Short story

After the closing of the Warp Gate connecting the Koprulu Sector and Equestria, Steelwing knew his endeavors were a lost cause. He did not want the true Equestrian to die, so he commanded three explorers to find a planet suitable for his remaining forces to live on. The scanners of Steelwing’s ship detected a desert planet near Korhal. Steelwing decided that planet would be the explorers first location to investigate.

The three explorers were sent off on the journey with a group of Equestrian Guards for protection. Deep Dig, the leader of the group and former archaeologist, stated that they would search in the south part of the planet’s continent. He expected that would be the most inhabitable part of the desert world.

When the explorers landed, they only saw sand and rubble from a terran civilization. One that seemed to have met a quick and terrible end. Captain Spitfire, chosen explorer and highest ranking officer in the group, was the first member to spot some nearby steel walls. The group slowly made their way to the walls to discover it was a cargo station with train tracks going east and west from it. The explorers thoroughly investigated the ruin and discovered many large bipedal walkers. The buildings and machinery all had a red hexagonal shield with a black terran arm and whip inside it. The ponies of the New Dominion have adopted a different, yet similar, version of the symbol.

“I’m guessing this was an Old Dominion colony.” Spitfire remarked as she moved large shards of debris with her mechanic hands.

“I don’t think so Spits. I see many other buildings around that station.” Deep Dig pointed out to the hazy distance.

Mason, the youngest in the group and prized architect, suggested. “We should follow these train tracks to see if they leads us to a city.” The other explorers agreed and they went west.

After a few miles the group came across a battlefield. There were many red and blue walkers, tanks, trains, marines, and some unknown vehicles that appeared to hover at one time. The unknown vehicles did not possess wheels, tracks, or even legs. It had a aerodynamic shape with a tall revolving turret of two large guns on the back. Deep Dig flashed some pictures of this odd contraption. Spitfire studied the area intently before stating:

“What was in these trains must have been highly important for such bloodshed.”

“And the blue guys must have been pretty formidable to have fought against the Dominion like that.” Said Mason.

The others agreed and moved westward. There were more destroyed trains along the tracks. The group soon arrived at a bend where it started to head south. Directly west of them was a large plateau with terran buildings perched on top.The explorers decided it would be excellent to investigate the plateau. they traveled up a man-made ramp and reached the top to their destination. The sand had covered most of the structures and the group started dusting them off. Deep Dig was working on a shallow round structure when he revealed a large symbol on its top. The symbol was white with open tongs and a sword between them. He had never seen this symbol before. Mason found a broken SCV and searched inside the pilot compartment. He discovered the transmission logs.

“Let’s see who these terran are.” He said dramatically to no one but himself. He then played the last transmission from the SCV’s computer. A thick, gruff voice emitted from it. “Ok, we got what wanted boys, now let’s get the hell outta here.”

Hmm, Mason thought to himself, they were just some train robbers, that’s all. He thought they would me more than that.

The ponies slept the night on the plateau. They returned to the train tracks in the morning and followed them again. The tracks did not go south for very long before returning to the west. Soon the terran vehicles were replaced by the bones of zerg. The carcasses became more and more common as they drove west on their buggies.

“I’m glad we brought some guards with us.” Mason nervously stated.

“They are all dead Mason, we have nothing to worry about.” Deep Dig reminded the younger.

The rest of the day they saw nothing but more and more dead zerg. The ponies decided to sleep in a monstrous zerg ribcage which protected them from the nasty wind.

The wind brought a savage storm upon the ponies. The rain made the whole landscape change before their eyes. Plants sprouted from the sand to greet the rare rain. The entire area transformed from a wasteland to a light green pasture. The ponies stood frozen still as they engulfed the new beauty of it all. Even though the other six ponies enjoyed it, Spitfire remained unimpressed as usual.

“We should get on the move again.” She commanded.

The ponies rode along the westward tracks. They arrived at a large hill which overlooked the vast area. They expected to see nothing but zerg bones for miles, instead they gazed upon a massive city with skyscrapers a mile tall and hundreds of overlapping roads. This was a monument of a great civilization that would be remembered for eternity. The sight even made Spitfire’s jaw hang.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get down there!” She exclaimed.

Upon closer inspection, the city was in complete ruin. Most of the buildings were bombed out ot collapsed with age.

“It’s truly tragic,” Deep Dig sighed, “this place would have put Canterlot to shame.”

The Equestrians reached a highway bridge in the middle of the metropolis. There were bodies of terran and zerg all over the road. The suits of the deceased marines had a red rectangle with a blue X and stars within the X. Deep Dig had seen these symbols before in a Dominion document.

“These are Confederate soldiers,” he told his comrades, “Then this means we must be on Tarsonis, the Confederate capital planet. But I...I have never seen such devastation from the zerg like this before. What could have driven them to rampage like this? what happened?”

He paced back and forth. He suddenly tripped on a metal sheet. He picked himself up and looked at the sheet. It was a sign that read in white letters:

"Welcome to New Gettysburg"