Shining's face morphed, first from blinking confusion and then to narrow-eyed anger, as Flash and Zephyr briefed him and the other guards on what had happened. When the two pegasi finished, their Emperor's face softened, though only slightly as he began to grit his teeth. "I see," he muttered through said clenched teeth. "Go to the guest rooms, both of you." Flash and Zephyr nodded and flared their wings, wasting no time in flapping them and taking off to the castle as soon as they were airborne.

Anna sat on her haunches, growling and throwing her front hooves into the air a few seconds after Zephyr and Flash had departed. "Lovely," she hissed with narrowed eyes as she turned back to Shining, her eyes once more glinting red. "Somepony's cruisin' for a bruisin', and of the worst sort!"

Shining nodded with a snort, one which held no amusement. "Whoever this shadow is, they're messing with the wrong ponies," he agreed, turning to the assembled bunch before clearing his throat. "Guards! We shall withhold practice for tomorrow morning! Get back to your posts, and take your bows with you."

"What about her?" Peridot asked, using a hoof to gesture to Anna.

"I'll escort her to the guest rooms myself," Shining replied. He waited for the guards to trot away, though he could've sworn he heard them mumbling as their backs turned to him. He didn't ask what they were going on about even after they went out of sight minutes later, though he came to the conclusion that they threw crass remarks in an ancient tongue. He turned back to the stone targets.

Anna rose to stand again, although this time she went upright. She used her magic to make her bow and quiver vanish in brief explosions of light, taking a moment to look around before she turned to the palace itself. "You think we should do anything with the targets?" she asked.

Shining sighed and used his magic to pry the arrows off of the targets, likewise making them vanish in light. "Leave them out," he replied, watching as the frost that had accumulated melted away in seconds. This ended up causing some of the white lines to streak along the stone frames unto which they'd been scrawled, save for the burnt one. He then turned to and trotted towards Anna, making sure to go just close enough without stepping on the hem of her gown. "Are you alright?"

"Just… irked is all," Anna replied, still maintaining her upright stance. She watched as Shining trotted around her and started heading to the palace, and she followed him after first reverting to all fours. They went in silence, though they stopped before they could pass the Crystal Heart, which still spun and changed colors of its own accord. "Can we please make that stop changing colors? It's been bugging me."

Shining glanced at Anna and promptly rolled his eyes at her. "Cadence is working on it. If we touch it before she finds a solution, I doubt the end result would be… favorable," he groaned.

Anna's left eye twitched. "And what's the probability of a favorable end result if we tamper with it now?" she asked, a spark of curiosity alight in her eyes.

"Put it like this: as likely as the holes in Katie's legs mending themselves, not to mention her muzzle and her horn growing back on top of that," Shining replied with a frown.

"And since she can't feed anyway…" Anna trailed off, mentally connecting the dots as she turned to and then stared at Shining.

"Yep. Bad juju," Shining tersely finished for her in a cynical tone, one accompanied with a curt nod. He turned to the nearest leg of the palace and trotted to it, casting a magenta light with his horn as he went. Anna followed suit, though she didn't let her horn glow, and a few minutes of silence passed as they trotted up the stairs. Neither uttered so much as one syllable as they found the third door that lead to the the corresponding floor, let alone as they made their way to the guest rooms at a sluggish pace.

Around a full half-hour passed before the familiar hall lined with many doors came into sight, adorned with a few guards at their posts, in addition to Flash and Zephyr standing between two doors. Both pegasi stood to either side of—and they also had a front hoof resting on the withers of—a green-faced Aquamarine who had a bucket in front of him.

"Are you well?" Shining asked, trotting up to Aquamarine to inspect him a little better, his head lowering and rising as he scanned each and every feature the blue stallion held. His brow furrowed at the color of his visage, in addition to a magic inhibitor at the base of his horn and hoof-sized bruises dotting his neck.

"N-no sir," Aquamarine replied in a raspy voice, turning to Shining with half-lidded and bloodshot eyes. "H-had a rough night."

Shining nodded in understanding, and glanced at Flash and then Zephyr. "You three are on break tomorrow. Unless you are threatened by whatever tried to do you in again, of course," he stated.

Zephyr's eyes widened. "Me? As well?" His voice was an octave higher as the words came out of his mouth. "B-but sir, I-I wasn't—"

Shining cut him off with a wave of his hoof before, "You're just with these two, in case the assailant decides to show up again. Better to have a pony fighting fit than two wounded, even if the wounds in question are minor inflictions. I'm playing it safe."

Zephyr blinked and then nodded with an accompanying, "Ooooooh." He followed up with a salute via a wing. "Yes sir."

Shining nodded. "Now that is what I like to hear," he chirped with a small smile. He turned to Aquamarine and let his smile fall before he added in another two bits, "You don't look so well. I think you should head off to hit the hay."

He flinched when the sod's cheeks bulged like twin pufferfish, and he flung a hoof to his mouth, jostling the bucket in front of him with the motion and almost tipping it over in the process. Anna tipped it back with her magic until its bottom rested flat against the floor, gagging alongside Shining when liquid sloshed within and a foul aroma—one heavily acidic that was sour and vaguely smelled of wheat straw—hit their noses as a result.

"I agree with your Emperor. You need a nap," Anna stated bluntly, her face turning a mild shade of verdant the longer the acrid stench tickled her nose. She backed away a bit, hoping to get away from the smell, but stopped upon accidentally stepping on the hem of her own garment with a back hoof. So she then turned around, flung open a random door with her magic, and trotted in all the while raising a front hoof to cover her nose.

The archer almost immediately trotted right back out, slamming the door behind her with her magic and making the guards who were closest to it jump back a bit. With a hoof still over her nose and pupils beginning to dilate, she sighed and trotted over to the door on the right using three legs. Shining turned to her, a brow raised high. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Accidentally trotted in on Matt and Natz," Anna murmured in reply, her ears falling back against her head. "They're so deep asleep that I doubt the door woke them." Unfortunately for her, hooves hit the floor behind the door before it opened up with a golden aura aiding it, causing Shining to turn to it to find a scowling Matt standing in the frame. His eyes were bloodshot, his mane and fur were tangled messes, and one corner of his lip was twitching sporadically.

"Next time you or anypony else does that, I'm sticking a pot on your head before I bang it with the sturdiest wooden spoon I can find," Matt hissed, his statement causing Anna to first bristle and then stiffen. With that, he snorted and trotted into his room, gently closing the door behind him with his magic, leaving the guards to glance amongst themselves before they all turned to Anna.

For but a minute, silence took hold, only to be broken the very next minute when another door that was next to Zephyr creaked open and Katie bumbled into the hall with orbs constantly dimming. "Who ticked off Godcat this time?" she asked as a hoof rose to her mouth and she opened it, which led to a wide yawn leaving her lips. As soon as she spoke, all hooves flew to point at Anna rather accusingly. Katie then turned to the archer and uttered just one word, "How?"

"It was an… accident. I'll apologize for it tomorrow," Anna replied, her legs shifting for a few seconds.

"Uh-huh," Katie hummed sarcastically, slowly nodding and with both brows raised.

Zephyr piped up after rolling his eyes, "I'll believe that was an accident the moment your general's other two highest-ranking subordinates decide to take his helm for themselves." The others turned to him, with half of the faces on sporting raised brows and the other half wide-eyed as if he'd just snorted crack. "What? She slammed the door—I was just stating the obvious."

"Just don't egg them on further, please," Shining stated calmly, his nose twitching as the still-acrid aroma lingered about. He turned to Aquamarine and added, "And please dispose of what's in that bucket. I don't want to smell it any longer, and I think your fellow guards may feel the same."

Aquamarine languidly nodded, using a hoof to pick up the bucket without spilling its contents. "Fhræm zhik," he replied.

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

Matt threw himself on the bed, wide awake and grumbling about how he hated every second of the fact. Natalie lay next to him, turning to look at him with her mane and coat as much of a mess as his, and her eyes even more bloodshot.

"Want me to conjure some pain pills?" Natalie groaned, her voice scratchy and strained.

Matt shook his head, lifting a foreleg to wrap it around his bedmate and pull her a little closer to him. He nuzzled her behind the ear, feeling her ear twitch and flick in response. "Unless the pain pills can make me sleepy too," he murmured, garnering a sigh.

"Let's just take them now, and see if we get sleepy twenty minutes after," Natalie stated, her shoulders twitching as her horn began to glow. A few seconds passed, and the azure light dimmed before fizzing out, whereafter she rose a hoof to her head and rubbed her temples with eyes slamming shut. "Fuck. My head hurts so much I can't concentrate worth shit."

"Great, we're stuck with the headaches," Matt thought, a firm frown forming on his muzzle. He snorted in resignation, inadvertently causing Natalie's ear to flick and brush up against his mouth again.

Natalie threw her head onto the pillow, groaning in defeat. "You think the headache'll go away if we wait?" she asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Maybe," Matt replied with a shrug, pulling away and reclaiming his side of the bed. A good thirty minutes passed, and the two tossed and turned as they tried to go back to sleep, yet no matter how much they wiggled about in the bed they didn't tire themselves out. He sat up and crawled off the bed after another fifteen minutes spent hopelessly flailing about had passed. "I'm going to wash my face."

"Let me know when you're done, so I can have a turn," Natalie murmured as Matt trotted to a door at the side of the room. He opened it and entered the bathroom beyond, heading right for the sink and turning the knobs with his magic. Waiting until it had a warm, steady flow of water, he grappled some of it with more magic and flung it onto his face. It stung a bit, but then faded into a coolness that came only because the water began to immediately evaporate in the relatively lukewarm air.

Yet this only made his head hurt worse. The cooling liquid wasn't enough to quell the rush of blood to his cranium. At this, his brow furrowed, and he doused himself face-first in more liquid. He turned off the sink and trotted back to bed, grumbling about how he was going to whale on somepony if the pain didn't go away.

"I take it you're done?" Natalie asked, her utterance halting the threatening murmurs her roommate was making.

"Yeah," Matt answered with a nod. He flopped onto the bed with a grunt. "My head is still killing me. See if you have better luck with the sink." Natalie got out of the bed herself, and went to the sink in the bathroom to wash her face. It did nothing for her either, other than briefly sting before rapidly cooling. After that, she returned to bed, and for another few minutes the two Fantasians laid still, though they remained wide awake.

Sleep, it seemed, was going to be a tricky thing to attain tonight. The mere notion may as well have been damned on this eve.

"Any other ideas?" Matt asked, his tail whipping just once and sending long blond locks everywhere for a moment.

"A trot around the room, or down the hall sound good?" Natalie replied, her tail lifting a little, only to drop back down seconds later.

"Whatever works," Matt murmured with a languid nod, and with that both climbed out of the bed and jogged around the room shoulder-by-shoulder. A good ten laps around the room later, they were still going at it, yet neither panted for breath or broke a sweat. Another ten laps after that, and they flopped on the bed, brows furrowed and chests heaving.

Yet still they could not fall asleep, even after they had caught their breath. Natalie crawled off the bed and trotted to the window, taking a few minutes to look at the sky. She turned to Matt when a golden flash erupted and faded in the corner of her eye, finding that Discord had teleported into the room unannounced. "Yeeees?" she asked, watching as he strode over to a small table at the side.

Discord made a small pile of books appear on the room's table with a snap of his talons. "Fluttershy told me to get you two to go to sleep. She didn't like hearing you pound your hooves on the floor," he said, prior to vanishing in another light.

Matt clambered out of the bed and made for the books, his steps silent and his curiosity piqued. "The hell?" he mumbled upon reaching the table, using a hoof to scoop up one of the books. He set it back down after examining the title. "Okay, it's in ancient alicorn." The utterance caused Natalie to canter over to him and examine a book herself. She picked it up with both front hooves after sitting on her haunches and she leafed through it, only to sigh and put it down well before she reached the tenth page.

"No; it's not ancient alicorn. It looks like it's in Diamæntian," Natalie stated, causing Matt to look at her with widening eyes.

"You understand that gobbledygook?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Not really." Natalie shrugged, turning to meet Matt's gaze with a level look. "I only said it looks the part, not that I can read it."

"Oooooh." Matt nodded in understanding, mentally bucking himself square in the barrel. He let a hoof stray to his face, but then dropped it before the two entities could connect. "I guess the booze and hangover are getting to me."

"And a lack of sleep," Natalie scoffed, turning to the bed and trotting over to it. She flopped on the mattress for the third time that night, and Matt gave the books one last glance before following suit. "You think we should get something to drink?"

Matt shook his head and waved a hoof dismissively. "If we got Discord to do that for us, he'd probably have the drinks make us both breath fire," he huffed. "He just gave us books we can't read, for Godcat's sake."

Natalie opened her mouth to argue, but she closed it upon considering Matt's remark. So the two, yet again, lay in silence. Their brains constantly racked for ideas that they could enact just so they could get some more sleep and get rid of their headaches in the process. Though only after an hour and a half of doing nothing but contemplate, each and every idea was eventually struck down.

Matt groaned and flung his front hooves into the air. Out of desperation and without thinking first, he uttered in a harsh whisper, "I want to sleep so bad, but my head's killing me! What will it take for me to go to sleep already? I may as well fuck the damned pillows—I'll eat my braids if that doesn't make me sleepy!"

Natalie turned to Matt, a brow raised. "I don't think the pillows can please you that good," she stated matter-of-factly. "You might have Cornucopia dick."

Matt deflated, dropping his front hooves. "Yeah, a pillow doesn't sound too good…" he murmured, eyes narrowing. "Wouldn't want to get bedmane."

"You already have bedmane, dumbass." Matt scoffed at his companion's utterance and reached a hoof to stroke his mane, only to snarl when he found a lumpy tangle about the length of a bundle of feathers. "Should we swap sides?" Natalie suggested, eyes going half-lided like she was getting bored.

"No; at this rate, it'd just keep us awake longer," Matt replied in a firm tone. He buried his face into the pillow and released a series of muffled curses into the fabric, swearing this and that and mumbling so much more nonsense that Natalie could've sworn she heard him say he'd get Anna and Lance drunk just to see what would happen. She made to comment on his grumblings, but he lifted his face from the pillow and turned to her with an irritated look that made her hesitate. "What? You gonna suggest something else?"

Natalie pursed her lips together, brow furrowing just slightly as she stared into her companion's eyes. The two stared at each other, both sets of eyes unblinking, ears twitching as if waiting for the other to back down or make a move. Yet neither shifted in the slightest, save for their ears. "Truth or dare," Natalie began in a calm voice, her eyelids twitching as they strained to stay open.

"Truth," Matt replied tersely, blinking just once as a small grin crossed his muzzle.

Natalie donned a wild smirk. "What's Sarah's harp made out of?" she asked, and the inquiry caused her companion to immediately balk.

"Uh… um… tarnished steel?" Matt guessed, his response only eliciting a shake of the head from Natalie, whose smirk grew. "Do you know what it's made of?"

"Nope," Natalie replied nonchalantly. "I do not."

Matt lifted a front hoof and pointed it right at her face. "Then the question was invalid! Now you have to do a dare!" he snarled.

Natalie's smirk widened a little more. "Says who?" she retorted, lifting her own hoof to bat Matt's away. She saw a gleam in his eyes and sighed. "Fine. Dare me, blond fucker," she taunted.

Matt put a hoof to his chin and rubbed it for a bit, humming lowly as his mind began whirring. There were so many possible dares that a bucket list wouldn't be able to contain them all, and some small part of him wanted her to do something ridiculous for shits and giggles. Another part of him wanted her to be safe and not laughed at her own expense. After a few seconds he settled on something simple, and lifted his hoof to gesture to the pile of books that Discord had left behind. "Try to read one of those things," he said.

Natalie crawled out of the bed and cantered over to the books, scooping one up with her hooves once she was within reach. She leafed through the pages before settling on one somewhere in the middle of the book, though the parchments glowed as she began to read. Then, the papers dissolved and reformed into a sort of swirling miniature vortex, with the insides of the leather cover glowing bright purple.

Next thing she knew, white assailed her vision, and a creamy substance splattered all around her cranium. In addition to that, something round and metallic landed on her face, complete with a sound like a knife managing to slice through aluminum. She slammed the book closed, causing the paper to return to its prior shape and its form to stop glowing, before putting it down and lifting a hoof to wipe at her eyes. With her vision cleared, she turned to her hoof to stare at it for a second or two, before hesitantly sticking out her tongue to lick at the substance that had accumulated.

"Remind me to convince Fluttershy to make Discord drink laxative one of these days," Natalie hissed, lifting her other hoof to grapple whatever else got on her head. She grasped it and cast it aside, finding it to be an aluminum pie tin with a puncture in its bottom that vanished before it could land. She wasted no time turning around and then trotting to Matt on three legs. When she reached him, she thrust her substance-covered hoof in his face. "Oh, and lick that and tell me what it tastes like."

"Is it edible?" Matt asked, garnering a slow nod from Natalie as his answer. She waved her hoof for a bit, until he stuck his tongue out and did as he was instructed, immediately getting a salty and meaty flavor on his taste buds with a hint of smokiness to it. "It's…" He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, trying to pinpoint what the taste was. He stuck his tongue out and licked more of the substance off his roommate's hoof, and then his eyes lit up in realization. "Bacon flavored…"

"If this is Discord's idea of a prank on us, then the joke's on him," Natalie commented, shifting to sit on her haunches. She flinched when Matt jammed her drenched hoof into his mouth, blinking when he released it a few seconds later and it came out merely saliva-covered as a result.

"Mhm," Matt chirped before licking his lips. "Say, are you going to wash that off?" he asked, using a hoof to gesture to the mess still dripping from Natalie's head. She nodded, but let him swipe some excess off of her cheek before she stood up and tottered off to the bathroom to clean the rest up. When she returned with a wet-but-clean head a minute later, he'd licked his hoof clean, and turned to her with a small and pleased grin.

"Take it you're happy?" she asked, her inquiry resulting in a nod from her companion.

Matt chuckled and shifted his legs, more to stretch them and make sure they didn't go numb than to get cozy. He let his head fall onto the pillow, and though his hangover still lingered, it dulled to faint throbs as he ignored it. "Has your headache gone away? Mine hasn't, but at least I have had bacon-flavored pie," he stated, still grinning.

"Yeah. My headache hasn't gone away too, but I also liked the pie. It was… quite funny, now that I dwell on it," Natalie replied, letting a smile form on her visage. A giggle wormed its way out of her mouth as she added, "Truth be told, I helped myself to another sample."

"You feel tired, though?" Matt pressed, his smile fading. When Natalie shook her head, he sighed glumly. "Wanna continue that truth-or-dare game, or no?"

"I'd like to continue it." Natalie used a hoof to gesture to the pile of books. "But let's steer clear of that pile of leatherbound parchment. I don't know what else it can do."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Matt agreed, waiting until the mare clambered onto the bed next to him before he spoke again. "So, truth or dare?"

"Dare me, Speckles," Natalie replied with a snort.

Now, it was Matt's turn to don a wild grin. "Aside from the books, is it all out?" he asked. When Natalie nodded, his response was to wrap a hoof around her neck and pull her in close. "I dare you to get Lance and Anna extra Cornucopias."

Natalie squirmed a bit, barely suppressing another giggle. "I don't think they'll drink any," she retorted. "I think they'd breath fire."

"Hrm…" Matt's smile broadened. "Then you dare me."

Natalie smirked, and she closed her eyes before turning away to think on the next dare for a minute. She appeared calm and serene, but she only held that look for a few seconds before her eyes snapped wide open with a feral gleam. She turned back to Matt and leaned in so her cheek rested against his neck.

"You know…the truth-and-dare game's already getting boring. And it's been forever since we only had time to ourselves," she remarked, feeling her roommate tense slightly. Her eyes closed again, and she added, "Then again, it's been awhile since I tried bashing you with my staff." She sighed through her nostrils. "Rainbow Dash may've been right; we're wrangling a bed in the Valkyrie the next time we have to sleep in it."

Matt managed to stifle a laugh. "Lance would bitch, though," he replied.

"The tank has those chests; we could just lock the blankets and pillows safely and they wouldn't fly all over the place," Natalie retorted with a giggle.

"Unless the lieutenants and sergeants remove them before we come back to Fantasia, though I doubt that will happen," Matt argued, chuckling again. Then he registered the 'time to ourselves' bit a little late and his eyes immediately widened. He turned to her and began speaking, "A-are you saying—"

"Maybe we could… I dunno, spend a little time together?" Natalie suggested in a sweet voice, shifting to nestle her head between her front legs.

"I dunno, you were—" Matt began again, only for Natalie to raise a hoof up and jam it between his teeth to silence him.

"If you're speaking about Half-horn Midgetcock, let me be blunt: he has to live with the consequences of his actions; I don't, as callous as that sounds," Natalie hissed, her smile fading for a moment. She pulled her hoof from his mouth and continued, "Besides, he's already shot himself in the hooves earlier today; his compatriots will very likely follow suit, so their shenanigans—if any are being performed—will cease soon enough."

Matt considered her argument, and he leaned in so that his muzzle was behind her ear again. "Fair point," he agreed in a whisper, causing the ear to twitch as he spoke. "Are you sure, though?"

"Mhm." Natalie's hind legs shifted a bit, folding so that her hooves rested next to her belly. Her tail twitched again, but only a little, and her companion barely caught the slight shift in the corner of his eye. "You up for it, or not?" she asked, turning to look him in the eye again. She watched intently as Matt's face shifted, first from partially-lidded consideration to a tiny twitch of the corner of his mouth, before he finally donned a small grin.

"Fine. If this can knock our lights out, then I'm all for it." Matt lifted his hoof, only to shift it and let it settle on her side a second later. He pressed gently on her stomach, then slid his leg around her before standing up on three legs, dragging her rear end into the air. "Slow, or quick?" he questioned when his roommate betrayed a shudder.

"Mmm, slow. We might need to hold our mouths shut," Natalie replied, a small but sultry grin forming on her face. She tensed when the half-Clydesdale shifted abruptly, and her front legs pressed against the mattress in response. "Whoa, easy there," she chided. "I don't want a bruise, thank you."

"Alright, alright," Matt piped up, garnering a nod from the mare. She closed her eyes, barely missing the grin that framed his muzzle, but she did not miss the tell-tale shifting of weight on the bed as he pulled her under him. She opened her eyes when the hoof holding her parted from her underside, and opened her mouth to comment when it prodded her a little behind the left cutie mark.

She shivered momentarily. "D-don't keep me waiting," she whined impatiently, though there was an undertone of nervousness in her voice. She felt him shift a bit, biting her lip as he lowered his front quarters to let his chest rest on her withers, with one leg wrapping around her barrel and the other folding next to hers for support.

Both of them heard a creak, caught a flash of gold in the corners of their eyes, and they immediately jumped. Their oculars nearly bugged out and their pupils shrank, all before they scrambled off the bed as soon as the bathroom door swung open. They stared, stiff as boards, at the perpetrator who had the gall to interrupt them by standing in the doorway unannounced—none other than Discord.

"I do hate to ruin your fun," Discord sneered, wearing a wide and toothy grin on his face. He gestured to Matt with a talon and asked, "Have you looked between your rear legs yet?" He snapped the digits of his paw and added, "Because I think that would be wise."

Matt swallowed a lump and lifted a front hoof, craning his neck to peer at his inner thighs. Materializing around his loins was a cylinder of metal, one that clamped around his sheath and tightened. He yelped in pain and looked to his hips, finding more bands of steel forming from the cylinder and around his flanks in the shape of a belt. Then he turned to Discord, trying to articulate a response, only to speak in gibberish dialects again because his jaws jittered beyond control.

"I'm afraid I cannot have you two… doing anything intimate with my friend next door and a curious foal a few rooms down. I hope you understand—it'll come off tomorrow, don't you worry your pretty little head about it," Discord chirped, closing the door with a stifled laugh.

Matt and Natalie exchanged glances, then slowly turned to the pile of books and back to where Discord stood. "Can we ask Fluttershy to talk to him tomorrow?" she asked in a low voice as soon as she and her roommate exchanged another look.

"At this rate, I don't think she would," Matt replied, a sullen frown forming on his muzzle. Then the bathroom door opened again, and they turned their attention to it to find that Discord decided to reemerge in his pony guise.

"Oh, by the way, have you seen Twilight and Spike and Zecora earlier today?" Discord asked, lifting a hoof and examining it like a watch had been attached to it.

"No," Matt answered with a shake of his head.

"We fell asleep," Natalie added with a shrug.

"Oh, great," Discord stated in a sarcastic tone, turning to the two Fantasians with a hint of a frown. "Head out into the hall, both of you."

Matt looked at his new accessory and tried to pry it off with a hoof, only to stop with a whimper when the whole thing tightened threateningly. He turned back to Discord. "You expect me to trot around with this thing on?" he protested.

Discord yawned into his hoof, then looked at the hapless stallion with his eyes half-lidded. "Would you rather trot out swinging?" he asked in a monotone voice, using the hoof he yawned into to make a pendulum motion. Matt shook his head. "Didn't think so. Now trot out, the both of you." The two Fantasians exchanged glances, before they hesitantly obliged and immediately found themselves face to face with Shining and Anna as soon as they were in the hall.

Anna took a moment to eye the steel garment girding Matt's hips, and she frowned—whether in pity or anger, neither of the two were certain. "Cockblocked, I take it?" she asked flatly, causing the pony wearing said garment to turn to her.

"Don't ask," Matt hissed, his eyes narrowing for a bit. He turned to Shining, and the expression eased. "What're you staring at?"

Shining said nothing, instead turning around and heading towards Flash Sentry, who now stood alone. He turned to a slightly open door that said guard stood next to, and motioned with a hoof for the Fantasian trio to catch up. The three complied, and found that Katie had trotted to them from the other side. The group entered the room after Shining opened the door and went in first, finding that it was empty.

"What's wrong?" Natalie asked, raising a brow as she scanned the room.

"I don't see anything problematic," Katie added with a buzz of her wings.

Shining mutely trotted to a table that stood next to the bed, and he picked something up with his magic before handing it to his guests. "Read that, please," he stated.

Anna summoned a light from her horn, shining it on the object to reveal that it was a simple sheet of paper with something scrawled on it. She and the others craned their necks to it, though Katie had to stand on her rear legs and rest her front hooves on Natalie's barrel to support herself and see the thing up close and personal. Matt read it out loud, his pupils shrinking as he relayed what was on the parchment.

"Do not panic if me and Spike are not in our room. I couldn't sleep, and neither could he—too many things were on our minds. We took Zecora with us to the library to try and find something. We'll be back at sunrise.

-Twilight Sparkle

P.S. NoLegs decided to come with us for some reason. I think he couldn't sleep, either."