Moments before the shot was released however, Haven's hearing was interrupted by a pair of loud explosions. She looked up in amazement upon realising she was still there rather than having been reduced to red paste. The machine had reeled over to one side, wobbling as some sort of stabiliser tried to keep it propped up. It returned to its former elevation, and its head swung round as if tracking something in the nearby area.
"Come on! We have to get another shot at it!"
Queen Haven looked up and saw, to her astonishment, that the voice belonged to somepony she knew very well. Her own daughter, to be precise. "Zipp?"
Zipp suddenly flew into view once more, and seemed to be holding something between her front hooves. She then dropped it onto the machine, which was once again bowled to one side. Pipp flew in seconds later and dropped one of her own at the target, once again damaging it. The machine stumbled once again, but was not subdued, and instead turns its cannons to the air. It waited for Zipp to fly into range, and fired.
The shots missed, thankfully, but slammed into a nearby tree line, setting some trees on fire.
"Mom!" Pipp shouted. "Run! We'll try to hold them off!"
"And leave you two to suffer?" Queen Haven asked. "Not a chance. We're leaving- together!"
Additional troops suddenly appeared in the region and began to advance forward towards the machines. "We'll form a defensive rearguard, Your Majesty," said one of the soldiers. "We'll buy the Royal Family time to escape!"
They formed up into a defensive line that faced the machine, and prepared their rifles. "Large machine up there, five rounds rapid! FIRE!"
The loud repeating fire of weapons, and the rifles rapid rattle, sounded through the air as Queen Haven and her daughters made their retreat. Despite the levels of firepower being arrayed at them, the troops never faltered, remaining steadfast in their duty to protect their leaders.
The Royal Family flew through the skies over the forest, seeing scenes of utter devastation unfolding below them. Forests were on fire and burning, and large numbers of these machines were advancing across the terrain, laying waste to everything that lay in their path. Everywhere was the smell of burning trees and ash particles danced on the air, a scene that would have been oddly mesmerising were it not for the horrific screams of the dying.
The entire journey was conducted in silence back to Zephyr Heights, despite it being a very long flight back to the city. It was clear that the scenes they had just witnessed were taking a heavy toll on the three, but they were coping with it by staying silent until they returned.
They all looked glum, but wouldn't anypony after witnessing- and surviving- something like that? It beggared belief that something like this could happen to Equestria. Although there had been tensions between the three tribes, there hadn't been a war in centuries. And yet here they were, facing that very prospect.
At last, the city hove into view, and the trio flew in over the buildings. Most of the populace seemed to have their eyes glued to the television screens reporting on the devastation seen earlier today. The trio, however, were aiming for the Royal Palace, and when they touched down outside Queen Haven finally broke the silence.
"Girls?"
"Yes mom?" Pipp and Zipp said in unison.
"I'm so sorry about earlier. I should have listened to you two instead of brushing your concerns off. For that I want to apologise. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course!" Zipp said. "That's what family does. Besides, I think we'll need to be on the same page if any of that was anything to go by."
The trio entered the throne room, only to find several figures in military uniforms waiting for them.
"This is serious," Pipp said quietly to Zipp.
The first of the figures in uniform stepped forward. "Your Majesty," he said. "We are relieved to see you have returned safely to Zephyr Heights. This global situation is one of great concern to all of us in the military."
Queen Haven nodded. "Status report," she said. "Fill me in on the situation." She turned to her daughters. "This is General Clear Skies, a high ranking officer in the Army."
The figure nodded. "Deploy the screen and show the evidence."
A large screen dropped into a position, and a projector started up. Grainy footage appeared on the screen, showing the threat advancing across the continent.
"This is the threat we face. Based on their design, we have decided to designate this threat the 'Tripods'. They are currently advancing rapidly across unicorn and earth pony territory. Several towns have been laid to waste, and the Earth Pony 20th Army attempted to hold the enemy advance at Ghastly Gulch."
"I'm assuming they didn't succeed," Queen Haven said.
"Once those machines move into an area, nothing more is heard from it," Clear Skies replied, as he switched to a map with arrows drawn on it. "These are the projected lines of advance of the enemy. As you can see, they are coming alarmingly close to crossing the border into Pegasus territory." He indicated to a location on the map with a laser pointer. "This is the Hurricane River, the last major river crossing before we reach the Outlands. I have already dispatched an Expeditionary Force to hold the line and slow the enemy down. If they break through the lines, I fear it's a straight shot to Zephyr Heights."
The Queen nodded. "Any further news from our allies?"
"The unicorns and earth ponies have lost a fair bit of their command and control infrastructure, but are trying to mobilise their reserves as quickly as they can. I do fear it won't do us much good, however, so we need to make preparations to defend the capital from any potential attacks. The only issue is our army hasn't fought a war in centuries, so nopony has any combat experience."
Just then, the rest of the Mane Five, along with two others, arrived. "Sorry we're late," Hitch said. "We had to go the long way."
"Why didn't you take the Marestream?" Queen Haven ventured.
"The aliens blew it up," Sunny pointed out, who was still helping Izzy along. "We should be safe here, from those things."
The two extra figures removed their helmets. "Well, we made it," Argyle commented. "Thanks for getting us through that, Goldie."
"Nonsense- were a team out there, and always will be," Goldie replied.
"May I ask who these two are?" Clear Skies asked, as he looked at the new arrivals.
Sunny stepped forward. "This may sound pretty hard to believe, but these are my parents, Argyle and Goldie Starshine."
"I thought you said both your parents were dead," Queen Haven said, before stopping. "Sorry. I could have phrased that better."
"It's OK," Sunny replied. "I thought they were dead too until very recently. Turns out they know a lot about the threat we're facing out there."
"Do we have any further information on what is happening in the other parts of the continent?" Queen Haven asked.
"Mostly bad, I'm afraid," Hitch said. "Maretime Bay has fallen. These creatures-"
"Tripods, we're calling them," Clear Skies informed him.
Hitch started again. "Maretime Bay has fallen. The tripods attacked us from the sea and then destroyed the town- including the Crystal Brighthouse, I'm afraid. Luckily we were able to recover the Crystals and Sunny brought them to our current location. I suggest we keep them safe and well away from any threats. I was also able to retrieve Sparky and he's here with us. He needs to be kept safe as well."
"What of Bridlewood?" Clear Skies asked. "Any news from the unicorn regions?"
Izzy stepped forward, saying the first words she had said in a while. "Bridlewood is gone. I was there when the tripods attacked. They were destroying everything! I have no idea if anypony apart from me made it out alive."
Queen Haven's eyes widened in shock. "What about Alfie?" she said, before stopping herself. "Sorry. Is there any word from the unicorn leader."
Izzy took a deep breath. "Alphabittle's gone," she said. "One of those things killed him."
"Killed, you say?" Queen Haven asked.
"Yes," Izzy replied. "He's gone," she repeated.
The Queen stared off into space for what seemed like several hours, but which in reality was a few seconds. It was clear to all she was trying to hold her composure and struggling badly. Nopony blamed her when she began to sob quietly. Pipp and Zipp felt especially bad, as their mother's chance for a new relationship had been torn away from her.
Queen Haven looked up after a few moments, her previously red eyes burning with an anger few had ever born witness to. "We must defeat the aliens before they take anything else from us," she said.
Clear Skies was next to speak. "Luckily, Your Majesty, I have reason to believe we have something that can bring the tripods to their knees."