As the sun rose to its apex at early noon, Twilight and her group found themselves standing near a chainlink fence surrounding several acres of land on the eastern end of Whitefall, and the fence kept them separated from what was on the other side. Beyond the fence, there were a few dark grey walls hewn of steel erecting upwards, though they were sparse enough they may as well have been trees in a desert. Slithering around the walls, carrying huge steel bins with caution signs that housed sickly green, bubbling liquid were humongous black slimes.

Each slime was about the size of the Valkyrie by themselves, and their disjointed limbs were big enough to squish Bartholomew if they were inclined to do so. Katie let off a low whistle upon seeing the slimes. "Yeesh, those things could swallow Fenrir whole!" she exclaimed.

Blueblood's nose wrinkled at the stench the green liquid gave as a slime came close to the chainlink fence and slithered along right behind it. "That smell is abysmal!" he complained, his face turning several shades of verdant within seconds. His horn flared to life, but diminished when a massive, fuzzy hoof flew to rest in front of his barrel. He turned to find Bartholomew standing at his side with a stern, narrow-eyed look on his face.

"Those slimes are very toxic. It would be best not to mess with them. Besides, they're minding their own business," Bartholomew said in a firm voice. Blueblood opened his mouth to argue, only to shut it and turn his gaze to Lance as he cleared his throat.

"He's right. Had some bad run-ins with these slimes once, and I'm not too keen on trying to have another go at them," Lance piped up, his gaze fixed on the slimes in question. "Especially with bald wings."

Blueblood snorted, trying to keep the acrid stench from wafting into his nose, but he said nothing. Twilight piped up, looking at one of the few steel walls that were still standing, "How did the plant get dismantled anyway? And what was it being used for?"

Bartholomew shrugged. "Dunno the answer to either question," he replied solemnly. "All I know is the workers took it down at some point."

Twilight turned away from the scene beyond the chainlink fencing and to Anna. "Could you take us back to the jewel, please?" she asked.

Anna's shoulders sagged a bit, and she assumed a small, tight frown. "Well…" She turned to Bartholomew. "Before we do that, did these toxic slimes breed or something? Last I checked, they weren't this big."

"Well, I haven't been around to see how they do it. Most I heard was that they just crawled from the wreckage of what's left," Bartholomew answered, once more shrugging. "That, and I don't want to see poison-packing slimes get down and dirty, thank you very much."

Anna turned back to Twilight, whose face turned a slight tinge of green at the thought of slimes engaging in mating habits. "I guess we can visit the jewel now," she answered. Turning to Whitefall, she muttered, "I wonder what Zecora and your pals are doing now."

Twilight's lips twitched slightly. "Well, hopefully not too much." Pinkie Pie came to the forefront of her thoughts, and her ears fell back. "But it might not hurt to check…" Reluctantly, she started trotting back to Whitefall.

Blueblood trotted up to her side and then past it, deciding he was going to take point. "What's the worst that could happen? Golems and slimes aside, I see nothing wrong with this town," he chirped, though his voice had a very distinct waver about it that was brief, but still there. He lifted a front hoof, unaware that a pair of orbs were now poised in his direction.

Katie's ears stood to rigid attention. "Uh, did you already forget I froze a hippogryph ten times bigger than me an hour ago at most?" she retorted. "What if more like him show up?"

Blueblood froze before his raised hoof could touch the snow. "A-are you implying there's more than one brute like him?" he asked, slowly craning his neck to look at Katie. His stomach began forming tight knots when he found her solemnly nodding.

"He's just the most recent one of exactly that nature that I have ran into," Katie answered solemnly. "You're tame compared to them, even accounting for your behavior when we first met."

Blueblood shuddered and turned back to Whitefall again. "Let us never speak of that again," he murmured. "It was horrendously bad manners mixed with paranoia on my part."

"Can do," Katie chirped. Twilight turned to Katie for an explanation, but all she got was a head turning to her, a hoof lifting up, and motioning across the split mouth in a straight line. The gesture elicited a groan of exasperation from Twilight, who then turned to Whitefall and began trotting to it. As she went, Bartholomew filed in behind her, and after that everyone else fell in step.

Maria, who was still on Bartholomew's back and looking at Twilight, decided to pipe up, "How do you do the… the… the sparkly thing?"

Twilight's ears twitched. "The sparkly…" Her brain struggled to process that bit. "Could you be more specific? I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."

"How did you take me off daddy's back and onto great-uncle's back?" Maria tried again, frowning.

Then it registered. "Oh." Twilight nodded and pursed her lips, racking her brain for a way to phrase an answer that Maria could, hopefully, understand. "Well, teleportation is really easy: all I have to do is imagine where I want to go, cast a spell, and there I go. It also applies to if I want to teleport something or somepony else, buuut there are limitations to the spell," she began.

"Such as brick walls?" Katie snarked from further down the line.

"Limitations?" Maria parroted, cocking her head a little.

Twilight nodded. "Yep. I have to account for distance, how much mana I have left, and who or what I am teleporting and where I am teleporting the who and what to," she chirped. "Long story short, there's a lot of things that could get in the way."

"Is it one of those advanced spells?" Anna called out from behind.

"Not really advanced, but not something any unicorn should try unless they're certain they can cast it right," Twilight replied. "You just have to think of where you want to go, how much distance there is—" She stopped as a green flash of light exploded from behind, and she whirled around to find that Anna was gone.

Next thing she knew, Anna reappeared right next to her in another flash of light. "Like that?" Anna asked, smiling as Twilight staggered a little bit before shaking her head to reorient herself.

Twilight turned to Anna after she finished shaking the spots out of her eyes. "Yes, like that. Just don't abuse the spell, or your horn will turn red-hot… trust me, I've tried it before," she replied.

Anna's grin widened. "Looks like I'll need to practice, then." Her horn glowed, and she was engulfed in another flash of light. Seconds later, she reappeared behind Lance and smiled as he turned to her with a small frown on his face.

"Save it for when we're not out here freezing our asses off. I might need you to keep watch tonight, in case more golems show up," Lance warned in a stern tone, which caused Anna's grin to falter momentarily.

Anna nodded. "Yes Lance," she muttered in reply.

Flash piped up from the back of the line, "Want me to fly across Whitefall to get the others?"

Blueblood shouted in reply, "Yes, that would be spectacular. Please do that." With that, Flash spread his wings and flapped just once before launching into the air, and like that he was off with swift, graceful movements.

In that moment, the group caught sight of Andrew barreling towards them with a harried, panic-stricken look on his face. "We got possible horsey hives!" he shouted. Flash heard the outcry, and flapped his wings as fast as he could, his face hardening as the words 'horsey hives' began lingering in his mind.

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

Zecora, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were trotting around Whitefall's streets, passing by foals building snow constructs and adults giving them vexed gazes as they went on their merry way. They waved their front hooves from time to time at the townsponies to be friendly, yet still the strange looks more or less remained fixed in their direction.

Even as the three neared a building with a sign depicting a tankard hanging over the door, the gazes continued to bore into them. Rainbow Dash turned up to look at the sign for a few seconds, but no longer than that as Zecora opened the door. "Tipsy Tankard Tavern…" she muttered, wings fluffing at her sides as she turned to the door.

The first thing that registered to them once they entered were the various ponies that turned to eye them up and down. The second was the state of the tavern itself; the wood was polished, yet there were a few stains here and there. The tables and chairs, however, were old and splintering, lined with hole-riddled cloth and cushions had cotton spilling forth from unchecked tears in the fabric. The bar was well-kept and stocked, lined with brands the group couldn't recognize. The place had an air of dissonance about it, but the mares couldn't quite put their hoof on where that dissonance came from.

Then, there were the ponies themselves. At least half of them were gruff-looking stallions with faces so hard they seemed to be scowling, while the others were scrawny stallions with seemingly-twiggy legs, and all of them were unicorns. Some had bloodshot eyes, and others had unkempt manes. Most had harried looks and sullen frowns, all accentuated by beading sweat.

Pinkie shuddered as she saw that not one pony was smiling. "U-um… h-hi?" she stammered. A horn glowed in the crowd and a red aura pulled her, Dash, and Zecora further inside, before the door slammed shut behind them.

"Hello to you too," a low, smooth voice answered. Pinkie turned her head this way and that to find the source, before her gaze settled onto a cloaked form sitting at the very back of the tavern. All they could see were a beige horn glowing in a field of crimson, a beige muzzle, and blue eyes staring at them with as judgmental a gaze as the rest of the attending patrons. The aura dragged the trio all the way to this pony's table, and the gazes followed them for the whole trip.

Once they were forcefully parked in chairs against their will, the cloak pony's horn ceased glowing, but not before the aura turned a pleasing shade of blue. He leaned over the table a little, icy eyes scanning them up and down. He turned to address Zecora first, "It's been an awfully long time since I've last seen a zebra." Then, his attention turned to Rainbow Dash. "Or a pony with as many colors as you." Finally, he turned to Pinkie Pie. "Let alone somepony as pink as candy. No offense." He leaned back to let them take their turn studying him.

It didn't take long for them to exchange glances before turning back to the cloaked patron. Dash leaned forward, her eyes narrowing slightly, daring the mysterious stallion to do something else. He did not flinch, unless his lips quirking up in a smile counted as such. When none of the mares at his table spoke, he gave a soft chuckle. "So," the stallion began, "where'd you three come from?"

Pinkie pursed her lips, her ear twitching as the stallion's question lingered. "Are you gonna believe us if we told you?" she retorted, tilting her head a little.

"Believe…" The stallion's mouth closed and contorted in a manner that seemed reminiscent of deciding whether or not to spit something out. He let the word sit on his tongue, and he turned to Pinkie again. "I've seen some things in my life… so I guess I'll bite."

Rainbow leaned back. "We came from Equestria… which is a country in Mythos. We came by airship," she answered. The utterance caused the rest of the patrons to start chattering amongst themselves immediately.

"Mythonians are here?"

"That doesn't explain why one of them's colorful as hell…"

"What's with the striped one?"

"Forget that, I'm struggling to make sense of their cutie marks…"

The cloaked pony closed his eyes and sighed, taking a few seconds to absorb the chatter going on around them. "I'll have to see the vessel you three came in on before I can believe you. Sincerest apologies," he stated. Then he leaned forward again. "But, I'm also willing to give you three the benefit of the doubt. You stick out like sore hooves in these parts," he added.

Zecora kept her gaze fixed on the stallion as Pinkie and Rainbow exchanged glances again. "Pardon my bluntness, for I feel it is needed, but who are you…" she paused to turn to the bar before returning to the stallion, "and have you yet been treated?"

The stallion cracked up a small smile again. "Laz," he answered. "And no, the waiter hasn't served me yet."

"The town guard mentioned something about you… well, several somethings." Pinkie sucked in a deep breath, leaned over, and whispered, "Do you know a pair of ponies named Matt and Natalie? We heard you knew them."

Laz's eyes opened and his grin widened, to the point it threatened to become one of a Cheshire nature. "Had several run-ins with those two before over the years. Last I saw of them was before they went and joined a military," he whispered in reply, though he could not keep the amusement from his voice.

Pinkie nodded and leaned back. "Well, at least we have our stallion… more or less," she chirped with a shrug. "So… why are you still here? We heard you left."

"I just left the church, not the town. The couple running the once-holy place may as well have woken up the entire neighborhood during my stay," Laz snarked, still grinning. He lifted a hoof clad in black cloth, giving the trio a view of an equally-veiled barrel as he waved said hoof in a wide, dismissive gesture. "I thought they were fighting. Turned out, they just broke the bed… and a nightstand."

Rainbow grimaced, her mind painting an idea of how that likely went down. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought before it could linger and get any more vivid. "So… they're those kind of ponies behind closed doors?" she asked, swallowing heavily at the notion.

Laz nodded fervently. "I'd suggest earplugs if you spend another night here," he replied tersely. He made to speak further when one of the other patrons at the bar—a stallion with a light brown coat and an eyepatch—stumbled away from his seat on legs that were doing less trotting and more actively flailing for a hold on the ground. This stallion turned his bloodshot eye onto the group. For a few seconds, this patron was seemingly tapdancing just to remain standing.

Dash, Zecora, and Pinkie turned around to the patron, brows raising in unison as he stumbled towards them, bumping into other patrons and into tables and chairs as he went. Because of his seemingly severe bout of disorientation, it took him at least ten minutes to wade his way to the group. As he got closer, the three mares and Laz scrunched their noses up as he brought with him a terrible alcoholic smell which all but radiated its way to them.

The unsteady unicorn stiffened upon reaching the table, but his head swayed in a nauseating, almost hypnotic manner as he eyed the quartet. "Ooooh… praaaiteh littal thingseses," he mumbled, his voice heavily slurred to the point his utterance almost sounded like pure gibberish.

"Do what now?" Dash asked, her brow raising higher.

"Can I take one of you… back home?" the brown unicorn asked, his words a little more coherent that time.

"No way. Sorry, but I am not into drunk stallions that can't stand up without tripping everywhere," Dash replied, firmly shaking her head.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Dash on that one," Pinkie added, frowning. "On the grounds that the smell is awful."

"I would rather any stallion who asks me to dance to be sober. Come back, when your bout of drunkenness is over," Zecora finished, tilting her head a little.

The brown stallion huffed and turned to Laz. "Can ye come home with me?" he asked.

Laz shook his head, and his smile had fallen. "I agree with the mares. Answer's no," he retorted.

The drunk stallion huffed and donned a lopsided smile. "But I want somepony to hang out with," he mumbled.

"Not sure what your definition of 'hang out with' is, pal. Could you enlighten us?" Laz asked, his horn starting to glow once more.

The drunk stallion's horn started glowing in a faltering, flickering blue light. The aura, though warbling, managed to grasp Rainbow. "Hey! Lemme go!" Rainbow yelled, spreading her wings even as the aura struggled to keep her in her seat. The aura around her diminished as the drunk stallion was grasped in a flash of crimson and sent several feet back, his hooves slipping out from under him and adding slight scuff marks in the floor as he went.

Dash turned to Laz, finding his horn now burning brightly. "Stand down. Let me handle this," he warned, getting up from his seat with such swift movements his chair was sent right into the wall behind him. Only now did Dash realize that something about Laz was off, but what it was she could not point her hoof on. She turned to Pinkie when she heard a seat wobbling in place, only to grimace as she found her friend trembling with such speeds half of her body and the chair beneath her were but a blur.

"D-doozy," Pinkie warned as the other patrons rose out of their seats as one, all eyes turning to Laz as he slowly cantered around the table and his tablemates. Zecora kept her eyes on Laz, and gaped as a crimson glow began emitting from his irises.

The red then spread to his sclera. His oculars may as well have been enveloped by vermillion in that moment. Some of the larger stallions shifted to close in on Laz, leaving the others to waddle and wade towards Rainbow and her friends with such unsteady movements a cicada would have been able to dodge their hooves. "Look at that puny pony; he's not stallion enough to expose so much as a leg!" one of the patrons taunted.

"And he's using magic to make his eyes glow so he looks tougher than he actually is! I'll bet he runs home crying to his mommy every night!" another jeered, grinning as a patch of air behind Laz was enveloped in red, forming into a vaguely-pike shape.

Laz turned to Dash, and donned a serene smile that only seemed demonic thanks to his eyes. "50/50? You seem to be itchin' for a fight with these shitheads," he chirped. Dash turned to him and nodded, lifting her front hooves and bashing them together. Then he turned to Zecora and Pinkie. "Do you two think you can sit a while?" When he got another set of nods, he turned back to the large ponies that were advancing towards him.

One of the smaller patrons turned to Pinkie and eyed her quizzically as she continued to fidget rapidly. "Hey, what's wrong with that mare?" he asked.

"Don't ask," Rainbow interjected, flapping her wings to take to the air. As she ascended, the smaller patrons looked up at her, and some tilted their heads. "She does that from time to time."

A long shaft of crimson-tinted steel formed behind Laz, with a small golden foot on one end and a massive blade hewn seemingly of gold on the other. The blade formed a crevice that beheld a bright red ruby in the center, and its edges formed into a stylized sun before ending in a jutting vaguely-spade-shaped tip. This was only further accentuated by a cloth of crimson with gold trimmings tied very close to the base of the dangerous end.

Laz shifted his weapon and waved it once before him in a wide arc, causing the stallions who were intent on cornering him to shuffle back a few paces. Some bumped into each other in the process, but that only made the ones further back push forward again. As a result, everypony that was surrounding them was stumbling about, trying to get into position. Then somepony near the entrance got a bright idea and could not keep his trap shut about it, "Ey, fellas, why don't we beat up the unicorn punk? And make him pay for all our drinks and grub!"

The Tipsy Tankard fell into a palpable silence, only broken by the perfect rhythm of Dash's beating wings and Pinkie's trembling. Slowly, the eyes of the patrons all fell onto Laz, who still held his spear before him with his magic. Another stallion near the front spoke up, "That's a fancy little thing… how much did it cost you to get it?"

Laz's grin widened. He seemed to have gone insane. "What matters not is how much bits it cost me… what matters is where the blade is going," he hissed, his eyes twitching as he continued to stand still. "That's if you guys don't lay off."

Uproarious laughter immediately rang out through the tavern as the patrons tossed their heads back in unison. Laz was easily outnumbered, and drunk or not, somepony could snatch his spear from him in the blink of an eye at the first chance they saw. It took the other patrons a few minutes to cease laughing, and Dash saw the barkeep fumble away from the bar and towards the door. "I'm getting the guards!" the barkeep complained as he managed to get to the door, right before he galloped out of the establishment.

Dash turned to Laz and sighed in exasperation. "So… want me to kick some flank still?" she asked.

Laz nodded and turned to look at Dash with nothing short of a murderous grin. "Go ahead. I wanna see how you mix flying with fighting," he chirped before turning back to the patrons as one stupid soul surged forward in a clumsy attempt to overpower him.

Laz shifted his weapon and sent the stallion staggering back with the foot of his spear to the patron's barrel. Instantly, the rest of the patrons surged forward, only for a few of them to be sent back with a quick series of diving jabs from Rainbow. Every single horn in the vicinity flared with several lights and from there, all hell broke loose.

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

Sarah, Fenrir, Fluttershy and Rarity were in the church, gathered in one of the bedrooms, sitting in chairs surrounding a small table. Harry, Angel, Owlowiscious, and NoLegs were with them, though they'd curled up to fall asleep in a corner. On the table was a picture frame, and all eyes were looking intently at it as Rarity used her magic to tenderly spin it around.

The photograph had six ponies and a tiny blue form clustered up before some kind of wooden house that stood in a plain. There were four ponies behind, and two in front with the blue form standing up on one of the heads of those up front. It depicted a strange, pale grey stallion standing next to a younger-looking Bartholomew, Andrew, and Eve. All four of them sported smiling faces. In front of them were two foals, though one of them was twice as big as the other. Both were standing at an angle, showing off a pair of then-blank hips.

Sarah and Fenrir immediately recognized a bright scarlet mane and a white horn jutting up before a pair of black ears, as well as a legless feline who was no bigger than the talon of a small hippogryph when the picture was taken. "I have to say, they look adorable as foals… but something feels off," Rarity began, stopping the picture's spin cycle just as it turned to face Fluttershy.

She used a hoof to gesture to the then-filly Natalie, who oddly wasn't smiling nor sporting her crystal coat. Indeed, she did not have the exuberance of a typical foal either; her gaze seemed vacant and her irises sullen. She'd tried to manage a grin when the photo was taken, but it came out more as a grimace. Fluttershy nodded with a small frown. "Natalie seems… troubled in this picture. I wonder what could have happened to make her… um, assume such a look on her face," she noted.

"And that's not the only thing. Who's that pale pony in the corner?" Sarah asked as the picture began to spin again. "And what was he doing when the picture was taken?"

"I'd wager 'likely foal-sitter.' Or perhaps a close friend, mayhaps even the one who took the picture," Fenrir piped up, taking a moment to sigh. "And considering that Natalie was adopted… maybe that could have been the pony who delivered her to them. At this point, we have nary a clue."

Fluttershy smiled. "He seems nice enough. I'm just glad Natalie ended up with Matt's family," she cooed, giving a small nod of approval. "They taught her well."

"But that raises another pressing matter: what was Natalie's life like before she was adopted?" Fenrir asked, donning a small frown. "That troubling look on her face… was she in an abusive home at some point?"

"Or maybe NoLegs had a potty accident on her head. He was a kitten then, after all," Sarah pointed out, tilting her head. "But yeah, Fen… you do raise a good point nonetheless."

"Maybe she was a baby when she was adopted, and they got that whole talk out of the way the moment she could form complete sentences," Rarity retorted, frowning herself.

"Another sound possibility," Fenrir agreed with a nod. "But it still doesn't answer the question of who the pale stallion is." He peered closer at the stallion in question as the picture turned to face him, noticing a pale purple mane and eyes to match. Because a then-kitten NoLegs was in front of him, he could not see his cutie mark if he had one at all. He turned to Rarity and asked, "Would it be feasible to inquire Natalie about this matter?"

Rarity shook her head, lifted a hoof, and waved it dismissively as her frown deepened. "She's ashamed of being a crystal pony, so something could have happened that would be linked to that shame. I honestly doubt anything would come out of it, but you're welcome to try," she sighed dejectedly. "She might even be more incensed to not answer if asked about it, let alone the circumstances of her adoption."

"We won't know until we try. That's how I figured out Anna wasn't gonna talk to me about how the hell she got into the military," Sarah snorted, her face hardening. "She was just… silent."

"That's not very reassuring," Fluttershy interjected, her ears folding back. "Did she act… hostile or something of the sort?"

Sarah shook her head. "She was more or less a statue until something else caught her attention. It's bad enough I've considered joining the military myself just to start digging elsewhere," she answered, punctuating her response with a huff. "But after having to hear my terribad harpist skills, Lance may turn me down."

Rarity put her raised hoof to her chin and idly tapped at it. "Have you considered that, perhaps, Lance may not let her speak of how she got in?" she queried, her tone equal parts sincere and piqued. "There could be something… going on between those two, as it were."

Sarah groaned and rolled her eyes, but stopped midway as something clicked in her head. "Now that you mention it… she said he helped her get her cutie mark, and that Matt and Natalie taught her a thing or two about unicorn and earth pony magic…" Then her claw lifted up and she rubbed her temples with it as soon as the gears started turning. "And she was going on left and right about 'extenuating circumstances…'"

Fenrir's face hardened a little as he absorbed this information. He leaned back in his chair and blew out air through flared nostrils. "Hrm… that seems awfully suspect…" He turned to Sarah and added, "The way she accused us of… doing something… now that I dwell on it, it would seem Anna has quite a few things to hide."

Sarah slowly nodded. "You're right about that. That's something only a pony would say to save their own skin," she murmured, her talon still rubbing at her temples contemplatively. "Good reason or not, it does seem fishy, especially since this is my sister we're talking about here."

"Did she hide anything before you two parted ways?" Fenrir asked, instantly garnering another shake of the head as his answer. His frown deepened considerably.

"Which means she could be ashamed of something, too. And maybe Lance does have her back in that regard; possibly even Matt and Natz are lending their hooves in that manner as well," Sarah mumbled, eyes narrowing as more gears in her brain switched on and started spinning. "But… why?"

"Perhaps they've been hurt by bad ponies, or worse?" Fluttershy interjected again, and all eyes fell onto her in that moment.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Darling, don't be ridiculous. Aside from those shoddy hotel ponies—"

Fluttershy turned to Rarity with a hardening face and cut her off in a firm voice, "Lance's wings were steel-bound. Don't tell me that they weren't possibly hurt." Rarity's mouth instantly snapped shut, and her ears folded back.

"And on the topic of metal-encased wings… who did it? Lance told me that mess happened around the same time Anna joined him and his makeshift herd," Sarah cut in, her utterance managing to get Fluttershy to ease her expression and turn to her. Sarah lifted her talons and intertwined the claws before propping her elbows on the table and her chin atop her talons. "I think we're just at the tip of the iceberg here."

"Are you implying that she might have had a hoof in his… unorthodox form of bondage?" Fenrir asked, his face contorting into a scowl as he got a somber nod that time.

"She may not have cast the spell, though," Sarah stated, closing her eyes. "It's one of those oddball spells that probably require a lot of concentration, and the recipient of the makeshift shackles to be unconscious. I don't see Lance taking it… laying down otherwise, if you catch my meaning."

"That doesn't sound particularly pleasant either way," Rarity chimed in. "If anything, it just brings us back to square one all over again."

"I think your best bet would be joining the military, then. At least Lance seems like a decent leader to his gryphons and changelings," Fluttershy piped up. "But… what about your wing? He could send you through grueling courses and…"

Sarah opened her eyes and stared straight at Fluttershy, her pupils but tiny slivers in green voids. That alone cut her off. "I have considered the training regiments and all of that… the problem is, neither of us know how he trains his soldiers. I guess I'll be the guinea pig, just to find out if it's worth it or not," she murmured, her voice as cold and chilling as her gaze. "At least then, I'll get somewhere."

She turned to the door as the sounds of galloping hooves echoed in from below. "Are they back already?" she asked, rising to stand from her seat on her hooves.

"If that's your sister and her companions, then it would be a really good time to make a resume right now," Rarity piped up as Sarah started striding to the door. "That is, if Lance operates with resumes…"

"Help! Somepony! Guards!" a masculine voice yelled out in a frantic tone of voice, further accentuated by the sound of the church door being thrown wide open in a reverberating thud.