Chapter 2: History repeats itself

The next night after Luna raised the moon, she made haste towards her sister’s chamber. She travelled down the empty corridors that were no longer the workplace of the guards and staff, until the approaching morning that is. The Princess made her way through the grand hall and past the many portraits. All had the royal family and old friends smiling and looking pleased. It brought back memories of how happy her sister seemed the past year, and yet she felt ill when she realised, all along, she hid this burden in her room.

She entered the chamber to find Celestia sitting on her bed, facing the mirror preparing for the movie that was to be played.

"Sister, are you well?"

"Yes, please take a seat next to me." Luna sat next to her elder and they both wrapped a wing around each other. It was took what seemed like eternity before anything happened in the mirror. The reflection blurred and rearranged itself to show a couple of darkly dressed humans, on a hillside, overlooking a concrete research facility.

"That's where they kept me for 2 weeks. They did tests on me, they hurt me, no matter what I said they simply ignored me." she said with a bitter venom.

"Tia, they tortured you?" she gave her sister a bear hug.

"No, they did tests. They did not do it out of pleasure. Now here are my heroes; the archangels who rescued me by blood. The one on the left, with the short brown mane, strong appearance is called Snake. He was tactical and very courageous; they all were, but he stood out the most. Snake practised the art of stealth. For a creature with no wings, he said he was trained in air to ground entrances. Apparently, he would be flown over his destination and fall towards the target. That attire is designed to allow him to descend slowly and safely without attracting attention. He was incredibly quiet, and lethal. He could always think on his, erm...feet. He was remarkably tough. He survived an accident that none of our guards would have."

She pointed at the other.

"The one on the right is called Specks. He had large goggles that seemed to have the ability to analyse everything, calculate anything and be obscured by nothing. He could see in the dark a mile away and through thin walls with them. He was an engineer and made a breakthrough in mechanical limbs. The book said he was a child prodigy, and finished university before he was 17, during that time he had advanced their medical abilities tenfold, before enlisting as an elite soldier. He never said why," she paused for a bit.

"Pray tell. What are feet?" Luna said, pondering over that word.

"Oh, that's what they have instead of hooves," Celestia said, watching as the humans discussed plans.

"Okay... why are we here?" Specks asked. He had a scouse accent.

"Because in there is an alien being treated like a lab rat and holds the key for them to cross over, that's why ya muppet," he replied in a Bristol accent.

"I gathered that, but why this hill?"

"Were waiting for the girls from MI6 to give us a way in. Can you see that tree line?" He said pointing to a nearby ridge.

"Yeah." He switched to night vision and saw 2 flashing strobes.

"There's our sniper support and medic. Get this: the medic was a doctor and he specialises in demolition, and every support weapon as well."

"Who the heck learns that?"

"Spetsnaz. The Sniper is a marine. He’s the one who shot the leader who replaced Bin laden 12 years ago."

"Fuck. He's an old bastard. What's stopping the hip replacement from screwing the mission?"

"Military life. You don't get to be a fat prick afterwards."

"True that. Wait I can see something."

The mirror focused on 2 soldiers patrolling the fence. They were in green camouflage suits and had heavy Australian accents.

"Didya see the twins back in the transport depot. Fwwoaargh. A lovely pair of knockers on the both of them." one man spoke to another. The males had become lustfully longing for the new additions. Twins, picture perfect. Both had raven hair that either framed the delicate features of one, or was bundled into a lovely ponytail. Jade eyed with killer smiles they quickly became favourites amongst the men and the focal point of jealousy with the women.

"Too right, mate. I'd let them ride me into the ground..."

"That can be arranged." Two silenced shots fired from a hidden position and killed the guard near the fence. Before the other could react, a knife was dragged across his throat by another assassin.

"I always preferred the strong silent type." Abbiegale spoke. She sheathed her knife under her disguise; black Jumper, camouflage pants and a truck driver cap.

"You mean like that Russian?" Amber teased, holstering her silenced M9 in similar clothing.

"Don't start that whilst we're on the job." Abbiegale hissed in a London accent.

"I'd hate to interrupt ladies but I'm afraid we have work to do." Snake spoke through a headset.

"Right. We got you a way in; we'll prep a way out."

"Sergi Danil, Joshua O'Mally, do you read?" Snake said creeping his way to the fence along with Specks.

"Da, but call me Ursa Major in field, help concentrate," The tank of a man replied.

"Yeah, call me Dead eye," the New Jersey man added.

"You boys and your names." Amber joked, casually strolling back into enemy territory.

"Stick to the plan. We wait till there are fewer guards about to minimize damage. When we get the package, the alarm will go off. Dead Eye; pick off stragglers in the towers as us and the girls escape, Ursa your job will be to make sure the alien stays alive."

"How do I do that? It is not simple human."

"Figure it out. Out."

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The mirror displayed images of the 2 figures ducking under trucks, weaving between guards and clinging to shadows. Unfortunately, for Luna, a lot of guards died on the way. 5 were killed and hidden in bins in the courtyard, 12 were hunted in the corridors. Each shot placed right in the back of the head, both in synch when it came to taking on paired guards. In the tighter corners of the labs there were less shadows and a lot of white coats. They were losing cover.

"It is true. The one called snake seems to excel in the shadows. I wonder. Is the human called Specks his protégé?" Luna asked.

"Not officially, but it did seem that way." answered Celestia.

The S.A.S hid in a closet and waited for there to be less staff around. In the meantime they made assumptions about the creature. Specks went ahead and basically named most of the species from star wars. Snake was quick to point out that it was a pile of media bullshit. "Why does every alien walk on 2 legs? Why are they more advanced than us? I'll bet you a tenner that it's not like those from those films."

"You’re on."

"Films?" Luna asked curiously.

"Oh yes, they are wonderful format storytelling. It's like a moving picture that can tell a story in the same way theatre could. The humans could show millions of the same play on large canvases at the same time, across the world. It's in the book under the one called Deadeye." She perked up a bit.

"Fascinating," Luna remarked.

Back in the memory, the intruders glided almost silently between doorways. Any room they could not get past was emptied. There was one more room before the cell containing the 'package’. Specks took the left side of a window. Craning his neck around, he left just enough space to get his eyes ready to make a visual assessment. Quickly glancing from the window, the room revealed it to be full of soldiers watching the scientists.

"I'll scope the room out." with that he toggled his goggles to sonar. Through a door he could see 5 heavily equipped guards and six scientists. They were walking between microscopes and a white board. He spied another door opposite and signalled for Snake to reach the other side. They both equipped their silenced sub-machine guns and prepared to breach.

Snake whispered down the headset "MP-5 ready, toss a flash bang on my signal and give an even spread. Ok...3....2...1."

The door didn't budge. It rattled and alerted the guards who made their way towards the door Snake was behind.

"Fuck! Hang on." Specks tossed a flash bang in and drilled bullet into the soldiers. He needed to reload. He turned to face a scientist swinging a microscope at him. He grabbed it and drove a knife through his rib cage and tossed it at another scientist. Using the microscope, he batted away a pistol the third was holding before ramming the tool into his temple. He fell dead and Specks was on the receiving end of another scientist with a gun, when Snake appeared and blasted the remaining researchers with his pistol.

“Nice job, but remember switching to the pistol is always faster than reloading."

"God, you sound like CoD 26."

"Please! What do those pieces of shit know? It's all about Medal of Honour: Vanguard 3." He glanced around and saw a bolted door. “Amber, Abbiegale, I think we found it, standby, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, be at the transport depot in 20 minutes. Out."

"Come on; let’s have a look at this thing." Specks added as he walked impatiently to the door’s keypad. He whipped out a little brown box and attached it to the electronic lock. "Looks like it will take five minutes."

"Ahem," Snake cleared his throat and held up a bloody key card. "You kids and your toys."

"Dude, you’re like 4 years older than me."

"Yet I am still smarter than you, not much progress, I guess." He swiped the card and the door hissed.

“Oh, yeah! Of course, my degrees in engineering and medical advancement count for shit, yet you didn't check if the door was locked." Specks mumbled.

The 2 weren't prepared for the sight. Inside was a horse, not just any horse, it had wings, and a horn. It wore golden jewellery in the form of a necklace, horse shoes and a tiara. The multi-coloured mane flowed without any wind. She had her eyes closed and was resting against the padded wall. A fucking alicorn Snake thought. The sound of his thought sounded like he spoke under water at the Princesses who watched. She's beautiful. Celestia smiled at this. It always made her a little bit happier whenever he said that line.

"Bollocks, I guess I owe you ten pounds," Specks added.

Celestia's image turned faced the new humans. She could see the blood on Specks, and the rugged face of Snake.

"You are not one of those who wish to take more blood, are you? I don't think you’re even meant to be here."

Specks froze. Not only could this alien speak English, but she could do it better than he could. Snake was mentally preparing himself for such a thing. Why come here if you can't speak the language?

"That is true, but neither should you." Snake said. "I am here to get you out safely and return you back to where you came from."

"How do I know you don't plan to keep me and hurt me yourself?" She asked slowly raising to her tall height. They were equal in size, a sight that took them both by surprise. He took note of the cuts and bruises.

"You don't. But if we had planned on taking you, we would have killed you already. We have the technology to clone cells in your body. Look, you can either stay and die or escape and be free. It will be dangerous but if we can keep you out of sight were likely to get you out." Snake explained. "Can you walk? Does your species have special requirements?" He was thinking about space age breathing tablets or batteries in the form of rare crystals.

"Yes, I can walk; I do not have any other requirement." She sighed. “I do not wish to remain here any longer; it appears I have no choice. Very well I shall...follow." She took notice of a scientist crawling towards the exit; unfortunately for her, so did Specks.

"Snake." His superior turned and also saw the man leaving a bloody trail.

"Finish him off. Out of sight."

He nodded in reply and grabbed the man by his neck and dragged him out. The grip was tight enough so that the human and alicorn could hear him choke. There was a thud and a shout.

"Please! No no no, I won't..."

ptew

"Yeah, you won't," Specks said harshly, entering the room and spinning his gun, before sliding it into his holster.

Celestia was shocked. "How could you just kill him? He was defenceless!"

"You have to learn some humans are tricky. He was trying to alert others. We cannot risk compromising the mission. He was never really defenceless; he could have killed us all by sounding the alarm." Snake explained.

She was still disgusted. "How can you just kill somepo-body like that, it's just unnatural."

Specks looked at the white board. "I see you’re an herbivore. Well, humans are omnivores. We have that instinct to kill. I couldn't expect you to have such an urge even when threatened. What is unnatural for your species comes naturally to an omnivore."

Celestia, reluctantly, agreed with the logic behind it. She wanted to know what digestion has to do with killing the same species, when they left for the exit.

They then began to make their way towards the transport depot. They crept in the shadows. Occasionally Celestia had to stay behind whilst the soldiers wiped out enemies in each of the rooms. She found it difficult at first but got slowly was used to the dead. She hated that this was the only option and vowed to always find an alternative.

The trio eventually reached the transport depot. Rows upon rows of armoured trucks were parked next to each other. Snake was about to do a clean sweep when Specks pointed out a couple of dead bodies in a skip. "The girls are good. Amber, Abbiegale? Do you copy over?"

An engine started next to the Princess. She was scared right out of her mind. "What is that?!"

"It's a vehicle. It is designed to move large amount of troops across dangerous terrain, quickly. This one is called a truck," Specks explained.

"I don't recall such a thing when I was imprisoned here."

"You were probably tired or something, now let’s get you on board." Snake added.

"We read you Snake, let’s load her up." The back door opened and there stood Amber with her black hair tied back. She stared at the pony, blinked a couple of times, then back at Snake. "Erm, Snake, is the alien a horse?"

The Princess looked completely mortified. "HOW DARE YOU USE SUCH A DEROGATORY TERM WITH ROYALTY?”

"SHHHHHHHHHH." Snake shushed. "Don't blow our element of surprise."  Stupid fucking horse!

"I think it came from in here," another Australian spoke.

"Everybody, get in and keep quiet." Snake leapt in pulling Specks with him. With that, Celestia stumbled into the truck and the soldiers followed suit. Specks monitored the outside with his goggles. He had thermal, night, sonar and analytical vision. The latter would deconstruct and display parts of machinery, or aid in his new tinkerings. To anybody else, he was just studying the inside of truck; he was actually tracking enemy movement.

"What is this one doing?" whispered Celestia whilst pointing towards Specks.

"He can see through the truck with sonar vision. Like echolocation for a bat, but he can see through the thin canopy of the truck. He's trying to watch the bad guys," Abbiegale spoke before cutting the engine.

It was tense, especially when Specks raised his weapon at the door. It was about half an hour before he confirmed no one was there. Snake radioed Ursa Major and Dead eye to give them heads up about leaving. Snake and Specks left to plant charges on neighbouring trucks, giving the girls time to talk.

"Look, I'm sorry if I insulted you. If it makes you feel any better, you can call us apes; chimps in Specks case. I didn't know what to call you." Amber apologised.

“I will not stoop to such level," the Princess harrumphed. “I do accept your apology, this must be as strange for you as it is for me," she admitted.  She was not one to hold a grudge of minor mistakes; being captured on the other hand...

"Hey, can I see the alien? Wow, you weren't kidding she look exactly like mrmrmrm." Amber pressed her hand over her sister's mouth.

"She does not like being called that." Amber said, smiling at Celestia. "But what would we call your species?" she asked lowering her hand from her siblings maw.

"I am an alicorn, a type of pony " She stressed that last part.

"Really, we can't call you a horse, but a pony is acceptable? Strange world of yours." Abbiegale commented.

"It would be similar to me calling you ape when you are...erm, forgive me, but in my time here I never learned of your species." She was less angered about the situation now that there was a chance of escaping.

"No need to apologize, we are humans; we should be getting them to apologize to you," Abbiegale answered.

"We are not all bad, just looking for a way to save our world," Amber finished.

"Why? What is happening to-" Celestia was cut off by the returning soldiers.

"Figures. Both females of our species just talk whilst the males do the work," Snake spoke earning death glances from the girls.

"How dare he speak in such a manner! Sister, how could you be friends with such a sexist brute?" Luna interjected. She drowned out the orders Snake gave to leave the base, and to warn the sniper and medic.

Celestia chuckled. "He was joking, Luna; their sense of humour allows them to be more,” she paused whilst rotating a hoof, “creative at times. They can be witty, offensive, ironic, silly or just vulgar. He often slipped between the set to keep everypo-body calm," She corrected. It had been a long time since she had to use that term.

"These creatures don't mind being insulted at such a level?" Luna asked, interested. The truck was making its way through when they came to the second-to-last checkpoint. "Strange."

"Sometimes, you just have to be careful of what you say, Specks had yet to learn this."

"License and ID number, please," a guard requested.

"Sure hold on a sec, sugar," Amber spoke in a fake Australian accent. She was checking underneath the driver seat, the glove compartment and the overhead blind when she was interrupted.

"You sound like you’re from Sydney, what part?" the guard asked.

"That's right, sweetie, good ear." Abbiegale batted an eyelash; making it known she was checking him out.

Being male, he straightened up.

"We're from Darlinghurst. Now I want to know where you’re from, big guy."

Amber and Abbiegale flirted. After 5 minutes of swapping stories, the girls were let out without a problem.

"Is that how they engage the opposite sex? It seems both inviting to a true romance, and yet was slightly provocative," Luna summarised.

"I thought so, too. Unfortunately, their partnering rituals are not listed in the book."

"I have an idea. Why don't you just sit on the bonnet with your tits out?"

Slap. Amber struck.

Slap. Abbiegale agreed.

Punch. Something else did too.

"Why did you hit me?" Specks glared at Snake.

"Don't talk that way about the ladies."

"But you just-"

"Made a general statement, not specifically aimed at the women and mare here. As long as it's not meaning their tarts, I don't mind," Snake finished.

"My, my. What a knight in shining armour," Amber spoke in a thankful tone as she turned to head towards a gate.

"Pleasure’s all mine, ma'am," he responded. Celestia smiled: both the mirror image and the real one.

“Chivalry does exist here after all."

"Of course, we just choose when and how to exercise it. There can be problems with always being a gentleman."

"Man? Is that your version of a stallion or colt?"

"Are they your versions of man?" he responded.

"Guys, we lost the ID cards. If we approach, we can get our cover blown."

"Fucking idiots," Snake said squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"How can he go from being polite and sincere to and rude?" Luna asked.

"Very easily, apparently," Celestia shrugged.

"Wow, thanks for that. You were a true gentleman back there." Amber was now slowing down, prolonging the inevitable.

"We need to get through no matter what. I want you to floor it."

"What?" Abbiegale asked.

Snake was not listening. "Ursa Major, Deadeye, get ready, we’re no longer leaving stealthily."

"Affirmative, we'll start picking off stragglers." The sound of a silenced sniper was heard down the headset.

"That thing has got pick up," Specks commented.

"Should do. You designed it." Snake complemented Specks, who gave a smirk to show his pride.

"I am going to have to ask you to keep down, love, and hold on tight. Amber, run those bastards down." He switched from being polite to the alicorn to being commanding to the driver. The truck accelerated, Celestia felt the truck jerk forward and she slid to the side due to the inertia. Snake was stopping her sliding down any further, by just sitting there and giving her something to grab onto. "I told you to hold on tight, not to me." The Princess released her grasp and chuckled nervously.

There were a couple of shouts, before the truck barged through a gate. Snake and Specks took a seat by the back door. They opened it slightly and tossed out grenades. They waited for explosions before sliding the slit windows open on the doors. They fired their weapons out the back. Snake nodded towards Specks who brought up the detonator. He waited a while to maximise damage before flicking the switch.

The image changed to show the Russian and the American examining the escape.

"Looks like the shit hit the fan; I'll bet it was the girls," the American spoke sniping guards in the towers.

"I think it vwas goggled boy," the Russian replied, looking at the erupting flames. His crew cut edged out his small forehead. A wide jaw seemed proportional to his shoulders and the small ears complemented his narrow eyes. His behemoth of a body sprawled out behind the marine in his standard woodland suit.

"You mean Specks? Nah, he's got Snake with him. I doubt that smart S.O.B would let him screw up." Deadeye refused to look away from the sight, lest he lose focus. That beady eye trained on not just where a target was, but where they were going. The mental image of points A and B pinpointed his kill zone.

"S.O.B?" Both Luna and the Russian asked at the same time.

"Oh, yeah. Son Of a Bitch." Explaining this brought unison of ‘O’s’ from both the human soldier and the alicorn princess.

"Oh, da, good point." The Russian replied, raising binoculars to his eyes. The truck was weaving between the barriers and made a serpentine pattern along the road. The fire from the base spread to the outside. The demoman took a second to admire the use of his well-crafted utilities as more guards burned trying to douse the flames. He had no doubt that the entire vehicle storage depot would be in ruins along with its contents.

"Are they always using those words to emphasise points, Celestia? What does Fu..."

"Only when stressed, and, NO, you cannot use them. They are a form of profanity the humans use to allow them to keep in control. Quite interesting really, it seems to be a more of a psychological release than a physical one."

"What do they mean?"

Celestia smirked "Keep watching and you will find out." She remembered a part of future events and how she reacted. She also remembered the delicious contents of that flask that Snake was now sipping on.

"Really? Whilst on the job?" Abbiegale interrogated.

"I need my Dutch courage." With that, he sealed it up and placed it back in his upper right pocket.

The truck was now heading for the hill, as it got closer two men stood up. One was a giant with black hair and the other wore a balaclava, with an oval to reveal his old blue eyes. The marine raised his weapon above his head. The Ghillie suit shrouded the rest of his body.  The Russian called them over waving a flare he had stored in his support bag. Amber stopped by the red illuminated men and motioned for the men to get in quickly. They followed the suggestion and climbed into the back. Both just stared at the Princess a she stared back.

"It's a horse," Dead eye stated flatly. I just risked my life, saving a space horse. His mental thought echoed in Celestia's bedroom. Before the replica Celestia could answer the Russian spoke.

"No, is big pony. No again is Pegacorn." He said pointing to the wings and horn.

"Close, but my breed is called an alicorn. I would prefer it if you called me by my name. I am Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria, ruler of the sun."

After looking at each other the group made their best efforts to bow, the Russian was the last due to slow translation. Snake however extended a hand to greet her.

"Snake, a captain of Her Royal Majesty's Special Air Service. It is an honour to meet you, impressive titles, by the way."

She looked at him confused; this was the first time anypony approached her in such a way other than those now bowing. She raised her hoof for him to lock his digits around gently. She felt how he carefully cradled her hoof by the precision of his fingers. The glove hand felt smooth and tipped with a rubbery grip. Normally, she would have all four horseshoes, but lost one entering the world.

"It is pleasant to meet you, Snake. You have strange name, I must say."

Luna was also confused. "Is that actually his name? Why does he approach in such a way?"

"No, it is not. He was given it because he could move and strike silently, as you saw. He could remove enemies in large groups without others noticing. I believe he was trying to be friendly, without suggesting that my heritage and royal duties meant nothing there."

"This is Specks: brainchild, techno guy and my partner also from the S.A.S." He pointed to the one with the huge goggles.

"I am Amber," the driver stated still focused on the road.

"I am Abbiegale," she added turning back. The only noticeable difference was that Amber had her hair tied back, whilst the other had her hair flowing to her shoulders. "We’re spies," they said in unison.

"Pleased to meet you, I am glad I will have female company on this trip. Too many hot headed males, as usual." Celestia commented smirking at Snake. He returned an amused exhale and smirked back.

"I am Deadeye. Best damn sniper in Seal Team 6." He said proudly under his mask. The moss helmet had been removed and was on the end of his weapon.

"Celestia, I am Ursa Major; Medicine, demolition and support man. Itvis nice to meet you." The Russian added in broken English.

"Why do they all have unusual names? Are they named after their talents?" Luna asked. "Why does the one who goes by Ursa Major speak in such a way?"

"These are names given to them, sister. He is named for his size and power, but the bear it means stands for strength and protection. He speaks in this broken language because it is not his native tongue. You should really re-read that book on his homeland."

Celestia studied the man. She noticed he did fit the qualifications of a 'Great Bear'. He was large and did seem to have animal like movement. Perhaps it was because he looked like a bear fidgeting about in such a small space.

"I am going to heal you. I need to know where it hurts," he spoke softly, reaching for his medical kit.

After a while, Celestia was covered in plasters and a bandage around her hoof. She had to take off some of her jewelry, resulting in a sight no pony has seen in 500 years. The truck was still racing the pre-planned escape route whilst the research facility burned to the ground. On the way the group had begun discussing about their worlds. What Earth used to be like and what Equestria was like. Celestia found herself to have mixed emotions for these creatures. They described such horrible events; terrorists in Manchester and London, riots in America, a brutal winter in Moscow. This world seemed to be full of destruction, all caused by the humans, and yet they told beautiful stories during the journey. That one Christmas Snake got drunk and glided into a giant 'Christmas' tree, while Specks spoke of his achievement in biotechnology creating artificial limbs. The sisters spoke of the time they sneaked into an opera and almost got caught. Ursa Major recalled his pet dog, Dusha, who was so wolf-like he had to get her tested. Dead ye told the group about the time he helped get a labouring mother to the closest hospital which was 4 miles away, during his tour of Afghanistan.

"You were right, they are complex. They’re capable of great harm and good," Luna narrated.

"Specks, can you rig this truck to head towards that town? We gotta leave for the next part of the plan."

"Um... sure, let me get my gear." Specks reached into his bags and started rooting around.

"Okay, Amber, pull over by the tree that touches the rock."

"I don't see...Oh, right, gotcha."

"I guess we are vwalking," the Russian stated.

"I see what you’re doing. They’re looking for the truck. If the Princess is seen, the town will freak out and draw more attention," Deadeye spoke.

"Where are we going?" Celestia asked.

"We are walking from here, towards where you came from. There's a settlement for us to resupply before the final push in between."

The truck pulled over and everybody, and pony, got out. Specks was soon rigging the truck like a remote control car, whilst the others hid on the edge of the tree line. They all discovered 6 bags for long hikes. The dead bark camouflage would blend perfectly against the dying trees. 4 had an extra folded canopy labelled ‘quick release tent’. They had found random survival gear, as if it was all set up. "Just where I left 'em," Snake said.

"Okay, I'm done with the truck. Let’s light it up." The group began to trek into the woods, all the while, Specks was still playing with his new toy. They scuttled under trees when something big flew overhead. Two bright lights were seen following the road in pursuit of the truck. "They fell for it."

The truck was weaving in and out, avoiding fire from the choppers. It had entered the town at tremendous speed; it broke to safely turn a corner and shortly sped up afterwards. The streets were nearly completely empty and Specks did well to avoid civilian casualties. Eventually, the chase came to a halt when the truck travelled to a bridge. Specks made the Truck swerve into oncoming traffic; he narrowly missed cars and vans, before flying off the edge before a turn off. Or turn in, in this case. The bridge was over land, and the Truck was now falling towards an abandoned apartment complex.  It broke through the roof and must have stopped 3 stories up. The helicopters guarded the area waiting for reinforcements or signs of life.

Meanwhile the group had made its way deeper into the dying woodland. Snake noticed Celestia was tense and needed to calm her down. It was against protocol but he was certain they were safe, for now at least.

"It's going to be a long walk before first camp. Who knows a good song?" Snake asked.

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The image blurred and refocused showing the group making their way to their destination.

"I SAID A GOOD SONG!" he yelled at Abbiegale.

"What? Justin Bieber’s a classic. Baby, baby, baby ooooh," the woman sang at surprisingly the same pitch as the young boy. The raven hair slowly drifted side to side as she gracefully bobbed her head side to side during the chorus. Ursa couldn’t understand a word of English music. He thought the feminine voice was only slightly irritating. Specks was happy with the movie playing through his goggles: Die Hard, his favourite. He kept more than 100 films to keep himself occupied on long flights. The elders of the group were left to maintain security, but being fans of rock and roll the song was taking its toll.

"He still sounds as bad now as he did then, turn it off!" Dead demanded

Celestia was new to the human music but still had preferences. "I agree with Snake. I preferred his taste in music or at least Amber's. Hers reminds me of home." But Celestia would not admit it was an improvement of her kind attempts at orchestra. Perhaps I could bring the instrumental designs and musical structure back to Equestria?

"See, even the alien thinks he's a pile of crap."

"Could you play the one before please Snake?" Celestia turned to face the navigator at the front. The short brown hair intensified his dark eyes. The night sky had robbed half his face whilst the moon illuminated the other. Thin bristles grew along his jaw like maroon grass. A sharp grin revealed his joy to hear such a merciful release; in the form of his favourite music, which removed a small portion of what Luna knew of her sister.

"Certainly." With that he proceeded to play Bon Jovi's 'Have A Nice Day.' His iPod was plucked out of his centre chest pocket and with a sudden flick of the wrist guitar strings screamed into the night. Celestia closed her eyes and embraced the passion behind the lyrics.

Luna was listening to the music and looked back at her sister in astonishment.

"I thought you hated the rock and roll."

"No, I do not like what our ponies called rock and roll. Too short, not enough meaningful lyrics. He let me sleep with the music playing device that night. There were so many, Nerve Anar, Cold Plane, The Link in a Park, more Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath and Metal Cart. Although, the last one was too much for me." She could never recall the names of the bands well.

"They were wonderful songs. Oh, and Amber's 'classical symphonies' would put our new ones to shame." She sniffed. "I didn't realise they could teach us so much when I left them behind. I secretly kept thinking they were all killers, they were just being nice to help themselves."

The image later came to a small camp. There was a long log on one side of a camp-fire, and another on the opposite side. 4 tents were set up, in camouflage, with 2 one behind each log. On one log sat Snake, Celestia, Ursa Major, who faced Specks, the twins, and Deadeye.

"Okay, tents are up." He turned to face Celestia and chuckled. "Since you are our guest you can have first pick of luxury beds."

"Thank you, the one by the flowers will be perfect."

"Okay, lights out in an hour, we need to leave by 0700 and its 2200 now. Okay, equipment check. Specks, still got all your gadgets? Oh, and Ursa, check ammo and charges. Deadeye, giz a hand in checking to see if my suit still works."

"Alright."

"Da, good idea."

"Sure, bro."

Snake and Deadeye confirmed his wing suit still worked. The re-usable parachute was operational but took a while to repack. Ursa and the girls did an ammo check. After about five minutes, Celestia and Snake were studying the remaining devices Specks had on him. The rest of the group were talking about the old days, before the world started dying.

"Let's see; my private hologram display unit, with a single daily recharge. Stun grenade, Flares and flare gun, hacking panel, and a survey drone. I have command for an air strike and I can feed all the data through by heads up display. We just lost a few parts I was saving for a project back home, but a few strings and the GPS won’t be missed.

"Bloody hell, when I started it was painting lasers and radios, now we got holograms and hand held robots."

"Times change, old man, besides ain’t that a prototype?" Speck said jabbing Snake's chute storage compartment. "Still you only 4 years older than me, it's your birthday soon isn't it?"

"Soon yeah, I'm still not telling you when."

The survey bot was much like a mini helicopter that was about as big as Ursa’s hands. It had a small camera underneath and was being inspected by Celestia.

"What is this contraption?"

"It's a survey drone. It can fly and scan the area for us. It can give us information without us needing to be in dangerous territory."

"That device can fly without the use of magic? More importantly, how do those creatures get high altitudes without it?" Luna asked. Her answer came shortly after.

Specks jabbed a screen on his wrist and it gently took off. He made it hover in front of Celestia, who poked it, causing it to wobble. She stared at it, completely fascinated. She heard its small shutter close and then land by her hooves.

"Look at this, still good looking." He showed her a picture of herself staring straight into the camera with an investigatory look.

"Amazing, and you did not need to handle the machine directly?"

"Nope, no wire, just signals."

"Fascinating. We have cameras but we have no method of making machines work at distances, without direct intervention."

"We have larger ones, too, some capable of taking a picture of the entire land, others used to carry humans. I noticed you were wondering about how Snake fulfills his occupation without wings. He is carried by a bigger, similar, version of this and he flies over his target and lands safely."

"It's just falling with style, really."

"You remember too many films. Anyway, this contraption works by signals from my wrist pad..." He pointed to the screen. “...to the survey drone. Allowing me to control it without being attached to it, or even able to see it." Once again, he activated the small device. He showed great control when the machine orbited Celestia before traveling underneath her. It assumed its final position on his back after his well-practiced docking procedure.

"Perhaps we can tell you about the way these signals work. For now, I think you should get some shut eye," Snake suggested.

“Are you sure it's safe? Besides, I wish to stay up and hear more of your kind's music." She was opposed to the idea. She did enjoy the pleasant cultural exchange between species. Although, the griffins were rough, to say the least, they could produce fantastic traditional statues; in fact many of the garden exhibitions come from griffins.

"Oh, really?" He yawned directly at the Princess.

"Yes....really." She yawned back. Her eyes sagged and closed briefly. She smacked her lips in a most unPrincess like fashion. She wide eyed and smirked. "You did that on purpose."

Snake shrugged and smiled. The real Celestia smiled, too. Luna turned and faced Celestia with a frown. "So that's where you got the trick from. Remind me to thank him later in the Royal Canterlot voice." Celestia giggled before having a dark face strike her.

"If we can save them," she whispered to herself morbidly.

Celestia was making her way back to her tent. "Hey one more thing." Snake reached into his left pocket and pulled out an iPod. "You can sleep with this tonight, put the end of those strings in your ears, and press this button." He began to explain the functions of the buttons on the little music maker. She thanked him and trotted off to her tent, eager to hear the new music.

"I still have the device. I have a lot of their world’s technology, but they require power, I have yet to determine how to give them that." She said pointing to the safe in the wall. It was his iPod and an assortment of other things. There were seeds are of a rare plant, kept only in the royal gardens, there was also a flashlight, and a Swiss army knife. Many other things were hidden under a black cloth. Luna could just see them poking out.

"So your favourite flower came from their world. The ones you are sleeping next to."

"Correct. Now look, morning arrives soon."

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Soon enough, it did. The mirror glowed, radiating Earth's sun into the dark room of Celestia's room. For the night, both the light of the moon and sun entered the room. Through the dead trees birds could be heard singing to each other in a soothing fashion. The leaves on the floor were swept up by a cooling breeze, departing when they reached the tents.

In the decrepit forest, Celestia woke up with the buds still attached to her ears. She had not even managed to listen to half of the songs, but was thankful to wake to the Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony.' She like how it combined parts of classical music with a more modern theme. Though given the fact this song fell under 'Oldie goldies', she was aware that modern may be the wrong word.

She came outside her tent and stretched her wings. She looked for the others. The twins were in the tent next to her. Ursa and Dead eye opposite them and Specks was on his own. She heard them eating inside their tents. She was about approach the twins’ tent when Snake cut her off.

"I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?" she asked curiously

"Remember you’re a herbivore and we’re omnivores,” he clued her in.

"Yes. Your point is?" She thought it could be threat but she realised: Who steals an alien just to eat it?

"Well, it's breakfast time. Don't worry, we haven’t killed anything recently, it was already prepared. Now I didn't know what to get you," he admitted scratching his head.

Celestia returned the iPod and walked towards the flowers near the tent. They were more distinguishable in the morning light. Each petal blended from a rose red to a violet/blue colour. "That will be quite all right, thank you for the warning." She began to nibble on the flower to test it. "Oh, my." She paused for about 5 seconds then began to ravish the bush greedily, Snake plucked one before she could get to it.

"I see you have a liking for these." He glanced over to see her about to take another bite. She stopped, looked at him and blushed before smiling. He chuckled. "How about we get you the seeds of these things so that you can take them home?"

She gulped the remaining petals down. "That would be lovely, thanks, erm, please don't mention this to anyone," she pleaded

"I won't if you don't." She returned to eating at a normal pace.

Luna was tittering to herself; she had never seen that side of her sister before.

"I can see why they are rare. At that rate, I would not be surprised if you wiped them out." She continued to fill the room with sharp squeaks. Celestia smiled and shrugged whilst craning her neck to her sister.

"Yes, they are rather delectable, I do plant them every few years or so and dine on them." She could only describe them as sweet with a bitter finish.  Sort of honey like ending with a spicy zest, not too hot to burn just enough to be known and leave an even sweeter warmth to the tongue.

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A new image emerged of the group walking deeper into the forest. Celestia told her that this was the 3rd day of walking. In that time, she had covered magic, cutie marks, pony species of her world and the technology they use. Specks face-palmed at the sudden fact of ponies weren't even as advanced as humans. Luckily his goggles were resting above his azure eyes. Celestia was confused; Snake simply said he won a bet. The Russian was intrigued by the concept of winter wrap up. Removing Snow and bringing in spring seemed useful in his motherland. To Celestia's annoyance, the group would constantly wave off anything Celestia said about moving the sun. Dead eye and Snake constantly wanted proof. Proof she could not provide in this world.

Shortly after the sixth attempt at explaining how Celestia raises the sun, they came to a clearing where a small settlement rested square in the middle. It looked like it was made out of scrap metal and burnt cars. "Perfect! Right in the middle of the bloody open. Best place to hide a V.I.P." Snake stated his snide comment sarcastically at nobody in particular.

"You mean you didn't know about this?" Abbiegale commented.

"I didn't know it was wide open, there were more trees when I was here last time."

"This is where we will stay?" the alicorn added as they made their way to the main gate. "Are you sure it could hold out against our hunters?"

"Yep. It's heavily armoured, has good men from our allies and can supply us for the rest of our journey. There should be no more problems if I planned this right."

"DO NOT MOVE, YOU ARE TRESPASSING. LEAVE NOW OR YOU WILL BE SHOT."

"Well, soon there won't be any problems. Okay, everybody, arms up. Celestia, try to look like you're surrendering."

The group complied; everybody threw their weapons down and raised their arms. Celestia looked lost, and lay on the ground.

"JACOB! IT'S SNAKE!"

There was an eerily cold breeze followed by a deafening silence. No noise, not even from the forest.

"WELL, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO! Open the door, Spencer.”

The group walked into a courtyard with large metal walls. There was a single grey building in the middle and improvised extensions surrounding it. There were board walks with men and women just staring the Princess as she readjusted her crown. The spider web of rust and steel was complex, routes crossed over, many led to the same point whilst others remained parallel.

"Snake, it has been too long, mate," cried an Australian man, making his way towards the group. "Stand down, lads, they’re alright." The mercenaries lowered their weapons and just gawked at the Princess.

"Too right, Jacob. How you been?" The men grabbed hands and pulled each other closer and bashed shoulders.

"Good, good. I understand you're still working to save everybody, huh?" he joked, jabbing him in the shoulder.

"Always, now I think I should introduce you to my lovely friend." Snake turned and pointed towards Celestia. She slowly approached and introduced herself. Jacob was taken back by her appearance. Despite the few plasters and the clinging filth she still displayed her royal aura. The gold and jewel encrusted sparkled in the light of a dying day. Even if she was missing one horse shoe, Jacob couldn’t say it lowered her magnificence. One thing about her became the feature that he wanted an answer for.

"I am Princess Celestia. Your friends rescued me days ago and we wish to seek refuge here."

Jacob bowed. After this, it was clear about the control he had over his men as each one followed suit. It was like a ripple effect across multiple levels. “It’s an honour to meet cha, ma'am. Yes, you are more than welcome to stay. I have just one question, if you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all, what do you wish to know?" She was expecting 'What are you? What are you doing here?'

"What shampoo do you use?"

"Really? These humans are on the run from a threat, meet a new being, and they still joke?" Luna asked to no pony slightly annoyed.

Celestia laughed at her sister’s response, drowning out the ingredients to her shampoo that gave them both such an ethereal mane. Amber and Abbiegale tried to remember the combination until she said phoenix feathers. "I told you they were complex. I did like Jacob." She paused, her eyes were about to leak tears again. “I still can't believe what happened." She began to sob into her sister’s shoulders. Next Chapter: Chapter 3: When words fail... Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 30 Minutes