"How long have we been in here?" Kevin asked, looking over his shoulder. His ears brushed against the dirt ceiling as he moved his head; there wasn't much space to move in the small tunnel, and it was even worse for Mochi and Cotton Fluff who were about a half a head taller than the rest of them. The passage would have been completely dark without Kevin's horn to light the way; however, as he was the only unicorn, he was the only one who had such a power and so was required to keep the light up the whole time. To put it plainly, he was starting to feel exhausted.

Flight looked down at the comlink on her wrist. "It's only been about ten minutes," she said, looking up. "Which, if I may remind you, is just two minutes since the last time you asked.

"I know, I know... I'm just confused," Kevin said. "It didn't take nearly this long to enter the city."

"I dunno. Maybe the city isn't flat?" Flight mused.

"It's not," Cotton Fluff chimed in from ahead. "The south side is higher and closer to aboveground, and the north side is deeper. What's more, the land above the north side is at a higher elevation. It gets kind of hilly once you get closer to the provinces. No mountains—those are more to the east—but still pretty hard to get through."

"Do you think we'll have to get through there?" Flight asked.

"I'm... not sure?" Cotton Fluff replied. "I don't even know where we're going or what we're doing. Are we just winging it?" She nudged Scootaloo, who was walking directly behind her.

"Huh? What do you—oh." Scootaloo looked around. "I'm not sure, either. I guess we'll get up there and figure out what we're gonna do."

"That sounds fine," Flight said. "I can even call Doc Zed once we get up there. I think the signal is blocked right now since we're out of range of both the satellites and Umberlight."

"Who's Doc Zed?" Scootaloo asked.

"He's a good friend from my hometown," Kevin said quickly. "He'll probably be excited to meet you, actually."

"Huh... cool."

A few minutes passed as the five ponies trudged up at a slight incline through the passage. The green light emanating from Kevin's horn flickered briefly but, for all his efforts, did not go out completely. Each step, however, seemed the same as the last, continuing up the tunnel in perpetuity with no distinguishing features on the walls or ceiling, passing by the same spots over and over, and...

"I think you can put out your horn, Kevin," Cotton Fluff called from ahead. The colt was momentarily surprised but soon did what he was told, letting the enchantment drop. Exhausted, he gasped for a deep breath of fresh air.

Wait... fresh air?

That is indeed what it was; in contrast to the thick, stagnant tunnel air from before, this air was cool and crisp, and blowing down from ahead. And, what's more, there was light. It was a faint blue light, glowing down from above and ahead, but it grew closer with each step. Kevin quickened his pace to match that of his comrades who were already rushing forward with newfound energy in the face of the light.

Kevin watched Cotton Fluff and then Scootaloo disappear into the grey-blue ahead of him and then he himself emerged from the hole in the earth, skidding to a stop on dark green grass that spread out on a hilltop all around. As the yellow form of Flight crawled out of the hole and Mochi bounced out a little more cheerfully, Kevin's gaze scanned the rolling, grassy hills that seemed to stretch out to the north. Then he looked down the slope of the hill they were atop, seeing past the tufts of grass that poked up from the hillside. There, in the miniature valley between the hills, was the unmistakeable form of a zebra stallion. And, what's more, he was waving. He stood next to a large rectangular object that Kevin couldn't quite make out. Maybe a house?

"Who's that?" Kevin asked, pointing down at the zebra.

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "No idea! Let's find out!" The filly ran forward, sprinting quickly down the hillside.

"But... isn't that dangerous?" Flight asked.

"Guess she doesn't care," Cotton Fluff murmured. She started walking slowly down the hill, and Kevin, Flight, and Mochi joined her as they pursued the pegasus filly who ostensibly was the group's leader.