"And you're sure you know where to go?" Turnip asked. He stood face to face with Clove Hitch in the centre of the hallway; behind him, the rest of his crew stood on edge, while behind Clove Hitch stood Scootaloo and her companions.

"Of course, Turnip. It's no biggie. Just slip past this neck of the woods and then we're home free. We'll probably get to the northern base by breakfast-time tomorrow." Clove Hitch looked confident.

"Well, if you're sure..." Turnip leaned forward to nuzzle the maroon stallion quickly on the cheek, and then leaned back. "And Scootaloo, even though I know you don't like it, please do what Clove says. It's really in your best interests."

The filly in question merely gave a lazy nod in reply.

"I'm here, I'm here!" exclaimed a voice from behind Turnip's group, who quickly split down the middle to reveal the Chronicler galloping through. Behind him, trotting leisurely, was Nerves. "I'm so sorry I'm late—I wasn't at all prepared for this, and I—"

"No worries," Turnip assured him, patting the stallion on the back. "We're all ready to go, anyway." He turned back to Clove Hitch. "This is it, then. Goodbye for now, and you'll receive further instructions once you get to the base."

Clove Hitch nodded and then turned, shuffling between the members of the group until he was at the far end. With one more nod, he turned his head back to face forward and began trotting down the winding path.

Cotton Fluff, Mochi, Kevin, and Flight all started trotting forward too. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, took one last look at the other group, who was already turning to follow Turnip Acres up the passage that led to the top floor and the main entrance, receding from view. As they passed, the filly noticed that Even Later stood in the back, her head hung low. Confused, Scootaloo raised a hoof and waved, but the green unicorn either didn't notice or was ignoring her intentionally.

"Scootaloo, you coming?" Kevin called from ahead. The orange filly snapped out of it and bounded down the hall after her companions, trying not to think about whatever was going on with her new friend.

Once the heavy metal door to the hideout had been slid open, Turnip Acres stood at the edge, ushering the rest of his crew out into the darkened forest. Both the Chronicler and Even Later had their horns lit up at that point, breaking through the shadows with their colourful magical auras.

"Later, you take care of shutting the door," Turnip said once they were all standing on the dirt ledge outside. "We're lucky that they're not here already, but we don't want to make this any easier for them than it needs to be. It would be better if they never found the base at all."

Later looked up, nodding with a sullen expression. She watched as her companions shrank away into the darkness, only made visible far away from the faint blue light of the Chronicler's horn. Sighing, she turned back to the heavy metal door and, using her own magic, enveloped it in her grasp. Despite her best efforts, the door's metallic screech was unavoidable so, as she could only stand it for so long, Even Later pulled the door shut incrementally until it was nearly to the wall.

Then, looking back and forth at the forest around her, the mare extinguished her hornlight. With only the near-silent patter of her her hooves on the dirt, she squeezed through the small space between the door and the wall so that she stood in the darkness of the upper floor of the hideout.

Without another thought, the mare kept walking, slinking off down the descending tunnel.