Ponyville, Castle of Friendship
Around Eight PM
====

"Well, how was dinner?" asked Twilight Sparkle, as she used her magic to levitate several dirty dishes into the kitchen across from the dining room she and her friends occupied.

"Pretty good." Applejack replied. "You've gotten better at cooking, Twi. I can tell."

"Agreed." Rarity added. "And I must add that it was quite filling."

Twilight waved her hoof in thanks, though she blushed in embarrassment. As the other Element Bearers began to help clean up, they didn't notice a small object outside fly in through the window. The object, a small quadrotor drone, maneuvered up towards the top of the room and anchored itself in place, beginning to stream its mounted camera feed to an unknown operator.

The Elements were oblivious to the drone's presence for a few reasons. One was that it was completely soundless and motionless on the ceiling, due to an optical cloak. The other was that the dinner dishes were well underway.

That is, until Rainbow heard the faint mechanical whirr of the camera lens focusing on them from the doorway.

"You hear that?" she said out loud.

"What?" Fluttershy asked.

"I heard something. And it came from above us." Rainbow hummed. "Sounded like a whine or something."

"Well, the fruit bats have been moving out of the orchard for the winter." Applejack suggested. "Maybe one got inside the dining room."

"I'll go check." Rainbow said, grabbing a nearby broom in case of trouble. As her eyes swept through the dining room, she heard the whirr once again, this time from above her. As she looked up, she could faintly see a small red light. Reaching with the broom, she swiped at whatever it was.

The drone decloaked as it fell to the ground, remotely deactivated. As the other Elements came in at hearing the noise, their eyebrows raised as one upon seeing the drone.

"That's not a fruit bat." Applejack said.

"Definitely not a fruit bat." Twilight said, picking the drone up and eyeing the markings on it. Not only was there writing on it, but a logo of a scroll with a sword through it. The text was in Equish, though more fine and almost tough to read.

SKELL TECH - UAV-X1

"Skell Tech? What's that?" Pinkie asked.

"It's a corporation, Pinkie. I've heard about them from Sunset in the human world." Twilight said. "Jace Skell is one of the biggest technological kingpins in their world. From what Sunset could tell, his custom-designed drones and robots are primarily used for military and scientific purposes, but some can be used by people with a good controller and enough know-how to use one. They're state-of-the-art in their world."

"Then why's this one here?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know." Twilight asked. "It's still a day or two before the portal opens, and this drone isn't one I've seen or read about before. It also looks like it's been modified."

"Modified?" Rarity asked.

"There's some kind of thing here that I don't recognize." Twilight said, seeing the two prongs on the underside. "It looks like it's charged with electricity…"

Before anyone could react, there was a crack of sound. As the drone's stun coil sent a blast of targeted electricity into each of the Element Bearers, enough to knock them unconscious but not harm them otherwise, they fell to the floor.

The last thing Twilight Sparkle saw were several humans in black, red, and yellow surround and restrain them before she blacked out.

====

As the humans secured their targets, two of them pulled out a laptop and hastily powered it up, activating a secure radio connection.

"Mother Den, do you read?" one spoke in accented English.

"This is Mother Den. Are the targets secure?" a distorted voice replied.

"Yes, moving to exfil now." the soldier replied.

"Good. The Extranjeros will meet you at the rally point. Keep yourselves out of sight. Do not lose the targets, or you will suffer the consequences."

"Understood. Strike team out."

As the soldiers activated their Night Vision optics and left the castle after retrieving the drone and carrying the Elements with them, they made their way towards the Everfree forest and the mountain range beyond.

It didn't take long for the soldiers to be greeted by a set of trucks armed with mounted machine guns to arrive and pick them up. They stowed the Elements in a sealed container and drove off towards the mountains.

Once they reached the mountainside, they moved towards a particular cliff face and pulled aside a holographic canopy. As they entered the mineshaft and sealed the entrance, the soldiers descended into the dark, the Elements with them.

====
The Next Morning
====

Once the news spread through Ponyville via a panicked Spike that each of the Element Bearers were gone, the populace sent an immediate SOS to Princess Celestia.

And it wasn't long after that when five Solar Guard Platoons descended, along with Princesses Celesita and Luna.

"Anything to report?" Celestia asked a Lieutenant, who sighed.

"There's no sign of a struggle, but there are burns of the floor of the dining room consistent with lightning or electrical energy. Plus, several locked windows were forced open, with no evidence as to how."

Celestia furrowed her brow.

"Secure a perimeter around the castle." she finally ordered. "I will see for myself what happened."

As the guards nodded and set up defensive posts, Celestia entered the dining room and summoned her magic. Lately, she had learned that the Castle came with a unique security feature. Whenever someone trespassed inside of it with evil intent, a sort of recording would follow them and monitor their every move until they left. The spell to view such recordings was only known to Celestia, who hadn't told Twilight about it due to her probable reaction.

As the recording played in Celestia's mind, she saw the events of the previous night...and the humans who had entered. Giving off a mix of a growl and a sigh of anger, she again summoned her magic and opened a portal to a realm she used to store a particular object.

It was a human-made cell phone. As Celestia pressed a few buttons and sighed, the phone rang once before a voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Samuel Michaels?" she asked.

"Princess?" the voice replied. "I wasn't expecting a call from you so soon."

"Neither was I." she replied, moving out of earshot and into a side room. "I understand your hesitancy to speak with me again, but there has been a troubling development here in Equestria that concerns your world."

"...go on."

Celestia explained the situation, and sighed once she had finished.

"...I see." the man replied. "We'll handle this, Princess. I'll have units on your side within a few hours. If humans really have made it to your world...it means trouble."

"Indeed." Celestia replied. "I will open the portal once you are ready. One question, however."

"Shoot."

"Who are you sending to aid us?" she asked. "You do realize that have my reservations about your intelligence agencies being here?"

"I'm not sending the CIA or any unit you've heard of." the man replied. "I'm sending the Ghosts."

"And who are they?" Celestia asked.

"You'll see once we reach your end. I'll call you when we're ready. POTUS out."

As Celestia hung up and stored the phone again, she headed into Twilight's basement and towards the now-active Mirror Portal.

====
Earth, United States, Washington DC
The White House, Central Command Room
====

As Samuel Michaels, President of the United States, entered the room alongside the Secret Service, Vice President Thames, and a few Generals, the room jumped to salute.

"At ease." the President said. "Call Fort Bragg, get Lt. Colonel Mitchell on the line. Tell him I need the Ghosts immediately."

"Yes, sir." an ensign said, typing into the computer as the image of Lt. Colonel Scott Mitchell, leader of the 5th Special Forces Group, better known as Ghost Recon, appeared on the screen.

"Lt. Colonel." Michaels said. "What teams do you have available?"

"Three, sir." Mitchell replied. "Callsigns are Aegis, Hunter, and Patriot. They're en route to Fort Bragg now from additional training in Colorado."

"Good work." Michaels said. "Have them ready within the hour. POTUS out."

As Mitchell nodded and ended the connection, Michaels sighed and brought his retinue to a conference room nearby, where they sat down.

"So, the Equestrians finally called?" asked Vice President Thames.

"Yes." Michaels confirmed. "Celestia just alerted me that one of the Princesses there has been kidnapped, along with five others. Catch is, the attackers were human."

"God damn." said General Anderson. "And I thought the coverup for the Canter City Incident was trouble enough."

"I agree, Anderson, but we have more pressing problems." Michaels said. "I want those three Ghost teams on the ground in Equestria within three hours with backup ready if needed. Have Lt. Colonel Mitchell come as well. I have a feeling we'll need his experience."

"I'll notify them now." Anderson said as he and the other two Generals left to relay the President's orders. Michaels sighed and wiped some sweat from him brow, pouring himself a glass of water from a nearby cooler.

"Thames, when we made First Contact with the Equestrians during the Incident, I was praying that we'd make it out in one piece." Michaels groaned. "Now, I'm starting to think that we'll need a lot more than just prayers to make it through this one."

"Hear, hear." Thames replied. "What now?"

Michaels stood up and pulled out a cell phone.

"Now, I need to make a phone call. Tell her that we're coming, and to make sure we've got proper support in place. Thames?"

"Right behind you."

As the two men reentered the Command Room, Michaels sighed, steeling himself for what would come next.

Yeah, I like this concept a lot more than the previous story I had up.

And just an FYI, this will feature concepts from Future Soldier, Wildlands, and Breakpoint, though it is primarily a crossover with Future Soldier in terms of setting and technology.