Chapters -1: Rapid Unplanned Disassembly-
My Little Vanguard
"All hands, this is Captain Gordon, abandon ship! VONS Ram Of Your Gates is losing structural integrity fast and will break up in 15 minutes. I repeat, all hands, evacuate ship, 15 minutes until the VONS Ram Of Your Gates breaks up." Was all that came through before the comms system sparked and the speaker broke off the wall. Thomas hurried through the computers room and slammed his fist into the keypad. Emergency situations were awesome, you could punch anything and it would work. He charged through the door before a piece of ship got torn free and flung into the distance in the room behind him before the door slammed shut. He started to hurry across the -unfortunately- glass exterior walkway, before the opposite door opened to reveal another Vanguard Marine. The Marine gestured for him to hurry, before a piece of the walkway came loose and sucked the Marine out. No going through that way. Stumbling and holding on desperately for dear life, Thomas stepped down and opened the door halfway down the path, throwing himself through before the door shut. Rolling and bringing himself to his feet, he shielded his face as an electrical panel exploded. Or, rather, Diluxum Charge Panel, the Vanguard stopped using electricity several thousand years ago. He half ran, half crouched through the deteriorating room and threw himself through the door, before being hastily hauled to his feet by an Assassin. Escape chamber. He could fire out in a lander pod and have an assured landing, or take his chances and deploy the Mobile Base further towards the back of the ship. When a piece of ship, including four rooms and a couple of unfortunate Marines, got torn free from the chamber, he decided it'd be best to leave now.
He hurried over and quickly dived into one of the escape pods. A couple other Marines and the Assassin followed suit before the hatch closed and sealed itself. A Marine Sniper clambered into the cockpit seat and flicked some switches. Every marine either just sat down or actually strapped him or herself in. The Sniper grabbed a lever, the kind you pull.
Luna watched over the kingdom from her balcony. It was a beautiful night. In the distance was Ponyville, the semi-rural town home to Princess Twilight. She could just barely make out the treehouse where said Princess lived. But something seemed amiss on this night. Nothing in the actual kingdom, just her viewing of it. Stepping forward and looking up, she realised what it was-There was a bright orange light some distance away behind her. That was when the booming roar started. It grew louder and louder, and the Palace began shaking. Luna backed off from the edge of the balcony. After a moment of terror a large object, the source of the noise, flew overhead, quite some distance above them but nonetheless massive. It was big, it had a lot of sharp edges, it was noisy, and most of all, it was on fire. Eight dish-like objects sat on the back, none appearing to be doing anything. The massive object illuminated the kingdom as it passed overhead. Several small objects, somewhere around fifty, flung themselves from the bottom of the ship, these ones not flaming and descending at a relatively safe pace. After a short pause, a somewhat larger one separated itself and followed its smaller comrades. The massive creature, or thing, from which they originated flew past the mountains, showering Cloudsdale in a bright orange shower of light as it flew past, vanishing behind the mountains, but not before finishing its show of grandeur with a giant ball of fire and a thunderous boom that shook the palace yet again.
Thomas felt relieved when the lander thumped on solid ground, sitting his head back. The Assassin next to him, however, didn't seem all too bothered. Unstrapping herself, the sleek, black armored supersoldier walked over to the hatch.
The Marines had been trekking for quite some time before they reached the base. The fact they were trekking through woods was not helped by the fact it was night time. As they approached the base, which had crushed or plainly knocked over quite a few trees on landing, a Marine Sniper saw them, only visible by the faint red light coming from underneath his sniper's scope. After a pause he saw the man stand and perform a symbol above his head with his arms. The Sniper next to Thomas did the same. The sniper standing above the base turned.
"Welcome home Marines. Sorry about the lighting, the Base's Diluxum Core got damaged when the ship was, y'know, exploding. You'll live." He shrugged, gesturing over his shoulder. Anderson stepped forward.
Twilight stared out her window in confusion, as she had been for about half an hour. The entire town had been woken by a bright light and a loud thunderous roar passing overhead, and she'd been harmlessly stargazing when a massive metallic thing, engulfed in flames, had flown overhead and landed somewhere in the mountains. The boom had not been quiet. As she tried to see if anything was left there, somebody knocked on her door. Snapping out of her thoughts she headed downstairs to see not one but three ponies, Ranbowdash, Applejack and Lyra, of all people.
Dear Twilight Sparkle, As you most likely know, a large, strange object passed over Equestria less than an hour ago. Consulting Princess Luna, I have discovered this object is by no means natural, and she did not create it. She also said it was artificial; someone not of this world created it. To make things stranger, she also said she detected no magic of any sort in it, which makes no sense at all. Princess Luna has also told me several small objects separated themselves from the object before it crashed and, in all essence, exploded. I am assembling a force of guards to head to the site of the largest object, and I would like you to come with me and my sister tommorrow. If you must, you may bring your friends as well.
The trio in front of the letter blinked in mild confusion.
Author's Note
For reference:
My Little Vanguard
Twilight tried looking through the woods as the chariot headed through at a brisk pace. They wanted to surround the object covertly, so they decided to head through beneath the canopy. Further ahead she saw an opening, and it looked like several trees had collapsed. Was this the object? Indeed, the chariot slowed to a halt, and as she got off she spotted a large amount of Royal Guards, all lying in wait. Indeed, her friends had chosen to come, but she told them to hang back until she said it was safe. Or safe enough. They were dealing with the unknown, if something went wrong they didn't want all six Element Bearers in the line of fire. As she approached, she was stopped by a large white hoof. Where she had come from she didn't know, but Celestia had somehow arrived, silently.
Thomas and the three other Marines all stepped outside as the gate slowly opened. While the two scientists in the base had confirmed the air was green, all four Marines wore their helmets. No clue what lay out there. Thomas had his VoHSAR (the Vanguard's main assault rifle), the Sapper, whom was called Lillian, had a micro-RPG cannon, a sort of cross between a standard RPG and a grenade launcher, Bethany had a shotgun and Alex had an LMG. Apparently, Alex had passed training at the same time Thomas had; he used the LMG because it made him feel safer. The four Marines stepped off the metal ramp on the soft, warm dirt and grass. It didn't seem like much was beyond the dozens of felled trees, but patrol doesn't serve much if you can't be sure, so Lillian had decided to check just past the tree line. The four Marines stood, trying to decide what to do with themselves. The crew had left some crates outside intentionally, so if they came under attack they had some cover. Bethany pointed to a slightly clearer area off to their left.
Everyone went motionless as the four strange, two-legged things hid behind various things, three of them behind crates, all pointing their strange objects, possibly weapons of some description, directly at Twilight. Celestia slowly turned her head. Her ear was sticking out.
Celestia stepped forward, despite the strange bipeds refusing to lower their tools.
Lillian reached out towards the purple horse again, mostly ignoring the angry, armed horse. The purple one was adorable and Marines had priorities. Which Lillian probably needed to look over.
Twilight headed back, hopping on the chariot. One of the creatures had attempted to touch her, and it didn't at all seem hostile, but Celestia insisted she try to find a spell to translate between unknown languages, as nobody there had a clue what these mysterious bipeds were saying. Despite that, she could've sworn the one that came near her smiled at her.
Author's Note
Oh god the next chapter is going to be so silly.
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-3: Interspecies Conversation (Not) Recommended-
-3:Interspecies Conversation (Not) Recommended-
Celestia watched as the four creatures slowly began to retreat towards the entrance to their metal fort, keeping their tools, or more likely weapons, trained on whichever guard happened to be closest. One of them reached the ramp, and a moment later the door slammed shut. The biped was not pleased, slamming its strange equivalent of a forehoof into the door before turning back to the guards. Begins her, she heard Twilight running up.
Not seeing Lillian lying in the grass, Rainbow assumed Bethany was coming to attack Celestia or Twilight, and ripped forward, standing on her hind hooves in front of her. Bethany stopped, mildly confused.
"Marines, you were gone for two hours. What happened, and what is the blue horse?" The Captain asked, gesturing to Rainbow with his rifle.
Thomas sat on one of the bunk beds, opposite Lillian, as he unlatched his chestplate and took it off, dropping it under the bed.
