Vasilyev paced across the bridge of the Admiral Nakhimov, watching the screens as the various bridge crewmen worked to gather together the various elements of humanity on this new world. Word had rapidly spread across the various ships and units: They were alone. A total of three land combat groups and twelve naval ships of various nations and types had been contacted, and they had been quickly linked into a 'Net' connection spanning an area three hundred kilometers in diameter.

Looking out of e glass windows, he could see the massive bulk of the American aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford. According to the semi-transparent screen that showed the radar contacts in the area, the ships that had managed to catch up to the Admiral Nakhimov and the Gerald R. Ford included the American destroyers Halsey and Spruance, the Norwegian frigate Otto Sverdrup, and three Russian Federation Svetlyak-class patrol boats, who came in the accompany of the Mistral-class amphibious assault ship Sevastopol.

Now the combat group was headed towards a small bay on the coast of the landmass that everybody seemed to be clustered around, between the island with a city that he and his group had flown over and the landmass, right by the mouth of a river. One of the eight F/A-18 fighters now circling the group had flown over the spot, taking multiple radar scans and noting that the area for five kilometers around seemed devoid of any signs of life. Six miles away, a few farmhouses and small fields (if that is what they were) had been noted, but nothing else.

All in all, it was a nearly perfect place to base a large force. Especially one that included a dozen naval warships and an entire Russian regiment.

"How soon until we reach the spot?" Vasilyev asked Captain Volkov when the Russian lieutenant stopped his pacing.

"Around twenty minutes, Lieutenant Vasilyev." Volkov replied. "We are just now beginning to pass through the area between the island and the mainland."

"Have the ponies been airlifted to the Americans for their questions?" Vasilyev asked.

"Yes, they have." Volkov stated. "I heard that you tired of relaying their requests after ten minutes."

"I speak their language, English, as a courtesy to them." Vasilyev dryly remarked. "They should not expect me to speak it every moment I am around them. I learned it as a way to easily communicate, not to trade remarks between two ponies whom I do not care for and the Americans whom I find irritating."

"Captain Volkov, sir!" One of the technicians said, interrupting whatever reply Volkov had been forming. "I have visual contact on the Russian Federation destroyer Nastoychivyy, to the east."

Vasilyev looked out of the right side of the bridge, towards the mainland. One and a half miles away, and three miles from the coast, the low shape of the Sovremenny-class destroyer sat on the water, quickly closing the distance between it and the rest of the ships.

Vasilyev directed his attention towards the sky, where a small flight of four unmanned American MQ-8C Fire Scouts flew overhead, directly towards the beach they would be landing at.

"How will the land formations reach this place?" Vasilyev asked Volkov as they stared at the American helicopters fly past. "There is a major desert between them and here, along with a small city one of the American destroyers spotted with their massive radars."

Volkov glanced towards the screen dominating the center of the bridge, which showed a radar-gathered map of all of the territory that the fleet had seen so far, as well as everything within the one hundred kilometers that the radar could map out. Right now, that prominently included two cities: One on the island, and one on the coast to the south.

"The land formations that we have contact with will head north, staying between the forest and the large city, and sticking to the large road that we have seen. It is paved with stone, and the Americans have told us that they have a MQ-4C Triton UAV watching the road. Forward elements of the US ground forces, Battalion strength, are currently ten kilometers south and forty kilometers east of the city." Volkov paused for a moment, before continuing. "They will have to pass by a small town on their way north, but Captain Henderson has assured me that they will attempt to avoid hostile contact. Either they will pass through or by the town, and then proceed on their way."

"How soon do you expect the ground units to reach the location?" Vasilyev asked.

"Six hours." Volkov replied.

"No sightings of the ponies yet, aside from their cities in the distance." Vasilyev noted. "I think we may be alone, for all of their eagerness to harass and attack my men earlier."

"Not really." Volkov said, walking to the left side of the bridge, with Vasilyev following right behind him. The Russian Captain pointed out, to a bank of clouds a kilometer up. "Look up there."

Vasilyev put his 'Net' glasses on before activating the magnification on them. He adjusted it up to 10x, the cloud leaping into his vision. He could see dozens of multicolored shapes on the top, seemingly peering down on the fleet.

"What in the world..." Vasilyev muttered.

"They were first spotted two hours ago by the E-2C flight the Americans have in the air. It registered as a flock of birds on their radar, but it stayed still. They vectored in two F-35Cs to take a look, and found around two dozen ponies looking at them. Pegasi only." Volkov said to the stunned Vasilyev. "Since then, the cloud has moved under its own power, and the numbers have increased."

"And you do not shot them because it would not improve our situation." The Russian Lieutenant noted.

Volkov nodded. "Precisely."

Vasilyev looked back out over the water, towards the supposed landing site they would be arriving at.

"Nothing but time left..." The MVD solider said under his breath in his native Estonian, before turning around and striding out of the bridge.

Forty miles to the south-east
Along the Appaloosa-Manehatten Roadway

First Lieutenant Robert Johnson looked around him at the grassy plains surrounding the road. Seated on the roof of his Stryker ICV, he watched as the smooth rock road ran past. The APC itself was going around twenty miles an hour, along with the rest of the armored column.

"Hey, LT!" One of the men inside shouted out to him. "Did'ya hear that we're on a new planet? What the fuck happened?"

"I've known for two hours, Delany, and so have you." Lieutenant Johnson said to the man. "What remains to be seen is how the inhabitants, for a road means inhabitants, react to us."

"I heard that a Ruskie team got into a little firefight with one of them." One of the men below said, his voice reaching up towards Robert. "If they attack us, I don't give a shit whether they're Pegasi or Unicorns or fuckin' Fairies! I'll blow their asses up either way."

"Try to keep an open mind, soldier." Robert said, frowning.

With that, Robert leaded back on the mounting for the M2 Machinegun on the room, closing his eyes.

"It's been a hell of a long week." He murmured, drifting off into thought.

Author's Note

This chapter uses extensive references to my terrible map of Equestria, which I have already linked once in this story. If you need it again, try searching through my blog posts.

The next one should be out within the week. I've been saddled with schoolwork, so don't expect too much.