"I was in the right place at the right time"
-Mel Allen

Location: Equestria, above the Unified District of Seaponies capital city

Time: 2 hours after sunrise

Perspectives: Fleet commander Pearl Gibbs, Tsarina Cadazzle, many others

"Sir, the satellite 'Dolor Resonare' has already taken several pictures and scans of the city" said a communications officer, though before Gibbs could even think of a response the communications officer said "and I must inform you that the U.S. Navy and Pentagon have decided to give you full rain over contacting this new species, considering you have gotten this far without much issue....but no pressure of course, hehe."

After hearing the communications officers tell him the news, Gibbs eyes immediately widened in shock, "wait what! I'm in charge of making first contact with an entirely new species I know nothing about? Are-are you serious!?"

"Ye-yes sir, you're being trusted with making first contact with this new species sir" answered the communications officer, continuing with "we're all awaiting your orders...sir."

Not long after everyone in the room started looking at Gibbs, all waiting for the next order to be given, but only silence followed. Gibbs felt every eye on him in that one moment, each with its own piercing gaze that tore through his very being. At this point Gibbs beyond nervous at this point, especially since he still hadn't gotten used to being the rank of Fleet commander, despite being in command of the fleet for 3 months already.

Gibbs set his head down, unable to think of a how to contact and communicate with this new species he knew nothing about, starting too lose the hope and will to even try and make contact, an idea sprung into his head. "Does anyone know wether the creatures are wearing clothing or anything else? It's important."

"Umm, may I ask why....that's important?" Asked a global GPS operator.

"Because it might give us an insight on their culture as a whole, but that's if they're capable of complex thought" answered Gibbs, continuing this explanation with "and if we're able to properly understand a smidge of their culture, than we can properly make peaceful contact with them. So move, move, move!"

No long after the command deck was filled with crewman saying "yes sir," "right away sir," and "yes fleet admiral sir." Each communications officer went to their designated control panels, getting ready to order the other ships and submarines to use their aquatic multi vision camera systems, being able pair through solid sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rock without any kind of trouble, making them the ideal tool for deep sea tunnel exploration. So looking down upon an exposed city wouldn't be a problem, obviously.

After the transmissions went out, the 3 Halcyon-Class submarines readied their cameras and looked down on the city of unsuspecting Seaponies that were out in the open, once the cameras acquired several pictures of the citizens they sent them to the 2 Mombasa carriers for examination. Once several Mombasa crewman and the fleet admiral himself examined the pictures, they noticed a plethora of different Seaponies wearing a plethora of very expensive jewelry ranging from what was necklaces and rings, but the strange thing was that it seemed like many of these creatures just have the jewels by themselves, no metal casing or holding. This detail alone means jewelry has a large hold on a part of their culture, now the next thing to do was determine male and female, this can usually be done by examining differences between certain individuals. These differences can be height, body structure, hair length, voice pitch, and last but not least, genitalia, but normally the first ones would be enough to determine their gender accurately.

"Okay, I've concluded that they have the capabilities for complex thought" said Gibbs, dropping a few papers on a table.

"What's made you come to this conclusion sir?" Asked a GPS operator.

"Because the content certain pictures contain show them doing or, having things only creatures in possession of a complex mind could do and have, the pictures depict them building structures, talking amongst each other, selling items, and sporting very flamboyant clothing, but the clothing seems to only come in the form of jewelry" answered Gibbs, sliding several pictures into the center of the table so they can be seen. "But what did you guys uncover?"

"Well, we've been able to tell the differences between male and females. These differences include but aren't limited to, eyelash length, eye shape, body structure, and hair length. Over all, the differences are pretty noticeable" answered one of the other people in the room.

"Good, that gets us 2 steps closer to understanding their culture. Now let's get to step 3, does anyone know what system of government they're under?"

"Unfortunately sir, that's still unknown, we haven't gotten enough data to accurately conclude what system of government system they live under. Best guess now could be...any guess."

3 days later

"Sir, we've found out what social system they live under, and luckily it seems to have complete control over their government as well" said a transmissions officer who ran into the main deck with several pictures and papers in his hands, said papers were in a neat little stack.

"Okay than, may I see what your team has uncovered?" Asked Gibbs, Taking the papers and examining them. On the papers were several conversations between sea ponies, preferably conversation between male and female sea ponies in a high position of power, the initial reason for this was to study the social ability of those in the state of great influence and power, instead that lead to an interesting discovery.

"It seems that this species lives in a matriarchal society, one that seems to be the polar opposite of a patriarchal one. The females in this society seem to run everything from politics to the economy, and males in these fields were very rare, this is duo to the fact that for every 1 male, there's 14 females. At least that's the theory."

"So it's not that they see male's as lower life forms as the reason for not having them in higher positions of power, but out of necessity considering they're so little of them around, at least that's what the theory says. I'm gonna go on a whim and guess that females have higher chances of being born than males do?"

"Yes, you would be right."

"Okay than, how will this affect our first contact plans?"

"I don't know sir, I don't know."

Seaponies and U.S. Navy perspective

4 days 1 hour after sunrise

"Your highness, we've kept watch over the large vessels for several days, they haven't moved an inch from their current position ever since they arrived there. They could be planning something your highness" said a female Seapony guard holding a magically infused krimseyon sword between his fins.

"My dear servant, I highly doubt they'll be planning anything against our great empire. We may be passive, but we're anything but weak, we were able to fend off the Storm Kings army for a total of 5 days. We wouldn't have any problem with fending of-" before Cadazzle could finish her sentence, another female Seapony guard bursts through the doors and yelled "your highness, there are several beings coming from the large vessels and descending upon the city!"

As Cadazzle heard this her eyes widened in shock at the thought of an invasion, but she soon went back to a usual calm demeanor, thinking of any other reason as to why they could be descending upon her capital city. "In what direction are these being descending too?"

"Straight towards the castle your highness."

"Than we shall met them face-to-face, they have no reason to attack so we have nothing to worry about. I'm not going to break our passive nature because a few unknown beings have come down from their vessels with unknown intention. Now, let us go."

*spongebob narrator voice* 15 minutes later

The Seapony guards stared at the 37 beings in strange suit's of armor with strang sticks descend upon their city, many of them thought about approaching the group but decided against it because of the unseen dangers this new species might present, so they decided to wait for the Tsarina to make her orders. Nevertheless Tsarina Cadazzle herself did appear, but instead of giving out orders to her guard's she waved at the beings to come closer, and surprisingly the beings heeded her call and started heading towards her direction.

Now that the beings were heading towards Cadazzle and her guard, they were able to see their suits and what seemed to be weapons in clearer detail, the suit's themselves seem to be a metallic in nature, but able to bend and stretch like an expensive fabric that was made for deep sea diving would. The stick like weapons themselves looked rather odd to the Seapony guard's, looking at their own weapons the Seapony guard's saw the extreme differences between their weapons and the creatures weapons, seeing the many bolts, screws, holes, and what seemed to be metal plates screwed or bolted on to said weapons.

After 15 minutes of watching the beings intentionally swim at a slow pace while turning their heads at any given moment to admire the sprawling city, they finally reached the elevated platform Cadazzle and her subjects were on. The beings than set their feet on the balcony, crouching slightly in front of the Tsarina and asked "Are you able to speak?"

"Yes, I can speak, and surprisingly we speak the same language" answered Cadazzle.

"Thank whatever all seeing power up above for that."

"Well, since you're here, may I ask one question?"

After Cadazzle asked this question, Gibbs and the rest of the sea platoon went quiet, at least until one of them said "Yeah, sure, why not."

"Okay than, why did you stop and perch you large vessels in the middle of my capital city?"

"Well, it's a long story. But we'll only answer those questions if you answer some of ours, you know, like a deal per se."

Hearing this, Cadazzle felt a deal of frustration at the strange creatures words, especially since she knew that they were apart of the same species as the ones in Equestria at this very moment. Nevertheless the less, she would have to keep her cool, because who knew what these creatures were capable of. "*sigh* Okay then, may you follow me and my guard's to a private location so you and I can discuss this information deal?"

After several seconds of silence, Cadazzle saw Gibbs raise his right hand and form weird symbols and motions with his arm and fingers, not long after the rest of the 36 creatures pressed some kind of buttons on their helmet. To Cadazzle they seemed to be talking, except there was no noise, just silent head bobbing and hand gestures, at least until they pressed the same button a second time.

"Fine, we may follow you to this...more secure location."

"Very well, Please follow me-" though before Cadazzle could finish her sentence, Gibbs interrupted her by saying "Under one condition, that you understand that my compatriots, me, and those vessels up there are apart of the sovereign nation known as the United States, and we're not obligated to answer any question that either threatens the security of our nation, or questions we're not comfortable answering. Understood?"

Once again Cadazzle felt a great deal of frustration swell up inside her, but soon the frustration was replaced by a large dose of curiosity about the nation known as the "United States" these new creatures were from, and what role they played in its society. Cadazzle begrudgingly agreed to the terms, being overwhelmed with the idea of cross interviewing a totally new species. Cadazzle normally thought stuff like this would be conducted by Celestia's prized pupil, Twilight, but of course she wasn't here to conduct an interview so the Tsarina would have to make due with what she had at the moment.

"Okay, I agree with your terms-" but once again Cadazzle was interrupted, but this time is wasn't one of Gibbs men, it was one of Cadazzle's very own guard's. "Your highness, there weapons, they shouldn't be able to bring them into the palace!"

After hearing the guard's words, Cadazzle looked at the weapons, or what she assumed were their weapons from what the guards were insinuating, each of these assumed weapons were incredibly different from each other and seemed to be suited to the individual user, but of course she knew how deadly they were, especially to living things. Remembering the statement made by Gibbs and the agreement they had, but still remembered the extreme danger these weapons posed.

"I'll allow them to have their weapons in the castle they'll only hurt us if we hurt them. Now, let us continue into the castle" said Cadazzle, which made her guard's eyes widen. On the other side of the spectrum, Gibbs and his men were relieved with knowing that their energy weapons secretive technology was not under risk of being breached.

As the group continued into the castle, it became rather apparent to Cadazzle and her guard's what gender the strange creatures were, all male, there didn't seem to be one female in their entire team. The way Cadazzle and her guards found out the entirety of the group were males was how their voices sounded, the small talk they were having allowed the Seaponies to hair their voices in full detail, every joke, conversation, and order came in the form of a male voice.

"Excuse me sir, but may I know your name?" Asked Cadazzle, looking at Gibbs while he turned his head towards her, after this she started panicking on wether or not this question crossed their agreement. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mea-"

"Gibbs, Fleet commander Pearl Gibbs of the United States Navy" he answered, making Cadazzle smile in the processes. Unfortunately Cadazzle's guard's didn't feel the same way about the sudden interruption, but before they could actually say something Gibbs continued by saying "and by the way, your highness, you don't have to worry about asking us our names, we're no special operations team-"

"Hey, we're not that bad!"

"...like I was saying, I'm-we're okay with telling you our names, and to be frank it's actually protocol for us to tell our names too foreign people's."

"Why would that be?" Asked Cadazzle, her curiosity peaking, but instead of getting an answer from Gibbs, she got an answer from one of the other naval crewman. "Because the United States usually tries to keep good relations with foreigners, this is so they don't feel provoked to attack us. But of course, we failed at doing that with the Equestrians."

"The United States doesn't exist to command and conquer...at least not anymore, the United States exist to help and defend those who can't defend themselves... Oh, and how could I forget the everlasting pursuit of freedom and prosperity for all."

After Gibbs said this, it caused another Seapony guard's curiosity too peak, so to satiate this curiosity she asked "Excuse me Mr. Gibbs, but how old is this "United States" you speak of?"

"Just a little over 300 years old" answered Gibbs, sending the Seaponies into a gasping session, which confused Gibbs and his men.

"Your nation is so young, yet has the same morals of nations several times older than yours! I must ask, has your nation gone through great turmoi-" though before Cadazzle could finish her sentence, one of her guard's said "your highness, we've arrived at the war room."

"War room? Why bring us to the war room for a cross questioning session?" Asked Gibbs in a confused tone, tilting his head towards Cadazzle. "We-well, because i-it was the closest r-room that could fit a large amount of ponies."

"Hmm...Okay, sounds plausible. I guess..." Said Gibbs, reluctantly entering the room, his men following suit, after all of Gibbs men were in the room, the Seaponies entered the room. Not long after all the Crewman sat down individual chairs, the Seapony guard's got into their guard posts while Cadazzle took her seat at the table. Everything's quite, and only the sounds of breathing could be heard.

"Now, what questions may you have?"

"Oh, well first, has your nation gone through great turmoil in its 300 years of existence?" Asked Cadazzle as her first question.

"Well, I'm going to give you a major rundown of every major event that has occurred in the last 60 years. So, every...pony needs too pay close attention, and don't be afraid to ask questions." After Gibbs said this, the guards broke their positions and came closer to the table, much like children during story time.

"Okay then, where should I start?"

"World war 3 sir?"

"*snaps* Oh yeah, that's a good place to start! Okay everypony, listen it's story tim-"

"World war? Your nation has fought in 3 wars that spanned the globe?"

"Yeah, we did" said another crewman while Gibbs said "The last 2 were more than a hundreds years ago, while the 3rd was less than 70 years ago, and it was when the United States started to develop and stick by its morals. The war by itself took the lives of 194 million people around the globe, the vast majority of which were Chinese, European, American, Russian, and middle Eastern civilians."

"How did such a bloody conflict start? And who was your nation fighting in this conflict?" Asked Cadazzle, her curiosity peaking once more.

"Well let's clear some stuff up, the United States wasn't fighting alone in this conflict, we had several allies with, the sum of which were South Korea, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, and Japan. The opposition was North Korea, Palestinian Rebels, Syria, Turkey, China, and Russia. Let's also not forget a large portion of the war was fought in the Middle East, and the reason the war was fought is still unknown, but theories range from oil, land disputes, U.S. hostility, Russian hostility, and to North Korean hostility, but everyone has a different opinion on the matter."

"What's your opinion Mr. Gibbs?" Asked a Seaponies guard.

"Well, I personally think it was a mix of oil and land disputes, but of course I could be wrong since information about how world war 3 started is shaky at best" answered Gibbs, trying to be as explanatory as possible with the little information at his disposal.

"But, we do know the date the war started and ended, along with the places most fought for" said another one of Gibbs men.

"Oh yeah, forgot about those pieces of information. Thanks Jay."

"No problem."

"Now back to answering your question, world war 3 first started in 2029, and lasted 5 years until 2034, where it ended in a joint Russian/American pact to end the war"

"Oh, well I'm glad your nation was able to solve the problem before it got any worse."

"Yeah, you can say that again. But, of course that wasn't the worst to come" responded Gibbs, sending Cadazzle into another fit of curiosity and questions, 'There's worse?' thought Cadazzle. Though before Cadazzle could physically react, Gibbs said "but you guys don't have to worry about that now, because those peaces of history weren't the definitive reasons for the United States too change course, they only helped solidify the idea."

"So, that answers your question. May you please answer ours?"

"To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do"
-John Addams

Location: Equestria, approaching Baltimare city

Time: 2 days after sunrise

Perspectives: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor, Element Bearers, Spike, Royal guard's, F/A-60 cutless 2 UCAV operator Edwin Sharp, Vice admiral Maxwell Archer

Celestia's carriage raced through the air at the blistering speed of 177 kilometers an hour (110 miles an hour) towards Baltimare, inside the carriage was Celestia, Luna, Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor, Twilight, Rarity, Pinky Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, and Spike. It's a big carriage. To the carriages 8 and 4 o'clock was an assortment of 5 same sized carriages following closely in a Vic formation, Celestia's carriage being at the apex of the formation. Inside the carriages was 8 of the most elite teams of Lunar and Solar guard's, all of which were unicorns, while in front of the carriages 17 squadrons of 10 Thunderbolt's in either Echelon or Fingertip formations.

Continuing through the clouds towards Baltimare, the carriages and their escort were currently 246 kilometers (153 miles) away from baltimare, giving the the Royal family enough time to mentally prepare for whatever awaits them. "Aunties, what are we going to do when we get to Baltimare? What do the creatures Naval vessels look like?"

"Yeah, what do they look like Princess Luna?" Asked Shining, his curiosity peaking alongside his wife's. Luna on the other hand had no idea how to answer the sudden questions, especially since during her first encounter with the new creatures she wasn't really paying attention to what the everlasting sea held. "Well, I'm afraid I'm unable to answer that question becausssse...I wasn't really paying attention paying attention to the ocean when I and my army first met the new creatures, hehe" said Luna, hoping Cadance wouldn't continue the conversation further.

"What do you mean?!" Screamed Cadance and Shining, unable to believe Luna's answer. "Weren't you the first to confront them about the Changeling's?! Weren't you the first too view their capabilities?! How did you not see their vessels on the coast?!"

"Excuse me and my wife's questioning Princess, but how weren't you able to view their vessels? From what the survivers of the naval disaster say, the vessels were extremely massi-" though before Shining could finish, Twilight interrupted and said "Because their were several massive airships blocking their naval vessels from view, and the ensuing battle only made it harder to properly identity what technology they used."

Hearing this Shining and Cadance immediately realized their mistake and apologized, unknowingly making Luna remember the the first time she encountered the creatures, the hatred and anger she felt towards so many beings she knew nothing about, such seething hatred. During that small amount of time Luna was on that beach, she wondered if she hated them just because they were different from her and her ponies, she wondered if they felt the same way. She than set that last thought aside, remembering what their leader said, "hasn't every Kingdom done so Ms. Nightmare moon?" The creatures obviously already knew about her past, most likely getting that information from the changeling's, setting their hatred for to its maximum, especially since Luna herself called for the imprisonment of the Changeling's. 'At least their hatred was justified, at least...' thought Luna.

'I wish there was a word for how I felt that day, if there was, maybe then I would be able to understand why I treated them so unfairly. Maybe I'll be able to fix the situation' thought Luna once more, setting her head down in shame for what seemed the hundredth time. But that self hatred would have to wait, because something was about to happen, and it would demand not only her attention, but the attention of the entire royal family, and elements bearers.

"Excuse me princesses, but the Thunderbolt's have cought wind of several large unknown creatures approaching the escort" said one of the 4 royal guard's currently pulling the carriage.

"Where are these objects approaching from?" Asked Celestia. The guard said the creatures were approaching the escort from the rear, and getting closer. Not long after everyone in the carriage looked to the rear, and low and behold 5 flying "creatures" in a vic formation were heading straight for the escort, pecking up speed while doing so.

Once Celestia saw them, she immediately recognized 4 of the flying creatures in the outer parts of the formation, all of them resembling the one that attacked Canterlot and killed 3 royal guard's. But in the apex of the formation, a fifth creature that retained all the familiar treats its brethren had, but had one difference that set it apart from the rest, a weirdly shaped bulge on the front of its body that had a level of transparency with that of glass. Celestia quickly concluded that this one was the alpha of the group, though that still didn't explain why they were following her escort.

"Oh my, what kind of creature is that? Are they dangerous?" Asked Fluttershy, starring at the 5 large flying objects as they got closer to the escort effortlessly. As Fluttershy continued to view the creatures she noticed how smoothly they seemed to cut through the air, unlike the Thunderbolt's that just broke through and scattered the clouds these creatures merely cut through them without as much as a glance.

"What was that Shy?" Asked Rainbow Dash, looking at the creatures.

"What kind of creature is that?" Asked Fluttershy once more, though instead of receiving answer from Rainbow or her other friends, but from Celestia herself. "They're not any kind of creatures that are native to Equestria, in fact, they aren't even living creatures at all."

"They aren't alive? How is that so?"

"Because they're machines, machines being controlled by an intelligent operator. Those machines are easily capable of ending the lives of royal guard's, I should know, I watch one do such a thing" said Celestia, recalling the events that first introduced her to U.S. firepower.

Celestia's flashback, several weeks earlier

Celestia stood on the balcony of one of the largest towers in Canterlot, she stared at the everlasting sun in the sky and wondered how high, how far, and how long she'd have to fly to reach it. Sometimes Celestia wondered what it was truly like in space, being that far up must be truly amazing, having the ability too look down upon Equestria in all its glory.

At times Celestia would ask Luna what space was like, though of course Luna was unable to answer such questions because she was locked inside the moon, and couldn't exactly roam freely via her own militia. Luna was merely stuck for a thousand years by herself with her thoughts, all alone, unable to feel the gentle touch of nothing that space produced.

Though as Celestia continued in silence with her thoughts, she heard what seemed to be the deafening roar of an ancient beast from Tartarus, and it was continually getting louder. But as it continued, she was unable to locate exactly where the sound was emanating from, At least until...

BOOM

Celestia knew what that sound was, it was clear as day to her, an explosion, and a powerful one at that. Now the only thing to do was locate where the sounds were emanating from, looking up Celestia could see what seemed to be a black ball partially blocked by the clouds that normally inhabited the sky.

Celestia continued to stare at the sky where the black ball was, at least until the same deafening roar began once again, only now Celestia could hear it coming from her right, and it was getting louder, meaning it was getting closer.

Celestia looked to her right, not long after she caught sight of a large object travelling at an impossibly fast speed. As she continued to view the object, it seemed to partially resemble the impossibly large creature that lingered over Ponyville not a week earlier, the smooth and streamlined body shape, no flapping wings, and incredible speed made Celestia wonder if they were apart of the same species. Though that didn't distract Celestia from the fact that the creature was closing the distance between Canterlot and itself incredibly fast. Unfortunately, Celestia wasn't fast enough too put up a magic barrier for the city, because before she knew it the creature was weaving through the towers that littered Canterlot.

As Celestia watched the creature enter the city, it immediately started causing mayhem by shattering windows and scaring ponies. Not long after Celestia became flooded with sudden fear, as the fear reached its peak Celestia thought about what the creature might be planning, though as she continued watching she saw two solar pegasus guards chasing the creature. Celestia's sudden fear soon dwindled knowing that the guard's were aware of the threat and working to detour any danger it might have posed, but that didn't last long.

As Celestia continued to watch the Royal guards chase the creature, she noticed them struggle to dodge and weave through the towers because of how fast they had to fly just to slightly catch up with the creature. As they continued Celestia saw one of the Royal guards smash into one of the towers going full speed, she immediately squinted as to not catch a glimpse of the inevitable splatter of mashed up body parts. though that didn't stop her from imaging the events, when the guard hit the tower she could practically hear the guard's bones breaking, each crunch and snape, the audible "squishing" sound that would be made once the skull caved in on itself, practically turning the brain into a crimson sludge.

Once Celestia opened her eyes, which were now flooding with tears, she turned her head to the left and away from where the guard's crashed, immediately she noticed the creature turning around while a royal guard hovered in the air watching the creatures. Celestia knew the guard was planning something, though Celestia wondered what tactic that creature may employ, 'maybe it'll charge at him? No, no it looks too smart to employ such a yak-like tactic. What tactic will it employ than?" Wondered Celestia, looking back at the creature.

WHINNE

Celestia heard what seemed to be a heavy whining emanating from where the creature lay turning, now only 3/4 of the way down. Though it still did this much faster than any pegases could. But merely a second after the whining sounds, Celestia saw it, a long dark colored rod with a literal beam of fire darting from behind it, and it was heading for the guard.

Celestia mind went frantic for merely another second, until...

BOOM

"WATCH OUT!" screamed Celestia, her eyes drowning themselves in tears. Giving in too her own will, Celestia wiped her eyes and stared at where the guard hovered, or were he was.

Where the guard once was, was now just a ball of dropping flames and a cloud of smoke that hovered in air, as clouds do. Celestia didn't want to believe what had happened, but all the evidence of the guard's death lay in front of her, almost taunting her. Not long after the same beast that killed her pegasus flew over her a head in a powerful display of sheer power and speed, leaving her to ask "why, why would you do such a thing?"

Present time, U.S. Navy perspective

"Edwin, how are you doing up there? This being your first time piloting an aircraft from the inside, and not from a computer desk" said Maxwell Archer, who was ironically sitting in a desk himself.

"Ha, ha, haha, ha. Real funny, I'm dying of laughter, as you can obviously tell" said Edwin Sharp in a sarcastic manner, currently piloting the manned version of the FA-60, which had an onboard neuralink making it easier for pilots to effectively control several combat drones all at once, being able to do so with merely a single thought. This being Edwin's first time flying an aircraft capable of flying over Mach 4 (3,069 miles per hour, 4,939 kilometers an hour) in an environment that wasn't either a simulation, or a training environment, though flying the 11,339 kilogram (25,000 pound) aircraft became like a sixth sense to the 23 year old naval men. "Besides, you've got no reason to worry, I'm a good pilot."

"Well, I've got a reason to be worried, we almost got thrown into a disciplinary barracks because of it, the only thing saving us from that fate was the little information we possessed on their capabilities" responded Archer, reminiscing about the dog fight between their combat drone and several pegasus that happened several weeks earlier.

"You make a solid point, but still, you need not worry."

"I damn well hope so, I don't feel like staying at a disciplinary barracks because of you."

"haha, last time I checked you told me to engage them when the scare tactics didn't work, haha-"

BEEP...BEEP...BEEP

Interrupting Edwin's laughter was an annoying "beeping" noise that repeated in a rhythm so it could catch a person's attention the quickest way possible, the beeping itself was a signal from the "hostile range detector" that could combine the radar strength of multiple aircraft, and had too be built in the radar system separately, detailing a possible hostile aircraft presence in the formations current vicinity. The beeping noise only comes on when an unknown aircraft the radar has been tracking enters what's called the "No Zone" by pilots that used the system, the No Zone spanned 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) around the aircraft, and the system could only be installed on aircraft who's radar tracking capability spanned 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) or more.

As Edwin stared at the dark green radar screen, seeing 3 large dots pearing themselves in bright green dots once the turning line came upon them. Continuing too look at the screen, Edwin realized they were at his 5 o'clock and currently closing in on Baltimare, most likely being pegasus regiments from the Equestrian royal guard setting their sites on attacking the Navy ships.

"Uhh, Edwin are you okay, is anything wrong?" Asked Archer, currently wondering why his apprentice suddenly went quiet.

"Uhh, Sir, are you seeing what's on the screen right now?"

After hearing Edwin's question, Archer swiveled his swivel chair to the left, first looking at the lidar screen than setting his eyes radar screen that combined the radar system of all 4 drones along with Edwin's aircraft. Seeing the 3 massive dots Archer asked "what are they? Where are they heading?"

"They could be Equestrian pegasus legions heading straight for Baltimare, they might be planning too attack our ships. I'm planning on intercepting them and seeing if I can divert their path."

"Understood, I'll be here every step of the way to help you any way I can. Oh, and please, please don't do anything stupid, okay."

"Don't count on it" answered Edwin, pushing his aircraft to 1,610 kilometers an hour (1,001 miles an hour) while tilting it too the right along with the drones, in total the 5 aircraft took 13 seconds to complete a full U turn. The squadron was currently in disarray and wasn't in any clear formation, Edwin sought to change this bitter actuality by setting each aircraft in one of the most famous aircraft formations of all time, the Vic formation or, the flying V.

Commanding the drones to get into formation via the neuralink, Edwin made the 4 drones get on the left and right of the formations (the echelons), 2 per side while his aircraft could be at the front of the V (the apex) formation. Each aircraft had a total of 4.5 meters (15 feet) of space between all of them so the onboard flight computers for the drones can get used to flying in close formation, because once Edwin and the rest of the aircraft get behind the unknown flyers they'll have to slowdown and get into a much tighter formation.

Once the formation was closing in on the pegasus regiments, being only 990 miles (1,593 kilometers) behind it, Edwin noticed that they weren't actually pegasus, but 9 flying carriages who themselves were in a Vic formation, throwing the biggest "fuck you" to the law of physics ever known to man. Seeing the carriages fly was a rather odd sight for sure, but considering they were transported to a land with species capable of using magic, it shouldn't be surprising. "Hey admiral, you seeing this?"

"Yeah, it's some pretty trippy shit."

"Yeah" responded Edwin, still looking at the carriages, mainly the one at the apex of the formation, the crosshairs for his 4-barreled GUA-22 Equalizer coming down upon the carriage at the apex of the formation.

"Edwin, what are you doing?" Asked Archer, worrying about his apprentice's next action.

"Just checking, just checking. Computer, scan the carriage at the very front of that formation, I want to know who, or what's in it" commanded Edwin, crosshairs still locked on the middle carriage. As the computer scanned, it deduced that within the carriage was 10 ponies, the sum of which being 2 unicorns, 2 regulars, 2 pegasus, and 4 unicorn-pegasus hybrid ponies, as well as one small unidentified creature that had wings as well. Now that the computer knew how many living organisms were in the carriage, it now had to find out who was in said carriage.

Peering through the window on the back of the carriage, the computer noticed several familiar figures the U.S. forces ran into only a few days after they made land fall. Princess Luna and Celestia, the sisters of the night and day currently travelling 110 miles an hour (177 kilometers an hour) straight towards several U.S. Naval vessels, meaning this could get bad if not handled properly.

"Admiral Sir, are you seeing thi-....HOLY SHIT!" Said Edwin as he and the rest of his squadron escaped a cloud wall, along with the Equestrian carriages that were carrying Celestia and Luna. As Edwin continued to look at the carriage formation, he noticed that 170 pegasus flying in echelon and fingertip formations, all wearing blue and yellow jump suits comparable to the Blue Angels paint scheme they put on fighter jets belonging to the squadron.

Not long after one of them saw Edwin's formation and told the rest of the pegasus, Edwin noticed all their jaws drop the second each laid their eyes on his aircraft and drones, most likely at awe by the sheer size of the aircraft and it's ability to keep up with them and the carriage.

"Admiral Sir, Luna and Celestia are in the carriage at the apex of the formation, what should we do?" Asked Edwin as his formation slowly creeped up towards the carriage formation.

"I'm going to inform the rest of the fleet about this, just hang tight and continue following them."

"Got it."

Oceana-class Admiral Hugo Olson and changeling guard Zulu perspectives, 13 minutes later

"Okay, understood I'll start scrambling fighters alongside the rest of the fleet" said Hugo, setting the phone down and looking towards the crew, who were all looking at him. "Okay people, I've just caught wind that the Royal sisters are approaching the city, so just in case of an attack all ships capable of fighting are going to be readying their weapons, while all carriers will be scrambling fighters, and as you know we're part of both worlds because, you know, battlecarrier. So I need 7 F-35D's, 3 F-22B's, and 1 F-117N in the air, because I'll be damned if they think they can get anywhere close to this fleet."

"Excuse me Mr. Hugo, but what seems to be the problem?" Asked Zulu, who only walked in after admiral Hugo ordered the scrambling of the fighter jets.

"Well, the royal sisters are approaching the city with 9 large carriages and 170 pegasus, it's supposed that they're coming straight for the fleet" Answered Hugo, kneeling down so he could face Zulu better.

"How do you know this?"

"One of our aircraft spotted and scanned the carriages, the scan revealed the identities of the ponies in the carriage and it showed them to be the princesses, so we're preparing for a possible attack" answered Hugo.

"Are we in danger?" Asked Zulu, worrying about what the future may hold for him and his fellow changeling's, at least the ones who didn't join Thorax's rebellion.

"No, you guys are fine, this one ship has enough firepower to level the whole city of Baltimare. Isn't that right Hannah."

"Absolutely sir, this battlecarrier is equipped with one Dual-420mm Rail Gun that has the power to blow a large hold through 3 large building, and turn other ships into steaming piles of scrap! But that ain't the only trick up this ships sleeve, because she's also equipped with 4 Dual 76mm multi-purpose Rail Guns with the power too turn any ship within its sights into a burning pulp."

"What about our offensive?"

"This ships equipped with 10 ten-megawatt lasers, 9 30mm CIWS, along with 18 Automated .50 Caliber machine gun, and that ain't even the only defensive countermeasures we have, those are just the coolest ones we have. So it's safe to say no Equestrian guard is getting anywhere near this ship, and if they do, there's 17 Ship defense teams armed with MP5 A3's, KSG tactical's, and CX4's ready to absolutely obliterate any threat that gets on this ship. It's safe to say that no one is getting on these ships."

After hearing these things, Zulu felt a safer than he had already, despite the fact he didn't know anything about the weapons named, and to be truthful, he didn't want to see what they were capable of because he's seen snippets of what certain weapons were capable of when used against Equestrian forces. But there was still one question Zulu had to ask, "are all of your ships preparing for Celestia's arrival?"

This question was unexpected for Hugo, but overall it was easy to answer, "Yup, every ship is in battle preparation mode right now, especially the aircrafts carriers of the fleet. They're, as of right now, deploying a plethora of aircraft."

"May I ask which aircraft they'll be deploying?"

"Absolutely, Abdullah may you show our friend here what aircraft will be in the sky's within the next hour?"

"Absolutely sir. Zulu, may you come here so I can show you?"

"Sure" responded Zulu, walking towards Abdullah desk, which had a large screen on it, once at the desk Zulu saw pictures of several aircraft.

"Right now several F-35 variants are being scrambled alongside several other aircraft, these variants are the F-35E, F-35U, FB-35, and F-35D. Though those aren't the only aircraft going out, we also have the F-22B's, F-24's, F/A-70's, FA-55's, and X-68's being deployed as well." As Abdullah said the name of each aircraft, the computer display a picture of it. As Zulu looked at each aircraft, he formed a particular liking towards the X-68 because of its unique look when compared to the rest of the aircraft.

Pointing at the picture of the X-68, Zulu asked "Excuse me, but what are the capabilities of the X-68?"

"The X-68? Well that's a heard one because there's alot still classified about the aircraft, this would mainly include the technological components that makes it tick, these would be the stealth components. Though I can tell you that very basics, would that be okay?" Asked Abdullah, Zulu shook his head enthusiastically as the question.

"Okay than, first let's start with the speed, at least what we know about its speed. The X-68 has been recorded traveling a little above Mach 3.6, which is 2,762 miles per hour or 4,445 kilometers an hour, but when the large group of citizens in the United States bugged Lockheed Martin about its actual speed, they commented that is was capable of going faster than Mach 4 (3,069 miles an hour or 4,939 kilometers an hour) and beyond."

"Why does this Lockheed Martin keep the speed unknown?"

"Well, it's not them specifically keeping it a secret, it's the U.S. government keeping it secret. They do this so the enemy has less of a chance at being able too fighting affectively. You understand?"

Shaking his head up and down, Zulu asked "is it very maneuverable?"

"Probably, but that's also classified as well. But I have no idea why, it doesn't have any guns."

Ponies perspective

"Why is it just flying there, doing nothing. That's so boring" said Pinkie, slouching into the carriages seats.

"let's Just be happy that it's not attacking, because from Celestia's said in her story, it doesn't sound like anything too be played with. Like dark magic" commented Cadance, not really enjoying Pinkies need to galvanize the situation pertaining to the flying machine currently following them.

"Cadance is right you know, who's ever is controlling those machines can be extremely aggressive, so let's stay calm and be happy it's being passive" said Luna, staring at the aircraft behind the escort as it was currently struggling to maintain the slow speed it was traveling at.

"But why does it look like it's struggling to not pass us, li-like it just, just supposed to go fast" said Rainbow Dash, looking at the wings of the aircraft, than back at her own. Much like Fluttershy, Rainbow noticed how instead of punching the clouds and dispersing them, the clouds just glide over and under the wings and main body like hot butter on a hot pan. It was a rather unusual sight to behold, because unlike every other flying creature in Equestria, these machines merely glide over the clouds and air.

"Hmm, well Rainbow Dash your last statement could be true, this creatures may not be well suited for speeds slower than the speed of sound. That may be why they have such a smooth and streamlined body shape" Celestia added, standing next to rainbow dash.

"You might be right princess, their bodies heavily resemble eagle body."

After hearing Celestia and Rainbow Dash's conversation, Rarity lifted her head from her fashion magazine and looked out the rear window, immediately her eyes widened. Though not because of fear, but out of amazement, Rarity hadn't seen anything so streamlined and smooth before, not even the rare gems she found around and about seemed to compete. The dark gray of the body, and the light gray peaces that seemed randomly spread around made for a very eye catching look, mix that up with its overall exotic figure and in Rarities opinion, it looked perfect. "Oh my, that is a very alluring peace of machinery, the creators must have put hours upon hours of design research into it. They must be creative geniuses!"

"Yeah, geniuses in making killing machines that only specialize in destruction. In my opinion this is why machines are so darn dangerous, in the wrong hooves they can cause allot of destruction" commented Apple Jack, to which Rarity responded with "oh darling, nopony cares about your opinion, and besides it's not doing anything to warrant any worry. So calm down and bask in its profound beauty."

As the princesses continued too listen in on the element bearers discussions, they were quite amazed at how all of their opinions differed from each other. The princesses thought they would all come to agreement that such machines shouldn't be allowed to exist, but instead half of the group liked and enjoyed the presence of the machine.

Though, as the group continued their discussion, the machines seemed to pull away abrupt without any reasoning, at least until one guard spoke up and said "Excuse me princess, but we've arrived at Baltimare, a-and I think you should take a look at this."

As Celestia and the rest of carriages occupants outside the left window, their eyes widened in pure amazement because of the large size of the ships that resided on the coast. "I guess we're going to be here a while."

Author's Note

Also, if you spot any spelling or grammatical errors, please tell me.

P.S. the spongebob musical has some bangers, take a listen