"Mr. Goldfein, Sir." Abbott saluted crisply. He was facing the highest rank person within his branch of the military there was. Only the president could have approached him and wielded more direct authority.

"At ease. We've received your report." The older man's eyes swept over the base. "I usually work from DC, you know that?"

"Sir, yes, Sir." Before this man, he was very little. "Come to assist with the conflict, Sir?"

"Exactly so." He walked in a slow circle around the major. "Imagine my surprise. Hostile invaders, already on American soil? The very thought of it, beyond belief, but orders are orders, are they not? Even for me."

"Of course... Sir." What was that four star general doing there?! Was he about to be brought in for a tribunal right then and there?

"The president tried to meet with these people... That did not end well. I presume you are aware of this?" He slapped down a hand on Abbott's shoulder, grip firm.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Abbott was stiff as a board, standing ramrod straight.

"And despite this, you extend an invitation to them to come here? Run me through your logic, Major." He came around to be in front of Abbott. "How was that decision reached?"

The man before him has a chest full of decorations. His breath frosted in the cold air, but his eyes did not waver. Abbot nodded, trying to copy some of that coolness. "With pleasure, Sir. With the communication we have already had, the princess mentioned was looked on with genuine warmth by the child writing to us, not in fear or grudging respect. Inviting exactly one to come peacefully gave us room to react, if things went poorly, but I thought it was worth the risk for the intelligence that we could gather."

"But you didn't get the princess you were hoping for." He stepped in, seeming to tower over Abbott, though much of that was a matter of rank, not physical stature. "Another answered your little invitation."

"That is right, Sir... We got their leader, their highest commander."

"Wish I could have seen the look on your face when you realized that." A faint smile glimmered into being before being buried in a somber look. "And you had a conversation in two languages. They're still translating that mess." He slapped the side of Abbot. "You could have taken the time to translate it yourself. You knew what the words were."

"I felt transmitting the full recordings and transcripts as we had them as quickly as possible was more important, Sir."

He pivoted in place, circling on his heels. "That was probably the smartest thing you did the entire day. Boy, Son... You have no idea how hard people are sniffing. If there's a single t you left uncrossed, one lonely I you didn't dot, you'll be facing much much worse than my little visit." He inclined his head towards the planes. "I see she didn't leave as much of a mess as the last time they visited an air base."

"She was polite, as the recordings will verify. Permission to speak freely?"

"Denied." He turned away from Abbott, surveying the base. "Anything you say to me, anything is official. There is no such thing as 'speaking freely' to me. So if you have something official you want to disclose, you may proceed, but we are not friends. We are not off-duty." He ran his hands down the front of his jacket, subtly drawing the two ends closer together.

There was cheering in the streets. Ponies roared in happiness, clopping the ground, brohoofing one another and some even dancing in place. There was plenty of reason to do so, as far as they were concerned. Celestia was coming back, whole and unharmed.

When she touched down in the center of town, there were ponies waiting for her. Twilight bowed far lower than a princess had need to. Cadance was smiling with tense hope. Shining had dipped his head, but not as far as his sister had.

"Good to see you all," greeted Celestia. "The meeting was productive." She could not speak further if she wanted, barring her using a royal amplifying spell. The crowd around them was too busy hurting their ears with wild cheering. Celestia raised a hoof and waved it gently as she did a slow circle, bidding them to quiet, which they did, eventually. "Peace has not yet arrived. We have taken the first timid step, and I hope it will be the first towards a full gallop, but to assume peace is here, now, is foolish."

She turned to the others that were closer to her title. "The one I spoke to has limited sway, though does have some rank. You could consider him as a captain of the guard, before you married, Shining."

"Ah." He nodded, instantly placing the human in a ranking that made sense to him. "So he can't make treaties or agreements for his people, but his word does have weight."

"Precisely so." She nodded lightly to him. Her wings were still out and on display. It was just a part of being a princess in public at times. She had to be large and composed. Her people needed that right at that time. "The guards you did battle with, apparently they were local peacekeepers, not charged with doing battle for their people or country when other countries are involved. Their injury and death is seen as a foul thing. Not that any death is ever... not a foul thing, but especially so."

Rainbow waved wildly as she advanced forward, moving to Twilight's side. "They were fighting us! They would have been plenty fine doing the same to us. What's up with that?!"

Celestia directed a wing at Rainbow Dash. "In their eyes, we were strange bandits, to be subdued, not foreign invaders, to be avoided. If they saw our force as invaders, the response would..." She drew a slow breath. "You would not be here, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash scowled at that. "I could have taken them," she grumbled to herself, but she didn't raise her voice higher than her sulking grunt.

"Princess Cadance," she spoke with sudden authority.

"Yes, Princess Celestia." Cadance had her eyes fixed on her superior.

"I order that all agressions be terminated. All standing forces not normally stationed here are to return home. This campaign is complete." She drove down a hoof with the decree, ringing sharply with metal on stone. "Where are the yaks? I would speak with them."

Cadance nodded stiffly. "Y-yes, Princess Celestia..." She inclined her head towards the palace. "Let's... go over the specifics."

Celestia could read the desire to speak in there. "Let's." They began to move, and the crowd parted for them, allowing the royalty past to discuss the heavy matters of government.

Cheers and cries followed them the entire way, only becoming quiet once the great doors of the Crystal Palace were closed behind them, allowing some merciful quiet.

Cadance turned to Celestia instantly, her wings firing out in either direction. "Auntie! I appreciate, deeply appreciate, the idea of peace, but what if they attack again?! You're stripping away what little protections we have."

"If you had every pony in the nation, wearing armor and ready to fight, it would make little difference." She turned to Cadance slowly, her wings folding in as she did so. "My eyes were open when I visited, and I saw much. They could reduce us to a hooved dream, if that was their wish. The only reason they have not is because we have not yet given them enough reason to. We have acted as little more than... violent bandits, requiring minimal reaction. They are aware now that we are a nation."

"That was minimal?!" squeaked Cadance. "Never have we suffered a greater military loss in so little time in all recorded history!"

"Minimal reaction," echoed Shining, crashing to his haunches. "All of that, just the barest flick of the paw of a beast so vast we thought we could win a fight against one of its toes alone..."

Celestia turned to Rainbow. "There will be a matter of justice."

Rainbow blinked softly. "Say what now?"

"Justice," she repeated with a frown. "They favor law and order. To a crime, there is punishment. If they can find those that murdered our innocents, they will punish them. They will, I feel certain, request the same of us. A stern talking to will likely not suffice."

Twilight reached behind her head with a nervous little laugh. "That does match what I saw... While the average human seemed free enough, the higher up you go, the more orderly they seem to be. They will want to see guilty parties are punished."

Cadance shook her head. "I won't allow it. The guards were acting at my behest. They had no idea they were performing a crime, nor could they have known. If anypony should... suffer for this, I will accept responsibility."

"No!" Shining was suddenly between Cadance and Celestia. "I am the captain of the guard. I gave the orders."

She reached around him from behind, cupping his cheeks. "And I ordered you. Dear, I love you, but this is my burden to bear."

"No!" He wheeled around to face her. "No no! Flurry Heart needs her mother. The Crystal Empire needs its princess. I'll go."

Celestia raised a hoof. "This is premature. They have not made demands, but it will come, I feel certain. Consider and debate among yourselves." She took a slow breath. "It may be for naught... They have my sister. She may be who they decide to punish... She has caused them damage, and they know it."

Things went quiet for a moment, thoughts going to the captive Luna.

"Wait here," gruffly ordered a man.

Not that she had much choice. She was literally shackled to a desk that appeared to be bolted to a cement floor. She had arrived in some strange new land, but had seen little of it outside of a brief glance at a parking lot and some buildings before she was hurried inside.

Luna shuffled in place, her chains clinking in the motion. "What have you in mind for me?"

The man did not answer, and was soon gone.

She was left in the empty room, desk not counting. A lonely light shed harsh light over the room. An interrogation room? She had been in one of those before. That meant questions. Did they have to move her to ask questions? She could think of no question she was better able to address after being moved.

The door swung open. Two men that looked like the ones she had fought on the plane. The third man to enter was not dressed in uniform, just smartly. "Hello, and welcome to (America)," greeted the third man, moving to stand behind that desk, putting it between himself and her. "(This may be the first time in history we've had a terrorist that wasn't a human.)"

She quicked an ear at him. "I do not know what you are saying."

He spoke slowly, "I am the (President) ruler of the people you hurt."

Luna's eyes widened. She was face to face with their king?!

"My name is (Adam Marshall). You will answer questions." He ran a finger across the top of the desk slowly. "Truth."

There were many things she wanted to do, but she could not. She could feel that accursed band on her horn, waiting for the chance to shock her. "What do you want?"

"I ask questions. What is your title?" He leaned forward over the desk, the flat of his hands on it for support.

Luna tilted her head. "Princess Luna, Princess of the Night, Guardian of Dreams, Diarch of Equestria." She saw little reason to keep that a secret. "What do you want?" she repeated, her teeth set. She would not be broken, she assured herself. She was a princess. She would prevail.

Author's Notes:

Celestia casually calls the war off. That's it, we're done. Go home.

Can it be that simple?

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