We've Got Incoming

Princess Celestia stood silent on her balcony, eyeing the hulk of a thing currently lying in the field nearby Ponyville like a slumbering beast waiting to be awakened. She was stressed; of that there was no doubt. Why wouldn't she be? Contact with an alien race was imminent and she didn't know how her citizens would handle it.

As she observed more, she noticed some blackish-green dots hovering or flying around the large hulk of metal like bees around their hive. She saw some slightly smaller ones on the ground too. She watched as they grouped up and stopped again, as if preparing for something. She couldn't bear to stare any longer; any more suspense and guessing would probably set her off on a moody streak. Right after she turned around, a faint pop went off and a low green flash came from inside the bedroom. When Celestia went back into her quarters, she found a letter waiting for her on her desk. She went to the letter and opened it. It read:

Dear Princess Celestia,

It's Twilight. I have all five of the other Elements in the library right now and I will give you a brief description of what is happening:

Rainbow Dash has claimed to have seen the "aliens" and is going crazy, Fluttershy is hiding in my broom closet, too terrified to come out, Pinkie Pie is bouncing around the house thinking of ways to throw a welcome party for the "aliens", Rarity has fainted on my couch, and Applejack is frozen in place. I cannot find a way to calm any of them down! Please provide assistance immediately. I await your reply.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Surprised, Celestia put the letter back on her desk. By what Twilight has said, she could infer that most of Ponyville is also panicking. This fact didn't surprise her; the fact that the Elements of Harmony, of all ponies, could be this chaotic even after all they've been through together.

She grabbed some parchment off of her desk along with a vial of ink and a pen. She wrote:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I know you can figure it out. I apologize, but I must focus my efforts on these visitors too.

Princess Celestia

She hoped the short letter would be enough. After all, she did have much more important issues to attend to.

3:42 PM, 22 September 2552, UNSC Standard Time

Lt. Montgomery had had some interesting experiences in his life. Some very violent, disturbing experiences. but nothing topped this.

He and his squad rolled up in Mongoose ATV's and got off about 50 feet away from the base of the hill. As he and his squad began sneaking up the hill to scan the town nearby, he pulled out his DMR and turned on the scope. Peering through the scope and bushes, he scanned the town. But there was a problem: The town was seemingly empty. Nothing walked the streets, no shops were open, nothing.

He radioed into the Pillar's control center. "Hey, techies. Yeah, we need you. Can you do a quick scan for life signs on this town real quick?" He wanted to make sure that what he saw earlier wasn't just him hallucinating from the drop impact. Shortly afterwards, the techies responded.

"We're getting tons. Looks like they're holed up in the buildings around the area. Hell, they even turned a giant oak into a house. Weird." Montgomery nodded. "Thanks," he replied, switching comms to a different channel. "Hey, Captain. Everybody's holed up in their houses. Want us to do a quick recon mission through the town? We won't open fire unless we really need to."

All he heard was silence for a short minute. Then Captain Keyes spoke. "Go ahead. Weapons free only under extreme circumstances; use them as a threatening factor."

Montgomery nodded even though the Captain couldn't see it. "Alright, moving in." He got the attention of his squad and made the two fingered hand motion to move in. They sneaked down the hill and hid behind a large cart. All five other members of his squad crouched and pressed up against it. Montgomery peeked around the the cart to see if it was clear. The street was virtually empty and it led to that oak tree house the techies talked about earlier. He turned back at his men, signalling to slowly and surely walk down the street.

They crept out from behind the cart and got in standard mobile defensive formation. As they crept through the town, they stared at the buildings around them. Montgomery noticed some eyes peeking out of windows, but no signs of hostility. The slowly got nearer and nearer to the oak tree.

-------*&*-------

Twilight's friends were still going nuts until Pinkie Pie saw something outside the downstairs window. "Guys! Look! There they are! Should I go out and say hi?" she asked. Everyone else froze, including Twilight, and slowly moved to the window Pinkie Pie was looking through. Their jaws almost hit the ground as they saw the group of aliens heading straight for the library. Pinkie hopped out of the group and went for the door.

"Pinkie! No!" Twilight yelled.

It was too late.

-------*&*-------

The lieutenant whipped his head toward the oak tree house when he heard the door smash open. The rest of his squad did the same and pointed their weapons at the door, safeties off.

The squad was not, and had never been, prepared for what they were about to experience.

A small pink horse rushed towards them and started jabbering away in some foreign tongue while bouncing around them in a circle. She bounced like a rubber ball; how was that possible? The team still stood their guard as the creature went around and around them.

Montgomery had had enough. "STOP!" he yelled. The pink pony stopped in mid-air, fell to the ground, and stared at them quizzically. He holstered his DMR and pulled out his M6D Magnum sidearm, pointing it at the pink creature. He looked back at the oak house and noticed other creatures in there, all different colors. There was even a couple of what seemed like pegasi and even unicorns. The lieutenant felt like he was on some hallucinatory drug. He simply couldn't believe his eyes.

Another one of the ponies began to step outside. This time, it was a purple unicorn.

-------*&*-------

Twilight stepped outside, her friends gasping as she went outside.

She spoke softly. "I apologize for my friend. She gets a little excited when we get newcomers, so..."

She couldn't shake her feeling of fear and intimidation as she stared at the alien's blank, reflective face. "..so please don't hurt her!" she exclaimed, visibly nervous.

The alien lowered the object in his hand. He tilted his head slightly as if asking a question. Suddenly, its gaze quickly shot upwards and behind her, towards the library. Rainbow Dash was visibly angry. "How dare you scare my friend?" she yelled. Twilight could only stand and watch as Rainbow shot out of the library, flying at full speed, towards the lead alien.

The alien ducked quickly, and so did his companions, but one wasn't quick enough.

Rainbow's outstretched hoof struck it square in the face, causing him to fall backwards and crash into the ground. He didn't move.

The lead alien pointed his object at Rainbow and ran over to his fallen ally. The struck alien sat up, shook his head, and stood back up. A small crack could be seen on the alien's face. The leader looked like he was speaking to something or someone, but she couldn't tell.

Rainbow went to another strike, blinded by her wish to defend her friends.

"RAINBOW! NO!" Twilight yelled.

A bright flash and a loud explosion went off. Rainbow kept gliding, but her facial expression turned into shock as she hit the ground, writhing in pain. The aliens stared for a moment, then began to run back to the hill.

-------*&*-------

Lt. Montgomery ducked as the cyan blue flying one flew over his head. His squad ducked too, but Private Redmond didn't react fast enough. He was struck in the face and hit the ground. Redmond didn't move for a few seconds. Montgomery rushed to his side. As he expected, the high velocity impact cushioning system in his helmet took most of the strike and Redmond just sat up, shook his head a little. "Patrol team to Pillar of Autumn. First contact made, one inhabitant seems hostile. Weapons not fired yet, we will deal with it accordingly."

The response came back swiftly. "Affirmative. If the hostile inhabitant attempts to use force, you may use weapons. However, do not kill the contact, only injure it."

He nodded. "Affirmative. Montgomery out." He finished his sentence only to see the same creature coming back for another strike. His defensive instincts kicked in. He raised his pistol as the purple one screamed something.

He fired a single shot. It struck it in the right wing.

The cyan one hit the ground and began to writhe in pain. "Montgomery to Pillar of Autumn. Single shot fired; retreating."

"Affirmative," came the response.

He signaled his squad to hustle back to the hill and the safety of the Pillar. They began jogging, weapons readied just in case anything else went down.

They made it over the hill, shocked and dumbfounded. They boarded their Mongoose ATV's and sped back towards the Autumn.

to be continued