Skysurf grunted as she opened the access into the tunnel from the Hippogriff’s hut. Ignoring the commotion behind her.

“Skysurf, do you really want to risk it?” a sky-blue Hippogriff asked. “We’ve nearly got it all worked out.”

“I’m too busy to worry about it, Surfrider,” Skysurf frowned. “It all gets put out of whack when the Airship docks anyway.”

She looked into the tunnel, just in time to see Giselle hurrying through. “Hey, Giselle. Wait up!”

“No time,” Giselle beamed. “Hurry up, slowcoach.”

Skysurf grunted as she dropped into the tunnel and started following the excited Griffon. “Why the rush? What's going on?”

“Hurry up and find out!”

When she arrived in the Pony’s hut, Giselle practically bounded from the hole. Grinning as she saw that Skysurf was the last to arrive and they were all there. “We’ve got our loophole!”

“So, it worked then?” Sprout asked.

“You bet it worked,” Giselle beamed. “It took them ages to come looking. I was starting to think they weren’t going to bother.”

“Okay, so next thing is, do we have a target?” Thymus asked before turning to Sprout and Sugar. “Is there a watchtower they can access?”

Sprout nodded. “There is, but there’s an issue.”

“It’s three towers from your loophole,” Sugar grunted. “And there’s an incline in the way. I doubt you’ll be able to get around it.”

“Without help,” Sprout winked.

“Okay,” Skysurf said unsurely. “What do you suggest?”

Sugar snorted. “He thinks you’ll be able to ride in a cart. I keep telling him it won’t work.”

“No, it won’t,” Skysurf frowned. “They’ll see us inside the cart from the towers.”

“I never said in the cart.” Sprout winked. “Under it.”

“Oh, cling to the bottom you mean!” Giselle gasped.

“Finally, somecreature gets it,” Sprout grinned. “We pick you up and drop you off at the tower. Then we collect you on the way back and get you back to your blind spot.”

“Yes!” Giselle pumped the air with a clenched claw. “The plans coming together perfectly. When are we doing it? Tomorrow?”

“Not so fast,” Skysurf said as she folded her forelegs. “We need more planning here. Where are we boarding the cart? Who’s cart? How do we know there’s something to hold on to underneath it? How long will we be stuck at the tower before the ride back?”

Giselle scowled with annoyance. “Okay, there’s a few kinks. But I think we could still do it.”

“Nocreature said it wasn’t possible,” Thymus responded. “We just need to be careful.”

Skysurf nodded in agreement. “Leave it to me, I’ll find the answers to my questions tomorrow.”

“What!” Giselle exclaimed as she thrust her claws wide in exasperation. “But I...”

“Was seen getting fatigued in that area today,” Thymus cut in. “Skysurf is right, she should test it out.”

“You should try boarding a few carts,” Sprout suggested. “Check which will work best.”

“Agreed,” Skysurf nodded. “Leave it to me.”

“Which means we’re leaving it another day before we get the collars,” Giselle grunted.

Sugar sighed. “I hope we still get them before Sunny’s friends get here.”

“It will be fine,” Thymus said reassuringly. “I doubt they will have a way to move freely around the quarry. Truth be told, I am worried how they will contact us.”

“If they have magic, I’m sure they’ll have a way,” Giselle winked.

“Oh, they have magic,” Sprout nodded confidently. “Misty Brightdawn and Izzy Moonbow, they do.”

“Who?” Giselle frowned.

Sugar groaned with exasperation. “They’re Unicorns. Yet again, we’ll need to leave it to them.”

“Fair enough,” Thymus sighed. “Now, I must take my leave. My fellow Changelings are digging into the Diamond Dogs' hut tonight. I am hopeful of persuading them to join us.”

“Then you need to take some apples,” Sprout suggested. “Food will likely help.”

“Yes, a sample will do perfectly,” Thymus nodded.

Sometime later, after the other creatures had left, Sprout frowned as he watched Sugar giving out apples to the other ponies. When she’d finished, she spotted him staring and frowned back. “Problem, Sprout?”

“Yeah, I don’t get it.”

Sugar rolled her eyes. “That’s not exactly new. Dare I ask? What don’t you get?”

“What made you change?”

Sugar snorted. “I’ve not changed, don’t be so silly.”

“Deny it all you like,” Sprout smirked. “Before Sunny arrived, you wouldn’t have anything to do with escaping. Now though, you’re up to your flank in planning meetings.”

Sugar frowned and wrinkled her nose but didn’t respond.

“Okay, I’ll just have to assume it’s because Sunny will help you when we get home…”

“No.”

“No?”

“No, that’s not why I’m helping plan an escape,” Sugar sighed as she sat down. “I mean, it will be really nice of her. But no, I’m not helping because of that.”

Sprout smiled as he sat down beside her. “Then what changed your mind?”

Sugar sighed again. “Because… Because I wanted to… Well... Help Sunny.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I started to remember our time at school,” Sugar admitted. “How we grew closer whilst we were sat together. It…It made me realise how much of a jerk I’ve been since.”

“Hey, we’ve all been jerks to Sunny since school,” Sprout admitted. “Well, apart from Hitch. I mean he was basically her only friend.”

Sugar looked down sadly and sighed. “I…I’ve found out how suddenly finding you have no friends hurts.”

Sprout couldn’t help but look utterly confused. Sugar groaned and looked up at the ceiling.

“I know Sunny’s got an awesome group of friends now. But I still feel awful for how I treated her. Then there’s the whole Alicorn thing.”

“No, I get how you’d feel bad about that,” Sprout admitted. “I know I do.”

Sugar smirked deviously at him. “Feel bad for smashing a giant machine into her home?”

Sprout groaned as he looked down and shook his head. “Never going to live that one down.”

“Nope.”

“Wait, back up,” Sprout frowned. “You said something about having no friends. But I thought you had lots of friends?”

Sugar groaned and scowled at the ground. “I… Um….”

“Don’t want to talk about it,” Sprout deduced. “That’s fine, I’m likely not the best at hearing this stuff anyway.”

Sugar let out a deep sigh. “No, I don’t have any friends back in Equestria. They left me in the lurch as my modelling career disintegrated around me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, and then Sunny starts picking up our old friendship. Almost like she knew I needed a friend.

“So, I thought, what the hay, I’ll help. I mean it’s not like I enjoy being here either. Only now she’s been taken away from us.”

“It won’t be for long,” Sprout replied firmly. “Her friends will be here soon.”

Sugar sighed again as her ears flattened against her head. “Yeah, and then where will that leave me?”

“Don’t be silly,” Sprout scoffed. “Sunny isn’t going to leave you in the lurch.”

Sugar frowned in thought. “Y...You’re right, I don’t think she’s the kind of pony who’d do that. I’m just... Well...”

“Hey, it’s fine, you’ve just got to remember things are going to get better,” Sprout reassured. “We’ll do what we can tomorrow to help Skysurf. Then we’ll hopefully be ready to enact our plan.”

Sugar sighed before looking at Sprout and nodding determinedly.

Zipp smiled as she watched the sun start to peek its way over the horizon. She’d long since realised sunrise and sunset were a nice distraction from the monotony of following the Airship.

She checked a display showing the route they’d taken. The line crisscrossed back and forth onto itself repeatedly. It had even carried out a great deal of backtracking. It was as though the captain of the Airship was purposefully trying to confuse them.

However, before she could figure it out, her ear twitched as she heard the door behind her open. She glanced around and saw Feather Breeze yawning as she walked into the cockpit.

“Morning, Feather Breeze. You’re up early.”

“Is it? I…I don’t know,” Feather Breeze groaned. “I just seem to suddenly wake up. I can’t sleep anymore.”

Suddenly, Feather Breeze gasped as she spotted the sky. It was lit up in deep reds and pinks by the sun as it rose over the horizon.

“Red sky at night, Pegasus delight. Red sky in the morning, Pegasus warning,” Zipp sighed.

Feather Breeze blinked with confusion. “What?”

“An old saying,” Zipp explained. “A red sky in the morning means bad weather is on the way. I think I see it too.”

Feather Breeze gasped again, staring open-mouthed out the window. Suddenly, over to one side, there was a flash in the far distance from a dark black cloud.

As she continued to stare at the contrasting scene before her. Feather Breeze couldn’t resist, she had to start singing. She hadn’t noticed Pipp had walked in behind her.

'Cause rainbows won't light up the sky
Unless you let it rain
And candles just won't glow until they're burned
No, you can't give up your laughter
'Cause you're scared of a little pain
It's a lesson that my village never learned

Oh, yes, 'cause rainbows won't light up the sky
Unless you let it...

Raaaaaaaain!

As she finished, Feather Breeze gasped as she heard clapping behind her. She turned around to see Pipps beaming wide-eyed expression.

“That was gorgeous,” Pipp beamed. “Where did you learn it?”

“I…It’s a song passed down the generations of Kirin. It’s linked to the story I told you yesterday.”

Pipp came closer and was about to respond when she suddenly gasped. Her eyes widened and she froze, staring blankly forward.

“Pipp?” Feather Breeze gasped as she waved a hoof in front of Pipp’s face. “Pipp? What’s wrong?”

Zipp glanced back worriedly. “Pipp? Sis? You okay?”

Suddenly Pipp took a deep breath and shook her head violently. “I…I’m okay.”

She hurried to the door to the rear compartment. Opening it before shouting through. “Misty! Misty, it worked! I got that loud and clear.”

“Wait, got what?” Zipp exclaimed.

A bleary-eyed, but smiling Misty appeared at the doorway. “A message,” she yawned. “I…I finally managed to work it out.”

She held up the spell book she’d gotten from Strawberry, still open at the page she’d been working from.

“There are more messaging variations,” Misty explained. “This one, allows me to message anypony or creature that I know. They know it’s me and hear the message in their mind.”

“And seemingly lock up as they receive it,” Zipp frowned. “Maybe a little warning? I thought something was really wrong with Pipp.”

“Aww, you do care,” Pipp giggled.

“I can only use the spell once a day,” Misty yawned again, blinking as she struggled to keep her eyes open. “N…Now I’ve got that version down. I can look at another that allows the other pony to respond.”

Pipp gasped worriedly. “Wait? Misty! Have you been up all night again?”

“Y…Yeah,” Misty admitted. “I just felt so close to getting it right. Old Ponish is so hard. I…I’m going to bed now though.”

“Oh, you definitely are,” Pipp smirked. “Come on, you’ve got to stop doing this to yourself.”

“I…I’ll try,” Misty yawned.

She turned around and headed into the back cabin with Pipp hot on her tail.

Much later that day, Sprout was pulling a loaded cart through the quarry. As a larger cart passed him, it kicked up a huge amount of dust and he coughed violently as he accidentally inhaled a lung full of it.

Shaking his head as he recovered, he gasped as he spotted Skysurf appear from where she’d been hiding at the side of the roadway. He frowned with confusion, he was sure he’d seen her there earlier that day. Why was she back again?

Then, as he neared her position, Sprout blinked with confusion as Skysurf hurried out of hiding and scurried under his cart. Hooking her hind hoofs over the suspension and grasping on with her claws.

Worriedly, Sprout looked around to check there were no Nirik nearby.

“What’s happening?” he hissed. “I thought you’d done your recon?”

“No, still at it,” Skysurf responded. “We need to know if it’s possible to hold on long enough to reach the tower. Is there somewhere before it I can hop off and keep watch?”

“I think so,” Sprout responded. “I’ll give you a signal when to drop off. Just don’t talk unless I do.”

“Understood,” Skysurf nodded.

As Sprout continued onwards in silence, Skysurf soon found another flaw in their plan. The dust being kicked up from Sprout’s hoofs and the cartwheels was stifling. However, she realised there would be no getting around it, they’d just have to endure it.

As they passed through a tunnel under one of the inclines, two unloaded carts crossed them going the other way. Sprout gagged at the dust again whilst, beneath the cart, Skysurf couldn’t stop herself coughing. Eyes widening, Sprout quickly covered for her, making it look like he was the one coughing.

Which turned out to be a good thing as a Nirik entered the tunnel. Sprout couldn’t help but sigh with relief as it continued on its way without batting an eyelid.

It felt like an age for Skysurf as she continued to hold on. Her forelegs felt like they were burning as she tried to hold herself close to the underside of the cart. Finally, she heard a bang on the cart as Sprout kicked out a hind leg.

Taking that as her signal, Skysurf immediately unhooked her hind legs and dropped to the ground. As the cart disappeared from above her, she looked around and grinned as she spotted a few piles of rock.

Flipping herself over, she darted to the piles and settled down between them. She couldn’t help grinning, she had a perfect view of the watchtower.

“I don’t care what they say about you, Sprout,” she muttered. “Your military training is spot on.”

Thymus grunted as Skysurf and Giselle helped him from the tunnel and into the Pony’s hut that evening. “Much appreciated, today was far too hot.”

“We were starting to think you weren’t coming,” Giselle pouted.

“Well, I have good reason,” Thymus smiled as he gestured to the hole.

The others watched as a dark grey Diamond Dog appeared. Easily hoisting herself into the hut she looked around with interest as she sniffed the air.

“This is Bingo of the Diamond Dogs,” Thymus smiled.

Bingo snorted and scowled. “Changeling promised good food,” she grunted. “Food that I do not see. How do you have it? Explain?”

Sprout smiled as he stepped forward. “Is there any particular vegetable or fruit you’d like?”

Bingo’s eyes widened with a mixture of confusion and surprise. “Banana? Y…You have bananas?”

“We will in a second,” Sprout grinned as he looked over towards Sugar.

Sugar groaned and rolled her eyes. “Apples are way better but, whatever.”

She raised a forehoof and Bingo gasped as it glowed green. Then, after Sugar tapped her hoof on the ground, a small Banana plant grew up from the second hole. The bunches of bananas quickly ripen from a green to a golden yellow.

Bingo watched in awe as Skysurf first picked a bunch of bananas before she started passing them out. Then her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as Skysurf held one out towards her.

“Come on,” Skysurf smiled. “Trust me, if the apples are anything to go by these will be the real deal too.”

Bingo narrowed her eyes untrustingly as she leaned forward to sniff the banana. Then, her eyes widened as she gasped, quickly grabbing the banana with a paw. She sniffed it again before tentatively biting a small part from the end.

As she tasted the banana, she froze in surprise. Then she wolfed down the rest of the banana in excitement and joy. “Okay, Diamond Dogs in!”

“Glad to hear you are joining us,” Thymus grinned.

Bingo grinned with excitement. “What is the escape plan? Nirik are afraid of Diamond Dogs. They only have control due to evil collars.”

“Well, the collars are going to be key, and we need as much information about them as possible,” Giselle explained. “You say they’re evil, why?”

Bingo grunted as she took another banana. “They evil because they hurt us,” she growled. “We leave set areas, we are hurt. We don’t work, we are hurt. We do the wrong thing, we are hurt. Diamond Dogs would be free if it wasn’t for evil collars.”

“Interesting that you’re free to leave your hut then,” Skysurf pondered.

Bingo blinked, placing a paw near her collar worriedly. “Hadn’t thought of that.”

“More than likely, they don’t think you’d be able to escape your hut,” Thymus theorised. “The floor was certainly more resilient than the others.”

“So, what plans for collars?” Bingo asked hopefully. “Do you have way to get them off?”

“Not yet but there’s outside help coming,” Sprout explained. “Help that will be able to investigate the collars for us.”

“The Nirik aren’t actually against us,” Skysurf revealed. “The collars are trapping them.”

“They’re prisoners the same as we are,” Sugar sighed. “Forced to do things against their wills.”

“We just need to get into a watchtower,” Thymus explained. “Then gather examples ready for when help arrives.”

Bingo looked doubtful. “How do you know help coming?”

“Pony magic,” Sugar replied simply.

“The only issue being the pony with the magic is now in High-Security Confinement,” Giselle groaned.

Bingo’s eyes widened. “Marlowe came back from there today. He says there was sparkly pony with wings and horn.”

“Orange?” Sugar gasped.

“Yes, an orange pony with sparkly wings and horn,” Bingo grinned.

“That’s Sunny,” Sprout smiled. “She had contact with her friends. They’re following the Airship.”

Bingo sighed and shook her head. “He says she all chained up though. Doubt she able to help.”

“I’m sure her friends will find a way to contact us when they arrive,” Thymus replied. “Skysurf, was your day successful?”

Skysurf smiled. “Yes, yes it was.”

“I hope so,” Sprout frowned. “You spent a lot of time scouting and not much time working.”

Thymus looked at Skysurf worriedly. "I hope you didn't get into trouble."

“Don't worry about me,” Skysurf responded. “It's more important that I’ve worked out most of the kinks. Enough that we can act tomorrow. This is what we do..."

Author's Note

Feather Breeze is singing this version of 'A Kirin Tale': https://youtu.be/JZQGdH0tGMc?si=Sp4ve2j_fcAhWVhL