Broken Skies

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.