“We’re landing!” Applejack announced to her fellow ponies on the airship, looking out the window to see a white landscape fast approaching their transport vehicle. The airship tilted upwards like a bullet ricocheting off of water, and with such haste the passengers could do naught but pratfall onto the carpeted floor. It jilted again, forcing the lot to helplessly slide towards the hapless pony announcing the ship’s landing.

For a few moments, the vehicle remained airborne, circling above a white patch of land over and over. As it kept on forming invisible circles, seemingly without end, it gradually decelerated until its speed became little beyond that of a snail crawling. When it had reached this speed, it descended down to the earth, landing with a soft thud and throwing snow in its wake.

“Ouch… I think I got whiplash from that,” Twilight complained, slowly getting onto her hooves. She flinched all the while, as though the ship’s sudden and inexplicable spasms had damaged her in some way.

“You wouldn’t be the only one…” Rarity agreed, also getting to her hooves with rather twitchy movements.

Harry got to his feet and glanced around for a moment before approaching a window and peering out of it. He let off a growl that didn’t quite sound like it had been marred by any sort of emotion—if anything, the beast had merely scoffed.

“Um, Harry thinks we’re going to need scarves,” Fluttershy grimaced as she rose onto her hooves, one wing twitching more so than the other.

“Scarves? Why’s that?” the cyan pegasus asked, flapping her wings to become airborne. She hovered over everyone else, an incredulous brow quirked. She flew towards a window and peered outside, whereupon she saw nothing but vast white land and greyish-blue skies.

Angel stood up and began thumping one foot on the floor fervently. Fluttershy turned to him and made to speak when a faint rumbling sound graced her ears.

“What is that?” Spike mused aloud, blinking as the sound registered in his ears too.

“Maybe it’s a clap of thunder!” the pink-maned mare exclaimed. “Although it’s a very quiet clap of thunder,” she added.

“Pinkie Pie, if it were thunder, the sound wouldn’t stay for an extra twenty seconds! Besides, there’s not a single cloud in the sky!” the cyan pegasus retorted, a frown on her face. The sound began to grow louder, gradually picking up in intensity.

“If it’s not thunder, then what do you girls think it is?” Twilight inquired, rubbing a hoof on her chin.

“I’m not sure myself, really,” Rarity replied, shaking her head. “The closest thing that comes to my mind would be a train.”

“Well, a train can produce that kind of noise…” the lavender unicorn nodded thoughtfully, setting her hoof down and trotting around the airship to peer out of each and every window. When she got to the one that Harry stood in front of, she noticed something in the landscape of purest white. Amidst the snow, a sheen in the distance betrayed the faintest glimmer of a dark grey, yet it had been far enough away that she could not make out much else.

“You see any train tracks?” Applejack sighed.

“No, and I don’t see any terminals or stations for that matter. Yet... I do see something,” Twilight nodded, squinting her eyes in the hopes that she could see the distant object a little better. It did seem to be getting closer, bit by bit. As it kept encroaching the airship, some distinct and odd features began sticking out like thumbtacks in a wall. It had two small machine guns, two drills that were easily as long as two ponies each, and a main cannon settled near the top.

“What in the hay is that?” Pinkie asked, bouncing around the lavender mare in an attempt to glance out the window she had claimed. Now, the rumbling started to get loud enough to faintly shake the ship itself.

“I’m not sure,” the unicorn frowned, barely seeing treads attached to the object. The cascading snow it had been producing as it approached, to her chagrin, did nothing more than obscure the rest of the damned thing. When it got closer, it began circling the airship whilst maintaining a good distance away, like a hungry cat stalking its prey. The main cannon had been poised right in the blimp-like vehicle’s direction all the while, as if it were an accusatory hoof.

A masculine voice droned out from the circling thing, its tone commanding and its words concise. “Any Mythonian inhabitants, please step out of the airship.”

“It talks?” Fluttershy whimpered, ears flattening against her skull.

“I think we should do what the tread-thing says,” Twilight grimaced, seeing the door of the airship open as a long, thick piece of wood landed in the snow, serving as a makeshift gangplank. The cold air got inside and began nipping at everyone.

They started to trot outside, the lavender unicorn conjuring scarves and wrapping them snugly around bare necks as the lot moved in unison. When everyone’s feet and hooves finished settling in the snow, the tread-thing stopped, main cannon and smaller guns and drills perfectly aligned with the airship.

“Thank you for your cooperation. We are not enemies and we will not attack without provocation,” the thing droned out. A lid opened from the top of the metallic behemoth, from which emerged a pony.

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

Lance, with the aid of Matt’s magic, now stood on top of the Valkyrie. He jumped from the side of the tank and landed in the snow, his legs half-sinking in the crystallized white as a result from the impact. The pegasus frowned as he pried his legs from the snow and turned to the Mythonians. He made a beeline for the otherworldly lot, his frown firm.

“What if they attack you?” one part of his mind shouted. “Maybe they’re pacifists,” another part of his mind objected. He did not sense danger from the sister world’s inhabitants that had just touched down on Fantasian soil, but his wings shifted as he reminded himself that things might not play out as he would like to hope. Besides, he didn’t know the Mythonian lot, and they did not know him—it would’ve best to take some level of caution. A torn ear twitched in anticipation.

When he found himself within fifteen yards of the ship, he paused. His eyes hovered over each individual from the airship, and he grimaced as he noticed two pink manes, a pink body, and another mane of stark rainbow. “There is no way nature would be drunk enough to make those colors for a set of manes. They must’ve used dye,” he mumbled to himself, an eye twitching at the thought.

Lance shook his head to clear his mind before continuing onwards. He could feel the otherworldly tourists watching him intently, and when he yet again stopped at a mere five yards from them, he could see they had a bear, a rabbit, and a… “Is that a baby dragon?” he asked aloud.

“Yeah, I’m a dragon, but I’m not a baby,” Spike answered with a nod.

“What is that thing you hopped out of?” the cyan mare questioned.

“That would be the Valkyrie Tank, and I happen to be its pilot. Name’s Lance Boltwing,” the red-eyed stallion replied, using a hoof to gesture to the tank. He then turned to the airship and pointed at it. “That airship lacks finesse; it looks gaudy as hell, and unstable, too! Who gave it to you?”

“Alright. A friend lent me the airship; is there anypony else with you?” Twilight questioned.

“I ought to have a word with her ‘friend’ for lending her such an airship one of these days, and as soon as I get the chance to,” he thought for a moment before saying, “They should arrive shortly.” He turned his head towards the tank, barely seeing his companions start to jump out of the massive land vehicle. He also saw some flying out, and guessed those to be Armin and the gryphons. “The lot just needs to get out of the tank and trot here first.”

“Pardon my forwardness, Sir Boltwing, but why do you have a, ahem, tank?” Rarity questioned. Her inquiry managed to garner the red-eyed stallion’s attention.

“It’s a great multitasker,” he began with a nod, “in that me and my companions can eat, bathe, sleep, and even store things in it. It’s especially useful for a place like what we’re standing in, when it’s nothing but snowstorms every other day.”

“And… where in Fantasia are we, exactly?” Rarity continued, an incredulous brow quirked.

“We’re in the Barren Glacier region. Nearest town’s Frostbite Haven, which me and my companions found before the barrier cracked and shattered into a gazillion pieces,” the stallion answered. “It’s ran by a whole bunch of hippogryphs. I reckon they even founded the little igloo town.”

“Um, I just noticed your ears,” Fluttershy piped up, her wings tensing up as she marveled the torn ears in question. “What happened to them, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Nothing too major,” the stallion shrugged his shoulders casually. As he did this, the Mythonian mares flinched a bit. “Was sleeping one night when they were intact, and the next morning they were like this. Since I was near a plant with sharp thorns at the time, I suspect that I tossed so much my ears snagged on the plant.”

“‘Nothing too major?’” Twilight parroted, a bewildered frown on her face. “Your ears were damaged!”

“It happened while I had a few hours of sleep. And besides, I can still hear perfectly fine with them; just gotta keep them clean and all’s good. It’s not like the plant tore off the entire right side of my face,” Lance retorted, shaking his head rather begrudgingly. The lavender unicorn backed down, yet she shared a glance with the other mares and Spike.

The cyan mare began to flap her wings, and had in a moment started hovering over her companions as if it were casual. “So, what did you do when you woke up?” she questioned, crossing her front legs in front of her chest as a perplexed frown wormed its way upon her muzzle. “With your ears, I mean?”

The stallion blinked but once. “Just cleaned them up once I found a river. I guess I should be lucky; a lot of thorny plants where I had been sleeping at the time were poisonous. If that plant had poison dripping from its little pricks, I’d have been a goner,” he shrugged as the words left his mouth.

He glanced behind himself again, and could see a pale grey form hovering over his companions. “Joy, they’re bringing Katie along,” he thought. “And since that lavender mare almost chewed me out for having torn ears…” another thought struck him, and the corners of his mouth twitched as everyone else from the tank came closer. “I hope none of the Mythonians explode when they see the wraith that’s shorter than Anna.”

Once the Fantasian ponies, gryphons, and changelings finally stopped behind their pegasus compatriot, a shrill and rather unified shriek graced his ears. He snapped his head to the foreign mares and noticed that their eyes were wide and mouths had been going agape. In the case of the grey unicorn they had with them, she had her front hooves to her face in horror.

“She’s… she’s…” Rarity’s breath turned hitched and shallow, her shrinking irises scanning the wraith, “that mare’s been…”

“You gonna call me ugly?” the red-maned wraith sighed, orbs ceasing their glow in the canvases of her eyes as she crossed her front hooves and shook her head sadly. “It’s fine, really. Almost every pony I met shared more or less the same thought upon first sighting me.”

The ivory unicorn gaped, and her ears fell flat against her skull. “I… wouldn’t dare call anypony ugly,” she replied, the hitches in her breath less frequent. “I’d say… you’ve been…” the mare trailed off, words dying in her throat.

Katie’s azure orbs had alighted again, and she rolled them in response. “So, you’re still calling me ugly,” she groaned sarcastically. “Not that I mind, anyway.”

Rarity turned her attention to Lance, and her eyes narrowed. “Did you hurt that mare?” she cried.

“No, they did not hurt me. All they did was find me out in the cold as I laid napping, and asked me what I had been doing out here in this winter wonderland. Hell, they even gave me a warm bed on wheels to sleep on,” the wraith answered, her ears twitching.

“She kinda already got this thin well before we found her if her protruding hip, chest, and rib bones are anything to go by. Honestly, we first thought she had already kicked the bucket,” Anna clarified, using a hoof to gesture to the airborne wraith for emphasis.

“But we found out she’s actually a wraith, and since she’s technically dead, there’s nothing we can do about her condition,” Natalie added with a nod of her head. “Or, if there is something we can do about her current state, we just haven’t figured it out yet.”

That series of answers to the grey unicorn’s question did not have any positive impact on the wide-eyed gaping visages of the Mythonain mares. If anything, they were more horrified now, if their trembling forms were an indication. “She’s a zombie!” the group cried in shrill unison, varying degrees of shock fluctuating from one pony to the next. Pinkie’s jaw hung open, the cyan mare actually stopped flapping her wings and let gravity land her posterior in the snow, and Applejack merely started shaking her head in disbelief.

“Pretty much,” Armin piped up with a nod. Only then did the foreign mares turn to him, and instantly, they narrowed his eyes as if they had nothing but contempt for his very existence.

“Ladies, what did he do to upset you? My ears and our wraith, I can sorta understand, but seriously? What did my changeling companion do to make you want to murder him?” Lance asked simply, the corners of his mouth twitching downward. The mares eased up their glares, with the lavender one turning to the red-eyed stallion as a heavy sigh left her lips.

“Five months ago, in Mythos, me and my friends attended a wedding,” Twilight began. “A whole bunch of changelings invaded the city the wedding was being held in, and almost came close to not only ruining the occasion, but laying siege to that city.”

“What made it worse had been that the groom was Twilight’s big brother, and he wound up mind-controlled by the queen of the changelings who led the attack,” Spike added, using a claw to gesture to the lavender mare for emphasis.

“And she replaced the real bride using her shapeshifting powers, syphoning off my friend’s brother’s love for his bride like a leech. But, let’s just say the real bride arrived and foiled that plan and lent a hoof in driving out the invaders,” Rarity finished with a nod of her head. “Please do pardon us if we… look at your changeling companion with a bit of wariness.”

The Fantasian lot exchanged glances amongst themselves, with several brows quirked.

“Her brother was the groom?” Anna questioned.

“The bride was replaced?” Matt groaned.

“Talk about laying siege and delivering quite the pain to the little sister of the groom in the process,” Natalie murmured.

 

“Yeesh, it’s like invading a whole damn city wasn’t enough,” Armin sighed, his wings buzzing for a moment.

“Alright, I can understand if you’re wary around my changeling compatriot,” Lance stated, turning to the mares and nodding in understanding. “I would just prefer it if you didn’t hit him out of scorn, unless he did something to actually upset you. Alright?”

The Mythonian mares exchanged another glance before turning back to the stallion and nodding in unison. The bear that stood with them, though, let off a low growl that had been punctuated by a snort.

Fluttershy spoke up, “Um, Harry wants to know what kind of pony you are, Mister Boltwing.”

“Pegasus,” Lance began, but a white and thick-furred hoof grabbed him by the coat collar and pulled him back.

Matt leaned forward once his companion had been dragged close enough, his muzzle just inches shy of touching a torn ear. “Say your wings are bandaged,” he whispered. “I’m pretty sure they’ll buy it.”

The red-eyed stallion nodded, and made to speak before Anna gestured to the bear and asked, “Is it just my wildest dreams playing out right now, or did you speak for the bear as if he spoke in words?”

“I spoke for Harry. My, erm, special talent is speaking with animals,” the yellow pegasus nodded, a frown on her face. “Is that wrong? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Anna brought the same hoof she gestured to Harry with to her face and rubbed her chin. “No, it’s not wrong,” she answered after a moment. “I just… haven’t seen such a thing before.”

NoLegs meowed, and he approached the Mythonian mares. He had now sported a cat-sized suit of armor, a little red scarf around his neck, and a small knife that had been sheathed and strapped to him. He made towards Fluttershy and looked at her once he stood in front of her hooves, and he had begun purring before letting off another meow.

“What is that cat doing?” Anna leaned toward Natalie as she asked, a perplexed frown on her face as the spectacle unfolded before her eyes.

“Oh? They’re good ponies, just a bit quirky?” the yellow-coated pegasus asked, leaning down so she could be eye level with the cat. The blue-furred purring critter nodded in response. “What about the changeling and the gryphons?” she asked, and the cat meowed again. “Oh, quirky as well, but just as good?”

“She’s… either crazy, or actually demonstrating her ‘animal-speaking’ talent,” Natalie murmured, sharing a quick glance with the green-maned unicorn.

“... Oh, so your creator’s sister took away your species’ legs when you…” Fluttershy trailed off, her mouth and wings quivering in horror. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I truly am.” NoLegs meowed once more, and the yellow-coated mare donned a wide-eyed, rather perplexed look. “You don’t mind being legless? Not at all?”

“That cat is one hell of a tough cookie,” Matt began. His remark almost instantly caught the attention of the pegasus who had until that point been communicating with the cat. “Even when he had only been a little bitty baby kitty, he would not let his situation get the better of him. He learned to balance on his hips and scooch upright—I dare say, that cat is tiny, but fierce.”

“I can attest to that. I’ve known that cat for about as long as I have known Matt,” Natalie added with a nod.

“Matt… who?” Twilight asked, eyes darting to each member of the Fantasian lot, sans NoLegs who began scooching his little way back to his group.

The half-Clydesdale stallion used a hoof to gesture to himself. “Me. I’m Matt Bladerune,” he answered flatly.

“Boy howdy, I reckon you’re the leader of this here group? You are taller than Lance over there, but just by a few inches!” Applejack remarked with a frown. “Say, how strong are you? You look like a bulky stallion to me.”

“I’m strong enough I could carry him, Armin, and the wraith on my back without breaking a sweat,” Matt spoke, a grin breaking out on his muzzle. His horn lit up, and in seconds, Lance ended up plopped onto his backside, followed by Armin, and then Katie.

“Oh good, you’ve made yourself a Jenga tower,” Alexander sneered, a small smile on his beak.

“This is awkward!” Armin complained, his wings buzzing frantically.

“You’re telling me!” Lance barked, using his front legs to cling to Matt’s neck. It wound up being a tall order to contend with, considering that the thick blond mane felt slippery, and he had not one, but two changelings upon his back. Both of whom, plus himself, all being held in a magic aura that greatly restricted their movements.

“Make the tickling feeling stop! I don’t like this!” Katie shrieked, her pitch of voice rivaling that of a banshee’s. Her yodeling elicited a wince from Matt, and that had been all it took for his horn to cease glowing. For a few seconds, gravity did not affect those who were held in his magic at all.

And, once the trio of Fantasians who were magically accosted glanced down in unison, it kicked in with the force of three sledgehammers. This ended up forcing the bulky unicorn sprawling into the snow with a heap of his compatriots on top of him.

“Pardon him, it’s just that he can be afflicted by idiot syndrome some days,” Natalie remarked, lightly kicking Matt in the shoulder with a back hoof. She did not look at him, instead choosing to look at the other-worlders who were shaking and had their front hooves covering their mouths.

In that moment, the cyan pegasus burst into a fit of mad laughter. She held her front hooves to her stomach, wings flapping madly yet not lifting her even an inch above the snow during her cackling session. “That was a very bad display of muscle power!” she howled, laughing between words.

Matt shot a glare at the rainbow-maned pony as she begun to roll about in the snow as if it were a hardwood floor, but because she'd still been giggling, she paid him no heed. “You held them up for less than ten seconds! I could do better than that with my bare hooves while flying at the same time!” she chortled in mad glee.

“Is she alright?” Natalie asked, turning toward Anna whilst using a hoof to gesture to the laughing mad pony.

“Considering that she’s now flapping so hard she’s doing loop-de-loops in the snow, I’d lean towards ‘no,’” the green-maned mare sighed, shaking her head. NoLegs jumped up onto her back and meowed, and when Anna turned to him with a quizzical brow raised, the cat used his tail to point at something like a hand that had only one finger. She turned back to where the cat had pointed, and now spotted the lavender mare’s horn glowing.

Twilight used her magic to heft her still-howling companion out of the snow, and this managed to stop the case of the dreaded giggle fit right in its tracks. The now-floating pegasus looked at her unicorn friend as her laughter died down, a brow quirked. “Rainbow Dash, I know that what Matt just did was a tad funny, but it doesn’t call for that much laughter. I think we’d all appreciate it if you cut it out,” she chided.

“Nor does it call for a round of insulting jabs, despite his boast backfiring on him horribly,” Rarity added in a firm tone of voice. “Please do keep the slander to a minimum.”

“While y’all were busy howling and bickering, something’s been bothering me mighty fierce,” Applejack interjected, quickly garnering the attention of everyone.

“And what would that be?” Armin asked as he fidgeted for a bit, managing to disentangle a holey leg from between Matt’s neck and and the barrel of Lance’s chest.

“If Lance said he’s a pegasus, then where’s his wings?” the blond-maned mare asked flatly. “I get he’s wearing a coat or somethin’, but it should have holes for his wings to slip through.”

“About that,” the red-eyed stallion grunted as he began to violently wriggle about in an attempt to free himself of the pony-and-changeling-made pile he had been unwillingly dragged in. When he had freed himself and stood on his legs, he frowned before speaking again, “My wings are broken and bandaged. My clothes are keeping the bandages in a state from which they can’t be unravelled; the same applies to my saddlebag.”

“All of his wing bones are heavily damaged, and he sustained sizeable flesh wounds on his back, stomach, and midsection. Unfortunately, as they are now, his wings cannot be exposed to the elements under any circumstances until they have healed sufficiently,” Alexander added with a nod of his head. “He does have clothes to fit his wings through special holes, but sadly cannot wear them for reasons I have just stated.”

“So, you’re temporarily grounded?” Fluttershy asked, her wings twitching as if pained. When the stallion nodded, she frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“But, will his wings recover properly? Y’know, the way you have them bandaged now?” Twilight asked, the corners of her mouth twitching like she wanted to frown, but could not bring herself to do so.

“His prognosis is poor. His wings might never recover properly, and he may be grounded for life,” Quicksilver answered, a frown on his beak.

“And Matt’s antics aren’t helping in the least,” Lance groaned, kicking Matt in the shoulder with a back leg, letting off a pained grunt in the process.

Katie made to speak up, but when her lips parted just an inch, she found a green glow clamping her maw shut and encasing much of her head. She turned her head to glance this way and that, only to find Anna’s horn aglow with the same aura. The tan-beige mare shook her head, raising a hoof and moving it in front of her own muzzle for emphasis.

“Zip your torn lips.”

The wraith nodded in understanding, orbs flickering in their black canvases for a moment. Armin finally managed to wriggle himself free of the pile as well, and dusted himself off before backpedaling from the half-Clydesdale stallion. “Oh no, he’s pissed,” he murmured upon spotting a very grumpy frown on the stallion’s white muzzle. As soon as the aura around Katie’s maw vanished, Matt sprang up onto his hooves, sending the hapless wraith sailing into the air like she’d jumped on a trampoline.

“Welp, there she goes!” Natalie exclaimed upon seeing the thin mare shoot straight up like a rocket, turning and tumbling about as if she’d been launched into a high-powered washing machine. At the apex of her impromptu launch, she kept on spinning and spinning as she came back down to earth.

“You have—” Anna began, eyes trained on the hapless wraith. Matt sidestepped out of the way, right before the thin mare’s entire front quarters, head and all, landed and wound up buried in the snow. “—wings…” she trailed off with a frown.

Matt stood over her prone form for a moment before using a hoof to grab her tail and pry her from the snow. “Don’t say a fucking word about Lance’s wings,” he whispered as soon as her ears were close to his muzzle. Once the mare nodded, he let go of her tail, allowing her to fall right back into the hole she unintentionally made in the snow.

He turned his attention to Rainbow Dash. “And you!” he barked, raising the same hoof he hefted Katie with and pointing it at the cyan pegasus as if it were the tip of his sword. “I’d like to see you do better than me while flying!”

“Ha! I could do it ten seconds flat!” the pegasus mare snorted, a cocky smile spreading on her muzzle. She took off into the air, launching straight up, only to U-turn right back down towards her companions. Before anyone could react, she swerved, keeping her form above the snow by meager inches. As white crystallized water cascaded everywhere, she scooped up Pinkie, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity with her front hooves, balancing them in a wobbling diamond configuration.

The cocky mare ascended once more, shooting upwards at a 45-degree angle, her companions screaming and doing their best to hold on in the rapidly-accelerating precarious balancing act. All eyes that belonged to those still on the ground were trained on her, noticing a trailing rainbow being left in Dash’s wake.

NoLegs meowed, and Anna turned to glance at him again. Once more, the cat used his tail to gesture towards something. The unicorn followed it and noticed a quickly-forming cloud front, one that had been dotted by little yellow blobs that were hard to make out. Her eyes widened as the clouds began to violently crackle with tell-tale signs of lightning.

The cloud front did not go unnoticed by anyone else, either. “There’s trying to prove your claim after watching someone else fail horribly, and then there’s being a complete fool!” Lance barked, raising a hoof and pointing it at the sky.

“Not my fault she decided to take off high into the air with her fellow foreigners in her front hooves,” Alexander agreed, lifting a talon and letting it connect with his face.

“Hey, where’d these clouds come from? Aren’t pegasi supposed to be in charge of the weather around here?” Dash cried, eyes widening as she saw the yellow blobs amidst the clouds. She turned around and made to fly higher into the sky, only to spot more clouds encroaching and adorned with white blobs.

“I don’t know about you, but I want to get off this crazy train right now!” Twilight shrieked at the top of her lungs, turning a shade of verdant in the face. The cold air combined with the high speeds at which her friend dragged her through had not been doing any good.

Rarity had been screaming throughout the entire ride, clinging to her equally frantic companions as Rainbow veered away from the second cloud front. She quickly spotted a third front that sported little, almost indistinguishable, grey blobs that near-seamlessly blended into the clouds they rode in on. The ivory unicorn had been about to point this out to her companion, but as chance would have it, the pegasus blundered head-first right into one.

And this sent all five ponies flying in different directions as if they were acrobatic bowling pins.

“Godcat-dammit,” Lance groaned, turning to the gryphons and Armin. He shook his head and said, “Go fetch those ponies before the ectoplasms decide to ream them in ways I don’t think they’ll like.”

The gryphons nodded and spread their wings and took to the air, with Armin likewise launching himself into the sky a moment later. They raced towards the falling ponies, wings frantically propelling them onwards. It took them a moment or so to catch the lot and bring them back down to the snow-covered earth, and once the gryphons and changeling touched down with frantic and somewhat-dazed Mythonians in tow, Applejack trotted up to the group.

“With the way their eyes are spinnin’, I reckon they’re seein’ lots of ducks right now,” the blond-maned earth pony sighed.

“So many clouds…” Rainbow Dash moaned, her head swaying and her eyes spinning like balls in a game of roulette. When she managed to make her eyes stop spinning and her head stop swaying, she found a brown gryphon right in front of her face with a frown on his beak.

“That was very reckless of you; those ectoplasms could’ve torn your wings and horns clean off and we’d be stuck trying to pry your bloodied remains from the snow!” Nathan scolded, one of his wings twitching as if it had a mind of its own that had been irked.

“Ecto… plasms?” Twilight moaned, shaking her head as the imaginary ducks circling her head managed to cease their existence in her sight. “But I thought those things were eradicated by the… Cloudsdale pegasi…” the mare trailed off upon remembering she stood on Mythos’s sister planet, and a shiver ran down her spine. “Nevermind,” she mumbled.

The Fantasian bunch exchanged another set of puzzled glances, before Lance spoke up. “The ectoplasms are a major problem for anything that flies too high in Fantasia; I’d recommend not going higher than… say, five hundred yards above ground.”

“Why do they rule the sky here? Did something happen?” Twilight asked, frowning as she looked to the sky. The ectoplasms, clouds and all, were already dispersing, their forms fading as if they were but heat-induced mirages in a desert.

“A lot of things happened; in fact, they’re exactly how my wings got broken to begin with,” the red-eyed stallion answered with a grim nod of his head.

“Oh, yeah. The ectoplasms tore him a new one,” Armin piped up, nodding his head frantically.

“Does that mean they also control the weather here?” Applejack questioned, looking towards the sky, frowning as though the heavens lacked something.

“Unfortunately, yes. The ectoplasms can have all of the Fantasian sky for all I care,” Lance answered, pointing a hoof at the greyish-blue expanses above for emphasis.

Natalie’s horn began glowing on its own, and she looked at it. Anna glanced at her own horn, seeing hers do the same. “Okay, what the hell is happening?” the off-white mare asked, glancing around in tandem with everyone else that wasn't dazed or buried in the snow until her gaze stopped in the direction of the Valkyrie—or, more specifically, the vast area behind it. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened as meager dots began appearing in the distance, accompanied by the sounds of many sets of galloping hooves. The other ponies who were still glancing around noticed her expression.