Applejack looked at the bars that made up the door of the cell she had been placed in. The humans, as they called themselves, were very polite and said that this was primarily for the safety of the three Equestrians.

“This sucks.”

Applejack looked over at the cell across the way where Flash Sentry was put up.

“Well, it’s not like they had many options there sugarcube. Not like they coulda put us up in some fancy-smancy hotel someplace.” She said.

“She’s right Lieutenant. Now quit your belly aching. At least we’re alive. They could have taken us to some lab to be studied.” Shining Armour replied from the cot in his cell as he was reading one of the books that had been provided to them. “Plus the doors are unlocked and they gave us something to read.”

“Doesn’t that strike you as odd sir? I would have thought that they would keep us locked up tight.” Flash replied.

“Don’t question it too much Flash. You’ll only strain something.” Applejack replied as she lay back and covered her eyes with her stetson.

Before Flash could retort the main door to the cell block opened.

“Thank you Corporal, I’m going to be a bit so go ahead and lock up. I’ll wave when I’m done.” A rough, but familiar voice said.

“Yes ma’am.” The Corporal outside replied as they shut the door.

The three Equestrians looked out of the cells to see a figure with lavender wings and a horn looking at them with an exasperated expression on their face.

The alicorn rubbed the bridge of her nose before speaking.

“What in the name of Celestia’s warm, pillowy tits are you three doing here?” Twilight asked.

The three Equestrians were speechless. One, because Twilight was alive and in front of them and two because of her colorful phrasing.

Shining Armour was the first to gather his wits. “Twily!” He exclaimed as he tackled her in a hug.

When she had recovered her breath, Twilight returned the hug and replied. “Hey BBBFF. I take it that you missed me with all that liquid pride going every where.”

Shining stepped back and nodded as he wiped his eyes.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “ya big sap.” She groused before turning to Applejack. “Hey AJ, how’s the family?”

Applejack shook her head. “They’re good.Granny’s still stubborn as all get out, Mac joined the army, and Bloom is still looking for her special talent.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to have a house when I get home am I?”

“No, we’ve been able to keep the property damage to a minimum. The mayor sat all three of them down and told them that anymore hijinks that result in damage outside of the farm and the Everfree was going to wind them up in the clink.” Applejack replied in an exasperated tone.

Twilight smirked knowingly. “How many times?”

“Twice.”

The two mares shared a chuckle.

Twilight turned to the last member of the group. “So how have you been Sentry?”

“Fi...fine Your Highness.” The pegasus stammered out.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t call the stallion out.

Shining cleared his throat. “Anyways, as to why we are here, Princess Luna sent us.”

“Luna, how did she know where to send you?” Twilight asked. “You were only about fifty miles or so off target. Not too bad considering she was firing blind.”

“The Princess said she felt something about a week ago now. Like a…” Applejack started to explain before Twilight interrupted.

“Like a magic surge.” She said as she rubbed her brow.

“Yeah. How did ya know?” Applejack asked.

“Because the last of whatever Discord did came undone last week and I surged. Thankfully I was outside at the time.” Twilight replied, skillfully spinning her tale. She didn’t want to many questions from the brass that were watching and listening.

“So why are you here? Did they capture you too sis?” Shining asked.

Twilight smirked. “Please, I came in through the main gate and walked right into headquarters. Granted the Colonel was pretty surprised, but I worked with him when I was an engineer, might have been years ago, but it helped.”

“So you know the person in charge?” Flash inquired.

“Eeyup. He was my company commander before I was recruited to Special Forces. He was so pissed when I left.” Twilight said with an air of nostalgia.

“Did they not tell him that they were taking you?” Applejack asked, ignoring her friend’s rough language.

“Oh, yeah they told him. He was just upset that he was losing a good Sapper. Not to big a career field. Not to many people are really cut out for what we do.” Twilight replied.

“Whats a ‘Sapper’?” Shining asked.

Twilight put on a vicious smirk. “Buildings, roads, railways, dams, bridges, and any other bit of infrastructure that you can think of, Sappers, or Combat Engineers as they are officially called, make it go away.”

“What do you mean ‘go away’?” Flash inquired.

“I mean, that there is no problem that cannot be solved with the proper application of high explosives.”

The three Equestrians stared at her for a moment. Her smirk widened at the slowly dawning looks of realization crossed their faces.

“That’s right! I’m a DEMOMARE!” Twilight shouted in a Scottish accent as an eye patch and red bandana appeared on her head in a flash of magic.

The response was a shift from realization to one of dumbfounded confusion.

Twilight frowned as her headwear shifted to a side snap hat and a hunting vest appeared in another flash of magic.

“Plebeians.” She muttered in an Australian accent.

As she sat watching her friends and brother sink deeper into confusion, she remembered something that Applejack had mentioned.

“When and why did Big Macintosh join the Army?” She inquired.

Applejack shook her head to clear the cobwebs at the non-sequitur.

“About a year ago. That was when the Liger Nation started attacking its neighbors.” The farm mare replied.

“You mean Ligerländreien?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, no offense to them, but I’m a bit rusty on my Germane.” Applejack replied.

“Sprechen die Deutsch?” Twilight asked.

“Ein wenig.” Applejack replied out of instinct.

“Sounds pretty good to me. Twilight replied, switching back to English. “So how long have I been gone and is it public knowledge that you guys are here?” She asked.

“Twily, it’s been almost two and a half years since we thought you had been killed by Discord. About six months after that is when the Ligers started to invade the surrounding nations. They have pretty well over run the entire Eastern Continent and have been making threats to Equestria and the Crystal Empire.” Shining explained.

“Wow, someone is really touched in the head. It wasn’t the Elements of Harmony that made the Sisters so powerful.” Twilight said before shaking her head. “What has been done to prepare for the eventuality of this stupidity reaching Equestria?”

“What do you mean your Highness?” Flash inquired, speaking up for the first time in several minutes.

“You know, things like recruitment, training, and production of arms and armour.” Twilight responded.

“Well, recruitment has gone up, but I think that is just nationalism more than anything. Also, Princess Celestia has stated that we will be doing things diplomatically.” Shining replied.

Twilight’s right eye started to twitch. “ So no new and improved weapons, ships or aircraft?”

“No, why would we need that?” Flash asked.

Twilight face palmed.

The door to the cellblock opened and the base commander walked in.

“Your leader seems very naive.” He said.

“No she isn’t. This is more of complacency. The last war that Equestria fought was over seven centuries ago. Also, there is the fact that she controls Terra’s solar cycle. Most people are not stupid enough to mess with something good. But it seems that Discord was able to pull it off.” Twilight replied as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

The Colonel thought about it for a moment. “You raise a good point Sparks. Is there anything that I can do to help you out?”

“Just like that no questions asked?” Twilight replied as she looked up, a brow raised.

“Within reason Sergeant.” The Colonel replied with a deadpan look at the alicorn.

Twilight crossed her arms and huffed. “ I swear, you ask for fifty pounds of C-4 because EOD asks you to help destroy a weapons cache and you never get to live it down.”

“We felt that blast nearly twenty miles away.” The Colonel replied.

“Your point being? We go rid of the cache and the facility. So assets were denied to the enemy.” Twilight retorted.

“As well as the surrounding desert for about a half a mile or so.” The Colonel replied.

“I wanted to make sure that we got it all. And so did EOD.” She replied with a shrug.

“That’s why I took away your C-4 privileges for a month.”

“I said it then, and I will say it again. Totally worth it.”

“Sergeant, you are insane.”

“Just realizing this now Colonel? Anyways, I would like to request as much of my old kit from when I was both a Sapper and in Special Forces. I would also like to see if I can get a hold of some old schematics and plans.” Twilight replied.

“How old are we talking here?” The Colonel asked.

“The Forties. As many designs that are still around, since they weren’t real big on preserving things back in the day.” She responded.

“We’re talking about everything that we used in the War aren’t we?”

“Pretty much. As many of the plans for the bulk of the ships, aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles and weapons that you can scrounge up would be appreciated.” Twilight said.

“Are we including the Manhattan Project?” He asked seriously.

“No sir. Though it ended the war with less bloodshed than there would have been had we not had it, the resulting technology has caused way more problems than it solved.” Twilight replied. “Plus if I did want such a device, I could easily find plans for it on the web. The original discovery was a matter of science after all. Hard to keep it a secret.” She added.

“Good point Sparks. Get my aide that list if you can before you leave and I will see what I can do.” The Colonel replied as he headed out of the room.

Grabbing a notebook and pen that were sitting on the table near the door, Twilight began quickly writing down all the information of the materials that she was wanting. Soon she was finished with the four pages of materials and documents that she was requesting. Tearing them out of the notebook, she headed for the door.

“Hey Corporal, open up!” She hollered as she knocked on the door.

The door was swiftly opened.

“Thanks. Now is the Colonel’s aide still here? I need to give something to her.” She asked the young soldier.

“She is probably in the control room ma’am.” He replied.

Twilight nodded before turning to the other three.

“Alright, grab whatever kit they let you keep while you were in here. You can get the rest before I meet you on the backside of the building.” Twilight said as she retracted her wings and horn. Noticing the looks, she explained.

“I think that it is an alicorn trick to be able to disguise ourselves. I can switch between all four forms now that I have had a bit of practice doing it. My Earther form is just a lot more comfortable when I am trying to hide my identity.”

Getting nods of understanding, she motioned for them to follow her. “Lead the way Corporal.” She said to the soldier.

Soon the group reached the control room. Spotting the Colonel’s aide, Twilight headed over to the Major.

“Ma’am, here is the list of materials that the Colonel was wanting.” She said as she handed the list over.

“Thank you Sergeant. I’ll take these to him now. He said that you would be taking responsibility for our guests.” The Major said as she placed the list in her briefcase.

“That’s correct. I was going to have them grab their kit and meet me on the loading dock. The Colonel and I figured that it would be less conspicuous and it would allow us to head to the back gate to avoid the press.” Twilight replied as she pulled on her hoodie that she had left in the control room when she had arrived.

The Major nodded. “Decent escape plan. After that?”

“Head home, maybe get something to eat, hit the rack for a few hours, and then get caught up on the current events on Terra. After that, then I can bring them up to speed on the about the last hundred years of human history.” The alicorn replied.

“Documentaries?”

“Mostly. I’ve got a decent library of them. Better than some of the movies. Gods know how Hollywood loves to embellish.” Twilight replied with an eye roll.

“And your story? How much of that was embellished?” The Major asked with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight leveled a glare at the officer. “That is not exactly fair. The show and movies were toned down for kids and glossed over or left out a lot of things. Also thank you very much, now I have to explain that to them. “ Twilight said with a groan.

“You’re welcome. I’ll just be heading to the Colonel’s office to drop this list off. Good night and good luck Sargeant.” The Major replied in a tone that made Twilight’s eye twitch.

Sighing, she turned to her companions. “ I will meet y’all on the loading docking. Go with the Corporal here and grab your gear. I am in need of some shut eye.”

The three nodded and followed the soldier to the vault.

Pulling up her hood, Twilight headed out to her car.

Getting into her car she pulled out her phone and headset. Taking a deep breath she called Jes as she started the engine.

“Twilight, you’re okay!” Jes said once she picked up.

“I’m fine hun. Just got caught up in spinning some stories.” Twilight replied as she backed out of the parking space.

“So you feed them a line of bull?” Jes asked.

“More like strung together a bunch of half truths. To many ears for the whole truth.” Twilight said as she pulled around the back side of the building. “By the way I will bringing guests home.” She finished as she parked.

“They got pawned off on ya?” The other woman inquired.

“Kinda. I think the base commander wanted them gone. Less headaches for him. I was going to offer to take them off his hands anyways.” Twilight replied. “Be kind of a dick move to leave them sitting in the brig while I come home to a nice soft bed.”

“That is true. Shall I make sure that the guestrooms are ready to go?”

“If you would be so kind. They are coming out now. I’ll talk to you soon.” Twilight replied as she got out of the car to help load.

“Okay, I love you and be safe.” Jes replied.

“I love you too and I will.” Twilight responded before ending the call and opening the rear cargo hatch.

“So who was that?” Shining Armour asked, a teasing glint in his eye.

Twilight smirked. “That...is a secret.” She said, raising her index finger and closing her eyes.

The look of disappointment on Shining’s face made Twilight and the others laugh.

“Not gonna let you take the piss out on me that easily Shiny.” The alicorn in disguise said with a smirk.

Shining just harrumphed in in disappointment. “Forgive me for being happy that my little sis isn’t going to be some spinster.”

“I suppose. Though I’m not going to be some crazy old cat lady.” Twilight said as she checked to make sure all the bags secure before closing the hatch. “Alright, everybody in.” She said as she moved to the driver’s door.

Once the Equestrians got in, Twilight then had to do something that she never thought she would have to do.

Explain how to use a seatbelt.

Several minutes and facepalms later, the foursome was on the road following a Military Police 4X4.

“So why are we goin’ this way?” Applejack inquired as they bounced around on the rough dirt road.

“Because, the main gates are being watched by the media. No way in hell could we get out of here clean if we went that way. The gate we are going to is a gate that the engineers use when they have to do work on the outside of the base, or need to do training. Other than them and the MPs, hardly anyone knows it is here. Plus I was told that they were doing a decoy movement to the helos so everyone will be looking towards the airfield.” Twilight explained as they passed through the perimeter gate.

Turning onto an old service road, Twilight dropped the car into a higher gear and took off.

“So basically we pulled the wool over their eyes.” Applejack replied.

“Yup. The media here is worse that in Equestria. They have a tendency to spin things in the worst possible light. Plus they stick their collective noses in where they don’t belong.” Twilight said with a sneer.

“Like where?” Flash inquired.

“Private lives of anyone who has gotten in the limelight mostly, but also in military operations. Both of those rankle me something fierce. On one hand, you never stop hearing about who is dating who, who got a divorce, who got a sexy change, or who has been behaving badly this week. Then you have them wanting complete transparency in military operations. It makes it very hard to do any kind of clandestine operations that would disrupt the enemy’s ability to fight. They weren’t satisfied taking what the public affairs would give them.” Twilight replied as she came to a stop at a T-intersection.

Twilight looked to the right and saw a mass of lights. Turning left, she quickly headed away from the base. Once they had put a few miles between them and the base, she let herself relax a bit.

Hearing her sigh, Flash spoke up. “Everything alright ma’am?”

“Given the circumstances, things are just peachy.” Twilight replied before grimacing.

“What was that look for?” Shining asked.

Twilight groaned. This was something that she had hoped to avoid.

“Do you remember the comment that the Major made before she left?” Twilight asked. Getting nods from the other three she continued. “Okay, before I explain what the both of us meant, I want you to understand that until you three showed up Equestria was a magical land from a little girl’s cartoon that wound up having a major adult male following. It has good lessons, relatable characters, and a questionable fandom. A good majority of the fandom writes fan fiction. Unlike Equestria, they can share these stories with millions. Most are pretty good, some suffer from poor writing abilities, others just have subject matter that should never have left the author’s head. The cartoon centers around a young unicorn mare who had her head buried in the books until her teacher, the immortal Princess of the Sun, sends her to make friends. The mare and her new friends go on to purge a Nightmare that had possessed the Princess’s younger sister for a thousand years prior.”

“So you mean to tell us that our adventures are the subject of a cartoon?” Applejack asked.

“Eeyup.” Twilight replied in a nearly spot on impression of Applejack’s older brother. “But it glosses over a lot of stuff and everything is made kid friendly. So the full details of the sleepover and the end of cider season are known only to the ones who were there.”

“Do I even want to know?” Shining asked with a groan.

“What happened?” Flash asked.

“As amusing as it would be to watch my brother squirm, we Pinkie Pie Promised to keep the details of both incidents secret. I, for one, have absolutely no desire to get on Pinkie’s bad side.” Twilight replied with a slight shudder.

Shining looked relieved while Flash just looked disappointed. Applejack noticed and smacked him on the back of the head.

Having glanced in the rearview mirror at the right time, Twilight snickered. She then slowed down to make the turn into the driveway to her house. A few minutes later they had pulled up to the house.

“It’s not much, but it’s home.” Twilight said as she hit the garage door opener.

Seeing the looks on the faces of the other three watch the door rise up made Twilight chuckle as she shook her head.

‘Clarke was right.’ She thought. ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is magic to any who do not have a frame of reference for it.’

Author's Note

Sorry for the long delay, but I have been distracted by Fallout 4. I hope to get a the rest of the chapters that I have already written typed up and posted soon.