June 14th, 2006
1200 Hours
Somewhere in East-Central Equestria
A week after being stranded in the aftermath of the Battle for Ponyville, the desert seemed increasingly vast. Vanderbilt had been in the desert before a few times, down in New Mexico, but never had he been totally lost and alone in it. There had been survival training but this, this proved to be so far and away from anything expected it was daunting.
The brightest point for him was that he was not alone, at least not anymore. A little less than a day later, his two Equestrian companions had awoken without any noticeable injuries, physical or mental, other than some headaches. With no real idea of where the trio was located, and with no real plan for such an event, they agreed to simply head east, in the direction of friendly forces.
The journey was a constant, long haul of a march, but was made easier by talking with his two companions, their discussions of their lives making the days of walking go by easier. The unicorn he had met, who in all justice had saved their lives from the tank shell, was surprisingly more important than the Sergeant could have guessed. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, a personal apprentice to the ruling Princess of Equestria and, according to her, one of the most talented and gifted magic users in Equestria. She and her friends once held the duty of wielding some powerful magical items and were responsible for saving Equestria on several occasions, long before their land came to Earth and the magic diminished. It was strange to him, but there was no reason to doubt her in this; her talk of the vital ‘magic’ of friendship seemed par the course for the saccharine yet honest philosophy of the ponies, but she did connect with him quite fast, and made him feel more comfortable in spite of the situation.
The pegasus pilot he had rescued proved to be more mysterious. She admitted that her name was Night Glider, a pilot of the Equestrian version of the Strike Eagle, and leader of the 15th Attack Squadron that bore her name. She was more than happy to talk about her interests, her views, her history up to a certain point; when it hit that vague certain point she stopped giving information. Her origins remained mysterious to the both of them, a curious issue though considering she was friendly and a fellow comrade-in-arms they retained their manners and refrained from asking about it; could have very well been something more traumatic that they had no place in asking.
“What do you think of her?” Vanderbilt asked Twilight of the sleeping Pegasus.
“Her? Night Glider? What do you mean?”
“Well, she seems a little distant sometimes. You think she’s worried about something?” the Ranger wondered. “You’re better at reading these ponies than I am.”
“Well… I don’t know, I mean I get the whole friendship thing but I’ve always been kind of weird with other ponies and ah… I don’t know. She kind of seems like… like she’s worried about us finding something out.”
“Hm, I suppose this isn’t a great time to pry over that huh?”
The unicorn nodded, cutting the conversation there. A fire sat in the middle of the three of them as they rested in a small clearing under an overhanging rock, providing what warmth it could against the deceivingly hard ensnaring of the cold in the desert’s night. The two grew ever more drowsy, and Vanderbilt threw what remained of the collection of dried-out timber. Thankfully the trees in the area seemed quite similar to ones he at least knew of, and as such he cut out more Ironwood than what looked like Palo Verde; his dull family vacation to the southwest had given something back finally.
“Where did you say you were from again?” Twilight questioned him again as she yawned.
“Pittsburgh. Big city called Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. It’s a big industry city or, well used to be decades ago. Still kind of is though, still lots of it there, getting a little more back,” the Sergeant described, somewhat to himself as he reminisced. “Steel was the big thing, lots of steel. Way back in the late 1800s it turned into a huge steel production city, really made a name for the place. Even named our football team after steel.”
“Is it a nice city? Are the ponies nice? Or people, I mean?”
“Yeah I think so, nicer than Philly anyways. I mean it’s got the problems every big city has. Dirty, crowded, crime and everything. I do like to get out when I can, take vacations out to the countryside or upstate New York. Go hunting, mostly small game and birds… I guess you don’t really hunt do you?”
“No, I d-,” Twilight yawned loudly before composing herself. “I don’t, but I think we could find something to do together as friends.”
She stared at the embers of the fire for a moment before speaking again.
“I… really wish I could help more. With this… fighting, the war and everything.”
“Anyone can fight but not everyone is built for a war, especially winning one. You Equestrians really aren’t, just not in your nature, and you especially.”
“I know but it used to be that me and my friends could handle things. Now everything is really out of hoof. The Princess keeps telling me we have important roles to play but it’s hard to figure out what they are.”
Vanderbilt chuckled a little, an amused almost comforting one, with the deepness of it showing his relatively older age.
“Look I can tell you this much, I’ve gotten along better with you than most other ponies I’ve met here. I think if your whole deal is being friends, then you don’t need to worry about that magic going away.”
“Aw, thank you! I know it’s a little hard for humans to get along with ponies right now.”
“That’s just the war I think. A lot of guys aren’t happy with how bad- or, inexperienced Equestrians are. It’s hard for them to fight properly. That and this whole place falling out of the sky, starting up this war, getting thrown into it. The stress is just getting to everyone,” Vanderbilt rambled to her. “I’m sure if it was peacetime we’d all get along well.”
“When it’s peaceful again I think we can,” Twilight corrected him with a smile. “A war can’t last forever, even here.”
“Yeah but we have to win it first.”
“Maybe… I can help us to… get along a little better? So we can work together? That would be something,” she speculated. “Then when it’s over, and we’ve won, things can go back to normal. Better even, if we stay.”
“Stay?” the Sergeant repeated. “What do you mean stay? You all are planning on going somewhere?”
“Well, maybe. Princess Celestia was looking for ways to return us to our world since we got here. She told me she had found something before her work was stolen, or destroyed, something bad had happened,” the unicorn admitted. “She says that she’s still looking for old spells to fix it, that there’s still a possibility.”
“So after the war is over, you’re just… poof, gone back to where you came from? You’re not going to stay?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight answered, looking at the sand floor of the desert rather than him. “I’ve met some really great humans here, and made a lot of great friends. Learned so many amazing things! But we really don’t belong here, at all. I-“
“Well, I hope we can find something to do as friends before you go.”
Vanderbilt smiled at her, a forced but honest one; he seemed to understand, acting totally unmoved by it.
“I’m sure we can-“ Twilight yawned again, lowering her head. “I think I need sleep.”
“Yeah, you go ahead, I won’t be far off.”
The following days became repetitive to the three. Vanderbilt initially had nothing more than one MRE packed for a lunch he never ate on the day of the battle, which he rationed carefully. Thankfully, two days after their journey had begun, they had come across an abandoned farm. Unfortunately there was nothing to point them towards a town, or show where they were, but there was a good amount of food and water.
The ponies could eat some of the vegetation, and as such Vanderbilt packed up with a large amount of fruits, bread, cheese, and other foods he could eat. The ponies found a single saddle bag and packed it with hay. More than anything they carried every drop of water they could find in the residence.
The land they trekked through was sparsely habitable, but there were signs of it all the same. These became less as they moved on, a painful realization for them as they had hoped for the opposite. Occasionally they heard the roar of jet engines above, but they were always far too high to be seen, and as such there was no chance of them being spotted.
“Still no idea where we are?” Glider asked the two, indulging her habit of obvious questioning.
“No, we don’t know,” Twilight responded.
“So you can’t teleport us out even if you know the place you want to go, right?”
“Right, that’s how teleportation magic works. You have to know where you are so you know the relation to where you’re going. Otherwise this is what happens.”
“Yeah I remember that. But, couldn’t we just take a gamble and have you teleport us somewhere?”
“And get lost all over again?”
“We could end up somewhere better?”
“We could also get dropped into the middle of a big lake and drown.”
“Jeez, that actually doesn’t sound too bad right now.”
“Let’s save that option as a last resort,” Vanderbilt spoke up.
The rest of their day went on without much change. Vanderbilt found and killed a snake, hoping to skin and cook it that night for some meat. The ponies found some plants they could eat, hardly tasty but helping to save their supplies. Yet, as the morning dawned on the next day, a major discovery jolted them.
Coming over a ridge, the group spotted some thin columns of smoke in the distance, and after climbing another hill they found the source. A village, a small one, far from any great civilization, but inhabited. They could see ponies milling about below, and finally, celebrating breathlessly, without energy, their odyssey seemed over.
“Look at that! Oh look at that, a town! Finally! Oh thank you sweet Jesus, finally!” the ranger celebrated.
“It’s not deserted either!” Twilight noted happily. “We actually made it! Come on, let’s go down there and introduce ourselves to our new friends! We need to get some rest and ask them about getting back home.”
Night Glider did not respond, she stood there, stiff, frozen like a marble statue.
“Glider? Are you alright? Come on, let’s go!”
“No!” she blurted out suddenly.
“No!? The Hell do you mean no?” Vanderbilt shot back at her. “What’s the problem? We need to-“
“I’m not going back there! We can’t go down there!”
“Why the Hell not damn it!?”
“Wait, what do you mean? You can’t go back there?” Twilight noticed. “You mean you’ve been there before?”
“I… I… well… I,” Glider stammered before grimacing and grinding her teeth. “Yes, I really can’t go back there. I used to live there, I… alright, wait.”
She sat down into the sand, breathing deeply as she cautiously considered what to say. The two stared at her, their initial frustration slowly being replaced by a cautious worry. After a minute, Glider looked back up at them, trying to talk, but could not keep eye contact. She eyed the dry ground under them and finally began her explanation.
“Please, please don’t tell anypony about this when we get back. But down there, the ponies that live there, they don’t have cutie marks, they follow this… philosophy, I guess… they really hate them, and what they do and everything, so they removed them with magic.”
“What? How?” Twilight gawked at her. “How could they do that? Why?”
“They like to follow this idea of perfect equality, so everypony is made the same. Or they try anyways,” she continued, ignoring Twilight’s question. “Thing is, they don’t allow anypony to leave either. That’s why it’s all the way out here, so it can’t be found easily.”
“I think we have something like that here on Earth too. Just that they don’t want to keep to themselves, if this war says anything,” Vanderbilt said. “But your town, sounds like a cult.”
Night Glider whimpered at those words; they were a little too accurate for her liking.
“Oh, hit too close to home?”
“Yes, it feels like it looking back. Even if it’s been a while. So I never told anypony, but it hurts and scares me to look back at it.”
“Sorry about that.”
“But… I don’t want to go into my history there too much. Just that it was… bland and nerve-wracking. Nothing special and you’re out in the middle of nowhere but you’re always worried you’ll do something wrong and… I don’t want to talk about what happens with that,” Glider continued on, summarizing her experience without detail. “One day, Rector, my friend, he’s the lead in one of my wing’s squadrons. He was able to escape, he never told me how. But a year later he came back and rescued me, and my cutie mark. After that we just integrated back into society, and with this big new war going on-”
“Wait, so you escaped after you came to Earth?” Vanderbilt noticed.
“Yeah, well sort of. Rector escaped before, then in the first days when we came he got me. Anyway, he helped me join the military to stay close to him so we could watch out for each-other. With all the other crazy stuff going on, no one really
“And you never told anypony? Why? We wouldn’t have done anything bad to you,” Twilight asked, trying to understand the pegasus’ logic.
“You sure? I mean… yeah you wouldn’t, but some of the other ponies have gotten pretty panicked, suspicious since we got to this world,” Night Glider retorted, showing her first small drop of anger before stowing it back away. “This didn’t happen very long ago. Was back when we were still fighting in the Crystal Empire, about to retreat from it. Tons of ponies were on edge with what was happening in this weird world, and a lot of them were expecting spies too. Changelings and stuff, you know? I thought they’d come after me for being part of a… cult… or something.”
“I guess, but that’s still not a great reason. If you just explain what happened, nopony would come after you. You’re clearly a good mare yourself.”
“Are you sure about that? The Princess did send her own sister into exile on the moon after all, and banished Sombra and all his followers, and turned some of her other foes into stone! What would she do to me if they didn’t believe me?”
“You- what!? There’s a really big difference between what they all did and what happened to you!” Twilight shot back, rather frustrated herself. “You were really afraid of that?”
“I guess there’s a difference… but-”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Vanderbilt interrupted, offering his simple view. “Now that you’ve kept a secret like that they’ve got a reason to be suspicious of you. Even if it wasn’t that bad, even if you were afraid.”
Night Glider fell silent, then apologized lightly before going quiet again as the trio stood there, each waiting on the other to declare some plan.
“What do we do now?” she spoke up again. “I still can’t go down there, I’m sorry I just won’t!”
“You might not be able to go down there, but I can,” Twilight pointed out. “I could at least get some food and water for us.”
“I wouldn’t do that. If you go in there they’ll probably just take your cutie mark too.”
“I can go too.”
“They’re not really keen on aliens either Sergeant,” Glider cautioned him. “They were already cautious before we came to Earth. Since we’ve gotten here they’ve become pretty on edge.”
“Well, all I really need to know is where in Equestria we are and I can teleport us somewhere else,” Twilight simplified the problem. “Do you know exactly where we are, Night Glider?”
“Uh, at the village? It’s weird but I never really figured out where we were. In a big desert, sure, but there’s not a lot of other stuff around.”
“There’s got to be a map in the town, me and Sparkles can go get it,” Vanderbilt said plainly. “I can probably defend her if they try anything.”
“I don’t know, if they catch you two-“
“I’ve still got a full mag for this, I’ll be fine,” he clapped his M4, knocking some of the dust off. “Could do with some cleaning, dust might jam it. Should be ok though.”
“Could you please not shoot anypony!” Twilight shouted at him. “These are still Equestrians, you don’t need to shoot them even if they’re strange.”
“Hey I’m not a murderer! It’s just self-defense is all.”
They were almost halfway there now, but it felt like an eternity, the length of a marathon to them. For both it reminded them of a march down a hall when they were in trouble. Twilight under the old fear of having done something wrong, in school or otherwise, and to the Sergeant it reminded him of marching to a higher-up’s office for a dressing-down. This, of course, was a much more dangerous situation.
“Oh, Sergeant? My name is ‘Sparkle’, not ‘Sparkles’. No, ‘s’, not plural. Not that it’s a huge deal or anything,” Twilight stammered. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous. It’s hard doing this without my friends.”
“No ‘s’, okay, sorry. Don’t worry I’ll make sure you’re ok. You should probably do the talking though.”
As the two strolled calmly, slowly down to the village, they saw the ponies below began to stir, and many filed into the street. It was easy to see the two of them coming out in the open like this. They noticed that some of them were armed, some with swords and arrows, and spears being the most popular weapon among them. It was a worrying view, though not too worrying, as the ponies below seemed to be armed more out of caution than outright hostile intent; they could have easily attacked and possibly killed the two outsiders by now if they desired.
To Vanderbilt the village came off as very bland, almost pathetic, barely existing as a settlement compared to his home. Two long rows of houses, all looking the same, all connected wall-to-wall, ran down the only street, with one large house at the other end disconnected from the rest. The ponies here were odd in their appearance alone, being of the same colorful nature as other Equestrians but their vibrancy being muted, dulled out and greyed. He began to hear them chattering in confusion as they neared.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like that!”
“That’s a human! Like we were told about!”
“A human? That’s what the aliens look like?”
“What is it here for? What’s it going to do!?”
“But it’s here with another pony! Is it friendly?”
“Uh, hello! Everypony! Uh… how are you?” Twilight asked them awkwardly, trying to hide the anxiety that had been building up since their walk began. “Can anypony tell us where we are?”
“Who are you? Who’s this alien with you?” one of the ponies with a spear questioned her in turn. “Is this a human?”
“Uh, yes, don’t worry he’s a friend.”
“We heard they could talk, can it talk?”
“Yes, I can talk,” Vanderbilt spoke up, causing the ponies to recoil slightly. “I’m Staff Sergeant Vanderbilt. U.S. Army Rangers.”
“What’s a Ranger?”
“What’s a ‘U.S.’?”
“We’re sorry to bother you, we were just wondering if you had a map we could have?” Twilight sheepishly asked. “We’re just a little, little lost.”
“We… could… but ponies from outside our town… we don’t really.”
“Well, what’s your name?” Twilight stopped the stallion. “Maybe we could get along? Be friends?”
“Uh, Party Favor, but it is really weird just to have a pony with a cutie mark visit. Especially with some weird alien soldier. But, uh, maybe you’d like to… stay for a little bit?”
“No thanks, I don’t need to stick around, I’ve heard plenty about this place already,” Vanderbilt jumped, not happy with even the thought of such a thing.
“You’ve heard about us?” Party Favor repeated curiously. “From where?”
“Shit why did I say that!?” Vanderbilt thought before replying. “Nowhere… just here and there. Met a lot of ponies traveling through Equestria you know. Hear a lot of stories.”
“Who did you hear them from?” a new voice called out.
The crowd dispersed a bit, allowing another mare to move through up to them. She seemed to be the leader, from the way the other ponies moved and observed her. Sticking out badly among the other villagers, having more color to her in contrast to the dulled tones of the others, the unicorn held a very commanding presence, one built by intimidation from the feeling of it.
“I don’t remember. Some unicorn back in Pensacolta,” Vanderbilt lied.
“Hm, well… welcome to our town, I’m sorry for the pointy greeting but things have gotten a little crazy over the past few years,” she apologized, waving the ponies off to the side. “My name is Starlight Glimmer. You said your name was Sergeant Vanderbilt right? And you, you’re Twilight Sparkle, aren’t you?”
“You know her?” the Sergeant queried, the new unicorn's aura making him feel uncomfortable.
“I have! Not too long ago I heard about what she had been doing since the world turned all topsy-turvy.”
“I do get recognized every now and then. It kind of comes with being Princess Celestia’s student. And an Element of Harmony. And… saving Equestria now and then,” Twilight admitted. “But all the way out here-”
“I heard you say you were lost? You’re looking for a map? I know you don’t want to stay but please let me show you around some!” Starlight insisted, motioning for the other ponies to fall into line. “I’m sure once I give you the tour and explain how we do things you’ll love it! You’ll probably even want to stay!”
“No no no no that’s ok! We don’t need a tour, we know about it! We just need to get a map and we’ll be on our way, yep!” Twilight nervously rejected, becoming increasingly worried.
“You know about it?” Glimmer questioned her, eyeing her suspiciously. “What do you know?”
“Shit now she screwed up!” Vanderbilt thought, noticing the other ponies glaring at the two of them.
“Oh uh, nothing! I mean not nothing but- uh… not-”
“Who did you talk to?” Starlight demanded in a much more aggressive tone.
“We already told you. We’ve heard it in passing, that’s all,” the human insisted.
Some of the armed townsponies stepped out of line, holding their weapons closely as they moved back to their leader.
“You’re starting to worry us, Sergeant Vanderbilt.”
“You’re worrying me a lot more. I’m not a guy who likes to worry.”
Twilight had been effectively removed from the conversation, her mistake getting the better of her as negotiations deteriorated.
“You may want to reconsider staying with us,” Glimmer told her.
“She’s not doing that,” Vanderbilt retorted, his assertive, deep sergeant’s command voice speaking out above them.
The situation rapidly approached a deadly breaking point as a number of ponies lowered their spears towards them in threat. Vanderbilt held his rifle closely, slowly moving towards his combat stance, though not aiming at any of them, but ready to shoot if any made a move. Twilight, who seemed to have lost her words, seemed to rally finally, no longer afraid but now staring down the town leader. Vanderbilt saw a purple aura of magic around her, and a bright light emanating from her horn’s tip.
“Alright fine! Stop! Stop! Fine, we don’t need to start fighting,” Starlight relented, flinching in their standoff. “You just wanted a map right? Fine. Double Diamond, would you kindly bring our visitors to the storehouse and get them one? We’ll escort them out of town after that, and very far from town.”
Vanderbilt breathed in deeply, shakily, almost coughing; he did not realize he had not been taking air since things went sour. Twilight calmed down much easier, quite satisfied with the result of her display. This result was satisfactory for both of them, and the two did not look at any of the other townsponies as they followed Diamond away from the crowd.
“Geez, where did that come from? This whole time I’ve been with you you’ve been pretty soft-spoken. What made you go from nerve-wracked to superpowers?”
"Oh it's just ah, I'm just odd like that. I used to be able to use a ton of power back home, back when we were in our world I mean. But... I felt a whole lot there too... maybe I have more than I thought," Twilight theorized to herself. "I’m sure you did plenty though. Those ponies have probably never seen a gun before, they probably don’t know what it can do. I think it scared them more.”
"Nah, superpowers are way crazier than this little thing."
"But that little thing's hurt a lot more ponies, I'd be scared of it," the unicorn replied simply, not knowing that she had shifted the tone much darker, to Vanderbilt's pain.
"Yeah, well, I guess it's necessary in the end."
"Yeah it is, I've been realizing that more and more."
The two continued following Double Diamond into the storehouse, which was stocked with various odds and ends, and noticeably more swords and arrows than one would think. As they entered, Diamond closed the door behind them, not in a sinister way, as he began looking at the window, watching to see if they were followed. Rather than go straight to the map, he looked at them, his large eyes almost pleading to them before he spoke.
"So you two are really from the outside huh? What's it like?" he asked of them.
"It's pretty violent right now," Vanderbilt answered. "Guess you're more interested in the rest of the world than your friends?"
“We heard the war had started up, and things were getting worse. That’s why we stockpiled so many weapons.”
"I hate to tell you but little weapons like these aren't going to save you from the armies we've been fighting. Best you can hope is that they don't notice your town here."
"We're afraid of them, we know they have very powerful weapons, a lot more magic, a lot more ponies than the rest of us. But we can't submit to them, and if they do find us... I guess that'll be it."
"And I guess leaving is off the table."
"Yes."
"Sorry man, but I can't really help too much, I doubt the rest of your friends want help-"
"No I know but- look there's not a lot of time, I shouldn't be talking too much with you. I just... really need an answer to something."
"To what?" Twilight allowed him to ask.
“Please. Please, just tell me who you talked to,” he begged quietly.
“Not sure I should tell him, that could lead to someone going after Glider,” Vanderbilt debated to himself. “I don’t think these guys have the ability to call a hit, they don’t look like they leave town at all. And with the craziness of the war going on?”
“It was a pegasus called Night Glider,” Twilight admitted to him.
“Well… guess she’s not as worried as I am.”
“Night Glider!? She’s alright?” Diamond jumped.
“Yes, she’s fine, she’s actually fighting in the war. She’s a pilot, a really good one.”
“Hah, really? She’s controlling those big machines up there we were told about? It’s kind of hard to believe… I guess I don’t know what to say. Look, we can’t stay here much longer, but when you see her again can you please just tell her… uh… just that we miss her. Even if she doesn’t miss us, or Glimmer mostly. But we’ll always see her as a friend.”
“Yes, I’ll tell her myself,” Twilight promised.
“Ok… well… hang on a second,” the unicorn used his magic to levitate some papers out of the way before selecting a single scroll and sending it to the human.
“There, that map tells you where we’re located, and the surrounding region. Will that work?”
“Yeah, that works fine! Thank you!”
“Good now let’s get back out there before we get in trouble!”
Double Diamond hurried back out the door first, followed by the two guests of the town. Glimmer was no longer waiting outside for them, having retired to her own home to go through her own devices. The rest of the villagers had calmed by now, and had begun to return to normal discussions. The return of the three caught their attention once more, though Vanderbilt and Twilight, eager to leave the unwelcoming town, preferred to continue on rather than stop to talk more.
“Hey, took you long enough huh?” one of the more gruff guards shot at them.
“Yeah, someone moved all the stuff around! It took me a while to find it,” Double Diamond bluffed, turning his focus back to the two visitors. “Hey, is there anything else we can do for you?”
“No, this is good! We’re just going to leave now, we really don’t want to cause anymore trouble!” Twilight responded.
“Alright, well uh… it was good… meeting you!”
“Yeah, have a nice life! We’ll be going now,” Vanderbilt responded hurriedly.
The two now began to march out of the village, side by side, in the same direction they came. They could feel the eyes of some of the village ponies tracking them, observing them, giving the very uncomfortable feeling that they would receive an arrow or a blast of magic in the back. Both would occasionally look over their shoulder to check, and continued to do this until they were far away, passed over the top of a dune, and the village out of sight.
"Glider! Hey!" the unicorn shouted happily to their waiting comrade.
Glider jumped a little in surprise, but was elated to see her friends returning. She jumped up in the air, hovering there as they joined with her again, sporting a wide smile. She was clearly as ecstatic as they were at surviving not just the village but the entire journey.
"You guys did it! All right! There wasn't any trouble was there?"
"Well there almost was but we kept our cool," Vanderbilt summarized poorly, "but uh, we did run into a pony who seemed to remember you."
"An earth pony named Double Diamond," Twilight picked up from him as Glider's expression turned to a mixture of stun and amazement. "He seemed pretty happy to know you were doing well, and he said he missed you, that they all do, and even if you don't they'll always see you as a friend, him especially."
"I um... I... thanks Twilight, I'll need some time to think about that... I," the pegasus choked on her words as some memories flooded back. "You're still the Element of Friendship right? If you have time I'd really like to talk to you... about all this."
"Oh, oh yes! Yes! Of course I am! I'd love to help!"
"You should probably think about doing that somewhere safer, we still need to get out of here," Vanderbilt refocused the group.
"Oh right, yes! Okay, I'll get us out of here, safe and sound!" she assured them, taking the map and studying it closely. “Alright… let’s see… just let me focus… and… there!”
The three were again enveloped by purple magic and a flash of light, and were gone in a blink. It lasted less than a second, and after rubbing his face Vanderbilt wondered if it had worked. They were still in a desert, but not the same desert.
“Whoa! Hey, you guys!” a voice called out to them.
The Ranger turned to see a town, a true moderately-sized town, and a group of American soldiers both relaxing and working on an 11th ACR M3 Bradley parked nearby.
“Where the Hell did you guys come from!?”
“Oh man that’s cool! You see that? I told you, they can just pop from place to place!”
“Hey hey, hold on, who are you guys? You hear for something special? I mean I get you unicorns can teleport but… sorry I’m still getting used to it.”
“Afternoon boys. You uh… got something to eat?” Vanderbilt asked them, not bothering to answer anything until that was settled. “And a bed? And a bath maybe? If you’ve got a hotel in town I could duck into for a night that’d be appreciated.”
“Uh, yeah, I can show you Sergeant. You here to meet someone?”
“Cool, great, sorry I skipped introductions. I’m Staff Sergeant Vanderbilt, Second Battalion, Seventy-Fifth Rangers.”
“Rangers? Oh wow, real spec ops guys!” one of the men responded. “I thought you guys were pulling back after that big fight out west!”
“Out west… where are we anyways? What town is this?”
“Dodge Junction. Not Dodge City, USA mind you. Dodge, Equestria.”
“So it worked! I knew I could still do it!” Twilight exclaimed happily.
“It’s a long story, but to keep it simple the three of us got lost,” Vanderbilt continued. “This is Captain Glider from the Equestrian Air Force, and this is Miss Twilight Sparkle. She’s like a… superhero around Equestria, and royalty, or a student to royalty I mean. She’s a big deal.”
“Well, you all do look pretty tired,” a Sergeant sitting on the Bradely said. “How’s about we get you to that hotel so you can R&R? Then we can see about getting you back to your units.”
“I’d love that, go ahead and lead the way.”