Standby for Titanfall

"Day Seven: IMC Pilot Ramsey Oppenheimer, I have been making daily visits to the horse town that lies on the outskirts of the forest and acquiring certain items that I need to ensure not only my survival but the survival of the five prisoners I have under my watchful eye. Four days ago my dreams have been invaded by an unknown horse entity and she has seen my nightmare of the day my brother Erik was killed in action by hostile fire and unfriendly weather. I do not know how they managed to break into my mind but I do know is that they might be capable of ripping information from my head and I would be powerless to stop them. As to how they can do such a thing I have a few theories but it is solely based on the ones that have horns, the ones with wings can fly while those without wings or a horn and those with just a horn walk so I can assume that the horned ones have some sort of psionic power."

"Further evidence is needed for this theory but I do know is that any physical contact that tried to attempt with their mental powers are useless but when it comes to interacting with my mind then I have without a shadow of a doubt that they can influence it and I would be powerless to stop it."

"In other news the tree cage has been completed and the prisoners are now inside of it, all five of them are now safely inside and can not be reached by the scorpion bat lions or the chicken snakes and they are now easier to watch and monitor leaving me with more titans to send on patrol or recon runs."

"Lastly I have had my formal uniform pressed and cleaned by the MRVN in the event they find me and they come here in masse. I believe they would ask for peace talks and try to get me to release my prisoners over into their hands...or hooves...whatever the term it is for those horses. I have set all my titans on guard mode and they are not to engage anything unless they breach the outpost, I do not want to accidentally start a war when I am outnumbered by an unknown amount of possibly hostile forces, I may have the upper hand with the technological advantage and that my titans could possibly destroy a vast amount of the ponies but once they run out of ammunition then they would be useless other then be living battering rams or bulldozers.'

"This is IMC Ramsey Oppenheimer, signing off."

Turning off the recorder I stood up from my furnished chair and walked around the tree stump table before walking out the front door to my outpost, the weather has been shit lately as it hasn't stopped raining for the past seventeen hours. The horses inside of their cage are currently bundled up under a large quilted blanket that I had acquired from the horse town, the guards there are still trying to capture me but after all the failed attempts they have simply resorted to only watching me. It made the thrill of the chase boring now since they no long tail me, it was one of the few things here that I was looking forward to doing with these horses, besides messing with them or spending some hidden time with the grey pegasus mare with the funny eyes and apparently her daughter.

'That little unicorn sure is adorable, makes an adorable squee noise whenever I would pet her head. And I learned that day that ungloved hands putting some pressure at the tip of the horn would result in an injury equivalent to a bad paper cut.'

Walking over to cauldron that an Ogre made by cracking a large rock in half and hollowed it out, the rock served me well as a pot and the meat stew that the MRVN created for me and the prisoners was always served on time, the six bowls waiting patiently on the makeshift table, and with a bit of juggling on my end I brought the bowels to the cage, a small slot at the base of the bars. The small slot was large enough for the bowels to get through but small enough that they couldn't squirm through it, even the large stallion gave it a glance before shaking his head as the thought of him trying to get through it would only end in him getting stuck.

Turning my attention to the brains of the group I saw him simply watching me, his eyes not once leaving my visor but when it was his time to grab his bowl of meat stew he slowly moved through the throng of bat horses and grabbed his bowl with his wings before going back to his spot and started to eat.

Just as I arrived at the clearing to my camp I found out that the MRVN and the other three titans were busy reinforcing the tree wall around the outpost with another set of freshly uprooted and shaved trees and I had to look for the entrance because everything was blending into each other but I eventually found the way out when it was more bulky then the rest of the wall.

Pushing the heavy doors open I breathed a sigh of relief that there was nothing waiting on the other side, and the distance between this wall and the forest was a solid forty feet of open ground even though we wouldn't need that much line of sight to eliminate anything hostile. With nothing but my revolver and knife I left the safety and went straight to the horse camp for another day of reconnaissance and information gathering but today I had a good feeling that everything will change for the better.

The walk through the forest was strangely quiet today, I can't quite put my finger on it but everything seemed to be avoiding me as if I had the Bubonic Plague and that they were very susceptible of getting it from me. At first I just thought I still had some scorpion brains on me and that the smell of it was a really strong repulsive scent but when I turned on my sniffers I smelled nothing but fresh air and the occasional lovely scent of flowers so brain matter was out of the question.

Seeing how I had some time before I would reach the outer edge of the camp I had switched on my visor and went straight to the audio player, and after flipping through a few files I found the song I was looking for and with a satisfying grin I pressed play and closed the file before resuming my walk, slightly picking up the pace to go with the tune.

Jogging to the tune I brushed my hand along a few tree trunks and branches, whatever wildlife there is out here are simply avoiding me as I jogged past a scorpion lion and instead of growling or even letting out an intimidating roar it actually whimpered a bit before backing off and the look in its eyes were that of fear.

'What the fuck is going on?'

Before long I arrived at the camp's edge and I saw that everything was getting ready for something or someone important, whether they are sending an expedition to try and get me to come with them to settle whatever dispute there may be between us, but I do know that this place looks pretty damn clean for being a camp out in the woods.

"Warning: Hostile Indigenous Species approaching via airborne vehicle. Probably Hostile Leader Detected. Permission to Shoot down vehicle?"

"Negative Eagle_Eye, let them land, but keep your radar at short range, these horses might attempt to sneak their way in to the camp so expect the unexpected."

As I gave the order to not shoot down the vehicle I saw that it was being pulled by four horses, all of them are white, had wings and were wearing golden armor and the roman helmet and as for what was the precious cargo they were dragging behind them? It was a much larger white horse with both wings and a horn, the exact mirror opposite of the dark blue horse that invaded my dreams four days ago. Instead of having the night sky for hair like the other large horse, this one had the living embodiment of a rainbow of happy feelings...somehow that doesn't sound right or even feel right, and her eyes, even from fifty meters away up high in a tree and standing behind a thick branch I could tell were magenta in color and if I am seeing things, were looking right at me.

'I bet Miko would be questioning me how I can tell what her hair or eye color are from way the fuck over here without an optical scope. And my response is that I had to train my eyes to see far because I never get the chance to use the fucking sniper rifle, its like every god damn time I get to the armory, the sniper rifles are all gone and I am left with everything else.'

Watching the small army of horses salute to the large white horned winged horse I spied a few even bowed to her and that was when I spotted the golden tiara resting upon her head, the purple gem on it shone brightly due to the sun resting at just the right position and it was almost blinding, something that would have been a problem and luckily my helmet immediately cut the problem down with a sudden increase in the dark tint, the resulting glare being muffled down.

Holding on tightly to the tree branch I continued to spy on the apparent horse royalty, whatever rank on the pecking order of the royal blood line she was holding was enough to get a small army to salute to her and even a few other horses to bow down. There was something about this mare that I just couldn't quite put my finger on but she seems different from the others besides the obvious fact that she was royalty and that she had both wings and a horn, but the sheer fact that she knew exactly where I was as soon as she touched down from the sky in that wagon of hers.

'Does these winged unicorns have some sort of passive radar that only they have or is it some sort of psionic link to all of her horse minions and she detected me for not being a part of that link.'

I continued to watch the alpha female horse as she made her way around the camp, talking to her underlings and on occasion glancing over at me and whenever one of those horses would inquire as to what she is looking she would just shake her head and continue on. Something isn't right about this and I was not going to stick around and find out if she was planning an ambush for me.

Leaping down from the branch I landed on the tall grass with a thud and looking left and right to see if there was any armored horses and seeing none I made a beeline to my home, and not once saw hide nor hair of the guard horses and was quite surprised that there was nothing waiting for me by the front gate to the outpost and I was happy for the moment.

Opening the large wooden door and closing it shut behind me I took off my helmet and planted it on the new stump table and I went to lay down on my new bed made of large soft leaves and the soft inner core of a tree was soon occupied by my body as I closed my eyes and sighed, looking at my hand I opened up my roster and dragged new orders to MRVN and on the screen it clearly reads: "Watch the prisoners and make sure they don't try to break from the cage they are in." that and also to stop making furnishings for me, I am going for the Spartan Style not the relaxed and extravagant style.

Closing my eyes and relaxing my body I let myself loose and my mind drift off to simple times and to all the battles I have partaken in since I first joined the IMC. My run-ins with local pirates and smugglers running illegal drugs and weapons out to the homesteaders, killing hostile wildlife while the engineers set up and activate recently installed the dog whistle towers out in the frontier worlds, the one time I fucked Miko so hard that she ended up bow legged for a good three hours or the time where she leapt into my Atlas while the hatch was closing and dropped down with me planetside and ending up fucking each other senseless during the entire skirmish. I never really did get the smell out the chassis or even the stains...

Just as I started to reach my peak of relaxation and also seeing if there is anyway for me to regenerate myself out here in the boonies there was a knock on my door and my eyes snapped open to the sound of a second set of knocking. When I heard the knock again for a third time I let out a loud sigh, closed my eyes before hearing the simulated voice of the MRVN talk through the earpiece.

"Sir, the alien horses have arrived in numbers along with what must be there leader." I groaned a bit as I let that bit of information be absorbed, I was never one for being forced into peace talks since I always shot the things that caused a disturbance or annoyance to myself or what the IMC would declare an annoyance but this was just pushing it.

"Can you describe what the leader is wearing, might be just their commanding officer." I asked as I grabbed my Spitfire from its spot near my bed, slightly pulling back on the lever to see the bullet still in the chamber the readout counter below the iron sight still reading eighty on the little screen.

"Large, at least one and a half times normal height of the normal horses maybe twice as tall, golden crown, gold horse shoes that barely go half way up the shins, a golden necklace, a rainbow-like mane and tail, magenta eyes. Based on the crown that would make the alien horse society a monarchy. Based on collected data from the five prisoners and information from when you infiltrated their town this is a female and if the government system is a monarchy then this would make her a duchess or princess or even a queen, more information is needed. Alien horse has both wings and a horn and no information on the type is in the archives. Caution is advised." the MRVN said before cutting communications with me.

Taking a deep breath I pushed the door open and was greeted with a large white horse wearing exactly what the Marvin had told me not even a minute earlier as it was a large pristine white horse in golden adornments that was standing in the center of a formation of smaller white horses wearing what looks like ceremonial white and gold armor wielding spears in their hooves. Looking at each armored horse to the one standing next to the other I see that they are all identical in almost every way except the ones with horns, the ones with wings and the ones without any special attachment, they are all the same and that makes me wonder if these horses are like the BRD-01 Spectre's but for horses and not humans.

Closing my eyes and opening them back up I slowly walked over to the center of my camp, the five prisoners wiggling in the hold of the three titans, the MRVN busy placing strips of bat lion meat over the fire and dumping the scorpion tail into a pit that an Ogre has dug up to be designated as the trash heap, and the Atlas up top watching everything while its second eye is watching the sky for trouble.

Once I was standing in the middle of my camp I made a small hand gesture for the large white horse to come in, her guards forming a phalanx of spears around her but I knew and probably she did to that her guards wouldn't be able to stop shit from happening if things get out of hand. The nine titans in total aiming their weapons and ordinance pods at the group were in this exact a Stryder, an Ogre and four Atlas's with an assortment of weapons ranging from the XOTBR-16 Chainguns, 40mm Cannons, Triple Threat, Arc Cannons, and Quad Rockets.

As they approached the middle they stopped, the eyes of the guards staring at the titans pointing their weapons at them but at the silent command by my hand they lowered their weapons and stood at ease with the exception of Eagle_Eye standing watch way over head, not once taking his railgun off the sight of the large white horse.

Staring at the horses in formation I took a few steps forward and as soon as I did that the large horse leader did the same thing and soon enough we were a spitting distance away from each other and that was when I made the first move and offered my hand out in a friendly gesture and shockingly the horse leader understood what it means and raised a hoof to me and placed it into my open hand and we shook.

First Contact with intelligent alien life, and it just so happens to be intelligent horses with different configurations and has the grasp of metal working and masonry and mathematics and the ability to talk and form a government.

With the first handshake established I made another hand motion for her to follow me into the sheltered cave and she graciously accepted the motion with a head nod and she said a few words and two guards break off from the rest of the group and trail close behind her. Following my lead I walked back to my cave room and I opened the door before pushing it all the way open and let the three walk in first, my eyes trailing on their leader before walking into the door behind them and closed it.

'I hope this goes well or otherwise I am in some deep shit.'

Outside

Lieutenant Blossom of the Night Guard Corps. POV

Watching Princess Celestia walk into the cave that belongs to my captor, the tall armored diamond dog followed her in and closed the door after her and as soon as he did the giant statues resumed their combat stance with their crossbows of varying bolts. My eyes stared at the metal claws holding their weapons, how something made out of metal can maneuver with such dexterity around a boxy weapon. My gaze turned to Bitterroot, the large stallion simply just sat there with his tail occasionally twitching along with his wings, his stoic gaze looking off at the mountain side as he simply stared and breathed as my eyes looked at one of the colossal statues that had strange shapes wedged into it, it was unsightly but it looked like its armor was thick and heavy enough to survive dragon fire.

Wondering what could possible be of use for those strange indents my thoughts were cut short when I heard the sound of a few guards break from formation and went up to herself and the four others under my command.

"Lieutenant Blossom, how in the seven rings of Tartarus did you end up in a situation like this? I thought you bat ponies were good at nothing but silence and subterfuge and yet here you lot are, captured, and being held hostage no less." a gruff and loud voice said over the sounds of the muffled words being said within the cave. I turned my head to see who had spoken to me and once I saw who it was I promptly rolled my eyes and inwardly gagged at the sight of my rival, Commander Hailfire of Canterlot, a unicorn that excelled at combat magic but focused solely on fire and ice magic and has melted and froze many beasts of the wild and the occasional diamond dog and gryphon that would dare attack a fellow pony or raid a town.

Rolling my eyes I fidgeted in place within the cage before letting out a huff of annoyance.

"Commander, if you haven't noticed this is a delicate situation at the moment so please stop talking to me, these statues have eyes and ears and they know how to use them so please talk to us after we are free....whenever that will be." I said before resting a hoof on a digit of the iron claw and blew a lock of hair away from my eyes, the red and black strands blending together as the white coat of my foreleg comes back into view before I start to make little circles in the claw holding me up.

Turning my head away from Hailfire I turned to look at Nightshade who is currently freaking out in both a good and bad sense. This poor stallion is suffering from head trauma from an apparent kick to the head from when they were captured but now he has been babbling about getting skinned alive by the dog and be used as food. Shaking my head sadly I knew that once we are free that he would be relieved of his duty and be forced to stay in the psychiatric ward until the trauma passes, and he was such a good recruit to.

Looking down the lane of statues I saw that Requiem and Morningstar have decided to pass the time by falling asleep, both of them are not giving any bucks to the situation at hand and are simply letting Princess Celestia handle it.

Before any of the ponies could debate on who got caught or who is an annoying motherbucker the semi-silence outside was interrupted by the cacophony of overtly loud coughing coming straight from the cave and from that I saw the commander gallop past his peers and went straight to the heavy door but was stopped by one of the statues by slamming an arm down to block his path but that was a mistake.

Commander Hailfire stared at the metal statue in disdain before yelling at it to move out of the way but when I saw his horn start to glow blue and the large hand blocking the door was glowing the exact same color I put two and two together to come up with that he was trying to force his way inside.

I shifted my eyes back to the large statue and saw that the large central eye on it turned from the commander of the solar legion to its own hand and back to Hailfire and soon enough it dropped its crossbow and leaned forward to grab him, and since he closed his eyes to concentrate on the hand he didn't even see the one looming over him. As soon as it got dark over him he opened his eyes to see the hand wrap around him, quite literally plucking him off the ground with ease like a hawk grabbing a trout from the water, and for a moment I thought I heard a squeaking noise coming from him when he got lifted up.

Waiting for what would probably be a hostage situation with the statue and the rest of the solar guard, I felt my eyes widen a bit when he started to toss the commander up into the air before letting fall back down and catching him as if he was a rubber ball. I watched, along with all of the other guards that came and the three non-blubbering night ponies, stare the metal statue practically juggle Commander Hailfire for what felt like minutes, Hailfire flailing his hooves around as he tried to find something to grab onto but as he as practically being launched into the air as soon as he makes contact with the metal talons, and soon enough he started to turn green in the face and as soon as he touched the hand again his horn lit up long enough to teleport away from the statue only to land on his back

Watching him quickly get back up onto his hooves he shook his head and glared menacingly at the statue which I think tried to do the same thing, I can't exactly tell its expressions but when it stomped its right foot on the ground and let out a silent roar, opening both arms as if to declare a challenge but when it points the overly large crossbow at him my ears swiveled away from the pair and I heard the sounds of heavy steps alongside with hoofsteps.

Almost everypony in the camp turned to see Princess Celestia and standing beside her was the armored diamond dog and behind those two were her hoof picked guards.

And for the first time for everypony here, we heard for the first time the diamond dog speak equestrian, and swear in front of the princess at the exact same time.

"What the fucking hell is going on out here!" and with that we all had dropped jaws and pin-pricked eyes, and it wasn't because he talked, it was because of something else entirely.

Inside

Ramsey's POV

Closing the heavy set door behind me I moved quickly over to the wooden table and sat down on the other side as the large white horse sat opposite of me with her two guards flanking her. Staring at the guards I can tell that they are nervous about this and the slight lack of light isn't doing any good until the large horse made her horn start to glow before the glowing turned into a ball of white light and it floated off before touching the ceiling and sticking to it.

Next up was the supposed 'peace talks' and seeing how we are two different species and I am offworld so a spoken language is probably all but impossible at this point for humanity to make a universal translator.

That problem was easily solved when I felt something icy and cold poke at my mind before it started to be a more gentle probing and soothing stroke but what came next actually startled me.

"Hello? Can you understand me?" the voice said and by the gods was it soothing and gentle and oh so hot.

Thinking on what I should say since first impressions are important and all that other good stuff but what was more important to me was how she was capable of talking to me and how I could understand a word she is saying.

"Yes, I can hear you loud and clear." I said and with a thumbs up I saw the white horse give a smile before speaking up again.

"Good, now let us start off with introductions. My name is Princess Celestia of the land of Equestria." and that was where I was finally told what her title was and no longer had to guess her position of power.

"I am Ramsey Oppenheimer, Fourth Generation Pilot for the IMC from the Demeter System." I shuddered a bit when I said Demeter, the ensuing battle that has taken place there will forever scar me until the day I die or it gets removed from my memories when I regenerate in the medical labs on the IMS Colossus.

"Princess Celestia, I can fancy a guess as to why you are here out here in the boonies is because of the resulting titanfall out here and the capture of five of your operatives, am I not correct?" I said as I felt my head start to hurt and my insides start to feel like they are on fire, the pain telling me it is time to take my medicine to kill the radiation still eating away at me, a few more weeks of pills to take before I am up to speed and back to normal.

Still smiling at me she gave a nod before speaking up again, her voice just sounds absolutely angelic and it feels like just her words can sooth the pain away that is plaguing my body.

"Yes, that is correct though I do not know what a 'titanfall' is but your arrival has caused a disturbance in the sky before it has cleared up after your landing in your alien airship if you have one, and also that you are holding five of my citizens hostage."

"Well...Princess, those five are operatives for spying on an IMC Operative and that they were armed and armored at the time so they are not citizens, as for an alien airship, I have none. I arrived to this planet in the mobile battle suits guarding this camp alongside with nine other survivors from the reactor meltdown at Demeter." I said as I felt the pain starting to make itself more noticeable and now it was making my chest hurt something fierce.

"Mr. Oppenheimer, I do apologize for the actions that those five ponies have done-" she said and with it she clarified what the aliens were, they weren't horses but ponies, and that made a bit of sense, "but remember your in the wrong also for stealing those tools from Claw Hammer back in Ponyville." and with that I started to laugh internally at the name of the town I was in.

'Oh dear god that is hilarious! Next the princess is going to tell me that the rest of the cities within her country are all pony related! I can't wait to hear this shit play out.'

Once that was over with we started to talk about some of the more obvious things like who we are, where we came from, what history was like, do I have a criminal record and lastly if there is any illness she should be aware of. And she was right about me being sick, but she is wrong about being able to cure it.

I think.

Before any of us could go any further I let out a rather loud ragged cough and another before quickly removing my helmet and popping two red and blue pills into my mouth and swallowed them dryly, and after a few minutes the pain receded and my mind was clearing up. One thing I learned as a child was that medicine, no matter what age group it was made for or what form it came in, it would always taste like the worst cough medicine imaginable.

Looking back to the princess I can see that not only was she concerned with my health but the two guards behind her had their heads tilted, wondering what exactly I just took and what was the cause of my distress but when they tried to come over to see if I am okay I just waved them off and stood back at attention and stared at them without my helmet on, letting see my face.

"Are you alright?" was all she said before I started to wave my hand her off, something she understands clearly that I can handle myself under my own power, even if at the moment I feel like utter shit.

"Yea...yes...im fine...just a bit of radiation sickness is all."

"Radiation Sickness? Pray tell what is that and how does one cure it?" the pony princess asks while still trying to not help me, my thoughts are that its in her nature to help those in need.

"Well, to explain it in a quick manner is that it is a side effect when someone is exposed to varying amounts of radiation it causes many different debilitating effects but the most common ones are fatigue, weakness, nausea, headache, fever, and even diarrhea, but for someone that has absorbed a large amount of radiation then the end result is death, most likely less then forty-eight hours of exposure."

The look of horror written on their faces was clearly something never heard of so I can safely guess that these ponies never discovered uranium, plutonium or even for that matter anything radioactive. Still reeling slightly from the headache I move over to the wall and lean against it, breathing deeply, trying to calm my body down before resuming where I left off.

"As for a cure for radiation sickness, depending on how much the body has taken in the person can be saved but if it in the smallest to normal dosage then a few days in the med bay with proper medicine will cure them and in larger doses, comatose for a couple of weeks but for what I had just went through...I should be dead, dying or fine for now, and since I am still standing and not a pile of ashes on Demeter." and with that I slipped my helmet back on, turned on the visor and let the blue light shine in the slightly bright room.

Before we have a chance to talk any further the sound of something heavy slamming down outside the door was instantly followed by the thud of something equally heavy.

"Engaging Hostile Alien."

'Oh shit...that does not sound good at all.' and from the face the princess is making she is thinking the exact same thing.

Rushing to the door and yanking it open I saw that my Atlas was covering the door with a foot and was pointing the XOTBR-16 at a large stallion wearing more detailed and stronger armor then the others, the helmet he is wearing is also much more detailed and seems to be trimmed with gold or some other luxury metal.

Turning to face my Atlas I gave it the order to stand down and with that order it raised its left leg from the doorway and stood back up, the large machine gun still pointing at the armored pony but was no longer on the verge of turning him into a pink mist. Shaking my head at the display that is being made here I look over at my giant armored watch dog and went through its recording at the time where me and the princess entered my home and saw that this pony was simply responding to my coughing fit. Sharp hearing this guy got that's for sure.

"What the fucking hell is going on out here!" I shouted before pulling out my B3-Wingman and fired a single round into the air, the loud crack startled a flock of birds that heard the report of the revolver and every single pony that heard it immediately covered their ears with their hooves, even the large stallion trying to stare down my Atlas had to stop to keep his hearing.

As they all stared at me I walked over to my Atlas and jumped up its side before holding onto the hand rail that leads to the section of the hull that grants access to the internal circuitry of the central eye and other processing units. Once I was up top I looked around to count how many pony guards were present and to see if there was anything hostile was outside the walls but there was nothing but fleeing birds, a chicken snake running away, and even a small pack of wooden wolves retreating.

Waiting for the local wildlife to disperse and scatter to the winds and for the pony guards to calm the fuck down and not piss off one hundred tons of metal, wires, core energy, bullets and rockets. The standoff between my Atlas and the officer pony has cooled down but soon enough the two were at it again by staring angrily at each other but that was put to an end when Celestia looked at the stallion and with a nervous nod he stood down and was at ease, and with a nice pat on the top eye before hopping down and landing on the dirt with a muffled thud and a grunt from the drop.

Staring at Celestia I can see a faint smirk on her face at my little display but it was quickly withdrawn when the guards lined up in perfect unison and was standing at attention at her very presence and with that I made a signal to the all the other titans to stand down and maintain a defensive stance against any hostile wildlife.

"So Princess Celestia, now this little face between your pony and my Atlas is over, maybe now we can move onto a different matter such as..." I said before trailing off, not sure what to go on about since the prisoners were still mine to decide their fate and she didn't have much pull to say otherwise.

"Well Mr. Oppenheimer, I was hoping to discuss about the five captured night guards that you are holding within that wooden cage of yours." and once again she had that angelic smile gracing those lips of hers, I am not sure if she has some sort of bewitching effect on those that she speaks to or are near her but because of that smile I feel more compelled to listen to and obey her than I normally would go against authority.

Thinking on how I could negate her words I think on Demeter and immediately that strange calm that was cast over me was immediate set ablaze and any hold that Celestia had over me was gone in a flash.

"Princess, those five are mine, they were spying on me, they triggered my alarm system and got caught, and unless you can come up with a way for an equal exchange for these five lives then that line of conversation is over." I said, my hands resting on the Spitfire hanging in front of me, my right hand on the stock and my left on the barrel.

Looking at the five prisoners I can see that at the rate I would have to hunt and clean for five extra mouths I would be running ragged and the chances of a larger group of ponies coming to assist the fifty six or so armored ponies to get them back would make this delicate diplomatic situation harder then it would need to be. But if I only had one prisoner to handle and deal with, then I could get things to be running my way and maybe even get something out of this.

Before the princess could speak again I raised my hand to her to let myself speak first and with a gracious nod from her I spoke my mind.

"You know, I just had a thought that would benefit us both." and with what I have in mind I might be gaining a walking, talking codex on pony culture...if I play my cards right that is.

"And what would that be?" the white mare said with a slightly raised brow, seemingly trying to see what I am playing at.

"You would take your four prisoners, while I kept one as assurance that your ponies would not do anything foolish or reckless against me and that the one that stay behind could somewhat teach me of your culture and customs so in the future of our talks there wouldn't be any problems later on down the road." and once that left my mouth I could have sworn I heard the sounds of many people facepalming all at once and also the sound of someone laughing at my future misfortune.

After a few seconds I thought I made a mistake in making a demand from the princess but when she started to laugh softly I know that I have made the right choice.

"Yes, I do believe that would work, but I get to choose who stays with you. If you don't mind that is." and with a nod from me she trotted over to my prisoners and looked each one over and immediately looked at the one flipping his shit before tapping her hoof in front of the cage and with a nod from me the skeletal machine lowered his left arm to the cage and opened it up to the shaking stallion, grabbed him and let loose into the protective custody of the princess.

Next was the stallion opposite of the mental breakdown pony, same as the first she tapped her hoof and a nod later he too was released but as soon as he was on the ground he turned around to stare at the Stryder that held him and with a smirk I gave it the order to raise a single and slowly wave it as if it was scolding the little pony for doing something wrong. The look on his face was priceless and well worth the confused and slightly mad stare from the large white princess pony.

Soon the princess came up to the other two bat ponies, the last one gave a nod to the princess before the other to left with her leaving what I remember is the squad leader behind for me to use as a teacher of sorts to learn pony culture. I just hope the bat mare knows what she is getting herself into because I prefer to learn things at a fast pace and I hate slowing down for others.

"Well, there you go princess, four of your selected prisoners are now back in your hooves, and for my end of the deal." I said, slightly with glee as I can now put some of this behind me if only for a little while.

"Yes, Lieutenant Blossom, since Princess Luna could not be here I am temporarily taking her place on this matter and leaving you on loan to Mr. Oppenheimer, you are to teach him about us from the start of the era we lived here to the fall of Nightmare Moon, is that clear?" the white princess said and from what I heard it seems that Nightmare Moon is a badass.

As everything started to settle down I watched Lieutenant Blossom stretch her wings before cracking her back, the thought of cracking ones wings seems odd since breaking the hollow bones would result in being unable to fly, so how one can fly with broken wings seems like quite the challenge.

"Alright, Lieutenant, your quarters is within the cave, if you need anything just tap the MRVN roving around the outpost and leave a requisition order and I will try to take care of it. And if you do a good enough job in teaching me I just might tell you about the Battle of Demeter....erp...and maybe the Battle of Angel City." I said with a slight hesitation, Demeter is going to be hard to talk about that's for sure.

I expected no one to hear my stutter and pause but I was wrong.

"So...what did happen at Demeter that makes you shudder in fear?" those words that have escaped Celestia's lips made me stare off into the forest, the sun's orange glow dying down as the night soon was coming up, the memory of Demeter will forever dominate my thoughts as long as I live and there will be nothing that will be a stronger presence that will topple it from its high horse.

I turned to look at Princess Celestia one last time before she stepped onto her overly large chariot of royalty that somehow got in front of my outpost without alerting Eagle_Eye or myself, her eyes looking at mine through the helmet before I grabbed the heavy metal hand of my Atlas and was pulled back to the top hull and waved her good bye before speaking up loud enough for her to hear as her horn started to lose its glow.

"Your virgin ears are not ready to know the horrors that happened on Demeter, Princess." and with that her horn stopped glowing and with that she looked at me in a state of pity before tapping her hoof and with that signal the ponies hooked up to it started to run and beat their wings before taking off along with the rest the guards she sent here and just like that she is gone.

Turning around in my Atlas I see Miss Blossom standing there, looking at me with a confident smirk before I walked by her on the shoulder of my titan and snorted at her in disdain before I stormed off back to my camp where my titans were waiting for me and the other bat ponies were gone leaving only the apparent leader that has just been ordered to stay with me for the time being until they could as Celestia puts it 'get my accommodations ready' for when I am supposed to go to her capital. Not sure why she would want me to go there but I could probably ignore that request cause after all I am not her citizen and she did say that this land is not owned by her or her ponies so technically this is up for grabs.

Sadly though I rather not piss off someone that could create a translator for me to use so I guess I could visit her capital city and pray to god that it meets up to my standards. Better be some rocky road ice-cream there.

As they left I looked to the female lieutenant and waved her over she waited for me to lead the way and I did so by walking to the cave and opened the door for her, she rolled her eyes before hip-checking me and to my surprise she snickered at my reaction before flapping her wings a bit before laying down in my bed, curling up into a ball and took my leaf blanket for herself..

"Good night Pilot Ramsey." Blossom mumbled quietly before her breathing slowly tapered off to a gentle rise and fall, my guess is that she is a quick sleeper or something.

Rolling my eyes I left the door open before climbing into my Atlas, relaxing bit by bit as the custom made soft leather chair settled around my body, effectively molding to my contours as the AC unit turned on at a gentle sixty-five degrees, keeping me warm and happy for the night...something I now come to fear for obvious reasons.

"That's Fourth Gen IMC Pilot Ramsey to you Lieutenant Blossom, now get some rest, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." I said before turning away from her and leaving the secureness of the cave, the fire in the cave beating brightly as the warmth radiating from it heated her up from the coming night cold of winter.

This is going to be a long, long, long year.