//------------------------------//
// Bonus Chapter: Epilogue 
// Story: Operation: Supernova 
// by Eternal Aviator 
//------------------------------//

Operation: Supernova
Ten months, twenty-one days after Foreign Order War

It's been... Quite a while now since the Foreign Order War broke out between us humans and the equines of Equestria. I've been off-duty for about eight months now I think, so I thought I'd record this little extra thing so smooth out some roughs on my last recording, when I was on-duty on Equis. Now keep in mind, the last recording, I had to leave out a good chunk of what I really knew regarding stuff like how we first found out about Equis, how we actually got there... So on and so fourth. The government had a pretty damn big eye on me when I made the first recording to make sure I didn't spill any of the more secretive intel, but about seven months after the conflict ended, they decided they were in the clear I guess and finally declassified a lot of the goods. Now since it had been so secret, there are still a lot of people who don't know about it. Well, time to get the word out.

Let me start with how we first discovered the planet Equestria. It was actually completely unintentional from what I've heard. For those of you who don't know what the Voyager 1 satellite is, it was a little bot with a couple of cameras, a big ol' radar dish and a transmitter about as powerful as a regular ceiling lamp that was sent into space to observe a rare geometric arrangement some of the outer planets had gone into. My memory's a little vague, but you get the idea. It was a small satellite that after about 36 years entered what's called interstellar space, basically meaning it left our solar system. It still runs too, and has been sending back data ever since it was launched. It takes a good few months for the data to actually reach Earth now, but some of the stuff we got back was pretty incredible. Now here's how Equis was discovered.

Now you're probably think something along the lines of simply the satellite just turned and there the planet was, but that's only sort of how it went down. It was going by really slowly when we got feedback that the satellite was actually turning. We later found that it was actually spinning on an axis, or an orbit around a planet. That planet, as you can probably guess, was Equestria. Almost immedeatly another probe was launched with the intention of rendezvousing with the Voyager and analyzing the Earthly planet. It got there in just under month since it went to fast and with a few scans, what'da you know, it's pretty much identical to earth. Now here's when things got pretty sketchy for the U.S. government. They wanted to send a man (or men) all the way across the solar system onto a foreign planet. There were a few problems... One: it was going to be insanely expensive, two: by the time a human got there they'd be either really old or dead, and three: if the planet is habitable then there could very well be life there. Hostile life.

Finally the government found a rather cheap, reliable, and quick way to actually send someone to Equis, and they wanted not just to send one person, but a small military force. It was a sort of sign-up thing for people who are nominated to choose if they wanted to lay their life down for the evolution of human advancement. I was one of the three hundred and twelve to sign up. They did some pretty insane body tests on us to see if we were making the right choice, mentally and physically. We had about two hundred and sixty left by the time testing was over. Not a lot is declassified about how they did it, but basically we were all put into some sort of stasis and loaded onto these military shuttles for the quick ride. There were three shuttles total that were set to land in the same part of the planet, a part that the locals had called the Echo or some shit like that. Basically a big dessert where we wouldn't interrupt anything. The shuttles were all loaded with large parts to assemble small outposts as well as several vehicles to move them to the two specified locations for deployment. I forget exactly where the second base was set up and I think I remember telling you where the mine was in the last recording.

When word got back to Earth that we had successfully deployed there was a bit of a stalemate on what to do next. Begin global colonization? Mine the planet for it's abundance or resources? Then word of a first contact scenario got to the governments ears and a new idea was proposed; an inter-species alliance. It would be perfect for trading, and best of all, humanity had finally advanced to the stars. Boy was everyone proud of that, and the alliance worked. The species that called themselves Ponies was also pretty baffled about our technological advances, so we thought about trading. We gave them simple technologies such as the telephone, the ability to harness electricity, basically the stuff you'd keep in a house (and that couldn't be physically weaponized). In return we were given mining rights in the more blank regions of the planet where native life wasn't present. Pretty soon we had more shuttles coming in with parts for assembling mining and construction equipment. However, our colonization came to a standstill when we found out that not only where there numerous semi-dominant species on the planet, but they all had found out about us. None of the leaders showed but I'm pretty sure they got the impression that we weren't there to hurt anyone, so neutral relationships with the other species formed. 

Then came along these little fucks called the Changelings. They absolutely hated us, but never tried any head-on attacks as they has seen our miniature military might. Still, we still didn't screw with their ranks. One thing that set these bugs aside with the fact that their leader did actually show up personally to the base I wasn't at. They didn't give us details but I heard it was an ugly little argument. Once the ponies found out we were also a match for the Changelings, they were pretty happy. With the amount of money the government was getting from selling the trade they got they were actually paying off little bits of the national debt, as well as sending more supplies and equipment to Equestria. The mining plant we had dramatically grew but we were still careful not to step on any toes of the locals.

Now I'm gonna skip ahead a bit, past when the ponies started hating us to the short war that broke out. The Foreign Order War. It consisted of two main battles between them and us before things came to a standstill. The first battle... well, it could have gone a lot better to say the least. You see, the earth ponies and pegasi as well as the seventh century weaponry they possessed hardly posed any sort of problem. It was the unicorns that made things more difficult. Their shields weren't the problem, or anything defensive at all, it was just the laser-like blasts they could fire at us extremely fast. We never lost any vehicles but we did loose a lot more men than we would've liked... Their body armor would just be melted by these blasts. Their guns would melt. Any damn thing unlucky enough to be touched by that plasma like substance was creamed, and while it was their only big advantage against us, it was a big one. We lost almost seventy men on just that one battle... It was a siege on a apparently very important village called Ponyville. We had heard it housed some powerful weapons of defense called the Amulets of Harmony or some shit, I don't remember exactly. We tried to get those from them but they had more of a defense there then we had anticipated.

We were taken aback by the outcome of the battle, and we imedeatly set out to try and find a way to compensate, to counter this power our enemy wielded. This is another section still buried a little but my guess was the wounds on our fallen ones were analyzed and the energy was studied. What it was is still locked up tight, but later on we did find a solution, and imedeatly hope was restored to the human colony. However, we didn't find the solution the way you'd think we did. It was actually the Changelings that gave it to us. They told us that they also loathed the equines we were fighting right now and were actually rather pleased we could stand up to them. So they told us their secret. Gold. The answer was gold. How this works is still a mystery but the magic, anything those damn unicorns launched from their horns, had absolutely no effect. The matter the magic is composed of simply is forced around the gold, and the gold is unharmed too. Thankfully the Changelings were generous enough to supply us with all the gold we needed. We had planned to try and study how gold did this later, but it was forgotten and we instantly started applying gold to everything. It wasn't just in big chunks though, we broke it down to a powdery sort of gold and literally coated everything in it. Layer after layer. Body armor, guns, armor, vehicles, everything. We then put a basic pain sealer over it to make the thick coats weather resistant and painted over it with standard military colors so that there weren't golden light-beacons everywhere. We even laced special bullets and shells with gold ingot to pierce any sort of magic as if it wasn't even there. It worked flawlessly in testing (the testing procedures are classified, so no info on that). Sure, everything was a little heavier, but the important thing was that we were ready.

During the month we took making our arsenal magic-proof, the ponies had been planning an end-game assault on our bases. This was going to be the second big battle. I'm starting to run short on time so I'm gonna be wrapping this up pretty fast. The ponies launched a large-scale attack on both bases. They had even brought heavy catapults loaded with massive rocks. They used those to try and take down our wall so their main element to infiltrate and capture our base. We were ready for them though. Their magic did nothing to us and we chopped them down after about an hour and a half. It was a massacre; there were equine bodies everywhere. We scavenged all of the gold armor they wore and kept it locked up just in case we needed it as a reserve.

Not much later the operation you already know about, Operation: Supernova, was discussed and devised. I didn't use a gold-implanted gun, but I was loaded with some experimental shield-piercers. A led .408 CheyTac bullet with a gold tip that would go through a force-field like nothing... The operation was a success. The princess was KIA at exactly 6:41a.m. Eastern Standard time. There was celebration, even a party was thrown at the bases, but I didn't join in on any fun, and neither did my partner. I had a feeling we were both going through the same thing. Guilt. Is this the definition of humanity? Killing? Conquest? We came to Equestria for resources because we already have enough trouble sustaining our own selves, but that's our own fault... Yet, sometime I feel like we still blame something other than ourselves for our struggles, and that somehow gives us this foreign freedom? We invade a new planet, rich with intelligent life, and as soon as we get a bad impression we declare war? End it by completely toppling their government? This may all just be me, and I can understand humanity still has a lot to learn, but still... I just wish there was another way. No one else tried anything with humanity after the result spread, and we didn't do anything there. We left out mining facility up and running, but there was a decision. As soon as that area was dry, we were all leaving Equestria.

That decision made me proud of us again.