Captain Equestria

Twilight tapped her hoof nervously in the car she was being transported in. She was still nervous about Dash being in control of Sparkle Industries, but that wasn't what was bothering her. The fact that Luna had contacted her directly was a bit more concerning, but even that could be explained away rather easily.

What she had the most trouble dealing with was the armed escort.

After she had packed her bags, she went out front to meet her ride, only it wasn't at all what she had been expecting. A Humvee had pulled up with no less than four soldiers in it to bring her to Canterlot. And it didn't help much that each of them looked like they were in Luna's personal guard.

The trip wasn't too long, but the tense atmosphere made it feel a lot longer. Silence stretched the entire time and Twilight's nervousness only grew. They stopped a couple of times, but only to fuel up.

Once they had gotten to the castle, Twilight was let out, but only with two of the soldiers as guards. When she saw what had happened, though, she almost completely forgot about them.

The once-simple castle now had metal plates layered on top of the stone. The towers seemed larger and more imposing, and on top of each one was what looked like a very large rifle. The colors of the castle had also changed, though not as much. Mow they looked darker and a bit more intimidating.

Overall, it did not remind her of old times like she thought it would.

The guards in front of the gate watched her from behind their armor and weapons, but each of them didn't seem to be too worried about her. It actually almost looked like they were watching more around her than her actual arrival.

A creak snapped Twilight's attention back to the castle as the main gate opened to reveal even more guards. They watched carefully, but again, there was that feeling they were watching around her. It was very unsettling to see, and she moved quickly to find out what was going on.

In the throne room, surprisingly enough, there weren't any guards. There were two right outside the doors, but none in the room itself. Instead, Celestia and Luna sat on their thrones with weapons right next to them. They looked tired, but that changed as soon as they saw her. Though there was something about Celestia's expression that didn't feel right. It almost felt like she pitied her.

"Luna called," Twilight said. "She said there was something important I was needed for."

"Indeed," Luna said, standing up. "A long time ago, there was a war between Equestria and a much darker power. You might know of the time we fought King Sombra."

"It was noted in the history books," Twilight said.

"He was not the only threat," Luna continued. "There was a smaller organization that was far more dangerous than Sombra and his armies. It was known as Hydra."

"Hydra was kept out of the books," Celestia said, joining her sister. "It was destroyed during the war and there was no need to keep their atrocities for future generations to read about once peace had been restored. But they were not easy to deal with. There is only one reason we were able to keep them from achieving their goal."

The sisters started walking down a hallway Twilight had never noticed before and she followed, though she was starting to think there was something far more serious than an organization that had been destroyed so long ago. Luna didn't let them fall into silence, though, as she continued the story. "There was a mare who visited us to warn us about Hydra. She had immense magical power and was better at it than most ponies of the time. She told us about the kind of threat they posed and what we had to do to keep them from winning the war. She even lent a hoof in dispatching them and made quite a fine soldier."

"What does this have to do with me?" Twilight asked, not sure where everything was going. "Has Hydra come back? Do you need my help in stopping them again?"

The stopped in front of a wall where there was a large chunk of ice that was slowly melting. Sensors and machines were hooked up to it and life signs were coming from inside. Twilight stared at the foggy ice, still not quite sure where this was going until Luna wiped a hoof across the ice to show a familiar-looking purple unicorn asleep inside.

"We need your help then," Celestia answered. "The mare who helped us, the one who brought Hydra to its knees so we could keep them from winning, was you."