I woke up squashed nicely between James and Mia. I would have enjoyed this, but the sun had managed to find a way between the curtains, putting a brilliantly uncomfortable band of searing light right across my squinting eyes. I groaned and shifted position, turning my back to the sun and inadvertently waking both my humans in the process.

After the hot spring perversion earlier this morning, Cadance had finally left us to return to her own room and rest. I liked her, but I was still a bit relieved to see her bail for a few hours and give us some alone time, even if that did end up in all of us simply passing out in a heap, especially James, who had somehow managed to stay awake the entire night. I think he was asleep before he hit the bed, and I don't remember much after flopping in alongside him, either.

I yawned. It was now ridiculously late in the afternoon, and I could see Mia grinning at me from under her messy bed hair. "Hey Fuzzpoof."

I nuzzled her. "Hey sweetie."

I became aware of James's arms stealthily sneaking around me from behind, and something hard pushed against my tail.

"Oh my," I whispered, pushing my furry rump against James's stiff crotch. "Does somepony have morning wood?"

"Mmmhmm," James hummed in my ear. He started to push his hips forward, then someone police-knocked on our hotel room door, making us all jump. "Hey, are you guys up yet?" a now-familiar voice came through, slightly muffled. "My Pegasus squadron has already headed home. You guys hungry? Let's go eat or something!"

There followed a moment of anticipatory silence, then more knocking. "Hello? Come on you guys, it's a nice day!"

I groaned.

James groaned.

Mia giggled.

It really was a nice day, although we started the drive back to Canterlot quite late, after visiting Griddle's restaurant for breakfast and a goodbye. At his request, the Princess left him a large painted autograph on the wall by the counter, which pleased them both immensely.

Once we hit the road, I sat in the front seat while James drove, with Mia and Cadance carrying on in the back. The trip was mostly uneventful, with the exception of several extremely awkward pee breaks. Apparently urinating is a spectator sport when you've got pink hair, who knew. I should have expected they were up to no good when they started drinking a ton of water at Griddle's, but I guess I'm just an innocent, gullible little squeak toy in Mia's gently wild grip.

My holobracelet began freaking out with message notifications as soon as it picked up a signal on the outskirts of Canterlot.

I sighed and slipped on my ARHUD, activated the mail interface, and began mass deleting the fifty or so irrelevant emails I had received in the past day.

"You'd think I'm Miss Popular by how much crap I get hit with when I'm out of the office," I groaned. "What even is this stuff? I don't give a crap about basketball. And a pajama party? Really?"

"We should probably report in," James suggested from behind the wheel, completely ignoring my mini-rant.

"I'm the boss, you don't tell me what to do," I grumbled at him peevishly. "Humph."

We drove on for a bit in silence, aside from the chatter behind us which I had begun to tune out. "We should probably report in," I finally said, looking at James out of the corner of my eye.

"Good idea," James agreed neutrally.

I pulled up the menu and hovered my hoof over Director Stephens's call icon. For some reason the idea of calling him up had me strangely intimidated. I eventually sighed and tapped it.

It rang once, and a stunningly realistic digital rendition of Director Stephens appeared in a video chat window.

I hesitated. The eyes of his virtual ARHUD representation were just as unnerving as his usual stare. I'm not sure exactly how the device picks up the wearer's facial cues, something about infrared sensor tracking built into each device. It is quite convincingly real, though.

"Advisor Sky? Good afternoon! How may I help you?"

"Hello, sir. I hope things are going well at the Menagerie."

"It's been relatively slow, oddly enough. I trust you are enjoying your time off? Where did you guys go?"

"We are in Equestria, near Canterlot right now." I felt a pang of guilt for not having even bothered to tell him what universe we were in before now. He had every right to chew my narrow ass for that lack of forethought.

"Ah! I have not been there myself, not yet anyway," he smiled at me. "Is it relaxing and peaceful?"

"Well, sir, about that..." I filled him in on the main events surrounding the hive and Mia's abduction. I left out certain parts, mostly the ones involving myself fucking my subordinates every chance we got.

When I finished my selectively edited summary, he sat tapping his chin and stared off into space for a bit. "I send you guys out for some rest, and you almost get killed. Meanwhile, nothing much is happening here. The unpleasant critters have been remarkably quiet." He grimaced at me. "I don't tend to believe in luck, but your ill fortune seems to defy probability."

"Well, we all survived in one piece, and we are here with Princess Cadance now-"

"The princess who saved you? She's hanging out with you?"

I turned my head to the back, letting him see the two pink-haired different species females sitting behind me through my ARHUD forward cameras. They both waved cheerfully.

"Wait! Wow! Is that an Alicorn?"

"Would you kindly say hi to my boss, Princess Cadance?" I craned my neck back towards her, and she smiled. "Hello," she said agreeably, blinking her big eyes fetchingly.

"You guys are hanging out with an Alicorn," Stephens muttered excitedly. "This is unprecedented. The things I've heard about Twilight and Celestia's powers! I would love a chance to take some notes. The magical charge alone must be immense!"

"So, it's not all bad luck," I said cheerfully.

"Not at all! I would give a great deal to study an Alicorn," he continued. "Fascinating. Simply amazing. You must tell me all about her upon your return."

"Absolutely, in fact I will let you read some portions of my daily log," I encouraged him, making a mental note to clean all the sexy and embarrassing parts out before doing so. I don't even know why I put my sexcapades in this log. Maybe I'm an exhibitionist and I just never realized it? Or maybe it's just because I really enjoy talking about graphic sex? I don't really know. Well, actually, I think I do, but as usual I don't like to admit it. Admitting that would make me a slut, wouldn't it?

Although that word makes me feel a little warm and tingly in my crotch.

Ugh. Get your dirty little mind out of the gutter, Eris.

Anyway, I didn't exactly want the Director to know in detail the kind of extracurricular activities I got up to with my "security detail." It just didn't feel like something I should discuss with the someone in charge of discipline for myself and everyone else. I prefer not to rock the boat that way.

As for the man in question, Director Stephens was entranced by my offer of special reading material. Apparently forgetting our near-death-experience entirely, he grinned ear to ear. The effect was kind of frightening with his perpetual razor-stare eyes glowing above it, like a giddy Jack-o-lantern with a halo of gray hair.

"That is a fantastic idea! Oh, and if you would like to invite the Alicorn lady to our humble facility for a tour and some, ah, minor testing, I would be immensely pleased. To host her, of course. And scan her."

"I'll let her know of your offer," I agreed hesitantly. "Uh, so, are we good for another couple days or so?"

"Days of what?"

"Vacation, sir. Ours kind of got cut into by-"

"By a stroke of good fortune," he interrupted. "By all means. Use the time to pump her for as much information as possible."

"I, uh, okay." We stared at each other for a moment, his strange choice of words throwing me off.

"Just do me a favor and let me know before you go anywhere crazy again, okay?"

My ears drooped. "S-sorry. I got carried away. And I'm from Equestria, you know. It's not crazy to me. It's home."

"You're right. Bad choice of words on my part, I apologize. But just give me a heads up if you'll be out of contact, okay?"

"Yes, I will."

He grinned at me again, unnervingly. "Well then, I shall eagerly await your log files. Enjoy yourself with your friends, Miss Sky. I do hope you're all getting along well."

"A-absolutely, sir, we are, ah, happy together. I mean, we do it together as a team, ah, stuff, group things?" I smiled at him feebly, mentally facehoofing myself over my own poor choice of words. I hoped the facial replication software wouldn't show my blazing cheeks on his end.

He looked at me for a long moment, poker faced. I had no idea what he was thinking, and I felt my own uncomfortable grin fade as my nerves frayed through another of his signature extended silent staring contests. Finally he smiled and nodded decisively. "Excellent, then! Be safe, and see you soon!" He gave me a curt wave, and the call terminated.

I twisted in my seat, facing the back at an awkward angle. "We're good," I told my companions, taking my ARHUD off again. It went into low power standby the moment I took it off my face. "He's cool with us taking a couple more days as long as I get him some Alicorn info tidbits to treasure."

"Oh, more time to hang out!" Cadance said, sipping from a water bottle.

"Alicorn tidbits?" Mia giggled. "Sounds like you want to collect little dried pieces of her royal turds or something!"

Cadance spewed the water in her mouth into my face, gagging with choked laughter. This set Mia going even harder, and they collapsed onto each other in a gasping heap of hilarity.

"You're gonna make me crash!" James complained weakly, trying to hold his sides and steer at the same time.

"I really need to learn to think more carefully before I speak," I commented soggily, wiping magical Alicorn spit water off my damp fur with a piece of Kleenex. "I'm making this way too easy for you guys."

"H-hi, I'm Eris!" Mia said, copying my voice badly. "Can I just squeeze behind you? I-I brought a d-dustpan and everything!"

They both screamed with laughter again, tears streaming down their faces. James had reached the point where he wasn't laughing so much as suffering from a case of extended dry heaves. "P-please stop," he begged faintly. "I-I think I'm gonna actually die!"

I rolled my eyes with the deepest scowl I could muster while fighting to keep a straight face. "Oh come on. It's not THAT funny!"

It was getting close to sundown when we finally arrived at Canterlot Castle. James drove the SUV up the curved road through the courtyard, looking for a place to stop.

"Just pull us up behind Celestia's car," Cadance instructed. "It'll be fine."

"Do you think I should get, uh, different clothes?" Mia asked for the tenth time, tugging at her tiny skirt and top. She seemed uncharacteristically nervous to be meeting Equestria's head princess.

"Trust me, she won't mind," Cadance reassured, patting Mia on the shoulder. "She's really chill, and there won't be many other ponies here at this hour. You'll see."

Mia smiled uncomfortably. "Okay, if you say so."

"There's nowhere that you could buy anything else at this time anyway," Cadance continued. "And anything other than another equally short skirt would probably have to be tailor made for you. As far as I know, even this city doesn't have a lot in the way of human clothing."

"Okay, I see," Mia sighed. "I hadn't expected to be meeting royalty when I packed..." Her voiced faded as she looked at the pink Alicorn sitting next to her. "...not that you aren't royalty, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry about it," Cadance grinned, poking her arm gently with a gold-shod hoof. "You're fine. You'll be fine. Trust me."

"Okay, okay. I do trust you." Mia pushed the door open, stepping out onto the stone driveway in those darling red heels.

We all got out, the slamming of doors filling the calm evening air as we left the truck behind us. I stood at the bottom of the long flight of stairs leading up to the castle, and Mia came up beside me.

"I take it back. It's not okay, I'm terrified," she confessed softly.

"You'll be okay," I reassured her. "Look, it's deserted. And you're not the only one wearing a miniskirt." I gestured at my own outfit, another tube and skirt from Mia's collection. The ones I had worn into the hive had sadly been ruined beyond repair.

"Not like any of us look very formal, except for Princess Cadance," James agreed, tugging at his own blue Hawaiian shirt. Much like Mia, he'd basically brought several styles of the same summery vacation wear.

"If you guys catch it, we'll all just die together," I chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about it, though. The Princesses aren't known for being ill-tempered."

Mia grinned at me and gave a silly thumbs-up motion.

The only ponies present were a few castle guards, and they stood stiffly at attention, when Cadance approached, proudly unflinching in their duty to Princess and country. I did notice their eyeballs locking onto Mia, however, a fact which I did not bring to her attention.

"Uh, are we okay carrying these firearms?" James asked, indicating the pistols the three of us wore on our waists.

"You're with me, and I trust you guys," Princess Cadance replied. "If something were to happen, how would you contribute to our defense if you're not armed?" She tossed her mane with the faintest of smiles, and began walking up the stairs.

"Understood." James waited for me to pass, then followed behind, and with Princess Cadance striding confidently in front of us, we ascended the stairs to enter the imposing castle.

Inside, the main hall was large, regally decorated yet not to excess. True to their form, the Princesses had never been ones for wasting public funds on personal luxury, preferring instead just enough to make the castle a symbol of the nation without becoming an icon of greed. It was partly this attitude of service over entitlement that made them such good leaders in my eyes.

To tell the truth, I was also a little nervous, even with a Princess of our own to hide behind. I'd only been near Celestia a few times in the past, and always as just another member of a larger group. This time, there were only four of us.

We padded down the long carpeted halls, passing large stained glass windows and decorations which I didn't pay much mind to. I was focused on our destination, and on the large thrones at the end of the final room, one of which stood empty, while the other had the tall, rainbow-maned white Alicorn sitting upon it.

"Good evening," Cadance called out as we approached in near silence.

Princess Celestia sat upon her throne and held a tablet in one golden hoof, swiping across the surface with her other. I think she was about to call it a day, because her back legs were crossed and she was slouching back at an angle, her wings partly spread and her shining crown slightly askew. A short pile of what appeared to be comic books lay on the floor beside her seat, as if she'd dropped them there in a stack after leafing through. She looked up as we entered, and her poorly disguised surprise at seeing James and Mia gave way to recognition when she set eyes upon our Alicorn companion. A warm smile spread across her gently beautiful face as she made an attempt to push herself into a more presentable position. "Princess Cadance! Welcome! I see you have brought some friends?"

"Yes, I helped them out of a pinch, and they were kind enough to give me a ride here," Cadance explained.

"Oh?" Celestia asked, eyeing James and Mia's outfits with curiosity. "Welcome to Equestria. I expect you are ProteC employees?"

"Yes, ma'am," James replied. "We're on vacation." He stood stiffly, legs about shoulder width apart, his hands folded behind his back. I saw Mia did as well. It was rather sexy to see her standing motionless like that in those heels and skirt.

Celestia eyeballed me as well. "Ah, you're a CASD volunteer, correct? Agent Sky, was it?"

"Yes, ma'am," I said, freezing in place and saluting her, doing my best to hide my shock that she remembered my name at all.

She saluted back automatically, then dropped her hoof. "Okay, enough of that. Please, relax. You're making me feel uncomfortable too." She turned her attention to Cadance again while we stopped making like statues.

"So, you're probably wondering why i wanted to talk to you," Celestia began. "I have been studying, ah, intel. You see, there is a movie from Earthside. The My Little Pony movie, to be exact. It seemed to me, given the unusual synchronicity of our world and the human television show, that it would be foolish not to investigate a possible threat to our country."

Cadance nodded. "You mean-"

"The Storm King," Mia gasped, interrupting. "I loved the My Little Pony movie. I've watched it, like, I don't know, twenty times? The Storm King though, he's a real jerk. But Tempest..." Mia realized both Celestia and Cadance were staring at her, and she blushed heavily. "I-I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, you are quite correct," Celestia said softly. "The Storm King was potentially a viable threat, and I sent agents to scout out his domain after watching the MLP movie. However, it appears he is not currently an issue. I don't have all the details, but to my understanding, the broken-horned unicorn Tempest Shadow is currently the one in charge, and she may need our help, even though she has not, and most likely will not, ask for it. Apparently Equestria was not the only area with leak-through from rifts to dark places, and they are having a poor time of things, or so I've been told."

"The Storm King's domain, though," Mia said softly. "What do you even know about it?"

"Not enough," Celestia admitted. "We don't get around quite the same as people do on your world. We don't have airlines lifting from country to country, although we do have trade and cargo ships, in general, only the merchants tend to travel widely. Most other countries are not well known, but this is an unusual case."

Cadance blinked at the larger mare. "This sounds like trouble brewing."

"Obviously, it isn't entirely safe. But I doubt anypon-, er, anyone there, will try anything with an Equestrian princess along. They know better than to challenge Alicorn magic."

"That's not how the movie played out," Mia observed. "As I recall, all of you got captured by those anti-magic ball things."

Celestia nodded. "Yes, well, you standing here is evidence that things are already not playing out precisely according to the movies."

"Even so, why not send Princess Twilight? In the movie it worked."

Celestia sighed. "Unfortunately, Princess Twilight and her friends are currently assisting with a nasty monster outbreak in another part of Equestria. It's become a bit of a burden, to tell the truth. Even myself and Princess Luna have had to take on frequent exterminator duties. In fact, that's part of why I am trying to send Princess Cadance as an ambassador. It seems the majority of the trans-dimensional invaders do not much care for the cold of the frozen lands surrounding the Crystal Empire, and there are few emergent situations in that area. However, in this region, we have our hooves full." She paused. "And in addition, I think Princess Cadance will be better received than myself or my sister. Our presence may be misconstrued as being of hostile intent. To contrast, I have yet to meet anyone who considers the Princess of Love to be a harbinger of war."

"I understand," Princess Cadance sighed. "I will do it. Please let Shining Armor know I that will be gone for a few days?"

"And your child?" Princess Celestia asked. "Will she be okay?"

"Flurry Heart will be fine with her father and the nursemaids. It's not the first time I've had to go on a business trip since she was born."

"Very well. I will see that the notification is sent."

Cadance turned to us. "I am sorry, but I believe our paths must part here."

"Do they have to?" Mia asked. "I'm sorry, but I really want to see this."

Cadance narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure? It might, nay, it WILL be dangerous."

"We work in a tunnel full of deadly caged monsters," Mia said pointedly. "This is a vacation."

Cadance pondered, finally looking at Celestia. "Would it be acceptable if I were to take them along?"

The larger Alicorn was silent for a moment, obviously thinking. "Well. Like we've said repeatedly, it's dangerous, and an extremely sensitive situation. But perhaps having a completely alien species along for the ride will make this seem less threatening. I will allow it, provided the humans here are willing to accept the risk."

Cadance bit her lip. "Okay. You're welcome to come."

Mia turned suddenly to me. "Boss? Can we?"

I shrank into myself a bit. Mia, Cadance, James, and Celestia all stared at me at me. "Uhh," I said, withering slightly under the pressure while trying to portray confidence. "I think I need to call up Director Stephens for this one."

Celestia nodded. "Do as you must."

I called the Director again.

It rang twice before he picked up this time.

"Miss Sky. Twice in one day? To what do I owe this rare occasion?"

"I need to ask your permission for something, ah, unusual," I said. Then I told him the situation.

"And Princess Cadance is okay with you tagging along?" he finally said, after I had finished.

"That she is, and Princess Celestia as well. Think of it! There will be new species. A society of baboon-like primates, and possibly other anthropomorphs."

"New species?" I could see the gears turning in his mind. "Hmm. Fascinating potential. We stand to learn much through your observations. I am a bit worried about the potential danger, however."

"We will be with an Alicorn princess, sir. One of the most powerful creatures in Equestria."

"Yes, but you won't be in Equestria, will you?"

"I'm sure she is strong enough to contend with almost anything we come across."

Director Stephens stared at me silently for a bit. "You've not been assigned to us a week, and already you've managed to ditch the facility," he mused.

"That's not technically true, sir. You did make us take this, ah, vacation."

"Which somehow turned into a monster bash. Regardless, this is a fascinating opportunity in many ways that we would not have otherwise. Very well," he finally said. "But Miss Sky, remember you are an Equestrian native. Our people aren't as durable as you are. Play it safe. I'd rather not have to write a nice memorial speech for any of you."

"We'll be careful. Trust me, I very much do not want harm to come to my hum- ah, my security personnel."

He nodded, an odd glint in his eye. "Good. Report in as soon as possible on your return."

The call ended.

I looked up at the expectantly waiting faces around me, and gave a crooked smirk. "Okay. We're in."