As the three fillies, surrounded by the cloaked Ghosts, walked through Ponyville, Gates and his team were busy documenting everything through their Cross-coms. Though they were primarily taking photos, Adams was recording a constant video feed for future reference.

"Hey, Scoots?" Gates asked through the radio.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"How many of your kind live in this town?" he asked.

"I'd say about one hundred." she replied. "Ponyville's pretty small, but we don't mind."

"I see." Gates replied. "What kind of welcome can we expect from this Princess Twilight?"

"A good one, she's really nice." Scootaloo said. "Though she is, as Applebloom's Granny would say, long-winded."

"She talks a lot?"

"Yep." Scootaloo said. "She could talk forever if you let her."

As the Ghost chuckled under his breath, he felt at ease, as if this world was somehow affecting him and his state of mind.

"Here we are!" Scootaloo said as they stopped at the entrance to Twilight's Castle. "I'll get the door."

"Roger that." Gates said. "Hey, can I get that radio back now?"

Scootaloo stiffened as Gates removed the earpiece, and moved back with a thumbs-up. As Scootaloo knocked on the door, a female pony with a horn and wings answered.

"Hey, you three." she said. "What's up?"

"Twilight, can we talk to you for a bit?" Scootaloo asked. "We need some non-cutie mark hunting related advice."

"Sure, come on in."

As Scootaloo and her friends followed Twilight into the Castle, Gates held the door open for he and his team to bring up the rear. Sneaking into the foyer, they stood still inside a small room to listen in.

===

"So, what kind of advice do you need?" Twilight asked once they were all seated.

"Twilight, you've dealt with like...ghosts, right?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, I've heard stories, but why do you ask?" Twilight said, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I saw a Ghost pour water on Diamond Tiara during school today." Scootaloo said. "When she was teasing me, it opened the window and dumped a full canteen on her. As I saw it leave, it saluted me."

That made Twilight startle a bit.

"That's something." Twilight said. "I'm afraid that I'm not exactly well-versed in paranormal occurrences, but tell me everything you can."

"Well, that's when things get kinda...tough to explain." Scootaloo said. "We talked to them, and.."

"And what?" Twilight inquired. "Scootaloo, what happened?"

Scootaloo took a deep breath, and called out.

"Gates, everyone, can I get some help here?"

"Sure thing, Scootaloo."

As Twilight watched with wide eyes, she could see four mirages appear in the room and turn completely visible. Gates and his team stood in front of an astounded Twilight, before Gates pulled out a chair and sat down.

"You're the Princess Twilight we've heard so much about?" he asked.

"That's me…" Twilight said. "Are you human?"

"What?" Gates said, slowly going for his sidearm. "How the hell do you know that we're human?"

"Well, I know someone in the human world…" Twilight said. "Your body shape is similar enough that I could assume you were the same."

Gates lowered his hand from his holster and sighed.

"Well, cat's out of the bag now" he said. "I'm Captain Matthew Gates, US Army Fifth Special Forces Group, Ghost Recon. That's First Lieutenant Thomas Sipes, and Staff Sergeants James Trevor and Caleb Adams. Callsign is Aegis Team."

"Princess Twilight Sparkle." Twilight replied. "How did you get to Equestria? The only known portal to the human world only opens every thirty moons."

"Long story and a complicated one at that." Gates said. "There's been a shitshow of events in our world that led us here."

"What kind of events?" Twilight asked.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that." Gates said. "What I can tell you is that the United Nations complex in Manhattan, New York, was bombed as of...about ten hours ago, by my watch. We don't know who did it, but we assume that they came here due us finding a portal in the wreckage."

That made Twilight flinch and take a deep breath.

"Okay, that's definitely a problem." she said. "I have to admit I'm also not sure who would do something like that. But I'll help you as best I can."

"Works for me." Gates said. "Sipes, we still have comms?"

"Five for five." Sipes replied. "Need a line to Major Mitchell?"

"What do you think?" Gates frowned. "Of course we need a line to Major Mitchell, dumbass. Get on it."

"Okay, okay…"

As Twilight watched with a raised eyebrow, Gates tapped on his wristpad and touched his ear.

"Colonel, this is Aegis Lead, do you copy?" he asked.

"We read you, Aegis, what's your status?" said a gruff, veteran voice.

"We've made first contact with local leadership, requesting advice for going forward."

"Copy, I'm en route. I've been streaming your cross-com feeds to the President and his Cabinet. Suffice to say, they're taking it well, or as best they can for the moment. I'm en route through the portal to assist."

"Roger." Gates said. "We'll cover you when you arrive."

"Good, I'll see you on the other side, Aegis. Mitchell out."

As Gates ended the call, Twilight started to leave the room.

"I'll go get whatever books I have on humanity." she said to Sipes and Adams. "It probably won't be much, but I'll see what I can find."

"Anything will help, thank you." Gates said as Twilight headed out. "So, team, where do we go from here?"

"I don't know, but I'm liking this." Sipes said, pulling out his iPod to the three fillies' curiosity. "Anyone want some music?"

"Fine, but keep it down, though." Gates said. As Sipes placed the headphones into his ears and hit PLAY, he began to nod his head in time with the music.

"What's that?" Scootaloo asked.

"iPod." Gates said. "It's a small device capable of many things, but it primarily plays music."

"Wow." Sweetie Belle said. "How's it do that?"

"I'm not sure, I don't make them." Gates replied. "Just a bunch of human technology inside a plastic case. It's not really important how it works, I just care that it does."

"Weird." Applebloom said.

"And on that note, I'm back." Twilight said, carrying a load of books. "Let's get to work."

Author's Note

Update!

Next time-More introductions, a Q/A session, and Major Mitchell makes a phone call to the infamous El Sueno...

EDIT 4/19/19 - Continuity edits.