An experienced titan pilot inserts on a remote farming planet to help his militia brethren protect the civilian populous from IMC oppression. Little does he know the IMC have been cooking up a new weapon to eliminate key targets.
This story is on Hiatus for a major rewrite, after reviewing it and with the help of some of your comments, I will be reworking the entire story, from pacing and plot, to detail. Sorry for the huge delay. I hope to have the new first chapter up for you soon.
The warm sun of the midsummer day washed the land in golden rays. Dillan, the seventeen year old son of a prosperous farming family on the edges of the frontier, stepped onto the deck on the back of their modest two story farm house. He inhaled the fresh scent of pine, from the forests to the north, and the mixture of wheat, grass, oranges and grapes that wafted through the air. Stretching his back he contemplated the days activities. Today was his day off. The grape harvest was still a few months away, they had just finished the orange harvest, and he still had a few more weeks before they began cutting down the wheat. Maybe today would be a good day to go swimming at the lake in the forest.
He turned on his heel, and strode into the house, gathered up his swimming trunks and a light lunch in a backpack, then headed out toward the swimming hole. Maybe his friend Joshua would be there. Josh was the son of the sheriff that kept order in their small town, who was nothing more than a formality, because everyone knew everyone, no crimes were committed.
The short trek through the woods kept him cool, so instead of jumping right in Dillan decided to eat his lunch first, then maybe take a nap. As he neared the lake he could hear splashing and laughing, which brought a smile to his face.
"Oi! Dillan!" shouted Josh. Waving at him from in the water by the floating platform they built.
With him was Josh's girlfriend Rebecca and her brother Tod, and Tod's friend Dennis. Dillan waved to the group and began to strip out of his clothes, thoughts of his lunch quickly being replaced by an eagerness to swim.
Once changed he dove into the refreshing chill of the mountain lake, the cool temperature of the water fed by runoff from the mountains ice caps soothing the heat of the sunny day. He swam over towards the dock.
"Hey everybody!" He called out as he neared the group.
The group of friends swam most of the day away. As the sun just passed its peak, they all went ashore. Rebecca got to work with Josh and set out a large patterned blanket.
"Hey everyone, come on over, we brought some sandwiches and fruit to eat!" Josh called out.
The food was a perfect meal to end a perfect day as they all lounged about. _________________________________________________________________________________
*Somewhere in orbit*
"Commander, we are approaching the staging coordinates. Shall I ready the Pilots?"
"Yes Lieutenant. Ready the Pilots. Tell them the mission clock is ticking. Thirty minutes."
A low rumble shook the ground as the very air vibrated through the forest.
"Woah, did you guys feel that?" Denny asked.
"Yeah, felt like nothin' I ever felt before." Tod replied.
Suddenly a mass of fireballs streaked across what limited sky they could see through the trees, followed by several low thumps in the distance.
"What the hell is going on?" Josh half shouted. "I'm calling my dad."
Everyone was silent, waiting to hear the news from Josh. He paced in a small circle waiting for his dad to answer the phone. Finally when he was just about to give up someone answered.
"DAD! What's going o... No, I'm at the Lake with Rebecca, Tod, Den... What do you mean?... What to you mean she's dead?! DAD What the HELL IS HAPPENING! What's that noise in the background, is that gunfire?... Dad?! DAD!"
Dillan at this point was shaking in fear, confusion and rage, and he could see the others were in similar states. Suddenly Dennis took off like a bat out of hell through the woods, causing everyone to finally snap back to reality. Soon everyone was hot on his heels high tailing it to the nearest road.
After five minutes of running they all reached the pavement, panting. In the distance, the quiet rattle of gunfire and thumps of grenades could be heard going off. Pillars of smoke rose from the small town in the distance. Suddenly a Militia soldier Burst from the wood line a few hundred yards away, causing everyone to duck and hide behind bushes and trees.
"I didn't think the fighting on the frontier would make it this far in. The M-COR must be really taking a beating." Dennis whispered. Suddenly the soldier hit a few buttons on an arm mounted display and looked skyward. A rumbling roar tore through the atmosphere followed by a loud shockwave that knocked the five teens down.
As the dust settled the scraping whir of machinery could be heard. Dillan looked under the bush he was laying on and saw a massive metal machine rise from the crater it had just made in the once undisturbed field. It strode with thunderous footsteps towards the pilot who proceeded to approach the metal monster. In a swift maneuver of practiced skill he leapt with the aid of a rocket thruster backpack just as the torso split open to reveal a cockpit, swung off the fingers of the beasts hand and landed neatly inside as the plates realigned over the gap, encompassing the pilot.
Amazed by the display of acrobatics, Dillan didn't realize that the behemoth was staring in their direction. __________________________________________________________________________________
"GOD DAMN IT! HOW MUCH LONGER?!"
"Two minutes."
"FUCK!"
The pilot slammed another magazine into his carbine and unleashed another volley, cutting down a few grunts in the process.
"Sadie, what's our sitrep. Are we winning?"
"No Shawn, the IMC outnumber us seven to one."
"Well then we will just have to even those odds then won't we?"
"Yes, that would be advisable"
"That was a rhetorical question Sadie."
"Noted"
Once his clip ran dry he slid a fresh one in its place and decided the luck of his hiding spot was running out.
"Sadie, that rooftop," He pointed "best possible route?"
"Calculating... highlighted."
A dotted line appeared on the HUD of his visor, 3D projected onto the world around him.
"Thanks Babe" He said as he launched into action.
His thrusters kicked in as he leapt from the floor against the crumbling ceiling that collapsed into the room he occupied, and kicked off, banking onto the exposed rooftop. The dotted line then ran zig zagging from lamp post to lamp post over to a billboard on a pole outside the shopping mall he was trying to get to.
He kicked it into high gear and engaged his active camouflage to make himself harder to detect as he leapt across the vast openness. With the practiced skill of always being an adventure seeker as a child, he nimbly completed each jump. Without even slowing down he ran across the face of the billboard using is thruster pack to keep him pressed to its vertical surface, and leapt across the massive gap. Suddenly an IMC titan's fist came from his right.
Instinctively he let his body go limp, but it didn't help that the punch still hit him with the force of a freight train. Sadie engaged the thrusters in his suit to help lessen the blow as well, but he still broke a few ribs. Hitting the ground in a roll right into his feet, Shawn was sprinting for the doors of the mall, and burst through the glass followed by a shower of bullets from his recently evaded IMC titan friends chaingun.
"Sadie, how the hell did he see me, my camo was up" he asked as he hid behind the wall to the service desk.
"Analyzing... Scans indicate the pilot is running with his canopy open."
"Amazing, these bastards get smarter and smarter. But let that be his downfall."
Before Sadie could even ask what he meant by that Shawn shot out from the desk and ran up a supporting pillar for the second floor balcony. The IMC titan was quick to engage and was blazing a trail right behind him in hot lead. He turned and kicked off the pillar to smash through the glass of the opposing balcony, rolling into another sprint, straight at the face of the titan.
He could only imagine the look of sheer surprise on the face of that IMC bastard behind his blue visor as the knife sunk into his chest. The titan, now with his pilot flat lining engaged auto titan mode and ripped the two pilots from the cavity and threw them unceremoniously to the ground and reengaging Shawn. Amazingly the body of the IMC pilot saved his life as three rounds from the chaingun ripped into him instead of Shawn.
Counting his blessings he rolled to his feet behind the columns and reactivated his camo. Now pilotless, the titan's optics would be fooled by the shimmering cloak that enveloped his body as he ran to the safety of the woods.
"Sadie!" Shawn coughed, a small spray of blood clouding his visor "Status!"
"Third and fourth rib broken on the left side, small internal bleedin..."
"NOT ME! ON THE TITAN!"
"Twenty Seconds"
Shawn slowed as he neared the other side of the shallow wood grove.
"Sorry for snapping at you Sadie. I'm just tired of the IMC beating us time and time again."
"It's ok, Shawn, your titan is ready, Call it in"
He removed his helmet and wiped the blood clean and replaced it. Bursting from the woods at a jog he slowed to a stop.
"This looks good a place as any. Sadie, come on down."
The AI resided in his suit, not in the titan, but it was nice to think that the titan gave his AI a physical form. A glowing green circle overlaid on his HUD, showing the anticipated drop location of the titan, so he didn't get crushed. Two seconds later an earsplitting roar smashed right in front of him, only slightly causing him to lose his footing.
"Never gets old babe" he said, admiring the gleaming metal, fresh from the assembly line.
The Atlas titan rose and took a couple strides towards him, he doing the same. As soon as he saw the cockpit plates start to open he kicked his thrusters into gear and swung off the awaiting hand into the gap, as it sealed behind him.
"Good to be home, did you miss me?" he asked as the titan released control to the pilot.
"I'm ALWAYS with you Shawn, and AI as smart as we are, don't have feelings. It is impossible to 'miss' you. But if it humors you, yes I missed you very much."
"Glad to hear that." Suddenly a short klaxon blared and a red light began to strobe across the panels.
"Unknown heat signatures detected. Three hundred meters, Two o'clock."
"Sadie, switch to thermal."
The view screens flickered and then flared into shades of greens and yellows. Five red outlines broken up by the foliage of the opposing tree line registered on the screens.
"Magnify, 4x" The image enhanced to show five cowering human silhouettes.
"Locals maybe? Lets not get them involved." Yet another klaxon blared.
"Warning, you are outnumbered. Three IMC titans approaching."
"Shit, we need to draw them away from the civilians." __________________________________________________________________________________
Suddenly the ground shook with more thunderous vibrations as three more of the towering Titans burst from the woods. This caused the lone titan in the field to turn towards them. The three titans fanned out, surrounding the single titan. Without warning the cornered pilot attacked.
Dillan jumped as the fist lashed out from the monstrosity and collided with the face of the center opposing units. Shields flared around the suit but held, and all hell broke loose. Bullets, missiles and grenades flew from all directions, and just when the teens thought he was done for, the smoke trails cleared. The lone titan stood, with a vortex flowing from its hand, surrounded by hundreds of floating bullets and missiles.
Even more unexpected the titan leaned back, engaging dash thrusters, propelling itself backwards, then sideways. Suddenly the vortex collapsed and exploded outward, forcing all of the bullets and missiles into their owners. Two titans shields flared and died, the third titan, the closest took the brunt of the attack and was enveloped in roiling explosions across its hull, which then was enveloped in a mini mushroom cloud as parts rained down around it.
Without pause the Militia titan dashed right back into battle slamming its fist through the cockpit of the second closest titan, ripping the pilot from his housing and smashing him to a red pulp against his own titan as he jackhammered the fist into the sensitive components that were now exposed.
That titan toppled backwards to reveal the final remaining titan, an Ogre class, charging into battle, shields recharged and chaingun blazing. The heavy rounds pinging off the shield of the Militia titan rang out across the field onto pained ears still straining to recover from the thunderous cacophony of the titan battle. Dillan, even covering his ears, couldn't take his eyes off the amazing skill the militia pilot possessed. __________________________________________________________________________________
"Two down one to... oh shit"
Shawn slammed on the thrusters, rocketing Sadie backwards into the trees, using the natural surroundings to lessen the gunfire, and bring the titan in close where he would have a minor advantage of speed over armor.
The IMC pilot took the bait and lumbered in right after him. Shawn brought his fist up, and knocked the chaingun loose from the grip of the ogre and followed it up with a rapid jab to the cockpit, seeing the shields flare. Weapon gone, the ogre wound its massive arm back.
"Time to duck and run."
Dashing to the side he narrowly avoided the massive battering ram that is the ogre's fist. Planting two more quick hits to diffuse the shield he dashed in circles around the slow moving prey. Frustrated the IMC pilot wised up and grabbed two trees.
Confused more than anything Shawn still went for the kill. But the ogre outwitted him this time. With the deafeningly loud splinter of wood, it ripped the trees from their stumps and smashed each one into each side of Shawn's Atlas, and repeated. After three hits Sadie was whispering in his ear. "Eject Eject Eject Eject."
Ruefully Shawn yanked the eject handle and jettisoned from his beloved, giving her a mock salute, as her core went critical, engulfing both titans in a mini manmade sun. He didn't have time to react though to the shoulder guard from the ogre, flying through the air and smashing into him knocking him into blackness. __________________________________________________________________________________
"HOLY SHIT" Dillan screamed as the titan erupted into a small mushroom cloud with the ferocity of the sun.
Everyone ducked as the pressure wave washed over them. They got to watch as the parts of both titans rained down around the field. One piece landing not too far from their hiding spot, the red hot glowing shoulder plate of the ogre. Followed shortly by the motionless body of a pilot. The same Pilot they saw get into the titan.
Dillan started to move towards him when suddenly someone grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Josh said, pulling his friend back.
"We have to help him, he's hurt!" Dillan replied, pulling his arm free.
He ran across the field and looped his arms under the unconscious mans arms and drug him towards their hiding spot. Just as he got into the foliage several soldiers emerged from the woods, sweeping their weapons side to side.
"We need to get him out of here, the IMC are looking for him, they will kill him." Dillan whispered.
"Dillan, I know you think you are doing a good thing, but if the IMC find us, they will kill us too!" Dennis argued quietly.
"Then don't help, they're going to kill us anyway, look what they did to the town. I can't live with myself knowing I could have saved him but didn't."
Tod snapped out of his stupor and helped pick up the pilot. "C'mon guys. Dillan, your house isn't too far away, lets get him there."
The five trekked slowly through the woods as to not be seen by the IMC grunts patrolling the wreckage looking for bodies. After a half an hour of quietly moving and waiting, they made it to his farm. Dillan and Tod managed to lift the man up the four stairs onto the deck, and through the sliding door into the family room of the house.
"DILLAN!?" Dillan's mother shouted from upstairs, just as they laid the pilot on the couch.
"YEAH MOM IT'S ME!" He called back.
Suddenly there was pounding down the stairs and Dillan was ensnared in his mothers arms.
"I thought you were dead. I was so worried" his mother sobbed into his shoulder.
"Mom... Where's dad?" Dillan pushed her to arms length to look at her. She just sobbed harder.
"He... He..."
"MOM he's not... dead... is he?" he asked, fighting back tears.
"I don't know. He went to town shortly before the attack started. He was going to pick up a few things for your birthday party next week and..." she just broke down into tears again.
"Mom, Where are my keys... I'm going to get him."
"No..." the raspy voice of the pilot coughed "you aren't. It's suicide to go back there. The IMC have a firm foothold right now. They may be the enemy but the IMC aren't total monsters. They won't slaughter civilians unless they are trying to send a message. Your father, if hes still alive, will be ok for now."
"WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
"THE PILOT WHO SAVED YOUR ASS! IF THE IMC FOUND YOU THERE IN THE WOODS ON THE THERMALS THEY WOULD HAVE GUNNED YOU DOWN!"
"YEAH AND IM THE CIVILIAN THAT SAVED YOUR ASS SO WE'RE EVEN!"
"Shhhh! Guys, you hear that?" Josh interrupted.
Police sirens sounded from outside. They all ran to the window to see a police car barreling down the dirt road towards the farm.
"ITS MY DAD!" Josh shouted "AND YOURS TOO DILLAN!"
Sure enough there were the two men, in the front seat of the cruiser as it flew at breakneck speeds around the bend and closed the distance to the house. Out of no where a lightweight framed titan barreled into the clearing, in hot pursuit of the cruiser. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" both Josh and Dillan screamed.
"Sadie, titan status?!"
A mechanical voice filled the room from his suits external speakers "Titan ready. I understand Shawn, Initiating Titanfall." The gap between the Strider and the cruiser narrowed, when suddenly, a flaming mass of metal hit it at terminal velocity, pulverizing it into the ground. The cruiser was thrown onto its side and rolled to the roof from the force of the blast, and in the strider's place stood a militia atlas class titan in guard stance, weapon trained on the end of the road.
"It's only a matter of time before the IMC see my titans contrail, we need to get out of here."
Suddenly Dillan and Josh's father barrel through the door and slam it shut.
"MARIE! HOLY SHIT! I CAN'T BELIEVE IM ALIVE!"
"There's no need to shout John, we're safe, for now."
He breathes deeply for a few moments.
"Sorry, I, I was just a bit excited is all."
The pilot approaches him and stretches out his arm with an open hand. "Pleased to meet you John, I'm Major Shawn Thompson, of the Marauder Corps, or more commonly known as the Militia."
John slapped the man's hand away and pointed at him accusingly. "I know damn well who you fight for, and it's your fault they are killing us!"
"With all due respect sir, as this is your house, they would have come here either way, with our intervention or not, and even without destruction, would have laid claim to your land, and home. It was not our intention to start a conflict but to defend your right to live as you choose. The matter that the land gets destroyed from result of conflict, as terrible as it is, still is a hindrance to the IMC, So we do what we must, to cause the most trouble to the IMC. Now I beg you, let us go somewhere safer, the IMC will be upon us soon."
No sooner than he finished his speech his auto titan opened fire on squads of grunts closing on the house.
"Now if you'll excuse me. I need to defend our extract location." he commanded as he exited the house. The pilot keyed his MIC. "All remaining M-COR forces, fall back, there is a farm located to the northeast of Palamino city. I am dropping a nav beacon, regroup there and wait for extract."
Shawn kicked on his boosters and landed on the back of his titan, popping the top hatch and shouted "COME AND GET ME!" at the approaching IMC forces. __________________________________________________________________________________
"Sir, the town is held, the militia are falling back. It looks like they are rallying at this farm here"
"We don't let them... HIM escape, It's time we used our Warp Shell."
Ten minutes, fifty grunts, two titans and a lot of spent ammo later. Three other militia pilots converged on their location, only one had her titan remaining and it was slightly damaged. The wounded titan drug its derelict leg behind it as they approached the farm house.
"Sir, we've managed to hold the IMC back, but they are massing for another push. We won't be so lucky the second time" Jessica, the titans pilot announced over their closed battle group channel.
Shawn, who had dismounted his titan and left it to guard stance near Jessica's titan, looked around the living room at all the faces of the civilians he was protecting. Fear, the most prominent, among other emotions played across their faces. What he was about to ask of them was probably the hardest thing they'd do.
"Alright everyone listen up," he said, raising his hand to get everyone's attention "We don't have long before the IMC are stomping up that road. We need to evacuate. We've only barely managed to hold them off up to this point."
"Wait, you mean to tell me we are leaving the city?" Josh's father Ray asked.
"No. The planet."
"WHAT?!"
"There are battles raging all over this planet, no one location will be safe for very long for the time being. I'm asking you to come with me on our jumpjet out of here, back to the ship. Temporarily of course." he added quickly seeing the reactions of those around him. "The IMC aren't stopping here, and I can't guarantee that you will live if you stay. Granted I can't guarantee that if you leave with us either."
The distant sound of gunfire broke the concentration of the room. Everyone pushed up to the picture window and through its slightly smudged surface the battle could be seen raging in the distance.
"I think we should go" Rebecca said.
"Becky? You sure?" Josh asked.
"Well if we stay here right now, we're almost certain to die." She turned to Dillan to sell her point. "I know this is your house, but houses can be rebuilt. your family can't."
Dillan looked to his mother and father and nodded his head. "She's right, we should go."
"WELL that settles it, be ready to move in three minutes." Shawn said, clapping his hands together. Switching to the fleetcom channel he keyed his MIC. "This is Major Shawn Thompson requesting Hot Extract at my coordinates. I have a host of civilians that will be accompanying my squad on the bird back."
Shawn strode from the room, calling his titan to meet him half way. Once off the porch he lit his jump jets and launched himself into the awaiting cockpit of his titan. No sooner was he in, did three IMC titans come scooting up the road. Forward recon, light and fast scout units. He leveled his chaingun at the closest one, and let loose. ______________________________________________________________________________ Yesterday on an unknown planet in an unknown galaxy
Twilight always had a curiosity about the world around her. How to make something work, and why it worked that way. The fact that this was an assignment from both Princess Luna and Celestia was just a Pinkie Pie helping of icing on the cake.
"Spike, take a note please." she requested as spike pulled a quill and scroll from the desk.
"Day two hundred and eighty seven. Anomalies continue to appear on a regular basis. Not quite regular enough to precisely predict when the next occurrence will be, but the time between occurrences have been decreasing." Once the scratching of quill stopped, she continued as she peered through the telescope. "The most recent happening just earlier today, at approximately, 9:73 at night. A large semi-spherical piece of what appears to be some form of soil, mineral composite, appeared following a bright flash appearing in orbit at the coordinates that Princess Luna had indicated."
"Twilight? you don't think aliens are invading? do you?" Spike asked nervously.
"No spike. Have you been reading too many comic books again?" Twilight retorted.
"NO!" he said in a defensive manner. "Maybe."
"Well Spike," Twilight laughed " If they were aliens, they aren't very good ones. their ships are made of dirt." ______________________________________________________________________________ At an IMC testing facility, a half an hour ago, light years away.
"So did you hear about this new bomb they've created that we're testing today?"
"No, what's going on?"
"They say it utilizes the same tech that the ships use for faster than light travel, and titans use to warp into battle."
"Woah, that's kinda scary"
"Yeah I guess this is the first one they've tested of this magnitude. The prototypes were only large enough to diffuse smaller materials the size of a pilot. This one they are testing today is supposed to be powerful enough to diffuse and incapacitate a titan. ______________________________________________________________________________
"I suppose this one is a bit more out of the ordinary. Judging from the distance and magnification of the telescope, each one we've seen so far have only been roughly the size of a pony. This one is much larger." Twilight whispered, rubbing a hoof under her chin.
"How much bigger are we talkin'?" Spike asked, trying to look into the telescope.
"Well, if my calculations are correct, about thirty times the size. The dome of soil would be almost as large as Applejack's Barn.
"Woah, maybe its the mothership!" Spike worried, as Twilight just laughed and went back to peering into the eyepiece. ______________________________________________________________________________ Present day
"Shawn," Sadie announced through the titans internal speakers.
"Yeah yeah I know, I'm outnumbered a ba-jillion to one" he shot back as he ripped the arm from a strider and used it to cave in the cockpit of another.
"That's not a real number... and no, that's not what I was going to notify you of."
"Well then by all means, lets stand here and debate that fact all day."
The striders collapsed and he turned to face an atlas with just enough time to duck under the cluster bomb that flew over his head.
"We would be dead before we reached any..."
"That was sarcasm Sadie. what do you need to tell me."
"Scanners indicate signatures of an IMC dropship preparing to deposit pilots onto the deck of the house."
"Well shit." he answered with an uppercut to the IMC Atlas, followed by jamming his chaingun into the joint of its leg and firing until the limb tore free and the pilot ejected.
He rounded the house just in time to see the blue glow of the dropship entering normal space again. Kicking off the smoking corpse of an Ogre he pushed all reserves to his dash jets to carry him the distance between himself and that dropship. He couldn't help but try to stifle a smile when he saw the pilot coming out of the back hatch had most likely shit his pants.
Mid flight he discarded his chaingun, opting to have two free hands with which to grab ahold of the dropship. The screech of metal on metal sliced through the air as he compressed handholds into its hull, and used that leverage to slam the ship into the ground, under the crushing weight of seventy tons of titan.
No sooner than he dispatched the enemy dropship, their extraction team warped into its place. He keyed the external speakers and ordered the civilians in the house to evacuate and get on the ship. Once they had done that they would abandon the titans and evacuate with them. Scanning the seventeen IMC titans that were approaching from all directions, one thing was sure, they didn't have long.
Dillan sprinted across the deck with his friends and family, the sound of gunfire drowning out all other noise. Once onboard he turned to see the titan approaching so the pilot could extract as well.
Then black. That's all he could remember. ______________________________________________________________________________
"Stay back from the structure! The target is on scene! They are dropping the Warp Shell!" an IMC pilot radioed to all the surrounding pilots.
A titanium sphere fell from orbit, red hot. Upon impacting the house it ripped apart, exposing the warp engine core. With no limiters on the engine it engulfed everything around it, the house, the titan, the ship, in a large radius and simply caused it to cease to exist, leaving a perfectly smooth spherical crater in the ground.
A cheer erupted from the IMC so loud it was said it could be heard for miles.
A teenage Shawn held his mother as they waved goodbye to his father as he boarded the Hammond industries shuttle. His father was joining up with a quickly prospering company who specialized in robotics and had a quickly expanding mining operation. They also paid a competitive wage, and with his father being an experienced zero gee miner they gladly hired him on for a comfortable salary and gave him his own mining team to command.
No sooner had the shuttle lifted off, the skies darkened and Hammond Industries shuttles began warping into existence, dropping hordes of pilots and soldiers into the cities. He turned to his mother to see she was no longer there, but running down the landing platform towards the edge. Shouting after her, he gave chase.
"Mother! It's not safe!" he called to her, surprised by his voice and the toned muscles of his arm as he reached out toward her.
He looked down at his familiar flight suit and knew he was no longer a boy, but the solder Hammond Industries had forced him to become. He glanced back up to see the scene he knew all too vividly. The sniper perched on the shoulder of the titan, and the spray of blood and brain matter from the back of his mothers head.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed himself awake.
A red emergency notification flashed across his view screen inches from his face. he leaned back in his harness, cold from the sweat beading on his face and floating in front of him. It was just now he realized he was in his titan, and was weightless.
"Vital signs normal. Good morning Shawn. I've been trying to awaken you, but without access to the proper medical stims I could not."
"Hello Sadie," he rasped "Where are we? What's our status?"
"Location, unknown. No familiar star formations can be detected. Status. Oxygen at twenty percent. Estimated time before depleted, Seven Hours. Primary Weapon missing. Tactical Abilities and Ordinance Charged and ready. Multicore system functional."
"Great. No gun. What happened to the Ship? Did they make it?"
"Scans show the ship is with us. Drifting in unknown space. I used the short range communications array to communicate with the dumb AI on the ship to administer course corrections to bring it closer to us, and to check on the inhabitants. Vitals appear to be normal. One casualty was sustained aboard the ship. Identity Unknown, Sensors aboard the ship are not advanced enough for me to determine."
"Could've been worse I suppose. Well we should probably be at about the same percentage of remaining oxygen, judging by the size difference in the ships hold to our cockpit. We need to find a planet with a breathable atmosphere or we will die out here."
"I anticipated this need. I have been using our thrusters as well as the dropships, to guide us both towards a planet in the distance. ETA two hours seventeen minutes. __________________________________________________________________________________
Dillan was sitting in the corner of the dropship holding his mothers limp body. Silent tears rolled down his cheek when a quiet groan coming from her throat startled him. A fresh set of tears began to pour down his face, but this time out of joy.
A few more groans came from the jumble of people strewn about the cabin. Slowly the others who regained consciousness did their best to wake everyone up, when a shrill scream pierced the silence. Becky was holding Josh, whose neck was bent at an unnatural angle, and blood leaked from the corners of his eyes and from his ears. Tod and Dennis did the best to hold Becky as she hysterically tried to claw her way to Josh's corpse while Josh's father, crying, covered his son with his jacket.
"Hey, is everyone ok?" Called a voice from the cockpit.
The second titan pilot ducked through the small door, followed by the pilot of the ship. They observed as there was a mix of nods, and shakes. the pilots eyes fell on Josh, then looked to Becky who was still bawling. She knelt down next to her, took off her visor and lifted Becky's chin so she would look up at her.
"Hey. At least he went painless."
*SMACK*
Tod and Dennis grabbed onto Her again, this time to keep her from killing the pilot.
"HE WOULDN'T BE DEAD IF YOU BASTARDS DIDN'T HAVE TO COME HERE!" she screamed and spat at the pilot, still trying to grab onto her.
The pilot merely sat there still in shock at the red hand print on her face. John walked to the windows of the shuttle and stared out into the void of space.
"So where's this ship you said we would be going to, uh, Mr..." he asked, gesturing to the dropships pilot.
"Kale. And honestly sir. When we jumped. I don't know what happened. We started the warp, but then my instruments went off the charts. and next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sound of crying."
Suddenly a radio crackled throughout the ship, causing everyone to jump. __________________________________________________________________________________
"Shawn, there have been signs of movement aboard the dropship."
"Good, can you get me a radio channel open to them?"
"Standby."
A green indicator appeared on the screen meaning the connection was established so Shawn keyed his MIC.
"Attention Crew and passengers of the dropship. We appear to be drifting through space. Please, do not panic, as you have limited oxygen in the ship, enough to last you about seven hours if you conserve it. Luckily Sadie, my AI has routed us on a course that should bring us to a planet with a breathable atmosphere. its a bit more oxygen rich than your planet was, so it may burn a bit until our lungs adjust. Our estimated arrival time is a little over two hours. This channel is two way. Are there any questions, one at a time please, so I can hear you."
"Where Are we?" asked a womans' voice. She sounded injured.
"At the moment. Unknown. Sadie can not recognize any of the local constellations or solar systems to navigate. We haven't even received any transmission from localized stations. Current estimate is we are in an undiscovered planetary system."
"What are our orders Sir?" this was clearly the other Titan Pilot.
"Priorities; One. Make Landfall on Unknown planet. Two. Clear our landing site. Three. Find Shelter. Four. Food and Water. Five. Get our Distress Beacon up and running. Alright everyone, rest up, we have two hours before we enter the atmosphere. I want everyone to be ready and able when we touch down." __________________________________________________________________________________
"SPIKE!" Twilight shouted through the library.
Spike shot up from his bed startled by the sudden noise.
"SPIIIIIIIKE! I NEED YOU NOW!"
He ran as fast as he could to the balcony.
"What is it Twilight?"
"I need you to send this letter to Princess Luna, now."
"Now?" Spike asked, rubbing his eyes as he looked toward the clock. "But it's three in the morni..."
"She's the princess of the night Spike. Besides this is important."
"Alright alright." He said as he took the letter, then lit it ablaze, sending the little puff of green smoke whizzing through the air.
Twilight peered through the eyepiece of the telescope again, adjusting it slightly to keep the half sphere of terrain in her view. Nothing much different from before, aside from the fact that this one was easily twenty times larger than the previous one. and she caught a glimpse of something on the flat side. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make out what it was before it rotated out of view. A loud crack of magic behind them caused them both to jump.
"Twilight Sparkle. We are glad you contacted Us." Princess Luna called out as she stepped up beside the smaller alicorn. "Tell Us of your findings."
Twilight resumed her spot at the telescope, and when she looked back through it she gasped. Her jaw slack, she merely gestured to the scope. Luna bent her neck low and gazed into the lens at the sphere of dirt.
The flat side rotated into view once more and her reaction was almost the same as Twilights. A house, not ponymade, two stories, made from materials she couldn't quite identify at this distance.
"Twilight, I think we should notify my Sist..." Luna began but stopped herself short. "Something isn't right. There is something else." Just then two loud noises shattered the silence of the night, shortly followed by what sounded like a meteorite fell from space. Suddenly the Princess teleported from the room, gone in a flash just like that, leaving Twilight and Spike utterly confused. With an earsplitting crack the Princess was suddenly in her sisters room followed by two guards.
"SISTER AWAKEN!" she commanded in the Royal Canterlot Voice. "WE NEED THY ATTENTION A MOMENT SOMETHING HAS TRANSPIRED."
"THEY'RE MY BANANAS!" Celestia shouted in her surprise of being awoken as the guards stifled their smiles.
"SISTER YOUR FRUIT CAN WAIT I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!" She shouted as she drug her across the floor with magic.
"I can walk Lulu, but you have to let me untangle from these blankets first." Celestia sighed.
Luna released the hold on her bedding and let her untangle and stand. She lead her down the hallway towards the observatory. Celestia was considering to continue poking fun at her sister but sensing the tense mood she was in she knew whatever it was, was serious.
Once in the vast room with the Large telescope she summoned Twilight and Spike, who appeared next to them, still just as confused as ever.
"Twilight Sparkle. Explain to my sister the nature of the task I had given you and your findings. __________________________________________________________________________________
"Prepare for Short range warp" Kale called over the intercom.
The Dropship and Titan warped from existence and blinked in about a hundred meters off the ground, at terminal velocity. The ship decelerated and pulled up, while the Titan had no choice but to plow into the forest, causing a teeth chattering rumble upon impact.
"Sadie. Assessment."
"Nitrogen, sixty four percent, Oxygen, thirty three percent, Unknown composition, Three percent.
"Well we don't have much choice on that three percent. Even if its toxic, we will be dead in four hours anyway by suffocation. Open the canopy."
With a metallic series of clicks and a hiss of equalizing pressure, the cockpit of the titan was flooded with the humid heavy air of the jungle. Shawn stepped from the towering suit and removed his pilots helmet. His hair, what little hair he hadn't shaved short, glistened with sweat in the moonlight. At least the temperature was tolerable, for now.
"The environment seems to be safe, for the time being, everyone regroup at the titan."
The dropship glided to the surface and shunt power to the engines and left the dim running lights on, to illuminate their surroundings. Once everyone was off the ship John marched right up to Shawn and punched him in the jaw. Not expecting the blow he dropped to the ground but quickly rolled backwards in a defensive posture and ended sitting, leaning against his titan with his sidearm drawn. The titan also snapped its canopy closed and took a hostile stance.
"That's for destroying my home and uprooting my family." he then extended a hand once accepted, pulled the pilot to his feet. "Now what do you need us to do." __________________________________________________________________________________
After catching Celestia up on everything that has happened over the past several months and this current night they sat quietly around the dining table as coffee and tea were set out for them by the night kitchen staff. The silence drove home the seriousness of the situation.
The random appearance of a nonpony built structure, floating in space. Followed by three unexplained noises. Even as outlandish as it seemed, Celestia had to keep an open mind to the possibility of extraequestrian life. Yet as she and her sister scanned the planet for the fifth time, no other life could be detected.
"Maybe..." Twilight began, after sipping her tea. "Maybe it's because they don't have a magical presence to sense."
"That... That is very possible my dear Twilight. The thought had crossed my mind as well. It thrills, yet also terrifies me."
"How so Sister?" Luna asked, tilting her head quizzically.
"A being with the capability to traverse the stars without magic. What wonders they could bring us, and yet, what terrors as well."
The room fell silent again. __________________________________________________________________________________
"Alright that's the plan." Shawn said, as he planted his drawing stick in the mud.
Kale and the other pilot got in to the dropship and took off towards the lake they spotted from the air.
"Wouldn't we be safer on that thing?" Dennis asked.
"That depends." Shawn replied.
"On?"
"On if this planet is inhabited, if they have Anti Aircraft batteries, or if the wildlife is of size capable of attacking that ship."
"That's comforting."
The group trudged through the jungle, using the Titans floodlights to see where they were going. The titan Lead the group through the trees, clearing almost every bit of underbrush with its metallic feet. Making it much easier for the humans to follow on foot. As they neared the location of the lake, their dropship screamed overhead, being quickly tailed by a large silent beast. the only noise that was heard was the mighty flap of the wings as it passed overhead, causing a large pressure wave to come over the group. Suddenly a bright light erupted and everyone cheered for a moment as they thought the ship opened fire on the beast. It just so happened that it was the other way around.
A jet of flame left the mouth of the beast easily hundreds of feet long and scorched the underside of the ship as it gained altitude, its side gun blazing as it returned fire. They both disappeared behind the mountains in the distance as they shrunk into specks.
"And you wanted to ride the ship." Shawn said. "Lets move."
A few minutes later the parade of people emerged on the bank of a lake and breathed a sigh of relief as they relaxed. Shawn stood atop a rock and addressed everyone.
"Alright, we will remain here for the night. Sadie will be on overwatch, So get a good nights rest. We will wake, hydrate, bathe and then move out at dawn."
Suddenly the dropship, partially melted soared over the lake, skipped off the waters surface and slid to a stop on the shore a few hundred meters down from their camp. Everyone ran to see if they were ok, but slowed to a stop when Kale and the pilot stepped out of the wreckage, both wielding fire extinguishers. They then began hosing down the smoldering ship.
"We thought you were dead." Shawn said, approaching the two, once the fire was put out.
"Yeah so did we" the woman said. "By the way, Lieutenant Stacy Hins at your disposal Major." She saluted. He returned the salute.
"I appreciate the gesture, really I do, but rank means nothing here. If you have a suggestion, bring it up. Everyone pulls their weight. We have no rank here. If everyone will agree, I will take lead of this team, but I want your input on everything else we need to do. If you have a better plan than I do, speak up." everyone stayed quiet.
Everyone dispersed into their own little sleeping areas, but no one strayed too far from the titan, after seeing that monstrous beast. __________________________________________________________________________________
"Sister did you feel that?" Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight to stop her from rambling possibilities.
"I did."
"What?" Twilight asked.
"Such a big magical signature. Just gone." Celestia whispered.
"The death of a dragon." Luna replied as Twilight gasped.
The Sun peeked over the horizon. Shawn Instinctively woke when the sky started to brighten. Upon noticing his vitals rise Sadie spoke to him through his earpiece.
"Campsite is still secure. The only signatures I'm reading are our own."
"Thank you Sadie." he replied stretching his back. In a few moments he would begin his morning routine.
Standing, he surveyed the surrounding site. The remaining survivors were grouped together, the militia and civilians separating themselves. The other titan pilot was already awake, sitting cross legged next to the two still slumbering pilots. Seeing his approach she stood and saluted.
"Remember what I said last night?" Shawn said as he halfheartedly waved his reply. "No rank, no saluting."
He continued his march as he began to shed his clothes. Once naked he stepped into the lake, shivering from the temperature of the water. Once in up to his waist he began to wash himself of the grime of sweat and dirt from the jungle. The cool water snapping him from the last vestiges of sleep and heightening his senses as he rinsed himself off. A moment later as he emerged from the lake he noticed Lt. Hins just down the shore from him, doing the same.
Donning his boxers he gathered the remainder of his uniform and took it into some shallow water, submerging them and scrubbing them clean of the blood and muck, then proceeded to lay them out to dry on a nearby rock. At this point he noticed some of the civilians beginning to awake. ______________________________________________________________________________
Dillan awoke to the sound of splashing. He felt like he was home, and everything that had happened was a dream. Josh Denny and the rest were playing in the lake, and he fell asleep on the shore. Everything was Just a dream, no a nightmare. The suns rays warmed his skin. He wanted to live in this moment right now forever.
Opening his eyes the reality of the situation came crashing back down. He was in unfamiliar woods. His friends were with him, but they were down one. Josh, he deserved a funeral, or at least a burial.
He stood and brushed himself off, noticing that a few others were slowly stirring. Looking toward the lake he saw the Militia members gearing up for the day. The co-pilot of the dropship was applying fresh bandages to the pilots burns. During the fight with the dragon they registered temperatures inside the cockpit peaking right around fifteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit according to their navigation AI.
As his gaze flittered over the rest of the crew he saw that Shawn was looking his way and waved him over. Not wanting to anger the Major, he strode over and asked "Anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah" Shawn replied. "In roughly five minutes we are going to get everyone mustered, we are going to bury the boy and assess the damage done to our dropship. If it flies we are going to use it to scout out a more advantageous campsite." He began walking toward the ship so Dillan followed him. "If we can find a better location, something more defendable, I don't like the idea of sitting out in the open with creatures that can outrun our ships as well as melt them with their breath, we go there, set up shop, ascertain our whereabouts, see if we landed on a populated planet or not and go from there."
"If this thing doesn't fly" He continued, as they reached the ship. "We stay near the lake. I'll use the titan to scout around for someplace not so open for us to bunker down in, but we stay close to the lake. Its our best source for food and water." ______________________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile in space.
A house floats on a lone chunk of earth, slowly rotating, but being pulled toward the planets gravitational field, observed by two telescopes. ______________________________________________________________________________
Celestia trots into the observatory, here hoof falls muffled on the carpet.
"Any luck sister?"
"None yet. I must say Tia. I cannot bring myself to fathom how a house came to be on that floating rock." Luna said exasperatedly as she collapsed onto the seating cushion near the table.
She sighed, her tea had long grown cold, still untouched in the cup where it was set piping hot over an hour ago. A brief flare from her horn and the cup was lit in a magical aura. After a few seconds the tea began to steam.
"Well is it inhabited, or abandoned?" Celestia asked, in between sips of her own tea.
"That's just it sister. Its empty, but it hasn't been for long. evidence shows maybe less than a day. Yet that makes no sense." Luna replied, taking a slow gulp of her own tea. "It seems odd, but I somehow believe this is tied to the dragon's death. A mysterious house appears abandoned in space, and naught but an hour later..." she trails off, not wanting to keep thinking about the repercussions of their planet harboring something that could kill a dragon. The last time a dragon was killed by something other than natural causes or by one of its own was during the great war, and even then it took at least two alicorns to fight one fully grown dragon.
Even then the odd's were not in their favor. ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn called the remaining survivors over. Once everyone had gathered around, he pulled two collapsing shovels from the emergency hatch of the crashed dropship. Handing one to the boys' father and began to dig.
Once the hole was substantial enough to hold a body without fear of being washed away over a short period of time, they lifted the boys body, wrapped in a cryo bag (a black bodybag designed to freeze and preserve the body for as long as it would take to get it home for a proper burial back home) and set him in the hand dug grave.
Everyone around aside from the Militia shed a silent tear for the lost boy.
"Does anyone want to say anything? Now would be the time. We don't know how long it's going to take for us to come back to retrieve him, if we even can." Joshua's father spoke, as everyone stood around.
"Not you." He violently responded when Shawn stepped forward.
Shawn honored the grieving mans wishes and stepped back in line.
Dillan took a few steps forward and took a knee by the grave, brushing the sandy blond hair out of his eyes. "Josh. I'll miss you man. All those times spent at the lake. or the time we skipped school to go smoke a cigarette behind Tina's moms garage, and coughed our lungs out. Heh you even threw up. All the times we had class together, and the teacher made us sit on opposite ends of the room because we wouldn't stop talking." he wiped a tear from his eye. "all the time spent in detention for when that didn't even stop us from yelling across the class."
Dillan broke down, as did Becky and Tod. Everyone gathered around each other to hug near the grave. John approached Josh's father, Tanner, and scooped some dirt into his hand. A tear rolled down Tanners cheek, but he nodded, and threw the dirt into the grave. Then everyone pitched in, with moist eyes, to bury the body of their fallen friend.
Once the body was buried they constructed a hasty headstone out of a pile of rocks, and a beautiful blue flower Becky had found in a nearby flower patch filled with the blue beauties.
"Alright." Shawn announced. "Time to get down to business. It's still early so we have time, but we don't want to waste it. You, you and you" he said, pointing at Tanner John and Kale. "Run a full diagnostics on the dropship," Seeing the lost looks on John and Tanners faces he added "don't worry, the pilot can do that on his own. If it needs fixed or worst case scenario, salvaged, you two do everything he says. Got it?"
The two men nodded as the pilot almost went for a salute, but caught himself midway and stopped, then turned and approached the ship.
"Alright, you and you." Pointing at Rebecca and Dennis. "Go to the ship, in the emergency hold there should be a couple containers of food and water, enough to last us for several days provided that the flames didn't get to them." He then turned to Lt. Stacy. "You go with them, have them move the food from the ship into the emergency cargo compartment on my titan. She nodded then gestured to the kids to follow her.
"Alright, that leaves us." He turned and spread his arms to gesture to the remaining group. "Co-pilot, what's your name?" "Private First class Jenny Jennings" Shawn deadpanned a look at her which prompted a "My parents weren't very creative Sir." and a chuckle from the civilians.
"Alright, Jennings, Dillan, Tod was it? we are going to..." Shawn was cut off by a persistent beeping coming from his arm mounted datapad.
Sadie spoke from the external speaker on the communicator. "Shawn, I have just detected a second distress beacon. It's still high above the planet."
"How did we miss it the first time we scanned?"
"The ship could have been in critical power failure, essentially running dark. I may have overlooked it as more debris floating from the piece of land that was nearby. Shall I attempt to establish communications?"
"By all means, please do." ______________________________________________________________________________ Several hours ago.
Davis, Farahad and Leo were frantically at work attempting to repair the crippled dropship. The remaining crew and Fireteam Juliet were either dead or unconscious. Unfortunately they didn't have time to worry about that, if they didn't get life support back online, they would all be dead in a matter of minutes from suffocation.
Farahad connected two sizzling wires together with his insulated gloves and spot welded them with a hand torch from his repair kit. A loud thump and a shudder resounded through the small craft as the emergency lights and ventilation kicked on. A sigh of relief washed over the three men.
After they rested a moment, they decided to check on the crew. Leo, the medic of Juliet set out ordering who was in most critical condition. He knew he couldn't save everyone with what was left in his medical bag. Too much of it had been consumed during that damn firefight planetside, treating wounded militiamen. He found the pilot dead, but the co-pilot was alive, but breathing shallowly. A two inch laceration above her right eye, where her head hit the console.
He quickly applied liquid stitch and a butterfly bandage over the wound and moved to the next. Sonny, the heavy gunner of Fireteam Zulu, laid under his Light Machine Gun, and was not breathing. He still had a pulse though. Leo quickly, with the aid of Davis, removed the heavy ballistics armor that Sonny wore, and pulled the bandoleers from his vest once all the weight was off his lungs they expanded as he gasped and coughed for air.
Leo continued his rounds but no one else was alive. With the weight of the loss bearing on his shoulders as a medical practitioner he slumped to the ground and sighed. At least he did what he could right?
A couple hours went by, and a moaning was heard from the cockpit. The co-pilot was waking up. Leo climbed into the cramped quarters to make sure she was alright.
"Hey." No response. "Hey!" he said a bit louder and the co-pilot jumped and pulled her sidearm. She recognized him and felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her as she put the gun down.
"Hey its ok. I would have done the same thing, Williams is it?" he said observing the name on her flight suit. She nodded.
"Bailey" she whispered, her throat dry and hoarse.
"Nice to meet you, Leo, Sergeant. Third M-COR Medic division. Hell like it means anything right now anyways. Good job getting us out of there by the way. If it weren't for you and your pilot more lives would have been lost." A moment of silence passes by and Leo continued "Hey is our distress beacon active?"
"Yes sir, it should be. Why do you ask?"
"Well thing is, this ship had a critical loss of power, If I remember my titan training" Bailey's eyes widened at those words. "If these systems undergo critical power failure, the emergency systems need to be manually reset."
"You're right." she gasped, "The beacon wasn't functioning." She said as she toggled a few switches off then back on. almost immediately the emergency beacon flared to life. Not a minute went by before the radio crackled with static.
"Unknown vessel. Identify yourself." the cold voice of an AI sounded over the comms.
"Don't answer that. It could be IMC" Leo suggested. "Instead, raise a hail of your own."
Bailey keyed the hand controls on her flight wheel. "Unknown responder, We are in no condition to fight. Are you Friend or Foe? Please Identify."
There was a momentary pause as the AI was most likely getting orders from her superiors, then the receiver cracked to life again.
"This is M-COR AI Commission number SDI-2851. Sadie. This is the M-COR Drop Vessel 56-R, code name Thistle is it not?"
A wave of relief passed over everyone who was currently listening to the comms chatter.
"Aye, we are, we are drifting dead in space, being pulled toward an unknown planet. We have no engines but our maneuvering flaps still respond with the emergency power."
"Advise, Thistle, you are to put down on this location or as close to it as you can." A nav marker flared on the ships HUD, overlaying a spot on the planet they were drifting to. "If my calculations are correct, you can use your maneuvering flaps to glide to the surface. The ship should withstand re-entry and be able to make it to that location. Deploy emergency chutes two kilometers before the beacon to ensure impact will not be fatal. We await your arrival."
"WE?" Leo said as the comms went dead. "More made it out alive? that's a good sign."
"Well, at the rate we are drifting we should be entering the atmosphere in about thirty minutes. At that point we can maneuver." Bailey said. ______________________________________________________________________________
A white unicorn stallion donned in gold armor burst into the observatory.
"Princesses! We have reports of a second object descending into the atmosphere!"
"Thank you Captain Shining armor." Celestia replied as calm as ever. "You are dismissed"
"Thank you Princess." he turned smartly and marched from the room shutting the doors with his magic behind him.
"Well dear sister?" Luna turned to Celestia. "Shall we dispatch a reconnaissance unit?"
"I believe that would be wise. Send the best." ______________________________________________________________________________
Spike was fixing lunch for himself, twilight and Rainbow Dash who had stopped in to pick up the next copy of Daring Do. The Daffodil sandwiches were good, but the real treat lay in the ruby encrusted bread that he made his own sandwich with, thanks to Rarity's generosity. He balanced the plates on his arm, draped with a towel and carried them into the living space of the Library.
"Thank you spike." Twilight said, taking the plates with her magic and laying them out on the table.
"Yeah! Thanks Bud!" Rainbow added as she bit hungrily into her sandwich.
Just as spike was about to take his first bite, Pinkie Pie exploded out of a vase in the corner of the room.
"TWITCHA TWITCHY TWITCH!" she shouted, causing everyone to scream a bit in surprise.
"Pinkie! Seriously? My vase?" Twilight exclaimed.
"I'm not even gonna ask how..." Spike said as he retrieved the broom and dustpan.
"TWILIGHT. SOMETHING IS COMING, AND ITS, ooooohhhhhhh....." Her whole body began to shake and contort violently "It's a DOOZY!"
Twilight had only just come to terms not long ago with Pinkie's so called Pinkie Sense, but with no reason to not believe her she simply sighed and braced herself for what was to come.
"Well? What is it?" Twilight asked.
"THAT!" She points at you. "Move ANON! I need to show them the window!" in the window behind you a fireball is visible as it was about to roar over Ponyville.
"Who are you shouting at Pinkie?" Rainbow asked confused.
The fireball passes without a sound.
"That's strange..." Twilight began but was cut off by Dash.
"COVER YOUR EARS NOW!" she screamed as her feathers sensed the pressure wave that was to come before it hit.
Everyone covered their ears just in time as a thunderous boom ripped through the town, shattering almost every window in the library and most of the buildings in Ponyville.
"What in the HAY WAS THAT!?" Twilight shouted, her ears still ringing.
"I don't know, it felt like my Sonic Rainboom, only that usually happens a lot sooner and not as loud. That thing must have been going waaaaaay faster." Rainbow said with wide eyes.
Twilight quickly repaired the windows with a spell she had used many times over thanks to Rainbow Dash's many visits. The trio went outside and their jaws dropped at the destruction. Twilight got busy helping other ponies repair their homes and businesses while Dash flew into the air to see where the object had gone. It wasn't hard to find though, it left a wake of burning ozone that left a distinctive trail that her senses as a weather Pegasi could detect. Not to mention the giant plume of smoke where it had run aground.
"Hey, where's pinkie?" Spike asked no one in particular. ______________________________________________________________________________
"The object has been reported to touch down about a hundred kilometers from a small farm town called Ponyville" the Bat winged pony instructed to a small contingency of other bat ponies.
"We are to gather as much Intel as we can. Assess the situation, if force is necessary it is permitted, as per Princess Luna. That shouldn't be needed though, If everything goes according to plan, nopony will even know we were there." ______________________________________________________________________________
The emergency flaps allowed for about as much maneuvering one would expect of a powerless hunk of metal falling at terminal velocity, little to none. Somehow the co-pilot managed to nose up enough that they weren't coming in at a ninety degree angle anymore, and might survive the impact. Might.
"We aren't going to make the NAV beacon they placed, but we will get close, if you consider twenty kilometers off close." the co-pilot said, straining against the controls to keep the ship stabilized.
Leo, who had buckled into the pilots seat to help the poor co-pilot navigate, advised her to look for a spot with ample foliage to help diffuse the impact over a greater distance rather than smash full force into the ground. She had picked a decent patch of trees in the distance that looked dense enough to help slow the ships decent.
"Woah, was that a castle?" Leo asked, whipping his head around to look out the port window.
"Dunno, wasn't paying attention, focusing too much on keeping us alive." Williams answered.
"Well lets keep that in mind, if we can't regroup right away with our rescuers maybe we can head there, it shouldn't be too far. maybe about five to ten kilometers."
"Brace for impact!" she shouted to the crew. ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn and Dillan turned their attention toward the sky as a fireball scorched its way across the sky.
"It's falling too fast, they won't make it here." Dillan pointed out.
"Hey, good eyes kid, yeah, hope they live through the landing." Shawn said as he turned toward the remaining survivors. "Hey! Get ready to move! Is that ship flight worthy?"
"With some repairs, yes, but in her current condition no Sir." Kale answered as he emerged from the ship.
"Alright, look, I'm setting the titan on guard for the camp, everyone, get that craft flight worthy, mount up and meet us at that other dropship, the titan will follow the ship on foot. Hins! You're with me, lets move. We need to secure that dropship and survivors if there are any."
Lt. Hins donned her thruster pack as did Shawn. The Major grabbed his assault rifle from the titan and slid his visor down from his helmet, then took off full tilt into the woods followed close by Stacy.
Dillan turned to his father who was helping his mother to sit against a tree. She was still injured from the trip off the planet, but no one had had the time to stop for more than five minutes to do anything about it. She wasn't bleeding or anything, just bruised and banged up from the rough departure.
"Dad. I..."
"Son. It's ok, I got your mom. Go help fix the ship. If anything happens to that, there's no way for us to get home."
He stood in silence for a few moments then nodded as he turned to join the group in clearing the damaged pieces of the ship away. ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn burst through the woods, the thruster pack making it easy to clear gaps in the terrain or thick bouts of overgrowth. Stacy was a good pilot, she was keeping pace with him, even though he was taking it easy on her. After all, they were on the same team, no sense in trying to compete against each other. His last titan partner taught him that.
Twenty Kilometers was no walk in the park either, and would have been faster by Titan, but he valued stealth over power in this kind of situation.
Nearly thirty minutes had gone by and Shawn was beginning to tire. He glanced back to see that Hins wasn't faring any better so he signaled her to stop. They took a moment to rest in a small clearing where some larger trees had been knocked down, making good benches. He straddled one and pulled a small canteen from his suits supply pack.
We are probably only about half way there. Although we have made good time. We don't want to linger here too long though." He said, taking small sips to conserve his water.
"Why are we in such a rush?" Stacy asked, running her hands over the slight stubble of auburn hair growing back on the top of her head. How she had missed having long flowing hair.
"I didn't want to frighten anyone at the camp, but when the ship came down, I tried to raise comms with them. There wasn't an answer." He said grimly as he put his canteen back. "C'mon, we've wasted enough time."
They both took off with renewed purpose towards the dropship. ______________________________________________________________________________
"AAAAauuuuughhhhhh." Leo groaned. "Is everyone ok?"
"I'll live, Sir." Williams rasped.
"Davis is out like a light, but he's breathing, Sonny and I are fine." Farahad called from the aft compartment.
"Let's not linger here too long guys, I have a rapidly sinking feeling. Williams, raise Sadie on comms." Leo ordered.
"Bad news sir. Our comms array was ripped from the ship during our landing."
"Just fucking great. Well, lets get out and start preparing to leave. Knowing these guys, if they rate high enough to have a smart AI they will have a competent commander. It's only a matter of time before a search party comes to us."
"Hey you guys feel like you're being watched?" Sonny asked. ______________________________________________________________________________
Hins body went limp as she smacked into a tree.
"Fuck!" Shawn yelled, leveling his rifle at the large Lion-like creature. The rounds penetrated the flesh but only managed to piss it off more.
The manticore swung its large front paw in a sweeping motion that was easily avoided with a vertical burst from his thruster pack. What he hadn't expected was the scorpion tail that came smashing down from above. Last minute reactions allowed him to turn his body so his head didn't take the brunt of the blow, this didn't help his shoulder though as the muscular tail hit him like a baseball bat.
The pilot lay on his back, struggling to take in a breath as all the air was knocked from his lungs upon hitting the ground. The manticore, bleeding from its right side stood over him as if to taunt him for being weak. Shawn clenched his teeth and finally drew a ragged breath.
"Fuck you" he coughed as he unsheathed his knife and sunk it up to the hilt in the soft underside of the lion's mouth. The life drained from its eyes as it collapsed on him, once again compressing all the air from his lungs. It took all of his remaining strength to drag himself from under the several hundred pound corpse.
"Hins, get up, we need to move." he said, trying to pull the pilot to her feet. "C'mon, wake up! Fuck it."
He slung her over his good shoulder and limped along toward the dropship. With the reduced speed he should still arrive within ten minutes. The Jungle, more of a dense wood now, was beginning to thin out. It made traveling a bit easier.
After another kilometer or so, Stacy began to stir, so he set her down.
"Uhggh, What was that?" she said, grasping her right arm where her armor plating was dented in.
"No idea, whatever it was, it was big. I'm surprised you didn't die when it ambushed us. It's dead now whatever it was." He said, helping her to her feet. "We shouldn't be far out from the ship now, only a few more minutes. From here out, we need to slow our pace. Don't want to surprise anyone who may or may not be there."
The last statement confused her a bit but she decided to go with it. They walked slowly towards the still smoking trail of downed trees. At the crest of the hill they could see the trees, fallen for the next two hundred meters where the ship sat in a nest built from downed timber. Stacy went to continue walking but was grabbed by Shawn.
"Wait. Something's not right." He scrutinized the site. Where were the survivors? Why aren't they securing the perimeter of the LZ. "Sadie, Engage thermal."
His visor snapped to short range thermal imaging. The entire ship was still registering as a hot spot from the re-entry so he couldn't discern any body signatures inside. What rattled him the most were the Heat signatures in the trees surrounding the ship. There were ten of them, but the signature was nothing he'd seen before. Not human, animals maybe, but are they waiting to ambush the crew when they leave? Too small to be that lion thing that attacked them.
"Stacy, I'm not sure what it is, but there's something in the trees around the ship." Shawn whispered.
At this range he was able to establish short range comms to the survivors personal radios on board the ship. He tuned to their channel and keyed the MIC twice to signal his arrival on the channel. Three MIC breaks responded as an acknowledgment.
"Major Shawn Thompson to remaining crew aboard the Thistle." He whispered into his communicator. "As you are probably aware, there is an unknown presence surrounding your ship. Lt. Hins and myself will create a diversion, maybe it will scare them off, if not we will covertly engage and eliminate all presumed hostiles. On my command, you are to exit the ship, and move at best speed to the..." he looked at his compass. "South of your current location. Follow the ships wake over the hill crest then break into the woods for a few hundred meters. wait there for further instruction."
"Hins." He nudged her shoulder. "Engage thermal on your visor, It will help you see them through the foliage. I'm going to toss a shock rock over there as far as I can get it, maybe cause some confusion, and split up the group. you go to the right of the clearing and engage. I will move left. We meet in the middle."
She nodded and he pulled an EMP grenade from his ammunition pouch. There was a slight whine as he primed the grenade and let it fly. Upon impact there was a large electrical discharge and several of the heat signatures scattered and converged on its location. Stacy was already in motion the second the grenade impacted, as was Shawn. He closed on the closest hot spot and approached it from what he assumed was behind. When he was almost on top of it he disengaged his thermals to almost reel in shock. a small black bat winged horse was perched in the tree in front of him, watching the ship like a hawk. He let out a small 'psssst' noise and the creatures concentration broke as it looked down uttering a "HUH?"
It's curiosity was sated when a fist collided with its nose causing it to black out and tumble from the tree. He caught it but damn was it heavier than he expected. Guess he didn't take into account that it wore gladiator like armor. Gently he set the body down so it didn't make any noise and re-engaged thermal, moving to the next heat signature. the next two were close side by side, this wouldn't be as easy.
"Hey Commander Starlight?" Lt. Commander Willow whispered to his commanding officer. "Why are we just watching that thing. It looks like an asteroid."
"Shh. You see those? Since when have you known an asteroid that has a door?" the Officer chided. "I've already reported our findings to Princess Luna. She will be sending a larger squad. They arrive in four hours. When they do, we are going in."
Suddenly a large ball of lightning erupted from the woods not far from their position. Alpha squad was already in motion as was there task to intercept and neutralize any interference.
Suddenly a twig behind them snapped followed by a muffled 'shit'. The officer didn't hesitate a single moment, they had been compromised.
"Engage! Engage!" He shouted as the remaining seven night guards took to the air.
A roar of what sounded like a burst of dragon fire erupted behind him as he turned to see a faun like being flying at him. Starlight kicked his hooves out and impacted the creatures left fore hoof. A cry of rage was heard from the beast whose face burned an eerie blue as he felt something clasp onto his back hoof. Somehow the creature had caught one of his hooves and was pulling him out of the air.
His free hoof wound back and struck out but hit air as another burst of the dragons fire was heard and the creature flipped its body around onto his back, and collided a hoof of its own to the back of his skull, plunging him into a world of darkness. ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn landed the front flip on the back of the skull of the creature and kicked off using his thruster pack to get even higher and grab onto the second winged horse that was still flying up. He grabbed this ones wings and pinned them to its back, causing the two to free fall directly to the ground. At the last second he jumped off and pushed him into the ground sending the horse into a roll. Amazingly the horse recovered and regained its footing.
'I guess I can't actually call it a horse' he thought. When they squared off with each other the horse only came to about his waist. 'Although they pack a hell of a punch, er, kick', he continued, shaking his hand to dull the throbbing pain. The small horse took this as a moment of opportunity to strike and launched itself toward him in a full body tackle.
"Oh shit." Shawn gasped as he leaned back into the impact and grappled the fore hooves of his attacker. He rolled onto his back and planted his right foot in the sternum of his now victim and launched him out of the roll, smashing into a tree. Amazingly the small horse struggled to its hooves again.
"Just stay down dammit!" Shawn shouted. Suddenly a look of confusion struck the small horses features but he was too slow to react and was knocked unconscious by a sweeping kick to the head.
"About time, Sir." Stacy joked as she approached. During his fight with those three, she took out the remaining creatures. She proved herself a capable warrior, but then again he already knew that. She was an M-COR pilot after all.
"Alright, coast is clear guys, come on out." he called over the comms. The side door on the ship hissed open and out came five Militia Members, each toting their own gear bags.
"Gentlemen, and lady." he greeted the crew.
"Hey!" Stacy shouted, punching Shawn in the arm. "You didn't address me as a lady at the camp." Everyone chuckled.
"Nice to meet you Sir. Sgt. Leonardo Reporting. My men call me Sgt. Leo though." he said, saluting the major. "The men we extracted, Farahad, Davis, Sonny and Bailey." each of them responding with respective salutes.
"Drop those arms soldiers. No rank here. We are stranded on an unknown planet in uncharted space." he waved off the salute. "Lets get your gear and get to a safe LZ for our bird. I will forward updated orders to our extraction. Sadie. If you would please." ______________________________________________________________________________
The ship was almost ready to fly, everyone was gathering the remaining gear and loading it on board. Suddenly the Titan issued a beeping signal and Sadie's voice issued from the external speaker.
"Attention remaining crew. New directive from Major Thompson. The ship is to arrive empty to retrieve eight passengers. They will return here. Time is of the essence. Arrive as soon as possible, that is all." the speaker went dead.
"Well you heard the computer lady." Kale said. "This hunk-a-junk is flyable, we need to get airborne. Lets go."
He and Jennings boarded the craft and took flight toward the downed dropship. Estimated Time of Arrival, three minutes. ______________________________________________________________________________
"Hey, you guys have any duct tape on that ship?" Shawn asked, climbing inside.
"Yeah, right here." Farahad said as he pulled a box of the silver adhesive from the emergency compartment.
"Perfect..." Shawn said as he began binding the legs and mouths of all the winged creatures. The two that he had fought so arduously were gathered and tossed with the bags of gear after being bound. They were clearly the leaders of the force and if they were intelligent enough to wear armor, and ambush them, they most likely had a means of communication. He intended to find out. As if on cue the other ship arrived and everyone boarded, toting gear or an unconscious pony. Once everyone was on board the ship lifted off and headed back to the lake. ______________________________________________________________________________
Willow slowly woke, a pounding headache and sore jaw causing him to clench his eyes in pain. He tried to stretch his jaw but found he couldn't open his mouth. His eyes shot open to be greeted with darkness. Something was over his head, dim light filtered through but he couldn't tell where he was. There was a strip of something that resembled tape around his muzzle, but it was much stronger than the tape he was used to, and thicker too. He tried to move his hooves to pick at the tape but found that they were bound together too.
"Looks like one of them is awake." a male voice said. "Go get the Major."
'So they have a rank structure? Wait. How can I understand them?! they can speak Equish!?' Willow struggled a bit in panic but then forced himself to settle down. If they wanted him dead he wouldn't be here now. He can't let them know he understands them. They obviously don't think he can or else they wouldn't be talking about anything like rank in front of him. Unless they are idiots. Suddenly hoof steps approached and ground to a halt just in front of him. Blunt clawed appendages he knew were called hands from mythology about fauns, half pony half ape beings had, gripped his sides and pulled him to his hooves and the bindings around the hooves were cut. Only the front ones, smart creatures. He couldn't help but wonder if these creatures were indeed fauns, or decedents of them.
Suddenly the hood was pulled from his head and the light hit his eyes with unrelenting force, causing him to squint and his eyes to water. He gasped and reeled backwards when he realized the intense light was merely the blue glowing face of the creature that had attacked them. He took this time to take in his surroundings and figure out where he was, but to no avail. They were in some sort of shallow cave.
"Creature." the beast spoke to him, remember, play dumb.
He simply tilted his head and stared wide eyed at the blue glow. A sigh was heard from inside it. That blue thing, must be a helmet, not its face. It's voice sounds muffled. Not as dumb as he thought they were, armor, and concealing the face of their ranking members.
"Creature, if you can understand me. I want you to know, all your friends are dead." This was a bold faced lie but Willow didn't know this. He tried to betray no emotion and simply tilted his head again, but the Major had seen the dilation in the horses eyes, and knew he understood.
"Creature." he began again. "If you can understand what I say. Please, let us know, it will make this easier on you."
After a few long moments of silence the creature sighed in frustration and replaced the hood over Willow's head. Willow began to struggle but in his weakened state he was no match and the towering beast overpowered him and rebound his limbs. The hoof falls faded away and Willow whimpered in the silence, the echoes of his own despair doing nothing to calm his nerves. ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn exited the small cave they had found to the north of the lake and removed his helmet.
"Well that was productive as all hell. why'd you lie to it?" quipped Sonny.
"So that's why you're the Light Machine Gunner and not the Sniper." Shawn retorted eliciting a chuckle from Davis as he subconsciously caressed his long rifle at the mention of his profession. "Not very bright eh? The beast understands us, I can see it in its eyes. We need to be careful about the exchange of information around it." ______________________________________________________________________________
Dillan slid behind the tree as he overheard the soldiers exchange.
"Yeah its not the only thing you need to be careful about the exchange of information around." he mumbled.
Once everyone had went back toward the clearing where the ship was landed he crept into the cave. It was dark, but not too dark to see once his eyes adjusted. Running his hand along the walls as a guide he shuffled his way into the cave and found a whimpering pile of something on the ground.
"Hey." he whispered into the darkness. Instantly the noise stopped and the silence came crashing around him. "Hello?" he asked. More silence. "Fine if you don't want my help." he turned to leave but suddenly a muffled moan met his ears.
He approached the pile on the ground to see that it was a small animal bound in the cave.
"What the fuck?" he said pulling the bag off its head. The yellow eyes that greeted his caused him to stumble back and fall on his ass. "Are you what they were talking about?"
The creature simply looked at him with pleading eyes. As his own eyes adjusted further he saw something shiny around its muzzle, duct tape? He reached to pull it off but the small animal shied away.
"Don't worry little guy, I won't hurt you." he reassured the worried animal. Slowly he pulled the tape off as Willow chanted ow ow ow through the tape. To Dillan it merely sounded like whimpers until he got the tape loose enough for it to open its mouth.
"Ow." Willow said out loud, causing Dillan to once again spring back and clasp his hands over his mouth to keep him from screaming another what the fuck.
"You, you can talk?!" he whispered urgently.
"NO!" Willow half shouted. 'fuck I blew my cover.' Willow thought.
"Look, I don't know what they said to you but whatever it was it was a lie. They also know you can understand us." he said as he sat cross legged in front of the still bound pony.
"Can you untie me?" Willow asked giving the creature across from him puppy dog eyes again.
"As much as I want to, I don't know if I can trust you. At this point I trust my own species more than you, no offence." Dillan answered as he held up his hands as if to defend himself.
Willow sighed, "None taken I suppose. If I were in your place I would do the same. If you don't mind me asking, what are you anyway?"
"I will answer, only if you promise to return the favor." Willow nodded in agreement so Dillan continued. "I'm a Human."
"Human? Never heard of you."
"And you are?"
"A pony."
At this Dillan couldn't help but snicker a bit.
"What?" Willow said defensively.
"Nothing, really, I just thought it was kind of funny. We have ponies on our planets too, but they can't talk."
At the mention of this Willows eyes practically exploded from his head. "PLANET?!" but was immediately shushed by the Human. "Sorry, but 'your planet'? You aren't from this planet?" he asked incredulously.
"Nope." he replied simply. "Look, I know the Major, He's not a bad guy, he's a bit rough around the edges but he tries to do right by everyone who isn't strong enough to stand up for themselves."
"Then why did he kill my friends?"
"The other enemies, he mentioned? He said he didn't kill them, that must have been the lie. He knocked them out and tied them up, enough that they couldn't follow until he got away but not enough that they could still get out. Look, you don't have to talk to him, but if you don't talk to him soon eventually I will tell him that you talked to me. Trust me, that won't look good, for either of us. So do us both a favor. Talk to him soon."
The human reapplied the tape, not as tight as it was before, and replaced the hood, then patted him on the head. It was slightly demeaning but it felt good, a friendly touch. ______________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, orbiting Dillan's home planet.
"Sir." The soldier saluted as he entered the Captain's quarters of the ship. "The planet is under complete IMC control. The Militia are retreating. Oddly enough though one of the Militia ships are breaking from the pack and are headed into unknown territory. What are your orders Sir?"
"Request Vice Admiral Graves' permission to pursue." Captain Donahue commanded. Aboard the Militia ship fleeing the planet's gravitational pull a team of engineers frantically works to study the flight coordinates logged by the derelict Titan recovered from the edge of the smoldering crater where Major Thompson fell. The Titans on board navigation computer used to log warp jumps into atmosphere recorded a massive jump out of system at the time of the detonation of that bomb.
By calculating the speed and trajectory of the jump they approximated the destination of the jump, and were sent to retrieve any evidence of what happened to one of the Heroes of the Militia. If word got out of his defeat it would greatly demoralize the troops in the Militia.
"Sir, we have an approximate destination. I'm not sure how but they are about a months travel time in this direction. My only guess is that weapon they used somehow increased the power of their jump drives and they overshot exiting the planets atmosphere, by almost a light year." the engineer reported to the ships captain.
"Well, let's get to it boys, spin up the FTL drives and lets get underway. A month is a long time."
Both ships accelerated to Faster Than Light speeds one shortly after the other, the IMC in hot pursuit of the fleeing Militia ship.
Twilight paced the halls of the castle nervously. She had been assigned an important task from the Princesses. A team of highly skilled unicorns along with the celestial sisters themselves were going to aid her in the retrieval of the house on the rock in space. She then had to study it, figure out where it might have come from, who built it, why did they abandon it and any other important information she could pry from within its walls. This was all merely minutes away, before the sphere of ground it was on drifted close enough for the Princesses to affect it with their magic.
"Twi, you need to relax. You're literally wearing a path in the carpet." Spike said, trying to ease her fraying nerves.
She looked down and saw the path of smashed thread in the small oval she had been trotting in for the last hour and smiled sheepishly.
"You're right spike, I need to keep my mind clear." she said with a sigh, releasing most of her tension. "I mean it's not every day we get to examine extra-equine structures. If I lose my focus now, I won't be nearly as effective as the Princesses need me to be."
A door at the end of the hallway clicked open, causing the pair to turn their heads.
"Princess, the Princesses request your presence in the observatory. It is almost time." a light grey solar guard said as he held the door for her entry.
"C'mon Spike, let's go." She said, lifting Spike onto her back and trotting toward the door.
The moment they stepped into the observatory, they gasped in awe. The roof had split open and collapsed down, the telescope had retracted into a concealed spot under the floor in the center, leaving the entire dome open and empty. The two regal sisters stood atop a raised dais where they would preform the long range telekinesis to pull the drifting space debris down to Equestria.
"Come Twilight." Celestia beckoned with a tilt of her head. "We will need your strength as well."
"B-b-but Princess... I know nothing of long range spells... I." She began, but Celestia cut her off.
"I will teach you a trick twilight, something that I believe you will be able to pick up quickly on. The trick to long range spells is not to try to stretch from here to there as if you were trying to reach across all of space, but to project yourself into space, and manipulate it short distances."
"I... I still am confused Princess."
"Unfortunately it will have to wait for a more in depth lesson on another day, the time to act is now. When Luna and I pull it within range, we will need the strength of all of you to keep it from crashing to the ground."
A dead focus fell over the hundred or so unicorns that Twilight was now aware were here. The two sisters horns flared, but nothing happened. Minutes seemed to drag by, as still nothing happened, but the Princesses were intensely focused on the task at hand. Just as Twilight was about to ask the dreaded question of how much longer, there was a gasp heard and an order called out to the ready.
Spike and twilight looked up as the massive piece of soil was being guided through the atmosphere. Suddenly everypony's horn flared, so Twilight took the cue and joined in, as they all pushed against the falling piece of land together.
It was much larger than she had assumed from the view of her telescope. It almost didn't seem like it would fit inside the observatory. Every bit of experience and control was being mustered by every unicorn, including the three alicorns present to keep it from smashing into the opened dome and killing them all.
One exhausting few minutes later, the group of unicorns collapsed to their haunches in cheers and cries of exuberance. They had managed to lower an object from space, to the surface of the planet with absolutely zero casualties and minimal damage. Twilight was just ecstatic, in a matter of moments she would be one of the first ponies to set foot on foreign soil, and not one from a different kingdom or country, but quite possibly from another planet.
The Princesses flared their horns once more and the two halves of the observatory's dome slid closed and flooded the floor in illumination. The house stood a stark contrast of color to the greenish brown grass that had wilted due to lack of essential gasses used to produce nutrients from time spent in a vacuum, its blue paint peeling and faded from years of sun and weather exposure.
Several holes of varying sizes pockmarked the exterior of the house and could only leave Twilight guessing as to their cause. Perhaps it was impacted with a small meteor shower or debris from space on the way in. Only a closer inspection would reveal the secrets that these walls waited to tell. She was so excited she let out a slight *squee*-ing noise as she smiled and prepared herself for the first examination.
"Spike, Pre-check checklist please." she instructed. Spike produced a short piece of parchment and quill.
"Investigation checklist" she began counting off the supplies.
"Check" Spike checked it off as he placed the items into her saddlebags.
"Spare parchment for notes."
"Check."
"Decontamination socks."
"Check." Spike handed these to her, as well as putting on his own as she slipped them on over her hooves with magic.
"That should be everything, lets get started." Twilight said as she teleported herself and spike onto the sphere of ground that had settled into place, followed by a small clutch of observing unicorns waiting for her orders.
"Look at this spike, amazing isn't it?" She asked as she slowly walked the perimeter of the yard with Spike on her back.
"Hey Twilight?" Spike said, pointing his claw at something in the grass. "What's that?"
"Prepare for notes spike, record everything I observe." Twilight said, approaching the offending object. "Unknown object A-1. Composition, appears to be some form of alloy, metallic in origin. It doesn't appear to be any alloy discovered on Equis. The makeup is similar to equestrian steel, but much more durable, but fractions of the weight."
She continued to amble in a slow orbit as she continued her observations and spike scribbled furiously on the parchment. "It has many small mechanical parts within it. Whoever made this must be an extremely skilled craftspony, this rivals if not completely outdoes even Time Turner's Clocks.
"Twilight?" Spike asked. "If it's like a clock, why is it so big. I mean, it looks like Big Mac and Applejack together couldn't move this thing.
"It does look like it would be too big to even move into the house. It seems like there are two key pieces to this machine. This box here, where all of these smaller pieces, comprised of linked brass cylinders, appear to be pulled into this opening here." She said pointing her hoof at the gap. "And this curved part right here. It's surrounded by this piece of metal, like it needs to be protected from being bumped. It might be sensitive, but I believe that is what controls this machine."
"Good observations Twilight." Luna commented, approaching the device. "Should we test to see what it does?"
"I don't think that would be wise. We don't know the purpose of this machine. We should move it somewhere safe for future testing, but for now we should leave it here. It may have to do with why this house was abandoned."
The trio continued up the stairs onto a wooden deck on the back of the house. The height of the stairs weren't completely unmanageable but they were a bit higher than Equine stairs, but judging from the size of the doors the beings that inhabited this house were twice as tall as any pony.
"Twilight look." Spike pointed at several other objects, lying on the planks of the deck. "They look kinda like smaller versions of that thing in the grass."
Spike was right, it was much smaller, so much so that spike could pick it up, with a bit of a grunt. Some of them looked the same as the others, while there were a few oddballs. Some longer, some shorter, and of different shape.
"It sure is heavy." spike said, twirling the object in his claws to look at all its intricate nooks and crannies.
"If these things are more common they must not be that important, but why is this one so small?" Twilight pondered as she gently took it from spikes grip. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what it does. Stand back spike."
They took a few steps back as twilight levitated the object and focused her magic on the curved piece of metal. She slowly began to apply pressure to it and the curved piece began to slide back towards the edge of the opening. Suddenly a bright flash erupted from the end of the device followed immediately by an earsplitting crack. The surprise broke twilights concentration and her magic faltered as the device bucked from her grip and flew off the deck to the ground below.
Celestia popped into existence next to the pair with a concerned look on her face.
"Is everything ok? What happened?" Celestia half shouted.
"Everything is fine, We were experimenting with these machines. I used it, but I'm not sure what it did. There was a loud bang and a bright flash and it pushed so hard against my magic I wasn't prepared to hold it." She said pointing at the offending machine lying harmlessly in the grass below.
"Just be careful Twilight. We know nothing of the beings that once lived here. I trust in your ability to reason things out and will leave you to your work." Celestia said with a nod then was gone in another flash.
"Hey look Twi. This fell out of the thing you just used, it looks like that big one, only smaller and it doesn't have an end on it." Spike said, holding a hollow brass tube almost a hoof and a half long in his claws.
"Maybe that's what caused the bang. We will research this later. You there." she said pointing a hoof to one of the unicorns.
"Gather all of these, and put them in piles organized by size and shape next to that big one in the yard. Oh and careful not to apply pressure to those curved pieces."
The unicorn nodded and got to work as the group approached the entrance to the house. Twilight grasped the door with magic and attempted to pull it open but it didn't budge. Observing the glass door she noticed it was on metal tracks set into the wall above and below the door, so she pulled it sideways this time and it slid open.
The inside of the house was in disarray. After all it had been floating in space, so anything that may have once been neatly put away was strewn about. A large metal box lay on the ground partly blocking their path. Two unicorns used their magic to lift it into the spot that it looked like it once sat. Upon righting it they noticed that it had a door, and closely resembled a ponymade icebox. Twilight pulled on the handle of the door and it swung open and a number of items tumbled off the broken and displaced shelves. The containers were strange but she recognized quite a few of the contents. Milk, Eggs, what appeared to be an already prepared meal, left overs and even a head of lettuce. Among the food waiting to be prepared she saw a few slices of what she knew to be meat steaks.
Twilight gagged a bit at the smell of the bloody meat but she knew that this was always a possibility. The previous owners of this house were omnivores.
"Spike, another note please." She said as spike readied the quill. "Previous inhabitants of this structure were omnivorous. Indicated by the presence of stored meat, located in their icebox."
Twilight replaced the items and shut the door to keep the cold air from escaping and they continued their investigation. As they walked she noticed that quite a few of the holes that pockmarked the outside were actually punctures, straight through to the inside. They moved to the next room, to find a thin black rectangle, laying on the ground. Upon standing it on the base that appeared to be on the side of it, they revealed a soft plastic like coating, that was cracked in so many places it looked like it couldn't be fixed, not to mention it had a couple of the holes in it.
This room appeared to have quite a bit more furniture, but most of it appeared to be overturned from floating in space. Once everything was righted, twilight climbed upon the couch and sighed in comfort. Davenport, owner of Quills and Sofas, sure would love to see how these were made. They were extremely comfortable.
After a brief rest, they continued on the investigation of, aside from the holes in the walls nothing seemed really out of place, what appeared to be just an ordinary place of residence. Although far more advanced when it came to small things like the machinery. As they approached the top of the stairs to the second floor, a beeping noise sounded from the room on her left. She was unsure weather to get someone or check it out herself.
Casting a sidelong glance at Spike, she chose to be brave and investigate the noise. Nosing open the door that was partially ajar she found herself in what she could only assume belonged to a male. The whole room felt masculine some how, dark colors, very cut and dry. A sizable bead to sleep on. The thing that caught her attention the most was the posters that dotted the walls. Depictions of some type of creatures that stood on two legs, and had a very strange taste in clothing.
Twilight scrutinized the posters as spike looked around the room, taking everything in. She gasped in shock when she realized, the text on the posters, she could read it. Call of duty Seventeen. Super Advanced Futuristic warfare. The Creature on the poster was dressed in some type of camouflage and depicted holding something that resembled what she had tested outside on the deck. It appeared to be casting some type of yellow magic from its outstretched claw while its eyes burned an unholy yellow.
So the machines outside were somehow related to warfare for these creatures, and judging by the way it was held, they used their dexterous claws to manipulate the intricate mechanisms. She instructed one of the unicorns to go out and warn the ones handling the devices to be even more careful, that the devices were possibly some type of weapon. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
The one device laying in the yard, the one ten times as long as her own body. Was one massive one of those things. She had a hard time imagining one of the creatures large enough to lift such a big thing, but what other explanation was there. She trotted to the double doors in the room and exited onto the balcony, and as she glanced over the yard she gasped. From this vantage point she could see the indentations in the ground. Not just divots in the soil, but massive oddly shaped hoofprints smashed into the soil shaped like nothing she'd ever seen before.
She shuddered at the thought of something big enough to leave a print like that.
The scrapes of approaching hoofsteps met Willows ears once more. He was unceremoniously pulled to his hooves once more, and the hood ripped from his head. The blue faced demon had returned.
"Beast." it uttered just that one word. He stared at it in silent defiance for a moment, until it continued. "I know you know what I say to you. You know I know. You think my men wouldn't be loyal to me? I knew that he came in here to talk to you last night. I'm glad he didn't decide to let you go, I would have had to kill you both."
Willow cringed at these words but continued to spit as much venom into his defiant posture as he could, holding his head high and proud. His wings ached from being tied to his sides, not to mention he was growing weak from lack of food and water. Only another day and he would die of dehydration.
"You will die here in this cave, alone, and unknown to your friends back home, if you do not give me what I want, creature."
The monster sat back, leaning against the side of the cave, letting the information sink in and destroy Willow's resolve. It was working.
"You win this time Demon." Willow coughed, his voice weak from disuse.
A large smile spread across Shawn's face behind his visor. ______________________________________________________________________________
"Princess Luna, please come with me." The head of the Shadow Guard requested.
"What is it Darkest Night?" She asked, as he lead her into the hall outside the observatory where the examination of the anomaly continued.
"Word from your recon unit my Princess. Your reinforcements had made it, only to find them incapacitated. Lt. Commander Willow and Commander Starlight are both Missing in Action."
"So tell me, what was it you and your team were doing in those woods surrounding that ship?" Shawn asked the small bat winged horse creature. He was met with more silence. This was the third question he had asked him that was met with resistance. It was some kind of soldier, he was sure of it. The resolve in its eyes, the resistance to answer questions that were most likely classified information.
"Well then, let's start out simple, shall we? What's your name? You must have a name if you can talk." the Major said, relaxing his back against the wall and folding his hands on one bent knee.
"L..." the horse began, the hesitance in its voice clearly evident. "Willow."
"So what was that you started to say, 'Willow.' I heard an L in there." Shawn said as he leaned in towards Willow.
Willow couldn't believe how the thirst and hunger were effecting his ability to rationalize his thoughts. He had almost given away his rank along with his name.
"You already asked your question, do I not get one in return?" Willow said as he shook his head slowly.
"I suppose it is only fair, but know this, just as from you to I, there are some things that I cannot tell you, these questions will just be met with the answer 'Classified'. You do know what classified means right?"
Willow nodded.
"Good, well then, when you are ready."
"What are you." he asked, wanting to hear if there was any difference in the answer the other creature had told him the other day.
"I suppose there's no harm in that. We are Humans."
"Where are you from?"
"Classified."
"What do you do?"
"I don't know what you mean?"
"What I mean is what is your job?"
"I am a soldier, that is all you need to know."
"If you are a soldier, are you invading our land?"
"No. We are somewhat stranded here."
"Stranded? What happ..." Willow started to ask but was suddenly cut off by Shawn raising his hand to stop him.
"Right." the human said, standing. "Let's move people, we are going to have company."
The hood was replaced over willows head, then he was hefted onto what he could only assume was another of the human's backs. He could hear running, and shouting, and heavy thumps of something massive stomping across the ground. Willow was set down inside of something, the floor was smooth and cold, and he leaned against another pony.
"Commander?" he asked.
"Shhhh. Don't give them our ranks." Starlight hissed back.
Suddenly a large group of something herded into the room they were in, and a high pitch whine was heard. A roar of more dragons flame erupted from what sounded like just outside the door, but then it was silenced when the doors snicked shut and the whole room began to move. ______________________________________________________________________________
"Everyone get on the dropship, we are making a hasty evacuation." Shawn directed as he ran towards his Titan. "Thanks for the heads up Sadie."
Sadie had picked up several thermal signatures approaching via the Titans FLIR systems. She had counted what looked like twenty to thirty creatures, similar to the ones they had held in the cave, clad in armor approaching through the skies above the trees.
The dropship lifted off whisking everyone away from the potential battlefield as Shawn set his titan to standby. All he had to do was buy them some time to get away, then he would ditch the battle and make his own escape toward their rally point at the castle that Leo had mentioned they spotted on the way down. ______________________________________________________________________________
Forty Solar Guard pegasi soared over the tops of the Everfree, their wing tips brushing the tops of the trees. Spitfire of the Wonderbolts lead this detachment. She wasn't clad in her signature blue flight suit today though. She wore the armor of every Solar Guard Officer.
Something small flew off into the distance. She gave order for her first wing to break off and pursue. Five pegasi tumbled from formation and rocketed after the metal object, but seeing as they couldn't keep up they returned.
"What the hay was that? It's so fast." one of the pegasi shouted.
"Forget that, what the hay is that!?" Another interrupted, pointing a hoof to where it had just left from.
Shawn climbed into the top hatch of his Atlas when the ponies became visible to his own eyes. He still had no primary weapon but he had all of his core abilities that the experimental Multi Core Titan held, not to mention all of his tertiary weapons systems. Forty ponies touched down in the clearing next to the lake about a hundred yards away from the towering monster that was the Titan.
"How did they find us so quickly?" He asked.
"Maybe one of the prisoners you had taken has a tracking device." Sadie answered through the Titans' internal speakers.
"Guess I didn't think about that."
Suddenly the Yellow horse at the front of the group pointed at him and shouted something. Sadie amplified the sound picked up by the external microphones and he heard an order to assess the threat and engage if need be.
Ten ponies, yeah ponies suited their smaller size better, fanned out in a semicircle and approached him. He could easily just step on all of them but he didn't want to start a war unless he had a good reason. Then a wicked smile crept across his face.
Once the ponies grew near enough to warrant action, Shawn keyed his external speakers and shouted "BOOO!" through them. Three of the ponies jumped a bit and the rest took a few reflexive steps back. This was the confusion and distraction he needed. ______________________________________________________________________________
Spitfire watched nervously as their squad approached the towering Monster. Hopefully this thing didn't eat ponies.
"BOOOO!"
Everypony behind her reflexively jumped a bit. What happened next though terrified them. The beast leaned back and slid across the ground away from them at incredible speed for something so large. It then turned and ran into the forest with thunderous footsteps.
"After it!" she commanded, as the pegasi took to the sky and readied their hoof blades that made pegasi so effective at air combat.
It wasn't hard to follow the towering thing through the trees, it was almost as tall as them. Yet amazingly it still moved with practiced grace and agility, weaving between the trunks at high speeds. Spitfire and her team were keeping up with relative ease but it still moved extremely fast. Suddenly everything went quiet and they had lost sight of the beast.
"How!?" She shouted. "Find it!" ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn was running his Titan full tilt through the woods with the small army right behind him pursuing by air. He had to shake them somehow. That's when an opportunity presented itself, a deep ravine cut through the woods in front of him, just large enough for a titan to fit in. He rocketed forward with his thrusters and dropped below the canopy of trees and into the gap.
Once settled into the short valley he slowly moved down its length, thanking the makers of the Titans to have built them not only for power but for stealth as well, as the pistons and engines hissed as quietly as they could while moving several tons of metal.
He needed something to draw them away from him, so he grasped a rock from the ravine, and hefted it through the woods, toppling several trees a couple hundred yards from his current location. Nearly all of the pegasi rushed to that location while he stealthily made his escape.
Once he was far enough away he pushed his reactor core back to moderate power and moved with a bit more abandon, headed in a straight shot for the castle they had tagged. ______________________________________________________________________________
Dillan climbed off the dropship and marveled at the castle that stood before them. It was falling apart but it still radiated power and grace from its stone walls. Once everyone was off the pilots lifted off and settled the ship in a more discreet location in between some crumbled walls where it was mostly hidden from sight.
Once everyone was together they approached the front doors, large enough for the group to walk through it together. Once inside the doors were shut and barred and flashlights clicked on, illuminating the grand entryway in an eerie crisscross of beams.
Kale and Stacy carried the two ponies down some hallways, looking for a room that they could block them into, so they didn't have to remain tied up. Dillan and his friends took to exploring the ruins of the castle while he told them about the pony he had talked to in the cave.
Dillan and Josh's parents set out to clearing a spot among the debris for them to set up a small area near the entrance for their gear, while Leo Sonny and Davis took the remaining group to secure the compound.
The four friends ambled down a hallway, illuminated by four sweeping beams of light, quietly chatting about where they were and what they thought was going to happen when they came across a large spiral staircase. It most likely lead to one of the towers, so they decided to venture up and get a good view of where they were.
As they approached the door at the top of the winding stairs their lights flickered and died out, leaving them in absolute darkness.
"The hell?" Dennis said smacking his flashlight. "What cheap shit did those militia guys give us anyway."
Tod felt across the door and grasped the handle and pushed the door in. It swung on rusty hinges, noisily squeaking in protest. Oddly enough, this room was just as dark, but there was a small crack of light filtering in from the left wall, where it looked like a window was being blocked by something. Dillan and Tod approached it and when they moved the offending piece of furniture, light flooded the room.
"SURPRISE!" someone shouted from within the room as confetti flew from every nook and cranny as Rebecca screamed in shock and Dennis readied to fight whatever were to jump out at them. ______________________________________________________________________________
The two humans hefted the ponies down yet another corridor until they were set down. Their bindings were removed, followed by their hoods to reveal a jail cell, and then they chained the doors shut and left.
"Sir." Willow rasped in a weak voice. "Where are we? What happened?"
Starlight looked at the edge of the wall that separated their cells. "It appears to be some form of jail, but I doubt these humans made it, it must be one of ours. Judging by the structure of this building I'd say we're in the old castle in the Everfree. As to what happened, I can only imagine that the Princesses used our magical signatures to track us down and sent help. I only pray that they survived." ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn followed the shore of the creek until he was almost to his nav point. Even from a kilometer away he could see the tops of the towers protruding over the horizon. The sun was beginning to set just behind the castle, giving it a serene look, as if to say everything would be ok for the night. He exhaled and began the trek that in his titan should only take a few minutes. ______________________________________________________________________________
Spitfire couldn't believe they had lost such a big creature. They were scouring the woods near where the trees had fallen but there was no evidence to go on from there. She groaned frustrated toward the reddening sky.
"Surprise!" Pinkie shouted, leaping from her hiding spot.
The two legged thingy-majiggers jumped and screamed in response to her well thought out surprise party. Confetti rained down around the room, showering everyone in colorful pieces of paper and glitter.
"What the fuck!?" the taller, slightly more muscular one shouted as he looked like he was dancing around with his fore-hooves raised in front of his face.
"Welcome to Ponyville! Well-I-guess-this-isn't-really-Ponyville-but-we-are-kinda-sorta-close-so-it-sorta-counts-but-I-digress." Pinkie rambled in one speedy breath. "I guess in that case, welcome to Equestria!"
Oddly enough, the banner that hung behind her read 'Welcome to Ponyville but I guess this isn't really Ponyville but we are kinda sorta close so it sorta counts/Equestria' on it.
"What the hell are you?" The dancing one asked again.
"I'm a pony. What are you Dennis?" she answered, as he gawked at her when she said his name.
"How'd you know my name?"
"I heard you and you're friends talking, duh. It's not like I know the script or anything." Pinkie said, pulling a tray of cupcakes from within her mane. "I have cupcakes."
"Sorry but my dad taught me never to accept anything from strange... horse creatures." Tod said, as he pulled everyone back towards the door they entered in.
"Well that's oddly specific, but OK. We'll just have to become not-strangers. I'm Pinkie Pie." She said extending her hoof.
"And I'm leaving." Tod answered pushing everyone out the door and slamming it shut behind them.
"But I thought your name was Tod?" they heard her muffled response through the door, as they all felt a chill run down their spines.
'What the fuck was this thing, a psychic?' Tod thought as they all hurried down the spiral stairs. Something was definitely not normal with that one.
Pinkie Pie's eyes narrowed as she mumbled "Oh, you will have a cupcake..." ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn and Sadie pushed the branches aside as they moved to the castle, the Titan lumbering through the trees with ease. The castle had surely seen its better days, but it would do for a shelter for the time being. Along the parapets of the castle a lone silhouette stood out. The sniper waved at the titan who in turn waved a greeting back as it climbed through a hole in the outer wall into the overgrown courtyard near the rear of the stone masterpiece that once appeared to house royalty.
"Sadie, set the Titan to patrol the inner perimeter of the castle. We will bunker down here for the foreseeable future." Shawn said as he released his piloting clamps and climbed from the gaping cavity that was the chest of his Atlas.
Once his boots hit soil, the Titan sealed itself and began a slow walk, quietly thumping around the inside of the outer wall, it's camera and sensor arrays flitting this way and that as it searched for threats. ______________________________________________________________________________
"What?!" Luna shouted in her royal voice before toning it down a bit after seeing everypony flinch. "Got away? How!?"
The Night Princess, along with the Captain of both the Lunar and Solar Guard were present, awaiting the arrival of Celestia.
Spitfire tensed as she readied her explanation. "We don't know. It was there one minute, gone the next. We don't even know what it was. Maybe whoever took the Commander was fleeing from that thing as well when we arrived."
The Captain of the guard cleared his throat. "Describe this creature once more please Sergeant."
"It stood taller than a house, a barn even. It looked to have hardened skin, to rival even a dragons scales. It's eyes, if all those glowing spots could be called that, glowed a fierce blue."
"And you said it spoke?" Luna asked, leaning in to eye Spitfire.
"Well, yes and no." Spitfire mumbled.
"Please, explain." Celestia said, as she entered the room from behind Spitfire, causing her to jump a little.
"Well, it didn't exactly say anything so much as make a noise. All it said was 'Boo'." she said, mimicking its gesture with raised fore-hooves. "Which in and of itself could mean a number of things. Yet coupled with the movement of its forelimbs, was clearly an intent to scare."
"It does seem odd that it would use the same phrase we use to childishly scare our young, or our friends." Celestia mused, rubbing under her chin with a gold clad hoof. "Shining Armor, Darkest Night?"
"Princess?" Shining and Darkest snapped to attention at the mention of their names.
"Do we still have a location on Starlight and Willow?" She asked.
"Well, we did, but they seem to have vanished. No spells we have tried have succeeded in regaining their location." Shining reported, slight defeat in his voice as Darkest lowered his head as well.
Either whoever captured them were using counter-spells to jam their tracking spells, or their magical signature was no longer to be found. At this thought, Celestia's face grew grim. "Maybe it's time to enlist the help of the Uni-Corps." ______________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash flew ahead of the group, guiding them to where she saw the thing land. It had happened a day ago but Fluttershy insisted that it was too late to go that far into the Everfree.
"How much farther dear? My hooves are killing me." Rarity said, shaking the soreness out of her hooves.
"Not far, I can see something just over this hill" Rainbow called out before streaking through the sky.
Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy followed. For some reason Dash couldn't find Pinkie, and according to the Cakes, she had been missing since the thing had flown over the town. Oddly enough, she had taken several dozen cupcakes, her party cannon, and some other party supplies when she left. Celestia knows what Pinkie was doing right now.
The ponies crested the hill and gasped when they saw the furrow dug into the forest. at the end of the trench sat a gleaming angular metal box. One side of it was split open, where several oddly shaped hoof-prints that were wearing smooth tracked all around but then mysteriously vanished as if they either disappeared or flew away.
They approached the open side and peeked into its interior.
"It looks like a carriage, with all those seats, but those seats look too high to be comfortable for a pony." AJ said as she trotted into the awaiting door.
"It looks absolutely horrid, who ever would want to ride in a carriage that looks like this..." Rarity trailed off, shuddering at the lack of any use of color as her eyes danced over the surface of gunmetal grey and worn, matte black.
"If this is a carriage, where do the ponies hook into it to pull it?" Dash asked as she hovered near the nose of the ship.
"Maybe that part broke off dear, after all it did fall out of the sky." Rarity said as she took a drink from her canteen and fanned herself with a dainty paper fan she had packed.
"If so then what happened to the pegasi escort? They should have sought out help." Dash said matter-of-factly. "They just let it fall and smash into the ground?"
AJ climbed through the door into the cockpit while Fluttershy hovered around near the back of the ship. Applejack pressed against one of the round things in front of the seats and a squeak was heard as Fluttershy zoomed to Rainbow and hid behind her.
"Something on it just moved, AJ, do that again!" Rainbow shouted, this time keeping an eye on the back of the ship.
AJ pressed her hooves into the round thing again and two flaps on the stubs sticking off the back tilted and pitched.
"It looks like... wings..." Rainbow said as she gently hovered closer to the back. "But they're made of metal and thats the only piece that moves. How does this thing fly?" ______________________________________________________________________________
Twilight stood on the balcony, overseeing the operation when suddenly she heard that beeping noise behind her once more. She trotted back into the messy room and stood still as a statue waiting to hear the noise again. Several minutes went by but to no avail. Just as she was about to move she heard a vibrating noise followed by a series of beeps.
Quickly following the trail of sounds she discovered a small black box that blinked a red light at her three times before it went completely dark. Whatever it was, it could vibrate, beep, and had a shiny glass-like surface on one side, and a rough plastic or rubber on the other.
Unsure of what it was, she called one of the unicorns and had him take it and place it with the slowly growing pile of interesting things she pulled from the house. Among that pile was almost every small sleek device that had buttons on it but had no discernible use and many of the appliances from around the house.
The research of the house was coming along nicely. She had discovered pictures hung here and there around the rooms. Most of them depicted the same three creatures, all of them bipedal, that appeared to be hairless clothed minotaurs of some sort. A passing unicorn caught her attention however as he was carrying a large stack of books.
Confused, she stopped the unicorn. "Excuse me, but we really shouldn't have anything in here that wasn't already here. It could contaminate the house."
"Sorry ma'am, but these books aren't ours, they were found in a bookcase on the second floor." He answered as he turned to leave.
Gasping she wrenched the books from his magical grasp. She could read the text on the pages plain as day. She couldn't believe it, extra equines that had the same written text? Possibly the same spoken language? What are the odds. Astronomical, no pun intended, judging by how many stars have been created over the centuries, nay millennia, by the Alicorns.
Then it finally sunk in. Books, from another planet, that she could read. A high pitched squeal echoed through the dome that threatened to shatter the windows in the house, followed by an earsplitting crack as Twilight teleported out of the house to her library in Ponyville. She pulled a few books off her own personal shelves and placed them into the now 'Alien' section for future study before teleporting back.
Standing on the observation deck she decided to take a few minutes to get an overview on the progress. Much of the surrounding soil had been broken away to be analyzed for mineral composition and nutrients. On the other side, a select few of the strange gadgets from inside were being dismantled by a team of unicorns, while another team scribbled furiously notes about how they were being taken apart.
Twilight's gaze fell upon the piles of the strange weapons still gathered on the remaining land around the house. She wondered silently to herself the purpose of having so many weapons, and why they were at a place of residence. Only time will tell. ______________________________________________________________________________
Shawn entered the throne room of the castle. He had to admit, if this castle belonged to the ponies, they had done a hell of a job building it. Silently musing on how they lifted all the heavy stones that it was made up of, he patiently waited for the rest of the group to gather for the meeting he had called.
Slowly, the groups started to emerge from all side of the room. Everyone tensed when shouting was heard from one of the corridors directly behind the thrones. Shawn drew his sidearm and readied for a skirmish as the teens burst from its inky depths.
"What?!" Leo shouted, grabbing his sub machine gun from the table. "What happened?!"
After a tense moment where everyone recovered, panting, Dennis coughed "Pony. Another pony - upstairs - tower."
Shawn, Leo, and Sonny were off like a starter pistol fired, sprinting through the corridor to the base of the tower. The rest of the Militia secured the throne room until the remaining groups arrived. Marie, John and Tanner, escorted by Farahad came into the room.
Seeing everyone on edge Farahad asked "Who pissed in your guys Cheerios?"
Kale looked at him and shook his head. "Unknown contact, more of those pony things, in the castle."
Farahad simply sighed and pulled up a chair which was comicly too short, being pony made, for how tall the six foot nine inch man was. Everyone relaxed seeing as how calmly he reacted as opposed to the knee jerk reaction the other three had. After all, they couldn't do much but wait until the others returned to find out what happened. ______________________________________________________________________________
Inching up the last few stairs, weapons scanning their sectors, Shawn, Sonny and Leo stacked up on the door. Holding up three fingers, Leo counted down then swiftly kicked the door open and swept into the room with his SMG at the ready. Shawn and Sonny followed shortly after, scanning every nook and cranny the room had to offer.
Moments later they rejoined the main group in the throne room, and were promptly swarmed by the teens with questions.
"Did you get it?" Becky asked.
"Did she know your name?" Both Dennis and Tod said in unison.
"You didn't hurt it did you?" Dillan worried.
"Enough!" Shawn shouted. "No. None of that. Nothing was up there. Just a dusty empty room with an overturned bookcase."
"No confetti? No cupcakes?" Tod asked.
"Why the hell would there have been confetti or cupcakes?" Leo asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"We didn't... no there's no way we all four hallucinated the same thing, but how did it get away so fast?" Dennis wondered.
"Oh come on Dennis," Tod breathed. "You saw how that thing literally jumped out of a chest the size of a shoe box, not to mention the cannon that was pulled out of its hair. Laws of conservation of matter clearly don't apply here. It wouldn't surprise me if it just poofed it all away."
"Look we'll continue this discussion later, everyone just keep an eye or ear out for anything out of place until this meeting is over." Shawn said as he approached the center of the room. "Alright listen up."
Sadie used his arm mounted control unit to project a three dimensional rendered map of the surrounding land that she had gathered with the titans sensors on their way here.
"We are here currently." A bright blue dot appeared on the miniature 3D castle. "Fire-team Juliet passed over a small town, about a hundred kilometers from their crash site, here and here.
Two more dots popped up, one on the area that depicted a crashed ship, the other just a foggy area of land that hadn't been mapped yet.
"That puts us about thirty Kilometers from the town now, since we've moved closer. Our old camp was here." Yet another dot appeared, this one next to the lake, far to the east. "Sadie and I have also noted a structure, resembling a large city, suspended high on the side of this mountain. Estimated range, Several thousand Kilometers, if not tens of thousands."
A mountain was constructed via the 3D projection off in the distance, with a city jutting off its side.
"So far these are the only two points of civilization we know of. The flying bat ponies and bird ponies, er pegasi, attacked us from this direction, indicating they came from this city on the mountain." Two red arrows branched from the castle in the north and spread to the lake and crashed ship.
"Any questions so far?" Shawn asked, looking around the group.
"Just one, Bird ponies?" Leo chortled as Shawn flipped him a middle finger.
"I've got one." Dillan said, raising his hand.
"This isn't school, spit it out."
"Why did they attack us? I mean, first contact, wouldn't you try to communicate first?"
"Well, about that. We may have thrown the first punch during our recovery mission of fire-team Juliet. The bat ponies had been waiting in ambush, so we got the drop on them."
"But what if it wasn't an ambush, what if it was just recon?" Dillan shot back, clearly irritated that a ranking officer in the Militia would be so careless.
"Look, when we are talking about the lives of my men, I don't take chances." Shawn growled back. "You want to call the shots for your friends, fine by me, but I don't take that risk."
Dillan's pride was wounded, but he was right. Had it been his friends surrounded by aliens, if he had the ability, he would have fought them all off too.
"If we are through with this Q and A, this is the plan." Shawn said, returning to the projection. ______________________________________________________________________________
Pinkie, perched atop one of the many banners that protruded from the supporting columns, listened intently as the big man in the scary blue helmet went over the plan. As he continued, a smile spread across her face as she rubbed her hooves together.
"You will eat the cupcakes." she whispered in a slightly evil tone.
Shawn stood atop a higher tier of the castles parapets, surveying the surrounding land through his helmets magnification function. Davis, who was napping in the corner next to Sonny who was field stripping and cleaning his Mark 82 'Spitfire' LMG, mumbled something and slowly awoke. His eyes still bleary with sleep, he propped himself up and turned to face the Major.
"Hey Sir. I miss anything?" he asked Shawn, rubbing his eye with a gloved hand.
"Nah, not much. Just still trying to formulate some kind of defense if we get hit while we are here." Shawn answered, his focus locking onto something that glinted in the distance.
"Wait one. Davis, to me now. Bring your rifle."
The sniper instantly shot awake at the mention of needing his rifle, that usually wasn't a good sign. He hefted the Kraber Anti Material rifle and crept over to where Shawn was now taking cover behind the battlements.
"Bearing, two - one - seven, I picked up something that glinted in the sunlight, see if you can't see anything over there."
Davis brought the high powered scope to his eye and scanned the horizon, but failed to find anything. He dialed up the magnification a bit more and took another look, this time seeing something flash across his scope as he swept. Zeroing in on whatever it was he could barely make out a distinct pony shape flitting about over the treetops.
"Lone contact, one Pegasus pony. Too distant to make out any distinct features, seems to be communicating with someone ground side. Scratch that, two Pegasi contacts. They don't appear to be armored, possible civili... woah damn! That one is fast! Lost first contact. Took off in the direction of that town you mentioned earlier." ______________________________________________________________________________
Applejack climbed out of the strange carriage. Rarity was busy avoiding stepping in any filth, which just happened to be ninety eight percent of the forest according to her. Pinkie was still nowhere to be seen, and Fluttershy now joined rainbow above the treetops.
"Rainbow!" AJ called out. The multi-hued pony looked at the farm pony below as she jumped down from the belly of the metal beast. "Fly back to Ponyville and get spike to send a letter to Twi. Tell her that we found whatever it was that fell from the sky, and she should be here to see it herself. She probably knows more about this stuff than any of us."
Rainbow saluted and took off in a prismatic streak towards town to get the purple dragon to send Twilight a message.
"Well I guess there's nothing to do but set up camp and wait for Twilight." AJ finished as she pulled the tent out from her saddle bags and began setting it up, the other ponies following suit. ______________________________________________________________________________
Kale and Leo sat guard outside the cells of the two temporary detainees. The ponies sat quietly, eyeing the humans warily.
"So," Kale tried to strike up conversation. "do you ponies eat plants? cause, its been like two days and we know you haven't eaten."
At the mention of food Willows' stomach growled loudly, which earned a chuckle from the two humans and a scowl from Starlight. Although the Thestral couldn't help but sigh inwardly at his own hunger. Awkward silence filled the jail as several minutes passed.
"Suit yourself, but I'm getting some grub." Kale said as he stood and turned to leave. "Medic, you want anything?"
"Fruit." Starlight barked his answer. "Or raw grains, oats, hay."
The pilot stopped mid step and stared at the bat pony, a smile creeping across his face. At first glance the smile would have been mistaken as humor, but it quickly turned into a grimace.
"Is that a demand? A request? A suggestion?" he pressed his face to the bars, comically squishing his face. "Becaush in that tone I couldn't fucking tchell. I could jusht pissh off and get you whatever the hell I wanted and you would either eat it or shtarve, so be a little grateful i ashked."
"Fruit or grains please, we are primarily herbivores," Willow answered before Starlight had a chance to fly off the handle, although he was already visibly fuming. "Thank you." Kale's once grim mood flipped like a switch and he happily replied "You're very welcome!" as he practically skipped from the room.
"HEY BRING AN MRE FOR ME TOO CRAZY FUCK!" Leo shouted after him.
After a few minutes passed the pilot returned with a few small bags and tossed one to the medic, and placed the other two just inside the bars. along with a couple bottles of water.
"What is this?" Starlight asked holding the small gray package.
"It's an MRE - meal ready to eat. It's not exactly grains, but close enough, its pasta with tomato sauce, cheese and a cookie biscuit thing." he said popping the heat pack on his own meal.
After watching the two ponies struggle with the packages, Leo finally asked if they wanted some help.
"Please. For the life of me I can't manage to tear the part that says tear here."
With one swift swipe, Leo removed the tops of both meals and passed them back.
"EEEEYUCK!" Willow gagged. "How do you eat this?!"
"You get used to it." both humans said in unison. ______________________________________________________________________________
Spike was just finishing up dusting the last shelf of the library when a blue blur crashed through the window and knocked several books off the shelves. He looked at the heap of pony lying on the floor with an extremely blank stare.
"Heh heh, Oops." Rainbow said, shaking the bits of glass and splinters out of her mane. Spike face palmed at the comment, and groaned. "Spike you need to send a letter to Twi right away. It's super important. She needs to come back right away. We found the thing that crashed in the woods and need her eggheadedness to help out." ______________________________________________________________________________
Twilight yawned as she settled into bed for the night. It was getting late and she had been up for several days examining the house. Exhaustion was finally creeping in, when suddenly a scroll popped from a flash of green fire and landed on her face. Against every atom in her body screaming to sleep, she opened the scroll and read:
Dear Twilight,
Spike here, your number one faithful assistant. Just checking in to let you know all the books have been re-alphabetized and shelves dusted. Also I reorganized your quill and parchment drawers so the older quills are used first so we can get rid of them. Owlicious has been a big help while you were gone by keeping up after any loaned books and the groceries.
Oh, by the way, Rainbow broke the window again, and said something about you needing to come home to see something they found in the woods. Then she shouted about Daring Do and the Extra Equestrian Invasion and took off again.
Sincerely,
Spike
She was instantly awake again. They found whatever the fireball was, and rainbow mentioned aliens. Certainly this had to tie into the house she was investigating. With a bright flash and loud pop twilight was in the main room of the library. Spike gave out a scream and more glass bits rained everywhere as he threw the dustpan in surprise.
"OH COME ON!" spike groaned.
Twilight made one final teleport from the library, leaving one confused spike as to why the teleport there was necessary in the first place, and appeared in the clearing she had sensed the other elements of harmony in.
"Twilight!" everyone shouted, happy to see their friend.
"Hi girls." Twilight said, exhausted from two back to back long range teleports. "So this is the object?"
"Yeperoonies." Pinkie Pie confirmed, popping her head out from the bay door on the ship.
"Pinkie?" everyone looked at her confused. "Where have you been sugarcube?" AJ concluded.
"Planning a party of galactic proportions."
Everypony just kind of shrugged it off as a 'that's Pinkie for you' moment. Twilight sat around the fire with the girls as they filled her in on what they discovered so far, as the moon climbed higher into the night sky. ______________________________________________________________________________
Dillan sat quietly around the fire they constructed in the main hall of the castle. His eyes flitted from face to face, from friends to soldiers. He didn't like the situation they were in, but what choice did he have in the matter right now? None. His stomach turned a bit, still settling from that disgusting MRE he had eaten. What he wouldn't give for a decent home cooked meal from his mom.
At the thought of his mother he looked up to see his parents sitting, propped against each other and a wall, covered by a blanket, sleeping peacefully. He should probably do the same, it would most likely be a long day tomorrow.
Another look around the room showed the same tired look on everyone's face. Most of them were running on fumes at this point. Everybody needed sleep, and it was evident. More so on the faces of the civilians, but the soldiers weren't faring much better. Having just fought a battle back on his home world, now to be pulling extra shifts of guard duty. They had to be at wits end.
He stood and shuffled over to his sleeping bag, and zipped himself inside, ready for sleep to overtake him. ______________________________________________________________________________
Militia engineers ran about on the ship, preparing as many drop ships and Titans they could muster from their reserves and scrap. They had seen the IMC ship pursue them out of system on their long range radar, so they wanted to be prepared for any fight they would throw at them when they dropped out of FTL warp. Also to mount a rescue effort for their missing Major.
About Two and a half weeks or so until they dropped out of warp and scouted for any distress beacons. The IMC would pay for their transgressions against their own people. ______________________________________________________________________________
The pale moonlight illuminated the land and glimmered off the surface of the lake, as several unicorn troops scoured the grounds with their magic. The princesses had summoned the Unicorps, an elite group of spell casters to investigate into the case of the missing Captain and Lt. Commander of the Night Guards tier one recon unit. Currently they were using their last known location to get a lead as to where they may have gone, but so far were coming up short.
Three unicorn officers trotted through the group, checking on progress when one of the newer recruits called for them as he galloped over. "Commander Flame! Lieutenant Sunbeam! We found something!"
The officers followed him at a trot to see two long furrows dug into the ground with scorch marks between them. A few hundred meters away, massive staggered craters lead into the woods.
"Lieutenant. Take a detachment and follow those prints, wherever they lead."
"SIR!" the Lt. shouted, marking off a quick salute. "Echo squad, you are with me, let's move."
Four unicorns formed up on the Lieutenant and they trotted briskly into the woods, the clinking of their armor muffled beneath their Unicorps robes. They followed the wake of destruction all the way to a small ravine. Seeing nowhere else the prints could have lead to they slowly began the descent into the crevice. This proved to be fruitful as the Lt. mentally face hoofed at the stupidity of the damn flyers of the Wonderbolts.
"No wonder they missed it, you focus too much on speed you overlook the little details. Idiots." the Lt. silently cursed the Pegasi. "Lets move, these scratches along the walls are pretty fresh, maybe a day old. We should catch up to them by mid day tomorrow."
Silently the five unicorns crept down the hall of stone, following the scratches and scuffs, moving ever closer to the giant they were pursuing. ______________________________________________________________________________
The sun crested the mountain tops to the north. Twilight, being one for schedules and even though she had only slept maybe five hours in the past three days, was wide awake. Applejack was the only pony that had her beat, and was currently making breakfast over the campfire for everyone. Not one to waste any time, Twilight immediately went to examining the vessel.
One by one, the other ponies awoke and joined the herd watching twilight look at this, and tweak that with her magic. The whole process was quite fascinating actually, she had a certain air of ADHD when it came to examining new things.
After everyone had eaten a hearty breakfast of oatmeal that AJ had graciously prepared, everyone resumed helping twilight learn what she could about the metal contraption. Judging by the measurements of the seats in the carriage, she estimated that the creatures who would take their place in them were about six feet tall, and bipedal, similar to the Minotaur who inhabited the plains to the east of Detrot.
Hesitant to press any buttons, after examining the weapons found around the house, twilight tried to decipher what their labels meant. She could read the words, but they were terms never before known to her.
"Landing Gear." She read aloud.
Cautiously she flipped the switch, and something strained in the ship as gears and pistons worked hard. Everyone jumped a bit at the sudden noise, then gave a gasp as the ship rose off the ground several inches.
"HA! Just as I suspected." Twilight exclaimed, jumping from the door to peer under the ship and see it raised on four skids.
"OOOO my turn!" Pinkie shouted as she reached for one of the buttons on the front of the flight sticks.
"PINKIE NO!" Twilight shouted, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks as she watched pinkie depress a button that looked a lot like the handles on the weapons she found at the space house.
An earsplitting roar thundered through the air as the ships dual chain guns spun up and ripped the ground to shreds at the buried nose of the ship. The ponies dove for cover and clamped their ears to their skulls in hopes to stop the ringing. Pinkie on the other hand giggled like a maniac chanting 'Again! Again!'
Amidst the chaos no one heard Pinkie go still and say "It's time."
If they thought that was loud, it was soon dwarfed by a massive thunderclap in the distance. Followed by more, rapid thuds and cracks.
"That's coming from the Everfree Castle!" Twilight noted.
"What do ya' reckons going on over there?" AJ asked rubbing a hoof on her ear. "Sounds like a dragon gone on a rampage."
Shawn's arm piece let off a quick staccato of beeps, prompting his immediate attention. Sadie quickly piped in a feed from the Titans' sensor arrays. They had picked up five faint heat signatures about one kilometer out, and at the rate they were moving, would be on top of them in a matter of minutes.
"Everyone! Ready up! Five unknown contacts spotted due southeast. ETA five minutes tops!" he shouted.
Instantly everyone sprung into action, gathering their supplies ready to move. The Major donned his helmet and boosted up to a balcony and sprinted down a corridor he knew that lead to the outside parapets. On his HUD overlay he watched the marker of his titan moving to intercept his path. He burst through the door, kicking off the battlements and rocketing straight into the awaiting hand of his titan.
Once he was stuffed into the cockpit and his fingertips were at the controls he saw several flashes just outside the castles outer perimeter.
"Damn, they are closer than I thought." he keyed his coms from his titan and announced over the command channel the change in arrival time and kicked his mind into overdrive. "feint back, and left, use the castle as cover, move to the hill to our west and get into defilade, use it to cover our escape to the north. I will try to keep them out of the castle so you have time to gather our gear, if we have time, take the prisoners too. If not, leave them but don't harm them." Suddenly two unicorns flashed into existence in front of his titan, taking him by surprise.
"Well this is a new type of horse I haven't seen yet."
"Pony." Sadie corrected him.
"Now's really not the time for that." he engaged his thrusters and rocketed back and to the right, placing a fountain between them.
"Attention. Electrical discharges sensed over ninety percent of our hull. I believe we are being scanned by something."
"Well they want to scan with electricity, lets give them a little jolt. Sadie, countermeasures, EMP." ______________________________________________________________________________
Thunder Aurora and Blazing Oath short range teleported from behind the wall, as Lt. Sunbeam and the other two ran to the left, flanking around the outer wall. The giant was at the castle. What it was doing here was not of his concern, he had located the target and before engaging sent an emergency message to Commander Obsidian Flame of their location. All they had to do was hold it off until the remainder of his platoon arrived.
They had just arrived behind the giant in time to see Aurora and Oath fall unconscious as a blue shockwave emanated from the giant. They had been casting an oculus spell, searching the creature for vitals, and health issues to use to their advantage. Apparently this beast was magical in origin but was masking its magical signature. Power that only Unicorps Captains and other powerful spell casters have attained.
Quickly they ducked behind the wall, just as the monster turned around. ______________________________________________________________________________
The Major laughed as he watched the three ponies hunker down through the wall on his thermal scans. He didn't want to hurt them so he would humor them and play dumb and used this to his advantage. Guiding the titan, he lumbered over to the spot where the five had originally hidden and began lumbering off into the woods to the east. Hopefully they would follow.
Sure enough, two of the signatures broke off into the woods and began tailing him. The third however... ______________________________________________________________________________
The giant, tailed by Ivory Dust and Summer Charm, pounded his way into the woods. Now was his chance. The Lieutenant teleported to the door of the castle and crept inside, making sure to check all the corners of every room he entered. The emptiness of the castle was starting to press in on him. A call could be heard from down a hallway.
"HEY! Are you just going to leave us here? You chicken feathered good for nothing tottering fly bitten flap dragon!" "SIR! I can't believe you said that!"
Cautiously, the Lt. scanned the corridor as he progressed deeper into what looked like jail cells. He relaxed a bit when he came across two Thestrals in one of the cells, and snapped a salute, recognizing instantly Commander Starlight and Lt. Commander Willow, of the Night Guard's Recon unit.
"Sirs!" Sunbeam snapped out. "We are here to extract you."
A quick pulse from his horn and the lock exploded into small fragments, allowing the gate to swing wide.
"As the ranking officer, Commander, you can take charge of my detachment if you wish. Two of my men are following the giant, although the other two are out cold at the moment. The rest of my Unicorps platoon should be arriving shortly."
Suddenly an explosion shuddered the very foundation of the castle. ______________________________________________________________________________
Twenty or so unicorns descended on the fleeing titan, and when it seemed like he had nowhere to go and the ponies had won, he decided to employ his last ditch effort.
"Sadie Spool up the Dash Core." Shawn shouted as he slammed the trigger on the missile. It rocketed into the side of the cliff he was running down, causing debris to shower around the area and a thick dust smokescreen to kick up.
"Multi-Core system, Dash Core online."
The titan slammed forward and jettisoned between and sometimes through trees boulders and even across a narrow stream, its feet hardly touching the ground. After clearing about two kilometers a heat klaxon sounded and the core shut down before it melted down. Even with their teleportation, they were not fast nor skilled enough to keep up with the seasoned titan pilot. Running on his primary core again he powered forward and continued as planned, making a wide sweeping arc to the south and coming around in from the west side of the evacuating group. Hopefully they made it without running into any snags. ______________________________________________________________________________
Dillan ran panting after the soldiers and his friends. A mid afternoon sprint through a humid jungle wasn't exactly his idea of a great vacation. After the explosion was heard, everyone abandoned stealth and opted to flat out run towards the rendezvous location. what appeared to be the largest hill between the nearest settlement and the castle. An easy enough to spot landmark.
Once everyone felt they were a good distance from the castle, the group ground from a dead sprint to a dead shamble through the overgrowth. Tod threw up from the exertion. Becky was being carried by Tanner, piggy back style, while John was doing the same for his wife.
Sonny, Farahad, and Leo were sweeping ahead of the group, making sure that there wasn't any threat in front of them. Dillan couldn't help but marvel at the machine gunner. He had just run basically a quarter mile, toting a twenty pound machine gun, and didn't seem the slightest bit winded. In fact, none of the Militia seemed tired. After staggering another two hours through the woods, they came upon the base of the hill and began the ascent. Something caught the ears of the point team though, causing the group to halt rather quickly.
"Is that... Music?" Leo asked, puzzled.
Sure enough, grainy music could be heard playing at the top of the hill. Everyone continued forward, at a much more reserved pace, sticking to cover. As they crested the hill, the strangest thing could be seen...
Not a soul to be seen. Yet a white canopy was set up and underneath it, an old phonograph record player cranked out a happy tune at a moderate volume. Tables lined with streamers and balloons and colorful tablecloths were scattered in groups in the shade of the canvas. What appeared to be cupcakes lined the main table at the center of the setup.
Everyone exchanged confused glances, but a look of worry set in on Dillans face...
Unbeknownst to them, a Ghillie suit clad pink pony was peering through binoculars at them.
