Twilight and I sprinted down the shattered halls toward the pony encampment.  The sharp clicking of her hooves contrasted strangely with the dull thumping of my armored steps, but the distance passed quickly as a golden light seemed to flood into the tunnel from the hole I blasted so recently.  With a sharp snap of her wings, Twilight catapulted herself ahead of me through the passage and into the burning light.  On the other hand, I skidded to a stop inside the dark tunnel when my eyes saw what lay ahead.

In the center of what had been a trashed and bloody camp stood Celestia, who looked a lot better than I thought she should.  The gaping injuries from when we last met were eerily missing, and her ivory coat contrasted sharply against the dull stone.  The golden light appeared to be cast from her horn as she held a large shield dome above the camp.  Knowing retreat was in my best interested, I turned toward the dimly lit tunnel and managed to take a few steps before data started scrolling on my displays yet again.

###User: Celestia has joined network.

###User: Celestia running translation program.

"You have got to be shitting me.  SEVEN!  WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!"

I wish I could say I got the response I wanted, but the AI was silent.  My rage was only met by a soft feminine voice passed through the speakers in my helmet.

"Sergeant Rodriguez, Seven is occupied at the moment.  He... informed me of your actions and that I owe you a grave apology for my actions, and those of my subjects.  Speaking like this is...trying, however.  Could you come speak to me in person?"

I really didn't want to do that, but getting to the bottom of what Seven did was in my interests as the damn thing still hadn't responded.  Slowly, grimly, I stepped out of the gloom and into the harsh light of the cavern.  As I neared, Celestia turned her head my way and a small archway opened in the shield for me to pass through.  I'll be honest and admit I was freaking out a bit as I got closer to the white Alicorn.

***Apologies Sergeant.  Control and I are pacifying groups of hostiles with extreme prejudice

***There appears to be fewer than two hundred hostiles remaining in the city at this time.

***Apparently the minotaurs have limited defensive capabilities against our weaponry.

***As for your question, I removed the chance of your death via friendly fire.

***All four "Alicorn" Princesses have been exposed to nanotech.  I am setting up neural drives currently.

I tried to say something, anything to figure out what the hell he meant, but the thrice damned computer kept talking.

***The idea came from Twilight Sparkle, as she asked how we communicated so easily after you were healed.

***At that point, I realized that the simplest method of your survival was to integrate them into the network.

***They have been supplied with basic neural drives but can communicate with you easier.

***Additionally, they have a limited understanding of human technology to aid their and your survival.

I must have looked like a madman as I stopped walking and just yelled at Seven inside my helmet, with my hands gesturing wildly.

"YOU USED MILITARY SUPPLIES ON AN UNKNOWN SPECIES SEVEN!  WHAT THE HELL?!"

***You are the only known human at this point.  You are both ambassador and leader of your species.

***Your survival is tantamount above all things.  

***To aid your survival and hopefully the recovery of your species, I made a decision.

***Now please go speak with Celestia.  You are getting strange looks.

"Fucking AI is going to get me killed."

Greatly irritated at this point, I crossed the distance between myself and Celestia with purpose, intending for this to be over as quickly as possible.  She nodded softly as I neared and as usual, before I can say anything, I get cut off.

" As I was saying previously, I do apologize about my behavior.  I...was not in my right mind when I awoke.  I saw you standing over my ponies with a weapon similar to what struck me and I just reacted.  We may be at war, but this was not the proper way for a ruler to act.  When this conflict comes to an end, you will have the full backing of Equestria to find your people.  Seven has been instrumental to defending what remains of my people and explaining your situation."

I'll be honest, I did not expect an apology like that.  It left me kind of speechless really, but it didn't matter as she continued.

"Speaking of Seven, the healing you two did on me did wonders.  I feel like a whole new Alicorn.  Aches and pains I had for ages are gone.  Not to mention all the knowledge of your people he has supplied.  We always thought you were a myth.  Occasionally some artifacts would be found, but quickly debunked.  You are living history to us, and there is so much to learn."

Everything paused as there was another dull thud of a weapon going off in the city above and my display flashed again.

***Thor 12 warhead detonated.

"Seven, what are you doing up there?  Why are you using Thor weapons?  Where did you get them anyhow?"

***It appears that the 1200 series of weapons are the only non ballistic weaponry accessible..

***On an agreeable note, the DIME charges do significant damage to the hostiles.

I'll openly admit I was kind of confused for a moment as a smug look appeared on Celestia's face.  After a second I realized that she could see the same comments from Seven as I could, due to the networking.  It still felt strange to know there was a horse hooked up to the wireless network.

"Sergeant, what is this DIME that Seven was speaking of?  I can't find anything in the records he let me see."

This was going to be a long day.

By the time I got done explaining the concept of Dense Inert Metal Explosives to her, a great many things had scrolled down my display.  Some useful, others annoying, but all in all it was still a step up in the world.  She really wanted to know how they worked and why the name was how it was.  Apparently the ponies have a reason for naming everything as they do.  It took a while for her to grasp that humans just like to name stuff, even if it doesn't make sense.  The Thor series hit like a bolt of lighting from the gods, and the 12 designation was little more than the bomb diameter and a different charge weight if listed.  Eventually Celestia was content that the caverns weren't going to collapse and crush us all from the shaking.  It certainly was strange to see anything dispelling "magic" so easily.  

As night fell, three messages scrolled across my displays.  Ones that I didn't really want.

###User: Luna has joined network.

###User: Twilight Sparkle has joined network.

###User: Cadence has joined network.

This was going to be a long night.