She giggled ever so slightly to herself as the breeze tickled her regal figure from muzzle to ethereally flowing tail as she stood in the field of tall grass. Thousands of wildflowers growing in the untainted earth surrounded her, bathing her in their soft scent and beauty.

Celestia looked all around the idyllic scene as a small, content smile played on her lips. She took a deep breath, and let it sigh out, allowing it to expel all her usual worries and anxieties. She trotted forward at a slow, leisurely pace while occasionally stopping to admire a wildflower blossom or two, gazing up into the sunny, cloud speckled sky or pausing to listen to the melody of a meadowlark.

After a minute or so of walking the Princess of the sun spread her wings wide allowing the breeze to flow between the long, graceful pinions. With a soft down sweep she took to the air and glided around the field, happily content. All was right with the world. Everything was calm... serene... and quiet.

The sudden silence snapped Celestia out of her musings. The cool breeze had suddenly stopped as well as the bird song, leaving only a strange and almost oppressive stillness hanging in the air, as if the very world was holding its breath in fear. Not a single thing moved or even made a sound. Celestia looked around in confusion, trying to ascertain the reason for the abrupt halt of everything around her.

She quickly landed, the abrupt and eerie silence making her uneasy, so much so, that the hair all along her spine stood up. As she listened, a low rumble, not unlike the growl of a large and angry beast, came from behind her. Celestia whipped her head around at the sound to see a large and ominous storm building behind her; a roiling, ugly mass of jet black cloud that appeared to stretch from one side of the horizon to the other.

Lightning repeatedly blasted out and down from the massive cloud bank leaving a series of bright, jagged streaks in the air for a split second. The storm was racing towards her at a frightening speed. Celestia stood motionless for a few seconds, attempting to make sense out of the situation even as the storm bore down on her, the rational part of her brain protesting that no storms had been scheduled that day, let alone something so powerful and dangerous!

Then something clicked in her mind. It wasn't an idea or even a full thought. It was a basic instinct, something feral hardwired into every living being- he urge to escape; the simple will to survive. She fled, her heart pounding in her chest fit to burst from both panic and exertion as her hooves pounded at the now hard and barren earth. It wasn't that Celestia was afraid of storms, in fact she had dealt with them her whole life. No, there was something different about this storm, something very wrong and evil...

Celestia continued to try to evade the quickly approaching storm but with a roar it caught up to her; the black clouds swallowing her whole. The lightning was blinding and every time there was a crack of thunder it felt like her eardrums would rupture; with each jagged bolt she saw shadowy wraith-like figures moving about on two legs within the surrounding clouds.

They looked like nothing she had ever seen before; not even the humans looked this strange. Some short and squat, some almost as tall as her and several gargantuan beings with spikes protruding from their backs walking in pairs. The clouds suddenly cleared and was replaced with thick black smoke. The acrid smell caused her to cough and sputter as the toxic fumes filled her lungs.

Thrown to the ground, Celestia struggled to get her hooves under her as she found herself in a village she knew all too well. It was Ponyville, though she could hardly recognize it. Almost every building was aflame or reduced to rubble, craters were blasted in the earth. Bodies of dead ponies littered the streets in every direction she looked.

The sickening smell of burnt flesh hit her like a wall. Some bodies were riddled with scorched and blackened holes, some immolated beyond recognition and several were decapitated and dismembered. Blood ran down the street in thick rivulets and around Celestia's hooves. She lifted one of her hooves and watched in shock as the still-warm liquid ran down her foreleg, staining her snow white coat crimson with the blood of her beloved ponies.

As she looked around in horror at the scene before her, she felt bile rise to the back of her throat and try as she might she could not hold it back, her stomach emptied its contents on the ground in front of her. Celestia wiped her mouth with a shaky foreleg. With her eyes squeezed shut she turned around, took a few unsteady steps and collapsed to the ground, unable to accept what she had just seen. But nothing she had seen compared to the grisly sight that greeted her when she finally opened her eyes...

There, hanging by their tails from the wreckage of the Golden Oaks Library was Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony.

Celestia felt the hot tears pool in her wide, staring eyes and stream down her face in torrents as she beheld her most faithful student and her friends, each disemboweled and mutilated in some of the most savage and gruesome was imaginable.

The once calm and composed Princess of the sun screamed. A scream full of pain at seeing her subjects and friends like this and of pure hate for those that had committed such atrocities. But before she could entertain any thoughts revenge or retribution, a low hum sounded from above as a swirling white light appeared. Celestia gazed up at the light and shielded her eyes with her wings, tears still streaming down her face. As her eyes adjusted, the hum turned into a whine and she could barely make out the hulking purple mass of... something floating above.

The whine turned into a roar as a white hot beam shot down from the purple behemoth. Celestia attempted to shield herself but it was futile. The beam quickly broke through her bubble of magic and engulfed her, the ponies' remains and the entirety of Ponyville, burning the town and all within it until even the ground had turned to molten glass.

Celestia jerked awake with a long, loud scream of terror that echoed all around her spacious room.

The two Night Guard that were standing watch just outside the door burst in, leathery wings flared, golden catlike eyes quickly scanning the room for threats and wearing snarls on their muzzles that revealed their sharp, pointed thestrel teeth."Your Highness! Are you alright! What's wrong?!" the first shouted in a deep resounding voice.

Celestia was huddled in a fetal position on her bed, a hoof over her racing heart, panting heavily and shaking uncontrollably with a cold sweat drenching her. She looked over at the Night Guard, the irises of her eyes constricted down to mere pinpricks, "I'm... fine. Just a... bad nightmare is all." she gasped out through an unsteady voice.

"Are you sure Princess?" the other Guard asked with a very uneasy expression on his face. "Nopony tried to attempt to..."

"NO!" Celestia responded a little more forcefully than she had intended. "I mean, no, I'm fine. But please, leave me," Celestia forced a small quivering smile onto her lips.

"Yes... of course," the first Night Guard said with apprehension, "But, please, if there is anything at all we can do, we are just outside the door."

Celestia nodded, and as the Night Guards trotted out and closed the door softly behind them, she gripped the covers on her bed and pulled them tightly around herself. The vivid memories of the dream taking hold of her mind once again, she began to sob uncontrollably, wondering if she would ever be able to sleep soundly again.

------------------------

Celestia woke once more with a sudden jerk to the sound of her bedroom door opening. She knew something wasn't quite right but just couldn't put her hoof on it.

"Good morning dear sister!" came a bright and cheery voice from the doorway. "I came by earlier to wake you for the sunrise, but you were sound asleep so I decided to take it upon myself to do the first orbit adjustment for the day. I hope you don't..."

Princess Luna's words trailed off into nothingness as she finally got a full view of her sister as she slowly raised her head from the pillow.

Celestia didn't reply but only nodded as she untangled herself from the bed sheets and made her way to the bathroom to look at he self in the mirror. Luna hadn't been lying, she realized as she beheld her reflection. Her normally waiving and weightless mane and tail now hung limp in a tangled mess, along with dark bags under her sunken and blood shot eyes.

Celestia's eyes focused on Luna's reflection in the mirror above the sink. She breathed in deep and let it out in shaky gusts.

"It was... a nightmare. The most horrifying one I have ever had." Celestia looked at Luna tears welling up within her eyes once more. "Oh, Lulu, it was horrible. Everypony was dead!" she wailed. As she began to collapse Luna rushed forward and caught her just before she could hit the cold, hard marble.

"Please, just tell me." Luna implored, spreading a comforting wing around her sister.

It took a moment before she could speak, "There was an attack. There was fire, and smoke and..." Celestia stopped, her voice quavering.

"Go on, what else?" Luna coaxed as she laid there on the floor with Celestia slowly rubbing her back.

"Blood... s-so much blood and everything was destroyed. There was a storm, and shadows of monsters everywhere and then everypony was dead! Everypony, even... Twilight," Celestia whispered her pupils name as she began to slowly rock back and forth.

The Princess of the night knew something was wrong last night, she could feel it in the very air and ether--a large upset in the dreamscape all over Equestria. It seemed like there were quite a few more nightmares than normal last night, but every time she tried to enter one of them it refused to admit her.

"I was afraid you would say something like that." she bowed her head low and whispered. " It would seem that ponies all over Equestria experienced something similar last night. I fear that these nightmares were not just a mere coincidence. I believe they are likely omens of the worst kind. Something terrible is coming, and quickly. I have even noticed animals beginning to act strangely. Massive migrations of birds to all directions, deer, elk, even bears have been wandering around looking this way and that as if trying to see an unknown threat. Even the Dragons seem to be growing restless; I can hear them roaring all the way from their lands and some looked to be flying away as well..." she remembered. "Tia, the humans, they said that they are at war with a band of aliens and that they could have been followed... I think they are almost here."

Her sister's grim prediction seemed to shock Celestia out of her disarray. As she slowly stood, Luna watched as all traces of weakness and weeping had ceased, to be replaced by the steely resolve of a ruler. In a quiet voice Celestia said, "If they are indeed on their way then we must ready ourselves. Send word to Twilight. Tell her and the other elements to assemble along with the leaders of the Human delegation that first met with us and give them the means to come to the castle immediately."

"Of course," Luna replied as her sister began to walk out the door, "Wait, Tia, what are you going to do?"

Celestia stopped at the door to her bed chambers but did not look back. "I'm going to send a letter. Three in fact," she said in the same low voice. And with that Celestia walked out of the room leaving a puzzled Luna behind.

Twilight awoke with a sudden jerk and a grunt. She rolled over in her bed to look out the window for a few seconds then groaned and began to extract herself from her wadded up bed sheets.

"Ugh, what a night," she said as she slowly clambered out of bed. She looked to the foot of her bed to see Spike still sleeping and as quietly as she could, made her way to the bathroom. She turned on the light and the water in the sink, frowning at her disheveled appearance reflection staring back at her. "Geez, I haven't had a dream that weird or... scary since I was a little filly." Twilight thought as she used her magic to start brushing her mane. She quickly finished up and trotted downstairs, each hoof fall producing a muffled clunk on each worn smooth step. She trotted into the small kitchen area at the back of the library and began to rummage through the cabinets looking for something to eat.

"Alright, let's see here... bread for toast, some apple butter, a day old banana nut muffin, and some cereal, heh, the breakfast of champions isn't it." Twilight chuckled to herself with a note of sarcasm in her voice as she floated everything over to the small table in the middle of the kitchen. She sat herself down, poured a bowl of cereal and began to eat with a very indifferent look on her face. The sound of her munching away at her breakfast was all that could be heard until a loud belch and a groan echoed from upstairs. A few seconds later Spike came trudging down the steps bleary-eyed.

"Why in the world (YAWN) is Celestia sending mail this early?" Spike asked as he handed over the small roll of parchment to Twilight and proceeded to grab the yet to be eaten muffin off of the table.

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked at the parchment scroll that bared the official seal of the Royal Sisters. She quickly took the scroll in her magic, broke the seal, and read the short note.

Twilight spat out the mouth full of cereal she had been chewing on and rushed out of the kitchen to the front door, which she threw open with her magic. Stepping outside, she disappeared in a flash of light and a loud pop as her teleportation spell took effect.

Spike watched her leave with a raised eyebrow, shrugged and continued to munch on his muffin. He turned back around to the kitchen and groaned at the mess that was left.

---------------------------

Her breakfast forgotten, Twilight quickly teleported all around Ponyville to each of her friends' houses, banging on each door till they answered and giving them all the same message: "Meet me at the library, it's urgent!" before teleporting off again.

---------------------------

"Alright, that's all the Elements, now to go get the humans." Twilight floated herself down from Rainbow Dash's house. "Now just to teleport to the human base." Twilight was beginning to breath heavily from the magical exertion she was putting herself through and a sheen of sweet formed on her forehead and began to drip down into her eyes, making them sting. With another loud pop she disappeared.

When she reappeared in front of the human base she very nearly fell over but managed to regain her balance on her shaky legs. Gasping for breath, she yelled out to a nearby guard, "Quick, I need to speak with Luke and John!" The guard recognized Twilight almost immediately and escorted her onto the base. Soon Luke and John were assembled around Twilight as she let them read the letter.

"Alright, well, let's get going then, we haven't had anything to do for a while now." Luke said as he handed the scroll back to Twilight and he and John began to jog in the direction of Ponyville and the library with Twilight bringing up the rear.

"Sorry I... can't teleport... us all..." Twilight gasped, "But I... can only take... a certain amount... of mass with me."

"It's fine," said Luke over his shoulder. "besides, it's not that far from what I remember anyway."

Luke and John shortly arrived at the library with Twilight huffing and puffing just behind them. Rainbow Dash swooped over and said, "Hey, egghead, what's with the early morning meeting huh?"

"No... time... to explain," Twilight gasped as she began dragging her hoof in a circle around the group in the soft earth. She quickly made sure everyone was inside the circle and, once satisfied, pulled the letter out and quickly set it on fire with a quick burst of magic. The large circle began to glow with a dull white light that steadily got brighter until they could hardly see and made John's face plate transition to its maximum polarization.

Then with a sudden, very loud crack all that were in the circle vanished, nothing but a small wisp of magic left behind in the air.

With another loud crack the group appeared in the throne room directly in front of Celestia.

"Good, you are all here," Celestia said as she stood from the throne and began to pace back and forth in front of them, her manner unusually agitated to those who knew her. "Twilight, the rest of you as well, tell me, did you have a vivid dream or nightmare last night?"

"Uh, yes, Princess, I did," Twilight said, a little confused by Celestia's abruptness, "But I don't see what that has to do with anything."

Celestia stopped her pacing and looked at the group fully for the first time since their arrival.

"It has to do with Equestria's very survival." she said quietly and then a little louder she said, "Luna was on guard last night like she always is, but this time it was different. She reported that many ponies, especially powerful magic users, all over Equestria seemed to have extreme nightmares last night. Even I was not immune to them," she shivered. "She also reported strange goings on with animals fleeing in every direction, leaving populated areas as if they were no longer safe. In short... we fear that the ones the Humans are at war with are now close at hoof," she finished looking up at Luke and John.

"That... is a very real possibility," Luke said grimly. "And if they come... they will attempt to kill us and anyone who attempts to assist us."

Celestia nodded solemnly as she turned to walk back up to the throne. As she sat back down she spoke again, "If what I saw in my nightmare is even remotely possible, and from how you have described the Covenant it seems very likely, we must stop. It. From! HAPPENING!" She yelled as she slammed a hoof down on the arm of the throne, startling all present. Neither her guards nor the element bearers had ever heard their Princess raise her voice like that before.

Quickly recomposing herself, Celestia cleared her throat and evened her breathing. "A program has been enacted for the defense of Equestria, and military bases in every Equestrian city are on high alert and readying themselves for war." With that, she turned to John and Luke and asked, "When they do come, when they get here, can Equestria count on the Humans to assist?"

The large armored Spartan answered, "Of course, it is our responsibility, given we accidentally led them here. We will fight with you."

She nodded in satisfaction. "Good, now we must all prepare. I will send you all back to Ponyville and when you arrive, visit Ms. Vinyl Scratch. If we are to go to war we need the most advanced weapons she has."

That caught all the ponies attentions. "Whoa now. Yer tellin' me Vinyl Scratch... tha DJ, has weapons?!" exclaimed Applejack suddenly, giving voice to what they were all thinking.

Celestia nodded once again, "Yes. In fact, I commissioned her to build them, both lethal and non. She is Equestria's foremost expert on acoustic weapons."

The group just stood there, mouths agape. The news that Ponyville's own resident DJ was actually an advanced arms developer was shocking to say the least.

"Now, I bid you farewell and safety in the time to come," Celestia said as her horn and eyes began to glow with magic.

"WAIT! Princess! After we meet with her then what?" asked a bewildered Twilight, What do you want us to do? Where do you want us to go?"

Celestia looked down at Twilight with her eerily glowing eyes and said simply, "To war."

With that, the entire group was surrounded by a beam of warm light from Celestia's horn and once again with another loud crack they were gone.

The group reappeared just outside of a normal looking house in Ponyville. Still a bit disorientated from their return trip they stood there for a few seconds trying to get their bearings.

"Well, at least Celestia's aim is pretty good," said Rainbow Dash as she motioned to the house in front of them. "That's Vinyl's and Octavia's house alright... though how those two can room together is beyond me, they're complete opposites."

"I know, right! Man, Octy just doesn't understand the power of the wubs," A voice said from behind the group. They turned around in surprise to see none other than Vinyl Scratch, wearing her trademark sunglasses and a pair of worn, military style, saddle bags.

"Welp, you guys are probably here for a reason, so come on in." Vinyl invited as she walked around the group and unlocked the front door to the small house.

The group followed her inside, but the low doorway made John and Luke duck to get through.

"So, what brings you to my neck of the woods, eh?" Vinyl said as she used her magic to shut the door and float her saddle bags onto a hook.

"Princess Celestia sent us to, uh, ask you about, acoustic weaponry? Twilight said hesitantly, still having a hard time believing it.

Vinyl paused for a second with her back to the group as she lifted her sunglasses from her face and put them on top of her horn to reveal her near blood red eyes, Their shade and sudden intensity causing both humans and ponies to shy away ever so slightly. As she slowly turned around her voice changed to a lower, and much more serious note. "Well, that explains why the two humans are here. What were your names again? John and Luke?" The pair nodded.

"Welp, Celestia asking you to do this can only mean one thing," she said, her voice equal parts grim and excited. "Operation Midnight's Light has gone into full effect and she is expecting something very bad. Come on down into the basement, I'll show you what you need."

As Vinyl Scratch lead the group deeper and deeper underground, lights began to flicker on along the bottom of the stairs and along the sloping ceiling, revealing dark grey metal walls. When the stairs finally ended they had arrived at a very solid looking metal door. Vinyl Scratch walked up to a small protrusion on the door frame and gently touched it with a hoof. A small panel slid open to reveal a scanner of sorts. The DJ put her right eye up close to the scanner which immediately recognized her retinal signature and slid back into place as a voice filled the small hallway.

After a few seconds of silence the electronic voice came back and said, "Welcome back Ms. Scratch and guests, please proceed."

There was a sharp hiss and metallic clank as the large door ahead of them slowly slid away to reveal a large and rather spacious laboratory. Vinyl Scratch trotted in and grabbed a lab coat hanging just inside the door and put it on.

Twilight and the rest slowly followed her inside with mouths agape in wonder at all the technology in one room. Even the two humans were impressed at what they saw, finding the lab to be a near equal to Office of Naval Intelligence lab. The door they had just entered through closed with a soft thud with several more noises coming from the large locking bars that slid into place in the door frame.

"Well, guys, here ya go, Vinyl said, gesturing to racks upon racks of weapons all around the room. "I've got sonic blasters, cannons, traps, mines, a few electromagnetic pulse bombs that I got from a buddy of mine in Manehattan, sonic grenades, you name it, and it runs on sound, then I got it!" Vinyl said with a large smile.

"Wow, this is so awesome!" Rainbow squeaked as she flew around the room looking at all he various high tech weapons and gadgets.

"Darn right it is, look at all this stuff," Applejack said as she and Fluttershy trotted over to a large tube full of some sort of blue liquid to examine it.

"I know right!" Pinkie Pie yelled from behind the tube while the liquid inside wildly distorted her head causing Applejack to jump backwards in shock and Fluttershy to nearly faint.

"I must agree, this is all rather fantastic but I think they are a bit bland if you ask me, with all the blue and white," Rarity said as she trotted next to Twilight

Twilight was as amazed as any of them at all the strange things in the room, but something in particular caught her eye.

"Um, Vinyl, are those... the elements of harmony?" she pointed to the corner of the room.

"Huh?" Vinyl said as she looked up from showing Rainbow and Pinkie one her best Bass Cannons.

"Oh, heh, yep, they sure are," She confirmed as she walked over to the large impact resistant cube that housed the Elements. "Celestia gave them to me to do some research on them. As it turns out there are several myths about the elements and their full power. All of these legends from all over Equestria each tell a slightly different story on what the extent of their power is but, they all share one thing in common..."

Vinyl turned her red eyes on Rainbow. "That In Equestria's darkest hour the Elements' full power will be revealed. I still can't figure out what that means yet, but the weird thing is, lately I've been noticing some odd energy fluctuations emanating from them and the energy levels are constantly rising."

A small alarm began to chirp. Vinyl looked down at the base of cube where it was sitting on a small bench.

"See, the energy levels just spiked aga..." Vinyl was interrupted by another alarm and another until the room was filled with an ear piercing wail of several of sirens going off at once.

"I...I don't know!" Vinyl shouted back as she looked at several readouts and monitors surrounding the Elements all of which had bars, lines, and gauges all showing red.

John suddenly jumped from the back of the group, grabbed Vinyl away from the readouts by the collar of her lab coat just as the clear cube shattered sending sharp shards of hardened plastic in all directions. Most of the shards that went flying towards the group of ponies and Luke were blocked by John, whose shield was very nearly drained from the forceful impacts.

"Whoa... thanks dude! You have no idea how badly that would have ruined my day." the DJ said as the large armored human set her back down.

When all present looked back to where the elements had been, they were almost blinded by a bright white light. As the light dimmed they could make out each of the five Elements slowly revolving around the sixth. Each of the Elements slowly floated over to their respective owner and put themselves on their necks and Twilight tiara on her head. Something was different this time though. As each Element made contact with its owner, there was sounds of metal scraping against metal and several pops and screeches and they could feel something begin to cover their bodies and suddenly none of them could see as all finally went quiet.

"Whoa, so THAT'S what the legends were talking about!." Vinyl said breathlessly.

"What are you talking about?!" shouted Twilight, her voice heavily muffled as she struggled to move but couldn't. She could feel a sort of suit of... something surrounding her but she still couldn't see what it was and could only assume her friends were experiencing something similar because of their panicked cries.

"Thank you, now let's ju..." before Twilight could finish the room in front of her became visible once more and words began scrolling before her eyes.

INITIALIZING BOOT PROGRAM...

INITIALIZING LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS... DONE

CALIBRATING THERMAL AND MOTION SENSORS... DONE

SCANNING FOR DAMAGE... NONE

INITIALIZING SUIT ENVIRONMENTAL COMPENSATORS... DONE

INITIALIZING SHORT AND LONG RANGE COMMUNICATIONS... DONE

INITIALIZING SHIELD CHARGE SEQUENCE 3... 2... 1... CHARGING... DONE

INITIALIZING NEURAL PATHWAY LINK 3... 2... 1... DONE

INITIAL BOOT SEQUENCE COMPLETE... BRINGING H.U.D. ONLINE NOW.

As Twilight stood motionless, she felt very hot then extremely cold as the suit said it was initializing its environmental compensators. Then when it said initializing neural pathway link she felt pin-pricks all over her body especially along the back of her neck and spine. As it finally finished the H.U.D. as the suit called it, flickered on and it displayed several statistics about her health, the suits functionality, and the outside environment. Another line of text scrolled across Twilight's eyes,

UNLOCKING ARMOR IN 3... 2... 1...

As soon as the counter hit one Twilight found she could move again, but her simple attempt to walk resulted in extremely over exaggerated movements and caused her to topple over as the suit magnified her movement several times over.

As she gingerly picked herself off the ground she caught sight of her friends, each with a set of armor that she could only assume looked like hers but each had subtle differences. Rainbow's and Fluttershy's suits were very slim and looked to have very minimal armoring but Applejack's armor was the exact opposite, with heavy armor all over and some especially powerful looking back legs. Pinkie's looked like it was in the middle ground along with Rarity's and Twilight's in armor, but her's looked to have many ports, pouches and canisters all over it. Twilight's and Rarity's horns seemed to be connected into their suits as well.

"Whoa, this is amazing!" Vinyl Scratch whispered as she walked around Twilight and the others as she swiped a camera from a near by bench and began taking pictures. "Hehe! Alright! Wait till I tell Celestia and Luna about this. They are gonna freak! I might even get funding for years to come now! WHOO-HOO!!!" Vinyl raced to the door, impatiently waited for it to open and ran up the stairs at a breakneck speed.

"Well, that was... interesting," Twilight said as she rolled her eyes with a small smirk.

"This is impressive," John said "Your armor looks very similar to my own. I'm sure Doctor Halsey would love to get her hands on one of those suits."

"You know she would." Cortana said through his suits speaker. "Hell, she'd probably want to get her hands on those elements as well."

"Alright, uh, can anypony really move yet without falling over?" asked Rainbow Dash, who was in the process of picking herself up from the floor for the third time.

"Not really." said Applejack as she attempted to take a step forward but only succeeded in doing an awkward face plant.

A soft whimper emanated from within Fluttershy on the ground followed by "It's got me! It's got me!" As soon as the H.U.D. in her helmet said that the armor was unlocking she tried to bolt to get away from the weird sounds and sensations but only managed to make her situation worse by immediately tripping on her own hooves. At which point she landed squarely on her back and try as she might she could not get up and could only flail her limbs.

"Fluttershy, calm down sugar cube," said Applejack as she very slowly pushed herself up off the ground, "nothin's got you. Just stop kickin for a second and calm down."

"A-alright." Fluttershy sniffed as she stopped attempting to run upside down and tried to cam herself.

"Oh my," Rarity said as she slowly twisted and turned this way and that admiring her sleek and brilliant white armor. "Oh, I do believe I am getting an idea for next seasons collection... not to this extent mind you but still, I think I can bring stylish armor esque fashion to the masses. Ooooo! maybe Celestia and Luna will even let me design the Royal Guards new armor as well. Eeeeek!" Rarity bounced happily in place at the thought.

"Oh wow, this is so cool! just imagine how useful and fun this is going to be when I'm planning a party!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she literally bounced off the walls and all around the room, skillfully avoiding possible collision after collision.

"Pinkie... how are you already moving around so easily?" Twilight asked with more than a bit of confusion.

"I dunno," Pinkie said as she finally came to a stop in front of Twilight, "It's like this armor knows what I want to do before I even know I want to do it. Kinda weird but really really neat!"

Twilight just nodded and decided to rank it up there with Pinkies other odd skills and abilities. "Ok, it looks like we are just going to have to get used to these things a little bit at a time. I just wish that I could get this helmet off..."

As if in response to her thought, the helmet of Twilight's armor broke apart with a hiss of escaping air and retracted, revealing her head.

"Ah, well, that's a little better," as she scratched at an itch that had been forming on the tip of her nose. A sudden thought occurred to Twilight. "Wait a minute, if the helmet responded to my thoughts, then what's stopping the entire suit?"

Twilight scrunched up her face in concentration and a few seconds later the entire suit had disengaged and retracted back to just her tiara.

"Hey girls, just think of the suit going back to your element." She yelled out to the rest of the elements.

They all did so and soon each of them were out of their armor and only wearing their now slightly glowing Elements.

"Alright, now, gather some of the weapons here. We'll come back for the rest when Vinyl gets back from... where ever she ran off to." Twilight said.

When they finally left Vinyl's house with a few loads of weapons it was it was once again getting later on in the afternoon, and they all agreed to meet at the library to deposit all the things they had gotten.

Twilight went back to Vinyl's house later on that evening to check and see if she had returned. The violet unicorn knocked on the door but this time was greeted by Octavia.

Octavia nodded and said, "Yes, she just got in about an hour ago actually, she's been ranting non-stop about funding and awesomeness and the like. I can already tell I'm not going to be getting any sleep tonight with her making such a ruckus in her room. Anyway, I'll go and get her for you."

Octavia trotted away from the door a few steps cleared her throat and yelled up the stairs, "Vinyl! Twilight is here to see you! Get your neon colored flank down here!"

Octavia rolled her eyes and trotted back to the door, "She'll be down in a moment."

Twilight gave a small smile and said, "Wow, I didn't know you could yell like that."

"Ah, that? Well, let us just say that being assertive has it's perks in being first chair cellist."

"Hey Twi, what's up!" Vinyl Scratch shouted as she squeezed past Octavia, squishing her into the door frame. Octavia, with a grimace at her house-mate turned and trotted into the house and turned a corner out of view.

"Well, I was just coming by to see if you were going to need any help getting the rest of those weapons delivered to the other military basses."

"Really, all of them?" asked Twilight, who was quite impressed that Vinyl had already moved so much equipment.

"Yep! Celestia put a quick deployment system in where I push a button and several teleportation spells activate and clears out the entire place."

As she turned to go Vinyl called out to her, "Wait, before you go, I need to tell you something." The sudden seriousness in Vinyl's voice made Twilight stop dead in her tracks and turn to face the DJ once again. All mirth and lightheartedness had drained her face and eyes, leaving only cold determination in its place.

"W-what is it?" Twilight asked, now slightly afraid as she took a small step backwards. Ponyville's DJ suddenly looked quite scary with the setting sun seeming to set her blood red eyes on fire coupled with the fierce expression on her face .

"Like I said, if Celestia has taken this course of action, whatever it is she is preparing for... it's going to be bad. When it does hit you guys stay safe out there, alright. I'll join up with you as soon as I can when it when it all goes to tartarus."

Vinyl snorted out a small chuckle and said, "I can't make any promises, but I'll try."

They pulled each other in for a quick hug and then parted ways, Vinyl retreating back into her house and Twilight making her way back to the library and a much quicker pace now.

"Ship Master! The human ship is dead ahead and closely orbiting a nearby planet. Long range sensors show the planet to be inhabited. Advise activating cloak and reporting back to the carrier."

"Agreed," Ravamee said as he began pacing the bridge. "Send a slip space message pod with our coordinates. And be sure to heavily encrypt it. I don't want to have to deal with those blasted apes the prophets seem to love so much figuring out where we are."

"Now, make a course for the planet and establish a holding pattern just beyond its moon."

"Soon, vermin, very soon, you and all who shelter you shall die," Ravamee thought as he stood on the bridge and watched his subordinates carry out his commands.

Halo: Equestria

by Man Of War

7. The Oncoming Storm