Location: C90-12 Icarus Nest

Date: March 15th, 2755 AD

Time: 18:24

The ship had finally come out of light speed. We have arrived at our destination. Our mission was to locate a lost ship that went missing a few months back. Said ship was investigating an anomaly that the United Worlds of Earth (UWE) scouts had reported. They had sent a few ships to investigate, but none have returned. That was, until we've received a broken transmission from one of the vessels. Tracking the transmission, we were sent to investigate the ship to find out what happened and hopefully retrieve information about the anomaly.

I should probably tell you who I am. I'm Corporal Rex Raynor, but my squad, who isn't on board for their need elsewhere, gave me the nickname Sparks. I have what they call an engineer's touch, with my ability with electronics to modify armor and weapons in my spare time. I wouldn't call myself an export though, hence why they call me Sparks. Thankfully, they haven't called me 'boom'. I'd probably be missing a limb. That's why it's against protocol to tamper with the armor. However, my upgrades have been proven useful from time to time. Don't ask don't tell. I was also an alright pilot out of everyone in my squad being the only one that can fly a Phoenix fighter, although I speak for myself when I say I'm better off on the ground.

I'm currently on board the Icarus Nest, a Lincoln classed carrier. These carriers are mostly used for heavy strike craft support, however they can be used for retrieving and excavating items in space as well. I found it odd that they didn't send an AC19-LC, a smaller variant carrier, instead. We have a capital ship and a few escort frigates that are being sent to retrieve information about an anomaly. The Admiral said something about having a hunch that something's not right. The transmission was tracked to unknown space and our radars were able to pick up a signal from one of our ships there, far away from where the anomaly was. It doesn't sound right, so they sent a capital ship to be sure.

I was in my room located in the crew quarters. After putting on my uniform, I looked out of the window. We were close to a planet. It looked like Earth when it still had one gigantic chunk of land called Pangea. However, our objective was closer: the derelict ship that had gone missing. Only half of it was there, the rest looked like it was forcefully torn in two. I could see one of the escorting frigates launch a boarding shuttle from its hangars. They must've already scanned it.

Turning away from the window, I had walked out of my room and payed the crew no mind. I'm not one that tries to get chummy with everyone, because there are too many people in the UWE to try to be friends with. Most people outside of the squad I only see once. After the mission is over, I never see them again, so I don't bother talking to them much. Maybe to talk about the mission or create small talk, but that's just about it. I don't really think about deep friendships, or even relationships no matter how much my squad tease me about it. They're basically my only friends. We have to be. We all decided that if we wanted to have each others' backs, we'd be better off getting to know each other as people other than just as soldiers. That's how we became such a damn good team. Nobody would leave anybody behind, we had each other covered, did our jobs well, protected each other, we all made it out of our missions alive. We are comrades. Well, most of us are. There's always that one person in the group that nobody likes, but wouldn't be able to get by without, and that would be her...

I headed to the elevator and had gone down to the armory where they were holding our armor and weapons. There were those that found it strange that I suited up when things didn't happen, mainly because they had never been on the ground in action. There was a man that was giving me a strange look in the armory, bald head with a goatee.

"This is just a retrieval mission you know. You don't have to suit up just yet." He said. "Take the time to relax while you can. Besides, walking around in armor all the time can't be comfortable."

I shook my head. "I'd much rather be prepared in case something does happen." I told him. He had no idea how many times there had been enemy boarding parties I've helped fend off.

We were at war with an enemy known as the FoG. Before, the UWE was formed to unite Earth's nation to colonize planets and explore the unknowns of space. That was until they had began attacking and destroying our colonies. Many worlds and star systems were lost, billions dying. That was when we started putting more focus into our military strength to fight off against an unknown enemy. It worked, and we've managed to capture a few prisoners. One tried interrogating the mantis-like aliens, but of course there was a language barrier. However, the one thing our prisoners kept chanting was the word 'Gretzal'. They all did. None of us knew what they were saying, or who or what this Gretzal was, but they chanted it religiously until their last breath. We've started calling them Followers of Gretzal. We didn't know much about them other than the fact that they had made themselves mankind's enemy. However, as we advanced in our tech and military, so did they. We've started seeing different ships, different technology, different strategies being used against us. We were doing the same, in fact, better. One of the biggest problems we've been having were their numbers. They had more ships, more guns, and more soldiers willing to throw their lives away going against us. One reason why we take morale training seriously.

Having suited up in my armor, I put on my helmet, grabbed my rifle and sidearms, placing the rifle over my shoulder as it snapped to my back. My two pistols latched onto my thighs. I made sure the rifle nano-mags were fully charged and grenade launcher ammo that I had personally crafted.

"Nothing's going to happen, I assure you." He chuckled. "You won't need any of what you're gettin' there."

"If you're so sure, why do you think they sent a capital ship and attack frigates to escort us?" I looked at him. If he could see my face behind my polarized visor, he would've seen a raised brow. "We could be expecting trouble."

"How much ya wanna bet?" He asked.

Just after he said that, the alarms went off. The lights turned red as the speakers called all capable fighter pilots to the hangars and for the crew to get to their battle stations. Giving the guy one last look, I rushed through the corridors and to the elevators once more and made my way down to the hangar bays.

Making my way to hangar H-7, I had gotten in a fighter that was assigned to me when I was put on this ship. The pilots were scrambling to their strike crafts as well as I waited. Prepping for launch, the hangar doors opened. The first thing I saw were 6 crimson alien vessels opening fire on the frigate that had launched the shuttle. It was taking heavy damage, and would be destroyed soon. When the hangar door finished opening, our strike craft were launched into the open space. One of the crimson vessels was classed as a capital ship. What we call a Dragon Wing Carrier, named due to it appearing to have dragon wings on the side (personally looked more like fins to me), started launching its fighters as well to intercept us.

"Enemy fighters launched! Everyone get ready." I said over the comms.

"Good day to die!" I heard someone say.

The enemy fighters, shriekers, named after the noise their engines make, came at us in numbers as we began opening fire. My guns kept roaring, firing rapidly at the oncoming swarm of shriekers, more focused on not colliding into them than actually shooting them. As soon as they passed, I had let my guns breathe and pulled my strike craft up to give a few of the bastards a chase. My eyes caught onto one of them as I turned my craft around. This one was chasing one of ours while shooting. It had managed to land a direct hit onto the unlucky guy in the cockpit. Watching the friendly explode into flames, I had locked on to the enemy and pelted its craft with bullets, making quick work of it. There were a few unlucky friendlies that met their fate at the hands of the shriekers, but overall we were doing pretty well. Our frigates and capital ships were launching torpedoes at the enemy, taking out quite a few. and it was a sure victory.

"More ships warping in! Hostile!"

Yeah. This was an ambush within an ambush. Two more enemy capital ships and eight frigates had warped into the system. Another Dragon Wing and a Dreadnaught, the largest FoG capital ship seen so far had took out two of our frigates while even more Shriekers and Teardrop Kamikaze bombers were launched.

"Change of plans." The Icarus Nest said through comm. "We're retreating. All fighters, intercept bombers and enemy torpedoes, and fly into your hangars on my signal. Buy us time to start our FTL warp drives. Good luck."

I sighed. We weren't going to win this battle. Most of us weren't going to make it out of this alive, but I sure as hell wasn't going to go down without taking a few of those sons of bitches with me. I fired up my afterburners and joined my fellow pilots as we headed towards one of the enemy Crab Claw frigates, named for their claw shape, that were launching the bombers. I noticed a squadron flying towards the hanger that was located in the front of the frigate and decided to fly behind it.

"Alright boys, we're gonna fire all we have into that hangar." I heard over the comms. "On my signal...." I watched as he launched a few EMP missiles to take out the frigate shields. "NOW!!!"

The squadron had followed said orders and launched torpedoes into the hangar. I added on a surprise to one of mine. Once my torpedo had went in, it had split into multiple torpedoes, shredding the hangar and damaging it even more from the inside, likely causing stability damage as the frigate started to shift.. Pulling up to resume my previous path to intercept the enemy torpedoes, I had I saw that I had unwanted attention.

"I have three bogeys on my tail!" I said into the comms.

"We're on our way. Hold on tight."

Performing a spiral maneuver, I had managed to avoid their plasma bolts. I had an idea. Switching my flight mode to inertial, I continued moving in the direction I was headed while turning my fighter around. Firing back, I had destroyed one of my pursuers and damaged another. Gunfire from above me had landed their marks on the remaining two, finishing them off for me.

"You owe me a drink, Raynor." I heard some guy say.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Trevor Gray. Remember that name when we ge-" Static interrupted his transmission, followed by an explosion from nearby. More and more bolts were being seen rushing from one direction as more of us started going down.

"Everybody look out! We're being bum rushed from the side! Everyone fall back to the Icaru-" More static. More explosions. Static. Screams. More static. A force jolted my fighter craft upwards as my cockpit started beeping. I was hit. My main thrusters were blown, shot. The plasma had melted through them. My craft was now a sitting duck, drifting. All I could do now was sit and watch as a few more of our frigates were taken out.

The remaining friendly fighters had flown into their hangers as the remaining ships left me behind. I thought I was done for, but most of the crimson colored FoG ships had followed in pursuit of our retreating fleet. The only ship that stayed behind was the one I gave my surprise to. I smiled as I watch it drift into the planet's atmosphere, launching a few dropships out of its bottom hangar. The same one I was very slowly headed to. It was a miracle that my engines didn't combust, but there was no way in hell that I would be able to survive the crash. My side thrusters still worked, but all I could do was turn, so I did. The very least I could do was shoot out an SOS beacon so they can find my body and collect the dog tags from my body to give to my squad. Knowing I was going to be there a while seeing how slow my craft was drifting to the planet.

Is this really it?

Location: Twilight's Castle in Ponyville, Equestria

Time: 11:40 pm

Princess Twilight Sparkle has had a busy week with paperwork, complaints, and solving friendship problems in Ponyville. Her number one assistant, Spike, had finally managed to get her to take the rest of the day to relax, having Starlight Glimmer take her place. That night, she had decided to look for constellations as Spike gazed at the stars with her. Spike being in his pajamas and Twilight in her nightgown tells that they were going to be headed to bed soon. Looking at Twilight, Spike furrowed his brows as the nightgown his sister/mother was wearing showed plenty of her bust, and would often joked, asking if she was expecting a special somepony to get under her skin. Drawing his attention back to the stars and Luna's moon, he broke the silence.

"Twilight, what do you think it's like up there?" Spike asked.

"Hm?" Twilight replied, cutting her eyes at him.

"The moon. It's hard to believe Luna was stuck for so long up there, all alone."

"I know. I'm glad we were able to help free herself from Nightmare Moon." She giggled. "The night sky's been more amazing to look at ever since." She stopped and pondered. "It must've been lonely being stuck up there with no pony around for a thousand years. I'm glad we played a part in getting Celestia's sister back."

Spike smiled at the thought. The one event that brought Twilight and her friends together, the beginning of the wonderful journeys they had that made them even closer. Looking back up to the stars, a thought occurred to him.

"What about past the moon?" He asked.

This caught Twilight off guard. "What do you mean, Spike?"

"On other planets. There's gotta be other ponies out there, don't you think?"

Twilight had a fit of giggles. "You've been reading a lot of comics, haven't you?"

"It's possible, isn't it?" Spike said, huffing at Twilight's mocking.

Calming down, Twilight sighed. "Yes I guess it is. I'm sorry."

Rolling his eyes, Spike looked back at the sky, but then noticed a peculiar sight. "Hey Twilight. Look. I think Luna is having a little fun tonight. Nights must be boring for her outside of dream walking." Spike said, pointing to the sky. There were stars, dancing and flashing.

Twilight giggled once more. "You're right. Even though ponies have gotten used to her, she still doesn't get a lot of visitors."

"Look! A shooting star! I call it!" Spike shouted, instantly, causing Twilight to jump.

Twilight shrugged, standing up and heading back inside. "Alright, make your wish, but as soon as you do, you should go to bed. You're still not used to staying up this late and I'm going to need you tomorrow. Okay?"

"Alright." He responded.

Twilight went back inside of her castle, made her way to her room and got comfortable on her bed under her sheets before she drifted off into the dream realm as Spike made his wish.

Date: March 16th

Location: Twilight's Castle: Ponyville, Equestria

Time: 9:05 am

The very next morning, Twilight was woken up by Spike. The first thing that ran through her mind was how bright her room was, telling her that she had over slept. The second thing she noticed was the scared look on Spike's face. Something was wrong.

"Spike, what is it?" Twilight asked, rubbing her eyes.

"S-Something happened in Appleloosa! It's really bad!" Spike said.

"Is it the buffalo again?" She asked.

Twilight was slapped in the face with a newspaper, Equestria Daily, and read the headlines

Equestria Daily

Appleloosa Nearly Wiped Out by Unknown Forces!

It was early this morning, before Celestia raised the sun, when the western town of Appleloosa went up in flames, leading to most of the town's fatal end. The cause of this were monsters that fell from the sky, according to the very little survivors left.

If Twilight wasn't awake by then, she was now. What in the world wide Equestria could've happened? For thousands of years, there had never been any tragedy or massacres. All of those ponies, dead! "Spike. Send a letter to the Princess! I'll gather our fri-" She was cut off by Spike's dragon flame as a scroll had dropped onto her lap. Unrolling it was a letter from Princess Celestia herself.

Dear Princess Twilight.

If you haven't been aware, Equestria has been attacked. I have managed to save what I could of my little ponies in Appleloosa while fending off an unknown yet very dangerous threat. These beings, aliens, wield powerful and destructive machines and weaponry. I advise you and your friends stay away from them. Please, Twilight. If you do see anything fall from the sky around Ponyville, let me know immediately and start evacuating Ponyville. I am assigning you squad of guardsmen for your protection. They should arrive in a few minutes.

From your former mentor,
Princess Celestia

"Spike, gather our friends and meet us at the table map room."

When she went down stairs, five royal guards were awaiting her. Two earth pony spear guards, a pegasus swordsman, and a unicorn mage, all led by a guardsmare unicorn.

"Greetings Your Highness. Princess Celestia sent us here," began the guardsmare, "to ensure your safety in case you're attacked. My name is Rose Blade."

Twilight sighed, groaning. Although she respects Celestia and thinks more of her than anypony else, lately it seemed to her that Celestia worries too much about her. "I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself."

"Princess Sparkle, please. These aliens are dangerous." A guard said.

"And wasn't Tirek dangerous? Or Nightmare Moon?" She smirked, counting on her fingers. "King Sombra? Queen Chrysalis?"

"Actually, those last two were Princess Mi Amour Caden-" The third guard was cut off.

"My friends and I can solve any problem." Twilight said with confidence.

Just then, Pinkie Pie kicked the door open and her tail was flailing all over.. "Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail! And this one is really twitchy!"

The girls, dragon, and guards all rushed outside and looked up at what they saw. A ball of fire was hurling towards Ponyville, nearly hitting Rainbow Dash who was resting on a cloud.

"Hey! What the-" When Dash looked down at what had interrupted her nap, she gave the ball of fire a chase. What she didn't expect was the object in flames to change directions almost instantly, flying by the castle, and into the Everfree Forest. Twilight had caught a glimpse of what the object was. Suddenly she wasn't as confident.

"Woah! Nice save, Twilight!" Pinkie said, forcefully high fiving Twilight.

Twilight stared at the smoke coming from the crash sight. "That... wasn't me..."

"You're not thinking about going in there, are you?" Spike said before looking at her after a pause. "Twilight?"

"We're going with you." Rose Blade stated. "Like it or not."

Arriving at the Everfree entrance a dozen minutes later, Pinkie and Dash were told to gather the other girls while two of the guards stayed at the entrance to wait for them. Twilight, Spike, and the remainder three guards had ventured into the forest, unsure of what will happen when they reach the crash site.

Author's Note

And here's the new project! Hope you like it. I have the next few chapters being typed out.

I also hope you like the choice of background music. I figured it would at a bit more to the fiction and was a last minute decision before posting. And do tell if I should use colored quotes here like I do in 7 Human in Ponyland. I figured I would type a fiction like a normal person. There are plenty of light moments planned in this fic along with comedy, but I ran out of tags. Sorry.

Criticism is welcomed so long as it's constructive. This is my second fiction
Hope I didn't get edgy too quick. I'm new at fatality in fics, but if you don't like some of the famed background characters dying off or being severely injured, or ponies in general being hurt, this probably won't be the fic for you. Go back to 7HiP. It's mostly sunshine and laughs there to Jeff's chagrin. 😏 Also this is a full on anthro fic.

Thumbs up if ya like it. If ya don't, oh well.