Doppler's Log

Hyperlinks you find in this story are mostly going to be links to music tracks on Youtube. To have them play without breaking the flow of the story (whatever you make of the word 'flow', or if this story has it); simply right click on the link and left click 'open in new tab'. If you feel the song is annoying or something; I apologize in advance, and I guess you should never take my italicized advice again...

-June 7, 2021

-Unknown, Ponyville

-Investigate persons of interest

-2:26 PM

Just outside the library's vicinity, sat Bellhop, Mercury, Hazel, and Spade. They were on alert and tried their best to avoid contact with other civilians. So far, reconnaissance wasn't much of a challenge. They communicated subtly using the radios, but something was obviously out of proportion if that purple one was screaming at her friends to make haste only moments ago...

*Think they know we're here, boss?* Spade asked.

*Can't say,* Bellhop pondered for a second, *you two just follow these Rainbow Dash and Pinkie characters.* He wanted the ponies being looked after before the gap between them became too large.

*We've got it,* reassured Mercury who was already breaking from the group.

Mercury and Spade followed the two equine throughout the village. Rainbow Dash levitated with slow and even flaps of her wings while the other one playfully bounced to move, her hair flailing about as well. As expected, the pink one talked a lot. She was very energetic with not really any reason to show it.

"Pinkie sense?" questioned Rainbow Dash like it was a regular occurrence.

"Yeah, maybe I'll meet a new friend soon."

"Whatever you say, Pinkie..."

*Seriously, are they psychic too? I think they're on to us,* noted Mercury as he swapped his vision from the ponies to Spade. He wanted to make sure that Pinkie wouldn't stumble into him when he wasn't looking.

*Can't be sure. Keep on them,* said Spade, trying to calm down his team mate.

-2:30 PM

Eventually, after minutes of slowly tracking after Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, they made it to a house of a more upbeat design. It featured purple exterior with yellow shades covering the windows. There was a second floor with a single window showing the inside at the right angle of view.

The overall structure represented a party tent of some sort, with a flag on top. Surrounding the second floor depicted featureless ponies with poles running through their centers. They were mannequins made of plastic to show that the building was a boutique. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were still blissfully unaware of their stalkers.

Pinkie Pie darted up to the door of the boutique and knocked on the door as Rainbow Dash continued to hover about two meters from the ground. A white unicorn with curled purple hair answered. She was happy to see the two at her door and spoke with a modest tone. It sounded formal...

"Why hello Pinkie Pie, oh, and Rainbow Dash. What is the occasion?" she questioned the two's presence. Mercury and Spade sat less than three meters away from them, their camouflage still running of course.

Rainbow answered, "Hey, Rarity. Twilight wanted us to come and get you for something important."

She started descending to relieve stress on her wings when not moving around, but Pinkie blurted out before she landed, "YEAH, she said to get everypony and come back to the library! Normally I would be working, but this looked important and I do get to play with all of you now, so it's alright! Maybe we should grab some snacks and-"

*I mean, she looks fun and all, but I really don't want to hear this all over again,* Spade protested.

*They're moving your way, hide,* Ingot informed, who was watching them from beyond the city.

The two just went prone on the ground and slowly crawled out of the ponies' paths. The cloaking was clearly enough to trick anybody not searching for soldiers, for the trio had no suspicions when moving by.

*Keep on 'em. Also, Hazel and Bellhop are converging on your position. They're probably swapping channels too,* calmly stated Ingot.

*Anything on Twilight, Captain?* Mercury asked, not waiting to make sure he was on the same feed first.

Bellhop's radio clicked to the same channel just in time for him to catch the question though, *Uh, Enough to work with." The purple pony he listened to in the library wasn't doing much of anything other than making obnoxious and incoherent growls at nothing. "Let's follow them as a four-man squad,* Bellhop commanded quietly.

*eh-hem,* coughed Hazel, expecting some form of acknowledgement.

*Three-man-and-one-woman squad,* he corrected himself with a hopeless sigh. Bellhop could only assume that his team mates' attitudes wouldn't jeopardize anything in the near future. Mercury had pretty much already shattered this thought with his feminist comment from earlier...

Mercury, before becoming part of Onyx, served as a militant in the SAS. The United States and Great Britain being the best of allies only further pointed out why he is in now. But the bond wouldn't obstruct Bradley's priority; they needed his perspective on the world for his own country...

-2:38 PM

Onyx stalked the trio of ponies unnoticed to an... apple farm, of all things. They had been following a dirt path that led outside of the village for the past few minutes. Trees ran all over the terrain for acres, creating an organized forest of apples. Sure enough, a sign came up stating Sweet Apple Acres.

In the premise, a red barn stood out from all of the forestry. Onyx followed the three ponies closely while they continued for the farm.

*Clever title for a farm,* chuckled Mercury.

*Barn; one static. Unarmed,* said Ingot. He then figured that probably all of the ponies were unarmed, for they were only civilians. Even if they did have weapons; they still might be unrecognizable as such to the team.

*Onyx, sit next to the barn. On stand-by, let this play out,* Bellhop whispered.

An orange coated pony with blonde hair and a... cowboy hat... approached the trio as Onyx remained at a safe distance. Pinkie Pie bounced playfully ahead of Rarity and Rainbow Dash to confront the pony, "Hey Applejack!" she exclaimed.

*Really?* Mercury grunted to himself, lightly turned away at the names. *I mean, that ain't creative-*

*Shut it, Lieutenant,* Bellhop grunted.

"Hey gals, whad'ya need?" she questioned in a Southern accent. Her head bobbed up and down to follow Pinkie's hopping in place before turning to the other ponies. Pinkie stopped bouncing suddenly and gasped loudly to take in air as she was about to speak.

"Twilight needs us at her place. Is Fluttershy still at her cottage?" Rainbow Dash quickly asked to cut off Pinky Pie. She frowned after her shunning.

"Probably. Ah'll go with you, RD. Rarity, you go back t' Twilight's with an' tell 'er we'll be there soon," said Applejack.

"Alright dear. Come on Pinkie; Twilight sounds impatient today," Rarity sighed.

*Great, new groups.  Spade, come with me. We'll follow Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Mercury and Hazel, stay on Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Clover, watch over them. Ingot you're spotting us. We good?* he explained calmly. Hopefully they would get answers to the purple pony's paranoia soon. Both squads broke up into to execute their own tasks of information gathering, once again using separate radio channels to avoid confusion when communicating.

Focusing on Bellhop's sub squad, they were following the two ponies to Fluttershy's cottage. As they drew near the outskirts of Ponyville, Bellhop spoke up to the rest of the group, *Stick close, we're almost there I think.*

*Guys, the cottage looks to be around two-hundred meters from the village outskirts. The two that you're following may pick up the pace a bit to clear the distance. I'd Advise deactivating your camo so you can run while covert behind those hills,* suggested Ingot.

*We got-... eh, actually? Can we just beat them there?* Spade asked. His legs cramped up and forced out tension to his hips. They yearned for a chance to stretch, even if the stretch nabbed more energy out of him.

Another muffled grunt was all the confirmation that Bellhop needed before responding, *Sounds good. Ingot you're probably fine where you are. Just let us know if we're drawing on observers.*

*I'm on it, Cap'.*

-2:41 PM

On the other side of town from Bellhop and Spade; Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and the two operatives that followed them were taking their sweet time getting to the library. Mercury predictably let a grunt seep out whenever the stress on his legs became too much. When that happened, he knelt for a moment to rest while Hazel continued watching the ponies ahead of them. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie would jump as if something whipped her every ten seconds, which stopped their progress for a bit. It stopped her completely each time and caused Mercury to question her procedure and overall mental health.

*What is it with this Pink one?* he asked.

*Stay focused,* commanded Clover.

*Not sure,* she responded, ignoring Clover, *maybe she's on coke or something. Speaking of which, I totally packed a Mountain Dew before we came here.*

*Guys,* pestered Clover.

*Wanna' see?* Hazel questioned. She was asking Mercury more or less...

He sighed and figured that they should stay on Pinkie and Rarity as much as possible. Without stopping in his crouch walking pace; he turned his peripheral to the Hazel, *that could wait. Let's just keep-*

Mercury stumbled over the electrified pink pony, causing a couple of grunts as his camouflage disabled itself. The ponies had stopped a few seconds prior while Pinkie Pie was shaking. Mercury recovered to a crouching position and just stared.

*Smooth...* Clover sighed.

"Well HI THERE! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name? You're new here, huh? Are you playing hide and seek? Can I play to? This is my good friend, Rarity! She makes all sorts of neat-"

*Fuckin' A, what do I do?* hastily asked Mercury. The two ponies continued to stare him down, Rarity doing so in utter confusion.

*That's on you, just talk I guess,* Clover suggested calmly.

*I'm on it...* he sighed and lowered his facial apparel. "Uh... Yeah, My name's Brad..."

"Brad? That's a weird name. Are you sure it's not Braid? Maybe you're good at braiding manes! Are you from out of town? Are you a monster?" She gasped heavily and puffed out her chest, "Are you a nice monster!? What's that on your back? Do you like to go and-?"

Hazel remained covert behind several shrubs gawking at the pink pony's onslaught of questions with little to no breath. She also took notice to the fact that they all rested just twenty meters from the library. She sat on her knees behind the bush while Mercury listened to the pink pony babble on for a minute. With no other civilians in the premise; the stealth gimmick could still work if they thought of something quickly. *Hazel, that soda you mentioned; take it out n' toss it at that tree 5 m's to my right,* said Mercury while ignoring the pony's babbling.

*What will that accomplish, you-*

*Just do it. And do it soon,* he sighed.

The other group, made of bellhop and Spade, moved quickly behind the hills outside of Ponyville. They started sprinting after disabling the armor's cloaking device. As predicted, Rainbow Dash and Applejack also sped up into a gallop to clear the distance faster. Ingot had poorly estimated the amount of usable hills for his team mates to slip by unnoticed with. Since this was the case; Bellhop and Spade had to slow down after the third hill to use their ability and remain undetected. The cottage was thankfully not too far away from that third or fourth hill, so they could still eavesdrop on the ponies if they kept steady.

As he kept a close watch on Rainbow Dash and Applejack ahead of them; anxiety took over Bellhop's thoughts. Thinking back on that purple one back at the library and her outbursts; he spoke through the mic piece, *something's wrong, they keep going on about some urgent regrouping.*

*I hear ya. If we run into any trouble, I have the Mark 17 ready to-*

*Out. Of. The. Question. That shit better be on safety throughout this entire day.*

*gotcha, sorry...* replied Ingot in self-disappointment for even considering having to use his SCAR-H yet. *Oh yeah, other than that; it looks like that yellow one from the lake, eh... Fluttershy? I think she's involved with these people we're tracking.*

*Probably, they mentioned her earlier when we were following them near the barn. Also something about her character makes me feel that she would be their friend. All shy and timid... Maybe they felt sorry for her or something and let them into a posse just to give her some hope. Then she wouldn't turn into a psychopath and gut other ponies for a-*

*What the fuck are you talking about? I meant I can see her through the window of the little cottage that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are heading to,* Ingot grimaced from afar.

*Oh... yeah, never mind...* Bellhop rubbed his cloaked face.

Focusing on the equine again; they made it to their friend's home. The two humans observed from a few meters away after catching up with their careful walking procedure. Rainbow must have been tired from beating the air with her wings from before, so she trotted up to the door with Applejack and knocked.

Fluttershy, answering the door, confirmed Ingot's spotting, "Oh, hi Applejack...Hello again, Rainbow Dash."

"Hey Fluttershy, Twilight was being pretty serious when she said something came up. We need to get back to her. Right now," said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh okay... Just let me feed Angel and I'll be right out..." she replied softly while moving back inside. The door shut, allowing Rainbow to speak her mind. "Agh, we don't have time for this!" she threw her hooves up and landed on her haunches.

"Calm sown, sug', she'll only be a minute," sighed Applejack.

In 2015, the United States of America had gone to war with Syria to save the public from their dictatorship. The solutions to the problems were as simple as storming offices of government officials or capitols of the country, but the US didn't like simple. They spent more time and money trying to set up bases than any other sort of functioning method of taking down the leaders of Syria...

Mercury considered himself lucky that no other ponies were in the area around him, despite the place being so close to the center of Ponyville.

"Look... I have to be going," he said, trying to get the pink pony to stop asking questions, though he wasn't responding to any of them. She frowned and stopped bouncing around.

For the past minute and a half, Pinkie was dominating the conversation while Rarity just stood stiff and judged the creature in front of her for all he was worth. There was no way she would just let Mercury leave without understanding what he was doing in Ponyville, "Where are you from?"

"Well, you clearly aren't as manipulative..." Mercury groaned.

Mercury really just wanted Hazel to intervene soon, so he employed stalling. He relied on subject changes and double talk to put the conversation through circles.

Pinkie directed her head at each speaker successively when one spoke, Rarity asking the questions and Mercury responding. She gradually curved her lips into a smile and pointed to the speaker. Her actions quickly excelled from jump to the side of who was speaking to performing cartwheels and other little stunts. Hazel tilted her head in confusion while watching the whole bizarre thing unravel.

She came back to her senses when radio static playing through the earpieces, *-S-wa-pping channels... Bravo, what's it look like over there?* asked Bellhop.

*Oh, uh... We're caught...* sighed Hazel.

*What!?* He nearly barked.

*Quiet for a sec, please, Alex...* she asked softly.

He complied by not responding as she asked. Mercury ignored one of the white pony's questions to complain at the circumstance, *Hazel, you need t' toss it now. I only need a couple seconds.*

*I'll see what I can do... Just get over here, sir.*

Bellhop groaned and rubbed his face again, *we need to get to them. We'll beat these three back to Ponyville; it doesn't look like they're going anywhere soon. Let's see if we can't get Bradley out of this mess.*

While cloaked, Hazel peaked out from behind her bush to draw up her carbonated beverage. She thought about how the device would react to her quick arm action when throwing it, maybe a light toss was in order.

Rarity must have caught on to what Mercury was pulling as her questions became more and more specific. Pinkie giggled at a couple of the responses. "How many of you are there in Ponyville?"

"Just me; I can only be one person at any given time," he smirked.

"Have you come here with others?" she stammered.

"I came here with you two, didn't I?"

She grew very annoyed at Mercury's stalling. The medic was having a great time as a matter of fact. He enjoyed pissing people off, whether they were from another realm or not. Rarity sighed, then a clanking sound made her ears twitch. The ponies redirected their attention at noise almost immediately to investigate.

Mercury used the few seconds granted to quickly restart his cloak and roll next to a shrub. Pinkie Pie was the first to notice that he was no longer present. She bounced for dramatic effect and looked left and right, "Hey! Where'd he go? Are we playing hide and seek, Mister Braid?" She then tuckered down and covered her eyes with her hooves, "What should I count to? I'll start now! One, two-"

"Pinkie, darling, he never left. He's on the ground right there," Rarity said while pointing a hoof to a patch of grass. Mercury felt his heart well up in his throat.

Pinkie was confused, "Rarity, there's nopony there, silly."

"Well not to you, but his presence is clear to yours truly."

"Are you fucking serious?" he thought to himself.

"The game is up, dear. Just answer my question please. Are you alone? Wait... is there another in the bush there?" asked Rarity. Mercury heard a hint of panic in the last sentence, which worried him. Now the ponies were staring right at Sherry and the white pony pointed a hoof in her direction.

Thinking up something quickly, he disabled the device. One: it didn't seem to have an effect on Rarity when she was actually searching for them. Two: he didn't want them figuring everything out. When he gained their attention again; he stood up and sighed. Mercury didn't want to answer this yet, but his options were slim, "Look, just... don't tell anyone that you saw me, I need to-"

The interrogator vanished into a bush suddenly, Pinkie Pie as well. He figured it was Bellhop. Mercury chuckled at the look on Rarity's face he remembered her having. He decided to go along with the new turn of events and start his cloak to hide. He went prone to rest easy beside a bush and spoke in a concerned tone, *what now?*

*Keep them the bushes. The others will be passing by soon, don't let it rustle too much. I have a plan,* Bellhop whispered quickly. Hazel had a hard time trying to keep Pinkie Pie from squirming and mumbling something incoherently with wide eyes. Spade had an easier time keeping Rarity quiet, for she froze up in fear. At least it answered her question.

Bellhop explained his plan and how to perform it while waiting on the ponies from Fluttershy's cottage to return. The squad confirmed that they knew what to do and waited.

After another minute or so, the three mares moved past the shrubs without any suspicion and made it to the library. Rainbow Dash pushed the door open with ease and held it open for the other two while puffing out her chest. Applejack rolled her eyes and trotted on in while Fluttershy stopped momentarily to utter a timid "Thank you".

Bellhop quickly perked his head around to check for any wandering towns ponies. For some odd reason; there were none that he could see in the premise. Maybe they just didn't like to read... Regardless, Onyx had to take action to keep their stealth a factor over the course of this mission, *Move up. Now.*

The Captain and Mercury drew up their weapons, preparing to enter the library. They stacked on both sides of the entrance while their pony wielding team mates scratched against the shrubs coming out.

Rarity took notice that there were indeed more Onyx members and she became mortified when figuring out where they were heading. She couldn't bear the thought of having such people pose a threat to her best friends; something had to be done. Mercury kicked the door in to startle those inside and enter with the Captain right behind him.

Rarity's horn illuminated into a bright blue in Spade's arms. When the light caught his attention, he looked down only to feel immobile a moment later. Spade failed to control his arms as they let go of Rarity. Hazel tilted her head in confusion as Rarity grit her teeth, "A-Alex, I think-"

She hurled Spade into the wall of the tree house while letting out a grunt.  Hazel let go of Pinkie to try and grasp the situation and maybe help her partner, but the pony then bounced two feet into the air, "Oh my gosh! Are you alright mister!?"

That one caused Bellhop to look back and feel his heart fidget an inch out of place when assessing the situation. Rarity looked about ready to do the same thing to Hazel as she had to Spade. With Rarity's back turned, Bellhop quickly jumped to her which made his camouflage undo itself. He whacked her over the head and immediately let his F2000 sag so he could grasp both of her hind legs.

Pinkie Pie gasped loudly at the sight of her friend being hurt, but Hazel scooped her up and covered her quivering mouth. Spade recovered from being plastered against the wall and sulked inside the library with his A-91 drawn. Bellhop started dragging the somewhat conscious pony while Hazel scooted by him to enter.

Bellhop nearly dropped her when someone burst out, "What the hell!? Rarity!" The shouting only made him speed up his actions and quickly got him in the library after Hazel. Spade shut the door while rubbing the side of his head to make some pointless effort to ease the pain from before.

Mercury had his P90 aimed at the shocked group of ponies as Bellhop released Rarity's lower half carefully. She struggled to roll onto her back and stare at her friends in anxiety. The captain eyed all of the concerned faces, and the angered one... Shifting his weight, he grasped his assault rifle from behind just to prepare for any sudden attacks, "Hi there... You're friend here-"

"Who are you!? Why'd you hurt Rarity!?" Applejack shouted while taking a charging stance. The five words Bellhop managed before her yelling was all she needed to know Onyx would understand her.

"We're a research team made up of military personnel funded by the United States of America. We were trying to do this undetected, but one of our-"

"For Celestia's sake, let her go!" Rainbow Dash yelled. She pointed at Hazel, but more likely at the pink pony with worried eyes staring back at her.

"Whatever you say..." Bellhop said while gazing back over to Hazel.

Hazel released her pony captive. Pinkie, still a bit shaken up by the whole ordeal, kept swapping looks between Onyx and her pastel friends. Pinkie and Rarity remained unsure of what to do. Spade sighed and knelt down to the white pony that whipped him into the tree only moments ago, "No need to be afraid; you can go to your friends now."

Twilight cocked her head slightly when hearing the Russian member's accent. Rarity, though confused, nodded in return and sulked her way over to the ponies. Pinkie Pie, however, stayed on the same side of the room. Bellhop attempted to continue, "sorry for the intrusion, but we can't risk attracting more attention at the moment. We're sorry for scaring your friends too. One of our members had stumbled over Pinkie Pie here. With no-"

"H-how do you know our names? You weren't near your friend when we were questioning him," Rarity worriedly asked while Fluttershy scanned her head for a wound. She also looked around at the operatives, unable to determine which was the one she was questioning only a minute ago. They all looked the same, except for their weapons which they had set aside now.

"Collective intelligence, we communicate using radios. Other than that, we've noticed that your planet is surprisingly similar to ours... Just less... modern," said Bellhop with a lack of a better word for describing their observations.

He shook his head left and right, "Never mind... Look, we'll answer any questions you have later, and I'm sorry I smacked you over the head Rarity..." He then diverted his attention specifically to the purple one. She was still angrily staring right back at the group, her wings flaring to show it.

"We've only been here for a few hours, give or take. Upon investigation, you have a problem. We want to help you, but you need to be able to trust us," Bellhop reminded the team of his suspicions from earlier. "So, What's the issue?"

"You," the purple pony hissed.

"Excuse me?" asked Bellhop.

"You heard me! You're the problem!"

"Elaborate..." the Captain narrowed his eyes.

"You need to go back to where you came from before you hurt anypony else!"

"Anypony," Mercury thought to himself.

"Why? I didn't mean to hurt Rarity. You have to understand though; we can't be discovered to your society quite yet. For now, she's my example. She threw my team mate into a wall before I knocked her over the head," Bellhop protested.

"I would not have hurt your friend if he hadn't handled me so crudely!"

"Again, I'm... sorry, Miss," Spade stared at the floor.

"I... I can't trust you. We were warned of what you do long ago. You're a danger to our society and now I'm asking you to-"

"I don't really think you're being fair to us, Twilight," Spade spoke up.

"Who are you to interrupt!?" she roared.

"One who wants to make amends, friend," he calmly responded while removing his facial gear to show his identity. "We are simply concerned about your issue and we want to help you out if at all possible. My name is Vasily... Or Vas', whatever you prefer. And you are a... eh, unicorn named Twilight, yes?" he asked, trying to sound friendly, though it would be hard for this Russian not to.

"Hel-... lo... Um..." she stuttered while scratching the back of her head. Now that they had the attention of absolutely everyone; Twilight slowly cleared her throat and controlled her tone. Maybe she misjudged them, but the mystery still stood: how would they know of the humans before the humans knew of them?

"Thanks, Spade. I got it from here," Bellhop spoke, "so what's your problem, Twilight?"

"My last name is Sparkle; nice to meet you Vas'... So, is this your team?" Twilight asked Spade; ignoring Bellhop's question like he wasn't important enough to answer.

"Eh... Miss Sparkle, we need to know what the problem you face is first. Once solved, we can talk and share stories and what not. Please, time seems to be of essence, for you were panicking earlier over this," explained Spade.

"Alright. We were going to Canterlot to talk with Celestia. An old threat has come up. And I didn't really mean you guys by the way..." she assured the group, "Anyways, they're called changelings. They can take on the form of anypony for their own personal gain. I'm just worried that they might take one of your forms mostly; you couldn't have arrived at a worse time, Vas'... We're going to Canterlot now, did you want to come along?" she questioned.

"Uh... Captain, I think we should help them. It's the least we could do..." suggested the Russian operative. Everyone, even the equine, stared in confusion. Spade was not the one deciding for the group which Twilight obviously didn't notice. The purple alicorn was about to question before Bellhop made an outburst.

"Wait what? What's with this random shift in priorities?" he asked. "This is reconnaissance, Sergeant. We're here to investigate, explore, and acquire all information we can about this planet. And we're here to do it quietly. Also, where's this Canterlot place anyways?"

"You should be more respectful to your squad leader," Twilight hummed.

"Twilight..." sighed Spade.

"Excuse me? Sorry, Miss Sparkle, but Vas' isn't running this Op," he scolded while making fun of their nicknames as well.

"Oh..." she said in embarrassment, her wings finally receding to a resting position on her sides. Twilight remained curious as to why Spade wouldn't be in charge. Maybe she was just bias towards the Russian, and you couldn't blame her. Spade was the only one coming off as nice so far.

"What exactly are y'all investigatin'?" Applejack saw fit to change the subject to something that wouldn't rile anyone up more.

"Well... You, for lack of a better explanation. Your species, the terrain, basically everything here," explained Hazel.

Pinkie was somehow able to completely forget everything that just happened a minute ago and went back to her cheerful bouncy attitude, "Is it fun? You should make a game out of it! First one to make ten discoveries wins! Oh there'll be prizes! I should get baking. Do you like cupcakes? Do you even have cupcakes in your world? Do you have cake? How-"

"The point I'm trying to make is that we have our objectives," said Bellhop, cutting off Pinkie's ramblings. Shunned from a conversation for the third time, Hazel felt some extent of guilt for the pink pony. Bellhop only wanted to further stress the situation they were in. He understood that they needed help, but he didn't want it to require their exposure.

"Captain, they may be willing to help us with our own research and breaking our presence to the public," said Spade in a calm voice, trying to change his Captain's mind. However, he would have no way of knowing if it were for better or for worse...

"Breaking it to the public?" Bellhop questioned on the verge of slapping someone... He decided it would be Twilight if it came to that.

"They'll find out eventually, sir. Also, a face-t'-face 'd be a bit better for our type a' task, yeah?" Mercury spoke up. He had been staring down Rainbow Dash a moment ago. He only contributed to the poll because he thought the pony was going to yell at him for daring to look in her direction.

Bellhop wouldn't be doing his job if he just accepted this path. However, his radio clicked on mid-thought, *Uh... You guys okay in there?* Clover asked, *you didn't shoot them up, did you?*

He raised a hand up to the ear piece, *No, we're all good here. Just a little misunderstanding. I think you guys should sneak on over here now; these ponies seem a bit more fond of us.*

"Who are you talking at?" Rainbow Dash cocked a brow.

"Two marksmen on stand-by. They'll be here in a minute."

"There're even more of you? That's super! That's even more friends!" exclaimed Pinky Pie. Bellhop rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm; the expression blocked by his visor and mask, and then looked back over Twilight.

Her expression remained a cold stare. Bellhop disliked that stare and scolded it right back from behind his Kevlar. "I don't see what the problem is; you were the one who said you wanted to-"

"Yeah, maybe we would if the problem didn't require us to go to some other town. We aren't a support package for you to-"

"It's not even that far away. But... Twilight, we don't really need these things' help. All they can do is some stupid disappearing act anyways. How's that gonna help with the changelings?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight sighed, "I guess so..." Then she caught Bellhop nodding to his team mates, "But we can't exactly have you running around spying on everypony."

"Why not? We aren't going to-"

"If you get caught, you think they'll just peacefully accept your presence? You tower over us you know. Do you not believe it will scare somepony and cause them to form a mob of some sort?" Rarity scoffed.

"Even if you weirdos could face us, which I doubt, 'cause I'll be helping anypony kick your tails back to where you came from; I bet you'd feel awful knowing that you hurt innocent towns ponies," Rainbow Dash added.

"I think you're all better off just helping us out here, we can tell ya all about our society n' stuff," Applejack chimed in. She then narrowed her eyes at Bellhop, "'summin y'all don't try n' hurt us again."

"Fine... Where did you want us to go?"

"Nowhere with that attitude," she said. A smile crept on to her face, now satisfied with her self-granted authority over Onyx.

Bellhop buried his face in his palm while moving to the door, "Right well, Vas', you keep this going. I'm waiting outside for Clover and Ingot."

Twilight's horn shimmered in a light purple and slammed the door shut after Bellhop opened it slightly. "So that isn't for show either..." he thought, now understanding that such a childish thing like magic was very real in this realm. It also let him fully understand how Spade was hurt before coming in the library.

He groaned at the mare's new found aggression and confidence. She must have thought she could manipulate the soldiers for a bit. The squad leader would make sure this was not the case through examples in the future... For now though, he would play along...

"Look, we'll help you."

"We leave after we eat," Twilight demanded while perking her nose up like a noble would when passing by peasants. "How many tagged along with your group anyways? Will they get here soon?"

"Just two... That makes us a team of six. We call ourselves Onyx, and you should consider yourselves lucky, no one's supposed to know we exist..."

"Pft, right. With your stealth effort; it's really surprising all of Ponyville doesn't know your here," Rainbow Dash said while rolling her eyes.

Onyx's active camouflage abilities make stealth missions a task of ease. The armor still does have its limits however. If a soldier were to collide with an object at too great a force, or moves too quickly; the camo is disoriented and disabled automatically. It is a revolutionary advancement in technological warfare...

-3:07 PM

A little after the turn of the hour; the ponies and soldiers were chatting together in the library. Clover and Ingot made their way inside undetected from other civilians in Ponyville. Hazel also used the resting point to recover her carbonated and artificially flavored beverage. They used the time to eat as Twilight suggested (demanded) while tossing questions back and forth. One group had a nice palette of vegetables and fruit while Onyx was nurturing themselves to packets of multi-grain powder and water.

Clover secluded herself from the group mostly to speak with Fluttershy while everyone and everypony else talked to each other. The topic, focused more on technology, was ultimately one sided. The world of ponies wasn't exactly researching other planets themselves anytime soon...

"You just respawn if you get killed?" asked Twilight to Ingot's statements.

"Yeah, lots of programming and stuff goes into it," Ingot replied.

"Do you have to power the devices manually as you play them? It must be hard to concentrate magic and play the game at the same time," Rarity asked quizzically.

"It's powered using electricity" Hazel spoke to reassure the fascinated ponies "Which is kind of like magic, now that I think of it..." she said looking around "God knows how they figure this stuff out..."

A pause...

"God?" asked several puzzled equine.

Hazel noticed her mistake while Bellhop scolded her silently. The mistake being her defiance to the briefing message which told them specifically not to incorporate any personal beliefs into this world. "N-never mind. Forget I ever said it..." she attempted to convince them. It would suffice for most of them, but Twilight intended to learn as much as she could.

"Please continue, I want to know mo-"

"We would prefer not to. We were told not to influence our own beliefs on your world. Over time, it has actually been the cause of some wars where we come from. It's for your own benefit, Miss Sparkle," said Spade, desperately trying to get their minds off of that subject.

"Oh, alright..." she sighed.

"But enough about us. Uh... How come you're the only we saw with wings and a horn?" Spade said, pointing to Twilight. "We've only been here for a little while, but I can't remember seeing others with both."

"'Cause she's a princess, silly," Pinkie Pie playfully guided their wonders in the correct direction.

"A princess?" asked Ingot, "like there are more given the title than just her?"

"But of course! There's our beloved Celestia, goddess of the sun. Her sister Luna, manipulator of the moon. And-" Rarity trailed off before being interrupted.

"Wait, are you sure her name's not Sol then? Luna is Latin for the moon, so wouldn't Celestia's name really be Sol?" Hazel asked quizzically.

"What the heck is Latin?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

"The root of the very language you speak now, thanks for noticing," the female guide added.

"So, as Rarity was saying before we had trailed off into the abyss known as history..." Mercury said, attempting to let the white unicorn speak. He pointed a finger to her to silently gesture "You may continue".

"Well, I can't entirely remember how it came to be, but through a series of challenges, our dear friend Twilight became a princess," Rarity smiled, trying her best to make Twilight look amazing. "But there was no doubt of it coming to be really, she was and still is the protégé of her majesty, Celestia."

"Cool stuff, huh Cap'?" Spade asked with a beaming close-mouthed smile when looking over to his superior. Bellhop rolled his eyes; he couldn't shake the feeling of childishness out of the situation. They were ponies for peace's sake, not gods nor rulers. He didn't have room to complain however, for this was his mission for the next 15 days...

"How are we arriving?" asked Bellhop. He figured they were ready since most of the dishes or food packs were empty.

"Not that far a walk... Only twenty-six kilometers or so... Assuming this is equally scaled all around," suggested Hazel as she examined a map of what appeared to be the land of Equestria. Twilight gave her the map of course, for the pony wanted them informed of their destination. "Hey, you think I could keep this? It might-"

"Nope," Twilight shook her head with a dopey smile. Hazel raised a brow and set the parchment aside. She pulled out her own map provided by Golf squad and used Twilight's as a reference to sketch a new one on the back. Hazel diligently worked to prove her worth as a guide while the others would wait on her.

"What'sa Kilometer?" Rainbow Dash questioned and pulled attention away from the combatant.

"Disregard it, it's pretty far away though," Ingot chuckled.

"We're using a train," Twilight explained.

"Public transport?" questioned Spade.

"Yes, Vas'" she said to reassure the Russian.

Bellhop sighed at the lack of organization going on, "isn't public transport a little bit risky considering we're on a stealth mission?" he reminded them rather harshly.

"Ugh, all this again?" Twilight groaned.

"You said we wouldn't have to be compro-!"

"And if you're coming there with us; then nopony will think you're killers or a threat. We're well respected ponies I'll have you know, Smith," Twilight said while rolling her eyes. She then half-lidded her eyes and raised her brows to prompt a "Get it, dumbass?" expression, "Also, I thought you wanted to help us."

"We did say that, Cap'. Also, the stealth thing doesn't sound like it'll work forever, whether we help 'em or not," Ingot said softly.

"It doesn't have to work forever, just for 15 days," Bellhop protested.

Mercury chimed in, "Sir, maybe it's just better that we reveal ourselves now rather than get blamed for shit later and-"

"Language!" pestered Twilight, flexing a hoof at the offender.

"Sorry, love." sighed Mercury in response. He was still getting used to the idea that he was going to be investigating a world clearly created out of the mind of an eight year old girl. Twilight distracted his thoughts with an outburst.

"W-what!? You love me?" Twilight grimaced.

"It's just an expression, calm down... Love," he chuckled.

She raised a brow and looked back over to Bellhop, waiting for the banter to cease. Mercury picked up on his point from before, "Anyways, we should just reveal ourselves now to prevent getting blamed for stuff..." he nodded at Twilight, "later and they don't want to listen."

"Defying orders, great plan," Bellhop replied while rolling his eyes.

Clover stopped conversing with Fluttershy to speak her mind. growing a bit tired of Bellhop's reluctance towards reason, "Defying orders would be gunning down civilians who try to kill us out of confusion. It would be in our best interest to make a good impression now."

Her new pony friend shyly restated to ensure the response they had hoped for,

"Yes... It would be better that way... Mister Bellhop."

He sighed again while swiping his hair back. There is no point in arguing when everyone is against you. Unfortunately, this always seemed to be the case based on his experiences as a leader... "Fine, as long as none of these people freak out then... Also, Fluttershy, just call me Alex... 'We going now?"

"Yes. Just stick with us on the way to the station. Nopony will think you're savages this way," Twilight explained while heading towards the door.