Luna frowned as she stood in the dreamscape, staring at a brand-new door wedged between a few of the ones that had black locks barring them. Its crystal sheen did little to ease her expression, especially with a bird-and-spear mark that framed it. She didn't know how or why, but this door just popped up, and even stranger it didn't come with the black, bleeding locks and shackles the others possessed in this particular stretch of dreamland.

Regardless, her brow only furrowed at its presence. If experience had taught her anything, it was to not barge in on unwilling ponies' dreams, especially if they went so far as to block her attempts to help. Her ears twitched as she heard a door open, and craned her neck to find Katie and Discord ambling out of a red and white one. Her eyes widened, and her confusion only grew when she saw that Discord was grinning.

"Well, Princess, it would seem Lance got himself a few… new recruits into his little army force," Discord chirped, looking pointedly past Luna and at the newest addition of doors.

"A few?" Luna parroted, raising a brow.

Katie nodded. "Just me and a crystal unicorn," she elaborated with a shrug. "And, hey, his troops taught me how to eat again, and I've noticed I've begun healing faster, so that's a plus."

Luna canted her head, struggling to process what Katie just uttered. "... how, exactly?" she pressed.

Katie fluttered her wings, sending their tattered shreds everywhere. "Long story short, got forcefed by hoof-in-mouth, and then took on a monster. That's how," she stated curtly. "Though, once Smartass hears of it, he'll probably order me to be tied to a bed until I finish healing or something."

Luna's brow remained fixed in place, and her eyes narrowed just a teensy bit. "... why are they forcefeeding you?" she asked, an edge of seriousness in her voice.

"'Tough love,' so I was told," Katie answered with another shrug. "I just went with it to keep another hoof from going down my throat."

"So…" Luna spread a wing and gestured to the new, shimmering door with it, deciding to change the subject immediately after. "What is this? Or more accurately, to whom does it belong?"

"Well…" Katie trotted up to the door on warbling legs whose bones shifted about with each step, and simply pushed it open without consulting the knob as soon as she got in reach. "I think it's easier just to visit the sorry bastard that owns it yourself."

Luna smiled and trotted beyond the door, with Katie and Discord falling in step behind her. Discord started babbling as they went, "I've taken a preliminary tour of Fantasia, now that the worlds are no longer separated, and honestly it's…" Discord paused as he and his companions found themselves standing on one end of a lone stone bridge linking two heavily-forested areas, with an ocean to one side that itself was joined to a river that stretched under the bridge.

"Not quite what you were hoping for?" Luna finished for him as she spotted Lazarus at the other end of the bridge, seemingly loitering about. She didn't notice Discord's eyelids drooping, nor his brows furrowing by a considerable margin.

"Oh please, most certainly not that. That's implying Fantasia in of itself is boring. What do you mistake me for, a connoisseur of the mundane?" Discord huffed, lifting his paw and violently swatting it down as if batting away a fly. "If anything, it's just not what I'm particularly used to. A different breed of chaos, if you will."

Katie started trotting to Lazarus. "I'm betting ten bits per biscuit that this colt 'sinned' somehow," she hissed, orbs gleaming expectantly with each step she took.

Both Discord and Luna looked at Katie with raised brows. The latter said nothing, but the former decided to pipe up, "Sinned, you say? Ooohoho, I wonder just what this colt got himself into…"

The two simply teleported over to Lazarus with a snap of Discord's talons and a flash of light, leaving Katie to play catch-up and avert her orbs to avoid going blind in the process. As soon as they materialized literally on either side of him in a loud bang, Lazarus jumped with a shriek and all four hooves splaying out as far as they could go. He then twisted mid-air and fell flat on his back at the sudden and rude appearance of his dreamcrashers. His tail stood on end, and his eyes went wide like those of a deer in headlights.

"Wh-who the hell are you? Wh-what are you doing here?!" Lazarus screamed, his voice so many octaves higher the inflection could've been confused with that of a filly's.

Luna gave no more than a teensy smirk at the befuddled look on Lazarus's face, while Discord donned a Cheshire grin and gave a chuckle. Katie proceeded to shout from across the bridge, "Long story short, acquaintances of mine!"

"Well… yes. I've heard of your recent… invitation to some force or some such by one General Lance 'Smartass' Boltwing, am I not correct?" Luna chirped, her query causing Lazarus's face to drain of its color then and there.

"Oh?" Discord turned to Luna, both brows raised and his grin somehow widening when he'd heard her utter 'Smartass.' "I've never taken you one to poke fun at foreigners, Lulu."

Luna spread a wing and gestured to Katie with it. "She hath rubbed off on me," she stated curtly.

"Wh-what're you babbling about?" Lazarus asked, his voice still high-pitched. He didn't seem to notice her extended wing, or Katie's presence as of yet. Luna wasn't sure if he was simply scared out of his wits, which was highly likely given his reaction, or expecting something else altogether. And it mattered not, either way.

Luna turned her full attention back to Lazarus and chuckled, closing her extended wing before lighting her horn. She embraced him in her magic and made him stand back up on his own four hooves at full height, taking a second or two—no more than that—to scrutinize his stance. She leaned forward, her magic dispelling itself, and flashed him a small smile. "Would you mind terribly if I give you a very short list?" she asked. "Telepathically speaking?"

"As long as you don't violate me or something," Lazarus replied with a hasty shake of his head. Luna nodded back and ignited her horn again, embracing his head for the span of one second before letting go. He instantly flopped back to the ground in a heap, eyes going wide and glowing red for a split-second and then reverting back to their tranquil blue before anyone could blink.

Katie, at last, managed to amble to the scene. She studied the heap on the ground, took in his expression, and turned to Luna with a brow raised. "Did you short his brain or something?" she asked sincerely. "Because Lance had that exact look on his face once Maria decided he was daddy."

Luna shook her head. "Give it a moment," she replied tersely. She watched intently, waiting for Lazarus to move or speak or light his horn, though for several moments on end he failed to even budge from his spot.

Discord sighed and took matters into his own mismatched hands after fifteen minutes passed, snapping his talons and conjuring a massive tub filled to the brim with something splashing within in a flash of light. The tub, floating merrily a few feet above Lazarus, was content to stay up there and mind its own business before an umbrella floated over from a tree and tilted the tub with its hook. Water that was cold to the point of forming floating ice cubes rained down on the hapless unicorn, causing him to jolt upright with another girly shriek and his bangs coming over his eyes.

That time, he landed on just his back legs, his front hooves raised to furiously tussle up his own mane in an attempt to recover his sight. "What was that for?!" he yelled indignantly, only succeeding in matting his mane with a vengeance.

"Oh, I got you up for you. No harm in that," Discord chirped with a pleased grin on his face. "Have you got your brain up to speed yet?"

Lazarus took a few minutes before he managed to get his mane out of his eyes, where he plonked down on his haunches and crossed his forelegs, glaring at Discord and Luna with eyes going red for all it was worth. "Yes, I have. Frankly, I think it's utterly insane," he hissed. "Seriously, where'd you come from?"

"Mythos," Luna chirped, smiling when her terse reply made Lazarus blink and tilt his head. "I've seen Lance's vessel in the flesh."

Lazarus threw his soaking wet front hooves into the air, prior to turning his muzzle skyward. "I have no fucking clue what to make of this anymore," he groused to the heavens, as if they would listen.

"Trust me, I have almost no idea either," Katie interjected sarcastically, flinching when Lazarus snapped his gaze to her and started glaring almost immediately. She turned to Luna and asked, "Is it true that Starswirl used airships in his hayday?"

Luna frowned. "If he did, then I was never enlightened about it," she replied, her wings drooping slightly. Her gaze averted to Discord and she added, "Me and my sister had… much bigger things to worry about at the time."

"Like what?" Katie asked, ears twitching as she spoke.

Luna sighed. "Several… unsavory things," she stated tersely, gaze still fixed on Discord.

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

The party gathered at the dining room early the next morning, though not before Natalie made the remnants of their golem visitor vanish in flashes of light, while also allowing Chocolate to skedaddle out of the establishment as soon as he could. Eve, Andrew, and Bartholomew had also gathered, and were looking at Matt and Natalie in particular with small frowns and slanted brows. "Already? So soon?" Eve asked.

Natalie nodded, a similar look on her face. "Yes, mom. It's… we're leaving for a practical reason. The more guests you get, the quicker the food meant for the guards drains. It wouldn't be right to… burden you any longer," she stated, her tone just as forlorn.

Matt gave a wan smile. "But it was good to know you guys were alright," he added. "Even if it was… unexpected."

Bartholomew grinned. "You thought your old stallion wouldn't still be kicking?" he queried, trotting over before lifting his forelegs and pulling Matt into another crushing hug. This time, Matt returned the gesture, though it caused a few bones to pop. "Ooh! Your earth pony magic's gettin' better," he chirped as they broke apart. He turned to Lance, and his smile dropped instantly. "You treatin' my son like shit?" he asked.

Lance shook his head. "No. If I was, he'd have ripped my wings off by now," he replied.

"My adopted filly?" Bartholomew pressed, garnering another shake of the head almost immediately.

"Nope. Otherwise, I'd be in an ash jar," Lance stated in a flat tone. He turned to Matt and Natalie and added, "If you want, I'll set up a postal service so you can write to your folks."

Bartholomew raised a brow when 'postal service' left Lance's mouth. "And how're you gonna do that?" he asked.

Lance smiled. "I have airships and gryphons," he replied with a shrug. "Only problem in these parts would be finding a place for the ships to land. I'll have them write you a letter once we get to the base."

Bartholomew's expression eased. "If I hear you treated them like shit…"

Lance spread a wing and waved it dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you'll turn my skull into a scrambled egg," he stated sarcastically.

"Oh don't worry, the pay's good and he's not breathing down our necks 24/7," Natalie chirped, her utterance causing Bartholomew to sigh and smile again.

Bartholomew chuckled and turned to Twilight. "So… you won't stick around for breakfast, then?" he asked.

Twilight shook her head. "We would, but we really have to get going," she answered. "If worst comes to worst, we'll just have to deal with it for a day." She smiled at Bartholomew serenely. "Thank you for your hospitality. Oh, and… what's the closest town from here?"

Eve continued to frown and said, "That would be Greenwood Village, due southwest, on the other side of the nearby crystal caverns. It's a week's worth of travel from here at the least." Twilight heard a shuffling of hooves and turned to find four sets of ears—those belonging to Matt, Lance, Anna and Natalie—folding back and no less than three smiles turning upside-down in seconds. Eve added in a low tone, "But I've heard its elders… have been getting more eccentric as of late. I wouldn't take any chances, if I were you."

Eve turned to Lance, whose mouth formed into a very thin and tight line and sighed. "Just last month, I went over there to get supplies, and… one of them had bound wings and was babbling incessantly. Please be careful."

Twilight frowned and turned to Eve. "Bound… how?" she asked.

Eve shuddered. "It's… I can't even begin to describe it… wings just shouldn't look that way," she replied cryptically.

Twilight nodded, seeing she wasn't getting anywhere. "A-alright… we'll be careful." She received wary looks from Lance, Matt, and Natalie, though Anna merely swallowed nervously. "W-won't we?" she stammered in an attempt to lighten the mood. This only made the frowns already present tighten greatly, almost to the point of fixing themselves upon the very muzzles they blemished.

Eve was quick to notice this new development. She trotted over and nuzzled Natalie, who relaxed and returned the gesture. The two hugged, though only for a few seconds. "Stay safe, alright?" she implored as soon as they broke the embrace.

"We will," Natalie replied, donning a wan smile as they exchanged another nuzzle. "Take care."

"You too," Eve said with a hint of a wistful smile spreading on her muzzle. With that, the group filed out of the church, with a few waving back on their way out. They plodded through Whitefall in silence and with haste, though all of the smaller animals sans Spike opted to perch on Lance's backside for some reason.

It wasn't until they reached the entrance of the crystal caverns a good fifteen minutes after departing the church did anybody speak. Lance halted and spread his wings, in turn causing the others to grind to a stop. Slowly, he turned to Twilight, who had Spike resting on her back. "So… did you really take down a Beholder last night?" he asked slowly, his voice low and calm.

Spike nodded. "Yeah. I did," he replied nonchalantly.

Lance donned a small smile at that and nodded back, seemingly in approval. "Just… let us know when you decide to have another outing next time, at the very least," he said, his tone level. "I don't want another Frostbite fiasco."

Spike nodded. "Will do." He turned to Harry, who was carrying Katie under one hulking, fuzzy arm. "Of course, I was only dragged into it…" he trailed off as an aside, his utterance causing Lance to tilt his head.

Katie, who had several bundles of cloth wrapped around her legs in a way to keep them pressed against her body, snorted and rolled her orbs. "So, General Brassballs, how long must I stay like this?" she asked, wiggling her bound legs as best she could for emphasis as he turned to her with a snort.

"Until Alexander can stick metal rods in your legs," Lance stated curtly, causing Katie's orbs to widen.

Katie turned to Alexander, eyes then narrowing. "You wouldn't," she hissed.

Alexander sighed and fluffed his wings. "Worst comes to worst, once we get to the base, I may very well have to," he stated rather matter-of-factly.

"Pardon my forwardness… but how would you be able to treat her?" Blueblood interjected, causing Lance and Alexander to turn to him with raised brows. Lance folded his wings and hummed, before mutely shrugging and turning to the cavern that lay in front of them.

"Well… metal would weigh her down…" Alexander groused, brow furrowing as Lance started trotting again. He took that as his cue to follow, and so did everyone else. "And her wings are even more shredded…" His eyes narrowed, though only slightly.

Twilight sighed, and would have craned her neck to face Spike if she hadn't noticed the ever-present light of the crystals farther back. Thirty minutes passed before the light within the cavern brightened considerably, and once it did she addressed him, "Spike…" She sighed as she trailed off. When she felt Spike tense and take a small bundle of mane in his claws, she shook her head. "No, it isn't about what happened last night. You did what you did to protect yourself. I wanted to speak with you about something else."

That made Spike relax, and also caused Lance's ears to perk. "If it's a personal issue, and I mean personal enough to warrant a closed door, it'll have to wait," he stated.

"Actually, it's not that personal. In fact, I wanted to try something… involving his dragon fire," Twilight began, causing Lance to turn to her with a bemused brow raised high.

"... that being?" Lance pressed, ears twitching and wings fluffing.

"What if we could use Spike's fire to send letters to NoLegs, just in case we all end up separated again? That way, we could avoid a near-disaster like last night," Twilight proposed. "But we'd have to enchant a few papers to act as envelopes first…"

Lance nodded and turned to face ahead again. "Tell you what; once we get to Greenwood—" Twilight did not miss the shudder that wracked Lance's body and ruffled some of his feathers when 'Greenwood' left his lips, "—we'll work something out then."

Anna gave a whimper, and picked up her pace to go shoulder-to-shoulder with Lance. Her ears twitched, though they were still folded back. "I don't wanna go back to Greenwood…" she mumbled dejectedly. A wing spread and draped over her back.

"I know, but there's more of us now. We'll be safer, trust me," Lance stated in as reassuring a voice as he could manage.

Natalie came up beside Anna, and leaned over to nuzzle her cheek. "He's right. But if you're antsy, we'll stay up once we reach Greenwood before sundown if we get there that early, alright?" she asked.

Anna hesitantly nodded. "I guess so…"

Applejack frowned, and trotted up to Twilight before leaning in to whisper in her ear. "They don't want to get to Greenwood? Something just don't seem right," she murmured.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. And Eve said one elder had bound wings… maybe I could help," she muttered in reply. She turned to Lance. "How long will it take us to get to Greenwood on hoof?" she asked.

Lance turned to Twilight and scrunched his nose. "If everyone's in a good mood? On hoof, maybe week and a day," he replied. "Maybe being the key word here."

"Is that the shortest route, or the longest?" Twilight asked.

Lance turned ahead again, noticing the crystal formations coming into view, followed immediately by irregular formations in the rock that were burnt black and glossy. "Shortest," he replied tersely.

Lazarus looked at Shining Armor, frowning as he saw that Shining was staring rather intently at Lance. His eyes darted between them, even as Lance stopped at the bare edge of the chasm and signaled another halt with his wings. "Somepony's acting rather off-kilter…" Lazarus muttered, only to wince as Lance's ears folded back immediately.

Lance craned his neck and gave Lazarus another gimlet eye. Lazarus balked and clenched his jaws, eyes widening. He expected Lance to say something, though after three seconds he folded his wings and turned back ahead, this time to the one portion of floor that lead elsewhere which was also marked by the end of the chasm. Only then did he speak in a low, ominous tone that brokered no argument, "Three nights in Greenwood, and nobody strays out of sight for more than a few minutes. That's our limit. Once the three days are up, we're hitting the road."

Armin frowned at that, and his horn glowed. He embraced Lazarus by the cranium and forced his magic to turn him away from his superior. His voice flooded Lazarus's mind seconds later, just as low and ominous as that of Lance's, "I know that tone. Newbie, trust me, you do not want him using that tone."

Lazarus folded his ears back, frowning when Lance started trotting again, directly next to the chasm at that. The others began following him again, this time in a more tight formation of three rows all going shoulder-to-shoulder, though Sarah came up to walk beside Lazarus. She averted her eyes to him, then flicked them back to Anna before he could look at her. She opened her mouth to speak, but took a second to process that Anna sighed before closing it again.

Matt, who'd stayed further back with everyone else, turned to Twilight and asked, "Have you ever, at all, eaten meat? Just one time?"

Twilight turned to him and pursed her lips, prior to shaking her head. "Not really, no. I mean, I can understand its advantages, but… in Equestria, there was no need to do so, unless you were a gryphon or something," she answered sincerely.

Matt frowned and turned away with a sigh. "Well…" His stomach growled. "I guess we'll have to figure something out, then." Even as more crystals started coming into view about a minute after he'd spoken, lining either side of the small path the chasm hadn't touched, the cavern hung in a bout of thick tension. Some crystals jutted inwards, though never far enough to scrape against passing shoulders and legs unless one of those in the group were to come up and do that deliberately, while other crystals jutted out into the chasm and thus out of most physical reaches.

Even so, Matt and his little group made sure to not brush up against even the slightest bit of colorful stalagmite. Fenrir snorted as he noticed Spike looking at him, followed immediately by a gaze from Blueblood of all people. Twilight, however, was eyeing the crystals with a spark of recognition that did not escape Katie's notice. "You're eyeballing those things like they're sentient. What the hell about them has caught your eye?" Katie asked in as flat a voice as she could manage.

"This reminds me… of a network of caverns beneath Canterlot," Twilight murmured, tilting her head when mana pulsed across one crystal threateningly. "Although, there were no crystals left… and even if there were, I doubt they'd have been glowing like this batch."

"Well, it was a good thing I didn't put any of these beauties in my mouth," Spike chirped, looking at the pulsing crystal even as Twilight passed it. He did not take his eyes off of it until it ceased pulsing a few seconds later. "I'd rather eat dull gems than ones that radiate light."

Matt snorted, though only when Spike actually turned away from the crystal in question. "I see even dragons have taste," he chirped.

Spike waved Matt off with a dismissive hand, not even bothering to turn to face him. "Oh hush you," he said.

Matt smiled back at Spike, before finally picking his pace up to go shoulder-to-shoulder with Natalie, if only to get a better grasp of whatever lay ahead. As he did, the cavern began to dim slightly as the group continued on their trek. Dash decided to spread her wings, get airborne, and cut in line to hover over the quartet, though she made sure not to smack anybody with her wings on the way over. "So, Lance," she began, causing Lance to look up at her with a brow raised, "how good a flier were you before your wings got messed up?"

Lance snorted and turned back ahead again. "Back then? Well… I didn't actually fly that often because of ectoplasms and a few other issues. But when I did, I guess you could say I was good," he answered.

Dash frowned and tilted her head, having not really expected such an answer. "Was it because of how huge your wings were?" she asked.

Lance nodded. "Often caused more problems than helped," he answered. The cavern continued to dim, and fewer and fewer crystals were lining the path the further they went. His eyes narrowed at the growing darkness, and his head swiveled to his immediate left to find an incoming gap in the crystals. When he stopped, he made sure to stand next to the gap to peer out of it, revealing another few rocky platforms at least a good forty yards away. They were visible only because they had more orange crystals bathing those particular areas in their light.

Even then, they were difficult to make out. He flared his wings as his eyes trailed lower, only to be greeted with a solitary plank of wood nailed crudely into the stone on which he stood and two broken rails of oak keeping it balanced. The whole construct, or whatever was left of what it used to be, was heavily charred and splintering. Parts of it were also slate grey, no doubt having been turned to ash that had yet to be broken up and blown away. How it stayed intact in such a state, Lance had no idea.

Dash saw it too, and crossed her forelegs with a huff at the very sight of it. "Was that a shortcut?" she guessed.

Lance nodded and growled at the sole plank of wood, the sound more like a deep rumble that reverberated in his throat than what he usually issued. "And it's been broken all to hell," he hissed. Then he shrugged and turned ahead again. "Oh well, that was just one route. I'm pretty sure whoever built the bridge must've been notified by now." With that, they pressed on.

"Just one route? Are you insinuating that this cavern is only of a singular path?" Fenrir piped up from farther back.

"Just one of many in this cave, and one of the safer ones at that," Lance replied, not even bothering to turn his head and look at Fenrir. The crystals grew fewer in number still, and in size too; it was only ten minutes after passing the broken bridge that they ceased reaching any higher than his pasterns. Matt lit up his horn and summoned a small, golden ball of light before the crystals simply stopped at some point in the path altogether after a few minutes. Once he did, the darkness ahead only seemed to deepen considerably.

This, in turn, caused Rarity, Shining, and Blueblood to do likewise. The air turned colder the deeper into the darkness they pressed, and everyone shivered as a soft draft blew in to caress them. "Is it just me, or is it colder in here than it is outside?" Shining asked, frowning as a shiver briefly wracked his body.

It took several minutes for anyone to answer Shining's question, and by then, the light of the crystals was but a distant speck behind the group. "It's not just you, m'lord," Flash replied, his wings fluffing a bit as another chilly draft touched him.

Maria, who was walking next to Fluttershy, whimpered as her feathers proceeded to stand on end once the chill got to her. "The rock's not warm," she complained, ears pricking as she heard a distinct splashing of liquid. Her eyes turned to Fluttershy, who paused briefly to shake off a now-wet hoof before going down to find a puddle of water and slush that rippled slightly.

"And it seems to be getting… wetter, too," Fluttershy murmured, turning to Maria as she side-stepped around the puddle. Nodding and turning back ahead, she caught sight of something glinting above Matt as he passed, his light only barely catching the object in question.

Then, Twilight lit up her horn as she continued to follow, her light just bright enough to reveal a clear, reflective icicle going down at a perfectly straight 180 dribbling with small drops of an equally-clear substance. The drop hung on for only a few seconds, and then moved once Rarity's light came next, where it then let go, descended and landed squarely on the tip of her snout.

Rarity jumped back with a gasp, feeling a chill from where the drop had landed. "O-oh my!" she exclaimed, looking at the offending bit of liquid cross-eyed. "N-nobody informed me we'd need umbrellas in here!"

Matt turned up, revealing more dripping icicles in doing so, and he stopped in his tracks to study them. "That's funny… the ice here isn't supposed to melt," he stated. "It wasn't like this when I trotted through here last time…"

"Then what is it supposed to do, just hang out?" Dash asked, flying up to better inspect the melting icicles for a few seconds.

"Just about," Matt replied, turning back ahead before noticing that, once again, Lance had stopped with wings flared a good twenty yards ahead, barely illuminated by lights that sprung up from Anna and Natalie's horns.

He turned to his superior upon reaching him several minutes after, opening his mouth to ask why he'd stopped this time, only to close it when he noticed Lance looking straight down. Slowly, his eyes turned to whatever had caught Lance's attention, only to find another steep chasm barring their path, marked by the edge of the stone they were treading on. This, too, sported another sorry batch of barely-holding-together, charred planks and support beams ending just a few inches into a deep darkness.

Another draft blew in from the chasm's darkness and caressed them, though now it was noticeably warmer than before. "Well, isn't that just great?" Lance hissed, turning upwards to stare directly at the gloom that lay ahead. "This bridge is out of order too…"

"So, what do we do now? Do we fly over the… where the bridge used to be?" Dash asked in exasperation, frowning deeply at the lack of something to get over the chasm with.

Lance sighed and turned to Dash with a frown, wings still spread. "Well… we're gonna need a light to see, so… we may have to improvise," he answered in a low voice. "And I may need to fly sooner than I thought… looks like we'll have to tread carefully."