Sunset Shimmer was riding on the back of a massive mechanized warsuit piloted by an alien, with three more aliens ahead of them on the road, and she was still trying to process how she wound up here. What was supposed to be a simple anniversary vacation with her girlfriend to Equestria has spiraled into a game of interplanetary politics. Her brow was furrowed with concern as she thought about what kind of world needs soldiers such as these. The other thing that confused her was that they were seemingly completely unarmed, which couldn't possibly be true. She decided that before they arrived in town, she would need to learn more about these strangers to better assess them. They claim to be here peacefully, but she felt skeptical, because too much was strange about them. She would have to start by addressing the obvious, and work her way from there.

“So, you guys said that you’re from another world, right? I have a pretty good record that humans get turned into ponies upon entering Equestria, so what’s the deal with you four? You clearly didn’t get transformed into anything new.” Ignatius was the one to answer, looking over his shoulder at her.

“That’s because interuniversal travel is not a foreign concept to our people. In the early days, it was quickly discovered that moving between universes would sometimes result in… unsavoury modifications to the traveller.” He paused, ruminating silently. As Sunset was about to ask for further explanation, he abruptly continued. “Different universes will have different equivalent templates for specific lifeforms, and upon passing between those worlds, your body will be remade into those shapes. With some trial and error, a procedure was developed to inoculate travellers from the effect. One we all have undergone.” Sunset winced, having been hopeful that their solution was less intrusive.

“So you’re saying some sort of surgical procedure allows you to keep your original forms? I thought the transformation was magical. You make it sound like some kind of science.” The synth shook his head at her in response, almost like a teacher to a child.

“Not quite, but I understand why you would say that. In a way, they are the same thing, but from different perspectives. Admittedly, much of the science has been lost to time. Several thousand years ago, our Earth suffered a terrible catastrophe that resulted in much loss of life, and knowledge. The truth to the matter is one such scientific morsel.” Sunset frowned, sensing a discrepancy in his story.

“If the science was lost, then how are you able to undergo the procedure? Surely you would need to understand the technology to replicate it.” This time Colette interrupted, skipping backwards to face her. The weight of her heavy armor made her footsteps into a rhythmic thumping as she moved.

“You’d think so, right? As it turns out, the nerds of the past kept everything stored on huge data centers that were very imaginatively named Archives, with each one storing about a zettabyte of data each. Unfortunately for us, not all of them survived the apocalypse, and the ones that did were so fried that whatever data was left over was pretty much an arbitrary mish-mash of fact and fiction. We wound up with the blueprints for the implants, but not the science behind them. Thank the gods it was labelled, otherwise we’d never know what it was for.” Sunset nodded silently, getting some better understanding of their world.

“So you basically just stuck an implant into your body, not knowing how it worked, just because it said it might help you travel between universes?” Rhys and Colette both laughed at this, as if it was a joke and not an honest concern.

“Of course not! The Baus is a general-use platform with many benefits. Only one of the functions is interuniversal stability.” Sunset couldn’t help but smirk at the excitable Solars, but Rhys mentioning this ‘Baus’ caught her attention. She once again diverted the conversation to learn more about their technology.

“So this… Baus implant does even more? You said it has a bunch of other uses. Like what?” Rhys continued, seemingly oblivious to Sunset’s interrogation tactics.

“Well the Biomechanical Augmentation System, or as we like to say, ‘The Baus,’ is an implant that gets inserted and sewn into the host’s nervous and respiratory systems. Then, it uses a series of self-replicating nanomachines to modify and manage the host’s body, allowing for unobtrusive and painless work. It can heal injuries, alter your physiology as you see fit, and even build other implants directly into your body. Most of us get it implanted as a child, and grow up with it. Synths like Ignatius have it built into their bodies as standard, seeing as it works with inorganic material just as easily as anything else, and just makes life easier.” Ignatius gives a small thumbs-up without looking back, showing his nonverbal approval for the augmentation.

Sunset was aware that they spoke of some sort of horrible calamity in the past, but she still felt confused. These people seemed to come from an Earth of miraculous technology, and she couldn’t understand what they would possibly want from Equestria. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why you all are here. You said that you’re here on a mission to study Equestria, but I don’t know what we could offer you. Unless you’ve got a sugar shortage or something, I’m not sure what you’ll find here.” The whole team grew quiet, with even Colette losing her jubilation. A palpable tension manifested in the air around them, and Sunset realized that she had hit some sort of nerve with her visitors. She was about to apologize until Claire sighed deeply, looking over her shoulder at her, speaking somberly.

“I’m going to be completely honest with you, little pony. Our world is dying. The land is barren, and the air is so polluted that a hundred generations have passed since anyone has seen the sun with the naked eye. We wage a never ending war against an enemy we cannot defeat, only stall. Our coming here was an act of desperation. We cannot win, so all we can hope to do is flee our universe into one that has not been tainted by the First Fear.” As soon as she was done speaking, Claire turned away again, looking straight ahead once more, clearly unwilling to continue this line of discussion. No one else spoke up, and Sunset felt dread creep up her spine as the truth of the words settled in. These were not a group of mighty soldiers from another world; they were refugees from a war on a scale beyond her imagination. She felt guilty for doubting them, and decided for certain that she would speak to Princess Twilight about getting them some kind of help.

Thankfully, that would be soon, as they were nearing the edge of the forest, and could see the sky peaking through the canopy as the trees thinned. Sunset was about to announce this, but stopped herself when she saw the two Lunar Guard. Claire and Ignatius had both stopped, raising their fist in the air in unison. Colette and Rhys both stopped as well, and the four of them stood in silence, slowly turning their heads back and forth. Sunset looked down at them, confused at their abrupt change in demeanor. “Is something wrong? Why did you all-”

“There is danger, little one. We have been surrounded.” Ignatius spoke softly and calmly, turning his body to face her. “You are a mage, are you not? Can you defend yourself?” She nodded in response, swallowing her anticipation. Whatever they had noticed, she had been completely oblivious to. She wasn’t sure if she should be glad to have the extra bodies to help defend with, or curse the fact that it was likely the noise of the party that drew in predators to begin with. Rhys slowly and carefully reached up to her, lifting her up gingerly and placing her back on the ground as he shifted his stance to a defensive one. It was only once she was on the ground that she could see the number of glowing eyes slowly approaching from all directions.

“Timberwolves. A whole pack. We should run.” Colette audibly scoffed, giving Sunset an amused glance as she rolled her shoulders, warming up for the fight. The Solar Knight then reached across her body to her hip, making a fist. It was only as she began to draw her hand back that Sunset realized that she was drawing a massive sword from seemingly nowhere. It looked as though the sword was being pulled from an invisible veil, but upon closer inspection, Sunset realized that the blade was being drawn into reality inch-by-inch by a small rectangular box on her hip, with a dozen bright blue lasers seemingly printing the weapon with nothing but pure light. Within seconds, Colette was wielding a massive greatsword that was as long as she was tall, looking to be about 6 feet in length. More shockingly, the blade was over a foot wide, making it look even more disproportionately huge than it already did. It glowed with a faint blue light, and electricity seemed to crackle along its surface, brimming with an ominous energy that made the frightening weapon all the more intimidating. Despite the sheer size and weight of the weapon, Colette seemed to handle it with the same ease as Sunset would wield a fencing foil in high school. Looking at the Lunars showed that they too had manifested weapons from seemingly nowhere, with Ignatius holding a long-hilted glaive and Claire wielding a sinister-looking serrated curved sword. Both of their weapons were black as pitch and glowing with a faint violet light along their edge, similar to Colette’s own weapon, but dissimilar as they looked practical rather than like something out of a video game. Rhys had simply taken what looked to be a boxer’s stance, holding up his massive metal fists that were in of themselves powerful crushing weapons that could probably bring down a house with ease.

“Trust me when I say that we’ve seen a lot worse than this. This will be over in a flash.” The snarky bark of Colette emphasized just how comfortable they all were with combat, seemingly treating this otherwise lethal encounter as nothing but a casual bout. Each of the four soldiers stood with their backs to Sunset, clearly seeing her as something to defend. While momentarily annoyed at their coddling, she quickly reasoned that this would be a good opportunity to see what they were like in combat, which might give Sunset some valuable insight on the visitors. Even as much as she wanted to trust their confidence, she couldn’t help but feel anxious, bubbling herself in a magic shield as the growling of timberwolves grew closer. For a few seconds, Sunset was unsure if anything would even happen. There was complete silence as the two groups stared at each other, with only a few feet of foliage separating them now. The hardened wood of the timberwolves was clearly visible, and if her companions were surprised by the appearance of the wolves, they didn’t show it.

And then, without warning, there was noise.

A massive wolf made of wood leapt out of a bush at Rhys, pouncing for his head but only managing to get a mouthful of Solar adamantine as it instead bit into his forearm. Rhys responded by grabbing the timberwolf around the waist with his free hand, easily pulling it free and slamming it into the ground in one movement, instantly shattering it into twigs and logs. The Solar captain laughed into his transceiver as he stomped on the remains with a boot, crushing the rest into splinters. “These beasts remind me of the marionettes back home! They break just as easily, and are about as smart!” A voice in his ear responded with equal vigor as Colette swung her massive sword overhead, bisecting a pouncing timberwolf from nose to tail with her sword.

“It’s almost too easy! They telegraph all their movements, and they go down in one hit! At least the marionettes had a *chance* to hurt us. These things can’t even scratch my paint!” Another ran at her from the bushes, and she waited until it sprang for her neck before grabbing it by the throat with her off hand and plunging her sword through its midsection with her other. It whined in pain before falling apart pitifully, its remains left smouldering from the burnt wound. The Lunars were fairing just as well, if not better. Claire charged off the path into her enemies, slashing at them with ferocity and grace. She roared with an incoherent fury as she tore through several wolves in several seconds, reducing them to piles of split wood. Her smaller sword cut with lightning fast slashes and accurately, dismembering her foes with ease.

Back on the path, Ignatius stood by Sunset, intending to protect her from any that slipped by. One such wolf ran between the legs of Rhys as he tried and failed to grab it, being occupied by another two wolves currently hanging from either arm. This lone wolf leapt for Sunset, maw wide with hunger and rage. She recoiled in fear, but stood her ground knowing that her shield would easily weather the attack. It never did, however, as Ignatius spun around quickly and snapped two of his fingers together at the wolf. In the time it took for the wolf to jump off the ground and impact Sunset’s shield, it had been reduced to hot, white ash as his magic had instantly immolated it in less than a second. The fiery explosion and sudden rush of heat did more to frighten the pony than the wolf ever could have, as she had never before witnessed such a powerful display of lethal force before. Her eyes wide in shock and awe at the Lunar standing behind her, his emotionless visor betraying nothing and sending another shiver down her spine.

In less than a minute, it was over. The last of the wolves ran in fear from the quartet of warriors, having never before faced such opposition. They had prey fight back before, but never with such ferocity such as this. Sunset was left in the middle of it all, surrounded by pieces of burnt, crushed, and chopped timberwolf. She was thankful that it was timberwolves and not a manticore or cragadile, because she wasn’t sure she could handle seeing a flesh and blood creature being so viciously eviscerated like the wolves were. She sat shivering for a moment, before realizing that her shield was still up. She considered leaving it as it was, but decided against it, her fear of these aliens being renewed in their combat prowess. The last thing Sunset wanted to do is make them feel unwelcome, because it was becoming increasingly apparent to her that animosity between their worlds was the last thing she or anypony else would ever want. Claire, Colette, and Ignatius all stowed their weapons, each disappearing in a flurry of lights just like when they were drawn. Sunset took a deep breath, and stood up, looking up at the four of them. Rhys was the first to speak, his helmet sliding back open again to show his concerned expression.

“You seem awfully shaken, Sunset Shimmer. I assume you’re not used to combat like that, and I apologize on behalf of myself and my companions. We meant to protect you, but it seems we have only made you more distressed.” He seemed genuinely sorry, and she appreciated the gesture, even if it didn’t help to calm her nerves. She knew about war, as there were a small number in Equestrian history, and even more in human history. She had read many times before about battle, bloodshed, and even wartime atrocities, but had never been as close to any of it as she was today. Magical rainbow lasers and friendship had all but completely sensitized her of the true brutality of conflict, and she realized that she would have to get used to it if she was going to work with these four to help them, and solve whatever Friendship Problem brought her to them. The other members of his party also opened their helmets in an attempt to put her at ease, but she was still not used to their strange appearances, and they only served to remind her how alien they really were. She then had another abrupt realization.

“Oh sweet Celestia, I can’t let you four into town.” The group seemed taken aback by the statement, but Sunset quickly began to explain to try and save face. “Listen, I’m pretty well-travelled. I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in my time, but you guys definitely take the cake. There are some more open-minded ponies these days, but the pretty normal response to new stuff is to run screaming, and the fact that you four are objectively terrifying doesn’t help. No one in town besides me has seen humans, let alone canids, or synths or uh… daemonkin.” Sunset looked Claire up and down again, grimacing slightly at the memories of her own demonic stint on Earth. “Most ponies have never even met soldiers before, beyond the Canterlot Guard, and those guys are mostly just glorified security officers. The concept of war is pretty foreign in this country. Princess Twilight’s castle is pretty much the only place big enough to house you guys, but it’s also in the center of town. I have no idea how to hide you to prevent mass panic.” Sunset’s brow furrowed in thought, considering her options. The four of them were too big to try and sneak through, and she couldn’t teleport them. She had a hunch that their implants would likely interfere with teleportation, and even if they didn’t, they were too big and heavy to teleport so far. The Lunars likely weighed at least twice her weight each, and the Solars would be much, much heavier than that with their powered armor.

“I may have an idea, though I cannot guarantee it will work.” Ignatius stepped forward, his arms crossed in thought. Sunset still did not like looking him in the eyes due to the sheer intensity of his unblinking stare, but she forced herself to do so in order to listen carefully. “I am not only trained in pyromancy, but also alteration. I believe I can create a veil to obscure us by manipulating the light around our bodies. It will not hide the sounds of our movement, but it may just work to prevent the average person- er, pony from detecting us as we cross the town.” Sunset blinked several times, wondering if she had misheard the Lunar Knight.

“Wait, wait, back up. Did you just say that you can cast invisibility magic? That’s never been done before in Equestria!” Ignatius shook his head humbly, much to Sunset’s disappointment.

“Not true invisibility, no. It is merely a refraction of light, as opposed to allowing it to pass completely through the subject. As a result, it is an imperfect effect that does not hold up to scrutiny. Regardless, it is an invaluable skill to Lunar Guard such as myself, as we primarily operate at night, and such a spell makes us all but undetectable. And it should help us now.” Ignatius pointed up at the sky, and everyone’s gaze followed his finger. The sun was hanging low now, and they all together understood what he meant. “It is the afternoon now, and we can use that to our advantage. Unless your people are nocturnal, then they are likely to be returning to their homes for evening soon. We can use the reduced street traffic along with the low light to allow us to pass without trace. I would rather wait until night, but that may take several more hours that we should not waste.”

Sunset was smirking, with an eyebrow raised deviously, because she knew something that none of them did. She knew from her own time on Earth that normally the sun and moon move across the sky on their own through cosmic forces. What these four definitely did not know was that such rules did not apply in Equestria. Colette noticed her smirk, and cocked her head, curiously.

“Hey Sunset. What’s with that look? Is something funny about Ignatius’ plan? Is something wrong with it?” The unicorn giggled, unable to contain her anticipation.

“Oh, just keep your eyes on the sky. You’ll see in a moment.” The four Celestial Guards exchanged looks of curiosity and confusion. They looked back up at the sky, wondering what was so strange about it, shielding their eyes from the dwindling light of the sun. Then, they all watched in horror as the sun suddenly dropped out of the sky, plunging it into darkness. A moment later, the moon rapidly rose to take its place, bathing the world in a much more subdued light. The group stood in stunned silence, eyes wide and mouths open. Sunset was laughing, but quickly stopped when she realized she was the only one laughing. She took a cautious step forward, looking up at the quartet and unsure what to say. Claire finally broke her eyes from the moon, and looked at Sunset with an expression of complete shock, finally breaking the silence with a single, flabbergasted sentence.

“What in the gods damned fu-”

—

“So then, this world is completely brimming with magic, isn’t it, Sunset Shimmer?” Rhys was sitting on the ground, with his companions around him. They all needed to take a short break upon the epiphany that the sun and moon of this planet was controlled by a magical pony and not gravity. He turned his head to Claire, who was sitting furthest away from him on his left. “When were you going to tell us, Claire? You can see auras. You should have known from the very beginning what this world had in store for us. The timberwolves, the ponies, and even the ground we walk on are all overflowing with magic. Why did you hide that from us?” Ignatius stood up between them, blocking the rook’s view.

“She told me, but I also hid such knowledge. We decided it was not of immediate importance, and could distract the team. Now… we know better. There was no avoiding this.” Rhys frowned with disappointment in both of the Lunars, angry that they would hide such valuable information. He averted his gaze from the pair in black, and turned his head to see Colette, who was looking up at him. Her icy eyes shimmered in the pale moonlight with a look of sadness on her face.

“I don’t get it. We’re supposed to be a team. Why can’t we just be honest with each other?” Rhys snorted in frustration, before sighing in defeat, his frown going from bitter to simply dejected.

“Lunars are not the trusting type. Especially not Claire. She hasn’t trusted me since City Seven. I do not blame her, but I am sorry that you must suffer her ire alongside me.” Sunset was sitting nearby and overheard this, and it piqued her curiosity. She may have spent longer than she hoped with these four, but she was all but certain now that the Friendship Problem she was sent to deal with was between Rhys and Claire. She just needed to figure out what happened between them, and solve it. Easier said than done, unfortunately for her.

“What’s City Seven?” Sunset saw Rhys flinch, and immediately regretted asking, but decided to follow through. “It seems like a sensitive topic, but maybe discussing it with a new friend will help?” The Solar captain shook his head, smiling.

“I appreciate that, Sunset Shimmer. Perhaps in these magical lands, problems can be so easily solved with some nice words and tea, but that is not the case where we come from. Things are more complicated than just that.” Claire glared at him, and then shifted her gaze to Sunset. Her eyes seemed to soften just slightly, but it may have just been the light. If looks could kill, Claire still wore a lethal expression.

“City Seven was a massacre, plain and simple. Rhys was stationed there, and a lot of good people died on his watch. My husband was one of them. Rhys was supposed to keep him safe, and he failed.” She spat the last word at the Solar, making him flinch again. Without daring to look at her, he responded, his normally booming voice barely a whisper.

“He was my brother, I loved him too. If I could go back and change things, I would. I did all I could-” She stood up suddenly, cutting him off as she shouted at his slumped shape, rage in her voice.

“You did nothing. You laid in the dirt and watched him die. You were weak then, and you are weak now. That is why you wear that suit, because you’ve always been too weak to stand on your own!” Rhys could only sit and weather the verbal lashing that his sister delivered to him. Nothing she said was wrong, and he was all too aware of the fact. Still, Sunset couldn’t help but stand at his defense. She did not know the pain of losing family the way they did, but she did know senseless anger when she saw it.

“Claire, please stop this.” The daemonkin turned, hate in her eyes as Sunset spoke. Her sharp, jagged teeth were bared, and she looked ready to kill. “I don’t know your people’s history, or the tragedies you’ve suffered, but you can’t take them out on your family. You’ve both lost someone you love. Hurting Rhys won’t bring him back. Hurting others won’t fill the hole in your heart, either. Pain only brings pain, and you can’t heal with hate. I know that better than most.” Sunset’s determination clashed with Claire’s rage, and the two of them stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity as seconds dragged on and on, neither wanting to back down from their convictions. Sunset was surprised when Claire looked away first, looking back down on her younger brother. She spat on him, her spit landing on his armor just below the neck, before turning her back to them both. She began to walk away, but Ignatius appeared in front of her, holding out a small, grey cylinder.

“Eat, captain. Your kind becomes belligerent when hungry, and you have not eaten all day.” She snatched it out of his hand without a word, and snapped it in half. She knocked back the contents of both halves at the same time, chewing loudly and quickly. When she finally swallowed, she then threw the empty halves on the ground unceremoniously. Sunset watched in confusion, wondering what the contents were, until the smell wafted her way. She immediately recognized the acrid smell of raw meat, and grimaced in disgust. Her time on Earth had made her used to the consumption of meat, and she was aware that even some ponies in Equestria ate the meat of less-intelligent species. None of that compared to seeing someone like Claire devouring raw, nearly-rancid flesh in such a ravenous manner. Looking over to the Solars, it seemed that Colette had decided to follow suit in a quick meal, drawing forth two similar-looking canisters. Thankfully, they appeared to contain a muddy-brown looking energy bar when she opened them. At first, Rhys waved off the food, clearly not in the mood to eat. The canid put on a pout, not caring about his feelings.

“You have to eat, captain. If I have to eat this garbage, I am not eating it alone. Take it before I stuff it in your mouth hole.” With that, the rook hesitantly took the humble meal. Rhys ate slowly and sadly, glancing up at Sunset. Upon making eye contact with her, he smiled briefly, before looking down again, still dejected. She felt a pit in her gut, their pitiful state dramatically contrasting with their strength that was on display earlier. She no longer wanted to help them for the sake of the map, feeling determined to fix this relationship just so she didn’t have to see such painful expressions anymore.

Ignatius interrupted her thoughts by stepping up beside her and kneeling down, whispering to her. “Once the other two are done eating, shall we depart, little one? I do not like the idea of spending the night outside in a foreign land, even with a sky so beautiful. Additionally, my companions need rest. I do not need sleep, but they still do.” He paused, glancing back at Claire who was sulking away from the group. “Even if they are too proud to admit it.”

“That’s probably a good idea. If these two have to spend much longer around each other, I have a feeling that she’s going to kill him.” Ignatius nodded in return, wanting to be through with the hostilities for tonight. He was tired of seeing his superior make a fool of herself. Even if he believed her feelings were justified, her childish actions were not. He stood up and looked to the Solars, who were finishing their meal. Colette had stuffed her entire ration bar into her mouth at once, and was struggling to manage the massive ball of synthesized foodstuffs. Rhys was chewing the final bite of his own bar, showing that slow and steady did indeed win the race. Upon looking up from his lieutenant and seeing Ignatius at the ready, he took a deep breath and stood up as well, pushing the empty food cylinder into his hip holster, which deconstructed it into energy as easily as it did anything else. Colette did the same, still fruitlessly chewing the mass of mushy bar in her mouth. Ignatius gestured for Claire to rejoin the group, and she did, begrudgingly.

“With the cover of night, this will be easier. I have never had to veil an entire goliath-class battlesuit before, but I should be able to manage it. Follow Sunset, she will remain outside of our veil and lead us to the castle. Once inside, we can rest until morning.” Rhys chuckled halfheartedly, his exhaustion obvious.

“You know, for a lieutenant, you’re making an awful lot of decisions. Maybe you two should exchange rank.” Both Lunars shot him a deadpan glance, and Rhys grew silent again. Sunset was all too eager to get these four to the castle, just so she could at least sleep after such a long day. She thought about how nice it would be to share a bed with her girlfriend, and then became irritated as she realized the Twilight was back in Canterlot with the Princess, and she likely wouldn’t see her until at least tomorrow. She sighed in exasperation, before turning towards town.

“Alright, Ignatius. Do your stuff, and let’s get moving.” Before she was even done speaking, the Lunar Knight was already casting his spell. Focusing, he quickly performed a series of gestures from his memory, his mechanical body allowing for exact precision. As his fingers moved through the air, he envisioned his delicate manipulations of the invisible paths of energy in the universe. While such magical pathways were far more lively than the ones back home, they were still familiar enough to work with. He carefully flowed minute quantities of his soul through his fingertips, painting a new series of paths and directions for the localized universe to follow. As complex as the process was, his practiced hands made short work of the spell, bringing it to life in only a brief few seconds. The four soldiers quickly found themselves enwreathed in a shimmering sphere as the light was refracted and bounced around them. Colette in particular was awed by this, the fabulous lightshow appealing to her canid humors.

Looking back, Sunset would have been startled to see that the four had vanished, had she not been in on the plan herself. Looking carefully, she could just barely see a distortion of light in a wide semicircle, almost like a faint mirage. Satisfied with the illusion, Sunset began walking along the path. Unfortunately, it became quickly apparent just how obvious the sound of Rhys walking was, with his massive warsuit not only loudly stomping around, but also the whirring and hissing of the servos and hydraulics with every step. She suddenly felt glad that night had fallen, otherwise the plan probably wouldn’t have worked. Then again, most ponies can be pretty oblivious, so who could say for sure? At the very least, anyone hearing the noise will only be confused if they decided to look out their window and only see a lone unicorn mare.

As they moved slowly, the four knights inside of the veil couldn’t help but admire the idyllic town of Ponyville. Even at night, it looked very approachable and pleasant. The houses all looked comfortable, warm, and quaint, a far cry from the uniform and practical bunkers that everyone lived in back on Earth. Ignatius in particular, was enjoying seeing the peculiar architecture. While he was devoting most of his attention and energy to maintaining the spell, he was pleased and somewhat confused to see that the buildings were easily identifiable as ancient human styles, brushing off the oddity as cosmic coincidence. If the ponies spoke Common Terran, the odds of there being similarities in culture or architecture are just as likely. What certainly awed the group more than anything was the massive castle of crystal that towered over the rest of the town, looking quite out of place among the thatch-roof buildings everywhere else. It was perhaps the largest building any of them had seen, only possibly matched in scale to the Royal Watchtower in the Capital City.

Sunset approached the massive main doors of Twilight’s Castle, and just as she stepped on the stairs leading up, the doors began to open, with Spike on the other side. He strained himself pulling the massive doors open, but was excited to see Sunset return at last. “I was starting to get worried about you out there! You’ve been gone all afternoon, and when the moon rose, I wasn’t sure if you were coming back at all tonight! Just in case, I waited here by the window to watch for you. How did your friendship quest go?” Sunset smiled awkwardly, and Spike’s excitement quickly wore off as he realized that there was a very unusual shaking occurring around him.

“Well, unfortunately, my quest isn’t exactly done yet. I’m gonna need you to write a letter to the princess.” Before Spike could ask what was going on, Ignatius released control of his spell, causing the entire team to instantaneously appear in the room behind Sunset. Spike went wide-eyed and slack-jawed, gawking at the four aliens standing in front of him. He spent several seconds looking back and forth between Sunset and the group behind her, before shaking off the shock. Throwing up his hands and turning around, Spike started making his way to his room, deciding that he was too tired to even think about this.

“Nope. I don’t get paid enough for this. I’m going to bed, you all can just find a bed of your own. Don’t care what room as long as it isn’t mine. I’m gonna have Twilight deal with this tomorrow. This is not my problem.”

Author's Note

Whew. Had a lot going this week. Wasn't sure I'd finish this in time, but I made it! Hope I'm not boring everyone with my expositing. I really love worldbuilding, and I look forward to making the next chapter! More ponies are inbound, I promise.