Chapters Prologue
Today’s the day launch day June 22, 2213. To the everyday citizen it was just another supply convoy to the Space Colonies but to the governments of the world this was the end of a ten year undertaking to ensure humanity’s survival. Three Massive “Ark” ships sat in port waiting for the all clear. Each with its crew of 2,000 more or less men and women and its specialized cargo.
“Director Brown we have the go ahead for launch” said an officer on the bridge of Ark 1.
“Excellent. Begin take off procedure” Said Director Brown the leader of the ark fleet. The ship’s four water powered engines hummed for several seconds before the ship lurched upward stopped then began a steady ascension. This continued for several minutes before all three ships breached the atmosphere.
“Sir we’ve breached the atmosphere”. Said another officer.
"Engines holding at seventy five percent ". Said another
“Good. Activate the deep space drive and continue to the rendezvous point at star system omega. I’ll be right back”. Director Brown said before he left the bridge. He walked down a maze of hall ways and corridors with a display projected on the lenses of his glasses guiding him. He soon arrived at large grey door. He punched in the passcode on the touch display next to it and the door hissed open. He walked in slowly into the dimly lit room being sure not to wake up the captain. He crouched right next to the bed and shouted “WAKE UP IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP!!”.
“AHHHH what the fuck” Captain Michles yelled and rolled to the side right off the bed. He hit the metal floor with a thud.
“Wouldn't be the first time you said that ” Brown responded.
“It was ok in collage but now it’s just unprofessional.”
“Ok, Ok it won’t happen again. Now get up its time to get stuff done we’ll be there soon”
Micheles knew that it would probably happen again tomorrow but didn't pay to much mind to it.
“What’s our progress?” questioned Brown
“We’ll arrive shortly, Sir.” Responded the ships navigation director. Brown thanked him and walked to a halo table. As captain Michles walked into the room.
“Sargent open a channel to the rest of the ships”. Ordered Brown.
“Yes sir”. He replied. In several seconds later, two 35 inch video feeds were projected above the table.
“Ello there director”. Spoke Captain Aiden with a thick British accent. The Leader of ark 2.
“Sir”. Spoke Captain Davis, leader of ark 3 with just a hint of a Russian accent.
“Gentlemen we will be approaching the station within minutes. Now I know we will be heading into the unknown. So I need to know that I can trust you?”
“You can trust me sir”
“You can trust me as well”
“Good. Now that that’s over let’s get down to business. We will approach the station in formation and wait until we get the word from Dr.Strochvitz as to where the portal will open. Then the portal should open and we will enter single file. Make sure that all of your ship goes through. Whatever doesn’t make direct contact will not exit this dimension. The portal can’t be open for longer than fifteen minutes if it does it could break apart the fabric of this dimension. Utterly destroying it. Once we breach the portal get into formation and await further orders. Understood?”
“Yes Sir.” They responded simultaneously.
“Good. Sargent close the channel”
The video feeds disappeared and the space above the table went clear. Another 40 minutes went past with nothing exciting happening. Until a red triangle with a white exclamation point in the center appeared on Brown's glasses. He taped the side of his glasses opening the video feed. A man in a blue button up shirt with the W.S.E.D logo on the breast pocket.
“Ok then” Brown mumbled under his breath. He tapped the side of his glasses and a video feed of Capitan Michles appeared.
“We’re going to bypass the checkpoint and go straight to the testing area. The doctor is running ahead of schedule apparently”.
“Yes sir we should arrive in about an hour”.
The hour passed quickly with small discussions about the ship’s status and many other things.
“Sir we have arrived” said Michles
“Good, sound general quarters. And put the fire teams on high alert. I don't fully trust this portal tech”
“Yes, sir” several seconds later a horn went off in threes beep* beep* beep*. This went on for thirty seconds fallowed by the ship buzzing with life as everyone went to their stations. Fire teams put on suits and soldiers put on air masks, grabbed rifles, and took positions outside all the major entrances and exits.
“Sir Dr.Strovitiz is on the main line”. Shouted an officer. Director Brown strode over to the halo table where captain Michles was already standing. Above the table was video feeds of all the other ship captains and the doctor.
“Ok good now that ve’re all here. The plan has changed you still need to enter your ships single file but the portal will be slightly bigger to allow easier entry. The only drawback is the portal will only be open for five minutes.”
“Five minutes that’s not enough time to get all the ships through.” Said the captain of ark two said his accent straining.
“You’ll have to make do with five minutes the generator will overload and the portal will collapse in on its self if we hold it any longer”.
“Are you sure about this Doc? We’ll be pushing ourselves for time”. Asked Brown
“Positive”
“Ok. Ark one and two will defiantly go through ark three I want you to hold back and if there’s time then proceed through if not return to earth”.
“Yes, sir” the ark captains said simultaneously
“Now that that’s settled the portal will be opened at coordinates alpa,192 in ten minutes”.
“Ok, see you on the other side”. Said Brown as he tapped a button on the table closing the video feeds.
The image of the doctor appeared back on brown’s glasses “opening portal in two minutes” he said as the image disappeared. The massive ark ships moved slowly in to a straight line. Suddenly a light purple circle appeared making contact with each of the small ships in the circle.
“Keep the ship steady and head forward” Brown ordered and the ships went through.Several moments of tense silence passed as the ship slipped through the portal.
"Why I be dammed we made it through alive" Brown broke the silence that had filled the room
Author's Note
This is my first story feel free to criticize just don't go overboard. Tags may change in future chapters.
The Ark Project
Three months after the events of prologue. A video feed of captan Michles blocked Brown's vision from the large metal crates containing various vecal parts.
He pressed his ear piece to activate the mic. "Yes Michele's what is it"
"Sir we have detected a small star with a planet in its vicinity" he said his voice with a hint of enthusiasm.
"That's great tell the other captains and plot a course. I'll be there if fifteen minutes" said Brown letting a smile escape his lips.
"Yes, Sir" Michles responded before the Channel closed.
"You there. Yea you. Finish taking stock of these parts" Brown yelled to a nearby person handing him a clear tablet.
—————————————————————————————————————————
The automatic doors to the bridge slid with a hiss allowing Brown to enter. He walked over to the halo table only to already see 2 video feeds of the other ship captains and captain Michles.
"Sorry I'm late any new details ?" Questioned Brown. As he walked up to the table
" Yes we should should enter this planets orbit by tomorrow. And I beleave Captain Adain would like to tell us something," said Michles .
" Yes there is. I had my men run a long range range gravational scan to see how to calibrate our engines to handle orbit correctly. After the results came back and we looked through it we found something quite peculiar". Adain said with a short moment of silence fallowing.
"Well don't wait to build suspence tell us". Commanded Brown.
"Well for one there's a moon present. But thats not the weird thing. The weird thing is that this star orbits the planet not the other way around. Also this planet has about the same gravitational pull as earth does only differing by 11 newtons less ". He said while a full color holographic model appeared else where on the table of the star and the moon orbiting a blue planet with several large patches of green on it.
"Are you sure this accurate?" Questioned Davis.
"Yes, I triple checked it my self all three scans report the same thing".
"Well let's keep going. Once we enter orbit we'll be able to run more scans and find out the source of this strange behavior if the planet has anything connections to it".
"I agree" said Davis
"Ok then anyone else have any interesting news at this time ?"
" Yes, the animals aboard the ship are starting to get a bit restless there have even been a couple injuries with their caretakers". Said Davis who had remained quiet the whole meeting.
"I'm sorry to hear that Davis but I'm not a zoologist. So I don't know what to tell you. Anything else?" A moment of silence passed.
"No sir nothing we can't handle". Said Davis
"Ok good you all should get some rest your gona need it". The Chanel closed and brown walked off towards his quarters but stopped just short of the sliding doors separating the bridge from the rest of the ship."Michles" he shouted
"Yea". He responded turning his head away from a halogram of the star and planet that piqued his imagination.
"Get us there as fast as possible and then do it in half the time". He said with a small smile.
"Yes sir". He responded with a matching smile and a slight giggle.
—————————————————————————————————————————
12 hours latter.
The sound of an overly loud alarm sounded from brown's personal control panel yanking him out of his sleep.
"Ugggg. Five more minutes" he said as his hand blindly reached for the control panel trying to silence the alarm.
" I'm afraid not my friend for we have arrived" said Captain Michles as a halogram of him appeared above the pannel.
"Are you serious I thought the estimate was 24 hours". Said Brown still groggy a large amount of frustration in his voice. Thinking Michles had woke him up early just to piss him of.
"Yes I am serious". Michles said in a matter of fact tone. "I did what you said get us here as fast as possible and then do it in half the time".
"I didn't mean it liter- never mind just conduct standard scans on the planet. I'll be up there in ten minutes".
"Already done just got to show you the results. Their pretty amazing to tell the truth".
"Still gona be there in ten. See you up stairs"
"Yes sir"
—————————————————————————————————————————
The sliding doors gave another hiss as Brown entered the the bridge. He looked out the window to find not the black expanse of space but to find a massive blue orb mostly covered in green with some tan scars slashed harshly through the green.
"Sir!" Said Michles eagerness dripping off his voice. "You gotta see this".
"What's with all the excitement your not usually this excited to find a new planet.
"I'm not excited I'm curious, big difference. But you got to see this". He said motioning towards a halogram of the planet. "The atmospheric scans show 74 percent nitrogen 22 percent oxygen and so on and so forth". He said as a pie graph appeared next to the 'planet' showing the percentages of all the planet's gasses."Also we ran some thermal scans and they're pretty similar to earth's varying from place to place". And as he said this the pie graph disappeared to be replaced with several temperatures floating near the 'planet' with lines pointing to several areas on it." But there was a major temperature change here. For a hundred square miles here its seventy five degrees. But as soon as you step out of this area it's thirty below. I'm having engineering recalibrate the scanners to rule out macanical error".
"All this sounds great and we will be able to set up a colony from what your saying. But does it have proper amounts of the liquid water that powers our engines and does it have life"? Brown said cutting of Michles.
"I was getting to that. This planet has more than enough water. Seventy percent of it is water. But we still need to send a team down there to perform some tests to see if it will power our engines. And as for life this planet is covered in plant life. And as for major life"
"Sir". Said an officer as he approached the halo table interrupting Michles mid sentence.
"Yes ensign what is it ?" Questioned Michles in a very annoyed tone.
"Intel analyzed the orbital photos from earlier and, well, see for your self". Said ensign as he navigated the control panel on the side of the table bringing up several pictures of wooden and stone structures . A moment of silence suddenly fell upon the trio of officers.
"Send a low altitude drone flight over. This area here". Said brown pointing to a small cluster of structures surrounded by a field on one side and a large expanse of forest on the other.
"To sector 24.5662.5 ?" The ensign inquired
"Yes. Have the drone ready to launch in twenty minutes. And also send word to the other arks about what's going on". Brown said.
"Yes sir". Said the ensign as he saluted and walked of to fulfill his orders.
"Now I'm going down to the mess hall, pick up a cup of tea. And then go to the piloting room to monitor the flight". Said Brown.
—————————————————————————————————————————
"Commander on deck " yelled an officer yelled. Through the dimly lit room. Only lit by computer screens, three halogram projectors and several plasma bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Brown walked straight to the vacant commander's chair and sat down looking at the main screen to find a live video of the aft hanger. There sat a VX-96 night shade recon drone. It was a medium sized craft at 50 feet long and 20 feet high.With two water driven type 94 HE engines at the end of its long slender body. Enabling it to reach speeds of mock 8 in the atmosphere and mock. Two delta wings hugged the craft and its top secreat cloaking technology.
"It it ready for takeoff"? Questioned Brown
"Yes sir it is". Said the pilot.
"Then lets get this show on the road shall we" .
—————————————————————————————————————————
Meanwhile in ponyville
A lavender alicorn and her green and purple dragon assistant lay in their beds. In a peaceful sleep as the sun crested over the horizon. The town was just waking up, the birds were chirping. And the smell of freshly baked goods was every where.
KA-BOON. A massive explosion shook not only their tree home but the whole town.
"Huh". Twilight said drowsily sitting up in her bed. "Spike. Spike. Spike!!".
"Uggg. Five more minutes twilight". Spike said in a whine.
"Did you hear that"?
"Hear what ".
"Never mind". She said as she slipped back under her sheets. Only to hear banging at the door. "Uggg. What how". She said slight aggravation in her voice. But she gets out of her bed and walks down stairs to the door. Only to be greeted by more banging.
"Princess". Shouted a voice from the other side of the door. Twilight opened the door being met by a stallion pegasus with a dark blue mane and coat. Wearing dark purple armor, her personal body guard. "Princess are you alright "? He asked concern in his voice.
"Yes of course Hawkeye. Why wouldn't I be" ? She questioned confusion in her voice.
"Did you hear that explosion "? He asked
"Yea what was that ? Do you know"?
"I don't know exactly but I do know a hot air ballon collided with something moving extremely fast".
"Was anypony in the ballon"?
"No".
"What about the object"?
"I don't know but debris landed in the Everfree forest".
"Huh what's going on"? Spike questions. "Oh hey Hawkeye". Spike said as he entered the door way.
"Oh hey Spike". Hawkeye said with a smile, to the small purple dragon.
" Just something crashed into the Everfree forest and me and my friends are going to check it out". Twilight said looking towards Hawkeye then spike.
"I'm going too". Hawkeye responded.
"And he's going also".
"Want me to go get the girls"? Spike said already knowing the drill.
"No it's ok I'll go get them". She said. He knew she would say that but he still asked regardless.
Author's Note
Again this is my first story feel free to comment on anything that might need tweaking.
"Damn it what the hell was that"?!! Brown almost shouted in the now quiet drone command center.
"Sir I think it was a hot air ballon". Said the pilot of the drone.
"What the hell makes you say that". Brown questioned
"Whatever it was it wasn't big or solid enough to get a solid radar signature there was no heat signature which means it was filled with a gas probably Hydrogen. And this photo". He motioned to a secondary screen that was replaying the last three seconds of transmission from the drones forward facing camera. "Also the drone probably only took light damage upon impact, the major damage happened when it hit the ground".
"Thank you airmen now if you will excuse me ". He said before he left the room. He tapped the side of his glasses activating a video uplink, in the top right hand corner of his vision "Captain Michles are you there".
"Yes I'm here. Did you see that drone footage".
"Yea I was in the DCC when the flight took off. I need you to prepare a landing party. One special ops team, a salvage crew, and a science team. Have them meet me in the forward briefing room in a half hour".
"Yes sir". He responded.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Thirty minutes later Brown stood in a dim room only lighted by the hologram behind him. In front of him sat thirty men and women ten for each team he sent for. A slight chatter came from around the room.
"Can I have everyone's attention please". Brown said in a booming voice that everyone heard, and the room fell silent."As some of you may already know a drone went down thirty three minutes ago over our goldilocks planet. We are going down there to salvage what we can and learn further about this planet and its life forms'. We are going down there in three V-35 ox transports. Each transport will have an APC to provide assistance in staying mobile and possible defense. One we land each team will have 4 hours to carry out its own respective task and then we will meet up at the landing site for extraction unless I say other wise. Any questions"? A hand raised up from the back of the room. " Yes ". He said already expecting the question from the beginning of the briefing.
"You kept saying we through out briefing. Does that mean that your coming too"? He said with some confusion in his voice.
"Your damn right I'm going. Now any more questions"? Silence. "No well then you all have a half hour to suit up and meet up in the forward hanger section, 2B".
——————————————————————————————————————————
Meanwhile in Ponyville
Twilight walked up to a farm listening for anything.
"Applejack". She called out.
"Oh hey there Twi I didn't see you" .Said an orange pony with a blond mane and cowboy hat.
"I just came by to ask you to come by the library latter today, with everything you'll need for a trip".
"Now just how long of a trip ya talking about twilight".
"Just A couple days out in the Everfree".
"Now might this have anything to do with that thing that blew up over Ponyville".
"Yea we're going out to go look for it".
"About that Twi ummmm, Mac and I were coming back in from the fields after we saw it. And then well, we found somethin out in the west orchard. I have never seen anything like it".
"Can you take me to it". She said her face lighting up with curiosity.
"Sure thing it's this way". she said heading in a westerly direction.
( ten minutes of silence and boring dialogue latter this happens.)
"And here we are. So what do ya think it is Twi"? Applejack asked. In front of them sat a scatter of debris the largest of which, was a black right triangle about five feet long and about seven feet high. It had several scorch marks along the whole thing, and even some of the debris was still red hot.
"Wow I've never seen anything like this before". She said in total amazement. She levitated a small piece of debris to study it more closely. It was lighter than she expected. "Hmmmm"
"Yea"
"Do you know where Rainbow Dash is ,she wasn't in her house this morning".
She thought when she got an idea."yea I saw her sleeping in a tree this morning".
"Do you think she's awake now". Swoosh. An extremely loud sound that no pony could quite name boomed above Ponyville. The pairs' eyes scanned the sky for the source of the sound, only to see three strange shapes lowering themselves into the Everfree.
"To the library"? Applejack questioned looking straight at twilight.
"To the library". Twilight said reassuringly. They ran straight towards the library.
Author's Note
Sorry about the short chapter I promise a long one next time.
In the mountainside city of Canterlot. The sun goddess paced back and forth in her throne room. She was greatly distressed and only got more so by the second. The reason for this was The New Holy Empire of The Three Kingdoms. The three said kingdoms were the Griffin Kingdoms , the Diamond Dog Grounds, and the Dragon Empire. With extensive aid from the Great minotaur Federation. Although officially neutral in the conflict. The alliance was created three years ago and have only gotten more aggressive since. They invaded Prance and had taken full control of the region in only 12 weeks. One year latter they take Germaneigh and with it falls Zebrica. With their strongest allies gone Equestria is alone with most of its citizens ignorant about what is happening just outside their boarders. But the recent threats by the Empire have put Celestia and Luna even more on edge.
"Princess". Said a unicorn guard with a burlap sack in his telekinetic grip, surprising her and breaking her concentration.
"Yes any good news from the Empire"? She questioned hoping for some relief.
"Yes A griffin messenger dropped this off this morning. He said this concerned the diplomat you sent two weeks ago". He said passing the bag to her. He left the room just as quietly as he came. She opened the bag. She dropped the bag ,and stood aghast at what was inside shocking her to her core. Because inside that bag was the head of said diplomat. She recoiled back in suprise. Dropping the head in the process. But she quickly recuperated picking the head up and calling in a guard to bury the head. After he had come and left Luna walked in to see her sister on her throne with an even more distraught then before.
"What is it thy sister"? The moon goddess asked her sister.
"It's the empire again Luna. Every time we ask for peace their response begs war I just don't know what more we can do politically ". Luna and Celestia both pondered the question what more they can do. Equestria couldn't go to war with them and succeed. Over three hundred years of peace had made it's military weak. With the royal guard having only five thousand active guards. Also ten thousand lightly trained militia spread throughout Equestria. The Wonder Bolts (,an elite stunt flying team also doubling as a military unit,) had had just over five hundred members. And Equestria's navy, well there is no navy.
On the other hoof the empire had almost five million battle hardened veterans. And a navy of over five hundred ships. According to one of Luna's spies deep in the empire.
"You've got mail". Said an automated voice in the celling.
"What was that dear sister Luna asked curiously.
"Oh I put a spell on the celling to tell me when ever Twilight sends a letter to us". Clestia said sheepishly. With a scroll falling to her feet. She gripped the scroll in her magical grip, opening it and reading its contents.
'Dear Princess Celestia
There have been some strange things happening around Ponyville lately. My friends and I are going into the Everfree forest to find out what's going on. I'll send another letter if we find anything.
From,
"What does it say sister". Luna questioned, and Celestia levitated the scroll to her sisters face.
"Hmmmm. Dear princess, bla bla bla, strange things, bla bla bla, Everfree forest, bla bla bla, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luna looked up from the note with a surprised/ concerned face.
"Yes ,yes I do". Celestia said grimly. "We need to mobilize the royal guard. Where is Shining Armor"? She asked with a seriousness that couldn't be rivaled by anyone else but her sister.
"The Crystal Empire. He's over seeing their guard reform. But his second in command Flash Sentry is right down the hall. We could send him to Ponyville with his company to take a look around". Luna said putting her accent back in check.
"Ok".
——————————————————————————————————————————
"Well that went better than I expected ". Brown said to himself. The face mask muffled his voice. And the air pumped into it had a sort stale taste to it. His forces had deployed and set up a perimeter around the deployment zone and the wreckage area. Not to mention the (two man) Sniper team he had posted two klicks west overlooking the 'town'. He was awaiting a response from them on their findings, when his radio crackled to life.
"This is Eagle Eye to Big Daddy do you copy. I repeat this is Eagle Eye to Big Daddy".
"This is Big Daddy I copy. What do you got".
"Sir we got seven contacts heading east towards your position, they appear to be multi colored equines ,and their intent is unknown at this time". Brown stood their for a second trying to comprehend what his team just reported.
"Eagle eye can you repeat that". Brown said unsure what to make of the previous transmission.
"I repeat we have seven contacts heading east towards your location , they appear to be multi colored equines ,and their intent is unknown at this time".Brown took in the information the processed it a second time. This time he contemplated his moves . A: He could let them move onto his position risking the lives of his crew mates. B: Have the sniper team take them out . Or C: meet them between the town and his position in a more peaceful fashion and use force only if necessary.
"Ok, give chase and keep me posted on their progress. Do not be seen. Big Daddy out". He said closing the line. He walked over to the captain of the special opps squad. "Captain".
He turned around and saluted. "Yes sir". He said.
"I need two men and an APC .We got seven unknown contacts that are heading this way. I need you to put your men on alert".
"Yes sir I'll get right on that".The officer responded to his commander.Brown proceeded towards an awaiting APC.
——————————————————————————————————————————
"So why are we here again". Said cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. Tiredness in her voice from suddenly being awoken up by the screams of her lavender friend.
"I told you Rainbow we're looking for anything weird".
"Oooo like aliens". Said a bubbly pink pony hopping down the trail with everypony else.
"Maybe"
"Oooo then I have to throw them a welcome to Equestra party and then "... Twilight was pinkie's friend she really was but at some point you stop hearing the things she says. " And then I said he's right there". Pinkie burst into a small fit of laughter at her story.
"What's that smell".Hawkeye stopped everypony's conversations. Everypony stopped to smell the air.
"Ewww what is that awful stench". An elegant white unicorn with a styled purple mane said with the beginnings of a whine in her voice. She stopped using the time to rest her hooves they were killing her. But some pony did know the source of the stench. She remembered her last near death experience with them.
"Timberwolves " Applekack whispered. There was a small rustle of some bushes nearby.
Hawkeye gave him self a smug look at the now pile of twigs only to turn around to see at least thirty more of the wolves emerging from the woods. His look vanished only to turn into one of concern.
"Buuuuuck". He muttered under his breath. They quickly encircled the group. Barking and licking their lips at the thought of an easy kill. It had been a solid two weeks after the pack's last kill. The timberwolves slowly crept closer tightening the noose.
BANG BANG, BANG. "YOU LITTLE SHIT". Screamed somepony form further up the path. Followed by several more small explosions.
The timberwolves stopped their advance. And glanced at each other. Barks and whines from other wolves could be heard from up the trail. Seconds latter a small group of three or four wolves came half running half limping down the trail whining to their comrades. The wolves turned tail and disappeared just as fast as they came. The ponies stood there in amazement and watched the spectacle. Timberwolves rarely got in packs higher than twenty and were very careful to stay away from large groups of ponies.
Nopony said anything after a few moments of silence. A quiet rumbling could be heard from further up the path.
"Princess I think we should leave. Now!" He said in an authoritative tone that wasn't telling her what to do but it gave her motivation enough to do it.
"Come on girls lets get out of here". Twilight Said to her friends. They were all to happy to comply, to leave the forest. But just as they started running. Several of the small explosions rang out from in front of them. Followed by a loud cry of pain, and more 'explosions'.
"Dam it". Hawkeye cursed. "We have to keep going". Hawkeye yelled over the explosions. So they running or in Rainbow Dash's flying, down the path. The explosions stopped . But the rumbling from behind them only got louder gaining their attention to the noise they just now noticed.
"What's that"? Twilight asked as she ran.
"I don't know keep running". Hawkeye said.
"GET OUT THE WAY". Somepony shouted above the rumbling from behind them. They turned their heads only to be met by a big gray box bearing down on them. With the top half of (twilight did a double take) a human sticking out of the top shouting at them.
"MOVE DAM IT, MOVE". He said waving his hand to the side. The ponies dodged to the side just missing the speeding vehicle as it rocketed right past them.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Brown leaned against the side of the APC. Going through several ship reports about food stores ,water levels and all that 'fun' stuff. He had been waiting there for about ten minutes. The plan was to let the creatures come close and make contact peacefully hopefully establishing some sort of communication. There was a small rustling of bushes from across the road. He quickly unholstered his side arm and took aim at the bushes.
What looked like a small puppy came out curiously. Brown lowered his weapon and breathed a sigh of relief. He bent down and whistled to try to get the puppy to come closer. It slowly crept towards him. Curious about the new creature that ventured into his domain. The puppy was soon just a feet away from from him.
That was when Brown noticed a few very strange things about this puppy. First it's eyes were glowing green. Second the thing was made of a bunch of sticks. Brown shot the dog a confused look, but he still held out his gloved hand letting the puppy sniff it.
There was some more rustling in the bushes followed by a low growl. Brown again raised his gun again. He was back on alert realizing that what ever that growl came from it was probably the pups mom. And she might be a little pissed off at him. But when the growl stopped the pup just turned around and headed back to where it came. The forest fell back into silence.
Brown banged on the side of the APC. The top hatch behind the machine gun opened up and the top half of a man climbed out.
"Yes sir". He called out.
"Did you see that"? Brown asked double checking to see if what just transpired actually happened.
"What sir"? The man responded confused. And almost on cue a large and heavy object smashed into Brown throwing him against the APC knocking him to the ground. The private took his own weapon and placed three precise shots in the things chest killing it.
Brown lifted the limp object off him and threw it to the side. He looked at the object and he realized it was just a larger version of that puppy. He stood up and nodded to the private.
"Good shot". He complemented him. While grabbing a rifle that strapped to the side of the APC. He turned around only to hear more rustling. Three more of the things emerged out of the forest. "I guess you aren't that bright huh". He said to the wolves taking one in his sights. He fired a warning shot at its feet. It kept coming. "Open fire". Brown ordered his subordinate. The noise of a heavy machine gun penetrated the forest while Brown let out bursts of his rifle. Another wolf approached from the side getting through the machine gun and rifle fire. The wolf pounced on Brown throwing him to the ground and knocking his gun away.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT" Brown screamed. While wrestling with the wolf. Each locked in a battle for survival. Brown got the dog pinned against the APC with his hand around its neck. He quickly grabbed the knife from his belt and impaled it deep in the wolves neck ending the fight. He got back up just in time to see some wolves running/ limping down the path. Machine gun fire hitting the dirt behind them.
"Are you alright sir "? The private asked his commanding officer.
"Nothing but some cuts and bruises. But I'll be alright." He responded. "Can you open up the ramp for me." Brown said with a groan. Grabbing his gun and reattaching it to the side of the vehicle.
"Yes sir." He said climbing back into the APC the hatch hissing shut behind him. Within seconds the rear hatch had opened up and Brown ducked inside. The interior of the vehicle was pretty basic. The pullout chairs attached to the sides of the vehicle could hold ten combat ready infantry men with all their gear. There were fire ports in between each chair so the passengers could fire from within the safety of the vehicle.
Brown pulled down a chair close to the front of the vehicle and sat down, taking a deep breath. The vehicle sat there in silence no one saying a word. After a minute or two Brown broke the silence. He pushed a button on the side of the helmet.
"This is Big Daddy to Eagle Eye do you copy. I repeat this is Big Daddy to Eagle Eye."
"This is Eagle eye I copy."
"Move to the road and await extraction. I repeat move to the road and await extraction."
"Yes (loud rustling followed by barks, indecipherable words from partner) What was that?" He questioned through the radio. "Don't come any closer (low growl followed by gun fire, scream of pain). Oh shit. (Heavy panting)."The transmission cut. Brown was listening carefully to the encounter and moved up towards the front of the vehicle and tapped on the shoulder of the driver. Signaling him to start the engine. On start up the engine was loud but eventually quitted down to a low hum.
"Go." Brown ordered. And the vehicle started moving forward. Soon it was speeding down the path. The transmission reconnected.
"This is Eagle Eye I repeat this is Eagle eye. We are requesting immediate evac. We are on the road but my partner is unresponsive. I repeat we are on the road but by partner is unresponsive.We are requesting immediate evac." The solider said frantically.
"This is big daddy I read you loud and clear. Pop green smoke and await evac. I repeat pop green smoke and await evac." Brown spoke calmly. Turning back to the driver. "Drive as fast as you can. And stop at the green smoke. " Brown ordered.
"Yes sir." He responded. They kept driving speeding over small bumps and cracks in the road.
"Yes what is it".
"I'm picking up seven contacts on the road ahead of us, on thermal." Brown moved to a secondary scope and flipped it to thermal and sure enough there they are seven thermal contacts.
"Are they wolves ?" Brown questioned.
"No sir whatever attacked you earlier didn't appear on thermal. Sir should I stop."
"No they'll move." Brown said as he moved to the top hatch. Opening it with a press of a button. He climbed up through the hatch. That's when he saw them seven brightly colored equines. "He waved his hand to the side over the gun and started shouting.
"GET OUT THE WAY."
"MOVE DAM IT, MOVE." He yelled even louder. This time they seemed to understand him as they jumped to the side. Just as the APC thundered passed them. Brown breathed a sigh of relief. And ducked back into the APC.
"Sir we got green smoke up ahead."Said the driver said to Brown.
"Good stop there and open the ramp, turn around and start to head back to base."
"Yes sir." He said applying the brakes making the APC jolt to a stop. The rear ramp hissed down. Several seconds passed. Two men ran up into the ramp panting heavily their face masks covered in dirt.
"Thanks for the pickup sir." Said one of the men. Nodding his head as the ramp slid shut behind them. And the APC turned around and started moving again this time at a slower pace.
"Are both of you alright?" Brown questioned.
"Yes sir I just got knocked out for a while. We were attacked by these dog creatures. They ambushed us." The other responded.
"Good to hear. I figured we were hit by the same thing. Now are the both of you sure you're alright we have to make a stop on our way back to base."
"We're both alright, and what kind of stop do you mean sir."
"We ran into a small group of natives on our way here. Almost ran them over. But they appear to be intelligent so I would prefer to make contact through a more diplomatic sense."
"Ok sir." The sniper closed the conversation pulling a seat down and finally relaxing. His partner doing the same.
"Sir." Called the driver.
"Yes." brown responded. Moving back towards the drivers compartment.
"You might want to check the forward scope." Brown moved towards the secondary scope looking through it first thermal them regular images.
"Ok good. Everyone listen up we are about to make first official contact with the inhabitants of this planet. You." He said pointing to one of the men.
"I need you to go out there with me cover my ass ok."
"Yes sir."
"You." He said pointing to one of the snipers. " I need you to man the machine gun from in the vehicle ok." He nodded. "Ok then get ready." The vehicle coasted to a stop in front of the seven confused creatures. Just twenty yards away. The rear ramp hissed open and Brown walked out professionally and stopped by the side of the vehicle. His back up standing right beside him gun at the ready. This was the first time brown was able to actually get a good look at the creatures. They were all brightly colored ,and stood on four legs. They resembled small horses. All but two had either a horn atop its head or a pair of wings at its sides. One even had both. But one of the most notable about one of these creatures was that it was in some sort of armed service. He could tell by the armor it wore, a dark purple. He could even tell just by the way it stood, a little more stiff than the others but still light enough to be able to move fast. From this he was able to conclude that one member or all of this group is valued by a nearby community.
"Hello there I am director Tyrone Brown and I am attempting to make contact with you." Brown said slowly. Several seconds of silence passed. A few of the creatures facial expressions changed from whatever they were before to an obvious look of surprise.Until two of the creatures stepped forward. The lavender one with both wings and a horn. Being accompanied by the one in dark purple armor at its side.
"Hello there I am Princess Twilight Sparkle." Said the lavender one. Her voice was soft and feminine. Now it was time for Brown to be surprised. He had expected some sort of response. A foreign language that he didn't understand or something. He expected everything but for the creatures to be able to speak perfect English.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."Brown said .
"It's a pleasure to meet you to I have so many questions." She said her voice rising in pitch at the end. And a small smile growing on her face. Brown returned it. The air softened.
"Don't move." yelled a deep masculine voice from above drawing everyone's eyes to the sky. There flew several of the creatures with wings. Many were white and wore gold armor. Some even held spears. Brown and his company both raised their guns to the intruders. Prompting an immediate change it atmosphere. Five dropped down to the ground forming a defensive formation around the princess. Spears towards Brown and company.
"Oh shit." Brown said under his breath. Two golden chariots fell from the sky being pulled by two of the white creatures in golden armor. The princess and her company were rushed onto the platforms and whisked away within a matter of seconds. After several more seconds the rest of the creatures leap back into the sky and disappeared back into the sky. Leaving an even more surprised Brown.
"Well that happened." He said defeated.
Author's Note
Sorry about the delay. I wanted to make this chapter a long one and I put lots of work into it. And as always stay classy San Diego. (Point out any errors I missed).
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.
"This is Big Daddy to Fed ex. Do you copy?" Brown said quietly. Pressing a button on the side of his helmet.
"Yes Big daddy we copy."
"Do you have the delivery address for the package?"
"I'm sorry sir, something messing with our targeting computers. No packages will be delivered without an express office on the ground." The voice on the other end said apologetically.
"Roger that Fed ex. Big daddy out." Brown closed the channel and turned to the squad in the back. "Sorry guys looks like we don't got ion cannon support, this time. " He announced. Several groans could be heard from the back of the transport. "Well lets going then." Brown said to the driver.
Outskirts of Ponyville
" why in Tartarus are we here again?" Said a white stallion in golden armor to his comrades .
" I don't know Diamond. But I'm gona bet you twenty bits it has to do with that changeling queen again." Said one of his comrades.
" Wait you guys don't know what we're looking for either?" Said another.
"No idea." Said Diamond Sword. "Wait do you see that?" He said pointing out towards the forest.
"Yea , wait what is that?"
" I don't know. But its moving towards the barricade."
"We better get Flash down here."
Harvest Convoy
"Sir." The driver called out for Brown.
" Yes what do we got." Brown responded eagerly.
" Well sir looks like we got twenty contacts , and steadily rising. If you check the scopes it looks live we got several of what looks like cement dividers and barbed wire on the road in front of a formation of natives."
" Well this could go either way." Brown commented to him self.
" Sir, ETA twelve seconds." As he said this the white light that lit the vehicle turned red. Brown turned to the passengers.
" Alright everyone you know what to do." Brown announced. Several seconds latter the light turned green as the rear hatch opened and sunlight filled in the compartment . The solders filed out and took a spike formation in front of the convoy. As they did this two more squads did this on the left and right flanks of the convoy. Brown slowly walked out in front of the APC. His assault rifle across his his chest.
"You two. Follow me." Brown said to two of his men. They stepped out of formation and followed him. Brown walked up to about twenty feet of the barricade. Till he heard a voice from behind the barricade.
"HALT don't come any closer." It said. Brown stopped walking. He smiled slightly knowing they at least spoke the same language. And responded.
" Hello, I am director Brown of the Space Exploration and Defense Initiative. We have no intention of harming you, we just want to communicate. Please send an emissary to discuss any terms." Brown let his his words sink in for several minutes. There was some movement from behind the barricade and soon one of the creatures in gold armor appeared from behind the barricade.
" Greetings Director Brown." It said in a masculine voice.
"Greetings. Now I'm sure you and everyone else back there, has a question or two about me. And I have a few questions for you so Let's get started, shall we." Brown said making eye contact. 'Now that I've had a good look at them, their eyes seem rather disproportionate to their heads.' As Brown thought about this the creature looked rather surprised for a moment before its face went back to a plane expression.
"Yes we shall." It responded.
"Well then my first real question for you is, what are you ? Errr. Your species rather ?" Brown asked rather curious. At first the creature looked surprised, then its face went back to a plane one.
"We're ponies, where exactly are you from ?" It answered then responded a tang of curiosity in its voice. A surprised smile formed on Brown's face. As he turned to one of his men.
"Are we recording this ?" Brown asked the solider.
"No sir." He answered back.
" Well start." Brown ordered. He responded with a yes sir, and Brown turned back to the pony.
"Sorry about that. We're form a different universe, me personally am from a planet called earth , from a country called the United States of America. But my men are from all over the globe some even from the colonies."
"So you're from another universe what do you plan to accomplish by being here?" The pony asked. It's tone was dead serious.
"In short our mission is to find an inhabitable planet as soon as possible ,and establish a colony."
" What do you mean colony ?" He further questioned.
" By colony I mean an area for the development and expansion of the human race. And a fallow up question for you is. Where am I ?" He said pointing to the ground.
"You're in Equestria." It answered simply. Brown looked back to one of his men. He shrugged in response. Her turned back to the pony.
"So who is the leader or leaders of this country, and if there are leaders how many are there?" Brown asked.
" There are four princesses that rule over Equestria."
'That's odd if there are princesses where are the king and queen. Never mind that now, you can ask them when you meet them.' Brown thought to himself. " Well then I would like to request an audience for with a princess as soon as-" Brown was cut off by an alert on his HUD.
"Yes sir we have a proximity alert. There are three large airborne contacts inbound on your position, about two hundred miles out. We are sending you images now." As the female voice stopped three images of airships appeared on his display.
"What the hell are those?" Brown couldn't believe what he saw. They looked like old pirate ships with nothing keeping them in the air. No visible engine no ballon nothing just a flying ship. "Is this confirmed ?" Brown questioned the operator.
"Yes sir."
"Deploy attack drones have them ready to shoot down those craft when I give the order. Thank you, and keep me posted.
"Alright sir." She responded and the transmission went silent. Brown turned back to the pony.
"Sorry about that now I was requesting an audience with a princess as soon as possible." Brown said restarting the conversation.
"Alright I will submit you request. And you should be able to speak with a princess shortly." It answered his request.
"Well if that'll be all, I'll be returning in two hours. And one more thing, I would prefer your commander to call off the airships." And with that Brown simply turned around and went back to the formation the two men following close behind. "Ok everyone were pulling back. We'll return in two hours." He said pressing the side of his glasses. Just as he finished engines could be heard starting up and coming to life. And just as fast as the convoy came they disappeared back into the forest.
Brown looked across the ammo crate to lieutenant Aeva and two other men. In his hand rested two cards. He looked down at his cards then back up. 'One hundred credits, oh hell no.' He thought to him self.
"Fold." He said putting his cards down. Knowing that Aeva, despite her looks was one of the best poker players around.
The two men looked at him with a confused looks. Then the next one spoke up. "I see your hundred ,and I'll raise you fifty." As he said this he slid three small silver colored bars to the center of the crate. Aeva only responded by sliding her share into the center pile. "Show." He said reveling his hand. Aeva gave a slick smile and turned her cards over.
His hand a full house two queens on the field two tens in his hand and one ten on the field.
Aeva's hand four of a kind, four queens.
"Fuck." He almost shouted.
"And that son, is why I don't gamble with her." Brown said with a smile. A small buzzer sounded In his ear. Bzzzz, bzzzzz,bzzzzzz. Brown pressed and held to button on the side of his helmet silencing the noise. Brown stood up. " Its time.lets get the men packed up and ready to roll out." He said to Aeva in particular. And in minutes the area sounded of engines and soon the convoy was off. But leaving one member to provide some extra backup.
The convoy started down the small path towards the town. It wasn't going to be awhile till they arrived, so Brown went through some of his notes on what had happened in the last two hours.
10 min into 2 hours) Returned to drop zone
11 min) Sensors report five natives leaving town heading towards another suspected city.
30 min) natives reach destination.
45 min) we requested additional reinforcements
1 hour) the three ' airships ' stop their course
1 hour 2 min) reinforcements arrive. One Trident , two sniper teams, Four ammo crates.
1 hour 30 min) Sensors report 40 native, reinforcements, heading towards town. One native in the center of the formation registered strange power fluctuations.
1 hour 35 min) poker game starts
1 hour 50 min) poker game ends, convoy is mobilized.
1 hour 53 min ) native reinforcements arrive.
1 hour 55 min) now.
Brown took a deep breath and closed the list. A small smile spread across his lips and he gave a small giggle. ' This'll be interesting, I'm gona have fun with this. For their sake I hope this isn't a trap. Brown turned his head back towards the driver.
" Driver, what's our ETA to the town?" Brown questioned.
" Our ETA looks to be about five minutes sir." He responded quickly.
Brown sat quietly as the convoy moved forward. Three minutes latter the convoy came to a quick stop at the edge of the forest. Two sniper teams left the safety of their APC's and took positions in the tree line, seamlessly blending into the dark forest behind them. And in less than thirty seconds the convoy got moving again.
"Sir." The driver called Brown over.
"Yes what do you got for me." Brown responded moving towards the drivers compartment.
"Check the forward scope sir. The natives defiantly prepared for our arrival." He answered as Brown pulled up the scope footage.
"Well shit." Brown said finally impressed with the 'roadblock' the natives set up. There sat two hastily built guard towers one on each side of the road. On the road itself sat the cement dividers but twice as high. Stopping any direct view behind them. But brown simply pressed a button on the console switching to sonic imaging. Behind the wall were at least thirty ponies in armor.
" What should we do sir?" The driver asked. Brown paused for a moment.
"Just follow the plan." Brown answered.
"Yes sir. And we will be approaching the road block shortly."
"Good" Brown went back to the rear of the vehicle and sat down. The red light illuminating the compartment. Suddenly the vehicle stopped and the light turned green. The rear hatch lowered and sunlight flooded the compartment. And again the soliders filled out and took formation In front of the APC. Brown slowly excited the rear of the vehicle grabbing a megaphone on his way out, and proceeded to the front.
Author's Note
Sorry progress has slow. But in the meantime have a little preview of the next chapter.
