The Ashes We Make

Chapters

Hello from Earth
Crash-Landing
What is that?
Status Update On "The Ashes We Make"

Hello from Earth

From the Ashes We Make...

By: TankFodder

The Cylix. A space faring empire, ruling through military might and the fear that comes with it. They found our fledgling civilization as we started to expand past our solar system. But humanity refused to live under their tyranny, and so were beaten down in a brutal 3 year war. The war is over, officially, but there are rumors that the Sol-System Alliance is still alive, and readying a final blow to take back human freedom and independence. The rumors are true.

“Commander Floyd, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, sit down. Brian Herringer, right? Tell, me Brian, why are you on this ship?”

“I volunteered, sir”

“I understand that, everyone here did, but look at these files, Micheal Hughes, our engineer, his family was killed in a colony ship at the beginning of the war, his home was on Jupiter station, which was destroyed. Stacy Vince, our navigator, she lived on Mars”

Brian winces

“Yes, worst battle in the war, we're lucky the Bastards didn't just glass the whole planet and leave. Our security detail, Lieutenant Tyl and her men, all lost their units, their families, almost everything. Everyone else here has nothing to lose, but you, your family was on Earth, they moved after the Alliance officially surrendered, you built ordnance on the Lunar factories, until they were dismantled, so unless you are loved that job that much, why would you volunteer to go on a mission that is based on a flying bomb? This is a one way trip, we all know it.”

“Sir, I am looking after the Biggest. Bomb. Ever made, this is a dream come true!”

“... what.”

“Oh don't get me wrong working on the Lunar Base was great, knowing every shell or missile I sent out was ruining someone's day, somewhere, but that didn't hold a candle to this, this work of art!”

“You know what, forget I asked. You are dismissed.”

Herringer leaves, but the intercom on Floyd's desk crackles to life in a moment, a female voice floating out of the radio

“Bridge to the Captain,”

“This is the Captain, what is it?”

“Coordinates are locked in, we are ready to jump as soon as you get up here”

“I'm on my way, alert the crew to begin final preparations before the jump, I want everything bolted down, and everyone strapped in, this whole ship is experimental technology, and I want everything to go by the book”

“Aye, Sir”

The engine room, an engineer is crouched near an open panel with different tools lying nearby.

“All Hands, report to Quarters, and prepare to Jump”

“I hear you, just gotta finish this, a-a-and... Shit!” A flash of sparks comes out of the panel, the engineer looks up at a massive gyro floating in the exact center, of the room. It twitches, and shifts slightly.

“That's not good...” The gyro spins faster and faster, indicating the beginning of a jump, the man lunges for the intercom, shouting for them to stop the jump, but it is too late, the ship accelerates to many times the speed of light, the gyro spins out of control, and then explodes.

The Phoenix, a bomb ship designed to be fast and stealthy, to deliver it's payload straight to the Cylix home planet. A payload of the largest bomb ever built, a planet killer. However, the ship would not drop the bomb, because the ship WAS the bomb, which was why the the ship was largely automated, and the crew was only volunteers who knew exactly what they had signed up for. They were the best of the most expendable, and they were on a mission to create a new era for humanity from the ashes that they created.

The Phoenix fell out of FTL rather than slowed out of it, surprisingly undamaged.

“Status report, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED”

“Sir, power is online, weapons are online, engines are down, we're dead in space”

“Damn it, navigation, where the hell are we? NAVIGATION!”

“Sir, we're in an orbit around.. oh.. my...”

The ship had fallen over a garden planet. This was certainly not their intended destination, and certainly not somewhere anyone had discovered, as there were no easily seen signs of industrialization, and yet the scanners showed...

“The hell is wrong with them?”

“I don't know Commander, our scanners are scrambled all to hell by some kind of interference coming from the planet, but they can tell one thing. We're falling, slowly. We are going to crash on the planet.”

Floyd hits his intercom “Engineering, what's the status on the engine?”

“Well that depends, do you like your steaks done. Horribly burnt, or just charred?”

“Shut up Hughes, we are over an unknown planet, and we're going to crash into it. I want you to make sure that the payload doesn't blow up and kill the wrong planet when we do”

“Oh. Well, couldn't you have just woken me up when we all blew to smithereens on the side of the wrong planet?”

“Shut up and deactivate that bomb, or I'll throw you out the nearest airlock.”

“Sure, but I'm just saying, when we explode, I don't want to be blamed for it.”

One Week Later

The Cylix were the most hated enemy in human history, and as such, the designers of the Phoenix thought that simply slipping a bomb through their back door was too impersonal. A virtual intelligence was placed on the ship, primarily to handle electronics and the ship's computer network, but this VI was given one ultimate task. A message, a final, “screw you”, to humanity's forced overlords, to be played during the final descent onto every device or signal or a even any creature capable of receiving data. The VI noted that the ship was descending towards a planet and prepared its message, only to find that there were no radios, no landlines, no anything to send it to. Thus, it began a search for alternate options. It noticed an aura surrounding the planet, which initial scans had been unable to identify, and had dismissed as background radiation. This aura however, was powerful, and could transmit the message. This would do, it thought. This would do.

On the Planet Below

“Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail!” Pinkie Pie stopped her baking to look up, around, and outside for what was surely going to fall. “Huh, nothing,” she muttered and then froze, “Here it comes again! Oooh, whatever it is, it's going to be big, but, it's not heading towards Ponyville. I wonder why would my Pinkie sense warn me about it.” It was a rare moment of clarity indeed, but short-lived. As the hyperactive pony quickly forgot about it as the smell of fresh cupcakes wafted from the oven.

Rainbow Dash reclined on the back of a cloud, taking a well-deserved break from practicing, and ready for her nap. When she noticed something, waaay up in the sky. “Huh, what the hay is that, it's too high to be a pegasus or a bird, and it's falling pretty fast,” she thought, but perhaps it wasn't an issue, she was an adept crasher herself, though she'd never admit it, and could tell that whatever it was wasn't heading towards a civilized area. Besides, it was nap-time, and she couldn't keep practicing later if she was falling asleep on her hooves.

Twilight Sparkle sat in her balcony, reading, when she noticed something out of the tip of her eye, a trail from high in the sky, or maybe even beyond that. “A meteor! It looks huge, I bet a lot of it will make it to the ground. And ooh, it looks like it's heading towards the plains on the other side of the Everfree, This could be an important scientific discovery! Spike! Spike! Pack some food, and a tent, and maybe a shovel, I'll need my books on the different kinds of meteors of course, this is going to be fun! Spike? Where are you?”

Spike groaned. What was Celestia sending, a new house? This message didn't feel like it was supposed to go the dragon fire. “Twilight, down here, something fro-” BURRRAAWWPPP.

“Woah Spike, be careful, I know it can be hard with some messages, but still, wait, what's going on?” Twilight came down the stairs, and stopped, she and Spike stared at the dragon fire floating in the air, which, wasn't dissipating or forming into a letter, as it usually did, but formed into an odd shape, almost like a face. “What is it?” murmured Twilight, she then gasped when the form opened it's mouth.

“Greetings from Earth!” boomed a voice, “And greetings from the Human Alliance, oh yes, you didn't think we were beaten did you? Oh ho no! Humanity is just getting started. You bastards have probably noticed the ship screaming through your atmosphere” Twilight looked through her window, at the 'meteor', which suddenly didn't seem so exciting. The voice continued “well consider it a final gift to you, it's a bomb, a nuke to end all nukes, a planet-killer! So pray, pray to your twisted demon-gods, and prepare to go to whatever hell it is that you believe in.”

“ADIOS” Twilight swallowed, who were these 'humans'?

“MOTHER-” What was a nuke? Why, why would they want to wipe out Equestria?

“FUCKERS!” She needed to tell Princess Celestia about this.

In Canterlot Castle

Dead silence sat heavily throughout the Hall, Celestia and Luna stared, speechless, at the image that had formed from what they had initially thought to be one of the messages Twilight Sparkle periodically sent her teacher. Courtiers, nobleponies, and servants alike stared silently at the image in front of the princesses.

“Message Repeats.”

Onboard the *Phoenix*

The bridge crew aboard the Phoenix scrambled about, trying to land in a way that wouldn't set off the massive bomb that was literally part of the ship. One of the Comms Officers shouted toward the commander.

“Sir! We're broadcasting something towards the planet below! It's not an automated SOS, but the VI started it when we began to descend!”

Commander Floyd, decorated veteran of dozens of battles, paled, “Oh. Right. Shit.”

Author's Note:

This may end up being rather long winded, so bear with me, or just don't read it.

So, yeah, this is my first try writing anything since doing essays in High School, and I figured I kind of needed a hobby, anyways, I'm not really happy with it, the intro especially, and I avoided characterizing the human crew, but I tried to go back and put in more detail, but I'm not very good with setting up a scene, and I never liked what came out. Depending on the reaction this gets, I will try to keep up an actual story, I've got a basic idea of what I want to happen, but it is very much subject to change. Of course, if no one likes it, I have a built-in quick-finish :), so I won't leave this story incomplete. Please leave a comment and tell what you think.

TL;DR

Please leave a comment, I'm very new to writing and would appreciate any feedback.

Also: I'm not entirely sure what categories this fits in, so if you feel that I categorized it wrong, feel free to say so

I do not own My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic or any of the ponies in this story. They are the property of Hasbro, Inc. etc. etc.

Crash-Landing

The Ashes We Make Ch.2

By: TankFodder

Klaxons sounded throughout the Phoenix, reminding everyone of the impending doom that they were hurtling towards. Micheal Hughes, the Chief Engineer, was attempting to coordinate his teams so that they could defuse their ship, or at the very least, stop it from exploding until they finished crashing, and then look at it in full. Unfortunately, the warheads that lined the hull were designed to not be defused. After all, they couldn't have the Cylix capture the ship and “return to sender”, now could they?

The Captain's intercom buzzed and flared to life, “Sir this is engineering, we've managed to convince the ship not to explode just yet, but if you jostle a bomb too hard, it get's rather unhappy, know what I mean?”

Commander Floyd cleared his throat and touched the intercom to speak, “Keep it short, Hughes, do your job, and let me do mine.” He turned to the bridge comms officer, “And you! Turn off that damn broadcast, we have enough troubles as it is without pissing on the locals before we even meet them!”

Canterlot Palace

Luna snapped back to reality “Sister, we need to organize a response to this, it doesn't sound like we have much time,”

Celestia nodded, and turned to the court, “Court is closed today and tonight. Guard captain, have your ponies escort these ponies from the castle, and organize a group of your best to scout that thing's” she looks out the window, at the fiery trail falling through the sky, “crash, understand?”

Luna spoke once more “Perhaps we should contact Twilight Sparkle and her friends? The Elements of Harmony may be useful in this crisis.”

Celestia shook her head, “Not yet. They are still young, and I do not want them exposed to this if it can be helped.”

Luna smirked, “I can understand why, but, you must admit, trouble does have a way of finding your student and her friends.”

Ponyville

Rainbow awoke to the sound of screaming and the sight of a massive metal object flying overhead. No, not flying, falling, was her first thought. Her second was, oh, that is not something to dismiss and take a nap over.

Twilight watched in growing horror as the meteor (why did she still think of it as that?) flew overheard towards the Everfree Forest. She could hear a distant booming as it landed. “Spike!” she shouted, “stay here! I'm going out.” She then rushed out to find her friends. Together they could find out what had happened and warn the Princesses before something really horrible happened.

Couldn't they?

The *Phoenix*

The ship careened over a forest below, before slamming into the ground and digging a several hundred meter-long trench, throwing up dirt and dust, and knocking aside anything in it's path. Anyone inside who was not braced, and many of those who were, were flung about by the impact. The ship was designed to have as much cargo space as possible, while maintaining an sleek profile to aid in speed and stealth. Crew comfort and survivability had been a secondary concern, leading to injuries and casualties on every deck as fragile flesh met unyielding steel in the cramped corridors. Finally, the massive beast slid to a stop, and the survivors struggled to recover and organize to prevent further disaster.

Somewhere near the Crash-Site

Cough* “What? Where the hell am I? Where's the ship?” Pfc. Martinez had been posted by the main cargo door, but then the cargo door had been ripped in half as the ship had hit... something, and he had been flung outside. He tried to stand up but his Armored Combat Exoskeleton-Heavy had been powered down, and it was too heavy to move without power. He looked at the top corner of his visor and blinked twice.

System Rebooting, stand by...

…

Online;

Warning, hydraulic joints are damaged, mobility will be impaired;

Armor integrity compromised;

SMG-05X Offline: ammunition feed obstructed;

Flammenwerfer M3X Offline: fuel line punctured;

LRAD Mk.4k9X functional; warning, acoustic focus damaged, LRAD functioning at 70%

GP-60X Offline; shot loader obstructed

Battlefield Control Network not detected, attempting to establish LOS tight-beam connection with nearby allied forces...

…

Allied forces not detected;

Mobility impaired. Allied forces not detected. Most of his suits internal weapons were offline or damaged, and his rifle was nowhere to be seen. Soo much good news. And on top of it, he hated the heavy variants of these damn suits. They 'restricted mobility' enough as it was, and he had requested a light suit, but noooo, “you won't need a light-variant in the cramped confines of that ship, we are only equipping the crew at all in case the ship is discovered and baorded.” Damned desk-jockeys. The extra armor had probably saved his life, though. He let the diagnostic finish, and stood up, joints hissing and creaking, to assess where he was. Which was face-to-face with a group of very, very angry looking cartoon horses.

Although, that was and impressive beard.

Outskirts of the Everfree Forest, near the crash-site

Scout-Sergeant Thunder Beard was having a very bad day.

First, an alien face had appeared from the horn of Every.Single.Bucking.Unicorn that could send magical messages, and had proceeded to threaten Equestria with annihilation, and then to call the princesses 'demons' to top it all off. Next, he was told to gather a squad of scouts, and go straight to the source of it all, a huge metal bathtub that fell out of the sky. Alone. With any reinforcements we-e-e-ell behind them and a small town right in harms way. Oh yes, and don't forget, the Elements of bucking Harmony live there. If they got hurt, the Princesses would take it very personally, and his was the only guard unit from here to Canterlot to take the blame. He looked at the crater, watching the two-legged things scurry about from the tree he was standing in, his wings outstretched to keep balance. Suddenly, one of his scouts flew up beside him and saluted,

“Sir, I've found one just a couple hundred meters into the Forest, it's alone, and it doesn't look conscious, you should check this out.”

“Good job, keep an eye on it, don't engage it by yourself.” “Aye sir,”

Thunder smiled, thinking that maybe this mission wouldn't end up with him kicking moon rocks around. He then turned, and hooted loudly. After a few moments, seveeral Pegasi appeared from the brush around him, and paused, waiting.

“Cloud Skipper has found a potential prisoner, we're moving to extract it, after that, we are getting the buck out of here before the... whatever they are figure out that we've got one of them. Form up on me, and keep it quiet.” With that, he leapt from the branch and flew towards the location Cloud Skipper had indicated.

Scout-Sergeant Thunder Beard was having a very good day.

Phoenix Crash Site, On the Outskirts of the Everfree Forest

Of the 346 crew members, barely a hundred managed to regroup outside the crashed vessel, with some of the rest confirmed dead, and most missing, as the thin armor on the vessel had crumpled in large sections, cutting off entire decks, and the cargo hold had been breached, albeit a small breach. The Captain had survived, and was organizing a base of operations around the crash-site. Groups of Marines in ACE-H suits had set up a perimeter, and were fortifying, the missing crew members forgotten, as well as their original mission. But the vessel's true cargo lay heavily on everyone's minds, and they moved with a desperate knowledge that No One on this planet must gain possession of the crash-site.

A group of people huddled around a table in the center of the human camp

Stacy Vinters, the former navigator of the ship stared incredulously, “So you mean that we effectively declared war, on the entire planet, from the moment we hit atmosphere?”

Micheal Hughes, the Chief engineer of the former ship, cleared his throat, “we-ell, we didn't say we were going to fight them, so much as annihilate them and everything they hold dear. With a super weapon that they may or may not be able to comprehend.”

“Now is not the time to be a smart ass, Hughes” growled Lt. Brook Tyl, who happened to be the highest ranking survivor among the marines who made up the security detail.

“Quiet all of you.” Commander Henry Floyd, the Captain of the ship and leader of the mission, joined the huddled Officers. They stopped their conversation and turned to him. “Right, now, we are maintaing a rather fragile position, so I need a report from all of you, what are we capable of?”

Vinters brought up a holographic map, “well sir, according to our charts, we have no idea where we are.” she closes the map “whatever happened when we jumped, hurt our navigational ability and the crash finished it off by damaging or destroying most of our sensors, scanners, and com links.”

Floyd turned to Engineer Hughes “speaking of which, what happened during the jump?”

“well, sir, uh.. I don't actually know.”

Two Months Ago, Aboard the Pheonix Docked over Earth

Micheal Hughes and two other men can be seen working on the ship's experimental new engine.

“Micheal, I don't think this is a good idea, this engine is already unstable enough as it is. And besides, the ship's supposed to be the fastest ever built already.”

“Oh don't be such a baby, I've been planning these modifications since I saw this beauty, it'll improve it's performance and I get the spiritual highlight of my career”

“but you helped build it in the first place!”

“And now I'm making it better, besides, this mission is going to be a one way trip, and I am not going out in a,” he shudders, “stock vehicle!”

Back in the Present

“But I lost contact with one of my men during the jump, and then the engine shut down.”

“And do you mind telling me how we completed our jump without the engine?”

“partly momentum, partly scientific theory that no one here has a chance of understanding. The engine were a mostly untested design that someone high up thought would be a good idea.”

“huh,” Floyd turned to Lt. Tyl “how are your Marines? How secure can we make this site?”

She saluted, and spoke “My men didn't take as many losses because we managed to get everyone suited up before the crash, but even at full strength I wouldn't have enough men to cover the whole perimeter. The ship was automated to reduce crew requirements, and so we have a light cruiser with the crew of a corvette and the armament of a freighter. Top it all off with most of our officers down, so cross your fingers and pray the most dangerous thing we have to face is stuff you'd see at a Renaissance Fair back on Earth. But considering we managed to broadcast a death-threat to the wrong planet at all, I would consider that unlikely.”

“I see. All right, everyone, how about cargo, do we have any vehicles? How are our supplies?”

Hughes pulled a datapad out of his pocket “lucky for you, Commander,i have a cargo list right here, lemme see, Gunships? Nope. Dropships? Nope. Tanks? Nope. APCs? Not a one. Trucks? Nothing. Jeeps? None. ATVs? Nope. Bicycles? N--”

Brook interrupts him “Hughes, we're stranded on a unknown planet, whose entire population probably wants us dead or gone. Take it seriously.”

“Only for you, dear Lady Brook. Oh wait! We DO have enough explosives to crack this planet in half.”

“...”

“Oh, all right.” Micheal turns to Henry “Sir, the engineer corps got beat up pretty bad, being that we were in the more 'volatile' section of the ship. But, I've got a bunch of geeks with a lot of expertise, and a ship full of robotic machinery just waiting to be turned into automated defenses, given some time.”

Floyd sighed. “It's good to hear some good news, such as it is, but it's worrying that it's coming from you, Hughes.”

“That's what I'm here for, sir.”

An armored marine runs up to the group and saluted Tyl, “Ma'am, you wanted a report on our current supplies.”

“Go ahead soldier.”

“Ma'am, no one planned on our current circumstances. We barely have enough food to last a week, and that's if we lower the rations everyone receives. We need to find a source of food and water and find it fast. Also, we don't have enough material for shelters. As such, I would like to volunteer to lead the first foraging party, ma'am.”

“What's your name, corporal?”

“Petrov, ma'am. Kyle Petrov”

“Sergeant Petrov then, pick some men, and get to it.”

“Aye ma'am. Thank you ma'am”

“Sergeant!” Barked Henry, “You might want to head south and east around the outskirts of this forest, we passed over some kind of township when we were falling. See if you can get any aid from whoever lives there. Peacefully if you can, but remember, at least until we permanently disable the Phoenix, this ship, and it's crew come Absolutely First, understand?”

“Of course sir, don't fire unless fired upon, that never gets old.”

Outskirts of Everfree Forest, near Ponyville

“It's ok, I'm here,” Fluttershy did her best to console her terrified animals, even though she was nearing panicked terror herself. But what was that? She thought to herself. A trail of fire had flown over Ponyville, and over her home, and she heard it crash somewhere on the outskirts of the Everfree. Moments later, a group of royal guards had teleported in front of her house and asked if she was alright.

The pegasi had flown towards the crash, and the unicorns who had teleported them had galloped toward Ponyville. She thought that maybe she should pack her things and go to Ponyville, at least until she knew what was happening. “Oh, no, I couldn't just leave all my animal friends here. All alone and terrified, with who knows what was in that crash out there, I just couldn't” she shook her head to emphasize her resolve, before remembering no one was around. With a last “oops, hehe,” she turned around and went inside.

Author's note: This was finished a lot faster than I thought it would take. And I really didn't think it would be half again as long as the last chapter. I initially wanted to keep to one update a week, or two at most, but this is all new and exciting, so I'm writing as I get ideas, and update times will probably vary until I find a comfortable pace.

And now about the actual story

Wow, that was not what I had planned here, but then, my whole outline is kind of a pathetic, flimsy thing in hindsight. Writing is... different than I expected, not hard, per se, but a lot different. Oh well, it did the job, I have some actual characters now, and an oncoming train-wreck of a plot, so I am content. Or, I will be, right after I fix that opening sentence. And that dialogue. sigh, never mind.

I still need an editor, by the way, so pm me if you're interested. And, of course, ya'll's comments are always appreciated.

I don't own MLP:FIM, etc. etc.

Edit: I'm going to cut back on these irrelevant author's notes, check my profile blog if you give a rat's about that kind of info

What is that?

The Ashes We Make Ch.3

By: TankFodder

Somewhere in the Everfree Forest

Martinez studied the angry equines arrayed in front of him. They varied slightly in size, but none them stood taller than his chest, although, the one he assumed was the leader would have come up to his collar if he had been unarmored. It shouted at the others. Yes, definitely shouted, as in intelligently, as in orders, because the little bastards moving to flank him! He turned, and brought his left arm forward, arming the machine-gun housed in his gauntlet

warning; SMG-05X ammunition feed obstructed.

…

Shit.

Thunder Beard ordered his scouts to flank the creature in the clearing. It was bigger than he had expected, towering over him, and it's metallic skin appeared cracked and dented in places, revealing... ah, so it was armor, then. It moved, suddenly, and brought up an appendage on it's upper torso and pointing it right. at. him... He could hear a clicking and whirring noise coming from it's armor. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Whatever the monster had tried, had failed. It shifted again, facing him head on. Thunder Beard reared and flared his wings,

skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

and fell flat on his rump, writhing as the horrible, horrible noise burrowed into his skull

Martinez smirked and had to stop himself from laughing out loud. The LRAD had worked beautifully. The fact that it wasn't as intense as it could be was completely irrelevant at this close range.

He had the momentum now, so he a long, wickedly sharp combat knife, and charged at the horse on the ground in front of him.

Just in time to get run over from behind by a freight train.

Dammit, these horses were fast.

Phoenix Crash Site

The crew of the Phoenix had set up a fragile base camp around the downed vessel. Shallow trenches provided cover, and salvaged lights served as impromptu searchlights darting out into the shadows surrounding them all. The Phoenix had been lightly armed to begin with, and it's single remaining rail-cannon could only fire into or above the forest they had landed nearby. Several point defense guns had been removed from the hull, and now stood silently, watching over the perimeter, providing more intimidation than actual defense, as few cannon rounds were available.

Humans huddled around fires, or stood watching the darkness for any sign of the hornet's nest that they knew was stirring against them. “At least it's not raining,” muttered Brook, “then we'd be really miserable, sleeping in the open like this.”

“Because imminent death and dismemberment just gives you the warm fuzzies, eh?” Micheal walked up and sat down on the other side of the fire.

“No, but I can fight whatever attacks us. I don't plan on enjoying sleeping under the stars with no tent. It's too damn quiet, and too damn open. And if we move to somewhere more defensible, we lose the ship. We lose the ship, and everyone dies.”

Micheal raised an eyebrow, “I never thought I'd say, this, but you make a good case. Especially if we get hit by fliers, we're sitting on a big damned target.”

Ponyville

“Rainbow Dash! Down here!” Rainbow looked down. After that fiery object had flown overhead and all the unicorns in the post office had taken to hiding, Rainbow Dash had used some of her time to patrol around Ponyville, in fact, she was just about to check on Fluttershy when she heard Twilight below her. She slowed, and landed next to her. “Hey Twilight, what was that thing?”

Twilight shook her head “I don't know, Rainbow Dash, it's not long anything I've ever read about, or even heard of. I wanted to find everyone and make sure they're all right.”

Rainbow nodded, as if in understanding, “Good idea Twi! Once we gather our friends, we can go check it out, and find out what's going on!”

Twilight stared, “wha-? I didn't, that's not what I said!”

“Oh, well it's still a good idea, ok seeyouinaminutebye!” Rainbow took off towards Sugarcube Corner. It would be best to get Pinkie Pie's help to gather everypony quickly.

In less than an hour, they had gathered everypony but Fluttershy, and headed down the path to her cottage.

Everfree Forest

GGRRAAAWWWRR!

Sgt Petrov whirled around just in time to see a lion, just taller than he was, even in his armor, standing not 30 feet from where he stood. Well, mostly a lion, anyway. It's tail being replaced by long scorpion's stinger, complete with an armored carapace. It growled at him, and shifted to all fours.

“Well, COME ON, fleabag, let's get this over with.” he shouted at it, hiding his nervousness.

It roared again, and charged at him. Petrov didn't bother to step out of the way, instead, he braced, and swung an armored fist.

The manticore had been protecting it's territory against something it did not recognize, wanting to drive it away quickly or kill and eat it, if possible. It was the toughest creature in the area, excepting the Ursa Major's cave, and the possibility had never occurred to it that it would meet anything smaller than it that could beat it into the ground. Of course, it had also never counted on running face-first into three-quarter tons of steel and titanium at full sprint.

Time seemed to slow down, as Petrov watched the lion's face crunch and fold around his fist. It stopped running completely, but it's momentum carried it under his fist, and onto the ground next to him. “Damn, kitty, I almost felt that myself,” he grinned, then frowned, as he placed his gauntlet in the creature's face. Bam! And finished it off with a single shot.

“Hot damn Sarge! That was badass!” A second marine walked out of the foliage.

“That's why I'm in charge, now, you're the first back, so let's wait for the others before you report” Other marines move into the clearing over time, stoppping to gawk at the dead manticore over time.

Petrov cleared his throat, “Alright, listen up. We've found the town we were looking for, but we still haven't seen the inhabitants. We avoid it if possible, but I need to know what you all found on your scouting trips. Report.”

“There's a pretty large farm on the other side of the town sarge, but it's a long trek through the forest to get there, and the only thing on that farm is apples.”

“Apples? That's it? Nothing else, are you sure?

“I'm sure, sarge, I got a good look around. They are some damn good apples, though, I took a few, and stuck 'em in a bag I found in the barn.”

“Jesus, Paul, I don't know if I should congratulate you, or hide my wallet.”

“You should hide your wallet. Here it is, by the way.”

“what-, how- ?”

“Stow it Marine. As... worrying as that is, I dunno if that farm is worth the trip, it's better than nothing, though, if we don't find anything else. Anyone else? I don't care what it is, anything even slightly worth mentioning.”

“Yea, there's a herd of cows in the opposite direction, we'd have to cross open ground to get to them, though. And I swear on Miss October's sweet, sweet-” “keep it short.” “fine. I watched for a little bit, but no one was herding them, and I know I saw a group of them holding a conversation. Stop looking at like that, I know what I saw.”

“huh, I'll uh, keep that in mind, we don't have the manpower or equipment to haul or herd of bunch of talking cows, right now, so we'll put that under 'later'.”

“Hey Sarge, There's also a small cottage not far from here, lots of little animals running around, it's far enough from the town that it isn't likely to get visitors in the middle of the night, but close enough that whoever lives probably knows what goes on. Oh, and chickens.”

“Chickens? Honest-to-God Earth chickens? I vote we go there sarge.”

Petrov glared at the men, “This isn't a democracy private, now show some discipline. I own the chain of command here, and as far as you're concerned, the chain of command is the chain that I go get and beat you with to show you who's in command, got it? Now listen up, we'll mark the location of the cows and the farm for the real foraging parties to show up. We can't go back empty handed, so we hit the cottage today. If anyone is home, take prisoners. We can't have the townsfolk knowing that we're out this far, but we don't want to start an incident by killing off villagers either. Move out!”

Twilight and Co.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack walked down the path towards Fluttershy's house on the edge of the forest. As they approached the cottage, though, something seemed wrong. They all looked at each other, Applejack spoke up, “girls, it's too quiet, where are all of Fluttershy's critters?”

Twilight looked around “I dunno, but Fluttershy is usually outside tending to her animals around this time, maybe we should look around before we-”

clack-clack “howdy.”

In front of them stood seven feet of metal, standing on two legs, like Spike, with thick arms ending in blunt claws that looked like they were designed to grip things. Things like the metal stick it was pointing at them.

Fluttershy's Cottage

“Who are you?””What are you?””What have you done with Fluttershy?” The five mares all started talking at once. The creature stood its ground, but let them finish.

“listen, you'll get your answers soon enough, I think, but Sarge says we can't have anyone warn that town that we're her, so I gotta take you lot as prisoners.”

Rainbow Dash bristled “What? Do you know who you're messing with? Give us Fluttershy and I won't beat you into giving her up!”

The creature shrugged, and a small tube on it's shoulder spat a puff of smoke, sending an object sailing towards them. It landed, and then floated into the air, wrapped in a purple glow, Twilight glared at the creature, and started to shout when the flashbang she was holding at eye level exploded in a brilliant flash of light and sound, eliciting cries of pain and surprise from all five mares.

“Holy shit, did you see that?” The watchman's partner stepped out from his position at overwatch, and stared at the five cartoon horses that lay on the ground.

“That's a gen-you-wine unicorn, with magic and everything. And also, but I'm pretty sure I just saw the most painful experience in their lives. I mean really, putting a flashbang right next to your face like that?” The first marine shrugged, and they dragged the barely conscious mares back into the clearing around the cottage.

Ponyville

The first flights of Royal Guardsponies were setting up a camp around Ponyville to defend it against any encroachments by the creatures from the crashed ship. The commander was talking to the leader of a group of scouts who had been dispatched days ago to assess the situation.

“Scout-Sergeant, report”

“Sir, the town is secure, the creatures have been fortifying their crash-site, but there aren't many. Also, I have a prisoner.”

“What? Where? How did you get it?”

“He's-I'm pretty sure it's a he, anyway-in an unfinished house at the edge of town. As to the how, I found him lying in the forest.”

“You searched the Everfree forest and found him? You scouts are all insane. Good work, though.”

Pfc. Martinez groaned, and shook his head to clear it. He jumped suddenly, when he noticed a couple of things. One, he wasn't in his armor. Two, he was in a wooden room, real wooden, like one of the old houses built with timbers, rather than plaster. Three, there was a cartoon horse looking at him through the now-opened door.

Thunder Beard opened the door to the prisoner's room. It was awake, he saw, and looking at him. It had taken all of his unicorns to get the thing's blasted armor off, which he thought was too bulky to be of much use. He cleared his throat, “stand back prisoner, or I won't hesitate to beat you down again.”

when the creature complied, he and the Guard-Commander walked into the room.

Two of the little horsey bastards walked in, Martinez recognized one of them as the one he had hit with the sonic in the forest. He hoped the little bearded horse wouldn't take it too personally, he was pretty sure he could take it on, even unarmored, but not with its friends so close by.

“What's your name?” the second one asked him, in a tone that pointed out exactly who was in charge here. Unfortunately, Martinez was a bit of a smartass, and decided he didn't like a 4 foot tall bright green horse trying to intimidate him.

“Oh, great horselordship, he who gallopth mightily across the sky, wreathed in a trail of fire and- OOF” the bearded one just hit him! Damn horses. Philistines, the lot of them, with no appreciation for a good performance. “Private First Class Martinez, Sol Systems Alliance Marines.”

“Control yourself Thunder Beard, he's no use to us dead.”

Martinez burst out laughing, “your name is Thunder Beard? Don't get me wrong, it is a mighty impressive beard, but- OOF” Damn horses.

“Quiet Prisoner, speak only when you are spoken to. Now, what are you?”

“I'm a human, now what are you?”

“We are ponies, heyu-man. Why are you here, why did you threaten equestria?”

“I don't even know what Equestria is. But I'm pretty sure we ended up on the wrong planet.”

“Wrong planet? Where did you come from, that you speak of coming to Equestria like you knocked on the door.”

“I can't tell you that, but I like the analogy. That kind of fits what happened.”

“You can tell us, heyu-man, and you will.”

“We came from a planet like this one, from across the stars, but I will not tell you more about that.”

“We'll come back to that. What is that crashed... thing? What does it do? Where were you planning on going?”

“That is the Alliance ship Phoenix. She goes really fast, and explodes, it's pretty simple actually, and I can't tell you that last.”

“She explodes? Like in that message you sent us.”

“What message? Oh, and yes, she explodes.”

“What message? You threatened all of Equestria with extermination, and now you act like you didn't do it?”

“Well, I didn't, I'm just a grunt, I don't get paid to threaten tiny cartoon horses with exterminati-OOF”

“We are ponies, you will address us with respect.”

“yes, oh great bearded oppressor of- OOF” touchy little bastard.

ROOOOOAAARRRR

“uhh.. horselordship, what was that?”

Phoenix Crash-site

ROOOOOAAARRRR

“WHAT THE HELL?! THAT'S A DRAGON! A DAMNED DRAGON IS GOING TO KILL US ALL!”

The panicked shout from a sentry started a frantic scramble by men and women all over the make-shift camp to grab weapons and turn them to the sky, as a massive fire-lizard of mythology screamed overhead and landed next to the crashed Phoenix

“I am the Dragon Ehecatl, and You are stepping in places you do not belong. You have no claim to this land, and you would dare to threaten it?” The dragon snorted, violet fire bursting from it's mouth. The human's all around the camp just stood and stared in awe. The dragon nearly rivaled the Phoenix in size, it was so huge. A few simply fell to their knees. “You will explain yourself to me, or I will destroy you here and now.”

The 40mm Point Defense turrets swung around and pointed at the dragon. The ship's Captain stepped out from his tent.

“Actually, glitter scales, I think you and I are going to have a little heart-to-heart, and then you will leave, or I will destroy you.”

Author's note: Sorry it's late folks, I caught sick last weekend, which led to the homework I had been pushing off being suddenly due a lot sooner than it had seemed at the beginning of the weekend. I didn't have time to write for several days, and for several more after that, I just didn't want to. Even now the internet at my school has been unreliable at best for the past couple of days, so I'm not actually sure when I'll be able to upload this.

On to the story!

Eh, I got nothing. Sorry it's late, though. I don't own MLP:FiM, etc. Oh, so yeah, this story was inspired by some movie I saw a coupla months ago but can't remember what it's called. So, yeah the bombship came from that, and everything else came from sci-fi cliches and my imagination. (Cylix, really? that's a horrible name. God, I am so bad at naming things. And I can't believe I named the damn ship 'Phoenix', that's not cliche at all. >:/)

Status Update On "The Ashes We Make"

Sorry folks, no chapter here, but don't go yet, please.

Here's some music to make you feel better.

It's been 2~3 weeks since I last updated, and there's a few reasons for that:

-Last week was Midterms, pretty self-explanatory

-Here's the big one. I am getting frustrated with this story. It looks good, but from my side of it, it's a jumbled mess. I started this story with a good idea and a heart full of motivation. It started quickly, and slowed down, and now I'm looking at the latest version of chapter 4 that I still don't like. What's the problem? The storyline. There is none. I wrote this story trying to emulate how people might actually react in this situation, but the story is almost completely about the humans. The way ch.4 is going, the humans think equestria is insane, and are circling the wagons like crazy. Cue massive explosion. replace the ponies with "generic peaceful space species" and it doesn't change at all. I'm probably going to take this story down over the weekend so the people tracking don't just suddenly see it gone. Basically, I'm writing good chapters, but as is, this story isn't working out in the long run. I really should have made a one-shot or something small for a first run.

-And the lastly, I've come up with a different story idea. I like it, partly because it's a lot more episodic than this one. And I think it'll be easier/more fun to write. I may come back to this story in the future, but if I do, it will be as an extensive rewrite.

Sorry, Folks