"Ugh, what the…" Rainbow Dash said as she was getting up, "I just had the weirdest dream…"
"It wasn't a dream, Rainbow," Applejack said.
"Wha… What the? Where are we?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"No idea," Applejack replied. The room they were in was completely empty, aside from six ponies that we're currently waking up. There were no furniture or windows present, and the walls of the room looked to be made of grey painted metal. At the top of the room were several lightbulbs, the only source of luminescence. There were also cameras present at all four corners of the room, along with a singular speaker on the ceiling, though the ponies had no idea what those things were. Despite it being a completely metal walled room, it didn't seem to be a secure bunker type room, with the walls not being reinforced or anything.
"Is everypony alright?" Twilight asked groggily.
"Depends on what you mean by okay," Rarity replied.
All of a sudden, the sound of a door opening on the other side of the door was heard. The sound emitted from a slight distance away, but their hypersensitive rats were able to pick it up. This was followed by quite a few sets of footsteps that were gradually getting closer.
"Are they the humans that rampaged through town?" Fluttershy asked fearfully.
"Probably," Rainbow replied, equally as fearful.
Soon enough, the footsteps were only about ten meters away. Out of the blue, a loud voice suddenly shouted, "Captain on deck!" This was followed by two voices from right outside the left and right side of the door, saying the word "Ma'am!" In an equally as serious tone.
"At ease soldiers," a female voice replied, "We're about to let them out, the president wants them to watch as we demolish the cavern."
"Why would the president want them to view the demolition?" One of the voices asked.
"My guess? Fear tactic," the sergeant said, "With their current level of technology, they wouldn't be able to make an explosion half as big as what we're about to do. It's a show of strength."
"Are you sure we should be talking about this right in front of the door?" Another voice asked.
"Relax, door's soundproof… well, not exactly since it's metal, but close enough," the sergeant answered. Little did she know, these doors were not designed to go against pony hearing.
"Do they not realise we can hear them?" Pinkie asked, confused.
"Probably not," Twilight said.
"So, what? We just take them to a widow and ask them to look out?" The same voice from earlier asked, cutting off any further conversation.
"No, the president ordered us to 'play it cool'," the sergeant replied, "Like, y'know, let them see it without us thinking we're trying to make us see it."
"What?" Another voice asked in confusion. In fact, the element bearers themselves were confused.
"He wanted us to make it look effortless, like such a feat is nothing to us, not even worthy of praise," the voice paused, but the sergeant continued after noticing the confused looks the soldiers were giving her. "Y'know how sometimes when you do something really cool, but you play it off as natural just to seem cooler?" She was just met with even more confused looks. "Y'know, like shooting and hitting a bottle a hundred and fifty meters away, but not pointing it out and showing your excitement just so you can make it look like such a feat is normal to you," she tried one last time, and was met with oh's and ah's of realisation.
"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense," one voice said.
"So, how are we gonna do this without them rushing us immediately?" Another voice asked.
"Simple, we give them a warning, and tell them what happens if they try to fight," the sergeant replied. She then took out a communication device from one of the lights on her waist, followed by taking out a tablet from a separate pouch. She then linked them both to the speakers and camera in the room.
"What should we do?" Pinkie asked.
"Well, magic was ineffective against them earlier so… the only way to combat them would be by physical means," Twilight observed, "Rainbow and Applejack, both of you stand guard near the door. The moment they come in you two rush them. We'll be right behind you. Only one of us has to escape, then we can tell the princesses where we are and they'll send a rescue party.
The voices from outside suddenly started snickering. "Imagine when they find out they're in an aircraft," one voice said, to which the rest of them laughed even harder.
"Well, looks like I'm gonna have to burst their bubble," the captain from earlier said. Suddenly, the same voice began speaking once again, but this time, it came from inside the room, with no discernable source. "Hello, hello? Uhh… attention aliens, please step away from the door if you want us to let you out. Or, you could just stay here if you want," the captain said.
"Wha-? Where's that coming from?" Twilight asked, confused.
"Oh, did we forget to mention? We're telepathic," the captain said, which caused them to shift their expressions to that of worry. "Nah, just kidding! We're just using the speaker," the ponies started looking around for the apparent speaker, to no avail. "Look up, idiots!" The voice said, and they all looked up to find a small, circular speaker built into the ceiling.
"W- who are you?" Fluttershy asked timidly, "What do you want from us?"
"From you? Nothing. You're just leverage. I believe Diplomat Bob made it clear what we wanted just now," the voice replied.
"Do you have any idea who we are?! We are the element bearers!" Rarity shouted.
"Also known as 'people you don't wanna mess with'," Rainbow Dash added.
"Oh, well, we are the soldiers of the USU," the voice replied, "Also known as people you don't wanna mess with, especially with your primitive weapons and technology."
"Whoever you are, I'll help you if you let my friends go," Twilight said.
"Let us outta here!" Applejack shouted angrily.
"That's what we were planning on doing," the voice in the speaker replied, "But we can't let you out if you're gonna immediately rush at us, can we?"
"Of course you can!" Pinkie replied matter-of-factly," All you have to do is open - "
"Pinkie, it was a rhetorical question!" Twilight groaned, cutting her off.
"What she said," the voice confirmed, "So if the orange meanie and Skittles could get their yee-yee asses away from the door, that would be very much appreciated.
"Hey!" Applejack yelled, clearly unamused.
"You can see us?!" Twilight asked, surprised.
"Skittles?!" Rainbow asked in confusion.
"It's an advanced species thing. Primitives like you guys probably don't have that," the voice explained.
"Excuse me?!" Rarity shouted, clearly offended, "How dare you dirty - "
"Shut up! Your voice is annoying!" The voice replied. "So... yeah, get away from the door if you want it opened," the voice ordered, "And don't think about fighting back. We're not going to hurt you… unless you try to fight us. If you do, we'll just have to shock you in response. Trust me, getting electrocuted is not pleasant, just ask the orange."
"You mean you electrocuted Applejack?" Twilight asked in horror.
"Seriously?! That's her name?!" the voice asked incredulously, "Fine, whatever. Yes, we electrocuted her, and that's what's gonna happen to the rest of you if you try to fight with us. What did you think we did?"
"I thought you knocked her out with some kind of magic, but you electrocuted her?!" Twilight asked.
"Yes, now can we get on with this? Or would you like me to leave all of you in here? We don't have to let you out, you know? We're being hospitable," The captain said.
Twilight tried to think of a solution, but deduced that if the humans wanted to harm them, they would have already done so while they were knocked out. The weapons they humans used on them were also like nonlethal variants of the ones they used on the royal guards, which only further proved that the humans' goal was not to harm them. This led Twilight to make the only rational decision she could at the time.
"Guys, we should listen to them. If they wanted to hurt us, they would've already done so," Twilight said.
"It's not like we can fight them even if we tried. You saw what their weapons did to the royal guard," Rarity said.
"Excellent choice!" The voice said, "Now back up. Against the wall."
"We should do as she says," Twilight told her friends. They all complied, backing up against the wall. All except for Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight, I don't trust them!" Rainbow said, "I think we should rush them. We might be able to escape."
"Ya saw what happened to those ponies who tried fighting back, Rainbow," Applejack said, "As much as Ah would hate surrendering to these monkeys, Ah know when Ah'm outmatched. No point doing anything rash and risking our lives when they don't plan on hurtin' us."
"But… but…" Rainbow trailed off as she realised Applejack was right. She hesitantly walked up to her friends and stood beside them up against the wall.
A sound of a latch was heard, followed by the door opening outwards. The door opened to reveal a long, extremely narrow corridor. At the entrance to the room stood three human soldiers, with their exoskeletons and helmets still on. The two soldiers that flanked the one in the middle held long spears of some kind, which ended in what looked like a two pin plug, and produced crackling noises. The one in the middle held no weapons, with her hands behind her back.
"Hello, Miss Twilight. I am Captain Sandra of Delta force squad fourteen. If you want out, come with me," she said, before she and her escort turned around and began walking, their backs turned.
"Now's our chance!" Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight, preparing to get the jump on the three 'unaware' humans.
"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight whispered back. She then addressed the captain. "Aren't you going to restrain us or something?" She asked, confused.
The captain looked back, an amused expression under her helmet. "There's no need," she said, "You're not a threat."
"Then why did you need us to back up against the wall if we 'aren't a threat'?" Rainbow asked, offended that a bunch of humans wouldn't consider the element bearers, of all ponies, a threat
"That was because we didn't wanna have to hurt you," the captain replied smugly before turning around and continuing on her way.
At this point, Rainbow had had enough. These humans, of all people, were treating her as if she was nothing. She'll just have to show them who's boss. "You don't think I'm a threat?!" Rainbow shoueted, and the fact that the captain didn't even turn around to address her made her even more furious. "Fine! I'll show you how much of a threat I can be!" Rainbow shouted, before dashing straight for the captain.
"Rainbow wait!" Fluttershy shouted, but Rainbow was already charging towards the captain. Suddenly, as quick as lighting, the captain turned around. She had whipped out a handgun and aimed it at the oncoming pegasus. Two loud bags echoed through the hallway. The bullets flew right past Rainbow Dash's head, then in between Twilight and Fluttershy, who were standing behind her. This shocked Rainbow Dash, and she tried to stop her momentum immediately, which led to her crashing on the ground, right in front of the captain. The captain then pointed her gun at Rainbow's forehead, causing her to be unable to move due to the fear. She had never stared death in the eye like this before.
"So, Miss… Rainbow, was it?" The captain asked. "Seems like you got quite angry that we didn't consider you a threat," she then pressed the gun up against her forehead, causing her to start quivering in terror, "So, would you really like me to consider you a threat?" Rainbow responded by immediately shaking her head at a quickened pace. "Good, so I trust there won't be any more attempts at retaliation?" She released the safety, which produced a menacing clicking sound, only serving to terrify Rainbow and the others even more, "From any of you?" Rainbow Dash and the rest of the ponies began nodding their heads extremely quickly. "Good, then we won't have a problem," the captain said, before holstering her gun. "Well, let's go. Chop chop, don't wanna keep Diplomat Bob waiting," she then turned around and started leading them away.
The captain silently led them past a few doors, before coming up on one and opening it. They stepped through, and found themselves in a large hall of sorts, with many windows along its walls. This was, in fact, the main (and pretty much only) area in the helicopter, with many unhelmeted humans sitting around and chatting. They all paused before stepping out of the hallway, seeing that many soldiers was… intimidating, to say the least.
"Something wrong?" The captain asked upon noticing they weren't following her. They immediately started shaking their heads quickly, not wanting to risk upsetting her. "Good, then let's get moving," she said, and they began walking.
The groups of humans paid them no mind as they walked past, acting as if they weren't even there. It made them feel a tad bit safer that they weren't being swarmed and attacked by every single human soldier present. But it was only a matter of time until the humans turned on them.
"Twilight, how on earth are we gonna escape?" Applejack asked. Twilight thought for a moment before deciding on something that she could try, although it probably wouldn't work.
"Why would you need a pointless hallway?" Twilight managed to ask, although she was still shaken up by the captain's violent display.
"The room you were just in was for drone maintenance, although we took out the tools meant for said maintenance so you couldn't use them against us," Captain Sandra said.
"And what about the hallway?" Twilight asked, hoping to be able to pry more information.
"That's classified. Well, not really, everyone knows what it's for. It's classified for you," Sandra replied, and Twilight frowned. It was actually meant for quick, in flight deployment of drones. The 'hallway' could fit about ten drones, and the right side of the wall actually opened up to deploy said drones. It was, in fact, a compartment, though they took all the drones into the main hangar so they could move through the hallway more easily.
"Twilight, how can you still talk to him after that display?" Rarity whispered.
"I'm trying to get the lay of the land to better prepare for our escape," Twilight said.
"Yeah, well, good luck with that," the captain suddenly replied. "And yes, I heard you," she tapped against the side of her helmet, "The helmet isn't just for show, you know?"
They walked silently the rest of the way, knowing they couldn't whisper amongst themselves. After a few seconds, they came up on a group of humans, and they immediately recognised one of them as the apparent diplomat.
"Diplomat Bob," Sandra said, getting his attention, "The president's already given you orders. You're on babysitting duty." She then spoke to the two guards who were escorting her, "You two, stay with them. If they try anything, try your best not to kill them. But if you do have to kill one of them, don't kill Twilight." She took a look at the prisoners and saw them shaking in fear. All, except for Twilight, who had a face that looked like she had just thought of an excellent idea. "Oh, and if the princess here tries anything, kill one of the others," she said, and Twilight's face shifted to one of horror.
As the captain began walking away, Diplomat Bob began approaching them. "Hello, ponies," he said, "I believe I've already introduced myself, but I'll do it again. I am Diplomat Bob, and I am here to answer any questions you might have. I ask you not to think of yourselves as prisoners, but as guests."