Rangers Lead the Way

Chapters

Prologue
Bonus Chapter; Somewhere in the Pentagon
Chapter 1; Ponyville
Bonus 2; Twilight's Letter to Celestia on the Rangers and Response
Chapter 2; The Meeting
Chapter 3; Betrayal
Interlude; Betrayal?

Prologue

Author's Note

And here we go. Taking lessons learned from Chinook Down into consideration, like my many failed games of Dark Souls 2

Prologue

I inserted my final magazine into my pistol and moved into the Canterlot Castle as the changeling army flew above me. I joined one of the royal guards who was preparing to breach the Throne Room. Before we could enter the door exploded and we were thrown into the opposite wall and dragged in by changeling underlings. Luckily, I was able to holster my pistol before they noticed. Queen Chrysalis addressed me directly, "Ah, and you must be Captain Sanderson, the ape who has struck fear into my underlings that even I couldn't." she addressed the underlings dragging us, "Take them to the others." They took us to the other prisoners and sat me next to Twilight. I asked what the plan was. She responded by telling me that she would free Cadance, who would try to unbrainwash Twilight's brother. The only thing they needed was a distraction. Having taught her the NATO phonetic alphabet, I spelled out I have a gun( India Hotel-Alpha-Victor-Echo Alpha Golf-Uniform-November). She wished me luck and untied me. I quickly drew my gun, pistol-whipped the nearest changeling and took aim at Chrysalis.

Oh wait shit, nearly gave away the ending. Ok, um sorry but at least I got it in time. Now well, I guess I'll start from the beginning and please try to forget that this ever happened.

Prologue Part 1
Operation Thunderstorm

Midnight

"Gentlemen, we are going to Afghanistan for this op," began General Fredrickson. We were sitting in a hangar, dressed in full combat gear, rifles, LMGs and SMGs locked and loaded. "As you may know, we are going in to capture General Rogers, who has gone rogue. He is hiding out in Site Hotel Charlie, with his company of loyal soldiers, who will no doubt, fight to the death. Capture is not an option for them. At 3:00 you will fly over the drop zone. We are taking a risk here, as you will be flying through a thunderstorm. If you run into any major trouble, which I wouldn't make any betts on, reinforcements are prepped and an AC-255 that will follow you in will provide air support. Now, any questions on that." No one raised their hand so he continued. "Ok, Delta Teams take the C-250 codenamed Spooky, Trapper Teams take Thunder, Cruncher Teams take PeaceKeeper and Hunter Teams take Terminator. From this point on, Rogers is codenamed Fox and remember we need him alive. RANGERS LEAD THE WAY, HOOHAH!" Receiving a resounding HOOHAH from the men, he walked off towards the command center.

Being Captain of the Hunter Teams, I went to work on my briefing. "Alright boys, you heard the General, we take Fox alive." I stepped over to the map being displayed of Site Hotel Charlie. "We are going in for the kill, figuratively of course. We are going through the East entrance and we are going in stealth. The other teams will draw attention away from the east entrance. If we are forced to break stealth, don't use explosives. God knows how old the cave system is and I don't know about you, but I don't want fuck knows how much rock crushing me because I threw a frag that took out one of the support columns. Now are we ready." I got a hoohah and responded with "You call that a hoohah, louder," Getting a louder one, I yelled once more, "LOUDER!" and joined in the loudest HOOHAH ever recorded. "That's better, now let's go you sons of bitches!"

Hunter Teams good luck charm was always singing 'When I get to Heaven' before missions. "Alright you know what's next, repeat after me."When I get to heaven, Saint Peter's gonna say, "How'd you earn your livin' boy?, How'd you earn your pay?", I'll reply with a whole lot of anger, "I made my living as an Airborne Ranger!, Blood, guts, sex and danger, That's the life of an Airborne Ranger!", When I get to hell, Satan's gonna say, "How'd you earn your livin' boy?, How'd you earn your pay?", I'll reply with a boot to his face, "I made my living sending souls to this place!" We finished as we got on the plane. The jumpmaster greeted us on the entrance ramp, "Good evening boys and girls, this is your captain speaking, sit down, strap in, shut the fuck up and don't touch nothing."

2hrs 47mins later

"13 minutes!" yelled the jumpmaster. Turbulence rocked the plane and he added, "Christ if we aren't shot down, this storm will take us down.". Suddenly the lights went out and we would have been thrown out of our seats if we weren't strapped in as the plane rocked much worse than before. Then we all felt an electric shock that knocked most of us out, including me.

I awoke minutes later to find the emergency lights on. "Alright, Captain's up, we're alright." said Pvt. Johnson

"Alright what happened." The private started, but was cut off by the voice of one of the pilots from the intercom

"We were hit by lightning, engines 1 and 3 were overloaded and have blown out. But sir, you need to see where we are." I went to the pilots cabin and was struck by the vibrance of the color of the land.

"Well this isn't Afghanistan, that's for sure." I said.

"Sir, we aren't going to be able to keep this thing steady and there's a town down their." said the co-pilot.

"Alright aim us toward an unpopulated area and we'll bail. I'll tell the men" I said moving towards the intercom, "Gentlemen, this is Captain Sanderson and we are ditching this plane. If you have a glider wing, don't activate your propulsion until the plane has touched down. If you don't, then slow your decent via parachute until this thing touches down." I joined them in the cargo bay and prepared my glider wing, which we would be using to infiltrate Site Hotel Charlie.

The jumpmaster opened the ramp and released the cargo in the bay. "Hopefully the altimeter still works on the parachutes. Alright three, two, ONE let's go you sons of bitches!" yelled the jumpmaster. I looked behind me one more time and saw the pilots grabbing parachutes.

I jumped, activated my wings and joined the formation. We waited as the plane crashed into the forest nearby one of the towns. We activated the propulsion and headed towards the crash site. We landed and secured the perimeter. A few of the crates had landed near the site. Ammo, food and equipment. I used a tree stump as a table and began formulating a plan. "Ok boys here's the plan. We are going to the town that our pilots stopped our plane from taking out." I was cut off by Sgt. Volk, who had activated the heartbeat monitor function on his wrist mounted computer. "Boss, I'm getting 7 signatures to the southwest, and one of them is hostile." I grabbed my SCAR-H and motioned for Volk to follow me. "Assess the situation, decide how to engage." I said as he grabbed his DSR and followed.

We stopped when we were 5 meters away and activated optical camo. I whispered "Activate thermal vision." and began activating thermal vision on my T.A.G( Tactical Assistance Glasses). 6 of the signatures Volk's monitor had recognized were small and horse-like. The other was large had wings and a tail. And he was the one recognized as hostile. "Assessment sir?" asked Volk, taking the safety on his sniper. "Wildlife, don't engage unless the unknowns are attacked." I responded. "Hoohah" Seconds later, we got the sign to attack as the big thing roared at the unknowns. It was quickly dispatched by a 50 caliber round to the chest and two 3 round bursts from my SCAR to the head. I motioned for the Volk to move out of cover and reveal ourselves. We recieved a collective gasp from the six.

Prologue Part 2
The Big, Tan and Brown, Flying, Burning Box

It was an average Wednesday for Twilight. She went downstairs without waking Spike, made some coffee and began reading. However, she was interrupted by a large rumbling that made her turn her head towards the window. What she saw was what she could only describe as a big, tan and brown, flying, burning box. She went outside and saw that boxes were flying out of the back as it began to turn away from Ponyville and towards the Everfree Forest. A few moments later, other smaller shapes began flying out. However, most of the smaller objects didn't drop like bricks and instead stayed in the air. Moments later, the box disappeared and moments after that there was a thundering crash that could've woken everything from Ponyville to Phillydelphia and the small shapes went faster than Rainbow Dash. Twilight went to find her friends. She found them looking for her. Rainbow said "That those small things went faster than ME!", Rarity exclaimed that it had woken her from her beauty sleep and Fluttershy said that it had frightened not only her but all her animals. They headed towards the Everfree Forest and made a quick stop a Fluttershy's cottage to get some snacks. As they reached the edge of the forest, Fluttershy took note that the place they were going into a place where manticores are common. They went into the forest and could smell the smoke coming from the crash site, when they heard 2 somethings rustling leaves nearby. The one in the direction of the crash stopped and they could hear whispering. However, the other sound revealed itself to be a manticore. It roared and prepared to attack when around seven loud bangs rang out, and the manticore collapsed, dead. Moments later, our saviors revealed themselves as 2 bipedal figures holding long sticks that were colored similarly to the thing that they were looking for. They were covered, head to hoof, in tan outfits and had helmets. From what Twilight could guess, through what they were wearing and what they did, they were their species equivalent of the royal guards. My friends and I all gasped.

Bonus Chapter; Somewhere in the Pentagon

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1; Ponyville

Author's Note

Hope I explained how a gun works rather well. Took a while due to the fact that I've been playing XCOM Enemy Within on the PS3 and every time I get to XCOM base defence I run into a glitch. Deleted and redownloaded it to skip the patch that causes the black screen glitch. Now no enemies are spawning.
Oh and just search the SEALs rifleman model to get an idea of what the soldiers look like

Chapter 1; Ponyville

Chapter 1
Ponyville

Alright, I didn't expect technicolor ponies with horns or wings. The silence was broken by a purple unicorn with a black mane with a purple strip, who said, "Well, um hello and thank you for saving us. I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie." pointing at herself, an orange normal pony with a yellow mane(I had to wrestle in my mind with the fact that she was named after a breakfast cereal on our world), a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, a creme pegasus with a pink mane, a white unicorn with a dark purple mane and an all pink normal pony.

Seeing how I understood them, I spoke. "I'm Captain Steven Sanderson and this is Sergeant Thomas Volk. I assume that you're looking for the crash site," they all nodded and I said" Follow us."

They did and after a few minutes the one Twilight had named Applejack asked, "So, how in tarnation did you kill the manticore?"

"Well, you see the things we are carrying." she nodded, I took out my pistol, ejected the magazine and took a bullet out of it. "This is a bullet, inside this is gunpowder," pointing to the bullet casing, "in the case of my pistol here, when I pull the trigger, the hammer, which is this thing here, is released and it hits the bottom of the casing and the primer. The primer ignites the gunpowder inside and that launches the tip out faster than the speed of sound."

The final statement raised a complaint from Rainbow Dash, who said "Hey, I'm the only thing that goes faster than sound."

That got me to laugh a little and explained, "Well in our world, our species has been going faster than sound ever since 1947, and our world is currently in the year 2030." That got them quiet for the rest of the walk.

When we got really close, we heard someone yell "STAR!". The ponies looked questioningly at us and I shouted back "TEXAS" and heard the reassuring sound of safeties going on. Star and Texas were our pass code to identify friend from foe. We walked out of the bushes and the ponies followed me to where I was formulating a plan before Volk got the signatures. I set my SCAR down and said, "Ok, I'm assuming you want some answers. Ask away, unless it involves how we got here. We don't know."

Twilight was first to ask, taking out a scroll and quill and I'm assuming writing what her question was, "What are you and what is your job"

"We are humans, homo sapiens scientifically, the study of our species is called anthropology. Life expectancy is 84 for men and 86 for women. We are omnivores, eating plants and animals to get essential vitamins and minerals. Our job is military. More specifically, United States of America's army, that's the country we are from. To be even more specific, We are US Army Rangers, a Tier 1 special forces group. We are Hunter Teams of the 75th Regiment, consisting of 3 squads of 8 soldiers."

Rainbow Dash asked next "So your saying that that thing can go faster than me?"

"The C-250, nah, it barely goes half that. However that isn't the only plane we got." I tapped on my W.M.C(Wrist Mounted Computer) selecting archives , and aircraft. Finding the craft I was looking for, I selected it to project on the makeshift table. "This is the F/A 40. A Vertical Take-Off and Landing fighter attack class jet. Goes Mach 10, which is 10 times the speed of sound or 3,145 miles per hour."

Rarity asked, "Do you wear clothes all the time and why are you wearing that, the color is horrid."

"In our culture, it is um considered rude to not wear clothes in public. Here this guy can explain it much better. "I said accessing my W.M.C and the videos I had saved onto its 1000 TB hard drive that came with the scientific advancements. I searched for the video by Vsauce 'Why Do We Wear Clothes?' and found what I looked for and sent it to the projector. After it was over, I sensed that many more questions coming my way. "To answer the other question, this is desert camouflage. We were going to a desert before we were sent here."

Twilight suddenly said "We need to get you to Princess Celestia." "Alright." I said before standing up and shouting "Alright boys we're Oscar Mike! If you got a EXO suit, carry supplies." turning to the ponies. "Let's go"

After a long walk we came to a clearing and saw the town that the ponies identified as Ponyville. "Here's our plan." I said turning to Twilight "We, with permission from the Mayor, are going to set up a base camp on city limits." She replied with an ok and we went towards town. We decided that only Hunter 1 would go into town, without our primaries without face masks or helmets. I removed my helmet and revealed my short, dark brown. Then my face mask, which I personalized with a skull decal, to reveal my goatee. I stamped my SCAR into the ground and placed my helmet on top and tied my face mask around the stock.

We got a few odd looks walking towards town hall, but who wouldn't. Before we arrived at town hall, Twilight stopped at her house, which is a tree, to get her assistant, who is a dragon. She introduced him as Spike. After he sent the letter by burning it, we went to town hall. It went smoothly, we got permission to make a base camp outside town and Twilight said she got a reply from the Princess, who said she would be meeting us to discuss what we are going to do.

Bonus 2; Twilight's Letter to Celestia on the Rangers and Response

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 2; The Meeting

2 Days Later 9;45 am
Location; Outside Ponyville. Codename; FOB Equestria

I woke up the morning Twilight had said the leader of their country was to meet us. I got out of my sleeping bag and then out of one of the many tents we pitched to set up FOB Equestria. Yesterday we were able to locate many of the crates dropped as we prepared to bail out. I went to the Mess Hall tent and grabbed a cup of coffee and MRE. After I ate, I cleaned my rifle and pistol. I saw the time and made way towards the entrance of our makeshift camp. On the way I ran into our appointed Quartermaster, Staff Sergeant Howard. "Morning Sergeant, how are our supplies looking?" I asked

"According to files, we should have 4000 5.56 rounds, 2000 .50 BMG, 1000 .45 ACP, 1500 12 Gauge, 250lb of C4, 35 Squirrel Suits, our stocked Glider Wings, 4 parachutes, 35 EXO suits, 15 Stealth Suits and 400 MREs. We have recovered all ammo, MREs and C4. Other than that most, if not all, wearable equipment that has been recovered. The parachutes and shock absorbers were able to save most equipment. However, the suits that were not badly damaged have been able to be salvaged."

"Good," Multiple shadows passed over us and when I looked up I saw golden chariots pulled by pegasi. I remarked "So weird not seeing a Blackhawk or Skyranger, huh." The Skyranger I'm referring to is the V-44 Skyranger, which is basically a V-22 Osprey with jet engines instead of turboprops. The chariots landed and the ponies inside got out. I shouted "EVERYBODY TO THE FRONT GATE! WE GOT VISITORS!" The men started scrambling around, putting on helmets and grabbing rifles, before running towards the entrance and standing at attention. I grabbed my rifle and helmet before walking down the row made by the soldiers with 2-1 and 3-1.

We moved forward and met the Princesses. "Good morning, Princess Celestia. We would give you a 21 gun salute, a formal way to greet foreign leaders, but we do not have much ammo to spare."

"No need to apologize, Captain. We have brought Captain Shining Armor, our military expert, to assess you militarily and a group of our top scientists-" Suddenly, Twilight's friends came running up.

"Sorry, sorry. We would have been here sooner but somepony overslept." Twilight said, shooting a glare at Rarity, who looked quite embarrassed.

Celestia replied "No need to apologize Twilight. As I was saying we have also brought a group of our top scientists to assess you scientifically."

I stifled a chuckle and said "Alright." I turned to my men and said "Alright everyone, dismissed."

I turned back to the ponies and said "I believe that we will begin our tour at the firing range. Follow me."

On the way I asked about the fact we needed more wood to build an assault course. "Applejack, we need some more wood to build an assault course. Got any to spare?"

"Not at the moment, but we were planning to tear down the barn to rebuild it. Ah reckon if you help us take it down, we could lend ya the wood."

"You know, I can one up you and take it down nearly immediately. I got a plan that involves Rainbow Dash and 16 pounds of plastic explosives."

Rainbow was taken aback at my involvement of her in my plan "Hey, why am I in your plan?"

"Alright, put 4 pounds of C4 on the 4 corners of the barn, clear the area of anything of value, detonate and you take care of what's left. That sound good to you?" she considered for a few moments and nodded "Applejack?"

"Sounds good but Ah want to see this 'C4'."

"Alright that'll be our second stop."

We arrived at the makeshift firing range and I greeted the manager of the firing range, 2LT. Grayson. "Morning Captain, what can I do for ya?"

"We're here to show the ponies firearms. I would also like you to show the scientists here, how they work."

"Yes sir. Alright, if you're one of the scientists stay here" before deciding that his sidearm would serve as a demonstration.

I said "'Welcome to 'Pull the Trigger 101'. Private Philips here is going to demonstrate our firearms." I motioned to Philips and he primed his rifle. "We are United States of America Army Rangers, some of the best soldiers in our world. Just to boot we are the 75th Regiment, the best of the Rangers. We train day in and day out in many different environments. We have trained with most, if not all, kinds of firearms. The Private here has a Colt M-27 assault rifle. 30 round magazine, chambers 5.56x45mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, round." I picked up said round and showed it to them. "Exits the barrel at 884 miles per second. Effective range of 500 meters for a point target or 600 meters for an area target. The rate of fire is 700 to 950 rounds per minute. It can deal a lot of death if used properly. Fire away Private." The private fired 3 rounds into the target set up down range. "Every system has its downfall. Mechanism malfunctions range from safe and temporary, such as a casing not ejecting, to potentially dangerous, like a squib load.

Our species invents things to solve problems, for example, an someone builds a castle, their enemy invents gunpowder and the cannon. To try and save lives from bullets, we invented synthetic body armor that can, in most cases, stop bullets from puncturing the body and wounding the soldier. To penetrate said armor, we make armor piercing ammo. Any questions so far?"

"Yes," said Twilight, "Why do you go to war with your own species?"

"Ms. Sparkle, the greatest philosophers haven't been able to figure it out. However, my best guess is that it expanded from territory wars from our ancient ancestors similar to that of wolves. Anymore questions? No, good. On to the next area."

For the next hour, we toured the relatively small camp. Finally, it came to an end and we stood at the entrance of the camp. "Thank you, Captain. Now I must consult with my advisors." said Celestia.

3rd Person

Celestia and her advisors stood out of earshot of Sanderson and his Lieutenants "What are your findings Captain Armor?" asked Celestia.

"I believe the only things we'd have against them, even a small force such as them, is our magic. Even then it's not by much. While on tour, I got into a conversation with Captain Sanderson about his species history of war. Apparently a long time ago, an ancient general wrote a book called the Art of War. Sanderson said practically every successful general has had it on their bookshelf. Therefore I believe that militaristically, an army would crush us in days."

"I see. Dr. Night. What are your findings?"

"I must say, if their civilian technology is half as advanced as their military tech, they surpass us and then run past us a few more times. If you had told me that a species without wings or magic could crush us in every way scientifically, I'd have called you crazy. They have no wings, but figured out how to fly; they have no magic but they have strived to find out how the universe works. We could learn a lot from them, scientifically. Especially their ingenuity"

"Ok, I believe that I've made a decision." said Celestia before walking back to Sanderson.

"Gentlecolts." said Celestia

"Yes Princess." I responded.

"I would like to make an offer. If you agree to join the Equestrian Army as a..."

"Special Forces Unit." I suggested.

"Yes, thank you. If you agree to join the Equestrian Army as a Special Forces Unit, I will give all of your soldiers Equestrian citizenship. To you specifically, your own unit made up of your own soldiers which you can command as you see fit. So Captain, do you agree?"

"And if I refuse?" I asked.

"You and your soldiers will have to earn citizenship and find their own jobs. Again, do you agree?"

After a few seconds pondering, I made up my mind. "Alright, consider us part of your army."

Author's Note

Writer's Block is a bitch
The problem is I know where I want the story to go but I don't know how to get there. I know that the story will end at the failed Changeling invasion of Canterlot and that Information Redacted By Canterlot Intelligence Agency and Fillydelphia Bureau of Investigation, but I don't know how to get there.
Also, the tech level I'm going for is a mix between Black Ops 2( T.A.Gs, Interactive Wrist-Mounted Display, Wing-suit), Ghost Recon(Active Camo), and Advanced Warfare(EXOs)

Chapter 3; Betrayal

I know some of you are going

, some of you are going

some of you may even be doing both
(Note, changed Celestia's and Luna's code-names to Sol and Crescent, respectively. Felt Charlie and Lima was too generic)

The guards in Canterlot were awoken by the explosion. They scrambled to their posts, everypony wondering what was going on. After a few minutes, the windows in the throne room burst and humans in exoskeletons jumped through the now empty frame. A particularly brave guard shouted "BY ORDER OF THE ROYAL SISTERS, I ORDER YOU TO SURRE-" only to be shot by one of the humans. Another guard threw a spear, which fell harmlessly through the air before clattering on the ground. One human actually chuckled and the rest opened fire. The humans activated active camouflage and hid.

Luna returned from a bathroom break only to discover that all her guards were dead. The cold metal of a gun's barrel pressed against her head. "I assume that you knew this was coming." asked the human in charge.

"I knew this was coming, but I didn't know when." she muttered.

"Then you will call for your sister. If you try to alert her of our presence, we will kill both of you." All of the Rangers disappeared, leaving only an outline of their body.

"Sister, I require your assistance in a personal matter." called Luna. After a few seconds, a door in the distance opened and the clip clop of Celestia's hooves echoed off the halls.

"What is it, sister? Have you fallen in love with one of the guards?" asked Celestia, the last sentence said noticeably louder. She came into view and the Rangers sprang their trap. Two of them moved behind her and the rest deactivated their cloak. "So, this is how you decided to do it. Impres-" she was cut off as one of the rangers behind her smacked her at the base of the skull, and the others did the same to Luna.

"This is team Alpha-Sparrow, we have secured Sol and Crescent, and are moving out." the leader of the fireteam radioed.

"Roger. Eagle, this is Sparrow. Sol and Crescent are secure, and the barracks have been destroyed. Moving to secure the train station." Sanderson looked out over Ponyville.

Two surviving guards raced through the streets of Canterlot. "Where the buck are all the civilians?!"

"I don't know! I knew those humans were bad news! This is just like those stories about the gryphons starting off all nice and friendly before trying to stab Celestia's parents in the back."

"We need to get out of here... before the humans lockdown the only exit. Why did we build a capital city with only one exit?" They continued onward toward the train station before being stopped dead in their tracks by gunfire. Mostly because one of them was literally dead. A single gunshot seemed to be echo louder to the surviver. "Celestia's goodne-" he yelped, before being cut down by the cold efficiency that comes with firearms.

The sniper who killed the guards we had just followed grabbed his radio. "Sparrow, this is Triggerman. Multiple guards EKIA. Locating Procurement team... spotted, Crescent and Sol are in possession... Negative sir, no casualties so far. Roger that, I'm leaving my nest. All forces pulling out, moving to Objective Tango-Sierra."

Shining Armor lie in a pile of rubble that used to be his barracks. He was one of the few survivors when the Rangers' bomb went off. Outside, he could hear Rangers walking around outside, talking like guards did during downtime. "It's about time we did this. All that love and tolerance was making me go crazy." one Ranger commented.

"Yeah. Been so long since I've had a hamburger, I would kill for one." another added.

"We have killed for one." the first Ranger joked. They both burst into deep, hearty chuckles.

A few seconds later, another voice and multiple footsteps joined the two. "Let's go, numb-nuts! All units are supposed to report to FOB Papa; Objective Tango-Sierra, and HVTs Crescent and Sol have been captured. Double-time!" one of the new Rangers shouted, obviously of a higher rank. All Rangers left rather quickly, jogging away towards the inner-city.

After waiting a few minutes, the guards crawled out from their hiding spots. "What the buck is 'Objective Tango-Sierra' and 'HVT Crescent and Sol'?!" asked a panicked private.

Shining Armor searched his mind, grasping anything he knew about the Rangers "Um, um, Twilly wrote something about a 'NATO Phonetic Alphabet' that they use. It's used to cross language barriers in military situations. Other than that, I don't know."

"What are we gonna do, Captain?" asked a sergeant.

"Let me think! Uh, we need to find Celestia and Luna. Secure the princesses, secure morale. Let's move to the throne room." Shining ordered. The band of misfits, consisting of Shining, the sergeant, the private, and one Corporal Flash Sentry, made their way to the throne room, quickly dropping to their stomachs whenever footsteps not their own were heard.

They entered the throne room, they found the corpses of Luna's guards. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Shining chanted. "DAMMIT! We're too late."

"Oh, crap. 'HVT Sol and Crescent' must be Celestia and Luna." realized Flash.

Shining suddenly stopped, and tossed something around in his head. "'Papa', 'Papa', 'Papa'. I got it! Twilly told me that 'FOB' means 'Forward Operating Base' and 'Papa' is the NATO Phonetic Alphabet letter for 'P'. That must mean FOB Papa means Forward Operating Base Ponyville! Let's go! Hopefully these bastards haven't taken the train sta- oh buck!" Shining realized another thing. "Objective Tango-Sierra. Objective Train Station. Celestia dammit!"

"What are we gonna do, Captain?" asked Flash, kicking around shell casings.

"Give me a minute... I just don't get it. Why don't they fight with honor?! At least the gryphons or minotaurs give us advanced warning before a siege, but they came in the dead off night, unannounced." Shining vented.

"Perhaps they're fighting the way they know how. We've seen how advanced their technology is; they fly without wings, get by without magic." stated the sergeant, trailing off.

"I suppose, we should wait for them to leave, band together with who ever is left, and march for Ponyville. Hopefully there is enough to successfully defeat the Rangers. I mean, they only have thirty-six men." Shining ordered, not hearing the conversation about human technology.

The band of misfits waited for hours. Eventually, one of the times Flash had scouted the train station out, all the Rangers had left Canterlot on a train. It wasn't exactly packed to the brim, but there wasn't a lot of room for the soldiers inside to stretch out. It took them some time to figure out how to work the steam train that was at the station.

"Alright, all the Rangers are gone. They left on the train." Flash reported.

"Good. Now we need to gather reinforcements. Split up, search everywhere." Shining ordered.

The soldiers responded with a collective "Yes, sir!" and ran in separate directions.

The search was somewhat successful. Canterlot was a ghost-town; it was like all the civilians had vanished into thin-air. The bodies of Canterlot guards littered the streets, all of them had bullet wounds, slit-throats, severe burns, or broken necks. However, twenty-one guards had been found and the Wonderbolts had joined the ranks. If they were lucky, only the Rangers from Canterlot and Ponyville had joined forces at Ponyville as a final stand.

Shining Armor stood on a scaffold used to punish criminals, preparing for a speech. "Okay, stallions. We all knew that this would happen, wouldn't we. We knew those humans were trouble. But, we underestimated them. Because of their lack of magic, we thought them inferior. They aren't, they have proved that. The bodies of our brothers that surround us prove that. Now they have desecrated our grand city and stolen our princesses. We aren't gonna let them get away with it, though! We are the best of the best, Canterlot Guard Elite! Keep that in mind as we march towards Ponyville. We are going to go there and take back what's ours. Isn't that right!?"

"Spotted, large force of guards. Marching from Canterlot. North-side. Defensive positions." a sniper scanned the horizon. Ponyville buzzed with activity from the Rangers.

"Alright, now comes the fun part. Lock and load, men! Don't fire till ya see the whites of their eyes!" Sanderson shouted. He took a cuban cigar from an old case and a lighter he kept as a memento and a good luck charm. He put it in his mouth and started smoking it. He took a puff on it before he shouted "I LOVE MY JOB!"

"Since when did you smoke sir?" asked the leader of the Rangers that formerly were stationed in Canterlot.

"Long time ago. I feel that if-" Sanderson was cut of by an spear landing at his feet. "Jesus!" he blurted.

"Permission to fire sir!" yelled a sergeant from the defensive line, a trench dug perpendicular to the road.

"Denied... For now." Sanderson responded. He walked to the defensive line and looked to the small force of guards, who were practically on a suicide mission against a better trained, better armed, and greater sized force.

"Captain Armor. I see you've survived our little excursion." Captain Sanderson called from the defensive line.

"Do not speak to me like I am a friend you have not seen in years. You have no right murderer!" Shining called back.

Sanderson looked taken aback, and something appeared on his TAGs. He then launched into a monologue "I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that... but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies! I remember when I was with Special Forces... seems a thousand centuries ago. We went into a camp to inoculate some children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there, and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile. A pile of little arms. And I remember... I... I... I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out; I didn't know what I wanted to do! And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it... I never want to forget. And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, my God... the genius of that! The genius! The will to do that! Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we, because they could stand that these were not monsters, these were men... trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment! Because it's judgment that defeats us."

"I give you one chance, Sanderson! Surrender or be crushed." Shining shouted, somehow missing the point of the monologue.

Multiple Rangers burst into laughter, Sanderson included "Your ONE advantage is magic, Captain Armor! We have firearms, better armor, better tactics, better everything. You barely had a chance from forces a century ago. Men! Safeties off." Seemingly thousands of tiny clicks echoed off the buildings of Ponyville.

"I take it you will fight." called Shining.

"You remind me of a British general from the eighteenth-century; Edward Braddock. He refused to adopt new, and better, tactics and it ended in his death. I will say this once Armor. Any sign of hostility will end with my men opening fire. And your swift defeat." Sanderson responded.

"At least you were civil enough to not say 'Buck you'." Shining muttered. "Stallions, the tortoise!" he ordered. Very similar to a tactic of the Roman Legion of the same name, all of Shining's soldiers gathered around him as he cast his most powerful shield spell.

"God, you are either fatally brave, or as dense as tungsten." Sanderson muttered before readying his own rifle and shouting "FIRE AT WILL!"

In the immediate second afterword, dozens of firearms let loose a constant torrent of lead. The methodical and constant thud of light machine guns, the constant crack of a bolt-action rifle, the slightly faster thunder of shotguns. Shining almost immediately felt the strain of hundreds of small pieces of metal impacting his shield. If he faltered, even a little, his men would be massacred. This did not help his level of stress he was facing. Or that he was fatigued from the march here.

"Fifteen meters! Detonate IED Alpha!" shouted Sanderson to a demolitions expert by his side. The expert grabbed a detonator and clicked it.

If the bullets had been uncomfortable, the IED going off was being kicked repeatedly where the sun don't shine. If the shield faltered for a second, all occupants would have been dead or fatally wounded. It faltered for more than a second. As such, by the time it was back up, most everyone was dead. The gunfire ceased, as only the insanely determined would have continued on Earth. Not deterred, Shining grunted "Keep pushing!" to his two remaining soldiers.

"For Christ's sake, pack it in you crazy bastard! It is OVER!" shouted Sanderson.

"For the Princess, my stallions will lay down their lives!" shouted Shining.

"Captain Sanderson is right, Captain Armor. This attack is a lost cause." announced Celestia, climbing the defensive line. However she was not bound, as Shining had expected. Also, Sanderson and his men were saluting the Princess.

"Good job, boys. Not a single casualty." announced Sanderson. A resounding 'Yeah!" came from the Rangers.

"What do you mean Princess?" Shining asked.

"This has been a simulation, Captain. I told the humans to attack us as they would an enemy in their world. This is the result." she explained.

"But none of these attacks were fair!" Shining complained.

"Friend, all is fair in love and war, within certain parameters." Sanderson countered. A wave washed over everyone's vision, and everyone present was standing in the throne room. "Alright, I'll explain everything."

An Hour Before the Attack

"Alright boys, gather round." Cpt. Sanderson called all Rangers in FOB Ponyville into the command tent. "As you may have heard, tonight we're launching a drill on our military capabilities. The Princess said, and I quote 'Give us no quarter, fight us like you would in a war that would end all wars in your world.'. Now, that doesn't mean that the Geneva Conventions are not fully disbanded. Take prisoners whenever possible, civilians are not included in this... simulation I guess. Also, nothing will travel into the real world when this is over, so collateral damage is not an issue. Any questions?" Nobody had any. "Good. And one more thing; if you think some guards are around, talk over the top evil. I'm talking the bad guys in a Bruce Willis movie." He added.

Throne Room

In the hours that followed the end of the drill, the Rangers had to their bases and guards returned to their posts. Celestia and Luna talked of what to do. "It is obvious that we mustn't induct the Rangers into the Guard. We haven't revealed them to the rest of the world, and they are an extremely deadly fighting force." Luna pleaded. "Besides, the Hierarchy of the Gryphons would be outraged. They pride themselves on their military, and to find out that there is now a smaller military better equipped than theirs."

"Fine, Sister. You were always more interested in military than I, anyway." Celestia ceded.

Suddenly a Ranger burst into the room, ran to the Princesses and saluted before stating "We may have a gigantic problem."

Author's Note

*Sanderson's monologue before the battle is the 'The Horror' speech from Apocalypse Now*

Interlude; Betrayal?

After Cpt. Sanderson accepted Celestia's offer to integrate the former US Army Rangers into the Equestrian military, FOB Equestria became FOB Ponyville under command of Sanderson. Other teams were separated into FOB Canterlot and FOB Manehattan. Everyone, and everypony, had settled into a rhythm. Any and all controversy about the humans arrival was dispelled. Politicians trying to dig up dirt on humans was quickly dispelled by Celestia.

9 Months After the Previous Chapters

An explosion rocked the gates of Canterlot. Two-legged figures sprinted by the fire that spread in the gates remains. "Hmp" groaned a guard nearby. "the buck was that?" A blunt object smacked him in the face and he fell down near stairs. A crack echoed of the walls, signaling that he broke his neck on the fall. I should probably have mentioned that he was three days away from retirement.

"Move, move! Team Alpha, secure package Charlie and Lima. Bravo, terminate everyone and everything in the barracks. Avoid civilian casualties." The figure that spoke those words stepped out of the shadows, revealing American flag and Army Ranger patches. "Rangers lead the way." he muttered as he lowered a face mask over his face. His grabbed his radio and pressed the transmit button, "Eagle, this is Sparrow. Canterlot has been breached and package Charlie and Lima are being secured. How copy?"

"Good copy, Ponyville is ours. Barely fired a shot and everyone bowed to us. Report in when Sol and Crescent are secured. That will make our job more easy. Out."