From Skies Above

by Sparklight

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Dark, Human, Princess Luna
Length: 53219

An object falls out of the sky into the no-pony's land between Equestria and Gryphon territory.

An object of unknown origins crash lands in the no-pony's land between Equestria and Gryphon territory. Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle race to beat the Gryphons to the crash site, but discover more to the crash than they originally thought.

Published 2012-02-12 10:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-01 05:54:17 UTC

II. Rising Storm

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

As promised, a second chapter! Maybe the first of many? One can hope.

Now, without further ado, here's the second chapter.

From Skies Above – Rising Storm

A strange aroma filled Twilight’s nose as she entered the room. Panels and metallic fur nature filled its expanse, much of it damaged and burnt but the heat generated in the impact, those smells filled the rest of the ship, there was something else in here. She breathed in deeply, taking in more of the smell. Something just felt... wrong.

Twilight cantered around the room, searching for the source. The smell got stronger as she approached what she assumed would be the captain’s seat. As she drew closer, an explanation formed in her mind, and the horrifying truth was confirmed when she laid eyes on what lay in the seat. The smell was burnt flesh.

With a groan, Twilight’s face twisted up as she backed away, struggling not to paint the floor with her previous meal. The corpse was a mere shell of what it was, lacking any distinct features except for the general shape. The figure was hunched up, covering its head and torso with its arms, probably in a vain attempt to protect itself from being cooked. It was a truly horrible way to die.

The Captain approached from behind, taking place at Twilight’s side. His face remained the stern statue-like mask that was the norm for most of the guards. He looked at the remains with solemn eyes, but offered no other sign of emotion.

“Poor thing. It would have been horrible to die like that.”

Surestrike nodded his agreement. Twilight waited a moment to see if the Captain had anything else to add, but when the stallion remained silent she trotted off to search the rest of the room, and to be away from the body. The lavender mare made her way to a shiny metallic surface on one of the far walls. It remained undamaged by the flames, and reflected the unicorn’s face right back at her, along with, much to her discomfort, the corpse. She turned away and shuddered.

“Perhaps we should take a look somewhere else?” she asked the guard captain.

He had moved closer to examine the charred body, but stopped and raised his head when Twilight spoke. “Is there a problem?”

“Yeah...” she trailed off, eyes creeping back to the object of her discomfort.

A loud thumping echoed down the corridor the pair had used to enter the chamber. Twilight and Surestrike looked toward the entrance just in time to see a pegasus hurtle through the door. He skidded to a halt and offered a quite salute. “Captain, Miss Sparkle.”

“What is it? Where is the Princess?” Surestrike asked.

“The gryphons have been driven off and Princess Luna has departed to take the alien to Canterlot. I have been instructed to bring you your orders.”

The pegasus guard cleared his throat, first addressing Twilight. “Luna has requested that you be taken back to Canterlot as soon as possible.” He then turned to face his Captain. “Captain Surestrike, your orders are to guard this wreckage until a salvage team arrives.”

“Why are we going back to Canterlot?” Twilight asked.

“That’s for the Princess to explain. Come, we leave immediately.”

*

Luna sat it the back of the chariot, sweat pouring down her brow in amounts just short of a waterfall. The ride was uncomfortable, to say the least, with every slight turn sending her growing headache flaring up again. The alien lay before her, still impaled on the gryphon’s spear. Blood trickled slowly out of the wound, slowed by the Princess’s magic, but not halted completely. It was barely clinging to life, and if the Princess hadn’t been there it surely would have perished.

Luna drained her energy at a phenomenal rate just to keep the creature from slipping away, as it, much to her confusion, was strangely resistant to her magic. She had great difficulty just concentrating on the flow of energy, forcing her to pour vast amounts of her magic just to get results.

The pair of pegasi that hauled the chariot pushed themselves to their limits. Wings aching and muscles burning, the pair were utterly determined. If the past was anything to go by, an alicorn’s emotions are powerful things, and the guards had no wish to risk evoking Luna’s wrath.

Luna took a quick glance at the land below them. Not far to Canterlot now. She realised, Just hold on.

*

One Day Later.

Twilight looked down at the creature in the bed before her. It was truly a sorry sight. Various tubes jutted out of its body, fulfilling tasks that were necessary to keep the alien from passing away in its sleep. Calterlot’s most esteemed medical staff had been brought in to treat it, but all their expertise wasn’t enough to prepare them for the task ahead. Unicorn magic was heavily relied upon in Equestrian medicine, but in this case it was near useless. Merely keeping the creature alive had almost proven too much for the Princess of the Moon herself, who had arrived in a drained state after the ride back to the capital.

Conventional medical spells were out of the question, and the doctors had to rely on more direct approaches when treating the alien. Combined with the near nonexistent knowledge of the creature’s anatomy, the task had been near impossible, and certainly wouldn’t have succeeded if Princess Celestia hadn’t lent her power.

Shortly after arriving, Luna had retired to her quarters to regain her strength at her sisters request, although reluctantly. The doctors had slaved over the battered creature for hours, when finally, in the early hours of the morning, they had announced it to be in a stable condition. It now resided in a sealed off section of Canterlot Castle, being watched over at all times by a small team of nurses.

Twilight had been too excited to sleep, and took the first chance she could to finally see the creature up close. It was a strange thing, its body held the closest resemblance to a monkey or chimp, but still with several major differences. The most prominent of which being its lack of fur. The alien still had hair over much of its body, but it lacked the density of the fur that one would find on a pony. Atop the alien’s head sat a brown mane that had been cut short, being either alien fashion or for more practical reasons, and more short fur around the jaw and mouth. The alien’s face also bore a similar resemblance to most Equestrian mammals, despite the different proportions of facial features, the eyes in particular, which were much smaller than those of a pony.

The alien was bipedal, and stood at an intimidating six and a half feet tall. A very interesting feature was the alien’s hands. Four flexible digits extended from the palm, along with an opposable thumb. The layout reminded Twilight of Spike’s claws, although the alien’s digits were rounded at the end, with only a small nail, much unlike the razor sharp claws of a dragon. The similarities to Equestrian life confused Twilight, as she had always assumed that alien life would be almost unimaginably different. However, this alien was extremely similar to mammals found in Equestria, right down to the creature’s reproductive system. Twilight blushed as the memory of the awkward exchange when she had asked one of the nurses how they knew the creature was male crept into her mind.

A loud cough from behind her caused Twilight to jump. She spun about to find a nurse. “Miss Sparkle, Princess Celestia has sent for you.”

Twilight smiled. “Oh, thank you.”

“A guard outside will escort you.”

*

“Thank you Galik, you may take your leave.”

The gryphon warrior bowed his feathered head respectfully as he finished his recount. Before the scout sat the clan leader, Banewin, flanked on either side by the four clan elders. Several flickering torches lined the walls, providing the only light in the dark room. Menacing shadows hide the elder’s faces under their hoods, even casting themselves over Banewin’s face, giving the gryphon an almost evil appearance. Galik left the room without another word, backing away toward the hardwood door of the chamber with eyes on the floor, unwilling to meet the gaze of his clan leader. As the door slammed shut, Banewin turned to the elders beside him. “Speak your minds.”

An elderly gryphon female, Hyava, spoke first, her raspy voice breaking the silence of the hall. “The creature is truly dead then?”

“So it would seem. Your brother struck the final blow, sire, and died a warrior’s death.” A second elder, Yalek, responded.

“Then why was the Princess so eager to leave in such a hurry, and leave her escort behind?” the elder Kyarth said, “Perhaps this creature survived Aceius’ attack.”

“If it survived the original crash than it is possible. The Equestrians would have taken it to Canterlot.”

“And my brother’ death would have been for nothing.” The clan leader growled.

“With respect, sire, calm yourself.” Hyava said in a soothing tone, “There will be time enough for vengeance, but I believe that there is a larger problem.”

“The Equestrians.” Banewin spat.

“Aye. When Aceius first touched down at the crash site, he claimed it for our clan.” Kyarth began.

Yalek continued. “But the Equestrians have taken what is rightfully ours! They steal our prey, and defile our spoils with their presence!”

“Perhaps this is not wise. The Equestrians will see this as an attack against their nation, and will respond with force.” The elder Maelon suggested.

“Your concern is understandable, but they have already attacked us. They had no right to interfere with our affairs and we should respond accordingly.”

“But this will surely lead to-”

“Enough.” Banewin raised a taloned hand, and the elders clamped their beaks shut in response. “We have allowed the Equestrians to meddle in our affairs long enough. I want a battle group prepared to reclaim the crash site.”

An almost sadistic grin crept onto Yalek’s face, but Banewin hadn’t finished. “But, tell them to avoid civilian casualties. I do not wish to be dragged into a war with the Equestrians.”

“It shall be done.” The elders responded unanimously.

“And Hyava, see what you can find out about our stolen prey.”

The hen acknowledged the request with a slow nod of her head before followed the rest of the elders out of the chamber, leaving Banewin along with his thoughts.

*

It was late in the afternoon when Captain Surestrike watched the incoming chariots break through the cloud layer and descend down toward him. They hit the ground and skidded to a halt, kicking up snow as they went. The pegasi who pulled the chariots unhooked themselves from the vehicles, and the remaining passengers, a mixture of guards and civilians, dismounted. Many stared in awe at the massive vessel that lay broken in the snow, and the captain chuckled at the sight.

A red coated unicorn with bulging saddlebags tore his gaze away from the alien vessel, and began looking between the guards already stationed in the area. His eyes fell on Surestrike, and the unicorn wandered over.

“Captain Surestrike?” he asked.

The unicorn was quite lanky, and a pair of small glasses rested atop his muzzle. His near black mane was a tangled mess, most likely from high winds on the ride over. A quill and parchment cutie mark adorned his flanks. The captain nodded in acknowledgement of his question.

“M-my name is Quill Dipper. I’ve been appointed to lead the researchers on this expedition.”

“I’ve been waiting for you. You can begin setup immediately.”

“Of course, we’re already underway. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some very important tasks to oversee.” Quill turned away from Surestrike, but the Captain stopped him.

“Quill Dipper.” He said sternly. “I want to make it clear that you and your team will answer to me.”

Quill Dipper looked taken aback. “I-I beg your pardon?”

Surestrike frowned. “We’re not in Equestria anymore. This is unclaimed territory full of pissed off, bloodthirsty gryphons and monsters of the likes you have never seen before.” Surestrike leaned forward, coming down to eye level with the wide-eyed unicorn before him. “Your team will do exactly as I say, when I say it. Are we clear?”

The unicorn gulped audibly, and nodded.

“Then you’re dismissed.”

Quill turned away and hastily trotted back to his team. The captain watched him as he left, a slight grin breaking out across his face. How he loved asserting his authority. His ears flicked at another voice calling out to him. “Captain Surestrike!”

Surestrike turned to face an approaching pegasus. His mane was poking out from under his helmet, and the captain could make out slight bags under his eye, presumably making him one of the pegasi who pulled the chariots. The pegasus stopped in front of him and saluted, his body going rigid like a statue. “Lieutenant Silver Wing, sir. My squad is under your command.”

“At ease, soldier.”

Silver Wing relaxed, his wings drooping by his sides. “What are our orders, sir?”

“Simple. Guard the crash site and protect the researchers.” Silver nodded.

“I trust that Princess Luna made it back to Canterlot safely?” The captain asked.

“Yes, sir”

“Good to know.” He said. He had not approved of her decision to leave her escort behind and travel almost completely unguarded. “And what about the alien?”

Silver paused a moment, thinking. “I can’t confirm anything, but I heard that it’s still alive. Luna must have had a hard time keeping it that way, because she looked about ready to pass out when she got back.”

Surestrike was surprised at the news. He had assumed that the alien had sustained too much damage to survive. Well, it did survive the initial crash.

The captain turned his attention back to the weary pegasus before him. “Go get some rest. You’ve earned it.”

“Thank you, sir.” Silver replied, before slowly making his way to a series of tents that had been erected near the damaged vessel. The guards had decided against staying inside the vessel unless the weather forced them. Something didn’t feel right in there.

The captain spent the rest of the evening organising the guards, and laying down ground rules for the new arrivals. As time went on, the wind began to pick up, and dark clouds began to drift overhead. The light was fading rapidly, and snow began to fall again. There weren’t many outside of Equestria that had the weather controlling ability of the pegasi. The longer an area’s weather was left unchecked, the more out of control it became. This could lead to natural occurrences of ‘disaster weather’, like tornados, cyclones and blizzards, not unlike the one approaching the crash site.

The captain sighed. Looks like we’ll be sleeping inside the ship tonight.

*

Cerik watched the ponies fulfil various tasks around the crash site. The gryphon lay in the snow atop a hill overlooking the alien vessel, and, more importantly, the Equestrian camp. A specially designed cloak provided camouflage for his orange-brown fur in the pure white snow, but left his feathers bare, as they were already coloured to suit the environment. Cerik’s gaze followed one unicorn in particular; the one the gryphon assumed was the commanding officer of the ponies. He travelled back and forth between the groups, most likely checking up on the status of the guards and scholars. Every now and then, ponies would appear and disappear in the gap along the alien ship’s hull, some carrying objects, others clipboards and other research equipment.

As the daylight faded, the ponies slowly began to take shelter inside the vessel. A storm was brewing, and it would be more comfortable to wait it out inside the ship than face the high winds and blinding snow. A grin broke out across Cerik’s face. The storm would also provide perfect cover for an attack on the Equestrians. The grin soon faded when the gryphon realised that there was only one entry into the vessel, the hole in its side, and the ponies would no doubt have it well defended.

But the breach is damage, not part of the design. There must be an alternative entrance that the aliens would use. One that the Equestrians didn’t find. Cerik thought.

Only one pony remained outside now, the commanding officer. He surveyed the landscape one last time before making his way inside. The lone pony disappeared into the vessel, leaving the camp completely empty. Cerik still decided to wait a bit longer before taking a closer look. The gryphon noticed the temperature drop, along with visibility in the storm. He breathed silent thanks for his cold resistant body and extremely sharp eyesight before slowly making his way toward the vessel.

However, Cerik didn’t know that he wasn’t the only one observing their prey. Silent eyes watched the gryphon descend into the camp, waiting for the moment to strike.

*

A sense of déjà vu crossed Twilight’s mind as she found herself sitting in the hallway outside the throne room, staring at one stained glass window in particular. As expected, the familiar figures hadn’t shifted, and stayed locked in their poses.

The sound of the throne room door opening grabbed Twilights attention, and the image on the window was soon forgotten. Twilight turned to find her mentor smiling down at her. The unicorn returned the smile, but couldn’t help notice the state of her Princess. Celestia seemed to lack her usual elegance. Her coat did not shine as it should, nor did her mane look as animated as it usually appeared. It was safe to assume that Celestia’s dishevelled appearance was due to exhaustion.

Her mentor’s soothing voice brought the young unicorn’s mind back to reality. “Twilight.”

Twilight responded by rushing up to the alicorn and nuzzling her affectionately. “Princess!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to speak with you earlier. As you know I was... preoccupied.” Princess Celestia began. “Come, my faithful student, we have much to discuss.”

Celestia turned and set off back into the throne room, Twilight following close behind. The heavy wooden doors swung shut behind them.

“I trust you were not harmed during the trip?”

Twilight shook her head. “Oh no, of course not. I didn’t get anywhere near the fighting, and there were guards with me the entire time.”

“Good. I don’t know what I would do if you were hurt.” She sighed, “It was foolish of me to send you out there. I didn’t realise the gryphons would be so bold as to try something like this.”

“Don’t worry about it Princess, your guards were more than capable enough to keep me safe.” Twilight smiled reassuringly at her mentor, “And besides, we made one of the biggest discoveries in Equestrian history!”

Celestia’s smile grew. “That we did. Tell me, what exactly did you find out there? Aside from our friend, of course.”

Twilight paused for a moment before speaking, briefly thinking back to her exploration of the ship. “The vessel’s design was incredibly advanced. There was so much there, but it was all so confusing. I couldn’t understand any of it. In a way, it was just plain frustrating!” Twilight huffed, earning a small chuckle from her mentor, “But that wasn’t all. There was... a body there too. It was so burnt that we couldn’t learn anything apart from the basic shape of the aliens.” Twilight shook her head solemnly, “It must have been so horrible to die like that.”

“It’s horrible, I know, but these things happen.”

Twilight merely nodded. “I wonder how the other one is going to react if he finds out.”

“Not well, I assume, he will be under enough stress with being alone on an alien world.” The Princess said.

“Do you think he will be violent when he wakes up?” Twilight asked.

“I most certainly hope not, but if he is, we will be prepared.” Celestia sighed, “Although, that is only if he wakes. He may be in a stable condition at the moment, but that could change at any time.”

“I know.” Twilight said. The conversation trailed off for a minute, when suddenly Twilight remembered something. “Spike! It’s been days since he’s heard from me!”

Celestia smiled reassuringly at her student. “Don’t worry, Twilight, I’ve let him know that you might be indispose for a while.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you Princess. I wish I could tell him what’s been happening. And my friends too.”

“Remember your oath.”

“I do, Princess, but I still wish I could just say something. This is just too much to be kept a secret!”

“I understand your enthusiasm, Twilight,” Celestia said, “But we need to be careful about this. There is so much that could go wrong, we have to be absolutely sure of what is happening before we let the public know. The technology of this species is incredibly advanced, and we’ll have to assume that that includes weapons of war. If the public finds out about this too soon, before we have all the facts, there could be mass panic, ponies could get hurt.”

“I understand.” Twilight said, somewhat disturbed about the potential power of the alien weapons.

“Don’t worry, my faithful student, I’m sure everything will work out for the best.”

*

Vaelis’ talons closed tightly around the hilt of his war axe. The gryphon had always kept steel blade sharpened perfectly, to be ready for a fight at anytime. On the clouds around him, the battle group of thirty gryphons cradled their weapons and tightened the straps on their armour. It was almost time.

The scout, Cerik, hadn’t managed to find an alternate entrance to the breach in the hull. There were several areas that looked like access points, but they were sealed tightly, either by the ponies or the aliens. Vaelis sighed. What had originally intended to be a swift and clean removal may evolve into a long siege. The prospect of starving the Equestrians out of the vessel didn’t appeal to the gryphon, as he longed to sink his axe into flesh.

There was hope however. While Cerik didn’t dare attempted to open any of the alien’s access points in fear of revealing his position, he claimed that one in particular looked weaker than the others. Perhaps it could be forced open during the attack?

Vaelis looked around at his warriors talking amongst each other. Each radiated their eagerness to fight. They were under orders to limit enemy casualties, but it had been too long since any of the warriors had been given a chance to participate in a proper fight, and Vaelis knew that fatalities would be inevitable. The gryphon leader raised his weapon above his head, and the other warriors immediately snapped out of their conversations, eyes locked on the axe of their commander.

In a swift movement, Vaelis brought the weapon down. The warriors didn’t hesitate, dropping through the cloud layer and into the storm below. They glided down to the snowfields with ease, the wind having almost no effect on the skilful flyers. The gryphons touched down in the snow, and crept toward the hull breach in a semicircle formation. The noise of the storm drowned out any sound they would have made, and the snow whipped up by the wind masked their approach. Gryphons armed with spears took the lead, using their wings to balance themselves on their hind legs, freeing up their talons to support their weapons. The battle group closed the distance around the breach. Vaelis listened intently, past the wind and clattering of armour, his trained ears picking up the noise he was waiting for.

“...what the hay?!”

Vaelis roared like a lion, his powerful voice piercing the howl of the wind. His warriors joined their voices with his, filling the storm with shrieks and battle cries.

Then they charged.

*

Quill dipper woke to the sound of fighting. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to fight off his fatigue, but to no avail. Without warning, a sudden force yanked on his tail, the shock rudely rousing him from his sleepy state. A booming voice assaulted his ears as he struggled to stand.

“Get up! We’re being attacked!”

Quill became aware of the screams echoing through the halls of the alien vessel. His pulse elevated, and his breathing quickened in pace. He looked around wildly before he met the eyes of a pegasus guard. “W-what’s going on?” Quill stammered.

“Gryphons!” the pegasus shouted, “Get up and get a move on!”

“GRYPHONS?!”

“Come on!”

The pegasus turned and took off down a hallway, not long before Quill struggled on after him.

*

The battle was going exceptionally well for the attackers. Their stealthy approach and the cover of the storm allowed them to quickly overwhelm the breach guards, and they quickly seized control over the entryway, eliminating the need to use the alien's access ways. The guards, despite being caught unawares, were putting up a strong resistance. Their superior equipment and training allowed gave a Royal Guard an edge over a Gryphon Warrior, but the gryphons outnumbered the guardsponies two to one.

Nopony, nor gryphon, could guess the direction the battle was about to take, as four figures appeared out of the storm. They paused briefly, taking a moment to survey the crash site, before hurrying toward the ship.

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III. The Sound of Thunder

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

Another day, another chapter. It was a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing. Begin!

From Skies Above – The Sound of Thunder

Quill Dipper recognised the room as soon as he entered. He had been in this area looking at odd alien equipment when he stumbled upon this room in particular. Rows of sealed compartments lined the walls, each holding long metal objects. Many of the objects were of the same design, with several designs filling different rows. Quill hadn’t spent long in this chamber, but promised himself that he would return and attempt to uncover the purpose of the objects.

None of this, however, mattered much to Quill at the moment, as he was far more concerned about the horde of savage gryphons rampaging through the ship.

A light flared up, forcing Quill to shut his eyes and let out an involuntary yelp. The light faded slightly, and the researcher opened his eyes to find himself caught in the glare of a unicorn guard. Quill caught sight of a young pegasus mare whom he recognised to be from the research team, currently cowering behind the guard. The unicorn guard’s eyes flicked from Quill over to the pegasus guard who stood beside the door, then back to the unicorn researcher. “Get back from the door and keep your head down.”

Quill could only nod in response, too scared to form coherent words. He scampered toward the back of the room, taking cover behind the row of cabinets that ran through the centre of the chamber. He found himself sitting next to the pegasus mare, whose name he had forgotten. Neither spoke, instead huddled quietly and hoped that they wouldn’t be discovered.

*

Avlyn was a young gryphon. It had only been a year since he had completed the brutal training regime that allowed him to call himself a warrior, making him one of the youngest selected by Vaelis to take part in the assault. It was a great honour to take such an important role, but Avlyn’s young age only served to hinder him. His orders were clear, to guard the breach. The initial attack had more of an impact that the gryphons had expected, their forces overwhelming the guards and forcing them back into the ship, cornering and scattering them deeper into the bowels of the metal behemoth. Avlyn had been denied the honour of taking part in the main attack, and instead having to hang back and wait whilst his older brothers in arms stole all the glory of the battle.

The wind howled loudly, but failed to cover the sound of the battle raging inside the ship as it sailed out to the gryphons standing guard. The sound screams and the clash of steel only added to Avlyn’s anger. He looked away from the breach and swept his eyes over the Equestrian’s campsite, desperate to take his mind off his misfortune. The tent structures held up well against the storm, advertising their expert design. Avlyn let out a frustrated sigh before turning back to the breach.

A flash of movement caught his eye. He whipped his head back around and scanned the campsite. There it was again! A shadow passing between two tents. Avlyn instinctively grabbed the hilt of his sword. There was something in the campsite.

“Avlyn! What are you doing? The breach is that way!” a gryphon called.

Avlyn didn’t take is eyes off the campsite. “I thought I saw something!” he called, “Stay here, I’m going to check it out.”

“Don’t be too long, Vaelis will have your wings if he finds you’ve abandoned your post!”

The young gryphon didn’t respond, instead taking flight over the camp. His sharp eyes scanned back and forth, searching between tents. Then he spotted it: A dark figure running along the side of the ship, away from the breach. But it wasn’t a pony, or a gryphon. The tall biped was crouched slightly, sticking close to the ship for cover. This was one of them.

Avlyn felt a mixture of fear and excitement grip his body. This was his chance to prove himself, to prove that he was as capable as the other warriors, or even more so. But he was also afraid. He had seen what the other monster had done to Faelin, and heard how Aceius died. But here it was, completely unaware of him. As long as he kept the element of surprise he was sure he could best the creature. He briefly considered going back and getting the others, but quickly decided against it. This is my kill, my glory.

Avlyn swooped down silently and landed on the alien’s vessel. It had slowed slightly, and Avlyn feared for a moment that he had been spotted, but the creature made no indication it knew of his presence. He scampered along the top of the ship, thankful the wind was covering the noise he was making. When he was satisfied he was in a good position, he drew his sword, eyeing his prey, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Now!

Avlyn leapt, and time seemed to slow before his eyes. The creature didn’t know he was coming. Victory was his.

Then he heard it. A shout. The words were lost to him, but the meaning was all too clear. It was a warning. The creature below froze, looking toward the sky and spotting the incoming gryphon. It jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Avlyn’s blade. The gryphon felt a stab of fear pierce his heart. He leapt up and raised the sword, eyes locked on his opponent.

The creature scrambled through the snow toward a black object. Its weapon! Avlyn couldn’t believe his luck. He prepared to strike, but something caught his eye.

His heart dropped.

There was another creature sprinting toward him. Avlyn was gripped by fear, images of Faelin’s wounds racing through his mind. He snapped out of it quickly, silently cursing himself for losing his concentration, and wasting valuable time. The gryphon crouched low and prepared to launch himself off the ground to escape, but a bright flash from the second monster sent an explosion of pain tearing through his chest. Just as the loud crack reached his ears, the air was knocked from his lungs, and the gryphon couldn’t seem to get anymore in. Avlyn fell down into the snow, coughing and wheezing.

The creatures were now standing over him, their unassuming but incredibly powerful weapons drawn. He could see the reflection of himself in their masks, the scarlet that now covered his feathers and fur causing his eyes to widen. Avlyn gathered the last of his strength from his dying body and tried to swing his sword in a final effort to save himself.

*BANG!*

*

Doctor Rainlight trotted away from the creature lying unconscious in the bed. The surgery had gone amazingly well considering that the creature wasn’t even from this planet, and its health seemed to be improving rapidly at an unnatural rate. Unnatural for any terrestrial creatures, that was.

She sighed. She had been intrigued by the alien as soon as she had laid eyes on it, yet she, nor the other doctors, knew anything about it aside from what they were able to find during the surgery. She longed to know more about this fascinating species, yet it resisted every one of her attempts to scan its body magically. She couldn’t even feel its presence with her magic.

No, not it, he.

Rain looked back at the alien once more. He rested peacefully in the bed exactly as he had been before, his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. With a sigh, she shook her head and headed toward the door.

With the doctor gone, the only sound in the room came was the monotonous beeping of the machine monitoring the alien’s heart. He lay almost completely still on the bed, when suddenly, his hand moved.

*

Quill had no idea how long he had been hiding for. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. It felt like an eternity. All the while he could still hear the sound of the battle raging on. Battle cries and clashing steel echoed through the cold metal hallways, punctuated every so often with a scream of fear or pain. Just mere days ago he had been ecstatic about this expedition, to explore a vessel made by aliens, but now he regretted everything from the moment he said yes.

The sound of hoof steps echoed loudly down the hallway just outside, or were they the paws and talons of the gryphon raiders? There was incomprehensible chatter as they grew closer. The pegasus that had led Quill to the room had taken off a while ago, in search of others, leaving only the unicorn behind. Quill was sweating more than he ever had in his life. He cautiously poked his head around the cabinets.

The unicorn stood in a battle stance, just by the entrance of the room. His sword glowed with a dark green aura, matching the light of his horn. It was raised above his head, poised to strike at anything that would seek entrance into the room.

The sounds were getting louder, now much clearer over the noise from the battle. The hoof steps were... unusual. They diffidently weren’t the clatter of talons striking the floor, yet they lacked the heavy thump the guards made when their heavy hooves struck the metal of the ship. The pattern was also quite irregular, much different to the guards and the gryphons.

A light shone into the room, and a creature made its way slowly inside. The unicorn by the door was dumbfounded. The beast that just entered was tall, standing several hoof spans above the average pony. It walked on its hind legs, and its face covered by a somewhat disturbing mask. In its forepaws (Hands? Claws?) it clasped a small back object. The unicorn was frozen on the spot, eyes wide and mouth agape.

Quill Dipper wore a similar expression. It was one of the aliens!

The creature turned, spotting the unicorn standing mere meters away from it. It let loose a shout in its alien tongue, and shined the light directed into the unicorn’s eyes. The guard reacted immediately to the threat, thrusting the sword forward, hilt first. The heavy pommel struck the creature square in the chest, sending it reeling backwards.

The guard held his ground, sword at the ready. The alien was quick to recover, raising the black object and pointing it directly at the guard’s head.

The was a loud shout, and the alien froze. Standing in the doorway was another of the chamber, similarly dressed to the first. It pointed its arm at the first alien, the digits on its hand spread out wide like a fan. The second alien held another of the black objects in its other hand, pointing it at the ground in front of it. Despite his fear, Quill found himself to be intrigued by the object. It was almost like an L shape, with the alien gripping the shorter of the two sides. The unicorn researcher couldn’t help but feel that it was somewhat familiar.

The alien in the doorway was talking to the one on the ground, speaking slowly and clearly in its language. The one on the ground kept the object pointed at the guard, but didn’t move. The unicorn guard stood stock still, sword at the ready and eyes darting back and forth between the two creatures.

Quill’s fear of the gryphons and the battle faded, quickly replaced by awe of the two aliens conversing before him. He was so engrossed in the creatures, that he lost his balance, and fell to the floor with a loud thump.

The alien on the floor reacted immediately. It swung the object to bear, pointing it directly at Quill. The unicorn scholar froze in fear under the alien’s gaze.

The Royal Guard’s eyes snapped on the creature as soon as it moved. His eyes identified a threat to the researchers he was sworn to protect. His horn flared brightly and his green aura enveloped the creature on the ground, attempting to magically rip the weapon from the creature’s grip. The alien let out a startled cry before swinging the weapon back to the guard, breaking the magic cast upon it.

*BANG!*

The room flashed brightly and Quill felt a deafening sound assault his ears. The guard staggered backwards, his aura fading and the light from his horn vanishing.

*BANG!*

Another loud noise, another flash. Quill clamped his eyes shut and covered his head with his hooves.

*BANG! BANG!*

The mare screamed. Even with his eyes closed he could see the bright flashes of light.

Then silence.

The lights and noises stopped, leaving only the ring in Quill’s ears. The ringing slowly faded, and the voices of the aliens reached his ears. Spoke sternly to the other, who replied in an apologetic tone. With a final bark from one of them, the conversation ceased. Quill slowly opened his eyes, but snapped them shut when he found one of the aliens staring at him, the black weapon pointed at him. A new wave of fear surged through his body. This is it. I’m going to die!

His hooves trembled over his head as he waited for death. But it never came.

Leathery paw clamped down on his mane, causing him to yelp with fear and struggle. “Gah! No! Get off me! NO!”

Not too far away he heard the mare shriek, and beg for mercy. I’m gonna die I’m gonna die!

No matter how much he thrashed he couldn’t escape the alien’s iron grip as it began to drag him across the floor, but still he struggled. “Let me go! I don’t want to die! Please! Please let me-”

*THWAK*

The heavy impact on the back of his head caused him to yelp, and the angry growl of the creature persuaded him to stop his struggles and keep his mouth shut. The alien shoved him and he felt himself hit a wall before falling roughly to the floor. A thump next to him followed by quiet sobs revealed the pegasus mare had been thrown beside him.

Quill risked opening his eyes. His vision was slightly blurred, caused by tears that he hadn’t realised he had been shedding. The unicorn found himself to be in the corner of the room, with his back pressed against the wall. He looked around slowly, soon regretting the action when he spotted the bloodied, unmoving body of the unicorn guard that had been watching over them. One of the aliens standing several meters away, unblinking eyes staring down at him and black weapon trained on the pair of researchers. The other, who, much to Quills surprise, had been joined by a third Quill didn’t, see enter were now searching through the cabinets, pulling out the objects Quill had promised himself he would return to study.

On of the creatures returned the small weapon it held to a sheath on its waist. Quill was able to get a better look at the grip device. It took a few moments, but something in his brain clicked. The unicorn had seen that grip before! The alien proceeded to open one of the cabinets, and withdrew one of the objects.

Quill’s heart skipped a beat.

On the large object the alien now cradled in its arms was a grip of the same design to the black object on the creature’s waist. They were weapons.

The room was an armoury.

*

Rainlight rushed back into the room, the door guard following close behind. A high pitched droning noise filling her ears, signalling that the heart rate monitor was not receiving a pulse. Her eyes immediately shot to the bed, only to find it empty, sheets roughly tossed aside in a mass in the corner and the tubes and cords of various life support systems discarded carelessly. The machines that had once kept the creature alive lay scattered around the room. Rainlight also noticed broken glass on the floor, from the mirror that once hung on the wall.

Oh no, no, no!

She dropped down and looked under the bed. No sign of the alien. It had just disappeared out of thin air. There was only one door to the room, and the pegasus guard stationed outside had kept a close eye on the door. Nothing had left, but it wasn’t in here either.

Wait.

Doctor Rainlight eyed the mass of bed sheets against the wall. She looked to the guard and gestured toward the improvised hiding place. The pegasus nodded and the pair slowly approached the pile.

“Grrah!”

The sheets surged up, draping themselves over the pegasus, and revealing the alien who hid underneath. The alien wore no clothes, pale pinkish skin covering its entire body, save the top of his head and its groin, which were covered by hair. The guard cried out at the sudden attack, and struggled to free himself from the trap, but the alien had other ideas. He charged forward and delivered a brutal kick to the writhing mass of bedsheets.

The tangled guard hit the ground with a loud *oof*, and the alien turned his attention to the startled unicorn. The creature leapt at Rainlight, brandishing a shard of broken mirror. She screamed as she felt a muscled appendage wrap around her body and lift her clean off the floor.

The sharp shard of mirror was pressed against her throat, and she immediately silenced her cries. The alien hissed something in his foreign language, before making his way to the door, the unicorn still in his arms.

A welcoming sound echoed down the hallways of Canterlot Castle, making its way into Rainlight’s ears: the repetitive drumming of armoured hooves on the cold floor. The alien noticed them as well, quickly turning and heading in the opposite direction, his bare feet making a loud slap with each step.

*

Quill Dipper watched with a mixture of awe and utter fear as the aliens pulled weapon after weapon out of the compartments that filled the room. From the long metal weapons, to small roundish objects that resembled cans, to rectangular boxes that slotted into the original weapons. The aliens carried out their tasks hurriedly, hanging several of the weapons of their bodies with straps attached to the devices, and stuffing their bags and pockets with the smaller objects.

Quill jumped when a fourth creature burst through the doorway, hissing something in the alien’s strange language. The others reacted immediately, ducking behind cover and readying their new armaments. The one that had been watching the two cowering researchers held a paw up and raised a single digit over its face. The terrified unicorn didn’t know how to respond, but was quickly distracted by noise coming from the hallway just outside.

Claws clattered against the cold metal floor, echoing down the empty hallways. There were voices too, first incomprehensible, but soon growing into understandable words.

“-down here, so keep your eyes open.”

The command was acknowledged by a squawk that only a gryphon could have made.

The mare whimpered, earning her a low growl from one of the aliens.

Silence. The noises from the hallway had ceased. But that must mean-

“What is it?”

“I heard something. In here.”

A shape moved in the doorway, and Quill realised that in the corner he was in direct line of sight from the doorway. “Well what do we have here?” a menacing voice sounded off.

An armoured gryphon stepped through the doorway, a sick grin on his face. “Little ponies all alone?” he chuckled.

A second followed him into the room. One of the aliens made a slow hand gesture to the others. The first gryphon started toward the ponies, and the mare shrank back, to scared to make any sound. The gryphon came closer still, his companion not far behind. “You’re going to do exactly what I say little ponies, or I’m gonna-”

An alien shouted, and the group sprang from their hiding places. The gryphon shrieked and jumped back. One of the creatures barked a string of loud commands, but the gryphons had other ideas.

“The freaks! Kill them! Kill them!”

Steel blade in his talons, the gryphon lunged.

And the aliens responded.

*

The Equestrians were in complete disarray. They were cut off from each other, small groups slowly being pushed back to the front of the alien vessel. From the beginning, the battle had slowly tipped in favour of the gryphons as they continued to hack and slash their way deeper into the ship. The floors and walls were stained with blood, and the occasional corpse, gruesome marker of places where the ponies had lost ground to their attackers. Vaelis had every bit of confidence that they would come out on top as he hacked down the last remaining Royal Guard in the group. The others had lost their nerve under the might of the war group leader, and had taken off deeper into the ship to find a more defendable position.

Suddenly, Vaelis froze, the gryphons behind following suit. Distant thunder echoed throughout the halls of the ship, clearly audible over the dying sounds of the battle. The scout, Cerik, approached him. “You heard it too?”

“Aye.”

Vaelis tightened his grip on his axe, still dripping blood off the blade from his last victim. “Perhaps the storm worsens.” He suggested.

“No.” Cerik was quick to respond, “That’s not thunder. That came from inside.”

“There is something else in here?” Vaelis snarled. “Go. Find the source and report back, we will deal with the rest of them.” he gestured to the body of a fallen pegasus, who bore several deep lacerations courtesy of Vaelis’ axe.

Cerik nodded, before taking off down the hallway.

Vaelis didn’t stay to watch the scout’s departure, as he had already set off in pursuit of the fleeing group.

*

The alien backed into a wall, guards approaching it from every side. The chase hadn’t been long. The quadrupeds were naturally faster than their bipedal prey, and the alien held an added handicap in the form of a struggling mare.

Rainlight was defiant, putting up a fight whenever the glass blade was not pressed into her throat, but the presence of the improvised weapon always managed to dissuade the unicorn from continuing her struggles.

It was inevitable that the guard would catch up to the biped and his hostage, managing to catch the duo at an intersection in the hallways. Now the alien was cornered, guards to the left, to the right and in front. His back was pressed against the wall, the unicorn in his arms being the only reason the guards hadn’t attacked.

“Release her!” A pegasus barked.

The alien snarled, and responded with a string of bitter words that Rainlight was sure were insults.

He swung the helpless mare back and forth to face the guards on each side as they slowly advanced toward him. With her back pressed against his chest, Rainlight could feel his breaths becoming faster, and even his heart beginning to race, pounding like a drum in his torso.

The guards ponies were growing ever closer and Rainlight could tell that this wasn’t going to end well. She tried her hardest to fight back her fears, but her efforts were crushed when the alien barked more foreign words...

...and began a steady march toward the guards.

I would be lying if I said this story didn't give me a few ideas, and I hope you're enjoying my shoddy art.

Thanks again for reading, your are a wonderful audience! Remember, rate, comment, track and let your friends know!

IV. Fray

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

From Skies Above – Fray

Valren’s eyes swept back and forth across the abandoned camp. Around him were the other ‘lesser’ warriors who guarded the breach. There was still no sign of Avlyn, and the young gryphon had already surpassed the point of worry. He now sat and kept watch over the camp, his mind formulating possible reasons for his companion’s disappearance.

“What are you doing?” a gruff voice spoke from behind Valren, snapping him from his trance. He turned to face the gryphon that he recognised as Jyork.

“I think there’s something out there.” He gestured out to the snowfield with his claw.

“And I think your eyes are playing tricks on you.”

Valren frowned. It didn’t please him that his companion couldn’t see the obvious. “Then where is Avlyn?”

The other gryphon shrugged, giving of the impression that he didn’t care. “Maybe he got scared. Ran away.”

“Are you blind?” Valren growled. “He was itching to fight more than any of us. There is something out there and he saw it. I don’t know what possessed him to head out there alone, but whatever it is, it’s dangerous.”

“Well, if you’re so sure of it then why don’t you go out and take a look?”

“Because that’s what Avlyn did.”

A shout from the breach cut their conversation short. “Get ready! Something’s coming!”

The gryphons jumped into position around the breach, weapons drawn and ready to fight. Several took their places on the roof of the ship, armed with crossbows and spears.

They stayed silent, only the howl of the wind sounding through the snowfields. Suddenly there was sound. An almost inaudible thumping. A gryphon risked peering inside.

*BANG!*

With a loud screech he was flung backwards in a spray of red mist and gore. A dark silhouette appeared in the breach, followed by another. One stepped forward and fired. The weapon thundered, spitting small flames from its mouth as the ground in front of the gryphons erupted with blasts of snow. The defenders fell back, and the aliens pushed forward.

Valren scampered backwards, unsure of how to approach this fight. The aliens slowly made their way through the breach, deadly weapons trained on the ring of gryphons around them. None of the warriors charged, and the creatures held their fire as they proceeded into the open. Two more appeared behind the first two, one was limping badly and leaning on the other for support. They stuck to the side of the ship, warily watching the gryphons as the escaped. They even spotted the gryphon warriors on the roof of the ship, ruling out any chance of a sneak attack. With their backs to their destroyed vessel, the creatures slowly shuffled their way away from the gryphons.

Valren watched them disappear into the storm. He longed to chase them, to bring himself the honour of slaying the beasts and avenging the death of his comrade, the honour he felt he deserved, but he knew better. A quick glance toward the other told him that they wanted the same thing.

A runner was sent to find Vaelis and notify him of the creature’s escape. With nothing else to do, the other warriors returned to their posts, despite knowing that the Equestrians would no doubt have been handled by the warriors inside, else they would have attacked already.

Valren couldn’t help but to keep looking back out into the storm. The creatures were still out there, and he had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last appearance they would make.

*

The alien marched steadily toward the line of guards, his writhing shield still held firmly in his arms, and his makeshift weapon poised to strike. The guards stood firm, undisturbed by the alien’s confidence in the effectiveness of his hostage.

Rainlight knew what he was trying to do. As he continued on, the guards would have to back down, else risk her captor attacking them, or even her. She trembled in the biped’s arms, longing for the comfort and security of the bed she had left that morning.

The guards held their ground, unblinking eyes locked on the biped. The alien was unfazed by the guard’s defiance. He kept his pace, steadily approaching the armoured wall of equines.

Ten meters.

Seven. Rainlight swallowed, trying in vain to dislodge the lump in her throat.

Five. She clamped her eyes shut, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

“NOW!”

A bright flash of light flared up in the alien’s hand, completely enveloping his improvised weapon. With a powerful tug, the magic wrenched the makeshift blade from his grasp, cutting through flesh and breaking the shard in two.

Rainlight felt the familiar touch of magic cover her body as she was unceremoniously ripped from the shocked alien’s grip. She yelped loudly as she landed on the marble floor with a loud thud.

The alien now stood naked and alone before his enemy, a deep cut in his hand bleeding furiously. His eyes darted between his injury and the guards. The closest guards seized their advantage, leaping toward the confused biped.

The burly guardsponies forced the creature to the ground, using their weight to keep it pinned, but the alien still had some fight left in him. He let out a mess of unintelligible shouts before curling the digits on his right arm into a tight ball. Swinging the appendage, he slammed it into the exposed throat of one of the guards. The pegasus coughed and wheezed, and the alien was able to force the guard off before more stepped forward to subdue him.

“Bring the shackles!”

Rainlight watched a unicorn bring forth two sets of iron shackles. The restraints were made up of two clasps chained together to limit mobility. Several guards held the struggling creature in place as the unicorn clasped the irons around the creature’s limbs, one pair on his legs and another on his arms. The clasps, being designed for ponies, were slightly wider than the alien’s arms, but it would still be a struggle to escape.

Rainlight realised that a pegasus guard was standing before her, waiting for a response to a question she must have missed. She blinked before speaking. “I beg your pardon?”

“I said: Are you alright?”

The unicorn mare nodded repeatedly. “Y-yes, just a bit shaken up.”

“Ma’am, you’re bleeding.”

She could feel a warm liquid running down her neck. Rainlight raised a trembling hoof and rubbed her throat and looked to find a small smear of blood staining her pale blue coat. Just a cut. Probably from the glass.

“Do you need help?”

“No, no. I’ll be fine. I am a doctor.”

This wasn’t the first time a patient had acted aggressively toward Rainlight, however this was her first time being held hostage. The mare turned back to the alien. The guards had moved away, the creature now lying restrained on the floor. His chest rose and fell with deep breaths, and he tested his bonds. The alien’s face was twisted into a scowl, glaring menacingly at anypony who got close enough, and his right forearm was stained red with blood from the wound, but he pulled away violently from any attempt to help. The guards eventually resorted to holding him down once again long enough to dress the injury.

Heavy hoof falls announced the arrival of more guards, accompanying Princess Luna. The alien also noticed her arrival, and his gaze locked on the princess, who in turn met his eyes with her own. They stared at each other for a moment before she spoke. “Sergeant?”

“Your highness?”

“Take him to the dungeon, I believe that will be a safer place for our guest to stay.”

*

Celestia’s eyes darted back and forth across the letter, her eyebrows slowly slanting down into a frown. Upon its completion, she shut her eyes and exhaled loudly before levitating up an empty parchment, quill and inkpot. The quill dipped into the pot of ink before scratching hastily away on the parchment. It took less than a minute for the message to complete, and the Princess swiftly sent it away in a flash of light, illuminating the Princess’ darkened quarters for an instant.

The light faded and the white alicorn sat in silence for a moment. She raised herself to a stand and headed toward the door, the loud clops of her golden shoes against the floor sending echoes throughout the chamber.

Opening the door with her magic, she stepped into the hallway, passing the statue-like guards without a second glance. The Princess passed many more on her journey, and other castle dwellers who bowed respectfully in her presence, eventually arriving at her destination.

The castle dungeon.

It didn’t take her long to find who she was looking for. Luna sat in front of a cell, flanked on either side by her personal guard. The Princess of the Moon observed the cell’s inhabitant, the ape-like alien. The creature chose not to use the bed provided, instead sitting in the far corner of the tiny room, wrapped in a woollen blanket. His knees were drawn up to his chin, his hands resting on top of them. His small eyes were locked on Luna, observing her as she did him. His gaze quickly switched to Celestia as she stepped into view. She too watched him for a moment.

“I trust you know about his little... adventure?” Luna asked, not taking her eyes off the creature.

“I do. Nopony was hurt, I assume?”

“One of the doctors was quite shaken, but aside from that and a few cuts and bruises, everypony is fine.”

“Good. I was worried our friend might have hurt somepony.” Celestia said.

Luna still wouldn’t take her eyes of the creature. “What of the research team? Has there been any word from them?”

Celestia sighed. “That I why I came to see you. I just received a letter from one of Surestrike’s lieutenants, the camp has been attacked.”

Luna tore her gaze away from the creature and looked at her sister.

“A gryphon wargroup. There have been casualties. I’ve already sent a letter to the guard at Stalliongrad, they’ll sent a detachment of soldiers.”

The alien raised his head, aware from the sudden change in atmosphere that something was happening. Luna opened her mouth to speak, but Celestia cut her off. “There is one more thing. The lieutenant who sent the letter claimed to have seen a tall, bipeal monster kill one of his soldiers with some kind of magical weapon.”

Luna gaped at her sister, unable to formulate a response. Despite having acquired one of the alien weapons, how they worked was yet to be discovered. They were completely resistant to magic, as were the other alien artefacts, and Celestia had forbid any attempt to disassemble it after a small accident where one of the researchers had unwittingly fired the weapon, nearly killing a co-worker.

“Come.” Celestia said, “We must meet with the council and discuss our next move.”

*

Nopony had been allowed to see the creature after its escape, save the Princesses and a few chosen for their skills. These included elite guards, and several doctors. The list however, did not include one Twilight Sparkle.

The lavender unicorn paced back and forth across the lavishly furnished private suite the Princess had issued her. High quality furniture dotted the bedroom, with walls lined with beautiful paintings from some of Equestria’s most famous artists. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting a warm orange glow over the room.

Twilight payed no heed to the craftsmanship and quality of the room’s contents. She merely paced back and forth, the sound of her hooves dulled by the soft rug that covered the floor. The lavender mare paused to let out a frustrated sigh, before she continued her seemingly endless pacing.

The source of her discomfort was, unsurprisingly, the alien who currently resided in the castle dungeon. Well, I hope he’s still there.

Twilight wasn’t angry at her mentor for barring her access to the creature. She couldn’t argue with Celestia’s reasoning behind the decision. There was the obvious safety concern with being anywhere near the alien, especially considering it previously shown tendency to act violently. There was also the creature’s state of mind. No doubt it would be stressed out beyond belief, and the Princess had no desire to aggravate the biped any further.

Still, Twilight couldn’t help but feel left out. Frustrated that her studies on the alien would have to wait for even longer, she tried to find something else to occupy her time. Due to her studious nature, it wasn’t long before a suitable answer presented itself.

The library.

Canterlot had the largest library in the whole of Equestria, perhaps even in the entire world. In her younger years, Twilight had spent a great deal of time in there, even going so far as to move in and become the caretaker. She would have elected it to be her residence for the duration of her current trip, but due to her absence in when she moved to Ponyville, a new librarian had been appointed.

Without a second thought, she left her quarters and set off toward her former home.

*

Twelve hours later.

“...considering our losses we would have been crushed had we engaged the Equestrian’s reinforcements.” The messenger, paused, as if he was unsure if he should continue. Finally he concluded the message. “I am sorry, sire, but we have failed.”

“Be gone.”

The messenger took a swift bow before backing out of the room, leaving Banewin alone with the four elders. Silence filled the air whilst the gryphon leaders pondered over the contents of the message. They sat idly, no movement except for the dancing shadows cast by the bright torches that lined the walls. The elders eagerly awaited permission to share their thoughts.

Banewin exhaled loudly. “Speak.”

“This will lead to war.” Yalek stated, his clouded eyes observing Banewin’s face as he spoke. The clan leader’s face remained an emotionless mask.

“No. The land is ours; we have every right to defend it.” The old hen, Hyava, added. “The Equestrians know this, Yalek.”

Yalek turned to face her. “Our warriors should have restrained themselves. Their orders were to drive the Equestrians off our land, not slaughter them!” He pointed a talon at her, “This will only serve to enrage the Princesses! We all know that our treaty with the Frostwing clan is fraying! If the ponies declare war, we won’t survive!”

Elder Kyarth cut in. “Whilst this is a matter of utmost importance, I fear you are overlooking an important aspect of the report. The messenger clearly stated that the ponies were not the only other combatants. More of those... things have appeared.”

“Bah!” Yalek exclaimed, “We are on the brink of war on two fronts, and you worry about a few stray dogs running through the mountains.”

“Are you deaf, Yalek? Did you not hear when we were told of how a mere four of these monsters effortlessly cut their way through our warriors and the Equestrian’s without suffering a single death? If there are more of them than we anticipated, then they have proved themselves a bigger threat than both the Equestrian’s and the Frostwings!”

Kyarth turned to face the clan leader. “With respect, sire, I most humbly suggest we make these beasts our first priority. If they are in our land, then they are our biggest threat.”

“Aye” the fourth elder, Maelon, agreed, “They are perhaps the most dangerous of our foes, and the closest to home. Left unchecked they could be responsible for crippling damage.”

Yalek frowned. “And what, Kyarth, do you suggest we do about the Equestrians?”

Much to Yalek’s annoyance, the third elder, Kyarth, smiled at him. “We merely do what should have been done in the first place. We remind them that the land is ours, and we tell them to withdraw, else we will drive them out.”

“And you think they will comply?” Yalek shot back, “They know their nation is stronger than ours, and that a war would no doubt lead to our defeat!”

“Celestia is no simpleton, Yalek.” Kyarth said calmly, “The land is rightfully ours, and she must honour our wishes for her subjects to withdraw. If she fails to comply, than she will be going against the treaty both our nations have signed. If she ignores the treaty and shows an act of aggression toward a gryphon clan, the other clans will see her as untrustworthy, and will not feel bound to follow the treaty that she has so carelessly broken. It may even be enough to unite the other clans against her.”

“Not likely.” The elderly hen muttered.

“But the point still stands. It would be too great a risk for her to dishonour the agreement between our nations.” Kyarth’s confidence in his argument unnerved Yalek, as did his unflinching smile.

“You seem very sure of this, Kyarth.” Banewin commented.

Kyarth bowed his head respectfully. “I am, sire.”

Banewin nodded slowly before turning toward the female elder. “Hyava, what have you found out about the original survivor?”

Hyava nodded. “Our informant spoke of rumours circulating amongst the castle staff about a two legged monster attacking some of the medical staff. I think it is safe to assume that the creature in question is the same one that killed your brother.”

The clan leader’s expression shifted slightly at the mention of Aceius, but he recovered quickly. “Then it survived. Good. You have done well Hyava.”

She smiled proudly. “But of course, sire, I am here-”

“Have it killed.”

Hyava’s eyes widened and similar looks of shock appeared on the other elders. “I beg your pardon, but I fear I may have misheard you.”

Banewin’s eyes narrowed as he spoke. “I believe you hear me quite clearly. I want the beast assassinated.”

“Sire, perhaps you should reconsider this move.” Yalek said.

“Aye” Kyarth added, “Your anger over your brother’s death clouds your judgement, and such a move could jeopardise our informant’s position, which would be a mistake considering the usefulness of a spy with our current-”

*THUMP!*

Banewin’s curled talons collided with the stone floor of the hall, echoing throughout the room and silencing the elder’s pleas. “Send scouts to sweep our land, starting in the area of the crash site. Find where these monsters hide, but do not engage them. As for the Equestrians, send an emissary to inform them that they are not welcome on our land, and we will again respond with force if they do not vacate our territory. Inform all of our settlements to ready their fighters and have them on standby.”

Banewin stared down at the elders, looking each in the eye as he spoke. “My order still stands regarding the assassination. I want that freak dead. Now be gone!”

Each elder bowed before the clan leader before proceeding toward the exit. Soon enough Banewin was, once again, alone.

//Incoming Transmission

//Incoming Transmission

//Decoding

.
..
...

***PRIORITY 1 DISTRESS BEACON***

>UNN YAMATO
>Critical systems failure.
>Multiple Crew casualties

//Decoding location

//Transmitting co-ordinates

“Admiral!”

A middle aged man looked over toward the source of the call. He walked over, the medals on his chest swinging slightly with each step. “What do you have for me?”

The young man who operated the terminal spoke. “Sir, distress signal from the UNN Yamato.”

“Yamato?”

“Yes sir. Last seen back at Earth. They initiated jump with the rest of the fleet, but never came out on the other side.”

The Admiral scratched his chin. “Where are they?”

“I’m bringing up their location now.” The operator proceeded to tap keys on the pad in front of him. “Here.”

“Hmm.” The Admiral peered closer to the screen. “Dispatch the Colmar, search and rescue. If there are any survivors I want them brought back.”

“Sending the data now. Will there be anything else, sir?”

“No, that’s all.”

The admiral walked away from the console, leaving the operator to work. He made his way to the bridge’s observation window just in time to see the UNN Colmar initiate its FTL drive. In a flash of light the mighty ship disappeared on its journey.

Thank you guys for sticking with me this far. You know the drill: read, rate, track, comment and tell your friends!

V. Prey

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

From Skies Above – Prey

Ponies trotted back and forth around the crash site, helping move supplies and wounded. A mixture of guards surrounded the area. Bruised and bloodied Royal guards surrendered their duties to the Stalliongrad guards, whom were in much better condition than their Canterlot counterparts.

A decorated pegasus in the shining steel armour of Stalliongrad stood in the center of the mass of ponies, a unicorn guard clad in the Royal golden armour before him.

“Bastards caught us by surprise. We should have been ready.” The unicorn said grimly. “If you hadn’t showed up we’d be dead.”

His golden armour was scratched and battered, even sporting splatters of dark crimson blood. His coat had fared no better in the fighting, and was stained red in many places. It was impossible for him to tell which patches of blood belonged to him, and which didn’t.

The Stalliongrad pegasus nodded solemnly. His silver coloured armour shined brightly compared to the dulled gold of his subordinate, the Stalliongrad Guard insignia proudly displayed on his chest plate. “Where’s Captain Surestrike? I thought he was supposed to be in charge of this mission.”

“Not anymore. Surestrike didn’t make it.”

The pegasus frowned. There was a short silence between the two, before the pegasus spoke. “How many casualties?” he asked.

The Royal guard shook his head slowly. “We’re still counting the bodies. It’s not looking good.”

“Civilians?”

“We’re still rounding up the ones that hid deeper in the ship. We’ve got wounded, but none dead. So far that is. It looks like the gryphons only killed the ones that fought back.”

“And... them?”

“Disappeared. Must’ve been during the fight, else we would have seen them. Looks like they got what they wanted and left.” He sighed, “Not before killing a few good troops, though.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“At least they made a dent on the bird-brains, too.” The pair chuckled halfheartedly.

“You should get yourself to a medic, lieutenant.” The Stalliongrad Guard said.

“There are a lot of others that got it worse than me, sir. At least I can still walk.”

“That wasn’t a suggestion.”

“Yes, sir.”

*

Twilight collapsed into the comfort of her bed. The unicorn’s day had begun with a trip to the Canterlot Library. She had once served as the custodian of the ivory tower of knowledge, calling it home. It had been so long since she had set hoof in the building after the return of Nightmare Moon.

Too long.

Twilight still held and emotional attachment to the place, and longed to see how it had fared without her presence. Her old home had been almost exactly as she left it. Books filled the shelves, with some new additions gracing the collection. The place was a good deal tidier than when she had been living there. Probably because she hadn’t been there to study.

Leaflet was the name of the new librarian. A middle aged unicorn mare with a cream coloured coat and a navy blue mane. Whilst very polite, she didn’t have a very welcoming feel in the way she spoke, amplified by the fact that she never once smiled while Twilight was there.

The cold presence of the librarian was enough to dispel Twilight’s curiosity of the library, so she decided to spend the rest of the day in the city. The lavender unicorn wandered the streets, taking in the familiar sights and sounds, but loneliness followed her everywhere she went. She wished her friends were these to share the experience. It was strange how one could feel so alone in a city so full of life.

The sun grew ever closer to the horizon, illuminating the land in a warm orange glow. Twilight made her way back to the castle, taking dinner in her room. She had originally asked if she would be able to dine with the Princess, but her hopes were dashed when her request was declined. The Princess had been in a council meeting, only excusing herself to lower the sun.

So Twilight had decided going to sleep a bit early was the best option. She lay in her bed, waiting to slip into unconsciousness.

*Knock Knock*

The unicorn raised her head, looking toward the door. A muffled voice called through the threshold. “Miss Sparkle?”

“I’m coming!” she called back.

Twilight swung herself off the bed and onto the carpeted floor. Trotting to the door, she lit it up with her magic and swung it open. An earth pony stood on the other side, clad in the serving uniform worn by castle staff.

“Can I help you?”

“Miss Sparkle, Princess Luna has requested your presence. If you would follow me.”

Twilight smiled. Maybe today would be interesting after all.

*

The wind whipped through Taera’s feathers and cloak, making loose cloth flap wildly. She sat high up on the cloud, looking down at her prey. While there had been no sign of where the alien’s had made their camp, she had the fortune of spotting the two bipeds below. They stood out as dark shapes in the snow, trudging along on the steep paths that lined the snowy cliffs, probably in search of food.

Hunters, maybe? Taera scoffed, how ironic that would be.

The hen continued to watch the pair as they made their way through the mountains. It was odd to see such lanky looking creatures after hearing about the horrors they could inflict upon their prey. A flutter of wings caught Taera’s ears. She turned to find one of her subordinates behind her.

“Rye.” She greeted. The black feathered male nodded his head. “What do you have?”

“There are no others in the area. It’s just the two of them.” Rye began, “There is, however, a Wyvern cave nearby.”

Wyverns, kin to the dragon, were oddly most common in the frigid mountain ranges to the north, despite their reptilian appearence. Whilst they lacked the intelligence and fire breathing ability of their dragon cousins, they made up for it with their vicious nature and frightening speed. They rightfully were the most feared predator in the area.

“You sure it’s a Wyvern?” Taera asked.

Rye nodded. “I am. Kae’los, is what the locals call her. Big bitch too. She’s been quite a menace to the towns around here, and no one’s been able to slay her yet.”

Taera looked back down at the aliens. They were still unaware of the gryphons watching them. When she looked back at Rye, a devilish smile had formed on her face.

“Call the others.” She ordered. “I have a plan.”

*

The first thing Twilight noticed about the cell was that it had an interesting smell. The unicorn decided that lingering on its source wouldn’t yield the most welcoming of results, so she focused on the matter at hoof: The alien sitting on a cushion across the table before her.

A set of clothes had been tailored for the alien, an almost exact replica of his previous attire, which had been torn, cut and stained beyond repair. His short mane was bedraggled and disorganised, whether it was the alien’s preferred fashion or he just didn’t care was unknown to Twilight, but she was there to hopefully remove the barrier that prevented that exchange of knowledge. At Luna’s request, Twilight had been chosen to try and teach the alien basic Equestrian.

Four guards stood inside the cell, two unicorns and two pegasi standing by Twilight’s sides. Aside from their obvious purpose, Luna hoped their presence might intimidate the alien into submission, but the creature remained unfazed by the soldiers. His attention was fixed on Twilight, eyes sometimes drifting over to Luna for a few moments.

Twilight was almost overcome by a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Here she was, about to begin peaceful relations between Equestria and an alien species. Making history. Yet the alien was prone to violence, and had threatened and attacked several guards and staff members. His presence was unnerving, and Twilight couldn’t fight the slight shakes her body was giving off.

She glanced back at Luna, who gave a nod of encouragement. Turning back around to face the alien, she began the first test. Twilight raised a hoof and placed it on her chest. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said slowly, “Twilight Sparkle.”

The alien stared at her, his face showing no sign of emotion.

“Twi-light. Spar-kle.” She said slowly, tapping her chest with each syllable.

The alien raised an eyebrow.

It’s a start, Twilight thought.

“Okay. Let’s try something else.”

Her horn glowed a rich pinkish purple colour, causing the alien to tense up. “It’s okay.” She said in a soothing tone, trying to emulate Fluttershy. “It’s not going to hurt you.”

The saddlebag beside her opened, and a parchment floated out, wrapped in her aura. She slowly floated the page onto the low table, spinning it to face the alien. On the parchment was a drawing of a pony, with several lines leading off to three other drawings: a unicorn, a pegasus and an earth pony.

Twilight slowly extended a hoof and pointed to the main pony image. “Pony.” She said clearly.

She moved her hoof to the unicorn, again identifying the image. “Unicorn.”

She repeated the procedure with the other drawings, then started again from the beginning, the alien watching her every move. Twilight was partway through her third run when the alien raised a hand.

Twilight withdrew her hoof when he moved his arm toward the parchment, pointing with a single finger at the main drawing. “Poneeh.” He said.

Twilight though he heard a small squeal of delight from the princess behind her. Her own heart jumped at the success of her teaching. However small this step was, it was a step.

“Pony.” Twilight clarified, her excitement clear in her voice.

“Pony.” He repeated, his pronunciation improving.

The alien moved his finger to the unicorn, the on to the other images, saying the names as he went. “Unih-con. Peghasas. Eark Pony.”

Twilight smiled like Pinkie at a party. She rubbed her hooves together and decided to try another example. She tapped her chest again, speaking slowly and clearly. “I am a unicorn.”

The alien looked confused for a moment, but soon pointed a finger at her and spoke. “Peghasas.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “No, no. Unicorn.”

“Peghasas.”

“Not pegasus.” She said, shaking her head. “U-ni-corn.” She tapped her chest with each syllable to emphasis her point.

“Peg-has-as.” The alien was defiant, jabbing the air in front of her with a finger three times.

“U-ni-corn.”

“Peg-has-as!”

“U-ni-corn!”

He stopped, contemplating what she said. The alien opened his mouth, and then closed it shortly after. For a moment, silence reigned, before he finally spoke again.

“Eark Pony?”

Twilight let out a long groan, cradling her head in her hooves. This is harder than I thought.

An odd sound reached her ears, snapping her out of her frustrated mood. She looked up at the alien, who wore an unmistakeable grin. His body shook as he struggled to contain his...

...laughter?

Twilight didn’t know whether to feel relieved or frustrated. Her ‘student’ had just made his first Equestrian joke.

*

Clouds covered the sky, almost blocking out the sun completely. A pair of bipeds trudged through the snow, clutching their weapons closely as they continued on. One stopped, turning to his companion and speaking a few words. They sun was setting, and the light level was already low enough with the cloud cover. The second nodded, and the pair turned around and began their trek back the way they had come.

An arrow sped out of nowhere, slamming into the ground nearby to the aliens. They reacted immediately, ducking low and rushing back toward the cover of some nearby rocks. More arrows followed the first, penetrating the ground around the creatures.

They searched frantically across the mountainside, trying to identify the source of the attack. A gryphon poked his head up from a cloud, loosing an arrow down at the bipeds. It harmlessly impacted the snow, far away from its target. Several more gryphons repeated the formula, firing down at their prey.

The aliens caught sight of their attackers. One raised its weapon.

*BAMBAMBAM!*

The gryphons scattered, each flying swiftly to new positions. The clouds may not have provided them with protection against the alien weapons, but they could hide the hunters from harm.

The gryphons weaved between clouds shooting a continuous wave of arrows at the bipeds. The shots were poorly aimed, the most accurate of them landing dozens of meters from their targets, but the attacks served their purpose. The aliens fled the exposed area, forced back onto their original path.

*BAMBAMBAM!*

Taera felt a projectile whiz past her at blinding speeds. She promptly ducked back behind a cloud, nearly dropping her bow in the process. That was too close.

She peaked out from behind the cloud and caught a glimpse of her prey. The bipeds were retreating, running back into the mountains whilst deterring her hunters with fire from their weapons. Just as planned.

The hen roared, leaving her cloud and diving to another. Nearby, several of her warriors did the same. The hunting party continued to fire arrows down at the aliens. Several came close to their targets, but none made any hits. It didn’t matter.

The aliens ran, their enemy preferring to try and pick them off from a distance instead of face them head on. A smart choice in tactic when facing the aliens.

One of them shouted, gesturing to a nearby cave. It would provide the cover they needed from the gryphons, allowing them to hunker down and fight back. The second alien acknowledged the first, making a dash for the mouth of the cave whilst his companion fired at the hunters.

Taera grinned.

The remaining alien dove into the cave, the second covering him with the thunderous weapon. They scrambled inside, moving deeper into the earth. Taera and her hunters moved closer, surrounding the entrance, but hanging back a safe distance.

Let’s hope she’s home.

Taera signalled Rye, gesturing toward the cave mouth. They landed either side, being sure to stay out of sight to anything inside. Slowly, they crept closer. Taera knocked an arrow onto her bowstring, drawing it back as she came to the entrance. She a Rye locked eyes.

She nodded.

Taera leaned out into the open, firing blindly into the cave before wrenching herself back. Rye did the same on the other side, his arrow flying with hers into the dark.

*BAMBAMBAM!*

The rocky cave wall exploded where Taera once stood. She scrambled back away from the mouth, leaping into the air. There was no way the hunter could get inside without exposing themselves to the aliens.

But the wyvern’s roar confirmed that they didn’t need to.

*

Time flew by as Twilight continued her lesson. She spent most of the time teaching the alien names of objects by speaking it clearly whilst showing him an image, and writing notes as she went. Luna silently observed the unicorn and the alien interact, closely watching their every move. At first, the alien was quite stubborn, often giving the unicorn a blank stare and nothing more. As the lesson wore on, he resigned to his fate and slowly began to comply. Whilst never having taught before, Twilight found the experience to be quite enjoyable.

Twilight finished scribbling down the end of a sentence when the alien spoke in his language, raising his hand and pointing at the silent Princess outside the cell.

“Unicon?”

Twilight glanced at the princess, then looked back at her student. “That’s Princess Luna. Ali-corn.”

“Alik-hon?” The alien struggled to pronounce the word.

“Alicorn.”

“Hmm.” The alien stared at Luna for a moment, before he rose to his feet.

The guards immediately tensed up, brows furrowing. The alien didn’t seem to care. He chuckled and stretched his limbs, making several audible pops.

“Perhaps that will be enough for one day, Twilight?” Luna said.

Twilight tested her own joints, only coming to realise how cramped they felt. Not to mention she was hungry. “Yes, Princess.”

The lavender unicorn packed her things into her saddle bag, aware of the alien watching her every move, and made her way to the cell door.

“Twi-lie Sparkle.”

She froze, head spinning around to face the alien.

“Twi-lie Sparkle.” He repeated.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Twilight Sparkle.” She said, placing a hoof on her chest. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

The biped looked down at her, then slowly he moved his hand up to his torso.

“My nem is Ryan.” He patted himself on the chest, “Rye-ann.”

*

The massive beast charged out from the darkness of the cave. Her powerful hind legs pushed her forward at an almost unnatural speed toward the pair of startled aliens, who brought their weapons to bear.

*BAMBAMBAMBAM!*

The cave erupted in a frenzy of flashing light and thunder as the aliens let loose the power of their mysterious weapons on the charging beast.

Kae’los screamed in pain, ducking her head to protect her eyes. She stopped the charge, skidding to a halt but using the momentum gained to swing her long tail around like a whip. The first alien was struck with a loud crack. Its body flew back, bouncing off a rocky wall and tumbling in the snow just outside of the cave’s entrance.

The second ducked, the wyvern’s tail sailing overhead, before unleashing a new volley of the weapon’s projectiles in the back of the beast. She screamed in pain, but the tough scales that covered her body protected her well from the alien’s attack.

Kae’los flared her leathery wings. They looked much like those of a dragon, but much bigger in comparison to the wyvern’s body. Unlike a dragon, the wyvern had no forelegs, only its wings and hinds. This gave the wyvern a more streamlined and aerodynamic body, allowing it to fly faster than a dragon.

The wyvern swung her wings forward, propelling herself backwards. The wall of air was directed at the alien, who couldn’t stand up to its strength. It was launched back into the snow, losing grip of its weapon. The wyvern stalked to the mouth of the cave, jaws dripping with anticipation. The alien began to recover from the shock, looking around frantically for its weapon.

The black object stood out in the snow, and as soon as the biped spotted the weapon it scrambled toward its prize. Its hand brushed against the cold metal.

Kae’los’ jaws clamped down of its lower body. She raised her head and swung it left and right, the screaming alien locked firmly in her grip. The wyvern loosened her grasp, letting her prey fall to the ground. She placed one of her clawed feet over its body, crushing it into the ground as she threw back her head and bellowed her victory.

Taking her prize in her maw once again, she returned into her home, away from the eyes of the gryphon spectators.

*

“And what exactly made you think I would agree to this?” Celestia asked in a low tone.

Luna sipped her tea indifferently. “I didn’t think you would,” She stated, “and thus I didn’t ask you. Besides, you had much more pressing matters to attend too.”

“That still doesn’t make it right that you threw my student into a cage with dangerous creature from another planet.” The Princess of the Sun countered.

“Oh sister, he is hardly dangerous. Myself and several guards accompanied Twilight so Ryan wouldn’t have had a chance to hurt her even if he had tried.” The younger of the two said, “And I did not ‘throw’ her in with him, it was Twilight’s choice and she had every opportunity to back out if she chose.”

Celestia paused, taking in what her sister had said. “Ryan?”

“We were able to get him to tell us his name.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, as if to challenge her sister’s word. “Really? What else did you learn?”

Luna took another sip of tea. “Nothing else worth noting. He has been the one doing the most learning.”

“Very well, keep me updated on his progress. But be sure to make me aware when you decide to involve any of my little ponies in dangerous activities.”

“Our little ponies.” The younger sibling corrected, “What of the team in the mountains? Has there been any news?”

Celestia lowered her head. “Yes, things are looking grim. The relief force from Stalliongrad arrived, but there were many casualties. A lot of guards won’t be coming home.”

Silence filled the air.

“What about the researchers?” Luna asked, her voice significantly lower.

“Scared and some wounded, but alive, thankfully.” Luna opened her mouth to respond, but Celestia cut her off, “There is more. The gryphons have also decided to send an emissary. They are claiming ownership of the land and want our forces of vacate.”

“What?” she cried, “They ask us now? After attacking and killing our guards? Do they seek to insult us?!”

“Sister, please.”

“Do they wish to provoke us to war?”

“Luna.” Celestia said sternly, “You know just as well as I that they are not in any position to survive a war with Equestria.”

“Then perhaps they seek to learn from the wreckage, or to seize the alien’s weapons?” Luna looked her sister in the eye. “Sister, we cannot let them take control of the alien’s ship. Who knows what kind of technology they could find?”

“And they would most certainly use them against us. That I know, sister.”

“Then why do we continue to reason with them?”

“It is not that simple, dear sister.” Celestia stated, “They see the land as theirs, and if we were to continue to occupy that territory than they would see that as a breach of our treaty, as would the other clans. It could jeopardise our relationship with not only one clan, but their entire race.”

“Or the other clans would seize the opportunity to attack whilst they are occupied with us.” Luna added.

“You’d be surprised, Luna. If there is one thing that the clans hate more than each other, it’s us.”

“So we’re just going to give them access to potential alien super weapons?”

“No, I just want you to understand that these matters require a great deal of thought.”

Luna frowned. “So we are going to hold the territory?”

“I don’t believe we have much of a choice. The ship is too large to move, and we can’t let the clans take it.”

“What about jeopardising our relationship with the other clans?”

Celestia sighed. “We hope that I am wrong. If I’m not than a lot of my little ponies are going to get hurt.”

“Our little ponies.” Luna corrected.

Celestia smiled. “Our little ponies.”

//Plans

“Where the fuck are they?!” Corporal Reye’s voice was muffled slightly by his helmet, but still audible to the other men who stood guard with him. “It’s been way too long, they should be back by now!”

He clutched his gun tightly, eyeing the mouth of the cave the group sought shelter in.

“What if they got caught?” another figure added. His voice was that of a youth, no more than twenty years of age. “We never should have left the ship.”

“Yamato’s probably swarming with the fuckers by now. I doubt we’d have enough ammo to fight ‘em all off.” Reyes said.

“So would you prefer to hide in this god-forsaken wasteland until we starve or freeze to death?” a third man added. “Who says we need to fight them all? Kill a few dozen and the rest’ll think twice about trying to take us on.”

“Why are we even fighting them?” the younger man asked, “This is first contact with an alien race, shouldn’t we like, try and be peaceful or something?”

“Will, if you wanna go and try for peace talks, be my guest.” Reyes waved a hand at the cave entrance, “But don’t come crying to me when you get hit by enough arrows to earn the name ‘pincushion’.”

“Fuck!” the third man cried, “I still can’t believe this shit! We’re being hunted by a bunch of races from Greek mythology that are at war with eachother!”

“Cheer up, Benji,” Reyes said, “Maybe this is all some fucked up dream and the real you is spazzing out on the floor in some sort of drug induced seizure.”

“Hee-fucking-larious, Reyes.” Benji replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

A strong gust of wind blew a wave of chilling air over the men.

“You know what?” Beni started, “I’m with Will on this one. We’re gonna freeze to death at this rate, we should have stayed on the ship.”

Reyes shook his head. “No. Help’s gotta be on the way, we just need to sit tight and ride this out.”

“That could be days from now! If the cold doesn’t kill us those scumbags out there will!” Benji shot back, “We should take back the ship.”

“And how the fuck are we supposed to do that?!” Reyes shouted, “Not everyone back there is a soldier, and hell, I bet some of them haven’t even held a real gun before! Those cunts are probably swarming all over the ship! We don’t have the man power or the ammo clear it out!”

“Keep it down!” Will hissed.

Benji paced back and forth for a minute, only the sound of the wind and the footsteps of the soldiers echoing through the cave. Benji finally came to a halt. “Look, we don’t have to kill them all, just scare them off.”

Reyes was about to respond but Benji cut him off with a hand gesture. “Just hear me out. These guys are still in the dark ages, or whenever. They’ve got swords, they’ve got bows. We have guns. All we need to do is show some numbers, show ‘em how easy it is for us to take ‘em out and they’ll be running scared. We can take the ship and restock in the armoury. That should be enough to last until rescue.”

“Oh come on!” Reye’s whined, “We don’t even know which group has the ship. What if the other team decides to show up while we’re out there. We’ll be sitting ducks! And those horse... things. Brian said one conjured a fireball out of nowhere and threw it at him!”

“And a grenade took care of that problem. We can still take these guys down. Crow said that after the first few shots they were fucking pissing themselves and scrambling over each other to get away. We can do this.”

Reyes groaned, but then gave in. “Alright, but you’ve got to get the others onboard first.”

Benji nodded.

“And!” Reyes said, “I still think you’re bat shit insane.”

Benji grasped his helmet with both hands, pulling it off with ease. He grinned at the other man. “I guess that makes two of us.”

In todays chapter, I pretend to know about animals, and the gryphons win for once! What is this? Not my best artwork, that's for sure (it was late, I was tired).

Thanks for reading guys, and remember: read, rate, fave, comment and tell your friends!

VI. Advance

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

From Skies Above – Advance

The doors swung open and light shone brightly into the room, illuminating the elders and Banewin. A small group of gryphons entered, dragging something between them. With an echoing crash the doors shut, considerably dimming the room. The torches on the walls provided the only light, bathing the chamber in an orange glow. The newcomers dropped their cargo on the floor before their clan leader, then bowed respectfully.

One of the elders gasped audibly, the others suppressing similar outbursts of surprise. Banewin’s eyes widened slightly, but his face soon twisted into a grin. Hyava was the first to speak. “What is your name, hunter?”

The hen held her head high with a slight gleam in her eyes. “I am Taera.”

“You have done well, Taera. Do not keep us waiting, tell your story, how did you slay the beast, and what of the others?”

“We were only able to find two of them.” Taera began. “They were in the mountains, most likely scouting, or searching for food.” The hen proceeded to explain her tactics and the outcome of the fight. The elders listened intently, but Banewin’s expression never changed during the recount.

“We were only able to bring this one, the wyvern kept the other, but we did manage to recover both weapons.” As Taera finished, she signalled to her companions, two of which stepped forward, presenting the alien’s mysterious weapons.

The base of Banewin’s beak curled up into a grin. He gestured to one of his guards, who approached and bowed. “See to it that these brave hunters-” he waved a claw at Taera and her warriors, “-are rewarded for their efforts.”

Taera bowed. “Thank you, sire.”

“You are dismissed. Leave the body and the weapons.”

With their final bows, the hunters filed out of the chamber, following the guard. The heavy wooden door closed loudly behind them, echoing through to hall.

“This is momentous news!” Hyava cried, “Their weapons are in our grasp! If we could learn from them, find out how they work, then we would have the strongest military force on the planet! We could conquer the world!”

“That’s if we could find out how they work.” Yalek said, “They are aliens, their technology could work in ways that we couldn’t begin to comprehend.”

“It would to you good not to be so pessimistic, Yalek,” Kyarth said, “There may be every chance that we will come up with nothing, but that does not mean we cannot try. Sire? Your thoughts?”

Banewin merely nodded. “Learn what you can. This is too greater opportunity to waste.”

“Sire.” Kyarth bowed before calling a guard over. He spoke with the gryphon, instructing him on the fate of the alien technology. With a bow, the gryphon collected up the weapons and proceeded to the exit.”

When the door slammed shut, Kyarth turned to the other elders. “Our forces continue to scout the mountains. They cannot hide forever.”

“Now, that only leaves one other matter to attend too.” Yalek began, “We have received no response from the Equestrians, and they continue to bolster their forces around the alien ship.”

Banewin growled, prompting Yalek to pause, but when the clan leader showed no signs of speaking he continued. “We have given them ample time to respond to our demands, yet the Princess’ remain silent and their troops still plague our land. It seems the longer we wait the stronger their forces around the crash site grow, so if we must strike, now is the time to do so.”

“I do not think such a move would be wise.” Maelon said, “Our scouts are reporting activity of the Frostwing clan along our northern border. It seems they know of our conflict with the Equestrians, and moving a large amount of warriors to fight the ponies would leave our defences severely weakened. And that’s not to mention the creatures that are already roaming our lands or the response of the Equestrians. Our forces are stretched thin enough, sire, there could be dire consequences if we were too attack.”

“That ship is too greater asset to lose!” Hyava countered, “It could have even greater weapons stored in its darkest corners! Weapons that we could use to defeat the Frostwings and the Equestrians!”

“And what if the Equestrians have found these weapons? Our forces would be slaughtered and we would be near defenceless!” Maelon cried.

“Bah! Celestia doesn’t have the nerve to try and harness that kind of power!” Hyava growled, “She fears such power and would rather hide it away where no one would lay eyes upon its might than use it to its full potential! She fears change, and clings to the old ways! Look at how much Equestria has progressed over the past thousand years! They have gone nowhere! The Princess monitors and controls any technological or magical advancement, and acts swiftly when anything threatens her rule! She is a tyrant!”

“Enough.” Banewin raised his claw into the air, speaking clearly, but without anger. The elders silenced themselves immediately. “Maelon’s concerns are warranted, but Hyava speaks truth: That ship is to valuable an asset too lose, especially to the Equestrians. We will regain control.”

Hyava beamed at her victory, whilst Maelon lowered his head and grumbled inaudibly.

“Now, Hyava.” Banewin continued, “What of Celestia’s little pet?”

“Security around the creature has been significantly tightened, but I was able to find out that it appears to be co-operating with the Equestrians.”

Banewin frowned. “This is all the more reason for it to die. We cannot let her begin peaceful negotiations with these monsters. An alliance between them could destroy us.”

“Do not fear, sire,” Hyava had an unnerving smile on her face, “I have a plan.”

*

The old gryphon held the bowstring taught, taking careful aim at his target. The head of the arrow gleamed in the morning light as the hunter took in the speed and direction of the wind. Satisfied with his findings, he adjusted his aim. His prey was unaware of his presence, the shaggy goat trudging alone through the mountains. The anticipation was almost palpable for the hunter. Just a few more degrees...

*BLAM!*

In a spray of red mist and snow the goat collapsed. The hunter struggled to hold back the surprised squawk that had almost escaped his beak, along with the arrow that had almost leapt from the bow at the sudden sound.

A tall, dark figure left its hiding place, trotting toward the dead goat. The hunter instinctively shrunk back at the arrival of this new creature. “What the...?” he muttered under his breath.

The creature didn’t seem to notice him, its focus directed toward the goat it had slain only moments ago. The hunter drew in a sharp intake of breath when several more figures appeared, a good five in total. They hurried over to their companion, speaking franticly, with several hanging back as if to cover the others or guide more to the group. The goat-killer silenced the speakers, directing them to his kill.

The creatures were unlike anything the hunter had seen, and memories of tales of cruel and horrid monsters roaming the mountains resurfaced in his mind.

I should tell someone about this. He thought.

Replacing the arrow in his quiver, the hunter slowly began to back away, never taking his eyes off the creatures.

*Click!*

The hunter spun around at the sudden noise, finding himself staring death in the face, the shiny, reflective face in the form of one of the very creatures he had been watching previously. He stood, frozen with fear as the creature uttered a single, one syllable word.

Whilst the language was nothing like any the hunter had heard, he somehow understood what the creature was saying. It was not a greeting or a message of peace as he would have hoped, but something he had said to his children many times, in games they would play when they were young. A single word that scared the life out of him.

“Boo.”

Then it raised its weapon and fired.

*

A pale glow encompassed the plate as it floated out of the cell. The cell’s occupant watched it. He was not concerned or threatened by the odd behaviour of such a seemingly insignificant object, as he would have been a few days ago, but instead watched it simply because there was little else to focus on. The floating plate was a common occurrence for the creature.

The plate continued on its path through the air, slowing as it approached its destination. The guard responsible for the plate’s defiance of gravity looked over it quickly, before turning to the other gold clad pony. “He always leaves the hay. And the flowers.”

The other guard took a quick glance of the alien. He remained in his bed, idly watching the two. “Maybe he just doesn’t like ‘em.”

“Or he can’t eat it.” The unicorn sniffed the remaining food cautiously, before taking a quick bite.

“That’s disgusting.” The other guard commented, screwing up his face upon seeing his companion.

The unicorn shot back a quizzical look. “What?”

A sigh was all he got.

The unicorn placed the plate on a nearby table. A servant would come down and collect it later. The guard returned to his post. It wasn’t long before the silence began to get to him. He shifted uncomfortably, before finally deciding to speak again. “So, any word on when we’re moving him?”

“You know as much as I do. So nope.” The guard replied said.

“Do you at least know where we are moving him?” the unicorn asked, annoyed by his friend’s short responses.

“Probably some guest suite somewhere.”

“Isn’t that a little dangerous?”

The guard sighed again, something he found himself doing a lot whilst in the company of this particular unicorn.

“We are not going to let him run freely about the castle to do as he pleases, he will still be guarded. Only certain ponies will visit him.” He explained, “And you need to stop asking questions and trust the Princesses’ judgement.”

The unicorn averted his gaze. “Yeah, yeah.”

He looked back into the cell. The alien was still in the same position, lying on the bed. And he was still watching.

Always watching.

*

The sun was on its way down through the sky as the Stalliongrad soldiers stood watch alongside their Royal counterparts, their golden and silver armour making a shining display amongst the fields of white and dark greys of the ruined ship. The last civilian transports shrank into the distance, small, dark dots in a seemingly endless expanse of blue. The storm had passed, and was now only a wall of clouds hanging over the northern mountains, leaving clear skies, marked by the occasional cloud.

The wild weather was unusual for the ponies, as they were used to having their climate controlled by specialist teams. The thought of a storm bearing down on them at any time was not a welcoming one. In the wake of the previous storm, the clear weather was quite welcoming for the Equestrians, as the gryphons had recently given them a choice: Leave the area, or face another attack.

The Princesses had made it clear that the ship was not to fall into the enemy’s talons under any circumstances. They knew that the Princesses would never desire to put their subjects into harm’s way without a good reason, so that left the assigned ponies will a single choice: face the oncoming gryphon force, which would, no doubt, be larger than the previous.

All non-essential civilians were evacuated immediately, and several dispatches of troops were en route to the crash site. The weather had decided to move into the Equestrian’s favour this time, saving them from having to divert pegasi to clear the sky, and giving them a wide view of the area around the crash site, and any who would approach it.

The camp had been dismantled and moved inside the ship, with rudimentary barricades and cover spots taking its place. Finally, a specialist from Canterlot, Aegis, had been brought in. The powerful unicorn was to devote his energy into creating a pale blue shield around the ship when it was to come under attack. It would be enough to hold off any attackers for several hours, and could be raised in less than a minute.

Captain Valiant Effort’s eyes swept back and forth across the snowfields. His anticipation was almost palpable, and despite the chilling cold, he felt oddly hot. His excitement and fear lead him to shift his wings against his sides, fighting to keep his composure. He knew he needed to remain calm and stay composed, not just for himself, but for the soldiers under his command. It wouldn’t do well for their morale to see their captain have a nervous breakdown before a battle.

It wasn’t knowing the battle was coming that caused him to fear, it was not knowing what the gryphons would unleash upon them. The half eagle, half lion race was constantly fighting, be its enemies other races, or itself. The continuous battles and the warlike nature of the gryphons had led them to progress in military advancements far faster than any of the other sentient races. Although they lacked the quality of weapons that the Royal Guard possessed, they made up for the disadvantage with their brutal training, making them top choices for the best warriors in the known world. Along with their training, the gryphons had refined their weapons of war, leaving the Equestrians and other races struggling to keep up. The gryphons could unleash a whole manner of weapons and soldiers against the ponies. At any moment, hundreds of warriors, backed by airships and other weapons platforms could come surging down the mountains.

And there would be nothing the ponies could do to stop them.

A pegasus landed next to Valiant, kicking up snow at the Captain’s hooves. The pegasus offered a swift salute. The captain recognised him from the groups assigned to patrol the skies and watch for any approach by gryphons, or other dangerous creatures. Perhaps the guard was here to report a force of gryphons five times the size of the defenders charging toward them? Valiant struggled to contain his fear.

“What do you have for me?” the captain asked.

“We’ve spotted something.” The pegasus began. Valiant cursed inwardly. “A small group, no more than twenty. All on the ground and heading this way.”

Valiant raised an eyebrow. “Gryphons?”

“No, sir. I’m not sure what they are.”

Valiant examined the guard’s expression for any sign that this might be some sort of extremely unprofessional prank. “You’re not sure?”

The guard swallowed. “I... I think they might be the creatures, sir. The aliens.”

Oh no. Valiant cursed again, audibly this time. “You’re sure?”

“No, sir.”

“Well get back out there and be sure!”

The guard nodded frantically. “Yes, sir!”

He spun around and launched himself into the air, speeding off back in the direction he had come from. Valiant watched him fly for a moment, before calling over a nearby soldier. “We may have incoming. Spread the word and tell everypony to be ready.”

“Yes, sir.”

The guard took off to complete his assigned duty, leaving alone Valiant to ponder the new threat.

*

“So, no more hay?” Tranquil asked.

The green maned earth pony stood in a small kitchen area, separate from the main prep rooms of most of the castle’s food. The kitchen counters were rather clean, as the room had been reserved for a single cook to prepare a meal that would go completely unnoticed by the majority of the castle dwellers. Only a few spots of mess over the counters gave away that the kitchen had been used.

The guard before the cream coloured pony nodded. “Yup, he just leaves the stuff. I don’t know if he can’t eat it, or if he doesn’t just like it, but it just feels like a waste giving it to him if he isn’t going to eat it.”

“Alight then.” Tranquil lowered the bag of hay, placing it aside on the counter. “Ok, just the vegetables left, then we’re done.”

Tranquil grabbed the handle of the pot in her teeth and pulled it off the stove. She carefully made her way to the plate, and emptied the pot’s contents. An array of steamed vegetables fell, piling up on the plate with the other foods. “There we go!” she said cheerfully.

The guard sniffed the dish, a smile breaking out on his face. “Lucky bastard. I wish I could cook as well as you.”

A seductive smile broke out on Tranquil’s face as the unicorn levitated the plate into the air. “I aim to please. Maybe I could show you a thing or two.”

The guard ran his eyes over the mare one last time before heading for the door to deliver the meal, his gaze lingering on her flank for a moment longer than necessary, and his thoughts definitely not focused on cooking. “I think I’ll hold you to that.”

“It’s a date. Meet me back here after your shift.”

With a final farewell, the guard left, the door hanging open behind him. Tranquil waited a moment before turning back to clean up the mess. She picked up the pot, the paused, questioning her actions. Was there really any reason to clean this place?

With her mind made up, Tranquil started toward the door, with no intention of coming back. Lingering for longer than necessary would almost be suicide for the mare. The extra ingredient added to the meal would see to that.

*

The tea cup fell downward as Luna’s magic faltered. Had it not been for her sister, the ornate cup would have shattered on the marble floor. A new magical aura surrounded the cup, even keeping the hot liquid inside, and levitated it toward a nearby table.

“Luna, I thought you had your magic mastered years ago.” Celesia joked as she set down the cup on the table. When there was no response she looked to her sister, beginning to feel concerned. “Luna?”

The dark alicorn stood stock still, as if listening for a faint sound. Without warning she shot off toward the balcony connected to the chamber, leaving a puzzled Celestia behind. The Princess of the Sun snapped out of her confusion, giving chase to her sister.

She passed through the threshold and into the warm afternoon air. Celestia made a quick mental note that is was almost time to lower the sun before turning her attention back to her sister’s strange behaviour. The alicorn in question stood in the centre of the circular balcony, staring up at the sky.

“Luna, what is wrong?” Celestia asked as she approached.

For a moment, silence reigned as Luna stared into the sky, before she uttered two words that chilled Celestia to the bone.

“They’re here.”

//Drake

With a jolt the ship left FTL, slowing down roughly as it finished the jump. The warning lights that had painted the room a dull orange suddenly flared green, signalling that the Colmar was fully functional. Thick metal shutters began to retract themselves from the viewing windows of the bridge, allowing the crew to finally get a proper look at their destination. Captain Bailey waited patiently for the shutters to reveal the planet in which they approached.

“Looks like Earth, doesn’t it?” a crewman commented.

It did resemble the human home world, with vast expanses of blue oceans and green landmasses stretched across its surface. White flecks marked large cloud scattered through the atmosphere. It even had a moon of a similar size suspended in orbit.

“Got it! Yamato’s right there on the-what the hell?” Bailey turned at the sound of the voice. A man was hunched over his console, eyebrows furrowed and eyes darting back and forth across the screen. “Sir, you might want to have a look at this!”

Bailey approached the console swiftly, and the man moved back to give him space. On the screen was an enhanced image of part of the planet’s dark side, taken from one of the powerful cameras on the ship.
“There.” The crewman pointed to a particular area of the planet.

On the screen, several spots of light clustered on a landmass on the planet. Whilst faint, there were very much visible in the darkness. “Those are colonies. This place is inhabited.”

“No, it can’t be.” Bailey shook his head, “There’s no record of any colonisation in this area. We would have known before we were dispatched.”

Another man, looking at the same images on his own terminal spoke up. “What if it’s not ours?” The question hung in the air, unanswered. “I mean, it’s possible, isn’t it?”

Bailey stayed silent, staring at the screen, his thoughts unknown to the men around him. The man who first noticed the anomaly observed his captain’s reaction. “Sir?”

Bailey took a sharp intake of breath before straightening his back, and heading back toward his chair. “What about the Yamato? Are there any signs of survivors?”

“From the looks of things it’s taken some serious damage, but is still relatively intact.”

“Life boats?”

“I’m picking up several scattered around the ship. Pretty close to the lights, too.”

“Inform the SAR teams. I want them armed and ready to move ASAP."

Two crewmen exchanged worried glances. “Armed, sir?”

“If those are colonies, they’re not ours. In the event that their occupants are hostile I want our men to be ready. And find out whatever else you can.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bailey returned to his chair, resting his head on his right hand as he leaned to one side. The middle aged man’s eyes remained fixed on the planet, and its ominous lights. With a silent prayer, he wished the SAR teams luck.

And Godspeed aswell.

You may have noticed there's no artwork in this one. Well, there was nothing in there that struck me as really needing a picture that wouldn't be something I've already drawn before, so yeah.

Thanks for reading guys, you know the drill: read, rate, fave, comment and tell your friends!

VII. Airborne

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

From Skies Above – Airborne

“Aegis! Get to work on that shield!”'

The unicorn called out an acknowledgement. He closed his eyes and his horn began to glow a deep blue colour. The weak glow soon turned into a raging sun, growing brighter and brighter as minutes passed. Valiant hovered above the other soldiers, wings flapping rhythmically, suspending the pegasus in the air. His eyes remained locked on the fast approaching shapes in the distance. The aliens kept up a steady pace, and had increased their speed when they realised they had been spotted. Valiant glanced back toward Aegis.

“How’s that shield coming?”

“Almost... there...” the unicorn grunted. The unicorn roared his success when the shining ball of magic shot from his horn into the sky like a firework. The blue light slowed as it reached its peak, then exploded. The energy rained down in arcs around the ship, growing and connecting to form a dome shaped shield around the crash site. Several whoops and cheers sounded from the guards as their defence was finally completed.

Not too far away from the ship, a tall biped slowed his pace, gawking in awe at the sudden appearance of the shield. He looked toward his companions, who had stopped alongside him. One barked several commands and waved the group forward before resuming his march toward the ship. With a few uncertain glances between themselves, the rest followed in suite.

*

“Get a doctor!” The pegasus screamed at his companion.

The unicorn ripped his eyes away from the convulsing alien in the cell and took off without a second glance. The pegasus didn’t watch the other guard leave, instead fumbling with the keys to the cells in a desperate attempt to help the creature.
What had gone wrong? Was it the food? Was the food poisoned? A disease, maybe? Questions whirled though his mind like a tornado as the repulsing taste of the key’s handle hit his tongue. The discomfort went unnoticed as he jammed the head of the key into the lock. A loud gurgle emanated from the creature’s throat, and the clatter of his limbs striking the floor began to slow. The guard began to panic as he realised time was quickly running out.

Finally, a loud click sounded from the lock, and the guard wasted no time in throwing the door open. The biped remained where it had been moments ago, but its movements were becoming less frequent. The guard rushed over to the dying alien, unsure of what to do. Was it choking? Food poisoning?

A feeling of helplessness began to weigh down his mind. He didn’t know what to do. He turned back to the hallway.

“I need a doctor!” he cried.

The alien groaned loudly, startling the guard and causing him to jump back. His hand twitched on the floor, but the convulsions ceased. Perhaps the seizure had passed? The guard’s eyes flipped back and forth between the alien and the door of the cell. Help still hadn’t arrived.

The pegasus froze. Something was wrong. The biped’s jaw twitched, his fingers curled inwards. His chest was still. He wasn’t breathing. The pressed his hoof against the creature’s chest. There was nothing. No breath, no heartbeat. Nothing.

Ryan was dead.

*

Wind whipped past the gryphon’s face as he flew. The feeling of flying was like no other. The air surrounding his body, every stroke of his powerful wings propelling him further and the clear skies, open to him completely. This was where he belonged. In the sky, flying. It was the definition of freedom. He flew at a leisurely pace, for it would be counterproductive to waste his energy now.

The battle group behind him, over thirty strong, matched his speed, staying in a loose formation as they flew. They were the first of the two groups dispatched to reclaim their lost territory, and following close behind were several of the gryphon’s fearsome warships. The beasts were held aloft by a huge balloon, made from a tough, leather-like material that could resist fire, and most projectiles, and a specialist team of warriors dedicated to defending the platform from any airborne foes. Each warship carried several mounted ballista, along with a range of other weapons that could wreak havoc on buildings and infantry. To any opposing ground forces, the behemoths were nothing less than a floating nightmare.

The gryphon grinned. It wasn’t far now. For his kind, there was no greater honour than the honour of battle, of victory. Soon enough he would sink his blade into Equestrian flesh and revel in the glory of battle.
Soon.

*

Valiant could see the bipedal figures gathering at the edge of the shield. The aliens had approached cautiously, stopping when they reached the magical barrier. They remained at its edge, most likely conversing amongst themselves to decide their next course of action.

Valiant Effort watched them closely through a small telescope, a frown on his face. Several of the bipeds huddled together, the gestures they made and their proximity to one another leading the stallion to believe that they were talking. The others from the group had spread out around the area, guarding the central group.

Movement caught Valiant’s eye, and he rotated the telescope to view the offending alien. The creature was slowly approaching the barrier, stopping about a metre away. It observed the blue tinted shield for a few moments before raising its weapon.

One of the other bipeds saw the movement, swiftly breaking off from the conversing group and dashing toward the alien at the shield, waving its arms. The biped’s weapon was now raised, and it nudged the metallic tip forward at the shield.

It passed clean through.

Valiant’s eyes widened. The alien quickly withdrew the weapon, then experimentally prodded the barrier again. The black tip of the weapon once again passed through the barrier, the blue tint of the magic disappearing as the weapon came onto Valiant’s side. The alien, spurred on by its success, then pushed its hand through.

Valiant watched in horror as the biped literally stepped straight through the barrier, emerging on his side completely unharmed. It turned back to its companions and delivered what seemed to be a shrug, then beckoned them to follow. After a moment of hesitation, the creatures began to step through, one at a time, but soon enough all eighteen of them were though, and heading his way.

Valiant shook himself out of his fear induced paralysis. “Breach! The shield has been breached! Everypony to their stations, we have incoming!”

The soldiers around him jumped to attention, shooting off to their posts. Valiant too set off running, weaving between his troops. He had to find Aegis.

*

“No. No. No!” Luna paced back and forth across the cell.

Ryan’s body still lay on the floor where he died. The human’s skin had already begun to pale, and his empty eyes still stared lifelessly at the ceiling. Luna continued to pace, stopping every few moments to look back at the body, as if Ryan would somehow revive himself. Nothing happened.

Celestia stood outside the cell, watching sorrowfully as her sister fumed over the dead alien. Stepping in now would only trigger an angered response, so she waited. The Princess of the Night had good reason for her anger. Ryan had been somewhat of a middleman. He could act as an envoy between the two races, to persuade the new arrivals that the Equestrian nation meant no harm to them. The other crash survivors had already acted aggressively toward both the ponies and the gryphons. While Celestia was sad and angry over the deaths of her ponies, she knew she could not blame them. Having survived a devastating crash and being hunted by the gryphons would have left them scared and alone. But if they were to inform the new human arrivals that both nations were enemies, than the results could be devastating.

If only the gryphons could understand what they were doing.

“What are we going to do, Tia?” Luna’s voice lowered considerably as she came down from her rage.

“Whatever we can. Things aren’t going to be easy, but there is still hope.”

“We should find the others. Make peace with them before they are found.”

Celestia nodded. “I’ll send a letter to the guards. I just hope it isn’t too late.”

*

*BAMBAMBAM!*

Valiant jumped as Aegis fell lifeless into the snow, blood pouring out of the holes in his chest. The unicorn’s shield faded away into nothingness as the life seeped out of its creator’s body. Valiant cursed, quickly turning to face the attackers. There would be time for mourning later.

Once they realised that the shield posed no threat to them, the aliens had charged forward, opening fire on the guards. The alien weapons were terrifyingly effective at long range, as soldiers began falling all around him. Fear coursed through the pegasus’ body as he realised he was in way over his head. His instincts screamed for him to flee, but his training had quickly shot the cries down. No matter what, he was under orders to guard this area. He wasn’t going anywhere.

*BAMBAMBAM!*

Pegasi ducked and weaved through the air, mostly managing to evade the enemy’s attacks. Every so often they would loose crossbow bolts or spears at the bipeds, yet their attacks were poorly aimed out of swiftness, missing their targets, and only slowing the alien advance.

The bipeds were spread out in a line. Some would crouch down and fire whilst the others ran forward, then the role would switch, giving each of them ample cover to approach.

A group of unicorns charged forward, horns ablaze with magic. The group slid to a halt as multiple fireballs were launched from their horns toward the attackers. The aliens under fire ducked down, all managing to dodge the flames, except one.

The biped screamed as the ball of flame exploded over his body, killing it swiftly, but painfully. Another alien rushed forward, stretched is arm back, and then swinging it forward at the unicorns. A small object left the alien’s hand and soared through the air, resisting any attempts by the unicorns to catch it with their telekinesis.

*KA-BOOM!*

Snow was thrown into the air. The group of unicorns let out piercing screams as they were thrown away from the explosion. Valiant instinctively ducked at the nearby explosion as bits of debris rained down on him from above. They have explosives too?!

A pegasus fell from the sky and slammed into the ground nearby, Valiant wincing at the sound. He glanced at the pegasus, who remained unmoving in the snow. The Captain cursed before leaping into the air.

*BAMBAMBAM!*

More ponies fell, as Valiant circled over the battle. His soldiers were being pushed back relentlessly, dropping like flies. Valiant could only watch in horror as his guards died before him. There was no way they could hold back the aliens. Valiant clenched his teeth together. Their orders were to hold the crash site, coming directly from the Princesses, but his troops were dying. There was no chance that they could hold out against the bipeds.

Valiant effort gave in. He swung around, preparing to call a retreat when something caught his eye. As he focused on the disturbance, his eyes widened in fear.

In the distance, an airship sailed toward them, small figures visible in the air around the beast. Another airship floated close behind it, followed by another. Valiant shook himself out of his stupor, darting back toward the ship.

*

The alien crouched low and turned his head at the sound of distant roars. Dozens of voices, maybe even hundreds united to create a fearsome war cry that echoed across the land below. Under its helmet, the biped gasped. A huge swarm of dark shapes sped toward the downed ship, with a trio of large airships following up from behind. The biped barked a warning to its mates, whom also glanced back at the oncoming storm of hostiles. They only watched for a moment, for each knew what they needed to do to survive.

Quickening their pace, the group of aliens followed the retreating ponies back toward their former vessel, weapons still blazing.

*

It took mere minutes for the first wave of gryphons to reach the battleground. Most of the pegasi had made it back to the entrance, but their ground bound cousins had greater difficulty, only compounded by the fire from the aliens whom had not ceased their attack. With a loud shink, a pair of blades slid out of Valiant’s hoof braces. The blade and bracers were standard issue to the Equestrian military, and almost all pegasi guards carried them. The blades provided a quick, easy to use means of self defence to the agile ponies. Some unicorns and earth ponies were known to wear them, but they were uncommon amongst the non-flyers, as having a sharp blade sticking out of the end of a hoof limited mobility greatly.

A shadow passed over his back, resulting in the swift pegasus executing a dodge, barely missing the gryphon that just attacked him. The hen hissed in anger, brandishing her sword as she prepared for another attack. All around him pegasi began to engage the gryphons in airborne hoof to talon combat, but the details escaped the pegasus captain. His focus rested on the hen speeding toward him.

Valiant pulled his wings in and rolled over, his altitude dropping quickly. As the gryphon swung by over his head, he kicked his hind legs up, just catching the hen as she flew past. The hit threw her off balance, sending her into a spin. As she tried to regain control, Valiant seized his advantage, swooping down and slashing at the gryphon’s neck. Captain Valiant Effort flew away, leaving the mortally wounded hen to fall to her death.

*

The battlefield was chaos. Ponies fled toward the safety of the alien ship, but close behind were the aliens themselves. Bodies were already strewn across the battlefield, and the massive, dark shadows of the airships loomed overhead, surrounded by swarms of their feathered guardians.

Commander Balik watched from his perch at the helm of his airship. The attack could not have gone better. Not only were his two enemies in one place when they arrived, but they were killing each other too. His warriors filled the skies over the ship, overpowering any air resistance that the Equestrians could muster.

But then there were the aliens. Tales of their brutality had circulated though his ranks, and his warriors were reluctant to attack them. Even worse was the council had requested, if possible, to bring back living specimens, and that those who were involved in their capture would be greatly rewarded. Balik disliked the idea. It put his warriors at greater risk for something that seemed unnecessary. He sighed. No doubt there would be many amongst his ranks who would risk their lives to rope themselves a biped.

Balik returned his focus to the battle. His warriors were crushing any airborne resistance, but the aliens still dominated the ground. He noticed gryphon flyers were keeping a higher altitude than usual in a battle. Balik frowned. The alien’s weapons must have been efficient enough to defend against airborne infantry. The Equestrians had retreated to the ship, and their pegasi clung to whatever airspace they could hold, with a great deal of support from their ground forces.

A streak of green light leapt across the battlefield, striking one of the bipeds. Balik’s face soured. Magic, the source of the Equestrian’s power. Unicorns were the most powerful mortal beings in the world, all because of their ability to channel their magic through their horn. All living things had some form of magic. Pegasi and gryphons used theirs to fly and walk on clouds, dragons used theirs for flight and flame, but unicorns were the only mortals who could channel and bend their magic to their will. To them magic was a tool, and, if used correctly, one that could make them the most fearsome mortal being in existence. It was fortunate that their magical ability was linked to their talent, and was rather difficult to master, or the other nations would most likely have fallen long ago.

The biped on the receiving end of the magical attack was flung backward, falling to the ground, but, much to Balik’s surprise, stirred mere moments later. Balik watched in amazement as the alien scrambled to its feet, and immediately returned fire on its attacker. The bolt had almost no effect. These creatures were immune, or at least quite resistant.

A grin broke out on the gryphon commander’s face. He could only imagine the fear a unicorn would feel when he realised his precious magic was near useless when fighting these aliens. It would be a very amusing moment.

The grin faded when a peculiar sound caught the gryphon’s ear. The dull droning noise was detectable over the sounds of the battle, and there was also a chopping sound, as if someone was hitting a tree with an axe at a phenomenal speed. The sounds were also growing considerably louder. Balik’s head swivelled, trying to identify the source. It wasn’t long before he spotted two growing shapes on the horizon. Balik’s eyes widened as the pair of flying nightmares came further into view.

*

“Captain! We’ve got incoming from the west!”

What remained of the guard had converged around the hull breach of the alien ship, frantically attempting to fend off both gryphon and alien attacks, but their numbers were dropping, and the found themselves being pushed back at an alarming rate. There was good news, however. Some of the pressure had been taken off his troops, as some of the bipeds, for reasons unknown, had ceased to use their larger weapons, instead switching to their smaller armaments.
Valiant Effort cursed when he heard the cry. His soldiers were already fighting a losing battle, and the arrival of more gryphons would most certainly end them. He was reluctant to defy the Princess’ orders and call a retreat, but that might save at least some of his troops. If he were to pull his soldiers out then maybe the gryphons would focus of the aliens, allowing his soldiers to escape.

The massive bulk of the ship hid all view of the western side for any ground forces, so the captain jumped into the air, flying upwards to give himself a better view. Over the shouts, cries and clashes of metal, Valiant ears picked up and odd noise. The pegasus ascended until he was just high enough to spot the newcomers. Valiant’s heart skipped a beat when the flying metal monstrosities came into view.

The alien airships were approaching, and fast.

I did have a picture for this one, but it was fucking hideous. It doesn't help that I can't draw vehicles.

Thanks for reading guys, you know the drill: read, rate, fave, comment and tell your friends!

IX. Eye of the Storm

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

Please note that some details in this chapter are the not consistent with previous chapters. These details may be subject to change. Please refer to this blog post for more information.

From Skies Above – Eye of the Storm

“So Twilight, what was he like?”

“Who?” The lavender unicorn trotted calmly alongside her brother through one of Canterlot Castle’s many corridors. To their left, light cascaded through huge stained glass windows, bathing the hall in multiple shades of colour.

Shining Armour’s face remained impassive as he spoke, refusing to show any feelings on the subject. “You know who. Your ‘student’. The one who charged through the halls of this Castle with a hostage.”

Twilight shrank back slightly under her brother’s sudden switch of mood. Mere minutes ago they had been discussing his recent marriage and honeymoon. The sudden seriousness of the conversation caught the younger pony off guard. Twilight went silent for a moment, trying to pull together an answer. What do I say? What am I allowed to say? The Princesses didn’t tell me that he was involved. The lavender unicorn mentally slapped herself. Of course he is involved. He’s the Captain of the Royal Guard. He’d have to know... wouldn’t he?

“You can talk to me Twilight. I know all about the alien. Who do you think cleaned up after him when he led that little chase?” Shining raised an eyebrow.

“He was fine, and quite eager to learn.” Twilight smiled at the stallion, but still his expression remained the same.

“He wasn’t violent, was he?”

Ah, so that’s what this is about. Twilight shook her head. “Not in the slightest.” Twilight held the smile, and after a slight pause added “You don’t trust him do you?”

“Of course not.” Shining frowned, looking away from his sister. “Ever since he came here he’s been nothing but trouble. All we know about his kind is that they’re not from this planet, and they’re dangerous.”

“Human.” They younger unicorn said, and after seeing the confused expression on Shining’s face added “They’re called humans.”

“Where did you find that out?”

“He told me. He told me his name too. He’s called Ryan.”

Shining looked surprised. “Really? How did you get-”

“Captain, sir!” A pegasus guard skidded to a halt in front of Twilight and Shining, offering a salute to the latter. “I have an important message for you, sir!”

“Alright. Twilight, if you’ll excuse us for a moment.”

Twilight nodded, but said nothing, slightly annoyed that their conversation had been cut short. She strolled over to a nearby window, just out of hearing range. Once satisfied she was far enough away, she turned back to watch the two.

While she couldn’t hear what they were saying, Twilight could see from her brother’s expression that the topic of the message wasn’t good. Shining made no effort to disguise his displeasure, his face slowly sinking into a frown as the other guard spoke. With a nod, Shining Armour dismissed the pegasus with a nod, then walked over to Twilight.

“What was that about?” she asked. She knew it probably wasn’t her place to know, but her curiosity was too great to ignore.

Shining paused for a moment, deliberating whether or not to tell her. He quickly came to a decision. “The alien was poisoned. He’s dead.”

*

Commander Balik sat upon a high flying cloud, looking down over his warriors as they regrouped high above the ground on platforms of fluffy white. Many of them bore injuries, from mere cuts to broken bones to a rare few of the crippling wounds inflicted by the alien weapons. It wasn’t likely they would survive.

A small commotion caught the gryphon commander’s attention. He searched through the groups of warriors for its source, following his ears and a trail of curious glances from other gryphons. It wasn’t long before Balik saw what had happened.

A large gryphon strode proudly amongst his comrades, showing off the struggling alien slung across his back. The alien lacked much of the armour its brothers had wore, and showed no signs of weapons. Green coloured cloth covered most of its body, only leaving its stubby claws, head and neck bare. Two small eyes darted from gryphon to gryphon as they cheered and praised the alien’s captor. Balik’s eyes narrowed. This wasn’t good.

The gryphon commander leapt off his perch, gliding down toward the commotion. With a soft pomf his talons and paws made contact with the cloud surface. Gryphons nearby saluted his presence, but this went unnoticed. Balik’s full attention was focused on the gryphon who caught the alien. “What is this?” his voice was firm.

The gryphon was draw away from his praise by the sound of Balik’s voice. He was somewhat surprised that his commander had suddenly appeared before him, but recovered quickly. Saluting, the grin returned to his face. “I caught one, sir!”

Balik’s expression didn’t change, his features remaining locked in a hard frown. “I can see that. Now take it to ground and release it.”

A sudden silence fell over the surrounding warriors. Balik could feel all eyes fixated on him, but with a little effort he retained his composure. The warrior before him seemed to be struggling to understand what his commander had just ordered him to do.

“Release it, sir?”

“You heard me. Take it to ground and let it go.”

The alien stopped struggling, noticing something was amiss. Its head swivelled to face Balik, eyes sometimes darting off to others nearby, but always returning.

“But the elder’s orders-”

“The elder’s be damned!” Balik snapped. He felt unease building up in him. He was crossing into uncharted territory. “They did not chase us. They had every chance, but they didn’t. They got what they wanted. But now? Now you’ve given them a reason to follow us.” He waved a claw at the captive, “I will not lose any more of my warriors in a senseless slaughter, so take it back and let it go.”

The warrior stood firm, fighting an internal conflict about which of his superior’s orders to follow. Balik knew it would be a difficult choice for the gryphon to make. The elders were second only to the clan’s head, but the commander’s words struck home, and the warrior nodded.

“Yes, sir.” He muttered before turning around and taking to the air, carrying the confused biped that proceeded to resume its struggles.

*

Emerald Haze heard a shout. He didn’t understand what it meant. He could barely even hear it over the ringing in his ears. He tried to move, but his efforts only brought pain. It was much better just to lay still, the laboured rising and falling of his chest being his only movements.

There it was something nearby. He couldn’t see it, but he knew it was there, drawing closer. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel its presence, or rather, not feel it. Everything else was there. The snow, his sword, the dead pegasus just metres from him. He could feel them all with his magic. If he tried hard enough, he could touch them as well. But the presence was different. It was empty. There was no magic there, just... nothing. He tried to reach out to it, but his concentration slipped. It was hard to concentrate on nothing.

Even though closed eyes he could see the change in light. It was right on top of him. He cracked his eyes open, taking in the sight of the towering figure that loomed over him. From his position on the ground it seemed taller than a minotaur, but the proportions were wrong. He knew what it was, and his heart began to race faster at the thought. There was no point in pretending to be dead. His quick and ragged breaths would give him away. He couldn’t hide from them.

He forced his eyes to open wider. A monster stood over him. The thing was different from the others. It looked even bigger that the ones that had come before it. A single look dispelled any belief that the others were soldiers. This thing was the fighter, there was no doubt about it. Its appearance resembled that of a nightmare. From top to bottom dark armour encased its body. A single sheet of reflective material covered the beast’s eyes. Emerald could see his reflection, and however distorted the image was he could still see the crimson blood that stained his coat.

So much blood.

*

With a bright flash of pink light, a pair of unicorns blinked into existence in the castle dungeon, just at the entrance. The guards snapped to attention, standing ready should the newcomers prove to be hostile, but stiffened and saluted when they realised that it was their commanding officer. Shining shook his head, still slightly dizzy from the hasty teleportation. He paused when an odd smell reached his nose. Sniffing the air lightly, his eyes widened when he realised what it was. It had been a long time since he had smelt it, but the odour had been burned in his memory. Burnt flesh.

He took a quick glance at Twilight, and was shocked to find that she not only registered the smell, but by the look of revulsion on her face recognised it too. He made a mental note to ask her about it when there were less pressing matters at hoof.

“Twilight, Shining Armour.”

The voice was unmistakable. He turned to face Princess Luna, bowing before her. She stood in the hallway that led to the cell block where the alien was kept. Thankfully, crime rates were rather low, so the dungeons never saw much activity beyond the occasional patrol. The biped was probably the first guest this particular block had housed in years.

“We came as soon as we heard, Princess.” Twilight said, “That smell, that’s not what I think it is, is it?”

The princess nodded. “We are afraid it is, Twilight Sparkle. Our sister has seen fit to dispose of the body at the earliest convenience. With luck, the odour should disperse quickly.”

“If I might ask, your majesty, why are you cremating the body?” Shining asked, cutting off his sister who opened her mouth to ask a similar thing.

“Our sister fears there may be a way for the creatures to locate lost individuals. If such a thing is true, we believe it would not be wise to allow them so find us with the deceased in our hooves, lest they believe we were the cause of his death.”

Twilight gulped audibly, and Luna continued. “Captain Shining Armour, it is thy... your duty to protect Canterlot and its inhabitants, is it not?”

Now it was Shining’s turn to gulp. “Yes, your majesty. I’m sorry I allowed this to happen. I will find who is responsible.”

“Do not let it burden you, Captain. We are aware that much has happened over such a small span of time, and your effort to make the best of this situation is commendable. But for now, you must return to your duties.”

“Of course, your majesty.” Shining saluted and nodded a goodbye to Twilight before turning around and setting off. Twilight watched he brother leave, cringing as she took in another breath. Luna took notice of her discomfort. “Perhaps you should take your leave as well, Twilight Sparkle. This is not something you should bear witness to.”

Twilight couldn’t agree more. Ryan’s death has shocked and saddened her, but the smell and the idea of witnessing his body burn was too much. She felt somewhat ashamed that she was going to walk out on Ryan’s cremation, but all it took was another breath to convince her to take Luna’s advice. With heavy steps she turned to follow her brother, unsure of what to do.

*

Hailen Strongclaw touched down in the snow as softly as he could, even then leaving a decent sized trail in the snow when he skidded to a halt. In the horizon he could see the bulk of the alien ship, its immense black shape peppered with snow stood out from all of its surroundings. Like tiny insects, the alien airships buzzed about in the distance, and dark specks in the snow marked the fallen of the battle.

Smoke rose through the air in massive black pillars, reaching up to the sky from the still burning remains of the airships. Their defeat played back in the gryphon's mind as he took in the sight. Ear-splitting explosions and thunderous booms echoed in the warrior’s thoughts.

Hailen’s concern for his own safety snapped him out of his memories. The dots in the sky confirmed that more of the alien airships had arrived. He had no idea whether or not he could outfly one of the beasts, but he had no intention on finding out. The gryphon glanced over his shoulder at the alien slung over his back. The biped met his eyes and they pair stared at each other for a moment.

Without warning, Hailen rolled the creature down his side and onto the snow. The alien grunted and seemed to swear at him in its language. It struggled against its bonds, freezing when its eyes came back to Hailen.

The gryphon had drawn a short blade, its silvery surface gleaming under the smears of blood that Hailen hadn’t had the time to wipe off. Eyes furrowed, he stared down at the creature, uncertain that he was doing the right thing. Balik’s orders made sense, but he was going against the elder council. Exhaling loudly, Hailen decided that dwelling on the matter wasn’t the best thing to do in his current situation.

The alien began to thrash and struggle again, screaming out loud in hope that the others might hear it. Hailen grabbed one of the creature’s arms, holding it steady in his grip. He found it strange that such weak bodied creatures were capable of wreaking such chaos and destruction on the battlefield. No, not strange. It made sense that they would pursue any alternatives ferociously in a hostile environment if they could not rely on their natural strengths to protect them. He wondered what kind of hell these creatures had come from to warrant the creation of their weapons. Maybe they were at war with themselves? There was no way he could know.

The biped struggled and cried louder as the blade came closer. With his own superior strength he was able to hold its arm still enough to begin cutting its bonds. Within moments the blade cut through, and Hailen stepped back.

The alien stared bewildered at its now freed hands, and then at Hailen. The gryphon stayed silent, taking another step forward. The alien scrambled back, still unsure of the feathered warrior. Hailen sighed. He looked at the blade, blood from the battle still clinging to its length. In the excitement he hadn’t had a chance to clean it. It was a good sword, but there were many more like it back home. With a grunt he tossed the weapon at the alien’s feet.

“Cut yourself loose.” He muttered before turning around and taking off, eager to put as much distance between himself and the aliens as possible.

The biped remained frozen on the ground, eyes trailing the shrinking figure of the gryphon. It looked hesitantly at the sword that lay in the snow, before lunging forward and taking the blade in its hands. Hailen was already gone by the time it sawed through the rest of its bonds.

*

The wind howled as Glade flew, whipping past his body as he kept his speed. The snow covered mountain ranges below him began to level out into tiny hills that flashed past in a stream of shadows. The sights went unnoticed to the great green dragon as he flew, eyes fixed on his destination.

In the distance, dark plumes of smoke rose into the clouds like blackened trees reaching for the sun. Nearby to their sources, a massive black shape lay unmoving on the ground. At first Glade had assumed the shape to be a small plateau, but it lacked the natural design of the terrain. No, it was clear crafted by something other than nature. Perhaps Sappharon had been telling the truth.

The blue dragon flew ahead of Glade, taking point on the expedition. Pyrite remained behind, almost level with Glade in the rough wedge formation. Glade took a moment to analyse the sapphire dragon’s body language. He was tense, his wing beats more forced than the relaxed movements Glade’s own appendages made. Was Sappharon scared? No. Glade had known the dragon for decades. While he may be on edge, it would take a lot to scare the sapphire giant.

But the mere fact he was ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice disturbed Glade. It was as if he was expecting a fight. Glade chuckled silently, the sound coming out as a jittery rumble barely audible over the wind. There were very few creatures that would be willing to attack dragons. Even a wyvern would think twice before taking on a dragon, let alone three at once.

The dark mass was closer now, and the dragons could make out tiny shapes circling in the air around it. Glade frowned. They flew quite rigidly, not as fast as most airborne creatures, but with much more control. Where a gryphon or dragon would have to slow down and bank around to turn, the odd shapes were simple able to stop and turn in a much tighter circle. He also noticed that they were a great deal larger than gryphons or ponies.

As the dragons drew closer, the dark mass began to form details across its surface. Glade’s eyes widened when he realised that it was not part of the terrain, but a huge metal structure. No, not a structure. The object was on a slight angle, and bent out of shape towards its midsection. It couldn’t have been designed to rest that way, not to mention the poor choice of location. More theories formed in the dragon’s mind, but the deep trench stretching away from the rear of the metal beast was enough to confirm one in particular.

Sappharon was right, it was a ship. A massive, alien ship.

The blue dragon slowed, allowing Pyrite and Glade to catch up. “Do you believe me now, Glade?” Sappharon grinned smugly at his green friend.

“In the name of harmony...” Pyrite stared in awe at the ship.

Glade ignored the blue dragon, instead sweeping his eyes over the crash site. The ship was huge, and how it had managed to fly, let alone get off the ground entirely was beyond him. Movement caught his attention as he found his gaze drawn to the creatures flying around the ship. From his closer position, the emerald dragon could now see that they were not creatures at all, but vehicles bigger than wagons. And they definitely knew of the dragon’s presence.

“Those things,” Glade started, “They are watching us.”

Sappharon’s smug demeanour was replaced by one of concern. There were at least five of them, each about the size of Glade’s chest, and all of them had turned to face the trio.

“I don’t like this.” Pyrite growled.

The metal flyers were threatening them, giving a silent warning to stay away. Glade's eyes narrowed and he opened his maw, letting loose a deafening roar. The sound was audible for miles across the snowfields.

Sappharon snarled at the emerald dragon. “Don’t provoke them! You have no idea what they are capable of.”

“I will not be threatened by these puny creatures and their metal birds.” Glade growled back.

“Your pride is going to get you killed!”

Their argument was cut short when a streak of fire launched itself from one of the ships, leaving a trail of dark smoke as it shot through the air.

Hope you enjoyed this one! Rate, fave, comment and tell your friends!

X. Skin of Steel, Breath of Fire

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

Please note that some details in this chapter are the not consistent with previous chapters. These details may be subject to change. Please refer to this blog post for more information.

From Skies Above – Skin of Steel, Breath of Fire

KA-BOOM!

The sound echoed in Glade’s ears as the fireball struck ground. It exploded in a cloud of dirt and snow, sending debris high into the air. The emerald dragon recovered from his initial shock quickly, narrowing his eyes. It was a show, a display of force to scare them into a retreat. A small crater marked the impact, testifying to the might of the weapon. It seemed that it did not rely on flames to cause damage, but sheer explosive power. Glade had no doubt that it could do serious harm to a dragon, but he was not one to be intimidated.

Drawing air into his body, he felt his inner flames ignite, building up inside his body. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sappharon’s face, the shock evident. But he wasn’t looking at the aliens; instead his eyes were locked on Glade.

In a storm of noise Glade let the flames free, shooting a column of emerald fire into the ground below. The stream of flames burned hotter than any natural fire could hope to, cooking the ground and sending clouds of vapour into the air.

“Glade! What are you doing?”

The emerald dragon ignored his companion’s cry, instead sweeping his head slowly back and forth, allowing the torrent of flames to burn arcs into the ground before him. After almost a minute of continuous fire, Glade finally let the flow stop. The ground below was completely scorched. The snow had melted and evaporated into thick vapour, revealing the blackened dirt underneath. A huge, still glowing arc marked where Glade had directed his flames.

“Glade!” Sappharon hissed, “Do not provoke them! Your pride is not worth dying over. We must leave before they attack.”

The alien airships didn’t seem to react, and for several long, tense moments the two sides stood rigid, waiting for the other to make the first move. Glade let out a low growl. The dragon hated to admit it, but he was nervous. These tiny creatures in their metal ships had the nerve to not only stand firm before him, but provoke and threaten three dragons at once. It had been many years since the emerald dragon had found himself facing such an enemy, and it scared him. Their attacks could easily wound, or even kill any of the dragons. Was it really worth the risk? Deep down Glade knew he was being stubborn, and that he should adhere to Sappharon’s request.

Without taking his eyes off the alien ships, he began to back away, slowly at first. His powerful wings tilted back, propelling his body back in the direction he had come. Sappharon and Pyrite were quick to follow suite, and soon enough the trio had turned, flying at a steady pace away from the crash site.

As they departed, none noticed the pair of airships breaking off from their group and setting off in pursuit.

*

The chariot touched down with a loud thump, shaking its occupants. Valiant Effort winced as his weight shifted, putting more pressure on his injured hoof. His entire body ached, but the hoof was the worst of it. Pushing the pain out of his mind, he moved to disembark from the chariot, favouring his injured leg.

The tall towers of Canterlot loomed over them, like a massive forest of white and gold trees. The city was the pride and joy of Equestria, most of the country’s citizens making an effort to visit it at least once in their lives.

Another chariot landed roughly in the large courtyard, the pegasi pulling it slowing down rapidly as their hooves touched the ground. The third and final chariot landed down hard somewhere behind Valiant. With a loud crash, it hit the ground, one of the pegasi pulling collapsing out of exhaustion. The trio of chariots had flown without breaks straight to the capitol, eager to put as much distance between the crash site and themselves, and to deliver their precious cargo. The rest of the survivors had split away soon after the retreat, setting course for the much closer Stalliongrad.

Valiant looked toward the second of the chariots. A burly unicorn stepped down, a figure resting on his back. The biped was still wrapped up in the same ropes used to catch it. It seemed to have ceased its previous struggles, instead taking in its surroundings. Under its helmet, its eyes shot back and forth between the ivory towers and the growing number of guards.

“Captain Valiant!”

Valiant’s ears twitched at the sound of his name. He spun around to find a unicorn adorned in pale purple armour approaching him. Valiant saluted, wincing again at the weight he put on his leg. “Captain Shining Armour.” He greeted.

Shining offered a weary smile. “ I’ve sent a runner to let the princesses know you’re here. They’ll want to speak with... with...”

The unicorn trailed off mid sentence, his eyes drifting over Valiant’s shoulder, widening as they did. Without turning his head, Valiant knew what he was looking at. What else could it be?

“Valiant,” Shining’s voice betrayed his uncertainty, “Would you care to explain that?”

*

“We are being followed.” Glade growled.

The crash site was a mere dot in the distance where the emerald dragon stopped and come to ground. The other dragons hadn’t noticed immediately, having to turn around and fly back to their companion when they realised that the group was one short.

Sappharon cast his eyes back toward the alien’s camp, and sure enough there were two small shapes hovering some distance away. Glade’s eyes narrowed, and his scaled lips pulled back into a snarl. His previous anger still burned in him like his flames. The alien creatures had the nerve to threaten him, and now even follow him. They were brave, he would give them that, but they did not have numbers in their favour now.

“Glade.” Sappharon warned, “Glade, do not-”

The green dragon ignored his friend’s words, instead choosing to launch himself back into the air. And he was heading straight for the airships.

“Glade!” the blue dragon called, flaring his own wings wide. Sappharon rose into the sky, giving chase, but the emerald dragon had an impressive lead.

If the sudden change in course of their targets did not alert the alien airships, Glade’s ear-splitting roar did. The emerald dragon barrelled toward the airships at an impressive speed for a dragon. The airships, however, responded quickly.

A steady thumping sounded off across the snowfields as the airships responded. Glade veered off sharply as he felt sharp pains erupt through his back, but they were minor enough for the dragon to simply ignore. A dragon’s scales were the toughest armour formed naturally on any animal in the entire animal kingdom. There were few attacks that could pierce the lattice of scales that covered the majority of a dragon’s body, and Glade’s scales were no exception. As long as he protected his underbelly, face and wings, Glade was sure there was little the airships could do with that particular attack to harm him.

The alien’s fireball, however, he was not so sure about.

Tiny stabs of pain lanced through his wings, forcing Glade to keep his distance from the pair of airships. It seemed that the thunderous spitting was ineffective at a long range.

Another pair of simultaneous roars announced Sappharon and Pyrite’s appearance. The duo split up, Pyrite swooping down under the airships, and Sappharon circling around to the other side of them, opposite to Glade.

The airships veered away in an attempt to get away from the dragons. Glade snarled. They would not escape while he could still move his wings. Flapping harder, Glade soared upwards, positioning himself over the airships. Sappharon and Pyrite seemed to catch on to Glade’s plan, as they began to circle around the metal beasts, drawing their fire and keeping their attention.

Glade reached the peak of his ascent, swooping down into a dive just as one airship loosed a fireball that arced toward Pyrite. The crimson dragon flew out of its path, but much to his surprise the ball of smoke and flame changed its course. Pyrite moved again to evade, swooping down under the fireball. The missile sailed over the dragon’s body, not having enough time to turn. It attempted to correct its course, but failed, slamming into the ground.

KA-BOOM!

Glade glared at the attacking airship, choosing it as his target. He dived down, bringing his wings closer to his body and preparing his claws.

WHAM!

The emerald dragon slammed into the top of the airship, sending it spinning out of control as he clawed and beat at its metal surface. His claws left deep scratches and dents, but did no major damage. Calling on his inner flames once again, he concentrated on creating a jet as hot as possible. The airship struggled and shook, fighting to maintain balance and altitude as he prepared, its mate unable to help in fear of collateral damage.

When the flames in his chest felt hot enough, Glade opened his maw, letting loose the stream of emerald fire. The torrent burned almost painfully bright, bathing the metal surface below. The feeling tickled Glade’s claws.

Glade released the flame, letting the airship fall the rest of the way. Its shiny head had exploded open, and the metal across its back glowed red and white. Molten metals dripped off Glade’s claws, following the destroyed airship on its journey back to the earth.

As soon as he let go, the emerald dragon launched himself away as not to make himself a target for the other ship. The remaining airship fought to get away, attacking anything within range as it retreated away from the dragons. Glade ascended once again, intending to strike the beast in the same way he dispatched the other, but Pyrite was already moving.

The crimson dragon shot by, flying directly underneath the airship. The metal flyer fired at him, by the tough dragon shrugged its attacks off. Before the airship could loose a fireball, Pyrite was already underneath it. As he passed under, the dragon flicked up his tail, striking the airship’s stout wing.

The metal flyer was sent spinning from the blow, losing altitude as it struggled to regain its balance. Sappharon took his chance, swooping down and latching onto the front of the airship and preparing to incinerate it. Glade wasn’t surprised the blue dragon had decided to take a direct role in the fight. He may not be happy that it had taken place, but he wasn’t one to stand on the side while his brothers faced a dangerous foe.

Sappharon opened his maw, but no fire came. Instead there was a bright flash of light from the head of the airship, and a familiar sound.

KA-BOOM!

In a huge spray of blood and smoke, the blue dragon’s grip loosened and his broken body fell away. Glade blinked. Sappharon crashed into the ground, laying still in the snow. There was no movement, not even the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Only sapphire scales and crimson blood.

Glade roared, the mighty bellow laced with the dragon’s overwhelming rage. Within moments he found himself barrelling toward the airship, slamming into its side where he began to claw, beat and burn whatever he touched. The snow, the sky and even the other dragons faded away. There was only Glade and his prey. Metal melted and bent under his might, and his angered bellows filled his ears, drowning out all other sound.

Soon enough he found himself sitting on in the snow, surrounded by the glowing, deformed slag that used to be the alien ship. Glade just rested there for a moment, breathing heavily as he took in the smell of his flames. The melted metals dripped off his body, falling to the puddles below. All the snow around him was gone, evaporating into mist because of the intense heat. Soon enough Glade shook himself off, and launched himself into the air, heading straight for the blue and red figures nearby.

*

“So you returned it?” Banewin’s tone was neutral, not giving away any insight into how the gryphon felt about the situation. Balik had no idea what his superior was thinking, and that scared him more than anything.

“Yes, sire.” He kept his eyes on the stone floor, unwilling to meet the clan leader’s own. “It was too much of a threat to hold on to. The others did not chase us when we fled, so they must have wanted only the crash site, and not our destruction. Capturing one of their own would only give them a reason to follow us, and I fear we would not survive another encounter.”

“I see. Leave us.”

Balik’s heart thumped in his chest. He had been entirely truthful in his recount, including his orders to defy the council’s commands. There was no honouring lying, and he was willing to face his punishment head on, but Banewin’s decision surprised him. Not willing to push his luck, he bowed, then scurried out the door.

When the heavy doors closed behind him, there was silence, but it wasn’t long before it was broken.

“This is not good.” Banewin said.

The elders shared worried looks. “What are we going to do?” Hyava asked.

“We should have known this would happen.” Yalek said, “We should have known.”

“But we didn’t, and we acted anyway.” Kyarth stated, “It will do us no good to dwell on past mistakes.”

“Well, what do you suggest we do?” Yalek shot back. The elder was afraid. He tried to hide it behind his anger, but it still showed clear.

“We don’t do anything.”

“What?!” Yalek cried, “We have an army of vastly superior monsters on our doorstep and you want to do nothing?! Have you lost your mind?!”

“Calm down, Yalek.” Hyava said softly, “Now Kyarth, I must agree with him, albeit not so dramatically.”

Yalek grumbled quietly.

“His concerns are understandable,” she continued, “What can we accomplish by doing nothing?”

Kyarth smiled, the corners of Yalek’s mouth falling as he did. “Commander Balik reported that the creatures attacked his forces, but only when he struck first. To add to that, they did not chase his army when they fled, meaning that their intentions were not war, but just to secure their lost ship and their stragglers. Balik may have been acting out of line when he ignored out... request to collect a prisoner, but this may work out for the best. I suggest we merely stay out of the alien’s way, and allow them to gather what they came for.”

“And if you are wrong? What if they came with the intent of war?” Yalek asked.

Kyarth pondered for a moment. He sucked in a breath, exhaling loudly a few moments later. “We can only hope that you are wrong.”

*

“Sappharon...” Glade murmured.

For the first time in decades, the emerald dragon felt despair. It was almost unfamiliar, an alien feeling that he wished to be rid of as soon as it reared its ugly head. But no matter how much he wished, it still remained.

The blue dragon lay still in the snow, eyes open in an endless stare and blood running across his sapphire scales. The fireball had struck him just under his right foreleg. The thick scale armour that covered the limb and his back were scratched and disorganized, with some even missing, but it was relatively intact. The same could not be said for his underbelly. The smaller, lighter scales had been torn to shreds, along with most of the flesh underneath, leaving a gaping hole in the dragon’s underside. The membrane on his nearby wing had also been ripped apart in many places, and whilst his body could resist the heat and flames of the attack, the force of the explosion had smashed the bone in the blue dragon’s foreleg.

Glade hung his head. It was his fault, and he knew it. He attacked purely out of anger, out of defence of his own pride, and now Sappharon had paid the price for his actions.

“What do we do?” Pyrite asked, his voice was low, bordering a growl.

Glade exhaled loudly. There was no anger left in him. No rage, no fuel for his violence. Only regret. “We leave.”

“Leave?” Pyrite stared at Glade, as if his answer was some sort of joke. When the emerald dragon’s features didn’t change, he waved his claw in the direction of the crash site. “There are more of them out there. We should-”

“We should leave before more arrive!” Glade snapped.

The red dragon growled, but backed down under Glade’s glare. “Look at this!” The green dragon waved a claw over Sappharon’s body, “I attacked out of my own anger! Now Sappharon had been killed because of it!”

Glade sank back down, lowering his head once again.

“He tried to warn me, but I did not listen.” The green dragon grumbled, “I will not make that mistake again.”

Pyrite didn’t respond.

Glade snorted loudly. He reached down to Sappharon’s body where he began to work away at a patch of scales. After a few minutes the emerald dragon managed to separate a large sapphire scale from the rest. Clutching the shining token, he took his last look at Sappharon’s body.

“Goodbye, old friend.”

With a powerful stroke of his wings, Glade launched himself into the air.

//Hope

A city. A massive, white and gold city, resting on the side of a mountain. A mountain! Reyes couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw it. Waterfalls streamed down from the city, stretching hundreds, maybe even thousands of metres into a massive river below. It was truly a sight to behold.

After the brief pause to admire the view, Reyes spoke again into his radio. He was glad his captors hadn’t done anything to silence him. Perhaps they just thought that he was rambling like a mad man.

“My name is Aaron Reyes. WSC Officer assigned to the CRA Yamato. Can anybody hear me? I’ve been captured by hostiles and need immediate assistance. Is there anybody there?”

There was not reply. There never was. The channel had been empty soon after he had been taken out of the crash site. There had been so many talking at once, screaming for help just like he had, but they all faded, leaving nothing but silence on the radio. He hoped that his friends had survived.

They were in the city now, the ivory towers passing by as they headed toward a huge palace at the back of the city, closest to the mountain. There was an overwhelming presence of the flying horses, all dressed in golden armour. Their numbers only seemed to grow as they drew closer to the palace. Reyes gulped. His heart raced at a hundred miles a minute. This was the end of the line. He had no idea what they would do to him, especially since he had killed several of their own. Maybe they would give him a trial before cutting his head off? Or just skip straight to the decapitation. Maybe they’d dissect him, or torture him for his crimes. Reyes shuddered at the thought.

The chariot shook as it touched down, and the lone human felt his bonds tighten as they began to glow again. He rose off the floor of the chariot and onto the back of one of the unicorn horses that had carried him before.

“This is Aaron Reyes, WSC Officer in need of immediate assistance! Can anyone hear me?!”

The horse stepped down out of the chariot into a courtyard. There was no shortage of armoured aliens in the area. They were in every direction, more and more seeming to converge on the landing zone.

“WSC Officer Aaron Reyes in need of immediate assistance! Is anyone there?”

A horned horse in purple armour strode out of the palace with a shout, heading straight for the pegasus horse that Reyes recognised as the one he had attacked with his knife.

“WSC Officer Aaron Reyes! Can anyone hear me?!”

The purple armoured horse seemed to trail off from its conversation as it noticed Reyes. Reyes stared back at it, trying the radio once more.

“Is anyone there?! Hello?!”

Aaron’s heart skipped a beat when there was a crackle of static before a voice found its way into his ears. “Officer Reyes?”

“I’m here!” he said, trying to keep his voice low. “I’ve been captured by hostiles. They’ve transported me to a city... it’s... uh...”

“Don’t worry! We’ve got a lock on your helmet’s beacon.” Reyes couldn’t hold back his grin. He was glad that they hadn’t taken his helmet, otherwise his captors might have suspected something from his sudden change in expression.

“Just hang tight, Aaron, we’re on our way.”

I can't help but feel there was a bit too much tell and not enough show in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one anyway! Don't forget: Rate, fave, comment and tell your friends!

XI. Complications

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

//Recover

Lieutenant Anderson’s heavy boot sunk through the snow effortlessly, snapping the wooden shaft of an already broken arrow. The damaged shafts littered the ground, sticking out from the fresh layers of snow, evident signs of a fight. The area was empty, save for the massive cave entrance in the side of the mountain. Its mouth bore many large scrapes and scratches that showed it had been used before.

And by something big.

There was a moment of silence before his radio crackled to life. “This is it. Officer Ben Charles is in the cave before you.” The pilot said. The dropship hovered nearby, its thrusters humming loudly, keeping the metal bird suspended in the air.

A waypoint flashed in Anderson’s helmet display, marking the location and approximate distance to his target. “I see him. Is he still alive?”

“I dunno. Those security helmets only have the emergency beacon, no vital signs. I can’t get a hold of his radio. Either he’s dead, or the helmet’s damaged.”

Anderson cursed silently. “Alright, Voss, Newman, you two cover the mouth. Victor, Peterson, you’re with me.”

The lieutenant strode forward, the machinery in his exosuit whining softly as he moved. The first two soldiers moved into position whilst the others followed Anderson through the mouth and into the dark. With a high pitched beep, his helmet’s night vision kicked in, replacing the shadows with shapes coloured various shades of green.

“Something big has been in here, boys, keep your eyes open.”

Anderson turned to his right, his footsteps making loud thumps that echoed throughout the cave. There was a gleam in his vision, and the waypoint flashed, showing his rapidly dropping distance. Soon enough, Anderson found himself standing over a broken helmet, or what was left of it. The shell had been cracked, and a sizable chunk was missing. The visitor had been shattered, and it was covered in dark patches. Anderson bent down and picked it up. At least there was no head inside.

“Found it.” The lieutenant turned the helmet over in his hands. “I don’t think Ben’s with us anymore.”

“Damn it.” There was a brief pause before the pilot continued. “Alright, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be in this place any longer than I have too.”

“Acknowledged.” Anderson grunted.

The marines jumped and readied their weapons when a loud roar echoed from within the cave.

“Boys, you hear that down there?” The pilot asked.

“Yeah, we heard it.” Anderson grunted, “But let’s not stick around to find out what made it. Move!”

The marines hastily made their way back towards the surface, weapons at the ready. They were almost outside when Anderson heard the sound of something moving from within. Something big.

“Come on, move!”

The ground shook as there was another roar, much louder than the last. Anderson slowed for a moment, looking over his shoulder.

A massive reptilian creature surged out of the dark. Rows of sharp teeth lined the beast’s mouth and muscled limbs powered it forward in the charge. Anderson sprinted toward the surface, leaping out of the way as soon as he passed through the mouth.

The other soldiers were right behind him, Victor following Andersons lead. By the time Peterson had reached the exit, the monster was already on them. It lowered its head and smashed into the marine’s back, sending him flying through the air. He struck the ground with a loud thump, but the man’s armour absorbed most of the impact, and he was back on his feet in mere seconds.

The creature bellowed, its cry echoing through the mountains. The other soldiers didn’t wait, unleashing a storm of bullets onto the huge reptile. At that range, the powerful weapons punched holes straight through the beast’s scales. It screamed in pain and scrambled backward to the cave, but the dropship’s mounted gun blazed into life.

With a final scream Kae’los’ life faded away, her eyes locked in a distant stare.

From Skies Above – Complications

The biped sat on the ground, iron shackles clamped around its wrists and ankles. Most of its armour had been stripped from its body, leaving only the green tinted cloth it wore underneath. On a head half covered by a rough brown mane, small green eyes locked onto anything that moved nearby, assessing anything and everything to determine if they were a threat. There were a lot of threats.

Over a dozen armed guards surrounded the alien, all of them ready to leap into action should it become hostile. Its eyes continued to wander, coming to rest on one pony in particular. Shining Armour stared back at the alien for a moment before continuing on his way. The princesses were in the next room, no doubt discussing what to do with the unwanted guest. The guards saluted him as he passed through the door, returning to their rigid posture as soon as he was out of sight.

“We can return it before others begin to search, can we not? If you are wrong about their locating methods then it would take time to find out where he was taken.” Luna’s voice carried over into Shining’s ears, “That is a report from the Stalliongrad Guard, is it not? What doth it say?”

Celestia stood on the other side of the small room, a small parchment in her magical grasp. The princess’ eyes traversed back and forth across the page, her stern expression never changing. “They have been sending pegasi out on reconnaissance missions to keep an eye on the aliens. They’ve been sending out multiple groups of their airships. One of those groups was reported to be on a direct path to Canterlot. That was an hour ago.”

Shining froze at the last statement. They knew that the prisoner was here, and they were on their way. He hadn’t seen first hoof what the aliens were capable of, but rumours were already spreading among the guards; particularly one about two alien airships sending an entire gryphon army into retreat.

Celestia looked up from the parchment, catching sight of Shining. “Ah, Captain.”

He saluted as she lowered the letter to a nearby desk. “I assume you heard that last piece of information?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Good, then you know our situation.” She said, “I want you to prepare the city for an immediate evacuation. We don’t-”

A bright flash of light illuminated the room for an instant as a curled scroll materialized in the air before Princess Celestia. She quickly grabbed it in an aura of light, breaking the seal and reading it silently.

A few moments later, Celestia spoke. “This is from the Cloudsdale Guard. They’ve spotted three large, unidentified air vehicles heading directly for us.”

“Cloudsdale?” Shining’s face contorted into a look of shock, “That’s only an hour’s flight away! We can’t get the entire city evacuated in time!”

“Captain Armour.” Shining snapped to attention at Celestia’s voice. “Sound the alarm. As of now, Canterlot is on high alert and all citizens must remain in their homes.”

“Of course, your Majesty!” The guard captain saluted, then took off into the halls, bellowing orders as he went.

*

The gryphon lay as low as he could on the cloud, peering over its edge at the flurry of activity below. Metal airships buzzed back and forth through the air around the ship like bees around their hive, while tiny black figures occupied the ground like ants, their black shapes sticking out against the snow.

On several occasions, airships had broken off from the group. A trio of two smaller airships and a larger one had taken flight and headed south, toward Equestria, and, more disturbingly, multiple ships had flown away into the mountains.

But now something else was happening.

Figures filed out of the huge alien vessel, making their way across the field of corpses toward grounded airships. Once aboard, the metal flyers took to the skies, heading east. More airships joined them, and even the ones patrolling around the crash site began to break away.

The gryphon watched from his vantage point, taking in the sight of the metal airships departing. Soon enough, only three alien ships remained. The gryphon stared at the remaining ships. Two hovered in the air, whilst the third, larger one, remained grounded.

He was confused. They had wasted their time and effort in the task of driving away two armies, only to leave not even a day after their victory? He frowned. Something wasn’t right.

The grounded ship jerked into life as it began to rapidly gain altitude. The other two ships hovered nearby, forming a wedge shaped formation with the larger ship at the head. When ready, the airships set off, their path set to a north east direction, right towards...

The gryphon’s eyes widened. Right back to his clan’s capital.

*

The hall was filled with guardsponies. The would have been over one hundred of them packed into the room, all with their attentions locked on a single stallion occupying a raised platform at the head of the chamber. Royal Guard Captain Shining Armour paced back and forth across the stage, looking down at the guards before him.

“Many of you may already know our current situation.” Shining said, his voice amplified by his magic to allow him to be heard by every guard in the hall, “But for those of you who don’t, allow me to explain.

“Less than an hour ago, survivors returned from a battle in the north, a battle waged between ponies, gryphons and...” Shining swallowed, “...a technologically advanced alien race.”

There was a loud murmuring amongst the guards assembled before him, and Shining clear his throat loudly, grabbing back the attention of his audience. “I know it sounds preposterous, but it is true. The survivor of the battle managed to capture a prisoner, but unknown to us at the time, the aliens have a method for locating lost individuals.”

Shining bit his lip and paused for a moment, “And they will be arriving in Canterlot within the next thirty minutes.”

There was more murmurs and whispers amongst the audience, but Shining ignored them. The Royal Guard Captain turned to a nearby pegasus. The stallion’s mane was a tangled mess, and his coat bore numerous cuts and other stains from battle. Shining nodded to the pegasus, who proceeded to approach the stage, favouring his left foreleg.

“Captain Valiant Effort, of the Stalliongrad Guard.”

Valiant nodded to Shining before turning to the mass of ponies assembled before them. He cast a stern gaze over them. Many stood tall and proud, but others struggled to hide their fear.

“The enemy we face is not one to be underestimated.” He began, sweeping his eyes over the audience, “They favour ranged weapons, powerful enough to put a hole in a guard’s armour at over one hundred paces. They also use small explosive devices, thrown by the creatures themselves.”

Valiant could see that some of the guards were having trouble believing him. He continued. “And to make matters worse, the aliens appear as empty voids in the magical field, so targeting them is difficult and takes much time. They also appear to be immune to direct magical attacks.”

Looks of disbelief appeared on the faces of many of the unicorns. Many guards were losing their composure, but most still stayed strong.

“But fear not, although these creatures are strong, they are not invincible. On the field, many of their weapons lost functionality, and their armour was insufficient for a full scale battle. Conjured fire bolts were particularly effective. Along with those weaknesses, we have strength in numbers, and Canterlot will be unfamiliar ground to them.”

Shining Armour stepped forward, Valiant spotting the purple armour in his peripheral vision. “That being said, none of you are to attack unless provoked. The Princesses have decided that if hostilities can be avoided entirely, we are to do so. Their prisoner is to be returned to them immediately upon their arrival.”

Shining cast another stern look toward the assembled guards. “The city is being put into lockdown as we speak, so all civilians will be in their homes at all times.” The captain paused for a moment. “I cannot stress the importance that nopony is to attack without first being attacked. The entire city is at stake, and anypony who is defies that order will be punished severely... if we survive.”

Shining thought he heard a guard gulp audibly, but ignored it and proceeded to give out more orders. Time was short, and they had much to do.

*

The doors to the hall burst open, and a panting gryphon dashed into the room. “Sire!”

Banewin looked up at the disturbance, his brow furrowing and the corners of his mouth falling. The elders around him shared worried glances. “Speak.” He commanded.

The gryphon took a moment to collect his thoughts. “Sire, scouts and city patrol have spotted three large, metal airships in the vicinity of the city.”

Hyava gasped, and Banewin felt his own eyes widen slightly, but they quickly narrowed. “Is that all?” he said, his voice just above a growl.

The messenger nodded hastily.

“Then leave us.”

The gryphon scrambled back out the way he came, the doors closing with behind him with a resounding thud. Banewin closed his eyes and exhaled loudly, rubbing his temple with his talons. He opened his eyes to see the elders, each watching him with fear in their eyes.

“Well? Speak!”

“Sire,” Hyava began, “We must prepare out warriors for battle. If we are smart about our strategies, we can distract the beasts long enough to evacuate the city.”

“Why have they come here?” Yalek hissed, “I knew this would happen! Kyarth, you were wrong! They have come to us to wreak their revenge, and your inaction has let them waltz right to our home!”

Kyarth opened his mouth to defend himself, but elder Maelon cut the old gryphon off.

“Enough of this!” Maelon snapped, “Both of you! Your bickering gets us no where!”

He exhaled loudly, “Why would they come here? There are several towns between us and the crash site, if they wanted revenge, why not attack those towns first?”

“The body.” Hyava’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“What?” Yalek squawked.

“The body the hunters brought back.” Hyava hissed, “The alien corpse.”

“How would they know it is here?” Kyarth asked.

“They can make metal wagons fly and incinerate airships with a single strike.” Yalek spat, “I for one would not surprised if they could sense their brothers at such a distance.”

“But,” Banewin’s voice was far more youthful compared to the raspy speech that the elders used, yet still held a hard edge. “That still leaves the question of what we are going to do.”

*

Pegasi guards retreated to a safe distance, giving the trio of metal flyers plenty of room as they entered the airspace of the city. Not a single pony inhabited the streets below, all scared into hiding by the alarm bells and bellowing guards. Two smaller flyers hovered to the sides of the larger, centre ship. On the sides of the larger, alien forms could be seen, hanging out the sides as they directed mighty cannons mounted on the airship.

They slowed as they approached the castle, pausing for a moment before changing course, heading directly for a large courtyard. The courtyard hung off the edge of the castle, one side stopping in a massive drop down toward the city below. Tall extrusions of castle surrounded the remainder of the yard, and dozens of guards took positions along the many balconies overlooking the yard. The only defining features in the yard where the wooden benches resting under the shade of two tall trees growing out of large marble boxes of dirt that extended through the floor of the yard.

The two smaller airships remained back as the larger turned side on and drifted into the courtyard. It lowered itself, small metal supports folding out of its hull ready to carry its weight. On the other side of the courtyard, two ornate doors opened, and several guards strode out. Shining Armour paused, taking a deep breath before leading the small group out of the castle toward the alien ship. In the centre of the group of five guards walked a biped, his hands bound behind his back with iron shackles.

The large airship’s sides slid open, revealing a mass of figures inside. Shining stopped at the centre of the yard, the guards and prisoner behind him following suite. He glanced toward a tower to his right, where he knew the Princesses and his sister would be watching the encounter, and listening via several magical wards arrayed around the courtyard. Movement in the alien ship drew his attention, and his heart began to thump faster in his chest as the first of the aliens started to emerge.

A massive figure, completely encased in near black armour stepped down out of the ship. It definitely wasn’t what Valiant Effort described. Standing at what must have been around two and a half metres tall, the giant figure stomped away from the ship, its weapon raised should there be any attack. With more loud thumps, the rest of the alien soldiers began to disembark, the ground below the soldiers beginning to crack with each landing.

Soon enough, there were over a dozen heavily armed and armoured alien soldiers, creating an arc around their ship. The bipeds flaunted their weapons, clearly having an effect on the surrounding guards. Shining turned his attention back to the drop ship, as several other figures emerged. Another two bipeds stepped down, leading by a limping unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare with a bandaged wing.

The stallion, Shining recognised immediately. Emerald Haze’s mane was dishevelled, and walked with a heavy limp, favouring his right hind leg. Several white pads had been attached to his side, and Shining realised that there were several small blood stains on the fur around them. The guard captain didn’t recognise the pegasus mare, but he was sure she had been part of the relief force from Stalliongrad.

The two ponies, along with three alien soldiers, broke away from the ground, heading for Shining Armour and his group. Shining could hear the alien behind him shuffling on the spot. The group of bipeds stopped about ten or fifteen metres from Shining.

One of the aliens stepped forward. It pushed its weapon over its shoulder, somehow attaching it to its back. Reaching up with a both hand, it began to fiddle with the back of its helmet, and soon enough it hissed loudly. The black shell came free, and the biped pulled it away, revealing a pale head with a close shaven mane. The biped stared at Shining with its small eyes.

For a moment, neither side moved. The alien appeared to be muttering to itself, or maybe even communicating with its fellows. After a minute, the biped made the first move. It raised one hand, curling its digits into a fist, save one. It pointed its hand at the pony prisoners, then at the biped behind Shining. The Royal Guard Captain understood immediately.

Shining Armour stepped aside, gesturing with his horn to the other guards. The alien prisoner glanced between them, and started walking toward the alien soldiers with a gentle prod from behind. After several steps, the helmetless alien gestured to the other soldiers. One of them jabbed the mare’s flank with its weapon. Keeping her head down, she began to trot toward the guards. Emerald Haze, took several steps, but a biped’s armoured hand quickly blocked his path. Shining frowned. What are they doing?

The alien prisoner picked up his pace, passing the mare without a second glance. It rushed over to the soldiers, the helmetless biped nodding to it as it arrived. One of the other soldiers approached, and it a feat of impressive strength and control, snapped the chain of the shackles with its armoured hands.

The pegasus mare approached Shining, trotting fast as the distance between her and her captors increased.

“Inside, go.” He said as calmly as he could.

She nodded, and without breaking stride, continued straight past him. Shining looked back to the aliens. The prisoner had made a dash toward the waiting airship, but the alien soldiers still held Emerald Haze in their thrall. The helmetless biped met Shining’s gaze, a recognisable frown on his face. It gestured to the retreating former prisoner, then held its hand up high, two digits outstretched. The biped opened its mouth and bellowed a string of mostly unrecognisable words.

Mostly unrecognisable.

Shining felt a chill run down his spine as realisation finally dawned on him. The trade was two for two. The alien soldier repeated the command, shouting it louder this time and raising its hand higher.

Shining Armour swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat. One word had stuck out in the barrage of strange language. One single, horrifying word.

Ryan.

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XII. Branch and Blade

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

//FUBAR

Major Steven Ross glared down at the alien clad in its pale, purple coloured armour. He held his hand up higher in an attempt to make clearer the number he was trying to sign across. “Where is Officer Ryan Young?” his voice boomed across the courtyard, startling many of the quadrupeds.

The purple armoured equine seemed to pale under his stern gaze. It was good to know that they were scared of him, although it may lead them to make hasty decisions. He glanced down at the large pistol attached to the exosuit’s waistline. Decisions that they would come to regret.

The purple equine was speaking frantically with one of his cohorts, frequently glancing back at the heavily armed humans. The other horned quadruped nodded before taking off and galloping back into the castle. The horned equine turned back to Ross, making a gesture that the human interpreted as ‘just wait a moment’.

A minute dragged by, the tension so thick in the air that it almost felt as if breathing too hard would send the card house of peace crumbling down. In that event, the equine’s ornate armour would give them next to no protection against the marine’s rifles. If the security weapons the WSC could send bullets straight through their armour, the larger rifles the soldiers carried would punch straight through the golden plates of the equine, along with those of the two behind it. Despite the slight imbalance in technology, Ross was still nervous. Survivors of the battle at the Yamato told of mysterious powers the horn aliens wielded. Some did nothing, whilst others could kill. Whether or not this was true, Ross had seen firsthand the burnt and blackened corpses on the field. Who knows what else they were capable of?

Hooves against polished floor sounded off through the courtyard, as the horned alien returned from its venture. Ross watched the door, expecting an armed procession of equines to shepherd out a shackled human.

None came.

Ross frowned as the horned equine approached the one clad in the purple armour. The only difference was that now the returning equine had two objects floating nearby to its head: an urn made of gold and silver metals, and a WSC helmet. The glow surrounding the two objects changed from the deep blue colour to an almost pinkish colour as they were passed to the commanding equine. The quadruped then nervously trotted over toward Ross. It stopped halfway, but the objects kept going, drifting through the air slowly toward the Major, eventually landing gently on the ground before him.

The equine watched nervously as Ross kneeled down, grasping the helmet in his gauntlets. The metal shell bore many scratches and other minor damage, but was otherwise unharmed. Ross lowered the helmet back to the ground. Ross then reached for the urn. As gently as he could, he took the urn into his hands, looking up at the equine as he did. The alien seemed to nod an encouragement, fear evident in his eyes. Surely they wouldn't be bold enough to set this up as a trap?

Ross opened the urn.

There was no noxious gas, no explosion, nothing but ash.

Ash.

Ross slowly looked up from Ryan’s ashes. His glare centred directly at the nervous alien in the purple armour. He replaced the lid on the urn, then, taking both it and Ryan’s helmet, stood. The horned equine tensed at the movement.

The Major called up a single marine, then passed on the two items to be taken back to the dropship, all the while Ross’ eyes remained locked on the alien’s leader. The other equines were edgy, clinging to their weapons in a hope that they might be able to defend themselves if needed.

Finally, Ross turned back to his men. “Release the prisoner.”

The marines guarding the wounded alien nodded, but a voice over their comms stopped them. “Something’s happening! On a cloud, east side!”

“Hold up.” Said Ross as he turned in the direction the soldier had specified. He spotted the disturbance almost immediately. On a lone cloud rested a small figure, holding a light that flashed at sporadic intervals. Ross glanced back at the equine leader. The quadruped had noticed the light as well, and was shouting at one of his companions. Activity on his radio bled through into his ears.

“What is that?”

“Could be a signal?”

The equine aliens were stirring. Guards hefted their spears, and several winged aliens took to the air. The soldiers around him were getting jumpy, all with weapons raised and threatening stances taken.

Ross turned his head just in time to witness the equine prisoner make a break for freedom. It took a hasty look at its captors before taking the risk and bolting towards friendly lines, but it didn’t make it far. Its wounded leg slowed it down, and after only a few steps, its mane was caught in the iron grip of a soldier, wrenching it back and throwing the quadruped off balance. With a short cry it landed on the ground, staring down the rifle barrel of the man who caught it.

There was shout from the equine leader, Ross’ head snapped back around, finding the equine in an aggressive stance, horn ablaze with neon light. In a swift movement, Ross donned his helmet. “Let the damned horse go!” he hissed into his radio.

“Sir, what abou-”

“They’re attacking!”

A polished spear streaked through the air, striking a marine square in the chest, but only to bounce off his armour harmlessly. More projectiles were thrown from the equine forces, each ending in as pitiful impact as the last, even accompanied by a streak of emerald energy that dissipated into nothing upon impact.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” A soldier muttered.

The equine leader was practically screaming at his cohorts, tossing fearful glances back at the soldiers. Ross chuckled to himself. They weren’t much of a threat after all. He turned back to the men behind him. “Fire a warning shot.”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The quadrupeds jumped at the sudden sound, many leaping back as if the attack was directed at them, and all ceased their attacks. There was a silent tension once again, only to be broken by a single Marine’s voice on the comms.

“Hey, is it getting hotter up here?”

“Starnes, shut your fucking mouth.” Ross growled. He turned to the hostage and its captors. “Let it go.”

The marine nodded and reached down, grabbing the equine by its mane and pulling it up. It seemed to whimper quietly as it was pulled to its hooves, clamping its massive eyes shut.

“Major, Starnes is right. It’s getting fucking hot. This can’t be normal.”

“Argh! This is starting to hurt!”

“Starnes? Starnes!”

Ross’ brow slanted down again as he turned around to see the marine. When they had arrived, Starnes had taken position under one of the decorative trees, using the benches as cover. The marine was hunched over, his weapon lay on the ground where he dropped it. His limbs were shaking, and the wood on the bench had begun to blacken. Grey wisps of smoke rose off the wooden structure.

Without warning and ear-splitting howl of pain erupted over the comms as Starnes threw his head back. Tiny flames began to flick over his armour, growing in size as the bench burst into a bright inferno. From his position Ross could see the glow from equine horns from behind their cover.

“That’s them! They’re attacking!”

Ross reached up and ripped the rifle from his back. “Open fire!” he barked.

In a single swift movement, he whipped around and lined up a shot on the equine leader just in time to see them disappear in a flash of pink light.

But not before he pulled the trigger.

From Skies Above – Branch and Blade

This was it. His lucky break. The shots that were going to make him famous.

Money Shot rested atop a cloud drifting slowly over Canterlot. Below the city had been placed into high alert, meaning that something big was about to happen, and the blonde pegasus planned to be there when it happened.

A sturdy camera and support frame rested around his neck, complete with a new roll of film. The pegasus had triple checked the camera, making sure nothing was out of place. He had to be ready for this moment. Money Shot wondered whether or not this was somehow related to the rumours of an approaching war with the gryphons, or even the rumours of alien sightings. He grinned. That would definitely make him famous.

Activity below pulled him out of his trance, and the pegasus gaped when three huge airborne objects came into view. He gazed in awe as the metal giants drifted over the city, heading straight toward Castle Canterlot. Quickly, he flicked the camera up and snapped a few shots.

The metal airships slowed as they approached the castle, heading straight toward a large courtyard. Guards began to swarm around the area like moths to a lamp. He raised the camera once again, but, to the pegasus’ frustration, he was too far away for a decent shot. Cautiously, he flapped his wings and began to push the cloud closer.

Minutes dragged by as he approached, occasionally stopping to take a photo regardless of his range, and as he moved, an extraordinary scene began to unfold before his eyes. Huge black creatures emerged from the larger of the airships, each walking on their two hind legs. Even more shocking, was the two ponies they brought with them, and the smaller biped that emerged from the Castle in the custody of none other than Shining Armour. Two groups approached the centre, and one of the ponies on the biped’s side crossed over to the castle as the small biped moved over toward the airships.

Money Shot’s hoof slipped off the edge of the cloud, and the pegasus struggled to catch himself. He pressed himself into the cloud, trying to make himself as small as possible. He sat prone for a moment, afraid that he had been discovered. If the Royal Guard were to find him up here there would be severe punishments. Not only was he ignoring a high alert, but he was taking photos of an obvious Royal Guard operation.

Photos that many ponies he knew would pay dearly for.

After a few more moments to make sure there were no pegasi coming at him, he poked his head up from his cover. The bipeds still had a unicorn on their side, and one with a small white head appeared to be squaring off with the Royal Guard Captain.

Money Shot raised the camera, and began shooting. The bipeds and guards continued to face each other down, but suddenly, they began to move. Something spooked the bipeds, as their movements became more aggressive. The guards began to brandish spears and other weapons, and the Royal Guard Captain began shouting orders out to his subordinates.

Click!

Flash!

Click!

Flash!

Click!

Flash!

Wait, flash?

Money Shot’s eyes widened in fear as he realise the camera’s flash had slipped on. The pegasus looked back down at the castle, and sure enough there were several pegasus guardsponies taking to the air. Money Shot quickly fumbled with the device in his hooves, soon pausing and abandoning the effort when he realised that it wouldn’t matter anyway. He needed to get out of-

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The sounds rang out through the air, and even the guards paused to look down. The bipeds looked ready to attack, as did the guards. They stood frozen for several moments, before there was a flash of orange light below.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

More shots from below, the sound sending chills down Money’s spine. There were screams, horrible howls of pain, and more noise.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Money Shot gasped when something ripped through his body. His entire chest erupted into blinding pain, then...

...nothing.

*

“Get rid of that pegasus!” Shining Armour barked.

The aliens were getting nervous, taking more aggressive stances and threatening nearby guards with their weapons, who in turn began to raise their own weapons in preparation for a fight. Shining gulped. The situation was spiralling out of control at an alarming rate, and the aliens could be mere moments away from attacking.

Shining glanced toward Emerald Haze. The unicorn was getting nervous, shuffling on his hooves as much as his captors would allow. He glanced around nervously, catching Shining’s eye. The guard captain immediately understood what he was planning. Shining shook his head, but Haze ignored his plea. The unicorn looked up at the bipeds surrounding him, and took the first chance he could get.

Haze bolted as fast as his wounded leg could carry him, but much to his horror, the alien guard caught on and reacted almost instantly. A metal hand lashed out at the unicorn after only a few steps, catching the pony’s mane in a vice like grip and wrenching him back.

Shining could hear Haze’s pained yelp as he was thrown to the ground. The guard captain’s eyes widened in fear as the alien raised its weapon, pointing it directly at Emerald Haze’s head. Their prisoner was dead, and Haze had tried to escape.

They were going to execute him.

“Hey!” The Royal Guard captain cried, flaring his horn up with his magic. He lowered his head in and fell into a charge stance, glaring at the bipeds. The aliens stopped, and looked back. Shining immediately felt his courage under attack as the helmetless alien’s small eyes locked onto him.

The alien leader grabbed its helmet, putting it back into place atop its head. Any sign of emotion was hidden by the black mask of death. Shining briefly wondered if the reflective visor was in place so their enemies could see themselves in their final moments. A last act of terror by these horrifying monsters.

A spear arced over the courtyard, striking one of the bipeds. The black armoured alien staggered back, but seemingly only out of shock rather than the force of the spear’s impact, as the missile bounced off its armour as it would a stone wall. Shining gaped in horror. Any anger he had for the sudden attack was quickly overwhelmed by his fear. This was it, the fighting had begun.

More projectiles were launched through the air, each failing as miserably as the last. Even the bolt of green magic merely splashed off the alien harmlessly. The aliens backed up, weapons at the ready.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The shots echoed throughout the courtyard. The pony’s attacks ceased as many dived for cover, eager to get out of sight of the alien monsters. Shining jumped at the sudden noise, his eyes immediately locking onto their source.

An alien soldier held his weapon up high, pointing it into the air. The rest of the soldiers would have easily passed off as statues if one took a quick glance, as they remained rigid whilst the ponies trembled in fear. There was a tense silence in the courtyard, and Shining gulped loudly. He turned to one of the guards next to him. “Make sure everypony holds their fire. That was too close.”

The guard nodded, rushing back to their lines in as least threatening manner as he could.

Shining took a deep breath. Somepony had to do something before they attacked again. He doubted the alien’s patience was infinite, so he steeled his nerves and prepared to confront the alien leader directly and ask for Emerald’s return. He prayed they wouldn’t kill him.

He took a single step when something caused him to stop. The aliens were stirring, looking around frantically. Shining followed their gazes, his eyes coming to rest one of the biped soldiers. The black clad creature was crouched behind a wooden bench, but something was wrong. The weapon had fallen free of the biped’s grasp, and it appeared to tremble on the spot. Then Shining saw the smoke.

Without warning the biped erupted into a column of fire, incinerating the bench and setting the nearby tree alight. In his peripheral vision the unicorn could see a faint orange glow on one of the balconies.

The aliens didn’t hesitate, and the courtyard was enveloped in the thunder of their weapons. Shining’s ears flattened against his skull as they were bombarded with a storm of screams and explosions. He turned his head at the alien leader. The biped’s arm reached up behind its head, pulling free the weapon attached to its back. In a single smooth movement, Shining found himself looking down the barrel of the alien weapon.

The air tingled around him, and his senses were suddenly overwhelmed by magic. The alien weapon flashed just as it faded from view.

All Shining could feel was pain, and all he could see was pink.

*

“They’re invincible!” a stallion to Starry Night’s right cried as his spear bounced off the armour of a nearby biped.

The unicorn mare hurled her own spear, the tip glinting in the light as it raced towards its target. With a loud clang lost in a storm of similar noises, it struck an alien in its shoulder, ricocheting back and clattering to the ground. The alien’s could repel a guard’s attacks effortlessly.

“Stay calm.” She ordered, “Their armour is too strong, so we’ll have to try something else.”

“Like what?”

Her eyes quickly scanned across the courtyard. The aliens held their fire for the moment, but for how much longer? Under the closest of the courtyard’s two trees the mare spotted an alien crouched low behind a bench. Its weapon was held high, sweeping back and forth across the line of guardsponies on the castle side of the yard.

“See that one by the tree? On my mark vent as much heat into the area around it as possible.”

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Starry Night’s ears flattened against her head as they were attacked by the sudden noise. She jumped back out of fear, crouching low behind the rails of the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. The four other unicorns, two either side of her, did the same.

They were attacking.

“Do it! Now!”

Her magic reached out to the courtyard below, into a forest of unfamiliar voids amongst the world’s magical glow. In an instant she locked onto the void by the tree, an empty space under the warm lights of the tree’s life. It was an unnatural sight.

Pushing her energy into a spell, she began to pour as much heat as she could manage into the tiny area around the void. Beside her, she could feel the other unicorns doing the same, all of them giving it everything they had.

The biped shaped void began to writhe, its weapon falling from its grasp. It was working. Opening her eyes, Starry saw an explosion of flame under the tree, flaring out and engulfing the bench and the plant. Flames licked at the biped’s armour, cooking the beast inside.

BAM!

The railing in front of the unicorn exploded into debris, cutting off her spell and sending the pony reeling backwards.

“Get back!” she cried.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Something splashed on her white coat, and she opened her eyes to see red on her muzzle, and more on a white and gold mass that lay still next to her.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Screams filled the air, along with more thunder. Starry peered over the edge of the balcony. Aliens held their weapons up, flashes of bright yellow and orange punctuated by the thunderous noises erupting from the ends of them. They edged back toward the large airship, some turning and running inside when they came close enough.

The second and third airships hovered upward, casting shadows the size of several wagons over the courtyard and structures around.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The sounds was even louder that the alien soldier’s weapons. Under the noise of dozens of metallic explosions, the courtyard was ripped apart under the fury of the airship’s automatic cannons. Chunks of stonework were hurled into the air in clouds of dust as guards retreated inside the relative safety of the castle.

“Get inside!” Starry screamed over the chaos.

The remaining unicorns on the balcony reacted instantly, rushing indoors. Starry struggled to rise to her hooves, but felt a magical grasp around her tail, and she was pulled across the balcony and into the castle.

And the shit hits the fan, but I suppose you already guessed that this was going to happen.

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XIII. Aftermath

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

//Retrieve

Major Adam Jenkins gripped his rifle tightly, his masked eyes fixed on the dropship door. The vehicle rumbled and shook slightly as it descended, the other marines shifting as it reached the end of its journey. Jenkins glanced down at his rifle once again, making sure nothing had mysteriously moved out of place since his last look.

The ship’s intercom blazed to life. “This is as close as I can get you. No sign of any locals, but there’s still a lot of places to hide out there.”

Jenkins prepared himself to move. “Alright. Open the door.”

A mechanical whine pierced the air as the dropship’s exit slide aside and, with their Major at their head, the marines filed out. Heavy boots touched down on the cobblestone square creating a series of loud thumps and thuds in the dead of the night. Tall, dark buildings loomed over the squad, their old, flat stonework combined with the twisting shadows of the night gave them a quite sinister appearance.

“Ghost town.” A soldier muttered as he swept his torch over the nearby buildings, the cone of light creating dancing shadows through the windows as it passed.

Couldn’t have put it better myself, Jenkins silently remarked. There had been lights in the city as they approached, but the area around the huge fortress at the southern end of the city had been shrouded in darkness. Jenkins couldn’t help but feel that they were being watched.

“Let’s move.” He commanded, the network of transceivers in the soldier’s armour sharing the message between the squad whilst blocking the sound from the outside world.

The squad followed the twisting road toward the beacon, all the while keeping their eyes on the surrounding buildings in case any of the locals would be bold enough to stage an ambush. In the back of each man’s mind was a niggling fear, the fear of the mysterious forces that powered this seemingly impossible world, and what those forces could do to an unprepared man.

Several tense minutes dragged by as the black shape of the fortress came into view, the beacon’s signal emanating from within. Jenkins was uncomfortable. Nothing had attacked them yet, but did that mean they were scared, or that they were still waiting? When he first saw what he would be dealing with he had thought this would be an easy job. With armour strong enough to repel their simple medieval weaponry, nothing even needed to get shot.

But soon enough, reports had trickled in: glowing lights, levitating objects, dragon-like creatures with breaths hot enough to melt vehicles, and even men bursting into flames without any rational explanation or warning. This world was a mystery, and a dangerous one at that. Previous encounters suggested that some of the equine creatures possessed telekinetic and some pyrokinetic abilities. Perhaps the ‘gryphons’ were capable of such powers as well?

“Sir, top of the stairs. See that?”

The marines stood in a small courtyard in front of the fortress. The structure was made of huge stone bricks, layered on top of one another creating tall, imposing walls that would probably take a lot of force for the locals to breach. Dark windows dotted the walls at regular intervals, giving enough room for a man – or alien, in this case – to shoot out of, whilst not making itself an easy target. At the end of the courtyard as wide set of stone stairs ran up to a large gate of huge wooden boards, covered in metal plates. A single torch cast a flickering orange light in the darkness, illuminating a white mass at the top of the stairs. On closer inspection, the Major realised it was a white sheet spread over something.

Something the size of a man.

“You two, with me.” Jenkins gestured to two marines. “The rest of you, stay alert and keep an eye out.”

The soldier’s heavy boots thumped loudly as they scaled the stairs made up of steps barely big enough to give their soles room. The two marines with him covered Jenkins’ sides as they approached their target. It was definitely a man, Jenkins observed. The shape of a human body was clear under the stained white cloth. The Major kneeled down and slowly drew back the sheet.

A pair of closed eyes on a pale white face was the first thing he saw. A huge mat of black bruises streaked across the body’s bare chest, and on closer inspection, his chest was deformed slightly, the man’s ribs looking as though they had been crushed. As Jenkins expected, he was dead.

The Major sighed as he lowered the sheet back over the deceased officer’s face. He reached down, sliding his gauntlets under the body and lifting it, wrapping the remaining cloth around the corpse as best he could.

“Back to the LZ. Time to go.”

From Skies Above – Aftermath

Twilight staggered on her hooves, struggling to maintain her balance as the after effect of the spell struck. For a few moments her vision blurred, her ears rang and she lost her grasp on what was up and what was down, as if some omnipotent being had decided to snuff out gravity like a candle. Bracing herself where she stood, Twilight waited impatiently for the effects to pass.

Her experience in the field of magic rivalled all other unicorns alive, and maybe even those who aren’t, so teleportation was familiar ground to her. But even with all of her experience, her most recent attempt had been one of her hardest. Contrary to popular belief, it was actually easier when the user moved herself along with whatever objects, keeping the magical source closer to the objects along the journey to the target.

That’s why it was easier for the unicorn to transport herself, several friends, and a baby dragon a large distance rather than move, say, half a dozen fully armed and armoured guardsponies several hundred metres.

Twilight shook her head clear, the world around her coming into focus as the ringing in her ears subsided. Her hearing returned, and immediately she picked up the groans of several dazed guards. A spark of relief burst into life as Twilight realised she had succeeded in rescuing her brother.

“Shining?” The young mare frantically looked between the stirring masses of white and gold, her eyes quickly landing on the signature purple armour of the captain.

But something wasn’t right. The pale coloured armour and pure white fur was stain with bright red. Twilight gaped at her unmoving brother, feeling tears welling in her eyes. She hadn’t been fast enough. “Shining!”

“Fetch help.” Twilight glanced around, spotting Princess Celesita, the alicorn’s attention directed at one of the guards stationed in the room. The armour clad stallion nodded before taking off out of sight.

“Do not fear, Twilight Sparkle.” The unmistakable voice reached Twilight’s ears as the dark alicorn stepped into Twilight’s view. Her expression was soft, in the form of a reassuring smile. “We shall not allow Shining Armour to perish.”

*

His ears rang.

His flank was ablaze with pain.

Emerald Haze slowly opened his eyes and courtyard was first to grace his sighting. It’s once flawless, shining surfaces were now riddled with tiny craters and debris. The scorched remains of a tree rose like a twisted, blackened talon, and its brother lay torn apart on the other side where it had been struck by the thunderous alien cannons.

Slowly, Emerald raised himself off the ground, standing on shaky legs. His head throbbed, and he felt a warmth travelling down his brow. The unicorn gently touched his brow, withdrawing his hoof to find a small stain of red. How was he still alive? The last thing he remembered was the bright flash of the alien soldier erupting into flames, being thrown aside and the pounding booms of the biped’s retaliation.

“Lieutenant!”

Emerald Haze turned his head to face the call. A pony was galloping toward him, clad in the same armour Haze himself had been given upon joining the guard. The pony weaved through the debris, then slid to a halt before Emerald.

“By Harmony! You’re alive!” he exclaimed breathlessly, “Are you alright?”

“I... I think.” Emerald looked back over himself. His mane was a mess, tangled and in dire need of a thorough washing. His coat hadn’t fared much better, the fur resembling the twisting waves of a storm over open water, and the bandages applied by the aliens were stained red, probably meaning the wound had reopened.

“What happened?” Haze asked, “Why did they attack?”

“Somepony on the balconies thought they were going to start killing, and decided to hit first.” He looked over his shoulder, Emerald following his eyes to the what he presumed was balcony where it had started. “They fired back at the spellcasters, then used the big cannon on the courtyard. Nopony was down there but the Captain, though, and he teleported out before they wrecked the yard. Either they missed, or were just trying to scare us.”

The guard looked Emerald over, frowning when he saw the reddened bandages on his side. “Lieutenant, I think we should get you to the infirmary.”

Haze merely nodded. Who knows what the aliens could have done to him when he was in their thrall? He’d rather not wait to find out. “Let’s go.”

*

The heavy thumping of the alien’s footsteps echoed through the night as they backtracked through the city. Their dark shapes were contrasted by the cones of light that shone from their heads, brighter than any torch or lantern could hope to be. Through the maze of tall, tightly packed buildings was their destination. The square stood as an open clearing in a forest of buildings, marked by the huge flying beast that hung in the air above it. Jets of fire spurted from its body, illuminating its shining, metallic armour.

Alwin clung to the edge of his cloud, peering down at the huge, black clad beasts as they marched hastily though the city. He felt uneasy, as if something wasn’t right. Despite his expectations, the plan had gone ahead smoothly, and the bipeds had shown no signs of aggression. Personally, Alwin had been sure that simply leaving the body outside with nothing but a sheet to cover it would only incite anger in the beasts, yet they had merely collected their fallen and set off on their way.

Perhaps they were planning on removing their soldiers from the city before they unleashed their wrath? If a gryphon had been killed and his body so blatantly desecrated through the actions of another clan, warriors would be taking arms within minutes in case the situation should go south, and if that individual was of any importance, there was no doubt blood was going to be spilled.

The troop of bipeds thumped into the square, emerging into full view from the tightly packed structures that made up the city. All of the buildings had rooftop entrances, as most gryphons favoured the sky over walking. Roads were only in place to allow the wounded, crippled and the occasion ground faring visitor access to the city, and for larger wagons to transport supplies, although the latter was rapidly being replaced by small civilian airships.

The floating metal giant began to stir, descending to the ground. Alwin watched cautiously as the aliens disappeared into its hold before the beast took flight, rapidly putting distance between itself and the city until it was lost into the night sky. Alwin waited for several minutes, expecting more of the airships to appear and lay waste to the gryphon’s home.

None came.

Puzzled and relieved, the gryphon leapt off the cloud, setting his sights on the fortress.

*

An ivory mare sat still against the wall behind her, a golden helmet discarded on the floor beside her. The mare’s short blue mane hung down past her horn, ending just above her eyes, and her chest rose and fell quickly with every one of her short breaths. Not far from where she sat, a still open doorway allowed light entry into the building. If she stepped outside she would find herself on a balcony overlooking the ruins of a once magnificent courtyard, full of debris and dotted with impact holes.

The others had left, scrambling to re-establish control of the situation. It was just her now, her and...

Starry Night turned her head, her eyes fixated on a single point in the doorway. A thin red smear stretched through the entry, leading back out of sight. It didn’t matter whether or not she could see where it ended; she already knew that. She slowly reached up to her snout, feeling the coarse, dried blood that stained the fur on her face. What have I done?

Starry gritted her teeth and slammed her hoof down. No. I did what I had to. They were attacking...

The unicorn’s ear flicked at the sound of hoofsteps, and she raised her head, finding herself looking up into the stern gaze of a Royal Guard, one of two now standing before her. “Starry Night. I have orders to escort you to Princess Celestia immediately.”

Starry’s eyes widened. Oh no.

*

“They just left?”

Banewin’s deep voice held neither surprise nor joy. He looked down at the smaller gryphon who nodded frantically under his superior’s gaze.

“Yes, sire. They retrieved their fallen and left the city.”

The battlements were crowded with warriors armed an array of dangerous looking weapons, who now shared glances of relief, and some of confusion. Stories had been quick to circulate amongst the warriors, and the biped’s already immense power needed no exaggerating to inspire fear in the hearts of even the strongest warriors. Banewin resided in the midst of the defending force, his own fearsome blade grasped in his claw. There was no way he would shirk his duty to defend his own city, even if it was against a seemingly invincible enemy.

“Did they leave anything behind?” he asked.

The scout, Alwin, appeared to think for a moment before answering. “No, sire. I cannot recall the creatures leaving anything.”

“Very well.” Banewin turned away from him, pointing a talon at two nearby warriors. “Take these two and search the streets where the beasts have passed. Make sure they left nothing behind.”

“Of course, sire.” Alwin bowed before the large gryphon, then turned and waved his claw at the selected gryphons, gesturing them to follow. The trio took flight, Alwin leading the way, and they disappeared out of sight as they flew into the streets of the city below.

//Disposal

“Second squad is clear. We’ve recovered the body and encountered no resistance. En route to the Colmar as we speak.”

Bailey’s eyes did not leave his screen as the voice echoed its owner through the speakers. He tapped a key on the terminal before him and spoke. “Body?”

There was a moment of silence before the voice returned. “Yes sir. He was dead when we found him. The locals left him on the doorstep. No sign of his armour or weapons.”

Bailey frowned. He didn’t like the idea of leaving anything behind on the planet. The impact they’d already had would no doubt resonate through the culture of the aliens for years to come, there was no need to further aggravate the issue by leaving weapons and technology behind for the creatures to study. “How did he die?”

“I can’t be sure at the moment, but it looks like he got hit by something, and hard, too. His chest is heavily bruised and it looks like the ribs were crushed.”

“A weapon? Mace? Club?”

“Possible, but there’s no distinctive marking.”

Bailey leaned back into his chair. Mysteries had become a familiarity to the man over the past few weeks. From the unknown of each jump as the fleet scrambled to hold itself together, to the unidentified enemy that sought the destruction of the USM, to planets full of mythological beasts and forces he could not comprehend. Finally, he addressed the man on the other end of the connection. “Thank you, Jenkins.”

“ETA twenty minutes, sir. Jenkins out.” A short, sharp tone announced the connection’s severing.

Bailey leaned over the terminal, tapping several keys. “Roger? Is the Yamato clear?”

Another voice, this one belonging to a man much younger than the last, sounded out from the terminal’s speakers. “All ground teams are away. The area is clear.”

“Good. You know what to do.”

“Yes sir.”

The tone repeated itself, not long before the Colmar’s PA system sputtered to life. “Attention all crew members. Main batteries are online. Prepare for discharge.”

The planet almost seemed to glow in the darkness of space as Bailey looked out through the bridge’s observation window. The clouds swirled across its surface, and bright green landmasses rose up out of brilliant blue oceans.

“Discharge in three... two...”

It was just like Earth. Bailey smiled. Just like home.

“...one... firing.”

The ship rumbled, and there was a bright flash from somewhere below the observation window. A streak of flame appeared in the planet’s atmosphere marking a trail that lead down toward the surface.

To anything unlucky enough to be caught in the Yamato at the time, the resulting chaos would be reminiscent of divine intervention, perhaps against the invading monsters from the skies above, or directed as a warning toward the populous for angering their gods.

To Bailey, it was just tying up loose ends.

*

The sky itself seemed to scream as the streak of fire hurtled toward the ground, trailing black smoke in its wake. Under a layer of fresh snow the looming black mass of the Yamato rose out of the ground like a plateau of scorched rock, sitting right in the path of the falling star. In mere moments, the flames crossed vast distances and struck down directly on top of the metal giant. The resulting explosion was like none seen in Equestrian history, shining bright enough to blind the naked eye, and hot enough to incinerate those who were unfortunate enough to be too close. The shockwaves would be felt for miles away.

Words cannot express how sorry I am about leaving this for so long. I have my reasons, but its nothing overly important so I'm not going to bore you with them.

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XIV. Epilogue (Part 1)

From Skies Above - Epilogue (Part 1)

Four weeks had passed, and quickly too. After the devastating attack that destroyed the crashed ship, there had been no further sightings of the aliens, and the unnatural presence both sisters felt had disappeared. Celestia pulled another report off her desk.

Almost immediately after the biped’s departure, things had calmed along the borders. According to scouts and other sources of intelligence, the Frostwing clan had seen the weakness in its enemy and seized the opportunity. Already they were on the verge of victory, having quelled most resistance with greater numbers and forced all remaining warriors to withdraw from the south to protect their capital.

Without any immediate threats in the area, the crash site had been reclaimed by Equestria, although anything worth studying had been destroyed, the area only left with scraps of melted metals that once made up the ship’s hull.

Yet where one of her troubles had disappeared, another had risen to take its place. The public was tense, and Celestia felt they were almost at breaking point. The sightings of the airships approaching the castle, thunderous roars and echoing screams of battle were enough to make some citizens panic and attempt to flee the city, and the Guard had been stretched thin keeping the populous under control. That she had been unable to keep the deaths of her guards and the unfortunate photographer away from the public eye had not helped the problem.

Celestia turned her attention to another report. Despite the lack of new items to find, there were still the many that the first teams had recovered: Weapons, items of clothing, and strange machinery and devices whose purposes had yet to be discovered.

In spite all the terrible occurrences, Twilight Sparkle had been more than eager to get to work on researching the alien artefacts. The studious young mare had elected to remain in Canterlot on Celestia’s request to help study the leftover alien equipment. But that wasn’t the only reason she had chosen to remain. Her brother still lay wounded in a hospital bed, undergoing rigorous treatments to restore him to his former health. There wasn't much Twilight could do in her daily visits, but Celestia could guess that the company would be more than welcome.

*

Thump!

The sound resonated through the hall as the gryphons holding the great door shut were shoved back. With a loud slam, they pushed forward once more, grunting and heaving as they braced themselves against the wooden surface, preparing for another strike.

Thump!

Again they were pushed back, and again they leapt forward. Muffled scratches and growls drifted through the door, barely audible under the efforts of the warriors keeping it in place. It creaked and whined in protest of its assault, the crossbar slowly weakening in spite of the gryphon’s efforts.

Although he would prefer to die rather than admit it, Banewin could feel a niggling fear in the back of his mind. Strangely enough, it was not the kind of fear he expected. Rather than the deeper, primal fear for his life driven by his will to survive, it was more calm, like simple stress instead. He suppressed a sigh. His time was up, and it had been a long time coming.

Even then, the sound of battle just outside his door was almost relieving. No longer would he be stuck in a darkened fortress bickering with senile old husks, nor waiting to be butchered by enemies of near incomprehensible power. No, this was a proper fight, not one he could win, he was not that foolish, but one where he could die with honour.

Thump!

But not after taking a few of those bastards with me. He grinned maliciously, glancing down at his new weapon.

It was a shame they could not replicate them. If all his warriors bore such fearsome weapons, even with his severely diminished forces, he had little doubt he could beat back the Frostwings with ease, and maybe even show the Equestrians what for.

But alas, their neighbours had sensed their weakness in wake of the aliens' departure and seized the opportunity.

A loud crack echoed across the chamber, causing the few dozen warriors not holding the door to bring their weapons to bear. Banewin looked up from the weapon. It was almost time.

It didn’t take long to figure out how it worked, the scars inflicted on a wall deep in the fortress could attest to that. Banewin had observed some of the testing himself, as targets were filled with holes under the barrage of projectiles the device spat from its maw.

The grunts and growls outside became louder, and the struggling against the door more intense. If one looked closely, they could see the wood begin to inch inward. With the crossbar broken, it was now a battle of strength as each side pushed forward with all their might, waiting for the other to weaken and give.

Of course, after much testing the weapon had stopped working. At first, the gryphons had been confused, but one hen found that the small metallic cylinders ejected from the side of the weapon were similar to those found inside metal containers found with the weapon. One such container had been attached to the weapon’s body.

After a bit of fiddling, the container had been removed. Sure enough, it was empty. Another was slotted into place and it only took a little more experimentation with the switched and levers on the weapon to prime it to fire. It was truly the most elegant and powerful piece of equipment Banewin had encountered. There was even a switch near the grip that disabled the firing lever to prevent misfires.

A loud roar announced the Frostwings' impending victory as the door began to part. A gryphon could be seen through the gap in the door, eyes glowing with determination and his brothers at his sides.

Staring into the face of death, Banewin grinned. They had no idea what awaited them when the door gave in. He only had one full projectile container, but it would be a surprise nonetheless.

With a final mighty roar the Frostwings pushed forward, sending the defenders reeling back and scrambling aside.

Then came the thunder.

*

Shining Armour let out a frustrated sigh for what felt like the hundredth time today. He lay on his stomach, staring blankly at the polished white wall of his room at the head of his bed, unable to lay on his sides in fear of aggravating his wound.

The projectile from the alien’s weapon had passed through his hindquarters, not even stopping for the bone. Fortunately for Shining, the damaged areas could be pieced back together, and to some extent, small bits could even be regrown. Unfortunately, as advanced as medical care was, the process was long and arduous, requiring huge amounts of energy and skill. Four weeks had gone by already, and it still wasn’t done. And even when it was, his body would need time to recuperate and strengthen itself. It could be months before the guard captain would be walking again, let alone resuming his position.

Weeks, or even months of lying in a bed unable to leave this moon-damned room awaited him, and that was all assuming the bipeds didn’t come back to finish them off.

There was little activity for him in his current state. Beyond the occasional visits from friends, and the regular checkups by the nurses and doctors, there was only one pony who made sure to be there to brighten up his day: Twilight Sparkle.

Everyday since the fight she would arrive, not always at the same time, but every day. He’d given up insisting that he would be fine, and that she didn’t need to worry about him weeks ago. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy her company, on the contrary, it was practically the most exciting thing he had to look forward to, but the way she worried and fussed over his state and the staff’s activities, often making them double or even triple check their diagnostics.

Along with morale support and the swath of books she brought in with her, she was his main link to the world. She would relay news of world events, progress in her research of the alien’s technology, and even stories and sympathies of her friends, who she remained in constant contact via letters.

Shining sighed. It must be well past noon, and no Twilight. If previous days were anything to go by, that’d mean she’d probably be around by late afternoon. He considered picking up the book on his bedside table, but the will to read just wasn’t there. Reluctantly, he closed his eyes and waited for the warm embrace of sleep.

*

Bodies lay strewn across the hall. Blood-stained blades and other weapons lay still where they had clattered to the floor, and splashes of red painted much of the ground and walls. Amidst the carnage sat a lone gryphon. Blood stained his coat and feathers in crimson streaks and splotches, and his body heaved regularly with every laboured breath. Scattered across the ground around him were tiny metallic cylinders, and beside his form was the mysterious black weapon whose thunder had ruled the halls mere minutes earlier.

Talons clicked against the floor, the sounds clearly audible over the dying battle outside. A gryphon cautiously strode into the room, keeping his eyes fixed on the survivor in the centre, but occasionally darting off to the sides. The warpaint that covered his body marked him as a Frostwing, the icy blue highlights on his feathers were streaked with splashes of blood, some of it his own, but most was not.

“Banewin.” The name rang out across the near silent hall, the only competing sound inside being the haggard breaths of the defender’s leader. The wounded gryphon slowly looked up, meeting the eyes of the Frostwing warrior. His gaze showed no sign of fear, and he even went so far as to smile at the newcomer.

There was a moment of silence as the two gryphons merely stared at one another, one looking into the face of death, and the other into the promise of glory. His end was unavoidable, and fast approaching, that much Banewin knew, so he opened his beak and broke the silence. “Am I going to know... the name of my killer?” his deep, usually firm voice faltered under his pain.

The Frostwing paused for a moment, but soon enough replied. “Garret.”

“Garret.” Banewin repeated, “Well, Garret... you’d better hurry up... I won’t last much longer.”

Garret’s claw rose off the ground, a single talon pointing at the black metal object that lay on the ground nearby. “What is that?” he demanded.

Banewin’s body shook as he chuckled softly, “A sign.”

Garret lowered his head to be level with Banewin’s own. “A sign? A sign of what?” he growled.

“There are things... more fearsome than me.”

A vice like grip closed in on Banewin’s neck, and Garret brought his face in closer. “What things? Speak sense!”

Banewin chuckled again, but was sent into a coughing fit as Garret threw him down. The Frostwing gripped his blade tightly and raised it above his head, reading for the final blow, but he paused when Banewin muttered a few words that were missed by Garret’s ears.

“What?” he barked.

Banewin looked up, meeting his eyes. Garret could feel his enemy’s gaze boring into his heart. His own searched Banewin’s eyes, but he still saw no sign of fear, only acceptance and... pity?

“You’ll see.” Banewin said, his voice barely more than a whisper, as Garret scowled at him and his sword began its downward stroke. “You’ll see.”

Author's Note

Wow, Sparklight, that is a really bad chapter!

Yes it is, but that's because it is only half a chapter, and a lot of it was fairly rushed.
In case you missed the blog post, I'm going to be without internet for the next two weeks, and while this chapter wasn't completely finished, I didn't feel right about leaving you lot waiting that long, so here's the presentable part of what's there.

Also, in the FSA universe, Cadance and the Crystal Empire don't exist. While Shining Armour gets a pass, there's no way I can fit in the Crystal Empire without breaking the already established world.

Sorry, Cadance, the north is gryphon territory now.

FSA Rewrite - Chapter01 Preview

Author's Note: I've tried implementing a new writing style that I feel really shows how images can support the narrative without being too distracting.

Sparklight presents:

From Skies Above
Retold using humourous images of cats

Twilight and Spike are eating breakfast, but suddenly a letter from Princess Celestia appears:

The Princess urgently asks Twilight to go to Canterlot. When she arrives, the Princess unveils a startling revelation:

An alien spaceship has crashed in the north! Twilight joins the team to go up and investigate.

Meanwhile, in the snowy north, gryphons arrive at the crash site and begin to search around, but something goes wrong:

And alien has survived! Before the gryphons can capture it, it escapes into the snow:

The ponies arrive, and are puzzled by what they find:

The gryphons have set out after the alien. Spotting the gryphons, the ponies pursue them, refusing to fall behind:

Meanwhile, the escaped alien finds himself caught in a trap!

Gryphons catch up easily, attacking from all sides:

But soon they realise the lost alien isn't as weak as they thought:

Using powerful weapons, the alien strikes back with mighty force!

But despite its technological advantage, alien is soon overpowered:

The ponies arrive at the scene of the battle, but it is too late!

The more formidable ponies scare off the gryphons:

But the alien is gravely wounded and barely clinging to life:

With great haste the ponies rush back to Canterlot, but will they make it in time?

Next time on From Skies Above:
Can the ponies hold onto their guest?

Will the scientist ponies be able to learn anything about this newcomer?

And will the gryphons try to kill this extra-terristrial once again?

I. Rude Awakening

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

Inspired by this story. Smart people will probably see many similarities.

...and yes, Luna is pretty out of character.

From Skies Above – Rude Awakening

The gryphons circled above, their battered steel armour glinting in the sunlight. Furious shrieks and cries escaped their beaks as they flew, brandishing maces and war axes in their talons in a frightening show of brutality. The bird-like beasts swooped down toward their prey, but kept their distance. They were wary of the strange creature, as it had wounded one of their own using a force of the likes they had never seen before.

With an ear-splitting explosion and a blinding flash of light one of their comrades had fallen, screaming at the sudden burning agony. The creature had fled, and the gryphons had been forced to leave their injured companion behind, along with one of the younger members of their party to make sure he didn’t succumb to his wounds.

The gryphons pursued, their hearts filled with rage, but also fear. Deep inside they knew this creature was more than it seemed.

*

Two days earlier.

Twilight’s horn lit up with a dull glow, as did the bottle of syrup that sat on the table before her. The syrup raised itself into the air, its new aura adorning its surface. It glided toward the unicorn’s plate, and began emptying its contents. When Twilight was satisfied with the amount syrup on the three golden brown pancakes that rested on her place, she returned the bottle to its upright position on the table before gracefully lifting her knife and fork. She made a careful cut, removing a section of pancake, which proceeded to be lifted on the glowing fork toward her mouth. With a satisfied smile, she chewed slowly, savouring the rich flavours of her breakfast.

The young dragon sitting across the table was, naturally, stuffing his face.

“Spike! What have I told you about eating at the table?” Twilight scolded.

The dragon paused for a moment, looking up from the brutal massacre of syrup and pancake that was his breakfast. “Aww, c’mon! We never get to eat pancakes!” he protested.

“That doesn’t make it ok to eat like that.” The unicorn responded, “Imagine what Rarity would say if she saw you eating like that.”

Spike froze at the mention of the white unicorn. He looked down at the shredded pancakes, and then at his claws, which were coated in syrup and chunks of food. He assumed his face didn’t look so clean either. “Ok. Sorry, Twi.” He sighed.

Twilight tossed him a reassuring smile, and a cloth. “It’s ok, Spike, just try and put a little more effort into your manners.”

“...And maybe use a fork every now and then.” She added upon seeing a piece of pancake skewered on one of his claws as he rubbed his face with the cloth. The exchange of words came to an end as the sound of chewing and the clinking of utensils against plates filled the room. Spike picked up the knife and fork that had so far been untouched, and began cutting in to the remnants of his breakfast, trying to mirror Twilights actions. Without warning, the baby dragon suddenly froze, dropping the utensils which impacted loudly on the table.

“Spike, be gentle when you-”

*BELCH*

With a bright flash of green flames and light, a sealed letter appeared above the table. It hung in the air for a moment before gravity asserted its dominance and the letter fell, but only to be caught in a purple glow.

“A letter from Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Ugh. I wish she’d warn me before doing that.” Spike complained.

Twilight ignored her assistant and focused her attention on the scroll. “I wonder what she would want.”

“Well, you could try reading it...” Spike said, earning himself a dirty look from the unicorn.

Twilight broke the seal on the letter, and opened it. She began to read aloud.

My most faithful student Twilight,

I write to request your presence in Canterlot to discuss an opportunity of great importance with myself and my sister. I apologize for being so brief, but unfortunately there is much information I cannot disclose, and time is of the essence.

I assure you, all will be revealed upon your arrival to Canterlot. A chariot has been dispatched to collect you.

I look forward to seeing you again,

-Princess Celestia.

Twilight wore a confused expression, and she read the letter again. Spike however, seemed more interested in his breakfast, which was rapidly dwindling in size. He resumed eating, only to pause again when he noticed that the unicorn was looking increasingly agitated. “Something wrong, Twilight?” he asked.

“Weren’t you listening? Princess Celestia is bringing me to Canterlot!”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but isn’t that a good thing? I thought you liked seeing the Princess.”

“I do, but what is this opportunity? Why is she being so brief? Why can’t she tell me everything?” Twilight was borderline shouting, making it clear that she took this situation very seriously. “What if she’s going to give me a new assignment? I might have to move make to Canterlot! Oh no! What if I never see my friends again?!”

“Uh, Twilight? I don’t think-”

The unicorn took no notice of him. Her breathing began to increase in speed, and her face paled visible under her coat. “This is horrible! I’ve only been here for a year, and we were getting along so well! I don’t-”

“TWILIGHT!” Spike suddenly roared. The outburst caught her off guard and she went silent immediately.

“You’re overreacting, Twilight! The Princess wouldn’t just separate you from your friends like that, and you know it.” He began, “You just need to calm down. Whatever the Princess wants, I seriously doubt that she’d force you to do anything you didn’t want to.”

Twilight visibly improved, and her breathing slowed to a more normal pace. She took several deep breaths to help calm herself. “Thanks, Spike.” She said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Not a problem.” He responded, clearly proud of himself for averting a potential disaster, “Now, you should probable get ready. Your ride could get here anytime.”

The unicorn gasped. “You’re right! I have to be prepared!” she rushed out of the kitchen, and Spike could hear her move books and other objects about. The baby dragon sighed. He was going to have a good deal of cleaning to do later.

Twilight appeared in the doorway, sporting saddlebags that looked like they were packed with books and other miscellaneous objects. “Spike, I need you to look after the library while I’m gone, and make sure to let the others know where I am.”

The dragon jumped up and gave a mock salute. “You can count on me, Twilight!”

There was a loud thump from outside, and the sound of hoofsteps. “It looks like the chariot’s here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” The two exchanged a wave and Twilight trotted to the door.

“See ya, Twi!” Spike called after her. The front door closed, and the young dragon could hear a muffled conversation outside. He wandered to a window just in time to see a pair of pegasi guards take off, dragging the chariot smoothly through the air. He watched them get smaller as they moved further into the distance, and then returned to the table. He picked up the fork in his scaly hand, but paused for a moment.

Spike looked around to make sure he was truly alone, before dropping the silver utensil and plunging his snout into the pancakes.

*

Twilight sat alone in the hallway just outside the throne room. The unicorn had been there for at least thirty minutes, waiting for Celestia to address her. This was not the first time she had been forced to wait for her mentor, but Twilight held no ill feeling for the Princess, for she knew how demanding running the country could be on the alicorn.

She wasn’t entirely alone, of course, as Celestia’s Royal Guard stood at their posts, yet due to their statue like stance and expressionless faces they were not the best of company. The unicorn glanced around at her surroundings once again, her eyes coming to rest on the stained glass windows that lined the hallways of the Canterlot Palace.

The glass depicted and image of one pony of each kind. Toward the top left of the glass, a white pegasus stood atop a low lying cloud, in the lower centre of the window, a brown earth pony stood, all four hooves firmly on the ground, and to the top right, although a little lower than the pegasus, a blue unicorn stood proudly on the edge of a cliff face. All three ponies looked toward the upper centre of the glass, where the image of a sun being covered by a moon took its place on the window.

A solar eclipse, Twilight thought.

The door to the throne room opened, tearing Twilight’s attention away from the glass. Her eyes came to rest on the Princess herself. She stood tall, taller than any other pony in the land, her pure white fur seeming to shine, as her majestic, multicoloured mane flowed off her head and neck like a sparkling river.

“Twilight.” She greeted warmly.

“Princess!” Twilight rushed to her mentor and nuzzled her. Of the two guards stationed at the door, the younger flinched when he saw the unicorn dash directly toward the Princess, but the older remained still, familiar with the unicorn in question.

“It has been too long Twilight.” The Princess said, “But I’m afraid this was not a social call.”

The alicorn adopted a serious tone that she usually used when dealing with matters of great importance. “Walk with me.”

Twilight complied, staying at the Princess’ side as they began their journey through the Royal Palace. “Princess, what’s going?” she asked.

“All will be explained in due time, my little pony.”

The answer annoyed Twilight, as did the prospect of more waiting, but if the Princess thought that this was necessary, than she wouldn’t argue. Their journey was painfully long for the young unicorn, every second feeling like an hour. Her mind ached for answers, but she knew she just had to be patient.

The pair eventually reached a large set of double doors, guarded by a pair of unicorns holding the familiar hard expressions of the Royal Guards. Celestia nodded her head once, and the guardsponies proceeded to open unlock and open the doors.

Twilight followed the Princess inside, and the door was sealed shut behind them. The unicorn examined the room. It was quite large, and several tables and bookshelves adorned the walls. Twilight examined the books that lay on the shelves. Most were old, presumably taken from the depths of Canterlots massive archives. Twilight read some of the titles. She was not familiar with any of the ancient tomes, and she realised some of them were even written in different languages.

Twilight continued to scan the shelves, when she realised that she and Celestia weren’t the only ones in the room. The young unicorn nearly jumped in fright when she spotted a dark coloured alicorn with a deep blue mane.

“Princess Luna!” she exclaimed before she could stop herself.

Luna merely smiled in response. “Greetings to you too, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight scolded herself silently for forgetting about Princess Luna, who had been clearly mentioned in Celestia’s letter.

Celestia quickly cut the greeting short. “Now, Twilight, I’m sure you are eager to know why we have brought you here.”

The unicorn’s ears perked up at the mention of her name. “Yes Princess!” she announced, her confidence restored.

“Very well. But before we begin, I want you to give me your word that you will not repeat anything that occurs in this room to anypony under any circumstances without the permission of my sister or myself.”

The request unnerved Twilight. Celestia had always trusted her, and in all her years as the student of Celestia, she had never once asked Twilight to do anything like this. With a slight hesitation, she delivered the oath.

“Thank you. Luna, if you please.”

Twilight turned her attention to the Princess of the night. Luna cleared her throat, then began. “Two days ago, I felt a disturbance in my night. A foreign object had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and was descending toward our world at an alarming speed.”

The first thing Twilight noticed was that Luna’s speech had vastly improved from the last time they had met. The thought was quickly dismissed when Luna mentioned the object.

“A foreign object? As in a meteor or something?”

“No, this object was different. It was not of natural origin.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You mean somepony made it?”

Luna’s mouth twitched into a faint grin. “Not somepony. Something.”

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and when they did, Twilight’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean... a-aliens? Like a space ship?”

Luna nodded with enthusiasm that was unfit for a Princess, unable to hold back her huge grin. She was clearly excited.

Twilight felt a mixture of excitement and fear. Being the enthusiastic astronomer she was, the prospect of there being life outside of the confines of their own world had always intrigued her to an extent. She had always wondered if there were other beings out there, and now that the Princess were telling her that they not only existed, but were in Equestria, she didn’t know what to think.

Celestia decided to continue. Unlike the other two, she had managed to retain her composure. “The object, what we believe to be a spacecraft of some sort, crashed just north of Equestrian borders, in the Sharptooth Mountains.”

“Isn’t that Gryphon territory?” Twilight asked. The gryphon clans made their homes in the massive mountain ranges to Equestria’s north, and were fiercely territorial. If the clans would be able to cease their conflicts and unite under one banner, they would be a serious threat to the ponies to their south. Fortunately, their hatred of one another ran deep, and showed no signs of letting up.

Celestia was the one to answer her question. “Technically, no. That area is unclaimed, nopony’s land, but that won’t mean that they haven’t taken notice.”

“So that means we have to get there first!” Luna added, and with a little more force than necessary.

Her sister shot her a look before continuing. “Twilight, I would like to offer you a chance to accompany my sister as part of the first team to examine the vessel.”

Twilight was taken aback. Princess Celestia was offering her a chance to be one of the first ponies in history to see alien technology, and maybe even make first contact. A dark thought crossed her mind.

“Princess, what if there are... aliens there? What if they’re alive? And what about the gryphons?” she asked, fear eminent in her voice.

Luna spoke up. “The vessel impacted the ground at a very high speed, and we believe it was damaged severely in the crash. It is very unlikely that anything survived. That is all assuming we are correct in our assumption that this object is indeed a spacecraft of alien origin, and that there were actually life forms onboard.” She paused to a moment, “As for the gryphons, they shouldn’t be too much trouble. They woun’t have the nerve to attack us outright, and some of our most skilled guardsponies will be accompanying us on this endeavour. We will have nothing to worry about.”

Celestia cast Twilight a reassuring smile. “If you wish not to go, then I’ll have a chariot return you to Ponyville. But keep in mind; it is unlikely that an opportunity like this will arise again.”

Twilight needed no further convincing. “That won’t be necessary, Princess, I’d be honoured to go.”

Twilight thought she saw a faint look of concern in Celestia’s eyes, but the alicorn’s expression didn’t change. Luna however, failed to contain her excitement. She wore a smile almost as big as one of Pinkie Pie’s. “Excellent! Come Twilight, preparations have already been made, and we shall depart immediately.”

Twilight followed a giddy Princess of the Night out of the chamber, leaving Celestia to ponder her decision to allow her student to become involved. The alicorn muttered a silent prayer that the young unicorn would be safe, then left to resume her duties.

*

Faelin’s front claws clattered loudly against the cold metal, whilst his hind paws padded along silently. He was part of a team of gryphons sent to investigate a strange object that had fallen from the sky. At first the gryphon had suspected that it had just been another meteor from the sky, as they were not uncommon in the mountain ranges, yet as soon as he and his companions had spotted the great pillar of black smoke rising into the sky, he knew this was not the case.

They arrived onto the site to find a huge, metal airship of some sort. The gryphons sometimes made use of large airships suspended in the sky with huge balloons, mainly for transporting large quantities of goods or for as a mobile platform for mounted ballista and other siege weapons, but this particular vessel was vastly different. The group had never seen, nor heard of anything like it. They approached with caution. The ship was damaged severely, and there was no sign of the balloon that would have kept the ship afloat. Either it had come loose and floated up into the heavens or burned up in the crash. And what a crash it must have been, for the hull of the airship was broken near the centre, leaving it almost snapped in half.

After spending some time observing the wreckage, the band of gryphons wearily approached. They entered the wreckage at a breach in the area where the ship had separated into two pieces, and set about exploring the insides. The airship was immense, stretching several hundred metres in length, vastly bigger than most of the gryphon’s airships. It was full of rooms, many of which were mostly destroyed by flames. Mysterious objects lay in pieces, scattered around by the impact.

A noise tore Faelin away from his thoughts and back to reality. He stopped dead in his tracks and listened intently. After a moment of silence, he heard it again. Faelin scanned his surroundings for the source of the noise, his eyes coming to rest on a half open sliding door. The sounds were definitely coming from within.

Faelin crept up to the entry as silently as his sharp claws would allow with such a hard surface beneath them. He loosened his sword in its sheath, knowing all too well that he may have to use it. The burly gryphon managed to squeeze through the door, moving the heavy sheet of metal slightly as he forced his way in. The noises, a dull thumping and some muffled grunts, were amplified as he entered.

The room Faelin found himself in was unlike any of the others. It was larger than most of the other rooms, and rectangular in shape, remaining mostly undamaged. The longest walls were lined with large tubes, one of which being the source of the strange sounds. The front of the tube was shifting slightly.

Without warning, the front of the tube swung open like a door, causing the startled gryphon to jump back in fright. A figure fell out of the tube with a loud grunt. It looked up at Faelin, before scrambling to its feet. It stood over six feet tall, and its figure matched the one of the body the gryphons had found earlier.

It stared at Faelin, its head covered in a dark green shell and face hidden by a reflective mask. Unless that was its face. Its skin/fur was a mixture of different splotches of green, and several plates of dark armour covered much of its body.

Faelin blinked, and the creature moved one of its paws to its waistline. The slight movement was enough to set the jumpy gryphon off. He launched his claw back and ripped his sword out of its sheath with a loud chink.

Without hesitation Faelin charged, using his wings to propel himself forward at an alarming speed. There was no way the creature could defend itself.

Or so Faelin thought.

The creature whipped a small black object from a pouch hanging off its waist. It gripped the object with both hands and raised it to head level.

Three loud bangs.

Three flashes of light.

Three explosions of pain in Faelin’s body.

The searing burn that erupted through his abdomen and left shoulder was too much for Faeling to handle. He let loose an ear piercing scream of agony that echoed throughout the ship.

Then everything went dark.

*

Twilight awoke slowly. She felt something jab her in the side, and she weakly waved a hoof in a vain attempt to force it away. She felt another jab, this one more forceful than the last. She groaned in frustration and gripped her blanket in her teeth, pulling it further up over herself.

“Ugh, five more minutes, Spike.” She groaned.

A deep chuckle filled her ears. Far too deep to be Spike’s voice. The unicorn warily opened her eyes and found herself face to face with a grey coated stallion. A big grin appeared on his face as he looked down upon her with his bright green eyes.

Suddenly memories rushed back to her tired mind, and she realised the error of her ways. The unicorn stallion laughed again. “Looks like you got a little too comfortable.”

Twilight’s ears burned with embarrassment and she laughed nervously. “He-he... sorry Captain...”

“Not a problem, Miss Sparkle. But you might want to wake yourself up, we’re almost there.”

Twilight rose up to a sitting position and shook her head in an attempted to clear her thoughts. She was about to discard the blanket when she became aware of the cold wind washing through her fur and biting into her skin, and decided it would be better to keep the warm cloth. The Captain noticed this.

“Don’t worry. It won’t be as bad once we land.” He said before turning to face the forward direction of the chariot, “Which, by the looks of things, won’t be too long.”

Twilight followed his gaze, and she found herself looking at a pillar of black smoke rising from the snowfields below. She tried to get a look at its source, but her view was obscured by cloud cover. The Captain shouted to the pair of pegasi pulling the chariot. “Reduce altitude and circle target!”

One of the pegasi acknowledged him with a nod of his head. The chariot banked left and weaved through the clouds, expertly guided by the two pegasi. Twilight remained at the edge of the chariot, looking over its side in anticipation. The Captain was doing the same thing on the opposite side. Two more chariots became visible through the clouds to their right. In the center most vehicle sat Princess Luna, accompanied by a high ranking unicorn. The third chariot carried two more unicorns, along with supplies. Each chariot was pulled by a pair of Celestia’s finest pegasi guardsponies, many of which bore battle scars, constant reminders that these particular ponies had seen brutal combat, and possessed the strength and skill necessary to survive.

The chariots broke through the cloud cover, revealing an awe inspiring sight before them.

The alien ship was hundreds of metres long, and left a deep trench behind it where it had impacted the ground and ploughed forward before finally coming to a halt. Its dark grey metals shone white due to the snow it had accumulated since the crash, and the ship also appeared to be broken toward the centre, as it snapped in half. Twilight couldn’t keep her eyes off it, and she soon realised her mouth was hanging open. Luna shouted something, but Twilight didn’t catch it. The chariots descended further, circling around their target a few times before moving in to land.

Twilight’s chariot landed with a soft thump as it hit the snow. The Captain jumped over the side just as Luna’s chariot touched down, followed shortly by the third. The pegasi guards began unhooking themselves from the transports with practiced efficiency as the unicorns spread out to secure a perimeter. As soon as Twilight’s hooves touched the snow, she felt uneasy. Something was wrong here. A quick glance at Luna confirmed that the Princess felt it too.

Despite her unease, Luna was clearly excited. Her eyes swept along the hull of the ship, and eventually came to rest on a hole in its side, at the point where the ship’s structure had bent and broken. Twilight approached her.

“What now Princess?”

“There.” Luna pointed toward the breach, “That should provide a suitable entrance. Captain!”

The unicorn whom accompanied Twilight on the chariot rushed up to his superior. “Princess?”

“Secure that breach. That is where we shall enter.”

The Captain nodded. “It will be done.”

The unicorn rushed off, barking orders to his subordinates. Twilight’s watched them as they moved toward the breach.

“Twilight.” Luna said, “I don’t know what is in there, but I want you to say behind me at all times. Understand?”

“Yes, Princess.” The young mare responded.

“Very good. Now, let us proceed.” Luna began to make her way toward the breach, which the guards were already examining. Twilight smiled when she noticed a slight bounce in the Princess’ stride. She must be very excited. The unicorn thought.

The Captain stood at the entrance of the breach with one of his Lieutenants. “Captain!” Luna barked, “Why do you hesitate?”

The Captain looked up at Luna, before pointing to the snow at his hooves. “Princess, look.”

There were tracks on the ground, imprinted in the snow. Being so close to the ship, the massive object had shielded that particular spot from the fresh snow falling from the sky. Luna examined the imprints, a scowl crossing her face.

“Gryphons.” She hissed.

The mention of the creatures sent a chill up Twilights spine. She had only met one gryphon in her lifetime, a gryphon who happened to be a friend of one of her closest friends. The meeting hadn’t gone so well, and the gryphon in question had ended up leaving the town in a rage. And that was only a regular gryphon. The ones in this area would be, without a doubt, warriors.

“Stay sharp.” The Captain ordered, “Move in.”

A unicorn guardspony took the lead, crossing over the threshold into the unknown of the alien spacecraft. The Captain followed close behind him, then Twilight and Luna, surrounded by the remaining guardsponies. Two of the pegasi remained outside, keeping watch for anything that might try to sneak up on them. Twilight stuck to Luna’s side as they entered the ship. It was cold inside, the smooth metals that made up the floor and walls almost uncomfortable to touch. Their hoofsteps echoed uncomfortably loudly throughout the ship.

“Captain.” Luna said, “Spread out and sweep through the ship. If you find anything, report back, but do not engage.”

The Captain acknowledged her with a nod of his head, and signalled the guards to move. The guards separated and began their search. Luna turned to Twilight. “Come, we shall inspect the front of the vessel.”

Princess Luna lead the way, Twilight following in close behind her, as they began their trek to the front of the ship. The corridors were long, and lined with metal doors that lead to darkened rooms that gave of a sinister feeling. Twilight began to wonder what kind of creatures had made the vessel. What did they look like? Where were they from? Could they use magic?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud shout. “Contact!”

Luna stopped, and swung her head around to face the direction of the cry. “Come, Twilight.” She commanded as she took off through the ship.

It took less than a minute to find the source of the shout. A gryphon brandished an iron sword threateningly at a pair of guards. He stood over the body of another gryphon, which was covered in scarlet blood and looked ready to die. The gryphon held his defensive stance when Luna arrived, but was visible unnerved by her presence.

“Lower your blade, gryphon!” a guard barked, “We did not come here to fight.”

The gryphon growled. His gaze flicked between the ponies before him, and he snarled when his eyes landed on Twilight, causing her to shrink back in fear.

“Lower you blade!”

The gryphon’s grip on the weapon tightened, and he looked ready to attack. He jumped slightly when a claw touched his side, but he realised that it was only his companion. “Do as he says, Avlyn,” the injured gryphon wheezed, “you can’t fight them, don’t throw away your life.”

Avlyn glanced back and forth between his companion and the ponies, before reluctantly lowering the sword.

“Explain yourselves.” Luna commanded.

Avlyn looked to his companion, who nodded. He turned back toward the ponies and spoke.

“We are of the Talon Peaks Clan, part of a group sent to investigate this object.” He began, clearly unhappy about giving in so easily.

“How many were in your group?” A guard inquired.

“Eight, including Faelin and myself.” He gestured to the wounded gryphon, who Twilight assumed was Faelin.

With a gesture from his companion, Avlyn continued, “We arrived not long before you did, and searched the ship. It was badly damaged, but we managed to recover a body.” As soon as the words left his beak, Twilight spotted a gleam in Luna’s eyes. Before she could ask about it, a guard spoke up with another question.

“Your friend, how was he wounded?”

Avlyn scowled at the memory. “Faelin was attacked. One of the creatures was still alive.”

Twilight felt overwhelmed by a sudden mixture of fear and excitement. One of the aliens actually survived!

“Where is it? And where are the rest of you patrol?” Luna practically shouted. Twilight was immediately reminded of her ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’. Avlyn was also taken aback by the sudden change in her volume.

“It fled the ship, and the others gave chase.”

“Where? Which way did it go?”

Much to Luna’s displeasure, Avlyn took his time answering her questions. Twilight thought she could see a slight smirk on his face. “East.”

*

Aceius lead the other five gryphons in their pursuit. His muscles rippled under his fur and feathers, supporting the heavy iron armour he wore with ease. A mace hung off a strap on his belt, and he clutched a long spear in his front claws. A loud shriek sounded across the sky, coming from one of his subordinates. Aceius looked toward the younger gryphon, who pointed downward.

In the snow fields below them, a dark shape stuck out in the snow, running franticly to the east. My prey, Aceius thought. The creature had been able to get a decent head start on the gryphons, as there had been much confusion after Faelin had been wounded, but even with the distance it had gained, it couldn’t outrun the angry war group.

The leader of the hunt surveyed the landscape below. Snow covered the ground, and the flat plains stretched out on every side. Every side but one. The ground rose into a hill to the east, and on the other side of the hill was a cliff face, rising hundreds of feet into the air. The creature was heading straight for it.

Aceius began his descent, and his companions followed suit. The gryphons broke through the thin clouds that had shielded them from being spotted by the creature below, and let loose blood curdling their war cries.

They began to circle around the creature, which had stopped running and clutched a small back weapon in its paws, the same weapon that had felled Faelin in a mere few seconds. Despite his lust for vengeance, Aceius knew this creature was far more dangerous than it seemed.

This should be interesting. The gryphon thought.

Aceius looked toward his companions and bellowed loudly, signalling the attack.

*

Low lying clouds whipped past Luna’s head as she rocketed through the sky, five of the pegasi guardsponies racing behind her. Two of the guards had managed to get themselves mounted to one of the chariots in time to allow two of the unicorn guardsponies to accompany them in their attempt to find the alien. Hopefully before the gryphons get a chance to hurt it, Luna thought grimly.

She scanned the ground below her for any sign of the alien, but saw nothing. She noticed a guard pull up alongside her, and franticly point forward, and shouting words that were lost to the wind. The Princess followed his gesture, and after scanning the horizon, her eyes came to rest on a flight of six gryphons circling in the distance. She redoubled her speed, leaving the guards behind her momentarily before they managed to catch up.

The gryphons were already attacking. One swooped down at the alien, causing it to jump down and lie flat in the snow as the gryphon flew dangerously close overhead. In clambered to its feet, crouched down, and, holding a small black object in its claws/paws, began to follow another gryphon with its outstretched arms. The gryphon in question was already diving down at it, intent on slashing the alien with a sword.

It was just under twenty metres away when something flashed in Luna’s vision, and the gryphon jerked violently in the air, spinning out of control and crashing into the snow just as a loud crack reached Luna’s ears. The gryphon didn’t move. The alien’s retaliation served to halt the attacks of the gryphons, as they fell back and continued to circle the alien. The Princess and her guards were closing in rapidly, and the chariot broke off from the group and lowered in altitude, preparing to land and deposit the unicorns.

The alien had begun moving again and continued its flight to the east, and toward a sheer cliff face, Luna noticed. It probably can’t see it from the ground, the Princess thought before turning her attention back to the gryphons. Now, how to handle this without a fight...

The gryphons finally noticed the approaching threat, and, much to Luna’s delight, several startled shrieks filled the air. The alien also seemed to notice the new arrivals, and paused for a moment to observe them. Luna saw the gryphon that looked to be in charge stop and glare directly at her, before calling one of his subordinates over to issue orders.

The subordinate broke off and veered toward his companions to spread their instruction, as the leader of the group approached the Princess of the Night. He stopped a short distance away from her. “What are you doing here?” he snarled.

Luna frowned at the lack of respect he showed her, after all, she was a Princess, and she was the one who brought forth the night. She decided to drop the formalities and follow his lead. “We have come for the creature you hunt. I advise you to call your companions and leave.”

“This beast has attacked two of my warriors! I will not let this go unpunished, and I will not run away like you Equestrian cowards!” the gryphon snapped.

Luna’s frown transformed into a look of utter rage at the ignorance of the gryphon. This half-wit is one of the first living beings to make contact with an alien, and he already wants to kill it?! Luna’s mind was alight with the possible repercussions that murdering this visitor could have, the foremost being the retaliation of the alien’s species could launch.

As she thought, she noticed a pair gryphons had landed, and were carefully driving the alien towards the cliff. It had taken up a defensive stance, backing away slowly whilst following the gryphons with its weapon. The remainder of the gryphon war group busied themselves with keeping Luna’s own soldiers away, although thankfully none had resorted to violence, yet. The problem these gryphons posed had to be dealt with, and quickly.

“I will not allow you to harm this creature. Take your wounded and leave now.”

The gryphon scoffed at her, then turned and sped toward the alien, letting out a piercing cry. His warriors were quick to react, charging at Luna’s guards. They were outnumbered, and the pegasi had been ready for the assault, but they still charged. Luna might have admired their courage and loyalty to their leader, however moronic he was, but she had more pressing matters to attend too.

The alien had been forced back even further now, and was standing dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, looking back and forth between the gryphons and the sheer drop behind it. The pair of gryphons that cornered it danced around its flanks, feigning attacks and keeping it on edge. Luna’s unicorns charged toward them, horns ablaze with spells yet to be unleashed, only their distance standing between them. The other gryphons were fighting a losing battle against the more numerous, and better trained and equip pegasi.

Luna rocketed forward, hoping to catch the gryphon’s leader in his attack, but he was already too far ahead. The gryphon readied his spear, and dove toward the alien, which was currently preoccupied with its two other assailants. Luna let loose a spell, sending a bolt of magic at the gryphon, but in her haste it was poorly aimed and sailed past him, slamming into the ground and sending snow flying several metres into the air.

The alien caught sight of the gryphon leader, and swung around to face the new threat. The leader of the war group hurled his spear with practiced precision mid flight. The missile soared through the air and Luna gaped in horror. The spear missed the armour plates on the alien’s body, piercing its abdomen and impaling it as the tip passed clean through the creature’s soft body.

But not before it attacked first.

*BANG! BANG!*

The gryphon didn’t scream, instead just twisted in the air. His momentum carried his body forward, and it collided with the alien, sending both of them over the edge. They disappeared from view, the sight spurring Luna on. She dove down after them, but knew she was too late. Even at her speed, she managed to catch the dull thump of the bodies hitting the ground.

Thanks to RainbowsCrush for pre-reading this story (and by that I mean stumbling upon it via black magics and pointing out some flaws).

Let me know what you guys think, I love feedback!

VIII. Rain of Fire

MLP FiM is owned by Hasbro.

All characters belong to their respective owners.

From Skies Above – Rain of Fire

A massive shadow passed through the thick clouds as powerful wings propelled it forward. With each stroke there was a loud whoosh of air, forcing clouds to part for the beast. The shadow angled downward, bringing its wings in and locking them in place.

The crimson dragon broke through the cloud cover, flaring its wings outward to slow its descent. Dark, snow covered mountain tops flew by under the beast as it flew, bringing itself closer to its destination. The tall peak reached out above all around it, stretching upwards toward the sky.

At its highest point the mountain top flattened out, giving space for huge rocks to flare outwards in a circle, almost like a stone flower. There were five of them in total, each roughly the same size, and upon two of them sat a pair of dragons.

With a loud crash, the crimson dragon grabbed hold of one of the rocks, adding more scratches to its already damaged surface. It recovered quickly from the hard landing and nodded to the other two dragons present.

“Pyrite, I am pleased to see you could make it.” Rumbled the dragon to the crimson dragon’s left.

“Sappharon,” Pyrite bowed his head to the blue dragon, then repeated the gesture to the green dragon to his right, “Glade.”

The emerald dragon made a rumbling sound in his throat, returning the gesture. Pyrite returned his attention to the sapphire dragon. “Why have you summoned us?”

“Perhaps you are aware of the commotion in the north?”

A loud growl escaped Glade’s throat. “Is that why you called us here? To discuss trivial matters such as these?”

Pyrite frowned. News had already spread amongst dragon kind about the fighting in the north of Equestria, but merely as a warning to steer clear of the area. For the most part the dragons kept to themselves, regarding relations between the other races as unimportant, unless they involved dragon kind directly. “I fear I must side with Glade on this matter. The conflicts between the ponies and the gryphons are of no concern to us.”

Much to Glade’s annoyance, Sappharon smiled, showing his gleaming white fangs from under his blue scaled lips. “I will assume, then, that you do not know the true extent of the conflict.”

“Do not waste any more of my time, Sappharon, tell us what you have to say.” Glade growled.

For a moment, Sappharon’s almost smug demeanour faded. “Very well then. Tell me, what do you know about the sky? Or, more importantly, what lay beyond...”

*

The blade-winged demons slowed as they approached the ship, spinning blades whining as they lost their velocity. As he peered closer, Valiant swore he could make out two aliens sitting on either side of each airship, hanging precariously out of the ship and directing long barrelled objects attached to the blade-wing.

The huge glass like eyes of the beasts seemed to stare at him as he hovered, overcome with shock and fear. It took mere moments for him to decide his next move. We’re leaving.

As quickly as his wings could carry him, Valiant bolted down to the Equestrian line. Much of the fighting had slowed as combatants from both sides gazed in awe at the blade-wings. If Valiant was to use this moment of confusion to his advantage, he needed to act fast.

“Retreat! We’re pulling out!”

He hit the ground hard, kicking up snow and staggering as he continued to bellow the order. Nearby soldiers pulled their eyes away from the flying demons, taking a few moments to process the order they had received. A stallion nearby approached the captain. “Sir, are you-”

“Don’t argue with me!” Valiant growled, “We’re pulling out, now move!”

The stallion nodded hastily. “Yes, sir!”

A flash of light caught Valiant’s eye, and he turned to find the source. He spotted a pair of bipeds in the middle of the battlefield. One fired its weapon at a dodging gryphon, whilst the other held an object that burned a bright red. It stood tall and raised the burning light above its head and waved its arms in the air, taking full advantage of the protection of its companion. Valiant’s fear heightened when he realised that it was a message to the blade-wings. The demons seemed to pick up on the message, as they began to move once again.

“Move south! Along the side of the ship!” Valiant shouted. Sticking to the ship would provide them with some cover, but they would have to move fast. Valiant wasn’t keen on being around for when the blade-wings attacked.

Valiant leapt off the ground, spreading his wings as he took to the air. There were several gryphons in the way, but they wouldn’t be too difficult to handle. The pegasus captain figured that the gryphons would either try to fight the alien monsters, or flee as well.

The captain flew higher, surveying the battlefield. Many of the gryphons had inched back to their lines, seeking safety in numbers. Valiant’s own forces had been split into two groups, the larger of which he had just been with. The second, smaller group was caught out in the open, fending of small attacks from gryphon warriors. Despite the distance, Valiant could still tell that the group of ponies were holding, but the presence of the blade-wings definitely had an effect on their morale. A familiar flash of light burst from a unicorn’s horn, revealing one of his lieutenants had sent a message to the Princesses. It was too late for reinforcements, but if they were to die, then at least the Princesses would know how.

The pegasus captain’s sharp eye continued to sweep across the battlefield. Casualties were already high, for both sides. Dozens of bodies lay strewn across the snow, gryphon and pony alike, as if they were dolls left on the floor of a foal’s room. Several bodies stuck out from the rest, their forms tall, with slender limbs and strange, reflective masks. No doubt the sight would not be pretty for the aliens.

The deep thrumming and swift chopping noise of the demons intensified as they began to circle the battlefield. Valiant felt a sudden urge to leave the sky. He set a course for his previous group, eager to get to ground, when his eyes caught a shape in his group’s path.

A lone biped jogged along the side of the ship, heading in the opposite direction, straight toward the fleeing ponies. He could see no weapons in the biped’s hands, evident by their movement as it ran.

An almost disturbing thought crossed Valiant’s mind. He glanced toward the half dismantled camp the previous team had set up. It wasn’t too far away, and there would probably still be rope in there somewhere. Still unsure of what he intended to do, he set off toward the campsite, keeping low to the ground. Maybe something could be salvaged from this mission after all.

*

A bright green flash lit up the dungeon as a hastily wrapped scroll exploded into existence. Princess Celestia’s head snapped up at the sudden appearance, and her horn began to glow, tendrils of magic wrapping around the scroll.

Luna reacted similarly to her sister, eyeing the scroll with curiosity. “What does it say?”

Celestia unfurled the parchment and began to read. Her features slowly darkening as her eyes passed over the hastily scrawled words.

“Sister,” Luna hissed, “What does it say?”

Princess Celestia paused for a moment, breathing in deeply. “I fear we may be too late.”

Before Luna could respond, she began to read.

“My Princess,

We have failed our duty. Gryphon forces have attacked the site. Our troops are outnumbered. We have been attacked by alien forces, both ground and air. We cannot hold our positions.

I’m sorry,

Lt. Emerald Haze”

Silence reined for several minutes as the sisters took in the grim message. Celestia’s eyes drifted back to the white sheet spread across the figure on the floor. “They will come for him, and when they find him they will be furious.”

“Only if they know where he is, and if their intention is a rescue.” Luna said, “The others all remained in proximity to the crash site, and they have already been under attack. Casualties are to be expected.”

“As are prisoners. Their technology allows them to travel between planets, sister. It would be easy for an individual to become stranded on a hostile world. It would make sense to have a method for finding him in such situations. If not, than I am certain that they can find our cities with ease.”

Luna gulped silently. “What should we do?”

Celestia sighed, staring solemnly at the shape under the sheet. “Burn the body. We must be sure.”

*

Commander Balik stared in awe as the flying demons began to move. Warriors in their path ducked aside, making way for the blade winged vehicles. Balik took a moment to marvel over the design. They had neither feathers, nor a balloon to hold them up, but still they flew. Their ‘wings’ spun in circles, so fast they looked like transparent discs. Somehow, these frightening airships held themselves aloft, and had a certain grace in their movements. Under each ‘wing’ rested a hatch, and in each hatch sat an alien. Both aliens operated massive mounted weapons. Cannons, perhaps?

The warriors began to overcome their previous fear, and began to circle around alien demons. Balik watched with interest as the alien passengers tracked passing gryphons with their mounted weapons.

Then the fighting began.

Several warriors broke off from the circle, swooping in toward their prey. Airborne archers began to rain arrow after arrow onto the blade-wings, only to have them bounce off the demon’s tough exterior. Several gryphons began to beat at the head of the beast with their weapon, but they had almost no effect. One warrior swooped down, targeting the turret under the first demon’s left wing.

*BAM-BAM-BAM!*

The mounted weapon lit up like fire, the heavy thumping of its attack echoing throughout the battlefield. Red mist erupted from the attacking gryphon’s body as it lurched backwards, falling out of the sky. More warriors charged, only to meet similar fates.

Both blade-wings began to move, one dropping in altitude, and the other rising. The hunting circles broke around the demons as the gryphon warriors sought to get away, but they did not give up in their attack. Some broke off to strike at the beasts, others fired arrows at their heads, wings and turrets.

Balik frowned at the display. It seemed that none of the gryphon attacks caused any significant damage. I guess it’s time to stop spectating.

"Bring us in closer, all weapons target the alien airships! Bring them down!”

*

Valiant Effort flared out his wings, pulling up sharply and narrowly avoiding the biped below. The alien dove to the ground, the snow beneath it crunching loudly on impact. It looked frantically around the sky until its gaze came to rest on its attacker. Valiant circled around, preparing for another swoop. Below, he could see the biped scrambling to its feet and ripping a large, shiny blade out of its sheath.

That’s it. Look at me.

The group of retreating ponies was fast approaching, their pace increased greatly due to most of the gryphons pulling away to face the aliens. Now the only attacks they suffered were the occasional arrow of two, which were easily repelled.

At the group’s head, three unicorns charged forward. Their swords were sheathed, and in their place each wielded a length of rope, salvaged from the camp. Valiant soared around the alien, forcing it to face away from the oncoming ponies. It didn’t take long for the biped to realise it was being drawn into a trap. With a final glance toward the group of guards, it took off in a sprint, heading toward the blade-wings.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Valiant growled.

The unicorns picked up their pace, charging ahead of the group. The captain entered another dive, coming in at a lighter angle than his previous. His heart pounded in his chest as he approached. There had been no sign of any advanced weapons on the alien, otherwise he’d probably already be dead.

Valiant landed hard in front of the alien, throwing snow in all directions. The captain grunted as a sharp pain coursed through his right foreleg. Need to take better care with my landings.

Trying to disguise his limp, he turned to face the biped. The alien had reeled backwards at the sudden impact, crouching down slightly and bringing its arms forward in a defensive stance. The pegasus captain snorted loudly. Craning his head back, he reached toward his left shoulder, grabbing a small handle in his teeth. With a swift jerk, the pegasus pulled free a short, curved blade. The weapon was only a few inches long, but considerably thick. The blade was designed for slashing, curving back toward the user’s head to prevent the tip getting caught in use.

The alien didn’t flinch, but began circling around Valiant. The pegasus frowned, snorting again. Not waiting a second longer, Valiant charged, lining himself up to pass by the alien on its right. The biped dodged him easily, rolling across the ground and letting the pegasus pass. Valiant, skidded to a halt, spinning around for another charge, but only to find the biped had turned tail and fled.

Valiant looked back toward his support. The unicorns were almost on them, he only needed to make sure the biped didn’t get the attention of the metal demons. Growling loudly, Valiant launched himself into the air once again. The alien hadn’t managed to get far, and the captain caught up to it in almost no time. Eyes lock onto his target, the pegasus swooped down, intent on kicking his hind legs into the alien’s back.

In a single swift movement the alien ducked low, allowing Valiant to pass clean overhead. The captain reared up, but found he was coming in to fast. Instinctively he pulled his wings to his sides and covered his head with his hooves.

*THWUMP!*

Pain coursed through his body as he collided with the ground. Valiant pushed himself into a roll to lessen the force of the impact, and came to a rest on his back. His muscles ached from the battle, and his right side was burning with pain, but as far as the captain could tell, nothing was broken.

Craning his head, he looked toward the alien, and was horrified to find the creature charging toward him, knife in hand. Valiant attempted to stand, but a jolt of pain from his injured leg sent him back down. This is it.

The alien approached swiftly, raising the blade over its head. It was mere metres away, only moments from striking, when a glowing rope shot through the air, wrapping itself around the outstretched arm. The alien was pulled sharply to its right, throwing it off balance and sending it sprawling to the ground.

A wave of relief washed over the pegasus captain when he realised what had just happened. The trio of unicorns slid to a halt in the snow, horns ablaze with magic. Two other ropes wound themselves around the alien who struggled relentlessly against his bonds. In less than a minute, it was completely bound, but still it fought for freedom.

“You alright, sir?”

Valiant let out the breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding and nodded his head, pulling himself up. “I’m fine, thanks.”

The biped seemed to glare at him from under its visor as it was raised onto the back of one of the unicorns. The knife was nowhere to be seen, presumably lost in the snow.

“We’re not out of the woods yet.” Valiant said, “Let’s keep moving!”

*

Massive bolts launched from mounted ballista hurtled toward the blade-winged demons. Many failed to meet their moving targets, but there were a few that struck home. With loud thwacks and thumps the missiles bounced off their targets.

Commander Balik watched silently from his vantage point at the head of his airship as the gryphon's attacks were shrugged off by the alien airships like stones thrown at a brick wall. They may as well have been throwing snowballs.

One of the blade-winged ships turned mid air, its rotating wings spinning harder as it climbed in altitude. It took a moment for Balik to realise that the demon was matching the altitude of his lumbering airship.

The commander frowned. “What are you doing?” Balik muttered.

Right on cue, there was a flash of light and smoke as a fireball lit up and launched from the blade-wing, heading straight for Balik’s airship. The commander’s eyes widened in fear and, acting on instinct, spread his wings and dove off the bow of the ship.

*KA-BOOM!*

Balik shrieked as his ears were assaulted by the sound. Light and wind struck at his back, throwing him off balance and sending the gryphon in a spin. The gryphon wasted no time in recovering, and turned his head to survey the damage. Balik stared in awe at the carnage above him.

The entire airship was aflame. The whole front of the ship had been ripped apart, raining down in streaks of burning wood over the battlefield. The balloon was torn up in several places, and deflating rapidly. Balik watched in awe as the entire ship fell apart before his eyes.

The blade-wings didn’t wait for a second. Immediately after firing the first shot, the demon swung away to approach another airship whilst its sister prepared to attack the third. Those in the crews of the undamaged airships that had recovered from their previous shock wasted no time in abandoning ship.

Another streak of fire made its way from one demon to another airship. This time the missile struck the side of the ship, ripping it in half in a ball of fury and fire. The balloon was torn apart in the explosion and slowly fell down after the burning remains of the ship.

In a final explosion the third airship was taken down, suffering the fate of its brothers. In mere minutes the alien airforce had annihilated the gryphon’s most powerful airborne machines almost effortlessly. The full weight of his situation finally dawned on the gryphon commander. There was no way they could stop these monsters. They were stronger than the oldest of dragons, and shrugged off any attacks the gryphons could throw at them like nothing. They were invincible.

Balik was in over his head, and he knew it. With a moment of hesitation, the commander rushed away to call a retreat.

*

“Preposterous! You do not really expect us to believe such nonsense?” The green dragon chuckled. “Your body may be fit to survive the northern mountains, but you mind clearly is not!”

“Do not insult me, Glade.” Sappharon’s eyes narrowed as he spoke in a low, threatening tone. “I speak only truth. This presence is not of our world, and threatens us all.”

“I suggest you hold your tongue, Glade,” Pyrite glared at the green dragon before turning back to the Sappharon. “Tell me, Sappharon, what do you propose we do about such a thing, hmm?”

“Their presence threatens all in this land, and has already drawn two species to the brink of war. I have no doubt it will affect the dragons as well.”

Glade huffed. “I remain unconvinced, Sappharon. Let the ponies and the gryphons tear each other apart, it does not matter to me. You will have to provide greater evidence if you wish to have me on your side.”

Much to the green dragon’s annoyance, Sappharon let out a bellowing laugh that echoed through the mountains. “Evidence, Glade? Evidence? If it is evidence you want, then follow me. I will show you all the evidence you need.”

//Contact

“Sir, are you sure about this?” The young officer faced his captain. Captain Bailey’s eyes remained locked on his terminal. The screen in front of him showed similar images to the rest in the bridge: the first confirmed footage of an alien race. Figures torn from Ancient Greek mythology scattered as the dropships fired off their first shots. Gryphons ducked and weaved through the sky, hurling spears and other projectiles at the dropships, but to no avail.

“Sure about what, Barnes?” Bailey never took his eyes off the screen.

“This is mankind’s first confirmed contact with an alien race, sir, and we’re massacring them.” The officer gestured toward the screen just as a gryphon received a few shots from one of the mounted machineguns positioned on each side of the dropship. “Yes, they were attacking those men, but we’re using bullets on bowmen. This is completely unethical. Shouldn’t we at least be trying a more peaceful approach?”

The captain sighed. “Those things were killing the Yamato’s crew, I refuse to stand by and watch them die. I know the situation isn’t ideal, but what’s done is done, and we can’t change that.”

Barnes opened his mouth to respond, but Bailey cut him off with a hand gesture. “Believe me when I say I don’t like this, but time is not on our side, and I have no intention of leaving any of those men behind. The Admiral only gave me the location of the fleet’s next jump. If they move on before we get there, then we’re on our own.”

“I understand that, sir, but we’ve already made far too much of an impact on their society as it is. Surely there’s another way to handle his situation.”

Bailey looked up from the screen. “I do not see any alternatives in our current situation. I don’t know whether or not it was the Yamato’s crew or the aliens themselves that established us as hostile, but either way we have been established as hostile. Given more time, I would consider a peaceful relationship an option, but under these circumstances that is simply not possible. Right now, my only concern is getting those men out alive and regrouping with the fleet. We are not getting left behind.”

The officer nodded, but his dislike of the situation was clear in his expression.

“I don’t like it either, but we don’t have the time to worry about this now. Is that all?”

“Yes, sir.”

*

“This is Officer Aaron Reyes of the WSC detail attached to the CRA Yamato. I’ve been captured by hostiles toward the southern end of the Yamato. If you can hear me, please help!”

“Fuck... Leroy St-Starke... W...S...C... I’m hit... I-I can’t...”

The dropship pilots were overwhelmed by the radio chatter. Civilians and security officers alike shouted and screamed their pleas over the airwaves.

“They’re all over me! Fucking help me! Jesus fucking Christ!”

The pilots lowered the first of the dropships, the small group of heavily armed and armoured soldiers in the back performing final checks on their gear as they waited to jump out into the combat zone.

“I’ve got a man down at my position! He needs immediate medical attention!”

“Bird-brained-skull-fucking-cunt! Someone help me!”

“...I can’t.... ugh... I... I can’t b-breath...”

As the dropships closed the distance to the ground, their side doors opened to their full extent, allowing the marines to leap the short distance into the snow. They held their weapons at the ready, fanning out as nearby stranded approached.

“I need a fucking medic!”

“Get off me! Get the fuck off me! Feather-brain motherfuckers! Let. Me. GO!”

“No! NO!”

Even in their retreats the alien hordes struck out at the straggling humans. The pilots disturbingly took note of the reports of captured men, quickly requesting additional support.

“Jesus Christ! He’s dying! I need a fucking medic!”

“Piece-of-shit-motherfucker!”

A wounded man limped toward the dropships. A broken arrow jutted out of his abdomen, making the man cringe with every step. Blood stained his fatigues, which bore many cuts and scrapes. Not all of the dark red stains had come from him. A marine from the dropship rushed to the man’s side.

“...I’m... I can’t....I...”

As the aliens pulled away, the final sounds of battle faded into nothingness.

“...I-I... n-no...”

Cue Rainbow Dash.

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