The starscape glittered, and the dream-like air was filled with the fervor of several voices chattering about. Luna sat in a chair at a table, speaking with Twilight, her friends, Spike, Shining, and Katie. "Luna, I can't send you or Celestia letters all the way from Fantasia. I looked through my library, and not one book had a spell to help me on that front," Twilight complained, stamping a front hoof on the table.

"Not even from an airship?" Luna queried, her brow slanted.

"Especially not from an airship," Twilight replied, frowning. "Let alone if it's already in the sky."

"She kinda exploded when I suggested it to her on the return trip home," Spike added, waving a claw dismissively.

"Which means, if you and Celestia want to maintain contact while you're stuck on Fantasia, unless we find something to remedy that particular predicament…" Katie trailed off, orbs fixed on Twilight. "You're screwed, to put it lightly," she finished.

Zecora sighed and tapped at the table with a hoof to garner everyone's attention. Only when all eyes turned to her did she speak. "Forgive me if I sound dismissive or otherwise of little aid, but would a portal be a remedy to this blockade?" she queried, and for but a moment the dreamscape fell into silence.

Luna shook her head, a dour frown on her face. "I'm afraid not. At such distances, not even we can provide portals for such a purpose. Mayhaps Discord would have better luck," she replied, her tone solemn.

"Key word being 'mayhaps,'" Katie stated curtly, garnering a nod as soon as she turned to Luna. "Last I seen of him, he decided it would be a good idea to hit Lance upside the head with a potted plant."

Luna lifted a hoof and rubbed her chin with it. "Discord, ever-typical…" she muttered. "But as it stands, he's our best bet."

"Lacræ fhram Dhescald eltreya," Katie hissed, eyes narrowing. She waved a hoof and fluttered her wings, rattling on in a tongue that made everyone else raise their brows, "Zhelkaar, estirm ghraalk astæ tras-delsch!"

"Could you repeat that in a language we can understand? Because that sounded like pure gobbledygook," Rainbow snorted, earning a huff from Katie.

"Apologies, just lapsed into my mother tongue for a second. What I said was 'How would Discord help? In fact, he did anything but.'" Katie rolled her orbs and waved a hoof dismissively again. "He'd probably fuck with us first," she added.

Twilight pursed her lips and turned to Fluttershy. "Maybe we could call him here and ask?" she ventured, tilting her head a little as the query more or less hung in the air.

Katie waved her hoof yet again and, in a flash of light, a massive monitor not unlike that of the Valkyrie tank materialized behind her. A coiled wire formed from the object and hooked itself to her shoulder, and only when it was secure did she briefly rattle off again. "Dæsch mhaltchiik scia," she muttered. The screen behind her beeped and turned crimson, and the words "Be my guest" appeared on it in a bright, almost clashing pink in tandem with her utterance.

Before any of them could ponder any further, a cloud of smoke and confetti exploded at the center of the table. When it cleared, it revealed Discord standing on his horns, with the rest of his body stiff and straight as a plank. "Did somepony call me?" he chirped with a toothy grin.

"Twelisc Sræliich astæ," Katie replied with a snort. The apparatus hooked to her translated, "Twilight Sparkle did."

Discord looked at Katie, both of his eyebrows falling off of his head and landing squarely on the table. "Now that's moonspeak if I've ever heard of it," he snorted.

Katie rolled her orbs and snarked, "Shrelmfæ ghreelzaak. Ghralscht mætria khalzt azuld, Dhescald." The machine chipped in with a beeping, "Swarm dialect. Like you'd understand it, Discord."

"Changeling tongue, I assume?" Discord queried, garnering no more than a mute nod for his answer. He swiveled around to look at Twilight, his body still rigid with the notable exception of his horns, which bent and curled and spun at the base of his cranium to cause him to twist towards her. "What is it this time? I'm afraid I'm lost here."

To punctuate his point, he snapped his talons and the starscape melded around them in several vibrant explosions of light, forming a vast ocean of blue with a starlit sky as a backdrop. Beneath the lot, ground formed and grass sprang upwards, followed by large trees that were sparse in number. The only thing that remained of the starscape was the assortment of tables and chairs, as well as the machine hooked to Katie.

"This is fast getting out of hoof…" Luna muttered to herself, shaking her head at the spectacle going on before her eyes. She cleared her throat and garnered everyone's attention in the process, though when she made to speak words would not come out. She lifted a hoof and coughed into it, which then gave way to a sharp squealing in surprise as a frog jumped out of her mouth and landed on her raised limb with a wet pop.

Discord sniggered, looking at Luna with his paw dangling next to his head. "Oh, my dear Princess, it seems you've had a frog in your throat," he teased.

"Gralkæ, veist breikskaal estralk," Katie snorted in a flat tone, lifting a front hoof and hitting her own face with it at the display. The machine beeped and translated, "Well, that escalated quickly." Orbs shrank to pinpricks before enlarging, and Katie began sputtering and hacking frantically as magic seized her throat and crawled into it via her split grin. Seconds later, her throat grew in size, akin to a pearl forming in a clam at a breakneck pace.

When the magic grew to the size of a small boulder, she violently spat it back out to find that, somehow, it turned into a hissing cat that was soaking wet with saliva and green flecks of blood. Katie hissed back in disapproval, earning a swipe across the snout from sharpened claws for her trouble. The cat vanished in a puff of smoke thereafter.

"Brakalz meriitoulk," Katie hissed, turning her narrowing orbs onto Discord. The machine beeped out a swift, "Very funny." She turned to it when it started fizzing and crackling, a brow raising up as it trembled with the aid of some unseen force. The screen cracked, unfurled in a manner reminiscent of flower petals, and spewed out a sea of bits that engulfed her without warning.

All that stuck out of the bit pile was a lone, raised pale hoof that twitched just seconds after the ludicrous amount of coins settled and ceased spilling forth. Discord turned to Katie and guffawed as the raised hoof started flailing about desperately, trying to find something solid to grab onto only to instead make the bits shift about to hinder her attempt. "What's the matter, Pennybags? Got a little loose change?" Discord chortled prior to turning back to Luna. "So, fill me in here, Moon Pie. I haven't got all day."

Luna tried to keep from scowling, but could not seize her facial muscles fast enough to prevent her nostrils from flaring. Her horn glowed and she grappled Discord's head briefly with her magic, and turned her attention to the pile of money as soon as the first flash from her uninvited guest faded. The coins rattled when the magic snagged them, prior to shining brilliantly and then bursting into a waterfall of multi-hued and glittering confetti.

The confetti drifted down, though only in a smaller pile than when it was bits. Katie still had her hoof raised, though without the extra weight pinning it down she managed to snag the edge of the table with it and hauled herself back up with a groan. "Remind me not to get on Discord's bad side ever again," she hissed.

"Well… this ought to be interesting," Discord cooed, turning to look at everyone that was already assembled. "What's in it for me?"

That utterance caused Twilight and Fluttershy to exchange a nervous glance, in addition to making Shining sigh in exasperation. Rainbow shook her head and muttered "Greeeeaaaat." Applejack's eyes shifted between Discord and her friends. Zecora and Rarity donned matching frowns. Katie's brow slanted and her wings snapped open. Spike lifted a brow and did nothing more. Silence held, though for the span of a few passing seconds.

"If you want," Luna began, ears folding back as she spoke, "I can let you see into our guests' dreams. They're… quite chaotic, to put it mildly."

Discord spun around to Luna, his eyes widening. "Come again? Are my ears working right?" he asked.

Luna slowly nodded. "Yes. With the exception of a present third party. Her dreams are… now tranquil," she replied, taking a scant few seconds to lock eyes with Katie.

Discord donned a toothy grin again. "So long as I don't harm them, right?" he asked.

Luna nodded, turning to Discord again. "That's the only requirement, really. They won't let me into their dreams, but perhaps you could manage it. Miss Windwood's dreams… are the most disturbing of the lot."

"That reminds me… Luna, I stumbled upon a juicy tidbit, and I didn't even need to do anything," Katie began, ears rising to stand as she spoke. Holding her gaze as Luna turned to her, she started to elaborate, "It involves the twins…"

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

Hours passed, and in the early afternoon sunlight the wings of the Lavender Spirit and Scylla were beating in sync, though oddly the latter had been moved to sit next to the former.

In addition to that, this time however, there were special metal-and-wood seats with thick leather straps sporting steel buckles attached. Said seats were installed in the former's storage room. On top of that, the boxes of wood were replaced by those crafted of some sort of metal, likewise strapped in right and packing additional bolts all around the edges and corners for reinforcements.

The seats also sported leathery blue cushions, the sort that was sturdy and uncomfortable in most circumstances to lean against, in addition to gripping rails, which Twilight and her company were in the process of testing out.

Spike sat in one, nestled with Angel and Owlowiscious at either side of him and the jeweled box under all of their rumps. All three of them, plus said box, were strapped in nice and tight. Harry, instead of a simple seat, had more of a cylinder of steel with enough space cut out for him to enter, exit, and overall contend with. It had more firm cushions all around including top and bottom, also further affixed with gripping rails as thick as a pony's front leg.

If anything it looked more like he was in a bizarre prototype escape pod, or perhaps some sort of carnival ride. He was likewise strapped in, growling out something in bear-tongue that held an air of curiosity.

Observing this with a critical eye over things was Princess Celestia and a small batch of no more than a half-dozen golden-armored unicorn guards who bore saddlebags on their backs. "Are the new additions to the airship… sturdy?" she asked, looking at Harry the bear in particular. "I do not trust the…"

"The measures we took to accommodate the bear safely?" one of the guards piped up.

"Yes, that," Celestia replied with a nod. She turned to Spike, Angel, and Owlowiscious. "And shouldn't they have separate seats?"

"We tested smaller seats. They proved too flimsy," replied a second guard. "It's the best we could manage."

Celestia nodded glumly. "Well, if it works…" she muttered under her breath. Her eyes fell onto Twilight, and she assumed a warm, almost motherly smile as soon as their eyes locked. Her grin lingered for a second, only to drop as soon as she opened her mouth again. "Are you certain you can do this?" she asked sincerely. "This is your tallest order yet."

Twilight nodded, her face hardening. "I've faced Nightmare Moon, Sombra, Chrysalis and Discord. I'll tackle whatever Fantasia throws at me, up to and including Lance if need be," she replied, her voice firm and resolute. Her tone brokered no argument; her nervousness, if any, was not present. She did not break out a single drop of sweat, or exude an aura of fear.

Celestia nodded and turned to the others, finding that they too donned similar expressions. Even Spike, Angel, and Owlowiscious seemed to give off an air of unwavering determination. "Very well then…" Celestia murmured, almost in a saddened tone as she turned to Shining Armor. "I bid you all a safe trip." With that, her horn glowed, and in a golden flash of light she vanished from sight.

One of the half-dozen guards spoke up, "So, er… how are the seats?"

Shining dropped his firm face, giving a heavy sigh in its place. "I'd say it needs a little more cushioning," he answered, his horn glowing. His magic grappled the straps on him and fiddled with the buckle, before it clicked and parted in two pieces to let him lean out to then land on all fours. He trotted forward once he was sure that he had solid footing, and one by one Twilight and her companions did the same. In unison, they trotted to the guards.

One of the guards immediately lifted a front hoof up, over, and back before using it to open the flap of his saddlebag. "Shining, sir, the Fantasians gave me this…" His horn glowed and his blue-tinted magic grappled an object that prominently protruded out of the opened bag prior to pulling it out, revealing it to be a small portable radio. "This device. One of them said something about communications."

Almost as soon as he said that, the radio began emitting static, interspersed with murmuring voices. "Scylla to Spirit, do you copy?" one masculine voice asked as Shining plucked the radio in his magic, causing all the other voices on the other end to hush immediately.

"Shining Armor speaking," Shining sighed. "Lance, is that you?"

"Yes," Lance snorted on the other end. "Are you ready to launch yet?"

"Just about," Shining replied, briefly turning back to the assembled guards. Giving them no more than a stern glare, the six nodded, bowed, and quickly filed out of the modified storage room in short order. "Was doing some last-minute checkups, since the Spirit's storage room had gotten some new additions for safety and such."

"Good deal. I'll launch, you follow," Lance replied in a slightly pleased tone, the sort that gave Shining the distinct impression that he was nodding on his end. Shining trotted to the exit of the storage room with the others in tow, carting the radio in his magical grip along the way as they left and found themselves in the lounge. The Lavender Spirit lurched a little, and out of the nearest window the lot could see the palace seemingly drift downward by a few inches.

"I have no idea why they decided to move our ship next to yours, but whatever works I guess," Matt's voice grumbled from the other side of the radio.

"Must've been to keep thieves out of it with guard patrols," Lance stated, presumably in reply to Matt. "I'll have to ask how they managed to move it later." As that utterance was made, Shining caught sight of the Scylla shifting and slowly, very slowly inching away from the Spirit. A few minutes passed, and all within the lounge watched intently as the Scylla weaved around and took point, ascending into the air and headed right towards Fantasia.

No less than a minute later, the Lavender Spirit lurched again and followed suit, giving way to the sight of Canterlot and the mountain it sat upon shrinking little by little. Silence fell as the two airships flew further and further away from the city, almost languidly at that.

It was only seconds before a voice on the other end of the radio broke the silence, this one sounding vaguely like Katie, "How are you lot holding up?"

"Doing good so far. Though… I feel the need to check on the guards in the lower deck," Shining answered.

"Might wanna do so now, then. Reading Lance's large screen… thingy, and according to it we're approaching the stratosphere fast," Katie warned, prompting Shining to turn to a particular corner of the lounge that was beset by a small table.

"It's called a monitor, you pale twat," Lance hissed as Shining trotted to the corner with the table, radio still in magic. He lifted a hoof and shoved the table to one side once he was within reach, though not too abruptly so as to keep it upright. Doing that enabled him to catch sight of a small metal ring hooked to a rectangular metal post, which stuck out in amidst the carpet like a sore hoof. Around it, a thin line was cut into the fabric, forming a square just big enough that he could stand in it and still have room for another pony to join him.

"You expect me to be as technologically-addlebrained as you, General Smartass?" Katie snarked on the other end, her tone giving off an air of irritation. Shining rolled his eyes at the way the conversation on the other end was taking a turn for the south, resisting the urge to chip in with his two bits as he snagged the ring in his magic without a second thought.

As he pulled and found himself lifting up a trapdoor with the square section of carpet cut and glued to it, he stared down another staircase, albeit one facing toward him instead of away on its downward path. "Honestly, I wouldn't, considering I heard you got a marble column to the face. I'm almost wondering if you suffered a few concussions or even brain damage, you brittle skeleton," Lance retorted, the tiniest hint of amusement in his tone.

"Says the bald-backed stallion who can't fly worth shit!" Katie hissed in return, her utterance giving way to a shuffling of hooves. Shining sighed and made for the new staircase, carefully cantering down and out of sight of his sister and her friends. As he slowly descended, the sound of gears turning and chains clinking filled the air, interspersed with crackles of magic and a pumping of pistons that echoed softly at first.

"Says the wraith who can't use her horn for even a smidgen of a second!" Lance shot back, his voice rising a little as Shining continued to descend. Shining started to imagine the two, in the midst of their argument, glaring at each other without backing down or faltering in the slightest. He turned the dial of the radio slowly, turning the volume of the shouting down as it continued to rise. Amidst the already-present noise, he couldn't hear the arguing now.

He cantered on a few more steps, stopping upon finding himself in a room with a great big engine that was easily as tall as Celestia, thrice as wide as her full wingspan, and roughly twenty times as heavier if the sheer size was any indication. It pumped pistons frantically, turning gears and pulling chains as much as it was able, tightening and loosening springs at its leisure. The whole construct glowed with varicolored runes, pulsing with pure power.

He could've sworn he caught sight of a carefully groomed blond tail retreat behind the machine, but a mana pulse that occurred that very same moment made him question what he saw. Shining shrugged it off and turned to look at what was beside the massive engine.

All around it guards worked at some massive oars, all of them unicorns. Shining saw a few still sporting saddlebags, though between them he caught sight of an orange pair of wings that stood out very starkly, further accentuated by royal purple armor that gleamed like crystal. The form retracted from between the ponies and trotted down the row, only stopping once his blue eyes locked with Shining's own. "Uh… I… I'm here of my own volition. I came by train."

Shining smiled at the stallion's remark. "I understand, Flash. Gotta have somepony keep a close eye on progress," he chirped.

"Oh yeah? Try channeling magic through your hooves and get back to me on that, you overgrown dodo!" Katie yelled from the radio, though now her voice was barely above a whisper thanks to the ongoing activity.

"You itchin' for a fight, shortstock? I'll pin you flat on your back the very instant your soft hooves even attempt to punch me!" Lance responded in kind, his utterance punctuated by the sound of a stomping and subsequently grinding hoof that scraped against metal. The sound of something crunchy being chewed on barely reached Shining's ears, and against the machinery and activity going on, he had to strain his ears to hear it.

He rolled his eyes, more at the radio's transmissions than at Flash's presence. He noticed that Flash was staring at the radio. From it, some sort of incomprehensible shouting, followed by hooves scraping, emanated with a heated fervor. "Don't mind it; it makes all sorts of noise," Shining said in a reassuring tone, making it vanish in a flash of light shortly thereafter.

Flash nodded. He took a moment to stretch his wings. "I wonder what Fantasia's like," he murmured.

Shining's eyes narrowed so slightly that Flash didn't seem to notice it. "I heard some pretty awful things about it," he replied somberly.

"As have I," another voice interjected, garnering Shining and Flash's attention. They turned to the machine, only for the latter to bow and the former to gawk as they saw none other than Prince Blueblood standing next to the construct. He lifted a hoof and looked at Shining Armor specifically. "And before you ask, I have had a long couple of weeks to think about this entire… debacle, as it were."

Shining shook his head to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Alas, his eyes failed to deceive him. "What are you getting at?" he asked.

Blueblood's eyes narrowed slightly. "To put it mildly, I have wanted to see exactly why the Fantasians spoke ill of their own homeworld." His raised hoof dropped and his expression hardened. "Their talk of how the locals over there don't embrace cutie marks was another flag; I simply wanted to come to see if that was true."

"Well, you might have to get your hooves dirty…" muttered Flash, who rose to stand only to flinch as Blueblood's seemingly cold gaze zeroed in on him.

"Of that, I am aware," Blueblood replied, almost scowling at the mere thought. "But haven't our Fantasian… envoys done that already? The way they spoke and trotted in with cloaks and masks, and unveiled a series of most unfortunate wounds, made me realize something."

Shining's brow rose. "That 'something' being…?" he pressed.

"What if they were forced to trot around like that back at their homes? Hiding behind cloth and porcelain just to get by? What if we have to do likewise, despite becoming diplomats ourselves?" Blueblood retorted, his voice firm and level. "What if we have to hide our cutie marks? We don't know what we're getting into, Shining Armor. For all we know, it could be a do-or-die system over there; the only clue pointing to that would be the presence of their wraith, and that's going by when they initially arrived."

Shining's eyes narrowed as he started to consider Blueblood's point. "Any evidence against the 'do-or-die system' that you suspect?" he asked.

Blueblood solemnly shook his head. "They had hardly anything to suggest the contrary," he replied, his tone equally as glum.

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

Lance and Katie brawled in the pilot room as everyone watched with a few popcorn bowls at the ready, with the exception of NoLegs, who had taken the steering wheel to keep the Scylla from going off-kilter. Katie kept throwing punches at Lance before backing off with a nimble buzz of her wings, hardly giving Lance so much as a chance to strike back.

Or at least, that's how it started and then lasted for ten minutes before the tables flipped. The brawl was pretty one-sided after that, with Lance towering above Katie, his front hooves clasping her neck and keeping her pinned on her back on the floor. Pale back hooves feebly attempted to kick at her adversary's gut, but failed simply because they always came just inches shy of fully reaching.

"Do you concede yet, you overgrown gnat?" Lance hissed, a wicked grin on his muzzle, only further accentuated by a dangerous gleam in his red eyes. "Do you agree to stop this spectacle you have the audacity to call a fight?"

"I give! I give!" Katie wheezed, orbs having shrunk to pinpricks as she kept desperately kicking. Her rear legs fell slack after a few seconds, aches already running rampant through her nerves, further flaring thanks to hooves cutting off her air supply.

Only when she completely stilled did Lance retract his hooves, nimbly backing off a few paces to give her a bit of space to stagger back upright. Katie turned to regard him as she rose, shivering upon finding that he still had that dastardly grin on his muzzle. His eyes narrowed to thin crimson slits, almost daring her to try something else. She merely stiffened in response.

"If you do find yourself in my army's ranks… I'll expect you to be standing as you are now," Lance hissed in a no-nonsense, deathly serious tone of voice that was only offset by his seemingly fixed smile.

Something about the way he stared—Katie could not pinpoint what in that moment—made her legs buckle slightly and her tail quiver like a rattle. She forced herself to stiffen again, yet could not stop her ears from giving the faintest twitch. "Y-yes sir," she squeaked.

Lance nodded. "Good," he replied tersely, and he left it at that. He turned to the steering wheel and trotted to it, leaving Katie to slump back to the floor so fast her legs spread out from under her form first chance they got.

Fenrir looked at Katie's prone form, eyes wide and blinking. "That was… a very interesting turn of events," he stated.

Sarah helped herself to some popcorn, making sure to chew and swallow first before addressing Lance as he reclaimed the steering wheel, "Would you hit a mare?"

"Only in self-defense, and you saw Katie strike first. Had it been you, I'd have pinned you to the wall instead, Sarah," Lance replied, giving Sarah little more than a glance over his shoulder.

"I tried hitting him once, with a good buck to the face. He merely turned me flat on my ass and pinned me until I stopped," Anna snorted, garnering a squawk from Sarah as she took a helping of popcorn for herself. Turning past her sister, Sarah could see that Matt and Natalie both had a front hoof raised.

"We were there when it happened," Matt added with a nod.

"Just on standby, in case things got really out of hoof. But all in all, we didn't need to intervene," Natalie chirped, frowning slightly.

"I had the popcorn," Armin piped up, leaning over so Sarah could see him at Natalie's side. He wore a toothy grin on his face, his eyes glimmering in mirth. "It's always amusing to see General Boltwing get into fights, as long as I'm not on the short end of that stick."

"Why does daddy fight?" Maria questioned, looking at Armin with a small, innocent frown on her face.

Armin turned to her and shrugged, popping some more popcorn in his mouth with his magic. "You're asking the froth thuy," he replied through his mouthful. He gestured to Lance with a hoof. "Fate until the airfip lands in Fanfapia, then ask," he added.

"Your…" Alexander lifted a talon to his beak in a futile attempt to stifle a snicker as he turned to Maria, "Your daddy fights because it's more or less his job to keep order in the army. He has to keep his troops in line, after all."

Maria turned to Alexander, still frowning. "Including mommy?" she asked.

Alexander snickered into his claw again, and all he could do to answer was nod very slowly. When Maria continued to stare at him expectantly, he took a few seconds to gather himself and let his talon drop from his beak. "Though… their quibbles are more… ah, civilized as it were," he said.

"You say 'civilized,' I say 'explosive!'" Lance chimed in from the steering wheel, his retort accompanied by a meow from NoLegs.

"Same thing," Alexander chortled, a grin forming on his beak. An hour or two passed in silence after that, and all eyes fell onto Lance during that time. Matt used his magic to stow away the popcorn bowls and any leftovers, and he shifted his forelegs with a hint of nervousness, only betrayed by his brow twitching into a slant.

Lance looked at the monitor before him, eyeing it carefully as Fantasia came closer and closer, greeting him with a great white splotch roughly as big as a good sixth of Equestria itself. After checking the vitals in the corner, which gave him yellow bars instead of vibrant green, he sighed. "Get to the seats, everyone," he warned, his voice low. He spread his wings out from under the cloak he wore, the thin digits reaching intently towards the keyboard.

"But we're not in terminal velocity yet…" Anna trailed off, glancing at everyone else before turning back to Lance with a worried frown on her face. "Right?"

"Not yet, but we're about to reach it very soon," Lance replied, using his bare wings to type on the keyboard, the digits moving deftly and fluidly from key to key. He waited until everyone else filed out of the control room before he stopped typing, turning his eye onto the corner of the screen opposite of the vital signs.

He found a small black box bearing the words "Incoming call," though from who it didn't say. He typed onto the keys again, and static filled the room for a second before melting into silence. "By Godcat's teats, General, what took you?! I've been trying to call you for the last few weeks!" a masculine voice snapped, one accentuated by a low buzzing sound.

"Delta Unit? I didn't expect you to call me so suddenly," Lance replied, feigning ignorance. "I thought I told you and the rest of the troops that it would be at least a week before I got back from Mythos."

"And?" the voice on the other end queried, an air of impatience at his tone. "How'd it go?"

"Overall, so-so. I managed to exhume some interesting tidbits… and the Mythonians that first dropped by are back with me and my little expedition party for diplomatic purposes," Lance replied with a snort.

"Same ones, including the psycho who busted the elder of Frostbite's head?" the voice queried.

"Same ones. Including the psycho, and a hoofful of new arrivals," Lance stated, frowning as the patch of white grew bigger and bigger. "Gonna take them for a joyride around Fantasia and then head back to the base, though now I'll remain in contact with you."

"Good, because some of the troops were getting antsy about your vanishing act," the voice snarked. "Wait, new arrivals?"

"Yeah. I'll introduce them proper when I get them to the base," Lance answered, resisting the urge to sigh as the Scylla trembled. He folded his wings sharply. "Cover your ears, Delta. Just warning you now."

"I'm picking up your ship and the Mythonian vessel on the radar. Yeah, I'll stuff chitil in my eardrums. You owe me a mission, by the way," the voice replied in earnest, followed by the sound of something squelching and squeaking.

"Once I touch down, why don't you explore the area in and around Frostbite Haven? Last I checked, there was a temple of some sort there. I'm headed there anyway, so we'll meet soon," Lance stated, this time letting off a heavy sigh.

"From where did you hear about a temple in the middle of buttfuck nowhere?" the voice asked, the squeaking and squelching coming to a halt as he spoke.

"The damned wraith I found before leaving," Lance replied with another sigh. "She said she'd heard that from someone else that went gibberish on her." The Scylla shook again. Lance braced himself, clutching the steering wheel tightly in his forelegs as the white splotch grew even bigger, to the point it almost entirely overtook his screen. Gravity began shifting in that moment, and abruptly at that, but he wasn't caught off-guard by it this time.

A small smile crossed his muzzle as the ship trembled again.