The War of the Otherworlders

by LoneDrifter213

The Arrivals

Celestia’s sun shone brightly, signalling a new day in Equestria. The bright blue sky was nearly devoid of clouds, only the faint wisps floating about. Perfect weather the small group of friends having a picnic in the fields outside of Ponyville.

“Ah mus’ say,” said Applejack, lying down on the blanket with her Stetson hat pulled over her eyes, “T’was good day for ah Picnic, Ah hav’ never had a day as relaxin’ as this. Especially with all ‘em rumours floating around of strange sightings over the past two weeks.”

“Well, since you said you wouldn’t be too busy this week,” stated Twilight Sparkle, the newest Princess of Equestria. “I decided to set up a nice get together for us. It was just a simple matter of checking the weather patterns for this week, followed by ensuring that you all would be available, before selecting the perfect place to set up for optimal enjoyment.”

There was a synchronised sigh from the group the moment Twilight finished her speech, before giggling at the normality of it.

“Only an egghead like Twilight would do all that planning and calculating for just having a picnic, only to make it perfect” said Rainbow Dash.

“You sound like you’re surprised,” Spike muttered. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of those sightings, apparently there have been a few more, even some from outside of Equestria.”

“Seriously, you actually believe those rumours?” Rainbow Dash said in a disbelieving tone.

Applejack gave her an annoyed look. “After everything that happened with Tirek, don’t ya find these sightings a little bit suspicious?”

“At first I did,” Rainbow Dash admitted, “but when you think about some of them, they seem too ridiculous to belief. I mean weird looking shadows are strange, but creatures that travel on wheels and giant parasprites. Now that’s just ridicules.”

“How can you be sure that these weird shadows aren’t part of an invasion army?” Applejack countered with a smug grin.

“Because all of these apparent sightings have been at night, how do we know it is not some drunken pony that freaked out over their own shadow?” Rainbow finished her rant with a grin.

Twilight just sighed and facehoofed, “Can we just enjoy the day? I put a lot of effort into making this day perfect!” The two mares backed down from the other.

“Thank you,” said Twilight.

“Oh, oh, oh, I’ve got a question?” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down waving her forelegs around in the air.

“What is it Pinkie Pie?” asked Fluttershy.

“What do you call a large pack of animals running super, super fast?” Everyone wore a confused look, at the sudden and random outburst of Pinkie Pie, although Twilight was glad it distracted them from her embarrassing moment.

“Uh, a Stampede,” Applejack responded. Pinkie Pie gave her a wide grin the nearly the size of her muzzle.

“Okay,” her eyes became wide as her face changed to a terrified look, her hoof pointing through the middle of group, “STAMPEDE!”

Everyone spun their head round to see a huge number of animals, from tiny mice to birds and even a huge lumbering bear, charging directly towards them from the Everfree Forest. Immediately, Fluttershy took off to try calming them down, only for the bear grab hold of and pull her into an incredibly tight hug, while licking her cheek with its long pink tongue.

The others looked on in confusion, approaching the large cluster of animals, squeaking, chirping and clawing at Fluttershy desperately.

“Please, one at a time. One at a time.” Fluttershy said, her voice soothing the seemingly terrified animals.

“W’at in tartation is going on,” asked Applejack, as a small red squirrel began squeaking frantically, while pointing in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

The squirrel began to crawl around on all fours in a small circle, the other animals shivered; the bear tightened its hug around Fluttershy. The squirrel then began snarling and spitting madly, the other creatures looked even more terrified by the squirrel’s vulgar action. Everypony (and baby dragon) looked at each other in confusion. Except Fluttershy, staring at the squirrel wide eyed; “Oh my goodness!”

“Care ta fill us in, sugar cube,” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Fluttershy looked over towards her friends, the same look of fear on her face as the animals. “These little creatures were doing their work, when a...giant scorpion...appeared and began attacking the creatures, spitting nasty hot fire...but not fire...at them and scaring them away!”

Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow in confusion, “Giant Scorpion? That spits fire, but not fire? Fluttershy, there are no large scorpions in Equestria, second, scorpions don’t spit fire, and lastly, how can fire not be fire?”

“That’s what they told me Twilight,” Fluttershy responded before staring up at the terrified bear clinging to her. “Excuse Mr Bear, can you let me go?” The bear whimpered as it slowly loosened its arms around the pegasus, letting her lower herself to the ground.

The animals began to squeak, squawk and (in the bears case) roar, only the timid little pegasus being able to understand them. “WHAT?! You want us to FIND this thing?” The animals voiced their agreement.

“But we can’t, it’s too dangerous, maybe you could do something else until it goes away.” Fluttershy’s opinion didn’t impress the crowd.

“Come on Fluttershy,” said Twilight hoping to encourage her nervous friend, “it’s just a scorpion.”

Fluttershy lowered her body to the ground. “But...but...but scorpions can’t create fire...only dragons can. So this must be a type of dragon...that has eight legs and doesn’t fly, and is very scary.” The Pegasus had her body so low to the ground in hope of hiding underneath the soil.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed at the nervous pegasus insane logic. “Oh COME ON! THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE! You’re still afraid of Dragons!?” Fluttershy only nodded slightly.

“What sort of dragon doesn’t have wings, anyway?” Spike said, folding his arms, his eyes closed and with a smug grin on his face. “I mean a dragon isn’t a dragon if he doesn’t have wings.”

Everypony stared at the baby dragon. “Uh Spike...you don’t have wings,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

Spikes eye shot wide open, before he glared at the pegasus with the spectrum mane. “THEY HAVEN’T SPROUTED YET!”

Everypony ignored him to focus on Fluttershy.

“Come on, sugar-cube” Applejack tried to be more encouraging, “Maybe it’s lost.”

“Lost?”

“Of course, Fluttershy,” Rarity began, catching on to her friends plan, “Lost and scared, never before has it been here nor seen any of the creatures. Alone and afraid, desperately trying to find its way home.”

“I...I guess...it needs our help,” Fluttershy whispered, submitting to her friends ideas.

---

The mares and baby dragon carefully walked through the Everfree Forest, searching for the ‘giant scorpion’ that had been terrifying the wildlife. For all the dangerous creatures that resided within the forest, the complete lack of them was slightly unnerving.

“Anypony else find it strange that we haven’t met a Manticore or a Timberwolf?” asked Rainbow Dash.

The Princess agreed with her friend, “You’re right Rainbow Dash, if this scorpion was causing trouble, we should have at least seen some sign of Timberwolf activity, or a Manticore.”

“WAIT A MINUTE!” bellowed Pinkie Pie, appearing from underneath Applejacks hat, waving a small bundle of paper in the air, “THIS ISN’T IN THE SCRIPT!”

Everypony stared at the hyperactive mare in confusion, while constantly looking between each other to see if anypony had some clue to what she was talking about.

“Pinkie Pie, w’at in tarnation are ya talking about, an how did ya git inside my hat?” asked the baffled farm mare.

“DUH! The script doesn’t tell us to go into the Everfree Forest, or mention anything about giant scorpions!” Pinkie Pie shouted. Pressing the paper against Applejacks muzzle.

“Um...excuse me,” the timid voice of Fluttershy, was barely louder than a whisper, unheard by the group.

“Pinkie Pie, what do you mean?” asked Twilight. Pinkie Pie hopped off Applejack’s head with her hat on her flank, before returning it to the farm mare’s head.

Once again Fluttershy tried to get her friends attention, “Um...I hate to interrupt...but this might... be important!”

“Because, the script says we were to continue with our pic-a-nic...”

“You mean picnic,” said Twilight.

Pinkie Pie ignored Twilights interruption, “...afterwards, we would finish the pic-a-nic and receive a letter from Princess Celestia, and then...”

“Pinkie Pie, darling,” said a concerned Rarity, “I think you might of had a little too much sugar.”

Pinkie Pie just giggled and wore a wide grin. “Silly, you can never have too much sugar, but thanks for stopping me. Can’t have spoilers can we.” Pinkie resumed her giggling.

“Uh...would it... um...I mean...” Fluttershy was struggling to project her voice over the others.

“HEY GUYS! COME SEE THIS!” Rainbow Dash’s voice thundered, startling Fluttershy. The group gathered around to see smouldering scorch marks on some of the trees and a trail of tiny indents in the dirt, in the direction of...

“PONYVILLE! The scorpion is heading towards Ponyville!” Twilight’s statement alarmed everypony (and dragon). If the scorpion was to reach Ponyville, it would was most likely feel threatened and attack.

Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie galloped towards the town, while Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew, Spike was riding on Twilights back while Fluttershy kept close to the ground.

---

Big Macintosh was hauling a huge cart full of apples along the dirt road from Sweet Apple Acres into Ponyville to sell at the market, a relatively easy job, just selling this week’s collection of apples to earn a living. Personally, Big Mac hated it, the bustling and noisy market was an unpleasant atmosphere for him. He preferred the quite of the orchard, where nopony could bother him. But, a living had to be earned and since Applejack was with her friends and Applebloom was doing Celestia knew what with her Cutie Mark Crusader friends, it was his job. The journey was at least welcoming, the sound of gravel crunching under his hooves as he walked. The dirt road dividing the grassy plains, the town straight ahead, with the gleaming castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle towering over the other buildings.

Suddenly, strange sounds reached the stallions ears, one sounded like a strange, unhealthy hissing noise while the other sounded like metal clanging. Big Mac turned his head left towards the Everfree Forest, what he saw froze him in place. Standing before him was an eight-legged arachnid like creature, roughly the size of his apple cart. Much of its body was made of dark grey metal...scales, covered by hundreds of scratches, scars and other markings, black rubbery skin could be seen around the joints of the creature’s limbs. Two huge metal pincers on each side of it, and long thin tail arched up into the air with a long thin blade attached to the top of the tails end. Two glowing red eyes glared at him, paralysing him with fear. Underneath its eyes, was what Big Mac assumed to be a pair thin pipe like mouths, each roughly the half the size of his legs.

The creature just stared at Big Mac, refusing to look away. The red stallion took a deep breath, and put one hoof forward. The creature seemed to flinch. Instinct told Big Macintosh to run away as fast as possible, even with the heavy apple cart, Big Mac was able to break into a fairly quick gallop.

Big Macintosh didn’t know what was happening, but he could hear several loud buzzing noises, followed by cracks as his cart rapidly falling to pieces. The cart crumbled with a loud crash, tubs of apples and broken boards landed along the path, scattering apples and splinters everywhere. The sudden loss of excess weight allowed Big Mac to charge towards the town that was barely a few meters ahead of him. All that remained of the cart were the two beams that had connected the cart to his harness, dragging across the dirt.

The friends had cleared the forest and were closing in on Ponyville; just in time to catch sight of the scorpion destroy Big Macs applecart. Twilight took note of the scorpions attack; the so-called ‘fire, but not fire’ was nothing more bright red sparks, similar to those produced by unicorns upon using their magic.

“There it is!” Twilight pointed toward the giant arachnid.

“Really Twilight? What was your first clue? The giant scorpion or Big Mac running away,” Rainbow Dash’s voice dripping with sarcasm.

Twilight rolled her eyes in response. The alicorn turned towards the timid pegasus flying below her who looked like she was about to dive into the nearest bush. “Fluttershy, that isn’t some kind of dragon, it’s just a scorpion that has magical properties. Are the animals aware of the concept of magic?” Fluttershy lightly shrugged her shoulders.

“Who cares if it knows magic? That thing nearly killed Big Mac, and look what it’s done to m’ah family’s applecart, and our apples!” Applejack yelled angrily, “Ah’m gonna tear this scorpion ah new be’hind and rip its legs...!”

Applejack stopped her advance when Fluttershy blocked her path.

“Now, that’s not very nice, Applejack,” Fluttershy scolded her friend. The orange farm mare’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“THAT THING TRIED TA KILL M’AH BROTHER! WHY SHOULD AH BE KIND TA IT?” Applejack shouted.

Fluttershy didn’t even flinch. “Because you said it could be a lost little creature and that we should help it.”

While not her exact words, Applejack couldn’t deny that she didn’t imply it. “Ah wish Ah kept m’ah mouth shut,” Applejack muttered quietly to herself in defeat. Everypony else gave each other nods of approval at Fluttershy’s sudden surge of confidence. The former bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the Number One assistant cautiously approached the scorpion that was standing over the destroyed remains of the applecart in the middle of the dirt road, ignoring the scattered remains of food that lay at its feet. Instead, it seemed to be focusing on Ponyville, ignoring everything else.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight whispered, “Can you approach the scorpion first? We’ll be right behind you.” The pegasus nodded, and broke from the group to slowly approach the scorpion. Fluttershy studied the scorpion’s body, disturbed by the damage the large metal scales that protected its body had experienced. Deep scars, burn marks and the odd hole, it made Fluttershy wonder how much pain this creature was it.

The scorpion remained focused on Ponyville. The pale yellow pegasus took a deep breath, “Excuse me,” she said in her usual hushed voice.

There was a strange hissing noise as the scorpion rotated its body, its metal feet digging in to the dirty as it spun. It stared up towards Fluttershy, its red eyes refusing to blink. Everypony else watched on anxiously from the side of the road.

“You scared some of my animal friends, nearly hurt my friend’s brother and destroyed her apple cart.” The scorpion just continued its stare. Pinkie Pie started to shake uncontrollably.

Amazingly, the scorpion remained unaffected, staring at Fluttershy.

“Ah, Pinkie Twitch-A-Twitch out of control,” the pinkie pony gasped

“Stay alert, everypony,” commanded Twilight, “Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense is never wrong.”

“Do you know where you come from? Or how you got here?” The scorpion remained focused on Fluttershy. Twilight focused on the arachnid.

“Can you understand me?” Fluttershy asked the silent scorpion.

This time the scorpion responded...by firing several bright red sparks that just missed Fluttershy’s left wing. The yellow pegasus let out a high pitch shriek as she fell to the ground. Even though the sparks had missed, Fluttershy had felt the heat radiating off them as they flew past her wing. She was sure the tip of her wing had been burnt.

“FLUTTERSHY!” cried out concerned voices.

Before the magically gifted scorpion could attack again, the lilac alicorns horn glowed purple, creating an aura as it produced a protective dome around group. Immediately, the scorpion bombarded the dome with a fury of sparks. The sparks exploded against the dome like fireworks, as the energy released rippled across the surface.

Rainbow Dash raced to her downed foalhood friend, sighing with relief upon noticing that Fluttershy was alive, shaken and scared, but alive.

“Fluttershy, are you ok?” Rainbow Dash asked, her voice full of concern.

Fluttershy just stared towards the scorpion that had attacked her. Aside for Timberwolves and dragons (unless it was from the Stare), there were no creatures that would attack her.

“Fluttershy!” Sudden shaking drew her attention away from her attacker, to her friend who was responsible for said shaking. The yellow panic struck pegasus brought her left wing to her face, some of her feathers had been ruffled and there were slight pains along her muscles, but no burn marks.

Twilight grit her teeth as she tried to maintain the field around everypony, the dome rippled as each of the scorpions sparks made contact with it. The relentless barrage was sapping at Twilights energy and focus, her horn fizzed, cracked and popped as she desperately fought to keep the dome from fading.

From the corner of her eye, a pale blue beam of magic intertwined with her own. The shielding spell protecting them from the scorpion’s wrath becoming stronger.

“Rarity!” Twilight gasped, “what are you doing?”

“Helping!” the fashionista said.

“But your shielding spells aren’t that strong, and you aren’t used to the endurance!”

Rarity just huffed. “Well, Twilight even you can’t keep a shield up forever.”

“Will ya’ll please stop arguing, and think of a way for us ta stop that thing!” Applejack interrupted the pair.

There was uneasy sudden silence when the Scorpion ceased its bombardment. All looked towards the creature that seemed to be aware of the futility in its attacks. Suddenly, the oversized arachnid raised its left pincer.

CLANG

The scorpion’s pincer slammed against the dome. Both Twilight and Rarity flinched as the shield rippled to disperse the energy; the single slam was more powerful than the barrage of magic.

CLANG

The scorpion had struck with its right pincer, the dome once again rippled from the impact.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG

The scorpion continued its onslaught against the trapped ponies and dragon. Each time it struck the shield, the more tired Twilight and Rarity became. The white unicorn’s horn started to flicker, popping and sparking as Rarity put all her strength into the shield. Twilight’s horn wasn’t much better, fizzing and lightly flickering.

“Can’t we just go rainbow powered and blow this fucking thing to pieces?” yelled Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash!” gasped Fluttershy, whether from Rainbow Dash’s suggestion or her choice of words.

“Bit over da top there, sugar cube,” said Applejack, “but, ah suppose we ought ta do something.”

“Alright everypony, get ready for this,” said Twilight through gritting teeth, “Spike, get to cover as soon as you can.”

“Got it Twilight,” the young dragon responded and started look for a safe place, until more strange sounds reached his ears. Spike quickly scanned the area to find the source. “Uh...Twilight...”

“Ready girls?”

“Twilight...”

“Ready!”

“TWILIGHT!”

“Spike! What is it?” Twilight didn’t bother to hide the annoyance in her voice.

The small purple dragon pointed to the right, along the direction towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Something’s coming!”

Every pair of eyes stared in the direction of the dragon’s claw. In the distance were four strange shapes, rapidly approaching them from the dust cloud that followed them in their wake. A strange sound rang through their ears, sounding somewhere like a strange mechanical buzzing growl, like an engine.

All four shapes became consumed by bright green light. Everypony nearly dropped to the ground as bright green sparks collided with the shield and the scorpion. The scorpion in turn, abandoned its trapped prey to focus on its attackers, retaliating with sparks of its own. The four shapes started weaving left and right, dodge the scorpion’s barrage while trying to keep their own on target.

The shapes became easier to define as they closed in. Instead of being consumed by green light, only two green specs flashed on each shapes’ side as they produced sparks. From the front, each shape appeared to be narrow, but quite tall. A strange detail that could be made out was what appeared to be the front of a wheel.

The objects ceased their attacks and began to split into two groups. Two specs went to the left, while the others veered in the opposite direction. The scorpion, despite the obvious treat it was to Ponyville, had awful accuracy. While the specs had only barely managed to hit the creature, they had been trying to avoid getting hit themselves. The scorpion however, just stood there, taken each hit, never flinching, never crying out in pain.

The right pair had become the scorpions’ target, as bright red sparks cut through the air towards it, while red beam of light burst from the tail to towards the others. Everypony watched as the strange contraptions came closer and closer, something appeared to be riding them, from what appeared to be a blurry image of a tiny head on top of the main bodies. A sudden bang echoed as bright orange flames erupted from the right side of the object closest to the scorpion. It wobbled and tilted about as its possible rider tried to keep it under control.

It only took three seconds for it to lose its balance and topple to the ground. What happened next happened within the space of a few seconds, it had started by skidding along its side, before jumping into the air, now rolling towards Twilights protective dome, with its velocity only slightly diminished. The centre of the object was engulfed in flames; pieces were either falling off or hanging on as it rolled.

Everypony braced themselves; Twilight and Rarity put all their strength into the shield, waiting for the immanent impact.

CRASH

Twilight and Rarity yelped as the dome rippled from the impact. The magical aura around Rarity’s horn crackled and popped, before flickering out. The unicorn cringed; her head felt like it had been split in two. Twilight wasn’t any better, her horn sparked and cracked before the aura around it died out, the shield going with it.

The other contraption zoomed past the ponies with a roar, casting a light dust cloud over everypony. All eyes shut until the cloud died around them. Once clear of the dust, all eyes were on the strange contraption.

It looked like an over sized scooter; both of its wheels alone were just short of the average height for a pony, and it was as long as the apple families recently retired apple cart. The middle, instead of the usual space for a pony to stand, was the remains of metal plates, many scattered behind and now exposing something that now seemed to be burning and in pieces. On top, appeared to be two very long seats that covered the rear two thirds, with a small handle dividing them, and the front possessing a set of handle bars, several dials, a windscreen and a light on the front.

All gazes moved to slightly further back, followed by a choir of gasps. Standing before them was probably one of the strangest creatures ever seen in Equestria. Clearly taller than an average pony, its black body covered in dull grey plates that looked as if they had been shaped to fit the body and was in a rough condition, and it stood upon two legs, with two arms attached to the top of its torso. A belt made of pouches circled the waist and an antenna stuck out from the right side of its head.

For Twilight, the sight had a far greater impact than anything else, for each arm had a hand attached to it. Not claws. Not talons. Not paws. Hands, she only knew of one race that had them, humans, that was what her logic could conceive, but this creature looked nothing like a human.

In the bipeds right hand, was what appeared to be a short, metal cylinder shaped object. The biped was holding it via a piece sprouting off like a grip, roughly three-quarters of the way up. At the grip, the cylinder stopped, connecting to the blocky top of the grip, directly behind the grip, the objects body was larger; it’s back curved slightly inwards. A long strip of material hung from it like a sling.

The scorpion spun round to follow its other attackers. Everypony quickly backed away into a ditch not far away from the scene. Without Applejack having to ‘persuade’ Rarity to hide in a ditch.

The biped pulled the sling over its head and sprinted towards another biped, identical to it that lay on the ground, unmoving. The biped crouched down and looked over its fallen brethren. Everypony watched it, its face just a blank stare. Instead of eyes, a single narrow horizontal strip ran across the top half of its face, with another vertical line in the middle running down its face before its chin.

The other scooters were turning around to return fire on the scorpion. The biped reached into a pouch on its brethrens left, and a dark greenish ball, roughly the size of an apple. With the scorpion still having its back turned, the biped threw the strange apple towards it.

Suddenly, there was a crack of thunder and a cloud of smoke erupting from underneath the scorpion. The scorpion’s tail swayed as it stumbled about slightly, its legs seemingly damaged, its movement becoming more slow and sluggish. Yet it did not cry out in pain.

The biped pointed its object towards the scorpion. Flashes of bright blue sparks flew through the air from the object towards the scorpion’s legs. The scorpion started to slowly rotate towards the biped. The biped threw itself onto the ground. The scooters had finished turning around and had now resumed attacking the scorpion. Still, the scorpion ignored all the marks of contact.

Everypony watched as the scorpions eyes came into view, the biped’s object cast a stream of bright blue sparks towards the scorpions face.

BANG

The front of the scorpion’s main body was briefly hidden by a flash of bright light. Everypony stared at the scorpion, its glowing red eyes were gone and the pair of pipes hung loosely from underneath its body. Sparks could be seen spewing from within the scorpion.

“It’s a machine!” Twilight gasped, she had pieced everything together and this was what she got as a result. “It’s a machine! How is this possible? I never read about living machines! What if...”

“TWILIGHT!” yelled Rainbow Dash, “How about we figure out what’s going on?”

“Uh, right,” replied Twilight.

The scorpion was still functional, but blind. Now unable to see its targets, the machine was now helpless. The biped stood up and began firing more sparks at the scorpion. The three scooters stopped beside the scorpion and continued their attack. Each scooter carried two bipeds, one apparently controlling it, while the other at the rear got off. All holding contraptions, or more accurately, weapons, similar to the first, and they quickly fired on the scorpion.

The scorpion was on the verge of collapse as it started to blow up from the inside, and yet the bipeds were as unrelenting in their attack until the scorpion’s tail fell, its pincers dropped and its legs gave out underneath it.

The bipeds ceased there assault. A dead, uncomfortable silence filled the air. From within their ditch, everypony stared at bipeds that now remained frozen in place. One began to cautiously approach the dead machine, and kicked what had been its face. Then, all of the bipeds lowered their weapons, and the ones riding the scooters sat up.

From within their ditch, everypony watched as the bipeds studied the wrecked machine and could hear the sounds of possible communication amongst each other. Cautiously, Twilight stood up from the ditch.

“Twilight! What are you doing?” Spike asked in a frantic voice.

“Those creatures have never been seen in Equestria or anywhere else, as a princess, I should attempt diplomatic contact,” Twilight stated, “and they DID just save us from that scorpion, so a ‘thank you’ is in order.”

Everypony looked between themselves; Twilight’s habit of constant planning almost always seemed to provide some form of answer. Spike is the first one to get out of the ditch.

“If you’re gonna talk to those guys,” said Spike as he puffed up his chest, “You’re going to need your Number One assistant.”

“Thanks Spike,” responded Twilight with a smile.

“And once we speak to them, we can have a welcome PARTY!” Pinkie Pie almost screamed, appearing directly in front of Twilights face.

“Well then, darling,” Rarity began, stepping out from the ditch, “while I do encourage you to go through with your diplomatic mission, and I do wish to show my gratitude. Could you possible postpone your meeting until I have made myself presentable?”

Despite having a few patches of dust on her coat and a few strands of her mane out of place, Rarity’s looks were superb for someone who hid in a ditch. But Rarity wasn’t Rarity if her looks weren’t perfect.

“Uh, Rarity...if ya looked over at those guys...they’re not exactly tidy themselves,” said Applejack, “and if ya were ta go over ta ‘em all prim an’ proper, they’d think ya were showing off.”

Rarity huffed, but looked over her body and brushed off as much dirt as possible. Twilight, started to slowly approach their possible ‘saviours’, her friends following behind her. For all the noise they had made moments ago, the bipeds seemed to be unaware them approaching.

One biped was crouched over the scorpions’ main body, while another seemed to be analysing its tail and a third was looking at its right pincer. Two was standing amongst the wreckage of the crashed scooter, and the last two were communicating. One was sitting on its scooter with the other directly in-front of it.

“With all due respect Sergeant, how was charging at that fucker a smart choice?” said an electronic voice. The biped standing in front of the scooter pointed towards the scorpions remains.

“Because, Corporal,” said a second electronic voice, but not as deep. “Do you want explain to General Cole why we let a Scorpion Drone, wander too close to the indigs!”

“Hey guys!” came a third, rather feminine, voice. The biped that had been looking at the scorpion’s body, was now staring at the group, everypony froze. “Check out the local wildlife.”

All of the bipeds turned towards the group. For a moment, everything became very awkward; the blank, uniform faces staring at them gave a very unwelcome feeling.

BOOM

Everyone dropped to the ground as the road side exploded. A small smoke trail could be seen leading away from the explosion, towards the Everfree Forest.

“CONTACT!” shouted a biped.

Two scorpion drones stood outside the edge of the forest, not far from the road leading to Sweet Apple Acres. One fired a volley of sparks, while the other fired a red beam from its tail. The biped by the tail strafed to the left to avoid the beam, only for a red spark to strike it in the chest.

“PULL OUT! WE NEED COVER!” yelled the scooter riding biped.

The remaining bipeds scrambled onto the scooters and took off down the road. Everypony followed after the bipeds, Spike was clinging to Twilights back as she and everypony else galloped towards Ponyville.

---

Ponyville market was silent, allowing every set of ears to hear the approaching storm. Merely minutes ago, everything had been normal, until a terrified Big Macintosh came charging in with the remains of his applecart. Shortly followed by the sound of explosions, then another silence pause. Now, everypony was hiding either within nearest building or underneath the nearest stall, as the noises came closer and closer.

Suddenly, three scooters appeared on the edge of the town, and were charging into Ponyville. A bright orange fire ball erupted right behind them. The rear of one scooter bounced from the destruction underneath it. It swayed before veering towards a cherry stall. The ponies that had been hiding there fled right before scooter collided with, throwing its riders over the stall, as buckets of cherries and broken wood scattered everywhere.

The former harmony bearers were next entering the market. They could hear the mechanical hissing of the scorpion machines behind them, quickly closing. They could see the crashed scooter and its recovering riders. The other two scooters hid behind the shops at the far end of the market, near the town hall.

They ran for cover inside Sugarcube Corner, at the far side of the market, as the scorpions crawled into the market. Both riders ran in opposite directions to whatever was going to provide them with cover, weapons in hand. One flipped over a nearby flower stall and crouched down behind it, while the other ran for a large stack of crates. The scorpions fired sparks in their direction. Several struck the biped heading for the crates. The biped was knocked off its feet and hit the ground. Black scorch marks indicating where it had been hit, with wisps of smoke from each mark.

The other biped rose up from behind the table and fired a burst of sparks. One scorpion retaliated with its own burst. Large splitters of wood snapped off the table as each spark made contact. From across the market came a barrage of bright blue sparks as the remaining bipeds attacked, using the environment to provide cover.

Everypony who had hidden amongst the stalls was now fleeing for safety inside whatever building was close enough, as a fire fight consumed the market. The bipeds attempted to encircle the drones, while the scorpions fired in all directions. One biped had taken cover behind an overturned stall, while two took cover behind a behind a stack of crates on the corner of a tools shop. The biped behind the stall rose and fired at the scorpions. A single spark hit the biped in chest, knocking them to the ground. One biped by the shop fired at the scorpions, while the over ran out towards its downed brethren and began to drag it back towards cover.

From within the walls of Sugarcube Corner, ponies were hiding underneath any surface or huddled together. Only a few dared look out the windows. The Cakes were grouped together as the twins cried. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were looking out the window, while Pinkie Pie was shaking so hard, she was travelling around the shop, Fluttershy lay down shaking with fear, and Spike was holding on to Pinkie Pie to make her stop.

BOOM

Another explosion erupted by the tools shop corner. Destroying the corner of the shop as the concussion sent all three bipeds backwards across the ground, and turned the crates into charred splitters that scattered across their bodies.

Another biped ran into the field of vision of the four mares, diving behind a cart tipped onto its side. All eyes watched as the biped kept jumping out from behind the cart, firing a volley of shots before returning to behind it to either avoid shots or fiddle with its weapon. They watched was the biped fiddled with its weapon again after diving behind cover. The display of red sparks ended and the biped jumped out from behind the wagon.

A red beam struck the bipeds chest and it collapsed. Its weapon landing by its side. A large, smoking black scorch mark highlighting the point of impact. All of the mares paled at the apparent lifeless body that lay two meters in front of them.

“W-W-WHOAAAAAA!” All eyes spun round to see Pinkie Pie was shaking around Sugar Cube Corner faster than before, “P-P-PINKIE SENSE A-AT I-IT’S-S S-S-STRONGEST!”

From outside, Twilight could hear the distant sounds air whooshing alongside a deep rumbling sound, growing louder and louder as each second past. A large shadow marked the ground outside Sugar Cube Corner. Twilight cast her eyes up, and was both shocked and amazed.

The silhouette of a strange object hovered in the sky, and yet for its alien design, Twilight could relate it to a helicopter. It looked like an eagle that was going in for the attack. Its wings out open, inside each appeared to be a rapidly spinning rotor.

Four figures dropped from the helicopter and landed with a thud. All were bipeds, but had a slightly bulkier and larger form compared to the others. At this distance they looked like silhouettes, pitch black in the daylight. Their weapons also appeared to be bigger; some looked like they were equal in length to the wingspan of her wing.

All four fired at the scorpions, and a barrage of red lasers launched from the helicopter. Curious with this new development, Twilight poked her head through the window for a better view of the event. The bipeds focused their shots on the nearest scorpion, while the helicopter just sprayed the area of both scorpions. Both made an attempt to retaliate against the new threats. Twilight watched as a biped took a shot to the chest and stumbled back two steps. The biped raised its left arm; there was a bright flash as something whizzed towards the nearest scorpion, leaving trail of smoke. A small explosion burst from the nearest scorpion.

The second scorpion fired a beam from its tail at the helicopter, causing it to cease its attack and strafe overhead and out of Twilights view. Two of the massive bipeds attacked the oversized arachnid, weapons ablaze. The scorpion unleashed a barrage of sparks on both of them. Both bipeds broke in sprints and began to encircle the scorpion. The artificial creature stumbled as it tried to focus on its attackers.

Twilight watched as one of the bipeds kneeled down and fired at the scorpions’ legs, but then stopped and remained frozen in place. It’s free hand gripped its forehead tightly. The other biped was unaware of the other of its teammate’s state. The scorpion however didn’t. In a split second, it fired on the frozen biped, knocking it to its back. The other biped sprinted around and into the front of the scorpion. Immediately, unleashing a stream of sparks into the face of the scorpion. With the artificial creature stunned, the biped drew a sword from its back and hacked away at the remains scorpions’ front, pieces metal falling until the machine collapsed.

The remaining bipeds bombarded the last scorpion with sparks while constant circling it. The helicopter then returned, this time behind the scorpion. A blitz of spark erupted from the helicopters chin and struck the scorpion, scorching it and the ground, until the machine blew itself apart.

Twilight felt the presence of her friends join her in watching from the window, including Pinkie Pie, who’s Pinkie Sense had stopped. The bipeds scattered to reach their fallen brethren as the helicopter slowly flew around the market. The one that had been shot down was back on their feet and running around. Another larger biped sprinted towards the body that lay in front of Sugarcube Corner. The biped kneeled down and then grabbed sides of the others head and pulled.

Twilight studied the bulkier being before her. Instead of being made up of individual plates, it had something that looked like a fabric as a skin, held together by thin strips of metal as black as the fabric. Black metal plates protected the joints of the bipeds limbs. The same metal also protected its hands and on its left arm it looked a gauntlet. A shiny black horizontal visor was the closest thing it had to eyes (or eye) and had a sort of respiratory face plate slightly above its chin. Finally, behind its head was the hilt of a sword.

When Twilight focused her attention on the other biped, she gasped, partially because of her stupidity for not realising that the biped was wearing armour, but mostly from WHAT was wearing the armour.

A tan skinned human woman, with short brown hair, dried blood around her mouth, and dark brown eyes locked in a dead stare at Sugarcube Corner. The bulkier being gently placed a hand over and shut her eyes.

“SHE’S DEAD!” it shouted, its electronic voice deep and gravelly.

The whooshing sound of the helicopters blades grew louder as it land almost directly in front of Sugarcube Corner. Across the market, the remaining bipeds were fussing around three bipeds from the shop corner and carrying them on stretchers from the helicopter, over to it. Within minutes, all three bodies were on the helicopter.

The bipeds cleared the helicopter as it took off and headed for the Everfree Forest. Twilight stared at the four that remained behind; she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If they were human, diplomatic talks had to take place, and as a princess, she was responsible.

“Girls, I’m going to talk to them,” she announced, her friends exchanged glances before focusing on the Alicorn.

“Then we’re coming along too,” stated Rainbow Dash. Twilight grinned and nodded.

One by one, they filed out through the door, and cautiously approached the remaining creatures.

The one that had used its sword earlier was grabbed another bulkier biped that was slightly taller.

“What the fuck were you playing at?!” it said in a deep tone.

“What?” replied the other in a soft voice. The first pointed at the sliced up scorpion.

“You froze out in the open!” The pony’s stopped their advance as the argument began to boil.

“My HUD got scrambled!”

“Bullshit! You almost lost it, didn’t you?”

“I saw your moment Corporal,” said a third voice, it was from the biped that had checked the corpse by the Sugarcube Corner. “Don’t think you’re getting out this! Unlike him, my eyes DO work!”

The taller one spun round to face the third biped, “What was THAT?!” he hissed.

“You heard me, eye sockets.” The third replied in a smug tone.

The taller biped began to aggressively advance towards the third, but was stopped by the fourth that forced itself between the two.

“KNOCK IT OFF!” it boomed, and pushed the two away from each other. “If you two have another fight, I’m sending you straight to General Cole, fuck the Chain of Command.” It then turned to the first biped, “And you Corporal, are going for examination when we get back to camp!”

The two possible humans had kept their distance from the argument. One looked away, only to spot the six ponies and dragon that were slowly approaching them. The group froze upon catching it staring at them. The biped elbowed its companion and gestured towards the group. Both of them stared at the group, the expressions hidden under their helmets. They looked around to see more ponies slowly emerging or peaking from the buildings.

“Staff Sergeant,” one called out, “We’ve got company.”

The bulk that had separated the two that clashed looked around at the crowd that was emerging. The other three began to focus on the crowd. The pair that had been at each other’s throat readied their weapons.

“STAND DOWN!” the Staff Sergeant yelled, the pair lowered their weapons.

Twilight took a deep breath, and began to slowly approach the group. The Staff Sergeant noticed, and began to slowly approach her. Both stopping roughly two meters apart from the other, the Staff Sergeant then removed its helmet, confirming Twilight’s suspicions that it was a human. It was a human male, with dark brown skin that was marked with reddish scares, brown eyes and light stubble around his jaw. His right ear covered by a small rubber cap that was held on a black strap around his head, a wire connected the cap to a small black collar around his neck.

‘Ok,’ Twilight though to herself, ‘Here goes nothing.’