Chapter Five

Dear Princess Celestia,

We have a situation in Ponyville; A large, shiny and loud monster has appeared in the sky and is now circling the town. It did this a few times and then landed outside my library. I watched as several large bipedal creatures of which I've never seen before get out of the monster and head towards my home. I don't know what their intentions are but they are scary and look like they want to take over the town. I write now to ask if you would send over my brother and a garrison of soldiers to repel the monsters. Please hurry! They've just broken down the door to my house and are coming in! I'm going to try and hide. If I don't make it, tell Shining and my friends that I love them.

Your student, Twilight Sparkle

(Twilight's panic induced letter to Princess Celestia, five minutes after Delta landed in Ponyville.)

***

Ponyville Library.
One hour into mission.
Five minutes into standoff with inhabitants.

Bernie kept her rifle sighted on the large unicorn in the center of the mass of soldier ponies, she knew that he was a commander of sorts and she knew that if he went down then the rest of the troops would be in disarray and they could make it to the Raven and escape. The only problem with that plan was Twilight, she kept trying to get in her way.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Well if the big sod won't move I'm going to put a nice hole in his head and make him move."

Twilight cocked her head to her side. Baird saw this and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"She means that he might not have a lot of his head anymore."

"WHAT?!" Twilight yelled, "You're going to kill my brother?"

"Your brother?" Carmine asked.

"That unicorn out there is my BBBFF, you can't hurt him."

"BBBFF?" Cole asked.

"Best Big Brother Friend Forever," Twilight said, her voice cracking with muffled sobs, "Please don't hurt him."

"What's his name?" Marcus asked.

"His name is Shining armor and I love him a lot."

Marcus jogged over to Bernie and pushed the rifle upwards so that she was aiming over Shining's head.

"Warning shots only Delta, we don't want to upset the natives."

"Come on Marcus, we can take them all," Baird said.

"Yeah, that is if we don't get our asses full of spears," Jace said.

"Spears?" Sam said as she looked out the window, "Holy shit he's right. They've got a ton of spears."

"And a lotta civvies behind them," Cole said as he pointed out the non armored ponies behind the ring of armored ones, "At least I think they're civvies."

"Who gives a fuck?" Baird said, "They all look the same to me. A bunch of colorful ponies with horns and wings with the intention to murder us."

"Shut it Baird!" Sam barked.

"Unknown creatures!" a loud and commanding voice bellowed, "By order of Princess Celestia you are to release Twilight Sparkle and surrender yourselves."

"What is he talking about?" Anya asked.

"Well if I had to take a guess they think that we're here as a sort of hostile species and that we've taken the unicorn as a prisoner," Baird said, "Makes sense since we made a nice little entrance with the Raven and stormed in here."

"So what do we do then?" Sam asked.

"Well if I could reach the Raven I could get out of here and get help," Carmine said.

"That would be a good option, yes," Bernie said.

"I think that we should try and distract them in the meantime," Cole said.

"Do you have a plan?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah, we go out there and give the purple horsey back to the big horsey."

"But we won't surrender, right?" Baird asked.

"No, we keep it at weapons ready," Marcus said, "We have no idea how these inhabitants will react to us."

"We should go out there in a circle, keep Twilight in the middle of us," Anya said.

"Planning a negotiation?" Bernie asked. Anya nodded. Even now years later Anya was just like her mother, Helena Stroud. It seemed like the military really did run in the family and when it came to Stroud and Fenix, they both would pass the Gear gene down for generations to come, that is, if they survived.

Delta Squad assumed their escort and covering fire formation and slowly walked outside into the sunlight which seemed to have almost gained in intensity and brightness.

"Holy shit, how hot did it get when we were inside?" Baird asked.

"Shut it and keep your gun up," Sam hissed. The crowd of civvie ponies stared between the soldiers as Delta made their way to Shining Armor. Twilight too looked around and saw her friends but didn't dare move in case Delta decided to harm them. The soldiers had never seen such a strange array of weapons that the bipedals had, all of them were two handed but only one had a blade on the end of it. a few of them had spikes underneath but they didn't hold them like maces of clubs. Shining Armor glared at Marcus who returned with a hardened scowl.

"The nerve of these bipedals," Shining thought, "How dare they invade my favorite town and take my little sister prisoner."

Delta walked up to Shining, Marcus and Anya in were on point so they assumed the role of talking to Shining. After a few minutes of silence and glowering Anya spoke up.

"You the one in charge around here?"

"Yes," Shining said roughly, "I demand that you get my sister go and surrender."

"That's not gonna happen until we get some goddamn answers," Marcus said.

"You want answers?" Shining said icily, "Here's my answer on how I'm going to respond to your invasion."

The soldiers inched closer, each bearing their teeth and holding out their spears. Delta backed up into each other and looked around, the soldiers were getting too close for comfort.

"Get ready for a fight Delta," Marcus said. The Squad was cut off, no way to get to the Raven nor was there any escape. Bernie saw that at least half of them had stood back to keep the civves at bay and the rest along were advancing on Delta with Shining Armor. She looked behind her and saw Twilight cowering behind her, there was general fear in her eyes and the look on Shining's face led her to believe that Shining just wanted his sister back unharmed. But from how Delta's situation was she could put two and two together and see that none of them were gonna live for much longer unless someone acted. Bernie span around and aimed her Longshot at a wall and fired. The shot rang out and stuck into the wall of the library. All of the ponies recoiled in fright, the soldiers dropped their weapons and cowered in surrender. Shining froze and also backed up in fear. Baird saw him and sneer.

"What, never seen a Longshot Sniper rifle before?" he said. Shining only stammered, some of the crowd had started crying out of fear. Bernie stepped up and gently pushed Marcus and Anya aside.

"Here's your sister," she said pointing to Twilight, "Now then, can we talk without us having to actually shoot any of you?"

"Brother!" Twilight said with tears in her eyes. Shining leaned down so that he could scoop her up when she ran over to him. The two looked back up at Bernie, Shining stood back as she reloaded.

"So, um...uh-" he stammered.

"Yes?" Bernie asked.

"So are you here to accept the terms of our surrender?"

"Surrender? We're not here to invade."

Marcus stepped forward and stood in front of Shining.

"Look, we're not here to invade or hurt any of you. We're here to see if we could find a way to save our home planet."

"Save your home planet?" Twilight asked, "What are you bipedals talking about?"

Before Marcus could reply a bolt of what looked like a small Hammer of Dawn laser blasted the ground in front of Marcus, Delta immediately shifted their aim upwards. Whatever was above them was obscured by the brightness of the sun. From what Marcus could see it looked like some sort of large flying creature of sorts but it was too high to see. Another blast of the strange beam hit the ground again and Delta aimed at the creature.

"Bring it down!" Anya yelled. Gunfire followed, a mix of Lancer, Retro Lancer, Hammerburst, Longshot and Gnasher shots flew at the flying creature but there seemed to be no effect.

"Hold fire! Goddammit, fucking hold fire!" Marcus yelled.

"Why the hell should we?" Baird yelled back, "That thing tried to vaporize you."

"No-one hurts my friends!" Cole said, he looked up to the creature, "You hear me bitch? You don't ever fucking hurt my buddies or the Cole Train's gonna be on your ass!"

"Bipedals!" The creature responded, "You are ordered to surrender immediately for crimes against ponykind!"

"What the hell is that?" Jace asked.

"Nothing good," Sam replied.

Delta watched as the creature descended and landed between them and Shining armor. The squad backed up when they saw that this particular creature was in fact a very large female unicorn but with wings. What made it stand out even more was that it was bright white with a multicolored mane and tail that flowed like water in a stream, it was also wearing a large gold tiara that made it look like royalty. Baird leaned back so that he could see it as well.

"Holy shit that's fucking weird."

"Dare you insult me?" the winged unicorn asked.

"No no, it's just that the last queen we came across was a little less strange. Considering she was the ruler of the ugliest fucking things ever spawned."

"Damn right," Cole chimed. The unicorn glowered and stomped on the ground, Twilight, Shining, the soldiers and the crowd of ponies all bowed towards the unicorn. Marcus and Anya stepped up.

"Are you in charge around here? We just want to make sure," Anya asked. The unicorn nodded.

"I am, I'm the ruler of Equestria."

"And I'm guessing that Equestria is the name of this country?" Marcus asked.

"That it is bipedal. But if I may I must ask you something, what are your names and where do you come from?"

Baird pushed his way up to the unicorn and looked her dead in the eye.

"I really think that we should be the ones asking the questions here, questions such as why the fuck are you trying to kill us and why you call us bipedals? And while you're at it why don't you tell us your name?"

The unicorn's cheeks turned bright red at Baird's demand.

"WHAT? HOW DARE YOU ORDER ME AROUND!" it bellowed. Baird leaned back from the blast of the voice and then waved his hand over his face.

"You could really use a breath mint you know."

"Baird," Bernie whispered to him, "That wasn't a good idea."

The unicorn flushed cheeks faded a little along with the angry look. It stopped, stared dumbfounded at Baird and then started chuckling. Delta looked around and saw that the soldiers and crowd had relaxed a little, some were even laughing.

"Oh you bipedals," the unicorn chuckled, "Such a strange sense of humor but it's very funny."

"I wasn't even trying there," Baird said.

"Even if you weren't I liked your little joke," the unicorn said, it extended a hoof out to Baird, "As for your question regarding names, my name is Princess Celestia."

Baird hesitated but then shrugged and took hold of her hoof and shook it.

"Damon Baird. I was gonna freak out and saw you in half but I think I'll let it slide for now."

Celestia smiled but then stared in amazement at Baird's hand.

"Sweet Faust, this appendage you have..."

Baird looked down and saw Celestia turning her hoof in his enclosed fingers, he then shook his head in disbelief.

"Why me?"

"Can you manipulate some objects for me to see?"

Baird pulled his hand back and clenched it into a fist then opened it up. He shook his head and stepped back. Princess Celestia sighed and looked around, the crowd had relaxed a little but were still nervous from the actions of Delta squad. She looked back to Delta and stood tall.

"Bipedals, are you willing to tell us why you are here?"

"Important business," Bernie said.

"Oh, what is that then?"

"We're trying to save our home planet," Marcus said.

"Save your home planet? Are you not from here?"

"No, we're from Tyrus."

"Where is Tyrus?" Celestia asked with great curiosity.

"On Sera. It's a northern country."

Celestia gave a nod of acknowledgment.

"So then, what are your names?"

"Marcus Fenix, and this is Delta Squad."

"Anya Stroud," Anya said, stepping up. The rest of Delta ended up introducing themselves as well.

"Augustus Cole.Most call me Cole Train."

"Jace Stratton."

"Samantha Byrne."

"Bernadette Mataki."

"Clayton Carmine."

"You already know we," Baird said with a smirk.

"Are you seriously enjoying this?" Sam asked.

"Nope, I hate every single minute."

The crowd all slightly perked up and had approached the squad, most had their heads up but looked uneasy. Some, mostly kids, were slowly walking over to them but their heads were down and ears flat against their heads. The soldiers too walked over to them, weapons forgotten. Just when they were a few feet from the Gears they stopped and looked at Celestia.

"Go on, they are no longer hostile to us."

"Yep, just a misunderstanding," Bernie said. Cole nodded and slung his rifle over his back.

"Come on you guys, Boomer Lady's real nice. Same goes for all of us, we've all just been through a lot."

Some of the ponies ended up walking over to them, they were a little afraid but as the Gears started to introduce themselves again the townsponies warmed up to them and introduced themselves followed by a hail of questions.

"So where are you from?"

"What's it like being a bipedal?"

"Why are you wearing all that metal?"

"What's that big thing you have on your back."

"Are you gonna show us stuff from where you come from?"

Marcus and Anya kept their focus on Celestia, Marcus occasionally shaking hooves with the townsponies while Anya patted them on the head. Princess Celestia smiled as they interacted with the citizens of the town.

"So then, Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud. Would you like to tell me why you are here?"

"Well let's just get one thing straight, we're known as humans, not bipedals," Marcus said.

"We prefer humans because it's just what we are," Anya said. Celestia respectfully nodded.

"Very well, may I ask again why you are here?"

"We're trying to find a way to save the human race and our planet," Marcus said.

"Oh, why is that?"

"For the past eighty seven years our planet has been ravaged by war. We've destroyed everything in an effort to gain footholds, fuel and eventually survival."

"Survival? What do you mean by that?"

"Let me explain," Anya said, "Look Princess Celestia, for the past sixteen years we were fighting an enemy that was completely, murderous, evil, merciless, and very deadly."

"What were they?" Celestia asked, her eyes growing wide. Marcus and Anya looked at each other, they hoped that it would never come to this.

"Do you really want to know?" Marcus said, barely a whisper emanated from him but Celetia caught every single word.

"Yes Marcus Fenix of Tyrus. Please tell me, I know something's troubling you and I want to help."

Marcus sighed and looked to Baird. Baird saw him and his usual cocky look dropped off his face.

"Where's Jack?" Marcus asked. Baird nodded.

"Around here somewhere, why?"

"The Princess wants to see what we've been doing the last two wars."

Baird froze for a second then shuddered, not much unnerved him but after a long time fighting he had to show all the records of the war against the Locust that he stored on Jack for future reference. Baird hailed Jack and the little bot appeared out of thin air as it de-cloaked and hovered next to him. The ponies gathered around Baird all recoiled in shock as Jack appeared but then it changed to fascination as the bot glided over to Princess Celestia. Carmine picked up on what was going to happen before Baird said anything and he walked over to the Raven and shut one of the bay doors.

"Put it up here so that everyone can see," he said tapping the shut bay door. Baird nodded and looked over to Jack.

"Jack, access the Locust war footage file."

Jack gave a few beeps and then a projector emitted from the bot's sensors and shone a screen on the side of the Raven. The ponies all gathered up to watch the flickering screen on the side of the helicopter, Baird motioned them over to sit on the ground in front of them.

"Gather around and watch the fifteen year nightmare we had to fight through to survive."

The crowd all gathered up around the door of the Raven and organized themselves so that each and every one of them could see the movie being played. Baird pressed a button on the side of Jack and the projector started up. Jack's files ended up showing various news excerpts, combat footage and short interviews of Gears after they got back from combat. The ponies all stared in amazement as the footage started up.

"We have confirmed reports that Pelles had been overrun."

"You won't believe how big the Grubs are up close."

"Go go go! Kill them all!"

"Locust! Locust are killing everyone!"

"Help! Help!"

"ARGHHHHH!"

"I watched as all of my squad died by the hands of Raam. I was lucky to escape his Kryll swarm."

"I'm here at one of the sites of the Hammer strike. As you can see, there is nothing left."

"So...much...blood...so...many...dead."

"Look at this ugly fucker I bagged!"

"This will be the last news report I shall ever broadcast. The Locust are near and the Hammer Strike is about to commence. Goodbye Sera, it's been an honor."

The projection ended with a fireball engulfing the reporter and then cutting to static. The ponies all stared in awe as the movie ended. Marcus turned back to the crowd and sighed.

"Yeah, that was what we had to go through for sixteen years."

Author's Note

I apologize for the brashness and rushed quality of this chapter. I was a little impatient with publishing this and I didn't really plan it out too well because I was focused on another upcoming chapter. Don't fret about this one little mistake because I will resolve it in the next couple of chapters.