Sarah's soundless scream lasted for less than a mere moment as the rainbow slammed into her harder than the tree ever could; Anna's, even less, due to her breathlessness. The shade hadn't emitted one at all, instead opting to vanish… or trying to, anyhow, before the rainbow made its own tendril to root it to the spot. The arena crumbled beneath their hooves, the henges floated in mid-air and danced in a rapid circle as they would under a fierce hurricane, and the shadows holding everything together disintegrated then and there.

Yet strangely, the rainbow hadn't hurt. The force knocked her clean off her hooves, yes, and off the arena as it and the corpse decorating it ceased to exist… but there was no pain, Sarah noticed. No anguish. Only warmth—a warmth that spread through both her and her sister as its bright and prismic light embraced them. Her vines, without even the faintest bit of agony, wrenched themselves off her feathered body and disintegrated into nothingness. The runes scabbed over, grew white fur, and shone with a silver sheen as they healed. Sarah felt weight lifting off her back, and turned to see what was happening with her twin.

Anna's scars were healing over, too, and the crystals thunked into her legs fell away to let their wounds heal. Seamlessly, saved for some runes carved into those spots, the glaring holes simply ceased to be. The ugly wounds on her back, etched by false wings, healed over in tandem with her bloodied hind, even growing smooth streaks of silver to offset her tan-beige. The bark and vines peeled off, not drawing an ounce of blood even as they vacated her legs. The holes made by them healed as well, and new, smooth claws of sanded wood sprouted in their places—bloodlessly this time.

From the frogs outwards, power coursed across the wood and up to her gaskins and elbows to form sharper, refined tools than the cursed trees could ever hope to gain. Vines sprung from the wood itself instead of her flesh, coiling around the bark tightly for a nice contrast that wove itself into light and gentle webs whose leaves were filled to bursting with fresh, invigorating life. Her exhausted eyes, blurred with anguish, cleared up as awareness filled them.

Then, tears filled them as she floated over to Sarah and hugged her tightly without warning. "I'm sorry!" she wailed, resting her head on her sister's shoulder. With confusion flickering in her eyes, Sarah could only hug back awkwardly as the rainbow continued to cup them in its swirling mass, washing away all of the blood and ichor that stained their coats. She looked around to find the viridian jewel of Greenwood levitating up into the fray, still crackling with red and blue electricity as the prismatic aura proceeded to wrap around it too.

The jewel shuddered as the red and blue lightning was gently lifted away by the rainbow, which then concentrated around that lightning to disperse it harmlessly into the air. The Tormentor howled amidst the crumbling Void, "Nooooooooooooo! How did this interference occur?! How, why—" The rest unceremoniously cut off as the rainbow spread to all of Greenwood, wrapping around its villagers and gently embracing them in its radiance as it proceeded to do unto them what it had done unto the sisters.

From below, Lance and his group watched with slack jaws and wide eyes as the rainbow went to work on the corpses of the elders, digging pits into the land and gently laying them to rest in it. Then the rainbow reformed the mounds, and pulled stones from the deeper earth to carve into before settling them upon the fresh graves. The trees that made the houses were reformed, but instead of being hollowed out, they grew larger and taller and as vine-covered as any dense woodland. Across the ashen, scorched land the rainbow flew, erecting new gravestones and trees wherever it went. It healed the scars inflicted by Ragnarok and Pestilence, hardening the exposed magma until it turned into obsidian.

What would've taken an eternity to sort through, grow, and heal instead only lasted for a moment before the former Ashwood was replaced by a new, vibrant, stronger woodland in its entirety. The work done, the rainbow gently levitated the jewel to its stretcher and the twins onto the ground, encircling the space around them and the villagers with the henges used to make the Mighty Oak's shrine. The henges shed their frost, ichor and arrows with a shudder and a low groan, and with a pulse of viridian all of them were still. The rainbow even went above right to the mastership, where it gently opened a window and dove right in to do something—the group wasn't sure to who, what or why, but it did.

Then the rainbow left as fast as it had come, closing the rune-enchanted window without breaking it. With a swirl and a flourish, the rainbow circled itself high above the village's former circumference, framing the moon in a beautiful halo as it moved to form a glowing sphere with six silhouettes above the groups. When the rainbow faded and revealed six Mythonian mares as they touched down next to the twins, silence reigned under the eclipsed moon.

Finally, a shaken colt strode towards the outsiders and broke the silence, "Does it mean… Greenwood's gone?"

Twilight turned to the colt and looked at the rainbow's handiwork, nodding and smiling sadly. "But you can rebuild it," she said simply, looking into the foal's frightened eyes as she lifted a hoof to pat his head. He flinched under the touch—understandable, given tonight's insanity—but allowed the touch nonetheless. She turned to the villagers, who began to approach, some with their makeshift weapons clattering against the ground.

Then, the bride holding half of the stretcher spoke up, looking unsurely at her betrothed, "I don't feel the curse anymore… honey, do you?"

The groom shook his head after letting his magic pulse across the earth. "I… I don't feel anything," he answered quietly, turning to the rest of the assembled villagers. "What about you guys?"

Villagers flashed their horns and willed their magic across the land, but within moments all heads shook negatively. Some tried to will any trace of wood and vines to spring forth on their bodies, but none could manage so much as a ripple of flesh. The wave of mutterings began, confused in tone with undernotes of dread.

"It's gone…"

"Just like Greenwood…"

"What will we do now… the elders…"

"Forget that, the leaders are gone…"

"What will I teach my foals now…?"

"Who will watch us? Without leaders, we'll…"

Twilight watched them for a moment, then turned to Lance. Noticing his gaping mouth, she trotted over to wave a hoof in front of his face. His eyes didn't follow—yep, he was stunned alright. She then poked him in the chest, right in a scar, yet that failed to get his immediate attention. Rarity chuckled from where she stood, "Darling, I think they're all going to need a moment."

Twilight smiled dumbly and trotted back to her closest friends, their Elements gleaming in the eclipsed light with a twinkling warmth that shone in tandem with the tiara on her head. She turned to the twins, still embracing one another and muttering to themselves.

"You don't feel the curse? But wood's on your legs…"

"But… it's true… it's not there anymore… do you?"

"I sure as hell don't… vines are still on your mark though..."

"I guess some things won't change, then… I'm sorry…"

"We both fucked up, sis. Olive branch?"

"Olive branch."

Twilight's smile widened as the sisters tightened their hold on one another. The exhaustion of the battle, of self-levitating herself silly and casting other spells throughout, began to settle in, as did the sheer madness she had to endure this night. But she didn't care about that; a swelling of pride and joy began to spread in her, setting aside her aches and pains as she turned to the villagers once again. Whatever made the curse so was… it was gone. She could sense the change in the air, the trees, the very soil under which the dead elders and the trees of ages past now rested.

It was funny, sensing things through the earth despite not being an earth pony, Twilight reflected. But she could—she really could. The blight was nevermore. She looked up at the moon as it started to turn its normal pearlescent white, the shadow of Fantasia leaving its body ever so slowly. The stars shone brilliantly now, without broken shadows to conceal them, and a faint wind blew across the forest and through everyone's fur and manes. It was soft, caressing, and soothing, tickling her snout with the fresh and vibrant life of the new woodland that would soon and hopefully be filled with new fauna to compliment its flora.

And with the curse gone, maybe the villagers could get the proper help they needed at long last. It would be a long road for them, Twilight reluctantly accepted, but maybe… just maybe…

It was Applejack who approached the villagers and extended her hoof warmly. "What say we help y'all rebuild Greenwood? We caused some trouble, and frankly, I don't wanna see anypony homeless if I can help it."

Rarity stepped forward next. "My behavior tonight was unladylike and subpar, but you must understand I had my own reasons for acting the way I did. It would be remiss of me if I didn't do something to help," she said, smiling faintly.

Rainbow tossed in her two bits, "And if you ask me, you guys don't have the horsepower you had when the elders and leaders were still…" she fumbled for a moment, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly with a hoof, "alive. You guys might wanna elect new leaders, however you go about doing that; you do you, but not before we make it up to you." That set the villagers muttering amongst themselves again, this time their words tumbling over each other as they spoke in hushed whispers.

Another breeze of wind blew past, a little stronger than the first. Twilight looked up again, and found a white figure flickering in and out of existence up above, blue eyes gleaming with warmth and pride. A soft, purring voice, unfamiliar yet powerful, echoed into her head with two words that touched her heart of hearts as they reminded her of Celestia's praises, "Well done…"

"Thank you," Twilight mouthed to the figure, who nodded back.

"The decayed are the dead now… and they can rest as they should have done long ago," the white figure above spoke in her head, turning its gaze to the surrounding woodland with a flicker of sorrow in its eyes. "I will judge them fairly and set their souls at ease. Fantasia is still broken, however... I believe it can still be mended yet," it added as it faded away with a rumbling purr that echoed into Twilight's head. The purr felt as warm as the praise she had received, resonating through her soul on a pre-verbal level that put her into a sense of calm tranquility.

Rainbow walked up to Twilight, patting her withers with a wing to bring her gaze back to ground level. "What was that thing up there just now?" she asked. "And… why was it purring?"

Twilight was dumbfounded at the question, but elected not to answer just yet. Half her mind was still caught up with the entity's praises, and the other could not conjure an answer for what it had told her, much less what or who it was. "You heard it, too?" she asked.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. And…" She looked up to where it had been. "I think it likes us, which is weird now that I think about it." She looked at Twilight again. "You feel… warm and fuzzy?" She lifted a hoof and put it to her heart. The rest of the sextet gathered around Twilight, and she glanced at each of them to discover them alternating between looking skyward and muttering amongst each other.

Twilight nodded in reply. That was all the answer she could ever need to give. They turned back to the villagers, who clustered together in a tighter herd, save the colt who strode forward earlier.

Then, of all ponies to break formation and march right up to the villagers with a shaken yet collected stride, Twilight found herself surprised to see Lance instead of one of his slack-jawed right-hoof ponies. "I've caused you a lot of trouble in the past, with what my soldiers and all. For my past actions, I'm deeply, deeply sorry." He knelt before the villagers once, and got up with a nod. "I'll have my forces help you guys with rebuilding, if you accept the help."

"But why?!" one stallion shouted at the back. "First the gryphons, then the outsider and…" Lance lifted and waved a hoof to silence him.

"It was because of me the gryphons attacked your town," Lance said simply, head shaking. "I come not to conquer, but to aid. Do you accept my help or not?"

The stallion who'd shouted faltered, and the villagers mulled it over once again for a long moment that felt as though an eternity had passed. Then, reluctantly, one by one the assembled heads nodded slowly. One villager raised her hoof and Lance looked at her. "Yes?"

The villager who raised her hoof shook as she asked, "How will we get new leaders? None of us are cursed anymore… and the wisdom the trees had is gone…"

Lance considered this for a moment, then turned to Anna. The twins rose, and broke their embrace. Noticing she was being gazed upon, Anna turned to her superior. "Windwood. Step forward." She did so mutely, tail tucked between her hinds and head lowering as she trotted to meet up with him. For a few seconds, Lance studied her changed claws and asked, "Are you bleeding anymore?" A head shake answered him.

He internally sighed in relief and spread a wing to motion to the villagers. Anna turned to them, frowning. The other wing spread and wrapped itself around her, pulling her close and making her face fully forward. "I heard you torched the village. Is it true?" Lance asked.

"Y… yes sir," Anna muttered. "But the cur—"

"I know," Lance said simply. He closed his spread wing and turned to her. "You're going to help make it up to these guys."

Anna turned to him, wilting under his level stare. "But ho—"

"You're going to pull double duty as their leader," Lance replied simply.

"But she's an outsider's foal…" a villager grumbled, loud enough for Lance to hear.

"But also the only one who still has wood on her body," Lance pointed out. "I've taught her some things, and she needs to learn the burden of managing her own division."

"Division?" another villager piped up.

Lance nodded. "I know this is sudden… truth be told, I'd rather not do this, but it's something that needs doing." He paused to let that sink in. "And you lot need some help…" He briefly went scrounging for words before settling on, "adjusting. You guys are fairly young, she's the same, and everypony here needs to move forward from the past. Besides, rebuilding a village is gonna take… economic measures. Two birds, one stone. Sound fair?"

The villagers mulled and muttered amongst themselves again. Just as slowly as before, the heads nodded. Another raised his hoof and when Lance pointed to him, he asked, "Will we have to find a new forest to settle?"

Lance pursed his lips, then nodded with a small and calm smile. "Fortunately… I know just the spot. You guys would be protected." He spread his other wing again and gestured all around. "You'd be vulnerable here, leaderless and homeless." He sighed wistfully. "It's going to take a lot of getting used to, since your whole world's been wrenched from under your hooves…" He looked towards the colt that strode forward and asked, "but wouldn't you want the best for your foals?"

The villagers fell silent, contemplating this. Lance got the impression that half of them couldn't believe their ears. Then, once again, a series of slow nods answered him. The colt that approached Twilight trotted to him, legs shaking as he went, but found the gumption to stare into those red eyes that promised so much. "Can… can we farm at the new place?" he asked.

Lance's smile grew, budding with warmth. He nodded to the colt. "To your heart's content," he said simply, turning to the rest of the villagers to notice the tools they kept on hoof, as well as the ones that had been dropped. "If that's what you guys want, farm all day long if it makes you happy!"

A villager strode forward. "But what if we earn our cutie marks? Will we be taken from the others…?" she asked.

Lance shook his head. "Not unless you specifically say you want to. Separating you guys would be disastrous." He looked towards the graves and added, "Though… I won't stop you from coming here to pay as many respects as you need to. The elders were just looking out for you guys in the end."

The villagers nodded, some staring at the graves forlornly. A few of the foals' eyes grew wet and misty simply by staring at where the once-living had died. Lance would let them have their chance to mourn; poor kids went through enough already, and they didn't even hit their adolescent years yet. Having to leave the dead behind as they went to greener pastures was probably going to do some damage to their psyches, but that wasn't something time couldn't fix.

Pinkie opened her mouth to speak, but Lance turned to her and shook his head. "Not yet," he mouthed bluntly. Pinkie saw it out of the corner of her eye and nodded. A few of the changeling soldiers stepped forward, shapeshifting into the various elders that had died gruesomely, complete with bark but without the ripped throats.

The effect was immediate. The deluge of foals ran towards them, screaming and crying, holding their forelegs as soon as they could. The soldiers, in turn, embraced the kids, muttering whispers of comfort to the children as they shed their tears. Lance nodded; this would hopefully mitigate the damage to the children's psyches, though even he could not ignore the clenching of his chest at the sight. "More… sweet than bitter," he mused.

He sighed tiredly, wings aching even as he pressed one of them tighter against Anna. He turned to the Mythonians, who were watching with wet and misty eyes of their own. Even Rainbow was struggling to hide it; her lip quivered, and her ears had flattened against her head. Fluttershy had crumpled, head in forehooves and sniffles coming out. Pinkie's mane became less poofy, though it tried its hardest to maintain its poofiness as it deflated.

"At least the kids get to see the elders in some way one last time," Lance mused to himself, watching the scene with interest. Some of the villagers parted from the herd, and moved over to the fresh graves, a few shaking hooves touching the carved stones gently. Some tried, valiantly yet vainly, to stifle their whimpers on contact with the cold, smooth surfaces of rock. Even the bride and groom had caved beneath their growing sorrow, the former clinging to the latter as she began to cry.

It was all he could do to hold those whimpers in himself. And his hoof reached for his hat once more, to hold it upon his chest as his head shook sadly. He looked behind; Matt had done the same, shadows receding to reveal blond hair once more. Natalie's skulls looked on, bowed with crimson leaking from their sockets as their owner's ears turned back. Zecora stood back with her, eyes closed and mouth moving in some tongue none could understand. Katie looked away, doing the same as Zecora, albeit more hushed. Lazarus kept a straight face, though Lance could've sworn his hocks quivered once.

Lance heard the whir of an airship overhead, and turned to his radio to order into it, "Hold off on the pickup. We have mourners."

"... understood, sir," the recipient on the other end said with a sniffle. "I can feel it from here."

"And speaking of pickup, we'll have at least three dozen more passengers on board. Prepare extra meals," Lance ordered. "We're also bringing Greenwood's jewel with us."

"... understood. I'll… I'll relay your orders, sir..."

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

The ride in the mastership that morning was uneventful; just about everyone slept in, save the soldiers, who had to be up early to make food and pilot the thing alongside the rest of the fleet. In the starscape of the dream world, Twilight was chatting with Luna at length about what she had seen. Though, she could not fault Luna for growing teary-eyed when she reached the conclusion of her story.

"... but you were still able to save most of them. That's what matters," Luna said, voice quivering slightly. "And Lance is relocating them?"

Twilight nodded. "Where, I don't know… but he's owning up to what his troops did, at least," she said firmly. "Is it possible to talk to the dead in here?"

Luna contemplated the question, then nodded. "Though, you must be connected in some way to the dead to speak with them," she said. "Otherwise, you'd get nothing but faceless shadows." She looked up, eyes slanting. "I hope those elders learn of their errors in the hereafter. I think they might not be healthy for the villagers to commune with here, at least until then," she added as an aside. "Those foals will have an awful lot to learn." She looked back to Twilight, the sorrowful look still etched on her face. "The Tormentor… the scoundrel Rarity spoke to me about… it sounds an awful lot like a Nightmare or something trying to imitate one."

Twilight nodded. "So does… the whole Void, for that matter. I think I've found a lead at last, but the Elements of Harmony probably chased it off," she said.

"And Rarity also mentioned something about an immortality ritual… do you think what you found in that cursed house might be connected to that?" Luna asked.

Twilight pondered for a moment, then nodded firmly. "Though, the only ones around who might know about it are the twins… and they've been playing quite a lot close to their chests," she said with a shrug. "Either way, I'm not gonna prod them about it now; Sarah's probably going to get drafted, and Anna's got some new responsibilities to manage. That, and Lance is likely to grill her for the information anyway."

Luna nodded once, the motion firm and blunt. "Understandable, given the circumstances. Still, if Nightmares or something similar to such roam Fantasia…" A thoughtful look crossed her face; her eyes narrowed a bit, her lips pursed, and her ears stood ramrod straight. "Maybe that is why they have such trouble remembering the past. I know what I would have done as Nightmare Moon, had that plot succeeded."

"Banning of certain words, witch hunts, modifying history and holidays to better fit the narrative?" Twilight guessed. Luna blushed, winced, and nodded shakily. "Oh, and imprisonment and banishment of those with sun-themed cutie marks until such a time when cutie marks can be altered." Another shaky nod answered her. "Leeeeeeeeet's move on from that." Twilight cleared her throat and sighed.

"So… Shining Armor informed me Godcat was freed… and subsequently defeated in combat," Luna said, shuffling her hooves and wings awkwardly.

"Which means Faust might be on the fast track to getting freed herself," Twilight deadpanned. "Which is not that great at all!" her internal hedge gnome shrieked to the uncaring starscape. "Which also means we gotta pick up the pace."

Luna's wings drooped. "And of course, the Parliament in Equestria keeps growing more and more bedlam as of late… I wish I could smack the nobles upside their heads without it blowing up in my face," she grumbled. "Still," Luna paused to look at Twilight levelly, "I'll do my best to let you know of whatever I find on my end. Best of luck and travels, Twilight Sparkle." With a flash of blinding white light from Luna's horn, Twilight awoke to the sun shining brilliantly in her face and Spike snoring soundly next to her.

Slowly, Twilight rose and clambered out of the bed, stretching and popping her legs as last night's hornache came back to remind her to not do anything strenuous for the day. She rubbed her temples with a hoof, then turned and trotted around the bed to shake Spike awake—gently, of course. He stirred with a grumble of, "Ruby sapphires… breakfast mulch?"

"I don't know how many hours we slept, but we'd best eat," Twilight pointed out, grinning as Spike got up, stretched and yawned mightily. A yawn escaped her mouth once his finished, and the drake hopped out of bed to pop some of his bones. "I wonder what's for breakfast." With that, they trotted to the door and opened it and… huh, a soldier was already there, hoof raised to knock.

"Oh, um… hello," the soldier muttered, looking a bit chastised as he lowered his hoof. "Nobody's come to eat, so… I was sent to awaken everybody."

Twilight nodded, donning a bright smile on her face. "Oh, that's understandable!" Her stomach gurgled, and she blushed sheepishly. "Say, what's on today's menu?"

"Whole lot of things. We had to broaden the menu because of the extra passengers on board. At least the soldiers' barracks was roomy enough for everypony," the soldier said, grinning.

Twilight nodded and stepped out with Spike, closing the door behind her. "Say, where… exactly are we going?" she asked.

The soldier's smirk widened. "Well… to the Irongrey Aerie," he said. When Twilight's brow rose, he elaborated, "Mountain surrounded by forests. We've got a lot of big trees around the foot of the mountain, already hollowed out for new occupants, but not hollowed enough to start dying. It's also the First Unified Army's base of operations."

Twilight found herself smiling. "Lance has his own mountain?" she asked, a mite incredulously.

The soldier nodded. "Big enough to act as both a perch for the gryphons and a hive for us changelings," he chirped, wings buzzing a bit. "Almost can't wait to go home and see my wife and grubs again. Pretty sure they missed me."

Twilight giggled. "Anyway, I'm going to eat. Catch you later," she said. She trotted to the elevator, with Spike shadowing her steps as the soldier went to knock on someone else's door. Twilight punched the button, went in with her charge, and down to the lounge they went.

"Uh, you can probably teleport us to the kitchens," Spike pointed out as the elevator let them go a moment later.

Twilight shook her head. "I did an awful lot of casting last night. I don't want to push myself today," she said.

"Uh-huh," Spike said bluntly, slowly nodding his head in a manner that suggested he'd found a bridge with a price tag on it. "And what did you go up against, zombie trees?"

"And a timberdrake," Twilight said firmly. "That thing just would not go down."

"And I took down a mutated snail with too many tentacles and eyeballs to count," Spike said dismissively, holding out a hand in front of him and studying his claws as though they needed trimming. "Twilight, I think you'd need a sparring match with the Fantasians, copy their own spells and whatnot."

Twilight considered the idea and beamed as they went to the next elevator and punched the button. Into, and up the shaft they went. "That's actually a pretty good idea, though not so soon after what went down in Greenwood," she said.

"True, true. I saw the Harmony Blast from the window," Spike said, as the elevator opened to let them into the hall leading toward the kitchen and dining area. He wagered the elevator and its siblings would see a lot of use in the coming hours. They passed the double doors and plopped down on a table, finding food laden everywhere and then some. Meats, vegetables, breads—everything was there from soups to roasts, then quadrupled to account for the new passengers.

A soldier from across the dining area called out, "Knock yourselves out! Plenty for everybody and their mother!"

"Thank you!" Twilight called back, putting some steamed vegetables and bread onto a plate before digging in. Spike took a few meats, vegetables and bread for his meal and likewise began chowing down. The food began helping them truly wake up for the day, and lessened Twilight's hornache somewhat as she went to town.

The double doors opened, and in strode Rhinoc and his superiors, plus Maria and Sarah. Just about everyone looked like they got a restful night, though Matt had recast his illusions—which didn't fool Twilight any, as she already knew what he truly was and so could see through it. And, huh, Anna didn't have those strange markings all over her body… and Sarah didn't boast the same, either... eh, whatever, she could focus on that later.

The group went to sit in the highest booth, levitating and flying up there to start chowing down themselves. Maria was carried up there with them, and started to eat with the others. Rhinoc teleported away, and returned with the rest of Twilight's friends. He repeated this with more and more folks until, quite simply, all of those lodged in the guest rooms and from Greenwood were present and accounted for.

The villagers sat at a table all their own, and proceeded to start eating. Most ate slowly, digesting the turn of events along with their food as they considered everything that had happened in the previous twenty-four hours. At least half the foals ate quickly, as did the pregnant mares; nutrition mattered, after all, though the more peckish among them were more cautious with their meals. The others, whom Twilight assumed were still grieving, barely picked at their food until a few other villagers nudged them to eat.

For a while, breakfast… or brunch, as Twilight was still unsure as to what time of day it was, went in relative peace. In fact, it was as uneventful as the morning. Nothing but silence, chewing and swallowing and the occasional "finish your plate." When everyone's stomachs were full, and all were more or less happy and content that they were, the megaphone slinked out of its hole-in-the-wall on its arm and hovered in front of Lance.

"Alright, we should be at our destination later tonight," he announced. Lance saw a villager raise his hoof and added, "It's practically on the other side of Fantasia, and we're going slow to not jostle anybody. Besides, a lot of us need some time to get used to things—a good day as any to acclimate." Some of the villagers muttered, but most of them nodded. "That, and foals and pregnant mares on board; don't want to risk harming them at all." Most, again, nodded in understanding.

Twilight sagged in relief. At least these ponies would see reason after all. She idly wondered about the few who hadn't nodded, but brushed them off—those ponies probably needed more time to adjust. Again, understandable—she'd probably need the time herself if her own world went as whacky and upside-down as theirs did. Though, part of her wondered why Lance was specifically bringing them to Irongrey Aerie. She hoped he'd keep his promises.

Another part of her wondered what Irongrey Aerie would look like. Would it be as big as the mountain on which Canterlot stood? Bigger? And what would be in it—libraries, workshops and such? She found herself a bit giddy with excitement at the prospect overall.

"Twilight? Twilight? Mythos to Twilight, are you there?" Spike muttered, shaking Twilight's foreleg.

Twilight snapped out of her stupor and looked at her charge. "Yes, Spike?"

"I think Shining wants to talk to you," Spike said, pointing across the table. Twilight followed his finger and found Shining at another table, waving her over with a hoof. His eyes were glinting in confusion, and his motions were a mite frantic for somepony who merely wanted to chat. She got up and trotted to him, going around the table to see what he wanted. She sat down next to him, noticing he too had polished his plate.

Shining leaned over to whisper in Twilight's ear. "You think Lance might put the villagers to work where we're going?" he asked.

"Not sure, Shining. It's likely, considering he's making Anna lead them now…" Twilight whispered back.

"She's not doing much leading, though…" Shining muttered. "Especially since she burned Greenwood with me watching her…"

"In that case, she might still need to… wait, she did what?" Twilight's brow furrowed at that news.

"Exactly. Though she waited until most everypony was out before doing it," Shining answered in a low voice, sighing.

Twilight wilted a little at that tidbit. She idly wondered what the town had done to upset Anna that badly enough for her to torch it. Then again, she couldn't prod her now—in fact, that made it more likely that Lance was going to grill her on a spit anyway. And Lance was really going out of his way to make sure the villagers were alright at the end of the day… granted, most anyone probably would, but this was a bit much.

This would need some looking into. Twilight decided she was going to wait until the landing and impending nickel tour before digging any deeper than she already had.

She turned to Greenwood's ponies again as clamor erupted from their table. Only now had Twilight noticed the elder that Shining managed to fetch, smiling broadly and eyes beaming for the first time since he'd been plunked aboard the vessel. With him was Heather, her little one, and tiny Timber Spruce who… shed his burns and wounds, yet still seemed to have plant matter attached to his body. Sanded, smooth, shiny plant matter that wasn't bloodied, but plant matter nonetheless. At least his mane and tail weren't twigs and leaves anymore, but actual hair that the elder ruffled with his magic.

"Hey, weren't you exiled with those outsiders?" a villager asked, eyeballing the elder in growing alarm.

The elder nodded. "Yes, but thanks to that strange varicolored light… I feel spry as a foal!" he exclaimed, hopping up and down in place as much as his tired old bones would let him.

A mare ran up to the small group and plunked next to Heather, who herself had been parked into a seat with untouched food. "Where were you?!" she exclaimed.

"Bad ponies tried taking me to bad place! Left bad place, auntie!" Heather shot back, wilting a little. She pointed to her foal, who squealed as the mare turned to the elder to find him being held by magic. "Had wingie baby, auntie! Didn't want bad ponies hurting wingie baby!"

The rest of the herd instantly turned to the baby, who once again squealed and began squirming in the magical hold of the surviving elder. The mare peered at the foal and sighed before turning back to Heather and hugging her tightly. "Tell me… why did you have the baby?" she asked.

Heather returned the hug, wilting further. "Bad ponies put me in bad dress…" she mumbled.

The elder leaned over to the mare's ear and whispered something in it. Her tail hiked in alarm and she turned to him bug-eyed. "They what?!" she exclaimed, receiving a slow nod in confirmation.

"I saw the remnants of the dress. She tore her way out of it the night she gave birth," he affirmed, slowly to make sure the mare didn't misconstrue him. "There was enough blood I thought she'd died…"

Now it was the mare's turn to wilt. She turned back to Heather once more and nuzzled her. "I'll help you raise the child, then… although… it is the first time I've seen one with wings in my life…"

"Wingie baby going be okay?" Heather asked, receiving a nod mid-nuzzle.

"He'll be alright," the mare affirmed. "He'll be alright…"

Another villager noticed Timber Spruce and pointed, drawing half the crowd's attention onto him. "Alright, who the hell cursed a baby?" he asked. Timber Spruce shrank at the question, squeaking as he rustled his plant-wings.

The elder also turned to the foal and shrugged. "That… I know not. He was only found like this," he said dejectedly. "Though… I think the rainbow did something to him; the last time I saw him, he was half-burnt."

The villager who'd asked shrank. "You mean he was out there, in the fire that ate Ashwood?" he queried. Another nod answered him.

"I think the curse… unfortunate as it was… helped save him that night," the elder said. Timber Spruce shrieked once, wings flapping madly as another villager picked him up with his hooves.

The villager in question gave the half-tree baby a once-over. The villager winced when he made eye contact. "Oof… blinded… that's gotta hurt," he grumbled. Timber Spruce responded by hitting the villager's pasterns with his barky hooves, squealing and flailing in protest.

"Hold him to your chest, and he'll stop fussing," Lance advised from the megaphone. The villager heeded the advice and did just that, and instantly, the child hushed, pawing about with his legs to feel for fur and skin. Confused burbling made its way from the tiny mouth as Timber continued feeling his way about.

Twilight nodded to herself as the villagers continued to fuss over the foals. She knew what she was going to do during the waiting game.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for tagging the previous chapter as the arc's end; I realized I still needed to do the denouement before the arc could officially end.