///LOCATION - NLTT-512-3A/LOW ORBIT/UENCCV-02 "ATLAS BETA"///TIME - 12:58 LMT///DATE - 20-05-2232///

Aboard the Atlas, all scanners were in full operation after losing connection with the AO (Area of Operation) for several minutes due to a rapidly developing storm, which had dissapeared just as sudden as it had first appeared. Scientists were trying to figure out what had caused this weird enviromental phenomenon, but until a more scientific explanation could be provided, most of the people just agreed it was 'magic'.

They were quite serious when they said that they thought it was magic that had caused the storm. Almost everyone had seen the video of Dr. Märtha showing off magic on their VisionAR's and VisionARM's. If one person, or pony, could levitate stuff and stop bullets mid-flight, then surely it wouldn't be too impossible for a larger group to manipulate the weather? Or maybe it was part of another one of the legends from that weird planet. They had plenty of those.

One of the most fitting legends, and one that some of the scientists were looking into after a story told by Dr. Märtha, was a legend regarding Windigos. These were stories about a group of magical ghost-like horses, which caused blizzards. Their power relied on hatred, growing stronger the more divided or violent ponies were. According to Dr. Märtha, ponies still believed in this legend. Some even believed that it was the cause of the slow descend of the average temperature in the nation, even with the increased output of greenhouse-gasses. They thought that the fight against the Changelings was causing an increase in the Wendigos' power.

Whilst the scientists abourd the Atlas were skeptic about the chances of this legend being real, Dr. Märtha truly believed that the Wendigos existed. She remembered landing on NLTT-512-3A with an almost empty fuel-tank, and being quite frustratred because of it. As she was standing on the plateau in the Yakyakistani Mountains, she practically yelled her lungs out out of anger. Almost immediatly, she could feel a bizarre chill race trough her spine, making her shiver trough her flight-suit.

She still remembered how, when she was finally calmed down, the chills started to dissapate into warmth. Very few people abourd the Atlas believed her story, but the ones that did believe her, believed her trough and trough, and supported her research. They had seen magic first hand, and there was no denying that this world was different. It gave an ominous feeling to everyone on and around it. Something strange, yet logical. Something new, yet familiar. Something impossible, yet real.

In the Communications-Center of the Atlas, 215 Officers were managing all the ongoing communications with the entire fleet, including the ground-forces, the air-assets, and the orbital vessels. Whilst most calls were coming in from aerial vehicles requesting directions or asking permission to Return-To-Base, at 12:58 Local Mean Time, a call came trough from the convoy that was tasked with seizing the capital.

”Atlas, Delta 3-1.”

”Go for Atlas.”

”Atlas, convoy has engaged hostiles. Multiple casualties and wounded, one AVT-5 is destroyed. Hostiles appear to have surrendered. Please advise.”

”Understood Delta 3-1. Wait one.”

”Roger that.”

The call was immediatly forwarded to Camp Ebony, where it was handed over to Admiral Bishop (Codename: “Draconequus”).

”Delta 3-1, this is Draconequus. What’s the situation?”

”Draconequus, convoy has been engaged inside Outer-City. Multiple casualties, and the leading vehicle has been destroyed. Attackers have surrendered. Please advise.”

”Understood Delta 3-1. Task updated as follows. Gather the casualties in the rear vehicles, restrain the attackers and put them in one of the vehicles, destroy any remains of the destroyed vehicles, and continue with objective. Stun-weapons are authorized, and used at your discretion. How copy?”

”Gather casualties and attackers, destroy leading vehicles, continue with objective. Stun-weapons authorized. Wilco.”

”Good copy Delta 3-1. Good luck!”

”Understood Draconequus. Delta 3-1, out.”

”Alright lads, we have received our orders! Delta 3-2 and 3-3, gather the casualties, and bring them to the vehicles to the rear of the convoy! Delta 3-4, destroy any remains of the leading vehicle! We don’t want the enemy to gather any technology from us! Delta 3-1 will secure the hostiles! Move out!”

Everything went into motion again. The 2nd and 3rd Squad moved the dead bodies into the AVTs, and helped the wounded soldiers to climb inside if they couldn’t properly walk. In the end, 6 of the 20 vehicles had been required to load up the casualties, who took up more space due to some of them having to lay down. It was concluded that there simply wasn’t enough space to carry all the fit Marines in the AVTs, so Delta 3-1 would have to walk alongside the vehicles, or sit on top.

The 4th Squad had moved up to the burning wreckage of the leading AVT, where they put out the fire with the extinguishers from the other vehicles. They then tried to salvage as many parts as they could, to keep their technology out of the hands, or hoofs, of the enemy. When they had concluded that all salvagable parts had been recovered, the call was made to melt the remaining carcass of the AVT with a Thermite-Charge. One of the engineers went up to the vehicle, planted the charge, and was almost melted as the Charge ignited prematurely, just barely giving him enough time to jump away with nothing more than a slightly crispy shoulder.

The most difficult task was set for Delta 3-1. They would have to somehow restrain the captives, and take them with them. They couldn’t leave them, as they might report their position, or attack again. Some tried to think how the enemy always knew where they were, but they payed that thought no more attention than needed. They had to focus on the captives now. Delta 3-1’s Squad Leader asked Dr. Märtha for assistance, as she had learnt the alien language, and was able to function as a translator.

Delta 3-1’s Squad Leader walked up to the group of ponies, who were sitting in a building along the street, which was being surrounded by Marines. The ponies had already thrown their weaponry out of the windows, but the Marines weren’t sure whether they had thrown out ALL of their weapons. For all they knew, they had another pony with a HMG mounted on its back aiming at the door. They were already going to have nightmares from the first one they experienced in that fight.

“Hello?” yelled Dr. Märtha trough the door. “Don’t worry, we won’t do you any harm! It looks like you have thrown out you weapons, correct?”

A few seconds passed, and whispering could be heard, before one of the ponies replied from the inside. “That is right.”

“And you are certain that you have given away ALL of your weapons, and that you will peacefully cooperate?”

Another ten or so seconds later, the same pony spoke again. “We have, and we will. As long as you will help take care of our wounded!”

“Ofcourse, that’s only fair. I’m so glad we have come to a peacefull conclusion! Just wait here a second, and I’ll go talk to the leader of this group, okay?”

“Okay. But do it quickly!”

Dr. Märtha went back to 3-1’s Squad Leader, and she explained the situation. ”It’s safe. I’m confident they are speaking the truth. They just don’t see the point in fighting anymore, and they have a wounded with them. We could help treat their injured soldier, and when they see that we do not mean any harm, they might help us convince the rest of their soldiers to put down their weapons, so we can negotiate.”

”Hmmm...” The Squad-Leader wasn’t too sure. ”I’m sorry, as much as I’d like for such a plan to work, it simply wont do. They will fight back. I’m not losing another good Marine today, so I’m doing this my way. I advise you stay back. Oh, and move upwind. It will help, trust me.”

Dr. Märtha wasn’t sure what he meant by that, until she saw the Marines pull the pins out of their grenades, and tossing the grenades trough any window or opening they could find. She flinched, but there was no explosion. She could only smell a weird odour.

”Alright men, wait a few seconds for my command to enter. They’ll be knocked out in seconds. That Nova-Gas is powerfull, I’ll tell you that! I still remember accidently sniffing some of it. Phew, that was a loooong sleep I had!” The Squad-Leader joked, as he finally gave the command to enter. Marines with Gas-masks on entered the building, where they dragged the sleeping ponies from their holdout. Dr. Märtha could only watch as the normally peacefull creatures, who had just surrendered, were being dragged across the cold pavement to be loaded up in AVTs. She decided to ride along with the group of 4 ponies, one of them being injured, and another one looking more important in a way than the rest. He was probably their Squad-Lead.

With everything now ready, the convoy continued on their way, with Delta 3-1 now having to walk alongside the vehicles, which heavily slowed down the convoy. They estimated that they would reach their destination, the Palace-Grounds, in about an hour, and that was without any further interruptions, which was very unlikely to happen.

About half an hour after the negotiations, Solar Streak began to wake up again. As he regained his senses, he realized that he was being shaken around, hitting a metal wall with his back, while his front was laying towards the inside of the weird metal room. As he looked around, he saw another pony, with a white coat, covered partially in blood. He then noticed who was treating his Squad-Member. One of the aliens. What was he doing here? Where was he? What happened? Then he remembered.

He remembered the fight. He remembered his Comms-Expert getting hit. He remembered being pinned down by enemy fire. He remembered surrendering. He remembered talking to someone outside, someone who spoke Equestrian. He remembered seeing metal cans roll into the room, trough windows and doors. Then, he remembered nothing. It stopped.

He stared at the alien for a full minute, as the metal chamber, which he had concluded was probably the inside of one of those vehicles of theirs, kept moving and shaking. The alien never payed him any attention, being fully focussed on the injured pony. He decided to leave him alone. As he looked further to his right, he saw that none other than Queen Chrysalis, leader of the Changelings, was sitting next to him. “Oh, you have to be kidding me...” he thought. Maybe he was hallucinating? Maybe it was all a dream? Another shove by the wall of the vehicle proved it wasnt. The hallucination-theory wasn’t ruled out though. He didn’t really care anymore. He was tired.

”Damnit! I keep losing signal with this weather!” Solar could hear the aliens in the front compartment of the vehicle talking. Those were most likely the driver, and someone else. ”What the hell is causing these blizzards?! I thought it was summer-season here?”

”It is. Atleast, that’s what the briefing said!”

”Well, this doesn’t look like a summer-day!” As the vehicle continued on its path, Solar began to notice the sound of snow being compacted beneath the weels of the vehicle. ”I’ll try to connect again. I want to be on frequency when they finally anounce the reason for this oh so gorgeous weather!”

Solar felt tired. He could barely keep his eyes open. The rithym of the vehicle, the humming of the engine, and the clattering of metal weapons against the walls slowed drowned out all his thoughts, as he returned to his slumber, though this time, it was voluntary.

Author's Note

Moon_Dew called it with the Windigos! Congratulations, you get one free internet cookie! Here:

It's a "Roze Koek", one of my country's most well-known treats, being up there with "Stroopwafels" in terms of deliciousness!