//------------------------------//
// Preperations, Journeys, and Murphy (U.N. Spacy000, Harry Leferts, Vulpine Fury) 
// Story: Widening the Lens 
// by Harry Leferts 
//------------------------------//

I am really, really sorry about the wait for you all. Thank you for waiting and hope that you enjoy the new chapter!

Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro
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Having spotted a slight sway in his Superior's posture, the pragmatic sergeant asked his CO what was on his mind.“Marm, when was the last time yeh ate?” 

Lieutenant Torch squinted slightly as she tried to recall when her last meal was but drew a blank leaving her to intelligently say “Uh…”

Spruce shook his head before he spoke rather reasonably. “And that, Marm, is why yeh should go to the mess hall and get a bite to eat,” 

Torch gavea heavy sigh as she capitulated to her subordinate. “Alright then,”  While she was actually quite glad that Spruce was getting her away from writing more condolence letters, there were still appearances that had to be maintained.
Once the pair of ponies found an unwitting sailor to act as their escort, they began to make their way to the mess hall. While Torch had initially resisted the need for an escort, a steady stream of sound reasons that began with ‘so you won’t get lost’ and went past ‘so you don’t get hurt’ eventually caused her to relent. Of course one of the sailors had caused her to snort when he said ‘to make sure you don’t try to create rainbows with the ships engines.’ That was just silly because rainbows could only be made above a certain altitude, hence one of the many reasons why the weather factory was in Cloudsdale.

Lieutenant Torch was not entirely sure who it was that made the rainbow crack however since most of the humans looked alike and they sort of blurred together. The first reason was that she had little to no practice differentiating human from human, and while they came in two genders and some varieties of color, it was a far cry from the two genders, three races, and broad spectrum palette that ponies came in. The second, and slightly more likely, was that the Canadian Navy had achieved enough uniformity across the board as to confuse a beleaguered pegasus as to who was who. The final possibility was that she could be suffering from an undiagnosed ant untreated head injury.

In any event, it was rather annoying.

Shortly, the trio arrived at the mess hall where they found that the young fillies and colts were doing their best to make the compartment live up to its name while the older generation attempted to contain the chaos.

Torch took in the sights of the room, a gruff sailor was buried under a pile of foal, Dainty Dish was hyperventilating as she chased a particularly rambunctious filly who was holding something in her mouth as she fled, a passel of foals were huddled around an illusion box, and parents were caring for children.

Torch began to make her way to where food was being served when she a familiar voice cut through the background chatter. A voice she had not heard in years. “Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing.”

Torch staggered slightly as she tried to find the voice that sounded like her sister’s was coming from. 'Where did...'
She mostly ignored the other voice that asked what the first one was practicing for but locked on when the first one began to speak again. “The Wonderbolts! They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!”

It was coming from the illusion box that was entertaining the foals. Torch surreptitiously began trotting her way over to the gaggle of enthralled fillies and colts.“The Wonderbolts?”

A lavender unicorn on the illusion box asked with a inquisitive expression as her sister nodded and replied.“Yep!” 

The unicorn continued to prod.“The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?” 

And once more her sister nodded. “That's them!”

The unicorn looked at her before she dismissed the Rainbow Dash. “Pfft, please. They'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day

Dash puffed up rather indignantly at that.“Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat.” 

The unicorn just snorted. “Prove it.”

Torch was not entirely certain who the unicorn was, but she heartily approved of the younger mare. After all, she got Rainbow Dash to do her job without a major argument. “Loop the loop around, and wham! What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging. You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more.”

Torch’s eyes widened at the name in recognition. Twilight Sparkle was Princess Celestia’s personal student and Dash’s ‘egghead’ friend who happened to be the element of magic. Spruce asked in a low voice laden with concern as he had caught her staring. “Yeh alright, Marm?” 

Torch replied equally low. “That’s my sister...” 
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The quiet of the night at the relief train was suddenly shattered as a familiar shout was heard. “Minion! Is the relief train ready for departure?”

Princess Luna asked in a volume that might almost be considered normal if somepony was speaking to the hearing impaired. Lieutenant Abstruse Eclipse looked up from the list of supplies that were being loaded onto the waiting train and said “We’ll be ready within three hours, your highness.”

A bright smile lit up the Princess' face at having heard that. “Wonderful! This pleaseth thine princess!”
Luna exclaimed in satisfaction as she made her way to the field information/operations coach so that she could be caught up on the latest, up to date information that was streaming into Canterlot via radio. Eclipse sighed as his noisy princess trotted off. “Join the night guard, they said, you’ll be able to sleep all day and enjoy the nightlife, they said, travel to distant places and meet new ponies, they said -”

The unicorn stallion’s grousing was cut off when a slightly smaller pegasus in a similar uniform with sergeant stripes waved a hoof in front of his face and said “You’re acting odd again, Lt.”

Eclipse turned to the dark mare next to him and said “Oh, I’m just reminiscing, Noct.”

Sergeant Nocturnal Firmament snorted in a decidedly unmarelike fashion before she said “Really? Is that what you call it? It sounded like you were bitching again, Lt.”

Eclipse groaned slightly as his ‘subordinate’ hit the mark. “Maybe.”

The recently promoted sergeant rolled her eyes before she asked “What was up with the whole ‘we’ll be ready in three hours’ thing? I’ve been through everything and it looks like we’ll be good to go in one and a half or so.”

Eclipse gave Nocturnal a deadpanned stare before he said “You’ve never done transport before.”

The pegasus mare cocked her head to the side before she said “uh, no.”

“Well, something almost always goes wrong, and you can either pad your time estimates or leave late.” The unicorn said as he waved the cargo manifest in the air.

Sergeant Firmament was about to reply to her overly cautious CO when an exceedingly loud voice blew out the windows on the lead coach. “How dare that ungrateful mare detain our most glorious troops when they art direly needed elsewhere! Draft a message! I want new orders cut to Captain Gernot De Sauveterre and a suitable rebuke condemning the mayor of Simple Dam posthaste!”

Princess Luna’s tirade continued on for a few minutes as she declared that the mayor was placing the lives of ponies in jeopardy and that she should feel bad about it. Eclipse hurriedly transcribed her majesty’s rant on the back of the shipping manifest as she verbally tore into the poor radio equipment on the coach. Once she finished, Eclipse looked up and noticed that the window panes that had been blasted off the coach were still whole. “Well, at least the shatter proofing charm worked this time. Hopefully she only ruined the microphones and hasn’t caused a cascade failure on the whole setup again.”

A trembling Nocturnal waved her hooves in the air as she exclaimed “By Celestia’s beard! What was that?”

Eclipse looked up from his scribbling and turned to his newest sergeant. “That was The Royal Canterlot Voice, and it is also the reason why Princess Luna’s codename is ‘Enthusiasm.’”

Nocturnal tried to digest this new information but did not seem to take it well. Eclipse poked the smaller pegasus with the note scribbled manifest a few times in order to reacquire her attention before he said “I had a spare coach set up on track three in case this happened, would you tell them that we will be needing them?”

Nocturnal nodded, still slightly dazed, and wandered off to speak with the stallion in charge of the rail yard.

The remaining unicorn began to make his way to where the closest functioning radio with the proper clearance was to get the message out to Simple Dam that the forces there should be mobilized and that the local politicos were not thought well of for keeping Beta Company of the 23rd Royal Equestrian Auxiliary away from investigating the distress call from Hippocampus Bay.

He would also need to revise his time estimates, and as he realized that, he said “What I would give to be completely drunk right now.” 
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Groaning as she banged her arms on her pillowed arms for what seems like the tenth time that hour alone, the auburn haired woman is suddenly snapped out of it as a mug full of steaming black liquid is set down in front of her. "Here you go Lauren."

After she lifted her head, Lauren Faust gratefully sipped at the mug held in her hands. "Mmm... Thanks Jay." She then spotted something and turned to give him a disbelieving look. "Timbits? Really Jay?"

Chuckling a bit, he shrugged as he sipped his own coffee. "Compliments of CSIS." He snorts at her incredulous look. "You've been to Canada Lauren, you know how seriously we take our Tims there.

As she shook her head, Lauren snorted while she pulled one out and popped it into her mouth. After she swallowed, she sighed. "I suppose..." She then gave him a slight look that's overlain by tiredness. "But I do like Krispy Kreme." She ignored the small laugh while she looked around and shook her head. "If you had told me a month ago that the two of us along with the rest of the cast and crew would get hauled into the Pentagon because Equestria appeared out of nowhere..."

Jay nodded seriously at that. "I know how you feel Lauren, this is simply crazy..." He ran his hand through his hair as he shaked his head while looking towards someone. "For some of us though..."

When she noticed where he had been looking, Lauren winced as she saw the still slightly shaken John de Lancie drinking his coffee as he spoke to one of the people from the countless intelligence agencies. "I honestly cannot imagine how he feels or what he's going through knowing that the villain he gave voice to is in fact now real..."

Jay nodded though he soon frowned as he looked over some papers and shook his head in disbelief. I still can't believe that the Pentagon had actual plans in case 'My Little Pony' turned out to be real..." His lips turned up a little as he rolled his eyes. "Well, the first series anyways..."

As she glanced side-long at where Bonnie Zechere was currently sitting with a group of older people, Lauren shook her head. "I know that I should be surprised... but after reading a few months ago how they have a plan in case of a Girl Scouts uprising... I'm not." She snorted and continued as she brings the mug back up to her lips. "I honestly now would not be too surprised if they have something in case the Transformers turned out to be real..." She then sighed thankfully. "I'm grateful that we got them to calm down a little after they freaked out over some of what they found on the net..." She then scowled. "Honestly the amount of paranoia they showed..."

Jay scowled a little bit. "Please don't remind me of that." He than smiled as he gestured to a now familiar collage student brought in from Arizona as he walked around and looked at some video running through a flatscreen with a look not too dissimilar to a kid's upon walking into candy store. "At least some of us are still enjoying it."

As she ignored an argument in another part of the room, Lauren sighed as she nodded before she frowned. "I just wish that Craig could be here..."

Seeing the tears slowly gather in his friend's eyes as the stress starts to overtake her, Jay placed his mug onto the table before he reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I know Lauren, I'm missing my girls too."

As she shuddered a bit, Lauren reached up and gripped the top of her head through her hair. "I... I just... All of this..."

As he frowned, Jay gently laid his arm across her shoulders and gave them another squeeze. "I know Lauren... I know." He then sighed as he turned her and gave her a hug. "We're all a little stressed out right now." He continued patting her back as she let it all out for a few minutes while the auburn haired woman puts herself back together. After she calms down a little he takes a step away and looks at her with some concern. "Better?"

She wiped some tears away with one hand as she nodded and hiccupped. "Ye-yeah. Thanks for that Jay." She sniffled a little as she shook her head. "I... I don't know what came over me there..."

For his part, Jay frown became more pronounced as he noticed the bags under her eyes. "Lauren..." Once he had her attention, he continued. "When was the last time you slept?"

She gave it some thought as she blinked. 'When...' She then shook her head. "I... can't remember off the top of my head..."

As he looked around, Jay noticed one of the empty rooms used for sleeping adjacent to the conference room is empty. He then picked up her mug and moved it away from her. "Lauren, as your friend I'm worried about you." He then gestured at the room." And also, I'm telling you that you should go and catch some shuteye right now. That room's empty so you can use it."

As she looked at it, Lauren could almost swear that she could hear the cot there as it whispered to her inside her head, telling her to come and use it. A moment later, she shook it off. "I... I can't." She then sighed as she looked up at her friend. "We need to figure out how they should perform first contact here and..." She ran a hand down her face as she continued. "And I need to be here. I... I have to make sure that this happens smoothly."

Jay just gave her a look. "Lauren, you can't help much if you're beat and about to collapse." He then looked her in the eye. "You need rest."

Lauren just shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry Jay... but..."

Jay then grimaced a bit before his hands dropped from her shoulders as he turned to look at the projector and it projecting the notes they've come up with onto a blank wall. "I suppose that we should be thankful that it was Equestria and wasn't something like the Daleks..."

Lauren then snorted. "Or the transformers." She then weakly smiled as she whispered towards him. "I heard that one of the Generals keeps having his vehicle checked and kept under watch just in case to make sure it wasn't replaced or is a fake."

Jay blushed a little as he grumbled. "I'm pretty sure that he won't be the only one after this..."

As she shook her head, Lauren opened her mouth only to have closed it a moment later with a shudder. "Great. Now I'm going to wonder..." She then smiled a little before she chuckled a bit. "You know, it's a little odd but..."

As he sipped his coffee, Jay raised his eyebrow. "But..."

Lauren's lips twitched a bit as she continued. "Even though they're real, part of me feels the need to protect them as if they were my children..."

Jay was about to say something in reply when two Generals, one a Canadian and the other an American, stepped into the room. A moment later, it felt as if his stomach has turned to lead and dropped through his feet as the Canadian General cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention. Once they had it and the noise in the room quietened, the American General took a step forward as several aides came in with binders and what looked like DVDs. "People, I know that we told you that we had time to come up and modify First Contact protocols for the current situation..." He then grimaced as he shook his head. "But it seems that Murphy has decided that our time has run out."

The Canadian General stiffly nodded. "We need them now ASAP." He then glanced around the room. "There's been an... incident..." 
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Luna watched her sister depart forlornly. Her emotions were not caused because her older sister was going on a grand adventure to save their little ponies and had dumped nearly all of the responsibilities of ruling upon her own slightly smaller shoulders. No, it was because she herself could not go anywhere outside of Canterlot beyond Ponyville without causing panic and mayhem.

Luna’s public relations were, in a word, terrible, and she did not want to further throw the residents of Hippocampus Bay into further chaos. It was for the best that Celestia had gone without her. Perhaps Luna would one day try her hoof at being an ambassador and traveling the new world, surely, they had not heard of her brief bout where she left sanity behind.

Luna still wished that her older sister had at least taken some of their guards with them for additional protection, but Shining Armor was doing an admiral job scrambling the palace forces to catch up with Celestia.

She smiled as Lieutenant Eclipse walked up to her while he levitated an earring.

“Alright,” he said in a serious manner, “This is going to be the first time you have held court since the... incident that caused there to be many insurance claims for ears to be examined and fixed. To help prevent that, I had the colts at R&D whip up a magical earring that would tell you if you start to approach a decimal that will cause hearing loss, and it also has an emergency spell that will dampen your voice if it is deafening for more than a second.”

Luna nervously chuckled before she waved her hoof in a dismissive gesture and said “I thank thee, loyal minion, but We shall manage fine without thy aid.”

Eclipse raised an eyebrow before he said “As amusing as it was to watch The Nobles of Equestria V. Princess Luna and The ponies of Canterlot V. Princess Luna get thrown out of court by your sister because of an ancient and obscure law, I would rather not have to sit through a repeat performance.”

Luna blushed at the memory. The nobles had attempted to force the government to pay for ‘damages’ to their hearing while the common ponies had brought up something about a noise ordinance that went into effect after ten at night. Celestia had pulled out a law from over a millennia ago that basically stated that a Royal Pony may make use of the Royal Canterlot Voice if he or she has the ability and chooses to do so.

Eclipse especially liked how Prince Blueblood shouted himself hoarse and lost his voice for a while. Even today, the prince was a little hoarse.

Luna finally nodded as she said “Very well, We will acquiesce to thy request and wear this bauble upon Our pony.”
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Yeller ran.

The strange rock-thing encasing his forepaw was preventing him from digging, and the gypsum he could smell in it was impregnated into some strange foul-tasting mesh made from rockblood. He still had to get the den and warn Alpha Sternn about the monkey-dogs that came to the ponies' aide from the sea.

He stumbled over a root, and whimpered at the twinge in his forepaw. He regained his feet and galloped as fast as his crippled limbs and exhaustion would allow. Branches whipped into his snout, reminding him why he hated the surface. Trees, as wonder as they were to sniff and mark, were treacherous, not nice, safe and predictable like rocks. 
For a moment, he stopped as he smelt water nearby and stumbled from the bushes and saw a bubbling stream. Yeller took a moment as he drank greedily and tried to shrug off the strange tiredness he felt before he sniffed. The diamond dog then lopsidedly grinned as he smelt the nearby marker for the pack and started to run once more...
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As the Sea King made its way to the South-Southeast of Hippocampus Bay, the hold descended into silence. It didn't take Fleetwing long before he looked around and shook his head. "I have to say, even with the orders back at Eisenhorn, most of us thought the idea of you humans being real was a joke." He then glanced at the door gun. "Ain't no joke now. Nor does it seem very funny."

Matt just nodded as he shifted some more. "No sir, it doesn't. It's much the same with us and things like dragons, Unicorns, and Pegasi." He grew thoughtful for a moment. "Unless some kind of cosmic joker is involved..." Upon having realized what he said when he saw the two Ponies flinch, he winced. "Sorry, forgot."

Haze just waved him off. "No harm done so don't worry. Before Discord's escape a few weeks ago, nopony would have cared." She then shook her head. "You're lucky that your people haven't had to deal with monsters like him."

The Leading Seamen's expression darkened some. "No, we just had to deal with monsters of a different sort." The hold once more lapsed into silence, this time an uncomfortable one. After a few minutes, Matt broke it. "So... these 'Royal Equestrian Auxiliaries' that we're meeting..." Seeing that he had their attention, he continued on. "They're made up of other species then?"

Haze just looked at him in some confusion. "Well, yeah. Why?"

She jumped though as Fleetwing spoke up. "I take it that you're wondering whyit seems like they're only in the Auxiliaries I take it?"

After he swallowed, Matt nodded. "Well yeah." He then waved one hand in the air. "It just seems kind of... odd is all."

The Warrant Officer slowly nodded. "I suppose to you it might be." He then shrugged. "The Auxiliaries were created two centuries after the Nightmare Rebellions. At the time, the other species were not allowed into the Guard proper, rather they were kept in militias, though those rules have changed and they can now join the Guard. So, Princess Celestia took a number of those militias and created the Royal Equestrian Auxiliaries from them to both bolster the normal military as well as give those non-Ponies a fast track to citizenship for both them and their families." He frowned thoughtfully. "Still is that way last I checked." He then made a gesture with a hoof. "Of course, normal citizens and Ponies can join the Auxiliaries with no problems."

Matt blinked as he leaned against the bulkhead in thought. "Makes sense I suppose." He then snorted some in humor. "Sounds something like the French Foreign Legion actually." The Leading Seamen then leaned toward Haze. "I suppose that like their human counterparts, the Auxiliaries have a rep for being a bunch of... well, badasses?"

Fleetwing just gave him a confused expression. "Well, there are some donkeys, but I wouldn't call them bad."

Having realized what he said, Matt looked around as he tried desperately to come up with something. "Err..."

Haze snorted before she came to his rescue. "I think that, that's their version of 'Badflank', Sir."

The Warrant Officer gave her an odd look at that. "Then why not just say that?"

Since he wanted to change the subject away from his little misstep, Matt coughed into his hand a bit. "Right... so why haven't I seen any other species in the Guard at Hippocampus?"

Fleetwing turned back to him. "Tradition mostly. While the laws have changed, it's still too new for many to have joined up with the Guard proper."

Matt blinked at this. 'A century is too short a time...?'

Heedless of the thoughts going through the human's head, Fleetwing continued on. "Some of the families involved with the Auxiliaries can trace their heritage in it back centuries in some cases and so it became a family tradition to join up." He then frowned. "For others, it's mainly because in the Auxiliaries they would be for more likely not to be under the direct Command of a Pony then anything else."

Haze then turned to Matt with her head cocked to the side. "So your people have something like the Royal Equestrian Auxiliaries then?" Her brow furrowed. "This... 'French Foreign Legion'?"

Matt rubbed the back of his head. "Not really my people as France, who they belong to, is a different nation then mine, but... kind of." He then shrugged. "Like these Auxiliaries of yours, they exist as a way for non-citizens of France to become citizens." He then chuckled. "And despite a certain... shall we say, reputation they're good at what they are... damn good."

Fleetwing grinned and laughed a bit. "It seems that some things are truly universal then." He chuckled again and winked. "A reputation for being, let's say 'rough and tumble' and leave it at that, hmm?"

Matt grinned back. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose..."

They continued to have idle chitchat with each other to pass the time until Haze cleared her throat. "Um..." Once the attention was on her, she continued. "I suppose that the plan to meet them is the same as last time?" She then gestured at the Warrant Officer. "When we met the scout group I mean."

The Canadian nodded. "For the most part anyways." He then frowned. "We're not going to be as close as we were the last time we dropped you off though."

Haze blinked and raised an eyebrow at that. "We're not? Why?"

Matt nodded toward Fleetwing. "If what the scout group said about them is true, then..."

Fleetwing gave him an approving nod. "Then there's a dragon with the Auxiliaries, so you sure as Tartarus don't want to being an aggressive position or even spear to be." As Matt confirmed it, Fleetwing doesn't let his thoughts show. 'Not to mention that you know, or at least think, that your chances in this if it comes to a fight are low... which is something at least.'

Haze just raised her eyebrow more. "I suppose that, that radar thing of yours will pick it up then?"

Matt shook his head. "If that dragon is wearing metal armor? We'll be able to see it from a long ways away. Not to mention it'll show up on thermal easily.

The Pegasus Warrant Officer looked at him intrigued by what he heard. "I take it that you're not talking about warm air updrafts."

The Leading Seamen is quiet for a few moments before he began to speak. "Not... exactly." He shook his head. "What thermal means is that we can 'See' heat. So something like a dragon that's so much hotter then their surroundings..."

Fleetwing hid his frown. 'And if he's telling the truth, then that's another advantage they have along with this "Radar" of theirs...'

More time passed until the Sensor Operator spoke up. "I think we found them. Got something big on the radar at fifty clicks and closing." After a few moments, he nodded. "Yeah, got a large thermal bloom as well, so I think that's them."

The Warrant Officer nodded as he looked at his fellow Guard. "Well, we're up then." He then held out a hoof to Matt. "Seeing that this is just a stop on my way back to Eisenhorn, I'd just like to say thanks. For everything." 

Matt nodded as he shook the offered hoof. "You're very welcome. You be careful out there, Sir."

Fleetwing just smiled. "No worries here." He then made his way to the door and after Matt opened it, gave Haze a glance as she adjusted her radio headset. "You ready Corporal?"

She just smirked a little. "I was born ready, Sir." And after Fleetwing exchanged one last salute with Matt, the two Pegasi leaped from the open door and into the sky before they started toward where they knew the combined group of Equestrian Guard and Royal Equestrian Auxiliaries was located. Partway there, all of a sudden the moon brightened as did the stars to a level not seen since before Discord's escape, though it was of a low enough level to be barely noticed unless you knew what to look for. Haze just blinked and smiled as she looked up at the still unfamiliar moon. "Huh, seems that Princess Luna has finally gotten back into the game."

From where he was flying slightly ahead and beside her, the Warrant Officer nodded as he scanned around. "And about time it is, too. This will make our journey much easier..."