Author's Note

Scootaloo's an orphan in this story.

Chapter 1: Arrival

Guardian awoke abruptly, all she could see was a grey haze but the sounds of sparking electronics and fire confirmed what she thought. A fire had broken out as a result of the crash, Immediately ripping off her seat harness she ripped the emergency fire extinguisher off the wall and smothered the flames with a dry powder. She then grabbed the closest of her squad mates, who happened to be Stormwalker, along with her gremlin and brought outside through the doors on the side of the cockpit. Once she got outside she led Stormwalker on the ground and activated her gremlin, ordering it to preform a medical detail before going back inside the skyranger to get everyone else. She wasn't going to let any more die on her watch.

Guardian worked long through the night trying her hardest to keep everyone alive and intact, but there was only so much she could do, Wolfmother and Demon had sever burn on their left arm and right leg respectively that would take months to heal, Fatal had suffered some head trauma during the crash but it was nothing major that some rest couldn't fix, the worst however had been firebrand. Due to her not being secured during the crash she was thrown around the ship resulting in several broken ribs that punctured her lungs, she was dead within minutes of being pulled out.

Everyone with the exception of Fatal had awoken and quickly brought up to speed on what had happened.

"Central Firebrand is down, we need a pickup." Stinger said into the emergency two way radio of the ship. Everyone was very relieved when they found it to still be functional.

That relief was quickly striped from them when no reply came.

"Central this is Menace. Do. You. Read." They were met with nothing once again.

Stinger let out a long exasperated sigh before turning to the squad. "Alright, does anyone have any idea where we are."

Raven stepped forward "No, our flight route was supposed to pass over nothing but ocean." she stated.

"Well I gotta say this a lot better than drowning." Hat Trick joked trying to lighten the mood.

Stinger pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, me and Guardian will stay here and secure a perimeter. You three." He gestured to Hat Trick, Stormwalker, and Raven ."Scout out the surrounding area, see if there is anything we can use like sources of water or food, maybe even civilization."

"What about us boss?" Wolfmother called out smoking a brand new cigar, while she would've gladly take the excuse to relax, in the current situation she wanted to help as much as she could and Demon mirrored this sentiment.

Stinger turned to face the two wounded soldiers. "Wolfmother check the skyranger and see what else still works, but if its completely totalled we can still use it as shelter. Demon check what supplies we have, there should be an emergency stash under the flooring."

With that everyone had their objectives, Wolfmother helped Demon get to the skyranger, while the scouting party split up to cover as much ground as possible. Stinger then turned to Guardian, who he just now realised was still kneeling next to firebrands body, she hadn't left since she died.

He walked over to her and knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey." he began "I know its cold comfort but she would've wanted us to keep going. So how about we get up and secure the perimeter to make that wish of hers come true." He said with a reassuring smile.

Guardian turned to look at him, her emotions were still hidden behind her glasses and stony face but stinger could feel a bit of hope coming off her. "Alright... At least she'll get a burial, that's better than what most of us will probably get." She stated rather coldly. And with that she got up and moved to secure the area around the skyranger.

(Meanwhile near Ponyville)

Scootaloo was board. She had absolutely nothing to do, Rainbow Dash was away in the Crystal Empire so she couldn't help her learn to fly. The other crusaders were busy, Applebloom having to help do Applejack's chores while she was also away at the Crystal Empire, and Sweety Bell having to look after the boutique for Rarity while she was also gone. Sure Fluttershy asked her to feed her animals while she was gone, but Scootaloo had already done that. She could go back to the orphanage but she was the only foal there so she would just be board somewhere else.

So this is where she found he self riding back to Ponyville, thinking of something to do. Then she remembered what happened last night, a weird sound came from the Everfree but no one went to check out what it was, they had all said it was likely some monster and it was too dangerous. But Scootaloo saw something else, she saw adventure and excitement awaiting her and maybe even a cutey mark.

And with that Scootaloo changed direction and moved towards the Everfree.

Guardian scanned the surrounding area, no one had actually spotted anything of note so everything was silent. Fatal had woken up soon after the squad split up and helped in securing the area by claiming on top of the skyranger and use it as an overwatch point.

"I have come across something peculiar." Stormwalker stated calmly over the radio.

"What is it?" stinger asked speaking into his com.

"A beast the likes of which has only been seen in legends, a manticore." Stormwalker replied.

"Wait are you telling me there's mythological creatures in this forest." Hat Trick said with a chuckle thinking this was a joke.

"Yes." Was the only reply Stormwalker gave.

Raven next spoke over the coms. "If you killed it bring it back to the camp I will see if we can eat it."

"Of course the Reaper says that." Hat Trick snarked. "Oh and by the way I found a river so were good for water."

Demon then chose this time to hobble out of the skyranger cursing all the while. "I'd say we've got a weeks worth of food for all of us and around twelve thousand rounds total, so don't be afraid to shoot anything, were good on ammo. Also Wolfmother said that the solar panels, ramp, and some lights work but everything else is cooked."

Guardian was about to respond but she heard a sudden rustling in the bushes. She trained her rifle on the bush, along with everyone else at the campsite, and she slowly approached.

She had messed up, Scootaloo never should have gone into the Everfree. Everything had gone well up until this point, she hadn't run into any monsters and she could follow her scooters track back out so she wouldn't get lost. Then she heard what sounded like somepony talking.

Her curiosity peeked, Scootaloo moved towards the voices to see who else was out here with her. When she got close enough she saw three of the strangest creatures she had ever seen. They stood on two legs and had claws like appendages on the ends of their arms, much like spike. Unlike spike however these things were tall, REALLY tall, Scootaloo would only come up to about their knees. They also only had hair on their heads from what Scootaloo could see, and they all wore strange boxy armour, except one who looked like they were wearing snake skin, and carried boxy objects in their 'claws'.

The one wearing snake skin then asked what something was to seemingly nopony but the look on their face looked like he was having a conversation with somepony.

A fourth creature then came out of the metal structure in the centre of the clearing saying something about how much food they had and how they had a lot of 'ammo'. Scootaloo had no idea what the second thing the creature said as her mind began to work. 'Ammo kind of like arrow, maybe those thing they're holding are fancy looking crossbows?' She thought.

A chill ran up her spine at the idea of these creatures having weapons. She began to back away but bumped into a tree, thinking it was a monster Scootaloo flailed around slightly rustling the bush she was hid in. The creatures were all pointing their weapons in her direction now, alerted by the noise, and one of the creatures was coming closer. All Scootaloo could do was freeze as her legs gave out on her in fear.