Your Human And You: Feet First Into Hell

Applejack woke up with a soft yawn as she sat up in her bed. Outside the window, she could hear the rooster calling out the morning for everypony in the house, as well as everyone in the barn. The farmer smiled as she thought of the previous few days, what with the Apple Family Reunion, the fall of Nightmare Moon, and even something that hit closer to home for her.

Grabbing for her Stetson, Applejack swiftly, yet precisely, made her bed and was already out the door faster than most would upon waking up. Applejack sniffed the air outside her room, and to her delight, found it to be full of a wonderful, delicious scent. She trotted down the stairs and went straight for the kitchen, the sounds of a filly following her closely.

"Mornin' sis!" Apple Bloom beamed. "Didja sleep alright?"

"Course Ah did, sis," Applejack replied as she hugged Apple Bloom, "ain't nothin' ta worry 'bout."

"Sorry, it's just that, well, you beat Nightmare Moon!" the filly exclaimed as she raised her front hooves in the air. "Ah thought that'd take a little bit outta ya."

"Same 'ere. But don't fret none, cause Ah'm just fine," Applejack said before nuzzling her sister.

"Ah'm glad you made it back," Apple Bloom muttered as she reached up to give Applejack a hug.

"Ah'm glad, too," Applejack said with a warm smile as she returned the gesture.

"Room for one more?" a small, male voice asked.

Applejack looked behind her and smiled when she saw the source of the voice.

"Course we got room for you, Oak," Applejack said with a blush as she opened up for another hug.

The Human in question had a red tinge on his cheeks as well as he joined the hug. Applejack examined his small yet defined muscles, wavy length of black hair, and pale green eyes that melted with the reflection of her own emerald ones. They all held on to each other, though Oak was kneeling on one limb to adjust his height.

"I'm so happy you're safe, Applejack," he whispered into her ear.

"Rememberin' mah family kept me goin'," she replied before rubbing her cheek on his.

A small ringing sound came from the kitchen before an elderly voice called out to them.

"Git your breakfast, 'fore Ah gobble it down mahself!" Granny Smith called.

The trio broke apart from their embrace and happily made their way to the dinning area. Apple Bloom turned her head and shouted towards the stairs.

"Come on, Big Mac! Breakfast's ready!"

\\\//////

The large red stallion had heard the call for breakfast already, but ignored it as he watched the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. Around an hour ago, now, he had been woken up by some strange noises from the window. After peering through the glass to find the source of the disturbance, he saw several chariots and carriages being pulled before their property. A part of him wanted to shoo them off the Apple Family land, but knew it wouldn't help any situation until he had some kind of information.

Right now, however, all he knew was that they were all unloading something big. Something that needed a lot of magic. He could sense it. The magic from the ground beneath this land flowed within not only him, but within his siblings as well.

Almost as soon as they started the machine, it powered down, and they began to move for the gates. A few ponies in grey armor brought out magic-cutters and incinerated the lock on the gate, allowing it to swing open.

"They'd better have good insurance," Big Mac commented as he rushed out of his room. "Applejack! We've got trouble at the gate!"

Big Mac didn't stop to hear what his sister had to say, and bolted through the door of the farmhouse as Applejack shot out in pursuit.

\\\//////

Black Ink watched as her security forces opened the farm gates for the rest of the teams to move through. A sigh escaped her lips as she could practically sense the oncoming barrage of fury and threats from the local farmers. That didn't matter to her, however, since she had one of her greatest cover-up methods secured in her pitch-black mane. As Black Ink entered the gates, she let herself run through the list of objectives and scenarios for when they began to search for anything relevant to their previous studies.

"What do ya'll think yer doin'!?" came a furious accent.

'Oh joy, here we go,' Black Ink thought to herself.

The security teams drew fan-blades and halted the attackers back as Black Ink moved in to see who had decided to get in their way.

\\\//////

Applejack was beyond any countryisms for her rage. She was downright pissed at whoever thought they could break into Sweet Apple Acres while she was breathing. The farmer had charged the invading ponies at full-speed before they pushed her back with a blade to her throat. Cautiously eying the piece of metal at her neck, Applejack looked at the armored pony to see the armor they were wearing. It was all a dark-grey steel, and covered both of the pegasus' wings with fan-like blades that seemed to fit on every feather. The helmet, however, was what convinced her that they weren't a part of the Guard. Instead of having the face and neck exposed while pushing the mane out through a small crevice, this helmet had a chain-mail like texture around the neck, kept a black piece of glass in front of the entire face, save for the snout, which had its own little gas-mask. The top of the helmet was more like a Griffon's, being a simple piece of metal that covered a majority of the head. And finally, where the ears should have been, were rectangular prisms that had some wires going across them.

"Halt," a stern, muffled voice spoke from the helmet, "you are interfering with official Equestrian Government operations. Return to your homes or we will be forced to take action."

"Return to- ya'll are invadin' mah home!" Applejack shouted. "What gives ya'll the right ta come ta mah land and destroy mah property!? Ain't no part o' the law that says that!"

"Miss, please calm down," another voice spoke.

Applejack looked up to see a unicorn mare with a black mane, tied up in a bun, with dark gray fur, and a white lab coat walk over to her. For some reason, though, Applejack couldn't place a color on her eyes.

"Calm down!? Ya break open mah gates and storm in 'ere, then shove some knives in my throat, and tell me that AH'M the one that needs ta calm down!? What the buck kinda crazies are ya!?"

The unicorn's horn lit up with a faint, almost nonexistent grey glow and levitated out a scroll of parchment. It unraveled before Applejack, allowing her to read it.

By The Order of Her Majesty,

Princess Celestia,

Sweet Apple Acres

Will Undergo a Thorough Inspection of any Contaminant

Prior to Establishing a Royal Supply

To be Delivered to Canterlot Castle

To Ensure the Quality and Cleanliness of any Future Shipment.

The Inspectors are to NOT be Disturbed under ANY AND ALL Circumstances.

Anypony/one Caught Intruding the Inspectors' Equipment or Endangering Personnel

WILL BE JUDGED UNDER PRETENSES FOR TREASON.

Diarch of Equestria,

-Princess Celestia

Applejack was unable to move, trying to process what she had read.

"In case you don't get the gist of it," the mare explained, "we're here to make sure your product is worthy quality of the Royal Seal. Her Majesty, Princess Celestia herself, chose us to make sure that this land and all those that work here are in a good enough condition to allow your product through the castle gates. I assure you, that once you pass, we'll pay for any damages on site. And trust me, Princess Celestia was very keen on ensuring this place has some known name in the palace. We're just here to make sure the local water supply, air quality, and local wildlife and fauna don't interfere too severely with what you and your... help, are growing."

The farmer was still unable to respond at the time, simply weighing her emotions and knowledge to try and find some cohesive thought on the situation.

Big Mac, however, was already ahead of her.

"So that means ya'll are just gonna go 'round, tearin' out trees, putting junk in our water, and testin' our workers?"

"Not entirely, no. We'll just be on the opposite side of the compound, by the edge of the Everfree Forest, scanning the water and plants around your farm. You'll barely notice us."

With that, the mare turned and walked away, motioning for the armored ponies to follow. The one in front of Applejack lowered his wing and bowed slightly before returning to the coated mare's side.

"W-wha..." Applejack struggled to form words.

"You're gonna have a word with Twilight 'bout this, aren't cha?" Big Mac asked.

Applejack nodded.

"Eeyup."

\\\//////

Luna blinked as her surroundings began to fade in once more. This time, however, instead of seeing the hooves of her sister, she saw a white room with a window.

"Ah, Princess, good to see you're awake."

The Princess of the Night looked over to see a new Pony she hadn't met yet. However, she could recognize the armor he wore without even having to look at it for more than a fraction of a second.

"Greetings, fair Captain of the Night Watch," Luna greeted.

The Captain bowed to her as he spoke.

"Thank you, Princess, but I'm afraid nopony calls it that anymore. We go by the title of the 'Lunar Guard,' now."

That name gave a flutter to Luna's chest.

"Excellent news. What be thy name, Captain?"

"Captain Blade Wing of Her Majesties' Royal Lunar Guard."

"We thank thee for keeping watch, Captain Blade Wing. Pray tell, what circumstance caused Us to waken within these blinding confines?"

"Apologies, your majesty. My Lieutenants and I were on our way to introduce ourselves to you when we saw your magical backlash. We assumed that it was because you haven't adjusted to the magical aura of the Moon since... your, untimely absence."

Luna shook her head as she started to sit up.

"Fret not to speak with truth, Captain. I acknowledge that We were once a true nightmare to Equestria. Now, however, We only seek to find our place within the Equestrian Society."

Blade nodded as he offered a hoof to the Princess.

"You have our support, Princess."

Luna smiled warmly as she accepted the helping hoof. She felt comfort in knowing that there were already ponies willing to look beyond her time as Nightmare Moon, and accept her. However, she knew there was still something urgent that needed to be done.

"Captain Blade, fetch us a Scribe. We wish to seek out those that dare to keep customs such as slavery alive."

"You mean... the Humans?"

"Indeed. We hath not seen this species before our imprisonment, and to see an entire race subjugated thusly... we believe there are still those that are in need of a visit."

"Princess," Blade spoke in a worried tone.

"Not Us, of course. We must acquaint ourselves with the Council as well as current politics. There are others that can bring... a different perspective, if thou will, to those that need a new light."

Once again, Blade nodded.

"Of course, your Highness."

Blade strode out of the room, leaving Princess Luna under the watch of two more Lunar Guards who bowed when in her sight.

'Perhaps this, Maelstrom, and his fellow soldiers could demonstrate what their definition of a "Nightmare" is to slavers,' Luna thought darkly.

\\\//////

Geo pushed against the seat he was in to feel the softness of the whole thing. The map enthusiast had never even dreamed of something this comfortable! He felt as though he was going to fall asleep the moment he sat down. Around him, Geo could see the other former slaves sharing the same idea, while a few were already a few steps ahead. The Minotaurs had been going around and giving out plates of steamy, buttery meals, and were even sitting down and talking to some of the former slaves. There was even a female Minotaur that had sat down to eat with him a few minutes ago. She had taken one of his celery stalks and slid it underneath her shirt, saying he could have it when she, "dipped it in secret sauce". He had hoped that whatever it was, it would be as good as the rest of the food was.

There was a loud clang above the large space where all the Humans slept, and several occupants looked up. When they did, however, they felt a sense of dread and fear. Above them all were several armored figures. Two of them were Minotaurs, one being massive to the point of absurdity, while the other was almost half his height. What was frightening, however, were the armored Humans from before. Only two of them were looking at the compartment, but the silver face-things on their heads were covered in a horrifying image of a flaming skull with red eyes. One had an eye patch over its left eye, while the other had an image of a cigar underneath it. The images weren't glowing, though, they looked like they were already a part of the metal, seamlessly merging with the plated faces.

The large Minotaur turned to the one with the cigar image on his helmet and held a hand out over the railing to the compartment. Perhaps they were talking about something, but Geo couldn't hear them. After about a minute of talking (mostly from the Minotaur), the Human nodded and held out his hand for the Minotaur to shake. Once they did, the Humans turned around and began to walk.

\\\//////

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Black Eye asked.

"Granted."

"This looks pretty good, right now. I mean, they're giving them first-class seats and fresh food, by the looks of it."

"Yeah, they are."

"Not only that, but that Steel guy seemed actually impressed when he saw us."

"As he should be. Before Spartans became the standard sign-up and present-veins kind of thing, us ODSTs are the baddest motherfuckers this side of the Galaxy."

"Damn straight, sir."

The ODSTs found the hatch to the outside once more and stepped through. Behind them, Steel Battalion watched as they left for the tram.

"Humans," Steel called to them, "do me a favor if you go to Canterlot."

Maelstrom stopped in his tracks and turned to face the Minotaur.

"What's that?"

"Be sure to give those supporters a pat on the back. And also to give the arse-holes that hate Humans a knife in the throat."

The ODSTs shared a dark chuckle at that joke.

"When we're done with the anti-Human ones, they'll be begging for something that quick."

Steel Battalion saluted the ODSTs, which the Sergeant returned casually before shutting the door to the airship. Fire-team Nightmare watched as the massive balloon began to expand as waves of heat rolled over them. A large set of thrusters ignited underneath the archaic ship as streams of fire and smoke poured out in opposing directions. The massive hunk of metal lurched into the air and extended several fins on the exterior. Once it had risen above the rock cover, a gust of wind pushed the ship to the left, and the large metal airship was out of sight in minutes.

"Good shit, that thing's slower than a Grunt," Cowbell commented.

"A lobotomized Grunt, maybe," Sputnik replied.

"Maelstrom, sir, what's our objective now?" Icepick asked.

Maelstrom began to walk back to the tram, motioning for his team to follow as he spoke.

"Turns out that little episode I had may have had an outside influence. One of the leaders of the country we're in now decided she wanted to talk with me."

"By giving you a fucking seizure!?" Blind asked, stunned by the implications.

"Maybe she didn't know. Point is, if she wanted me dead, I'd be dead right now. She said that when Lost in the Stars entered their planet's orbit, she was woken up from something. And just as our luck would have it, she's now on our side. We're going to take this tram up to some mountain city, Canter-something, and meet this, 'Princess Luna' to discuss how we're freeing every Human on this planet."

"With all due respect, sir," Icepick started, "do you really think this is our best option right now?"

"Aside from wasting months, maybe years looking for the ship on our own with no back-up or fallback plan? Not to mention less than a week's supply of rations and God knows how much ammo? We've got no choice."

"What if it's a trap, sir?" Black Eye asked.

"Then we spring it, break it, and kick the ass of whoever thought to set it up."

The ODSTs were about to get ready to hunker down in their respective tram cars before they heard some muffled banging sounds from the interior. Suddenly, one of them realized something they had forgotten about long ago.

"Aw shit, we forgot about the other prisoners," Cowbell stated.