"Oh my Faust! Are you boys ok?!" Celestia picked up McLaughn with her hooves and checked him for injuries as her maternal instincts set in. She then did the same for Ramirez.
"We're fine Princess. Thank you for saving us." Ramirez spoke as she looked at his reddened eyes.
"What did they do to your eyes?! They're all red!" Celestia whined.
"Tear gas. It's a nonlethal chemical weapon that police and military in our world use to disperse riots or flush out enemies." Smith explained to her.
"They force you to cry in order to render your sight?! How cruel!"
"Sister, while that is indeed very cruel, I believe that it is also cruel to leave our boys restrained?" Luna noted as she looked at Summers' wrists zip-tied behind his back.
"Oh.. of course Luna." Celestia and Luna both used their magic to loosen the zip ties and allow the Rangers to move their arms freely. The boys then rubbed their eyes and picked up the new blasters left behind by the four agents who were turned to dust.
"Huh... this one looks like it has select-fire.." Smith noted as he looked at a regulator. Summers looked at a twinshock with disgust.
"Bleh! This thing is too big and chunky to use." He laid it against the wall nearby.
"Ahem. Boys, do you have any idea who those other humans were?" Luna asked them. A scowl of concern grew on her face as she saw the boys picking up the strange yet familiar blasters.
"Well Princess, I only got a glimpse of them, but I think that they were Federal agents." Parker responded.
"Federal agents?"
"That means that they are a type of police-spy employed by the American government." Ramirez added. Celestia's frown grew from there.
"Does that mean that they're here to take you back??"
"It's definitely the most likely option... but did you say that they killed ponies earlier Princess?" Smith asked.
"....yes. Shining Armor wrote to us saying that they attacked a base in the Haysead Swamp full of scientists and guards, and we recently received word about a massive battle near Baltimare." Luna reported.
"How long ago did this happen?"
"The destroyed base was discovered last week, and the Battle of Baltimare was two days ago. Many pony lives were lost in both incidents." After Luna responded, Royal guards and civilian ponies, including some of the nobles of the court began trotting out of the hall. Many of them were crying or dumbstruck after being gassed and seeing the corpses of the guards who stood in the agents' way. Blueblood was being escorted out while using a handkerchief to wipe the tears from his eyes. He then turned and looked at the Rangers who were holding the guns dropped by the agents.
"YOU!!!! YOU BROUGHT THEM HERE!!! THEY KILLED FIVE PONIES BACK THERE!!!!" Blueblood lashed out as he used his magic to grab Parker by the collar to drag him down to eye-level with him.
"NEPHEW!! That is enough!" Luna shouted at him. Blueblood shoved Parker from his magic grasp.
"You know it's true Auntie! What else would bring more humans here?!"
"Nephew, these boys were victims just as much as you and the other ponies. You can't blame them for what happened." Celestia told him.
"Also nephew, Prince-Captain Shining Armor sent me a letter. Is it true that you ordered for the Rangers to stay in Canterlot when the Captain needed them to counter this very threat?" Princess Luna asked. Blueblood responded only with silence and an embarrased-guilty look. He then rejoined the crowd and kept moving.
"Wait, Shining sent for us?" Ramirez puzzled.
Equestrian War Room, Canterlot Castle
When most think of a war-room, they usually think of a large room full of computerized maps and occupied by numerous officers. Equestria's War Room was similar, yet at the same time very different from that description. Most of the room was almost brand new, as it was hastily constructed during the Pony-Changeling war a few months ago. The walls were circular and lined with the same grey bricks used in the Royal Dungeon. The floor was made of wood planks, and in the center of the room was a massive chandelier and a map of Equestria on top of a large red rug. The map took up a large circular table, about three yards in diameter, and the rest of the room had bookshelves that were mostly empty. Whatever was on the few occupied shelves were details from the last war and various documents from Equestrian history.
"What do we know so far?" Ramirez stood at the southern end of the map while the Royal Sisters sat on the Northeast and Northwest. The rest of the Rangers sat on the southern half of the map.
"So far, all we know about is that the human force numbers around one-hundred, and that their movement appears to move Northwest from Haysead to Canterlot. Luna pointed out as she used a large blue quill to trace the path of the human invaders.
"We also know that Captain Armor originally had a force of three hundred in Haysead. He had deployed one hundred-fifty of them to Baltimare before the attack, but after watching the enemy destroy Baltimare's garrison of five-hundred ponies, Shining's commanders pulled back into the city. They are regrouping and heading to Canterlot now." Celestia added.
"Five hundred? Goddamn!" Parker muttered under his breath.
"Boys, you know what you have to do. We've acquitted Blueblood's trial from your record and you may use lethal force." Luna told them.
"........ we can't do that...."
"What was that?" Luna asked, hearing Ramirez whisper to himself.
"I said we cannot do that. We will not do it." The Rangers looked at Ramirez. After hearing about the agents' attacks on ponies, they were all ready to go and start killing them. How could anybody be so cruel as to kill a pony?! That crime was truly unforgivable. McLaughn was about to interject, but Luna beat him to it.
"Why not?! Those humans are out there murdering innocent ponies!!"
"I know Princess, and they are wrong to do that, but we can't just go out there and start killing them!"
"How come? You boys killed hundreds of changelings in the last war." Luna asked.
"Sister, easy..." Celestia tried to calm down the argument.
"That was different. Those changelings were not from our world. We killed them because we didn't look at them as we look at other men. Now you're telling us to go and start killing other humans. You wouldn't directly order your ponies to go out and kill other ponies, would you?" When confronted with this question, Luna froze up. She saw herself as Nightmare Moon again. At one time, she may have considered using her guards to hunt down those who sympathized with her sister or threatened her role as princess. She was reformed a long time ago, but hearing this question made her wonder if there was still a little bit of Nightmare Moon in her.
The boys, who might have sided with Luna earlier, seemed to calm down. Ramirez was right. They couldn't just go and attack a bunch of other people who probably came here to bring them home.
"Sister?" Luna felt a tapping on her shoulder. She looked to her right and saw that Celestia was looking at her with concern. Luna broke her silence.
"I-I'm truly sorry boys. Of course we wouldn't force you to kill your fellow man."
"Thank you Princess." Summers replied. The guys let out a collective breath of relief.
"That doesn't mean that you aren't going to do something to stop them, right?" Celestia remarked.
"Of course we're gonna stop them. I have an idea." Ramirez began explaining.
"...Ok boys. I think it should work." Celestia approved. Ramirez's plan was to use guerrilla warfare tactics to draw the invading army away from the populated parts of Equestria. The boys would fire pot-shots at the army while being sure not to hit anybody. They would lead the force west through the White Tail Woods, past the Smokey Mountains, and into the Undiscovered West. Once there, they will leave the rest to a fully retrained Equestrian Army which would be better prepared to deal with humans.
"We'll send for Twilight to send your supplies to Canterlot. Until then, I suggest that you stay here. Shining Armor's force is moving in to engage the human force at the base of Canterlot's mountain." Celestia told them.
"He's going to attack!? What if they wipe him out too?!" Summers was concerned that Shining may face the same fate as Four Star.
"Don't worry. He told us that he'll try to conduct a night raid with some of the best ponies we have..." Luna smirked.