The Equestrian X-Com Project

The Equestrian X-Com Project
Chapter 7: Salvaging Hope

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"Somepony tell me, what are we supposed to be doing here?" Cloud Chaser, the violet pegasus asked her two squad mates as they trotted through the ruined streets of Ponyville. Even though the aliens were cleared out from this side of the Ponyville river, the damage still remained; physical, and emotional. 3 days was not enough to rebuild the town, and rebuilding the emotional damage was impossible.

Octavia Philharmonica trotted along side the pegasus, her X-Com tagged sniper rifle was holstered on her back. "We are here to keep watch on the containment line. We must make sure that the river keeps the Chryssalids inside the west side of Ponyville..." Octavia paused as she watched a stallion barricading his home. "Also with our regular patrols it should show the ponies living here that X-Com is still standing strong and ready to protect them."

"So trot into town, wave our guns about, flash our insignia around, and everything should go back to normal? Feh, sounds like a complete waste of our time and skills" Cloud Chaser groaned shaking her head.

"Cut the chatter, the last thing these ponies need to know is our internal arguments" Thunderlane ordered as he trotted ahead of the two mares. He noticed a group of stallions stop talking among themselves to watch the X-Com squad trot past, their expressions were not inviting. Other ponies just turned their heads away giving the X-Com squad the cold shoulder. Thunderlane hid his face by running a hoof through his mohawk, "most of these ponies have already given up on the X-Com project, we have to show them we can take back this fight and defeat the aliens once and for all."

If it was any other pony Cloud Chaser might have argued further, expressing her foul opinion of their chances of impressing ponies by simply trotting through the town, or their chances when facing the alien's latest weapon; which was currently locked in west Ponyville. But because it was Thunderlane, because Thunderlane was different, because Thunderlane had barely spoke to anypony since the Ponyville invasion, Cloud Chaser decided against pushing the stalwart stallion further.

Octavia looked uneasy, she seemed distracted and edgy as she trotted alongside the two pegasi. "So where exactly are we heading? Just around the block and back to base?" Octavia asked Thunderlane. She wanted to leave the outside world, she wanted to head back to the dark underground base, she wanted to be with her.

"Dr Whooves told me to take you two out of the base and get some fresh air into your lungs. So how about we visit the town hall and check up on Mayor Mare, then we can head back okay?" Thunderlane suggested turning to see Octavia silently agree and Cloud Chaser softly shrug her shoulders. Despite Thunderlane's own problems Dr Whooves wanted him to lead this outside squad, the doctor wanted somepony to take Octavia outside to get her out of the base, also he wanted to remind Thunderlane how much of the town he saved, and how many ponies were still alive because of him. And who knows? Maybe getting Cloud Chaser out of the cramped base and out in the open might calm her down?

Dr Whooves was wrong, Octavia felt alone and afraid, Cloud Chaser felt crestfallen and depressed, and Thunderlane could only think about his broken promise as he trotted through the destroyed town. The ash covered streets, the desperate survivors, the stench of death, it all was a cold reminder of what happens if the aliens are allowed to carry out their horrific plans. So much death and destruction, and for what purpose? What is there to gain from this senseless invasion?

The three soldier ponies made their way further into the town. Everywhere they looked they saw more destruction and more despondent and weeping civilians, and then around the next corner they beheld a sight that made Thunderlane's heart dissolve into a cold black salt.

A billboard, with a mess of posters attached, hastily written, desperate for answers. But they all had mostly the same words written upon them. 'Missing pony. Last seen; west Ponyville. Any information please give to...' Every single poster crammed onto this crowded billboard was a perfect description of every pony who was abandoned in west Ponyville. Stallions, mares, foals, they were all there, their families desperately searching for them. But in the end, they were all missing because of one pony, one pony who pledged his life to protect Ponyville; Thunderlane.

Thunderlane took a step back breathless, he looked around him to see the civilians glaring at him, young and old. He had failed all of them. "I-I've seen enough, lets head back to base" Thunderlane croaked as he turned around and began to trot back to base, hiding his face with his hoof. Octavia and Cloud Chaser followed closely, anger could make anypony do crazy things.

-----

Back at the X-Com headquarters Princess Luna had once again left her post by the hologlobe to complete her weekly Equestrian council meeting. She retired to her office and donned her X-Com commander outfit, she tried to hide her stress and her fatigue by touching up her flowing blue mane and applying a small amount of makeup to hide the bags forming under her eyes from her lack of sleep. Luna braced herself as her office wall began to open revealing the wall of monitors. She knew what was going to be said, and she had to face the consequences of her failure. As the last monitor flared to life base commander Luna bowed gracefully, "salutations noble leaders of Equestria" Luna announced.

Celestia's feed was the first to respond, "arise my sister, let us begin our second Equestrian council meeting" the alicorn announced, as she looked to see if the other leaders were ready to begin.

Portsaddle, a silver coated unicorn stallion who stood in front of the Baltimare coat of arms, began the first topic. "Let's start with X-Com's achievements over the past week. Generally speaking the X-Com project performed well this week, saving Trottingham and the hostages before the aliens could abduct them. Also your effort to save half of Ponyville was; commendable" Portsaddle explained from his report.

"We attempt to confront the aliens where ever they decide to attack, thankfully the aliens only made two strikes on Equestrian soil" Luna answered feeling relieved that the council was impressed by her work.

Princess Cadence was the next council member to speak, "I have been reading the latest X-Com casualty report. My heart goes out to Braeburn's family and friends, along with his squad mates inside the X-Com ranks. I know your 'nano fiber vests' were a good step in the right direction to protect your soldiers, but unfortunately failed to save Braeburn's life. I would like to request your scientists research further into stronger armors in the future."

"I understand Princess Cadence, thou have my oath that I will be aiming our research projects into saving my soldiers" Luna answered raising her hoof, and then withdrawing it quickly.

The grand alicorn Princess Celestia gave a concerned look at her sister, "are you sure it was necessary to involve Braeburn in the X-Com project? He was just a armed civilian after all."

"According to Vinyl Scratch he was quite skillful out in Appleloosa and Trottingham, and as a explosive specialist he was an important member to X-Com. He pledged to serve, he accepted the risks, he died for Equestria's freedom" Luna announced, she felt her actions were justified.

"Please give Applejack my condolences, I know her heart must be broken loosing somepony that close to her. Do not drive your staff to hard or you may break them completely, what is the point of saving Equestria if we sacrifice all of its civilians along the way?" Princess Cadence added as she ended her report.

Celestia turned her head to the Manehatten monitor, "Fillyances? As a major funder can we count on your funding over the next month?" Celestia inquired concerned.

The smoky grey mare put her hooves together in front of her face as she glared at Luna as she contemplated the value of the X-Com project. "Let me be frank, I am not impressed about your efforts in Ponyville. If it was the Manehatten armed forces deployed instead of your small X-Com detachments, we would have purged the entire township of the alien infestation instead of just quarantining it. The fact that the infestation still lingers and still endangers the remaining ponies living in the other areas of Ponyville, is evidence of your incompetence."

"Imagine the casualties if it you flooded the town with your troops! Imagine how quickly the infestation would grow as your soldiers died!" Cadence interjected unable to hold her emotions inside.

Luna lowered her head letting the smoky earth pony tower over her, "the quarantine line will hold. As long as the river runs the Chrysalids will have to brave the Everfree forest before they could invade the rest of Ponyville. I am sorry our efforts were unable to save all of Ponyville."

Fillyances shot her dull brown eyes over to Cadence, and then back to Luna. "On the other hoof the X-Com project faced the aliens in all of their attacks this week, as I asked during our last council meeting. So for now I will continue to fund your project, consider yourself lucky the aliens only attacked twice."

"Consider Equestria lucky the aliens only attacked twice" Princess Celestia added.

"I will try to improve our efforts to increase our effectiveness out on thy battlefield" Luna answered raising her head back up.

"There is no try, you ether succeed, or die. Do not fail me again" Fillyances threatened pointing her hoof at the video screen.

Celestia looked over to Fillyances, making sure she was finished before speaking with Princess Luna again, "tell me sister, have you tried to land any squads in west Ponyville to save more citizens? A Skyranger should prove quite effective against those flightless monsters."

Luna looked to Celestia, "I hath contemplated that, but the aliens had thought of that too. Our radar reports the aliens have set up a large anti air gun placement in the heart of west ponyville. It threatens any craft flying at low altitudes and any pegasi trying to fly across the river... A ground squad will have to dismantle it before flight in that area is possible... Which requires sending more ponies into the infestation..." Luna explained glumly.

Celestia looked at the ground and nodded her head, she knew Luna would have already thought of all she could do to save those ponies. Celestia had to move on and finish up this meeting "before we disperse, I suggest we extend our weekly council meetings. If the aliens have spaced out their attacks, we may accomplish much more if we space out our meetings also" Celestia suggested, the other council members agreed. "Then if that's all we have to say, I declare our second meeting finished. My blessings over all of you and your ponies, may you be safe till we meet again."

Luna bowed her head again as the monitors switched off, she had hoped her sister would have stayed for a little while longer, but she had all of Equestria to manage during this invasion. Despite being the powerful princess of the night, she felt safer when her sister was around, her comforting voice made Luna believe that everything would be alright. Before the invasion she would spend every day with her sister, but now Luna felt lost without her. The alicorn of the night was strong, but friendship was stronger. Luna sat down behind her desk, she just wanted a few seconds to collect her thoughts before returning to her post. She looked at her front hooves laid out before her, she had not noticed how brittle they had become, she had not taken the time to notice the changes to her body over the last few weeks. She felt sick whenever she thought about what she was becoming, what the war was asking of her.

The midnight blue alicorn's self reflection was interrupted by the brown stallion doctor as he entered the small office. "Ah Luna, I finally found you" Doctor Whooves exclaimed with relief.

Luna swallowed her sadness and looked up to face the doctor with her determined expression, "Doctor Whooves, what is it that you need of me?"

"I have a request related to the latest medical report" the doctor started as he drew a small clipboard out of his hourglass saddlebags. "The good news is that Vinyl Scratch is finally awake, she should be ready to rejoin the ranks by tonight. The bad news is that moral and sanity seems to be dwindling in our troops. I worry for Thunderlane, Bonbon and Bulk Biceps. The three of them saw some pretty horrifying sights during the Ponyville operation. Thunderlane and Bulk should be fine to remain in the ranks but I fear that placing Bonbon back on the front lines before some mental treatment will effect her permanently. With your permission I request that I can spend some time with Bonbon before she is sent on another mission" the doctor explained as he read off his clipboard.

"I understand... So be it, I shall remove Bonbon from thy mission pool" Luna responded.

"I feel our ranks may be spread a bit thin now. With the loss of Braeburn and now Bonbon, do you feel you still have enough ponies to face the aliens?" the brown stallion asked concerned.

Luna nodded, "we have a new recruit coming in soon, she will fill in the gaps in our staff."

The doctor nodded and left the office. Once Luna knew Doctor Whooves had left she buried her head into her hooves. She felt awful about replacing Braeburn like this, like a broken gear in a machine, 'he was more than that, he can never be replaced.'

-----

Braeburn's death shocked the X-Com base like never before. Unlike Milky Way; Braeburn was known throughout the base, he had made quite a name for himself during the short time he was living in the base. Now that he was gone the staff moral was low; and even Pinkie's parties couldn't raise it back to normal. Loosing a friend in Equestria was like loosing a brother.

Despite the loss of Braeburn the staff still found it hard to sleep at nights, Applejack's engineers had been working throughout the day and the night building the alien containment chamber. Twilight Sparkle had been overseeing Applejack's engineers at the construction site, she made sure the engineers followed her designs to the letter. Something was bothering the head researcher, she hadn't seen Applejack for days, she thought the head engineer would at least be directing her engineers on this important construction.

Twilight entered the empty engineering department looking for her missing friend. The orange mare was easy to spot, a lone light illuminated Applejack at her workbench, completely alone in the large clustered department. Twilight approached Applejack, but even from a distance she knew something was wrong. "Applejack? Are you feeling alright? No pony has seen you for days, what are you doing in here?" Twilight inquired approaching Applejack from behind.

Applejack turned her head briefly, and then returned to her work. Despite her short eye contact with Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn was able to identify Applejack's red glassy eyes and her tear stained face underneath the shadow of her hat. "Just building the arc caster Luna wanted, what did ya need from me?" Applejack croaked as she tried to make her voice sound normal.

Twilight had a strong suspicion why Applejack was behaving weirdly, "Applejack; you can't deal with Braeburn's death alone. It's okay to feel sad, it's okay to ask for-"

"You wouldn't understand, just leave me alone Twi" Applejack responded bluntly.

Twilight felt slightly offended, it wasn't like Applejack to say something like that. "I lost Shining Armor to the aliens, I know what it's like to loose a family member."

"No; there's more than that" Applejack sighed sadly and put down her welder on the bench she was standing by.

"What? Please tell me Applejack, I'm here to help you" Twilight asked bracing herself for the worst.

Applejack turned to face Twilight revealing how emotionally scarred her face was. "Applebloom is missing." Twilight gasped as she heard the horrible news, Applejack continued. "Granny Smith told me she never came home after the Ponyville invasion. From what Thunderlane told me; my guess is Applebloom was over hiding in the school house when Thunderlane blew the bridges."

This was dreadful, innocent little Applebloom missing in a war zone! Hearing about the mass grave from Vinyl Scratch was grim, but hearing about a foal Twilight actually knew was something much more awful. "She could still be alive, shes only missing-"

"Don't lie to me Twilight! Lies don't help anypony!" Applejack interrupted becoming aggressive. She took a deep breath and then continued, "I need to face the honest truth, no matter how horrible it may be. She doesn't stand a chance against those monsters..."

"Is she with anypony? She could still be alive if the surviving ponies grouped together they could survive the Chrysalid horde."

"She would be with the other school children, that's what I've figured out... Rarity was pretty smart to send Sweetie Belle away with her parents, otherwise Rarity would be just like me" Applejack sighed and turned back to her work.

"There is still a chance she is okay, there is always hope."

"Thank you Twilight, your right; I need to stay positive... Please; I need to be alone" Applejack said and picked up her tools.

Twilight retreated to the entrance of engineering department giving in to her friend's wishes. "You know where to find me if you need me" Twilight said as she left the room, leaving Applejack alone once again in the dark. Applejack tried to continue her work until her emotions overcame her again for the sixth time today, she threw her tools on the ground and began to weep openly on the cold steel work bench.

-----

Later that day X-Com's newest recruit sat inside Luna's office, face to face with base commander Luna. The alicorn glared at the mare on the other side of her desk measuring her up, coldly calculating her worth. The mare looked agitated and aggressive, but strong willed and determined, something motivated her deep down inside. Luna concluded her chances of survival were among the higher chances she had judged previously, but like Milky Way and Braeburn, she had been wrong before. "Tell me; why? Why do you want to join the fight? You witnessed what occurred in Ponyville" Princess Luna inquired.

The mare sat openly, determined to fight the aliens, even if Luna rejected her. "I was wrong to blame X-Com for what happened. I know who was responsible for the destruction, I know who killed my children" The mare responded. Her voice sounded emotionless and cold. "I will not rest until I kill every last alien on Equestrian soil! I have nothing else left now..." The mare added lowering her head.

Luna made up her mind, "and thou shall. Prepare yourself; thy new home is here, thou will live thy life here, and thou shall kill when thou are not here. Life in the project is difficult, only thy willpower will see thou through. Make thy pledge now Cheerilee!" Luna announced.

The earth pony ex-teacher then took to her knees before the princess of the night, and then announced her pledge which bound her life to the protection of Equestria. "Every day from Celestia, and every night from Luna, I shall protect Equestria with my life."

[New Recruit added]
[Support Squadie Cheerilee added, Smoke Grenade perk added]

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Like Luna; Twilight had many tasks to take care of today too, including giving two proposals to the head armor developer and Twilight's brightest scientist. Twilight sat in her small meeting room by her laboratory waiting for the two ponies she asked for to show up. She waited in silence for 5 minutes thinking about Applejack before the first pony showed up, it was the glamorous Unicorn Rarity gracefully trotting into the small meeting room. "Twilight darling; you look awfully ragged, no offence. Have you been galloping around all day? You need to take some time off, constant work does no good to your skin" Rarity lectured.

Twilight grinned, at least Rarity hadn't lost her passion. "Good to see you again Rarity, it's been awhile hasn't it?" Twilight inquired as she realized she hadn't seen Rarity for days. With everypony galloping about like headless horses; no pony had time to stop and catch up.

Rarity backed up slight and blinked her eyes a few times as she realized that fact. "It has been awhile hasn't it? We should have a good catch up with the others over at Pinkie's bar."

"That would be a good idea, Applejack needs us now more than ever" Twilight answered.

Rarity nodded sadly, "yes that's true. I feel we could all give up some time to comfort Applejack, or at least have a funeral for Braeburn and Milky Way" Rarity suggested, her element of generosity picking her words for her.

"I'll run it by Luna when I see her next... Anyway I called you here to give you some notes on a new armor design. I have outlined a few ways to attach compressed alloy into our current armor, it should provide our soldiers with more protection than our nano fiber vests" Twilight explained handing half her schematics over to Rarity.

Rarity looked over the schematics, a glowing inspiration slowly filled her eyes as she began to plan out her new armor. "I believe I could put something together for you darling. What about those other schematics? Who are they for?" Rarity inquired noticing the other schematics on the meeting table.

"Those are for a new weapon design, Applejack is to; busy; to design a prototype, so I'm going to task those to my brightest researcher-"

"-It's only natural you would task such an important task to the Great and Powerful Trixie!" a blue unicorn announced as she entered the meeting room.

Rarity swung her head around with astonishment, and then back to Twilight with and expression which read 'for real?' Twilight nodded "err, yes. This is my brightest scientist Trixie, I believe you two have met."

"Yes, we have. She turned my beautiful hair green" Rarity commented holding her nose up to Trixie.

"Trixie may have done some things in the past that she is not proud of. But Trixie is a changed pony now" Trixie replied.

Twilight nodded, "believe me Rarity, she is a different pony. Her dedication is unwavering and her determination is unmatched throughout the lab. She was behind most of the 'nano fiber vest' project" Twilight explained taking pride in her new friend's work.

"The great and powerful Trixie believes that this war can be won. With Trixie on X-Com's side victory is assured!" Trixie bellowed.

Rarity was about to comment on Trixie's arrogance but Twilight interrupted her. "Err, anyway Trixie; I have here outlines of your next project. I believe you are capable of this task" Twilight suggested sliding Trixie's schematic across the meeting table.

"Hah; no task is to tall for Trixie!" Trixie boasted taking a look at the blue schematic. Suddenly her face dropped and a serious glare appeared on her face. "Are you tricking Trixie? How many science fiction books have you been reading lately?"

"I'm being serious; I feel laser weaponry is within our grasp. With the technology brought by the aliens and previous Equestrian research projects into lasers; I know X-Com can master lasers and turn them into a powerful weapon."

"Trixie agrees with this; so be it! Trixie shall construct these laser weapons, and all over Equestria ponies will know that the great and powerful Trixie is responsible for such an achievement! It was nice seeing you again Rarity" Trixie announced as she left the meeting room.

Rarity was still not convinced. "At least she said it was nice seeing you" Twilight chuckled awkwardly scratching the back of her head with her hoof.

-----

"All I'm trying to say is be careful; the base has been changing. The soldiers are not the same ponies they were before your incapacitation" Octavia Philharmonica warned Vinyl Scratch who was recently released from the medical ward.

"Your talkin' crazy Tavi; ponies just don't up and change like that" the white unicorn responded feeling sure she was right.

Octavia shrugged as she put her hoof on the door leading to the lounge, "see for yourself then" Octavia said as she opened the door revealing the gloomy lounge inside.

It looked like life itself had left the remaining soldiers, their drive and dreams had been torn from them, like a wilted flower deprived of water. Bulk Biceps gazed at an empty cider glass placed on the table he sat at. His eyes seemed tired; his eyelids trembled fighting the urge to close and try to escape this hell. Lyra and Bonbon had set up on a few beanbags, they were silent and motionless, even though the two of them sat together they showed no signs of acknowledging each other.

Cloud Chaser sat by herself in the far booth with a hoof planted in her mane supporting her head, Vinyl Scratch could see her mutter "I can't believe he's gone." Even Pinky Pie seemed lifeless behind the bar, which was quite a change from her usual energetic spirit. Her hooves clumsily moved about trying to put together a few muffins, but she didn't seemed to thrilled about making the sweets she had been happily making for most of her life.

And finally, sitting down by the bar with his face in his hooves was the heroic stallion Thunderlane. Despite his grueling training in the Wonderbolt academy, despite all of his prior battle experience, the aliens had finally got to him. The sighting of the Ponyville bulletin board broke him, he couldn't face Equestria knowing what he had done.

The state of her team, the hope that had been stolen, the damage the aliens had done, made Vinyl Scratch feel sick to the bone. Octavia turned to her friend and was about to repeat her earlier warning but she was silenced as she saw Vinyl's expression. The white unicorn wasn't angry, or sad, she was determined. Vinyl Scratch trotted into the center of the lounge, the ponies heads rose around her, some startled to see Vinyl Scratch awake, others turned their attention to her because they knew Vinyl had something to say. "Have you forgotten what's happening? Have you forgotten why we are all here in this Celestia forsaken bunker? You all know what we are here to do, and what risks we face every day. Sure; some of us might die... In fact there is a good chance we'll all die. Sure we can just mope around here thinking about Equestria's bleak future, but here's the thing; I guarantee the aliens destroy Equestria if we do" Vinyl Scratch explained looking about her comrades.

A majority of the ponies were unmoved by Vinyl's comments, but not Thunderlane. The stallion straightened himself up and took to Vinyl's side. "She right ponies! Do you realize what the aliens are here for? Realize what they are doing? They're not here to capture Equestria, they're not here to steal the elements of harmony, heck they're not even here to capture the princesses... They are here to kill, kill EVERY LAST PONY living on this world. Your friends, your family, your elders, everypony!" Thunderlane barked. The soldiers slowly began to assemble around the two makeshift commanders.

"Yeah! We can't sit here and hide while Equestria needs us!" Bulk Biceps roared stomping his hooves on the floor.

"That's right! They won't even use Equestria when we die! They'll just leave it dead! Leaving this paradise a hollow waste of opportunity!" Midnight Strike added.

By this time Derpy Whooves had come out from her dorm and joined the group, "ohh who's cooking muffins!" she added smelling Pinkie's upcoming batch of muffins.

"Your damn right Derpy!" Vinyl barked not really taking in what the grey pegasus said, still Derpy was visibly pleased to be acknowledged. "Now lets get out there and buck some serious alien ass! Let me hear your hooves!" Vinyl shouted raising her hoof up into the air. The lounge erupted into an explosion of hoof stomps and cheers, Octavia let out a sigh at Vinyl bringing up the topic of alien asses again. Suddenly the cheering stopped as a loud siren flooded the base, some of the soldiers gasped and lost their composure, but seeing Thunderlane and Vinyl's determined stances filled their blood with determination.

Thunderlane lowered his head, like he was about to charge straight through everypony to get to the aliens. "Let's do this one for Braeburn!" Thunderlane scowled and the soldiers charged out of the lounge, even though only five soldiers could be deployed; eveypony wanted to be there to beg Luna to get the chance to face the aliens again.

-----

"Commander! Our radar has detected another small scout UFO flying near our vicinity!" a pegasus stallion by the radar feed called out to Luna.

"Send forth an interceptor! Get Lightning Dust to thy launchpad! Summon Thunderlane and Vinyl Scratch to me; I have a special mission for them" Luna ordered as she took Applejack's prototype out from under her desk.

"Right away Commander!" the white stallion responded and grabbed the base phone from his desk.

Luna bumped her hooves together as she glared at the UFO flying on the hologlobe, "thou shall not escape me this time" she bellowed remaining still and ready as her staff ran around her frantically setting the X-Com gears into motion.

Soon the command room was filled with various staff members, crowding around the hologram's monitor. The monitor showed a video of Lightning Dust's field of vision. Far below her sands and cliffs around Dodge Junction flew past her at tremendous speeds. Up above her the sun pierced the clouds and produced an unpleasant heat to the plains. Directly to the front of her, a small sized alien ship tried to outrun the X-Com interceptor.

The UFO desperately shot from left to right as it tried to shake Lightning Dust, but the cocky pegasus was a much better flyer than the alien craft. "Alright lets see what this puppy can do!" Lightning Dust called out as she raised up her two hoof mounted weapons. The monitor flashed white twice as Lightning Dust fired both missiles from her hooves, one missed the UFO completely and the other exploded on the top of the alien disk.

Princess Twilight raised her radio to her mouth, "be careful with the missiles, they're not cheap" Twilight Sparkle warned.

"Ugh booooring! Just let me; WOAH" Lightning Dust shouted as she dodged frantically to the right dodging an incoming plasma bolt. "Sonofa!" Lightning Dust retorted and fired her next two missiles into the UFO's engines. The missiles hit true critically damaging the UFO's engines, causing the craft to shake violently and loose speed and altitude. Lightning Dust knew she had won, but still she took this chance to catch right up and fly above the descending UFO. Flaunting her flying and combat ability she span upside down and stuck out her hoof bellow her. "Time to crack this baby open!" Lightning Dust laughed and fired a final missile into the center of the UFO. The missile pierced through the alien armor and struck the mysterious green pillar in the center of the UFO. The pillar and missile exploded into a violent green fireball, sending shrapnel flinging out into the landscape and completely tearing the UFO in two separate pieces, destroying any chance X-Com had to salvage anything from this UFO.

Twilight gasped in horror as she watched the UFO rip apart; as if in slow motion. All she could do was watch her research opportunity fall lifelessly to the ground. "NO! What have you done!" Twilight cried out into the radio. Around her some of the staff were horrified at the destructive sight, while others applauded and cheered feeling the aliens got what they deserved.

In her rage Luna slammed her hooves into her chair, she could have salvaged much from that UFO but now it was all lost. "Lightning Dust return to base now! Fluttershy; thou are cleared to move in, see what thou can recover from the crash!" Luna boomed frustrated with her new interceptor pilot.

"Hah that thing didn't stand a chance against me! Returning to base" Lightning Dust laughed unaware of the base's reaction to her combat.

-----

Roughly 5 minutes after Lightning Dust left the airspace above Dodge Junction, the X-Com Skyranged flew slowly over the area searching for the crashed UFO and a suitable landing spot. Fluttershy flinched as she spotted the two halves of the UFO implanted into a small section of gorges. 'The aliens are evil and this may be what they deserve, but why is destruction all that X-Com can achieve?' "I see the crash site, you could use the base of the gorges to sneak closer" Fluttershy called out to her crew.

Vinyl Scratch's voice answered back, "sounds good, land us here and we'll close in on hoof."

"Okay, setting us down now" Fluttershy called out again as she lowered the interceptor to the ground. The high powered engines kicked up dust in all directions, shrouding the military aircraft but also giving away it's position. The 5 X-Com soldiers had already surrounded the landing site before the dust cleared. The soldiers selected for this mission consisted of the brash pegasus Bulk Biceps, the spaced out pegasus Derpy Whooves, the professional sniper Octavia Philharmonica, and finally the two soon-to-be commanders Vinyl Scratch and Thunderlane.

"Area clear!" Bulk bellowed holstering his shotgun.

"Okay what is our battle plan? What is this 'secret assignment' Luna wanted us to carry out?" Octavia asked as she turned to Vinyl Scratch and Thunderlane.

Thunderlane smiled as he pulled Applejack's prototype from his belt and showed it to his squad. "Ponies; we're in luck. Today is the day we bag a live alien. Today is the day we start abducting them. Luna wants an alien to interrogate, and we're going to give her the prize catch. Last time we cleared a crashed UFO one alien escaped, their commander. Today he is our target. Non-leathal takedowns ONLY! When you see him, call me, I'll deal with him" Thunderlane explained.

"Got it ponies? Lets turn the tide back in our favor!" Vinyl Scratch boomed charging off into the gorge. Her squad followed her in to the tight natural trenches.

-----

The heat in this area was unbearable, the 'natural' weather had not brought rain or clouds to this area for months. The ponies could feel the heat with every hoof step on the hot sand, the heat was enough to make a pony faint and possibly die given the right circumstances. Thunderlane and Bulk Biceps lead the way through the deep trenches, the walls and tight corridors prevented the team from knowing what was coming. Having the assault troops rounding the corners first was the best tactical move, but Octavia had another idea. "Vinyl; I have a suggestion" Octavia said.

The troops stopped and Vinyl turned to her friend, "what is it?" she asked as she wiped sweat from her brow.

"It might prove useful to have myself placed above the trenches walls, I could warn you of approaching aliens, and also point you towards the crashed UFO" the earth pony explained.

"You will be exposed and might get spotted, are you sure you're up for this?" Thunderlane asked.

"Okay, if you spot any aliens up there; you jump straight back down here with us" Vinyl ordered, again Octavia's tactic was a good idea; but Vinyl still hated the idea of sending Octavia off alone. Octavia nodded and approached the wall, with a boost from the white unicorn she made it to the top and clambered out of the trench.

Octavia scanned the area around her, she made notes of which rocks she could hide behind if she was spotted. Thankfully there were no aliens above the trenches so Octavia relaxed slightly. "The UFO is to the north, keep pushing along this trench" Octavia called out to the squad as she popped her head over the trench top.

Thunderlane waved a hoof "thanks Octavia; right we'll push further in, stay close everypony!" Thunderlane ordered and moved further ahead. Slowly and carefully the squad followed, covering the many branching paths. An alien could be hiding in any one of these paths and could easily flank the squad, it would be hard for a single alien to defeat the entire squad, but one well aimed plasma bullet could end the life of any of the soldiers.

Octavia silently moved towards the UFO, keeping as much of her body close to the ground as she could. She stopped as she heard alien voices, she turned her head to the right and saw a slight green glow coming from the trench. "Octavia here, I see some alien activity up ahead, get ready ponies" Octavia whispered into her radio.

Thunderlane took to the wall of the next corner and peered his head around, he spotted 3 small Sectoids lead by a large Muton. Much like the last UFO crash the aliens were shell shocked, stunned at the fact that their advanced craft was obliterated by such primitive natives. Thunderlane turned back to his teammates and tapped the ground four times, he then pointed out towards a small collapsed section of the wall on the far side of trench around the corner. Vinyl Scratch and Bulk Biceps braced themselves to run into combat, and Thunderlane began to mouth out the words "Three... Two... One..."

On his mark Thunderlane swung out from cover and blasted the closest Sectoid with his pistol covering Vinyl and Bulk as they charged across the trench and took cover behind the collapsed section of the wall. The Sectoid was knocked to the ground from the pistol's force, it clambered to it's feet heavily wounded and ran for cover with the other aliens. One of the Sectoids was gunned down by Bulk's shotgun and another dove to the ground to dodge the swarm of bullets which erupted from Vinyl's machine gun. Derpy remained at Thunderlane's side waiting for her chance to make a dash for some cover.

The two Sectoids remaining took cover behind some UFO debris, while the Muton planted his back on dead tree and fired his rifle at the wall Thunderlane was hiding behind, the stallion slipped back as the plasma exploded on the gorge wall kicking up dust and rocks. One of the Sectoids faced his wounded teammate and placed his hands on his own forehead; chanting something in alien language. Suddenly a mysterious purple energy began surrounding the alien's head, it then shot out vines of purple energy into it's teammate, sealing it's wounds and healing it's bruises.

"What the hell is it doing?! Can they use magic?!" Bulk barked out to Thunderlane over the gunfire from Vinyl's machine gun.

"That ain't no Unicorn spell" Vinyl commented as she fired her next barrage of bullets into the tree the large muscular Muton was hiding behind.

"It's healing them! Kill it!" Thunderlane ordered as he saw the alien's wounds healing.

[Aggression] "Got it Thunderlane!" Bulk Biceps bellowed and vaulted over the collapsed rocks. He charged forward and took cover behind the UFO debris the Sectoids were hiding behind. He took his shotgun in his front hooves and blasted the chanting alien in the head at close range, the shell easily killed the alien, but surprisingly the purple energy turned lethal and began to hurt the alien healing from the mysterious energy. It fell to the ground grasping it's head; and eventually it stopped moving completely.

Thunderlane watched the scene unfold, "we gotta remember that next time" Thunderlane said to himself. [Run and Gun] Thunderlane burst from cover and galloped toward the Muton, the Muton flipped out preparing to shoot the approaching stallion, but Thunderlane was to fast, he had already taken his shotgun into his hooves and taken aim at the large Muton. The shotgun blasted the Muton in the chest, knocking it to the ground and ending it's life.

Thunderlane relaxed and held his hoof up to regroup his squad, but his darted upwards as he heard a destructive barrage of alien plasma being shot above the trench. Suddenly Octavia fell from the top of the gorge and landed hard on her back on the orange desert floor, a wound from her flank slowly leaked her blood onto the sand. "Cyberdisk" Octavia croaked.

The ponies turned to the sky, lazily the sleek disk floated into view, but to those who knew it's capabilities found it horrifying. "Shoot it now!" Vinyl shouted bringing her machine gun up to her eye. But with all the combined bullets shot from the X-Com soldiers the Cyberdisk armor remained strong and deflected the lead bullets. [Shredder Rocket] "Eat this!" Vinyl shouted preparing her rocket launcher, the specially designed missile shot from the launcher and impacted on the alien device. The explosion flung shrapnel in all directions as the Cyberdisk's armor crumbled.

"Yeah! Kick it's flank!" Bulk yelled unleashing a slug from his shotgun. The bullet easily passed through the Cyberdisk's shredded armor and struck the disk's vital components. It fell from the sky and exploded on the ground, kicking sand up around it and ending the encounter.

[Medkit] "Hang on Tavi, I'm coming!" Derpy shouted galloping over to Octavia.

"Nonono, I'm fine. I am just a little winded" Octavia responded trying to get to her hooves.

Quickly the pegasus took her medical spray off her belt and into her mouth. "No you're delirious, hold still this will only take a second" Derpy shouted with panic lacing her voice. She aimed her spray and unleashed a blue cloud of medical spray into Octavia's face. Octavia broke out into a coughing frenzy as she took a breath of the medical spray. Derpy lowered her head embarrassed, "sorry Octavia, I just don't know what went wrong."

Octavia looked up annoyed "well for starters-"

"-Right ponies lets move! That UFO isn't going to claim itself" Vinyl announced interrupting Octavia. Derpy helped the dark grey earth pony to her hooves, and the X-Com squad trotted off towards the UFO.

-----

The wrecked UFO fragments were firmly planted into the ground in a small plateau in the gorge's clearing. Around the wreckage Sectoids scurried about treating their wounded and salvaging parts from their crashed UFO. To the south the X-Com soldiers hid by the gorge walls and large boulders, they watched from an elevated distance and planned how they would take the alien commander alive. Using her sniper rifle Octavia scoped out the UFO's surroundings, "I see 3 Sectoids, a Thin Pony, and a Muton... the rest have passed or are to wounded to fight" Octavia informed the others.

"What about the commander?" Thunderlane asked, a horrible feeling began to spread through his body as he thought of the commander's chance of living through the crash.

Octavia took another look through her scope, "I can't see him outside the UFO, he could be inside."

Thunderlane stomped his hoof softly in frustration. "Okay ponies, move in. I want that commander alive!" Thunderlane ordered as he lead the charge towards the wrecked UFO.

The alien heads quickly turned to see the X-Com squad descend the slope towards them; guns blazing. Bullets littered the ground as both pony and alien ran to cover before actually taking the time to aim their shots. Sparks and muzzle-flashes flared from ether side of the battlefield, but Thunderlane was not distracted. He remained crouched behind a nearby boulder waiting for the commander to show his face. Today he was the hunter; and the aliens would be hunted for the first time on Equestrian soil.

A loud gunshot from Octavia's rifle snapped Thunderlane out of his thoughts, beside him Octavia was preparing her next shot. "Are you out of ammo Thunderlane?" Octavia asked noticing Thunderlane hadn't fired his shotgun during this fight.

"I cannot give away my presence, I need every advantage I can get to take this commander" Thunderlane responded ducking a plasma bolt. His head then shot back up as he spotted his target, the black armored commander stepping out of the wreck and into the gunfight. Thunderlane's mind snapped with determination as his eyes trained on the commander. The heat was unbearable, it slowly sank into Thunderlane's skin and began to attack his brain. In the corner of his vision he saw stone slowly envelop Octavia's legs and quickly rise up and engulf her body, oddly Octavia and Thunderlane didn't seemed moved by it. The petrification continued until she was naught but a statue, like a pony who was cursed by a cockatrice. This horrifying phenomenon spread through the other members of the X-Com squad; Vinyl, Bulk, Derpy, and even the aliens, all were now solid stone statues, apart from alien commander, and the black stallion Thunderlane.

'Now! Take him down now! Save Equestria!' the words echoed through Thunderlane's mind. "Get out of my way!" Thunderlane roared as he crashed into the Octavia statue knocking it aside. He galloped forward, no hindrance, no mercy. The alien turned and saw the stampeding stallion approaching, despite his own advanced weaponry the alien turned to the north and began to flee from the maddened stallion. Thunderlane lowered his head and charged through the alien lines, his primal instincts took over and he vaulted over the UFO debris blocking his path to the commander.

His eyes remained locked on the fleeing alien as they raced through the gorge trenches on the far side of the UFO clearing, Thunderlane could see the stone forming around the gorge walls, 'not much time left! I need to catch up!' Thunderlane thought. The alien was only a few meters ahead, now only 2, now he was nearly in reach. Thunderlane's wings shot out and with a powerful flap he shot forwards tackling the commander to the ground. Despite being tangled with the alien Thunderlane managed to get the Arc Caster of his belt and fire it's full charge into the alien. Lightning burst from the device and enveloped the alien throwing Thunderlane aside. The alien commander screeched in pain flailing on the ground, and slowly it silenced as the stun took effect. Thunderlane had won.

-----

When the rest of the squad finally found Thunderlane, he was still sitting beside the captured alien. Sweat covered his body, and his eyes were wide as he stared at the alien commander. His teammates were wounded but still standing, they were livid at the stallion's behavior. He not only shoved Octavia out of cover, but then stormed the alien lines by himself. "Thunderlane?! What the hell?!" Vinyl barked. The DJ rarely got angry; but she was fuming at his stupidity, he could have been killed, they all could have.

Thunderlane was speechless, sweat dripped for his forehead and his body trembled from trauma. He turned his head to his squad, confusion spread through his body. "Wha... Vinyl? I... I... You were stone... I had to... He was going to escape..." Thunderlane rasped out, his chest began to hurt as he came to terms with his wounds.

"What? What are you talking about?! You charged straight into the aliens! You got shot; twice! Are you feeling alright?" Octavia asked starting to feel concerned. Vinyl indicated Derpy to treat Thunderlane while Bulk Biceps stood over his heavily wounded commander. He hated to see him like this, he quickly turned and began to secure the perimeter hastily.

Vinyl Scratch radioed the base, "Vinyl Scratch here, the UFO has been claimed, and the alien has been caught..." Vinyl wanted to tell Luna about Thunderlane, but deep down she knew Thunderlane would want to tell her himself. "Returning to base."

"Great work everypony! We will learn SO much from this!" Twilight squealed with joy clapping her hooves together.