The Skyranger hovered in place as it dragged the viper bodies up into its storage area. As soon as it was in, it started moving and they both heard the big sigh of relief from the cockpit.

Sunset slumped onto her seat, across from a much more subdued Twilight. "Well…" She coughed in pain. "That was a thing…"

"You just… shot them." Twilight said weakly. When Sunset was about to reply, Twilight shook her head. "I mean… I know. I know, okay? I'm not stupid. It was you or them but… I've never… even when Sombra was destroyed he didn't…"

"Cover you in blood?" Sunset chuckled then moaned. "Ugh, don't make me laugh."

"How can you—"

"Central, this is Firebrand. VIP is secured, alien bodies have been recovered, all XCOM personnel is on-board. Returning to Avenger."

'Roger that, Firebrand, see you soon. Central out."

Twilight had gone deadly quiet.

"You gave us one hell of a scare, Sunset!" Rainbow Dash called out, which interestingly had Twilight jump in surprise, apparently shaken out of her stupor.

"Yeah, well, I gave me one hell of a scare, Dash," Sunset called, watching Twilight twitch and look from her to the cockpit. "Thanks for picking us up."

"Hell yeah!" Rainbow Dash laughed, flying them into the clouds. "What, did you expect me to leave you hanging?"

Curiosity seemed to get the better of Twilight, and she stood up, grabbing to each of the seats for stability as she made her way to the cockpit and peered in.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but VIP or not, you're not allowed in here," Dash informed her neutrally.

"I… um…" Twilight hesitated, "R-rainbow Dash? Is that you?"

The cockpit went quiet.

"Sunset, did you put her up to this?"

"I have no idea what's happening," Sunset replied, eyeing Twilight with some confusion.

"It's you? But… how… did you make it to this wo—"

Twilight was interrupted by Sunset's hand on her mouth. "Now, Twilight," Sunset hissed through the pain, "I'm sure we all want to know where you met Rainbow Dash, but, let's not say something crazy to the pilot right now okay? We can talk when we get to the base."

"Hey, no fair!" Rainbow Dash said, her tone betraying how annoyed she was.

"Sorry Dash… I'm as curious as you are about this, trust me… but it is best to wait until the Commander talks to Twilight here."

"Twilight, huh?" Rainbow Dash mulled. "Huh. That rings a bell..." she trailed off as the other two went back to sit down.

Twilight seemed truly distressed, but Sunset couldn't blame her. If her own double had existed in this world at some point… could Rainbow Dash be one of her acquaintances back in Equestria?

A sharp pain in her abdomen made her forget about Twilight for now. She grimaced and looked down at the charred armor. It had taken the brunt of the attack, thankfully, but here and there the plasma had managed to burn through to her skin, and Sunset could see blackened skin under that, brittle and oozing blood.

She gingerly put her hand on top of it and channeled her blood magic to slow down the flow even more. Then she felt it. The magic was working better than normal… she could feel the blood working and healing her and soon, after she removed her hand, the wound was all but gone.

Sunset gulped, glancing around, but Twilight was busy looking out the window, lost in thought, and Rainbow Dash was focused on the flight. Sunset touched the pocket where the Element of Magic was stored and felt her energy return.

Twilight's mind was in turmoil. When she pushed away from the amazing sight out of a giant, non-pegasi or magic propelled metallic carriage that flew through the sky, she glanced at Sunset, who seemed to be asleep.

This world was very different to her own. Below, in between clouds, she had seen vast cities, with multiple lights, but then also large areas with no indication of civilization. Not to mention the difference in species, and the willingness to fight to the death.

Sunset Shimmer was a pony… underneath that human body, and yet she had adapted so well to things here. Was that what was going to happen to her? Was she going to be out on missions… killing aliens?

The thought made Twilight shudder. The woman controlling the machine was named Rainbow Dash, just like her friend. She sounded older… but the attitude, the inflections… it was unsettling how different and similar things were.

It hadn't take long for a red light to turn on, and Rainbow Dash to speak again. "We're approaching the Avenger."

This shook Sunset awake, who blinked and shook her head, stretching a little and then, as if remembering something, she went a bit pale.

Twilight didn't ask what the issue was. She had paid attention to Sunset's interactions with the Commander, whoever that was, and knew that was the source of her… well, she wasn't really a friend, was she? Her… guide's discomfort.

She felt the force of slowing down and the now-familiar feeling of descending before the sound of metal on metal and the vibrations of contact shook their vehicle. It didn't take long for the back of it to open.

As she and Sunset stood up, she managed to catch a glimpse of night sky before they were lowered, ship and all, into a large metallic room.

"Come on," Sunset said to her, motioning with her head.

Her guide's body language was tense, and Twilight followed her hesitantly, not knowing what to expect.

A male human was waiting for them, straight back and hands behind his back. Sunset sagged in obvious relief, but quickly assumed a more formal position.

"Welcome back, Sergeant," the man said. "The Commander has ordered for you to go straight to the infirmary to have your wounds checked. I will escort Miss Sparkle to the Commander's office. We'll contact you after your checkup is complete.

"Y-yes sir!" Sunset replied, saluting. She hesitated, then lowered her arm. Twilight could see she was looking at the man in confusion.

"Um… I'm sorry, Sergeant?" Sunset asked.

The man smiled, but didn't say anything, which seemed to fluster Sunset.

"But… I mean… I didn't and then—and the Commander—"

"Sunset," the man took a step forth and put his hand on her shoulder. "You've been promoted. You are also to do as I say and go get a checkup. We can talk later, and there are a lot of things to talk about."

"Um… yeah," Sunset chuckled weakly. "I-um… yeah. I'll go…" she looked over, and Twilight tried to put on a brave face.

Sunset seemed to realize that she was nervous, and so, she smiled reassuringly. "Twilight… this is Bradford, most people here know him as Central. He's a good friend and we've been through a lot together. You can trust him."

Twilight smiled timidly at the man, who nodded reassuringly, even if he didn't smile back. There was something she had noticed when he looked at Sunset… it reminded her of her dad, and somehow, that put her at ease, more than Sunset's assurance.

"Yeah, you should go get checked, Sunset… I guess I'll see you later?"

Sunset nodded, waving at her as she headed tiredly towards what Twilight assumed would be the infirmary.

"Shall we go?" Bradford asked.

"Yes, thank you," Twilight said, falling in line behind the man as they walked. Slowly, her curiosity overwhelmed her nervousness, and she stared around herself. Everything was enclosed, but she wasn't in a castle of any sort that she could make… for one, the whole thing vibrated constantly, and everything was compartmentalized tightly. Their headquarters had strange curves to certain areas, like the place where their… airplane had landed.

Castles tended to be more open in her experience, and here there were no windows or really much space. Plenty of people, other humans, walked past them in either direction, but gave no indication of discomfort or awkwardness when moving about… which meant they were used to it and these halls she was in were the norm, not the exception. The whole place reminded her more of an anthill or a beehive.

As they walked deeper into it, she couldn't help but notice the attitude the humans had with Bradford. They all showed respect to him, stopping to let him pass even if they seemed to be in a rush. A lot of them saluted.

She hadn't been picked up by a messenger, or some random soldier… she knew enough about Equestria's military to see that similarity. They knew, somehow, that she was important. Sunset's lie about just finding her had been seen through and this Commander of theirs hadn't been fooled for a second… and Twilight felt that Sunset knew it too.

So they knew she was important, but did they know she was a princess? It was then that it clicked. "Oh no… my cr-my Element!"

Bradford stopped and looked back at her. "What is it, miss Sparkle?"

"My Element, Sunset, she…"

"Ah, yes. Don't worry, Sunset is not going anywhere, and with her being here, you know where to find her, right? Now, follow me, the Commander is waiting."

They continued their way up until two people approached them. The bigger one was wearing full armor, but even more telling, his facial features were somewhat… reptilian. The eyes were yellow and slitted, and his skin was pale with some sort of nodes around his jaw. The other was a normal, if intense-looking woman with a dark brown cloak around her head.

"Ah, Bradford," the man spoke up first, his voice strange with almost an echo around his words. "We heard that we had found and retrieved Sunset Shimmer," he grinned. "This is most rewarding. Tell me, is she in good health?"

"She is, Mox," Bradford replied, unable to hide a bit of relief in his voice. "We thought she had been more seriously injured, but she was able to walk properly when I greeted her. She is on her way to the infirmary."

"And this one?" the woman asked, studying Twilight almost hungrily. "We heard Sunset had found… someone, but I can't believe a… teenager like her would have been able to hide or survive long enough in the city we were in."

Bradford straightened. "That is confidential at this time, Miss Dragunova," Bradford replied. "Eventually the Commander will brief all pertinent personnel on the situation."

The woman snorted. "Volk said I was to comply." She leaned away, and it was then that Twilight realized she had made herself as small as possible behind Bradford.

"Then we will part ways for now, Bradford," Mox replied with a nod at Twilight as well. "We shall check on Sunset ourselves."

Bradford watched them go and shook his head in mild amusement before motioning for Twilight to follow her again.

Twilight followed Bradford through the hallway until they reached a set of stairs at the end of it, passing several interesting-looking rooms full of machinery which she could only imagine the purpose of, and sometimes not even that.

This whole world where Sunset had brought her was full of things she would have thought impossible without magic, and despite the labyrinthian, hive-like feeling of the place Rainbow Dash had called 'The Avenger', and the horror of seeing living creatures torn apart violently by weapons she barely understood, Twilight found herself more intrigued than horrified.

The stairwell was built for efficiency and little else. It had no decorations, and was made of simple metal parts, much different than the stylized staircases of Equestria, where even the ones in homes were made welcoming, rather than simply utilitarian, but these humans seemed to have little incentive for a welcoming design.

They went upstairs, to the top, where a small hallway ended in a door, behind which she would finally meet the infamous Commander.

Twilight took a deep breath, then followed Bradford in.

It was not a room… yet. The door opened onto a small balcony that overlooked a room far larger than the others, except for where the Skyranger was stored. However, this room had several people working different machines, and most impressively a huge map of what could only be the planet they were in, rendered out of blue light, like an illusionary spell of some sort, but created by machines.

Bradford let her admire the room, before gently guiding her to the end of the balcony, where a metal door slid open to finally reveal the commander's quarters.

The room was a lot more decorated than anything she'd seen so far. A red, torn flag hung from the back wall, next to a large bed. The center of the room had a table with two curved couches on either side of a central chair, and—Twilight was excited to notice—two bookshelves stacked with a healthy amount of books.

A glass display had a picture of Bradford and two other individuals, a male and a female, a couple of models similar in design to the Skyranger that had picked her up, as well as a skull of some sort at the bottom.

The Commander herself was facing away from them, concentrating on information flashing fast on a large screen on the other side of the room. Several images appeared and stacked one over the other as text of some sort also appeared there.

"Commander," Bradford spoke up. "I've brought Miss Sparkle as requested."

"Good," the Commander said, and her voice nagged a little at Twilight. There was something familiar, the authority and the tinge of aggressiveness as well as dangerous intellect… it was all very familiar.

"Please take a seat," the Commander said, turning around and locking her green eyes with Twilight. "Welcome to XCOM, princess. We have much to discuss, after all, it's not every day we host a princess."

Twilight gaped. It all made sense. The familiarity of the voice… why it had made her think of some sort of royalty when she hadn't been able to see her… the kind of mind that could control a place like this.

Twilight sat down slowly on one of the couches, still staring at the Commander, unable to speak.

"What's wrong?" the Commander asked, blinking in slight confusion at Twilight's open mouthed double-take.

"I-I just… you're..."

She watched Chrysalis walk around the opposite couch to sit down across from her, a smile—not malignant, not vicious, but still inducing nervousness in Twilight—playing on the edge of her mouth.

"Yes, I'm the Commander. Nice to meet you too."