Rosita handed Stanley the crystal. His hands crackled with yellow energy and he lit the crystal up. From the ground in front of them opened a portal at least thirty feet wide. Rosita peered down into it. "Guardaria is right down there?" she asked.

"Yes, but don't lean in. That is a one hundred foot drop! We need to safely jump in." Stanley said.

"How?" Rosita asked.

Stanley said, "There is a patch of bushes that come from another planet that are strong enough to hold a falling person under its weight. For us, it will be like landing on a mattress."

Trisha was running at them. "Rosita! That man is a monster!"

Rosita stared at the weretigress. "Stanley is not a monster! You saw Brewster trying to kill him!"

"One of my people was killed by Sheila and I am not taking anymore chances on crooks like him. Trisha, he had been harboring a portal for who knows how long?" Trisha pointed her fuzzy finger at him.

Girda, Nellie, and Drillsbury approached the portal. Unfortunately, Carmin the Clydesdale pegasus was there too. "Girda, you traitor, why are you here? Spying for the Emperor?" Carmin asked.

Girda spat on the ground. "You moron! I was banished her and remained stuck on this planet since the American Revolution! All the owners I had to desert and all the wars I saw prepped me for this very day. None of you patrol men are taking me or my crew tonight, or any other night!" Girda jumped into the portal. Nellie gave Carmin the middle finger before she left in.

Drillsbury said, "Stanley, you need to come now before we separate." The farmer jumped into the portal with his rifle in hand.

Stanley told Rosita, "We need to leave."

"Don't, come with me!" Trisha said. "We are friends in school."

Rosita looked from Stanley to Trisha. "Sorry, Trish, but I need to help them." Stanley leaped into the portal and Rosita plunged in after him.

Trisha muttered, "I will not loose her again!"

"YAAAAH!" Sheila lunged right at Trisha.

Carmin spotted Sheila sailing in the air. With her brown wing, she knocked Sheila off course. She fell into the portal but quickly grabbed onto the edge, hanging on. Carmin looked down on her with furrowed eyes and her ears back. "You killed one of my fellow officers. Consider this your execution." Carmin stomped on Sheila's hands, causing her to let go and fall into the portal.

"Curse you!" Sheila shrieked as she shrank into a tiny dot as she fell further into Guardaria.

A male Palomino pegasus arrived huffing. Alongside him was Captain Gallus and a female American quarter pegasus arrived. The female quarter pegasus asked, "What happened? Courtney has just been buried and a Class B experiment was found shot in the head and also buried here."

"Sergeant Basil, the portal to Guardaria has been opened." Carmin said.

"I sent the other remaining troops back." Captain Gallus said. "The five of us are going in after them. I told the rest of the patrol my plan and what to do if things don't work out right."

The male Palomino asked, "So you need help with what?"

"Wren, I need help with your sense of navigating the Wastelands. Miss Basil is a weapons specialist. Carmin can understand the psychology of crooks. Trisha will be our scout. She may have a chance at redeeming herself if she wants to come with us."

"Yes, I would, sir." Trisha said.

"Then get on Wren's back and let's get going!" Gallus ordered. Trisha climbed on Wren's back and they flew into the whole.

Glenda, who was on the roof of the flying train looked around and saw the place was deserted. "The patrol unit is gone and the farmers have left for the Wastelands." she called to Schnell on her phone.

"Well, then, get inside before we dive." Mr. Schnell told her. Glenda flew into an open door of the train. Nymph 787 closed the train door behind her.

"Thanks, bellethrite." Glenda said.

"I am Nymph 787. I am part of the nymph hive."

"Who is Nymph 1 then?" Glenda asked.

"The queen who laid our eggs." Nymph 787 answered.

"Alright, who is Nymph 2 then, the king?"

"He would be the drone." Nymph 787 replied.

Glenda then spotted Amber. "Yo, Amber, are dragons kind of like bees where the queen lays many eggs and sits on them until they hatch and are workers?"

Amber wrinkled her nose is disgust. "No, which rock have you been living under? Dragons have tribes on our planet and we do have many siblings but we have a dragon lord and lady governing us. We don't have hiveminds either and we are not insects. There are major differences, kiddo."

Glenda shrugged, "Chill out, Ember, I haven't learned that much about dragon species or cultures."

"My name's Amber!" the dragoness growled.

"I'm sorry, did I upset you?" Glenda grinned. "If you don't like it here, just fly off into another train car."

Amber just stared at her.



Download (6)
"That was below the belt, Glenda." Amber glared. "You know I don't know how too..." The dragon lady marched off."

Nymph 787 looked confused. "What's wrong with her?"

"Her parents never taught her how to fly when she was young. She learned how to survive on her but never to take to the skies." Glenda said. She started to feel bad for Amber. But she couldn't apologize. Amber might not even believe her as a reputation for being a bully in high school. Glenda made sure Amber was out of sight before seeing Mr. Schnell. To her dismay, Amber was already talking to him.

"I have my unicycle ready so I can practice once we land and..." She noticed Glenda. Amber furrowed her eyebrows.

Schnell had a knowing look on his face. "Glenda, dear, did you say something insensitive about Amber?"

"I asked her if dragons were like bees and she was irritated." Glenda started.

Schnell shook his head. "Dragons are not like bees."

"Then I told her if she didn't like what I was saying she could fly away into another train car." Glenda finished.

"Oh, Glenda, you know how that hurts Amber's feelings. Why don't you two shake hands and make up. We all need to pull it together if we want to succeed on our quest. Am I right or am I right?" Schnell smiled thoughtfully at them.

Glenda looked at Amber and said, "I'm sorry I was insensitive about your flying incapability and confusing dragons with bees."

Amber's face softened a bit and said, "Apology accepted." They both shook hands in truce even though neither of them looked very happy.

"Remember, we are a crew and so we need to all to get along." Schnell nodded.



End of Chapter