PonyCraft-Pegasi of Liberty

by Landmine

The Unexpected Arrivals

The objects could be seen shortly after leaving Ponyville. Whatever the things were, they were massive, so large that they made the trees look like twigs. They had plowed right through the far edge of the Everfree Forest stopping before hitting the field on the other side. Twilight shuddered at the thought of somepony building it, but she really feared meeting them.
It took a few hours to reach, the monstrosity looming over them the whole time. It was a creepier mission then they expected. Even Pinkie Pie’s old song couldn’t make this go away; they just kept putting one hoof in front of the other trying to comfort their friends. Eventually they had to enter the forest. Nopony wanted to do it, but the smoke was simply too much for any of them to withstand. It billowed from the blackened trail the things created upon impact and more came from the forest which had caught fire (the pegasus ponies would soon ensure the fire would stay controlled).
The forest wasn’t much better as the trees and bushes held the smoke down. Even after Twilight cast a shield spell, smoke seemed to seep in simply because there was nowhere else for it to go. They began to hear yelling and shouting in the distance and the smoke started to thin out. They were voices in a language they understood and sounded a lot like other ponies.
“Oh yay! Aliens!” Pinkie Pie said happily, making everypony else more nervous.
Suddenly the ground started to shake, slightly at first but with each passing second it became stronger. Rainbow Dash took off out of the bubble and into the smoke above. She came straight back down in a hurry, the look of horror on her face.
“RUN!” She screamed and everypony took off in the direction they knew the objects lay.
Twilight turned around to see ponies… mutated ponies. They had a shell a deep mahogany in color and were brown everywhere else. They had horns that grew from their cheeks curved in towards their mouths which held jagged teeth. They had an extra pair of limbs growing up from somewhere on their body, but instead of hooves these limbs had sharp blades. Each and every mutant pony had the same cutie mark – an arrow that dithered at the end signifying speed.
“EEEK!” She squealed and ran faster. “Nopony turn around!”
As if the mutant ponies heard her, they let out the most horrifying sound anypony had heard, something only describable by saying “KEKEKE!”
No matter how fast they ran the mutant ponies were just too fast, the distance was quickly shrinking. They finally broke into the clearing at full speed, all of them getting tired but not enough to think about stopping. They just ran towards the object that lay in front of them not caring about the large number of metal-covered ponies that littered the area, pointing what Twilight knew were guns at them. Suddenly, Applejack tripped and started tumbling forward. As Twilight tried to turn around (the others continued to run), all the metal ponies started to shoot!
Hundreds of bullets flew by them, Twilight dropped before she saw where they were headed to. Whizzes and zips were a few of the sounds the pony heard before she blacked out.
***
Twilight stirred, not opening her eyes. She felt exhausted. She could barely remember what had happened, just that they were chased and Applejack had tripped. She hoped it was a dream; that she would wake up to a reasonable explanation. She opened her eyes. She lay on a patch of dead grass, a burning forest in the background, the sky turning dark violet as the sun set.
Rarity came into view, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but Twilight could hear nothing. Rarity opened her mouth again, still no noise. Twilight tried to respond, but she just couldn’t. Rarity looked concerned now, looking to be calling some other pony. At this point Twilight started hearing dull PANG noises, lots of them. Rainbow Dash came into view.
“Twilight, can you hear me?” Twilight made out what she said, but she still couldn’t reply. Instead she decided to blink once seeing if Rainbow would catch on.
Rainbow turned to Rarity, “What does blinking mean?”
Twilight’s hearing was getting better as the noises turned into sounds of low pitched gunfire, and she could hear Rarity. “Maybe it means yes? Twilight, blink again if you meant yes.”
She blinked again.
“We are going to assume you cannot speak, darling.” Rarity continued. “You have been hurt, not badly, but just don’t try to do anything to difficult. And in case you are wondering, Applejack will be fine.”
Twilight was glad to hear that Applejack was going to be fine, but she was concerned by what Rarity meant by ‘You have been hurt…’ Did she get shot? Did the mutants get her? She had to know, but it felt like her entire body was cement.
A pony in black metal armor with an odd star-shaped cutie mark entered her view, motioning to Rainbow and Rarity to move back. Like every other metal-clad pony, this pony’s visor was down hiding the face. Twilight’s vision fell forward as the ground fell away and started moving to the side; somepony had picked her up.
By now her hearing was back up to par, she heard yells, screams, gunfire and the sounds the mutant ponies made before. A loud shot rang from what sounded like not far away, then something made a dull thud as it hit the ground.
“Keep her moving, boys.” Somepony called out. “Fall back to the Bunkers!”
She was laid down again, gently. There was dirt beneath her this time, not grass, and there was the slight scent of smoke in the air. Built nearby was a large concrete dome-shaped building with a square base, some parts colored blue. There were more metal ponies inside firing through small slits at targets past her vision.
“Tychus, use grenades dammit!” The same pony yelled. A distant explosion followed soon after, followed by a temporary increase in gunfire.
A different looking pony carried Applejack next to Twilight. The earth pony was clad in white armor without a visor, not the usual black and blue with a golden visor. The cutie mark was 3 small red crosses aligned above each other in what could be related to a squiggly line. She shot Applejack with what looked like a green laser; it seemed to be helping Applejack if anything.
The black armored pony came back, visor up this time. He looked a little scruffy with a beard and mustache and he had a horn, signifying that he was a unicorn. He leaned over and looked at Twilight right in the eyes looking for something. Twilight could see much more in this pony’s eyes than anything he could say. To put it simply, he looked like a pony that has, quite literally, seen the stars. Twilight couldn’t tell whether or not she was blushing, she still couldn’t feel anything nor move.
He got back up and asked, in the same voice as she had heard earlier, “How’s she looking, doc?” He watched for a reply.
The ‘doc’ simply nodded keeping focus on Applejack.
“Might as well let her walk and talk then. She ain’t lookin’ as bad as earlier.”
The medic turned and shot Twilight who closed her eyes at the sight of the gun. She regained everything, from speech to movement to physical feeling (not just the tiredness of before). She was sore all over, muscles aching. She opened her eyes to see the black armored pony trying to get her attention with a waving hoof.
“Now, Twilight Sparkle. You’ve takin’ a beatin’. I suggest you keep low until things blow over, understand?” The pony stared her down.
Twilight nodded, but he didn’t seem to accept that. “Yes… I understand.” Her voice was raspy. She found it difficult to say anything more.
The pony got up, aimed his rifle to where everypony else was aiming, and fired a loud bullet, similar to the one she heard earlier, except that was followed by a loud
*THUD*
A rather large golden cylinder fell out of the machine and stuck right into the ground. On it were the letters H.E.V. She followed the trajectory of the gunshot with her head to see a line of dead mutant ponies. The field was covered in dead ponies, from the mutant ones to the blue and black fighters. The sight make Twilight feel sick.
“Don’t look over there look long, darling. It will make you sick.” Twilight turned some more to see Rarity about to hug her. “Glad to see you are feeling better.”
“Yeah, ‘cause you went down pretty hard back there with Applejack. Those meanies over there almost got you, but I saved you just at the last minute.” Rainbow Dash landed, holding a proud stance.
“Ahem. You mean Jim Raynor saved her. All you did was pick her up, dear.”
“Well, I still saved her.” Rainbow Dash rebuked, clearly trying to keep her profile looking good.
“Twilight, my dear, when you turned around to save Applejack, you – yourself - tripped except you hit a rock. You’re beautiful mane was ruffled, not helped by the fact that these other ponies started doing… whatever they are currently doing all around you.” She motioned to the ponies holding the guns. Only Twilight had read the books relating to any such machine. “You will definitely need a makeover when we get back to my boutique.”
“You were the lucky one, Twi’. Applejack was piled on by those ponies attacking us. They say she’s lucky to still be here, but I knew she wouldn’t give up on us that easily.”
Twilight tried to speak, “Where are the others?”
“They followed some pony named Tychus inside the High-pier-on a couple minutes ago.” Rainbow Dash pointed at the object that had crashed, in the distance she could see the silhouettes of a group of ponies going inside.
“You mean the Hyperion. Please do not abuse such a fine name, although it could definitely use a new look. It looks hideous, so dank… so much… GREY. It requires color!”
“Anything else I should know?” Twilight said, feeling out-of-the-loop.
“The ponies attacking us are evil, the ones protecting us are friends… yadda yadda yadda…” Rainbow Dash said with hardly any enthusiasm.
“Ok, thanks girls. I think I should rest now, I still don’t feel so well.” Twilight said, starting to feel light headed.
The other ponies backed off as Twilight lie down yet again and fell asleep once more. The sun had completely set along with her.

///*\\\
It was a strange assortment of events. First the 6 ponies burst from the forest, and then the Zerg followed after them. Raynor and Tychus nearly lost their lives to rescue the 2 ponies that fell, both unconscious when they saved them. He knew that he couldn’t let the ponies die like that, or worse.
Raynor fired another penetrator round, his 4th of the fight. The Zerg army was finally thinning out, a good thing too since the pony called Twilight Sparkle had woken up. She was still battered and bruised, but her friend was much worse off having being attacked by a few live Zerglings and then buried under a dozen dead ones.
“Tychus, they safe yet?” Raynor yelled into his speaker.
“Ya never could trust me, Jimmy. The Zerg didn’t know what hit’em… 23.” Came the reply.
“Heh, 26. Keep trying, partner.” Raynor knew he was referring to his kill count. He guessed most of his boys were around 8 kills each, some of the better with 15 or so. “Matt, you readin’?”
“Yes, sir. The power’s still out, I hope you aren’t going to persist with the automated defenses.”
“No time now, the Zerg are nearly beat. How are things looking in there?”
“Zerg never made it inside; your men do their job too well. As for physical state, most of the immediate threats are dealt with. I wouldn’t worry about that meltdown anymore.”
“Glad to hear it. Any information on the attack?”
There was a brief pause, “The attack looks too… sloppy for the swarm to be controlled. If I may suggest, I don’t think the Zerg have a controlling figure; no cerebrate, no Overmind, no Queen of Blades. They must have just felt us hit the ground and came with what they had, sir.”
“I think I liked the other news better. If that’s what they had on hand, I ain’t too keen on seein’ what time will give them. Any ideas on where they are findin’ resources to build their armies?”
“No. Nopony has seen any mineral cashes or vespene gas. They must have found alternatives.”
Raynor didn’t bother replying. He’d get the details after the Zerg were gone. That didn’t mean he hadn’t become concerned, not at all. If the Zerg had amassed this much of an army in such a short time with a limited amount of minerals, he wouldn’t need to worry about getting of this planet.
The sun was in the process of setting, the last of the Zerg had been killed. Crew members already started to pull out lighting equipment. As the sky turned from a deep violet to purple to black, the field was lit up with the bright white lights from aboard the ship. The ship’s port-side fog-lights turned on signifying power had been restored.
The 2 ponies – Rainbow Dash and Rarity – that had stayed with the injured ponies were slowly backing away from Twilight. Now that the Medics were free, they were able to take them into the ship to the sick bay.
“Your ship really needs a new look, sir.” Rarity exclaimed as he approached her. “Grey doesn’t highlight the ship as much as it could. I’ve been thinking a nice dark blue with gold highlights…”
Raynor ignored the pony. She had been after the ship’s look since she was calmed down. She wasn’t of interest right now. No, he wanted a word with the cyan and rainbow colored pony.
“Rainbow, can I have a word with you?” Raynor asked the pegasus. It seemed like she had a hard time not going out to fight.
“Oh, um sure? What about?”
“I ain’t one to judge, but you look like a fighter. You seemed pretty troubled not being able to help tonight.”
“Yeah, well… I do like a challenge, but truthfully, I don’t think I could take these… things on.”
“Heh, I know the feeling. Hundreds of the beasts swarmin’ you when you least expect it. I’ve gotten myself into some pretty narrow situations with them... How ‘bout I get you prepared to take them on?
“What? Me join you guys? I’m not sure…” Rainbow seemed unsure about the deal and all that came with it.
“Not join my crew; my boys can handle ‘em so long as we’re ready. No, I was thinkin’ about your friends. The Zerg ain’t native to this planet so I don’t think you’d stand a chance. You seem like the only pony with the guts to do what’s required to protect them.” Raynor smirked. He upholstered his unused gauss rifle and dropped it on the ground in front of her.
Rainbow Dash took a minute to think. Jim knew this planet was doomed without any proper support, and his men were limited to the ship for the time being. Offering this pony some training was for the benefit of the planet.
“When do we start?” She said before picking up the weapon in her mouth.
“At dawn. You’re welcome to stay aboard the ship tonight, just don’t expect any hotel service.” Jim Raynor walked away.
Jim wanted to figure out what was going on, but he figured that the pony to ask for answers was currently sleeping in the sick bay with her battered friend. “Intel may be half the battle, but without firepower, you ain’t goin’ nowhere.” He muttered to himself the quote he heard from his father a long time ago.

Comments

How does Jim know the Mane 6's names? Fighting an immense wave of Zerg hardly seems like there'd be enough time for introductions. One problem is Jim Raynor may be a nice fellow but he doesn't automatically trust everyone he meets. He's been betrayed pretty majorly several times throughout his life, the Queen of Blades and Emperor Arcturus Mengsk only being 2 of them. It seems rather odd that he'd offer to train someone he'd meet for only a few hours. Also again how the hell are they using guns and power armor?! PACING!

[Poodicus]

3896

agreed

i so hope kerrigan will show up in this, ponykerrigan cant get more epic then that