Broken Skies

Chapters

The Cult of Individuals
The Loss of Appleoosa
A Fiery Beginning
Martial Action
Introductions and Intrusions
Formalities
Alien Intervention
Public Release
Footslogging
Space Demons... From Space!
Out From The Shadows
A Party Of Sorts
Steel Eagles
The Black Plague
"Whats a 'prototype'?"
Mountain City Woes
Prologue
The "First" Acts of War

The Cult of Individuals

-Somewhere Near Appleoosa, 2 AM Equestrian Time-

On the entrance to Appleoosa, a path snaked to and fro from the small town. Along that path, were a small group of Griffons. Hand picked by King High Cloud, they were set to attack and invade the unprepared town. Why they were chosen to attack such a far away place, only the King understood the tactical advantage that could be given from the distant area. One thing for sure, however, was that the warriors sent to do so were uninformed of the impending attack on Appleoosa.

"Ajax, didn't you have a sister that was friends with a pegasus? Gilda, I believe?" queried Private Ironwing.

Sergeant Ajax replied calmly, "Yeah. The pegasus was a nice pony, I just think that Gilda can be reckless sometimes, I mean, if people got mad at her for mistaking someone for another while persuing that thought, it can take somebody to bad places."

"Hm. Words of wisdom right there bro." Ironwing complimented.

"Honestly though, I don't know why the Emperor wants us here. What could amassing a third of the Griffon military near the Equestrian border me- Oh my. Iron... Are... Are we going to war with the Ponies? " Ajax pronounced bluntly.

Ironwing had replied momentarily, "Y-yes we are. Why wouldn't we be? The Griffon forearm is just begging for a tear at Equestria! What did they ever do to us?!"

"I don't understand, this has to be a scout party! We arn't really fighting them! All they have are fancy gold and bronze spears! Its going to be a slaughter!" Ajax had panicked. He knew that friendly pegasus, he didn't want to harm her, or any of the ponies for that matter.

He had only been promoted for his ferocity against rebellious Griffon tribes, and even then they were not much of a fight. Why would this be any different? The Royal Army were basically as efficient a Griffon scouts with the lightest gear, for he had helped in quelling riots and rebel fighters that hired pony guard mercs, which still were very lightly armed. But orders are orders, and today would mark the day when Equestria was engulfed in war on not one, but two fronts. The recurring march of the Golden Crest task force then told of the impending bloodshed.

~~In the Changeling Hive's Inner Sanctums, 2:35 AM Equestrian Time~~

"Yes, that will do nicely. This day will mark when Equestria is devoured of its love! Then, we will leave the palace in ruin for the others to weep on!" Queen Chrysalis had schemed about this day. She would finally be able to feed her children, and leave the Princesses to die for once and for all! Suddenly, she felt a minor migraine from feeling yet another one of her poor people die and break from the Hive Mind. It had been occurring frequently, but she had worried less and tried to focus on her living children and ensuring their survival. Recently, three of her Generals had broken off, but left without a trace. No feelings of hunger, pain, cold, or what have you. The Queen had even given them names, symbolizing their rank while lesser drones were simply a presence in the Synapse. Nevertheless, she moved on and got new children to replace them.

Little did any drone, warrior, worker, or any Changeling know, the "dead" children had augmented and broke from the Hive Mind, forming a covert insurrection that the people would know as - The Cult of Individuals. Growing stronger day by day, they are unique. Each one, a different Changeling. Together they are many, but alone they are truly powerful. Having formed a simple hierarchy with everyne given names, their goal is to cease the rule of the foolish Chrysalis and her ways. Their motto - "Love is not taken, it is earned." - Chutt of COI

~~Planet FIM-Delta's Atmosphere, 4 AM Earth Time, 3 AM Equestrian Time~~

If one had cared to look at the skies above, small ripples of energy began virulently thrashing about small bolts of electricity, slowly opening a small wormhole that lead to another place. However, an object was coming through the manmade portal, and towing along a fleet suited for colony purposes. The advance team however, jetted out the ripple first, leaving the fleet to push on through after roughly 3 Earth days. This small team of elite soldiers and combat scientists were sent to scout for life and habitable areas. The VTOL the crew was riding in touched to the grassy hills beneath, shrouded by the cover of night. The hatch hissed open, and out came one of humanity's greatest achievements - The Bullfrog Project. These soldiers were the elite of the elite, and are usually the ones put up to the most dangerous jobs in the galaxy.

To assist both themselves and the Conglomerate, prototype tech and teleporter/jump packs are given to each Bullfrog, alongside the lucky (or unlucky) fellows who were given highly classified telepacks, "Earthworm" Worldhopper FTL Packs. Sealed in their Ext-170 EVA-Combat variant suits for the cleverly nicknamed Helljumpers 4th Regiment.

Upon hitting the ground with an audible *thump*, a Helljumper and two Bullfrogs formed a semi-circle around the hatch of the Landing Craft as three Scout Troopers and a handful of scientists emerged to set up camp in what they thought to be a forest, when rather it was the Whitetail Woods. However, an unknown assailant was watching the group the entire time, that being a certain brash pegasus with a rainbow mane, cyan fur, and a gallon full of curiosity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What are those things? Rainbow Dash had seen a large metal beast burst from Luna's night sky. They had flown right past her cloud house, and giving her quite a spook. Out of curiosity, she followed behind the floating monstrosity as quietly as possible, as she lay upon a cloud she propelled about with her wings. The crisp, cold wind brushed her mane as she observed what the thing was doing. It had landed within the Whitetail Woods, and proceded to open a hatch that released many smaller creatures. She tried to get closer, but wondered what things the aliens would do to her. Burying that thought deep into her mind, she rushed off to Ponyville to get help from Twilight, who had recently been crowned a princess.

Leaving a trail of technicolor behind her, she reached Sweet Apple Acres, which was only a short distance from Twilight's tree. The breeze of night time flying had always calmed and made her feel nice, but this was different. She had to hurry, Ponyville was in danger, possibly even Equestria! She finally reached the tree that housed Twilight moments later, and began knocking furiously on the door.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

"Twi! Get up please! Equestria is at stake!"- Rainbow Dash had halted her beating of the door, only to notice Spike had already opened the door once Dash had said "Twi", - "Heheh... sorry Spike. Anyway, I need to speak with Twilight, and soon!"

"Whats the rush, Rainbow? What, -" Spike chuckled, - "aliens are invading?" He had to breathe a bit to halt his barrage of silent snickers.

"Yes! Exactly! Now please let me in!" Dash had pronounced.

"They really are?! Hurry in then!" In a hasty reply, Spike held the door open for Rainbow Dash to enter the library. Unbeknownst to them, the Bullfrogs and Helljumper were already there, fully loaded with thermal, cloaks, and gauss rifles.

-Appleoosa, 3 AM-

Sergeant Ajax and his company of Griffon allies reared near the entrance of Appleoosa, bracing for the impending dight against their former friends, the ponies, and readied his mind for the coming slaughter of the Royal Army. Soon enough, his ears had earned purchase and barely heard over the horde of warriors -

"CHARGE!"

The Loss of Appleoosa

Ajax willed himself on to go forth and raze the town of Appleoosa, despite his inner feelings telling him to not harm the innocent. If it weren't for the extreme punishment for deserting, abandoning a battle, or not following orders, they would have won him over. Seeing the first soldier of the Royals under the cover of night, he charged forth to spill the first blood on the land of Equestria. This would be the place where war was declared on the ponies, despite nothing seen by the public eye to have occurred between the two nations. The civilians inhabiting the town were caught off guard, thus sending the Royal Army into a crazed frenzy of rushed equipment grabbing as the Griffons began to descend slowly toward the town hall. A griffon warrior next to Ajax began to build and descend into a furious blood frenzy, gutting and spilling the innards of the pony soldiers. Another wave of shining gold armor was cut down into a flurry of flying, blood spewing limbs, heads, organs, and other bits and pieces of gore as the warriors overpowered the weaker ponies in skills of swordsmanship and fury.

Zeal guided these infantry, and anger that was pent up was released on the frail equine soldiers. Even Ironwing, the newly recruited warrior that Ajax had suggested, was scoring higher and higher on the kill list. Spotting a infantryman in golden armor, he barreled towards the poor sod. As the pony was rearing to run away with any will he had left, Ajax had caught up to him just before he could get away. Dropping his master-crafted sword to the ground, the bestial instinct of Ajax had overpowered the morals of his system as he tore open the pony's throat with his sharp talons, spilling blood all over his feathered half of Ajax's body. If one were to look at how gruesome the kill was, one would see the inner areas of the windpipe, throat, and small incisions leading up towards the skull and into the left side of the pony's brain. Ajax had done what, in essence, is tear out the equine's throat and rip some bits of brain while doing so. Truly, he had a bad day.

Two more pony soldiers were then beat down and killed by even more Griffon warriors, and the sound of swords clashing was a familiar thing. Slowly, the wave of feathers and shining gold armor was being cut down. Attempting another push, the Golden Crests fought with even higher ferocity. Nearing the Town Hall, where they would raise the signal to say they had taken Appleoosa, one could see a pony general give instructions to three pegasi. In an attempt to slow their message, one griffon had thrown his axe as strong and far as he could, hitting the wing of one of the message runners.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pony general in command of guarding Appleoosa had seen most of his forces be ripped apart, some literally and some figuratively, and resorted to the last measure he could think of in the short span he had to get help. Sending his three last pegasi guardsmen off to warn the princesses of the loss of the town. It was inevitable, nothing could be done to help keep the city of of Griffon hands, unless a regiment of guards were sent to act. He only hoped for a quick death.

-Ponyville, 5 AM Equestrian Time-

Rainbow Dash had hurried up to Twilight to see if she was fully awake yet, for if her barrage of hits on the door of the library weren't enough, then not much else could do so. Thankfully, she was up and was wide awake.

"Rainbow? What could you be doing up at a time like this?-" Twilight took a moment to brush her mane out of her face, "-And why were you hitting Spike in the face?"

Rainbow Dash could feel her face flush with heat, "I was knocking to get your attention, but i didn't notice Spike, but back on point! I saw real, live, aliens! They had a big metal spaceship that carried a bunch of ponies i couldn't make out in the dark, but-" Twilight had interrupted Dash as she spoke, "Are you saying that you saw aliens? As in, space aged visitors?"

Rainbow nodded, "Yup! They might take over Equestria, or the world! Or even take the princesses!"

Twilight scoffed, "Oh Rainbow, you sound so silly sometimes. But that may have explained the mild headache from waking up a few minutes ago... I'll look into this in the morning. Who knows, maybe these "visitors" may just be a failed magic experiment, or even Princess Luna just moving a little asteroid out of the way for somepony to not get hurt."

After a while, Rainbow had submitted. "Oh fine, we'll just check out a potential danger to ponykind in the morning when they could have already taken over!"

Momentarily, Twilight merely replied and stated with emphasis, "In the morning Rainbow. I still feel a little grumpy for waking up early. I have a meeting with Princess Celestia tomorrow evening anyways, I'll just tell her your story about "aliens" then. If you want, you can sleep here until morning and we can take look after that. That alright?"

"Okay Twi, I'll spend the night here. I just hope everypony we know is okay..."

~~POV of Fireteam Peeps - Team Leader - Master Sergeant Callsign "Screech" ~~

"Alright, Bullet Monkey, on me. Atom, up top and keep watch. We're going in for first sweep.-" Screech took a moment to inform High Command of the U.S.S.Grahm "- Admiral, we have affirmative of a settlement here, looks like a Medieval town of some sort. Referring to Code 250, initiating stealth approach."

A Fiery Beginning

As the two of the remaining three pegasi had made it to Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia had gotten word of the two guardsmen being attacked. However, the other pegasus' wing was clipped and nearly cut off by a flying war axe thrown by a very lucky griffon. Back on point, Princess Celestia had sent for the two pegasi warriors to see her. Not soon after the request was sent, she heard the clip-clopping of hooves entering the throne room. Taking a moment to wait and see who they were, she then brought up the biggest question that was out there for the time being, -

"Who did this, Corporal?"

"I-It was the Griffons! It was a slaughter, the bulk of the Royal Guard stationed there were destroyed, maimed, or taken prisoner! W-We need to stop them before they take another town! Th-they might raze Ponyville, or Fillydel-" Celestia had interrupted the pegasus "-Guardsman, are you saying that the Griffons have declared war on us?"

"Y-yes Princess! But, we are heavily out of date compare to them! Our armor is nothing but enchanted gold plates, and our swords are made of brass! No means in offending you Princess, but we can't win this war. Not without help." came the Corporal's response to Princess Celestia's question.

"Then... it is time. They may take our cities, but not without a fight. Corporal, you are relieved of duty. Go spend the rest with your family, while you still can." Celestia had said, with a slight tone of worry accompanying her voice.

If war was truly initiated, than desperate measures would have to be done.

-Base Camp Alpha, Research Team Epsilon-

"Alright DuCreaux, hand me that tablet." said Wimbly, the team's chief researcher.

Shortly after Wimbly's request, DuCreaux had complied, handing him a tablet that held most of the information the team had gathered during their team in Equestria. Wimbly had then began to tap around the tablet's screen, saving and recording information gathered on the planet to see whether it was colonizable or not. If one looked closely, they could see Wimbly navigating around the "FIM-Delta" files. Later that day, the fleet would arrive to assist in taking the planet for the Conglomerate. It also hd seemed that time passes by faster on this planet, with a timespan of only eighteen hours each day. It also appeared that the time pace also connects with the fleet's wormhole engines, thus causing the travel time between the two entities, fleet to planet, to meet earlier than expected. This could pose a problem, as they need to take planetary life scans up close. The energy field that wraps the planet distorts long range scanning which had only picked up small life signals. These scans had ranged from small rabbits to equine animals in nature, and even then the pictures that made out the creatures were very distorted. Truly, this planet was a mystery about to be unraveled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight and Rainbow Dash had sped off into the Whitetail Woods while Rainbow was trying her hardest to teach Twilight how to keep afloat. Every few meters, she would plop down to the ground in a heap, so Rainbow had given up and decided to forgo the flying lessons for the when it was a better time. Right now, Twilight was beaming with hopes to see the aliens and possibly study them. However, the other half of her brain had realized the danger in the subject, yet she pursued that thought anyway. However, that tiny bit of paranoia had nudged her a good bit, so she kept a tiny pulse of magic in her horn to be activated at a moments notice.

After the short jog to the remaining spots of land they had to trudge through, the two had heard voices in the distance.

"Hey Wimbly, you hear anything? I heard some noises coming from over there." A gloved finger pointed in their direction.

Trying their hardest, Rainbow Dash and Twilight slouched downward and hid behind a bush. Heavy thumping emerged from the booted figure, warning the two of the scout trooper's feet, ever so slowly creeping up to them. But what really creeped out the curious duo, was the fact that it could speak in perfect Equestrian. However, the need to see the figure overwhelmed them. Taking utmost care in peering over, they could make out what was bi-pedal, covered in armor, and looked very frightening.

"Hey! Put your hands over your-! Oh. Just a few horses guys, no threats detected, carry on."

"Seriously dude, would it hurt to look at your visor's HUD for one second?"

"Not my fault the thermal and motion trackers are located at the bottom left!"

"Then get used to doing it, Campo!"

Soon enough, Rainbow Dash started to look furious. Deep in her mind, however, she was quite frustrated at these aliens not taking her as a potential threat. The weapons they had carry don't even look tough! They just looked like really blunt clubs!

Little to the duo's knowledge, the weapons fired .30-06 rounds of caseless ammunition, reducing cost and increasing effectiveness. However, through Dash's brash thinking, she hopped out from behind the bush and started spouting insults while angrily charging towards the man, huffing and puffing away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Holy shit! Get down, and that fucking pony spoke English!" Shouted Keith. "Possible threat detected at Base Camp Epsilon, Bullfrogs, are you getting this?!"

Screech's voice emanated from Keith's shoulder radio, "Solid copy, coming in hot. You owe us one K, ETA 12 minutes."

"You hear that gentlemen?! Defend the camp until backup gets here!" Came Keith's reaffirmation of orders. "We need to keep these alive, we might need to know just how the fuck these horses can talk! Aim to wound, open fire!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight felt compelled to use magic and hold Rainbow Dash in place so she could negotiate peace with the aliens, for she was the Princess' emissary in the matter. But, one problem had remained - she was frozen in fear. The constant sound of harnessed thunder echoed in her brain, truly these xenos were advanced to a high degree of technology. Taking in a deep breath, she exhaled and took off after Rainbow Dash's act of aggression and tried to still her with magic. She charged a bit of magic and tried to grab hold of Rainbow with it. A struggle, a kick, and a small shriek of pain from Dash had held her down. In the end, she held the brash pegasus in place long enough for her to wear out, allowing herself to speak.

"Lemme go Twi! These aliens are a threat to Equestria, we have to stop them before they hurt anyone!" Came Rainbow's excuse to be released.

"No! You don't just charge at all your problems, even more so when your target is even more advanced than the entire Griffon military! Apologize now!" Scolded Twilight.

Dash then retorted with a tone of pain , "Fine! But I still don't trust these things, if one of them hurts you, then a beating is in order!"

Twilight had then dropped Rainbow Dash to the ground, asking, "So, anything you want to say?"

"Gah, I'm sorry." Humphed Dash.

"Everyone, cease fire and check that bullet wound. Willows, restrain the blue one." - Keith had said while pointing a finger at Twilight - "So, who are you?"

Martial Action

~~~POV Twilight Sparkle, Whitetail Woods - 5 AM~~~

Attempting to make peace with an unknown force was truly mortifying, especially when they stop attacking just to hear you out. These things possessed weaponry and technology that are merely theories, and perfected them! Staring down the barrel of a weapon capable of instant death had scared her, more than a manticore, hydra, or dragon. Those usually had long, agonizing death, but compared to these aliens? Nothing. Each of them, like portable cannons, and not to mention the lightning and fire that burst from one end had stumped her. These weren't some thing to shrug off, they possibly pose a threat to all of ponykind, or any other being on the planet! Utmost care was to be taken in negotiating the release of Rainbow Dash and not harming this world, but that was a feat in itself.

Here goes nothing! Celestia guide me...

"Will you please release my friend?" Twilight managed to croak out under the complex detail the aliens had. It was like being blinded by the Princesses and their teleport spell, or a flash tome was used.

Oh that sounded terrible, please accept it!

"You are the one who is in charge of this place right?" Stated the only one who wasn't holding Rainbow Dash down or pointing a gun at her face. Even the combat scientists had some weapon training.

"Actually, co-ruler. We have 4 leaders, but are divided up with us in different places except for the Princesses in Canterlot."

came Twilight's slightly calmed response.

She had hoped that she didn't disclose any important info on the Princess' location. If telling the aliens where Luna or Celestia could be was a bad idea, she entrusted herself that they didn't know where Canterlot was.

"Good to know. Mundy, send the Bullfrogs the info on these non-combatants."

"Also, I didn't get your name? Oh! Can you please release Rainbow Dash for me?" Twilight spoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Screech had reached the camp's entrance, who was soon tagged along by Bullet Monkey and Atom. They had to abandon the scout sweep, but the entire team had heard the scientists' need for assistance. However, Bullet Monkey had just heard silly music the entire team as they complained on, and on, and on. They found the scouts holding down a horse thing with... wings? No matter, they had to help! Rushing in, they briefly heard Keith say, - "these non-combatants." Halting their advance, they decided to uncloak and introduce themselves. In quick succession, a light hiss could be heard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight was amazed. These aliens had come out of nowhere and seem to have perfected cloaking magic! She had really hoped to study them now. Back on point, the negotiations had gone fairly well. Now she just needed to schedule an audience with the Princess, but wait! She remembered her meeting, and she could bring them there! Not before bringing the rest of the Elements, that is. Before she decided to leave however, she saw Rainbow Dash muttering something after her brief takedown. Seeing as that she needed a little "talk", she clip-clopped over to the bold pegasus. She could faintly hear the words "...stupid space aliens and their scary magic..."

"Feeling a little down, Rainbow?"

"No, just a little angry. I mean, those guys don't even look tough!" Dash had stated. Deep in her mind, however, she was absolutely terrified.

"Its alright, I can imagine being in your place when that occurs. But you can't just charge into the fray like that, you don't know what these things are capable of!" Scolded Twilight. "Come on, we should get the other Elements and try to get one of these aliens into the meeting with the Princess."

-Canterlot, 9 AM/PM, Chamber of The Ancients-

"Sister, we have to send a force to retake Appleoosa! We can't stand by and watch as our subjects die under the Emperor's silver talon!" Shouted Luna, whose voice reverberated inside the ancient war room, which had also held Captain Shining Armor, Lieutenant Colonel Silver Maple, Major Brass Blade, and a few Royal Guard elites.

"We should, but we can't Luna!"Replied Celestia.

"And why is that?"

"Our army is nothing more than a fashionable police force! We need more troops to sustain the effort!"

"And then what are going to do? Mass conscript our ponies to be nothing more than bodies to drown our enemy in?"

"Time is short Luna, and we can't train our Infantry to be any more effective at the moment, and we only have 2 regiments of Guards to spare without risking a shortage in defense of a city! Even then, what of the press? They will send the people into mass panic! We can't risk that. Hysteria cannot be quelled when a war is rising right where they stand!"

Soon enough, Shining had it with the bickering between the two royal sisters.

"Quiet! We can try doing many things, but the press could be a good idea! Think about it, many would gladly take the chance at becoming "Equestria's Finest"! Just send a small group of guards in each of our held areas, have them set up recruitment posts, posters, and other such things to let them know in a "subtle" way that a conflict is brewing, train them in the fields over by Ponyville, Canterlot, or where ever you see fit and we can have forces massed in the thousands, possibly even millions!"

Of course, the Princess had a meeting to attend with Twilight and the Elements. But one thing had remained strong in her mind, should she tell them about the rising flashpoint?

Introductions and Intrusions

-Ponyville, 1 PM-

After successfully gathering the Elements, all Twilight had to do was get an alien to tag along. Oh the scientific research she could do when approved! But she had a meeting to attend, so she had to make it quick.

"Alright Twah, you -" Applejack pointed a hoof at Twilight, "-are telling me, that aliens are in the Whitetail Woods."

"Yes, exactly what I was telling you earlier, they really are fascinating! They appear to have perfected cloaking magic, space travel, and armor that seems to be thicker than anything else on the planet!" Came Twilight's response.

"Hold up, did you say armor? What could that be for?"

"Well, they are part of the military from what I have heard around the camp."

"Soldiers?! They have weapons Twi!"

"Please, just trust me on this one! The aliens, or 'hyoo-mans' are what they call themselves!"

"Oh alraht, I'll take yer word for it, but this better be true!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keeping Spike aloft on her back, Twilight cantered into the camp of xenos, who were feverishly working hard on getting the planetary info jotted down. Fluttershy looked slightly more scared than usual, as they trotted closer amd closer to the sandbag wall's entry. Two scout troopers gazed down upon the ponies, making Dash feel extra nervous, leaving Fluttershy a whimpering wreck, giving Applejack chills along her spine, Rarity gagging at the sight of the infantryman's uniform.

Gathering the strength to will themselves onward, the aliens were very imposing. Upon entering the camp, they found themselves in between a rush of papers and panting, with combat scientists finishing the final pieces research. Just as Twilight felt compelled to find the cloaked humans, a deep gurgling-crackle rippled in the sky. It became more intense each passing second, and at the last second, it seemed as if the man-portable cannons had all gone off a billion times in sync. Then, it all stopped. The Mane 6, who were relieved such a odd thing ended, dropped their heads and breathed deep breaths.

Then, like twelve M477 cannons firing off, a great boom echoed overhead. A black and purple shockwave shook the world, and darkness overcame the forest, and Ponyville was slowly eaten by the shroud of night. At least four great metal beasts covered the light happiness of the sun, and had stood still for a short moment. Suddenly, a small metal box on a table in the camp began to speak -

"Basecamp Epsilon! Come in, I repeat, Come In!"

A human had ran towards the little box and pressed a small button.

"Grahm, we hear you! This planet is inhabited, we repeat! Planet! Is! Inhabited!"

-Canterlot, 1:30 PM, Meeting Room-

Celestia stood in awe. She never knew how strong another species could be in magic. But one thing was for sure, it wasn't from here. Could these be the metal beasts Luna dreamt about and felt in raising the moon? She gave a try to see if they would respond to their arrival by greeting them with psychic energy. Tapping into her reserves, Celestia called for the aliens to hopefully respond. She would have to navigate very carefully if these were warlike creatures, but if she had another war to deal with alongside the Griffons, Equestria and the rest of the world would cease to exist.

-U.S.S. Grahm, Bridge, 3PM Earth Time-

Fleet Admiral Jarvis wondered how FIM-Delta could be inhabited. Unless illegal colonists or aliens were there, nothing else had come through his mind.

"Admiral! We're getting a call from.. the planet sir! It can't be the advance team, they called just a bit ago!" stated the Zeen 'To crewman.

"Patch them through. If anyone remembered hearing this planet was inhabited, then now is the time to act. Initiate First Contact."

At first, small crackles came from the radio. Shortly after, a feminine voice and a hologram were present. It was the shape of an apparent equine with the capability of speaking English.

"Hello? Anypony hear me?"

Anypony? What a joke. But it is fairly understandable, for if these horses had truly evolved into sapient creatures, than it would help explain their slightly different vocabulary.

"Loud and clear miss.."

"Princess Celestia. I come in peace, and only wish for friendship between our two nations."

"Going a little fast there don't ya think?" Came the Admiral's response.

-Canterlot, 4:30 Equestrian Time, Throne Room-

The Princess was genuinely confused. Luna stood next to her, and she didn't know what to say, nor did she know what to do. In a hasty reply to the alien's joke, she just tried to get to arrange a meeting. Surely, these Extra-equestrian beings can accomplish that. Suddenly, a wild spark shot into her mind. What if these things could assist in the war effort? It would take a while to think of a compromise, but surely they could help. She had seen two other kinds of alien as she looked through with her magic, said two standing behind the one that was "normal", for it had no distinguishing features that didn't relate to being an insectoid or having a robotic appearance. Using this idea to formulate a reply, she had spouted it in a form as clear as she could.

"Its understandable, for we currently are in a state of dire need. Could we form a meeting to see each other in person? This is something that can only be told among ourselves. It is something that nopony should go through, for war is nothing to be joke on about."

Murmurs could be heard in the background, and Celestia looked toward Luna, with a concerned look on her face. She had hoped for the best, and the murmuring halted. Then, a response came.

"I shall send for a meeting with you later on, for the time I have on hand is not very long, and right now is not a very good time."

"That will be fine, we thank your reply." replied Celestia.

After that, the magic transmission ended. Perhaps the subject of war had interested these visitors.

"Celly, what will we do when the Elements arrive? They might see the vessel and panic!" came Luna's panicked statement.

"I know what will be done. If they haven't already spotted the space fairing vessel, than they should know when a meeting is in order."

-Ponyville, 4:56 PM Equestrian Time-

Spike could feel his stomach warm, a need to burp and belch a plume of flame. It rose higher and higher, reaching his throat. He could feel the spark, and a burst of a green inferno had brought a small letter, holding the seal of the Princess. This surprised the confused SpecOps soldier, who brought his gauss rifle to point at the baby dragon's head.

In turn, this scared the Mane Six, who had just recently convinced the Helljumper, Screech, to go with the party for a meeting with the Princess. Twilight then hurried to ask the soldier to drop his weapon.

"Hey! Please put that down, he just brought a letter from the Princess!" Twilight said.

"Belching out a letter in a gout of flame? What is this, magic?" chuckled Screech.

"Yes, magic is a serious subject!" Twilight replied with a bit of frustration in her tone.

"Magic doesn't exist!" Screech had then began to laugh heartily in front of the flustered alicorn.

"Yes it does! Here,"- Twilight levitated a rock found along the path to the train station -", is this enough evidence?!"

Screech merely replied, "Telekinesis - the exertion of force into matter, as it wraps around a entity of solid mass with sustainable and stable balance. As a small field wraps the target, it clones a copy and deposits it in a pocket dimension where it exists until the exertion of force ends its push and deletes it from existing. The entity is then released from the field, and ending the holding of the object."

Twilight and the other elements were speechless, nopony they knew, not even the ancient Starswirl the Bearded could explain telekinesis, as it was a subject of difficult study. But this human, just gave a brief description in seconds. Could they have truly been this advanced? However, Twilight was determined to debunk Screech's logic. She decided to teleport, unknowing of the Helljumper's ability to do so as well.

"How about this,-" Twilight teleported a few feet in front of herself "-, debunk that!"

"Teleportation - The ripping of a wormhole capable of crossing from one point to another in a concentrated state, which is capable of holding, and carrying, a individual of proposed size to a designated area of space." scientifically retorted Screech, who merely chuckled after starting up the charge on his FTL pack.

"Take a gander at this little beauty," -Screech pointed to his Telepack- ", it can carry anything ranging from a adult sized man to a full sized battle tank or troop carrier across the vast expanse of space and land."

After seeing the charge level at its highest, he aimed for a teleport to the ground a few yards ahead of him. Pressing the confirm with his neural commands to teleport, a brief hum of machinery was heard, and a burst of light shrouded the wormhole creator as it crackled to life, pulling itself and its user across a small distance. Twilight was then left astonished at the explanation of teleportation, and even more when Screech had pulled it off, and without a flaw. No magical fatigue, no sense of a magic presence at all. Even the others were impressed, and scared even more of the alien assailant. Could everything they knew truly not be a thing?

Formalities

-Changeling Hive, Throne Room, 7 PM Equestrian Time-

Queen Chrysalis looked over the new armor plans for her military. It composed of a substance that the worker drones had called "iron", and improved weapon designs, including mobile ballistas, armored carts, and stronger crossbows. This was quickly formulated soon after discovering a new substance beneath the hills of the Scorched Lands, which they found was much for effective than bronze, silver, or any other metal substance currently known to the Hive-Mind. Recent tests have shown it to be much more durable to conventional bows and crossbows, and very difficult to pierce with past weaponry. They now were on par with the Griffons who had recently developed war balloons, which held various amounts of light mounted crossbows and ballistas that could rain death from above. However, the iron was much heavier than first perceived, so they would have to be the first to charge and eat the brunt of the attacks. The Changeling Regulars only had scaled chitin, so they would act as standard troops and iron warriors as the heavier infantry. Some advances in airships have been made, allowing the insectoids access to the skies above.

No matter, the time had come. Blood was to be spilled over the lands of Equestria, and she had the army to do it. Few stood in her way, But one small group had been able to gather intel on the newly researched weapons, including where they could be located.

-Cult of Individuals HQ, South of Changeling Secured Lands-

The Cult had done many, but not enough had been deemed successful. In time, they would prove fruitful. Right now, Chutt had things to plan out. A war with Equestria was brewing, and from scouts that scanned ahead, they have found that the Griffon Emperor also had plans to take Equestria for his own. Also stemming from the reports, they have also have found that the aliens they have predicted have arrived. Deep in his mind, varied thoughts had come to bear.

These aliens shall prove to be our friends, we have perceived their trust before.

But what of the consequences? They could potentially destroy everyone on the planet!

If they could manage inter-species collective governments, than they can inter more to their cause!

If anything, that is all merely something made by a business, or mass company agreements! For all we know, they could still be waging war with each other!

The mind war racked his brain, killing his train of thought each time a new idea was brought up, just a constant ping-pong of left and right. Chutt had better things to do than ponder events however, and his repeal of Queen Chrysalis was yet to be done. His actions could potentially change the outcome of the war, and the Cult would be made into a true group of freedom fighters.

Currently, a small group of insurrectionists gathered at a nearby military barracks. The task force was sent to sabotage the base of its weapons, gather some for the Cult's own, and possibly capture the General stationed here. Only a few could be chosen for this highly dangerous job, and the resistance movement preferred to be under wraps until it was the go to reveal themselves.

A Changeling with a red and purple stained horn, as with most of the resistance to keep themselves distinguished from the regular Changeling, stealthily walked up to the gate that held the camp. Nightfall shrouded the anonymous fighter, and he started to spark his horn. Then, a small, concentrated gout of flame hit the gate's lock. In seconds, the only object in the way of the group at the moment was cut in half. He then drew a sword from its hilt, shrouded that in magic, then signaled the rest of the party to follow with a quick pulsation of his horn. Thereafter, 4 Changelings burst from the bushes that surrounded the camp entrance. Swords and crossbows at the ready, the task force sneaked their way into the possible supply cache.

-"Kangaroo" Light VTOL, 2nd Company Air Assistance, 9 PM Earth Time, 7 PM Equestrian Time-

The air vehicle shuddered as it neared the landing site, a small courtyard just outside Canterlot Castle's gates. A five man team sat, waiting for the aircraft to make its stop. These men were hand picked, the Admiral himself taking these four Marines as his personal honor guard. A sudden lurch in the craft emerged from the sides, and the tell tale sign of a successful landing came as the resounding *THUMP* had arrived. A hiss, a pop, and a bump came as the cargo bay's ramp dropped, and 4 men in a square formation exfiltrated from the vehicle. Forming a semi circle, they awaited the Admiral's arrival. As if on queue, the 4 soldiers snapped to a salute, as one shouted, "Officer on deck!" as the fleet commander left the VTOL.

"At ease, men." Ordered Fleet Admiral Jarvis.

"No signs of hostile forces anywhere, sir." came Master Sergeant Kate's report. "Scans show the Princess should be here momentarily, for they appear to have acquired teleport technology as well. It appears that the Helljumper is already here also, being followed by 6 small ponies."

"Then we shall wait for her to arrive, and send the HJ to meet with us here."

Shortly after, a light flash of wormhole residue came and the 4 guards presented arms at the possible threat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Princess had just finished gathering a small group of Royal Army Elites to accompany her on the ad-hoc meeting. Starting up a teleport spell, she increased it radius to take the guardsmen with her. A brief flash, and magic induced teleportation brought them to a courtyard not far from the Royal gates. Just noticing the 4 soldiers and a officer pointing their weapons at the Princess. Spears and swords were drawn and raised, and panic rose inside Celestia. Quickly thinking of something to say, she had announced,

"We mean no harm, lower your weapons and nobody shall be hurt!"

"I'll take your word for it,"- said Admiral Jarvis, -"I am Fleet Admiral Jarvis. Pleasure to be your acquaintance."

The alien extended his right foreleg, and unfurled his tentacle like appendages. Celestia didn't recognize the action at first, but then remembered how her people would sometimes shake hooves, and she had extended her leg as well. As the alien's hand resembled a minotaur, it gave the familiar feeling as the fingers wrapped around it's target. Seeking to start the meeting, Celestia motioned for the Admiral to follow her to the War Room. Then, a familiar voice resounded from behind her.

"Princess!" Twilight shouted.

"Twilight! I am glad you made it. But... where did you find the alien?" replied Celestia.

"He chose to tag along with us! Didn't you get the letter I sent you a few hours ago?" the young alicorn said.

Choosing to not waste time, Celestia merely told her she must have forgotten it underneath a small pile of other recently sent letters. In addition, she chose to tell the elements and her new visitors of the impending warfare between two countries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reaching the War Room, various documents on plans and events regarding the Griffon-Equestrian War were strewn about on a large table, which in turn was surrounded by various generals and officers. They all gave a hasty salute to the Princess as she walked by, who began to brief Jarvis on Equestria's predicament.

"As you can see here, we currently are being attacked by Griffons. We need your help in this matter, for we don't have the ponypower or the technology to stop these marauders. Please, we need your help!"

Jarvis had to consult himself over his answer. On one hand, he could assist with the small army he fielded on his fleet, but they had only the most basic equipment. Truly, he didn't want to see a sapient race wipe out another. But on the other hand, he could send an emmisary to inform the High Brass on the matter, get official orders, maybe get support for the war being waged on the planet. It would take a few days at most, but a preferable choice of action. Long range radio was out of the question, the energy field surrounding distorts most forms of communication. However, he was already breaking a few codes of conduct by showing less developed beings Space Age technology, and even landing on said being's porch. Deciding on a more rational scale, he had gone with informing the Conglomerate while doing whatever was possible to help out around Equestria. Predicting the massive panic, more than what probably is already prevalent, will escalate to even higher levels. Something had to be done to about it, and he had a vague idea to use in quelling the hysteria.

However, Twilight and the other elements had been very surprised that war was about to engulf Equestria, a land known for its peace.

Alien Intervention

-Appleoosa, 2 AM Equestrian Time-

The town and its inhabitants were enslaved, buildings were razed, and Griffons run amok, setting up defenses and obstacles for the impending Equestrian counter attack. Rubble was used as funnels to pull ponies into the kill-zones surrounded with archers, swordsmen sharpened their weapons, and traps were made from small, stealthy caravans sent to help reinforce the area until the King and surplus soldiers could arrive. Not wishing to upset the soon-to-be Emperor High Cloud, they had all strived to gain the most glory for their respective house.

"Ajax, how long do you think it will take for the King to arrive?" Ironwing queried.

"Two to three hours tops, took us at least two to get here. Besides, just worry on defending the town. Why not send a scout to keep you busy?" Ajax replied.

As Ajax had walked off to do other duties, Ironwing had just sent the scout and was awaiting for him to fly back and hopefully report of any disturbances. He had longed for a bit of action, when suddenly the scout comes panting heavily and scared beyond anything he had seen. A swift hiss of air had gained his attention, but soon after a tragic occurrence.

"Si-Sir! Theres som-" and the scout's head exploded.

Ironwing had gore spattered all over his face. Brain, grey matter, skull and flesh, it just sat all on his face. He was genuinely terrified, nothing he knew had been capable of instant killing a Griffon, nonetheless make one in heavy armor and have the poor sod's cranium burst. He felt compelled to run and tell Ajax of the attack, but he couldn't move. He was locked in place from fear, and two, no three, three figures crouched out of seemingly nowhere and tied and gagged him, dragging him away and into the unknown. He watched as more two legged figures and various ponies draped in dark desert camouflage crept ever so slowly to the barricaded town. The bipeds had odd weapons and armor, strange glowing lights in their goggles, and the ponies crept forwards with standard swords but in similarly colored armor to the monsters. Then it hit him. These weren't from here, they were humans! Ancient prophesies told of their arrival, tugging death, order, and war along with them. If the town's garrison couldn't pull the King from arriving, the Griffon empire was finished. But all Ironwing could do was watch, watch as the harbingers of destruction brought wrath and fury upon the Griffons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Screech had dragged off the mythological creature towards the cargo truck. He began to start pulling and pushing the Griffon into the back, slapping the side of the vehicle to signal the go. Act one was finished, now to begin the next phase. Tapping Bullet and Atom to tell them where the next spot of action was, they saw the other troopers, Bullfrogs and ponies to be exact, all on their set path towards the occupied patch of land. Radio chatter began to get slightly more frequent, and conversations between ponies, humans, and Zeen' To warriors was heard.

"Where are we headed?"

"Why are we moving so slow?"

"How come we can't fight them head on?"

Surrounding the town, each soldier got into position. Red beams were seen shining towards various heads of Griffon guardsmen. A pony could be heard, questioning this procedure in a hushed tone.

"What are you doing, are you trying to get us killed?!"

"Stay low, keep quiet. We know what we are doing."

"You know what you are doing?! Those beams will get us spotted! Don't you know anything about magic?!"

The radio had come to life, a man stating the shoot order. In surprise to all of the ponies assisting the Spec-Ops, quick puffs of air had risen and Griffon heads exploded. The equines felt their stomachs convulse, the need to barf arising quickly. A few had already done so, clearly not used to this form of warfare or weaponry. Quickening their pace, the red beams dissipated and the stealthy troopers began to edge into phase three, liberate the town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax could feel a slight disturbance in his gut. None of his troopers had returned and Ironwing with his scout report hadn't come in yet. He was a good friend of him, and he worried greatly if he was harmed. Pushing aside those thoughts, he went to check on the captured ponies working on making various Griffon war machines. The hammering of hammers, the grinding of saws on wood, the shouting of slave drivers at ponies, it was all common. However, a distinct shriek from a Griffon guardsman rang within his ear. He knew something was up, but could this be the Equestrian counter attack? Three Griffons were then seen running towards where he heard the scream, so he tagged along. What he saw, truly sent his heart into shock from sheer amounts of fear. Red eyes, odd armor and weapons, and multiple Grifffons with either missing heads or limbs. The rest lay dead on the ground, red, gaping holes exposing their insides and bones. His brain convulsed in revelation. The humans were here! What could the King have done that warranted the reckoning of the harbingers of order? He was ridiculously outmatched, only having tugged along his sword and armor. All he could manage to muster up was a bowing pose to the proposed deities. Shortly after his show of respect, he felt his talons get tied along with him being gagged. He was being dragged to the unknown, only to see a object of metal substance, piled in along with three more Griffon prisoners, one of them being Ironwing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eagle and Harpy had dragged off their Griffon prisoner, so Bison and the three ponies Steel Blade, Iron Heart, and Red Stains were left to converse until the other teams had arrived.

"W-what was that?!" queried Red.

"The first acts of retaliation." replied the Bison.

"That isn't war, that's mutilation!"

"Son, if you were up there," - Bison pointed to the sky - "that would be all you see."

"That's terrible! How do you live with this?!"

"Its war. Its supposed to be brutal, fierce. How we know this? Its humanity's nature. From the dawn of our existence, men fought other men with their bare fists, then they progressed to sticks and stones just so they could kill easier. Thousands of years of infighting, warfare, conflict, you name it. Then came how we advanced so far. Without war, we wouldn't know much about anything else. It made us rethink our actions. Mass killing turned into celebration and rejoice after, and new technologies arose from the things we used to... kill each other. Its just our nature. Can't do much about it."

This left Red Stains astonished. He never knew that a species could have such a dark past, nor could it be so violent. He was taught the ideals of peace everlasting, not blood and gore every step he took on a battlefield. But deep inside, he understood. Swords and spears taught the many underneath them order, which in turn halted anarchy and chaos from rising too highly. But the alien stated something about... humans was it? Many of the ancient religions and prophesies told of their return, but this is where it gets awkward. Different philosophies told of different endings, such as the return and arrival being good, bringing everlasting peace. On the other hand, varied show them as nigh deities of war capable of destroying everything and everyone. Equestria's to be specific, stated they would only arrive in the most dire of times. When destruction was inevitable, blood would be spilled worldwide, and peace would be unachievable. Could this truly be the time?

Public Release

Panic unfolded beneath the massive figure of the Grahm and its sister ship escorts. Nobles demanded for information, Equestrian Guards were holding back massive crowds of ponies, and the two royal sisters were struggling to figure out a compromise for their people. Celestia however, had a trick up her sleeve. She would try to get the Admiral to come down for another meeting, and hopefully, it won't be as awkward as last time.

_____________________________________________________

Edward Jarvis stood over the the Grahm's bridge, looking over at the mass of panic that ensued over the mountainside capital. Suddenly, the ship's A.I. had picked up an incoming call from the planet, presumably the Princess. The on-board A.I. then had asked if he would accept the call, with a sounding answer of "Yes".

"Admiral, my ponies are in a dire situation! We require your assistance, the press could be here soon, and they might get the wrong word out! Quick, we need your reassurance of your trust!" hastily asked Celestia.

"Hold on, hold on, we are on the way. Just stall them a bit longer, we need the drop pods ready." replied Jarvis.

With that, he took a small group of Marines, grabbed a few light weapons such as his special, antique, 21st century era revolver. Grabbing a single spare speed loader, he ordered his guards to grab a few pistols, as to not alarm the bulk of the ponies of their clear technological advantage. H.U.D.s were flicked on, armor was strapped in, weapons were loaded, and the group set off to make their first public appearance.

"Preston, hit it." ordered Jarvis.

"Aye, aye." replied the marine.

The egg shaped pod dropped and automatically directed itself to a suitable landing spot, an open area in the front of the palace, where they could properly conduct a speech. The thrusters roared, stabilizers clicked, and the journey was set.

Celestia could see a small black dot enter the atmosphere of her and Luna's palace. Assuming this was another one of his flying machines, she await on her balcony alongside Luna, where they stood until a unfamiliar looking black object sped towards the upper of the palace's opening stairs.

"I-Is that them?! Its going to crash! Lulu, get down!" yelled Celestia over the clambering loudness of the nobility's cries.

The drop pod crashed into the open area just in front of the crowd and a little bit behind the guards stationed to hold off the wall of citizens. The wealthy ponies were appalled at the current event, and the guardsmen raised and appointed their weapons to the metal egg. Dust was lingering from the impact still, but the general shape could be seen. A guttural hissing noise, and a small sliver of the mysterious pod had slid downward, revealing six humans, one in a clearly more, higher appointed uniform than the others.

"Celestia, Luna, come down! Its fine!" shouted Jarvis.

"Oh thank the Creator, you are alright!" said the relieved Celestia. "Your ship has crashed, why is that so?"

"Just thought, that we'd like to make one hell of an entrance." stated a marine. Said marine was then given a thwack on the head by a fellow soldier.

The crowd had just winced over one of the most taboo things that anybo-anypony* could have done, which was using a swear of any kind in such a casual way.

"Such language! The monster even speaks the word of the Demon in vain!" shouted a random noble.

"Gah! Begone with this vulgar beast!" exclaimed yet another pony.

Anger had risen even higher as well, for the cries of disdain was clear to every one of the humans staring down at the wealthy ponies. Quick to react however, Celestia had broadcast a message to all of the ponies in the crowd. The caps lock key mashed down and broken, she spoke.

"Ponies of Equestria!" the rumbling shout crawled across the land, even heading as far as Ponyville. "These people are no monsters! Lower your weapons, calm your tone, they are only here to protect us from others!" Celestia had shouted.

"Lies! These beasts are only here to take our land!" shouted a pony, presumably a certain one named Fancypants.

"Stay your words of mischief!" Luna had joined in with the speech, "The true cause of all this ruckus, is one of which we have not encountered in millennia! We, are at war! The Griffons have foolishly chosen to attack us, where you have done nothing! But us, my sister and I, we have done many things in time to grant this! This, land you call Equestria! Before your coming, you nobles and anypony who hears us, our great kingdom was one where we were at war! An ancient enemy of ours was once the mighty and ancient Griffon king Harlaus, whom of which we had defeated to cascade the land in freedom! Our crusade was one of which that was a requirement, other lesser kingdoms were being harassed by these brutes, and it is the time that they had decided to rise up once more! So please everyone, give these space beings a chance. We have come to them in a a time of need, a time of despair. Our army may be strong, but is only so large enough to keep hold. As we speak, the Griffons have already taken Appleoosa. Your understanding must be willing and mighty, so please, we, the princesses, beg of you, the citizens of our kingdom. We just ask you this once, be strong for our new friends. Be supportive of the war! This may sound terrible, but you do not know what is at stake. Our friends and family, our works, our beliefs, our way of life! So, what will you decide? To leave your cities in ruin, or rise up against our oppressors? Become a Guard. Join the military, do anything to protect your loved ones. Protect, the magic of friendship. Make farms, send spare tools, everything counts. Together, we will stay strong. Together, we will prevail."

The words touched and moved many, the journalists themselves too had tears blurring their visions. Today, marked the day that the most peaceful country in all of the planet went to war. The click clacking of the printing press echoed all across the land, news traveled city to city, cloud to cloud, train station to train station. Mass loyalty could be seen, guard recruitment stations were built, training regiments were designed, Equestria had just become the second planetary superpower, trailing behind their new enemy, the Griffon Empire. It was time, to rise up.

Footslogging

Squads Delta, Bravo, and Peeps had rallied in the morning, prior to the eve of the Princesses speech. Ponies, Zeen 'To, and Humans had gathered in a building, quietly setting up a third phase for the rescue of prisoners.

"We send a team here, here, and here, surrounding them and hopefully freeing the captured ponies. However, we have reason to believe that they are on alert for finding blood on the walls and floor from our kills. So, we take precautions here-" Screech pointed to a choke point at a town plaza, "-and here-" and pointed to another choke point at a small bridge crossing a river, "- and here."

"So, what's our time frame?" questioned a Bullfrog.

"Twenty minutes at most." replied Screech.

"Twenty minutes?! That's not nearly enough time to rescue the prisoners!" exclaimed a pony named Prison Break.

"Funny hearing that from a pony named Prison Break." retorted another pony named Metal Streak.

"Hey, at least my cutie mark isn't some silly looking trail of bronze and gold!" replied back Prison.

"I thought we agreed to start calling them Stud Stamps now, what the hay?" angrily shouted Metal.

"Enough banter, we need to move." said a Bullfrog, ending the brief kerfuffle.

Rifles were loaded, swords were drawn, and barf bags were packed, the three teams of SpecOps troopers (and ponies) set off to their next objective. On the human homefront however...

-Planet Kip IV, Housing District-

"As of recent, new reports of a impending war with extraterrestrial beings first thought to be myths! Just in from the United Nations, the Conglomerate was funded to keep the peace. They were recently sent to seek out new planets for the ever growing trillions of people across the galaxy, and appear to have stumbled upon hostile aliens. More on this at 6, on the InterPlanetaryNews, channel 2."

"Oh my, Thomas was on that ship! I hope he is alright, he almost never got out of the last war..." dreadfully remarked "Screech"'s wife, Sarah Miles.

"Mommy, what is daddy doing on that funny looking planet?" questioned Thomas, or "Screech"'s daughter, Mira.

"Honey, daddy is back to his job." quickly replied Sarah.

"I thought he was finished fighting?" retorted Mira.

"No, no, that will never end. The fighting I mean, but daddy can stop. He just has one more job..." stated Sarah.

-Appleoosa, Early Morning-

Looking into the scope of his Gr0P gauss rifle, Atom spotted multiple Griffon warriors patrolling the area, Two on the roof, about seven creeping on the ground.

"Mostly clear, got about nine of these guys watching over the plaza." Atom spoke into the radio.

"Copy, moving in." replied Bullet Monkey.

The team crept inwards, toward a small fountain surrounded by pavement and buildings. One could see a few ponies erecting a large Griffon statue, with about two Griffon overseers standing by with whips. Their normal, clean furry coats were ripped apart by the constant beating of leather tails beating upon their bruised, damaged skin. Dried blood could also faintly be seen, and dirt clinging to their fur was visible as well. Acting upon this, Delta moved in to provide overwatch in a building. This also was the building that had the two lion-eagle sentries. Bravo was sent off to deal with the seven ground infantry, and Peeps set off to free the prisoners. The plan was in motion, and the first acts of valiance would be revealed.

-Equestrian Border, Griffon 2nd Company-

"King High Cloud! We are nearing Appleoosa, how would you like to celebrate your victory?" questioned the King's assistant, Steel Talon.

"Good, I would love to watch as our foothold in Equestria grows even further." replied High Cloud.

The moderate sized group of royal bodyguards trudged through the desert heat, awaiting his new beachhead city's construction. Unknowing to them however, it was essentially going to be turned into the first battle in the Equus-Griffonic War.

-Ponyville, Equestria-

As per usual, commerce and friendly faces cantered about. Life was good, and pride of being an Equestrian was never higher. However, a few things had gone off to become different. Small royal guard recruitment posts were set up, and large lines flocked to each. New recruits were being formed regularly into organized companies, each sent to training grounds all across Equestria, the lucky ones getting the field set up nearby the Whitetail Woods, which happened to be set up by the aliens. It just so happened that Ponyville was the main exporter of guardsmen, mostly due to its close proximity to the peculiarly loud royal speech. Still, news of the war shocked many. Some were loyal to the cause, wanting to finally show their Equestrian might. Others however, disapproved of the conflict and wanted to try and end it in peaceful ways, however possible.

Twilight also had a grand time taking notes on the various humans coming and going from the town, even more so with the humanoid figures doing their duties. What really amazed her however, was their extremely advanced form of technological understanding and their Frack engineer allies. How they managed to get massive, metallic structures into the sky amazed her to outstandingly high limits, and the question that bugged her mind the most, was "How long have they been here?"

Were they recently formed creatures made by the Creator? Are they secretly machines? Each new question stabbed and jabbed endlessly, no end in sight. Her curiosity had peaked, and she had to go and meet with one of the scientists at the Whitetail Woods camp. Packing her bags, she set off for a new journey.

The journey was brief, and the field was filled to the brim with trainees, with pegasi, earth, and unicorn troopers stomping and training for the coming conflicts. Magic bolts struck mannequins, swords and spears cut and stabbed different targets. It was a magnificent clusterfuck of noise and clambering recruits, and Twilight had to navigate her way through the walls of ponies in armor. Guiding her way through the slits and gaps where she could, she had managed to deftly weave her way into the heart of the training region, the concrete building that housed multiple soldiers, scientists, and ponies. A brief knock, and the door was opened, to reveal a few unknown faces, and a single, familiar face. It was Keith, the scout trooper that she had briefly met during their "meeting".

Screech and the other teams had successfully bogged down the stationed Griffons, and they freed the nearby ponies. It was going to be a long day, and the rhythm of clearing each room became a simple process, open the door, flashbang, close door, open door, two the chest, one to the head. He repeated this over and over, and both of the other teams were getting sick of it. Still, they had to keep the fight going if they wanted to free anymore pony prisoners. Issuing a move order, they continued on with the mission. Suddenly, they found a massive gathering of slaves as they rounded a corner. Multiple Griffons looked over the populace as they worked away at building military structures. Hammers, saws, and other tools sang as they continued their envious chant,

"FREE US!" sang the saw.

"BREAK THESE CHAINS!" played the hammer.

"NEED FOOD!" hummed the mallet.

The three teams knew what had to be done. Guns were loaded and weapons were drawn, and the war fighters moved in to liberate more yet another group of ponies. However, the ponies were clearly out ranged due their melee weaponry. So, Prison Break and the other ponies had a decision to make. Get shot while fending off griffons by unknowingly powerful weapons, or stay back as the humans and humanoids fire away at crowds of griffons. It was hard choosing whether to get glory, or have it taken by aliens for their life, it was nearly unanimous. It also appeared that the teams of Bullfrogs had also understood their reasoning for staying down, below a small concrete wall where they could peer over to see what was happening.

Screech also had formulated a small course of action, such as removing their suppressors and using their weaponry's loud, thunderous noise to hopefully scare off and surprise the griffons. Telling the order to the others, the metal tubes on the end of their rifle barrels were removed. This had confused their pony allies, and they had asked similar questions.

"What is that?" queried Prison Break.

"What does it do?" questions Metal Streak.

"These,-" Bullet Monkey lifted up his now removed suppressor "-are suppressors. They lessen noise and keep stealth at a high cap."

In return, Prison Break asked, "Then why are you removing them?"

"You'll see." replied Screech.

The laser sights on their weapons flicked on, illuminated various griffon warrior heads, and opened fire. The roar of gunfire had actually surprised both sides, pony and griffon, equally. It was excessively loud, louder than any magic that the ponies had known. They sat there in horror, watching as multiple griffon heads exploded into showers of gore, and as multiple warriors charged helplessly toward their doom. Their melee weaponry was pointless in this situation, and many had retreated to call in their archery teams, but Atom knew where they were heading for.

He took a breath, looked into his scope, and saw a small group of five archers with bows setting up not far from the entry of Appleoosa. He moved his reticle a little bit above their heads to compensate for gravity, and pulled the trigger. A fraction of a second later, the high powered weapon devastated the archers' morale. They could only observe as their friends and fellow soldiers were mowed down by these "unknown" assailants. Blood, gore, and flesh spewed all about as the warriors looked. The pony guardsmen however, were mortified to even higher levels than the griffons. They had to deal with this. For the rest of the mission. The equines did not know of anything that held such brutality, and spewed it in such a casual, efficient way, that is mentally and physically scarred them. They shook to stand up, chills rocked their spines, and their minds were a scramble of recollection of what just happened.

"I-I don't know what to say..." Prison Break had managed to croak under his breath.

Trying to gather up what thoughts they could, they moved along as the N.C.G. Bullfrogs ran over to the captured ponies, who were equally as terrified as the guards.

"Stay back! Stay back you monsters!" shouted Braeburn, who managed to courageously stand in front of the trained soldiers.

"No! These.. humans, they are here to rescue you!" replied Metal Streak, trying to quell the rising hostility between the different races.

"I don't believe it! They brainwashed you didn't they! They-they're aliens!" shouted Braeburn.

"Woah, calm it down there." intervened Screech. "This has gone long enough, we're here to help."

"Then why weren't you here when the Griffons attacked?!" queried Braeburn.

Screech just calmy replied, "We stumbled upon that not long after we arrived."

"So, you a-are aliens?" curiously implied Braeburn.

"In your case, yeah." stated Atom.

A short chat after, the now freed ponies understood, and their predicament was revealed. Their country was at war with the Griffon Empire. It was a brief but unsurprising revelation, and their small religious buildings had also told of a great savior hailing from the skies. That savior, was the New Conglomerate, and its human and alien military.

Space Demons... From Space!

The King High Cloud and his company approached the town of Appleoosa, unknowing of the traps and such deployed in haste before he had arrived from captured Griffon warriors that were interrogated, heavily.

Hawk and Eagle from Delta team had finished rolling out the barbed wire, not long after both of the combat engineers had spread various landmines in different spots across the entry of Appleoosa. From the info that HQ and their own interrogations that had surfaced, they discovered the king of the Griffon Empire would be coming. Makeshift blockades were made from rubble, their own engineering supplies, and stuff found around town. In a matter of minutes, a quick defense was set up until divisions from the combat fleet Starward Bound arrived. Army troopers would help hold the ground, and properly set up a somewhat habitable place again. Until then however, the three teams had to hold the line while protecting the freed ponies from harm. They had the ranged advantage, so it would hold long enough. At least, they hoped. Neither sources of the impending king's arrival told of how large the troop was, and that would lead to problems. Either way, light machine guns were set up, marksmen rifles were deployed, and riflemen hunkered down in various buildings.

Atom spotted a small congregation of dark red and golden shines from the distance, and not long after, he gave the heads up.

"Incoming, thirteen minutes tops!" Atom declared into the radio.

"Sign off!" Screech ordered.

"Bullet Monkey, set up and braced!" shouted BM.

"Buffalo here!" shouted Buffalo, who hailed from Bravo team.

"Locked, cocked, and ready to rock!" exclaimed Hawk.

"Scoped in!" said Eagle.

As the rest of the strike force shouted in, the Griffon battalion closed in to the point of being able to see the King from a distance. The defenders then waited. They waited for the only order they need.

"OPEN FIRE!" shouted Screech.

The guardsmen ponies accompanying them had grabbed the weapons cache stationed at Appleoosa's militia barracks, which happened to have crossbows of many types, hoofheld, shoulder mounted, they had a pretty large supply. The captured guardsmen also happened to gain enough will to join the fight, along with a few stallions capable of battle. They loaded their crossbows, guns were fired, and the approaching Griffon Bodyguards were dropping like flies. The roar of gunfire had startled the griffons, but they managed to keep the march strong.

"My lord, what are those?!" screamed the King's assistant.

"I don't know, but keep marching! Our will and battle prowess will get us through!" ordered High Cloud, albeit, unknowing of the attackers.

"They are cutting us down faster than the Forest of Green Grove!" hastily retorted Steel Claw.

"Shut it, or I will cut you down! KEEP PUSHING!" demanded the King.

Oh, but was he so wrong. He took his time, too much to say the least, only to see his best trained soldiers be ripped apart by the unknown enemy.

"Gah! How could this be?! Quick Steel, we must get away and recuperate!" shouted King High Cloud, only to see his assistant's head burst into a fountain of blood.

"No! No, no, no!" shrieked the King, in a very surprised manner.

He watched as bullets and crossbow bolts streaked past him, terrifying him to no end. He heard the objects cut through the air. He heard every crack of thunder streamline past his. Every. Single. One. It left a reminder into his head, these are no ponies, no. These, these were humans. They had come to exact fury and reckoning upon someone, but who? Then he discovered in a brief realization, that it was his fault. He had to find a way to stop them, stop them from ruining his conquest of Equestria! But first, he had to get away while he still could. Just reaching the treeline, he managed to slip away from the hail of lead. However, there was something still getting him.

Atom had a clear shot for the King's head, but decided to go for the royalty's leg instead, to leave a mark on not screwing with humanity and its allies. He took a breath, and pulled the trigger, watching as the tracer sped towards the lion-esque hind leg, effectively severing it from the rest of his body. He could see, along with Eagle, the King limp off in a very odd hobble. His work here was done, and he waited for the rest of the army to arrive with his fellow soldiers.

Screech felt relieved about winning this battle, but judging from Atom's facial expression, he knew the war wasn't over. Either way, he rejoiced with his fellow war fighters, helping out the free ponies set up a small, livable area in the town square. Bullet Monkey also seemed like he was looking forward for some down time, as he had strode on with a joyous smirk on his face.

The town saloon happened to be in perfect shape, and the ponies, humans, and Zeen 'To danced happily, drank their drinks, and had a overall great time, as a kind enough pony chose to play a calming mix on the piano, all while the Army Fleet had arrived from wormhole travel.

What surprised Braeburn however, was how the Humans could stomach such heavy apple cider. In all his experience as a bartender, he never met a single pony that could drink so many mugs of their finest, strongest cider. Quote on quote, he overheard Screech and Bullet Monkey say, "It was like root beer, without the beer." Truly, these aliens were strange, but they were the friendliest ones he had ever seen or met.

"Ah Admiral Jarvis, nice to see you again." nicely commented Fleet Admiral Kenton, a Fleet Commander that Jarvis had met in 2075, the Barx War, where he was fighting off various insurrectionists and terrorists in space, where he had met Kenton, a friendly Russian Federation man who commanded very helpful reinforcements that saved Jarvis from an inevitable doom.

"A warm welcome back indeed, my friend." replied Jarvis.

"So, I thought this was a colonization project?" asked Kenton.

"Not anymore, I have broken my fair set of rules, but this, this breaks a big one." stated Jarvis.

"Oh, and what might that be?: queried Kenton.

"Oh you know, just First Contact and assisting in a war started by aliens with a tech lower than early Industrial Age." said Jarvis.

"Well, that's new. So, what did you need that warranted the coming of Army, Naval, and Air Force elements?" questioned Kenton.

"This planet is practically on the verge of its first major war, or at least, what we know of." replied Jarvis.

"Hm. So, where do you need them?" with Kenton asking yet again.

"We need a few Regulars stationed in Appleoosa-" with Jarvis pointing to the town of Appleoosa on a hologram, "-Marines here,-" pointing to Canterlot, to help assist in guardsmen training, "-and the Air Force spread about here, here, and here." with Jarvis ending and pointing at spread out places, where he stationed his deployable ground attack airmen, along with regular air force units.

"Very well, we will assist however possible until we must go off onto another deployment." stated Kenton.

"Alright, lets win this war and head home." with Jarvis.finishing the conversation.

Twilight was overjoyed when she showed her friends what notes she had taken from the humans and their allies. She was amazed by how long humans existed, their advancement and slow rising to become essentially gods of their home planet, and how they managed to get into space by the discovery of creating wormholes. Still, her duties as a princess did not go unheeded. She had been requested to come to Canterlot for the first celebration of the first news of victory. Alongside the letter that told her about their first battle, it also consisted of seven tickets to the party. One for Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, herself, Applejack, Fluttershy, and even Spike.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! A party at Canterlot! With ALIENS!" happily stated Pinkie.

"Wow, we won a fight that fast? I knew our guards could do it! I bet those humans didn't even do anything, just sit and watch!" said Rainbow Dash, who was still, internally scared of the aliens.

"Ah have to be honest, but ah don't quite like where this war is goin'." commented Applejack. "Ah mean, if there was a more peaceful way, why not take that?"

"Well, we were attacked without anypony telling us, nor a formal declaration of war from the Griffons! They just attacked without hesitation!" said Twilight.

"Well, lets just let that pass for now, we need to look our absolute best for the party, even more so if the Princesses are going to be there! Quick, I know just what you girls should wear!" said Rarity, as she trotted off to her boutique.

"Oh, I hope they don't look as scary as they did when we met them..." shyly desired Fluttershy.

"Don't worry Flutters, you'll be fine. Besides, if they try anything, we're the Elements! We can handle them!" boasted Rainbow.

"I just hope that Vinyl will be there! I just looove her music!" said Pinkie Pie.

With Spike saying nothing, just because of his joy of being able to go to his first Canterlot party with his friends, he trailed along with Twilight and the others to the train, where they waited for the good times ahead.

Out From The Shadows

Queen Chrysalis was just about set and content wit her decision to attack Equestria while they were still recuperating from the loss of Appleoosa, but she was too late and they had managed to retake the town, which left her with a plan.

"Ichor Spit, go send a regiment of sword fodder to Appleoosa, I want to know what got the ponies back their little hovel." demanded Chrysalis.

"Right away my queen." replied Ichor.

With that, Ichor went off to find the regiment ready for battle. It consisted mostly of Iron Warriors, some regulars, and a pair of Magic Casters. A brief walk later, he had found the regiment stationed inside of their barracks. Unknowing to Ichor, Chrysalis, or anyone else for that matter, the regiment consisted of C.O.I. infiltrators that managed to get themselves into the ranks of Loyalist forces. Their horns were stained a dark red and purple, signifying them as insurrectionist forces. They were being sent to Appleoosa to warn the humans of the hostile coming of Chrysalis' attack. It would also be the time when they would reveal themselves to the world as a new group, a group where love is free to form and develop, not taken by force.

Ichor ordered them to mobilize with the new ballistas. They were to be accompanied by a single airboat, in case of heavy resistance. Queen Chrysalis really wanted her own foothold in Equestria, and the weakened group of defenders at Appleoosa were her prime target for conquest. Oh, how she was wrong.

Patrols around the border of Equestria became fervent, and groups of no more than five had been established. Equipped with radios and thermal technology, they were to send word of anything less than ordinary. Currently, the Army troopers were on the defense. They were more suited to holding and taking ground, and the 52nd Ground Assault were just for the job. Accompanied by light helicopters and aircraft, this would seem like nothing but a walk in the park to them. Suddenly, an alarm went off in the militia base, signalling something was amiss. A reserve team at the base was sent to go check it out, and what a surprise they were in for.

"Corvis, take point. You three, on me." ordered Sergeant Aliza Galia.

"Copy, Anchor Actual, you getting this?" queried Corporal Corvis.

"Solid Copy. Recent reports say of something moving in the area. Go check it out, got a helicopter with a spotlight to help you out. Other intel says of heavy whirring and hissing of steam, watch yourself out there." crackled the static radio.

"Alright Legionnaires, lets get moving!" shouted Aliza.

The grunts burst from the dark, night scenery in their respective uniforms, flashlight as the ready as a helicopter buzzed overhead. The hissing of steam could also be heard from far away, and the sentries had moved in to inspect the suspicious noise. Heavy pitter-patter could also be heard with ease as the helicopter's light passed over various splotches of land, revealing anything in its cone of visibility. Suddenly, a swift motion of the wall of flashlights revealed luminous green eyes, ballistas, and a flying... airboat? No matter, they were wielding weaponry that posed a possible threat to the citizens of the town.

"Put down your weapons! We give you one warning to back away, or we will fire upon you!" declared Aliza in a heavy Jewish accent.

Then, one in the crowd had moved forward, seemingly braver than the rest.

"Please, we mean you no harm. Our leaders foretold of your arrival, the day you would come to save this planet from its horrors. We ask you this, please. Heed to our requests. My kind have been oppressed by the vile Queen Chrysalis, whom of which demands love from others, in place of earning it by trust of others. We are known as the Cult of Individuals. We, my people and I, wish to become... free of the Hive Mind. It is a tyrannical excuse of a collective conscious, where she implants false images into our minds. Please, spare us. Spare the innocent." stated the rebellious Changeling.

As the minor speech was said, a courteous bow from many, if not all of the Changeling defectors was given.

"Please human, we take our beliefs and ideals from your kind. You have shown capability where others couldn't, you have displayed honor, pride, and victory against overwhelming odds. You... rose up against tyrants and still stood up, you formed success where others could not. You, your people, your kingdoms and everything, humanity formed with its bare hands. You are truly gods of the universe. We bow before you, and we ask that you assist in the forming of our own nation. Just help wherever possible, and we will be eternally grateful." continued the Changeling.

The airboat however, was commissioned from another regiment, one that was not previously infiltrated by any C.O.I. troops. Therefore, the whole thing was relayed back, into the Hive Mind, where every Changeling, every single one, now knew what their missing supplies were. Now note, there were hasty decisions made, and this was the only time frame they had to go meet the humans for the first time, and that led to some rather obvious sightings going unnoticed.

Not long after, the dinghy sized floating boat began raining bolts of arrows and weaponry of the time upon the defectors. The 52nd squad began to fire at the ship, spewing lead at various sides of the vessel. To make matters worse, the ballistas were also being carried out by loyalist Changelings. They flung arm sized bolts at high speeds, imbuing death upon many of the defecting Changelings.

"Come with us, we can get you to safety! HQ, we have friendlies inbound! Do not fire upon those with red and purple stained horns!" said Aliza.

"Solid copy, whats coming in, more ponies?" replied the speaker.

"No, 'Changelings'! Green eyes, iron armor, and chitin shells! Prepare yourself, enemy aircraft is flying high and loaded for bear!" spoke Corvis into the radio.

"Got it Corporal, we have static defenses set up. Try to lure them in, give 'em a good 'ole human welcome." replied the communicator on the radio.

"Will do HQ." came Corvis' response.

The Changelings that still withstood the hail of bolts and flying crew members of the airboat made a full on sprint towards the town, where much more prominent defenses were set up. The helicopter that had assisted the patrol squad had also been holding them off for however long they could, albeit their light weaponry onboard, consisting of only two light machine guns mounted on both sides of the aircraft. The lively chugga chugga chugga resounded endlessly through the stale night. The rotary blades chopped and cut at the wind, signalling of its arrival.

"Gah, how do so many of you buggers fit in that boat?! Its like a fuckin' clown car!" shouted Gunner Stevens.

The Changelings were equally appalled, for the loyalists had noticed the large helicopter hovering about with what seemed to look like very powerful magic, to them at least.

"Argh, one of the bolts got my arm, can't fire from here!" declared Gunner Gorland.

"Kiddin' me? Walk it off pussy!" replied Stevens.

The defector Changelings had managed to keep up with the humans' larger build, and got to the frontal entrance of Appleoosa.

"Go, go! We got the rest! Erika, get the others up!" shouted the sentry.

"Got it sir!-" Erika grabbed a radio, "-We have incoming hostiles! Everyone, head to your positions! Possible aircraft, repeat, possible aircraft!"

The heavy thumping of rushing soldiers to their defensive positions shook up many of the town's residents, if the helicopter already hadn't. Many strolled outside to go check out what the ruckus was, only to see the spectacle of military men gunning it towards their main road. Some even saw various vehicles, all of which looked like very odd looking machines to the ponies.

"Aw shit, unknown projectiles incoming!" shouted a soldier.

"Getting movement from the palisades!" said another.

"What is that thing, an oversized bug?!" screamed a wary soldier.

The cracks of gunfire had risen, and the heavy thudding of static emplacements was shouting at the top of their lungs. Moderately loud anti-air guns also sounded very prevalent, and alerted everyone of the inbound airship.

The Changelings were, to say the least, baffled by the spectacle unleashed before them. Their lesser armored brethren were being chopped up by the metal weaponry and their lightning rods. Gore spattered across the desert floor, and their flying machine had terrified them. If anything, even the Queen could probably feel their pain. Their airship had stood no chance against the strange metal boxes, and large black clouds ripped and teared at the airboat's balloon. Not long after, the wooden area had ignited, and burst into a fiery ball of death and destruction, as it tumbled down into the ground, just so happening to fall right into the ballista gunners. The Changeling loyalists had found their first legitimate threat, and they had risked extinction from their "mutated" brethren, or in some terms, evolved brothers and sisters, and the humans. Equestria had then been pulled into war by not one, but two different nations. The first major war in millenia.

The remaining loyalists were gunned down by the emplacement gunners, and a lucky few managed to flee the scene entirely, escaping the rain of death and left to navigate the desert night.

King High Cloud had limped to a nearby Griffon-Pony settlement in the Snow Feather mountain range entrance, and somehow survived from bleeding out in the middle of a desert, surrounded by dry, desert trees. His missing leg nub ached with the force of an elephant. He had to get his way to the clinic, lest he challenge Death once more. In a hasty struggle, he managed to get his leaf bandaged nub to a clinic stationed in the middle of the town.

"Oh my, sir are you alright?!" hastily pondered a nurse pony, curiously eying his missing leg.

"No I am not, my leg is missing!" shouted the King.

"My, there is no need for shouting! Just who do you think you are, having more authority than these poor colts over here?" questioned the nurse, pointing a hoof at a small gathering of Griffon soldiers that somehow survived the skirmish with the forces at Appleoosa.

"I am the King of the Griffon Empire! I demand you give me immediate medical attention!" declared High Cloud.

"Oh my! I am so sorry your highness, please come with me!" said the nurse.

"Gah, I was just in a battle with your military! I don't know how my men here got out of there, but you sure seem oblivious about that!" retorted the King.

"Oh but I did, sir. Have you not learned of the simple treatment of civilians instead of military serviceponies?" replied the nurse.

"Humph, you wouldn't last ten seconds on the battlefield." quietly said the King, walking past the studious, but frail salutes of the Griffon soldiers.

"Alright, please wait here and a doctor will be here soon to assist. Please, at least be grateful that our hospital can care for your injury. Losing a leg is no funny business." said the nurse.

-Canterlot, 9:00 PM Equestrian, 12:00 AM Earthly/Galactic Time-

"Gah, this cider tastes like really sweet sprite." said a human soldier.

"I know right?" replied another.

A Party Of Sorts

Pinkie and the other elements danced happily, while thinking that it was about an hour long, while in reality, it was just over thirty minutes.

"Hoo-ee, that was tirin'." calmly said a pumped up Applejack.

"It sure was fun!" bubbled a happy Pinkie Pie.

The celebration was wonderful, loud music held everyone upbeat, all three teams that took part in the town's liberation were there, and Jarvis along with his friend Kenton. Celestia and Luna also had joined in, deciding to pass on their current duties. Other royalty had decided to hop in as well, such as Blueblood, Cadance, Shining Armor, and with some hesitation, leaders of other independent countries from across the globe, FIM-Delta's at least.

"Auntie, who are those large apes? We didn't invite them did we?" questioned Blueblood.

"No, no, those are humans. They were willing to help us in our time of need." replied Celestia.

"Bah, they look ridiculous! They look like they fight with clubs with odd ends! I bet their armor isn't any stronger than paper!" boasted the prince.

"Oh, how you would be surprised. They come from a space exploring race, they managed to get past their own planet and stars, form cities on other worlds, and you still believe that they are weaker than us?" chuckled the Princess of the Sun.

"Well, they still use blunt weaponry! Not the finesse of a sword, the strength of a mace, or the aim of a crossbow?" added the prince.

"Those? Those aren't clubs." replied the princess.

"Oh really? What are they, some magical weapon with the strength of our experimental fire sand?" said Blueblood.

Celestia then gave the boastful prince a bland stare.

"Are-are you kidding me?" stated the baffled prince.

Vinyl/DJ-PON3 blared her electronic music, which just so happened to sound a lot like the musical duo Daft Punk, and couldn't help but join in, bobbing her head to the music. Twilight however, couldn't help but walk over to Screech, and ask why his armor looked so much different than the others, including the Bullfrogs. A brief filter through the large crowd while trying her best to ignore the bowing of the royalty,regular citizens, and visitors, she managed to get through to the center of attention; the bar where the humans were sitting at.

"Mister, mister!" shouted a journalist.

"Hey, over here!" said another.

The heavy flashing of cameras had blocked her entrance to where the human was, and definitely seemed to irritate him greatly.

"As if I don't get enough of this already at home..." muttered Screech under his breath.

Twilight had to gently push her way through the ever growing mob of reporters, finally managing to make it over to Screech, who had been lounging at the bar for the bulk of the celebration.

"So, uh, how are you?" queried Twilight.

"Peachy." replied Screech.

"Is it alright if I can ask you a few questions? I want to know a few things on your people!" asked, yet again, Twilight.

"Sure, shoot." replied the soldier. "Beats getting snapped at by cameras."

"Pardon if this is a bother, but this is a very odd place to take some notes on this. Is it alright if we move to somewhere.. a little more... private?" questioned Twilight.

"As I said, beats getting snapped at by cameras." said the Spec-Ops.

As the two slipped from the cracks in the crowd, the other elements and a particularly blue princess couldn't help but assume something else was up.

"Oh, has Twilight finally found somepony?" bounced Rarity.

"Ah think so! Mah, oh mah, she finally got it." stated Applejack.

"Why with one of the humans though?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Curiosity perhaps?" added Luna.

"We should follow, just in case. I still don't trust these alien guys." said Rainbow dash.

Finding a decent spot to sit down and have a chat, the soldier and pony plopped down onto a soft couch in the courtyard of the castle.

"So, first things first, why is your armor different from your colleagues?" asked Twilight.

"Well, we come from different regiments. I, just so happen to be in the 502nd Bullfrogs, nicknamed the "Helljumpers" due to our jump packs. Seriously, these things just HAVE to send me and the other guys into the most unhelpful of places." calmly stated the soldier.

"L-Like what?" cautiously wondered Twilight.

"You sure? Well alright, we once got dropped into the middle of a battle between a few platoons of grunts fighting off a reasonably large amount of hostile aliens, I won't go into detail about their names right now, and I, along with a few other Jumpers, landed right there, in the middle of the fight." said Screech.

"I-I have nothing to say." stated Twilight.

"Oh, by the way, my thermal visors can see yo-" said the soldier, only to be interrupted by a intrusive pegasus.

"Just kiss already!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow!" scolded Rarity.

Twilight blushed and Screech could give less of a fuck, so he walked over to the spying group of ponies, who he towered over like a massive palisade.

"Ah, you remind me of my younger years." calmly said Screech.

"Wha-what?" questioned Rainbow. "You aren't mad or anything about the fact that I just ruined a moment between you two?"

"Nope. I'm married, wouldn't make sense to cheat on her." replied Screech.

"Well then, why did you go back here with Twilight?" interrogated Rainbow Dash.

"She was curious on why my suit of armor was different to my squadmates." said Screech.

"That still sounds pretty fishy to me!" said Rainbow Dash.

The brief interruption ended, and Twilight managed to get a few notes out of it as well. Fun times were had, and wonderful music boomed as the group returned to the party. Under the castle however, inside of the old, crystalline mines of old...

"Alright young fledglings, today, we begin OUR first acts of retaliation. Our king managed to get a ride back to the Empire, and we got a window to sneak into the Canterlot party. So, heres our plan..." said an unknown Griffon Infiltrator, pulling out a slip of paper that held the details on what to do upon reaching the castle.

"When do we get to bestow glory on our warband?" queried a trainee.

"Not yet young one, our mission has just started. The Demons have finally come to bestow vengeance upon our brothers, and we must stop them from killing everything else in their path. Their magic may be strong, but our metals shall break their shields! The enemy ship is high, and regular airships may be too frail to get that high, but recent capturing of unicorns to enchant our specialised one, just may be able to get us up to the demon's airboat! So, are you ready to protect our world?" said the veteran Infiltrator.

A resounding agreement later, and the plan was set in stone. The small group of seven just might have a chance to halt an impending invasion.

Steel Eagles

The Conglomerate was indeed a very rich and well funded project for being a multinational company, and is credited for the first to actually send humans out into space farther than their sun, but usage of somewhat older vehicles had always had its uses. Many things are there to name in fact, like reliability, cost, and ease of use compared to more "modern" things, like the F-7 Sabertooth. Such an example of this was used indefinitely in some wars that the N.C. had actually been in, where they had truly proven their worth as backups and reserve items for use against some things. However, some had been kept for their original uses, like the C-130J Super Hercules. Currently, units from the 203rd Snakeheads had been assigned to begin the defense of Manehattan, making way for what could possibly be the largest land deployment Equestria has ever seen.

"Hey Alverson, are we there yet?" pestered a recruit.

"No, it has to be about three or so more minutes just to get this thing to slow enough for you to 'chute out of this. You have ponies back there too ya know?" said the pilot.

"So, we are landing. In a big, boxy utility plane. Wonderful." said the recruit.

The three minutes passed, and the plane managed to find a suitable spot to land. A loud hum, and the rest of the company had managed to touch down on the improvised tarmac that laid before them.

"Alright Snakeheads, ponies, briefing. We need to set up a spot where we can defend from the Griffons while buying enough time for the Manehattans to evac outta here. Recent reports say that they should be here in a about five hours tops, three hours minimum. We set?" shouted the Regulars officer. "Questions?"

A pony raised his hoof, "Why are mares in this carriage? I thought war was a men only set of glory!" commented/queried the pony.

"The Conglomerate is an equal group. We don't conform with discrimination." came the reply of a female soldier.

A short argument grew, but quickly died down when the officer intervened. The back hatch began to slowly roll open, revealing the cargo to the outside.

"Ah, another day of fighting. Alright everyone, lets get moving!" ordered the officer.

Weapons and such were being hauled out, and the materials for a forward operating base were being hauled out of the C-130. A big surprise to the foot soldiers however, was the fearsome feature of three LAV-25 reconnaissance vehicles rolling out of the back of a Hercules.

"Woah, LAVs." said a surprised soldier.

"Didn't know we might be needing these girls." said another.

The engines started up, and they started to move into small groups with a LAV in each team. They were to search and recon the surrounding area, and they had already begun their long trek of reporting things to the F.O.B.

"A'ight, this look like a solid plan. So, how long do we got?" asked Ferra.

"About twenty minutes tops. Lets get the cover off this can." replied Herrera.

"My king, our march to Manehattan is going smoothly. What do you suggest we do?" asked the new servant.

"Simple. We kill the Princess' mindless subordinates." returned King High Cloud.

The sky rippled in a fearsome show of technology, leaving an amazing spectacle for humans, aliens, and ponies alike. The clouded areas above then shaped into a hexagonal pattern, and what occurred afterwards, left everyone in awe. A crack of lightning and focused plasma roared in the sky, opening a massive wormhole carrying its deadly cargo. The great shadow of the HMS Creedance loomed overhead, it being a decent sized cruiser.

"Would you look at that, they really thought we needed this heavy of support. Maybe intel got it wrong on the size for once?" said a solider.

"Ain't got no worries." replied another.

"Look sire!" said the new servant, pointing to an area in the sky recently broken.

"What, what is it?" replied the King. What he saw afterwards stabbed him in the heart. "No! The infiltrators failed! Gah, must I do it all myself?!"

"I am beginning to regret your decision on attacking Equestria sire, recent sighting by scouts had worried the troops, our army isn't nearly as strong as you th-" said the servant, being cut off.

"Now listen here, peasant! Our army is the finest trained in the land, no mere human can stop my great crusade!" shouted the King, forgetting that humans are merely a myth to many.

"Did the King say humans?" came the cries of many.

"The Harbingers have returned, they have graced the world with their fury!" worried more.

"Who will they strike first? Surely it cannot be us! We are the greatest army that has graced this land!" retorted a greater amount.

"SILENCE!" demanded the King. "I have seen these demons with my own eyes! They rip you from limb to limb from a distance! I bet they don't even need to have a look at you to kill you! They just think about it, and one of you dies!"

"Sir, I have visual on the target? Orders?" asked the sniper.

"Solid copy Bear 1, you have permission to engage." replied the F.O.B.'s commanding officer.

"Roger-" said the sniper, pulling the hammer on his sniper rifle back, and releasing. "-that."

"Spots, got the target?" asked the sniper.

"Roger." replied the spotter. "12,467 kilometers off, wind going forwards. Take the shot."

"Copy."

The sniper pulled the trigger, and watched as the immense kickback of the 20 millimeter rifle sent a massive bullet out to hit a target a ways away, all while kicking back, listening to some relaxing music as the deed was done.

"You must be ready to be faced with every one of your fears! Your Training may or may not fare you good!" ranted the King.

Suddenly, a very loud ZIP noise passed by, causing a Griffon to have his head explode into little tiny chunks of goop and brain matter.

"The humans! THEY KNOW!" shrieked a Griffon.

"How could this be?!" shouted another.

Another whiz of air being cut, another skull exploding. Terror struck deep into the Griffon legion's heart, and panic soon arose.

"No! Stay in formation!" ordered the King. "Keep the Battle Wagons moving!"

"Good hits." complimented the spotter.

"I aim to please." replied the sniper.

The battle wagons encased in metal were still, very surprised how the unknown combatants could pierce the thick armor of the carts.

"How are they getting us from in here?!" gasped many.

"They truly are the great destroyers!" shouted more.

The bullets just tore through the 10 millimeter armor as if it were paper, and that scared them even greater than any regular rifle.

"Bear 1, bug out! We have reports of secondary Griffon legions from the west!" came HQ.

"Copy, buggin' out." came the spotters reply.

The team started to pack up and begin their run back over to the base, not noticing that their attacks had both demoralized and infuriated the Griffons.

"Sire! We must strike back and bring glory to our warband, they have dishonored us!" came a soldiers plea.

"A very good choice Sergeant. THE FIRST TO BRING ME TEN HEADS GETS IMMUNITY FROM THE TOURNAMENTS FOR A YEAR!" ordered the King, managing to rile up and reorganize the troops, now noticing his assistance finally meeting up with him, effectively raising his count of souls to a might seven thousand strong.

"The HMS Creedance is here! Try to get them into range of her air units!" warned the HQ.

"Copy!" replied Bear 1.

"We have Hatchbacks, Arrowheads, and A-10's standing by to drop ordnance on location! Where do you need 'em?" asked the Creedance's captain.

"Stand by!" replied the team. "Try to lure them into the ground defenses!"

"Roger!" replied the captain.

The Griffon army was in full sprint now. They could see the small outlines of the humans and ponies standing by in defense of the small, hilly plains. Then, the fireworks stated. The small yellow-orange flashes burned in the air, sending lead pellets into various bits and pieces of the griffon horde.

"Keep pushing! Fight with fury for your lost brothers!" shouted the King.

The rampaging wall of griffons was quite a bit for a small force of a thousand soldiers, but surely, their force multiplier was still waiting.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE EMPIRE!" came the bloodthirsty battle cry in a swathe of Griffons.

Blood sprayed from the hail incoming bullets, but they still stood and charged with even greater fury.

"Snipers are up, doing what we can!" said Bear 1 from a safe distance.

"Copy, army elements are inbound to rout them out. Doing what we can to hold them off." replied the marine captain.

"Any word on the prep time of the cannons? Air units? Anything?" asked the team.

"Half a click away! Ah shit, they're getting close!" crackled the voice through the radio.

Then, a growl of engines in the space above alarmed everyone. The great Sparrows had arrived.

Small black dots streaked across the sky, silent as ever until a massive crack, louder than lightning, roared in haste across the day lit clouds.

"Sorry we're late to the party!" said the squadron leader.

"Just in time! Hold off these jerks until the armor gets here!" said the captain.

The jets streamlined across the sky, rotary cannons spinning and spitting smoke faster than a sonic boom. The weaponry cut and tore through the ranks of griffons, and the missiles on board only assisted the fighter/bombers. They swirled and took turns strafing the even more demoralized griffons, and the ensuing cheers of humans and ponies alike livened the atmosphere, enough to the point that the ponies had gotten over the gory parts of war, which in the human's case, all of it.

However, they had forgotten about one thing, the battle wagons. They spat massive, javelin sized bolts in their five griffon crew, spitting and goring the occasional human. The planes were out of ammunition, and they needed to head back as well. It might also help to know that this unit of marines were in fact, not equipped with personal shield generators.

"Yes! Keep pushing! We shall win this battle!" boasted the King.

"Sire, I managed to gather ten heads of the humans!" came a soldier, who had managed to puncture the frontal defenses.

"Ha ha! I knew these 'demons' were mere mortals!" bragged the King more.

Still, everyone has their mistakes, even the Griffon military. Nobody saw anyone sneak a massive tank into the field without anything knowing.

"The Devil called, he wants his children back!" shouted the tank commander over his loudspeaker.

The twin barrels barked with pure hatred, sending the destructive power of 145 millimeter guns into the horde. To deepen the wound even further, the rest of the armored company broke in guns blazing.

"Someone call for the cavalry?" asked the company commander.

"Am I glad to see you! Come on, we have a war to win!" ordered the captain.

"Roger that!' pipped the tank driver.

"Retreat! Their battle wagons are stronger than ours!" said the King.

"How is that?!" said the servant.

"No matter, we stand no chance! Grab the fallen humans' weapons, maybe we can do something with them, make more things!" ordered High Cloud.

"What? We know nothing of their tools, ou-" said the servant, being cut off.

"Silence! Just get them and go!" said the King.

The mass retreat sent the griffons into a flurry of confusion, some staying and some going. Either way, the griffon battle wagons still provided enough cover for them to let their King escape, albeit some minor injuries.

-Back in Space around FIM-Delta-

A large fleet of black ships with red striping across their smooth, space worthy designs slowly sputtered their way over to the planet. Their markings reminded any that saw them as a mortal enemy of the Conglomerate, the Salem Witches.

The Black Plague

The victory at the impasse was of course, not without a cost. Deaths on the human/pony side had rocketed up to a strong one hundred dead, and the morale had dropped significantly from the mourning of many.

"In honor of the deceased, we perform this hasty memorial. Arms up!" ordered the colonel.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

A volley of seven guns rang.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

Another.

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

The final volley ended.

The other countries' own forms of memorials for their own began as well, and the event would end not long after. Still, they had to advance and make their first attack on Griffon territory. The war was in full swing.

-Back at Canterlot-

"Princess, another victory for our soldiers!" reported Shining Armor.

"Very good, I just hope the humans don't drag this on for longer than it should." replied Celestia.

"Princess, at this rate, the war should be over in a short time., faster than any recorded war of the past!" replied Shining.

"Yes, but, how? Their weapons and technology are superior to any on this planet. They came from space, for the Creator's sake. Who knows what things might follow from their intrusion..."

--------------------------

The Canterlot nobility strutted about, commerce and various conversations indecipherable amongst the noise. Bartering, trading, and the clicking of bits on counters was all that could be heard in the echo of voices. Still, the ever menacing view of the Icarus-M class Hybrid, along with its escorts, stood at full stature before the mountain city.

Even after the two continuous victories, the nobility still had their doubts about the humans and their allies.

"Do they at least understand basic economy? And what is with their uniforms, they look ridiculous!" wondered Filthy Rich. "I bet they can't even do a job better than a single Royal Guard."

Then, as if a loud droning noise had arrived, two large black blobs streaked across the sky, unleashing a hail of small black dots, opening what appeared to be rectangular, ribbed cloth.

"Attention citizens of Canterlot! What you are witnessing above you, is a drill. No need to panic, I repeat, this is merely. A drill." said a human walking down the streets of Canterlot, shouting into her megaphone.

"What form of drill is this? You aliens don't even possess wings!" said a noble.

"This, is HALO jumping. A method aerial entry into an area, and a very simple method of offensive ground control. You exit by jumping out of a plane, or a flying vehicle of a sort, free falling a set distance down, and finally releasing a parachute, a cloth used for slowing down the fall to a survivable speed." Informed the human.

"That sounds like a terrible thing to practice!" said a random pony.

"Don't worry, this is only an exercise done by those willing and capable." relayed the human.

"So, you do this, as an improving test? You humans really are crazy!" shouted a royal.

"Don't panic, you ponies have biological wings. How have they not broken off at the speeds some of you get to?" retorted the soldier.

The ponies reeled back at the thought of their wings suddenly snapping off, but relieved at the remembering that the soldier had said 'some'.

-Canterlot Castle-

"Princess, allies from other countries wish to speak with you." reported a guardsman.

"Ah, yes, let them in. Do you know what it is?" replied Celestia.

"No ma'am." said the guard.

"Well, continue with the gates." ordered the Princess.

The guard trotted off at a brisk pace to the front gate's sentries, ordering them to open the front door.

As soon as that order was sent, the great polished wooden barriers creaked open, revealing the pearly insides to the ponies and the delegates of other countries.

"So, this is the inside of the Royal Castle?" said a ram.

"Wow, it really does look better from the inside." commented a minotaur.

"Indeed." added in a avian.

"Welcome to Canterlot everyone." bid welcome the Princess, also having woken up Luna for this occasion. "Pray tell, what has prompted you to come to the castle at this time?"

"Well your highness, these, 'vistors' to our world, alongside the recent discovering of your war with the Griffon empire, we wish to ask you something. In private." said the avian.

"Oh, well, come inside, I shall have the staff prepare you a meal." said Celestia.

"That won't be necessary your majesty, we only wish to speak with you." winked the minotaur.

"Celly, I don't understand their mea-" peeped Luna.

"Shh, I know what they are trying to say." replied Celestia. "Please, follow."

The small group of emmisaries and royalty went off on a short trip.

A trip, to the War Room.

"Sir, you might want a look at this!" pipped a young cadet.

"What is it, cadet?" replied Jarvis.

"It-its the Salem Witches!" reported the recruit.

"What?" said a surprised Jarvis. "Their next predicted attack was in the Maroonis system!"

"That isn't the real problem here sir, its, they are on FIM-Delta, and to make things worse, they have arrived with the largest recorded fleet!" said the cadet.

"Why here? Why not somewhere more strategic, like in Stereven?" asked Jarvis.

"No idea sir, all that we know, is this fleet is well over a thousand strong!" replied the cadet.

"Mother of God." plainly said Jarvis.

"So Screech, anything new from HQ?" asked Bullet Monkey.

"The Witches." said Screech.

"What about them?" asked Atom.

"They are on the planet, and the orbital fleet is well over a thousand." blandly said the team leader.

"Alright, that should take the battle fleets a good month to get here." said Atom.

"Lets hope we aren't dead by the time they get here." said Bullet Monkey.

"No matter, lets get moving." ordered Screech.

The trio, along with the massive army of three combined units, began their trek into the snowy tundra of the Griffon Empire.

"Sir, we can't hold off these loyalist dogs any longer! We have to evacuate what we have left!" suggested a Changeling rebel.

A rebel general stabbed a charging loyalist with his iron sword. "Quick, get the Lord out of here! We can hold them off, just get him to the humans!" replied the general.

"Yes, sir!" said the trooper, running off to go retrieve the king.

The general watched the young Changeling run off into the distance. "Alright everyone, we die here. Take that in with pride, it will be your last. Ensure the Lord gets help from the humans. Only the Creator can assist us now."

A massive droning noise came from the catacombs in front of the small group of nine.

"Hold your ground, don't let loosen your armor! LET OUR SOULS BE THE LIGHTS IN DARKNESS!" shouted the general.

A swarm of black chitin charged towards the tiny bits of red and purple on the rebel horns, and the clashing of swords commenced almost immediately.

"Alright , how long until your fleet and the rest can get here?" asked Jarvis.

"A month at best, surprise attacks can slow progress." replied the fleet commander Haggard.

"Copy, we will do the best we can to hold out." replied Jarvis.

The Admiral then paced about in the bridge of his command ship. He only had so many spare units he could spare to hold off the incoming threat, only worsened by the coming assaults on Griffon territory.

"Sire, our scouts have found the humans at this area. Shall we begin the assault, or shall we try and get some meatshields ready before our insertion?" asked a Witch.

"No, we need to keep our presence as low as possible. The humans are bound to have already found our presence here, our fleet is already quite hefty. We should try to get these 'Griffons' to do some of the dirty work." replied another.

"Right away my liege." snapped a Witch.

Music pumped and rolled in Atom's headset.

"How do you listen to that music?" asked Bullet Monkey.

"Easy, expand further than rap." quipped Atom.

"Oh, don't know how bad that was, but it seems an inferno is roaring." added in Screech.

"Shut up!" quickly defended Bullet Monkey.

The trio argued over which music choice was better, while the companies kept their march onwards strong. Winter clothes and gear were distributed among the soldiers beforehand, and the weather reports of the trek was very rough. Some soldiers even chipped in, saying how the winters of Russia couldn't compare.

"Freezing my nips off out here." commented a soldier.

"Hey, better than being stuck on a boat." replied another.

"Pretty boat sure don't suffer from heater problems." retorted the first soldier,

As the comments went on, footsteps among the snowy tundra were muffled beneath the treads of tanks, the engines of vehicles, and mulching of boots hitting snow and ice.

"Target in sight." reported a Witch.

"Copy, fire at will." replied another.

"Roger that." said the first.

The Witch pulled the slide on her rifle, nodding to the mixed genders of soldiers behind her.

"Open fire." ordered the Witch.

She pulled the trigger on her rifle, the sights trained upon a Bullfrog.

A bullet cracked, its powerful cartridge flying out of the barrel. Its spinning kept it on direction, sending it towards the target.

"I'm just telling you guys to open your music choices outwards to accept other things, whats so wrong about tha-" said Atom, being interrupted.

"Shh, you hear that?" said Screech.

"Yeah, it sounded like a gunsh-" A bullet smashed through the shield and armor Atom was using, ripping apart his skull and sending bones, blood, and brain matter all about the white, pearly snow, caking it in a deep crimson. Atom's head was now a small, empty nub, veins of blood stringing out and spewing tiny amounts of blood in an orderly fashion.

"No!" shouted Screech.

Screech's heart sunk deep. The loss of a childhood friend and comrade in arms did a heavy toll on his morale, the wound being dug deeper with the fact that Atom's birthday was coming up the next day.

"C'mon Screech, no time for mourning!" tugged Bullet Monkey.

Screech knew he had to move, but his feet just couldn't pick themselves up. Good thing he had his legs do it for him!

Pulling Screech behind a tank, Bullet Monkey started to raise his weapon and fired away at various directions, not knowing where the gunshot came from.

"We need to get moving!" ordered Screech, trying his hardest to ignore Atom's corpse.

"On it!" replied Bullet Monkey.

The now-duo sprinted off to a vehicle nearby, hopping in and ordering the driver to push on at an accelerated rate.

"All units, push onward! I repeat, push onward! We need to keep moving if we want to meet up with the others!" shouted Screech, into the radio.

"Whats a 'prototype'?"

"Today is yet another day, where we remember the name of a man who both revolutionized the modern assault rifle, and developed the most produced and used weapon in the world. Rest in peace, Mikhail." said a reporter over his microphone, standing in front of the museum dedicated to Mikhail Kalashnikov.

"24 years this has been going on, I wish it never stops." said a scientist blandly, staring at a rookie. "We should get this armor project started."

"Right away, professor." snapped the recruit.

The camp in the Whitetail Woods was breathing with life, voices, and training filling the area. Researchers from the advance group however, still stood around for some testing and discovered something.

"Kalkin, come over here." ordered the head scientist. "How are the experiments on the metal going?"

"Wonderful, sir. The substance appears to be able to bend and stretch beyond all currently found dimensions, and the weight appears to be substantially little. Kinetic energy tests go beyond expected, it can both stop and penetrate items, the shaped object smashed through the Phyxa plating cleanly, no other damages, only a direct line through. Magnetic abilities appear to have no complications, making it great for Gauss weaponry, and last but not least, it appears to be infused to every pony we have encountered so far. In their horns, wings, hooves, all sorts of silly places. It also appears to be in those little tattoos on their flanks!" reported the researcher.

"Even better, try to gather more, see if we can't find a way to shape this into something more useful, like a tool of some sort?" commented the lead scientist.

"Screech, we need to keep going! We need to be at the marked location in three hours to link up with other task forces!" said Bullet Monkey.

"The pedal is locked up, and the gas is dwindling out! One of those Witches must have shot the gas tank!" said Screech.

"Shift that shit into neutral, we managed to escape those S Dubya's, we can push a humvee to another convoy!" shouted Bullet Monkey.

"Lieutenant, how are things going back there?" asked Screech, over the radio.

"Not too good sir, we have injured troopers and low morale back here. Pretty sure I heard some noises off into those snowy woods to." reported the Lieutenant.

After the short but heavy excursion with the Witches from before, the convoy was pretty weak. Tank treads went out from various explosives, gas tanks were shot, some soldiers were injured, a few died, and the trek to the next link up was about 2 hours away.

"This Christmas don't look to bright sarge." said a trooper.

"Damn right it don't, I have a wife and kids back home, how do you think they are faring after signing up for this?" replied the sergeant.

"Its gonna be a cold winter." simply stated a walking soldier.

"Princess Sparkle, a letter from Princess Celestia!" snapped a guardspony.

A letter by hoof? These don't occur very often....

Twilight pondered on what the special occasion warranted the delivery of a courier with a letter, easily sent through magic. That is, until she looked at the paper. It wasn't normal, it was rough, very crinkly, and had a stain of... blood?

"O-Oh my. Thank you sir." said Twilight taking the rolled up letter.

"Spike!" shouted Twilight.

Watching Spike tumble down the stairs after being awoken in such a groggy state, he walked over to where Twilight stood.

"Whats wrong Twi'?" asked Spike.

"The Princess sent us a letter, personally." Twilight said blandly.

'What for?" replied Spike.

"I have no idea!" Twilight stated back.

Unraveling the scroll with her hoof, she looked down with a face of terror.

"To the residences of Ponyville, these dire times have called for drastic measures. It appears.. that other aliens have made contact.. with bad intentions..." Twilight read with a hint of fear. "We have no idea what to expect, and we must enlist the help of the other nations. Our human allies have also told us of their response, sending a strong fleet to assist in our predicament. The bad part however... is it will take from a few weeks to a month..."

Twilight's hooves were shaking.

No! No more! Make the worry stop! Twilight thought.

Her pupils shook, dilated, and wobbled about, displaying her feelings like a bright, shining star.

"Uh, Twi?" asked Spike. "You alright?"

"Sire, those metal airboats above us have landed!" reported a messenger.

"Good, they looked radically different to those humans anyway, lets see what they want." ordered the King.

The large metal doors leading to the throne room swung open, the hinges creaking and groaning under the weight. Then, a tall, sleek, metallic figure stepped into the room.

"King High Cloud, I am Regrod. I come in favor of you becoming an ally, and we would very much wish to assist you in your war." said the tall Witch, with a hint of a small, but unnoticeable smirk.

"Aha, very good! Well, speak. Any other things you wish to ask?" calmly asked the King.

"Ah, yes, this-" said Regrod, pulling out a glowing red rifle.

She pulled the trigger, letting loose a torrent of destructive, red, solid projectiles at the King. Almost every single one pierced his skull.

"The tech department's gift to you." Regrod finished.

Griffon guards charged at Regrod, but her own bodyguards had rushed in on time, slaughtering the others with ease. Many Shing sounding noises filled the room, alongside a few blasts similar of that to a human firearm, spraying the walls with fresh red blood.

"Alright everyone, lets get to work." ordered Regrod.

Mountain City Woes

Screech and Bullet Monkey were sore, but they, alongside the battle damaged company trailing behind them, fell upon the meeting site, where they were told to regroup and formulate a way in to the Griffon territories, unknowing to them it had already been taken by "other" reasons.

"Jesus tap-dancing Christ and his merry band of Snowmen, my back hurts." complained Screech.

"Walk it off pussy." retorted Bullet Monkey.

"Whatever. Shouldn't the others be here by now?" asked Screech.

"Hold up, what is that?" Bullet Monkey said, pointing to what seemed to be a boot.

"Is that... a boot?" Screech commented. "Come on, lets take a look."

The duo walked up to the boot, noticing a small trail of blood, red blood to be exact.

"Red blood, oxygenous..." Screech commented, his helmet's HUD beeping at signs of possible danger.

Suddenly, a soldier of what appeared to be the Snakeheads rushed out of the pale white snow.

"Run, run for your lives!" the soldier panicked.

"Woah, woah, slow down. What happened?" asked Screech.

"Bullfrogs, thank God! It came out of nowhere, just screaming and hollering while spitting fire!" the soldier said.

While it was rare for a soldier of the legendary Snakeheads to be packing it into the blind, this seemed to one of those occasions where there was no excuse. This man had a look of horror, his face scorched and blackened, his armor melted and dented.

"What, what is it'?" asked Screech, being interrupted as a very loud and ear numbing noise boomed overhead.

A shadow cast over the tundra, lacing it in black as a scaly creature zoomed past.

"Motherfucker, if that is a dragon I swear..." complained Bullet Monkey, gawking at the massive figure before him.

The massive, scaled figure swooped down over the battered company, sweeping its general area with blisteringly hot fire. Melting snow, ice, and scorching the ground below, the mighty wail of the great beast of myths reverberated in all of the soldier's ears.

The infantry and their vehicular escorts opened fire with their weapons, the bullets breaking upon impact, but making visible impacts on the dragon.

"What does thing thing have on it, nanomeds?!" a soldier shouted.

"Just keep shooting it!" ordered another.

Then, the tanks had managed to adjust their weaponry enough to hit the dragon as it swooped overhead, making numerous sweeping passes with scorching heat.

"The Creedance is too far off helping evacuate nearby cities, they are at risk of being attacked by these Griffons, keep firing until the tanks can move their autocannons into range!" Screech shouted.

The massive scaled beast swung by for another breath of flame, but the twenty millimeter cannons had begun to release their payload, each of the shells making a visible hit in the dragon's powerful skin. Thankfully, the flying lizard had appeared to be pretty weak after the first two volleys, sending the creature down into a inescapable crash course with the ground.

"Eat it, ya bastard." a soldier snidely remarked.

The dragon hit the ground, sending snow, scales, and spatter of blood onto the ground and the surrounding area.

"Beasts..." the dragon said, under its breath.

The company watched as the dragon slowly died, giving the battered army a quick rest before they could make another push.

"So, Princess, the deed is done. We shall aid in the defense of your kingdom, as long as you supply us with your fire sands." the Minotaur said.

"Indeed it is. Now, is there anything else you wish to ask?" Celestia inquired.

"Well, there is one thing..." the Minotaur had asked, with the other ambassadors displaying similar interests.

A large cargo ship coming out of the massive metal beast above, came landing down upon a pre-fabricated airbase. This airbase was very conveniently placed a reasonable space outside of the great mountain city of Canterlot, unloading its bipedal passengers. The stamping of boots was very definite, and the group marched into the great city. Ponies stood by, watching as the soldiers were led through by an officer.

"What are the humans doing here?" cried many.

"I knew it, they have come to take our land!" shouted more.

Fear and passive feelings of remorse fed through the Canterlot streets as the soldiers coursed their way over to the front of the palace. It took a bit, but Princess Celestia had managed to get to the soldiers, with an unresponsive Blueblood trailing behind.

"Auntie, no!" Blueblood said. "I'm not done doing my papers!"

"Hush, child!" Celestia said in a surprisingly demanding tone, turning to the officer afterwards. "What is going on?"

"Princess, we have received reports of a possible hostile alien attack on the palace. We were sent here to defend accordingly." the officer said.

"But you have only a small handful of guardsmen, how could you possibly defend with only about five hundred?" Blueblood questioned.

"You have not yet seen the wonders of human technology, my friend." the officer said in a stern reply.

"How? Your weapons are blunt and appear to be useless at attack range!" Blueblood said.

"These are not weapons of melee, but can be made into them. Our weapons are primarily ranged, however." the officer said.

Suddenly, an all too familiar noise boomed from the airbase.

"YOU NEED TO GET YOUR CIVILIANS OUT OF THEIR HOMES, NOW!" the officer shouted, suddenly sounding very demanding.

"Why are you shouting?!" Blueblood said, unknowing of the coming dangers.

"MOVE, NOW!" a soldier shouted, taking the Princess on a path to the safe zone a few miles away.

Sounds of the ack-ack rolled away in the background, sending a handful of jets in the background tumbling down. Friendly aircraft roared overhead, assisting in the defense of the city as dozens of royalty were pulled into the streets and out into a nearby pre-fab bunker. The citizens were cranky, but they did not complain as numerous homes were sent burning or exploding in their faces.

"IS EVERYONE OUT OF THEIR HOMES?!" shouted a soldier on his megaphone.

"Canterlot is being pounded to hell!" shouted a soldier into his radio. "We need to get the Princess out of here!"

"Copy that, sending armed evac to your location, over." said a communications expert in the Grahm.

That was when the Griffons poured in. It appeared to the previously unknowing soldiers that the Griffons were collaborating with the Witches, and chose a very decisive strike on the Pony capital. Griffons charged at the spread out groups of human defenders, bewildered by what was occurring. Griffon warriors were being ripped to shreds by the deafeningly loud rifles, and the heavy weapons soldier firing away with her M2 Browning. Yet, they still charged onwards, not losing any of the zeal they had previously.

"Why is there so many?!" a recruit said.

"Don't lose faith soldier, you're a Triple Seven!" reassured a corporal.

The Kangaroo buzzed forwards, equipped with a twenty millimeter cannon under the nose for protection. It was trailed by another three kangaroos,two refitted with attack weaponry and one with transport uses.

"Lucky Two-One, this is Hermes 1-1, we are on approach, ETA five minutes." the squadron leader said.

"Copy that!" the radio soldier said in reply.

"Evac is incoming, ETA five minutes!" the radio operator shouted.

"Get the civilians ready to pack it up!" ordered the officers, firing away with his carbine.

Out of seemingly nowhere, the Princess teleported out of the bunker, and beside the soldiers.

"Where is Luna!?" the Princess screamed.

The Royal Palace shook with fury as rockets and other explosives jiggled the massive castle. Luna was currently huddled up in a corner, covering her head as she shivered with fear and dismay.

"Celly, where are youuuu!" Luna shouted in a broken voice. The massive loss of life and sudden violence rocked and battered her mind. She never knew the horrors of modern warfare. "Celly please, come out!"

Luna beckoned and cried for her sibling, akin to her younger years.

"Princess, is that you?" a familiar voice shouted.

"Shining? Ambassadors? Anypony?!" Luna screamed.

"Its all of us! We need to get you out of here!" Shining Armor replied, still not yet in sight.

Cadance trotted her way over, spotting Luna in her decimated state.

"Are you alright?" Cadance asked.

"Yes, yes, lets go." Luna said quickly, wishing to escape the horrors.

The group made it to the front of the palace at long last, stepping off of the stairs and onto the floor of the outside ground, glad to be free of the hellish things occurring inside the palace, just to see the destruction outside of it. Then, as if one rocket was specifically aimed for them, one zipped by at lightning fast speeds, bashing into a nearby, weakened pillar, sending it and the rest of the frontal supports of the palace tumbling down in a flurry of gust and destruction. Luna was however, the closest to the shower if debris, flinging a massive chunk of marble down onto the poor alicorns rearward half.

She screamed in dreadful agony as the pearly white marble that once decorated and held up the palace from the front crushed, shattered, and obliterated her leg to point of no return. That was when the evacuation came.

Luna whimpered, even more broken than before, "Please, make this horror stooooop!"

"LUNA!" Celestia shouted in dismay. " Just wait, the humans are here! They can help!" Celestia continued, in a feeble state of voice.

"Cel-Celestia!" Luna cried. "Move the p-pillar with your magic, I can-can't feel my le-legs!"

Celestia rose up, using her zeal and powerful alicorn magic to try and lift the pillar from her sister's body, sadly doing very little to help Luna from her predicament.

"Its no use sister, I am to-too weak to as-assist.." Luna managed to push out.

"No, I wont leave you here to die!" Celestia said, her heart aching.

"Its okay, Ce-Celly, just.. end... this war.." Luna said, her voice fading.

"Princess, if you will allow me..." the officer asked.

"Yes, end her suffering." Celestia meeped.

The officer raised his handgun to deliver the coup de grace, saying quietly a passing away rite.

"May you rest in peace..." the officer said, pulling the trigger.

The pony citizens stood by and watched the ordeal as one of their beloved leaders passed away before their eyes. The massive loss of life stunned them all. What was once their immortal leader, is now a mere corpse below a pile of debris. Ambassadors from the other countries watched with weary souls, Cadance and Shining Armor were stunned, and soldiers from both the Kangaroos and the defense garrison lowered their heads in respect to the deceased leader.

Prologue

The New Conglomerate, an interplanetary force for the well being of others. For years, the humans that were within this mass of many have been searching for suitable planets to colonize, set up, and form a massive empire for their residents.. Alongside the humans, are their allies. A xeno peoples known as the Frack, and a insectoid species of alien known as the Zeen' To, these people travel worlds in order to expand the ever growing races. One planet in particular, or FIM-Delta as it is known, has been a planet of interest, as it has random bursts of radioactive actitvity that pop up on occasion. What really made the planet special, however, was the "drawn" appearance of said planetary body. Either way, the planet was very similar to Earth in both the gases and life supporting habitat. Grass and other plant life could be spotted, and it seemed that simple bodies of life had already inhabited the planet. In the end, it is truly a mystery that could only be solved by a few scientific minds with a great appetite for discovery. Furthermore, the solar system is not an uncommon sight, with the planet revolving around the sun with a singular moon gravitating around the planet. It did seem that the green continents had also been wrapped in a burst of colored energy each 18 Earth hours, increasing the planet's oddities to one higher.

Currently, a fleet of colonization and combat ships were about to exit warp soon into the planet's orbit, readying their internal scout and research teams.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tia!" - shouted Luna, - "It is time to raise the moon once more! Will you accompany me as I do so?"

Moments later, Princess Celestia replied, "Of course sister. But for what occasion? Is something bothering you?"

"Its just, I feel that each time to feel the moon under my magic, its like I see large metal hulks slowly heading toward us. They had engravings on them, but they were unintelligible under the blurred gaze." Luna had stated.

"But what do you mean Lulu? Do you think-" Celestia had begin to say, but was interrupted by Princess Luna shortly after -

"Celly, I dont think we are the only ones in the world. Not just the Griffons, not the Diamond Dogs, nor the Buffalo, Minotaur, or the Changelings. We.. we might not even be gods."

"Luna, dont think that. As long as our ponies are living happily, we shouldn't think like that. I mean, look. If we move the sun and the moon, don't you think that we are vital for this world's survival?" Said Celestia.

"Oh, alright. I just hope for the safety of our little ponies." Luna had then replied.

-Griffon Kingdom, Capital City Tempest-

"Jarif! Fetch the Captain of the Honor Guard!" shouted King High Cloud. "Tell them to prepare a unit for a battle."

"But what for, my lord?" queried Jarif.

"We go to Equestria. I am tired of them just using us as a mere tool for them to have "peace". Our people and their true nature is a warrior caste! We have been masters of combat for generations, only to halt for some other nations needs! Make sure nobody else finds out, not yet. We need to make sure this is shrouded in secrecy, Equestria will be sent into shock, allowing us to propose recruitment to the masses. We will end this usage of our own, we will overwhelm them, and we will leave none alive to witness it!" came the King's zeal pumped plan.

The "First" Acts of War

The Changelings that were pulled in from the defector forces had been cooped up in the Appleoosan barracks for about a night, and already, problems had sprung up. Tense anger towards the insectoids was being thrown about, and the humans only had so many to keep the fights from breaking out.

"You scum are merely spies from the Queen herself!" yelled a pony.

"Then why would we let your allies kill those loyalist fools?!" replied a Changeling soldier.

"You probably just used that as trickery, like your fellows!" shouted a pony.

The endless banter of racist comments toward the Changeling warriors seemed to have no end in sight, and it would not bid well for the other aliens, including the humans. They wanted to help sort it out, but neither did they want to disrupt any standing, albeit minute, ideals of peace within the flustered groups. The accompanying Zeen' To soldiers couldn't help but feel the Changeling's pain over the ordeal either, for they too were suffering under the wrath of xenophobia when they first joined the New Conglomerate, and to make matters much worse, they looked quite similar to the Changelings.

"Aliza, what should we do?" pondered a trooper.

"I have no idea, their quarrel seems to have no end." replied Aliza.

All of a sudden, punches could be heard, and they were definitely hard.

"Take that you worthless pile of shit!" yelled a pony.

Many Royal Guardsmen were taken aback by that sentence, but they nonetheless continued with their onslaught of insults and fighting.

"Hey! HEY! Break it up!" intervened a human soldier.

"You! Why aren't you escorting these vile monsters out of here? I thought you were here to liberate us from our enemies!" interrogated the pony.

"No, you! I thought you were a peaceful race, one who tried its hardest to avoid pointless battles, and fighting only when needed! Well, if not, us at the Conglomerate are! We stood through many hardships with our enemies, and one even managed to become our allies! Move along!" ordered the human.

"Y-You humans are the harbingers of death! The myths told us wrong, but no! You allow this act of menace in!" said the pony.

"Hey! We meant you no acts of harm, and you treat us like dirt when we allow what could just possibly be more allies to help you in your inevitable loss? You heard me, your war is a lost cause! If it weren't for us, half your country would have already been lost!" declared the human soldier.

"What?! You aliens are nothing more than a spec in our great universe! Even the sun orbits around our blessed planet!" filled in the pony, not noticing the growing crowd of soldiers of all races.

"Here, here's your problem. Your people live in an age where we have gotten past these follies. The sun does not orbit around you. You, orbit around it." said the human, changing the subject to a somewhat heated scientific debate.

"Wh-what?! You have no such proof! You can be branded a heretic for that!" said the pony, forgetting the limits of human technology and power.

"Oh, but we do. observe." said the human, clicking on his wrist computer's holographic display. "Here, is your planet."

"Our... our planet?" said FIM-Delta's inhabitants.

"Impossible! Our world is flat, you would fall off, what land is this behind ours?!" gasped the pony.

"No, it is not. And, you still believe this, when a space faring civilization goes across, hundreds, thousands, MILLIONS of untold space, and you still think that you are the pinpoint position of the universe? Technically yes, in a way, for we ALL are the center of the universe of one thinks about it, but think. Think on a larger scale. You-" said the human, pointing a gloved finger at the speculative pony, "-are the spec of the universe."

This revelation, this huge unveiling of philosophy, hit them harder than puberty hit Tay Zonday.

The Manehattan front had been bolstered somewhat with varying amounts of pony guardsmen, and each citizen and soldier had just gotten news of the aliens entering Equestria and its planet. Many pondered over if the aliens were the invaders that were fictionalized in various movies, but the old myths told otherwise. They were the great protectors of the universe, carrying life in its very hands, and bringing aid to those who were in need. Still, many were worried or curious over the true beliefs of the xenos.

Suddenly, a loud blaring of music overhead was heard. Large, metal hawks streaked across the sky, with larger but slower ones in tow.

It appeared as if they were heading towards the great jungles and mountains of the Griffon Empire, which the citizens of Manehattan had recently learned of that war had hit Equestria.

"Look! Are those the aliens?" stood the ponies in awe.

Many stood in shock and wonder as the metallic birds streamlined across the day sky, seemingly faster than any chariot or pegasus has gone.

"I doubt those 'aliens' are faster than our pegasi!" said a pegasus in the crowd.

"Well why don't you go see for yourself?" said an interrupting human, who happened to be Screech.

The ponies reeled back as they saw Screech appear out of thin air.

"I-Its the alien!" shouted a pony.

"Run away!" shouted another.

Yet, nobody did. they were all frozen in terror as a good hundred more appeared in the same manner as Screech.

"Ponies of Equestria!" shouted Atom over his loudspeaker. "We mean you no harm, we only come to assist you in a time of war!"

Many ponies were skeptical about the war at most, but they were still surprised to find out that the war was actually happening.

"S-so you are actually being sent off to k-k-kill people!?" wondered a pony.

"Sadly, yes. It appears this war, as of right now, we cannot end this in a shower of gifts and happiness." said Atom.

"But, I thought the magic of friendship could stop all?" asked a young foal, about 3.

This stabbed and gutted the heart of many citizens, seeing a young child, a foal at most, really ached their hearts.

"Is there any other way?" questioned a pony.

"I'm sorry. Your nation is at risk and we cannot stand by to allow your culture to be forcefully removed." said Atom.

After that, many ponies stepped aside to let the humans and pony guardsmen that accompanied the marching army, heading northwards to the growing battleground. Back at Canterlot however...

"Alright, Steel Talon, we can get up to the demons ship by filling the airboat with... air. Anyway, begin the process. We must end this before it begins!" ordered the squad leader Griffon.

The balloon slowly filled with air, and began its journey up to the Grahm. Its sister ships guns had began to rotate and swivel toward the possible threat however, and the griffons had not taken notice.

"Aha! The demons don't even know we are coming!" boasted a fledgling.

"Sir, unknown aircraft is heading this way! It appears to be... an airboat?" reported the crew chief.

"Copy, order it to identify itself before it gets any closer. If it does not heed to our directions, fire away. Maybe the Equestrians would like a light show." ordered Jarvis.

"Aye, aye!" replied the crew chief, running off to the PA systems.

"Un-ID'd aircraft! Halt your advance and identify!" blared the crew chief's voice.

"Sir! They know!"" shrieked a recruit.

"But how?! Our technology is the best in the world, we are the superpower in flight!" replied the Griffon leader.

"Uh, uh... oh! Of course, we can lure them in with their airboat! We might be able to hijack it!" said a Griffon.

"Idiot! We are the underdogs here, don't you understand?!" yelled a infiltrator.

"Sir, they aren't responding!" said the crew chief.

"Hm... perhaps they don't have comms on that craft? Send down one of our reserve jets. I want to know who these are..." ordered Jarvis.

The spare jet rolled out of the side hangar of the Grahm, firing up its VTOL function. It gently graced itself over to the Griffon airboat, its weapons bared and menacing.

"Uh... sir?" asked the pilot.

"We hear you son, whats going on?" replied Jarvis.

"The ship.. is a Griffon craft..." said the pilot.

"Copy. Whats your course of action?" asked Jarvis.

"Uh, heading back to base." stated the pilot.

"Got it, aiming main Lance battery." said Jarvis.

"Lance batteries sir? Don't think that's a little... harsh?" said Jarvis.

"Aye, aye." said the crew chief running off, again, to inform the crew to fire upon the airboat.

A small handful of broadside gunners aimed and swiveled their one gun to aim at the small ship, wishing to bring out some early fireworks for the citizens down below the spaceship.

"Targeting mechanism set!" shouted a gunner.

"HSAP (Heatseeking Armor Piercing) loaded!" shouted the loader.

"Ready!"

"Take aim!"

"Fire!"

A massive fireball roared at high speeds toward the small airboat, which had very basic thrusters to push itself around.

"Agh! We are gonna die!" gasped a Griffon.

"No! Just keep pus-" the squad leader was interrupted as a missile crashed into the hull of the flying wooden balloon, and detonating within the space provided. One could see small bits of ash and ember falling from the now disintegrated wreck, leaving a profound explosion.

"Sir, what now?" asked the crew chief.

"Carry on, send off one of the sister ships out to help the advance team, you know the rest." replied Jarvis.

"Hey Alverson, switch that vintage tune to some new stuff!" said Corporal Corvis.

"Oh, and I thought you wanted to recreate the Vietnam War?" queried the pilot.

"Oh, uh... whatever! Just switch it on to the SAT-1...." said Corvis.

"Ask and you shall recieve." said the pilot.

Then, a message flashed into each of the soldiers HUDs. It read, "Sister ship HMS Creedance is dispatched to support you, good hunting!"