Barricade

"Well that happened." Brown said watching the rest of the creatures fly off. He turned back and waked towards the APC. The rear ramp hissed open and Brown stepped inside."Get in." He called to the private still standing outside.

"What do we do now sir?" Asked the driver.

"Drive back to the landing site." Brown responded quickly. The engine hummed as the vehicle started moving again. "This is Big Daddy to Harvest leader do you copy. I repeat this is Big Daddy to Harvest leader do you copy." Brown spoke pressing a button on the side of his mask.

"Yes Big Daddy this is Harvest leader I copy."

"Yes I am requesting immediate pullout of both salvage and science teams from the area. I am also requesting immediate reinforcements of both Aegis Tanks and Longbow missile carriers."

"Yes sir ,your orders are being submitted to Harvest base. Also word from the science team. Standard military gear has been cleared. I repeat standard military gear has been cleared."

"Excellent. We will be arriving momentarily Big daddy out." Brown said as the channel closed.

The carriages soared into the sky Rainbow Dash was the first one to speak up after the guards arrival.

"What the hay was that?!" she almost yelled angrily at the nearest guard. jumping off the carrige preferring to fly herself." Hello." She said angrily. the pegasus guard kept flying not even paying any attention to her.

"Now just calm down dash. I'm sure sure dey had a mighty fine reason reason to pull us out like that." said a fairly patient Applejack. "So why did ya do that anyhow?" She asked hoping for a clear answer. But just like her friend she was answered with silence.

"Why did you take us ?" Asked twilight this time. But unlike her friends she was given an actual response.

"Our orders were to secure the Princess's and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony's location and then transport them to the town of Ponyville." Answered the Platoon leader.

"And who gave you those orders?" She asked

"Our orders were received from commander Flash Sentry." He responded. Twilight blushed at the mention of her coltfriend. They had only been dating for a month now but it was one of the happiest months of her life. She snapped back to reality when the carriage landed in Ponyville.

But she isn't meet with the Ponyville she is used to. Instead she is meet by something comparable to a Guard's base. They were everywhere, guards were moving all around some were setting up barricades while others were preparing for battle.

"Oh thank Clestia your safe." Said an orange pegasus in gold armor. Walking up to Twilight and bringing her in a tight embrace, she returned it.

"I'm so glad to see you,Flash, what's going on." She said to the stallion.

"The princess sent us here. She said to secure the town and all of your locations." He said motioning towards twilight and her friends.

*boom* *boom* *boom* *boom*

Everypony stopped what they were doing and looked up searching for the noise. What they saw was four more of the odd shaped craft slowing down and stopping over the Everfree. Each craft slowly lowered itself self down into the forest and after several seconds the craft raised back up. One each craft completed this process in only a few seconds . Three more of the craft raised out of the forest and joined the formation.

After a few seconds of just hovering, the now group of seven slowly started moving forward. Then with a loud *bang* the group screamed over head and rocketed back to where ever they came.

Everypony stood silent for a moment quite unsure about what to do about the display they just saw.

"Is that all of them." Brown said to lieutenant Avea . She was an average sized woman at five foot six. She had brown hair and brown eyes.

"Yes sir, two Longbows, two Aegis Tanks, two Riflemen squads, and one rocket squad." She said matter a factly.

"Ok." Brown said with a huff. "I need the all the commanders here now for briefing." Brown said. She nodded and walked off. He had changed into a standard dark green helmet and sun glasses. Preferring those over the face mask he had worn earlier. He tapped the side of his glasses opening a com to Micheles.

" Hey you there?" Brown said getting his attention.

"Huh oh it's you. So how's the expedition going?"

"Interesting, very interesting ."

"So I've heard. So , what can I do for you."

"I need the ion cannon to be deployed ASAP."

"That all." Micheles said expecting more.

"Yes get a couple rail gun squads and put them on standby for me ok."

"Any thing else?"

"Nope."

"Alright then sir, I'll get right on that." He said closing the chanel.

A group of men led by the lieutenant approached Brown. They soon formed a half circle around the lieutenant and lead commander.

"Ok everyone listen up. We're going to get into LH (light to heavy) formation in two columns.we will go on the path for about five miles or till the tree line breaks. I'll take point in the lead APC. Aegis tanks I want you to stay there and await orders. The rest of the convoy will proceed until we reach the edge of the town. Once there I want a riflemen squad on the right left and center. A map of the area has been sent to your Globe Set Systems. But I cannot stress this enough do NOT engage any native forces. Unless given the order. Understood." Brown said with confidence.

"Yes, sir." They all replied. In unison.

"Any questions." Brown asked, a hand shot up. "Yes." He said pointing to one of the tank commanders.

"Sir what what are we up against ? What do these creatures look like ?" He asked simply.

"We have very little intel on the inhabitants. But they do appear equine in nature at about four feet tall. They are very colorful. They do not appear to be a high level threat. Any more questions?" As Brown answered he was given several quizzical looks. Proving that some of the commanders were skeptical of what he just described. But no one else questioned him. "Alright then lets get going." Brown clapped sending everyone to their vehicles.

It was a relatively short drive once they got into formation. (Three APCs in the front two longbows following right behind them. And lastly the two Aegis main battle tanks at the rear.) As the formation emerged out of the forest Brown ordered them to a halt.

"Holy shit." Brown said slowly taking his first real glance at the town through the monitor. He tapped a screen on the side of the vehicle. Bringing up a picture his sniper team got earlier to what he was seeing now. It only confirmed his thoughts.

The images the sniper team had taken. Contained the same base image of several outlining buildings and a road. But that was where the similarities ended. Where as in the first image there was only one or two of the colorful inhabitants. In the live scope there were dozens of them in gold armor that glinted off the sun. Also many of them were moving barriers onto the road. While others just moved around, carrying what Brown assumed were spears and crossbows.

'This might become a problem.' Brown thought to him self.