History.

Archeology.

Adventure.

The thrill of adrenaline.

Daring Do loved her life. She could combine her passion and hobby with her job as an archeologist. She remembered how her mother, a famous scientist for ancient history in her own right, told her stories about her work and provided her with literature about tales of old, unsolved mysteries, forgotten ruins and more. It awoke in Daring the desire to become an archaeologist on her own, to discover and conquer the unknown of this world.

Of course to the time of her mother it was much easier to investigate rumors or to do something that shouldn't be common knowledge. Ancient ruins with dangerous artifacts, which were furthermore booby-trapped to keep away unwanted visitors and thieves, were no places where you could, or should, open a tourism center.

Her mother could visit, support or even lead excavations and the public was none the wiser. Or how the scientist always used to say to her daughter: "Daring, when I was in your age, it was an unspoken rule between all involved that what happened in the desert, stayed in the desert."

After the level of technology rose further and further over the years it became much more difficult to keep dangerous discoveries hidden from the world and only to mention what could be mentioned. Satellites, cellphones, MyStable, Horsebook, it was much easier to catch, record and distribute information when Daring Do started her career after her graduation.

Still, it didn't stop her from hunting her dream. Daring had a lot of adventures on her back for a woman her age of 27 years and received good payments from her clients. Well, as long as they managed to pay that was, or no other problems made themselves known.

It had to be some kind of world record how many times one of her more or less shaddy and very eccentric customers, who needed an archeologist for whatever reason, couldn't pay up in the end.

For example, because they aimed for forbidden treasures and died sometimes in process of the adventure. Stupidity wasn't a sin, but Daring had her fair share of questionable situations where she wasn't so sure about that anymore in regard of some humans she met.

Another problem she had with some of them in the past was that they didn't value historic sites as much as she did and were ready to destroy irreplaceable pieces of forgotten civilizations as long as they got what they desired. She had to step in in these cases and fought her own, former by this point, clients to save treasures of history.

Suffice it to say that the paycheck never came, but that wasn't important for her. There were things on this world whose destruction or theft wasn't worth all money on Earth, in her opinion.

Or they, Daring herself and her employer, met one of the woman's two greatest rivals.

Dr. Caballeron. A man from Sphayn who claimed to be a descendant of one of the most powerful bloodlines from the time of the sphaynish inquisition. He had the annoying habit to appear out of nowhere and ruined her day when she expected it the least. From her point of view he wasn't a ‘doctor’, but only a greedy thief who had no qualms to sell old and very valuable artefacts, no matter the consequences, as long as he could fill his pockets.

This man had no respect for anything and was a fiend of history! These items should be, as long as they were not dangerous or had to stay where they were, exhibited and appreciated in a museum for all to see. Instead there were people who had no qualms with letting them disappear in some dusty old vault of some crazy collector. Such items were inestimable!

The worst thing was that this guy seriously thought, most likely until this day, depending on whether he was even still alive, that he had a real chance with her. Caballeron was slightly older than her and flirted shamelessly. Every time they met each other he offered her at least once to become his bride and right hand.

The young archaeologist guessed that was a reason why, no matter how many times she destroyed his plans, she was alive, still. His henchman were brutes and wore weapons on their person, but Caballeron never ordered them to simply shoot her. No, he ordered many things, but not her death.

One time Daring asked him why he never tried to finish her off, out of curiosity and because she was fed up after he gloated into her face for 20 minutes. Without a break. He replied that he was a gentleman and wouldn't dream of taking the life of such a, in his words, ‘beautiful flower’.

Well, to be honest, she heard worse pick-up lines in her life.

When she once told her mother about her problem with him, the scientist had just laughed at her daughter and replied in dry humor, "Honey. You are young, strong, intelligent and very beautiful, what do you expect? Believe me, before I met your father it was the same for me. When these people don't play for the own team and aren’t completely bend on world domination, or becoming rich, then that is just what happens. It is rare to meet a man who wouldn't at least consider the possibility of flirting with the attractive archeologist, no matter if she's the greatest obstacle on his road. You could say, being harassed falls under 'job hazards' in our case."

Daring didn't feel better at all after this enlightenment.

And she never met her father for that matter, Daring's mother only said that he left them, she never explained any details and didn't want to talk about it anymore.

The second rival was another man called Ahuizotl from Neighico. He was much more dangerous than Dr. Caballeron and her personal arch nemesis. He had little regards for taking others' lives to achieve his goals and nearly succeeded multiple times in killing her. Only her wits and training kept the archeologist alive to this day. Ahuizotl's tendency to act like a cliche villain helped, too. He always left her alone after he gloated and cackled like a maniac, leaving Daring to her ‘unavoidable doom’, what helped her in the end to escape out of the traps.

And then there were his dogs who accompanied him restlessly. A bulldog, a doberman, a sheepdog and a chihuahua, this little beast was the most aggressive of all for some reason. Daring managed to keep them away with a dog whistle in most cases.

All these problems put together led to the situation that she needed money at some point from other sources, because too many of her expeditions didn't lead to any form of tangible payment. A good conscious and heroic acts alone didn't fill a stomach or paid taxes, sadly.

Her mother, Ancient Keeper, or only Ancy, as she prefered to be called by all, joked one day that Daring should become an author and starting to write books about her adventures. At least the more interesting ones.

The younger woman loved that idea immediately, it meant that she could share more of her secrets, in a more or less abridged form to convince everyone that is was just fiction, with her future audience and earned extra money all the same. And she had something to do in her free time between expeditions.

The only problem that remained was that Daring Do couldn't write books over herself and using her own identity, she needed a pen name. It wouldn't be possible to keep dangerous and greedy people, or the government for that matter, from doing the same in the end like Caballeron or Ahuizotl, maybe even worse. When people decided to investigate if the author was indeed Daring Do and real to boot, it would just open a whole new can of worms. She didn't need that.

No, like to the time of her mother her activities had to be kept hidden from unwanted attention. The modern age and its technology proved sometimes to be a curse, indeed.

Before she started to write an old and very good friend of Ancient Keeper in the US government helped with creating a perfect fake identity for Daring Do so that no connections could be made between the names.

In honor of her mother and teacher, who gave her this idea in the first place, she chose the name ‘A.K. Yearling’. The ‘A’ from ‘Ancient’, the ‘K’ from ‘Keeper’ and ‘Yearling’ was the name of her mother's own secret identity. Daring's income increased exponentially, much to her own surprise.

Six months ago, her mother followed a hint when first changes took place on Earth. A colleague called and reported about strange happenings in the ruins of an old temple of religious fanatics in Greece. It was located in the ruins of Old Rhodes. Of course Ancient as a famous scientist for historical events was one of the first people he had in mind to contact. And because he knew about their family's ‘activities’.

Daring had a bad feeling about everything to this time.

For five months she received updates from her mother about ‘developments beyond their imagination’, as the older woman described her findings. One reason was that the inhabitants of Greece suddenly began to turn from humans into minotaurs... that was a thing, too. She was even sent pictures that confirmed the claim of the historian. The new inhabitants renamed Greece into ‘Magoth’. It seemed it was a translation from the minotaurs new mother tongue, ‘Tauru’.

Then, 10 days ago, Daring Do received the last letter and any form of contact at all until this day from Ancient Seeker. It was really written in the artistic and beautiful handwriting of her mother, the young archeologist would recognize it anywhere. The message said:

Dear Daring,

I hope you're well. If you are reading this then know that this has to be our last correspondence for the time being. I can't risk that potential enemies might intercept my letters to you in the future and procure valuable informations. Too much is at stake. We had to leave the City of Rhodes and regroup on the mainland after we were attacked by goblins and Naga, I’m serious, who claimed the island for the so called 'Triumvirate'. I had to sent you this letter, because the internet- and cellphone connection alike broke down for whatever reason in the entire country.

My angel, be careful who you trust! The world is on the brink of a new era. The druids of the sanctum confirmed that the strange energ-magic of our world will soon awake completely. Something is helping accelerating the procedure since months, but we don't know what it is or why this is happening. Our allies call the this new era the 'Dawn of Magic', at least that is the English translation.

I taught you everything I knew, you are a grown woman who already had her fair share of experiences in our field of work and I couldn't be prouder to call myself your mother. Sadly I can't help you anymore from this point on, I have to stay here and support the minotaurs with their own problems to the best of my abilities. But I know that you will prevail, like you always do, make the right decisions and help us to uncover the truth.

Before everything went south here, I called a friend of mine who owned me a favor after I saved his daughter from tomb robbers 15 years ago. You can trust him, his name is Mamba and he is the curator of the National Museum for Ancient History of Zebrica, you know where you have to go. You probably ask yourself how a simple curator could help us with a problem of such magnitude. Let us just say that Mamba is nowadays much more. Please, trust me.

To reach Zebrica as fast as possible I convinced a good friend of mine to escort you, her name is Firefly. Even though we are facing apocalypse-like circumstances she agreed to help. Please, don’t embarrass me and show yourself from your better side. She is tough as nails and could take you on every time of the day. That being said, don't anger her, she has a hot temper and is stubborn as a mule. Firefly will arrive in 10 days to pick you up so that she can prepare everything for the time of her absence when she's with you, wait for her arrival.

And don't be surprised when you see that the humans of Zebrica transformed into another race entirely, they seem to be 'trolls' nowadays. I saw minotaurs, goblins, Nagas, hydras and many other things we would consider 'fantasy', but I fear that will be our new reality from now on. Keep your mind open to all possibilities and don't falter, child. I give you this last piece of advice, because you will witness things much beyond petty thievery and greedy power-hungry fools like Ahuizotl.

I pray that we will be reunited one day, telling each other stories and laugh in retrospection about everything. Until then, stay safe, take Firefly’s words into account and heed her opinion in the case you are stuck in your upcoming journey. Good luck.

Love,

Ancient Seeker

PS: You still owe me a grandchild, young lady. And I won't leave this world and neither will you until I have one and can call myself a grandmother. So don't you dare die on me!

Ten days later this Firefly arrived in front of Daring's usually secret base, a middle-sized house she called ‘home’, when she wasn't on a new expedition or visited Daring Do conventions undercover as A.K Yearling, writing autographs for her fans.

This needed some, no, a lot of time getting used to. The fact that people disguised themselves as... well, herself, was disturbing.

At least Daring could brush up on zebrican culture in the meantime, she hoped that trolls had similar traditions. The young woman really didn't want to end up dead before she even met this Mamba.

Today her potentially greatest adventure would start, maybe Daring could write a two-parter. However, she was sure her publisher was on vacation for an ‘indefinite period’, like most people these days.

Daring tried to assess her mother’s friend.

Firefly was an attractive, tall, athletic looking woman in her late thirties. She had pink skin, long slightly unkempt purplish blue hair and purple eyes. An aura of authority and determination surrounded her, giving Daring the chills. Whoever crossed this woman in the wrong way was down for the count, the archaeologist was sure of that. She wore earrings in the form of two purplish blue lightning bolts and locked eyes with a stunned Daring Do, an amused smile adorning her features. Firefly wore a short-sleeved white T-shirt, black track pants, aquamarine colored sneakers and a Glock, more specific a Glock 17 RTF2 on each side of her hips, secured in black holsters.

Well, it made sense to wear more casual clothes, because Daring was sure the trolls wouldn't trust someone in official uniform.

The archeologist knew when she had a soldier in front of her. She was convinced that her mother's ‘old friend’ was just a simple official at best, an old contact from Ancient's more active time, or someone unsuspicious like a free time pilot in order to grant her help to reach Zebrica, but NOT from the military! What kind of friends had this crazy woman?!

"Err... hi? You must be Firefly, my mother told me a lot about you," Daring greeted smoothly, a little nervous.

It annoyed the adventurer, normally she could control her emotions. Why was it so difficult?

In a mildly raspy, deeper voice the soldier responded in a relaxed tone, "Calm down, kiddo, I won't eat you. As you already mentioned, my name is Firefly, general and highest officer of the Wonderbolts, how is it going?" She said the last part like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"H-highest ranking general?! You are the infamous Thunder Demon?! How in the name of everything holy do you know my mother... Ms. Firefly?" Daring tried to sound calm and collected at the end.

She wasn't sure if this was real or if her mother just trolled her. When Daring read about a woman called ‘Firefly’ she didn't think too hard about it, because she never expected that Ancient Seeker was talking about the Firefly. One of the most decorated and famous generals of the US military.

"Oho? Ms. Firefly? Sorry kiddo, but flattery won't get you any favors. And when you really insist to be polite, call me Mrs. Firefly, because I'm married and have a daughter. Now, let's stop wasting daylight, we can talk on our flight to Zebrica, or whatever trolls call their country these days. Follow me," Firefly responded in an uncaring tone and left, walking to a big open area behind Daring's house.

"So... mom already informed you about everything?" the young woman inquired unsurely, whereas she followed the general.

Firefly chuckled before she answered smugly, "Ancy informing me? I updated her more about recent events in the last months than the other way around, but I guess you're right this time. I didn't know that the humans of Zebrica transformed into trolls." They reached their destination, "Ah, there it is, I hope you don't have any problems with heights and things to occupy yourself, it will be a long flight."

What the archaeologist saw in front of her was not what she expected and gaped at the... interesting choice of their vehicle. It was a aquamarine colored Cessna 172 Skyhawk, a lightweight airplane with four seats and classified as a Single Engine Piston with a reciprocating engin. Except the underside, which was white.

Firefly saw Daring Do's unconvinced expression, "Don't be so nervous, we motorized this baby in a way so that the flight performance is at its best. The same for the maximum takeoff weight, or MTOW, if you know the term, in other words we will reach our destination. Besides, we have a secret weapon that spares us from drowning," Firefly informed jokingly, acting very convincing, so that her friend's daughter wouldn't notice her own uncertainties about the success of their flight.

Secret weapon? Well, whatever, Daring decided to trust the general. Surely she knew what to do, but still, "Why not a helicopter? Or a... longer lasting plane?"

The Wonderbolt sighed heavily in annoyance and anger, "Because... I don't know! Three weeks ago everything with high-tech cockpits died on us.” She snapped her fingers in front of Daring’s face. “Just like that! No attack from an enemy, no EMP, no nothing. Our technicians could never find out what was responsible. The point is, we have no helicopters, jets or other more modern forms of transportation anymore on the airway." The same could bee said for the navy. Admiral Nero cried Firefly a river, because aircraft carrier, their jets as well and every more modern ship in the fleet quit the service entirely. Only the 'oldies' still worked, so they had only this plane at their disposal now and nothing better. "Be lucky, most of our units can't really call themselves 'Air Force' or 'Navy' any longer and have to reach new destinations by foot or by car. Bloody hell, even tanks are out of commission. Well, at least what is left of us," Firefly finished her explanation in a sour mood.

"It is really that bad? I was wondering why I never encountered any form of better equipped military forces at places I encountered, well, living creatures of myths and fantasy," Daring informed, partly surprised, partly annoyed.

"Let's talk about that when we are in the air. Master Sergeant, are you ready?!" Firefly demanded to know.

"Yes, General Firefly! Madame!" Daring was rarely more surprised in her life and it was a feat on itself to sneak up on her at all.

In front of the archeologist stood an even younger woman than herself, maybe in her early twenties, or younger. She had moderate raspberry eyes, white skin and vivid yellow hair, which was a little puffier than expected and wore an aquamarine flying suit with gold colorations at some places and a golden winged bolt as a logo on it.

"W-where did you come from?!" she demanded to know from the soldier who appeared out of thin air.

"Out of the plane of course! My name is Surprise by the way, it's an honor to meet you, Ms. Do! I will be your pilot for the duration of the trip," said the very excited master sergeant in a clear, young sounding voice.

"OK?" Daring wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that her continued survival was depending on the flying skills of Surprise.

Once everybody stepped into the plane and they were safe in the air after dodging a flock of birds, their pilot was better in doing so as Daring expected, Firefly continued their conversation, "You already saw some of the new and… unique sights our world has to offer now, didn’t you?" the general asked in sincere interest.

"Huh? Oh, yes. I encountered timberwolves at some places of the country, manticores, giant bugs, strange plants, even a cockatrice. But I could always escape thanks to my experiences in tricking animals.” The younger woman thanked Ahuizotl in her mind, “Pepper spray and the training my mother gave me in close combat sure came in handy,” Daring replied smugly.

A displeased expression was on Firefly’s face, “Don’t get too cocky kiddo. I lost many good soldiers in these last few weeks because of overconfidence and all kinds of hostiles. I don’t want to explain Ancy why her daughter died on my watch.”

“Sorry, Mrs. Firefly. But I didn’t survive to this day solely because of my good looks. I can back up my claims,” the archaeologist assured firmly.

The general acknowledged the response with a grunt.

Surprise was chipper since the first moment they met, “Do you ever had a close call with any of these creatures, Ms. Do?” so it was surprising when a much more serious tone was suddenly dominating her attitude, “And how are you coping with all that? It was already hard enough for a good part of our forces to adapt to all this. But the civilians? We established our new HQ in Cloudsdale and I saw way too many times how some of them couldn’t live with the sudden changes. Sometimes... we can’t save everybody.”

Firefly’s voice was filled with sympathy, “I read the files and Captain Spitfire’s report. What happened wasn’t your fault, soldier. Humans are creatures of habit and despite our curious nature many want nothing more than a quiet little life where they can live in their own small world where everything makes sense. People fear the unknown and not all are able to accept our new reality.”

Daring felt reminded of the last letter of her mother.

The youngest of the three women shook emotionally her head, though she managed to keep the machine on its course without a problem. A pilot through and through, “I know! I… sorry, General. I just can’t get the image out of my head. He pushed the gun on his head and no matter what I said or how much I promised him that we will find a way to beat this, he didn’t believe me and just... gave up. I feel responsible, that I didn’t try hard enough.” She glanced briefly at their escort and blushed immediately, “S-sorry Ms. Do. I shouldn’t have bothered you with my problems. It was very unprofessional of me.”

Daring smiled encouragingly, “I don’t mind, really.”

Firefly looked between the two younger women, “What do we have here? Bounding time during the job?” Before the master sergeant could defend herself, the general interrupted in amusement, “Relax, will you? If talking with Daring here gets your head clear, I’m all for it.”

The archaeologist furrowed her eyes in surprise and faced her mother’s friend, “I really thought that you are much stricter. You know, as a supposed to be general.”

Firefly snorted like she was insulted, “And there we have proof that you don’t know me at all, kiddo. I expect discipline if the situation demands it, yes, but otherwise I prefer a much more relaxed atmosphere. I never liked the bossy types, you can ask my former instructors. Nahh, I only pull rank when necessary. I learned a long time ago that your subordinates will work at their best with a chosen course, but you let them handle the details.”

Their vehicle moved quietly through the air, only the occasional strong wind current caused some turbulences.

Daring thought of something to lighten up the mood for Surprise, “Now that you mention it, there was an interesting encounter. When I met this cockatrice I told you about, I was barely able to put it down in time with an aimed shot between the eyes before it could transform more than my leg. Lucky for me the cockatrice’s death reversed the effect its eyes had on my body. It wasn't my best moment, I have to admit. Who would have guessed that the myth about their petrifying gaze was true."

"Ha! I can still remember how I met my first special creature. It was a giant spider, at least 4 meter tall, thick, blood red in color and ugly. The shock nearly cost me my life, but its deafening scream snapped me out of it. Got it good with a lot of bullets. After that I was very tempted to order all units to do extra training for drugging a superior officer," Firefly told relaxingly and with a mischievous smile on the face.

Surprise sighed relievedly in her mind. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of the general's anger, no matter the reason. Her punitive training was legendary in their ranks, and not in a positive way.

Their youngest member chuckled dryly, she appreciated their tries to cheer her up, “Thanks. I guess I needed that.”

The archaeologist shrugged, not that the flying pilot saw it, “I’m sure everybody was confused and scared after seeing a living and breathing creature of fanatasy for the first time, some are just better at hiding their feelings or processing it. Hell, when I met a manticore for the first time I nearly fainted from shock.” She saw it as her chance to ask about a more personal topic, looking at the general, "Though there is something I want to know, Mrs. Firefly. How did you two met?" Daring inquired curiously, deciding to ask the question which was bugging her since the beginning.

Firefly raised an eyebrow, "Your mother and me? Well, before I pursued my path of becoming a Wonderbolt and she her own to become a historian, we were both students at Canterlot High. Were the best friends at that time and still are to this very day. Afterwards we updated each other on our lives. Believe it or not, but I found out about your mother's... secret activities by accident. I wanted to give her an unannounced surprise visit to scare the egghead good.” Firefly chortled, like she just discovered something funny, “I came in the right moment, because her house was ransacked by shady looking people at this time. They attacked me and demanded to know where the 'Sword of Legends' was, or something like that. Needless to say that I took care of them, these thugs lacked the experience to face me in hand-to-hand combat on equal ground. I bound them with a lot of rope and waited for Ancy's return.” It sounded like the general was talking about the good old times.

Surprise laughed openly, “That’s one way to be introduced into your best friend’s secret life!”

Firefly shared her subordinates sentiment, “You should have seen her face when I sat on a chair and enjoyed a glass of her finest wine, having five caught wannabe bouncers at my feet. Obviously I demanded the honest truth from her after I just got attacked. Ancy told me everything. That she was much more than a simple historian, what she did, why she did it and why she never told a soul about it. I mean, hey, I could understand her and agreed. There exist things on this world which should never be known by anyone, this knowledge would lurk the strangest and most dangerous of people out of their holes, so I kept silent for her. Since then she reported me about everything you did, too, Ms. 'A.K. Yearling'."

"Great, couldn't she ask me first before she told others about my work?" Daring mumbled in annoyance to herself.

Firefly heard her, “Who do you think was your mother’s friend in the government all these years ago? The one helping with the creation of your fake identity?” she queried slyly.

The adventurer stared slack-jawed at the highest officer of the Wonderbolts, but had a certain shine in her eyes the battle-hardened woman knew too well.

“Tell me. Do you still work all alone on your jobs?” Firefly asked in an unreadable tone.

Daring was caught off-guard by the sudden inquisition, “O-of course I do! Fighting with maniacs like Ahuizotl is much too dangerous for the inexperienced. I’m much better off solo. Why?”

Their group leader sighed in nostalgia, "Ah... to be young again and thinking that the world can't touch you.”

“I can take care of myself, thank you very much,” the archaeologist defended herself heatedly.

A disappointed frown let Daring wince, “Kiddo, your mother and I had to learn that lesson on our own, too. So take it from somebody with far more experience. I know, now you are young and probably think it's something like your holy duty to defend the historical legacy of our ancestors all on your own. That you can only trust yourself with keeping everything a secret and nobody else. But you are wrong.”

“What are you talking about? I have my mom if I really need help. And you said it yourself, there are things nobody should know about,” came the immediate reply.

Surprise took that as her cue, “I don’t believe you. Everybody needs friends and people they can trust, somebody to confide in, to share your darkest moments with, or simply a shoulder to cry on. Otherwise you just risk to become indifferent and cold in the inside towards the world around you. Besides, I think being a hermit wouldn't suit you, Ms. Do. Yes, you have your mother to talk with, but that won't be enough in the long-run. You have to open your heart and at least give others a chance to prove themselves worthy of your trust, OK?"

“Take me for example, I had your mother and later my husband, Rainbow Blaze. Two persons I could talk with about my life without lying to them at every corner. And now I’m happily married and have a great family." Firefly hoped that telling her friend’s daughter from her own experiences would give the young woman something to think about.

Daring groaned, "Mom told me once nearly exactly the same. I just don't want to endanger others. What is wrong with that?" She pouted, arms crossed.

"A noble cause. And don't think we tell you all that, because we want to criticize you for how you are deciding to live your own life. You are a grown woman after all and can make your own choices, see it more as a friendly advice. Don't toss potential friendships and connections aside without giving it a second thought just because of a self-imposed code of honor, that's all we ask," Firefly reasoned with a motherly smile.

A heavy sigh of defeat escaped the archaeologist's throat, “I know where you are coming from. I mean, the world went south anyway, so it's not like I could say that I achieved something in the end.” She chuckled humorlessly, “But that's not important right now. If it's not too much to ask, how is your own family doing in days like these? I can only imagine how hard it is for them," Daring asked much too concerned.

The general rolled her eyes at the archaeologist's try to navigate the conversation onto another topic, but took the obvious bait, for now, "When all this occurred I wasn't sure how to react at first. A part of me was in panic and wanted to take my family with me and relocate them somewhere safer, but the bigger part thought that it didn't matter. These changes took place on the entire world how it seemed. So I didn't tell my family everything from the true scale, because I didn't want to worry them yet about things beyond our control. I just ordered my daughter to stay in the city limits of Canterlot at some point and that she was forbidden from leaving the town after nightfall. We had a long discussion until I let her go to this summer camp with her friends after I told her about the sightings of mythol-"

"You told your own daughter about everything!? Didn't she declare you crazy for saying such things?" Daring interrupted, baffled.

The Wonderbolt general smirked like a Cheshire cat, "Don’t worry kiddo. I made her promise to not tell anybody. It was hard at first, because she wanted to help, saying she was more than ready. But I digress. Tell me, did you see one the these recorded videos about Canterlot High School since the Fall Formal last year?"

Daring was confused, but she remembered it well. Her mother forced her to watch them all for some reason, but even stranger was the strong frown on Ancient’s face whenever another of these videos came up. It was like her mother was… concerned?

Four particularly well made things got stuck.

One recording showed how a student put on a crown and suddenly transformed into a real life demoness, big as half a building. Other teenagers, who grew ponytails, wings and what looked like the ears of an horse.

Then three girls who summoned giant seahorses and floated on the spot with unholy red eyes during the final of a by the school organized music festival. This one even made it into the news because of the reported sightings of a giant horse-like creature at the sky.

At this point she was certain that Canterlot High wanted to promote itself with all these horse-related videos.

The one about the traditional Friendship Games was a freaky one. Flesh-eating plants came out of nowhere and a student of Crystal Prep went all dark angel, later fighting the same girl who became a demon during the dance, but then a, well, good angel-like being.

And then there were of course those gigantic rainbow laser shows.

It couldn’t be! Daring Do’s more and more derailing expression made it hard for Firefly not to laugh. “Seriously?! That was all real?!"

She saw much, but a part of her never wanted to believe that this all could have been more than fake, it deeply shocked the archeologist.

"Yep! One of those girls is my daughter, Rainbow Dash,” the Wonderbolt answered proudly, “I swear she was always a hothead, a trait I wished she wouldn’t have inherited by me… anyway, after she could transform into a pony-girl, it just became stressful for me. Somehow she firmly believed that they, teenagers, should play heroes from this point on, needlessly endangering themselves." When she confronted her daughter with the images the satellites made from the Fall Formal, Rainbow implored her mother not to take Sunset away or to perform cruel experiments on her. She swore that this girl was a better person now and wanted to change. Rainbow Dash even promised to do everything Firefly wanted, "After the Fall Formal my daughter begged me the whole night not to lock this Sunset Shimmer away until I agreed. Needless to say that she told me everything I wanted to know.”

Surprise didn’t contain herself like her superior officer and laughed wholeheartedly, “I can totally see her doing that! Dash is very loyal to her friends, but was always trying her hardest to keep up her image of a tough girl in public like her life depended on it.”

Daring lacked context and understood nothing, “Sunset who?”

“Get this, responsible for everything that happened at the Fall Formal was this teenager who transformed into a demon and another one, a princess no less, defeated her. From what Rainbow Dash explained to me, or still remembered, this Sunset Shimmer girl stole a magical artifact from said princess and wanted to become the ruler of her homeland with a mind controlled-” Firefly snorted in amusement, “-teenager army. Well, when my girl and her friends shot their strange rainbow beam upon her, they turned Sunset Shimmer back into a human.”

Daring looked for any signs of a lie, her disbelief could be heard in her voice, “A... princess? Rainbow beam?”

The writer of her own adventures couldn’t express how many things were wrong with what she just heard. And she was more than enough around secretive people over the last years to know that the general withheld information from her. Somebody could call it a gut feeling. But it didn’t matter. Her mother’s friend was most forthcoming until now.

However, Daring was the last person who had the right to judge others for keeping their cards close to the chest anyway.

Firefly held her arms up in a surrendering motion, “I know, I know, I didn’t believe it at first either.”

Ancient Seeker’s daughter composed herself, “Alright, let’s say I want to believe you. What happened during this so called ‘Battle of the Bands’?”

“Simply put? Those 'Dazzlings' were in reality sirens from what I was told who fed off negative energy, using their magic to let everyone argue with each other. Again Rainbow and her friends pulled it somehow off to defeat a supernatural threat and saved the day,” came the neutral reply.

“And the Friendship Games? It was always a tradition of CHS and Crystal Prep to compete with each other in different categories, but seriously? They wiped the floor with us. Every. Single. Time,” Surprise said sourly. At the resulting silence the pilot added, “I went to Canterlot High before I became a Wonderbolt.”

Firefly grinded with her teeth in anger after being reminded, “It was a very close call. These strange plants nearly killed and my daughter was in the middle of all that, you can imagine that I nearly flipped when I saw it. She reported me that her newest friend, some Twilight Sparkle, discovered magic from her lab at Crystal Prep with help of her machines. It seemed she created a device that could absorb magic, what led in the very end of the games to her transformation into this dark angelic being. It was close call insofar, because if they wouldn't have stopped her and saved the girl in the next two minutes, then the president and I would have had no other choice than to order her execution.”

The only not-soldier of the group felt out of her league, “I’m all for saving the world, but isn’t that a little overkill? I thought she was just a teenager?”

The general was unimpressed, “As you might imagine, the 'Destruction of dimensional barriers' counts in our opinion as a clear threat for our country. President Fancy Pants couldn't let her continue, so he was shortly before ordering her death penalty. No matter what my daughter would have thought of me afterwards, I couldn't risk everyone's life on Earth for the sake of one mad little girl. Lucky for her the situation could be solved peacefully," Firefly finished her explanation, exhausted in the end, because she remembered the amount of stress she had during the final of the Friendship Games.

Daring Do wasn't sure how to feel about all these revelations, sure she had her own adventures, but that was ridiculous! If Firefly was right, and she didn't doubt it after everything that happened, then these students were involved since the very beginning.

But there was another question in her head on that topic, still, "When you and the president knew about everything, then how was it possible that the girls were never targeted by someone from the government? I can't imagine that every single human just ignored them, because they simply thought: 'That can't be real.' Someone from the higher-ups had to be more curious about the truth. Especially after everything that happened at CHS."

Firefly smiled knowingly, "There are two reasons why they were never taken to some cliched vault or were otherwise harmed. And the sirens somehow managed to escape and were never found again, who knows what happened to them.”

She held a finger up, “The first reason is that President Fancy Pants is one of the most reasonable and greatest men I met in my entire life and and we were close friends. When the Amarerican Defense Force, who was, among other things, tasked with the analysis of satellite imagery, found out about the Fall Formal they immediately informed the president and showed him the material. He recognized Rainbow, because I once showed him a picture of my daughter and it's hard to forget Rainbow Dash once you saw her. Now, because he knew that she was involved he informed me first and nobody else after giving a direct order to the ones who saw everything that it had to be kept a state secret until he decided otherwise. I promised him, and played out all my influence and acquired prestige through my accomplishments during my time in the military to this day, that I would talk about what happened there with Rainbow Dash. He promised me in return that he would await my report and fell judgement afterwards.”

A smile of sympathy was on Daring’s lips, “Yeah, he was a great man. Mom once told me that he knew about our family business and not once were we paid a visit of the unpleasant kind.”

Firefly didn’t show it, but this revelation surprised her. Ancy never told her that the president knew about her friend's secret.

She continued, more agitated, “The second reason is more personal. I am a mother and will fight every demon in hell if it means that I can protect my daughter to ensure her safety, President Fancy Pants knew and respected that.”

Surprise kept silent, but had still problems to accept that the hothead of her former soccer team was the blood-related daughter of the Thunder Demon.

“After Rainbow told me everything I immediately returned to the capitol and gave Fancy Pants my report. However, they were teenagers and he would never allow that any harm would come to minors under his command. Furthermore I promised him that my daughter and her friends never did anything wrong, argued that they even managed to pacify the former demoness and how I would personally make sure that no major harm would come to Canterlot City’s citizens by Sunset Shimmer, should she try anything anew.” Firefly sighed mentally. He didn’t make it easy for her, but he was the most powerful man of the world and had more things to consider than their friendship.

“Well, it seems everything worked out in the end,” Daring commented gladly.

The general nodded in agreement, “He trusted me, gave me the benefit of a doubt and ordered that all future images of the satellites concerning any events related to Canterlot High School were to be sent directly to him and nobody else. That was the reason why nobody knew about the whole magic business, because no-one was ever informed in the first place except him and me. He showed me everything about the Battle of the Bands and the Friendship Games, too. We put all our hope and luck into the 'ignorance card’, that people who saw the videos would believe that all this wasn't possible in reality. A fake.”

“Yeah, even as a witness it is pretty hard to come to terms with everything. I couldn’t believe it at first either and I literally had to defend myself from aggressive toothpicks!” Surprise agreed jokingly.

The timberwolves never knew what hit them.

“Rainbow Dash and I had a compromise, I would keep curious eyes away from them and Canterlot High School. In the meantime she made sure that they wouldn't create any mayhem with their new abilities and that she kept silent on her part about everything in regard to our deal. On this way it was ensured that these girls could continue living a normal life. During the next two bigger events after the Fall Formal my daughter begged me at the cellphone that I should let them handle everything and to have trust in their abilities. I did, and in the end it was the right call to make, I never regretted it," Firefly ended her tale. Then she noticed something that striked her as odd, "Now that I think about it, Rainbow never invited any of her friends to our home since the Fall Formal. Well, except Fluttershy.”

"Gee, I wonder why...," Daring thought sarcastically.

Speaking of, "OK, I get it, but there are things I don't fully understand. That purple girl in the Fall Formal videos was called ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle'. I thought you said that there was already a Twilight Sparkle who found out about magic and nearly committed genocide during the Friendship Games?" the adventurer asked sincerely confused.

"Ah, that. I asked Rainbow the same after the games and she said that the land where Sunset Shimmer and this Princess Twilight came from is in a parallel world to ours. So the princess seemed to be the other Twilight's 'pony counterpart'. Apparently it’s possible to have a talking equine version of yourself running around there," Firefly answered, a little unsure herself.

The archaeologist and their pilot were floored.

"Another world? That seems pretty far fetched, even for today’s standards, don’t you think?” Daring inquired in wonder, she considered the possibilities.

Shoulders were shrugged, "It could be worse. And I know my girl, she would never come up with a fabricated story involving colorful ponies. Believe me.” The Wonderbolt leader looked thoughtfully at the sky, “I searched for the human counterpart of Sunset Shimmer all over the world, but we never found any data about the existence of another Sunset Shimmer. And the same girl who visits CHS has no documented records, either. It's like she never existed before she enrolled there a few years ago."

"And what about the readings, General? You said that the Twilight Sparkle of this world found out about magic, somehow. What was with others who accomplished the same?" Surprise asked this time. She was very fascinated by the tale, too.

"That was more luck than anything else. We found out that the day Twilight Sparkle discovered magic was the day of the final of the Battle of the Bands. And it was a local phenomenon, only measurable in Canterlot to that time. At least that's our theory, because nobody in the country reported about finding anything unusual except from there. Two other scientists, both from Canterlot, too, sent us similar results that day, claiming they found 'a new form of energy'. But we declared everything as not verified and after we ordered them to recreate their data, they weren't able in doing so. What led to the conclusion that only the great amount of used magic during the final was something that could be measured, with luck, for a short few moments. That and only Twilight Sparkle was able to build a magic detecting device," Firefly replied to her fellow Wonderbolt.

"I see... err... what happened with President Fancy Pants anyway? I didn't hear anything about him for a long time," Daring asked carefully.

Firefly got a thousand-yard stare, "I... don't know to be honest. Before everything went completely south and internet, satellites, cellphones and other ways of communication died on us, the president called the highest officers of the military into his office and gave us his... last order. I won't forget it, he said that we received last reports from all over the country and the entire world that great changes happened all at once, villages and towns would be in danger because of greatly increasing numbers of creatures and we had no way to be mobile enough to react accordingly. At this point our ways of transportation were already limited, because we needed to teach and learn first how to use what was left, like our plane here. Fancy Pants informed us that he would lead the defense of the capitol to the best of his abilities with the help of General Razor Eye.”

Daring blinked, “Really? I thought our country’s military counted to the best organized and equipped armies of the world?”

Firefly sighed, shaking her head, “You have to understand, Fancy Pants wasn't only a good leader of the USA, but a president of peace, too. By now he was elected for nearly 7 years, shortly before a new election against his rival, Senator Blueblood, would have taken place. That being said, he ordered a depletion of military expenditures and more investment into culture and economy instead. To make it short, our military wasn't anymore what it once was 10 years ago. And why shouldn't that have been the case anyway? We lived for a long time in an era of peace with our neighbours and most regions of Earth were pacified, there was no need for a big military. Such arming would have made other countries nervous at best, forcing them to do the same for safety measures.”

Surprise blew a raspberry in distaste, “I know why I joined the Wonderbolts. Geopolitics is the worst.”

“So he stayed in the capitol? Is that it?” the archaeologist queried unsurely.

The oldest of the women wasn’t sure how they would react, but lying wouldn’t do any good now, “He told us that he couldn't call himself a president anymore in good conscience, when he had no possibilities to defend the citizens of the US on his own. I remember it clearly, how he stood in front of us.” She smiled warmly.

His last worlds as the leader of the free world.

“My dear generals and advisers, people, I have the honor to call my friends. Our great country is in turmoil and faces grave danger at many places at once in this very moment I speak to you. The entire world is changing and there seems to be nothing we can do to stop it, we are powerless.

“All efficient ways of transportation and most possibilities of communication are destroyed, same for most parts of our military equipment, but we don't know what caused all this. Hope is our strongest weapon in these dark hours, so I shall give you your last order.

“Split up with your remaining units, no matter if navy, army or air force, it is not important any longer to what group you count yourself. Defend our people, the innocent citizens of this fair country, defend them to the best of your abilities and if you manage to secure your own position, try to aid others in accomplishing the same goal. They will look up to you, thinking that you will find answers for them, presenting them a perspective for the future in all this. You have more responsibilities to shoulder now and it doesn't seem fair, but I'm certain you will prevail. Try to succeed and save as many lives as possible.

“And most importantly, try to find your own families after you fulfilled your duty, they will need you. Now more than ever before. They all count on you, I count on you, the future of the USA depends on you.

“One day we may meet again, but until this day comes you are on your own. I pray that our country will rise anew from the ashes, when the storm is over and a new leader arises."

The attendant humans stared shocked and irritated at their president.

He simply chuckled, “There is no need to be surprised, my friends, I portrayed the era of old and look where we are! No, this country needs fresh blood in order to succeed in the upcoming new age. Ladies and gentlemen, you have your orders. May the divine one be with you, with all of us and Amarerica. Dismissed!”

“That was five days ago. After a lot of preparations and distributing orders and supplies I took most of my Wonderbolts to Cloudsdale to secure the city. And it was just in time, too. A huge band of criminals wanted to establish their tyrannic rule there, because the local governor and his delegation never returned from Canterlot." She shook her head in deep sympathy, "Truly horrible what happened to the city, it was a massacre. I received only reports from the survivors about beings made of fire and armor who attacked without mercy." It didn't tell her anything essential, like which country ordered the attack, or if another enemy entirely was responsible. Firefly had a look of pure anger and defeat upon her face.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Daring inquired, confused.

"Hm? How do you not-oh, right, I forgot." Stupid communication problem. "Everything is destroyed and burned down to the ground. We arrived with our forces in Cloudsdale three days ago and after we cleaned the city from these dregs, the citizens told us that Governor Blue Sky left for a political visit in Canterlot and went missing ever since. We investigated and only found the smoldering remains of an once great city, nothing more than molten ruins, filled by scorched corpses,” the general explained grimly.

Surprise had a question of her own, “Madame? What are our fellow Wonderbolts doing as long as we are gone?”

“Before we left I ordered Colonel Wind Rider and Captain Spitfire to organize search parties to find more survivors, to take care of the provision of Canterlot's refugees who managed to escape and to provide the defense of Cloudsdale at their own discretion in my absence," Firefly elucidated briefly.

The pilot wasn’t sure how to feel about the answer, “I see… thank you General.”

Daring witnessed much, but nothing could have prepared her for these news. After her recovery and with a pale face she whispered, "C-Canterlot was destroyed?” Her eyes widened, “Wait a minute! What is with your daughter and her friends from Canterlot High? Could magic be the cause for what happened in Canterlot? I mean these 'beings of fire' surely didn't attack out of boredom just to vanish afterwards. Someone had to be responsible, maybe another being similar to the sirens you mentioned?"

Sure, the Dazzlings sounded much less threatening than whatever was responsible for Canterlot, but maybe the girls, she couldn't believe that Daring Do would count one day on teens for help, knew something about it.

Firefly showed herself more relaxed, to Daring's confusion, "Thanks to the earnings from the Battle of the Bands, CHS raised enough money for a field trip and they chose a summer camp as their destination. They left Canterlot over a week ago and should have returned yesterday, but my scouts reported that no bus was found on the streets between Canterlot and Camp Everfree. I have to trust that they are managing on their own with the help of their principals. I'm sure they are in Ponyville, it's the closest town and I couldn't send our forces this far away until now. From Cloudsdale to Canterlot is one thing, but Ponyville is located much further in the south at the borders of the Everfree Forest.”

Daring could only admire the woman. If she was in Firefly’s position, missing her daughter, the archaeologist would have been a nervous wreck by now. Well, most likely.

“And Rainbow Dash knows that she can just come to Cloudsdale. Fluttershy and she are childhood friends and our families planned to spend there a few days together for a change of pace. Her father is there and helps them out in this moment I guess. Well, that was the original plan before everything went down the drain that is. On this way Blaze and the Shys wanted to make last preparations and left Canterlot before the invasion took place." Firefly wasn't sure what she would have done when her daughter or husband died in the attack.

"Madame. I know her from my own time at CHS and fear a girl like Rainbow Dash won't just leave her friends in a situation like this after everything that happened, especially when she knows about Canterlot's fate. I bet she completely forgot by now that Cloudsdale was even an option for her and the others to take and just rolled with it, like she mostly does," Surprise voiced her opinion, grinning brightly.

Firefly facepalmed, of course, "That girl..."

The archeologist looked questioningly at the general, "Maybe it's not my place, but... are you not concerned for your daughter's well-being? Shouldn't you bring her and the others to Ponyville then?"

Firefly just laughed amusedly at the daring woman's shy attitude all of a sudden, "Believe me, I want to do nothing more than sending someone over and bring Dashie to Cloudsdale, but it's not that easy, kiddo. I can't just leave them all alone in utter chaos without taking command and bringing some order into the left mess what was formerly a fully functioning society. They all count on me, like President Fancy Pants said, I see it in their eyes. All of our forces are occupied or otherwise bound by various tasks like for example fortifying our position or scouting out the area for potential threats and survivors. And we have nobody of our already thinly spread troops to spare. Besides, your mother is right”

“Huh?” was all that came to Daring’s mind.

“When we want to have a chance to withstand the upcoming storm we have to go at some point into the offense ourselves. We need more information and something like a real goal to strive for. Until now we only reacted, but never took action on our own. If going to Zebrica can provide us with such I'll go gladly with you on this mission into the unknown. Personally. I won't send others in my stead and sit around somewhere in the background, playing distant watcher. Specially with a sensitive mission like this on our hands," she declared with fire in her purple eyes.

And because Ancy asked her from one mother to another to aid her daughter.

"I see. That's a lot to take in for quite some time," Daring stated, feeling mentally exhausted from the sheer amount of challenges they had to face in the future.

Facing wannabe villains and greedy thieves was one thing, but something of this scale?

She turned her head and focused on their pilot, "Surprise? How is it with you? How old are you even? You look so young, younger than me for sure. No offense, but I was certain the Wonderbolts didn't have people this young who already owned the rank of 'Master Sergeant'.”

The young Wonderbolt in question turned her head and smiled widely. During the flight, so Firefly and Daring had the right to feel nervous. A seagull hit the front window. Very nervous.

She replied chipperly, "None taken!" And turned her head back before she continued to talk, "I'm 19 years old, last year my pals and I played in the soccer team at CHS and we all wanted to become members of the Wonderbolts later on. Originally to enter the team for being stunt flyers and awing the masses with neat tricks, but obviously we have other roles to fill now. As the General already said, our numbers are widely spread, the biggest part of our forces was tasked with enforcing law and order in Cloudsdale and keeping the city safe. That's the reason why many ranks had to be filled out after qualifications, intelligence and talents and no longer age and experience.”

"Does that mean that you saw what happened at the Fall Formal?" Daring wouldn't judge if someone needed more semester.

A light laughter filled the cockpit, "Nope! We graduated last summer, so we didn't see it in person, but we got enough personal reports from other friends who were there and so many people at once don't lie to you with this kind of story. Besides, there were videos, very realistic ones. Heck, I even saw the destroyed front entrance and the crater with my own two eyes.”

Their ‘VIP’ saw it as an opportunity to ask more questions about this mysterious pony girl, “Do you by chance know anything more specific about Sunset Shimmer?”

Firefly and Daring could literally hear the uncertainty in Surprise’s voice, “Well, she was always a bully and blackmailed others if necessary to get what she wanted, or had other dirty tricks up her sleeves. The thing was, she used mostly those two weirdos, Snips and Snails, as her hentchmen, so we were always careful enough around them or avoided these two and Shimmer completely. It didn't help her that we had a big fat reputation going for us and were respected and well-liked, because we won many trophies in our time as Wondercolts. She never found any dirt on our team and had to play ‘Queen Bee’ at school with the knowledge that she couldn't touch us. But we all heard how much she improved her behaviour and what she did for CHS and others, so we are ready to grant her the benefit of the doubt the next time we see her. You know, to judge the new Sunset Shimmer for ourselves.”

The next bit was more directed at her superior officer, very respectful and polite, “To be honest, Madame, before you explained everything, I always wondered how it was possible that such things could happen at CHS, but that the government never did anything. It was so... strange. Now it makes much more sense, I didn't even know that you were Rainbow Dash's mother and she was already a Wondercolt before we graduated. She never mentioned you," Surprise said surprisedly.

Firefly just chuckled dryly and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that's my daughter for you. We once had a talk about that topic, too. She never wants to mention me to others, because she fears greatly that it would destroy her chance to 'show her own awesomeness' to others and prove herself to everyone in progress. Her worry is that people would stop judging her for what she could do herself, but just accept it and think it was expected in case she achieved something alone from the knowledge that Dash was the daughter of the 'legendary General Firefly'. That being said, Slowpoke, my daughter doesn't like to talk about me with others at all for this reason," the general of the Wonderbolts explained in an evenly and slightly annoyed manner.

"Slowpoke?" Daring asked the blushing pilot with a teasing grin.

"Yeahhhh... one unwritten rule for the newbies in our ranks is that you get a fitting and mostly embarrassing nickname for something you attracted attention the most on your first day as a Bolt. It even gets stitched on your personal jacket and serves as an inside joke and reminder. I got the name 'Slowpoke', because I overslept at my first day and had to hurry in order to catch up with the others who already trained at that point," Surprise answered quietly.

The other two women behind her laughed at the pilot's plight.

Daring's last giggles subdued before she looked at the Wonderbolt general once again, "Did you get a nickname during your time, too, Mrs. Firefly?"

The woman in question gave the archaeologist a toothy grin, "Heart Breaker!"

Surprise and Daring Do couldn't help themselves, but to glance at each other in disbelief.

Firefly elaborated instantly, grinning cheekily, "What? I was the hottie of our troup, still am by the way, attendants included."

It reminded her of the time when she first met Rainbow Blaze, who won her heart after working hard for it, being a newly recruited personal trainer for the Wonderbolt cadets all these years ago. His wit and sense of humor did the job in the end.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Shouldn't you ask someone from the military or police if they could help you? We live in dangerous times and I'm sure they are reasonable enough. Firefly ordered them to assist all citizens with important problems until we established a new official command in Cloudsdale," Rainbow Blaze tried worriedly to convince his friends in a rough voice.

He was an athletic man in his early forties, had pale, light grayish persian blue skin and moderate gamboge colored eyes. His hair was colored in a similar scheme like his daughter, Rainbow Dash, in a light brilliant red, a light brilliant vermilion, light gold, moderate sap green, brilliant cornflower blue and a moderate violet. He wore orange shorts to below the knees with white stripes on the sides, green sneakers with a red lightning bolt on the top of each shoe and red soles, a dark blue shirt with sleeves to the elbows and lastly silver colored sweatbands around his wrists.

In the moment he and the family of his daughter's childhood friend, Fluttershy, sat together in one of the big newly converted buildings that served for the massively increased population of Cloudsdale as an emergency shelter, until a better option was available. Work in progress.

The city on its own was a sight to behold. Most of its architecture was adapted after the ancient metropolis Rome. The town even had a giant colosseum where many big sport events were held until recently, nobody was in the mood, nor was it the time, to play soccer, baseball or anything else in these days anyway.

"Oh, thank you for your concern, Blaze. You are too kind, but we don't want to be a bother for others," Mrs. Shy replied calmly in a soft spoken manner. A grateful smile on her face.

"Indeed. We know that we should be careful, but we have to check if our home still stands or if it is even possible to reach it anymore. The refugees told a lot of g-gruesome stories about what they saw. We have to try, otherwise we are going crazy here. Fluttershy is out there, still. She may be a strong girl and I'm sure Rainbow and her friends will support her, but we can't stay here and do nothing. We want to go to Canterlot to estimate the damage for ourselves. And who knows, maybe our daughters are on their way to Canterlot, too," Mr. Shy added in a kind and warm tone, his voice was soft as well, even for a man.

For Fluttershy's parents she was the assertive one in the family and they were sure that their daughter could hold her own if push came to shove. Before Firefly left for an important mission, or so she told them, the general shared her thoughts that all students and the principals of Canterlot High, who were visiting Camp Everfree, should be sound and safe in Ponyville. She assured them that the Wonderbolts would try to find them during her absence or after her return at the latest.

Mr. Shy was a man in his late forties. He had grayish turquoise eyes, light amaranthish gray hair, strangely in the form of a cream topping, a similarly colored mustache and pale, light grayish malachite green skin. He wore a pale, red sweater with three white clouds as a symbol upon it on the chest, black red cloth slacks and white shoes.

Mrs. Shy was younger than her husband, a little fragile looking, in her early forties and had moderate cerise colored eyes, moderate raspberry hair in the form of a bouffant, pale, light grayish amber skin and huge turquoise glasses. She wore golden earrings and a gold made pearl necklace, a picture of three flowers, orange, pink and green, decorated her carmine red skirt that reached below the knees. A short-sleeved green shirt and pink ladies' shoes completed her outfit.

The only son of the family only listened until now, a feat in its own right, and wasn't nervous at all. Worries and tension were unknown to Zephyr Breeze. He was the younger brother of Fluttershy and still, if his parents just knew what he saw they would probably faint. No, his big sis counted on the Breeze and he would never do something to endanger her secrets.

He promised, after all.

It happened shortly before the Friendship Games, when Fluttershy forgot her lunch at home at this special weekend when she helped out Ms. Treehugger once more at her animal shelter. Seriously, Flutters was lucky that he was such a good brother and decided to bring her the forgotten lunch. When he stepped into the shelter, the youngest of the family couldn't find his big sister, so he searched further back.

His timing couldn't have been better. Fluttershy brushed the fur of a dog at this time and suddenly, he saw it. Fluttershy's hair grew much longer in the form of a ponytail and honest for good wings and horse ears appeared on her. Of course, he made himself known, no sense in potentially scaring the girl.

She was so distressed that he witnessed how she, Fluttershy called it ‘ponied up’, and pleaded with tears in her eyes if he could keep it a secret from their parents. Zephyr Breeze agreed obviously. Then he remembered all the videos he saw about his sis and her friends, so he wanted to know if everything was true and explained him every detail about the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands.

Once more pleading to keep quiet about it. Sheesh! What was Fluttershy's problem? Didn't she know how unbelievably cool it was that they could do such things? Why keeping this a secret? He agreed once more nonetheless.

Zephyr Breeze wondered how he could come to his own power, even if it was too girly for his tastes and Not. His. Style. Zephyr wanted to impress this one girl he sometimes met when Fluttershy brought her to their house. Rainbow Dash. He knew in the moment he saw the chromatic daredevil that she just wanted to meet him and a future together was destined to happen. What respected girl didn't want to be recognized by the Breeze anyway? He found it very charming how Rainbow Dash always denied that she was there for him, maybe she was just shy like his sister? It didn't matter, he knew right then that this girl stole his normally impregnable heart. She was good, there was nothing else to say. Zephyr would wait for her until Rainbow was able to confess her undying love for him. It was just a matter of time and he could wait.

He saw the newest videos after the Friendship Games and asked his sister in person about everything that happened. Especially how Rainbow saved the day when those nasty plants attacked, it made her even more admirable. All that only so she could impress him.

Touching.

Now Fluttershy was most likely in Ponyville with the other campers, after all they would have heard by now about Canterlot, but if someone could pull through, it was his big sister. People always saw her as a meek and weak person, but in reality she could be one of the strongest. Her kindness was unmatched and still, she wouldn't hide. No, Fluttershy fought alongside her friends and did her best. Sometimes, Zephyr Breeze wished he didn't promise her to keep everything she did a secret from their parents, if they knew... well, it would calm them down, a little bit.

"Mr. Blaze, there is nothing to worry about. We will come back after our curiosity is satisfied. No need to be nervous," Zephyr Breeze finally decided to comment in an overconfident tone.

Rainbow Blaze moved his head to look at the teenager.

Zeph was tall for his age, Rainbow's father mused. Not less than 1.85 meter and lanky, a glint of arrogance danced in the boy's grayish cerise colored eyes.

He could only sigh internally, his friends' son had a good heart and meant well, but sometimes he didn't seem to see the seriousness of their situation, or seeing reason at all. Example enough was his affection for Rainbow Dash, Firefly once told him that their daughter was annoyed that he always tried to flirt with her and didn't seem to understand that she wasn't interested at all. In fact he seemed to hold a narcissistic belief that Rainbow Dash had an obsession with him.

Talking about awkward.

From what Blaze knew he had a problem with finishing something he started. Rainbow told Firefly and him in private that she had the feeling that he could one day become a freeloader, because he used the kindness and the meek nature of his parents to his advantage, what earned her a scolding from his wife. Though before Firefly could continue Rainbow added fastly that she meant that he didn't do it out of ill will, but because his parents didn't have a single mean bone in them and wouldn't have the assertiveness to show him his boundaries. Rainbow said that Fluttershy noticed that his parents gave him too much leeway, too and sometimes tried, with mixed results, to show him that Zephyr couldn't behave like he desired at every point of his life.

"Zeph, you know like everyone else what happened in the last days and weeks. What happened with Canterlot City. Our old quiet life is over until things calmed down and we re-established and repaired our country. We don't know how it looks like for the most part outside of Cloudsdale since everything started, so what I want to say is: Don't get overconfident and try to keep a cool head. OK boy?" Blaze tried to explain with a half-smile.

He hoped that the teenager was able to keep his ego in check. Rainbow Blaze feared that Zephyr's eagerness to impress could unintentionally create dangerous situations for others.

Already alone because of this reason he wanted to talk them out of the suicidal idea to leave the town without any form of protection.

"Of course! No problem, Mr. Blaze! The Breeze has everything under control," Zephyr assured, laughing. The older man's eye twitched lightly.

"Zephyr, dear, he just wants to help you. I think you should, maybe, heed his words," Mrs. Shy clarified quietly. It nearly sounded a little bit like scolding.

To the mother's joy he had the decency to notice the meaning behind her words and blushed, "Sorry..."

"I think I can help you out with your dilemma," a male voice with a Trottingham-accent offered.

Judging by the uniform he was clearly a Wonderbolt. Young in appearance, with light gray skin, orange hair with a pale orange streak and dark moderate purple eyes.

"Who are you, young man?" Mr Shy asked kindly.

The Wonderbolt in question nodded lighty in respect, "I'am Senior Master Sergeant Fire Streak. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. Captain Spitfire and Colonel Wind Rider have no use for me in this moment, as I just returned from a patrol in the north. I came here to check how the people from Canterlot were doing and if I can aid anyone else, as long as I have no other task. Helping you to reach the lost city? That's right up my alley. Mr. Blaze is right, it would be much too dangerous for you to leave Cloudsdale without any support, we have more to worry about than mere animals, much more," Fire Streak informed the quartet seriously.

"T-thank you, dear. But we don't want to be a bother. I'm sure every Wonderbolt has more important matters to attend, though if you insist. We are very grateful for the offer," Mrs. Shy said and bowed her head in return.

"Fire Streak? Did you find anything interesting during your patrol?" Rainbow Blaze inquired casually.

He heard that one team was sent to investigate if the Ghastly Gorge could be used as some kind of outpost for the military. Nobody had returned. After all attempts to communicate with the missing soliders failed, the commanding officers decided to stay away from this place until more intel could be provided. So it was a relief to know that Fire's team had returned alive.

"Well, sir, we investigated the northern area of Cloudsdale until we saw the Crystal Mountains in the far distance, at some point we had to return though. Some kind of giant flying beasts came from the mountains and moved in wide circles at the sky, we returned immediately before they could spot us," Fire Streak explained in discipline.

The Wonderbolts had multiple orders. First and foremost to protect Cloudsdale and its citizens, then to build a HQ for themselves and finally to hold this position until things calmed down enough so that they could move out to bring order where it was needed.

"Alright, I trust in you. I have to stay here in Firefly's absence anyway. My wife had the idea to create a militia and ordered Colonel Wind Rider personally to organize everything as long as she's away on her own mission,” Rainbow Blaze informed the others in a business-like tone.

The Wonderbolt nodded his head, he heard about the Colonel's ‘new mission’. Of course he was annoyed by receiving such a task in the first place, but Firefly is the general of the Wonderbolts, her word was law for now.

"Does that mean you are participating to become a member of the future militia of Cloudsdale? That sounds amazing!" Zephyr Breeze was impressed that Rainbow's father would take on the hard training necessary to become a helpful support for the Wonderbolts.

He would obviously help in his own way... somehow.

"That's right. I, like many others I talked with, want to be useful and to relieve the troops, so that they are not bound to the city all the time. On this way they can spread out and go after new objectives. I was a professional fitness couch, so I can bring in my experience if necessary to help creating training plans for the future recruits." Blaze looked at Fire Streak, "I count on you to keep this family safe, they are not only my friends, but the family of my daughter's childhood friend, Fluttershy. I couldn't look her into the eyes anymore if something happened to them, understood?" Rainbow Blaze instructed the Senior Master Sergeant in an authoritative voice.

The soldier in question saluted proudly, like Blaze was actually his commanding officer and not just a civilian, "Yes, sir!" Or maybe he did it, because the man in front of him was the husband of his general.

"We will be fine. You should go now. It is impolite to let the Colonel wait for too long," Mr. Shy commented with an amused chuckle.

Rainbow Blaze glanced at his friends one last time before he left.

"That’s our cue. We should get going as long as the day is young. Please, follow me to the southern gate,” Streak requested patiently. The Shys followed quietly, even Zephyr.

The younger brother of Fluttershy was impressed by the constructed defense of the city. Thinking of things he heard and saw in the duration of his stay here.

Cloudsdale had highways and other roads which would lead to the city, but the smaller routes were closed off by improvised walls of dead giant trucks, massive walls of manually crafted walls of wooden palisades and bollards. It helped that only a few extra routes except the main highways from the north and south existed, so they didn't have to set up for long. The inhabitants helped speeding up the procedure, grateful after the violent takeover of the criminals was prevented by the military.

Snipers were positioned on many rooftops over the entire city, especially the borders. The Wonderbolts did their best to fortify Cloudsdale.

With heavy weaponry, or what was left at least, the north and south were heavily guarded by soldiers, supported by barbed wire, fences, first watchtowers were already in planning. Then he saw the miniguns and automatic cannons on military vehicles, lined up at the entrance to the city like a wall of death for everyone who got the idea to attack Cloudsdale.

Seeing all these vehicles resulted in a question he wanted to be answered, "Why do we have to go by foot anyway? Can't we use a car or something like what these guys here have? It's not like we wouldn't come back as soon as we finished our business in Canterlot," Zephyr Breeze asked Fire Streak in laziness and confusion. Why couldn't they reach their destination with style?

"Two reasons. For one, the supply of gasoline and other forms of fuel stopped completely since at least a week, meaning that most gas stations are empty by now. At least the ones in the city. What leads to the second reason we don't use any vehicles. We have to spare the remaining fuel as much as possible, and it was decided to station them at specific locations, serving as a defense or otherwise. So we have to do most things on foot nowadays," the Wonderbolt replied in a rehearsed manner.

Many people asked him and his fellow soldiers already why they didn't just use vehicles instead of their own two feet. Zephyr took the answer in silence.

"Sir! Where do you plan to go?" asked a nearby woman with the rank of an airman from behind a desk, sitting besides others.

They were ordered to document everything important, who left the town, when, the estimated time of absence and return, and for what reason, in case someone went missing. Especially the troops were under the strict order to inform others about everything concerning reasons why they left the city.

"I will accompany this family to Canterlot, because they want to-" Fire Streak looked embarrassedly at the parents, "Why do you want to go to Canterlot anyway? I only heard that you planned to visit Canterlot on your own, not more."

"We wanted to witness for ourselves what became out of the city and check if our home is still standing. But most importantly... we hope to find our daughter somewhere, with luck. Blaze said that she and the other campers from Canterlot High are most likely in Ponyville, but we wanted to make sure. Just in case they decided to go there, too," Mr. Shy answered calmly and with a fatherly smile.

"And I'll help them so that these civilians are not on their own and have someone who protects them. We should be back before the day is over," Fire Streak completed the informations for the wingman to write down.

And because he didn’t want to face Rainbow Blaze's fury in case something happened to them. Or worse, General Firefly.

"I see. Good luck, sir. I will pray for your safe return," responded the newly appointed bureaucrat and saluted her superior in rank.

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Seems the action is intensifying ever so slowly. We all know what that means. You have to suffer more.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!