//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine: Shattered // Story: Heroes and Allies // by LewisClarke //------------------------------// Chapter Nine: Shattered Lenard opened his eyes. He saw stars. Was that a dream too? As he tried to stand, a sharp pain in his back revealed the reality of his situation. A large armored earth pony was looking down at him, a worried look on his face. "Sky Blade?" Lenard mumbled. "What- What happened?" "I'll explain later, you need to get up, right now!" the earth pony warned. Sergent Sky Blade helped Lenard to his feet, and the battered pilot got his first look at his surroundings. They seemed to be in a field. There were several more armored ponies quickly moving one general direction. A large crystal sculpture seemed to be smashed in a muddy pond, just a few yards away. Lenard squinted to get a better look at the wreck. "Wait a minute, that's the carri-" Like a waterfall, memories flooded the pilot's mind. "Where is everyone?! Are they okay?" the pilot demanded. "Twilight Sparkle and her friends were rushed to a medical facility in Ponyville. I heard that they're alive, but in serious condition. No one died, if that's what you're wondering. Though If that carriage had landed in a less forgiving place, say that hill over there, I don't think I would be able to say that. Now come on, we need to move." "Wait." Lenard interjected. "What about the humans that were with us." Sky Blade's face betrayed a bit more worry. "They were the ones who rushed those six ponies to Ponyville Medical. They used some kind of two wheeled machine to pull a cart back to town. They're injured too, but they refused to receive first aid while they were here; a cocky bunch if you ask me." A pop was heard as Lenard struck his forehead with his palm. "Gerri and Mike never could figure out humility. I guess Steven wanted to look tough in front of everyone as well. Look, I need to know what did this. Our carriage got hit by something. Something big. That's all I know. What happened and where are we going?" Lenard demanded.. Sky Blade sighed. "It's classified, but I'll just assume you have some kind of clearance... We have unconfirmed reports that Equestria is under attack by unknown forces. We've heard nothing from Canterlot, New Yoke or Fillydephia, the three cities supposedly attacked. Scout reports indicate that there may be some kind of army closing in from the north. The military is moving towards a rally point east of Ponyville to form a line." Lenard eyes widened. "Attacked?! Are you telling me that blast was some sort of weapon?! Are you sure of this?" "We're not sure yet. But that blast was NOT natural, and it seemed to be perfectly aimed at Canterlot. It's also put almost all the unicorns into comas, and made everypony else sick. Top that off with some pretty strange sightings, and you get the perfect recipe for a terrorist attack." Lenard flinched at the sound of that familiar term, but quickly snapped out of it. "You seem fine." the pilot noticed. "Earth ponies don't seem to have been affected as much as the others, and Humans don't seem to be affected at all." Sky Blade explained. "We can't explain why." "I wish I wasn't affected by that crash." Lenard groaned as he popped his back. "It looks like you got thrown several yards. You're lucky to be in the condition you are." Sky Blade spoke. "not all have been so lucky." "Yeah. How's Star Sabre?" Lenard wondered. "Sore, but okay." a voice weakly answered from behind. Corporal Star Sabre moved with the same energy of a pony eight times his age, and was clearly struggling. "Good to see you're alright son." Sky Blade grinned. "Though not in the best condition I see." Star Sabre trotted up to the group. "I'll be alright, but we haven't heard anything from Canterlot. What are our orders?" "Standing orders are to arm ourselves and rally in a situation like this. Expect anything to happen." "I heard rumors that someone saw a dragon flying around Canterlot Palace, though somepony else said it was a griffin so I don't know what to think." Star Sabre remembered. "I heard they saw weird creatures with horns." a earth pony spoke from ahead. "Our intel does not appear to be very reliable." "Lets focus on getting everypony to safety right now." Sky Blade explained. "There are several ponies and humans that are still missing." Sky Blade noticed a unicorn lying in a ditch ahead. He put his hoof up to the pale green unicorn's neck to take a pulse. "She's fine, just knocked out like all the others." Sky Blade determined. "Are all the unicorns like this?" Lenard asked. "just What kind of weapon are we dealing with?" "I heard it was magic," a soldier pony answered nearby. "really powerful magic." Sky Blade positioned the unicorn over his back and continued marching. "Whatever happened, It needs to be dealt with before it happens again." the stallion grunted under the new weight on his back. Lenard turned his head toward the direction of Canterlot. "What is all that?" he wondered aloud. Sky Blade looked puzzled for a moment. "The clouds? They covered the entire city right after the blast. We can't see anything from here. We haven't been able to get in any kind of contact with them." Lenard nodded, and dug into his side pocket. He produced a black device that appeared to have a stem. "What's that?" Star Sabre asked. "Its called a radio, or walkie talkies as we call them. It will let me contact anyone else that has one. I started carrying it after the others arrived from back home." Lenard answered. "Hopefully one of our crews in Canterlot has one." He turned a knob on the device, and soon, static could be heard. ...."This is captain Lenard Greene of the USAF to anyone in Canterlot. Please respond.".... ....."....."....... ....."Repeat. This is Captain Greene. If you are in Canterlot, please respond."..... ......"...."...... "I don't like this." the pilot grunted. ....." Okay, This is Captain Greene to anyone who can hear me, please respond.".... ....."This is Marc. I'm a scientist. I'm in Ponyville at the array site. How can I help?".... ....."Marc, are there any soldiers or pilots near your location?"..... ....."Yeah, hold on.".... ...."...."...... ...."This is Private Simms. Reporting from the array site sir.".... ...."Private, I need you to gather every soldier you can. Humans and Ponies. Tell them to arm themselves. Be advised. We believe Equestria is under some kind of attack. How Copy?".... ....."Solid Copy. That explains the blast. What are we up against sir?."..... ....."Not even the ponies know. But we have reason to believe that three major cities have been taken already. We've rendezvoused with a large group from the Equestrian Military and are on our way. Make sure everyone has their radios on, and get the word out quickly. Don't put the civilians into a panic though, that's the last thing we need."...... ...."Understood sir, out."..... "Human magic is awesome." a weak voice from on top of Sky Blade spoke. "Ma'am, how long were you awake?" Sky Blade addressed the mare on his back. "I woke up already up here. So I don't know." The unicorn spoke weakly. Lenard smirked as he remembered the mare. "Lyre, wasn't it?" "Lyra." she corrected. "Not that I would forget the pony that nearly scalded me with chocolate and almost burned Bonbon's shop to the ground." the pilot joked. "My bad," the mare weakly chuckled. "That prank was meant for Bonbon, and I had no idea it would get out of control like that!" the sea green unicorn groaned. The exhausted unicorn's expression changed. "Bonbon is my best friend, and she went to Canterlot for the Gala. You said nopony has heard anything from them since that explosion happened." Lyra whimpered. Sky Blade's face lost a bit of its usual resolve. "Ms. Lyra, we'll do whatever we can to find out what's happening, but for now, you need to rest. You're still quite weak. Try not to think about it." the soldier pony explained. The unicorn nodded, and closed her eyes. A large cart pulled up to the group, pulled by two fatigued earth ponies. Sky Blade addressed the small army following him. "Hey, it's the armory cart. Lock and load Stallions and Mares, the weapons are here." Lenard looked into the cart. "Whoa, these aren't like the weapons we had before." "We used civilian and Law enforcement weapons last time. These are the military versions." Star Sabre pointed to the stockpile. Lenard picked up a cross bow similar to the one he'd used before. He noticed that this one was made of steel, maybe forged from one piece even. All of the weapons were larger and more menacing to look at, especially the new JSL. "Why does the Javelin spear launcher have that bulge on it?" Lenard asked cautiously "Those are special spears, in that they explode when fired." Sky Blade answered. "Please refrain from dropping them." "Wait, why didn't we have anything like this when we went into the forest?!" Lenard practically yelled. "Any one of these could have killed that hydra!" "It would have taken too long for a delivery to arrive, and these are powerful weapons. You can't just pick them up at a local store you know. So we settled for borrowed weapons from Ponyville PD." Sky Blade answered. "I guess." Lenard strapped one of the bows to his belt. "It clashes with the suit, and it's a bit heavy, but I think I'll take it." "Glad to see that." Sky Blade answered sarcastically. "Now every pony gear up, we have no idea what we are up against!" ********************* Slowly but surely, the convoy made it's way to the staging ground in Ponyville's east side. Just as they reached the small town, a green stallion galloped towards them. "Back so soon? I heard the Gala wasn't a lot of fun anyway." The stallion only half joked. "Funny, Lime Tree." Sky Blade remarked. "What's is our situation?" "Still nothing from all three attacked cities, and we still have no idea what did the attacking." Lime Tree spoke worryingly. "That's got every one on edge around here. Local police are on high alert, and some ponies in town have weapons, but we don't have much of an army. It's good to see you brought one, Sarge, because I have a feeling whatever happened to Canterlot, New Yoke, and Fillydelphia, is on it's way here. There is a mysterious storm forming just a few miles north, and the Cloudsdale Weather Service was taken out in the blast, so we have no way of stopping it. To top it all off, most pegasai are ether too weak or too injured to fly and check it out. As for the unicorns, most are out cold right now. So we are effectively running a town with just a third of it's citizens to run it." Lime Tree explained. "What ever did this, did a really good job." "Wait, did you say Cloudsdale was hit by the blast, too?" Star Sabre questioned. Lime Tree silently pointed a hoof upward. Star Sabre craned his head towards the sky. The once majestic city of Cloudsdale was now little more than stray clouds and ruins. Once proud structures, turned to floating rubble. "Dear Royals! Did everypony get out in time!?" Sabre frantically asked. Lime Tree bowed his head, "Not everypony." "I've got to get up there!" Star Sabre yelled. The white pegasus took to the air, summoning the last reserves of his strength. "Sabre! Your too weak to fly! Get back before you-" Sky Blade stopped talking as the pegasus passed out and limply fell out of the sky. "Sabre!" the Sargent called after his friend. Sabre opened his eyes just before plunging head first into a small lake. "Get him out of there before he drowns!" Sky Blade barked. Several ponies rushed into the lake and pulled the limp, soggy, and barely conscious pegasus out of the water. "That was stupid and you know it! You can't help them now." Sky Blade pointed upward, as the last standing building in Cloudsdale crashed through its cloud foundation, and smashed into the ground with an enormous impact. "I'm sorry son." Sky Blade solemnly spoke. Star Sabre stumbled to his hooves. "My family lived up there. Where are the survivors?! I have to find them!" the pegasus demanded. "Many of them saw the blast coming from up there and escaped. The survivors are taking refuge at the Rec center. Star Sabre galloped away as fast as his battered body would take him. "Sabre! Get back here, we might have a war on our hoo- Dang it! That soldiers stupidity will be the end of him!" "Let him at least check, sarge." Lime Tree timidly spoke up. "He just wants to see if his family is okay." Sky Blade was furious. "There may be lives at stake! We have no time to be chasing after our families! If I catch any of you running off, it's desertion! You hear me?!" The pony soldiers quickly stood at attention. "Yes Sir!" As the Sergeant's rage cooled down, a large team of human soldiers sprinted up to the group. "Good to see you sir. We weren't sure you were coming. We need answers before we all go stir-crazy. Just what's going on?" one of them addressed Lenard. "Are you Private Simms?" Lenard asked the soldier. "Yes sir, and I have some supplies they told me to give you." The marine handed Lenard an M4A1 assault rifle and some standard marine equipment, including a new radio and a helmet. "Not to say I'm not grateful or anything," Lenard smirked. "But seriously, you brought all this for an exploratory mission? Were you expecting to be fighting aliens when you loaded up the shuttle?" One of the soldiers shrugged. "Maybe the joint chiefs read too many comic books." Lenard smirked. "Either way, Marines, join up with the Navy seal and Army Ranger teams and coordinate. We really don't know what to tell you, just be ready for anything." "The Equestrian armed forces will go with you." an older looking pair of Royal Guards approached the group. Sky Blade bowed slightly "General Snow Wisp, General Rock. It's an honor." One of them, a mare, nodded in response. "Same here Sergent." We heard you stared down a hydra. I'd very much like to hear that story later." "Lets not feed around the bush." The other, a stallion, responded. "We have arrived with small group of Equestrian troops and are coordinating with human soldiers as we speak. This task force is now assigned to my division. You are to report to your commanding officer for information." The stallion paused and turned to the mare, a look of worry on his face. The mare gulped. "Scouts report some sort of movement to the north. No ident. yet. Remember, we are in the dark here. Don't assume anything troops." The mare explained. The stallion turned to the group. "Stay on your hoof-tips soldiers. We might have guest." The two Generals trotted off towards Town Hall, the soldiers followed them, leaving Lenard and Lime Tree behind. "I don't like this." Lime Tree spoke "Really? I think this is just great!" Lenard spoke, dripping with sarcasm. "No, I mean that." Lime Tree pointed towards the sky. A storm was brewing on the horizon. ***************** A few hours later, Lenard Greene and Lime Tree Hill entered the lobby of Ponyville's only large hospital. "Who are you here to see?" a receptionist behind the desk asked the duo. "Twilight and her friends." Lime Tree answered. A brown stallion in a lab coat trotted into the lobby. "Follow me." "Applejack and Pinkie Pie are fine. We cleared them two hours ago. Fluttershy seems to be well, though she is still a bit weak. She checked out with the others. Rainbow Dash has some minor lacerations and bruised bones, but is sleeping. We had to put her under so she would rest, but she is recovering." The doctor paused, as if to prepare himself for whatever he would say next. "Rarity is simi-comatose. She slips in and out of consciousness, but is stabilizing. As for Twilight," The doctor paused again. "She is in a full Coma, completely unresponsive. In truth, your friends are just a few of the many similar cases we have. We have dozens of comatose unicorns at the moment, I'm sorry to say. There are also plenty of pegasai that were knocked out of sky by the initial blast. Earth ponies are the only ones still able to work, so we're quite under staffed." "What are you going to do about all this.?" Lenard asked. "The pegasai will heal in time. But as for the unicorns, comas are unpredictable, I'm sorry to say. Those suffering could wake up in five minutes or they could wake up in five months. The group walked down the hall and stopped at one of the windows. Inside the room, a purple unicorn peacefully slept, blissfully unaware of the world around her. "She looks like she's just napping." Lime Tree whispered. "She is. Try not to worry." The doctor spoke confidently. "Only time will tell. Come, let's see the others." As they moved away from the window of Twilight's room, a friendly voice spoke out to them. "Twilight's not one ta sleep on the job, ah reckon." a southern Equestria accented voice spoke. "Applejack, Pinkie Pie. I thought you two checked out." said Lime Tree. Pinkie Pie limped toward them. "We did! But we heard that you were okay and visiting the hospital. So we came to see ya!" 'Where's Fluttershy?" Lime tree wondered. "Some soldier gave 'er a message to take er somethin'. I don't know where she went." Applejack answered. "Wait, how did you know we we're here." Lenard asked. "We heard the soldiers talkin' about it." Applejack explained. "They said you were one tough son of a gun, for an air force guy. Whatever that means. And that you were going to the hospital to see some friends. Ah was hopin' Steve, Mike and Gerri were with y'all. We never got to thank them for helpin' us out back there." Come to think of it, where are those three? I haven't seen them since.... Lenard thought. A wailing sound broke his train of thought. They all knew what It meant. *********************** "What's the situation." Mayor Mare called out to a small group of officers assembled in the meeting hall. "Scouts have fired red flares at the early warning perimeter." General Snow Wisp answered. "And what does that mean exactly?" The mayor nervously questioned. "That means the scouts out there have eyes on troops moving this way" The mare General answered. "We can see the flares from miles away using spotting scopes." "Who are they then!?" the mayor demanded. A burly older stallion entered the room. "Usually, a pegasus would high tail it over here and give us a report, but they're all out of commission right now, so I doubt one's coming. If they're using red flares, that means that our incoming are indeed hostile, whoever they are." General Rock answered. "Well then, Rocky, that settles it." Snow Wisp bowed her head. "We need to order battle stations." General Rock nodded solemnly, and turned to an earth pony messenger. "Put all troops on alert. Tell the humans..." He paused and sighed. "...We are under attack." ********************** "Are you sure?!" A stunned human officer spoke to a pony messenger. "Yes." the young mare timidly replied. "You need to come with me, now." The officer motioned the mare to follow him. The mare followed the human into a large room, filled with several human officers and strange machines. They stopped at a large desk. The human picked up a large corded object and began to speak into it. "I wonder what he's doing." The young mare thought. ......"This is Colonel Highlander, to anyone who can hear my voice."...... Oh, it's a shouting machine. ...."I have received information that we are under attack, brought to me by a messenger named...".... "What's your name?" the Colonel asked. "Fluttershy." she quietly mumbled ...."A messenger named Fluttershy. Tell them what you told me.".... The officers in the room turned their heads. Outside, heads turned toward the array site. ...."Uhm.".... The timid yellow pegasus turned red for a moment, realizing that hundreds of ponies and people could hear her voice. ...."The scouts say, uhh. Uhm, the bad guys are coming?".... Papers went everywhere. Officers, human and pony alike began running around, frantically sending messages and radio calls. Everyone moved in some kind of controlled chaos. ...."Please don't panic." The Colonel spoke over the radio." We are sending help. We will not stand by while our new friends are attacked!"... ...."Seek shelter immediately, and we will report any other information when it comes to us.".... The Colonel put down the radio. "Lieutenant Cleaves, you will be leading the Marine detachment." the Colonel barked. "Ensign Dentzon, you will lead the Seal team. The rangers will remain here to protect the array." "Wait," Cleaves began. "Why wouldn't you lead us? You are a Colonel." "I have pressing matters to attend to, but I will join you shortly." The Colonel responded, not looking up from his display. Cleaves and Dentzon saluted, then quickly went on their way. ******************** The sirens had been going on for ten minutes. By now, all had heard the report. The enemy was coming. Sargent Sky Blade and his troops stood, anxiously waiting for the inevitable. "Sir, still no movement." an earth mare shouted from her scout stand. "Keep a good eye on that horizon. I want alerts the second they come into view." the Sargent responded. Sky Blade turned around to face the troops in his battalion. "Listen up. We've got orders not to attack until attacked first. We need to know what we're up against. Here's how we're going to do this. I want sure shots on that hill over there for spotting. Get those battle wagons up to the front! I want battle launchers ready to fire on any incoming heavy targets. Get the anti air defense up over there, I have a feeling we're going to need it! For Royals sake, move!" The solder ponies scrambled to their assigned positions and tasks. An earth pony galloped up to the Sargent. "Sir, we have human support incoming." "Excellent, good to see we're not going to be doing this alone." Sky Blade replied. "Still quiet, sir." The watch pony declared. "Just tell me when you see something." the Sargent barked. A squad of human soldiers took positions around the ponies. "Sorry we're late, we had to get some special stuff from the base." Lieutenant Cleaves reported. Sky Blade nodded. "No problem, what did you bring?" Steven Mace emerged from the group. "Rockets and and heavy machine guns. It's the best we could do on short notice. We still don't have a lot that you ponies can use, but we do have these." Steven handed Sky Blade an object that looked like a small metal apple with a metal leaf. "That's a grenade. We had a surplus. Pull that little pin out and throw it at something you really want to go away. See, watch." The Sergent pulled out an identical object, pulled the metal pin from it, and threw it into a lake, twenty yards away. Sergent Sky Blade bore a look of confusion. "So what's it supposed to d-" BOOM! "That." Sergent Mace answered. "I just wanted you to see what they did before we gave them to you. Even if you remove the pin, they won't explode unless you let go of the handle. After you do, you've got between six to ten seconds before it explodes. Be careful with them. The marines handed several of the devices to the pony troops surrounding them. As Steven passed out the grenades, he chucked as each pony looked like he or she was putting a live rattlesnake in their bags. They soon settled down, realizing that they had bigger problems at the moment. "Uhh sir," The scout pony began. "That storm is getting closer." "I told you to tell me when the enemy is coming, not when the wind picks up!" Sky Blade barked. "B-but sir, look!" the scout stammered. Sky Blade grudgingly swung his head upward, then froze. "Oh." he mumbled. ******************** "Sir, I don't like the look of that storm." Private Simms quietly spoke. "Are the clouds supposed to be red like that?" Captain Greene craned his head upward, then quickly broke off into a sprint. "Get Colonel Highlander on the line! Tell him something's happening! I want the patients at Ponyville MD moved out of there now!" The captain ordered. "What?! What's wrong, Cap?" the young soldier asked. "That looks way too much like what happened before!" Lenard explained. "We will NOT be taken by surprise again!" ` He ran up to a group of scientist, who appeared to be desperately trying to fix something. "Marc, we're running out of time! How much longer?" Lenard questioned the scientist. "This can't be rushed! If something goes wrong, we might get pushed back to square one! Why are you so anxious to get the array online?" Marc answered. Lenard facepalmed. "Have you looked around? Do you see how nervous the ponies are? Whatever's coming is going to make for a bad day for everyone! We need to get in contact with Earth as soon as possible! So HOW LONG?" The scientist sighed. "Two hours. We can try in two hours." A bolt of red lightning struck from an over head cloud. Lenard jumped. "We might not have that much time." ********************* "Uhh sir," the scout whimpered. "I see something." The two sergeants had already noticed. The sky had darkened. The birds had flown away. Nature itself seemed to be running in fear. Red clouds descended over Ponyville, as it's protectors readied their weapons. "Okay guys." Lieutenant Cleaves called down to the others. "We've got this." Steven answered. A sixty foot long dragon dropped from the clouds and touched down with a resounding thud, right in front of the soldiers. It wore a harness of some kind, bristling with large rocket like spears. Some sort of saddle was attached to its neck, on which a small winged reptile was seated. A glass screen was attached just ahead of the seat and it's occupant, possibly a wind shield of some kind. Sky Blade deadpanned and turned to Sergent Mace. "Oh yeah, we got this alright." Twenty more dragons of the same shape and size roared overhead, moving so fast they were but blurs in the soldiers vision. They circled around and took up a position, hovering right in front of Ponyville "This just got hazardous." Sergent Mace chimed in nervously. "What are those things?" Just as suddenly, hundreds of brown, pawed, eagle like creatures descended from the cloud. They each carried some sort of bow like weapon, but not like the crossbows Mace had seen. These had several small arrows on belts, which fed directly into the bow itself. To Mace, they almost looked like machine guns. The armed eagle creatures formed groups of four and moved into diamond formations, circling overhead. An earth pony recruit dropped his jaw. "It's- It's- ...it's dragons! And griffins!" he shook with fear. The human soldiers had similar expressions. Just as Ponyville's protectors began to doubt their chances, a loud, thundering rhythm reverberated through ground. The soldiers exchanged panicked looks, as a dust cloud appeared in the distance. As the cloud grew larger, the thundering grew louder. If panic had not set in before, it certainly had now. The thundering stopped. As the soldiers looked on, a large four legged creature strode out of the dust cloud. It definitely wasn't a pony, but it had pony like qualities. it was as muscular as the toughest of earth ponies, and probably taller. It's hooves looked like they were cast from iron. Its head bore not one, but two curved horns. On its shoulders sat a larger version of the already terrifying weapons the griffins carried. Sergent Mace bore a look of confusion. "It's... a goat?" Amazingly, the creature heard him. It flared it's nostrils.. "Not goats, Rams." The wind carried the dust cloud away. Standing before them was not one, but a thousand rams, flanked by chariots, heavy launchers and other weapons that no pony even recognized. The ram hurled itself into the air, skillfully landing on a large nearby boulder. "Citizens of Equestria! We mean you no harm! We are the Revolutionary Alliance, or Liberation Alliance if you will. It is with your leaders that we find grievance. " the ram shouted. One of the small winged reptiles climbed of off its mount and stood next to the ram. "For far too long, the creatures of this world have been under the hoof of the alicorns." the reptile spoke. "That time ends now. The royal family will never again oppress their "subjects." A griffin slowly descended and deftly landed next to the ram and the small dragon. "We understand that you may be a bit... attached to them, but you have no idea the horrors they have wrought. We were once like you. We believed in the guidance of the alicorns. Until their unrelenting craving for power nearly killed us all." the griffin spoke. "What are you talking about?!" a pony yelled from the crowd. "The princesses have never hurt anypony!" The griffin shot into the air and landed just inches away from the pony who had just spoke. He put his beak within inches of the ponies face. "The Princesses nearly killed off my entire race! If you believe their lies for a second, you are just another pawn in their game! Listen to us! We are not here to terrorize you. We are here to right a horrible injustice, and finally end the rule of those despots!" "I am General Rock of the Equestrian military, fool! And if you think I'll just let you attack my country because of some grudge against our leaders, you got another thing coming! Do you really think you could even stand a change against them?" "You are the fool! For not realizing that we already have! As we speak, the alicorn Princesses are rotting in a cell in the same prison that so many of both our ancestors died in! When the time comes, we will execute them publicly for crimes against the very creatures they supposedly protect!" "You're lying!" the pony shouted back. "How could you ever oppose them?" "I notice that there are no unicorns standing with you today. Wonder why? Because the same device that incapacitated them did the same to your princesses! " the griffin yelled." "This is true." The ram spoke. "Their power is nothing more than that of the average laypony now. And if you don't believe me, believe this!" The ram set a small box in front of the army, and motioned for a pony to open it. The general motioned for a pony to retrieve the box. The young recruit nervously trotted up to the box and pulled on the lid with his mouth. He put the lid on the ground next to him, and peered into the box. He went pale. Inside, were two long, slender, cylindrical objects. One was alabaster white, the other, midnight blue. "It can't be." the recruit whispered. Trembling, the recruit turned to the other solders, clutching the objects in his mouth. He set them down for all the ponies to see. "It-it's their horns, sir." the stallion stammered. "Princess Celestia and Luna's horns!" The ponies gasped. The humans looked on in disgust. The rams, griffins and dragons kept their stone cold expressions. "Don't worry." the griffin began. "They'll grow back... just in time for the executions!" "How dare you?!" the recruit shouted. "I know this must be terrible for you." the ram spoke with legitimate empathy. "But we had to show you that we are not jesting here. The sisters, just like their parents, must be removed if equality is to ever come to this land." "I'm sorry." "Your sorry?!" the now teary eyed recruit exclaimed. "You think you can just waltz into our country, assault our leaders, and expect us to go along with it?!" The recruit raised his foreleg crossbow, and pointed it toward the ram. "Leaf Shod! Hold your fire!" Sargent Sky Blade shouted. The rams brought their bows to bare on the ponys. The humans and ponies brought their own weapons to bare on the rams and griffins. "HOLD. YOUR. FIRE! " Sky Blade yelled again. Leaf Shod turned his head toward the Sargent. "I'm sorry sir." He bit the trigger. ********************* It didn't take long for the report to come in. Griffins, dragons, and an army of unknown creatures had attacked Equestria, defeated and imprisoned the Princesses, and were now engaged with Equestrian and human troops just east of Ponyville. The explosions and gunfire would have told the story just as easily. At the array site, human and pony officers met in an improvised meeting hall. "It's like a page out off our worst nightmares." Mayor Mare began. "What are we going to do?" General Snow Wisp put a hoof to her head. "Not even with human forces, can we repel and army of that magnitude. And these are just the troops they bothered to send to Ponyville. I don't think they were even expecting resistance and yet they still sent such a large force! We don't have a clue how large their real army is!" Colonel Highlander sat down at the meeting table. "Didn't you say that Fort Stalliongrad held the bulk of Equestria's armies? If those troops are still there, they could turn the tide." Snow Wisp nodded. "You are correct. There are no signs that the fort has been attacked. It's entirely possible that the enemy hasn't made it that far yet." "I say we need to rescue the Princesses. We can't let those monsters kill them." Lime Tree Hill suggested. Captain Lenard Greene sat down. "I see what he's saying. The Princesses are their leaders. If they die, the morale of your country dies with them." A pony officer looked skeptical. "I think they're bluffing. I mean it's the Princesses for pony sake! It's just a ploy to dishearten us." A large earth pony limped into the room. "It's no bluff." he spoke. The stallion set a box on the meeting table and knocked it over with a tired hoof. "General Rock! What happened to you?!" Snow Wisp yelled. The stallion had several wounds, some more severe than others. He had a black eye, and several lacerations on his chest. Chief of his injuries was a hoof which had a small arrow imbedded in it, which the stallion cradled with his other hoof. The stallion set the alicorn horns on the table. Lime Tree bucked out of his seat, an officer pony released his lunch, and General Snow Wisp screamed. "What do ya think happened?!" Rock answered. "They presented these to us like some kind of trophies! Listen! We've got to save Celestia and Luna! They will execute them if we don't!" The officers looked and began murmuring amongst themselves. "I think we can help." Lenard Greene spoke up. "Marc, is it ready?" he yelled through a radio. ...."It's not finished yet, but we might be able to get something through. Initiating lock!".... The ponies and humans filed out of the meeting hall, and gazed at the sparking circular ACSD array. A large skyward facing dish began to hum with energy. "We're ready to initiate contact!" Marc shouted down from a control tower. Marc and a team of scientist gathered into the array control center. "Here goes nothing." Marc mumbled under his breath. A small blue orb, not much bigger than a beach ball opened just above the massive array. "How is anything supposed to get through that?" Lenard questioned. "It will allow us radio contact with the Second ACSD array on Earth- er our Earth." the scientist explained. Lenard's eyes widened. "There's two?" "Yes, the first array has been in the works at back at base since the first few probes sent back information. It was completed just before we arrived here. Though unfinished, if we make contact with it we might be able to open an anomaly for a brief period of time." The scientist elaborated. Lenard nodded. "Do it." ****************** It was sunset at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Atlanta Georgia, U.S.A. The night crew manning the ops center sipped coffee, chatted, and went about their typically mundane duties. ...."This is Two Array to base. Do you read?"..... A coms. officer performed a textbook spit take, spewing coffee all over his work station. The other officers looked on in amazement. "That was Harrison!" One officer shouted. "They made it!" The ops center filled with cheers. Radio calls went out in every direction, spreading the word. ...."This is One Array! Well I'll be! Marc Harrison! It's great to hear your voice! You've completed the array! This is history in the making!"..... ..."That's nice. We need military support NOW!"..... ...."Are you in some kind of trouble?! Don't tell me that there are aliens are attacking you?!"..... ...."Just the mean ones! I'll explain later! Get your array up so we can receive support! I'll fill you in as best I can!"... ....."There's a small helo team performing training maneuvers, I might-"..... . The radio signal cut out. Alarms went off all over the base. Scientist were abruptly woken up. Pilots and crewmen rushed to their stations. A large blue sphere of crackling energy formed over the Base. ...."The anomaly won't remain stable much longer, Marc! I'm not sure how long we can sustain it!".... ...." Underst-.... We'll awai-...- rival".... ...."Marc, I don't know if you can hear this, but help is coming!"..... ***************** The sphere of energy at array site two, Equestria, grew much larger. Marc and the other scientist frantically manned their controls. "Sir, it's unstable! I mean, its more stable than the natural anomalies, but its still pretty unstable!" Marc yelled down to Lenard. "Did they say they were sending help?!" Lenard yelled over the roar of the anomaly. "I couldn't tell, we lost radio contact!" Marc yelled. "SIr, it's destabilizing!" a scientist shouted to Marc. "Their too late! They won't be able to send- Wait! I'm getting something on the scopes!" Marc called down. "What is it?" Lenard yelled up. "Not a clue. But something is coming through the portal!" The pony onlookers gawked as a large hovering vehicle slowly emerged from the energy sphere. Lenard Greene chuckled at the choice of vehicles the base had chosen. "A Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopter. They have no idea of the irony they've just sent us." Lenard quipped. The over-sized helicopter completely emerged from the portal, followed by three Apaches Attack copters and two Black Hawks. As the last chopper made it's way through the portal, the energy sphere began to fluctuate. The humans began to direct the aircraft to a clearing near the array, the ponies still in awe of the now collapsed anomaly and the majestic machines that had flown through it. As the helicopters landed, their doors sprung open, and a older looking human male stepped forth. He dusted his uniform, and adopted an expression of awe. He then noticed Lenard and ran toward him. "You know," The man began. "I never thought it'd look like this." Lenard reflexively saluted, forgetting that the commander was no longer his superior officer "Just a little storm Commander. It's good to see you. Please tell me you brought help!" Commander Stuart whistled. Several soldiers began filing out of the helicopters, carrying their tools of the trade: SMAW rocket launchers, Sniper rifles, mortars, stinger missiles, LMGs, someone even had a sword. The Apaches were loaded with every weapon they were capable of carrying, and the Super Stallion itself had an equipment crate slung underneath it. "Marc told be to bring along something just for you." the commander pointed to the equipment crate. A pair of workers cracked it open, revealing four Aim 9x Sidewinder missiles, and a large case of 30mm ammunition. Lenard was amazed, then confused. "But how did Marc kno- Doesn't matter. Let's get these to the F-15!" ***************** "What do you mean it's not ready?!" a disturbed pilot yelled at a group of workers. "Sorry Captain," an engineer stammered. "but the fuselage is cracked, the left wing is bent, and the left landing gear wheel is on backwards. It could take days to fix this!" "Do what you can. Make sure you load the weapons asap, I don't want those just lying around." Lenard spoke, clearly disappointed. "It's alright boss, they've got another mission for us anyway." a familiar female voice spoke. The pilot swung around to see his two previously missing friends. "Gerri, Mike, where have you been?" Lenard demanded. "After we dropped off the ponies, we rode my motorcycle back toward Canterlot." Mike explained. "We didn't get vary far, but we did gather a bit of useful information." Gerri explained. Mike nodded. "There's some good news. The Equestrian army in Canterlot surrendered without a fight." Lenard rose an eyebrow. "Why would that be good news?" "Because that means they're still alive! If we can get to them, and free them, we'll have a lot more troops to work with." Gerri elaborated. "I'm going to guess that this is the mission you were talking about." Lenard facepalmed. Mike nodded. "Eeyup," ***************** Lenard Green, Gerianna Reed, Mike Kaiser, and several black ops troops were gathered in the improvised meeting hall. "I'm not going to lie. This mission will not be easy, by any means." General Rock shouted. The stallion had bandaging around his left hoof and several pieces of gauze taped to his chest. In truth, he belonged more in a hospital bed than in the war room, but the old soldier had refused. "As far as we know, the enemy has captured our capital and imprisoned our leaders. With the limited amount of troops we currently posses, we stand no chance of recapturing the city at the moment. However, with a small team of silent operatives, we can infiltrate their fortifications and possibly extract the Princesses. The enemy slipped up when they were boasting, and revealed that the Princesses were being held in the same prison they claimed the Princesses imprisoned their ancestors. They must have them locked up in Canterlot's dungeon." The General explained. "How will we go about this?" a human officer wondered. "Using the recently arrived air machines, we can quickly move a small team to the palace. Again, I'm not going to lie. There will very likely be heavy resistance. Stealth is our only option here, you cannot openly fight against the occupation forces in Canterlot and come out alive. STAY HIDDEN!" Colonel Highlander stood up. "Fortunately, the two Black Hawks helicopters the base had on standby were two of the new stealth Variants. They should get you in without attracting too much attention." He explained. "The ponies going with you are highly trained Equestrian AOD ponies. Listen to their instruction, and follow their orders. They will be leading this mission." Mike raised his hand. "Yes, Lieutenant Kaiser?" The Colonel asked "What's AOD stand for?" the pilot wondered. "Affairs of Darkness." General Rock answered. "They are trained in silent operations, and have knowledge of Equestria's inner workings. They'll be more than helpful." "If you are spotted by enemy resistance on your way to Canterlot, you are to destroy it. They can't know we're coming." The Colonel warned. "I guess that's about it." The soldiers began to get up from their seats. "WAIT!" a voice cried out from outside. "Who said that?" General Rock asked the group. A young purple unicorn mare trotted into the room, leaning on two ponies for support, followed by a small dragon. Lenard Greene did a double take. "Twilight? I thought you were in a coma! Applejack, Pinkie Pie, what's going on?" "She finally woke up!" Spike answered. Twilight interrupted. "That doesn't matter now! It's a trick! You're all going to the wrong place! If what they are saying is true, there could only be one prison they are talking about." Twilight explained. "And what, little lady, could that be?" General Rock cautiously asked. "The dungeon Equestria would have used that long ago, next to the original Palace." Twilight continued. "Out with it, mare!" Rock bellowed. "Alcatrotz Island, in the Everfree Forest."