Who were they?
Why did they come?
What do they want?
Where did they come from?
When did they arrive?
Why are they doing this?
Why didn't the Harmony Beam work on them?!?!?
All these questions and more flew through Twilight's mind as she sat against the side of the Carousel Boutique, holding her left shoulder as it bled. She winced and hissed as a lance of pain went up her arm, and she looked down at the gash once again. She didn't understand how anycreature could be so careless, so cruel, so....heartless. The insectoids had come quickly, without so much as a hello and began slaughtering the townsponies. The smallest ones were the size of an average pony, the largest coming up to half the height of the Castle of Friendship.
The Mane Six had used the elements of Harmony shortly after the killing started, but to no avail. The beam simply passed through the insect-like attackers as though it were nothing more than sunshine. She had tried to conceive why this was, but the only conclusion she could come up with was...they had no heart, good or evil. They had no core purpose. They just...were.
My Legacy - Aaron Velen
She looked up to the remnants of Ponyville and despaired at what she saw. Multiple buildings were either destroyed, on fire or in the process of being demolished. Mayor Mare was there...and there...and over there too. Big Mac was in two pieces, Rarity was dead, and Fluttershy had disappeared. She took in the carnage with abject horror, despairing in her heart, as there was nothing else she could do to help them. Even with her Alicorn magic, she couldn't fight off every single one of them. After the Elements of Harmony didn't work, she just blasted the infernal creatures herself. But they just kept coming. Like a never-ending wave. She had eventually been overwhelmed and had to blast her way out of the deadly dogpile. That's when she was injured. She started crying, letting her sobs loose as she resigned herself to the fact that this was the end. She and everyone in Ponyville was going to die.
Just then, a chittering sound broke her from her pity pondering with a start. She looked up and saw one of the smaller invaders, the sharp, curved mandibles clicking together as it stalked towards her. She whimpered and tried making herself smaller, folding her arms and curling into the fetal position, burying her head in her chest, shrinking away from the beast as it inched closer towards her. She could feel its breath, smell the carnage still in its jaw, no doubt the remnants of her closest friends.
Just then, it made a shrill shrieking noise, then she heard it run past her, out toward the Everfree. She dared to look up and saw it was indeed gone, and the other creatures were gathering together like a formation, bristling and stomping and calling out in roars and shrieks. She sensed something in them. Something in the air. It was...that was...fear? She was confused, because there was no way. Theses creatures...were afraid? What on Equus could make these unstoppable invaders feel fear? She then heard what sounded like explosions in the distance, coming from the field that housed the creek that fed the Everfree river. After that, there was silence, then something akin to...stomping? Then she heard something that she would never forget for the rest of her life.
GOLIATH. ONLINE.
A column of two-legged metal monsters rushed past the Carousel boutique, making exploding sounds and light coming from two barrels mounted under a large sphere that sat on two legs. The smaller insectoid invaders fell by the droves as little holes appeared all over their bodies. They...they were shooting them! But...were they invaders too? Some of the machines fell as the larger insectoids swiped at them with their large, curved tusks, but then the ground lit up with a bright explosion as the Ursa Minor-sized monstrosities were blown to bits.
Then she heard a gruff voice, "Ghost! Mark the other Ultralisks for Siege tank fire now! Firebats! On the Zerglings! Marines! Defend and extract civilians! Move!" Several smaller newcomers rushed past her, those in orange metal ignoring her and spraying the insectoids with napalm. A blue-clad newcomer lifted her up and moved her out of the town limits, and though it surprised her she was too shocked to protest. She also saw other newcomers holding ponies and moving them away from the fight. Well, now she knew they weren't invaders. She hoped.
"Tell the Protoss we need backup!"
Seconds later, she saw a blue light shoot down from the sky followed by gray, faceless creatures in yellow armor rushing past her and her blue metal savior into the fray, arcs of energy appearing from their wrists. She heard...in her mind? "For Auir!" then lost sight as they entered the Everfree. She saw airborne, winged machines above the trees shooting what looked like magic, she assumed at the creatures. Then, in horror, she saw more insect-like winged attackers shooting the aircraft! Just when she thought the tide was turned again, enormously huge, T-shaped aircraft appeared out of nowhere and raked down the airborne insects easily, providing much needed support to their smaller counterparts.
After what seemed like an eternity, she was set down on some grass in a clearing by the pony-er-creature that saved her. She looked up at it, the mirror-like visor that hid its face showing her reflection. She saw for the first time how ragged she was, and started sobbing again. The visor hissed open, and a strange creature like a cross between a bear and monkey looked at her, with tussles of dark hair framing his face and stubble dotting his skin. "Hey," he said, that same gruff voice from earlier now softer, "you're safe. We got most of you out. My team's taking care of the Zerg as we speak. You're OK. You're sa-" He stopped mid-sentence as Twilight latched onto his armor, sobbing into his chest plate. He didn't really know what to do, so he gently patted her back with an armored hand.
He tried gently pulling her off but she wouldn't let go. He saw a Medic nearby and waved her over. "Can you take care of her, ma'am?" he asked. "She needs treatment." The medic nodded. "Yes, Marshal," she replied.
She turned her attention to Twilight, and slowly coaxed her off of her commander. "Hey, hon," she said gently. "Why don't we get you and your friends cleaned up, ok? The Marshal here's got other places to be." Twilight shook her head profusely, refusing to let go. He chuckled, patting her on the back. "Hey, I've got more of your friends I need to go get."
That got her attention. She looked up at him, her tear streaks clearly visible. "You...you promise?" He nodded.
"Yeah. I promise. Friends?" Twilight nodded slowly.
"Yeah. Friends."
"I'm Jim."
"Twilight Sparkle."
"Pleasure, Miss Sparkle. Now my medic here's gonna get you all in tip top shape."
"O-okay," she responded as she finally let go. She turned toward the medic and her jaw went agape at what she saw. A veritable metal city surrounded the Castle of the Two Sisters, other creatures like Jim and the medic walking to and fro, some floating machines performing various tasks. The medic put an arm around the lavender pony. "Miss Sparkle, welcome to the New Dominion home base."
