The Equestrian X-com Project
Prologue part 2: The First Line of Defense
--------------------------The First Encounter--------------------------
On the 4th morning, Equestria spent it's last hours of peace. Ponies in Manehatten were still coming to terms with the loss of magic, the harsh new curfews and increased police presence put in place by the mayor silenced the riots from yesterday. Ponies in Fillydelphia felt lucky as the rain came to grow their crops, but they soon took cover in their houses as thunder and lighting began to duel in the skies. Ponies in Baltimare were busy cleaning up after the Monsoon that hit 2 days ago, Mexicolt city were dealing with a loss of productivity after their unicorn factories had to temporarily shut down. Most of the ponies of Las Pegasus awoke hung over from a night of partying and gambling, while others began preparing for another day of work. Some ponies woke up in fear about the rumors of the desert, although even those ponies could not predict what would happen on this fateful day.
At 10:48am a white pegasus wearing a sharp black suit paced back and forth in his office. The stallion seemed confused, stressed, and also slightly afraid. The pegasus sat down at his desk running his trembling hoof through his short well groomed grey mane. The name plaque on his desk read 'Mayor Control'. The pegasus's office was simple yet elegant and professional, a giant window on the side of the room gave a gorgeous view of the main strip of Las Pegasus. Control would usually stand by that window and admire the glittering metropolis he had lead for many years, but lately he was far to stressed to stand by his window and reflect on his actions.
The pegasus reached his muzzle into his desk drawers and brought out a large folder marked 'Missing ponies' and dropped it on his desk, scattering the contents all over his desk and floor. He searched out three particular missing pony reports and wrote on the cover with his pen 'Deceased.' "Three more... What am I doing wrong?" Mayor Control moaned resting his head on his hooves. Control's eyes felt tired, the feeling of his failures has sucked him dry, there was only one cure for his condition. Silently he opened the bottom draw of his desk with his muzzle, he drew out a small silver saddle flask and took a quick swig of the liquor inside. A sudden loud knock on his door made him drop the flask in surprise. "C-come in" Mayor Control stuttered as he quickly hid the flask in the bottom draw of his desk and kicked it shut.
A yellow unicorn mare burst into the room wearing a police uniform; panting heavily. "Mayor Control! W-we found something out in the desert, we are certain it is related to the ponies going missing out in the desert" she rasped trying to catch her breath.
"What did you find Flashlight? Why did you come here to tell me?" Mayor Control inquired.
"You had better come see this for yourself before we do anything" Flashlight panted.
Control stood up fixing his hair and suit, "you have yet to answer my question, what did you find?"
Flashlight paused before replying, "we don't know what it is."
-----
The Mayor and Policepony left the city hall and trotted onto Las Pegasus's busy main street. This street of Las Pegasus was crowded most of the time, even more so when the lunch rush was on. "Hold on I'll call the Mayor's carriage to take us" Control said taking out his phone from his suit pocket. The phone lines had been down for the last 3 days, but today communication engineers had re-established connections to local lines, calling places inside Equestria was once again possible, but places like the Griffon Kingdom and Saddle Arabia was still met with silence. But just like the other mysteries popping up in Equestria, the cause could not be found.
"Sir; it may be quicker to gallop there, it's not far and timing is of the essence" Flashlight suggested limbering up. A small smile appeared on Flashlight's face "Or have you lost your edge over all these years" she laughed trying to bring some cheerfulness to the glum situation.
Control raised an eyebrow at Flashlight "I haven't lost my edge, I was always the faster one back when we were foals" Control replied as he smiled for the first time this morning. Flashlight always seemed to find a way to make Control smile, whenever he felt he was alone and depressed Flashlight would always appear, and light up Control's gloomy world. And with that boast the mayor and police pony galloped together to the city outskirts.
Outside Las Pegasus the Police Department and the Desert Rangers had set up a small outpost while they were searching for the lost ponies. They were instructed to bring any of the missing ponies here during the search and treat any that were wounded, but now the camp was a smoldering wreck. As Control and Flashlight approached the burnt out camp they stopped dead in their tracks. Tents were smoking and covered in smoldering bullet holes, medical carriages burned and dead ponies slumped against them. The corpses around the camp wore fresh holes on their bodies; some were still bleeding, they had not been dead for long.
Control and Flashlight stood at the entrance of the camp absolutely frozen in terror. It was a rare sight in Equestria to spot a dead body, it was practically unheard of to see this many pony corpses in one area. As his name suggested, Control always kept his head under pressure, it made him a great mayor and a great pony to turn to in a crisis. Even now Control knew he had a job to do, he approached the closest body inspecting the wounds, he couldn't determine the cause of death. The dead pegasus had unique bullet holes, the wounds were to big to be from any Equestrian weapon and Griffon and Zebra bullets do not disintegrate all the interior organs in its path leaving a gaping hole like the bodies scattered around the camp. This was all like a nightmare, Control had seen the reports of ponies dying out here, but he never imagined it would be this horrific, so much blood, so many dead. Flashlight drew her police pistol and scanned her surroundings, apart from Control there were no other signs of life, until something moved about inside one of the tents, Flashlight and Control looked over to it as they heard it. Control slowly picked up the pistol from the dead desert ranger and moved towards the tent, Flashlight moved up next to Control and put a hoof over the entrance flap of the tent. "Ready?" Flashlight whispered; Control nodded. Flashlight flung open the flap and held up her gun, "LP PD! Put up your hooves!" Flashlight yelled.
Control's eyes widened as he saw the odd being inside, "What the hec-" Control started to say until he was cut down by two green glowing bolts tearing holes through his chest and leg. Flashlight shot 3 rounds into the tent; missing the obscured figure as it darted left through medical tables and escaped through the open window.
"Run Flash, evacuate Las Pegasus" Control rasped before bleeding out on the sandy tent floor. Even in his final moments, Control was always thinking about what would be the best course of action for his ponies.
Flashlight ran faster than she ever had before, she herd more of those 'monsters' fill the camp and began firing at her, but she was quick enough to escape their gunfire. 'What are these things?! Where did they come from?! Why did they attack us?! Control... Oh Celestia...' With confusion, sorrow and fear clouding her mind, she didn't think they would follow her home.
-----
20 minutes later a phone call is sent to the Canterlot National Council. A maize coated unicorn, who had just returned from her lunch, put on her headset and took the call. "Canterlot National Council's clerk desk, Gold Slipper speaking" the unicorn said professionally.
The pony on the other side of the line sounded wounded and distraught. "T-This is Policepony Flashlight of the Las Pegasus Police Department! I need to speak with Celestia!" Flashlight shouted from the office of Mayor Control.
Gold Slipper raised an eyebrow, "on what grounds grant you the urgency to talk to the princess, state your business" Gold Slipper demanded while looking up Flashlight's files on her computer.
"Las Pegasus is under attack by these, 'things!' Celestia needs to prepare the other cities for this invasion!" Flashlight yelled clutching her bleeding shoulder. She looked out of the window at the carnage happening outside, it looked like the gates of Tartarus had opened up releasing the underworld on the city. Smoke bellowed from the windows of the tall buildings of Las Pegasus as the monsters had taken to lighting fires to smoke ponies out of their hiding places and into the street to be gunned down by the molten green bullets.
Gold Slipper was silent for a moment, until finally answering in a stern tone "this had better not be a prank." Gold Slipper transferred the call to the royal palace.
Flashlight paced about the office of her childhood friend, trying not to look at the chaos happening outside the large windows, or remember what she had seen at the outpost camp. After what seemed like hours the phone call was picked up by the royal palace. "This is Celestia; ruler of Equestria. What is it that you need to tell me Flashlight?" the grand alicorn said calmly. Celestia was a majestic alicorn with a heavenly beautiful mane that flowed effortlessly through the air even without wind to lift it. Although Flashlight could not see Celestia, to hear the alicorn's voice was sublime and calming by itself. She was not like any other monarch, the king griffon or the ruler of the zebras would never simply accept a call from a random civilian in their land, but Celestia would, her generosity and care for her ponies was unmatched.
"Your Majesty! Las Pegasus is currently under attack from an unidentified force! I tried my hardest to get ponies to evacuate, but now those 'things' roam the streets shooting anypony they see!" Flashlight yelled in panic.
"Please Flashlight remain calm, reinforcements are on the way. Now who is attacking the city?" Celestia asked keeping a level head, she waved a hoof at a royal guard to put together a detachment.
"Theres no time for that Princess! The city is overrun and the ponies who could get away have gotten away! I'm calling you so you can prepare Equestria's forces to stop this invasion of the country!"
"I... I understand" Celestia answered with great difficulty. "What are the 'things' attacking the city?"
"Earlier today the desert rangers found a... A giant... disk-like... object" Flashlight answered trying to find the right words to describe the unknown object. "I went back to tell the mayor, but when we returned to the camp it was already destroyed. We saw this... 'monster' in a tent that killed Mayor Control with some type of gun. Both the monster and the gun it fired are things that I have never seen or heard of in all of Equestria!" Flashlight explained trying to recall the horrid events of her morning.
Celestia's expression changed to an icy cold glare as she realized what was going on. "Because they are not from Equestria; not even from this planet. It wasn't a comet that flew past our planet; it was an alien spaceship, and it landed in Equestria... Why have they come? Why would they be shooting ponies?" Celestia began to lose herself in her questions. She took a deep breath and spoke to the policepony calmly, "Flashlight; I need you to get out of Las Pegasus, run with the others to Appleloosa or Ponyville, you'll be safe there"
Flashlight was silent for a few seconds, "that's not going to happen. Somepony has to buy the refugees some time" Flashlight said sternly hanging up before Celestia could voice her rebuttal. Flashlight grabbed her police pistol from it's holster on her chest and stormed her way outside into the warzone.
--------------------------1 day after the First Encounter--------------------------
Panic settled in all over Equestria, an entire city had been destroyed and now no pony was safe from this new invasion. Tales were told of the utter destruction from Las Pegasus which causes fear and chaos to spread throughout the civilians all over Equestria, and some of the armed forces also. Ponies nationwide call to Celestia for protection, but without her magic she was powerless to stop the invasion. Celestia worried about other civilizations around the world also, if this was a full scale invasion of the planet were they being attacked also? If Equestria couldn't defend herself, what hope did places like the Badlands and Saddle Arabia have? With great difficulty Celestia decided that Equestria needed everything it had to fight off their own invasion. Other civilizations had to fend for themselves for the time being.
The aliens quickly begin a shock and awe campaign targeting small locations around Las Pegasus, and destructive attacks on larger settlements injecting fear into the entire population of Equestria. Celestia responded by deploying detachments of the Canterlot royal guard to nearby townships and outposts, but with their numbers spread so thin and the advanced alien weapons, they too were gunned down as the alien's broke through Equestria's defenses. They could kill anypony; anywhere; at anytime. It seemed the aliens lacked reason and purpose to their invasion, they were here to kill, and Equestria couldn't stop them.
Celestia prepares her ultimate weapon to fight the aliens, she summons the Wielders of Harmony to the Canterlot Royal Palace. But the aliens had expected this, somehow they had found out about Equestria's secret weapon, and found a way to counter it. The power of harmony fizzled and died leaving the wielders confused and disorientated. Celestia bucked a wall in her rage, her mighty legs left large cracks in the solid stone wall. She knew what went wrong; it was all part of their plan! Harmony was broken, with the majority of Equestria hiding in fear and worrying about themselves there was no power to fuel the elements. When the aliens began their shock and awe tactic it not only broke Equestria's morale but its greatest weapon.
Their was one bright light at the end of the long and dark tunnel stretched out in front of Equestria. A rumor spoke of the Crystal Empire pushing back an alien assault on their capital. Tales of the heroic stallion 'Prince Shining Armor' leading an elite force of crystal ponies to victory against this new threat. This rumor was true.
--------------------------2 days after the First Encounter--------------------------
With the Crystal Palace secure from another attack; Shining Armor and his troops pushed southward towards Canterlot. His elite platoon arrived in Canterlot streets clad in crystal armor, bearing the banners of the Crystal Empire. Despite the twinkling crystal armor's firm exterior, the alien weaponry could easily penetrate it and kill the owner. The same could be said about the large golden banners of the Crystal Empire, in combat they would draw the alien's attention and give them something to step on after crushing the crystal ponies defensive lines. Logically Shining Armor did not bring these artifacts into battle, but he did bring them to Canterlot today. Equestria needed to feel safe under the watch of the crystal ponies, maybe with the help of their stunning banner and armor, Equestria's moral will rise in this horrifying situation.
As the unit moved into the Canterlot Palace courtyard they were greeted by the stunning white Alicorn Princess Celestia, along with her powerful sister Princess Luna, and finally her wise student Princess Twilight Sparkle. "All hail Prince Shining Armor" Celestia announced taking to a bow; along with her entourage.
"Please Celestia, Luna and Twilight, I didn't come here for praise. I'm here to help the rest of Equestria push back the alien invasion" Shining Armor said with pride.
Celestia arose to her hooves "you deserve the praise whether you wished it or not. You have proven you are capable of facing the aliens... More than myself. All of Equestria is eternally indebted to you, including myself and the other rulers. However I shall not let you face this new threat by yourself" Celestia announced looking to the sky. "I am giving you command over the greatest fighting force Equestria has to offer; the Wonderbolts" Celestia called to the sky as the identical blue clad pegasus team took to the skies, they flew overhead in a loud roar and left a white smoke trail in their wake. Ponies witnessing this historic moment exploded into mess of cheers and hoof stomps. 'The two strongest fighting forces of Equestria were joining up! The aliens were not going to stand a chance!' Hope was slowly returning to Equestria.
The head wonderbolt landed facing Prince Shining Armor, kicking up a small amount of dust of the Canterlot pavement. She removed her mask revealing her yellow face and fiery mane to the majestic Stallion. "Spitfire, Captain of the wonderbolts, reporting for duty" she announced saluting proudly.
The prince of the Crystal Empire returned the salute to Spitfire and then faced Celestia, "I will take this gift along with your blessing. I swear; I will use everything I can muster from myself and my troops to defend this great nation, and bring the aliens to justice for this senseless invasion!" The crowd erupted into celebration over the Prince's speech.
-----
"Before you go Shining Armor, I'd like to discuss something with you" Princess Twilight said as she beckoned Shining Armor to follow her.
Shining Armor nodded and waved a hoof at his platoon "ponies; get armed and ready to move, we'll leave shortly" he ordered his troops as he followed Twilight. Some of his troops snickered at the captain spending some alone time with his sister, other soldiers felt proud to be by his side in this war, even with everything going on he could still spare time for his family.
Once they couldn't be heard by anypony else, Twilight leaped at Shining Armor and hugged her brother. "I'm really proud of you, you're the single pony that Equestria will unite under. You're the light in the darkness; you have-"
"I can't do this alone Twily" Shining Armor interrupted. "Yeah okay, I have beaten back aliens on some skirmishes, but it hasn't been without losses... Twily I need your help."
"What do you need? You know I'm no soldier" Twilight asked confused.
"I need your research talents; I need your brains. If the unicorns could get their magic back then we could fight back the alien invasion with ease. Or even if the CWF could regain control of the weather we could use to our advantage. Twilight; I need you to find the cause and solution to these problems, I know your the only pony who can do this. We won't last long against the aliens unless we gain a deceive advantage." Shining Armor gazed over his ponies, he truly didn't want any of them to die.
"I will do this for you brother, only if you do one thing for me" Twilight said moving closer to Shining Armor.
"What is it?"
"Come home alive" Twilight demanded as she hugged her brother.
"I'll try my best" Shining Armor returned the hug with a soft nuggie.
--------------------------3 days after the First Encounter--------------------------
A press conference is called at the royal palace. Celestia announces to Equestria that the counter attack has begun. She also reveals to the public of the merge of the Wonderbolts and the Crystal Empire's finest into the new unit named "The First Line of Defense."
Throughout the following months the FLD (First Line of Defense) confronted alien attack forces all over Equestria, from the badlands down south to the Crystal palace in the north, the FLD answered the call. Despite Shining Armor's personal opinion, his forces were to few to deploy to anywhere over the seas, the other races would have to protect themselves. The aliens hit hard and fast, but the FLD still bravely stood against them and held their lines majorly slowing the alien invasion and protecting cities from being invaded. They lacked the scientific advantage the aliens had, but bested them by skill, tactics and determination.
Equestria finally had its hero, his inspiring courage radiated throughout the ponies of Equestria uniting the nation to stand tall and together. Thanks to this new hope the elements of harmony slowly began to regain their power that was lost, but it would take time. Equestria had to prove that it could revive it's harmony before the power of the elements could be harnessed.
Slowly Shining Armor began to believe that his forces had reached their peak fighting condition, while alien forces still grew in numbers and brought out more unique soldiers and advanced weapons. He told himself that if he could just keep fighting a little while longer his sister and wielders of harmony could come in and save the day like they always would, he had to just hold out long enough.
The First Line of Defense were fighting a losing battle.