The silhouette drew closer yet, and all eyes were still glued to the screen watching it.

“What is that?” asked one brown gryphon, blinking.

“Not sure, Nathan. Let’s wait till it gets closer, and then we see how it plays out,” Lance replied, leaning in closer to the screen. Silence filled the tank, and all were tense as the thing drew even closer.

Brown matted fur stood out against the pure white. A four legged frame lumbered forward, the limbs ending in dulled yellow claws.

There was no mistaking it: the beast approaching them was a bear. The tranquility still lingered in the tank when the group realized what the encroaching beast was. And then, the silence was swiftly broken as fast as it had settled in.

“Sweet! We get to eat after all!” Matt cried in joy as a smile crossed his muzzle, rushing to the hatch and grabbing his sword with a magic tinged in gold during the process. As his blanket flew off, he revealed his cutie mark: a black silhouette of a sword in a pentagram's star-center. His white back legs propelled him in tandem with his front ones as he got closer to the hatch.

“Yay!” Anna cheered, also rushing to the hatch whilst scooping up her bow. A sharpened arrow and flute crossed in an X shape with a poison ivy vine wrapping around where both had intersected had been her cutie mark.

“May as well help get the damn thing,” Natz sighed, also going to the hatch and casting off her blanket. Her cutie mark was a shooting star, leaving behind three colored feathers of red, blue, and gold in the wake of its trailing tail The trio of unicorns clambered out by levitating themselves in their magic, but once they let their hooves land in the snow, the bear had stopped well away from the tank. Anna squinted her eyes and noticed that the beast had leaned its head down to sniff at something, but she wasn’t sure what.

The green-maned unicorn made to trot towards the bear, but a thick-furred white leg stopped her. She turned to Matt with a frown on her face. “What?” she asked.

“Snipe it from here. It won’t know what hit it,” he answered with a nod.

“I’d have to get closer; the damn snow is obstructing me, and I think the wind’s gonna turn my arrows sideways before they hit the target,” she replied with an irritated huff. The leg that was blocking her dropped, its hoof landing once again in the snow as the stallion merely groaned.

“She’s right; if the wind picks up any more speed, our manes will get in our faces at this rate,” Natalie agreed with a nod. “From here, I can hardly see the damn bear as it is. I’m grateful the tank saw the bear before we did!”

The blond-maned unicorn processed this for a moment before smiling. “If that’s the case, then the bear probably can’t see us through the snow. Ample time to sneak up on the fucker.” His smile widened as he spoke. Slowly, the three approached the bear, making their hoofsteps as quiet as possible—easier said than done, since the snow crunched beneath them as they went. Once they were about 120 yards from it, Anna paused to squint her eyes again and see the beast.

“Stop. I think it’s found a corpse,” she hissed, her remark causing the two other unicorns who trotted ahead to turn to her.

“A corpse? Of what?” the red-maned mare asked, quirking a brow.

“Dunno—all I see’s a splotch of dark red,” the green-maned pony answered, slowly taking out an arrow from her quiver. The two ponies quickly got out of her way as she put the arrow into the drawstring, levitated the bow before her body, and took aim. She fired the arrow once she was sure it would connect with her target, and it flew brazenly through the still-falling snow and the winds propelling it.

Against all odds, the winds pushed the projectile onward, causing it to hit the bear right in the head and the creature fell over in the snow, blood oozing out of the wound.

“Aww!” the blond-maned stallion complained, stomping a hoof in the snow. “I wanted more of a challenge!”

“We’re way stronger and smarter than these bears. They really can’t challenge us,” the fiery red-head sighed, and they resumed trotting to the beast. They stopped once they reached it, only to find what it was sniffing at earlier—a half-buried corpse of a very peculiar pony, if it could be called such.

“What should we do with this dead mare?” Natz asked, hefting up the bear in her magic with ease, being mindful to avoid the deceased pony.

“Those eyes are black,” Anna began, using a hoof to brush aside some of the pony’s mane so the other two could see its face, “you think she blinded herself?”

“Doubt it,” Matt replied, prodding at the pony’s ribs with his hoof. “Damn, this mare’s just skin and bones. How’d she get out here like this, especially with just a scarf around her neck?”

“She has changeling’s wings,” the red-maned unicorn frowned, using some more of her magic to heft the dead mare up from the snow. Strangely, the peculiar mare wasn’t stiff, though she was limp.

“Her horn’s been snapped off, her mane and tail are thin and stringy, her ears are longer than normal, and she has had chunks taken out of her…" Anna paused for a moment. "I think we may have found a dead queen,” she frowned. “But why’s her mane a dark red, and why is her skin light grey? Hell, why’s her mouth torn open to the point she has a creepy grin going from ear to ear?”

“Perhaps she’s been out here a while. I’mma get her horseshoes off her hooves,” the blond-maned stallion sighed, conjuring some more of his magic to remove said horseshoes from the mare’s hooves. “Let’s take the corpse with us; maybe Lance knows something about dead queens.”

A noise caught the attention of the trio, one that sounded like a distant boom of thunder. They looked around in all directions, but nothing stood out against the vast white aside from the tank. The unicorns glanced up, yet could see nothing past the ongoing flurry of snow which once again started to pick up in intensity, let alone past the darkening grey skies above.

Another rumble shook the skies, this time louder, and the ground lightly quaked in response. The snow coating it shook as well, all flakes appearing to jump up and down like the most minute of pebbles.

“Oh, shit, thundersnow incoming!” Natz shrieked, eyes widening. Her ears fell flat against her skull as the dreaded ruckus vehemently roared once more, this time with enough force to shake her and the other two unicorns in addition to the snow and ground.

The three quickly turned and galloped back into the tank in short order with their new catch, as well as the dead changeling maybe-queen in tow. They levitated themselves inside, and hastily threw the bear onto the floor of the metallic behemoth and the maybe-queen onto one of the gurneys.

Lance approached the lot as the hatch was closed. “We’re gonna need his fur,” he said, turning to one of the gryphons whilst pointing at the bear for emphasis, this one sporting a light grey lion's body and plumage. “Get me the skinning knife, Quicksilver.”

Quicksilver nodded and rushed to the sack of goods before rummaging through it again. After a few moments, he produced a knife. He tossed it to the pegasus, who caught it with a hoof. Before the fur had been cut away, along with the skin, Anna took the time to remove the arrow still lodged in its skull with a simple tug from her magic.

The process of skinning the damn thing took a hefty fifteen to twenty minutes, and afterwards, the meat had been cooked to perfection and everyone heartily dug in. Only the stripped bones and aforementioned fur and skin remained once the meat was eaten—not even the organs of the poor beast had been spared.

Lance looked at the bow-wielding mare, who had just finished her third chunk greedily. He then looked at the others, who were cleaning themselves from the meal.

“What should we do with the bones?” Matt asked before burping loudly.

“Make something from them,” Natz proposed, a faint smile on her face.

“Hang the bearskin to dry. As for the bones, put ‘em in their own box. Maybe we can ward off crazed spirits with a bone charm,” the sole pegasus commanded and a few gryphons did just that in a matter of minutes. The stallion turned his attention to the maybe-queen on the gurney and frowned. “Where’d that body come from?” he asked.

“She was already lying next to the bear when the bear fell thanks to my arrow. We figured you’d know something about what caused her to keel over,” Anna clarified quickly, frowning. She pulled a blanket over her body, her head resting atop her front legs.

“She had strange clawed horseshoes on her, which I’ve already tucked away in one of the chests,” Matt added with a nod. “Perhaps she fought tooth and hoof, but it wasn’t enough for the sorry bitch.”

“Quicksilver, Alexander!” Lance barked in a commanding tone of voice, and immediately, the two gryphons he addressed looked at him, bodies stiff and wings ruffling as they stood to attention. He pointed to the corpse on the gurney and said, “Figure out how that pony—”

Natalie cut him off mid-command as she proceeded to lay down, “Changeling, Lance! She has four bug wings and a missing horn!”

“Fine!” the pegasus snapped before continuing, “Figure out how that changeling died!”

The two gryphons nodded and rushed to the deceased maybe-queen and set to work examining her head to hoof. They prodded at her legs, her ribs, and even at her face before stopping. “Lack of love and food in general, the cold, and I believe her missing horn might’ve also been a contributing factor,” Alexander concluded with a sigh.

“How does the missing horn contribute, exactly?” the pegasus asked, blinking.

“Simple: without a means to channel her magic, she would not have been able to adequately feed off of love and defend herself. She’d have keeled over in a matter of days in a condition such as this, and frankly, I’m amazed her corpse isn’t stiff given the circumstances,” the dark-coated gryphon elaborated with a nod of his head.

“Must’ve just strived on determination alone to find one morsel of food. I genuinely feel sorry for the poor bitch,” Quicksilver added with a frown gracing his beak. “It takes guts to do something like that, with nothing more than a set of clawed horseshoes to boot.”

“But what explains her red mane and light grey coat?” Matt frowned, laying down and levitating a blanket over his body.

“This one’s probably albino, or she bleached her body,” the light grey gryphon shrugged. “Either that or it’s a postmortem thing going on where the skin just pales.”

“I see,” Lance sighed as he laid belly-side down on the floor of the tank after reclaiming his tattered blanket, a content smile on his face. “We’ll bury that queen first thing in the morning—she deserves that much, at least. For now, let’s get some shut-eye.” The other soldiers soon followed suit and did the same. As for NoLegs, he simply slept atop Matt’s back as everyone else went out like lights.

During the first few hours the group spent sleeping or so, the only sound heard in the tank aside from the heaters was a few gryphons and the two stallions snoring. Lance scrunched his closed eyes as he slept, mumbling to himself incoherently. He rolled over onto his back, wings spread uncomfortably wide, and a blush came onto his face.

“She's too damn young for me...” He paused, nose wrinkling as if responding to a horrid smell, “... she should know better.” He rolled over again, his form shaking. The metallic wings flapped once, then twice, as he babbled on without making even the slightest bit of sense. Rolling over once more, he was shaking his head in his sleep. “I don’t want Anna..." Another short pause riddled with a few pants. "I want… Natalie… she has the nicer ass…” he moaned, hind legs splayed wide and twitching for a moment before kicking and retracting back under his body.

“Anna… stop…” the pegasus went on, his face reddening still. He turned over yet again, shuddering as if the cold outside still assaulted him, letting off a single pleading whimper all the while. “Stop it… you’re too young…”

Natalie woke up, though she only opened one eye. She directed her azure orb towards the struggling and blushing stallion, who kept mumbling along the lines of “stop it, Anna” over and over as he tossed and turned. The mare kept very still, blinking her one open eye every few seconds.

“He’s having a wet dream about the shrimp amongst us. Greeaat,” she thought, still unmoving, save for her eyelids. “Yep. He’s a foalfooler… though he doesn’t seem to want this wet dream. Something’s really off here, and that's saying a lot.”

Lance began panting. “Stop it…” he continued to plead, stretching his rear legs and kicking at nothing in particular. His fidgeting worsened, and his breathing turned hitched and shallow. “No no no,” he mumbled, his voice now shifting to panic whilst his blush faded. “Don’t shoot an arrow at me.” He began scooting his body away from something, but Natz couldn’t tell what. “You’re creeping me out with your rambling about sin; stop it already!” his voice rose, yet he kept scooting. Judging from his current flailing, it seemed to have little effect over what was going on in his dream.

”Now he’s yakkin’ about something else?” the mare thought, her eye narrowing as a concerned frown marred her face.

His wings flapped again, and he hollered “I atoned for my sins already, just don’t shoot!” as his eyes snapped open in seconds, and the pegasus glanced around to find everyone else staring at him. The stallion shifted so he could sit on his rump whilst breathing frantically, dark red bags under his wide and bloodshot eyes which held pinprick pupils.

He hastily moved a hoof over the barrel of his chest, desperately pawing at it in a way the red-maned unicorn thought he was genuinely having a serious bout of pain in that particular spot. She made to speak, but could not utter a word as her attention turned from the panicked pony and towards another shifting form.

Matt scrambled to his hooves, the cat yowling and flying off his back as he got up so hastily. He looked at the pegasus, a frown marring his features. “What the fuck, man? Why did you scream?” he asked, eyes just as wide.

The red-eyed pony shook like a leaf in a storm, the look of pure terror not leaving his face. Sweat already formed, dribbling down his body messily like liquid bullets. He set his hoof down, jaw working up and down shakily, and his wings were still splayed wide. His torn ears fell flat on his head.

“He was having a wet dream. How it went, I don’t have an exact idea, but I know it had something to do with Anna. Maybe something about her yakkin’ about sin or whatever,” Natz answered, shaking her head sadly and groaning afterwards.

Anna bore a lopsided smile on her muzzle and small, twitching eyes sparkling with perplexion. Her horn glowed, its sparks creating question marks above her head. “Why would a simple dream about me end up frightening him? Doesn’t he like you more, Natz?” she asked, using a hoof to gesture to the only pegasus present.

“He only wants me for my ass, Anna. How the hell should I know?” the off-white unicorn said with a shrug as she briefly glanced at the smaller mare. “All I know is it looked like he nearly shat himself, and that he didn’t want the dream to begin with.”

Lance hid under his tattered blanket in short order, his form still cringing afterwards, like a foal who had yet to shed its fear of the dark that housed the evil boogeymen. “Just go back to sleep, everybody…” he murmured.

One by one, the others complied. This time, though, NoLegs moved next to the metal-winged pony and curled up. The tank was silent once more, save for the snores of the gryphons and stallions and the heaters as they generated warmth.

Another bout of dreaming clouded his thoughts, and this time, it was within the bounds of an area comprised of lava and rock that greeted him in the stead of whatever he dreamt about before arousing everyone else from their rest with his panicked howling. Had he been inside a volcano?

Lance looked around, seeing himself on a small platform that could barely support two ponies at best. Where was he, and why was he here? The stallion glanced around again, finding that the tall rock walls bathed in bright orange and red glows was separated from his impromptu island by miles and miles of boiling lava.

The lone pony glanced at his wings and sighed, shaking his head. "No way I'll be able to get out of here with these pieces of shit plastered on my back. Feathers are too small, though I doubt they’d generate decent air currents even if they’d gotten size augmentations," he murmured, his voice rebounding off the walls as if he’d yelled.

The island and rock walls briefly shook, and the lava began to boil more as it did. What was it that had agitated the thick, burning lifeblood of the mountain? A cool breeze blew past, gingerly touching the pegasus.

"Wait… a breeze?" the stallion murmured, glancing around once more. "That shouldn't be possible here..."

A voice echoed, one of a raspy feminine nature. "No rest for the wicked..." it snarled rather bitterly, as if the words themselves could have somehow been lathered in layers of horrible venom. This same voice had been loud and demanding like it belonged to a deity of some kind. Its rasping tone only further made this voice start to ring in his ears. "A fitting end for one such as you..."

"Who's there?" the stallion cried, glancing around and seeing nothing but walls and magma. For a moment, there came no answer, and thus his ears fell flat on his skull.

The lava began to boil more and more, and it slowly began to rise up and up. A feeling of dread washed over the trapped pony, whose eyes had widened. In a panic, he began flapping his useless wings whilst jumping about like a hapless frog. But, no matter what he did and how hard he tried, he could not escape from the encroaching magma that threatened to swallow both him and the quickly-shrinking island he was bouncing upon to no avail.

"Just accept your fate, you red-eyed cretin," the unseen owner of the voice shrieked once more, now loud enough to briefly shake the stone walls that held the magma which cut off all means of escape for the stallion. "You can't—"

A booming, demonic laughter hit his ears and cut off the ethereal voice, echoing off the walls as if coming from everywhere at once. Lance swiveled his head around to get another look at his surroundings once more, yet nothing changed. Before he woke up screeching again, he bore witness to a creature with piercing and glowing eyes staring right into his soul that. This same creature let off the unnerving laughter again, right before rushing straight to him like a missile.

The pegasus looked around after his second heart attack and noticed that his scream did not arouse anybody else from their slumber this time around. Calming himself down with a few shaky deep breaths, he sighed and looked towards the panel. The blizzard outside had stopped for the moment, and so did the howling winds which fueled it. He blinked, making sure he was seeing correctly.

The screen and his eyes failed to deceive him.

The only one who was awake sighed, and curled up to sleep once more. Before he could doze off, though, a faint moan of discomfort hit his torn ears. He rose up his head to glance around again and didn’t find the source of the moan. Upon trying to lower his head so as to rest again, the noise—a bit louder—resounded.

And then came the sound of faint sobbing, accompanied by frantic whimpers that were equally as hushed.

Once more, the pegasus rose his head and was able to detect the source of the sounds this time around: Anna. The unicorn was shedding tears in her sleep, her face reddening more and more by the second. Front hooves poised as if chained together, she desperately shook them as she laid flat on her back.

“Stop… it hurts…” she pleaded, rear legs splayed embarrassingly wide, but fortunately had been pointed towards the gurneys and away from him. The pegasus blinked, rubbing one eye with a hoof wearily.

“Get away!” Anna suddenly cried out, kicking the air frantically. “Get away! I didn’t sin, dammit!” she shrieked, struggling in such a way the still-sleepy stallion couldn’t help but feel that something invisible was actually having its way with her right then and there. The pegasus scrambled to his hooves and made a beeline to her without a second to spare, shaking her awake vigorously as soon as he was next to her. The unicorn woke up emitting a high-pitched shriek of her own, breathing as if her life was slipping away thereafter.

“I heard the caterwauling. Frankly, I don’t want to know what you were dreaming about,” the stallion sighed, gently spreading her forelegs to reassure her that nothing horrific had transpired whilst she was asleep.

Anna shook, sitting up in a heartbeat. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, and housed pinprick pupils. She frantically clutched the pegasus with her front hooves, still cringing with complete terror.

“It had… g-glowing eyes…” the unicorn whimpered, more tears leaking from her eyes. “A-And it t-told me… I-I had s-sinned…”

Lance blinked, feeling pain in his shoulders as the unicorn tightened her hug a bit.

“T-Then… it…” Anna hiccuped, only to stop as thin wings of metal wrapped around her.

“Please, for the love of Godcat, say no more,” the pegasus said sternly, but in a low tone of voice that was almost like a whisper. He had a pretty good idea of what she dreamt of, if her howling and sleeping mannerisms were anything to go by. The mental imagery was enough to make him cringe at the mere thought of it. Since he too had seen the glowing eyes in his earlier dream, he was starting to think that something was haunting them.

Had he been merely imagining this 'haunting', however? That was certainly possible; his sleep-fogged mind must've been playing with him. Whatever the reason, he didn't have the answer, and so sighed.

The shaken mare was silent for a moment or two as she calmed down. Then, she let go and curled back up, drying her tears with a hoof all the while. Lance moved away, scooped up his blanket with his mouth, then returned to her and laid down at the mare's side. He tossed the tattered cloth over his backside like a sack of flour, glancing at his companion as the thing landed on his metal-infused midsection, covering most of it up. "C-can I sleep with you?" she asked, still cringing a bit.

The metal-winged pony thought her request over for a moment or two, pursing his lips together and furrowing his brow slightly. “Just this once, squirt. And don't try any funny business,” the pegasus answered at last, swiftly wrapping a cloth-laden wing around her as best he could. Anna smiled weakly and snuggled up next to him, falling fast asleep with her head next to his shoulder. Lance nestled his head between his forelegs and quickly dozed back off himself, not hearing another peep from anyone else around him.

A few hours later, everyone arose like zombies from the grave. A collective series of yawns was shared, as well as the stretching of limbs and bodies; afterwards, a few jogging laps around the inside of the tank to make sure everyone was up and at the ready. for the day

Once all that was said and done, Lance opened the hatch and poked his head out of it, one gryphon beneath his back hooves supporting his form just barely. The moon hung high in the sky, bathing the entire landscape in a silvery glow. The snow twinkled like little diamonds, and the tank’s exterior like recently-polished steel. He had to admit, this sight was breathtaking beyond compare.

The other three poked their heads out as well, supporting themselves with their magic.

“It’s so amazing…” Natalie remarked, her eyes twinkling as much as the snow. A wide smile was on her face.

“Oh my Godcat, it is!” Anna agreed, her eyes also twinkling.

“Look over there,” Matt stated, using a hoof to point at a silhouette some distance away. The other three directed their gazes to it, using his hoof as makeshift guidance. “You think that could be Frostbite Haven?”

“Maybe,” Lance replied, blinking.

“If it is, then can we go there now?” the arrow-shooter asked, ears twitching.

The sole pegasus thought it over for a moment. “Yes,” he said, dropping back to the inside of the tank and immediately trotting to the control panel. The other three dropped down as well, and the hatch closed. Typing in numbers and letters and whatnot before grasping the steering handles with a new destination in mind, the burnt orange stallion smirked as the tank’s wheels whirred to life very violently. This caused a cascade of snow to fly everywhere and twinkle like hail. It sped towards the silhouette in the distance, the trip taking a mere thirty minutes tops.

It was indeed a town, and all the inhabitants happened to be cutie-markless hippogryphs of varying colors and plumage patterns. Some had manes like ponies, while others had feathers on their heads like gryphons. There were houses made from ice molded into bricks, and some had signs indicating shops and the like. Many of these villagers approached the tank as soon as it came to a stop on the outskirts of their town and watched as four ponies and around a dozen gryphons clambered out.

“Ponies!” one yellow hippogryph shouted, eyes wide.

“With cutie marks!” exclaimed another hippogryph, this one teal.

Matt’s little horn glowed a shimmering gold in color, and from thin air came another brown sack that was as full as he was tall. He plopped it in front of the townspeople and undid the drawstring which kept the sack's mouth sealed. This wound up revealing a lot of gold coins; so much, in fact, one had to wonder if he made a deal with a king or something for this ludicrous amount of money. “Food, fridges, and cupboards. Do you have them?” he asked.

“Oh, yes we do—we have lots; perhaps even more than the people here can manage. The fridges we have no use for, so you can have them for free—after all, what’s the point of having electrical appliances if you’re in an environment where they very seldom get used?” spoke one pure-white hippogryph, a beard of grey hanging from just behind his beak. He turned to his fellow hippogryphs and nodded. “Get them whatever they need,” he commanded.

A few more hippogryphs complied with the request, and these were the burliest males around. They went into one of the igloos that made up the town, just barely worming their way past the entrances, and stayed within this igloo for a few moments before pulling out the requested pieces of furniture one at a time.

With ease and a bit of teamwork, the hippogryphs flew up and up in pairs, each taking either a cupboard or a fridge in tow. They were careful to avoid dropping the blasted things, but had some trouble getting the massive objects past the entrance-hole of the tank. They had to weasel in vertically, which was easier said than done despite the bulk of the workers who had been doing the transporting.

Eventually, though, all five fridges and three cupboards had been loaded and secured very safely in the tank. Once the hunks of wood and metal were within the metallic behemoth, the burly hippogryphs flew out of the hatch and landed gracefully in the snow, taking their places next to the bearded male who nodded at them.

A few less bulky hippogryphs, all females with duller coats and plumages or manes than the males, then loaded bags of food into the tank. It was easier for them, since they did not have to worry about contending with huge pieces of furniture. Once they left the behemoth empty-clawed, Matt pushed the sack of gold coins towards the elder with his magic.

For a moment after the goods had been successfully loaded into the tank, a great reverberation echoed in the sky, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. It was as if time had frozen on the spot, rendering each and every pony, gryphon, and hippogryph stiff as a doornail. Again, and again, the deafening wailings of the sky continued to drag on, accompanied by the ground rumbling and moaning in response. Once the cacophony from above died down, all looked up towards the sky.

Every single set of eyes widened in either amazement or terror as a thin, shimmering something reflected the light of the moon, rendering those who stood in Frostbite Haven unable to see the heavens above. It was akin to the whole expanse of the cosmos itself being painted in a thick coat of white paint, yet this was just the start. This whatever-it-was that had muted out the deep navy that separated land and atmosphere began to shake just as another deafening roar resounded from above, as though it had been connected to the very earth itself.

“What the fuck is that?!” Matt cried, irises shrinking as he continued to stare at the anomaly. Another crash, like a bout of thunder, echoed from beyond, this one loud enough to force his ears to the back of his head just as the snow-laden ground shook once more.

The hippogryph with the beard blinked, pupils nothing more than meager pinpricks as he spotted a crack in the something, sticking out like an oasis in a desert. “That is the barrier between Fantasia and Mythos,” he said, his voice grim. Another bellow from the heavens shook the town once more, this one forcing him to sit in the snow lest he lose balance.

“What?” Lance asked, turning to the white hippogryph with a concerned frown marring his features. The heavens shrieked again, the recent blare making him glance back up out of morbid curiosity. The crack had widened substantially, to the point it made the red bags appear under his eyes once more.

The white hippogryph shook his head. “According to legend, whatever has caused the barrier to crack just now shall herald the end of time as we know it for both worlds it had separated,” he replied, his voice even more somber now. “What’s more, there is no stopping it, for whatever has damaged the blockade is unbearably strong. Such is the way for that which shall smite us all in fire and destruction.”

Anna stomped a hoof in the snow. “Then we’ll stop it,” she said, eyes narrowing. Again, the skies let off a cacophony, this one much louder than before—everyone winced and covered their ears as the cosmos rumbled and roared as if it were accepting her challenge. The crack widened again, now large enough to be filled by the entire Haven at least three times over.

“But it cannot be stopped,” repeated the hippogryph, eyes narrowing low as he turned to glance at the ponies. This time, the sky didn’t cry out in an ear-splitting echo that had tried its damnedest to rend the very atmosphere asunder.

“Me and my fellow ponies are gonna find a way—” Anna paused as the heavens raged once more, this time letting off three claps in rapid succession. The crack widened with each awful howl from above, leaving an array of jagged markings that spanned the horizon now. “—and if we can’t find a way, we’ll make a way!” she finished, and only then did one last vehement crash make its presence known.

This was a noise so loud and deafening that the snow beneath everyone shifted as if afraid, almost burying the whole population of the Haven as well as their visitors. This same noise also came close to drowning out another horrible sound, one very much similar to shattering window glass that was magnified a couple of times.

Everyone hastily unburied themselves, either using raw strength or magic. They unearthed themselves just in time to see the white cracked thing that blotted out the whole sky shatter into a million rapidly-vanishing pieces, and once the heavens were cleared of the mysterious debris, the entire population of the town stared at the ponies in unison.

The bearded hippogryph went slack-jawed, eyes widening for a moment before his face hardened. “You fools!” he exclaimed, pointing an accusing talon at Anna specifically. “You cannot hope to best whatever it was that has just broken the barrier that has kept Fantasia and Mythos apart!”

The whole lot tensed up in unison, but Anna did not so much as falter. She remained dauntless, even as every set of eyes belonging to the hippogryphs focused on her. “I intend to keep my word,” she spat simply.

“You ignorant little pony,” the bearded hippogryph snarled, shaking his head like a father disciplining his troublesome child. “There is no hope for the brazenly foolish, and you are the most foolish I’ve seen yet.”

“I will lay my life down if that’s what it takes to stop the end of the worlds,” the green-maned unicorn hissed, not once betraying a flinch of a leg or twitch of an ear as she continued to stare down the elderly hippogryph. It was then Natalie stepped forward, taking an unflinching stance next to her fellow mare.

“I’ve laid my life down thrice before trying to save just this world. I have nothing to lose,” she growled, a frown creasing her brow.

Matt trotted up, quickly flanking Natalie. “I can also attest to this. I ain’t gonna sit by while the horrible, ‘unbeatable’ thing lays waste to everything around me,” he stated in a firm tone of voice.

Lance let no second go to waste as he trotted up as well, flanking Matt and the unicorn mares. “I’m willing to bet at least a few residents of Mythos feel much the same way. And if my unicorn companions are gonna fight, then I will fight too—me, and my entire army,” he remarked coldly, turning to the gryphons who almost immediately saluted him all at once.

“We will lay our lives for the sake of the worlds, sir!” they barked in unison. Then, one by one, they flew to the ponies and picked them up before ascending higher and higher. Once at the desired altitude, they descended into the hatch with the empty-clawed gryphons following suit. The hatch slammed shut, and the wheels whirred to life, sending another flurry of snow everywhere as the tank backed out of the town and veered around it.

Within moments, Frostbite Haven was left in the white dust, and once again the tank found itself in the middle of nowhere. Snow began to fall down from the heavens again, slow and calm. Once the metallic behemoth had stopped moving altogether, Alexander opened one of the fridges and found it empty. A smile curled his beak a bit as he then turned to the corpse of the maybe-queen who was still on the gurney.

“Quicksilver,” he began, turning to the light grey gryphon with a simple nod of his head, “we have a corpse to do further autopsy on.”

“Haven’t we done enough autopsy on her?” Quicksilver frowned thoughtfully, wings fluffing for a moment.

“No; she may have had intestinal parasites that rendered her as thin as she is before she passed,” the dark gryphon shook his head. “We’ll have to slice her open.”

The ponies turned their attention to Alexander as he calmly approached the carcass, and he only stopped once he stood directly next to the damn thing. He rose a talon up and began prodding at the corpse, lifting one of the legs to assess the whole set once more.

Still limp, but not stiff. The gryphon blinked. “This is a very peculiar corpse; not once has any of the limbs turned rigid as ice when they should have,” he sighed, setting down the leg he held before approaching the maybe-queen’s head. He made to touch the cadaver’s face with a claw, but inexplicably, and with the speed of a praying mantis, a thin hoof shot up and stopped it before the digits could touch a hair of the mane.

Then, the jaw of the corpse moved, and a raspy feminine voice croaked out of its mouth. “Stop touching me,” the body moaned groggily.

“She’s alive?!” the ponies shrieked in unison, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates as the gravity of this situation weighed in on them.

“Very much so,” the maybe-queen replied, lifting up her head to nod weakly. The black eyes betrayed a blue spark in their canvases before two orbs of azure began to glow within the dark voids. “I was just napping,” she added, legs wobbling before shifting under her frame. This stance was temporary, though, and soon she made to get off the gurney and stand up on all four of her legs.

She glanced around, azure orbs dimming as she absorbed her current surroundings before taking notice of the ponies who kept staring at her. She trotted to them with a limping gait, only pausing when she was closest to Matt. She rose a hoof and booped him on the nose when he leaned towards her, and the bulky unicorn flinched. “Hi,” she said simply.

“Hi,” the blond-maned pony replied, but the word sounded rather forced. “Are you a zombie?” he asked.

The thin changeling shook her head, wings buzzing as she rubbed her chin with the same hoof she booped Matt with. “No; I never really was hungry for as long as I remember,” she replied.

“Hmm, if she’s not hungry…” Natalie paused, ears twitching as the gears began to spin in her brain, “wouldn’t that make her a wraith?”

“Yet she’s not translucent or anything, apart from her wings,” Lance clarified, a thoughtful frown on his face. “And all she has on her is a scarf; all the other wraiths we saw were cloaked head to hoof.”

“Perhaps she’s just become a wraith and hasn’t had the time to even get a cloak,” Anna added, shaking her head. “Or maybe she’s shunned by all the other wraiths because she lacks a horn.”

“Guess that would explain it,” Alexander scoffed, approaching the thin mare who was standing in front of the ponies. “Miss, do you have a name?”

“No,” the supposed wraith shook her head again as she turned to the dark gryphon. “But I reckon you’d like to call me something to simplify things?”

“Yes,” the gryphon nodded.

“Alright,” the thin mare nodded, eyes moving until they spotted one of the recently-loaded cupboards. Her blue orbs brightened, and she trotted to the cupboard that struck her fancy and sat in front of it like a foal looking at the statue from a long-forgotten era.

“How does ‘Cherry Sunset’ sound?” Anna questioned, and she didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

The supposed wraith’s wings sprang up, and her form tensed. “No!” she shouted, turning to the green-maned mare with narrowed eyes. “That sounds stupid!”

“How about ‘Katie Rubywing?’” Quicksilver suggested, whereupon the thin mare turned to him.

Her glare eased up, and her wings fluttered once. “I like that,” she replied in a much calmer tone of voice. “It just… clicks, y’know? It has a ring to it.”