They came quickly, far too quick for defenses to be readied in time. Some were patient and waited on the advancing ships, while others were more hasty, and dove into the water to swim the remaining distance. Regardless of how they reached dry land, the city of Vanhooven was soon under seige by the strangest of creatures. Creatures that had their bare skin exposed, wore clothes at all times, and walked on two legs.
When the first creature reached shore, he screamed a war cry and drew a sharp, bladed metal object from a sheath at their side. His skill in using it was incredible, and his grip on it was unlike anything anypony had ever seen. A brave pony approached him—unsure if he should talk or fight—but the creature deftly swung the blade at him, cutting a shallow, but long gash into his skin. When ponies saw the blood from the stallion's side, most of them ran.
Twilight Sparkle was sitting calmly at her desk, calculating. The grape vine had told her that someone in the Vanhooven area knew a very powerful spell that she was interested in learning. After her encounters in the past, she was unsure how reliable the Elements of Harmony would be, and thus she wanted to learn more about defending herself and vanquishing evil without them. Her calculations related to the most efficient way to locate this stallion, who would no doubt take a long time to track down.
She heard a large group sprint by her current residence. She initially thought it was just another stampede, but then she remembered she wasn't in Ponyville...curiously, she looked up from her desk to her window. Ponies of all colors, ages, and species were running as fast as they could...from the way they looked back, clearly away from something. She noticed that there were very few unicorns in the crowd, as well...which was strange, because Vanhooven had roughly equal distribution of the three species.
Twilight stepped outside, only to see a horrifying sight she'd never forget—a strange creature chopping off the horn of some poor unicorn. The mare cried in pain, blood running down her face as her horn clattered to the ground unceremoniously. Fear, pain, and instinct merged in her mind, and she quickly joined the group running from the city. The creature chuckled, and quickly tied the horn to one of the many holes in the back of his weapon, where several other unicorn horns already hung.
Twilight was scared, for both the ponies around her and herself—after all, a unicorn's horn was what allowed them to cast magic, and without magic, she would be nothing. She looked back at the running crowd, then over to the creature, who was beginning to approach her slowly. She sighed, and with a little hesitation, got down into a battle stance. The creature stared at her from a distance, as curiously as she might regard him were he not clearly malicious. A similar creature behind him held strange devices up to their eyes, but this one's hand made them hold their fire. Eventually, the creature raised his head and spoke. "...Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
The figure was briefly taken aback by this show of disrespect, she could see it in his eyes, but he didn't let it bother him too much. "My name's of no importance to you, pony," twisting the word as if it were an insult, "but we are called humans, and we are taking what we need."
As the human said "we," Twilight noticed how many of the creatures were roaming the city. They walked the streets, attacking ponies—some using swords like the man Twilight spoke to, others firing devices like the ones the humans behind him held. Foreign ships were docked in the harbor; no doubt, their vessels. It all looked so strange, though; what were their weapons?
"I bet you're wondering about these," the man said suddenly, surprising Twilight with his correct guess. "Allow me to educate you...these tools are rather barbaric, but they're perfect for taking you out. The gentlemen behind me are holding what we call crossbows—they fire metal bolts at incredible speeds. Your pegasi won't be able to hide in the clouds with our arrows in your skies."
"And this," he announced, holding out his weapon to the side. The horns clacked together, and Twilight wondered if the horn of the stallion she sought was on it. "this is a sword. Sharpened to a deadly edge, it's perfect for crippling unicorns like yourself. Not so tough without your magic, are you?"
Ponies were dying around Twilight as more of the humans chased them down, but she couldn't move to help them. Deaf to their screams of agony, she could only hear what this man had to say. "Why are you doing this, though?! We never did anything to you humans! Why would you attack us so brutally like this?!"
The human's sly smile vanished. "Didn't you hear me the first time? I said, we're taking what we need...and what we need is land. Yours is the most inhabitable, the closest, and the easiest to steal...you ponies are so fragile." Twilight knew that couldn't be true, but she persisted on questioning the man. "What's wrong with your land, though?"
At once, his eyes flashed with rage. "What's wrong with our land?!" He shouted back at her, as if that was the most foolish thing she could ask. "There's not enough of it, that's what! There are millions of us—we need a country of our own, not some tiny island that's not even on the map!" Twilight raised her hoof to protest that there was a much more peaceful solution than war, but the human stopped her. "And don't act like you could want us around—there's a reason we were put on that Celestia-forsaken rock in the first place!"
If Twilight wasn't frozen already, she was petrified now—the human knew Princess Celestia?! "But that's enough small-talk..." he growled, keeping his furious expression as he readied his sword for a quick swipe. "Now, it's time I put you in your place!" He sprinted towards Twilight at incredible speeds, jumping at the last moment to bring the blade down on her head.
