//------------------------------//
// 4. No History 
// Story: Battalion of Harmony 
// by mcb893 
//------------------------------//

Moore looked through the secret archives, searching for anything that could be of use. Even the Princesses had no memory of an alien invasion, but that didn't mean that one didn't happen. He read through book after book, not finding anything even remotely close to what he was hoping to find. Princess Celestia was standing behind him, frowning as he continued to look.

"Staff Sergeant, I understand that this is hard for you to hear, but this is the first time we have dealt with this. Aliens have never before attacked Equestria." She said, no emotions distinguishable in her voice. Moore turned to look at her, seeing was seemed to be regret across her face. Moore growled and slammed his fist into the bookshelves, causing a few books on the shelves to shake. He brought his hand to his head, rubbing the back of it as he began to pace the room. There was nothing that could help him here. He had been clueless on what to do at home, and he was still clueless as to what to do now. The Aliens had killed more Americans in two days since arriving on Earth than the Taliban had in two months of them being in Iraq. And that was against war-hardened veterans. Now they were fighting against soldiers who had only fought unintelligent beings, not nearly on the same caliber as the humans. Moore shook his head as he looked back at the Princess, unsure of what to think of his situation.

"There is nothing you can do to prepare us. We have no idea where the aliens are, and there is no way of telling what they are planning. As much as I hate to say it... We must wait for them to make the first move, then respond." The Princess said, her voice getting quieter during the last part of her sentence. Moore shook his head, slamming his fist into a wall in frustration.

"No! There's gotta be something we can do! You have no idea what those... Those freaks did to my home! I still have nightmares about the crap I saw back there! I'm not just going to sit around and let it happen to Equestria!" Moore shouted as he marched up the Princess, pointing at her accusingly. The Princess looked down sadly, and shook her head.

"This is hard for me too Staff Sergeant... This is my Kingdom, and I don't want anything to happen to my ponies. But until we have something we can go on, there's nothing we can do." She said. Instantly, Moore girt his teeth and clenched his fists.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" He shouted in fury. The Princess gave a stunned expression, backing away fearfully. Moore breathed heavily, outraged by what the Princess was saying. She was saying there was no way to protect the civilians before anything happened? What kind of idiotic crap was that? Wasn't she supposed to care about them more than he was? The Princess shed a tear, and looked away from the Staff Sergeant.

"John... Your anger is causing you to think unrealistically. What can we do to protect ourselves?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Moore opened his mouth to speak, but paused. His mind drew a blank. They had no intel, no idea where the hostiles were, and they didn't have the ability to get a battalion to a city overnight. Mobilizing a unit large enough to make a proper defense would take days at the very least, and at least a week if he were realistic about it. He closed his mouth, and un-clenched his fist. Looking back up to the Princess, he could see her eyes leaking tears, slowly, but steadily.

"I don't like it anymore than you do... But there is nothing." She said, her voice slightly louder than it was before. Moore looked down at his hand, opening it to observe it. He couldn't believe he had become so outraged at the Princess, even if he was only trying to think of a way to help. He shook his head, looking back over to the books on the shelves. As he turned back around to Celestia, he saw a guard coming behind her. The guard called out to her, making her turn around to face him.

"Princess, a messenger has arrived. Judging from his appearance, it seems to be urgent." He said with a calm voice. The Princess nodded, and looked behind her to Moore. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, apologizing for his outburst. The Princess nodded and walked out of the archives, to which Moore soon followed. The dark halls quickly gave way to the majestic castle, only for the passage to once again become hidden by a latch and a rug. As he came up to the library inside of the castle, Derek quickly came up, a look of obvious fear and panic outlining his face.

"John come on! Something's wrong here!" He said as he walked in front of Moore, slowly increasing his pace to a jog as Moore did the same. Moore wasn't sure of what to make of what he was hearing, although a deep uneasiness burned in his head as he entered the castle's main chamber. The SAS team and the Rangers hadn't left the castle since they arrived, merely staying to either await Moore's commands, or keep an eye on the downed SAS pilot. In the center of the room was a large, well built stallion that was covered in blood. For a moment, Moore couldn't even tell that his coat was brown. The messenger breathed heavily as he looked for the Princess, exclaiming once he saw her.

"Princess! Thank goodness you have arrived!" He said as he gave a very quickened bow, then stood up instantly. Princess Celestia nodded and welcomed him, while Moore placed his hands behind his back respectfully. The soldiers stopped what they were doing, turning to face the messenger. The Princess was about to ask what was so urgent, but the messenger answered before she could even ask.

"It's Hoofington! There's something attacking it! They have guns, but we've never even seen them before! They're killing everything in sight! The response teams are barely able to even put up a fight!" He shouted in distress. Moore uncrossed his arms and stepped forward uneasily, as the Princess shook her head. The message didn't stop there, however.

"That's not even the worst part! They have these weird things that are shooting strange blue balls at buildings and completely obliterating them! They're tearing the town to shreds!" He shouted. Moore stood there, shocked at what he had just heard. His team stood there in silence, stunned at what they had heard. The SAS operators merely shook their heads, while Predator placed his palm on his forehead.

"It's already started..." He could hear him say. Moore shook his head, stepping forward.

"How long did it take you to get here from Hoofington?" He demanded from the messenger. The stallion shook his head, a look of uncertainty spread across his face.

"I don't know... Four... Maybe five hours?" He said with a panicked expression. Moore grew wide eyed, as did the Princess.

"No..." She said. Her voice was weak, and it was barely louder than a croak. Moore rushed down the stairs, grabbing his gun forcefully as he told his men to get ready to move out.

"And just what do you think you're going to do Staff Sergeant? You heard the messenger, that was four or five hours ago. Chances are they're gone already." Predator said with a sympathetic tone. Moore glared angrily at the SAS leader, who simply had his arms crossed, though his stance was showing that he understood his feelings.

"That town is lost. The best you can do now is form a perimeter around the surrounding areas. Don't let the aliens get more ground than they already have." Moore shook his head as he lowered his weapon, now holding it at his side with only one hand. Moore grit his teeth again, frustration overcoming him. He felt so powerless, was there really nothing that he could do to stop this. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Predator looking back at him behind the black lens of his mask.

"You'll get another chance to save them. Trust me." He said as he patted his shoulder. Moore shook his head, growling as he did.

"I'll have Apex and Swift to help you out wit that perimeter. I'll come too." Predator said as he took his hand off of Moore's shoulder, backing away slightly. One of the other SAS members looked up as Predator said these words, and his body language showed that he was not happy about what his acting commander had said. The soldier walked over to Predator, his gun placed across his chest and stomach.

"Did I miss the part where we became soldiers for hire?" The soldier asked with an annoyed tone. Predator turned to face him, clearly aggravated by his question.

"Did I say that was what you were? No. These guys are going to need all the help they can get, and you and Swift are the ones that are up front with me. These aliens are the enemy we have been fighting for years now, and just because we're on some new planet doesn't mean that's changed. Now unless you want me to court martial you for disobeying orders and cowardice in facing the enemy, you'll do as I say." Predator said with an aggravated tone. Apex shook his head and mumbled something to himself, as Swift sighed and grabbed his weapon as well. Moore looked back over to his men, each of them with a weapon in hand.

"How long do you think they've been here?" Jack asked as he rested his rifle in his hands. Moore sighed and shook his head.

"Well... If that messenger was right about what was attacking Hoofington, probably months now." He said with a disappointed tone. Frank shook his head and rested his LMG on his shoulder.

"How could we have missed them for that long? Shouldn't we have found something by this point?" He asked. Derek looked over to him.

"We missed them the same way we missed them on Earth. We were occupied with other things. Besides, you know about their aircraft. If we couldn't see them then, why would we see them now?" He asked. Moore sighed and shook his head.

"Let's not worry about that right now. Let's just get that perimeter ready, and we'll figure out where to go from there."