1128 Hours
Seven (7) days after recorded first contact

Captain Henderson stood on the bridge of the Gerald R. Ford, looking out at the city they had attacked. Four hours after the first units landed, the city was ninety-eight percent secure, with most of the farmland around the city under their control as well. Armored vehicles patrolled through the streets, accompanied by groups of infantry.

So far, very few non-guard ponies had even been seen to venture outside. The ones that did had reportedly stared in shock at the small-scale battles that had erupted. There was no widespread destruction: Just over a hundred buildings had been damaged to some degree, in widely separated areas. Casualties were at a near minimum, with only twenty Human KIAs, and the numbers of civilians killed in the crossfire at under fifty. The guard casualties had been put in the area of almost one thousand, although no firm numbers were available.

With some simple questioning, the soldiers on the ground had found out where the local guard commander lived. After that, a helicopter raid involving two dozen Russian Marines had been sent to capture him, successfully breaching the perimeter around the house. With the guard forces effectively decimated and decapitated, the rest of them had been either on the run or had already surrendered. The city was effectively under their control.

The first task, of course, would be to figure out how to win over the locals, especially after the recent battle. Already dozens of plans were in the works, soldiers from the US Army had control of the town hall, and were currently pouring over city laws and records. They might have taken the city by force, but all of them knew enough about their situation to know they had very little time to make a positive impact.

The reason for this being that Captain Henderson and Captain Volkov agreed on one thing: Ruling the city by force would have been good in the short term, but there was no telling if there was even a viable way to return to Earth. Therefore, they had to prepare for the long term, and both of them felt morally obligated to treat the civilian population the same way they would have under international supervision, different species and worlds be damned.

"Sir." An officer said behind Henderson, prompting him to turn around. "Firebase reports a successful hit on the areas of the castle. Casualties should be minimal, but it should send our message, bright and clear."

"Send a reply, as follows: Near victory, monitor 'Net'. End." Henderson said.

"Yes, sir." The officer replied, saluting and heading back towards the communications console.

With that being done, Henderson turned back towards the city. Try as he might, he couldn't help but think about the future. The current coalition, with four different nations, one of them divided, was held together only by their mutual interest in survival, along with his and Volkov's efforts. They had spent all this time trying to establish themselves, but what if it all fell apart?

Henderson shook his head, banishing the thought from his head. Humanity had gone through much in its history as a species, and Henderson would be damned if he let his men die out on an alien world without a fight.

1258 Hours

Lieutenant Vasilyev sat on the roof of a BMP-3 as it rolled through the streets, eyeing the ponies that were only now coming out onto the street. They always cleared way for the armored personnel carrier, giving it wary glances.

Vasilyev did not mind the attention, or the occasional times they would have to stop to give way to a wagon. All of the ground personnel had been instructed to be respectful of the ponies, as Captain Henderson and Captain Volkov had both agreed to tread carefully, especially after the recent battle, which had only closed an hour ago.

Small work teams were already removing the rubble in the streets, as well as the numerous bodies of guards, many of them on scattered rooftops across the city. Hostility had been minimal, although Vasilyev thought that it was in part due to the battle that had just been fought.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" he heard Kozlov say in English, presumably to a pony at the side of the road.

"Kozlov, shut your fucking mouth!" Petrov yelled a moment later in Russian at the Private.

Vasilyev frowned at the exchange, more specifically at Kozlov. The attitude of the large Private had not improved upon their invasion of the city, and he had been seen repeating similar scenes to this almost a dozen times so far. Vasilyev was worried for Kozlov, and resolved to talk to him at a later date.

"Lieutenant Vasilyev, how copy?" His 'Net' unit's radio suddenly blurted out. "This is Major Leonidov."

"I am here, Major." Vasilyev replied, recognizing the name of one of the prominent leaders of the attack on the city. "What do you need?"

"The Americans want a map of this 'Equestria', and frankly we do as well." The major said. "You were given several dozen of their currency as part of your kits when you were sent off last night. We want you to use them to purchase several maps. We do not care where, just get it done."

"So that's what those were for.' Vasilyev said, checking one of his side pockets. Petrov and him had been given twenty each, in the off chance that they would be useful. Being an MVD team, they had to prepare for the worst, and so they had been given some of the currency that had been confiscated off of several prisoners.

"Why can't anybody else do this?" Vasilyev asked after he finished checking the pocket.

"Because we want it soon, and flying out a team for this purpose would be wasteful. You're in the area, we trust you, and you can get it done. I expect you to keep the more firebrand members of your squad in line, Lieutenant Mihkel Vasilyev."

"... Yes, sir." Vasilyev responded a moment later.

"Good, we'll pick it up at Beach Landing Three"

With that, the radio shut off. Vasilyev turned to the rest of the squad to find all of them staring at him.

"... What?" The Lieutenant demanded.

"What was the call about?" Petrov asked, to the point.

"You're not going to believe this..."

"We would like four copies of the map, if you would." Vasilyev said in English to the stoic mare.

"... Okay, that will be twelve bits for all of them." The female pegasus said a moment later.

Vasilyev reached into the pouch containing the coins and pulled out twelve of them, putting them on the counter of the store. As soon as the unflinching pony saw the coins, she turned around and went into a doorway, emerging ten seconds later with four fairly large scrolls tucked under her wing. The pony laid them out on the counter, sweeping the coins up with a hoof and putting them... Somewhere. Vasilyev unrolled one to see what was inside. Sure enough, it was a map, including areas that the radar had not yet mapped, and naming the cities.

"Thank you." Vasilyev said, rolling it back up and picking up the other three, walking out of the store as casually as he could manage. He almost didn't hear the longsuffering sigh that came from the building as he left. Ten feet from the entrance, he climbed on top of the BMP-3, hitting the roof three times to signal the driver to head to the beach.

"So, how was it?" Petrov asked as he eyes the four large, rolled-up maps.

"Strange. I think I like some ponies now: They do not ask questions." Vasilyev deadpanned.

Petrov snorted, as close to a reply as Vasilyev was going to get. The trip was short, and soon enough they arrived at the beach. Vasilyev handed the four scrolls to a man standing by a MH-6 Little Bird, who stared at him with a deadpan look.

"Thanks, I guess." The pilot said in English, already getting inside of the helicopter.

Vasilyev hopped back on board the BMP-3, tapping on the roof again to resume their patrol. Only then did he finally wonder why the military had not just taken one from the town hall. Shrugging it off as the military overlooking something as they usually did, he leaned back against the turret of the APC and simply opted to enjoy the ride.

Written by Merchent343
Edited by The Rainbow Brony

Author's Note

As a note, chapter names will no longer be restricted to one word. I'm running out of words I can use in any case. From now on, they'll be two or three words. No, previous chapter names will not change. The next chapter will be the beginning of Act V.

And no, I have no idea when I plan to end this. For those of you who noticed, the last chapter of Act IV features a 'quote' from a book entitled 'The First Year', by Aleksei Volkov. Connect the dots, draw the lines, and you will reach a conclusion. And we're only in seven days after everything arrived.

And as a final note, I have an editor! The Rainbow Brony (link above) offered to edit, and seeing as I feel he has the qualifications, I accepted. This is the first chapter edited by him, and I have to say, the chapter is much better than it would have been without him.