Independence Day: Resistanceby Admiral Wyatt StoneChapters01: Arrival02: Darkness03: Attack04: Destruction05: Rescue06: Unity07: Battle08: Victory01: ArrivalIn orbit of the planet Equus, the moon stood deathly still, it's surface reflecting the bright light shone by the nearby star that was the sun. The giant, rocky satellite had never been stood hoof upon in its days, as ponykind had not invented anything capable of space travel yet. Despite such inabilities, the inhabitants of Equus still wondered as to whether or not they were alone, hoping that somewhere in the universe, something or someone was out there, waiting to discover another sentient species among the stars... And the moon was going to be the first to bear witness to their arrival. The ground started to rumble slightly as an enormous shadow slowly covered the surface, blotting out the sun. The shadow continued to cover more and more of the moon's surface as it was soon covered in darkness... -Ponyville- 1:13 AM The field of stars was a wondrous sight to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her six friends, who all stared at them while the former looked through a telescope she had brought with her to the fields for stargazing. The girls usually would have been in bed to rest for the next day, but since it was one of the most gorgeous nights they had seen in a while, and since there wasn't too much going on in the world right now, they decided to make the best of this occasion. Pinkie Pie pointed at a spot in the sky as she squeed, "Oh! Look! There's a shooting star!" The rest of the gang oohed along with her as they watched it streak across the night sky. "Oh, yes, quite a bright one too." Fluttershy said as she watched the shooting star disappear into the darkness of space, turning back to Twilight as she turned the telescope towards another constellation. "Oh, Canis Major's brighter than I've seen it before." The purple alicorn said as she heard Rainbow Dash speak up. "Maybe it's 'cause you cleaned it earlier?" Twilight gave an unamused look at the blue pegasus as she opened her mouth to retort, only for Rarity to interject before she could say a word. "Or perhaps, something is happening up there?" The fashionista pondered as she stared up into the sky. Twilight also pondered for a moment, then looked back towards her friends as she replied. "That may be the case, stars do get a bit brighter when they get older..." Applejack gave a quizzical look to the stars as she asked, "Ya know? The stars DO seem brighter from what I'm seein'. Y'all sure it isn't darker than usual?" Pinkie shared the same look after taking her own second look at the night sky. "Hmm... Yeah, it does seem darker. Don't you notice it Fluttershy?" The pink party pony said as she turned to face her friend, but her face turned to one of concern as she saw the yellow pegasus' face. It was one of shock, of fear, like she had seen something no one would want to see. Curious, Pinkie turned to where her friend was looking, as did the other four. Upon seeing what Fluttershy was seeing, everyone shared the same worried expression as they stared at the unnerving sight. The moon's surface was being enveloped in a shadow that was slowly growing from the once brightly lit side. The girls gave a faint gasp as they watched the once bright rock become almost completely covered in darkness. Twilight, curious of what was going on up there, shook herself out of her trance and turned the telescope towards the moon. After shifting it slightly, she gave another gasp, one that sounded like she had seen a ghost. "What's wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked as her alicorn friend slowly turned toward her, motioning a hoof for all her friends to come and look. As they peered into the small visible image on the telescope, their faces became ones full of terror. Near the moon was a large object, the upper section looked like a near half dome with a circular section on it, while the underside of it bore two long, sharp fins that swept back behind the rest of the structure. It almost rivaled the moon in size. Rarity was the first to break the silence, "What in the name of Celestia is that?!" She pointed a hoof towards the image on the small eyepiece as Twilight looked up to the moon. "I... I think it's some kind of spaceship." The purple alicorn replied as she and her friends looked up at the moon, the shadow now more prevalent than ever. "Sure looks like one." Rainbow Dash said as she stared at the unnerving sight. "Sh-should we inform the princesses?" Fluttershy said shakily as she looked to her friends. "Yes. And qui-" Twilight started to say, but was cut off as she noticed something changing in the picture. Moving a hoof to shift the picture again, she peered into it. Her eyes went wide at what she was seeing, several smaller objects began to break off of the underside of the larger vessel. Looking at the smaller ships, they were similar in design to the mothership, though they looked to be simply dome shaped. Twilight could make out much from the view she got, so after shifting the picture once more she could see it better. The vessel did not have a perfect dome, on what must have been the front of the ship was a long, tall section sticking out of it. As they all slowly turned upright, they began to make their way towards Equus, the mothership now sitting still over the moon. After taking count, she counted over 30 of the ships in the fleet, all of them dispersing and heading for different parts of the planet. Lifting her head away from the viewing scope, Twilight began disassembling the telescope as she spoke. "Girls, I want all of you to come with me to the Castle of Friendship. I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia and see what she wants us to do next." As she finished, she put all of the telescope pieces into her saddlebags before looking to her friends. "We're right behind you, darling." Rarity replied as all six mares turned towards Ponyville and broke into a gallop, racing towards the town without wasting a breath. -Canterlot, Royal Palace- 2:05 AM It had been a long and tiring day for Princess Celestia, having to deal with countless meetings and plan special events was tiresome, but worth it at the end of the day. It had been almost an hour since she saw her nephew Prince Blueblood depart for Las Pegasus to spend some leisurely time there, and her sister, Princess Luna, had already went to her private chambers to watch over the dream realm. Now it was time to get some rest herself. As she trotted up the stairs to her room, Celestia hummed a soothing tune to herself before she was stopped in her tracks by a flash of magic. As the magic swiftly dissipated, a rolled up scroll fell onto the steps ahead of Celestia. Picking it up in her magic, the princess opened up the scroll and began to read. "Dear Princess Celestia, while my friends and I were stargazing near Ponyville, we noticed a large shadow on the moon's surface. Upon closer examination, I found a large object coming towards Equus. After it stopped moving, several smaller objects detached from it and are making their way towards our planet. From what I can tell, they must be some kind of alien fleet. As to their purpose, I don't know for sure, but it doesn't seem good from the looks of it. I'm writing to you so that we can discuss our next plan of action. I hope to receive your response soon. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Celestia's eyes were left wide open upon finishing the letter, worried by her former student's supposed findings. If what Twilight was saying was true, then they were bound to make first contact with another species from the stars above. Curious as to whether or not Twilight was right, Celestia made her way up the stairs to her room. After opening the door and stepping inside, she trotted over to the window to see the moon. As she had feared, the moon was almost completely darkened, a large shadow covering the once lit surface. After giving the shadow a closer look, Celestia seemed to notice that the shadow did have a strange look to it. Diverting her gaze from the window, the princess raced out of the room and downstairs and back into the lobby. Celestia then made her way up another stairway, one that led to Luna's chamber. After knocking a hoof to the door, Celestia heard shuffling on the other side, then hoofsteps. After a few hoofsteps, the door opened to reveal a slightly disgruntled Luna looking up to her sister. "What is it, Tia?" The Princess of the Night said, trying to hold back the irritation in her voice. Celestia gave an apologetic expression on her face. "Forgive me for the sudden interruption, dear sister, but something's wrong." "What do you mean?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow. "Come here." Celestia said as she and Luna trotted over to the nearby window. Celestia then pointed a hoof towards the moon. Upon seeing the sight Celestia alerted her to, Luna let out a horrified gasp before looking to her sister. "What's happening to the moon?!" Luna asked fearfully. "Fortunately, nothing is wrong with the moon, but something near it is the cause of that shadow." As Celestia finished, she opened Luna's closet and pulled out her telescope before assembling it. After setting it up, she opened the window and positioned the telescope towards the right side of the moon before motioning for Luna to look into it. As she peered through the viewing glass, her eyes were wide when she saw the sight before her, a large, irregular dome-shaped vessel with two large fins underneath. Luna snapped her gaze away from the telescope and looked up to Celestia "What is that thing, Celestia?" "From what Twilight told me in her letter, it's some kind of space-faring vessel, and apparently, several more have detached from it and are heading to various places around the planet." Celestia replied grimly. Luna looked to the floor, sharing her sister's grim expression on her face before looking back up to her. "..What shall we do?" Celestia's face grew with determination as she answered her sister. "Twilight wishes for me to send a letter back to her to discuss our plan, so I'll start once I return to my chambers." Her expression was broken with a yawn as she began to feel tired. "Uh, perhaps just a letter could do until morning." Luna said with slight concern. "Yes, that sounds good. Hopefully, nothing too big will happen tomorrow." Celestia said tiredly. "Hopefully, now you get some rest, sister. You've had quite a day." Luna replied. "But what about the let-" Celestia started to say, but was cut off by her sister. "I'll write it for you, is that alright?" Luna asked as her sister smiled thankfully. "Of course, good night, sister." Celestia said as she made way for the door. "Good night, Tia." Luna replied as her sister shut the door lightly. Now that she was alone, Luna trotted over to her table and picked up a piece of paper and a quill before sitting down. Dipping the quill in ink, Luna began to write her letter. "Dear Princess Twilight..." -Abyssinia- 4:53 AM The dark, star-filled sky was a wonder to the anthropomorphic felines of Panthera, some stopping to admire the view they were seeing. Though the night time sky was a common thing to see every day, it still mesmerized them whenever they saw it. However, on this night, the sky was slightly darker than usual, the stars seemed brighter than they were before, and, seemingly from nowhere, a low rumbling was heard constantly since late into the night. Some of the citizens were a little unease from these strange abnormalities, but they pushed it off, maybe it was just someone using some new, loud contraption, or maybe there were a large herd of animals passing by the city and the noise would stop eventually. But others knew otherwise. On the higher, bustling buildings and at the edges of the city, citizens got a clear view of the source of the noise. An enormous, fiery cloud that slowly moved across the sky. It looked so big that it could cover the entire city of Panthera. Occasionally, a loud howl would sound from the unnerving anomaly, but some of the citizens pushed themselves to go back to what they were doing. Unbeknownst to them all, however, that this strange sight would bring destruction, pain, and death to their city in due time, and they would most likely be powerless to stop it. 02: Darkness-Ponyville- 7:49 AM The light from outside the windows forced spike to squint as he woke up, lifting himself out of his bed and stretching his arms out. As he hopped out of bed, he heard rapid hoofsteps that got louder until the door to his bedroom opened, Twilight swiftly galloping in. The small dragon yawned as he spoke to his friend. "Morning Twilight, what's got you-" Spike was interrupted by Twilight's reply. "Sorry Spike, but my friends and I have got a meeting with Princess Celestia to attend, and I need to get everything together so that we can come up with a plan." "Ugh, is this about that 'alien fleet' again?" Spike asked, slightly annoyed by the subject. "Yes, and I've found out something else." Twilight replied as she looked for her supplies. "After sending my letter to the princesses, I decided to take another look at the moon, and I noticed something else near it. At first, it looked like one of those smaller ships that broke off from the mothership. And then I saw more of them, but the other ships didn't look familiar to the ones I saw last night." Spike raised an eyebrow. "Different ships? How many were there?" "I didn't take count that time around, but I think there were around 20 or more ships on the other side of the moon." "You think they're a part of this 'invasion force'?" Spike asked as Twilight picked up some quills, several pieces of paper and a compass. Putting the items into her saddlebags, Twilight replied. "I'm not sure, but whatever they're doing, it doesn't look good." Spike looked around the room for a moment before seeing and walking over to his backpack, Twilight picking up the already drawn on paper from it and placing it with the other papers. "Well, since you're so worried about this alien fleet up there, you want me to come along?" "Due to the circumstances at the moment, yes." Twilight said as she placed the saddlebags onto her back. The alicorn then trotted over to her dragon friend before speaking once more. "Hop on." "Spike did so, climbing onto his friend before the two galloped out of the room, racing through the halls until they saw the others. "That was fast." Rainbow Dash said with slight surprise. "So, are we ready to go?" Rarity asked Twilight. "I think so, we can take the train to Canterlot so that we can get this meeting underway." The alicorn princess replied as she and her friends began trotting to the doors. "So what do you think these aliens are gonna do? Do they like parties?" Pinkie Pie as with a smile on her face. "I think that'll have to wait a little while. If they're a friendly species, they might be willing to-" Twilight stopped as she felt the ground rumbling, almost as if a small earthquake was occuring. "Is... Is it an earthquake?" Pinkie asked curiously, but got no answer as the room started to become slightly darker. Curious, Twilight trotted over to one of the windows nearby, and saw a dark grey cloud in the sky. After closer examination, however, she noticed small streaks of orange coming from the direction the cloud seemed to be heading. Twilight was silent for a moment before turning to her friends. "Everyone, outside." Twilight said as she galloped towards the door, her friends following suite. Opening the doors and briefly taking flight past the stairs, she landed before lifting her gaze to the sky, her friends stopping behind her and doing the same. The cloud was large and circular, seemingly big enough to cover Ponyville, Canterlot, and even the Everfree Forest. The front of the cloud was a bright, fiery orange, as if something was trying to enter the atmosphere of the planet. At one point, the cloud let out a howl, almost as if the cloud was alive. Twilight and her friends stared at the horrific sight, unsure of what was going to happen next... -Canterlot- 8:01 AM Celestia took a sip of her tea as she trotted around the kitchen table and continued making breakfast. She sniffed the air as she smelt the delicious scent of the pancakes she was making. Some would've thought Celestia would be immediately preparing to meet up with Princess Twilight to discuss the supposed alien armada, but surely, Celestia thought, she could sate her hunger before getting onto business. As she watched the pancake cook, she heard a low rumble from outside. Curious of what it was, Celestia trotted over to the nearby window to see what was going on. While it wasn't the best view, she could see what appeared to be a large cloud floating towards the city. The front of the cloud caught Celestia's eye, as it glowed a brilliant orange, like it was on fire. Celestia's curious viewing of the anomaly was interrupted when her sister barged in through the door. "Sister!" What's wrong?" The Princess of the Sun asked worriedly. "Outside, quickly!" With that, the two alicorn sisters raced out of the kitchen, but not before Celestia turned off the oven. Didn't want to cause a fire during this strange day. As the two princesses entered the hallway, they galloped to the door and opened it. Upon stepping outside, Celestia and Luna looked up to the sky to see the large cloud. Celestia could now see the missing details, the shape of the cloud was circular, and was large enough to bathe Canterlot and Ponyville in darkness. And darkness soon came to Canterlot, as the cloud slowly hovered over the city, blotting out the sun. There must have been something inside the cloud, as not a speck of sunlight pierced through. "...Sister?" Luna said with a hint of fear in her voice, but Celestia didn't reply. All she could do was watch the enormous cloud cover the whole city of Canterlot... -Manehattan- 8:03 AM The streets of Manehattan were bustling as usual, ponies trotting the sidewalks and carriages rode down the streets as if nothing was amiss. One of the pedestrians was Coco Pommel, who was exiting the fabric shop after acquiring supplies. She was trotting out the doors of the store when she heard something, a low rumbling from far away. Assuming it was just some loud machinery somewhere in the city, Coco continued trotting down the street, nearing the crosswalk when she felt the ground shake lightly. The rumbling was more prevalent now, and Coco couldn't stop herself from looking around to see where the noise could possibly be coming from. Then, looking to the sky, she saw it. A large, dark cloud slowly covering the city. The mare was put at unease upon seeing the orange, fiery glow from the front side of the cloud. Other ponies looked up at it too, curious and horrified as to what was above their city. The rumbling became more noticeable as the city seemed to quiet down, but Coco paid no mind to it. She could only focus on the enormous cloud that was shrouding Manehattan into darkness... -Las Pegasus- 8:04 AM Prince Blueblood sipped his beverage as he relaxed at a table near one of the amusement park rides. He always saw such 'entertainment' to be childish, but at least this place knew how to make a good drink. "Delicious." The spoiled prince said as he set his drink onto the table with his magic. As he sat back to relish in the beautiful sight that was Las Pegasus, he heard a low howl far away from where he was. His chair, along with the rest of the ground, began to shake lightly. As the shaking progressively got more rough, his drink fell to the ground, the glass breaking into several pieces. Annoyed, yet curious, the prince stood from his seat and looked around. At first, he saw nothing, but after trotting away from the building to get a different view, he could see it. The cloud was gargantuan, dark, and seemed to be on fire. Blueblood seemed disturbed by this anomaly as he watched it slowly cover the city of Las Pegasus. From afar, he could hear some ponies cry out or scream as they looked at the cloud. Some workers broke into a gallop after getting a good look at the sight above. Blueblood, however, just stood where he was and stared at the monstrous cloud, wondering what was causing it to appear like that. -The Changeling Kingdom- 8:06 AM Pharynx breathed tiredly as he raced towards the Changeling Hive, disturbed and worried about what he had seen during his scouting mission. Whatever that large cloud was, it could pose a threat to his fellow drones, and he wasn't going to waste a second to prevent that. As he landed inside the hive, Pharynx ran through the shifting corridors, unsure of where the Queen was. Fortunately for him, she wasn't that far. After passing through six or seven corridors, he saw her, discussing her plans with some of her other drones. The purple-eyed changeling warrior took a breath as he finally stopped in front of Queen Chrysalis, who gave a satisfied grin of anticipation as she spoke to him. "Report, Pharynx. What did you find?" "Hah, my Queen... hah, I've found... hah, something." He finally caught his breath as he steadied himself upwards. "Something large." "What is it exactly?" Chrysalis asked with a raised eyebrow. "You may want to follow me." He said as he began to fly out through the corridor and back outside. Chrysalis, curious of what had her drone in such a rushy mood, followed after him, the drones she communed with a moment ago following suite. As they made it outside, Chrysalis nearly lost control as she landed erratically, stunned by the sight she was seeing. A cloud of fire that looked so enormous it could cover the entire kingdom. Recovering from her shock, Chrysalis asked Pharynx, "What is that... thing?" "I... don't know, but it can't be good." As he said that, Pharynx's eyes widened at the cloud, something was coming out of it, something metallic and bulky, but he couldn't tell what it was. All he and his fellow changelings could do was watch as the cloud revealed its true appearance... -Hippogriffia, Mount Aris- 8:10 AM The top of the mountain was bustling with hippogriffs, many flying around the various structures they had built in their time on the mountain, others were talking to their friends or looking around the various shops for supplies. Except one, a yellowish gray hippogriff with arctic blue hair sped down towards Hippogriffia, fear evident in her eyes. As she spotted the building where her mother resided, she continued her fast flight through the city, only stopping when she had reached the doors of the building. Opening them, she called out, "Mom!" At first, she got no response, "Mom, there's something I need you to see!" "Hold on, Skystar, I'm coming." The voice of Princess Skystar's mother, Queen Novo sounded from the staircase leading to the upper part of the palace, and a short moment later the Queen walked down the steps to see her daughter. "What did you find this time?" Novo said with a hint of unamusement in her voice. "It's big, come with me!" Without giving her a moment to reply, the Princess of the Hippogriffs took flight back outside. Novo let out a sigh before taking flight, following her daughter to wherever she was going. A short flight away from the building later, she could see Skystar in mid-air hovering high above the Kingdom. Flying upwards to hover alongside her, Novo spoke again. "I swear, if this is another one of your silly discoveries, you're-" She stopped as she saw what Skystar was talking about, a large, cylindrical cloud that bore fire on the front of it. Suddenly, the cloud seemed to slow briefly, bringing a hopeful smile to Skystar's face. But that smile immediately faded as something emerged from the cloud, a large, circular object that stretched out for miles, at what must have been the front of the ship was a tall, wafer shaped structure that stuck out from the rest of it. The ship let out an unnerving howl as the cloud behind it began to dissipate. Queen Novo was silent, simply staring at the large object as she and her daughter watched it slowly hover towards Mount Aris... -The Crystal Empire- 8:15 AM The once bustling Crystal Empire had become one driven by fear and uncertainty. Townsponies ran around the town or into their homes as they tried to escape from whatever had taken their skies. As the large alien vessel slowly hovered over the city, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor stood atop the palace as they watched the large newcomer. Behind them, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Thorax and Sunburst galloped over to them, all four of them horrified by the large object in the sky. "What in Equestria is THAT?!" Trixie almost screamed to her friends. "We don't know, it came out of a large, fiery cloud behind it." Shining Armor replied, continuing to stare at the large ship that was now almost blocking every inch of sunlight from the Empire. "We need to send a message to my aunt, she might know what to do." Cadance said to her husband and their guests. "That sounds like a good idea right now." Starlight said as the six of them all raced back into the palace, intent on figuring out what to do about the unknown object above their city. -Canterlot- 8:19 AM It had been moments since the fire cloud had been first noticed, and now the alien ship that had departed it was now hovering right over Canterlot, just above the mountain. The royal palace was directly underneath a dented section of the underside of the ship, leaving Celestia and Luna to wonder just what that part of the ship was. The rest of the city was in a panic, ponies running or flying as far away from the ship as they could possibly get. One of the royal guards exited the palace and trotted over to Celestia and Luna. "What are your orders, your Highnesses?" Celestia snapped her eyes away from the ship, steadying herself as she gave her answer. "Prepare the conference room, we're having guests that can help us with figuring out what to do about that vessel up there." "And get a reporter here immediately, I shall address the nation once I've finished with the meeting." "Understood." The guard said before bowing to the royal sisters, then turning back towards the palace as the princesses continued to gaze at the spaceship hovering above Canterlot. "I have a very bad feeling about this, sister." Luna said, fear present in her voice. "I know.... and to be honest, I'm scared too." Celestia replied as she and Luna stared at the monstrous ship above them. -Ponyville- 8:24 AM The 6 mares and dragon sat in their seats as the train they boarded began to depart. Twilight placed her saddlebags in the space between her and Spike, taking a deep breath from all the running they had performed to get to the train. Rarity broke the vocal silence within the car. "So, what are you bringing the tools for, Twilight?" "In case we need to use it to develop our plan," Twilight looked up to the city of Canterlot, fear present in her next words. "and if we find out anything new, I'll need to document it like I did earlier last night." "But, what if we can't do anything to stop them, assuming they're going to attack us?" Fluttershy asked, sharing Twilight's fearful tone. Twilight sighed before looking down at the floor of the train. "I don't know, Fluttershy." Then, lifting her head up with newfound determination, she continued. "But we have to hope that they aren't here to hurt us, that they're just bringing a lot of guests with them to make first contact." "That's one possibility, I mean, if we were a near-extinct, space-faring species we'd probably do somethin' like that, right?" Applejack said in support of this theory. "I would hope so, I can't imagine what would happen if it's the former." Rarity said, her hope slightly drained as she considered all the possibilities they could think of. "Well, whatever happens, we'll just have to worry about what we can do after our meeting with the princesses." Twilight said finitely. The others nodded in agreement before looking out the windows to look at the darkened sky. They all stared at the large, dark ship with fear, fear that if Twilight's predictions were true, then Equestria may need more than it has to stand against the alien fleet. 03: Attack-"Sea of Clouds"- 8:44 AM Tempest Shadow stood at the bow of the large skiff she was on, Grubber at her side as they both watched the airship sail through the stormy skies to Mount Aris. The Storm King had recently welcomed her among the ranks of his servants, and her first mission was to infiltrate the Hippogriff Kingdom and steal a magic pearl. All they had to do for the moment was to navigate the storm and when they arrived Tempest and Grubber would sneak in and fulfill the King's orders. Curious of how much longer it would take for them to arrive at Hippogriffia, Tempest turned to Grubber and spoke down to him. "Grubber, get me an estimate on the time we have until we arrive at Mount Aris." "You got it, boss." The small hedgehog replied before walking over to a large hatch on the floor, opening it and making his way into the ship's interior. As he stepped inside, another being came out, a tall, light gray-haired creature with black armor, two blue bolts engraved on the chest piece. As the Storm King walked up beside Tempest, he spoke to her. "Well, you seem to take a liking to this storm of mine." Tempest chuckled lightly before replying. "Yes, it makes me feel... stronger." The tall conqueror laughed aloud before steadying himself. "Yeah, that's about how I feel all the time." He then looked to the storm. "Then again, I'm almost always around storm clouds so... yeah." The hatch to the interior opened up again as Grubber stepped back out onto the exterior. Walking over to Tempest, he spoke to her. "We'll be reaching the mountain in about an hour." "Excellent..." Tempest said with a grin, but her contained excitement dissipated after hearing a low howl, one that she had never heard before in her life. The Storm King and Grubber seemed to share the same confusion for a moment. Then the small hedgehog broke the brief silence. "Uhh... what was that?" Tempest raised an eyebrow at the Storm King, expecting an answer. "Yeah.... I don't recall these storms ever making a noise like that." The King's thoughts were cut off as they noticed one of the clouds to their starboard side. "Everyone hold on!" Tempest alerted the crew, all of them bracing themselves as the storm cloud hit. As the ship entered the cloud, a faint orange glow emitted from the starboard side, drawing the attention of the whole skiff. "I... don't recall that happening, either." The Storm King defended himself once more as the source of the orange glow became more visible. What Tempest and the others saw was nothing they had experienced in their lives. At the starboard side of the ship, a large, fiery cloud was pushing the storm back... and was heading right for the skiff. The ship crew went into a panic, many of the storm warriors jumping overboard or trying to divert the airship away from the fire cloud as fast as possible. Looking to the Storm King, Tempest and Grubber awaited his swift reply. "Well, since everyone else is doing it," Upon uttering those words, the Storm King ran to the port side, screaming one last phrase as he jumped overboard. "ABANDON SHIP!!!" Tempest and Grubber ran for the port side as well, the cloud mere seconds away from impact as they both jumped, falling into the clouds as they heard an explosion above them. Debris shot past the two storm servants as they fell through the storm, seeing only clouds for several seconds before they saw the ground they were about to land on. Positioning herself to free-fall closer to Grubber, Tempest came closer to him before grabbing him in her hooves. "Hold on!" Tempest yelled to her hedgehog friend through the wind as the two hit the water, both feeling stunned from the impact, but knowing that they would drown if they didn't act, the two of them swam to the surface. When she got her head above the water, Tempest gasped for breath as she saw Grubber trying to swim. Seeing as the little hedgehog wasn't going to be able to get himself to safety alone, Tempest swam to him before saying, "Get on my back!" Grubber did so and as soon as Grubber was on her, she looked for the nearest shore in the area. Finding a small hill at the edge of one of the tall mountains, Tempest swam as fast as she could to the shore, not bothering to check if the Storm King and the surviving storm guards were following her. It took a long moment, but after a few minutes the two storm commanders rested themselves onto the sandy shore. As Tempest took a moment to breath, she heard several grunts behind her. Forcing her head up a little, she could see about seven of the surviving storm guards and the Storm King himself nearing the shore. Once they had reached the sandy refuge, they all took a breath, Tempest let her head rest while staring at the fiery cloud above them. As he used his staff to stand up, the Storm King spoke up. "What in the world did we just run into?!" "You tell me, your excellency." Tempest replied as she stood up, Grubber doing the same as they awaited the King's reply. "Well, since our ship is gone..." He took a moment to examine where they were. After scanning the other mountains, he couldn't see any kind of civilization or facility they could use. After taking a deep breath, the Storm King spoke up again. "Okay... we're stranded." "So much for the miss-" Tempest started to say, but stopped as she and the others heard a noise, a low screech that resembled a windigo. Looking up, they saw a strange aircraft descend down to them. It was nothing Tempest had seen before. The ship consisted of a long, smooth section with a bulky fin underneath. As the ship landed in front of them, the bottom section opened up, emitting a near blinding blue-greenish light from the inside. Not a second later did two bolts of energy shoot out from the ship, striking two of the storm guards. Tempest, alerted by her crewmates' injury, charged at the alien ship, hoping to strike at whatever was shooting at them. Another shot came out, this time striking the Storm King's hand, the Staff of Sacanas falling to the ground as he yelped. Tempest let out a battle cry as she jumped up to the light, readying her horn and hooves for a pouncing attack. As she flew in the air, she struck down one of the attackers. As one of the other attackers prepared to shoot at her, she ignited her horn and struck down the second one, unaware of what her first target was about to do. Without warning, the alien grabbed Tempest by the neck, slowly getting up as its prey tried to breathe. As she started to lose control of her body, Tempest got a good look at the attacker. It was a tall, ugly alien, with seemingly fake eyes and several tentacles on its back. "Re...lease... m...." Was the last thing that came out of her mouth before she saw black. -Canterlot- 9:18 AM The train slowed to a stop as it arrived at Canterlot. As the doors opened, loads of ponies were crowding the train's entrance, forcing Twilight and her friends to slip themselves through the crowd until nopony else was in their way. As they all gathered back together, they all raced through the city, passing by many panicking ponies for several minutes until they finally reached the royal palace. Upon reaching its doors, Twilight and her friends were greeted by one of the guards outside the door. "Good to see you here, Princess. The Royal Sisters are expecting you all." "Thank you." Twilight replied as she and the others stepped inside, the two sisters standing nearby as they trotted in. "It's good to see you here, Twilight, the city has broken into a panic since that ship arrived." Celestia said as her former student smiled up at her. "No wonder, Princess. Ponyville's been going through similar trouble." Twilight replied as they joined the princesses in their trot to the conference room. Looking up to Celestia, Twilight continued. "I brought some supplies and research with me to help us devise our next move, hopefully with what's happening, we can finally figure out what these ships are doing here." "Indeed, and speaking of such matters," Luna said as she opened the doors to the conference room, allowing the others to enter before stepping in herself. Shutting the doors, she continued. "We've got something you may want to hear." "Oh?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow as the Princess of the Night levitated a small radio to the table with her magic. Luna's face became stern as she continued. "We've recently started hearing news reports about the matter, it seems that Canterlot is not the only one underneath these ships." Upon finishing, she turned on the radio with her magic, static playing for a short second before a mare's voice spoke from the small device. "..And this just in, we've been getting reports from several cities and citizens about these large saucers in the sky. From what they told, they first appeared as some kind of fiery cloud. Some even mistook it for a dragon-filled storm. But shortly after a large, circular 'spaceship' came out of them and hovered towards the center of their city." As the mare finished, a stallion's voice spoke up. "Yes, and according to royal scouting parties, we've spotted several of them over countless cities and populated areas, including Canterlot, Fillydelphia, the Crystal Empire, the Changeling Hive, and even over the distant Mount Aris!" Twilight let out a low gasp upon hearing the news, as did her friends. "Coco Pommel's in Manehattan, last I heard." Rarity whispered to her friends, a fearful expression on her face. The stallion on the radio continued. "At the moment, we haven't received word from the Royal Sisters on the matter, but when we do, we'll inform you all as soon as possible!" The mare on the radio then began to speak about another news topic, but Luna cut it short. "Coming up, a tragic cra-" Were the last words to udder out of the device before it finally shut off. As she levitated the radio back to it's original spot, Luna spoke again. "So what have you gathered, Twilight?" Twilight trotted over to the table, Spike hopping off her back as she dismounted her saddlebags. "Well, just before dawn today, I decided to take another look at the moon and the shadow. At first, nothing new came of it, but after looking around other parts of the moon, I noticed more odd shapes on the opposite side." As Twilight continued, she pulled out a drawing she had made during her trip to the station. While crude, the details the alicorn had drawn were understandable enough to see. "Upon closer examination, I saw one of them was similar to those circular ships I first saw last night. However, the other ones looked like nothing I'd seen from the mothership." Celestia and Luna both raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Do you think they're another group of aliens?" The Princess of the Sun asked her former student. "That sounds likely, I mean, if they're from that mothership, why send them around our moon?" Twilight replied. "Maybe they're trying to... I don't know, take the moon?" Rainbow Dash asked. Pinkie laughed before answering Rainbow's idea. "Well, if that were the case, then why did they send down over 30 ships to our cities? They think each of us owns parts of it or something?" Rainbow rolled her eyes at Pinkie's joke before a royal guard came in through the door to the left of the room, fear in his expression as he spoke. "Princess! Several small ships are heading towards Cloudsdale!" The regal sisters and Twilight's group grew worried upon hearing the guard's words. Motioning for the others to follow, Celestia galloped out the left door, her sister and friends following behind. Climbing up the stairs to the observation room, Celestia and the others trotted upwards for several moments before finally reaching the door. Upon opening it and stepping out, the group entered the large, windowed room to see the far away city of Cloudsdale, seemingly normal. However, as Twilight got a closer look at the view she had, she looked up to see a swarm of small ships flying directly towards the city. Rainbow Dash's face was one of horror as she stared at the frightening sight, worried about what the swarm of aliens would do to the city... -Cloudsdale- 9:33 AM The siren was starting to become a slight nuisance as Soarin' put on his goggles, Spitfire inspecting her flyers as they prepared to defend their home from the invading swarm. "Alright, now I'm going to make this short. The large ship above us has launched a swarm of what we're assuming are fighters at us. As Cloudsdale evacuates, we're going to hold them off as best we can, understood?" "YES MA'AM!" Soarin' and the other 23 Wonderbolts said in unison, saluting their Captain before she turned towards the edge of the runway. "Alright, let's show these aliens who's boss!" As Spitfire finished, she and the other Wonderbolts took flight, flying over the runway and into the sky. Upon seeing the alien swarm to their right, the squadron of pegasi turned towards them, getting ready to evade the initial attack. As they got closer to the swarm, Soarin' got a good look at the alien fighters, two mandibles stuck out in between the wings, as well as several cannons boasting off of them and in front of the cockpit. As the Wonderbolts charged at the alien fighters, they fired a flurry of green bolts of energy. Fortunately, all of them missed as Soarin' and his wingponies split up and individually engaged the fighters one-on-one. Soarin's target made a u-turn for him as he started to spin. "Misty!" He called out to one of his friends, who heard him in time as he gave an order. "Thundercloud!" The mare did so as she sped around, grabbed a cloud, and waited for Soarin's cue, hitting the cloud to ignite its lightning. As Soarin' let the fighter come close to him, he sped around the fighter, catching it in a small tornado before stopping and looking to Misty. "NOW!" As expected, Misty threw the cloud into the presumed path of the alien ship, which flew right towards it. As it was hit by the thunder, a bluish-green energy field flashed from the impact before fading away. Soarin' and Misty gave a look of dismay as the former spoke up. "They've got some kind of shield on them! We've gotta try something else!" As the two flyers evaded incoming laser fire from other fighters, Soarin' heard a scream from above. Looking up, he saw his wingpony Fire Streak, a dark burn visible on his chest as he fell to the ground far below them. "Fire Streak's down!" Misty Fly cried aloud as she and Soarin' flew towards another fighter, the first one catching up with them. As the two dodged the lasers from their pursuer, Soarin' spoke to Misty. "Let's try and get them to crash into each other!" Misty nodded as they split up, the pursuing fighter chasing after Soarin' as Misty got the attention of the second one. The stallion continued to evade incoming fire from his pursuer as he looped around back to Misty, both of them stopping near each other as the two fighters came towards them. As Soarin' nodded to Misty, the two sped towards their attackers, then flying around them to catch them in another vortex. As the ships began to spin, the two Wonderbolts got away from their tornadoes before they dissipated, the two fighters flying too fast to avoid collision and crashing into each other in a brilliant explosion. The two didn't celebrate for long as another fighter came at them, both flyers breaking up as the fighter charged for Soarin'. The two combatants flew for a while, Soarin' dodging and barrel rolling around the lasers as he came closer to a nearby Cloudsdale building. Taking the chance he had, Soarin did another tornado spin around his pursuer, spinning for several seconds before letting the fighter fly uncontrollably towards the building, exploding in a bright, fiery orange. "Ha! Eat that! Space freak!" Soarin' taunted his victim before hearing two more screams. Looking up, he saw who must have been Fleetfoot and Wave Chill, both with burns on their bodies as they fell through the sky to the ground. Soarin looked up to see Spitfire holding off two of the fighters, flying upwards as the two ships flew past each other. Soarin' sped up towards her, but couldn't get close enough to talk to her as more fighters sped towards the Wonderbolt. Despite being so far away, he could hear her speak. "There's too many of them!" The Wonderbolt captain said as Soarin dodged more incoming fighters. Hearing another scream, Soarin' took a brief moment to see another flyer, Surprise, falling to the surface before continuing on towards Spitfire. "We're losing flyers left and right!" Soarin' cried out as he flew. "Everyone fall back, fall back!" Spitfire said as she dodged more laser bolts, but her efforts were stopped as one shot got her clean in the back. The young Wonderbolt captain didn't scream or yelp, she just began to fall towards the ground like her fellow teammates as Soarin' watched in horror. "SPITFIRE!" The stallion screamed, but he had no time to watch his close friend and leader fall to the ground as another fighter flew towards him. Diving downwards, he sped down to catch Spitfire, barely grabbing her in his hooves before flying back up to the battle above. The stallion soon came to a stop as another fighter was coming after him, the glow of the ship's guns glowing a faint green as Soarin' waited for death. But the shots didn't come. As the fighter came at him, it exploded in an orange blaze as another ship flew through the fire. Soarin's eyes went wide as he watched the fighter attack his pursuer. This new arrival looked different, it had a pointy fuselage with two large wings, two strange sections underneath them, and two fins folding inwards. As the pegasus took in the sight of this new ship, he heard more laser fire from above. Looking up, he saw the alien fighters engaging several other ships that he could barely make out. But after a moment, he could see that they looked similar to the one that had saved him. As he began to fly back up to the battle, his remaining teammates flew to him, all of them stopping together as they looked at their injured leader. "Is she..." Blaze said fearfully, but let the held-back air out as they heard a faint moan from Spitfire. "Thank Celestia, we need to get her to a hospital immediately!" The other Wonderbolts nodded as they began to fly towards the city, but stopped as one of the new fighters came down towards them, stopping as it hovered in front of them. As Soarin' hovered near the cockpit, he got a good look at the pilot of the ship. He had no fur, but instead hair on his head, and hands that were holding onto the controls. His skin was also a dark brown. On the pilot's mouth was a mask that permitted the pilot to breath during flight. The pilot tapped a button on the controls before the front of the window opened, allowing him to hear the voice of the pilot. "Sorry if we didn't arrive sooner, those bastards must've been tough." "Who are you guys?" Soarin' asked the furless flyer. "Name's Dylan Hiller, Captain of Legacy Squadron." As he removed his breathing mask, he continued. "I'm from the Resistance." Soarin' gave a hopefull smile at the introduction, sticking his hoof out to shake Dylan's hand, he did the same as his savior. "I'm Soarin', ace flyer among the Wonderbolts. I take it you're here to help us?" Dylan nodded as he replied. "You can count on that. Unfortunately, we don't have much time." He looked up to the large vessel above him, which hovered ominously over Canterlot as he continued. "In a few hours, that ship is going to destroy the city, so we have to evacuate it as soon as possible." The surviving Wonderbolts gasped in horror as they listened to the explanation. "It's just like we feared." High Winds said shakily. "For now, my boys and I will hold off the threat up there, so I'd suggest you get your friend there to safety." Dylan said before putting his mask back on, preparing to close the window before Soarin' spoke up. "Dylan," The pilot turned to him once more. "Be careful up there." "Same to you." With that, he tapped a button that began shutting the cockpit window, the fighter starting to fly upwards as it rejoined the battle. The pegasi hovered in the air for a moment before Soarin' spoke up. "Well, you heard him. To Canterlot!" At that order, the surviving Wonderbolts sped towards Canterlot, hoping to alert the Princesses before it was too late. 04: Destruction-Canterlot- 9:58 AM Twilight sat at the conference table and holding her head with a hoof, waiting for a response from Cadence and Shining Armor. After Spike sent the letter a few minutes ago, Twilight was beginning to fear for their safety. One of those alien vessels was over the Crystal Empire right now, and if it posed a threat, then they had to get out of there. Her worries were about to overcome her when she heard Spike belch, then burping as a flash of green fire dissipated to reveal the scroll. Upon seeing it, Twilight snatched it from the air in her magic, opened it up, and began to read it. "Dear Twilight: It's good to know you're alright. And you're not the only one worried about that ship up there, the Empire has been in a state of panic for the last hour. I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but Cadance and I can't let the Empire fall to the alien threat. We'll be putting up a shield in case things get ugly, but I won't leave the Empire to be conquered or destroyed if there's a way to protect it. Don't worry about me, Twiley, just make sure they don't hurt your friends or the ponies of Canterlot. I'm counting on you.... we both are. I love ya, sis. Sincerely, Shining Armor." Twilight tried to force a smile, but her fear denied such an expression. Seeing that his friend needed hope to return to her, Spike stood up and walked over to her. "They're not leaving?" Twilight only shook her head, her eyes closed as she tried to calm herself. "Well, you can't let that get to you. Your friends need you, Twilight... I need you." Spike said to try and restore his friend's morale. Twilight looked to Spike for a moment, then, taking in Spike's words, smiled in agreement. Standing up from her seat at the table, she crouched down and hugged Spike. "Thanks, Spike." As the two began to trot out of the room, the door to the palace's entrance opened as Rainbow Dash flew in. "Twilight! You gotta come out here! The Wonderbolts came!" Both of them raising an eyebrow, Twilight and Spike raced out the doors, not even bothering to shut them as they left the conference room. As they stepped outside, they saw Rainbow Dash and the others staring out into the dark sky. Twilight and her dragon friend joined them to get a look. Sure enough, several Wonderbolts were flying to their position, Dash let out a horrified gasp upon seeing Spitfire, who was being held by Soarin' as the group of elite flyers landed. "Good to see you here, Dash." Soarin' said with a hopeful smile as he carefully set Spitfire's body down on the ground, Blaze and Misty Fly helping him out with the short task. Dash hugged Soarin' tightly, not letting go for a good long moment before asking, "Is... is Spitfire okay?" The stallion's face fell to a somber expression. "I don't know, she moved faintly when I saved her." Celestia looked over to one of her guards. "You, get Spitfire to the medical ward immediately." The unicorn guard saluted before picking up Spitfire's body in her magic, putting her on his back and galloping off into the palace. "Well, since you're here, mind telling me what's happened?" Rainbow asked her fellow Wonderbolt. "Yeah, about that. We almost lost Cloudsdale, over half of our team is gone, and... I would've been dead if it hadn't been for this one fighter that came out of nowhere." "What kind of fighter?" Pinkie Pie asked Soarin'. "I'm not sure, but after talking to the pilot of that ship, he told me something you need to know." The group looked to Soarin', their ears perked as to hear every word of the explanation. "Apparently, there's another force up there ca-" He stopped as he and his audience heard a scream, then another one after that. Looking out into the city, the group saw several small ships lowering down towards the edges of Canterlot. As Twilight squinted to get a better look at them, she could see some smaller details. The front of the ship was smooth and had large windows, at its sides were a pair of swept back wings. At the back of the ship were two bulky sections that emitted blue light, which shifted to orange as the ship descended slower. And lastly, there was a section on the side that seemed to be some kind of door, bearing a slightly darker gray color from the rest of the ship. Soarin' and the other Wonderbolts watched the ships intently, but the others were immediately concerned. "Should we get the guards out here?" Fluttershy asked worriedly. "No." Soarin' denied, receiving wide-eyed looks from the others. Looking at them, he tried to continue where he left off. "They called themselves the Resistance." The stallion then looked out to the ships, which were now very close to Canterlot. "...And I think those are their ships." As Soarin' said that, the group continued to stare at the ships landing near the city limits, until Celestia decided to make a move. "Everyone, follow me." Despite their concern for their own safety and the nature of these new ships, everyone followed the Princess of the Sun, staring cautiously at the arriving vessels as they made their way to the nearest transport. ........... After a few minutes of trotting, the group of ponies finally arrived at one of the ships, several strange creatures examining the area as they guarded their craft. As Twilight and her friends approached, one of the creatures noticed them and began to walk towards them. As he came close, Twilight was intrigued by the being's physical appearance, he had no fur, but instead grayish-green skin, and his eyes seemed similar to a changeling's in appearance. At the back of his head were two thin appendages that draped down past his neck, almost covering his back. Soarin' recognized two of the other guards to be similiar to Dylan, though they both had a brighter skin color and one of them had a fancy black hairstyle on his head, while the other seemed to be bald. As the six mares and Spike stopped in front of the creature, he spoke to them. "I do hope our arrival hasn't instilled panic among you all." "Sort of, unfortunately." Twilight said as she let out a nervous laugh, then clearing her throat before continuing. "If I might ask, who are you guys?" "A good question that I shall answer." The alien said before crouching down to see the princess face to face. "My name is Dakwa, I'm a member of the Resistance." Twilight's friends looked at the alien intently, listening to every word. "We are here to help evacuate the city before the Harvesters can destroy it." "Harvesters?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, they are a race of genocidal beings that ravage various worlds and steal their resources." The girls gasped as they heard what Dakwa was explaining, though Pinkie Pie raised a hoof before speaking. "Okay, so these 'Harvester' meanies wanna take our stuff and destroy our cities. So why didn't they send fighters to take us out over here?" "Yeah, they just attacked Cloudsdale recently, so why not here?" Rainbow added. "That's because they're sending squadrons of fighters to take out the smaller settlements. And as for that ship up there..." Dakwa said before standing up and pointing at the Harvester vessel above Canterlot. The girls and their friends looked to it as well, listening to their alien friend as he explained. "Do you see that dented section there?" Dakwa asked. "Yeah?" Twilight replied before the Resistance officer continued. "In less than two hours from now, that section will open up to reveal a directed-energy cannon. And when it fires..." The group then looked to Dakwa, who returned the gesture. "There won't be a city to come back to." Twilight and Spike turned and stared at the alien ship for a moment, letting the knowledge of Canterlot's fate sink in before turning back to him. "Well... let's get underway then." Looking to her friends, Twilight spoke to them as they all faced her. "Let's get everyone loaded up into the ships near the palace, then at the opposite end of the city, we'll all take that one." The five mares nodded in agreement as Applejack replied. "That's sounds like a plan." Celestia trotted over to Dakwa as she asked, "What about the other cities and kingdoms across Equestria?" "We've already sent transports for them too." Celestia smiled at the comforting news as she replied. "Excellent, I'll address the land of the new information, and then my sister and I shall assist in getting our subjects to safety." "Good idea." Dakwa said, and with that, everyone split up to begin the evacuation, Celestia and Luna using their magic to teleport themselves back to the palace as they prepared to alert Equestria of its certain doom... -Manehattan- 10:18 AM "...And as for all of you watching, we advise you find and board the nearest transport available. Head to the Resistance transports, find a train, whatever you do, DO NOT head to any of the endangered cities nearby, find refuge elsewhere. Good luck to all of you out there... and stay safe." Coco Pommel shut the television off with her remote as she took in the news, in less than two hours, Manehattan would be gone, and if she didn't get out of here, so would she. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and trotted over to her suitcase, opening it and packing any and every essential item she felt would be needed. After almost ten minutes worth, she put the last of her items into the suitcase, sealed it, and galloped for the door. After a tiring amount of steps, she opened the now unlocked roof door, to see a large, light grey transport to her left. As she stepped out onto the rooftop, one of the Resistance officers called out to her. "Good timing, climb aboard!" Coco did as instructed and trotted over to the large ship, stepping onboard it and sitting in the nearest seat available. Whatever these Resistance ships were, they felt large, spacious, and most of all, comfortable. As she relaxed in her seat, she looked to see other ponies onboard with her. Then, hearing a voice from her right, she turned her head to see more ponies coming up to the rooftop, getting ready to join her and the others on the transport. Then, her smile faded as she realized something. What about the ponies who didn't hear the news? Were they going to be okay? Curious, she looked out to the city to see several more transports on several buildings, at least 18, she counted. The knowledge that many ponies would be safe comforted Coco, the mare decided to lay her head back and try to drift off to sleep as the evacuation continued... -Las Pegasus- 10:31 AM Blueblood watched as the dance performance went on, one of them spinning around gracefully before lightly taking her partner's hoof. The spoiled colt of a politician sat back as he observed the two dancers in their seemingly effortless work. However, his privacy was disturbed by his two guards, who galloped over to him as he stood. "What is it?" Blueblood asked with annoyance in his voice. "The Princesses have ordered a mass evacuation due to the alien ship, your majesty. We need to leave immediately!" While the prince wanted to snap at them over the issue, he conceded, assuming that that ship up in the sky was bad news from the start. "Very well, take me to my personal airship." The guards complied, but they shared an anxious look with each other as they knew exactly where the ship was. The three stallions trotted towards the door, Blueblood opening it as the dancers watched him leave. As the door was shut, the two ponies trotted off the stage and out the door as well, not bothering to change their outfits as they left the theater... -The Crystal Empire- 10:41 AM The two rulers of the Crystal Empire stood at the edge of the balcony, touching their horns together as a bright pink glow emitted from them. Almost a second later, a bright beam of magic shot into the sky before flashing over the land. As the beam focused, a large shield began to cover the Empire, ensuring no threat could penetrate its defenses. Inside the royal palace, Trixie was covering her head in fear, Starlight, Sunburst and Thorax standing beside her as she began to panic. "Weregonnadieweregonnadieweregonnadieweregonnadieweregonnadie!" Tired of seeing her friend cowering before her time, Starlight picked Trixie up to her hooves and spoke to her. "We're not gonna die!" The magician's frozen face didn't seem to convince Starlight. "We don't even know if that shield will fail yet." "Just hold it together, Trixie." Sunburst said, then in an attempt to sympathize, "If it makes you feel better... I'm scared, too." Starlight nodded as she added, "We all are." The three ponies and changeling then stared out into the dark, pink-tinted kingdom, hoping that the Empire could withstand the attack... -The Changeling Kingdom- 11:24 AM Queen Chrysalis stood aboard one of the farther out transports with Pharynx at her side, both of them watching the many transports taking to the skies as they fled the kingdom. Initially, they were hesitant to leave, but after some convincing that they could be of great use in fighting the Harvesters, Chrysalis decided to go through with it. At this point, over half the hive was evacuated and now there were just a few more drones to clear out. Curious of how many transports their new allies could bring, the Queen of the Changelings turned to her human escort. "How many of these ships have you deployed, Mr. Morrison?" "Per city?" The young officer replied back. "About 64, each capable of carrying at least 70 people, or in your case, drones." Chrysalis nodded in understanding as she heard faint talking among two of the officers, one of them turning to walk over to Mr. Morrison. "We have about ten minutes, sir." Both Morrison and Chrysalis looked to him with concern before looking to each other. "My drones can fly if we can't get them all in time." Chrysalis informed her alien companion. "In that case, get yourself strapped in, we need to be ready for-" He stopped as he heard a loud shift over the Hive. As he and Chrysalis looked to the hive, they saw the dented section of the ship opening up, a bright bluish-green glow emitting from within. As the mandibles that once formed the dent in the ship folded outwards, Chrysalis heard Morrison speak up. "We need to go now." -Mount Aris- 11:28 AM The hippogriffs and Resistance officers watched in terrified awe as the mandibles of the ship's dent opened up, revealing a large structure inside and lighting the area in a bluish-green color. As Novo and her daughter, Skystar, watched the ship hover over their home, the ship began to take off, taking them and many other hippogriffs with them. Unfortunately for the more clueless of them, however, they would soon realize that this day would be Mount Aris' last... -Canterlot- 11:33 AM Twilight and her friends sat with the Wonderbolts and royal sisters as they watched the transports take off, fleeing away from the city as fast as they could. Almost all of Canterlot had been evacuated as far as they could tell, and it would only be mere seconds before Canterlot met it's end. As Twilight looked over to Spitfire, resting in a chair next to her Nurse, one of the officers walked over to the nearby wall panel right next to the entrance door. Tapping the small screen, the human watched as a timer appeared, starting at "00:07" before slowly counting down. As the timer reached "00:00" the screen changed from a cool blue to a blood red color, indicating something bad was about to happen. The human officer turned to the Harvester destroyer, as did the girls. The glowing cannon began to charge up energy, flickering particles inside causing several flashes before a beam hit the royal palace. Twilight and her friends let out screams of terror as they watched a pulse of energy strike the palace, which exploded upon impact. As the building was vaporized, a shockwave of fire sped towards the rest of the city, engulfing anything and everything that stood in it's way... -Manehattan- 11:34 AM Coco was frozen in her seat as she watched the charged beam strike the Manehattan State Building, the gold horse statue at it's top briefly reflecting the light from the beam before a large energy pulse shot down to the structure. The building exploded into a fiery blaze as her fellow passengers screamed and cried at the nightmarish sight before them. As the transport began to take off, the explosion had unleashed a wave of fire that began to swallow up every building it came into contact with. Coco forced her eyes away from the horror that was happening behind her, crying to herself as her ship fled the large city of Manehattan... -Las Pegasus- 11:34 AM Blueblood sat in his seat as his guards ordered the pilot to take off, the bright green glow right above them as it began to charge up. As his guards began trotting towards him, he looked up to see the charging cannon pointing right down at the building that his luxurious airship was on. His eyes went wide as the beam struck the building, only now realizing what a terrible mistake he made. "FULL POWER, PILOT! GET US OUT OF-" He tried to say, but the pulse from the alien ship struck the building his yacht was on before he could give his order. The blast was swift, tearing the building apart as debris shot up to the airship, ripping it apart as it was engulfed in the fiery explosion. Blueblood felt a brief surge of scolding hot pain as he was burned alive alongside his guards. ...And then there was nothing. -The Changeling Kingdom- 11:34 AM Chrysalis watched in fear as the ship's energy beam struck her hive, a pulse shooting down from the destroyer before striking her hive and reducing it to a brilliant inferno. Some of her drones behind her screamed in horror at the sight of their destroyed home, Chrysalis looking away mournfully as Mr. Morrison forced out a few words. "Sweet Jesus!" The Resistance officer said as he watched the firestorm engulf the ground below along with any unfortunate drones that were not fast enough to escape it. "Get us out of here!" Chrysalis cried out as the ship began to take off, the tall changeling collapsing to her haunches as she watched her home burn away before her... -Mount Aris- 11:34 AM Princess Skystar screamed into her mother's chest as they both watched the beam strike the home of the Hippogriffs, a pulse swiftly descending down to the top of the mountain before striking it. The mountain became a gargantuan inferno in seconds, the fiery blast covering the whole mountain from top to bottom. Queen Novo held onto her daughter as their ship flew away from the mountain, taking in the fact that everything that her people had made was gone... -The Crystal Empire- 11:34 AM The shield held as the alien ship's cannon powered up, Starlight and her friends watching the sight above them as the beam flickered for a moment longer. Then, the beam came down, and then the pulse. Trixie let out a bone-chilling scream as she held Starlight for dear life, Starlight, Sunburst, and Thorax shutting their eyes as they awaited their swift fate. ...But the blast didn't make it through. As the shield was hit by the blast, Starlight heard a agonizing scream from Cadence and Shining Armor, both of them falling to the ground as the shield disappeared. Starlight let out a loud gasp as she rushed over to the rulers of the Empire, neither of them responding to her attempts at reviving them. Looking up, Starlight spoke to the nearby guard, "Get a Doctor here, now!" The guard nodded without a word as he raced into the castle to find help. "Uh... Starlight?" Alerted by Thorax's concern, Starlight stood up to look out in the distance. What she saw stunned her. Near the entrance to the Crystal Empire was a strange ship, a deep blue glow emitting from behind it's engines. Standing near her friends, Starlight watched as the ship landed near the castle, the side doors opening as several bipedial creatures stepped out of it... -Canterlot- Twilight and her friends stood as they heard more screaming, but not from the passengers inside. "Hold on! There's still a few more ponies here!" The pilot yelled back. "Find them, quickly!" Twilight did so, looking all over of what was left of Canterlot, over half of the city was left standing, the part they were on creaking from the stress of the attack. After scanning the first time, she saw nothing, but upon looking at the closer pathways, she saw a small group of ponies, screaming at the last remaining transport to help them. Thinking fast, Twilight's horn lit up as the fleeing mares and stallions vanished in a flash of magic. Not a second later did they re-appear, this time inside the ship. With everyone inside, Twilight screamed, "PUNCH IT!" "Hold on!" The pilot cried back as he lifted the control sticks, the ship jerking to the left as it began to fly away from the burning wreck that was Canterlot. Everyone in the transport let out screams and cries of terror and pain as the ship sped away from the last surviving platform, narrowly avoiding the firestorm as the platform exploded, the debris hitting the now active shields of the transport as it shot far out into the sky. ...And then, Canterlot was no more. 05: RescueTwilight steadied herself as the shaking ceased, the rescued ponies behind her quieting down to a sob as they were taken away from the once magnificent city of Canterlot. The Princess of Friendship couldn't believe what she just saw. Yes, she knew that it would be destroyed, but the way it happened nearly traumatized her. She tried to move herself from her spot, but her shock prevented her from even lifting a hoof. It wasn't until the human that had checked the countdown timer walked over to her, crouching down to her before speaking. "Are you alright?" Twilight jerked her head to him, eyes wide before realizing what the officer was asking. Forcing a breath, Twilight replied. "I... I think so, yeah." The human shared her look of sorrow as he spoke once more. "I'm sorry we couldn't save it, but... the good news is we got everyone out in time." Twilight seemed to smile faintly as a fragment of her hope returned. "...Yes, at least we did that." Hearing another voice, the human officer stood up before ending the conversation. "If you'll excuse me." Twilight nodded as he returned to the back of the transport, her six friends standing up and trotting over to her as Rarity spoke up. "Sweet Celestia... They did it, those MONSTERS actually did it!" The fashionista said with tear-filled eyes, wrapping her forehooves around Fluttershy as she began sobbing. "It was... it was so quick, too." Applejack said mournfully, taking her hat off as she looked down at the floor as she took in what happened. Pinkie Pie started to tear up as well, finding difficulty in trying to speak. "And... a-and where are we gonna have the galas at? *sniff* I... I c-could use one right now!" The party pony held onto Applejack, crying as a few tears fell from the farmpony's eyes. Rainbow Dash didn't say anything, merely looking down at the floor as she tried to keep herself together. Twilight turned towards the window, trotting over to it as she tried to take one last look at her former home and birthplace. The city was completely enveloped in the fire, not a single sign of architecture remained within the burning ruins of what was once Equestria's most beloved city. Twilight remembered all the moments and places she had witnessed, her time at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, her time in the royal palace, the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor... Everything flew around her mind as she watched the city burn. Then she looked away, sobbing as she realized she would never be able to visit the city again, as it would soon become nothing but a giant, literal stain on the mountain it once rested on. As she mourned for Canterlot, the same human officer jogged two the cockpit, slipping in through the opening that led to where the pilot was at. Curious of what was going on in there, Twilight wiped her eyes before trotting over to the cockpit, the officer and the pilot talking to each other as she stood within the doorway. "What's the status of the other transports?" The officer asked the pilot as he replied. "From what their reports say, they got almost everyone out of some of the cities." The pilot then tapped a spot on the visible map on a section of the control panel, Twilight taking a peek at it as she listened. "Unfortunately, one transport from a city one of the passengers calls Manehattan reports some of the civilians taking flight. A few of them apparently weren't fast enough to flee from the firestorms." The officer looked down at the floor as he took in the news, then raising his gaze at the pilot before asking, "Anything else to report?" The pilot nodded as he answered him. "Yes, Our scouts just finished their patrol of the southern sector of the Equestrian continent, and it looks like they've found some sort of Harvester convoy." He pointed to a section of the map, his finger briefly hovering over the bottom of the continent before continuing. "A few hours ago, they saw several creatures fall through the clouds and into the ocean near the mountains before seeing one of the Harvester ships lowering down to them. Shortly after reaching the shore, the vessel landed and it's crew took the creatures aboard after a brief firefight." Celestia trotted over to Twilight, both of them being noticed as the two Resistance members turned to them. "Ah, do you need anything, your Highnesses?" Twilight trotted closer to the controls, examining the map as she took in these new details. Then, looking to the pilot, "You said they took them hostage?" The pilot nodded as the officer added, "Abduction, they probably want to study them in order to know more about the planet's inhabitants." Twilight's eyes went wide as she became worried again. "Have there been more reports like this?" The human pilot turned to the console again as he answered the purple alicorn. "I believe so, shortly after our scouts left the clouds, they could see some of the Harvester transports leaving the storm. If it's true, then I'd say they're looking for more creatures across the land." "And that's not all," The pilot said as he tapped the screen to show the various reports sent from the other transports. "Before we left Canterlot, we had gotten a call from a place called Mount Aris. According to their queen, they said that a scouting party had been sent into the mountains before the aliens arrived... And they haven't heard back from them since." Twilight stared at the map as she thought through the information she had been given, not only were the invaders destroying their homes and cities, but they were kidnapping creatures all across the planet. The mare almost cringed as she began to imagine hundreds of ponies being examined and dissected in the alien laboratories... Then, she thought of an idea. Looking to the pilot, Twilight asked, "Okay, I know this is going to sound crazy, and very risky... but can we divert course and head for that destroyer?" The two humans both raised an eyebrow as they heard her words, Celestia quickly sharing their expression as the pilot took a moment to think. After a few seconds, he seemed to light up. "...Yeah, let me see." Tapping a button on the controls, he spoke as he began to contact Command. "Noah 7 to Command, you got a few extra transports to spare?" "Affirmative, Noah 7. What's the issue?" A male voice on the other end replied before the pilot continued. "One of the inhabitants here wishes to attempt a rescue mission on the destroyer located near the southern end of the continent. Are we permitted to do so?" Depends, what do the city leaders think of this?" Command asked before Twilight and the two humans looked to Celestia, taking a second to think about what they were planning to do. After taking a glance at her eavesdropping sister, who gave an approving nod to her, Celestia gave her word. "We'll do it." "Then request is granted, we'll load the transports up and send them to your position. Expect rendezvous in approximately two hours." "Understood, Command, we'll contact Legacy Squadron to see if they can lend a hand." The pilot said as Command finished the discussion. "Good luck down there, Command out." With that, Twilight trotted back out to the passenger lounge, her friends looking at her worriedly as Rarity spoke to her. "A rescue mission? With all these passengers?" The mare said as she waved a hoof to the group of ponies near them. "Yeah, we're with ya all the way Twi, but how are we gonna protect them if we're flying right into danger?" Rainbow asked as the Resistance officer answered the girls. "Well put up a small shield in front of them, that way the blasts can't get to them when you all head out." The mares smiled in approval as the human jogged to the other end of the ship, Twilight trotting over to the pilot once more as she asked him one more question. "How long until we reach the ship?" Twilight said as the pilot looked to the console once more before turning to her. "We should be in visible range in about three hours." The Princess of Friendship nodded as she turned back to her friends, all of them looking to her in return as Applejack spoke. "Well, I guess we should gear up, then." The farmpony said as Rainbow Dash hovered behind her. "Yeah, like we're gonna need some weapons, right?" The rainbow-maned pegasus said before one of the Resistance officers walked over to her, carrying something in his hands before tossing it to her. "Speaking of that, you'll need this." The human said as Rainbow caught the device, getting a good look at her new weapon. It was a strange looking rifle that had a cylindrical section in the middle, as well as a trigger that could be pulled with one of her wing feathers. Rainbow grinned at the shiny weapon, oohing at it before commenting, "Oh, I'm already liking this bad boy." "Wait until you see that thing in action." The soldier said with a smirk as the pilot watched them for a moment, sharing the smirk before turning back to focus on flying the ship out to the desert far ahead... -Southern Equestria- 2:50 PM Twilight took a deep breath as she relished in the small window of sunlight, warming her fur as she relaxed in her seat. It took over an hour to get away from the city destroyer, but when they did, the passengers seemed to be calmed by the bright sun outside. Twilight looked to her friends, all of them looking to the window as well to enjoy the sun above. Several Resistance fighters under the name Legacy Squadron had joined Noah 7 shortly after everyone finished getting ready, and almost an hour ago about eight other transports joined the squadron as well. Now that their pieces were set, they just had to find the Harvester destroyer to start their little game. As an alarm sounded throughout the ship, Twilight realized that they were coming closer to the destroyer. Standing from her seat, Twilight trotted over to the cockpit, getting a good look at the large vessel within the clouds. From the looks of it, it seemed to be departing the clouds, heading towards the nearby settlement Noah 7 had passed. "Everyone locked and loaded?" The voice of Captain Hiller said through the radio. "Noah 7 here, shields at the ready." The pilot said as he watched the fighters of the Resistance form up in front of the transports. "Legacy 2 on standby." "Legacy 6, armed and ready, sir!" As each of the pilots gave their call sign, the transports closed in on the destroyer, the hangar doors opening as a green glow emitted from inside. "They're doing exactly what we want them to do." Hiller said as his fighters led the transports closer to the destroyer. "Here they come!" The voice of Legacy 2 said as Twilight saw several fighters heading towards Noah 7, the fighters of Legacy Squadron engaging them while the transports sped towards the destroyer. As Noah 7 closed in on the hangar, a green bolt of energy shot out from inside, missing the targeted transport nearby as it flew alongside Noah 7. "They've activated their artillery cannons, watch out!" As another turret shot another bolt at the transports, it struck one to the right of Noah 7, the shield flashing as the ship was nudged to it's right. "These ships can take some of them, but they won't hold forever once we're in there." The pilot of Noah 7 said to Twilight as she turned to her friends, Noah 7's entry into the destroyer being imminent. "Everyone ready?" The girls and royal sisters all nodded in agreement, Applejack holding onto her rigged, cylindrical gatling gun as Rarity spoke. "I usually don't wield such... barbaric devices," The fashionista said as she looked at her rifle held in her magic. "but if it is to save the lives of others, so be it." "You think these personal shields will work for us?" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed her forehoof to her back, a miniature shield generator mounted onto her. "They'll save ya from a good few shots, but don't get cocky with them." The officer said as he readied his weapon, Twilight's horn lighting up as a pink shield formed around her and her friends. As Noah 7 landed in the hangar, Twilight could see several fighters and other small craft sitting within, while the ceiling was completely covered with the former. Looking out to the floor of the hangar, she saw many Harvester soldiers nearby, all of them wielding some kind of blaster as they began shooting at the transports entering the ship. Glancing to her friends, she saw them look to her for the signal as she turned back towards the hangar bay. "Now!" At that, Twilight and her group galloped out into the Harvester hangar, several soldiers shooting at them as her friends returned the favor. Applejack took aim at a group of Harvesters before blasting them with her side-mounted gun, blue bolts piercing the aliens as they fell to the ground. Rarity fired her rifle at two incoming alien soldiers, both of them falling to the ground as another came at them. Looking around, Twilight spoke to her human advisor. "Where should we head?" The officer looked around the ship, trying to find the right path to where they needed to go. He had researched the specs and interior of the Harvester destroyers, and the brig would be somewhere on the other side of those doors. As the two looked for the right way, Rainbow Dash had struck down two more warriors before targeting a third, larger one. Firing her blaster, the bolts hit the shields of the incoming alien. "Great, now they've got personal shields too!" Rainbow growled as she kept firing, the alien's shields taking a few more shots before they finally failed, the alien following suite not a second after. After a moment of looking around, the advisor pointed to the left of the hangar. "There!" "Hold on, everyone." Twilight said as her horn glowed, her group flashing away from their position before re-appearing right next to the door. No more than a second after did the door open, another Harvester entering the hangar. Not wasting a second, Rainbow shot the monster to the ground, the creature screeching as it fell. The group then raced inside, the doors shutting behind them as they entered a rather tall hallway. As Twilight looked around, there were surprisingly no soldiers down this path, permitting a sigh of relief from everyone in the group. As they began walking down the hall, Twilight organized their strategy. "Okay, Applejack, cover our forward side. Rarity, get the back. Everyone else," The Princess of Friendship stopped as she looked in between the two other pathways, seeing no soldiers on either side before finishing. "...Keep your guard up." As everyone got into their positions, the advisor pointed forward. "The brig should be that way." -3:20 PM- Tempest's body ached as she began to wake up, slowly opening her eyes before squinting at the assaulting green light. Taking a breath to calm herself, the storm commander slowly adjusted her eyes to the light. As she tried to move, she saw that her hooves were held to the table she was on, wire-like restraints holding her hooves tightly. Trying to examine the room, she began by looking to her left, only to see something that would haunt her for the rest of her days. The mare let out a horrific scream as she saw the disembodied head of the Storm King, lifeless and unmoving inside it's rather large glass container. She stared at the disturbing sight for a good moment, burning its image into her mind before breaking away to see the other containers. They all contained various biological material, one had a strip of flesh from a creature she did not know of, another had a skull of another unknown creature. Her gazing was put to a halt as she heard a noise from the chair, which began slowly descending downwards as Tempest looked to her restraints. She tried to use her horn to free herself from the wires, but the effort was futile as she couldn't see any sparks coming from it. As the table came to a stop, Tempest's breathing escalated as she saw her captors, they looked similar to the ones she saw from the transport, but they had real eyes. Real, pupil-less eyes that were looking right at her. They also seemed smaller than the one that attacked her. Tempest screamed again, trying hopelessly to alert anyone of her location as the aliens began messing with a section of the table underneath her. Near the lab, Twilight and the others heard the screams, stopping as they heard a mare's voice cry out. "SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!" After looking around for a moment, Twilight's advisor pointed to a door on the right side of the hallway. "In there!" Tempest screamed and thrashed frantically, giving all her effort to get away from the aliens as a mechanical arm lifted into the air right above her, a sharp needle boasting off of the circular section of the arm. One of the aliens held the mare's head as she grunted, two smaller sections on the mechanical arm folding out before her right eye was forced open by an anomalous force. As the needle slowly descended towards Tempest's open eye, the door to the hallway exploded, the aliens halting their work as they tried to see what caused the blast. The creatures were too slow in their thinking, however, as a flurry of blue bolts of energy came into the room, taking out the two aliens above her as a taller one reminiscent of her attacker tried to reach a nearby control panel. Just as it tried to tap a button on it, another blue bolt shot into the room and hit the console, which exploded in a fiery mess. As the alien turned towards the attackers, another two shots came at it, striking it down in seconds. As Tempest moved her head up to see her saviors, Twilight and her friends trotted into the room, the human advisor tapping a button on the table's controls before the restraints loosened, the mare rubbing her hooves as they were relieved of the pressure. As she stood herself onto the floor, Tempest said through heavy breathing, "Thank you." "Are you alright?" Twilight asked the almost dissected pony, removing the small device on her horn with harmless ease. "I... I think so." Tempest looked up to the ceiling once more, seeing all of the strange biological material above her before introducing herself. "My name is Tempest Shadow, my crew and I were taken prisoner by... those things." The mare said shakily as she looked to the creature near the console, raising an eyebrow as she saw it move slightly. "That bastard's still alive!" The advisor said with wide eyes as Tempest, fueled by anger over the death of her leader, trotted over to the creature. As the creature looked up to her, she growled, "Now you're gonna tell me where my crewmates are, or your day is going to get even uglier." Her horn began to spark with magic at that last word. "Tempest, I don't think that's a good idea!" The advisor said, Rainbow Dash looking to the mare in question as she interrogated the monster. "Tell me!" Tempest demanded as the monster moaned, Tempest gasping as her mind was assaulted with images of Grubber and the other storm guards. As Tempest began to scream from the mental onslaught, Rainbow lifted her rifle. "Screw this!" Taking aim, she shot the alien in the head, ending it's pathetic life and relieving Tempest of the mental attack. As Tempest tried to breathe, Twilight helped her stabilize her footing. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked the shaken up mare. Tempest was silent for a moment, looking at the door before she finally spoke. "...We need to go. Now." "But what about the prisoners?" Pinkie Pie asked the mare. "I know where they are, follow me." Without waiting, Tempest made for the door. "Wait! Take this." Twilight said before removing her personal shield device and placing it onto Tempest's back, tapping a button as it activated. "What is it?" Tempest asked the princess. "It's a shield, it'll protect you from the Harvester's weapons." Twilight responded, Tempest slightly raising an eyebrow as she now knew the name of the alien threat. "Thanks, but what about you?" The former storm warrior asked her new ally. "I already got my own." As she said that, Twilight's horn glowed before a pink bubble formed briefly around her, Tempest nodding in acknowledgement as the group retained formation before exiting the laboratory. -Destroyer Brig- 3:32 PM Grubber sat in boredom as he awaited whatever fate awaited him inside the ship, hoping that his friend Tempest was okay. He and the other surviving storm guards were sitting in silence, having nothing to do but listen to the nearby hippogriff captives that were debating their fate. "What are we going to do? What will happen to Hippogriffia?" One of the male hippogriff warriors asked his allies. "I don't know, but if we get the chance, we'll take the fight to them." Sky Beak said to his squad as he stood next to them. "And even if we fail, surely our home will survive." Their conversation was put to an immediate stop as the door to the hallway opened, several ponies and a single strange creature trotting inside as they gasped in joyous surprise. "We're saved!" The third hippogriff cried out as the unknown creature began tapping on the control panel at the end of the room, opening all of the cells as he and his fellow warriors stepped out of their cell. Grubber's face lit up as he saw his unicorn friend. "Tempest!" Without asking, he embraced her hooves, hugging the mare tightly as she permitted a smile at the little hedgehog. "I'm fine, Grubber, but..." Looking to the other storm guards, Tempest looked at them mournfully as she gave the explanation. "The Storm King is dead, and since we have no one else to rely on, you take your orders from me and Twilight's group. Understood?" The large warriors saluted without hesitation, Grubber releasing his friend from the hug as the hippogriffs came towards Twilight. "Thanks for the prison break, I'm Sky Beak, leader of this squad of-" He paused for a moment as he remembered one missing guard. "...formerly, four guards of Hippogriffia." "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, my friends and I came after finding out about you all." The purple alicorn replied as they heard a gasp from Applejack, who fired her weapon at the incoming alien near the brig's entrance. As the creature fell to the ground, Twilight continued. "And as much as I'd like to do the pleasantries, Sky Beak, we're short on time here." The hippogriff nodded in agreement. "Right, we should get out of this place." "'Off' is more like it." Rainbow Dash said as the former prisoners raised an eyebrow, Tempest trotting over to them as she explained. "We're on a ship run by a alien force called the Harvesters, they tried to dissect me before Twilight and the others arrived to save me." Grubber's eyes went wide with fear upon hearing her words. "And we're being pursued at the moment!" Rarity warned her friends as she shot at another Harvester, which fell to the ground as Twilight spoke up. "Everyone, gather up, we're getting out of here!" Twilight's friends did so as the princess deployed her magic shield, protecting her and the others inside as they began to exit the room... -Destroyer Hangar- 3:50 PM The large door to the hangar bay opened as Twilight and her group returned, taking a good look at the area as they checked for obstacles. The hangar had more warriors protecting it, most of them engaging Noah 7. Twilight also saw that one of the transports had been destroyed, flames bursting from the remains. Unsure of what to do, Twilight spoke up. "There's so many of them." Sky beak looked at the many alien fighters deployed at the floor of the hangar, some of them taking off into the air outside the ship. Switching his gaze, he saw several large turrets at the edge of the hangar, most of them focusing on whatever was attacking from the outside. "We're gonna need a distraction." Rainbow said as she held her rifle in her wings. "I'll help with that." Sky Beak said as the group looked to him in confusion. "I'll use one of the turrets to give those aliens something to shoot at, the rest of you can head to the transports." "But we came to get you out!" Pinkie said, worried about the hippogriff warrior's safety. "Well, we're not gonna get out without someone holding them off." Sky Beak defended, the group looking to him defeated as the hippogriff looked to Twilight. "Princess... tell my family, that I love them." Twilight hesitated as she tried to deny what was about to happen, but sighed as she gave in. "I will, good luck." As the group looked out to the hangar again, Tempest pointed towards a rather large group of Harvesters near Noah 7. "There, can you teleport me at that area?" Twilight smirked as she had a better idea. Her horn glowing, the group blinked away from the door and teleported right behind the Harvester squad, catching them by surprise. Without wasting a second, Tempest's horn sparked before she shot out electrical magic, electrocuting the alien soldiers as they fell to the ground. As Twilight reignited her shield, the group ran towards Noah 7 as Rainbow looked to the nearby alien fighter, a plan hatching in her mind. Looking to Applejack, Rainbow said, "Cover me!" before galloping towards the fighter, the others watching in shock. "Rainbow!" Applejack cried out, but her warning was not heard as Rainbow raced toward the fighter, dodging many of the incoming shots before jumping and rolling near a Harvester pilot, who was about to hop into the ship. Shooting the creature in the head, Rainbow looked to a nearby Resistance soldier before calling out. "CATCH!" The soldier she was looking at watched as she threw the rifle in the air, the soldier catching it as Rainbow flew into the fighter's cockpit. Twilight and the others galloped into the transport, Sky Beak breaking off as he flew to one of the turrets. The driver of the turret had no time to react as he was picked up and flung out of the seat, Sky Beak sitting in it as he began to make use of the enemy's weapons. Once inside, Twilight noticed Rainbow was still not with them. "Where's Rainbow Dash?!" The princess cried out as the mare in question looked at the controls, taking a wild guess before pressing one of the buttons on the console. Upon doing so, the ship began to hover, the cockpit window closing as Rainbow gripped the controls with her forehooves and wings. The mare gave a mischievous grin as she began to lift the fighter into the air, turning it around towards one of the turrets. Pressing the trigger, the fighter's cannons shot out green energy bolts before they struck the turret, blowing it to fiery pieces. "What in Equestria is that mare doin'?!" Applejack said in surprise, Rarity agreeing with her. "That mare's insane!" The fashionista said as she saw a few of the Resistance soldiers cheering, watching as Rainbow used the fighter to attack the ground Harvesters. "Whatever she's doing, it's helping us out!" Luna said as she held a blue magic shield in front of the passengers, who looked on in shock as well as Twilight spoke to the pilot of Noah 7. "Get us in the air!" The pilot nodded as he tapped a button for the radio. "All ships, clear the area, we've got them! I repeat, we've got them!" The pilot then tapped another button as the side door of the ship closed up, the ship taking to the air as Rainbow saw them preparing to leave. Rainbow let out an annoyed sigh as she flew her ship next to the transport, both of them exiting the hangar as Sky Beak blasted one of the nearby turrets. The hippogriff let out a laugh as he continued attacking the aliens, only to be stopped by another fighter, which aimed it's guns straight at his turret. "Aww, shoot." Was the last thing he said as the fighter fired, blowing the turret into a fiery pile of scrap. As the Noah 7 and Rainbow's fighter began taking to the skies, Twilight trotted into the cockpit, listening to the pilot's conversation with Captain Hiller. "We've got the prisoners, and from the looks of it, the other transports are already packing up." "Good, because we're about to blow this thing to hell!" As Hiller replied, Twilight trotted back into the lobby, watching the other transports fly away from the hangar before noticing a familiar green glow underneath the ship. Trotting back into the cockpit, she looked to the pilot as he spoke to her. "They've just opened up their cannon, from what Hiller told me, they're trying to rush the countdown they missed out on." "Probably because of that storm." Twilight said as the ship flew upward, heading up into space as Legacy Squadron finished their job. As Hiller closed in on the cannon, he tapped a button on his controls as he spoke. "That missile's not gonna get through if we don't take out that shield!" Underneath his fighter, a section near the landing gear opened up, revealing a sharp cannon with a dark blue glow emitting from it. "Firing EMP pulse!" As he tapped the button again, a blue beam shot out from Hiller's fighter, striking the cannon as a the shield flickered out. "Legacy 1, Fox 4!" Dylan said as a missile shot out from his ship, speeding towards the cannon as the human pilot watched intently. As the missile struck the cannon, it exploded, Dylan turning his ship as he fled away from the area. "Target has been hit, break off, everyone. We're going home!" With that, Hiller and his fellow pilots formed up and took to the skies after the transports, fire spreading throughout the alien destroyer before the hangar burst into flames. As the last troop transport shot out of the hangar, the alien ship began to descend, it's crash imminent as the Resistance forces fled the battlefield. On the ground, the town's citizens watched as the ship fell to them, many retreating into their homes as the ship impacted with the ground. As the dusty shockwave hit them, the townscreatures were flung off their feet and into the air, a few buildings also collapsed as the wind soon settled. As the creatures of the junk-filled town looked to the burning alien ship, some of them cheered as they saw new scrap to scavenge. As Rainbow took one last look to the surface, she smiled at the sight of the town still standing before looking back forward, focusing on escorting the transports to the Resistance fleet. 06: Unity-Resistance Fleet- 4:06 PM Twilight sat in her seat next to her friends as the light from the windows faded away, the stars being the only natural source of light as the Noah 7 transport exited the atmosphere. As the change in lighting occurred, some of the rescued ponies from Canterlot looked up in curiosity as they wondered where their sunlight went. One filly even began to tear up before her older brother comforted her, the small pony hugging the colt in fear as the ship flew higher into space. Standing up, Twilight trotted over to the cockpit, her friends doing the same as they went to see what the Resistance starship looked like. On the radio, Rainbow Dash spoke up as she and Noah 7 came closer to the ship. "Wow... You guys all seeing this?" Rainbow said to her friends, looking down to her radio for a moment as she didn't expect a reply. "Yeah... she's an interestin' one." Applejack replied to her friend in the captured attacker as the two ships came closer to the Resistance command ship. The vessel looked like one of the city destroyers from the first attack, but upon closer examination, Twilight could see some slight differences on it. The hanger lights were a bluish-white color, and around the bulky ring section were several turrets, all of them sharing a blue glow as they faced another object, one that Twilight recognized. The Harvester mothership was hovering near the moon, as still as a statue as a few fighters engaged the defending ships around the Resistance destroyer. Around the flagship were several other starships, most of them bearing a different design as Twilight examined them. One seemed to be a dagger shape, a ring around the pointy sides of the vessel, as well as boasting a set of four large mandibles around the ring. Another ship bore green, seemingly translucent armor, an odd purple glow emitting from the back of the vessel. A third ship had an organic look to it, it had several holes around it's... breathing armor, and Twilight could see several small objects flying in and out from various holes, most likely fighters. The fourth ship was a puzzling one, what was supposed to be one ship was made out of several hexagonal pods, some of them breaking off to assist the defending fighters against the Harvester mothership. "They call her the Whitmore," Noah 7's pilot began. "After the War of 2016, we managed to reactivate the last intact destroyer that sat in Umbutu, an area on the African continent on planet Earth. After some help from our alien allies, we gave the ship some additional gear and equipment to help her serve our cause." Twilight stared at the vessel as she took in the information, her friends giving impressed looks as the pilot tapped a button on the controls, the radio activating as the pilot spoke. "Command, this is Noah 7, our mission was a success and we are requesting permission to land." As the transport came closer to the hangar, the officer on the other replied. "Permission granted, Noah 7. Welcome home." The radio went silent as the Noah 7 passed through the bluish white force field, the other side being a massive hangar reminiscent of the destroyer back at the desert. Unlike that one, however, the area was crowded with ponies, transports, and several Resistance fighters, some of them having taken damage as Twilight's transport began to descend to the floor of the hangar. As the ship's landing gear touched the ground, the side doors opened as the passengers stepped out. Twilight heard a few of the ponies onboard the Whitmore cry out over the alien ship, but became quiet as they saw who was flying the fighter. As Rainbow Dash's fighter lowered to the floor, she scanned the area, trying to find Scootaloo or any other ponies she knew. As she nearly finished looking, she saw two ponies, her parents, Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles, both of them looking anxiously at her ship as it touched the ground. Twilight searched the area as well, spotting no one at first until she heard a familiar voice. "Twilight, dearie!" Turning to her right, her parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light galloped over to her, Twilight growing a thankful grin as she did the same, the three ponies holding each other tightly in an embrace. Rainbow followed suite as she flew to her parents. "Mom! Dad!" She called out, the couple crying out joyfully as their daughter hugged them tightly, not letting go for a good long minute until Dash spoke up. "I wasn't sure if you two made it after that attack!" "We feared the same, sweetie!" Windy whimpered to her daughter as Bow Hothoof put a hoof to Rainbow's shoulder before adding his own comment. "We're glad you and your friends made it, honey!" As the family stood together, Rainbow looked to Twilight, watching her interact with her own family. "They've destroyed our home, Twilight!" Twilight Velvet cried into her daughter's chest, Night Light wiping his eyes as he spoke to his daughter. "What happened to Shining Armor?" Twilight's eyes widened as she remembered the Crystal Empire. Uncertain about their fate, Twilight simply said, "I don't know, they haven't sent another letter yet." Rarity looked around the area as she stepped out of the transport, not spotting her sister or any other familiar faces before one voice called out. "Rarity!" The fashionista's face became one of thankful glee upon seeing her friend from Manehattan. "Coco!" The two mares raced towards each other before holding each other in a tight embrace, Coco tearing up as she spoke to Rarity. "They destroyed Manehattan, Rarity!" "And Canterlot!" The elegant mare replied as the two released themselves from the hug, Coco wiping her eyes as the two looked to Twilight and Rainbow's families. "Come with me, we've got a lot to talk about." As Rainbow's family and the others joined the Twilight, a human walked towards them all. As Twilight looked to him, she examined his appearance. He had a set of fuzzy brown hair, blue eyes, and a faint beard on his face. "Good to see you all here," The officer said, looking down to Twilight as he continued. "I'm Captain Jake Morrison, we've got plenty of room for your people." Twilight nodded to Jake as she introduced herself. "I'm Princess Twilight, these are my friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash." The princess pointed a hoof to each of her friends respectively, Rainbow's parents giving proud smiles as Twilight introduced their daughter. "Pleasure to meet you." Jake said with a smile on his face as he looked a Rainbow for a moment, then to the alien fighter she flew. "You managed to snag one of those things from them?" The human asked the pegasus with a curious smirk on his face. "You bet, and I think I'm gonna keep her, she's a fun one to fly." Rainbow and Jake shared a laugh as the latter replied. "Skilled and daring, that's good, we need more like you." Dash smiled at those words, Applejack raising a hoof to ask a question. "There's somethin' I wanna ask ya about." Jake nodded in approval as the farmpony asked the officer, "What happened to Ponyville?" Rarity, Fluttershy and the others' eyes went wide as they remembered what Dakwa had said, Jake motioning for them to follow him as he replied. "You mean those smaller populations?" The girls nodded as they stopped at a nearby console, Celestia and Luna trotting out of the ship as Jake tapped the console's screen. After a moment, a section on the top of the console opened up as it shined a holographic image in front of them. What the group saw horrified them, the image was of Ponyville... or what was left of it. Town Hall was nothing but a pile of burning rubble, same with the houses, many of them still on fire and having collapsed to the ground. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stood frozen as they took in the picture. Ponyville was destroyed, everyone either dead or having left via train or flight in the case of a pegasus. Fluttershy began to cry as Applejack's legs quivered, the mare almost falling to her knees had it not been for Soarin, who had trotted over from the Noah 7 as they walked with Jake. "...Sc-... Scootaloo." Rainbow whispered under her breath, tears filling her eyes as she remembered the little filly who had looked up to her ever since she started living in Ponyville. Jake looked to them mournfully. "..I'm sorry, we couldn't get the-" He was cut off as several troops began crying out at something, the officer and the group of ponies turning to see a strange creature, which was holding it's hand and claw up as it tried to broker peace with the soldiers. "At ease, everyone!" Celestia called out to the Resistance warriors, all of them standing back and she, Luna and Twilight's group trotted over to the familiar draconequus. "Discord!" Fluttershy called out to him, the tall being smiling down at her as he replied back. "Fluttershy, it's good to see you're alright! I was so worried about you all!" Though there was a hint of sarcasm, as if he knew they were fine, his expression was warming. Jake walked over to the group, pointing a finger at the draconequus before asking, "Who's your friend here?" "And why is there a huge curtain behind you?" Rainbow asked as the group all saw the gray curtain that was hovering anomalously behind Discord. "Ah yes, about that. You see, during this whole Harvester invasion, I was getting something for you all," Discord cleared his throat as he corrected himself. "Scratch that, make that a lot of things." At those words, Discord pulled down the curtain, the surprise behind it bringing a tearful, yet thankful smile from Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Behind Discord were loads of ponies and other various creatures, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, the Apple Family, and even Fluttershy's animals. "SIS!" Apple Bloom cried out excitedly, Applejack racing towards her, Big Mac, and Granny Smith before hugging her siblings tightly, Rarity and Rainbow doing the same as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo raced to them. The mares and fillies cried and cheered together, happy to know that their family was safe. "Angel!" Fluttershy called out to her pet bunny, who jumped up excitedly as his owner hugged him with tear-filled eyes. The other animals gathered around them both, comforting the shy pegasus as she cried joyfully. Around the group, ponies and Resistance officers clapped and cheered, celebrating the massive amount of life saved. Soarin's eyes perked up as he saw a familiar face amongst the crowd. "F-Fleetfoot?!" The bruised and bandaged pegasus gave a smirk as her teammate wrapped his hooves around her, but stopping as he heard a grunt from Fleetfoot. Giving a look of worry as the Wonderbolt answered his concern. "I'm down... but not out." As she said that, she pointed a hoof at one of her wings, which was bandaged up. It took a moment, but Soarin' looked to his friend in dismay as it hit him. Fleetfoot's wings were broken, and from the looks of it, probably irreparably. He looked down for a moment as he took in the fact that Fleetfoot would never fly again, but his smile returned as he was glad that she was still alive. Twilight wiped her eyes as she smiled at the uplifting sight, her family and Rainbow's doing the same as they enjoyed this joyous moment in this time of terror... -Whitmore Medical Bay- 8:15 PM Rainbow Dash took a deep breath to keep her composure as she, Soarin', and Scootaloo trotted through the doors of the medical center, the surviving Wonderbolts and an older mare sitting near Spitfire. The mare was resting on her bed, the highly advanced monitoring equipment beeping as to keep track of her heartbeat. Near Spitfire's bed, a human doctor walked towards the three pegasi, a somber expression on his face as Soarin' spoke to him. "What's her status, Doc?" Looking to the incapacitated Wonderbolt behind him, the man spoke. "We've tried everything, Sir... but due to her injuries and the delay in medical assistance in your mission, her wounds have begun to affect her to a fatal degree." The three ponies' eyes were wide at the news. "..There's nothing I can do." Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped as she looked to Spitfire, who slowly opened her eyes as the other Wonderbolts attentively looked to her. "..I'll leave you to say your goodbyes." The doctor said as he made his way out of Spitfire's room, Rainbow's parents trotting inside as the three ponies sat near the dying mare. Breathing lightly, Spitfire spoke to her fellow flyers and mother. "...I'm glad you all are okay... I heard we lost a few of our flyers back there." The Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash all looked to the yellow mare, who cringed slightly as her pain began to take hold. "We wouldn't have wasted a second for you." Rainbow Dash said to her leader, her building emotions beginning to affect her voice as she braced for the coming moment. "And there's still more ponies we've saved." High Winds said to Spitfire, the mare holding her smile as she replied to her teammate's comment. "And a lot more down there waiting for help, too." The captain grunted again as she felt another surge of pain in her back, her body feeling numb as she looked to Rainbow. "...Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow replied through teary eyes as she listened. "Yeah, Ma'am?" "As my final act as Wonderbolt Captain... I'm placing you in charge of the Wonderbolts." The mare in question let out a silent gasp as she took in this final order, the other Wonderbolts and her parents looking to her as Spitfire continued. "You're our best flyer, and... you know what it means to be a Wonderbolt better than any of us... And right now, our people need you to help them." Feeling another surge of pain in her back, Spitfire said her last words. "Please... don't fail them." Rainbow's tears fell freely down her cheeks as she replied. "..I won't..." Then, raising a wing to salute the captain one last time, she finished. "I won't." Spitfire smiled at her friend one last time, confident in the new Captain of the Wonderbolts before she shut her eyes, her monitor beeping a few more times before it beeped consistently, indicating Spitfire's passing. As the monitor droned on within the room, Rainbow hugged Soarin' tightly, her emotions getting the best of her as she cried. Scootaloo joined in too, crying with her as the rainbow maned pegasus' parents soon joined in their mourning of the fallen captain... -...The Next Day...- 7:02 AM Twilight yawned as she woke up from her bed, wiping her eyes as she looked over to Spike. "Spike?" The little dragon followed Twilight's actions as he woke up as well, the much needed rest proving to be helpful as Twilight began to look around the room. Standing on her hooves, she trotted over to check the nearby wall panel, the blue screen displaying the date in what Twilight heard was Earth's time. "JULY 4, 2036" "What time is it?" Spike asked his friend as he opened up the complimentary fridge within the room, trying to find something to eat as Twilight answered. "It's about seven in the morning." Twilight made her way to the fridge as Spike picked out an apple from the fridge, Twilight also picking up one as she closed it. As Spike took a bite out of the apple, he looked up to his friend. "Twilight?" "Yeah, Spike?" Twilight replied as the young dragon spoke to her. "Do you think we'll be able to save Equestria? I mean, those ships destroyed our home, Twilight, and from the looks of it, they've taken Ponyville from us." Twilight shared the drained expression Spike had, but then put a hoof on his back as she answered him."I'm sure we'll find away, with these Resistance guys, they should be able to help us." Spike smiled at his friend's comforting words as the two bit into their apples, savoring every chew before swallowing them. As they finished, an chime sounded within the room, a male voice speaking up. Attention, briefing will begin in five minutes, all personnel and guests to the lobby." With that, Twilight motioned for Spike to hop on as he did so, the two then exiting the room through the door as they ran into three hippogriffs. One had a light magenta coat and light blue hair, the second one next to her had a white coat with a faint green tint, and cyan hair. The last one was the tallest one, bearing a yellow coat and purple hair. All of them smiled at her as the tall one spoke to her. "Hello, you're Princess Twilight, right? From the rescue mission?" "The same." Twilight answered the Hippogriff mother continued. "My name is Ocean Flow, these are my children, Silverstream and Terramar." As Ocean Flow was introducing her offspring, Silverstream raised a claw as she asked the Princess of Friendship, "We've been looking for our dad, Sky Beak. We haven't seen him since he left for that patrol mission." Twilight's face became one of apologetic sorrow upon hearing the late hippogriff's name, the family looking worried as she answered them. "I... I'm sorry, but when we were evacuating the prisoners, he decided to stay behind to cover us..." The young hippogriffs grew teary-eyed hearing the news, Terramar hugging her sobbing sister as Twilight finished. "...I'm so sorry." "It's alright," Terramar replied, his sister wiping her eyes before looking to her. "It's not your fault." Twilight shared the sorrowful expressions with the family, Spike looking past her to see a familiar, yet not so welcome face. "Uh, Twilight?" The dragon said as the mare in question looked to where Spike was looking at, sharing the shock Spike had as they watched Queen Chrysalis come closer to them. As she started to pass the group, the changeling queen stopped as she recognized the pony and dragon from Canterlot. "Well, if it isn't the savior of Canterlot herself." "Yeah..." Twilight said to Chrysalis as the two looked down at each other, the latter breaking the brief-yet intense silence as the hippogriffs watched the two talk. "I must say, it is a rare occasion that I don't find your prescence... annoying." Chrysalis said calmly as Twilight replied. "Yeah, what brings you here?" It took Twilight some effort to hold back her rude tone, but she did. "Like many of your cities, those Harvesters destroyed our hive." Chrysalis replied as Ocean Flow added her bit to the altercation. "And Mount Aris." The two rivals looked to the hippogriff for a moment before Chrysalis replied. "Yes, that place as well." Looking back to Twilight, she continued. "And seeing as we're all in danger here, Princess, I believe it would be wise to not fight about our pasts. We wouldn't want to be rude guests here, now would we?" Twilight took a breath before looking back to Chrysalis, agreeing with the queen for what must've been the first time as she replied. "Yes, you're right." She then looked down to the hallway, several other creatures walking down it before finishing. "And frankly, we can't afford to at this point." With that, the group began trotting along with the other various creatures from Equestria, all of them reaching a before Twilight and her companions stepped through. The walk was long, but after a good four minutes of hallways they finally reached the door, Twilight and Spike passing through it as it opened. Upon stepping into the lobby, she saw a large audience of ponies, changelings, dragons, and countless others, among them were her friends, standing with several other familiar friends in the audience. As Rainbow Dash took a look back, she saw Twilight and her friends entering the room, she waved at them before Twilight saw them, returning the gesture before she continued scanning the room. At the other end of the room was a large window, giving a full view of Equus as it slowly rotated around on it's invisible axis. Underneath it was a stage, several Resistance officers standing at the edge as they awaited the start of the briefing. At the center of the stage was a pole, holding a small microphone within it's handle. Above the stage were two large monitors, each depicting an image of a various location in Equestria. One was of Saddle Arabia, one of the delegates standing in the middle of the image, another of what looked like the inside of the Crystal Palace, Twilight recognizing the royal guard, Flash Sentry, representing the Empire. The sight made Twilight's hope fade slightly, where were Cadance and Shining Armor? As Twilight and Chrysalis split up to go to their respective places, Spike cried out as she saw another familiar friend. "Ember!" The tall, blue dragoness turned as she heard her friend call out to her, smiling as she saw the small dragon hop to the floor and run to her. "Spike! You made it!" As Twilight trotted over to the two dragons with Ocean Flow's family in tow, Spike spoke to Ember. "What happened down there?" "Well, as I've figured out, one of those alien ships arrived and attacked the Dragon Lands with their cannon underneath, then they sent fighters to try and finish us off!" Ember then looked to the other side of the room, smiling at the sight of the Resistance officers nearby. "Thankfully, they helped us get out of there before things got real bad." Twilight and Spike smiled at the news, the former looking past Ember to see other dragons next to her, Garble and his friends, as well as another orange dragon with purple spines that she didn't recognize. Looking around once more, Twilight saw Princesses Celestia and Luna standing near the other race leaders, recognizing Prince Rutherford of the Yaks, as well as two more hippogriffs she didn't know the names of. The royal sisters looked to see her too, both waving to her as Twilight looked to Ember and Spike before speaking. "I hate to leave you two, but I think I'm needed somewhere." The two dragons nodded to her as she took flight, flying over the audience before landing near the princesses. "You're finally here, Twilight. Good, the proceedings are about to commence." As Twilight got into position with the other princesses, another chime sounded, Celestia and Luna trotting up the steps to the stage near them as Twilight followed them. As they came onto the stage, Captains Hiller, Morrison, a white, levitating sphere and another Resistance human met them from the right. As they got stopped in front of the onlooking crowd, Dylan grabbed the microphone from it's stand before speaking into it. "Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this meeting. My name is Captain Hiller of Legacy Squadron." The human's voice sounded throughout the room thanks to the speakers built into the walls of the room. "As many of you are aware, an alien force has attacked your world, several cities having been destroyed by the large vessels sent from the mothership nearby. Many of you are concerned as to who and what they are, and that is what we are here to explain." Motioning to the human newcomer, he spoke into the mic once more before handing it to him. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Head Advisor and former satellite technician, Mr. David Levinson." Several members of the audience clapped as David took hold of the microphone before continuing the briefing. "Thank you, Captain Hiller. Now, about this invasion, we call those aliens the Harvesters, and they've plagued many other worlds before yours, one such case was our homeworld of Earth forty years ago. Now, I know it's a bit rough to put a history lesson into here, but I'll try to be short with it." As he said that, David pulled out a remote before pressing a button on it. Shortly after, blue lights emitted from the edges of the window before the image of Equus shifted to show an image of a large, white building, above it was one of the destroyers, firing a beam down to it as David explained. "In July of 1996, one of their motherships arrived in orbit and sent several city destroyers to the surface of Earth. Because I was able to figure out that they were using our satellites to coordinate their attack, we attempted an evacuation. Unfortunately, the call came too late and the destroyers reduced over a hundred of our major cities to rubble. At least three billion lives were lost in the span of two days." The crowd gasped in shock as Twilight watched an image of another large building, similar to the Manehattan State Building, exploding in an enormous fiery blast as the destroyer's energy pulse struck it. "At first, we thought we were done for, but on July 4, thanks to a virus that I gave one of the Harvester fighters, we pushed them back. This day, or Independence Day as we usually called it, would be a day the whole world would remember. The day when we resisted and won against the invading alien force." The crowd watched in astonishment as the image shifted again to show the burning wreckage of a city destroyer, several humans in the footage cheering as the vessel burned to the ground. "Twenty years later, in 2016, they returned to Earth, this time bringing a larger ship carrying their queen." The image changed to show a gargantuan Harvester ship, many audience members watching in horror as the ship covered almost two continents on Earth. "During the conflict, we had help from another alien species. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to... the Sphere." The crowd of creatures looked at the robotic alien in awe as it began to speak into David's microphone. Thank you, Mr. Levinson. Like so many other species, my kind was harassed by the Harvesters. In fact, I am the last of my people, carrying all of our history and information about us." Some of the crowd gasped in shock as they took in the Sphere's news. "The humans attacked my vessel at first, believing me to be one of the Harvester vessels, but after witnessing them fight the invaders, and after defeating the queen, I personally elected them to be the leaders of the Resistance." Many in the crowd looked on in awe as the screen shifted once more to show the large Harvester queen falling to the ground, the sphere released from it's large claws shortly after. As the Sphere motioned for David to continue speaking, the image shifted back to the planet of Equus. "Ever since, we've gathered up several other alien races and fought the Harvesters for the past twenty years... and as of right now, we want to help you with fighting them. At the moment, we've manage to save a few settlements, one of them being a city many call the Crystal Empire." The Saddle Arabian mare spoke up, I am Amira, I speak for the ponies of Saddle Arabia. We've been holding our ground, but they have slowly begun to take our land." "What about the Crystal Empire?" Luna asked as Flash spoke, the stallion's face full of sorrow as his voice sounded through the speakers. "We were saved, your Highness but... at a cost." The crowd gasped as Twilight listened fearfully to Flash explained the situation. "Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance have been in the medical ward since the first attack... and in critical condition." One pony near the front of the crowd raised a hoof to speak up, a pleading look on his face as he asked, "Please, can you get the rest of our people off the planet before they attack again?" "Why not fight back?" Rainbow Dash retorted to the pony, another mare stepping out before continuing the argument. "We have no spaceships, we can't fight their attack ships!" A hippogriff flew into the air as he tried to argue against that claim. "We have the pegasi! They can work with us to fight them!" Another pony called out, "Are you crazy?! Did you see what happened to the Wonderbolts?! This is a hopeless plan of yours, hippogriff!" "They have powerful shields! How do we get through that?!" A dragon exclaimed as he defended the former argument. "We're only alive because the Resistance helped us! We don't stand a chance without them!" A changeling cried out as he took flight. The crowd eventually devolved into mindless bickering, the lost hope present in almost all of their voices. Twilight looked to the royal sisters, both of them looking to her as a sense of determined bravery entered her heart. She knew they could win, and she was tired of seeing Equestria cower before their new enemy. They needed motivation, they needed a moral boost. Grabbing the mic from Levinson in her magic, she yelled into it. "NO!" The crowd jumped into silence, Twilight's friends, Chrysalis, Tempest, and every other creature in the room ceased in their fussing. Having the room's attention, Twilight continued. "Do you all really believe that we can't resist? Equestria has seen many storms in it's time, and survived them. And while the Harvesters are strong, they aren't invincible! Humanity fought them twice before, and if they can withstand them, then so can we!" The crowd watched as the Princess of Friendship looked up to Flash's monitor, faint tears forming in her eyes as she kept on. "Right now, my brother and sister in law are down there, badly hurt and probably dead after the first assault from yesterday. But thanks to their efforts, so many lives were saved, and that won't be the case for long if we just stand by and watch our land burn away, and I'm not about to do that!" The crowd seemed to gain hope as Twilight continued, her tears of anger flowing freely as she continued. "I'm asking you, all of you, not as a princess, but as a friend. I ask you to take a stand, to put aside our past grudges and join together as one! To show those invaders what it means to challenge the creatures of Equestria!" Turning towards the window, Twilight looked to the world of Equus as she continued. "Today is the day we fight back! Today..." Then, turning back to the now determined crowd, Twilight finished her speech. "..is OUR Independence Day!" At those final words, the crowd cheered and applauded, some of the hippogriffs and pegasi on the ground taking to the air to let out an excited cry into the air as Twilight looked to them, a smile forming on her face as she watched the races of Equestria stand as one. Rainbow Dash, Soarin' and the other Wonderbolts took to the air as well, both raising hooves to the air as they let out a cry of excitement. Twilight's friends cheered as well, Applejack letting out a whistle as Twilight and Rainbow's parents cheered on the Princess of Friendship. Celestia wiped her teary eyes as she watched her former student, Luna applauding the speech as Twilight levitated the mic back to Levinson, who gave an impressed look to her as he took the mic, Twilight jumping down to the crowd before speaking up once more. "Let's saddle up, everyone! We've got a fight to win!" "Yes Ma'am!" One stallion said with a salute as the crowd began to disperse, heading out of the lobby to prepare for their final fight against the Harvesters. As the room was nearly emptied, Twilight was surrounded by her friends, Chrysalis, Novo, Tempest, and several others joining the group as Rainbow spoke up. "That. Was. Awesome!" "Yeah, you really sparked a fire in us." Applejack said with a smile as Hiller and Levinson walked over to the group. "And now we're ready to end this once and for all." Celestia said as she flew into the air, her sister doing the same as the two landed. As Chrysalis trotted over to Twilight, the mare and her friends looked up to her as she spoke. "You know? I take back the rude things I said about you, my army has been motivated thanks to you, Princess." "Good, cause we'll need that motivation when we fight the Harvesters." Twilight replied as she looked to her friends, all of them smiling to her as she finished the discussion. "Come on, let's form a battle plan." "I'll take you all to the command center." Hiller added, and with that, the group began to make their way out of the near empty lobby, Levinson walking up to Hiller as he spoke to him briefly. "I think I'm starting to like this girl." 07: Battle-Whitmore Command Bridge- 8:09 AM The doors to the bridge opened as Twilight and her friends stepped inside, Chrysalis, Tempest, the Royal Sisters, and several other creatures behind them as they entered the room. Like the lobby, it was massive, at least two levels high, loads of Resistance officers of various species walking around the balconies of the second level above. At the other end of the room was a massive window, giving a view of the world of Equus as the vessel hovered in orbit. On the floor of the first level, a large table sat surrounded by human officers, all of them looking to Twilight's group as Dylan spoke to them. "Are our defense vessels ready?" Dylan's comrade replying as the group listened on. "Yes sir, when we're ready to attack the mothership, we'll send them to follow your lead." Rainbow raised a hoof to ask, "The mothership?" Dylan tapped a few buttons on the table, which displayed a holographic image of the two orbiting fleets as Twilight and the attending creatures surrounded the table to hear the briefing. Pointing to the large Harvester mothership, he began. "There's a large core built into the command center of the mothership, our idea is that if we can get a ship in there and shoot a timed bomb into it, we can take it out and end this invasion." Twilight raised a volunteering hoof as she spoke. "I'll fly her in." The mare's friends looked to her with shock as Applejack questioned her. "You're gonna fly one of those ships in? I know you're smart, Twilight, but I wouldn't step hoof into one of those fighters without proper training." "Looking at the controls back at the Noah 7, I think I'll make it." Twilight defended as her friend gave a hopeful smile, honestly unsure about the task Twilight was asking to take before Dylan stepped in to add his comment. "My father flew one of those attackers without training, and he made it." Dylan gave a confident expression to Twilight as he continued. "Now, the only thing we need to worry about is a defending squadron, there's gonna be a lot of fighters gunning for you, Princess, so someone's gotta cover your tail." As he said that, Rainbow raised a hoof to Dylan, her fellow Wonderbolts stepping behind her as the new Captain of the Wonderbolts replied. "We'll cover her, Sir." Rainbow said with a salute as David looked to them with a confused expression. "Under... what name?" Looking to her fellow flyers, Soarin' and the other Wonderbolts returned looks of determination as Rainbow turned her head back to David. "Call us Spitfire Squadron, Sir." The Wonderbolts, making their former captain's name their new namesake, gave smirks and salutes to the Head Advisor as he replied. "Okay, Spitfire Squadron, you will protect Twilight while she makes her way into the mothership." "We won't let you down, Sir!" Soarin' said enthusiastically as Rainbow looked to him, then looking back to Twilight, she spoke for her team. "None of us will." As Rainbow Dash gave one more salute to David, the Earth veteran looked back to the table as Celestia trotted around it, getting a clear view of the map they saw. "Good, now that we have that settled, it's time to set up our defenses down there." At that, Dylan tapped the table's control panel again, this time shifting to an image of the Crystal Empire, a large city destroyer hovering over it as Celestia began. "The Crystal Empire is the last surviving city we have in Equestria, at least, from what we know. When the ship opens it's cannon, we'll have every unicorn available fire at it with their magic. Hopefully, once that's taken care of, we can dispose of the rest of the invading ships." Rarity pointed a hoof down at one of the smaller ships landed near the Empire. "What are those ships?" "Troop transports, Rarity." Dylan said as he tapped another button on the table, the holographic destroyer vanishing as the group had a better view of the ground. "There won't just be that city destroyer to worry about, the surviving convoy vessels will deploy troops to finish the job the hard way." Queen Chrysalis raised a hoof in the air as she and Pharynx looked to David. "My hive and I will defend the Empire and it's remaining homes, they won't know who they're fighting when we show them our shapeshifting abilities." At that, Chrysalis' body was briefly surrounded in a ring of green magic, her body changing to that of a humans as Dylan and David looked at her in awe for a moment. "That will be very useful, they could get you confused with their own soldiers." David said with a confident smile as he looked to Silverstream and Terramar, the two raising a claw as the former spoke. "What about air cover? Should we send fighters?" The human looked to them as he pondered the idea for a moment, the Harvesters had been changing their tactics on certain occasions, so a fighter defense force didn't sound that far out there. "Yes, that sounds good. Legacy Squadron can help out too." Then, seeing the two hippogriffs looking to him, David asked them, "You think you two can fly those defender fighters of ours out there?" "I'll help with that!" A small changeling with red eyes and a pair of red, translucent wings said as she looked up to Chrysalis, the queen looking puzzled at her for a moment before she asked, "Permission to fly with the aerial force, your Majesty?" "Chrysalis pondered to her drone as she looked up expectantly, knowing this drone to be very attentive to details and being a fast learner, she gave her word. "Yes, Ocellus, they could use you up there." The small changeling grinned excitedly as she transformed into a human, wearing a dark red uniform and bearing red irises as she saluted her queen. "I won't fail, Ma'am!" Ocellus said as she stood, Queen Novo and Dragon Lord Ember stepping forward as they volunteered as well. "The dragons lost their home, we're not about to let another one fall." The blue dragoness said as she held her staff, Novo and Skystar standing with stern expressions as the former joined in. "My people shall assist in this endeavor, the dragons and changelings could use some additional power." The two other race leaders looked to the Queen of the hippogriffs with faces of agreement, a griffon stepping forward as he spoke up as well. "Name's Gallus, mind if I join the fight down there?" The group looked to Gallus as his leader, Grandpa Gruff spoke to him. "Seeing how you flew our transport into this ship, I think you'll do fine down there." The elderly griffon covered his beak before letting out a cough, some of the group giving surprised looks to Gallus as two familiar ponies stood forward. "Mind if we join the squadron, Rainbow?" The green-coated mare with blazing orange hair said to her old rival, a blue stallion with dark gray hair standing near her as Rainbow took in the sight. "Lightning Dust? Wind Rider? You two made it?" The shock on her face was replaced with a grin as the Wonderbolt dropout replied. "I want to help ya too, Dash." Gilda said as she stepped into view of her old friend, Rainbow looking to her before returning her attention to Lightning. "I know we've had a rough start back there, Dash, but with our home gone, we feel the need to lend a hand." At that, the mare put her wing out to Rainbow, the pegasus looking at it for a moment before joining her's with it, a smirk on her face as she replied. "We'd be glad to have you three with us." With that, the two reject flyers and griffon joined together with their teammates, the grudges between them all being forgotten about as they looked to Twilight. "Thanks, you guys. With your help, we'll be able to put a stop to this." Twilight said as her friends and the other creatures in the room saluted her, Dylan tapping a button on the table as the projection shut off. "Alright, let's get you all to your transports." As Dylan said that, Discord held a claw to the air as he spoke to the fighter pilot. "Spare your transports, Captain, I can take them down there with my magic." Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at his words, the draconequus smirking as he continued. "Besides, they could use my help with that fight down there." Putting a hoof onto his leg, Fluttershy looked to her friend as he looked down to her. "Be careful, okay?" "I promise." As the two returned their attention to Twilight and David, the former spoke once more. "Okay, is everyone ready?" The group let out cries of excitement as they saluted each other, Twilight smiling as she finished. "Excellent, now let's save Equestria!" With that, the group made their way out of the command center, the doors opening as Twilight and Spike stepped through. As Tempest began making her way out of the room, David stopped her for a moment. "Hey uh, Tempest, is it?" "Yes?" The unicorn mare said as she awaited the reply. "Why don't you come with me? I think we have something for your uh, horn there." The unicorn raised an eyebrow, but ultimately nodded in agreement before Grubber called to her. "Tempest!" The mare in question stopped once more as her friend continued. "Try to come back, okay?" Tempest chuckled a little as she gave her answer. "I will, don't worry." With that, the unicorn and David continued on out of the room, Grubber giving a hopeful smile to the two as they went to prepare for the battle below. As Rainbow and her fellow flyers walked through with the others, Soarin' asked his friend, "You think you'll be able to manage that fighter of your's, Dash?" The mare smirked as she replied. "Pfft, after that little flight, I think I'll get the hang of it." -Harvester Destroyer, Crystal Empire- 8:26 AM The tall Harvester Commander walked towards the armory station, the much larger biosuit being lowered down to him by several mechanical tentacles as he neared it. In the past, his kind would've been done with it, blasted the city into ashes with their large cannon. But he had learned, those vile, annoying pests the Resistance called humans had fought against his race in a terrifying manner, successfully slaughtering the first invasion force at Earth. He let out a screech of hateful anger as he remembered the fall of one of their queens, the one that was sent to Earth for the failed second harvest. No more, he thought, today, his kind would not win this fight by following their usual process... Today, they would fight these newer, disgusting rodents of this Earth-like world the way they would fight: Face to face. As he turned around and entered his armored biosuit, he watched the large, crystalline structure in the center of the city, groaning in anticipation as the suit closed around him, the visual slits on the head section opening as the wires broke off of his suit. Staring at the image for a little longer, he watched as several creatures walked to the edges of the building's balconies, many of them looking to his large destroyer as they waited at their positions. Standing onto the floor, the Commander turned around once more and made his way to the hangar, his personal fighter awaiting his arrival as he prepared for the coming battle... -The Crystal Empire- 8:29 AM Starlight looked around the area as she trotted down the hallway, smiling as she saw the familiar sight of the crystal mirror. Not only had Discord brought countless ponies to safety, he had been courteous enough to save the magic mirror from it's demise at Ponyville. And now, if they didn't stop this Harvester warship soon, then it would burn like the rest of the Empire. As the unicorn turned towards the opening leading to the balcony, her friends, Trixie, Sunburst, and Thorax looking to her, several other ponies taking peeks behind them to see who was coming. As Starlight stood between her fellow unicorns, Sunburst spoke to her. "Any idea what we're going to do, Starlight?" "From what Discord said, we have to wait until that ship's cannon opens up. Once they start charging up, we fire our magic bolts at it to blow it to hell." Starlight answered as Trixie looked to her in concern. "But didn't they say something about shields on that ship?" Starlight gave her friend a determined expression as she replied. "Those Resistance ships up there should be able to give us a clear shot." Pointing upward, Trixie, Sunburst, and Thorax looked up to see several fighters hovering over the Crystal Palace, remaining in place as they awaited the moment to fire their EMP pulses. Trixie seemed to regain hope with that news, standing firm over the balcony as she spoke once more with a salute. "Well, just give the word, General!" Starlight held back a laugh at that comment, not wanting to let her emotions or humor distract her from the imminent attack... At least, it seemed to be imminent. Suddenly, the Harvester destroyer let out a low groan, slowly moving away from the Crystal Palace as the united army of unicorns, changelings, dragons, yaks, and hippogriffs all watched in stunned surprise. "Are they... leaving?" Thorax asked with a raised eyebrow. A Resistance soldier walked over to the three equines and changeling as he added his idea of the Harvester ship's actions. "I don't think so, for the past twenty years, the Harvesters have been.... learning." Starlight raised an eyebrow at that last word. "Learning?" "Yeah, they don't always play by the book. Sometimes... they put a different card onto the table." The officer briefly explained as the defenders of the Crystal Empire turned to watch the destroyer, the vessel slowly hovering as the alien transports at the edge of the city began to open their doors. Out of the green glow under the transports, several Harvester soldiers began pouring out of them, forming a large army at the edge of the city as Starlight and her friends watched in surprise. Looking down to the already assembled Equestrian army, Thorax looked to his friends. "If you'll excuse me." The reformed changeling said before taking flight, flying to the ground to meet up with Chrysalis and his brother, Pharynx. As he steadied his hooves upon the soil, Pharynx looked to Thorax before speaking. "It's good to know you're still alive, brother, after all those attacks." "Yeah, I'm glad you made it out too." Thorax said with a thankful smile as the two brothers looked at each other, both admiring each other's faces before Pharynx broke the silence. "Thorax... I want to tell you something, in case we fail." Thorax looked to his brother curiously. "Yeah?" The brother of Spike's changeling friend smiled at him as he spoke. "Even though we had a rough time together in the years since we hatched as larva, I want you to know that there isn't any other creature that could be a better brother than you are." Thorax's heart beamed at his brother's words, both of them looking to the Harvester destroyer as the changeling replied. "Thanks, Pharynx... you're the best brother I've had too." Rarity watched as the city destroyer moved further away from the Empire, a section on the front of the vessel opening as fighters began to fly out. Her horn glowed as she readied herself for whatever was coming, Sunburst, Starlight, Trixie and the other unicorns doing the same as they stood by for the word to be given. As the armada of fighters came towards the Empire, the destroyer stopped at the city's edge, Tempest watching from the top of the palace as she briefly examined her new prosthetic horn mounted onto her head. Whatever it could do, she hoped it would be efficient in taking out any and all Harvester ships and troopers within the area. As Discord walked out to the balcony, he stopped behind Starlight and her group as he asked, "What's happening?" "I don't know, but from the looks of it, this isn't going to be a breeze." The unicorn replied as she and Discord looked back to the incoming fighters, one of them catching their eyes as the other ships held their position over the city. This one fighter seemed... different. The shape was more like that of the famous saucer designs they had seen in old science fiction movies, but with two mandibles at the front and a large, fin-like section at the top. The color was different too, instead of the gray-tinted black the other fighters bore, this one was just pure gray. The accompanying Resistance officer gave a look of shock as he spoke up. "They sent their ship's commander down here?!" "Did they?" Trixie asked quizzically as the officer pointed at the strange fighter. "Ever since we've been taking the fight to them, they've been taking every last ship and fixing them up for use in their fleet, even the older ones." Starlight looked to him, realizing what he meant by that explanation. "You mean that's one of their older fighters?" "Exactly, usually the destroyer's commander would have some upgrades on it, maybe even a change in their ship's color." Looking to the fighter, he concluded, "Except this one just seems... refurbished." The two of them turned their heads back to the large Harvester army ahead, the Commander's fighter landing as several more ships closed in. As they looked at them, they could tell that they were also different. They had two sets of small cannons near what must have been the cockpit, and there were no wings, but instead two bulky sections that extended past the fuselage. As the ships took position near the Crystal Empire, several Resistance fighters, pegasi, and the Royal Sisters broke their cover from the palace, taking to the air as they hovered around it. On Silverstream's control panel, Dylan spoke. "Alright, looks like they showed up with an army and aerial forces here, let's cover our ground pals down there and keep those bombers away from the Empire." "You got it!" Silverstream replied to her new flight captain. "Ocellus here, ready to fight!" The human-disguised changeling said as she held onto her controls, listening as her fellow pilots spoke. Silverstream took a breath as she examined her controls once more, hoping that that little tutorial back at the Whitmore would pay off. "Gallus standing by, Sir!" The griffon said excitedly. "Terramar ready for action!" Silverstream's brother said as he held his controls, his claws hovering over the fire buttons. At that, several other voices belonging to the pilots of Legacy Squadron spoke up as well. "Legacy 2 at the ready!" "Legacy 3, systems optimized." "Legacy 5, weapons charged, Sir!" "Legacy 8, all set!" As the remaining members of Legacy Squadron gave their call-signs, Queen Chrysalis watched with an anticipating grin as the Harvester Commander's ship opened up, a single, armored warrior with tentacles on it's back stepping onto the land before looking to the Empire. She was impressed at them, finally sending their head to the field so they could fight it out in person, like any great warrior should. Looking to Ember, she asked the Dragon Lord, "Are their troops outfitted with shields?" Ember nodded, but kept her smirk as she added, "Fortunately, Discord told me he had put some of the Resistance's shields on each and every single one of them." Then, handing two of the backpack-like devices over to Chrysalis and Thorax, she finished with, "You'll need one too." Chrysalis shared the smirk as she and Thorax took the shield generators, mounting it onto their backs as the shields flashed to life around their bodies. Standing in front of his army, the Commander looked out to the Crystal Palace before letting out a fierce screech, the soldiers and fighters behind him charging towards the last intact city as the battle started. "CHARGE!!!" Chrysalis, Ember, and Rutherford collectively cried out to their soldiers, all of them following the Harvester army's actions as they joined the fighting. As they closed in on the enemy soldiers, Chrysalis and all of her soldiers changed in shape, taking the forms of the Harvester soldiers as they continued charging. "Alright, let's punch through those fighters, then nail those transports!" Dylan said as his squadron flew at the incoming attackers, Silverstream throttling her fighter forward as her brother and Gallus formed up with her. Celestia and Luna charged at the fighters as well, both of their horns glowing before unleashing a flurry of magical energy. As it struck the large wave of fighters, their shields glowed for a moment before flickering out, the ships catching fire as they began to crash. As Chrysalis neared the Commander, she hissed at the large alien as it tried to shoot at her with it's large blaster, Thorax and Pharynx engaging two of the escorting soldiers as she gripped at the Commander's gun. Pointing a few of her fake tentacles at the Commander, she channeled several magic bolts through them before firing, hitting the Commander's shields as it released Chrysalis' arms from the gun. Just as the alien lifted it's gun to shoot at Chrysalis, the changeling smacked her claw at the Commander's face, forcing a growl from it as the two fought each other. Nearby, Ember and her fellow dragon Smolder held their stolen blasters at the Harvester soldiers, firing at them until one of their shields came down. Taking the opportunity, Smolder sped over to the alien, unleashing a hail of fiery breath as the monster screeched to the air. Smolder let the Harvester burn as she turned to another one, which shot at her several times before Ember got in the way. Returning the alien's favor, the Dragon Lord grinned as the shields around the creature flickered out, breathing a flurry of pink fire as she killed the invader. Looking to each other, Ember and Smolder briefly bumped fists together before moving to another squad, the aliens opening fire at them both as the continued to decimate the Harvester ground force. In the air, Silverstream fired her cannons at another incoming fighter, it's shields holding for a few seconds before flickering out, the bolts striking the ship's hull before it began to descend to the ground. As another one came at her, the hippogriff tried to prepare for another shot, but halted her efforts as Gallus shot down the fighter, the fighter following it's escort as it crashed to the ground in a ball of flames. "Here comes another one!" Gallus said as he and Silverstream blasted the ship, which only held together for mere seconds as it's shields failed, catching fire before descending. Looking to the incoming bomber, Silverstream heard her brother speak up. "The bomber's vulnerable, fire!" The hippogriff did so as she and Terramar fired, blasting at the ship's shields as it tried to evade but failed. Silverstream screamed a rage-filled battle cry as she continued firing, her hatred for the Harvesters not permitting her to let go of the trigger. Not a second later did the ship's shields fail, the blue lasers striking the engines of it as it burst into flames. The two siblings broke off from their attack as the Harvester bomber came down, crashing down on one of the alien transports as the soldiers around it were caught in a fiery explosion. Looking back at the sight, Silver yelled at the burning wreck. "That's for my dad!" Then, turning back to focus on the other attacking bombers, she steadied herself as she formed up with Terramar and Gallus for another run. On the fields of the Crystal Empire, Ocean Flow and General Seaspray fired their hybrid blasters at the Harvester troops, two of their shields flickering as the two hippogriffs finished the aliens off. Then, looking up, Ocean saw a large group of enemy soldiers heading their way, at least twenty. Turning towards Rutherford, she called to him. "Now!" At that, the yak prince and several others of his kind charged at the aliens, the soldiers trying to hit them as they came closer. As one of the yaks shields failed, Rutherford and one of the female yaks rammed into the aliens, knocking them around the area as they disoriented the garrison of Harvesters. As the two of them stopped to take a breath, the small yak looked to Rutherford, "Yona likes teaching those invaders a lesson!" "Good, now, yaks continue onward!" With that, the two continued on through the battlefield, Ocean Flow and Seaspray blasting down the remaining enemy soldiers. Up above, Celestia and Luna fired magic beams at a squadron of fighters, all of them turning towards them as the two alicorns held their shields in their flight over the kingdom. They rinsed and repeated this tactic a few more times until at least three squadrons were behind them. Stopping and joining their shields into one, they watched as the Harvesters pummeled them with laser fire, the two sisters cringing lightly as they felt a bit of pain from their shield taking damage. As the ships stopped firing, the two sisters looked to each other. "Ready Luna?" "Yes, dear sister." With that, the two sent their mixed shield out towards the Harvester fighters, most of their shields failing as they were engulfed in bright flames. The two let out cries of excitement over their brief victory before pursuing the now fleeing attackers, firing magic beams at them as the cats had become mice. Down below, one of Chrysalis' drones, Cornicle, smacked one of his tentacles at his opponent as the beast screeched. Then, picking up the dropped blaster, took aim and shot at the alien, it's shields flickering out before he struck the creature down. As he steadied himself, two more Harvesters jumped between Cornicle, ready to pounce on him before the one in front of him shot past him, striking the injured alien down with only a few shots. As Cornicle looked to the other Harvester in confusion, the creature shapeshifted into one of his fellow drones, Frenulum. The two let out a laugh as they turned towards the other alien warriors, charging at them as they continued the fight. Knocking Chrysalis back with a smack of it's tentacles, the Commander looked to the sky, seeing two large creatures pursuing two of his drones. Then, seeing the large amount of fireballs near the palace, he pointed at the two alicorn sisters before screeching. Taking the advantage, Chrysalis zapped the Commander with her magic tentacles, the creature screeching again as it returned the favor with a blast of his gun. At the top of the Crystal Palace, Tempest looked to the sky, looking for the closest ship to attack. Seeing an incoming bomber, Tempest focused her horn for a moment before firing, the electrical beam of magic striking the vessel. Upon impact, the ship's shields flickered out before the ship began to descend, seemingly losing it's power as a Resistance fighter fired at it. As the bomber exploded, Tempest looked to her horn in surprise, then grinned with excitement as she looked for another ship, but stopped as she saw another group of fighters closing in towards her. Without time to think, she fired her horn again, this time the beam struck not only the fighter she took aim at, but also passed on to the other ships near it. As they began to crash into the top of the palace, Tempest jumped off the top, free-falling as she looked to see the fighters scrape each other before finally crashing into the palace's top section, narrowly missing the small balcony Tempest was on. As she fell, she was picked up by a familiar pegasus. "You okay?" Tempest smiled as she looked to Fluttershy. "Yeah, thanks." The pegasus nodded before flying down to the other unicorns below, setting Tempest down before she joined the others. Turning to the battlefield, she sped over to her group of pegasi, all of them looking to her as she stopped in between Rainbow's parents and the two Wonderbolt recruits, Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail. "Alright, when I give the word, we surround that Commander there in a tornado. That should disorient him enough to give our unicorns a shot at him!" The fleet of pegasi saluted her as Vapor Trail yelled out, "For Cloudsdale!" "For Canterlot!" Bow Hothoof added as Thunderlane finished their little salutations. "For all that the creatures of Equestria have lost!" The crowd cheered at Thunderlane's words as they watched their target and Chrysalis fight, waiting for the right moment. As he looked up to the Resistance fighters, Discord changed his gaze to the Harvester destroyer before gasping in delight. "Starlight, you mind if I borrow your radio for a moment?" The unicorn nodded as he took it in his claws before speaking into it. "Discord to Captain Hiller, can you have you and some of your other fighters fire a few missiles, please?" "What for?" Dylan asked as one of his fighters was shot at, it's shields flickering out before the draconequus replied. "Just trust me on it, it'll help us with those fighters." With that, Hiller did so, Discord watching as at least five of the defending aircraft fired a missile from underneath. Snapping his finger, Discord watched as the missiles blinked out of the sky. Then, looking to the destroyer's hangar, the green glow was soon replaced with a fiery orange as the hangar was blown to bits by the missiles. Dylan smirked proudly as he admired Discord's little stunt. "Well done! That should relieve us of some trouble." The draconequus bowed as if he was being cheered on at a play as the other unicorns briefly celebrated before continuing their barrage of magic at the incoming Harvester soldiers. As Pharynx kicked one of the Harvester soldiers back, a flurry of unicorn magic bolts struck the alien, it's shield holding for a moment before it hit the creature's armor, killing it. Looking back, he saw Chrysalis and Thorax engaging the Commander and another soldier, the former seeming to lose it's ground as he charged towards it. Jumping up, he tried to pounce onto the alien leader, only to have his futile efforts be stopped by a tentacle impaling him clean through the chest. Thorax looked on in horror as he watched the creature strike down his brother. "PHARYNX!" He cried out as the Commander ripped it's bloody tentacle out of Pharynx, the changeling transforming back into his older appearance as he hit the ground hard. As Chrysalis was knocked back against one of the buildings nearby, Fluttershy cried out, "Now!" At that, the pegasi formed a ring around the Harvester Commander, the beast watching in confusion for a moment before he lifted his gun to fire. As the wind became faster, the alien fired the gun, striking a few of the flying ponies out of the large creature-built tornado it was trapped in. As the turbulence became more and more powerful, the Commander tried to lift it's gun again, but it couldn't hold the large weapon as easily as the wind began to shove it around. Some of it's bladed tentacles began to hurt as the wind became even stronger, many of them being ripped off as he screeched in pain. As it cried out, it's gun flew out of it's grasp as the pegasi broke off, the gun flying through the air before he was flung upwards through the tornado, flying in the air for a few more seconds before crashing onto one of the crystalline buildings and hitting the dirt he had walked on earlier. Thorax shapeshifted back into his normal form as he galloped over to Pharynx, dark, green blood oozing from his wounds as his brother comforted him. "Pharynx, don't give up on me now, I'm gonna get you to the medi-" He was cut off as Pharynx raised a hoof to his muzzle. "N-no, Thorax... go, keep fighting... please... Save what Equestria has left." Thorax tried to mentally debate with his brother, but stopped as he heard a crash near him, a large Harvester blaster had landed near him from the ensuing fighting. Looking to his brother, he saw his head go limp, already dead from the sudden blood loss. But Thorax didn't cry, instead, a fire in his heart was sparked as he transformed once more, picking up the blaster in his claws. As the injured Commander got up, he examined his injuries before looking around to see Chrysalis, the queen landing down near him as she growled at him. The Commander did the same, furious over his injuries caused by those flying pests in the battle. As both of them clashed their claws and tentacles once more, Starlight looked down to the two of them. "There! The Commander's been hurt, let's give him something to shoot at!" The other unicorns nodded before they and Starlight looked down to the Commander, their horns glowing before they shot a flurry of magic bolts at the creature, hitting it's shields as Chrysalis held her ground. The shields flickered for a moment before they went out, the creature groaning as it was hit by a few more bolts. "Look out!" Minuette cried out as she pointed a hoof at one of the incoming fighters, Tempest firing her horn at it as Starlight's horn glowed. As the fighter's shields flickered out, it came straight at the balcony, but failed to take it down as it crashed into Starlight's large shield. Gallus flew near his three allies as another Harvester fighter began it's pursuit, blasting Gallus' fighter until the shields flickered out. "Gallus, look out!" Silverstream cried out too late as the griffon's flaming fighter began to descend, it's collision with the nearby building imminent. But Gallus remembered something, wasting no time, he tapped the eject button Ocellus told him about, his ship's window opening before he was shot out into the air. Looking down, his fighter crashed into the crystal building, breaking it into a million tiny shards. Unbuckling himself, Gallus took to the air, passing another Resistance fighter as it was shot down by another attacker. As the fighter closed in on him, it too exploded as Silverstream's fighter flew up to him, it's window opening as Silver spoke to him. "Hop in!" Gallus did so without asking as he seated himself in, the two immediately taking the ship back towards the battle as another fighter came at them. Chrysalis screamed in pain as the destroyer Commander stabbed her in her leg with one of it's remaining tentacles, blood pouring out as she stared the thing in the face. The creature hissed at her, finally ready to take her life and bring this city down once and for all. But it would not get that satisfaction. Behind it, Thorax landed behind the Commander, holding the blaster up and aiming it as Chrysalis waited for death. Letting out a cry of anger, Thorax shot at the Commander, striking it clean in the back. As a mechanical section of the suit exploded in a green flame, the creature screeched as it's suit opened up, Chrysalis being covered in a yellowish-green liquid as she broke off from the monster. Wiping the alien blood off of her face, Chrysalis forced herself back up, raising one of her sharp tentacles before stabbing the Commander in the now exposed head, the monster screeching once more as it's horrid life was ended once and for all. As Chrysalis tried to get up, she began to transform back as Thorax did the same, dropping the gun and trotting over to her as he helped his former leader to her hooves. "Thank you, Thorax." The queen said as she looked around, noticing one of them was missing. "Wait, where's Pharynx?" Thorax looked down solemnly, tears forming in his eyes as he responded to the question. "He... he's dead, that thing killed him." Chrysalis shared her former drone's look of sorrow, Pharynx was a good drone, and with him gone, the changelings lost one of their best warriors, and she lost a good friend. "I... I'm sorry, Thorax." "It's alright." Thorax replied as he looked to Chrysalis with a look of finality. "At least he died defending Equestria." The two of them looked to each other apologetically, before they noticed a strange change in the battlefield. They didn't hear as many lasers as there were before, and, after looking around the city, some of her drones, dragons, hippogriffs, and pegasi were looking at their enemy in stunned silence. Starlight raised an eyebrow as she watched the remaining Harvester fighters turn towards the mothership, the soldiers running away from the Empire as Trixie spoke up. "Are they... retreating?" The Resistance officer looked over the city, then, seeing the city destroyer in the distance, the answer became evident. "...Yeah, they are. After twenty more years of fighting us, they still haven't learned to keep going after their leader!" The Resistance officer let out a cheerful laugh as Starlight and her friends watched the miraculous sight, joining in the cheering as every other creature on the field watched the destroyer leave. As Chrysalis and Thorax watched the retreating Harvester army, they smiled thankfully as they knew the battle was over. Suddenly, the two changelings, and in fact every other surviving changeling on the battlefield, glowed a brilliant white, which sustained for several moments before they became visible again. As Starlight and the other creatures across the Empire looked at their changeling allies, their appearance was... different. Thorax, for example, no longer had his usual black and green colors, nor his holes. In fact, he was taller, about as tall as Queen Chrysalis. His new color scheme was a mix of green carapace with some orange on his chest, as well as red and purple wings and purple eyes. Chrysalis herself was also different, her carapace was now a bright tan, and her mane and tail were now a much more lush green, slightly changing to a more yellowish tone as it flowed down. Thorax and Chrysalis looked on at their new forms at first in surprise, then with joy as the former whistled to the Queen of the Changelings. "You think you can get used to this, Chrysalis?" "Absolutely!" Chrysalis replied before the two of them joined in the cheering, the Crystal Empire celebrating as the long blocked sunlight returned to it. In the air, Silverstream eyed her fellow flyer Ocellus in her fighter with excited curiosity. "Oooh! You look different, Ocellus!" Looking at herself, she gasped in happy surprise as she, Silverstream, Gallus, and Terramar flew over the Empire together. "Yeah, I think it's because of how much we care for each other! We shared our love for Equestria and, in defending it, we've changed in appearance!" Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst held each other excitedly, crying tears of joy as they celebrated their victory. As the three of them broke up the group hug, Starlight looked to Discord, "Discord, tell the Whitmore of what's happened. Tell them that the Crystal Empire is safe once again." The draconequus nodded before he snapped his finger, teleporting off of Equus as Flash Sentry came racing out of the palace doors. As the three ponies looked on curiously, Flash spoke to them. "Starlight, come with me to the medical ward! It's about Cadence and Shining Armor!" The three ponies' faces went from joyous excitement to ones of fearful concern, Twilight Velvet and Night Light turned as they heard what Flash said. Without wasting a second, the four ponies galloped into the palace, Twilight's parents following after as the united creatures of Equestria celebrated in their victory against the city destroyer that was now taking to the skies... -Whitmore Hangar Bay- 8:48 AM Twilight trotted with Rainbow Dash and her team as the doors to the hangar opened, Spike looking past Twilight's head as they all saw the fighters awaiting them. Along with Rainbow's captured attacker, there were eight Resistance Defender type fighters, enough of them for Soarin', Fleetfoot, Misty Fly, Blaze, High Winds, Lightning Dust, Wind Rider, and of course, Twilight. As Rainbow and her friends trotted towards the prepared fighter squadron, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle galloped over to her, their faces beaming with glee as Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, I'm so glad you're here! I hope you don't mind, but along with those upgrades, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I thought your fighter needed a tiny makeover." Curiously, Rainbow looked to her fighter, noticing that her cutie mark was painted roughly on the right side of the ship. The mare smirked at her biggest fan, rubbing a hoof on Scootaloo's head as she replied. "Thanks, kiddo. You three make sure the other foals don't lose hope in us, alright?" The three fillies saluted to her, then made their way past as Twilight and the others trotted over to their ships. As Twilight came close to her fighter, Applejack and Pinkie made their way over, a hopeful look on both of their faces as the former spoke to her. "Hey Twi, I know ya probably won't have much time for it, but I want ya to have these." Handing her a basket, she picked it up out of the farmpony's hoof to see around five rainbow-colored apples, Twilight looking surprised as her friend continued. "They're zap apples, last ones we have left from the family... they want ya to have it for luck." Twilight smiled at her friend's generosity, almost letting tears form on her face as she passed the basket to Spike before hugging Applejack. "Thanks, you be careful too." As Rainbow Dash began to sit in her ship, she looked to Gilda. "Hey Gilda." "Yeah? The griffon asked as her friend continued. "I know it sounds silly but... do you mind if you fly with me on this one?" As Gilda raised an eyebrow, Dash explained herself. "I uh... I'm still getting used to leading the Wonderbolts after we lost Spitfire last night, and... I don't want to lose anymore of my friends today." Gilda looked at her old friend for a moment, then, taking to the air. "Totally, after all, we fly together, die together, right?" Rainbow smiled at her friend, who hopped into the secondary seat behind Rainbow as their window started closing. As Pinkie Pie watched them, she smelled the familiar scent of cupcakes to her left. Seeing the tray being carried by the Cakes for the pre-planned victory party, the party pony sped almost impossibly fast to the two parents, taking one of the cupcakes before speeding off to Rainbow's fighter, the window mere seconds from sealing. "Dashie!" She said to her friend, who opened the window slightly as she replied. "What do you need, Pinkie?" Without asking, she handed over the cupcake to the pegasus, smiling a bit nervously as she spoke again. "Thanks." "It needs to be at the right time!" Pinkie said urgently as the cockpit began sealing again. "Rriiiiiigght." Rainbow exaggerated as the window sealed the cockpit shut, Twilight and Spike sitting together in their own ship as they began to get comfortable. As Twilight examined her controls, they indeed did look familiar to her as the Noah 7 controls did, just additional stuff regarding the fighter's weaponry. Tapping a button, the window began to lower as they prepared to take off. On the fighter's radio, Jake's voice spoke through it. "Okay, now remember, everyone, this is a 'get in, get out' mission, once you fire that bomb you punch your way out of that ship. Any fighters that come your way, shoot them down if necessary." "That means no crazy heroism out there, Rainbow." Twilight warned her friend, nodding to her on the visual screens underneath the controls. "Got it, we'll be careful." The rainbow-maned pegasus replied, Gilda giving a thumbs up to Twilight as the other pilots' face cams came on. "And make use of those power packs in the back, everyone. Those fighters are going to be gunning for you out there, so use them wisely. Good luck." With that, the radio to Jake's station shut off, the large hangar bay door ahead of them slowly opening as Twilight prepared for launch. Tapping another button, Twilight's fighter began to ascend, her wingponies doing the same as Twilight looked to Spike. "You got those apples there, Spike?" Spike set the basket to his left, then looking to his right to see several containers full of some kind of green liquid. "I have them right next to me, Twilight." He said to his friend as he picked up one of the power packs and held it in his claws. "Good, cause they might help us out of here." Twilight replied as she held her control sticks with her hooves, two magic bubbles right over the trigger buttons as Spike spoke up. "You really sure you can fly this thing, Twilight?" The alicorn took a breath as she replied. "With how I saw the Noah's controls, I think I can handle this." with that, Twilight began to move the sticks forward, the ship suddenly jerking backwards as it bumped into Rainbow's fighter. Spike and Twilight grunted from the close call of a crash, as did her escorting friend. "OOF! What the?!" Rainbow exclaimed as her ship and Twilight's shields flickered from the impact, but fortunately nothing broke or became damaged as Rainbow spoke to her. "Uh, Twilight? Are you really sure you can handle that thing?" Twilight defended herself. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I can... just needed a little bit of a start on practice." Looking sheepishly, Twilight continued. "At least I know which way these go now." Spike looked at her worriedly as he spoke. "Yeah, uh, if you could just please... take us out the door?" He lightly pointed a claw as he finished his request. As Twilight pulled the sticks towards her, the ship sped forwards flying out of the hangar as her escorting fighters followed suite. "YYAAAAAAAAHHOOOOOO!!!!!" Lightning Dust let out an excited cry as she flew out of the hangar, forming up with her fellow pilots as they performed various maneuvers around Twilight's ship. Raising an eyebrow at first, Twilight thought it would be best to get oriented with her new ship as she began performing similar maneuvers. "Good move, Twi. Gotta get a feel for that bad boy while we have a moment!" Rainbow said as they flew, getting acquainted with their ships as they slowly turned and approached the mothership. As Twilight steadied her fighter, she looked to the large view of stars in front of her in awe. "...Isn't this amazing, Spike?" "Yeah, it is." Spike said as he shared his friends enthusiasm, savoring every second of this special sight as Rainbow warned them. "Yeah, hate to say it, but there's no time for stargazing." At those words, Twilight looked out towards the mothership, a large armada of fighters gathered up near a tiny, glowing opening on the side of the large starship. "Brace yourselves!" Twilight said as she focused on flying, Spitfire Squadron forming up behind her as another group of ships closed in on them. "We will ensure your entry is successful, Princess Twilight Sparkle." A robotic voice said as several of the hexagonal pods from the Resistance fleet flew in front of them, forming a faint yellow shield in front of them as the Harvester force came near them. "Shields up! Weapons hot!" Rainbow said as she flew next to Twilight, the large swarm of fighters flying towards the squadron before they were struck down by the hexagon ships' yellow beams, which sliced the fighters apart in seconds. Rainbow cried out in excitement as she watched the Harvesters get totaled. "Yeah! Eat that up, you space fiends!" "This is too easy!" Lightning Dust said as Twilight looked towards the mothership, the glow slowly dissipating as the door began to close. "I wouldn't say that now! Hold on, everyone!" At that, Twilight surrounded her and her squadmates with a shield, all of them disappearing from their former position and re-appearing closer to the door, which was about to close. "Punch it!" At that, the nine fighters sped off towards the door, all of them forming a tight, straight line as they slipped through. All but one. "I'm not gonna make it!" High Winds cried out, trying to slow down as the door sealed but failing as her ship hit it. Her scream was heard briefly before her screen went out, the blue around her camera now glowing red as to indicate her death. "We lost High Winds!" Misty Fly cried out, their shields flashing as she and her teammates we're onslaughted by a flurry of green laser bolts. "Batteries, quick!" Rainbow ordered as Gilda swapped one of the newly placed batteries into Rainbow's ship, Spike doing the same for Twilight's as the squadron of fighters began to make their way deeper into the mothership. Trying to cut them some trouble, Twilight looked to an incoming force of over a dozen alien fighters before using her teleportation spell on them, sending them crashing into the large support beams built around the tunnels without a second to think. "Twilight, let us worry about the fighters and you just fly that girl in there, alright?" Rainbow said as Twilight tried to steady herself, but flew to her left as another attacker sped at her. As the fighter passed her, it fired it's guns at Wind Rider's fighter, his ship's shields flickering before the bolts struck his ship's underbelly, damaging the laser cannons. "My guns are down!" The Wonderbolt veteran said in dismay as Soarin' shot at the harrasing fighter, blasting into a fireball in seconds as he flew past Wind Rider. As another fighter came at Twilight, Blaze fired at the attacker, the vessel's shields flickering out after several shots. As the now burning Harvester ship sped towards the floor of the large tunnel, Blaze was not aware of another ship behind her. "Blaze, look out!" Misty warned her friend as she shot at the attacker, destroying it after several shots as Blaze formed up with her. Twilight rolled around one of the large beams within the tunnel, balancing herself as another fighter was coming at her. As she readied her guns, Wind Rider sped at the fighter, Rainbow crying out in shock as he prepared to ram it. "Wind Rider! What are you doing?!" "Saving our home, it's been an honor!" With that, Wind Rider crashed his ship into the alien fighter, destroying both of them but saving Twilight's in the process. "Keep moving everyone, we can't let his death be in vain!" Twilight ordered as the Wonderbolt veteran's cam panel went red, Twilight and her allies flying together around the large beams before another fighter came into view. Not having much time, Twilight created a magical shield around her fighter, the alien ship crashing into it as fire covered Twilight's view for a few seconds. "You alright, Twilight?!" Rainbow cried out horrifically. "Yeah, just follow me!" Spitfire Squadron followed their orders and they and Twilight's fighter finally cleared through the tunnel, now flying in the large, green interior of the mothership. As Twilight looked at her map, she saw the target highlighted by a red dot specifying where it was. It was nearby, just a little further, and they would make it. "Lightning, watch out!" Rainbow warned too late as Twilight looked to Lightning's ship, which was being assaulted with green lasers as it's shields flickered out. Seeing both her and Soarin's fighter, Twilight used her teleportation spell to switch Lightning's spot out with the refill drone in the back of Soarin's fighter. As she watched Lightning's fighter explode at the last second, Lightning seemed stunned at the slight change of scenery around her as she sat in the back of Soarin's ship. Twilight knew she deserved a second chance, and she was not going to let the Harvesters take that away from her. As Twilight turned her head to focus on flying, she saw one of the incoming attackers getting dangerously close to her before it was blasted out of the sky by Rainbow Dash, the mare's ship flying past her as the alicorn continued flying as fast as her ship could go. Outside, the Whitmore slowly turned itself over as it hovered near the moon, it's upgraded, heavily armored energy cannon opened up and charging as it took aim at the mothership's side. On the bridge, David watched the holographic image of the space battle as the Whitmore positioned itself. "Is it ready?" David asked as the officer nodded, the ship holding still as David gave his order. "Fire!" At that, the Whitmore fired a beam at the mothership, striking the shields and faintly penetrating it just enough to hit the door, which broke into flaming chunks as the shields faded. Inside, Twilight and her teammates sped past another large structure as they finally got a good look at the command center. It looked almost like an upside down cone, but with several mechanical parts and structures around it. As she took a brief stop in front of the ship, Twilight spoke as she waited for the missile lock-on to pick the target. "On behalf of all of Equestria, allow me to send you Harvesters this present!" As she said that, the lock-on beeped as Twilight fired, the long missile speeding towards the command center. Twilight sped away alongside her defending squadron, looking down at her control panel as the countdown started. "Okay, let's punch it! We've got half a minute to get out of dodge!" "THIRTY SECONDS?!" Rainbow cried out in shock and anger. "I'm fast Twi, but we can't make that!" Looking at the zap apple basket, Spike spoke up. "Yes we can!" Without asking, he took one of the used up battery packs as he placed the zap apple over it, crushing it as Twilight gave him a questioning look. "The zap apples aren't like normal apples, I think we can use it's magic to give us a boost out of here!" As insane as it sounded, Twilight was willing to take that chance. As Spike sealed the now mushy liquefied zap apple container and placed it into the battery slot, Twilight spoke up. "Everyone hold on!" "For what?!" Rainbow asked worriedly as Twilight trapped all of her escorting fighters and her own within a magical levitation bubble, Twilight replying as she pulled the control sticks towards her. "This!" At that word, Twilight and her escorting fighters skyrocketed across the mothership, a rainbow trail emitting from the ship's engines as they all sped towards the now flaming tunnel. As the mothership hovered in place, Applejack and Pinkie watched with the crowd of onlookers as they waited for Twilight's ship to exit the Harvester vessel. After passing three of the still intact support beams within the tunnel, Twilight and her friends could see the opening, flaming and clear of traffic as they all sped towards it. Looking down at the timer, they had only ten seconds left before they met certain doom. Hoping to soften the blow, Twilight held her shield, preparing for a big blast of fire as they sped out of the Harvester mothership. Pinkie and Applejack watched anxiously as their friends sped out from the mothership, the timer on one of the hangar's monitors counting down as they waited. "07, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01." As the timer glowed red, the mothership exploded in an enormous, brilliant fire, the two earth ponies taking a second to adjust their eyes as they tried to find Twilight. Their faces grew wide with horror as they couldn't see them at first... But after a few tense seconds, a pink bubble shot out of the explosion, a rainbow trail stemming from it as Twilight and Spitfire Squadron escaped their horrific destruction. "THEY MADE IT!!! THEY MADE IIIITTT!!!" Pinkie screamed joyfully as she hugged Applejack tightly, the hangar full of cheering creatures and Resistance officers as they celebrated the successful victory. "WAAAHOOO!!!" Twilight and Rainbow both cried out as they slowed down, their fellow flyers forming up with them as the explosion glowed behind them. "That. Was. BEYOND AWESOME, Twilight!" Rainbow said to her friend as the other surviving members of Spitfire Squadron cheered her on. "Heck yeah, it was!" Twilight laughed after saying that, sort of trying to take in what the heck they just did back there. As Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself, Soarin' asked, "So, is it over? Did we win?" Rainbow took a peek behind her ship, seeing the large explosion slowly dissipating before turning back towards the others. "Yeah, it sure looks like it." "Hopefully with the mothership destroyed, they should get disorganized without a force to lead them all." Twilight said as she smiled at the planet of Equus, comforted to know that their home was safe. "And it's all thanks to you Twilight." Rainbow said as the pilots of Spitfire Squadron looked to Twilight, her returning the gesture as she replied. "No, we all did it, together." As she said that, Twilight looked to the Whitmore before finishing. "Let's go home." With that, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Soarin', and the rest of Spitfire Squadron turned towards the flagship of the Resistance, flying towards it as they had finally won their short war against the Harvesters. 08: Victory-Abyssinia- 8:37 AM Capper sneakily walked through one of the last intact buildings within the city of Tabbytown, Chummer at his side as they both hid from the attacking alien ships. Shortly before Panthera had fallen to the invaders, the two Abyssinian felines were doing everything in their power to get away from the large saucer that was responsible for the destruction of their former home. Now, they were in a city that was right next to it, the sounds of lasers and explosions filling the area as a battle ensued between the aliens and... well, he sure knew the other combatants weren't his people, at least, not the ones in the sky. As the two bipedal cats sat against the wall of the building, Chummer spoke up. "Is this it, Capper? Is this... really how we're gonna go out?" Capper could only give a look of uncertainty as he answered his partner in crime. "I don't have a clue. I hope it ain't." As the two thieves sat in disturbed silence together, their ears perked as they heard a loud explosion, along with the sound of metal grinding from outside. Curious as to what caused that strange noise, Capper slowly stood from his spot, Chummer watching as he dared to take a peek outside. As the feline creature poked his head out of the open doorway, his eyes went wide as he looked up to the large ship near the city. Fire burst from various areas all around it, the underside of the vessel being engulfed in explosions as it began to descend. As hope had returned to Capper, he looked to his friend. "Chummer, look at this!" The feline in question stood up from his spot before taking a look past Capper, seeing the now burning alien vessel as three strange ships flew over them. As they stared at the falling warship, Capper and Chummer broke out into cheers of excitement, happy to know that this bringer of destruction had finally fallen. -Saddle Arabia- 8:57 AM Amira watched as the large Harvester destroyer charged it's cannon, preparing to fire as one of the Resistance fighters came towards it. Getting close to the cannon, it fired a missile before breaking away from the ship. As the missile struck the vessel, the cannon exploded in a ball of orange fire before that fire quickly spread all over the ship, the front and sides of the vessel bursting with flames as the huge ship began to descend. Looking behind her, she saw her people cry out in excited joy as they watched the Harvester warship crash to the ground. Turning to her right, Haakim smiled with satisfaction as he spoke to his friend. "It seems we have won, my dear Amira. The Harvester threat is no more." "Yes." The large mare replied, both of them looking to the burning wreck ahead of them as Amira continued. "Hopefully, with the mothership up there destroyed, our land is safe." -Starlight's Village- 8:58 AM Sugar Belle's horn glowed as she watched Night Glider, the mare flying over the city as she lured the damaged alien fighter to her friend. Taking her opportunity, she fired a powerful bolt of magic at the fighter, hitting it on it's right side as it began to spiral out of control. As the fighter crashed near the edge of the town, Sugar Belle's ears perked as she heard a loud boom from nearby. Turning around, she saw the large invading warship as it's underside exploded, the whole ship soon being engulfed in flames as Party Favor, Night Glider, and Double Diamond joined their friend. "Did... Did we do it?" Sugar Belle asked her friends, a faint smile forming on her face as Night Glider let out a cheer. "Yeah, we did!" As the large, burning vessel began to descend, the four friends cheered at the three incoming fighters that had arrived earlier to protect them, the alien fighters breaking away from the small town as one of the allied fighters pursued one of the attackers. -Ponyville Ruins- 8:58 AM Cheese Sandwich sat on his haunches in sorrow, sulking at the destroyed town of Ponyville. The poor stallion was coming to see Pinkie for a little party for a young filly here, but now... now it was just a broken ghost town, with some kind of large spaceship hovering over the mountain that had held Canterlot. Cheese wasn't sure what happened to Pinkie and her friends, they could have gone to somewhere safe before things got bad, or maybe they were indeed dead, buried underneath the rubble of the many homes of various ponies that lived here. But there was something strange, there were no bodies to be found. Surely they were rescued somehow, or evacuated before the town was destroyed. As Cheese pondered through his thoughts within the destroyed home of Pinkie Pie and her friends, a voice not familiar to him spoke. "I hope you are watching that ship up there, my dear friend." As the stallion swiftly turned his head to see who it was, he was shocked to see Discord standing next to him, a bowl of popcorn in his claws as Cheese began to speak. "What happened he-" Discord put a claw to his muzzle to shut him up before answering. "Just an FYI, your friends are safe, and that big ship up there is the cause of this disaster." As Cheese watched the large ship hover over Canterlot, he gasped as he understood what Discord had said. Then, lifting a claw up into the air, Discord continued. "And it's about time I forced some sort of chaotic payback for what they did earlier." Snapping a finger, the dented section of the destroyer exploded, the rest of the ship soon being covered in bursts of fire as the ship began to descend. Looking to Discord, Cheese asked Discord, "How did you do that?" Discord looked to him with a smug expression as he replied. "Oh, while I was up there in space with your friends, I took the time to see where that destroyer's big ol' core was." Cheese smiled with him as he continued to watch the burning ship fall to the surface, but looked back to Discord as he cleared his throat. "But, I'm behind schedule, so you're coming with me back to the Whitmore." "The wha-" Cheese tried to ask, but was cut off as Discord snapped another figure, both of them and Cheese's travel cart disappearing from the decaying town as the Harvester destroyer in the sky burned to the ground. -Peaks of Peril- 9:02 AM Autumn Blaze stood ready as her large, red horn glowed blue, her and her fellow kirin looking up to the large Harvester destroyer above them as it's cannon began to charge. Above them, a Resistance fighter flew towards the cannon, firing a beam at it as the shields flickered out. On the radio near the kirin leader, Rain Shine, the pilot gave the word. "Now!" At that moment, Autumn and the other kirin fired a collective wave of magic bolts at the cannon simultaneously, the large structure exploding as it was hit. As Autumn watched, she let out an excited cheer as the rest of the ship caught fire, the rest of her friends joining in with her as they watched the Harvester vessel slowly descend downwards towards them. Normally, she would be running as the large ship crashed above them, but with their magic slowly lifting the ship away from the mountain, their home would survive. Joining her fellow kirin in levitating the now slightly lighter wreck to the nearby edge of the mountain, Autumn Blaze grit her teeth as she strained herself. As the large ship slowly hit the pointy peaks of the mountain, Autumn and her fellow kirin released their grip before wiping their heads of the heavy amounts of sweat they had produced. Watching the Harvester vessel above groan as it began to turn away, Autumn and the kirin around her cheered a victorious cry of joy as the still burning ship began to slide off of the Peaks of Peril. -Whitmore Hangar Bay- 9:07 AM The enormous crowd within the hangar cheered and clapped as Twilight and the remnants of Spitfire Squadron entered the area, David and Jake walking out into the room as the fighters began to descend to the floor. As Twilight's fighter touched the ground, she pressed a button as her ship's cockpit window opened, Twilight and Spike hopping out of the fighter before being greeted by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The two hugged her and the dragon tightly, crying tears of joy as they were happy to see them alive. Nearby, Rainbow Dash took a bite out of Pinkie's cupcake before she flew out of her fighter and onto the floor, Scootaloo racing up to her before the two embraced. As the two broke off, Rainbow and Scootaloo trotted over to Twilight and her friends, the Wonderbolt's fellow squadmates flying over to them as well as David and Jake made their way to the group. Breaking the teary hug, Twilight looked to the two humans as her friends stood next to her. With Twilight and Rainbow's team ready for their debriefing, David spoke to them. "Good job, everyone. With that mothership down, we've got them on the run." "We've got reports of other areas across the planet being successful in destroying most of the remaining destroyers." Jake said as Twilight and her friends smiled at the news. As Twilight opened her mouth to speak, she stopped as Discord appeared near them, Pinkie growing an enormous grin as she saw who was accompanying him. "CHEESE!" "PINKIE! You're alive!" Cheese cried back as the two embraced, crying joyfully as Twilight looked to Discord. "What's the status of the Crystal Empire?" Discord gave a pleasant smirk as he answered the Princess of Friendship. "Well, despite our casualties, I think you'll be happy to know that the Empire is safe." The group let out cheers of excitement as they took in the news. Then, remembering something else that was there, "And Cadance and Shining Armor?" The draconequus gave a sad look as he replied. "Unfortunately, I didn't get word about their fate before I left. I don't know." Twilight's face fell to a sad frown as her friends comforted her, Applejack putting a hoof to Twilight's shoulder as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted over. "Don't worry, sugarcube, I'm sure they're okay." As the farmpony said that, Jake pointed past Twilight and her friends, all of them looking to the edge of the hangar to see at least three transports and several fighters entering the Whitmore. As the middle one touched the ground, the doors opened to reveal several ponies and other creatures. Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rainbow's parents, the Royal Sisters, Thorax, Chrysalis, and... two faces Twilight was hoping to see since the start of this disaster. "Cadance! Shining!" Twilight almost screamed joyfully as she galloped towards the two ponies, tears forming in her eyes as she hugged them tightly. As Shining Armor and Cadance returned the favor, the former spoke up. "We're so glad to know you're alright, Twiley, but try to be careful with us, we're still recovering." At that last part, Twilight broke from the hug, looking nervous as she looked at the two leaders of the Crystal Empire. Cadance let out a light laugh as she spoke to Twilight. "Yeah, it's taking some effort just trotting." "Sorry, sorry." Twilight replied apologetically as the doors of the other transports opened, Starlight, Sunburst, Trixie, and Flash Sentry trotting out from one of them as Spike looked to Thorax, amazed by his new appearance. "Whoa, Thorax, buddy! You look... more colorful." The young drake said with wide eyes as the changeling in question laughed a little, Chrysalis doing the same as Thorax replied. "Yeah, some things have gotten crazy down there." The two of them then turned towards Cadance, who looked up to Chrysalis as she spoke. "So, I'm guessing we're allies now, huh?" Chrysalis nodded as she replied. "Indeed, and after what happened down there... I think I owe you both an apology for the wedding crash from earlier." The changeling queen then gave a genuine look of shame as she regretted not realizing how bad her past actions were. "Well, after saving the Empire, and not to mention our lives, I think that's more than enough to prove it." Shining accepted Chrysalis' reply before playfully punching her hoof, the changeling queen smiling at the prince before they both looked to Rainbow Dash, who was chatting with Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger as they trotted forward. "You two did a great job down there, Fluttershy too." The two Wonderbolts smiled with salutes as Fluttershy blushed at Rainbow's comment. Then, Rainbow seemed to feel unsure about herself, Soarin', Gilda, and the other Wonderbolts looked to her as she spoke. "I don't know, if I'm supposed to be the leader of the Wonderbolts now, how can I compare to Spitfire? I got two of us killed back there." As Rainbow frowned at herself, Soarin' trotted over to his friend and leader, raising a hoof to her chin as to bring her eyes to his. "Well, if you want my thoughts on it," And as he said that, Soarin' pushed his muzzle against Rainbow's, some of the group and Resistance officers whistling and stomping hooves as the two flyers kissed. As the two pegasi broke their physical bonding, Soarin' finished with, "I think you'll fit right into that spot nicely." Rainbow smiled at her friend, both of them letting out laughs as Flash trotted over to Twilight, the latter looking to her friends as she spoke up. "I'm so proud of you all, because of you, we've once again saved Equestria from destruction. And even better, our races have come together as one at last." Shining raised a hoof as he replied to his sister. "Yeah, but it's not just us. If you hadn't flown into that mothership and blown it up, we'd all be dead." Celestia smiled warmly as she trotted up behind Twilight, putting a hoof onto her back as she added, "We're all proud of you Twilight, as you are of us." "If you want my view on it," Dylan said as he walked over to the group, all of them looking to the leader of Legacy Squadron as he continued. "We won because we stood together. As one force." "Very true." Luna said as they all looked to Pinkie Pie, who pulled out her party cannon from seemingly nowhere as she spoke up. "And now, I think it's time for a little celebration!" The group cheered as they agreed with the party pony, only to be silenced briefly by the Cakes. "Now now, don't use any of those fireworks, deary. You could damage the ship!" Mrs Cake warned as Pinkie gave a small pouting face, only for it to change into one of curious confusion as Discord spoke up. "Actually, I think I have the perfect choice for that. Captain Hiller, is that destroyer from the Crystal Empire still around?" The captain nodded as he replied. "Yes, it just left orbit and should be nearby." With that, Discord motioned for everyone to follow him to the edge of the hangar bay, everyone doing so as they trotted and walked towards the nearly invisible force field. As they stopped behind Discord, they could all see the last Harvester destroyer slowly flying away from the planet, but it's escape failed as Discord snapped his fingers, the ship's topside exploding as fire quickly spread all around the vessel. The group cheered as they watched the last destroyer burn away, Pinkie firing confetti from her party cannon as the group laughed at the sudden surprise as David looked to Twilight. "Um, excuse me, Princess? I hope you don't mind, but can I ask you something?" "Of course." Twilight replied as the Head Advisor for the Resistance asked his question. "Seeing how well you all did back there, how would you like to join the Resistance?" The group gave approving nods to David, Twilight smiling as she answered herself. "We wouldn't have it any other way." With that, Twilight and her friends watched the Harvester destroyer burn as it shot small specks of fire out from it, the 'fireworks' Discord was talking about now appearing for the show. "Oh, and I almost forgot to say it but, happy Independence Day, everyone." Discord added as the group let out light cheers and whistles before continuing to watch the fire show, some of the other creatures and Resistance officers trotting and walking over to watch as well. Today was a crazy experience for Equestria, they had been broken, but out of the fires of destruction, they were reborn. As one power. Granted, it would take time and effort to rebuild, to restore what was lost. But now they would also start anew, creating new relationships and advancements with the Harvester technology that was left. And today, the day that the Harvesters had fallen, would be celebrated by the Equestrian nations for eons to come. Today was indeed their day to fight back, today was the day that Equestria... had won. THE END
01: ArrivalIn orbit of the planet Equus, the moon stood deathly still, it's surface reflecting the bright light shone by the nearby star that was the sun. The giant, rocky satellite had never been stood hoof upon in its days, as ponykind had not invented anything capable of space travel yet. Despite such inabilities, the inhabitants of Equus still wondered as to whether or not they were alone, hoping that somewhere in the universe, something or someone was out there, waiting to discover another sentient species among the stars... And the moon was going to be the first to bear witness to their arrival. The ground started to rumble slightly as an enormous shadow slowly covered the surface, blotting out the sun. The shadow continued to cover more and more of the moon's surface as it was soon covered in darkness... -Ponyville- 1:13 AM The field of stars was a wondrous sight to Princess Twilight Sparkle and her six friends, who all stared at them while the former looked through a telescope she had brought with her to the fields for stargazing. The girls usually would have been in bed to rest for the next day, but since it was one of the most gorgeous nights they had seen in a while, and since there wasn't too much going on in the world right now, they decided to make the best of this occasion. Pinkie Pie pointed at a spot in the sky as she squeed, "Oh! Look! There's a shooting star!" The rest of the gang oohed along with her as they watched it streak across the night sky. "Oh, yes, quite a bright one too." Fluttershy said as she watched the shooting star disappear into the darkness of space, turning back to Twilight as she turned the telescope towards another constellation. "Oh, Canis Major's brighter than I've seen it before." The purple alicorn said as she heard Rainbow Dash speak up. "Maybe it's 'cause you cleaned it earlier?" Twilight gave an unamused look at the blue pegasus as she opened her mouth to retort, only for Rarity to interject before she could say a word. "Or perhaps, something is happening up there?" The fashionista pondered as she stared up into the sky. Twilight also pondered for a moment, then looked back towards her friends as she replied. "That may be the case, stars do get a bit brighter when they get older..." Applejack gave a quizzical look to the stars as she asked, "Ya know? The stars DO seem brighter from what I'm seein'. Y'all sure it isn't darker than usual?" Pinkie shared the same look after taking her own second look at the night sky. "Hmm... Yeah, it does seem darker. Don't you notice it Fluttershy?" The pink party pony said as she turned to face her friend, but her face turned to one of concern as she saw the yellow pegasus' face. It was one of shock, of fear, like she had seen something no one would want to see. Curious, Pinkie turned to where her friend was looking, as did the other four. Upon seeing what Fluttershy was seeing, everyone shared the same worried expression as they stared at the unnerving sight. The moon's surface was being enveloped in a shadow that was slowly growing from the once brightly lit side. The girls gave a faint gasp as they watched the once bright rock become almost completely covered in darkness. Twilight, curious of what was going on up there, shook herself out of her trance and turned the telescope towards the moon. After shifting it slightly, she gave another gasp, one that sounded like she had seen a ghost. "What's wrong, Twi?" Applejack asked as her alicorn friend slowly turned toward her, motioning a hoof for all her friends to come and look. As they peered into the small visible image on the telescope, their faces became ones full of terror. Near the moon was a large object, the upper section looked like a near half dome with a circular section on it, while the underside of it bore two long, sharp fins that swept back behind the rest of the structure. It almost rivaled the moon in size. Rarity was the first to break the silence, "What in the name of Celestia is that?!" She pointed a hoof towards the image on the small eyepiece as Twilight looked up to the moon. "I... I think it's some kind of spaceship." The purple alicorn replied as she and her friends looked up at the moon, the shadow now more prevalent than ever. "Sure looks like one." Rainbow Dash said as she stared at the unnerving sight. "Sh-should we inform the princesses?" Fluttershy said shakily as she looked to her friends. "Yes. And qui-" Twilight started to say, but was cut off as she noticed something changing in the picture. Moving a hoof to shift the picture again, she peered into it. Her eyes went wide at what she was seeing, several smaller objects began to break off of the underside of the larger vessel. Looking at the smaller ships, they were similar in design to the mothership, though they looked to be simply dome shaped. Twilight could make out much from the view she got, so after shifting the picture once more she could see it better. The vessel did not have a perfect dome, on what must have been the front of the ship was a long, tall section sticking out of it. As they all slowly turned upright, they began to make their way towards Equus, the mothership now sitting still over the moon. After taking count, she counted over 30 of the ships in the fleet, all of them dispersing and heading for different parts of the planet. Lifting her head away from the viewing scope, Twilight began disassembling the telescope as she spoke. "Girls, I want all of you to come with me to the Castle of Friendship. I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia and see what she wants us to do next." As she finished, she put all of the telescope pieces into her saddlebags before looking to her friends. "We're right behind you, darling." Rarity replied as all six mares turned towards Ponyville and broke into a gallop, racing towards the town without wasting a breath. -Canterlot, Royal Palace- 2:05 AM It had been a long and tiring day for Princess Celestia, having to deal with countless meetings and plan special events was tiresome, but worth it at the end of the day. It had been almost an hour since she saw her nephew Prince Blueblood depart for Las Pegasus to spend some leisurely time there, and her sister, Princess Luna, had already went to her private chambers to watch over the dream realm. Now it was time to get some rest herself. As she trotted up the stairs to her room, Celestia hummed a soothing tune to herself before she was stopped in her tracks by a flash of magic. As the magic swiftly dissipated, a rolled up scroll fell onto the steps ahead of Celestia. Picking it up in her magic, the princess opened up the scroll and began to read. "Dear Princess Celestia, while my friends and I were stargazing near Ponyville, we noticed a large shadow on the moon's surface. Upon closer examination, I found a large object coming towards Equus. After it stopped moving, several smaller objects detached from it and are making their way towards our planet. From what I can tell, they must be some kind of alien fleet. As to their purpose, I don't know for sure, but it doesn't seem good from the looks of it. I'm writing to you so that we can discuss our next plan of action. I hope to receive your response soon. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Celestia's eyes were left wide open upon finishing the letter, worried by her former student's supposed findings. If what Twilight was saying was true, then they were bound to make first contact with another species from the stars above. Curious as to whether or not Twilight was right, Celestia made her way up the stairs to her room. After opening the door and stepping inside, she trotted over to the window to see the moon. As she had feared, the moon was almost completely darkened, a large shadow covering the once lit surface. After giving the shadow a closer look, Celestia seemed to notice that the shadow did have a strange look to it. Diverting her gaze from the window, the princess raced out of the room and downstairs and back into the lobby. Celestia then made her way up another stairway, one that led to Luna's chamber. After knocking a hoof to the door, Celestia heard shuffling on the other side, then hoofsteps. After a few hoofsteps, the door opened to reveal a slightly disgruntled Luna looking up to her sister. "What is it, Tia?" The Princess of the Night said, trying to hold back the irritation in her voice. Celestia gave an apologetic expression on her face. "Forgive me for the sudden interruption, dear sister, but something's wrong." "What do you mean?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow. "Come here." Celestia said as she and Luna trotted over to the nearby window. Celestia then pointed a hoof towards the moon. Upon seeing the sight Celestia alerted her to, Luna let out a horrified gasp before looking to her sister. "What's happening to the moon?!" Luna asked fearfully. "Fortunately, nothing is wrong with the moon, but something near it is the cause of that shadow." As Celestia finished, she opened Luna's closet and pulled out her telescope before assembling it. After setting it up, she opened the window and positioned the telescope towards the right side of the moon before motioning for Luna to look into it. As she peered through the viewing glass, her eyes were wide when she saw the sight before her, a large, irregular dome-shaped vessel with two large fins underneath. Luna snapped her gaze away from the telescope and looked up to Celestia "What is that thing, Celestia?" "From what Twilight told me in her letter, it's some kind of space-faring vessel, and apparently, several more have detached from it and are heading to various places around the planet." Celestia replied grimly. Luna looked to the floor, sharing her sister's grim expression on her face before looking back up to her. "..What shall we do?" Celestia's face grew with determination as she answered her sister. "Twilight wishes for me to send a letter back to her to discuss our plan, so I'll start once I return to my chambers." Her expression was broken with a yawn as she began to feel tired. "Uh, perhaps just a letter could do until morning." Luna said with slight concern. "Yes, that sounds good. Hopefully, nothing too big will happen tomorrow." Celestia said tiredly. "Hopefully, now you get some rest, sister. You've had quite a day." Luna replied. "But what about the let-" Celestia started to say, but was cut off by her sister. "I'll write it for you, is that alright?" Luna asked as her sister smiled thankfully. "Of course, good night, sister." Celestia said as she made way for the door. "Good night, Tia." Luna replied as her sister shut the door lightly. Now that she was alone, Luna trotted over to her table and picked up a piece of paper and a quill before sitting down. Dipping the quill in ink, Luna began to write her letter. "Dear Princess Twilight..." -Abyssinia- 4:53 AM The dark, star-filled sky was a wonder to the anthropomorphic felines of Panthera, some stopping to admire the view they were seeing. Though the night time sky was a common thing to see every day, it still mesmerized them whenever they saw it. However, on this night, the sky was slightly darker than usual, the stars seemed brighter than they were before, and, seemingly from nowhere, a low rumbling was heard constantly since late into the night. Some of the citizens were a little unease from these strange abnormalities, but they pushed it off, maybe it was just someone using some new, loud contraption, or maybe there were a large herd of animals passing by the city and the noise would stop eventually. But others knew otherwise. On the higher, bustling buildings and at the edges of the city, citizens got a clear view of the source of the noise. An enormous, fiery cloud that slowly moved across the sky. It looked so big that it could cover the entire city of Panthera. Occasionally, a loud howl would sound from the unnerving anomaly, but some of the citizens pushed themselves to go back to what they were doing. Unbeknownst to them all, however, that this strange sight would bring destruction, pain, and death to their city in due time, and they would most likely be powerless to stop it.
02: Darkness-Ponyville- 7:49 AM The light from outside the windows forced spike to squint as he woke up, lifting himself out of his bed and stretching his arms out. As he hopped out of bed, he heard rapid hoofsteps that got louder until the door to his bedroom opened, Twilight swiftly galloping in. The small dragon yawned as he spoke to his friend. "Morning Twilight, what's got you-" Spike was interrupted by Twilight's reply. "Sorry Spike, but my friends and I have got a meeting with Princess Celestia to attend, and I need to get everything together so that we can come up with a plan." "Ugh, is this about that 'alien fleet' again?" Spike asked, slightly annoyed by the subject. "Yes, and I've found out something else." Twilight replied as she looked for her supplies. "After sending my letter to the princesses, I decided to take another look at the moon, and I noticed something else near it. At first, it looked like one of those smaller ships that broke off from the mothership. And then I saw more of them, but the other ships didn't look familiar to the ones I saw last night." Spike raised an eyebrow. "Different ships? How many were there?" "I didn't take count that time around, but I think there were around 20 or more ships on the other side of the moon." "You think they're a part of this 'invasion force'?" Spike asked as Twilight picked up some quills, several pieces of paper and a compass. Putting the items into her saddlebags, Twilight replied. "I'm not sure, but whatever they're doing, it doesn't look good." Spike looked around the room for a moment before seeing and walking over to his backpack, Twilight picking up the already drawn on paper from it and placing it with the other papers. "Well, since you're so worried about this alien fleet up there, you want me to come along?" "Due to the circumstances at the moment, yes." Twilight said as she placed the saddlebags onto her back. The alicorn then trotted over to her dragon friend before speaking once more. "Hop on." "Spike did so, climbing onto his friend before the two galloped out of the room, racing through the halls until they saw the others. "That was fast." Rainbow Dash said with slight surprise. "So, are we ready to go?" Rarity asked Twilight. "I think so, we can take the train to Canterlot so that we can get this meeting underway." The alicorn princess replied as she and her friends began trotting to the doors. "So what do you think these aliens are gonna do? Do they like parties?" Pinkie Pie as with a smile on her face. "I think that'll have to wait a little while. If they're a friendly species, they might be willing to-" Twilight stopped as she felt the ground rumbling, almost as if a small earthquake was occuring. "Is... Is it an earthquake?" Pinkie asked curiously, but got no answer as the room started to become slightly darker. Curious, Twilight trotted over to one of the windows nearby, and saw a dark grey cloud in the sky. After closer examination, however, she noticed small streaks of orange coming from the direction the cloud seemed to be heading. Twilight was silent for a moment before turning to her friends. "Everyone, outside." Twilight said as she galloped towards the door, her friends following suite. Opening the doors and briefly taking flight past the stairs, she landed before lifting her gaze to the sky, her friends stopping behind her and doing the same. The cloud was large and circular, seemingly big enough to cover Ponyville, Canterlot, and even the Everfree Forest. The front of the cloud was a bright, fiery orange, as if something was trying to enter the atmosphere of the planet. At one point, the cloud let out a howl, almost as if the cloud was alive. Twilight and her friends stared at the horrific sight, unsure of what was going to happen next... -Canterlot- 8:01 AM Celestia took a sip of her tea as she trotted around the kitchen table and continued making breakfast. She sniffed the air as she smelt the delicious scent of the pancakes she was making. Some would've thought Celestia would be immediately preparing to meet up with Princess Twilight to discuss the supposed alien armada, but surely, Celestia thought, she could sate her hunger before getting onto business. As she watched the pancake cook, she heard a low rumble from outside. Curious of what it was, Celestia trotted over to the nearby window to see what was going on. While it wasn't the best view, she could see what appeared to be a large cloud floating towards the city. The front of the cloud caught Celestia's eye, as it glowed a brilliant orange, like it was on fire. Celestia's curious viewing of the anomaly was interrupted when her sister barged in through the door. "Sister!" What's wrong?" The Princess of the Sun asked worriedly. "Outside, quickly!" With that, the two alicorn sisters raced out of the kitchen, but not before Celestia turned off the oven. Didn't want to cause a fire during this strange day. As the two princesses entered the hallway, they galloped to the door and opened it. Upon stepping outside, Celestia and Luna looked up to the sky to see the large cloud. Celestia could now see the missing details, the shape of the cloud was circular, and was large enough to bathe Canterlot and Ponyville in darkness. And darkness soon came to Canterlot, as the cloud slowly hovered over the city, blotting out the sun. There must have been something inside the cloud, as not a speck of sunlight pierced through. "...Sister?" Luna said with a hint of fear in her voice, but Celestia didn't reply. All she could do was watch the enormous cloud cover the whole city of Canterlot... -Manehattan- 8:03 AM The streets of Manehattan were bustling as usual, ponies trotting the sidewalks and carriages rode down the streets as if nothing was amiss. One of the pedestrians was Coco Pommel, who was exiting the fabric shop after acquiring supplies. She was trotting out the doors of the store when she heard something, a low rumbling from far away. Assuming it was just some loud machinery somewhere in the city, Coco continued trotting down the street, nearing the crosswalk when she felt the ground shake lightly. The rumbling was more prevalent now, and Coco couldn't stop herself from looking around to see where the noise could possibly be coming from. Then, looking to the sky, she saw it. A large, dark cloud slowly covering the city. The mare was put at unease upon seeing the orange, fiery glow from the front side of the cloud. Other ponies looked up at it too, curious and horrified as to what was above their city. The rumbling became more noticeable as the city seemed to quiet down, but Coco paid no mind to it. She could only focus on the enormous cloud that was shrouding Manehattan into darkness... -Las Pegasus- 8:04 AM Prince Blueblood sipped his beverage as he relaxed at a table near one of the amusement park rides. He always saw such 'entertainment' to be childish, but at least this place knew how to make a good drink. "Delicious." The spoiled prince said as he set his drink onto the table with his magic. As he sat back to relish in the beautiful sight that was Las Pegasus, he heard a low howl far away from where he was. His chair, along with the rest of the ground, began to shake lightly. As the shaking progressively got more rough, his drink fell to the ground, the glass breaking into several pieces. Annoyed, yet curious, the prince stood from his seat and looked around. At first, he saw nothing, but after trotting away from the building to get a different view, he could see it. The cloud was gargantuan, dark, and seemed to be on fire. Blueblood seemed disturbed by this anomaly as he watched it slowly cover the city of Las Pegasus. From afar, he could hear some ponies cry out or scream as they looked at the cloud. Some workers broke into a gallop after getting a good look at the sight above. Blueblood, however, just stood where he was and stared at the monstrous cloud, wondering what was causing it to appear like that. -The Changeling Kingdom- 8:06 AM Pharynx breathed tiredly as he raced towards the Changeling Hive, disturbed and worried about what he had seen during his scouting mission. Whatever that large cloud was, it could pose a threat to his fellow drones, and he wasn't going to waste a second to prevent that. As he landed inside the hive, Pharynx ran through the shifting corridors, unsure of where the Queen was. Fortunately for him, she wasn't that far. After passing through six or seven corridors, he saw her, discussing her plans with some of her other drones. The purple-eyed changeling warrior took a breath as he finally stopped in front of Queen Chrysalis, who gave a satisfied grin of anticipation as she spoke to him. "Report, Pharynx. What did you find?" "Hah, my Queen... hah, I've found... hah, something." He finally caught his breath as he steadied himself upwards. "Something large." "What is it exactly?" Chrysalis asked with a raised eyebrow. "You may want to follow me." He said as he began to fly out through the corridor and back outside. Chrysalis, curious of what had her drone in such a rushy mood, followed after him, the drones she communed with a moment ago following suite. As they made it outside, Chrysalis nearly lost control as she landed erratically, stunned by the sight she was seeing. A cloud of fire that looked so enormous it could cover the entire kingdom. Recovering from her shock, Chrysalis asked Pharynx, "What is that... thing?" "I... don't know, but it can't be good." As he said that, Pharynx's eyes widened at the cloud, something was coming out of it, something metallic and bulky, but he couldn't tell what it was. All he and his fellow changelings could do was watch as the cloud revealed its true appearance... -Hippogriffia, Mount Aris- 8:10 AM The top of the mountain was bustling with hippogriffs, many flying around the various structures they had built in their time on the mountain, others were talking to their friends or looking around the various shops for supplies. Except one, a yellowish gray hippogriff with arctic blue hair sped down towards Hippogriffia, fear evident in her eyes. As she spotted the building where her mother resided, she continued her fast flight through the city, only stopping when she had reached the doors of the building. Opening them, she called out, "Mom!" At first, she got no response, "Mom, there's something I need you to see!" "Hold on, Skystar, I'm coming." The voice of Princess Skystar's mother, Queen Novo sounded from the staircase leading to the upper part of the palace, and a short moment later the Queen walked down the steps to see her daughter. "What did you find this time?" Novo said with a hint of unamusement in her voice. "It's big, come with me!" Without giving her a moment to reply, the Princess of the Hippogriffs took flight back outside. Novo let out a sigh before taking flight, following her daughter to wherever she was going. A short flight away from the building later, she could see Skystar in mid-air hovering high above the Kingdom. Flying upwards to hover alongside her, Novo spoke again. "I swear, if this is another one of your silly discoveries, you're-" She stopped as she saw what Skystar was talking about, a large, cylindrical cloud that bore fire on the front of it. Suddenly, the cloud seemed to slow briefly, bringing a hopeful smile to Skystar's face. But that smile immediately faded as something emerged from the cloud, a large, circular object that stretched out for miles, at what must have been the front of the ship was a tall, wafer shaped structure that stuck out from the rest of it. The ship let out an unnerving howl as the cloud behind it began to dissipate. Queen Novo was silent, simply staring at the large object as she and her daughter watched it slowly hover towards Mount Aris... -The Crystal Empire- 8:15 AM The once bustling Crystal Empire had become one driven by fear and uncertainty. Townsponies ran around the town or into their homes as they tried to escape from whatever had taken their skies. As the large alien vessel slowly hovered over the city, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor stood atop the palace as they watched the large newcomer. Behind them, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Thorax and Sunburst galloped over to them, all four of them horrified by the large object in the sky. "What in Equestria is THAT?!" Trixie almost screamed to her friends. "We don't know, it came out of a large, fiery cloud behind it." Shining Armor replied, continuing to stare at the large ship that was now almost blocking every inch of sunlight from the Empire. "We need to send a message to my aunt, she might know what to do." Cadance said to her husband and their guests. "That sounds like a good idea right now." Starlight said as the six of them all raced back into the palace, intent on figuring out what to do about the unknown object above their city. -Canterlot- 8:19 AM It had been moments since the fire cloud had been first noticed, and now the alien ship that had departed it was now hovering right over Canterlot, just above the mountain. The royal palace was directly underneath a dented section of the underside of the ship, leaving Celestia and Luna to wonder just what that part of the ship was. The rest of the city was in a panic, ponies running or flying as far away from the ship as they could possibly get. One of the royal guards exited the palace and trotted over to Celestia and Luna. "What are your orders, your Highnesses?" Celestia snapped her eyes away from the ship, steadying herself as she gave her answer. "Prepare the conference room, we're having guests that can help us with figuring out what to do about that vessel up there." "And get a reporter here immediately, I shall address the nation once I've finished with the meeting." "Understood." The guard said before bowing to the royal sisters, then turning back towards the palace as the princesses continued to gaze at the spaceship hovering above Canterlot. "I have a very bad feeling about this, sister." Luna said, fear present in her voice. "I know.... and to be honest, I'm scared too." Celestia replied as she and Luna stared at the monstrous ship above them. -Ponyville- 8:24 AM The 6 mares and dragon sat in their seats as the train they boarded began to depart. Twilight placed her saddlebags in the space between her and Spike, taking a deep breath from all the running they had performed to get to the train. Rarity broke the vocal silence within the car. "So, what are you bringing the tools for, Twilight?" "In case we need to use it to develop our plan," Twilight looked up to the city of Canterlot, fear present in her next words. "and if we find out anything new, I'll need to document it like I did earlier last night." "But, what if we can't do anything to stop them, assuming they're going to attack us?" Fluttershy asked, sharing Twilight's fearful tone. Twilight sighed before looking down at the floor of the train. "I don't know, Fluttershy." Then, lifting her head up with newfound determination, she continued. "But we have to hope that they aren't here to hurt us, that they're just bringing a lot of guests with them to make first contact." "That's one possibility, I mean, if we were a near-extinct, space-faring species we'd probably do somethin' like that, right?" Applejack said in support of this theory. "I would hope so, I can't imagine what would happen if it's the former." Rarity said, her hope slightly drained as she considered all the possibilities they could think of. "Well, whatever happens, we'll just have to worry about what we can do after our meeting with the princesses." Twilight said finitely. The others nodded in agreement before looking out the windows to look at the darkened sky. They all stared at the large, dark ship with fear, fear that if Twilight's predictions were true, then Equestria may need more than it has to stand against the alien fleet.
03: Attack-"Sea of Clouds"- 8:44 AM Tempest Shadow stood at the bow of the large skiff she was on, Grubber at her side as they both watched the airship sail through the stormy skies to Mount Aris. The Storm King had recently welcomed her among the ranks of his servants, and her first mission was to infiltrate the Hippogriff Kingdom and steal a magic pearl. All they had to do for the moment was to navigate the storm and when they arrived Tempest and Grubber would sneak in and fulfill the King's orders. Curious of how much longer it would take for them to arrive at Hippogriffia, Tempest turned to Grubber and spoke down to him. "Grubber, get me an estimate on the time we have until we arrive at Mount Aris." "You got it, boss." The small hedgehog replied before walking over to a large hatch on the floor, opening it and making his way into the ship's interior. As he stepped inside, another being came out, a tall, light gray-haired creature with black armor, two blue bolts engraved on the chest piece. As the Storm King walked up beside Tempest, he spoke to her. "Well, you seem to take a liking to this storm of mine." Tempest chuckled lightly before replying. "Yes, it makes me feel... stronger." The tall conqueror laughed aloud before steadying himself. "Yeah, that's about how I feel all the time." He then looked to the storm. "Then again, I'm almost always around storm clouds so... yeah." The hatch to the interior opened up again as Grubber stepped back out onto the exterior. Walking over to Tempest, he spoke to her. "We'll be reaching the mountain in about an hour." "Excellent..." Tempest said with a grin, but her contained excitement dissipated after hearing a low howl, one that she had never heard before in her life. The Storm King and Grubber seemed to share the same confusion for a moment. Then the small hedgehog broke the brief silence. "Uhh... what was that?" Tempest raised an eyebrow at the Storm King, expecting an answer. "Yeah.... I don't recall these storms ever making a noise like that." The King's thoughts were cut off as they noticed one of the clouds to their starboard side. "Everyone hold on!" Tempest alerted the crew, all of them bracing themselves as the storm cloud hit. As the ship entered the cloud, a faint orange glow emitted from the starboard side, drawing the attention of the whole skiff. "I... don't recall that happening, either." The Storm King defended himself once more as the source of the orange glow became more visible. What Tempest and the others saw was nothing they had experienced in their lives. At the starboard side of the ship, a large, fiery cloud was pushing the storm back... and was heading right for the skiff. The ship crew went into a panic, many of the storm warriors jumping overboard or trying to divert the airship away from the fire cloud as fast as possible. Looking to the Storm King, Tempest and Grubber awaited his swift reply. "Well, since everyone else is doing it," Upon uttering those words, the Storm King ran to the port side, screaming one last phrase as he jumped overboard. "ABANDON SHIP!!!" Tempest and Grubber ran for the port side as well, the cloud mere seconds away from impact as they both jumped, falling into the clouds as they heard an explosion above them. Debris shot past the two storm servants as they fell through the storm, seeing only clouds for several seconds before they saw the ground they were about to land on. Positioning herself to free-fall closer to Grubber, Tempest came closer to him before grabbing him in her hooves. "Hold on!" Tempest yelled to her hedgehog friend through the wind as the two hit the water, both feeling stunned from the impact, but knowing that they would drown if they didn't act, the two of them swam to the surface. When she got her head above the water, Tempest gasped for breath as she saw Grubber trying to swim. Seeing as the little hedgehog wasn't going to be able to get himself to safety alone, Tempest swam to him before saying, "Get on my back!" Grubber did so and as soon as Grubber was on her, she looked for the nearest shore in the area. Finding a small hill at the edge of one of the tall mountains, Tempest swam as fast as she could to the shore, not bothering to check if the Storm King and the surviving storm guards were following her. It took a long moment, but after a few minutes the two storm commanders rested themselves onto the sandy shore. As Tempest took a moment to breath, she heard several grunts behind her. Forcing her head up a little, she could see about seven of the surviving storm guards and the Storm King himself nearing the shore. Once they had reached the sandy refuge, they all took a breath, Tempest let her head rest while staring at the fiery cloud above them. As he used his staff to stand up, the Storm King spoke up. "What in the world did we just run into?!" "You tell me, your excellency." Tempest replied as she stood up, Grubber doing the same as they awaited the King's reply. "Well, since our ship is gone..." He took a moment to examine where they were. After scanning the other mountains, he couldn't see any kind of civilization or facility they could use. After taking a deep breath, the Storm King spoke up again. "Okay... we're stranded." "So much for the miss-" Tempest started to say, but stopped as she and the others heard a noise, a low screech that resembled a windigo. Looking up, they saw a strange aircraft descend down to them. It was nothing Tempest had seen before. The ship consisted of a long, smooth section with a bulky fin underneath. As the ship landed in front of them, the bottom section opened up, emitting a near blinding blue-greenish light from the inside. Not a second later did two bolts of energy shoot out from the ship, striking two of the storm guards. Tempest, alerted by her crewmates' injury, charged at the alien ship, hoping to strike at whatever was shooting at them. Another shot came out, this time striking the Storm King's hand, the Staff of Sacanas falling to the ground as he yelped. Tempest let out a battle cry as she jumped up to the light, readying her horn and hooves for a pouncing attack. As she flew in the air, she struck down one of the attackers. As one of the other attackers prepared to shoot at her, she ignited her horn and struck down the second one, unaware of what her first target was about to do. Without warning, the alien grabbed Tempest by the neck, slowly getting up as its prey tried to breathe. As she started to lose control of her body, Tempest got a good look at the attacker. It was a tall, ugly alien, with seemingly fake eyes and several tentacles on its back. "Re...lease... m...." Was the last thing that came out of her mouth before she saw black. -Canterlot- 9:18 AM The train slowed to a stop as it arrived at Canterlot. As the doors opened, loads of ponies were crowding the train's entrance, forcing Twilight and her friends to slip themselves through the crowd until nopony else was in their way. As they all gathered back together, they all raced through the city, passing by many panicking ponies for several minutes until they finally reached the royal palace. Upon reaching its doors, Twilight and her friends were greeted by one of the guards outside the door. "Good to see you here, Princess. The Royal Sisters are expecting you all." "Thank you." Twilight replied as she and the others stepped inside, the two sisters standing nearby as they trotted in. "It's good to see you here, Twilight, the city has broken into a panic since that ship arrived." Celestia said as her former student smiled up at her. "No wonder, Princess. Ponyville's been going through similar trouble." Twilight replied as they joined the princesses in their trot to the conference room. Looking up to Celestia, Twilight continued. "I brought some supplies and research with me to help us devise our next move, hopefully with what's happening, we can finally figure out what these ships are doing here." "Indeed, and speaking of such matters," Luna said as she opened the doors to the conference room, allowing the others to enter before stepping in herself. Shutting the doors, she continued. "We've got something you may want to hear." "Oh?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow as the Princess of the Night levitated a small radio to the table with her magic. Luna's face became stern as she continued. "We've recently started hearing news reports about the matter, it seems that Canterlot is not the only one underneath these ships." Upon finishing, she turned on the radio with her magic, static playing for a short second before a mare's voice spoke from the small device. "..And this just in, we've been getting reports from several cities and citizens about these large saucers in the sky. From what they told, they first appeared as some kind of fiery cloud. Some even mistook it for a dragon-filled storm. But shortly after a large, circular 'spaceship' came out of them and hovered towards the center of their city." As the mare finished, a stallion's voice spoke up. "Yes, and according to royal scouting parties, we've spotted several of them over countless cities and populated areas, including Canterlot, Fillydelphia, the Crystal Empire, the Changeling Hive, and even over the distant Mount Aris!" Twilight let out a low gasp upon hearing the news, as did her friends. "Coco Pommel's in Manehattan, last I heard." Rarity whispered to her friends, a fearful expression on her face. The stallion on the radio continued. "At the moment, we haven't received word from the Royal Sisters on the matter, but when we do, we'll inform you all as soon as possible!" The mare on the radio then began to speak about another news topic, but Luna cut it short. "Coming up, a tragic cra-" Were the last words to udder out of the device before it finally shut off. As she levitated the radio back to it's original spot, Luna spoke again. "So what have you gathered, Twilight?" Twilight trotted over to the table, Spike hopping off her back as she dismounted her saddlebags. "Well, just before dawn today, I decided to take another look at the moon and the shadow. At first, nothing new came of it, but after looking around other parts of the moon, I noticed more odd shapes on the opposite side." As Twilight continued, she pulled out a drawing she had made during her trip to the station. While crude, the details the alicorn had drawn were understandable enough to see. "Upon closer examination, I saw one of them was similar to those circular ships I first saw last night. However, the other ones looked like nothing I'd seen from the mothership." Celestia and Luna both raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Do you think they're another group of aliens?" The Princess of the Sun asked her former student. "That sounds likely, I mean, if they're from that mothership, why send them around our moon?" Twilight replied. "Maybe they're trying to... I don't know, take the moon?" Rainbow Dash asked. Pinkie laughed before answering Rainbow's idea. "Well, if that were the case, then why did they send down over 30 ships to our cities? They think each of us owns parts of it or something?" Rainbow rolled her eyes at Pinkie's joke before a royal guard came in through the door to the left of the room, fear in his expression as he spoke. "Princess! Several small ships are heading towards Cloudsdale!" The regal sisters and Twilight's group grew worried upon hearing the guard's words. Motioning for the others to follow, Celestia galloped out the left door, her sister and friends following behind. Climbing up the stairs to the observation room, Celestia and the others trotted upwards for several moments before finally reaching the door. Upon opening it and stepping out, the group entered the large, windowed room to see the far away city of Cloudsdale, seemingly normal. However, as Twilight got a closer look at the view she had, she looked up to see a swarm of small ships flying directly towards the city. Rainbow Dash's face was one of horror as she stared at the frightening sight, worried about what the swarm of aliens would do to the city... -Cloudsdale- 9:33 AM The siren was starting to become a slight nuisance as Soarin' put on his goggles, Spitfire inspecting her flyers as they prepared to defend their home from the invading swarm. "Alright, now I'm going to make this short. The large ship above us has launched a swarm of what we're assuming are fighters at us. As Cloudsdale evacuates, we're going to hold them off as best we can, understood?" "YES MA'AM!" Soarin' and the other 23 Wonderbolts said in unison, saluting their Captain before she turned towards the edge of the runway. "Alright, let's show these aliens who's boss!" As Spitfire finished, she and the other Wonderbolts took flight, flying over the runway and into the sky. Upon seeing the alien swarm to their right, the squadron of pegasi turned towards them, getting ready to evade the initial attack. As they got closer to the swarm, Soarin' got a good look at the alien fighters, two mandibles stuck out in between the wings, as well as several cannons boasting off of them and in front of the cockpit. As the Wonderbolts charged at the alien fighters, they fired a flurry of green bolts of energy. Fortunately, all of them missed as Soarin' and his wingponies split up and individually engaged the fighters one-on-one. Soarin's target made a u-turn for him as he started to spin. "Misty!" He called out to one of his friends, who heard him in time as he gave an order. "Thundercloud!" The mare did so as she sped around, grabbed a cloud, and waited for Soarin's cue, hitting the cloud to ignite its lightning. As Soarin' let the fighter come close to him, he sped around the fighter, catching it in a small tornado before stopping and looking to Misty. "NOW!" As expected, Misty threw the cloud into the presumed path of the alien ship, which flew right towards it. As it was hit by the thunder, a bluish-green energy field flashed from the impact before fading away. Soarin' and Misty gave a look of dismay as the former spoke up. "They've got some kind of shield on them! We've gotta try something else!" As the two flyers evaded incoming laser fire from other fighters, Soarin' heard a scream from above. Looking up, he saw his wingpony Fire Streak, a dark burn visible on his chest as he fell to the ground far below them. "Fire Streak's down!" Misty Fly cried aloud as she and Soarin' flew towards another fighter, the first one catching up with them. As the two dodged the lasers from their pursuer, Soarin' spoke to Misty. "Let's try and get them to crash into each other!" Misty nodded as they split up, the pursuing fighter chasing after Soarin' as Misty got the attention of the second one. The stallion continued to evade incoming fire from his pursuer as he looped around back to Misty, both of them stopping near each other as the two fighters came towards them. As Soarin' nodded to Misty, the two sped towards their attackers, then flying around them to catch them in another vortex. As the ships began to spin, the two Wonderbolts got away from their tornadoes before they dissipated, the two fighters flying too fast to avoid collision and crashing into each other in a brilliant explosion. The two didn't celebrate for long as another fighter came at them, both flyers breaking up as the fighter charged for Soarin'. The two combatants flew for a while, Soarin' dodging and barrel rolling around the lasers as he came closer to a nearby Cloudsdale building. Taking the chance he had, Soarin did another tornado spin around his pursuer, spinning for several seconds before letting the fighter fly uncontrollably towards the building, exploding in a bright, fiery orange. "Ha! Eat that! Space freak!" Soarin' taunted his victim before hearing two more screams. Looking up, he saw who must have been Fleetfoot and Wave Chill, both with burns on their bodies as they fell through the sky to the ground. Soarin looked up to see Spitfire holding off two of the fighters, flying upwards as the two ships flew past each other. Soarin' sped up towards her, but couldn't get close enough to talk to her as more fighters sped towards the Wonderbolt. Despite being so far away, he could hear her speak. "There's too many of them!" The Wonderbolt captain said as Soarin dodged more incoming fighters. Hearing another scream, Soarin' took a brief moment to see another flyer, Surprise, falling to the surface before continuing on towards Spitfire. "We're losing flyers left and right!" Soarin' cried out as he flew. "Everyone fall back, fall back!" Spitfire said as she dodged more laser bolts, but her efforts were stopped as one shot got her clean in the back. The young Wonderbolt captain didn't scream or yelp, she just began to fall towards the ground like her fellow teammates as Soarin' watched in horror. "SPITFIRE!" The stallion screamed, but he had no time to watch his close friend and leader fall to the ground as another fighter flew towards him. Diving downwards, he sped down to catch Spitfire, barely grabbing her in his hooves before flying back up to the battle above. The stallion soon came to a stop as another fighter was coming after him, the glow of the ship's guns glowing a faint green as Soarin' waited for death. But the shots didn't come. As the fighter came at him, it exploded in an orange blaze as another ship flew through the fire. Soarin's eyes went wide as he watched the fighter attack his pursuer. This new arrival looked different, it had a pointy fuselage with two large wings, two strange sections underneath them, and two fins folding inwards. As the pegasus took in the sight of this new ship, he heard more laser fire from above. Looking up, he saw the alien fighters engaging several other ships that he could barely make out. But after a moment, he could see that they looked similar to the one that had saved him. As he began to fly back up to the battle, his remaining teammates flew to him, all of them stopping together as they looked at their injured leader. "Is she..." Blaze said fearfully, but let the held-back air out as they heard a faint moan from Spitfire. "Thank Celestia, we need to get her to a hospital immediately!" The other Wonderbolts nodded as they began to fly towards the city, but stopped as one of the new fighters came down towards them, stopping as it hovered in front of them. As Soarin' hovered near the cockpit, he got a good look at the pilot of the ship. He had no fur, but instead hair on his head, and hands that were holding onto the controls. His skin was also a dark brown. On the pilot's mouth was a mask that permitted the pilot to breath during flight. The pilot tapped a button on the controls before the front of the window opened, allowing him to hear the voice of the pilot. "Sorry if we didn't arrive sooner, those bastards must've been tough." "Who are you guys?" Soarin' asked the furless flyer. "Name's Dylan Hiller, Captain of Legacy Squadron." As he removed his breathing mask, he continued. "I'm from the Resistance." Soarin' gave a hopefull smile at the introduction, sticking his hoof out to shake Dylan's hand, he did the same as his savior. "I'm Soarin', ace flyer among the Wonderbolts. I take it you're here to help us?" Dylan nodded as he replied. "You can count on that. Unfortunately, we don't have much time." He looked up to the large vessel above him, which hovered ominously over Canterlot as he continued. "In a few hours, that ship is going to destroy the city, so we have to evacuate it as soon as possible." The surviving Wonderbolts gasped in horror as they listened to the explanation. "It's just like we feared." High Winds said shakily. "For now, my boys and I will hold off the threat up there, so I'd suggest you get your friend there to safety." Dylan said before putting his mask back on, preparing to close the window before Soarin' spoke up. "Dylan," The pilot turned to him once more. "Be careful up there." "Same to you." With that, he tapped a button that began shutting the cockpit window, the fighter starting to fly upwards as it rejoined the battle. The pegasi hovered in the air for a moment before Soarin' spoke up. "Well, you heard him. To Canterlot!" At that order, the surviving Wonderbolts sped towards Canterlot, hoping to alert the Princesses before it was too late.
04: Destruction-Canterlot- 9:58 AM Twilight sat at the conference table and holding her head with a hoof, waiting for a response from Cadence and Shining Armor. After Spike sent the letter a few minutes ago, Twilight was beginning to fear for their safety. One of those alien vessels was over the Crystal Empire right now, and if it posed a threat, then they had to get out of there. Her worries were about to overcome her when she heard Spike belch, then burping as a flash of green fire dissipated to reveal the scroll. Upon seeing it, Twilight snatched it from the air in her magic, opened it up, and began to read it. "Dear Twilight: It's good to know you're alright. And you're not the only one worried about that ship up there, the Empire has been in a state of panic for the last hour. I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but Cadance and I can't let the Empire fall to the alien threat. We'll be putting up a shield in case things get ugly, but I won't leave the Empire to be conquered or destroyed if there's a way to protect it. Don't worry about me, Twiley, just make sure they don't hurt your friends or the ponies of Canterlot. I'm counting on you.... we both are. I love ya, sis. Sincerely, Shining Armor." Twilight tried to force a smile, but her fear denied such an expression. Seeing that his friend needed hope to return to her, Spike stood up and walked over to her. "They're not leaving?" Twilight only shook her head, her eyes closed as she tried to calm herself. "Well, you can't let that get to you. Your friends need you, Twilight... I need you." Spike said to try and restore his friend's morale. Twilight looked to Spike for a moment, then, taking in Spike's words, smiled in agreement. Standing up from her seat at the table, she crouched down and hugged Spike. "Thanks, Spike." As the two began to trot out of the room, the door to the palace's entrance opened as Rainbow Dash flew in. "Twilight! You gotta come out here! The Wonderbolts came!" Both of them raising an eyebrow, Twilight and Spike raced out the doors, not even bothering to shut them as they left the conference room. As they stepped outside, they saw Rainbow Dash and the others staring out into the dark sky. Twilight and her dragon friend joined them to get a look. Sure enough, several Wonderbolts were flying to their position, Dash let out a horrified gasp upon seeing Spitfire, who was being held by Soarin' as the group of elite flyers landed. "Good to see you here, Dash." Soarin' said with a hopeful smile as he carefully set Spitfire's body down on the ground, Blaze and Misty Fly helping him out with the short task. Dash hugged Soarin' tightly, not letting go for a good long moment before asking, "Is... is Spitfire okay?" The stallion's face fell to a somber expression. "I don't know, she moved faintly when I saved her." Celestia looked over to one of her guards. "You, get Spitfire to the medical ward immediately." The unicorn guard saluted before picking up Spitfire's body in her magic, putting her on his back and galloping off into the palace. "Well, since you're here, mind telling me what's happened?" Rainbow asked her fellow Wonderbolt. "Yeah, about that. We almost lost Cloudsdale, over half of our team is gone, and... I would've been dead if it hadn't been for this one fighter that came out of nowhere." "What kind of fighter?" Pinkie Pie asked Soarin'. "I'm not sure, but after talking to the pilot of that ship, he told me something you need to know." The group looked to Soarin', their ears perked as to hear every word of the explanation. "Apparently, there's another force up there ca-" He stopped as he and his audience heard a scream, then another one after that. Looking out into the city, the group saw several small ships lowering down towards the edges of Canterlot. As Twilight squinted to get a better look at them, she could see some smaller details. The front of the ship was smooth and had large windows, at its sides were a pair of swept back wings. At the back of the ship were two bulky sections that emitted blue light, which shifted to orange as the ship descended slower. And lastly, there was a section on the side that seemed to be some kind of door, bearing a slightly darker gray color from the rest of the ship. Soarin' and the other Wonderbolts watched the ships intently, but the others were immediately concerned. "Should we get the guards out here?" Fluttershy asked worriedly. "No." Soarin' denied, receiving wide-eyed looks from the others. Looking at them, he tried to continue where he left off. "They called themselves the Resistance." The stallion then looked out to the ships, which were now very close to Canterlot. "...And I think those are their ships." As Soarin' said that, the group continued to stare at the ships landing near the city limits, until Celestia decided to make a move. "Everyone, follow me." Despite their concern for their own safety and the nature of these new ships, everyone followed the Princess of the Sun, staring cautiously at the arriving vessels as they made their way to the nearest transport. ........... After a few minutes of trotting, the group of ponies finally arrived at one of the ships, several strange creatures examining the area as they guarded their craft. As Twilight and her friends approached, one of the creatures noticed them and began to walk towards them. As he came close, Twilight was intrigued by the being's physical appearance, he had no fur, but instead grayish-green skin, and his eyes seemed similar to a changeling's in appearance. At the back of his head were two thin appendages that draped down past his neck, almost covering his back. Soarin' recognized two of the other guards to be similiar to Dylan, though they both had a brighter skin color and one of them had a fancy black hairstyle on his head, while the other seemed to be bald. As the six mares and Spike stopped in front of the creature, he spoke to them. "I do hope our arrival hasn't instilled panic among you all." "Sort of, unfortunately." Twilight said as she let out a nervous laugh, then clearing her throat before continuing. "If I might ask, who are you guys?" "A good question that I shall answer." The alien said before crouching down to see the princess face to face. "My name is Dakwa, I'm a member of the Resistance." Twilight's friends looked at the alien intently, listening to every word. "We are here to help evacuate the city before the Harvesters can destroy it." "Harvesters?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, they are a race of genocidal beings that ravage various worlds and steal their resources." The girls gasped as they heard what Dakwa was explaining, though Pinkie Pie raised a hoof before speaking. "Okay, so these 'Harvester' meanies wanna take our stuff and destroy our cities. So why didn't they send fighters to take us out over here?" "Yeah, they just attacked Cloudsdale recently, so why not here?" Rainbow added. "That's because they're sending squadrons of fighters to take out the smaller settlements. And as for that ship up there..." Dakwa said before standing up and pointing at the Harvester vessel above Canterlot. The girls and their friends looked to it as well, listening to their alien friend as he explained. "Do you see that dented section there?" Dakwa asked. "Yeah?" Twilight replied before the Resistance officer continued. "In less than two hours from now, that section will open up to reveal a directed-energy cannon. And when it fires..." The group then looked to Dakwa, who returned the gesture. "There won't be a city to come back to." Twilight and Spike turned and stared at the alien ship for a moment, letting the knowledge of Canterlot's fate sink in before turning back to him. "Well... let's get underway then." Looking to her friends, Twilight spoke to them as they all faced her. "Let's get everyone loaded up into the ships near the palace, then at the opposite end of the city, we'll all take that one." The five mares nodded in agreement as Applejack replied. "That's sounds like a plan." Celestia trotted over to Dakwa as she asked, "What about the other cities and kingdoms across Equestria?" "We've already sent transports for them too." Celestia smiled at the comforting news as she replied. "Excellent, I'll address the land of the new information, and then my sister and I shall assist in getting our subjects to safety." "Good idea." Dakwa said, and with that, everyone split up to begin the evacuation, Celestia and Luna using their magic to teleport themselves back to the palace as they prepared to alert Equestria of its certain doom... -Manehattan- 10:18 AM "...And as for all of you watching, we advise you find and board the nearest transport available. Head to the Resistance transports, find a train, whatever you do, DO NOT head to any of the endangered cities nearby, find refuge elsewhere. Good luck to all of you out there... and stay safe." Coco Pommel shut the television off with her remote as she took in the news, in less than two hours, Manehattan would be gone, and if she didn't get out of here, so would she. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and trotted over to her suitcase, opening it and packing any and every essential item she felt would be needed. After almost ten minutes worth, she put the last of her items into the suitcase, sealed it, and galloped for the door. After a tiring amount of steps, she opened the now unlocked roof door, to see a large, light grey transport to her left. As she stepped out onto the rooftop, one of the Resistance officers called out to her. "Good timing, climb aboard!" Coco did as instructed and trotted over to the large ship, stepping onboard it and sitting in the nearest seat available. Whatever these Resistance ships were, they felt large, spacious, and most of all, comfortable. As she relaxed in her seat, she looked to see other ponies onboard with her. Then, hearing a voice from her right, she turned her head to see more ponies coming up to the rooftop, getting ready to join her and the others on the transport. Then, her smile faded as she realized something. What about the ponies who didn't hear the news? Were they going to be okay? Curious, she looked out to the city to see several more transports on several buildings, at least 18, she counted. The knowledge that many ponies would be safe comforted Coco, the mare decided to lay her head back and try to drift off to sleep as the evacuation continued... -Las Pegasus- 10:31 AM Blueblood watched as the dance performance went on, one of them spinning around gracefully before lightly taking her partner's hoof. The spoiled colt of a politician sat back as he observed the two dancers in their seemingly effortless work. However, his privacy was disturbed by his two guards, who galloped over to him as he stood. "What is it?" Blueblood asked with annoyance in his voice. "The Princesses have ordered a mass evacuation due to the alien ship, your majesty. We need to leave immediately!" While the prince wanted to snap at them over the issue, he conceded, assuming that that ship up in the sky was bad news from the start. "Very well, take me to my personal airship." The guards complied, but they shared an anxious look with each other as they knew exactly where the ship was. The three stallions trotted towards the door, Blueblood opening it as the dancers watched him leave. As the door was shut, the two ponies trotted off the stage and out the door as well, not bothering to change their outfits as they left the theater... -The Crystal Empire- 10:41 AM The two rulers of the Crystal Empire stood at the edge of the balcony, touching their horns together as a bright pink glow emitted from them. Almost a second later, a bright beam of magic shot into the sky before flashing over the land. As the beam focused, a large shield began to cover the Empire, ensuring no threat could penetrate its defenses. Inside the royal palace, Trixie was covering her head in fear, Starlight, Sunburst and Thorax standing beside her as she began to panic. "Weregonnadieweregonnadieweregonnadieweregonnadieweregonnadie!" Tired of seeing her friend cowering before her time, Starlight picked Trixie up to her hooves and spoke to her. "We're not gonna die!" The magician's frozen face didn't seem to convince Starlight. "We don't even know if that shield will fail yet." "Just hold it together, Trixie." Sunburst said, then in an attempt to sympathize, "If it makes you feel better... I'm scared, too." Starlight nodded as she added, "We all are." The three ponies and changeling then stared out into the dark, pink-tinted kingdom, hoping that the Empire could withstand the attack... -The Changeling Kingdom- 11:24 AM Queen Chrysalis stood aboard one of the farther out transports with Pharynx at her side, both of them watching the many transports taking to the skies as they fled the kingdom. Initially, they were hesitant to leave, but after some convincing that they could be of great use in fighting the Harvesters, Chrysalis decided to go through with it. At this point, over half the hive was evacuated and now there were just a few more drones to clear out. Curious of how many transports their new allies could bring, the Queen of the Changelings turned to her human escort. "How many of these ships have you deployed, Mr. Morrison?" "Per city?" The young officer replied back. "About 64, each capable of carrying at least 70 people, or in your case, drones." Chrysalis nodded in understanding as she heard faint talking among two of the officers, one of them turning to walk over to Mr. Morrison. "We have about ten minutes, sir." Both Morrison and Chrysalis looked to him with concern before looking to each other. "My drones can fly if we can't get them all in time." Chrysalis informed her alien companion. "In that case, get yourself strapped in, we need to be ready for-" He stopped as he heard a loud shift over the Hive. As he and Chrysalis looked to the hive, they saw the dented section of the ship opening up, a bright bluish-green glow emitting from within. As the mandibles that once formed the dent in the ship folded outwards, Chrysalis heard Morrison speak up. "We need to go now." -Mount Aris- 11:28 AM The hippogriffs and Resistance officers watched in terrified awe as the mandibles of the ship's dent opened up, revealing a large structure inside and lighting the area in a bluish-green color. As Novo and her daughter, Skystar, watched the ship hover over their home, the ship began to take off, taking them and many other hippogriffs with them. Unfortunately for the more clueless of them, however, they would soon realize that this day would be Mount Aris' last... -Canterlot- 11:33 AM Twilight and her friends sat with the Wonderbolts and royal sisters as they watched the transports take off, fleeing away from the city as fast as they could. Almost all of Canterlot had been evacuated as far as they could tell, and it would only be mere seconds before Canterlot met it's end. As Twilight looked over to Spitfire, resting in a chair next to her Nurse, one of the officers walked over to the nearby wall panel right next to the entrance door. Tapping the small screen, the human watched as a timer appeared, starting at "00:07" before slowly counting down. As the timer reached "00:00" the screen changed from a cool blue to a blood red color, indicating something bad was about to happen. The human officer turned to the Harvester destroyer, as did the girls. The glowing cannon began to charge up energy, flickering particles inside causing several flashes before a beam hit the royal palace. Twilight and her friends let out screams of terror as they watched a pulse of energy strike the palace, which exploded upon impact. As the building was vaporized, a shockwave of fire sped towards the rest of the city, engulfing anything and everything that stood in it's way... -Manehattan- 11:34 AM Coco was frozen in her seat as she watched the charged beam strike the Manehattan State Building, the gold horse statue at it's top briefly reflecting the light from the beam before a large energy pulse shot down to the structure. The building exploded into a fiery blaze as her fellow passengers screamed and cried at the nightmarish sight before them. As the transport began to take off, the explosion had unleashed a wave of fire that began to swallow up every building it came into contact with. Coco forced her eyes away from the horror that was happening behind her, crying to herself as her ship fled the large city of Manehattan... -Las Pegasus- 11:34 AM Blueblood sat in his seat as his guards ordered the pilot to take off, the bright green glow right above them as it began to charge up. As his guards began trotting towards him, he looked up to see the charging cannon pointing right down at the building that his luxurious airship was on. His eyes went wide as the beam struck the building, only now realizing what a terrible mistake he made. "FULL POWER, PILOT! GET US OUT OF-" He tried to say, but the pulse from the alien ship struck the building his yacht was on before he could give his order. The blast was swift, tearing the building apart as debris shot up to the airship, ripping it apart as it was engulfed in the fiery explosion. Blueblood felt a brief surge of scolding hot pain as he was burned alive alongside his guards. ...And then there was nothing. -The Changeling Kingdom- 11:34 AM Chrysalis watched in fear as the ship's energy beam struck her hive, a pulse shooting down from the destroyer before striking her hive and reducing it to a brilliant inferno. Some of her drones behind her screamed in horror at the sight of their destroyed home, Chrysalis looking away mournfully as Mr. Morrison forced out a few words. "Sweet Jesus!" The Resistance officer said as he watched the firestorm engulf the ground below along with any unfortunate drones that were not fast enough to escape it. "Get us out of here!" Chrysalis cried out as the ship began to take off, the tall changeling collapsing to her haunches as she watched her home burn away before her... -Mount Aris- 11:34 AM Princess Skystar screamed into her mother's chest as they both watched the beam strike the home of the Hippogriffs, a pulse swiftly descending down to the top of the mountain before striking it. The mountain became a gargantuan inferno in seconds, the fiery blast covering the whole mountain from top to bottom. Queen Novo held onto her daughter as their ship flew away from the mountain, taking in the fact that everything that her people had made was gone... -The Crystal Empire- 11:34 AM The shield held as the alien ship's cannon powered up, Starlight and her friends watching the sight above them as the beam flickered for a moment longer. Then, the beam came down, and then the pulse. Trixie let out a bone-chilling scream as she held Starlight for dear life, Starlight, Sunburst, and Thorax shutting their eyes as they awaited their swift fate. ...But the blast didn't make it through. As the shield was hit by the blast, Starlight heard a agonizing scream from Cadence and Shining Armor, both of them falling to the ground as the shield disappeared. Starlight let out a loud gasp as she rushed over to the rulers of the Empire, neither of them responding to her attempts at reviving them. Looking up, Starlight spoke to the nearby guard, "Get a Doctor here, now!" The guard nodded without a word as he raced into the castle to find help. "Uh... Starlight?" Alerted by Thorax's concern, Starlight stood up to look out in the distance. What she saw stunned her. Near the entrance to the Crystal Empire was a strange ship, a deep blue glow emitting from behind it's engines. Standing near her friends, Starlight watched as the ship landed near the castle, the side doors opening as several bipedial creatures stepped out of it... -Canterlot- Twilight and her friends stood as they heard more screaming, but not from the passengers inside. "Hold on! There's still a few more ponies here!" The pilot yelled back. "Find them, quickly!" Twilight did so, looking all over of what was left of Canterlot, over half of the city was left standing, the part they were on creaking from the stress of the attack. After scanning the first time, she saw nothing, but upon looking at the closer pathways, she saw a small group of ponies, screaming at the last remaining transport to help them. Thinking fast, Twilight's horn lit up as the fleeing mares and stallions vanished in a flash of magic. Not a second later did they re-appear, this time inside the ship. With everyone inside, Twilight screamed, "PUNCH IT!" "Hold on!" The pilot cried back as he lifted the control sticks, the ship jerking to the left as it began to fly away from the burning wreck that was Canterlot. Everyone in the transport let out screams and cries of terror and pain as the ship sped away from the last surviving platform, narrowly avoiding the firestorm as the platform exploded, the debris hitting the now active shields of the transport as it shot far out into the sky. ...And then, Canterlot was no more.
05: RescueTwilight steadied herself as the shaking ceased, the rescued ponies behind her quieting down to a sob as they were taken away from the once magnificent city of Canterlot. The Princess of Friendship couldn't believe what she just saw. Yes, she knew that it would be destroyed, but the way it happened nearly traumatized her. She tried to move herself from her spot, but her shock prevented her from even lifting a hoof. It wasn't until the human that had checked the countdown timer walked over to her, crouching down to her before speaking. "Are you alright?" Twilight jerked her head to him, eyes wide before realizing what the officer was asking. Forcing a breath, Twilight replied. "I... I think so, yeah." The human shared her look of sorrow as he spoke once more. "I'm sorry we couldn't save it, but... the good news is we got everyone out in time." Twilight seemed to smile faintly as a fragment of her hope returned. "...Yes, at least we did that." Hearing another voice, the human officer stood up before ending the conversation. "If you'll excuse me." Twilight nodded as he returned to the back of the transport, her six friends standing up and trotting over to her as Rarity spoke up. "Sweet Celestia... They did it, those MONSTERS actually did it!" The fashionista said with tear-filled eyes, wrapping her forehooves around Fluttershy as she began sobbing. "It was... it was so quick, too." Applejack said mournfully, taking her hat off as she looked down at the floor as she took in what happened. Pinkie Pie started to tear up as well, finding difficulty in trying to speak. "And... a-and where are we gonna have the galas at? *sniff* I... I c-could use one right now!" The party pony held onto Applejack, crying as a few tears fell from the farmpony's eyes. Rainbow Dash didn't say anything, merely looking down at the floor as she tried to keep herself together. Twilight turned towards the window, trotting over to it as she tried to take one last look at her former home and birthplace. The city was completely enveloped in the fire, not a single sign of architecture remained within the burning ruins of what was once Equestria's most beloved city. Twilight remembered all the moments and places she had witnessed, her time at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, her time in the royal palace, the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor... Everything flew around her mind as she watched the city burn. Then she looked away, sobbing as she realized she would never be able to visit the city again, as it would soon become nothing but a giant, literal stain on the mountain it once rested on. As she mourned for Canterlot, the same human officer jogged two the cockpit, slipping in through the opening that led to where the pilot was at. Curious of what was going on in there, Twilight wiped her eyes before trotting over to the cockpit, the officer and the pilot talking to each other as she stood within the doorway. "What's the status of the other transports?" The officer asked the pilot as he replied. "From what their reports say, they got almost everyone out of some of the cities." The pilot then tapped a spot on the visible map on a section of the control panel, Twilight taking a peek at it as she listened. "Unfortunately, one transport from a city one of the passengers calls Manehattan reports some of the civilians taking flight. A few of them apparently weren't fast enough to flee from the firestorms." The officer looked down at the floor as he took in the news, then raising his gaze at the pilot before asking, "Anything else to report?" The pilot nodded as he answered him. "Yes, Our scouts just finished their patrol of the southern sector of the Equestrian continent, and it looks like they've found some sort of Harvester convoy." He pointed to a section of the map, his finger briefly hovering over the bottom of the continent before continuing. "A few hours ago, they saw several creatures fall through the clouds and into the ocean near the mountains before seeing one of the Harvester ships lowering down to them. Shortly after reaching the shore, the vessel landed and it's crew took the creatures aboard after a brief firefight." Celestia trotted over to Twilight, both of them being noticed as the two Resistance members turned to them. "Ah, do you need anything, your Highnesses?" Twilight trotted closer to the controls, examining the map as she took in these new details. Then, looking to the pilot, "You said they took them hostage?" The pilot nodded as the officer added, "Abduction, they probably want to study them in order to know more about the planet's inhabitants." Twilight's eyes went wide as she became worried again. "Have there been more reports like this?" The human pilot turned to the console again as he answered the purple alicorn. "I believe so, shortly after our scouts left the clouds, they could see some of the Harvester transports leaving the storm. If it's true, then I'd say they're looking for more creatures across the land." "And that's not all," The pilot said as he tapped the screen to show the various reports sent from the other transports. "Before we left Canterlot, we had gotten a call from a place called Mount Aris. According to their queen, they said that a scouting party had been sent into the mountains before the aliens arrived... And they haven't heard back from them since." Twilight stared at the map as she thought through the information she had been given, not only were the invaders destroying their homes and cities, but they were kidnapping creatures all across the planet. The mare almost cringed as she began to imagine hundreds of ponies being examined and dissected in the alien laboratories... Then, she thought of an idea. Looking to the pilot, Twilight asked, "Okay, I know this is going to sound crazy, and very risky... but can we divert course and head for that destroyer?" The two humans both raised an eyebrow as they heard her words, Celestia quickly sharing their expression as the pilot took a moment to think. After a few seconds, he seemed to light up. "...Yeah, let me see." Tapping a button on the controls, he spoke as he began to contact Command. "Noah 7 to Command, you got a few extra transports to spare?" "Affirmative, Noah 7. What's the issue?" A male voice on the other end replied before the pilot continued. "One of the inhabitants here wishes to attempt a rescue mission on the destroyer located near the southern end of the continent. Are we permitted to do so?" Depends, what do the city leaders think of this?" Command asked before Twilight and the two humans looked to Celestia, taking a second to think about what they were planning to do. After taking a glance at her eavesdropping sister, who gave an approving nod to her, Celestia gave her word. "We'll do it." "Then request is granted, we'll load the transports up and send them to your position. Expect rendezvous in approximately two hours." "Understood, Command, we'll contact Legacy Squadron to see if they can lend a hand." The pilot said as Command finished the discussion. "Good luck down there, Command out." With that, Twilight trotted back out to the passenger lounge, her friends looking at her worriedly as Rarity spoke to her. "A rescue mission? With all these passengers?" The mare said as she waved a hoof to the group of ponies near them. "Yeah, we're with ya all the way Twi, but how are we gonna protect them if we're flying right into danger?" Rainbow asked as the Resistance officer answered the girls. "Well put up a small shield in front of them, that way the blasts can't get to them when you all head out." The mares smiled in approval as the human jogged to the other end of the ship, Twilight trotting over to the pilot once more as she asked him one more question. "How long until we reach the ship?" Twilight said as the pilot looked to the console once more before turning to her. "We should be in visible range in about three hours." The Princess of Friendship nodded as she turned back to her friends, all of them looking to her in return as Applejack spoke. "Well, I guess we should gear up, then." The farmpony said as Rainbow Dash hovered behind her. "Yeah, like we're gonna need some weapons, right?" The rainbow-maned pegasus said before one of the Resistance officers walked over to her, carrying something in his hands before tossing it to her. "Speaking of that, you'll need this." The human said as Rainbow caught the device, getting a good look at her new weapon. It was a strange looking rifle that had a cylindrical section in the middle, as well as a trigger that could be pulled with one of her wing feathers. Rainbow grinned at the shiny weapon, oohing at it before commenting, "Oh, I'm already liking this bad boy." "Wait until you see that thing in action." The soldier said with a smirk as the pilot watched them for a moment, sharing the smirk before turning back to focus on flying the ship out to the desert far ahead... -Southern Equestria- 2:50 PM Twilight took a deep breath as she relished in the small window of sunlight, warming her fur as she relaxed in her seat. It took over an hour to get away from the city destroyer, but when they did, the passengers seemed to be calmed by the bright sun outside. Twilight looked to her friends, all of them looking to the window as well to enjoy the sun above. Several Resistance fighters under the name Legacy Squadron had joined Noah 7 shortly after everyone finished getting ready, and almost an hour ago about eight other transports joined the squadron as well. Now that their pieces were set, they just had to find the Harvester destroyer to start their little game. As an alarm sounded throughout the ship, Twilight realized that they were coming closer to the destroyer. Standing from her seat, Twilight trotted over to the cockpit, getting a good look at the large vessel within the clouds. From the looks of it, it seemed to be departing the clouds, heading towards the nearby settlement Noah 7 had passed. "Everyone locked and loaded?" The voice of Captain Hiller said through the radio. "Noah 7 here, shields at the ready." The pilot said as he watched the fighters of the Resistance form up in front of the transports. "Legacy 2 on standby." "Legacy 6, armed and ready, sir!" As each of the pilots gave their call sign, the transports closed in on the destroyer, the hangar doors opening as a green glow emitted from inside. "They're doing exactly what we want them to do." Hiller said as his fighters led the transports closer to the destroyer. "Here they come!" The voice of Legacy 2 said as Twilight saw several fighters heading towards Noah 7, the fighters of Legacy Squadron engaging them while the transports sped towards the destroyer. As Noah 7 closed in on the hangar, a green bolt of energy shot out from inside, missing the targeted transport nearby as it flew alongside Noah 7. "They've activated their artillery cannons, watch out!" As another turret shot another bolt at the transports, it struck one to the right of Noah 7, the shield flashing as the ship was nudged to it's right. "These ships can take some of them, but they won't hold forever once we're in there." The pilot of Noah 7 said to Twilight as she turned to her friends, Noah 7's entry into the destroyer being imminent. "Everyone ready?" The girls and royal sisters all nodded in agreement, Applejack holding onto her rigged, cylindrical gatling gun as Rarity spoke. "I usually don't wield such... barbaric devices," The fashionista said as she looked at her rifle held in her magic. "but if it is to save the lives of others, so be it." "You think these personal shields will work for us?" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed her forehoof to her back, a miniature shield generator mounted onto her. "They'll save ya from a good few shots, but don't get cocky with them." The officer said as he readied his weapon, Twilight's horn lighting up as a pink shield formed around her and her friends. As Noah 7 landed in the hangar, Twilight could see several fighters and other small craft sitting within, while the ceiling was completely covered with the former. Looking out to the floor of the hangar, she saw many Harvester soldiers nearby, all of them wielding some kind of blaster as they began shooting at the transports entering the ship. Glancing to her friends, she saw them look to her for the signal as she turned back towards the hangar bay. "Now!" At that, Twilight and her group galloped out into the Harvester hangar, several soldiers shooting at them as her friends returned the favor. Applejack took aim at a group of Harvesters before blasting them with her side-mounted gun, blue bolts piercing the aliens as they fell to the ground. Rarity fired her rifle at two incoming alien soldiers, both of them falling to the ground as another came at them. Looking around, Twilight spoke to her human advisor. "Where should we head?" The officer looked around the ship, trying to find the right path to where they needed to go. He had researched the specs and interior of the Harvester destroyers, and the brig would be somewhere on the other side of those doors. As the two looked for the right way, Rainbow Dash had struck down two more warriors before targeting a third, larger one. Firing her blaster, the bolts hit the shields of the incoming alien. "Great, now they've got personal shields too!" Rainbow growled as she kept firing, the alien's shields taking a few more shots before they finally failed, the alien following suite not a second after. After a moment of looking around, the advisor pointed to the left of the hangar. "There!" "Hold on, everyone." Twilight said as her horn glowed, her group flashing away from their position before re-appearing right next to the door. No more than a second after did the door open, another Harvester entering the hangar. Not wasting a second, Rainbow shot the monster to the ground, the creature screeching as it fell. The group then raced inside, the doors shutting behind them as they entered a rather tall hallway. As Twilight looked around, there were surprisingly no soldiers down this path, permitting a sigh of relief from everyone in the group. As they began walking down the hall, Twilight organized their strategy. "Okay, Applejack, cover our forward side. Rarity, get the back. Everyone else," The Princess of Friendship stopped as she looked in between the two other pathways, seeing no soldiers on either side before finishing. "...Keep your guard up." As everyone got into their positions, the advisor pointed forward. "The brig should be that way." -3:20 PM- Tempest's body ached as she began to wake up, slowly opening her eyes before squinting at the assaulting green light. Taking a breath to calm herself, the storm commander slowly adjusted her eyes to the light. As she tried to move, she saw that her hooves were held to the table she was on, wire-like restraints holding her hooves tightly. Trying to examine the room, she began by looking to her left, only to see something that would haunt her for the rest of her days. The mare let out a horrific scream as she saw the disembodied head of the Storm King, lifeless and unmoving inside it's rather large glass container. She stared at the disturbing sight for a good moment, burning its image into her mind before breaking away to see the other containers. They all contained various biological material, one had a strip of flesh from a creature she did not know of, another had a skull of another unknown creature. Her gazing was put to a halt as she heard a noise from the chair, which began slowly descending downwards as Tempest looked to her restraints. She tried to use her horn to free herself from the wires, but the effort was futile as she couldn't see any sparks coming from it. As the table came to a stop, Tempest's breathing escalated as she saw her captors, they looked similar to the ones she saw from the transport, but they had real eyes. Real, pupil-less eyes that were looking right at her. They also seemed smaller than the one that attacked her. Tempest screamed again, trying hopelessly to alert anyone of her location as the aliens began messing with a section of the table underneath her. Near the lab, Twilight and the others heard the screams, stopping as they heard a mare's voice cry out. "SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!" After looking around for a moment, Twilight's advisor pointed to a door on the right side of the hallway. "In there!" Tempest screamed and thrashed frantically, giving all her effort to get away from the aliens as a mechanical arm lifted into the air right above her, a sharp needle boasting off of the circular section of the arm. One of the aliens held the mare's head as she grunted, two smaller sections on the mechanical arm folding out before her right eye was forced open by an anomalous force. As the needle slowly descended towards Tempest's open eye, the door to the hallway exploded, the aliens halting their work as they tried to see what caused the blast. The creatures were too slow in their thinking, however, as a flurry of blue bolts of energy came into the room, taking out the two aliens above her as a taller one reminiscent of her attacker tried to reach a nearby control panel. Just as it tried to tap a button on it, another blue bolt shot into the room and hit the console, which exploded in a fiery mess. As the alien turned towards the attackers, another two shots came at it, striking it down in seconds. As Tempest moved her head up to see her saviors, Twilight and her friends trotted into the room, the human advisor tapping a button on the table's controls before the restraints loosened, the mare rubbing her hooves as they were relieved of the pressure. As she stood herself onto the floor, Tempest said through heavy breathing, "Thank you." "Are you alright?" Twilight asked the almost dissected pony, removing the small device on her horn with harmless ease. "I... I think so." Tempest looked up to the ceiling once more, seeing all of the strange biological material above her before introducing herself. "My name is Tempest Shadow, my crew and I were taken prisoner by... those things." The mare said shakily as she looked to the creature near the console, raising an eyebrow as she saw it move slightly. "That bastard's still alive!" The advisor said with wide eyes as Tempest, fueled by anger over the death of her leader, trotted over to the creature. As the creature looked up to her, she growled, "Now you're gonna tell me where my crewmates are, or your day is going to get even uglier." Her horn began to spark with magic at that last word. "Tempest, I don't think that's a good idea!" The advisor said, Rainbow Dash looking to the mare in question as she interrogated the monster. "Tell me!" Tempest demanded as the monster moaned, Tempest gasping as her mind was assaulted with images of Grubber and the other storm guards. As Tempest began to scream from the mental onslaught, Rainbow lifted her rifle. "Screw this!" Taking aim, she shot the alien in the head, ending it's pathetic life and relieving Tempest of the mental attack. As Tempest tried to breathe, Twilight helped her stabilize her footing. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked the shaken up mare. Tempest was silent for a moment, looking at the door before she finally spoke. "...We need to go. Now." "But what about the prisoners?" Pinkie Pie asked the mare. "I know where they are, follow me." Without waiting, Tempest made for the door. "Wait! Take this." Twilight said before removing her personal shield device and placing it onto Tempest's back, tapping a button as it activated. "What is it?" Tempest asked the princess. "It's a shield, it'll protect you from the Harvester's weapons." Twilight responded, Tempest slightly raising an eyebrow as she now knew the name of the alien threat. "Thanks, but what about you?" The former storm warrior asked her new ally. "I already got my own." As she said that, Twilight's horn glowed before a pink bubble formed briefly around her, Tempest nodding in acknowledgement as the group retained formation before exiting the laboratory. -Destroyer Brig- 3:32 PM Grubber sat in boredom as he awaited whatever fate awaited him inside the ship, hoping that his friend Tempest was okay. He and the other surviving storm guards were sitting in silence, having nothing to do but listen to the nearby hippogriff captives that were debating their fate. "What are we going to do? What will happen to Hippogriffia?" One of the male hippogriff warriors asked his allies. "I don't know, but if we get the chance, we'll take the fight to them." Sky Beak said to his squad as he stood next to them. "And even if we fail, surely our home will survive." Their conversation was put to an immediate stop as the door to the hallway opened, several ponies and a single strange creature trotting inside as they gasped in joyous surprise. "We're saved!" The third hippogriff cried out as the unknown creature began tapping on the control panel at the end of the room, opening all of the cells as he and his fellow warriors stepped out of their cell. Grubber's face lit up as he saw his unicorn friend. "Tempest!" Without asking, he embraced her hooves, hugging the mare tightly as she permitted a smile at the little hedgehog. "I'm fine, Grubber, but..." Looking to the other storm guards, Tempest looked at them mournfully as she gave the explanation. "The Storm King is dead, and since we have no one else to rely on, you take your orders from me and Twilight's group. Understood?" The large warriors saluted without hesitation, Grubber releasing his friend from the hug as the hippogriffs came towards Twilight. "Thanks for the prison break, I'm Sky Beak, leader of this squad of-" He paused for a moment as he remembered one missing guard. "...formerly, four guards of Hippogriffia." "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, my friends and I came after finding out about you all." The purple alicorn replied as they heard a gasp from Applejack, who fired her weapon at the incoming alien near the brig's entrance. As the creature fell to the ground, Twilight continued. "And as much as I'd like to do the pleasantries, Sky Beak, we're short on time here." The hippogriff nodded in agreement. "Right, we should get out of this place." "'Off' is more like it." Rainbow Dash said as the former prisoners raised an eyebrow, Tempest trotting over to them as she explained. "We're on a ship run by a alien force called the Harvesters, they tried to dissect me before Twilight and the others arrived to save me." Grubber's eyes went wide with fear upon hearing her words. "And we're being pursued at the moment!" Rarity warned her friends as she shot at another Harvester, which fell to the ground as Twilight spoke up. "Everyone, gather up, we're getting out of here!" Twilight's friends did so as the princess deployed her magic shield, protecting her and the others inside as they began to exit the room... -Destroyer Hangar- 3:50 PM The large door to the hangar bay opened as Twilight and her group returned, taking a good look at the area as they checked for obstacles. The hangar had more warriors protecting it, most of them engaging Noah 7. Twilight also saw that one of the transports had been destroyed, flames bursting from the remains. Unsure of what to do, Twilight spoke up. "There's so many of them." Sky beak looked at the many alien fighters deployed at the floor of the hangar, some of them taking off into the air outside the ship. Switching his gaze, he saw several large turrets at the edge of the hangar, most of them focusing on whatever was attacking from the outside. "We're gonna need a distraction." Rainbow said as she held her rifle in her wings. "I'll help with that." Sky Beak said as the group looked to him in confusion. "I'll use one of the turrets to give those aliens something to shoot at, the rest of you can head to the transports." "But we came to get you out!" Pinkie said, worried about the hippogriff warrior's safety. "Well, we're not gonna get out without someone holding them off." Sky Beak defended, the group looking to him defeated as the hippogriff looked to Twilight. "Princess... tell my family, that I love them." Twilight hesitated as she tried to deny what was about to happen, but sighed as she gave in. "I will, good luck." As the group looked out to the hangar again, Tempest pointed towards a rather large group of Harvesters near Noah 7. "There, can you teleport me at that area?" Twilight smirked as she had a better idea. Her horn glowing, the group blinked away from the door and teleported right behind the Harvester squad, catching them by surprise. Without wasting a second, Tempest's horn sparked before she shot out electrical magic, electrocuting the alien soldiers as they fell to the ground. As Twilight reignited her shield, the group ran towards Noah 7 as Rainbow looked to the nearby alien fighter, a plan hatching in her mind. Looking to Applejack, Rainbow said, "Cover me!" before galloping towards the fighter, the others watching in shock. "Rainbow!" Applejack cried out, but her warning was not heard as Rainbow raced toward the fighter, dodging many of the incoming shots before jumping and rolling near a Harvester pilot, who was about to hop into the ship. Shooting the creature in the head, Rainbow looked to a nearby Resistance soldier before calling out. "CATCH!" The soldier she was looking at watched as she threw the rifle in the air, the soldier catching it as Rainbow flew into the fighter's cockpit. Twilight and the others galloped into the transport, Sky Beak breaking off as he flew to one of the turrets. The driver of the turret had no time to react as he was picked up and flung out of the seat, Sky Beak sitting in it as he began to make use of the enemy's weapons. Once inside, Twilight noticed Rainbow was still not with them. "Where's Rainbow Dash?!" The princess cried out as the mare in question looked at the controls, taking a wild guess before pressing one of the buttons on the console. Upon doing so, the ship began to hover, the cockpit window closing as Rainbow gripped the controls with her forehooves and wings. The mare gave a mischievous grin as she began to lift the fighter into the air, turning it around towards one of the turrets. Pressing the trigger, the fighter's cannons shot out green energy bolts before they struck the turret, blowing it to fiery pieces. "What in Equestria is that mare doin'?!" Applejack said in surprise, Rarity agreeing with her. "That mare's insane!" The fashionista said as she saw a few of the Resistance soldiers cheering, watching as Rainbow used the fighter to attack the ground Harvesters. "Whatever she's doing, it's helping us out!" Luna said as she held a blue magic shield in front of the passengers, who looked on in shock as well as Twilight spoke to the pilot of Noah 7. "Get us in the air!" The pilot nodded as he tapped a button for the radio. "All ships, clear the area, we've got them! I repeat, we've got them!" The pilot then tapped another button as the side door of the ship closed up, the ship taking to the air as Rainbow saw them preparing to leave. Rainbow let out an annoyed sigh as she flew her ship next to the transport, both of them exiting the hangar as Sky Beak blasted one of the nearby turrets. The hippogriff let out a laugh as he continued attacking the aliens, only to be stopped by another fighter, which aimed it's guns straight at his turret. "Aww, shoot." Was the last thing he said as the fighter fired, blowing the turret into a fiery pile of scrap. As the Noah 7 and Rainbow's fighter began taking to the skies, Twilight trotted into the cockpit, listening to the pilot's conversation with Captain Hiller. "We've got the prisoners, and from the looks of it, the other transports are already packing up." "Good, because we're about to blow this thing to hell!" As Hiller replied, Twilight trotted back into the lobby, watching the other transports fly away from the hangar before noticing a familiar green glow underneath the ship. Trotting back into the cockpit, she looked to the pilot as he spoke to her. "They've just opened up their cannon, from what Hiller told me, they're trying to rush the countdown they missed out on." "Probably because of that storm." Twilight said as the ship flew upward, heading up into space as Legacy Squadron finished their job. As Hiller closed in on the cannon, he tapped a button on his controls as he spoke. "That missile's not gonna get through if we don't take out that shield!" Underneath his fighter, a section near the landing gear opened up, revealing a sharp cannon with a dark blue glow emitting from it. "Firing EMP pulse!" As he tapped the button again, a blue beam shot out from Hiller's fighter, striking the cannon as a the shield flickered out. "Legacy 1, Fox 4!" Dylan said as a missile shot out from his ship, speeding towards the cannon as the human pilot watched intently. As the missile struck the cannon, it exploded, Dylan turning his ship as he fled away from the area. "Target has been hit, break off, everyone. We're going home!" With that, Hiller and his fellow pilots formed up and took to the skies after the transports, fire spreading throughout the alien destroyer before the hangar burst into flames. As the last troop transport shot out of the hangar, the alien ship began to descend, it's crash imminent as the Resistance forces fled the battlefield. On the ground, the town's citizens watched as the ship fell to them, many retreating into their homes as the ship impacted with the ground. As the dusty shockwave hit them, the townscreatures were flung off their feet and into the air, a few buildings also collapsed as the wind soon settled. As the creatures of the junk-filled town looked to the burning alien ship, some of them cheered as they saw new scrap to scavenge. As Rainbow took one last look to the surface, she smiled at the sight of the town still standing before looking back forward, focusing on escorting the transports to the Resistance fleet.
06: Unity-Resistance Fleet- 4:06 PM Twilight sat in her seat next to her friends as the light from the windows faded away, the stars being the only natural source of light as the Noah 7 transport exited the atmosphere. As the change in lighting occurred, some of the rescued ponies from Canterlot looked up in curiosity as they wondered where their sunlight went. One filly even began to tear up before her older brother comforted her, the small pony hugging the colt in fear as the ship flew higher into space. Standing up, Twilight trotted over to the cockpit, her friends doing the same as they went to see what the Resistance starship looked like. On the radio, Rainbow Dash spoke up as she and Noah 7 came closer to the ship. "Wow... You guys all seeing this?" Rainbow said to her friends, looking down to her radio for a moment as she didn't expect a reply. "Yeah... she's an interestin' one." Applejack replied to her friend in the captured attacker as the two ships came closer to the Resistance command ship. The vessel looked like one of the city destroyers from the first attack, but upon closer examination, Twilight could see some slight differences on it. The hanger lights were a bluish-white color, and around the bulky ring section were several turrets, all of them sharing a blue glow as they faced another object, one that Twilight recognized. The Harvester mothership was hovering near the moon, as still as a statue as a few fighters engaged the defending ships around the Resistance destroyer. Around the flagship were several other starships, most of them bearing a different design as Twilight examined them. One seemed to be a dagger shape, a ring around the pointy sides of the vessel, as well as boasting a set of four large mandibles around the ring. Another ship bore green, seemingly translucent armor, an odd purple glow emitting from the back of the vessel. A third ship had an organic look to it, it had several holes around it's... breathing armor, and Twilight could see several small objects flying in and out from various holes, most likely fighters. The fourth ship was a puzzling one, what was supposed to be one ship was made out of several hexagonal pods, some of them breaking off to assist the defending fighters against the Harvester mothership. "They call her the Whitmore," Noah 7's pilot began. "After the War of 2016, we managed to reactivate the last intact destroyer that sat in Umbutu, an area on the African continent on planet Earth. After some help from our alien allies, we gave the ship some additional gear and equipment to help her serve our cause." Twilight stared at the vessel as she took in the information, her friends giving impressed looks as the pilot tapped a button on the controls, the radio activating as the pilot spoke. "Command, this is Noah 7, our mission was a success and we are requesting permission to land." As the transport came closer to the hangar, the officer on the other replied. "Permission granted, Noah 7. Welcome home." The radio went silent as the Noah 7 passed through the bluish white force field, the other side being a massive hangar reminiscent of the destroyer back at the desert. Unlike that one, however, the area was crowded with ponies, transports, and several Resistance fighters, some of them having taken damage as Twilight's transport began to descend to the floor of the hangar. As the ship's landing gear touched the ground, the side doors opened as the passengers stepped out. Twilight heard a few of the ponies onboard the Whitmore cry out over the alien ship, but became quiet as they saw who was flying the fighter. As Rainbow Dash's fighter lowered to the floor, she scanned the area, trying to find Scootaloo or any other ponies she knew. As she nearly finished looking, she saw two ponies, her parents, Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles, both of them looking anxiously at her ship as it touched the ground. Twilight searched the area as well, spotting no one at first until she heard a familiar voice. "Twilight, dearie!" Turning to her right, her parents, Twilight Velvet and Night Light galloped over to her, Twilight growing a thankful grin as she did the same, the three ponies holding each other tightly in an embrace. Rainbow followed suite as she flew to her parents. "Mom! Dad!" She called out, the couple crying out joyfully as their daughter hugged them tightly, not letting go for a good long minute until Dash spoke up. "I wasn't sure if you two made it after that attack!" "We feared the same, sweetie!" Windy whimpered to her daughter as Bow Hothoof put a hoof to Rainbow's shoulder before adding his own comment. "We're glad you and your friends made it, honey!" As the family stood together, Rainbow looked to Twilight, watching her interact with her own family. "They've destroyed our home, Twilight!" Twilight Velvet cried into her daughter's chest, Night Light wiping his eyes as he spoke to his daughter. "What happened to Shining Armor?" Twilight's eyes widened as she remembered the Crystal Empire. Uncertain about their fate, Twilight simply said, "I don't know, they haven't sent another letter yet." Rarity looked around the area as she stepped out of the transport, not spotting her sister or any other familiar faces before one voice called out. "Rarity!" The fashionista's face became one of thankful glee upon seeing her friend from Manehattan. "Coco!" The two mares raced towards each other before holding each other in a tight embrace, Coco tearing up as she spoke to Rarity. "They destroyed Manehattan, Rarity!" "And Canterlot!" The elegant mare replied as the two released themselves from the hug, Coco wiping her eyes as the two looked to Twilight and Rainbow's families. "Come with me, we've got a lot to talk about." As Rainbow's family and the others joined the Twilight, a human walked towards them all. As Twilight looked to him, she examined his appearance. He had a set of fuzzy brown hair, blue eyes, and a faint beard on his face. "Good to see you all here," The officer said, looking down to Twilight as he continued. "I'm Captain Jake Morrison, we've got plenty of room for your people." Twilight nodded to Jake as she introduced herself. "I'm Princess Twilight, these are my friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash." The princess pointed a hoof to each of her friends respectively, Rainbow's parents giving proud smiles as Twilight introduced their daughter. "Pleasure to meet you." Jake said with a smile on his face as he looked a Rainbow for a moment, then to the alien fighter she flew. "You managed to snag one of those things from them?" The human asked the pegasus with a curious smirk on his face. "You bet, and I think I'm gonna keep her, she's a fun one to fly." Rainbow and Jake shared a laugh as the latter replied. "Skilled and daring, that's good, we need more like you." Dash smiled at those words, Applejack raising a hoof to ask a question. "There's somethin' I wanna ask ya about." Jake nodded in approval as the farmpony asked the officer, "What happened to Ponyville?" Rarity, Fluttershy and the others' eyes went wide as they remembered what Dakwa had said, Jake motioning for them to follow him as he replied. "You mean those smaller populations?" The girls nodded as they stopped at a nearby console, Celestia and Luna trotting out of the ship as Jake tapped the console's screen. After a moment, a section on the top of the console opened up as it shined a holographic image in front of them. What the group saw horrified them, the image was of Ponyville... or what was left of it. Town Hall was nothing but a pile of burning rubble, same with the houses, many of them still on fire and having collapsed to the ground. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stood frozen as they took in the picture. Ponyville was destroyed, everyone either dead or having left via train or flight in the case of a pegasus. Fluttershy began to cry as Applejack's legs quivered, the mare almost falling to her knees had it not been for Soarin, who had trotted over from the Noah 7 as they walked with Jake. "...Sc-... Scootaloo." Rainbow whispered under her breath, tears filling her eyes as she remembered the little filly who had looked up to her ever since she started living in Ponyville. Jake looked to them mournfully. "..I'm sorry, we couldn't get the-" He was cut off as several troops began crying out at something, the officer and the group of ponies turning to see a strange creature, which was holding it's hand and claw up as it tried to broker peace with the soldiers. "At ease, everyone!" Celestia called out to the Resistance warriors, all of them standing back and she, Luna and Twilight's group trotted over to the familiar draconequus. "Discord!" Fluttershy called out to him, the tall being smiling down at her as he replied back. "Fluttershy, it's good to see you're alright! I was so worried about you all!" Though there was a hint of sarcasm, as if he knew they were fine, his expression was warming. Jake walked over to the group, pointing a finger at the draconequus before asking, "Who's your friend here?" "And why is there a huge curtain behind you?" Rainbow asked as the group all saw the gray curtain that was hovering anomalously behind Discord. "Ah yes, about that. You see, during this whole Harvester invasion, I was getting something for you all," Discord cleared his throat as he corrected himself. "Scratch that, make that a lot of things." At those words, Discord pulled down the curtain, the surprise behind it bringing a tearful, yet thankful smile from Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. Behind Discord were loads of ponies and other various creatures, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, the Apple Family, and even Fluttershy's animals. "SIS!" Apple Bloom cried out excitedly, Applejack racing towards her, Big Mac, and Granny Smith before hugging her siblings tightly, Rarity and Rainbow doing the same as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo raced to them. The mares and fillies cried and cheered together, happy to know that their family was safe. "Angel!" Fluttershy called out to her pet bunny, who jumped up excitedly as his owner hugged him with tear-filled eyes. The other animals gathered around them both, comforting the shy pegasus as she cried joyfully. Around the group, ponies and Resistance officers clapped and cheered, celebrating the massive amount of life saved. Soarin's eyes perked up as he saw a familiar face amongst the crowd. "F-Fleetfoot?!" The bruised and bandaged pegasus gave a smirk as her teammate wrapped his hooves around her, but stopping as he heard a grunt from Fleetfoot. Giving a look of worry as the Wonderbolt answered his concern. "I'm down... but not out." As she said that, she pointed a hoof at one of her wings, which was bandaged up. It took a moment, but Soarin' looked to his friend in dismay as it hit him. Fleetfoot's wings were broken, and from the looks of it, probably irreparably. He looked down for a moment as he took in the fact that Fleetfoot would never fly again, but his smile returned as he was glad that she was still alive. Twilight wiped her eyes as she smiled at the uplifting sight, her family and Rainbow's doing the same as they enjoyed this joyous moment in this time of terror... -Whitmore Medical Bay- 8:15 PM Rainbow Dash took a deep breath to keep her composure as she, Soarin', and Scootaloo trotted through the doors of the medical center, the surviving Wonderbolts and an older mare sitting near Spitfire. The mare was resting on her bed, the highly advanced monitoring equipment beeping as to keep track of her heartbeat. Near Spitfire's bed, a human doctor walked towards the three pegasi, a somber expression on his face as Soarin' spoke to him. "What's her status, Doc?" Looking to the incapacitated Wonderbolt behind him, the man spoke. "We've tried everything, Sir... but due to her injuries and the delay in medical assistance in your mission, her wounds have begun to affect her to a fatal degree." The three ponies' eyes were wide at the news. "..There's nothing I can do." Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped as she looked to Spitfire, who slowly opened her eyes as the other Wonderbolts attentively looked to her. "..I'll leave you to say your goodbyes." The doctor said as he made his way out of Spitfire's room, Rainbow's parents trotting inside as the three ponies sat near the dying mare. Breathing lightly, Spitfire spoke to her fellow flyers and mother. "...I'm glad you all are okay... I heard we lost a few of our flyers back there." The Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash all looked to the yellow mare, who cringed slightly as her pain began to take hold. "We wouldn't have wasted a second for you." Rainbow Dash said to her leader, her building emotions beginning to affect her voice as she braced for the coming moment. "And there's still more ponies we've saved." High Winds said to Spitfire, the mare holding her smile as she replied to her teammate's comment. "And a lot more down there waiting for help, too." The captain grunted again as she felt another surge of pain in her back, her body feeling numb as she looked to Rainbow. "...Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow replied through teary eyes as she listened. "Yeah, Ma'am?" "As my final act as Wonderbolt Captain... I'm placing you in charge of the Wonderbolts." The mare in question let out a silent gasp as she took in this final order, the other Wonderbolts and her parents looking to her as Spitfire continued. "You're our best flyer, and... you know what it means to be a Wonderbolt better than any of us... And right now, our people need you to help them." Feeling another surge of pain in her back, Spitfire said her last words. "Please... don't fail them." Rainbow's tears fell freely down her cheeks as she replied. "..I won't..." Then, raising a wing to salute the captain one last time, she finished. "I won't." Spitfire smiled at her friend one last time, confident in the new Captain of the Wonderbolts before she shut her eyes, her monitor beeping a few more times before it beeped consistently, indicating Spitfire's passing. As the monitor droned on within the room, Rainbow hugged Soarin' tightly, her emotions getting the best of her as she cried. Scootaloo joined in too, crying with her as the rainbow maned pegasus' parents soon joined in their mourning of the fallen captain... -...The Next Day...- 7:02 AM Twilight yawned as she woke up from her bed, wiping her eyes as she looked over to Spike. "Spike?" The little dragon followed Twilight's actions as he woke up as well, the much needed rest proving to be helpful as Twilight began to look around the room. Standing on her hooves, she trotted over to check the nearby wall panel, the blue screen displaying the date in what Twilight heard was Earth's time. "JULY 4, 2036" "What time is it?" Spike asked his friend as he opened up the complimentary fridge within the room, trying to find something to eat as Twilight answered. "It's about seven in the morning." Twilight made her way to the fridge as Spike picked out an apple from the fridge, Twilight also picking up one as she closed it. As Spike took a bite out of the apple, he looked up to his friend. "Twilight?" "Yeah, Spike?" Twilight replied as the young dragon spoke to her. "Do you think we'll be able to save Equestria? I mean, those ships destroyed our home, Twilight, and from the looks of it, they've taken Ponyville from us." Twilight shared the drained expression Spike had, but then put a hoof on his back as she answered him."I'm sure we'll find away, with these Resistance guys, they should be able to help us." Spike smiled at his friend's comforting words as the two bit into their apples, savoring every chew before swallowing them. As they finished, an chime sounded within the room, a male voice speaking up. Attention, briefing will begin in five minutes, all personnel and guests to the lobby." With that, Twilight motioned for Spike to hop on as he did so, the two then exiting the room through the door as they ran into three hippogriffs. One had a light magenta coat and light blue hair, the second one next to her had a white coat with a faint green tint, and cyan hair. The last one was the tallest one, bearing a yellow coat and purple hair. All of them smiled at her as the tall one spoke to her. "Hello, you're Princess Twilight, right? From the rescue mission?" "The same." Twilight answered the Hippogriff mother continued. "My name is Ocean Flow, these are my children, Silverstream and Terramar." As Ocean Flow was introducing her offspring, Silverstream raised a claw as she asked the Princess of Friendship, "We've been looking for our dad, Sky Beak. We haven't seen him since he left for that patrol mission." Twilight's face became one of apologetic sorrow upon hearing the late hippogriff's name, the family looking worried as she answered them. "I... I'm sorry, but when we were evacuating the prisoners, he decided to stay behind to cover us..." The young hippogriffs grew teary-eyed hearing the news, Terramar hugging her sobbing sister as Twilight finished. "...I'm so sorry." "It's alright," Terramar replied, his sister wiping her eyes before looking to her. "It's not your fault." Twilight shared the sorrowful expressions with the family, Spike looking past her to see a familiar, yet not so welcome face. "Uh, Twilight?" The dragon said as the mare in question looked to where Spike was looking at, sharing the shock Spike had as they watched Queen Chrysalis come closer to them. As she started to pass the group, the changeling queen stopped as she recognized the pony and dragon from Canterlot. "Well, if it isn't the savior of Canterlot herself." "Yeah..." Twilight said to Chrysalis as the two looked down at each other, the latter breaking the brief-yet intense silence as the hippogriffs watched the two talk. "I must say, it is a rare occasion that I don't find your prescence... annoying." Chrysalis said calmly as Twilight replied. "Yeah, what brings you here?" It took Twilight some effort to hold back her rude tone, but she did. "Like many of your cities, those Harvesters destroyed our hive." Chrysalis replied as Ocean Flow added her bit to the altercation. "And Mount Aris." The two rivals looked to the hippogriff for a moment before Chrysalis replied. "Yes, that place as well." Looking back to Twilight, she continued. "And seeing as we're all in danger here, Princess, I believe it would be wise to not fight about our pasts. We wouldn't want to be rude guests here, now would we?" Twilight took a breath before looking back to Chrysalis, agreeing with the queen for what must've been the first time as she replied. "Yes, you're right." She then looked down to the hallway, several other creatures walking down it before finishing. "And frankly, we can't afford to at this point." With that, the group began trotting along with the other various creatures from Equestria, all of them reaching a before Twilight and her companions stepped through. The walk was long, but after a good four minutes of hallways they finally reached the door, Twilight and Spike passing through it as it opened. Upon stepping into the lobby, she saw a large audience of ponies, changelings, dragons, and countless others, among them were her friends, standing with several other familiar friends in the audience. As Rainbow Dash took a look back, she saw Twilight and her friends entering the room, she waved at them before Twilight saw them, returning the gesture before she continued scanning the room. At the other end of the room was a large window, giving a full view of Equus as it slowly rotated around on it's invisible axis. Underneath it was a stage, several Resistance officers standing at the edge as they awaited the start of the briefing. At the center of the stage was a pole, holding a small microphone within it's handle. Above the stage were two large monitors, each depicting an image of a various location in Equestria. One was of Saddle Arabia, one of the delegates standing in the middle of the image, another of what looked like the inside of the Crystal Palace, Twilight recognizing the royal guard, Flash Sentry, representing the Empire. The sight made Twilight's hope fade slightly, where were Cadance and Shining Armor? As Twilight and Chrysalis split up to go to their respective places, Spike cried out as she saw another familiar friend. "Ember!" The tall, blue dragoness turned as she heard her friend call out to her, smiling as she saw the small dragon hop to the floor and run to her. "Spike! You made it!" As Twilight trotted over to the two dragons with Ocean Flow's family in tow, Spike spoke to Ember. "What happened down there?" "Well, as I've figured out, one of those alien ships arrived and attacked the Dragon Lands with their cannon underneath, then they sent fighters to try and finish us off!" Ember then looked to the other side of the room, smiling at the sight of the Resistance officers nearby. "Thankfully, they helped us get out of there before things got real bad." Twilight and Spike smiled at the news, the former looking past Ember to see other dragons next to her, Garble and his friends, as well as another orange dragon with purple spines that she didn't recognize. Looking around once more, Twilight saw Princesses Celestia and Luna standing near the other race leaders, recognizing Prince Rutherford of the Yaks, as well as two more hippogriffs she didn't know the names of. The royal sisters looked to see her too, both waving to her as Twilight looked to Ember and Spike before speaking. "I hate to leave you two, but I think I'm needed somewhere." The two dragons nodded to her as she took flight, flying over the audience before landing near the princesses. "You're finally here, Twilight. Good, the proceedings are about to commence." As Twilight got into position with the other princesses, another chime sounded, Celestia and Luna trotting up the steps to the stage near them as Twilight followed them. As they came onto the stage, Captains Hiller, Morrison, a white, levitating sphere and another Resistance human met them from the right. As they got stopped in front of the onlooking crowd, Dylan grabbed the microphone from it's stand before speaking into it. "Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending this meeting. My name is Captain Hiller of Legacy Squadron." The human's voice sounded throughout the room thanks to the speakers built into the walls of the room. "As many of you are aware, an alien force has attacked your world, several cities having been destroyed by the large vessels sent from the mothership nearby. Many of you are concerned as to who and what they are, and that is what we are here to explain." Motioning to the human newcomer, he spoke into the mic once more before handing it to him. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Head Advisor and former satellite technician, Mr. David Levinson." Several members of the audience clapped as David took hold of the microphone before continuing the briefing. "Thank you, Captain Hiller. Now, about this invasion, we call those aliens the Harvesters, and they've plagued many other worlds before yours, one such case was our homeworld of Earth forty years ago. Now, I know it's a bit rough to put a history lesson into here, but I'll try to be short with it." As he said that, David pulled out a remote before pressing a button on it. Shortly after, blue lights emitted from the edges of the window before the image of Equus shifted to show an image of a large, white building, above it was one of the destroyers, firing a beam down to it as David explained. "In July of 1996, one of their motherships arrived in orbit and sent several city destroyers to the surface of Earth. Because I was able to figure out that they were using our satellites to coordinate their attack, we attempted an evacuation. Unfortunately, the call came too late and the destroyers reduced over a hundred of our major cities to rubble. At least three billion lives were lost in the span of two days." The crowd gasped in shock as Twilight watched an image of another large building, similar to the Manehattan State Building, exploding in an enormous fiery blast as the destroyer's energy pulse struck it. "At first, we thought we were done for, but on July 4, thanks to a virus that I gave one of the Harvester fighters, we pushed them back. This day, or Independence Day as we usually called it, would be a day the whole world would remember. The day when we resisted and won against the invading alien force." The crowd watched in astonishment as the image shifted again to show the burning wreckage of a city destroyer, several humans in the footage cheering as the vessel burned to the ground. "Twenty years later, in 2016, they returned to Earth, this time bringing a larger ship carrying their queen." The image changed to show a gargantuan Harvester ship, many audience members watching in horror as the ship covered almost two continents on Earth. "During the conflict, we had help from another alien species. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to... the Sphere." The crowd of creatures looked at the robotic alien in awe as it began to speak into David's microphone. Thank you, Mr. Levinson. Like so many other species, my kind was harassed by the Harvesters. In fact, I am the last of my people, carrying all of our history and information about us." Some of the crowd gasped in shock as they took in the Sphere's news. "The humans attacked my vessel at first, believing me to be one of the Harvester vessels, but after witnessing them fight the invaders, and after defeating the queen, I personally elected them to be the leaders of the Resistance." Many in the crowd looked on in awe as the screen shifted once more to show the large Harvester queen falling to the ground, the sphere released from it's large claws shortly after. As the Sphere motioned for David to continue speaking, the image shifted back to the planet of Equus. "Ever since, we've gathered up several other alien races and fought the Harvesters for the past twenty years... and as of right now, we want to help you with fighting them. At the moment, we've manage to save a few settlements, one of them being a city many call the Crystal Empire." The Saddle Arabian mare spoke up, I am Amira, I speak for the ponies of Saddle Arabia. We've been holding our ground, but they have slowly begun to take our land." "What about the Crystal Empire?" Luna asked as Flash spoke, the stallion's face full of sorrow as his voice sounded through the speakers. "We were saved, your Highness but... at a cost." The crowd gasped as Twilight listened fearfully to Flash explained the situation. "Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance have been in the medical ward since the first attack... and in critical condition." One pony near the front of the crowd raised a hoof to speak up, a pleading look on his face as he asked, "Please, can you get the rest of our people off the planet before they attack again?" "Why not fight back?" Rainbow Dash retorted to the pony, another mare stepping out before continuing the argument. "We have no spaceships, we can't fight their attack ships!" A hippogriff flew into the air as he tried to argue against that claim. "We have the pegasi! They can work with us to fight them!" Another pony called out, "Are you crazy?! Did you see what happened to the Wonderbolts?! This is a hopeless plan of yours, hippogriff!" "They have powerful shields! How do we get through that?!" A dragon exclaimed as he defended the former argument. "We're only alive because the Resistance helped us! We don't stand a chance without them!" A changeling cried out as he took flight. The crowd eventually devolved into mindless bickering, the lost hope present in almost all of their voices. Twilight looked to the royal sisters, both of them looking to her as a sense of determined bravery entered her heart. She knew they could win, and she was tired of seeing Equestria cower before their new enemy. They needed motivation, they needed a moral boost. Grabbing the mic from Levinson in her magic, she yelled into it. "NO!" The crowd jumped into silence, Twilight's friends, Chrysalis, Tempest, and every other creature in the room ceased in their fussing. Having the room's attention, Twilight continued. "Do you all really believe that we can't resist? Equestria has seen many storms in it's time, and survived them. And while the Harvesters are strong, they aren't invincible! Humanity fought them twice before, and if they can withstand them, then so can we!" The crowd watched as the Princess of Friendship looked up to Flash's monitor, faint tears forming in her eyes as she kept on. "Right now, my brother and sister in law are down there, badly hurt and probably dead after the first assault from yesterday. But thanks to their efforts, so many lives were saved, and that won't be the case for long if we just stand by and watch our land burn away, and I'm not about to do that!" The crowd seemed to gain hope as Twilight continued, her tears of anger flowing freely as she continued. "I'm asking you, all of you, not as a princess, but as a friend. I ask you to take a stand, to put aside our past grudges and join together as one! To show those invaders what it means to challenge the creatures of Equestria!" Turning towards the window, Twilight looked to the world of Equus as she continued. "Today is the day we fight back! Today..." Then, turning back to the now determined crowd, Twilight finished her speech. "..is OUR Independence Day!" At those final words, the crowd cheered and applauded, some of the hippogriffs and pegasi on the ground taking to the air to let out an excited cry into the air as Twilight looked to them, a smile forming on her face as she watched the races of Equestria stand as one. Rainbow Dash, Soarin' and the other Wonderbolts took to the air as well, both raising hooves to the air as they let out a cry of excitement. Twilight's friends cheered as well, Applejack letting out a whistle as Twilight and Rainbow's parents cheered on the Princess of Friendship. Celestia wiped her teary eyes as she watched her former student, Luna applauding the speech as Twilight levitated the mic back to Levinson, who gave an impressed look to her as he took the mic, Twilight jumping down to the crowd before speaking up once more. "Let's saddle up, everyone! We've got a fight to win!" "Yes Ma'am!" One stallion said with a salute as the crowd began to disperse, heading out of the lobby to prepare for their final fight against the Harvesters. As the room was nearly emptied, Twilight was surrounded by her friends, Chrysalis, Novo, Tempest, and several others joining the group as Rainbow spoke up. "That. Was. Awesome!" "Yeah, you really sparked a fire in us." Applejack said with a smile as Hiller and Levinson walked over to the group. "And now we're ready to end this once and for all." Celestia said as she flew into the air, her sister doing the same as the two landed. As Chrysalis trotted over to Twilight, the mare and her friends looked up to her as she spoke. "You know? I take back the rude things I said about you, my army has been motivated thanks to you, Princess." "Good, cause we'll need that motivation when we fight the Harvesters." Twilight replied as she looked to her friends, all of them smiling to her as she finished the discussion. "Come on, let's form a battle plan." "I'll take you all to the command center." Hiller added, and with that, the group began to make their way out of the near empty lobby, Levinson walking up to Hiller as he spoke to him briefly. "I think I'm starting to like this girl."
07: Battle-Whitmore Command Bridge- 8:09 AM The doors to the bridge opened as Twilight and her friends stepped inside, Chrysalis, Tempest, the Royal Sisters, and several other creatures behind them as they entered the room. Like the lobby, it was massive, at least two levels high, loads of Resistance officers of various species walking around the balconies of the second level above. At the other end of the room was a massive window, giving a view of the world of Equus as the vessel hovered in orbit. On the floor of the first level, a large table sat surrounded by human officers, all of them looking to Twilight's group as Dylan spoke to them. "Are our defense vessels ready?" Dylan's comrade replying as the group listened on. "Yes sir, when we're ready to attack the mothership, we'll send them to follow your lead." Rainbow raised a hoof to ask, "The mothership?" Dylan tapped a few buttons on the table, which displayed a holographic image of the two orbiting fleets as Twilight and the attending creatures surrounded the table to hear the briefing. Pointing to the large Harvester mothership, he began. "There's a large core built into the command center of the mothership, our idea is that if we can get a ship in there and shoot a timed bomb into it, we can take it out and end this invasion." Twilight raised a volunteering hoof as she spoke. "I'll fly her in." The mare's friends looked to her with shock as Applejack questioned her. "You're gonna fly one of those ships in? I know you're smart, Twilight, but I wouldn't step hoof into one of those fighters without proper training." "Looking at the controls back at the Noah 7, I think I'll make it." Twilight defended as her friend gave a hopeful smile, honestly unsure about the task Twilight was asking to take before Dylan stepped in to add his comment. "My father flew one of those attackers without training, and he made it." Dylan gave a confident expression to Twilight as he continued. "Now, the only thing we need to worry about is a defending squadron, there's gonna be a lot of fighters gunning for you, Princess, so someone's gotta cover your tail." As he said that, Rainbow raised a hoof to Dylan, her fellow Wonderbolts stepping behind her as the new Captain of the Wonderbolts replied. "We'll cover her, Sir." Rainbow said with a salute as David looked to them with a confused expression. "Under... what name?" Looking to her fellow flyers, Soarin' and the other Wonderbolts returned looks of determination as Rainbow turned her head back to David. "Call us Spitfire Squadron, Sir." The Wonderbolts, making their former captain's name their new namesake, gave smirks and salutes to the Head Advisor as he replied. "Okay, Spitfire Squadron, you will protect Twilight while she makes her way into the mothership." "We won't let you down, Sir!" Soarin' said enthusiastically as Rainbow looked to him, then looking back to Twilight, she spoke for her team. "None of us will." As Rainbow Dash gave one more salute to David, the Earth veteran looked back to the table as Celestia trotted around it, getting a clear view of the map they saw. "Good, now that we have that settled, it's time to set up our defenses down there." At that, Dylan tapped the table's control panel again, this time shifting to an image of the Crystal Empire, a large city destroyer hovering over it as Celestia began. "The Crystal Empire is the last surviving city we have in Equestria, at least, from what we know. When the ship opens it's cannon, we'll have every unicorn available fire at it with their magic. Hopefully, once that's taken care of, we can dispose of the rest of the invading ships." Rarity pointed a hoof down at one of the smaller ships landed near the Empire. "What are those ships?" "Troop transports, Rarity." Dylan said as he tapped another button on the table, the holographic destroyer vanishing as the group had a better view of the ground. "There won't just be that city destroyer to worry about, the surviving convoy vessels will deploy troops to finish the job the hard way." Queen Chrysalis raised a hoof in the air as she and Pharynx looked to David. "My hive and I will defend the Empire and it's remaining homes, they won't know who they're fighting when we show them our shapeshifting abilities." At that, Chrysalis' body was briefly surrounded in a ring of green magic, her body changing to that of a humans as Dylan and David looked at her in awe for a moment. "That will be very useful, they could get you confused with their own soldiers." David said with a confident smile as he looked to Silverstream and Terramar, the two raising a claw as the former spoke. "What about air cover? Should we send fighters?" The human looked to them as he pondered the idea for a moment, the Harvesters had been changing their tactics on certain occasions, so a fighter defense force didn't sound that far out there. "Yes, that sounds good. Legacy Squadron can help out too." Then, seeing the two hippogriffs looking to him, David asked them, "You think you two can fly those defender fighters of ours out there?" "I'll help with that!" A small changeling with red eyes and a pair of red, translucent wings said as she looked up to Chrysalis, the queen looking puzzled at her for a moment before she asked, "Permission to fly with the aerial force, your Majesty?" "Chrysalis pondered to her drone as she looked up expectantly, knowing this drone to be very attentive to details and being a fast learner, she gave her word. "Yes, Ocellus, they could use you up there." The small changeling grinned excitedly as she transformed into a human, wearing a dark red uniform and bearing red irises as she saluted her queen. "I won't fail, Ma'am!" Ocellus said as she stood, Queen Novo and Dragon Lord Ember stepping forward as they volunteered as well. "The dragons lost their home, we're not about to let another one fall." The blue dragoness said as she held her staff, Novo and Skystar standing with stern expressions as the former joined in. "My people shall assist in this endeavor, the dragons and changelings could use some additional power." The two other race leaders looked to the Queen of the hippogriffs with faces of agreement, a griffon stepping forward as he spoke up as well. "Name's Gallus, mind if I join the fight down there?" The group looked to Gallus as his leader, Grandpa Gruff spoke to him. "Seeing how you flew our transport into this ship, I think you'll do fine down there." The elderly griffon covered his beak before letting out a cough, some of the group giving surprised looks to Gallus as two familiar ponies stood forward. "Mind if we join the squadron, Rainbow?" The green-coated mare with blazing orange hair said to her old rival, a blue stallion with dark gray hair standing near her as Rainbow took in the sight. "Lightning Dust? Wind Rider? You two made it?" The shock on her face was replaced with a grin as the Wonderbolt dropout replied. "I want to help ya too, Dash." Gilda said as she stepped into view of her old friend, Rainbow looking to her before returning her attention to Lightning. "I know we've had a rough start back there, Dash, but with our home gone, we feel the need to lend a hand." At that, the mare put her wing out to Rainbow, the pegasus looking at it for a moment before joining her's with it, a smirk on her face as she replied. "We'd be glad to have you three with us." With that, the two reject flyers and griffon joined together with their teammates, the grudges between them all being forgotten about as they looked to Twilight. "Thanks, you guys. With your help, we'll be able to put a stop to this." Twilight said as her friends and the other creatures in the room saluted her, Dylan tapping a button on the table as the projection shut off. "Alright, let's get you all to your transports." As Dylan said that, Discord held a claw to the air as he spoke to the fighter pilot. "Spare your transports, Captain, I can take them down there with my magic." Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at his words, the draconequus smirking as he continued. "Besides, they could use my help with that fight down there." Putting a hoof onto his leg, Fluttershy looked to her friend as he looked down to her. "Be careful, okay?" "I promise." As the two returned their attention to Twilight and David, the former spoke once more. "Okay, is everyone ready?" The group let out cries of excitement as they saluted each other, Twilight smiling as she finished. "Excellent, now let's save Equestria!" With that, the group made their way out of the command center, the doors opening as Twilight and Spike stepped through. As Tempest began making her way out of the room, David stopped her for a moment. "Hey uh, Tempest, is it?" "Yes?" The unicorn mare said as she awaited the reply. "Why don't you come with me? I think we have something for your uh, horn there." The unicorn raised an eyebrow, but ultimately nodded in agreement before Grubber called to her. "Tempest!" The mare in question stopped once more as her friend continued. "Try to come back, okay?" Tempest chuckled a little as she gave her answer. "I will, don't worry." With that, the unicorn and David continued on out of the room, Grubber giving a hopeful smile to the two as they went to prepare for the battle below. As Rainbow and her fellow flyers walked through with the others, Soarin' asked his friend, "You think you'll be able to manage that fighter of your's, Dash?" The mare smirked as she replied. "Pfft, after that little flight, I think I'll get the hang of it." -Harvester Destroyer, Crystal Empire- 8:26 AM The tall Harvester Commander walked towards the armory station, the much larger biosuit being lowered down to him by several mechanical tentacles as he neared it. In the past, his kind would've been done with it, blasted the city into ashes with their large cannon. But he had learned, those vile, annoying pests the Resistance called humans had fought against his race in a terrifying manner, successfully slaughtering the first invasion force at Earth. He let out a screech of hateful anger as he remembered the fall of one of their queens, the one that was sent to Earth for the failed second harvest. No more, he thought, today, his kind would not win this fight by following their usual process... Today, they would fight these newer, disgusting rodents of this Earth-like world the way they would fight: Face to face. As he turned around and entered his armored biosuit, he watched the large, crystalline structure in the center of the city, groaning in anticipation as the suit closed around him, the visual slits on the head section opening as the wires broke off of his suit. Staring at the image for a little longer, he watched as several creatures walked to the edges of the building's balconies, many of them looking to his large destroyer as they waited at their positions. Standing onto the floor, the Commander turned around once more and made his way to the hangar, his personal fighter awaiting his arrival as he prepared for the coming battle... -The Crystal Empire- 8:29 AM Starlight looked around the area as she trotted down the hallway, smiling as she saw the familiar sight of the crystal mirror. Not only had Discord brought countless ponies to safety, he had been courteous enough to save the magic mirror from it's demise at Ponyville. And now, if they didn't stop this Harvester warship soon, then it would burn like the rest of the Empire. As the unicorn turned towards the opening leading to the balcony, her friends, Trixie, Sunburst, and Thorax looking to her, several other ponies taking peeks behind them to see who was coming. As Starlight stood between her fellow unicorns, Sunburst spoke to her. "Any idea what we're going to do, Starlight?" "From what Discord said, we have to wait until that ship's cannon opens up. Once they start charging up, we fire our magic bolts at it to blow it to hell." Starlight answered as Trixie looked to her in concern. "But didn't they say something about shields on that ship?" Starlight gave her friend a determined expression as she replied. "Those Resistance ships up there should be able to give us a clear shot." Pointing upward, Trixie, Sunburst, and Thorax looked up to see several fighters hovering over the Crystal Palace, remaining in place as they awaited the moment to fire their EMP pulses. Trixie seemed to regain hope with that news, standing firm over the balcony as she spoke once more with a salute. "Well, just give the word, General!" Starlight held back a laugh at that comment, not wanting to let her emotions or humor distract her from the imminent attack... At least, it seemed to be imminent. Suddenly, the Harvester destroyer let out a low groan, slowly moving away from the Crystal Palace as the united army of unicorns, changelings, dragons, yaks, and hippogriffs all watched in stunned surprise. "Are they... leaving?" Thorax asked with a raised eyebrow. A Resistance soldier walked over to the three equines and changeling as he added his idea of the Harvester ship's actions. "I don't think so, for the past twenty years, the Harvesters have been.... learning." Starlight raised an eyebrow at that last word. "Learning?" "Yeah, they don't always play by the book. Sometimes... they put a different card onto the table." The officer briefly explained as the defenders of the Crystal Empire turned to watch the destroyer, the vessel slowly hovering as the alien transports at the edge of the city began to open their doors. Out of the green glow under the transports, several Harvester soldiers began pouring out of them, forming a large army at the edge of the city as Starlight and her friends watched in surprise. Looking down to the already assembled Equestrian army, Thorax looked to his friends. "If you'll excuse me." The reformed changeling said before taking flight, flying to the ground to meet up with Chrysalis and his brother, Pharynx. As he steadied his hooves upon the soil, Pharynx looked to Thorax before speaking. "It's good to know you're still alive, brother, after all those attacks." "Yeah, I'm glad you made it out too." Thorax said with a thankful smile as the two brothers looked at each other, both admiring each other's faces before Pharynx broke the silence. "Thorax... I want to tell you something, in case we fail." Thorax looked to his brother curiously. "Yeah?" The brother of Spike's changeling friend smiled at him as he spoke. "Even though we had a rough time together in the years since we hatched as larva, I want you to know that there isn't any other creature that could be a better brother than you are." Thorax's heart beamed at his brother's words, both of them looking to the Harvester destroyer as the changeling replied. "Thanks, Pharynx... you're the best brother I've had too." Rarity watched as the city destroyer moved further away from the Empire, a section on the front of the vessel opening as fighters began to fly out. Her horn glowed as she readied herself for whatever was coming, Sunburst, Starlight, Trixie and the other unicorns doing the same as they stood by for the word to be given. As the armada of fighters came towards the Empire, the destroyer stopped at the city's edge, Tempest watching from the top of the palace as she briefly examined her new prosthetic horn mounted onto her head. Whatever it could do, she hoped it would be efficient in taking out any and all Harvester ships and troopers within the area. As Discord walked out to the balcony, he stopped behind Starlight and her group as he asked, "What's happening?" "I don't know, but from the looks of it, this isn't going to be a breeze." The unicorn replied as she and Discord looked back to the incoming fighters, one of them catching their eyes as the other ships held their position over the city. This one fighter seemed... different. The shape was more like that of the famous saucer designs they had seen in old science fiction movies, but with two mandibles at the front and a large, fin-like section at the top. The color was different too, instead of the gray-tinted black the other fighters bore, this one was just pure gray. The accompanying Resistance officer gave a look of shock as he spoke up. "They sent their ship's commander down here?!" "Did they?" Trixie asked quizzically as the officer pointed at the strange fighter. "Ever since we've been taking the fight to them, they've been taking every last ship and fixing them up for use in their fleet, even the older ones." Starlight looked to him, realizing what he meant by that explanation. "You mean that's one of their older fighters?" "Exactly, usually the destroyer's commander would have some upgrades on it, maybe even a change in their ship's color." Looking to the fighter, he concluded, "Except this one just seems... refurbished." The two of them turned their heads back to the large Harvester army ahead, the Commander's fighter landing as several more ships closed in. As they looked at them, they could tell that they were also different. They had two sets of small cannons near what must have been the cockpit, and there were no wings, but instead two bulky sections that extended past the fuselage. As the ships took position near the Crystal Empire, several Resistance fighters, pegasi, and the Royal Sisters broke their cover from the palace, taking to the air as they hovered around it. On Silverstream's control panel, Dylan spoke. "Alright, looks like they showed up with an army and aerial forces here, let's cover our ground pals down there and keep those bombers away from the Empire." "You got it!" Silverstream replied to her new flight captain. "Ocellus here, ready to fight!" The human-disguised changeling said as she held onto her controls, listening as her fellow pilots spoke. Silverstream took a breath as she examined her controls once more, hoping that that little tutorial back at the Whitmore would pay off. "Gallus standing by, Sir!" The griffon said excitedly. "Terramar ready for action!" Silverstream's brother said as he held his controls, his claws hovering over the fire buttons. At that, several other voices belonging to the pilots of Legacy Squadron spoke up as well. "Legacy 2 at the ready!" "Legacy 3, systems optimized." "Legacy 5, weapons charged, Sir!" "Legacy 8, all set!" As the remaining members of Legacy Squadron gave their call-signs, Queen Chrysalis watched with an anticipating grin as the Harvester Commander's ship opened up, a single, armored warrior with tentacles on it's back stepping onto the land before looking to the Empire. She was impressed at them, finally sending their head to the field so they could fight it out in person, like any great warrior should. Looking to Ember, she asked the Dragon Lord, "Are their troops outfitted with shields?" Ember nodded, but kept her smirk as she added, "Fortunately, Discord told me he had put some of the Resistance's shields on each and every single one of them." Then, handing two of the backpack-like devices over to Chrysalis and Thorax, she finished with, "You'll need one too." Chrysalis shared the smirk as she and Thorax took the shield generators, mounting it onto their backs as the shields flashed to life around their bodies. Standing in front of his army, the Commander looked out to the Crystal Palace before letting out a fierce screech, the soldiers and fighters behind him charging towards the last intact city as the battle started. "CHARGE!!!" Chrysalis, Ember, and Rutherford collectively cried out to their soldiers, all of them following the Harvester army's actions as they joined the fighting. As they closed in on the enemy soldiers, Chrysalis and all of her soldiers changed in shape, taking the forms of the Harvester soldiers as they continued charging. "Alright, let's punch through those fighters, then nail those transports!" Dylan said as his squadron flew at the incoming attackers, Silverstream throttling her fighter forward as her brother and Gallus formed up with her. Celestia and Luna charged at the fighters as well, both of their horns glowing before unleashing a flurry of magical energy. As it struck the large wave of fighters, their shields glowed for a moment before flickering out, the ships catching fire as they began to crash. As Chrysalis neared the Commander, she hissed at the large alien as it tried to shoot at her with it's large blaster, Thorax and Pharynx engaging two of the escorting soldiers as she gripped at the Commander's gun. Pointing a few of her fake tentacles at the Commander, she channeled several magic bolts through them before firing, hitting the Commander's shields as it released Chrysalis' arms from the gun. Just as the alien lifted it's gun to shoot at Chrysalis, the changeling smacked her claw at the Commander's face, forcing a growl from it as the two fought each other. Nearby, Ember and her fellow dragon Smolder held their stolen blasters at the Harvester soldiers, firing at them until one of their shields came down. Taking the opportunity, Smolder sped over to the alien, unleashing a hail of fiery breath as the monster screeched to the air. Smolder let the Harvester burn as she turned to another one, which shot at her several times before Ember got in the way. Returning the alien's favor, the Dragon Lord grinned as the shields around the creature flickered out, breathing a flurry of pink fire as she killed the invader. Looking to each other, Ember and Smolder briefly bumped fists together before moving to another squad, the aliens opening fire at them both as the continued to decimate the Harvester ground force. In the air, Silverstream fired her cannons at another incoming fighter, it's shields holding for a few seconds before flickering out, the bolts striking the ship's hull before it began to descend to the ground. As another one came at her, the hippogriff tried to prepare for another shot, but halted her efforts as Gallus shot down the fighter, the fighter following it's escort as it crashed to the ground in a ball of flames. "Here comes another one!" Gallus said as he and Silverstream blasted the ship, which only held together for mere seconds as it's shields failed, catching fire before descending. Looking to the incoming bomber, Silverstream heard her brother speak up. "The bomber's vulnerable, fire!" The hippogriff did so as she and Terramar fired, blasting at the ship's shields as it tried to evade but failed. Silverstream screamed a rage-filled battle cry as she continued firing, her hatred for the Harvesters not permitting her to let go of the trigger. Not a second later did the ship's shields fail, the blue lasers striking the engines of it as it burst into flames. The two siblings broke off from their attack as the Harvester bomber came down, crashing down on one of the alien transports as the soldiers around it were caught in a fiery explosion. Looking back at the sight, Silver yelled at the burning wreck. "That's for my dad!" Then, turning back to focus on the other attacking bombers, she steadied herself as she formed up with Terramar and Gallus for another run. On the fields of the Crystal Empire, Ocean Flow and General Seaspray fired their hybrid blasters at the Harvester troops, two of their shields flickering as the two hippogriffs finished the aliens off. Then, looking up, Ocean saw a large group of enemy soldiers heading their way, at least twenty. Turning towards Rutherford, she called to him. "Now!" At that, the yak prince and several others of his kind charged at the aliens, the soldiers trying to hit them as they came closer. As one of the yaks shields failed, Rutherford and one of the female yaks rammed into the aliens, knocking them around the area as they disoriented the garrison of Harvesters. As the two of them stopped to take a breath, the small yak looked to Rutherford, "Yona likes teaching those invaders a lesson!" "Good, now, yaks continue onward!" With that, the two continued on through the battlefield, Ocean Flow and Seaspray blasting down the remaining enemy soldiers. Up above, Celestia and Luna fired magic beams at a squadron of fighters, all of them turning towards them as the two alicorns held their shields in their flight over the kingdom. They rinsed and repeated this tactic a few more times until at least three squadrons were behind them. Stopping and joining their shields into one, they watched as the Harvesters pummeled them with laser fire, the two sisters cringing lightly as they felt a bit of pain from their shield taking damage. As the ships stopped firing, the two sisters looked to each other. "Ready Luna?" "Yes, dear sister." With that, the two sent their mixed shield out towards the Harvester fighters, most of their shields failing as they were engulfed in bright flames. The two let out cries of excitement over their brief victory before pursuing the now fleeing attackers, firing magic beams at them as the cats had become mice. Down below, one of Chrysalis' drones, Cornicle, smacked one of his tentacles at his opponent as the beast screeched. Then, picking up the dropped blaster, took aim and shot at the alien, it's shields flickering out before he struck the creature down. As he steadied himself, two more Harvesters jumped between Cornicle, ready to pounce on him before the one in front of him shot past him, striking the injured alien down with only a few shots. As Cornicle looked to the other Harvester in confusion, the creature shapeshifted into one of his fellow drones, Frenulum. The two let out a laugh as they turned towards the other alien warriors, charging at them as they continued the fight. Knocking Chrysalis back with a smack of it's tentacles, the Commander looked to the sky, seeing two large creatures pursuing two of his drones. Then, seeing the large amount of fireballs near the palace, he pointed at the two alicorn sisters before screeching. Taking the advantage, Chrysalis zapped the Commander with her magic tentacles, the creature screeching again as it returned the favor with a blast of his gun. At the top of the Crystal Palace, Tempest looked to the sky, looking for the closest ship to attack. Seeing an incoming bomber, Tempest focused her horn for a moment before firing, the electrical beam of magic striking the vessel. Upon impact, the ship's shields flickered out before the ship began to descend, seemingly losing it's power as a Resistance fighter fired at it. As the bomber exploded, Tempest looked to her horn in surprise, then grinned with excitement as she looked for another ship, but stopped as she saw another group of fighters closing in towards her. Without time to think, she fired her horn again, this time the beam struck not only the fighter she took aim at, but also passed on to the other ships near it. As they began to crash into the top of the palace, Tempest jumped off the top, free-falling as she looked to see the fighters scrape each other before finally crashing into the palace's top section, narrowly missing the small balcony Tempest was on. As she fell, she was picked up by a familiar pegasus. "You okay?" Tempest smiled as she looked to Fluttershy. "Yeah, thanks." The pegasus nodded before flying down to the other unicorns below, setting Tempest down before she joined the others. Turning to the battlefield, she sped over to her group of pegasi, all of them looking to her as she stopped in between Rainbow's parents and the two Wonderbolt recruits, Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail. "Alright, when I give the word, we surround that Commander there in a tornado. That should disorient him enough to give our unicorns a shot at him!" The fleet of pegasi saluted her as Vapor Trail yelled out, "For Cloudsdale!" "For Canterlot!" Bow Hothoof added as Thunderlane finished their little salutations. "For all that the creatures of Equestria have lost!" The crowd cheered at Thunderlane's words as they watched their target and Chrysalis fight, waiting for the right moment. As he looked up to the Resistance fighters, Discord changed his gaze to the Harvester destroyer before gasping in delight. "Starlight, you mind if I borrow your radio for a moment?" The unicorn nodded as he took it in his claws before speaking into it. "Discord to Captain Hiller, can you have you and some of your other fighters fire a few missiles, please?" "What for?" Dylan asked as one of his fighters was shot at, it's shields flickering out before the draconequus replied. "Just trust me on it, it'll help us with those fighters." With that, Hiller did so, Discord watching as at least five of the defending aircraft fired a missile from underneath. Snapping his finger, Discord watched as the missiles blinked out of the sky. Then, looking to the destroyer's hangar, the green glow was soon replaced with a fiery orange as the hangar was blown to bits by the missiles. Dylan smirked proudly as he admired Discord's little stunt. "Well done! That should relieve us of some trouble." The draconequus bowed as if he was being cheered on at a play as the other unicorns briefly celebrated before continuing their barrage of magic at the incoming Harvester soldiers. As Pharynx kicked one of the Harvester soldiers back, a flurry of unicorn magic bolts struck the alien, it's shield holding for a moment before it hit the creature's armor, killing it. Looking back, he saw Chrysalis and Thorax engaging the Commander and another soldier, the former seeming to lose it's ground as he charged towards it. Jumping up, he tried to pounce onto the alien leader, only to have his futile efforts be stopped by a tentacle impaling him clean through the chest. Thorax looked on in horror as he watched the creature strike down his brother. "PHARYNX!" He cried out as the Commander ripped it's bloody tentacle out of Pharynx, the changeling transforming back into his older appearance as he hit the ground hard. As Chrysalis was knocked back against one of the buildings nearby, Fluttershy cried out, "Now!" At that, the pegasi formed a ring around the Harvester Commander, the beast watching in confusion for a moment before he lifted his gun to fire. As the wind became faster, the alien fired the gun, striking a few of the flying ponies out of the large creature-built tornado it was trapped in. As the turbulence became more and more powerful, the Commander tried to lift it's gun again, but it couldn't hold the large weapon as easily as the wind began to shove it around. Some of it's bladed tentacles began to hurt as the wind became even stronger, many of them being ripped off as he screeched in pain. As it cried out, it's gun flew out of it's grasp as the pegasi broke off, the gun flying through the air before he was flung upwards through the tornado, flying in the air for a few more seconds before crashing onto one of the crystalline buildings and hitting the dirt he had walked on earlier. Thorax shapeshifted back into his normal form as he galloped over to Pharynx, dark, green blood oozing from his wounds as his brother comforted him. "Pharynx, don't give up on me now, I'm gonna get you to the medi-" He was cut off as Pharynx raised a hoof to his muzzle. "N-no, Thorax... go, keep fighting... please... Save what Equestria has left." Thorax tried to mentally debate with his brother, but stopped as he heard a crash near him, a large Harvester blaster had landed near him from the ensuing fighting. Looking to his brother, he saw his head go limp, already dead from the sudden blood loss. But Thorax didn't cry, instead, a fire in his heart was sparked as he transformed once more, picking up the blaster in his claws. As the injured Commander got up, he examined his injuries before looking around to see Chrysalis, the queen landing down near him as she growled at him. The Commander did the same, furious over his injuries caused by those flying pests in the battle. As both of them clashed their claws and tentacles once more, Starlight looked down to the two of them. "There! The Commander's been hurt, let's give him something to shoot at!" The other unicorns nodded before they and Starlight looked down to the Commander, their horns glowing before they shot a flurry of magic bolts at the creature, hitting it's shields as Chrysalis held her ground. The shields flickered for a moment before they went out, the creature groaning as it was hit by a few more bolts. "Look out!" Minuette cried out as she pointed a hoof at one of the incoming fighters, Tempest firing her horn at it as Starlight's horn glowed. As the fighter's shields flickered out, it came straight at the balcony, but failed to take it down as it crashed into Starlight's large shield. Gallus flew near his three allies as another Harvester fighter began it's pursuit, blasting Gallus' fighter until the shields flickered out. "Gallus, look out!" Silverstream cried out too late as the griffon's flaming fighter began to descend, it's collision with the nearby building imminent. But Gallus remembered something, wasting no time, he tapped the eject button Ocellus told him about, his ship's window opening before he was shot out into the air. Looking down, his fighter crashed into the crystal building, breaking it into a million tiny shards. Unbuckling himself, Gallus took to the air, passing another Resistance fighter as it was shot down by another attacker. As the fighter closed in on him, it too exploded as Silverstream's fighter flew up to him, it's window opening as Silver spoke to him. "Hop in!" Gallus did so without asking as he seated himself in, the two immediately taking the ship back towards the battle as another fighter came at them. Chrysalis screamed in pain as the destroyer Commander stabbed her in her leg with one of it's remaining tentacles, blood pouring out as she stared the thing in the face. The creature hissed at her, finally ready to take her life and bring this city down once and for all. But it would not get that satisfaction. Behind it, Thorax landed behind the Commander, holding the blaster up and aiming it as Chrysalis waited for death. Letting out a cry of anger, Thorax shot at the Commander, striking it clean in the back. As a mechanical section of the suit exploded in a green flame, the creature screeched as it's suit opened up, Chrysalis being covered in a yellowish-green liquid as she broke off from the monster. Wiping the alien blood off of her face, Chrysalis forced herself back up, raising one of her sharp tentacles before stabbing the Commander in the now exposed head, the monster screeching once more as it's horrid life was ended once and for all. As Chrysalis tried to get up, she began to transform back as Thorax did the same, dropping the gun and trotting over to her as he helped his former leader to her hooves. "Thank you, Thorax." The queen said as she looked around, noticing one of them was missing. "Wait, where's Pharynx?" Thorax looked down solemnly, tears forming in his eyes as he responded to the question. "He... he's dead, that thing killed him." Chrysalis shared her former drone's look of sorrow, Pharynx was a good drone, and with him gone, the changelings lost one of their best warriors, and she lost a good friend. "I... I'm sorry, Thorax." "It's alright." Thorax replied as he looked to Chrysalis with a look of finality. "At least he died defending Equestria." The two of them looked to each other apologetically, before they noticed a strange change in the battlefield. They didn't hear as many lasers as there were before, and, after looking around the city, some of her drones, dragons, hippogriffs, and pegasi were looking at their enemy in stunned silence. Starlight raised an eyebrow as she watched the remaining Harvester fighters turn towards the mothership, the soldiers running away from the Empire as Trixie spoke up. "Are they... retreating?" The Resistance officer looked over the city, then, seeing the city destroyer in the distance, the answer became evident. "...Yeah, they are. After twenty more years of fighting us, they still haven't learned to keep going after their leader!" The Resistance officer let out a cheerful laugh as Starlight and her friends watched the miraculous sight, joining in the cheering as every other creature on the field watched the destroyer leave. As Chrysalis and Thorax watched the retreating Harvester army, they smiled thankfully as they knew the battle was over. Suddenly, the two changelings, and in fact every other surviving changeling on the battlefield, glowed a brilliant white, which sustained for several moments before they became visible again. As Starlight and the other creatures across the Empire looked at their changeling allies, their appearance was... different. Thorax, for example, no longer had his usual black and green colors, nor his holes. In fact, he was taller, about as tall as Queen Chrysalis. His new color scheme was a mix of green carapace with some orange on his chest, as well as red and purple wings and purple eyes. Chrysalis herself was also different, her carapace was now a bright tan, and her mane and tail were now a much more lush green, slightly changing to a more yellowish tone as it flowed down. Thorax and Chrysalis looked on at their new forms at first in surprise, then with joy as the former whistled to the Queen of the Changelings. "You think you can get used to this, Chrysalis?" "Absolutely!" Chrysalis replied before the two of them joined in the cheering, the Crystal Empire celebrating as the long blocked sunlight returned to it. In the air, Silverstream eyed her fellow flyer Ocellus in her fighter with excited curiosity. "Oooh! You look different, Ocellus!" Looking at herself, she gasped in happy surprise as she, Silverstream, Gallus, and Terramar flew over the Empire together. "Yeah, I think it's because of how much we care for each other! We shared our love for Equestria and, in defending it, we've changed in appearance!" Starlight, Trixie, and Sunburst held each other excitedly, crying tears of joy as they celebrated their victory. As the three of them broke up the group hug, Starlight looked to Discord, "Discord, tell the Whitmore of what's happened. Tell them that the Crystal Empire is safe once again." The draconequus nodded before he snapped his finger, teleporting off of Equus as Flash Sentry came racing out of the palace doors. As the three ponies looked on curiously, Flash spoke to them. "Starlight, come with me to the medical ward! It's about Cadence and Shining Armor!" The three ponies' faces went from joyous excitement to ones of fearful concern, Twilight Velvet and Night Light turned as they heard what Flash said. Without wasting a second, the four ponies galloped into the palace, Twilight's parents following after as the united creatures of Equestria celebrated in their victory against the city destroyer that was now taking to the skies... -Whitmore Hangar Bay- 8:48 AM Twilight trotted with Rainbow Dash and her team as the doors to the hangar opened, Spike looking past Twilight's head as they all saw the fighters awaiting them. Along with Rainbow's captured attacker, there were eight Resistance Defender type fighters, enough of them for Soarin', Fleetfoot, Misty Fly, Blaze, High Winds, Lightning Dust, Wind Rider, and of course, Twilight. As Rainbow and her friends trotted towards the prepared fighter squadron, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle galloped over to her, their faces beaming with glee as Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, I'm so glad you're here! I hope you don't mind, but along with those upgrades, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I thought your fighter needed a tiny makeover." Curiously, Rainbow looked to her fighter, noticing that her cutie mark was painted roughly on the right side of the ship. The mare smirked at her biggest fan, rubbing a hoof on Scootaloo's head as she replied. "Thanks, kiddo. You three make sure the other foals don't lose hope in us, alright?" The three fillies saluted to her, then made their way past as Twilight and the others trotted over to their ships. As Twilight came close to her fighter, Applejack and Pinkie made their way over, a hopeful look on both of their faces as the former spoke to her. "Hey Twi, I know ya probably won't have much time for it, but I want ya to have these." Handing her a basket, she picked it up out of the farmpony's hoof to see around five rainbow-colored apples, Twilight looking surprised as her friend continued. "They're zap apples, last ones we have left from the family... they want ya to have it for luck." Twilight smiled at her friend's generosity, almost letting tears form on her face as she passed the basket to Spike before hugging Applejack. "Thanks, you be careful too." As Rainbow Dash began to sit in her ship, she looked to Gilda. "Hey Gilda." "Yeah? The griffon asked as her friend continued. "I know it sounds silly but... do you mind if you fly with me on this one?" As Gilda raised an eyebrow, Dash explained herself. "I uh... I'm still getting used to leading the Wonderbolts after we lost Spitfire last night, and... I don't want to lose anymore of my friends today." Gilda looked at her old friend for a moment, then, taking to the air. "Totally, after all, we fly together, die together, right?" Rainbow smiled at her friend, who hopped into the secondary seat behind Rainbow as their window started closing. As Pinkie Pie watched them, she smelled the familiar scent of cupcakes to her left. Seeing the tray being carried by the Cakes for the pre-planned victory party, the party pony sped almost impossibly fast to the two parents, taking one of the cupcakes before speeding off to Rainbow's fighter, the window mere seconds from sealing. "Dashie!" She said to her friend, who opened the window slightly as she replied. "What do you need, Pinkie?" Without asking, she handed over the cupcake to the pegasus, smiling a bit nervously as she spoke again. "Thanks." "It needs to be at the right time!" Pinkie said urgently as the cockpit began sealing again. "Rriiiiiigght." Rainbow exaggerated as the window sealed the cockpit shut, Twilight and Spike sitting together in their own ship as they began to get comfortable. As Twilight examined her controls, they indeed did look familiar to her as the Noah 7 controls did, just additional stuff regarding the fighter's weaponry. Tapping a button, the window began to lower as they prepared to take off. On the fighter's radio, Jake's voice spoke through it. "Okay, now remember, everyone, this is a 'get in, get out' mission, once you fire that bomb you punch your way out of that ship. Any fighters that come your way, shoot them down if necessary." "That means no crazy heroism out there, Rainbow." Twilight warned her friend, nodding to her on the visual screens underneath the controls. "Got it, we'll be careful." The rainbow-maned pegasus replied, Gilda giving a thumbs up to Twilight as the other pilots' face cams came on. "And make use of those power packs in the back, everyone. Those fighters are going to be gunning for you out there, so use them wisely. Good luck." With that, the radio to Jake's station shut off, the large hangar bay door ahead of them slowly opening as Twilight prepared for launch. Tapping another button, Twilight's fighter began to ascend, her wingponies doing the same as Twilight looked to Spike. "You got those apples there, Spike?" Spike set the basket to his left, then looking to his right to see several containers full of some kind of green liquid. "I have them right next to me, Twilight." He said to his friend as he picked up one of the power packs and held it in his claws. "Good, cause they might help us out of here." Twilight replied as she held her control sticks with her hooves, two magic bubbles right over the trigger buttons as Spike spoke up. "You really sure you can fly this thing, Twilight?" The alicorn took a breath as she replied. "With how I saw the Noah's controls, I think I can handle this." with that, Twilight began to move the sticks forward, the ship suddenly jerking backwards as it bumped into Rainbow's fighter. Spike and Twilight grunted from the close call of a crash, as did her escorting friend. "OOF! What the?!" Rainbow exclaimed as her ship and Twilight's shields flickered from the impact, but fortunately nothing broke or became damaged as Rainbow spoke to her. "Uh, Twilight? Are you really sure you can handle that thing?" Twilight defended herself. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I can... just needed a little bit of a start on practice." Looking sheepishly, Twilight continued. "At least I know which way these go now." Spike looked at her worriedly as he spoke. "Yeah, uh, if you could just please... take us out the door?" He lightly pointed a claw as he finished his request. As Twilight pulled the sticks towards her, the ship sped forwards flying out of the hangar as her escorting fighters followed suite. "YYAAAAAAAAHHOOOOOO!!!!!" Lightning Dust let out an excited cry as she flew out of the hangar, forming up with her fellow pilots as they performed various maneuvers around Twilight's ship. Raising an eyebrow at first, Twilight thought it would be best to get oriented with her new ship as she began performing similar maneuvers. "Good move, Twi. Gotta get a feel for that bad boy while we have a moment!" Rainbow said as they flew, getting acquainted with their ships as they slowly turned and approached the mothership. As Twilight steadied her fighter, she looked to the large view of stars in front of her in awe. "...Isn't this amazing, Spike?" "Yeah, it is." Spike said as he shared his friends enthusiasm, savoring every second of this special sight as Rainbow warned them. "Yeah, hate to say it, but there's no time for stargazing." At those words, Twilight looked out towards the mothership, a large armada of fighters gathered up near a tiny, glowing opening on the side of the large starship. "Brace yourselves!" Twilight said as she focused on flying, Spitfire Squadron forming up behind her as another group of ships closed in on them. "We will ensure your entry is successful, Princess Twilight Sparkle." A robotic voice said as several of the hexagonal pods from the Resistance fleet flew in front of them, forming a faint yellow shield in front of them as the Harvester force came near them. "Shields up! Weapons hot!" Rainbow said as she flew next to Twilight, the large swarm of fighters flying towards the squadron before they were struck down by the hexagon ships' yellow beams, which sliced the fighters apart in seconds. Rainbow cried out in excitement as she watched the Harvesters get totaled. "Yeah! Eat that up, you space fiends!" "This is too easy!" Lightning Dust said as Twilight looked towards the mothership, the glow slowly dissipating as the door began to close. "I wouldn't say that now! Hold on, everyone!" At that, Twilight surrounded her and her squadmates with a shield, all of them disappearing from their former position and re-appearing closer to the door, which was about to close. "Punch it!" At that, the nine fighters sped off towards the door, all of them forming a tight, straight line as they slipped through. All but one. "I'm not gonna make it!" High Winds cried out, trying to slow down as the door sealed but failing as her ship hit it. Her scream was heard briefly before her screen went out, the blue around her camera now glowing red as to indicate her death. "We lost High Winds!" Misty Fly cried out, their shields flashing as she and her teammates we're onslaughted by a flurry of green laser bolts. "Batteries, quick!" Rainbow ordered as Gilda swapped one of the newly placed batteries into Rainbow's ship, Spike doing the same for Twilight's as the squadron of fighters began to make their way deeper into the mothership. Trying to cut them some trouble, Twilight looked to an incoming force of over a dozen alien fighters before using her teleportation spell on them, sending them crashing into the large support beams built around the tunnels without a second to think. "Twilight, let us worry about the fighters and you just fly that girl in there, alright?" Rainbow said as Twilight tried to steady herself, but flew to her left as another attacker sped at her. As the fighter passed her, it fired it's guns at Wind Rider's fighter, his ship's shields flickering before the bolts struck his ship's underbelly, damaging the laser cannons. "My guns are down!" The Wonderbolt veteran said in dismay as Soarin' shot at the harrasing fighter, blasting into a fireball in seconds as he flew past Wind Rider. As another fighter came at Twilight, Blaze fired at the attacker, the vessel's shields flickering out after several shots. As the now burning Harvester ship sped towards the floor of the large tunnel, Blaze was not aware of another ship behind her. "Blaze, look out!" Misty warned her friend as she shot at the attacker, destroying it after several shots as Blaze formed up with her. Twilight rolled around one of the large beams within the tunnel, balancing herself as another fighter was coming at her. As she readied her guns, Wind Rider sped at the fighter, Rainbow crying out in shock as he prepared to ram it. "Wind Rider! What are you doing?!" "Saving our home, it's been an honor!" With that, Wind Rider crashed his ship into the alien fighter, destroying both of them but saving Twilight's in the process. "Keep moving everyone, we can't let his death be in vain!" Twilight ordered as the Wonderbolt veteran's cam panel went red, Twilight and her allies flying together around the large beams before another fighter came into view. Not having much time, Twilight created a magical shield around her fighter, the alien ship crashing into it as fire covered Twilight's view for a few seconds. "You alright, Twilight?!" Rainbow cried out horrifically. "Yeah, just follow me!" Spitfire Squadron followed their orders and they and Twilight's fighter finally cleared through the tunnel, now flying in the large, green interior of the mothership. As Twilight looked at her map, she saw the target highlighted by a red dot specifying where it was. It was nearby, just a little further, and they would make it. "Lightning, watch out!" Rainbow warned too late as Twilight looked to Lightning's ship, which was being assaulted with green lasers as it's shields flickered out. Seeing both her and Soarin's fighter, Twilight used her teleportation spell to switch Lightning's spot out with the refill drone in the back of Soarin's fighter. As she watched Lightning's fighter explode at the last second, Lightning seemed stunned at the slight change of scenery around her as she sat in the back of Soarin's ship. Twilight knew she deserved a second chance, and she was not going to let the Harvesters take that away from her. As Twilight turned her head to focus on flying, she saw one of the incoming attackers getting dangerously close to her before it was blasted out of the sky by Rainbow Dash, the mare's ship flying past her as the alicorn continued flying as fast as her ship could go. Outside, the Whitmore slowly turned itself over as it hovered near the moon, it's upgraded, heavily armored energy cannon opened up and charging as it took aim at the mothership's side. On the bridge, David watched the holographic image of the space battle as the Whitmore positioned itself. "Is it ready?" David asked as the officer nodded, the ship holding still as David gave his order. "Fire!" At that, the Whitmore fired a beam at the mothership, striking the shields and faintly penetrating it just enough to hit the door, which broke into flaming chunks as the shields faded. Inside, Twilight and her teammates sped past another large structure as they finally got a good look at the command center. It looked almost like an upside down cone, but with several mechanical parts and structures around it. As she took a brief stop in front of the ship, Twilight spoke as she waited for the missile lock-on to pick the target. "On behalf of all of Equestria, allow me to send you Harvesters this present!" As she said that, the lock-on beeped as Twilight fired, the long missile speeding towards the command center. Twilight sped away alongside her defending squadron, looking down at her control panel as the countdown started. "Okay, let's punch it! We've got half a minute to get out of dodge!" "THIRTY SECONDS?!" Rainbow cried out in shock and anger. "I'm fast Twi, but we can't make that!" Looking at the zap apple basket, Spike spoke up. "Yes we can!" Without asking, he took one of the used up battery packs as he placed the zap apple over it, crushing it as Twilight gave him a questioning look. "The zap apples aren't like normal apples, I think we can use it's magic to give us a boost out of here!" As insane as it sounded, Twilight was willing to take that chance. As Spike sealed the now mushy liquefied zap apple container and placed it into the battery slot, Twilight spoke up. "Everyone hold on!" "For what?!" Rainbow asked worriedly as Twilight trapped all of her escorting fighters and her own within a magical levitation bubble, Twilight replying as she pulled the control sticks towards her. "This!" At that word, Twilight and her escorting fighters skyrocketed across the mothership, a rainbow trail emitting from the ship's engines as they all sped towards the now flaming tunnel. As the mothership hovered in place, Applejack and Pinkie watched with the crowd of onlookers as they waited for Twilight's ship to exit the Harvester vessel. After passing three of the still intact support beams within the tunnel, Twilight and her friends could see the opening, flaming and clear of traffic as they all sped towards it. Looking down at the timer, they had only ten seconds left before they met certain doom. Hoping to soften the blow, Twilight held her shield, preparing for a big blast of fire as they sped out of the Harvester mothership. Pinkie and Applejack watched anxiously as their friends sped out from the mothership, the timer on one of the hangar's monitors counting down as they waited. "07, 06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01." As the timer glowed red, the mothership exploded in an enormous, brilliant fire, the two earth ponies taking a second to adjust their eyes as they tried to find Twilight. Their faces grew wide with horror as they couldn't see them at first... But after a few tense seconds, a pink bubble shot out of the explosion, a rainbow trail stemming from it as Twilight and Spitfire Squadron escaped their horrific destruction. "THEY MADE IT!!! THEY MADE IIIITTT!!!" Pinkie screamed joyfully as she hugged Applejack tightly, the hangar full of cheering creatures and Resistance officers as they celebrated the successful victory. "WAAAHOOO!!!" Twilight and Rainbow both cried out as they slowed down, their fellow flyers forming up with them as the explosion glowed behind them. "That. Was. BEYOND AWESOME, Twilight!" Rainbow said to her friend as the other surviving members of Spitfire Squadron cheered her on. "Heck yeah, it was!" Twilight laughed after saying that, sort of trying to take in what the heck they just did back there. As Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself, Soarin' asked, "So, is it over? Did we win?" Rainbow took a peek behind her ship, seeing the large explosion slowly dissipating before turning back towards the others. "Yeah, it sure looks like it." "Hopefully with the mothership destroyed, they should get disorganized without a force to lead them all." Twilight said as she smiled at the planet of Equus, comforted to know that their home was safe. "And it's all thanks to you Twilight." Rainbow said as the pilots of Spitfire Squadron looked to Twilight, her returning the gesture as she replied. "No, we all did it, together." As she said that, Twilight looked to the Whitmore before finishing. "Let's go home." With that, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Soarin', and the rest of Spitfire Squadron turned towards the flagship of the Resistance, flying towards it as they had finally won their short war against the Harvesters.
08: Victory-Abyssinia- 8:37 AM Capper sneakily walked through one of the last intact buildings within the city of Tabbytown, Chummer at his side as they both hid from the attacking alien ships. Shortly before Panthera had fallen to the invaders, the two Abyssinian felines were doing everything in their power to get away from the large saucer that was responsible for the destruction of their former home. Now, they were in a city that was right next to it, the sounds of lasers and explosions filling the area as a battle ensued between the aliens and... well, he sure knew the other combatants weren't his people, at least, not the ones in the sky. As the two bipedal cats sat against the wall of the building, Chummer spoke up. "Is this it, Capper? Is this... really how we're gonna go out?" Capper could only give a look of uncertainty as he answered his partner in crime. "I don't have a clue. I hope it ain't." As the two thieves sat in disturbed silence together, their ears perked as they heard a loud explosion, along with the sound of metal grinding from outside. Curious as to what caused that strange noise, Capper slowly stood from his spot, Chummer watching as he dared to take a peek outside. As the feline creature poked his head out of the open doorway, his eyes went wide as he looked up to the large ship near the city. Fire burst from various areas all around it, the underside of the vessel being engulfed in explosions as it began to descend. As hope had returned to Capper, he looked to his friend. "Chummer, look at this!" The feline in question stood up from his spot before taking a look past Capper, seeing the now burning alien vessel as three strange ships flew over them. As they stared at the falling warship, Capper and Chummer broke out into cheers of excitement, happy to know that this bringer of destruction had finally fallen. -Saddle Arabia- 8:57 AM Amira watched as the large Harvester destroyer charged it's cannon, preparing to fire as one of the Resistance fighters came towards it. Getting close to the cannon, it fired a missile before breaking away from the ship. As the missile struck the vessel, the cannon exploded in a ball of orange fire before that fire quickly spread all over the ship, the front and sides of the vessel bursting with flames as the huge ship began to descend. Looking behind her, she saw her people cry out in excited joy as they watched the Harvester warship crash to the ground. Turning to her right, Haakim smiled with satisfaction as he spoke to his friend. "It seems we have won, my dear Amira. The Harvester threat is no more." "Yes." The large mare replied, both of them looking to the burning wreck ahead of them as Amira continued. "Hopefully, with the mothership up there destroyed, our land is safe." -Starlight's Village- 8:58 AM Sugar Belle's horn glowed as she watched Night Glider, the mare flying over the city as she lured the damaged alien fighter to her friend. Taking her opportunity, she fired a powerful bolt of magic at the fighter, hitting it on it's right side as it began to spiral out of control. As the fighter crashed near the edge of the town, Sugar Belle's ears perked as she heard a loud boom from nearby. Turning around, she saw the large invading warship as it's underside exploded, the whole ship soon being engulfed in flames as Party Favor, Night Glider, and Double Diamond joined their friend. "Did... Did we do it?" Sugar Belle asked her friends, a faint smile forming on her face as Night Glider let out a cheer. "Yeah, we did!" As the large, burning vessel began to descend, the four friends cheered at the three incoming fighters that had arrived earlier to protect them, the alien fighters breaking away from the small town as one of the allied fighters pursued one of the attackers. -Ponyville Ruins- 8:58 AM Cheese Sandwich sat on his haunches in sorrow, sulking at the destroyed town of Ponyville. The poor stallion was coming to see Pinkie for a little party for a young filly here, but now... now it was just a broken ghost town, with some kind of large spaceship hovering over the mountain that had held Canterlot. Cheese wasn't sure what happened to Pinkie and her friends, they could have gone to somewhere safe before things got bad, or maybe they were indeed dead, buried underneath the rubble of the many homes of various ponies that lived here. But there was something strange, there were no bodies to be found. Surely they were rescued somehow, or evacuated before the town was destroyed. As Cheese pondered through his thoughts within the destroyed home of Pinkie Pie and her friends, a voice not familiar to him spoke. "I hope you are watching that ship up there, my dear friend." As the stallion swiftly turned his head to see who it was, he was shocked to see Discord standing next to him, a bowl of popcorn in his claws as Cheese began to speak. "What happened he-" Discord put a claw to his muzzle to shut him up before answering. "Just an FYI, your friends are safe, and that big ship up there is the cause of this disaster." As Cheese watched the large ship hover over Canterlot, he gasped as he understood what Discord had said. Then, lifting a claw up into the air, Discord continued. "And it's about time I forced some sort of chaotic payback for what they did earlier." Snapping a finger, the dented section of the destroyer exploded, the rest of the ship soon being covered in bursts of fire as the ship began to descend. Looking to Discord, Cheese asked Discord, "How did you do that?" Discord looked to him with a smug expression as he replied. "Oh, while I was up there in space with your friends, I took the time to see where that destroyer's big ol' core was." Cheese smiled with him as he continued to watch the burning ship fall to the surface, but looked back to Discord as he cleared his throat. "But, I'm behind schedule, so you're coming with me back to the Whitmore." "The wha-" Cheese tried to ask, but was cut off as Discord snapped another figure, both of them and Cheese's travel cart disappearing from the decaying town as the Harvester destroyer in the sky burned to the ground. -Peaks of Peril- 9:02 AM Autumn Blaze stood ready as her large, red horn glowed blue, her and her fellow kirin looking up to the large Harvester destroyer above them as it's cannon began to charge. Above them, a Resistance fighter flew towards the cannon, firing a beam at it as the shields flickered out. On the radio near the kirin leader, Rain Shine, the pilot gave the word. "Now!" At that moment, Autumn and the other kirin fired a collective wave of magic bolts at the cannon simultaneously, the large structure exploding as it was hit. As Autumn watched, she let out an excited cheer as the rest of the ship caught fire, the rest of her friends joining in with her as they watched the Harvester vessel slowly descend downwards towards them. Normally, she would be running as the large ship crashed above them, but with their magic slowly lifting the ship away from the mountain, their home would survive. Joining her fellow kirin in levitating the now slightly lighter wreck to the nearby edge of the mountain, Autumn Blaze grit her teeth as she strained herself. As the large ship slowly hit the pointy peaks of the mountain, Autumn and her fellow kirin released their grip before wiping their heads of the heavy amounts of sweat they had produced. Watching the Harvester vessel above groan as it began to turn away, Autumn and the kirin around her cheered a victorious cry of joy as the still burning ship began to slide off of the Peaks of Peril. -Whitmore Hangar Bay- 9:07 AM The enormous crowd within the hangar cheered and clapped as Twilight and the remnants of Spitfire Squadron entered the area, David and Jake walking out into the room as the fighters began to descend to the floor. As Twilight's fighter touched the ground, she pressed a button as her ship's cockpit window opened, Twilight and Spike hopping out of the fighter before being greeted by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The two hugged her and the dragon tightly, crying tears of joy as they were happy to see them alive. Nearby, Rainbow Dash took a bite out of Pinkie's cupcake before she flew out of her fighter and onto the floor, Scootaloo racing up to her before the two embraced. As the two broke off, Rainbow and Scootaloo trotted over to Twilight and her friends, the Wonderbolt's fellow squadmates flying over to them as well as David and Jake made their way to the group. Breaking the teary hug, Twilight looked to the two humans as her friends stood next to her. With Twilight and Rainbow's team ready for their debriefing, David spoke to them. "Good job, everyone. With that mothership down, we've got them on the run." "We've got reports of other areas across the planet being successful in destroying most of the remaining destroyers." Jake said as Twilight and her friends smiled at the news. As Twilight opened her mouth to speak, she stopped as Discord appeared near them, Pinkie growing an enormous grin as she saw who was accompanying him. "CHEESE!" "PINKIE! You're alive!" Cheese cried back as the two embraced, crying joyfully as Twilight looked to Discord. "What's the status of the Crystal Empire?" Discord gave a pleasant smirk as he answered the Princess of Friendship. "Well, despite our casualties, I think you'll be happy to know that the Empire is safe." The group let out cheers of excitement as they took in the news. Then, remembering something else that was there, "And Cadance and Shining Armor?" The draconequus gave a sad look as he replied. "Unfortunately, I didn't get word about their fate before I left. I don't know." Twilight's face fell to a sad frown as her friends comforted her, Applejack putting a hoof to Twilight's shoulder as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted over. "Don't worry, sugarcube, I'm sure they're okay." As the farmpony said that, Jake pointed past Twilight and her friends, all of them looking to the edge of the hangar to see at least three transports and several fighters entering the Whitmore. As the middle one touched the ground, the doors opened to reveal several ponies and other creatures. Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rainbow's parents, the Royal Sisters, Thorax, Chrysalis, and... two faces Twilight was hoping to see since the start of this disaster. "Cadance! Shining!" Twilight almost screamed joyfully as she galloped towards the two ponies, tears forming in her eyes as she hugged them tightly. As Shining Armor and Cadance returned the favor, the former spoke up. "We're so glad to know you're alright, Twiley, but try to be careful with us, we're still recovering." At that last part, Twilight broke from the hug, looking nervous as she looked at the two leaders of the Crystal Empire. Cadance let out a light laugh as she spoke to Twilight. "Yeah, it's taking some effort just trotting." "Sorry, sorry." Twilight replied apologetically as the doors of the other transports opened, Starlight, Sunburst, Trixie, and Flash Sentry trotting out from one of them as Spike looked to Thorax, amazed by his new appearance. "Whoa, Thorax, buddy! You look... more colorful." The young drake said with wide eyes as the changeling in question laughed a little, Chrysalis doing the same as Thorax replied. "Yeah, some things have gotten crazy down there." The two of them then turned towards Cadance, who looked up to Chrysalis as she spoke. "So, I'm guessing we're allies now, huh?" Chrysalis nodded as she replied. "Indeed, and after what happened down there... I think I owe you both an apology for the wedding crash from earlier." The changeling queen then gave a genuine look of shame as she regretted not realizing how bad her past actions were. "Well, after saving the Empire, and not to mention our lives, I think that's more than enough to prove it." Shining accepted Chrysalis' reply before playfully punching her hoof, the changeling queen smiling at the prince before they both looked to Rainbow Dash, who was chatting with Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger as they trotted forward. "You two did a great job down there, Fluttershy too." The two Wonderbolts smiled with salutes as Fluttershy blushed at Rainbow's comment. Then, Rainbow seemed to feel unsure about herself, Soarin', Gilda, and the other Wonderbolts looked to her as she spoke. "I don't know, if I'm supposed to be the leader of the Wonderbolts now, how can I compare to Spitfire? I got two of us killed back there." As Rainbow frowned at herself, Soarin' trotted over to his friend and leader, raising a hoof to her chin as to bring her eyes to his. "Well, if you want my thoughts on it," And as he said that, Soarin' pushed his muzzle against Rainbow's, some of the group and Resistance officers whistling and stomping hooves as the two flyers kissed. As the two pegasi broke their physical bonding, Soarin' finished with, "I think you'll fit right into that spot nicely." Rainbow smiled at her friend, both of them letting out laughs as Flash trotted over to Twilight, the latter looking to her friends as she spoke up. "I'm so proud of you all, because of you, we've once again saved Equestria from destruction. And even better, our races have come together as one at last." Shining raised a hoof as he replied to his sister. "Yeah, but it's not just us. If you hadn't flown into that mothership and blown it up, we'd all be dead." Celestia smiled warmly as she trotted up behind Twilight, putting a hoof onto her back as she added, "We're all proud of you Twilight, as you are of us." "If you want my view on it," Dylan said as he walked over to the group, all of them looking to the leader of Legacy Squadron as he continued. "We won because we stood together. As one force." "Very true." Luna said as they all looked to Pinkie Pie, who pulled out her party cannon from seemingly nowhere as she spoke up. "And now, I think it's time for a little celebration!" The group cheered as they agreed with the party pony, only to be silenced briefly by the Cakes. "Now now, don't use any of those fireworks, deary. You could damage the ship!" Mrs Cake warned as Pinkie gave a small pouting face, only for it to change into one of curious confusion as Discord spoke up. "Actually, I think I have the perfect choice for that. Captain Hiller, is that destroyer from the Crystal Empire still around?" The captain nodded as he replied. "Yes, it just left orbit and should be nearby." With that, Discord motioned for everyone to follow him to the edge of the hangar bay, everyone doing so as they trotted and walked towards the nearly invisible force field. As they stopped behind Discord, they could all see the last Harvester destroyer slowly flying away from the planet, but it's escape failed as Discord snapped his fingers, the ship's topside exploding as fire quickly spread all around the vessel. The group cheered as they watched the last destroyer burn away, Pinkie firing confetti from her party cannon as the group laughed at the sudden surprise as David looked to Twilight. "Um, excuse me, Princess? I hope you don't mind, but can I ask you something?" "Of course." Twilight replied as the Head Advisor for the Resistance asked his question. "Seeing how well you all did back there, how would you like to join the Resistance?" The group gave approving nods to David, Twilight smiling as she answered herself. "We wouldn't have it any other way." With that, Twilight and her friends watched the Harvester destroyer burn as it shot small specks of fire out from it, the 'fireworks' Discord was talking about now appearing for the show. "Oh, and I almost forgot to say it but, happy Independence Day, everyone." Discord added as the group let out light cheers and whistles before continuing to watch the fire show, some of the other creatures and Resistance officers trotting and walking over to watch as well. Today was a crazy experience for Equestria, they had been broken, but out of the fires of destruction, they were reborn. As one power. Granted, it would take time and effort to rebuild, to restore what was lost. But now they would also start anew, creating new relationships and advancements with the Harvester technology that was left. And today, the day that the Harvesters had fallen, would be celebrated by the Equestrian nations for eons to come. Today was indeed their day to fight back, today was the day that Equestria... had won. THE END
