“So, Kara. What’s it like where you come from?” Twilight asked. The eight were walking along the streets of Canterlot towards the Castle, ponies sometimes stopping to give the human odd glances, but going about their day when they noticed the Elements of Harmony alongside.

“Hell.” Kara responded flatly. Twilight choked on her next words, as the others gave Kara looks ranging from curious to horrified. “S-surely it can’t be that bad, can it darling?” Asked Rarity.

“No, it really is that bad. Humanity blew the world up.” Kara answered, in the same emotionless tone, before switching to a more confident one. “But, we didn’t blow ourselves up. Just everything else. Humanity’s still surviving!” Then she went into a dark, angry-sounding voice. “But, people are idiotic sons of bitches. Tell me,” She stopped, swinging around to face the six ponies and one dragon. “Have you ever seen a corpse, stripped of everything, even it’s clothes, mutilated beyond belief, and hung up as decoration??” Rarity’s face went green, as did multiple ponies who had overheard, Fluttershy was trying to turn herself into a singularity, Rainbow had just stopped in midair, staring at the woman before her, Applejack stared, able to tell that Kara wasn’t lying and had seen such a horrible thing, Twilight had a manic twitch in her eye, and Spike let out a gasp.

Pinkie, while her mane and tail had gone flat, signifying she had heard, just stood there, showing no other reaction. Kara stopped, looked around at all the motionless ponies, before asking Michael “Bit much?”

“Yep.”

“Damnit.” She looked at the still unmoving horses. “I broke them, didn’t I?”

“Looks like it.”

“Damnit.” She said again. She waited a few more seconds, before picking the Main 6 and Spike up manually, and continued on her way.

5 minutes later or something

By now, the ponies had regained function and were walking along the path beside Kara again. They didn’t dare talk to her, now knowing the kind of things the human had faced. How could people be so twisted? When they reached the castle gates, two guardsponies stepped into her path. She replied with a simple “Fuck off.” and continued walking. When they didn’t move, she stopped, looked at them, and unholstered the odd red and silver device from her hip. She pointed it at a nearby plant. They looked from her, the device, and the plant, and back again. She pulled the trigger.

With a loud fizzling, screeching noise, a ball of blue energy shot out of the device’s tip. It hit the plant, and the foliage burst into flame. Kara raised an eyebrow at the guards, not that it was visible underneath her sunglasses, and watched as… they didn’t move. She blinked. “Huh. Even though you saw that, you still stand up to me? Hmm…” She thought about this for a few seconds, all ponies in the area getting increasingly uncomfortable, before she completely dropped the serious tone and started talking in a far more jovial voice. “I like you. But seriously, get outta the way.” When they still didn’t move, she whistled. “Okay, mildly impressed, but did you not see who’s behind me?” She gestured to Twilight and Co., causing the guards to finally register that they were blocking royalty and scramble to the side. “Thanks. I’ll see if I can get you a raise. Wait, Twilight, what currency do they use here?” Kara asked, as she walked inside. “Oh! Well, we use little coins called Bits…” The voices faded away as the door slammed shut. Both guards blinked, looked at each other, and promptly fainted.

Starbutt’s Throne Room

“Blueblood, please. The alien is not a threat. Even if she was, she’s currently bed-ridden in Canterlot Hospital, and-“ The door to the throne room suddenly emitted a series of frantic knocks, as if the pony doing the knocking was in a panicked state. “One moment.” Celestia told the noble in front of her, before getting down from the throne and walking over to the door. Before she could open it, however, it slammed open, a power-armoured figure charging through. Blueblood screamed, and ran out of the room. Kara stood up amid the dust cloud, looking down at her feet and noticing the prone figure of Spike. He had been the one to knock before her entrance, and she had bowled him over. She picked him up, set him upright, and turned to look at the bemused Princess of the Sun. “Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s… All right. Honestly, I was expecting you to still be asleep an hour from now, considering how powerfully your vehicle crashed.”

“Ah, yes. Gamma. How is it?” Michael asked, ignoring the odd look Celestia cast around.

“Who was that?” The Sun Goddess asked, her eyes flicking from corner to corner.

“That was me, Your Highness. The armor.” She stared at the metal suit, before stating a single word.

“What?”

“Well-“ Kara began, before being cut off by the Main 6 bursting into the room.

“I’msosorryPrincesswejustcouldn’tstopherand-“ Twilight rambled, before Celestia calmly closed her mouth.

“Do not worry, Twilight. She has not harmed me, and I do not believe she wishes to.” Celestia carefully told the lavender alicorn, before turning back to Kara. “You were saying?”

“Well, it’s something like this…” Kara continued, proceeding to explain exactly how Michael worked, and then how they arrived after being reassured that Gamma was untampered with. “So, yeah. That’s pretty much what we did.”

“Interesting. So you managed to take control of an alien ship, then took one of the scout craft for a test fly?”

“Yup.”

“Tell me. What is your world like? Luna has told me that it’s horrible,”

“Horrible’s an understatement.”

“but I wish to know details.” Celestia continued, ignoring the interruption.

“All right. I’ll give you a name.”

“Deathclaws.”

Kara proceeded to explain what a Deathclaw was. How they could end lives in single swipes. How they operated on a mix of intelligence and instinct. How even this was one of the lesser evils of the Wasteland.

Needless to say, the ponies had much the same effect as they did in the street outside. Twilight managed to croak out a whisper. “I see now what you meant when you called it Hell…”

Celestia still appeared unfazed. “It seems you have quite the demons at home, Kara.”

“Demons? Nah. One of my friends deals with them. Luckily nobody launched nukes at Mars, so he’s doing fine.” Kara responded, back to her normal, carefree tone. It unnerved the others how she could talk about such things so casually.

“Anyway!” Kara yelled, startling everypony else. “I wanna explore!” And she barged out again. Out the window.

Author's Note

Just so you know, Michael doesn't actually talk much. He generally just alerts Kara to hostiles, argues with her occasionally, and otherwise stays quiet.

...I was going to tell you something else, but I've forgotten.

Damnit.