"So, to save Magic," Lance started, "We go to the Crystal Nation?"

"Yes." Katie answered with a nod.

Matt and Blake were giving each other cold glares. It would've broke into a fight had Fenrir not stood between them with an unamused look on his face.

Natalie blushed, remembering what happened between her and Matt one night in the nation. Thank GodCat they were well past done when the monsters started attacking everydamnthing. Now she couldn't decide between him and Blake--Matt often stole and Blake was a refined gentleman until his anger was unleashed henceforth into the world. Blake she only met a few weeks ago and Matt she put up with for a few years. So difficult to choose, might as well go for both once they stop arguing.

Anna had never seen the Crystal Nation before and she thought it was a great idea, actually.

Gilda had never been either, so she wanted in.

Coryza, due to Celestia's bitching at the green-and-yellow pony who ran the Rainbow Factory, had decided to go along with the people...and beast-persons.

Twilight brought the rest of her friends and her assistant along. The more the merrier.

NoLegs meowed at Rarity constantly.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack kept stroking Katie's tail and making her giggle. Yes, her tail was ticklish.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were chatting up a conversation about which person they liked.

Spike and Gilda were chatting about this and that and the other thing too.

Lance put the Valkyrie on auto-travel mode before chatting with his wife. Their conversation? A nurse in the local hospital of Canterlot found out the archer was pregnant. In fact, she was six weeks along already.

Natalie started talking to the fashionista. There was lots to talk about between them. Coryza soon jumped in, and it was quite the tea party if they said so themselves.

It would take three days to travel to the Nation on foot or flight, but the Valkyrie could go there in less than a day, though it did stop lest it run over a white unicorn mare with a wavy blue mane, who moved herself out of the way before going about her business as the Valkyrie resumed its preset course.

Around halfway down the road, the party grouped together to discuss how they'd approach the nation. Matt and Natalie blatantly admitted they crashed there right off the bat and knew the rulers, Cadence and Shining Armor. They'd be glad to see those two and NoLegs again. Spike said that, if the Elements of Harmony were endangered, than the Crystal Heart--no, the whole world (like that wasn't obvious already!)--was also likely in danger. Everyone else agreed with him on the spot, so somebody would have to stay with the Heart and defend it. Again, Katie jumped the gun. Fenrir joined in with her on the offer, the more the merrier.

Lance said it was a good idea to go in groups in order to better find the missing element. Matt reasoned that this would have to go through Cadence, though.

Everyone agreed that Matt had the best option, and in the tank there was a feast.

Everyone got stuffed and decided to nap until they reached the Nation.

The following day, the tank stopped right at the entrance of the Nation. Lance woke up first. He blinked a few times before shambling all the way from the closet to the monitor that displayed everything in front of the tank. The monitor showed crystalline structures jutting out to and fro, and all of them had window-shaped holes in them. Out in the distance, an erratically huge crystalline thing shot out and towered over pretty much everything else. It was indeed as Matt and Natalie had described it--entirely made out of crystal, hence its name. Even the ponies had sparkling crystalline manes and coats, but at the time, only a few were out and about because it was the buttcrack of dawn. None of them seemed to notice the war machine sitting right on the outskirts of town, and this was a good thing.

Anna began to stir under the covers. She moaned in her sleep. Sensing that something didn't sit right, she paused for a bit so she could rub a layer of sand off of her eyes. Opening heavy eyelids, she saw that Lance wasn't next to her in bed. She shot up quick as a rabbit and put her feet down on the floor. Anna soon stretched her arms and let off a yawn. Not even bothering to put something on, she tiptoed around all the sleepyheads who were still in dreamland and, after a bit of careful maneuvering, saw her husband standing in front of the monitor. He was still nude.

Cautiously approaching him and avoiding accidentally kicking sleeping people/ponies in the face, she got a good look of what he was seeing. Her jaw dropped open and her eyes glittered in delight. There it was, the Crystal Nation in all its gleaming glory. Anna, after making sure there were no ill consequences, broke into a brief sprint right as Lance took notice of her. He opened his arms wide and she knocked him to the ground. Anna, bursting with excitement, could hardly contain herself. It was the most awesome thing she'd ever seen!

"It's so....so.....amazing." Said the archer, eyes twinkling in pure, blissful delight.

"Not as amazing as you." Lance replied before he kissed her.

Suddenly, a white, fuzzy cloth broke them away as it hit Anna on the backside. "Oi! Lovebirds! Put some damn clothes on! It's bad enough that Katie does it all the fucking time!" Called Matt, who was blushing brighter than a cherry.

Both Nazi and tree-woman blushed. They froze in place. Nervous chuckles escaped their lips. Hesitantly, they put on bath robes before everybody else was awake.

"Who did what to a pile of laundry clothes?" Katie asked as she stirred awake. She was only able to barely catch what Matt had said.

"Lance, look out through the monitor and tell me who you see." Matt pointed out. Lance did as instructed and gasped. Two ponies, a pink mare and a blue-white stallion, were the supposed rulers of the Nation.

Outside, Cadence and Shining glanced at each other. Had this been the war tank they heard about? The hatch opened and out from it popped up a man who was all too familiar to them.

"Matt!" Shining called.

"Hey there! I brought some big news! The tank has to go outside the palace, though! Make sure ponies here make a pathway so no unwanted casualties come as a result! Don't worry, I brought some friends!" Matt called back with a wave of his hand.

Shining nodded. "Alright! Give me about five minutes to inform the guards!"

Author's Notes:

For the more eagle-eyed amongst you readers, I should not point out an appearance of a character from one of my other stories.

*shot*