“Why had you been napping in the snow?” Alexander asked the changeling. His question managed to garner her attention.

“I heard something about a town and a temple in this frozen hellhole, but couldn’t get there just by trotting,” Katie began, long ears twitching as she spoke. “I had to take several naps on my way to a place called Frostbite Haven. The storms were so bad I could not fly, unless I wanted to be thrust head-first into the snow.”

“Well, that’s funny, because we just left the Haven minutes before you woke up,” Anna stated as she frowned, taking a second to sigh afterwards.

“Eh, good for me. I heard the hippogryphs there eat weak critters. I reckon I fall into that category,” Katie murmured while she shrugged, her four wings folding against her sides.

“But why were you heading to Frostbite to begin with, despite knowing you could’ve been in danger?” Natalie mused, a thoughtful frown on her face.

“To get directions to the supposedly-nearby temple I also heard about. To put it simply, only the hippogryphs know where the damn thing’s at,” was the reply. Katie punctuated her remark with a long, raspy sigh, eyes dimming so much it was akin to lightbulbs being shut off. “It had something to do with the worlds ending or whatever, but I don’t know what. Where I heard the rumor wasn't… the best place for info.” Another pause. "That, and someling like me is always in danger of something. I'm pretty much a trotting target."

“So, you’re stumped?” Matt questioned, raising a hoof to rub his chin.

“My informant began speaking gibberish when she got to the ‘end of the worlds’ bit.” Katie nodded, orbs once more alight in her black eyes. Her eyes hovered over to the multitude of chests that were placed at the far end of the tank opposite from the panel, and she stood up before trotting to them.

“What is she doing?” Lance piped up as the mare opened a chest and peered inside.

Katie dove into the chest she just opened, rummaging through its contents before pulling out an hourglass. The wood was quaint, but reinforced by bits of steel. The sand within the glass had sported all seven colors of the rainbow with bits of silver and gold throughout. “What’s this?” she asked, wonder alight in her glowing orbs.

“An hourglass. Now put it back,” Quicksilver groaned, frowning for a second before the changeling complied with his request...

Katie immediately dove into the chest again before pulling out something else—an unpolished, though glittering, sapphire in the shape of a rough heart. “This is even prettier than the hourglass!” she exclaimed, jaw hanging as she marveled at the gemstone. Because of her torn mouth, the appendage acted like a door that hadn’t been shut, swinging gently in a non-existent breeze.

“Oh dear,” Alexander sighed, raising a talon and letting it connect with his face. “Here we go.”

The sapphire had been thrown back into the chest before Katie thrust her head and front hooves into the wooden container a third time, once more rummaging through it before producing a strange rectangular stone that sported a pitch black in color. The stone had been adorned with strange, crimson runes that contrasted the sable in a way the scarlet appeared to be drastically brighter.

And the rock's runes began to glow as she held the stone in her hooves.

“Oh fuck! Put that back!” Matt shrieked in a voice comparable to that of a mare's, eyes widening as he took notice of the rock that the wraith now held in her hooves. When she failed to obey, he galloped over to her and yanked it from her with his magic, gently putting it in the chest before slamming the container shut with more magic. He slung his hooves onto her withers, being careful enough to avoid knocking her down to the floor, and looked her dead in the eyes.

“Why can’t I hold that black and red rock?” she asked simply, long ears swiveling so that their leaf-shaped folds faced him.

“Because that rock has dangerous runes inscribed in its frame!” Matt continued to yell, now glaring at the mare before him. “It could destroy this tank and all of us in it with dark, arcane energy! Even a hornless mare like you or a gryphon like Alexander could easily activate it with no trouble at all, and you damn near triggered its innate magics! You could have killed us in seconds, for Godcat’s sake!”

“Then why do you have the damn thing if it’s so dangerous?” Katie shot back, not breaking eye contact with the stallion. In that moment the tank had fallen silent, her words so simple yet bearing the weight of a very valid point.

After a few tense seconds or so passed, Natalie spoke up. “We have the rock so nobody else can touch it. After all, that rune-inscribed stone is dangerous. A fool could’ve used it to destroy anything he wanted it to, but it would kill them as well.”

“And besides, nobody would think to rob a damn tank blind,” Lance added with a nod. “Especially one loaded with gryphons and ponies who eat, sleep, and bathe in the damn thing when the weather’s awry.”

“From here on,” Matt lifted a hoof from Katie’s withers to gesture to all of the chests as he spoke, “no touching the chests and the stuff inside them. Capiche?”

The changeling nodded in response.

“Good,” Matt huffed. He nodded back and relinquished his hold on her withers, getting up and trotting back to the other ponies. Unfortunately for him and everyone else, she soon took notice of the large sack of goods that sat near the chests. The sack’s mouth still lay wide open, and her eyes twinkled as though she thought the damn thing had beckoned her to enter it.

She trotted to it and crawled into the leathery bag full of odd trinkets, yet again digging through various things like a foal who could not keep their hooves to themselves. When she managed to unearth herself from the burlap bag of goods, she brought with her a simple spear crafted of a lightweight metal. The spear sported two rectangular gaps on its long shaft that were split by a third piece running down the middle, just large enough for a pair of hooves to easily slip through and grasp the shaft.

Lance raised a hoof and almost slammed it onto his face as soon as he saw the changeling with the spear. “Put that back,” he groaned, the hoof running down the bridge of his muzzle.

“But what is this doohickey?” Katie questioned, using one hoof to gesture to the spear she held.

“A spear. Now put it back,” Anna snarled, gritting her teeth as her horn began to glow in a bright green.

“Ugh. Fiiiiiine,” Katie complained, slowly putting the spear back into the sack of stuff. As soon as the weapon was tucked away in the thick leather bag, she found herself grabbed by a talon and carried to the gurneys by the scruff of her neck. She'd been lifted quite easily, and within minutes had been placed on the same gurney she had rested upon earlier. The hornless mare started staring at Alexander.

“Don’t touch things that aren’t yours. Now sit there until I can say you can move,” Alexander snarled. He did not look away from her until she nodded her understanding. He strode to the control panel afterwards, stopping in front of the various keys and buttons when the sound of faint static hit his ears. Alexander glanced around before spotting a military radio in a little holder a ways off from the panel, connected by a thick, curly black wire.

Alexander crept towards it with an incredulous brow quirked. Once he had gotten close enough, he reached up and fluently pulled it from its holder. Now, the static sounded like it had been producing words, yet he couldn’t be too sure if it did. He sat down and rose another talon up, the thin claws grasping one of the small knobs. He began turning it back and forth until he could get something clear out of the racket it had been making.

“Delta Unit to Valkyrie, Delta Unit to Valkyrie!” a masculine voice came from the radio, still slightly garbled by static. It had been accompanied by a soft roar of an engine, as well as a distinct buzzing sound akin to a bee flapping its wings.

“What’s your status, over?” Alexander questioned, his incredulous brow still quirked.

“Fast approaching your position. Armin has requested to be dropped off with you, over,” came the reply.

“In that case, could you take back with you a few extra passengers in exchange?” Alexander inquired, a frown on his beak. “The tank is getting crowded, and we’ve picked up what we believe to be a wraith, over.”

“A wraith!” the voice from the radio shouted, “And for what reason did you pick it up, over?”

“This wraith is very peculiar. She’s more physically… er, lacking, for a shortage of better words. Her form is perfectly able to move, yet she has tell-tale signs of starvation and maybe abuse riddling her frame, over,” Alexander replied, sighing.

“As long as you keep her in check, fine,” the voice from the radio groaned. “Me and the rest of the Delta Unit are five thousand yards from your location now, and we’re bringing the transport blimp. Which reminds me, who do you want to get transported from your unit via the blimp?”

“Excellent. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the sky,” Alexander murmured whilst nodding. “As for your second question, I would like a few of my fellow gryphons traded off on the blimp. Sans myself, Nathan, Quicksilver, and Jeremy, over.”

“Roger. We can make the trade-off. Delta Unit, over and out,” the voice from the radio replied before a ‘click’ sounded from the machine. Alexander nodded again and put the radio back into its holder, turning away from the panel just as Lance trotted up to him.

“What's that all about?” Lance asked, thin metal wings shifting—whether in wonder or concern, the gryphon couldn’t tell. The pony wore an expressionless mask, making it difficult to determine his current mood.

“Delta Unit’s going to take some of the others out of this tank, and in return they are also going to deposit Armin in the process,” Alexander answered. His statement made Lance betray a simple series of blinks, and each time his eyelids briefly snapped closed, his pupils had widened.

“Delta Unit? What’s that?” Katie asked, her question causing the gryphon and the pegasus to turn to her.

“I run an army. Delta Unit’s the part of the army that monitors the skies outside this tank,” Lance replied, one torn ear swiveling towards the panel. A faint rumble hit his ears as he shot a glance towards the screen, wings flaring as though by reflex.

Had Delta Unit already arrived, perhaps? Did another earth-shaking clap attempt to rend the heavens and land once more? All the screen betrayed had been little more than the now dark grey horizon and snow-laden ground, neither of which giving so much as a hint to the cause of the noise.

“Is there another storm incoming?” Anna questioned, tentatively trotting up to the control panel. As if to answer her question, lightning streaked across the sky outside, its arc going just wide enough to be visible on the screen. She saw faint yellow crackles rippling through the clouds, barely obscuring golden dots hiding in the dark masses.

The radio started blaring static once more, and this time it was the pegasus who took it out of its holder. For a few seconds, the wretched buzzing continued before fading out as the same voice from before began speaking. “Change in plans. Major thunderstorm incoming. We can’t move the blimp and our jets through the clouds without it fucking our radars up, over.”

“Why not?” Lance growled, his eyes narrowing.

“There are lots and lots of ectoplasms that have decided to hijack the clouds. It’s like a hive of bees is headed our way,” the voice replied, sounding rather panicked.

“Damn. I guess it’s gonna sweep over me and my unit, then? If that’s the case, we’re sitting ducks here,” Lance snarled, ears falling flat on his head.

“Exactly,” the voice replied. “Delta Unit, over and out.”

“Shit,” Lance groaned and closed his eyes as he put the radio in the holder, only opening them when he turned to the other ponies and the changeling who still sat on the gurney. “Listen up, everybody!” he barked. At this, everyone turned to him, and he did not speak further until he'd been certain all eyes were on him. He made extra-sure to look at Katie to see if she paid him any heed, and her orbs were as glued to him as the eyes of everyone else.

“We’re stuck here for the night, and since there isn’t much else we can do, we’re gonna have to get some shut-eye right now,” Lance rambled, wings spreading to full mast. “Get some sleep, we’ll need to conserve energy for tomorrow!”

Everyone exchanged glances with one another, yet nobody said anything in protest. Slowly, everyone covered themselves up and laid down on the floor of the tank, resting their heads in their front hooves or claws. Katie merely shrugged and laid down on the gurney she'd been parked on earlier.

After all, she hadn’t been told she could leave it yet, so the changeling figured she might as well sleep on the damn thing. NoLegs hopped up to her thin frame and curled up next to her on the gurney, purring contently as the lot within the Valkyrie dozed off.

Soon, though, someone took a trip to the realm of dreams.

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

Natalie rose onto her legs and glanced around, finding herself within a dark wood filled to the brim with blackened, dead trees. The whole forest showed no signs of life; plants had decayed, no wild animals scurried about, and the skies were as bleak and bleary as the color of the still bark. Instinctively, she lit up her horn, causing an orange glow to illuminate her surroundings from the tip of her forehead appendage.

She shuddered, ears flattened against her skull. The mare took another glance at her surroundings, and her heart sank as she noticed that one tree stood out from the rest—in that it had a visage: empty eyes staring right back at her, accompanied by a hollow, tooth-laden mouth. The mouth curled up at the corners, forming a hellish sneer.

Natalie backed away from the tree with the face, in spite of the fact that it had been firmly rooted into the greyed reddish-brown dirt. By doing this, she went and bumped into another tree, gasping in surprise as the bark scraped against her rump.

She whirled around and gaped. This tree had a face, too. Sweat began to bead down the pony’s face from her forehead, and a breeze blew past, caressing her visage and sending icy chills down her spine.

The glow coming from her horn turned brilliant scarlet like her mane, and her eyes widened as this had happened. “Oh no,” she murmured, legs trembling. “I need to get out of here…”

Unfortunately, her legs decided it was a good idea as ever to lock up with numbness on the spot, effectively glueing her to where she stood. All around her, the trees—faceless and not—remained still, and she found herself unable to even will her legs to move. It was as if time had frozen on the scene. Natalie took a closer look at the trees, and noticed that their barky surfaces seemed to faintly reflect the glow of her horn, as if the wood had been heavily polished and buffed.

A dense and ominous tranquility settled in the wood, with nothing even daring to break the thick silence. Even the muted sounds of her own exhales, which turned more and more shallow the longer she stood idle, failed to register in her mind.

In the corner of her eye, she could see another tree behind her. “It’s just like the one I accidentally hit with my rear end,” she found herself thinking. It seemed to be grinning at her, as though silently taunting her for merely being paralyzed. Her irises and pupils shrank, while the rest of her eyes simultaneously went wide.

Only when she felt thin, flimsy wood scraping against her backside did her legs finally move. The unicorn jumped away from the tree and bolted, the red light from her horn making the dead hunks of wood stand out from the dirt. Even so, she almost collided head-first with a tree as soon as she took off galloping, forcing her to side-step out of the way.

Natalie skidded to a complete halt after a few moments of near-blindly galloping and looked up as lightning flashed across the sky, followed in short order by a titanic clap of thunder. Another blast of lightning lit up the sky, this bolt sharply arcing downward, and the mare stumbled backwards as a nearby tree found itself struck. She'd been briefly blinded by the blast of light, and by another as the tree began to burn with a raging fire.

When her eyes managed to recover from the onslaught, she noticed that the stricken tree had bits and pieces already falling away. The burning spire of wood snapped at the trunk, falling down almost on top of her. She narrowly avoided being squished, jumping out of the way of the scorching timber which now blocked off the path she’d been on.

“Wait a second,” Natalie mumbled as realization set in and her thought processes halted, almost absentmindedly glancing down at her hooves. She could now see a worn dirt trail, made apparent by both the burning log and the light of her horn, and her hooves had been right atop it. Begrudgingly, she turned around, shuddering as the blaze produced such heat it felt like her posterior had already started catching flame, and she scrambled away from it for a bit. Only when she no longer felt heat licking at her heels did she take another moment to even consider what she had found. “I found a dirt trail…”

The revelation was enough to make her glance up again. Her eyes did not deceive her. She had, indeed, been staring at a worn-out dirt trail. Natalie began to trot along it, ignoring the trees that were silently watching her passing form all the while. As she crept along, lightning struck more trees, sending them falling and burning onto the path behind her. It'd been like Mother Nature was depserately trying to convey something to the mare, but she could not for the life of her figure out what that might’ve been.

Eventually, the unicorn paused in a clearing. The clearing spanned far and wide, so much so that she could barely see the mass of trees on the other side. It had been marked by an aged pair of stone walls that glittered with various gems set into the rock, separated by a flimsy and busted metal gate hewn of gold.

Beyond that, Natalie spotted a burning mansion that was wide enough to neatly fill in the entire area between the walls, the fires eating away at the support beams and wooden surfaces, turning the entire structure black and useless. In front of the inferno, on a small lawn that the mansion didn't touch, a creature stood with its form angled. She squinted her eyes, trying to determine what it was—yet she could not tell what it had been, even with the fires of the large manor betraying its immediate presence.

It turned its head towards her, its features still difficult to make out. Was it a pony? A gryphon? Maybe even a changeling?

The thing spoke, its voice hollow, distorted and without a definitive tone or accent that could give Natalie an idea regarding whatever identity it may have had. “Looks like the sinner has returned.”

“I…” Natalie uttered, but her voice quickly died in her throat as two brilliant jade orbs lit up on what she presumed was the creature’s face. They glowed, yet did not reveal any tell-tale signs of their owner’s appearance. It took a step towards the gate, it's briefly-raised limb just as indiscernible as its visage.

“You have sinned, little filly,” the thing hissed, taking another step aimed at the gate. “And you have not atoned for it!” it continued, and its voice rose as it spoke, now more akin to shrieking metal than anything else.

The mare took a step back, and she tried to speak, yet when her mouth opened again not a sound came out. She turned around hastily as she felt heat building up from behind, and her heart began thundering in her chest as bright reds, yellows, and oranges greeted her.

Now, all that Natalie could see was ablaze, giving off an intense heat that began stinging her eyes and producing a thick smog that made her start coughing in moments. Her body became coated head to hoof in thick grey soot, and she stumbled backwards yet again—knocking open the gate and landing flat on her back.

She didn't have the slightest chance to move; the thing rushed over to her prone form in a heartbeat and loomed over her, glaring at her with the glowing jade orbs as if the orbs were eyes. It slowly rose a limb up high, but Natalie rolled away like a log before it could connect with her face. She got up onto her hooves and channelled magic into her horn, firing off a blast of flame that sent the black creature reeling away.

But as soon as the thing landed on the ground, it got right back up like the blast of fire did nothing. Its head formed a grinning mouth lined with jagged teeth, aglow with the same emerald color as the orbs it lit up earlier. Now paired with said orbs, it looked like the beast had grown a face, albeit a very unpleasant one. It also seemed to have, somehow, obtained a horn that glowed in an olive hue.

Flames started circling around Natalie with such speed she had been caught within a gradually-shrinking island of dead dirt. She whirled her whole body around, yet there seemed to be no avenue of escape. The fires turned emerald in color as they kept getting nearer and nearer, almost entirely within inches of the hapless pony from all directions. The heat had been licking her from all sides at this rate, the temperature rising and rising rapidly as the flames inched closer and closer still.

She woke up just before the flames could touch her, eyes wide and breathing shallow. The mare glanced around, noticing that everyone else had still been sound asleep and tucked in their blankets. Not even Katie had stirred. In fact, the thin changeling did not appear to be breathing at all.

Natalie took a few shuddering breaths and slowly rose onto her hooves. Her blanket fell off of her body, yet she took no notice. Instead, her eyes wandered towards the control panel, and then to the screen just above the makeshift keyboard. The snow appeared to have brightened now, and she could make out a faint tint of orange from the sides of the screen. In addition to this, the sky had been crystal clear, and painted with a mixture of navy blues and deep purples with just the faintest of reds.

Natalie turned her attention towards the changeling. Once she noticed the distinct lack of the typical movements that indicated any sort of breathing, the sight made something register in her sleep-fogged mind.

“Do you breathe when you sleep, if at all?” Natalie mused in a quiet voice. She caught sight of a long ear swiveling in her direction, followed by an azure orb starting to glow within its black canvas.

“Barely. I'm amazed my lungs still work,” Katie answered, lazily widening her mouth to yawn. She turned to the unicorn and sighed. “You’re up awfully early.”

“Bad dream,” Natalie replied simply, rubbing her eyes with a hoof.

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

“You want us to go to Fantasia?” a unicorn mare questioned, trotting through a lengthy hallway with some other ponies. She quirked an incredulous brow, amethyst eyes twinkling in wonder and moderate suspicion. A balcony with an airship began coming into view, and the hall's end had been marked with the roof stopping just outside said balcony. Marble columns passed her and the rest of the group as they continued to trot.

“Yes, Twilight.” Another mare nodded, this one with a pristine white coat. “Me and Luna have prepared this airship for you and your friends to head over to Fantasia.” She paused to gesture to the nearby airship with a hoof bearing a golden horseshoe. “Take whatever you need, and return in three days’ time.”

“Well, alright… but what do you want us to do during those three days in the sister world?” Twilight questioned, her brow still quirked. She kept going onward to the hall's end, and she could see ponies sporting golden armor lining either side of the balcony.

“Try to find as much as you can. If you are able, bring some of the native Fantasians back to Equestria. Because of the barrier that has stood until last night, we don’t know much about how the sister world is operated. Be very careful. I know not what lies beyond the border,” the other mare answered with a grim nod of her head. Now, they were starting to trot past the armored ponies who stood like statues.

“Alright, Princess Celestia. My friends and I will do what we can.” Twilight nodded, a determined smile forming on her lavender visage.

“Maybe Fantasia will be as awesome as fighting changelings!” another mare chirped, this one a cyan pegasus that had been aloft in the air for some time.

“I hope whatever’s in the sister world will be, um, friendly,” yet another pegasus mare murmured, creamy yellow wings shifting in anticipation.

“Maybe I could throw a ‘the-barrier-has-been-broken-and-we-can-make-new-friends’ party!” an earth pony cheered, bouncing up and down in place. A very pink mane bobbed up and down as she jumped.

Yet another mare trotted towards the others from the boarding dock of the ship, a tied blond mane weaving about in tandem with her movements. “I wanted to tell y’all that the airship has been loaded with food, water, and some other things that we might need during our trip,” she stated, a smile on her face.

“That’s absolutely wonderful, dear Applejack,” another unicorn chortled, this one a very light grey in color. She smiled and nodded her head in understanding. A frown soon replaced the smile, though. “Yet I am also saddened that we’re going to have to leave Canterlot shortly.”

Another creature ran up from behind Applejack, this one bearing purple scales, with a green underbelly and spikes running from head to tail. “Hey, Twilight, I also loaded some ink, quills, and paper onto the airship. I figured we may need to write to Celestia in case something happens over in Fantasia,” he said, eyes beaming as a grin formed on his face.

Twilight’s smile widened. “That’s a great idea, Spike!” She ran up to the purple-and-green creature and pulled him into a hug with her front hooves.

Another beast jostled onto the balcony, standing upright and sporting thick brown fur and limbs ending in dulled claws. The yellow pegasus glanced up at the beast and smiled as it let out a small roar. “Um, girls, is it alright if Harry comes with us?” she asked. The other ponies turned to her.

“Frankly, I’m surprised Angel bunny didn’t want to go.” The pink-maned pony shrugged. She eyed the beast and noticed a small white rabbit perched atop its head. “Actually, I stand corrected,” she added. The mare giggled upon seeing the rabbit, who merely shook its head and rolled its eyes in response.

“Eh, I’d be fine with Angel and Harry coming with. It’s not like they could crash the airship or anything,” the cyan mare stated and nodded.

“In that case, who’s going to be driving our ride to Fantasia?” the grey unicorn questioned, her head tilted slightly. “I mean, none of us have even the slightest bit of experience regarding one when the driver’s wheel is involved.”

“Rest assured, Rarity, I have already made arrangements regarding the steering wheel of the airship,” Celestia answered, a warm smirk on her visage. With that, the group of mares and creatures strode onto the boarding dock of the ship. All of them waved to Celestia as the bridge retracted into the ship, and stopped when she waved back just before a wooden door closed.

Within minutes, the airship departed from the balcony and rose high into the sky. The ponies looked from the windows at the shrinking continent below, though some looked towards small tables, chairs, the ornately-decorated carpeted floor that sported a sun-and-moon motif, and a small staircase to the side that went deeper into the airship. Spike looked towards the walls, which were clad in floral-designed purple wallpaper.

“I’m not sure if I should be happy that we’re leaving Equestria and heading into unknown territory,” Twilight murmured and grimaced, frowning in thought. “I mean, none of us know what to expect, let alone where on Fantasia we’re gonna be landing.”

“If there are other ponies in Fantasia, we won’t know what they’re gonna be like,” Applejack agreed with a slow nod of her head. “We can only pray for the best, Twi.”

Harry let out another growl. The yellow mare added, “Harry thinks it would be wise to wait.”

“I agree with Harry the bear and Fluttershy. We’ll just have to wait and see what Fantasia has in store for us,” Rarity affirmed, a small smile on her face.

“But what if we can’t make it back in three days’ time? What then?” Twilight found herself thinking, rubbing a hoof on her chin. She silently nodded to herself, yet could not ignore the faint shiver that ran down her spine as the thought echoed in her mind.

Twilight looked at the cyan pegasus, who trotted up to her. "Hey, Rainbow Dash, what do you think about all of this?"

Dash rolled her magenta eyes. "Twi, I still think it's gonna be awesome. Heck, maybe I could get new flying buddies, or find a group of ponies similar to the Wonderbolts," she replied with a smile.