Titanfall: New Horizons

by Necrogen Lord


Skyfall

This was the day. The day that would decide the balance of the world itself, and how the future would shape. This was the day that many had welcomed, and many had dreaded. The day that had to come eventually. The day that would change everything. The day that the war would be turned, important people would meet, and alliances would be born. The day the three leaders of each group had anticipated for, but never thought they would see.

First Contact was here.

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Joshua watched the screen inside the Crow with fear and anticipation, waiting as he watched crowds gather around the center of the small town, and how oblivious they were to the airships merely meters away from their fair little homes. He watched in pain as they were to wait until the enemy arrived, instead of keeping them out of the town entirely. They had to be seen before they could be recognized as the real threat, or else the Militia would once again be labeled as the bad guys and kicked out. He hated waiting for the damage to come in before he could make a move, and threatened to throw his entire plan out the airlock. He had to wait. For the Horizon. For the Militia. For the Frontier. For Equestria.

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Celestia felt the morning almost stop entirely before this moment, as if to intensify the significance of the moment even more than it already was. She felt as though her guards might be too frightened to even try to fight back if the aliens come in full force. She felt pain as she thought of what the Griffons might try to do if they were to attack any city while she was away from the throne. She dreaded the thought of having to wage two wars at once if they weren't ready, and felt worsened by the inevitable need to reveal secrets about said war, hoping to find any kind of assistance. She felt scared for Twilight as she kept to her War Room, letting the young alicorn take her place at the meeting. She felt her soul ache as the books would write her as a skeptic, keeping away from the aliens at First Contact, and instead readied for war. She felt vulnerable, as her student was put into a place where only she might survive.

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Twilight thought that the day would be the most exhilarating day of her life. She felt curious about what the Humans had to offer for the sake of bettering both species. She felt excited as she was presented with an entire trove of information was presented in the form of a new species. She felt like her old self, ready to study underneath any of them to learn their culture and how their magic works. She felt encouraged by the backing of Celestia, who promoted her to this task, and by her friends, who were always there for her. She felt a surge of wonder hit as she readied to be marveled by their contraptions as she heard something approach from behind the mountain wall of Ponyville.

She felt scared beyond belief as she watched Griffon airships began to pour out near the edge of Ponyville, and began to rain fire down upon her fair town.

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Celestia felt as if she had died inside as she watched the shields go up around Canterlot, as the Ponyville skyline began to fill with Griffon war balloons, setting the town ablaze as the vision of the town faded behind the presence of the shield.

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Joshua felt disgust as he watched the small town be overrun by massive amounts of airships and troops flying around, lighting buildings on fire and charging on the innocent population. And all he could do was watch.

For now.

"Mission Begins in T-minus 5 minutes."

As he heard his own voice echo throughout the ship, he saw Grunt-Pods being readied for firing into the ground, and even calculated who would go where. Assuming their leaders would stick to the center of town, being a large tree turned into some kind of town-hall, and readied his three best Grunts for protection of their leaders: Juarez, Smith, and Johnson. Smith was questionable, at best, off duty, but on the field, he knew he would get shit done.

He watched the Crows ready to drop alongside the pods, and prepared for combat, switching off the safety of his Hemlock BF-R, three-shot burst rifle with a 30 round mag and holo-sights, and his RE-45 Autopistol. His jump gear readied for use as well, and adjusted accordingly.

Once again, Joshua felt ready to face the flames and fight for justice.

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Twilight and her friends panicked as they watched Griffons pour out from the balloons and attack Ponyville, burning down several buildings and even the school as they began to bring an onslaught of destruction upon an innocent population. She turned on the spot and ran with her friends to the Library, hoping to find someplace safe from these invaders. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash grabbed one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders that were standing by idly and ran alongside her. Fluttershy and Pinkie followed shortly, rounding up as many ponies as they could. Along the skyline, Twilight watched in horror as more balloons began to shoot out explosives towards the ground, destroying homes and killing dozens of Ponies at a time. She felt beyond sick at this, but tried to keep her focus on the straight run for the library.

Along the way, they were ambushed by Griffon soldiers, and fought back accordingly. Pinkie kept the foals safe as they ran for cover, and Fluttershy helped them keep together. The rest struggled to try and fight off even a small number of Griffon troops, and were barely able to keep them from hurting anypony. After what seemed like hours, they reached the doors to the Library, and filed the civilians inside first.

However, when they looked up, they saw another balloon, straight overhead, ready to unload a hoard of Griffons and explosives upon them.

As they braced for the end, they held each other close, Twilight's last thought was a plead for help, from anypony, or maybe even the Humans.

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"ALL PODS, DROP!"

At that, the Grunt-Pods began to shoot out from the ship, one after the other, until the Crows began to launch as well.

"BEGIN SKYFALL!"

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After almost three seconds of waiting, the mares all heard high-pitched sounds from above, and gazed towards the balloon, and watched as small pods began to tear out through it, exploding through the frame of the large ship, and began landing around Ponyville. More and more pods began to fall from the sky as they heard and saw more ships fall down, being torn apart upon each passing second.

One, in particular, dropped straight through the balloon and landed dead-on in front of them. At first, time seemed to stop as the pod made it's presence known before the mares. Then, the sides began to hiss out smoke, and three flat surfaces burst open to reveal three familiar forms, and three familiar voices.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

"AREA CLEAR!"

"MARK LOCATION!"

At that, one of the three Humans pulled out a small device and threw it to the ground, leaving a small box of sorts beeping with a red light that turned green after a few seconds.

The three turned to the Library and shouted again.

"Confirmed, we have arrived at target destination."

"Sir, we've encountered civilians, orders?"

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"Protect at all costs!" Joshua shouted over the comms, holding on for dear life as the Crow dropped through the atmosphere of the planet, while readying weapons freshly mounted on it's sides. Turbulence was but a minor disturbance to the Pilot, however, as he saw green across the map fill in, along with reports of at least 17 ships downed after the initial drop. Estimations showed that the rest would fall within mere minutes of air-combat, and that casualties are expected to be in low twenties at the worst.

The ship shook as he felt the guns begin to fire downwards towards the ships in the path, and readied his Hemlock for combat.

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The three Humans made their way into the Library alongside the Elements of Harmony, and slammed the door shut, R-101C automatic Carbines pointed towards the windows, defending the innocent ponies inside from the terrors beyond the walls. The Grunts recognized the six beside them and one decided to act as though it was a class reunion.

"Oh, hey! Look who we found! It's uh... those six we saved! How've you been?" Smith asked coyly.

"Damn it Smith! We're on duty, not some fuckin' shore leave or mini vacation!"

"Chill, dude, we're not taking fire right now, anyways. Besides, they need some comforting, right?"

"Keep your God damn pants on, Private. This isn't some skank-hole city like Shoreland."

"Piss off, Johnson. You and your... medicine!"

"Yeah, piss off the one guy who's got the life-saving drugs within a 10 kilo radius, why don't you?"

"Up yours."

At this point, the girls were stunned at not only how they behaved, but how they were acting in a war zone! The language would be bordering, even off duty, but the fact they did this to superiors in front of them was beyond comprehension! Twilight decided to speak up at this point.

"What... What's going on!?"

Johnson looked to her and came over, strapping the weapon onto his back, and went down to her level.

"Those Griffons or whatever out there are attacking, and Captain Joshua decided to defend this town. Remember him? The Pilot? Mask that was like a star-burst and everything?"

"Y-yes, but- wait, you're... helping us by fighting them?"

"Bingo."

"Why, how- what?"

"Why don't you save questions until the Captain has time to answer?" Johnson asked.

"Like when these things aren't flying anymore!" Smith yelled, aiming at a nearby Griffon squad.

They all exchanged looks between the windows and the panicking crowd inside the Library, and decided it be best to not question the subject at the current moment. At this thought, however, the girls heard several high pitched shrieks from the skies above and peered out to see a rather indescribable sight. The ship they had landed in the Everfree in had multiplied greatly, and at least 30 of them began to fall from the sky at once, firing small lights that exploded at the Griffon balloons, ripping their fleet apart in seconds. The Griffons flying nearby took notice, but were turned into clouds of mist as one ship in particular hovered towards the Library, and at once began to lower itself to ground level, revealing a familiar leader within the opening interior.

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Joshua stepped out from the Crow and examined the wreckage from the attack, and noticed that while there would be a massive need to help them, they would still have a town to repair. Better than most of the worlds he had fought on recently, but it still hurt knowing that this was inevitable. He approached the waypoint of the three Grunts from Silver Squad, their own little trio name, and decided to get a grip on the situation at hand.

"Talk to me, what've we got?"

"Well, sir," Wesley began on the screen, "You've taken care of the initial attack on that small populace, but now we're getting some kind of faint jump-like sigs from the forest near your location, and they've got some armor moving in. Orders?"

"Ready the second teams to drop down on my command, I need to acquire some assets."

"Copy, sir."

With that, the comms died down as Joshua was greeted by the opening of a wooden door in front of him, and the Grunts accompanied by the same six ponies from the initial encounter in the "Everfree." Joshua lowered his form and knelt down to the group in back.

"Sorry to drop in at a bad time, but it looks like you could use some help. Quick question, are there any kind of military powers fighting on your side at the moment?"

Twilight looked between her friends before looking back at the Pilot and shook her head.

"Well, now you do. Militia, ready for combat! We've got tangos inbound from the forest due South! Heavy armor has been spotted! Ready weapons!" He blasted over the comms.

He watched as groups of Grunts began charging through the streets, trying to make it to the South section shown in the mission briefing, and set up an anit-armor wall of fire. As they moved, Joshua went back to the ponies in front of him, namely the group of civilians in the back of the building.

"Listen, UP!" he started, "We're here to help you! But for now, stay inside, all of you. It'll either be safe when we tell you, or when your military comes in for evacuation. Until then, stay here." Joshua turned to the Grunts behind him and addressed them. "Silver Squad, stay here and watch the civies while I take down any stragglers in the area. Got it?"

The three stood straight up and saluted.

"Yessir!"

Joshua nodded to them and charged out the door, kicking up dust as he jumped to the rooftops, leaving behind a stunned population of ponies and impressed Grunts.

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Joshua ran along the rooftops of the small village as he fired his Hemlock in three-round bursts at Griffon soldiers as they swooped down at the Pilot, unaware of the superior dexterity and firepower they were charging at. He jumped from roof to roof, littering them with bullet casings and Griffon bodies, raining blood into the streets as the one-man army made his way across Ponyville, isolating Griffon squads and shredding them before they could assault the cowering civilians.

As he continued his counter-attack, the Southern Line of Ponyville was swarmed by large moving machines, made of iron and wood, sporting a large forward-mounted cannon, but were met with the force of Anit-Titan weapons that rendered their cheap craftsmanship utterly useless. The specs of the battle were reflected onto his HUD as he stopped to assess the status of Skyfall, but felt a ping of annoyance as he looked up to the sky.

There were at least ten more airships moving low by the North end of the town, carrying in more heavy armor units. He noticed that there weren't as many, but he didn't even have a heavy weapon. Analyzing the situation at hand, Joshua considered what would happen if he went through with his current idea.

First Contact may very well be all but lost, the enemy would know of his greatest asset early, and the Militia might not be trusted in the slightest.

As Joshua pondered these, thoughts, he did not notice the six mares that hid behind the building he was standing on.

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The six mares all stood behind the house that the Human was standing on, also staring at the Griffon Balloons as they lowered to the ground to deposit large boxes made of iron and wood that sported a type of cannon, and watched in horror as they fired into Ponyville, destroying building after building.

"What's he doing!?" shouted Rainbow Dash.

As she said that, he threw down something into the ground as he jumped to another building with an impressive jump. A green light flashed from the device as he shouted.

"Beacon dropped, prep for TITANFALL!"