The Wonderful 101 decides to dispatch a group of Wonderful Ones to Equestria, hoping to secure an ally in the ongoing battle against GEATHJERK.
The GEATHJERK invasion had been repelled yet again, but, naturally, they attack Earth again shortly after. However, after the initial second attack, they decide to bug out and leave completely.
No one is more curious about why they left so abruptly as the secret team of heroes known as the Wonderful 101, who were the ones that knocked them back in the first place. While searching for possible reasons they left, they come across an oddity: an Earth-like planet not too far away. Hoping to secure an ally in the war against GEATHJERK, a group of Wonderful Ones is sent to this new planet.
This is the story of what happened.
Takes place after the events of the game, and as such contains spoilers A collaboration between myself and xl9.
Ever since she was a filly, Twilight Sparkle had loved looking at the stars above Equestria. From the legends of Nightmare Moon to stories about little green aliens, she had spent much of her early life gazing through her library's telescope. Even though she was now a princess, complete with her own castle, this hadn’t changed at all.
However, it wasn’t just wonder alone that brought her to her telescope yet again. A few weeks ago, she had spotted something deep in space that shone very, very brightly, for only a few fleeting moments. Apparently, nopony else saw it, or if they did, they thought it was nothing. Experience told Twilight that it’s usually a good idea to look into these kinds of things, as nine times out of ten something would happen because of it.
While her friends lost interest in the idea after a few days, Twilight kept looking into space whenever she had a free moment at night, in case it happened again. So far, however, she didn’t have any luck.
“Jeez, Twi, you’re still looking for that weird space… Thing?” her assistant piped up, flipping through a Power Ponies comic. “I’m pretty sure it was nothing.”
While glancing at the comic he was holding, Twilight couldn’t help but think that he would be the one worrying about this, if anyone. “I’m just keeping an eye on things in case it actually was something.”
Spike shrugged, still reading. “Whatever, I’m gonna go to bed.”
Twilight said “Goodnight,” as he left for his bed, still looking through the telescope. She wasn’t sure why, but she had the feeling that, soon, something was going to happen. She just didn’t know what.
“Uh, why are we even in space again?”
“Why am I not surprised that Blue doesn’t know what we are doing?”
“Stick a baguette in it!”
Ignoring the antics of two of his men, Commander Laurence Nelson spoke up from the front of the bridge. “Team, as you are no doubt aware, it seems that GEATHJERK has retreated completely after just one attack.” He paused for dramatic effect, waiting until all one hundred and one masked faces were focused on him. “However, while we were looking for where they may run off to, we came across an oddity, which we should be getting close to now.” He nodded at the pilot, one Alice Macgregor, and she pulled up the main screen for everyone to see.
“Is that-?”
“No way…”
“But that looks just like-”
“Yes, it looks very similar to Earth, and yes, it is being orbited by a moon and a miniature sun,” Nelson said, cutting off the various expressions of confusion. “There haven’t been any Jerk-matter signatures nearby, but we don’t know if it will stay that way. Whoever is on this planet, they could prove a useful ally in the war against GEATHJERK. With this in mind, a group of twenty of you will be sent down to this planet, where you are to attempt peaceful relations in any way you see fit. Now, do I have any volunteers for this mission?”
For a few moments, the bridge is silent. Then, one voice spoke up. “I’ll go.”
The hundred others all looked at the voice, seeing the saluting form of their de-facto field commander: Wonder Red.
After he proved his willingness to go, others soon joined him in saluting.
“Yeah, I’ll go too,” Wonder Blue said, standing beside Red.
A woman near the front, Wonder Pink, shrugged. “Eh, I was getting bored just waiting, anyway,” she said with a Transylvanian accent.
Almost as soon as she stepped forward, a rather large child, Wonder Green, followed her. “Oh, I should go, too, to make sure nothing bad happens to—”
His French-accented tirade is cut off by Pink giving a warning lash of her whip before speaking again in a flat tone of voice. “Stay away from me.”
“Er, okay.”
Soon, sixteen others had stepped forward, including Wonder White, and the newest addition to their ranks, Wonder Goggles. Red flinched slightly upon seeing the latter step forward, but said nothing.
Back at the front of the bridge, Commander Nelson nodded in approval. “Now, while you are down there, we will be unable to communicate with you directly, as we will keep the Virgin Victory back home, in case the Jerks decide to launch a surprise attack. To that end, P-Star will be sent with you, since we can use him for long-range communication.”
From the back of the room, a small flying robot flew forward, hovering above the twenty volunteers.
“Approaching unknown planet,” Alice spoke up in her dull monotone. “Estimated time until within range for launch, two minutes.”
Blue did a double take upon hearing that. “Wait, launch?”
“In order to allow for a quick entry, you will be launched from the Virgin Victory’s cannons onto the surface of the planet. Now, are you ready?”
“Wait, I don’t know if-”
“Roger!” Red cut Blue off. “Team, to the deck!”
Nineteen voices chorused “Roger!” at once, and the twenty of them all ran to the deck of the ship, Red leading the way. On deck, a comically large cannon emerged, large enough for exactly twenty people to squeeze into it. Being in space seemed to prove no problem, and up ahead the Earth-like planet could be seen.
“Listen, Red, I don’t know if this is a safe way to travel,” Blue said.
“What is this? Blue of all people, saying something is too dangerous?” Green taunted.
“Cram it, croissant!”
Meanwhile, Red walked up to Goggles, worry evident on his face. “Are you sure you want to go through with this Luka?”
“Of course!” the kid replied. “Anything to keep those Jerks off our planet!”
His enthusiasm was infectious, and Red couldn’t help but smile with the young boy. “Alright, then, if you’re sure.” He ran up to the front of the cannon, the others following right behind him.
“Prepare for launch!” he shouted, and everyone yelled “Roger!” in reply.
Jumping into the air, Red prepared himself to perform a Unite Morph, along with shouting the specific morph’s name:
“UNIIITE ROCKET!”
All twenty of them quickly poured into the cannon, taking the shape of a bright red, glowing rocket. Even P-Star managed to attach himself to the tip of the rocket.
Now loaded, the cannon aimed at the planet, and fired, sending the rocket made up of twenty Wonderful Ones flying.
Back in the bridge, Commander Nelson watched as the projectile neared the surface of the planet. “Good luck, One-Double-Oh… Er, I mean, One-Oh-One,” he mumbled to himself.
While the others discussed their thoughts on the matter, the Virgin Victory began turning around, before zooming off back the way it came, returning to Earth.
Twilight yawned, briefly taking her view out of the telescope. When she looked again, she thought she saw something else glowing in space, but it turned out to be the morning light approaching.
“Morning already?” she whispered to herself, amazed that she stayed up all night yet again without noticing. While it was true she didn’t need nearly as much sleep as a princess, she was still certain that staying up all night this much couldn’t be healthy.
She was just about to leave and get an hour or two of shuteye, when she spotted a glint in the edge of her view. She turned the telescope to it, but nothing was there.
“Oh, Twilight,” she said to herself, still looking through the telescope, “you’re just feeling a bit sleep—”
Suddenly, she did see something, and that something was a glowing red projectile of some kind flying in from the half of the sky that was still dark. Shocked, she watched it as it fell towards the Everfree Forest, nearing the ground. When it was almost a mere dozen feet off the trees, she folded her ears back and stepped away from the telescope, anticipating an explosion.
However, nothing happened.
Looking back out over the forest, the spot where the unidentified object apparently crashed was empty. There was a barely noticeable smoke trail leading to that spot, so the thing she saw actually did exist, but that smoke trail ended right where it hit the tree line, and there were no signs of damage on the trees there.
Still confused, she levitated a piece of parchment out, along with a quill and an inkwell. Quickly, she began writing a brief letter:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Something just crashed into the Everfree but not really because it didn’t explode. I’ll investigate shortly, and you might want to keep an eye on things in case it’s something really really bad.
Twilight Sparkle
Still looking out at the forest, Twilight quickly rolled up the letter and left her observatory. “Spike, wake up for a second!”
After cushioning their landing by transforming into a giant piece of gelatin, the Wonderful Ones surveyed their surroundings.
“Hey, shouldn’t there be aliens around?” Blue asked, shrugging.
“The area appears unoccupied,” Red cut in, doing a second visual sweep of their immediate surroundings.
“I believe we passed over a settlement on our way here,” White helpfully stated.
“Well, awesome, let’s just walk in, tell ‘em what we came here for, and be done with this!”
“It won’t be that easy, Blue,” Red said. “They more than likely saw us come in, and it’s possible that they’ll think we’re the invaders.”
“So, what are you suggesting, Wonder Rouge?” Green asked, a bucket of popcorn in hand.
Red stood silently for a few moments, looking around the group. Then, an idea struck him. “Perhaps we could pass off being stranded here? That way, we could see first hand how the aliens would react, and judge accordingly if they’d help us.”
“Uh, Red, dude, I don’t think that’s gonna work.”
“It has as much of a chance to work as anything else. Besides, GEATHJERK might be getting ready to invade this planet, for all we know. If they see we’re here before they invade, they might realize there’s less of us back at Earth.”
There was silence amongst the group as they thought over Red’s words. Then, Blue spoke up again. “So, who’s gonna be the one to trust the aliens with their life?”
Red put a hand to his chin in thought. “Twenty stranded people seems like a bit too much, and just one sounds just as fishy… I think if just four or five of us act the part, it should be decently convincing.”
“What about the rest of us?” someone from the back of the group asked.
“The rest of you will have to stay hidden here in this forest. P-Star can stay with you, so you can maintain communication with the commander.”
Hovering above, the small flying robot beeped out an affirmative.
“That still doesn’t answer my question,” Blue said, arms crossed. “Who’s gonna go?”
“I’ll lead the expedition,” Red answered, pausing briefly as he powered down to simple Will Wedgewood, elementary school teacher. “And Blue, I think you should come along, too.”
“Wait, me?” Blue pointed at himself. “You sure about that?”
“I’m sure. If I bring you along, then it’s less likely you’ll jump the gun and help us when there’s no need to help.”
“He has a point,” Green said, munching on some chips.
Blue scoffed as he also powered down. “Fine.”
“Glad to have you on board, Blue, or should I say, Elliot Hooker of the Los Angeles Police Department.”
“Dude, you need to stop doing that, it’s kinda creepy.”
Ignoring Elliot’s outcry, Will beckoned for more volunteers. Near the front of the group, Goggles stepped forward. “I’ll go, too!”
Will flinched again. “Are you sure, Luka? I mean, going to an alien planet is one thing, but this is-”
“You’re not changing my mind, Mr. Wedgewood!” Luka cut him off, now powered down. “I’m going and that’s final!”
Sighing, Will realized he couldn’t change the mind of his student. “Right, so does anyone e-”
“I’ll go.”
Nearly everyone was shocked at Pink’s words.
“Really, Pink?” Will asked.
“Sure, someone has to keep an eye on Luka,” she said. “Besides, this forest is kinda muddy, and I don’t do mud very well.”
“Okay, Mariana Kretzulesco, professional gymnast.”
“Blue’s right, you know,” Mariana walked up to the other depowered Wonderfuls. “That’s really creepy.”
Before any retorts could be made, there was another powering down noise, and Jean-Sebastien Renault ran up to the group. “I’ll go if Pink goes—”
Before he could continue, Mariana’s eyes lit up in fury, and she started preparing her whip for a swing.
“N- Nevermind.” He quickly wonderized again and rejoined the others. Just as quickly as it came, Mariana’s rage subsided.
Pausing for a couple of seconds to process what just happened, Will continued. “Alright, if we’re all that’s going, then we should leave soon.”
“So, we just gonna waltz right in there?” Elliot asked. “‘Cause that doesn’t seem like it would work.”
“Why not? If they’re hostile, we can just regroup and fight back,” Will argued.
“Well, what if they’re paranoid? Something crashes into the forest, then four people walk out of that same forest? Nah, bro, sounds fishy to me.”
“Hmm, you’re right… Plus, they’ll more than likely check out the landing site… Perhaps if we were incapacitated in some way…”
“Preferably by Pink!” Green shouted from the crowd. Mariana didn’t even bother dignifying him with a response.
“Good luck with that, Red,” Elliot said. “I doubt that anything could knock me o-”
He was cut off as White, unnoticed, walked right behind him and applied pressure to a point on his neck. Elliot almost immediately fell to the ground, passed out.
“Great idea, White!” Will congratulated.
“And not a moment too soon!” Green added.
“Uh, is that really the best way to do it?” Mariana asked, backing away slightly. “Because it took a while to make my hair like this, and-”
Her excuses are cut off as once again White sneaks by unnoticed and applies pressure.
Before she even hit the ground, Will turned to Luka. “You gonna be alright in there?”
“Of course, Mr. Wedgewood!” His infectious enthusiasm just wouldn’t stop.
“Alright then.” He nodded at White, who performed the same motion on Luka, albeit much more gently.
“Are you ready, Wonder Red?” White asked, walking up to Will.
“One moment.” Walking past the ninja, Will addressed everyone else. “In my absence, Wonder White will be in charge. Watch from the forest, but do your best not to be seen. If any of us wonderize, that is your cue to jump in and unite up!”
“Roger!”
“I’m ready, White,” Will said, much more quietly, and after one more application of pressure, he was out.
“Are you sure there even is anything here, Twi?” Rainbow Dash called out, sticking her head between a couple of trees.
“I know what I saw, Dash. And I’d like to find what it was before anything goes horribly wrong. That’s why I brought you and everypony else,” Twilight said, gesturing to her other friends, who were also looking around the area around them.
Dash scoffed. “Horribly wrong? Come on Twi, we’ve already taken out bigger guys before, what can a few aliens do to us?”
“Ah think she has a point, Rainbow,” Applejack cut in. “Best to err on the side o’ caution with things like this.”
“Still, did we have to be dragged out of bed at six in the morning?” Rarity complained. “That’s barely enough time for any beauty sleep!”
While they rolled their eyes at Rarity’s dramatics, the rest of them kept moving forward, looking for any signs of any sort of aliens.
However, they had been searching for a while, now, and so far they had yet to find anything. Maybe Twilight really did hallucinate seeing that flying red thing?
These thoughts were immediately dispelled by Dash’s announcement. “Hey, I think I found something!”
The other five (Spike had fallen right back asleep once he had sent a letter to Celestia) crowded around Dash, where she was looking past some bushes into a clearing. There, an odd sight lay before the ponies.
Four unknown creatures lay on the ground, not too far away from each other. As expected, Fluttershy immediately rushed to their sides. After a few seconds of inspection, she sighed. “They’re just knocked out,” she told the others.
When the others followed her into the clearing, they got a good look at the creatures. They looked rather similar to monkeys, minus the fur on all but the tops of their heads. Their hair colors ranged from yellow to pink to blue, not unlike the diverse hair colors of ponies. The yellow-haired one even had a thick pair of glasses on.
What was strange, though, was that apart from a bit of dirt in the pink one’s hair, they were mostly untouched. Not only that, but there weren’t any signs of any sort of crash nearby, which didn’t make sense, given what Twilight had seen.
Putting her mild confusion aside, Twilight turned to her friends, who were just as puzzled.
At least, except for Pinkie. She had a look on her face that was somewhere between ecstatic and scared. “Ohmigosh, aliens! What if they came to invade us?! Or what if they need help?! Do you think they like parties? Ooh, what if-”
The unending speech was cut off by a hoof from Applejack, to the relief of the others.
“So… what do we do?” Dash asked.
“We can’t just leave them here,” Fluttershy interjected. “Who knows what might happen to them?”
“Besides,” Applejack added, “if they are aliens, Ah think it’d be pretty important t’ find out why they’re here.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. But before she could say anything, Dash butted in. “Wait, you saying we should just take these aliens in, no questions asked?”
“Rainbow, the whole point is t’ ask them questions,” Applejack reminded her.
“Right, but what if it’s a trap or something! They’re aliens, how can we trust them off the bat?”
Twilight sighed. “If they do turn out to be hostile, I’m sure we can handle it. For now, let’s just get them back to Ponyville.”
As they picked up the four creatures, Pinkie suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. “Huh… weird.”
“What’s wrong, Pinks?” Dash asked.
“For some reason, I think I can smell… pizza.”
“Ah’m sure you’re just imaginin’ things,” Applejack said, leading the way with the yellow-haired alien on her back.
“Hmm… yeah, you’re probably right.”
As the six of them left the clearing, they didn’t notice the rustling in the bushes behind them, followed by muffled whining in a French accent.
Will Wedgewood could feel himself stirring, resting on an oddly hard surface. As consciousness returned to him, he slowly opened his eyes, revealing a crystalline ceiling above him. Turning, he saw that he was actually resting on what looked like a couch made out of gemstone, and not too far away were the others.
In a pair of beds were Mariana and Luka, both of whom looked to still be unconscious. On the floor was Elliot, equally out of it.
Across the room however was something he didn’t expect in the slightest. Sitting in a char was what looked to be a purple horse, which also had wings and a horn. It was sound asleep, lightly snoring, with an open book on a desk next to it. From the looks of things, it seemed like it was writing down something, which didn’t make much sense, given the lack of any appendages suited for writing.
Thoroughly confused, but with his wits still about him, Will slowly got up, making sure to not disturb the weird horse-thing. “Team,” he whispered, checking if the others were up, and only acting asleep. Nobody responded. Slowly, he tip-toed over to the nearest one, Elliot, and tapped him lightly with his foot. “Blue, wake up!” he whispered, only getting a few unclear grumbles in response.
Making sure the horse was still asleep, Will bent down and started shaking Elliot’s shoulders. “Wake up, Blue!” he whispered again, hoping to get a reaction out of his teammate. Eventually, he got a response, and his eyes shot wide. Will motioned to keep quiet, though, and pointed to the sleeping horse. Elliot caught on immediately, and slowly got to his feet.
“You sure I’m not still dreaming, Red?” he asked, still whispering.
“Positive. Just help me get the others up, and we’ll figure out what to do.”
Nodding at each other, they each went to one of the other Wonderful Ones, doing their best to remain silent. Elliot reached Luka first, and quietly shook his shoulders. Once he was awake, he motioned to the situation at hand, which he quickly caught on to.
Meanwhile, Will crept up to the sleeping form of Mariana, who looked to be enjoying her sleep, no matter how forced it was. Carefully, he tried to shake her awake, only getting her to mumble something in response. He tried again, only to get the same result.
Elliot, seeing that Will was having trouble getting her to wake up, walked over. “Hold on, I have an idea,” he whispered. Since he wasn’t having much success, Will stepped aside.
Clearing his throat, Elliot got close to her ear, and in his best imitation of Green, said, “You are still just as beautiful while-”
The rest of his sentence was cut off as Mariana, still sleeping, delivered a punch right into Elliot’s face. He nearly cried out in pain, but managed to restrain himself to hissing quietly. Luka couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, and even Will found himself smiling.
While Elliot was still recovering from the punch, Mariana got up on her own, stretching as if she just woke up from a pleasant nap. She scowled upon seeing the dirt in her hair, but otherwise stayed silent.
Now that everyone was up, all their attention was focused on the still-sleeping purple horse. A door was on the opposite wall, most likely leading into the rest of the building they were in.
“So, what’s the plan?” Elliot asked, his face now sporting a black eye.
“Should we wake it up?” Mariana whispered, motioning towards the horse.
“That would probably be our best bet,” Will answered.
“But what do we say?”
Will brought a hand to his chin, pondering Elliot’s question. Eventually, he came up with an answer. “Let’s just ask where we are, and work from there. Remember our cover story.”
More out of habit than anything, the other three quietly said “Roger,” before Will slowly began to reach towards the horse.
“Hey, Twilight, you figure out that alien situation yet? ‘Cause me and AJ have a bet going, and-”
The new voice goes silent as the four humans whirl around, Will’s arm still reaching for the purple horse. He barely registered that the newcomer was yet another horse, this one light blue in color with vibrant rainbow hair and wings, before she acted.
“What are you trying to do, kidnap her!?” Dash accused, flaring her wings and crouching down into what was probably a combat stance. She didn’t even give them a chance to answer before she dashed forward, impacting against Elliot’s chest, knocking the two to the ground.
The impact woke the purple horse from her sleep, and she quickly surveyed the scene in front of her. After only a second, her horn started glowing with some sort of purple energy, and after a very brief flash of light, both the blue horse and Elliot were teleported to opposite sides of the room. The latter was now sporting two black eyes, while the former now had a bruise on her cheek. Both of them ended up throwing a punch into midair, missing their target.
The two both hit the ground, thrown off balance by the missed blows, and instantly charged at each other, only to be stopped by Will and the purple horse.
“Let me at ‘im!”
“What the heck was that for?”
“I’ll take you on!”
“I’ll give you a taste of valiantium!”
“Rainbow Dash!” the purple one scolded, at the same time Will shouted, “Elliot!” causing both of them to stop in her tracks.
Pausing due to the simultaneous shouts, the purple horse continued. “What were you thinking? Attacking our guests?”
“The one with the glasses was going to kidnap you!”
Confused, Will looked over to the blue horse, which was struggling in a purple bubble similarly colored to the glow around the purple horse’s horn. “I was just trying to wake her up!”
“‘Wake her up’ my flank! What was that horn grab thing for?”
“What horn grabbing thing?”
“Is everything alright, Twilight? I heard shouting, and-”
Once again, everyone dropped what they were going to say to look at the new voice. This time, it was a white horse with purple hair and a horn. Upon seeing the situation, she just stood there for a second, before finally speaking again. “Dare I ask what is happening?”
Meanwhile, at the back of the room, Mariana and Luka just watched what was happening with varying levels of interest. Upon the white horse entering the room, Mariana almost imperceptibly frowned. “What’s that?”
“What’s what, Darling?” Rarity spoke up, her focus, as well as everyone else’s, now on Mariana.
“Oh nothing,” Mariana whispered a follow up to Luka. “Except for that gaudy hair color.”
While Luka could only stare unamusedly at Mariana’s own bright pink hair, the white horse appeared to have overheard her whisper. “Excuse me, my hair is what?”
“Hm?” Mariana looked up, her eyes wide. “Oh, nothing.”
“You call mocking my mane nothing?” Rarity’s eyes burned with anger. “And even with your trashy hair?”
Now Mariana’s eyes were almost literally burning. “What did you say to me?!”
“Mariana, no!” Will screamed, but it was far too late. The two had already ran at each other and began to exchange blows. While Twilight focused on them, Dash took her opportunity to get an extra hit on Elliot. He broke free from Will’s grasp, and the two were fighting again.
“This is bad,” Will said to himself, before diving into the fight between the blue horse and Elliot, trying to break it up. Meanwhile, the purple horse was attempting the same with Mariana and the white horse, though she was having even less success.
“Oooh!” A new voice shouted from the back of the room. “This is exciting!”
While both fights didn’t pause for a second, both Will and the purple horse looked over to see a pink horse, this one with no wings nor a horn, sitting on the couch Will woke up on, eating from a bucket of popcorn.
“Pinkie, you’re not helping!” the purple horse shouted, trying (and failing) to pull the white horse away from Mariana.
“Just what in the hay is goin’ on in here?” yet another new voice asked from the door, where an orange horse wearing a cowboy hat was looking over the chaotic scene, completely lost.
Once yet another horse entered the room, Luka decided that this had gone on long enough. “Will all of you just shut up and listen for five seconds?!”
All at once, the entire room became still. The blue horse and Elliot were both poised to deliver a punch to each other, with Will in between them, trying to hold them back. Not too far away, the purple horse had taken a similar position between the white horse and Mariana, who were both pulling each other’s hair.
“Jeez, you’re all acting like a bunch of kids!” Luka added, and this made the former combatants look over their situation. Realizing he was right, they quickly disengaged from each other, much to Will and the purple horse’s relief.
“Aw, it was just getting good!” the pink horse said from the couch, still eating from a tub of popcorn.
Will, meanwhile, was doing his best to come up for a way to try and save the situation. True, Elliot was attacked, first, but that was due to a misunderstanding. He wasn’t sure how to spin Mariana’s behavior, though.
It seemed like the purple horse was having similar thoughts, as once she was sure all the fighting had stopped, she cleared her throat. “Well, now that that’s over with… Can I ask why you’re here?”
Remembering their agreed-upon story, Will adjusted his glasses on his face, and reminded himself to take on his “civilian” personality. “W- Well, I’m not sure. We must’ve got lost, or s- something. Where are we, though?”
While Elliot raised an eyebrow at the sudden stuttering, this went unnoticed by the others. “Well, you’re in the kingdom of Equestria, on the planet Equis.”
Doing his best to keep a blank face despite the horse puns, Will spoke again. “I- I’ve never heard of this place before.”
“Why would you?” the blue horse spoke up, nursing a slightly swollen face. “You just crashed here.”
Shooting her a glare, the purple horse continued. “In any case, I suppose introductions are in order.” She cleared her throat and motioned to herself. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, former personal apprentice of Princess Celestia and bearer of the element of magic!”
“And I’m Rainbow Dash!” the blue horse boasted, flapping her wings. “I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria, coolest pony you’ll ever meet, and a shoe-in for the Wonderbolts!”
“Hiya!” the pink horse waved her hoof. “I’m Pinkie Pie, the super-duper coolest, most fun-loving, cake-eating, cupcake making, balloon blowing, fantabulous party planner in Ponyville, probably even Equestria! Or maybe not, but even then I’m sure I’m at least in the top five percent, unless-”
Pinkie was shut up by a well-placed hoof from Rainbow Dash, and the others all looked at the white horse, who was still glaring daggers at Mariana. “Just call me Rarity, darling,” she said, too preoccupied for long intros.
Back at the door, the orange horse was still looking confused, but eventually started talking. “Er, well, Ah’m Applejack.” When the others waited for a second, she stared back. “What?”
“Well, now that introductions are out of the way,” Twilight said, “what are your names?”
It was tempting to completely name off both himself and his colleagues, down to their specific title and place of origin, but Will kept himself in check. “I’m Will, that’s Elliot, Mariana, and Luka.” He motioned to each one when he said their name, who offered a small wave, or in Mariana’s case, continued glaring at Rarity.
The tension still present in the room wasn’t unnoticed by Twilight, who grinned nervously. “Can you excuse us for a second?” She quickly began leading all the ponies out of the room, only returning to grab Rarity in her magic and pull her along, her eyes never leaving Mariana’s the whole time.
Once they were out of the room and the door was shut, Will sighed. “That could’ve gone better.”
“No kidding,” Elliot commented, dealing with his own swollen face. “That blue horse can fight!”
“And I do not want that ‘Rarity’ anywhere near me,” Mariana added. “She’s lucky she did not get a taste of my beautiful… whip?”
Confused, she started feeling around on her person, only finding that her whip was missing. “Where is my whip?”
“And my sword?” Elliot also asked, looking just as confused.
“White probably took our weapons off of us after he knocked us out,” Will said. “A good move, considering it would be hard to look peaceful while carrying weapons.”
Even though they agreed with that logic, Mariana seemed to be getting slightly angry. “If Green so much as touches my whip…”
“So, what do we do?” Luka finally asked.
“That Twilight one mentioned being an apprentice to a ‘Princess Celestia’. Maybe that’s who’s in charge, here? We could talk to her about our reason for coming, but until then, stick with our story.”
Elliot shrugged. “Seems as good a plan as any, Red.”
“Oh, yeah, while we’re here, call me Will,” he hastily added. “Last thing we need is to arouse suspicion by calling each other by our code names.”
“If you say so, ‘Will’.”
Meanwhile, outside the room, the ponies were also talking amongst themselves.
“You heard what she said about me! I refuse to deal with that uncouth pink alien!”
“Rarity, I’m sure she was just afraid, and she just lashed out because of it,” Twilight said, not sure at all if she was correct. “I’m just wondering why some ponies,” she glared at Dash, “decided to attack them.”
“Hey, it honestly looked like they were gonna kidnap you, or put you in some weird alien cocoon, or something!”
“Ah’m still lost as t’ what exactly happened,” Applejack put in.
“Regardless, at least now we know why they’re here,” Twilight continued. “They’re just lost, and more than likely hoping for a way to return to their own planet.”
“I still don’t trust them.”
Twilight sighed. “And you don’t necessarily have to, Dash, just give them the benefit of the doubt, okay?”
Dash grumbled in response.
“So, they gonna stay here in the castle or somethin’?” Applejack asked.
“I guess that would be the best choice. I wouldn’t want everypony in Ponyville to freak out because of aliens.”
“Twi’, ya do realize that we have some kind o’ catastrophe every other week or so?”
“You know what I mean.” Twilight shook her head. “I’ll have Spike send a letter to Celestia telling her about the situation, then we’ll see how that goes.”
“Where is Spike, anyway?” Dash asked.
“He’s probably still asleep, I’ll go wake him up.” With that, Twilight left to retrieve her assistant, leaving her friends alone in front of the door containing the aliens.
“Hey, where’s Fluttershy?” Dash eventually brought up.
“Ah think she said somethin’ about headin’ back home, somethin’ about her animals.”
After about five minutes, Twilight came back. “He went right back to sleep, but I got the letter sent, so now we just need to wait for a reply.” She took a deep breath. “Now we just need to tell them the situation.”
“And hope they don’t suck us into weird alien spaceships,” Dash said, getting an eye roll from the others.
With Twilight leading the way, the ponies walked to the door leading into the room, cracking it open slightly. Inside, the four aliens were mostly lounging around, most likely waiting for them.
Will noticed the open door, and the others saw it not too long after. Rarity and Mariana immediately started glaring at each other again, as did Elliot and Dash.
Sensing the tension in the air, Twilight cleared her throat, getting all attention on her. “I’ve sent a letter to Princess Celestia, so we’ll have to wait until she sends back her reply.” Uneasily looking over all of them, Twilight then added, “In the meantime, I suppose it’s for the best if you all stay here, in the castle. The last thing I need is Ponyville going into a panic because of aliens.”
Ignoring Elliot facepalming upon hearing the name of the town, Will nodded. “I understand.”
Awkward silence filled the room, and Twilight nervously coughed into her hoof. “Well, I guess that’s it for now.” She motioned for the others to follow her out, and one by one they filtered out of the room, Pinkie offering a wave goodbye, while Dash made a ‘I’m watching you’ motion with her hoof.
Once they were alone, Will let out a sigh.
“Seriously, Ponyville?” Elliot said. “We don’t have a town back home named Humantown!” Suddenly, he looked to Will. “We don’t, do we?”
Ignoring him, Will walked over to a section of wall, which, upon pushing on it, revealed itself to actually be a window, offering little more than a view of a large forest.
Spotting an opportunity, Will took out his Wonder Pendant, and sent a signal with it out into the forest. Shortly after, a small blur could be seen flying towards the open window. Once it was inside, it revealed itself to be P-Star. It beeped at Will, asking how things went.
“Contact with aliens has been accomplished, albeit under stressful conditions,” Will said, now all business. “Dominant life here appears to be small horse-like creatures who call themselves ponies. At least four different subspecies have been spotted, including ones with wings, horns, neither, and both. Their technology levels appear to be behind our own, but they also have access to what can best be described as ‘magic’. Diplomacy, thus far, has succeeded, but tell the others to be ready, just in case.”
Once he was finished with his explanation, P-Star beeped out an affirmative, saluted, and reengaged his cloaking before flying back out of the castle. Seeing no need to leave it open, Will closed the window behind him.
“‘Diplomacy’. Yeah, sure,” Elliot commented, still nursing his injured face. “Seriously, that blue horse packs a punch, I’ll give her that.”
“And that barbaric one with the squiggly tail?” Mariana spoke up, fixing her hair. “I would hardly call her ‘diplomatic’.”
Meanwhile, Luka again just stared unamused at Mariana, but said nothing.
“So, what?” Elliot finally asked. “We wait until we talk to their pony princess person, then we tell ‘em why we’re really here?”
“That seems like the best plan,” Will said. “Just sit tight, until the situation demands it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”
The room once again drifted into silence, Will staring at the spot in the wall where the window was. He thought that maybe, just maybe, GEATHJERK wasn’t even looking at this planet, though that would mean their mission was purely one to gain an ally.
Earth reaching out to other planets to form an alliance… It sounded an awful lot like what Jergingha described the Greater Galactic Coalition as. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Will wondered if he was right all along…
He shook his head. He knew that they wouldn’t abandon the mission of upholding justice, no matter what. Besides, being one of the first people to meet other (peaceful) life in space was interesting in its own right.
While Will was caught in his thinking, Elliot kicked back on the bed he was sitting on. “Hope those Jerks come soon, I’m itching to dish out some valiantium.”
“If that white one keeps up her act, I might just have to whip her into shape,” Mariana added.
Luka just sighed and stared at the ceiling. This was going to be a long mission.
About half an hour later, the scene inside the room hadn’t changed much. Elliot elected to take a quick nap, Mariana had starting to touch up her makeup, Luka sat on the bed, waiting, and Will just looked out the window, lost in his own thoughts.
Eventually, the silence was broken by the door reopening, and all four of them (excluding Elliot) turned to see Twilight standing there, her face looking slightly embarrassed.
“Well, funny thing,” she began. “it seems that the princess is awfully busy at the moment, and won’t get a chance to come down here to Ponyville for a while.”
“How long is a while?” Luka asked.
“Eeeeh, about… a week or so.”
Will digested this new information, then nodded. “We can live with that.”
Twilight blinked. “Oh. I was expecting you to not react so well to that.”
“Will we be staying here that whole time?”
Twilight brought a hoof to her chin in thought. “Well, I suppose you could, but if you really wanted to, I could probably arrange for you to visit the rest of the town without everypony going into a panic.”
“Why would they panic?” Mariana asked.
Luka answered, “We just crashed here from space.”
“Oh, right.”
Twilight looked around the room awkwardly. “Well, if any of you have any questions, or anything, I’ll be in the library.”
This got Will’s attention. “You have a library here?”
“Yeah, it contains as many books as I could get a hold of. Why?”
“You wouldn’t mind if I take a look, would you?” Will’s genuine enthusiasm as a teacher was showing through.
Upon seeing that he shared her liking of books, Twilight smiled. “Oh, not at all! Just follow me, and I’ll take you there.”
With that, Twilight left the room, Will right behind her. The moment the door closed, Elliot began to stir, and got back up from his nap. “Hey, wait a second, where’s Red?”
“He went to the library,” Mariana explained. “You know how he is.”
Back in the forest, the rest of the mobilized Wonderful 101 were watching the nearby town with interest, taking care to stay out of sight of any passerby.
“You know White, I was wondering…” Green spoke up while slurping down a chocolate shake. “Are we supposed to really be doing anything here?”
“Red-san wanted us to keep an eye on the situation,” White replied, “and that we shall do.”
Green shrugged. “If you say so.” Suddenly, something caught his eye further in the town. “Wait, is that…?”
Grabbing P-Star and using the panicked robot as a pair of binoculars, Green confirmed his visual. “Is that a giant gingerbread house I see?”
White took the protesting robot, and also looked at the town. “It appears so, Green-san.”
Green pouted. “Oh, I really should have gone with them!”
White released P-Star and shook his head in mild amusement.
“‘The Bestiary of Southeast Equestria’,” Will read the title of a book off to himself. The sheer amount of books in the library was astonishing, especially since none of them had been read by a human before. “Ms. Sparkle, is it possible when we leave, can I purchase some of these books for my class? The children, and even my whole planet, should love these.”
“You’re a teacher?” Twilight’s eyes lit up.
Remembering his cover identity, Will stammered a bit. “W- Well, I mean, it’s nothing special… I’m just an elementary school teacher.”
Twilight nodded. “That doesn’t mean you don’t do something important, though. Why, I’m certain that you would be able to change the course of history with your job!”
Will fought the urge to smirk at just how right she was. Instead, he started to lose himself in the books, absorbing as much knowledge as he could. Twilight recognized what he was doing, and softly chuckled to herself.
Suddenly, there was a set of soft footsteps, and Spike walked up to Twilight, yawning. “Morning, Twilight.”
“Good morning, Spike. Any word from the princess yet?”
Spike blinked. “Er, for what?”
Twilight huffed. “Remember, earlier, when I had you send a letter to her about the aliens? And then when she sent back her reply?”
Spike scratched his chin. “I think I was still mostly asleep for that.”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “Well, I guess that’s a no, then.”
Spike looked over at Will, who had lost himself entirely in his book. Shrugging, Spike started to walk off. “Is it alright if I go over to Rarity’s to help her with something?”
“You know, Rarity is here at the castle, along with the others.”
Spike nonchalantly turned around and started going the other way, not saying another word. Twilight giggled softly.
“Who was that?” Will suddenly asked, nearly making Twilight jump.
“Oh, that was Spike, my personal assistant.”
“He sure seems relaxed. Wasn’t he surprised at all by aliens?”
Twilight shrugged. “He’s no stranger to what happens in Ponyville, and honestly, aliens are kinda low on the list of odd things.”
Will let out a thoughtful hum, before starting to read his book again. Twilight, not wanting to disturb a fellow book enthusiast, left him to his reading.
“I still don’t like that blue guy,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, crossing her arms.
“Now now Sugarcube, I’m sure ya’ll can get along once you really talk to each other.” Applejack tried to provide the voice of reason to her athletic friend, but she wasn’t having any of it.
“Personally, I’m not a fan of that Mariana character.” Rarity chimed in. “Did you hear what she said about my hair? Disgraceful!”
“Rarity, I could hear what you were saying,” Dash commented, “and you were insulting her way more than she did you.”
Applejack looked at the pegasus. “Y’all were busy gettin’ the hay beat out of you, and you heard that?”
Dash fumed. “I did NOT get the hay beat out of me! I beat the hay out of HIM!”
“I thought it was a lot of fun!” Pinkie put in. “I think I like those guys.”
“Pinkie, are you planning to throw a party for them?”
“Maaaaybe.”
At that moment, Twilight entered the room. “So, anything else happen while I was gone?”
A chorus of “No” and “Nope” was her answer.
“Well, Will, the one wearing glasses, is in the library right now, reading… pretty much everything, it looks like.”
Dash flew up to her friend. “Wait, you’re just letting him learn all he can about Equestria? What if he reports it all back to his superiors?”
“Dash, are you still convinced that they’re spies for an invasion?”
“Oh, sure, ol’ Dashy must be crazy, just seeing potential threats wherever she goes! Just don’t blame me when I say ‘told you so’.”
“Dash has a point,” Applejack admitted. “Should we really let some strange alien learn everything about our culture? He could be learnin’ about how to disable magic spells, or somethin’.”
Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fiiiiine. It’s not like they’re part of a secret band of about a hundred powerful people, with the ability to merge together in order to make giant shapes, which they then use in combat!”
Silence filled the room while the others processed what Pinkie said. Eventually, Twilight spoke. “Riiight, anyway, I think we should just sit and wait, and see what they do. If, by some small chance, they really are spies for an invasion, I’m sure we’ll be able to deal with it. We’ve fought worse, right?”
“Haven’t you seen Predahorse? What if they have laser cannons, or weird swords, or huge bombs, or—”
Dash’s ramblings were cut off by a well-placed hoof from Applejack. “Either way, Twi’s right. Fightin’ with Dash and Rares notwithstanding, they haven’t really done nothin’.”
“Haven’t really done anything.”
“I know what I said, Twi.”
Suddenly, there was a small crash deeper inside the castle, followed by barely audible muttering.
“Who’s there?!” Dash shouted, already on edge from her speculation.
There was a pause, before a voice unmistakably belonging to Elliot shouted back. “Hey, where do you guys keep the food? I’m starving here!”
Wonder White lowered P-Star once again. Though he was certainly well disciplined in the art of patience, unfortunately for him, his green companion was not.
“Oh, will they hurry up already?” Green moaned. “It is getting boring just sitting and watching!”
White kept himself from groaning in exasperation, even though a few others already did near the back of the group. “Patience, Green-san, is a virtue. We should continue waiting for the word from the others.”
Green pouted in silence, not able to see a reason to disagree with White beyond his own boredom. White was very much thankful for this, as it gave him more time to study the locals. By now, P-Star had resigned to his fate as binoculars, and didn’t even struggle as White once again pulled the robot out of the air and to his eyes.
They had already taken several pictures of each type of multicolored pony they had seen from the edge of the forest, so really White was only killing time by doing this.
From his position, he could also see the upper half of the crystal castle that the others were supposedly inside, though he couldn’t hope to find any windows to peek through.
There was a rustling in the grass behind them, and White whirled around, as did the rest of the Wonderful Ones, to see a pair of wooden wolves trying to sneak up on them. Caught, they now stood like deer in headlights.
White simply glared at them, subtly shaking his head. The wolves, getting the message, immediately turned tail and ran, tails literally between their legs.
As White went back to looking at the town, Green giggled while he snacked on a buttered-up croissant. “At least the other locals seem rather frightened by us!”
White allowed himself to sigh in annoyance. Patience was a virtue, but his virtues were wearing thin.
Shortly after Elliot’s question, Fluttershy happened to return from tending to her animals. This greatly assisted the following conversation regarding the normal diet of humans, and how they were, in fact, omnivorous.
Surprisingly, the ponies took the news fairly well. Sure, it didn’t sit too well with them, but they still understood the fact that it was simply biological needs. Even Dash didn’t hold it against the aliens, seeing as she was friends with a griffon for much of her life.
Despite this, there was still no meat in the castle for Elliot to eat, so instead he settled for whatever happened to be nearby. In this case, it was a set of cupcakes that Pinkie had brought from… somewhere. Questioning on the matter only led to further questions being raised.
As he noisily ate, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “Man, these are good! What did you put in these, like a pound of sugar?”
Pinkie laughed. “Of course not, silly! Only fifteen ounces!”
This got him to pause his ravenous eating for a second while he figured the math, before he shrugged and dived right back in.
From the other room, Spike came nonchalantly walking in, also eating his own cupcake. Not only was his eating much neater, his cupcake was also noticeably more shiny. Plus, it had what looked like a gemstone of some description sticking out of the top.
This did not go unnoticed by Elliot. “Woah, dude, you can eat diamonds?”
Spike nodded as he swallowed his current bite. “And rubies, and sapphires, and-”
“That’s pretty gnarly, man.” While Spike puzzled over what exactly he meant, Elliot just dove right back into eating.
“You would think he has been starving for weeks,” Rarity quietly commented.
“Oh, my cupcakes just do that sometimes!” Pinkie said. “They’re just super-de-duper-ly delicious!”
This got a few laughs from the others. At that point, Twilight glanced at the nearby clock. “I think I’ll go see if Will needs anything.”
Spike, the girls, and Elliot gave varying degrees of waves goodbye as she left the room, heading back to the library.
When she entered it, she couldn’t help but gasp at the sight. It had only been an hour or so, and yet Will had already depleted a vast amount of the books he had stacked for himself earlier. Not only that, but he had even put back the ones he had finished; in the exactly correct places, at that!
Will looked up from his current book, Origins of the Horseshoe, to see a dumbstruck Twilight standing in front of him. He awkwardly coughed, which seemed to break her out of her stupor.
“I- Is there something you need, Twilight?” Will stammered, adjusting his thick glasses.
“Oh, uh… actually, I was just about to ask you that,” Twilight sheepishly asked.
Will put aside his current book. “W- Well, your world seems quite fascinating, at any rate.”
Despite the circumstances of the compliment, Twilight couldn’t help but look away. “Oh, well, it’s nothing, I suppose.”
Will looked like he was thinking about something, before speaking up again. “When do you think we can see the town?”
Twilight paused. “You already want to see the town?”
“Well, if it’s not too much trouble…”
Twilight thought over the question. There was some time before Celestia would be able to help them with their situation, and while the residents of Ponyville might panic slightly, surely she can help assuage any fears they might have.
“You know what, that actually sounds like a good idea.”
Will nodded, stretching slightly as he got up from his seat. “I guess I’ll go tell the others, then.”
With that, he left the library, Twilight following close behind. They soon made their way back to the others, where Elliot was still gorging himself on cupcakes. Upon seeing Will, he motioned at him. “Come on, R- Will, try one of these, they’re great!”
Will raised an eyebrow at the (now mostly empty) box of cupcakes in front of Elliot. “I think I’ll pass, thanks.” He looked over at the assembled ponies, before looking back at him. “A- Anyway, we should go meet up with the others; I have an idea I want to run by them.”
Elliot shrugged, taking one last cupcake with him as he got up and followed Will down the hall. The ponies did the same, sharing confused looks at one another over what this idea could be.
Before any major conversations about it could take place, they arrived back at the room. Will entered first, seeing Mariana inspecting her face in a mirror, and Luka laying on the bed, bored. Both of them looked to Will, as well as Elliot and the ponies behind them. Rarity and Mariana traded venomous looks, but said nothing.
Will cleared his throat. “Everyone, I think we should go out and see what the town is like.”
The other three humans looked at each other, before nodding and voicing their agreements.
Will paused. “Oh, uh… that was easy.”
“When would you like to leave?” Twilight asked.
“Give me at least a few minutes,” Mariana said. “I need some time to pretty myself up.”
“...that’s what you’ve been doing this whole time.”
“Hush, Luka.”
“Well, with that settled, I’ll see about trying to make sure everypony doesn’t freak out when they see you.” Twilight left the room, followed by the rest of the ponies, Rarity glaring a hole in the back of Mariana’s head the whole time.
Once they were alone, Elliot finished off the cupcake he brought with him. “So, what exactly is the plan for this?”
Will tried to keep his voice low, on the off chance one of the ponies was eavesdropping. “We can see how their culture and lifestyle is firsthand, this way. Besides, the others can see for themselves that we’re fine.”
Mariana sighed. “Green will ogle me the entire time, won’t he?”
“...most likely, yes,” Will admitted.
Elliot tried to wipe the frosting and crumbs off his face. “Well, whatever, I’m sure we’ll be totally fine. I just wonder how things are back home.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Earth’s in capable hands."
The wind blew through an empty field, not a single sign of life anywhere for miles.
That is, until an ornate circle started glowing in the middle of it. The glow intensified, until a collection of aliens, of varying shapes and sizes, though most of them were small, emerged. They all turned to the nearest city on the horizon, and started moving that way.
For they were a scouting party left behind in the wake of the latest GEATHJERK invasion, and they decided it was no longer the time to sit and wait.
The front of the pack mainly consisted of flying saucer devices piloted by the small aliens, along with a pair of much larger gunships. All of them were flying even courses towards the city, unwavering in their goal.
At least, until a group of gray blurs started approaching from the city. They quickly revealed themselves to be fighter jets, and the aliens scattered as they launched a set of missiles into the group.
“Be advised, confirmed sighting of GEATHJERK forces, GDF command has alerted the Centinels.”
“This is Dog 2, copy that. Let’s give them a warm welcome in the meantime.”
The formation of jets turned around, ready for another pass. At the front, a pair of aircraft stood out from the others. One had its wings painted a light blue, while the other had a single bright red wing.
“Don’t worry guys, as long as Dog’s here, we’re fine,” one of the pilots in the rear said.
“You got that right,” the red winged flyer replied. “Now come on, Cypher, let’s show ‘em how it’s done!”
By now the aliens had started firing on the jets, forcing them to scatter as well. Several missiles impacted one of the gunships, which was enough to blow several holes in its armor, though it was still flying.
Meanwhile, the saucers had started pursuing two other jets, and while all their shots were easily dodged, they had a hard time getting rid of the pursuing craft.
Noticing this, the blue-winged jet suddenly banked hard into the air, before flying towards one of the planes head on. They avoided each other, before the blue jet sent a missile into the saucer, sending it to the ground in a fiery heap.
“Thanks, Dog 1, I owe you!”
At the same time, the red wing pilot sent a pair of missiles into one of the larger ground units, causing it to explode in a flash of light. Shortly after, he managed to gun down yet another saucer that was trying to meet him head on.
“Dog’s not flying alone out here!” one of the pilots shouted. “Let’s show those Jerks what the Gaia Defense Force can really do!”
Just as that was said, the blue winged plane took another pass at one of the gunships, this time causing it to explode into wreckage. After confirming the kill, he quickly banked to the right to avoid a laser blast from the other gunship.
At that point, yet another blur appeared in the sky, as none other than the Virgin Victory entered the airspace.
“This is the Virgin Victory to all GDF planes. Thanks for the support, we’ll take it from here. Alice, engage the Jerks!”
“Roger.”
The Virgin Victory swooped low above the Jerks, while the GDF planes flew some distance away, though still close enough to help if needed.
From the deck of the white ship, a rainbow-colored trail emerged, landing on the ground right in front of the Jerks. After a brief pose break, they went to work, swiftly engaging and decimating the alien ground forces.
Dog 2 whistled. “Looks like we get to see the Wonderfuls in action, too. Ain’t that something, buddy?”
Dog 1 remained silent.
While the Wonderful 101 was fighting (though, if anyone was paying close attention, they would notice that there were only eighty-one Wonderfuls), the remaining gunship recovered from its attack from the Virgin Victory, and swiftly began charging its laser, aiming at the Wonderfuls.
The attack was thwarted, however, by Dog 1 skillfully dropping an unguided bomb onto a mid-air target, before flipping back around and following up with a pair of missiles. The now demolished craft plummeted to earth, crushing one of the larger aliens that managed to get behind the 101.
Shortly after, the last of the Jerk forces were mopped up, and the Virgin Victory hovered overhead to teleport the 101 back inside. Once that was done, its captain said a final farewell, before zooming off.
Mission accomplished, the GDF planes turned back to the city, and started their flight back.
“That was some slick flying, Dog 1,” a pilot commented. “Heck, you could probably try out to be a Wonderful One, if you wanted!”
Dog 2 laughed. “Cypher, a Wonderful? I’d like to see that.”
He took a deep breath. “Hey, buddy… you still breathing?”
