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This chapter has not been edited for spelling/grammar mistakes yet.

Unknown Location
Raptor
July 8, 2357
9:56 AM

Firebird place a cross made out of two pieces of wood on a soft patch of dirt on the ground. He lifted his fist to his heart to pay his respect towards the fallen soldier. Yang chuckled, holding an ice pack to soothe his throbbing head.

"A cross? I thought you weren't religious, Firebird." He spoke softly.

"I'm not. There wasn't any good boulder to create a tombstone with, and there wasn't anything to carve an epitaph on the stone either." He explained. He took the dog tags he took from the body and wrapped it around the cross. "So I did the next best thing."

"And back home, everyone thinks you're a badass cyborg soldier with no feelings." Yang mused.

"Far from it." Firebird chuckled. They were both silent for a moment.

"So why did you volunteer to get augmented?" Yang asked suddenly.

"I thought I already told you."

"I wasn't really paying attention last time, to be honest. I didn't think you would've actually do it."

Firebird sighed. He walked up to the Raptor and took a seat next to his friend. "I thought it would be the right thing to do." He started. "I thought I would be an example to humanity." Yang looked at him with confusion of what he was trying to say.

"How?" He asked.

Firebird thought for a moment. "I think that we have to make sacrifices for the greater good for everyone else." He chuckled. "Yeah, I know it sounds cheesy."

"Not in this day in age. If the Royal Resistance learned that and actually help us, then we could have a better chance to defeat the M'Netai." He scoffed. Spark came out of the vehicle with another ice pack.

"Hey, boys. Did you miss me?" She asked playfully.

"I did!" Yang referred to the ice pack she was carrying. He threw the old one to the ground and snatched the new one from Spark's hand.

"Asshole." Spark said plainly.

"Oh, don't be like that! You can't stand it when I'm hurt. Right, sweety?" He said in a tone like one would to new puppy. Spark snarled.

"You have a minor concussion. And don't you dare call me "sweety" ever again. It sounds creepy coming from your voice." She clenched her fist.

"Yeah, sorry. Won't happen again." Yang apologized, partially agreeing with her. He grunted in pain. "Ugh. It might be a minor concussion, but it still hurts like hell." He complained.

"So what do we do now, Firebird?" Spark asked.

"We wait until Wire and Hashtag come back." He said with a sigh. "The communications in that thing are busted, so I couldn't radio for help." He was disappointed.

"So, we might be here for how long?" Yang asked hesitantly.

"Months... at least."

"Shit." Yang kicked out his leg in anger.

"I kind of like it here. It reminds me of Edge." Spark reassured.

"Yes it does. Before the aliens invaded. The same aliens that are now on Earth." Yang argued.

"Oh come on, Yang. You're starting to sound like Wire. You gotta make the best of our situation." Spark told him.

"Yeah. I guess your right. Sorry." He sighed. "Speaking of which, where are those two? It's been an hour already, and I'm starving." He complained like a little child.

"You're such a baby, Yang." Firebird got up to his feet. "I'm sure they'll be here soon."

"Oh yeah? Twenty credits for five minutes."

"Alright. Twenty credits for one." They shook each other's hands as an agreement. Spark chuckled.

"Yo!" Hashtag's voice rang past the trees. "We got some food!"

"Shit." Yang pulled out a slab of metal that was worth twenty credits. He handed it to Firebird, who was smiling victoriously. "I call bullshit on that."

Hashtag arrived to the group first, holding a small digital map in his hands. Wire followed after him, carrying a stick with a variety of fish attached to it."Look what we got!" Hashtag cheered excitingly.

"Okay, what the hell is that?" Spark pointed to one fish in particular. It was pretty large, and it's scales showed all the six colors of the rainbow.

"Hell if I know. It's a fish, so I am going to eat it." Wire stated as a fact.

"How did you make the rod?" Yang asked curiously. Wire laughed.

"I didn't catch them with this piece of shit! I did it the old fashioned way. I took worms that were on the ground and stuck 'em in the water until the fish bite my hand." He held out his hand which had blood dripping from his fingers. "One of those bastards got me good."

"He made the strings from the veins from leaves that grew on this giant plant thing." Hashtag explained.

"So... do you need a bandage?" Spark asked Wire, who's hand was still dripping blood.

"Yeah. That would be good."

"You didn't get any blood on the fish, did you?" Firebird examined the multicolored fish.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't. It won't matter anyway, we still gotta slice them up and cook them." Wire winced a bit once a wet rag of alcohol touched his wounds. "Damn, that burns."

"Oh, and Firebird?" Hashtag got the attention of his leader. "We have a situation." Firebird sighed.

"It will have to wait until after we pay our respects."

"Yes, sir." Most of them surrounded the grave site. Yang was the only one who didn't move, albeit his migraine was getting worse by the minute. Firebird decided to make a short speech in his honor.

"All of us hardly knew this man, but we saw that through his actions, he was worth knowing. This man fearlessly gave up his life to save ours. He could of easily saved himself by staying in the cockpit of the Raptor, and one of us could have taken the killing blow instead. For that, we thank you, Johnathan Nyril. We shall set you as an example that any soldier who represents humanity should live by. May you rest in peace." Everyone gave him a moment of silence. Firebird saluted the grave.

"Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust." Spark whispered.

"Now, about that "situation"." Firebird gazed at Hashtag, who sighed in regret of what he was about to say.

"Prepare yourself, Firebird. You are not going to like it."

Ponyville, Equestria
Outside of the Everfree Forest
July 8, 2357 (Summer Sun 39, 1004)
10:17 AM

Twilight Sparkle and her friends gathered around the entrance of the terrifying forest. Twilight was accompanied by the hardy Applejack, the brave Rainbow Dash, The timid Fluttershy, The posh, but generous Rarity, and the bubbly Pinkie Pie. Twilight smiled looked at her friends with a nervous smile.

"So, are we all ready?" She asked to make sure that this plan would go perfectly.

"What are we doing again?" Pinkie Pie smiled innocently. Everypony gazed at her with confused expressions.

"You mean you forgot already? Even I payed attention to Twilight this time." Rainbow Dash commented.

"Of course I didn't forget, silly!" Pinkie chuckled. "The audience needs some exposition to know what's going on. They might get confused!" She happily explained. Everypony looked at her as if she were crazy. In the end, however, nopony would question her insane logic.

"I'll explain it one more time, okay Pinkie?" Twilight started. "Basically, we are all here to find out what has been causing all the weirder than normal things in the forest. Like the smoke cloud earlier today, and the soundless flash last night."

"Don't forget the best part!" Dash butted in. "There could be aliens in there!" Twilight chuckled at her friend's enthusiasm.

"As much as that would be an incredible discovery for the whole world, I doubt that there are any aliens."

"There is always that possibility, darling." Said Rarty, who also invited herself in the conversation.

"Since when did ya' hav' an intahrest in aliens?" Applejack faced Rarity with curiosity.

"We all had an interest in the unknown as fillies." Rarity explained.

"I just hope that they are... nice aliens." Fluttershy whispered to nopony in particular. She remembered how Snips and Snails ran through the town shouting how monsters scared off a manticore.

"Like I said, I doubt that there are any aliens." Twilight humored herself at the thought of her and her friends being the first ponies to discover aliens. But what are the chances of that? "If we're all ready, then let's go!" They all entered the forest, semi-aware of what they might encounter.

"So... let me get this straight. While you were playing "cartographers", you came across an alien race. These aliens were about to be attacked by a manticore, so you "accidentally" saved them because you thought they were food. Oh yeah, they were also unicorns who spoke English." Yang summarized the explanation that the two soldiers gave them.

"Well, that depends. What's a manticore?" Hashtag asked.

"A manticore is creature in mythology. It has a body of a lion, the wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion. In some stories, it also has the face of a man." Yang explained.

"Then, yeah, you are right."

"Do you have any idea how illogical that sounds. Aliens I can understand. But unicorns? fucking unicorns!? Are you serious?" Yang tried to make sense of it.

"He's right, Yang. I saw them with my own eyes too." Wire said with a mouthful of fish.

"Whatever. Unicorns or not, they are still aliens. What should we do, Firebird?" Spark asked, taking another bite of the strange rainbow fish (Which oddly enough, tasted like sweet raspberries).

"Nothing."

"What?!" Hashtag yelled.

"We will not interfere with them. We don't know their population, what weapons they have, or if they are hostile. So we will do nothing." Firebird ordered.

"And what will we do if some of them decide to venture here?" Wire asked suspiciously.

"Why?" Yang noticed that something was wrong.

"Because we got six unidentified signatures outside of our twenty meter perimeter." Wire said normally.

"Shit. Okay, everyone equip your helmets and cloaking devices. Hashtag, I want an EMP trap set up here if they decide to come here. Hopefully, it should scare them off."

"Yes, sir. I'm on it. Just to let you know, it might kill them"

"Doesn't matter. Hashtag, you hide here. Everyone else spread out."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone obeyed his orders. They shimmered into nothing as the cloaking devices in their armor took effect. Hashtag waited by a tree for a chance to strike.

"What do you think they will look like?" Dash asked to keep herself from getting bored.

"Ah don't know. Maybe they'll look like us." Applejack answered her views on the subject.

"Maybe they'll have eight arms. Or like a billion eyes. Or maybe they'll have party hats attached to their heads!!" Pinkie blabbered.

"Why... party hats?" Rarity asked.

"Because they might live on a giant cupcake! And parties will be a tradition they do for their whole lives!" Rarity almost regretted asking.

"What do you think the aliens would look like, Twilight?" Dash asked.

"For the last time, I highly doubt that there... are... any... aliens..." Her eyes caught a hold of something. It was a massive metal structure. It had three sets of wheels, kind of like a carriage, but they were made with a different material instead of wood. There was a fit pit in front of it that was still lit, which indicated that something was recently there.

"What was that about no aliens, nonbeliever?" Dash said playfully.

"That thing is... well, huge." Twilight commented.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go find the party hat aliens!" Pinkie bounced nonchalantly to the structure. Everypony followed her, but much more carefully. They investigated the area around the metal monster. The only thing they found interesting was the dry pool of blood inside the structure, and the wooden cross on top of some disturbed dirt. Fluttershy notice the metal tags wrapped around the cross.

"Did one of them... die?" She asked hesitantly.

"Ah reckon' so. Ah mean... it sur' seems that way." Applejack said sadly.

"There's nothing here. They must have left." Twilight observed.

"I don't know... something doesn't seem right. I don't hear any animals." Fluttershy said. She was right. The forest was eerily quiet, which was unusual since an lot of different creatures lived there. Fluttershy noticed something move at the corner of her eye. She turn to look, but nothing was there. Or, at least it seemed that nothing was there.

Hashtag was breathing slowly. Not only were there unicorns, but there were pegasi and "normal" ones. They spoke perfect English as well. One of the aliens even had a Dixie accent. As calm as he was, he felt his heart pumping once one was looking at his general direction. Even though it was totally adorable, his mind kept flashing images of it spraying some sort of acid out of it's eyes.

"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" A pegasus with a stupidly amount of colors on it's mane and tail asked the one that was looking at him.

"I-I don't know. I think I see something.."

Oh shit. He slowly reached the detonator device in his chest pocket. The rainbow one squinted it's large eyes to try to see what it's friend sees. He grabbed the device and inched his thumb towards the button. The rainbow one opened her eyes in fright. It sees me. He pushed the button slowly, but surely.

"Timberwolves!" It shouted. Suddenly, wooden figures sprung up from behind him, unaware of his presence. The aliens ran in fear as three wooden wolves viciously assaulted them. They all got separated.

Thank God! He noticed that the three wolves exclusively chased down the purple unicorn. "Fuck saving them again. I'm letting nature take it's course this time." He told himself

Yang positioned himself on a tree to create the extra mile to not get caught. He held his trusty sniper rifle closely to his chest. He admired it very much. It was a powerful rifle, capable of taking down a Vulture attack chopper with one shot to the tail. To add icing on the cake, it was completed with an integrated silencer that muffled it entirely.

"You are such a beauty." He told it, since he had no one else to talk to. "I wonder how long I have to be up here. What do you think?" He shook his gun to make it seem like it was talking to him. "I'm talking to a gun." He sighed. "I hope this doesn't last longer than it has to." He told his gun again. His thoughts were interrupted by a fearful screaming. He turn to look at the source. To his surprise, it was a purple unicorn running away from wooden wolf figures.

No fucking way. They were right. He witnessed the wolves corner the poor thing at the edge of a cliff. He saw the total fear in it's eye. It was almost as if it was human. But it isn't. Firebird told me to not interfere. He started getting mixed feelings for the alien. He finally made a decision. Ugh. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass. He loaded incendiary rounds in his rifle.

Twilight calmed down just a tiny bit. All she had to do was to do the oldest trick in the book. She was going to wait until the alpha wound take his chance to pounce, then she would teleport behind them. It was a straightforward plan, but she had to exicute it perfectly to escape. The alpha made the first move by stepping in front of the pack. He shifted his weight to his haunches, ready to bounce. Twilight began to charge up the spell. Suddenly, the alpha became engulfed in flames. Just as quickly as the other two reacted, they caught alight. They sheer suddenness cause Twilight to jump back.

Straight down the cliff.

She screamed in peril. By a minuscule amount of luck, she grabbed a loose branch that protruded from the rocks of the cliff. She laughed nervously. But, after a few seconds, the branch snapped. She plummeted headfirst to the water-less base down below. Just quickly as she fell, she stopped. She opened her eyes to see that she was dangling from something. She felt something clasping around her back hoof.

"Don't worry. I got ya." A muffled masculine voice reasured. She turned her head to see a heavily armored figure grabbing a metal rope in one hand, and her hoof in the other.

Oh. My. Gosh. It's an alien! She was mixed with excitement, fear, and gratefulness all in one emotional cocktail. The alien hoisted himself up on the edge of the cliff. He managed to throw Twilight up just enough to grab her by the stomach. Once he was near the tip of the cliff, he lifted Twilight up for her to climb on top of it. Once Twilight was settled, the alien lifted himself on the ground. He ignored Twilight to sit and lean against a tree. He grunted in pain. He took of the glass-like helmet on his head.

"Ah. That's better." He looked kind of aged. He had no fur on his face, albeit the black spiky mane on his head. He had a good amount of scars on his cheeks and lips. There was a white bandage around his forehead that was splotched with dried blood stains. "I need some aspirin." He told no one in particular. Twilight couldn't believe it. He was an actual real life alien.

"Um... Thanks." She said, unsure of what to ask him first.

"Yeah. Don't mention it." He stared at her for a moment. "Funny. You also speak English."

"Actually, you are speaking Equestrian." Twilight corrected him.

"Whatever. I understand you, and you understand me. That's good enough for me" He grunted in pain again.

"Are you alright?"

"It's just headaches. Nothing to fuss about." Twilight decided to use this situation for an advantage.

"What's your name?" He looked at her, ignoring his headaches.

"Yang. Just call me Yang." He answered.

Yang. His name is Yang! Twilight was really excited. She was the first pony ever to not only find, but communicate with an actual alien. "I hope you don't mind, but I have so many questions..."

"I'm sure you do, but unfortunately, I don't have time to answer them." He said. "Let me just say straight. My species is kind of... afraid of anything other than my species. I could be killed for talking to you right now. We can talk to each other another time, if we ever meet again. But for now..." He put the glass helmet back on his face. "... I have to go."

"Wait! But-"

"If you don't want to get hurt... or worse... I suggest you do not follow me. Goodbye, uh..."

"Twilight Sparkle."

He nodded once he heard her name. "Goodbye, Twilight." She was surprised once the armor shimmered into nothingness. He completely disappeared. Oh my gosh... IACTUALLYTALKEDTOAREALLIFEALIENTHISISSOUNBELIEVEABLE!! She mentally rambled.

"Twilight!!" Dash came out of nowhere. "Are you alright! Where are the timberwolves?" Dash asked.

"I'm fine, Dash. I think I outran them." She remembered how they spontaneously combusted earlier. "I think we should go home now."

"What?! But we only just got started."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find something tomorrow."

Dash tried to find a reason to stay and find the aliens, but decided to trust the judgement of her friend.

"Fine, okay."

Twilight tried her hardest to hide her excitement. She just made the biggest discovery in all of Equestrian history.

Author's Note

Due to finals at school this week, I won't be posting updates for a while. Just to warn you. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!