The sky was strange, but the air felt good. To fly was a type of freedom that few could experience, and, it seemed, the one thing that the endless passage of time had not been able to take from Rainbow Dash. She would never again feel the sun, but the sky remained.

She turned toward the pony trailing behind her. Five, as she called herself, was not a fast flyer by any means- -but she had a nearly impossible level of stamina. Without the sky, Rainbow Dash had not way to know how much time had passed, but she knew- -although she would never admit it- -that she was becoming tired. Five, however, did not seem to be showing any signs of fatigue.

“So,” said Rainbow Dash, falling back and taking a position at three-high over Five. “Where exactly do you live?”

“Here,” said Five without looking up. Philomena, who had grown tired as well, was nestled in the fine bat-fuzz between her wings, just beyond the end of Five’s mane.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground. “Really? Down there?”

“No. You have misunderstood. Here, because here is where I am. I live where I am.”

“Wait…so you’re homeless?”

“That is correct.”

“Hold on!” said Rainbow Dash, grinding to a halt. “You never told me that!”

“You are also homeless.”

Rainbow Dash nearly retorted, but realized that in an odd way, Five was correct. Her cloud home had probably dissipated ages ago. She started following Five again, and was still annoyed, but she felt her curiosity increasing. Rainbow Dash was no fool- -she knew that her legs and whatever doctor stuff had been done to her had been costly. Five had somehow paid for it all, so it was unlikely that she was homeless because of lack of funds.

“What exactly do you do?”

“What I desire,” said Five. “Mostly, I wander.”

“Oh. That’s…cool.” It actually was, at least somewhat. “Like an adventurer?”

“Adventurer, mercenary, scientist. Many words to mean the same thing.”

“That actually is kind of neat. But where is your real home?”

“I do not understand the question.”

“Where are you from?”

“My mother.”

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on her forehead and ran it down her face. Five’s jokes were terrible- -if, of course, they were jokes. “No. Where does your family live?”

“I have no family.”

“Eeesh,” said Rainbow Dash, suddenly embarrassed that she had brought it up- -even though Five did not seem at all bothered by it. “Like…Applejack’s parents kind of no family?”

“My mother is dead. I have no father.”

“The jerk ran off?” said Rainbow Dash, suddenly self-righteously angry. “That is not cool.”

“No. That would imply that I have a father somewhere. I have no father anywhere.”

“How does that work?”

“My bloodline is parthogens,” said Five. She looked up at Rainbow Dash, seeing that she was confused. “It is a special variety of female. It means we give birth to genetically identical females without insemination. It is the reason why I so much resemble Anhelios. Because, genetically, we are the same.”

“So you can just pop out a baby at any time? That’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard!”

“It doesn’t work like that,” said Five. “However, interesting trivia…” She lifted her leg and turned slightly in the air, exposing her underside to Rainbow Dash. “No mammary glands.”

“Eew,” said Rainbow Dash, covering her eyes, but momentarily seeing that Five was correct. “You’re a bit of a weirdo, aren’t you?”

“Considering that I was largely raised by Gell, yes, I am.” She paused for a moment and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

“Um…no…”

Without warning, Five suddenly descended into the treetops below. Rainbow Dash hesitated, not wanting to enter the Everfree Forest at night- -but followed.

“What is it?” she said as she landed beside Five. The sky above was not entirly dark, and the forest was not either, but nothing was really visible. The leaves of the trees were little more than silhouettes against a dark sky.

Five seemed to have no trouble navigating the forest- -probably, Rainbow Dash reasoned, because she was part bat- -and did not seem to be nervous or frightened about the strange sounds that moved through the trees around them. She looked more bored than anything else.

“What are those noises?” asked Rainbow Dash, looking up and jumping as she saw something with luminescent, reflective eyes staring back at her- -something that promptly moved.

“If you have to ask, you do not want to know. Why, are you afraid?”

“Me? Afraid? No way!”

Five only smiled, and spread her wings. With complete disregard for personal safety, she shot through the trees. Rainbow Dash blinked, unsure what she had just seen- -that the slow pony who had been barely managing to keep up with her had moved so fast. Rainbow Dash spread her own wings and followed.

From what she saw, Five was apparently insane. She was not truly flying, but actually running, jumping occasionally and using her wings to guide her as she flew short distances- -somehow avoiding trees that Rainbow Dash could only see when she got within a few feet of them.

What was strangest, though, was the utter silence with which Five moved. It was as if she were some kind of ghost.

Then, suddenly, she stopped. Rainbow Dash spread her wings to slow herself- -and landed directly in a tall bush. She struggled against it and fell to the ground.

“Your speed, that is impressive,” said Five, staring past the bushes into a clearing, her voice a whisper so silent that it was nearly impossible to hear. “But your vision is terrible. Consider glasses.”

“Why you…!”

Five shoved her hoof into Rainbow Dash’s mouth. It tasted oddly familiar.

“Look,” whispered Five.

Rainbow Dash did, looking through the brush into a clearing. She had not noticed it before- -at least not initially- -but there was a fire lit in the middle of it. Several ponies were sitting around it, talking and laughing- -except they were not all ponies. Three of them were- -two earth ponies, one of them rather large, and a unicorn mare. The other three, however, were not ponies at all. Two of them were diamond dogs dressed in partial armor, and the third was, of all things, a sheep who appeared to be playing with a small dog beside her.

“What are we looking at?” asked Gell, pressing her large head between Five and Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash cried out, jumping in into the air. She was still unaccustomed to Gell’s appearance, and having a demon seem to materialize next to her was somewhat shocking. In fright, she jumped through the bushes and into the clearing.

The laughter of the ponies around the fire stopped, and all of them looked at her as she stood up.

“Uh, hi,” she said, waving, noticing how the diamond dogs were immediately reaching toward their weapons.

“Don’t shoot,” sighed Five, pushing through the shrubbery into the clearing and standing alongside Rainbow Dash. “Or do, if you really want to. But we nonetheless are not intending harm to you.”

“Do I smell bacon?” said Gell, pushing through the trees and appearing beside Five.

“Are you…sure?” said one of the earth ponies around the fire, looking up at Gell.

“Yes, I am,” said Five. “We are travelers.”

“What is your business,” growled one of the diamond dogs.

“We are weary from travel, and were hoping to share your fire.”

They looked to each other for a moment, as if considering- -and then the largest of the earth ponies among them stood. He was massive, and partially dressed in something that could be considered a kind of armor. Rainbow Dash saw that there was a peculiar lump on his back, a machine of some sort- -and recalled the auto-turrets that Celestia’s soldiers had carried during the Choggoth War.

“Sure,” he said, his voice surprisingly deep and his expression surprisingly harsh. “But I want something in return.” He approached them slowly, and his eyes locked on Rainbow Dash. “I want her.”

“Wait, what?” said Rainbow Dash, taking several steps backward. “What do you mean you want me?”

“Sure,” said Five, slapping Rainbow Dash’s rump and forcing her to jump forward- -directly into the waiting arms of the huge, red-coated stallion. “She is rather athletic, so I think she will do well.”

He stared directly down at Rainbow Dash, his green eyes looking into hers hungrily, his smile widening with every second. “Oh, yes…I am going to enjoy this!”

The stallion looked over his shoulder and nodded to the other earth pony. That pony nodded and produced a machine, something long and metallic- -like a gun. As he held it, however, it opened into something that Rainbow Dash did not recognize- -or cared to recognize. She was too busy trying to escape the strong grip of her captor.

Then, suddenly, the air was filled with fiddle music. Rainbow Dash looked over the stallion’s shoulder to see that the device his comrade had produced was some kind of fold out violin, and he had started to play it. She did not have long to watch, however, as she was thrown back suddenly.

At first she did not know what was happening, but then it clicked in her mind. The motions of the red stallion, the rythimic playing of the fiddle- -they were dancing.

“Oh,” she said, smiling, cursing her dirty mind. “Well, if that’s how you want it!”

She moved her body to the music, separating from the stallion as they both twirled, producing a set of moves that were fine-tuned from years of hoe-downs at Applejack’s various family functions.

“That’s the spirit!” said the stallion, looking overjoyed. The two marched back together, and they linked arms- -Rainbow Dash’s being metal, and the stallion’s being plated with armor and various machines- -and spun rapidly around each other to the rapid playing of the fiddle.

The others seemed to join in as well. The diamond dogs stood up and began dancing vigorously like fools, periodically slapping each other and calling out meaningless lyrics that seemed oddly appropriate. Even the sheep was clapping, at least until Gell took her hoof and danced with her, the dog running around them, itself trying to dance. The unicorn mare would have as well, but she was too busy being consumed by laughter so thorough that it was potentially hazardous. Five, meanwhile, simply watched.

The song lasted for several minutes, but like all songs, it eventually came to an end. Out of breath and sweating, Rainbow Dash and the stallion fell to their seats on opposite sides of the fire. Gell dipped her sheep partner deeply, briefly winking, and then set her back down on her seat as well. The diamond dogs continued with their chaotic hootenanny as the others got their breath, before they too fell to the ground, both laughing nearly as hard as the unicorn- -who, by this point, was rolling in the grass with them.

“You, you are good,” said the red stallion, pointing at her. “Oh, wow. I love Pegasi. Hey, did any of you guys get a picture?”

“Ah did,” said the sheep.

“Post that one! Me, dancing with Rainbow Dash!”

“You know my name?” said Rainbow Dash, surprised.

“Of course,” said the other earth pony, retracting his fiddle. “What are you, like, an impersonator?”

“Yeah,” said the sheep. “Like the Bovis Presley guys in Los Pegasus!”

“No, I’m the real- -”

“Best one I ever met,” said Five. Then, somehow, without moving her mouth, she spoke to Rainbow Dash- -not thorough words, but in her mind. “Unless you want to appear insane,” she said in a voice that was bone-chillingly familiar, “try not to claim to be a mare known to be dead for four centuries.”

As much as it pained her to admit it, Rainbow Dash knew that Five was correct- -even though she hated it, she realized that trying to claim to be the genuine Rainbow Dash would be like a unicorn trying to claim to be Starswirl the Bearded back in her own time.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “You got me. But hey, I think I can fly at least twice as fast as she could.”

“Doubtful,” said the smaller earth pony. “Nopony can fly as fast as Rainbow Dash- -even the full cyborgs!”

That somehow filled Rainbow Dash with pride. It actually surprised her that her legacy had lasted so long- -even after all that time, she was still the best. Which, in its own way, made her somewhat sad.

“Dancing fun!” said one of the diamond dogs, helping his friend up. The two of them were panting heavily and sat back from the fire where the air was cool.

“You are from the Red-Emerald state,” said Five, pointing to the badly-painted insignias on their armor.

“Yes, we is,” said the other, puffing out his chest in pride that they had been recognized.

“That is how I knew they were not our enemies,” said Five to Rainbow Dash. “The Red-Emeralds are known for thick skulls and noble hearts. They refuse assistance to the wicked.”

“This is right,” said the diamond dog. “We strong warriors. Very thick skulls, very warm hearts. Soft fur on bath days.”

The other leaned closer. “Bath days not common.”

“We know,” said the unicorn mare, brushing herself off.

“And the rest of you?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I mean, what are you doing all the way out here? A hike?”

They all laughed. “No, no,” said the red stallion. “We are contractors. Gene hunters. I am Mountain. He is On Roof, she is Sharpshooter, and the one on the end is Wolf-In-Clothing.”

“And Shep,” said the sheep, giving her dog a big hug.

“Our guides here are Numnuts and Rumplebottom. I think.”

“Yes,” said one of the diamond dogs, giving a thumbs up.

“Except sometimes,” said On Roof, leaning close to Rainbow Dash, “they forget which one is which.”

Rainbow Dash giggled. The fiddler earth pony smiled at her.

“Is true,” said the diamond dog, shrugging. “But momma-dog say that if we can remember our name, we are too smart to be good proper soldier. Knowing names not important if know how to fight.”

“And- -what is it, exactly, that you do again?”

“Gene hunters,” said the unicorn, sitting close to Mountain. “It means we hunt down samples of rare creatures and plants for study and research.”

“So…you’re researchers?”

“No,” said Wolf-In-Clothing. “Moah lahk hunters.”

“You’re…a sheep.”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“No- -no, it’s just that, I’ve never seen a sheep doing this sort of thing before.”

“Yeah, I get yah,” said Wolf-In-Clothing, leaning back. “But ain’t nopony can do trackin lahk me and shep can.”

“We were on the trail of some wandering hyphae,” said Mountain. “But they took to ground a few hours back. So, break time. And fiddling.”

“Nasty things,” said On Roof, turning over his foreleg to reveal a painful looking circular burn. “Watch out, if you see them.”

“Mold took my dinner,” whined one of the diamond dogs.

“Oh yes,” said Sharpshooter. “It is quite carnivorous.”

“I’ll be sure to keep a look out,” said Gell, folding her legs beneath her and leaning close to the sheep.

“A demon, too,” said Mountain. “Quite a group…and quite a specimen of a demon pony as well…”

“You might just be big enough to try to take me on,” said Gell. “But honestly, you’re not exactly my type for any activity that you would enjoy much.”

“Do not be so sure,” he said, winking, and then burst into laughter. “A Rainbow Dash impersonator, a bat, a demon, and that marvelous bird…” his eyes moved to the simmering lump on Five’s back. “I was under the impression that they were extinct.”

“This may very well be the last,” said Five. “And she is my sister, so you may not have her.”

Mountain smiled. “Of course. I would sooner try to take Shep from Wolf-In-Clothing.”

“Do not even joke abouht that,” said Wolf-In-Clothing, glaring. “Yah never sep’rate a sheep from her sheep-dog.”

“Of course, of course,” said Mountain. “I would sooner dream of sleeping beside Sharpshooter than taking your dog.” He turned back to Five and Rainbow Dash, ignoring Sharpshooter’s angry- -and somewhat hurt- -glare. “So, travelers, you say. Do you carry stories?”

“Stories?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes! One who dances as well as you surely has stories.”

Rainbow Dash felt a pang of sadness inside her. She had many stories, but they involved ponies who she had only recently learned that she had lost forever.

“Tell scary story,” said the diamond dogs, leaning forward.

“I could go for a ghost story,” said On Roof. “The only one I’ve got is the one about Woolie Swamp- -which is no fun because Wolf-In-Clothing is actually from there.”

“I know some good ones,” said Rainbow Dash, smiling, rubbing her hooves together. “Have any of you ever heard of the headless pony…?”

The story was amazingly effective. That was in part because of Rainbow Dash’s over-the-top storytelling style, but also from cultural dissidence- -she had tapped into a vein of body horror that had not existed in her own time. So, what had probably been a children’s tale in her own era became far, far more terrifying, if only because if its implications.

When she was done, the diamond dogs were cowering behind a the log they had formerly been sitting on.

“It- -it have no head,” one of them whimpered. “No head! How it see where it going?”

“No head…” whined the other.

“No brain, no eyes, and yet still forced to be coherent,” whispered Sharpshooter. She and her friends- -aside from Wolf-In-Clothing- -were clearly disturbed by the story as well. They were even silent for a moment.

“Come now,” said Wolf-In-Clothing. “A pony cahnt live without ah head!”

“Oh, they can,” said Five. “I have seen it.”

Rainbow Dash turned and stared at her, her eyes wide. Five had never actually seen that phenomenon in her lifetime, but she understood that it was at least marginally possible.

“Maybe…maybe we should get something to eat,” said On Roof.

“Good…good idea,” said Mountain. They opened their bags and removed several packets of freeze-dried food. Mountain tossed a bottle and a packet to Rainbow Dash.

“What is this?” she said, catching it handily.

“Good dancer, good stories- -you deserve a drink.”

“What about you?” said Sharpshooter to Five. “Are you two going to eat?”

“We have…very specific dietary requirements,” said Five. “So no.”

“Not unless you want to donate,” whispered Gell, smiling.

So they took pause to eat. On Roof took a moment to explain to Rainbow Dash how to rehydrate her meal, and the diamond dogs producing their own food: two cans of beans, which they skewered with sticks and held over the fire. Five watched them, trying to hold her breath. The smell of food nauseated her terribly.

They were silent as they ate- -save for the sound of Five’s occasional dry heaving- -when On Roof spoke. “Hey, I’ve got a story,” he said. “And not the one about Woolie Swamp.” He looked over the fire at Rainbow Dash. “Have you ever heard of the Blue Fleet?”

His companions groaned loudly.

“Not again,” said Mountain. “Every time you meet somepony- -”

“It isn’t even real,” said Sharpshooter.

“It is too!” said On Roof, defensively.

“What is the Blue Fleet?” asked Rainbow Dash, who was by this time slightly drunk off the mead-like drink that she had been given.

They looked at her, their eyes wide. “Wait, you don’t even know what it is?”

“Is a myth,” said Wolf-In-Clothing.

“No it isn’t,” said On Roof. “My grandpappy saw it, and he maintained that he had until the day he died.” He leaned forward, setting his drink aside. His friends sighed, but they knew that he could not stop him from telling the story again. “It was back during the Invasion.” He pointed up at the sky, toward the pair of black holes in the sky. “When the Incurse came. Billions of them, pouring through. At first they came in small numbers, invading, infiltrating, but more came. More always came, until all of Equestria was at war. Even Thebe could not stop all of them…

“Then, one day, there came the final battle. My grandpappy was just a colt, but it isn’t something he ever forgot- -the sight of millions of ships in the sky, bigger than any airship ever made at that time, all made of strange metal. That day, they knew it was the end.”

“But what happened?” said Rainbow Dash. On Roof smiled- -it seemed like a long time since he had actually found somepony interested in his tale.

“The Blue Fleet. Thousands of blue ships came from nowhere. They joined the fight with Thebe. The sky was filled with fire- -but they did not work like normal machines.” He paused. “I don’t know what he meant when he said it. Maybe I never will. But grandpappy said that they weren’t machines- -that they didn’t look like it. They were more like…well, he said ‘like somepony pulled apart everything in the garage, and several ponies, and put the pieces back together better, but wrong’. The things were alive though… and they couldn’t die. When one got killed, it just split and made two, or rejoined to one of the others.”

“Wow,” said Rainbow Dash. “Did…did they win?”

“We are here, aren’t we?”

“Is a myth,” said Wolf-In-Clothing. “Not real. It was Thebe alone who sent them back tah the Beyond.”

“No, it wasn’t,” said Gell. They all turned to her. She looked at them, somewhat annoyed that she now needed to speak. Five could tell that she was legitimately considering eating them. “I was there,” she said. “I saw it.” She pointed at Five. “So was her mother. We fought in the Invasion.”

“No way,” said Mountain. “If you mother was in the war, you would be…”

“I am sixty three years old,” admitted Five.

“No way!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, jumping into the air. “You’re so…so old.”

“You are one to talk,” said Five, motioning for Rainbow Dash to sit back down.

“Wow…” said On Roof. “You must have heard some stories.”

“In a way,” said Five.

“And you must have some things to tell,” said Mountain.

“Perhaps,” said Five, smiling, her eyes momentarily flickering toward the darkness at the edge of the forest. “Do you want to see something quite frightening?”

“No,” whined a diamond dog.

“Sure,” said Mountain. “Although I doubt it will be worse than the headless pony.”

Five looked toward Sharpshooter. “Might you have a flashlight? Or, actually, since you hail from Trottingham: a ‘torch’.”

“Sure,” said Sharphooter, slowly, digging in her supplies with her magic and withdrawing the item in question. She passed it to Five, who took it in her claws.

“Darn it,” said Rainbow Dash. “If I knew we had that I could have told my story so much better!”

Five lifted the light and pointed it toward the forest, not turning it on, slowly moving it. Instinctively, the others watched where it was pointing, even though there was no beam of light for their eyes to trace.

Then, suddenly, Five flicked on the device. A beam of light suddenly illuminated a misshapen, eyeless skull just beyond the light of their fire. The ponies around the fire screamed- -as did the creature, which squealed in anger and ducked into the brush nearby, rustling as it escaped the light.

“What was that?” said Mountain, deploying his turret as the others picked up their guns.

“That,” said Five, who remained perfectly calm, “was a chupacabra. It’s been circling for some time, watching.”

“Where did it go? I can’t track see it- -”

“Somepony here must have some goat heritage,” said Five, her eyes shifting toward Wolf-In-Clothing, who was suddenly terribly nervous.

“I think I am going to sleep in the ship,” said On Roof, moving slowly across the clearing, watching the darkness carefully, but obvioiusly not seeing anything. “And I think I’m going to go to bed right now.”

“Me too,” said Mountain.

“Ah am not tahred,” said Wolf-In-Clothing, “but Shep’s had a hahrd day. So…”

Five watched as they all retreated to their ship. They even allowed the diamond dogs inside, and closed the door, leaving only Sharpshooter outside, perched on the top with her rifle, scanning the darkness.

“Should we be worried?” said Rainbow Dash, looking to Five.

“No,” said Five. “Chupacabra are vampire, and only to goats. Actually, they are invisible most of the time. You would not even have an awareness of being bit- -if you were a goat. You’re not, are you?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Good.”

“But why did you show it to them if it wasn’t dangerous?”

“Because it was funny.” Five leaned back, sitting on the cold grass behind the log, away from the fire. “I thought they would enjoy being afraid.”

“Not like that!” said Rainbow Dash. “I just told a story. You scared them for real!”

“Fear itself is inherently false. It is never real.”

Rainbow Dash glared down at Five for a moment, but then just sighed. “That was pretty cool, though.”

“Ponies from the present time,” mused Five. “How do you feel about them?”

“There not really any different from ponies in my time, I guess. Although…” she snickered. “A sheep?”

“Slavery has been abolished,” said Five, only partially joking. “And Equestira, you will find, is far more cosmopolitan. Actually, it does bring up an interesting fact.”

“What?”

“Do you know the name of the first pony to marry a sheep?”

Rainbow Dash shivered. “That’s just…wrong.” She looked at Five. “Who did it, though?”

“The brother of your friend Applejack.”

“WHAT?” cried Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t yell. And yes. This is a known historical fact. He actually played an important role in the early sheep civil rights movement.”

“Big Macintosh…was a wooly whumper?” She started giggling, and then broke into laughter. “Oh! I totally can see that! A farmer and his sheep!”

“Quiet, you!” called Sharpshooter. “Go to bed!”

Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves over her moth, but that only resulted in converting her laughter into a saliva-filled, partially suppressed snort.

“It isn’t really something to laugh at,” said Gell. “My personal rule: if words come out when it tries, I go between the thighs. Well, save for fillies I guess. That’s not my speed.”

Rainbow Dash fell to the ground and rolled around, Gell’s rhyme having only accelerated her laughter. She was also blushing heavily.

“Well,” said Five, “at least she is enjoying herself.”

Five knew that she should have been at least marginally content that Rainbow Dash had managed to laugh. She was not, though. The sound of ponies laughing was grating to her- -but she did not know why.