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0700 Hours

North Ponyville

Four Alicorns soar through the air with the grace of runaway trains. Their vision locked on the hill just outside of north-east Ponyville.

"Can you see them?" Twilight yells over the rushing wind in her ears. Cadence shakes her head, now wearing a panicked expression. Luna and Celestia didn't notice the question, and in fact. Began outrunning Cadence and Twilight. Their larger frames and larger wings having more muscle, allowed them far a greater top speed. The Solar and Lunar princesses began a fairly steep dive, With one last flap of their wings the two sisters pinned their wings against their flanks, Picking up an alarming amount of speed in the dive.

Twilight beckoned Cadence to follow her, and followed the two sisters in the hell dive. Twilight extended her wings again with great difficulty due to drag, and began gliding towards the ground.

Upon their arrival back to terra firma, they found the scene from a horror tale. A Creature, Presumably the 'Human' was standing half out of the top of a huge metal... something, Probably a vehicle. The captain was held against its chest, facing us. The Humans Right arm was across Captain Stardust's neck, a Very sharp knife held against the left side of the captains throat. The blades edge was pressed against the petrified captains neck, and glinting menacingly in Celestia's sunlight. Held against Stardust with just enough pressure to shave strands of fur from the left side of his neck with every Ragged. Slow. Clearly distressed breath the Human drew. The captains two fellow soldiers lay on the ground either side of the vehicles massive wheels bleeding from deep gashes on their legs and barrels.

Cadence gasped and slowly, cautiously, moved to help them. A Previously unseen human showed himself from behind the vehicle, Pointing a short pipe, that it held at its eye level in one hand at the pink princess. Cadence ceased her slow advance, The second humans glare was sending shivers up and down Twilight's spine, it was full of so much malice.

"Thats far enough beastie." The second human mumbled calmly. It was this human that gave the Princesses, their first full body view of them. Most of this humans form was hidden under various clothing. Thick brown leather boots, Black socks, Khaki Shorts, Black T-shirt, a Thick vest with a myriad of pockets and pouches and finally a metal helmet that would offer little protection from swords, or any weapons for that matter... The helmet protected the back of his neck, which was covered to the nape, his ears, the back and top of his head but the front of it was only covered with a piece of mirror finish reflective blue glass that completely hid his face from view.

From this view, Twilight could gather that the Humans appeared to be Primarily Bipedal in nature. And they are Really tall, This second human challenged the height of Celestia! Their Muscular structure was quite intriguing. Heavy muscle growth around the legs, quite possibly to hold up the rest of their body... Speaking of which, Wide torso with a thin cross-section, Most of the visible muscle on the creatures torso was concentrated around the shoulders and forward upper torso area. Long arms that are built thicker towards the torso and thin out into the joint before its hands.

'So, These creatures are build for lifting and manipulating with objects no more or slightly heavier than their own weight. Bipedal-ism gives them superior endurance and agility, whilst their five fingered hands allow them to interact with their environment precisely. Their head, its the same size as a ponies minus a muzzle, Interesting... Whilst i doubt they'd have earth pony strength, finding yourself on the receiving end of a melee from these creatures would really ruin your day... And with four legs ponies will have greater speed and acceleration... No visible horns or wings for that matter, so they cant fly, and possibly cant use magic. Agility, Endurance, Advanced environment manipulation and intelligence... Truly a force to be reckoned with.

The human held his hostage in just the right position to restrict his movement. The Alien creature drew slow, shaking, deliberate intakes of air, his shoulders raising and lowering with each breath. Without breaking eye contact with the group, the human addressed his counterpart.

"Jackie. Don't worry about the Pink one... Skip filling the Jerry cans, and just run the line into the primary tank." The human said slowly and cautiously.

The second human, 'Jackie', looked about to protest his orders, but simply nodded and bent his right arm at the elbow. Pointing the pipe it held strangely into the air, before stepping backwards until he was out of sight behind the vehicle.

"Release the captain and no harm shall come to you." Princess Celestia said with steeled determination. Luna was standing next to her older sister with the same mask of neutral determination as her sister.

"Firstly." The human growled in fluent Equestrian. His tone proving Twilight's theory of him being stressed. "You're answering my Questions, then letting me and my crew leave. Before we pass the treeline, I'll release the good captain."

"We'll gladly answer any questions but you must release the captain first.-"

"Fuck no! I've heard of the handy work your kind are capable of." The human spat back at Celestia with venom, Causing the solar princess to flinch. And Luna to glare.

"D-Do-nt you D-are Talk to Princess Cele-stia-" Without moving the human glanced down as the captain tilted his head up slowly to glare back into his eyes. "-Like That!" The Human Tightened his grip on the handle of his blade and just grunted dismissively, quickly looking back to the other ponies quickly.

Cadence spoke up from where she stood. "I'm going to bring our wounded guards over to our group so i can treat them..." she said slowly and clearly, lighting her horn. The human from behind the Vehicle returned to pointing his pipe at the Princess of love. Cadence, undeterred, levitated the unconscious forms of the wounded guards ponies over to the main group and began tending to their wounds.

"If you must know. Captain Stryder acted upon his own accord. He was neither hinted nor ordered to attack your Ponies-" Luna was cut off by the Human who took on a glare that could cut through stone.

"DON'T. YOU. DARE. Compare MY People to YOUR Animals!" He growled with a savage rumble in his voice.

"Sa-vage-" Stardust began to say through the humans tight grip. He cut off his next string of words when his captor pressed the blade tighter against his neck. The captains skin, was now dangerously taught under the blades edge. The human began slowing his breathing.

It was then that Twilight notice Luna's eyes shift ever so slightly to the right and down. The Lunar princess then flicked her right ear up and down. Before returning her gaze to the human, or rather his weapon.

"Continue. Before you get two captains back." His tone of voice was steadily becoming more hostile with each minute that dragged on. Luna hurriedly continued to explain her points.

"-His only orders were to defend the Ponies of Ponyville. If you don't believe me, my lieutenant was spying on Stryder the night before the attack upon you, She nearly killed herself to get a message to my sister and I. Her message Alerted us, it allowed us to make haste and Arrive before the planned reinforcements could deploy themselves. She's your 'Peoples' Savior."

Luna responded whilst concentrating on the knife.

"Bullshit. Shes YOUR Peoples savior, if those Pegasai had come within a Kilometer of our camp, they would of been dealt with swiftly!" The sheer certainty in his voice made Twilight's blood chill. "And anyway, If thats true. And your not trying to kill us. Then why'd 'Captain Crunch' here and his 'Bastard Animals' Threaten to kill me and my crew if we didn't comply. Like at the mere mention of danger we'd cave in and surrender like Spineless Cowards. How can i trust you? What proof do i have that you wont kill us?

With little warning, Jackie's sudden yell was cut off by a loud 'gurk', followed by a loud metallic Thud was heard from behind the vehicle. At the exact same time. Twilight watched the muscles in the humans arm tense and the blade bit into the captains neck drawing the slightest blood. Before she could scream 'NO' however, she saw the weapon and the humans hand be encased in a Midnight blue aura. The human fought the force of Luna trying to pull his knife and hand away from the captains neck, but after a second the human did something surprising.

Using his free arm the human shunted the captain so hard he flew face first towards Luna. The Princess of the night caught the captain with her magic, And recognized her mistake immediately, to her horror saw the human quickly spin recently freed knife in his fingers, adjusting them until he gripped the spine of the blade. He drew his right arm back quickly to throw the weapon at the Wide eyed Princess, but abruptly stopped and spun around, throwing the blade over the back of the vehicle.

A Pained yell echoed across the top of the hill, and over the plains around it. A yell that made Twilight's world stop. Twilight's eyes locked onto the orange and yellow blur that was now falling sideways off the top rear of the vehicle. Using her magic faster that she thought she was capable of. She caught Applejack mid-fall, at the same moment Princess Celestia's expression changed from one of shock to pure anger. The solar princesses horn flared and the humans form was slammed into and pinned to the roof of the vehicle, Luna leaped into the air and immediately used 'Respite'. Respite is a spell that instantaneously numbs all of a creatures senses and forces them into a restful sleep, its often used as a light anesthetic or as an alternative to medicinal painkillers.

The humans body went limp immediately, he was out-cold so fast his eyes didn't even close. Which was concerning, that means that Luna may have overdone it.

With the threat now over, Twilight -Telipoofed- away for a few seconds... Before -Telipoofing- back with nurse Redheart, who gasped upon seeing the wounded unconscious Applejack with a knife handle sticking out of the front of her barrel, being treated by Cadence.

After twenty stressful minutes nurse Redheart sat up with a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from her brow. A tightly and thoroughly bandaged Applejack lay on the grass breathing calmly in sleep.

"She'll live, but she wont be working for several months-" Twilight cut the nurse off with...

"Several months?! She's not going to do that! She was working her farm when she had a fever!

"Well then i'd tell her about how she's the luckiest mare on the planet right now. That knife's blade, went all the way to the hilt in her barrel. And didn't so much as nick a single major blood vessel or organ! See to it that she doesn't work. If she tears those stitches open, then i'm going to have to keep her in a hospital bed for a month and a half to allow the additional work closing that wound to heal!" Before Twilight could fire a verbal counter-battery the nurse turned and leaved for Ponyville again.

The bloodied knife had laid abandoned on the grass for the last seventeen minutes, but it now found itself being held in Lavender magic and wiped on the grass. Then on the receiving end of a thoughtful, analytical stare that would make a Manticore nervous. Twilight obsessed over the knifes inefficient design for combat.

Such a large handle allowed for a human hand to grasp it firmly without fear of it slipping out of hand, but such a short blade made it an inferior weapon in comparison to a sword or even a parrying dagger... It was then that Twilight had an idea, using her magic she lifted the blade into the air.

Luna saw this and responded quickly with a worried rushed voice. "Careful Princess sparkle!"

Twilight sat down on the grass and outstretched a foreleg. She rested the knife sideways on her foreleg, letting her magic dissipate until gravity started pulling the knife what ever direction it deemed fit. After several attempts Twilight got the answer she was looking for.

"So thats your purpose... I Don't know whether thats genius or insidious..." Twilight mumbled to herself whilst glaring thoughtfully at the weapon on her foreleg.

"What have you found Dear Twilight?" Celestia asked as she walked over and sat down next to her former student.

"The balance of this knife... Is in the center of the tang. That being the top of the handle and bottom of the blade. This knife is designed to be thrown!" Celestia looked puzzled at such an off design choice, whilst Luna scoffed and replied with.

"What a useless idea. Once you throw it you have no weapon. And to make it throwable they had to make the blade to shorts its useless..." Twilight levitated the weapon back into the air and retorted with.

"Its possible this knife isn't meant to be used as a primary weapon. Remember the other humans pipe thing? It seemed pretty confident that it would stop Cadence..." Twilight then noticed a small switch on the spine of the blade, just in front of the handle, using her magic she pushed it in all directions till it slid backwards and the spring loaded blade folded itself down into the handle. "Fascinating. By folding the blade into the handle you don't require a scabbard or sheath to store it safely, and its only half the size. Saving weight and space! These humans make interesting design choices..."

Twilight then turned to the Huge metal vehicle that stood proudly to her left. She walked over and lit her horn, but something was amiss... She lit her horn again and strained, pouring more and more of herself into the simple spell.

"Whats wrong Twilight?" Cadence asked. Confused.

"I- Dont know... Its just a simple telekinesis spell, but it wont work on this thing!" Twilight struggled again to use her magic to open the drivers hatch, but it was in vain. After her most intensive efforts left her panting, she was only rewarded by the hatch shaking slightly.

"What is wrong with this thing?" Twilight groaned in exhaustion.

"A more pressing question is what do we do with it, if we leave it here more humans may come and get it. But if we plan to move it, How are we going to move it?" Cadence thinks out aloud.

Luna and Celestia look at each other before both grinning...