"Everypony, stop," Turnip commanded, turning around. In the low light of the Chronicler's horn, he could see the three ponies standing before him, well-packed saddlebags across their backs, somewhat confused expressions on their faces. Cinderblock, although he would never admit to it, was visibly shivering; Nerves, of course, was doing the same thing, but she always did that so it didn't bother Turnip. No, what bothered him was something much bigger.

"Where in the hay is Later?" Turnip asked, looking around at the darkened woods. "She really should've caught up to us by now, shouldn't she? We're not even going very fast."

All three ponies before him turned to look around as well. "Hold on, lemme put out my light for a minute so we can see if we can see her green hornlight," the Chronicler said.

"Good thinking," Turnip replied with a nod as the light faded, shrouding the group once more in darkness. It took several moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness; despite that, Later's light should've been visible in the dark regardless...

"I don't see her light anywhere," Cinderblock said as the Chronicler turned his hornlight on once more. "Nothing out there but the stars, Turnip."

"Blast! What in the hay is that mare doing?"

"Speaking of things not happening when they're supposed to," Nerves started, "weren't we supposed to have run into the Ferretfall police by now?"

"Well, we were always hoping that we would be able to avoid them..." Turnip suggested halfheartedly.

"C'mon, Turnip, we all know that that was a pipe dream at best," Cinderblock countered. "They were definitely en route to our base when we picked up the transmission, and we're close enough that we would've heard them arrive. Something fishy is definitely going on."

"Nnnngh... why does all this have to happen at once?" Turnip Acres groaned, lowering his forehead to his outstretched foreleg.

"Say, do you hear that?" The Chronicler had a hoof cupped to his ear and, now that he mentioned it, Turnip noticed that he did hear something; somewhere distant, off past the way they had just come, there was some sort of ruckus. Several voices were shouting incoherent exclamations wildly, and then there was some sort of loud impact.

"Don't think there's a pony 'round these parts that didn't," Turnip replied. "But I don't think it's our place to do anything about it, either. We've just gotta go on our way."

"What if... what if it has something to do with Later?" the Chronicler asked.

"Or Clove Hitch," Nerves mused.

"Those are... troubling thoughts, for sure," Turnip replied, "but I also don't think we can afford to worry about that. Both Later and Clove Hitch are perfectly capable ponies who can take care of themselves... hopefully. Right now, we just need to get out of here."

Then, Turnip turned away and trotted off, leaving the others with no choice but to follow him. Nerves looked once more over her shoulder before continuing at the tail end of the group.

Several minutes beforehand...

"Are we almost there yet?" Scootaloo asked.

"Soon," Clove Hitch replied quietly. He had been leading them through pitch-black darkness for some time until Kevin finally offered to use his horn to light the way. Clove had made some effort to protest but his heart obviously wasn't into it because he soon gave way, leaving Kevin in the lead of the group. "You'll know when we're nearly there because the walls will turn back to dirt."

"If this was once part of a big spaceship thing, how did it get completely underground?" Scootaloo asked. "At least the other part had some of it sticking up, so that made a little more sense."

"We're not sure," Clove replied. "We don't even know what it was used for—just that it's really, really old."

"I think we're almost there," Cotton Fluff called from ahead where she was walking alongside Kevin. Clove Hitch and Scootaloo looked up to see where the smooth white surface ended, replaced by the dirt tunnel that was obviously dug by ponies.

"Perfect! Just a few dozen metres and we'll be at the exit," Clove Hitch said.

"Finally!" Mochi exclaimed. "It seems like whenever we get out of a cave, we just go into another cave."

"Ugh, I know, right?" Flight moaned. "Seriously, can we just stay aboveground for once? There's a reason my parents moved to Dienna, you know."

"I thought they were born there," Kevin remarked. "I didn't realise ponies actually, y'know, went there on purpose."

"Well... on purpose is a strong word... heh..." Flight trailed off. "Maybe I'll tell you that story another time. Maybe my parents can tell you when we get back."

"I look forward to it," Kevin said. "Oh, look, I think this is it."

Indeed, the partially-rusted metal barrier at the end of the hallway looked very much to be the end of the line and Clove Hitch's nod and countenance seemed to confirm this; he trotted forward quickly through the group to meet it, causing both Kevin and Cotton Fluff to move to either side of the tunnel and stop as they watched. The stallion reached up with a hoof that he stuck into shallow grooves on the barrier's surface and then, with a combination of rotation and brute strength, pushed the metal object outwards and rotated it to the side. Immediately, a breath of fresh, cool air flowed into the room as more of the darkness outside was revealed, sending a shiver down Scootaloo's spine.

"And there you have it, ladies and gentlecolts," Clove Hitch said as he looked back at the group with a wry smile, unhitching his hoof from the handle. "The outside world." He blinked. "Erm, what are you all looking at?"

"Turn around," Flight breathed.

Raising an eyebrow, Clove Hitch did what he was told. And then he blanched.

"Good evening, sir," a stallion with a dark green coat and a blue officer's hat said plainly. "I was wondering if—"

"Aaaaaah!" Clove Hitch screamed, cutting him off.

"Excuse me?" the officer asked, confused. "I just—"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Clove Hitch screamed again, rushing forward to headbutt the officer. At the last moment, however, the stallion in question jumped out of the way, causing Clove Hitch to run further than he expected across the forest floor, tripping over his own hooves and falling flat on his face. "Urgh..." he groaned.

The officer looked from Clove Hitch's outstretched body to the group of five standing at the mouth of the tunnel. "I'm going to need you six to come with me, please."

Scootaloo blinked and looked to Kevin and then to Flight, both of whom shrugged. She turned back to the officer. "What happens if we don't want to?"

The officer sighed and then put a hoof to his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle. Immediately, six or seven other ponies, all clad in distinct police outfits, hopped out from behind trees or within particularly fluffy bushes. "Then we make you."

Scootaloo blinked. Scootaloo gulped. And then, on Scootaloo's signal, all five of them screamed.