"Are you sure that Luna didn't give you a customized suit because you're representing her personal guard in my team?" I asked as I looked at Night’s armor. While the entire Royal Guard branches have been updating their armor to standards of the Aegis Guard, Night's armor bore some differences compared to the standard Lunar Guard armor. The armor's color scheme was of black and dark blue with silver trim, a mix of plates over enchanted linen with gems socketed into the armor.
"This is just the newest model, Captain," Night meekly replied, to which I just raised an eyebrow at first.
"You're telling me that it's the newest model of armor, and based on that, the rest of the Night Guard Princess Luna brought with her are still wearing an older model?"
"Umm... okay... maybe the Princess requisitioned the first of the new models for me since I'm on your team..." Night answered, giving me an awkward smile while I just rolled my eyes at her.
"Figures as much, just get on board on the copter," I ordered, causing the mare to nod before flying over to said copter, with Windbag and Agate following behind her. The plan was for us to be dropped off on the Solar Glory, where we would be coordinating with the airship's commander. The moment an intrusion was detected, it was planned for the closest capital airship to send all available air forces to converge on the site, while the airship would be following as fast as it can. Of course any nearby base personal and lesser airships would make for the location, but the other two capital airships would remain in position to engage any other intrusions that may occur.
As we took to the air, with Windbag humming annoyingly, I simply stared out one of the view-ports on the side of the transport helicopter. It was a magic-powered, lengthened version of the helicopters I seen some civilians used, able to hold six passengers along with the pilot. It wasn't a smooth ride compared to a chariot, due to the copters being designed for military use, prioritizing capacity, speed, and durability over comfort.
"Captain?" Agate said, drawing my attention towards him. "If you don't mind me asking, just what should we expect from the Xartik?"
"Anything to be honest, but I can't much for certain beyond just mass-produced robot warriors," I answered. While I trained my troops in all the tactics I know, I couldn't really give them much about potential enemy forces beyond common knowledge. "Just suspect anything, even if they appeared unarmed. Some could even be walking bombs for all we know."
"Wait, what‽ Walking bombs!" Night cried out, as the other two stared at me in shock.
"Yeah, just suspect anything, and if you hear a beeping noise, you better tell everyone to run for their lives," I calmly replied. "Just assume the worst, and you'll do fine."
"If by fine, you mean a roasted carcass," Windbag muttered, causing me to smack the back of his head. "Hey! Just saying since you're always going on about all the stuff you seen on your 'travels'."
"Just shut your trap already," I snapped back, to which Windbag only grumbled to himself in response, as I returned my attention to the passing scenery.
It took a few hours before we arrived on the Solar Glory, an airship that was nine hundred feet long and a hundred and fifty feet wide. It was a massive beast of an airship. Armed with several artillery turrets, a powerful magic reactor, and heavy shielding, the Solar Glory was meant to serve as a flying fortress. The only drawback was the airship was slow and relied on eight thrust engines that were rather large, which would be easy targets should the shield ever go down. As my squad and I were disembarking our transport, the commander of the ship and an earth pony stallion with a uniform belonging to the E.U.P. were there to greet me.
"Greeting Captain Aura, glad to have you on-board my ship. Major Gregory, at your service," the griffin said as he gave me a salute.
"Captain Stone, it is good to have your presence with us, Captain," the earth pony added in while joining Gregory in the salute. One weird thing about Equestrian military was that there were two different kinds of captains. The first was just a regular officer rank, but the second is more of a title for the commander of one of the guard divisions, who normally hold authority on par with a general. I guess it was that sounded better for a 'captain' to be in charge of protecting the princesses instead of a general. At least since there was only three guards divisions and hence, three captains.
Sighing at the formality, I replied, "Nice to meet you two, but we have some things we need to deal with. I want at least four transport copters with escorts on standby. We might be in the clear for now, but that doesn't mean we can relax anytime soon."
"As your procedures dictate, all Aegis Guard personnel are on high alert and ready to respond at a moment's notice. Captain Stone also has the available E.U.P. forces on the ready as well," Gregory responded, with Stone simply nodding his confirmation. "However... if you wanted to relax, we have a room in the officer's quarters open for you, Captain."
Cocking an eyebrow, I simply rolled my eyes as I made my way inside the airship, with everyone else following. Even though it is well-known that I have a dislike for luxuries in regards to military purposes, it didn't prevent the inclusion of officer quarters for military bases and airships like the Solar Glory. It was a waste of resources and space in my point of view, but apparently some of the officers need to have soft beds to be able to sleep at night. "Had there been any new developments while I was on transit?"
"None, madam, none of the monitoring stations have any disturbances yet," Gregory answered as he followed me from my right side.
"I see," I replied in a neutral tone, causing Stone to blink in a bit.
"Isn't that a good thing, Captain? It does give us more time to prepare in case they do arrive," Stone said, to which I shook my head to.
"It may or may not be a good thing. Due to the sinkhole effect Selene has, it may trap or delay any messages sent across dimensions, or it may not have an effect at all. If the latter case, then I wonder why they haven't attacked already, unless they're planning something."
"I say you're just being paranoid, but you're always paranoid. Hence, you're just being more paranoid than normal," Windbag commented, drawing an annoyed look from all of us.
"I swear, if you weren't useful, I would glue your wings to your back and toss you off the side of this ship," I grumbled, before returning my attention back to Gregory and Stone, where the latter was raising an eyebrow at me.
"Captain, forgive my words, but I find it odd that you have one of your subordinates talking to you in such a fashion," Stone commented, to which I just rolled my eyes to.
"As annoying as Windbag is, I value competence over maturity so I tolerate him."
"Now if only Stalwart was here, he and I would make a good duo!" Windbag added in, causing me to glare at him in return till Stone cleared his throat to get my attention.
"As informal as the Aegis Guard can be, I suggest we return our attention to the matter on hoof. Is there anything in particular we should be on the lookout for with our scanners?" Stone asked.
"I'm not sure, consi—" I started to answer, before being interrupted by feeling a pressure building up in my horn. "Fuck! Gregory, get everypony to get their battle stations! Send a message to all forces that a portal is opening!"
My sudden outburst initially confused everyone, but Gregory quickly shook it off before shouting out orders as Stone asked, "What's going on Captain? How do you know a portal is about to be open?"
"Long story short, my horn is sensitive to any sort of interdimensional activity, namely when portals open up or are about to be opened, and right now I just felt something!" I shouted as I started to gallop back to the landing bay, with my squad and Stone following behind me.
"Understood Captain, I'll head to my post then," Stone replied before veering off in his own direction. As we made our way to the landing pad, I could see troops scrambling all around us to get into their positions. It only took a couple minutes before my squad and I reached our the landing bay, where we hopped onto the closest empty transport copter.
The copter's pilot turned to look at me, asking, "Captain Aether? What is going on?"
"Either Selene's about to get invaded, someone goofed with the portal, or my horn is on the fritz. Regardless, just be on the ready till we figure out what is going on and see where we need to go from there," I answered by as I strapped myself into my harness.
It wasn't long before all the copters were loaded, with a few soldiers joining the one my team was on, as we waited for news of a possible intrusion. Minutes passed by as we all just eyed one another inside, until Gregory's voice rang out on the copter's speakers. "Dimensional anomaly detected! General location is sixty miles south-southwest of our location! All aerial units, take off and head to the location stat!"
On cue, our copter lifted off, with me seeing the others doing the same before I turn my attention to the pilot. "How long before we arrive at the incursion point?"
"I say about thirty minutes, Captain," the pilot answered.
Turning back to look at the troops in the copter, I simply said, "Well, you lot have thirty or so minutes to make peace with yourselves before we meet the enemy," causing a couple of the troops to gulp at the thought of the upcoming battle we might have to face.
"There doesn't seem to be anything in the skies, nor anything from the ground, Captain," the pilot said as we arrived at the site, which is a forested area.
"Then that's a good sign, maybe," I simply responded. "Take us down to a clearing, but keep an eye out for any incoming fire. We're not in the clear yet."
"A good sign? What do you mean?" Night asked.
"Well, if they brought any spacecraft with them, we should've been able to see it either in the air or crashed on the ground. So that means we're only dea—" I replied before an explosion interrupted me, causing everyone to look around in alarm.
Shortly after the explosion, a voice called out on the radio. "We've been hit, but the shield held!"
"Welp, we're definitely at war. Get us on the ground, now!"