Stardust Protocol

The news of Stronghoof's crash spread fast; in about five hours, all of the ODD knew of what had happened. It was only a matter of time before the news spreads all over New Canterlot City, and then the rest of Equestria. The search for the crash site had already begun. So far, defeat seems imminent; the G.E.N.E.S.I.S. will begin its invasion soon.

Fireburst hid in her cell after the news had reached her. Her face was buried in the pillow, soaking up her tears. Everything was silent, apart from the quiet sobbing. Everypony believed he was dead, so why wouldn't she? Of course, this was not the case.

There was a knock on the door:

"Fire, you okay in there?" Cobalt Wing's voice sounded from behind the door.

"Go away. I don't want you to see me like this."

"I only want to help you," he replied and forced his way inside, closing the door behind him. Fireburst covered her head with the pillow. Cobalt Wing sat on his haunches in front of the bed.

He moved his hoof over the pillow and pulled it away; the mare hiding under it had her mane disheveled.

"Look at me, soldier," he ordered.

She complied and rolled onto her back. Her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying, and a tear rested near them. Cobalt Wing wiped it off with his hoof.

"It's about Stronghoof. He's dead," the mare spoke.

"He would have survived, I know it," Cobalt Wing responded, "You know that too."

"Maybe..." Fireburst pondered, "But I'm still worried."

The stallion sighed, "Get up."

Fireburst complied and was met with a hug.

"I'm there for you, remember that," he spoke as Fireburst wrapped her hooves around his neck, "Now stop crying, I have no idea what Heavy would do if he found out one of his officers cried over unconfirmed rumors, but it's not going to be pretty."

"I know," she whispered.

Strange tinkered with Gearbreaker's engine in the repair bay. The old engine had been removed, and rested behind the machine. Several cables lied on the bottom plate of the engine chamber, which rested under it. The dark cover had also been removed, and rested next to the removed engine.

"Now for the new engine," he thought out loud. He figured he could just cannibalize another machine's engine, instead of repairing the damaged one. It would save valuable time.

Strange didn't even acknowledge the hoofsteps which were nearing him. The sound of hooves on metal echoed through the room. It was Alpha.

"Still tinkering around, I see," he commented.

"Uh-huh," Strange responded, without pausing his work. He rolled the new engine closer to Gearbreaker.

"I thought you said it would take you a few weeks to repair that engine."

"Well, I've decided to instead cannibalize the engine of another machine," Strange rose to his haunches, "So I just took the engine out of mine. Gearbreaker won't be as fast as she used to be, but at least she'll be up and running again."

"You heard the news, right?"

"About the crash? I'm not too worried about that," the unicorn responded, "I'm sure he survived it."

"We can't confirm anything yet."

Strange had already returned to work.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," Alpha spoke, then turned around to leave. As he was nearing the door, a siren began blaring. "Well that can't be good."

Strange had already reacted and flashed into existence next to Alpha, "Let's go."

The briefing room had filled up quickly, and the briefing had already begun.

"...apologize that none of you had been filled in on what's been happening recently, but here's the- Oh, look who we have here," Heavy's deep voice greeted the entering unicorn; it was Strange, "The scientist decided to get out of the lab, for once."

"Save the jokes for another day, Lieutenant, I'm filling in for Stronghoof," Strange stated confidently.

"Right," he spoke and watched Strange take the empty seat, "Where was I? Here's the deal: You may remember the meteorite that has been recovered recently, well, let me tell you that it was a warning for things to come. And those things have come; New Canterlot City is under attack, so you'll have to fend off the attackers. Now, GET TO IT, SOLDIERS!"

"Heavy's not good at briefings, is he?" Strange asked Cobalt Wing.

"Well, he's not terrible, at least. So, why did we happen to hear the news of Stronghoof's crash, but we don't know what he was doing?"

"Salvation," Strange responded.

"Huh?"

"They're coming!" Fireburst exclaimed.

White shapes congregated into the street, and rushed towards the checkpoint.

"Give em' Tartarus!" the mare exclaimed, and moved her nailgun attachment on her suit into firing position, before spraying the shapes with nails.

The nails cut through the shapes, spraying blood in their wake. A lot of the hit shapes dropped dead to the ground, whilst some carried on, albeit damaged.

Several shapes shot balls of blue plasma at the firing mare. Strange reacted, and put up a shield in front of the oncoming shots, before leaping into the crowd.

"Are you mad?!" the mare exclaimed.

Strange activated the mana blades of his suit, and sliced and diced the advancing shapes. Blood sprayed all over the metal.

"That's new," the mare whispered to herself and continued her onslaught on the shapes.

The sounds of Strange's mana blades and Fireburst's nailgun continuously echoed through the street. A loud roar suddenly dominated the battlefield. A large, white behemoth rumbled into the street. Strange looked up to the beast.

"That's one big bastard," he remarked and barely escaped the charging behemoth.

The beast crashed into the checkpoint gate and it shook violently. Another hit like this, and the whole gate will collapse. Strange knew this and landed onto the monster. He began cutting at its thick carapace; he was barely making a dent.

The behemoth began to move backwards, getting into position for another charge. Fireburst aimed her nailgun at its head and fired. The nails embedded themselves into the carapace.

"That thing's a tank." she spoke.

The tank came back for another charge. The ground rumbled at its feet. It crashed into the gate once more; this time, it shook more violently and began to collapse. Fireburst escaped by firing her hoof-rockets.

"Cobalt Wing to base. Checkpoint 1 destroyed," Cobalt Wing said through the com-link, "They've got a siege weapon. Over"

"We'll get something bigger at Checkpoint 3. Over," the voice on the other end of the connection responded.

"We need to get to Hailstorm's group at Checkpoint 2," Fireburst spoke through the com-link to Strange and Cobalt Wing.

Hailstorm was a pale blue coated mare, she stood atop the checkpoint gate. The metal of her suit was a similar color as her coat. Her weapon of choice was the energy cannon; it was in firing position, at the side of her head. Cables attached the cannon with a large battery pack, on the back of her suit.

The crowd of shapes advanced into the street. Hailstorm aimed her cannon at the crowd and fired; a large blue ball of energy erupted from the muzzle, pushing the mare with its force. The ball exploded where it hit, releasing a shockwave of blue energy.

To her left stood Wind Strength; a light gray coated stallion. His suit was equipped with a beam generator. He aimed it to the side of the street and fired. A blue beam emanated from the crystal and the stallion moved it across the street, burning the shapes that got caught in the beam.

"Fireburst to Hailstorm. Something big is coming your way. Over," a voice sounded through the com-link.

"Understood. Over," Hailstorm replied, then sent another round of the energy cannon at the crowd of shapes.

A loud roar echoed through the street. The behemoth rumbled into the street and charged at the gate. It crashed into the checkpoint gate and it shook violently. The beast pulled back and readied itself for another charge.

Hailstorm aimed her cannon at its head and fired. All it did was burn its thick carapace. Wind Strength concentrated his beam onto the behemoth's head; it staggered.

Fireburst flew above the street, raining nails down at the shapes. Strange came into a dive at the beast, with his blades pointed straight. He pulled his forehooves back, allowing himself to fall onto the tank. He jumped onto its head and began cutting the carapace around it.

The beast roared again and stomped at the ground, sending vibrations up its body. Strange struggled to remain upright and plummeted down the side of the beast's head. It moved its massive foot over the grounded unicorn, threatening to crush him.

"Over here, ugly!" Hailstorm taunted and fired her cannon at the beast's foot. The behemoth growled and let his foot fall. Luckily, Strange got out of the way in time and flew up to the top of the checkpoint gate.

The beast charged once more. It crashed into the gate and it collapsed. Hailstorm, Strange and Wind Strength escaped with their hoof-rockets.

"Hailstorm to base. Checkpoint 2 destroyed. Over."

Lieutenant Heavy waited patiently at the third checkpoint gate, staring at the end of the street. The twin miniguns of his suit were in stand-by position. When the crowd entered the street, he jumped off the checkpoint gate. On the ground, he moved his weapons to firing position.

"Welcome to Tartarus."

The barrels of the miniguns began to spin as energy coursed from the large battery packs on Heavy's suit, into them. The miniguns fired and hundreds of small slivers of energy which ripped through the crowd, splattering blood everywhere.

Heavy steered the miniguns from one side of the street to the other, constantly pelting the shapes with death. The beast's roar echoed through the street. Heavy grinned behind his helmet as the beast entered the street.

He fired his miniguns at the behemoth; the slivers ripped through the carapace, and blood seeped out of the holes. Before long, the beast stopped and leaned forward.

Slowly, it leaned further and eventually fell over, dead.