The Liberation of Equestria

After a long day of deciding military action against the humans and the pockets of resistance in the Griffin kingdom, Saddle of Arabia, The Cow Federation, and The Sheep Republic, Tirek just looked outside the windows of his throne room and watch the sunset. Tirek felt that moving the sun and moon was a waste of time, so he placed a spell that would neglect that task, along with managing the weather as well.

The remnants of the two sisters accomplishments were replaced with crimson red stained glass and dark grey marble floors and pillars, thanks to the work of slaves. Red and black banners hang alongside each pillar. The only thing he did not change was celestia's throne, he found it to be undeniably comfy. Other than that, nothing remains of the castle that once was the symbol of the greatest nation of this world.

Along with the castle, nearly all of Canterlot was reimagined to Tirek's vision. All that remained was a few city blocks. The slaves, ponies mostly, live in the lower levels of the city, while the centaur live in the upper levels.

The lower levels are slums, the sewers are nonexistent to wear it's common to find bodily waste on the side of the streets. Houses concise of just flimsy shacks, barely able to support their own weight and have to house three families at a time.

Slaves are treated like animals, beaten, neglected, and killed with no hesitation or remorse. If a slave is caught with anything that is prohibited, they are dragged out into the streets and beheaded. If a slave is caught talking during work, they are beaten, If caught outside during curfew, they are shot on the spot. Sometimes they are shot for no reason except for centaurs to prove their accuracy.

The upper levels are were the the centaurs live, along with a few prominent minotaurs. The upper levels consist of the market, households, arena, the parade grounds, and military recruitment centers. The upper level citizens flourish in the glory of their unstoppable empire. Luxuries from conquered lands enhance the lives of centaurs, and the ignorance of the population as well.

Tirek then made haste to his room to rest for tomorrow. Two Royal guards stand in front of his door, armed with 2ft swords, carbine versions of the standard rifles issued, and dragon armor, an expensive armor made of dragon scales and bone that's nearly impenetrable. The Royal guard are the most feared regiment of the entire centaur armed forces as they are put through the toughest training that is borderline impossible to pass, most of the candidates die from the intense training alone, and are equipped with the best weaponry and equipment that exists.

The two guards open the doors to Tirek's room, they then move both of their arms in to a salute and chant:

"Long live lord Tirek! May the true god bring terror to his enemies!"

Tirek then dismissed them both and entered his room. The room is a mixture of gold, dark grey, and red. The bed is the only thing that stands out, as it is a mixture of purple and gold. He makes his way his bed and falls asleep within minutes entering his own personal world, the only thing that keeps him sane with all the bureaucracy he deals with every day.

***

As Tirek enters his dream world, it's nothing but pitch blackness. Usually he is re experiencing moments in his past, mostly from his childhood with his brother Scorpan before he betrayed him. He was confused for a moment until a piercing bright light blinded him. Then the light spoke.

"You know not what of you have unleashed." The bright light said.

"Then enlightened me." Tirek said, with a aggressive tone in his voice.

Tirek was immediately blind for a second and stood in the middle of a path way on the side of a mountain range. The sun was rising in the west, showing a centaur tank, along with a small number of infantry on the other side of where they stood.

"Why should this still conc-,"

The loud blasts came from the nearly invisible humans in front of him. Each covered in what looked like seaweed, except that it nearly blends them with the terrain around them. The weapons they used were enormous, larger than the ones he has seen being weld by his troops.

Tirek immediately noticed the explosion that appeared where the tank was. The humans fired their guns a couple of more times, launching large casings from inside the gun.

***
*05/28/2027*

Ramirez, Preston, private first class Toby, and Will slowly crept toward the edge of the road. They, along with the rest of the 75th Rangers were tasked to scout out and secure certain roads and bridges in the northern mountains and eliminate any centaur presents as well. The Zebra government requested the United States to help reclaim their lands, as the Zebra military was woefully under equipped and unprepared for war when the centaurs invaded the country.

Armed with Barrett M82's, Preston and Ramirez positioned themselves and their rifles into a clear line of sight. With the M82, they would be able to eliminate anything within a one mile radius as the .50 BMG round could easily pierce the armor of light tanks.

"This is Bullshit," Toby said," we should be where the action is."

"This is much better than what's happening down south," Preston said,"you've got in about a week ago right?"

"Yea," Toby said while looking through his range finder, "what about it."

"Nothing, you've never seen the brutality of how centaurs fight. They're not ISIS or the Taliban in Afghanistan. They are much better equipped than the terrorist groups that we fight nowadays, they got air and tank support for christ sake."

Will and Ramirez stayed out of the on going argument and instead focused on observing the ridge ahead. They focused on the lone tank on the other side of where they laid. Ramirez counted around ten enemy personnel walking with the unusual large tank.

"Okay," Toby said," I see your point. But we're sitting here doing something that-"

"Toby, Preston," Ramirez said," shut the fuck up. Centaur tank, northwest of our position, one mile out."

Preston immediately looked down his rifle's' scope and zoomed in. He first noticed the tank that he's never seen at all. The tank measured from his estimate at fifty to sixty feet long and had two turrets that were position back to back. Machine guns covered the sides of the tank, and the top of the turrets as well.

"What the hell is that?" Toby asked.

"I have no idea," Preston said, "we may need something with a bigger punch."

Will immediately grabbed his radio and contacted the F.O.B.

"Command," Toby said," this Tasmanian devil one three. We've identified centaur armor on coordinates; whiskey, delta. Requesting air strike, over."

"No can do Tasmanian devil one three. All available aircraft are engaged with enemy forces around the Cape Hoof area. You're just going to do with what you have, over."

"Copy that command, Tasmanian devil one three out." Toby immediately placed the radio back into its original resting place and alerted his comrades.

"Well, we're on our own," Toby said," everything that can fly is being used down south to help with the campaign."

"What are we going to do now?" Will asked.

"We could have mister do everything here handle this." Preston said.

"Ha ha." Ramirez said in a snarky tone.

As they continued to observe the lone tank, Ramirez noticed what looked like the fuel containers on the back of the tank.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah," Preston said,"it looks like external fuel tanks. A single round should do the trick."

"I'll take out the infantry around the tank, you take the tank." Ramirez said.

"Alright. Will, windage?"

"Ten mph west." Will said.

"Elevation?"

"Twenty degrees."

Ramirez and Preston adjusted their scopes to account for the windage and elevation and set their sights on the tank and the infantry around it. They both lowered the rate of breathing and their heart rates as well, stabilizing their rifles.

"On three." Will said.

"One."

Preston and Ramirez turned the safety on their rifles off and rested their fingers on to the trigger of their rifles, ready to fire within a heartbeat.

"Two."

They aligned their crosshairs on to their unknowingly victims, ready to end their lives.

"Three."

Time slowed to a crawl as they pulled the trigger on their rifles. The .50 caliber bullets flew undisturbed as they soar through the air. The bullets flew fast, giving no mercy to their victims.

The bullet fired from Ramirez's rifle tore through the unsuspecting centaur like wet paper, leaving only a large gaping hole where his heart was.

The bullet fired from Preston's bullet ripped through the fuel tank and produced sparks, igniting the fuel. A small fireball was soon followed by a large explosion as the bullet struck the ammunition storage, igniting the propellent that ignited the substance that was used in place of gunpowder. The resulting explosion destroyed the tank and the crew inside of it, along with a few close to it.

"Hot damn!" Toby said," never saw what hit'em."

"We still got stragglers." Will said.

The remaining centaurs scattered to find cover, but was futile as Preston and Ramirez quickly targeted them and fired. Some were firing wildly into the air, only to be shot at and killed.

"Boom," Ramirez said as he aimed at the last centaurs' head. As he saw the centaur's head disappear, he finished the ambush with a single word,"Headshot."

***

Tirek was in complete disarray, four humans took out a tank and it's escort! He wanted to squish them beneath his hooves, but his front right hoof just went through the human closest to him, doing nothing.

"Squishing them won't do anything, as you are only observing." The light said.

"Why are you showing me this?" Tirek asked.

"To show you the price of your ignorance." The bright light said. "You have angered one of the most powerful nations on the human's world and the strongest race to have ever exist."

"They don't even know how to use magic," Tirek argued, "how can they be the strongest if they don't have magic."

"Humans have never relied on magic as their world is devoid of it, something that is necessary for life to exist. They have supplemented the lack of magic by using only technology and have achieved more than what magic users alone can do."

Tirek was stunned to learn about this, all his life he was taught that magic is the only thing that allows life to exist. To learn that a sentient race not only came from a world where magic was nonexistent, but was able to surpass what magic can do.

"I will leave you with one final message." The bright light said. "Humanity will not let you get away with the atrocities you and your species have committed against the people of this planet and on theirs. You have unknowingly unleashed a sleeping giant, all you can do now is only delay the inevitable now."

Immediately Tirek was consumed by darkness and left alone in his dream, with the message from someone or something that invaded his mind and shown what he was up against.

Tirek woke up a few hours later with the sun rising from the eastern mountains. He commanded for a messenger to gather his inner circle, preparations to counter the human threat were highest priority and nothing would change his name mind.

***

*--/--/--*

The dream Twilight was in this time was different, it wasn't the small building with a fenced backyard, that turned out to be a message from a strange being that showed Equu's only hope. Instead she stood in the middle of a dirt road with miles of plains around with the sun rising in the west. It looked like the pictures of the savannah's that she has looked at in many books she has read hundreds of times that covers most of the Zebra Republic, along with a few trees in the distance.

But before Twilight could figure out where she was a familiar blinding bright light appeared, Mr. X, along with everypony else. This time Twilight, along with everypony else could see Mr. X a bit clearer than the first time encountering him. He looked like a biped, but more mechanical than organic.

"Hello again Twilight and everyone else." Mr. X said.

"Hello Mr. X," Twilight said, "where are we now? This doesn't look like Earth."

"That is correct," Mr. X said," you're not on Earth this time. You're in the middle of the Zebra Republic."

Everypony was confused about why they were here.

"Um why are we here Mr. X?" Fluttershy asked quietly, not sure if he even heard her.

"Because the centaurs have invaded Miss Fluttershy," Mr. X said, surprising Fluttershy, "but this time they will fail."

"How is that?" Celestia asked.

Immediately everypony began to hear static, like when the radio isn't picking up any stations near them. The static continued for a couple of seconds until a voice came to life:

"This is Reaper 1-1, I'm in position for bombing run on. Permission to engage over?"

Then a large aircraft flew past the small group and showed a small town where the sun has risen from. Pillars of dark smoke dotted the town. Gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance. The scene of the ongoing battle answered the question Celestia asked....

Humans

Humanity has arrived on Equu and is already fighting tooth and nail against the centaurs and helping the Zebra Republic in its time of need.

"Humanity arrived about a week ago," Mr. X said,"and are already making a difference in this world, even if it is small now."

"How?" Cadence asked.

The group was immediately blinded for a second and was teleported above a small clearing revealing a large encampment. The group was confused as to what they were looking at, but as they looked closer they realized that there were hundreds of tents. Occupying the camp were refugees that have come to escape from the horrors of war, Griffins, Sheep, Cows, Buffalo, Ponies, but strategy no Minotaurs, which baffled But what stood out the most was the buildings surrounded by barbed wire.

One building, the largest out of all of them, had a large Red Cross on it's roof. Humans carried their own on stretchers rushing into the building. The ones on the stretchers were torn up, missing entire body parts and others who were holding on to the last threads of their lives. The fact that humans were willing to throw themselves into the face of death was confusing to everypony.

"The United States has been helping with the Zebra Republic with the large number of refugees from all over that have arrived in the Zebra Republic." Mr. X said.

"The United States?" Twilight asked.

"It is the name of the country that centaurs attacked." Mr. X explained," The United States is a democratic-republic that fought for its independence from the British Empire over two hundred years ago, and since then has become a major player in their world. They have been active in trying to bring peace in their world by promoting democracy all around the world."

The group was surprised about what they have heard. Usually democracies don't work out well. As the earth ponies, before the three tribes united under a single government, used to have a democracy, but was corrupted and filled with infighting. Even in the few countries that have democratic governments, nothing usually gets done unless something is universally agreed upon. So when the princesses came along, everypony agreed to let them rule Equestria as a monarchy.

"The United States so far is the only country that is intervening."

"Why aren't the other countries helping?" Luna asked. "Haven't they have been affected by the centaurs actions?"

"The United States was the only country to be greatly affected by the centaurs actions." Mr. X explained. "The other human countries were only affected financially, not in the loss of their citizens."

"Mr. X do you know where our family and friends are?" Applejack asked, Immediately causing a long moment of silence.

Then Mr. X spoke. "I'm sorry," he said, "I can't tell you. But they are alive and well."

A wave of joy flooded everypony, knowing that their loved ones are safe.

"It is time to send you all back, remember to not tell a soul about what you have seen."

"We pinkie promise." Pinkie pie said.

Immediately they were surrounded by darkness and left by themselves. A couple of minutes later, everypony woke up and congregated to the center of their cell a quietly discussed about what they now know.

"I'm still astounded," Celestia said," these humans are willing to put their own lives at risk just for revenge."

"But ah still don't understand why they're our only hope." Applejack said. "If they can't all agree on one thing, how in the hay are they going to beat Tirek?"

"Ponies don't agree on everything too Applejack." Twilight said. "Besides don't we argue about things?"

"Ah guess you're right Twi." Applejack said. "But still, these humans are just as violent as Tirek."

"I share your worries too Applejack," Celestia said,"but from what we have all seen, they are just retaliating. They haven't taken their anger on the Zebras, Buffalo, Griffins, Sheep, or Cows. They were taking care of them, it's safe to say that they truly here to help."

"Indeed," Rarity said,"but has anypony else notice that there weren't any Minotaurs in the camp?"

"Could they be allies with the centaurs?" Luna asked.

They all thought about it. The Minotaurs were very similar in many ways. Both were a warrior race that believes in honor, similar ideologies, and strength as well, even though the Minotaurs were bipedal.

If they were truly allies then they could reap major havoc on Equu. Even with humans intervening, the scars of destruction will not go away for generations to come.