“Lightning falls to the ground and feigns sleep. Two ponies walk into the room. Although you cannot see them, you can hear what they are saying,” Crystal said.

“So which ones are next?” asks mysterious pony one.

“Well, we just got two new ones from the rabbit lure,” says pony two.

“We need to put then through Rest though. Do they need The Shot?” asks pony one.

“No, The Shot expires every week. Its only been five days. Don’t want to waste more Shots then we have to,” explains pony two.

“Alright. Who are we taking to The Wash?” pony one asks.

“Hmmm… lets take these three. They already got The Shot four days ago,” pony two decides.

“Well, we need to prod them first. We got to make sure we didn’t pick up any Pure-Bloods. Heh, that’ll be the day. They’ve been long gone since The Master was born,” pony one says.

“Yeah, well, you can never be too certain,” pony two says as you hear him kick the three ponies five times each. “Yep, today doesn’t seem to be the day. The thing too is that if they were Pure-Blood, then they would have been up and out of this room. Then there would have been a crisis. Heh, its funny how weak these sleeping fools are.” Both ponies laugh as they exit the room.

“You quickly scan the room and you see the spot the three ponies used to be in. Nothing else has changed except the hidden door seems to still be cracked open. The guards can no longer be heard. What do you do?” Crystal asked.

“This is a lot of random information to absorb. It doesn’t help when you throw a lot of vague, unspecific proper nouns at me. I keep trying to wake you,” Lightning said.

“You shake me, slap me, and speak into my ear but I do not wake up. Now what?” Crystal asks.

“Fine. I open the door and snoop around,” Lightning decided.

“Fair enough. You slowly open the door and walk down the hall. About halfway down this dimly lit, concrete hall, you sneeze. Not very loudly but a sneeze all the same. You then open your eyes and see the light of laser beams deflecting off the water vapor you sprayed out when you sneezed. You also realize that you are standing in the middle of one. No alarm goes off. What do you do?” Crystal asked.

“Wow, lasers? Nice touch. Ummm… I guess I keep going,” Lightning decided.

“As you continue walking, no alarm sounds. You reach the end of the hall and find a door. You faintly hear voices from the other side. What do you do?” Crystal asked.

“I eavesdrop on their conversation,” Lightning said.

“Ok. At the start of their conversation, you can tell that one of the speakers is from earlier and that there is a new voice talking to him,” Crystal explained.

“So you have picked more for The Wash?” asks pony three.

“Yes sir. They all got their Shots and they came from the arrow lure,” explains pony two.

“So they have different “lures” set up in order to take ponies,” Lightning said.

“Wow, you actually put two and two together for once! Now hush up and pay attention,” Crystal scolded.

“Fantastic. Begin their training immediately after The Wash. Our preparations are almost complete and, as The Master expected, no Pure-Bloods shall interfere. I shall report to The Master for he will be pleased. You are relieved sir,” pony three says.

“Thank you sir,” you can hear pony two trot off but pony three is not heard.

“You now hear pony three’s hoofsteps and they are getting louder. What do you do?” Crystal asks.

“Oh sugar. I uhh…” Lightning thinks a moment.

“Too late. The door in front of you begins to open. The pony you meet on the other side is maroon, very buff, has a black mane, some scars, and a sword for a cutie mark. He stares at you, utterly in shock,” Crystal says.

The pony finally finds a hold on himself. “Thank Celestia you’re here!” The pony sounds relieved.

“What?” Lightning says, confused.

“You… oh no. You need to leave here now! Come! Follow me!” The pony is franticly urging you down a hall.

“Wait, I have a friend in there!” Lightning points back to the room he was sleeping in.

“Well then go get ‘em! We don’t have much time! Hurry!” The pony pushes Lightning down the hall.

“You go up to Crystal, me, and you lift her onto your back and begin trotting back to that pony,” Crystal explained. “The pony shows you the way to a small hatch in the ceiling.”

“That should lead you close to Ponyville. Once there. Met up in the Library  with my partner. Just tell the Librarian you want to check out a book on Dragon Origins and a book on Poisons. She’ll know what to do. My name is Scar Stride, by the way,” Scar says.

“I’m Lightning Striker and this is Crystal Flower,” Lightning says.

“Lightning Striker, you have no idea how important you are,” and with that, Scar shoves Lightning and Crystal out the hatch and they find themselves at the road.

“Not far down the road you can see Ponyville’s skyline. It is night so it would be hard to miss,” Crystal explained.

“Don’t worry Crystal, we’re almost home.” And Lightning began trotting down the road once again.