Visitors From the Stars

"Theht's meyn, yeh soggy gump!"

"Gevh et here! 'N who 'er yeh callin' eh soggy gump, yeh screhp breyn!"

"Dey's feytin' 'ere!"

"Get the splodeys!"

"Woooooo!"

Mixyum watched his fellows start pummeling each other and others bringing 'splodeys', as they called it, into the fight, causing loud explosions and flashes of light that were sending everyone and everything in all directions. He grumbled at the sight, distracting him from his meticulous task of wiring and soldering. It was the one moment he felt at peace with himself and his fellows. Even if he was what they called a 'shiny metal 'un' just because he polished and maintained his equipment, didn't meant he didn't enjoy the same eccentricities as them. After all, he was still a puwandese.

"I jehst wehnt tae make 'em good, prehpur equipment," Mixyum lamented under his breath. He was almost deafened by raucous laughter and nearly sent flying by a back-slap from the Warboss Big 'Un. "Big 'Un Smashnsplode," he grunted. "Ey'm addin' meyre guns."

The big 'un was, as his name implied, so immense that Mixyum was to Smashnsplode what a hume's baby was to an adult.

"They're jehst bored!" the titan laughed. "Couldn't feynd any kol-katan. Next best theng!" He scratched his chin and picked at sharp, long teeth jutting from his overbite. "Them's tiny thengs ain't too gun teh feyt. Heydin' behind their heyrd bexes."

"Yeh mean benkers?" Mixyup corrected.

The titan scoffed. "Jehst semthin' teh 'splode." Smashnsplode's expression became somber before he leaned over the tiny puwandese, his armor creaking and straining under the effort. "Theh humes 've come."

"They've behn fellowin' us teh whehl teym," Mixyum said while trying to suppress his fear.

Several loud engine roars muffled what the big 'un was trying to say, followed by cheers of the blue beasts at their vehicles not exploding when turned on. The warcamp was immense, having torn down a massive chunk of the forest when their spacecraft landed or simply crashed. The big 'un snorted the toxic odors floating in the air. A mixture of oil, burning fuel, dangerous gases, and a whole assortment of materials they had looted from their ships that made their skin tingle when holding or being near them.

Walls of shattered wood and melted slag rose high into the sky, bigger than anything the locals could make, according to the puwandese themselves. Hundreds of them were digging into the ground, pulling out oil and gemstones that were plentiful under the planet's skin and launching everything into massive, roaring machines that belched out black gunk the the blue creatures immediately passed into barrels. It was such a self-imposed competition that they would boost the machines to work as fast as possible, and the beasts would fill as many barrels as they could to beat the others in speed and gathering.

"How's meey erhmer doin'?" Smashnsplode asked.

"Ey'm meykin' it. Yeh wented yeh're oompher teh be mey're shooty 'n splodey," Mixyum explained.

The big' un made to yell and punch the smaller puwandese away but paused and put a mùetay, armored finger to his chin. "Oh yeah. Yeh're reyt." He glared at Mixyum and spoke as softly as a puwandese could. "Yeh behtehr hurry ehp. Neht very patient. Gehta crump theh fuzzy thengs 'fore grippin' everytheng."

"Of course."

With that, the blue titan backed away and stared at the pile of puwandese punching and exploding each other in a pile and saw a group of the larger beasts carrying a scrap tank and swinging it around to knock away seven of their fellows and shattering the ramshackle construct. As they continued to pummel each other, the ground began to tremble, and one of the puwandese saw an unstoppable force rushing toward them.

"Theh big 'un!" he bellowed.

The puwandese screamed in fear as Smashnsplode jumped high into the air to fall down over the fighters with his body spread wide.

Dozens of guards, caretakers, and guests of Canterlot Castle rushed to the ridged craft, awed at its size. Everypony was frozen, unable to figure out what to do. Even the higher-ranked guards were hesitating.

"K-keep on guard!" one of the sergeants ordered. "We don't know if this is something from Sombra, so I don't want anypony playing hero and tempting fate!"

A ramp fell down, revealing the compartment the ponies had entered, and as the castle's inhabitants approached the dark interior, they watched as something bright and golden started approaching, every step banging against the metal.

"It's a headless monster!" one of the newer guards blurted.

She started shooting the strange monster in a panic, causing the others to fall into their own hysteria. Not seeing his head made things convenient to Killigan, taking the shots in stride and ignoring any attacks against him as he casually strolled down the ramp and took in the surroundings. Unfortunately, what he expected to be just a bit of burnt land turned out to be a completely burnt garden, and the castle grounds were excessively fortified with multiple layers of walls and artillery sitting on them.

It reminded him of home.

Realizing that the land around was barren thanks to his ship and enclosed on all sides, Killigan made to return inside the vessel and bring the equines out, but he was intercepted on the ramp by what seemed to be an errant blast of some type of weaponry. Righting himself in mid-air, the giant slid along the ground, his boots burying themselves in the dirt.

"It's Princess Twilight!" one of the nobles cheered.

Twilight's body was glowing and crackling with magic power as she flew in the air. "What are you, another monster created by Sombra?" the princess roared. She faltered briefly from seeing the giant stand up as though nothing happened. "Have some magic dissipating crystals in your armor, huh? Well, I won't let you destroy Canterlot or harm the inhabitants! Your king", she spat. "destroyed everything already!" She paused to hold back her tears as memories flooded in. "You won't be leaving her intact."

Killigan raised his immense hands in a sign of peace, but the ponies did not understand the gesture. They only had hooves. He would need to subdue this equine and any others that might attack him, but they were all so fragile. The giant furrowed his brow behind his helmet as his gauntlets glowed with a brown, rotting aura. It felt like he was on the other side of the invasion of--

The giant didn't have time to finish his thought. Several sharp discs of magic flew from the flying alicorn and dug into the ground, rushing toward him. Killigan dodged the first two that dissipated before they hit the crowd behind him, but he crushed the last one by punching it on both sides right before it touched his armor. His gauntlets burst with tainted mana, killing the plants around him and causing insects to fall, made sickly by the wave.

The soldiers had broken out of their stupor and quickly started escorting everypony out of the ruined gardens and away from the fight. As Twilight readied another spell, she realized that, even with the failsafes of her spells, the onlookers might be harmed. A barrier engulfed her instead, shimmering and resonating with multiple layers of mana. Killigan staggered at the sight, the layers reminding him of something that was tearing its way through the galaxy. A thing that didn't belong. The giant took a deep breath and steadied himself when he saw a white thing stumbling out of the vessel.

"Twilight!" Celestia attempted to call out.

Unfortunately, she fell off the ramp and faceplanted into the ground. She was quickly followed by her personal guard calling out to her and tumbling over each other like newborn kittens. Several of them frantically removed their armor to vomit and others passed out instead.

"Princess!" Twilight screamed in horror.

She immediately dissipated the magic she pooled around herself and rushed to her former teacher, panic gripping her heart. She pulled the white alicorn out of the mud and wiped as much as she could off her face.

"They...they're not enemies, Twilight," Celestia wheezed.

"Wh-what? But--"

"That craft...thing...ship...of theirs. It's...it's really fast...not made for ponies." She turned green a moment and vomited on the side, eliciting disgust from Twilight. "Don't fight them."

"Well, what do they want?" the lavender alicorn asked. She eyed the giant and glowered. "It destroyed the-them?!" Twilight immediately realized. "What do you mean them?"

She stared in horror as two other giants, these ones clad in red and blue, jumped off the sides of the ramp, avoiding the ponies. The guards on the wall started to grunt and cover their faces when they saw the faceless one while only a few seemed to react with fear when looking at the one with the gaping maw on his helmet. They ignored Twilight and rejoined the golden giant with their weapons in hand, weapons that seemed oddly terrifying to the mare. They were far bigger than anything the alicorn had ever seen, and even though she was used to the usage of clips for rifles, she wasn't entirely certain where said bullets went. The weapons weren't big enough to carry any large amounts of ammo.

"Are these the things that came from the stars and have been destroying everything?" Twilight asked.

Celestia shook her head. "No, Twilight." She coughed from the stomach acid burning her throat. "These ones came in just a few hours or so ago."

Fluttershy stumbled to her hooves and fumbled to Twilight. She failed to lean against the castle's wall and fell sideways. "Hey, Twilight."

"Fluttershy helped me to understand what happened," Celestia said with a smile.

Twilight immediately teared up and jumped to her friend when she realized that Celestia could hold herself up comfortably. "Fluttershy!" the alicorn cried. "I haven't seen you in years! I was worried you had died!"

Regaining her sense of balance, Fluttershy's eyes stopped spinning, allowing her to look her friend straight in the eyes. As the seconds flew by, Twilight's elation gradually faded from her face to be replaced by shock and pity the more she took in Fluttershy's features.

"Hey, Twilight. Didn't think we would meet under these circumstances," she said with a nervous smile.

"You...you've gone through a lot..."

Fluttershy nodded. "Yes. It's been...very, very hard on me and everypony else." Unwanted memories started popping up in her mind. "Sleeping in ruins. Trenches are under constant fire. Monsters swarming the field..."

"We need to get to the council chambers," Celestia interjected. "I'm sorry to cut your reunion short, but this is important."As for your prior question, I think these ones came here to scout us."

Twilight and Fluttershy immediately got to their hooves, followed by the recovered guards joining together in a two-line formation. Celestia gestures for the bipeds to follow her, which they did. Every step they made was around four or five for the ponies, and the weight of the giants' armor cracked the white floors, revealing more of the gray imperfections of the tiles.

The new 'guests' were a stark contrast to the almost-sterile entrance, bringing in color where mostly white and gold were used. Fineries had been hung from the walls, creating tapestries of old artists that had been maintained by the newer generations. However, the sun from the doorway and the large windows along the walls had bleached them, removing any color they may have once had. Statues draped in armor seemed to guard the base and top of the stairs, their golden metal reflecting the ivory steps and rails they sat next to.

As the soldiers and alicorns made their way up, the giants hesitated for a moment.

"It's okay!" Celestia called out to them with an encouraging tone. "It's been designed to withstand multiple minotaurs!"

Twilight hesitated and leaned toward the princess. "Are you sure this is a good idea? I think they might be too heavy to--" She was interrupted by a loud crack and sighed. "Of course."

The giant with the gaping maw pulled his foot out of the hole made in the steps and looked back to Killigan, shaking his head and shrugging. The ponies watched them as they walked around, looking for a solution.

"I think we need to lift them up here," Twilight mused.

"That won't work," Fluttershy said. "They're immune to magic."

Twilight looked at her friend, her face paled. "They're what?"

Celestia chuckled. "They aren't immune. They're just...very resistant. I believe it's their armor."

The alicorns and nearby unicorns shivered suddenly, perplexing them, prompting everypony to look over the guard rails.

"What are they doing?" Twilight wondered.

They watched as the three started discussing something they couldn't hear, but magic was definitely pooling around their bodies. This event culminated when a small portal formed in front of them and opened up next to the alicorns and Fluttershy. The three walked through and let their spell collapse, but they were visibly breathing heavily despite wearing armor that was hiding their bodies.

"...They know magic, too?" Twilight said monotonously. "Great..."