2229 hours
Nine (9) days after first contact
Canterlot Castle, Interior

The door blew apart with explosive force, sending splinters of wood flying towards Davit and his squad. The Sergeant winced as a chip deflected off of his 'Net' glasses, but was able to keep a clear enough vision to spot the first guard that ran in.

Said guard collapsed to the ground a moment later, his helmet and skull pierced by a burst of three 5.56mm NATO rounds. The next two to follow died just as quickly, leaving the path to the hallway clear.

"Go, to the entrance!" Davit shouted, running towards the door with his rifle at the ready. His three squadmates followed him as he did so, and Davit quickly found himself in the hallway...

... And ducking a glowing bolt from the left a moment later - the same direction he had come from. Davit spun around and shot the unicorn responsible, only to see two pegasi rush around the corn, clad in bright gold armor.

"We need to find another exit!" Davit said in Georgian as he backpedaled, firing at the two guards, who has gone airborne not a moment later. Both of them fell to the marble floor a moment later, dead.

"1-Actual, this is Overwatch." A voice said in English over the radio a moment later. "We can see over forty enemies heading towards your location on ultrasonic and thermal. All exits are being swarmed. A staircase downward is around sixty meters south-west of your location. Marking it now."

"Copy that, Overwatch." Davit replied as he saw a waypoint pop up on his HUD, showing him a path through the corridors. "What's the information on the staircase?"

"It's all we've got for you as an exit. It should take you below the castle, but our sensors are not receiving accurate readings past a certain range. Worst case, it's a dead end."

"... Copy, Overwatch." Davit said, turning to Alek. "Blow the damned charges!"

"Copy." Aleksandre replied calmly, lower his rifle and pulling out an American-built radio detonator. He flicked off the safety and pressed down on the trigger, before quickly putting it away.

Outside, four ten-pound pyrotechnical charges were attached to the stone wall of the castle. Three seconds after the remote detonator was pressed, the detonators embedded inside of each charge activated.

Four massive explosions blossomed alongside the castle, as the charges released a large amount of heat in the form of fire, and little else. It nearly overwhelmed the sensors on the UAV, and was visible throughout the entire city. Along with a large area of the wall that was scorched black, a large section of the castle gardens was set afire, filling the air with black smoke.

A low roar echoed through the halls as the charges blew, accompanied by small shudder that was felt throughout the castle. Davit took the opportunity to mow down the now-distracted unicorns at the other end of the hall, the shield they had put up collapsing within seconds, leaving them unprotected. a moment later, they lay dead on the ground.

However, another group of ponies, ten strong, came around behind them. A half second later, another shield was back up, and stronger than ever.

"Let's get out of here!" Davit yelled in Georgian, turning around and fleeing down the hall. His squad quickly followed behind him, occasionally taking potshots behind them.

Davit took a left at the next intersection, letting his squadmates mow down the unicorn guard that was running in their direction. Over the course of the next few minutes, they took several more random turns, making their way towards the staircase. The entire time, a group of ponies was just behind them, firing spells on occasion, but mostly keeping a constant shield up.

Frustrated, Davit waiting until they reached the corner before their objective, and then threw a primed grenade behind him just as he and his squad turned it. He was not able to see the result, but did take pride in the fact that four of the red dots disappeared from his 'Net' display shortly after the small explosion.

"Sergeant!" Aleksandre said. "There is a staircase going down ahead, to the right. That's it!"

"We're going down it." Davit growled, slowing to a halt in front of the doorway, itself set into the side of the hallway. He looked to the sign above the staircase. "Hmm... It says 'Underground' in English. I wonder..."

"We've got a problem, Sergeant!" Avtandil, the third member of the squad, said from down the hall as he fired off a burst from his SAR-21. Davit turned towards him and saw several more pony guards running down the halls, past the corpses of two more.

"Let's get down the stairs! I think we've outworn our welcome!" Davit shouted, running into the winding staircase.

"You 'think'?" He heard Aleksandre sarcastically reply from behind him. More footsteps behind him told Davit that the rest of the squad was following.

The staircase was small, and it was a wonder that it was big enough for them to fit: His head nearly brushed the top. It twisted downward, dropping at a fairly rapid rate, while the only light he and his team had was the amplification done by their 'Net' glasses.

"1-Actual, this-*static* Overwatch. We're losing contact. *static* staircase?" He heard faintly over his radio as his team continued to jog downward.

"We're heading underground. Hopefully, we'll be able to find a way out." Davit said over his radio by way of reply. Mentally, he cursed. They had to be almost eighty feet below the entrance at this point: Far enough for even their powerful 'Net' system radios to begin cutting out.

Twenty seconds later, he emerged into what looked like a dimly-lit cave: The staircase had ended abruptly behind him, surprising him when his foot first touched rock. His squad quickly emerged from behind him, Alek leading up the rear, aiming for the tunnel behind them.

"Where are we?" Avtandil asked.

"Somewhere underground, sensors are reporting nearly one hundred and twenty feet." Davit whispered in reply. "All of you, sync up your 'Net' units. We don't have any mapping and tracking software, so it is critical that you all keep track of one another." He looked back to see Alek setting up something near the staircase entrance. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving a present for our friends." The private said. "MS 803 claymore. I'll leave it to trigger by a beam. If anything crosses it and enters here, they will be shredded, along with anything further up the hallway, by it."

"Good idea." Davit said. The private huffed and returned to his work, attaching a specially-designed laser pointer to the wall of the staircase and switching it on, before connecting it via a long wire to the claymore. His job done, he carefully stepped back and primed the deadly anti-personnel mine.

"Wonderful. Let's start moving." Davit said, turning around and walking down the cave. "Keep light to a minimum, and stay as quiet as you can. We'll find a way out eventually..."

2243 hours
USS Gerald R. Ford

"Lost contact with the Georgian team, Captain." Henderson heard Overwatch say, confirming what they already knew: The fate of even more men would be left to a virtual toss of the dice.

"Captain Henderson..." He heard Captain Volkov say. "Are you well?"

"No." Henderson admitted, looking up at the Russian Captain, who maintained his stone-neutral expression. "I'm out of my league here, Aleksei. I was lucky enough to get a naval command at the outbreak of war, a war with your country, I might add. And..." He hesitated moment before continuing. "I am dead, Volkov. You are dead. All of us are technically dead: The damned entity that brought here said that. And yet we're alive, and I still feel as though I am missing what matters.

"I am commanding an army in the most desperate situation we could have been faced with. I was trained for years for the 'big war' between us and China, or us and the Iranians, and I knew damn well that I knew all I could in naval tactics. And here I am, playing chessmaster general for an entire army."

Captain Henderson sighed, his frown twisting into a thin smile. "I'm out of my fucking league here, Captain. I never trained to command ground soldiers, to consider the survival of our species over that of our country, and yet here I am. The only time I have been in combat is when we sailed into Saint Petersburg, and that ended with the death of myself and my entire crew..."

"Daniel, I admit that I have had many of the same thoughts." Volkov said after a moment of silence, causing Henderson's head to shoot up to look at him. "I was not trained as anything other than a lower-ranked captain. I spent my early years as captain of a light cruiser, and with the coup, I sided with my group commanding officer. His death was my promotion.

"I know as much as you do about commanding an army, or about the challenges we face. We may not be the best choices for this army, but we are the ones it has. Degtyarev would kill everyone in nuclear fire in his haste to win at all costs, and there are no others of sufficient rank. But, as I often heard my father tell me, Прошлое есть прошлое: The past is the past. We cannot change what has happened: We can only look forward to the future, and remember what we have done."

"... Thank you for your words, Volkov."

"You are quite welcome, my friend."

2247 hours
In the caves below Canterlot

"Halt." Davit whispered over the radio. "I think we're being followed. Everyone, to the sides of the cavern."

With the numerous stalactites and stalagmites lining the sides of the wide cave, along with dozens of large rocks and protruding crystals, it was almost laughably easy for them to quickly jump off of the path and to the sides, where concealment in the dark was as simple as hiding behind the cave features.

The only bad spot about the crystals, Davit thought to himself as he took cover behind a rock lined with them, is that they let off a small glow. It was hardly noticeable, and just enough to lite up the crystals themselves, but it had the potential to reveal them if they were stuck between a crystal and an observer.

Ten seconds passed as the group held their breath, waiting for some sign of anything following them, and Davit thought that it might have been a false alarm. Perhaps the rock he hard heard was kicked up by a team member-

He froze as a gentle light began to glow from the next corner, easily in their view. A unicorn clad in shimmering silver-blue armor walked around the corner, its' horn lit up as it scanned the walls. It seemed almost unconcerned as it did so...

Sloppy. Or very, very dangerous.

"What is it wearing?" Davit heard Alek ask over the radio.

"I don't know." Davit whispered in reply.

Suddenly, a glowing green bolt whizzed down from the opposite end of the hallway, striking the pony dead-center. Strangely, the glowing bolt of magic dissipated against it.

Davit rapidly turned his head in time to see an angular, equine-shaped figure dart to the side of the hallway, launching another sickly-green bolt at the unicorn. The pony, now alert, quickly brought up a shield, blocking the bolt. However, that did not stop a dark shape from dropping from the ceiling above the unicorn, knocking it to the ground.

In what little light Davit could see it by, it looked almost monstrous: A misshapen pony-like creature, with glowing blue eyes, fangs, and insect-like wings. Its' sharp horn lit up with green light as it delivered a green bolt to the unicorn, knocking the guard out. The first one he had seen strode out of the shadows, joining its' companion as they looked down at the unicorn.

"What do we do, Davit?" He heard Alek asked over the radio.

"Sit tight." Davit ordered. "We're not going to involve ourselves in this unless we need to."

"Less patrols. Something caught guard's attention." One of the things rasped out in what Davit recognized as English. "Seems less alert. Suggest we warn subunit commander."

"There's a war, of sorts: Something is fighting them." The other said in reply to the first, its' voice much more understandable to Davit. "He'll want to know. The Princess never send patrols down here alone."

"Right." The first said. "I will pick up the pony. You watch out for more."

The second one did... Something. Its' horn lit up with a bright green glow, bathing the area with light. As it did so, however, it froze up.

"... Sedate, did you see anyling follow us into these tunnels?" The second one asked slowly.

"No. Did not see anything." The first said as it began to levitate the guard.

"Oh, shit." Davit whispered to himself.

"We have company." The second matter-of-factly stated, dropping into some sort of stance. "Whatever you are, show yourselves! If this is you, Bolt, it ceased being funny the fifth time!"

"Response, Sergeant?" Alek asked over the radio.

"We can't keep hidden forever." Davit quickly said in reply. "It found a way to detect us, and I am not going to create some sort of incident... I will not fire first. I'll handle things. Keep down."

With that, Davit raised himself up slightly, putting more of himself visible over the rocks.

The reaction was immediate.

"What's that!?" The creature said as it spotted him, turning to face Davit.

"Hold on." Davit said in English. "We are not your enemies."

"Then why are you hiding there?" The strange creature asked in reply, horn glowing brightly.

"We were unsure of your intentions." Davit said, holding his rifle in his hands, prepared to use it if he absolutely needed to. "You are an unknown to us. Earlier, you talked of a war with the ponies: We are some of those waging war against them. What are you, in any case?"

The creatures stared at Davit with those glowing blue eyes, looking him over. After a small but tense period, the light surrounding its' horn died down, and it looked at him with a wary gaze. "Changelings. What are you, if you would be so kind as to tell...?"

"Human." Davit said, wishing, for once, that he had paid more attention to improving his English skills in his training. He could understand quite a bit of what it said, but there were still parts he had trouble putting together. "I am assured that you will not react badly to us?"

"As long as you don't give us reason to." The creature replied, looking back at its' companion, who had finally managed to levitate the unicorn guard. "Sedate, take the pony back to the camp. I will deal with this situation."

"You're good to come out." Davit said over the radio in Georgian. Slowly, the other three squad members came out from their cover, before reluctantly joining Davit, casting glances at the lone creature in front of them.

"So..." Davit said after a moment. "Do you know a way out of these tunnels? To the surface, in a place other than the castle?"

"Unfortunately, I do not." The 'Changeling' in front of them said. "That being said, I know someling who does. However, be warned: If I take you to meet them, any threatening moves will not be tolerated."

"It's offering to take us to a person it believes knows a way out. Thoughts?" Davit asked in Georgian over the radio.

"Well, I don't want to wander around here for the next few dozen years." Alek responded sarcastically. "I'll take the option of following the black insect horse here."

"I agree." Davit said, turning back towards the 'Changeling' and switching to English. "Very well, I understand. You may lead us to this person."

"Good." It said. "Follow closely: I don't want to backtrack to find you."

With that, the odd group set off, heading for parts unknown.

Author's Note

Remember, I won't burn you in a fire if you ask me questions.

Unless you're here to sell me mittens, in which case, burn. (What)

Anyway, a wild chapter has appeared. I struggled to get this out, going through a couple rewrites until it no longer felt like a B-rated action movie. I'm going for realism here: A large-scale gunfight that I wrote early on had horrible pacing and terrible details.

And no, the 'Silver-Blue' metal described is not Mithril. It will be explained further in-story.

Also, I just finished visiting a Psychologist-... Ahem, Mental Wellness Councilor. Those guys are... Well... Behind their smile, 'statue' does not begin to describe it.