The mare smiled with building confidence as the human read over the manifest. "Ready to trade?" Sure, it had taken some work to move from scout to captain... But once she had asked the right ponies for a little backing, she soon had a ship of her own, and a crew of her own, and cargo... of her own! She had to make it to the human lands and come back with exotic goods.

She had loans to pay off.

The soldier was in a completely different standing. He didn't want to risk a potentially hostile ship in port, but the goods seemed harmless by and large. The produce and food would need inspecting. "I'm going to mark this." The mare didn't stop him from putting red squares next to each thing that would need inspection.

"Now, the way I see it," he continued. "You don't need to dock."

She squinted at him. "How else are we going to trade?"

"By staying right here. I'm taking this, but someone else will be back to perform inspections." He turned to leave with the manifest. "Bear with us and we will trade."

She sat on her haunches, fighting the urge to argue. A little faith? "I'll trust in you. Let's make a lot of people happy." Surely the aliens wanted some of what she had, she was sure of it. She surely wanted some of what they had.

Queen Novo examined her subject intently, watching her squirm in the water with soft little movements of her fins and tail. "Mobile," she spoke, breaking the silence. "Mobile... Why?"

Mobile blushed brightly. "They were a lot of fun and--"

"Are you in the habit of having children with anything that is 'fun'? Am I not fun, Mobile? Where are my young ones?"

"Right here, Mom!" came a younger female voice from around the corner.

"Not now, Skystar." Novo shook her head lightly. "What you did was... deeply irresponsible, even if they weren't complete outsiders. I would normally not involve myself in the questionable family planning of my subjects, but..."

"But?" Mobile canted her head faintly. What made it worse?

"You are creating a child that requires new laws, for us and them. You have drawn us into what would be your business. That thing growing inside you has an (American) father and an irresponsible seapony for a mother. Is it a citizen here? Is it a citizen there? Both, neither? And you don't even know who the father is! Does that invalidate its claim to its human nationality? You have made its life difficult before it even truly has begun."

She put a fin over her face. "Let's focus on what needs to be done. The father should be located."

"How?!" Mobile threw her fins wide. "I tried looking, but..."

"Not by shouting and screaming, to start." She swam up to Mobile in a single strong swish of her tail. "We will formally tell them we seek him, and let them look for us. They are very good at communicating. The human that admits to fatherhood will be granted Seaquestrian citizenship; pending your verification." She hiked a brow. "That does mean you'll have to decide which of them was the one. Now, please, tell me you didn't raise your tail for too many of them."

Mobile tilted her left one way and the other. "That's a funny way of getting into Seaquestria."

Novo sighed softly. "We will make this abundantly clear that this is a one time favor done, due to the... newness of the situation. I do not want bad ideas being rewarded as a habit. Now, if a couple were properly wed and came to me for my blessing, how would I say no?" She smiled gently, imagining the curious wedding. "But that isn't what happened." Her smile faded.

A new day, a new envelope, though this one... bulged in strange ways. Inside of it, President Crane found a scroll on two rollers. Also included was a translation and update. Contact had been made with the one Queen Novo had mentioned.

"Ah." Finally, a mention of Princess Celestia. She didn't sound hostile from the letter, far from it, but there were missing pieces...

He reached for the phone. "Is the route to Alaska clear enough for a little visit with Air Force One? It's time to settle things."

Only a blind man could miss all the signs. Princess Celestia, according to Queen Novo, was in charge of the ponies, and her agent was present, in American custody. Peace could be made, in theory.

It wasn't long before he was aboard Air Force One, the spacious jet that would ferry him across the ocean that separated the mainland of America from where Alaska had landed; shared with the natives to result in a poorly handled first meeting.

"Your Highness." A pony dipped their head towards Luna. "We have spied one of their flying vessels, moving quickly over the ocean. It is larger than any other we've seen!"

Luna frowned softly as she nodded. "If it carries weapons..." She imagined the slaughter that occured in the Crystal Empire, multiplied. "We cannot allow it! Assemble the team, we will intercept it." She drove a hoof down for emphasis. With a glowing horn, she drew her robe from across the room, shrouding herself as was proper for a warlock on duty.

Her loyal gathered around her and she nodded to each in kind. "If this is as large as reported, there are likely to be many active combatants aboard. We cannot be shadows the entire time, so use caution instead. Fight well, fight smart, and survive to serve me another day, my dear warriors."

The eldest raised a hoof to his beard. "Should we spare them?"

"If it can be done. Your safety is my first priority. Are we prepared."

"We are prepared," echoed them all at once.

With a great flaring of purple magic, they were gone.

They appeared in the center of the great flying ship. There were humans there, shocked at their appearance.

That instant of hesitation was all they needed. The secret service members stationed in that room were thrown violently into the walls as other magics robbed them of thought, leaving them unconcious.

Despite their altitude, it was warm. The air was... not so thin. It was almost as if they were still on the ground, though their ears reported that there was some pressure difference to be felt.

Unknown to them, other agents had heard the violence. Air Force One was wired with many phones and radios, and word was spreading rapidly.

"Mister President." A firm hand came down on his shoulder. "We have to move you. There may be intruders on the plane. Come with us."

President Crane did not fight the order, it was the one time the serviceman outranked him, but the very thought. How? AFO had countless defensive measures, to be... boarded? It was beyond comprehension.

"(Freeze!)" A door had burst open, allowing two men to level their hand cannons at the collection of ponies.

One horn glowed. That was enough. There was no time for further hesitation. They had a president to protect. They opened fire. The door leading into the back kicked open, allowing two more men to fire.

Two of the warlocks crumpled to the ground, caught in the crossfire instantly. The others faded away, becoming shadows for a brief moment.

A plane is known for its speed, and this worked against them. As a shadow, the plane could not carry them. They had to cease being a shadow with barely the speed of a thought to not be thrown into the air.

This left the defenders to advance on the room with its two injured and possibly dead interlopers. "(Room clear,)" one barked into their radio. "(They used magic or whatever, could still be on board.)"

"(Full sweep,)" came the reply. It was time to search the destroy.

The invading party had been scattered by their forced shadow departure. The hoof-to-hoof specialist arrived in a galley. The chefs were working, seemingly unaware of problems elsewhere. She could see one that was different. That one already had a hand cannon out and was looking, likely for her. Fortunately for her, he was looking in the wrong direction.

She jumped, magic propelling her. She couldn't fly, no, but a magically assisted jump? She was pretty good at those. She sailed across the galley without the noise of hoofs to give her away.

"(What?)" One of the chefs had seen her.

The cannon-wielder turned towards her. Her extended hind-leg connected, her hoof driven right into the side of his face as he tried to see what the alarm was. He crashed backwards, knocking over cooking utensils, but she was on him, punching and beating him without mercy. She swatted his cannon away, possibly breaking a few fingers doing it. "Stay."

Elsewhere, Luna appeared in a large space, relatively large. She wasn't sure what it was. She didn't get to find out. Before she could orient herself, pain exploded through a leg and she collapsed to the floor. She tried to call on her magic and another shot found her shoulder, causing it to gutter and fail in shock.

Several men closed in on her from different directions, ready to fill her with more bullets if so required.

The eldest appeared in a small room. There was a single man there. The man did not wield a cannon. The room was small, so small. "Hmm." He looked for the exit.

"Who are you?" asked the man in practiced Ponish.

This startled the pony, turning to regard the man again. "You can speak?"

"I've been practicing..." President Crane could feel his heart thumping. That pony was a very real threat. The room he was in was supposed to be rock solid, nothing should have gotten in unless the plane was shot down first and every serviceman was already dead, and yet... "Who are you?"

The old pony frowned softly. "I am an agent of my people, and my peers need my help. How do you leave?"

"You don't. They open it from the outside when it's safe." He tapped two fingers together. "In better circumstances, there would be things to do." Satellite Internet was not what it used to be. "Tell me, if you would, why is attacking this plane in your people's interests?"

The elder cocked a brow. "Is it not obvious? An attack ship of this size? We cannot allow such a thing."

"This entire (airplane) only has one purpose."

"What is that purpose?" asked the elder, peering at him intently. "Do not deceive me."

"You are speaking to the President of the United States." That only got confusion. "I lead the two-legged people."

"Oh..."

Another warlock appeared, only to vanish again, hopping and skipping through rooms with rapid jaunts. Teleportation was her specialty. Even the high speeds of the airplane couldn't throw her off, and she jumped around, startling humans wherever she went.

As she traveled, she took note of how many were wielding cannons, and which ones were not.

Then she found the cockpit. She appeared with a faint pop behind the two pilots and looked around, smiling quietly.

The pilots were focused on flying the plane, but the chatter of the radios were loud as the fighting between the warlocks and the humans raged across the aircraft.

One of them heard her, perhaps. He turned his head towards her, she vanished.

She appeared over his head and landed on him, clapping her arms over his neck and squeezing. "I'll be taking these." Her magic reached for the hand cannons that were still sheathed, yanking them free with a toss towards the back of the cockpit.

The other pilot punched her. Just... punched her. It wasn't even a very good punch. She turned her head towards him. "Sit down." She focused on his arms, holding them down with magic. These two were simply not very good fighters, she decided.

Author's Notes:

That could have gone better.

The Warlocks thought they were invincible, this is quickly proven false.