It was only a dozen or so minutes until a large metal warehouse came into view on a fairly open block across the street, two blocks down on the left from where Kevin and Flight trotted at a medium pace. Chain link fence outlined the block, running parallel to the sidewalk; on the building's front, the black painted letters had nearly scraped away but Kevin could make out where it said "òИИ⫙3 ሐ⫙◹OѦ3 MØ3ʞ⫙O"—exactly what they were looking for. Flight seemed to have noticed it as well; Kevin watched as her head turned towards it and the filly quickened her pace. He began to trot faster as well.

Somewhere to the right, a bird cawed. Kevin kept walking alongside Flight, but then he heard it again so he looked to his right and then up, above the storefront they were passing by.

Eyeing him from its perch on the edge of the roof was a large raven, its feathers black as soot. And, of course, right in between the beady black eyes of the thing lay a shiny golden star sticker. The bird opened its beak and let out another caw.

"You hear that, Kev?" Flight asked, still looking at the warehouse building. "That's probably the first bird I've heard since we've gotten here. To be honest, I didn't even know there were birds in the city."

"Shh," Kevin shushed, still looking up at the bird. He stopped walking.

"Huh? What are you—oh." The filly stopped where she stood and craned her neck to look upwards at the inky black creature. The bird cawed once more—an ugly, creaky caw—and turned its head to look at Flight, who stood about a metre away from Kevin on the side walk.

Quickly, Kevin glanced around to see if anypony around them were watching; once he made sure there was nopony else around, the colt took a step forward. "What do you want?" he hissed.

The raven blinked and turned back to look at Kevin. He could almost swear he could see the corners of its beak curve upwards as it let out another long, harsh caw.

"Is this... is this like the other ones?" Flight murmured. Before Kevin had a chance to reply, the bird raised its head to the sky and let out a series of short, high pitched caws—it was tittering. When it lowered its head, there was no mistaking it; the bird wore a grin, wide and fierce.

"'Is this like the other ones'? My dear, I thought you had agreed not to tell anypony else," the raven said in a high-pitched voice. The bird's wings fluttered and lifted its body off of the ledge, hovering downward until it came to a landing on the sidewalk in front of the glass windows of the store, bouncing slightly as its claws scrabbled at the concrete. Once it regained its footing, the bird looked up at Kevin, ignoring Flight for the time being. Kevin could see part of his face reflected in the tiny golden star.

"Um... did I?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't remember saying anything like that."

"Hmmm," replied the raven—or at least that's what it seemed like he was saying, as a quiet whistle emanated from the thing's nostrils as it made the sound. "Perhaps not. Still, I thought it was pretty clear that I was supposed to be secret. And you're no stranger to secrets, are you?" The bird's head turned towards Flight and it seemed to look her over a moment before speaking again. "Interesting, interesting."

"Huh?" Flight took a step back. "What are you?"

The bird snorted. "Do not be afraid, child. There is nothing I want from you."

Flight blinked. "Then... then what do you want with him?"

"A good question, don't you think? Maybe you should ask your friend sometime." The raven coughed, and a few fluffy down feathers fell out and landed on the sidewalk. "Ugh, not again. This city never really has agreed with me, even back when—well, nevermind." It turned its head back towards Kevin. "I'll be back for ya, kid, don't you fret."

"For the last time, I'm not going with you!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The raven sighed. "Someday, though, you'll see that the benefits outweight the costs."

With that, the bird leapt up into the air, flapping its wings so wide that Kevin and Flight both jumped back so they wouldn't be hit by a stray feather. They watched as the thing soared into the air and towards the roof of the store. Just as it was about to disappear out of sight, however, the raven suddenly was enveloped in an iridescent golden magical field and, right in front of their very eyes, it transformed. The outstretched wings grew smaller and thinner, feathers turning into leathery dark grey skin with claws protruding from the middle. Squeaking, the bat flew out of sight.

Flight blinked. "What... just happened?"

"Nngh... I dunno," Kevin replied. "Let's just get going." He started off down the sidewalk without another word, cantering quickly in the direction of the warehouse.

"Hey, wait up!" Flight called after him, galloping until she reached his side. "Seriously, what's up with the bird thing? Or the star, or any of it?"

"...I don't know, and I don't really care," Kevin said, looking straight ahead. "The less we think about dumb distractions like that, the better. We're on a mission for Doc Zed, remember?" The green-grey colt looked both ways and then crossed the street, leaving Flight to follow as fast as she could in his hoofsteps.

However, once they were inside the chain link fence crossing through the otherwise-empty lot that housed the Inner Sector Market, Flight put a hoof on Kevin's shoulder. The colt stopped and looked at her.

"Kevin, please. You told me a little about the creatures before and how they were only there when you were on the planet. But you can tell me anything—you know that, right?"

"Well, yeah..." Kevin said, looking down at the ground. "It just doesn't seem very important."

Flight snorted. "C'mon, crazy talking animals seem about as important as fixing an alien spaceship. All the weird stuff is probably connected, anyway."

Kevin sighed. "There's not really much more to tell besides what I already told you. I first saw them the day after my parents died and kept seeing them all through living in Esprit. They tried to reassure me but then started saying that I should follow them away from the island, off to do other things with them. I dunno why I didn't—I guess I thought it was weird or something, so I said I wouldn't. Then they got really mad and started attacking me whenever they saw me, and I would get pretty banged up. But the worst part was that nopony could ever see either them or the injuries I got most of the time, so I couldn't get any time off work or anything even though they still hurt."

"But... what do they want with you?" Flight asked. "It seems weird... and that raven was pretty adamant that it was you it wanted, not me or anypony else."

"I dunno," Kevin replied. "It's always really vague about it—one time, I'm pretty sure they said they'd tell me once I already decided to go with them. But I always get this really weird bad feeling in my stomach... like it would be a really bad idea to go with them."

"Well, I can't pretend to know anything about them," Flight said, foreleg still aroud Kevin's shoulder, "but I don't think it would be a good idea either. You're right—we should focus on this mission so we can get the parts back to Doc Zed. And if that bird gets in the way again, we'll take 'em out—you and I."

"That... sounds good," Kevin affirmed, nodding. Flight pulled her hoof away and started walking forward towards the open doorway of the Inner Sector Market. After a deep breath, Kevin trotted up alongside the filly and followed her through the doorway.