Luna and Celestia were the town center, which was now called Tactical Command, trying to plan a way to rescue Twilight and Jones. Edward was with them.

"Twilight and the human went to an alien base...so how do we find them?", Celestia asked. "Certainly, it can't be hard to find a pony and a human in a place full of different red aliens."

"We could try to use invisibility to get in.", Luna suggested. "It should be easy if we stay hidden in the process."

"No, we can't risk it. These new guys might have a way of detection. We need another plan.", Edward said, slinging his BAR over his shoulder and onto the table.

"We could send some of the tanks as a diversion.", Celestia said. "I'll go with the diversion to ensure they stay safe."

"What would we do? Our last recon unit came back saying their buildings have turrets on them. We won't be able to move them.", Edward said. "If we were to sneak in, those turrets would rip us apart."

"The shadows.", Luna said. "If we cold try to find a way to get the enemy here, the defenses will be too occupied with the shadows in order for them to shoot us. We just need a way to find them."

Celestia felt a light bulb go off in her head. "Edward, find Zecora.", she said.

"Who?", Edward asked.

Celestia sweat dropped before she looked at Luna. "Sister, find Zecora. She should have a calling potion or a way to summon something. The fate of Equestria may lie in her hooves.", she said.

"Of course.", Luna said. Celestia sighed as Luna galloped off to find the pony who lived in the Everfree Forest. She turned to Edward, who was smirking.

"What?", Celestia asked.

"Oh, nothing.", Edward said, looking away nonchalantly. He took his BAR and hurried off. He reached his men, already ready to deploy.

"Get ready. We're going in, hot.", he said.

Somewhere else...

Ember and Spike sat in the field, lying back against a tree. The field was right next to the human airfield, with planes constantly landing, refueling, and restocking, while pilots walked around and got ready to take off.

"You know...", Spike said.

"What?", Ember asked.

"I wanna know what it's like out there. I barely leave Ponyville. Well, I do leave, but not ads much as Twilight and the others do.", Spike said.

"Heh. I know what it's like.", Ember said. Spike turned to Ember, intrigued by her answer. Ember turned to see Spike's expression, and she understood the need to elaborate.

"Well, being leader of the Dragons means little to no freedom, despite what other ponies and dragons think.", Ember said, while shifting in her position against the tree. "It means constantly giving attention to the others. I don't have a problem with it, but...it's just hard."

"Yeah, Celestia and Twilight talk about this kind of stuff and how it's hard, but they never actually complain.", Spike said. "I know I'd go crazy over this kinda thing, but still."

"Yeah, I feel you.", Ember said. She took a small bottle of vodka and gulped the 20% alcoholic drink. Spike turned to Ember in curiosity.

"What's that?", Spike asked.

"The guy said it was...ˈvädkə? Vodka? Maybe vodka, it's easier to say.", Ember said. "This stuff's good. I feel less stressed, my scales feel smoother, and I think it's helping my wing grow back."

"Really?", Spike asked. He turned to look at Ember's busted wing, to see it had indeed grown in the process of several weeks ago. "Wow. Can I have some?"

Ember held the bottle away from the baby dragon. "Sorry, kid. Adult drink only.", she said. She took another long drink and sighed, before hiccuping. "Ahh, that's the stuff.", she said.

Spike sighed. "Alcoholics...", he muttered.

"Hey, I'm not addicted. And dragons *hiccup* can't get drunk for long anyways.", Ember said. "It's not a big deal."

"Oh, really?" Spike got up and started to mimic a drunk, swaying around. Ember giggled before hiccuping again.

Spike chuckled before stretching. "I'ma go back now. Try not to burn anything down.", he said.

"No promises.", Ember said. She finished her drink and lay back against the tree.

Somewhere else...

Jack and Jones were lifting several boxes and leaning them against the door, to prevent anyone from coming in and investigating. The explosion had trigger alarms and the crew members of the Relentless were bound to start arriving in the hangar. "There, that should buy us some time.", Jones said.

Din and two other Germans were throwing armed demolition charges at one of the giant doorways, while two more Germans were getting chased by Terran Spider mines. The rest were trying to get the dropship operational, all while holding the pilot at gunpoint.

"This will never work. The Dominion will destroy this ship before it leaves its sight.", the pilot said, as she started working on the controls. "You shouldn't have gone here."

"Says the one whose guys came over our planet and started attacking us and invading.", Jones said, tilting his head. "We don't take too kindly to anyone who takes the lives of our own."

"Wait, what?", the pilot asked in surprise. She stopped working, and a German nudged her with a Swedish Mauser.

"Yeah, giant monster cars with flamethrowers burned one of our tanks, and we're not happy with that.", Jones said.

The pilot growled. "Damn Hellions!", she said. At that moment, an alarm went off, and a security camera screen was shown on the large monitor on the hangar wall.

Several marines and medics were running through the halls, towards the hangar. Jones's eyes widened at seeing their massive CMC suits, as well as their giant machine guns. "Holy hell, they're big.", he said, as Twilight stared at the giant machine suits.

"Incoming!", Jack yelled, as his men ran to a crate of explosives. Jones ran towards the large ship, yelling at the pilot to hurry up. Twilight shook herself out of her distracted stupor and quickly followed the American tank commander.

The pilot was nudged with the pistol again and she squeaked in surprise. "OK, OK, I'm hurrying!", she cried. "Stop pushing me!" She was met with another nudge to her side, and she groaned in exasperation.

A German through a large frag grenade, and the explosive detonated past the doorway, shrapnel killing two marines in the front. A medic got to cover as another marine opened fire with his C-14.

The Germans ducked, as they ran into the ship. The pilot finally got the ship working, with the engines roaring to life. Then again, most people tend to work faster when they have a pistol that shoots fragmentation rounds pointed at their head.

"Fall back!", Jones yelled from the cockpit. The Germans threw another handful of explosives at the enemy and ran onto the ship. The charges blew up more marines, severely wounding them. The medics were healing as fast as they could, but the smoke was blinding them.

Jack, however was controlling an infernal plasma flamethrower mounted on one of the Hellions, next to a German with a Gewehr 43. He was smiling as the plasma flame instantly blocked off one of the exits and melted a few marines.

"Die Zukunft ist erstaunlich!!", Jack laughed. A marine nearby fired, destroying the flamethrower on the car. Jack and the German with him jumped out and ran to the Medivac.

Several more marines broke through and opened fire with their Gauss rifles, thousands of rounds flying at the ship. The 8mm metal spikes embedded themselves in the hull of the ship, as the Medivac pulled away. Jack pulled a German into the ship, as the doors closed.

The hangar doors were beginning to close, as the ship turned around. The pilot was sweating under her headgear, as she punched the throttle. The marines continued to fire as the ship managed to narrowly escape the closing doors.

The Medivac escaped the Gorgon and its escorts. Jones looked back to see the 3 kilometer ship disappearing from view. "Why aren't they following?", Jones muttered. Twilight trotted to the window, to see that the ship hadn't moved.

"Let's worry about that later...I'm tired.", Twilight said. She went to the corner and curled up one on of the seats. As the seats were designed to carry giant marine suits bigger than humans themselves, Twilight could easily fit. Her wings covered her body, her feathers bristling briefly, before she nodded off.

Jones sat in the bulky seat that was next to her, before falling asleep. A few moments after falling asleep, he unconsciously leaned over, before his arm lay on Twilight's mane.

Jack smiled, before turning to his squad. "You can go to sleep.", he said, before gesturing to the pilot. "I'll watch over her." The Germans complied, and they went to their seats, falling asleep.

Jack took the large flak pistol and aimed it at the pilot. "You know the drill.", he said. The pilot groaned and slammed her head on the controls, a honking noise emitting from the ship.

"Fuck all of you."

Somewhere else on the ground...

Hundreds of soldiers fired as the incoming marines and marauders attacked their line. Tigers, King Tigers, and other heavy tanks were used as a wall of impenetrable armor, as the troops waited for the enemy to come into range.

"Open fire!", a Dominion marine yelled. The Gauss rifles opened fire, and the troops on the other side of the tanks ducked behind. All the rounds either deflected or embedded themselves into the tanks.

The C-14 Gauss rifle’s AP steel encased bullet spikes could penetrate 2 inches, or 5 millimeters of armor. The King Tiger and the IS-2 were well equipped with over 100 millimeters of armor.

The tank line started firing their main guns as fast as they could, as the infantry was piling up behind the tanks. The tank cannons were taking out small groups of marines.

“Go, go, go!”, the marine sergeant yelled, as his men charged the lines. A Tiger fired an HE shell, annihilating a group of marines, while a Goliath walked up, firing its high caliber cannons.

The walker’s weaponry destroyed a T-34, while an IS-2 fired its 120mm cannon, which punched through the Goliath’s cockpit.

“Now!!”, a German in the front yelled. Several SPGs fired their artillery cannons, and the barrage of explosive shells demolished the first wave of enemy marines.

The smoke blinded the next wave, and the marines and marauders held their ground, Gauss guns and grenade launchers aimed. A few Vikings in assault mode walked up, Gatling guns at the ready. The smoke began to clear, and the marines waited. Before anything else could happen, several marines were plowed over by unknown vehicles.

BT-42s and Crusader tanks crashed through the marines, firing howitzers and pounder cannons at the enemy. The Vikings opened fire, their 75mm Gatling guns easily destroying a light tank.

A Crusader rammed through a Viking’s legs, causing it to fall sideways. A BT-42 swerved madly to the left, and fired its high caliber howitzer point blank in the fallen Viking’s cockpit, destroying the mech/fighter.

The infantry watched as the outnumbered light tanks fought the outmatched assault mechs, before a shot fired in the air.

“Charge!!”, a British soldier yelled. The couple thousand troops roared as the remaining heavy tanks in the line turned to the front, with the soldiers running through the spaces.

The next wave of marines saw the Vikings and tanks fighting, with more Vikings falling to the fast light tanks. “Marauders, move up!”, a marine yelled. A large group of marauders and medics started to advance.

“Fire!”, a marine yelled. The marauders fired their grenades, and the light tanks were instantly wiped out, with no survivors.

The remaining Vikings turned around, before several rockets from bazookas and panzerschrecks flew from everywhere, destroying the mechs. The last Viking crashed to the ground, as hundreds of soldiers attacked.

The marauders were met with rifle and machine gun fire everywhere. Their power armor protected the user from damage from every shot, but they were getting peppered by so many shots that the marauders couldn’t get a single shot off without their grenades getting shot out of the air.

“Grenades!!”, a soldier yelled. Hand grenades, stick grenades, thermite grenades, and anti tank grenades were thrown at the enemy, and a huge ripple of explosions wiped out the marauders and medics, as well as some marines.

More smoke billowed in the air as the infantry charged over the line of marines. The bulky marines were knocked over by the soldiers, before their visors were shot out by their rifles or their machine guns. As they fought, a Viking and a Banshee flew in the sky, patrolling the area.

“I’m certain no more air units are gonna come over here.”, the Viking pilot said. “We took out a few already without them seeing us, don't worry again.”

“You just wanna get drunk again.”, the Banshee pilot said. “The bar is closed on that Starport, like I told you last time.”

“Or, it could be you just trying to screw with me again.”, the Viking pilot said. “You love to torture me, kinky.”

“Shut up!”, the Banshee pilot muttered. Then a blur shot by them, distracting the pilots. “What was that?”

The Viking pilot looked around, as the blur came back around, zipping past his cockpit. “What the hell?”, he said.

Then a large bolt deflected off the Banshee’s missile pod, startling the pilot. “What was that?!”, she cried.

“Check your six!”, the Viking pilot yelled. The two aircraft swerved different directions as Lena shot by the two of them.

“Damn!”, she said, as the merc pony swerved back around to attack the Banshee. The attack ship veered left and right, but Lena was on her like a moth to a light.

“I can’t shake it!”, the pilot cried, as more crossbow bolts flew by.

“I’m on it, just hold on!”, the Viking pilot said. The Viking swerved around, and the targeting computers started to lock onto Lena.

Lena turned to see the Viking's MT-50 torpedo pods arming. "Shit!", she said.

"Torpedoes away!", the pilot yelled. The missiles shot out, all of them, and Lena broke off her chase to flee. The missiles continued to chase her. Lena turned around and armed a bolt, before loading it and aiming at a missile. She fired, and the bolt wedged itself into the warhead of one of the MT-50s.

"Seriously?!", Lena cried. She shot off anther bolt before flying away, the missiles still flying.

Back on the ground, an Archangel was firing its 150mm Gatling cannons at the enemy, supported by another group of Vikings. Two BT-7 tanks were circling the Archangel, firing twin DShK machine guns, with KPV cannons opening fire.

The Archangel slammed its bayonets on a BT-7, before stomping on the other one. Both BT-7 tanks exploded.

"Dominion forces, push forward!!", the Archangel pilot ordered.

"Yes, sir!", the Viking pilots said.

A King Tiger fired its 88mm, before getting destroyed by the Archangel's ground-to-ground missiles. The infantry were firing their rifles up at the monstrosity, but they were getting targeted by the marines on the ground.

Edward fired off his BAR, taking out a marine, before ducking behind a tank wreck, as a Viking pinned him behind cover. Almost right after, several flak rounds impacted the Viking's cockpit.

A Flakpanzer I opened fire as several stormtroopers fired on the enemy. The Archangel fired a ground to ground ripwave missile at them, and the missile destroyed the anti-air tank.

Edward jumped over a wrecked Comet tank, as he yelled to his men. "Fall back! Fall back!", he yelled. Everyone turned and ran back to the hill, with all the tanks covering their retreat.

Up ahead, several P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts flew with an American WWI Zeppelin above the enemy. The fighters performed a dive, firing all their rockets at the Archangel, the biggest target on the field.

The Archangel looked up, to see several dozen rockets flying down at it. All the rockets struck the mech, creating a giant cloud of smoke.

"Fire!!", a Hellcat commander yelled. The Hellcat's 75mm cannon opened fire, and suddenly, every single tank on the battlefield fired at the Archangel. More explosions and black smoke rippled out of the six-hundred tonne neosteel death machine.

The tanks took this time to fall back, as the P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts now fired all their machine guns at the Archangel, the barrage of small shells practically raining down on it. The 50 Caliber rounds completely demolished all the infantry on the ground, as well as destroying the Vikings' cockpits. Soon, the 30 meter tall mech suit was all that was left.

Several M114 155mm Howitzers towed in by halftracks opened fire, and the giant shells assisted the bombardment of the Archangel. By then, the Zeppelin was above the Archangel, slowly descending to get within range of the Archangel.

"Another hundred meters!", the navigator on the airship ordered. "We're almost there!"

"Prepare to drop!", the captain said.

Crew members in the Zeppelin ran around as the payload of large hydrogen explosives hung in the giant airship.

Then the unexpected happened. The Archangel fired all its anti air ripwave missiles, taking out every fighter in the sky. A leftover missile flew into the tail of the Zeppelin, the explosion completely rocking the 237 meter ship in the air.

Edward looked up to see the zeppelin crashing to the ground, as well as the Archangel transforming into its fighter form and taking off into the sky. "Dammit...", he said.

Somewhere else...

Two Finnish Kübelwagens, the Vickers tank, and the two BT-42 tanks were racing away from a massive group of shadows. The shadows were overrunning trees and abandoned houses and huts in the forest. A BT-42 fired, the high caliber assault gun's recoil speeding up the tank. Ahti was on the other BT-42, yelling at the others to pull back.

The Vickers fired its main gun, as did the Kübelwagen mounted Lahti-Saloranta M/26 machine guns. "Meidän täytyy houkutella se pois! Mene nopeammin!", he ordered, waving his hand.

"Komentaja!!"

Ahti looked back, and the last thing he was was a large black claw grabbing at him.

Author's Note

I'm on finals for 2nd semester, so this story is on hiatus for a few weeks.

Sorry.