As she came to, lying on her back on a hard surface with a heavy weight on her chest, Cotton Fluff groaned. All she could see was the sky and tops of trees; all she could hear was random conversation that descended into cacophonous noise, none of which was the least bit of interest to the mare.

"Nnngh… what's going on?" Cotton felt around with her hooves at whatever lay atop her, feeling the soft, fuzzy surface squish beneath them. Confused, she reluctantly pulled her body up to get a closer look, straining her out-of-use back muscles in the process. Her gaze was met with the fuzzy pink coat of a pony, sprawled out over top of her body because of course. Beyond that pony, in the front of her vision, were other forms, some of whom were looking at her. However, Cotton Fluff merely lay back down once more and then, with another groan, pushed her hooves upward to shove the other mare off of her.

It was crude, sure, but there's no way you could deny its success rate. Within moments, a thoroughly-irritated Cotton Fluff with a throbbing headache stood there at the front of the ship, a still-unconscious Mochi to her right and Turnip Acres driving the ship and paying her no mind to her left. The rest of the ponies on the ship, however, gawked at the mare as she stood there.

"What's cookin'?" Scootaloo finally asked, turning away from the green-coated mare that she seemed to have been conversing with.

"I'd like to ask you the same," Cotton Fluff said firmly, eyeing the ponies she didn't recognise suspiciously. "What's going on? Are these the ponies that I nearly ran into?"

"Yeah, and they're cool," Scootaloo replied. "That's Turnip Acres driving up there." She pointed past Cotton Fluff at the black stallion who gave a noncommittal grunt.

"The name sounds familiar, at least..."

"He's the pony we're supposed to meet, remember? Like Doc Zed told us?" Flight said.

"Oh, right." Cotton Fluff looked around. "And I suppose these are his... entourage?"

"Yeah, something like that," the green mare said with a smile. "My name's Even Later, and I—"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Cotton Fluff interrupted. "I just wanna know when we're gonna get whenever we're going."

"Should only be a few minutes now," stated a reedy-voiced stallion in the back. "Then you can get out and walk around if you want."

"That sounds lovely," Cotton Fluff said with a nod. "Go back to whatever you were doing, I guess. I'm gonna wake up Mochi."

Shrugging, Scootaloo turned back to Even Later and started talking again, in quieter tones. Kevin and Flight were talking with the reedy-voiced stallion and another, taller stallion whose lumbering form dwarfed the others. Cotton looked down at the motionless pink mare at her hooves before letting out a sigh and reaching down to put her front hooves on Mochi's shoulders. Then, she shook.

"Wake up, Mochi," Cotton hissed. "Please."

After a moment of shaking, the mare began to stir. "Mmmm... what time is it, now?"

"Mochi, c'mon. We're almost to the hideout of these crazy ponies. You've gotta get up so we're ready to go when we get there."

"Mmmffff... okay..." Mochi murmured. Her eyes still closed, she stretched out her pink hooves wide, brushing their tips against the side of the ship and nearly coming into contact with Turnip Acres's legs.