Your Human And You: Feet First Into Hell

Granny Smith looked out towards the sky with an eerie feeling in her joints. She had grown up next to the Everfree Forest for a longer time than Ponyville had been standing, and as an Earth Pony, she had grown accustomed to feeling the world through the nearby woods. As she felt through its roots, however, she could feel screams of panic amongst the animals, as they began to herd away from the area closest to the farm. A foreign presence made itself known within the forest, and from a singular point, she could feel the weight of thousands of centuries being pushed aside like leaves in a ferocious storm.

"What in tarnation?" she asked nopony in particular.

The sheer magnitude of the force being distributed was frightening on its own, but she moved her attention to the sky as a screeching colossus, wrapped in flames, began to descend towards the farther end of the forest.

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'Stop this at once, foul beast!' Luna screamed inside her own head.

"I will do no such thing!" Nightmare Moon replied. "You asked for this power, now you bear my presence!"

'They have nothing to do with us! Leave the aliens out of this!'

"They're afraid, I can feel it! And when they bear down on any settlement of my choosing, Equestria will fear what Nightmare Moon can do to even an advanced race such as this!"

Luna shifted around her own form, trapped by the darkness of Nightmare Moon, trying to find a way to help the aliens escape their untimely demise. As she watched, however, seven tooth-like shapes exited from underneath the vessel and plummeted towards the surface of the planet. From it, she could feel several bodies present, all kept together by rage, insanity, loyalty... and fear. When they all began to distance themselves, Luna could feel Nightmare Moon's hold on her weaken enough to make a difference.

'I said,' Luna began to break the magic's focus on the alien vessel, 'leave them out of this!'

Their combined magic began to rupture around the metallic surface of the structural behemoth, and within seconds, Nightmare Moon was forced to break off to bring a shield around them.

"Damn you!" she shouted. "Bah, who needs it. The thought that the vessel was struck by myself, alone, is enough to cause the little ponies to fear me!"

With that, Luna watched as several lights began to blink across the alien vessel before her consciousness faded into the blackness once more.

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"Whatever that was, it broke off!" Lisa shouted over the rumbling bridge. "Stabilizing descent! Hold on!"

The crew could feel the momentum shift as the stabilizers kicked in at maximum power, trying to halt the falling of Lost in the Stars.

"I can't stop! Running calculations to crash as safely as we can somewhere else!"

A few seconds passed before the ship began to lurch to the right and accelerate.

"Found a barren desert, approximately 78 kilometers away from any sings of civilization! Activating stealth plating to try and hide our descent!"

The ship began to rumble again, as lights began to darken once more, before the thrusters roared to life, and the crew began to pray silently.

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Maelstrom held on to the interior of the SOEIV as the entire thing screeched in protest to the high point of entry that they were being dropped from. Across his vision, he could see the six other pods that his team occupied as the lot of them entered orbit. The lower sections of the SOEIV pods burst into flame as the collective ride became shakier and more violent.

"Troopers, ready chutes!"

"Yes, sir!"

The trooper punched a button on the interior of the pod as the entire thing jumped upwards. Alongside him, the other six pulled back on their descent as the fires around them faded away. Above the pods, the Drag Chutes broke off as the trajectory of the pods changed slightly. Maelstrom checked a screen to see how far their drop had gone, and spoke to his squad.

"Get ready! Touchdown in ten!"

The ground approached the ODSTs quickly as the Sergeant tightened his grip on the handles of the pod. All around, the scenery changed from a dark sky to grassy meadows and large numbers of trees as the pod made contact upon alien soil.