Chapters It was a dark night, the wind blew over the trees , as the soldiers marched to the monotonous sound of their own footsteps , while civilians were walking to a hurried trot, trying to escape the horrors that were unleashed on the city that now burned in the valley, at the end of the line of refugees,one filly raised her head , looking down a shooting star that manifested itself on the dark smoke rising into the sky.
Canterlot Castle, Equestria
"Your Majesty , the city of Manehattan has fallen"
Princess Luna simply sighed , 4 years since the war between griffinheim and Equestria had started, and steadily, the equestrians have been losing ground, and the griffons now controlled one of the important naval ports on the equestrian soil, the bountiful nation now torn apart by constant warfare, was almost irrecognizable, there were however, safe havens, at least for now: Canterlot, Ponyville and the outside of the Everfree forest being the only regions that have not yet fallen into enemy hands, however, the equestrians were losing this war, and sometimes Luna thanked the stars that Celestia hadn't surrendered yet.
After the dissapeareance of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, there were a time of peace, however, after 13 years, all the other elements have been scaterred around the Equestrian territory, and then, the war started, nobody remembered how it began, but the first attack was on the city of baltimare, a complete fleet of griffon destroyers simply razed the city to the ground.
"So many lost..." Luna muttered, remembering the aftermatch, however, one of the most haunting scenes still giving the princess of the night nightmares, the broken body in pink fur, extracted from below a building, Pinkie Pie was on the city as her traveling and smiling tour stravaganza was in town when the attack hit.
She barely maded it, however, she couldn't walk anymore.
After the initial attack, the crown had searched for all the remaining elements, the only one missing was the quiet animal caretaker, Fluttershy, when the soldiers arrived to the soft spoken pony cottage, they found it abandoned, nopony knowing where the animal caretaker has run to.
Then, the war got worse.
In just four years time, the war ravaged all of the outside of Equestria's borders, all the outer cities and towns easily overpowered or simply destroyed, all the remaining elements were to be kept in Canterlot for avoid more casualties, however, no word has come from the old allies of the ponies, and then the griffons had stated that they were openly working with the changelings to destroy the equine tiranny, or so they proclaimed. One by one, all the allies of the pony princesses witdrawn, leaving Equestria to its fate, the only ones that answered the summon were the Cristal Empire, and now they were under siege for two months.
"Luna, this can't continue" a sophisticated voice rangs from the left, startling the alicorn, an alabaster pony surging from the shadows, her stilized purple mane and tail hanging out a set of ornate robes, signaling her as one of the magis court
"I know Rarity, but my sister is right, we can't surrender, because we haven't done anything wrong!" the lunar alicorn exclaimed, stomping her hooves on the ground, cracking the tiles of the throne room under the amazing force and frustration the alicorn put in the action.
"I know darling, but we don't have the resources or the pony power to stop them" the ex fashionista said, raising her own hooves in a placating manner, after being rescued from a hostage attempt, Rarity had spend all of her remaining fortune as a fashionista, trying to help hospitals, orphanages and even some war companies, from all the remaining elements, she was the only one wich had actively participated or helped the war, even Rainbow Dash, who was forcefully expelled from the wonderbolts due to security reasons, was now wandering out in the castle, a husk of her former self, however, if the fashionista was right, the ex wonderbolt would be near the barracks, trying to help or to be "loyal" to the soldiers.
Pinkie Pie, being her own weird pony, had been helping out, trying to put together as many parties or gatherings to help boost the morale, also trying to defeat her own disability with a bright smile and a few comfort words to anypony who was near her, however, the white pony know better, and the pink party pony was as devastated as anypony else, and she was feeling the most useless of all of them, not being capable of even stand and help out being on a weelchair.
"We now are on faust's hands darling..." the white mare concluded, rising her head and looking past the moon princess, and ont the brilliant star falling from the sky.
"...And we need a miracle"
UNSC Harmony, above Equis orbit
"Im bored" one distorted voice said, after a while, a brilliant dot of light appearing suddenly, tearing appart the darkness on the empty cockpit, after a couple of seconds, a little humanoid figure appears,monitoring via screen one of the two capsules in the back room of the ship, both of them emiting a annoying beep sound, meaning its occupants are alive.
"Cut it out Dusk," another voice exclaimed, and then a second figure stands out, this one being a femenine one, "they need to be on cryo untill we arrive" the female said, crossing her arms over her chest, "also we need to check all the tech that the humans and Halsey give to us."
"but that's it, Seed, why the humans helped Warlock and Cowgirl out of the blue, giving them the terapy and augments of the spartans, an even Halsey trying to replicate the Cortana protocol with us, thanks to Twilight giving her the missing algorithm to avoid rampancy..." Dusk says, looking over the other AI.
"Because, thanks to Twilight and Applejack, the second reckoning was avoided, also, they promised to talk to their leaders so the UNSC could get a foothold on a new habitable planet, also one with aliens that doesn't want to exterminate all life in the universe due to a religious missconception" Seed droned for the thousand time to the newer AI, "Besides, thanks to the position as Princess, Twilight could help the UNSC to gain some valuable knowledge and advantage over the remaining flood and forerunner tech, due to her inventions and her investigation mixing magic and technology... Dusk, come on, we already had this conversation like 3 million times before!" the orange AI exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, anyhow, we arrived" the other AI replied, raising his hand, and at the same time, lifting the heavy duty protective curtains and flooding the cockpit with light, also starting the awakening process on the two passengers of the modified cruiser. quickly transporting himself and her disgruntled companion towards the cryogenic bay, both AI's waited for the capsules to open, revealing a pair of ponies, however, they were changed, loosing they cuadrupedal instance, instead, being bipedal, their front hooves changed to hands, the first one to be awaken was Dusk's owner, Princess Twilight Sparkle, codename: Warlock.
"Ugh... my head," the purple alicorn said, lifting an armored hand, trying to shield the piercing light of the cryogenic bayfrom her sensitive eyes, "what the fuck happened?"
"Hey boss," chirped Dusk, "we finally arrived to Equis"
Those words snapped the Alicorn fully awake, she stepped out the cryopod, looking herself over, her bulky Spartan VI E armor in pristine condition, as always, next to her cryopod, a weapon rack with a MA5D assault rifle and her reliable Norfang Sniper was on standby, gearing up, she turned around, only to quickly dodge out as the other pod's door literally came out of its hinges, a powerfull leg coiling down after an allmighty buck.
"Damn it all, those bucking doors always jammed on me" a sleepy southern drawl was heared, as the other occupant, a behemoth clad on Spartan VI assault armor, stepped down of the cryopod.
"Applejack, for Celestia's sake, I always had to repair that fucking door" Twilight cried on dismay, looking the bent piece of metal that a moment ago was a twelve inches thick sealing reinforced door.
"Relax Twi," the farmer said, waving a hand off "however, whats up Seed" the ex farmer said, peeking out the open door near the cargo bay, wich was next to the cryo station.
"All systems on the UNSC Harmony are full operational, the ammo factory and the stasis shield are online, all the systems are fully functional, the medical bay is in top shape, the spartan armor assembly line is operational, all robots are in their posts, the fuel station sustained slight damage, but that was due to a two ton door slaming one alimentation pipe near the cryo chambers, the two longswords, the pelicans, the scorpion tanks and the warthogs in the hangar bay are ready and primmed for use..." Applejack quickly drowned down her AI's voice, moving to the cockpit and looking down the blue and green planet, after a while, a purple graunlet came to the farmer's shoulder, taking her out of her daydreaming.
"We made it, Applejack," a trembling voice said, turning around, Applejack looked to a unhelmeted Twilight, tears on the face of the princess.
"We are home."
Crash landings are my specialty
UNSC Harmony, above Equestrian airspace
"WHAT?!"
"Here we go... Again" Seed said, looking towards Applejack, however, she stopped when she noticed that the apple farmer wasn't in a better mood than the princess.
"DUSK, RUN THAT AGAIN PLEASE, ARE YOU SAYING THAT THERE IS NO TRACE OF MANEHATTAN, I JUST UPDATED YOU WITH THE MAPS OF EQUESTRIA THAT I COULD PULL OUT OF THE LIBRARY" Twilight yelled, clenching her fists.
"Yes ma'am!" Dusk practically jumped out the console, fidgeting with his thumbs, "A-apparently there was a fire recently on the city, also the geotermical cameras outside the harmony are picking up a major force of unknowns marching towards one settlement in the north, and another one going to the center of the country, I estimate ToA to be in 4 hours.
"To wich settlement?" Twilight asked, her voice hollow.
"Canterlot."
"Applejack, gear up, we are going to Canterlot!"
"Yes ma'am," the ex-farmer asked, pumping up one shotgun and placing it on the magnetic holster on her back, "negociations or hostile engagement?"
"IDK, Cowgirl but still, gear up for combat, as a precaution," the princess answered, turning around, she faced her AI, "Dusk, no tactical warheads or major support, you are staying in orbit, however, please give us ground data through Seed, is that clear?" while talking, she picked up her helmet and fastened on her face, sealing her suit, after a moment, her HUD lighted up, giving her all the info she needed, meanwhile both spartans were walking towards the hangar, the enormous bay lighting up and coming to life.
"So, we're back, but you can't keep your promises, princess," Applejack said out of the blue, making the alicorn of magic stop dead in her tracks.
"What do you mean, Cowgirl," Twilight said, only to avoid a armor fist to her face, meanwhile, Applejack was turning around, reading one of her patented kicks.
"LOCKDOWN" the purple spartan bellowed, lifting her arm and pointing to the other equine, yellow sparks suddendly began to pop up from the farmer's suit, effectively rendering the amazing piece of machinery useless.
"YOU PROMISED, WARLOCK," Applejack bellowed, "YOU SAID TO ME THAT NO MORE WAR WHEN WE GOT HOME, NOW WE ARE READYING OURSELVES TO GOING OUT AGAIN, SO WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE NOW, PRINCESS?!!"
"CALM DOWN, OR ILL SHOCK YOU APPLEJACK" Twilight answered, "Yes, I know that i said that to you, but now we need to know what has happened on these 17 years that we were out of here, also, you don't trust me?" The princess said, looking down to her friend, "besides, we are going geared up because we have seen so much shit on the human-covenant war that I dont want to go unprepared never again" she continued, inadvertently passing her hand through her armor's helmet, as if remembering some old scar, Applejack's fury diminishing when she looked to the purple librarian.
"Shucks sugarcube, sorry, now can you release me?" the now appalled farmer said, nodding her head, Twilight lifted up her hand once more.
"Release"
"Now cowgirl, load up one of the pelicans, and latch one warthog with light machine gun turret for support, I don't want any surprises" the princess commanded, while the farmer went to do that, the princess headed up for the armory, after a while she came back, lifting up one of the weapon racks that were inside on each arm, the farmer wistled, while Twilight, a blush concealed thanks to the heavy armor, loaded the deadly payload inside the machine
"Don't do that Applejack," The princess said, looking over her shoulder to the farmer, "you know that all of this is possible due to our implants and the help of the Mjolnir armor no?" when the farmer nodded, she climbed up the flying machine, "anyhow, all is ready?"
"Yes ma'am, just give me some space to get to the cockpit and ill-" the farmer was interrupted when a armored hand was on her face.
"Nope, ill drive today"
Applejack nodded stiffly, then went to one of the side seats of the ship and strappled herself to the seat, gaining a bemused glare from her partner.
"What?"
"Five sabers, Three pelicans, one broadsword..." the farmer muttered, smirking behing her helmet.
"HEY, THE BROADSWORD WASN'T MY FAULT!" the princess snapped back.
Over the neighagara mountain range, 45 minutes later
Swift Wing was one of the last guards on the night shift, after the destruction of Manehattan, he personally had taken the rear of the fleeing refugees, also he was trying to keep tabs on the pursuers, after they scaped the city, one contingent of heavily armed griffons and two contingents of changeling spellweavers had come after the fleeing ponies, they so far had been lucky, but their luck was diminishing, one of the spell weavers had traced all the refugees, so all fo the now tired ponies couldn't stop, and Swift Wing was concerned, a lot of ponies were on risk, and by Celestia's sun that he was going to defend them, even if he doesnt made it back to the capital.
"hey LT," one of the rookies said, pulling the old veteran from his musings, "check that out!" the soldier said, pointing with the tip of his spear to one falling star that was approaching at a fast pace... wait a second , the stallion thought, his eyes widening, before he sprang out, scaring one of the elders that was on the rear
"EVERYPONY, PLEASE TRY TO PUSH FOWARD, SCOUT, BLAZE, GUIDE THEM, THE OTHER GUARDS, WITH ME!" The pegasus bellowed, taking air, all the civvies began again to trot, while the remaining soldiers of the rescue mission went to the back, trying to organize themselves, however, before they could do anything, several spells were fired at the strange flying object, one of its sides exploding and sending the strange bird to land.
"What was that, cap?" one of the soldiers said, after a while.
"Honestly rookie" the veteran answered," I have no bucking idea."
Crash site, 20 minutes later
The first thing Applejack saw when she recovered conciousness, was that she was sideways, one of the weapon racks that Twilight had 'packed' over her, 'Okay, made it FOUR Pelicans' the apple farmer thought, bringing out a 22" combat knife that was on her shoulder from its sheath, she began to cut out the harnesses, then with an allmighty pull, she released herself from the debris, bringing herself up, she encountered herself with a black figure standing near the edge of the crater.
"Damn it all," the farmer said, "WARLOCK, WE HAVE COMPANY"
"Alert the company, we have host-" whatever the bug were to say, was muttered when the armored pony lodged some shotgun shells on its face, chitin and green ichor splashing the ground, then, sprinting towards the nose of the downed bird, Applejack was taken back when she discovered Twilight, half buried on the sand, kicking her legs and trying to get out, glass shards and twisted metal all around the purple spartan.
"Seed, please take a picture, or record a video, I am SO going to send this to Gipsy company back when we got comms" Applejack says, while chuckling, then, changing her shotgun from hand, she grabbed Twilight's leg, and yanked her out of the sand.
"What have we learned today, Warlock?" the farmer asked mockingly.
"To wear the damn seatbelt, also to dislodge all the cargo from a sunking ship" came the muffled reply.
"Atta girl, now pack it up, we need to move, there could be reinforcements..."
"HALT!!!"
"Incoming..." Applejack sighed, "Why a girl can't get a 'welcome back' party without having to shot somebody?"
Author's Note
Minor corrections due to a mistake on the equestrian map, sorry for this and in this link you will have an actual map of Equestria so you can get the general idea where Warlock and Cowgirl crash landed
friend or foe
Near the Heighagara mountain range, 30 minutes after the take down of the UFO
The lieutenant Swift Wing could only think on one thing when he finally arrived to the crash site. Massacre
"Holy mother of mercy..." one of the other soldiers muttered, near the crater, there were corpses of at least the two battalions of changeling spellweavers that were after the survivors of Manehattan, their bloodied and burnt bodies scattered trough the impact site, the lacerations on the bodies and the sunken chitin indicating that some blunt force was used, and the ones that were near the object all had somekind of blunt trauma near a huge hole in their chests, the equestrians that were near the bodies were in shock, examining the remainings of the shapeshifters.
One of the less experienced soldiers was puking near the metalic object, not able to wistand the bloodshed.
'chick-cling'
When Swift Wing turned around, he came to a unusual vision, one purple... 'thing' was pointing a strange device straight to the lonely soldier, her purple bulky armor against the strange machine, breathing steadily, but with pained gasps, the long device was very similar to the rifles that the griffons had developed.
"Give me one reason why I don't have to pull the trigger on your soldier, captain", the thing spoke with a deep feminine voice, however, the lieutenant opened his eyes in surprise, because he recognized the voice from a distant memory.
"Twilight... Twilight Sparkle?"
The behemoth paused, then, pointed again, this time to the LT, who recoiled a little in fear, "Actually, yes, but how do you know my civilian name, captain?"
All the other equines were shocked, however, the lieutenant took a defensive instance, and then, sighing, he took away his helmet, the spell that make all the guards look the same breaking apart.
"First of all, it's Lieutenant now, young filly, and second of all," he said, smirking, "damn if it is good to see you again, brainy grape, we all thought that you were obliterated with your friend when that science lab on your castle exploded"
The hulking form simply remained there, stunned, after a while, moving down the weapon, she sighed, and lifting her hands towards the helmet, she proceeded to remove the armor, exposing her fur to the cool night air.
"I hate when you use that nickname, uncle Swift."
The face that meet the pegasus was one that he couldn't forget, those big purple eyes that were always buried in a book, or looking with astonishment the movements of the magic that was learning from the solar alicorn, or even those same eyes that looked benevolently or with tenderness to other beings, no longer existed, Swift Wing could only see the empty eyes of a person who has seen the worst of the war and survived , the Lieutenant kept watching that face so strange yet so familiar, a prominent scar on her left eye from her forehead until the cheekbone, it was tarnishing the once perfect face of his niece, and the soldier wondered what she had been through to have the same face as the most veteran soldiers in war nowadays.
"What the hay happened to you, Twilight, you look..." he began, trying to make conversation.
"Devastated, changed, or like shit?" Twilight provided, looking fowards her uncle, she giggled, then grasped in pain, "that happens when you crash a flying machine and get expelled from the front window."
"Uh, yeah, let's go with that" he provided, "but seriously Twilight, what happened to you, you look so different, for Celestia's sun, you even are cursing right now!"
"Seven years of living with marines, fighting for your survival from an alien invasion force tend to do that" the purple princess said scornfully, clutching her ribs, "great, I think that I have some broken ribs" one unicorn approached, interrupting the somewhat tender moment.
"Do you need any medical attention princess," the mare asked, lighting up her horn, "I could help you with the pain."
"The hay you do!" one angry voice said, then another armored figure jumped down, her orange armor glistening with trails of blood, both red and green, and she hurriedly came near the pegasus and the transformed alicorn, shotgun at the ready.
"Wait Cowgirl, I can assure you that these are friendly!" Twilight yelled, stoping the other behemoth's in her tracks "Do you check them with the Thermal and the Thaumic visors that I made reglamentary in all the Mark VI armorsuits?" she continued, when the other spartan shrugged her shoulders, Twilight pitched her nose, and then she facepalmed, "I build those features specifically to avoid getting us killed Applejack, and besides, you can use them to separate friend from foe here on Equestria!"
"So, that hulking giant friend of yours would be the element of Honesty, Applejack, right, brainy grape?" the pegasus joined the conversation, smiling.
"I am remembering that nickname when we go back to the Infinity " Applejack answered, then, lifting her hand and wipping some of the blood from the metal covered apendage, she trusted it foward the pegasus, "but yeah, nice to meet'cha!"
"Likewise, so, what exactly happened here, Twilight?" Swift asked, motioning his hoof to the remainings of the pursuer's
"Well, we got shot down while doing a reconnaissance mission, trying to identify the hostiles that we picked up while in orbit" Twilight droned, gaining confused stares from the soldiers around, except for her uncle and a nod from Applejack, "then we fought against a force of at least 40 changelings and some griffons..." she continued, but then a somewhat synthetic voice interrupted.
"Actually, Warlock, the deadcount goes for 65 changelings and griffons, both forces were totally wiped out, now the scans show no more hostiles nearby," the voice dronned with accuracy, "the killcount goes for Cowgirl though, you only killed 7 enemies using your sniper."
All the guards were flabbergasted, mouths opened in disbelief, then on astonishment when the orange armored pony get something from her helmet, and a humanoid appeared out of thin air.
"Greetings, equestrians, my name is Seed, and I am Spartan Cowgirl 021 assignated personal AI" the orange being greeted, then turning around to face the princess, she continued "Warlock, I got some news from dusk, he said that the warthog survived the crash, and that he can't land our ship by himself, he need some help with that, however we can't go back up to space, due to our transport being destroyed."
"He can fly remotely another pelican?" Twilight said, looking to the AI's ember eyes.
"Yes, however we need to point him to came down at a designated EP, and he needs to do that on the next solar cycle, because we were floating against the planet's stationary orbit."
"Damn," Twilight muttered, "Well, no time to waste then, Lieutenant Swift Wing, we spartans Warlock 001 and Cowgirl 021 will be scorting your battallion back towards the city of Canterlot, think of us as reconnaissance and heavy support units provided by the UNSC for the remaining of your mission, understood?" when her uncle nodded, she continued, "now, we need to regroup with your batallion and move out."
"Warlock... Twilight, the thing is that those that are waiting ahead of us aren't part of a batallion..." the purple spartan turned around, looking to her uncle, "those are survivors from a recent bombardement and the destruction of the city of Manehattan."
Refugee's campsite, two hours later
Dark Scout and Burning Blaze were beyond tired, after the lieutenant had departed with their fellow soldiers, the duo ordered all the civilians to push foward and to try to make it at least near to the Foal Mountain's base, however, their scape route has come with some complications, namely Twisted Cog, an elder unicorn who was trying to delay the group.
"And I am telling you, youngsters, that that mountain and the forest near it are cursed," the old stallion was half yelling, pointing his trembling hoof to the dark forest looming in the horizon, "those who enter there, they change... sometimes for the worse."
"Please, elder Cog," Scout tried to calm down the panicked old pony again, "we are trying to help you guys, but come on! what is the worst thing that could happen?"
As soon as those words leave the soldier's lips, one strange sound was heard, ears perking, all the equines could only roll out of the way of a strange thing that came barreling from the fields, the strange beast was roaring continously, the lights on the front of the beast too bright for them to see what was behind it, all the ponies cowered in fear, both soldiers up front, poining to the thing with their spears.
"Sometimes I hate you sooo damn much, Scout," Bruning Blaze said in a monotone, squinting his eyes, "why you always open your big mouth?"
"At ease, soldiers!" one voice said near the white luminous thing, "we are back with reinforcements"
"LT Swift Wing?" Blaze asked aloud, from the white light, a silouete came out, then, the lights went out, all of the ponies now staring in awe, all the soldiers that went to explore the mysterious object were on top of the strange thing, now revealed as some sort of vehicle in four weels, however, two big bulky armored humanoid figures were helping to unload the little ponies on their strange machine, ignoring the astonished eyes of the survivors that were directed to them.
"Well shucks, sugarcube," one of the armored golems said after a while, looking at the commanding officer, "this is a little uncomfortable for us, why are you lot looking at us like that?"
"Cowgirl, don't bother the civvies and help me up unloading the remaining forces of LT Swift Wing platoon, will ya?" the other one answered, checking something in the vehicle, "then we need to go back to the crash site, I think that we left some grenades and sensitive material back there."
"Yeah, yeah coming up, Warlock, don't get your tail in a twist" the first armored thing replied, then, doing a little finger salute to the equines, turned around and went back near the transport, all the equines looking between the soldiers and the huge humanoid things.
"LT, sorry for being freezed in fear back there, but, with all due respect, What the hay are those things!" Blaze said, trembling and pointing her hoof to one of the behemoths, wich was lifting one medium size boulder to make more room for all the refugees for camping for the night, turning sharply, the old pegasus looked to his subordinate and smiling, he answered
"Those two, soldier, are our new hope in this war."
Earlier
"WHAT?," Swift Wing yelled, taking all of his men by surprise, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT WE CANNOT TELL ALL OF THE OTHER'S IN THE CAMPSITE THAT YOU HAVE RETURNED!!"
"Uncle," Twilight began, again pitching her nose with her fingers, "First of all, I am now a genetically modified, super fast and powerful anthro pony with enough stregth to crush a tree with my bare hands, not to mention that I am carrying a set of completely alien designed armor that further enhances those abilities, other than that, we just returned after being missing for 17 years, only to find our planet in a war that we do not know nothing about, and finally, I have done some negotiations with the ones that helped us to come back here, and those negociations need to be supervised by both princesses so we can get some help, because I promised my friend that she doesn't have to fight more."
"I understand, Grape, but still this are big news, we aren't alone in the universe, we can..." the veteran soldier began, only for his muzzle to be trapped in a lavender colored field.
"That, is another reason," Twilight said, dissipating the etheric muzzle from her uncle's face, "I need first to talk with Celestia and Luna, so we can be accepted, and furtermore, so we can help with this war."
"OK, OK I get it!, i don't like it, but we will do as you command then, Twilight" her uncle finally conceded, giving her a sharp salute,"so, what are your commands now, princess?
"First of all, I am here now with you in the same conditions, so please adress me as any other soldier, LT, and second of all, please use my callsign while we got to Canterlot."
"Sure thing, Warlock, now, what is the game's plan, we have more or less two hundred ponies trying to get to the capital, and we have no support from our allies."
Unknown by the stallion, Twilight was smirking under her helmet, after a little conversation with Applejack via radio, wich no pony besides the two modified spartans could undertand, she turned around and adressed the full contingent of soldiers
"What do you guys think of doing a big entrance in Canterlot?"
Canterlot castle, two days later
"You mean that," Celestia calmly said, looking to her counselor, Raven, "a whole battalion of soldiers and survivors of Manehattan simply disappeared." The statement came with heavy silence, when the tired eyes of the day princess came up, her trusty advisor was averting her gaze, ashamed.
"Yes your highness, apparently, there were somekind of scruffle near the mountains, our intelligence found some wreckage that is being transported by train as we speak, also, we found some type of weird tracks leading us further into the mountains and near the town of Hollow Shades, however, we found massive burnt marks, over two hundred meters, on the ground placed evenly, and then... nothing."
Before any of the two ponies could come to say another word, one of the palace soldier's came barreling trough, a look of pure fear on his face.
"Your majesty, you need to see this!" the panicked soldier stated, gripping his lance with fear, when the alabaster alicorn went to one of the windows, her eyes bulged out, flying towards Canterlot , there was a steel monstrosity.
"Mother of me." the princess said, looking to the flying machine slowly coming towards Canterlot, it was huge, if the princess could guess, because of the distance, It was at least half a kilometer long, painted black with white stripes, one white shield with an eagle angling its head left behind the letters UNSC was seen, also she could read the word "harmony" on white, blocky letters in the hull of the ship, six huge engines were moving the huge ship towards the city, also aided by little engines on it's belly, also there were two little ships "scorting" the metal behemoth, one of them was one old airship of the equestrian navy by the looks of it, the other one also was an alien design.
After observing the strange phenomenon for a while, the princess turned her head, and addressing the soldier who reported the sighting of the ship, she proceeded to give him new orders.
"Everyone please remain calm, apparently there is a ship of our armed forces escorting that ... thing to us, give the order to clear an area near the mountain of at least one kilometer, and someone please wake my sister, apparently we have visitors" the alabaster alicorn added, wrinkling her nose in frustration.
'What is happening now' the princess thought bitterly 'first we are at war and now we have an strange ship approaching Canterlot after some refugees dissapeareance, I really hope we can survive' , turning around to the corridor, she just stared, at the end of the hallway, one big picture with one familiar purple alicorn, surrounded by her friends, was hanging as a reminder of the loss of their newest princess all those years ago.
'I wonder' , Celestia mused, looking to the picture, still in her sour mood,'what would you do in my situation, Twilight.' Approaching the picture, she simply stared, lifting one hoof and touching the picture.
'Because I am loosing hope.'
Near Canterlot mountain, half an hour later
To say that the nobles of the city of Canterlot had curiosity was an understatement , after the appearance of the mysterious ship " Harmony " over the airspace of Equestria, however, the crown had been cautious, and they had forbidden the access to the site where the steel behemoth was aproaching, also the palace had sent a contingent of pegasus to find at least the wereabouts of the small airship that accompanied the huge black behemoth, after approaching , one of the pegasus saw with relief, the veteran captain Swift Wing on the bow of the airship, talking to a strange square device he held in his hooves.
"OK , Warlock , now I need you to turn at least twenty degrees to port to avoid crashing with the mountainside, even better, can you remind me why Cowgirl is flying the Pelican if she is a better pilot that you?"
"I was wondering the same thing," an static voice replied, amused, "But at least she can stop the count on how many ships she had destroyed while flying, I am pretty sure that she can't destroy the frigate."
"Hardly har har," another voice replied after a while, "I need to remember you both that I am transporting civilians here, and that we have open channel communications in the frigate, so you both aren't helping to ease their worries with your comfort words, also, LT, you have friendlies coming to your ship."
"Roger that, Warlock, and thanks for giving us these communication devices, they are more reliable than messages via magician, that's for sure. Steel Wing, over," turning around, he saluted the air corp soldier, which now was a little intrigued by the fragment of the conversation that he had listened.
"Attention soldier," Swift Wing ordered, bringing the newcomer from his stupor , making a quick salute, the new pegasus waited orders, without questioning his superior, "we need to clear an area big enough to help that ship with the landing, plus, we need medical personnel and at least fifty other guards to direct civilians towards the capital, understood?"
"Sir, yes sir!" pegasus replied, "Sir , permission to speak freely "
"Granted , soldier " Swift Wing replied, moving a wing dissmisively, as he pulled a pair of binoculars and began to check for an appropriate landing area.
"What the hell is that ship, sir, and why we need doctors in the landing zone?" the soldier asked, giving a stare to his superior officer.
"That, soldier, is the UNSC Harmony, a ship that was given to my niece, who apparently came sent by divine providence to get us out of a very messy problem with the invaders," Swift Wing answered, looking foward, trying to spot a landing zone "now, why the doctors, you ask? well, as I understood , they have the capacity of medical facilities, but the ship has no staff to treat her at the moment." he simply replied, again looking foward.
"Understood, sir, and welcome back home" the pegasus replied, before taking flight again to carry out his orders. However, a prismatic flyer shot past the airship, going instead for the huge vessel suspended in midair, curious, the seasoned warhorse pulled again the binoculars.
'I need to see this, what are you going to do, brainy grape?' he wondered, chuckling.
UNSC Harmony Bridge
Twilight was in pain, after loading the survivors in the hangar , making sure they could not access to weapons and vehicles kept inside the monstrous ship, she proceeded to try to get the ship to its destination , however several survivors began to fill the gaps of the crew, cooking, cleaning , and generally maintaining order inside the aircraft , therefore, the Spartan was enormously grateful to them, however , two of the ponies which stood out, according the former librarian, were Blue Cross, a medical unicorn, and Mighty Shield , another unicorn wich apparently was a war veteran, were the ones that lead the other ponies in the frigate, also, Blue Cross, being a medical pony, have helped to calm down the older ponies and thanks to the stories told by Mighty Shield, Twilight wasn't using her personal colection of old human videos to keep the little ones entretained.
A sudden tap on the reinforced glass windows make the spartan to stop daydreaming, however, a grasp escaped her lips when she saw who was behind the glass.
"Howdy there, stranger, do you need any help?" Rainbow said, cocking her head, unknown to her, Twilight shed a lone tear of happiness.
And the idea finally registered on her head. She finally was home.
No plan survives first contact
UNSC Harmony bridge, 10 minutes later
Saying that Twilight Sparkle was nervous was an understatement , the young mare was walking over the bridge of the frigate from one side to the other, the purple armor discarded on one side, after proving through a campaign how futile it was to have a complete set of armor that only it could be put on and removed with a small group of engineers, the UNSC approved the implementation of the body armor designed by Twilight, which remained as the typical Mjolnir armor, but with the advantage that it could be put on and removed with just two people, and these do not even have to be skilled on any sort engineering to help the armor's user, as Silver Sword , one of the unicorns of the guard who stayed in the Harmony , could observe while removing the heavy parts of the legs of the tactical combat armor, however, the constant walk of the spartan was doing the work of removing the last pieces of armor a real challenge.
"Princess, please calm down, I understand that you are nervous about this" he tried, gesturing with one hoof to the now half-naked anthro pony, "but still, they are going to welcome you as a hero."
"But that is exactly the problem, soldier, what if they do not want me anymore, what if they force me to leave Equestria never to return," the panicked super soldier was ranting, without listening to the unicorn, her spiky hair curling up in several places, thanks to the stress she felt, "I am now a genetically modified soldier able to stop an entire invading force myself , I remember one of the logs of the UNSC network saying that one of the other spartans was able to re-enter the atmosphere of a planet only with his armor TWICE, for Celestia's sake!," she continued, not realizing that Applejack had just walked through the door. The orange pony simply approached the guard.
"Nervous attack?" the former farmer asked, pointing over her shoulder with a tumb to the purple princess.
"Nervous attack," the guard confirmed, "she is all yours, Applejack , I will be helping the civilians." the guard sighed, exiting the bridge, after he could go to the hangar however, a sudden noise halted Silver Sword dead on his tracks.
*SLAP*
The guard rushed back, only to find Applejack, her hand raised, and Twilight on one of the consoles, a hand on her cheek, wich was slightly darker than the rest of her fur, looking to Applejack as if she had grown a second head.
"DAMN IT, WARLOCK, I KNOW THAT YOU ARE NERVOUS, CELESTIA FORBID IT, I AM NERVOUS TOO, I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN I GO BACK TO MY FAMILY, BUT WE WERE TRAINED TO GET THOSE TEMPER TANTRUMS UNDER CONTROL, NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO GO DOWN TO THE HANGAR AND HELP WITH THE OTHERS TO DISSEMBARK ALL THE CIVVIES, AND THEN YOU ARE GOING TO STRAP YOUSELF IN A GURNEY AND GO TO THE HOSPITAL, OR SO HELP ME, I'LL BE TAKING YOU TO THE HOSPITAL MYSELF, AND THOSE BRUISED RIBS WOULD BE THE LEAST OF YOUR CONCERNS, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD! " Applejack bellowed, tapping her finger on the chest of the other spartan mare, while giving her a nasty glare.
"Sir, yes Sir!" Twilight and Silver Sword said at the same time, then Twilight rushed out the bridge, only to came back for some clothes that one of the other ponies had bring to her, and then rushing out again while Silver just jumped out of the way of the now dressed spartan, only to stop when a looming shadow came from behind him.
"AND WHY IN ALL THAT IS HOLY YOU ANSWERED!" Applejack yelled, looking down.
"Mommy"the guard answered, before passing out.
"Heh" Applejack said to herself, smiling, while holsting the unconcious unicorn "and I thought that Twi was my commanding officer."
Outside the landing zone, Canter Plains, Equestria
All the ponies outside the huge ship that just landed outside Canter Mountain were nervous, except for the detachment of LT Swift Wing and one other pegasus, her celurean coat and her prismatic mane and tail billowing in the wind when her touched down near the princesses.
Rainbow Dash was a well known individual in the castle, due to her previous status as a Wonderbolt, now however, her reputation as a heavy drinker and her sullen attitude was known best on the castle, rumors saying that she even had once hit the solar princess, but all the ponies in Canterlot knew that no matter what problem arises, Rainbow would always be there to help the ponies no matter what.
"What did you saw, Rainbow," Princess Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow , seeing the expression of the young pegasus, "there is something wrong?"
"I don't know, Celestia, and personally I didn't see any survivors, or ponies for that matter," Rainbow answered, looking a little confused, "However, I saw a weird purple armored golem, I think it is the commander of this ship," the blue daredevil continued, tapping lightly on one of the armored sides of the frigate, as soon as she do that, one huge part of the ship began to rumble, and collapsing upwards, revealed a large bay, with various ponies looking towards the now revealed exit, also, standing there, was an orange figure talking with some of the solar guard stallions.
"... And please help the elder's first, also, thank you for your..." watever seed was going to say was interrupted when a war cry was heard, a pegasus from outside the ship entered charging towards the AI, on the other hand, Seed simply collapsed, making the beligerant pegasus to loose focus, Rainbow, startled by the sudden dissapeareance of the weid bipedal thing tried to stop, only to crash into a figure which was emerging from one of the corridors of the steel behemoth.
"Ghah" Twilight tried to scream , the air in her lungs escaping a forced way, when a small and furry object hit her chest , aggravating the already bruised ribs of the injured spartan, after greedily gulping air, the purple princess tried to stand on shaky feet, looking towards the exit.
"Please, don't fly on the hangar, you can hit somebody and make an accident" the purple librarian said, still clutching whatever had run over her.
"Twilight?" A raspy voice said, making the older woman to look down, on her arms, looking towards her with disbelief, was the one and only Rainbow Dash, looking at her as if she had seen a ghost, Twilight then did the most logical thing that she could do at the moment.
She fainted.
Celestia's Mercy Hospital, Canterlot, 17 minutes later
In his career , Dr. Bonesaw had seen some of the strangest cases in the hospital, however , he was trully surprised when the two regents of Equestria entered through the front door , carrying in a stretcher what appeared to be a huge furry purple monkey, behind the dyarchy, a torrent of guards, reporters and other ponies were coming , apparently , today isn't going to be a normal day at the hospital.
"Princesses, what do I owe the honor" the doctor said , making a brief bow , which was promptly ignored, however, the doctor pony did not care for this discourtesy, his eyes fixed on the odd patient that was unconcious on the gurney.
"Doctor , please take the patient to the private room, and make sure all her wounds are treated , the crown will cover all the expenses " Princess Celestia said, looking over her shoulder at the surprised doctor, "In addition, make sure all relevant exams on unknown or potentially dangerous diseases towards our race will be done on her, we could not do it in the field due to all the commotion she caused."
"Okay, Princess, if I can ask, who is our strange patient? " the doctor asked, trying to fill the hospital admission form while trotting to keep up with the longer strides of his monarchs
"Princess Twilight Sparkle" Princess Luna interceded, before entering the now opened room, leaving the doctor completely paralyzed, his mouth open wide and his ear twitching, after a while, the medical pony came back.
"It is not supposed that she was a pony ?" Bonesaw said to no one in particular, before going back towards the main lobby.
Isiapkis Training facility
"I do not give a shit that you are some dignitary from a friendly planet, here in the UNSC we train the best, to be the best, and if it were up to me, you two, pair of horses, would be better off in a farm than in a military installation." Colonel Williams shouted, addressing the pair of ponies that had just come to the training center, as he droned on, private Twilight Sparkle was thinking how they ended in this mess.
After the retrieval mission from Isis, Gipsy team was on a reconnaissance mission when a sudden blast of light from a nearby creek called the attention of the spartan veterans, when they reached the site, however , many in the company could not believe their eyes , in a clear apparently created by an explosion , a pair of horses , if I could be given that term , lay completely still, however, the vibrant colors of their coats , one purple and one orange, told the soldiers that those were not normal animals, Fred102 , as he was approaching, noticed that one of the animals was still conscious, but he was totally frozen when the purple horse turned it's head towards the soldier, and spoke with a raspy, but clearly femenine voice.
"Help."
After all the bureaucratic process, uncomfortable questions and meaningless paperwork, in the end the UNSC acknowledged that the two foreign horses found in the crater were no threat, despite the constant interventions to militarize the skills that the 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' possessed, so they give civilian rights and priviledges as foreign dignataries to the two ponies and moved on.
then the invasion to the Earth happened.
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" Applejack, run! " Twilight said breathlessly, while both kept running outside the shopping district , however , several unknown ships began to attack people in public areas of the city, after running for a while, suddenly, she stumbled with a contingent of invaders, which consisted of several small aliens with gas masks and a pair of tall aliens , their blue and red armor marking them as leaders of the pack, after the surprise to find animals roaming around the city, the commander of the covenant contingent gave orders to exterminate the pair of unusual horses, however, he didn't know about the teleportation ability of one of the equines, on the other hand, Twilight was paralyzed by fear, seeing the weapons loading to end their lives, instinctively she began teleporting all over the place, calling the attention of the aliens, meanwhile, one of several companies of UNSC soldiers that were collaborating with the evacuation noticed the strange gleams in one of the commercial areas, so they approached to check the strange fenomenon, also one of the spartan that knew about the strange horses found in Isis was also in the squad, and after a brief scuffle, he could help the two mares in trouble.
The next thing that Twilight remembered, was one big blue and yellow alien ripping one wall by himself, barreling towards her rescuers, only for all the memory to stay frozen, after blinking a couple of times, she noticed a blue pony in one of the nearby buildings, looking down, Princess Luna hopped over the ledge and gliding effortlessly , she approached the still wary alicorn.
'I assume, Twilight Sparkle that this is only a memory, or a vivid nightmare, I am correct? Luna bellowed, looking down to the purple pony, her face showing no expression.
'Princess Luna, what are you doing in my memories'the purple mare began, looking panicked towards her fellow equine 'I dont...'
'Be at peace, dear Twilight, you are simply unconscious, thy friend Rainbow Dash knocked you out when she thought that the one called 'Seed' was harming the survivors from Manehattan.'
'So, all of this is a dream'the purple librarian said, looking towards the gun pointed to her head, then when she touched the weapon, it began to disintegrate, as all of the remaining memory, after a while, only Luna and herself remained.
'I guess you are awakening, Twilight, see you on the other side, also you can tell us all that happened to you, as I can see, this is a very interesting story' the moon goddess said, looking straight to the eyes of her fellow princess, 'see you soon'
On the real world, Twilight stirred, only to open her eyes suddenly, sitting straight on the all too small bed that some of the members of the royal guard had improvised on the private wing of the hospital, turning around, she opened her mouth in disbelief, sitting near the window, her back turned to the bed, Celestia was watching intently from one of the windows to the UNSC harmony sitting near the capitol, turning her head, the spartan also noticed Princess Luna, she was on a nearby bed, also awakening from her slumber, the moon alicorn looking straight to the veteran spartan.
"Welcome to the land of the living Twilight," the dark Goddess said, picking herself up from her bed, "I really hope that you are better."
Information
"Princess ..." the warrior said, looking beyond with some dull eyes, "what happened here?"
The night mistress opened her mouth, then closed it, sighing and putting her thoughts in order, she tried to speak again.
"After the disappearance of the two of you, nothing was ever the same, all ponies that you knew and loved, simply surrendered to life," Luna said frowning, "Rainbow Dash never wanted to do stunts again, Pinkie Pie simply went depressed and Rarity lost her inspiration, after a while, they simply moved back to their usual routine, however the change was very noticeable to all of us."
"Sorry to interrupt, Princess, but what happened to Fluttershy?," Applejack said, ducking to enter the room, while watching all the other mares currently on the room.
"That's another mystery," Celestia said, moving closer to Twilight, and finally managing to put his head in the lap of the now altered mare, "When war broke out, we looked for all the other elements, but she was the only one that our forces could not find, in the end, we never knew what happened to the element of kindness, just ... disappeared. "
"Wait a sec," Applejack interrupted, quickly turning her head toward the alabaster alicorn, "you are telling me that at the time when the war started, you gave priority to the other elements?" the farmer continued, barely contained fury in the voice of the mare.
Despite the apparent danger, Celestia could not stop smiling, "Rainbow Dash said exactly the same thing at the time that was discharged from the Wonderbolts, however ..." Whatever the harbinger of the sun was saying were interrupted when a fist crashed into the side of her face, also being expelled from the bed, Celestia Invictus was splayed against the wall of the hospital while Applejack simply waved her hand, dispelling the pain of the titanic blow that had just inflicted upon her princess.
"APPLEJACK" Twilight yelled, then she clutched her ribs on pain, while extending her hand trying to contain the irate mare, "STAND DOWN!" , however, the orange mare was walking slowly, gyrating her shoulders while approaching the raising mare, then she blinked, floating one meter above the ground in a light blue aura.
"While I am happy that finally we get clearance to come here" a sophisticated voice said from the door, "I could guess that the moment isn't the appropriate, right dearies?", at the time that Twilight could finally stop coughing after having been forced to try to stop his partner, the former librarian could focus on the other mares who were entering the room, unable to contain a small gasp of horror at seeing Pinkie Pie in a wheelchair, Applejack, on the other hand, could only watch, flabbergasted, how the previous hyper pony was looking at the scene developing in the hospital, her flat mane and tail being short to avoiding accidents with her "legs."
"What in tarnation happened to you, Pinkie?" Twilight said, tears in her eyes, while the party planner slowly turned towards the spartan in the bed.
"The war happened, Twilight..." Pinkie Pie said, looking towards the purple princess, a sad smile on her lips, and her eyes watering as well, a little grunt make all the mares shift their attention towards the indentation on the wall, and the white princess which was slowly picking herself up from the floor.
"Ouch" Rainbow said from her bed, "I guess that now there are two elements who had decked Celestia in the face," the speedster said, a knowing smirk in her lips, "oh, before I forget, Lulu, you owe me fifty bits." At the other elements surprise, Luna's cheeks tinted with a vivid rosy color, while she began to search on her mane for a coin purse, Twilight was analyzing her friends, from all the bunch, Rarity was the only one who was dressed, her impeccable white and gold robe signaling her as one of the magikorps, or maybe as one diplomat, the spartan wasn't sure, Rainbow Dash was on a bed near the door, with a cocky smile on her muzzle, while Pinkie was trying to make room while maneuvering her wheeling chair out of the way, suddenly, Twilight remembered something.
"Ok, I understand why I am on a bed, but why is Rainbow on a bed too?" the librarian said, tilting her head to one side.
"I can answer that, Warlock" Seed said, bursting from Applejack's helmet on the floor, "After she aggravated your injuries, she tried again to catch me, which ended with her colliding head first against one side of a scorpion tank, actually I am still trying to process how the tank now has a dent in the armor," the AI explained, while analyzing all the other occupants in the room.
"Okay, it is Rainbow Dash, that explains it, she has a head as hard as rocks." Applejack snorted, amused.
"Damn right I have... Heeey, wait a second!" the speedster said, only to catch the meaning behind the farmer's vocal barb.
Twilight on the other hand, could not stand the small snort and then, laughter escaped her lips, Applejack, meanwhile, was watching carefully, after several years, the cowgirl finally was seeing a genuine smile coming from the librarian.
"As much fun as it sounds, I think it is clear that Applejack just attacked royalty," Rainbow said, interrupting the touching scene, on the other hand, the joy that Twilight felt at this time broke like glass, turning quickly, she could only watch as Celestia approached the farmer, inflamed nose indicating at least one fracture, clearing her throat, and spitting a little blood clot, the ruler of Equestria simply sat on its haunches, and, looking to the now panicking farmer, she could only say, with a nasal voice.
"I had it coming."
"While I find it funny that my sister is hit on the snout, Lady Applejack, we have a pretty delicate situation right now, four years ago the war began" the Princess of the night said, pointing with her front hoof to the two spartans "While you two were missing, all our allies simply abandoned us, except for Cadence and Shining Armor, and even now, the Crystal Empire is being besieged by griffons and changelings."
"What do you mean siege!" Twilight exclaimed, trying to get out of bed, "My brother and my sister in law are being attacked and we're sitting here ?!"
"Twilight, please calm down," Celestia said, a look of pain and anger in her eyes, "While I would like to help the empire, we have neither the strength nor the resources to go to their aid also right now we are a bit tight, since you brought refugees from Manehattan, the royal guard and the military are quite busy controlling those ponies, not to mention that you're hurt and the only military aid I could send consists on a couple of balloons with at the best 200 ponies, I will not send more innocent to their deaths. " The sun princess said, again lost in her memories, with an edge of steel in her voice, in the room, however, tempers were about to explode, Applejack was again clenching her fists, a look of incredulity toward her regent, Rainbow and Rarity were together in the bed of the athlete, none of them really wanting to look up, and tears running from the eyes of the ex-fashion guru, Pinkie Pie was simply in a corner, moving so uncomfortable in her front hooves.
"No more"
the whisper was almost unnoticed by all except for the sisters.
"Twilight?" Celestia asked, her arched eyebrow indicating a new concern on the monarch.
"NO MORE!" Twilight shouted, startling everyone in the room, "I WILL NOT TOLERATE MORE WAR AND MORE DESTRUCTION, I HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING FOR ALMOST SEVEN YEARS IN A WAR NOT EVEN MY OWN, I DID DRAG MY BEST FRIEND DUE TO A DAMN MISCALCULATION, I HAVE KILLED, FINALLY I RETURN TO MY COUNTRY, FOR WHAT, TO FIND IT ON A WAR, I HATE THIS!" After all this time, finally the purple warrior broke down, tears of regret, of pain and loss breaking the proverbial dam and tracing down her cheeks, almost immediately, all her friends and the two princesses were near her, trying to console the now distraught alicorn.
After Twilight finally calmed down, and wipe away her tears, she finally could see her mentor to the face, however, when she did that, a look of mild surprise was on her face, making Celestia take a step back.
"I know that my face is swelled due to your friend's punch, Twilight, but you are beginning to worry me, there is something in my face ?" the alabaster alicorn said, looking troubled.
"Princess, is not disrespect or anything, but you magical field is greatly diminished," Twilight said flatly, looking intently at Celestia, "apparently is a recent effect, and it seems that it is increasing, please tell me, you have experienced weakness, dizziness, nausea or something similar? " the purple warrior kept talking not noticing that all the other mares in the room were in a state of shock by the words of the former librarian.
"But Twilight, how can you see the magical field?" Celestia said, amazed.
"A couple of years ago, on Earth, I was researching how to integrate magic and science, one of the many inventions or developments that I managed was a way to see the aether field, certainly on earth is weaker than in Equis, but after I pleaded to the scientists when they were changing us in order to join the battlefront, i could talk them so they give me one advantage, my eyes can see the different patterns on the aether field simply paying attention to it.
"This is most troubling, young Twilight, because this means that somepony is actively trying to damp my control and my magic," Celestia said, looking a little cast down, but before they could continue to talk, a little purple humanoid burst from Twilight's discarted helmet.
"Warlock there are five ships coming through from the general direction of Manehattan, they are approaching Canterlot, and they are griffon battleships and apparently one big cruiser." The AI said, looking to the spartan, which was trying to get up from the bed, partially succeeding, Twilight hissed in pain when she tried to get up, her ribs still mending after her accident.
"Woah there, nelly" Applejack jumped, resting her hand on the shoulder of the hurt soldier, "don't exert yourself, sugarcube, you are just mending your wounds, and we don't want them worsening," she continued, making the purple pony laid again on the bed, then, turning to her friend's AI, she began to bark orders. "Dusk, where are those airships?"
"They are pretty far, at least five or six kilometers out of the mountain range where we rescued all the survivors from Manehattan, I am following them via the surveillance satellite that we put in orbit before re-entering the planet," The AI said, ignoring all the other's questions, Applejack began to pace in the room, one hand on her chin, after a while, she simply stopped, clapping her hands together, "Ok, Dusk, there is what we are going to do, engage the optic camouflage on the Harmony, we are going to move all the VIP's in this room to the ship."
"Roger." the AI said, disappearing, nodding to herself, Applejack turned around, looking to all the ponies gathered in the room, "Princesses, we need to move all of our friends to the Harmony , also I'm moving purple smartass over there," she said, pointing to the prostate Twilight, "We are going to investigate all about this diminishing power's problem after we deal with the griffon's, I need you two to please stay in the palace and try to investigate what are those damn birds doing in our land."
Before the farmer could continue, Twilight finally got up from her bed, and looking towards Applejack, she clenched her fists.
"I am going to stay with my fellow princesses, Applejack."
General Redsnow was watching Canterlot while the "Revenger" approached the city, after a long time, finally griffons would reclaim the land that rightfully belonged to them, according to their history, and the general was beside himself with joy, after four years, the war was apparently coming to an end, if his agent in Canterlot was right, and even so, the scumbag that was betraying the ponies would come to Griffinheim as a war hero for all that it mattered to the old general, a betray is still a betray, anyhow, the old bird's brain was in overdrive, thinking about what to do with the Changelings, the mere thought erasing the smile on the general's beak.
"I don't know about this, G" the general spoke without seeing, turning around spotting one of his subordinates, "are you sure we are doing the right thing here?", before the soldier could answer, a fat griffon with a mustard coat and white wings with purple tips appeared on the deck, earning a glare from some of the more traditional griffons. Sending a diplomat in the culture of Griffinheim is seen as a sign of weakness, 'however, the fat bastard is one of the nobles who are driving the war, and even more importantly, he was the ambassador to Canterlot before the war' , thought the old general, 'furthermore, he is the only one who knows of our agent' sighing, the war veteran turned to see the fat diplomat, dipping his head in respect.
"Ambassador Whisperwind, how are you faring on our expedition" the general said, when the massive griffon finally arrived near him.
"Simply awful, general," he began to say the obese griffon, "your men are the biggest bunch of misfits and thugs I have seen, moreover, the emperor is worried about the companies that were sent to the assault of Manehattan, is there any news of them?" continued the ambassador, ignoring the glares that were being held by crew members towards him.
The general didn't answer to Whisperwind, earning a glare from the griffon, after a while he simply nodded and changed the subject, " I don't know about the squadrons send to Manehattan, however, what are the spies from Chrysalis doing?" he retorted, when the ambassador didn't answer, he continued, " At any rate, if your inside agent is right, Celestia is about to fall and give us our rightful land, what are a couple of squadrons missing to you ambassador?"
"T-that's beside the point, general!" the other griffon answered, appalled, "those are our allies and we need to investigate that..." whatever the fat griffon was going to say was lost when he noticed the gashes that the general was doing with his talons on the rail of the ship.
"Allies, you say?" Redsnow said, "I personally believe that it is a disgrace that we are joined to those bugs, they even lost against the ponies once!" he spat, taking a step towards the now trembling ambassador, "also we were allied with Equestria before, but they sort of give us some kind of tech, and we now are their thugs, ain't that right, ambassador? he continued, giving the other griffon a glare.
"Enough" a calm voice was heard, turning around, both griffons saw a similar colored female griffon coming towards them, "Uncle, please spare the ambassador of your wrath, and focus on the escorting mission our emperor give to us," the gryphoness continued, then bowing to the fat griffon, she lifted her claw with an inviting sign towards the cabins of the ship, "allow me to get you out of the deck ambassador, we are giving these fine soldiers problems, and we are almost on Mt Canter, so we need to prepare."
"You are right, as always, Valkyr, sorry for my outburst" Redsnow said, then turning around, he began to shout orders to the other griffons, meanwhile the fat griffon and the gryphoness entered the cabin, ignoring the rest of the soldiers.
"Well, sir, I think that went well, still I am uneasy about this," another gryphoness said, turning around ruffling her wings.
"Don't worry Gilda, the soon we get the heir and the fat bastard on Canterlot, the sooner we can go back to the imperium" the general answered, disappearing below deck, after a while, Gilda followed him, giving a last look to the looming mountain in the distance.
Ambassador Whisperwind was many things, one of the most influential griffons that was on the war business, after having invested much of his time as ambassador of goodwill between the Griffons and Equestria, the obese Griffon decided to help his nation by paying for much of the equipment that the changelings "found" among ancient ruins, and with the first skirmishes won by Griffinheim, He openly began to finance the war without any remorse, seeing it more as a lucrative business than the loss of life.
'In addition, the only thing at this moment that could stop the imperial armies would be a miracle' , the fat griffon thought to himself, smiling in a sinister way, after the hostilities began, a former contact of Equestria began to send letters to the avian, Requesting political asylum if he helped to end the war, after consulting several times with his personal advisers, the ambassador brought the matter to the king's own paws, the answer was that no matter what happened, if the contact of the former ambassador could stop the bloodshed, he would be received as a hero in the empire. In the course of the four years since the war started, thanks to communications made by glass balls and magic messages, the traitor in the country of Equestria began to give strategic places, future incursions and even cities to which the griffon could go to attack because the Equestrian army was concentrating on maintaining supply lines and contacts, over the course of four years, thanks to this mine of information, griffons had military superiority in the immense majority of the now decimated country of equines.
And all thanks to the mysterious man of confidence of the ambassador.
Whisperwind was aware that many griffons were jealous or directly against their political maneuvers, and, on personal request to the king, Chrysalis changelings could not interfere with the ambassador directly, which was reinforced the first time that the ambassador's own personal guard found a spy sniffing in his family mansion, the next day, Whisperwind had the nerve to interrupt a meeting between Queen Chrysalis and the king, dragging the spy as if it were a simple animal and demanding it's execution.
After half an hour of both parties shouting to each other, finally the king came near the spy, and on a swift move of talons, simply cut the rope on the changeling's body and ordered his guard to take it away to the catacombs below Griffonstone, however that was not well seen by the changeling queen, who immediately asked for a full pardon for her spy, saying that he was simply following orders, which then made the members of parliament, who until then were simply watching the exchange, began to scream in fury, for if a simple spy was poking noses into the high families, no one was safe, after this Chrysalis was forced to remove all the spies within the high circles of Griffinheim.
'That damn queen had it coming from a long time now' Whisperwind thought in fury, clenching his talons,'anyhow, that day we showed those damn things why they didn't mess with the griffons' , now smirking, he turned towards his companion, the soldier known as Valkyr.
Canterlot Castle, Two hours prior to the apparition of UNSC "Harmony"
Prince Blueblood was quite happy, having just spoken to a pair of senators, the pompous noble was absolutely sure that this time Equestria would see the end of the war, after four years, he was doing everything in his hooves to surrender to the invading army, yet his stubborn princess and the Ex-fashionista and element bearer, Rarity, always had the last word in the debates about surrendering to the griffons, however, for the stubborn sun goddess and feebly white pony, their allies and resources were coming for an end, After the war began, the nobleman had dedicated himself to try to spread rumors and win the parliamentary vote to surrender to the Griffon/Changeling coalition without immediate success, however, with the fall of Manhattan and a pair of well-placed bribes, He could finally win votes in order to end this war and establish a new parliament with him as its director, finally getting the abdication of the soft hearted Celestia and her half demon sister.
Obviously, according to the prince, who would oppose him as director of a new parliament once they realized that the diarchy could not stop the invaders, who could suspect the noble prince, who had been weakening his aunt with a poison hidden in the tea that the princess drank every day, and thanks to a servant of the palace who owed him a few favors, it had been administered daily to the naive monarch without suspicion.
At this time, the treacherous prince was more concerned about the princess's sister, where Celestia was naive, Princess Luna had shown a level of observation and prevention that made Blueblood wonder how Celestia had won the rebellion that her sister had orchestrated more than a thousand years ago, however, since the prince's multiple contacts were infiltrated within the internal structure of the government of Equestria in this moment he was practically the owner of the palace, Celestia had so blindly trusted the young prince with the present crisis, that she allowed him to bring whatever help he could consider to the palace, which allowed him full access to the servants and soldiers hoof picked and paid handsomely to roam free in the royal princesses home, also Celestia, ignoring his sister, who on several occasions tried to prevent the arrogant prince from bringing more soldiers and servants to the palace, had allowed him to direct some offensives on trying to regain terrain from the griffons, which, supposedly, ended with the deaths of thousands due to the strong foothold from the griffons, however, those losses were because the poor information that "General" Blueblood provided to the troops prior to their deployment, also killing lots of ponies which could have given the power hungry Blueblood problems when he was ready to execute his master plan.
In addition, there was still the matter of Manhattan, the sources of the prince could only speculate about what had happened in the city after evacuating the survivors, not that the prince was interested anyway, however,how more than four hundred survivors had simply vanished was worrying the prince, he had sent a detachment of his own guard to try and track over the survivors, but after having arrived in what was left of the city, and having found a clearing where a strange object had exploded, His servants reported a massacre, strange hollow metal fragments were scattered all over the place, in addition to the corpses of at least eighty griffons and a few other changelings, but no trace of the thing or things that had caused this, actually, just an hour ago, one of the magicians who went with the detachment of the prince had informed Blueblood about strange marks that suddenly disappeared next to several wreckage that indicated a great number of ponies together, later only to find some huge marks burned in the floor of the Forest, then ... nothing. Now Blueblood was no fool, however, he couldn't understand what have happened with only little information to go by, also the disappearance of the survivors left a bad taste in his mouth, because he had sent some of the troops loyal to Celestia to go there as support, and by now the griffons would have sended him a message that confirmed that they have "taken care of the issue" as many times they have eloquently had said.
Finally the snob prince was jolted out of his musings by a loud clatter of metal against stone, when he looked up, one of his guards was on the railing, looking terrified out of his mind, his weapons long forgotten on the floor.
"What is the meaning of this!" Blueblood half yelled, half whined towards his soldier, "Get yourself together, also you are guarding my palace, no looking... towards..."
Whatever the prince was going to say stayed in his mouth, because, looming on the horizon, a huge floating 'something' was coming towards Canterlot, looming against the red sunset.
Author's Note
I am Alive!!!
Sorry for the delay, this chapter and the one before it were simply fillers towards the end of the first arc, also sorry for the delay on these, I just finished to move out from my old house and finally I could put my lazy ass in the computer to finish this chapters after organizing all the stuff we brought with us from our old house.
Canterlot Castle, two hours later
"How come she is not available!" Prince Blueblood exclaimed, shaking the poor butler, "my auntie is always available in these cases, more so that five warships of the griffons are approaching"
"Yes, my prince, but at this moment Princess Twilight Sparkle has imposed martial law, active immediately, after discovering that Princess Celestia was apparently being poisoned."
Slowly, Blueblood turned to the butler, a look of terror on his face, "could you repeat that last, servant?" The proud prince said slowly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, "are you saying that the princess was being poisoned, and that Twilight Sparkle has reappeared?"
"Yes, sir, apparently the incident of 17 years ago created a portal that sent Princess Twilight and Lady Applejack to another planet, once they secured assistance, they helped their new allies and in return they offered help and technologies which allowed the princess and the element of honesty to pass safely back to Equis, "the steward clarified, not realizing the look of terror now on the face of the prince," In addition, Twilight Sparkle was able to detect a rare poison that was being administered to Princess Celestia in order to weaken her powers over the sun and cloud her judgment. "
"Do not tell me," the prince said softly, "and why would my aunt give the power to the newly arrived Twilight, instead of her ... adorable sister Princess Luna?"
"Apparently Princess Luna never wanted the transfer of the command to her, she always insisted to Celestia that the court was hers, while the duties more ... Military were their obligation"
'Which does not explain why he let me take command in all those military operations' the noble thought to himself, 'unless ...'
At that precise moment, several thestrals appeared from several hidden points, as well as emerging from the rooms, surrounding the prince and his guards quickly.
"Gentlemen," Blueblood said, after a while, "to what do we owe this surprise entry?"
"At last your crimes come to bite your own hooves, 'prince'," One of the guards, an imposing thestral in black armor with red accents said, his eyes shining, "Under the orders of Colonel Twilight Sparkle, you, Blueblood the Third, are under arrest for conspiracy and attempted murder on Princess Celestia."
At that moment, the prince stopped looking at the butler who was smirking,and turning slowly toward the bat pony, a sinister smile edged on his face.
"Of course, Commander Vendetta, however there are several problems with that phrase, the main being" quickly charging his horn, the prince proceeded to make a daylight enchantment, which illuminated the whole corridor, effectively leaving all the guards temporarily incapacitated, including his own mercenaries, "IF YOU CAN CAPTURE ME FIRST!"
"Cursed wretch," the commander mumbled, trying to clear the white points on his vision, "TO ALL THE GUARDS OF THE LADY OF NIGHT AND UNDER GENERAL SPARKLE COMMAND, BLUEBLOOD HAS ESCAPED, CLOSE THE CASTLE IMMEDIATELY!" The thestral exclaimed, the incantations of his armor conveying the message to all the guards in the fortress.
Several hours before
After sending the princesses aboard the 'Harmony' , Twilight Sparkle was walking in the hallways of the castle, lost in thought, yet her destiny was clear.
There was a traitor among the walls of the venerable castle of Canterlot.
Even so, the young mare was thinking of several things, among them, the last order of Celestia and Luna.
"Twilight, we can not trust anyone right now," Celestia said, while several medical probes were examining the alabaster alicorn, "however since I am disabled and Luna does not have all the resources available to collaborate on this research, I feel the need to declare you in command, since my own sister would have personal reasons to turn this serious matter into a witch hunt. "
"I totally agree with you, older sister," Princess Luna said, entering the medical bay, "in fact, I already have the documents that give power to our new princess."
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," Twilight said, "I do not want anything to do with the war, I've been practically these last years in a conflict that was not even mine, due to an error, Applejack has killed, I pulled the trigger myself And I have ended countless lives, thanks to my stupid mistake now we are marked by death, we are monsters in the eyes of our people. " The purple mare said, without looking at the celestial sisters.
Before any of them could answer, however, the purple mare turned suddenly, looking directly into the eyes of the rulers, "I solemnly promise, for my immortal soul and for those who have sacrificed themselves so that I and Applejack may now stand before you, that I will not take this opportunity to take control or do anything contrary to the enormous responsibility that you have imposed on me, and I promise you, that this war will end, after all ... "a ruthless smile on the lips of The former librarian.
"... now our enemy is facing a couple of Spartans."
After this, the hours passed in a fast, but rather chaotic way inside the castle, Warlock's first stop was the barracks ...
"Who is in charge of this site?" The purple Spartan asked, after nearly pulling the door off its hinges.
"Whoever asks," a pony with a yellowish coat, with red mane and tail, replied, "if it is not for Prince Blueblood, no one in this guard will move a hoof." He added, earning a pair of furious stares from other ponies in the room.
"It is funny that you name Blueblood, private ..." Twilight answered, completely ignoring the rest of the ponies in the castle barracks.
"Insolent golem, My name is Furious Charge, and Prince Blueblood put ME in charge of his soldiers personally," the stallion replied, a smile on his face.
"First of all, it's the Princesses' soldiers, and second of all, you're fired, as well as everyone that Blueblood hired, I suggest you pick up your belongings and leave the castle grounds immediately," Twilight said, turning to leave the Barracks, ignoring the looks of disbelief of many of the soldiers present.
"Behind you!" Was the only warning that Twilight needed.
Commander Vendetta was angry, after receiving the latest field reports, again the citizenship was complaining about the royal guard, after the pompous ass named Blueblood took command of the military forces of the castle, the idiot prince proceeded to fill the palace with mercenaries who were not even loyal to the country, but to money. In addition, the night guard, composed only of thestrals at the time, was almost about to be disbanded, equally by the 'prince', because, according to the pompous Imbecile, the usefulness of this guard was nothing more than to be "the lackeys of a princess in disuse", textual words of Blueblood in the last meeting of state.
Then there was Furious Charge, that damn stallion who did not recognize a crime unless it was against Blueblood...
'I hope something happens, at this moment we will not even be beaten by the Changelings and the Griffons, but by our own people.' The thestral thought for himself, as he headed for the barracks of the castle, turning in a corner was the door that would lead the unfortunate commander to another fruitless talk with the idiot of the captain of the guard.
A door which, apparently and by physical forces, literally exploded outwards, bathing the surprised thestral in fragments of wood, after recovering, Vendetta noticed a twisted and bloody body in a hole on the wall amid the debris, and a feminine voice saying something inside the room.
"IN THE NAME OF THE LADY OF THE NIGHT, WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE!" Vendetta howled, at the same time entering the room, however, the scene was one of the strangest ever seen by the veteran.
A huge humanoid thing was in the middle of the room squatting, several ponies scattered between the beds, even a couple hung on the ceiling, twenty feet away. The commander noted, with some satisfaction, that only Blueblood's followers had literally been reduced to nothing, many showing large-scale impacts on their bodies.
"Commander, sir, this golem came asking for the person in command, then it said that all the soldiers hired by Blueblood should be removed immediately" a young recruit said, hiding behind one of the beds, that in the middle of the fight (If it could be called that), informed the thestral, "at the moment of its retirement, the commander Furious Charge and several soldiers attacked it.
"Is that true, creature?" The thestral said calmly, turning his neck and looking directly at the figure, now standing.
"Sir, yes sir, however, this result was in self-defense," the thing replied, "and since we are introducing ourselves, My name is Twilight Sparkle, and ..." Whatever Twilight was to say came to nothing, immediately all the ponies (who could) bowed their heads, Commander Vendetta himself doing the same.
"We were informed by the Princesses, furthermore, the true soldiers of the castle were here in the moment in which you and Lady Applejack arrived with that strange ship, so there is no reason to have formalities, now, how can I be of service, my lady" The Thestral said, looking up, Twilight sighed, taking off her helmet and putting it against her hip.
"I come to make public the decision of the celestial sisters, and to assume command as general of Equestria in the present war" the spartan said without emotion, taking the orders signed by the two sisters and presenting them to the commander, "besides, I come to request aid in The capture of Blueblood the third, under the charges of conspiracy against the crown and possible betrayal of the country."
for Vendetta, Hearth's Warming Eve has come early.
The next stop of the purple spartan, now with many guards at her disposal, was the house of maids in the gardens, after much inquiring, finally one of the servants, under the great pressure of having the whole guard over, confessed to have helped the prince with the poison, confessing also that she had no idea of what it was, since Blueblood lied to her assuring that it was a tonic for the Princess, and never he told him from where it obtained that strange dust to add to the tea.
After this, Twilight had ordered to all the remaining guard to pin blueblood and arrest him, when the order from Vendetta resonated through the castle however, no one knew where Twilight Sparkle was.
"Damn bastard," Blueblood growled, trapped in one of the hidden passageways of his room, "If only the griffons have come earlier, this could have been avoided, and now I would be seated as the new King of Equestria"
"And that's all I would like to know, Blueballs" a southern drawl was barely heard by the prince, then the wall literally exploded outwards, taking the now screaming stallion with it, only to face multiple guards pointing weapons towards the cowardly prince, and another golem grasping firmly the traitor by his tail.
In face of this new developments, the prince acted accordingly.
"Um, I surrender?" Blueblood hesitantly says, only for one orange fist to collide with his face, knocking him unconscious, turning around, Applejack looked towards the guards.
"Let's just said that he deserved it." the farmer says.
"It is a shame that I couldn't hit him first, my lady, but you are holding it too high." one of the guards answered, making the spartan snort.
Author's Note
FINALLY! sorry for the delay, everypony, please, as always, comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Meanwhile, unknowingly, Ambassador Wisperwind was gloating over his little victory, according to the traitor Blueblood, the heavenly sisters themselves were going to fall on this day, because, thanks to all the help between the obese griffon and the prince, poison Which was being administered to Celestia was fulfilling its task, and thanks to the poisonous words of the prince himself, the stupid mare had left to the command of some troops, marking victories pretty easy for Griffons, while the campaign with the Changelings continued advancing .
With this thought, the small smile on the face of the fat griffon momentarily disappeared, although it was true that the effort between his own people and the changelings was evident, it was those insects that had provided the warriors of Griffenhalla with the so-called 'carbines ', And it was thanks to the elaboration of these weapons by the Changelings, that in the end the war was possible.
'None of this matters,' the ambassador thought, 'once we put the pompous imbecile here in command, he will provide the materials for his own destruction.' The changeling carbines themselves were some pretty awful weapons, yet the version the shapeshifters gave the griffons lacked a crucial element to make them truly unbeatable.
Thaumium, the scarce mineral in Griffonia, was one of the most rare and precious materials for the Griffons, not only because of it's resistant magical properties, but also because of the ability to penetrate shields of magical origin, as well as the peculiarity of being lethally effective against magic users.
And the mineral, which, thanks to a perfect manipulation on the part of the ambassador, the prince had ceded the rights for his exploitation to the griffons of the frontier, thus guaranteeing that the armories of the empire could at last produce weapons capable of neutralizing even the Celestial Sisters.
'The cherry on the cake,' Whisperwind thought to himself, 'is that those insignificant Changelings do not know of my little agreement with the stupid little prince, once we have conquered Equestria, my mercenaries will be able to go and murder that stupid queen and her entourage, And the Griffons 'empire will once again be the greatest power in the known world.' The mustard-colored griffon ended up laughing like a maniac, raising worried looks from the members of the airboat crew.
"Now," the obese bird said, turning his keen gaze upon the immaculate castle on the horizon, "we should turn to our prize, shall we not?"
None of the crew seemed to notice the brief green flashes in the ambassador's eyes.
Canterlot Trone Room, 45 minutes later.
To say that Twilight Sparkle was not ready was an inference of the greatest caliber. After the successful arrest of Blueblood (who, inexplicably did not have some teeth due to some incident during his capture, according to several soldiers and an Applejack quite insistent in evading the subject, which generated more questions), the rest of the nobility was brought to the throne room, which was also being remodeled with a throne that currently supports the enormous weight of the reappeared princess and her armor (several of the servants still could not understand how anyone could break a solid marble throne just by sitting down), so, when the nobles arrived, several of the pompous stallions and mares did not expect to see a purple metal golem next to a destroyed throne and the best adviser to Princess Celestia, Sunny Edge, giving a stern lecture to the aforementioned golem, who was in a position of submission to the disaster caused by his ... back.
"I understand perfectly, Your Highness, that you want to always be in armor at the moment, but there are simply moments in which a more... delicate approach can work wonders for your image." The honey-colored mare was saying, frowning towards the mess caused by the armored princess.
"I understand Sunny," the golem replied with a surprisingly feminine voice for many of Canterlot's snobs, "Damn it, Celestia is going to kill me"
"Ahem"
Turning quickly, the mare and the spartan met with a multitude of eyes in them, before the panic took one of the most irrational members of the nobility to act, one of the guards stationed at the door proceeded to do the respective Announcement of petitioners in court.
"Darling," Rarity exclaimed among the nobles, opening up to the front and running to give a hug (which Twilight, because of the height difference, could not reciprocate) "I thank Faust almighty that you are well, what happened exactly? ! "
"Hello Rarity," the spartan replied, rising from the ground, "eh ... well, I did not really remember that the armor was that heavy, since the princesses put me in charge, I wanted to meet all the nobles and ... . "
What Twilight was going to say was forgotten, when all the nobles heard that the Celestial Sisters had left the spartan in charge they began to whisper and outright shout towards the startled spartan, in the subsequent chaos no one noticed a young noble trying to go without raising suspicion towards the door.
Door that was suddenly opened inwards by a kick, and Applejack came in with her shotgun at the ready, seeing the noble just in front of her totally surprised, the cowgirl smiled.
"I have you now, damn changeling!"
"Applejack, wait !!" Twilight tried to warn, only to have the farmer pull the trigger, separating the legs from the body to the noble, at the same time ripping its disguise.
And bathing the nobles who were closer in changeling blood in the process, the closest to Twilight were protected by a barrier that the young mage could conjure in the last second.
Seeing the destruction and the chaos that she caused, the orange spartan simply leaned on the butt of the still smoking gun, shrugging her shoulders, and staring at the stunned Rarity and the angry princess in front of her, Applejack simply lifted her hand towards the helmet, giving the protective headgear a couple of taps.
"What, you told me to use the gizmos you build in the armor, did you not?"
Unknown location
"My queen, we're losing it," one of the informants said, turning to the queen, "less than a minute ago, Ginniax's escape was cut off by an absolute pain in its end, ending the exchange of information." The changeling added, turning to his matriarch.
"That was the last thing the drone could transmit, Informant," Chrysalis said monotonously, not paying much attention to the incident.
"Twilight Sparkle has returned" the informant said, not noticing the sudden change in the atmosphere of the room.
"You can repeat that one more time, Reporter, I seem to have heard you said that Twilight Sparkle has returned." Chrysalis said, a vein in his forehead throbbing omnipresent.
"Indeed my queen, besides ..."
Outside the throne room of the hive, suddenly a door was issued, the impact showing that not only the door, but an unfortunate changeling had provoked the anger of the queen, the guard, however, impassively continued guarding the now exposed room Of the throne, until the matriarch herself crossed the threshold, frowning.
"Contact the generals, I want the Crystal Empire under my control and I want it NOW!" Chrysalis shouted, one of the guards leaving his post to fulfill his orders, turning around, the queen focused her attention on the other guard, "and send someone to clean this mess, if the drone lives, to take him to the medical ward for diagnosis and rehabilitation."
"Yes my queen," the guard said, "and what about our spy? as far as I know she is related to the Spymaster."
"Unfortunately, she was captured and killed, maybe the Spymaster would help more if she had... more personal reasons in the war" the queen said simply, her green eyes glowing.
Canterlot Castle
"I DEMAND TO SEE CELESTIA AND HER WARMONGERING SISTER AT ONCE!!!" Whisperwind yelled, After having been ordered to leave their aircrafts behind, the ambassador and a security contingent, with General Redsnow, Guilda, Valkyrie and three other soldiers, were escorted on foot to the castle, which was now A state of emergency by the appearance of a spy, which to the fat griffon the truth was without care, in the long run, was finally to make capitulate the greatest forces of the world to the will of the empire.
"And as we have said several times, ambassador, at this time neither Princess Celestia nor her sister, Princess Luna, are available, in addition, recently have found several evidence of treason on the walls of the castle, so both sisters have chosen a regent instead of them. " For the umpteenth time Glory Shield, the new captain of the guard, said, heading back to the throne room.
"I'm not interested, soldier," Whisperwind said bitingly, ignoring the looks of the general and his niece, "The Griffon Empire has left in my hands the task of finally ending the war." Continued the obese Griffon, a petulant look on his face and a sinister smile at his beak.
"Ah, come to capitulate then?" The solar guard said, smiling, "it is perfectly understandable, outside of having captured Blueblood for treason, of which he will be put on trial in three days, The griffon's come to apologize for the unjust war they have unleashed upon us, and to repair damages?"
"DAMN PONY, WAIT TO PUT THE COMPLAINT BEFORE THE GOVERNOR WHEN WE SIGN THE EQUESTRIAN SURRENDER, TO SEE IF-"
"AMBASSADOR WHISPERWIND, PLEASE!" Fed up with pompous behavior, General Redsnow finally intervened, effectively silencing the ambassador, a thick vein throbbing in the veteran's head.
A tense moment of silence followed the exchange between the two birds, until finally the ambassador realized the words said to him by the guard who was guiding them.
"Guard, I thought I heard that Prince Blueblood was arrested ..."
"You correctly heard ambassador, Blueblood was arrested on charges against the crown, plus treason and regicide attempt, currently General Sparkle is working with the evidence, however, will make some time to meet your ... requests. " The pony said, noting that the fat ambassador seemed to have seen a ghost, "besides, at this moment the high general is in the throne room, waiting for you with some impatience, ah one more thing," turning, Glory Shield observed The griffons, noting with some satisfaction, the uncomfortable looks among the avians, "I suggest you strongly not to remind the general of her... appearance. "With this enigmatic warning, the pony proceeded to open the door, then, standing next to the entrance, gave a final greeting to the griffons.
"ANNOUNCING AMBASSADOR WHISPERWIND, GENERAL REDSNOW, AND SAFETY COURT OF THE GRIFFON EMPIRE!" An aquamarine mare exclaimed, once the doors opened, however, anything else that was to be said was lost in the shriek that came from the pompous griffon beak.
"IN THE NAME OF KING GROVER, WHAT IS THIS ABOMINATION?" Whisperwind exclaimed, pointing with his talon to the armed golem in the middle of the room, effectively drawing the attention of that golem.
"Welcome, visitors," the creature said getting up and approaching to the avians, once at a prudent distance, it proceeded to bring his hands to the head, with a jet of steam the head, or rather the helmet was removed, leaving the griffon gaping at a female face that many of the avians did not believe they were seeing at the moment.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, I am currently the ruler of the solar and lunar courts on behalf of the Eternal Sisters, Princess Celestia and Luna." Twilight said, ignoring the faces of the stunned visitors, turning and resuming her place on the floor, the ex-librarian moved her arm, making a welcome gesture fairly well rehearsed, noting that the griffons did not move, she simply sighed.
"What business did you want to talk to the princesses?"
After a few moments, and seeing that the ambassadors had not moved, Twilight stood up, all the guards of Ambassador Whisperwind immediately lifted their claws and tried to pick up several apparently hidden objects in their robes, however, Twilight simply tilted her head to one side, a loud buzzing sound reverberating in stone and marble, and several small objects were flying towards the princess from the guards' robes, and stuck against the armor of the young Spartan.
"Interesting, this is supposed to be a diplomatic chatter ambassador," Twilight said slowly, "however, your guards are armed, ignoring various laws and protocols, tell me why I would not put them in the dungeons for regicide attempt? " The purple mare said in a whisper, her eyes narrowing a little.
"How ..." one of the guards asked, amazed and a bit intimidated by the princess's enormous armor.
"Easy, actually," the former librarian replied, "these weapons still have metal components with high iron content, any self-respecting magician could have done a magnet spell, ripping these weapons from your claws, as for how I do it in particular, my armor has an standard magnetic clamps to magnetize certain parts to be able to load and carry weapons more easily, the only thing I did was to overload the magnet. "
"And you think it prudent to give us information like this without any kind of regard on security protocols, Your Majesty?" Redsnow said, putting his claw in his chest and bowing his head slightly in reverence.
"It's not really relevant information, this system has been in effect for about twenty years or so." Twilight answered with confidence, "I currently helped to design and implement the repulsion system, which is the system I used to confiscate their weapons "continued the princess, a smile on her face, pointing her finger to the stunned guards.
"Besides, I suppose the spies of Chrysalis or you have spread the rumor that these weapons could not be magnetized, trusting that our subjects would not try to snatch their rifles from their hands, would they?" Twilight continued, ignoring the uncomfortable glances between the guards, "However, I just heard that the ambassador said that you were coming to end the war, is that correct?" Twilight finally returned to sit on the floor, which made a noise like stones grinding to each other, looking at the griffons, scrutinizing their faces for some response.
"Uh ... yeah, your highness," Redsnow said, slightly out of his mind after seeing what had happened, "but first of all I wanted to apologize for the poor attitude of the ambassador's guards ..." the veteran general said , Again bowing his head.
"WHAT!" Whisperwind said, livid, "WE ARE PREDATORS, I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SOMETHING SO ELEMENTAL AS TO KEEP MY OWN SAFETY IN ENEMY TERRITORY!"
"AMBASSADOR!" The general shouted back, already fed up with the behavior of the obese griffon, "YOU ARE DESTROYING THE IMAGE OF THE EMPEROR AND HIS HONOR, I DO NOT WANT TO REPEAT THIS, PERHAPS YOU ARE THE EMPEROR'S VOICE BUT RIGHT NOW I AM IN CHARGE FOR THIS OPERATION AND HOW THE THINGS CURRENTLY ARE, I WOULD NOT CARE THAT THEY WILL ARREST YOU IN ENEMY TERRITORY, I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS WAR, SO DON'T TEMPT ME!" the black griffon tirade continued, showing his talons to the yellow griffon in anger.
"As if you have a choice, general," Twilight said suddenly, "I just got notice that Blueblood was conspiring with someone on your country to attempt to make Equestria surrender, and now, with all this evidence that I have magnetized to me, I am afraid that I need to arrest Whisperwind" the spartan said, getting up in a fluid motion, "also I would like to point you that two of your guards are actually Changelings, general."
"What!" Redsnow said, only for him to get knocked to the ground, the wind expelled out of his lungs by a tackle made by one of the ambassador's guards, which was currently enveloped in green flames, and soon, the guard was replaced by a huge black changeling.
"Damn it was good to get out of that disguise" the bug pony said, cracking his neck, "now, I only need to kill the general and make the fat chicken send a signal and all this place will crumble to the ground!" turning around, he was surprised when he couldn't find the general, instead, he found a wide barrel pointed to his face.
"Howdy there!" Applejack said, pulling the trigger, and making the changeling's head to literally explode when the shotgun fired at point blank range, while the changeling was shedding his disguise, a cloaked Applejack was sulking in the shadows, and taking the general in one arm, she demagnetized her shotgun just in time to find the changeling looking at the business end of her trusty weapon.
Meanwhile the other changeling just shed his disguise, and getting a dagger from the floor, made a beeline to the downed ambassador, not noticing the lacking of a purple giant in the room
"EVERYONE, STAY PUT!" the changeling roared, choking the ambassador with one hoof and pressing the dagger to his neck, "IF ANYONE MOVES THE AMBASSADOR DIES, NOT BEFORE ORDERING THE AIRSHIPS TO BEGIN A BOMBARDMENT ON YOUR CAPITAL CITY!" the bug yelled, gaining the undivided attention of all in the room, "NOW, YOU," he said, moving his head towards AJ, "PUT YOUR WEAPON DOWN, AND MAKE THE PURPLE ONE..." whatever he was going to say was missed when a purple fist came from above, crushing the head of the would be assassin.
"Never EVER" Twilight said, punching again for a good measure, "threat my home again, you hear me, you traitorous bastard!"
"He is dead," a coarse double layered voice said suddenly, perking her ears, Twilight found a third changeling near the door, "and so are you, you pitiful equine!"
"Chrysalis," Twilight spat, "what are you meaning by that" the lavender alicorn stood up, her left hand caked in changeling blood.
"Oh nothing," the changeling queen answered casually, "over the fact that you attacked the ambassador and his entourage, and killed the fabled general Redsnow, nothing will stop now the five ships that are coming to strike at Canterlot, face it, you failed, I win, also with Redsnow killed, the griffons shortly would arrive to the destroyed Manehattan and raze all Equestria to the ground! I won, you stupid nag!" the puppet broke over in evil laughter, but suddenly, a new voice joined, startling Chrysalis when she noticed that was Twilight who was laughing beside her.
"What is so funny, you whorse!" the queen asked in fury, "I just ordered all my children aboard the griffin destroyers to open fire on your pitiful capital!"
"Chrysalis" A voice said, making the puppet to open its eyes in fear, "I am not dead, and I just heard all the ploy that you have for us!" redsnow roared, jumping towards the puppet, killing intent present in the old griffin.
"WAIT!" Twilight yelled, also firing her magic and stopping the general mid flight, turning around and facing again the puppet, a smirk in her face, "tell me, queen, what did you do with the griffons on those ships?"
"All of them are cocooned and being reconditioned near Whitespire mountain, in the griffon empire, why?" the changeling queen asked, slightly output of the calm behavior of the spartan.
"So, all in those ships are changelings?" Twilight continued, ignoring the struggle of the general in her telekinetic field.
"Yes," the queen said, "but why aren't you afraid?"
"Because, you old hag, I already have planned something in this case also," Twilight said, turning around to face redsnow, "your emperor don't mind if I send you back on foot?"
"What do you mean by that?" Redsnow said, looking as confused as the changeling puppet.
"So that is a No, I guess, Harmony, Open fire!" Twilight said, suddenly five loud bangs were heard, and in the horizon, the five ships of the griffon empire were vaporized on mid flight, the changeling puppet was viewing all this, his jaw on the floor, turning around, quickly, Chrysalis could only hear a whistling sound and a phrase, before her puppet was unconscious due to a backhand from Twilight.
"I am coming for you, you two bit Queen"
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"As my father once said, if they have a club, you should have a bigger one!"
All the members of the room could only gawk as five destroyers of the Griffon Empire were reduced to ashes in a span of seconds, in the meanwhile, Twilight was observing the horizon, the setting sun sending blood red rays in the horizon, while Applejack leaned against the farthest wall, cleaning her shotgun.
"How is this possible," one of Whisperwind guards said in awe after a long silence, still watching where the destroyers were, "those destroyers were the most formidable ships we had, newly created from the shipyards, their armor ... "
"That armor is nothing more than wet paper against Harmony's antiaircraft fire, and being completely honest." Applejack said from a corner, still checking her weapon, "if we were in space, you would see the true potential of those weapons"
"Still they couldn't do anything in Reach..." Twilight added, her face somber
Planet Reach, 5 years ago
The constant rain and the sound of artillery discharges in the distance were already monotonous for the defenders of the planet, however, they were new and frightening sounds for the two humanized ponies as they advanced through the mud on the way, after finishing their training and reconditioning, was not a surprise when both Spartan were assigned orders to support the now besieged planet of Reach, the colony had been swept away by the pact and before the planet was purified, Twilight and Applejack had been sent to collect vital data at the Reach facility, as well as to look for survivors
As if there had been any ...
When they reached the planet, the only thing the two ponies could see was the devastating crossfire that was fought in space above the peaceful planet, massive plasma discharges, antiaircraft artillery and the occasional explosion between the ships, as well as debris floating between failed Attempts by both factions to see each other were all over the place, a spectacle so astonishingly frightening that Twilight could only watch, gaping, as both factions were mercilessly destroyed.
"Commander?" a Spartan asked carefully, causing the former librarian to turn her head (without helmet) towards the human, "we are waiting for orders"
"eh ... yes, soldier," Twilight replied, turning his head and focusing on the hangar, the other visible figure was Applejack, checking a datapad and eating an apple at the same time, her face in a perpetual frown. apart from Applejack, four other Spartans, their armor shining against the cold neon lights, waiting for instructions.
The alpha squadron, The only time Twilight would command a squadron in battle.
Twilight gently shook her head, the memories dispelling, before turning around and looking at the still stunned griffons, some of which were simply lying in the floor, their limbs no longer responsive by the raw power that the spartan girl had commandeered against their ships.
"Applejack, I need to get some transportation for these soldiers to their homes, we WILL not sweep down to Chrysalis and the Griffon emperor's level, however, we need to prep the Harmony to move north, we are going to help my brother and his wife with the assault on the Crystal Empire," Twilight barked, all the humor out of her voice, when Applejack nodded, also giving a thumbs up her way, Twilight added," you know what, I believe that we better go in the Harmony, so we can do a more... direct approach to the bugs, what do you think?" Twilight continued, smiling.
And sending a shivering though all the present spines.
"A'h don't know, Twi" The farmer answered, "Ah believe that these vermin should be go towards their emperor in shackles, also, Sugarcube, we don't 'ave the support or the resources to move out with the Harmony without disengaging the cloak, and while ah believe that you and that smartypants of Halson do a remarkable job on the old Harmony, we still have guests on board."
"I know that, but..." Whatever Twilight was going to say went unnoticed while a shrill beeping sound began, making everyone jolt, however, the purple princess simply rolled her eyes, and lifting her hand towards her helmet, pressed a button.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE, ARE THOU ALRIGHT, WE SAW... the projected voice of Princess Luna BOOMED out from the speakers on Twilight's helmet, making all the presents flinch, and making a purple spartan to go on her knees, her eardrums ringing for the unexpected volume.
"FOR FUCK'S SAKE LUNA, TURN THE VOICE DOWN" Twilight bellowed, moaning afterwards in pain, "WE ARE ALLRIGHT, THIS WAS A CHANGELING'S PLOY TO TRY AND ATTACK CANTERLOT..."
"DON'T SCREAM AT ME, COMMANDER SPARKLE.WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DON'T NEED TO SCREAM AT THE MICROPHONE APPLESEED,oh... OHHH... I am mighty sorry, Twilight Sparkle about yelling, we thought that we needed to talk clearly to this microphone!"
Applejack simply sighed, pulling her hand toward her face with a resounding 'clank' "let me guess princess, ol' Twilight forget to tell you not to use the RCV in the microphone for contacting us, that all right?"
"Fair Applejack, isn't technology wondrous," the voice of the lunar alicorn, now subdued, was heard on the speakers, "I can take orders from this room and the ponies in the gallows can tend to my commands!" the happy squee that the Lunar princess did over the radio make the apple farmer to smirk, "really, an age of wonders!"
"that ain't nothin', yer highness," she replied, "wait for us to take you in one Pelican to fly out, only make sure that Twi ain't driving the machine." the farmer added, pointing one finger towards the griffons, which were exchanging confused glances.
"APPLEJACK, WHAT DID LUNA SAID" Twilight yelled, "OH GREAT, I BELIEVE I AM HALF DEAF RIGHT NOW!" she screamed again, trying to pull out her helmet, only to hit a column near the end of the vast throne room
"Anyhow Princess," Applejack said, between snorts of laughter, "I believe that we are moving north, to try and help Twilight's brother and Cadence against the Changelings, however, we need some troops to do an effective offensive."
"What do you have in mind, fair Applejack?" Luna asked, surveying the skies in the 'Harmony' observatory
"Remember when we were saying that we were a one man army?" the response came from the main speaker in the room, making the Lunar princess to wonder, then nodding, ignoring that the two spartans cannot see her at the moment, "now you would know why"
Author's Note
Sorry for the delay, next chapter will be more action packed
