As the Royal Guards, being supervised and directed by a Ghost member or two, began sorting through the armory's worth of equipment, Lt. Colonel Scott Mitchell moved towards Princess Celestia.

"What is it?" the Solar Princess asked.

"I have a few questions, if you're able to answer." Mitchell replied. "How exactly did you contact Earth and President Michaels?"

Celestia gave a sigh and replied.

"You may want to sit down for this, Lt. Colonel."

Mitchell took a seat on a munitions crate as Celestia spoke.

"About six months ago, in Canter City, Massachusetts, a magical event opened portals across the grounds of the local High School, where my former student attends. That is a story for another time, however. When the event was stopped and the portals closed, we presumed it would be the end of it."

"We were wrong." Celestia continued. "One of the portals didn't close properly, and reopened inside the White House, in the "Oval Office". Somehow, while I was attempting to close it, I came face to face with your President."

"And what happened after that?"

"We both decided that it would be the best option to exchange a method of communication, but nothing more for the moment." Celestia spoke. "He gave me a cell phone with his personal number on it, and I said if I ever needed his or his nation's aid, I would call. Otherwise, there was to be no contact between our realms until that time."

"I see." Mitchell frowned. "Why did you call us now, then?"

"Because the attackers that kidnapped the Elements were human." Celestia said. "I have identified two separate marks on their attire that we can use to identify them."

"Show me."

Celestia summoned a holographic image of the Bodark wolf's head and the Extranjeros' Jaguar seal. Mitchell growled as he recognized them and what they stood for.

"I believe I know who we're dealing with." Mitchell said. "First are the Bodarks, or the ones with the wolf patch. They're elite special forces from a nation on Earth known as Russia. They supported a criminal group called Raven's Rock when they staged a coup there. With our assistance, Raven's Rock was dismantled, and we assumed the Bodarks went with it."

"As for the Extranjeros, they're from various countries in South America. When a Ghost Team toppled the drug cartel-established Santa Blanca government in Bolivia, the Extranjeros took over. They committed human rights abuses, silenced anyone that spoke out against them, and generally made themselves hated more than the Cartel government. They're on the same level as the Bodarks in terms of gear and training."

"Then why are they here?" Celestia asked.

"I can't say. They're mercenaries, they'll work for whoever pays them the most." Mitchell said. "But I have a hunch that someone in Equestria did just that. Are there any other ways to reach Earth from Equestria?"

"The Mirror Portal is one, but that only opens once every thirty moons." Celestia said. "And so far, opening a portal to Earth via regular magic has proven to be impossible, even for my personal staff of researchers."

"I'd check in on them if I were you. Maybe one of them is on the other side, and we don't know it." Mitchell suggested.

"I suppose so." the Solar Princess replied. "Let's get back to business, Lt. Colonel. We don't have time to waste."

====

As the Ghosts and Royal Guards began moving supply crates under a large tent, Second Lieutenant Thomas Sipes began looking over several containers of explosives. Then, he paused at seeing a block of Semtex missing from a container.

As he drew his Goblin PDR, he noticed three contacts on his HUD's mini-map. As he crouched to the ground and set off a sensor Grenade, he saw the forms of three young ponies hiding behind another crate, carrying the Semtex.

"You three!" Sipes called out. "Drop the Semtex and come out, now!"

The three fillies did so, and with shaking hooves, handed Sipes the explosives. As he looked over the block, he set it down and sealed the container.

"What were you three thinking?" Sipes asked. "That wasn't a toy you took. That was an explosives pack that could have easily killed all three of you if you managed to trp the detonator."

"We're sorry." the leader said, an Earth Pony with a mane ribbon. "We were dared to do it."

"Dared to do what?" Sipes asked, his anger momentarily subdued for his curiosity's sake.

"Steal something from this place and bring it back." the pegasus of the group said. "They said they'd stop bullying us if we did it and weren't caught."

Sipes raised an eyebrow.

"Listen up. I am mad that you tried to take the Semtex. If you had hit the detonator with that much of it, if would've blown you to pieces. However, you didn't want to do it in the first place, which makes me want to ask…"

"Who dared you to do this? I want to know, and I want to know now."

The fillies gulped and answered.

====

After notifying Lt. Colonel Mitchell and Captain Gates, his squad leader, Sipes followed the fillies to the town plaza, where two other haughty-looking fillies were sneering to each other. On a hunch, Sipes activated his helmet camera.

"I bet they chickened out, like always." the pink one said. "Dumb blank flanks couldn't even do a simple dare."

"They're so worthless." the other said. "And speak of the devil, here they are."

The pink one scoffed and huffed at the three fillies.

"You do the dare, or did you chicken out?" she asked.

"Oh, they did the dare." Sipes said, entering the conversation. "And I caught them carrying a block of explosives that, if they had hit the trigger, would've killed them and destroyed a large part of our gear and US Army property. So you two are in big trouble right now."

"You're not the boss of us." the pink one growled. "And how do you know that we dared them to?"

"One, they told me it was you. And two, I'm recording this conversation on my helmet camera. I even caught you when you said "They couldn't even do a simple dare". Am I right?"

The two fillies paled.

"That's what I thought." Sipes growled. "Listen up. You two are to leave them alone from now on, and if I hear anything about or see you two anywhere near our base or stockpile again, they'll be Hell to pay, and not just from me."

"Am I understood?"

The two fillies paled even more and nodded.

"Get moving."

They didn't need to be told twice. As they sprinted off, Sipes sighed and looked at the three fillies.

"You three stay out of trouble, okay?" he asked.

"Sure thing, mister…"

"Sipes. Second Lieutenant Thomas Sipes, US Army 5th SFG, Ghost Recon, Aegis Team." he said. "I'll see you all around."

Sipes left for the base, and the fillies waved goodbye. To their surprise, Sipes waved back as he disappeared from view.

====

"You get the situation taken care of?" Mitchell asked Sipes once he returned to the stockpile.

"Yes, sir." Sipes said. "Taken care of. Three local girls out on a dare from two bullies. I smoothed it out."

"Good." Mitchell said. "Get back to it. We have our heading on the human hostiles here. We just need to find out where they are."

"I believe Kozak's working on that right now." Nomad said as he approached. "He thinks that he found where they went, but not their exact position."

"Show me." Mitchell said. As the three men headed to the tech area, the sun reached the apex point in the sky.

Update!

And you also got more intel on the Canter City incident.

Next time - The Ghosts move out to rescue the Elements. And the Scarred One meets with an old acquaintance of his...