Your Human And You: Feet First Into Hell

Several thunderous booms rang out as the ancient tram sped along the wood and iron tracks as the ODSTs watched their SOEIV pods burn down the hills they landed in. As fire rained down onto the woodlands they had exited, the Troopers watched the passage of land and tracks as they communicated their long-term plans for their situation.

"So," Cowbell started, "anyone know how we're gonna get outta this shit stack?"

"First thing's first," Maelstrom started, "we need to figure out where the Hell this thing's going. Black Eye?"

"Reading loud and clear, sir. Need something?" came the response.

"Start questioning the civies. Try and find out anything about locations and forces on the planet."

"Got it."

\\\//////

Black Eye shut off his radio and looked around the large number of cages, where fellow Humans watched him and Icepick as she worked over the wounded civilian. Every now and again, he would move away from her motions, and at one point, tried to get up and run. Thankfully, Icepick managed to keep him in place before he could hurt himself. The ODST walked over to one of the cage doors and brought back his M7S before slamming the stock against the primitive lock, shattering it in one swing. As it fell to pieces, the door drifted open, causing the civilians to all scramble backwards into the cage.

"Come on, people," Black Eye said slowly, "it's alright. We're here to help. I just need someone who knows the local maps, or any kind of nearby landmarks."

Silence and fearful stares met the trooper before he sighed and placed his SMG on a magnetic holster.

"Alright, give me a sec," he started before undoing the straps to his helmet.

In a few seconds, the stares of the civilians went from fearful to outright shock as Black Eye removed his helmet. While he was neither drop-dead gorgeous, the trooper knew that he wasn't anywhere near as ugly enough to make a room full of people freeze.

"Come on," he groaned, "doesn't anybody know a thing about local maps or-"

"I, may know something," a trembling voice spoke.

Black Eye turned around to see a thin, short, semi-bald man with skin that looked almost bleached approaching him.

"What's your name?"

"G-Geo..."

"Well come with me, the Sergeant wants some directions."

\\\//////

Meadow groaned as she began to stir, her senses coming back in a fog of pain and nauseousness. Her eyes fluttered open as she tried to move a hoof to rub her face. When she tried to move, however, she felt her foreleg bound to her barrel. Confused and afraid, the pegasus continued to pull at her bindings before rolling over and trying to spread her wings, only to find them bound as well. She began to sound out her struggle, and unknowingly garnered the attention of unfamiliar voices.

"Well, well, well," a feminine voice spoke. "Looks like this thing's waking up."

The pegasus craned her neck to view the source of the voice and gasped when she saw it. Whatever it was, it looked like a tall Human in some kind of armor, except it didn't have a face and showed no skin. In its hands was a strange club, pointed in an odd way at her. At once, the memory of Brick being killed came to the forefront of her thoughts, and she recalled seeing a similar thing to what was in front of her.

"Sergeant," the figure spoke, "we've got a live prisoner here, waking up. Orders?"

A small voice came from inside the figure's head.

"Damn. Alright, lock it up in something, and see if it understands how fucked it is, and try to get some intel out of it."

"Yes, sir."

The figure grabbed Meadow roughly and hauled her up, keeping the club pointed at her head as it carried her.

"Damn, these things are lighter than they look," it remarked.

Before Meadow could try and wriggle her way out, she looked over to see Geo standing next to one without its helmet, and gasped.

"You're Humans," she breathed out.

The Human female, she realized, that was carrying her, had stopped short of an empty cage and spoke to her.

"So you talk, too. That should make this a whole lot easier, then."

Meadow was then thrown into the cage forcefully, landing on her bound wings as she cried in pain. When she looked back up, the armored Human on the other side of the metal bars, she couldn't help but think how fitting this would seem to her superiors. Being locked up by those that they themselves had caged so casually. It would have been slightly amusing, were it not for the fact that she was being stared down by her own reflection instead of an actual face.

"Let's get started with something simple," the female armored Human spoke while holding up a smaller instrument, pointing an end with a hole at her. "Where are we headed?"

As Meadow struggled to find the strength to answer, the train was slightly lit up by an aurora of dancing power from far within the forest beyond their path.

\\\//////

Luna struggled to keep up with her older, and now much larger, sister. Only a few minutes ago had she been broken from her prison, saved from the horror that was her own jealousy, anger, and malevolence. Here she was, the Princess of the Night, walking amongst her kind, once again. And yet, she couldn't focus on the celebration that went on in the town before her. She couldn't bring herself to hear the cheers of those that were joyed by the return of their Princesses. The only thing she could focus on were the bipedal aliens that roamed about the town, stripped of their alien attire, and much weaker than what she remembered.

"Luna?" she heard Celestia's voice cut into her thoughts.

She tore her gaze away from the frail aliens as her sister smiled at her weakened form.

"I see you're fascinated with the Humans," she stated.

"Yes," Luna replied before shifting her gaze over to a group of them. "We remember viewing something... interesting, while Nightmare Moon held possession of our form."

"Don't worry, sister," Celestia replied while nuzzling Luna's cheek, "it's over now."

"We wish to know everything thou knows about these... Humans."

"Well, I'll be sure to let you know when we finish catching up," Celestia said while tears of joy continued to mat her fur.

The blue alicorn held her thanks to her sister for being so welcoming and forgiving, but she still held great concern for the safety of Equestria as she thought about the repercussions for destroying the Human space-vessel.

\\\//////

Little Strongheart pushed her way through the crowd of buffalo as the murmurs ceased while her father kept them all quiet with a raised hoof. When the small buffalo made her way out of the crowd, she found herself stunned by what she saw. A massive metal structure lay within a burning trench of glass and stone. The architecture alone was beyond anything she had ever read about or heard rumors of, especially since she saw it fly only a few moments ago. Across the structure, lights shone and flickered, illuminating the grey surface with white letters.

However, it wasn't the letters or the structure the buffalo tribe was worrying about, but rather the large number of ponies that were swarming it the same way insects would swarm a corpse. Tents and spells were set up all around the site, trying to hide it from view, as a new flag rose upon the desert that day. A flag with the Equestrian symbol on it, and an ancient symbol of the Creators.