Shining trotted up the seemingly-endless staircase, with a platoon of more unicorn guards behind him, as well as Twilight and her friends and the rest of the Fantasians sandwiched between him and said platoon. Atop his head, guiding him on with the Accelerator pointed at an upwards slant was NoLegs, who bristled and hissed every couple of minutes as they went up. The air was thick and tense, silencing everything except hooves and claws hitting crystal and the frequent hisses—until somepony decided to speak up.

"What the hell got NoLegs worked up?" Lance groggily asked, eyes squinted and bloodshot. He trotted sluggishly, and without any garments draped upon his form, leaving his shuddering bare wings to freely droop at his sides like balls and shackles were anchored to them. "Why'd he have to wake us up this late?"

Matt, who trotted at Lance's side—with one eye on his superior and the other on Shining—shrugged his shoulders. "Must've been important enough to warrant it," he replied with a small frown.

Maria tottered behind Lance, her head tilted slightly and her eyes also bloodshot. "Can I go back to bed?" she asked, yawning between every word.

Anna turned to her and shook her head. "Not until we see what NoLegs woke us up for. Though if you're that tired, I suppose we'll let you sleep in," she answered. Maria turned to her and silently nodded, temporarily lifting a talon to cover her mouth as she yawned again and simultaneously continued to amble forward on two hooves and the other talon.

"At least he didn't have a megaphone…" Twilight piped up from behind the four, huffing rather indignantly. A thought clicked in her head, and she asked, "That reminds me… where's Spike?"

NoLegs meowed loudly, and the sound echoed both in front of and behind the still-trotting group. Fluttershy translated, "He's with Fenrir, the changelings, and some guards just ahead."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, but part of it caught in her throat when she processed the second half of Fluttershy's translation. She turned to her and asked with widening eyes, "Wait, why's he with the guards? Why's he on top of the tower, for that matter?"

Fluttershy could only frown and turn to NoLegs for an answer. Her brow slanted when the cat failed to meow. "Perhaps…" Her ears folded back and her head drooped as a twinge of fear sparked in her mind, and her voice fell as she finished, "something happened?"

Twilight's pupils shrank instantly, and she gaped at Fluttershy. "To Spike?" she queried, her voice trembling as the words left her mouth.

"It's… likely, I'm afraid," Fluttershy replied, her ears twitching slightly. "But the 'something' might not have happened to him at all. We don't know yet."

Twilight deflated slightly and nodded apprehensively. "Y-you're right," she agreed in a shaky voice. "But what if…" She turned ahead and didn't finish that remark, and an awful lot of macabre mental scenarios whirled about in her head for a few seconds before she shook her cranium to cast them out. Her chest puffed as another thought hit her. "Spike's tough. I bet he could take on whatever it was NoLegs wanted us to see."

"There's also that, but I'd still like to hope he didn't get hurt," Fluttershy replied, a soft smile gracing her features.

Rainbow Dash lazily hovered in the air, wings flapping madly and all four legs twitching as she and the others moved along the stairs. Her brow furrowed and her teeth started to grind, adding another sound to the already-tense air and causing goosebumps to jumpstart along her spine. Then she threw her forelegs into the air, nearly scraping the sloped structure that kept the staircase in place as she asked in an exasperated tone, "Can we just get there already?! I'm tired of going slow to see what the fuss is about!"

Right as she said that, a faint orange glow pulsed through the stairs, causing Shining and the rest of the group to pause and turn to it right as it faded. Another pulse shortly followed, one as thick as Lance's wing-fingers. Then another, though it warbled and was paper-thin. Yet another pulse came, one bright teal and as large as an entire pony.

Shining's brow furrowed, until the large teal pulse came and caused him to squint his eyes. "Has somepony tried tampering with the mana?" he asked aloud, slowly craning his neck to the group behind him as he spoke. He got a series of shrugs in return, as well as a few solemn shakes of several heads. His eyes averted to gaze up at NoLegs, who turned back to him and nodded with a mew.

Twilight turned to Dash for a second and spotted the smooth slant holding the stairs going up, and then spun around to look at each and every face present before stopping at Shining and NoLegs.

"Brace yourselves, everypony," she warned, her horn starting to glow. Her aura seized the guards, herself, Shining, the cat on Shining's head, the still-floating Accelerator, and the assembled Fantasians. "We're going on a slide."

Before any of them could protest, violet light burst from everywhere, blinding them as they felt themselves turn upside-down. Their collective asses and the weapon dropped before they all slid sharply downwards—which was really up the bottom of the stairs thanks to the gravity shift—at an accelerating speed.

As soon as the light faded from their eyes and the weight of the situation hit them, most of the bunch started screaming in unison, and Fluttershy and Dash even reflexively spread their wings. Some of the more unfortunate of the lot started spinning as they slid onwards, but a handful managed a grin nevertheless.

Anna, who was smirking like a fool, threw her forehooves into the air like she was on a rollercoaster. "Wheeeee!" she cried, garnering an incredulous, wide-eyed look from Sarah.

"What brand of crazy did you take to enjoy sudden gravity alteration?!" Sarah exclaimed in exasperation, receiving an innocent, almost childish look from her sister in kind.

"The fun kind!" Pinkie answered as she spun behind Sarah, managing a dopey grin on her face so large it was as if her muzzle was molded that way.

Maria flapped her wings and tried to anchor herself to the smooth surface with claw and hoof to no avail. Then she lifted her talons when they started to ache. "Make it stop! The wind's hitting me!" she cried.

"Just grin and bear it!" Lance barked, spinning on his stomach with his legs splayed. Each time he managed to look at Maria, his face seemed to get greener and greener with each cycle. "It's not like the bad hippogryphs! Besides, you're not twirling like I am—right now, I have it worse than you do!"

"This is so unseemly! I never thought I'd have to ascend a flight of stairs quite like this!" Rarity cried. She was doing her best to both stand on unsteady hooves without falling on her face, and keep herself from sliding into anyone else. That in itself made her look like a foal trying to figure out how to properly operate rollerblades for the first time.

Her mane and tail billowed behind her and started fraying at the ends, as if she'd been fired out of a circus cannon, and the latter hit some of the unfortunate guards behind her right in their faces. "Get that tail out of my face!" a guard cried, using a hoof to bat away the tail to no avail.

"I can't help it!" Rarity shot back, keeping her eyes fixated on the half of the group that was in front of her.

NoLegs tried his best to cling to Shining's tail with his teeth, but with each second he slid inch by inch, quickly getting further and further from the base to the very ends. Dash saw him slipping away and flung up her forehooves right as the acceleration forced him to let go and sent him flying backwards. She caught him and brought him to her barrel before he could have the chance to slip out of her grasp and fly off again, taking a second to look at him to affirm that he was alright.

"You okay, buddy?" she asked, garnering a frantic nod from the cat in response. She smiled at him before turning to stare ahead. Dash could've sworn the air turned ice-cold for a second, but with the air beating at her like a reverse vacuum thanks to accelerating upside-down, it was hard to tell if it was just because of said accelerating or because of something else altogether.

Her wings, still spread, stiffened for a good half-minute before flapping. She turned to Fluttershy and nodded, her smile widening as Fluttershy turned to her, nodded back, and flapped her wings. She made sure to repeat the process with Alexander, who gave a salute before letting his wings start flapping as well.

The three beat their wings steadily, and before long the trio started catching sight of flashing lavender sparks that danced all around them and the others in fleeting crackles. Twilight's horn started glowing as, finally, she caught sight of moonlight coming from an approaching alcove above. Her aura seized everyone as the slide ended and sent them careening upwards, and before anyone could connect with another surface the aura turned them downside-up and held them and herself in the air.

Then she looked down after gathering her bearings and found Fenrir holding a bemoaning Chocolate by his back hooves, staring up at her with widened eyes. He wasn't alone; a handful of armed guards, Armin, Spike, and Katie were also present, likewise looking up with expressions betraying various levels of wide-eyed surprise.

Spike, though, maintained a straight face. "You guys okay?" he asked, wincing as some of the extra guards belched. His eyes fell to the floor as Lance hurled onto it, frowning as a clear mess splattered upon the scene and added another smell to the observatory-turned-small-battlefield. "I'll take that as a no."

Matt surveyed the scene below with a critical eye, his brow furrowing when he saw the ashes that remained of the clothes heap, the blood splattered around the room and on Katie's legs and barrel, and the clumps of brown hair in the span of a few seconds. Then he turned to Chocolate and gestured to him with a hoof. "Fenrir, could you explain that, please?" he asked.

Fenrir glanced at Chocolate, then looked back at Matt with a frown on his muzzle. "Quite simply, that happens to be our cloaked figure, a refugee from the law, and Wise Guy compacted into one form. He is afflicted by halted necrosis, a broken hoof, and a most peculiar case of what I can best describe as 'parasitic crystals'," he replied.

Shining glared at Chocolate, one eye already twitching. "And why's he… ghastly white?" he queried in a tight voice.

"His coat fell out. It's over there," Katie replied, using a hoof to gesture to the fur clumps for emphasis.

"You look like you've been digging for bad spuds," Zecora noted, focusing more on the bloodied hoof gesturing to the pile of brown hair than said pile of hair itself. "Is that…" She gave a shudder and swallowed heavily before finishing, "is that blood?"

Shining's brows rose. "What happened?" he asked tersely, eyes falling on Katie.

The armed guards glanced at Katie in unison, and they all saw her flinch. Flash turned to his Emperor and spoke up, "She told us he cut a mare up, so… uh… she did to him what he did to that mare."

Shining lifted a hoof and rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a few seconds, before he dropped it and slowly nodded to himself. "Considering he's one of the worst ponies I met during my lifetime…" He turned to Chocolate and scowled, seizing all muscles in his mouth before his teeth could start grinding when Silk Fabric briefly came to the forefront of his thoughts. He shuddered, but composed himself and finally finished, "I'll let it slide. Just this once."

Twilight jerked her head to her brother and her eyes immediately grew to the size of saucers. "Is it… necessary to keep him like that?" she asked in a cracking voice.

Shining turned to her and glumly nodded. "In this case, as callous and cruel as that sounds, it is," he replied in a forlorn, softer tone of voice. He gestured to the armed guards with a hoof and added, "Sombra's curse kept them isolated for a good chunk of time."

Lance lifted his head and looked at Shining with a green visage, one brow raised and the other bearing down to the point the lids beneath it threatened to snap shut. "Translation?" he weakly asked.

"Until the curse wore off and the Crystal Heart was restored, we were isolated. The whole Empire was basically in its own bubble. Think of it sorta like being frozen in time," Zephyr replied, causing Lance to turn to him with drooping ears. "We're… still getting used to a lot of things."

Lance mulled all of that mumbo-jumbo over for a few seconds before he lazily nodded. "We're all in that boat right now, minus the curse bit for a lot of us," he groaned.

Zecora piped up again, "Shining Armor, what are you going to do to the stallion whose coat fell out? Do you plan to inflict something, perhaps another bout?"

Shining turned to her and shook his head. "Not unless throwing him in the dungeons count as such," he replied as Twilight's horn began to sizzle and spark, which in turn caused the mana holding everyone in the air to weaken and dim. "Hooves and claws splayed," he added, spreading his limbs in an X-formation as the mana warbled some more. Everyone, sans Dash, Alexander and Fluttershy, immediately followed suit as it finally gave way before it vanished.

Amusingly, and against the laws of physics, the bunch stayed in the air suspended like that for a few seconds longer. Dash, Alexander, and Fluttershy started flapping their wings before the rest of their companions promptly fell to the floor. They landed squarely on their bellies, with a few pained groans leaving some mouths afterwards.

"I wonder how much the hospital bill is gonna cost," Katie stated as Lance threw up on the floor again, her ears pinned sharply back.

"I wonder if the General's going to need cold medicine tomorrow, since his wings are shuddering," Alexander noted, frowning when Lance shook his head with a weak and exhausted groan.

"Daddy, my claws hurt," Maria complained, flexing her talons and wincing every time a few joints moved too much.

"Maybe we shouldn't partake in the Faire tomorrow," Spike piped up, garnering looks from everyone else with the exception of the still-groaning Chocolate. "What? I'd rather avoid more hassle," he added as Shining raised an incredulous brow.

"I'll have Cadence watch over the festivities tomorrow," Shining stated with a nod. He stood up and looked to Flash and his assortment of guards. "You guys watch the new target practice game tomorrow, alright? Consider it your day off." Then he turned to the extra guards he brought with him once Flash and his group nodded in understanding, who also made to stand at attention. "And you guys, take Wise Guy to the dungeons. Coat clumps included."

"Why the coat clumps, sir?" one guard asked, a brow raised.

"If anything, to dispose of them. Just make sure they don't fly everywhere," Shining replied. "And cap his horn while you're at it."

The extra guards nodded in assent, and one tottered off to collect the clumps in his magic before waltzing past everyone and going down the stairs, while the others tottered to Fenrir and pried Chocolate from his grasp with little resistance. Upon summoning a magic inhibitor and capping the sadsack's broken horn with it, they promptly turned around and made to go with him in a two-aura tow after their colleague when Anna stood up.

"Hold up." The two guards carting Chocolate turned to Anna with brows raised. She turned to Shining. "Can I kick him before they take him?" she asked.

Shining turned to her and shook his head. "Nah. He's probably gonna be kicked when they take him to his cell, or by Orange Colt if they become cellmates," he replied. He motioned for the guards with a hoof to continue, and they nodded before going to the stairs and descending the flight.

"Fair enough," Anna conceded with a nod.

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

The next day came and went after that, as did the Crystal Faire itself. As the sun set and vanished behind the southern side of Equestria, the Friendship Express wheeled in to the station before halting entirely. At first, it seemed barren—aside from the yellow pony with the hat and scarf that came out to inspect the scene, and a unicorn mare in a glass booth that had tickets at the ready, the station was empty. Then he heard the sound of hoofsteps echoing from one side en masse, and he turned to the road to find a small crowd trotting towards the station.

The yellow stallion sat on his haunches and waited, and his eyes widened when he saw Shining Armor leading the crowd, and closely behind him were his sister and her friends, as well as their Fantasian acquaintances. They all sparkled, up until they managed to get to the station some ten minutes later—oddly, Natalie still glimmered. In addition to that, Shining's horn was aglow. The yellow stallion looked at him, before turning a little to the left to find that he had a small satchel in his magical grasp. "Come to board, I take it?" he asked.

Shining nodded, and trotted over to the pony who sat in the ticket booth. "Nineteen tickets to Ponyville, please," he stated, using his magic to hand the bag over.

The ticket-pony nodded. "That'll be…" A pause, punctuated by her seizing the bag in her magic before opening it and counting the bits within. "Huh, that's a good 190 bits." She nodded in approval and gave Shining nineteen tickets from the roll, and watched as he distributed them to the others he had with him before they all boarded the train.

The Friendship Express stayed motionless until everyone quickly huddled into a cab lined with seats. When no more train-goers came, it disembarked after its guests were already well-situated. An hour passed as the train went south, blowing its whistle and going at a smooth and steady pace.

Fenrir sat between a pair of seats, and to either side of him sat Rarity and Natalie, the latter having the former's attention as her entire form still sparkled. This was despite the fact that the crystalline sheen had since gone away from everyone else that was afflicted as soon as the train left the Empire's perimeter.

"So, darling," Rarity began, eyeing Natalie with a spark of curiosity ablaze in her irises. "Why are you still… gleaming? I don't mean to sound rude or offensive; I'm just legitimately perplexed is all, especially considering you've kept your sparkle for this long."

Natalie, who had a bowl of equally-gleaming strawberries sitting within hoof's reach, flinched at the inquiry as if she'd been slapped anyway. Her sheen dimmed a bit, though not entirely, and she relaxed and reached out to pluck a strawberry before popping it in her mouth. She chewed it to mush and answered as soon as she swallowed, her voice subdued as she spoke, "I'm… a crystal pony. There. Happy now?"

Rarity beamed for a bit, before her expression fell upon noticing Natalie's ears folding back and her brow slanting. "Are… are you ashamed of being a crystal pony?" she asked tentatively. When she received a nod as an answer, her lips pulled into a tight frown. "And why is that? Who… who hurt you enough to make you ashamed of such a trivial thing?" she queried.

Natalie turned away, looking at the bowl of strawberries as her sheen receded to the point her mane, tail and coat seemed dull. "I'd rather not talk about it," she murmured. "It's… I don't think you'd understand, unless you've…" A pause, one punctuated by a hoof picking up another strawberry and delivering that to the waiting mouth.

A short chewing and swallow later, Natalie finished, "Unless you'd like the entire mess transcribed in a telepathic message or something. It's far from pleasant."

Rarity nodded, softly sighing when Natalie's sheen recovered a bit, only to then falter and revert its owner to her usual bright colors without the extra twinkle. She decided to change the subject, and cleared her throat to get Natalie's attention before speaking again, "So what, exactly, does your cutie mark mean?"

Natalie turned to Rarity with a brow raised and her sheen returning full force. "Long story short, I've a knack for teaching others how to fly. Though I usually reserve it for… unsavory folks and necessary self-defense," she answered. "Anything else?"

"Nothing, really," Rarity answered with a shake of her head.

"Suuure," Natalie replied with a slow nod, her tone soft but skeptical. She proceeded to plop another strawberry into her mouth, and chewed that up before turning to look out of the window that was next to her seat.

She watched as a snowy landscape passed by, adorned by a fresh layer of snow thanks to a fleeting flurry that was heading north. The area was white with a grey sky that darkened with each minute that passed, sharply contrasting the warm and bubbly interior of the Friendship Express.

Natalie turned away, only to find Fenrir staring at her with a brow raised. "Are you well?" he asked.

Natalie shrugged. "If I were to describe my current mood, it would be along the lines of 'meh,'" she answered.

Fenrir blinked with eyes that widened a little bit. "I see," he replied tersely, before he turned his attention to the bowl of strawberries. "May I have one?" he queried.

Natalie nodded. "Sure. They taste a little like whipped cream, though," she answered with another shrug.

Fenrir reached for the bowl and plucked one with a careful paw before tossing that into his mouth, finding that it did indeed taste of whipped cream. He chewed it for a bit and nodded before standing up and leaning against the bit of wall under the lamp to keep himself from getting in between Natalie and Rarity. He wasted no time glancing at Shining as he chatted fervently with Lance, Rainbow Dash, and Maria, and the bunch sat straight across from him.

"So, what is the current plan?" he queried once he swallowed the strawberry, immediately garnering the attention of the four he stared at.

"Daddy wants to go to the sparkly rainbow clouds," Maria replied with a grin.

Lance rolled his eyes. "Cloudsdale," he corrected with a huff.

"Home of the Wonderbolts," Rainbow chirped in excitement, front hooves raised to accompany a giddy grin on her face.

Shining grinned and chuckled. "Same thing," he chimed. "Regardless, it seems you'd like to do something as soon as you get back to Ponyville. What do you have in mind?"

Fenrir thought for a bit, brow furrowing slightly as he answered, "I'd like to become acquaintances with my Mythonian brethren."

"Fellow diamond dogs?" Rarity piped up, her frown deepening when Fenrir nodded. "I… personally, sort of… kiiiinda wouldn't advise it."

Fenrir turned to her, a brow raised. "Why not?" he queried in a skeptical tone.

"To put it mildly, they're brutes. Brutes of the barbaric sort," Rarity replied with a huff. She waved a hoof dismissively and added, "They abducted me one time to make me find gemstones. Even tried making me dig for all it was worth."

Fenrir's eyes widened, and he shifted as if he were about to spring back to all fours. "They what?" he asked, his tone between a snarl of contempt and a yelp of genuine surprise.

Rarity donned a grin. "Oh yes, they abducted me and dragged me into a series of mining caverns. But they made the mistake of calling me a mule—they've left me alone since, and even let me leave their mine unharmed," she stated.

Fenrir leaned back and nodded. "And what if they decided to trifle with you again?"

Rarity's grin widened a little. "Oh, I doubt that they will. But if they theoretically did, and you and Spike were present, I think we could scare them off," she replied, eyes closing as her chin lifted high.

Fenrir snorted and turned back to Shining, Maria, Dash and Lance, noticing that they had turned to each other and started chatting yet again. He shot a glance to the seats behind Shining to find himself staring at Zecora and Anna, noting that they too were babbling with Katie sitting between them. Katie was chiming in with her two bits every few minutes, occasionally giggling or hissing. He listened to said babbling, tuning out all else just to focus on those three in particular.

"Poison joke? You can make potions with the stuff?" Anna asked, eyes widening.

"Yes, in regards to potions and poison joke, I can," Zecora replied with a nod. "Though with a special herbal cure, the effects last less than a day's span."

Katie turned to Zecora, wings buzzing momentarily. "That's pretty nifty. Can I try some poison joke?" she asked in a bizarrely sincere tone of voice.

Zecora giggled and shook her head as she turned to Katie. "On you, I doubt the potion would work in a way that's sufficient. For all we know, it would likely be inefficient," she answered, grinning.

"I volunteer anyway. It sounds like fun," Katie argued, lifting a front hoof and waving it in exasperation more than anything else.

Fenrir turned to Rarity as she cleared her throat, and raised a brow at her as soon as he made eye contact. "Yes?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," Rarity replied with a grin. She turned to Natalie and spoke, "So… we may stay a while in Ponyville, again."

"And?" Natalie piped up.

"I think I should tell you that, regardless of how long we stay in Ponyville, you should be very wary of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their antics," Rarity stated, her grin fading.

Natalie sighed. "Well… Applejack's little sis asked Katie if she wanted to join, and…"

Rarity gasped, went wide-eyed, and quickly cut her off with a query, "Did she accept!?"

Natalie shook her head. "No. She didn't," she answered.

Rarity deflated and then relaxed. "Excellent. Last thing I need my little Sweetie Belle to do is proclaim 'Cutie Mark Crusaders…'" She fell silent and put a hoof to her chin, tapping as if lost in thought.

Natalie raised a brow. "'Wraith Slayers?'" she guessed when Rarity remained silent for a minute or so.

Rarity dropped her hoof and nodded apprehensively. "Something along those lines. I honestly dread the mere thought of it," she answered with a shudder that affected even her mane and tail, to the point some bits of hair began fraying out of place. "No offense, but there's already a hoofful of wraith slayers in Mythos, and I'd rather my sister not lose her innocence partaking in such a thing."

"None taken, and I can see your point," Natalie said with a nod and a sigh.

"On that note, I wonder how Sweetie and the other two Crusaders are doing. I hope they haven't destroyed anything in my absence," Rarity sighed, taking a second to shake her head dejectedly. "I promised them I could help them make dresses if they made good grades… last week."

"Good grades? In what?" Natalie asked with widening eyes.

"Schoolwork," Rarity answered, a brow quirking as Natalie's pupils shrank. "What is the matter?"

"Sc-school? O-oh, damn… I envy your sister," Natalie replied, swallowing heavily.

"Whatever do you mean?" Rarity queried, her brow raising higher.

"I… never got to go to school as a filly. Long story in itself," Natalie answered, lifting a hoof and waving it dismissively, almost knocking over the bowl of strawberries in the process.

Rarity gaped, her own eyes going wide as saucers. "You… never went to school?" she asked. "Why, dear, you're grown enough you can get into one now, surely."

Natalie shook her head again, and she donned a small grin. "Nah, technically got myself a job as a lieutenant-general. Besides, I learn new things anyway, regardless of whether I'm behind a desk or travelling and bickering with Lance," she replied. "And I get paid pretty well—enough that I could get myself an education whenever I feel like it."

Rarity blinked and put her hoof to her chin again, tapping once more. "Well… I suppose you do have a point, in all fairness," she conceded. "Still wouldn't do you any good to be jealous of Sweetie Belle, though. Being envious of a foal is… just poor in taste, though if you really didn't get to go to school as a filly, then I can somewhat understand your case."

"True, true," Natalie agreed with a nod.

Fenrir tuned out the two mares as they continued to bicker about jobs, and turned to look behind Rarity to find Fluttershy and Sarah having their own little chit-chat on the same seat. "Lemme get this straight," Sarah began, lifting a talon before balling it into a fist with one claw jutting upwards, "your cottage is an animal village?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Oh, yes. I have squirrels, beavers, birdies, butterflies... I even have a mouse family, with the leader of it bound in a wheelchair," she replied.

"A mouse… in a wheelchair…" Sarah blinked, pupils dilating and lips curling into a frown as she struggled to process that mental image. "Can I see the mouse in the wheelchair sometime?"

"Only if you don't spook him. He might get afraid of you because of your claws," Fluttershy replied with a frown. "Though I might get Angel to convince him that you're not a big scary bird about to eat him."

Sarah unclenched her talon and waved it dismissively. "Mice on the dinner plate is something I've never done," she scoffed. "Too small, for one thing. Secondly, I'd rather have fish."

"You might have to wrestle Harry for the fish. With your wing still broken, I doubt anything good would come out of it," Fluttershy pointed out. "But wrestling with Harry wouldn't be likely."

"Why's that?" Sarah inquired, a small frown creasing her brow.

"He'd rather sit through a tea party than fight, usually," Fluttershy replied, donning a small grin.

Sarah's expression eased, and she too donned a smirk. "A tea party… I'd like to have one m'self. Maybe I could drag Fenrir into it," she chirped before covering her mouth with a claw to giggle into it like an excited filly.

"As long as you don't stick a frilly pink bow on him. I think he'd do well at a tea party, without hurting his pride," Fluttershy replied, her grin widening a little.

"Oh, I wouldn't stick a bow on him. I'd save that sort of thing for my sister, or Maria," Sarah chortled through her claw, still giggling into it. "If I could drag either to the tea party, that is."

"There wouldn't be any need to drag them. I could just hand out invitations," Fluttershy stated matter-of-factly, nodding her head as she spoke. "It would be their choice to come."

"'spose you do have a point there," Sarah agreed, flexing her good wing for a second before closing it. "Though, would it be just us at the party?"

"No; I could invite one of the other girls, or my animal friends," Fluttershy replied, still maintaining her grin. "Pinkie Pie would probably come, though she might bring the Cake twins with."

As if summoned straight from the gates of hell, Pinkie bounced over, crawled under the seat from behind, and then lifted the entire cushion from under Fluttershy and Sarah. She effortlessly held it all—cushion, friend and foreigner alike—with her front hooves, though she managed to garner an alarmed squawk from Sarah in the process.

"Did somepony say 'tea party?!'" Pinkie exclaimed with a wide grin, garnering a chortle from Fluttershy.

Fenrir snickered to himself and turned to Applejack, who chatted with Armin and Alexander as they sat behind Lance and Maria. Tuning out all else but those three, he listened as they chittered about like high-school teenagers exchanging the latest bits of gossip. "So, you're a lieutenant," Applejack began, looking at Armin who nodded. She turned to Alexander and finished, "And you're a colonel?"

"One of the few colonels, yes. NoLegs is also a colonel," Alexander replied with a nod.

Applejack let off a whistle. "Boy howdy, sounds like a hassle. And mighty strange to have a cat as a colonel… but then again, your general employed y'all, so I guess I don't really know him all that well," she sighed.

"Sorta is and sorta isn't. Just depends where you're at and what you're doing, really," Armin piped up with a shrug. "That, and we'll probably have to wear our uniforms and badges when we get home. Compared to us, you have it easy."

Applejack huffed, brow furrowing slightly. "I can use an Element of Harmony, so long as the other girls are with me. I doubt I have it easier than you," she scoffed.

Alexander nodded slowly, but whether in skepticism or agreement, Fenrir couldn't tell. "Eh, could be worse," he chirped with a small grin.

Fenrir then directed his attention to Twilight, Matt, NoLegs, and Spike, all of whom sat at the southernmost end of the cab. "So, you can read and perform complex spells," Twilight began, watching Matt intently as he gave her a nod. "Who taught you how to decipher runes and manipulate both earth pony magic and unicorn magic simultaneously?"

"Had my parents to thank for the second one, but the first… I was largely self-taught. Got some additional help from NoLegs, once he started getting into it," Matt answered, donning a serene and seemingly fond smile. "And when I met Natz, I helped her out and she helped me on the magic front."

"And… who taught her before she met you?" Spike asked, a brow raised.

Matt's smile immediately fell. "Nopony did." Then his grin came back a second later. "But we got our cutie marks helping each other out. Win-win, if you ask me."

"I see," Twilight murmured, nodding thoughtfully. "Anything else?"

"Well… I helped Natz learn how to decipher runes and make complex spells. I also helped her read basic language so she could make her own spells and turn some paper sheets into a grimoire or something," Matt replied with a shrug. "And we helped Anna do the same, once she joined."

Twilight's brow rose. "And?" she pressed, lifting a hoof and spinning it in lazy circles, urging him to continue.

"Well, me and Natz left our grimoires at home, but Anna brought hers with her. We could show you ours sometime, since you showed us your impressive book collection," Matt chirped.

"Sounds like a fair trade to make. It would certainly make revisiting Fantasia… a little more bearable," Twilight agreed with an apprehensive nod and a hesitant smile blooming on her face.

"Grimoires, hrrm? Interesting..." Fenrir mumbled under his breath, just low enough that Natalie and Rarity couldn't hear him amidst their own bickering. He continued to listen to Matt's conversation with Spike and Twilight, his snout twitching without sniffing the air.

"Is there any catch in particular?" Spike piped up, a skeptical frown on his face.

Matt turned to him and shook his head. "No, aside from not heckling anybody else in the army that you might run into. You leave them alone, they'll leave you alone," he replied, his smile fading a little. He turned to Twilight, his grin faltering a little more when he saw that she was still staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Been meaning to ask… since you and yours eat meat, I've been thinking: is there any meat you won't eat?" Twilight asked, her hesitant smile turning into a concerned frown.

"Rotten meat, rotten meat that belongs to a corpse who walks and talks, and meat belonging to creatures with capacity for speech and magic. Why?" Matt asked, his smile fading entirely. He saw a spark in her eyes and flinched as her brow slanted. "... it's what went down at Frostbite, isn't it?" he guessed in a subdued tone.

Twilight slowly nodded. "I don't want another fiasco like Frostbite to happen again," she answered in a hushed voice.

"Here, here," Spike agreed with a nod, his frown deepening.