Titanfall: New Horizons

Chapters

Findings and Awaking
Ground
Griffons
Preparations
Skyfall
Machine
Turning of Battle
Coming to Terms
Why we Fight
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Names and Dates
Bonus!

Findings and Awaking

Joshua jumped to a start as he felt himself drowning in the sweat of his bunk. He reached for his forehead and began to wipe away the accumulated liquid with his hands as he panted slowly, trying to calm himself from the terrible nightmare he had. Yet again. He remembered it all too well. He got up from the middle bunk, throwing the blanket atop the mattress, and made his way to the crew restrooms. As he walked across the cold metal floors of the Horizon, he remembered the terrible nightmare that had been forsaking him for years now.

\\\//////

It was just another drop against the Militia, like any other day for the Pilot and his team. They were supposed to guard the anti-ship cannons from any kind of sabotage operation the Militia may take against the facility and ensure the functionality of the gun at any cost, even their Titans. That was when they had their real taste of Militia resistance. Up until then, Joshua just assumed that the Militia were just stealing fuel so they could evacuate their raiders, all the while covering up their tracks to ensure that the pirates that founded it could loot out valuables from the abandoned cities and profit on them at the expense of innocents. That's one of the reasons he signed up for the IMC Pilot Corps. He despised the idea of good people being forced out of their homes and loosing their property to pirates after an unnecessary war. That's why he signed up, to bring justice to those who made others suffer for their ultimate gain. That, and the fact that he had family to protect. His parents were mid-class workers in the cities of New Henoi, or what the area was known as to the Spyglass, Fracture. They didn't live in luxury, but it was still a good life-style they lived. They married pretty early, considering that Joshua was about 23 when he signed up for the Pilot training. That, and the fact that he now had a younger brother and sister to look after now, as well. They looked up to him in ways that made him fight even harder, to ensure they had a safe place to grow up in. Until the Militia rolled into the city.

It was just a routine mission to ensure that the Militia couldn't fuel up on their necessities, or that they wouldn't let a bounty of shitty treasures go to waste. So, when the Militia began to attack the city, Joshua decided to make sure that they wouldn't come close to harming his home while he was still kicking. After killing every Pilot at the guns, Joshua decided to call in on his parent's personal communicators, and find out how they were doing. He heard that they made it aboard the evacuation ships just as the invading forces had begun to drop Titans in to kill civilians. Titans to kill civilians. Joshua nearly threw down his arms at the mention of this, but was thankful to hear that his little siblings had made it out just fine as well. Until he heard the name of the ship they made it aboard: the Redeye. He looked out to the ship that the Militia had over the city: the very same ship. Then, the guns fired off. He heard his family panicking over the comms and tried to process everything going on at once.

Right up to the point of the ship exploding in the middle of the sky-line, and the channel going dead simultaneously. He dropped to his knees and let his carbine fall flat onto the ground as the admirals began to chat over the comm. Almost no Militia warships were hit. At all. But they were able to take down 536 civilian ships from orbit, as well as stop their final evacuation from Frontier space. All according to plan. To their plan. To the IMC's plans. Not to Joshua. Not to his family that had been killed by his own victory. The victory that will haunt him for the rest of his days.

\\\//////

Joshua awoke fully as he felt the cold shower smack his senses back into him, from the face to his feet. He looked down at his pale skin, bleached from the lack of sunlight inside an Ogre cockpit for half the war. He slowly regained himself over this morning's reminder of why he now fought with the Militia. Sure, they weren't too trusting at first, but after hearing his story, refitting his Ogre, and giving him a Militia patch, they were willing to let his actions slide. This time. Unfortunately, the IMC was not as forgiving. He was branded as a high-value terrorist by Spyglass, and a traitor by his own former brothers-in-arms.

A high-pitch crackle in his ear-piece quickly brought him out of his thoughts as he was addressed by the ship's crew monitor, Diana.

"Look alive, Josh, the crew's expecting you." he heard her call out in her regularly nonchalant attitude.

"Why the hell would they expect me? Because I'm the Ogre Pilot?" Joshua asked in his mono-toned raspy voice.

"Best Ogre Pilot this side of the Battlegroup, and no, not that, but you missed something big after your little scuffle at the last fuel-raid. The ship was ambushed by a Brick after you went lights-out, and the CO and XO were KIA, leaving you as the highest ranking officer on the ship. So, naturally, they want to see their new commander-in-chief in the flesh before we end up having an undirected mutiny. So, congrats... Captain Joshua."

Joshua felt his heart suddenly burst into a race as he felt the moment hit him like an Atlas drop.

He was now in charge of one of the few Destroyers left in Battlegroup Omega. The Titan-droppers. The official commanding officer was now a Pilot. This was definitely one for the history books. If there were any left after the war.

"Damn. Alright then, time to shift into gear then, huh?" he asked as he switched off the shower and started to wring out his mid-length brown hair.

"Might want to check with Engineering before anything else though. We're not exactly close to mutiny, but they need a leader. Especially now. You'll figure out soon enough why. Bridge out."

As the comms specialist hung up, Joshua began to don his semi-casual wear, a standard forest-green tee-shirt along with his combat-harness pants and jump boots. About as casual as a Pilot can get nowadays. He fiddled with his dog tags as he looked into the mirror. The new commanding officer of Horizon. The best Ogre Pilot in the group. Best Pilot on board, and now the toughest son-of-a-bitch in the Battlegroup. If there was one left, that is. He made his way to the exit and filed into the main elevator shaft, allowing for a quick transport to the lower decks.

After about thirty seconds (or what felt like a thousand years) Joshua made his way out of the elevator and into the main room for Engineering. He found a muscular, slightly darker-toned man at the console, pushing buttons in a way that only a machine could attempt to match. Attempt. This man was proof that they didn't need to resort to the same low as IMC yet. He turned in his seat to see the elevator's new drop-off, and stood out of his seat and popped a salute as quick as lightning.

"Officer on deck!" he shouted, revealing a goatee that admittedly made Joshua jealous, and a stern look of a trustworthy soldier.

Joshua returned the salute and lowered his arm, signalling the 'at ease' status for the only two on deck.

"Ramirez, anything to report?" Joshua asked in a commanding tone.

"Well, since you were outed by the last ground engagement, we were ambushed by a Brick-class war-ship before we could jump with the fleet. Not only did it tag the CO and XO, but it ended up gutting the main control routes to the Warp-drive as well. We've been trying to find a solution to work around it, but no luck. Good news, though, we're gonna run out of hyper-fuel soon, which means we'll automatically drop out of Warp when we get too low, and we can look around the system we drop into for any kind of signs or a way back." he responded.

"What are the odds of dropping right into an IMC fleet?"

Ramirez shook his head slowly as he responded.

"Don't know sir, you'll have to take that up with the Bridge crew. They're the ones who were monitoring the jump, start to finish, we were just making sure we didn't explode half-way."

Joshua gave a solid nod to the engineer before responding.

"In that case, keep up the great work. I'll make way to the bridge."

"Aye aye, sir!" he saluted before returning to the table, activating the cross-channels to control the entire net of engineers in the ship.

Joshua left for the elevator and rode up to the bridge. When he exited, he was greeted with a colder and brighter atmosphere, along with armored-up windows, signs of breach by, most likely, the infamous Brick that killed the staff.He walked into the room and was greeted the same way as before, with crisp salutes and a standing crew, awaiting a command to stand down. Joshua returned the salutes and declared 'at ease', allowing for the crew to return to their posts. He walked up to the center consoles and addressed the officers at work.

"Anything to report, Corporal?"

The young ginger turned in his seat and looked up at the Pilot with awe and a sense of sorrow on his face.

"A few things, sir. First off, congratulations on the promotion. Secondly, we suffered minimal damage from the surprise attack, aside from the Warp-drive, but that's debatable. Third off, statistics and previous charting angles say that we should land outside of known space, shortly out of range from abandoned research outposts, so there shouldn't be any kind of IMC fleet waiting for us."

"Good to hear." Joshua felt his nerves relax a bit as he heard this good news. They wouldn't be ambushed by any fleet now, but there was still the matter of finding a way home.

"Fourth off, we're running desperately low on food in cold-storage and there isn't enough Emergency Rations to go around, sir. We may need to go to ground in the next system we come across."

Shit. Now there was a new priority. Finding food before they all starved to death aboard a faster-than-light metal coffin.

"Alright. Do we know what system we're going to come out in? Any kind of intel I should know?"

"Well, sir, we did find some old files about the system. A total anomaly by any standards. The readings show that there is potential for a colony-prepped world with signs of liquid water, but check this out."

As he said this, a large holographic screen was displayed on top of the metal window-screens, showing charts of the system and a picture that caught the Pilot's eye.

He was no physicist, had no degree in spacial theories, or any kind of astronomical wizard by any means, but he was sure of some things. One of them being that stars usually have planets revolve around them. Not the other way around.

"Is that star orbiting a planet?"

"Yes sir."

"Without turning it into a ball of lava?"

"Affirmative."

"Am I drugged right now?"

"Not to our knowledge, sir. If you were, I think there might be a leak on the ship, or the data bases, because all images show the same thing. The star of the system and the planet's own moon are the same size and orbit in the same back-and-forth pattern around the planet. We have literally no idea whatsoever about how the hell that works, but it's a damn mystery for sure."

Before Joshua could respond, however, the ship shook violently as a massive moan rocked through the hull, sending a pulse throughout all of the computers on the bridge, and nearly toppling the Pilot. As they began to recover, a radio signal beamed from Joshua's ear.

"Captain *cough cough* are you there, over?" he heard Ramirez call.

"The FUCK was that!?" he shouted back.

"Unknown anomaly that ruptured the fuel lines. We're out of Warp, sir, but we're gonna need a few days to fix the drive before we can turn for an emergency jump."

"Dammit!" he shouted as he punched the side of a console, breaking some screens and buttons in the process. He slowly backed his hand away with caution, remembering his Pilot strength, and turned to the officer.

"Wesley, what's our status?"

"Hull seems to be intact, sir. No casualties on any decks, but you may want to see this."

He pushed some buttons and revealed the image of what lied ahead of the ship. The only difference from the previous scene was the close proximity of the moon itself, and how they were now drifting alongside it's gravitational edge.

"Holy shit." Joshua muttered.

The planet looked far more like a colony than some random planet that they were used to seeing out on the Frontier. In fact, this planet looked more like Earth than anything else.

"Send a probe." Joshua commanded.

"Sir?"

"I want to know if that thing's inhabited or not before we go looking for anything."

"Thinking for a solution to the food problem already, sir?"

"Maybe we'll strike some luck and trade a few parts for some plants or something."

"Think that's a possibility sir?"

Wesley then punched in a code to the console as the view showed high-velocity drones were shot towards the planet. For a few minutes, there was silence. Until the drone cameras began to flood the view-port of the bridge. Small rustic towns were shown, along with a 21st century like city, resembling the ruins of Chicago, and a mountain-side castle, with golden edges along it's walls. Metal tracks stretched across some expanses of land as deserts began to fill into the view, showing an even smaller town with tree fields next to it. An entire alien civilization lay before them, and it was obvious what they were all thinking:

"God damn." Joshua heard. He turned to see the staff sergeant, Rebecca Soyscheat, and walked over to her, finally letting the fact that he was a foot taller than everyone sink in.

"Prep a shuttle for launch. I'm going down there as soon as we get a team ready."

She blinked a few times at him and responded.

"Sir, I can't recommend that. We have no idea what's down there. It could be a death-trap!"

"And that's why I'm going. I faced off against whole teams of Titans, remember? I can handle more than a few simple aliens."

"What if they barf acid, sir? Or have some kind of advanced cloaking technologies?"

"A, Their homes are made of wood, so, not likely and B, we have that too. Just ready a team to drop and tell Titan droppers to ready a custom Atlas. I need versatility, and nothing says versatility to me like a good old-fashioned Atlas mech. I can handle myself, and if it gets too hot, just drop in a few rounds from orbit, and problem solved."

"Salvos ready for combat, sir!" one of the bridge technicians said, responding to Joshua's suggestion.

He turned to Rebecca and nodded before heading off to the armory.

"Sir," she started, causing the Pilot to stop mid step, "Good luck."

He nodded once more and continued to the armory and docking bay, determined to fight whatever he had to for the safety of his crew, and eventually the good of the Frontier.

\\\//////

Luna jumped up and gasped at the sudden burst of energy within her realm. She felt her entire body surge with said disturbance as she felt her heart nearly jump out of her.

She burst from her bedroom and ran down the halls, ignoring the calls from the guards, and proceeded straight to the main council chamber. Luna then barged in and found herself among the Canterlot royalties in seconds, being shot disapproving looks from all of the snobbish ponies at once. However, there was one glare that she followed to the source: her sister.

She trotted up to her throne and began to speak.

"Sister, we need to speak with thou, immediately." she spoke.

"Luna, now is not the time. Can it wait?" Celestia returned.

"No sister, it cannot wait. We are afraid that it cannot wait. There was a massive disturbance by my Moon. And it has not budged since. In fact, it's staying in place while sending more disturbances towards us."

At this, Celestia stood from her chair and pardoned herself. She flew over the stairs and began to trot alongside her sister, stirring up the conversation.

"What do you mean it hasn't left? All magical disturbances like asteroids always pass by. Did it crash?"

"No, it just stopped out of nowhere. It hit the field of magic I control around the Moon, and then appeared. It seems to be staying there, but like I said earlier, It's sent out smaller ones to our cities. I've been watching them, and they seem to be observing us. We believe that we are dealing with an extra celestial presence. An alien ship."

"Luna... Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Then we should ready our contact procedures. Prepare the Lunar Guard to watch the stars as I ready my Solar Guard to ready up barracks in towns across Equestria. I only hope the Griffons and Minotaurs can stand down long enough to realize this revelation. We don't need any more surprises from them, especially now that we have bucking aliens to deal with."

Luna nodded and headed off for the Lunar Guard barracks as Celestia looked into the skies above Equestria. There was no telltale sign of any kind of disturbance now, but she could tell that they would all soon look up at the sky in a different way. Whether it would be in welcome or in fear, only time would tell.

And even then, she couldn't tell what time would do.

For it could happen in days, or months or years even, or-

"Your majesty! A strange creature has been sighted over Ponyville! It came from the sky!"

At this, Celestia panicked inside and outside, flailing her head to the guard and back to the window, trying to spot the alien craft of any kind of make, and began to gallop for her guards, ready to fight for her kingdom, and protect her little ponies, at any cost.

Ground

Twilight and her friends were quietly enjoying the nice picnic that Pinkie had suggested. She had to admit, it was pretty laid-back for the expert party-mare, but that doesn’t mean she was going to complain about it. It was times like this that she appreciated the fact that her friends were all here.

Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, all here with her. The reason she was now one of the most powerful beings in Equestria. It was moments like this that she appreciated the calm.

What, with her sister visiting only a few months ago, Pinkie seems to have calmed down exceptionally, especially considering who she was.

Applejack had finished up her chores and harvesting early, so she and Big Mac were able to take some time off and spend the day with their friends, thankfully.

Rarity had filled out a large order that she had helped out with, along with the rest of their friends, and had brought it to Canterlot.

Fluttershy had been caring for her animals as usual, nothing interesting since the Breezies, really. And that was months ago.

And Rainbow Dash had just kept up with her flying and such, along with weather patrol and the new Sky Watch that came with the threat of war from the Griffons.

Yes, sadly, there was now the threat of imminent war with one of the other species that bordered Equestria. The war-ridden ranks of the Griffons, no less. Brutal and quick as they were, Twilight hoped they would still see that there wouldn't be any point to war or expansion other than to just cause bloodshed. But, aside from that, Twilight knew that even if they tried anything, Celestia and her Royal Guard would be able to stop them from causing too much damage to anypony. Hopefully, though, it wouldn't have to come to that.

She wanted to just sit here in the grass by Fluttershy's cottage and embrace the company of her friends forever.

Until her friends began to panic at the sound of a loud boom.

"What in the hay was that?" asked Applejack, holding her Stetson as she looked to the sky.

Twilight quickly stood and looked up to the sky, trying to locate the now screeching object.

"Is it a d-d-dragon!?" panicked Fluttershy, as she began to shake in place.

"No, it can't be," began the alicorn, "it was too high-pitched to be a dragon screech, even a small one."

"Then what was it?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Before a reply could leave Twilight's mouth, a metal creature soared over the edge of the Everfree Forest, and began to descend slowly over a gap in the trees.

The mares all watched slack-jawed as the strange new being shot out several ropes into the ground, allowing for smaller creatures to pour out of it, sliding down the ropes. Then, the back of it opened up and out came another one of the smaller creatures. Instead of it's fellows, it just jumped. Straight to the ground. The strange thing lifted into the air and closed up, shooting straight up into the sky, not even beginning to turn, as it disappeared into the atmosphere.

\\\//////

Joshua felt the blood rush through every inch of his body as his boots hit the ground, arriving on an alien world near the edge of one of the smallest towns on the planet. Inside the Forest, things looked like some kind of cartoon. To be fair, though, the closer observations did indeed pick up images of the local inhabitants showed some pretty fucked-up shit. The main inhabitants of this main body of land were quadrupeds, equine in nature, although they looked like a child had colored every single one of them, and had larger eyes, wings, and horns as well. Other scans showed bird-like quadrupeds that also had wings, but were apparently built like lions. Other scans showed bug-like creatures, bipeds with horns, and even fucking dragons. Fucking Dragons. Mythical creatures that inhabited a planet with a massive anomaly of a system and no trace of Frontier or IMC research stations, which meant no fuel. Great. Just the perfect mission for the new captain of the Horizon. So, fuck it.

He adjusted his jump-gear, and analyzed if he was good to do any tree-running or jumping around. All good. He decided it was time to get to work.

"Troopers! We are here to look for something edible on this planet, so we're going to start- oh God, what now, Phil?"

"What about the small town we passed by? Can't we just ask them?"

To which the Grunt then received a slap to the back of his head by the closest troop, Sanchez.

"Moron, we don't know if they can speak! Besides, how would you react to a bunch of aliens with guns and glowing masks all came from the sky and asked if they could get something to eat?"

To which the Pilot nodded towards and began again.

"Right. So that means we are on First-Contact protocols here. Do not attack unless attacked first. Do not assume hostilities in any way, and be ready for anything. Some of these folk may very well live inside this forest, but that is yet to be seen. Move out!"

With that, the technicians began to scan the local fauna and spread out, until they heard a womanly group of screams come from the edge of the tree-line, accompanied by the roar of a larger creature.

Joshua pulled out his RE-45 Auto Pistol and called out to Alpha Squad.

"Alpha, with me! Everyone else, watch for hostiles and civilians! Civies are four-legged and colorful. Anything else, permission to engage if needed. Let's move!"

With that, the Pilot broke out into a sprint and jumped with the added power of the Jump-Gear, and bolted from tree-to-tree, followed by a squad of 8 soldiers, headed for the roars of an unknown beast.

\\\//////

*3 minutes prior*

As the mares began to file about through the small opening of the Everfree Forest to try and find the strange beings and hopefully get some answers. All the while they began to exchange thoughts about what they saw. Mainly with the animal expert, Fluttershy.

"What do you mean you've never seen those before?" Rainbow asked.

"Um, well, I've never seen or heard of a large flying creature, that wasn't a dragon, that also carried around smaller critters in it's belly, without eating them. I'm just as lost as the rest of you to be honest. Oh, uh... sorry." she explained.

"Well," Rarity started, "I just wanted to know, what will we do when we find those... things?"

Twilight began to address the group at this.

"Well, first, we see if they can understand us, or if Fluttershy can get some answers from them. I have a strange feeling that they may be more than just some random creatures, though."

Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight, clearly confused and mad at the same time.

"What do you mean? It's not like they can hurt us or anything. I doubt that anything can make it past good-old lefty and righty!" she exclaimed as she waved her forehooves in the air in front of her.

Twilight stifled a laugh as they trotted along, but then stopped when they heard a low growl emanate from the large gathering of taller trees and rock formations next to them. From the darkness, they saw five pairs of eyes meet their collective gaze, and retreated as soon as Applejack named said disturbance.

"HYDRA!!!"

At that, the five headed beast rose from the ground and roared at the ponies in unison, causing them all to scream and try to escape. However, they were not ready for when the Hydra revealed to have twisted it's necks around the foliage in order to trap them between the path and the rock pillars and trees of the deeper forest.

Fluttershy took in a deep breath and slowly approached the Hydra and cleared her throat as she addressed it.

"Um, e-excuse me, Mr. Hydra. We were wondering if you could, maybe, be so kind as to let us through? If, that's okay with you?" she asked timidly. However, instead of being persuaded by her usual charm, this animal just eyed them with hunger as it roared yet again. At this, Rainbow Dash clopped her hooves together and stared at the beast.

"Alright, let's do this."

She flew up at the beast, but was quickly countered by the sudden attack from one of the further heads, as she was bitten at the base of her wings.

"RAINBOW!" her friends all cried out at once, all shocked at the horror of one of their beloved friends being stopped by this terrible creature in such a short amount of time.

The Hydra threw back the head with the cyan pegasus and used momentum to sling her at the group, trying to incapacitate them for an easier meal. Twilight caught Dash with a levitation spell, but faltered when the beast charged at them.

Before they could respond, however, a small creature burst from the tree canopies and jumped to the closest head. Upon landing, several sharp cracks came from it, and the head it was on began to explode out of the other end. The Hydra roared in pain and jumped for the strange new predator, but ended up having another head boarded and discharged at as well. While the two heads fell, several more creatures like it began to file out from the bushes and ran for them. They could be heard shouting in Equestrian, "Out of the way! Move!" To which the mares did not try to question, seeing the direness of the situation. They heard several more loud cracks from the creatures as they ran to a nearby formation of collapsed rocks. They took cover as the new creatures began to fight against the Hydra.

The ones on the ground rolled out of the way from it's vicious claws, using their strange devices to continue making cracking sounds at it. Then, they looked up and saw that there were only two heads left alive on the Hydra, with the jumping one on top yet again. It began to simulate thunder yet again, and jumped to the last head. This time, though, it proceeded to bring down one of it's legs onto the last head repeatedly, until the Hydra began to limp from the force. A sickening snap was heard from the head as the neck and body went limp and fell to the floor.

The six were now free from the threat of being eaten by a five-headed Hydra.

Now they were going to be eaten by nine unknown creatures.

\\\//////

Joshua breathed heavily as he jumped back to the ground, placing in a new magazine for his AutoPistol, counting a total loss of 40 rounds against that thing. Whatever it was, it wasn't bulletproof, and that was a massive relief to the Pilot. He looked to his men to check for casualties or fatalities. Thankfully, none. He went over to a pair of Grunts that were peering into a gap in the rocks and addressed them.

"Juarez, Smith, report."

They both turned and saluted at once, and then Juarez spoke up.

"Sir, we've identified four-legged creatures that are indeed colorful, as your description of the civies on the world. They're in there, waiting."

"For what?"

"Probably someone to talk to, sir."

"Fine. Weapons ready, though. Can't take chances."

Smith chuckled a bit and slowly shook his head.

"Sir, with all due respect, look at them. They probably couldn't hurt a fly."

"That's what they said about the first Pilots, Smith. Watch the tone."

Joshua lowered himself to peer into the crevice, getting a glimpse of the alien life-forms for the first time. There was one with a horn that was white as snow with purple hair, an orange one with a cowboy hat, a blue one with rainbow hair and wings, thought there was a noticeable amount of bleeding, a yellow one with pink hair and wings, a full-on pink one, and a purple one with wings and a horn. They all stared at him in disbelief until he broke the silence.

"It's safe now. Come on out."

Griffons

Joshua landed inside the drop-ship with a thud as the doors slid close behind him. He walked about the cabin, waiting for the jump to the ship, only to find that they were flying over the planet still, but away from a small town along with the forest they had recently left. Across the sky, he noticed flashes of gold that were flying towards their recent position, and waved it off as just something about the planet's atmosphere or something like that.

The comms broke the silence of the room as Wesley came up on the video-feed in his HUD.

"Captain Joshua, this is the Militia vessel Horizon, come in, over."

"This is Joshua. Read you loud and clear, over."

"Copy that. We've got scans from the landing prior in your location. Confirmed Contact?"

"Confirmed. They call themselves Ponies of Equestria. First Contact meeting will be held with said Ponies in one week. Prep certifications and anything we can wrap up for them. They're willing to talk about a treaty and have already seen us in action. Recommend we prepare for documentation as well. This is one for the history books."

"Alright sir. Before we confirm this, though, we thought you should see how contact in other regions is going, though. One in particular that you may want to see."

"There are other sentient races on the planet?"

"Affirmative."

"What do we have?"

"They call themselves..."

\\\//////

"...Griffons, ma'am."

The injured soldier before Celestia uttered these words before collapsing to fatigue from the various bruises and cuts from the attack. Medical staff arrived and assisted the Pegasus to a hospital as Celestia drowned herself within her thoughts, along with her telepathically linked sister.

'Sister, we have to act.'

'I know, Luna. I had no idea the Griffons were this willing to spark a war so early, let alone with such force.'

The reports before her showcased some new strategies the Griffons were using, along with sketches of their new weapons. Some kind of powdered material they packed into a large metal tube that shot out a metal ball filled with more powder that could explode on contact. A kind of devastating force that she had barely seen by even the most skilled of Unicorns. Not only that, but they now had airships that carried said weapons and could rain fire down upon buildings, and could be defended by it's crew without having to stop firing. The fact they had this was frightening enough, but the fact they were now using it, that was enough to send a shiver of fear down the Sun Princess's spine.

Just before she could continue this train of thought, however, she received two letters from clouds of magic. The first, she recognized as from the platoon of Pegasi she sent to stop the mysterious creature that supposedly came from the sky and moved towards Ponyville. She opened the letter and read the contents to herself, allowing Luna to look onto it as well.

Princesses,

We regret to say that we were too late to stop the creature from leaving the air around Ponyville, but are proud to report that nopony was harmed by its presence, nor have the majority of the population noticed it at all.

However, the Elements of Harmony have told us that they went to examine the dropped contents of said creature, but were attacked by a Hydra.

Before we could react, however, Princess Twilight Sparkle informed us that the "aliens" that came out from it had stopped the Hydra, saved them, and proposed a treaty of sorts between Equestria and their kind.

Captain Thunder Hoof

At this, the Princesses looked to each other in utter shock and gazed at the second letter: The Official Seal of Princess Twilight Sparkle. They opened it together and read the contents.

Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna,

My friends and I were having a picnic by Fluttershy's cottage earlier this afternoon, and we saw what we thought was a new type of creature that was made of metal that also carried smaller creatures. We decided to investigate what they were, but were attacked by a Hydra, one that Fluttershy couldn't get through to, at that. Rainbow Dash was injured by it, but before it could devour us, the creatures from the metal one came to save us, and started to use some kind of magic to kill the Hydra by damaging it's heads without severing them. They helped us out of the Everfree Forest, and even helped to save Rainbow Dash. I learned that they are called Humans, their leader's name, Joshua, and that the metal thing was not a creature, but a type of ship they had, and that their so called "Spaceship," needs fuel of sorts and that they are willing to have a meeting concerning "First Contact" within exactly one week. I wished to let you two know before hoof, that they will come down straight from the sky, most likely, over Ponyville, as to show they are willing to meet us at a middle ground close to their ship, but promise to keep any kind of hostilities out of this. I await your presence in Ponyville along with the other Elements, and anticipate witnessing this momentous part of our history. Thank you.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

With that, Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance once more, and went separate ways to prepare for the invasion from two different sides: Griffon territory, and from another world all together.

\\\//////

"...So, let me get this straight," Joshua responded, fingers on the bridge of his nose, helmet on his side, "these, Griffons, are willing to make a treaty with us, so long as we understand they are the superior military power?"

"About there, sir." replied Wesley.

"Did we shoot them yet?"

"Negative, the team's waiting for you to arrive and see for yourself how, quote, "superior," they are."

With that, Joshua placed his helmet back on and sighed.

"Copy that. Might as well get this shit over with."

The feed turned off as the ship lurched slightly, indicating the imminent drop-off. Joshua rose from his seat and opened the hatch, examining the landing area. The city looked to be made of stone, clearly, but had ancient cannons lining the walls, along with brightly armored creatures, or Griffons, lining up alongside the cannons and checkpoints, as well as some flying around the buildings. The ground approached about a 30 meter distance as the ship stopped above a crowd of said creatures and some Militia troops were waiting for him. Joshua then jumped down and activated his exo-skeletal systems, softening the impact immensely. One of the Griffons walked up to him, head high and claws on the hilt of a sword.

"Greetings, outsider," It spoke gruffly, "I am StormClaw, leader of Outpost 1, or, better known as the Wall City, at the border to the great nation of Griffonia. I welcome you with a warning, we are armed and ready."

Joshua looked around a bit to take in the significance of this Griffon's threat and nearly burst into laughter at how pathetic they were. Their troops were scattered, their flight-patterns were gaping, at best, they had no anti-air and definitely no way to stop a Titan, not even an empty one, if all they had were big sluggish cannons like those and swords. Fucking SWORDS!? But, Joshua had to nod anyway, just to see how far they would go. If things got bad, he could always just kick the ever-loving-shit out of any of these things. Not to mention the emergency Satchel Charges he was carrying, as well. Specialty by Horizon Sciences, designed to explode either on the pull of the detonator, or if the signal is cut off in any way.

He was lead down a corridor of grey bricks and steel linings as they passed by rooms of gunpowder and barracks. Huge mistakes, but he wasn't about to tell them that. As they kept on walking, Joshua decided it be best if he were to record everything for Science. After which, he was lead into a room filled with war maps and troop deployment sketches, along with the designs for said cannons and what looked like large balloons. Joshua waved them off and continued to walk alongside the Griffon, or Storm-whatever. They then reached the table as Joshua made mental notes about their military strategies. Clunky at best. They were focusing their armor, air, and troops in different locations all at once instead of having flanking tactics laid down in case of an enemy Pincer-assault. Hell, one Titan would probably be too much against shitty tactics like these. Still, he wasn't gonna complain. Just when Joshua stepped to the table, another one spoke.

"Ah, I see the leader of the visitors has decided to grace us with it's presence."

"His." Joshua spat coldly. "Joshua."

"Well then, "Joshua," what do you think of our strategies? Hm? Surely a military leader as yourself would be impressed by our massive amounts of readiness."

Joshua shrugged at them, keeping his right hand over the AutoPistol.

"Eh."

They both looked to him with disgust.

"Oh, have you something better?" the farther one asked.

"Definitely. Not gonna share it with you, though."

At that, the nearest one drew it's sword and brought it up to Joshua's waist.

"You think you're kind is so much better?"

"I don't think so."

With that, Joshua lifted his leg and smashed the sword to the ground, shattering it to pieces as the floor was given a new crater.

"I know so."

The two stood there and looked back at each other at the Pilot's impressive display of power, stunned. They then adorned smiles as the further one continued.

"Well, soon we shall beat our most hated and powerful enemy, and soon, you will know what to fear."

It waved claws towards the table, to which Joshua narrowed his eyes at. The map showed a large amount of armor, troops, and even some balloons going towards a familiar name and date:

Ponyville. 7 days Until Attack.

Joshua looked back up at them and shifted slightly.

"Greatest foes, huh?"

"Yes, those dirty little peace-lovers. Never had a war in the last 1,500 years!"

"Have they done anything to provoke this?"

"Of course not! That's why they're such a damned menace! They just sit there and taunt us!"

"How?"

"Does it matter? The point is, we could use a claw with this, and since your here..."

"We're gonna consider that a bit. However," Joshua turned to the door and began to walk away from them as he spoke, "I guarantee that by the end of the week."

After that, the two were left in the room to wonder what the Pilot had meant, unaware of the new dangers that lay within their future.

\\\//////

The Crow lifted into the air with a mighty heave and was off to the upper atmosphere when Joshua addressed the rest of the crew about their situation.

"So, they're gonna plan to start a war with peace-loving ponies that asked for this in no way whatsoever, and they plan on doing it at the same time as First Contact. Thoughts?"

Rebecca came unto his video feed and started.

"Sir, I say we hold out until they're done fighting. Not waste any time with some kind of Civil War or whatever they're going through."

Ramirez came on next.

"I don't think you paid attention. They've had no wars for over a thousand years! Do you think they'll have what it takes?"

"They've held peace for that long, so that must mean they've had a massive standing army, otherwise-"

"Bullshit! If the footage from earlier was anything to go by, then we have to help them!"

Joshua broke the back and forth with his own input.

"Ramirez is right. They'll be done for if we don't help. We've seen the gaps in strategy and what they're packing, not to mention the massive advantage of technology we have."

Rebecca came back on.

"With all due respect, sir, I don't think it'll be wise to intervene with some kind of alien war."

"Would you rather have peaceful allies that only want to further improve relations with Humanity, or a rival race that, if they reach our technological level, will undoubtedly wage a war for power against us?"

There was a moment of static on the line, until Rebecca broke it once more.

"When would you like to move in, sir?"

"Same date as First Contact. We move in after they attack and break up the party with a wave-scenario, starting with Grunt-Pods, Goblin Air Support, and, if need be, Titanfall. Ready them in 6 days and make history. Hoo-ah."

"Hoo-ah, sir!"

With that, the radio went silent as the planet faded from view, flames of war reflected in the window.

Preparations

Twilight and her friends spent the rest of the day recovering from their encounter with the Humans by trying to comprehend their position in the safety of Fluttershy's abode. Tried. With little to no warning to their arrival and the threat of the Hydra coming from equal warning, along with the pressure of being interrogated by Celestia's guard upon the Human's departure, to say they were under pressure would be like laying that Discord can get a bit out of hoof.

They were all inside Fluttershy's cottage trying to recollect what had transpired and began to compare notes on what they should expect, along with what they should plan out in the near future. Pinkie being the first one to talk about it, as usual.

"So, do you think they'll have bigger flying things, or do you think that they'll come down with more people, ready to party their flanks off!? OOH! Maybe we should see if they left any kind of invitation to their big ship thingie, or maybe some kind of teleporter that can beam us up to their ship, or if they left some notes on what they eat! You think they'll be able o digest cake? * Gasp * What if they CAN'T EAT CAKE!?!?!? THAT WOULD BE THE WORST THING EVAAAAAARR!!!!!!"

Twilight came up to the pink mare to try and calm her.

"Pinkie, relax. I'm sure they'll just be here to ask for some samples for their whole fuel situation before anything else. We can ask them later what they can eat, and see where to go from there. For now, let's just let the Royal Planners handle things, okay?"

"But, but, but!!!"

"Pinkie."

She let out a sigh of defeat and nodded to Twilight before returning to her seat on the couch. Next to her was a recovering Rainbow Dash, with her wings in splits and casts, some of which showed the alien bandaging from earlier. Applejack, next to her, turned to Twilight after eying said bandages for some time.

"Twi, do ya think they'll be as nice as the ones we saw earlier?"

Twilight nodded slowly after some seconds of consideration and smiled faintly.

"I hope so. Joshua did say that he was their leader, but I'm not sure if he meant for their entirety or just that team. I know that he wouldn't give names unless he was sure, though. It's a lot like any other leader would do, give a name so the next meeting wouldn't feel too rushed. He's probably sitting up there, right now, thinking of what he'll bring up at the meeting, or what kind of knowledge his kind will share."

\\\//////

"So, are the Titans going to be ready to kick some ass by Drop-Time?" Joshua asked the technician.

"It's a bit hazy right now sir, but we have a custom Atlas ready for drop on your command."

They looked over to the green and orange beast of a weapon in the launch tube as it held onto it's XO-16 Chaingun, along with the slight boxy bulge underneath the gun, signifying the extended clip upgrade to the weapon.

"What's it got in terms of ordnance and defenses?"

"Well, sir, it's got a single-fire cluster missile with a fast-reload upgrade, and a particle-field defensive attachment, all equipped with a damage-boost core and an accelerated attachment for the core, as well."

"Good. That means precise, contained blows and a faster boost time on the field. Well done."

With that, the Titan was loaded into the lower bay, along with the Drop-Pods readied for exo-atmospheric insertion, and Crows awaiting weaponization for the imminent war.

\\\//////

"Twilight is right, darling," started Rarity, "we can be sure that with the gentlecolts they are, they'll be here on time and possibly willing to start a trade with our cultures. Maybe even a little dash of Rarity originals, here and there."

Twilight shook her head and chuckled slightly at her friend's interpretation of the situation at hoof, but decided it best to let her cope this way. She shifted her gaze to Fluttershy, who had been quieter than usual, and saw her there with a blank stare.

"Fluttershy?"

At that, her senses kicked her to reality and forced her to join in Twilight's question.

"Oh, um, yes, Twilight?"

"What's wrong? Aren't you excited? This is First Contact! Why do you seem so... distant?"

"I was, um... just... remembering the Hydra and that... it... how it didn't even try to listen to reason... and that they..." at that, Fluttershy began to tear up and cry, and was then comforted by Twilight and Rarity going to her side.

"Darling, please, just try to explain. Is it that they... killed it?"

She nodded shakily and quickly, then Twilight moved in.

"Fluttershy, please, it was going to eat us, and even you couldn't talk to it. They saved us by doing what needed to be done. It may not have been the preferred way, but we're here because they had to and did so."

"T-T-Twilight, I k-know that, but... w-what about how f-fast they k-k-killed it? Those things they h-had?" she sniffled.

Twilight felt like a train hit her. The weapons they were using were beyond advanced. They had no magical discharge or back-firing of any kind, and when they made contact with the Hydra, every hit seemed to rip the usually magic-proof scales of the beast. Even more, some were larger than others, and fired off a series of cracks in succession. She couldn't feel them being used at all, nor could she feel any kind of magic hitting the Hydra, it just... died.

"Celestia, you're right. They had complete control over their magic weapons and hit it hard enough to kill... but they went completely unnoticed by my feel for magic."

She shot a worried look to Rarity, who also realized the seriousness of the revelation, and turned to the rest. Twilight then shook her head and started.

"No, they didn't hurt us, even when they had the chance. We could have just as easily been food for them like the Hydra would have done and not have even given it a second thought, yet they chose to make sure we were alright. They even gave up some medicine to help Rainbow Dash! We don't need to worry about their weapons, Fluttershy, because they're in good hooves."

\\\//////

"Smith, God Dammit!" Joshua yelled at the Grunt as the fully-automatic carbine was ripped from his hands.

"What'd I do now?"

"YOU ALMOST BLEW MY DAMN HEAD OFF YOU MORON!" Juarez yelled.

"Sorry, princess."

"Smith, two hundred laps around the exercise room and toilet duty for three months." Joshua deadpanned.

"WHAT!? WHY!?"

"Because now." Joshua stated.

The Grunt stormed off towards the other side of the ship as Joshua shook his head.

\\\//////

3 Days Later

\\\//////

Celestia trotted back and forth between the sets of tables along the War Room in Canterlot Castle, trying to ensure the maximum security for the borders of Equestria from the Griffon invaders. She contemplated whether or not she could call in for allied support, but was stuck with excuses. The Minotaurs were already declining ahead of the question, stating that their duties to guard Tartarus' gates are more important than the war at hoof, Zebras were refusing to go to war at all, and the Changelings were still recovering after having their people finally getting laws in place for equal rights among Equestria, and were too few to make a difference, anyways.

Her options were limited and the defenses were scattered at best. Luna came up behind her and sparked conversation.

"Sister, the time for the 'Humans' arrival draws near. We should not try and build any more stress by undertaking the military defenses of Equestria alone. Let the Generals do their work, or at least allow me to share the burden."

"Luna, I'm sorry, but if our kingdom is under attack while the aliens try to make contact with us, they may see it as an act of war against them entirely. We may be strong, you and I, as well as the Elements, but we cannot survive a war that can fall from every part of the sky at any second."

Luna placed a hoof on Celestia's shoulder and tried to calm her.

"Please, the Griffons would not dare to attack so soon. Not after their defeat mere hours ago."

"That was because our Pegasi had matched them one to one. Had the Wonderbolts not been touring, Apploosa would have fallen to them, and from there... I can't just expect these to happen for the rest of the war, and we need to make sure that First Contact goes well, otherwise we'll be fighting two losing wars."

"Sister, please."

Celestia turned to see Luna's eyes in their begging mode, and melted soon after. She smiled at her sister and sighed.

"Alright. Let the Generals know of this. We need to ready Ponyville for another of it's most important days."

\\\//////

1 Day Later

\\\//////

Joshua stood at the bridge with his crew as they watched the Griffons balloons make their way through jagged mountains in a single-filed line below the mountain tops, avoiding any line of sight from the town near it.

"Smart move, using that kind of cover," admitted the Pilot, "they're not even ready for a simple battle, let alone an invasion of this scale."

The screen showed a straight downwards view of Ponyville and the mountains by the Everfree Forest, showing large amounts of color flowing through the village as First Contact neared, and approximately 50 warships inbound from the Everfree. Scans showed they had some cannons already pointed towards the town, should they be noticed, but had enough cover to not need it. The velocities of the vehicles, coupled with their size, mass, and turning abilities, had about two days left before they reached their destination.

The Militia were ready six days ago.

Some of the crew even recommended that they fire now, as to not allow the war-hungry Griffons anywhere near the innocent Ponies. However, Joshua was in charge now, and he said that without any evidence, orbital bombardment wouldn't bode well with the leaders of either, seeing as how they would be shooting a landmark for the Ponies, and how close it would be to their town.

The plan was to wait. Wait until the Griffons were in visible range of Ponyville and they were ready to attack. Then the Militia would come in and stop the invasion, leaving a somewhat good impression on the first step to an alliance.

All that was left, was the execution of Operation: Skyfall.

Skyfall

This was the day. The day that would decide the balance of the world itself, and how the future would shape. This was the day that many had welcomed, and many had dreaded. The day that had to come eventually. The day that would change everything. The day that the war would be turned, important people would meet, and alliances would be born. The day the three leaders of each group had anticipated for, but never thought they would see.

First Contact was here.

\\\//////

Joshua watched the screen inside the Crow with fear and anticipation, waiting as he watched crowds gather around the center of the small town, and how oblivious they were to the airships merely meters away from their fair little homes. He watched in pain as they were to wait until the enemy arrived, instead of keeping them out of the town entirely. They had to be seen before they could be recognized as the real threat, or else the Militia would once again be labeled as the bad guys and kicked out. He hated waiting for the damage to come in before he could make a move, and threatened to throw his entire plan out the airlock. He had to wait. For the Horizon. For the Militia. For the Frontier. For Equestria.

\\\//////

Celestia felt the morning almost stop entirely before this moment, as if to intensify the significance of the moment even more than it already was. She felt as though her guards might be too frightened to even try to fight back if the aliens come in full force. She felt pain as she thought of what the Griffons might try to do if they were to attack any city while she was away from the throne. She dreaded the thought of having to wage two wars at once if they weren't ready, and felt worsened by the inevitable need to reveal secrets about said war, hoping to find any kind of assistance. She felt scared for Twilight as she kept to her War Room, letting the young alicorn take her place at the meeting. She felt her soul ache as the books would write her as a skeptic, keeping away from the aliens at First Contact, and instead readied for war. She felt vulnerable, as her student was put into a place where only she might survive.

\\\//////

Twilight thought that the day would be the most exhilarating day of her life. She felt curious about what the Humans had to offer for the sake of bettering both species. She felt excited as she was presented with an entire trove of information was presented in the form of a new species. She felt like her old self, ready to study underneath any of them to learn their culture and how their magic works. She felt encouraged by the backing of Celestia, who promoted her to this task, and by her friends, who were always there for her. She felt a surge of wonder hit as she readied to be marveled by their contraptions as she heard something approach from behind the mountain wall of Ponyville.

She felt scared beyond belief as she watched Griffon airships began to pour out near the edge of Ponyville, and began to rain fire down upon her fair town.

\\\//////

Celestia felt as if she had died inside as she watched the shields go up around Canterlot, as the Ponyville skyline began to fill with Griffon war balloons, setting the town ablaze as the vision of the town faded behind the presence of the shield.

\\\//////

Joshua felt disgust as he watched the small town be overrun by massive amounts of airships and troops flying around, lighting buildings on fire and charging on the innocent population. And all he could do was watch.

For now.

"Mission Begins in T-minus 5 minutes."

As he heard his own voice echo throughout the ship, he saw Grunt-Pods being readied for firing into the ground, and even calculated who would go where. Assuming their leaders would stick to the center of town, being a large tree turned into some kind of town-hall, and readied his three best Grunts for protection of their leaders: Juarez, Smith, and Johnson. Smith was questionable, at best, off duty, but on the field, he knew he would get shit done.

He watched the Crows ready to drop alongside the pods, and prepared for combat, switching off the safety of his Hemlock BF-R, three-shot burst rifle with a 30 round mag and holo-sights, and his RE-45 Autopistol. His jump gear readied for use as well, and adjusted accordingly.

Once again, Joshua felt ready to face the flames and fight for justice.

\\\//////

Twilight and her friends panicked as they watched Griffons pour out from the balloons and attack Ponyville, burning down several buildings and even the school as they began to bring an onslaught of destruction upon an innocent population. She turned on the spot and ran with her friends to the Library, hoping to find someplace safe from these invaders. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash grabbed one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders that were standing by idly and ran alongside her. Fluttershy and Pinkie followed shortly, rounding up as many ponies as they could. Along the skyline, Twilight watched in horror as more balloons began to shoot out explosives towards the ground, destroying homes and killing dozens of Ponies at a time. She felt beyond sick at this, but tried to keep her focus on the straight run for the library.

Along the way, they were ambushed by Griffon soldiers, and fought back accordingly. Pinkie kept the foals safe as they ran for cover, and Fluttershy helped them keep together. The rest struggled to try and fight off even a small number of Griffon troops, and were barely able to keep them from hurting anypony. After what seemed like hours, they reached the doors to the Library, and filed the civilians inside first.

However, when they looked up, they saw another balloon, straight overhead, ready to unload a hoard of Griffons and explosives upon them.

As they braced for the end, they held each other close, Twilight's last thought was a plead for help, from anypony, or maybe even the Humans.

\\\//////

"ALL PODS, DROP!"

At that, the Grunt-Pods began to shoot out from the ship, one after the other, until the Crows began to launch as well.

"BEGIN SKYFALL!"

\\\//////

After almost three seconds of waiting, the mares all heard high-pitched sounds from above, and gazed towards the balloon, and watched as small pods began to tear out through it, exploding through the frame of the large ship, and began landing around Ponyville. More and more pods began to fall from the sky as they heard and saw more ships fall down, being torn apart upon each passing second.

One, in particular, dropped straight through the balloon and landed dead-on in front of them. At first, time seemed to stop as the pod made it's presence known before the mares. Then, the sides began to hiss out smoke, and three flat surfaces burst open to reveal three familiar forms, and three familiar voices.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

"AREA CLEAR!"

"MARK LOCATION!"

At that, one of the three Humans pulled out a small device and threw it to the ground, leaving a small box of sorts beeping with a red light that turned green after a few seconds.

The three turned to the Library and shouted again.

"Confirmed, we have arrived at target destination."

"Sir, we've encountered civilians, orders?"

\\\//////

"Protect at all costs!" Joshua shouted over the comms, holding on for dear life as the Crow dropped through the atmosphere of the planet, while readying weapons freshly mounted on it's sides. Turbulence was but a minor disturbance to the Pilot, however, as he saw green across the map fill in, along with reports of at least 17 ships downed after the initial drop. Estimations showed that the rest would fall within mere minutes of air-combat, and that casualties are expected to be in low twenties at the worst.

The ship shook as he felt the guns begin to fire downwards towards the ships in the path, and readied his Hemlock for combat.

\\\//////

The three Humans made their way into the Library alongside the Elements of Harmony, and slammed the door shut, R-101C automatic Carbines pointed towards the windows, defending the innocent ponies inside from the terrors beyond the walls. The Grunts recognized the six beside them and one decided to act as though it was a class reunion.

"Oh, hey! Look who we found! It's uh... those six we saved! How've you been?" Smith asked coyly.

"Damn it Smith! We're on duty, not some fuckin' shore leave or mini vacation!"

"Chill, dude, we're not taking fire right now, anyways. Besides, they need some comforting, right?"

"Keep your God damn pants on, Private. This isn't some skank-hole city like Shoreland."

"Piss off, Johnson. You and your... medicine!"

"Yeah, piss off the one guy who's got the life-saving drugs within a 10 kilo radius, why don't you?"

"Up yours."

At this point, the girls were stunned at not only how they behaved, but how they were acting in a war zone! The language would be bordering, even off duty, but the fact they did this to superiors in front of them was beyond comprehension! Twilight decided to speak up at this point.

"What... What's going on!?"

Johnson looked to her and came over, strapping the weapon onto his back, and went down to her level.

"Those Griffons or whatever out there are attacking, and Captain Joshua decided to defend this town. Remember him? The Pilot? Mask that was like a star-burst and everything?"

"Y-yes, but- wait, you're... helping us by fighting them?"

"Bingo."

"Why, how- what?"

"Why don't you save questions until the Captain has time to answer?" Johnson asked.

"Like when these things aren't flying anymore!" Smith yelled, aiming at a nearby Griffon squad.

They all exchanged looks between the windows and the panicking crowd inside the Library, and decided it be best to not question the subject at the current moment. At this thought, however, the girls heard several high pitched shrieks from the skies above and peered out to see a rather indescribable sight. The ship they had landed in the Everfree in had multiplied greatly, and at least 30 of them began to fall from the sky at once, firing small lights that exploded at the Griffon balloons, ripping their fleet apart in seconds. The Griffons flying nearby took notice, but were turned into clouds of mist as one ship in particular hovered towards the Library, and at once began to lower itself to ground level, revealing a familiar leader within the opening interior.

\\\//////

Joshua stepped out from the Crow and examined the wreckage from the attack, and noticed that while there would be a massive need to help them, they would still have a town to repair. Better than most of the worlds he had fought on recently, but it still hurt knowing that this was inevitable. He approached the waypoint of the three Grunts from Silver Squad, their own little trio name, and decided to get a grip on the situation at hand.

"Talk to me, what've we got?"

"Well, sir," Wesley began on the screen, "You've taken care of the initial attack on that small populace, but now we're getting some kind of faint jump-like sigs from the forest near your location, and they've got some armor moving in. Orders?"

"Ready the second teams to drop down on my command, I need to acquire some assets."

"Copy, sir."

With that, the comms died down as Joshua was greeted by the opening of a wooden door in front of him, and the Grunts accompanied by the same six ponies from the initial encounter in the "Everfree." Joshua lowered his form and knelt down to the group in back.

"Sorry to drop in at a bad time, but it looks like you could use some help. Quick question, are there any kind of military powers fighting on your side at the moment?"

Twilight looked between her friends before looking back at the Pilot and shook her head.

"Well, now you do. Militia, ready for combat! We've got tangos inbound from the forest due South! Heavy armor has been spotted! Ready weapons!" He blasted over the comms.

He watched as groups of Grunts began charging through the streets, trying to make it to the South section shown in the mission briefing, and set up an anit-armor wall of fire. As they moved, Joshua went back to the ponies in front of him, namely the group of civilians in the back of the building.

"Listen, UP!" he started, "We're here to help you! But for now, stay inside, all of you. It'll either be safe when we tell you, or when your military comes in for evacuation. Until then, stay here." Joshua turned to the Grunts behind him and addressed them. "Silver Squad, stay here and watch the civies while I take down any stragglers in the area. Got it?"

The three stood straight up and saluted.

"Yessir!"

Joshua nodded to them and charged out the door, kicking up dust as he jumped to the rooftops, leaving behind a stunned population of ponies and impressed Grunts.

\\\//////

Joshua ran along the rooftops of the small village as he fired his Hemlock in three-round bursts at Griffon soldiers as they swooped down at the Pilot, unaware of the superior dexterity and firepower they were charging at. He jumped from roof to roof, littering them with bullet casings and Griffon bodies, raining blood into the streets as the one-man army made his way across Ponyville, isolating Griffon squads and shredding them before they could assault the cowering civilians.

As he continued his counter-attack, the Southern Line of Ponyville was swarmed by large moving machines, made of iron and wood, sporting a large forward-mounted cannon, but were met with the force of Anit-Titan weapons that rendered their cheap craftsmanship utterly useless. The specs of the battle were reflected onto his HUD as he stopped to assess the status of Skyfall, but felt a ping of annoyance as he looked up to the sky.

There were at least ten more airships moving low by the North end of the town, carrying in more heavy armor units. He noticed that there weren't as many, but he didn't even have a heavy weapon. Analyzing the situation at hand, Joshua considered what would happen if he went through with his current idea.

First Contact may very well be all but lost, the enemy would know of his greatest asset early, and the Militia might not be trusted in the slightest.

As Joshua pondered these, thoughts, he did not notice the six mares that hid behind the building he was standing on.

\\\//////

The six mares all stood behind the house that the Human was standing on, also staring at the Griffon Balloons as they lowered to the ground to deposit large boxes made of iron and wood that sported a type of cannon, and watched in horror as they fired into Ponyville, destroying building after building.

"What's he doing!?" shouted Rainbow Dash.

As she said that, he threw down something into the ground as he jumped to another building with an impressive jump. A green light flashed from the device as he shouted.

"Beacon dropped, prep for TITANFALL!"

Machine

Celestia stormed through the halls of the Canterlot Castle, trying to make sense of the situation at hoof. She had guard squads scrambling about, tumbling over to salute her, nobles that yelled into her ears about the shield being raised, but above all else, a massive Griffon attack being executed before her own throne, and not a single way to fight back.

She ran past the massive doors of the observatory tower, located by her and Luna's towers, and flew into the purple-drowned sky with a mighty flap of her wings. As she soared high, she was barely able to make out any kind of movement beyond the shield, only catching glimpses and flashes from the war balloons and the buildings of Ponyville.

When Celestia reached a balcony near the dome of the tower, she was greeted by a panicking Unicorn with a white coat and black mane throwing around papers and small objects with his magic.

"P-Princess!?" he shouted as he stumbled back, nearly falling over the wooden railing of the observation deck.

"Seer, please, now's not the time for formalities. Ponyville is under attack." she replied with a mixed tone of stern and worried.

Seer gathered up his papers and trotted towards a large ivory desk near the balcony entrance.

"Yes, I can see that. Why would you come here, though?"

"Because I-"

"SISTER!"

Celestia turned her head to see Luna approaching the balcony as well, joined by a squad of Night Guards.

"Luna, what's wrong?"

Luna physically tensed up as she cleared her throat to address Celestia.

"We have felt multiple strange, how would you say, 'pings,' in the skies over Ponyville."

Celestia turned to the shield and went past her sister, staring into the deep color as small flashes scattered across it.

"That's what I was afraid of. Are the Griffons now able to just 'ping' wherever they want now?"

Luna quickly came up to her side and tried to recapture her full awareness.

"No, sister. It came from above the sky. From the Human's ship."

Celestia turned to her sister with a shocked expression, about to question what she felt exactly. However, her questions would be answered when a massive flash from the shield drew her attention, yet again. On the other side, Griffon warships began to explode and fall, followed by massively smaller craft that seemed to swarm from straight above. As more came from the skies, more Griffon ships were destroyed. Only one thought came to Celestia at that moment.

"The Humans are fighting. But which side are they on?"

\\\//////

Joshua jumped from the top of the building he called his Titan from, and landed on what appeared to be a sign shaped like a tooth. He looked back to the skies and raised his Hemlock rifle to a trio of Griffons attempting a charge on him. He fired at the left one, exploding it's throat in a shower of gore. Then to the one on the right, leaving three streaks exposing it's skull from one end to another. Before he could fire at the last one, however, his magazine read-out displayed '00' in red numbers. He reached for another mag, and felt an empty space where there should be a spare.

"Shit."

Was all that he said as the Griffon attempted a sweep from above. Joshua dived to his right, leaving a large gaping cut in the tooth where he stood seconds ago. He jumped back up to the Griffon and swiped his foot into the back of it's neck, making a large popping sound as the soldier went limp on impact.

Joshua removed his boot and placed the rifle on his back, pulling out his Autopistol. He counted 5 magazines left, which meant he didn't have much time. Once more, he got onto the radio and called the Horizon.

"Where the shit is my Titan!?" he screamed.

The Engineer insignia came up on the video-feed as a sarcastic voice greeted his request.

"Sir, with all due respect, how will yelling help?"

"Jacob, I swear to GOD!"

"Alright, alright, sir. Uh oh." the engineer responded with a slightly grim expression.

"What?"

"Um... we... may have, just a bit, thrown off your Titan's course."

"How. Far." Joshua deadpanned.

Before a reply could come, however, a loud screech and resounding explosion came from overhead. Joshua watched as a familiar shape tore through the sky, through another zeppelin, and... into the ground. 200 meters away.

"Yeah, sorry about that, sir."

Joshua face-palmed and shook his head in sheer disappointment at the recruit, but gather himself before he could curse him out.

"At least it didn't crater." Joshua remarked as he saw a familiar blue shield grow from the buildings.

With a bound, Joshua began his journey towards the Atlas. Before he could land on another building, however, Joshua flipped a switch on his wrist, and heard a familiar female voice.

"Titan engaging Follow Mode."

\\\//////

Twilight and her friends watched in horror as Joshua killed one last Griffon with a simple kick, and in utter disgust as their bodies rained onto their streets. However, she knew that they needed to pull through long enough to get some answers from the Human Captain, and that there were some issues that needed answering.

For one, the fact that he seemed to be far more athletic than everyone else that came with him in the attack. He was seemingly bouncing off of rooftops with no effort, yet his followers had trouble vaulting over a cart at times.

In the midst of her thoughts, Twilight heard a loud screech and boom from the sky, and watched as another form dropped through a balloon. From where it crashed, a strange blue shield rose from the spot it crashed at. And in an instant, Joshua leaped from the roof of 'Brushie Brushie,' and as he soared, the blue shield disappeared.

Twilight turned to her friends, who were equally emotionally entangled, and nodded for them to follow.

"Come on," Twilight started, "let's go."

\\\//////

StrongBeak felt a massive pain in his stomach, knowing that not only were they loosing to a new enemy, but the fact that they were now seemingly protecting the Equestrians. Such odd creatures, too. They came from absolutely nowhere, attacked from above and destroyed almost the entire fleet, had troops that wielded weird ranged magical things, and had the support of flying metal dragons that didn't even breathe fire.

However, what was going to change now, was the fact that the battle was seemingly one-sided, as he rolled up to the Pony town, in his own armor-tillery unit. A mobile cannon designed with heavy Iron plating, and able to be loaded from the inside, making it all the easier to wipe out their enemies. He stood proudly atop it, relishing the feel of imminent victory against such a mysterious foe.

Before he could take in yet another breathe of victory, however, a loud screech and boom came from above his warship, and out came a massive object that crashed into the ground ahead of him. When it landed, a translucent blue dome rose around it, giving time for the dust to clear enough for StrongBeak to examine it.

And in horror he did.

The shield flickered and died as a faint voice from it said something he couldn't make out, and the beast rose up from it's position. It positioned a massive cannon towards him, and before he could even bark an order, the shoulder of the two-legged monstrosity burst to flame, sending a piece of metal right at him.

On contact, an explosion rang out and threw the Griffon Major from his seat, and a smaller series of explosions ensured that no remains were left of his existence, or his unit.

\\\//////

The six ponies followed Joshua closely as possible, trying not to get caught by either Griffons or his own view, as he went from roof to roof, searching for something.

In the distance, there were a series of screams and huge explosions that threatened to knock them all down as they ran. After the explosions, however, there was a faint thumping from the ground as Joshua paused atop one roof. They all peaked around the corner of an alley, and watched in awe and horror at the new beast before them.

In the town square, dead-center of the market, was a bipedal creature seemingly made of a mix of dark green and dark orange metal. In the center of it's chest were a series of lights that they assumed was it's face. On it's right shoulder was a strange pod-thing that stuck out above it. In it's massive metal hands, however, was a cannon unlike anything they've seen.

"Let's do this you beautiful beast." they heard Joshua say.

They all adjusted to watch as the Pilot jumped from the roof of another building and went towards the metal monster. It seemed to notice him and approached him while moving the cannon to it's right hand only. Joshua jumped from one last roof towards it, and seemingly hung in the air as it reached out and grabbed him from his jump.

"NOOOO!"

They all screamed as the metal beast opened up it's center and stuffed the Human inside. Once he was in, it closed and readjusted the weapon to fit in both hands again. As it shifted slightly, they heard a female voice come from it.

"AI disabled, Pilot mode: Engaged."

\\\//////

Joshua felt his mind meld with the machine as he plugged himself into the controls, adrenaline pulsing through him as he returned to his element. He tested the controls a bit by moving the XO-16 Chaingun a bit in his hands, and shuffled his feet for a second. He turned the Atlas to the left and saw a Griffon tank roll up into the center of the clearing, aiming at him. He ignited the Dash ability, and flew out to the right to avoid the massive projectile it fired into a building behind him, shattering the wooden structure like nothing.

Joshua readied the Titan's weapon systems and opened fire onto the deformed circular tank, breaking it apart in a shower of iron, shrapnel, wood, and blood with only 12 shots out of 90.

"Another armored unit from the right." The AI announced.

He spun the Atlas on it's heels and fired a Cluster Missile right into the tank's firing chamber, igniting the weak excuse for an armored-unit before it exploded into flames, burning everything in a 15 meter radius as multiple explosions rang from the crater. He dashed the Titan to the left to scan the remaining street, and was greeted by one more tank. A light flickered from the small crack at the front, indicating that they were about to fire. Before they could, though, Joshua activated the Particle Shield, and constructed a wall of blue light in front of the Titan. When their cannon fired, the projectile warped into nothingness as it made contact with the field. Joshua, however, was able to fire through it just fine, as he then reduced the thing to dust before a stray round sparked the powder inside the vehicle.

As Joshua took in the result of the skirmish and examined the damage, he saw a group of six familiar Ponies standing by an alley, and behind them, a squad of Griffon troops, ready to kill.

Turning of Battle

The six mares watched in horror and shock as the massive green and orange monster ate the Human leader, and then turn to face... something they couldn't recognize. They were round, made of wood and Iron plating, and sported a smaller cannon on top, as if they were meant to move an entire defensive line forward from stone walls. The green beast, however, was far superior in terms of weaponry and armor, it seemed.

It swiveled around and fired multiple cannon rounds at one of the, what they assumed were Griffon machines, and caused it to explode. It then seemingly flew over to the left after a single jump, and fire a small ballistic into another mobile cannon, which lead to a series of smaller explosions that obliterated two houses. Then, before it took down one more, it raised some kind of magical shield that vaporized the projectile from another Griffon cannon-machine, before firing right through it, shredding the third to pieces in seconds.

It turned around to look at them after it had finished it's path of carnage, and pointed it's cannon straight at them. Before it fired, however, they heard a familiar voice boom from it.

\\\//////

"Get Down!"

Was all Joshua could manage to snap the attention of the six ponies back to reality as he fired the Titan's main weapon into a squad of Griffons. As the barrel of the gun shot forward it's first round, the ponies ducked onto the ground. Making way for the wave of death to strike at their attackers.

Behind them, a shower of gore, metal, and feathers thundered about, and after a series of squawks, the Griffons were no more.

Joshua lowered the Chaingun and approached the six slowly in the Titan, careful not to scare them too much. When he reached them, they were cowering on the ground and shaking in fear of what may come. He saw this and decided to do something: open the cockpit and exit the Titan. So he punched in the commands for staying open, and waited for the machinery to work. The Chaingun was hefted into the right hand as the right knee came to the ground before them. They all stared up in fear, but then turned to surprise to see the machine open and allow Joshua to come out.

When he landed, they all stood up and stared, jaws hanging.

"I thought I made it clear to stay in that safe-zone." he said sternly.

Twilight shook her head and tried to focus on the statement.

"I... um... we... T-the Library's fine but, we wanted to see where you were going." She looked up at the Titan. "What is that?"

"This is an Atlas Titan. I was hoping we didn't have to use these yet, but I'm not about to let an entire town burn down for the sake of secrecy. I'll explain more later. Right now," Joshua jumped back into the seat inside the opening, allowing it to close around him as the machine rose, "we've got some ponies to save."

With that, he raised the Chaingun in the Titan's right hand and began to motion with the other.

"I'll clear the way. Stay close and don't try to charge ahead. Let's move!"

As he barked the last order, the Titan grabbed the weapon with both hands and began to sprint towards the Library.

\\\//////

As Joshua took off in the 'Titan,' the six mares were awestruck by the display of power it showed in mere seconds, and that the Humans which were already impressive kept on delivering more surprises about how superior they were.

And it scared them.

"Twilight?" Rarity asked.

The young Alicorn turned around to look at her friends, to see them as scared as she was. She faced Rarity and spoke.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we can still trust them?" she asked with a great amount of concern.

"What? The Humans?" Twilight responded as Applejack made her way to them.

"Ah don't like this, one bit." Applejack started. "They come down sayin' they want peace, yet here they are with their fancy weapons 'n stuff, tryin' to fight in a war that ain't theirs. Why would they even come with em' if they want nothin' but good intentions?"

They all exchanged looks for a bit, but stopped thinking as they felt the ground shake as a thundering sound approached them. Joshua's 'Titan' came from around the corner and pointed to them as he addressed them.

"Come on! The Library's under attack!"

\\\//////

"You ever think that we're just born to be the fucking punchline in terrible jokes?" Smith asked as Juarez fired from the cover of the window sill.

"The Fuck are you talking about!?" Juarez yelled, pumping two more rounds into another Griffon attempting to barge in through the opening.

"I mean, all we ever do is get involved in some weird shit that doesn't even seem relevant until either the Captain arrives, or those six ponies we saved are around." he explained, fiddling with a magazine while leaning on the door.

"This is NOT the TIME for your FUCKING CONSPIRACIES SMITH!" Juarez shouted, spraying his entire ammunition at a wave of invading troops, careful not to hit the reinforcements outside.

"I'm just saying, if you think about it, how interesting are we outside of when we're with the Captain? Even when we got here, it felt as if we didn't even exist for days until now, and-"

"First off," Juarez interrupted, "that is how YOU feel, so don't fucking say 'WE'. Second, shut the fuck up and SHOOTTHEGODDAMNGRIFFONS!"

"Fine." Smith groaned, loading the rifle.

Before he could fire, however, the troops outside ceased firing, and a strange rolling sound started approaching.

"The Hell is that?" one of the Grunts outside asked.

"I don't know, but whatever-"

The Grunts were cut off as an explosion rang through the area, followed by screams from outside the door. Screams of their fellow soldiers. The walls nearly burst from their frame as a wave of heat passed through the windows. Both Grunts recovered from the wind with ease as the entire tree creaked as it settled in place. They looked out their respective windows and saw the entire area in front of the Library burned into a crater, with bodies of both sides littering the ground, either in pieces or charred beyond recognition. The other side of the clearing was missing a section of a building, and where one stood, a Griffon armor-unit rolled up to them with a small army of Griffons. Juarez and Smith looked at each other and back to their new batch of enemies with not fear, but disappointment.

Smith pulled out his Archer Heavy Rocket, along with Juarez. Both looked at each other's weapon and glared angrily.

"Smith, you fucktard, you were supposed to bring a Sidewander!"

"Wha- I thought YOU were bringing it!"

"When the fuck did I say that!?"

"I don't know! And that further drives my point on-"

"SHUT UP! We are about to be hoarded by a Damn army and all we have are two mags each for our Carbines, and no way to take down that freaking armor, so-"

"Actually, I spent all my ammo."

"What."

"I don't know! I didn't think this shit would happen, so I left my extra ammo at the ship!"

Juarez just stared blankly at Smith as they sat with their Rockets on the ground.

"Don't give me that look, because you know I can't be trusted to do extra work."

"Shit."

The ground around them shook as a massive collision came from the left of their cover, by the side of the Library. Both Grunts looked outside to see a turned over armor unit broken on impact. They turned their heads towards where it was, and saw a Militia Atlas stomping and firing upon groups of Griffon soldiers as it Dashed from one end to holding position in front of the Library, firing a barrage of death to all those who dared to challenge it's might. In seconds the firing stopped, and all the Griffons were dead.

Both Grunts picked up their rifles and held them up as they cheered for their ultimate weapon being put to use.

\\\//////

"Fucking idiots." Joshua muttered as he heard their cheers behind him.

He scanned the devastated area for the ponies that were supposed to follow him, and found them going around a closer building instead of the bloodied bath he took. Joshua disengaged from his Titan again, and landed outside with a thud. This time, though, instead of letting it go to rest mode, he activated Guard Mode, leaving it near the center of the clearing next to a crater. He checked his Autopistol, and found it was fully loaded with 6 magazines left.

Joshua turned to the Library and went to the door. When he got to it, the six ponies had arrived as well, and the door was opened by none other than Smith and Juarez. They all looked to each other and waited until Joshua broke the silence.

"So, the battle's taking a heavy toll, it seems."

The ponies all nodded and looked into the Library, stunned to find it empty. Twilight looked up to the Grunts and started yelling.

"Where are the ponies? What did you do with them!?"

Smith raised his hands defensively.

"Woah, woah! Calm down! We moved them to the underground level, alright? Johnson's with them right now, so they're fine in case anyone's hurt."

Twilight eased her rage and then directed her attention to Canterlot in the distance.

"What are you going to do when the Princesses get here? How are you going to explain all of this?"

Joshua looked down to her and replied.

"We don't have much to explain. Our allies were being attacked while we were around and we acted accordingly. Simple as that."

Another explosion rung out across the field as another armor unit rolled up towards the Library, barrel pointed at the group of ponies at the door. Before it could aim, however, the Atlas began to fire on it in short bursts, shredding it's insides into a mess of blood and wood. After one last series of rounds, the Chaingun made a large *Click* and the cylinder on it's left dropped to the ground with a massive thud. The Titan's left hand went to it's back, where another cylindrical magazine dropped into it's grip, and was brought back to the side of the weapon before rotating into place. Joshua looked to them and then dashed underneath the Titan. When he passed it's legs, it reached down for him and placed him carefully into the cockpit. Once it closed, he stood full height and began to speak.

"I've gotta go and clear out the remaining forces with the rest of the troops. Smith, Juarez, escort these six to wherever the Civies are, and call in for some reinforcements if needed. Also, make sure they've got something besides Archers, because we can't lock onto these things."

With that, he turned the Titan, moving as one with the machine, and went to clear the town of it's attackers.

\\\//////

The Elements of Harmony were crowded into the basement of Golden Oaks Library with a great deal of other ponies, and yet somehow, it was not as crowded as one might have thought. There were somewhere around 200 others, but clearly there would be enough room for at least another 50 or 100. With this space, the Elements were conversing privately in a corner by the door about their situation.

"Alright, everypony," Twilight began, "we need to figure out how this may end, and what to do in the mean time."

Rainbow Dash rose her hoof to speak.

"I say that we gather everypony who can fight, wait this out, and if they threaten us, we attack and hold out in here until we can get help from the Princesses."

Twilight shook her head a bit before responding.

"No, we can't just fight them. Remember that giant thing that Joshua went into?"

Dash let her expression fall to worry and then allowed her ears to fall against her face as she contemplated it's power.

"But, that doesn't mean we can't try to inform the Princesses. We just need to find- Oh my GOSH!" Twilight jumped up and started flapping her wings, trying to observe the crowd in the space. "SPIKE! ARE YOU HERE!?"

"TWILIGHT!" she heard from the crowd.

All six of them turned to face the source and saw the purple dragon approach with three fillies in tow; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Applejack and Rarity galloped over to embrace their sisters with tears, while Rainbow Dash flew down and swept up Scootaloo, holding on to her dearly. Spike ran up to Twilight as she landed and tackled the dragon with a hug, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Spike... I can't believe I forgot you!" she cried out as she held him tighter.

"It's alright Twi," he whispered, "we're all okay. We're safe, right?"

She released him and wiped tears from her eyes as she answered.

"That's what we're worried about, Spike. We don't know if we're safe. Those Humans came down ready for war, just like the Griffons. They look like they're protecting us now, yeah, but what happens when they're done? Are they going to keep Ponyville? Are they going to give us back our land? Will they hurt us or-"

"Twilight," Spike interrupted, "please, don't think like that. The one that lead us down here seemed nice enough. Plus, they're not that brutal, right?"

\\\//////

"BURN THESE MOTHER FUCKERS!"

After the creature's yell, the three bipeds fired their clubs at the Griffon squad, killing three of them in a shower of red. For Swipe, however, they couldn't react fast enough to shield their throats as he flew by and cut through their necks as they were distracted. The three of them fell to the ground in pools of their own blood as his brothers began to ensure they were indeed dead.

He examined the strange colors and weapons of the creatures that fell from the sky, and wondered how the Equestrians could conjure something like this last-second. Their clubs didn't have blades, yet they were able to shred his men to bits without even touching them. And their armor made it difficult to even try to stab them, hence the need for a strike to their exposed necks.

His moment of thinking was interrupted, however, when he heard the shouts of many more of those creatures, and looked towards the street to find more of them charging. Swipe turned and saw two armor-tillary units roll in behind more troops. He roared and began to charge at the new batch of victims.

Until he heard a menacing thunder charge from behind the enemy lines, and saw a massive one of them with green metal, giant cannons, and speeding right towards him. He watched in shock and horror as it fired a small object past his line and obliterate the Griffon machinery with unfathomable ease.

The only things that Swipe saw after that were his men trying to run, a massive shadow loom over him, and then complete darkness, coupled only with pain.

\\\//////

Twilight nodded towards Spike and smiled warmly.

"You're right Spike. I should have some kind of faith in them.

Spike smiled back and then looked to the rest of their group. The two pairs of sisters (three if he counted Dash and Scoots, which they all did for good reason) had finally ceased their holding, and were now huddled around in a group around the two. As they did, Twilight found a parchment and scribbled on it quickly for Spike to send.

Fluttershy approached Twilight with an uneasy look on her face.

"D-do you think she'll get it?"

Twilight exchanged a worried look of her own, but shook it off as she turned to Spike while wrapping it up.

"It has to. She needs to know what's going on, and that we're safe. Ready Spike?"

He nodded once before grabbing the paper and lighting it on fire, and watched as it's magical ashes traveled out the cracks in the walls towards the Sun Princess.

\\\//////

Celestia and Luna watched the flashes of light from Ponyville through the shield with great anticipation. The flashes became less frequent, but now there was an uneasy feeling about how well their Ponies were doing in the battle, nor did they know who was winning at the moment. As they wondered, a clanking sound had brought their attention to the Unicorn scientist behind them.

"It's ready," he said to them.

Celestia nodded and approached the massive telescope.

"Thank you, Seer. Let us examine what's going on down there."

With that, Celestia made her way to the vision-port of the massive contraption, and knelt down to see through it. She poured in her magic and began to pierce the purple tint of the shield around Canterlot, as the buildings of Ponyville came into focus.

"I'm starting to see something," she said.

After a few seconds, Ponyville became completely visible, and it made Celestia's jaw and heart drop. Smoke was rising all over the place as massive flashes still rocked through the streets. Buildings were collapsed, some were on fire, and few were even coated in blood. In the streets, she noticed that there were some forms of troops that were not Griffons, and enhanced the magnification. The creatures were tall bipeds with green armor with orange tints on several pieces. They carried strange clubs of some sort as well.

As she scanned these new competitors, Celestia realized that these must be the Humans that Twilight was talking about. Strange weapons, green armors, and bipedal figures, now it made sense. Or at least more so to her now than before.

While watching the Humans fight, she noticed something in the corner of her vision. She swiveled the telescope slightly to the right for a better view. And nearly felt her heart stop. There were her Ponies. In the middle of all of that conflict. In the streets, crowded next to a building. Celestia felt her emotions run rampant as she tried to process how they managed to stay alive thus far. That is, until a group of Human troops came up to them and escorted them past Griffon patrols. She felt a massive weight release from her back she watched the Humans protect the innocents caught in the fighting.

Until the group turned a corner and was met with a massive wood and iron contraption with a cannon on top. Celestia felt time slow down as her Ponies began to take on a look of fear at the mobile cannon that now loomed down on them. She almost didn't even notice the massive contraption being destroyed by an even more threatening one. A massive green and orange metallic Human came from behind it and punched clean through, pulling out a Griffon as the rest of the cannon collapsed on itself, and then throwing the Griffon into the side of a building as another mobile cannon rolled up from another corner. The giant metal Human threw down some kind of magical shield in front of it and turned towards it's smaller counterparts. It used one of it's hands to motion them along, pointing towards the opposite side of the alley. It then raised it's own cannon and fired at the Griffon machine. As it's weapon flashed, the Humans lead the Ponies behind the massive beast and towards another building, where they were brought inside. The metal beast turned towards where they were and then went off into the carnage out of Celestia's view.

As she backed away from the telescope, Luna went up to examine what had caused her sister to act as such, and began her own cycle of reactions. As that happened, a small cloud of green smoke came up to Celestia and materialized in front of her as a scroll.

"Twilight," she whispered to herself.

As quick as she could, she picked up the scroll and unraveled it.

Dear Princess Celestia,

As you may have seen, the skies of Ponyville are being occupied by Griffon balloons of some kind as the Griffons themselves are attacking. After the attack began, the Humans came down and started attacking the Griffons while trying to keep us safe. Right now, we are underneath the Library with at least two hundred other Ponies, and the Humans have placed some of their best as a guard for us, including a Medical Officer. However, we saw many dead bodies of their own soldiers outside the buildings, dying to protect us. We've also seen one of their greatest assets at work, and I believe that they will win this battle within minutes. I would suggest that you come here without a Royal Guard army, as they might think of it as hostile. They're saying that they've come to help an ally, and I was truly glad to hear that, but I fear why they chose us so early. Again, we're safe and sound at the moment, and we wait for your decision.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia rolled up the note and stared out towards the small town with a great deal of mixed feelings. They were protecting her Ponies with their own lives and went so far as to call themselves an 'ally,' yet they were ready with an invading army and such powerful weapons, including the giants made of metal. She wondered if they were to be trusted, but more so, how to know if she was the one to trust.

Coming to Terms

Thunder Hoof had seen bizarre things in his time as Captain of the Solar Wing Guard. He had seen the night last for three days during the return of Nightmare Moon. He had seen chocolate rain down and buildings randomly float upwards during the first release of Discord. He had even been ambushed and taken prisoner by Changelings during the Royal Wedding. He thought he had seen it all. That he would be ready for whatever may lie ahead of him and his stallions.

And wow, was he wrong.

Before him stood the expanse of Ponyville, what used to be a quaint little town out in the nicest of places (minus the gates of Tartarus and the Everfree Forest), now burning and crumbling underneath the wreckage of an entire armada of Griffon warships.

Not only could he not see a single Pony, or Griffon,, but, he now saw an unknown species, walking amongst the small town, carrying bodies of Griffons out of the streets and buildings. Popping sounds could be heard every now and then, but from what he was seeing, there were no Pony survivors at all. Either the Griffons wiped them out, and these creatures came for the Griffons, or they had played some sick game and annihilated both sides.

He turned from his cloud cover to go and send a message to the Princesses by use of Unicorn Messenger, unaware of the mass of colors now flooding into the streets that were cleared of death.

\\\//////

Joshua watched as the Ponies began to be filed out from the safe-zones and into the streets. He stood atop his Atlas as they were crowded away from the destroyed sections of their town, small children either crying as they walked, or asleep from exhaustion. The Ponies that were awake had mixed feelings about their alien saviors. Some saw fit to praise them for saving their loved ones, while others threw insults at the troops, saying that his men were to blame. As Militia, it was common to hear mostly insults, but never had Joshua heard this much praise from any colony they managed to save from IMC forces. There wasn't even a hostile action towards his men so far, which was already speaking wonders about this species.

As Joshua was about to dismount, a flare at the edge of the sky caught his attention. At first it was just a single spec of light, but as the seconds passed by, it became apparent that there was easily more than one dot. And that they were getting closer.

He rose from his perch and called out to his men.

"Men, weapons at the ready! Unknown contacts! Do not engage unless attacked!"

Joshua jumped down from the Atlas and activated its Guard-Mode in a dark alley by the market, covered enough for a surprise attack. He turned his back to the alley and watched the skies for the approaching armada.

As the blips approached, their features became more defined. They were all in formation, and wore golden armor of some kind. The majority of them were flying under the power of their own wings, but there were multiple shapes carrying what looked like dropships behind them. The Militia troops were taking cover behind walls and next to buildings while some of them began to escort the civilians into alleyways, away from the incoming army.

After another minute, Joshua made out more features, and saw what kind of army was approaching.

"Men, stand down!" he called over the radio.

The army of Pegasi began to swoop down into the streets in front of his men, all pointing spears and swords at them. More rained down from above as they began to shout at the Militia troops. Some even tried to stab at his men, but were met with a raised rifle.

"Stand down!" Joshua called to his men, once more.

After a solid thirty seconds of golden armored Ponies landing in the streets, a blinding light came up in front of Joshua, causing the Pilot to raise his weapon in pure instinct. When the light cleared, there stood a white Alicorn, like Twilight, except much larger, about as tall as him, and flowing hair that resembled a rainbow. Around her were twenty more gold-plated soldiers, except with only horns. They aimed their spears at Joshua while he reached for the Titan controls on his wrist.

"Put your weapons down." Joshua stated.

The large white one stepped up and spoke.

"Would you lower yours first?"

Joshua slowly lowered his Auto-Pistol, but kept his hand on the controls for the Titan. The tall white Pony looked back at her troops and nodded. They all lowered their weapons and stood at attention.

"Guards," she called, "stand down."

Surely enough, all of the guards that dropped from the sky began to sheathe their weapons. Once they were all down, Joshua called to his men over the radio.

"Men, release the civilians."

With that, the streets began to flood once more with color as the Ponies all ran from their houses to the other side of the stale-mate, behind the golden armored guards. Finally, as the last of them filed through the streets, towards the dropships (or chariots, as they appeared to be), a group of six particular Ponies came up to Joshua.

"Celestia!" Twilight called as she ran up to the large white.

The two shared a hug as the rest of the Ponies crowded around them. When they broke, the large one approached Joshua with a mixed look on her face.

"I want to say thank you for saving my Ponies."

Joshua shifted awkwardly in place as he holstered his weapon.

"No problem, really. We couldn't let an innocent town be destroyed for no good reason. I've seen enough of that."

"I just want to know something, though."

"Yes?"

"Why fight for them? Really?"

Joshua paused for a moment and sighed. He walked over to the white Pony and whispered.

"We didn't only make contact with your race. I met the Griffons once before this. I saw that they were planning to attack here, and did what was right."

He backed away and saw her breath deeply.

"Thank you, still, but why were you ready for war?"

"We just so happened to have left one. We came to this world to look for some fuel for our ship, and some food for the crew. We didn't exactly expect an entire alien war to be going on when we were looking around for something to help us."

She smiled at him and waved her hoof out to her side.

"Well, look no further. If you need help to find food or resources, then I would be glad to repay you and your men for what you've done."

Joshua nodded.

"Thanks." he extended a hand out to her. "Name's Joshua. Captain of the Horizon, of the Militia Fleet. Human."

She extended a hoof out to meet his hand. "Princess Celestia. Co-ruler of Equestria. Pony."

Joshua gripped her hoof tightly and shook it. Once the gesture was done, both participants lowered their appendages and looked around. Celestia then turned back to Joshua and spoke.

"One more thing. Do you know if the Griffons are planning to attack anywhere else soon?"

Joshua thought back to the table, having a photographic memory thanks to his Pilot training. There were dates and plans, but they didn't have another one laid down for at least another month.

"About a month or so. Up North." he responded.

She got a look that said that she was pondering and then continued to speak.

"Alright. We'll need to prepare for the worst, now. I can't thank you enough for helping us. Really."

Joshua raised a hand in front of him.

"It's fine. Really."

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned to see a Comms Officer standing behind him.

"Sir." the Grunt saluted. "We've got an emergency message from the Horizon. They're running on fumes and need to land, ASAP."

Joshua turned to the Officer and then back to Celestia. Before he could even ask, she was already answering.

"We would be more than happy to assist you. Tell them to land in the fields between here and that large mountain." she said, pointing to a distant jagged formation.

Joshua nodded to her and turned his attention to the radio.

"Horizon, come in, over."

"This is Horizon, we read you loud and clear, over." Ramirez responded.

"Touch down between the small town we're in now, and the mountain due North-West of us."

"Copy that."

He turned to meet the gaze of the Princess as she smiled at him.

"Now," she began, "I believe we need to talk about a few things. Leader to leader."

"Right. Leader to leader."

Why we Fight

Celestia broke off from the rest of the group along with Joshua so that they may converse in privacy. As the seconds passed by, the Captain followed behind with his weapon still in its holster, and his Titan far behind in the town. They neared a tall patch of grass when Celestia finally stopped and stood still. Joshua saw her standing there and stopped as well. The two waited for the other to make a move for a few minutes, until Celestia turned to face Joshua, a stern look on her face.

"Why did you wait?" she asked distantly.

"Wait for what?" Joshua asked.

"Wait to save my little Ponies?" she asked, raising her voice slightly as she approached him. "Why did you let the Griffons attack? Why did you just let them spill my peoples' blood? Why did you let them kill the innocent Ponies of that town in cold blood?"

Joshua stared at her for a moment before even moving. With a deep sigh of regret, he reached up and removed his helmet, revealing short-scruffy brown hair and a pale face. He looked deep into her eyes before answering.

"So that you could trust us." he stated.

"Trust you?" she spat, moving closer to him. "How am I supposed to trust someone that would let the innocent die for no good reason? How do you justify their deaths? Tell me."

Joshua pondered her harsh words for a moment before shaking his head and sighing.

"Would you want to help someone that just out-right murders someone else for no good reason?" he asked, looking up to her.

Celestia peddled back a bit at the question, unsure of the angle he was going at.

"What does that mean?" she asked, narrowing her gaze at the Pilot.

"We did, in fact, know about the attack for a week before it occurred, yes. But, consider this from a different perspective. An alien race comes to a planet and sees multiple races that are just as intelligent as them, and sees that one intends to attack another. The ones the first aliens see is going to be hurt by the second one, and they have a week to prepare for it. The first one is oblivious to the attack, and if the aliens try to warn them, then they seem like the bad guys because they're accusing another race of an attack they haven't committed, and then the second species knows not to trust the aliens and knows how to prepare for their next attack. If the aliens were to attack the second species, then they look like they've just exterminated an entire species that hasn't done anything wrong, when in reality, they just saved the entire first species. If the second one is never seen to attack, and the aliens don't have proof, what's to stop the first species from accusing the aliens of being evil? Why would they trust a race that just wipes out others for no good reason?"

Joshua gestured to Celestia so that she may retaliate, but found her at a loss. He was right. If they just attack the Griffons, then her Ponies would see them as a threat, and never want anything to do with them. If they hadn't stopped the attack, then the Griffons would have looked to be the victims of a war-hungry race that only wanted to destroy. Instead, this Human had made a choice that let them see who was the enemy and who was to be trusted. The only question that she had now was...

"Why? Why do we trust you?"

"What does that mean?"

"You came here with weapons and soldiers, prepared for war. Why should we trust that you won't try to hurt us?"

"We just came from a massive war of our own in hopes of finding a source of fuel so that we can get back to fighting for ourselves. We have no quarrel with anyone outside our conflict."

"Then why do you fight?" she asked.

Joshua felt his heart almost stop at this point, thinking back to when he first signed up to be a Pilot. He had wanted to protect his family from tyranny and evil, and ended up becoming the very cause of their demise. He joined the Militia so that the IMC would pay back in blood, yet all he was met with were more that thought like he did, trying to be the best they could to protect the ones they loved. He was met with cold and unfeeling machines meant to kill the people of the Frontier before they could rebel, and sought out for one purpose now: to do something right, by just one.

He gazed back up to Celestia and spoke.

"Where I come from, there's a load of reasons why some men fight for the Militia. I first thought that they were all bandits and thieves and shit like that. I signed up with a military faction of the IMC, or Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, to protect my home and my loved ones. I thought that I was doing good, you know? Yeah, not the case. Turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life."

At this, Joshua looked to the ground and sat down to tell his tragic tale. Celestia was confused by the gesture, but found herself sitting down as well, listening intently to the story.

"It was a few years ago, on my home planet, New Henoi, I was on a mission to protect some Heavy Anti-Air Cannons that were aiming at a Militia fleet. I was told that we were fending off a raid attempt, especially since they had a big Brick-class ship over the nearby city. My hometown, actually. So, I fought for the guns' positions, and after they took down the Militia ship, I learned that they weren't raiding the city, they were evacuating civilians. My parents and my little siblings died on that ship because I made the mistake to sign-up for the IMC. Later, I learned that because of my actions in the field, over 500 civilian ships were shot down from the Militia fleet, and we didn't need to worry about any more reinforcements in that sector for years to come. I got a fucking Medal for killing millions of innocent lives."

Joshua scoffed and brought out his weapon, eying the chamber.

"After I watched my family die, I vowed to do whatever I can to make sure that I do right by those who need help. That the IMC can get off our territory, and that the people of the Frontier can be free, once again. So that I can do at least one thing right for the right people. Just once, I could be seen as a fighter for the good guys. Like my little sister always thought I was, when I first signed up."

He placed the Auto-Pistol back in its place, and then looked back at Celestia.

"I... don't know what to say about that..." Celestia managed. "But, what about the rest of your people? This, 'Militia'? What about them?"

"I fight for the same reason those men and women in that town, on my ship, and across the entire Frontier. For something that we hold above all else, in Human culture." Joshua stood up and held his helmet out in front of him, staring into the Star-burst pattern. "Freedom. The right everyone has. To make your own decisions, make your own mistakes. That's how we learn. That's how we grow. We fight, so that we can choose what we do with our existence. So that others can make their choices, make their mistakes, learn from them, and become better for it."

Celestia came up next to him and eyed his helmet.

"And you fight so that this... IMC, doesn't?"

"They chose to take away that right from everyone in the Frontier. So that one day, we can be free from oppression, and tyranny. So that one day, we don't have to fight anymore. That they realize that we have the same rights to live the way we want to that they have, and we are willing to die for those rights. I fight so that so many others don't have to make that sacrifice. So that one day, we can finally live in peace."

Celestia looked up to his face to watch as a tear escaped the Pilot's eye, and felt herself fighting back tears as well. She moved away from him and began to respond to his answer.

"I must say, I am speechless. I never knew that you fought for such valid reasons. I had no idea that your kind was willing to go so far for what you believe in."

"It's been a part of us since the beginning of our recorded history. And I'll be damned if thousands of years of practice and protection of our core concepts are going to be taken away from us because of the material needs of a mining company."

"And for those reasons, you truly fight?"

"Of course."

"Then let me say this."

She turned towards Joshua and looked at his face as he held his helmet to his side. Celestia then extended a hoof to him.

"It would be an honor to accommodate those who fight for such a valiant cause. And for the record of the entirety of the Militia, and hopefully Humanity, know that Equestria and I consider you friends."

Joshua smiled lightly as he reached out and grabbed her hoof once more.

"It's an honor to be welcomed, for once, ma'am."

They held the gesture for a moment while they exchanged their smile, just as two powerful leaders solidify their understanding. After a few minutes of silence, the sky began to rumble above them. The clouds began to part as a massive shape began to descend out into the fields outside Ponyville. And when Celestia and Joshua looked to it, their hearts filled with something that they both knew they needed at this time in their lives.

Hope for a better future.

Chapter 11

As the Element Bearers watched the gargantuan piece of metal float down towards their planet, they were struck in awe of the magnitude at which it was built. The frame cast a shadow that dwarfed not only their small town, but even the massive fields that surrounded Ponyville. They watched as it slowly crept its way down towards the space between them and Canterlot Mountain.

"So how long do you think it's gonna take to fix, sir?" They heard a voice ask.

The six mares turned around to see that the three soldiers from the Library were talking to Joshua as Celestia moved alongside him.

"Ramirez said that without any more fuel to power the emergency engines, we might as well be hitting the Warp Drive with sticks." Joshua answered. "Which is why as of now, our main priority is working on Diplomatic Relations with the Equestrians."

"No offense, sir," Smith started, "but why do we need to work out anything with them when we should be calling for help?"

"Because if we did call for help, there's no guarantee that any channel we use won't be tapped by IMC listeners, and if we did manage to get a message through, then there's no telling how the locals will react to an alien fleet appearing above their world. We need to let the Princesses' citizens know that they're safe while we're here. That and long-range comms are down until we can get the main engine online. So we're going to work on relations between the two of us so we can look for some kind of fuel."

The group of Humans and Celestia stopped when they reached the six Ponies that were listening on their last few words.

"Oh, hello Twilight." Celestia said as she came closer to her student.

"Princess, what's with that big metal thing out there?" She asked, pointing a hoof to the construct.

"That's the Horizon. Our ship." Joshua answered. "We're running low on fuel and we need to find something to power it before we end up stranded here."

The mares all gasped at the fact. Some returned their views to the ship while the rest gazed upon the foreign warriors.

"What are you going to do?" Twilight asked.

"Well," Celestia started, "I asked Captain Joshua why they were ready with an army, and I found that the Militia is more than trustworthy." Her smile dropped as she paused for a few seconds. "Also, as you can see from here, the Griffons truly mean harm to us. This was one of their many strikes as a declaration of war against Equestria."

Once more, the six mares all gasped.

"B-but, we can take 'em, right Princess?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia shook her head slowly.

"I'm afraid not. Their weapons have improved since the last time we've seen combat with them, and our soldiers are far too inexperienced, not to mention that their cannons can now be moved without magic, and can be fired from even their airships. And since the other nations of Equis are refusing to be involved, we don't stand a chance."

"But you don't need to." Joshua interrupted before anyone could state their worry.

The Elements all looked at him as he strode towards them.

"I talked with Princess Celestia for a while before we came to a decision that I think both parties can agree to. We've got over 8,000 men and women armed and experienced on board that ship, and I'll be damned if I refuse help to those who need it."

Joshua reached for a glowing button on his wrist and pushed it, thunder roaring from the ground near them as a green mass approached from an alley way.

\\\//////

As the Atlas strode out of its hiding place, the expected reaction came from the Equestrians, as all of the guards began to back away in panic. The mighty green machine made its way in front of Joshua before coming to a complete stop in front of the group of Ponies. Celestia looked up at the machine with caution, unaware of the purpose or reason for the massive beast's presence. She looked towards Joshua with a mixed expression.

"What is that?" She asked.

Joshua walked towards the mechanical monster as it lowered a palm onto the ground. He stepped onto it and turned around to face Celestia.

"One of our best weapons. This is an Atlas Titan."

The Pilot crossed his arms as the Cockpit opened up at the center of the mech. The Titan then raised the Pilot into the opening with a single swift motion, and once again, Man merged with Machine.

Joshua opened his eyes and felt through the Atlas as he spoke to the Princess before him.

"This is what I use to show that I mean business. And now that the Griffons have declared War on you, they've declared War on the Militia."

He hefted the massive Chaingun into a single hand as he extended his left arm towards Celestia.

"Care to make an announcement?" Joshua asked.

Celestia smiled and leaped the air with a flap of her wings, perching herself atop the green arm of the Titan. Joshua raised the Princess higher and turned her towards the startled Guards.

"Guards! Stand down!" She called out to them. "This... Titan, is in the use of our new allies. We have nothing to fear from them, and only wish to help us!"

"That's right, men." Joshua spoke from the Titan. "We're gonna help these Ponies fight for what's theirs, and make a name for the Militia on this world!"

The troops all shouted out with their weapons held high as the Pilot and Princess spoke to the lot of them. The Solar Guards were confused by the sight and slowly backed away from the Humans. Celestia watched as her military continued eying the Human soldiers while Joshua continued to speak.

"The Horizon may be out of the fight for now, but that doesn't mean that we are! We're gonna show those birds what the Human Spirit can do when you mess with our friends!"

"HOO-RAH!" The soldiers shouted like a chorus.

"Alright then. First off, all comms officers call in for Crow evacs, and hand-off the civilians to the Equestrian Guards. After that, I'm going to discuss terms of this War with Princess Celestia, along with all high-ranking officers from the Horizon. We'll start with recording First Contact, then onto War-Prep. Get to it, troopers!"

"YES-SIR!" The mass of soldiers responded.

The Grunt officers with large black back-packs began to sift through their storage before talking into their helmets. Joshua turned the Atlas around towards the Horizon and speaks to the Pony currently standing atop the Titan's left arm.

"So, how would you like to see the ship? I need to get this Atlas back for maintenance."

Celestia shook her head slowly.

"I can't. I need to go back to Canterlot and calm down all of the, most likely, panicking citizens. I trust that you'll come to our aid if we ask?"

"You can count on it."

With that, the Sun Princess vanished in a flash. Joshua grabbed the Chaingun with the free hand and stared out towards the ship. Before he could get into any thought, there was a light tapping on the exterior. He looked down and saw a familiar group of Ponies as well as three Grunts.

"Captain, sir!" The three Grunts saluted.

"At ease."

The three then relaxed their arms as Smith began to talk.

"Sir, what do we do now?"

"We're going to go back to the Horizon and let the Equestrian Military secure the area. I need to tell the rest of the crew what's going on now."

The Atlas back up before turning towards the ship in the distance.

"I'll meet you three back on the ship."

"Hey, wait, what about these six?" Smith asked, waving his arms towards the Ponies before him.

Joshua looked between the group and the Horizon before smirking under his helmet.

"If they want to, let them on. And if they come, you three are assigned as their escort."

Smith pumped a fist into the air.

"Yes!"

Joshua shook his head slowly as he launched the Atlas forward and began a Titan march back to the ship.

Chapter 12

Shining Armor waited as the Express Train from the Crystal Empire speedily bobbed along the railroad towards Ponyville. He had heard about the Griffon siege on the small town, and banded together a mass of Crystal Guards in order to help fight off the invading force. Of course, there was also the drive to protect his little sister and her friends from any harm the Bird-heads might try to bring on them, being the Elements of Harmony, and such. Cadance had told him to just let the Guards help and not put his own life at risk, but he couldn't shake off the bond he had with his little sister, just because he had an Empire to run, no. He had to fight.

After waiting on the train for 6 hours, and donning his Captain Uniform once more, and moved near a window to observe the battle that should be taking place at the moment. Except when he looked out towards the area that held Ponyville, he saw the town was littered in debris from what looked like fallen airships. There were giant red sheets across entire sections of the town that marked where the Balloons had fallen, as well as flaming piles of rubble that were once buildings. He saw a massive number of golden-armored Guards moving about the town, picking up pieces of fallen ships and structures, moving fast to clean up the carnage left by the war-hungry beasts to the east.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the train doors slid open as the speeding mass of Crystal and Iron came to a stop at the slightly-damaged Ponyville Station. Shining Armor stepped out slowly as his Guards moved forwards in confusion, looking about the scenery as if they had just been woken up from a nap. They expected a full-on battle against blood-thirsty Griffons, not for the battle to be over already and to help clean up the mess. The former-Captain watched as a Solar Guard galloped up to him and bowed.

"Prince Armor, sir." The Guard said as he lowered his head into his forelegs.

"At ease, soldier." Shining Armor replied.

The Guard stood back up and addressed the white Unicorn.

"We had no idea that you would be coming, sir, let alone with Guards of your own to help." The Pegasus stated.

"What happened here? I thought the Griffons were invading with a fleet of 60 War-Balloons."

"They did, sir."

Shinning Armor looked the Guard straight in the eye as he continued to speak.

"And how did we win without loosing too much of Ponyville? Did Princess Celestia scare them back? Did Princess Luna have something to do with this?"

The Guard shook his head.

"No, sir. In fact, we didn't even manage to bring a single Guard here before the fighting stopped."

Shinning Armor felt his heart drop to his hooves as he swallowed hard.

"The Griffons, did they take anypony?" He asked with a voice void of any emotion.

"No, sir. They were completely defeated."

"You just said that we didn't get any guards here in time to fight them off, how did we manage to win?"

The Guard merely raised a hoof and pointed towards the mountain range behind him. When Shinning turned around, his jaw nearly dropped off his skull when he saw a massive block of green and orange metal in the distance. Around it were multiple flying dots that seemed to either circle it like prey, or guard it like a hive. He turned back to the Guard, a slight hint of fear in his voice.

"What is that?"

"Celestia told us that it's an alien ship, and that the aliens on board it came down and personally escorted the Griffons straight to Tartarus. That, and they want to continue to help us as long as we help them."

Shinning Armor cleared his throat and tried to sound like his former Captain persona.

"Help them with what?"

The Guard merely moved to the side and waved Armor over towards the town.

"In the center of the Market District, where the Golden Oaks Library is, I believe that your sister and her friends are going to leave with some of the aliens and take a tour of their ship. If you want, you could ask them if you could come along and speak with their leader."

Shinning Armor quickly shot past the Guard as he called out to his troops.

"All Crystal Guards, assist with clean-up while I talk to these 'aliens'!"

Before he could hear their collective response, Armor had turned the corner and began to book it towards his sister's home. Within the span of a few minutes, he had seen piles of Griffon bodies, massive chunks of burnt and twisted pieces of metal, and almost no Pony casualties. When he finally rounded one last corner, he gazed upon a massive contraption that stuck out like an exploding horn.

The mass of unknown substances simply waited there, in front of him as his eyes washed over every inch of its outside form. He took in the dark green and orange of the exterior as a sign of loyalty to some kind of faction, as the mass of metal he had seen earlier had the same drab color scheme. Before he could get any closer, however, the sides opened up and let twin platforms fall to the ground. When they touched down, the Library opened up and let out a certain collection of mares.

"Shinning!"

Armor turned towards the sound of the familiar voice and beamed as he began to gallop towards the welcome sight.

"Twily!"

Armor tackled his little sister into a massive hug as she held on tightly to him, no doubt out of fear of loosing him again. He began to run a hoof across her mane as she nuzzled his neck with a small trace of tears falling from both of their eyes. When she let go, Armor held her out in front of him and smiled warmly at her. He gazed behind his little sister and saw her friends smiling warmly at the two. With just a slight crane of the neck, his gaze then dropped to a more shocked outlook.

Before him, and behind the mares, were three bipedal creatures that had pale, fur-less faces and wore some kind of cloth-based green and orange uniform. One had a red cross on its shoulder, and carried a massive grey and orange club in an odd fashion. The other two were wearing a nearly identical uniform, however, and each carried a light-brown club they carried in a similar, strange way. The three moved towards the metallic object as the one in the middle called out towards the mares.

"Come on!" It called with a wave of its upper leg. "You wanna go, we gotta go now!"

The mares all turned towards the aliens and began to make way towards one of the openings in the machine. Twilight tried to move out of her brother's grasp, but was stopped short by his pull.

"Twily, what's going on here? What are those?"

"Shinning, they're called Humans, and they're going to let us see their ship! Isn't that- wait, why are you here?"

"I heard that Ponyville was under attack, so I gathered up all of my available Gaudsponies and came over as fast as I could. I didn't expect to see... aliens. How can you trust them? They just come out of nowhere and-"

"Hey!" Another alien called out. "Twilight, you coming?"

She turned towards the alien and then back to her brother.

"Shinning, if you want to, you can come with us and see the aliens for yourself. I bet you could talk to the Captain, since he said he'd meet us there!"

Armor looked between the aliens and her sister before letting out a sigh of defeat.

"Alright. But, I'm going to be keeping an eye on you, alright? I'm not going to let any of them hurt you."

Twilight beamed towards her brother before galloping into the metal thing. Armor slowly approached but was stopped by the first alien.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" It spoke to him.

Armor glared up at the creature before coldly replying.

"I'm going to watch over my sister."

The alien glared back, but moved back to let him into the metal object.

Armor stepped on carefully, as to not slip on the metallic floor of the contraption, before being motioned towards one of the seats by his sister. With some effort, he managed to climb up into it and sat on his haunches before facing the other two aliens. The sides closed up as a loud high-pitched roar came from the sides of their container. Slowly, yet steadily, the box began to rise into the air. Seconds passed, and soon he was looking at Ponyville from a second-story height, then a third-story height, a Pegasus-like height, until finally, they were nearly 50 meters into the air. The craft shook a bit beneath him before it lurched forwards faster than any train he had ever been on.

\\\//////

The Griffon General washed his feathers atop his chest in deep thought, trying to remember why he had sent out an order for several fleets to attack Equestria. As the water soaked through his coat, a strange sensation rose from the back of his eyes, forcing him to rub his temples. He looked into the mirror before him and watched in horror as purple gas began to steam out from his eyes, slowly being enveloped by a searing pain. Before he could scream, however, there was a deep laugh that shook his very mind.

"Soon," The voice started, "I will show Equestria what it means to fear."

General Blood-Claw began to scratch at his face while trying to speak.

"Wha- What are you!? Get out!" The Griffon cried as he began to knock over bars of soap and a nearby vase.

"I am a King, and you will obey me as such, General." The voice hissed out before the Griffon blacked out from pain.

\\\//////

Sombra finally managed to subside the pesky Griffon before assuming control of its pathetic form.

'This is ridiculous,' The King thought to himself, 'I am a ruler, not some petty thief of minds and bodies. Those Equestrians are so determined to be without a true King, then I will see to it that they never see the light of my rule. If only I didn't need this form, I would just take what is rightfully mine, and wipe out all of Celestia's little Ponies, and become the one and only ruler of this world.'

With a final tug at the uniform, Sombra looked at his possession's form in the mirror. He was now a black and grey Griffon with a large red beak, and an awful sense for what makes a meal, judging by the Tartarus-awful taste in his mouth. Sombra turned the body over towards the massive doors in front of him before pushing them open with all of the body's might. The massive plates of wood and metal went flying outwards, almost crushing the poor Guards who were unlucky enough to be assigned to the highest-ranking officer in the Griffon Military.

Sombra forced the body to casually stride down the stone hallways of the Griffon Base, passing by salutes and bows from staff and military alike. When he finally reached the room that peaked his interests, the doors opened for him, allowing several Griffons to come up to him with wide smiles.

"Sir," A white and brown Griffon started, "We have news from the Diamond Territory. The Dogs have agreed to wage War against the Equestrians alongside our forces. They're bringing in their Big Dogs, and are looking into areas of interest to attack."

Sombra grabbed at the parchment before tossing it aside.

"Of course they're joining us. We have the most superior Military. Joining the Equestrians is a death-wish."

Another Griffon came up to Sombra's side with a scroll.

"Sir," The grey and yellow Griffon started, "we've received word from the Scouts to the North. They've found what you told them about."

Sombra managed to smirk, both physically and inwardly, at the news brought before him.

"Really, now? What do they say?" Sombra asked.

"Well, they say that the statue has been glowing strangely at some points, but hasn't put a damper on their progress of relocating it. They should be back with it in a month's time."

"Excellent."

Sombra continued his pace forwards until he reached a table with a map that showed the movement of his forces and locations of future attacks. Ponyville was currently surrounded on all sides by massive Airships, and was then etched off of the map by a support staff member. As the Griffons began to move about, Sombra smiled widely to himself.

'Now that the Elements are out of the picture, I can finally-'

"SIRS!" A voice screeched.

Sombra looked up towards a heavily panting Griffon that had half of his coat caked in blood. His armor was torn in several places, and small holes riddled his torso's lower half. He fell before Sombra and began to cough up blood.

"The... attack on P-Ponyville... we, *cough, cough,*... were ambushed. They... came from above... they were small... so, frail, yet... tore us apart..."

The staff among the room began to exchange looks before one of the Generals angrily stomped up to the soldier.

"You were ambushed and stopped by Ponies!?" The General screamed.

"N-no... two... legs... not Dogs, not Mino, *cough, cough,* taurs... something, new... they... aliens..."

With that final breath, the Griffon coughed up a puddle of blood, and even a chunk of what looked to be a, previously, internal organ before dying right in front of them.

Sombra switched his gaze from the body that lay before him and stared out towards the skies above.

'So, they picked the Equestrians, hmm?' The King thought to himself. 'No matter. I'll just show them what to fear now instead of later. Besides, I won't be stuck like this for long, now.'

"Couriers," Sombra called out with the General's body, "ready a message to the Dogs. They attack the place known as, Apploosa, in one month from now. And make sure they bring their Big Dogs. Leave no survivors."

With that order, Sombra switched his focus back to the internal realm of Darkness that he became accustomed to, and moved a white piece on a meta-physical chess board, knocking over one of his black pieces.

'This game has become interesting, now, hasn't it Celestia? No worry for me, though. I'll simply use the advantage of size. Sooner of later, dear Princess, either you or me, one of us Titans, will soon fall.'

Chapter 13

Joshua walked along the main hangar as Crows began to swarm about the outside of the Destroyer, keeping a watchful eye on the space around the vulnerable starship. As more of the ships passed by, the Pilot noticed one in particular that was making its way closer to him, specifically. A certain Crow with guests.

"Alright crew, listen up!" Joshua called out to the members of the Horizon.

Around him, uniformed officers and Grunts stopped their actions to listen to what their commanding officer had to say.

"In that Crow, are our guests. They are indeed members of the alien species we have chosen to ally ourselves with on this planet. I don't want any stares, threats, general fucking around, or anything to antagonize any of them. They are kind, peaceful civilians, and I expect you all to treat them as such. Clear!?"

"YES-SIR!" They chorused.

Joshua turned to his left as the crew around him began to prep the bay for the landing of one last Crow. When the Pilot examined the room once more, he saw several familiar faces approach him. One was in an officer's uniform, a female Pilot in CQC armor, a large man in an Engineering uniform, and a Gunnery Sargent with an LMG. The Pilot strode over towards the four before reaching towards the fellow Pilot and slapping their palms together.

"Rebecca, nice to see you. How are the rest of the Pilots holding up in Crew Quarters?"

The CQC Pilot shrugged in response.

"Eh, not too bad. Itching for a fight, though. Any ideas about when that'll be?"

Joshua shook his head before turning to talk to the rest of the group before him.

"Wesley, anything to report?"

"Actually, yes, sir." The Officer replied.

Wesley began to scroll through the datapad in his arm as he spoke.

"We have several sections of the ship that need to be emptied out in order to make appropriate repairs, and since we're over-staffed, I don't think we can just make everyone sleep in the hangar bays. We're also about to run out of the emergency surplus of MREs and all cryo-food."

"So basically, we're gonna need places for the non-essential crew, as well as a supply of food?"

Wesley nodded.

"Basically, yes, sir."

Joshua sighed as he shook his head.

Before any of their conversation could continue, however, a Crow hovered into the center of the bay before slowly descending onto the ground. The Pilot motioned for the group to follow him as the doors of the dropship began to open.

\\\//////

When Shining Armor finally got out of the seat, the side of the metal, flying... thing, began to lower onto a metal floor beneath them. The unicorn looked around the expanse of space before him with mixed emotions. There were aliens all around, walking on top of hanging walkways and moving around large crates. Some had different uniforms on than others and didn't carry one of the strange things that the three he was with were holding. Before he could try and put the pieces together, one of the aliens went straight up to him, followed by several more.

"So, we've got an extra visitor, huh?" It asked from behind a strange helmet.

Shining Armor puffed his chest out and spoke to the alien.

"I'm Prince Shining Armor. Former Captain of the Royal Guard, and head of the Crystal Guard, currently. What about you?"

The alien extended an arm towards him.

"Captain Joshua of the Horizon."

Armor looked at the appendage carefully before slowly raising a foreleg to meet it. The small digits wrapped around his hoof before it was brought up and down once before he let go.

"Welcome aboard."

Before anyone else could make a statement, there was a flash of blue behind the group and revealed a familiar midnight-blue Princess.

"Princess Luna!" The ponies all exclaimed before bowing.

\\\//////

The Militia near the flash raised whatever weapons they had on them and pointed at the unknown guest. Just as the figure had come out, however, the guests bowed to her. Joshua noticed how similar this new one was to Celestia, exceptions being having a coat that was a dark blue, a smaller frame, and hair that flowed with the look of the night sky. The Pilot saw the way his comrades were aiming what weapons they had and turned to face them.

"Stand down!" He barked. "It's just another guest."

The Pilot turned to meet the eyes of the new pony as she spoke.

"Are you the one that my sister told me about? The one known as Joshua?"

Joshua nodded.

"Yes, I am. Joshua." He stated, extending a hand to her.

She examined the appendage for a second before smiling and placing her foreleg into his grasp. They shook firmly and let go.

"Princess Luna." She stated.

"What brings you here?"

"I wished to discuss the terms of our future cooperation in place of my sister. She's working on trying to calm the ponies of Canterlot, the city on the mountain nearby. It would seem as though they thought your ship coming down was the end of the world."

"Sorry about that."

Luna chuckled a bit.

"Please, don't worry about it. It's actually kind of funny to see them run around like that. 'The sky is falling! The sky is falling!' Hehehe."

Joshua smiled inwardly as he reached for his helmet. He unlock some of the lower parts of the helmet before reaching towards the back to pull it off entirely. After pulling it off, he looked at Princess Luna and spoke.

"May I say, it's a pleasure to be able to work together." He stated, hooking his helmet to his belt.

Luna smiled at him before he noticed something about their party.

"Wait... where are Smith and Juarez?"

\\\//////

"And I'm telling you, it's probably just in the Hangar somewhere!" Juarez yelled.

"No, I remember leaving it somewhere near the seats!" Smith replied, searching through the Crow's interior compartments.

"And if I recall correctly, you're an idiot, and we should probably just check over by the crates, where you noticed the rifle was gone in the first place."

"How about we just keep looking here so we don't have to waste time going back over to the same crates, huh?"

Juarez shook his head as Smith continued searching the Crow. The Grunt reached for the seats and activated the unlocking mechanism for their inner space. When he opened it, he found not his rifle, nor any Militia supplies. Instead, he saw three pairs of eyes staring back at him.

"Uh... hi, mister alien?" A voice came as an appendage was waved.

Smith froze, his hands at his side, and he stared at the three figures inside the compartment.

"Oh... my... God..."

The three sat in the dark compartment of the ship, unmoving as the soldier processed the situation. Slowly, he reached inside towards the three, extended his fingers, and began to pet the one with the red hair and bow.

"YOU'RE SO ADORABLE!!!" Smith squealed in a high-pitched voice as he fluffed the tiny pony.

"Smith!?" Juarez called from outside the Crow. "You alright? I heard-" Juarez practically dropped his rifle when he saw what the Grunt was doing. "What the Hell, man."

Smith looked between Juarez and the three little ponies as he had a gaping smile adorn his face.

"Are you seeing this!? They're so cute!"

"Did you really steal a trio of small children when I wasn't looking!?"

"Hey, these three were here before I found them! And besides," He reached in and pulled out the yellow one with red hair and a bow, "LOOK AT THEM! THEY ARE ADORABLE!"

Juarez raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I swear to God, it's like I'm working with a five-year old." He murmured under his breath.

"Um, excuse me?" The small yellow pony started.

Smith turned her around to face him, a smile plastered as subtly as a nuclear strike.

"Oh my God, you even have a cute little accent!" He squeaked.

"Hey! We are not cute!" The orange one exclaimed, buzzing her wings for effect.

Smith looked between the one he was holding and the other two before gently setting the first one down with the rest. He backed up slowly and breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself.

"I'm sorry, it's just... you're all just so..." He motioned towards them with opened hands.

Juarez lowered his hand and approached the three small ponies.

"Alright, looks like I'm going to have to be the responsible one here. Who are you three and why are you here?"

The white one raised a leg.

"I'm Sweetie Belle!"

The orange one flapped her wings.

"I'm Scootaloo!"

The one with the bow raised a leg.

"And Ah'm Apple Bloom!"

"And we're..." They all stated together before drawing in a large amount of air.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!"

Chapter 14

The mares in the hallway all froze, along with the crew, as the trio of voices echoed throughout the ship, causing all to stop in its wake as thoughts of destruction and zip-lining came to mind, for some unknown reason.

"Ah can't believe it!" Applejack shouted. "How'd they get 'ere!?"

"Come on, Applejack and Rarity," Rainbow Dash stated, "we've gotta go find them!"

In that instance, the three took off in the direction of the closest hangar, leaving four mares and the Militia crew. Twilight turned around and chuckled sheepishly.

"Um, we better, go too, make sure everything's... you know... together!" She added hastily before bolting away with the remainder of their six-pony group.

Joshua blinked a few times before sighing and turning to Luna.

"Sorry Princess, but we're going to have to check this out."

"Oh, no worries." She stated dismissively.

The Pilot nodded and took off down the hallway alongside Luna, leaving the four crew members to idly stand by as a feeling sunk within each of them.

"Hey," Gunnery Sergeant Myers started, "anyone else get some... strange, feeling?" He asked, cradling the LMG in his grip.

"Yeah..." Wesley complied. "Kinda like how somehow all the munitions on the ship are gonna ignite at once?"

"Or something like that we might crash the ship, even though it's already landed?" Ramirez asked.

"Or that all the Titans are gonna come alive and use the cabins as jaws to feign eating us?" Suggested Rebeca.

"Or that Smith might have found a group of someones to be even more destructive with?" Myers concluded with.

The group all looked at each other with wide, horrified eyes before the lot of them bolted down the corridor as nearby helmsmen shuddered at the prospect of the infamous John Smith finding yet even more companions to his wanton record of destruction.

\\\//////

Smith held the three, 'fillies,' cradling them in his arms as they continued to ask barrages of questions that were answered by a slightly more deaf Juarez.

"So ya'll really are aliens!?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yes..." Juarez sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"And that cool flying thing is another type of ship you have?" Scootaloo beamed.

"Yes..."

"What about those costumes you're all wearing?"

"They're Militia uniforms... we wear them because we're-"

"GIRLS!" A trio of voices called from somewhere behind them.

The three fillies jumped from Smith's arms and took cover behind his legs.

Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash rushed towards the soldier as he waved his hands out in front of him.

"This isn't what it looks like, I swear!" He pleaded for no reason.

"Really?" Applejack started, looking straight at a certain bow that was peeking out from behind his legs. "'Cause it looks ta me, like someponies snuck on that ship with us, and snuck in here, too!"

Smith put down his arms.

"Oh. In that case, it may very well be what it looks like."

"Smith being an idiot, who'da thunk it?" Juarez asked sarcastically.

Smith pointed over to his teammate.

"Hey! I'm not the one who didn't check to see if we were being boarded in the first place!"

"Well I'm not the one who's been harboring children of an alien race, who we're trying to ally with, no less, and doesn't even bother reporting it in to our captain!"

"I can see that."

Smith screamed in a high-pitched fashion as a familiar face came from behind the trooper.

"C-Captain, sir!" He saluted, rather hastily.

"You mind telling me why there are children currently aboard my ship? And why you're with them before anyone else?"

"Um, well... You see, the thing about that is..." Smith trailed off, trying to avoid the conversation.

"I have more important matters that need attention right now, so you best hope that you stay out of trouble. Now escort these three back to Ponyville."

"Yessir!" He said hastily.

The Grunt made his way into the Crow as the three sets of sisters smiled nervously at the Pilot.

"Sorry you don't get to tour the ship." He said to the older three.

"It's no problem, really." Rarity dismissed. "I'm sure we can find some other time, right?"

Joshua sighed.

"Yeah. Take care." He told them before walking towards the back of the Hangar, where Princess Luna was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" He asked.

"How did you get behind him so quickly?"

"Stealth kit."

He then demonstrated the equipment by completely vanishing from sight for a few seconds. When he returned, he was on the opposite side of the doorway, leaning against the wall as Luna smirked at him. The rest of the ponies and Militia were looking on with interest, waiting until Joshua moved up and spoke.

"So, moving on, we should talk about how you could help us, while we help you. Wesley, front and center."

The thin ginger moved up with a datapad in hand, and began to scroll through the lists of ship stocks as he spoke.

"Well, we're still dangerously low on food of all kinds, as well as drying up the last of the recycling wells."

"So we need some food. Think you can spare some?" Joshua asked.

"Of course we can. I only need to know what kind of nutrition we should worry about, in case we can't supply you ourselves."

"We're omnivorous, so anything between meat and vegetation."

Luna slowly nodded as the four other ponies began to look around carefully.

"M-m-meat?" Twilight peeped.

"Oh, so you're more like Minotaurs than I thought." Fluttershy interjected.

"Minotaurs?" Ramirez asked.

"Oh, yes. I knew one for a while, and after a small... issue, we got to talking quite a bit, and I got to learn about how his people work."

"Princess, do you think we could see about getting some of their food sent to us?"

"I can do better. We have a dignitary with us at Canterlot. I'm sure if you explained your situation to him, he'd be glad to share."

"Good. That's one issue dealt with."

"I suggest we should bring this up with the rest of the Court, seeing as they have some say in these matters."

Joshua nodded to her before turning to the group.

"Alright, if you three still want that tour, you can stay here. Luna, I'd like to address these problems ASAP. I'll get a dropship ready and meet you there."

She smiled before moving closer to the Pilot.

"I have a quicker idea. Stand next to me."

Joshua eyed her cautiously before walking to her side, and leaving the ship in a flash.

Chapter 15

Joshua felt a rush of different sensations run through his body as the scenery around him changed drastically. From the familiarity of the Horizon, the Pilot had almost been blinded by the absolute purity of the walls that now surrounded him. The same walls that appeared to be made of a fine marble that shone a pristine white, trimmed along the walls with golden accents and ornaments. The floors were coated in a thick layer of stunning red velvet, giving the entire scene together as a way of saying "I'm more important than anything you'll ever do or be".

The Pilot looked around the area for a few more seconds, but ceased when he heard a cough at his side. He looked down to his right to see Princess Luna smiling up at him, an eyebrow raised.

"I take it that you're impressed?" she asked.

Joshua looked up at the high ceiling, mesmerized by how likely a Titan could fit inside these hallways, and nodded.

"Very..." he muttered.

Luna chuckled lightly at the remark before moving through the halls.

"The meeting hall is right this way," she called to him. "When we get there, you need to talk to the ambassador, Golden Flex. He'll help you sort out trade for food you might want."

Joshua snapped himself out of his stupor and followed Luna through the massive halls. As he did, they passed by Guards of varying shades of white and grey, all eying him cautiously. After a few minutes of walking, Joshua and Luna found themselves outside of a large set of red and gold double doors, outlined with golden accents. On the other side, voices could be heard shouting at each other. Luna surged a bit of magic at the doors, opening them to reveal a group of ponies arguing with some more creatures that resembled Joshua. Their top halves were ripped with muscle, but sported different colors of fur. The heads of the creatures looked more akin to that of a bull, complete with horns and even rings that went through their nostrils. Beneath their torsos were heavily coated legs that resembled that of a pony. The largest one turned to Joshua and stood still as its eyes widened. The rest of the room stared at the Pilot as he approached them.

"Something wrong here?" he asked.

The large creature approached him briskly, thundering its hooves against the stone floor as it approached, staring intently at Joshua. It came to a stop right in front of him and began to sniff the air.

"I smell blood on you," it spoke in a deep voice.

"Would you care to tell me who you are?"

"Forgive my intrusion," it spoke before backing up and offering a hand. "I'm Golden Flex, ambassador for the Minotaur Empire."

Joshua put his armored hand in Flex's grip and gave a firm shake.

"Joshua Burton. Captain of the Militia vessel Horizon, and Pilot. I was told that I should talk to you about getting food for my crew."

Flex released his grip and smiled broadly.

"Well, if it's a hardy meal you need, look no further! My people have the finest haul on the borders! Let's discuss what you need," he said before turning back to the meeting.

"What is the meaning of this!?" a shrill voice interrupted.

Joshua turned to see a white unicorn with blonde hair and a weird formal collar turn a corner and glare daggers at him.

"I was enjoying a private moment in my quarters, when I heard not only screams from the city, but from here as well! I demand that-"

The pony went no further as a blue flash resulted in him disappearing from view as the obnoxious voice was heard falling before a splash echoed beyond the walls.

"Whoops, would you look at that," Luna said with a smirk. "Let's discuss this arrangement, shall we?"

Chapter 16

Shining Armor watched as the alien began to walk him and Twilight through some hallways as they spoke in what could only be described as a different language.

"... so when the compounds begin to ignite within the chamber," Twilight continued.

"The energy dispersed can be harvested used to not only compress the mass of the object within a certain space," Wesley continued as well.

"Then send the ship through the pocket at normal speed in that pocket, while the anomaly itself travels at the desired speed without exerting too much force on the ship itself! That's amazing!"

While he didn't know most of what they were saying, he knew that Twilight was at least making the most of it, having asking questions galore as the lot of them were lead deeper in the alien vessel.

"Exactly! I don't know why no one wants to talk about this kind of stuff, right?" Wesley asked.

"Right! This is so amazing!" Twilight agreed.

"Excuse me," Shining spoke up, "but where are we going, again?"

"Oh, right! We're heading to the Engine room. That's where you wanted to go, right, Twilight?"

Twilight nodded excitedly as she moved up next to him.

"So, what kind of fuel do you use?"

"Well," Wesley started.

'Oh no, please don't start again,' Shining prayed.

Just as they were about to start conversing, a tapping met his shoulder, and he turned around to find another one of the Human soldiers. This one wore full body armor, covering up all of its skin. It was similar to Joshua, but instead of a star-burst helmet pattern, it had several small cameras across its helmet. All around the shoulders and on top of its head as well, were large mounds of leaves.

"If you wanna avoid being talked to death by Wesley, then follow me," the Human spoke quickly. "Trust me, he's barely even a kid, and Engineering's practically empty, so if you're following because of the purple one, then you don't have to worry at all."

"Wait, who are you? What do you want?"

"Heard you talk with the Captain, so I thought I'd invite you to talk with some of our other soldiers, lay down some rules, you know, that sort of stuff for while we're all here."

Before Shining could get another word in, the Pilot walked down another corridor. He took one look at Twilight and Wesley.

'She's strong, Shining. She was strong enough at the wedding, she's strong enough now,' he thought. 'If they really want me to lay down rules for them, then I'll give them rules.'

With that, Shining Armor took off after the Pilot, his hooves clanging on the metallic floor as another door opened further down.

\\\//////

Fluttershy watched as Rebeca punched in another code for the lot of them, as Pinkie was occupied with Myers, comparing scopes of parties and life on farms and such.

"Why would you farm rocks, though?" Myers asked.

"Well, mainly because-" Pinkie started.

"We're here," Rebeca interrupted.

As the doors slid open, there was a slight breeze in the warm hallway, comforting the Human crew as it swept over them. Inside was a room full of colorful furniture, breaking the bland monotony of the dull greens and greys they had seen thus far. Several seats were arranged around a wall, where several events were transpiring.

Rebeca waved the rest through as Fluttershy and Pinkie watched what was going on at the other end. Several men and women were all calling stuff at the wall, where a picture moved in four separate ways, split into quarters. Four of the people were on the couch, holding strange devices as their fingers slammed multiple colors across them. The shouting intensified as a large number began to count down above the large split picture. One of the screens flashed as a dull bang erupted from the wall, and all other screens went red as everyone shouted at once.

"YES!" One woman with a device in hand shouted as she stood up. "In your faces! Triple-down! WOO!"

Several grumbles were heard as the crowd passed several chips around, some faces smiling as they received large mounds of them at a time.

"So, what's going on here?" Myers asked as he stepped close to the crowd.

They all turned to see the Pilots and ponies walk up to the couch, and watched the aliens.

Rebeca smirked as she addressed the guests.

"These are our fellow Pilots, as you can see by how they carry themselves so highly and properly," she joked.

Several laughs were heard as the one who cheered spoke.

"Only the fanciest mannerisms for our guests."

"And where were those mannerisms during lunch?" one of them asked.

"Why don't you check with someone who cares, loser!" she barked with a smile, turning to the other Pilot.

"She probably left them with her virginity, down in Engineering, am I right!?" another shouted, earning several laughs from the others.

"Quit yer bitchin' nannies!" Myers shouted. "In case you forgot, we've got guests here."

Pinkie galloped past the CQC specialist and jumped over the couch before landing between several Pilots, smiling a storm.

"Hi everypony! My name's Pinkie Pie! And I want to get in on this fun group, right here!"

"Damn right, you do!" one of them barked.

The noise afterwards was enough to drown out whatever Pinkie may have been able to say, as the lot of Pilots began to excitedly converse with the pink pony. Fluttershy smiled lightly as Pinkie began making so many new friends at once, smiling brightly enough to put Celestia's Sun to shame. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked up to see Rebeca smiling down at her.

"Wanna see something cool?" she asked.

Fluttershy looked back to see Pinkie holding one of the devices and looking at the screen with three other Pilots, all welcoming her to the game. On the wall, a symbol that looked like a playground slide came up in the middle of a circle, with the number 3 at the top right corner. Pinkie was so enthralled by the display of lights and the cheers from around her, Fluttershy thought that she best be left to her own devices.

With a smile on her face, the pegasus looked up to Rebeca and nodded.

"Awesome. Little guy's gonna love ya, trust me," she added before moving down another hallway.

"Wait," Fluttershy spoke, perking her ears up, "'little guy'?"

"He's a little lizard I picked up on one of our deployments, but I've got him hidden away in my room. Trust me, he's adorable."

Fluttershy practically felt her heart give way as she pondered the possibility of an alien lizard being only a short walk away.

"Oh my gosh! An alien lizard!" she cheered to herself as she walked behind the Pilot.

Chapter 17

Shining Armor caught up with the Human in a small room that began to move underneath his hooves, jolting downwards as the Human spoke.

"Yeah, best that you chose to get away from Wesley," it said in a distorted voice. "Once his yap starts flappin', there's no force that'll shut it. Besides threats, of course, but we prefer to not have to go that far."

"He seemed to be fine talking with Twilight," Shining commented.

"Well, it just so happens that he found someone that's just as nerdy as he is. About time, too. Some of us were considering setting him up on a blind date with Rebeca, just for shits and giggles, but now it looks like he's got someone to actually speak to."

"Are you saying that my sister's-"

"No, no no no, nooooo," the Human interrupted. "I'm just saying that it's good to know that there's at least one person... pony, whatever, that can understand his science mumbo-jumbo that can help us."

Silence passed between the two as several lights flickered away across the doors.

"So why did you step in back there?" Shining asked.

"Well, saw your armor and figured you for a military type. Plus, you didn't look too thrilled to be caught up in the talk between those two, and believe me, when they get to Engineering, there's no telling how far into it Wesley will get. I swear, it's like he's speaking a different language sometimes."

Shining chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I know that feeling. With all the times she's told me about 'square deviants from the equilatter,' I have trouble believing we're related sometimes."

"Heh, I have trouble believing him and I are the same species."

The two shared a laugh as the doors parted, and sounds of thunder rolled through the room. As the Human moved forward, he waved the unicorn through the doors and into a massive metal room, where there were walls separating an archery-like range, an obstacle course that looked like it was designed for alicorns, and a small area with tables and exercise machines. Shining looked out to see several other soldiers like the one next to him all firing their strange weapons, running across walls, jumping over large gaps, and... playing cards?

"Forgot to mention," the Human beside him spoke, "name's Travis. Travis Betcher. Pilot Corps, and stealth specialist."

Travis lowered a hand down to Shining.

"Shining Armor. Former Captain of the Royal Guard, and now Prince of the Crystal Empire, as well as Admiral for the Crystal Air Fleet."

Shining raised his hoof to shake the appendage and shook once before they separated.

"Good to have you, then, Armor."

"So where are we?"

"Gym. We Pilots need special equipment to keep in top-shape, as well as stations to check our unique gear. Over there's an obstacle course designed for Pilots only, giving us a range of wall-running and jump-jet scenarios, some regular weight-stations, as well as treadmills, and a firing range, where we test our accuracy."

The unicorn nodded as he watched several other Pilots run across high walls, jumping from surface to surface as blue lights danced across their waists. After watching them run for a few seconds, Shining began to move towards the firing range, watching as the other soldiers began to move away from his approach, allowing him to close in on a weapon already set on the raised barricade.

A hand shot out and slammed onto the weapon before Shining could examine it closely, and Travis waved his other hand in front of him.

"No way, can't let you do that," he spoke hastily.

"Why not?" Armor asked.

"Because you're not allowed to touch any Militia equipment unless you've been drafted into the ranks, or have permission from the Captain himself. If you try to touch, we'd have to either arrest you, or... you know."

The point was enough to make Shining nod slowly, understanding that military protocol outweighed whatever "fun" a guest might be having. A smirk found its way onto his features, however, as he lit his horn.

"How about I demonstrate one of my weapons, then?" he asked.

Clearly intrigued, the rest of the Pilots shared glances before Travis looked out to the range.

"Well, as long as you don't point it at any of us, I don't suppose it's against the rules."

Shining took this as a go-ahead, and began to unsheathe his Crystal Broadsword. The purple surface gleamed against the dull green background of the room, and glowed with power as it was raised into the air, horizontally laid before the unicorn's eyes.

"The Royal Crystal Broadsword," he explained. "The crystals themselves aren't much to worry about, but when ground to a fine enough edge, they can cut through most metals on our planet. Plus, with this special handle, I can channel my magic to do this."

Shining Armor took a stance and aimed down the range at one of the groups of targets before bringing back the sword and focusing on the targets. The silhouettes began to highlight themselves in his vision as the sword hummed with might. In a single slash, three bolts flew out from the tip of the blade and soared towards the framed IMC Spectres. Their images began to bubble before bursting into a purple flame, rendering their frames to ash as the heat of the blasts flew past the Pilots. Shining smiled as he brought the blade down to the ground, and managed to stick the sword in the alien metal.

After a few seconds of silence, applause began to roar around him, as well as several cheers as one Pilot patted him on the back.

"Nice! How do I get one!?"

"Overthrow a thousand-year-old dark magic wielding king and free an entire empire of crystal citizens."

Laughs rang out as Shining was given hoof/fist-bumps by a few of the soldiers.

'Guess they're not so bad,' he thought to himself.

Names and Dates

Twilight was looking out of the cave as the creatures began to seemingly swarm about the now dead Hydra that tried to eat them, and could only stare with so many thoughts.

What were they?

What did they do?

How could they speak?

Will we survive this?

With so many questions bombarding through her mind, she barely noticed her bleeding friend next to her. She turned to see Fluttershy and Applejack tending to Dash's wings, and cringed at the sight of the blood. Dash was almost fully out of it from dizziness and pain, but still refused to give in. Twilight then noticed her friends' attention shift to the exit of the cave and felt her heart almost stop.

One of the creatures was right at the entrance. Staring into them with it's star-burst-like glowing eyes and strange green and orange skin. It lowered itself down to their eye-level and spoke.

"It's safe now. Come out."

At that, it motioned one of it's forehooves from them to the exit with a strange motion of digits at the end of it, apparently signaling them to come out.

With little amount to debate on this, Twilight did the only thing she could think of.

She responded.

"What are you? Who are you? What do you want?"

\\\//////

At this response, Joshua almost jumped out of his suit in surprise that the beings understood him, let alone spoke English. He shuffled a bit on his knees and licked his lips, trying to think of something to say.

"We're just uh... lost, right now and trying to find something to fuel our ship while we're stuck here. We heard you scream from our landing zone and came here to help. Looks like we came just in time, though," he said pointing to the blue one's bleeding back, "if you come out, we can stop the bleeding or at least move you somewhere safer," he said while extending his hand to them.

The purple one looked to his helmet and at the hand again, and gulped loudly. When she finished, though, she stood up and walked over to him, slowly and steadily. It raised itself and looked towards the others and motioned for them to follow.

"Come on girls," apparently she said, "we don't have much choice here, so let's at least give them a chance."

At that, the others in the cave began to lift up from the ground, the orange one hauling up the blue one, trying to keep her from falling. They all slowly approached the exit to the cave as one of the Grunts came up to Joshua.

"Sir, area's clear. That thing's down now, but scans show a type of regenerative tissue all over the neck. It could come up at any second."

He turned and nodded to the Grunt and motioned for him to return to the rest of the group. Joshua then turned towards the new batch of aliens and spoke again.

"First off, we're not here to harm you or anything of the sort, so no need to worry about that. Second, your friend here's hurt badly. So, real quick, Johnson!"

A Grunt in lighter green and orange armor with a red-cross insignia on his shoulders came up to the group and gave a crisp salute to Joshua, before standing still.

"Sir?"

He pointed to the blue one that was bleeding and ordered.

"See what you can do to stop the bleeding."

"Yessir!"

With that, Johnson went over to the group and crouched down to give a proper medical evaluation of the situation. He then addressed the creatures.

"Okay, tell me what needs to be done."

The orange one let the blue one down as she responded.

"Ah'll show ya what ta do. Here, she's got some mighty deep cuts, and we need ta stop the bleedin'."

He pulled out a med-kit and began to spray the area, cleansing it from bacteria, as he reached for gauze. Johnson wrapped around the appendage as he was walked through the process of wrapping by the hatted alien. After the procedure, he assisted to haul up the blue one on top of the orange one and addressed Joshua.

"She'll be fine for now, sir, but I recommend we move fast. That seal won't last too long and there might be more of those things around here. Plus, I don't know if anything we have will save any of them if they get injured again."

Joshua nodded and turned to the six aliens.

"If you know a way out of here, we'll follow, make sure it's safe. If not, we can air-lift you out of here with our dropship. Which will it be?" he asked.

They all looked to each other and then to the yellow one in the back who was cowering slightly. She trembled forth towards Joshua, Smith, and Juarez, and stopped just shy of comparison between heights. She took a deep breath and began to speak softly to the trio of Militia soldiers.

"U-uhm... there's a... path over there... by that rock over there... that goes to my, um... my cottage. If, that's okay with you..."

Juarez and Smith exchanged looks and looked towards Joshua for some direction, to which he motioned for them to form up.

"Hold on a second, we need to talk."

With that he turned around and turned the suit's speakers off and turned on a private local chat with Smith and Juarez, to which Smith spoke first in a hushed shout.

"The fuck was that!? The hell is wrong with them!?"

To which Juarez responded to first.

"Because, asshole, they're probably terrified. They're friend there's hurt real bad and they've nearly been eaten by a massive... thing, and now they've got to trust an unknown alien military group to bring them home safely. How the fuck would you react, again?"

"Lock it down, both of you." Joshua commanded with a gesture to both Grunts.

They waved each other off as their commanding officer spoke to them.

"We've got no idea how anything on this planet works and we've just saved six civies from being eaten. If their higher-ups hear about this, then we'll probably have a better shot at this whole First-Contact scenario, right? So focus on the mission at hand, which is as of now, to escort these six to their closest residence without harm. Now, can I trust you two to get this shit done, or am I going to have to call in another squad?"

They looked to each other again and nodded in tandem.

"Understood, sir."

"Aye, aye."

Joshua nodded. "Good. Mission begins... now."

With that, he turned off the private speak and went over to the group in question, ready to move out.

"Okay. We're ready. Lead the way, and we'll follow."

The yellow one nodded slowly and began to walk past the rocks, instead of cutting the path by the dead Hydra for some reason. Joshua signaled the rest of the troops to follow and they began to wade through the forest along a dirt path. They heard some noises every now and then along the bushes, but they ultimately were just ignored by the groups until they arrived at a small wooden cottage at the edge of the tree-line. At that point, the yellow, orange, and blue ones went straight for the door as the other three remained with the Militia troops, trying to keep them occupied as their friend was helped on their own. They stood there waiting, until the purple one spoke up again.

"Um... thank you for helping, but why are you here, again?"

Joshua looked down to see the little creature shaking a little, anxious about the visitors.

"We're just here to get some food and see if we can salvage anything as fuel for our ship. We won't eat your kind, seeing as how it'll be morally unjust eating sentient creatures. No, we're gonna stick to looking through that forest for now."

"Oh, um... I wouldn't recommend that. The Everfree Forest is way too dangerous. That Hydra was only one of the dangers that hide behind the shadows of the forest. There's a lot more dangerous things back there."

"What would you recommend, then?"

"Well, since you say you're from a ship, where exactly are you from?"

"We're from space."

"... What?"

"Space."

"Space?"

"Space."

"From a Spaceship?"

"Yep. We came here by accident, and we need to get back."

"Why?"

"I'd rather not say. You don't need to be dragged into this."

"Into what?"

"You ask way too many questions."

"Sorry."

He looked out to the house at the edge and decided to make one of his most powerful decisions as the commanding officer.

"So, is this your first contact? First time meeting extra-terrestrials?"

"Oh, yes! That's right! This is First Contact!"

"No, it isn't."

At that point, she practically froze over.

"What?"

"At least, not yet. We'll have to meet with your leaders and such, so..."

"Oh, you mean the Princesses. I can send a letter to let them know that you saved us. And that you don't mean any harm. What time would you like to meet them?"

"One week. We need to see about what other species are dominant on this planet. No offense, but we need to make sure that there will be no ill intentions at any kind of event you might plan."

"I understand."

"What's your names, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and we're known as ponies, just so you know. I'm an alicorn pony." she pointed to the pink and white ones, "That's Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Pinkie's an Earth Pony and Rarity is a Unicorn Pony. And the ones inside are Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow's the one that was bleeding, by the way. She and Fluttershy are Pegasus Ponies, and Applejack is an Earth Pony as well."

"I see. Name's Joshua. You already know Smith, Juarez and Johnson. We're from the Frontier Militia of the Human race."

"Nice to meet you, Joshua."

"Same to you, Twilight Sparkle."

He looked over to the Grunts and noticed that the Goblin Drop-ship was hovering in the distance, picking up the scavenger teams by the drop-site. Joshua then tapped the comms in his helmet and contacted the operator.

"Goblin 19, come in, over."

"This is Goblin 19, ready at the call, sir."

"We're ready for extraction, but be cautious. We've got civies over here. I repeat, civilian population confirmed. Species name: Ponies. Status: Friendly. When can you pick us up?"

"On the way now, sir."

He dropped his hand and looked back at Twilight and the others.

"Alright troopers, ready for extraction. Twilight, it's been a pleasure, but we need to go."

"Alright. See you in a week. Bye!"

With that, the three went over to the cottage as they talked to each other. As they did, the roar of the drop-ship came closer, until it was hovering above them. It dropped down several ropes for the Grunts and opened up a bottom section for Joshua, which he then used his jump-suit to reach in seconds. The doors closed and sealed as their views faded from the planet, returning to orbit once again.

Bonus!

Here's something I think would happen if the CMC were given liberty to access the control room. It just came to me in a dream. Or was it banging my head against a desk in Calculus? I always get those mixed up.

Meanwhile, in another Galaxy!

Harbinger turned to his armada of fellow Reapers, waiting for the time to once again, reset the cycle. He looked out towards their infinite numbers, and ran the calculations a thousand times.

They would succeed in their mission. They always do.

Just as the Relay to the "Citadel," as the Organics called it, was about to open, a massive shockwave erupted from the flow of time and space. It began to pour out raw power and energies that were unfathomable, even to his brothers that shared in eternal knowledge.

All at once, the Reapers were washed over by a wave of brown force, unopposed, even against their massive Kinetic Barriers. His brothers were drowned in the mighty burst that came from no known point, and were soon drifting, powerless.

Harbinger scanned the wreckage of his once immortal family, trying to find what had managed to do something that could never be thought as conceivable. After what felt like thousands of cycles of endlessly drifting, waiting for anything, Harbinger found out a match to the tool of their destruction.

Tree sap.

The mighty being let out a deafening roar that echoed throughout the fabric of reality itself.

"WHAT THE SHIT!?

And that's how everyone got laid.

The End.