1140 Hours
Occupied City of Trottingham
Eight (8) days after first contact

Major Thompson, commander of the US forces in the city that had been captured, glared down at the desk he had been given in the town hall. The object of his attention was a single letter, written in flowing script, running for half the length of a page. It had been delivered this morning to the town hall, addressed to 'Commander of Human Army'. After being checked three times over for explosives or other such traps, it had been delivered to his office, instantly becoming the only piece of work he had seen outside of endless amount of paperwork that had been heaped on him by fleet specialists about various proposed ideas.

What occupied his ire most was the words written on it. Closing his eyes and counting to five, Thompson read over the letter again, soaking in every infuriating detail.

To The Commander of Human Army in Trottingham

It has come to my attention, from numerous conversation with my subordinates, that you and the creatu army at your command do not understand much about the proper way to order here in this fine city. While your surprising takeover of the city may have given you total control over it, your removal of the city guards has left the city vulnerable to number bands of murderers, arsonis renegades.

I have control over a group that is willing to provide protection for everypony inside of your group. However, it costs us much to pay these guards, as I am sure you are aware. In addition, we can also extend our activities to monitor any crime in the city, making sure it is dealt with by ourselves in a timely manner. Please consider my offer, as my group will not be able to provide you protection from the unsavory side of the city should the worst come.

I again stress that this is a reasonable offer that will ensure the safety anypony inside of your group, as well as making sure that the streets are free of crime.

If you wish to take part in our services, come to Warehouse 7 on the corner of Radiance Street and 48th Avenue. We can discuss this generous offer further once you are there, should you decide to take it.

I look forward to a long and profitable future.

Firm Grasp, head of the Trottingham Investors Syndicate

The most ridiculous part of the letter was in the language. It was a blatant attempt at extortion, nearly directly hinting at some sort of retribution if he didn't pay for 'protection'. The name at the bottom was the final straw. It was now obvious that sometimes, ponies did not have to have a vague-sounding name hinting to their talent: The truth was on the packaging.

"Sergeant Kelly!" He yelled, his young and eager clerk appearing in the doorway moments later.

"Yes sir?"

"Bring the 'mayor' in here. I have a question for him."

"Yes, sir."

The Sergeant disappeared as Thompson calmed himself, sitting down at the desk. The mayor of the city had been almost eager to help them, given that he had witnessed the city fall in hours to the combined might of the task force. He acted in an advisory role, and was the one the Major went to when he needed to know more about something in the city.

Half a minute later, the light grey stallion walked in, stopping in front of the desk and taking a seat on a backless chair there.

"Mr. Record, I have encountered a delightful letter from a certain individual in the city." Thompson said, turning the letter around so the pony could see it. "You may know him as Firm Grasp. Now who, pray tell, is he?"

"He's the biggest name in crime this side of Baltimare." The pony said, eyes not straying from the letter. "Although he tries to maintain a public image, he's just a crook. He had bribed half of the guard into ignoring him. He must figure that you aren't as tough as you seem, and figured that he could try and earn money off of you."

"Did you have to pay for his 'services'?" Major Thompson asked in a cold tone.

The pony quickly shook his head. "No. I made sure that the guards around this part of the city were clean, and told him to go buck himself. That warehouse this mentions, it's his base of operations. If I had tried to take it, half of the guards would have been gone before they had gone a block into that area."

"Thank you for your information, Mr. Record. You may leave." Thompson said, his tone absolutely cordial. Inside, he was seething. He ignored the sounds of the door closing as the pony left, instead working on a mental plan of what he was going to do.

After five minutes, it was fully formed.

"Sergeant!" He said, the door opening a moment later. "Get ready. We have work to do..."

"... And that's why we can't go into the bars." PFC Anthony Griffith finished as they continued walking down the street.

"And that, Anthony, is why we don't let the Army into bars." Private Holmes said. "They discover alcohol for their first time, and the rest is history, the poor bastards."

"Yeah." Anthony replied. "Hey, did I ever- Hey, watch it!" He said as a pony almost rammed into him as it came running down the street. It disappeared around the next corner, dozens of heads turning to follow it.

"What's his hurry?" Holmes asked.

"I don't know, but they sure seem anxious." Anthony said, gesturing to the ponies on the street, many of whom seemed to be trying to get into various houses. Within a minute, the street was nearly empty.

Anthony switched on his 'Net' unit, unslinging his rifle. By the multiple messages popping up on the screen, something major was going on. Finally, almost all of them cleared, a single one remaining.

[ALERT]: All units in the south-east side of the city, head to the marked location. This message includes off-duty soldiers.

"Holmes, something major is going down, and we're included." Anthony said.

"Joy of joy, miracle of miracles." Holmes deadpanned. "We're the chosen ones again."

"Look at the bright side, Holmes." Anthony said.

"And what would that be?" The private asked.

"At least we have our rifles."

"Oorah!"

Major Thompson stood outside of the building marked Warehouse 7, doing a final debate as to whether he should go inside. After a quick conversation with Captain Henderson, they had both come up with the idea of him wearing a 'Net' unit inside, mapping out the entire building and everything inside of it as he went. Two US Marines stood beside him, chosen from among the crowd that had gathered at Landing Site Three to go with him. They had extensive experience from before the war, and had been in the group assaulting the Observatory, putting them at the front of the list.

"Ready?" He asked the two Marines.

"Yes, sir." They chorused, their hands gripping tightly to their HK416 Carbines. While the switch from the M16A4 and the M4A1 was unsurprising, it still caught Thompson by surprise when he saw the evidence of it.

Thompson quickly walked towards the twin doors that were the only visible entrance to the warehouse. He opened the door, walking inside, with the two Marines only steps behind him. The warehouse was devoid of almost anything, except piles of various boxes. Dozens of ponies stood inside of it, some with weapons clearly within grabbing range. All of them stopped to look at him, with one walking forward to meet him.

"You the human?" The unicorn asked.

"I am." Thompson said, his tone positively frigid.

"Follow me." The pony said, turning around and walking further into the warehouse. "The boss wants to see you."

After a full minute of wandering between piles of boxes, they reached the other end of the warehouse. What looked like a manager's office jutted into the building, a seal room with only a door leading to it. The unicorn grasped the knob in a orange glow, opening the door and gesturing with one hoof for them to walk inside.

Major Thompson did so, ducking underneath the short doorway to get inside. The interior of the room consisted of a desk at one end, with a single light brown pegasus behind it, who in turn had a pair of ponies at his side. Both of the guards seemed to be carrying some sort of crossbow on their back, although their method of operating it was a mystery to Thompson.

"There was no need to bring men for your protection, human." The pony said.

"You must be Firm Grasp." Thompson said.

"Astute of you to notice. Have you accepted our offer?"

"We do not." A sigh escaped the pony. "You must be absolutely deluded to think you could cause any trouble for us. Don't even bother denying it: We know all about you, and we believe your attempt at extortion to be laughable at best."

"Is there any way that I can change your mind? Perhaps a reduced fee?" The pony offered.

"No. And since we're done with that point, I have a warning for you: Don't even believe for a moment that you could even trouble us. Any attempts at doing so will lead to your destruction. Goodbye." With that, Thompson turned around to leave, walking towards the door.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't allow that." A voice said behind the three as the door was slammed shut.

Thompson whirled around, M9 Beretta in hand.

"Now." He said over the 'Net' system.

A blast echoed from the front of the complex as Thompson fired, three rounds striking the pegasus guard to the right. The two Marines opened fire as well, the 5.56mm rounds from their HK416 rifles killing the unicorn guard to the left. One of them went up to Firm Grasp and hit him with the butt of his rifle, knocking the surprised pony to the floor.

"Grab him." Thompson ordered. One of the Marines picked up the groaning pegasus, grunting under the weight.

"Let's move." Thompson offered, the sound of firing rifles echoing sporadically around the warehouse.

Thompson and the two quickly ran into US Army soldiers going in the other direction, finding out from them that the only fighting had been near the entrance, as many of the ponies inside tried their best to hold back the groups of American infantry. There had been no casualties suffered on their side.

1205 hours

"... And you're sure?" Captain Daniel Henderson asked over the radio.

"Positive, Captain." Major Thompson responded. "We have him. I'll let a military court decide the outcome: If we get the ponies involved, it could be a major propaganda bonus. Twelve years of him being ignored, and on the first day we are here, we nab the main criminal in the entire city. We're going to announce it at the same time as the law changes."

"See to it that you do, Major. Henderson out." Henderson switched off the radio, happy that some things were going in the right direction. For the first time in the entire day, he felt like things were going to turn out to be just fine.

On the bridge of the USS Lake Erie, Captain Wright jumped into action. Moments before, multiple High Frequency radio transmissions had been detected from an area far into the mainland, as well as several large radar contacts in the middle of the ocean. The radioman couldn't make sense of the transmissions so far, but one thing was sure.

They were numerous, and desperate.

Written by Merchent343
Edited by The Rainbow Brony

Author's Note

This is the list of ships currently in Equestria:

Admiral Kuznetson-Class Aircraft Carrier - Admiral Kuznetson CVN
Gerald R. Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier - Gerald R. Ford CVN
Ticonderoga-Class Cruiser - Lake Erie CG-70
Arleigh Burke-Class Guided Missile Destroyer - Halsey DDG-97
Arleigh Burke-Class Guided Missile Destroyer - Spruance DDG-111
Fridtjof Nansen-Class Frigate - Otto Sverdrup F312
Sovremenny-Class Destroyer - Nastoychivyy 620
x3 Svetlyak-Class Patrol Boat - Patrol Boats Not Named
Mistral-Class Amphibious Assault Ship - Sevastopol
Zubr-Class Landing Craft - 782 Mordovia
Borei-Class SSN Ballistic - Alexander Nevsky (K-550)
Kirov-Class Battlecruiser - Petr Velikiy
Kirov-Class Battlecruiser - Admiral Nakhimov