Scootaloo rose before the sun the next morning and did a few slow laps through the training course to stretch her wings. Gilda joined her a few minutes later. Scootaloo landed on the training ground to stretch her muscles and watched as Gilda completed her laps. They would be flying far, and they would be flying fast. She hadn’t been to Equestria in five years, and she didn’t want to spend any more time there than she had to.

“You ready?” Gilda asked as she landed beside her and started stretching.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Scootaloo replied. “Think Spike can actually protect us?”

“Well, he is a dragon,” Gilda said. “That’s gotta count for something.”

“Yes, but this is Nightmare Moon we’re talking about,” Scootaloo said.

“Look, Scoots, I don’t like it either, but the colonel’s right,” Gilda said with a sigh. “You were right. This zebra potion is too important. If we don’t get our talons on it, it’s all over.” The griffon sat down in the cave’s mouth and look out over the nest. “Who knows, Scoots. Maybe Shadow Strike will be there. I bet she’d give anything to get her hooves on that potion, too.”

“How do you know about Shadow Strike, anyway?” Scootaloo asked. Gilda had said the mysterious mare was somehow connected to Rainbow Dash’s death, but Scootaloo couldn’t see how. Both of them had seen the cyan pegasus’ last moments, that final sonic rainboom that was undoubtedly meant to knock Nightmare Moon back into orbit. Scootaloo hadn’t been on the front lines, but Gilda told her later that the attack had failed. When Scootaloo asked for more details, Gilda ordered her never to bring it up again.

“The colonel asked me not to talk about it,” Gilda replied. “He said it might upset the recruits, or something like that.” Scootaloo could tell from Gilda’s tone that she might hear more about the mysterious mare during the trip.

Spike arrived a few minutes later with large saddlebags tied to his sides and a pair of mechanical wings strapped to his back. “You ready?” he asked. The griffon and pegasus nodded, and the three took off, heading south towards Equestria. Scootaloo couldn’t help but look back at the Nest as it faded into the distance, shrouded in fog and clouds. The sun was just beginning to rise, and she knew the recruits would begin their drills soon.

“Are you feeling better, captain?” Spike asked. “You didn’t look so good last night.”

“Much better,” Gilda replied, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “It feels good to get out of the Nest, even if we do have to go through Equestria.”

Spike nodded. “Colonel Glade only lets me leave the Den to go hunting,” he said. “He says it’s too dangerous for me to wander around.”

“Well, you are the only connection we have with Zebrica,” Scootaloo said.

“Yes, but it’s not right for a dragon to be kept cooped up,” Spike replied. “Even though I lived most of my life with Twilight, I still need to get out and stretch my wings now and then.”

“Speaking of your wings,” Gilda said, “where did you get them?”

“Twilight made them for me,” Spike replied with a smile. “We never figured out why I didn’t have wings of my own, but Twilight thought they would help me fit in better with the other dragons.”

“Did they?” Gilda asked.

“Not really,” Spike answered with a sigh. “Dragons don’t really like anything that has to do with ponies, but Twilight meant well, so I kept using them. I’ve had to have them enlarged a few times, but they still work just as well as the first time Twilight showed me how to use them.”

“She sounds like a great mare,” Gilda said.

“The best,” Spike agreed.

They flew on for several hours, chatting about this and that, until they took a break for lunch at midday. “How much farther is it to Equestria?” Gilda asked.

“We’re getting close,” Spike replied, a shiver running down his body as he munched on a few gemstones. “I can feel it. I may not know how to use magic, but it always makes my scales itch.”

“How is it that the sun never rises there?” Scootaloo asked. “I mean, it rises just fine here.”

“And in dragon territory,” Spike added. “Twilight thought it was a kind of time spell, like Equestria was trapped in a time pocket or something, but she never explained it to me very well.”

The group took off again, and soon, Scootaloo could see Equestria’s border. It was as though a line had been drawn through the air, forbidding the sunlight to cross. The icy ground glowed in the moonlight, and she felt a few icy air currents leaking into griffon territory. “The spell’s gotten stronger,” Spike muttered. “And bigger. The border wasn’t always this close to the Nest.”

Though Scootaloo had prepared herself mentally to cross the border, she still gasped as the sudden cold struck her body. Her breathing quickened and her muscles tightened against the chill, and she had to concentrate just to keep her wings flapping. “How far to Zebrica?” she asked.

“A full day’s flight,” Spike replied, squinting his eyes against the falling snow. “We’ll land in Trottingham to rest. There’s an underground shelter there that will keep us safe from the elements.”

“I thought you said you could do that,” Gilda snapped.

“If you stay close to me, the heat from my wings can keep you warm while we fly,” Spike replied. Scootaloo instantly moved as close to the dragon as she could without getting caught in his updraft. It was still cold, but her teeth chattered a little less violently.

“So, captain,” Spike said after a few minutes. “How do you know about Shadow Strike? I haven’t met many non-ponies who’ve heard of her.”

“I was part of the griffon battalion that fought with Rain—I mean, General Dash during the fourth rebellion,” Gilda replied. “Right before the attack on Canterlot, we caught a strange mare outside the general’s tent. She said she had an urgent message. We told her the general didn’t want to be disturbed and to give it to us, but she wouldn’t give it to anypony but Dash.”

“Did she say why?” Scootaloo asked.

Gilda shook her head. “We thought the whole thing was pretty suspicious, but she ran off before we found out what she wanted. She was pretty quick for a pony—a little too quick, if you ask me. After the battle, some of the soldiers mentioned seeing her around camp. We put all the pieces together, and we realized she had been spying on us for a while.”

“It sounds more like she was trying to warn you,” Spike said.

“It would,” Gilda agreed, “except for what Nightmare Moon told the general before she killed her. I didn’t hear exactly what she said, but she basically told Dash that her spy, Shadow Strike, had told her everything.”

“Maybe she had a change of heart,” Spike suggested.

“Then why didn’t she just tell us?” Gilda asked. “The fact is, it’s her fault we lost that day. If not for Shadow Strike, our attack would have been successful. We were this close to beating Nightmare Moon.”

“But why would a pony be her spy?” Scootaloo asked.

“Ponies do desperate things these days,” Spike replied. “After the things I saw in Baltimare, a pony spy doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Hey, is the wind picking up?” Gilda asked. Scootaloo looked around and saw that the snow was falling more sideways than down. “What does it mean?”

“Hopefully, nothing,” Spike replied, beating his wings a little harder. “We should pick up the pace.”