Applejack was the first to wake. Her being a farm mare, she always was up at the crack of dawn. Based off of the position of the sun, she mused that it was about 4 in the morning. She began to do her normal duties of preparing breakfast. After about 20 minutes of work, she made a respectable fruit salad consisting of their leftover apples and berries for all the ponies to enjoy.

"Do I smell apples?" said Starswirl excitedly from behind Applejack.

"Yer darn tootin!" said Applejack proudly, "Ah always make me and the family some breakfast and ah figure, shoot, well y'all are basically mah family!"

"You barely know me." said Starswirl confused, "And pretty much all I've done is insult you and put you in danger."
"Ah know yer just in a bit of a hard spot in yer life." said Applejack tenderly, "It's easy to get frustrated durin a big change like this. Sometimes ya might say sumthin ya don't mean."

"But, I practically called you an idiot." said Starswirl, "Even now, as we're talking, I'm still thinking 'Why am I listening to an incestial Earth pony?'"

"Hahaha" laughed Applejack, "If ah've heard that jab once, ah heard it a thousand times. Like ah said, ya probably don't mean what ya sayin. You'll adjust eventually, once we dun sorted out this issue with Princess Celestia. Ah will say this though. Ya need to start being honest with yerself. Ya keep up this facade to try an hide yerself from yer feelings. That's not good fer anypony, let alone one with as much trauma as yerself. But that's just mah own opinion."

Who the hay does she think she is?, thought Starswirl, Telling me about myself, as if I didn't already know. It was all a load of crap anyway. The only thing that held any real weight is the transition thing. And maybe saying things I don't mean. And what she said about me holding a facade. Oh my. She's right, isn't she?.

"Applejack?" Starswirl sighed, "I'm sorry for how I've been acting and what I said about you and Pinkie Pie."

"Apology accepted." said Applejack kindly.

"One more thing. Do you mind if I call you Aj?"

"Not at all sugarcube, although ah am curious as to what brung on this sudden nickname."

"Well, that's kinda how I show my affection." said Starswirl, embarrassed. "I start off calling everypony by their full name, but if I begin to like them I nickname them."

"So, ya startin to like me?" asked Applejack with a smirk. "Ah'm honored."

"I'm actually starting to like all of you. Rainbow Dash probably saved our lives at the castle, Pinkie is a hoot, and Twilight helped me get some stuff off my chest. I haven't really talked to Fluttershy or Rarity yet though."

"Ah'm sure there will be time for y'all to bond after this whole ordeal." said Applejack, glancing at the sun again to check the time, "Ah reckon we should wake everypony up so we can go get started."

"Alright. Everypony! Wake up!" shouted Starswirl. He trotted over to each of them and shook them awake, offering them a bowl of the apple/berry mix Aj had made. They had a quick breakfast, packed up their sleeping bags, and started off.

They continue to the changeling Hive, over the Macintosh Hills and into the sandy, deserted Badlands, where there would surely be more dangers for them to face. On they walked, Starswirl a bit more talkative than usual.

"Fluttershy, my dear, I'm afraid I haven't gotten to know you very much." he said cheerily. "Care to tell me about yourself?"

"Well, I take care of any animals that might get hurt in the Everfree Forest." said Fluttershy timidly. "I act as a veterinarian of sorts."

"And you, Rarity?" asked Starswirl.

"Oh, I make dresses!" said Rarity, always excited to talk about her work, "The most elegant suits and dresses in all of Equestria!" No doubt she would have continued, had Starswirl not cut her off with a blood-curdling scream

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Starswirl. No pony had to ask why he screamed, for only one thing could make him scream with such terror: spiders. No doubt, 8 enormous spiders, each larger than a parade float, came scuttling out of the sand. The giant spiders, drool dripping from their mouths, a forest of hair in each of their eight spindly legs, rushed the ponies. Even the non-arachnophobic ponies were terrified, all except for Fluttershy, who stood standing bravely. While Starswirl and the others turned tail to run, Fluttershy stood defiantly and shouted,

"Hey! Down here spider-friends! Can you please back away? It's just that my friends here are very afraid of you." she said calmly. They chittered some spider-nonsense that only made sense to Fluttershy, because a second later, she responded.

"I know you are hungry, but please don't eat my friends. How about some apples instead?" she said understandingly, handing them the delicious fruit. The spiders sniffed at it and then devoured it noisily, like some sort of disgusting giant puppy. "We are trying to save Equestria. It is super-duper important that we get to the changeling Hive and see Queen Chrysalis." The spiders chittered and chattered some more, whatever they were saying lit up Fluttershy's face with excitement. "Really?!" she asked, approaching them, "That's great! We would love that!"

"What did he say?" asked Luna.

"He said that he lives in the Hive with the Queen!" said Fluttershy. "They are offering to give us a ride!"

"You mean I have to get on that things back?" said Starswirl in utter terror.

"Oh, c'mon Starswirl." said Fluttershy, scratching one under chin, "They aren't mean at all. They're actually really nice. If we don't take this ride, we might not make it to the Hive until tomorrow!" Starswirl thought about the idea.

Why is this is my life?, he thought in despair. "Fine." he said, very reluctantly, "But only because we need to get to the Hive now."

"Thank you very much spider-friends.", said Fluttershy, "When can we leave?" The spider chattered a response then bowed their heads. "They said to climb onto them and they will take us now!" She hopped onto the nearest one and sat on his head, beckoning for the other ponies to do the same. One by one, each pony climbed upon a spider, who raised it's head immediately. When Starswirl got onto his spider, he began to tremble. Fluttershy flew off her spider and onto Starswirl's. "It's okay Starswirl" she said kindly, "I'll ride with you if it makes you feel better." He looked up at her, absorbing the pure kindness she was exuberating.

"Thank you Flutters.", he said softly, "Please ride with me. These are the biggest spiders I've ever seen."

"No problem Starswirl." she replied. Turning to the spiders, she said, "We are ready now spider-friends!" The spiders nodded to each other and chattered a reply, saying something that confused Fluttershy.

"What did he say?" asked Rarity.

"He said 'Hold on'" said Fluttershy, "I have no idea wh- ahhhhh!", The end of here sentence cut off by the spiders drilling, lightning fast, through the sand. The spiders burrowed through the ground, the sound of their digging drowned out by the mixed screams of joy and terror from their passengers. Fluttershy, Starswirl, Rarity and Twilight covered their eyes in terror. Luna, Pinkie, Aj, and Rainbow, however, thought it was a hoot.

"YEE-HAW", screamed Applejack with excitement.

"Whooooooo!" yelled Rainbow.

"Huzzah!" exclaimed Luna.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Pinkie manically. 10 minutes of digging later, they had reached their destination. The spiders popped up out of the ground, bowing once again to let their passengers off. Starswirl, eyes still covered, hears a familiar voice, one he knew anywhere.

"Well, well Starswirl." said the voice, the voice of an insect almost, "You dare bring these enemies into my kingdom?"

"Calm down, Chrysie." said Starswirl removing his hooves from his eyes. "I'm here to call in favor."