"I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image."
Scootaloo glided over Ponyville, her wings were outstretched as she took in the marvellous view she had gotten so used to.
Life was good, Equestria was living in a time of peace, school was going well and she had even been accepted to join the wonderbolts.
Then she remembered the dreams, more specifically, last nights dream.
The sky seemed to darken a little.
To say the dream had scared her was an understatement.
She could barely get back to sleep afterwards and only did because she felt as if she hadn’t slept in weeks.
The creatures in the dreams were so vivid, but they were covered in a shroud that she couldn’t understand or describe.
She couldn’t make out their forms other than they stood on two legs and looked like ponies.
And the thing that kept her quite literally up a night was that twilight had cast a future telling spell on her only a few days before the nightmares started, Twilight took no joy in telling Scootaloo about the disturbing nightmares that occurred as side effects that depicting the negative events of the future.
She felt a shudder travel up her spine.
‘I should really tell Twilight about that.’ Scootaloo thought to herself.
‘But at least I've been accepted to the Wonderbolts.’ She thought gleefully to herself.
The world brightened up again and the view caught her attention again.
Earth three years prior inside infected zone
"This is bravo 15 to command we're getting swamped we need additional bio hazard teams!"
"Alpha 7 to command we're being over-run by mutants we need back up!"
"Uh, this is superintendent Collins something's trying to get in here, I can hear it outside."
"This is bio-hazard mechanized infantry flamer team Bravo 22 mutants have breached the fuel storage facility and are trying to get into the main facility seal off the bulkhead or their gonna get in!"
"This is Bravo 2, infected squads are being over-run, are there any available units in the area?
"This is bravo 15 we need back up! Repeat need back up!"
"Uh, this is superintendent Collins, the noises have stopped."
"Bravo 22 to command, our sergeant's dead we need reinforcements!"
"Bravo 2 to command the infected teams are dead the mutants are trying to get through the air lock."
"This is Bravo 15 we need bac-argh! *Static*"
"Bravo 22 to command, I'm the only one left. I sealed myself in the air lock, there's an Alpha outside."
"This is Bravo 2 they've got through the air lock-OW GET OFF!"
"This is superintendent Collins, there's an alpha in here, I'm hiding under a...I think it's saw me."
"This is bravo 22, it's trying to get through the door."
"This is Alpha 7 their inside the complex!"
Cole listened to the distress calls and shouts of pain.
The platoon captain frantically pushed buttons and redirected troops.
Meanwhile he was siting naked on a operating table with scientists buzzing round and technicians prepping the suit.
"Alright," The captain started.
"We are being swamped, there are about eleven thousand of those things coming for us and their are only about four hundred of us here."
Cole remained silent.
"So you are going to get in that and go and hold them off until back up arrives in around 20 minutes." He said pointing the mech behind him.
It was a next gen, prototype, heavy mech suit.
The suit was a new design that was planned to be implemented in the next ten years.
As next generation of human warfare tech was developed virtually all designs were either replaced with improved model or upgraded in some fashion.
Mechs were no exception.
He looked up at the machine in front of him and brushed his hand over the metal implant at the back of his head to connect with Exo-suits and the like.
'How did it end up like this?'
Scootaloo stared up at the creature in front of her, It was tall, that was all she could discern, and it brought something terrible with it. there was an aura of immediate danger around it. The area surrounding them was ponyville, was ponyville.
It had been completely destroyed, houses had collapsed and were burning, some were turning into ashes as soon as they caught fire. There were huge craters and a thick grey mist lay close to the ground. The thing in front of her looked like the same one from her previous nightmare, a lower rank but still deadly.
This had gone too far for her.
'I need to tell Twilight about this.'
Then it spoke.
"It doesn't matter," It said.
"We're already here."
Scootaloo shot up panting.
She looked around in shock.
She was in the park on one of the many benches that dotted ponyville.
She must have fallen asleep again.
"Why does this keep happening?" She said out loud, her voice sounding almost desperate.
The things in the visions seemed so alien, they looked like ponies in their build but they were taller and somehow she knew that they were much stronger.
But there was something so wrong about them So unnatural and disgusting.
Something that would stop at nothing to assure its survival.
'Survival.'
A shiver went down her spine, she didn't know how she came to that conclusion but something told her that she was right.
She stood up and headed towards The Castle Of Friendship.
Ryan stared off at the VTOLs' in the distance, a mlag or a multi purpose linier assault gunship or MLAG for short.
It looked like the average military helicopter only instead of a propeller it had two circular VTOL engines on either side and a plasma minigun at the door of each troop bay as well as two heavy plasma cannons and two plasma miniguns and the front.
Of course only the best would be used for the first ever extra solar expedition to an alien planet, therefore a special forces version of the MLAG was used. It was equipped with two missile launchers with tracking capabilities, thicker armour and enhanced radar and navigation systems.
They buzzed around looking for anything unusual.
Unusual to a human.
Speaking of humans, Ryan wondered what an alien wold think when they saw a human for the first time.
'Fear' A voice in his head spoke.
Ryan sighed, the voice was right of course.
If he saw a massive ship land in his back garden with hundreds of soldiers with gauss rifles and Plasma cannons, 9 foot tall mechanized infantry exo-suits, tanks and a whole host of other things to cause pain and suffering he would be pretty scared.
"Hey Stephson you alright?"
He looked up at the man in the rig.
"Oh, yeah sorry."
The man, Corporal Jeffery O'Brien an mechanized infantryman was in the armour rig, a built in set of scaffolding built to help apply the armour onto the user, however there was a problem. While the power armour would seal itself over the user piece by piece, The armour also needed to be bolted together at some points in the chassis, then to keep the joints protected they were covered in armour plates that fit exactly in place and make it look like there were no bolted points at all.
Fusion gel would cause the two parts to fuse into virtually one and would result in the armour looking like a single set rather than a collection of metal parts.
He screwed in the bolts with the drill and sprayed the armour plate with the fusion gel and welded it in place.
The problem with having to put on each part on separately and drilling it together then running diagnostics on it after each piece was that it took around three hours to complete the task.
Not only that but the ship only had four rigs.
They were only one hour in.
'Only two left' He thought.
'Great.'
Scootaloo walked briskly through the streets, occasionally she preferred to walk rather than fly.
Unlike most other pegasi she could appreciate the view from the ground.
She needed to get to Twilight and flying may attract attention from rainbow dash, and while she enjoyed and admired her she needed to speak with Twilight immediately.
She had just about had enough of these nightmares.
That was when something new happened.
She had just made it into the middle of ponyville when she glanced over to her left.
Lyra heartstrings, just sitting there on a bench minding her own business.
'Didn't she have a mental breakdown a few years ago?'
That was when it started
Images that flashed in front of her
The ground went red as a crimson fluid formed a river in the gravel.
All she could hear deafening cracks.
A strange limb landed on the scorched gravel and the strange red fluid seeped out of it.
There was the sound of machines and movement, metal grinding and suddenly a strange helmet landed on its side on the gravel.
It was green and an odd shape, it looked like it had been designed to encompass the users entire head, it seemed damaged with a massive dent in it and what looked like lightning flaring out of it.
The crimson fluid flowed from the helmet.
That was all she saw before she collapsed in the middle of the town square unconscious.
"Alright I'm booting up your helmet now." Sergeant Miller said to O'Brien as he tapped a few buttons on the tablet.
"Uh, I can't see anything."
"Yeah I'll power up your visual and HUD systems in a second."
He tapped another button.
"There you go."
"Um, I think my eyes aren't working."
"Have you tried opening them?"
"Yes I've tried opening them ya yank scumbag!"
"Cool it, keep yer ginger head on."
"Maybe if I could actually move it would be easier."
"That's a safety precaution ya guinness drinking physcopath."
"Aye right it's a safety precaution! I'll rip your wee Texan arms off!"
"There's the problem, there was a calibration error between the suit and your optic nerve."
"Well then fix it ya eejit!"
"Keep yer shirt on ya leprechaun."
Ryan looked on worried at the two marines shouting at each other over something so petty.
'Short temper.'
Alec would probably find something like this incredibly amusing.
"What's the matter with them?" a marine carrying a crate asked.
"Optic nerve calibration error."