Dominic looked around him, quietly taking in the beauty of the landscape around him. Blue skies and grassy hilly plains as far as the eye could see. A single sakura tree rose on the horizon, beside it was a simple looking house. The man didn’t know why, but he knew he had to get there. Adorned in his jacket, helmet, and other attire, he began walking through the grass. Each step he took was cautious, not knowing if the infected could be lurking in the fields of green around him.

When he finally reached the house he stopped to look at the cherry blossoms on the tree, he’d never really been one for Japan, but he had to admit it was rather beautiful. A pit of sadness formed in his stomach and he looked towards the ground, quietly he knelt down and picked up a fallen blossom. With a faint smile he looked it over before tucking the beautiful flower into one of the buttonholes on his jacket. When he stood up he turned to look at the house, the siding was light pink and there was a simple deck with a chair on the porch.

Slowly he approached it, cautious as ever, his boots caused the wood of the deck to creak under his weight. Slowly he reached for the handle, until he froze and knocked loudly, knowing the noise would stir any infected hiding inside. To his surprise he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

“Come in!”

“Maria…?” Dominic asked himself before he pushed the door open, sure enough when he stepped inside the house he saw her. Her long hair and cocky smile were just as he remembered, the home was decorated with antique furniture. Pictures hung on the wall, pictures of the two of them.

“There you are.” She said with a smile as she walked forwards and began to remove his jacket. “Why do you keep wearing this stuff when you go out there?”

“Because they could be out there.” Dominic replied, a bit confused. Maria gave him a sad frown and removed his helmet before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek.

“They aren’t out there, not anymore… You must be so tired from work…” The woman took his hand and walked him to the couch in front of the window. She sat down with him beside her and pulled him close. “Come rest your head… It’s alright…” Dominic didn’t resist as she held his head to her bosom, running a hand through his hair and sighing softly. “You’re home… Mister President.”

“What…?”

“Mister President.” Rolling Thunder said loudly, Dominic’s eyes shot open and he sat up straight. His back ached from sleeping on the floor, but aside from that, he felt better than he had in long awhile. “Sorry to wake you, sir, but it’s eight o’clock.”

“Oh… Right, sorry…” Dominic stood up tiredly and put his helmet on, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them. “What’s the word?” He asked with a yawn, looking around the room he saw that Fortress Wall and Shining Armor were sitting at a simple table situated by the window, looking outside at something Dominic couldn’t see.

“Nothing much to report, sir. Everything’s been pretty quiet so far.” Rolling said as he gestured to his two compatriots at the window. “We’ve retrieved the map as you suggested, we’re trying to make sense of some of the things on it.” Dominic quietly walked towards the map and looked it over, taking note of a couple items that had been circled. “We’ve circled things that could be of use to us or are otherwise important, so far we’ve found a fuel depot, a food store, this Motel, and the high school.” The Major gestured to the spots on the map, tapping the last one for emphasis. Dominic spotted something right off the bat as well, and quickly tapped it with his finger.

“Mall.” He said simply. “This is a place where we’ll be able to find a good deal of what we need.” The others nodded and quickly circled it on the map. “It also turns out that human teenagers love to hang out at the mall, meaning it will most likely be the best place for us to contact or capture Sunset Shimmer.”

“Who?” Shining Armor asked, adjusting the collared shirt that he was wearing.

“The threat we told you about, remember?” Dominic replied, Shining nodded quickly and looked back at the mall. “Only thing is if we go in there looking like a tactical team, they’re gonna know something’s up, did anyone pack civies?”

“No sir, we don’t generally wear clothes aside from our uniforms.” Fortress Wall replied, Dominic nodded and facepalmed at his carelessness.

“No worries, I packed some extra clothes you can borrow until we get you some that actually fit.” Dominic pointed to his backpack, the others looked to the pack and marveled for a moment. “I’m gonna step outside and get some air while you guys change.”

“Understood.” Rolling said as he and the others walked towards the pack, Dominic tightened his coat and removed his helmet before stepping outside. With that he opened the door and quickly stepped out in order to preserve the heat in the room, when the door was closed he rubbed his hands together and looked at the freshly fallen snow that glinted in the morning light. Quietly he walked towards the truck in the parking lot, it was hard to miss the hulking olive drab machine next to all the smaller cars.

Now that Dominic saw it in the light he could see that the doors had something painted on them, pictures that he recognized easily. The false cutie-mark he’d been given, a fist clenching an arrow and an olive branch, with writing beneath them in latin. ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum.’. It looked more like the kind of vehicle a Private Security Contractor would drive than a legitimate military vehicle, then again, it wasn’t really a legitimate military vehicle in this world’s eyes.

The man approached the vehicle and ran his fingers over the lettering before he opened the passenger door and climbed up into the cab. Leaving the door open he began to look through the papers that had spilled out of the glove box the night before, honestly curious about how they had gotten there. A registration paper and an insurance card belonging to a company named ‘Chaos and Chaos’ with a smiling picture of a familiar draconequus at the bottom.

“Of course…” He mumbled to himself with a slight chuckle, he froze as he heard snow crunching outside. It was slow, moving as if whoever was there didn’t want to be detected, Dominic’s hand slipped into his jacket and grasped the grip of his revolver. The man paused and took a deep breath, thinking of Luna and Maria once again, and his hand left his revolver. Instead he turned in the seat and cleared his throat. “You out there, you can stop sneaking around, I don’t bite.”

The person moving stopped, a few moments later the source of the noise came into view. Dominic recognized the badge, blue clothes, and hat immediately. He was very glad he’d chosen to leave his weapon holstered.

“Morning, officer.” Dominic said in a cordial tone. The police officer, a woman with orange skin and fiery hair, stared at him for a few moments. “Something wrong? I don’t think I was speeding…”

“I got a report last night about a vehicle that had driven all over the local school’s property, this seems to be it, mind explaining yourself?” The officer asked, Dominic leaned forwards and caught a glimpse of her name tag. ‘S. Fire’.

“Ah, well, you see there was a bit of an incident last night, between us and a young teen driver.” Dominic began, leaning back in his seat quietly. He didn’t want to lie to the officer, that wouldn’t be the right thing to do, but there was no real way to describe what had actually happened without being arrested or carted off to the Canterlot Laughing Academy. “That forced us off the road. The car was dark grey-”

“With lightning bolts on the side?” The police officer asked, Dominic nodded. “Flash… That little fink…”

“It wasn’t his fault, officer, he hit a patch of ice.” Dominic added, the officer looked at him for another moment before sighing and shaking her head.

“I have too much of a headache for this… Just… Next time stay on the curb, okay? I’ll let you off with a warning.” The officer said, Dominic nodded again and the woman rubbed her temples before walking away. Dominic went back to looking through the papers like the incident hadn’t happened, until all of them had been put back into the glove compartment. He briefly looked up as the cop car pulled out of the parking lot, it felt like watching a ghost. He couldn’t help but wonder how would these people fair against the tide of the infected, that thought forced him to shake his head.

The man hopped out of the cab and closed the door, sighing and putting his hands in his pockets before he began walking back towards the Motel room. He only stopped when he heard laughter across the street, slowly he turned and watched a couple high schoolers walking down the road with bags over their shoulders. A sad smile crossed his lips before he turned back to the door and knocked.

“You all set in there?” He asked, pushing the door open a tad.

“We’re set.” Fortress replied, Dominic pushed the door open and got a look at his companions. Rolling Thunder had taken to wearing some jeans and a grey t-shirt, using his black fatigue shirt as a sort of jacket. Fortress had gone with a similar look, only his shirt was more of an olive brown. Shining Armor was still in his suit, figuring it would be alright.

“Alright, let’s roll then, the sooner we get this done the sooner we go home.” Dominic clapped his hands together, getting a couple more nods from his fellows. “Rolling, I’m gonna need you to hold down the fort on this one. You’d stand out at a mall anyway.”

“You got it, chief. I want to see what’s on this TV thing anyway.” Rolling replied, reclining on one of the beds. Dominic walked in and began going through the bag of money they’d carried with them all this way. From within he counted out three thousand dollars and divided it up into fifteen hundred each, then handed one stack to Fortress and keeping the other half for himself.

“We’ll split up at the mall, so you’ll need some currency.” Dominic explained, Fortress nodded and tucked it into his breast pocket on his fatigues. Shining felt a tad left out, looking at Dominic with a small frown. “Hey, these are government funds, to be used to aid in our mission only.”

“Oh…” Shining said with a bit of a sigh, Dominic looked at him for a moment before plucking a couple hundreds from the bag and handing them to Shining.

“This is from my presidential salary, so it’s out of my pocket, technically.” Dominic explained, the stallion took it and put it in his pocket. “That’s it though. This isn’t a sightseeing trip. Remember?”

“Right… I’m sorry. I just thought it’d get something for Cadence is all, I guess I kinda forgot for a second.” Shining explained, Dominic patted him on the shoulder before turning to walk to the door.

“Don’t worry about it, we all get stupid sometimes.” He said over his shoulder, Fortress and Shining followed behind him as they closed the door, leaving Rolling Thunder to sit and watch television. Their boots crunched the snow as they walked to the truck, Dominic was quick to climb up into the driver’s seat and turn the key.

“I’ll ride in back, sir.” Fortress said, Dominic nodded and let Shining climb into the passenger side. When Dominic heard Fortress knock on the window he knew he was secure, the man put the vehicle into reverse and carefully backed up as best he could. It took him a while since the truck was so large, but once it was clear of the smaller cars Dominic found it quite easy. Feeling a bit daring the man reached forwards and turned on the radio, some weird comercial began playing and he quickly changed it to something that was playing electronic music. It wasn’t perfect, but music was music.

Dominic shifted into first and soon enough they’d pulled out of the motel and onto the road, Shining was staring at the radio with a bit of surprise.

“That’s TV before there was TV.” Dominic explained as he continued down the snowy road, passing by more kids on their way to school along the side of the road. “Radio’s pretty cool, actually that’s one of the reason’s we’re taking this trip to the mall, gonna get a bunch of them.”

“Why?” Shining asked, Dominic chuckled and turned down the music.

“Battlefield knowledge in real time.” He said simply, Shining’s eyes widened. “The United States is in a bit of a spot right now, we need all the edge we can get, especially with what we’ll be doing in the next year or so…”

“Why don’t we have this technology in our world?” He asked, Dominic shrugged as he kept on driving down the road. “There’s so much we could do.”

“Slow down there.” Dominic said sternly, looking at Shining with a serious expression. “This is serious hush hush information, do you know the kind of shit storm we’d see if ponies found out about where we are now? That’s why that letter Luna sent you ‘disappeared’, I had my agents burn it before the ink was dry.” The Prince adjusted his tie nervously as Dominic continued his driving, he took a few deep breaths and shook his head. “Sorry I got so intense on you there…”

“I understand.” Shining replied, leaning back in his seat and watching the scenery go by. “I guess I never really saw you as the ‘Leader’ type, I certainly never saw you as the espionage type.”

“Yeah… I’m a regular Jason Bourne…” Dominic said sarcastically, Shining raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. The president messed with the radio again, groaning a bit. “Do all of you only ever listen to electronic music? There’s no rock or metal here…”

“Hey, I happen to like Countess Coloratura.” Dominic heard Fortress comment from the back of the truck, the man shrugged as he took another turn. He slowed to a stop as he saw there was a bit of traffic, most likely parents dropping off their kids to school. Dominic felt a pang of grief run through him, visibly wincing for a moment before he shook his head.

“Does make me wonder though… What it’s gonna be like…” He mumbled to himself, Shining looked at the man, not sure if he was addressing anyone in particular. Dominic thought of Luna and Maria again, his eyes glancing down at his pocket where he had tucked Luna’s feather. “Hey, Shining…?”

“Yeah?” The stallion-turned-human replied.

“You and Cadence… How did you know she was… Well, you know…” The man asked quietly, not taking his eyes off the road as the engine rumbled and the dark clouds began to close in on the sky once more. The truck inched forward with the traffic, it seemed that some parents were taking their sweet time, not that Dominic minded.

“We knew each other a very long time. Practically grew up together.” Shining said wistfully before he looked at Dominic with a sympathetic expression. “Is this about you and Luna?”

“It’s more than that…” Dominic admitted, Shining noted the traffic jam and Dominic figured he didn’t have much choice. “There’s a girl back on Earth that I’ve known my whole life, and she loves me… But she thinks I’m dead. I have a chance to save her, and I want to, because I love her too… But…”

“But you love Luna too.” Shining finished for him, Dominic nodded.

“I think so… I don’t really know… I only felt this way about someone once before, and that time I didn’t know what it meant…” The man said, Shining Armor remained quiet for a few minutes, occasionally humming in thought, meanwhile the traffic was starting to move along and the radio continued to play.

“Ask yourself this…” Shining finally said, looking over at Dominic with his own serious expression. “Who are you willing to hurt?” The man nearly stomped on the brakes as he looked at Shining, his eyes wide with anger. “Love isn’t just about being happy all the time… There are times where you’ll have to say something or do something that hurts the one you love, but it’s for their own good…” Shining sighed as he looked out the window. “Cadence wanted to have foals a while ago… And we tried and tried and tried, but it didn’t happen… I went to a doctor, and it turns out there’s a one in a million chance that we wouldn’t be able to conceive.”

Dominic was giving as much attention as he could to Shining Armor now, as the traffic had stopped completely.

“It turns out I’m that one in a million chance… And… It hurt her when I told her…” Shining’s voice veiled a bit of self loathing, an emotion that Dominic was all too familiar with. “The odds, well, they’re one in a million… If it wasn’t Cadence though… I might not have told her the truth, I would’ve made something up about not being ready and preserved her happiness… But she had a right to know, even if it hurt her.”

Dominic remained quiet, letting the story sink in as he continued to sit in the traffic jam. The radio played quietly in the background, and Shining Armor was sitting with a look of mild aggravation on his face.

“You should wait until you see this girl on earth again… If the feeling is still there, it’s probably meant to be.” Shining added, sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “That’s how I knew what it was with Cadence.”

“Thanks, Shining…” Dominic finally spoke, his passenger only nodded. Finally the traffic began to move and they were driving past the high school in no time, Dominic briefly looked over and spotted a couple familiar faces in the crowd, not that he said anything. That was until he spotted the woman standing by the front door, then he looked at Shining and let out a groan. “Uh oh…”

“What?” Shining asked, Dominic shook his head and continued driving.

“Don’t worry about it, it probably won’t matter…” Dominic replied, the stallion gave him a slight glare. “So, there’s mirror images of ponies in this universe. Like Princess Luna is now Vice Principal Luna.” Dominic gestured to Shining Armor. “We’d planned the mission with us in mind, because I’m not a pony and the others aren’t really big in the public eye we figured we could get by…” Shining Armor nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry about it though, anything happens we’ll take care of it.”

The man hit the brakes once again as traffic stopped up ahead, he could see that there seemed some sort of commotion. Dominic rolled down the window and leaned out to get a better look, what he saw was that someone had hit a patch of ice, for real this time, and their car had slid into a tree. Dominic shook his head and hit the blinker, there was a turn coming up on the left anyway, it’d be easier just to go around the accident. As he waited for an opening in the traffic to turn he saw Shining turn up the radio.

“So… I have a question.” Dominic asked, Shining nodded again. “How does a pony get famous as a pop star if Equestria doesn’t have radio…?” Shining Armor shrugged as he leaned back in his seat. “I mean… I’m not the only one that finds that weird, right?”

“Nope.” Shining replied. “It’s actually a very good question… I think it had something to do with records, but, I don’t know. I don’t really listen to music that much, it sort of sounds the same.” Dominic shrugged and tapped his hands on the steering wheel as he waited for the traffic to move so he could at least shift into first gear.

“I’ve got another one for you.” Dominic said, Shining nodded again and looked at him. “You’re in charge of the Crystal Empire, right? So why not take the title Emperor as the name would imply?” Shining chuckled and leaned his head back against the wall of the truck cab.

“Cadence thought it sounded too martial.” He adjusted his tie as he spoke, Dominic only nodding at his answer. “And King would make our subjects uncomfortable, since, you know what their last king did.”

“What about Luna and Celestia though?” Dominic added, groaning as now it seemed everyone had stopped to stare at the accident up ahead. “They’re both in charge of Equestria, why aren’t they both Queens? Is it like a comfort thing or…”

“Equestrian law says there can only be one Queen, for whatever reason… So one of them would have to get married in order for them to become Queen.” Shining explained, Dominic nodded again, now sort of listening to the radio as well. Feeling a bit annoyed he pulled the cord hanging by his head that would activate the horn, sure enough the air horns on the roof blared to life and people around the truck stared at it in surprise. Dominic was a bit surprised himself, but not at how loud it was. The horn had played ‘Dixie’ like some weird homage to the Dukes of Hazzard.

It seemed to have an effect though, as the vehicle in front of Dominic pulled up a couple feet, giving the man more than enough room to pull out of the traffic jam before he turned down the street on the left, leaving the other cars behind as his truck trundled through another residential area. Dominic found himself smiling faintly as he looked around again, taking another breath as he thought of all the times he and Maria had played in the old neighborhood. Eventually he turned right and the vehicle was running parallel to the road that had been stopped up by traffic. After a few minutes he turned right once again and drove on until he’d reached the main road.

“Judging by the map I saw, the mall should be coming up ahead of us soon…” Dominic mused, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, occasionally letting his arm hang out the still open window. “I hope they’re open this early, otherwise we might end up having to kill time.” Shining Armor just shrugged at the prospect, looking out his own window at the houses and buildings. There was nothing like them in Equestria or the Crystal Empire, they all looked so strange and yet so normal. “Hey, do you know how to use a sword?”

“Yup.” Shining replied lazily, he looked over at Dominic with a raised eyebrow. “Why?”

“Luna said she wanted to train me to use a sword, but I don’t know the first thing about it.” Dominic replied, Shining Armor blinked for a few moments before he cleared his throat.

“If Luna wants to teach you how to use a sword she must really see something you, and I don’t mean in a lovey dovey way, she hasn’t trained anyone with a sword… In… Since before either of us were born, at least.” Shining said with a bit of a squeak in his voice, Dominic gulped once again, he was certain he didn’t want to fail Luna now, even more than he had been before. “It’s not like using that weapon of yours, you need to be a lot more fluid with your movements, that’s about all the help I can give, since I’m a unicorn. You’d be better off asking a minotaur.”

“Alright…” Dominic replied before he perked up as they passed a sign for the mall, he flicked the blinker on and quickly turned the truck into the large parking lot. There were certainly a good amount of cars, and the massive truck stood out among them with its sheer size alone. “Looks like we might be in luck.” Dominic pulled the truck into a parking space near the front door, he was very glad to have found it in the first place. It was a rather tight fit to get the truck between the two smaller cars on either side, but Dominic managed to do it. “Alright… So, if you see yourself in there, don’t say anything. If they ask about you say you just have one of those faces that get’s recognized… Or, you know, book it the hell out of there.”

“Good plan.” Shining said with a hint of sarcasm.

“You got a better one?” Dominic asked, Shining didn’t reply. “That’s what I thought…” The man killed the engine and put the keys in his breast pocket, he paused as he felt the softness of Luna’s feather, sighing for a moment before he opened his door and climbed out. “Fortress, you still with me?”

“Yo!” Fortress yelled from the back of the truck before he opened the tailgate and jumped down with a grunt. Shining Armor meanwhile walked around the side of the truck and looked at the mall with a bit of surprise.

“Remember, stick to the list as best you can.” Dominic instructed, Fortress nodded dutifully before he pulled said list from his pocket and looked it over. “Shining, remember, if you see yourself or someone you know, turn your ass around and walk away. And try not to spend all your cash in one place.” Shining just nodded and Dominic began leading them towards the front door of the mall. “We’re going to be entering a world of teenage angst and insanity, gentlemen… Keep your wits about you.”

Dominic gripped the front door and gave a tug, it opened outward and the sound of crowds bustling inside greeted the ears of all three of them. Fortress Wall was first to enter the mall, followed by Shining, and lastly Dominic. They stared for a moment at all the shops that seemed to go on for as far as the eye could see, the crowds walking around, including at least a dozen teens that were skipping school.

“Let’s move.” Dominic ordered, walking forwards. “Meet back here in two hours, don’t bring anything to the truck until we’re all together. Don’t want some fucker stealing it out of the back, you know?”

“Yes, sir.” Fortress Wall replied before he gave a nod and began walking off towards the shops on the left, Dominic looked at Shining for a moment before he began walking to the shops on the right. Shining quickly moved to catch up, walking beside the man with a casual stride, or at best as he could, he was still getting used to two legs. The floor was a deep blue carpet and aside from the skylights in the roof there were also fluorescent lights that hung from the ceiling. The walls were white and decorated with ads for stores and posters for upcoming events.

“I hate malls…” Dominic mumbled as he looked at the stores on either side, most of them were clothing stores, some sold shoes, others sold holistic remedies and so on. Shining was staring at most of it, half of the things he was seeing for the first time, it took all his will power not to start freaking out and continue his casual stride. Dominic reached into his pocket and withdrew his own list opening it to get a look at what he’d need. “Alright, let’s see if we can find a Radio Shack or something…”

“Right…” Shining Armor replied, subduing his excitement at all the wonders he was seeing. He hadn’t totally believed how advanced Dominic had said his species was, but now that he was seeing something that was similar, not even an exact copy, and how advanced it was… He was a true believer in that moment. The two of the walked around in relative silence, passing by couples and adults wandering through the area until finally they happened upon a shop called ‘Transistor Temple’. It appeared that it was the place to go for radios and other communication equipment, and so Dominic and Shining entered the store with a bit of trepidation.

“Let’s see… Thirty handheld radios, ten large CB radios, ten CB antennas, power adapters…” Dominic read aloud as he walked through one of the aisles. This monologue caught the attention of the shop clerk, a girl that looked like she’d just graduated high school with piercings and thick gothic make up. She stood up and quickly walked towards the man, meanwhile Shining was gawking at all the radios and other items on display.

“Hello, sir! Welcome to Transistor Temple!” The teen said, honestly trying to sound interested. Dominic nearly punched her out of reflex, the goth look made her almost look infected, but he played off the reflexive move as him running a hand over his head. “Anything I can help you find today?”

“Yup.” Dominic replied before he showed her the list, the teen took a moment to read the header at the top of the page before anything else, noting that most of the words were followed by the word ‘CLASSIFIED’. “I need a couple handhelds, some CBs and antennas, and so on.”

“You some sort of spy?” The teen asked bluntly, Dominic shook his head.

“Nope, my buddies and I are starting up a trucking business.” He replied with an honest tone. “Very hush hush, though, since we aren’t Union… So… You know…”

“Whatever, man…” The teen replied as she put her hands on her hips. “We’ve got most of this stuff in stock, but it’s like, in the warehouse or something…” Dominic nodded quietly and reached into his jacket for the money he’d taken that morning, the teen’s eyes widened at the sight. “I can have them bring it up here if you want.”

“We’re not ready to head out just yet, but we’ve got a truck out in the parking lot. Mind if we pay now and come back when we’re ready? That way your guys can get it all together.” Dominic asked, the teen just nodded quickly. “Great, what would all this come to?” The teen quickly went to the register and typed in the numbers, after a few minutes of calculating the total came out to a surprisingly low number.

“Nine hundred and fifty seven dollars and eighty cents with tax…” The teen said, Dominic smiled faintly and counted out nine hundred and sixty dollars, then set it on the counter. Faster than he’d ever seen the teen counted out the money and processed the order, then printed a receipt and handed him his change. “Just come on in when you’re ready.”

“Yup.” Dominic said with a nod before he turned and walked towards the doors, he paused only to grab Shining by the shoulder. “Let’s go.” The man in the suit turned away from the display he was looking at and followed Dominic out of the store, once they were outside they took a look around. “Well, we’re ahead of schedule… I’m glad that girl didn’t ask too many questions…” Shining Armor only nodded, still taken in by all the shops around him. “Guess we’ve got time to look for that thing you wanted for Cadence, huh?”

“Yeah, but, I don’t really know what to get her.” Shining replied, the two of them began to walk along the other shops. Dominic shrugged quietly and looked over the area, their shoes and boots fell in step almost like a march. Shining Armor paused as he saw a couple shops that seemed to sell knick knacks. “How about one of those little statues?” Dominic stopped and looked at the shop in question. It looked like it sold things of the orient, or the closest resemblance to the orient that that universe had.

“Alright, we can take a look.” Dominic said with a shrug, the men walked into the store. While Shining examined the little figurines Dominic walked around to get a better look at everything else. It reminded him of a store in a mall back in Colorado that had sold swords and airsoft rifles like they were candy, that was probably the only store he really liked. As Dominic checked out the potted bamboo plants and imported snacks he noticed that this store seemed to be somewhat similar, as he could see an assortment of blades hanging on the wall. He was sure they were all poorly made, but still, it didn’t hurt to look.

Staring at the swords made him really think about what Luna had said, that perhaps he didn’t give himself enough credit, and maybe he could become something more than a user of brute force on the battlefield. There was a slight cough from behind the counter, and Dominic looked to see an older gentleman of what appeared to be asian descent.

“Oh… Hello.” Dominic said. “Sorry, just looking at the swords.” The older man nodded and looked up at the blades on the wall.

“Looking to add a bit of flare to your room?” The older man asked, Dominic shook his head as he continued examining the blades.

“A friend of mine is a professional swordswoman, she’s going to teach me.” Dominic replied in an honest tone, the older man raised an eyebrow for a moment before gesturing for Dominic to come closer. Curious, Dominic did just that.

“There aren’t a lot of people that do that these days, most of them come in looking for something to hang on their wall or to impress their friends.” The man said with a bit of a sigh as he ducked down behind the counter and grabbed a plastic case. “You don’t look like that sort.” The man set the case on the counter and began to open it, Dominic noticed that it seemed to be the same length and size of the box Luna carried with her. The man opened the case and turned it to face Dominic, to his surprise, Dominic saw the glint of steel. “This is an antique, very high quality, has been in my family for ten generations.”

“I’m not looking to buy…” Dominic said with a wave of the hand, the man nodded understandingly.

“I was not looking to sell.” The man replied, he picked up the sword within and looked it over. “I know that this blade will be here long after I am gone, that’s the quality of the workmanship. What I sell here cannot compare to this.” The man gave it a few test swings before he put it back in the case and closed it. “If you are serious about swords, invest in a quality blade, that’s all I can say.”

“Thank you for the advice…” Dominic replied, the man just smiled and returned the case below the counter. Shining Armor came over to the counter at that point with a few small statues of knights and what looked like samurai. “All set?”

“Yeah.” Shining replied before he turned to the man behind the counter, the shopkeeper was quick to ring up the items and Shining paid for them as fast as he could. He fumbled once or twice as he wasn’t used to using paper currency, but soon enough the transaction was done and the two of them departed the store. Dominic quietly sighed as he looked around, noticing that occasionally women would stop and stare at him, some guys too. It was weird, he didn't know why they all seemed to look away when he looked at them.

"Wanna get a bite?" Dominic asked, Shining shrugged and looked down at the bag he had with him. "Don't worry, I'll buy."

"Alright then." Shining said, the two of them continued walking for a few minutes, it seemed that this mall had the hardest to find food court in the history of mall food courts. Of course when they found it Dominic was stunned to realized that most of the restaurants sold mainly vegetarian meals. Shining paused as he recognized the name of a restaurant from Equestria, McClopClop's Hay Burgers. "Hey, how about some McClopClops?"

"Alright, we'll stop there first, then I'll try to find some place with meat." Dominic replied as the two of them walked over and got in the line, it was here that Dominic noticed that he was the tallest one among the folks there, by a lot. So much so that occasionally women would turn and give him that same look. For a moment he thought it was because he had the patch on his shoulder as well as the button on his jacket, so he opted to try and hide the patch as best he could by tying his bandanna over it. That didn't seem to stop the stares, and now it seemed the men in the line were glaring at him. "Am I missing something here?" Dominic muttered to Shining. "These women are all staring at me, and the guys look pissed..."

"My guess is they haven't seen a guy like you before." Shining replied as he looked at the menu. "I mean, you're taller, bigger, tougher looking, than any of these guys." A couple guys glared at him, but then turned away when they realized that Dominic had spotted it. "They think you're exotic."

"Of course they do..." Dominic muttered grimly as they finally got up to the front of the line, Dominic stood off to the side and let Shining order his food. Of course, Shining had to say it three times because the teen behind the counter kept staring at Dominic, the second time Dominic had turned around so his back was to her, that didn't seem to help. "Man, I hope Fortress is doing alright, he's got some guns on him to."

Meanwhile...

"He doesn't know what he's missing, any guy would be lucky to meet a girl like you!" Fortress wall said with a smile as he helped a nice young lady, she'd asked him for help with some clothes and being a gentleman and a soldier who was he to say no? Of course, he'd learned that she had recently broken up with her boyfriend of five years, and that could be hard on anybody.

"Thank's, Sheet Rock. You're such a good listener!" The girl replied as she twirled a bit of her hair around her finger and blushed, Fortress couldn't figure out why though.

Meanwhile... Again.

Shining Armor had gone and sat down to eat his food, meanwhile Dominic was walking towards a shop that looked like it sold steak. There were a couple people hanging out in line there as well, but most of them looked like thestrals judging by they eyes, the others had oddly white hair and wore brown bomber jackets, all of them, it was weird. Their faces and pants were different, but the hair color and jacket were essentially the same. Even with this tougher looking crowd, Dominic still stood a head taller than most of them and he still seemed to get lingering glances from women, and some men too. He shrugged them off, it wasn't like he'd have to deal with it forever. The line was mercifully quick and soon enough it was Dominic's turn to order. He'd decided to just get the cheese steak sandwich since it had literally been years since he'd had one, he'd get some water to drink because oddly enough soda didn't seem to be there. He blamed an overly health and wellness conscious society for that one.

Dominic walked up to the counter and cleared his throat, looking down at one of the odd white haired woman standing at the register. She was staring at him for a few moments.

"Hi." Dominic said simply, trying to get her to snap back to reality. It seemed to work and she rapidly shook her head. "Uh, can I just get a cheese steak sandwich and some water?"

"Oh! Right! Uh, sure!" The woman responded as she put in his order, Dominic smiled warmly and stepped aside to let the next person in line come up next. He turned away from the counter and sighed before dragging the palm of his hand down his face, it couldn't be that all of these women found him that attractive, could it? In his mind he wasn't much to look at, though apparently some seemed to think he was, even a pony did apparently. As he mused over why people thought he was attractive he heard his order number get called and he quickly paid for the meal before taking his food.

He made his way over to Shining armor and sat down to eat, sighing and just going to eat his sandwich. Shining Armor was in that state of mind where there was just him and his food, so he wasn't much of a conversation partner. Dominic finished his sandwich relatively quickly while Shining Armor took his time eating a very large salad and other things that the president couldn't quite name. He leaned back in his seat and put his earbuds in, opting to listen to something a little different. The song he chose to listen to seemed oddly fitting with the mission that he and his comrades were on, and he nodded his head along with the beat.

The stares seemed to continue all the while as Dominic sat there, and figuring that he could get something done while Shining ate, he stood up and looked at his companion.

"I'm gonna go have a look around some more, be back soon." He said, Shining just nodded and went back to his meal. Dominic turned and walked off, still listening to the music as he strolled along. He paused as he spotted a familiar face in the crowd, Flash Sentry, apparently he was ditching school. Beside him was a girl his age with light blue hair, it looked like Trixie, and they were certainly enjoying one another's company if the kissing was any indication. Did that mean that Sunset Shimmer and he had broken up? Dominic shrugged and continued walking past the two of them, for a few minutes he didn't see anything of note. A couple kiosks, some shoe stores, but nothing interesting. After a while though he realized there was someone following him, the footsteps were consistent with his, whenever he'd stop to look at something the footsteps would stop. Red flags went up almost instantly, had he been discovered?

Dominic spotted a music store ahead of him, it seemed to be selling speakers among other things. Dominic realized it would be a good place to hide as well as make good on his promise to Luna. He picked up his pace until he'd entered the store and looked around, there was a girl behind the counter with electric blue hair and purple colored glasses. It was another humanized character, and by now the novelty had worn off, so all Dominic did was give a slight wave before looking around.

"You got any small speakers?" He asked, turning to look at the girl behind the counter, she silently pointed to a corner in the room. "I don't suppose you guy's have turntables... Like, actual turntables, not one of those DJ things." The girl shook her head. "Damn... Alright, thanks anyway..." The man quietly walked off over to the corner where the speakers were kept, pausing only when he heard some conversation off at the front of the store. Dominic crouched down, examining the speakers to try and determine what sort of sound quality they'd have, there was a nice pair that had a bit of a warm sound to them when he used the demo, and they had knobs to adjust the bass and treble, which he liked considering his diverse music library.

He started to reach out to pick on up, but froze when he sensed a presence behind him. His hand relaxed and left the box where it was and calmly he stood to his full height, and with methodical slowness he turned on his heel to face the person behind him. Unsurprisingly he was looking down, however, he was surprised to see he was looking down at a woman with black hair and rather tan skin. For a brief instant he thought it was Maria, but soon he recognized the rather weathered features despite the clothes she was wearing to conceal her identity from the public. It was Daring Do, or whatever her real name was, he'd heard rumblings it was something different before the fall.

"Something I can help you with, ma'am?" He asked in a genuine tone, doing his best to make the situation as painless as possible. The woman shook her head and smiled at him.

"I just wanted to examine up close is all, it's not every day I see a specimen such as yourself." She said, Dominic backed away and put up his hands, as soon as he did Daring grabbed one of them and looked it over. "Such large hands, much stronger than a normal persons..." Dominic pulled his hand away nervously, he really didn't like where this was going. "I'm a biologist in my spare time, I'm sure you've recognized me by now though." Dominic nodded silently, his eyes a bit wide. Normally he would've told her to back off loudly, maybe even administered a shove, but here he was expected to follow social norms or risk failing the mission, and as much as it killed him he just let her go on with it.

"Look, I just want to-" Dominic began, but the woman put a finger on his lips to shush him, prompting him to reach out and grab her wrist like his hand was a vice. Her face contorted into one of surprise as he slowly moved her finger away. "I just want to get my speakers and leave."

"Of course you do..." Daring said as Dominic released her hand. "The eyes, the muscles, that molded rump of yours, you're not from around here, are you?" Dominic reached behind him and grabbed a couple boxes not taking his eyes off the woman. "I've seen this type of thing before in my line of work, you know..."

"Good for you." Dominic replied as he began walking to the counter as fast as he could, all the while Daring was following him. He set the boxes down on the counter and pulled out the remaining money in his pocket as he waited for the seemingly mute clerk to ring up the items. Daring walked over to his shoulder and noticed the bandanna covering the patch, discreetly she tried to untie it. "Don't." Dominic said evenly. "I don't want any trouble." He handed his money to the girl and she bagged his items, soon enough he was on his way out into the mall once again with Daring Do hot on his heels. "Jesus Christ, woman. What do you want from me?" He very rarely took that name in vain, but she had pushed him a bit too hard.

"I want to know about you!" Daring said as she skipped along beside him, the man was now looking for a sports store or something, to see if he could get some better infected resistant armor. He doubted it would retain its humanoid shape through the portal and probably transform into something for a pony, but at least the armorers would get an idea of what to make. "Where you come from, what it's like there, what you do."

"How are you so certain I am what you think I am?" Dominic replied, looking over his shoulder at the woman with an exasperated expression.

"Because you haven't outright denied it yet." She replied cheekily, Dominic groaned quietly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Come on, your secret's safe with me." The man was about to wheel around and unleash a tirade so foul a sailor would cover his ears at the scandal of it all, but instead he thought better of it, he was sure that when he returned through the portal there would be plenty of interviews, and perhaps it would be good practice. Besides, Daring Do was most likely a fiction writer, who'd believe her.

"Fine." Dominic said flatly as he spotted a sporting goods store and walked towards it. "My name is Dominic Occisor, I'm the President of the re-founded United States America." He passed through the doors with Daring right next to him, her eyes wide at the information. Dominic wasted little time in finding the football and other sports armor. "I come from a world almost exactly like this, except everyone is a multicolored talking pony."

"Come on."

"No really." Dominic replied, looking her in the eyes to demonstrate how serious he was. "Even then I'm an alien, because my actual home world was almost identical to this one, except we didn't suck at evolution, as you've already pointed out." Daring had pulled a notepad from her pocket and was taking down his story. "It was a nice place, green grass, white snow... Then it went to shit, which is why I'm here."

The man examined some of the armor and decided football armor was too bulky, instead he walked over to the dirt bike gear and that was where he found what he was looking for. Plastic arm and chest guards that would resist against biting, and they could be replaced with metal if need be, he began to try one on, first removing his jacket. Daring's eyes widened at how defined his muscles were, a fact made more evident by the tight t-shirt he wore. That hadn't been his idea, apparently the fabric had changed when he went through the portal.

"What happened?" Daring asked as she watched him pull on the armor and tighten it until it was snug, then brought his arm out in front of him so the plastic was facing Daring. Of course, it wasn't perfect, considering his rather large build compared to the normal sizes, but he could work with it. He knew basic blacksmithing and metalworking from three years of high school shop class.

"Not too sure on that myself, really." Dominic replied as he took off the armor and looked it over, then began looking at another set, this one focused a bit more on rounding out the arm guards and added a couple to whole arm as opposed to just the forearm. "Some disease turned people into crazy flesh eating monsters and that spread more of the disease and our border control was shitty and a lot of people died." The man said it quickly, but still talking about it stung. "So three years I trudged through alone, then get pulled into another world by some magic bullshit, and now I'm armoring up ponies with semi-human gear so they have some sort of chance." It actually felt a little good to talk about it, as some of it was a tad bit annoying.

"So, I take it you re-founded your country in this pony world and those are the ponies that are going to go and liberate what's left of your people?" Daring asked, Dominic just nodded as he tried on his coat over the armor, it felt nice and good, a keeper if he'd ever seen one. He stripped out of the armor and set it down, then began looking at leg armor and helmets. He liked his old steel pot, but perhaps something that covered the full head would be a better way to go.

"Yup, but only after surviving a riot, an assassination attempt, exile, a giant tree monster, a commie death camp, a total psychotic break and just about two wars." Dominic rambled on as he pulled on a large helmet, only for it to be too tight. He opted for the extra large and that seemed to work alright, all the while Daring was writing down what had happened in her notebook. "Oh, on top of that there's a girl on my home world that I care about that I thought was dead and a pony princess in the pony world that that I thought was just a friend, and I also care about her, and I only just learned about this stuff a couple weeks ago, at the same time."

"Someone should write a book about you." Daring said, momentarily looking towards the ceiling at nothing in particular.

"Eh, I bet it wouldn't do to well, there's no real plot in my life up until recently..." Dominic replied as he set the helmet down by the armor he'd chosen. "Besides, you're an author right, you saying you aren't going to write a book about me?" Daring shrugged and watched as he walked over to a bin containing a couple baseball bats, but shook his head as he saw they all looked cheaply made. "Welp, I'm just about done." He walked back to the armor and picked it up, then began to look around for a hunting section. Sure enough he found one, and sure enough they sold guns. He wasn't interested in that though, he was more interested in the ammunition for those guns. There was a burly looking man behind the counter, but once again, Dominic dwarfed him in size. "Hey, looking for some shotgun shells and .357 rounds, you carry those here?"

"Nope, don't even know what them calibers are." Dominic paused for a moment and reached into his jacket pocket, then withdrew a .357 round and set it on the counter. "Huh, never seen something like that, we only carry these." The man set a jar of airsoft BBs on the counter, prompting Dominic to roll his eyes up towards the sky as he put the bullet back in his jacket.

"Really?" He asked rhetorically before sighing and waving at the guy, Daring following close behind him once again as he walked to the front of the store and paid for the new armor and helmet, adding them to the bag of speakers he'd purchased already. "So anyway, that's about all I can discuss right now."

"Awe, come on, you've gotta give me more than that!" Daring said with a whine as she flipped through her notebook.

"Sorry, I can't." Dominic paused. "Oh, by the way, why the hell were you here in the first place, seems like you'd be off in some fancy house with all your fame and fortune."

"You'd be surprised the crazy stories I heard about this town, it's a goldmine for the crazy and unworldly, any fiction author would dream of a town like this." Daring replied as they continued walking back to the food court. "By far you're the most interesting of the ones I've met, and I've met a few."

"Yeah, but I also have a tenancy to be a bit of an ass." Dominic mused as he saw Shining was waiting for him at the table. "It's been a pleasure, but I've got to go."

"What's to keep me from following you?" Daring asked as he began walking towards Shining, Dominic turned with a bit of a smile and pointed at her. "Me?" He nodded before he took a big breath. "Don't you dare-"

"Hey! Is that Daring Do!" Dominic yelled as loudly as he could, getting the attention of at least thirty or so people around him, including Shining Armor. After a moment they realized, it was in fact their story book hero, and like a mass of locust they swarmed the hapless writer who barely had time to stuff her notepad into safety. Dominic turned and began walking back to Shining Armor who was staring in a mix of surprise and envy. "Come on, they won't hold her off forever."

"Dominic! You jerk!" Daring shouted over the rabble of noise, the man ignored her and adjusted the bags in his grasp. He and Shining made their way back to the doors that lead to the parking lot and waited in silence for Fortress Wall to return. It had been nearly two hours since they'd parted, and yet they didn’t see him anywhere. Dominic was starting to get uneasy and a pit had begun to grow in his stomach, had Fortress done something and gotten himself arrested? Had he been captured? Was he going to be questioned? Dominic knew that Fortress wouldn’t say a word, but that didn’t put the fears at ease, on top of that he didn't know how long Daring Do would be held at bay by her swarms of adoring fans.

“The heck…?” Shining said aloud, that got Dominic’s attention. He turned to see Shining was pointing at a group of women, all of whom were crowded around someone, all of whom carried shopping bags and all of whom were dressed stunningly. When the group got closer to the doors Dominic could see the very bashful face of Fortress Wall in the center, carrying his own bags and looking as if he were surrounded by a group of vicious lions. His eyes pleaded with Dominic, practically screaming ‘Help me!’.

Acting quickly, Dominic walked forwards and relieved Fortress of his bags, adding them to his own assortment of purchases for the day.

“Hey, there you are, we've been looking all over for ya, command wants us back at HQ fast.” He said sternly, Fortress caught on immediately.

“Yeah, sorry, I got a little sidetracked.” The thestral trooper replied, trying to sound as miltary as possible.

“Well, regardless of what happened, we gotta go.” The girls around them all seemed to focus their attention on Dominic now, his rugged predatory looks, his wide shoulders and towering height, the bulging well defined muscles, in many ways he became a lightning rod for Fortress to escape. “When we get out of here you’re explaining this.” He whispered to his subordinate as Fortress made his way to the door.

“So you’re his big tough commander?” Asked one of the women, Dominic nodded as he backed towards the door.

“Yes, ma'am.” Dominic said quickly, his steps growing a bit more hasty. “Shining, go tell that nice lady to send the stuff out…” He said over his shoulder, Shining nodded and took off like a bullet while Dominic and Fortress tried to get further away. “We’d love to stay and chat, but we’ve got some work to do…”

“Security Detail work?” Asked one of the women, Dominic looked at Fortress with a raised eyebrow.

“I panicked!” Fortress quickly defended, the president sighed and rolled his eyes before looking back at the women.

“I love a man in uniform.” Said another one, Dominic decided that this had gone on long enough, even if these women were stunningly gorgeous. Outrageously, unfathomably, inescapably beautiful. He silently wished that his personal code of honor wasn't so strict, if it weren't for that he'd be licking his chops like a fox in a hen house.

“Come on, corporal. We’ve got places to be and people to shoot.” Dominic turned towards the door and put his hand on his subordinate’s shoulder. “As they say in my country. Auf wiedersehen, frauleins.” Dominic hoped a little exotic language would take their attention further off of Fortress, there was a chorus of whines from the group but by then the both of them had dashed out of the mall and back into the parking lot towards the truck. Of course, this wasn't before at least two of three of them gave their phone numbers to Fortress, who had accepted them with a look of confusion. When the two of them reached the vehicle they were panting and looking back at the building, the mist from their breath was carried away by a breeze.

“Okay… What the fuck happened?” Dominic asked as he put the bags of items into the back of the truck. “How the fuck did you do that?”

“Well, I was looking for the last thing on my list, pantyhose or something, so I went into this store and there were all these girls there…” Rolling paused. “Girls is the right term, right?” Dominic gave him an annoyed look. “Anyway, they asked what I was looking for and I pointed to the list and they showed me, right?” Dominic nodded for him to go on. “Next thing you know one of them asks if she looks good in something, in all honesty it didn’t seem like it did, so I pointed out what I thought would work more and she was so surprised I was right…”

“And then a bunch of them started asking me for advice about it, and it seemed like the right thing to do, so I helped them all…” Fortress Wall went on as Dominic spotted Shining Armor leaving the mall with several guys carrying boxes. “And then one was upset about her boyfriend leaving her, so I talked to her, you know, like I normally do when a mare is sad and she felt better… And next thing I know they’re all dragging me around like some sort of toy and showing me to all these stores! I thought they were gonna try to take me home with them!”

“Of course… The most bashful guy in the army also happens to be the best ladies’ man since Hugh Hefner…” Dominic said with a bit of a cynical chuckle, Shining Armor arrived at that moment with the guys carrying the boxes. “Mornin’, gents. Appreciate the help.” Dominic said to the fellows with the boxes, they just grunted in response as the loaded them into the back of the truck and began to run back for the doors out of the cold. “Alright, we’re all set. Fortress, climb in back and make sure everything stays secure.”

“Yes, sir!” Fortress replied before he walked around back and climbed into the truck bed. With the boxes, thankfully the people loading the boxes had thought to clear out the snow that had accumulated there before putting the items in. Fortress made sure to secure the boxes tightly before he took a seat on one of the benches that lined the sides. “All set, sir!”

Dominic walked to the driver's seat while Shining Armor climbed in the passenger side, soon enough the key was in the ignition and the engine was rattling away. The president gave the engine a bit of gas to help it warm up, meanwhile Shining was messing with the radio, it seemed all that was playing was still techno, dubstep, or the occasionally big musical number.

“Fortress, go into one of my bags and get the blue and white box!” Dominic called out the rear window as he spotted a tape deck in the console, a few minutes later Fortress had handed the described box through the window. Dominic tore it open and withdrew what looked like a tape with a cord coming off of it, then slipped the tape into the tape deck. The next thing he did was take his music player from his pocket and plug the cord into the headphone jack. “Wanna hear some real human music?”

“Yeah.” Shining replied, Dominic could hear a ‘Yes’ from Fortress outside as well. The man smiled and flipped through a couple of his songs until he reached one that seemed alright, with a bit of finality he pressed play. The soft sound of a guitar began to play through the speakers of the truck as Dominic set his music player down and shifted into first gear. Dominic knew the song pretty well, ‘Gimme shelter’ by the Rolling Stones. It seemed relatively fitting considering the mood of the mission.

The vehicle trundled out of the parking lot and back onto the main roads, Dominic was being sure to take the turns as best he could to avoid the cargo sliding in the back. It was still very cold and the clouds above seemed to say there would be more snow to come, meaning the equipment would have to be brought inside when they arrived at the motel. In the back of the truck Fortress Wall was sitting near the end of the bench, staring out at the houses that they passed quietly and enjoying a bit of quiet. He could hear the music, but it wasn’t too loud, just how he liked it. He had to admit it sounded pretty good compared to what was on earlier, but his mind was more on the world he was in.

It made him truly feel far from home, more so than he had in a long time. Not away from the United States or even Equestria, but his family in general. Things had changed after the war with Chrysalis, but, he wasn’t bitter towards the changelings or even his own country, for he felt like he was the one that was responsible. He hadn’t been arrogant, but he had certainly been more cocky than he was now. That change had humbled him and torn him straight into his new reality.

Sitting in the back of the truck gave Fortress time to reflect on that, and the more he thought about it the more he wanted to stop thinking about it. He wished that Mizu was there with him, oddly enough. The changeling had been easy to talk to, trusting and warm, and Fortress missed that kind of contact. The headlights of a car behind the truck tore the thestral trooper from his thoughts and he turned to look on instinct. It took a few moments for his slitted eyes to adjust to the light, and even then the beams were too bright to see anything about the car except that it was red.

The driver honked a few times before suddenly pulling off to the side and starting to pass, Fortress watched the vehicle closely, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the driver. Red and yellow hair, an almost nervous expression, a black leather jacket. The thestral trooper stood up rapidly and looked out over the side of the truck, watching the car drive off down the road. The horn of the truck blared out its little jingle before Fortress could make it to the window.

“Sir!” He called into the cab. “That was her!”

“We can’t go after her now, we’ve got a truck load of cargo, but good job spotting her car, that could be useful.” Dominic called back through the window, by now Fortress could hear a different song playing up front, but he didn’t stay long enough to listen. Instead he stood up and walked back to the bench. The rest of the drive went on without incident and they arrived at the motel just after two in the afternoon. Upon entering their room they found that Rolling Thunder had taken to watching Soap Operas, and they had to pry him away from the TV so he could help them bring the boxes in.

Another three hundred dollars made sure that the desk clerk continued to play dumb about what was going on in their room, it wasn’t like it was a huge loss. After all, fifty or so pounds of gold coins converted into an almost comical amount of dollar bills. The rest of the day was spent familiarizing themselves with the radios, each of them took a headset and a handheld radio to clip on their pants. Each radio was set to a relatively random frequency, one that didn’t seem to have any traffic on it, for added security the radios had an encryption function. Shining Armor found his to be the most fascinating, but then again, he hadn’t been briefed on everything they would encounter like the others had. By nightfall, the group was settling in, and Dominic was already brainstorming ideas on how to deal with Sunset Shimmer.

Preferably ideas where no one died.

[♦]

Queen Chrysalis let out an annoyed sigh as she sat in her throne room, reading over a scroll that had just arrived regarding one of her more eccentric hives. Mizu sat beside her mother, looking over her shoulder at the scroll for herself. Her eyes had changed to be like her mothers, holding a light pink tint to them while she’d started to grow an elegant mane of blue. The Queen’s sigh echoed through the throne room for a few moments, the large cavernous hall was dark, lit dimly by the glowing green crystals in the walls, Illusion and the rest of her honor guards stood at attention along the walls, ready to defend their mother at a moment’s notice.

“What has happened, mother?” Mizu asked in a curious tone, Chrysalis set the scroll down and took a moment to think.

“The Hive of Wasp refuses to accept our defeat to the American’s unless I or one of the royal family personally are the one to tell them.” Chrysalis explained with a sigh. “They seem to think our messengers are the American’s trying to play tricks… In fact they’re holding three of them hostage.” The Queen straightened up in her seat and closed her eyes, her horn glowing for a moment before several drops of water floated down from the ceiling and directly into her mouth. “Mizu.”

“Yes, mother.” Mizu replied dutifully.

“I have a task for you.” Chrysalis said in a calm tone, not opening her eyes as she relaxed back into her throne. Mizu sat up straight in preparation for her orders, the Queen smiled as she sensed her daughter’s determination. “The reason there is peace now is because our hives are united after one banner, should one refuse to yield there can be peace for none of them.” Mizu looked upwards to where the Changeling banner hung from the ceiling, the simple forest green fabric, decorated only by a dark grey circle in the very center, swayed aimlessly in one of the underground air currents. “You will go to the Hive of Wasp and force them to accept our defeat.”

“It will be done, mother.” Mizu said with a bow.

“If they should refuse to listen to you, warn them of the punishment for betrayal of the Queen, and if they still refuse…” Chrysalis opened her eyes and looked to Mizu with an impassive expression. “You will have no choice but to make them listen.”

“Mother… Wouldn’t it be easier for you to go in my stead should they refuse?” Mizu asked, Chrysalis shook her head.

“You are my heir. You are my voice. To refuse you is to refuse me.” Chrysalis explained, her tone was serious but not overbearing. Mizu bowed once again. “You cannot allow your authority to be questioned, not at this stage of your training. If you must use force… So be it.”

“I understand, mother.” Mizu said, not lifting her head from her bow. Chrysalis smiled faintly at her daughter, gesturing for her to rise from her bow.

“Illusion.” Chrysalis said to the honor guards in her room, the changeling in question stepped forwards and bowed. “You and your platoon will accompany Mizu on her mission, gather your belongings, you leave at once.”

“As you command, my Queen!” The soldier replied before standing from his bow and marching out of the room, Mizu stood from her place beside the Queen.

“You may go as well, Mizu. Go and bring honor to our Hive.” Chrysalis said in a soft tone, Mizu bowed deeply, speaking in changeling for a moment or two before she began trot out of the throne room through the royal doors. She trotted through the many hallways of the underground, following the ones she knew lead to her room. She arrived just when she’d expected to, not taking a moment longer than she needed.

The room was larger than any other Changeling’s, though not by much. She had a desk and wardrobe against the far wall, as well as a bed that had been placed on the floor at the center of the room. Mizu approached the wardrobe and opened it, from within she acquired her travel attire. Made from burlap and cotton, it would protect her from the harsh sandy winds and heat of the desert above. It was hooded cloak, for all intents and purposes, with the only noteworthy thing about it being the changeling runes stitched at the front of the hood. Runes that indicated she was royal blood.

After Mizu had put on her cloak she walked to the wall closest to the door, it was there she picked up her sword that was mounted on a rack that had been built out of the rock. The sword was elegant in design, as were most changeling swords, and on the hilt was the strip of fabric Jen the human had given her to shield her eyes when they had changed, it was a reminder of the friend she'd made and from that she could draw strength. She withdrew the blade from its scabbard and closed her eyes, her horn glowed and drops of water levitated out of the ground above. She directed these drops over the blade, chanting quietly as she did so, before she slid the blade back into the scabbard. Moments later she had affixed the blade to the belt of her cloak, fully ready to depart.

It took several minutes before she sensed the presence of Illusion nearing her room, she knew he was there before he’d even stepped in.

“Your excellency, we are ready to depart at your discretion.” Illusion said dutifully, Mizu nodded and turned to walk out the door. He bowed as she passed him, and only followed once she had fully left the room. In silence the pair walked through the tunnels, other changelings were quick to get out of their way as soon as they saw them. Those that couldn’t got as small as possible against the wall. The minutes ticked by, and Mizu wished she could just sprint to the exit, she desperately wanted to prove her worth to her mother. More importantly, she knew that every second she wasted could be the difference between peace and destruction for another hive.

Hive of Wasp was a very determined, hive of changelings that very closely resembled wasps, what they had in speed they lacked in intelligence or impulse control. They had a tendency to go overboard, which was why Chrysalis had not called upon them in the war with America. At the time, she had wanted to take prisoners. Mizu was surprised that Hive of Wasp was holding changelings prisoner in the first place, especially if they believed them to be spies, as that hive was known for its extremely high rate of execution.

Finally the pair arrived at the entrance to the hive, just before the gates that had been under repair since the battle to retake the throne. The platoon of changeling soldiers were armored moderately, the reticulated metal plates matching the movements of the soldiers that wore them. The helmets they wore depicted faces from changeling mythology, and the hive’s flag had been painted in a band around the top. It was very clear, these soldiers were the honor guard of royalty, to question their authenticity would be nigh treasonous.

Upon seeing Mizu the soldiers bowed, their armor clanking as they did so. When they arose Mizu had started to buzz her wings.

“We will go to the Hive of Wasp, if they refuse to believe that there is peace, we shall bring their hostility to the attention of the Americans.” Mizu said, her face wrought with determination. “I am certain the Americans will not appreciate such hostility, they will bring their full military might.” Mizu took to the air, the soldiers following behind her with their wings buzzing away. “Come, we will bring honor to our hive and the treaty of peace.”

Away they flew into the setting sun, leaving behind their hive in the hopes of preventing another war. Mizu knew that it was possible the entire Hive of Wasp would have to be exterminated if they refused to yield to Chrysalis’ rule, for that reason she prayed that her aura of authority was strong enough to convince the Hive of Wasp’s Queen to stand down.

Author's Notes:

So here it is! Sorry I didn't get it out sooner, but I had to add a bit of extra stuff after a very nice commenter made me think about some stuff I previously hadn't thought about. Thanks to him I think there's a couple thousand extra words or so that weren't there in the original cut, so give him a warm round of applause.

Anyway, here's your clip of the day, or... Yesterday! As the case may be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKHaSJsSy2E

Here's a fun thing you can play with your friends, just randomly go up to them and say 'Can you guess what Dominic's favorite genre of music is?'. It's awesome, they just stare at you for a minute like 'What?' because they probably don't know who he is... It is a good question though... I'm very tired because it's just past four eighteen in the blessed AM.

Have a good one folks.