Tiberium Paladins

by Flicka

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Human, Adventure, Crossover
Length: 5792

The Scrin have retreated, and its up to the Shining Armor Initiative to figure out why and what they're planning next.

Its been twenty years. Twenty years since the first signs of tiberium showed up on the planet Solarius. Fifteen years since the alien race known only as the Scrin showed up in Equestria, ushering in a new age of technological advancements as the ponies and their allies reacted to this dangerous threat. The Shining Armor Initiative was formed, a beacon of hope to the creatures of the world, a banner to rally to. After several years of hard fighting, the aliens are finally driven off of Solarius and they seem to have disappeared for good. Until the Deep Space Vessel Harmony picks up a weak distress signal from an unidentified planet. The Scrin are attacking the locals there without mercy, and Twilight Sparkle's Arcane Talons get called in to do some heavy lifting. Unfortunately, this is all playing directly into the Scrin's plans…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-07-31 15:20:03 UTC

The Arcane Talons

>...

>…

>…

>Exiting standby mode…

>Initializing internal bootup systems…

>Handshaking with external servers…

>Launching standard interfacing….

>Automated Command System online…

>Establishing connection with SAI Canterlot and SAI Arcane Talons…

>Authorizing verification…

>...

>...

>Good morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

The purple Alicorn mare slumbering upon the giant four poster bed almost managed to ignore ACS. Almost. With a slight frown at having to leave the warm comfort of her blankets, Twilight Sparkle sat up and blinked blearily. It took her sleep fuddled mind a moment to process the fact that it was still dark outside the windows of her personal chambers. Judging by how solid the darkness appeared, undoubtedly it was in the wee hours before Celestia raised the sun for the day. Working her muzzle in an attempt to dispel a rather stale taste, Twilight stretched then snorted slightly in annoyance. “Why exactly did you think it was a good idea to wake me before Celestia’s sun, ACS?”

“I am merely following directives set by your own self before you retired the night before, princess. I believe that you had wanted to take the Talons on a training exercise today.”

With a sudden start, Twilight realized that the virtual intelligence was correct. She had, in fact, planned on taking the Arcane Talons on a basic shock and awe training session. And to do that, the entire Arcane Talon division had to be up at the crack of dawn. Moving a little more animatedly now, Twilight Sparkle spread her great wings and glided from her bed. She landed right in front of the waiting door of her bathroom with practiced ease. “Are the rest of the Talons preparing?”

“Affirmative, princess. All two hundred thirty one Arcane Talon personnel are currently alert and on the move. Shall I tell them to meet you in the simulator?”

Twilight spat out the toothpaste in her mouth. “Yes. Let them know that I will be down shortly. Has there been any sighting of Scrin today?”

“Negative, princess. Just like there were none yesterday, or the day before that, or any for the past couple of weeks now. Equestrian Intelligence Operations report that scanners are clear all across the board. The Scrin even seem to have abandoned their closest tiberium planet operations. At this time, nopony in the Shining Armor Initiative knows where they have gone.”

The frown returned to Twilight’s lips. This was troubling news indeed. The Scrin didn’t just “abandon” their tiberium mining operations on other planets. If there was one thing the Shining Armor Initiative knew for certain, it was that the Scrin needed tiberium to survive. It was their lifeblood, their food source. For them to withdraw from other tiberium infested worlds meant that something big was going on somewhere. And since they had ceased their strikes against Solarius… whatever they were partaking in now undoubtedly did not bode well for the SAI. She actually might have to have a talk about that to CENTCOM in Canterlot. Seeing as she was a princess of Equestria and the commanding officer of the Arcane Talons, Twilight knew she had quite a bit of pull when it came to making decisions. And if the SAI could track down where exactly the Scrin had disappeared to, the organization might be able to stop the aliens before whatever it was they were doing could be completed.

Adding that to her mental checklist for the day, the alicorn finished her morning grooming routine and exited the bathroom. The darkness outside her windows seemed to be a little less suffocating, a sure hint that the technicians of the DSV Harmony were preparing to mimic Celestia raising the sun of Solarius. Not for the first time, Twilight was grateful for that small sense of home. Having lived aboard the Harmony for almost a year now, being reminded of her birthplace in the middle of deep space comforted the mare. There were only so many times one could stare out at the inky blackness of space, filled with naught but the slight glimmer of stars outside Luna’s control before she started to get homesick. Stretching luxuriously once more, Twilight contemplated the idea of grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading down to the simulators. If she were on any other ship, the Alicorn would have passed. But since the Harmony was a deep space vessel, it had ample space set aside for a garden to feed the crew with. Cheered up as always with the promise of real food, Twilight quickly made her decision. Breakfast on the way to the simulation it was.

As the princess threw open the doors to her chambers, however, she came face to face with a private, a standard member of the SAI. The young colt had his hoof raised to knock upon her previously closed door, and looked rather surprised to see one of his lieges standing there. While he struggled to decide how to respond, Twilight grinned slightly and said, “Yes?”

The earth pony came to his senses then, snapping off a quick salute. “Princess Cadance would like to see you in the situation room, your highness. She has an urgent call from SAI Canterlot.”

Twilight mentally sighed. So much for the Talons getting a bit of exercise in today. On one hoof, she hoped this business would not take overly long. The Arcane Talons were getting rather antsy lately, as being cooped up on a deep space vessel did not provide many opportunities to be in the field. On the other hoof, for SAI Canterlot to put forth an urgent call this early in the morning meant something had changed. Responding on autopilot, the purple mare moved past the private, letting him return to his duties. The situation room was two floors above her. Moving a safe distance from her quarters, Twilight channeled the familiar energy into her horn and disappeared with a pop. She reappeared right next to Cadance, who didn’t even flinch, as though this event had occurred several times before. While Twilight wasn’t surprised at her fellow princess’ lack of reaction, she was surprised to see the image of her own brother staring back at her through the projection.

The years intervening the start of this chaotic mess had not exactly been kind on Shining Armor-- or any of them, really. Though Shining carried himself proudly and with a burning fire in his eyes, one could see the toll of war upon his features. Especially that weary, battle-hardened expression. This was a stallion who had fought horn and hoof for everything he held dear. This was a stallion who had fought for his loved ones, for his princesses, for his nation, and never gave up. Shining Armor was a paragon of the SAI like Twilight Sparkle was a paragon of the Arcane Talons. Yet upon seeing his baby sister, his face lit up like a star and a slow grin lifted up one corner of his muzzle. And as Twilight took in more of his appearance, she could tell he was nearly bouncing on his hooves in excitement. The mare realized she was right. This was big.

“Twiley!” the image of her brother said jovially. He had never stopped using his nickname for her.

“Shiny!” Twilight responded in kind, unable to stop the smile from gracing her features. “What news do you have?”

Shining’s grin never wavered, and if anything, it grew a bit bigger. “Big news indeed, little sis. I’ve discovered where those blasted aliens disappeared to.”

That had Twilight’s full attention. And Cadance’s too, if her suddenly perked ears and half spread wings were any indication. “Where?” Twilight demanded, perhaps a trifle too eagerly. But she didn’t particularly care, either.

“An uncharted planet. It seems to be under attack from the Scrin-- again, no less. Judging by the little bit of data we’ve been able to gather, the inhabitants of this planet have tangled with the Scrin before, and managed to drive them off. At approximately 0400 hours this morning, the ACS aboard the Harmony picked up a weak transmission from the planet. Take a look at this.”

Here, Shining moved off to the side, revealing a large screen behind him. There was a moment of static before the screen cleared a bit. Twilight squinted and cocked her head, studying the grainy image. It looked like an offensive crawler-- one of those giant mobile platforms Protectorate Operations Command used to provide additional support to bases in the field. This particular crawler seemed to be outfitted with unknown weaponry that all fired at targets currently offscreen. The image zoomed out a bit, and Twilight caught sight of several other buildings that were completely foreign to her. Looking closely, the princess could just barely make out several dots around the immediate area. Bright flashes of light and explosions kept throwing everything into stark relief. And underlying the entire footage was a series of incomprehensible syllables. The feed suddenly went black and Shining Armor stepped back up to the screen.

“That looked like an offensive crawler,” Twilight began. “But like an older version. I didn’t see any shielding or wards. I didn’t see anti shield weaponry, or much of anything that PROCOM has their newer stuff outfitted with.”

Shining was nodding. “Those were my conclusions too. We can’t understand any of the sounds in the footage, but judging by the cadence I’d say it was an actual language-- I’d be willing to bet its a cry for help.”

Twilight had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly where this was going, but she felt compelled to ask anyway. “And what does any of that have to do with me?”

Shining sighed slightly. “Twiley, you and the Talons are the only ones close enough to respond. Even as we speak, the Harmony has reached orbit around this mysterious planet. I want the Arcane Talons down there to offer what aid they can. I understand that these newcomers may be hostile, but any race that’s under attack by the Scrin should be considered a potential ally of SAI. Get down there, establish a forward base, then hold it from attacks and see if you can determine if this other race is willing to accept our help."

Twilight frowned. “Do we have any other preliminary data on the planet yet? You can’t expect me to just drop on down there with no idea what I’m going to be going up against.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. Cursory scans indicate that the planet is heavily infested by tiberium. The scans also hint that at one point in time, tiberium was almost completely eradicated from the surface and has only recently made a return. Good news is, even though there is heavy tiberium infestation at the point you’re going in at, there are no ion storms to complicate things.”

“What about other support? Any others I can count on aside from the Arcane Talons?”

The white unicorn hummed to himself for a moment, examining something off to his side. “I’ll reassign Rainbow Dash’s Wonderbolt platoon to you. That’ll give you some air support should you need it. I’ll also see if I can put in a request to EInOps for some of their combat engineers and a battlefield medic or two. I’d rather not lose any of the Shining Armor Initiative’s elite troopers. In addition, Caddy will remain on the Harmony, providing additional intel as it becomes available. If she finds you in trouble, she’ll be the one to send in the cavalry. Not that you’ll need it.”

Twilight had to carefully school her face to hide her glee at the prospect of being deployed with one of her longest friends. “Speaking of, brother, but isn’t the entire Arcane Talon division a bit of an overkill? Why not just send a few of us and have PROCOM launch their reclamation protocols? They’ve only really been tested on Solarius, and this could prove to be an excellent opportunity for them.”

Armor shook his head. “I’d rather not send any of PROCOM until we know exactly what it is we’re dealing with. And I figure if we have every Arcane Talon down there at once, then we should be ready for damn near anything. You have your orders. Is there anything else you require?”

Twilight shook her head. “Just say hello to Celestia and Luna for me. I’ll uh… let you two have a bit of privacy.” Twilight had the distinct impression that her brother and old foalsitter were already ignoring her.

<<((*))>>

Bellarix Lulamoon waited rather impatiently for her commanding officer to show up. Most of the Arcane Talons were, really. After years of fighting for the defense of their home planet, being idle for an extended period of time eventually grated upon their nerves. That seemed to go double for the twelve captains of the Talons. The five stars upon her training armor shone in the artificial light, distracting Trixie from her restlessness. Those five simple stars meant quite a lot to the ex-showmare. They marked her as a captain of the Arcane Talons. They marked her as one of Princess Twilight Sparkle's veterans.

She had been there, at the Siege of Ponyville. She had fought for her home, as her princess did, even though she hadn't been living in the city for very long. She had watched in fascinated horror as the Scrin came pouring out of the Everfree like some black plague, killing anything it touched. And even though Trixie's mind had told her to flee, her heart forced her to stay. She didn't have any of the fancy experimental armor the fledgling SAI had. She had very little combat experience. She wasn't even a brave pony then! But in those first two hours alone, she had risked her life several times over to get the civilians to safety. Most of the rescues had been done through illusions-- apparently even an unknown alien race wasn't immune to finding themselves in a flowery field before darkness claimed them permanently. For two whole weeks the thirteen defenders of Ponyville fought, giving up ground and then retaking it almost as fast.

Princess Twilight had been everywhere at once, bolstering a fading defense point or making a decisive push to take and hold a position. The Alicorn of Friendship channeled more magic that day than five unicorns ever would in their lifetime, and not once did her magic fail when she needed it most. Then Rainbow Dash and her Wonderbolts had shown up. By that time, the aliens had been paying for their folly twice over. Every time the attackers retreated to reorganize, it gave the defenders a five hour window to recuperate-- More than enough time for sleep and food. Then after a point blank sonic rainboom, the fight was nearly over.

The memories of the azure mare were interrupted by a very familiar voice. "Its go time, ladies. All Arcane Talons, gear up and report to the hanger for immediate drop."

The area grew really quiet. Trixie stared at the fake simulation power armor for about thirty seconds before her magic quickly divested herself of the cumbersome material. The simulation could only go so far when imitating her personal zone armor, so any excuse not to wear it was a plus in the unicorn's book. It then took Trixie several seconds more to realize that the entire Arcane Talons military force were being deployed at the exact same time to the same location. Trixie couldn't even remember the last time they'd been deployed all at once. Usually, one or two divisions would be all that was needed. Something big was going on.

The showmare shouldered her way to the front of the crowd. "Illusion squad, on me! Lets not keep the commander waiting!"

<<((*))>>

Twilight could hear the thunder of a great many hooves off in the distance, undoubtedly caused by her troopers. Rather than fight through a mass of ponies to join them, Twilight headed in a slightly different direction, aiming for the armory reserved for SAI commanders. It had done her a lot of good, being able to at least see her brother. He was the only family member not currently aboard the Harmony, and that was because he had to remain in Canterlot. Cadance was the second commanding officer aboard the ship, as she was Princess of the Crystal Empire and Shining's wife. Twilight Velvet and Night Light actually served under her in the Arcane Talons, so Twilight could easily keep an eye on her parents. The other Elements of Harmony were aboard the Harmony as well, but with conflicting schedules it was hard to find time just to hang out. The only one that Twilight really worried about was her brother, but he seemed to be doing well.

Twilight passed through the doors into the deserted armory, where she proceeded to strip off the combat fatigues she always wore when not on active duty. She tossed them into a nearby hamper, and as she did so, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the floor length mirror. The mare staring back wasn't the same studious scholar she had been twenty years ago. While she did not look much older, she certainly looked more mature. Her gaze was frank and calculating, with deep purple eyes that shone with an intelligence few ponies could match. Her horn was a bit longer, and now filed into a deadly point. She had originally balked at using her precious horn in such a manner, but even she couldn’t deny how effective stabbing Scrin could be at times. Her wings were well defined, a testimony of constant use and training. Overall, her body had the appearance of an athlete-- or a seasoned soldier.

As she studied her svelte form, her eyes once more found the start of the scar. It ran from her right shoulder, down across her back, and ended just to the left of her long tail. It was the result of a stray energy bolt fired from one of the strange Scrin weapons. Had it shot any lower, and missed her ward entirely, the shot would have left her crippled at the very least. It had happened right before Dash’s Wonderbolts arrived, and it had been the chromatic pegasus who had flown the princess to the nearest field hospital. Fortunately the wound had looked much worse than it actually was, and Twilight was back to active duty the next day. The doctors had asked why she did not remove the scar completely with magic, but Twilight wanted to keep it. A reminder of everything she had lost defending her city: The homes. The peaceful countryside. Her innocence. No pony outside her family even knew she had it, as it was mostly kept hidden under her zone armor or fatigues.

Twilight shook herself from her thoughts and stepped up to the combat refit station. Flashing her magical signature to the scanner, she entered the station and stood motionless as the magic within began assembling her specially designed commander armor. It was actually one of a very few suits in operation, as there were hardly any commanding officers who preferred to be out in the field. And, of course, dragon scales were quite a rare material. The rest of the Elements of Harmony, the other Princesses, and Shining Armor were the only ones who possessed this armor. Twilight’s, naturally, carried a couple of extra enhancements she added herself. In addition to the standard spells that enhanced the pony physically, Twilight’s suit held crystals in her helmet that helped filter out outside magical interference, allowing her to think swiftly and clearly. More crystals lined the rest of the armor, designed to catch any excess magic she discharged so she could use it later. Lastly, in the center of the suit resided the fabled Element of Magic, once more borrowed from the Tree of Harmony. The ancient artifact had proven invaluable in this war, supplementing the Alicorn’s impressive magical reserves with its own limitless supply.

The helmet of the suit sealed shut around Twilight’s head, and she took an experimental breath to ensure that the air filters were working correctly. While tiberium exposure didn’t bother an alicorn nearly as much as they did a standard pony, they could still knock Twilight out over an extended period and render her susceptible to further injury from the nasty stuff. Reassured that her filters were working, Twilight then focused on the view space in front of her, taking a tentative step. Her suit moved smoothly, belying its heavy appearance. It emitted a faint hum as she moved, reassuring the mare that the intricate magic that resided in the armor was functioning as it should. The scientists haven’t had zone armor explode in a long while now, but it never hurt to be on the safe side.

Twilight stepped carefully over to the weapon refit station and once more flashed her magic signature, waiting patiently for the station to fix her weapons into their hardpoints on either side of her body. Both weapons were an autocaster, a M278 Hisser. It was capable of firing roughly fifty rounds a minute. Its effective range was about one thousand seven hundred yards-- but with how Scrin loved to get up close and personal, Twilight never had to worry about missing too many shots. It was the perfect weapon for taking out armored or infantry targets. There were a series of clicks as the Hisser was fitted into the firing clamps; one under her right shoulder and another right in the middle of her ribcage. As the second Hisser was attached, the heads-up display flashed, showing her the state of her weapons before disappearing off to one side. It wouldn’t reappear until she was running low on ammunition or one of the weapons became damaged. Twilight then stepped a little further into the small tunnel to allow her wing grafts to be melded with her appendages.

Out of every project that had come from her personal researchers, the wing grafts were the single greatest achievement in history. It had taken months of experimentation to create the basic design, and even more years to perfect the project. For starters, the wing grafts had to be made of the lightest metal known-- mithril. Once the mithril had been tempered enough to not hinder the flight of its wearer, then the runes had to be engraved upon it; runes designed to lend the flier greatly enhanced speed, acceleration, and durability. Then the grafts had to be designed so that they could be removed at will, as they weren’t meant to replace the natural wings. So they acted like a second skin, outlining the leading edges of the wings. The overall end result was a flier that could easily keep up with and even surpass the Scrin’s own airborne units.

Twilight exited the station and trotted out the armory door, heading towards the hanger. She could teleport there, but she would run the risk of accidentally landing on somepony. So instead she snapped open her wings and glided down the long hallway, nodding to personnel who saluted her on her way past. She made it to the hanger in record time, and just like she had thought, the spacious room was quite crowded. In addition to the ponies who were posted in the hanger, quite a few Shining Armor Initiative regulars were milling about; undoubtedly they wanted to see the rare occurrence of the entire Arcane Talons division dropping at once. And then, standing in disciplined lines in front of the drop pod doors were Twilight’s troopers. They were divided up into twelve squadrons of twenty one ponies each, two squads in front of each door. Several of them saluted as they caught sight of Twilight, and her twelve captains moved to intercept her.

In the lead were Trixie and Sunset Shimmer. This war had caused the two old enemies of Twilight to bond quite nicely, and both fought with strong vigor. Next came Lyra Heartstrings and Vinyl Scratch, the two civilians-turned-soldiers during the Ponyville Incursion. Twilight Velvet and Nightlight Sparkle approached too, pride suffusing their features as always. Zecora, leader of the Zebra Shamans of the Talons, smiled slightly at Twilight, completely relaxed. The two changeling captains Amethyst and Belladonna hung back a bit, followed by Fleur de Lis and the massive ex- Solar Guard Barricade. The last to step forward was an ex-Lunar Guard by the name of Sapphire.

Twilight preempted her officers. “We’re waiting on a Wonderbolt Platoon and some EInOps. We’re going in full force.”

A new voice spoke up. “Rainbow Dash, reporting for duty, commander!”

Twilight whirled so fast she nearly fell over, then ran to hug her friend. “Dash! Its been far too long.”

“It has, Twilight.” The princess turned once again to see Fluttershy standing there.

“Fluttershy! I didn’t know EInOps were going to send you!”

The medic shrugged slightly, a blush coloring her cheeks. “I didn’t know either, until the order came through a few moments ago. Anyway, Twilight, the engineers are already in their drop pods on a floor above us. We’re just waiting on your ready confirmation and CENTCOM’s final go ahead.”

“Right.” Twilight raised her voice so that all of the Talons could hear her too. “I’m sure you all have your objectives updated, but I’ll go over them to make sure everypony understands. We’re dropping in fast and hard. There was a distress signal originating from this mysterious planet that ACS picked up this morning. There’s a group of the inhabitants under attack by the aliens; we’re to get down there, help them fight off the Scrin, then establish a forward base of operations and go from there. General Armor believes that the Scrin won't give up easily, which is why every member of the Arcane Talons has been called to action. He seems to think that with all of us down there his bases are covered.”

There was a smattering of laughter before Twilight continued. “We’re going to hit ground a couple hundred hooves away from the origin of the signal. Once we get down there I’ll give individual teams their orders. Any questions? No? Into the drop pods then, lets go!”

With a clatter of hooves, the Talons about faced and made their way into the spacious pods. Twilight followed Trixie and Sunset into theirs, while Rainbow Dash flitted up to the rest of her Wonderbolts. Fluttershy squeezed in after Twilight and the hatch sealed, encasing them in darkness for a brief moment. Twilight’s HUD flickered for a moment before her suits night vision turned on, allowing her to make sure her two squads were strapped in. Trixie waved to Twilight from the top floor of the pod, signalling that her soldiers were ready, Sunset did the same. Tightening the safety harness around her own barrel, Twilight then opened a direct link to Cadance. “Arcane Talons and support factions are in the pods. Ready for immediate drop.”

Cadance’s voice came back through the headset. “Acknowledged, commander. Drop is a greenlight; standby for ejection. Happy hunting and be careful, Twiley.”

There was a brief moment of silence; then, a sudden screeching of metal on metal as the pod was ejected through one of the Harmony’s many launch bays. Twilight planted her hooves more firmly as the pod picked up speed, causing her vision to rattle a bit. The two squads she was with were equally silent; Twilight was inwardly grateful, as she could never stand the trash talk that some soldiers performed while dropping through space at frightening speeds. Instead, she focused on counting the seconds until the pod entered the planet’s atmosphere. At ten seconds, there was a slight increase in her weight, signalling the return of gravity. And almost immediately, there was a shuddering rumble as the pod hit turbulence. Twilight grunted as her hooves left the floor, her safety harness catching her before she could fly up and crash into the wall.

“Damn!” She swore, kind of surprising herself. She never swore. “ACS, what’s going on down here?”

"You appear to have hit an ion storm, commander. It sprung up out of nowhere shortly before you broke atmosphere. Judging by my readings, its a class three storm. Recommend emergency ejection from the drop pods. At the current rate, the pods won’t remain intact long enough to hit the ground. You’re zone suits should be more than enough to absorb falling impact."

Twilight swore again, then opened up her comm to all her forces. “We’ve hit a class three ion storm. All units, activate emergency pod jettison. Casters, teleport to the ground to dissipate excess speed. Flyers, use those wings. Go, go, go!”

Following her own orders, Twilight reached up and slammed a hoof upon a red button over her head. Immediately, the drop pod blew apart and Twilight found herself free falling several hundred feet above ground. She flared her wings to control her descent and to start slowing her rate of fall. The wind screamed through her grafts, creating an eerie howling cacophony. Around her, she could see various other troopers controlling their falls even as her HUD confirmed the fact. Then her HUD flashed red with enemy signatures, and the princess came to a quick realization: the ion storm had blown them off course. Rather than landing several hooves away from the origin of the signal, her forces were now falling directly on top of it. Already, the purple mare could make out a firefight going on below her. The Scrin were easy to identify both with her own eyes and her HUD. As she drew even closer to the ground, Twilight spun herself around, wings aching in protest. Now, instead of a stable fall, she was diving directly towards the battle unfolding below. Her targeting systems quickly locked onto the nearest Scrin threat and opened fire.

<<((*))>>

Lieutenant Taran Southard was weary. Hell, all of his soldiers were. Not really surprising, considering they’ve been fighting almost constantly the past couple of days. The Scrin had attacked this small outpost seemingly at random, and its small security force was barely enough to even hold them back. He had tried to radio into CENTCOM for reinforcements, but the damn aliens had jammed external communications. Even EVA’s emergency live video feed sent out earlier hadn’t gotten through. They were all on their own out here, and the Scrin just kept coming. If it weren’t for that offensive crawler and the engineers keeping it repaired, the battle would have been over long ago. Southard vaulted over a low hanging wall and crouched there for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He then snapped up and fired a few rounds at a group of Disintegrators, causing the blasted creatures to scurry back behind their own cover. The crawler then took the opportunity to obliterate the cover and the Disintegrators behind it. Southard was just about to order a general retreat to the safety of the crawler when a peculiar keening sound reached his ears.

He glanced left and right, trying to determine where the noise was originating from. Then a shout from a nearby zone trooper caused his head to snap to the skies above him. His jaw dropped. What appeared to be a miniature Mastadon was falling from the skies-- that is, if Mastadons were that tiny and had what appeared to be wings jutting from its sides. The odd howling noise seemed to be coming from the amored thing’s wings, and then, as he watched, it opened fire on a group of Buzzers approaching from off to the side. The rounds tore into the razor creatures with startling ease, annihilating the entire group of them. Then Southard noticed even more of the strange things falling from the skies. Some had wings, while others did not. The ones that did have wings flared them and took off after Scrin Stormriders, proving to be as maneuverable as the aircraft and just as powerful. The ones without wings unexpectedly blinked out of existence for a brief moment before reappearing on the ground and attacking Scrin savagely.

The first one Southard had seen, covered in a beautiful amethyst color, twisted in midair to shoot down a Stormrider that had been in pursuit. It then “blinked” over to an Annihilator Tripod and landed right on top of the thing. There was a bright flash of magenta light, and the APod simply ceased to exist. The creature rolled free, did a one eighty, and opened fire on more Scrin. Southard just stood there, mouth agape. He had no clue what these things were, but they were definitely not fond of the aliens. It took the seasoned soldier several more seconds before he realized that the Scrin were retreating. They had been attacking without any signs of stopping for two days. But with the appearance of the strange things from the skies, the enemies were actually fleeing back to wherever their base was.

The amethyst colored creature, who appeared to be their leader, said something in an oddly lilting voice. Then her gaze locked onto Southard, and the commando realized that he and the rest of his defensive force had been completely surrounded. Everywhere he looked, there were more and more of these unknown beings. There were hundreds of them, from the thirty or so hovering in the skies to the sea of brightly colored things on the ground. Purple approached him slowly, and Southard raised his Guardian cannon in unconscious response. She said something, and the commando shook his head, indicating that he couldn’t understand her.

The pilot of the offensive crawler pinged him. “Should I open fire?”

“Negative. Did you see the way one of them took out that APod? Did you see the way the damn aliens ran with their tails between their legs? If we attack it would be a fight we would not win.”

EVA then spoke up. "Lieutenant, I’m receiving a request from an unknown artificial intelligence. It would like me to accept a download it is offering, which would allow you to understand the language."

“Is it safe?”

"Quite so. This other AI does not wish me any harm. Shall I began download?"

“Do it.”

"Downloading… Complete. Interfacing with zone armor HUD… complete. You should now be able to understand these unidentified creatures."

Before Southard could open his mouth, the purple thing was speaking again-- but this time he could hear the words.

“I am Twilight Sparkle, commander of the Arcane Talons, a subdivision of the Shining Armor Initiative. Could you tell me who is in charge here?”

Taran Southard could only stare at the talking armored thing in disbelief.