The group mulled about in the kitchen-machinery-room, with most lying down and enjoying baked goods, a few fruits, and some fish. Maria waited a few minutes for her stomach to settle before watching a cooking trout and fidgeting at the gorgeous catch. This fish had been prepared carefully—sliced into fillets and with its fin bones removed prior to being engulfed by searing flames, which released an appealing aroma that made her don a pleading look.

Sarah sat next to the filly and multitasked—using one claw to hold a small slice of chocolate cake filled with zap apple jam and the other to preen the newly-grown down of feathers. "If you stay still, I'll give you a bite of this cake," she murmured, sighing when Maria stilled with her wings spread. The mare patted down feathers that still stuck out like porcupine quills with her free claw, and carefully ran her limb across them to make sure they'd stay down.

"Well, at least she has her downy coat back," Armin remarked, watching Maria being preened whilst raising a slice of apple dipped in caramel and popping it into his mouth with some magic. He chewed for a bit and swallowed, nodding to himself with a small smile.

"Indeed. A few good preening sessions should keep it in check, in case any stray mana decides to mess with her," Lance agreed, laying down and hesitantly using a hoof to put a handful of seemingly-sparkling berries into his maw. He chewed once and his eyes widened like someone managed to kick him square in the gonads, before the expression melted into a pleased look as he continued mashing up the berries. "Maybe I could try these with salmon," he murmured once he swallowed.

"Try not to eat all of the berries, then," Natalie remarked, plucking no more than three in her magic in addition to a caramel-covered apple slice and stuffing those into her face. Her visage lit up as she ground the fruits between her teeth and swallowed. "Okay, I can see why you want these with fish, Lance," she noted, garnering a satisfied nod from the general. "They go good with apple slices, though."

Matt carefully watched the roasting fish fillets, waiting for the meat to finish cooking. He held them up in his magic, conjuring some more flames when the current ones came close to fizzling out, and turned the trout halves once to ensure even cooking. Anna sat next to him, also watching the fish. A small whine diverted her attention, and she shifted her eyes onto Maria as Sarah pulled out a bent feather that refused to stay down.

"Was that feather already broke?" Anna asked, garnering a simple nod from Sarah. The archer sighed in exasperation and turned back to the cooking fish, blinking when two more prepared, raw fillets joined in the fray.

"I'd like to talk to you guys about something," Shining piped up, garnering the attention of the Fantasian bunch.

"Whatever it is, can you save it after everyone's eaten? I don't want what happened to me to happen to them—namely, loss of appetite," Katie piped up, causing the Captain to look at her with a brow raised.

Lance spoke up, "I'd make some remark about the wraith and appetite, but I am afraid she has a point. Would that be alright with you, Captain Armor?"

Shining rose a hoof and put it to his chin, considering the dual remarks for a bit before nodding. "Alright, I guess it can wait," he answered, setting his hoof down.

Alexander bit into a simple loaf of bread, one with a sugar and cinnamon coating. He started beaming, and quickly ate the rest of the loaf with relish. "That was most excellent," he stated with a pleased squawk.

"Y'think this is good enough?" Sarah asked, pulling her preening claw away the filly. Anna stood up and trotted over to Maria. She inspected the coat of down thoroughly, with Rarity coming up behind her to lend an extra set of eyes.

"Hrm…" The ivory mare tapped at her chin with a hoof as she helped inspect the mass of feathers. She nodded and shared a look with Anna when their once-overs were done, and the archer shrugged her shoulders. Rarity turned to Sarah and answered, "Well, it is… adequate, I suppose. Overall a good job, considering it was done with one claw."

Sarah smiled, and handed Maria the slice of cake. "Here you go, as promised," she stated. Maria took the slice of cake in her talons and looked at it like it was an alien lifeform for a second before biting into it.

Maria chewed for a bit and swallowed, turning to Zecora and Pinkie Pie, who both grinned at her. "Thank you," she murmured before delving back into the slice of cake, a small grin forming on her face as the slice went into her gob.

Anna put a slice of trout to the side when it finished cooking, using a plate to keep it clean as she and Matt watched the other fillets. She used her magic to push the plate to Sarah before heaping another finished hunk of meat right atop the first one without missing a beat. "Share with Maria. I saw her eyeballing the meat," she said, hearing her sister chuckle at the remark.

Shining made to lay down, and helped himself to an ordinary-looking loaf of bread. Upon chewing a bit and immediately feeling a semi-solid texture that was sleek, in addition to that of flaky bread, he pulled away and looked at the loaf's center to find a red substance inside a snug little pocket. He grinned and finished up his bite, swallowing before remarking, "Cherry filling—what a surprise."

Twilight reached over to a platter at her side and picked up a slice of cake with zap apple jam with a hoof. She fumbled for a second before bringing it to her mouth and taking a bite, making sure to get some of the filling in the bite prior to chewing it with relish. In tandem with her motions, a faint rainbow aura started rippling on her body as the cake was ground up. She swallowed before taking another bite, her horn sparking and fizzing after the second bit went down the chute. On the fourth bite, her horn glowed a very faint magenta and the aura stayed for a good minute before shorting out once more.

The phenomenon prompted Anna to speak up, "Is it me, or are you gaining mana back just from eating that slice?"

Twilight took a fifth bite and talked with her mouth full, being careful not to spill anything in the process, "It'sh the shap apple jam."

"The zap apple jam?" Matt asked as he took a slim slice of cake for himself whilst putting the remaining trout fillets on another plate. He took a bite for himself and chewed for a bit, finding that his body faintly glimmered when he swallowed the mouthful.

Twilight swallowed her bit of cake and nodded, watching as the Fantasian unicorn took another bite of his cake. She answered, this time a little more coherently, "The jam acts as a form of mana regeneration."

Anna quirked a brow as Matt made to bite his piece again and let her horn glow. She tried levitating a slice of cake to herself from the same platter that Twilight got her piece from, but her magic fizzed out as it hovered over Spike's head. The drake saw the falling slice and shielded his eyes, only for Pinkie to rush over to the cabinet, fling it open before procuring a plate, and dart over to the drake in a matter of seconds. The earth pony slid on her stomach and caused Spike to stagger back in the process, front hooves with plate outstretched, and the archer sighed in relief as the cake landed on the dish right when Pinkie's momentum could carry her no longer.

Pinkie stood up on three legs, using her fourth to balance the plate of cake. "Cake saved," she chirped, bounding over to Anna and setting the dish in front of her.

"Nice save. That was pretty fast," Anna murmured with an appreciative nod.

"Oh, it was nothing. I wouldn't let a cake slice hit the floor; it'd be a waste of perfectly good food otherwise," Pinkie replied, watching as the Fantasian mare picked up the slice with a hoof and took a bite out of it. She noticed a ripple of rainbow-colored mana erupt around Anna's form as she ate the cake, and the archer paused after swallowing when she noticed her hoof remaining aglow for a few seconds.

Anna blinked, a small smile crossing her face. "Now I feel a little better," she chirped before taking in another bite of her slice. She halted when her hoof glowed in another swell of rippling mana again, and her eyes widened as her horn started shimmering with a green aura of its own accord. She momentarily lowered the half-eaten slice when her magic fizzed out after two minutes, before shrugging and cramming the rest into her cheeks.

Upon doing so, her body immediately glimmered with raw rainbow aura that lasted for a good minute and thirty seconds before it faded again. Twilight and Shining flinched at the anomaly, stiffening as the archer donned a sleepy look and giggled like she had gotten drunk. "Nighty night…" Anna murmured before collapsing onto the floor, miraculously missing the empty plate as she faceplanted and started snoring.

"Maybe she should limit her zap apple jam consumption," Armin remarked, trotting over before putting a holey hoof on the archer's withers. He shook her for a bit, frowning when she only released a louder snore in response. "Yep. Out like a light."

"I think she should've eaten the slice of cake slower," Matt sighed, turning to the others to find that they had finished up their meals in the time that Anna shimmered in seven pretty colors. He directed his attention to Shining. "Alright, what did you want to talk to us about?"

Shining donned a smirk and relaxed. "Well, you know my wife Cadence, right?" At the slow nods of over half of the Fantasians, he went on, "Well… there's a place up north where she rules. It's not frigid or anything."

"And… if she rules this place, are you emperor or something?" Lance asked, feeling there was something off about Shining's choice of words.

Shining nodded. "It's like a neighbor to Equestria—a subservient state of sorts," he replied. "Celestia and Luna still call most of the shots everywhere else, but me and Cadence have semi-exclusive reign over the patch up north," he added upon garnering a series of vexed looks and a buzzing pair of wings.

"Stop beating around the bush and spit it out already," Katie stated, a hoof tapping on the floor impatiently.

Shining chuckled and sent a sweet smile to the wraith before humoring her, "You guys wanted a library, and my state-of-sorts has one that could keep you occupied for days. Of course, I'll have to tell my batch of crystal guards to watch you—sorry, standard procedure."

Natalie tensed at the words 'crystal guards,' and she gulped as her ears folded back. "Define… crystal," she murmured tersely.

"Oh, the ponies—common and guard alike—sparkle like they're trotting crystal. Nothing to worry about; they're good folk," Shining answered rather casually, and with a wave of his hoof. "Besides, since wraiths are cropping up in Equestria, I feel the need to check on my folk and see if any wraiths are among them, and deal with any I do find accordingly."

"That is very sound reasoning," Fenrir agreed with a nod. "At what time do we need to head out to the… patch of land that is northbound?"

Shining crossed his forelegs together, still grinning like a foal engaging in playtime. "Well, since three of you have been requested to help out in a task with one of my sister's friends, I say we leave the day after you lend your helping hooves," he replied in a chipper tone. "Plenty of time to rest and prepare, if you asked me."

"Question," Katie interjected, garnering the Captain's attention again. When he nodded to her, she asked, "What do we do in the time between now and helping harvest special apples?" At her inquiry, the rest of the Fantasians exchanged glances and started whispering to each other. Except for Anna; she proceeded to mumble something about grass in her sleep instead.

It was Twilight who answered, "I guess you could meet some of the locals." When the wraith rose a brow, she went on, "They could give you guys directions, in case you get lost in Ponyville. That, and you might make new friends."

"Alright, alright. So, we just dawdle here in this particular part of Equestria to kill time…" Lance murmured, using a hoof to rub his temples. "I can get with that—it's not like we have anything else to do at this time."

"Oh, that reminds me," Rarity interjected, turning her gaze onto the general as she spoke. "Since Maria has sufficiently grown her feathers back, shall I still make her that dress you requested?"

Lance blinked for a moment before going wide-eyed and hopping onto his hooves. He relaxed and nodded a second after, but decided to reply, "Are you able to enchant the dress or something? It's gonna have to rest against her feathers comfortably."

Rarity nodded. "Oh, yes, I can enchant the dress as needed. I'll have to take her, your wraith, and…" she paused, turning to the snoozing Anna as the archer mumbled something about the color pink. "One of your advisors to take measurements," she finished.

Lance's gaze fell on Anna. "Why do you need her?" he asked.

"Oh, to cut a long story drastically short, to keep Maria out of… er, trouble," Rarity answered, her voice briefly cracking when she uttered 'trouble.' "Though, obviously, I can't take her and the other two to my Boutique when one of them's asleep. That, and they might want specific details regarding their garments—details only they can provide to me, unfortunately."

"Like, Katie might want a shell to tuck her wings under or something of that nature?" Lance inquired, shifting to sit on his haunches when Rarity nodded to him fervently. "Alright, I understand."

Spike walked over to Twilight, and opened his mouth to say something before he started retching and his claws flew to cover his mouth. His cheeks bulged, and he turned away as he lowered his claws and loudly belched, with green flames pouring out from his maw. The fires evaporated to wisp-like smoke and then coalesced to form a ribbon-sealed scroll of parchment that then dropped to the floor and rolled a little ways towards Zecora.

This caused almost all of the Fantasians to go wide-eyed and gawk at the little drake. "D-d-d-did he… j-j-just…" Alexander stuttered before pausing, gaze darting to the scroll as Twilight lifted it with her magic and dragged it to her face.

Twilight casually undid the ribbon and opened the scroll before noting the stunned looks on the faces of her guests. "Yes, Spike did," she stated tersely, eyes shifting to read the contents of the paper.

"What's the scroll say?" Natalie asked, garnering a smile from the lavender mare.

"Oh, it's just Celestia asking me how things are holding up with you guys around," Twilight answered, taking a moment to chuckle.

"I guess you can tell her we had an eventful day today," Shining remarked, a twinkle of mirth shimmering in his eyes.

"Might as well spend most of the week just sight-seeing," Sarah stated, stretching her good wing to full mast for a few seconds before closing it. She turned to her still-sleeping sister and asked, "What explains her welts?"

Shining sighed. "A timberdrake that was covered in ivy lashed at me with its poisonous vines, but she came and took the blow," he answered.

"I could make her an ointment. I will not disappoint," Zecora chimed in, garnering a nod from Twilight after the two exchanged glances. The zebra reached into her saddlebag with a hoof and procured her mortar and pestle.

"I'm impressed she's ignored it. Heck, she doesn't even seem fazed now—and she's snoozing. I'd think that sleeping with itching welts would be painful," Shining noted, turning to the slumbering Anna as she mumbled something about poison ivy and salad.

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

A rather drab week passed, and the sun was at its apex in the sky, bearing down mercilessly on the apple orchard. Under the branches of the trees, Applejack and Big Mac worked tirelessly bucking at the thick trunks, shaking the trees with pure brute force and causing the apples to fall from the branches into waiting baskets below. Apple Bloom did likewise, and not far from her stood Natalie, Matt, Anna, and an illusion-disguised Katie, all watching to see how the Mythonians got the trees to yield their succulent fruits.

Applejack paused, and motioned with a hoof for Big Mac and Apple Bloom to immediately halt. "Alright," she began, turning to the Fantasians, "you think you got this?"

"The tree-bucking? I think we got the gist of it," Matt answered, a small smile on his face.

"I can't—you're asking me to break my rear legs. I'm not built like a boulder here," Katie huffed, crossing her forelegs together.

"You don't have to buck the trees—you look at the apples and separate the good from the bad. A bad apple spoils the whole bunch," Applejack stated, turning to the wraith and sending her a friendly grin.

"I'll help her on that front. She might collapse before she finishes sorting a basket out," Anna piped up, using a hoof to gently pat Katie on her withers. Applejack nodded in understanding, giving Apple Bloom a glance when she opened her mouth to speak.

"You sure about that?" Apple Bloom asked, garnering a nod from Anna. The filly turned to Applejack and continued, "Can I help them with sorting the good from the bad? My rear legs kinda hurt."

"Go ahead. Besides, I want to see how good he can buck a tree," Applejack replied in a chipper voice, using a hoof to gesture to Matt as she spoke. The Fantasian in question sighed, and waited for Apple Bloom to scuttle over to Anna and Katie before trotting to the tree she bucked earlier. After taking a moment to inspect the baskets and noticing they were full, he simply trotted one tree over and aligned his tail with it, raising a back leg after that and tapping at the trunk.

"What'cha doing?" Big Mac asked, tilting his head at the display.

"Making sure I kick the tree and not the air. Last thing I need is to misfire and hurt myself," Matt replied, setting his leg down and garnering a look from the red-coated stallion. Big Mac and Applejack watched intently as the Fantasian reared up with his front legs high in the air before bringing them down and raising his back ones in seconds, and they blinked as the rear hooves shot out and solidly connected with the trunk of the tree. It shook a little, dropping around a half-dozen apples into waiting baskets.

In rapid succession, the unicorn stallion repeated the procedure a few times, and after a good nine kicks managed to fill the baskets only half-way. "Either the tree don't like you, or you're not made for apple-bucking," Applejack remarked, a half-frown on her face. "You're doing good, though. Keep it up."

As soon as she said that, Matt kicked the tree again, and this time it managed to drop a fruit that had the misfortune of landing on his horn right as he reared up to deliver another kick. He dropped down without kicking and looked at the apple cross-eyed, a vexed frown on his face. "You can have that apple," she sighed, her half-frown turning into an amused grin.

Natalie chuckled at the sight of the impaled, unfortunate apple, and shook her head at the display. She turned to look at Apple Bloom, who had dropped to the ground and started howling with laughter, and then to Katie as the disguised wraith managed a giggle. Matt snorted and lifted a hoof to remove the offending fruit from his forehead and took a bite out of it.

"So, where're the zap apples?" Matt asked after swallowing the first bite. He watched as Applejack used a hoof to gesture to her immediate right.

"A little further up. Fill them baskets you got, and after the good and bad are sorted, we'll take ya to the zap apple patch if we see y'all can buck and sort good. Don't want any bad apples spoiling any bunches—a spoiled fruit's bad for cider and jam, trust me," Applejack responded.

"Eeyup," Big Mac added with a firm nod of his head and a smile on his face.

Matt scarfed down the rest of the apple and handed the core to Applejack. "I don't know what you do with the cores, and it's your farm," he stated, watching as the earth mare chuckled and took the core in her hoof before tossing it over her shoulder. He shrugged to nopony in particular and proceeded to give the tree a few more kicks. When the baskets filled up, he simply gave it an extra kick, though not hard enough to shake any more apples out from the branches.

Natalie donned a grin as she lit her horn up and used her magic to drag the filled baskets to her and the others. "One pony per basket?" she asked, and at Applejack's nod, claimed one for herself. Anna took another, and Apple Bloom a third, and Katie the last one. The lot set to sorting quickly, with the bad apples being tossed aside and the good staying in the baskets.

"So, yer a Fantasian filly?" Apple Bloom asked, causing Katie to look at Natalie with a wide-eyed look. Natalie shot the disguised wraith another look—a slightly stern one that had a flicker in her eyes.

Natalie's horn glowed brighter for a moment, and Katie heard the mare's voice echo into her mind and magic briefly grasp her by the cranium. "Play along—just pretend you're a filly. With Matt's illusion covering your ass, you'd be able to convince her easy-peasy," she spoke telepathically. Katie nodded and turned back to Apple Bloom.

"One of the two that came here. The other's having her feathers preened," Katie responded without hesitation.

"Feathers? Is she a pegasus?" Apple Bloom continued, a brow raised as she tossed aside a fruit with a worm sticking out where the stem should've been.

"Hippogryph," Katie answered, flinging an apple that squashed as soon as she grabbed it with her hooves. She looked in the basket to see if any bad remnants of said fruit had stuck themselves onto the other apples, only to move on when she found none. "But yes, she has wings."

"Say," Apple Bloom started as she threw out another spoiled apple, "would you like to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

Katie stopped as she lifted a good apple for inspection, turning to Apple Bloom and looking at her like she suddenly became an alicorn. "The what now?" she inquired.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders," Apple Bloom repeated, dropping a good fruit into the basket before reaching for another. "A group of fillies trying to find their cutie marks."

The disguised wraith considered this for a few seconds. She tried to mentally piece together a response that didn't involve telling the Mythonian filly what she really was, and inadvertently breaking the illusion in the process. After another minute, she came up with such a response. "Unfortunately, no. After what I've seen back home, I… kinda don't want a cutie mark. Sorry," she lied, though her reply managed to make Apple Bloom sigh and chuck aside another bad apple.

Apple Bloom waited for two minutes, during which time she tossed aside six rotten fruits, before asking, "Would the hippogryph filly like to join?"

"You'd have to ask her to her face, and she's not here. Though she does seem keen on getting her mark," Katie answered with a shrug, chucking aside three bad apples like they were tiny pebbles. "Oh, and she has claws like a gryphon. I heard those are easier to break than hooves, so if she does join, just take that into account."

Apple Bloom nodded and picked up another apple. "I think I can do that," she stated, seeing that the apple had bruises on its skin, but nothing else. "Say, can you do magic?"

Katie shook her head. "Horn's useless. I might as well have a twig glued to my head," she sighed. "Can't even lift things up the way most unicorns do," she paused and turned to Natalie and Anna before finishing her remark, "no offense."

"None taken. To be frank, I was once at that stage, too," Anna chirped, having tossed aside another apple as she finished speaking.

"Ditto," Natalie added, prodding at a bruised apple she held in her magic with a hoof. She turned to Applejack, eyes glinting in askance.

"A bruised apple's good, unless it squishes like a sponge and pops as if it's an egg's yolk in your magic," Applejack stated, watching as Natalie carefully squeezed the apple after lifting up both front hooves to it. When it failed to rupture like a yolk, she shrugged and gently lowered it into her basket before plucking out another.

Anna was the first to finish sorting the fruits in her basket, and she used her magic to heft it to Applejack. The earth mare nodded and shuffled through the apples herself before grinning in satisfaction. "At least Granny Smith gets a break today," she chirped.

"Huh?" Katie hummed after tossing out another bad apple that fell apart in rotten thirds as soon as she grabbed it. "How does she sort the apples?"

"She sniffs them. Her nose could tell year-old ice cider from fresh non-alcoholic cider in a heartbeat, and a rotten apple from a good zap apple in seconds," Applejack replied as Natalie finished her basket and forked it over for another once-over.

"So, when we get to the zap apples, how do we sort the good from the bad?" Anna asked, garnering a chuckle from Applejack as she started going through the second basket of produce.

"We worry about that after we pick them," Applejack responded, her smile widening as she finished her inspection.

"Alright," Katie stated, using a hoof to gesture to her basket. "I've finished my basket."