Daring Do jolted awake, causing the chair she was sitting in to shift across the floor violently. Looking around she saw that she was in a square metal room with what she presumed to be one way glass situated in front of her, a light silently swinging slightly over the table she was sitting at. Trying to move her hooves she found she couldn't, with a pair of cold metal clamps securing her hooves to the table. She leaned in towards them observing the glowing blue lines running through them, similar to the ones she had seen on the human's armour. Attempting to remove her hooves from the clamps yielded no results, as they wouldn't budge an inch.

Her attempted escapes were halted however when a portion of the flat metal wall to her right suddenly pulled in on its self, leaving a portion of blackness in its wake. Due to her position on the table she couldn't see directly into it, however, the very faint noises of whispering voices caught the attention of her pegasus ears. The whispering quickly halted however and another surprise almost as surprising as the fact that humans still existed. A dark grey unicorn stallion walked through the door, holding a clipboard in one hoof. The door quickly closed behind him, leaving her to observe his features. A very noticeable scar ran from the top of his head, arcing to his left eye before halting at the centre of his torso. What was the most horrifying for her though was the snapped off horn crowning the top of his head. He moved to the opposite side of the table, sitting in a chair that she hadn't even noticed.

He placed the clipboard on the table, and leaned forward, looking deep into Daring Do's eyes. "Why are you here?" He asked, throwing Daring off guard slightly by the question. She ignored it and leaned forward glancing at the one way glass nervously.

"We can help each other." She whispered, causing him to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Excuse me." He said, obviously a bit confused. But Daring would be damned if she would just leave this poor pony in this bastion of humans.

She leaned forward more, "You're being held captive aren't you? If you can get the humans to get me out of these clamps I can get us both out of here and back to Equestria." She said, motioning her head to the clamps.

The unicorn stared at Daring for what seemed like hours, a silence falling over the room. A small chuckle escaped from the unicorn's lips, catching Daring off guard. The chuckle soon spiralled into a loud laugh as the unicorn began hitting the table with his hooves in mirth. The laughter was abruptly cut short as he glared at her, hatred filling his eyes.

He leaned forward, "If you think I'll ever go back to that hellhole, then you are stupider than I thought. I will ask you one more time. Why are you here." He basically snarled at her, shaking her to the core.

Gulping she looked around the room, looking for some way to get out, no matter how slim the chances were. Upon discovering the futility of her efforts she looked back to explain everything.

Director Max stroked his chin in thought as the Equestrian explained why they were so close to their shores. Apparently they had been a part of a civilian cruise to what had once been Australia. They just so happened to have departed from Chile, going for a straight path instead of the usual routes, of stopping off in the Cook Islands to resupply before going from there. This meant that they would not come close to New Zealand. Now, however, that it was apparent they could just go straight to Australia instead of resupplying.

"This is an...Unforeseen development." He admitted to the gathered politicians and soldiers. "If Equestria really does have the logistical ability to send out a civilian cruiser directly to Australia from Chile then their logistics must be better than what we expected."

"Well, it's not really that surprising, I mean they did conquer the entire world." General Jacob pointed out. "That would give them access to all of the ports and railways we have constructed over centuries." He held up a hand as Director Max's mouth opened to say something., "And yes I am aware that we followed a scorched earth policy towards the end of the war. But that was at the end of the war. All the land they conquered before that was still relatively intact."

"If I may interject." Ditzy said, walking up to them. "The war was just as taxing on Equestria as it was on the humans. When I was still a part of that wretched country Celestia had started conscripting the masses, and had also began heavily taxing the farms. Heck, by the time I had faked my death Ponyville was almost empty."

"While this does give us insight, we were already aware of this-" Jacob explained before being cut off again.

"I know you are aware of this. After all I am the one who told you. My point is that if Equestria is willing to send out a civilian expedition to Australia, then that means that they aren't getting stronger. They're recovering. If a ship has a good amount of unicorns and pegasi onboard, as well as some seeds, they can make their own sustainable food source." Ditzy explained, garnering nods from the gathered, even Jacob himself. "My theory is that the reason they used the islands as a resupply zone is because they just didn't have enough ponies. Most unicorns and pegasi were conscripted into the army for their combat capabilities, and those who weren't were used as propaganda material by putting them in the armour of a soldier and saying they had fought. If they are willing to send out a civilian expedition, without a military escort, that means they are beginning to recover from what we can only assume to be a population shortage. Basically, they're getting stronger as time goes on."

Jacob hummed to himself in thought as he turned back around to look through the glass. Steel Gaze was still drilling the pegasus for information, and had been clearly nerve wracked by the intense pony in front of her. Ditzy was right, he concluded. The longer they waited the stronger Equestria became, and soon enough they would be unstoppable even with their countries recent bounds in technology.

"Contact the prime minister. Tell him I wish to speak with him." He said to the aide to his left, who nodded and quickly left the room, dialling the number into her phone. He continued his gaze out the window at the pony, multiple theories and plans going over in his head. One thing was certain however.

He was going to have to plan the invasion of Equestria.

Author's Note

Sorry Pete, had a change of plans. No expanding today. Just some vague references.