“...And the rest you know.” Sebastian said as Twilight sat on her throne, her expression shocked.
“So you were sent here by an unknown being?” She asked, “One that posed as a merchant?”
Sebastian nodded, his eyes narrowing at the memory. “To be fair, we didn't even realize that he was selling stuff that would send us to an alternate universe. So he’s not exactly at fault.” He then chuckled. “It's as big a surprise to us as it is to you.”
Twilight then frowned as she remembered seeing Alex blasting Rainbow with the three arcane missiles. She looked at the three. “You said you three became soldiers from games your kind created?” Viktor nodded at this. She sighed. “The thing is… we need help in this war. Especially with defending Ponyville.”
“And you want us to help?!” Viktor asked in an incredulous tone. “We don't even know anything about where we are, let alone what exactly we’re fighting!”
A new voice entered the conversation. “From what I can tell, this “Flame Tail” has basically become a Tyrant bent on taking over this country.” Kyra said, appearing on Viktor’s shoulder.
Twilight looked at the AI in shock, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. “I think you broke her.” Viktor joked to the AI. He then looked at the Alicorn and said, “This is Kyra, my AI companion.”
“T….That’s the AI you were talking about?” Twilight stammered. Viktor nodded. The Alicorn then looked at Kyra with an interested look. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“I could say the same thing about you.” She said, her tone a bit miffed at being called an “it”.
Twilight flattened her ears in embarrassment. “Sorry.” Just then, the doors swung open and Rainbow flew in, the burned spots from where Alex’s magic missiles had hit her covered in bandages. She was out of her armor and gauntlets, so the three humans were able to see some sort of picture on her flank. Sebastian then realized that Twilight also had a picture on her flank, but it was completely different. While Rainbow had a cloud with a single multicolored lightning bolt, Twilight had a starburst with six more stars around it. Following the pegasus were four other mares, a yellow Pegasus with a bright pink mane and tail and green eyes, a orange pony with a blonde mane and tail, the mane put in a ponytail. She also had what looked to be an earth style Stenson hat and like the pegasus, she also had green eyes. Besides the two, there was a pink earth pony with a slightly darker pink mane and tail and a white unicorn with an indigo mane and tail. Their marks were three butterfly for the pegasus, three apples for the orange Earth Pony, three diamonds for the unicorn and three balloons for the pink earth pony.
The four were talking amongst themselves as they entered the room, before the orange pony noticed Twilight and the three strangers with her and Spike.
“Whut in tarnation are these critters?” She asked in a southern accent, “And why are they here with Twi?”
The Pegasus eeped and hid behind the unicorn, who charged up her horn in preparation to attack. “Oh son of a…” Viktor swore.
“Rarity, stop!” Twilight shouted. Taken aback, the unicorn cut off the energy surrounding her horn and looked at the Alicorn.
“But these brutes looked like they were about to attack you!” She said in a Atlantic accent.
“These “brutes” have names you know!” Alex snapped, her eyes flashing angrily behind her helmet.
The four mares looked at her in shock. Feeling the atmosphere getting tense, Twilight hurriedly said, “Girls, these three are Sebastian, Viktor and Alexandra. They just recently arrived to Equestria.”
“It's… nice to meet you four.” Viktor said, his voice sounding awkward.
The four mares nodded hesitantly. As Viktor turned to Twilight, he was confronted by a wall of pink with two blue eyes looking at him. “What in the…?!” The SPARTAN yelped, leaping backwards in shock.
“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie and I’ve never seen you before which means you're new which means I can throw a “Welcome to Equestria” party!” The mare said, bouncing up and down before noticing the weapons aimed at her as Sebastian and Alex had drawn their weapons on instinct at her sudden appearance. She then froze in mid-air and stared at the two before zipping to where she had been originally, causing the two to be flabbergasted.
“What in Dorn's name?! That… that shouldn't have been possible!” Sebastian said.
“That's Pinkie for you.” Twilight said with a chuckle. “Just… don't try and figure out how she does what she does. I tried it once…” She shuddered at the memory. “You’ve already met Rainbow Dash, and these three are Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy.” She continued.
“If I may ask, what exactly are you?” Rarity asked. “I’ve never seen your kind before.”
“We’re called Humans.” Sebastian said. “We’re basically a hairless creature except for the top of our head. But we're not exactly from Equestria, we were sent here.”
“Hue-man?” This time Rainbow spoke up. “That's a weird name for a creature.”
“Says the flying horse called Rainbow Dash.” Viktor snarked only to dodge as said Pegasus sped right past him. She turned around, a look of anger on her face.
“Say that to my face Tin Man!” She shouted. She made to charge again, only to be grabbed in a magical grasp.
“Rainbow, calm down.” Twilight said, while giving the SPARTAN a stern look. “We’re called ponies.” She continued. “So please don't call us horses.”
“Yes ma'am.” He said. He then heard hooves clopping on the floor but they sounded smaller. Turning his head, Viktor was shocked to see a black Alicorn filly in her teens trot in, the most surprising part were her eye, they were blue with reptilian like pupils.
“Mom? Why is Rainbow yelling…?” She trailed off as she saw the three armored figures in the room. “Who… Who are they?” She asked, her voice starting to shake.
Twilight's eyes softened. “Nyx, they're new arrivals to Equestria.” She said gently to her. The Alicorn then turned to the three humans. “This is my daughter, Nyx.” She said, nudging the filly forward.
Alex took off her helmet, letting her long black hair flow onto her shoulders, and knelt down to Nyx. “It's very nice to meet you Nyx. My name is Alexandra, but you can call me Alex. and this is my brother Viktor and his friend Sebastian.” She said, giving a small smile to the filly.
Nyx also gave a smile, Albeit a shy one. “Nice to meet you too Miss Alex.”
Alex chuckled. “Please, just call me Alex.”
“If Ah may ask, why are you three here in Equestria?” Applejack asked.
“We… were sent here after we bought these at a con.” Sebastian said, the three bringing out their weapons and putting them on the table. Everyone's eyes were riveted to the three guns and the sword. “As for why… we don't know.”
Applejack opened her mouth only for a shudder to go through the castle. Twilight looked up in shock. “An attack?! But how?”
“Twi! We have enemy soldiers advancing on Ponyville!” Spike yelled, “ I sent a message to the Princesses alerting them of what's going on!”
“The Civilians… We need to make sure nopony gets hurt!” Twilight said before she started to run to a separate room. “Girls, get in your armor, we need to stop them from getting to Ponyville!”
“Ma’am, we’ll hold them off until you are ready.” Sebastian said.
“And just how are you gonna stop an army? You barely even fought me back in the Everfree!” Rainbow asked.
Viktor chuckled. “Rainbow, we are an army.” He said, before picking his assault rifle and walking to the door. Both Sebastian and Alex followed, their weapons at the ready.
The three quickly ran outside to see a town in chaos. Ponies were scrambling to reach a safe place as shells smashed down. “Nuts… Guys, let's try and help the civvies and if you see any enemy soldiers, take them out.” Viktor ordered, getting an affirmative nod from the other two. But as they advanced, a hail of bullets and energy blasts smacked into them. Ahead of them were ten Ponies, five Pegasi and five unicorns. The Pegasi were armed with the gauntlets and rifle that Rainbow had shot at the three, but the rifles that the unicorns had looked like the las-guns from Warhammer 40,000 and were held in their magic. All were in infantry style armor, colored red with yellow lightning bolts across them. One of the unicorns then stepped forward and spoke to them, his voice haughty.
“And what are you supposed to be? The Princesses’ pets?” He mocked.
“You have two choices, either back off and run back to your boss or get pounded into the ground.” Viktor growled, mag-locking his assault rifle on his back before a massive hammer appeared in his hands, the head crackling with energy. “You made a big mistake by attacking civvies with no warning. So what's it gonna be?”
The unicorn looked surprised that Viktor could speak for a moment before returning to his grin. “So you can talk, nice trick, let me teach you how to play dead.” he mocked again, aiming his gun at them.
“Pounding it is then..” the Spartan chuckled before the thrusters in his suit activated and he ran forward at high speed, catching the soldiers by surprise. “It's hammer time!” He shouted before swinging his weapon. When it hit, a shockwave erupted from it, sending three of the unicorns flying. “Kyra, activate music file number 61, codeword Blow Me Away.” He said to the AI.
“You’ve got it.” She said before music began to play inside his helmet. He then turned to the remaining soldiers, who looked shellshocked.
“And I thought you were supposed to be tough…” he taunted in the mocking tone the leader of the squad had used. “Guess I was wrong.” He then stepped forward menacingly. “Now unless you want to get sent flying like your three mates did, you will back down and surrender!”
The leader however had managed to recover from the hammer blow and glared at the SPARTAN. With a snarl, he raised his weapon and fired, only for it to bounce off the Human's armor. A single bang rang out before the unicorn was obliterated in an instant by a mass reactive shell. Viktor looked over to see the muzzle of Sebastian's Bolter smoking as he lowered it.
“Drop your weapons…. NOW!” The Astartes roared. Shaken, the soldiers dropped their weapons. “Alex, bind them.” He said to the female SPARTAN, who nodded before her right hand glowed and the soldiers found themselves in manacles of energy.
Another hail of gunfire smacked into them, causing them to turn and see a ten man squad of earth ponies charging towards them. Sebastian rolled his eyes before he let rip with his Bolter, the mass reactive shells easily punching through their armor. Within seconds, the squad was no more.
“What… what in Tartarus are you?!” One of the Pegasi asked, her voice shaking.
“I… am an angel of death. And I shall know no fear.” Sebastian growled as he spotted more enemy troops advancing.
Twilight and the rest of her friends soon arrived after two hours, their weapons ready. Twilight was armed with a double barreled version of the guns that the unicorns had while Applejack had a heavier version of the autoguns the Pegasi were equipped with. Both Rarity and Rainbow were equipped with the same weapons as the soldiers while Fluttershy was armed with a scoped energy rifle. Pinkie was armed with what looked like a grenade launcher.
The six mares stopped and looked in amazement and shock at the scene before them. The three humans had managed to stave off any more enemy troops from advancing while also holding prisoners. Bodies littered the streets, but the three hadn't gotten through the fighting unscathed. Sebastian winced as his now enhanced healing ability repaired three bullet wounds in his arm while Viktor sat on the ground, his leg being healed by Alex. All three had their helmets off and the mares could see their tired faces.
Rainbow was the first to break the silence. “Okay… I take back what I said to them, they are definitely 20% cooler.”
Sebastian chuckled. “Wasn't easy. But at least they didn't have tanks…”
Twilight winced. She had seen footage of a single “Atlas” Tank leveling whole squads with its armament. The whine of an engine was suddenly heard as a “Phoenix” class shuttle landed nearby. The hatch opened with a hiss and two Earth Ponies in more ornate armor armed with heavy autoguns exited, followed by two Alicorns in heavy battle armor that blocked their marks from view. One was white and had a flowing rainbow mane and tail that flapped in a nonexistent breeze. The other was dark blue, with a lighter colored mane and tail that like the other Alicorn, flapped in a nonexistent breeze. As they approached, the six mares bowed. Sebastian and Alex however drew readied their weapons and stood in front of Viktor, causing the guards to aim their weapons at them.
The two Alicorns looked at the three armored figures in shock. “Who are you three?” the white one asked, her eyes narrowing
“Warriors from a different world.” Sebastian said. “And who are you if I may ask?”
One of the guards spoke up. “Is that how you address the Princesses?” He snapped.
Oh crap… the Astartes thought, gulping as he felt the glares of the two on him.I have a feeling we may have ticked them off...