As bullets began to fly all around the Ghosts, Nomad motioned his team forward towards the cargo container. While Hunter Team provided support fire, and at the same time suppressed the hostiles on the balcony, Castle and the Royal Guards moved to the right flank.

"Holt, get the door!" Nomad ordered as he cleanly dropped a Bodark whose head strayed out of cover. "We'll cover you!"

"Copy!" Holt replied as he smashed the locks with the stock of his weapon. As he pulled the door open and took cover behind it, the other three Ghosts moved in and soon found each of the Element Bearers unconscious inside.

"Shit, they're down and out!" Weaver replied as his M110 recoiled against his shoulder. "We've got to move them one by one!"

"Easier said than done!" Kozak replied as he took out a lone Extranjeros rusher armed with a shotgun. "Those bastards have us pinned down! We can't get to you from here!"

"Copy!" Nomad replied. "Castle Lead, can you get us some breathing room here? We're knee-deep in bad guys!"

"Copy, we're coming to you now!" Gates replied. Nomad peeked out of cover and saw the Bodarks and Extranjeros on the balcony were now shooting to their right flank at Castle Team and the Equestrian Royal Guards. Taking a chance, Nomad and Weaver opened fire, dropping the remaining hostiles in the atrium.

"Clear?" Nomad barked.

"Clear." Gates replied. "No signs of any additional hostiles, but…"

"But what?" Hunter Lead asked.

"There's a sizeable cache of supplies missing from a depot we found on the eastern side." a Guard spoke up. "And there's also residual magical traces of a teleportation spell being cast recently. Most likely, some of these hostiles escaped."

"And their leader is most likely with them." Sipes said, clearly frustrated. "Alright, we'll deal with that later. Guards, search the remaining area, we'll get the Elements back to Ponyville. We found a vehicle depot here, we'll appropriate whatever transport we can find."

"Understood." Lt. Kicker replied, as his Guards moved out. As Nomad radioed the news to Lt. Colonel Mitchell, Holt, Weaver, Kozak, 30K, Pepper, and Adams each retrieved an unconscious Element and followed Gates to an adjacent tunnel.

While the Elements were loaded onto a pair of military-grade pickup trucks, Kozak began searching the local area network through a laptop he found in the comms relay area, atop a server that was still active.

"Huh…" Kozak murmured, seeing the files on the computer transfer to a high-cap USB drive. "Seems whoever's here had some serious business going on."

"Why's that?" Nomad asked, as he approached.

"Whoever's the leader of the OpFor has been sending messages to a recipient known as "Wolfmaster", to an encrypted destination. They're also referencing another contact known as "Battlescar". Battlescar's apparently the leader of the OpFor, but he answers to or takes orders from Wolfmaster."

"Huh." Nomad frowned. "Wolfmaster and Battlescar. Any ideas as to where they're heading?"

"That's the good news." Kozak replied. "I've managed to trace a still-online IP address on this laptop's system and decrypt the location. The bad news is...it's an address registered to a classified Skell Tech data server on Auro Archipelago...on Earth."

Nomad's eyebrows lowered in curiosity and disbelief.

"So these bastards have some way of transferring messages or possibly more to Earth somehow." Nomad growled. "I thought Princess Celestia told us that wasn't possible. Pull that data and anything else you can find."

Kozak nodded and returned to work, and Nomad turned to see the Royal Guards approach.

"We've swept all areas." Lt. Sharp said. There's no one else here. What next?"

"Start moving all the supplies and gear you can find onto those trucks." Nomad ordered. "Take everything that isn't nailed down. Seeing as you don't know how to drive a car, a Ghost will take the wheel."

"Understood!"

As the Guards began carrying out Nomad's orders, Midas came up and crossed his arms.

"So, is it just me, or does Princess Celestia have something to hide?" he asked. "I got a pretty good feeling she's telling us the truth, but not the whole truth."

"Yeah, me too." Nomad replied. "Let's deal with it later. We need to get the hostages out of here before anything else happens."

====

As the trucks drove back towards Ponyville with the Elements aboard and loaded with additional supplies, the Scarred One and the remaining units under his command watched from atop a cliff face nearby.

"Should we take them out, sir?" a Extranjeros merc asked.

"No. I have my orders from Wolfmaster. Let them believe that they've gained the upper hand for now. As for us, we proceed back to Headquarters on Auroa and prepare for Phase Two."

"Yes, sir!"

As the Bodarks and Extranjeros disappeared in a flash of white, the Scarred One smiled under his mask before following his soldiers, disappearing into thin air, leaving no trace behind.

====

Twilight Sparkle groaned slightly as she felt a thin sheet on top of her, and a mattress below her. The bed was cramped but large enough for her to fit inside, and when her eyes opened, she saw she was in Ponyville Hospital's recovery ward.

"Twilight?"

She turned to see Celestia come in, relief clear on her face.

"Celestia." she replied. "What happened? Where's everypony else?"

"They've already woken up and are speaking with your rescuers." Celestia replied. "You've missed quite a bit, but I can catch you up as best I can for the moment."

Celestia told Twilight about the Ghosts coming to their aid, her conversations and agreement with President Michaels, and their plans for the near future, as well as the identities of the hostiles.

"I...I see." Twilight rasped. "Well, the Scarred One or whatever their leader's name is...he said that Equestria hasn't fought a war in over 1000 years because of him."

Celestia flinched ever so slightly, almost unnoticeable to nearly anyone, but Twilight caught the expression.

"Thank you, Twilight." she replied. "Come, let's go see Lt. Colonel Mitchell and plan for what lies ahead of us."

As she helped Twilight out of bed and into the hall, the Princess of Magic could see Celestia's expression, once of relief, now had a tinge of worry or remorse hidden in plain sight.

====

As Twilight and Celestia entered a large room, they were surprised to see the Ghosts, Mitchell, and the other Elements having a small party. There was confetti, streamers, and plenty of baked goods.

"When dd this happen?" Twilight asked.

"A while ago, thanks to Miss Pinkie." Gates said. "Word of the rescue op spread quickly once we made it back."

"Yeah." Applejack affirmed. "Anyway, how are you holding up, Twilight?"

"I'm fine." Twilight said, however she felt like it was a lie. In truth, she was unnerved by the Scarred One's declaration to her.

"Which leads me to our next topic…" Mitchell said. "Princess, what aren't you telling us about Equestria and Earth?"

Celestia remained silent.

"We traced a signal from a laptop here in Equestria to a location on Earth. You said that wasn't possible." Mitchell continued. "Plus, the OpFor got here somehow, using a method that you haven't told us about."

"So I'll ask again, why aren't you telling us what we need to know in order to help you?" Mitchell demanded. The Elements were prepared to protest this statement when Celestia sighed and sat down.

"You are a perceptive one, Lt. Colonel." she sighed. "I admit that I did not lie to you, but told you a partial truth. Much of what happened on Earth as a result of the Canter City Incident was true, such as my meeting with President Michaels. However…"

"It is possible for a sufficiently knowledged spellcaster to worldwalk, as we call the process of travelling between realms. It takes knowledge of both realms in the mind of the caster, and powerful magic, the theory of which I personally outlawed and destroyed every copy of ages ago."

"However, it is possible nonetheless to worldwalk between Earth and Equestria with relative ease. Our worlds are like magnets in that they have been attracted to each other. Equestria is a realm of peace and harmony, Earth is one of chaos. If somepony from Equestria could reach Earth, it wouldn't take as much magic to return home."

"What about their leader?" Midas asked. "The Scarred One? What do you know about him?"

"I know nothing." she replied.

"Bullshit." Midas countered. "You do know. Your speech quivered when you said "nothing" at the end."

Celestia looked away, shame clear on her expression.

"I do know who he is, but not his motives." she admitted. "960 years after I banished my sister, I unified part of the Lunar and Solar Guards into a new brigade that would act as our first line of defense. I hoof-picked their commander, Golden Plume. He was brave, swift, a capable soldier...but ambitious beyond all else."

"Plume was prideful of his new post, and I had to strain, for lack of a better word, on multiple occasions to keep him in check. However, when a bandit raid attacked an Equestrian settlement in the northlands near what is now the Crystal Empire...I reluctantly allowed Plume to deploy his troops. I gave him direct orders that the renegades be taken alive."

"Plume...disregarded my orders and slaughtered them, with no mercy given." Celestia sighed sadly. "However, he became convinced that the settlement's leaders were corrupt and allied with the bandits, and had them killed as well. Once he learned that I was coming personally to arrest him, he fortified the settlement and threatened to kill everypony else there unless I let him and his troops go free."

"What happened?" Nomad asked.

"I had to storm the settlement by force with a battalion's worth of Guards. Plume's forces, who were far more loyal to him than to me, fought to the death. Soon, he was the only one left. I overpowered and captured him, court-martialing him in Canterlot. He was promptly found guilty, and the judge recommended that his crimes warranted the death penalty."

"However, I decided to exile him. After vowing revenge, I banished him to a world he could never return from. How he made it to Earth, I truly do not know."

"I see." Mitchell said. "Now that we know, Princess, we need to move forward. We don't have time to waste."

Update!

Next time - The Scarred One covertly meets with Wolfmaster on Auroa, and the Ghosts talk with Jace Skell. Celestia confers with Princess Luna about her past sins.