"There will always be an England."

6th of January, 1007 ALB (1962 AD)

05:45 Hours

New Manehattan

National Guard Headquarters

The air within the New Manehattan Garrison's administrative office was filled with ciggarete smoke and the moon's light that was now dimming into the ground.

The only people in that room were a couple of staff officers and the occasional bureaucratic stallion or mare that was given the unfortunate night shift trotting about. All of them were moody and tired. The only one amongst them that wasn't tired was an thestral stallion who was on guarding duty.

The smell of coffee was also evident and the sounds of typewriter clickings, and papers being moved for the ponies that did the dayshift. However, the night shift was a boring one most of the time. Simply endless paperwork and moving folders about.

Captain Red Waters, an unicorn stallion, was in his office as he rubs his eyeballs with his forehooves for the 10th time. He was extremely tired.

His horn was illuminated, holding a pen in its' magical grasp as he looked back down at the paperwork infront of him. It was essentially just numbers and statistics, logistics and supplies and trainings to be held. He sighed as he placed his cheek against his hoof, before he continued to fill out a form. And then another one. Sweet Celestia, when does this end?

The clock's ticking seemed to go on forever, and it was starting to give him a migrane. Mostly due to the fact that it was the only other sound other than trot of hooves and the clickings of typewriters.

After he finally completes the first paper, he sighs, the magic levitating the paper to a pile of completed documents as his grasp moves from the pile to his left to the pile to his right to grab another paper. It was a logistics one. 1,400 new rifles were to arrive in 2 days' time from Equestria as shipment for the 16th Armed Police Regiment. He inhaled, as he silently prayed for something to interrupt this bland cycle.

And Fate would grant his wish.

Suddenly, the door infront of him opened, as a mare that looked exhausted and miserable in that staff outfit. She simply levitated an envelope that had "URGENT" on it, onto the Captain's desk and without a word left the room.

Red Waters stared at the envelope for a brief second, before he levitated the envelope, opened it and then pulled out white partchment. This better not be another incide-

His thoughts were interrupted by what he read. The partchment detailed reports of encounters of several robot and robot-like people, alongside an alien species. They spoke perfect Equestrian somehow and, when they were asked by some braver police, they told some very disturbing stories. Also, a city was discovered in a location 50km away from the Aquilian border, that wasn't there before.

The office of the mayor had requested that the New Manehattan National Guard check it out. Red Waters now wondered why he had tempted fate.

He fliped the envelope upside down, which had pictures in it. All of the pictures showed either bipedal ape-like creatures holding what looked like submachineguns, but longer. Some of them contained robots that looked something out of a science fiction tales he had read when he was a child, not reality. Alongside some bipedal beings in armor. Each picture looked more disturbing and frightful than the last. Someone ought to remind him to REALLY not tempt fate next time.

He rubbed his eyeballs again, before he slid down off the chair onto his hooves before he trotted out of the office. His next destination being the barracks.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to wake up the ponies and get them to come with him to investigate.

06:30 Hours

2km away from London

Major Edmud Blackadder sat down on a crate as he simply read the latest, rather short, issue of the glorified toilet paper called "Queen and Country". It was only one page, go figure, which basically just showcased the english tommy getting out of a door, inside said door being explosions and fires, while the briton said "This reality is uncivilized for my liking!" while showing in the background the other countries were potrayed as wild animals fighting each other to the death while the civilized briton was holding a briefcase with "COLONY PEOPLES" written on it.

In Blackadder's opinion, it was a waste of artistic talent as by the end of the day, these things would all be used.

All around Blackadder was a whirlwind of movement, with the quadropod automech's legs stomping on the ground, dragging heavier parts, while the duopods were moving about into their respective positions to form a wall of iron surrounding the city of London, their machineguns aiming into the distance, alongside several other tanks and IFVs. Sandbags could be seen as far as the eye could see, with several minor gaps to allow reconnissance units access. Hardsuit personnel were patroling the areas around the flanks while helicopters would come from the city and out of it for resupply.

Approximately 853,000 bodies were put to the circle of defense against any potential alien that dared to trespass upon the ancient city of London.

Blackadder sighed, grabbing the cup of tea, moving it to his lips as he sipped it. He placed it back down on the coup and continued to put down his bordem but simply looking at the painted partchment.

Then, Sergeant Baldrick came over with a pair of binoculars. "Sir! I saw something!"
Blackadder immediately groaned, knowing Baldrick's mental capacity all too well. No amount of synethic brain matter could hope to give this man a functioning head. Blackadder lowered the magazine and turned his head to look at Baldrick. "Really? What did you see? Another rather colourfull turnip perhaps?"

"Unfortunately not, sir. But I did see a very tiny blimp of white coming towards us sir!" Baldrick replied. Blackadder lowered his head to look at the Sergeant's hands. "Baldrick, are you sure it is not because your eyes are straining due to the fact that you are using the binoculars the wrong way?" he looked back up at Baldrick's face.

"I.." Baldrick began before he looked back down at his hands, before looking back at the Major. "..I know what I saw, sir! It was very small, sir!"
Blackadder looked back at the magazine. "Unless you managed to look inside your head to see your very small brain, I am rather busy. "
Baldrick, now fustrated, just pointed at the direction in which he saw the small blip of white. "Major, look!"

Blackadder, deciding to entertain Baldrick's possible delusions, looked up from the magazine, following Baldrick's pointed finger and ready to confirm Baldrick's stupidity once again. But alas, it wasn't to be. Blackadder immediately also saw the blip that was coming towards them. He gets up, grabs the binoculars out of Baldrick's hands, and putting them to his eyes to recognize that those were older-looking trucks in the distance.

After blinking for a moment, and staring at the incoming convoy that was already showing several other trucks driving over, he lowered the binoculars. "Well, it seems we have company. " he mutters before he shoves the binoculars to Baldrick. He afterwards grabbed a controller, pushing the button to activate the alarms on the intercoms behind him as the wail of the alarms began to burst through, alerting every single soldier in the defensive perimeters. Blackadder then brought a microphone to his mouth, shouting upon them one order over and over: " BATTLE STATIONS! "

Damn it. The aliens noticed us.

Those were the thoughts of Captain Red Waters as the three trucks full of armed ponies were driving towards the unkown city infront of them. The wails of the alien intercoms were loudly clear that they had been noticed. Red Waters looked at the ponies in his truck, all of them exhausted from being awaken in the middle of their sleep, but they were attentive. He leaned down, as he asked "Who here has a white cloth?"

The lot of them looked at each other, before they looked at the medic in the truck. The mare was asleep, still tired and clearly not in a shape for this kind of expedition as the rifle in her hoof was slooping down. The stallion next to her gave a light kick in the hind leg, as she bluttered awake.

"W-Wha- What?" she muttered out as she looked around the truck, noticing eyes on her before she looked at the captain, her eyes asking what he desires from her.

"A white cloth, do you have it?" he repeated his request. The medical mare blinked before she frowned, clearly unhappy that she had been awaken for something as simple as a cloth. She pulled her medical bag, and held it open with her hooves. Red Waters nodded before he levitated the cloth out of her hooves and next to him. Good timing too, as a small blurt was heard from the distance, before a firey explosion hit the grassland that was next to the dirt-road. The explosion came afterwards, and the smoke cleared, the destroyed area was approximately 2.5 meters wide on all sides.

Then, they saw it. 6 metalic beasts, all bipedal, holding what looked like artilery pieces in their..claws? or whatever those were. The immediate concern was the fact that those things were aiming that artilery at them. The convoy stopped immediately, as whatever exhaustion in that truck was eliminated by a stream of adrenline. Some of the ponies immediately began to aim their rifles at the metal beasts that had surrounded them. But the size of the barrels in the beast's clawed hooves made even the bravest of the stallions shiver with fear as they, by now as quickly as their superior officer had, recognized that an attack from these things would mean the death of them all in an instant. So, they kept aiming but did not fire, and try as they might, they could not stop the fear that was now lurking into them. None of them dared to move, not even Captain Red Waves.

After a nerve-recking few minutes, one of the beings, the one in the center of the half-ring of the metal soldiers, spoke in a low-rumbling mechanical voice. "Identify yourself. "

"Identify yourself." ordered Captain Bennet, as he held his shellgun high. He had fired the shell as a warning, which had promptly done its' job and stopped the alien convoy that had armed ponies. One of the hardsuit soldiers muttered through the internal radio, "are these ponies wearing bloody british outfit?"

This pointed-out fact was noticed by the other soldiers as well. These ponies seemed to have largely outdated by imperial standards, at the best what they had would be counted as First Great War technology. The fact that there were also ponies that were smaller in size, such as those with wings. And some had horns, like the mythical stories of the old world. Those stories, it seemed, would no longer be fiction, but very much reality.

Silence filled the air, none of the animals daring to speak up. No matter, Bennet was simply waiting for something else to arrive. The air was suddenly filled with the sounds of rotor blades slicing the air, as an attack helicopter and a utility helicopter circled the convoy, before they filled the air gaps, the attack helicopter hovering infront of the convoy, while the utility helicopter hovering behind it, at the side, of it, the men aboard it already aiming the machine guns and assault rifles from the sides of the helicopters.

Even the ponies could see it: one wrong move and they wouldn't have time to regret their decisions. Not even the pegasi would be capable of flying away lest the minigun of the attack helicopter shredding its' wings with ease. Whatever bravery the ponies had was now snuffed out, paving the way for greater amounts of fear.

It seemed the Ministry of Defence's insistant ordering of saving as many of Britain's arsenal was paying off.

Bennet repeated his order: "Identify yourself."

Silence, except for the sounds of the rotor blades, swept the land. The alarm had long been silenced.

Red Waters had never felt such fear. It was a primal fear of the unkown. He didn't know what he was dealing with here. These things that looked like minotaur-looking beings that were taller than anything he had ever seen. The entire convoy was paralyzed with fear.

Bennet was getting impatient. "This is your last warning. Identify yourself." he said as he raised his shellgun up. The other 5 men did so as well, aiming their shellguns at the convoy, ready to unleash hell upon them and send them to their maker.

Red Waters noticed this, blinking immediately before he quickly looked around for the cloth, levitating it up and waving it. "Wait, don't shoot!" he blurted out.

"You speak English, that's good. " Bennet muttered. "Who are you?"

English? What the hay is Eng- No, focus! Red Waters immediately replied with a fast-paced "Iamcaptainredwaterspleasedontkillme!".

Bennet didn't hear, and quite frankly, he didn't see the need for the helicopters. The rotor blades were loud. He looked at them, and gestured for them to go away.

The radio beamed. "Unit leader has control of situation. Return to base." as the two helicopters flew away, leaving them in silence. Good riddance.

"Repeat what you said." Bennet said as he looked back at the red unicorn.

"U-uh..I am Captain Red Waters of the New Manehattanite National Guard. " Red Waters got slightly calmer, seeing those flying things go away. "If you don't mind me asking, what a-are you?"

Bennet, seeing these ponies were of no trouble to them, lowered his shellgun. "A human." he merely said. "Well.." he said as he looked down at himself. "..an enhanced human, that is."

Red Waters was now confused. Hiuman? "Hiuman?" he asked.
"Human with just the 'u'." corrected Bennet. "That uniform looks awfully british."

Again, Red Waters was confused, not understanding what this..'human' meant by 'british'. "I don't know what you mean by breetish."

Bennet sighed internally. They would learn later. Bennet spoke again. "British is the nationality I am. I hail from the United Kingdom of Imperial Britain and Ireland." He shrugged. "I do suppose you can tell your superiors to just call us Imperial Britain. I am not sure many irishmen survived. "

"Ok, uh.." Red Waters blinked as he blurted out, trying to proccess the information. "...uh..what's the city there?" He points a hoof at the city infront of him.

Bennet turned around, looking at it for a moment before turning around. "That's London. We managed to escape with it. "
Red Waters, curious, asked "Escaped with it? How?"

"The reality manipulation machine. " answered Bennet, adding further to Red Waters' confusion. "No, I can't comment on it."

"I- uh.." Red Waters mirrored the heavy confusion of everyone else in the trucks. "..what?"

Bennet chuckled. It was nice to see some honest confusion for once. Bennet shrugged. "Alright, here's what you can tell your superiors. " Bennet offered explanations. " We are mankind, you having met the country that is called Imperial Britain. We escaped our old world after we burned it in nuclear hellfire. We don't want war, so my government is willing to discussions with yours regarding territory. "

"U-Uh..o-o-okay.." Red Waters answered, a little bit relieved that he was given some form of explanation. Evem if that explanation left more questions than answers. "I-I suppose I should go..?"

"You'd better." Bennet muttered, as the rest of the other 5 soldiers lowered their shellguns and started to walk backwards until they made a long side-to-side line with Captain Bennet in the center.

The pony in the driver seat immediately began to drive the convoy backwards and away.

It was a morning that none of them would ever forget. And in that morning, the world would know the insanity of Man.

Author's Note

Apologises for the long updates, my schedueling is a mess due to personal matters at home.

However, do not worry, I won't give up on this story nor let it die.

Many iconic characters from the Equestria at War universe will also pop-up

(also, Russia is trying something funny :D)