Torrents of deadly streaks of light flew by Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they made a mad run towards Ponyville, being chased by the five aliens who had previously killed Colonel Mustang. One blast flew into the dirt right behind Applejack, sending a flood of soil every which way. Ahead of them was a small creek they would need to wade through, the bridge being too far off. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see the rest of the aliens were nearly within the town's reach.
Rainbow Dash turned towards the farm pony as she ran. "K-Keep moving! I've got this." She threw her a somewhat forced cocky grin. Applejack saw right through it.
"A crossbow aint gonna make a lick of a difference against five of em'."
"You forget who you're talking to."
She threw Rainbow Dash a stern look. "A pony who's about to get herself killed. Common, we're nearly there."
When they closed in on the river, Rainbow Dash turned towards Applejack. "Why don't I just fly us across?"
"It'd just make ourselves a target. Plus, I think it might just give us the edge."
"Huh?"
They hit the creek with a splash, and lucky for them it happened to be one of the more shallow sections. They then began trotting across, forced to a slower speed than before. A few more light blasts flew over their heads and into the creek around them. The heat from them boiled the water where they struck, kicking up a multitude of steam. Applejack smiled, the aliens had just unintentionally given them an advantage. She then tugged at Rainbow Dash to strafe right, and the rainbow-haired mare complied with a nod. Concealed by the steam, the aliens continued to shoot where they thought the ponies still were, only for their fire to fly far from where that actually was. After about thirty seconds of crossing, they made it to the other side, Applejack sighing in relief when they did so.
The relief did not last, however, for the main alien force was beginning to form a line that extended around the perimeter of the town nearest to Everfree. Applejack knew immediately what they were about to do. They didn't even need to go from house to house, slaughtering everypony. All they had to do was sit there and blast the town until it was rubble.
She then heard a loud shriek from one of the aliens. A cascade of the familiar zapping noises their weaponry made followed. With wide eyes, Applejack watched as a torrent of weapon fire slammed into the buildings on the outskirts of town, their wooden structures not doing any good against it. She could hear screams as the denizens of them began to evacuate, looking for any safer place to go to.
She then heard a splashing sound, and realized the five aliens pursuing them were beginning to make their way across the creek.
Applejack began to turn to Rainbow Dash. "Common, we've got to get to-" However, she was no longer there.
Rainbow Dash hadn't flapped her wings so fast since the the wedding in Canterlot. She flew high in an arc, gaining the attention of not only the five aliens previously chasing her, but also that of some of the aliens surrounding the town. Soon the sky was being filled with weapon fire and magical blasts, though they could barely keep up with her. She smiled at this. Despite their technology they still seemed to be limited by their own shooting abilities. When she was high enough in the air that her mane grazed low flying clouds, she began arcing downwards. There were about fifty aliens below surrounding the southern area of the town. She aimed for the densest pocket of them and sailed towards them, her eyes beginning to tear after a second.
She could have swore she saw one of the alien pegasi gasp before she struck the ground right besides it, kicking up a magnificent mushroom cloud of rainbow. About ten aliens were sent flying in all directions. Exhausted, she gasped for air as the mushroom cloud settled, and to her shock more aliens were already beginning to surround her. They aimed their weapons at her and fired, but their hits didn't strike her. Another shield had surrounded her yet again, only this time it was blue. The aliens continued to fire at it, but despite all their efforts they could not break through.
Twilight awoke to the sound of a loud bang. A million different questions then entered her mind, and most were answered when she stepped out onto the balcony of her bedroom. A large rainbow-colored mushroom cloud was dissipating among a group of ponies with strange looking devices attached to their bodies. She knew immediately what had caused it but could not see its originator, the dust still being a bit thick. However, something else soon caught her attention, it descending from the skies above the town. A slight smile crept on her face.
Fluttershy was inside Sugarcube Corner, it serving as a temporary medical ward. Pinkie Pie was busy serving whatever food she could to wounded militia with Rarity helping out. The shy young pony had just finished fixing a broken leg when she heard a loud bang. She cowered at it, earning an odd look from the militia member, though she soon regained her composure. Following it came the shriek of another alien. The familiar zapping sound of alien weapons then filled the air.
Applejack had made it further into town. She twirled around when she heard the shriek of an alien and prepared for the worst. The line of aliens surrounding the town fired again, but this time their lasers did not strike any buildings. Instead, they struck a magnificent blue shield that encased the entire town. She gazed up, wide-eyed, and saw Princess Celestia descending from the heavens. The calvary, no pun intended, had finally arrived.
"Stay away from her, foul spawn of the void!" a very loud, very angry, and very royal Canterlot voice shouted from nearby Rainbow Dash. She spun within the shield to face fuming Princess Luna. The aliens turned their attention towards her, but before they could fire at the angry lord of the night she had made a split second teleport to inside her own shield.
"Princess Luna!" Rainbow Dash practically squeaked with a smile, "Man am I glad to see you!"
"The feeling is mutual," she said, returning the smile. Her face then quickly regained a serious composure. She turned and glared at the alien menaces nearby, "You have risked much to trifle with Equestria. Be gone from here and never return!"
They merely glared back. One actually shot her a grin and stuck its tongue out.
"Hmph!" Luna said. "Very well, we shall not pity you when the time for reckoning has come!" She narrowed her eyes. "And that time is soon at hand."
With a flash, the two teleported away and back to town. They arrived atop Town Hall, gazing at the beating Celestia's shield was taking by continuous alien weapon fire. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but think it looked somewhat pretty, as every portion hit flared with a brilliant light. They gazed up at the sun princess, who didn't seem to be overly exerted. Luna then turned towards Rainbow Dash. "Stay here, my friend. My sister and I shall deal with these beasts." She began to take off, but she was soon interrupted by her mortal friend.
"Wait, Princess. Do you know who these guys are?" she asked curiously.
Luna paused for a second, before glancing at Rainbow Dash and saying, "It's not something that would be prudent for discussion."
Rainbow Dash looked at her oddly as she flew to join her sister. It was obvious now that the royalty knew something of these aliens, but what exactly was it? Had they made contact before, only for it to be covered up from the public eye? If so, why? She shrugged the question off, gazing at the royal pair intently.
Celestia nodded towards Luna as she joined her side. Her face was calm but a bit anxious. She gazed out towards the woodlands, where a large, white earth pony was making its way towards the shield. It wore a golden set of armor with an ornate helmet, though its eyes were still as coal-black as the rest of its kin. It looked at Celestia with a blank expression on its face before letting out a small shriek. Immediately, the rest of the aliens held their fire.
Luna turned towards her sister, a shocked expression on her face, "Oh my... is that-"
Celestia shook her head sorrowfully, "It is..."
The pony in golden armor beckoned for the two to come towards it. Celestia and Luna gazed at each other warily before making their way down to the edge of the shield. The golden-armored alien made its towards them as well, and him and the two princesses stared each other down, both parties separated by the shimmering wall. Princess Celestia made a quick glance around her to see if nopony was near before turning her attention back to the alien who stood before her.
Twilight Sparkle watched intently as her beloved mentor, and her key to answers began walking towards what she assumed were the 'aliens' surrounding the town, one wearing golden armor in particular. How these aliens looked anything like ponies was beyond her, though she assumed that creationist ponies would be able to answer that question right away. They believed that pony life was created by a higher power, and if that was true perhaps whatever had created life on Trinity may have created life on other worlds. For once, Twilight shrugged off her desire to debate herself as to what the explanation for the alien's forms were. Instead, she turned her attention back to her beloved mentor.
Eager to find out what they were about to discuss, Twilight made a rather sloppy teleport down to the ground below outside of her treehouse, her still a bit weak from earlier. Nonetheless, she quickly trotted over towards where the two Princesses stood. As she drew near, she was beginning to make out the start of a conversation.
"Princess Celestia." the alien spoke, its voice a hoarse, winded sound. "We thought this would get your attention."
The princess glared at it. "What are you doing here, Wraith? Why have you taken those bodies of all things? Did you hope to infiltrate us?"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at this. Princess Celestia knew who they were? From the sound of it, they appeared to be some sort of parasitical entities, which could help explain the unusual eyes the alien ponies had. However, they had only crashed a few hours ago, or so she thought. She was still a bit disoriented after passing out and couldn't exactly make out how long ago that was, exactly. The aliens obviously hadn't taken anyone from Ponyville, or she would have been able to recognize the 'hosts', and there weren't any other settlements nearby. Would they have had time to taken hosts from somewhere else?
Despite her urge to ask Princess Celestia for answers, she soon surmised that maybe it was best for her to keep quiet. If the princess knew who they were and never had spoken of them to Twilight in all her studies with her, nor had she ever had her knowledge of them recorded down for the archives in Canterlot, perhaps the Princess didn't want most ponies to know about them. She gazed about for a hiding spot, and soon found it in, sadly, the rubble of a wooden home that had taken the brunt of the aliens' 'blaster' barrage, as Rainbow Dash had called them. She made her way into it, making sure to check for anyone hurt. Fortunately, it seemed whoever was in it had left. She then perked an ear up for the rest of the conversation.
"We took them by chance, and we just happened to be the ones who were selected to undertake this task."
"How unfortunate for you," Luna growled. "You probably did not realize there was a Terran starship in system, did you? It's only a shame they weren't able to finish you off." Celestia shot her a look for that, but Luna held her ground, the anger in her voice ever apparent. "For the lives you have taken here today, we will be sure to purge you from your hosts and-"
"Spare us the idle threats," he snapped. "We're here for the Orb of Trinity. Bring it to us or we will lay waste to Canterlot and kill anything in our way." In the taunting tone of a child he continued with, "We know it's there."
Twilight's ears perked at the last two remarks. She knew full well what the Orb of Trinity was. It was a transparent, weightless, and forever hovering sphere that occupied a space in Canterlot's Museum of Oddities. It was said to be older then Celestia herself, older then even Ponykind, a relic of some forgotten people who had turned to dust long ago. When she was younger and ready to tackle the mysteries of the world, she spent a lot of her time ogling over it and trying to ascertain its purpose. However, like many who she assumed came before her, she never was able to figure that out.
Terrans, however, was a new term to her. Were they another race of aliens Celestia knew about, perhaps enemies of these Wraith? She now had another thing to ask Princess Celest-
She paused, her eyes flinging open at a horrible thought. What if Princess Celestia was determined to keep the existence of alien life a secret? What if she performed a memory wipe spell on the entire town?! She dreaded that outcome of the situation. Despite the horrible things that happened that day, she was sure that learning about alien life would be one of the most interesting study topics in her life. She shrugged off the thought and returned to paying attention to the conversation.
"What do you want that for?" Celestia asked, a hint of suspicion on her tone.
The alien's face became blank, it paused for a second before saying, "It, along with other objects of its kind are releasing a particular kind of magical energy across the cosmos that is harmful our kind."
Celestia raised an eyebrow with an unconvinced expression. "Is that so? Why didn't you try to make peaceful contact with us, then? If you know of me and my sister, you would know we wouldn't wish harm upon anyone."
Luna glared at the alien. "Except for people who screw with my loyal subjects!"
Twilight cocked an eyebrow at that. Luna had picked up some colorful language in her time back.
"Luna!" Celestia snapped.
Luna quickly twirled towards her sister. "Did you see the corpses lying in the fields near Everfree?!" Luna spat. "These creatures are as ruthless as they are callous!"
Twilight nearly died inside when she heard that. She knew some sort of battle had taken place, but despite the voice in the back of her head saying otherwise, she had managed to convince herself that everyone in the militia had made it away safely. Apparently, that wasn't the case. She worried for her friends, especially Rainbow Dash. She had seen the Sonic Rainboom she had created earlier, right in the midst of the extraterrestrial's ranks. She could only pray that the aliens took prisoners. Celestia opened her mouth as if to say something, but quickly shut it. Twilight threw her a sympathetic glance. She knew how much her mentor cared about her subjects. Any deaths today would pain her as much as they pained Twilight.
The creature stared at them blankly once again, "Amusing. We did not contact you because we did not know if you'd listen. Tell me, if your entire being was throbbing with agony, would you not do whatever it took to-"
Before it could finish, the pony paused, a confused look spreading upon its face. Without warning, its coal-black eyes returned to those of a normal pony's, startling the princesses, his expression changed to one of panic. He glanced at Celestia with pleading eyes. "P-Princesses!" he gasped.
Twilight did the same. The sheer horror in his voice chilled her to the bone. Had this poor pony been trapped within his own body?
"Prince White Lancer?" Celestia said, her voice filled with a mix of relief and sorrow. "What happened?! When did these Wraith-"
Twilight's cocked eyebrow cocked even further. Who was this prince she had never heard of? Was Celestia keeping some strange secret star fleet that he was in charge of?
"N-No time." He said. "Do not let it have the Orb! Him and his kind are planning to-"
"It's not very prince-like to interrupt like that." the Wraith said, glaring at nobody in particular. Twilight couldn't help but feel a bit of rare hate for the parasite at that. It then turned towards the princesses. "I suppose you won't be bringing it to us, then?"
"Not in your life," Luna spat. "And now there's new business to discuss. We had always believed the mind of a Wraith's host was rendered null. However, this changes things. You and your kin are to leave their Dragan hosts immediately!"
Another new term for Twilight to wonder about. Were the Dragan what these 'host' ponies called themselves?
"Then who shall be our new ones?" he said, before turning towards Ponyville and grinning wickedly, "Them?"
Twilight's eyes widened at this.
"You wouldn't dare!" Celestia barked.
It chuckled darkly, "I wouldn't waste my time with pathetic, worthless, backwater hosts like them unless I was on my last limb."
"That can be arranged," Luna growled menacingly.
"I'm sure it could. Now then, let's see just how long you can maintain that shield of yours..."