When Andrew finally was able to open his eyes, there was nothing but utter blackness around him. He sat bolt-upright, and waved his arms in front of him, unable to see a thing.

In a brief moment of panic, he thought himself blind, but found once his eyes adjusted, that it was simply very, very dark.

“Twilight!” he cried in rage, groping about, and carefully getting to his feet, “Melissa! Where are you!?”

With no answer, he started reaching out, and swinging his fists as well, trying to do something. He hurt himself several times, punching smooth rock and smashing into several walls. Wherever he was, it was some sort of circular chamber. He didn’t venture farther from the one wall he could find for fear he couldn’t find it again.
Andrew finally calmed down when he tripped and fell right on his nose, his glasses flying off and bouncing away with a tinkle.

Snorting angrily, he got on all fours, “I feel like Velma…”

He felt his hand brush over one of the end pieces, and anxiously checked for any cracks. Finding none, he sighed with relief and made sure the elastic holding them was tighter than it was before.

“Hello?” he called out, hearing his voice ringing in the space, “Anyone here?”

“Ah, I see you’re quite done with your tantrum,” a familiar venomous, evil voice chuckled, “Don’t hurt yourself, my pet.”

“Fuck you! Where the hell is Twilight?! Where the hell am I!?” he demanded, looking around despite the dark.

“Language...You’re in the caves under Canterlot, once home to greedy unicorns who sought the gems that could be found inside. Now it’s your prison. Don’t strain yourself, no one can hear you.” Another laugh, “Ha, they won’t even think to look for you. Most of those primitives have forgotten about these caves, making them an ideal place to put those who would try to interfere with my plans.”

“You won’t win!” he cried, sounding braver than he actually felt, “Twilight will stop you! Melissa might help! Earth stopped you, and so can the ponies!”

Chrysalis laughed again, “Is that what you really think? My my, were you dropped as an egg?”

“What's upsetting about that is I don't think you know that's wrong…” Andrew murmured, ignoring more of her taunts. He began searching for a light, slapping his clothes, trying to find the small packet. “Matches, matches, matches...where…?” Coulda sworn I packed…

”Hello, what’s this...? Oh!”

His hand met several cool plastic rods. Please let it be what I think it is, please please please...

Andrew took one rod out, and holding it in both hands, bent it to either side. The snap was the most joyous noise he could have heard. A green light began to emerge from within the glow stick. More bending and vigorous shaking brought it to full strength.

“Thanks Melissa…” he muttered, “Your paranoia has paid off, finally. Oddly specific, though.”

Looking around the room for the first time, he held the glowstick high. It was a fairly large chamber, stalactites and stalagmites growing around the extremely reflective rock that comprised the walls.

Placing a hand on the wall, he walked along, knocking on it every once in awhile. It worked in Doom, and it might work here!

“Don’t judge me.” he muttered aloud. He paused for a moment to shake his head, Who am I talking to?

He started to walk again, then doubled back, knocking again. There was an echo.

Knocking again, there was a bit of a vibration. With little else to do, he kicked it. A crack formed. Kick. The crack grew larger.

Throwing his shoulder into it, Andrew continued to hit it, making a dent in the wall.

Finally, he made an opening, his shoulder bruised and arm hurting any time he moved it. He reached through the hole and pulled at the rocks and shattered mirror-like stuff.

“Yes!” he cried, throwing the glow stick through and squeezing through the just-barely-wide-enough opening.

It may have been a little too small.

“Oh no, no no no…” he moaned, anxiety washing over him like waves, “Why why why why!? Move, dammit, move!”

Desperately, he looked around for something to pull himself through with, but could barely see. Still glowing in a friendly manner, his glowstick lay some distance away. There was some other light source farther than that, but it didn’t offer much illumination. What it did expose was a large silhouette, that stood over the green plastic rod, peering at it.

“Oh shit!” he tried to crawl back inside his chamber, which suddenly didn’t seem quite as bad anymore...

He was too slow however. The shape stumbled its way over, and hovered over him.

To Andrew’s surprise, hooves grabbed him under the arms, and pulled. “Hold on,” a female pony voice said, “I’ll get you out! Don’t worry!”

Relieved, he started pushing again from his side, coming loose with a crunch, and a cloud of dust, spilling out onto the fairly large pony helping him.

“Thanks,” he said breathlessly, getting off her, “Thought I was gonna be stuck in there.”

“It’s no problem,” the pony said, getting to her feet as well. She looked him up and down despite the gloom, and inquired in a surprised tone, “Are you a human? What are you doing here?”

Glancing at her with surprise, he answered, “Yeah, I’m human. My name’s Andrew Shepherd. I’m probably here for the same reason as you.” He stooped to pick up the glow stick, “Though I suppose even if I didn’t know about her plans I’d have been put down here for existing.”

“Interesting name...are you the pilot of the spacecraft?” she asked, “Or are you one of the two humans we know about?”

“No, I’m not the pilot. I’m one of those two--wait, how’d you know about the Dream Chaser?”

Andrew’s heart sank as his light revealed the other figure. A battered and beaten Princess Cadence.

“Oh shit!” He screamed a second time, and began scrambling away.

“No! Wait!” she cried, her tone unlike anything he’d heard her use before, but the archaeologist was too busy running away, “Wait, there’s a--”

He face planted, again. His glasses stayed on but his glowstick clatterered away.

“...hole.”

The footsteps of the other creature came closer, and Andrew curled up into a ball, eyes squeezed shut, If I can’t see her she can’t see me can’t see her can’t see me…

A green glow appeared through his eyelids, and he opened one eye to see her lay the glow stick in front of him.
“Did you hurt yourself?”

Reaching out, he grabbed the glow stick and rolled away, crawling up a wall and holding it out in front of him like a shield.

“S-stay back.” he told the exhausted-looking supposed-princess. For the first time, he was able to get a good look at her.

Now that’s odd. The way she held herself was different. Normally, the Changeling queen would stand with the forward part of her body raised slightly upwards, looking down at most ponies. Now though, she stood with a more level and natural stance, her back straight instead of at an angle.
In addition, there were other slight differences in facial expressions. Chrysalis normally had a hint of anger in her eyes, probably from having to maintain the charade for so long, or perhaps she always looked like that when looking at humans.
This person on the other hand looked surprised, sad, sympathetic, and a little angry, but nothing like the burning hate that existed in the queen. In a few seconds, she had acted more like the mare Twilight had described than the queen had in several days.

“Please, I’m not her!” she pleaded, “I’ve been imprisoned like you! That other princess is an imposter!”

Despite his misgivings, and hesitation, there was only one conclusion, “I believe you.”

She blinked, and stared at him, “What? That easy?”

“You’re the real Cadence. That’s fairly obvious, actually. No supervillain is this stupid, at least not without any grunts around. It doesn’t make sense for you to be her.” Andrew lowered the glow stick, at least to a non-threatening level, “Why would you leave yourself at my mercy if you were her? Why would she be so terrible at acting like you in public and then in private be ‘correct’? It doesn’t make sense.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, “I always heard humans were intelligent…”

Cadence didn’t know why he suddenly grinned and aimed his fist at the ceiling, middle finger extended.

“What’s happened? How’d you get down here? Where’s the other human?”

Andrew shrugged, “Twilight, Melissa, and I found out the bug queen’s plans, and we got separated.”

“Twilight?” Cadence interrupted, “Twilight Sparkle? How is she?”

Her eyes widened, “Wait a minute, you’re the first human, right? The friend of Twilight’s Shining Armor spoke of!”

He coughed, “Yes...you could say we’re friends.”

“Or you could say he’s sleeping with her!” Chrysalis’ voice cackled from elsewhere in the cave as her upper body appeared on a reflective rock nearby. Must’ve been a hologram. Though it could have just as easily been magic.

Andrew didn’t even know how the rock got in his hand, or how many of the mirrored rocks he had to ruin before she shut up.
“Okay, for the record, we’re just dating!” he shouted.

“Just keep telling yourself that!” Chrysalis laughed, disappearing again.

He realized Cadence was staring at him.

“What?”

“Nothing! We need to get out of here!”

He forgot the conversation immediately, and raised the glow stick again. “Alright then...uh,” Andrew winced, “What do I call you? Your highness?”

“I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadence. What is that thing, anyway?” she asked, pointing to the glow stick, “a wand of some kind?”

Andrew looked at it for a second, “...Kind of. Melissa would probably go on about some sort of chemical reaction, specifically not magic. It’s a technological device that glows, that’s all I can say about it.”

“Not magic? Like those special light bulbs in the spacecraft?” She inquired.

“Not exactly. Melissa can probably explain it better, but we probably should get out of here first. Any idea where to go?”

Cadence shrugged, “I’ve tried to find my way out several times. It’s been slow-going, however. It’s easy to get lost.”
She gestured at the surrounding chamber, where Andrew now noticed were many different passageways, branching out into darkness.
The alicorn stepped over to a rock nearby, one of the reflective ones, upon which a crude map had been drawn. The basic structure of the map was scratched into the surface with a sharp rock, while details and notes were added with some sort of chalk.
“Some of them are dead ends, others just keep going for a long while, and some I just couldn’t follow, seemed far too likely to get lost.” Cadence explained.

Andrew nodded, and glanced around, finding the remains of a small fire. The cave was illuminated somewhat despite the fire being cold, but he couldn’t tell where the light source came from.

Crouching near the ashes of the fire, he began digging through his duster’s pockets, “Okay, if we’re going to do this, we do it right.”

“Do what right?”

Dumping three inactive glowsticks, some half-eaten snacks, a handkerchief, and a packet of matches on the floor, he replied in a roundabout way, “I’m an archeologist. I have to go into caves as part of my work, and as part of my job, I was taught how to escape caves. First step, remain calm, assess the situation, and take inventory. What do you have on you? I don’t have much food...”

Cadence shrugged, “Not much. A handkerchief, pocket watch, and some matches I used up a while back. We’re good for food and light. I’ve got my horn, and there’s flint and steel.”

“And by food, you mean…?”

“Grass, mostly. I know it’s not much, but it’ll keep us alive.”

Andrew flinched unconsciously, realizing that he was waiting for Melissa to make some expletive-filled comment.
“Yeah, that won’t keep me alive. Humans don’t eat grass.”

Cadence became alarmed, “By Celestia, what--what can we do? What do you need?”

Andrew grimaced, “Don’t worry too much. I can always eat cave mushrooms or...ugh, rat.”

Cadence tilted her head, her mouth open, “...Excuse me?”

Andrew continued taking inventory distractedly, checking how many of the matches had been crushed, “It’s fine, soldiers in World War I made a sport out of it. Dunno how many actually ate them, but it was probably better than those crackers they were eating…”

Cadence began to back away, “Eat rat? Are you...what is wrong with you?!”

Andrew stopped what he was doing, and recalled exactly who he was talking to. Me and my big stupid mouth…

He got up and put up his hands. As he stood up to his full height, he realized that the alicorn was a head shorter than he was.
“Okay, let’s take this slow. What is the problem?”

“What’s the problem? What’s the problem? You just suggested eating another living creature for Celestia’s sake!” Cadence’s horn flared with magic briefly.

Andrew rubbed his face, “Okay, I am not going to eat you. I would never eat any pony. I would never even remotely consider eating anything that talks even if it was five days dead. Back home, no one…ehrm, at least no one in the United States eats horses. I don’t think. It’s some sort of taboo. Forget about it, anyway, we don’t eat anything that talks, not since the Donner Party.”

Cadence relaxed slightly, “Donner Party?”

Andrew sighed, “You don’t want to know. Anyway, I can’t eat grass, and rat is just about one of the only options for good protein! I am sorry, if there were any other plants to eat, I would! I don’t actually know what kind of mushrooms I could eat!”
A light bulb went on in his head, “Wait a minute…that’s exactly what it’s here for! The grass!”

Cadence realized it too, “Oh, and I call myself the Princess of Love...of course! How could I be so apathetic?! It’s a trick to turn us against each other! She leaves me the only food you can’t eat, and leaves you the only food that would drive me crazy!”

Andrew hesitated, then nodded, “Oh yeah...that was totally what I was thinking.”

Taking some flint and iron nearby, Andrew set the fire ablaze.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ll see--aha!”

The flames began to flicker, and Andrew used a piece of charcoal to mark the direction they seemed to lean toward.

“You got any torches anywhere? Or sticks, or something?”

Cadence raised an eyebrow, but brought out some sticks from somewhere.

Andrew lit one with the fire, and began following the direction given by the flames.

“What are you doing?” Cadence asked, “Is it some sort of spell?”

Andrew shook his head, “Nope. It’s just wind. Cave entrances bring in new air, and shifting air will come from that direction.”
Proceeding down the tunnel, he reached an intersection. “Huh...now that’s a problem.”

The smoke wasn’t going in any particular direction. Just moving this way and that.

Shrugging to himself, he made marks for the most likely directions, then picked one at random. They’d have to check out each of the passages.

Following him, and uncomfortable with the silence, Cadence asked, “So...Mr. Shepherd. I’ve never met a human before. What’s your world like?”

Andrew cast his eyes downward. Gulping, he coughed, “There’s over four thousand years of written history on Earth. You may have to be more specific. And you can call me Andrew.”

Cadence said, “Okay. Tell me about yourself then. Or, better yet, what you’ve been doing all this time that you’ve been here. I haven’t heard anything specific.”

Andrew sighed, “Well, that’s...gonna be an odd conversation.”

“Well, I doubt there’s much else to talk about.”

“Point there. I came here, I saw, I got beaten up a lot. Made some friends, did some odd jobs, started dating Twilight and Fluttershy, then took a backseat to my own life a few months ago when a marine showed up.”

Cadence tilted her head, “I think I’ve heard of her. Corporal Foster, wasn’t it? Is that this Melissa you keep referring to?”

Andrew nodded, “Yep. ‘Corporal Melissa Foster, United States Marine Corps’, that’s how she always introduces herself. Can’t she introduce herself like a normal person?”

“What’s so wrong about that?”

“Nothing... It’s all the other stuff she does that bothers me. She’s this brilliant tough-as-nails soldier who knows everything, can build anything, except pens, Legos, and plastic. She’s one of my best friends...somehow, and yet everything we do drives each other nuts. Also, she’s awesome at combat, but terrible with people.”

Andrew smiled a little, least I’ve got one thing over her...

“She sounds...interesting.” Cadence commented, “I hope to meet with her.”

Andrew felt a tightening in his gut. “Have you seen anyone else down here? Has there been anyone else thrown down here? Maybe my friends--”

Cadence shook her head, “If they are, I have no clue. I’ve only seen more of those...those monsters, Changelings. Are they from your world? Do you know anything about them?”

Andrew shook his head, “Not really. They’re not from Earth. They actually invaded us, according to the queen. She said they’re what’s left of the force that tried it. She really, really hates us. Said she threw me down here as some sort of plaything.”

“She said the same thing about me,” Cadence commented, “I guess she picked you because you were the least threatening.”

“Yep, that’s me, Mr. Non-threatening…” Andrew grumbled.

“Do you know why they hate your people?” asked Cadence.

“Something about us fighting them or something, I dunno. We need to find my friends, we need to get out of here and raise the alarm!”

“Do you remember anything before they grabbed you? Any hint of where they might have taken them?” Cadence asked.

Andrew shook his head, “No, I don’t. All I remember is her making a distinction between what would happen to them and what would happen to me.”

He sniffed, and rubbed his nose. “God, I hope they’re okay. Wherever they are.”

XXXXX

Having one's nerves assaulted by a pulsed energy projectile is a bad enough shock, but Twilight Sparkle couldn’t tell what was worse; being shot by the projectile itself, or the shock of those same abused nerves being thrown into pitching frozen water from six meters up. In the dark.

Struggling back to the surface, Twilight spewed out a mouthful of water. After several gasps, no small amount of coughing, and many grunts of pain, she looked around. She was surrounded by darkness.
With immense effort, she got her horn to spark, sputter, and finally, produced a consistent low glow.

Now, she properly assessed the situation...finding nothing but the ocean around her. There was nothing below her, nothing for as far as the eye could see but lightly pitching black water.
Oh, Celestia… ”Andrew! Melissa! Somepony!”

A few meters away, a blue light appeared and turned in her general direction.

“Twilight, over here!” Melissa called out. A weaker light replaced the first, a green glow this time.

Twilight turned off her own and wearily swam over; running a human body had left her exhausted even after changing back.

Melissa was clinging to her backpack, which, to Twilight’s surprise, was not only floating, but buoyant.
Humans. They still found ways to surprise her.

In one hand the marine held a glowing green rod, and reached out with the other to pull Twilight to the pack.
“If we alternate, we can each take a rest--” she began, but Twilight, through chattering teeth, shook her head.
“N-N-No, I’ve g-g-got something b-better.”

Her horn lit up, sparked, sputtered, and died.

“Urgh!” Twilight snarled, “Why won’t you work, stupid horn!”

An emotional outburst made the horn collect energy, but it still died.

She snarled again, and started hitting the side of her skull with a clenched hoof. Melissa strapped the green glow stick to the pack and began digging around in the pockets above water. She withdrew a pair of battered plastic packets containing some sort of bar. On one side were the words “Soldier Fuel” printed in bold. It was apparently chocolate flavored.

Twilight recognized them as aesthetically similar to the chocolate bar wrapper Andrew had in his pocket when he first arrived, or the dozens more that had been found in Melissa’s car.

“How can you be eating at a time like this?!” she demanded.

Melissa tore open one of the packages, and broke the bar in half twice. “It’s not just for me,” she growled, and shoved a piece at Twilight’s face, “It’s also for you. It’ll help get your magic back, I hope.”

Twilight reached out for the fragment, rocking the pack in the process and nearly knocking the remaining energy bars out of Melissa’s hands.

“Watch it!” Melissa barked.

“Sorry!” Twilight snapped back, picking the fragment out of the water and chewing it.

About a minute later, she felt energized. Almost an adrenaline rush. Like she’d taken a bite of one of Pinkie’s special rainbow cupcakes.
She attempted to power up her horn again, only for it to surge with almost too much energy.

Wasting no time to dwell on the confusion, Twilight closed her eyes and focused her mind on subtracting the heat from the water.

She could hear ice cracking, expanding, and forming...

“Holy shit!”

...and with that, she knew her deed was done.

Melissa gaped in astonishment at the purple(!) ice raft that now lay beside them, circular with a little rim to keep water out and a downward slope inside. It was a bit similar to aircraft emergency rafts.

Without hesitation, Twilight pulled Melissa over to it, heaving the backpack inside with great effort and clambering on herself.

Melissa pulled herself out of the freezing water. Panting, she croaked, “Thanks…I’ve been working on a theory that your magic comes from either a D&D style limit or it's physically tasking. Heck of a time to test it, but I guess it’s the latter.”

She reached for her pack and opened it, pulling out random items from a multitool to an inoperative GPS device. She noted that she’d forgotten all about it.

There were only a handful of things she really needed from the pack at the moment though. She piled up gloves, a poncho, a poncho liner, a boonie cap, spare socks, a personal hydration system, a lighter, the remaining energy bars, and a few MREs. All items a veteran had once told her were a must for Afghanistan. They would serve just as well here.

She pulled the poncho over herself, pulled on the gloves, then took the poncho liner and wrapped it around Twilight. To Twilight’s confusion, she was also passed the cap and spare socks.

“Pull the socks over your hooves and put the hat on,” Melissa ordered, “Any protection is better than no protection. Trust me, frostbite sucks.”

As Melissa carefully wrapped up the open energy bar, and checked the water container, she felt Twilight’s gaze burning into her shoulder.

When she spared a glance at the pony, Melissa was a little surprised to see a look that was more of betrayal than just anger.

“You knew this would happen.” Twilight whispered.

Melissa didn’t answer. She slowly sagged down, and rubbed her face, “...Kinda.”

“If you knew something, you should’ve told us!”

Realization dawned upon Twilight, “This is what you’ve been hiding, isn’t it? Why, blast it, why?! Don’t you remember--”

“You think it was an easy decision?” Melissa snapped, turning around to face the unicorn, “Going through daily life, acting like everything’s okay, when I know some sort of invasion is just down the line?! Why do you think I’ve been drinking? Why do you think I haven’t been getting any sleep?! Doing this has been going against everything I stand for!”

“Then why did you do it?” Twilight demanded, “For Celestia’s sake, what is wrong with you?! My home, my coltfriend, everyone I know might be enslaved!”

Melissa’s angry expression grew even further, and she inhaled deeply, “Oh boo-fucking-hoo! You got teleported a few hundred klicks away, and might be freezing to death!It could be worse, you could have lost your entire fucking planet you fucking asshole! Your entire family, life, country, planet, and everything you ever knew could be gone! Yeah, it could be worse! Slavery’s reversible, extinction is not!”

Twilight snarled, “Did you come here deliberately? To escape the Changelings? Were you lying all this time? Why did you do this? You could have given us the chance your world didn’t have! Why?!”

“No, I didn’t know about it! The invasion hadn’t happened! I didn’t know! There was no way to know!”

“What do you know then? Why didn’t you tell us?!”

Melissa hunched forward tensely, “Because I couldn’t! I didn’t know! I thought it would work out okay!”

“You thought an alien invasion by love-consuming monsters would turn out...okay?!”

Melissa threw up her hands, “I wasn’t thinking, obviously!”

“What were you thinking?! That we would just accept this?! Why did you think this would work?! What is the matter with you!?”

“I was preserving the future!” Melissa screamed, months of anxiety and bottled-up pressure releasing, “The temporal prime directive...I had to...but I didn’t know it was going to be like this! Christ, I didn’t know! I didn’t know, there was no way to know!”

“The future?!”

“I know what’s going to happen in the future, okay?!” Melissa looked Twilight in the eye, her wavering voice sincere, “I know the future.”

“Precognition?” Twilight asked, “I thought humans--”

“No, you remember that ‘psychic connection’? It wasn’t just up to the present. I know what’s going to happen in Equestria for...possibly the next year! I don’t know how, but that TV show from back home laid out your entire society, and even future events! I’ve known what’s supposed to happen ever since I arrived! Everything I’ve been doing has been to prepare for this invasion!”

Twilight stared, random events and behavior suddenly making sense, dating back to the dragon migration, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I...I wanted to preserve the timeline! I had to follow the temporal prime directive! Your character growth! The butterfly effect could’ve spun out of control!”

“‘Our character’?” Twilight demanded in disbelief, “Our character? You know we’re real ponies, right? Your ‘show’ actually happened to us! What gives you the right to--”

“I’m sorry! I’m so fucking sorry!” Melissa’s voice cracked, “I didn’t know any better! I thought I knew what was best for everyone, and I fucked up, and I doomed the planet! Fuck me, fuck my goddamn life! I fucked up just like I’ve been doing ever since I got here!”

Her fluctuating tone stabilized somewhat into deep derision, “Well, I guess those chickens have finally come home to roost, the universe finally decided to stop fucking me over and just decided to kill me! I hope you’re happy you get to finally watch me die! Which do you think, hypothermia or thirst?!”

Twilight’s anger shifted to horror, “Melissa! That’s horrible! How could you say something like that? I don’t want you dead!”

Melissa shifted over to a side of the raft, her legs crossed and her head hung low, “I’ve doomed your planet. Everyone would agree to my execution as a fuckin’ war criminal, and you’ll be happy because I’m finally gone. Just kill me now. Get it over with. More supplies for you, and you won’t have to put up with my shit.”

Twilight moved over to her, “Melissa…I never said anything like that! Why would I want you dead? What’s the matter with you?”

“Because I just about doomed this entire planet, for fuck’s sake! If I hadn’t been there, maybe things would’ve played out right, but no. I fucked things up again.” she slumped forward, trying to control herself even as she openly wept for the first time in a long time.

Twilight was taken aback. She was mad, sure, but…no, she couldn’t even comprehend it. Why would someone have to be killed for a mistake?

“Melissa…” she said softly, “Why do you think these horrible things? Why do you keep thinking the worst of us? You have to know us better than that. Didn’t you look up to us?”

Melissa glanced at the pony, “I looked up to you.”

“Why do you think I hate you?”

“We always argue, you’re super suspicious of me, you keep accusing me of lying…”

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder, “Melissa, I’m sorry I haven’t been very clear about this. I don’t hate you. I feel like we could be friends, and I think we are. Sometimes ponies who argue the most are also the most similar to one another. But we’ve been letting small things get to us for too long. If we let this happen, the magic of friendship can be turned into something else. I didn’t know you had all this bottled up...why didn’t you tell me?”

Melissa sniffed heavily, “I couldn’t, I was scared. I didn’t know what would happen, or even if anyone would believe me. I wasn’t concerned for your character exactly, I was just afraid that I might steal the life you’d earned by just being here. I didn’t want you to lose what you deserved. I thought I knew best. I thought I could bear the burden alone…”

“But that’s what friendship is for! Making it so that we don’t have to suffer alone. And with what’s going on, we need friends more than ever!”

Melissa wiped her eyes on her soaked sleeve, “I guess so.”

“I appreciate what you were trying to do, and for talking about this. Such knowledge must be a terrible burden.”

Melissa nodded, “It’s like knowing about Abraham Lincoln or JFK a week before it happens. You can’t tell anyone, because no one would believe you until it’s too late.”

Twilight patted her on the shoulder, “Well, it’s not too late. You’ve convinced me, and we might be able to stop them.”

The softness of her voice, the lack of serious anger she expected, renewed Melissa’s tears for a time.

After a few minutes of composing herself, Melissa gave the unicorn a sad smile, “So, hatchet buried then. Friends. Yay…!”

Twilight gave a little laugh too, “Yeah...we’re still stuck in the middle of the ocean on a block of crystal.”

She scooched back from the edge of the raft, and began to shift around to the other side. Arms grabbed her by the waist and Melissa pulled her into a hug.

“Ack!”

Melissa felt her eyes brimming with fresh tears again, but didn’t care. Humans are social animals. Every once in awhile one needs some affection of some kind.
“Thanks for everything, Twilight. Just...everything. Even the stuff you don’t know about.”

“Um...you’re welcome? You’re squishing me…”

Melissa released her, somewhat, and sheepishly said, “Sharing body heat is necessary in survival situations.”

Twilight laughed a little, “of course it is.”

“No, seriously. Pretty big part of survival training.” the marine had a tough time resisting the urge to make any sort of lewd joke.

Twilight snickered a little more, but didn’t shift away. “Can’t argue with that I suppose. So... what’s going to happen now? Or next, rather, in your precognition.”

Melissa shrugged, “I don’t know exactly. Events haven’t been playing out as I thought they would, and the whole alien invasion thing…”

“Then go off what you do know. Every little bit helps.” Twilight pointed out.

When the marine hesitated, Twilight said, “Melissa, whatever you’re worried about, I’m sure it will turn out fine. How have events played out so far?”

“Well, not exactly the same, but the end result was right…” she blew air out through her cheeks, “Okay...so Cadence is probably still alive, just in the mines under Canterlot. Chrissy’s gonna keep playing along until the wedding.”

“What happens then?”

“Well, in the show, you got sent to the mines as well and found Cadence. Then you fought your way out, stormed back in, the Changelings attacked, and you and your friends tried to fight your way to the Elements of Harmony, and failed. Luckily, the big black bug threw you in with Cadence and Shining Armor, and you freed her to get Shiny to turn the shield back on.”

Dejectedly kicking at the water, Melissa grumbled “Don’t know how we’re gonna get to that now. Our chances of being found without radio, a GPS, or anyone knowing where we are in any meaningful way are next to nothing.”

“We’ll think of something,” Twilight said, gazing out into the night, “We have to.”

XXXXX

Hours later, the pair were still alive. They were freezing, Melissa more so, but alive. For now.

Despite the protection offered by her pack’s clothing, in addition to her helmet, jacket, and fatigues, her lips were blue and teeth chattering.

Twilight huddled close to her, somewhat warmer due to her fur but sharing body heat was necessary.

Cracking open salt-encrusted eyelashes, Twilight squinted out at the horizon, “Sun’s rising…” she mumbled, “What time is it?”

Melissa coughed, “S-s-s…” she coughed, and simply held out her watch.

“6:30…” Twilight observed, “Maybe it’ll get warmer soon.”

“If it’s anything like the Atlantic, probably not…not for another ten hours.” the marine commented, “Andrew tell you about the Titanic?”

Twilight shook her head. She abruptly furrowed her brow, then looked off into the water.

“Do you feel that?”

Melissa payed attention. A vibration in the water. Ripples, not currents, moving in an odd direction, headed toward them.

With a trembling hand, Melissa patted herself down for her knife scabbard. Her ka-bar fell onto the ice, and she barely managed to grab it before it could slide off the side.

“P-probably sharks or something,” Melissa stuttered, “Don’t get any blood in the water and we’ll be fine. Are there any other predators you know of around here?”

Twilight furrowed her brow, “No...it doesn’t feel like a sea serpent.”

She took a deep breath and leaned off the ice raft, sticking her head under the water and looking around.

Melissa held Twilight’s rear end to keep the exhausted pony from falling off, but didn’t have to wait long.

Twilight jumped back, making the raft rock dangerously, “I think it’s a whale!”

Melissa scrunched up into a ball, looking around to the sides of the raft, “Ah, shit. Are you sure?! Are whales carnivorous here?! Are you sure it wasn’t one of those meat-eating plesiosaurs?”

Twilight shook her head, “Those are farther north, there aren’t too many of them. It was too big to be one! I’ve never seen a whale for real!”

Melissa relaxed somewhat, “Are you sure? Big whales still give me the creeps.”

“Really? Your job is to handle explosives and you’re afraid of a big sea mammal?”

“I’m not afraid of them! I just said they give me the creeps!”

“Do you have your camera? There haven’t been any photos of live ones!” Twilight said excitedly.

“You do realize we’re still stranded in the middle of the ocean, right?”

“That’s no excuse to forget our scientific duty!” Twilight retorted with a hint of amusement, “What did you do when you first got here?”

“Fair point,” Melissa admitted, and pulled her phone from her jacket pocket, thankfully intact with its otterbox.

The water began to vibrate more, and there was a deep rumbling sound that reached their ears.

Wait, that sound… Melissa realized. It wasn’t just the sound of something massive shouldering thousands of tonnes of water aside, there was another sound. It was a sound that was hard to describe, a repetitive wub-wub-wub-wub noise.

Twilight’s grin grew as she watched a shadow appear on the surface of the water, then her jaw completely dropped when the massive dark shape emerged.

Tons of water spilled off the thing, the rising sunlight glinted off the damp surface of the conning tower that just surfaced.
An instant later, a teardrop-shaped hull emerged underneath it and a single tall rudder rising from the stern broke the surface, the final wub-wub-wubbing of its screw finally winding down.
The numbers “584” were written in white on the bow, and on the conning tower, under the pair of dive planes mounted to either side.

It was a submarine. A human submarine, that had risen out of the sea.

Melissa was gaping in disbelief, but Twilight was utterly flabbergasted.

“What--what?! What?!” she choked out, “What is---”

Melissa rubbed her eyes to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. She looked at it again.

“Melissa, that’s...those are arabic numerals! What is it? What is it doing here?!” Twilight squeaked, “It’s, it’s just not possible!”

Melissa searched her mind for anything related to the number “584” in her mind, anything from the countless United States Navy ships she’d googled over the years. She couldn’t remember any specific number, so she took another hard look at the submarine.

The submarine. The honest-to-god American submarine that had just come out of the ether to rescue them.

Against all odds, they’d been found.

She and Andrew weren’t alone.

“It’s a United States Navy ship!” she shouted to Twilight, crying tears of joy, “It’s a submarine! It’s rescue! Hey! Hey! Over here! Help us! Help!”

Figures were emerging from the hatches on the conning tower, and spotted the pair waving and yelling a few dozen meters away from the ship.

The figures moved about a bit, one of them waving back as if to acknowledge them. Several went back below decks.

Within minutes, more had emerged from another hatch on the hull, and removed a cover from the side of the ship.

Shoving it into the water, its sides rapidly filled with air, exposing its nature as a Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat(RHIB).
Bipedal figures, several clearly wearing life jackets and two frogmen in wet suits, clambered into the boat, and began paddling over to them.

Melissa struggled to flex her cold fingers, trying to form a grip around her ka-bar.

“What are you doing? We’re being rescued, right? Aren’t those your people?” Twilight asked.

“Can’t be too careful!” she hissed back.

The RHIB drew up a few meters away, and came to a halt. They were clearly distinct now. Human beings, wearing orange life jackets and uniforms with USN stamped on them.

Melissa noted something was off. They weren’t modern Navy Working Uniforms, they wore pure navy blue coveralls of some kind. Even weirder, some of the uniforms weren’t US Navy at all, and were instead labeled with the symbols of the Deutsche Marine, the German Navy.

They also didn’t seem surprised by the ice flow the pair were floating on, apparently they’d decided to treat it like a raft.

“Either of you injured?” One of the frogmen called out.

“Negative!” Melissa replied, grinning happily, “At least not as far as we can tell! I’m not certain though! We’ve been out here for a few hours and we’re wet! At risk of hypothermia!”

The other frogman swung his legs over the side, and slid into the water, while his companion shouted, “Stay calm! We’ll get you!”

The frogman paddled over to their raft, and peered at the both of them through droplet-spattered goggles.
In a german accent, he said to Melissa in a very slow and calm manner, “Miss, I am going to get you out first,” he looked at Twilight, “then I will come back for you.”
Likely he was trying to keep them both calm, survivors tended to panic if they didn’t know what was going on.

Melissa became alarmed, “Wait! What about my pack? It contains vital United States military data that we cannot lose!”

The frogman glanced doubtfully at the heavy-looking pack.

“It’s buoyant! We can pull it with us!”

Looking between her and the bag, the frogman reluctantly nodded.

Having her roll onto her back, he grabbed her under the arms and pulled her off the ice float.
Slowly, but steadily, they moved back to the boat. Hands grabbed Melissa’s shoulders and pulled her up the squishy rubber side of the RHIB.

“You’re alright, we got you.” a variety of voices uttered, and variations thereof, helping her to one side of the boat. She stared around, her eyes glimmering as she took in the humanity surrounding her.
Melissa suddenly reached back, “Wait, my pack!”

“It’s here, just stay calm.”

She was wrapped in several blankets and towels, while a medic(presumably) looked her over.

Twilight was brought in next, swaddled in blankets like Melissa was. She stared around at all the human faces, at all the uniforms, equipment, and technologies she’d never seen before.

The boat turned around and paddled back to the submarine.

The marine shook the hand of one of the frogmen, along with several other individuals, and eventually embraced one of her rescuers.
“Thank the elder gods!” She said breathlessly, “Thank whatever force guides the universe! I’m not alone!”

The rescue party seemed glad to see her too. They spoke in excited tones, asking too many questions to follow.

A man with a silver oak leaf on his collar, wearing a US Navy cap and a life jacket pushed his way through the small throng, “Settle down everyone, settle down! Don’t overwhelm them!”

He looked at Twilight, “You alright, miss?”

Twilight nodded numbly, unable to form coherent sentences as she stared at him.

The lieutenant commander glanced at Melissa, “And you, ma’am?”

Melissa was slumped forward. Out of danger, wrapped in warm blankets and towels, exhaustion had just crept over her.
“Ma’am?”

She looked up at him, “Lieutenant Commander, sir! What...what year is it? On the Gregorian calendar?”

The officer blinked, and told her the date. The current year as Melissa knew it.

Melissa shook her head, trying to clear it, “But...but that’s...that submarine class...Barbel! That’s a Barbel-class attack submarine you got there! Where are we? Who the hell are you people? Where the hell have you been, and where did you come from? Do you know--”

The officer put up his hands, “Miss, calm down. I’m Lieutenant Commander Richard Owens, US Navy, executive officer of the TAS Gudgeon. We’re with the Terran Alliance, though I doubt you know who they are yet. As for where you are…” he scratched his head, hesitating.

“Are we on Earth?” Twilight asked.

Lieutenant Commander Owens seemed taken aback that the unicorn was the one asking the question, “No…”

“So we are still on my planet then?”

“Yes--”

Melissa, having recalled that she had just spoken very obnoxiously to a superior officer, spoke up in a (barely) restrained manner, “Sir? You said the ‘Terran Alliance’. What is that?”

“All in good time, miss…?”

Melissa inhaled through gritted teeth, and raised her hand in a salute, “Corporal, sir. Corporal Melissa Foster, combat engineer, United States Marine Corps.” She tugged out her dog tags, shining in the morning sunlight.

The lieutenant commander smiled a little, and returned the salute, “At ease, corporal. Once we get below, we can answer all your questions.”

They made it back to the submarine, and were escorted down the ladder.

Climbing off the tall last steps of the ladder, Twilight looked this way and that, utterly bewildered at the steel tube she had found herself in.
“All personnel secure from rescue operations.” a voice echoed through the ship from several speakers, barely able to be heard over the sound of the massive propellers starting up again. A human male with dark skin replaced the mike he’d used back on the wall, and went back to monitoring his display.
The control room was unlike anything Twilight had seen before, outside of the bridges of the ships in Melissa’s movies and shows.

Unlike the primitive tiny hoof or magic-cranked submersibles Equestria possessed, this Gudgeon submarine was massive, run by electricity, and far, far beyond pony manufacturing capabilities--or anyone else on the planet for that matter.
The chamber was cramped, filled a dizzying array of control stations, buttons, displays, dials, and valves. Two tall columns were arranged one after the other in the center of the control room, with folded handles to either side and eyepieces that seemed wider than they needed to be for humans.

Humans. There were over a dozen in the room, seated at consoles, doing maintenance, or whatever tasks they had about them that were beyond the poor disoriented unicorn. They were different in shapes, skin tone, and appearance. They were as different from one another as ponies were to humans.
Twilight did note that most of them seemed to be around Melissa’s height, but she could’ve sworn average human height was between her and Andrew...

Someone pushed her roughly out of the way, “‘Scuse me, coming through!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Twilight squeaked, but realized that the crewmember who’d passed her was a pony!

In fact, there were several crewmembers who weren’t human. At least four individuals were ponies. Several wore the Equestrian flag on their uniform, but two wore German or American flags on their uniforms.

Melissa came down the ladder behind her, pulling off her soaked poncho and pulling her blanket tighter over herself.
“Barbel-class submarine,” she explained to Twilight over the noise of the ship getting underway, “They were decommissioned in the early 90s. I don’t remember all their names, but I know there weren’t any named Gudgeon.”

“So where did it come from, then?” Twilight asked, half rhetorically.

The hatch above them clanged shut, and Lieutenant Commander Owens ushered them along, “C’mon, the captain’s in the radio room.”

As they shuffled through, avoiding men, and surprisingly, some women, ponies and humans, moving back and forth, Melissa got a good look at the German flag some wore.

It was three lines arranged atop one another horizontally, black, white, and red.

That wasn’t right. The German Federal Republic flag was black, yellow and red.

Black, white, and red. That was the flag of the German Empire.

What the hell is going on here?!

They were escorted to a radio room. A man, presumably the captain, was inside, speaking with the dragon operator. The captain wore a classic uniform, with peaked cap, black greatcoat with eight bronze buttons, and on either shoulder, four horizontal yellow bars and a small golden crown symbol.

He glanced up upon their arrival, and nodded to them. “Our castaways, I take it? I’m Captain Stern of the German Imperial Navy, commander of the TAS Gudgeon.”
The captain spoke evenly in a light German accent, sounding friendly but had only a neutral expression.

Melissa straightened to attention as best she could in the confined space, and saluted, “Sir. Corporal Melissa Foster, US Marine Corps, 2nd Combat Engineering Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Ground Combat Element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force. This is Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Queen Celestia of Equestria.”

The captain returned the salute, and Melissa stood at ease. Stern nodded to Twilight, and shook her hoof in greetings.

“You’re really Twilight Sparkle?” he asked.

“Yes, yes I am.” Twilight replied.

Stern grinned, “Even in the Alliance we have heard of your exploits. The incident with Nightmare Moon drove our astronomers nuts. Our scientists and magic technicians couldn’t agree what the cause was, but I’m just glad your people were able to do something about it. Ach, but there is plenty of time for that later. There is much to tell you.”

He turned to Melissa, “Combat engineer? You? In frontline combat?”

Melissa blinked, but replied evenly, “Yes sir. Sort of. I was going to ship out before I got pulled here.”

He made a puzzling expression, “Interesting... I apologize for not meeting you under better circumstances. We frankly did not expect to find anyone so far out here. One of our ships saw an anomalous radar contact in this area, and we were sent to investigate. Did you come off a sinking ship, or…?”

“We thank you for the rescue, Captain Stern,” Twilight interrupted, “I doubt we would have lasted much longer out there. If you don't mind me asking, where did you come from? Did you come from Earth? Why have we not heard from you? Equestria hasn't had any contact with humans up until very recently. What's this Terran Alliance you're part of?”

Stern patted the radio operator on the shoulder, “Shall we have this discussion somewhere more private? The wardroom is down the hall.”

Lieutenant Commander Owens lead the way to the wardroom, chasing out some sailors who hadn’t been fast enough to get the message.

While his executive officer went off to find warm beverages, the captain took off his hat and placed it on the table.
“Now...Corporal Foster, you were born on Earth, I take it? Have you been here long?”

“Native US citizen, yes sir. I’ve been here a few months, give or take, but I think my watch might be a bit off. I’ve been living in Equestria all that time. Sir, please, what is going on? The German Imperial Navy has been gone for a hundred years.”

The captain replied, “I’ll explain everything. It's good that you've been here a while, that will make this easier.”

He leaned back and withdrew an envelope from his jacket. It contained a white official document, with a speech written on it. The way he sighed and began to read indicated that he’d given it several times.

“We represent the Terran Alliance. After being lost to our homes and our world, representatives of various nations have banded together for mutual defense and sharing of resources. Our great coalition was formed in the early 1800s by three ships of the French Republic, and since then has incorporated ships, aircraft, and individuals who have arrived from nations across Earth. My own ancestors came aboard SM U-143, a U-Boat of the Imperial German Navy.”

“Wait, what?” Melissa interrupted, “A U-Boat? Jeez, didja bring Doug McClure with you?”

Captain Stern shook his head, “I’m afraid not, but I’m sure he would have been highly valuable. However, there were a few British prisoners from a recently sunken transport…”

Melissa shrugged, “A shame, I guess they’ll have to do. Go on, sir.”

“There have been small arrivals every once in awhile --known commonly as ‘Hestons’--, but less often are the significant arrivals. After the French and U-143 came the Dutch destroyer Philips Van Almonde in 1942, next a British and American hunter-killer task force in 1945 led by the carrier HMS Suzerain. Afterwards was a Soviet Krivak-class frigate, the Sarkastičeskij--or Sarcastic as our English-speakers call it--in 1979, and our most recent significant arrival, the USS Chesapeake Bay, in 1991.”

Melissa furrowed her brow, “Chesapeake Bay? She was a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, right? Went down during the Gulf War with all hands, no one found her.”

The captain smiled, “Evidently she did not. In fact, she, and several Iraqi and RAF aircraft were brought here. The Terran Alliance, while we are not one single entity, does share mutual defense out of staffing necessities. Most of our ships are commissioned in various navies, but we cannot man all of them with the personnel from those nations--thus some have mixed nationalities. Others, such as my own Gudgeon, do not belong to any one nation and are crewed by a mixture of personnel.”

His speech seemed designed to answer many questions doubtlessly others had had before.
“Current Terran Alliance society is made up of independent and sovereign nations that each possess a certain amount of territory. While we are separate, there are some mutual laws we agree upon. Our alliance possesses gender equality and racial integration, including human ethnicities and the other species on this planet who have chosen to stay with us. We accept all species and races. At present our ranks include dragons, equine races, griffins, and many others.”

“Babylon 5 was right, Melissa. Your people really do make communities wherever you go.” Twilight commented.

The captain started again, “Since our formation, we have remained hidden from the nations of this world at large, until the time is right. In the past, we have unfortunately been forced to go to great lengths to preserve this secrecy. The representatives of the species and nations of this world either are or are descended from those who have stumbled across our operations. While we don’t imprison anyone who does not wish to stay with us, we will discredit any who will not stay silent.”

Melissa sighed, “Suddenly a lot of stuff has started making sense. This explains the wealth of human stuff, but no humans except for the dead! Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused?!”

“I’m sorry if we’ve caused you problems, corporal,” Stern said, “I had no part in these decisions, they were made centuries before I was born.”

“How have you discredited ponies who won’t stay quiet?” Twilight asked.

Stern started to say it was classified, but Melissa interrupted, “Obviously they must have agents all over the place to make sure some things get lost, and they probably dump survivors of shipwrecks off the coast. When they start talking about all the advanced tech the Alliance has, they probably just sound crazy.”

She turned her gaze on the captain, “Wait a minute. If you have agents...how have you never found us? Andrew and I are pretty big in Equestria, y’know!”

The captain replied, “I can neither confirm nor deny any information about that subject. I’m also not privy to all of the Alliance’s clandestine operations. May I continue? We can answer more questions afterwards.”

While phrased like a question, Stern held power behind the words. Melissa knew to shut up.

“Individual nations, on their own soil, utilize the majority of the same laws they have used back on Earth, but out of necessity, some have been modified. The United States territories for example, utilize the Constitution, but do not condone segregation or sexist business practices.”

He glanced up, “Your profession as a frontline soldier comes as a surprise to us, Corporal Foster. Female soldiers, American or otherwise, are a matter of necessity here, but we were somewhat under the impression that the United States back home still operated under certain practices of military recruitment.”

“Female grunts have been accepted...kind of. It’s all over the place, at the moment, but hopefully gender equality should be getting along fine...or it should have…” Melissa trailed off, looking down at her backpack.

The captain seemed to ignore it, “How did you end up in the middle of the ocean? Were you on a ship?”

Twilight spoke up, “No. We don’t know what happened exactly. Captain Stern, as grateful as we are to see you, and as interested as I am in learning more about you and your people, we need your help.”

“Of course,” Stern nodded, “What do you need?”

Melissa hauled her pack up onto the table, and pulled out the laptop from the Sophia. “Captain, this planet is in great danger. Earth was invaded sometime within the last year, after I left, by a race of shapeshifters known as Changelings. Earth beat them off, barely, but some of their forces made it here, and in six days, are going to attempt to wrest control of the Equestrian government and use their resources to launch an invasion of all the surrounding nations with the intent of taking control of the entire planet. We discovered this after we found a flight recorder from a human spaceship involved in the Earth counterattacks, that got brought here, and myself, Twilight, and another human, Andrew Shepherd, were incapacitated and captured. I guess they tossed us out here figuring we’d drown, their queen seemed to love torturing people. Andrew is currently MIA, and we don’t know how Chrissy’s plans have been compromised, so they may have been stepped up, we’re not sure.”

Stern stared at her, his confident demeanor cracking a little. “...Excuse me?”

Twilight said, “Captain Stern, there is an army of alien invaders bent on enslaving us all to feed off of our emotions! They want to take our whole world, and have already taken dozens, including my coltfriend! If we don’t stop them here, this entire world will fall! Don’t you have ships, weapons, armies?”

She looked the captain in the eyes, “Please...we need your help! My entire people are at stake here! This entire planet is at stake! Help us, please, on behalf of the entire nation of Equestria.”

Captain Stern sighed, looking between the two of them for a long time, “You can understand I’m skeptical of such a claim. Do you have evidence of this?”

Melissa nodded vigorously, “Yes sir. This laptop has it all. Trust me, I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t been shot in the chest by one of these fuckers with a freakin’ phaser, then kicked in the gut by that overgrown cockroach.”

Stern nodded, “I understand. If you’ll excuse me, I must consult with my superiors. This is a grave development. My executive officer will answer any further questions you have.”

He passed Lieutenant Commander Owens on the way out, who was bearing several steaming cups.

The captain paused to have a conversation with his executive officer before departing for the radio room.

Owens demeanor had shifted to confusion. Setting the cups on the table, he took a seat himself and looked at the pair of castaways.

“We’re going to meet up with one of our milk-cows in a few hours. We have to continue on our patrol, but they should be able to transfer you--”

“Milk-cow?” Twilight asked, grasping one of the cups and finding it filled with hot chocolate.

“Resupply submarine, right? Type XIV sub?” Melissa asked, picking up one of the cups herself.

Owens shook his head, “Resupply, but not a Type XIV exactly. TAS Pacific, the first of our Pacific-class boats, biggest we’ve ever built. Nuclear-powered resupply sub, keeps all our boats and boomers chugging.”

Doing a spit-take, Melissa coughed, “What?! You--you’ve got nukes?! ICBMs, and SLBMs?!”

Owens looked at the stain she’d left on the cabin wall, and glanced back at her, “Yes, we have nukes…”

“Holy shit...what else do you have? What’s your tech level? What have you guys been doing, where have you been?”

Owens put his hands together, “The alliance holds a collection of islands, maybe the size of Sicily, or a bit larger. We’ve got it divided up among all the nations that are with us. Technology was up to about the 50s when the Soviets were…” he paused, grimacing, “Uh, well there was this incident in ‘94--um…”

He chuckled a little, “There’s a lot of catching up you might have to do. At the moment, we’ve got roughly the same technology and weapons we had in Vietnam.”

Melissa grinned, “Great! Excellent! The enemy only has maybe a battalion’s worth of troops, probably a little more. I'm just guessing, I don’t know the exact numbers. All I know is they’ve got enough to lay siege to a city. If you have an MEU, airborne units, special ops, anything, we need to get them to Equestria fast. We need everything you got.”

The executive officer leaned back with an odd look on his face, “Uh, Corporal Foster...have politics changed since the Chesapeake Bay was lost?”

Melissa gritted her teeth, “You could say that, sir.”

“I’m only asking because...well, I’m sorry, but we can’t guarantee any action, especially not in a week. You must know what the Powers That Be are like, it takes them a month to figure out if they need to take a dump or not!”

“But--but sir! This...this threat is massive. I can assure you, if we don’t stop them here, they won’t stop. They’ll be able to use the people in Canterlot for a feeding ground, while they use the Equestrian military to overrun everyone else. Then, when you kick the asses of some innocent ponies, they’ll try and drown you in troops. They tried to conquer Earth, for god’s sake!”

“I understand, Foster, but the alliance has been in hiding since we were first established. The significant arrivals only ever have a few thousand people at best, and the French were absolutely terrified when they first came through. It was them against the world! They didn’t have the population or industry to hold out in a major war, and they had to stay hidden! We’ve stayed hidden for generations, and built up pretty well, but I don’t know if they’re going to be willing to break that tradition because--”

“Because of a threat to the entire planet?” Twilight demanded, looking more confused than angry, “What kind of people are these…’powers that be’?”

“Politicians and high-ranking officers.” Owens spread his hands helplessly, “You would not believe how long it takes them to do anything. Look at how long it took the US to join World War II. Threat to the entire planet and they refused to do anything for a long time. They may refuse to even believe you, let alone help you. That’s what they’re like.”

Twilight shook her head, “I don’t believe that’s the case. Ponies--individuals, excuse me, are not rational actors, but states are. If we explain our case logically and calmly, I’m sure we’ll be able to convince them. While a worldly threat may not convince them, a threat to the entire planet from elsewhere with visual evidence and documentation will surely convince them to break this isolation thing.”

Owens didn’t look convinced, “I hope you’re right.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, clearly overwhelmed, “Corporal, Ms. Sparkle...I’m not the one you have to convince about all...this. It’s my superiors. If we’re going to declare war overnight, you’re going to need to talk to Admiral Curtis. His battle group is the closest.”

“Alright, Admiral Curtis it is then. Who is he?” Melissa asked.

“He was the Tactical Action Officer aboard the Chesapeake Bay during the Gulf War.”

Melissa nodded, “Great! Maybe he’ll listen!”

XXXXX

Hours later, they approached the rendezvous point with their underway resupply submarine.

The original Type XIV submarines they were based on were an ingenious solution to a dangerous problem. The Nazi Kriegsmarine could not operate traditional submarine tenders, but with so few resources, they had to find a way to extend the range of their submarines and try and damage the Allied war effort. The milk cows could resupply their wolf packs with fuel, food, spare parts, a few extra torpedoes, and even freshly-baked bread.
However, there were two major problems. The first problem was that the ships could only resupply on the surface, not at speed, and thus were extremely vulnerable. The second was that in feeding entire wolf packs with supplies, they were extremely high priority targets and could cripple the squadron if destroyed. Once the Allies caught wind of these problems, all were destroyed. No Type XIV's ever survived the war.

While the second problem could never be helped, the Terran Alliance could certainly do something about the first.

The Pacific-class was nuclear powered, making room for extra cargo space and access tubes for the transfer of personnel and fuel. The submarine was designed using knowledge of underway replenishment several of the more modern personnel possessed, and the tubes could be connected beneath the waves at low speed. Water would be pumped out of the hoses and transfer of supplies done.
The Pacific-class and its submarines rarely surfaced as a result.

They were escorted to the hatch by a harried Chief Petty Officer Williams, a woman about Melissa’s height with a texas drawl and even worse patience. The hatch was roughly at the ship’s beam, or at least the personnel transfer one was. Twilight looked at the iris-shaped hatch, still sealed, with doubt.

“Are you sure that thing’s safe? How do we know it won’t just tear apart and drown us?”

A German engineer checked a dial near the hatch, and the pair of lights above it. The red one was still lit, while the green one was dark. “Do not worry, ma’am. This particular docking tube has not failed for…”
He cleared his throat, and hesitated, “As I said. Do not worry.”

Twilight raised a concerned eyebrow, and looked to Melissa, “Your assessment?”

Melissa shrugged, “Dunno, man. I just work here, and there’s a reason I didn’t join the submarine service. My uncle didn’t either, but boy did they try...”
Upon seeing Twilight’s face she added, “I mean...it looks sound. I’ve just never heard of docking tubes on submarines. Sounds like something out of Seaquest…”

To their immense relief, the docking tube held, and the hatch opened. Despite Twilight’s apprehension, they were able to make it across.
“No, no, I’m good! I’ll just stay over here!”

“Twilight, it’s five goddamn meters!”

“Five meters through a space with nothing but rubber between us and the water! No thank you!”

“Hey, Chief Williams, would you mind grabbing her legs? We’re kinda on a time schedule.”

...It was not easy to get across, but they eventually made it.

The nuclear submarine immediately went underway. As they moved closer to their destination, Melissa and Twilight were taken to the Pacific’s medical bay. Unlike USN submarines back on Earth, this medical bay was fairly extensive, albeit compact. It was a submarine tender after all, and thus had to provide for an entire pack of ships. There were twelve beds, an operating room, two doctors, ten corpsmen, a laboratory, pharmacy, and even an x-ray machine.

They were treated for minor hypothermia and frostbite by the head medical officer, a short red dragon. Blood tests were also done. Hair samples, swabs of skin tissue, saliva, and even x-rays were taken.

The 190 cm-tall dragon adjusted his glasses, and flipped the page on his clipboard. He spoke with a Welsh accent, “You both look to be healthy aside from the obvious, and appear to be who you say you are. Are there any other medical conditions I should know about?”

“I have Celiac Disease.” Melissa said, rubbing her arm where a band-aid had been placed, “Do you guys know what that is?”

The doctor rolled his eyes, “Yes, we know about Celiac, corporal. We’re not quacks around here. We don’t use leeches, or whatever it is Equestria uses. I should be asking the questions here, such as how does a person suffering from Celiac get into the United States Military?”
Melissa replied calmly, “Sorry, sir. There were some legal things that changed back home. I don’t know what, but I signed up immediately when it meant I could. I have low gluten sensitivity to boot, and they had some experimental drug treatments they were road-testing, but I got pulled here before I got involved in the program. It’s been hard here, but I’ve found ways around it.”

The doctor sighed, and wrote down something.

Twilight smiled sheepishly, “Um...excuse me, where are you from? Judging by your accent, I'd have to guess you're a Welsh dragon, but obviously you’re not from Earth Wales…”

The doctor muttered something under his breath in Welsh.

“Doc! Would you say that to your nana?!” a nearby human corpsman asked, also with a Welsh accent.

The doctor grunted angrily, “Quiet, ensign. Miss Sparkle, I don’t have time to answer your questions. I have to get you people up and out of my sickbay ASAP.”

“What did I say?” Twilight asked innocently, looking between the angry doctor and Melissa, who had her hand held tightly over her mouth and making spitting sounds as she tried not to laugh.

The doctor finally asked, “Any magical ailments, mental trauma, anything else we should know about?”

Twilight thought for a moment, “I don’t have any current ailments I’m aware of. Melissa here though does have an alienist.”

The dragon glanced at Melissa, “How’d you manage that?”

“Got thrown in jail, sir. There was a case of mistaken identity, and I was imprisoned for several days.”

“For what?”

“Whatever charges the bitch they mistook me for did, plus some other junk.” Melissa said, “I was possessed by Discord--”

She realized what she’d said. The doctor took a step back. The human corpsman inched his way toward an alarm. Williams put a hand on a sidearm.

“You were possessed by Discord?” the doctor asked.

Melissa put up her hands to keep them in plain view, “Um...yes sir. There is no longer a threat, I have been examined through all known magical means, or so the doctors told me. There is nothing left of him in my brain. Ask Twilight!”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, yes! She’s safe! We know how she was possessed, and we managed to stop it!”

The doctor and corpsman looked at each other, and the latter nodded to the former.

“Alright,” he sighed, “All your physical tests turned out well, as did what magical ones we could, but we don’t have an MRI, psychiatric personnel, or any non-magical means of verifying this. We’re going on Miss Sparkle’s word, but I’m going to recommend you visit one of our psychiatric facilities to double check this once this whole mess is dealt with.”

Melissa and Twilight breathed sighs of relief, “Thanks, doc--sir!”

“Let’s just get this over with. I have other stuff to do.”

The rest of the examinations passed with little incident, and the submarine eventually surfaced. The pair of former castaways were escorted by Williams up onto the upper hull of the Pacific.

Forward of its conning tower the Pacific possessed an aircraft hangar for a pair of Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopters.

As Twilight was brought on deck, she caught sight of the vehicle. Her jaw hit the floor.

The massive flying machine was being readied for takeoff, crew boarding and running system checks, the engines beginning to spin up.

As the rotors slowly increased in speed, Twilight looked on fully agape, and chuckled nervously, “No...that, that thing? That’s...no, that can’t fly. That can’t fly.”

Melissa was grinning ear-to-ear, “Oh, you better believe it, Twily. You wouldn’t believe what we can make fly.”

“Well I’ve seen the pictures you’ve drawn and shown, but...but...just to see it…”

Melissa nodded, “I know. We’re an amazing species. We made a thing that can not only fly, hover like a hummingbird, but it can float too.”

“It floats?!”

“Oh yeah,” Melissa replied casually, “Sea Kings are the only sea helicopters I know of.”

“It floats? On water?” Twilight squeaked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chief Williams grunted, pushing both of them along, “It’s amazin’ and all. Just get on the damn helo already, we’ve got a schedule to keep.”

They approached the aircraft and two figures approached. One was a pilot, and another a member of the deck crew.
Melissa barely remembered to salute the pilot before she was handed a life jacket and a headset, which Twilight also received…

Then the corporal did a double-take at the pilot.

“Whoa! sir, why are you blue?! Are you alright?” she demanded before she could stop herself.

Twilight slapped her face with her hoof, and Chief Williams facepalmed.

The Sea King pilot, from a distance, could be mistaken for a normal human. However, what was very distinctive about him was the color of his skin, being a color not normally associated with human beings. His epidermis was a shade of blue.
It didn’t seem an unnatural shade oddly enough, just...extremely weird.

Nevertheless, the pilot growled and started to step forward, but the deck officer held his arm.

“Easy, Frank...Hey, jarhead, do ya have a problem with people of color?”

“What? Oh my god, no! Of course not!” Melissa went to attention, “Excuse my behavior, sir. I have just nearly gotten frostbitten, and I might still be in survival mode expecting such...appearances to be unhealthy. And I am really, really not used to seeing people I don’t normally see on Earth and I overreacted! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be racist! Sir!”

The pilot huffed, “Fine. Apology accepted. Just get on board, we’ve got a schedule to keep.”

An embarrassed Twilight and Melissa were released from Chief Williams’ custody, and followed the pilot onto the helicopter. There was another pilot already up front, and a flight officer who helped the passengers strap in.

Melissa tapped the officer on the shoulder, and both switched on their headsets so they wouldn’t have to yell over the engine. “What’s with the pilot’s skin? Sorry, I’m not from around here if you couldn’t tell!”

The officer chuckled at that, “He’s a chimera! And kind of a dick, but don’t tell him I said that!”

Twilight managed to get her mike on, “A chimera? But--!”

“Oh, not that kind of chimera. They’re hybrids with parents from two different species. Frank’s got a human mother and pegasus father.”

“Ah,” Twilight nodded, “I’ve heard of those--well, not involving humans, but with some other races.”

Melissa’s jaw was hanging open, and blinking rapidly, “But...but...wait, that’s impossible! How--well I mean our ancestors interbred with neanderthals, and there’s probably ways to fertilize eggs...but...that’s just impossible with what technology you have!”

“Who said it had to be technology?” asked Twilight, “Magic is just as much a part of science as technology.”

Melissa blinked again, “But...magic doesn’t cover genetic manipulation! How?! How?!”

Twilight shrugged, “I don’t know, it just does!”

Just then, on the internal communication system, Melissa caught a fraction of conversation from the pilots.

“...Freakin’ Hestons, man…”

“Nah, freakin’ leathernecks.”

She put a hand to her headset, “Hey, squids, I think there’s a malfunction in the helo’s communication system. Your mikes are hot.”

She heard something about “sticky keys”, then the co pilot said, “Sorry about that, our comms act up sometimes. You hear things.”

“I hear squids are alike all over…” the corporal said grinning.

Minutes later, the helicopter lifted off.

Melissa’s heart soared as she gazed out the open hatch, the wind whipping through her hair. The helicopter climbed higher and higher.

It felt like years had past since she’d been in the sky. That was one of many things she’d missed about home. A fully-conquered natural world, the ability to navigate virtually any environment.
Up here, it was majestic, it was serene, it was magnificent.

...and across from her, opposite the door, Twilight’s eyes were bugged out, and she was making several gagging motions.

“Uh, Twi’,” Melissa laughed nervously, “You okay?”

Twilight shook her head rapidly, covering her mouth with both hooves, “Stomach...stomach does not like...”

Melissa laughed, “You’re airsick! Oh my god, you’re airsick!”

The officer in the compartment with them passed over an airsickness bag, laughing a little himself. “Lotta people do that up here, miss! Don’t feel bad!”

Twilight gagged again, breathing heavily, “But I’ve flown in airships tons of times! What’s wrong with--”

Her lunch finally decided to vacate.

Melissa continued to laugh, as did the flight officer. Even Twilight giggled a little, in between puking. There was little else they could take comfort or pleasure in, with the threat hanging over their heads.