A year had passed since Prance had surrendered after their king's failed to invade Equestria. However, Matthew Harris, Commander of the Equestrian Armed Forces, knew that King Forte was only the beginning of something much worse. He had spent an entire year searching for this unknown enemy of the kingdom, but had come up with nothing. It wasn't until about three days ago that he had finally received some promising news. One of the scouting teams in the Crystal Mountains reported that they had found a very strange metallic structure hidden deep in the mountains, mostly covered by snow. Due to the adverse weather conditions in the mountain ranges though, communications between Canterlot and the scout team were taking a very long time.
Commander Matthew Harris was in his office just down the hall from the royal throne room. His dark gray coat hadn't changed a bit over the long and tiring year. However, his black mane and tail were starting to develop strands of gray hairs. The stress of trying to find an enemy they couldn't positively identify and near impossible to locate had been taking a clear toll on the stallion. He was reading the scouting reports he that had come in from late last night when Captain Spitfire entered his dimly lit office.
"Sir, we've just gotten a letter back from the scout team investigating the structure in the Crystal Mountains," the fiery maned mare informed as she handed him the letter.
Matthew took the note in his magical grasp and began reading the message aloud. "Commander Harris, we have investigated the metallic structure to the best of our ability and have come the conclusion that whatever this is, it is not pony-made. This structure has technologies that none of us have ever seen before. I strongly recommend that you and the princesses come see this for yourselves. Corporal Roaring Rapids." Matthew remained silent as he processed all of the information he had just been given. He brought his head up to look at the captain in front of him. "Thank you, Spitfire. I'll go inform the princesses of this immediately."
Princess Celestia and her younger sister, Princess Luna, were in the throne room when Matthew rushed in. It had been a long time since the gray commander had entered the throne room himself to inform the princesses of something, usually just sending Spitfire to keep the two up-to-date on recent events, meaning that whatever this was, it was very important.
"Your highnesses, our scout team in the Crystal Mountains have given their report on what they found," Harris informed the royal sisters.
"What did they say?" Princess Celestia asked him.
"From what I've been told, they found something that is not of this world. In other words, we found something alien. Corporal Roaring Rapids insists that the three of us go out there and take a look at it ourselves."
"Do you have any idea what it could be?" Luna questioned, hoping that Matthew's past knowledge of advanced technology could help shed some light on this matter.
"Right now I don't have enough information to come to an accurate conclusion," Matthew honestly answered. "But once I get a look at the thing with my own eyes, I think I'll be able to figure out what that alien structure is. I'm leaving immediately to see this for myself, so I'll see you both there."
"Wait," Luna said before Matthew turned to leave. "I'll come along with you. Tia still has a few things to wrap up but she doesn't need me for that. Besides, I'm very eager to see this 'alien' structure." Matthew simply nodded and left the room with Luna walking by his side.
It only took Matthew and Luna half a day to reach Corporal Rapids and his team that had set up a makeshift camp near the structure the two were going to investigate thanks to the recently calm weather. Harris didn't even bother talking to Rapids when he reached the site, his attention was all on the metallic structure before him that was at least half a mile long. Snow had covered most of the structure, which seemed to be heavily damaged, as if it had crashed to the ground at a high speed.
Luna walked up beside Matthew after she finished talking with Rapids. "This was a space cruiser," Matthew told her, who was staring at the wreckage in utter awe. The gray stallion walked into one of the holes in the hull and motioned for Luna to follow him. "Come on, I want to see what's in here."
Luna hesitantly complied and let Matthew lead her through the numerous rooms and corridors of the massive ship. The two of them had lit their horns upon entering the ship, owing to the fact that it was pitch black in metal structure. After minutes of wandering through the ship, the commander stopped abruptly when he saw something engraved on the wall of the room they had just entered. Above the door it read 'Challenger Cargo and Weapons Storage Bay.'
Matthew couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that this ship was the Challenger. "This is impossible."
"What?" Luna asked curiously.
"This is the Challenger. This ship belonged to my empire years ago. It was carrying state-of-the-art weaponry that would have greatly helped our war effort. The weapons the Challenger was carrying was the result of the CHECKMATE Program, which was dedicated to building the most deadly and efficient weapons in the universe. But on its way back to our home world, we lost all communications with it. When we tried searching for it, we couldn't find anything. It was like it had completely vanished," he explained. The room they were in was filled with metal crates, each about the size of Matthew. "If I'm right, these crates are filled with some of the most advanced weapons you've ever seen."
Luna was at a loss for words. She was still trying to process everything Matthew had just told her. Wasting no time, Matthew used his magic to open one of the crates and took a look inside. What he saw put a big smile on his face.
"Oh I feel like a colt in a candy shop," he said in a merry tone. "So many guns and ammunition, it's like it's my birthday!"
The night princess looked into the crate Matthew had just opened to see the strange looking objects he referred to as 'guns.'
Matthew picked up one of the small black guns using his magic and put a glowing blue magazine into it. "What you're looking at here, Luna, will revolutionize the way our army fights its battles. This weapon here is called a submachine gun, or SMG for short." Using his magic, he fired the gun at the wall in front of him, causing Luna to jump at the loud noise. Matthew's smile grew even bigger seeing that the gun still worked. "Oh how I've missed that sound," he chuckled. "I'll make sure this crate of weapons gets back to Canterlot along with the blueprints to all these weapons if I can find them. The rest will stay here until I can find a safe place to store them."
"How are we going to explain what we found here to the kingdom and our allies?" Luna asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"We won't," Matthew bluntly replied. "The only ponies who will know of this will be me, you, your sister, and the scout team that found this. By the way, where is Celestia?"
"Tia should be here by now. She's probably waiting for us outside so she doesn't get lost searching for us in here," the night princess answered. "We should go back outside so we can show her what we've found."
Matthew nodded and led the way for Luna, still holding the black SMG in his magical grip. "I just hope she doesn't give me any grief when I tell her I want to keep all of this a secret."