It was now morning in the land of Equestria. Birds chirped, a cool breeze blew by, the sky slowly grew brighter as the sun began rising beyond the horizon. It was quiet and..... peaceful. Peaceful.....

I sat up in the bed provided to me by our hosts and looked out the window. One foot on the floor, then the other. I stood up. I had ditched my armor by the wardrobe closer to my bed and kept the military fatigues underneath on. No boots, no helmet, none of that bulk. The agility harness was off too. God it felt good to be out of that and just get a good night's sleep. I stopped..... a good night's sleep? I haven't had that in.... a long time.... I could only speculate as to why this sudden change occurred. I sighed and walked to the balcony of our room. Rebecca was still fast asleep in the other bed, mumbling adorably to herself. That made me have to stifle a chuckle. I looked out over the city before me and took a deep breath of fresh, clean air. Today was gonna be alright.

Luna was in a bit of a rush. She trotted along at a brisk pace, heading to her sister's room. She had sent a telepathic signal of sorts to her sister that something was wrong, which was trivial due to the connection they shared. The guards flanking the door to Celestia's quarters saluted and knocked.

"Send her in," Celestia called calmly from the other side. The signal got to her it seemed.

The guards opened the door and Luna stepped in. The door then closed behind her and she stared at her sister.

Celestia looked at Luna and noticed immediately the concerned look on her face. "Lulu what's.....?"

"I saw their dreams Tia."

Celestia paused for a second, thinking about it before she realized who Luna was talking about. "Go on....."

"Rebecca's dreams were a little violent at first, showing examples of their technology and combat ability. They were clearly memories, and not pleasant ones. That quickly changed to a scene at a rather rustic bar though and she was having fun with her friends. I can't say that was too bad. Then I saw Anthony's dream."

Luna projected the memory on the wall after casting a soundproofing spell on the windows, walls, and doors.

Death, pain, fire, destruction. All around the image, bullets and rockets flew. Men and women, soldier and civilian alike, screamed and died. The breathing of a child was heard, giving the impression that the point of view was from a child's perspective. The child was running.... but from what. The child risked a look back, and a large mechanical biped in white and black colors was chasing. The canopy opened to reveal a pilot in the same colors. It was safe to assume by now that this guy was IMC. The laugh given off by the pilot was one that sent chills down the sisters' spines.

The child kept running, fast as he could, not daring to look back.... but he was tackled down... and the scream of pain was VERY audible, making Luna glad she soundproofed the room. The pilot stood above him..... helmet off now. Grizzled features, brown eyes, and a sick smile.

"Ooooh, trying to run from the truth ja?" the figure said, "There is no escaping the fate of you and your family...."

The figure raised his rifle at the child and there was a bang. Everything went white and the image changed. The breathing of a man. "Hello?" Anthony's voice.

"Anthony!" a little girl's voice cried. "MOM, DAD, ANTHONY HELP!!!!"

The point of view turned blurry as the now presumed Anthony began running towards the sound of the little girl's voice. "ANNA!"

They saw the figure from before, same sick smile, same features.... same rifle aimed at a little girl's head as she cowered.....

"NO!!!! ANNA!!!!"

A gunshot...... and the dream memory cut off...... frozen at the scene of the weapon flashing.... the figure's sick expression all the more pronounced.... and an innocent, little, brunette girl with blue pupils crying in fear as her life flashed before her eyes....

Luna looked to her sister. "At this point.... I had to terminate the dream and send him into a dreamless state. It was causing him pain.... it was a nightmare. Not only that, it was tied to his memories somehow. I'm not a mind reader though, only a dream-walker. I can't give any more information."

Celestia frowned sadly. "I can only speculate at its significance....."

Luna nodded. "I have reason to believe that the figure in white was responsible for a great tragedy in his life.... and if how Anthony responded to this 'Anna' being.... murdered... in the dream is any indicator.... this figure may have taken someone important from him....."

Celestia looked at her sister. "Perhaps this is why he reacted so badly to the mention of this 'IMC' they fight against....."

"Tia.... we must tread carefully. This dream is an indicator of how much of a volatile state our guests' Commander is truly in."

Celestia nodded grimly. "I know sister.... I know...."

A couple hours later, Rebecca and I were decked out in our gear again, and everyone was gathered in what I could only describe as a royal dining hall. Very ornate decor and everything. It was grand! Though it wasn't long before I noticed the silence. All that was mentioned was that a meeting would take place after breakfast and we were invited to dine with them for breakfast before it began. No small talk though.... did they still not completely trust us....? No, the look in their eyes spoke of something else: worry, concern, possibly fear. Rebecca and I sat and, thankfully enough, they had some meat options. We went for omelettes and hash browns. I won't deny the skills of the cooks here, cause it was absolutely delicious. Eventually, Celestia ordered the room sealed and soundproofed.

I looked concerned for a moment until she spoke again.

"If you do not mind, I would prefer we had our meeting here and now, in a less formal setting," she explained.

I nodded. "Very well Princess."

She sighed. "Oh where to begin..... right. Your original reason for coming here is something of an enigma to us at the moment Commander. We know of another ship that crashed on our planet's surface and we believe your reasons are tied to it. Anything else is pure guesswork."

The dignitaries looked at Rebecca and I with curious expressions, some with a bit of trepidation in them.

I froze. Not sure what to say. Rebecca tapped my shoulder then. I looked at her and she nodded.

"The truth," she said, "Remember what Karish said."

I sighed and nodded before looking back at them.

"Take your time," Luna said calmly.

I did just that, taking a few moments. Then I spoke, "Princesses. Representatives. It is true that our original reason for coming here was not diplomatic in nature, though diplomacy is something we would like to pursue at this juncture. We had no reason to believe you existed until a while after our arrival. We were pursuing someone, someone who is extremely dangerous."

I took a moment to pull out a holo projector and pulled up the file. A holographic image of Malcovitch appeared above the projector.

"This is Gerald Malcovitch. He is a brilliant inventor and a pilot of the IMC. He is also a psychopathic terrorist. Numerous titles befit him, and none are endearing. One that comes to mind is 'Child Murdurer.'"

This elicited gasps from most of the room's occupants.

Celestia and Luna shared a look and set up a telepathic connection

"THAT'S THE FIGURE FROM THE DREAM!" Luna yelled through the connection.

Celestia noted every feature of the hologram. The grizzled features, the eyes, the malicious grin..... it was all there.....

"Indeed it is. This goes deeper than we originally though sister..... and now our world is caught in the middle."

Luna looked fearful now.

I sighed and continued, making sure to reign in the rage this time.

"This man is responsible for the destruction of several civilian colony worlds, taking pay to assassinate politicians, executing innocent civilians.... and taking joy in each and every kill. He has also killed hundreds of Militia pilots and soldiers. And he is hiding somewhere on this planet. We attempted to apprehend him at the crash site as soon as we arrived at this world but he escaped. He has a robot like the ones you have been hearing of."

I changed the hologram setting to display the three Titan models.

"Titans are the fist of almost every attacking or defending force in our war right now. There are Stryders," he began highlighting each titan model as he named them, "Atlases, and Ogres. Gerald Malcovitch is in possession of a heavily modified Atlas capable of optical cloaking and long term, lone operations. It is also equipped with something we call an Artificial Intelligence, essentially making his Titan a machine with it's own level intelligence, and this one is modified to behave far more efficiently than most AI's. The Titan could operate on its own, or under the pilot's command, without the pilot actually being in the Titan thanks to AI's. Malcovitch is also a genius inventor who has the ability to repair and maintain his Titan and weaponry in the field efficiently. His cloaking module is how he escaped us. The module essentially allows anyone or anything equipped with it to turn virtually invisible, and it lets his Titan do it for hours at a time. This man is now on the loose on this world."

Silence prevailed as the gravity of it all sunk in. No one spoke for what felt like hours, when in reality it was only a minute or two.

Iron Hoof spoke next. "If I recall right, that ship went down in insurrectionist territory. He escaped into mountains that are essentially hostile to any non-insurrectionist. Is there really a reason to worry?"

Rebecca nodded. "This man could destroy an entire platoon in minutes with that Titan if he so chooses. I also wouldn't put it past him to accept an offer from the insurrectionists or even extend them an offer. There are numerous possibilities here."

Celestia sighed, "So we have a stealthy and deadly man on the loose who has the potential to turn a partly organized army of insurrectionists into an army to be truly feared."

I nodded sadly.

Red Wing's eye twitched and he glared at us. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU MAY HAVE BROUGHT DOWN ON US!?"

"Peace Ambassador," Celestia snapped.

"No! I refuse to play host to hairless apes that may have brought Tartarus itself down upon us!"

"HEY!!!"

Everyone looked at me.

"Listen here pal, Malcovitch is a whole different level of unpredictable. You think we knew he would make a blind jump to your planet? WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU EXISTED! It may very well be dangerous that we chased him here, but that's just it. It was a horrible accident. Now do you see us running from this? Do you see us trying to divert the blame ELSEWHERE!?"

Red Wing began to back off, partly out of fear, partly from understanding what was being said.

I continued. "We bear the blame for bringing him here, and rightfully so. That's why we're gonna stay and fight as hard as we can to minimize any damage he may cause! We aren't gonna run from this simply because some spluttering angry TURKEY blames us and got fucking ANGRY!"

My rant done, everyone in the room was looking at me in surprise, save for Rebecca, who was currently shaking her head out of disappointment at Red Wing. The Gryphon Ambassador was going through a mixture of emotions. Rage at being called out AND being called a turkey, fear of being mauled by an alien who's abilities he hasn't the first clue about, and guilt at calling them out the way he did. His race was always a proud one and he understood that but.... he also knew he crossed a line. 'Stupid,' he thought to himself, 'Emotional control is one of the most important lessons taught to any diplomat. Some Ambassador I turned out to be.'

Celestia displayed a worried grimace as she stared at her alien guests for a moment. "I sense truth in your words. Anger of your own yes, but truth as well." She looked to Red Wing, the grimace deepening. "Ambassador, I suggest you sit down and think about your actions here. Our guests could have reacted far more negatively to your outburst and they didn't. Be grateful for that."

Red Wing looked at the Princess, then back at the aliens, he noticed that they were wearing the same armor and weapons as they had when they arrived, and he gulped nervously. He nodded to Celestia as a sign that he understood, then sat down without another word.

"Now, we are all very aware of this threat thanks to the honesty of our guests," Celestia stated, "What remains now is determining what we are going to do about it."

"I may have an idea," Rebecca spoke up. "Anthony, we have a squad of four other pilots on the Fyrebyrd. Perhaps it's time to call em in?"

I lowered my head and my face took on a thoughtful expression. After a moment, I smiled. "I think I see where you're going with this. Pilots make great stealth operatives when they wanna be. We could deploy two or three pilots at random intervals to gather intel in enemy territory and keep everyone else on standby in case. We have a few hundred soldiers on that carrier that we could drop into the fight if need be." I looked at the Princesses. "What do you think?"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, then at Red Wing.

Red Wing sighed. "You and your crew would risk your lives to solve this?"

"We'd risk our lives to help you end your whole god damn war," I answered, a determined fire in my eyes.

He saw it, and smiled. "I guess I really was too quick to judge. I'll contact our King and let him know. If he approves, then I will notify you immediately."

I smirked and nodded. "Make sure you tell him the whole truth hmm?"

Red Wing chuckled nervously. "He'd have my head if I didn't tell the whole truth and found out good sir... uh figuratively speaking. I'd likely lose my job and be thrown in jail for a year or two. I could definitely say goodbye to my career as a politician."

Rebecca giggled. "Yeah you better go update him then. The sooner the better anyhow."

"Right you are, if you will excuse me Princesses," He bowed to Celestia and Luna. They nodded their approval and he departed to make the call.

"Alright. If you guys don't mind. I think we have someone to introduce you to," Rebecca said. "Anthony, could you patch that holo-projector through to the Fyrebyrd? It's time to bring Karish in on this."

I chuckled and reconfigured the projector, then transferred control to Rebecca. "It's all yours. But give me a second though."

Rebecca nodded.

I turned to the Princesses. "Celestia, with all that is happening, it is clear that hiding our presence will not be an option. Our ship was damaged when we arrived here and we will have to set it down to carry out some serious repairs. We have lost all contact with the rest of the Militia and our FTL jump drive, the thing that lets our ship carry us between solar systems in short order, is possibly damaged beyond repair. Furthermore, this planet may start seeing our forces deploying all over it. You may need to announce our presence and attempt to placate the populace before we can begin landing and deploying."

The Princesses both smiled at this.

"Our little ponies are far more accepting than most," Luna chuckled.

"Your logic is sound though, so I shall call for a press conference within the week," Celestia added, "Now you said you have someone to introduce us to?"

I nodded and gestured for Rebecca to open the link.

The transmitter beeped for a moment as it tried to make the connection, then there was a response and the hologram of a dark skinned man appeared: Karish. "Anthony, Rebecca, is that you?"

"We're here buddy," I laughed. "Did ya miss us?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to worry," Karish laughed in return. "I don't exactly have a visual of you though."

"DOH RIGHT!" I set up a small camera from all my gear and linked it up so he could see only me and Rebecca for now.

"There you are.... wow I'm already impressed just by the walls and windows behind you, where are you?"

"The capital of a place called Equestria," I answered. "We have some diplomats and leaders to introduce you to man. Then you're in for a long story."

"And boy is it a doozie," Rebecca giggled, "Get Dovah Squad too. They'll need to hear this."

Karish nodded and had a crew mate make the call for the pilot squad.

Anthony turned the camera and Karish went wide eyed when the dignitaries and Princesses came within his view. "WHOA!"

"Yeah, say hello to Princesses Celestia and Luna, Representative Valiance, Chieftain Iron Hoof, Shaman Terrana, and Representative High Wind," I said, introducing each of them. They all waved, nodded, or made another greeting as they were indicated. "Gryphon Ambassador Red Wing is taking care of something at the moment but I'll let you meet him later if he's alright with it."

"Anthony..... this is going to take a lot of explaining. As soon as Dovah gets to the bridge, you're going to tell us EVERYTHING."

"Don't worry, you'll hear it all."

Author's Note

Anna.... died age 4.... Anthony Dubias' little sister.

Writing the dream sequence made me cringe a little and I found it difficult to suppress tears. Still, can't deny the story impact....

In any case, yes they are now aware of Malcovitch and they are very aware of the danger. With the Elements on the way to Canterlot, the goodguys prepping, and the badguys uniting, things can only get more dangerous from here on.

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