~Wolfship Kaliks-Syn, Taniks the Scarred~
Taniks looked over the data currently gathered on the nearby planet from his scout Skiffs he had dispatched across the surface. So far, data had confirmed the existence of intelligent life of multiple species, seemingly pre-industrial era.
Suddenly, a Dreg was all but thrown into his quarters. The Disgraced One groggily stood up from where he had landed upon being tossed into the room.
“What makes you disturb me?” Kaliks growled in his native tongue at the intruding piece of nothingness.
“The Archon and his crew sent by the Kell of Kells has not reported back. We suspect that he has somehow fallen to the locals or the lingering Dark Machines we have been searching for.” The Dreg stated, bowing low. Taniks smashed a fist into a nearby surface, he had sent that Archon to an area that felt oddly dangerous, and he had been right, although the loss of Skolas’ Archon would damage relations with the Kell of Kells and his Wolves.
“Send an invasion force! Stamp out those that would damage our relations with the Wolves!” Kaliks roared over a Ketch-wide intercom system. Various machines whirred to life throughout the Wolfship as Fallen got an invasion force worth of ships ready for planetary entry.
~Inside The Castle of Friendship, The Guardian~
I slowed my breathing, slowing my racing heartbeat and calming myself down. Twilight had managed to get everything in order within an hour or two and right now, she was addressing everypony in town, informing them of ‘an old friend of the Princesses’ (ie, me) being in town.
Soon, Spike would open the door out to the balcony so that I could step out and reveal myself to the populous of Ponyville. However, I was broken out of my thoughts when various sounds came from outside.
Screaming. And the engines of many Fallen Skiffs.
Ghost! Give me The Last Word, Her Benevolence and The Culling! Sounds like we have Fallen inbound I mentally called to Ghost. Almost instantly, my Hand Cannon appeared in my hand and my rifle appeared upon my back. Flexing my fingers around the grip of The Last Word, I burst through the doors to the balcony.
My stomach fell when I caught sight of the current predicament. Ten Fallen Skiffs hovered in the sky above Ponyville, the drop hatches opened and many Fallen Vandals, Dregs and Captains jumped out, Shanks and a few Servitors following behind.
Ponies ran to cover in large groups, herd instinct kicking in. A few stopped in fear and more looked like they were ready to fight, Easily spotted was the chromatic catastrophe that was Rainbow Dash and the ever truthful titan Applejack, bracing themselves in combat stances nearby a large red stallion wearing a yoke around his neck.
I blasted past Twilight and Spike in my sprint. I placed a foot upon the balcony railing in order to boost my leap, quickly firing a short burst of Lift in order to get a bit more height and some speed. I fired another short burst of Lift just before hitting the ground, cushioning my fall slightly as I hit the ground running. Quickly, I reached the side of Rainbow and Applejack.
“Get to safety you two, these guys don’t fuck around” I ordered, keeping my eyes on the various Fallen still jumping from their Skiffs. Immediately I felt the glares of Rainbow and Applejack trying their best to burn through the back of my helmet.
“Like hay we are! This is our home and we’re gonna defend it!” Rainbow snapped, I turned to look at her and hopefully intimidate her into backing down. However, it seemed to be taken in vain, as the rainbow maned mare and all the other ponies in fighting stances glared right back. I smirked behind my helmet.
“I like your spirit, but trust me, these guys are no joke. Those tube-like things they hold? they are ranged weapons like bows but much more accurate and much more dangerous.” I said, hoping to get them to back down, but Rainbow just smirked at me.
“So they’re like the Muskets used by the border guard? Sounds simple enough, we’ve just gotta get too close for them to hit us accurately” she cockily stated.
“Eeyup” intoned the big red stallion, and by fuck was that deep, that was deep enough to make me almost make a mess in my pants if you get my drift. Moving on, big red just stoically stood there(I could swear his short orange mane blew in a bit of a breeze) as everypony else just grinned.
I sighed.
“Try not to die out there and stay in groups in order to split their attention, I might have some use out of you guys later” I said, grinning once more under my helm as I started to move towards the various Fallen, but Ghost stopped me before I could get too far.
Give me a minute, I’m going to unlock some latent abilities in them, I won’t take long He stated as he appeared. Just as quickly as the shard of light appeared did he finish what he was doing. I unlocked some latent combat abilities along with a bit of instinctive knowledge, I’ll explain in more detail later, but just remember, trust what your instincts will tell you and you’ll know what to do Ghost quickly explained before disappearing into me once more.
“You guys better survive” I stated before dashing off to fight the invading Fallen.