Author's Note

I'm so sorry for the long wait! ended up super busy with classes and such and couldn't find much time to write, ended up kicking this chapter aswell as another out before classes started again. I hope you all enjoy it! leave a comment for anything you think i can improve on and ill see you in the next chapter!

Any Landing You Can Walk Away From...

What was supposed to be a joyous occasion was ruined due to a massive attack from the creatures known only as the changelings. Luna was splayed on her side next to her sister Celestia with the element bearers trapped on their sides in a corner by a squadron of the bugs. Chrysalis was bearing down on her sister when suddenly she halted, as if struck. Than she suddenly screamed " WHAT?!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN DEMOLISHED?!” “YES I KNOW WHAT DEMOLISHED MEANS BUT HOW DID IT HAPPEN!” she suddenly backed away, as if filled with fear and recognition, as if they had done something she had missed when in reality they were just as clueless as she was just moments ago.

“MY SUBJECTS! SCATTER! OUR HOME HAS BEEN DEMOLISHED BY A SNEAK ATTACK FROM THESE TRICKSTER PONIES!!!!! THEY HAD EVEN ME FOOLED!!!!” and with that she turned and blasted a window, and took to the skies along with her army, desperate to get away from equestria. Luna had guessed what had happened, though every-pony else in the room remained clueless, the spacefarer had made his landing, and it had not been a happy one. Cadence dashed across the room toward shining armor while twilight and her friends tried to gather their strength to stand up. Celestia stood up and looked at her, sudden realization flaring in her eyes, this made sense because earlier the night before she had told Celestia of her meeting with the creature.

Celestia nodded and turned toward the others and raised her voice to be heard “Is every pony all right?” receiving nods from every pony in the room she continued “I think i know what has occurred that made them flee. A colossal ship has crashed into the changeling hive, causing them to scatter. I only recognize this event because last night Luna made contact with the creatures on board this vessel and told me of their meeting, the ship was badly damaged and on a collision course with our planets soil.”

Every pony but Celestia and luna herself was surprised to hear of an alien arrival on their planet, especially twilight, and on this day of all times. " We can count ourselves lucky that the ship chose this day to arrive, but we cannot relax and rebuild yet, there are survivors aboard the craft that must be rescued, for all we know they could be badly injured, and we owe it to them to save them after they unknowingly saved us. I will remain here to oversee repairs while luna and the element bearers journey to the crash site to attempt a search and rescue operation, remember first contact protocol! And good luck every pony. Sister, gather twilight and her friends and come to the throne room. We will prepare you for the operation there.

Meanwhile in the escape pod...

The first sense of consciousness hit my ears as a loud ringing noise as i slowly opened my eyes to see the view-screen had completely shattered, but otherwise the pod seemed fine. " Fluff-ball! Fluff-ball! Wake up!” I let out a groan and lift my arm to grab the AI chip and put it back in the, in the... FUCK IT im just gonna call it the codex. I reach out my arm and grab her chip, than insert it into the Codex, as i do so i hear my earpiece click as she channels her voice through its speaker.

" Thank goodness your OK, we made it down but the rest of the ship seems to have crashed into something. I don’t know what it hit but its definitely made something angry. We cant stay here. Secure your gear and get going.” After nodding in acknowledgement i reach for the harness holding me in the seat and unclick it, letting it fall to the side. I turned and stood up, grabbing the strap for the ammo pack as i passed. Crawling to the back hatch of the pod and prying it open i turned and halted, completely shocked, for what stood on the horizon was the wreckage of the ship that Winter once called home.

“holy shit, Thats the ship we were in?!” I exclaimed, completely surprised. I honestly hadn’t expected the ship to be so big. Looking across the wreckage i felt the full weight of dread hit my stomach as i realized what we had to do, we couldn’t run the other direction, we had to go in there, because everything we would need to survive here would likely be in that wreckage, even if somethings broken its still useful, because something that’s broken can be fixed. Although im not sure i can fix that big a ship i can probably fix some of the equipment INSIDE it.

“yep, that’s the arctic freezer, but see those black spots? I don’t want to find out what they are, we should leave.”

" im afraid not Winter.”

“wait wha-”

“its not an argument winter, we don’t have a choice, all the equipment we need to survive out here is in that wreckage, and like it or not we arn’t gonna get far without it.”

It was silent for a moment as she processed what i just said, for a second i felt kinda bad, but than i mentally slapped myself. What else could i have done? Lied and said everything would be fine and walk away? No! She may not like it but me being honest with her is my best chance at earning both her trust and respect, and i couldn’t exactly walk in there without telling her all that. " Your right, i don’t know what i was thinking. Hang-on, some of your suit systems still haven’t booted yet. I’m going to begin a system diagnostic, hold on.”

As she said that i watched as my HUD winked out, than one by one icons appeared on the middle of the Visor and moved to their respective corner, the Shield Icon moved straight up and transformed into a Half Full bar that slowly started filling. A rifle icon winked in and moved to the bottom right of the Visor, than winked into a Sideways T Chart, Displaying both the MA5B rifle and its ammo count, and the Magnum Pistol and its ammo readout, the pistol on the bottom and the rifle on the top. Than a radar icon appeared, wait radar? That’s new! Guess that’s what she meant by not being fully booted yet. The radar moved to the bottom left and boosted in size, than the bar started spinning around like a radar normally would, than a green apple icon appeared at the center of the visor, than moved to the top left of the HUD and split into another sideways T chart with an apple on the top left corner, the top right of the Sideways T Chart filled with a green bar about 89% of the way across, i know this because it also spat out a percentage. “Huh, guess the suit detects my Vital signs.”

A water droplet icon appeared and also went to the top left, the droplet split from the blue icon and went to the bottom left of the sideways T chart while the blue splashed into the bottom right and filled it 90% of the way. Than a battery icon appeared and moved to the top right of the HUD, it also split into a Bar, sitting at around 79% full.

" Alright your suit seems to be fully operational now, just be careful, the battery usage increases when its trying to recharge the shields.” Makes sense to me, just gotta be careful. Drawing the MA5B Assault rifle from its magnetic holster on my back i started my long march to the wreckage, keeping fast and low to avoid whatever those black things flying around are. To our relief as time went by and we got closer and closer, we watched as the creatures drew further and further away from the wreckage, guess we crashed into their home and their scattering. Phew! For a second i thought we were gonna have to, WHAM! one of the black things SMASHED into me and sent me flying back, and in the tussle i dropped the rifle, shit. I quickly got to my feet and drew my Pistol, swinging around toward the red dot behind me and aiming straight between their eyes. Holy shit this thing looks like luna, but its much bigger and its got holes all around, its glowing green eyes blazing with anger it turned to address me. " WHO ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HIVE!” well, shit.