Maria jumped into the air as she and the other Fantasians, along with Zecora, Spike, and Flash Sentry languidly shuffled down a rather lengthy hall, wings madly flapping. Yet every time she did this, she stayed in the air for less than five seconds. But before she could land and hurt herself, Fenrir or Alexander caught her mid-drop, and lowered her to the ground. "Flying's hard," she complained after a few tries.

"Your feathers grew back… two days ago? Regardless, you might want to give your wings a rest," Alexander remarked, using a talon to gently poke at the filly's wings for emphasis.

"B-but—" Maria began, wings spreading as if she were preparing to try again.

Fenrir cut Maria off before she could even start griping, "He's correct. Your body needs time to adjust to having a full coat of feathers once more. By attempting to become airborne, you only risk bringing harm onto yourself. Do as he says: take it easy for right now."

Maria deflated, wings folding at her sides. "Okay…" she groaned.

Natalie turned to Katie, who still rode on Matt's back. "I think she's trying to emulate you," she remarked.

Katie responded with an eyeroll. "She's gonna need two sets of wings to pull that off," she huffed.

Flash, who trotted next to Natalie with Spike on his back, decided to pipe up, "I, uh… overheard your little talk this morning."

Natalie turned to the guard, both brows shooting to her hairline. "And if we… don't report it, you will?" she inquired hesitantly.

"It's sort of my duty to do so," Flash replied with a nod. "And if I don't, one of my fellow guards who were stationed that night will. Gotta inform the Emperor that somepony's conspiring against him."

"True enough," Matt agreed, sighing.

"I could just scorch them with my fire breath if they tried laying a hoof on me," Spike interjected, waving a claw dismissively. "That is, if they were actually going to go through with this 'setting me straight' thing."

Zecora rose one of her front legs to her chin and idly tapped with a hoof, using the other three to trot in doing so. Her eyes averted to Flash and she murmured, "Tell me, dearest guard, have the crystal ponies always been like this? I speak of the despising-of-the-changelings that seems… quite amiss."

"For the two or so years I've been stationed here, just about," Flash replied with a shrug. "I find it odd they treat Spike like a walking god, but changelings just seem to rile them up."

"I'm impressed the crystal ponies haven't talked about him yet," Matt retorted, using a hoof to gesture to Fenrir for emphasis. "Look at him, he's a good few inches taller than me! He's a walking, talking definition of beardog!"

Fenrir chortled, and aptly responded by shifting to walk on all fours. "If I am a beardog, then you, my good stallion, are but a horse," he chirped, a wry grin on his muzzle. This caused Matt to start spluttering incoherently, and Katie to break out laughing.

"If he's a horse, then I am part rook," Alexander added, a grin on his beak.

"Magpie," Sarah interjected, garnering a guffaw from the gryphon.

"Oh, please, I have not one speck of white on me," Alexander retorted, still grinning.

"But with a crystal coat, some of your feathers look dark metallic blue," Sarah scoffed, a wicked grin forming on her muzzle.

Alexander replied by spreading his wings and giving them a once-over, only to find that some of his feathers did indeed seem a dark metallic blue instead of black. This was most predominant on his wings and chest, though his back legs and tail and claws were still dark and sooty in comparison. "I blame refraction of light," he mumbled.

"Is Fantasia cloudy?" Flash asked, looking pointedly at the gryphon. "Lack of sunshine could also be a factor."

Alexander's head dropped, and he sighed begrudgingly. "Ectoplasms are so rampant they linger for days on end," he replied.

Flash immediately froze. "You're… kidding, right?" he inquired, eyes widening.

Natalie shook her head. "Afraid not," she sighed. "But they're stuck in Fantasia."

Flash gulped before taking a few breaths to calm himself and resumed trotting once more. "I-I see," he murmured, ears flattening against his head for a moment. "I… I almost don't want to imagine how bad the ectoplasm problem is over there."

"You aren't on Fantasia. You're on your home turf. Lighten up," Sarah sighed, and instantly Flash nodded and his ears perked up.

"Y-you're right," Flash murmured, his face setting with a stoic look. "The ectoplasms can't get me here."

The group rounded a bend, finding themselves in a shorter hall with a winding staircase at its end. Flash trotted ahead of the guests, and beckoned them onwards with a wing after gaining a bit of distance from the group. They followed him, watching as he trotted up the stairs instead of down, and wasted no time in ascending the flight single-file after him. The bunch made it up one floor, and strode down a few more halls without speaking. A few minutes had passed in silence and hall-navigating, when the guard-turned-usher stopped before a set of double doors that were open.

From the room whose doors had been parted, the guests heard a myriad of voices mumbling before they shushed, and a tense silence took precedence. Exchanging glances with the others, Matt crept over and he peered inside to find a large auditorium, motioning for everyone else to come over with a hoof. Every one of his companions tiptoed over to the door and looked inside, seeing that every seat was filled with guards of all creeds, all watching a stage upon which an armored and furious-seeming Shining stood.

The Emperor's blue eyes were sweeping mercilessly across every single pony that was seated, glinting with nothing short of pure rage that accompanied a hard frown on his muzzle. His eyes briefly met with those of his guests, and he idly nodded to them before turning his attention back to the guards.

They heard him bellow out in a chilling, commanding voice, "I have absolutely no idea which one of you wise guys would wish our guests to be deported when they have done nothing wrong—or even if it was one of you to begin with." He paused, eyes coldly darting across the crowd once more. The guards stiffened under his gaze, and some murmured for a moment or so before hushing up.

Shining took the settling silence as his cue to go on, raising his voice as he spoke. "But if I hear so much as another peep regarding a desire to 'set me straight,' or to do likewise to my adoptive nephew no less, there will be consequences. I'm not sure which one of you is responsible, or if the guilty party is present, but you can be certain I will find out who came up with that oh-so-bright idea. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir!" the crowd shrieked in unison, as loud as they could.

"Excellent," Shining hissed with a nod of his head. "Now, return to your posts, and tell your fellow guards who have not attended this assembly what I have just told you. You are dismissed." He paused to turn to the door and beckoned his guests with a hoof. "But not until the door is cleared out." The Fantasians hesitated, but they filed into the auditorium and stood between the seats. Zecora, Spike, and Flash followed suit, and the entire lot kept themselves out of the way of the guards as they stood up and began trotting out of the room.

Some of the guards that passed the guests gave them looks, most being stoic in nature. But Katie and Armin saw sparks of loathing, and a few of fear, in some sets of eyes that belonged to otherwise-emotionless visages. Only when the room was cleared out and the seats all but empty, Shining hopped off the stage and trotted to his visitors, stopping just shy of Zecora and locking his eyes on the orange-coated escort. "Flash, what is your purpose here?" he asked.

"I… I was told about somepony conspiring against you, sir. I was bringing the guests so they could tell you in more detail," Flash replied, frowning. He saw a gleam in Shining's eyes and hastily said a statement sounding more like an inquiry, "Um… it seems like somepony already told you, though?"

Shining nodded. "A little birdie aroused me from my sleep and informed me of the whole deportation thing last night," he replied. He sent a fond smile at Spike, and cantered over before raising a hoof and patting the drake's head with it. "And if anypony tries to hurt you, you have permission to breathe fire on them."

Spike nodded, and smiled at the gesture of affection. He spoke up when the hoof retracted, "But does Cadence know about this?"

Shining nodded. "She's been informed as well," he answered. "It's easy to inform two ponies when they share the same bedroom."

Matt and Natalie exchanged looks, frowning and blushing a little at what Shining just implied. They turned to Maria as she tossed in her two bits, "What's deportation?"

"We'll tell you later, okay?" Sarah murmured, raising a talon to ruffle the filly's mane.

"Okay," Maria chirped with a nod.

Shining's gaze softened and darted from individual to individual, before he noticed a lack of two ponies and frowned. "Where're your general and…" he began, but Matt rose a hoof to signal him to stop speaking.

"Asleep," Matt replied tersely, rolling his eyes at nothing in particular. "You know Lance, him and his damn naps. Anna's napping with him—neither could sleep last night, so they told me."

"Couldn't stand, either. They had to be lugged into bed," Natalie added with a sigh.

Katie raised one of her forehooves and waved it dismissively. "Anna's horn turned as red as my mane," she concluded.

Shining nodded in understanding. A huge grin broke out on his face. "Alright. Flash, I have a request for you," he began, turning to the only guard who remained present.

Flash stiffened under the intense gaze of blue. "Y-yes sir?" he asked.

"Please return to the room the general's staying in. When he and his subordinate awaken, escort them directly to me," Shining answered, still maintaining his grin. "And don't wake them up, unless somepony tries to murder them or something of the sort. In the meantime, I'll escort the rest of our guests to the library."

Flash's face hardened, and he spread a wing in a salute. "Yes sir," he replied. With that, he sat on his haunches and let Spike clamber off before standing up with wings flared. He wasted no time in flapping madly, becoming airborne, and flying out of the room.

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

A good hour or two passed before Shining managed to lead Zecora, Spike, and the otherworldly tourists to the gargantuan library that gave Twilight's a run for its bits, after he sorted some other things out. Before them, between the shelves, stood a large hooffull of crystal ponies. Some were pegasi, some were unicorns, and some were earth ponies.

A particular middle-aged earth pony mare with a mulberry-ish coat, large gold-rimmed glasses, and a greying pink mane met Shining with a smile. She had a crystal green hat with a pink stripe running between brim and crown on her head, which bobbed a little as she nodded.

"So, I take it you and your volunteers found something, Amethyst?" Shining asked.

Amethyst nodded her head again. "We found a few spellbooks that have spells Starswirl has written," she replied, turning to glance at the crystal unicorns behind her. They let their horns glow, and from a few individual flashes of magic that exploded in a manner not unlike a fireworks show, a good eight pristine books appeared and gently floated in the air. The natives handed the books to their Emperor, who took them in his magic.

"I see. Was that just from today?" Shining inquired.

Amethyst turned back to him. "Yesterday, m'lord. We were just starting to do another look-see today," she answered.

"Alright, carry on," Shining stated, and he floated the stack of books over to Matt, who sat on his haunches and grabbed the bunch with his front hooves. Natalie sighed and snatched the topmost book with her magic, flipping it open and holding it in front of her muzzle. She turned a few pages and shuddered when one page with runes and spiders making up a spell greeted her. She turned a few more pages, and relaxed when a simplistic set of runes without arachnids appeared, though her brow furrowed slightly nonetheless.

"Is it alright if I cast some of the spells from these books?" Natalie asked, garnering a look from the Emperor.

"... are you able to read the runes?" Shining asked, immediately garnering a shake of the head as his answer. "Only two spells today from those books, because you don't know what you're casting."

Natalie nodded without complaint, and she began scanning the book before closing it with another satisfied nod. She turned to Amethyst and asked, "How much do you charge for overdue books?"

Amethyst rose a hoof and pushed her glasses slightly up the bridge of her muzzle. "One bit, per every day the book's not returned. Those books are valuable, so we have a week's worth period before the late fees start heaping up," she answered.

Natalie sent Amethyst a grin. "If nothing else, we'll have a guard remind us that the books need returning before we leave the Empire," she chirped.

"Alright, alright," Amethyst murmured with a nod of the head that made her glasses slip all the way to the tip of her muzzle. She rose a hoof and adjusted the lens again before adding, "The Crystal Faire's in three days. You sure you don't want to stick around for the festivities?"

"Wait, there's a Faire?" Sarah asked, a brow raising up to her hairline.

"Oh, yes," Amethyst replied, a smile playing on her face. "There're many events—we joust, make sweets with crystal berries, sing an anthem…"

"Joust?" Sarah parroted, eyes widening. "That sounds awesome."

Fenrir immediately snapped at the hippogryph, eyes narrowing to golden slits, "Your wing is broken, and bound in a cast! You are not going to partake in an activity that can add more damage you could do without!"

"Well, if she wants to joust, we'll have to do something about that wing," Amethyst interjected, garnering the attention of the dog and gryph before they could spark a fight amongst themselves. "And the lances are tipped with balls anyway—minimizes the chance of casualties."

"My point still remains," Fenrir huffed, crossing his front paws.

"Well, maybe one of the books has something that can help you with the wing issue," Amethyst retorted, using a hoof to gesture to the stack Matt was juggling.

Matt looked at the stack cross-eyed. "Um… alright, then. But if we can't understand the runes…" he paused, shuddering, "then how will we know which spell to cast?"

Amethyst began to grin again, and she turned to one of the crystal unicorns behind her. Instantly, from another flash of magic, a ninth book materialized and was quickly put on the very top of the stack. She turned back to Matt and answered, "Good thing for you, we also had a book on ancient runology, and how to translate the runes in those books. I guess it'll keep you very occupied."

Matt and Natalie shared a glance, before the mare swapped out the book she opened with the most recent addition to the stack. She made sure to not make the first book land in a way that could throw her companion off-balance, and opened the second before flipping through the first few pages. She wasted no time going wide-eyed and letting off a low whistle.

"Yeah, this book will keep me busy for a while," she stated, staring at a page that was more or less a list divided in two. One side boasted ancient runes, and modern translations were scrawled on the other side, though both were written into neat little lines that spanned the length of the whole paper. "When was this book written?"

"A few months ago, and by a unicorn who specializes in runology," Amethyst replied, beaming.

"Well, that specilization's showing through, because I haven't even turned another page yet and I am impressed with how much is on it," Natalie remarked, closing the book to take in the cover's features. It was impeccably bound with a rich red leather so polished that when she rubbed her hoof on it, she could've sworn it felt like cloth instead. The title wasn't anything special—'Translating Ancient Runes and You' printed in gold—but the author's name caught her eye. "The author… has a peculiar name."

"What do you speak of?" Fenrir asked, turning to Natalie with a brow raised.

Natalie turned to him and used a hoof to gesture to the book. "The pony who wrote this is, from what this cover tells me, Sacred Tome," she answered.

Amethyst chortled, garnering the attention of the unicorn and diamond dog. "Oh, you can find her house not too far from here. Sacred moved in with her pegasus coltfriend three months ago, and just had her filly two weeks back," she stated.

"Does she work here?" Natalie inquired, and Amethyst nodded.

"She shows up on odd days, because her new foal's been keeping her occupied. Filly's rambunctious," Amethyst chirped. "Drives both her and her stallion up the wall and down the ceiling."

Natalie sighed. "Alright. What's she look like?"

"Light green coat, teal mane," Amethyst answered, still grinning. "Her stallion's got a brown coat and a blue mane."

"Alright. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for her," Natalie murmured. When Shining looked at her, she added, "And congratulate her on her filly being born."

"Already beat you to that punch yesterday," Shining snorted, a wide grin spreading on his muzzle. "Kind of like I did this morning."

"A step ahead of us, yet a full three trots behind your wife. I ponder about your efficiency when you and your beloved work as one," Fenrir remarked, noting that the Emperor's grin looked rather cheeky.

Shining's grin widened some more, to the point it began rivaling Katie's carved one. "Really?" he mused in a chipper tone.

"Really," Fenrir replied tersely, nodding his head once.

Armin piped up, looking at Amethyst, "So, what's this Crystal Faire thingy do?"

Shining turned to the disguised changeling, still smiling like a giddy foal. "Basically, it lifts up the crystal ponies' spirits so that they can power the Crystal Heart," he answered. "I think you guys should stay a while; the library isn't going to search itself, and it's a monolith to go through."

Zecora donned a smile. "If I may, could I participate in the Faire, perhaps with a little preparing? If nothing else, I'd like to participate in jousting to see if I could do something rather daring," she chirped. She turned to Sarah and added, "Perhaps I could make a potion to heal the wing, and that way rid her of her tight-looking sling."

"Are you able to mend broken bones with an herbal concoction? I still have some doubts—a coat of feathers, well… that I've seen firsthand," Fenrir piped up, turning to Zecora with both brows raised. "But a few bones…"

Zecora rose a hoof, signaling for him to stop right in his verbal tracks. "While it is true that feathers and bone are two separate things, I can still heal her so she could spread both wings," she replied. Without missing a beat, her hoof dropped a little. "After all, Shining brought me here to make salves for certain ponies and such. I went with him out of concern—let me heal her, I could at least do that much," she finished, using the same hoof she raised to gesture to Sarah.

Fenrir's brow furrowed, but he nodded with a glimmer in his eyes. "Very well then," he murmured, nostrils flaring as he huffed.

"And maybe the Faire could help us pinpoint Mr. Wise Guy," Katie interjected, almost immediately garnering everyone's attention with her utterance. She wore a cheeky grin on her illusioned visage, one stretching ear to ear, and her false eyeballs twinkled.

"'Mr. Wise Guy?' Who could you possibly be—" Fenrir stopped, his eyes widening so much they looked about ready to jump out of his cranium. Slowly, he closed his eyes and nodded, taking a moment to sigh. "Oh… I see…"

Katie turned to Shining, a false grin so big on her face she may as well have silently challenged him to a smiling contest. "So, how many crystal ponies attend the Faire?" she asked.

"Every single one, usually," Shining replied, his own smile faltering for a moment. Then the grin he wore broadened, and he could feel his cheeks starting to hurt. "I see you're starting to… get ideas. You and I need to talk when we return to the palace."

He turned back to Amethyst and nodded to her and her group of ponies, and they bowed before tottering off to start going through bookshelves again, quietly muttering to themselves and asking what the hell their Emperor alluded to. He trotted around Matt and the others, and the Fantasians and Spike and Zecora fell in step behind him, with the acquired books being juggled in dual magic auras. They went along in silence, until they found the stairs that connected the library to the palace a few minutes later.

Then Spike spoke up, just as Shining put a hoof on the first step of the flight, "How will we know who this 'Mr. Wise Guy' is?"

Shining stopped, turned to his nephew, and sighed. "He'll—or she'll, if it's a mare—give themselves away. Either they'll bark the loudest, or they'll talk of deportation out the wazoo," he answered.

"What if he does neither?" Matt asked, frowning when Shining turned to him.

The Emperor's face hardened. "Hrm… sadly, you have a point," he groaned. "But, there's a chance they could give themselves away with a different method."

Matt's brows rose up. "Methods? Who'd have a method to get us deported?" he asked.

"They could give themselves black eyes, or shove one of you while falling back at the same time to make it look like you pushed them," Shining replied, shaking his head. "Mind you, those are two of the… easier and less-damaging ways they could pull it off."

"And the more damaging ways would be…?" Fenrir inquired, eyes narrowing again.

"Blunt force, especially if they have a shovel or something of the sort." Shining paused, closing his eyes. "Since at least two of you want to partake in the Faire, I think…" His eyes opened. "I think I might spice things up a bit."

"How?" Alexander asked, wings flaring.

"Yeah. I don't see how you could spice things up this Faire," Spike piped up, crossing his arms.

Shining began grinning again. "I was thinking… archery," he stated. Turning to Natalie, he added, "And you so happen to know somepony who can help me set up the new event I have in mind…"

Natalie's eyes widened. "Wait, you plan to… to draw out Mr. Wise Guy? With a new sport?" she asked.

Shining nodded. "I have several unused bows and targets that have gotten a little musty. The guards don't really use them anymore, since spears are easier to wield. Who better to help me add a little something special than an archer? Besides, our Wise Guy will very likely show up once the new sport's become part of the festivities."

"There's a catch, isn't there?" Katie asked disbelievingly, ears twitching as she spoke.

Shining shook his head. "Not unless you count the bows I happen to have being enchanted," he replied.

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

Lance and Anna slept well into the day, and without any sort of nightmares plaguing them. In fact, it wasn't until the early evening that they woke up with matted, tangled manes and visible bits of grit in the corners of their eyes. The archer clambered out of bed first and stretched her legs, feeling her hips and shoulders pop painlessly. "Mmmm," she hummed. "I feel so much better."

"Ditto," Lance agreed, also climbing out of bed and flexing his limbs. He noticed his legs shifted a little slower than he'd have liked, and winced every time he bent them at the joints. "Great, still got lingering shock in my muscles."

"It'll go away in an hour or two," Anna sighed, trotting over to meet with her companion. "You want your uniform back?"

Lance shrugged. "Not unless Shining wants to talk to me or something," he replied with a roll of his eyes. Upon shifting his wings and feeling an uncomfortable tightness around them that he swore hadn't been there before, he changed his mind, "Actually, yeah. My wings still hate me."

Anna giggled and gently used her magic to tug the myriad of cloaks off of the general's body, and she took a moment to look at his wings and spread them, noticing that they were so stiff she may as well have been trying to bend pure stone with her hooves. In addition to this, every time she so much as touched them the wrong way, Lance grit his teeth and gave grunts and hisses of disapproving pain. She wasted no time getting him dressed in his uniform after that, making sure to keep the vest beneath the coat unbuttoned to give his hexed limbs a bit of leeway.

"Next time, don't prod so much," Lance groaned through still-clenched teeth when she finished.

"Alright," Anna sighed. Her ears twitched when she heard a creak, and she turned to the door to find it opening. Flash Sentry poked his head inside, and sent a grin at her.

"You two just getting up?" he asked.

"Already got up," Anna answered, her remark causing Lance to turn to the guard who wasn't fully in the room. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was to escort you two to Shining once you were awake… but I may need to hold that off to get you two brushes. You both have bad cases of bedmane," Flash chirped in response, donning a cheeky grin.

The two Fantasians exchanged glances before turning back to Flash. "Alright. Take us to Shining. Maybe he has a drawer full of brushes—now that I think about it, he kinda has to, since Cadence has a mane that's longer than mine," Anna sighed. Her remark wound up causing the guard to break out laughing.

Flash put a hoof to his mouth to silence his bout of laughter. When he managed to corral his fit into a series of muffled chortles, his hoof parted from his lips and he beckoned for the two to exit the room. He left, opening the door with a wing before the guests could even trot to it. As soon as they stepped outside, he took a moment to watch their movements. When he deemed them to be able to stand and trot on their own, he took point.

And he didn't take one step forward when Anna opened her mouth to comment, "Um, why're you the only guard here?"

Flash turned to Anna and sent her a sheepish smile, after noticing that the hall they stood in was completely devoid of guards. "The Emperor's going to give you another batch of guards for the night. But that won't happen until the sun fully sets," he answered. Upon receiving a pair of vexed looks, he added, "Oh, and somepony told him about the whole deportation thing. So he assembled half the guards and gave them a piece of his mind this morning."

Lance and Anna, yet again, shared looks. "Yes, somepony already beat you to it," Flash sighed, frowning as the Fantasians turned to look at him. A silence lingered, so heavy one of them could've sworn they heard something hit a large thick structure at least three whole floors below. "And he said that whoever it was… well, was gonna get dealt with."

"How does he plan on finding them, and to deal with them once he's sure he has the right pony?" Lance asked, eyes narrowing slightly. Again, the echo of something landing onto something else filled the hall when the guard hesitated to speak.

"He didn't say," Flash groaned, his wings slumping for a moment. "But he was… he looked really ticked off about it."

"So, we can safely bet that hooves will start flying, at the very least?" Lance inquired, his brows shooting up.

"Only if he loses control of himself," Flash murmured with a shrug. "Personally, I see a few rounds of boot camp as the minimum."

"And the maximum?" Anna piped up, her brow slightly furrowing.

"Dishonorable dischargement, maybe dungeon time," Flash whimpered, shuddering as if those very things were about to happen to him. "I can only see that happening if our mystery deporter-pony goes to extreme lengths and is a guard, though."

Lance decided to change the subject, "So, where's Shining?"

Flash sighed again. "Last he told me, he said he was gonna escort the others to the library," he answered. With that, he began trotting down the hall with the two stragglers falling in step behind him. The three went in silence, turning down a few halls which were empty. The silence settled in again, and not even the triad of hooves hitting on the crystal floor in a steady rhythm could break it. When they went down a floor, they heard something sounding like it blew out of an organ's pipes filling the hall, followed by a loud thud and a pained cry.

Exchanging glances, the trio rushed down the corridor and skid to a halt part-way after having came across the strangest thing they'd seen yet: a disillusioned Katie sitting on and operating a unicycle with an accordion in her front hooves. To add to that, she somehow got a jester's hat on her head, and little bells adorning the garment furiously jingled as she tried and failed to stop herself from going into a wall. They gaped in unison as she peeled herself from the wall, and began circling them, her orbs wide as saucers.

To say she was playing badly while trying and failing to balance herself on the one-wheeled contraption despite her wings buzzing… Simply put in a nutshell, the display was so horrendous one of the three ponies who came across her may as well have asked her to lift up the entirety of Canterlot, with her ears alone. "K-Katie? W-what the hell are you doing?" Lance asked, his voice an octave higher.

"A-Armin cast a spell on me! I-I can't stop!" Katie shrieked in response, wings madly beating to no avail. "Help!" she cried as she swayed dangerously close to the floor in front of the general, only to spring back up and crash into the closest wall like she had a bungee cord tied to her neck. The accordion gave a distorted note upon impact, and one that sang through the air like a persistent alarm clock that didn't want to stop. Despite this, the unicycle didn't seem to sustain an inch of damage, and neither did the accordion.

Lance responded by letting a hoof connect with the bridge of his muzzle. "For fuck's sake…" he grumbled, lowering his hoof before sharing a glance with a concerned-looking Anna. "Undo whatever hex she has had cast onto her. I'm going to find Armin and have a little talk with him after we fix this."

Anna nodded, and looked at Katie as she collided with the wall like a magnet, causing the instrument she held to screech along with her. She spotted mana rippling across the hat, and used her magic to swiftly remove it. As soon as the belled cap was off her head, the accordion and unicycle vanished in flashes of light. Katie plummeted to the floor, but Flash moved in and caught her with both his wings before her face could meet the walkway. Then the hat itself vanished before Anna could inspect it, and she sighed in exasperation.

"Make the pain stop… I think I need... an ice cube bath…" Katie groaned weakly, orbs spinning wildly in their canvases. Flash used his wings to tenderly rest her on his back, and he stayed still as Lance stormed over to check her for any more wounds to add to her repertoire or sorts. Upon finding nothing else of the like, he sighed and tenderly patted her head with a hoof.

"Would an ice cube bath… er, help with your pain?" Lance asked after hesitating for a moment.

"Quirk… of being… a frost wraith," Katie groaned, slowly nodding in reply. "Don't want to… be a popsicle myself… though."

Lance nodded and turned to Flash. "You think we could work out such a thing for her, while I raise hell at Armin?" he asked.

Flash nodded. "At any rate, we could. Just a unicorn and a spellbook with something that can make ice in it would be enough to prep up a tub for such a thing," he answered, making sure to not move too suddenly. "Let's find the Emperor, and fast. Because if your other changeling cast a spell with a hat… I don't want to think of what he got his hooves on."