"Oh, great," Scootaloo groaned. "Please don't tell me that's the sun."

"That's the sun," Kevin deadpanned.

"I mean, I don't think it's technically 'sunrise' time yet, but it's way too light for it just to be starlight," Flight remarked, looking up. As she did so, she let out a yawn, pausing as she covered her mouth with a hoof. "Ugh, the worst thing about this is how much it's messed up my sleep schedule. Back at home, my parents make me go to bed before 2500 hours on most nights."

"Erm... is that late?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm pretty sure my planet's hours only go up to 24..."

"Not really," Flight replied. "I'm not usually tired then, anyway, so I can stay up reading in bed."

"I can't even remember the last time I slept normal hours," Kevin said, head hung low. "Though I really friggin' wish I could be sleeping any hours right about now."

"We're here," Later said from up ahead.

Scootaloo and the other two dashed up to join the older ponies, who were standing in a small clearing, cracked dirt visible; the grass had mostly been worn away, most likely by ponies trotting through. Since the sky was beginning to lighten, they could see the rough stony wall in front of them even with Cotton Fluff's horn now extinguished, extending outwards for metres in metres in either direction. On top, a sort of shelf was formed with layers of dirt and grass, before sloping upward into the more natural shape of a hill, where a few scraggly trees were planted here and there.

And then Scootaloo noticed that right where the stone wall met the clearing in which the seven ponies stood, there was a crack. It was a thin, hairline crack, stretching up from where the dirt started at the top all the way down to where the dirt started at the bottom. At first, Scootaloo didn't think it was anything important; the wall was full of blemishes and places where the rock was cut poorly or unevenly. Yet the fact that it caught her eye was... odd.

This oddness was confirmed as something important as Later beckoned for Clove Hitch to step forward. Nodding, the stallion did so and raised his left foreleg, placing his hoof on the surface of the wall right next to the crack. Almost immediately, he withdrew his hoof, and just in time, too; with a magical hum, either side of the crack begin to move apart, sliding open to reveal a stone hallway that stretched out ahead for several metres. Scootaloo stepped aside and craned her neck to get a better look, making note of several side paths and the larger room that the hallway opened up to.

"Cool tech," Flight murmured.

"Shall we?" Clove Hitch asked.

"Just tell me where the bedrooms are," Scootaloo groaned. "I don't care if I have to sleep on a rock."

Later started down the tunnel, followed closely by Scootaloo and the rest save for Clove Hitch, who stayed behind to close the door after them.

"Go down that tunnel, at take your first right," Later said, pointing at the first tunnel to the right. "There should be an empty room with some bunks you can use." She paused. "But remember, kids, only one pony to a bunk."

"But moooom," Scootaloo mock-whined. "Wait, I actually don't care about that. Nevermind!" She turned the corner, followed closely by Kevin and Flight as they galloped to the sleeping quarters.

Later paused, sighing. "Either of you want to go sleep?" she asked, turning to Cotton Fluff and Mochi. They both shook their heads.

"I'd rather know 'xactly what's goin' on, if ya don't mind," Mochi said. Cotton Fluff merely nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure that'll be fine... better that one of you in Scootaloo's crowd knows about it, anyway, in case we're not wanted on the mission." Later turned, and then blinked. "Speaking of that... where is everypony? It's strangely quiet."

"I was just wondering that myself," came Clove's voice from behind them. "I would've expected somepony to be at the doors to greet us. You don't see anyone in the commons?"

Later peered ahead into the larger room, where there was some makeshift furniture but nopony in sight. "Nope. Looks like a ghost town in here."

"Hmm... well, let's go downstairs and see if we can't find somepony to talk to."

The four trudged onward through the base, into the main room and beyond, down the hallway to the stairs, though they all found the empty silence that lingered in the stale air of the cave to be a lot more eerie than it had seemed before.