Defanged

Twilight sighed, pulling back the soft ornate red and gold curtain, only revealing a storm of white. This winter so far had been a viscous one, and much to Twilights dismay they were more than likely going to be snowed in post storm, meaning at least half the things she needed to get done had to wait. Letting go of the curtain, Twilight watched it fall back into place as the chattering of her friends voices in the other room seeped from under the door to her ears. She could only chuckle and shake her head, a game of truth or dare is what they had been playing before she left to check the outside conditions, and it looked like the little hangout of theirs was going to turn into an overnight. Although Twilight, while headed to reunite with her friends, turned back to the window, she could only help but feel like such a nice night was going to be ruined by something from the blue...

Twilight shook the though off looking at the ground.

"TWILIGHT! GET YOUR FLANK IN HERE! IT'S YOUR TURN!" Shouted a raspy, tomboyish voice from the other side of the door. Twilight smiled.

"Oh Rainbow..." She muttered pushing open the door and being greeted with all her friends stares, "Well girls, Good news and bad news." Twilight said plainly.

"Good news first please..." said a soft silky voice, coming from a butter colored Pegasus, sitting meekly. Twilight looked up at her, Fluttershy was never the type to take bad news well, with her anxiety and all, but the bad news in essence wasn't truly bad Twilight thought to herself.

"Well the good news is we're gonna be able to hang out all night, the bad news is why we're gonna be able to hang out all night. It's because we're probably going to be snowed in in the next few hours or so." Twilight stated, and before any of them could react the high pitched chirp of a pink party ponies voice exploded into being.

"OH OH OH ITS A SLEEPOVER," Pinkie gasped, "I DIDN'T EVEN BRING ANY SNACKS!" The eccentric pony shouted, a look of shock upon her face. The reaction elicited a chuckle from the orange pony sitting across from her. "It's not funny Applejack! I need to go get some!"

A rainbow maned pegasus spoke up after this.

"And miss Twilights turn in truth or dare? C'mon Pinkie you can get snacks later, either way this eggheads getting my best question or my craziest dare!" The ponies tomboyish raspy voice seethed in excitement. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"I'm not taking a dare from YOU Rainbow Dash, that would be the least logical thing anypony has ever done!" The lavender alicorn commented.

"So truth then?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes Rainbow, I'll take truth." Twilight responded plainly.

"Have you ever seen an alien?" Rainbow asked shooting Twilight a suspicious look, raising her chin. Twilight laughed.

"What kind of question is that Rainbow?" Twilight said giggling.

"Oh c'mon we all know Celestia shows you the secrets of Equestria! And all that stuff, has she ever shown you like an alien?" Rainbow said, sounding entirely serious. At this point the entire group (aside from Fluttershy) had broken down into complete laughter. "Oh guys c'mon you have to be at least a little curious!" Dash said sounding frustrated at her peers reaction to the question.

"Dash ah'll bet mah life this has something to do with those darn comics you've been readin about those brain eating aliens!" Applejack said, before giving another snicker. Dash shot her a look.

"Does not!" The cyan pegasus denied, crossing her hooves. Suddenly the click of another pair of hooves came from the stairs nearby, and an exhausted looking Starlight rounded the corner into the room.

"Can you keep it-" She yawned loudly, "down, I'm trying to sleep." The unicorn said meekly. Right as Twilight began to speak up there was a crash outside and the room became silent as the wind whipped and roared violently outside as whiteout conditions touched down. The room was so silent in fact, one could hear the drop of a pin, as they all listened for another noise.

"Twilight what was that...?" Starlight asked quietly. Twilight looked at Starlight, then the rest of the group, who were frozen in place except one... where was Pinkie-

"OH MY GOSH IT MUST BE AN ALIEN FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION WITH A GIANT ROBOT THAT CAN FLYYYYYY!" The Pink earth pony yelled appearing from out of nowhere startling the group so much they didn't even ask about what the hell she was talking about.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash spoke up.

"Bah I bet it was nothing you chickens!" She said dryly relaxing again. No one else responded. "Oh come on guys! Twilight you still haven't answered your question!" Twilight stood up headed for the door. Everypony else in the room looked at her dumbfounded.

"What? We need to go see what the was! First of all something crashed outside, and it sounded like metal, but no amount of metal falling has ever made a noise like that before! Plus what if somepony was hurt?" Twilight said looking at her friends disappointed.

"Twilight right girls, ah' bet someone needs help out there." Said Applejack rising to her hooves, and joining Twilight. Slowly but surely the group assembled.

"I-I think I'll just stay here..." said Fluttershy looking at the ground playing with her hooves. Dash craned her neck with an irritated look on her face.

"Nice try Fluttershy you're coming with us." She hissed, grabbing her friend and dragging her over to the group. Now that the 7 we're ready they trudged out of the castle. The door was a pain to open but the group managed. Out into the snow they went without a word however nothing seemed amiss. As the group searched around, they failed to miss the red glowing eye towering behind them slip into the darkness...

5 Minutes Earlier....

The Northstar class titan landed with a crash, seemingly deactivated, when suddenly its eye flickered with life, as snow rained down upon its chassis. The war mech rose to its feet, and sensed its pilots heartbeat inside the cockpit, meaning he was still alive. The titans main priority now was to protect the pilot and figure out where they were. The AI scanned the surrounding environment, seeing nothing but primitive structures and... a large castle, shaped like a tree? Its bottom half appeared to be crystalline, but it's upper half appeared to be that of a normal castle. Such a crude structure had never been constructed on the frontier, and only a few records and ruins of castles still floated around on Earth.

The Titan began to pick up footsteps... no hoof steps... akin to those of a horse, and they were emanating from near the large gold door. The Northstar shifted gears, slipping behind the castle swiftly, moving into the shadows. The only thing visible was it's red glowing eye, curious as to see what emerged from the castle.

Much to its surprise, a group of seven horses emerged from the structure, looking around bewildered. They must've heard the crash when they hit the ground... but horses? The Titan AI concluded it would need further study as it slipped into the shadows. As the 20 ton robot turned to head for cover in the forest, its optical sensors failed to pick up a large log laying underneath the blanket of snow.

CRAAAAAACK!

The Titan stopped dead in its tracks, calculated in seconds, the Northstar deduced the horses it had seen only a few minutes ago had definitely heard that, and had also probably discovered the trail of footprints.

"Girls this way!" Shouted a feminine voice, and the Northstar turned silently, spotting the group of horses skidding to a halt. The mechanical being had its back twisted so its eye could face them, and all the ponies could see was the dark silhouette of the war mech in the flurry, and its piercing red eyed gaze.

"Uh T-Twilight what is that?" Asked Starlight, taking a step back. Twilight gulped, trembling slightly, looking directly into the things gaze. It seemed to tear into her soul. After what felt like an hour of silence, Twilight answered.

"I-I'm not sure..." The Alicorn replied, and suddenly Rainbow Dash chimed in.

"Whatever it is we gotta kick its flank!" The cyan Pegasus shouted flying in at blinding speed and kicking the thing. A loud clang echoed through the air with a resounding "OWWWWWW" from Dash. The metal creature stumbled forwards from the sheer unexpectedness of the blow before turning fully around.

"Hostiles detected. Protocol 3. Protect the pilot." The metal giant said in a low gravelly voice, pulling something off of its back.

"Ah' girls ah' dunt mean to alarm you but ah' think that things gon' try an kill us." Said Applejack snapping the group from their trance. Dash still hadn't recovered and was mid air holding her back hooves rocking back and forth saying ouch under her breath silently. Suddenly a bright flash and a loud BANG sounded and quicker than someone could blink a magenta shield formed around the group as something slammed against it shattering the magic in one hit, which seemed to bring Twilight great physical strain. They scattered as the monster brought up its fist and slammed where they had been previously standing before catching them off guard sweeping low with a slender leg reaching far. Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy (carried by Applejack frozen in fear), Starlight, and Rarity managed to hop over the low swipe, but Twilight still shaken from her magic being shattered without any preparation was in a prime position to be struck and it almost connected but Dash swooped in just in time and scooped her up.

The metal giant saw this as its opportunity and pushed off with its legs faster than the group could comprehend, and took off towards the tree line. As the seven regrouped, Rainbow wasn't too terribly keen on losing the behemoth.

"Quickly! It headed this way!" She shouted taking off, before one of her hind legs was restrained by a lasso.

"Dash wait! Ah swear on Celestia if you don't get back here!" Scolded Applejack letting go of the lasso as Dash hesitantly flew back, the mech disappearing into the trees. "Twilight is hurt!" The farm pony said, turning and facing Twilight who despite the bitter cold had collapsed into the snow. Her horn was sparking, and she appeared only half awake.

At this image Dash was enraged, whatever that thing was had just shown up and then hurt Twilight, probably via a concussion, and then taken off into the treeline like it was nothing. She was going after it one way or another... but not yet, Twilight and her friends needed her. Dash begrudgingly turned her vision back to them an away from the trees as they helped Twilight to her hooves to bring her to the hospital. She would go after it, but not yet...