"The reflection, of course!"

I pushed the window open, and dived out, landing outside in a heap. I soon collected myself up and ran for it, with the light from above now taking on a rather threatening tone compared to the warm light that it once held over the landscape.

I had to figure out which way my friends had gone. The landscape was still threatening, and I still hadn't entirely figured out the pathways within this place. But continue galloping I did.

Once the rituals were stopped, other unicorns soon joined the chase. I also overheard our friend shouting.

"BRING OUT THE HOME GUARD! HUNT DOWN THE INTRUDERS AND DEAL WITH THEM!"

Doors were opening, and soldiers were emerging from doorways, clad in their gear and carrying rifles. No, I'm no gun nut, but the weapons didn't exactly look modern. I mean, who puts wood on a modern rifle when plastic exists?

I continued on my way through the darkness, my eyes trying to focus on my destination. However, things soon got a little easier as I saw some distinctive shapes bounding through the treeline.

Up ahead I saw them. Sunny was leading the charge, with hopefully all the crystals still in her possession. We had to keep up the pace or else risk getting left behind.

I was soon running in line with them once more, but I seemed to be arriving partway through a conversation as they talked.

"When was it established that Alphabittle's my dad?" Misty asked Izzy. You know, that was a question I was wandering too, but this was hardly the time to be asking myself about these sorts of things at the moment. After all, we had an escape to focus on.

Izzy, unfortunately, got a bit distracted. "I dunno. I guess we could discuss it a bit more if we get some time but-"

Luckily, Hitch seemed to be in tune with the times, and got us back on focus. "Guys?" he called, looking behind us. "Less discussing the plot, more running! I suspect Alphabittle's gonna have every unicorn in Bridlewood on our tail!"

Guys? Interesting choice given that four of our party of six was female, but I suppose it was just a bit of curious phraseology he may have brought with him from the old world. But still we kept going along, determined to not get caught up in the mess.

Izzy, unfortunately, took him completely literally, and glanced back at her tail. "There isn't a pony on my tail!" she said. "I doubt it could support the weight of a fully grown pony!"

"Not what he meant!" Sprout said. "Less talking, more running!"

As we weaved about within Bridlewood, I quickly got the impression that none of us had any clue where we were going in this place. I was pretty certain we'd galloped past that tree at least three times now. This was all very confusing, and had to be leading up to something.

It seemed Pipp shared my frustrations. "Anypony have any clue where we are?"

Sunny shrugged. "No clue! Dad's map doesn't include the interior pathways of Bridlewood!"

"No surprises there then!" Misty said. "I don't think he ever went to Bridlewood!"

Misty rejoining the conversation made me think about something. If Alphabittle really was her father, than frankly she deserved better than a bigot like him. I had to do something to ensure she didn't fall back into his clutches, or else she may just end up another drone in the machine.

A machine that could well lead to the destruction of the world.

"Find the earth ponies! Find the pegasus!" shouted a unicorn solder.

"That's kinda what we're doing!" another answered.

We tried to keep going before suddenly barreling into a clearing, which was empty. Izzy then heard what appeared to be tanks, and some conversation.

One phrase stuck out to me. Your Majesty. As far as I knew the only nation in the G5 world that has a monarch is the Pegasus Empire, as the earth ponies have a President (Mr. or Madame, depending on the gender), and the unicorns... well, I wasn't sure what they had. Maybe I'll ask Izzy later.

But the existance of a Majesty strongly suggested the Queen was here. Well, that does square with the movie, as Queen Haven reunites with her daughters after the dancing game, but I had spotted Zipp was absent from our group.

Suddenly, Zipp appeared, looking weary but very much alive. Turns out she and her mom had been wandering across mountains, trying to find their way here. So, Zipp had seemingly been locked up in the Zephyr Heights prison as well, which was an unexpected change I will admit.

But once it seemed we had all reconciled, Alphabittle and his crew rolled in, alongside a pair of tanks. That was rather a lot of firepower for just a group of civilians like us. Well, two of them were cops, but we were hardly what you'd call a battle hardened soldier.

I stepped back whilst some arguing went on, with Queen Haven's ability to hold her own on the field of rhetoric striking a chord with me. As I mentioned all the way back at the start of this saga, my mom- old world, not Phyllis- is from the South, and had the 'fiery speaker' bit of the archetype firmly nailed down in every respect.

But then a message interrupted them, with an insane guy apparently planning on blowing things up. Well, that escalated quickly.

No sooner had that happened than an alliance was struck between the pegasi and the unicorns to overthrow him. And I somehow got roped into this as well.

I had very little clue what was going on now, so I just had to play along as best I could. As long as I could keep Misty by my side and ensure she was safe, I was happy. Seems I would get to see Zephyr Heights after all.

Just it'd be nice for it not to be a warzone.

Author's Note

And that is a wrap on Phase Four for of Rebirth of Magic! For my side anyways. :)

Next month shall begin Phase Five as we return back to Izzy Moonbow once more. :3