“Princess!” Twilight galloped into the hooves of her friend and mentor. “Oh thank goodness, you’re alright!”

“I could say the same to you, my faithful student,” Celestia smiled, embracing the little violet unicorn.

“Oh!” Twilight turned in the Princess’s hooves, realizing that this might be the first time her mentor had seen humans! She would need to act calmly and carefully, they couldn’t have the Princess panicking now. “Now, Princess, I know these guys may look weird, and some of them look like the things that are attacking us, but please rest assured that…”

“Hello again, Captain Vance,” Celestia smiled. “You may rise.”

Twilight turned in shock at the three humans gathered around the counter, who were all kneeling like ponies about to be knighted. “Thanks, your majesty,” Vance said as he stood. “And might I add that it’s good to see you again.”

“And you, Captain, though I wish it could be under better circumstances.”

“Um…sister…perhaps you could…” Luna started, motioning towards Vance and giving her a questioning look.

“Ah yes, forgive me sister: it has been a rather long day,” Celestia gestured to the Captain. “Luna, this is Captain Vance with the Armed Forces of the United States of America.”

“A pleasure,” Luna said, extending her hoof.

“Charmed,” Vance replied, taking the hoof and kissing it gently.

“And this would be his cadre,” Celestia continued, smiling at the red entering her sister’s cheeks. “I believe the man on the left would be Lieutenant Miller, and the one on the right is Lieutenant Parker.”

“It is an honor, Princess,” Miller said, following Vance and kissing Luna’s hoof.

“Same,” Parker said awkwardly, his lips missing and kissing just a bit higher on the Princess’s leg.

“Well,” Twilight said, her eyebrows rising. “It’s…nice that you know these humans, Princess.”

“Of course I do, dearest Twilight,” Celestia replied with a knowing smile. “After all: do you honestly believe all these men could have landed without my prior knowledge?”

“Woah woah woah,” Rainbow Dash said, stepping away from her friends and glaring at the Princesses accusingly. “You’re saying you knew all this was coming!? How!?”

“In due time, Ms. Dash, and besides, my companions would be better suited to answer that question.” With that, Celestia knocked on the hardwood floor with the edge of her hoof. There was a slight breeze, a draft flowing through the room as if the building itself were sighing, then a gentle gust picked up a stack of papers from the countertop and floated away with it, leading everyone’s eyes to the two men standing by the coolers along the back wall.

“Commander!” Parker gasped, and instantly all three men saluted.

“At ease,” the man in the leather jacket replied, stepping away from the cooler with his hands crossed behind his back. The ponies recognized him from their Humvee ride together, but something was a bit…off. He’s got some sort of darkness to him now, Twilight realized as this newcomer walked into the center of the room. He had this aura about him: something she couldn’t quite place. It was as if something was hardening his heart against the universe. But what?

“Commander, I must say it’s an honor to see you again,” Vance said, smiling as he extended his hand.

“And you, Captain,” the man in the leather jacket replied, shaking the hand briefly.

If Twilight hadn’t been sidetracked, she might have noticed how fake the smile on this man’s face looked. How utterly skin-deep it appeared. As it was, she immediately perked up with a realization: “Wait a second, you were on the radio earlier! You saved my brother!”

The man flashed his smile at her, and this time it was a smidgen more genuine. “That would be me, Ms. Sparkle. It’s nice to see you don’t need restraints anymore.”

“Well,” she blushed. “I…wasn’t quite in a proper…wait a minute, you weren’t there! How could you possibly know about that!?”

“Hold on, Twi,” Applejack said. “Ah’m sure you’ve got a lotta questions fer this guy, but Ah think he’s got some important business to handle with us first.”

“Right you are, Ms. Applejack,” the man said, a confident smile rising on his face, though with less strength than it had during the ride they had all shared in the Humvee. “And for the explanations, I think I’ll hand the spotlight over to my brother.”

“Leaving me with the dirty work, eh, Mikey?” The other man said with a smile that turned into a grin with the sight of his brother’s annoyance at the old nickname. All eyes shifted to him, most feeling embarrassed over having ignored this man until just now. Not that he was totally invisible: the fact that he was a Chinese man in a business suit standing in the middle of a battlefield would have set him apart at just about any other time. It’s just that he didn’t seem to command attention like his brother did, and by the reserved way he ambled into the center of the room and quietly leaned against a shelf, it was very possible that’s just the way he liked it. “My name is Chen Li. This is my brother, Michael. You can refer to either of us as Swarm, for we have both adopted that title. We have been in battle with the force now launching its assault into Equestria for quite a while, and we are here to help defend this village and halt the enemy’s advance once and for all.”

“That sums it up perfectly,” Michael said. “Thanks, bro.”

“Wait a second,” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “You’re sayin’ you’ve been fighting these guys all along, in the shadows?”

“I am.”

“Then what gives? How come we haven’t even heard of you yet?”

“I only make myself visible when it is needed,” Chen replied nonchalantly. “Now, it is needed.”

“Oh, real mysterious. What are ya, some kind of super warrior badass?”

“He likes to project that, at least,” Michael said, smiling playfully.

“Well, if you’re so awesome, why haven’t you beat these guys yet?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said, glaring at her friend. “That’s no way to…”

Before she could even finish her sentence, Michael strode up to the little teal pegasus and knelt, glaring right into her eyes. Dash glared right back, refusing to back up a single inch. “We vastly underestimated how…resourceful the enemy was. This is not a mistake we shall be making again.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really,” and this time, Swarm made sure the glare in his eye dared her to continue this conversation, dared her to just try and see what happened.

Rainbow returned the glare, but eventually shrugged. “Good enough for me.”

“Good,” as Michael stood up and returned to his brother’s side, Parker raised his hand.

“Um, Commander?” The Lieutenant asked.

“Yes?”

“You said the enemy was resourceful somehow: do you mean they were able to befriend somebody with those resources? Like, better technology and stuff?”

The man in the leather jacket grinned. “I knew there was a reason I chose you lot for this job,” he said, producing a file from his jacket and handing one to every being in the room (except his brother, of course).

“This is Mars,” Chen said as they all opened their files to find a picture of a dark-haired man in a gray trench-coat with a piercing gaze. “He is calculating, efficient, incredibly intelligent, and possibly the most powerful being in the universe.” Something wavered in his voice as he said: “Godlike, even.”

“This is how they can open up portals so well, right?” Miller asked. “This ‘Mars’ fella is openin’ them open for ‘em?”

“Precisely,” Chen continued. “I have already faced Mars in battle, and…I’m ashamed to say I did not fare quite as well as I had hoped.”

Michael stared at his brother in shock, the full realization of Mars’ rebellion beginning to hit him. Mars and his brother had fought, actually battled for dominance. As Chen continued, he slowly backed away from the conversation, slinking into a corner.

“So, if he can take on you lot,” Miller said behind him. “How are we gonna stand a chance against him?”

“Because this time we have something we didn’t have in our first confrontation with him,” Chen said, smiling as he clamped a hand on the human’s shoulder and pretending not to notice his brother in the corner, his back turned to everyone else, “your courage, and the courage of your men.”

“Hold up,” Vance said, standing up. “I am not going to use my men as meat shields just so you can get a decent shot at this one omnipotent asshole!”

“You insult me, Captain! Do you honestly believe I would ever make such a heinous plan? No, your men will handle the army backing Mars up. If anything, we will be using ourselves to hold Mars at bay while you deplete his forces.”

“By ‘we,’” Twilight said. “You mean…”

“Yes, my faithful student,” Celestia replied, trotting up to Twilight’s side. “He is referring to Luna and I.”

“Princess, no!” Rainbow Dash gasped.

“I-it’s too dangerous!” Fluttershy added.

“Equestria would be lost withoutcha!” AJ said.

“Without you, the Canterlot courts would fall to pieces!” Rarity said.

“Isn’t it about time we started wrapping all this exposition up? The audience might get bored if we don’t get another cavalcade of explosions soon.” Pinkie said.

Celestia raised a hoof for silence. “This is not up for debate, my little ponies. As a princess, I am the sworn protector of Equestria, forever bound to defend this land and its citizens from all threats, foreign or domestic. Even if doing so places myself in mortal danger.”

“Wouldn’t it be so badass if our president did that?” Parker whispered to Miller. “Like, if he had a nuclear-powered robo-suit or some shit.”

The SEAL shushed him while stifling a laugh.

“My sister is right,” Luna said, her voice rising to its familiar, thundering baritone. “WE WILL DEFEND THIS LAND WITH ALL OUR…”

“Sister, we’re indoors!” Celestia groaned, cleaning out her ear with the tip of her hoof.

“Oh, right,” Luna smiled sheepishly before continuing at a much more suitable volume. “We will defend this land with our dying breaths, but fear not: for we have absolutely no plans of dying today.”

“But how can you be so sure!?” Twilight moaned.

“Because we have the Elements of Harmony on our side,” Celestia cooed, taking Twilight’s chin in her hoof. “And the Elements have never failed Equestria before.”

“But we don’t have the Elements; they’re still locked up in Canterlot!”

“Not for long,” Celestia said, smiling as her horn flickered into action. Her eyes glowed with pure magical power as the air around her buzzed with energy, forcing Twilight to back off. “Um, sister?” Celestia asked in a voice buzzing with the magical currents beneath the universe itself.

“Right, sorry,” Luna blushed before tapping her horn at the base of Celestia’s, igniting it immediately with a swirling blue blast of moon-fueled magic. Her eyes glowed with power as the room trembled, forcing everyone in the room to back away to the furthest corner, huddled close together. Eventually, six small gems shimmered into view at the Princesses’ feet.

“Oh holiest God, don’t tell me that’s…” Parker started.

“…The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight gasped, smiling at the familiar sight. The gems sparkled with power as they flickered in and out of existence, shimmering in the glow of the magical torrent around them. Suddenly, they threw off a wild spark of magic. The flickering grew more and more rapid, visibly draining the Princesses’ magic until the two Alicorns collapsed on the floor, the Elements vanishing entirely.

“Whuh-where’d they go!?” Rainbow Dash gasped.

“It is as I feared,” Celestia sighed, picking herself up and helping Luna onto her hooves. “That was a teleportation spell using the same principles behind the technology you used to get here, Vance…”

“On a normal day, it’s unstable enough to wipe the Elements from existence entirely, losing them to the nether for all time,” Luna explained. “That’s why we’ve hesitated to use such a spell before.”

“But today’s not just a normal day,” Vance realized. “We’ve been punchin’ holes in the nether left and right!”

“This is true,” Celestia continued. “The fact that so many portals have been opened today greatly reduces the risk of losing the Elements. However, they make it almost completely impossible to pinpoint where the Elements have been teleported to, precisely.”

“Well, great,” Parker sighed, leaning against a window sill. “There goes our best weapon!”

“I wouldn’t say that, Lieutenant,” Vance said, a knowing grin spreading across his face as he pointed at the night sky behind his second’s head. All eyes focused on the sky, where six shooting stars had suddenly appeared just off the side of the moon.

“I should’ve known,” Luna said, smiling up at her element of power.

“The spell must have sent them into deep space!” Twilight gasped. “The Elements will be landing all over the place!”

“Well, what in tarnation are we waitin’ for!?” Applejack added, running for the door. “We’ve got us some element catchin’ t’do!”

“Wait,” Celestia gasped, galloping to Parker’s side and fishing a walkie talkie out of his pocket with her teeth.

“What’re you…” the Lieutenant started as she fiddled with it using a bit of her magic, but a quick glare from Vance silenced any questions he might have had.

“There,” the Princess said as the little device started beeping. “It’s infused with Alicorn magic now. It will start beeping the closer it gets to an Element.”

“Well, that’s…” Parker started as he scooped his talkie up, only to drop it instantly, his hand darting away as if it had touched a hot coal. “Sonuva…”

“What did you see?” Celestia asked politely.

“What?” He looked at everyone in the room, confused, but a reassuring look from Miller and Vance spurred him on. “I saw…a room with pink wallpaper. There were balloons everywhere. Games…cake and…pin the tail on the pony? I dunno, it looked like a little girl’s birthday party, but with ponies. Everybody was laughin’ and…”

“Whee-hee, sounds like fun!” Pinkie giggled.

“Laughter,” Celestia explained with a knowing smile. “That device will also provide a vision to anyone holding it to inform them which of the Elements are closest.”

“Well, with that all sorted out,” Rainbow said, picking up the small device by its antenna and gingerly handing it off to Twilight, who had a cloth ready and waiting to hold it. With the talkie safely in hoof, the pegasus gazed over at Celestia expectedly.

“Yes, Miss Dash,” the Princess said with a smile. “Now you may leave.”

“Finally!” She gasped, spreading her wings and taking off out the door with her friends right behind her.

“And hurry!” Miller yelled after them. “We can’t be sure how long we can hold out without the Elements!”

Chen took the momentary lapse in everyone’s attention to join his brother in the corner. He rested a hand on the man in the leather jacket’s shoulder: he knew nothing needed to be said, and so he remained quiet.

“He’s really gone, isn’t he?” Michael asked after a short while had passed.

“Yes. Come now, we must stop him.”

“Yeah,” Michael replied, silver tears streaking down his cheeks as he gazed upwards, trying his very best to swallow the massive lump growing in his throat. “I know.”