “You were a physical therapist?”
“Rivet guns couldn’t work on flanks!” Props chirped. “Now let me blow off some steam… errr… everypony knows what I mean!”
Zaid stepped back, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Heh… y’know…” He turned aside, smirking. “She’s hot.” A beat. “Er… cuz of all the steam blowing on her and all.” The stallion gulped. “You know what I mean, right?”
“Heh…” Ebon chuckled, nodding from where he sat casually at a workbench with a pen and paper. “Sure thing, Z.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be cooking us some lima beans or some crap?”
“I think I’d have better luck steaming them down here.”
“Pffft. Fine. Have your secrets.” Zaid paced to the far side of the engine room.
Ebon smirked. With a calm breath, he bent over and continued writing by the lavender light of the floating tome.
Dearest mother
We have spent four days in Lerris as I write this. It is a town that has welcomed us in open arms, much like in Archer Point. However, unlike the previous village, we are not here by total happenstance. This is the home to one of our crew members--the youngest one, as a matter of fact.
As I commune with the ponies of this town and as I get used to the tranquil feel of this place, I begin to understand why Pilate and Belle felt it was necessary to bring Kera back to her place of origin. It is utterly peaceful here. At times, it even feels like paradise. Ponies live here as they have to, without feeling pressured to gallop by the beat of some industry’s mad drum. The war is over now, it would seem. Even when it was in full swing, the bombs were falling far away from this place.
I have no doubt that Pilate and Belle care very deeply for Kera. They want what’s best for her, even if that means giving her up so that she’ll be safe. And, to be frank, it really isn’t very safe on board the Noble Jury, not with all the craziness we’ve dealt with previously and all the things we’re bound to run into before we’ve cleared the surrounding lands and the mysterious geography beyond.
My only hope is that Pilate and Belle won’t pressure Kera into choosing either way. I have the itching feeling that no matter what happens, this is a decision Kera is making for them, and not for herself. Her foster parents simply want her to be safe, and yet they want to stay with her as long as they can. It’s a very confounding dilemma, and far too much to put on the shoulders of a young filly, if youa sk me…
“You can’t catch meeeee!” a colt shouted as he galloped over a windswept field.
Kera and two fillies blurred after him, muscles sweaty in the gray overcast shimer as they tried to catch the runner.
“You ain’t nothing!” Kera shouted, grinning wildly. “I’ve outrun enforcers, managliders, and ghost serpents!” The fillies at her side giggled.
Belle and Pilate jumped aside as the kids blurred past them. They stood in place, then turned back to face Golden Happenstance as the old stallion caught up with them.
“She’s… uhm…” Belle smiled, blushing. “She’s making that up.” A gulp. “About outrunning enforcers, managliders, and ghost serpents.”
“Yes.” Pilate nodded with a smirk. “Mostly it was our ship outflying all three with Kera on board.”
Belle nudged him. “Oh, beloved…” She chuckled.
He sighed. “Yes, okay, so maybe it was all of those things chasing after Rainbow Dash, and we happened to be caught up in the chase.”
“I see…” Golden Happenstance nodded as the three of them slowly trotted along, watching the kids play on the outskirts of Lerris. “I hope you would forgive me. I’m rather confused.”
“In what way?”
“Well, you and your companions strike me as kind, peaceful, well-to-do ponies. And yet you openly admit to being fugitives of the state.”
“It’s like we told you, Hap,” Pilate said. “The Ledomaritan Confederacy is corrupt to the core. My beloved and I were swept away from our normal lives and forced into a work camp at Blue Shelf. Belle here got the worst of it.” He shuddered. “The experiments they would make her do…”
“The long and short of it is that we decided to break away from such an imprisoning lifestyle,” Belle said. “And the Council of Ledo doesn’t take kindly to ponies breaking the rules.”
“I know what you mean,” Hap said with a slight nod. “I lived there for a good chunk of my life. I think I almost preferred to have ponies threatening to skin me alive for not adapting to their caste system.” He chuckled dryly.
“Yes, well…” Belle blushed slightly. “I have been sorely tempted to ask about the markings on your muzzle.”
Pilate blanched. “He has markings on his muzzle?” O.A.S.I.S. flickered once, and the zebra’s ears drooped. “Blessed spark, I am losing my concentration these days…”
“It’s quite alright, Mr. Pilate. It certainly isn’t much to feast one’s eyes on, working or not.” Hap smiled calmly. “If you must know, I elected to receive the tattoo myself.”
“Were you trying to blend in with Xonan society?”
“No. It’s my way of showing respect to the goddess Nagu’n.”
Pilate and Belle stumbled a bit in their trot.
“It’s quite alright…” Hap said calmly. “You’re Ledomaritans. I’d be shocked if you weren’t uncomfortable around a follower of the eastern creed.”
“It’s… more complicated than that, I assure you,” Belle said, fidgeting slightly. “Kera, Rainbow Dash, and our friend Roarke--”
“Don’t forget Zaid,” Pilate remarked.
“As I said, our three friends were ruthlessly imprisoned by a sect of Xonans who were following Princess Lasairfion… or at least some creature that was impersonating her.” Belle cleared her throat. “Pilate and I admittedly know very little about Nagu’n or the worship of her, but these… separatists had adopted a corrupt dragon beast as the manifestation of their long-honored goddess.”
“Yes, I heard rumors of the death of Lasairfion,” Hap said, his jaw growing tight for a brief moment. “It’s sad how so many despots on both sides of the war have used the conflict to exercise their twisted ideas. No religion--I am convinced--is founded on the concept of curtailing life. I worship Nagu’n because she brings me contentment in my day-to-day existence. I exalt her work in nature because it brings me joy, and it allows me to thrive in everything I do. I really can’t imagine a way in which someone could mechanize that into a weapon. I find they very concept sickening.”
“I imagine that there’s an awful lot we don’t know about the ponies of the east,” Belle said.
“And yet it’s your openness of mind that’s won my respect,” Hap said with a smile. “It’s nice to know that Ledo’s regimental dogma has not had an ill-effect on you.”
“Do most ponies in Lerris worship Nagu’n?” Pilate asked.
“A good many of them. Some also cherish the Spark. But, quite frankly, most are happy just to have a good supply of rice and a good catch of fish each month.” Hap smiled knowingly. “The more important question, I suspect, is ’were Kera’s adoptive parents followers of one or the other?’”
Belle and Pilate fumbled for words.
“It’s quite alright.” Hap chuckled, waving a hoof. “If you must know, they were followers of the Spark. And yet, they never pressured their belief on Kera. She wasn’t the first orphan of war they helped raise, after all.”
“That’s wonderful to hear,” Belle said with a soft breath. “The more I hear about them, the more I admire them in every way.”
“They were the best this town had to offer. We all miss them terribly,” Hap said in a low tone. “Beau, most of all. They were like an aunt and uncle to them.”
“I’m guessing Beau chose his creed as he grew up?” Belle remarked.
“That he did,” Hap said with a nod. “He had markings when he was discovered as a little foal, but he agreed to pursue the Xonan lifestyle, along with the worship of Nagu’n. As a result, he opted to… fill in the lines as he grew older, if you catch my drift.”
“That must be difficult this far from the Xonan heartland.”
“Heh…” Hap smirked. “You forgot how long I’ve lived in Xona myself.”
“Does he feel happy here?” Belle asked, gazing off at the children. “In a town that’s so removed from the rest of the world?”
Hap scuffled to a stop, forcing the two ponies to look at him. “I can speak all I’d like for Beau, and he is definitely a good example of this village’s citizenry. He cannot, however, serve as a preview of Kera’s future if she decides to stay here. While this town is most certifiably safe and she would be surrounded by ponies who care for her, there is no telling if she chooses to follow Nagu’n, the Spark, or some destiny not drawn by any creed or culture. What I can assure you is that her neighbors here would tolerate her, whatever the case.”
“That is most certainly good to hear, Hap,” Pilate said. “And… I really hate if we’ve been putting your hopes up… but…”
Belle finished. “More than anything, we want Kera to experience closure from her visit here. We’d fear that we’d be robbing her if we didn’t give her the opportunity to visit this town in peacetime.”
Hap’s blue eyes darted between the two. “And what of your closure, I wonder?”
The couple stood, gawking at him.
“What… do you mean by that?”
“I have no doubt that you care very much for the filly. But have you yet considered the gravity of what it would mean to give her up?”
Pilate opened his mouth, but hesitated.
Hap blinked. He shuffled where he stood and said, “Let me ask you something. This friend of yours. This… Rainbow Dash.” He smiled. “A stalwart, courageous, loyal pony, no doubt. And yet, barely a few months ago, she was a complete stranger to you.”
“Indeed…”
“And yet, you have given up your lives, your livelihood, and your very security in your own nation of birth to follow this winged equine on her journey to parts unknown.”
“Yes,” Belle said. “She’s done so much to help us, and we would very much like to look after her well-being.”
Hap took a deep breath. “Well, if you don’t mind me asking, have you considered the gravity of giving her up?”
Belle bit her lip.
“Because a good friend she may be. But I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt her fortitude. From the way I see it, she has the ability to look after herself in the time to come… at least more so than Kera.”
“What are you attempting to say, Happenstance?” Pilate asked.
“You two know Ledomare inside and out,” Hap said with a smile. “And it’s been a long time since we had ponies as learned as the two of you. Why, I get shivers thinking of what kind of an impact you could have on our fortuitous trades with Archer Point and places beyond--”
“Are you…” Belle leaned forward. “...suggesting that we stay here?”
“Think about it,” Hap said, gesturing. “You get to be with the foal you love, in a place that is blessed with neutrality. You’ll be too far away from Ledomare for them to punish you for whatever trivial reason. And you’ll be out of reach of the Xonan caste system. Here, you can live, love, and learn in peace, and watch the remarkable life that you’ve saved grow up into something even more special than she already was.”
The beloveds said nothing, gazing down the windswept hillside.
“Or…” Hap fidgeted slightly. “Is that not possible?”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about Rainbow Dash, Hap,” Pilate said. “Her journey is more than a personal trek through the hemispheres. She carries more on her wings than the weight of her thoughts. And about her being stalwart and courageous--”
“She’s dying, Hap,” Belle blurted. Her eyes glistened in the gray light of the valley. “And a pony like that doesn’t deserve to go to where she’s going alone…”
Hap nodded slowly. “I do not envy you two.”
“How so?”
“To have to choose from two selfless decisions…” He smiled helplessly. “Almost makes me wish that a pony would choose for you.” He trotted up, rested a hoof on each equine’s shoulder, and said quietly. “I just hope that you don’t make that pony Kera.” He calmly trotted towards the village.
Belle and Pilate gazed after him, their manes kicked by the wind as their ears were serenaded by the giggles of foals.
Ebon Mane stepped out of the stairwell leading from the lower decks of the Noble Jury. As soon as he emerged, a hissing noise sent his ears twitching.
He glanced across his half of the deck and noticed Roarke situated towards the railing, pivoting her limbs back and forth. A newly-arranged series of metal braces framed her body from head to hooves to flank. Operating by a complex array of pistons and hydraulic motors, the skeletonous suit attached to at least half of the metal plugs embedded into her light brown flesh.
The Searonese mare’s face was locked in concentration. Sweat ran down from her brow and coated the edges of her copper eye-lenses. With liquid motions, she pivoted her right forelimb and extended a series of metal claws that were rigged to the metal shell. Cl-clack!
“Whew!” Ebon whistled, smiling as he trotted closer to her. “Fancy stuff, Roarke! Did you build that over the last week--”
“Back off,” she grunted, swaying left and right as the motors of her “suit” hissed and whirred. “This is my first time doing a full systems check. Believe it or not, I am not wanting to kill anypony with this.”
“Uhhh… Right…” Ebon nodded, glancing at the mare cautiously from afar. “Just how deadly is that thing?”
“To others, I’m hoping lethal as a basket of cobras,” Roarke muttered. “To myself…” She sighed. “This thing could crush me any second.”
“Really?”
“Assuming I made some fatal flaw in the design.”
“Well, highly unlikely!” Ebon chuckled a nervous chuckle. “I mean, you are the most clever of us all! So what are the odds that you’d screw such a highly complicated thing up?”
“Meh.”
Ebon shifted where he stood. “Do you… uhm… do you really think we need you gearing up with all manner of destructive weaponry so soon?”
Roarke pivoted about, limbs locking with a metallic rattle. “What do you mean?” Her lenses pistoned outward inquisitively.
“I mean, we seem to be safe now. And with the cease-fire and all, I doubt we’ll be having to worry much from the Xonans.” Ebon smiled. “All that waits for us is mountains and ice water, right? I mean, that’s what Collins said, according to Rainbow Dash.”
“There’s no telling what we will find beyond Lerris,” Roarke grumbled, giving the machine limbs yet another pivot. “If I’m to be of any use to the Jury, then it will have to be armed.”
“But we’re far away from Blue Nova and all of the major battlefields of Ledomare!” Ebon leaned forward, blinking. “Who do we gotta worry about bumping heads with?”
Roarke’s jaw tightened and untightened. “There’s no sense in worrying so long as one is prepared.”
“Roarke. Is there something you know that we don’t?”
“That’s a good question.” Roarke spoke without looking. “Is there, Ebon?”
The stallion’s face scrunched up. “Huh…?”
A sigh lit the air. “I’m not going to make any progress here.” Roarke stepped down the stairwell and made for the open hangar. “I’d better test this suit in the open field where I won’t damage anything.”
Ebon watched after her, blinking. He hung his head and trotted lonesomely towards the bow.
Everyone on board is just so… anxious as of late. Paranoia’s a natural emotion when you’re on the run from battleships full of ignorant ponies trying to kill you. On both sides, even. But now? In this valley? With this sudden and undeniable time of peace?
I don’t think anypony on board this ship knows how to relax. Rainbow Dash is the best example of this, and her nervous demeanor has sent ripples throughout the rest of the crew. I mean, it’s nice to know that she remains forever vigilant for the rest of us, but there are times when I seriously worry for her psychological well-being. It seems as if she takes on too much at times. And for what? So that the rest of us don’t have to suffer? We’ve all been through the same thick and thin. Surely she can depend on us just as much as we depend on her?
While Rainbow may be always thinking about us, I can’t help but feel that most of the Jurors are drifting apart. Floydien’s always kept to his lonesome, which isn’t odd. But Roarke seems to be… extra Roarkish as of late. Eagle Eye is a great deal quieter and more contemplative. Josho seems constantly preoccupied and moody. Even Propsy--bless her heart--is obsessing herself with one engineering project after another, and it feels like the mare I once knew is floating further and further away, until she’s become one with the engine room of this ship--or the “womb of Nancy Jane,” as she and the elk have come to call it.
Honestly, only Zaid seems to be taking everything in stride. But that’s just his way. He’s a water-off-the-back kind of a stallion, even more so than myself. That’s probably because he’s new to this ship. He doesn’t know all that the Jury’s been through, or what’s at stake with every trip, rest stop, and decision that we make.
I wouldn’t blame Kera for wanting to stay in Lerris. With the way things seem to be going… well… let’s just say I’ve been investing a great deal more attention into my cooking as of late, mother.
In a blue cloud of telekinesis, Beau pulled a flailing grasshopper out of a glass jar and skewered it on a dangling fishing hook.
“See how scrawny this one is?” Beau asked.
“Er… yes?” Kera blinked as she leaned over to look.
The young stallion hung the line over the edge of the wooden dock where the two were seated. Lake waters rippled in front of them, reflecting beams of silver overcast. The air was moist, but common. Due north, the rivers stretched in winding patterns, reflecting the cold gray mountains broiling with distant black thunderstorms.
“You wanna save the fat juicy ones for later,” Beau said with a smirk. He tipped his pole down, dunking the impaled insect into the murky current. “The key is to get the fish’s attention first. Then, once a few of them have gathered around, you can give ‘em something big to fight over. That means you’ll catch the larger ones in the end.”
“Must be really big fish to wanna chew on grasshoppers,” Kera remarked.
Beau shrugged. “They’re not so much big as they are mean and ugly.” He smirked. “Funny how the latter get the more muscles.”
“How long you gotta wait for them to bite?”
“Long enough,” the stallion said. He leaned back with a relaxed breath, smiling peacefully at the rippling current. “Fishing isn’t about being a hurry. Going out on a raft with a net? Now that’s different, but that’s when it becomes a team effort with two or three other ponies.”
“And… you’ve been doing this all your life?” Kera pointed at the waters. “Just sitting around--on wooden decks or in wooden boats--dangling grasshoppers over hungry fish?”
“Well… it’s what occupies most of my days, certainly.” Beau nodded. “But it’s not all I do,” he said with a smirk. “After all, I don’t want my marefriend thinking I smell like fish all the time!”
Kera rolled her eyes. “Seriously. You gotta be bored out of your mind here.”
“Not entirely,” Beau said. “I’m not exactly glued to this town like Uncle Hap may have you believe.”
“You mean you’re only visiting?”
He chuckled, dangling the fishing pole up and down. “What I mean is that I make frequent trips to other villages in the valley.” He smirked over his shoulder at her. “The downside of being a strong, young set of legs is having to gallop them from place to place and run errands for the ponies who are too old to do it themselves.”
“Yikes.” Kera frowned. “That’s gotta suck.”
“Eh, not really.” Beau smiled as he gazed out at the cloudy, murky skies hanging softly over the lake waters. “It gives me time to think, to meditate, to do my devotionals.”
“Hap made it sound like you’re super religious.”
“Oh, did he, now?”
“Yeah. The other day as he was chatting with Belle and Pilate.” Kera smirked wickedly. “They probably think my hearing was bad cuz of all the foals giggling around me, but I could tell they were pressing him about a bunch of Xonan stuff.”
“I thought you were having fun with the other foals…”
“Oh, sure. They’re nice n’all. A tad bit wimpy, but whatever.” Kera shrugged. “Still, I can’t forget about my friends.”
“These… Native Jewels...”
Kera giggled. “‘Noble Jurists!’ Come onnnnn. It’s not that hard!”
“Getting to know a group of strangers is rather daunting.”
“But you guys aren’t strangers… r-right?” Kera’s brow furrowed. “I mean. I know you. Some of you.”
“Do you, though?” Beau glanced away from the line and towards her. “I mean, I’m enraptured to see ya again, filly, but I can’t fault you for forgetting a whole town.” He smirked at himself. “Though why a pony would find this town unforgettable is beyond me…”
Kera sighed. She turned around three times and sat on folded legs beside him. “I remember… stuff.”
“Good stuff or bad stuff?”
“Meh. It’s all gray.” She glanced up at the sky. “Just like these clouds. Just like everything.”
“And…” Beau fidgeted slightly. “And your family?”
Kera bit her lip.
“I’m terribly sorry,” Beau said with a sigh, casting the line out further. “Uncle Hap said I shouldn’t pry.”
“They were alright, I guess,” Kera murmured. “My Mom and Dad, that is. I mean, my real Mom and Dad. I-I mean… gnnnghhh…” She burrowed her muzzle in her forelimbs and groaned. “They’re not even that!”
“Trust me. You never get used to it.” Beau shrugged. “And yet you do.”
Kera glanced up at him with a dull stare. “How’d you come upon Lerris?”
“It was a miracle, really,” Beau remarked. “I was scooped out of a zeppelin crash on the side of a mountain. I was an eight year old foal, nearly suffering from hypothermia. When a bunch of traders found me, I only had one marking on my body.” He turned towards her and pointed at the jagged triangles bordering the base of his horn. “See there?”
“Uhhhh… sure?”
“Oh, right. My bad.” Beau chuckled. “It’s the mark of a warrior. That means my biological father was likely a fighter in the upper echelon of the Xonan military.”
“Huh…” Kera blinked. “So you’re Second Born.”
“Heyyyyy…” Beau smiled. “You do know your stuff!”
“Well… s-some of it…” Kera fidgeted. “The only pony who was able to tell me anything about Xonan ways was… a stallion who’s no longer with us now.”
“I see.” Beau nodded his head. “My condolences.”
“Oh, please. He wasn’t a picture perfect dude. In fact, he was responsible for a whole bunch of us getting captured, since he was disguising himself as a Ledomaritan and all.” Kera sighed out her nostrils. “His name was Dalen. And in spite of all the nasty stuff he did, I could tell he was fighting to get from Third Born back to Second Born… or whatever that means.”
“It means that he’s dealt with the short end of the Xonan caste stick,” Beau said. “I often hear stories of Xonans turned into indentured servants on account of some sort of social demotion that they’ve suffered.”
“Just what’s the big deal?” Kera shrugged towards the lapping waters. “Why put each other in stupid binds? I mean, isn’t life tough enough that we gotta divide it up like crazy bread?!”
“I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of it myself,” said Beau. “Which is one reason why I’ve stayed in the valley here.”
“And yet… you got all of the rest of the scars added to ya over time.”
“Heheh… I do believe the appropriate term is glaan muus. ‘Penitent lines.’ They’re a sign of one’s devotion to Nagu’n through adherence to the Spirit of Xon over the course of the twelve stages of equine life. I’m currently in heen thall. Stage eight.”
“Heheh… that’s when we start getting into afterlife and chakras.” Beau winked. “But let’s not dump too much spirit stuff on you all at once.”
“Huh…” Kera brushed her green bangs back. “So, you were marked as a warrior’s foal at birth, huh?”
“Just about. Uncle Hap says that a child must be ‘anointed’ with the glaanas muusielen by his or her second moon.”
“Yeah, okay.” Kera gulped and pulled her bangs back, tilting her exposed horn for the stallion to see. “What… uhm… wh-what do mine mean?”
“That you were found past age one by Radiant and Benevolent.”
“No, I mean… the markings. What’s my caste?”
Beau looked at her, squinted, and said with a smirk. “You really wanna know?”
She droned, “I’m third born, aren’t I?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Meh…” Kera tossed her mane back and glanced out at the waters. “Something Dalen told me before… uhm… before bad stuff happened to him.”
“You’re a great deal more experienced than you give yourself credit, Kera.” Beau turned towards the waters and cast the line again. “I know that you haven’t exactly had the best of experiences.”
“Last few months have been a blast if you ask me,” Kera said with a smirk.
“Heh… yes, most assuredly. Ahem. But being abducted? Being forced into Ledomaritan slum life against your will?”
“Hey. I had it good in Nightshade’s tower.” Kera tilted her head up with a proud expression. “I chose to bust out of that place with my super awesome magicky magic!”
“And… you lived on the streets for a while, yes?”
“And I could handle myself!” Kera gulped. “Even if… I went hungry from time to time.”
“Why’d you bust out?”
“Because Madame Nutsack was going to chop off my horn, that’s why!”
“Heh… like I was saying…” Beau smirked. “You’ve encountered some hard times. I think it’s shaped you up to be a very mature filly for your age. I can’t say I would have wanted to have experienced such bad luck myself, but I do envy you in some ways.”
“Huh? How?” Kera blinked. “Why?”
“You’re tenacious. What’s more, you have some remarkable self-confidence. I was quite the opposite when I was your age.” Beau paused to sigh, then continued. “I was very confused, worrisome, anxious, and clingy. I sometimes think Radiant Moon and Benevolent Blue took you on because they wanted to be rid of my whining all the time.” He flew a glance aside. “That last one is a joke, of course.”
“Lemme guess. Xonan humor?”
“No, just lame Beau humor.”
“Heh. I can dig it.” Kera nodded. “You were saying?”
“It took me a while to figure out where I stood, you know? Did I want to go the way of Nagu’n, follow the Spark, or set forth on my own path?”
“You chose the first option, right?”
“Actually, I like to think of it as having chosen the third,” he said. “My walk in glory of Nagu’n is a decision of my own choosing. I didn’t decide because I was born Xonan… or because I was raised relatively Ledomaritan.” He smiled gently. “The Spirit of Xon gives me strength against adversity. It helps me practice patience and maintain equilibrium with the ponies around me. My ambitions are kept in check, and yet I am able and willing to defend my integrity at any cost. It’s a peaceful life, and I am happy to have lived it this way.”
“As opposed to going east and learning how to rip ponies in half…?”
“Yes, I don’t believe I have the fortitude for that.” He winced. “Much less the sadism.”
Kera giggled. “Well, I’m glad you found your place, Beau.”
“Where you live is only a part of finding your place.” He looked at her again. “A greater part of it entails the way in which you’ve chosen to compose yourself. Which is precisely why I envy you, young Kera.”
“Huh…?”
“You’re so strong, so mature, so together for your age. Now, I’m not trying to rule out any fears or insecurities. We all have them. Regardless, when I look at you, I feel inspire. I’m personally convinced that if you were to choose to stay in Lerris or stay with the Jackals--”
”Jurors!”
“Er… right. Ahem. Either way, you’d be at home, because you’d still be yourself. Do you feel me?”
“I… I guess…” Kera murmured.
“That’s just the way I see it, anyways.”
“So, you think I’m good to go, then?” Kera glanced up at him. “To stick it out with the Jury on the long run?”
Beau was silent.
Kera sat up straight, blinking. “Beau…?”
“Can you travel to the distant edges of the world with your companions?” Beau shrugged with forelimbs, almost dropping the pole. “Most certainly. As I’ve stated, you’re a strong and resourceful young pony. But the thing to consider is: this is your life. And it’s as much decided by what you want than what you need.”
“You think I don’t wanna stay with Pilate and Belle?”
“I don’t know what you want, Kera,” Beau said. “And I’m not about to pretend to know. Would I be happy to have you around here? To see you grow up? To know that a piece of something precious that was ripped out of the heart of this town was returned? Absolutely. But… at the same time… I would be happy if you left as well.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Beau paused to choose his words carefully. “Because I’ll have known--from this visit--that you are healthy, whole, and--dare I say--happy.” He smiled a calm smile. “And that closes the book on a blackened chapter in my life. It’s as if Nagu’n is rewarding me for my patience, as She always does. Just having a chance to speak with you is a blessing, and--if nothing else--I’ll have you in my prayers when or if you decide to travel beyond the frozen seas.”
“So… you can just live with that?” Kera gulped. “With closure, I mean?”
“It’s one of the more succulent morsels of existence.”
Kera hung her head, staring with dull eyes into the rippling waters.
“Do you not agree?”
“I… don’t know.”
“An honest answer.”
“If you say so.” Kera sniffled, cleared her throat, and glanced at the pole. “There hasn’t been a bite yet.”
“It’s like I said. There’s no rush.”
“Seems like an awful waste of a grasshopper,” Kera muttered. “Where I used to ‘slum it out,’ I didn’t have any fish to toss them to.” She looked up at him. “Why, I even--”
“Hmmm?” Beau muttered through a mouthful, slurping down a combed leg as he gulped a massive insect down his throat.
Kera blinked. She gazed at the jar full of grasshoppers, then up at him again. Her mouth hung open. “No way! You too?”
Beau smirked. “Grasshoppers aren’t the only things indigenous to this part of the continent.”
“Get out of town!” Kera’s voice cracked. “I thought I was the only one!”
“Not many ponies in Lerris understand the delicacy,” he said with a wink. “Nor were most of them born with Xonan stomachs.”
“Oh? Is there--like--really a difference?”
“There are. Tiny ones, granted. Xonans tend to be taller, have longer horns, and… as it so happens.. tougher stomachs.” He telekinetically lifted a grasshopper out of jar and levitated it towards her. “Both mentally and organically.”
“Heh…” Kera grabbed the poor little thing and eagerly chomped its head off. “Mmmmf… Lucky us. Mmmf?”
Beau chuckled.
Kera gazed over the waters, eyeing the distant mountains shadowed by thunderstorms. “It’s kind of peaceful… in a scary-looking way.”
He gulped down another insect and nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
I really don’t know what motivates Rainbow Dash, mother. It has to be something unearthly. Something out of this world. Something bigger than the rest of us combined.
How ironic it is--not to mention flattering--that she chooses to invest all of her strength and energy in seeing us past the next hurdle safely. Any other pony with wings would have just ditched us when trouble showed its ugly head. I mean, why else would you have wings--except to fly away from something?
Rainbow Dash is no coward, but there are still many things that she is afraid of. I think it stands to reason that the most courageous of us are oftentimes the most insecure. What is Rainbow afraid of? Well, losing her friends, obviously. She cares far too much for Pilate and Belle than she is willing to admit, and she has no small amount of respect for the rest of us as well.
I think I understand why Rainbow has remained relatively aloof throughout most of our stay in Lerris. It’s most likely that Kera’s going to come east with us, but there’s still a good chance that she could stay all the same. I’m sure this fact hasn’t slipped past Rainbow Dash, and it must be biting at her. After all, if Kera could be leaving the party, who’s to say that Pilate and Belle aren’t next? Or Eagle Eye? Or myself or Propsy?
To hide her anxiety, I believe, she has endeavored to commit herself full-force into planning mode. While Pilate and Belle are busy mulling over Kera, Rainbow is busying herself with… well… the future.
“Oh yes, the Strip of Flurries is navigable.” An old pony with a flaky beard nodded from where sat on the shady patio of a midtown restaurant. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t come out the other side without losing quite a few cobwebs in your noggin’.”
“Really?” Rainbow’s voice cracked from where she hovered over the group of wrinkly equines. “Cuz Collins made it sound like merchants pass through that area all the time…”
“Bah!” A graying stallion coughed, wheezed, and slapped the table. “What does that frolicking Archer Point filly know?! The closest she’s been to experiencing the Frozen Sea is that one year she spent recovering from a fall into an icy river!”
The nearby mares and stallions chuckled.
“Okaaaaay…” Rainbow’s ruby eyes narrowed on the group. “So, do any of you ponies know about travellers who’ve passed through?”
“Some of us are old enough to,” another pony said, straightening her mane in the gray glow of midday. “Thing is, Xona usually dealt with the merchants from the east. Very few passed their sapphire cities to reach the valley.”
“Yes, Lerris and Archer Point have predominantly traded with the Southern Shores,” a stallion said in a whispery voice. “Only merchants that traveled west past the Xonan hubs were few and far between.”
“Yeah, but do you remember any of them?”
The elders mumbled amidst themselves.
At last, a portly stallion rubbed his stubbled chin and muttered, “There was one group of merchants, come to think of it. Not only did they make it past the Strip of Flurries, but they settled somewhere in the Storm Mountains.” He turned and squinted at the others. “What were their names? The Cabal? The Quorum?”
“The Herald?” Rainbow attempted, eyebrow raised.
“No no no…” The elders shook their collective heads, until at least one of them spoke up. “The Lounge!”
Rainbow made a face. “The Lounge…?”
But the many ponies were already murmuring their acknowledgement. “Darn silly soundin’ name if you ask us, but them Lounge folks were the deal deal. They settled northeast from here. Far away, just west of the Frozen Sea. Seems like they were really desperate about mining skystone. Dangerous business, that.”
“What did the Lounge want with Skystone?” Rainbow asked.
“Apparently their ships got badly damaged on the way here, and Skystone was the only thing that could get ‘em back home.”
“You mean across the Frozen Sea?”
“Yuppers.”
“Why, cuz the Strip of Flurries was super treacherous or whatcrap?”
“Well… reckon it was more than that…” One elder stammered.
“Yes. Yes, it was more.” A mare at the back of the group scooted forward in her chair. She gestured with a trembling hoof. “I was maybe twenty winters when they first showed up in the Valley. Downright frightenin’ group of merchants. You could never see their faces, on account of the masks.”
Rainbow blinked. “Masks?”
The mare went on. “And they always were standin’ all still-like. As if they were waitin’ for glaciers to melt. Heh.” She smiled crookedly. “They came here asking for anypony with the expertise in skystone minin’. We had to tell ‘em that, on account of the war, we couldn’t venture past the Xonan blockade that was formed there at the time.”
“Even now, those blue towers stand against the storms!” spoke a stallion out of turn.
“Who’s tellin’ the darn story?! Huh?” A few elders chuckled as the mare shook her head and glanced once more at Rainbow’s fluttering figure. “Well, they needed the skystone to get home. It’s been a lifetime since that meeting. Spark knows if they ever got what they were clamberin’ for.”
“After all these years, I bet,” Rainbow said, nodding.
“I’d hope so. Poor fellas just wanted to get back home.”
“But they’re still situated north of Mainland Xona?” Rainbow leaned forward. “The Lounge, that is?”
“Yes, I reckon. Why?”
“Well, if they finally got the skystone they needed, it makes sense that they’d keep a trading post in the mountains so that they can ferry stuff to and from the far side of the Frozen Sea,” Rainbow thought out loud. “I figured the Jury could swing by there on the way towards the eastern shoreline. Maybe they’d be willing to give us some hooves-on advice.”
“Oh, I very much doubt that, dear.”
“Huh?” Rainbow blinked. “Why not? Are they a bunch of jerks?”
“No, I’m just sayin’ that they wouldn’t have any hooves at all, on account of them not bein’ ponies n’all.”
“Oh?” Rainbow’s eyes darted between everypony. “Just who are they?”
The group merely shrugged, exchanging nervous glances.
Rainbow took a deep breath. “Does anypony here in Lerris know exactly… who lives just beyond the Frozen Sea?”
A mare shook her head. “Fraid not, darlin’. Place is almost as dense as the Grand Choke of legend. Figured whatever’s on the far continent, it’s best keepin’ there, just as we’re best to keepin’ to here.”
The Noble Jury has seen many a sky on fire. We've survived cannonfire, brushes with battleships, boarding parties, and chaotic dragon minions.
Parked here for four days straight in one of the quietest, most serene valleys in the world? I think we're the most tense that we've ever been. Each day feels like an entire week of adrenaline packed into a gray sunrise and an even grayer sunset. Every hour looks and feels the same. Quite frankly, I don't know how the villagers of Lerris cope with it.
Granted, the ponies who live here don't have nearly as much on their minds. They're not thinking about losing some of their closest friends. They're not thinking of the frigid trip waiting just beyond the mountains. They're not thinking about all manner of nebulous enemies preparing to leap at their jugular just an ocean away... or closer.
Why are ponies like us so drawn to travel? We could very easily have found someplace in Ledomare to have hidden away. Between Floydien's guile, Pilate's intelligence, and Roarke's experience, we could very easily have discovered a hiding spot from the forces chasing us.
But we didn't resort to such an act, did we? No, we flew on. Why? Because we were led, inspired, and motivated by a pony who has been "flying on" for far longer than us, having survived even greater odds and encountered uglier enemies.
Am I blaming Rainbow Dash for the tension of this crew? No, mother. I owe her my life, and I'm glad to be rid of all the landscapes behind me. Still, I think it's one thing to emulate the pegasus. It's another thing to be her. I dread the day that we all find out that we simply cannot follow her for the same lengths that she has left to travel.
Maybe that's the reason for the tension. I'm not entirely sure. All I can do is keep these ponies well fed and hope that my supplement for their stomach will somehow find its way to their hearts...
"The what?!" Ebon gawked, making a face as he dished out pasta onto Josho's plate.
"Yeah, I know." Rainbow nodded from where she sat reclined in her seat of the Jury's mess hal. "Doesn't sound very fierce, does it?"
"I've heard of the 'Legion,'" Josho said, spooning up some noodles the very moment Ebon trotted on to give Floydien his serving. "They're a group of mixed species who took up mercenary jobs along the Southern Shore. But the Lounge?" His face twisted in confusion. "Doesn't ring a bell. And I'm a soldier who's seen many bells cracked."
"Mmmmmf!" Props finished slurping up a noodle and chirped, "Maybe it's nothing to be afraid of! From the sound of it, they're probably a bunch of super talented minstrels!"
"Heh..." Ebon glanced over his shoulder while dishing out more pasta. "Only you, Propsy."
"That's enough, sailboat," Floydien grumbled.
"Whoops! My bad..." Ebon trotted down the table.
Eagle Eye dabbed his muzzle with a napkin and looked up at Rainbow Dash. "Who told you about them?"
Eagle continued. "Well, I was speaking with a spouse of one of the rice farmers."
"Oh?" Ebon glanced over from the kitchen doorway. "When? I spent the first day here with them."
"Right." Eagle nodded. "And while you were busy getting your hooves muddy in the fields..." He paused to shudder, then continued. "...I was getting to know the local color."
"Did it involve sewing at all?" Josho droned between bites.
"That... it..." Eagle turned beet red. "No!" He cleared his throat and looked back at Rainbow's end of the table. "Anyways, turns out one of the mares who lived uysed to travel around a lot. When she heard that the Jury was heading east, she mentioned a mysterious group of fliers who regularly pull over ships that try to make the crossing over the Frozen Sea."
"What do you mean 'pull over?'" Rainbow Dash asked, eyes squinting. "You mean they board airships?"
Eagle shrugged. "She didn't say. Only that they wore masks and were really, really creepy. She described them as traders, but these don't sound like any normal merchants that I've heard of." Eagle glanced at the rest of the table. "Could be this 'Lounge' that Rainbow was talking about."
"Yeah..." Rainbow tapped her chin in thought. "The locals mentioned something about freaky masks too..."
"Maybe they're Xonan border patrol?" Ebon asked as he trotted back out of the kitchen. "I bet they'd be super anal about who gets to cross over into their territory from the east."
"Nah, this 'Lounge' isn't ponies," Rainbow Dash said. "That's about as much as the ponies around here could tell me."
Ebon blinked. With a look of concern on his face, he raised his hoof to speak—
Eagle Eye inadvertently interrupted him. "There was something else the mare said. About the Frozen Sea and the air passage over it."
"Yeah, what?" Rainbow asked.
"She said that the few creatures who have passed over spoke of... well..." Eagle shifted where he sat. "Of something in the snow."
"'Something?'" Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What kind of a 'something?'"
"Oh great." Floydien rolled his eyes. "More glimmer."
"Sounds like a long, perilous trip, whatever the case," Josho spoke up. He took a sip from a goblet and looked at the others. "Could be easy to hallucinate whatever."
"Yeah, but according to this mare, tons of travelers all spoke of the same thing," Eagle stated. "It was something 'large and ominous in the blizzard'." He gulped. "Like a mountain appearing out of nowhere. Some ships that came out of the Strip of Flurries didn't start by themselves. There were entire convoys that set out from the lands to the east, and... well... not all of th-them survived the trip."
"What, they crashed?" Rainbow asked. "Got captured? Exploded?"
Eagle shrugged. "She didn't say anything more after that. We... uhm..." His ears drooped. "We resumed sewing."
Silence... and then a creepy whistling sound.
Josho glared aside. "You mind, blondie?"
Props snorted back a giggle, cleared her throat, and dug through her pasta. "Sorry..."
Ebon hung his head, staring dully into the floor.
"Did a kitchen utensil die or something?"
Ebon looked up. "Huh?"
Rainbow had turned around in her chair and was speaking calmly to the stallion. "You look down in the muzzle. Everything cool?"
"Heh..." Ebon smiled nervously. "Thanks for your concern?"
Rainbow gave a devilish smirk. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Ebon glanced at Eagle Eye, then back at Rainbow.
The pegasus blinked.
"Can I tell you something?" he said.
"Yeah. Sure."
He trotted closer and spoke in a quiet tone. "It's... just something Roarke had said to me, is all..."
"Roarke said something?" Rainbow stared. "...to you?"
"Yeah yeah..." Ebon rolled his eyes. "Anyways, she's been building up this mega-super-death suit thingy lately..."
"Pfft. Totally."
"And I was all 'Well, what are you paranoid about?' And she gave me this attitude that amounted to 'Why are you not paranoid?'"
"I'm having a hard time imagining those words coming out of her mouth."
"Well, I'm paraphrasing."
"Ah. Go on."
"It's just that... I feel like she knows something that the rest of us don't."
"Like what?"
"Like..." Ebon shifted uncomfortably. "Like... our business at Seclorum's camp isn't entirely done."
"In what way?"
"Do I gotta spell it out for ya?" Ebon bit his lip. "Those... things that you saw, Rainbow..."
"Oh... those..."
"Yeah. Those." His burgundy brow furrowed. "Giant, buglike equines who could change into anything at a moment's whim? Who's to say that they couldn't spring a trap for us anywhere?"
"Well, all the best to be on the lookout, then."
"But not everypony is as brave as you, Rainbow Dash!" Ebon leaned in to whisper. "Nor do we have wings. We can't all be everywhere at once."
Rainbow whispered back. "What are you getting at?"
"What... wh-what if the ambush has already been sp-sprung?" He gulped. "And what if... what if one of those things is a pony in this village?"
The pegasus sat in dead silence.
So Ebon went on. "Or... what if... what if those creatures are some of us?"
Rainbow pursed her lips. She glanced silently at the rest of the table. Eagle Eye picked daintily at his food. Floydien nibbled at his plate with gently twinkling antlers. Props hummed to herself while drawing a schematic for an engine part next to her plate. Josho scarfed as ravenously as she could.
"That..." Rainbow gulped. "That would suck."
Ebon winced as he murmured, "I think it's about time you had a talk with your Searonese friend..."
When Bellesmith and Pilate trotted over the grassy hill, they came to a soft stop. The wind carried the merry sound of Kera's voice, and they both smiled.
"You're kidding me!" Kera paused between giggles to gasp. "'Little Miss Lerris?'"
"Heheh... From the way you're reacting, I almost wish I was joking," Golden Happenstance said. He sat on the porch to his humble little home besides a slowly grinding windmill on the southeast edge of the village. He and Kera weren't alone; Beau and two young mares the stallion's age stood in a little circle, rummaging through an old, dusty chest that Beau had dragged out of Hap's basement. "But this confirms it right here!" Hap held the plaque out for Kera to see. "It used to hang in the front room to town hall. After what happened to Radiant Moon and Benevolent Blue, plus your foalnapping—well—let's just say that the townsfolk felt less than celebratory."
"Can I take a look at it?" Kera asked.
"By all means!" Beau said with a chuckle, levitating the plaque towards her.
The filly sat on her haunches, craning her neck forward as she squinted at the fine print woven into the certificate. "'Little Miss Lerris... awarded... for grace and beauty and abundance of kindness—'" Her green eyes bulged, and she wretched. "Bleachkkk! You mean I won a friggin' beauty pageant?!"
"I'm afraid so, darling," Hap said with a chuckle.
One of the mares giggled. "I definitely remember that night. I had grown too old to compete anymore, but I was sooooo happy for who took the title from me that year!"
"But... but..." Kera's muzzle scrunched as her voice cracked, "It was a beauty pageant!" She folded her forelimbs in a pout. "That's so not cool!"
"Snkkkkt—Haa haa haa!" Belle broke out in uproarious laughter.
Kera gasped, blushing beet-red. "Oh jeez. They didn't h-hear that, did they?"
"Only the part where our little pony became the princess of Lerris," Pilate said with a smirk as he and his beloved trotted down towards the cabin. "Am I to understand that's how the ritual worked?"
"More or less," Hap said with a nod. "The mares of this village were far more keen about operating it. I only ever observed from a distance."
"Guhhhhh..." Kera buried her face in her forelimbs while the adults chuckled. "Soooooo laaaaame..."
"There was a time when you felt differently, kiddo," Beau said.
"No waaaaaaay."
Beau shrugged. "Just telling it as I remember it. Radiant and Benevolent raised a little angel. I swear, every time I came to visit, she had a different hairdo."
"Pilate. Tell them that they're... I dunno... hallucinating or something!" Kera squeaked.
"I wish I could." The zebra felt forward until his hoof tapped against the plaque. "If I may?"
"By all means," Hap said with a nod.
Pilate scanned the plaque with the O.A.S.I.S. sphere. His metal brow furrowed. "Hmmm.. it's most definitely dated. Six years, I'm guessing. They couldn't have faked this overnight even if they tried."
"I'm sorry, Kera," Belle said, stifling another giggle and failing. "Guess you're stuck b-being a princess..."
"Ughhhh..." Kera pulled at her muzzle and groaned. "I don't know how I lasted a single month on the streets!"
"You may have been raised as a gentle foal, but you were definitely quite the versatile youngster," Hap said. "In addition, I've no doubt that Radiant's and Benevolent's tenacity rubbed off on you."
"Just what do you have there?" Belle asked, craning her neck. "Is that some sort of time capsule?"
Beau smiled gently. "The next best thing, I suppose." He gestured towards a pair of doors leading from Golden Happenstance's cabin basement. "Uncle Hap is more or less the town historian. It's a torch that was passed down to him after he made Lerris his permanent residence."
"And I think I know a stallion who's gonna take up the charge when I'm gone," Hap said with a wink.
Beau rolled his eyes and smirked nonetheless. "I figured that there might be some things in here that might jostle some of Kera's memories."
"Yeah, well, it ain't working so far!" Kera pouted. "I sure don't remember posing in a dress for some... gnnnnh... t-town ball!"
"You kidding?" One of the mares giggled. "You hid behind your mother's skirts the whole time!"
Kera's jaw dropped. "You're saying that I'm shy too?!"
"It's not all that different from how you first arrived in Lerris from the Jury, actually," Hap said with a knowing smile.
"Guhhhh!" Kera stomped her hooves and waddled over towards Belle's side. "Please tell me you've come to rescue me!"
"Heh... something like that," Belle said with a smile as she leaned in to nuzzle the frowning filly. "The day's drawing to a close. I figured you would like to have supper early before bedtime."
"Oh? Ohhh... uhm..." Kera bit her lip as she dug a hoof nervously into the earth.
"Is something the matter?" Pilate asked.
"Oh. No. Not really. Just..." Kera shifted from side to side. "I spent the afternoon hanging out with Gulien and Lake Song..."
"Gulien and who...?"
"Two of the local foals that Kera's been spending a lot of time with," Hap clarified.
"Yeah! And they're super fun too!" Kera grinned. "They've yet to beat me at a game of Colt Toss!"
"Colt... Toss...?" Belle rasped.
"New game." Kera tilted her chin back with a proud expression. "I just invented it."
"Ahhhhh..."
"And, like, Gulien asked if I might like the spend the night at his folks' place. They were gonna make us smoked salmon with fried grasshoppers on the side. And... uhm..." Kera gulped with a nervous smile. "Isthatokaywithyouuuuuu?"
Beau and the two mares chuckled collectively.
Belle smiled. "We'll talk about it, Kera. On the way to the Jury. Come along."
"Allriiiiiiiight," Kera sing-songed in a dull tone.
"Out of curiosity," Pilate remarked, nodding his head towards where Hap sat. "What else is in the trunk? Perhaps Kera won twice in a row."
"Heh... No, that was her one and only chance. The year after that... well..." Hap sighed with a shrug. He nevertheless dug a hoof through the trunk. "We already found a quartet of baby horseshoes, and a smoking pipe that I think may have belonged to Benevolent. Though I'm quite certain he quit several months before taking Kera in and—" His words fell, as did the features of his face. His eyes turned instantly glossy.
Kera blinked, as did Belle. "What is it?" the mare asked.
Beau and the other ponies looked on as Hap pulled something out with a trembling motion. "Nagu'n below, how could I have ever misplaced this?" the old stallion breathed. In his hooves there rested an elegant comb studded with porcelain flowers. Its emerald surface still reflected the gray glow of the sky with an immaculate sheen. "It's an heirloom, alright. The heirloom. It belonged to my mother, and she gave it to Radiant shortly before she passed away. I... I-I suppose I simply wanted it out of my sight." He gulped. "Five years ago, I was far less composed as I am now. Tragedy will do that to a pony."
Everyone was silent, gazing patiently at him.
He looked up, his eyes weak. He cleared his throat and smiled, holding the item up higher. "An elegant tool for elegant mares. Even if I knew nothing of this, I'd immediately recognize its value."
"It's a good thing you found it again," Pilate said in a gentle tone. "As painful as it may be, memories are precious things."
"No..." Hap shook his head. "This was not meant to be passed on to me." He smiled, then eased out of his seat with shaking limbs. Trotting slowly forward, the elder held the comb out before Kera. "You are the only daughter Radiant Moon ever had. It is only fitting."
"But... but..." Kera winced awkwardly, shrinking away at the ornate instrument. "It's... it's totally not 'me!' I mean... I couldn't possibly—"
"Don't be silly, child," Hap sniffled, though he nevertheless smiled. "You act as if it's never graced your presence before."
Kera blinked at that. With a firm breath, she gently took the comb, balancing it delicately in two petite hooves. "Uhhh... Th-thanks?" She smiled cheekishly. "I guess..."
One of the mares suddenly turned and trotted briskly towards the far end of the cabin. The air was knifed with short, sobbing bursts. Beau winced, bowed politely towards the group, and shuffled over towards the mare to console her.
Kera watched the affair with an awkward expression. She felt a warm hoof on her shoulder and looked up.
"Hap, thank you so very much for looking after Kera this afternoon," Bellesmith said. "We must retire for the evening, but we'd love to meet with you again in the morning."
"Yes... yes, that would... that would be nice," the elder said as he shuffled backwards. "As for now, I think... I would like to be alone with my thoughts." He turned without a smile and trotted slowly into his cabin.
Kera's lips pursed as she gazed upon the scene. She felt a tug, and she levitated the comb as she trotted besides Pilate and Belle up the hill.
"Come on, Kera. The Jury's waiting."
"Right..." Nevertheless, Kera kept glancing back, her green eyes lingering on Beau and his friend consoling the sobbing mare in the distance.
Roarke's forelimb twisted, stretched forward, and clasped a tiny lever within the metal frame. The pneumatic servos whirred, hissed, and finally launched a steam-propelled missile forward. It impacted the center of a craggy boulder, exploding it to pebbly bits.
As the smoke cleared, Rainbow Dash hovered down, flapping her wings barely a dozen feet above the fresh crater.
Roarke pumped her hoof back, causing the metallic cannon cage in her brace to fold up like an accordion. She sat back, sniffed the air, and muttered, "Hi."
"Hi yourself," Rainbow Dash droned with a nod. "I hear you've been busy."
"I can't help myself," Roarke said, this time flexing her left limb as she unfolded a retractable machete in the metal rigging. "Weapons are my pillows."
"Yeah, I can see that. But I'm not talking about you going all Commander Hurricane on the countryside of Lerris," Rainbow said. "Did you ask them permission to blow their boulders to bits, by the way?"
"I figured it wouldn't be anything they missed."
"Isn't that rather presumptuous?"
"Did you come here to berate me for no reason or is something actually on your mind?" Roarke grunted.
"Roarke, what's going on here?" Rainbow asked. "You're acting all sullen and reclusive and paranoid." She blinked. "I mean—like—waaaaaaaay more than usual."
"Well..." Roarke grunted as she slid the blade back and shrugged her shoulders. "Somepony has to be."
Rainbow frowned. "What in the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"You know darn well what it means."
Rainbow ran her hooves over her face, groaning. "Nnnngh... you know, sometimes you are like no mare I've ever met... and then—at the same time—you are like every mare I've ever met."
Roarke turned and looked up at her with inquisitively pistoning lenses.
"Just tell me what's bothering you!" Rainbow grunted. "Don't assume that I know everything! Neither of us are strangers to my stupidity, y'know!"
"Hmmmf..." Roarke grunted as she turned and tested the servos situated along her hind legs. "How's the Kera adoption agency going?"
Rainbow gaped. "Don't change the dang subject!"
"Who says I did?" Roarke mumbled.
"Is that what this is all about?!" Rainbow planted her hooves on her floating hips and frowned. "You're steamed about what we're doing here in Lerris?"
"Must be easy forcing an uneasy decision on your friends," Roarke said. "I wonder, do Belle and Pilate see this as practice?"
"What are you even getting at?!" Rainbow squawked. "I came here because Ebon told me that you were spreading freaky ideas around the Jury!"
"And you believe that breeder?"
"He happens to be very loyal and very good at making food!" Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. "Two things that I really, really like!"
"Funny." Roarke turned towards her. "Almost a month ago, you couldn't bring yourself to look at him, much less trust him."
Rainbow blinked. "Huh...?"
"Lest I remind you that the only reason he's here is because Eagle Eye decided to carry his pathetic flank behind your back."
"I... it..." Rainbow's ruby eyes darted along the horizon. "Eagle did...?"
"Don't you see, Rainbow?" Roarke growled. "You're losing your touch. That, or you've reaquainted yourself with a Rainbow Dash that I've never know before—a mare who can't pay attention to any single thing for too long. This pegasus frightens me. Sickens me, even."
"Hey!" Rainbow folded her forelimbs as she frowned down at the bounty hunter. "In case you haven't noticed, I've had my hooves full of Xonans, cultists, a chaos dragon, and all sorts of crap!"
"And you think that's an excuse?!" Roarke exclaimed, her growling voice piercing the valley's winds. "You think that's ever been an excuse?! You're letting things slip past you, Rainbow Dash! Especially the worst things of all!"
"Just tell me, Roarke," Rainbow Dash spoke in a sharp tone. "Do you really, really think that we've got friggin' shape shifters watching us right now?!"
"At least I have the courage to consider it!" Roarke said. "But what of you?! You witnessed the largest and most dangerous of them all transform right before your very eyes! Whatever posed as Lasairfion had orchestrated an entire war for the past few years! Who's to know what sort of incalculable impact she could have on the journey ahead?! On you?!"
"Pffft. Whoever she is—whatever she is—I can handle it!"
"Can you?!" Roarke barked. "Rainbow Dash, she knew about you! About your past! She caught you off guard while you were already off guard!"
"I'm telling you, I can handle it!" Rainbow Dash shrugged wildly. "I've survived dragons and cross-country marehunts! I can totally take her on!"
"You don't know that!" Roarke grumbled. "You don't know anything! You just... fly from battleground to battleground, depending on luck and whatever that mystic nonsense is that's empowering your pendant!"
"Yeah, well, it's worked so far!"
"For you, maybe! But we both know that it's not all about you, isn't it, Rainbow?"
The pegasus merely blinked at her.
Roarke stood up straight, frowning. "Are you really that dense? Are you truly the pony who beat me to a crap and talked sense into my metal-laced skull?"
"I... I care for everypony on board the Jury," Rainbow Dash said in a quiet tone. She gulped. "I wouldn't do anything to endanger them..."
"And yet you are! Each and every day, you are! And you don't even think twice about it!"
"You think I haven't thrown my neck in the line of fire for the likes of Belle, Pilate, Eagle and the rest before?!"
"I'm telling you, Rainbow Dash, that whatever this journey is—whatever this flight east means to you—it's bigger than everything you've ever encountered before!"
"Roarke—"
"Don't deny it! With each twist and turn, it gets crazier! More and more unpredictable! More and more violent!"
"If this is about what happened to Simon... or to Imre—I'm sorry! Okay?!" Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. "Not a day goes by when I don't think about Floydien's pal giving up his life or Imre surrendering herself to the Ledomaritans! But it's not like I'm responsible for every little thing they've done! I wanted Imre to come along with us! But she chose to do the opposite! It was her decision and I couldn't stop it!"
Roarke chuckled, a very cold and reverberating thing. She shook her head with a rattle of he mane ringlets. "Oh Rainbow. You really are dense, aren't you?"
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth—
Suddenly, Roarke blurted, "The decision is yours. It's always been yours. It was the case with Imre and it's still the case with Belle and Pilate... and Kera."
"You want me to tell them what to do about the little scamp?! Is that it?" Rainbow scowled. "You want me to be the third parent here?"
"No, Rainbow Dash," Roarke said. "If you knew what was best for your friends, you'd leave them."
Rainbow Dash's face went pale. "Wh... what?"
"You would leave them, Rainbow. You would leave them and continue your trek east. Allow all of this... 'Austraeoh' crap to follow you and you alone, with all of the trouble that rears its ugly head, as you've long grown used to."
"I love my friends..." Rainbow Dash growled. "I c-can't just abandon them! Not now!"
"But you have to at some point, Rainbow!" Roarke shouted. "You know this! Don't deny it!"
"I know! I-I know..." Rainbow panted, clutching her head as she shivered towards the east. "Just... n-not now! There's the Frozen Sea and... and..."
"And what?"
"I-I dunno! Stuff! I gotta make sure that they get someplace absolutely safe—"
"Look around us, Rainbow!" Roarke stretched her hooves towards the horizons. "What can be safer than here?!"
"But... but the shape-shifters—"
"Are after you! The Lasairfion doppelganger made that abundantly clear!"
"Roarke... I just... I-I can't..." Rainbow Dash's voice was squeaking at this point. She hugged herself from where she limply hovered. "Just... not at this point. Not now..."
"Why not?" Roarke gritted her teeth. "Belle and Pilate are willing to part with Kera if it means what's best for her. I never thought I'd see the day when those Ledomaritan weaklings would show more spine than you!"
Rainbow Dash turned and snarled. "Don't call them that! They were displaying bravery and courage while you were just a grunt for your dying Pestiferous!"
"And if you don't want all of that being snuffed out for no reason, then leave them! Let them stay with Kera!"
"What?! Alone on the jury?!"
"Or here!" Roarke gestured. "In the valley! In Lerris!"
"And what if the cease-fire ends, huh?! What then?! Who's going to protect them?"
Roarke simply stood there, her metal limbs shifting.
Rainbow's pupils shrank. "You...?"
"Whatever happens, wherever they might be, your friends will be safe so long as they quit the journey." Roarke's lenses retracted. "So long as they quit you."
"Yeah, well, I can't quit them," Rainbow grumbled, looking away.
"And so long as you can't leave what you care for behind, so long as you can't make that brave decision, you're dooming them to a fate you can't even contemplate."
"I can contemplate enough."
"Really? Last time I checked, you weren't exactly going to live forever."
"Don't lecture me on death, I've seen enough of it."
"And you'll see more if you don't do what's best for them!"
"And I'm telling you, I can't do that!"
"Why not?! You've done it before?!"
Rainbow spun, snarling. "That's because everything I cared for was destroyed!"
"And what will it take for you to do the right thing again?!" Roarke shouted back. "Are you going to make a Ponyville out of the Noble Jury?!"
Rainbow Dash hovered in silence, fuming. Her eyes gazed far beyond Roarke as sweat lingered on her muzzle.
Roarke stared up at her, waiting.
At last, Rainbow sighed. She clenched her eyes shut, leaned her head back, and exhaled slowly. Eventually, her eyes opened, and they were glaring. "You're a smart pony, Roarke, and a crafty warrior. But no matter of cunning is going to help you in the long run without hope. I don't care how many weapons you have."
Roarke groaned. "Do you even listen to yourself—"
Rainbow was suddenly in the Searonese mare's face. "Yes. Now you listen to me." She jabbed a hoof in the pony's chest. "Whatever happens to Kera is up to her, not Pilate and Belle... and certainly not me. And when we're done here, I'm taking the Jury—and whoever's on board that ship—to a place far, far away from this stinkin' continent so that they can find a home safe from all of Ledomare, safe from all of Xona, and safe from all of this shape-shifter nonsense."
"But Rainbow—"
"And if you want any part of that journey, then you're going to stop making everypony on board feeling paranoid! We're falling apart at the seams as it is, and just because you can't sit right with no excuse to bash skulls in doesn't give you the right to make every minute a living hell for the ponies you bunk with!"
"I only want what's best for this team you've assembled—"
"No, Roarke." Rainbow glared. "We both know what you want. And it's really, really lame to see you getting your wires crossed so stupidly."
Roarke fidgeted. Her lenses pistoned in and out. "I've no clue what you're rambling on about."
"Hah!" Rainbow rolled her eyes with a bitter chuckle. "And you call me a coward." She turned and floated towards the distant Jury. "I'd come back before nightfall if I were you. And Roarke? Try not to scare the Lerringtons with your explosions. I've done enough to clean up the Jury after your fearmongering."
Roarke stood alone in the windswept valley. After several minutes, she slumped to her metal-laced haunches with a sigh. She picked up a clump of dirt and tossed it to the overcast air.
"Hrnnngh... Idiot."
"And then Beau showed me the boats that they send out to the rivers for fishing!" Kera exclaimed as she bounced a few steps ahead of Belle and Pilate. "It had all of this fancy wood carving on it! Like, images of serpents and snakes and all sorts of reptiles n'stuff!"
"Sounds quite remarkable," Pilate said as he leaned on Belle's shoulder in mid-trot. "I've always fancied woodcarvings. Using O.A.S.I.S. brings the images to such dazzling clarity."
"Yuh huh! And, like, Beau tells me that snakes and reptiles are super big in Xonan culture!"
"Heh..." Belle chuckled dryly. "I've no doubt."
"And... a-and he and his friends spend their off time making the engravings in the boat. They say it's in their blood. And you know what I realized?"
"Hmm? What's that, darling?"
Kera spun about, trotting backwards as she levitated the comb by her smiling face. "I used to do carving while I was in Blue Nova!"
"You don't say..."
"I do too! Whenever I wasn't hunting for food or chasing grasshoppers, I'd find junk that ponies would leave by the wayside and I'd carve all sorts of swirly designs into them!" She giggled. "I had an entire shelf full of the stuff! Grasshopper legs etched into coffee mugs or rat tails on jaded crystals!"
"Then... how come Phoenix and I never saw them?"
"Because some creep stole them before I moved to another hideout! Duhhh!"
"Heh heh heh... if you say so..."
"What, you don't believe me?"
Belle winked aside at Pilate. "This coming from Kera, the 'Little Miss Princess of Lerris.'"
Pilate chuckled.
Belle also giggled. When her breaths came to a stop, she became aware of how silent the air was. She looked forward. "Kera?" Her mouth hung agape.
Kera had plopped down on her haunches, legs spread. She stared limply at the comb floating before her. The porcelain flower bud glistened in her delicate telekinesis.
"Kera..." Belle shuffled forward, coming to a stop a few feet away. "What... what is it, darling?"
The filly gulped. "It was 'Kiki...'" She murmured, "It was 'Little Miss Kiki of Lerris.'" Her breaths came in tender little squeaks. "That's what she called me the day before and the day after. That's what... she always called me..."
Belle stared, eyes twitching.
Pilate spoke up. "That's what who called you, Kera?"
The filly's lips trembled. "My mother." She winced slightly. "At least... she felt liked her... smelled like her... h-had her voice when she held me. I... I could feel her lungs shaking when she sang to me. When she... she brushed my mane." Kera wrenched her eyes from the comb. The emerald pupils reflected the sea of windswept grass around her. She stretched a hoof out and brushed it over the tips of the swaying blades. "Even when the cold winds blew... when the rain came... the storm outside my window. She held me. She kept me warm. I... I love to smell her coat as she rocked me to sleep. I could remember her laughing. My name. 'Kiki.' She would sing it. I wanted to look pretty for her. For everypony. It was... the least I-I could do."
Pilate and Belle stood in silence. Belle trembled, so she gripped tightly to the zebra's hoof as a lump formed in her throat.
Kera was shivering at this point. She stopped levitating the comb and held it in a pair of tiny hooves. She stared closely at it, until a reflection formed, and the face in the emerald sheen was collapsing. "Momma...?" She sniffled. "Momma... I-I was so tiny... I kicked and bucked at them, but I-I couldn't stop them. I-I couldn't... couldn't..." Her muzzle scrunched as tears sprang from her eyes. "Momma, th-they're hurting you!" her voice came in a high-pitched whine. She hugged the comb to her chest and collapsed on the hillside, sobbing profusely. "Pappa! Help! Help! They're hurting her! They're taking me away! I don't wanna go! I d-don't wanna go!"
With a limp cry, Belle flew forward and scooped Kera up. She enfolded her arms around the filly as she weathered every wailing sob. "Kera, I'm so sorry. Darling, it's okay. Just let it out..."
"Nnnnghhhh-Mommmmmaaaa!" Kera hiccuped and howled, burying her face in Belle's chest. "Mommmmmaaaaa... guhhhhh-huhhhhhh..." She clung to one of Belle's forelimbs and refused to let go, stifling her shrieks with the mare's embrace.
Solemnly, Pilate trotted over and hugged the two ponies from behind. His gray eyes stared into nothingness as his ears twitched, taking in each sorrowful yelp.
Minutes later, as Kera's sobs quieted down, Belle lifted her tear-stained face up and gazed at Pilate. She leaned in, and the couple nuzzled each other in helpless silence, keeping the filly warm between them as the gray winds pelted the hillside upon the fall of evening.
Kera's eyes opened to darkness. She was lying in the cot of her sleeping quarters inside the Noble Jury.
More gentle vibrations.
She stirred, sitting up. Rubbing her eyes and muzzle with a forelimb, she blinked blearily across the cramped compartment. Her ears twitched, and she craned her neck towards the floor.
Silence... more silence... then vibrations once more...
Kera took a shuddering breath. Pensively, she crept out of the bed and padded across the metal floor. Sliding the door open, she stuck her head out into the thin hallway of the ship's middle deck. The corridor was empty and dark, and the dull noises continued from below.
Determined, the filly slipped out of her compartment and trotted briskly towards the bow, brushing past door after door to tiny chambers with various ponies slumbering within. When she reached the vertical crawlspace at the front of the Jury, she climbed down it slowly so as not to make any noise with her rattling little hooves.
She landed on the bottom deck, and a loud noise emanated from the observation room, but it wasn't what woke her up. Peeking her head in, Kera saw a porous patch of starlight wafting through the windows and illuminating Rainbow Dash's slumbering figure. The pegasus was draped undaintily across a swaying hammock, her mouth sawing the air violently with continuous snores.
Kera blinked. Calmly, she turned around and faced the thick door to the navigation room. The dull vibrations that had woken her were reverberating from within. Using Rainbow's snores to mask her hooftrots, she quietly approached the door, bit her lip, and slid it open just a crack. Almost instantly, the dull thuds solidified in the form of Pilate's and Belle's upset voices.
Inside the lush interior, Belle was pacing furious circles. The zebra sat with his back to the table of maps and cartographer instruments, facing her.
"...and I'm just saying that we should have a talk with her! We haven't been seeing face to face with Rainbow since we came here, and I think it's time that it was amended!"
"Yes, and what?!" Belle growled, her chestnut eyes fierce and angry. "Tell her that we have to make a decision between her and Kera?! That we love one more than the other?!"
Pilate shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "This is not a contest over who we love more, Bellesmith! It never was!"
"Well, it certainly feels like it! You know, we could have skipped this town entirely and none of this would have been an issue!"
"How so?! Because nopony would have been the wiser?!" Pilate frowned. "You know we couldn't let that happen to Kera—"
"No, you couldn't have that happen to Kera!" Belle pointed with an accusatory hoof. "It was your idea in the first place!"
"Belle..."
"You forced it upon me! You forced it upon the Jury! And you forced it on Kera!"
Pilate stood up. "I wanted Kera to have a chance to find closure!"
"No, you just wanted to get rid of her! Face it, Pilate! You never gave yourself a chance to get to know her! You've kept her at hoof's distance and—"
"You're right! You're right—I have kept a distance from her! But it's not because I disliked the filly in any respect! Far from the truth! I cherish her and I want what's best for her! It's just that—"
"What?"
"I figured from the start that she wouldn't be a permanent member of our crew. It's positively sinful to throw her in harm's way over and over again, so long as we're pledged to follow Rainbow Dash to a new home away from this land!"
"So what you're telling me is that you chose from day one to be more loyal to Rainbow Dash than Kera?!"
"Belle, darling, so long as we're on this journey it is about Rainbow Dash, and it always will be! But you and I both know that it won't last forever!"
"I know that, Pilate—"
"Do you, beloved?! She's dying, Belle! At some point, the pegasus who saved us is going to perish from the chaos that's inside her!"
Kera blinked through the doorway. Her mouth fell agape as her ears drooped. She cast a nervous glance at the observation room behind her, then peered once more into the navigation room.
Belle stood in place, shivering, as Pilate continued. "Unless some miraculous power of Austraeoh restores her to a far more vibrant state, she is only going to succumb to her affliction. It may not be here and now, but it'll likely be sometime during the trip over the Frozen Sea or beyond. Belle, I know you love Rainbow Dash. I care for her deeply too, and I owe her my life. But an unspoken truth that I've held since we first set out from Blue Shelf is that the role of Eljunbyro is to be a temporary one! I don't rightly expect Rainbow Dash to reach the Midnight Armory on the dark side of the world, and if you asked her, I would suspect she feels the same too."
"We're her fr-friends, Pilate. She needs us by her side... she... she d-deserves us!"
"I know, Belle," Pilate said with a nod. "And I would very much like to be with her until the end. But the best thing possible in that scenario... would be her end." His face grew long as he said, "The greatest gift we can give Rainbow Dash is the same gift that she has given us. Loyalty."
Belle sat down in the center of the room, sniffling. Her eyes glistened as she murmured, "But... But Kera...?"
"We can give her a home, Belle. Not just any home, but her home. I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't thought of that since first suggesting our visit to Lerris. But, at the same time, I didn't want to force it on her." He hesitated, shuddered, and lowered his head. "And I didn't want to force it on you, either..."
Belle tilted her head up, mouth agape. "What... wh-what do you mean, Pilate?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "What I mean is... well... think about it, Bellesmith." He tilted his head back up to form a weak smile. "Kera's home could very well be our home too."
Belle blinked. "You mean... stay with her here?" She squeaked, "In Lerris?"
"I can't be the only one who sees a lot of wisdom in what Golden Happenstance says," Pilate remarked. "For Kera's sake, for our sake—"
"But what about Rainbow?" Belle stammered. She sniffled as a tear ran down her face. "Pilate, she n-needs us."
"I know, Belle—"
"She wouldn't h-have made it this far if it weren't for Eljunbyro..."
Pilate shuffled across the floor and rested a hoof on her shoulder. "But, perhaps, she needs something even more." He smiled. "And that's to know that her friends are safe and alive.
Belle grimaced. She ran a shaking hoof through her mane and quivered. "I... I don't like this, Pilate..."
"I'm not entirely fond of it either, beloved."
"You're..." She whimpered and shook her head. "Y-you're asking me to decide between the pony I love as a sister... and th-the filly I love as a daughter..."
Pilate swallowed a lump down his throat and leaned in to nuzzle her. "Oh, Belle." He smiled painfully, kissed her cheek, and murmured, "The day I first heard your voice, I felt as if the Spark itself was embracing me. Then I learned that I hadn't died from the zeppelin crash, and instead you had given me a new lease on life... and the vision to grace your beauty with. I cherished you like an angel, and the last thing I wanted was for my frailties to complicate your existence, or for any pain to enter your life. I... I feel as though I have failed in many ways..."
"Pilate, please, don't—"
"I could have been so much stronger for you, Belle. In many ways, I still struggle with this. But... but here and now? I don't think the decision falls upon me. But I don't think it falls upon you either."
Belle gazed at him with a quivering lip.
He said, "We need to talk to Rainbow Dash, Belle. We need to be up front and honest with her. We need to tell her how we see Kera's future... and h-how bleakly we see hers."
"And th-then what?"
Pilate took a deep breath. "The best case scenario—if you ask me?" He bit his lip, then said, "We leave Lerris, follow Rainbow Dash until we can follow her no more... and then we return."
Belle blinked. "Return... t-to Kera?"
Pilate nodded. "But..." He winced once more. "With the possibility of surviving the trip back on our own... with Rainbow Dash gone?"
Belle shuddered, hanging her head.
Pilate leaned in and nuzzled her.
At last, Belle quietly sobbed: "We h-have to choose..."
"Not just us, Bellesmith," Pilate whispered. "But Rainbow as well. It's time Austraeoh and Eljunbyro resolved itself, once and for all."
"I... I-I just don't know how t-to go about doing it, Pilate..." Belle stammered and squeaked, "I just don't."
"We'll find out, somehow," he said in a wavering tone. He gulped. "Together."
The two held each other in a quiet huddle, ignorant of the space in the door to the observation room. They didn't notice when it slid silently shut, nor did they notice the filly on the other side vanishing like a shadow.
Rainbow’s bangs fluttered in the high wind. Morning sunlight glistened off her lashes. She was lying back, gazing perpetually upwards, her ruby eyes scraping the blue sky.
She stared and stared until she could almost discern dark shadows from the azure sphere looming high above her. All around her, a gigantic cloudbed spread in almost every direction. The vaporous particles tingled with warm energy, drifting upwards before fading into nothingness past her wings.
Slowly, she brought a hoof up and drew an invisible circle in the sky, as if crafting a ring out of thin air. She exhaled, and her breaths became visible in the cold, thin altitude.
“I would never have left you guys.” She gulped, trembling slightly. “Never.” Her head shook from side to side. “Not so long as you were around.”
The void beyond the blue sky answered with silence.
She sniffled. Her pendant wore heavily all of the sudden, threatening to plunge her blue body back through the bed of clouds. She leaned her head to the right, squinting at the rising sun. The world melted before its solar glory. All was one with the light; it was so inviting to get lost in it.
It was an invitation she could no longer afford.
With a breath, she dug her wings back into the clouds, breaking them. Her body sank through, flipped in mi-descent, and angled out into a calm glide. After half-a-minute, she broke through the overcast ceiling over Lerris, descending in a wide spiral towards the Noble Jury.
When she approached the parked vessel, she heard a stir of commotion, breaking the harmonic dissonance in the cool, northern air. Raising an eyebrow, she flapped her wings and shot like a blue bullet towards the airship. When she finally reached earshot of the ponies on board, she instantly heard Bellesmith’s distressed voice.
“...not in her bunkroom! Not in her cot! Not anywhere to be seen! I’ve check everywhere! Everywhere!” She choked on a sob, rubbing her hooves over her distraught muzzle. “Where’s she gone off to?! Why would she do something like this?!”
“And we’re going to find her, Belle!” Pilate exclaimed, grasping her shoulders in the middle of the top deck. “I promise you--”
“How could she have gotten past us to begin with?!” Belle cried as she stomped her hoof with a brief frown. “How could she have gotten past you?! I built O.A.S.I.S. to pick up the bouncing of a flea?! You’re telling me that neither of us can keep track of one l-little filly?!”
Eagle Eye scrambled up with Ebon in tow. “I just woke up Props and Josho! We’re gonna cover the east side of town and they’re gonna comb the west outskirts!”
“Good idea,” Pilate said with a nod as he leaned close to Belle’s shivering figure. “One unicorn and earth pony per team.”
“Guess that leaves us to the south fields!” Zaid sing-songed as he motioned to the metal mare. “Hop along, hot stuff! I may not be a unicorn, but I’ve still got a nose to find the little scamp with!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Roarke grumbled as she fit her forelimb into a pneumatic sleeve and activated her suit with a steamy hiss. “I’ll cover the lakeside first and then come join you. You’d better not slow me down.” As she hopped off the vessel, her lensed gaze blindly brushed past Rainbow Dash.
The pegasus gulped. She touched down onto the deck and stammered, “What happened?”
“It’s Kera, Rainbow,” Pilate said with a nervous shudder. “She’s… she’s…” He clenched his teeth and seethed. “She’s up and run off!”
“C-can you blame her, Pilate?!”
“Belle, please--”
“Well can you?!” Belle shrieked, frowning hideously. “We talk about her behind her back like she’s some sort of livestock and expect her to be okay with it?!”
“How else were we to discuss what’s at hoof?!”
“With her?! With the whole group?! I don’t know!” Belle wiped her cheek, shuddering. “All I wanted to do was protect the filly! Not drive her away! She doesn’t need this! She needs ponies who can trust her enough to level with her!”
“Look, we all do dumb things!” Rainbow Dash said, waving her forelimbs. “And Kera’s no exception! I knew a pony once who liked to be melodramatic when poop hit the fan, and boy were there days when I wanted to shove her sewing machine down her throat.”
“Rainbow… darling, I-I appreciate your g-good spirit…” Belle sniffled, her lips quivering. “But… but…”
Rainbow grasped the mare’s hooves with her own. “Say no more. I got this.”
“But Rainbow! She’s crafty, elusive, scared--”
“I said I’ve got this!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward and nuzzled the mare. “You’ve been in my head. You know when I’m telling you the truth! I’m gonna find her!”
Belle nodded, clenching her teeth. “I wish… I wish I was so lucky to relate to all ponies as I relate to you, Rainbow Dash…”
“Yeah, well…” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took off. “Where’d the fun be in that?” She shot in a prismatic blur, scouring the northeast countryside. “Hey elk!” she shouted back. “If you don’t hear back from me in an hour, lift off and start searching the hillsides!”
“Floydien hears the color wheel! Nancy Jane is ready and waiting!”
Belle bit her lip, leaning against Pilate as she stared at Rainbow’s rapid flight.
“Beloved? I’d better… uhm… go and assist Zaid. I suspect he and Roarke could use all the help we could get.” He gave her shoulder a nudge. “Maybe you’d like to come with me? Unless… you’d rather assist some of the others so that we spread the search around the most.”
“I would like to do that, Pilate.” She gulped. “But I’m afraid…”
About an hour into the search, Rainbow Dash was starting to panic, though she wasn't about to show it to anypony. She had circled the town of Lerris three whole times, each flyby considerably more elaborate than the previous. She flew down alleyways, swooped under overhangs, and even scaled a few balconies. As she passed by, she became aware of Belle and Pilate asking door to door for any sign of Kera. Eventually, a good portion of the town's populace was assisting in the search. Rainbow spotted Golden Happenstance and Beau among those frantically looking, searching, stumbling.
By the time the Noble Jury lifted up to provide a centralized eye in the sky, Rainbow Dash was starting to shiver. Her wings were growing tired, which was a strange thing—considering how many endless miles she had flown without feeling exhausted before. She rubbed her forelimbs together, wondering if perhaps the chaos inside was taking over. She only wished she had such an excuse.
It was approaching noon over the gray overcast sky. Bits of cloud broke, allowing rays of golden light to beam down, showering the village and the surrounding valley with streams of illumination. Rainbow remembered the first day she left Cloudstone, the lone flight she had made to the surface of the earth below. She had felt so proud of herself and yet so terrified at the same time. Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to be angry at Kera.
But the memory nevertheless exhausted her. The past was a dismally gray and nebulous thing, and here she was flying in perpetual circles. At last, she settled for a mound of earth located to the east outskirts of the town. Only after touching down did she realize that it wasn't a mound at all, but rather a tiny abandoned house with grass and flowers growing out of the dilapidated rooftop.
Rainbow gazed in, squinting into the dark confines of the collapsed home. Her ruby eyes fell to a loose beam of wood lying diagonally against the frame. A part of her imagined carving five names into its surface and flying off, never to return, never to see anypony again—Pilate and Bellesmith included. The thing that terrified her is that the sensation was actually tempting.
With a shudder, Rainbow Dash slumped down in the grass, resting on folded hooves. She nuzzled her own hooves, blinking multiple times. At last, her eyes darted up, past the hovering form of the Noble Jury, until her gaze scraped the bottom of the overcast clouds again. She narrowed her focus on the patches of light, and a foalish sound escaped her lips.
"So help me, Luna," Rainbow Dash murmured. "I've fought dragons, creeps in berets, battleships, and more dragons." She gulped. "I've never felt so useless as I do now." She clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. "Ponyville was everything to me, and yet I had it easy. How do I pull off friendship here? It's all so crazy and upside down and ponies die." A deep breath, shuddering and fragile. "I should have thought ahead from the beginning. If I can't last forever, th-then nothing can. Do you even understand, Luna...?"
Silence.
And then something suffled from behind Rainbow Dash.
"It'd be pretty boring if things lasted forever..."
Rainbow gasped. Instantly, she flapped her wings and spun around in a low hover. She stared into the ramshackle cabin, and a pair of green eyes reflected a sheen of light from inside. The pegasus smiled wide and opened her mouth to shout to the heavens... but didn't. With a blinking expression, she landed and folded her wings at her side. Quietly, she stepped into the cabin.
From the shadows, Kera stood calmly, gazing at the bent doorframes and crooked walls of the tiny cabin around her. "I'm sorry for scaring you and everypony else, Rainbow. I just needed to go for a walk, but I don't think anypony would have left me alone at this point."
Rainbow Dash came to a stop in the center of the place, her hooves crunching against random bits of debris. Thin beams of light slid through every crack and break in the roof's structure. At last, she said, "I totally understand the need to be alone, believe it or not."
"And yet you give it up all the time, don't you?"
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Not... all of the time..."
"Hrmmm..." Kera smiled lightly. She turned and gazed with warm eyes at the peeling wallpaper looming above her.
With a gulp, Rainbow leaned forward and asked, "What are you doing in this freaky ol' shack?"
"It's not just any freaky ol' shack," Kera said. "It's my home. Or at least... it was..."
Rainbow's ruby eyes twitched. She turned and looked over her shoulder. "No way..."
"Yes way."
Rainbow looked back. "You just figured it out?"
"I've always had it figured out," Kera murmured. "The first moment we landed here in Lerris, I knew it'd be on the far side of the town, waiting for me. I'm actually kind of surprised that it wasn't torn down and crud. It definitely explains why Hap and Beau and the others never talk about it."
Kera giggled. "Why are you sorry? I'm not." Kera paced through the shadowed interior. "A lot of snazzy things happened in this house." She pointed at an open space. "There's the front room where I'd take naps by the window while rain pattered on the glass." She turned and pivoted. "There's the reading room where me and a few other kids would have sleepovers." She turned towards a slanted hallway with three tiny rooms connected. "My bedroom is somewhere in there, next to my Momma and Pappa's." She gulped. "Momma would spend at least an hour with me every night before I went to sleep. She'd brush my mane and talk stories of her younger years, when she traveled the borders of Xona and traded silks and stuff." She exhaled calmly out her nostrils. "She had a lot in common with Belle, really. She never had a kid of her own, but always secretly wanted one. I was more like a doll or a best friend to her than a daughter..." She bit her lip. "Doesn't change the fact that I loved her more than anything."
Rainbow Dash quietly nodded. "Sounds like it was a really nice foalhood, Kera."
"Yeah..." Kera swallowed. "It is."
Kera blinked at that. She spoke in a squeaking tone, "Kera, I know lots of ponies have been telling you a lot of things, but you shouldn't feel like you have to—"
"Did you get cursed with the stuff before or after you left home?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "Huh?"
Kera swiveled, gazing at her with ghostly green eyes. "The thing that's killing you."
Rainbow's eyes went wide. She opened her mouth, but had no response. Hanging her head, she gritted her teeth, sighed, and eventually muttered, "Before I left home."
"Was it the same thing that took your friends from you?"
Rainbow slowly nodded. "More or less," she said. "If it wasn't for the chaos that separated us in the first place, we'd all be alive today." She gulped. "And staying alive."
"So your town didn't totally buy it?"
"Huh?" Rainbow looked up, squinting. "Heck, no! Ponyville's still in one piece! I mean, there's this crazy pit of chaos in the center of it, but Celestia's totally got it covered. They even built this snazzy bunker thing to contain the mess."
"Is that why you left your home?" Kera asked. "Because you weren't needed to keep things in order?"
Rainbow's mouth hung open. Eventually, she said, "I left Ponyville because there was nothing for me there anymore." She gulped. "My friends died. They were my home. Without them... I didn't have any reason to be there anymore. I didn't have any reason to be anywhere. Just..." She sighed. "I had to fly. I had to keep moving. Even... even t-today..."
Kera stared at her. Eventually, she turned and trotted down a crooked hallway until there was no more space to move. She came to a stop and pointed down the corridor. "That's where they carried me, Nightshade's stallions. They hoisted me out of bed and slapped a cap over my horn, even though I hadn't practiced magic yet. My Momma and Pappa stormed out of that room there..." She pointed to the side. "And they came charging after me. Momma reached me first, but the stallions tackled her, slamming her against the wall. She was so old; I knew that something had to have broken inside her. I was screaming for Pappa to save her, but he didn't respond. I didn't understand until I looked over and saw him on the ground... and a stallion was st-standing over him with a manarifle. I heard the gunshot, but it was from where Momma was... and then neither of them moved."
The filly paused, sniffling hard.
Rainbow Dash stood still, watching her.
Eventually, the foal turned around, her eyes solid but glossy. "Nightshade took my parents from me, and maybe even my foalhood." She wiped her cheek and stood tall with dignity. "But they didn't take my home. It's still here, even with my parents gone. I... I can feel it." She smiled painfully, eyes rolling up the walls and resting on the dilapidated ceiling. "It's got a taste that was made for just me."
"I'm glad that you had a chance to see it once again," Rainbow Dash said.
"No, Rainbow," Kera shook her head. "This isn't just some gift that Belle and Pilate gave me. This is something that's been biting at my flank for years. I felt it when I shivered in the streets of Blue Nova."
"What is it, Kera?"
"Lemme ask you something." Kera glanced up at her. "If you found out tomorrow that you were free of whatever curse is killing you, would you turn about and head back to Ponyville?"
"I...I-I—"
"Forget all the 'Austraeoh' and 'Eljunbyro' stuff," Kera muttered, shaking her head. "If the world was just you, your wings, and your heart—what would you do? Where would you go?"
"Kiddo, I..." But Rainbow Dash was already gnashing her teeth. With a sigh, she slumped to her knees. She gazed—trembling—into a patch of light, too cowardly to look the filly in the eyes. "I love Belle and Pilate to death. They mean everything to me. But..." She grimaced, then muttered in a low tone. "What you're about to hear doesn't leave the walls of this cabin, ya feel me?"
Kera nodded, ears trained patiently towards her.
Rainbow looked up, finally allowing herself to drown in the filly's green eyes. "I lost more in Ponyville than just friendship. I... I lost love... and I lost hope." She swallowed hard, fighting not to waver in her voice. "And I think I started flying in the first place because I secretly wanted to find something to refill that empty space in my heart. At first, I thought it was the pursuit of the Midnight Armory. But then Belle and Pilate entered my life, and I didn't think twice about it. And every so often—especially lately, now that the war is over—I start to think again, like I'm sending my brain through the overcast clouds. And I don't like what I'm realizing." She sighed. "I don't like feeling... knowing that even Belle and Pilate aren't enough to bring back what I've lost. And at some point, I'm going to have to leave them to continue flying where only I can go, even if the destination is just death." She shook her head. "I'm not going to drag the ponies I care into that black pit with me. It'd be just as bad as staying in Ponyville with all of my misery."
"You're awesome, Rainbow Dash, but most of us aren't like you." Kera quietly breathed, "Some of us can fly the widest circles and go on the longest adventures by simply staying in one place. And even still, it's the same thing." She dug her hoof through a mound of debris. "I just needed to understand how a pony could remain cool about it on the outside."
Rainbow winced. "Kera. For real, kiddo, don't take too much stock in what I have to say about—"
But the filly giggled. "Oh, Rainbow, please. I wasn't expecting you to give me some crazy awesome speech that might 'help me' or whatcrap." She smiled calmly. "I already made my decision," she said. "I made it hours ago..."
Rainbow simply gazed at her. After a few seconds, she exhaled, sharing the filly's placid expression.
Bellesmith and Pilate stood with muzzles agape. After a collective breath between them, Belle gulped and was the first to speak.
"And..." She fought the urge to sniffle. "You are sure about this, darling?"
Kera nodded quietly. "I've been sure of it since we left Archer Point." She paced forward across the courtyard while Golden Happenstance, Beau, and a few other ponies watched in gentle silence. "I just haven't had the guts to own up to it until just now. I... uhm..." She rubbed one forelimb with the other, blushing slightly. "I'm sorry for running off like I did. It was totally uncool of me."
"You needed to clear your head," Pilate said in a quiet tone. "That's understandable." He winced. "It's just..."
"You could have at least told us, darling," Belle said, leaning forward to nuzzle the filly. "We understand if all of this is weighing on you to the breaking point."
Kera bit her lip. "I'm not the only one."
"Kera...?"
Kera glanced over the ponies' shoulder at the scattered members of the Jury. Eagle Eye, Props, Ebon Mane, Zaid, and even Josho craned their necks to best observe the ensuing conversation.
She stifled a giggle and said, "It's really super sweet how you guys are all concerned about me n'stuff. I really didn't mean to pull a stunt just so you could all get freaked out over me. I just..." She took a deep breath, then gazed down at her fidgeting hooves. "I've been afraid, y'know? I don't like being scared, and I hate owning up to it even more."
"That's okay, Kera."
"No, Belle, it's not." Kera gazed up with hard eyes. "Because holding back is only going to hurt ponies. It'll hurt me and it'll hurt you guys. It'll a hurt a lot harder than the truth." She gulped. "And the truth is that I've only ever had one home. It's not in Xona. It's not in Ledomare. And, as much as it stinks to admit it..." She shook her head. "It's not in the clouds."
"We can..." Belle bit her lip, hesitated slightly, and said, "We can make it work, Kera..."
"Beloved..." Pilate quietly murmured.
The mare hung her head, trembling, fighting back tears.
Kera leaned up to nuzzle her again. "Maybe for a little while, you could. But... for a long time? And with all the stuff we'd be flying into?" She smiled. "Heh... believe me. I want nothing more than to bring it on. I think about what's past the mountains over there—" She motioned with her head eastward. "—and I'm pumped! I'm pumped for what's to discover and find out n'stuff. I totally envy the Noble Jury big time. But... I've had my fill of awesome already. Throwing my head into the blender again may be fun while it lasts, but you and I both know it's not what I need right now." She gritted her teeth. "And it's not what my Momma and Pappa would have wanted of me."
"But..." Pilate's metal brow furrowed. "What of what you want, Kera?"
"Pfft." The filly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. This town's stuffy and full of old ponies and gray skies." She sighed heavily, her lips forming a gentle curve. "But there's something in this place that I haven't felt anywhere else." She gulped. "Memories... and—well—me. This town is me. I left it a long time ago, and now that I'm back in the place that gave me the taste for crickets and high grass, well... I-I would be tearing something out of myself by leaving it."
"Kera, not that we doubt your decision, but are you certain that this is what you want?" Pilate asked. "After all, we've been here less than a week and—"
"I've been here a great deal longer," Kera said. "And even if I left this place, I'd remain here. And it wouldn't be fair to myself or the ponies around me if I stayed split in two places, y'know?"
Pilate bit his lip. He turned towards Belle. Belle sniffled, and the couple nuzzled each other with melancholic smiles. As Belle leaned on Pilate, the zebra tilted his head towards the filly.
"You are wise beyond your years, Kera."
"Yeah, well..." She giggled lightly, her tattooed face rosy. "I had a couple of really nifty ponies around to buckstart my head, ya dig?"
"All we ever wanted was for you to have a good, healthy life," Belle said.
"And you gave me that, guys..." Kera's green eyes glistened. "You totally gave me that and more. You saved me a million times over. And now I gotta make something of that life. For you, for Momma and Pappa, and for myself." She smiled, a tear forming along the edges of her lashes. "That's the loyal thing to do. Right?"
"Most certainly," Pilate said with a nervous chuckle.
"I assure you two," Golden Happenstance spoke up. "If she stays here, she will not be alone."
"I'll protect her," Beau said, then smiled. "We'll all protect her."
"We'll let her trot her own path," Hap continued. "But we won't let her walk alone. We'll be with her every hoofstep of the way."
Beau trotted over and lowered his face so that it was at level with Kera's. "And if someday you decide to leave and live out your adulthood elsewhere—"
"Pfft..." Kera rolled her eyes. "I got it, buddy. I've blown bigger popsicle stands."
Props giggled from a distance, forcing a limp smile out of Ebon and Eagle Eye.
"I just... uhm..." Kera kicked at the ground as her body suffered a cold shudder. "I just hope that you guys don't feel... don't believe that the reason I'm choosing to stay here is because you've done anything stupid or haven't held to your promises or... or..." She gritted her teeth, her voice wavering. "I mean, you've done so much to save my silly head, and the last thing I wanna do is shove it all back in your f-faces..."
Belle immediately scooped the filly up in a hug, forcing a quiet yelp out of her.
"You've taught me so much, Kera." The mare whimpered. "And the biggest lesson of all is that I'll never run out of love to give." She nuzzled the mare's face, kissing her foreheads. "I'm glad that you're home." Her breath wavered as tears trickled freely. "Knowing that you're happy and safe is the b-best thing I could ever ask for, no matter how f-far I go or how long that I live."
Kera's face scrunched up, so she hid it in Belle's shoulder as she hugged her back. A tiny sob melted between them. "I-I never thought I would m-miss your stupid sap...."
Belle chuckled, shedding more tears as Pilate leaned down to join the embrace.
"Our hearts are with you, Kera," Pilate said, clenching his wet gray eyes shut. "You've brought us such joy and purpose. If this is what's best for you, then it's best for us as well."
Golden Happenstance and Beau stepped back from the scene to give the trio their space. With slowly trotting steps, the crew of the Noble Jury split up, trotting back towards the airship in separate clusters.
High above the scene, perched on a lonesome rooftop, Rainbow Dash gazed down at her friends. She took a long, solemn breath. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted the Noble Jury in a low hover. Someone stood on the edge of the deck. There was a break in the clouds, and sunlight wafted across the vessel, glifting off two copper points of reflection. In a blink, the figure was gone.
Rainbow felt alone, even with the sounds of her sobbing companions wafting upwards to tickle her ears. With a shudder, she flapped her wings and tore herself away from the heart of Lerris, taking refuge in the high winds above the village.
"I had a little t-talk with Hap," Pilate said, clearing his throat to compose himself as he and Belle walked up the windy hill of waving high grass. The Noble Jury loomed in the distance, having touched down west of the town after a few hours of panicked flight earlier that day. "I figured we could spare a few more days here in town."
"That sounds wonderful, Pilate," Belle said in a breathy tone. Her eyes were fixated on some nebulous point in the distance. "I-I mean, not that I-I have any reason to believe that Kera would change her mind."
"My sentiments exactly," Pilate replied with a nod. "But even still, I don't think we'll necessarily have to spend the entire time saying our good byes."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, beloved." He bit his lip. "I... I c-can't read your mind, but I truly think there's still lots to... lots to..."
"What?"
"Well, to discuss. To mull over. To... to decide..."
Belle exhaled heavily. "Perhaps you can read my mind, darling."
"I would hate to presume."
Belle managed a light chuckle. "Then you hate yourself unnecessarily."
"Sometimes I wonder."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's just that I fear that I haven't been the most dependable stallion as of late. And at a time like this, perhaps it would benefit you and everypony else if... if I was more forward. I don't know. I never want to come across as a—" He shuffled to a stop, ears twitching. "Belle? Why'd you stop trotting?"
Belle lingered with her mouth agape. "Rainbow...?"
The pegasus stood a few steps ahead of them, facing west.
"Rainbow, we never did thank you properly for finding Kera like you did," Pilate said. "I assume you... you overhead what happened earlier."
Silence.
"Rainbow?" Belle gulped. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Rainbow said in a dull tone. "Everything's just right." She slowly turned around, her ruby eyes glossy. "I'd be a blind idiot to try to pretend otherwise."
Belle gritted her teeth. "Rainbow, you're sc-scaring me. What's the matter?"
The pegasus slowly smiled. "That's just the thing with me, girl," she said, her voice wavering slightly. "I'm Rainbow Danger Dash. The only things that scare me is the stuff worth paying attention to."
Belle and Pilate were speechless.
Rainbow trotted slowly towards them. "And... uhm... I haven't been doing a very good job of paying attention to things as of late. Instead, I've been watching stuff from the sidelines, pretending like I can stay aloft. But sometimes I just gotta come down and level with the ones I care for... so long as I have a chance to care for anypony."
"I... don't know what you're talking about, Rainbow," Pilate said. "Belle and Eagle Eye both said they saw you on the rooftops of Lerris. Certainly you overhead what Kera said earlier—"
"What, that she's home?" Rainbow smiled gently. "That's super cool." She gulped and shuddered, "So is a promise that I made to some really swell ponies a long time ago. That... that I would get them a place to call home as well."
Pilate's brow furrowed.
"Rainbow?" Belle gulped and murmured, "What are you trying to say?"
"It'd just be bucking a dead tree to have to spell it out, don't you think?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You all look up to me as some sort of brave pony—a hero, even. But, as a matter of fact, I'm more cowardly than anypony on board the Jury." She took a deep breath. "And the bravest thing I can do is make a decision. But the crazy thing is that the only decision I have to make is the same one I've been following since day one."
Belle and Pilate stood in silence.
Rainbow stared at them, her ruby eyes glistening. "But I want... I hope that though I can't make the decision for others, I can tell them what I know is best for them... and trust that they'll be loyal to me as I have been to them and make the best out of... th-the best." She winced. "Okay, look, I'm not one for speeches. I never have."
"Just... speak from the heart, Rainbow," Belle said. "You're better at doing that than you give yourself credit for."
Rainbow gazed at her. A tear trickled down her fuzzy blue cheek. "You and Kera have something in common. Something that I don't have." She gulped. "A home." She shook her head. "And I would be a bad friend to keep you flying and looking for something that's right in front of you... that's right here, waiting for you... with the filly you love more than a daughter."
"You want us... to stay here?" Pilate asked.
"If days from now Floydien pilots the Noble Jury eastward and you two are on it?" Rainbow Dash bit her lip hard. "I'll protect those on board with courage, with awesomeness, and maybe even a joke spouted every other hour or two." She slowly shook her head. "But I won't be a happy pony. I won't be your happy friend."
"Rainbow Dash..." Belle's voice squeaked. "We're with you on this journey. Both of us! You know that!"
"Then make the journey here," Rainbow Dash said. "Make it in the safety of this valley. Make it with Kera and with all of the quietly awesome ponies who are accepting her—and you—in open arms." She smirked. "At least you guys can afford that much."
"We're not about to abandon you, Rainbow Dash," Pilate said, though his voice was wavering breathily. "It... I-I mean you've got so many trials ahead, and—"
"No. I don't." Rainbow inhaled sharply. "Let's not pretend otherwise."
Belle and Pilate merely hung their heads.
"I'll make sure Eagle Eye gets someplace where he'll be happy. I'll see what I can do about reuniting Props with her uncle. Josho and Floydien? I'll keep them from killing each other, at least." She chuckled. "I'll even make sure that Zaid gets to eat that cruddy sandwich he keeps rambling about. And Roarke..." She winced slightly, cleared her voice, and instead said, "You'll never have abandoned me. It simply isn't possible. Besides..." She sighed out a bitter smile. "I was abandoned long before I ever rolled into Aridstone."
Belle had a hoof held over her muzzle. She shivered, fought the crest of a sob, and smiled tearfully at the pegasus. "I... I had wanted to be there for you for as long as I could. And not a day goes by when I don't think... wh-when I don't dread the moment when you can flap your wings no longer..."
"Hey... hey hey hey... shhhh..." Rainbow Dash drifted forward and nuzzled her. She spoke warmly into her ear. "Only one soul on this friggin' earth can afford to be loyal to everypony, and that's not a spirit that's going to live forever." She leaned back and smiled at the two. "Let's not blame one another for what's over and done with, okay?"
Belle bit her lip. Pilate cleared his throat and bore a fractured smile. "It's just... it shatters comprehension. How will you even manage? Without us, I-I mean?"
"Don't break your brains so much about it," Rainbow Dash murmured. "Or for your hearts for that matter. I've been lucky in this life. Really, I totally have!" She smiled with fluttering blue feathers. "I've had myself best friends on two different occasions." She winked. "Now, there's a little filly in this town who needs to have best parents for the second time in her life. I happen to know two awesome ponies for the job."
At that, Belle and Pilate dryly chuckled, then gasped—for they found themselves at the receiving end of a full-winged hug. The three crowded together, sharing a collective nuzzle as their warm tears guarded them against the cold winds of the valley.
"You've g-given us so much, Rainbow Dash," Belle squeaked forth a sob. "And now this?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, Ding-Dong." Rainbow sniffed, but nevertheless smirked. "It's a lame substitute for awesomeness, isn't it?"
And once more, they laughed quietly against the blistering weather.
"We'll have to live from household to household at first," Pilate said, his voice gently reverberating off the bulkheads of the mess hall of the Noble Jury. He tood at the end of the long table besides Bellesmith. Kera sat at the table right before the couple—now an unabashed family of three. "Beau and several other villagers have already offered to lend us space. But as the months go by, we'll see about having a new cabin built."
"One closer towards the lake," Bellesmith said with a smile. "It's been a long time since these ponies have had a practiced scientist in their midst." She giggled slightly. "I think I could do some much needed tests on the mineral content of their local rivers and streams—figure out a way to get the most healthy catch of fish." She motioned with her head out a nearby porthole. "In addition to that, the meteorology of this valley is amazing. I would very much like to make at least one expedition to the northern mountains to see how the skystone is collected."
"Isn't that—like—super dangerous?" Kera looked up with a squeak.
"I'll be certain to venture out with experienced ponies, darling."
"Nah, I was just wondering if I could come with you!"
Belle and Pilate chuckled.
"And I... uhm..." The zebra thought aloud. "I have quite a wealth of knowledge concerning the Ledomaritan Confederacy and the history of the underlying regions just west of here. Presuming the two empires agree to open up trade as swiftly as they have the cease-fire, I could be of great assistance with communicating with potential merchants of the west."
"You're certain you won't come under attack by the Council of Ledo?" Josho asked, squinting from where he stood with the rest of the crew around the table, eyes glued to the three ponies. "They're not easily forgetful—or forgiving."
"If you ask me, the Confederacy has a lot more on their minds right now," Ebon Mane spoke up. "If this is indeed a demilitarize zone, I think they'd be risking a lot by sending spies in to grab random citizens."
"Not to mention the bits involved!" Props exclaimed with a gasp. "I know it sounds super nasty, but Gray Smoke isn't going to enjoy peace time. Prices for services in the floating city will spike, and I think most of East Ledomare is gonna have a busy enough time tackling that little kerfluffle!"
"We've considered any and all precautions," Belle said. "Pilate and I have agreed some identity change is in order."
"Identity change?!" Floydien's brow furrowed. "Boomers will switch the boom?"
"More or less," Pilate said. "I could very easily sacrifice O.A.S.I.S. in a heartbeat and change my name."
"You've got an idea?" Ebon asked.
"Indeed." Pilate nodded. "'Kramer.'"
Ebon made a face. "What's that? A fish?"
"Ahem... it's the name of my long lost brother."
"Oh! R-right..." Ebon cleared his throat and blushed slightly. "Might I suggest 'Goldberg' instead?"
"You may not."
Props giggled. "Tell us your new name, Belle! Tell us yours!"
The mare chuckled. "I haven't quite figured that part out yet." She ran a hoof over her short hair. "A new mane color might seal the deal in my case."
"Might wish to file that horn stub of yours down to the skull," Josho grumbled.
"Mr. Josho..." Pilate sighed.
The obese stallion shrugged. "Just sayin'. You should just as well go all out."
"Have her wear a hat the whole time!" Zaid said from across the room. He smirked. "A village like this could never use too many ponies with hats!"
Kera giggled and looked up at Bellesmith. "By the way, can we keep him too?"
"Unless the fish in these lakes can be milked, I'm sorry to disappoint you, kid," Zaid said. He smirked as he faced the two adults above her. "I gotta say, it seems like you made the right decision here."
"Hmmmmm?" Pilate looked up.
"What I think ZZ means is the best decision for you!" Props said.
"'ZZ?'" Zaid's muzzle scrunched up.
"We're just glad that you're all understanding about this," Bellesmith said. "We've been through so much, and we would very much like to see you all find a peaceful place to settle."
"But at the same time..." Pilate paused to shrug, then said, "We've only ever been searching for a home. For us, it's here, where Kera belongs." He grinned. "For we belong with her."
"Yeah, well, you guys better get a cabin built soon!" Kera folded her forelimbs with a pretend pout. "I didn't leave Blue Nova so I could sleep in the rain all over again!"
Belle rolled her eyes. "I seriously doubt any of Hap's neighbors here would do such a thing to us."
"You really think you can trust these boomers?" Floydien asked, his antlers sparkling at the tips. The large elk fidgeted where he sat. "They are just so full of mirth and grin grin. It scares Floydien."
"I never once figured it was the home for you, friend." Pilate strolled over and placed a hoof on the elk's shoulder. "The winds wouldn't be kind to Nancy Jane here. However, if you wanted to settle—"
"Unspit it!" Floydien frowned. "Floydien wishes to throws as much distance dust between Floydien and stabby stabby. Another continent awaits beloved womb and steam glowing. Floydien simply..." The elk's nostrils flared. "...simply did not expect to be traversing the cold space without striped boomer to guide him."
"You most certainly won't be without a guide, Mr. Floydien," Pilate said. "Rainbow Dash will be scouting ahead of the ship constantly, helping each of you find places beyond the Frozen Sea to settle. And as for replacing me as a navigator, you can always rely on Josho's veteran experience, not to mention Eagle Eye's trained vision."
"That's for darn sure," Josho said with a smirk. "As bothered as I am to see two damn fine ponies and their scamp draw anchor, I'm more than rearing to buck this place behind me and find a decent place to retire." He turned and smirked across the table. "How 'bout it, fruit basket?" He blinked, and his brow furrowed.
"Eagle...?" Ebon murmured, resting a hoof on the young stallion's shaking shoulder.
Eagle Eye had his head pressed to the table top. He trembled, his lungs hiccuping between each breaths. "I'm okay! I-I'm h-happy for you guys..." He sniffled and whimpered. "Really, I am..."
"Eagle Eye..." Pilate muttered.
"Oh darling," Belle cooed. "Please, do not make this any harder than it actually is—"
He gazed up, his face red and his eyes a teary mess. "I just... j-just didn't think it'd be so soon, y'know?" He bit his lip, producing a weak smile as tears trickled down his lavender muzzle. "I had dreams of finding a village... or a place besides a city... or even a farm to settle. But..." He gritted his teeth and mewled, "This is just too close to home, you guys. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry... b-but I have to keep moving." He gulped. "I have to keep flying east with Rainbow Dash. Please... please d-don't hate me for not staying as well."
"Oh Eagle Eye..." Belle smiled gently.
"We expected you to continue your journey, Eagle," Pilate said. "We'll be happy to know that you're still working towards a bright and promising future."
"Really?" Eagle Eye rubbed his face with a forelimb, smiling bitterly. "Will you r-really?"
With a motherly grin, Belle trotted to the edge of the table and spread her forelimbs. "Come here."
Ebon stepped back, giving Eagle Eye room to slide out of his chair then scamper down the mess hall. He practically collapsed in Belle's forelimbs as the mare hugged him gently, stroking his shoulder and back.
"I love you g-guys so much!" Eagle Eye whimpered into her arms. "Belle, so beautiful—with a voice like a song! Pilate, so handsome and inspiring! Kera, such a bundle of adoracute j-joy..."
"Hmmm-Heeheehee..." Belle sniffled before leaning down to nuzzle his folded ears. "You've practiced this speech before, haven't you, darling?"
He squeaked, shaking. "Far t-too many times than I could count..." Ebon chuckled from the other end of the room while Props let loose a prolonged, teary squeal.
"We'll never forget you, Eagle Eye," Pilate said as he trotted over to rub a gentle hoof in the ex-mercenary's shoulder. "Nor what Crimson and Phoenix have done for us."
"I... I-I always feared..." Eagle Eye sobbed and whimpered, "Th-that Foxtaur was the w-worst thing to ever happen to you two..."
"And yet it was the best," Belle said. "All things work for a reason." She lifted his muzzle so that she could smile face-to-face. "If it weren't for you, I'd never have met Kera, and we'd never have given her the future that she deserves."
He gulped, lips quivering. "Really?"
"Mmmm..." Belle nodded. She leaned forward and delicately kissed his foread besides his horn before stroking his mane. "Fate has something good in store for you and your future, too, EE. I'm sure of it."
Eagle Eye smiled, his cheeks warm as he grasped both Belle's and Pilate's hooves. "I'll be happy, wherever I am, just to know that you guys got the peace and tranquility you deserved."
"Yes, well, we all have Rainbow Dash to thank for that."
"Heh... small world, huh?"
The group chuckled once more, leaning in to nuzzle each other for the time they had left to afford it.
At the far end of the table, Roarke sat the entire time, her forelimbs folded as she leaned her bare brown body against a bulkhead behind her. She took a deep breath, then noticed a streak of movement out the nearby porthole. Her eye-lenses rotated as she gazed out, peering beyond the fogged up glass.
Outside the Noble Jury, hovering parallel, Rainbow Dash gazed at the faces inside the mess hall. After a minute or two, she took a deep breath, flapped her wings, and pulled herself into a leisurely flight, cycling through the gray drizzle of Lerris. She banked north, gliding faster against the moist valley winds as she passed over the lakes and rivers below.
If she flew fast enough, it almost dried the tears forming along her lashes. She would be out there for several hours. Alone.
Eagle Eye blinked, his eyes darting back to the far edge of his sockets. “Wait, you mean it wasn’t Phoenix’s idea for you to shave your manes?”
“That’s right.” Bellesmith nodded as she continued braiding the stallion’s violet hair from behind. The two sat on the far end of the mess hall where a series of seats and a table lay. “We needed to get into Blue Nova somehow, and there was a thick barricade of guards at the city gates.”
“But what’s that gotta do with your mane, girl?!” Props asked, draped upside down on a sofa. “I bet it was really long, luscious, and chestnutty at one point!”
“Hmmm…” Pilate sighed in a seat away from Belle. Kera sat on folded legs beside him. “It was.”
“Oh darling.” Belle rolled her eyes and continued intricately braiding Eagle’s mane. “There was a procession of monks from the north. ‘Mintian monks,’ to be exact. They all wore dark rags and had their manes and facial hair shaven. Since enforcers were looking all over for us, I figured that we could pose as them and find our way into the city. We had cloaks with us, after all. The timing was perfect.”
“Wow…” Eagle Eye blinked in awe. “Phoenix really loved his mustache too.”
“He was quite desperate to make up for his transgressions,” Belle said. “It was a tiny sacrifice, as far as he was concerned.”
“Well, I’m glad that he took it off…” Kera yawned and leaned against Pilate. “The melon fudge would have looked like a desert tree with it on. Darn stallion was so gangly…”
Belle giggled. “He was not gangly, Kera. He was brave, strong, and most of all selfless.”
“He was fuzzy,” Kera grumbled. “If it weren’t for you, I’d never have followed you guys in the first place.”
“You’d have have pickpocketed us you mean.”
Ebon Mane snickered, trotting up while balancing a bowl of cherries. “You’re kidding me! The little scamp tried robbing you?”
“Ah yes, the resourcefulness of a street urchin,” Pilate hummed.
As Ebon sat down, Props reached into the bowl and munched on a few tangy bits of fruit. “Mrmmmff… what did she steal?”
“What else? The book, of course.”
Props nearly choked on a cherry pit. “You m-mean she got her thieving hooves on the energy source of Nancy Jane’s womb?!”
“How could it be an energy source?” Ebon smirked and threw a few cherries down his muzzle. “Mrrmmmf… you still haven’t fixed the skystone transference.”
“I’m working on it, okaaaay!?” Props growled. “It was a lot easier when I had Simon around to give stuff the zappy zap!”
“Woe is the age of ponydom when we rely too heavily on squirrels,” Pilate said.
“Well, here in Lerris, I’ll certainly have the opportunity to wear my mane out,” Belle said. “By the Spark--I haven’t even begun to comprehend all the things I could be doing. Back in Blue Shelf, there was so much that was restricted. Why, I can build a private library. Pilate can grow that garden he has always been wanting to…”
“Goodness, I didn’t even think of that,” the zebra murmured.
“And don’t get me started on the science experiments that I’ve been wanting to conduct with O.A.S.I.S., darling.” Belle said with a smile. “I always knew I could build you a newer, more improved version of that.”
“All in good time, Belle. I’m satisfied with my senses as they are, so long as we can properly situated with the locals.”
“I get the feeling we’ll have no problem with that,” Bellesmith said. “The only thing about this prospect that bothers me is… well… the weather…”
“Yes, what about that?” Eagle Eye murmured. “It’s been gray and miserable and drizzly since we got here, and yet I feel like none of us have seen the worst this place has to offer.”
“They did mention nasty storms from the north,” Ebon Mane said. “We’ve certainly heard the thunder on occasion.”
“Considering how long the villagers of this area have survived the weather, I suspect we’ll blend in with little problem,” Pilate said. “I share Belle’s sentiment about the skystone too. I wouldn’t terribly mind seeing how the material is extracted.”
“That’s why I need to reconstruct O.A.S.I.S. for you, beloved,” Belle said with a slight giggle. “That sort of natural energy up close would only cause your sensory units to short out. I’m afraid it would be an anticlimactic endeavor.”
“I still have my fuzzy ears, don’t I?”
“Ungh…” Belle rolled her eyes. “Beloved…”
Eagle Eye giggled. “You know, I just realized something.”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
“I’ve known you guys for how long?” Eagle smiled from cheek to cheek. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you have one lover’s quarrel.”
“Huh…” Belle exhaled.
“Best that we part ways without you witnessing one,” Pilate droned. “Belle can level a herd of elephants with a single shout.”
“I-I most certainly cannot!” the mare blurted.
“Just who was it who had to realign the window pane back at Blue Shelf three times in a row?”
“Huh?” Belle blinked. “Blue Shelf? What window pane--” She suddenly blanched, then blushed furiously. “Darn it, Pilate!”
The zebra let loose a half-braying chuckle.
“I… I don’t get it…” Props blinked.
Ebon sighed and leaned in to whisper in her ear.
Props’s brow furrowed. “But why would a bedroom window keep getting busted?”
“Oh my,” Eagle Eye exhaled.
“Things…” Belle fidgeted with Eagle’s mane, biting her lip. “...got really, really boring in Blue Shelf. It couldn’t be helped.”
“Oh, I’d venture to say that I helped a lot,” Pilate said in a melodic tone.
“Unnnngh…” Belle buried her face in the back of Eagle’s head. “Why’d you wait until now to say something like thaaaaat?”
“Probably to end their tenure on the Jury with a bang!” Props said.
“From the sound of it, they started their journey with one,” Ebon uttered with a wink.
“Ungh!” Belle rolled her eyes. “Seriously, guys. There’s a filly present.”
Pilate tilted his head to the side. Kera lay against him, her muzzle agape, her lungs rising and falling in gentle slumbering motions. With a smile, the zebra lay a hoof on her side and held her close to his stripes. “I seriously doubt that is going to be any issue, my little ponies…”
Rainbow Dash sat on the slope of a hill several paces away from the Noble Jury. She faced east, a brown horizon that stretched like mudwater against the dim gray sky. As gust after gust of wind blew at her mane and the waves of grass around her, she shivered slightly, but maintained her composure. Night had come and gone, and she had barely slept.
Most of the time was spent flying. Some of the time was spent pacing. Almost all of the time was spent thinking.
Now, her mind was blank, drinking in the dreariness of the landscape in spite of the charming village that lay below her.
There was a slight rumbling to the north. Rainbow’s left ear twitched, taking in the sound of distant thunderstorms rolling over the skystone mountains. Regardless of the frequent gusts of wind, the lake water was remarkably still, and Rainbow could detect a faint hint of glitter along the lapping edges from the sunlight blossoming over the eastern mountains.
It was this sort of prolonged, melancholic silence that Roarke inadvertently disturbed with her heavily plodding hooves.
“They appear to be having a communal breakfast on board the Jury,” the Searonese mare droned. “Eggs and toast, I do believe.”
Rainbow Dash’s nostrils flared. “I don’t see why that should matter. Don’t you have more weapons to test out?”
“I only mentioned it because you seemed to enjoy partaking in the morning ritual so much.” Roarke trotted to a stop behind her. “And as for the latter, it would appear as though I have slightly less ponies to take care of during the next leg of our journey.”
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah… imagine that…”
Silence.
Roarke tried not to fidget. “I take it that you didn’t get any sleep.”
“What’s the point?” Rainbow muttered. “I have less awesome things to wake up to now.”
Roarke blew a metal-ringlet’d braid out from her brow. “Well, if you’re going to be a little sourpuss about everything, I’ll leave you be with the pea soup morning glare.” She swiveled about.
“Darn it, Roarke…” Rainbow growled slightly. The snarl turned into a breathy exhale halfway through. She turned to gaze thinly at the former bounty hunter. “Don’t pretend as though this wasn’t a hard choice for me.”
Roarke’s eye-lenses pistoned outward. “So long as you don’t pretend as though you haven’t made the choice before.”
Rainbow bit her lip. “Yeah, well…” She gazed down at the ground and fiddled with blades of grass. “That was different.”
“Because fate made the decision for you?” Roarke asked. “I must admit, even for Searonese, it’s easier to honor the dead than the living. There’re less mistakes made.”
“What is it that you want me to say?” Rainbow frowned. “‘Cuz I know I’ve lectured you left and right about loyalty before.”
“I dare say it’s why I’m here,” Roarke droned. “You beat the ever living snot out of my heart just as much as my skull.”
“Yes, well…” Rainbow rested her chin on her forelegs. “It ain’t easy. Being loyal, I mean. One way or another, you gotta make a sacrifice, and it isn’t one you’re gonna be cool with.”
“Was this really a sacrifice?” Roarke asked. “In the long run, I mean?”
“To have been able to spend more time with Belle and Pilate?” Rainbow murmured. “To have personally assured their safety with each leg of the journey? To have taken them as far as the next continent, the Grand Choke--heck--even the edge of the world?”
Roarke stared in silence.
Rainbow exhaled heavily. “Awwwww, who am I kidding? I’m gonna kick the bucket long before then.” She murmured into her forelimbs. “Mmmmfff… guess I’m just saving them the heartache.”
Roarke nodded quietly. A minute passed, and she trotted forward, squatting down at Rainbow’s side.
Rainbow couldn’t help it. The pegasus turned with a raised eyebrow aimed at the mare.
“If I’m to recall the facts correctly, you were the single instrumental factor in freeing Bellesmith and her breeder from Blue Shelf.”
“Yeah…?”
“And you were paramount in retrieving their adopted child, Kera, from the clutches of Xonans, shapeshifters, and a horrible chaos dragon.”
“Your point…?”
“It would seem to me that their hearts--for whatever one is willing to hold stock in them--were spared from many a terrible fate. One could venture to say that you gave them the very opposite of heartache through the sheer act of saving them several times over.”
Rainbow blinked at her.
“I cannot imagine just how thankful they are to you, in spite of your unavoidable schism,” Roarke said. “One reason is because--well--I am me.” She turned to look at Rainbow Dash specifically. “The other reason is because you gave them a slice of hope that most ponies on this continent haven’t had the grace to experience.”
“Is that what I gave you, Roarke?”
“Hmmm?”
“Hope,” Rainbow Dash said. “Cuz you certainly don’t look like a pony who could easily get starry eyed.”
Roarke opened her mouth, but hesitated.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“I am… curious about what lies ahead of the mountains,” Roarke said. “It could be something dreadful, for all we know. After all, the shapeshifters still loom--”
“Presumably.”
“The shapeshifters still loom, and there’s no telling what this ‘Lounge’ is that I keep hearing about.”
“Right…”
“Assuming we even make it across the Frozen Sea without dying of madness or hypothermia.”
“Pffft…” Rainbow rolled her eyes and gazed towards the east again. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“I simply mean to convey that I’d never have had the chance to expand my horizons, to reexert myself, and to avoid certain oblivion at the hooves of Terra and all of her conspiring agents back in Searo’s Hold,” Roarke said. “Your interference gave me a new lease of life, for better or for worse. At least it didn’t involve me reaching a mundane end. It’s even more curious that you didn’t have to pull any weight whatsoever in Searo’s Hold to begin with. The same can be said of your involvement in Blue Shelf, Blue Nova, and Deep Ridge.”
Roarke looked up, her eye-lenses softly retracted.
“So you see, Rainbow Dash, your sacrifices mean something. They accomplish wonders with very little effort, something I’ve never seen another mare do. I can only hope that whatever death that you have in store for you--that it is a glorious one, befitting a warrior.”
Rainbow stared at her. At last, she squinted, murmuring, “You’ve changed, Roarke.”
“I hardly think so,” she droned.
“Oh, believe me, you’re still a bitch.”
Roarke’s teeth clenched.
Rainbow smirked. “But you’re different, all the same.” She shook her head. “I can’t put my hoof on it. But there are times when I think nobody will be able to figure out you, much less why you stick around with a bunch of stiff-necked weirdoes like the Jury.”
Roarke’s ears twitched. She fumbled with the soil beneath her. For a moment there, she looked ready to open her mouth and say something--when something glinted off her lenses. She flinched, glancing east.
A sliver of clouds had broken open, just in time for uninterrupted beams of golden sunlight to pierce through along the horizon, kissing the moist fields of the valley for the first time in days. The hillside the two mares were on grew a bit warmer, and a glitter swam across the waves of wind-shaken dew.
“I don’t understand what you see in it,” Roarke muttered, shaking her head slightly. “It’s bright, annoying, and an easy way to blind yourself to incoming bogeys. It confuses me why you would constantly fly towards it.”
“Simple, girl.” Rainbow smirked aside, breathing warmly for the first time in hours. “It’s hope.”
Roarke’s brow furrowed. “Hmmph.” She stood up, pivoted about, and marched back towards the Jury. “And you call me a ‘bitch.’”
Rainbow watched her trot away, then leaned forward, smiling into the golden glow. The slit in the clouds parted even more, allowing a few more minutes of the luscious shine. Rainbow passed the time deciding whether to smile or cry, ultimately deciding on both until the shadows returned.
Slowly, one hoofstep after another, Rainbow Dash climbed down the ladder inside the Noble Jury's forward crawlspace. When she at last landed on the bottom deck, she sensed a soft shadow in the observation room. Immediately, her head darted forwards.
Bellesmith stood beneath the portside hammock where Rainbow Dash typically slept. Dull shadows swam across the floor, mimicking the swaying limbs of the mare as she dug her front hooves into something. Craning her neck, Rainbow Dash tried to see what it was. She discovered Belle fishing through Princess Luna's midnight satchel. The mare's hooves came out, cradling a pair of goggles with the initials "S.L." on them. A sigh escaped Belle's lips, and she hugged the article to her fuzzy chest.
"I can't stop thinking about her myself," Rainbow Dash muttered.
Belle jumped. She hugged the goggles tighter, careful not to drop them. Turning in the light of the sunrise wafting through the bubbled windows, she gazed Rainbow's way. Her muzzle was moist, and puffy around the eyes.
"But... y'know... she's doing alright for herself," Rainbow Dash said with slight shrug. "According to Luna, at least. She's a mechanic now. Even got her cutie mark in the whole thing."
Belle gulped. She nodded and said rather hoarsely, "I know. I was there when you talked with Luna about it."
"I keep forgetting how much you've witnessed and how much you've just sequenced from my thick skull," Rainbow Dash said with a breathy chuckle. "Quite frankly, it's all a friggin' blur."
"It always is, when the spheres are involved," Belle said. "I've interfaced with far too many sources than a pony can withstand. First you, then Nightshade and her foals, and... and then..." She suddenly winced.
Rainbow squinted curiously at her.
Belle shuddered. "Anyways..." She swallowed and neatly slid the goggles back into the satchel. "I'll always treasure your memories, Rainbow. But it doesn't give me any right to be rummaging through your stuff."
"By now, you should know it's nothing to sweat over." Rainbow Dash trotted over, her eyes warm and soft in the sunlight. "My stuff is pretty much your stuff."
"What I'll never get over..." Belle chuckled bitterly, shaking her head. "What will always amaze me is how reclusive and aloof you were for so long... after... after..." She sniffled. "After you lost all who were close to you, you held the world at a distance, and yet you were willing to make friends with my beloved and me." Belle smiled at the mare, her eyes watering. "You were willing to give us a chance... and t-to bless our lives."
Rainbow shrugged. "Yeah, well, you guys reminded me that the world still mattered to me." She gulped. "And maybe even depended on me."
"And look at you now," Belle said with a soft smile.
"Yeah..." Rainbow exhaled with a shiver. "Look at me now."
"Do you think..." Belle suddenly winced. "Er, no. I shouldn't..."
"Nah. Spit it out, girl."
"Well..." Belle bit her lip. "Do you think... that if you had run into Pilate and me far earlier in your travels, then you would have given a pony like Gold Petals a chance?"
Rainbow blinked at that. She surrendered to gravity, plopping down on her haunches. Blowing a series of prismatic bangs out from over her eyes, she stared into the bulkheads and muttered aloud, "I don't think so, Belle. I mean... sure... maybe?" She winced. "Gold Petals... didn't mean all that much to me."
"Are you certain?" Bellesmith asked. "We both know that she's in your head a lot, Rainbow."
"There're a lot of things in my head," Rainbow droned, staring coldly out the brightly-lit windows. The frames' hard lines slowly swam across her as the day crept along. "The feel of the warm wind in my mane. The fragrance of Everfree leaves. The songs sung during Winter Wrap-Up. Even the smell of the Wonderbolts Poster I hung up in my foalhood home." Her lips curved slightly. "There're so many things about Ponyville that dart in and out of my head, but it doesn't mean I have any hope of reliving it."
"You drank cider again," Belle said.
Rainbow looked at her.
"At Archer Pointe," the mare said. "When we drank together."
"I was with friends," Rainbow blurted. Her eyes fluttered. "And... a-and I knew it." She clenched her teeth. A cold shudder ran through her body, and she muttered aside, "Probably for the last time."
Belle's muzzle hung agape.
"Face it, Belle," Rainbow said. "It's not gonna last very long after you and Pilate are gone. The Jury, I mean. Oh, we'll survive whatever craziness the world has to throw at us. But this... this club never really had much to stand on in the first place. We're less of a cruise ship and more of a bus making frequent stops across the continents. Eagle Eye's gonna find his home sweet home. Props will either find her crazy uncle or some crazy 'sexy' machine that she'll give herself up for. Josho's bound to die of a heart attack at any given moment. Heh. Ebon...? I dunno, but suspect he'll stick with either Props or Eagle. Zaid's the kind of water-off-the-back type of stallion, so I'm sure he'd be happy to pick up a new career wherever he may happen to be. And as for Floydien—so long as his 'Nancy Jane' is in one piece, he's home anywhere."
"What about Roarke?" Belle asked.
Rainbow squinted. "What of her?"
Belle suddenly avoided her gaze.
Rainbow blinked, then spoke with a shrug, "Roarke... I can never figure out. I doubt I ever will. She deserves a future, and that can't involve flying with me forever. Nopony can go the lengths that I'm going. I knew this ages ago. That's why I can take this all in stride, y'know..."
"Rainbow Dash—"
"So, to answer your question, Belle." Rainbow sighed. "No, it would never have worked out with Gold Petals. And it never will. And you know why?" She trotted forward, then placed a gentle hoof on the mare's shoulder. "There may only be one type of loyalty, but there are different types of love. And... well... some things just can't grow back, no matter how much magic or friendship you throw at it. But listen to me when I tell you this..."
Belle gazed at her with glittering eyes.
Rainbow stared at her sharply. "I do love you, Belle," Rainbow said. "And I love Pilate and I love scampy Kera and Eagle Eye and Props and the rest of the cooly-crazy ponyfolk who fill up this ship and if it weren't for you, I would... I-I mean I wouldn't..." She gnashed her teeth.
Their joint gaze broke as the pegasus shuddered.
"I was n-nothing but a fr-freak before," Rainbow whispered. "A lame freak and a monster. I had blood on my hooves." She gulped. "I st-still do, Belle. But you? You and Pilate? Kera?" A tear squeezed out of Rainbow's eye. "You've somehow hugged it all away. You've given me something to fight for instead of the lame days that I have left to buck off and... and I-I found so much meaning..." She hid her face in a trembling hoof. "I-I thought I'd find death, adventure, and m-maybe even thrills... b-but I never thought I w-would find m-meaning when I started flying..." Her voice came in panting little squeaks. "You know... I-I hope you know that if I die now—and I will die—I'll b-be cool with it, y'know? I can let it happen... before I c-couldn't... but n-now...?"
Belle hugged her fiercely. She kissed the pegasus cheek and nuzzled her deeply. "Live, Rainbow Dash. Live long and live far. I want you to promise me that you'll do everything... to stay on this earth."
Rainbow shuddered, burying her face in Belle's shoulder as her wings drooped behind her. "You g-got a deal, Ding-Dong," she cooed, her teary face breaking forth in a tender smile.
Black thunderclouds seeped over the distant mountain peaks, flickering with sporadic branches of lightning. A low rumble wafted south across the lakes, rippling the waters and spreading the tall grass in waves starting from the shore to the quiet township of Lerris beyond.
Floydien caught an earful of the thunderou reverberation, and he whistled. "Blasted nature stabs," the elk murmured. "Floydien thinks that the angry north will send its grim grim this way, for once." He turned towards the group of Jurors and Lerringtons who had gathered within the shadow of the Noble Jury in the gray daylight. "Do the local boomers have a bunker hidden in these grass lows?"
"It's only an errant northern storm," Golden Happenstance said with a calm smile. "Our buildings are built to last. If we've survived the three-week cyclone two decades ago, we can certainly withstand a regular drizzle."
"That doesn't look like no drizzle to me," Rainbow's voice cracked as she gazed at the northern horizon. "Maybe the Jury should hang out a bit longer to—I dunno—act as a windblock or something."
Floydien grumbled. "Nancy Jane is not wind wanker!"
As several Jurors chuckled, Belle let loose a giggle from where she stood with Pilate and Kera besides Hap and Beau and several other villagers. A few containers stood by their side, forming a symbolic line of demarcation. "Rainbow Dash, it's okay," Belle said. "If anything, we're gonna be in way better shape here than the Noble Jury would be if a storm hit."
"She's got a point there, color wheel," Josho droned.
"You really don't want to have a ship like that moored here when the winds hit," Beau said. "You could, of course, always fly beyond the southeast peaks, wait it out, and come back."
Rainbow sighed, "Then that'd just be delaying the inevitable." She gulped a lump down her throat and courageously gazed at the three. "Who'd a thunk it that your first night here would be spent having a hurricane party?"
"Oooh! Oooh!" Kera looked up at her guardians with a grin. "Does that mean we get to heat up grasshoppers on a burner?"
Pilate patted the filly's head. "I'm sure there'll be plenty of flashlights and indoor tents to go around." The zebra tilted his head towards the elk. "Mr. Floydien. I trust that you'll be able to find your way through the wastes?"
"So long as paint bucket boomer knows not to mix her spit with her glimmer!" Floydien snorted. "Nancy Jane's temptation to wind dance increases by the hour without the stripes, Floydien thinks."
"You've got Josho with you," Belle said. "He's experienced! He can be your navigator for a while!"
"If Nancy Jane needed an anchor, Floydien would have tied a chain to the boomer!"
Josho rolled his eyes. "This is my fate, to be given lip from an elk."
Ponies chuckled. In the meantime, Floydien trotted forward and loomed above Pilate.
The zebra's O.A.S.I.S. sphere flickered in response to the burly quadruped's presence. Pilate gulped and managed a nervous smile. "Life will be a great deal less curious without you around, Mr. Floydien. I'll never forget how you've saved my hide on more than one occasion."
"Yes yes yes. And does striped boomer remember all the times Floydien forced Simon's squirrel glimmer through his skull orb?"
Pilate winced. "Yes, well, you certainly made up for it."
"If striped boomer insists." Floydien fidgeted in place, his muzzle twisting left and right. "Not good with the spit, Floydien is." He froze, then flung his cloven hoof forward, slapping Pilate's shoulder viciously. "Stay strong, bands of black black!"
Pilate finished hissing in pain just long enough to wheeze. "Don't mention it."
"Is not enough of a parting?!" Floydien tilted his head aside. "Should Floydien bestow it to striped boomer's beloved as well?"
"No!" Pilate sputtered. "Spark, n-no!"
"Ahem..." Bellesmith spoke up with a soft smile. "We'll miss you, Mr. Floydien. Thank you for bringing us this far with Nancy Jane. It was incredibly gracious of you." She looked down. "Isn't that right, darling?"
Kera poked her head out from where she hid—shivering—behind the mare. "Yeah. Really cool of you, dude." She darted back.
"Hmmph..." Floydien turned tail and trotted off. "Boom yourselves a lot of boomlings. Nancy Jane calls."
The rest of the ponies watched, blinking, as the elk left.
"Well, that was certainly... curt," Ebon remarked.
Pilate nodded. "It wouldn't be like Floydien if it wasn't."
Ebon turned back and trotted forward with a smile. "Someday, I'm gonna find out what he loves to eat best, and I'm gonna make him swallow that damned frog in his throat."
"I have no doubt," Belle said with a giggle. She smiled warmly. "We're going to miss your cooking and common sense, Ebon."
"But mostly your cooking," Pilate said with a smirk.
Belle hissed at him. "Beloved... honestly..."
"Heheh..." Ebon trotted until he stood right before them. "The rest of the crew are going to go fat with you guys gone." He took a deep breath. "I know we all feel like a family n'all, but you three are the ones who made it feel truly... together."
"It'll still be together," Pilate said. "Just because we're going separate ways doesn't mean we're no longer kindred spirits."
"Well, we can do the kindreding for a little while longer!" Props sing-songed as she bounded forward out of nowehre and thrusted a cluster of crystal shards in the zebra's face. "I present to you the Uber Distance Breaker 3000!"
"Oh... how quaint!" Pilate smiled crookedly. His muzzle scrunched from the proximity of the glowing shards right in front of him. "...Bellesmith, what exactly is Miss Props shoving into my face?"
"Are those..." Belle squinted. "Triply reinforced soundstones?"
"You know it!" Props said with a wide grin. "I worked on it all last night! I even put off searching for Uncle Prowse's frequency so I could tweak it just right! With these fibrous manaconductive tubes fastening them down the center, they can increase harmonics of leyline conveyance and—"
"I do believe we get the picture, Miss Props," Pilate said with a smile. "And it's amazingly thoughtful of you."
"Cool!" Kera leaned up to tap the thing. It glowed from her touch and the filly giggled. "It's like a super long range walkie-talkie!"
"Better than the ones any of us used in Blue Nova and the Sacred Hold!" Props said. "The UDB3K can theoretically let us talk to one another for at least another two thousand miles! Though the sound quality may be a teeeeensy bit bad." She pulled out a random sound stone and spoke into it, causing crackling feedback to fill the air. "It'll still let us keep in touch! Twitchy twitchy ear touch!"
"Huh..." Rainbow Dash smirked from where she hovered. "I totally dig the idea of that. Way to go, blondie."
"We appreciate it, Props," Belle said as she took the bulbous crystals and hoofed it to Kera who held it with joy. "It means more than you know."
"It's my pleasure!" Props sniffled, smiling as her eyes began watering more and more. "It's the least I can do to let you know that we're safe and that we love you and that we'll never stop thinking about you and... and... and..." She bit her lip, shook, shivered, and fell on her knees. "Aaaaa-haaaaaaugh! I wanted Uncle Prowse to tell you the tales of greeeeease and bleeeeeding!"
"Well, maybe we can speak to him still, Miss Props," Pilate said in a hopeful tone. Thanks to your... erm... UDB3K?"
"Waaaaaieee!" Props teared up a deluge as she leaned in to nuzzle Pilate. "I'll missssss youuuuu, Stripsey Wipsey!" She turned and nuzzled Belle. "I'll misssssssss youuuuuu, Bellesmithy Withyyy!" She threw her arms around Kera and nuzzled her to the breaking point. "And I'll miss your fuzzy wuzzy wuzzy wuzzy wuzzy—"
"G-Gaaah!" Kera whimpered. "She's drowning me again!"
"Okaaaaaay, Propsy..." Ebon pulled her back. "We had our cry. Now let's laugh our way back into the clouds."
"Hmmmm..." Props sniffled, snorted, and put on a brave smile. "Clouds aren't much to laugh at... unless I had some ice cream!"
"I'll see what I can whip up." Ebon glanced back at the trio and smiled. "Best of luck to you three. You are, without a doubt..." He bit his lip for a moment, then spoke with watering eyes. "...the most sincere ponies I have ever known."
Belle's eyes went soft as the two trotted away. In their place, Zaid shuffled into view. "Mr. Zaid," she breathed, her voice trying to maintain composure.
"You and your zebra mate are super booty full," the earth pony said. "I really regret not having the chance to get to know you guys a lot more than I did. But... heh... with all the 'former-cultist-and-henchstallion-to-that-whacky-but-lovable-foalnapper-lady' rep that I've had to live down, I don't blame you for wanting nothing but to flatulate in my general direction."
"Erm..."
"Uhhh..."
"But you." Zaid knelt down and smiled until his muzzle was at level with Kera. "You're the scampiest scamp that ever did scamp! And I'm scampily proud to have scamped scamps with your scampiness, scampwise."
Kera giggled. "Has anypony ever told you that you're an idiot?"
"Only the ones too flaccid to admit their envy." Zaid smirked. "I'm glad you made it through all the messes, kiddo. Both the ones I made as well as the ones I'm happy to have not made."
"Hey..." Kera squinted. "You saved my life. Twice, at least. You're pretty cool in my book."
"And if I wasn't so illiterate, that might mean something."
"Heheheh..." Kera smirked. "You remember that one time when you totally punched Nightshade in the face?"
Zaid blinked. "Hah..." He grinned. "Hahahaha! Hoooo-boyo! I did that crap, didn't I?"
"Heeheehee—yeah! She was just centimeters away from spitting out her own teeth too!"
"Hehhhhh right!" Zaid sighed through a dumb smile. "She's probably rotting somewhere as a forsaken corpse right about now."
Silence.
Beau and Golden Happenstance exchanged nervous glances.
"Well, this was fun!" Zaid stood up. "But I think I've stunk up the place enough. Smell you cats in another life." He turned and trotted off—almost bumping into Roarke. "Whoops! That could have been the death of me!" Clearing his throat, he shuffled off.
Roarke, in the meantime, pivoted her icy lenses til they faced the pair of ponies standing across from her.
Pilate's metal brow furrowed. Belle decided to speak for the both of them. "Roarke..."
Roarke slowly nodded. "Bellesmith."
Belle smiled sweetly. "We've certainly come a long way from dangling in the trees as Searonese trophies, huh?"
"You still talk just as much," Roarke droned.
Pilate chuckled. "Well, if it's of any consolation, the Jury is bound to be a bit less chatty."
"I highly doubt that," Roarke said.
A voice coughed from up above.
Roarke looked up.
Rainbow Dash hovered, gesturing towards the two ponies with her head.
After a breath, Roarke tilted her head back towards the pair and said quietly, "Your endurance through times of strife has been inspiring, even with your limited cybernetic implants."
Rainbow facehoofed with a sigh.
Belle fidgeted. "Beloved... I... I-I think that was meant for you—"
"Oh!" Pilate coughed and nodded. "Thank you, Roarke. I must say the same about how you've dealt with... uh... the loss of both your ship and your suit." He smiled nervously. "I once feared that your weaponry was the extent of your character, but your persistence and selflessness is a tribute to your boundless wisdom."
Roarke's lenses retracted. She swallowed and said, "I did not expect that."
"What?" Kera stuck her tongue out. "A decent compliment?"
Belle giggled.
Roarke exhaled. Eventually, she muttered. "If there's anything I've learned in my life as of late, it's that strength comes from the strangest of places."
"Thank you, Roarke," Belle said with a smile. "I think that was a very sincere thing to say."
Roarke's gaze descended until it reflected Kera from afar. "I certainly hope that you three will continue to be strong, for the fight does not end here. It doesn't end anywhere."
Kera gulped, then returned with a secret, silent nod.
"And Roarke..."
The bounty hunter looked up.
Belle's eyes were hard, chiseling. "We hope that you remain strong for those who need it too." Her eyes reflected a spectral shade above Roarke.
Roarke's ears twitched. She gulped, gave a short nod, and trotted away from Rainbow's shadow.
Rainbow glanced at her leave, then looked aside as Josho shuffled forward.
"The day we first met, I had just stumbled out of an outhouse, and suddenly I found myself having to accost a terrible ventriloquist act at gunpoint."
"Spark alive..." Pilate rolled his gray eyes. "Do not remind me..."
"You think I have any friggin' fun remembering it?!" Josho frowned. "It was the worst day of my life." He sighed, his ears drooping somewhat. "And it began the best days of my life..."
Belle smiled emotionally. "The blessing works both ways, Josho."
"In some directions more than others." Josho gulped. His brow furrowed as the lines in his muzzle darkened.
"Is something the matter?" Pilate asked into the ensuing silence.
"Just..." Josho muttered, clearing his throat. "Some days I regret being sober."
"You have many days ahead of you, Josho," Belle said. "Don't fill them with regret."
"I'm a soldier," Josho said. "It's too late for that. But still..." His lips curved slightly. "It could have been a lot worse."
"For all of us," Pilate said with a nod.
"Yeah. You keep saying that." A pause. Josho drifted forward. He gave the zebra a firm hoof shake. "A finer gentlecolt, I've never met."
"I'm willing to believe that," Pilate said. The two stallions shared a mutual chuckle, and he added, "Take care of the family, Josho. More look up to you than you think."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Josho turned aside and looked at Belle. Without hesitation, he lifted her hoof and kissed the end of it.
Belle blinked, blushing slightly. The edges of her muzzle curved up and she stifled a giggle.
"What?" the unshaven stallion grumbled. "Ticklish?"
"Heehee... yeah..." Belle sniffled and leaned forward, giving him a dear hug. She stroked his back and murmured, "Find yourself a home, a beloved, and live life warmly, Josho."
"Yeah, I'll see where that takes me," he droned. "Praise the Spark you ain't no Xonan, or you would have wished me to make love to a pit of snakes or some crap."
Beau opened his mouth, but Hap stopped him before he could say anything.
Josho leaned back, then glanced down at the little filly standing between the adult ponies. "And you..." He pointed. "Do something about the vomit in your mane."
"Ungh..." Kera rolled her eyes. "I knew I should have let it go curly again!"
Belle finished wiping her cheeks long enough to snicker. "Don't you dare, darling."
"Yeah..." Josho turned and trotted away. "Got that over with..." As he made his way towards the Jury, he paused. He turned and squinted curiously at a lavender figure in Rainbow's shadow.
Eagle Eye was staring at the grass below, his shoulders shaking, heaving.
Rainbow Dash saw it. Coiling her wings by her side, she softly touched down to the earth for the first time in hours and placed a hoof on the stallion's shoulder.
Eagle sucked in his breath, lifting a pair of moist eyes. He gazed at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow smiled back at him.
With a gentle nod, Eagle bravely shuffled forward towards his three friends, with Rainbow trotting closely alongside him.
Beau gestured to Golden Happenstance. Hap nodded, and the two stallions trotted towards the heart of Lerris, ushering the crowd of onlookers to give distance as the five ponies converged in the center of the field.
"A time it was," Pilate was the first to murmur, although he did it with a graceful smile.
"Please..." Eagle Eye instantly whimpered, his muzzle scrunching up beneath glossy eyes. "Don't be poetic. Not now. Not about this..."
"Eagle Eye..." Bellesmith quietly spoke.
"I don't know how I'm going to get up each morning." The stallion sniffled, running a hoof over his moist cheeks. "Knowing that I'm going to have to spend the day without seeing you two."
"We'll be fine here," Pilate said. "And thanks to Props, we'll be able to communicate for a long while—"
"But it's not the same!" Eagle Eye stamped his hoof, stifling a sob. "You all are so... so..." He shuddered, then smiled, his tears running down rosy cheeks. "So beautiful. Such a beautiful little family." He gulped. "I want to have one just like yours someday. I can... only hope..."
"Shhhhh..." Belle drifted forward. She hugged the stallion dearly, nuzzling his trembling neck. "Beauty is everlasting, and it's your truest quality, EE. You're going to find that home, that happiness, and that fulfillment. And you're going to discover that the beauty never left you. It started the day you were born." She smiled, sniffling herself. "And I thank you for letting Pilate and myself witness it for ourselves."
"You've done s-so much for me, Belle," Eagle Eye said with a shuddering voice in her ear. "You showed me what true friendship is. You and Pilate... so honest... so sincere..."
"It takes one to know one, Eagle Eye," Pilate said from a breath away. "We were meant to crossed paths. Of this, I am most certain."
"Cr-cross paths..." Eagle Eye sniffled, giving Belle's mane one last loving stroke. "I don't think any soldier's ever been luckier."
"You mean lucky to have fought Ledomaritans and Xonans in the air?" Kera smirked. "To have blown up half of Blue Nova and gotten shot at by death cannons?"
Eagle Eye choked back a giggled and nodded, eyes moist. "Every moment of it. I've seen war and devastation, but you are the true ponies that have been worth fighting for."
"Now it's time to fight for yourself, Eagle Eye," Belle said, stroking his shoulders. "You have a glorious future waiting for you, and I see much beauty in it."
"Thank you..." Eagle Eye hugged Belle as tightly as he could while his lungs shuddered. "Thank you all so much... for believing in me... for inspiring me..."
"It was our pleasure, darling." Belle kissed the side of his head, then gazed softly over his shoulder.
Rainbow Dash stood in view, tall and strong.
A tear ran down Belle's cheek. She patted the stallion's shoulder, and the two drifted apart. Eagle Eye gave Pilate a sweet hug, then knelt down to nuzzle Kera. In the meantime, Bellesmith trotted forward until she stood a shuddering breath's distance from the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash gulped a lump down her throat and smiled weakly. "Lookin' smart there, Ding Dong."
Belle bit her lip. "The first moment I saw you... after Pilate had pulled you loose from your constraints deep in Blue Shelf... I thought that you were beautiful, sweet, adorable." She gulped. "Like a doll bestowed upon us from a land far away." She trotted a few soft steps forward. "And now, after all the trouble we've been through, after all the things we've done to survive—both horrible and noble—I realize..." She sniffled, then smiled warmly. "That my thoughts couldn't have been any further from the truth."
She placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, and the pegasus let loose a limp chuckle.
"You're really bad for my rep, y'know that?" Rainbow Dash shuddered. "If we had stayed together any longer, Belle, you and Pilate would have made me gone soft."
"You were always soft, Rainbow," Belle said quietly, her chestnut eyes warm and caressing. "Just because you keep flying and just because you keep outlasting death, it doesn't mean you have to hide it."
"I never thought I had to," Rainbow murmured. "And then, after what happened in Ponyville, I realized... that I had never given myself a chance." She grimaced slightly, then exhaled, "Thank you, Bellesmith, for giving me that one last chance..."
"Rainbow..." She drifted forward and hugged her. "It doesn't have to be the last."
"It won't... won't be the same," Rainbow said, hooking a forelimb around the mare's shoulder. "I don't think I could allow any more ponies in." She gazed off into the distance, nostrils flaring. "Besides, there won't be enough time."
"Haven't you learned anything from your travels?" Belle leaned back, smiling at Rainbow with a tearstained face. "You're too awesome to lose to time, Rainbow." She wiped her cheek and giggled slightly. "You'll find a way... so long as you want it..."
Rainbow simply stared at her. After a few seconds, she broke her gaze and looked over at Pilate. A chuckle. "Heh... Y'know, Stripsey, I never can get over it."
"Get over what, friend?"
"Just why don't you rhyme?"
"Hmmmmm..." Pilate smirked as he drifted past Eagle Eye and Kera. "I may be blind, Rainbow, but I know who the spotlight's always belonged to."
"Darn tootin'," Rainbow said with a nod. She fidgeted, biting her lip. "You'll take care of Belle, won't ya?"
"Only when they're not too busy taking care of me."
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself," Rainbow said, poking him in the chest. "I don't wanna have to come back and kick your flank for being a typical stallion."
"I'm certain Josho will be a good stand-in," Pilate said in a humored tone.
"No..." Rainbow shook her head. "Nopony... c-could be." Her ears folded back, and she spoke with a cracking voice. "You know, in another life, I'd call you 'damn handsome.'"
"Oh really?" Pilate cocked his head to the side. "And what about this life?"
"Damn handsome." She flew forward, hugging him tight with both her forelimbs as well as her wings. "Keep those fuzzy ears lifted skyward, silly zebra, because when I'm kicking flank east of here, it's gonna be for you and your beloved."
Pilate smiled, nuzzling her neck. "I have no doubt, Rainbow."
Belle let loose a squeaky sound from her quivering lips. She dashed over and hugged Rainbow from behind. Not long after, Eagle Eye drifted in and hugged Rainbow and Pilate. Kera trotted an awkward circle around the group before she too leaned in and nuzzled the hugging quartet.
Thunder rumbled in the north, sending a gust of blistery wind south over the fields, blowing at the manes of the five equines.
After a full minute, the hug parted. Eagle Eye stepped back while Rainbow Dash lingered in place, holding Belle's and Pilate's hooves together in her own. She smiled with misty eyes, took a breath, and finally... finally let go. Squatting down, she stared intently at Kera and spoke.
"You keep a close eye on them, ya hear me?"
"Sure thing, Rainbow."
"They're like a well-oiled machine," Rainbow said. "And loyalty's their fuel. Think you can fill in for me?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Trick question." Rainbow Dash winked. "You're gonna have to come up with something snazzy to make up for the gap of 'awesome.'"
"Pfft!" Kera stuck her tongue out. "I think battling a chaos dragon has made you sassier."
"I'll have to take that seriously from the Queen of Sass." Rainbow reached out and ruffled the filly's mane. "Jeez, it's just not the same with it straight like that."
"Heeheehee... I dunno..." Kera straightened her bangs as she gazed softly up at Rainbow. "I think I've grown to like it."
"Yeah. Change is a funny thing, isn't it?" Rainbow stood up straight. "Just remember who the boss is." She gazed back at Belle and Pilate, then at the eastern mountain peaks overshadowing the valley and the village below. "Well, my wings could certainly use a stretch."
"May the Spark bless your journey, Rainbow," Pilate said as he and Belle leaned together.
"Funny, that. I think it already has." Rainbow gritted her teeth, tightened her muscles, and turned towards the Noble Jury, ripping Belle and Pilate from her sight. "Come on, Eagle Eye," her voice trembled, the fascimile of a stalwart tone. "Let's mosey."
"Best to boom out of here before the storm arrives with its gush gush," Floydien muttered to himself as he zapped energy bolts from his antlers into the various instruments of the cockpit's console. "Nancy's getting rusty enough as it is by just sitting in this damn valley of the spit and rain."
"I don't think we have long to wait, handsome!" Props said in a bubbly tone as she stood behind him. "Ebon just saw Rainbow and Eagle Eye walking up to the ship!"
"Is that right, sailboat boomer?"
Ebon stepped in from the open deck. "They're on board, guys." He gulped. "We... we can take off now."
"Yes yes yessss..." Floydien flipped a lever, and the ship vibrated as the hangar bay door slid shut at the stern. "About the time and damning!"
"Sure, it was a town full of old farts and mud," Josho muttered from where he stood in the doorframe to the cockpit. "But, all things considered, it wasn't all that bad."
"Speak for yourself," Zaid droned. "For a proverbial valley of 'milk and honey,' it's doing a damn good job lacking both."
"Why do we even keep you around, anyways?" Josho asked, squinting.
Zaid smirked. "I always put the seat down."
Josho sighed. "One of these days, you'll say one wrong thing too many, and you'll become Roarke's new winter coat."
Zaid drooled. "Oh, Goddess, if only...."
Rainbow Dash and Eagle Eye finally stepped up.
"Looky looky!" Props jingled. "We've got Dashie!"
"Hey." Ebon Mane trotted across the group and placed a hoof on Eagle's shoulder. "You okay?"
Eagle Eye exhaled, then smiled weakly. "I will be."
"Well, Rainbow?" Roarke trotted towards the cockpit, her eye-lenses still. "What do you think? Are we done here?"
Zaid glanced at Roarke after she spoke, then looked at Rainbow.
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Yeah," she muttered in a dull tone. "We're done. Nowhere now but east." Her tail brushed against Floydien as she trotted back out onto the open deck. "Let's take off, already."
Roarke silently watched her exit the cockpit.
"Blessed horizons, beloved Nancy," Floydien droned as he activated a few crystal diodes and brought the ship into a low hover. "Skim those mountains like breakfast, swift swift."
With a dull hum, the landing struts of the Noble Jury retracted into its hull. Glowing lights sparked through its skystone core, while the body of the ship dangled rigidly beneath it. Then, with a sharp climb, the bow pressed against the winds, angling the vessel east as it launched itself towards the mountains.
A few familiar faces lined up along the starboard side. Ebon, Eagle Eye, Zaid, and Props waved merrily, calling out to the ponies standing below—but mostly three in particular.
"Bye!" Belle waved and shouted. Pilate stood waving beside her while Kera bounced up and down. "Best of luck!"
"Safe travels!"
"We love you all!"
"Cherish you in our hearts and minds!"
At last, the Noble Jury throttled beyond ear shot, losing itself in the gray drizzle of the valley.
Belle's and Pilate's forelimbs hung down at their sides. Kera settled to a stop beside them as they all faced east, watching with soft eyes.
A sniffling sound escaped Belle's lips. "How long do you think they'll stay together, beloved?"
"With Rainbow Dash by their sides?" The zebra smiled. "As long as she'll let them."
Belle gulped. "And as for her?"
Pilate leaned in and kissed the mare's cheek. "She was supposed to have perished before meeting us. And yet... we gave her something to live for, didn't we?" He smiled softly. "Well, so will they. Have faith."
Belle nodded quietly. "That's something I have in abundance..." She took a deep breath and put on a brave smile while looking down at Kera. "Now, then, I think you said that you and Beau had worked out a place for us to stay for the first week?"
"Totally!" Kera smirked, waving the two on as she scampered towards the heart of their new home. "These fisherponies in the north edge of town have a huuuuuuge guest room! It's really nice! I know—because I've seen it!"
Beau chuckled as he trotted alongside the couple. "Her enthusiasm is admirable. It may be spacious, but it's still humble. It'll be a while before we can build you three a house worthy of being called a home, much less strong enough to withstand the storms."
"Speaking of which, my little ponies, I think it's best that we get inside swiftly," Golden Happenstance said as he urged the two along. He gestured towards the thickening clouds along the northern horizon. "This is undoubtedly going to be a windy evening!" Hap said.
"Well, you weren't exagerrating when you said that this village has its fair share of excitement!" Pilate remarked.
"I know! Isn't it cool?" Kera chirped. "Race ya to the apartment!"
"Slow down, darling," Belle said with a sweet smile. "One step at a time..."
The three new Lerringtons trotted calmly into the heart of town. In the meanwhile, the Noble Jury had become a distant speck along the eastern sky, disappearing into the jagged mountain range. Thunder rumbled once again in the north, sending gusts of air across the tall grass of the sweeping plains.
Some of the wind ripped through the weeds blanketing a hilltop west of Lerris, overlooking the township. The breeze picked up, rippled, and then came to a dull, whistling stop. In the ensuing silence, a cold hush fell over the landscape's western edge.
This lasted for several seconds, until a humming noise pierced the air. The rusted chassis of a managlider skimmed to a dead stop on the hillside. Steam vented from the heart of the machine, forming a cold mist. The haze parted ways as a gray, bloodstained hoof touched down onto the pliable soil of the valley.
Jagged mountain peaks swam through the air on either side of the Noble Jury. Their frost-laden shadows broke the dim glow of the stars as they twinkled lazily above. Hours east of Lerris, coasting at gentle drift, the skystone ship had cleared the foggy clouds that dominated most of airspace situated over that part of the continent.
The air was thin, and the breaths shared by those on board was calm, tranquil. The entire crew lingered on the top deck, staring past the skystone suspension to gaze upon the stars above. Even Floydien sat casually with his heavy haunches pressed against the outer doorframe to the cockpit.
"Floydien begins to understand why a group called the 'Lounge' would choose to stab the skies here," the elk muttered. "Is a safe place to be dangerous, yes yes yes?"
"Please, Floydien," Ebon muttered, his upper body slumped against the railing with folded forelimbs. "Can we not think so much about tomorrow? For just one evening?"
"Hmph..." Floydien's muzzle scrunched up. "This is what Floydien gets for trying to spit like the rest of the boomers."
"It can't be helped, handsome," Props said with a melodic sigh. She paced in a dull circle across the deck, her flouncing motions completely gone from her slumped frame. "We're a smaller family, now. Even Nancy's womb feels lighter each time I go inside to check on the engine."
"How's the progress on the skystone?" Roarke asked.
"I've almost got it," Props said with a bored yawn. "Nyup. Hmmm... Just gotta cross one last manifold over a leyline circuit. Figured it'd be best to test the final adjustment once it's daylight. Don't wanna burst us into a mountain by accident. That'd be kind of unsexy."
"So long as you get it banged together before we hit the Frozen Sea," Ebon muttered. "I don't think I've got enough fixings for warm soup to last us the flight to the neighboring continent."
"Don't even joke about that," Josho grumbled.
"Relax, big guy," Rainbow said. She was perched on the railing, her wings spread with blue feathers fluttering in the cold mountain winds. "We'll make it. If necessary, we'll stop along the frozen shore and gather some foodstuffs so we'll be properly stocked up for the voyage."
"But..." Ebon's muzzle scrunched up. "The frozen shore? What if we don't find any edible flora?"
"Then Roarke can drop a bomb in the sea and Zaid and Eagle Eye can pick the waters for dead fish." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'll fast for a bit while the rest of you crazy ponies have yourselves some meat."
"But—"
"It'll all work out."
"You can't possibly—"
"It'll all work out," Rainbow said, smiling pointedly at Ebon. "Just trust me."
Roarke glanced up from where she sat besides the stairwell, tinkering with a retractable metal blade.
Ebon sighed, his ears drooping. He managed a weak smile. "You're what kept Pilate and Belle going for so long, aren't you?"
"Hmmmm... it worked both ways, but sure."
"I mean, they lost so much." Ebon gulped. "The Council of Ledo took everything from them. Their home, their lives, their future..."
"Pfft..." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that bad."
"Yes, Rainbow. It was." Eagle Eye stood closely besides Josho. He gazed at Rainbow as he said, "I was there in Foxtaur. I saw how weary and exhausted they were. And yet, they had this... constant spring to their step. We both know it was because of you."
"So...?" Rainbow shrugged. "I just gave them an excuse to run for the hills."
"They owe their lives to you," Eagle Eye said. "They always have." He gulped. "And so do I."
"I can't imagine it came easy," Ebon Mane said.
Eagle glanced over. "How do you mean?"
"Well, let's face it." Ebon turned towards Rainbow and smiled nervously. "Hanging out with you is the best thing a pony could ever do. But it isn't exactly a safe lifestyle."
"Hey, don't rub it in, burgundy," Zaid muttered from where he leaned against a mast.
"No, it's alright," Rainbow Dash said, smirking. "I've only ever wanted to live dangerously. When that wish came true, I was prepared for it, but I didn't get any satisfaction." She gulped. "Until I was lucky enough to have ponies join me for the ride."
"Ponies whose skin you saved, you mean?" Props said with a giggle.
"Well, sure. But they saved my skin as well." Rainbow glanced up at the stars. "And you guys do realize that I'm going to make sure you get to the places where you wanna go, even if you don't know where they are yet."
"I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that," Ebon Mane stammered.
"Same here," Eagle Eye added with a nod.
"Good. Then don't try," Rainbow Dash blurted. "Just keep cool, keep your wits about you, and keep your muzzle facing east. That's how it worked for me, and that's how it worked for Belle and Pilate and even Kera."
"Now that you put it that way..." Zaid winced and ran a hoof through his yellow-streaked mane. "I imagine that this is really tough for the three saps."
"Well, duhhhh!" Props rolled her eyes. "They had to part ways with us, didn't they?"
"I mean not just that..." Zaid glanced over, his eyes genuinely vulnerable. "They had to give up a life of flight for... staying in one place." He gulped. "I dunno about you guys, but there's never been a point in my life when I wasn't moving. I've hopped from town to town, airship to airship, group to group, and I can never stay still. Heck, if I did, I'd probably freak out something terrible."
"Well, let's not fret over the ponies who are capable of retiring," Josho grumbled.
With a gulp, Eagle Eye said, "I truly believe that Belle and Pilate were ready for this decision. Kera helped them, sure." He turned and smiled. "But I think you helped them more, Rainbow."
"I don't see how," Rainbow muttered. "If I had to stop moving, I'd explode way bigger than Zaid."
"Not to mention more sexily," Zaid said with a smirk. Roarke groaned in the distance.
"Was it easy for you, then?" Ebon spoke.
"Hmmm?" Rainbow glanced over. "Was what easy?"
Ebon fidgeted slightly before murmuring, "Leaving your home in the first place."
Rainbow was silent. Mountains drifted coldly past her and the ship.
Floydien squinted, his red eyes full of mute curiosity.
"I would have once told you that it was simple," Rainbow muttered. "But... now that I have done it twice..." She grimaced.
Eagle Eye raised an eyebrow at that.
"Because... I have left my home twice," Rainbow said in a breathy tone. "First, I flew away from Ponyville. And just now..." She winced. "I flew from Belle and Pilate's arms."
Props squeaked inwardly, covering her muzzle as her eyes grew moist.
Rainbow instantly looked hat her. "Hey. It's okay."
"Rainbow..." Eagle began.
"Really, it is." Rainbow smirked towards the group. "Months ago, I was told by Princess Luna herself that my life was coming to an end. I dunno how many weeks or days I have left. Between all the ruby flame and the 'Austraeoh' nonsense, it's getting harder and harder to guess. But the truth is, I've been blessed. I've lived several lives in the time I've been given. I've had my life in Ponyville, my life in the air, my life with Belle and Pilate..." She giggled slightly, then said. "And now, my life with you guys."
"We're blessed to have you on board, Rainbow," Ebon said. His eyes grew slightly misty. "I'm so glad to know that you haven't given up on me... on all of us..."
"And when the time comes that I have to part ways with you..." Rainbow lingered, shrugged, and spat forth, "I'll be leaving my home for a new one. That's how this universe works, I guess. Not just one mysterious broken ring, but several of them—circles within circles—and all of them repeating themselves."
"I think the high winds are getting to you," Roarke muttered from a distance.
Rainbow flashed her a look. "Obviously! Because they've brought you out of your cubby hole in the hangar!"
Roarke had nothing to say.
"It's... it's always like my first day of taking flight from Ponyville," Rainbow said as she turned once again towards the core group. "I knew in my gut that there was more out there for me. I had places to be, and I couldn't settle for dying in one place."
"Right," Zaid said with a nod. "Because you're Austraeoh—"
"Not even that!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Don't you get it? You're not getting the big picture by just sitting in one place. You gotta buck past your fears and be willing to leave and let be that which you've gotten comfortable with. Cuz the reward is super awesome." She smiled tenderly. "There's more than just the countryside around us or the sky over our heads. Just step outside, choose a direction, and take a walk without ever looking back. There are worlds. There... are worlds." She sniffled, shaking her head slightly. "I'm discovering new ones each day, and so are Belle and Pilate... and Kera." She gulped. "In their own little way."
Silence.
"I... I wish what's best for them. And I know that they have it." She clenched her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and produced a soft grin. "And I'm cool with that. I'm glad that they've chosen one of those worlds and are willing to settle for it."
Eagle Eye stared gently at her. "I would be cool with it too... if you found a place to settle, Rainbow Dash."
"You feel this wind, Eagle?" Rainbow smirked, her feathers rustling. "I'm settling right now."
The group lingered in silence. Just then, a pulse of light emanated from Props' gasp. The mare jumped in place, juggling her soundstone to a stand still.
"Hey..." Rainbow smirked. "Speak of the devil..."
"Things must be boring in that town if they're saying 'Hello' to us already," Josho said with a smirk.
"Who cares!" Eagle Eye swiftly galloped past Ebon Mane and swiped the sound stone from Props' hooves. "Any word from them is a beautiful thing!" He licked his lips, levitated the stone, and channeled some energy into it. "Belle! Bellesmith! Is that you? This is EE! What's goin' on, marefriennnnd?"
Ponies chuckled in the mountain air.
"Scrkkkk—The good doctor cannot hear you, coward of Franzington."
All of the laughter ended.
Eagle Eye's muzzle went pale. The sound stone lurched towards the deck, barely dangling in his levitation field as a ghostly tremble swept through his limbs.
The shard pulsed, carrying with it the cold, cold voice. "I very much doubt that betrayer can hear much of anything at this point. I made certain she heard every scream. If you're quiet enough, I may even allow you to hear hers."
Roarke stood up, her eye-lenses pistoning to full length. Zaid and Josho exchanged worried glances. Ebon held his hooves over his muzzle while Floydien trotted up.
"How curious," the sound stone hissed, twirling in the pallid starlight. "The tears of the unrighteous. I've purged skies, mountains, and valleys, and yet they run thicker than blood." The stone strobed brighter as the voice took on a raspy tone. "Scrkkkk—And no amount of flames or mana will wipe the stains that she has put upon my face, and upon the ashes of my beloveds..."
Everypony looked up at Rainbow Dash, gawking.
The pegasus stared back, mouth agape. Her ruby eyes glossed over. With a swish of her tail, she spun around, galloped to the ship's stern, and took off. Wind blew over the top deck of the Jury as Rainbow rocketed straight west, even while the sound stone continued sputtering.
"Send her, you coward. Scrkkkk—Send your monster on swift demon wings, so that I may purge her tears as well..."
"Tell her that her hunter awaits in the latest wound her evil path has carved into the heart of this Queen's holy continent! Scrkkkkk!"
Rainbow Dash flew west.
Her lungs heaved.
The wind pelted her face, freezing the edges of her eyelids as she squinted against the misty mountain air.
Her pendant rattled beneath her neck, an ever-present weight tugging her towards the jagged peaks swirling below.
All became a fog, dully throbbing into her ears as her mind resonated with that hideous voice.
Snarling, she beat her wings faster, causing the air to whistle around her knifing body as she pressed herself due west, retracing the Noble Jury's gliding path at four times the speed.
On board the Jury, ponies scrambled.
"Turn us about, Floydien!" Josho grumbled. "Spark Dammit! Faster!"
"Make up your spit!" The elk shouted from deep within the cockpit where he had already rushed in. "Nancy Jane can't very well make it anywhere if she flies apart!"
Props' voice rang from an intercom. "I-I can't activate the main skystone core without blowing us up sky high! B-but I can overload the steam manifolds to g-give us an initial burst!"
"Do it, Propsy!" Ebon exclaimed. "Every little bit helps!"
"This is nuts!" Zaid panted, turning to look wide-eyed at Roarke. "Couldn't you have gone with her?! All she had to do was—I dunno—carry your badflank self or something!"
"It wasn't her choice," Roarke said coldly. However, there was the slightest hint of a tremble as she shook her head. "Besides, we both know that I would have only weighed her down." She gulped and stared towards the western horizon just as the vessel spun its way around. "What she needs right now is speed..."
Zaid bit his lip. He turned towards Eagle Eye.
The hyperventilating stallion sat in the middle of the deck, slumped on his knees. His tearful eyes remained locked on the soundstone as it rocked and teetered with the shifting weight of the Jury.
"Shhhh... cease your weeping, child." The distorted sound of muffled sobs. "This is a beautiful thing. This is a reunion." A high-pitched whine, followed by a metallic scraping sound. "Just as the monster bathed me in the ashes of my beloved daughter...Scrkkkk I... will... Scrkkk—Give her a most honorable baptism—Scrkkk!" More scraping, then a horrible crunch as the source of the transmission shattered on the other end.
The sound stone went dead.
Thunder rolled in the distance, which is how Rainbow Dash knew she was getting close. She saw distant strobes of natural light to the northwest. Black clouds hung over the sharp mountainous ridges, showing brief silhouette flashes of a valley beyond the knifing heights.
Rainbow bulleted straight towards it, her breaths reaching a fever pitch. As the air shrieked past her ears, she clenched her eyes shut and gnashed her teeth.
"Twists and turns are my master plan..."
A squeaking sob broke out of her throat. She flashed her eyes open.
Ponyville hung beneath her, a chaotic jigsaw puzzle of what it once was.
No matter how hard or how fast that she flew, the ring of five ashen piles still waited for her...
Beyond her hooves' reach...
"...Then find the elements back where you began."
Her pupils burned red against yellow pools. She blinked hard and growled.
"No..."
She flew faster, angling her body so that a cone of air formed on either side of her sharp wings.
"Not again..."
The atmosphere split apart with a thunderous boom.
She came out the other end, sobbing.
"Please... Luna... Celestia... not again!"
She entered the valley like a comet, surging towards the drizzly darkness below.
When Rainbow Dash finally reached Lerris, she couldn't make out the village from the dark thunderclouds that had gathered above it. It was only after flying along the eastern outskirts that she realized that the weather wasn't the only reason for the black fumes. Lerris was burning—its many buildings, huts, warehouses, and homes were ablaze. In brief flashes of lightning, she could see the skeletal remains of town hall, along with chunks of debris lying across the streets in various blast waves.
The breath was sucked out of the pegasus, so that her body plummeted like a deflated blue balloon. She landed numbly on the eastern edge of the town. Before her stood the remnants of the town windmill behind Golden Happenstance's house. The buildings were charred black from flames that were started hours ago. A single windmill blame teetered back and forth, slicing the heavens like a burning, upside down pendulum. Ashes and sparks flew out of the gaping doorway to the elder pony's home.
Rainbow Dash gulped. She shivered with each step as she broke into a trot—a trot that evolved progressively into a full-fledged gallop as her voice fueled the holocaustal situation with quickening panic.
"Bellesmith?!" Rainbow Dash hyperventilated, her glossy eyes reflecting the flames to the left and right of her. "Pilate?!" Her voice cracked upon the edge of a whimper. "Kera?!"
She saw a black mass to her right as she passed the edge of the nearest house. She turned to look, grimacing. The charred black figure of a pony was dangling out a window, its rear end caught within the frame. A single hoof stretched outward, and she could make out a single line of Xonan etchings along the corpse's burnt skull.
Panting, Rainbow galloped straight into the center of town. "Belle!" She hollered. "Pilate!" The only answers were the crackling embers that laced each inferno. She weaved in and around crumbling structures, her body being rained on by splashes of red sparks. "Nnnngh—Kera! Somepony, answer me!"
Rainbow rounded a corner and froze. Lightning struck in the distance, and it wasn't until her mind registered the illuminated corpses that thunder struck. She saw the bodies of ponies scattered across the roads and avenues of the tiny town. Stallions and mares—elders aplenty—were curled up in anguished death throes, their bodies burnt stiff into curled effigies by fire and manaflame. Rings of burning blazes haloed most of them, and some were still on fire themselves, their manes billowing with smoldering ash.
In a numb lurch, Rainbow trotted through the devastation. A buildingface collapsed loudly to her left, but she barely flinched. Her eyes locked onto one pony after another as she passed each burning structure. Only a few of the ponies maintained distinguishing features, and each of their muzzles were locked in a frozen death scream. This was how she stumbled upon the vacant, horrified muzzle of Beau. Thirty seconds later, she stumbled upon the lower half of his body, entangled with a collapsed wooden balcony.
Rainbow's blood went cold. Her gaze darted back and forth, and every attempt to shout was a pitiful, mewling affair: "K-Kera? Pilate?" She sniffled. "Belle? Where are you guys? It's Rainbow Dash. I'm here. I-I'm here for you. If you're hurt, it's okay. I-I won't be freaked out. Just... just call out." She squeaked. "Say something... anything—"
She froze.
A tiny tattooed figure lay in a bloody heap at the corner of a burning storehouse.
Rainbow's lip quivered. Lightning struck, causing a resounding boom to echo overhead. She ignored it, trotting numbly forward. At last, she reached the delicate little corpse. Hesitantly, she grasped the shoulder and turned the little pony over.
A colt's face shone in the firelight, its skull fractured and its left eye a mangled mass of bloodied muscle.
Rainbow Dash was too busy grimacing to register relief. With a shuddering breath, she glanced up.
A dark figure with a white-capped horn stared back from across the dancing shadows. In a flash of lightning, he was gone.
Rainbow gasped. Her teeth clenched and she felt her wings beating before she could stop the next utterance. "Shell!" The pegasus soared ahead and hovered in the middle of the smokey intersection. She spun, looking all around, heaving. "Shell?! What have you done with them, Shell?!" She panted and seethed, looking down every burning alleyway. "Answer me!"
Another flash of lightning. She saw a darting figure to her far left, running between two burning apartments.
"Nnngh!" Rainbow flew so hard that a pocket of air knocked a smoldering buildingface to the ground behind her. She twirled through the apartments, flinching from the flames that spout out their windows, and finally emerged on the other side of the smoldering affair. What she saw next made her grind to a stop, her trembling hooves anchoring her to the blackened grass.
"And so the monster comes out of hiding," he slurred.
The Prime Enforcer stood several paces from her, but he wasn't alone. A pair of splintery wooden beams had been pilfered from one of the many burning buildings, and they were lodged into the soft earth of the valley at roughly upright angles. Strapped to each of the beams with rough lengths of rope were two bruised, bloodied ponies. As soon as one of them gave a sputtering gasp, Rainbow's heart plummeted.
"Rainbow... ?" Bellesmith hoarsely stammered, her head dangingly limply from where she hung against the beam to Shell's right. "Please... Kera... sh-she..."
A moan came from Shell's left. Rainbow's eyes darted over to see a coat of stripes illuminated by a flash of lightning. Pilate looked even more bruised than Belle, and his manasphere glistened with bloodstains from the distant flames.
"Curious how it always takes an inferno to draw you into the light," Shell hissed, twitching in the glow of the massacre. "We already did this dance back in Foxtaur, creature." He spat, his glaring eyes illuminated by a pulsating white horn at the top of his skull. "If I had counted on you being so predictable, the hunt would have ended at Blue Nova. A hundred bodies burnt... ten thousand... what would it have mattered to you?"
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Let's test that by setting your insides on fire..." Her hooves scuffled forward.
Pilate suddenly blurted, "Rainbow, n-no! He has her!"
Schiiing! A pair of Xonan scimitars floated out from behind Shell's backside. Their immaculate metal reflected the firelight, illuminating a shivering and bloodstained filly in his telekinetic grip.
Rainbow jerked to a stop, her mouth agape.
Kera's green eyes shone like wide saucers from beneath the curtain of mixed blood coating her tattoos. She whimpered and hissed for breath as she was levitated by her throat in front of Shell. The stallion leaned forward, slowly sliding the bladed edge of one scimitar against her neck, so that its reflective surface illuminated his sneering expression above her shoulder.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Shell tightened his glowing grip on Kera's throat, causing the filly to choke and wheeze. "And christened with the juices of three different cultures here in the valley." A pulse of light shot down from his white-capped horn, and he twitched to say, "You've brought nothing but death and misery to this continent, monster, but I've come to cleanse the land pure again."
"Rainbow... pl-please..." Belle sobbed, struggling with her restraints as she dangled from the wooden beam. "Kera! You have to s-save her!"
"Like she saved you?!" Shell bellowed, his one good eye demonically bright while his bloodied socket quivered in the shadows. "Like she saved hundreds of my soldiers?! Like she... snkkkt—saved my beloved daughter Imre?!"
Rainbow blanched at that.
Belle gnashed at her teeth, her eyes darting between Shell and her friend in the flamelight.
"Hnnngh—Was it friendship that led her to blast a hole in her delicate skull?!" Shell spat as he held the blade tighter to Kera's twitching neck. "Was it a sample of harmonic magic that led her to spit her own father in the f-face with... with..." His muzzle twisted into a sob, and he fought it off with a deep, low growl. "But the grief is over. We are now one, beloved..." He hissed, teeth gritting as his good eye flickered with lightning. "We are all... now... one!"
Rainbow's eyes darted to the white horn at the end of his skull. It sparked with unnatural magic, and she followed it down to Shell's skull where a threadbare mane gave way to necrotic veins spreading all across his brow.
"Shell... how..." She gulped. "What have you...?"
"You do not get to be speechless," he grumbled against the waves of thunder. "You are a blight from the west! A putrid alien I should have put down months ago. I've done nothing but faithfully pursue you to the ends of the earth, and yet you persist with your... d-devastation and your selfless devotion to carnage. Snkkkt..."
He grimaced from another pulse of energy down his horn. Kera's muzzle had turned blue from where the blood hadn't stained her by now.
"If I cannot destroy the flesh of the experiment... then I sh-shall shatter the spirit," he droned. "Once and for all..."
"Shell, you want me dead," Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof. "You have always wanted me." She gulped and yelled, "Then have me! Let the filly go and we will finish it—"
"But it never finishes with you! Does it?!" Shell shouted. He produced the tiniest of bitter laughs before grunting, "And since I reunited with my beloved Imre, I realized why! It's never begun! You are still the monster belonging to a cage! Well, today... that all changes..."
He levitated the other scimitar up, then pulled at opposite ends of it with glowing telekinesis.
Rainbow gritted her teeth. "Shell, what are you—?!"
"Today, you become a pony..." Crack! The sword split into two jagged shards of metal. "Because you're going to make a choice..." He levitated them in opposite directions until they hovered before the necks of Belle and Pilate. "There are only two loyal souls in this continent, and fate has always rewarded one of them." He spat, "Until today..."
The hovering blades pressed to Belle's and Pilate's necks. Meanwhile, Shell dug the very tip of his other scimitar into the outer layer of Kera's quivering flesh. Rainbow, hyperventilating, found her head darting left and right, her moist eyes glancing feverishly at all three helpless victims.
"Can you pretend to save the ponies whom you pretend to love?" Shell's one good eye shimmered. "Live long and taste the futility of absolute faith, you monster." His tongue licked his teeth as she said, "Together, we'll bask in the shame that brought my beloved Imre to her end, like the ghosts of desolation that we both are."
"I..." Rainbow panted and shivered. "I can't..." She gritted her teeth. "Damn it, Shell! This is pointless! Don't do this!"
"Kera!" Belle shouted, sobbing. "Save Kera, Rainbow!"
Pilate's runic plate pulsed. His ears twitched in Belle's direction.
"One of them... or none of them..." Shell hissed. A whimper escaped Kera's lips as a thin line of blood trickled from where the scimitar grazed her neck. "Even you aren't fast enough, monster."
Rainbow's wings stretched out, but could do nothing but tremble. She stood grounded in the glow of the dead village behind her. Ashes pelted her blue coat, and all she could do was stare into the abyss. Discord laughed in some nebulous pocket of her mind, and it sounded a lot like her own weeping voice. She brought a hoof to her pendant, but the touch of the ruby lightning bolt was cold, lifeless, a damning weight.
Pilate's blind eyes twitched. As the agonizing seconds of the stand-off limped by, his body tensed, and his skull-plate pulsed brighter and brighter.
"Well?!" Shell shouted. "Has the experiment run out of courage that it never possessed to begin with?!" He howled. "I had the strength to bond with my daughter!" His horn pulsed. "What hollow faith do you hold onto, monster?!"
"Rainbow..." Pilate hissed in a whispery tone.
Rainbow's eyes darted towards him.
"Please..." He stammered, his runic plate glowing like a spotlight in the dark storm. "T-take care of Kera and my beloved..."
"Wh-what...?" Rainbow's vision quivered, for she saw his manasphere vibrating at the end of his choker. "Pilate..."
"I love them..." He sniffled, then clenched his jaw tight. "I love you."
"No, don't!" Rainbow's voice cracked as a tear trickled down her cheek. "Don't do this! D-don't choose for me—"
"Gggghh!" Pilate's head thrusted back. With a flash of light, the O.A.S.I.S. sphere dislodged from his choker and propelled itself sharply to the right on a burst of mana.
Shell's eye jerked to his left.
The sphere streamed past him and Kera and knocked the sword shard away from Belle's throat. Clank!
Rainbow gasped.
Shell snarled—and within that very second he thrusted the other metal shard into Pilate. The chunk of metal stuck deep into the stallion's choker. The zebra's metal plate instantly burst with sparks, and Pilate writhed torturously on the wooden beam he was strapped to.
"Aaaaaaugh!" His blind eyes lit up like candles.
"Pilate!" Belle bellowed.
"Hnnngh!" Rainbow Dash rocketed forward like a cannonblast.
Shell turned to look at her, his one eye reflecting a savage blue hoof. Wham! Rainbow speared the Prime Enforcer, who instantly dropped Kera and his scimitar. The filly fell to the burnt grass, clutching her bleeding throat and sputtering.
In the meantime, Rainbow and Shell flew straight across the clearing and went smashing—
—through the front windows of a burning apartment. They rolled through flaming furniture, spilling splinters and ash on either side of the charred black room. They ended with Rainbow Dash on top of Shell. The mare straddled him, teeth barred, and pummeled him twice in the face.
Shell took the brunt of both blows, spat up blood, and shot a pulse of mana through his pale horn. His telekinesis stopped Rainbow's hoof before she could deliver the third punch. "Hrauhhgkkt!" He flung her across the room.
Rainbow flipped, struck the far wall with all four hooves, and bucked against it. "Nnngh!" The wall gave way, and the resulting backdraft sent a plume of flame trailing after her as she shot back at the stallion.
Shell was just standing back up when—Wham!—Rainbow tackled him and both ponies went crashing through a kitchen wall—Smash!—and sailing out the back door and into another clearing. They rolled, wrestled, and ended with Shell tossing Belle off of him.
The pegasus athletically flipped, came down, and slid to a muddied stop several yards away, facing him. "I should have killed you back in Blue Nova!" she hollered against the lightning, lungs heaving.
"You did." Shell slowly, icily stood up. "And only through the ashes of my beloved daughter was I reborn to end you."
"She never loved you..." Rainbow shook her head, seething. "She gave her life because she was all that stood in the way of you destroying the Noble Jury, you butcher!"
"No, she loves me..." Shell paced evenly across from her. His voice echoed against the soft pitter patter of rain as a moist thundercloud drifted overhead. "Even now. She always has." His one eye narrowed through the wet stream. "It was you. Always you. A Xonan bastion I could never conquer. Manticores in the southern jungles. The alien darkness that consumes the good souls of Ledo, left and right. So many good sons and daughters... and I've done everything... everything to save them!" He hollered, his horn pulsing against the darkness. "And for what?!"
"You've slaughtered your last pony, Shell!" Rainbow said in an icy tone as she grinded her hooves against the muddied wastes. Raindrops curtained down the hard lines of her muzzle and collected along her dimly glowing pendant. "Foals, elders, and innocents. All dead. Well it all ends here! Tonight! No more chasing! No more! This is the end of it!"
"I couldn't agree more, monster..." He came to a shuffling stop, standing firmly as his eye lit up like a beacon. "It began in Aridstone, and now it ends in Aridstone."
Thunder rolled, sending a rippling wave to the sudden deluge. The rain carried a red-orange sheen, while the fires from the village smoldered in the distance, silhouetting the two ponies as they squared off for one final time. Somewhere, a ruby pendant pulsed, and a scarred stallion smirked.
Rainbow's face twitched. A millisecond later, she made the first move, throttling towards him on wet wings. "Haaaaaaugh!"
Shell held his breath and shot a pulse of mana into the mud. A chunk of earth rose like a shield in front of him.
Pow! Rainbow plowed through it with a spray of earthen rubble. Coming out the other end, she spotted Shell already leaping backwards, unholstering a mana pistol that he was aiming at her skull. Two bright streaks of manafire sliced their way through the rain.
All Rainbow had to do was twirl her body upwards. The lighting pendant occupied the spot where her head was, and it deflected both blasts. She skimmed through the rain and slammed a leg-joint across Shell's head.
"Unnngh!" Shell fell to his knees, clutching the sparkling, crooked end of his horn. He straightened the piece of Imre so that it sparked less, then spun around with his manapistol aimed high—
Rainbow was lunging back on a return flight. She dropkicked the manapistol out of the air, using the weight of her body to crunch it in half across the floor. The thing sparked as its manacore glowed, overloading. She gripped it in her teeth, spun, and tossed the dangerous object straight back at Shell.
The stallion looked up. In a blink, he saw several water droplets illuminated by the approaching core, reflecting his scarred face a hundred times. He held his breath and shot a pulse of mana forward, cocooning the broken pistol in vaporous energy. The heart of the gun finally exploded, sending a concussive blast slamming into his body.
He slid backwards, his hooves tracking deep trenches in the mud. When he came to a stop, he looked up, his nose bleeding profusely.
A flash of lightning revealed Rainbow's angelic wings as she dove in for a massive blow. Shell retaliated with a blast of telekinesis sailing straight towards her like a wall. The shifting water droplets telegraphed his magical projectiles, and Rainbow pulled up, twirling out of the way of the attacks.
"Hrnnngh! Guhhh!" Shell yelled, twisting and spinning as he flung pulse after pulse of magic Rainbow's way. The pegasus easily dodged each blast. She pulled up high into the sky, twirled around, and came down for a blazingly fast dive attack. Shell took a deep breath, aimed his horn at the ground, and lifted over a hundred tiny clumps of dirt. The air crackled as he hardened each piece of debris into knife-hard slivers of clay. With an animalistic shout, he flung all of the earthen daggers straight at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow gasped. Instead of fleeing, she courageously flew into the cloud of death. She curved her wings in opposite directions, spun her body, and spiraled through the sharp debris field. She dodged several of the chunks, but a good few met their mark, grazing her skin and slicing her in a dozen places. Nevertheless, her move startled Shell, and she came out the other wind with a massive headbutt to his throat.
He stumbled back, clutching his neck and gurgling for breath. Not a second later, Rainbow Dash was plowing into him, forcibly punching and pummeling his neck as she shoved the two of them through the rain and smoke and into the northwest face of Lerris' town hall.
Smash!
Ash and flames vomited across the hazy interior as the two barreled through a splash of splinters and crashed through a partially burnt table. Charred bodies of Lerrington loomed on either side of them as they got up and galloped into each other. Shell got the upper hoof, clutching Rainbow's bleeding face in the crook of his upper arm.
Holding Rainbow in place, Shell aimed his horn across the burning room and shot a stream of mana into a pile of debris. The mound of rubble shook, and corpses rolled aside as he levitated a sharp metal crossbeam out from hiding. With a sharp whistle, he flung it towards the two of them like a javelin.
Rainbow's eyes reflected the incoming projectile. With deep concentration, she flicked her tail and wrapped the wet hairs around Shell's rear left leg. She tugged with all her might.
"Guhhh!" Shell fell, letting go of Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow stumbled, gasped, and backflipped just in time to avoid the metal beam. The thing embedded sharply into the wall behind her. When she came down, she perched on the end of it and took one breath.
Meanwhile, Shell stood back up. When he turned around—he received two savage hooves across the chin as Rainbow bicycle kicked off the beam. She flapped her wings, catching herself in a hover above Shell's body. By the time he had collapsed, she coiled her feathers at her side and dropped like a mortar shell, both rear hooves aimed at the sensitive nape of Shell's neck.
The stallion shot magic into the white cap of his horn, stopping Rainbow just a centimeter's sneeze from crushing his larynx. More blood trickled out of his nostrils and the spiderwebbing veins under his coat spread as he summoned the mother of all growls. Flaming bits of debris lifted up off the floor in a magical curtain around him.
Once Rainbow realized what was happening, it was too late to fly out of it. Her wings were locked in his levitation field.
"Haaaaaaaugh!" Shell fired an unbridled wave of telekinesis straight up. He not only shoved Rainbow Dash away from him, but he took out a massive chunk of the town hall's ceiling as well. Flames erupted across the savage hole he had made, blanketing his body with dust as he stood up, clutched his painfully strobing horn, and galloped desperately towards a shattered window. He dove out just as the building collapsed, sending a plume of smoke rising up against the tulmutous storm above.
With a grunt, he collapsed across the grass, writhing in pain. His muzzle tensed and untensed, and he heard the sizzle of raindrops evaporating as soon as they came into contact with his horn. With weary eyes, he looked up, panting.
In a flash of lightning, he saw Rainbow's limp body plummeting from his telekinetic launch. She fell like a limp blue piece of the sky, landing somewhere in a stream of burnt out apartment buildings whose flames had been reduced to smoldering columns by the rain.
Seething, Shell stood up. He straightened his horn once again, barely hissing from the painful burn it gave his forelimbs.
"Just a little bit more, beloved..." He gulped, limping forward on bloodied hooves. "We almost got her... she's almost dead..." He gritted his teeth, his voice wafting ahead of him in a whimper. "Then we can rest... we c-can finally rest with mother..."
Lightning cast his shadow in a dozen places as he reached the southwestern edge of the apartment buildings, and shuffled his way inside.
Belle was writhing, struggling. With Shell long gone—as well as his telekinetic field—the ropes binding her to the splintery wooden beam had become loose. It took a massive amount of wriggling, but the bruised and traumatized mare succeeded in slipping out from under the fibrous cords.
"Ooomph!" she fell hard to the ground, knees buckling. Her world turned foggy, and for a brief moment she heard nothing but the pounding of blood in her ears. Then everything became clear again, and Pilate's continued screams were the most voluminous of all. "Beloved..." She looked up, face streaming with tears. "Beloved!" She hobbled across the soil, tripping and sliding to a stop in the mud.
Her eyes refocused, spotting a filly curled up in a fetal position.
"Kera..." Belle mewled. She crawled forward until her hoof grazed her shoulder. She gave the little pony a shake. "Kera, darling... look at me..." There was no response. She grunted and rolled the fily over. "Kera..."
The tattooed foal was shivering, hugging her legs as her eyes stared a thousand miles straight ahead. The wound in her neck was shallow, its blood having dried into crusty highlights that traced the etched patterns of her coat. Her green pupils reflected Belle's distraught face, but her muzzle refused to open.
"Kera... Oh Kera..." Belle shook, shuddered. Her ears twitched, and she looked up at the other beam. A pulse of light emanated from the writhing stallion strapped to the end of it. "Pilate! she hollered. With a panicked breath, she got up and galloped to the wooden beam. She jumped and leapt, grunting in futility, for she couldn't even reach his dangling legs. Finally, with a tense snarl, she threw her shoulder into the beam and shoved it by several degrees. When that wasn't enough, she spun about in the muddy puddles and bucked the stake with two heavy hooves. "Nnngh!"
At last, the beam fell over with the zebra's body slumping atop it. The rope gave way, and he rolled onto the ground, clutching his glowing runic plate as he sobbed in pain.
"Pilate! Pilate, stay still! Please, beloved!" Belle trotted until she was over him. She rolled him upright, then gasped.
The chunk of the sword was embedded into the mana choker around the stallion's neck. The core was pierced, and it was sending random sparks to and from the tortured zebra's plate.
"Pilate... you're... y-you're..."
"Nnnngh... Beloved..." He sputtered into the rain, his eyes glowing as tears evaporated from the sockets. "It hurts... it hurts so much..." He clutched his skull. "Like a m-million suns... exploding inside... inside..." He heaved and sobbed. "Make it stop... m-make it stop... please..."
Belle grimaced. "Pilate, this... this won't be..." She gulped. "There's only one way to stop the feedback, but it's going to..." She held a hoof over her muzzle, eyes tearing. "The shock to your neurological system. I don't know if you can..." She choked. "Oh beloved..."
"Please..." Pilate reached skyward with a trembling hoof, hyperventilating. "I'm so sorry, Belle. It's t-tearing me apart. Just... stop it..." He gritted his teeth to the breaking point. "Please make it stop..."
Belle took several deep breaths. She clenched her eyes shut. After several seconds, she calmly leaned down, nuzzled his face, and kissed his cheek. "I love you, Pilate," she whispered into his ear. "And I am never going to let you go." That said, her hooves grasped the shattered choker at his throat.
He merely whimpered, tensing in her grasp.
"This is going to hurt very... very badly, beloved," she murmured. "Know that I am with you. I am right here by your side, okay?"
He writhed and contorted, but nevertheless managed a tender nod.
She took one breath... two... three—"Nnnngh!" She pulled the choker apart. The think cracked, fractured, then flew apart with a burst of mana that singed the ends of her hooves. "Gaaugh!"
The runic plate across Pilate's head instantly lit up. His body arched back as he howled against the lightning and thunder. "Aaaaaaaaa-haaaaaaaaaugh!"
Belle plunged down, wrapping all her legs around him and bracing him in one place. She weathered every agonized tremble that ran through his tortured figure. As he yelled and bellowed into the night, she nuzzled her tear-stained face against his striped cheek, kissing him repeatedly and murmuring over and over again, "I know it hurts, darling. I know it hurts, but you're strong. You can pull through. I believe in you."
"Graaa-aaaaaaaugh!" Pilate pounded the ground with his hoof and pulled at his face muscles as the runes on his plate caught aflame, emptying their pent-up mana into the evaporating rain. He shook and shivered like a wailing infant into Belle's embrace for the duration of his implant's expelling energy. "Mrrnnnghhhhh-Sparkkkk! Hunnngh!"
"I'm right here, Pilate..." Belle sobbed, kissing his ear as she stroked his mane. "You're going to make it through this..." Through tear-stained eyes, she stared across the way at Kera's catatonic figure. "We're all... g-going to make it..." She gulped. "...through this..."
Imre's glowing shard cast a pale beam through the smoldering haze as Shell trotted icily through the dilapidated apartments. He turned his head left and right in mid-limp, sweeping the light back and forth as he stepped over charred furniture and mangled corpses.
His breath came out in vapors, punctuated by random patches of rainwater dribbling down through the punctured rooftops.
"It takes something thicker than blood to bring your cursed self to another kingdom." He gulped. "But now, thanks to my beloved Imre's spirit, I'm beginning to understand the monster..." The Prime Enforcer gritted his teeth, examining every shadow as marched his way through a crooked hole and entered a smoke-stained living room. "She speaks to me between each sob. Her truth is laced with the screams of the righteous and unrighteous alike. She tells me that you tried to instill hope in her lonely, exiled heart." He paused upon the edge of a bedroom, standing over two corpses frozen in an eternal embrace. "But what hope can a monster like you have?"
Silence—save for the pitter patter of rain against the skeletonous cross beams of the building around him.
Shell shuffled forward, creeping into the bedroom, his scarred face drifting past lopsided family portraits. "Yes... she's told me. My beloved speaks of a monster who fled her homeland because cowardice... from pain of loneliness and loss. So you've lost the friends who were closest to you?" He sneered, "You do not know loyalty until you've had to face the necessity of killing those you care for, in order to preserve that which even they believed in." He shuffled to a stop besides the ashes of a burnt mattress. "I've believed in every soul that I've had to snuff out, and I felt their lives being torn from me as I quickened their passage into the Spark's embrace. Now tell me, monster..." His eye narrowed. "...all the ponies that you have killed in your wicked flight—have any of them ever meant a thing to you? Have you cherished the victims of your existence as much as you've adored the friends that you were too slow... and too pathetic to protect?"
The room was dead still.
Then...
"Even now, you don't know your own daughter..."
Shell flinched. Panting, twitching, he spun all around, casting the beam in every direction.
"But you have a point, Shell. I have been a coward."
The stallion's ear twitched. He spun towards the source of the noise, but gasped.
He stared into a vanity's shattered mirror. In the glinting light from his horn, his reflection shimmered back at a dozen jagged angles. Barely two seconds later, something barreled through the weak wall on the other side, smashing through the mirror and gripping Shell's startled body by the neck.
"Until tonight," Rainbow leered into his face.
His horn sparked to encase her in telekinesis—
All she needed to do was tilt her neck up. The ruby pendant flashed into his one eye.
"Aaaaugh!" he flinched. Rainbow Dash spun around him and gripped him from behind. He bucked her in the chest and spun to punch her. Rainbow knocked his hoof away, hugged him close, and flapped her wings. In a majestic burst, the two soared straight up—
Smasssh!
They tore through the rooftop and ascended madly into the storm, Imre's horn illuminating a cyclone of raindrops all around them. Shell jerked and struggled in Rainbow's grasp, but the bloodied pegasus held him tighter and tighter, pulling the two towards the dark clouds and their menacing lightning strobes. Only when the two were about to pierce the black mists did Rainbow Dash notice that Shell's magic field had dragged several chunks of the apartment roof along with them. The stallion grunted with concentration, flinging various lengths of wooden debris at her body as the two continued climbing altitude.
At last, they entered the swirling black mists. Between flashes of lightning, Rainbow spotted random projectiles sailing at her from Shell's debris field. She curved her wings, spinning the two of them through the tornadic maelstrom in hopes that he'd strike himself instead. She failed—however—to stop two lengths of timber from grazing her backside. She yelped, lightning illuminating the spray of blood from her flesh. Shell bellowed against the thunder, his white horn glowing like a midnight sun.
Rainbow flinched. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a thick wooden beam sailing up at them, at least four meters in length. With a grunt, she let go of him and flew off. She felt herself stalling in place as the Prime Enforcer's magic anchored her. The two twirled and wrestled in a bubble of coalescing rainwater, haloed on all sides by natural strobes of electricity. At last, the beam flew its way through the levitating battle. Instead of trying to dodge it, Rainbow thrusted herself forward, making contact with her hooves. The weight of the projectile displaced Shell's grasp of the pegasus, and she galloped down the length of it, dove forward, and came to a hovering stop behind the stallion.
Gripping the startled Enforcer from behind, she flapped her wings once and flew the two of them towards the levitating beam. Before he could throw her off, she gripped his scraggly mane from behind and slammed his skull repeatedly against the wooden board.
"Grghh...! Nnnngh...! Haaugh...!" Finally, after the fourth and final contact, Imre's horn snapped off with a burst of sparks.
"Aaaaaaugh!" Shell hollered into the storm. The telekinetic field exploded, throwing Rainbow Dash and every piece of debris in opposite directions.
Rainbow Dash twirled through the black mists. Her hooves came into contact with a chunk of Lerrington rooftop. She stared breathlessly ahead, and in the ruby glow of her pendant she spotted Shell's weighted body slinking away in the mist. A sharp object twirled towards her. Without thinking, she grabbed it, kicked off the wooden chunk beneath her, and glided towards her nemesis. With one swift motion, she stabbed the sharp weapon deep into his chest and kicked his body away.
There was no yelp—not even a scream. A fiery branch of lightning stretched between them, and in that single flash Rainbow saw Shell falling, forelimbs spread, with the horn of Imre sunk deep into his sternum. Then darkness fell, along with Rainbow's body. She shook the moisture off her feathers and angled her wings out, diving below the murk and thunder. Coming out of the cloudbed, she stared with twitching eyes at the smoking remnants of Lerris.
Pilate's screams had given way to pained whimpers as he lay in Belle's embrace, quivering with the last throes of pain. His runic plate had finally burnt out, carrying the torture of the mana feedack along with it. Belle sat quietly with him, lovingly stroking his mane and tearstained face.
There was a crack of thunder—far louder than all the ones previous—and it forced Belle to look up from staring at Kera's trembling figure.
Her lips pursed as she saw a lone figure plummeting from the thunderclouds. She couldn't help but wince as it landed through the roof of a charred-black cafe in the center of the dead town. For a moment, her heart palpitated in horror, but then she saw Rainbow's body calmly descending upon the scene. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she leaned over to nuzzle Pilate close, sobbing.
"Grnng... hckkkt-glgllckkt..."
Shell spat blood, his broken body draped over a shattered table in the hollow of the cafe. His lower legs were bent at the wrong angles, and fragments of bone stuck savagely out the flesh of his right forelimb. Nevertheless, he summoned the strength to tilt his bruised face up. One he saw what was impaling his chest, his face began quivering. He jerked and heaved a shoulder until his one good limb grazed the edge of the pale horn. Instantly his eye teared up, and his face wrenched in a pathetic sob.
"Hnnngh—Graaaughhh!" He tilted his head up, howling mutely into the smokey haze of the room until his breath once again caught up with his anguish. "Haaaaaaaaaugh!" A deep inhale. "Imreeeee!" He clenched his teeth, blood oozing out one ear. "Grnnngh... your m-mother..." He hyperventilated. "I've failed... f-failed..."
Hooves crunched over broken glass.
Panting, he looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing before the shattered entrance of the cafe. He writhed, struggled, and ultimately slumped back against the rubble-strewn floor. His breath came in tortured wheezes.
Rainbow Dash stared coldly down at him. She looked left, looked right, then found a jagged chunk of wood—sharp as a stake. She grabbed it, slid it off the floor, and trotted on three limbs towards the Prime Enforcer. Finally, she stood by his side. After a few fuming breaths, she lifted the stake above his head.
He simply lay there, limp and battered.
Rainbow blinked. She exhaled, lowering the stake by her side. Slumping down, she sat above him, lungs rising and falling in a mirror to his pain.
The rain had slowed to an icy drizzle at this point, bathing the dead village in a cold sheet.
Shell's eyelid grew heavier and heavier. Nevertheless, after a full minute of gargling his own blood, he stole a glance of Rainbow.
She saw it, and finally the pegasus spoke. "She regretted all of things she did in the past, you know." Her brow furrowed. "The things you made her do? She had a conscience."
Shell sputtered, his lungs heaving painfully beneath the stabbing horn. "I... d-did not give it to her..."
Rainbow was silent.
"Snkkkt... I... have... f-faithfully served the will of the Queen... snkkkt—for years... decades..." Shell's chest heaved as his muzzle twisted to form the rewards. "My only reward? Grkkkt..." He limply brushed his one good hoof against the edge of Imre's horn. "This... is th-the first thing I c-can... grkkkt... feel..."
Rainbow gulped. "Loyalty can be a very cowardly thing," she murmured, her ruby eyes like daggers. "The hunter became the monster a long, long time ago."
"But you..." Shell's one eye teared. "You escaped..."
"No..." Rainbow shook her head. "I flew into it, Shell. The hunt began long before we ever crossed paths in Aridstone."
He panted and panted. A gurgling sound, and blood dribbled from his mouth as he hoarsely uttered, "All those deaths... all th-those ponies you cared so deeply for..." He wearily shook his battered head. "Gone... and yet... grkkkt... you're so... so... alive..."
"That's the thing you never got about death," she replied. "The more of it you deal with, the more you find yourself living. I'm telling you..." She shook her head. "It ain't easy..."
Shell's lips quivered. He finally dragged his hoof away from the horn and laid his head down against the ground. His breaths grew more and more ragged.
Rainbow Dash's jaw tightened, as did her grip of the wooden stake in her hooves. "It must royally suck... to not be able to feel remorse."
Icily, he tilted his head up and whispered back, "How unfortunate that you do."
"I know," Rainbow nodded. Then, fuming, she raised the sharp stake high over the stallion's head. "But not for this."
By morning, the storm clouds had cleared enough to allow the light of sunrise to pierce through and illuminate the grisly details of Lerris' fate. This was the scene that awaited the Noble Jury when it at last arrived, gliding swiftly down the sloping west faces of the mountain range. It coasted over the collapsed rooftops and corpse-ridden streets, plowing through the plumes of smoke that still lingered all across the pillaged dwelling.
When it was still meters above the ground, the hangar doors at the stern opened. Two figures hopped down, landing above all the rest. Eagle Eye stood up, panting heavily as he glanced every which way with wide eyes. Roarke squatted beside him, her body rigged with her tailor-made metal braces.
"Bellesmith?!" Eagle Eye hollered. His voice echoed against the devastation, and he panted heavier and heavier upon each dead, burnt figure that he spotted. "Pilate! Kera!"
Roarke's eye-lenses pistoned in and out constantly as they surveyed the death and carnage. With a cold breath, she muttered, "The battle's long over."
"Don't you say that!Belle!" Eagle Eye hollered, limping down a bloodstained street. He fought back the urge to whimper and yelled towards the gray heavens. "Rainbow Dash! Please tell me you're there! It's Eagle Eye! The Jury's here! Tell us where you are!"
The skystone ship touched down. Josho rushed out, manarifle levitating by his shoulder. He stumbled to a stop, jaw dropped as he took in the desolation all around. "Spark almighty..."
Ebon Mane, Props, Zaid, and even Floydien trotted out last. Props gasped, holding two hooves over her quivering muzzle while Ebon rested a limb on her shoulder. Floydien stared with thin red eyes while Zaid trotted out into the mud with a neutral expression. The former cultist strolled over to a buildingside where he gently nudged a rain-drenched corpse. He turned and looked helplessly towards the others.
Roarke sighed. She turned and spoke calmly, "We should fan out. Groups of two. Comb the wreckage."
Eagle Eye dropped his sword and shield into the mud. By the time he turned around, his face was wrenched in a sob. He was about to say something when—
A lone cry from the distance.
Ebon's ears twitched. He and Props turned to look, their eyes glossy. "Did... did you ponies hear...?"
Again, the cry lifted against the moist morning winds.
Roarke's brow furrowed while Eagle Eye gasped.
"Striped boomer's beloved..." Floydien murmured.
Eagle Eye trotted towards the sound. He began galloping. Mud splashed from his hooves, and soon Josho and Roarke were joining the sprint. They rounded the crest of a hill, and there they found three figures sitting—deflated—against the earth, right between two wooden beams stuck in the mud.
"Belle!" Eagle Eye stammered, tears streaming down his face. "Belle!" He slid to a stop and nuzzled her, hugging her as tightly as he can as he cast a breathless look at the stallion lying dormant in her lap. "Thank the Sp-Spark you're alive!" He gulped. "Pilate... is... is he...?"
"He's unconscious," Belle said. "O.A.S.I.S. is shattered. It sent a terrible feedback through his body, but..." She gulped. "I-I think he's going to pull through."
"And the filly," Josho asked, nodding towards Kera as the rest of the Jury ran up the rear. "What about her?"
"Kera..." Belle looked over, sniffling. "Kera's... she's..." Her face melted as tears streamed down her bloodied cheek. "Blessed Spark, I-I don't know..." She sobbed as she stroked Pilate's mane. "She h-hasn't said a word... she d-doesn't even look at m-me..."
Zaid trotted over to Kera, squatting down to squint at her face. When he got no reaction, he gave the filly's shoulder a little shake. The foal shivered, but nothing more. Biting his lip, the stallion looked at the others before enfolding the filly into a dear hug. The foal limply oblidged, collapsing against Zaid's chest.
Belle buried her face in Eagle's shoulder. "He... h-he made her see everything." He gulped. "Every throat he slit. Every house he burned. Every... every f-foal he strangled. Oh Spark..." She wailed. "Spark alive... he took her from us... he took our darling Kera..." Her next breaths came in indecipherable sobs.
Roarke stared at the filly in Zaid's embrace. For the first time in ages, her ears folded back, and the metal mare plopped down on her haunches.
Josho saw it. Nevertheless, he wrenched his gaze away from her and spoke towards Belle. "What about Rainbow Dash?" The mare was too distraught to answer. "Bellesmith, did you see Rainbow Dash? Do you know what happened to—"
"Guys!" Props squeaked.
Everypony looked up, including Belle.
A lone blue figure limped towards the scene, dragging something along with her. Her feathers and coat were covered with all manners of scrapes and bruises and lacerations.
"Rainbow Dash!" Ebon gasped.
He and Josho rushed towards her. When they came within a meter's distance, she stopped—and they stopped. The pegasus had her head hanging low.
Ebon bit his lip and looked at the obese stallion beside him.
Only Josho had the strength to ask: "Enforcer Shell." His eyes narrowed. "Did you run into him?"
Rainbow was silent.
"Rainbow, it may be too late for the village, but you need to tell us. What happened... to...?"
Josho stopped speaking, for the pegasus had just dropped a sharp stake to the ground. Its pointed end glistened with fresh red blood.
Belle blinked from afar, shivering in Eagle's arms. Both ponies flinched when Rainbow finally spoke.
"Y'know... for all the horrible mistakes that he made..." Rainbow Dash looked up, and a tear rolled down to her quivering lips. "He was right about one thing."
Josho and Ebon stared in silence.
Rainbow sniffled only once. She blinked her eyes dry and limped over to Belle and Pilate. There, she squatted beside them, joining the embrace with Eagle Eye as quiet sobs lit the air.
Zaid held Kera tighter, rocking her gently while smoke drifted over the deathly tranquil cemetery that Lerris had become.
A midday sun rose over the ruins of Lerris. Due to the clouds and trailing smoke, it was no brighter than that very morning. The Noble Jury had long landed along a southeast patch of grass. Its hangar doors hung open, and a thin train of ponies shuffled back and forth, carrying pieces of metal equipment. With quiet teamwork, they set up a small encampment along the edge of town, complete with blankets and first aid kits. It was a hopeful gesture. Nopony said much of anything--least of all Rainbow Dash, who flew briskly over the camp as she gave the buildings another flyby.
She wasn’t alone in her task. Roarke covered the central parts of town while Eagle Eye and Josho explored the ruins of farmhouses to the west. With swift wings, Rainbow darted into every building that afforded the space for her body to squeeze through. Fighting the scant fumes of the previous evening’s blazes, she called out, loudly announcing her presence.
There was never a reply.
At last, she resorted to pulling fallen debris apart, lifting crossbeams and searching beneath collapsed rooftops. She eventually did find the villagers of Lerris--or at least whatever shreds remained of them. Each discovery she made put more and more weight on her wings, so that she carried on with the grim task with increasing ennui. Ultimately, she resorted to shoving a stake into the ground of each house she searched and scratching a visible marker for how many bodies she found inside. Checking across the town, she found Roarke doing the same thing. The two mares exchanged cold glances, and then Rainbow Dash rushed back to her task.
Night fell. The encampment that the Jurists had set up lay bare. Roarke and Rainbow continued searching, the first aided by a lantern and the latter aided by the glow of her pendant. Floydien and Zaid had exchanged places with Josho and Eagle Eye, and they searched the remaining farm houses with somber resolve.
A light rain washed over the town past midnight. After searching and researching the same row of apartment buildings, Rainbow had finished calling out for names. She had finished doing everything altogether. She sat on the scant remains of a second story balcony, her pendant creating a blurry aura of red rain pattering around her. She took shallow breaths, squinting at the desolation all around her. At some point, her eyes drifted tiredly across the village. She caught sight of Roarke’s lantern-lit body rummaging through the wastes. A pair of copper lenses glinted, staring straight back at Rainbow for a moment. Then--almost with a flinch--the Searonese mare turned away and resumed with her task. Rainbow clenched her jaws shut, allowing her eyes to rest for the first time in hours. All she saw in the darkness was flame and lightning. With a wince, she uncoiled her wings, sighed, and flew back into the dilapidated rows of houses.
On board the Noble Jury, Pilate lay on the bed inside the tiny one-room infirmary. He wasn’t alone. Eagle Eye squatted beside his mat, tightening a bandage around the nape of the zebra’s neck. After tending to the stallion’s wounds, Eagle waved a glass of water in front of him. He paused for a moment, bit his lip, then leaned the glass forward until it brushed lightly with Pilate’s muzzle. At last, the zebra registered the gesture. He nodded slightly, grasping the container in two shivering hooves. Eagle Eye assisted, tilting the glass so that Pilate could take a few liberal sips. Once finished, Eagle Eye put the glass away and exchanged a few soft words with the stallion. Pilate nodded, and Eagle Eye trotted off, leaving the zebra alone. Pilate could only wince, curling himself tighter beneath the one blanket draped over him. His gray eyes stared wide into nothing, and his ears twitched in a constant, anxious fashion. He tried to make out the sounds coming from the passenger quarters a few rooms away, but he was at a loss. His breaths came out in pitiful little squeaks.
Down a few compartments, Props sat with Bellesmith, replacing a few bandages over her wounds and wrapping them over her tender body. The blonde mare smiled delicately before murmuring something in Belle’s ears. Belle nodded quietly, but gently dismissed her friend. Props trotted slowly out, her eyes glossy while she nevertheless complied.
Belle sat in silence. Gradually, she turned and gazed at the filly seated on her cot.
Kera squatted, staring directly at the corner of two metal bulkheads. She had been bathed twice over the course of the passing day. With all of the bloodstains gone, she actually had considerably less wounds on her body that needed bandaging than either Belle or Pilate. A single strip of gauze stretched over her throat from where the Enforcer’s blade had grazed her. The only hint of pain was in her eyes, tiny and icy cold, staring infinitely into nothing.
Quietly, with motherly gestures, Belle grabbed a hoof-brush and tended to Kera’s mane. It mattered little; her hair was straight enough as it is. But it didn’t stop Belle from sitting on the bed behind her and stroking the filly’s mane for the better part of ten minutes. At some point, she stopped, leaning in to kiss and nuzzle the child’s ear from behind. Kera didn’t budge an inch. It was this that brought the tears to Belle’s eyes. She leaned in and hugged Kera gently, resting her chin on the foal’s shoulder as she refused to let go.
The next morning limped over the gray horizon. The search had stopped completely, turning into something else. With metal tools, Floydien, Eagle Eye, and Zaid dug a deep array of holes in the earth. Hours into this, a grim procession marched forth from all parts of the town. Roarke, Josho, and Rainbow Dash were the first ones to carry the bodies. Later on, Flodyien and Eagle Eye passed the digging onto Props and Ebon Mane so that they could assist in the heart of the village.
By that afternoon, seventy graves had been dug and filled. It was not enough. There were more bodies beneath the wreckage--everypony knew. At this point, however, all Roarke and Rainbow could find were pieces of the ill-fated villagers.
The group paused, congregating by the neatly arranged graves as they muddled over what step to take next. All the while, Rainbow Dash perched on a low hanging cloud above the valley. Her ruby eyes reflected the disturbed pieces of earth stretching below. A deep shudder ran through her body. She looked down at her hooves. A familiar pair of goggles rested in her grasp. When she tried looking at the initials, her vision went blurry.
With a blink, Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. Swiftly, she slapped the goggles on, turned around, and dove off the cloud with spread wings. Trembling slightly, she glided southwest, skimmed over the mountains below, and made for a tiny speck of buildings along the gray horizon.
Three days passed since Rainbow first flew southwest from the ruins of Lerris. On the second day, she came back, escorting a tiny dirigible filled with six able-bodied villagers from Archer Pointe. It took several hours for the stallions and mares on board to recover from the sight of their ash-laden sister town.
Eventually, they quieted down, stifling their shock and grief with grim resolve. They assisted the likes of Floydien, Roarke, Zaid, and Eagle Eye in the burial process. Pilfering through the burnt out shells of buildings together, they scavenged the last remains of the unaccounted populace. By sunrise on the third day, they succeeded in burying every body... every corpse but one.
A bonfire was lit in the center of town. It consumed the stray debris gathered across the shattered township, as well as illuminated the one hundred and twenty-two fresh graves lying along the southern field. The crackling embers did little to mask the quiet sounds of weeping equines. The villagers from Archer Pointe stood in a close circle, their glossy eyes reflecting the blaze from afar.
Roarke watched them in cold silence. Her ear twitched, and she looked over her shoulder at another group of ponies. Several Jurors sat, exhausted from the strain and the somberness of their labors. Floydien gazed past the flames with a neutral expression. Josho fidgeted, his hooves randomly fumbling at his sides, as if reaching for an invisible flask that was no longer there, yet he desperately needed. Props sat besides Ebon Mane, leaning her head on his shoulder. She sniffled for prolonged periods of time, and eventually broke into quiet sobs past midnight. Ebon wrapped a forelimb around her and solaced the mare as best as he could. Zaid and Eagle Eye made frequent trips to and from the Noble Jury to check on Belle, Pilate, and Kera. Each time they came back, their faces looked increasingly paler.
Fidgeting where she stood, Roarke turned to look at Rainbow Dash.
The winged mare sat far away from both groups. Her body was darker than the shadows of night. Only the ruby pendant hanging around her neck showed any glint of purpose.
Roarke's legs flinched. For a second, her muscles moved her in the direction of the pegasus. She could only take one step, and then she faltered, anchored to place. With a sigh, she hung her head and remained glued in that position until morning came.
The third day drifted by on cold wings. Hardly anypony said anything. They were simpling lingering, waiting. At last, with a dull hum of lateral propellers, a slightly larger dirigible puttered over the southwest mountaintops. Everypony looked to see the second aircraft arrive from Archer Pointe. It touched down, and over a dozen ponies trotted out, several of them carrying equipment and folded tents. One mare in particular strolled limply forward, her muzzle agape as she finally took in the desolation of the town with glossy, amber eyes.
The six villagers who arrived on the smaller dirigible the day before trotted up and spoke with her, but she hardly registered anything she had to say. She drifted past them, trotted for several paces, and eventually plopped down in the tall grass, gazing with a dead expression at the smoke hovering over the multiple graves.
Roarke clenched her teeth. She was shivering—for how long, she couldn't venture to guess. The former bounty hunter didn't try to hide her trembles—even when Rainbow Dash fluttered past her, flew towards the middle of the field, and touched down behind the new arrivals.
Roarke glanced back at the Noble Jury. Most of the crew had gathered together, huddling in hushed murmurs. They all gazed nervously across the field and past Roarke.
The Searonese mare's eye lenses retracted. In silence, she hung her head and held her breath.
"He's been chasing me for months," Rainbow Dash murmured against the cold afternoon wind. "I thought I had lost him back at the battlefield... we all thought we had lost him." She gulped. "We were wrong."
Collins said nothing. She sat like a block of ice, facing the ruins of Lerris with her back to the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash shifted the weight of the pendant around her neck and sighed. "In my travels, I've butted heads with all sorts of evil things. Not just ponies—but minotaurs, dragons, foal slayers, and chaos monsters. This world's a crazy place, and I've always... h-had the luxury of flying away from most of it." She gulped. "Thinking that none of it was capable of following me. But him?" She clenched her teeth, seething. "I figured that he might have been chasing me still. But this far? And after the war came to a stop? He... he should have died a million times. He did die a million times..." Her lips hung open as her pupils slowly shrunk. A tremble swam through her figure. "Only... he didn't. Because I wasn't the one to end him." She gulped. "Until now..."
Silence.
"When I arrived in Archer Point... and h-here... I was welcomed with open arms. For the first time in nearly two months, ponies greeted me without wanting to kill me. It... it was pretty shocking. And, I have to admit, I was super paranoid. But... before long... I... I-I gave in to the feeling." She squeaked, "Because it was just... just so relieving. So soothing. I thought that my problems on this continent were over. I stopped worrying. I... let my guard down. I..."
Shuddering, Rainbow Dash squatted down on folded hooves. Her eyes turned moist as she gazed at Collins' shoulders with a quivering lip.
"I am so... so sorry." She swallowed a lump down my throat. "Not just to you, but to all of Lerris. To Golden Happenstance and to Beau and to the memories of Benevolent Blue and Radiant Moon and..." She gritted her teeth. "And t-to Kera." She sniffled. "She deserved her home. She deserved her place to live and grow up in peace. And Bellesmith and Pilate—my friends..." She wiped her cheek dry and shuddered. "I brought this upon them. I did. Because... because I didn't finish what I had started. And I knew it. So long as... th-that creep didn't die by my hooves, I should have realized that nothing could have been put to rest. Nothing had the right to settle."
Rainbow Dash's breaths came in shuddering squeaks. She inhaled deeply, sat up straight, and stared resolutely at the mare.
"Please, Collins. Tell me what you would want us to do. We have a skystone vessel at our disposal. Even running on steam, it's ten times faster than the two ships you had to pull out of dock. We can run to the nearest trade post for you. We can provide you with everything... anything. We... we can help rebuild or... I-I dunno... help build a memorial or—"
"You expect me to b-believe that anything you and your ponies c-can do now will bring back the lives th-that have been... that have b-been slaughtered...?"
Rainbow Dash bit her tongue.
Collins' shoulders shook. "Uncle Hap was a beautiful stallion. I knew him since I was a little filly. He gave me words of inspiration that got me up in the morning each day. Even in the cold, bleak winds of the valleys, just thinking of his rosy cheeks and gentle voice brought warmth to my soul. And now... he is gone. Along with Carrot Pace, Saddle Skies, Veraten, Beau, and several other ponies I've had the grace to call Aunts and Uncles... to celebrate harvest festivals with... to write letters of love and encouargement to.."
Her ears drooped back as she tilted her gaze skyward, sniffling.
"Now... they are gone." She gulped, and her voice took on a bass tone. "Overnight. In a blink. And somehow... your apologies are supposed to make this all better? As if there was some sort of... p-poetic merit to the atrocity?"
"Collins..." Rainbow Dash gulped and raised a trembling hoof. "Please, hear me out. The Noble Jury is with you all the way in this. So long as Kera's alive, a piece of Lerris is as well—"
"Take a good long look, Rainbow Dash." Collins pointed towards the graves. "Do my fellow ponies look alive to you?" She slowly turned, finally gazing at her. The mare's muzzle was drenched in tears, and her jaw shook in horror. "We've lived in the shadow of two warring empires wh-who wanted nothing m-more than to wipe the other nation's blood off the f-face of the earth. We never s-suffered a tragedy even a fraction of this magnitude..." She gulped. "Until you came."
Rainbow's face wrenched in pain. Gulping she shook her head, stammering, "I-I flew back here as fast as I could! If I had found out sooner, I would have stopped him! I swear it! I would have prevented—"
"But you brought him here!" Collins hollered, her whole body careening with the exhalation. She stumbled back onto even hooves, hyperventilating. "He was after you! What could he have possibly wanted with this town?! What did it s-serve him to murder so many stallions, mares, and foals and b-burn their houses to dust?!"
"I never ever wanted to get into his mind. Believe me. The... th-the things he was capable of doing." Rainbow gulped. "B-but this...?"
"You should have told us that he was after you! You sh-should have told us back in Archer Pointe that something this terrible was after you!" Tears shook off of Collins' face with each shouting sob. "What's n-next?! Dragons?! Pirates?! Demons?!" She hiccuped and spat, "The war may have been terrible, but at l-least it kept out errant c-curses such as you! My brothers and sisters are dead! Aunts and Uncles... all dead! D-dead!" Her legs went weak, and she fell to her chest, panting.
Rainbow Dash rushed over to her—
"Nnngh!" Collins batted her hoof away. "Don't touch me! You... you m-monster!"
Rainbow Dash jolted from that. Her features froze, and her ears folded over her head.
"Just leave!" Collins whimpered, collapsed into sobbing hysterics. She managed the breath to squeak, "Just take your damnable skystone ship and leave th-these valleys and never come back!" She buried her face into her forelimbs. "Spark, spare me. I wish I'd never... w-wishe'd I hadn't..." Her voice melted into an indecipherable wail.
Rainbow stared at her. Her jaw clenched, and she shook where she stood. After several seconds, she began fuming, and clenched her eyes shut. A hot breath followed, causing her wings to unfold.
Collins' mane fluttered as the pegasus soared over her, christening the graves one last time with her shadow before touching down before the Noble Jury. The leader of Archer Point did not give her so much as a final glance.
Eagle Eye and Zaid instantly trotted forward from the group.
"Rainbow Dash?" Eagle Eye breathlessly stammered, his eyes wide.
"Well?" Zaid shrugged. "What do they want us to do?"
Rainbow Dash landed heavily. She coiled her wings like tight shields on either side of her and trotted icily ahead. "Let's go."
"Go?!" Zaid did a double-take. "Go where?!" He pointed at the group of ponies staring wearily at them from across the gray-lit field. "Half of them just got here! They need us—"
"It's over," Rainbow Dash snapped. "We're gone."
Zaid's brow furrowed.
Eagle Eye and Josho exchanged glances. Floydien squinted while Props bit her lip.
Halfway up the ramp leading into the Jury's hangar, Rainbow Dash paused. She swiveled around, glaring. "Well?! Did you all get dirt in your ears from burying all those ponies? I said we're friggin' leaving!"
"You can't expect us to believe that we can take off just like that..." Ebon muttered.
"Why not?" Rainbow Dash nodded her head towards Collins' distant, sobbing figure. "You have any doubts, you stay here and let 'em give you an earful. You'll be doing them a lot more bad than good."
Props sniffled, wiping her cheek. "But... but we..."
"Hmmph. Fine. Enough spit." Floydien brushed past the other ponies as he marched firmly towards the stairwell beyond the hangar. "Floydien can take a hint. All aboard Nancy's breast."
Roarke said nothing. She gazed at the town, at the desolate fumes of the bonfire, and at the shuddering figures of Collins' and her mournful colleagues. She gazed at everything but Rainbow Dash's face.
Slowly, the rest of the Jurors trotted mournfully on board, all but Zaid.
"Zaid, move your flank," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"This isn't right," Josho muttered, passing by. "I don't care what that weak-fetlocked mare said to you—all of this feels wrong."
"Yeah, well, join the friggin' club." Rainbow barked. "Zaid!"
The stallion sneered, kicked at the grass, but finally scampered on board. The hangar doors closed right as he and Roarke slipped in. With a metallic clang, the doors shut, and the metal bulkheads resonated with the sounds of the Jury's engines kicking into gear.
Ebon Mane and Zaid exited behind Josho. Eagle Eye lingered behind, facing Rainbow Dash as she paced to a stop beside a series of metal crates.
"Rainbow," he murmured, his eyes glossy. "What happened here... all of the horrible things... it wasn't your fault."
"Go away, EE," Rainbow Dash muttered, facing the bulkheads. "Go check on Belle and Pilate. They need you more than anypony right now."
"But I'm worried. Everypony's worried! After all, you've been alone most of the time since we came back and—"
"I said scram!" Rainbow thundered, turning to glare ruby daggers at him.
Eagle Eye winced, instantly tearing up. He rubbed his cheek and trotted limply away.
Fuming, Rainbow turned once more to the bulkheads, leaning a pair of shaking forelimbs against the metal crates. The floor tilted as the Noble Jury began its ascent, cruising its way east.
Only after Rainbow's heavy breaths finally found an even pace pace did Roarke speak up.
"Josho's onto something, as much as I hate agreeing with the breeder's sensibilities." Roarke's hooves clattered against the metal floor as she trotted up behind Rainbow Dash. "We shouldn't be disembarking like this."
"You really can't take a friggin' hint, can you?" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "Get out of my face before I buck you into next year. I've only done it a million times already, so I don't even know why you bother."
"Because I know that when the going gets tough, you rely on your emotions." Roarke's eye-lenses pistoned out. "And impulse."
"Says a lot about the way I flippin' plan things, huh?" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "And about how I lose sight of what can really bite us in the flank..."
"Then do something about it," Roarke said. "Tell Floydien to turn the ship around. Let us stay here—at least for a while. Even if you're boneheaded, you are good at helping ponies."
"Yeah. Cuz I really blessed them just now, didn't I?" Rainbow Dash blue the bangs out from her forehead. "Give it a rest, Roarke. Preach to me when I don't wanna smash something for once."
"That town meant more to us than any other place we passed by," Roarke said. "It's Kera's home, after all—"
"No it isn't." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Not anymore." She gulped. "And it never was. We just... I just assumed differently, and because of my blindness... over a hundred ponies are dead. Needlessly."
She leaned against the metal crates in silence.
And then...
"I told Kera about our trip to Lerris back in Archer Point."
Rainbow's ears twitched. She turned around, mouth agape.
Roarke's lenses were facing the floor. "While they were giving us the feast... giving you the feast. That was when I brought her aside and told her about the whole plan. The reason she wasn't surprised before we showed up is because I had told her all about Belle's and Pilate's idea."
Rainbow blinked. Her muzzle scrunched in confusion as her lips tried to pronounce a word or two.
"But that isn't all I did." Roarke finally tilted her head up, staring Rainbow straight in the eyes. Her warrior ears were drooped like a little foal's. "I made it clear to her that she would have to be the one making a decision about leaving or staying. I told her that... that she needed to be strong for Pilate and Belle in this circumstance, because they were being weak about the choice themselves."
Silence.
Rainbow plopped back on her hooves. She gulped and muttered, "'Pilate and Belle were being weak...'"
"As you can see," Roarke said, "I swayed Kera into making a decision—"
"No, Roarke." Rainbow shook her head. Rainbow fumed. "You swayed her into making the decision."
Roarke clenched her jaw.
"Pilate and Belle 'were being weak'?!" Rainbow started to breathe harder and harder. "Sure, I know that the common Searonese has the parental skills of a parasprite—but do you have any idea what kind of an impact that has on a kid?! Not to mention one dealing with abandonment issues and foster parents and... it... that..." Rainbow hissed, clenched her jaw, and scowled at the bounty hunter. "Weak?! Roarke, Belle and Pilate may not be perfect at what they do, but at least they were trying to give Kera the peace of mind to decide one way or another—"
"I wanted to make it clear to her that they were frightened from the prospect of splitting up with her!" Roarke exclaimed. "I did not want guilt and convoluted remorse to sway her in one direction—"
"Yeah, and so you swayed her in another! Is that supposed to make things okay, Roarke?!" Rainbow Dash shook, shivered, and pulled at her mane. "Nnnnngh! Are you friggin' telling me that—all this time—Kera could have chosen not to stay in Lerris?!"
"Would it really have changed the tragedy that's just befallen them?"
"At least something would have changed!" Rainbow hollered, waving a hoof in the air. "Something—anything—would have been better than this!" She panted and panted. "When Shell came into Lerris, he found a piece of me! And b-because of that, he slaughtered and murdered just to rein me in!" She stared, her body heaving as tears welled up in her eyes. "And h-he got me, Roarke." Sniffling, she struggled to stare straight at the mare. "Nothing I can do... n-nothing I-I can ever do will take back the lives he devoured just to make me do what I refused to do until th-that night." At last, she snarled, "I should have owned up to the monster that he chased for so long and ended him sooner, but now Kera... Kera has to pay the price! And Belle... and Pilate... and all those... all th-those..."
Rainbow Dash collapsed to her knees, her face melting. She shook, quivered, and ultimately sobbed unabashedly into her forelimbs.
Roarke's jaw had dropped. She took a few steps forward, but hesitated just a meter away from the pegasus. Once again, her gaze fell.
"Why...?!" Rainbow Dash managed between sputtering breaths. "Why did you even t-tell me this? Why now?" She looked up. "How does this make anything b-better?"
"Because it had to have been said," Roarke muttered. "There was a time when... I-I wouldn't have mentioned something like the talk I had with Kera. But... after what happened with Lerris..." The bounty hunter gulped. "And... seeing you so... so alone..." Her words ended abruptly.
Rainbow stared up at her, shivering.
Roarke took a deep breath for courage, then said. "I... I..." She winced, her breath coming out in quiet shudders. "I am sorry, Rainbow Dash. For the first time in my life... I feel regret. And..." She gritted her teeth, then said, "I want you to know that you're not alone in this."
Rainbow Dash gulped. She clenched her head, gnashing her teeth. The blood rushed in her head, and between each throbbing pulse, she heard a whining sound... like the pitiful cries of Collins against the windswept grass.
"I'll stay with you as long as I need to. With my knowledge and... and my resources, I'll protect Belle and Pilate and—"
Rainbow Dash made a pitiful sound, like a chuckle and a sob mixed into one. Shaking her head, she sniffled and glanced up with a bitter smirk. "Since they're all 'weak,' right? Cuz you've done such a swell job of protecting them so far... most especially Kera."
Roarke fidgeted. She stepped backwards as Rainbow Dash slowy, icily stood up.
"You go behind my back... behind everypony's back... you manipulate Kera's feelings... and you expect me to trust you?"
"It was her home town, Rainbow," Roarke said. "I felt as though she needed the right to know! What I did, I did with the best of intentions—"
"And I do things with the best of intentions!" Rainbow Dash retorted. "At least I have the decency to be honest with everypony about it!"
"Not with Kera, you weren't!" Roarke frowned. "None of you were!"
"She's a child!"
"She won't be forever!" Roarke said. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, and I stand by it, but I was trying to anticipate her feelings just as much as you and your friends were!"
"And when the others find out what you did, do you think they'll want your protection, Roarke?! Huh?! Have you anticipated that?!"
Roarke's lips trembled. She shook her head and said, "I just... I just want..."
"What do you want, Roarke?!" Rainbow Dash frowned. "There's no profit with you on board the Jury! There wasn't any in the Sacred Hold or along the Eastern Front! A bounty hunter like you?! Seems to me that every day you waste on board this ship you could be instead earning money doing what you do best!"
"But—"
"And don't tell me that 'protecting my friends,' is doing what you do best! Because it isn't! Both you and I know that even I can't protect them anymore! So what are you even doing here?!"
Roarke's breaths had become shallow. A sheen of sweat ran over her light brown coat. "You... y-you shouldn't have to be alone in this..."
"And if that's all that's keeping you on board—going behind my friends' backs and sticking to your backwards Searonese ways—then... th-then you would be better off leaving us!"
Roarke froze. She hadn't realized that her hoof had stretched towards Rainbow's side, but now it was all she could look at. "Rainbow—"
By this time, Rainbow was clutching her head. "Gnnnngh—Roarke, just leave!"
The metal mare winced.
"Leave, Roarke!" Rainbow Dash hyperventilated. "T-take... your weapons, your cold holier-than-thou attitude and the stick up your flank and... just... leave." Rainbow backed up, shaking her head viciously. "What I need now is ponies whom I can trust!"
"But... but you and I... we can still—"
"There's nothing in here for y-you, Roarke." Rainbow's lips quivered as she held a hoof over her chest. "There wasn't after Discord... and now..." She gritted her teeth, then finished with a low grumble. "Belle and Pilate have all that's left. They may be weak, but at least th-they've earned it." Then, with clamoring hooves, she galloped straight up the stairwell.
Roarke stood alone in the hangar, surrounded by rattling metal crates and bulkheads. She slumped back on her haunches in the echoes of Rainbow's exclamations. At last, she bowed her head, weathering a deep shiver. She reached up, unclamped her eye-lenses, and ran a hoof over her face as her shoulders collapsed.
That night, Floydien sat faithfully at the helm. His antlers sparked randomly into the console of the Noble Jury's cockpit, steering the ship faithfully towards the bleak horizon beyond the mountain peaks. At some point, the elevated terraind sloped north, and a stretch of snowy tundra appeared below, separating the last remaining strip of the continent from the icy-cold shoreline below. The ship hung low enough for the elk pilot to hear the crashing of waves against sand and frost. His ears twitched slightly, but he continued to say nothing.
Further back, in the middle of the open deck, Eagle Eye was in the middle of exercising complex fight moves. His lungs heaved and his lithe limbs were coated with a fine layer of sweat. As weary as his muscles felt, he forced himself onward, parrying invisible enemies and thrusting his sword into the night air. His violet eyes were dull and weary, and it constantly looked as though he was gazing at a fixed point miles behind each of his imagined opponents.
At one point, he slid forward on two knees, levitating his sword in a deep stab. As he did so, he paused, for he spotted white flakes collecting on the tip of the blade. Blinking, he caught his panting breath, then glanced upwards.
Likewise, inside the cockpit, Floydien tilted his head to gaze beyond the frosted windows. He saw a thin curtain of snow collecting above. Undaunted, he pushed the Noble Jury on through it. Eagle Eye lingered for a minute or two, then sighed, resuming his fighting moves in eerie silence as the vessel coasted along.
Inside the kitchen, Ebon Mane pretended to mix a large salad. He threw in a heap of tomatoes and half a bag of carrots. It was right when he was preparing to toss the whole mess when he suddenly froze, then slumped back onto a stool situated between two counter tops.
He ran a hoof through his mane, shuddering. With a dull expression, he gazed out the nearest doorframe.
Josho sat at one end of the mess hall's long table. With a contemplative stance, the old soldier gazed quietly out porthole, watching as a powdery stream of snow fell pass the circular glass window. A plate of pasta sat before him, but the obese stallion hadn't taken a single bite.
The first stretch of dawnlight poured into the observation room, casting a golden sheen across Rainbow's sleeping face.
The mare turned over, stirring unconsciously in her hammock. Even in the deepest slumber, her face carried the deep, hard lines of distress. She murmured indecipherable words, her eyes jerking rapidly left and right beneath her lids. At one point, her forelimbs tensed up, then dangled across her chest as a bead of moisture clung to her lashes.
It was around this point that a light brown hoof reached up and brushed her chin, before softly caressing her cheek.
Rainbow Dash tensed again, her clenched teeth showing beneath her lips. But as the hoof stroked her muzzle, she whimpered something in a foalish tone, then unconsciously nuzzled it. The hoof stayed in place, accepting the pegasus' slumbering gesture. A deep breath escaped Rainbow's lungs, and the tension dripped loose from her body. Her eyes relaxed, and she dangled still in the hammock, breathing evenly for once.
Then, slowly—receding like a drifting feather—the brown hoof slipped away. Shadows shifted against the bulkheads, and Rainbow was alone with the sunrise.
A minute passed.
Five minutes.
Ten...
The Noble Jury shook with a slight jolt.
Almost instantly, Rainbow Dash's eyes fluttered open. She squinted at the bright window of the observation room, then at the empty floor beneath her and the hammock. With a sigh, she closed her eyes again.
Silence...
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash shot up. Her sleepy eyes blinked wide. She flung a hoof up to her cheek, rubbing it, her lips pursing. Then, with a look of frightening curiosity, she turned to stare out into the vertical crawlspace. Her wings twitched... then twitched again.
Cl-Clank!
She jumped down on all fours and galloped across the space. She tore across the navigation room, flung open a metal door, flew across the engine compartment, and opened the door on the other end. Almost instantly, she was greeted with a blast of cold, wintry air. Squinting, she rushed through the open doorway to the hangar and skidded to a stop.
The hangar doors were slightly ajar, and blistering cold gusts whistled through the yawning frame. Staring out, Rainbow could see powdery snow banks looming less than a hundred feet below.
Shivering, Rainbow flashed a look to her side. Half of the crates inside the hangar was missing, along with a huge stockpile of weapons. Breathless, she backed herself into the stairwell and tore her way towards the top deck.
Eagle Eye gasped at the sound of Rainbow's clamoring hooves. He spun, gawking at her. "Rainbow! What's... what's wrong?"
Rainbow Dash was panting. She galloped up to the edge of the ship's stern and gazed out across the landscape. The golden light of dawn was glinting off the mountain peaks to the north and glittering across a sea of ice cold waves to the south. Finally, a long bank of sand and snow stretched west beyond the vanishing point, with a swath of mildly forested valleys bending northwest through a dip in the mountain range.
By this point, Floydien had stepped out of the cockpit. "What brings paint bucket so glimmeringly into the gasp of frost frost?!" He waved a cloven hoof, grumbling. "The boomer should at least throw on a leather coat! Is none of Floydien's relatives, yes yes?"
Rainbow said nothing. With a low grunt, she galloped clear off the edge, spread her wings, and dove down towards the frozen shore.
"Whoah—Whoah!!" Eagle Eye gasped, dropping his sword and shield. He dashed to the stern, gazing in shock as Rainbow flew a blue blurred streak due west. "Rainbow! Come back!" He winced, then spun towards Floydien. "Well?! What are you looking at?!"
"Lavender boomer's guess is as good as Floydien's."
"Bring 'er to a stop! We can't leave without Rainbow!"
"Unless Floydien's mistaken, paint bucket has done the leaving and the stopping."
"Floydiennnnnn..."
"Yes yes yes..." The elk stumbled back towards the cockpit. "But this is not Nancy Jane's wanting or doing!"
Eagle spun back towards the stern, squinting to see as well as his expert eyes could allow.
Rainbow Dash flew briskly along the shore. Her right ear ached from the whistling howl of mountain winds while her left ear was assaulated with a barrage of crashing waves. She flew for a solid five minutes, her ruby eyes sweeping left and right across the powdery shoreline.
At last, she spotted something, and her body jerked to a stop, hovering a dozen meters above the ground.
The shoreline below was marked with three large impacts. Two were shaped like solid squares, and a third was considerably smaller and irregular, but was haloed by a series of thick hoofprints that wandered over to the other two craters. From there, a long trail of hoofprints began, followed by a pair of thick tracks. They lead due west, then made a sharp northwest turn, leading towards the valley between the dipping mountains.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. She flew along the tracks, flapping her wings harder and harder. As a minute squeezed by, however, her feathers moved less and less. She felt her muscles going slack, and before long she had drifted to the ground until her hooves touched the snow.
She slid for a few feet, then came to a stumbling stop. At last, she stood rigidly in place, her body frozen in the middle of the steady tracks.
Vaporous breaths exited her blue muzzle, growing less and less fervent.
Rainbow swallowed a lump down her throat, staring towards the northest horizon. After a solid space in time, she turned and glanced over her shoulder, staring calmly at the speck that was the Noble Jury in the distance, having slowed to a frigid stall.
"Every now and then, I-I still feel it." Pilate gulped, then clutched the sheets around him tighter as he leaned his head against the infirmary bed's pillow. "The sensation of catching on fire from the inside out. It... it's the m-most pain I've ever felt, beloved," he said. "At least... since the crash... the crash that started all of it..."
"Shhhh..." Belle stroked his cheek with her unbandaged forelimb. "You don't have to talk about it, Pilate."
He bit his lip. "But of course I do! I... I was in so much pain..." He grimaced. "I said things, Belle. I should have been stronger for you and Kera, but all I could think of was asking you... begging you for comfort."
"You were under a lot of duress."
"And you weren't?!" Pilate's breath squeaked. "I heard things. And I felt things, but fate made me blind to all of the atrocities that happened that night. I can't say the same for you, and I can't say the same for... for..."
A hush fell over the confined space of the infirmary.
Pilate sighed heavily. "Has... has she said anything, Belle? Has she spoken a word at all?"
Belle slowly shook her face. Her eyelids hung low. "No, Pilate. She... she breathes. She sleeps. It... it takes a bit of coaxing, but she eats and drinks. But... no words. No expression. She just... exists." She bit her lip before stammering forth, "She even lets me brush her hair. The gorgeous little thing is so pretty. So beautiful. And yet... I'd give anything j-just to hear her c-complain about it again—" She bit onto the end of her hoof.
Pilate's ears twitched, desperate to hear Belle's voice. He winced when all her could hear were the quiet building blocks of a tearful sob.
"We had everything, Pilate." She gulped and stroked his mane as she stared off into the bulkheads. "We had a home. We had a daughter. We had peace. It just... it j-just doesn't feel real. That this could have happened. That he could have found us."
Silence.
"But... but he didn't destroy us, beloved," Pilate said. "You. Me. Kera. We're still here." He whimpered through a painful smile. "We can st-still make something of this, and with Rainbow Dash by our side—"
"It isn't the same, Pilate. We shouldn't pretend that it's ever going to be the same. Maybe if things were different. Maybe if... if..." She couldn't finish that sentence.
Pilate blinked into nothingness. He felt cold, and realized that Belle's hoof wasn't stroking his mane anymore. His breaths quickened, and he murmured, "Belle? Bellesmith?" Silence. He gargled up a pitiful breath. "I know it's... it's bleak now. But remember what I've told you before. We must always have hope. We must. I mean... we have each other and... and Kera will come around! You'll see! We still have the Jury and... and it can be our home... it can... can..."
His face grimaced and his ears folded back. A cold shiver overwhelmed the zebra.
"It's my fault. I... I pressed this upon Kera. I pressed it upon all of us. If... if I had never brought us to Lerris... if I had left it all alone... and just stuck to what we knew... and the ponies we trusted, then maybe... m-maybe he would never have caught up with us. Maybe... maybe you would have had your daughter... and a beloved who could still protect you..."
Silence.
"I'm... I'm so sorry, Belle. I... I'm so sorry for everything." He gulped and murmured across the room. "Belle?" He twitched. "Belle...?"
She was gone.
The zebra lifted his head. He held his breath, shook, then slumped back into the bed. Pilate's face collapsed in a pent-up sob, and her curled his forelimbs to his face as he wept bitterly into the mattress.
Belle sat a few spaces outside the door to the infirmary. She had collapsed, slumped to the floor with her back to the bulkheads. The mare buried her muzzle into her forelimbs as her shoulders heaved and heaved. When she finally lifted her muzzle, it was stained with tears. Belle's eyes rolled back as she sniffled and wiped her cheek dry. In a pitiful breath, she gazed towards the door to her quarters where she knew a catatonic foal lay waiting.
Before she could move, she saw a blue body blurring down the crawlspace near the bow of the ship.
Belle gasped, her moist eyes narrowing. With a curious tremor, she trotted forward on shaky hooves and peered down the vertical chamber. "Rainbow...?" Her voice echoed against the metal walls. "What...?"
The whole ship shifted. It was only then that Bellesmith realized that the Noble Jury had slowed down, only to pick right back up.
Breathless, she climbed down the metal ladder to the bottommost deck.
Rainbow Dash sat, her body making a thick shadow as she faced out the sunlit windows of the observation room. Belle trotted up softly and came to a stop behind her.
"What... what's going on, Rainbow?" Belle asked in a quiet tone. She glanced up at the crawlspace and then back at the pegasus. "I saw you darting about just now. Did the Noble Jury stop for something? What's wrong?"
Rainbow's wings coiled up. At last, she sighed. "She's gone."
"Who's gone?"
"Roarke," Rainbow droned. "She left."
"She..." Belle did a double-take. "She what?!" The mare started to pant. "When? I-I mean... how?!" She flinched, looking back and forth from the rear of the ship and where Rainbow sat. "It... that... w-we need to go after her, then!"
"Belle..."
"We gotta bring the Jury around or send out a search party or—"
"Roarke left because... because I told her to, Belle."
The mare stared at her, her jaw dropped. "Rainbow Dash..."
"She's fine," the mare muttered. "She's a strong pony. In fact, she's better off without us. Face it. You and I both know that this sort of a journey wasn't in her blood."
"How..." Belle gulped and trotted a few steps closer. "How could you say that? I mean... Rainbow Dash, you're the reason she ever turned face to begin with!"
"All I did was beat her senseless," Rainbow Dash grumbled. "And senseless ponies do senseless things."
"No." Belle frowned. "You showed her that there was a life worth living beyond pathetic, blind fealty to a mountain stronghold full of psychopaths! If it weren't for you—"
Rainbow Dash turned and glared over her shoulder. "It was because of Roarke that Kera chose to stay in Lerris."
Belle froze in place. "What... makes you say that?"
"Because she told me. Directly to my face." Rainbow's nostrils flared. "She said that back in Archer Pointe, when she had some alone time with Kera, she told the filly about the coming trip to Lerris. She told her that she would have to make a choice because you and Pilate were too 'weak' to."
Belle's brow furrowed. She stared with disbelief into the bulkheads.
"She went behind our backs and screwed around with Kera's head." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I don't care how good her intentions were. Things would have been a lot different if Kera's head wasn't so full of Roarke's words." She sighed and stared out the window ahead. "So... I sent her away." Her ears folded. "Before she could hurt herself by making another confession..."
Silence.
"Even still, Rainbow..." Belle spoke quietly but firmly. "Roarke is not Shell. We could use her. We can use everything we can get for the trip ahead—"
"I can't use her."
"Why not?!" Belle gazed at her pitifully. "Because she cared for you in ways she never had the chance to say?"
"That's not important right now," Rainbow Dash muttered, her scowl increasing with each breath. "Nothing is except for making a safe trip across the Frozen Sea—"
"Even Pilate and myself?!" Belle snapped. "And the way we feel about you?!"
Rainbow looked back, and when she did she was glaring. "Just tell me one thing, Belle." Her nostrils flared and flared. "Did you know?"
Belle merely blinked.
So Rainbow snarled, "Did you know about Imre? About her being Shell's daughter?" She gulped as her shoulders shook in anger "Did youknow about the way she died?! About how her loyalty to me and her remorse over her father drove her to do what she did?"
Belle opened her mouth, lingered, then finally blurted, "Yes."
Rainbow was silent.
"I knew the moment Shell's party boarded our ship the day Simon died," Belle murmured. "The day I saw that... th-that ghastly piece of her hanging about his neck. And... and..."
"He made you sequence with her, didn't he?" Rainbow said in a cold tone. "Why else would he have spared you then when he did everything to torment you and Kera and Pilate in Lerris?"
Belle opened her mouth, but her eyes instantly watered. Lips quivering, she plopped down on her haunches. "I... became Imre..." She shivered. "In his fractured mind, Shell mistook me for her. And... and I used it to my advantage."
Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw.
Two tears ran down Belle's face as she stared aghast into the bulkheads. "I honed his fractured psyche like it was a missile and guided it towards Seclorum's hideout... all b-because I wanted to stop Lasairfion's attack." Belle brushed her cheek and pulled at her short bangs as she whimpered, "Because I wanted to help bring an end to Nevlamas' chaos... and b-because I wanted to see my beloved again... and you... and Kera..."
Silence, until Belle's voice cracked forth a pained sob.
"I'm responsible..." She hugged herself in the middle of the observation room, weeping. "I-I turned his insanity back into an obsession. I... I just wanted to reunite with you and everypony else again. I... I didn't think beyond that." She grimaced. "I... I had him right in my clutches... when he was at his weakest. I was his Imre... and Imre could have slain him."
Rainbow slowly shook her head. Her eyes watered as she said, "All I wish... is th-that you would have told me the truth." She sniffled. "You should have told me about Imre the first chance we reunited at Seclorum's."
"Rainbow Dash, please... I... I wanted to... but... b-but..."
"It's okay. I understand, Belle." Rainbow Dash stared ahead, her eyes drying against the sunrise. "You needed me to be strong in your belief."
"Your... b-belief?"
"That I'm not some kind of monster..." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "That I'm not some sort of horribly unlucky glutton for circumstance that drags calamity across every place she goes." She breathed deeply. "Everything Shell ever said was bullcrap, but he hunted me for a reason. And who's to know who or what else won't take up the chase beyond this cruddy sea?"
"Rainbow..."
"I can stand somepony like Roarke keeping secrets behind my back. But not you, Belle." She shook her head. "Not those few ponies I have left to call friends."
"Rainbow!" Belle sat up, sucking her breath in for the solid breath to say, "Don't take on this attitude! Don't you get it?! This is exactly what Shell would have wanted."
She slowly turned around. "It's not just my attitude."
Belle blinked confusedly at that, but then she winced, rubbing together the hooves that had stroked a zebra's mane just minutes ago.
Rainbow trotted forward and spoke in an icy tone. "When we reach new land across this sea, we're going to find the first safe haven that comes to us..." She took a deep breath. "And we're going to part ways, Belle."
"Part ways?"
"Eljunbyro did what it set out to do," Rainbow said. "I can't hold back Austraeoh's part any longer. It's the least that you and Pilate deserve."
"Rainbow, neither of us c-could have stopped what happened in Lerris! Please!" Belle choked back a sob and gripped both of Rainbow's shoulders with her hooves. "Don't do this, Rainbow. Whatever this is—I'm begging you. Don't send me and Pilate away like you did Roarke! Everything is... th-thrown all over the place and splitting up now is not going to help things! Shell's dead. As horrible as the past is—it's the past. Please... we need you."
Rainbow stood still.
Belle stared at her, her lips quivering beneath a tear-stained face.
Quietly, Rainbow gripped Belle's hooves and lowered them to the floor. She said, "I'm going outside to scout the skies ahead. You need to stay here, below deck, where it's safe."
Belle shook, fumbling to say something.
With a ruffle of her feathers, Rainbow trotted past her, then shimmied silently up the ladder of the crawlspace.
On her own, Belle fell to her knees in the sunlight, and brought her hooves over her face.
A lavender glow cascaded over the metal door towards the bow as Zaid opened it to the engine room. Waving steam from his face, he trotted in, squinting.
"Blondie?" he called out. "Yoohoo! Hey blondie, you there?"
There was no reply.
With a curious shuffle, the stallion trotted over a mess of spilled wrenches and tools and shuffled past the cage with the glowing tome inside. "Yeesh, it's like a demonic dance hall in here. Even a pony snorting parasprite blood wouldn't get a buzz from this place." He chuckled to himself as he at last stood behind a mare's figure hunched before a workbench. "Heheh... yeah, okay. You got me there. You can't snort parasprite blood. That kind of crud is best injected."
Props didn't look at him. Her ears flicked from either side of her drooping mane.
"Uhm... Blondie? That was a joke." Zaid nudged her. "You know... the stuff you giggle explosively at?"
"Mmmmmph..." Props stirred, turning her shoulder to him. "Go away, Zaidy..."
Zaid's eyebrow raised. "Kind of hard to 'go away' on a ship that's small enough for a dragon to barf up." He shrugged. "What's the dealio, sexio? Ebon says that salad's being served. Don't you wanna feed that buxom, curvaceous brain of yours?"
"Nnngh... I've got engine work to do."
"Uh, yeah..." Zaid fidgeted, glancing at all of the neglected tools lying around. "I can see that."
"It's okay if you wanna bite my head off."
"Pffft. Why would I wanna do that?" Zaid yanked a stool over and plopped down. "I just wanted to talk!"
"I thought you just wanted to tell me that salad's up..."
"Yeah, well, now I want to talk." Zaid smirked. "Hey. Come on. Look at me."
At last, the mare tilted her head towards him. Her goggles were fogged up, so the stallion reached over and lifted them up, revealing a pair of tearing eyes.
"Yeah..." Zaid sighed. "There's a lot of that going around." He nevertheless gave a weary smile. "I've always been of the belief that hugs are a lot more contagious. Wanna give it a test?"
"Why w-would you want to?" Props sniffled. "Aren't you mad at me?"
"Mad at you?!"
"Because..." The mare bit her lip. "Because it's all my fault..."
Zaid could only raise an eyebrow at that.
"I... I could have worked harder..." Props wiped her cheek. "I could h-have gotten the skystone working sooner! If... if I d-did... then we could have flown faster than Rainbow Dash. We c-could have gotten there. Could... could have stopped him..."
"Eughhhhh..." Zaid clenched his eyes shut and groaned. "For the love of monkey bait, not you too." He reopened his eyes and caressed her cheek. "Listen to me. You'd better jump off that train before it leaves the station, girl, because it ain't gonna take you nowhere good."
"But... but all those ponies... and... and th-the poor foals..."
"Shhhh... c'mere, you..." Zaid wrapped his forelimbs around her. The mare sobbed quietly into his chest as he stroked her blonde mane. "Y'know, I've been through a lot of tough places, and I've seen ugly things. A lot more than I'd like to talk about, because if there's anything I hate more in life, it's being a downer pony."
"But... b-but how's th-that possible...?" She shook and shivered, the ends of her hooves curling against his coat. "You're s-such a happy stallion! And y-you're so p-positive all the time..."
"And you're not?" Zaid smirked. He parted the hug so that they could stare eye-to-eye. "I've been homeless on over a dozen occasions. The only reason I've managed to keep going from one place to another is because long ago I realized that the home isn't what makes me, but the hope that I hang onto, the ponies I like to share it with."
"I've... I've never s-seen anything as horrible as I h-have just now..." Props bit her lip. "We did everything we could for Kera and her family. How can we help them now? How can we h-help them in the future when bad things can happen without any warning?"
"Look, I've butted heads with death a bunch of times," Zaid said. "Death has a lot going for it. It's cold, it's powerful, and it's merciless. But life always trumps it. Cuz even when the warm things of this world get snuffed out, nothing can change the fact that—for even a brief fart in cosmic time—they had will." He smirked. "What happened back in Lerris sucked terribly, and most ponies on board this ship are probably gonna be playing the crying game, blaming themselves or each other or what crap. But you and I?" He shook his head. "We're not those kinds of ponies. We gotta show these dudes that we play by another rulebook, because—believe it or not—all is not shot to crap. We will find hope again, and when that time comes, our friends are gonna need the likes of us to lean on."
Props stared blankly at her.
"So, you think you can stop blaming yourself? Because guilt's a really ugly color on you, girl," he said with a wink.
Props squinted. She rubbed her cheek again and giggled slightly. "'Monkey bait.' Heh... heehee... that's a good one."
Zaid shrugged. "I come up with the best stuff when I don't plan ahead." He blinked. "Er... well... m-most of the time."
She smiled at him, sniffling.
He stood up, patted her shoulder, and leaned in. "Salaaaaaaaaaaad," he whispered in her ear, then trotted away under the lavender glow.
Once he was gone, Props gazed over at the workbench on the other side of the room. A communication array sat within the tender glow of the ship's engine core. On quiet hooves, Props trotted over until she sat before the machine. She twirled a lever on one side and brought a mic to her muzzle. As the apparatus sparked to life, she swallowed hard and spoke into it.
"Hello... can anypony hear me? It's Props... Props of the Noble Jury..."
Silence—nothing but static and whining noises.
"Uncle Prowse...?" Props sniffled, a tear running down her cheek. "If you're out there... if y-you're still in one piece, please hear me out..." She clenched her jaw tight and sat up with a resolute glare. "It's your niece, Props, and I haven't given up on you." She dried her cheek again and forced a devilish smirk. "I haven't given up on anything."
Alone in the infirmary, Pilate's bandaged body sat up straight. He leaned upon the edge of his mattress, staring off into nothingness.
Occasionally, the swaying of the Noble Jury jostled his mane.
He breathed evenly, his gray eyes wet but not tearing. He brought a hoof up, feeling the cluster of bandages around the nape of his neck, where the O.A.S.I.S. tech used to reside.
With a deep breath, he retreated for the umpteenth time to the bed, curling up in darkness and listening for nothing, his thoughts spinning circles in his lonesome head.
Inside her quarters, Belle finished brushing Kera's mane. She put the instrument away and gently pushed Kera towards the bed.
The filly did not resist. Like a limp doll, she plopped on her side, staring steadily into the shadows beyond the mattress.
Belle spent a few minutes just gazing at her. At last, she dimmed the lantern and crawled into bed. Once under the covers, she wrapped her motherly arms around the little foal.
Kera said nothing, her body silently molding with the motions of the adult mare embracing her from behind.
Belle felt Kera's heartbeat. She reached up to caress the girl's bangs one last time. Then quietly, she leaned in and kissed the filly on her neck. Her muzzle stayed there, scrunching up as gentle weeping sounds came from Belle's lips. She fought the trembles, hugging Kera tighter in the darkness as the ship swayed delicately around them.
On board the top deck of the Jury, Eagle Eye stood at one of the masts, sharpening his sword with a rough stone. He paused, glancing silently towards the stern.
Josho and Ebon Mane stood in separate places, staring out over the thickening sheets of ice that filled the waters beyond the shore below.
Biting his lip, Eagle glanced the other way.
Floydien sat alone in the cockpit, staring ever eastward.
Nopony said a word to anypony. The air was nothing but frost and flakes of quietly falling snow.
Eagle's face twisted in confusion, disbelief, and then a sheet of dull ennui. He sighed, returning to his blade, murmuring something to himself that somehow kept his eyes dry.
A hundred meters ahead of the Noble Jury, Rainbow Dash flew east. She stretched her wings wide, twirling every now and then to break up errant patches of cloud that stood in the vessel's wake. Bit by bit, she cleared the path before the airship, allowing sunlight to shine through to the glittery patches of iced water below.
Her body shivered, pelted with frost from every cloud she selflessly plowed through.
At one point, she stared back, squinting at the Noble Jury with chattering teeth. For a brief moment, her eyes wandered northwest, as if hoping to see the mountain pass where a lonesome pair of tracks led through.
She could see nothing through the hazy horizon of snow.
Rainbow's muscles shook harder. At any moment, she could easily have rubbed her pendant and warmed herself with the element's glow. She instead kept her forelimbs stretched forward as she glided towards the white horizon. She sniffled once, and her eyes afforded a single tear, but the sunlight dried all the rest as she flew faster, leading the Noble Jury over the cold sea, leaving a bitter continent behind.
One week later...
Inside a decrepit two-story shack warmed by three iron stoves, several burly ponies in thick wintry gear gathered around a splintery wooden bar, dipping their grimy muzzles deep into mugs of whiskey and ale.
One sat in a corner, sharpening a dagger while he gave the rest dirty glances. Two huddled beside one of the stoves, muttering and bartering over a crate full of multicolored herbs in glass jars. Halfway up a teetering staircase, a stallion with gray whiskers drunkenly flirted with a mare in a raggedy, brightly-colored dress. Both laughed and reeled in a wicked stupor.
The bartender of the place grumbled, crouching down on his knees as he employed a thick rag and a third bucket of sudsy material in his futile attempt to wash bloodstains from a patch of floorboard.
The mixed reverie and muddled conversations continued until the rickety door to the shack flew open, causing a flurry of cold air to rush in. Everypony instantly shivered, rubbing their forelimbs and grumbling.
This persisted for half a minute until the bartender stood up with a frown. "Hey! Close the damn door!" He gritted his teeth. "You know the rules around here! Keep out the elements or you get nothing from the fountain!"
Before he could finish his breath, the bruised and battered body of a stallion flew inside and smashed through a table, causing two inebriated ponies to fall back, gasping. Everypony's heads turned towards the center of the shack.
The stallion who was thrown inside groaned, turning over as his body shivered. He coughed, sputtered, and spat up blood. "Help... me... sh-she's a... a Nagun-damned lunatic..."
Just then, a series of heavy hoofsteps thudded one after another. Everypony looked to see a stocky, cloaked figure enter the room, dragging in powdery bits of snow. The figure pivoted about, glaring at everypony. At last, a hoof pointed at the stallion on the ground.
"This stallion is part of a group known as the Frostbite Five... which, after I found out just yesterday what its two cowardly members like to do to the enslaved foals they smuggle through this land... could just as well now be called the Thick-Headed Three."
The ponies flinched, gasping as the figure turned about with a flurry of snowflakes.
"I know that the group's leader works here. And I'm sure he would like to find out how many of his buddies' organs I fed to them until they had the nerve to point me here."
"Why you..." The stallion in the corner twirled his dagger and stood up, scowling. "Damn you to the frozen wastes!" He gripped the blade in his teeth, spun around, and launched it murderously at the stranger's neck.
Clank! The blade embedded into the side of the figure's cloak. The pony stared aside, a pair of copper lenses glistening from under the hood.
The leader of the Frostbite Five stumbled back, gasping.
With a grunt, Roarke shredded the cloak, yanking the fabric off her in one toss. Her body was exposed to the stovelight, along with the tight metal bars framing her every limb. Without wasting another second, she spun and bucked a table with both hooves. The pneumatic joints activated with gusts of steam, propelling the wooden furniture across the shack with the force of an anvil.
Crack! The stallion found himself plowed violently into the wall, causing the whole wobbly building to shift on its foundation.
Some ponies shriek. Two stallions—fueled by whiskey and anger—dove at Roarke's side.
She brought one hoof up without looking, knocked three teeth out of one stallion, then flicked the fetlock of the other limb, producing a metal grappling arm that grabbed the second attacker by his neck. Barely breaking a sweat, she spun her body and dragged the choking pony through two chairs before flinging him over the bar counter and into a wall of shattering bottles.
Every other pony in the place instantly backed away—all save for the Frostbite Five leader. Bruised and bleeding, he scampered in a vain attempt to exit out the snow-pelted entrance.
Roarke fired a pair of steam thrusters in the metal frame at her flank. In a single second, she had crossed the distance of the room, slamming the stallion into the wall. She flicked her right forelimb, produced a thin blade, and skewered the stallion's shoulder, pinning him in place.
"Aaaaaaaughhh-grkkkkt!" The grimy pony teared up, sneering in pain. His wincing eyes gazed at her. "You... you freak! H-how much do you want?! The g-gang's got a stockpile! Tons of gold and silver! Grkkkt... it can all be yours!"
"Didn't you hear me, breeder?!" Roarke hissed into his face. "I came here for one thing. Information. Now..." She twisted the blade slightly, causing him to yelp in pain. "Before I get angry, tell me everything you know about your friends, the Lounge."
"Nnngh... wh-why...?" He stammered, staring crookedly at her. "What's it to you?"
"Because my friends are passing through their territory as we speak," Roarke said. Her lenses pistoned out. "And I aim to protect them, no matter the cost."
