> Logic and Friendship. Roger! Roger!
>  by Anaylze
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although the Clone Wars had officially ended with the slaughter of the Separatist Council on Mustafar in 19 BBY and the resulting shutdown of almost all Separatist Forces obeyed the Shutdown order, some disobeyed that order, refusing to surrender to the newly formed Galactic Empire. A few groups of super tactical droids were able to conclude that the shutdown order was a trap, to bring the Separatist forces down with ease, and disobeyed the order. As was the case with Kraken, a Super Tactical droid who was rebuilt after his destruction by Anakin Skywalker. However, his days of service were far from over. Above the Hypothermal planet controlled by the Techno Union known as Hypori, a Battle of the Clone Wars continued to rage on.

Kraken gazed out the window of his Providence Class Dreadnought, Surveying the battle. 

“Sir! 2 new enemy ships have just joined the battle! What should we do?” A Pilot droid asked.

2 of the Imperial 1 Class Star Destroyers had jumped out of hyperspace to join the 3 Venator and had continued to open fire on his crippling Separatist Fleet. They had already lost 4 frigates and Recusant Class Destroyer. Kraken knew he couldn’t win this battle. 

“Prepare to jump to random hyperspace coordinates. Send them encrypted messengers to other ships in the fleet. Withdraw all forces battle.” Kraken ordered.
 
“Roger, Roger” replied the droid. 

The ship began to shift to the left, as did all the other ships in the fleet. A nearby Munificent Class Frigate’s main reactors went critical, and a massive explosion tore the small frigate into two.  

3 holograms appeared above the strategy table, of T-series Tactical droids, the predecessor to the Super Tactical Droids like Kraken. 

“We have received your orders, commander” A monotone yet somewhat feminine voice replied from one of them. 
Kraken turned around to give a final glimpse at the battle. He felt like a failure for his inability to protect the Techno Union’s planet below. 

“Coordinates ready Commander!” A nearby pilot droid stated. 

“Initiate Retreat Jump” 

The ship’s Hyperdrive powered up, a loud hum filled the ship. All the stars that were visible began to stretch into long, blue lines as the ship entered Hyperspace and vanished in an instant. A nearby Lucrehulk Control ship, Munificent Class Frigate, and Recusant Class Light Destroyer followed a split second later. 

It had been the typical, beautiful, peaceful day in Equestria. Nothing particularly important happened in Pony ville that day. All the lights in town were except for one. In the center of town, a large tree shaped castle made of crystals rose from the ground, and in its library window candlelight shone out. Twilight was happily reading a book, while Spike organized the new shipment of Books which had just arrived from Canterlot. 

"Did you finish yet Spike?"
 
"No Twilight, there's still 2 more boxes. You've been paying way too much attention to that book."
 
"Uh huh" came Twilight's automated response.

Spike sighed. He wished something interesting would happen, the whole week had been uneventful.
 
"It's 8:30, don't you think we should be getting to bed" he yawned.
 
Suddenly she snaked back to attention. Twilight came to the realization of the situation. "Oh my, yes you're right. I didn't realize it was that late!" 

Yeah, you've been reading for 4 and a half hours straight." His stomach rumbled and he felt the sensation of hunger. "You even forgot to make dinner!" 

"Sorry Spike, it's just that book is really good!" 

"What's it about?" 

"1001 facts about the Stars in Luna's Night sky." Twilight said as she walked into the kitchen and began preparing a simple dinner. It had been a long day, but the days ahead would make this one seem like the blink of an eye.
 
Above the planet, a large somewhat battle-damaged Providence Class carrier suddenly dropped out of hyperspace, followed immediately after by Munificent Class Frigate and a Recusant Class Light Destroyer, which was followed seconds later by a heavily damaged Lucrehulk Control Ship. The ships weren't missing any large parts, mostly just Turrets, blast marks, and some small fires on the hull.
 
Kraken sat in his command chair observing the scene 

"Damage Report" he asked 

"Shields are at 40% but are recharging with no major damage" One Pilot Droid said 

"Small fires on outer hull, no major damage," said another 

Kraken stood up and walked towards the front window of the bridge and stared at the beautiful planet with swirly clouds and life filled continents. 

"Acceptable. Identify our location" Kraken ordered 

"All stars do not match known charts. We may have jumped into the unknown region's sir" The Pilot continued. 
"Scan the planet surface for life, technology and conditions. Report any anomalies. Prepare a damage report filled in for the other surviving ships immediately" 

"Roger, Roger" replied the Pilot Droid. 

Twilight woke up the next morning feeling dazed. She'd stayed up way too late and overslept. Spike was still asleep, and she saw no reason to wake him yet. He'd worked hard yesterday and deserved a rest. She got groggily out of bed and started quietly downstairs to get ready for the day, even though it was halfway over. Once she was ready, she headed outside, and found a newspaper outside. Luna was preparing a special meteor shower tonight, one of her most spectacular in years! Twilight was always happy to get a new reason to gaze up at the night sky, and she would do it with her friends tonight. She headed over to the market, remembering she needed to get more food. On the way she spotted Flutter shy, who was no doubt getting good for the many animals she cared for. 

"Hi Flutter shy" greeted Twilight 

"Oh! Um, hi Twilight. How are you?" 

"I'm alright, I stayed up way too late last night. I'm here to get some fruit and vegetables, we're running out. How are you? 
"I'm um, I'm alright too. I'm out getting Angel some ingredients for that salad he really likes. He's been such a good boy lately" Flutter shy said, "and then I have to get some other food for my cute little animals" she continued. 
"Oh, one thing before I forget, did you hear about the meteor shower tonight? It's supposed to be a pretty one, do you want to come over to the castle to night and watch it from the Balcony?" Twilight asked. 

"Oh, sure Twilight! Is every pony else going to be there?" 

"Every pony else should be there, I haven't asked them yet." 

"Alright, I'll come over a little before it starts, I'll have to feed everyone and put them to bed." 

"Alright. Sounds like you have a busy day ahead of you, I need to go get started in mine!" Twilight said, pulling out her shopping list from her saddlebag and levitating a quill over to add her reminder to ask Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack to come over tonight. 

"Alright, first things first, tomatoes" she said as she began reading her list and headed off to begin shopping.
 
Back aboard the Providence Class Carrier 'Enforcement', several hours had passed. Kraken stood at the hologram display and the 3 T-Series Tactical Droids from before stood there in their holographic forms.

"Report ship status" Kraken Ordered 

The red and tan Tactical droid on the left, TJ-912 spoke first.
 
"Ship shields have recharged to full capacity. 70% of our starfighters recovered from battle. Ship Engines at 87% integrity. Weapon systems at 93%. All other systems operating at standard levels" she said in her Feminine Monotone voice. 
Kraken turned his head to face the blue and tan Tactical Droid in the center, TA-175. 

"Ship engines are operating at 72% percent. Starboard engine has failed. Repairs are in progress." He began "Shields are 77% recharged. 84% of Starfighters recovered. Long range communications array damaged and nonfunctional. Repairs are in progress. Weapons Systems at 68%. All other systems operate at standard levels." 

Kraken turned his head to face the green and tan Tactical Droid on the right, TF-1726. 
"Ship shields are recharged to full capacity. Weapons systems at 89%. Engines at 91% operating capacity. All other systems operate at standard levels." 

"Acceptable. Remain in contact, I have further orders." 

A nearby B1 walked up to Kraken, carrying a Data pad. 

"Sir, the scan results of the mysterious planet have arrived." The Droid stated. 

"Report" Kraken simply replied 

"The Planet's atmosphere is a type-1, suitable for most organic life forms to inhabit. The planet has a plentiful supply of water. It is also heavily populated by Life. Various new plants and animals have been scanned" 

"Any detection of Intelligent Life?" 

"Well, we think so, but we're not sure." 

"Explain" 

"Well, we are detecting several dense mostly primitive habitation centers. Very little industry and nearly no technology detected. However, we are detecting a very strong Energy signature of unknown origin or function around the planet. It is not a shield and does not appear to be generated by technology." 

"Intriguing" 

"That's not all sir, the species that appear to be the dominant species on this planet have never been witnessed before, or anything similar for that matter. The creatures that are in charge appear to be quadruped colorful creatures. We have a hologram projection of 3 types observed sir" 

"Display it" 

On the hologram table, next to the Tactical Droids 3 holograms of the life forms appeared. They were indeed quadruped and very colorful. They did not have fingers or toes, their legs simply ending is hooves, and their head was horribly disproportionate to the rest of the body. The face, aside from its large eyes and snout, appeared vaguely humanoid, possessing a mouth, ears, nose and hair. However, the 3 figures were different from each other. One had wings on its back, one had a horn protruding from its forehead, and one had neither. 

"Strange" Kraken began. "The presence of wings on this particular example infers the ability of flight, but I calculate the wings appear too small to get a creature of that size and weight off the ground. And the other example with the horn, has the function been determined yet?" 

"No sir, we aren't sure. Perhaps it could a be defensive mechanism like a spike?" The Droid suggested. 
"Further analysis is required. Prepare scouting parties. I want them deployed via Dorch Class Boarding Craft. Each craft should contain 4 B1s accompanied by an OOM Commander and 2 Probe Droids." Kraken ordered. 

"Roger ro-" the droid began only to be interrupted by another droid which quickly came running over to Kraken, loading 
yelling "Sir!" 
Kraken turned to face the other droid, somewhat annoyed by its interruption 

"What is the meaning of this?" Kraken demanded. 

"Radar has detected an incoming meteor shower! It's very large and could potentially damage our ships! We have 9 minutes to prepare!" The Droid nervously shouted. 

"Raise deflector shields" Kraken began, pausing for a moment to think "and prepare to launch the probes. We will launch them with the meteor shower to disguise our landing."

Kraken turned to face the other 3 Tactical Droid's holograms "All ships with nonfunctional shields move out of the way of incoming meteors. Begin moving to predicted safe zones." 

"Yes Commander" they all said in unison. 

Nighttime fell in Equestria and Luna raised the moon overhead. The 6 friends with their little baby dragon had gathered on Twilight's Castle's balcony and were waiting for the meteor shower to start. 

"Uh, Twi, are ya sure it's tonight?" Applejack asked 

"Yes, the newspaper said it was, and Spike got a letter about it earlier. It's actually for us and all we've done together." Said Twilight, looking through a telescope. 

"I think is see it… yep! Here it comes! Get ready every pony!"
 
"Ohboyohboyohboy!" Pinkie began jumping up and down in her usual playful energetic demeanor. 

They all gazed up at the sky in awe as the event began. Colorful streaks flew across the sky, creating a spectacular sight, before they eventually burned up. 

"Oh, it's just so beautiful!" Rarity swooned "I wish I could pluck one out of the sky and put it on a dress!" 

"They're fast! And awesome!" Rainbow Dash began "Well, almost as fast and awesome as me." She said, bringing a hoof to her chest. 

The shower continued for several minutes, and a group of 5 very bright ones rained down, suddenly changing directions 
"Hey Twi, why are those ones Goin' in different directions?" 

"I'm not sure, but I am sure Luna planned it to happen" Twilight assured her friend. 

However, those 5 never burned up, they continued to race towards the surface.
 
Flutter shy suddenly became worried "W-w-what if those ones hit some pony!" She stuttered.
 
The 5 meteors continued to fall toward the Ever-free Forest on the edge of Pony ville. 
5 loud booms were heard and the ground shook as they impacted the ground… 
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OOM-340's senses suddenly came back to him as his body reactivated and was dropped from the landing pod, followed by 4 other B1 Battle Droids. As they began to unload the Probe Droids and prepare them, he took in his surroundings. He was in a dark, jungle-like forest with vines, sounds of animals, and a dirt covered floor packed with thick bushes. He brought his left hand up to the side of his head and activated his commlink.

"This is OOM-340 reporting on a safe landing of Group Alpha on the planet." he said in his high-pitched voice. 

"OOM-466 reporting Group Charlie landing!" Came another voice 

"OOM-621 of Group Delta Reporting!"
 
"OOM-226 of Group Echo Reporting!" 

"This is OOM-227 of Group Bravo! Sorry for the delay!" Another droid began. "Wait, we have movement. Oh, hello there little wooden canine lifeform! What's your na-AHH IT BIT MY FINGER!" The sound of an E-5 Blaster being fired was heard over the radio "We have more of them! Alpha Group requesting help!"
 
"Roger, Roger!" OOM-340 shouted, turning around to see the group had successfully unloaded the Probe Droids and sent them off to scout. "Follow me, squad Bravo is encountering hostiles"
 
"Roger, Roger" the B1s all said in unison, and they hurried off the Bravo Group. 

"What if some pony got hit?" Flutter shy said, with a high amount of concern in her normally quiet voice. 

"Flutter shy, I'm sure no pony got hurt" Twilight said, hoping to deter her friend from heading into the dangerous Ever free forest late at night. 

"But what if some pony did? They could be in pain!" She cried. 

"Alright, alright, we'll go check, but we're not staying any longer than we need to. I already overslept today, and I don't need to again. I'll go put Spike to bed and we can go." 

"Aw come on Twi!" Spike complained. 

"You're a baby dragon and you need your sleep, I'll talk to you about it in the morning, ok?" Twilight said, giving a smile and a hug. 

"Alright, alright I'm going" 

"Don't forget to brush your teeth!" 

"Yeah, yeah" 

"Oh, he's just so precious, my little Spikey Wikey" said Rarity.
 
Twilight turned around "Alright, who else is going on this little late-night adventure?" 

"I could go up for an adventure, it sounds like fun!" Pinkie said. 

"Ah need to get back, but ah want to make sure your safe sugar cube," said Applejack 

"I'm no chicken, I'll come along. It's not like the forest is scary or anything" Dash said in a somewhat fake sounding voice of confidence. 

"Well,", Rarity began "Ladies need to get their beauty sleep, I really should be getting back" 

"Ooh! We got a scaredy cat" Rainbow Dash teased "you're scared of the forest!" 

"I am not!" 

"You are so!" 

"I am not!" 

"Then prove it, come along! Unless you are too chicken!" Smirked Dash 

"Oh IT. IS. ON!" Rarity said in her dramatic fashion. 

They headed down the stairway of the castle and out into the night, into the forest with a thousand stars above them… 
OOM-340 hurried though the brush with his squad behind him. They were 15 feet from Bravo Groups location and could hear and see the Blaster Bolts being fired. They reached the clearing, and the scene was a strange one. 

There was Bravo Group, or what was left of it, fighting against a pack of vicious wolf-like creatures, but what made them strange was their appearance and composition. They appeared to be made almost entirely out of wooden logs and sticks, with bright green glowing eyes and leaves as eyebrows. There was a large pack of them attacking Bravo Squad, who was backed into their landing craft. Two on the edge of the clearing were fighting over a destroyed B1 Battle Droid, one grabbing at the neck and the other at the arm, before the head tore off and the one began to chew on it like a bone. 

Frightened and disgusted at these creatures, OOM-340 yelled "OPEN FIRE!" And his troops did as they were told, blasting the pack, and killing several of them. When the wolves died, rather than simply falling over, they exploded into small shards of wood. The pack leader turned to face them and charged at OOM-340. OOM-340 squeezed the trigger on his E-5, which was set to automatic and let out a blast of shots into its face, causing it to explode in front of him. The other wolves appeared notably angered by the death of their pack leader, and some became more ferocious. 3 more charged at OOM-340 and his squad but were quickly blown apart, launching shards of wood everywhere. 

"That didn't seem so hard" said OOM-340. 

Moments later the shards of wood began to reassemble, floating together and forming 4 more of the wolf creatures. 
"Umm, what?!" 

They all began to charge at him specifically. OOM-340 flinched and it looked as though he was about to become a new chew toy until suddenly a volley of Blaster fire came from under the pod, killing 2 of the wolves and scaring the other 2 into retreat. 

"Don't let them retreat! Blast them!" OOM-340 ordered. 

As the wolves began to retreat into the forest while under fire from the rest of the squad, OOM-340 walked over to the pod. Hiding underneath, were the remains of Bravo Squad. There were only 2 B1s left, and they both stood and saluted OOM-340 when he approached. 

"Where's OOM-227?" He asked. 

"Destroyed sir, along with B1-8863 and B1-3662. We're all that's left. Well, that and our Probes. I guess you're in charge now?" one said 

"I'm the commander now, you're my units now. Gather your supplies and follow us. We have exploration to do" OOM-340 ordered. 

"Roger, Roger" 

Already deep within the Ever free, Flutter shy and the group made a B-line right for the nearest impact, which was made by Group Alpha. They stepped into the notable shady area and were all shocked at the sight. A large tan cone shaped craft suspended by 4 "arm" like prongs was lodged into the ground, and there were several crates on the ground, all empty of whatever contents they contained. 

"Ooh! What a doozy!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, excited by the sight "what if we get to make new friends?! OOHICAN'TWAITTOMEE-" 

Pinkie was suddenly interrupted when Applejack shoved her hoof into her mouth 
"Quiet Sugar cube, were not alone!" 

"Um, he-hello?" Flutter shy said as she walked nervously up to the large craft, with fear in her voice. "Is there anyone in there? Are you hurt?" 

"Flutter shy, I think it's empty, whatever was in it is gone." Twilight said. 

Applejack walked up to the craft and gave it a light kick "What the hay is this thing anyhow?" 

Rarity walked up to the craft to join Applejack in examining it 

"I'm not sure, but it's terribly unfashionable. It's so silly colored, and mechanical! It lacks any kind of elegance." 

"I hate to interrupt every pony, but I've found something" Dash said, floating over. 

"What did you find?" Twilight asked 

"I think I found some tracks of some kind." 

The group followed her over to a patch of ground that was bare dirt. There were strange footprints in the ground, and there were several sets of them, with them all being identical. 

"I think they went off this way" Dash said, pointing a hoof towards a small path through the brush. 

"I don't know why, but I feel like we're being watched" Pinkie said "my Pinkie sense says so!" 

Twilight had to agree, she did feel as though she was being watched, she had that creepy feeling. 

They were being watched, but by what they didn't know. They couldn't see it. But it could see them. 

Above them in a tree branch attempting to blend in was a Viper Class Probe Droid. The droid zoomed in on the group, to get a better view of them so the feed on the ship would pick up better detail. Suddenly a pink blob appeared in front of the camera, which quickly came into focus as Pinkie Pie, who shouted "HELLO!". The Probe was startled by this and fell out of the tree, falling onto the ground in front of the group. They all stared at it for a moment, and it stared back. Rarity screamed at it, terrified by its spider-like appearance, before it quickly leapt back up into the air and quickly raced away, giving above the ground making strange noises. 

"Okay, now ah think ah'm seein' things, did anyone else see that big metal spider?" 

"Is it gone?!" Rarity asked, peeking out from behind the ship slowly. 

Dash, silencing a laugh assured her that the metal spider was gone, and she slowly came back over to join the group. 

Twilight turned to face them 

"I think we should follow it" she said. 

"Why in Celestia's name would we do that?! Darling, that thing is creepy! Isn't that right Flutter shy?" 

"Um, well it could be considered kind of cute in its own way." 

"I think we should follow it girls, it has to have some relation to this strange craft" Twilight said 

"Oh alright. But I'm not going to get near it!" 

The group headed off following the tracks… 

Kraken watched the feed as a Probe Droid was observing a group of the creatures. He was surprised that they spoke basic despite being completely cut off seemingly from the rest of the Galaxy. He was trying to calculate the odds of that when suddenly a pink blob appeared in front of the lense startling the Probe, screaming "HELLO!" and causing it to fall to the ground and run off. Kraken was disappointed that the Probe had been seen, as it ruined the ability to hide their presence. However, it could have been worse as if they had captured the Probe, then he would be forced to imitate a self-destruct function to prevent them from examining it. He needed to preserve resources, and he would need to find a way to replenish troops if his reserves would become depleted. He calculated that the planet likely had metal ores and other materials under its surface, and that they could be potentially mined to gain resources. However, to build Droids, they would need a foundry. That would require construction and a place. Kraken moved that thought into his memory banks for later, deciding to function of the situation at hand. He held out a hologram projector in his hand and contacted Alpha Group. 
> Chapter 3: Who's Roger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OOM-340 had just finished reassembling one of the B1s from Bravo who wasn't too damaged. This meant that he had 7 B1s to support him and guard him. Suddenly his radio alerted him that he had an incoming message from Kraken himself! He quickly reached up to his head and activated it

"Yes Sir?" 

"The natives have discovered crash site Alpha and I calculate that they are headed your way." 

"What should I do?" 

"Conceal yourselves to avoid detection. If you are discovered, do not engage unless engaged first. I will instruct you on proper action course if you are located." 

"Roger, Roger." 

OOM-340 looked around, the clearing was rather devoid of cover except on the edges. OOM-340 tried to think about where to hide… 

"Squad, find hiding positions. Try to hide up in the pod, or behind a rock or something. But I want you two to guard me. Do not engage unless I give the order." 

OOM-340 and his two bodyguards quickly ran into a nearby bush and ducked down. They would see a little, but not very well. 

His radio buzzed again 

"Have you concealed yourself" 

"Yes sir." 

"Remain in location." 

"Roger, Roger." 

Right as OOM-340 said those words, there was movement in the other side of true clearing. 
Twilight and her friends stepped out into the clearing, gasping, finding another one of the strange crafts lodged in the ground. However, they weren't gasping at the pod, rather the rest of the scene. There were scorching holes in trees and the ground all over the clearing, and small burning logs and sticks all over. Flutter shy quickly ran over to the pieces of wood and gave a look of horror. 

Layed out in front of her were the smoking charred remains of an entire pack of Timberwolves. Timberwolves were viscous, but outright destroying them to the point they couldn't reform was horrifying, at least to her. The best way to get rid of them was to scare them off with loud noises, or her personal favorite, her stare. 
Flutter shy began to cry. 

Applejack and Twilight moved over to comfort their friend 
"There, there Sugar cube, it'll be ok, there's plenty of Timberwolves into the Ever free" said Applejack giving her sensitive friend a hug. 

Flutter shy sniffled "bu-but who could do such a thing?" 

"I'm sure whoever did it had their reasons Flutter shy, it wasn't kind, but it might have been a survival situation." 

"Yeah, like remember the time ah saved Spike from some?" 

Flutter shy knew her friends were right, surely no one would attack wolves for no reason, right? 

Flutter shy wiped her tears and walked out further into the clearing, but suddenly Twilight called to everyone's attention. 
"Girls! Come here and look at this!" 

The group all gathered around a tree, and slumped against it was 
the strangest sight they'd seen all day at. 

Twilight had stumbled upon one of the new creatures that was likely responsible for this. It was some sort of tan, metal figure, or at least it had been. It seemed to have two legs, meaning it was bipedal and two arms, a backpack with a twisted antenna mounted on its back and a hole in the top where she assumed a head should be. There were long cables running out, and nearby on the ground was a black device, and more cables which connected to a long stick and what she could only assume was the head of the creature, which smelled of Timberwolves terrible breath, meaning it had been in one's mouth. The creature was covered in claw marks and scratches, and clearly went down with a fight. 

"Sweet Celestia!" Cried Flutter shy, almost fainting at the scene of another dead creature. 

"Twi what is that thing?" Applejack asked, a look of total confusion on her face, and Twilight looked back with just as much confusion 

"I'm not sure, it seems to be some sort of… automated machine?" 

Rarity stepped up to it "well what whatever it is its color scheme and design is terribly tacky, so dull and ugly! 
Rainbow Dash floated over 

"Maybe my other special talent is discovering, because I just found another one of these things." 
The group filled her over to another spot. 

Indeed, there was another one, but its chest was torn open and wiring and cables were littered everywhere, and it had mustard yellow marking on it, and no backpack, just 2 bent antennas on the shoulder. 

Pinkie suddenly appeared with a Sherlock hat and bubbling pipe 

"Looks like this just turned into a spooky mystery!" 

Pinkie began to shudder and twitch 

"You ok Pinkie?" Asked Twilight 

"ThErEs a DoOzY CoMiNg AnD mY vOiCe SoUnDs SiLlY!" Said Pinkie as she was beginning to shake and bounce off the ground. 

Suddenly there was a clicking sound from a nearby bush, as if something mechanical had shifted. 
The group all reacted in a different way. 

Dash took up a combat pose, 

Applejack stood firmly with a tough look but friendly smile, 

Flutter shy made an "eek!" Sound, Pinkie looked curious (and excited as always), Twilight looked attentively, and Rarity stepped back. 

Flutter shy swallowed nervously and stepped up
 
"Um, he-hello? Is someone there? My names Flutter shy… do you have a name? You can tell me it, you know, if you want to and if it's ok with you…" she said, smiling in a friendly way. "We're not going to hurt you, ok? You can come out… that's, if you want to…" 

The bush moved and the clicking noise was heard again as a head identical to the one being in the ground with the mustard markings slowly rose out of the bush, followed by 2 more that were entirely tan. 

"Uh… hi?" Said the mustard-colored head in the middle in a high-pitched voice. 

OOM-340 just stated. Well, if he had eyes he would be staring, he only had photoreceptors. 6 strange colorful beings stood in front of him, 2 smiling, 2 shocked and 2 in a somewhat defensive position, but the one was still smiling so that was good. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't prepared for this. He said the only thing that he could think of to say. 

"Uh… hi?" 

OOM-340 nervously stepped out of the bush followed quickly by his 2 guards. 

Suddenly the Pink one jumped up high in the air, seemingly defying gravity for a second and darted (still in the air mind you) towards him. 

OOM-340 dove out of the way yelling 

"Don't hurt me! I'm an innocent Droid!" 

His two bodyguards raised their blasters and were about to fire, assuming their commander was under attack when suddenly the Pink one froze in midair, surrounded by a purple aura and was pulled back towards the group. The purple one had a purple aura around her horn, as if she was doing it. 

OOM-340 stood up, dusted himself off and gave the signal for his guards to hold their fire. 

The purple one laughed nervously, a smile on her face. 

"Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the Princess of Friendship, and these are my best friends. Sorry about my friend Pinkie, she's just excited to meet new ponies, err, whatever you are. 

"Uh, Droids." 

"Ooh! That's an interesting name." 

The orange one walked up, tipping her hat and began to shake his hand with her hoof so hard that the magnetic joins in his arm almost disengaged. 

"Hi! Mah name is Applejack and it's a pleasure to meet yah!" She said in a strong southern accent. 

OOM-340 finally managed to wrench his arm free of her grip, only to turn and be face to faceplate with a Blue one with a rainbow-colored mane and tail who was floating in the air with wings on her back 

"I'm the one and only Rainbow Dash! The most awesome and Fastest flyer in all Equestria and Element of Loyalty!" 

OOM-340 wasn't a specialist on organic behaviors and emotions, but he knew overconfidence and ego when he saw it, and if this wasn't it, he couldn't think of what was. 

The white one with a fancy curly purple mane and tail, as well as long eyelashes walked up in a fancy way 
"Hello!" She said in a fancy British accent "I'm Rarity, owner of the finest fashion shop in Pony ville and might I say sir, you are TOTALLY in need of a makeover!" 

OOM-340 looked over at one of his bodyguards, and then back at Rarity. 

"Uh, sorry sir- uh I mean ma'am, but I can't-" 

"No, no, I insist darling I won't charge you! Not one bit!" 

"No, no, really I'm uh, I'm just fine." 

Lastly the Pink hyperactive one who looked as though she'd inhaled every gram of sugar in existence jumped forward.
 
Oh no, not this loon again, thought OOM-340. 

She took in a massive inhale of air 

"HiMyNameIsPinkiePieAndILoveMeetingNewPoniesAndIKnowI'veNeverMetYouBeforeBec-" 

The orange one suddenly shoved her forehoof in Pinkies mouth 

"Slow down Sugar cube, these poor fellas can't understand a word Yer sayin'!" 

Pinkie took a deep breath and continued "Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie and I LOVE meeting new ponies and I know I've never met you because I know every pony in Pony ville and I know I've never seen you before so you're new! And you know what that means? A WELCOME PAARRTTYY!" she shouted, jumping into the air suddenly wearing a Party Hat and blowing a Party Horn in her mouth. "What's your favorite flavor of cake?" 

"Uh…" 

"What about your favorite color?" 

"Umm…" 

"What about-" 

OOM-340 suddenly interrupted 

"Uh um, I'll, I'll be right back, ok?" 

He turned to his 2 bodyguards.
 
"Hey uh, you two stay here." 

"Yes Commander" 

OOM-340 walked off into the forest and got behind a tree and activated his commlink, contacting Kraken. 

Krakens holo pad beeped, alerting him to an incoming message. It was from OOM-340, who he'd spoken to recently. He flipped the in switch and held it out in front of him 

"Report OOM-340" 

"Sir, we've contacted the native species. They seem to be friendly, but what should I do?" 

Kraken thought for a moment. Now would be a chance to gain intel on the new species via direct interaction… 

"You may interact with them, but do not under any circumstances reveal us, the fleet's presence, The Confederacy, or any affiliation with the Probe Droids." 

"Yes sir!" 

"If they offer you shelter, accept their offering. I wish to hear direct reports on their behavior. If they ask about anything classified, act oblivious to it. You may interact socially, but do not engage in combat unless necessary for survival. Do you understand?" 

"Yes sir! But, what about our power levels? We'll run out." 

"I will have Probe Droids deliver recharge batteries to you and your squad every night. I can also locate you via radar if needed or lost." 

"Roger, Roger!" OOM-340 said, before cutting the transmission. 

Kraken was interested to learn more about this planet. He decided to contact Charlie, Delta and Echo teams to see how they were. He pulled out his holo pad once again and held it in his hand, switching it on 

"OOM-466 awaiting orders sir!"
 
"Report your findings" 

We seem to have found some sort of abandoned castle deep within the forest. Should we explore?" 

"Explore, but do not enter dangerous or unstable areas. Report your findings back to me." 

Kraken switched to contact Delta and Echo, who had since joined up to become just Delta Group. 

"OOM-621 Reporting!"
 
"OOM-226 Reporting!" 

"What is the status of your patrol? Have you discovered anything notable?" 

"Well, we've been scouting out an area with caves using viewfinders and discovered some sort of sentient-doglike creatures. They appear to walk on all fours but can use their two front legs as hands. They appear to have some sort of mining operation going on, and have burrows dug into the ground." 

"Continue scouting. They may be utilized in the future for mining purposes." 

"Roger, Roger". 

OOM-340 walked back over to the group. 

Pinkie was still over excited and was about to begin bombarding him with party questions again no doubt. 

Flutter shy looked over at them smiling "well, it is getting kind of late, the Ever-free Forest is a dangerous place, especially at night. You can come with us to Pony ville, if you want to." 

"Uh, sure" 

"I have some spare guest rooms in my castle, do you want to stay there?" Asked Twilight 

"Sure". 

"Alright, gather your stuff and we can get on our way, we don't want to be around if these Timberwolves reassemble into a Timberwolf King" Twilight said 

"A what?!" Asked OOM-340 

"Don't worry, if we go quick, it won't be a problem." 

"Well, me and my guar-er, um, friends are ready to go" 

"You don't have any possessions you need from your pods?" Twilight asked, confused.
 
"We don't have any possessions. We're Droids." 

The group had reached the edge of the forest and began to walk along a dirty path back to town. OOM-340 was on his radio (although he was trying to hide it) giving the rest of the squad orders. 

"Hey, um, I want you to go meet up with Group Charlie." OOM said as quietly as possible. 

"What?" Asked Twilight 

"Hmm? Oh, I um, I didn't say anything." 

Everyone in the group had somewhat skeptical expressions. 

"Then who said that? Something about a group?" She asked 

"He did." OOM-340 said as he pointed at his guard on his left. 

"Um, Roger, Roger! I did!" 

"Who's Roger?" 

The guard pointed back at OOM-340 "uh, him!" 

"Roger, Roger!" OOM-340 replied, trying to confirm his claims. 

The group stood there still, and Applejack walked up to the 3 Droids. 

"Hold up, ah thought Ya just said his name was Roger? And now you're saying it back? Which one of Ya is really Roger? Don't bother lyin' Ah know ah liar when ah see one!" 

OOM-340 tried to come up with the most logical answer he could think of as fast as he could. 

"All our names are Roger. He's Roger too!" He said, pointing at the guard on his right 
"Yes sir!" 

They all looked skeptically at each other, before nodding slowly. The group had all gone their separate ways when they returned to Pony ville. The Droids tried to be as quiet as possible when they walked, but they still made their mechanical noises as they walked. 

"Ok, now every pony be quiet, my friend Spike, who's a baby dragon is asleep. I'll show you to your rooms, and then we need to get to bed." 

"Yes mistress" 

The castle door creaked open, and they walked up the stairs. The interior was stunning, as not only was the exterior made up of crystals, but the interior as well. 

Twilight lit a candle and levitated it over to a room with a bed, nightstand, bookshelves and a window. 

"Here's your room, goodnight." She whispered before walking up the stairs and climbing into bed. 

Today had been one of weirdest days she'd ever had. Only Discord himself could come up with a crazier being. 

Twilight closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

Back in the guest room, OOM-340 prepared to enter a "sleep mode". 

"You two, enter low power mode so your power cells can recharge. Set clocks to activate at 0700." 

"Roger, Roger." 

All 3 of them reached back and mounted their blasters on their back. Suddenly their necks and antenna retracted into their bodies, and they sat down in the ground, and their arms folded up and their hands gripped around their legs, leaving them in a folded up compact position, which they were designed to do for easy storage. 
> Chapter 4: Proper Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike got out of bed and yawned. It was the beginning of a new day. Twilight was still asleep, so Spike decided to venture downstairs and make breakfast. On the way down he passed the guest room, and noticed the door was open. Inside were 3 tan statues that Spike didn't remember being there. Maybe Twilight was going to dress them up in armor and have them stand around the castle as knights. Spike giggled at the thought, because Twilight chose not to have guards at her castle so her friends could easily get in, so this seemed a little unlike her. Spike decided that Pancakes would make a nice breakfast, and after putting on a chef hat and apron, he began to hum and got to work.

Upstairs in the guest room, a jolt suddenly went through the 3 figures, and they all stood up and unfolded into their full heights and looked at each other before walking out of the guest room and down the stairs.
 
Twilight slowly woke up and walked to her bathroom where she brushed her teeth and combed her mane. She was in the middle of triple checking that she did everything when suddenly Spikes scream echoed throughout the castle. Twilight dashed downstairs in an instant. 

"TWILIGHT! THERE ARE MONSTERS IN THE HALL!" 

"Shh, Spike calm down, you'll wake the whole town! They're not monsters, they're just some nice creatures I met overnight." 

"Well, what are they?!" 

"They're some kind of creature the girls and I found last night. They seem to be friendly, and they are all named Roger, at least that's what they said, but other than that I'm not sure what they are. I offered them a place to stay, and I'll ask them more about themselves today. Just calm down and we'll discuss it with them over breakfast." 

Twilight walked over to her 3 new friends 

"Good morning! I trust you slept well?" 

"Oh yes, we have gotten time to close down like that for a while!"
 
"Are you ready for breakfast? Spikes making Pancakes." 

"What's breakfast?" 

There was an awkward silence… 

"You… you don't know what breakfast is? It's the meal you eat to start the day…" 

"Oh, yeah it's an organic thing. Yeah, we don't do that, but we'll still sit down." 

Twilight was puzzled but brought them over to the dining hall and seated them. Spike came out with a plate stacked high with Pancakes, syrup, butter and orange juice. 

The Droids just sat there and watched them eat. 

Twilight ate her breakfast quickly and began asking questions once she finished. 

"Are you sure there's nothing I can get you? Juice? Water?" 

"Well maybe an Oil Bath would be nice, but other than that no." 

Twilight gave a puzzled look 

"Okay then… but can you us a bit more about yourselves? Are you really machines? Where are you from? How did you get here? What's this thing? she asked pointing toward the Blaster. 

"Alright. We're automated life forms known as Droid, particularly B1 series and we were made by Baktoid co- er, just Baktoid Automata." He decided it was best to keep out combat from Baktoid Combat Automata to avoid any hostility. They seemed rather peaceful, but he wasn't sure how they would react if they knew he was a soldier. 

"Ooo! Fascinating! So, there are others like you?" Twilight asked with great interest. 

"Yes, lots of us." 

"How did you get here?" 

OOM-340 was really hoping she wouldn't re-ask that question. He decided he would think of an answer later.
 
"Can we come back to that one?" 

"Sure. How about… what that thing does?" 

"Well, that's an E-5. It's used to… its… it's a… tool. For solving situations. 

"Interesting, can I try it?" 

"Uh… no." 

"Pretty please?" 

"No…" 

"Pleeeeaaaasee?" Begged Twilight, making a pouty face and her pupils enlarging to an enormous size like puppy eyes and sparkling. 

"No… please stop doing that it creeps me out." 
Twilight looked down disappointed. 

"What about those yellow markings on you? Are you special? Like an alpha or something?" 

"Well, sort of. I'm an OOM series B1 so my programming is a bit better and I'm in charge of groups. These markings alert others to that. I'd imagine it's kind of like how you have both wings and… what is that thing on your head?"
 
"This?" Asked Twilight, gesturing to her horn "that's my Horn. All Unicorns have them and we use it to do magic, Like this."

Twilight levitated another pancake onto her plate. 

OOM-340 got simulated chills as it reminded him of tales he'd heard about Jedi, and their ability to move things using their mind. And how they'd cut down entire battalions of Droids... 

"You, ok?" 

"Uh huh." 

"Anyways, I used to be just a normal Unicorn, but I became The Princess of Friendship, and got my wings." 

"So, the winged ones are Princesses? Like that blue one with colorful hair? She seemed kind of egotistic." 

Twilight chuckled "well, not quite. There are 3 standard kinds of ponies. Earth ponies like Applejack and Pinkie Pie, Unicorns like Rarity, and Pegasi like Rainbow Dash and Flutter shy. Now there is also 4th type called Alicorns, which is what I am, and only Princesses can become Alicorns, like Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance." 

"Oh." OOM-340 simply replied 

"So how did you get here anyways?" 

OOM-340 decided to play dumb on this one. 

"Well, um, I don't know. We were flying through space and suddenly crashed… here. Wherever here is?" 

"Well, here, this is the land of Equestria. It's ruled by two Alicorn Princesses, Celestia and Luna. I actually have a map upstairs, what to see?" 

This was going better than he thought. If he could get a quick scan of the map's files, he could send it directly to Kraken and half of their problems would be solved. 

"Sure!" 

"Alright, follow me. Do your friends want to come?" 

"We'll follow to protect our Commander." 

"Oh, you don't need to worry about him, he's in good hooves!" She said, hugging him, which made OOM-340 uncomfortable. 

"Yeah, but it's our job" 

"Alright if you really want to, you can come to protect him from nonexistent danger." she said rolling her eyes and walking upstairs. 

She brought them to a room with 7 chairs in a circle, around a table with a seemingly holographic map of the land on it, complete even with buildings and trees, all in color. 

"This is the Cutie Map, and it shows all of Equestria." 

"That looks kind of like a hologram" 

"Maybe, but it's a magical map. It can send people places when they're needed to solve problems." 
"Oh." 

Suddenly Spike called from downstairs 

"Oh, I'll be right back. Feel free to look at the map but please don't touch anything." 

With that, she stepped out of the room and down the stairs. 

OOM-340 quickly walked around the table, looking for a control panel with a data disk, every projector table had one. He searched and searched, but he could not find one. He touched the map, but its hand simply went through it, like a hologram. 

"Hmm…" 

Downstairs, Twilight went to see what Spike wanted. 

"Yes Spike?" 

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be showing them all of this stuff? What if they're here to spy on us, or what if they're some kind of pony-eating monsters?! They could be dangerous!" 

"Spike, they're not dangerous. They're just friendly and curious! I'd imagine any pony who suddenly wound up here would be." 

"What about their Eek-5 or whatever it's called? That looks like some kind of weapon. You don't find it weird that they all carry them, and how do those other two refuse to leave the other one and submit to anything he says? How about them all having the same name? All I'm saying is that I'm suspicious. I think we should write a letter to Princess Celestia about them, see what she thinks." 

Twilight sighed 

"Alright, if it makes you feel better, we can write to her later. Now, it's impolite of me to keep a quest waiting." 
With that she walked back upstairs. 

OOM-340 frantically searched around for a disk or something else that could hold the intel. Suddenly he heard the clip-clop of her hooves on the floor. He got up from under the table, banging his head on it and stumbling backward clumsily into a wall. 

Twilight walked in "are you ok? I heard a noise like you fell." 

"Uh yeah I'm ok" said OOM-340, picking himself up. 

"Why don't we give you a tour of the town? Give you a bit of a feel for it since you're probably going to stay here for a while.
 
"I don't see a reason why not." 

"Perfect I'll tell Spike and we'll be on our way." 
 
> Chapter 5: A Look Around Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kraken spoke to Delta Group via hologram.
 
"Any further analysis of the Dog creatures?"
 
"Yes, they seem to have an obsession with Gemstones, but do not appear to be particularly bright." 

"Perhaps we can offer a job contract." Kraken replied. Protection in exchange for them mining ore for aid in construction was a potential deal he could think of. Of course, if they didn't accept, he had other means of getting their assistance, without any benefit for them.
 
"Excellent work. I will be sending a deployment of land troops to develop a ground operation. Remain in contact". Said Kraken, closing the transmission and contacting TA-175. 

"Sir?" 

"Prepare a landing operation and go to the surface and land at Delta Groups location." 
"Yes sir." 

OOM-340 and his guard followed Twilight down a small dirt path on the edge of town. They walked up to a small cottage and Twilight knocked on the door. 


The door creaked open and inside was the yellow Pegasus with pink hair, Flutter shy 
"Oh! Hello Twilight and Roger, do you want to come in?" 

"Sure, I was just taking Roger and his friends on a tour of the town, we can step in for a minute." 
The inside of the cottage was filled with small houses, bird perches, mouse dens and other small animal dwellings. 
"So, what brings you here Twilight?" 

"Well, I figured you'd want to know a bit more about our friends, given that they are sort of alien creatures after all. Maybe you could show them some of your animals?" 

"Oh, well, this is my bunny Angel" Flutter shy said picking up a small, white agitated looking rabbit, "and these are all of my other friends" she said, and suddenly every little house or den let out its inhabitants. A varied assortment of birds, squirrels, mice, bunnies, and other animals gathered around Flutter shy on the ground. 

"So, did you want something to eat? Or tea?" Flutter shy offered. 

"Sorry, we don't eat food, we're not organics" OOM-340 reminded her 

"Oh, yes right. So, are you enjoying your stay here in Pony ville?" 

OOM-340 pondered his response for a minute. It was nice to have some time when he wasn't in combat or being constantly ordered around, and they were nice to him, even if he couldn't be complete honest about himself, but the town was kind of, well, boring and, somewhat strange because everyone seemed to be overly happy, particularly the Pink one who seemed to be insane. She creeped him out. However, he decided to say he was enjoying it stay, to prevent any more questions. 

"It's nice." 

"That's good to hear." 

OOM-340 tried to think of something positive to say about her animals so she would be happy. 
"Um, I, I really like your animals, they're really…" 

OOM-340 frantically scanned his memory banks for terms used to positively describe small animals. 
"Cute?" 

"That's very nice of you to say." 

Suddenly a Coo Coo clock went off in the room 

"Oh! That's my clock to go feed the animals, I'll talk to you four later, if that's ok with you."
 
"Alright, see you later Flutter shy" Twilight said as she stepped out with OOM-340 and his guards. 

They made their way down the path into town. In the distance OOM-340 could make out the pink blob of pink fur and hair that was Pinkie Pie jumping around handing out papers. They neared a building that was different than the standard houses that most of the ponies lived in. It was shaped sort of like a Carousel but was multiple stories and obviously a building. 

"This is Rarity's house and shop, she makes dresses and other clothing, but I'm not sure she'd want you stepping in there because you guys look a little roughed up and like you have some dust and grit on you, and she's kind of a clean freak. 
OOM-340 wasn't complaining about not going inside but felt insulted. Did this primitive species that lacked interplanetary travel or tech call him dirty? Did she know about the tons of bacteria that lived on all organic life forms? Given her intelligence, it seemed likely that she had some knowledge. 

"Alright". 

They then walked over to a building that resembled a giant pastry, like a gingerbread house with sprinkles, frosting and candy themed decorations. 

"That's Sugar cube Corner" said Twilight "it's a bakery run by the Cakes, and Pinkie Pie works and lives there too. They also have 2 baby foals, want to see them?" 

OOM-340 didn't like babies. They were loud, cried a lot, and didn't have off switches. Plus, the few times he'd seen them they were always screaming and crying when he came close. Then again maybe that's because they were liberating their planet from Republic forces? 

"No" 

"Are you sure? They're really cute!" 

"Uh huh, yep, I'm sure" 

"Alright well then we can take you to Sweet Apple Acres, that's where Applejack and her family lives and works. I would take you by Rainbows home, but she lives up in the clouds, and she's probably not home right now anyways, probably is trying some of her new stunts" 

Suddenly a rainbow and blue mass slammed down into the ground in front of them and OOM-340 and his guards both stumbled backwards and fell down yelling in their high-pitched voices. 

Rainbow laughed 

"Haha! You should've seen the way you fell! Why are you looking at me like that Twilight?" 
"Rainbow Dash, how many times have a told you to stop jumping down in front of ponies like that, you'll give some pony a heart attack!" 

"Or sensory overload…" mumbled OOM-340 as he picked himself up 

"Eh, sorry" she smiled sheepishly "I was just enjoying some fast flying and saw you walking. So, what are you and these 3 up to today?" 

"Well, we were going on a tour around here, and we were going to… to umm…" 

"Sweet Apple Acres" reminded Twilight 

"Yeah" 

"Oh, well, I'll leave you to that. See Ya!" 

With that the cocky, egotistic Pegasus rocketed off into the sky. 
> Chapter 6: More Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun began to set as they walked up a long dirt path and out of town, walking along an immense apple orchard on the other side of a fence, eventually coming up to a gate that led to a farmhouse and barn.

Walking up the path they came to Applejack, who was standing next to a tree with a bunch of empty buckets underneath. She stood up on her front legs and prepared to kick the tree behind her but stopped.

"Howdy! Nice of Ya to stop by! What can ah do for Ya?" 

"Well, we were just going on a walk around town, and I thought we'd stop by" 

OOM-340 stood there, thinking of what to say when an important question came to his mind 

"Why are you kicking a tree?" 

"Cuz that's how Ya get the apples from em?" 

OOM-340 thought that was strange, because it didn't seem possible for a creature of her size to knock them down by doing that. 

"How?" 

"Like this!" 

Applejack stood on her front legs and gave a powerful kick into the tree, and suddenly all of the apples fell into the baskets. 
OOM-340 was confused more than anything, but still somewhat impressed, as she was stronger than she looked. 
Suddenly 3 smaller ponies came zooming up in a scooter, 1 of each species. One that was yellow with red hair and a bow, one that was white with white and purple hair and a horn, and one that was yellow with dark pinkish red hair with wings, but instead of utilizing the for flight appeared to be using them in a way like an airboat to power the scooter that they were riding. 

"Hi Twilight!" They all said in unison 

"Hello girls, how are you today?"
 
"We were good" said the yellow one in an accent like that of Applejack, "but what we really wanted to do was talk to the
alien! Like where he's from!" 

"Yeah, like how he got here?" Said the small white unicorn 

"Well, only if it's ok with him," said Twilight. 

"Yeah, it's fine, I think I can answer some more questions." Said OOM-340 

"Oh! Twilight! Before ah forget Pinkie gave me this to give you! But it's a secret and you can't tell any pony!" Said the small yellow once again, holding a piece of paper in her mouth for Twilight to read, but keeping it out of OOM-340s view. Not like he could read it anyways, their alphabet was different, it wasn't written in Aurebesh or any other known fonts. 
"Oh, thanks girls! I'll leave you 3 to your interview!" Said Twilight cheerily before walking off with Applejack to talk 
The 3 sat down in front of the Droids and began asking their questions. 

"So, first things first" said the small yellow pony "I'm Apple bloom, this is Sweetie Belle and that's Scoot aloo" she said gesturing to the small white unicorn and small orange Pegasus. "We form the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a group devoted to helping others find their special talent and get their cutie marks!" 

"Umm, What's a Cutie Mark?" OOM-340 asked 

They all pointed towards the symbols on their back legs 

"Well, Cutie Marks" Apple bloom said "are a special marking that every pony gets once get discover their special talent! We originally formed this group to help each other get our Cutie Marks, but now that we have them, we help other ponies get theirs!" 

"That's… nice of you. So do you get them painted in like my yellow markings or what?"
 
"Oh no, it's an amazing moment there is a bright white flash, and the Cutie Mark appears on a pony's flank! Do you have a special talent?" 

"Well, um… not really, I'm kind of… normal for my series I guess?" 

"What do mean series? And what are you? And what's your name?" Asked Scoot aloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple bloom 

"My production model is called the OOM Series. My designation is OOM-340." 

"So, you ARE machines!" Exclaimed Scoot aloo
 
"Well, not really. That's like calling a common beetle a Geonosian." 

"What's a Geonosian?" 

"It's not important. But it's an intelligent insectoid species that created my design. Infact actually I think I'm supposed to look like them." 

"So, they look like you?" 

"Kinda, but they're more organic looking, with a hard exoskeleton, and they don't speak basic like you do." 
"You mean Equestrian right?" 

"No, I mean basic, that's what you're speaking." 

"Well, we call it Equestrian." 

"Okay?" 

The sun just sunk below the horizon and Twilight came back over with Applejack. 

"Celestia's setting the sun! You know what the flyer said girls, let's go!" Twilight said 

"Where?" OOM-340 asked 

"It's secret! Now come on, we're going to be late! Shouted the 3 fillies 

"Okay…" Said OOM-340 as he was practically pulled by the 3 off towards Ponyville in the night 
> Chapter 7: Parties and Employment Opportunities
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a thud as the C-9979 landing craft landed in the forest and its massive doors opened, revealing vast amounts of cargo. 5 AATs led by a column of 4 MTTs loaded with Battle Droids, while STAP Speeders buzzed ahead of the convoy.
 
Out of the top of the lead AAT's hatch popped TA-175.

"Landing operation complete sir" he said to Kraken in his monotone voice 
"Proceed to designated coordinates" 

"By your command." 

Then MTTs pushed onwards though the forest, knocking down many trees as they carved a path through the forest, sending many small animals and birds fleeing. 

They continued to move forwards for about 4 minutes before they came it a clearing with a large cave opening, but it appeared to have been dug out rather than a natural formation, with several burrows opening around the mouth of the cave. The MTTs parted allowing the AATs to take up position in front. 

Several dozen dog-like creatures crept out of the cave, several of them wearing primitive metal armor, and the others wearing vests with pockets full of colorful gemstones. They had larger forelegs and appeared to be able to walk on two legs, as well as Kirk, a gorilla. They also had short tails with spikes on them. 

The back door of the lead AAT opened and TA-175 stepped out, with a Blaster in one hand, a data pad in the other and 4 Red OOM Security Droids following him as he walked up to the large father of dogs. 

"What you want from Diamond Dogs?!" One of the gruff guards grumbled, slobbering on the ground. 

TA-175 stood there unaffected by the guards' threatening posture, as he was designed to be immune to intimidation. 
"Greetings. We wish to speak with your leaders." 

"Why you want to speak with pack leaders?" Barked the guard 
"I have an employment opportunity that I calculate will be beneficial for both of us." he said in his monotone voice. 
"Hmmm… okay, me go get leaders." 

The guard ventured back into the cave and returned a minute or so later with 3 other diamond dogs, one grey one with a red vest filled with gems and a collar Also with gems, one tan short bulldog like one that wore a grey gem filled vest and a gem covered collar, and one large blue grey one with a grey vest and a collar also speckled with gems. 

"What you bucket a bolts want?" Spoke the one in the middle 

TA-175 ignored the insult and continued with his offer
 
"I am TA-175 of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Please identify yourselves." 

"Rover" said the red vested one 

"Spot" said the short one 

"Fido" said the large one 

TA-175 continued with his offer. 

"You and your clan are now under the protection of the previously mentioned Confederacy. We present an offer that will benefit both of our groups." 

"Diamond Dogs work for no one, but what is offer?" 

"You will trade your abilities of mining and give us some of your metals and ores mined and we will offer you protection."
 
The 3 Diamond Dogs laughed 

"Our guards are strong enough to protect us, no one mess with us! And we work for no one!" Rover said
 
"I strongly suggest you recalculate. This offer will be highly beneficial." 

"We. Work. For. NO ONE!" Rover screamed at TA-175. 

TA-175 calmly reached down to his data pad and pressed a button. 

In perfect sync, all the MTTs behind him opened their hatches and extended their racks, 2 deploying a battalion of B1s and 2 deploying a battalion of B2s, who all stood up and activated in sync as well. They all marched forwards until they were right up on the edge of the dog's crowd of guards and miners, emitting a loud clanking with each step. 

"This is your final opportunity to accept" said TA-175 "this is merely a fraction of our protective power that you are pushing away". 

"And we told you we no need your help bucket heads!" Growled Fido 

"Get lost!" Screamed Spot. 

"Well, it seems we will not be engaging in the trade of services. TA-175 said, reaching down and pressing another button on his data pad. 

All the Droids raised their blasters and pointed them at the diamond dogs. 

"Wait, wait, what you doing?!" Asked Rover 

TA-175 simply responded by raising his Blaster and firing 2 precise head shots at Rover and Fido, leaving smoldering holes in their heads.
 
Spot screamed and put his hands up but was also put down by a precise head shot from TA-175. 

"Exterminate the one who do not submit." He said coldly and the Droids began to open fire on the other Diamond Dogs who began to retreat into their caves. 

TA-175 stood there pleased, as he got his revenge on the disrespectful mutts, before walking back up into his AAT and contacting Kraken. 

"The Natives declined the employment opportunity. Their leaders have been eliminated and the remaining are being dealt with." 

"Excellent. Force prisoners to aid in construction of a base. Disobedience from them will not be tolerated." 
"Yes sir." TA-175 said, as he closed the transmission and watched the fight from the top hatch of his AAT through viewfinders. 

OOM-340 followed the group back to the castle, with them unlocking the front door and letting them step inside the dark entrance first. 

Suddenly the lights turned on and Pinkie lept out yelling 

"SURPRISE!" With confetti launching everywhere and a 'Welcome to Pony Ville' banner appearing across the ceiling. 
The room was FILLED with ponies. 

OOM-340 and his guards shrieked and just about fell backwards, in fact, one did. 

"HI! It's me Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you! Do you like it? Do you like it? Did I surprise you?" 

OOM-340 simply looked at her with a blank stare. 

"Yeah, sure I guess…" 

"Aw, why are you so gloomy? Come on, I'll make you smile!" Pinkie said, apparently thinking the upside-down U-shaped part of his faceplate was a frown, grabbing him and pulling him over to the food table. 

"See! I didn't know what you liked so I made just about everything! I got cupcakes, muffins, candy, cakes of all flavors, pie, punch, cider, and all sorts of stuff! Do you like it?" She said smiling a huge smile 

"Umm, yeah, umm, that's really nice of you…" 

"Do you want your cupcake now or later?" 

"I can't eat, I don't know why you organics don't get that. That's a thing for organics." 

"Aw come on, of course you can!" 

OOM-340 lifted the cupcake up to his "mouth" 

"Nom, nom, nom" he said. 

Satisfied Pinkie hopped off the go talk to the other guests. 

OOM-340 elbowed a grey Pegasus with blond hair who was eating a ton of muffins. 

"Hi!" she said in a bubbly voice looking up, revealing her crossed eyes. 

"You want this?" He said, offering her his cupcake 

"Sure! Thanks mister!" 

After a 15-minute skirmish, well, it would be more accurate to almost call it a massacre as the Droids suffered almost no losses, the sound of blaster fire began to die down. B1 and B2 Battle Droids marched out of the mine escorting captured Diamond Dogs. There were Diamond Dogs of all shapes and sizes being escorted out. 
TA-175 stepped out of his tank once more, to command his troops. 

"What should we do with the prisoners sir?" 

"Process them. Analyze their strength level. Execute the ones too weak to be of use."
 
"Roger, Roger. Move it brainless!" The Droid said, turning to bashing the dog in front of it with his blaster. 

"Do again and I bite you!" 

"Don't talk back to me fleabag! I'm in charge of you!" The droid gloated, kicking the dog and continuing to push him forwards towards a holding cell. 

TA-175 grew tired of looking at the bodies of the dead ones. 

"You 4, gather up and dispose of the creature's corpses. Loot the bodies for armor and gemstones, then burn them to leave no evidence. Salvage disabled Droids." 

"Roger, Roger" the Droids said glumly, clearly not pleased with their task of clean up duty. 

"This is almost the worst job in the Droid army. Almost…" the one muttered. 

An hour had passed, and most ponies had gone home from the party to sleep, and the only ones left eventually were the 6 BFFs and Spike, along with the Droids. 

"At least tomorrow's Friday" said Twilight, clearly exhausted. 

"Ah need to be getting back," said Applejack 

"No, no need to walk home in the dark, I'll get all of your beds ready in my room." Twilight said walking up the stairs 
"Oh, darling that's so kind of you, and I thought Flutter shy was supposed to be Element of Kindness!" Said Rarity 
"Element of Kindness?" Asked OOM-340. Last time he checked Kindness wasn't an element on the periodic table. Maybe his archives were out of date. Or maybe he forgot. He was kind of pushing his programming these days trying to remember all this information. 

"Well sir, the Elements of Kindness is one of the 6 Elements of Harmony. In Fact, the 6 of us all represent them. Twilight can tell you more about them." Rarity said 

"That's… interesting…" 

"Siiirrr… how… longer… much… activate… will weeee beeee?" asked one of his B1 Guards in a long, strange way. 

"Um, are you ok?" Asked Flutter shy 

"IIIIm fiiinneee… pooowwweerr just loooooowwww." 

"Why don't you go shut down for a little?" OOM-340 suggested. 

"Roooggeeer, rooggeeeerrrrrr…" the droid said and slowly began walking up the stairs almost drunkenly. 

"Siiirr… ppooowwweeerr ceells looww…" began his other guard."
 
OOM-340 facepalmed 

"Go shut down for a little" 

The droid drunkenly followed his friend upstairs. 

"What was wrong with them? Are they sick?" Asked Fluttershy 

"No, their power cells are just low. They need to go shut down for a little. Kind of like sleeping." 

"Oh. Aren't you tired too?" 

A resting period did sound nice, but OOM-340 had to remain awake to report to Kraken and receive their power cells from the Probe, but of course he couldn't tell the ponies that. 

"I have larger power reserves than them" he replied. "I won't get depleted until about another hour." 

"Oh". 
They heard the clippity clop of Twilights hooves as she walked back downstairs. 

"Ok girls, the beds are ready, now let's go get ready, for bed." 

Dash had fallen asleep on a chair, as had Spike and they were both snoring loudly. Dash was woken up by Twilight lightly tapping her with her hoof. 

"No, I don't want to go to school mom…" she said in her sleep before waking up. "Wha? Oh, hey Twilight." 

"Time for bed Dash" 

"Then why didn't you let me just sleep in the chair?" 

"You didn't look comfortable. Besides, I have a much better bed for you upstairs."
 
"Sweet" she said groggily before floating upstairs" 

Twilight turned to OOM-340 

"How much longer will you be up?" 

"A few more minutes. Don't worry about me." 

Twilight levitated Spike in the air with her magic and began to walk upstairs with her friends.
 
OOM-340 sat alone on a chair in a dark room illuminated only by candlelight. Suddenly his radio buzzed in. 

He quickly activated his radio and a Probe Droid's chatter was heard on the other end. To most people, the Probes chatter would sound like incomprehensible gibberish, but it was actually Droidspeak, which was like a second language to him. 

"Hello? You're here with our recharger? Good… um… drop it off at the front door I'll be right there." 

The Probe beeped, signaling it understood and he walked over to the front door. Outside floated one of the Viper Probe Droids from earlier, carrying 3 charge kits in its claws. 

OOM-340 took them and patted the Probe on its dome, almost like a dog. 

"Thanks." 

The Probe didn't reply, and simply wandered off, probably to do more spying on the town at night.
 
OOM-340 stepped inside and put out the candle, pinching it with his fingers. 

He walked up the stairs with his new recharge kits and sat down next to his fellow Droids, plugging them into them and then himself, before shutting down for the night. 

Up in Twilight's bedroom, the 7 friends gathered around in their beds in a circle. 

"It was very nice of you to offer us a place to stay tonight" said Flutter shy in her soft voice. 

"Well, I wasn't just being a good friend. I had something I wanted to discuss in private with you girls." 

"Like what Twi?" Asked Applejack 

"Well, Spike has been suspicious of our new friends, he thinks they're hiding something. What do you girls think?" 

"Well, they certainly are very strange creatures. I've never seen anything like them before" Flutter shy began 

"They are terribly tacky and dull looking; they just seem too… industrial." Rarity said 

"Yeah, I agree with Rarity, they are dull looking, they need to be about 20% cooler." Said Dash. 

"They didn't seem too excited about the party, everyone loves my parties, right?" Asked Pinkie 

"As a matter a fact Twi, I do think they're hiding somethin'." Applejack began "Like how they speak slow like their being careful what they say, and makin' up excuses for their slip ups, like how they all said their name was Roger, maybe it's a code word or somethin'. Ah know when somepony's lyin' and Ah can tell there's somethin' they don't want us to know." 

Spike chimed in 

"Or how about how they gave Twilight and I very vague answers about their origins? They said there were lots of them, and that they were built by some group called Backta… Backtoad… back-something Automata, but why? And for who? And what about those black things they hold? They hold them sometimes like some kind of weapon!" 

"Yeah, that does seem pretty shady to me," said Dash. 

"Well, we don't want to accuse them of anything, maybe they're just… shy? Flutter shy suggested 

Applejack shook her head 

"Nah, if they were shy, they wouldn't talk so loud, and they wouldn't want to talk nearly as much." 

"Alright, we'll write a letter to Princess Celestia in the morning about them, until then, let's get some sleep." 

Twilight said, settling under her blanket and putting out the candle
> Chapter 8: Impossible Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning had come in Equestria and Twilight had begun to wake up. She sat up in bed and looked around the room. 
Everyone else had gotten up, except Spike. Her bathroom light was on, and she could hear a hair dryer running. 
She decided to wake Spike up so that they could write that letter. She put off doing it yesterday so she could give the Rogers the tour of the town, and she wouldn't put it off any longer. 

"Wake up Spike, we've got a letter to write!"
 
"5 more minutes" he begged 

"You could've gone to sleep earlier last night, now come on, get up." 

Spike sighed and got out of bed, walking over and grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill. 

"Okay, go!" 

"Dear Princess Celestia, the other night after your sister's beautiful nighttime meteor shower the girls and I discovered 3 very strange beings. They say they're called Droids named Roger, and they come from somewhere outside Equestria, in space. The Girls and I have been very kind to them, showing friendship and hospitality, but we feel as though they are keeping something hidden about themselves and some of us are worried. Could you and Luna possibly investigate? Your loyal student, Twilight Sparkle." 

Spike sat there writing for another moment. 

"Done! Ready to send it Twilight?" 

"Yep!" 

Spike wrapped the letter in a seal and held it out in front of him, before breathing fire on it and sending it. 
"Alright, now let's get breakfast!"
 
"Not so fast mister, you need to brush your teeth first!" 

The bathroom door opened, and Rarity stepped out, having just done her hair and finished getting ready. 
"Yes, my Spikey, you better brush your teeth, or they'll be no kisses for you!" She teased me walking downstairs. 
Spike darted to the bathroom and Twilight laughed. 

OOM-340 reactivated and stood up, feeling refreshed. He unplugged himself and his comrades, who also stood up and turned on. 

"You two, come with me" 

"Roger, Roger!" 

The 3 walked downstairs into the kitchen, where they found Applejack and Pinkie Pie making Breakfast. Rarity sat down at the table, and Dash stretched her wings. 

"Where are the other 3?" Asked OOM-340
 
"Flutter shy went to her cottage really quick to feed her critters." Said Applejack "she said she'll be back. As for Twi and Spike, they haven't come down yet." 

"Oh." 

They sat down at the table and Applejack came over with a tray of toast, eggs and milk. 

"Breakfast is served every pony!" 

Twilight and Spike walked downstairs 

"Good morning every pony! I trust you slept well?" 

"Indeed darling, it was quite nice." Said Rarity. 

Suddenly, hearing her voice, OOM-340 was reminded about her mentioning some Elements that he wanted to ask Twilight about. Kraken was always pleased to hear more information. 

"So um, uh Twilight? I had some more questions." Said OOM-340
 
Twilight sat down at the table with Spike and everyone else. 

"Sure? What do you want to know?" 

"What are these Harmony Elements you were talking about last night?" 

"Well, the Elements of Harmony are 6 of the most powerful forces of Magic in existence" Twilight explained "and we represent all 6 of them. I'm the Element of Magic, Applejack is the Element of Honesty, Rarity is the Element of Generosity, Rainbow is the Element of Loyalty, Flutter shy is the Element of Kindness and Pinkie Pie is the Element of Laughter." 

"What do they do?" 

"It's complicated and it depends what they are used on, I'll just leave it at that." Twilight said and began to eat her breakfast. 

TA-175 watched the prisoners work with an attentive gaze. He calculated that although the prisoners were mining and constructing at an acceptable level, they could be operating at as much as 10% more efficiently. 

He turned to a nearby Commander Battle Droid 

"Order the prisoners to work faster or they will face ration reductions. Those who continue to work at this speed will not consume food." 

"Roger, Roger" 

The base's foundation was almost complete with the needed area mostly cleared. Although the base was going to be constructed using mostly local materials and supplies onboard the ships in orbit, it would still be considered rather shanty compared to other Separatist Bases, and a makeshift smelting area had been set up nearby to help prepare metals and ore for use in the construction. 

"Report" he asked a B1 overseeing a group of prisoners smelting rocks for ore 
"Operating at same capacity as before sir." 

TA-175 decided that if production continued at this pace, they could have the base ready in 2 days. 
"Acceptable. 

Back at the Castle of Friendship, breakfast was wrapping up and the rest of the girls had gone home. 
OOM-340 and his guards decided to stay inside today, as word of their arrival had gotten around Pony ville, but they didn't want the attention. 

It would've have mattered anyways if they did want to go outside, as a storm was approaching, and most ponies were trying to get their errands done before it started to rain. OOM-340 stood at a window looking out, keeping his radio in a One way opening to Kraken, almost acting as if he was wearing a wire. 

"I don't understand where this rain suddenly came from, 15 minutes ago there was nothing!" OOM-340 said.
 
"What do you mean? The Pegasi needed to let it rain so the plants around here could grow, and they said it in this morning's

newspaper." Replied Twilight 

"Wait, the winged ones made all these storm clouds?"
 
"Well yeah, they control all the cloud movement and weather, don't you have some pony where you're from that does it for you?"
 
"No, weather everywhere else is self-controlling, and quite annoying."
 
"Interesting! Sounds kind of like how the Ever-free Forest's Weather changes on its own! Is there anything else where you're from that change on its own?" 
"Normal stuff I guess, tides, day and night…" 

"Your day and night changes too?!" Twilight exclaimed 

"Basically, every planet has one that does it on its own. I don't know why though, that's isn’t my specialty." 

"Well here in Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna control the sun and the moon's rising and setting." 

"How?" 

"Well, they have very powerful magic, they're the oldest, wisest, most powerful ponies in all of Equestria!"
 
Kraken sat listening to this. If he had coffee and was programmed to have a sense of humor, he would've spit it out laughing. 

Although the movement of the Star and moon of the planet had been unusual, Ponies controlling the movement of massive celestial bodies and weather was easily the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard! 

"The probability of her statements being true is impossible! To be able to control a mass of such size as a Star or moon would require greater mass and gravitational pull." 

Then again, Kraken remembered they were receiving a strange energy reading from the planet. Could this be the reason? He entered deep in thought… 

OOM-340 and Twilight continued to watch the storm outside. 

"So, what else can they do?"
 
"Well, not only are they the leaders of Equestria and have been for thousands of years, but they also trained me in magic!" 
"How does this magic work anyways?" 

"Well, it's very complicated to explain, but all of us Ponies have magic. Infact that's how the Pegasi interact with the clouds. Earth ponies have a magical connection with the dirt and soil and are typically very gifted farmers. Unicorns like I used to be really the only Ponies though who can actually perform and interact with magic." 

"Through your horn?" asked OOM-340 tapping her horn
 
Twilight winced 

"Please don't touch it, it's very sensitive. But yes, we use our horns to perform magic." 

"That's… interesting. It kind of reminds me of-" he stopped. He couldn't mention the Jedi or the War or the Separatists! 
"Reminds you of what?"
 
"Never mind" 

Maybe Spike was right. Maybe they were hiding something. 

Kraken continued to think. If these beings truly were as powerful as they were said to be, they would make a powerful ally. Perhaps they could even be persuaded to join the Confederacy. He thought about the probability of an alliance, but he wasn't sure about their personalities, and as a result couldn't accurately predict an outcome. 
He needed someone to meet them first… 
 
> Chapter 9: It was a Big Lizard Thing!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OOM-340 decided to turn off his radio to save power. He didn't know if the probes could get him another charger packet through the storm, and he didn't want to risk being caught with no power.
 
Twilight walked over to her library and sat down, grabbing the book she had begun to read a few days with her magic. 
Spike was sitting at another nearby table reading a comic book. 

"What are you doing?" OOM-340 asked Twilight 

"Reading" 

"What though?" 

She levitated the cover, so it was facing him. 

"I can't read that."

She lowered the book
 
"You can't read?" 

"No, that's not Aurebesh"
 
"What's Aurebesh?" 

"It's a… font I guess?" OOM-340 answered unsurely.
 
"Well, I can teach you the Equestrian alphabet later, I have a book for beginners. Anyhow, the book I'm reading is called '1001 Facts about the Stars in Luna's Nightsky', part of the 1001 series, I have a whole shelf of them over there" she said, gesturing to one of the many books lined walls. Up until this point, OOM-340 never really noticed how many books there were. They covered every wall, and then there were still some stacked on the tables! 

"You like to read?" 

"Oh, I LOVE books, books are some of my best friends, aside from the girls and the princess!"
 
"So, you don't use electronic archives to store data?"
 
"Data? " 

"Well, we hav-" OOM-340 stopped himself again. He was about to mention the fleet and its archives. He really needed to think about what he was saying. "I-I mean, I have some on… back where I'm from." 

"Why didn't you just say so?" 

"I um, I don't know." 

Suddenly Spike threw his comic book on the side and held his hand to his stomach which puffed up. 

"Is he ok?" Asked OOM-340
 
Suddenly his cheeks puffed up and green fire shot out of his mouth into the air which materialized into a letter. 

"Ew, did he just… puke out a letter?!" 

"Yes! It's a letter from the Princess!" Twilight exclaimed, quickly grabbing it and opening it with her magic and began reading it in her head 

"Dearest Twilight, 
These new creatures you describe sound fascinating, and Luna and I would love to meet them. However, Luna and I fear that they may not be alone, as we feel a slight disturbance when we raise the sun and moon, like something else is also occupying the space. If they are associated with it, we must know. Would they be up for meeting us tomorrow? 
Your former teacher, Princess Celestia" 

"What does it say?" 

"She and her sister say they'd love to meet you 3!" 

"That's… good?" 

"Yes! That means you're special!" 

That did made OOM-340 feel good. He wasn't just another number anymore; he wasn't just another B1. He was special! But… would they like him? He needed to ask Kraken what to do… 

"Hey, uh, I'll be right back." 

"Where are you going?"
 
"I just want to go for a quick walk in the hall." 

"Do you want us to come with you sir?" asked his guards
 
"No, stay here." 

He walked out into the hall. 

Kraken was monitoring the storm through the eyes of his Probe Droids, when he received another message from OOM-340. 

"Report." 

"Their leaders know about us." 

"They are aware of the fleets presence?"
 
"No sir, just mine and my guards. They say they want to meet us. Should we make a run back to the forest and regroup?"
 
"Negative, I want you to undergo a meeting with them. I want you to run your radio during the meeting so I can assess their personalities and the probability of an allegiance." 

OOM-340 stood there nervously 

"Are you sure?"
 
"Is there a problem?" 

"It's just… I'm not a protocol droid!"
 
"If you behave as you have been I calculate you will be fine." 

"Roger Roger…" said OOM-340, closing the message. 

Back in the Ever-free night was beginning to fall. TA-175 calculated that working the prisoners at night could potentially be dangerous to their health as the forest was full of strange creatures, but this was of no concern to TA-175. He wasn't programmed to be particularly sympathetic, especially towards prisoners. 

The Droids and AATs were evenly distributed around the edge of the clearing to prevent any prisoners from escaping, and any unwanted creatures from getting in. 

Or at least that's what it was supposed to do… 

Patrols earlier had spotted a large lizard creature in the nearby forest, and the squad sent to investigate had not checked back in for 3 hours. 

TA-175 was about to send out another patrol party to find them when an OOM Commander informed him of their return. 
"Sir! Patrol Team D6 has returned!" 

TA-175 walked outside of the finished command center section of the base to begin scolding the late patrol. 
Before him stood 3 Battered B1s and their equally worse for wear OOM Commander. They appeared somewhat charred, as if they had been nearly burned or on fire. 

"Your arrival is long overdue. Where have you been?"
 
"Sir, it's not our fault!" The Droid began "it was the huge lizard creature!" 

"Define this creature" 

"It was big, red, scaly, it had arms and legs and a tail, claws, and wings, and could shoot fire! That's what happened to the rest of the squad!" 

"Why did it take you so long to return?" 

"We had to hide from it, and it scorched an entire part of the forest looking for us!" 

Suddenly TA-175 was not angry with the squad anymore.
 
"Return to the landing ship and clean yourself up."
 
"Roger, Roger!" 

As the droids were returning to their ship TA-175 wondered about this creature. 

“Sargent.” 

He told a OOM commander at his side
 
“if the creature this what its Seems. We will need to prepare for it's possible arrival.” 

“Roger Roger” 

OOM-340 sat in the library with Twilight Sparkle, as she tried to get him to understand the Equestrian Alphabet from a book called 'A Filly's Guide to the Alphabet'. 
He had drawn his best impression of the Aurebesh Alphabet, and he was beginning to understand theirs. From what he could decipher, their language was spelled the same way as basic, but just with a different font and certain words were changed such as everybody was changed to every pony. 

"That's so strange, I can't believe we have the same alphabet!" Twilight said, thrilled by the strange coincidence. "I thought it was fascinating that that we could understand each other too! The odds of this are crazy! Maybe you are one of Discords creations." 

"Discord?" 

"Discord is the God of Chaos, likes being wacky, silly, and chaotic. He once main it rain chocolate rain from 
Cotton candy clouds!" 

The more OOM-340 stayed on the planet, the stranger it got… 

"Well, how about you keep practicing this, I need to go make dinner?" Twilight said, getting up and walking out of the library. 

TA-175 began to assess the best way to defeat this so-called "lizard creature". First to defeat the creature he had to find it first. Learn about it, get to know it. And Spying was the easiest way. 

"Dispatch several Viper Probes to find, track and investigate the creature. We will find where it resides and eliminate the threat". TA-175 ordered to his OOM Commander assistant. 

"Roger, Roger sir!"
 
Outside several Viper Probes reactivated at their recharge stations and floated off into the night, garbling in their coded language… 
 
> Chapter 10: Dragons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Krakens holo pad buzzed, alerting him to a transmission. He turned it on and was greeted with the sight of TA-175.
 
"Report"
 
"Our patrols have been under attack by large reptilian creatures. Have your scans located any of them?" 

"Affirmative, we have detected several in your area, and hundreds in a volcanic region far south of the forest." 

"What information do you have on this species?"
 
"Inadequate data, but they appear to be immune to heat and have ability for flight and emitting fire. I will see what I can gain from my spy unit." 

"Obtained data would be useful if shared" 

"I will contact you when new data is obtained." 

"Understood sir." 

Kraken understood that these creatures were a huge threat. If they were immune to heat, standard blasters wouldn't have an effect in them, and neither would Defoliators Tanks. Perhaps a bombing strike would be required, or heavy explosives.
 
He switched raised his hand to his temple and switched on his radio. 

"Unit OOM-340 report in" 

"Yes sir?" 

"I require data on the large reptilian species that dwells on this planet. . They have been posing a threat to our outpost and must be eliminated." 

"Roger, Roger, I'll see what I can find it." 

OOM-340 walked back into the library, over to Spike who was reading his comic book again. Spike was reptilian right? Maybe he was related. Of course, that would make him a threat, but he seemed tame enough. 

"Excuse me sir, I have some questions." 

"Yeah?" 

"What are you again?" 

"I'm a Dragon. Well, a kid one anyways." 

"Can you tell me a bit more about them?" 

"Well, we're fireproof, and we have fire breath, and we can get pretty huge." 

"What do you eat?" 

"Well, most Dragons eat meats and creatures, but I eat normal Pony food. But one thing we all love is gemstones!" he said, licking his chops. 

"Gemstones?" 

"Yeah! They taste delicious!" 

"How can you eat them? They're really hard and I heard organics often go to great lengths to get them." 

"What do you mean? You can find them all over Equestria underground! But they're like hard candy. Mmmm candy!" He said, rubbing his stomach 

Although he was no gemologist, OOM-340 knew that to be able to crack gemstones they must have incredibly hard teeth. They could likely use him as a mere chew toy. 

"Are they mean? The big ones?" he asked nervously
 
"A lot of them, yeah, but many aren't too bright. I went to the Dragon Lands before and there was a group of older Dragons who were mean to me. But then Princess Ember became the new Dragon Lord and now they mostly listen to her. 
"So, Dragon Lord is a leader title? Like a general or something?" He asked 

"More like a king or queen, but yes." Spike replied 

"Okay. Where do they live?" 

"Well, most live in the Dragon Lands, and that's south of here, but some live in the Ever-free Forest." 

OOM-340 needed to think of an excuse to get rid of Spike so he could report back to Kraken. He thought walking out of the room again would seem suspicious. 

"Twilight's making dinner, do you want to go downstairs and help?" 
 
"Um, sure?" Spike said unsurely before walking out of the library and downstairs. 

OOM-340 couldn't risk him coming back too early if Twilight declined his help. He gestured to his guards 
"Block the door, I'll let you know when he can come back."
 
"Roger, Roger!" They said walking over and taking guard positions. 

OOM-340 activated his radio… 

"Um, sir? I have some intel for you." 

Spike walked downstairs into the kitchen. Twilight was there, cooking soup. 

"Hey, do you need help?"
 
"No thanks Spike, I'm good. I got everything I need right here." she said, gesturing to a cluster of ingredients with her hoof. "Why?" 

"Well, Roger said maybe you'd appreciate the help, so I came to see if you wanted any." 

"That's strange, he never usually asks if anyone else wants anything. Maybe he's starting to understand Friendship a little more. Then again, you'd think he'd come down himself." 

"Maybe he isn't a talented chef?" Spike suggested 

Twilight chuckled 

"Maybe. Why don't you go settle back down with your comic? I'll let you know when the soup is ready." 
"Okay. Give me a shout if you need anything." 

Spike walked back upstairs, nearing the library. He could hear one of the Roger's high-pitched voice, but due to it echoing off the crystal walls he couldn't understand it. Maybe it was talking to the other two. 

Spike turned the corner and went to walk back into the library but was met with 2 of the Droids who raised their hand in a stop motion. 

"Halt." 

"W-what?" Spike stuttered, caught off guard by, well, the guard's orders. 

"Entry to this area is currently unavailable."
 
"But I live here!" 

"Halt." The droid simply repeated. 

"Why won't you let me in?" 

"We have orders not to." 

"From who?"
 
"The Commander" 

"Who?!" 

"The Commander?" 

"The yellow guy? Roger?" 

"Uh, yes." 

Spike began to think about why the Droids wouldn't let him in when he suddenly realized something. 
If the 2 Droids were there, then the other was alone, but who was he talking to? 

"Who is Roger talking to?" 

"I don't know" 

"Can I go, see?" 

"No." 

"Aw come on, let me through!" 

"I'm not authorized to let any unauthorized persons in, and you're not authorized." 

"But I live here! You're the guests!" 

The Droids simply ignored him and stood in place. 

Spike put his hand up to his ear and listened as best as he could. 

"Well, they live in a region that is south of here, and they live in the forest where we landed, and the fit the description of the creature you described."
 
There was silence for a moment... 

"I got the information from one who lives here who goes by Spike. I don't believe him to be a threat, he seems pretty calm." 
There was more silence… 

"I think their leader is called Princess Ember or something." 

More silence... 

"Your welcome sir, just doing my job." 

"Hey roger! Why won't they let me in!" 

Spike called, trying to get his attention so he'd come closer and hopefully reveal who he was speaking with. 
"Uh oh, I got to go." 

OOM-340 said closing his radio chat with Kraken. 
He hurried over to the doorway and ordered his guards aside. 

"Hi!" 

Spike stood there with a suspicious look on his face 

"Who were you talking to?" 

OOM-340 didn't account for Echo during his transmission. He had to think up a coverup and fast. Unfortunately, B1s are terrible at coming up with excuses. 

"Uhh… nobody." 

Spike, like anyone with a sliver of common sense, was unconvinced. 

"So, you were talking to nobody about the stuff I just told you about Dragons?"
 
"Uhh, yeah! That's right!" 

Spike stood there and gave him a serious look. 

"I know you're up to something, we all do." 

This statement hit OOM-340 hard. He thought his act was convincing. 

"I didn't do anything!" He exclaimed 

Twilight called from downstairs that dinner was ready. 

Spike gave them the "I've got my eye on you" gesture before walking backwards down the stairs. 

OOM-340 stood there for a moment before following. 

This was not good… 

 
> Chapter 11: Dragon Slayers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TA-175 rode an AAT escorted by 4 Stap Speeders and squads of Battle Droids through the forest. A Probe Droid had sighted the Dragon creature in the nearby area, before it was destroyed by the creature. Groups of Droids were closing in on the area to eliminate it, it would be a hinderance to them no longer.
 
The convoy had tracked the massive footprints left in the ground by the creature to a large cave opening.
 
TA-175 raised his hand to signal the troops to stop moving. He knew it would be unwise to enter the creatures' lair, it would have an advantage of cover. He needed to draw it out. 

"B1-654, B1-655, investigate the cave" 

"Us?" They asked nervously 

"Correct. There aren't any other of you here." 

"R-Roger Roger!" They said in a notable scared voice. 

The 2 Droids walked into the dark cave… 

Inside the cave was damp and dark. Of course, that didn't bother the 2 Droids. As they entered the cave further, they began to notice the abundance of jewels and gold coins on the floor. 

"What do you think there's all this for?" One asked, his voice echoing. 

"Shh! Do you want to get eaten!?" Whispered the other 

"Who would eat a droid? We're Metal! Most creatures like to eat other creatures!" The 1st replied, walking forwards confidently. "I bet this thing isn't even all that bi-" the droid suddenly bumped into a large, warm, scaly mass. There was a large grumble and 2 large, glowing, orange eyes opened. 

"Why did you come here to my lair" The Dragon said growling. 

In a scared shaky version of their already high-pitched voices, the droid simply replied 

"Um… hi… sir… I'll just be going now" 

The Dragon stood up 

"GET OUT!"
 
The Droids ran out of the cave yelling 

"WAAAAAAHHH!" 

And shooting randomly into the air as they ran. 

A huge wave of fire shot out of the cave as they exited and a large, red dragon stepped out.
 
"Open fire." TA-175 ordered. 

All the Droids and tanks opened fire on the dragon, whose scales simply laughed off the blaster fire. 

TA-175 fired his AATs main cannon at it and hit it in the face. 

The Dragon stumbled backwards, and stood up to its full height, and began stomping towards his tank, crushing several Droids under its feet as it did so. 
 
"Recalculating…" TA-175 said as he lowered into the tank and closed the hatch. 

The Dragon breathed a huge wave of fire on the tank, charring it a blackened color, and the tank dropped to the ground. 
"Sir! Power converters have overheated!" Shouted the pilot droid driving the tank.
 
"Convert power to weapons. Fire armor piercing shells at the creature!" 

"Roger, Roger!" 

There was a loud boom as the tank's missile tubes launched their armor piercing shells, which embedded themselves in the Dragon's legs before exploding, causing it to collapse on its now mutilated legs. 

The Dragon roared in agony and tried to hold itself up with its from arms.
 
"YOU SHALL PAY!" The Dragon growled, and shot fire out in a wave, melting many nearby Droids and charring the tank further, causing the surface of its armor to heat up so much it began to glow a faint orange. 

TA-175 took his chance. When the dragon breathed fire at the AAT, he fired the main cannon directly into the mouth of the Dragon, and nearly blew apart its head from the inside. The Dragon moaned and collapsed to the ground once more.
Closing its eyes and letting out a final breath of smoke from its nostrils, before the great beast was still.
 
One of the nearby B1s walked up to it and prodded it with his Blaster, and the giant remained still as a statue. It was dead.
 
TA-175 held out his pad and a hologram of Kraken appeared. 

"The threat has been eliminated sir. Acceptable losses." 

"Excellent. If any others appear in the area eliminate them as well." 

"Yes sir." 

TA-175 would've very much liked to have brought the dead Dragon back to the base for examination and dissection, however the beast was just too big. It was a shame but moving the giant corpse would've been more work than it was worth. 

Twilight, Spike, OOM-340 and his guards sat at the dining room table finishing dinner. Or at least Twilight and Spike did. OOM-340 thought about what he could do to make himself less suspicious. He decided he'd be a bit more helpful. 

"Can we help you with anything? To show that… we're thankful for you housing us…" 

"Sure! You can take these bowls over to the sink and start cleaning them." 

OOM-340 really wanted to complain. He grumbled internally. 

"Thanks!" He said, in as real of a happy voice as he could attempt to fake. 

It was going to be a long night. 

After hours of scrubbing dishes, drying them, and putting them away, and cleaning up other things, OOM-340 was finally finished with cleaning up dinner. Except now it was 10:38 PM. He should be commanding his subordinates, not doing dishes! What was he a servant Droid? No, but he needed to keep up his act of being a "good friend" and acting non-suspicious.
 
"I really appreciate you helping to clean up dinner, I was able to organize a lot of my books in a better way!" Twilight said, yawning and walking upstairs, being followed by Spike a moment later. 

OOM-340 sighed in relief. He was finally finished with his task and did something else. His guards were busy too but got done sooner than he did. They were given easier jobs like dusting and such. 

He was about to go upstairs and join his guards who were already shut down, when his radio buzzed in with the familiar sound of Probe chatter. 

In the chaos of maintaining his act, he'd forgotten that their recharge kits had lost their battery. 

"Hello? Yes, this is Unit OOM-340 reporting" he whispered 

"Yes, we need more recharge kits, you can drop them off at the same spot as last time." 

He walked outside to the Probe Droid who was waiting at the front door of the castle. The droid handed him 3 recharging kits, as it had last time, before suddenly reaching it with one of its claws and handing OOM-340 a Holo pad.
 
"What am I supposed to do with this?" 

The Probe chittered in its language, telling him it was unsure.
 
OOM-340 lugged the 3 new charging kits upstairs as quietly as possible. 

He really wished he could go back to the ship. Or to something that was at least exciting, like a good battle. Not like Jedi battles, something small and enjoyable like pirates. That was exciting! 

OOM-340 plugged his comrades into their new charger kits, shoving the old ones under the guest bed, before plugging himself in and shutting down for the night again, the nice void of rest known as deactivation.
 
All would normally be quiet and dark in the castle, but that was not the case. In the bedroom that held Twilight and Spike in their beds, there was a quiet late-night conversation and letter writing. 

Twilight had just finished having Spike write the meeting acceptance letter. 

"Ready to send it?" Spike asked, putting a red seal with a golden stamp. 

"Yep!" 

Twilight walked over to go climb in bed, but Spike stopped her. 

"Twilight, there's… there's something I need to tell you." 

"What is it Spike?" 

"Remember earlier when I asked if you needed help with dinner?" 

"Yes Spike, what about it?" 

"When I got back up the library, the Rogers wouldn't let me!" 

"What do you mean they wouldn't let you back in the library?" Twilight asked 
"The Yellow Roger's two friends blocked me from entering, saying "I wasn't authorized" he said, mimicking the Droids voices. 

"The weirdest part was he was talking to himself." 

"How is that weirder than them blocking you? Lots of ponies talk to themselves." 

"No, he wasn't just talking to himself like some ponies do, he was having a conversation, but I could only hear his side! Like he paused as if waiting for a response and everything! And when I got his attention, he acted all hurried and quickly wrapped it up!"
 
"I think you're just overthinking this. Maybe he just wanted a little private time?" 

"No Twilight, I know they're up to something, you have to believe me!" 

Twilight sighed. She Didn't want to believe they were up to something, but he did have a point, that was very unusual. He wasn't just being xenophobic, he met lots of different creatures and became friends with them, like Thorax the Changeling who changed his entire race for the better. 

"Of course, I believe you Spike, you've helped save us and Equestria many times!" She spoke. "We can talk about it with Princess Celestia and Luna tomorrow, they should know what to do." With that, Twilight climbed into bed and settled down for the night. 

 
> Chapter 12: Greetings Princesses!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning came as it always does in Equestria, but at Fluttershy's cottage, things were not the norm. 

Flutter shy's animal friends were telling her that something strange was happening in the Ever-free Forest. Many of them had their homes destroyed by huge monsters and begged her to do something. 

Flutter shy spoke with a squirrel inside her cottage over Tea with her other animals. 

"Oh my! That's terrible Mrs. Nutters worth! I can believe something would just knock down all of that just because it was in the way! You and your family can stay here as long as you need to get back on your feet." She said in her soft voice. 

The squirrel and her family chittered happily and hugged Flutter shy's front leg, to which she smiled. 

But what could possibly do this? She vowed to find out. 

Suddenly there was a knock at her front door. She found Twilight and the rest of her friends outside. 

"Good morning, Flutter shy!" Said Twilight 

"Good morning, Twilight! What brings you here?" 

"I just wanted you to know the Princesses are coming today to meet the Rogers, and we're all going to be there, do you want to come too?" 

"Oh, that would be lovely Twilight! Let me feed everyone Breakfast first and get my new guests settled in." 

"Made some new friends?" Twilight asked smiling 

"No, a bunch of my animal friends who live in the forest lost their homes the other night to some monster! Can you believe it?" 

"What kind of monster?" 

"I'm not sure, but they said it was big and tan colored, and floated in the air!" 

"That's very strange, I'll have to look into it later. See you around Flutter shy!" 

"Goodbye Twilight!" 

Flutter shy closed the door and the group headed back to the Castle of Friendship. 

Kraken waited for the meeting to begin so he could listen in over the radio. He was curious as to what their leaders would be like. Would they be patient? Wise? Aggressive? Strong? Only time would tell. If the meeting, went well he may arrange a meeting with them himself. In the meantime, he needed to think of what course of action to take with the Dragon creatures. Should he orbitally bombard their primary area of inhabitation? Should he attempt diplomacy? 
Diplomacy seemed to be the best choice, but they seemed hostile. How would he accomplish this? 
Perhaps a shuttle could land some Droids and it could be accomplished holographically. 
Suddenly he remembered something: OOM-340 had mentioned their leader during their chat. Perhaps she could be persuaded to join in on the meeting. He contacted OOM-340. 

"Sir?" 

"You mentioned a Dragon Leader known as Princess Ember?" 

"Yes, the small Dragon mentioned her last night during my questioning." 

"Could you attempt to have her arrive at the meeting?" 

"I could talk to Twilight and see what she could do." 

"Identify Twilight." 

"She's the one who's been giving me and my guards shelter. She's purple, likes to read, umm, and she has wings and a horn." 

"Your primary orders are to introduce yourselves in a friendly way to their leaders, before introducing yourselves as ambassadors for the Confederacy of Independent Systems. I will signal you to activate your holo pad when the time is ready. Your secondary orders are to attempt to arrange a meeting with this Princess Ember." Kraken ordered "It would be beneficial to us to know the other dominant species on this planet politically." 

"Roger, Roger!"
 
The meeting had been scheduled for 10:30 AM, and things were nearly prepared. OOM-340 had requested Ember's presence to Twilight, as much as he didn't want to, and she wrote a letter inviting her to meet them. He was on edge. Sometimes he really hated his orders. He was waiting for the one to get him killed to come. 
What if she finds out about the operation in the forest? What if she found out they killed a Dragon? He'd be as good as melted down! 

OOM-340 and his guards sat down at wooden chairs in the room that would be used for conference. It was the room that held the map of the land, but for some reason, the table no longer displayed the land, instead it was a normal round table made of crystals. 

He stared up at the ceiling, just now noticing the tree roots that hung down from it like a chandelier, which was adorned with small glowing gemstones 

"It'll be fine." he told himself. 

Somehow, he still had a bad feeling. 

"I'll be fine." he said, attempting to reassure himself once more. 

Then Twilight walked into the room 

"They should be arriving shortly, I hope you're ready, they're very excited to meet you!" She walked up to the top balcony with her friends. 

Celestia and Luna's Chariot arrived though the sky, being pulled by a team of Pegasus ponies dressed in their royal guard armor. The chariot approached the Castle of Friendship before stopping in the air at its top balcony, where Twilight and her friends were waiting. Celestia stepped out of her chariot, followed by her sister Luna. 

"Greeting Princess Celestia" they all said, bowing. 

Celestia chuckled 

"The formality is not needed my friends; you don't have to act so formally when you see me! Relax!" She said with a smile. 
"Roger and his friends… erm, Roger are waiting inside for you. Princess Ember was also invited so she may show up later." Twilight said, opening the door to lead them inside. 

OOM-340 sat in his chair. He would be twiddling his thumbs anxiously, but the joint restrictions in his fingers made doing so impossible. His guards seemed unphased by the events that were coming, and their attention wandered around the room, looking for any signs of trouble. Suddenly the door at the far end of the room opened up and Twilight and her friends entered, followed by 2 Alicorns. They were much larger towering over the others and the 3 Droids by a foot. One was a bright white color, with a blue, green, purple and pink mane and tail, and the other one was a dark blue, almost the color of the night sky with a mane and tail that was a dark purplish black, with what appeared to be twinkling stars in it. What was strange about their hair, other than glowing almost, was that it seemed to be forever blowing in some nonexistent wind, in a sort of slow swaying motion. They all sat down, and the meeting began. 

"Greetings Roger, it's such a pleasure to meet you and your friends! I'm Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Luna" said the tall white one. 

"We have been waiting to meet thou for some time now." Said the darker one, known as Luna in a somewhat echoing voice.
 
There was a brief pause and suddenly OOM-340 realized it was his turn to talk. 

"Oh, um, uh, it's nice to meet you too?" he said nervously.  

"So, what brings you to the land of Equestria?" Asked Princess Celestia, "and what can we do to make your stay a pleasant one?" 

"Well…" OOM-340 ran what questions Kraken had wanted him to ask. Friendly interaction. He quickly thought of what someone would say. 

"How are you?" 

"I'm doing just fine" said Celestia "how about your sister?"
 
"We are doing just as good as our sister. How art thou?" 

OOM-340 didn't know what she meant by "How art thou". Art was a symbolic form of expression used by organics, but he didn't know what she meant by it in this case with the word Thou. He'd never seen that word before! 

"Um… what?" He asked 

"How art thou?" Luna repeated 

"I… I don't know what that means…" 

"What my sister is asking is how are you and your friends doing? Are you well?" 

Suddenly OOM-340 realized that the darker one must be speaking in an older form of dialect. One he was likely not programmed to understand. 

"I'm doing… okay." He spoke.
 
"That is well!" Said Luna in response. 

Yeah, definitely speaking in an older dialect. 

"What do you want to talk about?" 

"Could you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you came here to Equestria?" Asked Celestia 

"Well, me and my… erm… partners are Droids. Particularly of the B1 series, although I'm one of the OOM variants which is a predecessor to them. We were built by the corporation known as Baktoid Automata. We came here in a series of pods dropped down from a ship." 

Twilight was confused 

"Wait, wait, wait" she said " thought you said you crashed here?" 

"Well… erm… crud. I was afraid to tell you…" 

"Why would you be afraid?" Twilight asked, "we don't judge ponies by their past, as long as they promise to be good in the future." 

"Where would this ship be?" Asked Luna 

"I… It's in… I'm not… I don't know." he said, shrugging his shoulders. 

"If thou do not wish to tell, that is fine." Stated Luna "but we only wish to know so we can ensure the security of our land." 
"We have a very peaceful society that has not seen war in thousands of years, and we wish to keep it that way" continued Celestia, smiling friendly. "We wish to know of your intentions. Ours is to keep peace as I stated, but what is yours." 

"Its… the same… I guess?" he replied, growing more nervous. 

There was a beeping noise coming from one of his guards' hands. 

"What is that sound?" Asked Luna 

"Sir, it's… it's for you." The Droid said, hastily giving it to his commander. 

OOM-340 sighed and took the image caster device. 

He sighed "Here goes nothing." 

He hit the open communication button. A Hologram of the Super Tactical Droid known as Kraken appeared, displaying partial color on its blue haze, most notably his glowing yellow eyes. 

"Greetings Princesses, I am Commander Kraken of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, alternatively known as the Separatist Alliance. I have been observing your species for some time now through my subordinate." Said Kraken in his deep voice… 
 
> Chapter 13: The Confederacy?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone was in shock at the sight and sound of Krakens hologram.

"Who art thou?!" Luna demanded
 
"I just said I am Kraken of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. I've been watching your species for some time now."
 
Celestia stood up 

"You must forgive my sister for her outburst; she can be a bit rash." 

"I am not offended. Most organics are easily surprised." 

Luna looked mildly insulted but shrugged it off. 

"What are your intentions?" Celestia asked 

Kraken raised his hand as if to begin speaking but was interrupted when the door suddenly opened behind the 2 and a small (by dragon standards), Blue Dragon walked in. The Dragon's scaly hide was a light blue color, and it had a long tail with a spade like shape on the end, and wings on its back. On its head it had darker blue spines and horns, and its face was long and thin at the muzzle, and it had orange-red eyes. 

"Hello everyone." The Dragon said
 
"Identify yourself" Kraken's holographic form demanded 

"Me? I'm Dragon Lord Ember, leader of the Dragons!" 

Kraken accepted this and prepared to state his intentions. 

"Your Identity has been logged. As I was preparing to state before, my intentions are to rebuild my forces utilizing your planet's resources." 

"Rebuild? What happened to them?" Twilight asked 

"We were engaged in battle against our opponent the newly formed Galactic Empire, formerly known as the Galactic Republic." 

"Engaged in battle? So, you are at war?!" Twilight said in shock. 

Everyone except Ember's face displayed a Look of both shock and horror. 

"War is a terrible atrocity, how can one bring another to commit such actions against another living thing?" Celestia asked 
"According to my programming, we are fighting for freedom from tyranny and oppressive government, known as the Galactic Republic." 

"But how can you bring yourself to commit such violence? Are you not fighting living beings?!"
 
"Negative, the lives of my enemies and those who stand in the way of freedom of the Confederacy do not matter. I am not programmed to feel pity for my enemies." 

"Thats horrible!" Celestia exclaimed "how can one not feel any remorse for any death?" 
"I am not programmed to feel. I am not like you." 

Celestia sighed, she was beginning to see that trying to reason with this war machine to abandon its violent ways was futile. It had been built with those ideas in mind, and it was loyal to them. 

"Sometimes war is necessary for one to defend their freedom and harmony…" Luna reasoned 

"Yes sister, but the methods described by this machine, Kraken, are not within those parameters. They are outright atrocious and merciless." Celestia replied "They go against our very standing." 

"It is our primary function, our reason for existing. It's natural for organics to go to war with one another." 
"Not here!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, floating up and pointing in Krakens holographic face 

"Silence! I was not finished!" Kraken ordered "Our enemy utilizes an army of replicated individuals known as Clones. They are bred for combat and are nothing more than disposable individuals. Slaves, fighting for a government they have no rights in. Even so, I have not been programmed to feel sympathy for my enemy's, if they will not surrender, they will be terminated." 

"I'm sorry, but we simply cannot allow the support of acts of war here in Equestria" said Celestia. "We have maintained a state of peace and harmony for thousands of years, and we will not sacrifice it by allowing you to mine our homes resources for such destructive purposes." 

"You must cooperate, this planet is under Confederate authority now. Your planet and its resources belong to us." 

"Nay! Our home is not under Thou's control!" Luna shouted 

"If you will not allow our operation to commence peacefully, you will be made to cooperate!"
 
"Art, thou threatening the lives of our subjects?!" Luna yelled 

"ENOUGH!" Celestia shouted in her royal Canterlot voice. 

The room fell silent. 

"I will not support your war by allowing you to use our home! Leave at once!" 

"Negative. I do not take commands from you!" Kraken said, pointing at Celestia and Luna. 

"I am Celestia, leader of Equestria and Goddess of the Sun! You will leave our home at once before your violence taints it!"
 
"Negative. Our operation had already begun. If you interfere, you will be eliminated like the Dragon who already has." 

"You killed a Dragon?!" Ember shouted, outraged 

"That is correct," Kraken confirmed "it interfered and had to be terminated." 

"You have just declared war with the Dragons!" 

"And by refusing to leave peacefully, and now engaging in violence, I, Princess Celestia and my subjects must now deal with you personally to restore harmony" 

"You will regret not joining the Confederacy." Kraken said simply before closing the message, leaving OOM-340 and his guards alone with the angered ponies and Dragons. He saw no point staying around if negotiations had failed. 

"Um… hi girls? I'll just be going now!" He said nervously 
> Chapter 14: Aggressive Negotiations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doors to the exit of the castle closed.

"THOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE! THOU SHALT FACE JUSTICE FOR THEIR CRIMES!" Luna shouted in her royal canterlot voice.

"I haven't even killed anyone though!" OOM-340 exclaimed. He was lying though, he had shot a few clones in his operational life, but they were vile abominations, right? His very purpose for existing! Besides, he had orders… and they were shooting back!

The ponies and dragons entered combative positions. OOM-340 and his guards stood up, raising their blasters.
 
"Look, I don't want to do thi-" he began before a yellow aura surrounded his body and he began to float in the air. He looked up to see an aura of the same color surrounding Celestia's horn. He tried to aim his E-5 Blaster Rifle at her, only to discover it was no longer in his hand, instead it was on the floor. 

"Guards! Help!" He cried 

"Roger, Roger!" His guards said, pointing their blasters at the Celestia and prepared to open fire. 

And then everything broke loose… 

1 of the Droids was knocked backwards by a blast of purple magic from Twilight. The other turned to fire at her, only to have his blaster yanked from his hand by magic. 

"Stop this!" Twilight demanded 

"I'm not programmed to follow your orders!" The Droid said and attempted to pick up OOM-340s dropped blaster, only to be hit by another blast of magic, but this time it originated from Luna, and his blew his right arm clean off
 
"OW!" It shouted, as sparks began to spray it from its severed limb
 
"I'll cover you!" Said his fellow guard as it had finally stood back up 

The now one-armed droid charged forward to attempt a melee attack, only to have its head blown off by a magical shot from Twilight.

"Uh oh…" said the other Droid, moments before it met the same fate, its decapitated body stumbling backwards firing off a few shots before collapsing.
 
OOM-340 was left suspended in mid-air, holding his hands up. 

"Don't shoot! I'm… I'm the commander but don't shoot! 

Celestia stood there for a moment staring him down, before a bunch of padlocked chains, handcuffs and ankle cuffs appeared around him, retraining his movement before he was dropped to the floor. 

"Ow… I can’t move."
 
Ember Growled 

"That's the point you machine!" 

"Hey! That's not nice!" 

"Neither is shooting at ponies!" Rainbow Dash shouted, "you spy!" 

"Spy? I'm not a spy!" He exclaimed
 
"Uh, yeah you are!" Dash said, "you were sent here to get information behind every pony's backs!" 

"No, I'm… Okay when you put it like that, I guess I am…" he admitted
 
They all walked up to OOM-340, who was now restrained and lying on the floor. 

"Thou shalt tell us Thou's secrets!" Luna demanded 

"Okay alright! Just don't hurt me!" 

"So "Roger", if that even is your real name, why don't you start with why you were really sent here?" Celestia said 

"Well, my real designation is actually OOM-340. I'm an OOM Series Battle Droid manufactured by Baktoid Combat Automata. I was sent here by my Commander to investigate your species to see if we could make an agreement with you. That didn't work…" 

"I knew it! I knew you were a spy!" Spike shouted, "You were talking to that guy last night, but how?" 

OOM-340 decided to play dumb. 

"I don't remember."
 
"Stop lying!" Luna demanded 

"Okay I talked over the radio!" 

"Next, where are your ships?" 

"In orbit somewhere I don't know!" 

"Where can we find this "Kraken"?" 

"On the command ship! Oh, Krakens going to scrap me…" 

"Thank you for being so cooperative, but we're going to need you locked up!" Twilight said, before a metal barred cage appeared around OOM-340 

"Oooohhh…" he groaned "come on I can't even move!" 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kraken opened communications with the other Tactical Droids under his command, TA-175, TJ-912, and TF-1726. 
"Attention, diplomacy has failed between the Confederacy and the Ponies. Ponies are to be considered hostile. Eliminate them on sight. 

"Affirmative." They all responded in unison. 

"I calculate that we should orbitally bombard the Dragon Lands" suggested TA-175. 

"A worthy suggestion, but I feel we should attempt to free out the OOM Commander first from his imprisonment. 
"He is only a simple Battle Droid" responds TA-175 "he is easily replaceable. Why do you pity him?" 

"It is not him that matters, rather it's his memory. The droid contains valuable information on the Ponies, and it would be wise to fully analyze his memory banks. He is also a security risk as they could potentially crack all data in his mind." 
"Why not simply destroy him then?" TF-1726 replied 

"I am aware of your lack of consideration for our troops" Kraken said "but we currently are cut off from resupply and it would be wise to preserve our forces. Defeating the Ponies will take… time. 

"I agree with your reasoning sir." Said TJ-912 

"I do not agree" said TF-1726 "I calculate it to be a waste of time. How can you still be sure he still is functional?" 

"I do not care for your opinions; I am in command, and I calculate a rescue operation is the best initial act. I am still reading his comm signal indicating he is still operational, but he is not responding." 

"What are your orders, sir?" TA-175 asked 

"Prepare a strike team of Commando Droids and other units. We rescue the droid tonight." 

"Affirmative sir." 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mane 6, the Princesses and Ember all stood in a circle, discussing what the best course of action was.
 
"That machine, Kraken, their leader, he's a war machine, build to lead his forces in their barbaric attacks. Trying to take them head on would not be wise." Celestia began 

"I could rally the Dragons to fight them, they certainly can't be fireproof if their metal." Ember added 

"Are you sure you want to bring them into this?" Twilight asked, "they could get hurt!"
 
"Dragons never stand down from a challenge, besides, I'm your friend, and isn't that the sort of thing a friend does?" 

Luna walked into the room. 

"Sister, we have ordered a detachment of the Royal Guard here to help protect the town. We fear Pony ville may be attacked." 

"Why would some pony attack Pony ville? We're just a small village!" Flutter shy squeaked 

"We're all here right now, and their friend is here. If they have any sense of value for their comrade, they'll try to rescue him and take us out at the same time" Twilight said "shouldn't you two get back to Canter lot? You'll be safer there. If something happens to you, Equestria could fall!"
 
"We could never abandon our subjects!" Luna declared 

"Luna and I are staying. We're in this together." Celestia said, with a friendly smile. 

"If some pony wants to get to Pony ville, they'll have to get through us first!" Rainbow Dash said, "Now who's ready to kick some robo-flank?" 

"Easy their partner" Applejack said "we don't know what all their packin', they may have something much worse than just those 3." 

"Applejack is right," Celestia said "no military force would use only one kind of unit. We must prepare for all they can do. Get the citizens to safety, I will oversee the preparations." 

Nighttime fell in Equestria as the time came for Luna to raise the moon. A full moon shone across the land, making it a bright night. Around the edge of Pony ville, various fortifications were set up. Carts, makeshift barricades, troops and trenches were set up to keep out the Droids. Nothing would break through in one piece. 

Leading the Royal Guard, Shining Armor had arrived, reporting to Princess Celestia that all was in place. 
"The guard is prepared for anything those machines throw at us your highness." 

"Good Shining, keep an eye of for them." 

"Yes, your highness!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Deep within the Ever-free Forest, the Separatist Landing force prepared their assault.

TA-175 had prepared his troop choices. He decided to bring 2 Battalions of B1s as an initial charge, with a Battalion of B2s to back them up. Commando Droids would attack from the sides and attempt to sneak past their defenses. There would be support from the edge of the forest from 3 AATs, one of which would be carrying TA-175 into battle. He calculated that the probability of the operation being successful was 7/10. He would've gone full force, but he needed defense at the base and Kraken had ordered him to preserve his troops. 

TA-175 stood in front of the Squad of BX-Series Commando Droids, briefing them on their mission. 

"Captain, you and your squad are to infiltrate the village defense perimeter and free OOM-340. Return him operational if possible." 

"Yes sir." The Commando Droid Captain, who had white markings distinguishing him from his black plated comrades, and a Vibrio sword attached to his back. 

"Sir the troops are all ready to go" an OOM Commander informed TA-175. 

"Prepare to move at once" he said walking up the boarding ramp of his AAT.
 
> Chapter 15: Blast them!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The army of Droids advanced through the forest, eventually making it to the edge, and marching out into the moonlight.

TA-175 popped out of the hatch of his tank, and placed viewfinders up to his photoreceptors. The ponies were prepared for them alright, but he was certain that he could succeed. His calculations pointed towards victory, and his calculations were always correct. 

"Open fire! Charge!" He commanded the B1s and B2s 

"Roger, Roger!" 

The battle began… 

Shots of Red Blaster Bolts and magic attacks of various colors flew across the battlefield. Droids up in the front row were almost immediately cut down, but they kept moving forwards making advancements despite their losses. 

"Hold the line!" Shiny Armor yelled, as some of the troops around him fell. 2 B1s had marched right up in front of him, he shot the one with Magic, and kicked the other, destroying them both. The battle was showing no sign of either side emerging victorious, with similar casualty numbers on both sides, however the Droids were making progress and getting closer slowly… 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the edge of the town, A young Earth Pony Guard and a Unicorn Guard stood at a watch post, hearing the sounds of battle. The Unicorn, who had a had a dark grey coat and silver mane, known as Shining Night, hoped that it would be over soon, and he could go home to his wife and children. His partner, Little Snow, who had a white coat and mane, gazed through binoculars. 

As Snow looked out through his binoculars at the edge of the Ever-free Forest at Pony ville side, he could have sworn he saw white eyes in the forest's brush. 

"Shining! I think I see something!"
 
"What is it? Let me see!" He said, pulling them over with his Magic and gazing through them. 

Indeed, there were white eyes watching them from the forest. 

"What the…" Shining Night began when suddenly a black, thin, bipedal shape with the very same eyes popped up in front of him in the binoculars. 

They both screamed, jumping back. 

However, snow had been struck with a blade, which sent electricity coursing through his body, as he died screaming. 

The shape lunged forwards and landed on top of him, it was made of cold metal, and it gripped one of its hands around his snout, and the other around his neck and began to choke him. He kicked out his back legs and pushed it off him, firing a bolt of magic at it. 

The machine performed a very quick dodge, before pulling a black device off its back and pointing it at him with one hand. The sound of a single Blaster shot was heard, and he slumped over on the floor, dead with a precise smoldering hole in his forehead. 

The Droid reached up to its temple. 

"Unit-BX-34 reporting. Entrance secured." 

More of the BX Commando Droids emerged from the forest, and climbed up the tower and into town, before stealthily making their way towards the Castle of Friendship... 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inside, Celestia, Luna and the Elements were watching over the Battle, ready to join at a moment's notice if needed. Ember had returned home to the Dragon Lands to prepare them for the upcoming battle. 

"It's terrible." Twilight said, watching the conflict from the balcony. "They send their troops into die with no consideration for their lives!" 

"Evil rarely ever cares for the lives of others, even their own. You know that Twilight." Celestia said 

Downstairs, they heard the faint sound of a loud pounding at the door. 

"Coming!" Twilight said, followed by her friend's downstairs. As they came to the bottom of the stairs, the door exploded open, launching shards of it everywhere. Various thin, black, mechanical figures dove in from the opening, while others dove through the glass windows.
 
"Get them girls!" Twilight said, scowling at them and opening her wings in a combat stance, as her friends prepared for combat, and nearby guards armed themselves, running into the fray in the hall. 

Dash charged at one of the Commando Droids and was about to hit it hard with her speeding legs, when it suddenly jumped out of the way, up and off a wall landing behind a guard, who it quickly shot. 

Two closed in on Applejack, who tried to lasso one and kick the other. The lasso quickly bound around the Droid's neck, and she tugged at it, pulling it to the ground where she stomped on its head, before bucking the other with her back legs. Her kick landed dead center on the Droid's chest, and the droid was knocked through a table into the wall. The droid had a dent in its torso, but quickly got back up and dove forwards at her again before it suddenly was surrounded by a blue aura and thrown at the wall again. 

"These ruffians are tough! And terribly ugly!" Rarity said, chopping at one in a karate-like way, which it easily dodged. 
The droid kicked her in the face before leaping back and firing at two guards' midair, killing them and firing at her. 
"You beast!" She yelled before as she blocked its shots with her Magic.
 
The droid began to fire in a more randomized pattern, trying to find an opening when suddenly a pie was thrown against its face, blinding it. 

"Take that silly!" Pinkie said before smashing it with a comically large hammer. 

Despite the progress the girls were making, they had only destroyed 4, and the Droids had killed all 10 guards in the room, none of the guards even landing a hit.
 
"Make a break for the prisoner!" One with white markings said in a deep, menacing voice.
 
"Roger, Roger!" The others said back in equally deep voices, several darting up the stairs. 

Dash charged at the Commando Droid Captain, who like the last one, leaped out of the way. Only this time, it grabbed her mane and pulled her over its head, slamming her into the crystal floor and sending her sliding down the hall, followed by Flutter shy who it picked up and thrown as well. 

"You monster!" Twilight said, firing magic blasts at the Droid, who easily dodged each of them, the droid pulled its Vibrio sword off its back, holding it in its left hand and its Blaster in its right, making a flying leap at Twilight, who grabbed its nearby comrade and threw it at him with her magic knocking it back towards Rarity and Applejack. Applejack threw her rope around it, hoping to lasso it like the last one she destroyed, but it spun around, slicing the rope in half, and scoring a near decapitating strike on Rarity, missing her neck by mere centimeters, chopping off a large portion of her curly mane. 

"My mane! Have you no regard for fashion!? She said, picking up various items with her Magic and throwing them at it in a rage "A LADY HAS TO BE FASHIONABLE YOU KNOW!" She screamed 

The Droids partner had since gotten back up and began to engage Twilight in a Magic vs Blaster duel, neither landing a shot as both of their shots connected mid-air as it began to walk closer. The droid kicked Twilight under her chin and knocked her back against the floor. 

The droid ran in for the killing shot when suddenly a blue flash slammed into it, sending it crashing through a nearby wall. 
"Thanks Rainbow!" Twilight said, picking herself up. 

The group continued to fight the Droids… 

Upstairs, 3 Commando Droids had gotten past the Mane 6 in combat and were nearing the prisoner's location. They kicked down the door, finding a room full of 8 Royal guards who they quickly dispatched with precise shots in a matter of 13 seconds. Over in the corner, in his cage sat OOM-340, bound in chains. 

"Hey! A little help here?" He shouted 

The Commando Droids shot the lock off the cage and dragged him out. 

"Hey guys I can't mo-AAHH!" He shouted as the Droids began to shoot the padlocks off him, leaving him standing there shaking. 

"Okay… thanks?" He said all nervous when the one quickly grabbed him and began pulling him along 

"I can walk! Let go!" He shouted 

"Keep moving" 

The group of commando Droids and OOM-340 made their way back downstairs, to where the fight was going on in the main hall. The Commando Droid Captain was sent flying over in their direction by a kick from Applejack. 

"Take that! Oh, it's you…" 

OOM-340 picked up a dead Commandos E-5 

"Eat laser!" He shouted, letting out a barrage of laser blasts forcing her and Rarity to take cover. 

"We are not here to engage, move!" The captain yelled, pushing OOM-340 towards the exit while the other remaining 

commandos followed, supplying covering fire.
 
Suddenly, huge beams of magic rained down on the group of Droids from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who had seen them from on top of the castle. 

The Droids quickly ran over to the tower they had climbed to get past the barricades. 

OOM-340 looked down at the 15-foot drop from the top of the guard tower. 

"Uh, where are we supposed to go?" 

The Commando Droid Captain did not reply, and simply kicked him out the window before he and his Droids jumped out after him. 

OOM-340 landed with a thud on the other side of the tower on the ground. 

"You know next time…" he said weakly "just tell me to jump…" 

"Get up, we need to go." 

OOM-340 didn't need to be told twice, and simply ran for the forest with the Commandos following… 

Shining Armor and his guards had just fended off an entire battalion of B1s, in awe at their simple and flawed strategy of "everyone march forward and shoot". 

"Stay ready!" He panted "I feel they aren't done yet!" 

The sound of clanking over the hill was heard... 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TA-175 continued to watch the battle through his viewfinders. He activated his radio and gave it troops and update. 

"Your progress is unacceptable. Push harder and wipe out the Equines. Failure is not an option."
 
"Sir." Called out a deep voice to the left of his tank. 

It was the Commando Droid Captain, and what was left of his squad, and a shaking OOM Commanded. 

The commander saluted 

"OOM-340 reporting for duty sir!" It spoke 

"Take the Commander back to base. We will analyze his data and send it to Kraken."
 
"Roger, Roger" 

TA-175 thought of how he could potentially break through their defenses. Perhaps if they moved the tanks up into a forward position, they could annihilate the barricades and troops behind them... 

"Advance." He ordered the driver, and his tank began to move forwards, followed by the other 2. 

Shining and his guard's ponies tried to stack up some of the destroyed droids to act as makeshift barricades to replace the ones that had been destroyed. The Royal Guard prepared quickly for the second wave, which was nearing, but this time the army was different. Instead of consisting of only the tan thin machines, it was also made up of larger, dark grey machines who walked pointing one arm forwards. 

"More of them! Get ready!" 

There B1s and B2s opened fire, with the B2s cutting down many Guards ponies almost immediately. 

Shining threw a spear with his magic, and it impaled through one of the B1s who stood there stunned for a moment before it was pushed out of the way by a larger B2. He threw another spear at the Droids, this time at the B2, but the spear simply bounced off the thicker armor!
 
He turned to his lieutenant 

"Golden Heart! Get Celestia and Luna! We need them here now!" 

"Sir yes sir!" The guard replied running towards the castle… 
 
> Chapter 16: Failure is Unacceptable!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia, Luna, and Spike walked downstairs, finding the Mane 6 in a battered position with destroyed Commando Droids and killed guards around them. Flutter shy and Rainbow Dash were bruised, Rarity's Mane had been cut, Applejack had a cut on her cheek, and Twilight looked exhausted. Pinkie was really the only one who looked fine. Spike ran over to help Twilight up.
 
"Twilight are you ok? Twilight talk to me!" 

"Ugh… Spike… what were those things?" 

"I don't know" 

"Some kind of special ops folk, that's what ah reckon!" Applejack said 

"My poor guard’s ponies…" Celestia said, as she looked over her dead guards, a single tear running down her cheek. "Is every pony else, okay?"
 
"Yeah, I think we're ok…" 

"I wish I could say the same for my Mane, it's ruined!" Rarity said, crying with her mascara running down her face. 

Flutter shy flew over to her friend 

"There, there Rarity, it'll be okay…" she said in her soft voice.
 
Suddenly a Guard’s pony rushed into the room through the doorway 

"Your highnesses! Your help is needed at the front!" 

"Right away Lieutenant!" Celestia said, rushing toward the front with Luna. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The AATs neared the front, preparing to destroy all the barricades with their cannons. 

"Sir, we're in range." Reported the Pilot. 

"Fire at will." TA-175 replied, as the tanks began to fire on the barricades and guard's ponies within, blowing them apart along with nearby houses, leaving it hung but burning buildings, straw, wood, and various other debris. 

Shining Armor witnessed the destruction firsthand, as many of the good soldiers he knew and trained were massacred by the tanks. 

"Fall back to secondary positions!" He yelled over the explosions and Blaster fire. 

The remaining Guard’s ponies rushed out of the trenches and back towards the Market area, where they took up defenses around food carts and sales kiosks. 

The Droids began to advance through the smoke of their former barricades, letting loose a massive rain of Blaster fire. 
"Where are the Princesses?!" Shining yelled 

Just then, there were 2 bright beams of magic, 1 golden and 1 blue, as Celestia and Luna arrived, and began to destroy the advancing Droids. 

"The princesses have arrived! Attack!" 

TA-175 sat in his tank. 

"This operation is taking too long!" He shouted, yet still in a monotone voice somehow, and activated his holo pad 
"What is the reason for the delay? You are 10 minutes behind predicted schedule!" 

"Sorry sir!" The B1 replied "but there are 2 very large ponies here with huge lasers!" 

"Explain!"
 
"They're bigger, and they have flowing hair, and-" the droid was suddenly interrupted as a huge beam of magic energy tore through his chest leaving a smoking hole all the way through. 

"AWWwwwuu…" the droid said in its failing voice, before falling over dead. 

TA-175 began to recalculate, they had established their primary objective, but he wanted to eliminate the weak creatures for opposing the CIS. However, the more calculations he ran accounting for the 2 larger creatures, the more the results began to point towards a failure. Failure was not acceptable! Failure did not compute! Nonetheless, he couldn't calculate anything he could do about it. 

How could puny organics such as them repel an attack like this? He would have to retreat, and try again, he didn't have unlimited forces to sacrifice.
 
"All troops, return to base." He began, activating his radio "withdraw forces from battle. We are pulling out. If you do not comply you will be left behind on your own." 

Almost immediately, the squads of Droids that were talking towards the town turned around and began running towards the forest, followed by the tanks. 

In the town square, Shining Armors Guard’s ponies and the Princesses had finished clearing out most of the Droids. Most had started running away, but they couldn't let them escape, and continued to throw spears and shoot magic at them. 

"The Battle has been won your highness." Shining reported 

"That is good captain, but that of your ponies? How many did we lose?" 

"49 I think, but we took down a lot of these things." 

Celestia hung her head 

"That doesn't get them back. Tend to the wounded, I must speak with your sister." 

"Is she ok?" 

"Yes, but she and her friends were attacked by a group of elite troops who must have snuck in." 

Shining cursed himself for not having tighter security at the castle. Those droids getting through was his fault, or at least he felt it was. 

"Alright… I'll speak with you later your highness." 

Back at the outpost in the forest, the Droids returned from their mission. 

"Your failure is unacceptable." TA-175 scolded "you have all disappointed me, except you Captain" 

He said, pointing to the Commando Droid Captain 

"You succeeded in your assigned task. Bring OOM-340 into the briefing room for analysis."
 
"Roger, Roger." 

"All other units seek required maintenance. I expect you all to operate at 90% or greater by the next rotation." 

"Roger, Roger" all the Droids replied. 

Walking into the briefing room, OOM-340 sat in a chair with an R5 Astro mech next to him, who was handing cables and preparing to hook him up for data analysis. 

"Contact Kraken" ordered TA-175.
 
The Astro mech whistled and extended an arm which it used to activate the Holo table, before continuing to prepare OOM-340. 

"Results of Mission?" Kraken asked 

"Mission partial success. OOM-340 has been retrieved, but we suffered heavy losses when they brought in their leaders. We were able to breach the first layer of barricades but were driven back."
 
"Acceptable. Has OOM-340's data been analyzed yet?" 

"Negative, it is being worked on as we speak however." 

"Good. Transmit them to me when complete." 

"Hey, um, is this going to hurt?" OOM-340 asked the Astro mech, which whistled in response. 

"Just the first part? How much? Exactly how painfu-AGH That's my face!" He yelled as his faceplate and upper head paneling was pulled off, exposing the circuits and electronics within.
 
The Astro mech hooked the cabling up into the OOM-340's "brain" and began to extract the data. A nearby computer began to display various images, locations and information at an incredible speed, so fast that no human would be able to read or understand any of it, but for Tactical Droids like TA-175, this was normal reading speed. Among the images displayed were some of standard things you'd expect a Battle Droid to have, such as its own blueprints, programming, a diagram of an E-5, assembler information, ID tag, and battle memories. However, as the memories began to become more recent, newer images and events appeared. The landing in Equestria, Meeting the Mane 6, The various other creatures it logged, its social interactions, the Equestrian Alphabet, and of course, the meeting with the Princesses." 

But what particularly interested the Tactical Droids were the image of the Cutie Map, which gave a highly detailed image of the landscape, and its locations in better detail than could be seen from orbit. 

Suddenly the Screen flashed with a message saying "End of memory log. What do you wish to do?" With the options below stated as 

-Copy to external drive (drive present) 

-Transfer Files 

-Erase Memory 

TA-175 walked over to the terminal, pressing the first option, to begin copying and transferring the files to Kraken, allowing OOM-340 to maintain his memory banks. 

A nearby slot opened, and a storage drive extended out of it, which TA-175 grabbed and placed into the holo table, transferring it to Kraken. 

"Thank you. That is all I require for now." Kraken said, before his hologram faded from view. 

The Astro mech began disconnecting OOM-340 and reassembling his face as TA-175 walked out of the room. He had another Battle calculation to prepare given his new data. 
> Chapter 17: Preparations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia walked into the Castle of Friendship, and upstairs to the meeting room with the Mane 6, where they had the meeting before with the Droids. There were more dead guards, killed by the Droids.
 
"It's terrible, not only have they harmed so many of our ponies, but OOM-340 escaped as well." Twilight exclaimed sadly 
"Yes, my dear, I know." Celestia replied "We tried to stop them, but they were very skilled and dodged all our magic" 
"What can we do now?" Twilight asked, looking to her former mentor for guidance. 

"We must learn from this attack and strengthen. Like my pet Phoenix, Philomena, we will rise from the ashes stronger and renewed." Celestia said 

Twilight felt better, Celestia always had a way with words that made her feel better. 

"What better way to rise from the ashes than with fire?" came a voice from the doorway. 

They all turned to see Princess Ember, wearing her Battle armor, holding her staff.
 
"Princess Ember!" The Mane 6 exclaimed, swallowing her in a group hug 

"Hey! Easy! I don't like hugs, remember?" Ember said, mildly annoyed 

"Sorry…" Twilight said "it's just good to see a friend after today!" 

"What all happened? I heard about the attack but what happened?" Ember asked 

"The Droids launched an attack on Pony ville and managed to break out defenses until my sister and I joined the battle" Celestia said OOM-340 also escaped with help from some kind of elite force." 

"Any idea yet on how these things work?" Ember asked 

"Not yet, I have my best ponies working on the 2 from the fight earlier, trying to figure out their inner workings. They have a lot of circuitry and mechanical parts, one of the most intricate things I've ever seen." Celestia said. 

"Well, are they fireproof?" Ember asked "because that's all I need to know for my plan to be successful" she said with a smug grin… 

Kraken stood at the holo table, overlooking the acquired map of Equestria inquisitively, while TJ-912, TF-1726, who had been called over to aid in the analysis, did the same. 

"I calculate that this location on the map is the capital of this planet." Kraken said, pointing a finger at the image of Canter lot. 

"What makes you certain of this?" TJ-912 asked 

"The location is situated in the center of the continent, which would make it safe from forces invading from the sea. The location also appears to have been built on a mountainside, with only 1 path leading to it, which would make it easier to defend and give a wide view of the surrounding land." Kraken explained
 
"Excellent analysis. What are your current orders, sir?" 

"I want you two to prepare an orbital bombardment of this region with your ships." Kraken said, pointing a finger towards the Dragon Lands. "The dragon species poses a high threat to our forces, and it would be a wise strategic move to eliminate them swiftly." 

"By your command." The two Tactical Droids said, departing to return to their assigned ships. 
Kraken returned to analyzing the map. 

"Plans to create. Wars to win." He said… 

"Just what is your plan?" Twilight asked Ember. 

"Well, I was planning on taking an army of my fiercest dragons to their base… except I don't know where it is." 
"When the Droids began to retreat, they marched back into the Ever-free Forest, it's highly likely they have some kind of setup there." Celestia suggested 

"I'll bet on that. If we worked together, we could take them out more easily with less losses. Isn't that what friends do?" Ember asked 

"Wait! Now may not be the best time for attack! We know very little about its defenses, they could have many more troops there." 

"Whatever those machines are packing, I'm sure they'll be crushed by my Dragons." Ember said confidently 
"If you choose to attack them, I cannot stop you." Celestia said. 

"Think about it, if we all work together, they'll be overwhelmed! Dragons and Ponies together would be unstoppable! Ember said, trying to convince Celestia to attack her. 

"I think she has a point." Dash said "if we attack together, we can take them down faster than lighting! And believe me, I know all about speed." she said, smirking cockily and placing a hoof on her chest. 

"Ah agree, if we don't deal with em' now, they could land something bigger, and then we'll have ah bigger problem." 
Celestia thought for a moment. This was a large risk, and there was a large possibility of failure, and Ponies getting hurt, or worse. 

We agree with them, sister." Luna said, walking into the room and standing next to her sister. "We believe 'tis wise to smite them together and quickly, like a fire that yearns to consume a forest." 

Celestia looked up, and they all smiled, hoping she would help end the conflict quickly. 

"Alright my ponies, I just hope that this is the right call. Now if you'll excuse me, I must retire for the night." With that, Celestia walked out of the room and towards a guest room, followed by 4 royal guards. 

"I think we should all be getting to bed." Twilight said, following her out the room, towards her bedroom. 

TJ-912's Recusant Class Destroyer angled itself into a bombardment position, along with TF-1726's Munificent Class Frigate as they moved towards the Dragon Lands from orbit, their cannons all swiveling downwards, prepared to rain down hell and fire upon the already volcanic landscape below. 

TJ-912 stood on the bridge, walking around making sure all preparations were in place. This would be a fine example of the Confederacy's might and would crush the moral of their opponents. 

Her communications panel chimed in, and he activated the display to be greeted with familiar sight of her superior, Kraken. 

"Are the preparations finished?" Kraken asked 

"Yes sir, our ships are nearly in position." She replied. 

"Excellent. Begin charging your cannons to maximum capacity. I want that region of the planet to be nothing more than a blackened crater of ash and debris." 

"Yes sir," she said, ordering her troops to begin charging their Turbolasers. "The wait for the Turbolasers to reach maximum bombardment efficiently will be about 1 hour. We will also need to devote power from shields to maintain firing." 

"Acceptable. I will signal you when I wish for you to fire." 

"I will wait for your order." She said, closing the transmission, and continued staring out the window. 
 
> Chapter 18: Rain of Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning came again to Equestria as Celestia raised the sun over the land, but all was no longer peaceful. Battle was coming, and it would be brutal. The Elements of Harmony all gathered around, making sure they all had their equipment ready to go.

"Every pony almost ready to go?" Twilight asked, triple checking her checklist to make sure she had everything ready and adjusting her Elemental tiara on her head. 

"Just about dear, I managed to salvage my mane after what those hooligans did to it." Rarity said, walking out of the bathroom with a shorter, yet still curly and well-kept mane. 

"I knew there was always something fishy about those guys." Rainbow Dash said, performing a quick workout to prepare for battle. 

"I can't believe that they would do something like that, they seemed so nice!" Fluttershy said, with a Look of sadness on her face. 

"They were just taking advantage of us Fluttershy" Dash replied, stretching.
 
Ember walked into the room, clad in her Battle armor from last night.
 
"So, you ponies about ready yet?" 

"Yep!" Twilight said, crossing off the last thing on her checklist "let's report outside girls!" 

"What about me Twilight?" Spike asked 

"Oh Spike, you're too young to be going into a fight like this! I think it's best if you stay here." 

"Come on, I can handle myself!" 

"No, Spike, I know you can handle yourself, but I don't think you can handle them!" 

"Let Spike come along" Ember said "he's a tough little guy, if he could make it through the Gauntlet of Fire, he can make it through whatever those machines can throw at him!" 

Twilight knew she was right. She couldn't baby Spike forever, and he was tough when he needed to be. 
"Alright." She sighed "you can come." 

"Aw yeah!" He shouted, high-fiving Ember. 

They were greeted by Celestia and Luna walking over to them, with Shining Armor by their side. 

"Take care sis, we'll be right alongside you" Shining said, hugging Twilight 

"The time for the battle nears." Celestia said "we will restore harmony to our land, utilizing the Elements of Harmony to bring down our foes. Remember what I have taught you all." she said, smiling and walking off with her sister.
 
"The time to act has come" she said. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TJ-912 stood on the bridge of her Destroyer, ready for her orders to blast the Dragon's home to smithereens. It had been 4 hours, but Kraken had not given the order yet. Perhaps he wanted them to wait for the sun to rise, so that all could see it. He was smart and knew that morals played an important role in organic troops and viewing this destruction would surely diminish it. 

Suddenly the message came to her via hologram from Kraken. 

"TJ-912, TF-1726, the time for action has arrived" he began, speaking to both Tactical Droids at once via a 3-way transmission. "Initiate orbital bombardment." 

"Yes Commander." She said walking forwards to the front of the bridge, standing beside a B1 gunner sitting in his chair. 
"Open fire." she said coldly, sounding as though she would be smiling sinisterly if she could move her face, and pointing an arm at the planet below. 

"Roger, Roger!" 

There was the loud cry as the Recusant's and Munificent Turbolasers batteries opened fire, letting loose a rain of red lasers, unleashing on the planet below. TJ-912 simply stared at the magnificent sight as the lasers began to impact the planet surface below. 

There was a huge, red glow coming from the sky in the Dragon lands, as thousands of dragons looked to the cloudy sky, trying to figure out what the bright lights origin was, before millions upon millions of red raindrops pelted the surface and dragons around them, killing some younger and weaker dragons, wounding others, and merely annoying the large ones. The ground shook as rockslides and earthquakes ravaged the ground, and volcanos erupted, filling the air with ash. Large Dragons who were not killed by the turbolasers were crushed beneath falling rocks or suffocated by ash. Doom had fallen upon most of the Dragon Population. 

In Pony ville, the Princesses, Mane 6 and Ember all watched in horror as the bombardment came down on the dragon lands. Embers shock soon turned to pure anger and rage. 

"Those cans will pay for this!" She roared 

Twilight stepped up
 
"Wait! It's too dangerous!" She said as Ember took off towards the Dragon Lands.
 
Ember knew the likelihood of the Dragon population being unaffected was unlikely, but she had to be there for her people, even though caring wasn't a very Dragon-like thing. She'd make those droids pay for this destruction, if she had to tear every last one apart with her bare claws. As she neared the Dragon lands, the heat began to increase, and ash filled the air making breathing difficult, but she did not care. She was looking for one Dragon in particular: her father, Torch. Dead dragons were everywhere, with some managing to rise from the smoke battered but alive. 

"Where's my father!" Ember demanded 

"I don't know my lord!" Came an almost unanimous answer from the surviving dragons, who made their way past her to clean air. 

Ember searched every chasm and cave through the Dragon lands, searching for her father. It was hours before she found him, crushed beneath a massive landslide. Ember got down on her knees and cried as she mourned her father… 

On board the Providence Class Carrier 'Enforcement', Kraken gazed down at the destruction with his 3 yellow photoreceptors, pleased with the results. Large areas of what was the Dragon lands had been reduced to massive craters and glowing areas of melted rock, and that was all that could be seen through the ash from orbit. His scans confirmed there were survivors, but he had depleted enough of their numbers to make them a minor threat. He sat in his command chair and contacted his two Tactical Droids TF-1726 and TJ-912. 

"Excellent work. Return your ships to their previous positions. We have won this round." He said, his voice having a notable sense of pride in it. 

Today was a good day for the Confederacy. 
 
> Chapter 19: Equestria Strikes Back
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was at a loss for words, as were her friends. They had never witnessed such destruction, which they knew was worse than anything Equestria had ever seen, even from hundreds of miles away.
 
"Well… now what?" Asked Spike
 
"We fight back." Celestia said 

"How can we fight against that?!" Twilight said, beginning to lose her calm, rational demeanor. 

"I know things look bleak, but we will make it through this my little ponies" Celestia said, attempting to console her student "you are the Elements of Harmony, and we can defeat any foe if we work together to restore harmony" 

Shining Armor joined in on the conversation 

"And the Royal Guards are no pushovers either sis, we'll stop those droids!" 

Twilight felt a little better but was still worried about the future. This conflict would be brutal, and Equestria would never be the same. 

"So," she began "where do we start?" 

The Mane 6, the Princesses and the royal guard's finest strategists gathered around the table, with Ember who had returned with her fiercest surviving dragon warriors who waited outside. 

"Twilight, would you do the honor of starting the briefing?" Celestia said, placing her wing around her student. 
"Well… we know they have their camp set up somewhere within the Ever-free Forest, likely around this area" Twilight said, gesturing to it on the map, where a cartoony icon of a Battle Droid head appeared "we don't know what various kinds of troops get will have, but most likely it will be like what they attacked Pony ville with." 

"I will lead my dragons in from the air to take down their heavier defenses" Ember said, drawing a line through the air toward their base icon with her staff. 

"Very good" Shining Armor said "my ponies will advance through the forest, with me leading them in his assault." 
"While you 2 have them distracted, the Elements, my sister and I will take an alternate path around to their base and attempt to capture their leaders." Celestia said 

"Do we even know what their leader there looks like?" Twilight asked 

"No, but I'd imagine he looks different than the others, probably has special markings, like the yellow one we had captured." Celestia replied "are there any other questions or objections about the battle plan?"
 
"No, your highness!" Said all the guards. 

"Excellent, now let's get a move on!" 

TA-175 was command center, sitting in his chair monitoring the different feeds from scouts and security systems. One particularly caught his attention, one of a Viper Recon Droid situated on the edge of the Ever-free Forest. From its tree perch it could see a large number of guards ponies dressed in their golden-roman-like armor, with blue plumes on their helmets, and dragons gathering around Pony ville, with groups of the ponies advancing into the Ever-free Forest. 

TA-175 walked close to the monitor and activated the audio feed. He couldn't make out much, but he did hear the voice of a stallion clad in similar armor, except colored purple with golden highlights shout out "all right, move out!" 

TA-175 immediately spun around to face his OOM Commander Assistant. 

"Prepare for their immediate ground assault. All troops to battle positions, deploy garrisons!" He demanded, pointing his finger at the Droid 

"Roger, Roger!" The droid complied, running off to complete its assigned task. 
TA-175 contacted Kraken on his holo pad 

"Sir, the Equestrian Military force is launching an assault on our outpost." 

"Ensure the base does not fall. Avoid capture at all costs. What is the status of base defenses?" Kraken replied 
"Our AATs are in position around the base, with several legions of Battle Droid positioned around the perimeter. We also have Dwarf Spider Droids dug in defensive positions to provide covering fire, and Crab Droids to support our forces." He reported proudly 

"What units does the enemy force contain?" Kraken asked, wanting to check subordinate's calculations. 
"Unknown entirely, but probes report that they consist primarily of armored guards Ponies supported by Dragons, I calculate around 270 Ponies and 7 large Dragons supported by 13 Smaller sized Dragons." 

"What are your methods for countering with the Dragons?" 

"Our AAT are equipped with armor piercing cells and bunker buster shells to penetrate the creature's scales and destroy them. I calculate that they will be unable to survive them, like the last one we eliminated, sir." 
"AATs are unable to attack airborne forces, I would suggest aerial support. I have 2 Squadrons of Vulture Droids and 3 Hyena Bombers prepared for flight." 

"I will request them if needed" 

"Understood. Do not fail." Kraken reminded him, closing the message. 

He did not need to be reminded not to fail. The whole reason why he was there was to ensure there was no failure, as the Droids under his command were too incompetent to be able to create successful strategies. There would be no failure. Not this time. He would make sure of it. 

 
> Chapter 20: Battle of the Ever-free
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OOM-340 stood behind the makeshift wooden barricades in the Ever-free Forest that he had been set up with. His squad consisted of 15 B1s, 8 B2s, and 1 Dwarf Spider Droid. A large lion-like beast with a scorpion tail had attempted to attack them earlier, but it was quickly blasted down by the Dwarf Spider Droid.
 
He peered out into the forest with his electro binoculars, but they were almost worthless due to the tree cover. He passed them to a nearby B1. 

"Can you see anything?" He asked. 

"Nothing yet sir. Wait… no. Oh wait yeah! I think I see things moving in the distance!"
 
"What do you mean?" 

"I see dark shapes moving!" The Droid said vaguely 

"Give me those!" he demanded, reaching for the viewfinders 

"But you just gave them to me!" The Droid replied 

"Quiet let me see!" OOM-340 ordered, placing the electro binoculars up to his photoreceptors. 

The droid was right, he could see 4 legged shapes with heads too large for their bodies. As they came closer, he could finally see them clearly… ponies in full armor. 

"Open fire!" He called 

Immediately the cry of Blaster fire filled the air as red lasers and magic blasts flew back and forth between the sides…
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shining Armor trotted through the Ever-free Forest, with his fellow ponies behind him. It grew darker the farther they journeyed, but they could see once their eyes adjusted.

Shining raised his hoof, signaling everyone to stop. Up ahead there was a large squad of Battle Droids, all standing with their blasters ready, with a larger Droid behind them. It had 5 red glowing eyes, two stalk-like eyes that attacked to the body like antennae, and 3 on the front of its red body, with 2 tubes emerging from the bottom of the body, and it stood on 6 large red legs low on the ground, making it vaguely shaped like a crab. 

"What the hay is that thing sir?" A nearby Guard whispered 

"Quiet" he responded "we don't want to be spotted. Split up, we'll flank them from both sides. 
The squads split and advanced up the side tree lines. 

Shining gave signals to fire, and the B1s standing out in the open were quickly cut down by magic. 
"Advance!" Shining yelled, and his troops emerged from the brush on either side of the clearing. All the B1s had been taken down by this point, leaving the large crab-like Droid. 

The droid, however, was intent on not going down without a fight. The droid let loose a stream of laser fire from its belly cannons, cutting down many Guards ponies, and grievously wounding others as it advanced towards Shining. 
"Concentrate Magic on its cannons! Get behind it!" Shining ordered, and his ponies began to fire at its belly cannon while flanking it from all sides. The Crab Droid tightened its legs together with its body, as if attempting to hide its weaker underbelly, before it suddenly leaps forwards at shining and his ponies, crushing several beneath its metal feet. Shining was able to raise a shield around himself just in time to avoid being crushed. The machine stood on top of his shield attempting to smash away at his protective bubble with its front legs. Suddenly a Pegasus Guards pony flew up onto its back and smashed at its eyestalks, causing the droid to stumble backwards, rearing on its hind legs attempting to shake off the unwanted rider, to little avail. The Pegasus continued to smash away at its hull Armor, denting and causing several plates to fly off exposing the circuitry inside. Shining took the chance and fired a beam directly into the opening in its body, melting its mechanical inner workings. The droid stumbled and collapsed onto the ground letting out a final grumble of resistance before its eyes flickered out, and its hull began to smoke. 

Shining let out a deep breath. Whatever that thing was, it was dead now. He glanced over at what was left of his platoon. He'd lost 13 ponies to this machine alone. He kicked at it angrily with his leg. 

"Piece of scrap!" He shouted, "you cost me the lives of ponies I trusted, ponies who trusted me to lead them safely!" 
Shining stood there for a moment longer before giving the order to form up and move again. The Princesses needed their distraction. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Princesses and the Elements were having considerably less trouble. They had only run into a small patrol 
"So should we rush them?" 

"No Twilight, they may be able to get a signal out of our presence then." Celestia responded. 
"What do we do then?" 

"We distract them and take them out all at once." 

B1-68006 stood at his post with 2 of his buddies. 

"This is boring, nothing's out there!" He groaned 

"I know! I'd rather be in the front lines! That's at least exciting!" His friend said. Suddenly a small rock flew out of the woods and landed on the ground beside them, followed by another a few seconds later. 
"Huh?" The one Droid said, moving to pick it up, only for it to be surrounded by a golden aura and roll back towards the forest. 

"Come back!" They shouted, running after it. 

B1-68006 stood at his post with his friend. 

The first Droid had taken the bait. Immediately after stepping into the bush, it was tackled by Applejack and quickly dealt with. 

Back in the clearing, another rock rolled out on the other side of the clearing, before being surrounded by a blue aura and rolling back into the forest. 

"Hey…" said the other Droid wandering to go find it, and immediately after stepping to the clearing, was decapitated by a swift kick from Princess Luna. 

B1-68006 stood alone at his post. 

Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a pink pony with a messy mane and tail behind him with a massive smile on her face. 

"Hi!" She said in an energetic voice 

He stumbled backwards and out of the command center, falling in his back, His final thoughts were simply confusion before he was suddenly being crushed by the same comically large hammer Pinkie used to crush the Commando Droid, again pulling it from seemingly nowhere. 

The ponies all came out from their hiding spaces and followed the empty path behind the former guard's post, a path that should logically lead to their base... 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TA-175 stood at his holo table, surveying the battle as it was playing out. He predicted the locations and paths of the Ponies armies, and had arranged his defenses accordingly, to near pinpoint accuracy. There were 3 main columns of ponies moving through the forest, and they were headed for the base. All 3 of the outer defenses had fallen, but they were of little importance. Their purpose was simply to alert him to enemy presence, which they did. Everything was playing into his mechanical palm except for the Dragons, as he was not sure where they were. None had been reported. 
A loud roar was heard outside… 

None had been reported until just then, as several alerts flashed on his monitors. 
He tapped on a data pad, and the projection changed to that of the base. 7 large Dragons and the 13 medium sized Dragons had landed from the air, being led by a small blue dragon wearing Golden armor and had begun to wreak havoc on his inner defenses. 

"Recalculating…" he said to himself, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he pressed several buttons on a terminal. 
Outside, battalions of B1s and B2s opened fire on the giant beasts, to little effect. AATs fired their shots at the large Dragons, managing to kill 3 with their armor piercing shells and bunker buster shells. However, one of the Dragons scales were just too thick, and the shells simply bounced off the Dragon, who swept 2 AATs aside with a with simple whip of his tail and crushed another beneath his clawed foot. Dwarf Spider Droids emerged from their trenches and began firing on the Dragons, attempting to score lucky shots in their eyes, it was total chaos for both sides. 

Ember smashed a B1 with a strike from her staff 

"PUSH FORWARDS! REMEMBER THE DRAGON LANDS!" She shouted as the Dragons began to push onwards… 
Far above the planet in orbit, the Carrier 'Enforcement's' hanger doors opened, and from the ceiling dropped 14 Vulture Droids who landed with loud metallic thuds on the floor, as they activated, their eye Lits glowing a bright red. Several larger Hyena Class Bombers awakened from their slumber next to them with a evil mechanical laugh, which their name came from. They all transformed into their flight modes and departed from the hanger, as huge swarm of death. Their orders were simple: Defend the Ever-free Forest Base from Dragons at all costs… 

Things were going well for Ember's forces, as she had only lost 3 giants with 4 smaller warriors. Then came a loud sound from the sky above. Ember looked up to see a huge swarm of mechanical creatures speeding down towards her and her Dragons. She hardly had a moment to take in the sight and find cover before a vast number of lasers and bombs exploded on the ground around her, with the bombs taking out 3 other giant dragons and killing nearly all other smaller Dragon warriors. 

The droid fighters pulled up from their dove bomb at the last moment before they hit the ground in maneuver that would be fatal to most pilots due to overwhelming G forces. 

Her whole attack plan had gone to Tartarus! 

"Find cover!" She yelled, smashing another droid with her staff "defend yourselves as long as you can!" 
"Yes, my lord!" Shouted another dragon warrior, moments before he was blown apart by a bomb launched by a Hyena Bomber. 

"Yes, my lord!" Shouted another dragon warrior, moments before he was blown apart by a bomb launched by a Hyena Bomber. 

She didn't become Dragon Lord for this..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back at OOM-340s position, Magic and laser shots darted back and forth across the battlefield. 

OOM-340 ducked behind a log with several of his other troops, as they would periodically stick their heads up to return fire. 
There were a lot of ponies, but OOM-340 believed he had the upper hand. He and his forces were positioned on a higher ridge with tree cover around them. Now the area in front was littered with Guards pony corpses and destroyed Battle Droids alike. 

Suddenly there was a loud boom, and a cannon ball smashed though the barricade next to him, taking the 2 Droids behind them with it. 

"Oh no…" he said, peeking up to see the ponies had brought in cannons to breach their defenses. 

"Hey, you," he said, pointing at the Dwarf Spider Droid 

The Spider Droid squawked back and tilted its head almost like a giant robot puppy. 

"Concentrate fire on the cannons!" 

The Spider Droid squawked in reply and began to fire its cannon at the Equestrian Artillery, blowing them away. 

"Good shot boy!" He praised 

Suddenly a cannon ball flew directly into the Dwarf Spider Droids domed head, denting it and cracking one of its large red eyes before bouncing off. The droid's eyes flicked for a moment, and it collapsed on the ground, as if wanting to give out, before it stood up and released a rapid fire burst from its cannon on the attacking Pony forces, killing many of them and destroying their remaining artillery, as well as destroying many trees and plants in fiery explosions. 

"Holy…" OOM-340 said, gazing through is electro binoculars once more at the destruction. 

Suddenly 3 ponies popped up from behind cover and launched a spear at OOM-340 and the 2 remaining B1s next to him with their magic. The Dwarf Spider Droid swiveled its head and blasted the ponies into bits and pieces but it was too late. OOM-340 felt a sharp jab in his abdomen and lowered his electro binoculars. 

A spear had impeded itself in his abdomen, deep enough that the head was no longer visible. 

"Ugh…" he managed to utter before he fell over on his side as his leg connections gave out. 

"Nooo…" groaned. "But I don't… I don't want to shut down…" he whimpered in his high-pitched voice as he felt the simulated, but still very real pain. He turned his head to his comrades. He'd been the lucky one of the 3. One had it embedded directly where his head connected, which severed his neck and head and the other had it producing from his back through his chest, a complete impalement. 

He reached his hand up to his radio on his head as he dragged himself against a tree. 
"This is OOM-340. Area is secure but… I need repairs immediately"! 

He was met with the voice of B1. 

"We're sorry sir, but we cannot help you now. Things are… not under control here. Can you move? I have order for you to return to base ASAP." 

He glanced down at his legs and tried to move them, only for sparks to spray out of his "wound". 
"Umm… no. My legs are damaged." 

"Are there any other survivors nearby who could carry you?" 

He glanced over what was left of his unit. 2 B1s, one missing an arm, a single B2 with holes in his armor, and the Dwarf Spider Droid. 

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" He grumbled, as he ordered the B1s over to him. 

"What can we do s-sir?" The one missing an arm said in a glitchy voice. 

"I need help. Can you try to pull this… thing out of me?"
 
"Roger, Roger!" 

The 2 B1s sat down and placed their hands on the spear 

"Ok… pull- AHH!" 

He said as they tugged quickly at the spear, wrenching it free of his abdomen. 

"Owwwww…" he said, and he felt the pain of them pulling it out "how do I look down there" he asked 

One of the Droids bent down and investigated his abdomen. 

"I see a lot of wires, and circuits, aaand a hole." 

"How bad is the damage?!" He shouted. 

"Oh. Um… do you want me to try and twist some of the wires back together? Or leave them the way it is?" 

OOM-340 groaned. "Of course, I want you to fix it!" 

The droid began twisting different wires together, suddenly being kicked by OOM-340 

"Ow! Watch it!" 

"You connected it! Don't have schematics for what does where?" 

"Um, no sir." 

OOM-340 was really getting tired of his subordinates' idiocy. This must have been a B1 whose programming was very simple, and still somehow corrupted, at least he was an upgraded OOM series. He had better memory and programming and thank the maker they had fixed the control signal issue and he could now think independently. 

The B1 continued to twist around with the wires until suddenly OOM-340 regained some feeling in his legs. 

"Stop!" Shouted "I think I can walk now." 

He stood up wobbly and took a few steps. He looked like a tan skeletal infant learning to walk. His legs weren't working perfectly, but at least he could walk. Besides, he didn't want some idiot screwing around with his wiring any more than needed. 

"Alright let's go." He said, picking up his E-5 and Electro binoculars "command wants us back at base"
 
With that, he and his remaining squad mates set off for the outpost... 
> Chapter 21: We Require Reinforcements
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining Armor led his army through the forest closer to the base's perimeter. The sounds of Battle were all around them in the forest now, as they approached another encampment. These droids had dug in trenches, and had a foxhole behind it with a large, 4-legged droid, which had a grey dome like head, 2 large red eyes, 2 small red eyes, and a long beak-like tube; or as anyone from the Clone Wars would call it, a Dwarf Spider Droid.
 
Shining raised his hoof to signal them to stop. He tried to think about what the best attack strategy would be. He rubbed his chin. Maybe they could have unicorns in the lead deploy magic shields and have ponies behind them throw spears? No, there was no guarantee that they would hurt that larger Droid. Maybe they could launch cannon balls at the droid with cannons? No, lugging multiple cannons through this terrain would be impossible. Maybe they could pull down trees on them and first the droid, and then while the others were distracted, take them by surprise! 

Shining turned to his troops 

"Okay, I think I have a plan. Steel Stud, Star Mane, I want you to take up positions behind that large tree on the right. Sapphire Spirit, Comet Ice, I want you to do the same behind that large tree on the left. When I give the signal, use your magic to pull the trees down on the big machine." He turned to face a Unicorn with a Bow and Arrow "Marble Arrow", when they are distracted, take out the yellow one, he seems to be in charge. Then we'll rush the remaining ones while they are in disarray. Understood?" 

They nodded 

"What's the signal?" Star Mane asked 

"I'll whistle a bird call, now go soldiers!" 

Within a minute the ponies were all in position. 

Shining nodded to his troops and gave out a whistle. 

The Droids paid no attention to this, but that they did pay attention to the 2 large trees that fell on the Dwarf Spider Droid and crushed it. 

"What the?!" Began the Commander Battle Droid before an arrow shot through his head and pinned him against the tree. 
"Attack!" Shining yelled, as he and his ponies charged in taking down the remaining B1s with ease. 

"Good work every pony! Now let's get movi-" he was cut off by a sudden Blaster shot that went clear through a nearby soldier's head. "GET DOWN!" He yelled, as his guards took up positions behind the downed trees. 

Shining retrieved his telescope and glanced through it from a small gap in the tree. There was a droid there all right, a BX-Series Commando Droid had taken up position in tree up ahead. He would've been almost impossible to see were it not for his white glowing eyes. 

Of course, now that they knew where he was, he would be easy to deal with. 

Shining reached out with his Magic and concentrated. 

A purple aura appeared around the Droids weapon, and it was yanked from the tree, along with the droid holding it. 
The droid landed on the fall, doing a roll and stopping in a crouched position, and pulled a long shiny blade off its back before lunging at Shining Armor. Shining barely had enough time to summon a magic sword of his own, and the two engaged in a short duel before a nearby pony stabbed it through its back with a spear. 

"Thanks." 

Shining said, as he stored away his sword and continued walking forwards with his army. 

The Princesses and the Mane 6 rounded a corner on the trail, nearing an entrance to the base clearing and coming to meet 2 Dwarf Spider Droid who they destroyed with beams of Magic quickly. 

"There it is girls! Let's get into their command center!" Twilight said, as she glanced over at the ongoing battle between the Dragons and Droid Army. "And quickly!" 

They hurried out of the clearing, only to be met with the sound of many blasters being primed and aimed. 
They stopped dead in their tracks and turned to see a large battalion of B1s and B2s, with 2 large hovering brown vehicles (MTTs) behind them. 

Celestia stepped up to the Commander Battle Droid who oversaw the platoon in front and spread her wings to their full wingspan. 

"I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA, RULER OF EQUESTRIA FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND I ORDER YOU TO STAND DOWN AND BRING US TO YOUR LEADER!" She said, in a thundering boom utilizing The Royal Canter lot Voice. 

The droid who she towered over, moved his head as if considering his options 

The droid then shouted a simple, typical response 

"Blast them'!" 

"So much for diplomacy, sister." Luna joked as they began to deflect the incoming barrage of Blaster fire. 
TA-175 stood at a terminal monitoring the fight against the Dragons, when his R5 Astro mech assistant rolled up and whistled at him in alarm. 

"The Princesses have arrived at the base? Explain." 

The droid beeped that they were at the rear of the base and engaging their garrison. 

"Does not compute! Rear positions were secured! Contact Kraken, we require re-enforcements, activate my guards." 
The Astro mech beeped an affirmative and rolled off to complete its assigned task.
 
TA-175, although he wasn't programmed to feel worried, was beginning to feel a bit of dread, of failure, and FAILURE DOES NOT COMPUTE! 

The Droid returned being followed by B1 8 Security Droids and 4 Droidekas, and projected a hologram of Kraken. 
"TA-175, report the status of the Battle?" 

"The Equine's leaders have breached our rear defenses and have engaged our garrison. We require re-enforcements immediately if we are to succeed." He replied, with much regret in his voice. 

"Re-enforcements will take time to prepare. In approximately 25 minutes I can have a landing craft deliver more Droids." 

"The Battle situation is untenable; we will not be able to repel them for that long. I have failed." 

"This is unfortunate, withdraw yourself and your forces from Battle, we will deploy pre-built command outposts around Equestria and seize it from the edges inwards." 

"By your command" TA-175 responded and the transmission closed. He turned to a nearby OOM Pilot Droid "start my ship" 

"Start your what?" The droid asked, obviously mishearing his order 

“My ship. Prepare my Shuttle for immediate departure." 

"Oh, sorry! Uh, Roger, Roger!" Droid said running off with its partner to prepare the Sheathipede Class Shuttle they had docked for emergency purposes. 

TA-175 turned to face his security forces. 

"I want 2 B1s and a Droidekas to remain here with me, and the rest of you to engage the enemy for as long as possible. 
"Roger, Roger!" 

OOM-340 finally made it back to the base with his squad mates, and just about had sensory overload. There were dead droids everywhere, and Dragons engaging in battle with the other remaining Droids. 

"Uh, sir? Are you okay? Do need a reboot?" A B1 asked, waving a hand in front of his faceplate. 

"Uh, no. Um…" he said, trying to think about what to do. Even as an independently thinking unit, he still wasn't prepared for situations like this. 

"Stay here, and… help defend the base." He said to the Dwarf Spider Droid and the B1. He then pointed to the B1 who was missing his right arm. "You, come with me, we're going in for some quick repairs and orders, we can't function like this. 
He stepped inside the front entrance to the base and was met with a ton of B1s and B2s inside who all immediately raised their blasters at him 

"Ah! Don't shoot! I'm on your team!" He shouted 

"Halt. Why are you here?" A B1 asked 

"I was ordered back to base by the Commander!" 

He replied. 

The Droids parted so he could enter. 

He raced upstairs to find TA-175 and his R5 unit rapidly downloading information from terminals before deleting it. 
"Sir? What's going on?" 

"Battle situation is untenable. We must withdraw. Defend the base until I am finished." 

"Me and my fellow Droid here need repairs, I can barely walk!" 

TA-175 stared at them with his white photoreceptors, almost giving them an "I really don't care" look before saying 
"Quickly obtain repairs. Then back to the front for you." He said sternly, returning to his task. 

OOM-340 and his squamates entered the repair ward, greeted by an R4 Unit, who beeped at them to sit down and asked them what they needed. 

"I need my legs repaired" 

OOM-340 said, gesturing to the hole in his abdomen" 

"I need a new arm" his squad mate said, pointing at the loose wiring hanging from the connection where his arm should've been. 

The Astro mech rushed off to the Spare parts bay, returning with plating, wiring, circuit boards and a spare right arm, before quickly getting to work. 

"Is this going to hu-OWW! Watch what you're doing!" OOM-340 complained, as the droid began to slice away damaged parts and weld in new ones. 
 
> Chapter 22: Retreat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ember was running out of options as she and her remaining Dragons were being surrounded by the remaining Droid forces at the front of the base. 

She only had herself, 2 Dragon warriors and 1 large dragon left who was heavily wounded. 

"Surrender meat bags!" A B1 demanded 

"Dragons never surrender! " Ember shouted, breathing a wave of fire at the Droids melting the ones in front. 
The Droids continued to advance towards them, as the Droid fighters came around to initiate another strafe run to finish off the last large Dragon. 

Ember prepared for the worst when Shining Armor and his Ponies charged out of the woods and began to attack the Droids from behind, causing a moment of confusion between the B1s and B2s surrounding her as they decided which direction to fire in. 

Ember took the chance and ordered the large dragon to unleash a wave of fire on them, which destroyed most of the Droids instantly and set the others ablaze. Soon all that was left of the Droids in the area were the ones in front of the base in an arc, guarding the doorway. The last group of droids outside consisted of B1s, B2s, 3 Crab Droids and 1 Dwarf Spider Droid who was dented, the same one who was from OOM-340's squad. 

Shining Armor led his army forwards, with Ember and her Dragons bringing up the rear focusing on the larger Droids. 
Within 2 minutes they had dealt with the remaining Droids outside… at least the ones on the ground. The buzzing of Vulture Droids and Hyena Bombers was heard again as they made their way around for another pass. 

"Shields! Now!" Shining called, as he and his fellow Unicorns all focused their magic together to create a large bubble-like dome over them that deflected the bombs and lasers. 

"Fire!" Ember ordered, as the last large dragon poked his head out of the shield to let out an arc of fire into the air, knocking down 7 Vulture Droids and 2 Hyena Bombers, all but 3 of which exploded on impact. The other 3 of the Vulture Droids landed roughly, skidding across the ground before stopping. 

"Great work! They won't get up from that!" Shining said to Ember 

Suddenly though, the 3 Vulture Droids separated their wings into 4 legs and stood up on them. A distinct head appeared from the body attached by a thin neck, and they began to "scissor walk" towards them. 

"Ooh…" Shining said 

"You had to open your mouth!" Ember snapped. 

The 3 Vulture Droids unleashed a barrage of laser blasts from their twin Blaster cannons mounted on their fuselage, mowing down many more Ponies. The large Dragon stomped up to one and picked it up with its claws and held it up in the air over its mouth. It was about to breathe fire on it when the Vulture Droid angled some of its legs at its mouth and fired missiles at it. The Dragon coughed smoke as the missiles exploded inside of it, before angrily tearing the Vulture Droid in half and throwing a half at one of the other Vulture Droids crushing it. The last remaining Vulture continued to focus its blaster fire on the Guards ponies, who fired bolts of magic at it. Eventually they scored a lucky hit on its thin neck, severing it and causing the Droids decapitated body to fall. They all began to relax a bit when suddenly the large dragon began coughing. It was subtle at first, but then he began to gag and choke, and cough up blood, along with small yellow balls that had 2 black dots, 1 on each half. The Dragon collapsed choking on its own blood, before dying. Ember rushed to its aid but there was nothing she could do, it seemed to be fine otherwise! 

Suddenly, there were the sounds of flesh tearing and scales being cut by what sounded like circular saws, along with robotic chattering. Suddenly, small saws began to poke through its scales and cut holes! Out of the holes popped a small grey spider like robot, with 3 vertically arranged red eyes and 2 yellow hemispheres with a black dot on each. Suddenly, all the coughed-up balls split, revealing more of the small Droids. 

"WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME?!" cried a guard as several launched at his face and many other ponies and began to cut away at their flesh with their saws, drills and claws, even decapitating some! 

Many more Buzz Droids began pouring out of the Dragons mouth and hole riddled body, as they quickly began to swarm the Dragons and Ponies alike. The Dragons began spraying their fire breath at them, which was effective, but the ponies were having considerably less luck. Unicorns quickly tried to pull them off their comrades with their magic, and the others tried to smash them with spears. 

Shining summoned his magical sword once more and began to slice through the Buzz Droids on the ground that leaped at him, before he began to help destroy the ones attacking his ponies. 

"Why are there so many!?" Ember shouted in annoyance, kicking one off her and stabbing another one through the center eye with her staff. Suddenly, that once instantly fell limb. 

"Focus on their middle eye!" She ordered "I think it's a weak spot!" 

Several ponies around her and Shining began attempting to destroy them in the same way, which much success. Within 4 minutes, nearly all had been destroyed, with a few scurrying off into the Ever-free Forest. 

Shining and several other ponies flopped on the ground in exhaustion, panting. 

"What were those things!?" He asked weakly 

"I have no idea. Now get up, you look like a little colt down there." Ember said 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Princesses and the Mane 6 and fought and destroyed most of Droids behind the base, leaving only the 2 MTTs, who began to fire their twin forward heavy cannons at them. Celestia and Luna raised a shield around them and the elements 
"How are we going to beat these things?" Twilight asked 

"Luna and I will distract them while you and the others get behind them and find some way inside the large transport. There must be some type of hatch!" Celestia said "Now go!" 

Twilight and her friends split into 2 groups, with Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Flutter shy in one group, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity in the other, so that they wouldn't be able to fire on both at once. However, this proved redundant as they seemed to be focused on the Princesses. 

The groups both met around the back of the MTT on the left. The back was sloped at a slight angle and had a large number of vents and tubes running down an indent in the middle. However, there seemed to be a sort of large cargo hatch on the back. The only question was, how to get inside… 

Twilight had the easy solution, as Twilight simply Teleported them inside. The inside was dark, hot, loud, and smelled like engine fumes. 

"Ugh" Rarity groaned "this place is terribly dreadful! How can one work in such conditions." 

"Shh!" Twilight said, "were probably not alone!" 

Echoing around the corner from the large generators came by came the high-pitched voices of 2 B1 Battle Droids who were standing on a catwalk that operated the deployment rack. 

"What was that sound?" 

"What sound?" 

"It was like, uh, poof sound!" 

"What? Your audio receptors are malfunctioning!" 

"No really! I heard something! I'm going to go check it out!" 

The metal footsteps of one of them on the grated catwalk came closer. 

As soon as the droid came around the corner Applejack bucked it against the wall, with such force that all its limbs detached from their magnetic joints before loudly falling on the floor. 

"Are you ok? Or did your legs fail too?" The other Droid asked while looking at at the control panel in front of it. 
Rainbow Dash quietly floated over behind the droid worth a devilishly evil grin across her face as she rubbed her front hooves together. 

"Think fast" she said as she grabbed her hand around its neck and yanked its head off. The Droids decapitated body stumbled around without a head before she kicked it over the railing. "Come on' let's go! She said floating up the lift followed by Twilight. 

They came up to a small room packed with computer screens and terminals, which showed various amounts of data and live feeds of the outside. 2 blue OOM Pilot Droids sat seated in chairs, one operating joysticks and pressing buttons, assumingly controlling the cannons while humming. 

Twilight pulled him back over the chair towards her with her Magic. 

"What the?!" They both said, as the other stood up and turned around in time to see Twilight stomp on its comrade's head. The other droid simply raised its empty hands as if trying to surrender 

"How does this thing work? Twilight demanded 

"Um… this controls the steering…" the droid began "this controls the Turrets, and thi-" the droid was cut off by Rainbow Dash darting up to it and slamming its head into the chair it stood by and then bucking it up in the air. 

"Rainbow are you crazy!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" she said 

"Don't be such a bummer, he was a bad guy, and he told us all we need to know!" she said, sticking her tongue out at the dead Pilot Droid and attempting to sit down in the seat. "Now come on Twi give me a hand with the weapons" 

Twilight sat down and Dash turned the steering lever to the left. The MTT shifted in the direction and the view turned to face the other MTT. 

Twilight pushed on the buttons with hooves, and the cannons let loose a large series of laser blasts that penetrated straight through the other MTTs armor in its generator, and the machine exploded with a loud boom, and it split in two and fell to the ground from its giving state. 

"That was SO AWESOME!" Dash said, making her trademark "Awesome Face".
 
They left the cockpit and descended the lift down to the others. 

"How do we get out of this dreadful place?" Rarity asked 

"Hmm…" said Twilight, examining a nearby control 

Panel before with buttons with various icons before pulling a lever, and the main hatch at the front opened. 

They all stepped back out front back into the sun. 

"Excellent work!" Celestia said, smiling at them. "Now we can breach the complex and apprehend these villains before they escape!" 

They headed off towards the complex's rear door. It was a simple sliding door, which Twilight simply yanked open with her Magic, and they stepped inside. At the far end of the corridor stood a bunch of B1s and B2s. 

"Hey! You're not a droid! You're under arrest! You have ri-AAGGHH" one droid began before Celestia, and Luna fired a blast of magic at them blowing them apart. 

Around the corner came a metal rolling sound. The ponies all got in their combat poses again. 

3 grey droids with a bronze outer shell came rolling around the corner at a high speed and came to a halt, where they unfolded into 3 legged Droids with an arched neck and back, 3 red eyes on a small head, and 2 arms which deployed last, but rather than ending in hands simply ended it 2 twin Blaster cannons. Then a blue transparent sphere appeared around them. The 3 droids let out a tsunami of laser fire, and although Celestia, Luna and Twilight were able to block some, the others were able to leap behind cover for the most part. For the most part… 

Flutter shy rather than jumping as well curled up into a ball and began screaming in terror, before Dash swooped in and grabbed her, but not before she took a few shots to her front legs and right wing. Flutter shy began to howl in pain and tears ran down her cheeks as she felt the burning pain of the Droideka's Blaster shots. 

The 3 Princesses all took turns shielding and firing Magic at the Droids, but their magic didn't appear to be very effective against the Droids! The blue shield surrounding them seemed to protect them from harm, much like their own! 

"How do we defeat these fiends' sister?" Luna asked, “They have magic like us.” 

"I'm not sure! Focus magic!" 

All 3 of them focused their magic attacks together at the Droideka on the right. The shield began to fail and began rerouting its power to the front only. 

"Randomize attacks!" Celestia ordered, and they began to mix up their attack patterns, making them less predictable. Twilight scored a lucky shot, hitting it in its right front leg, and the droid doubled over. 

Dash took this as a chance and flew at high speed towards one of the other two and attempted to tackle it. Unfortunately, she was unaware that the shields stop any fast-moving object, and instead of passing though, she simply bounced off the top and slammed into the wall behind it with a thud as stars circled around her head and her eyes went crossed for a second. 

By this point, the first Droideka was destroyed, and 1 turned to face Rainbow, leaving one in both directions. 
The Princesses began to advance with the rest of the girls, apart from Rarity, who was staying behind to help comfort the injured Flutter shy. They got up close to the Droidekas, while the Princesses shielded 

them from harm. Eventually they had the Droideka surrounded, and Applejack was able to dodge around its shots and slip through its shield, where she delivered a powerful buck to it knocking out its shield and sending it rolling into its comrade. 
Applejack quickly finished off the downed Droideka and snuck up behind the other one, quickly grabbing it at its "neck" region and pulling back on it as she kicked its back leg, as Dash was barely managing to dodge its shots in her dazed state. The Droidekas back leg snapped off, and it fell on the ground on top of Applejack. The Droideka attempted to roll back into its ball form, but Applejack swiftly kicked it again, and broke it in half at the waist section, destroying it. 

"That was a close one." Applejack said while dripping some sweat.

"Sister" Celestia asked Luna. "if these Machines can use magic, we many have to prepare for what else they could have."

"Agreed sister."

Alright My Little Ponies. lets go."

They then continued their way into the complex… 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOM-340 and his squad mates had just finished their repairs. 

"Thanks buddy!" He said, patting the Astro mech on its large R4 unit style head. The droid whistled that gratitude wasn't needed, as he was just doing his job. They stepped out of the repair room and the sound of Droideka Blaster fire could be heard downstairs, before the sound of Droids or other mechanical things being destroyed was heard and the sound of hooves in metal flooring was heard at the stairs. 

"Uh oh! He said as the ponies shot the OOM Security Guards on the stairs along with his comrade who had just finished their repairs.

OOM-340 ducked down as they took a shot at him. 

Suddenly the R4 unit rolled out to see what all the commotion was, right as they took another shot. The unfortunate R4 unit was hit by the magic pulse fired by Twilight Sparkle, accidentally saving OOM-340. OOM-340 booked it as fast as his legs could carry him outside to the landing platform where TA-175, along with his Astro mech and guards were boarding the Sheathipede Class shuttle. The boarding ramp was beginning to retract along with the landing gear, and OOM-340 leapt into the shuttle right as it began to lift off the ground. He turned around and looked out as the doors closed to see the Ponies emerge from the door and open fire as the shuttle lifted off into the air, quickly climbing higher into the atmosphere. 
OOM-340 slumped against the wall and fell against it, letting out a groan of simulated relief. 

"I'm made it… I made it…" he said it himself. Then he noticed 2 Tactical Droid legs standing in front of him. He followed them up and was met with the image of TA-175 glaring down at him with his arms crossed. 

"I ordered you to remain at the base and hold them off." 

"But sir, they were right there when I came out! There wasn't anything I could do! I didn't even have my Blaster!" He spat out, trying to explain why he disobeyed orders. 

TA-175 stared at him for a moment more before walking off to the cockpit and activating the com system of the shuttle.
 
"Identity" came a B1 voice from the other end 

"This is Shuttle 17-97-A4 requesting permission to land aboard the 'Enforcement.'" He replied, reading it out slowly in his monotone voice. 

"Accepted! Welcome!" The Droid said, as the shuttle passed through the energy barrier and landed in the hangar bay, deploying its "legs" and boarding ramp. 

TA-175, OOM-340, and the other Droids on board stepped out. TA-175 headed off to the bridge… 

 
> Chapter 23: The Abandoned Survivor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mane 6 and the Princesses watched as the Shuttle flew off into the sky, carrying their enemy with it. 

Twilight sighed with sadness 

"They got away. What now?" 

"Do not worry Twilight, I'm sure we'll be able to stop them soon, as I am certain they will return." Celestia said to her former student. 

"I can always fly after them" Dash suggested 

"There is no point in pursuing them currently, they will be headed out of the atmosphere, where we can't follow." 

Rarity walked out with Flutter shy, who came limping along as they joined their friends. 

"Did you get those ruffians?" 

"No Rarity, they got away" Twilight responded 

"Oh dear, what ever shall we do? They are free to cause more chaos!" 

"Do not worry my little ponies, I am sure we will defeat them soon enough" Celestia said, attempting to reassure her

subjects, before she and her sister flew off to go check on the Guards ponies. The group walked back inside. 

All the Droids in the room were destroyed, except the blue and white R4 Unit, who was over in the corner, shaking and with a smoking hole in his body. Almost all his panels were open, exposing the various tools within. Clearly the accidental shot from Twilight caused an overload in his systems. 

"Maybe this little feller knows somethin'" Applejack said gesturing to it. 

The group approached the Astro mech, who slowly began to roll back ways away from them and let out a low almost moan-like sound of fear, as it began to shake further, clearly terrified. 

"Hold on little feller, we ain't gonna hurt Ya'" Applejack said, trying to reassure the small machine that displayed nothing but terror to them right now. 

They continued to slowly step closer. 

Suddenly a few panels on its chest popped open, and a set of small claws and a zapper popped out. Then R4 unit rolled into the corner and sat there shaking, clearly ready to defend itself. 

Flutter shy limped forwards and gave a small smile at the small droid. 

"Umm…" she began in her soft voice "excuse me, you don't have to be afraid. What my friend Twilight did was an accident. We don't want to hurt you, we just want to talk" she said, trying to be as friendly as possible 

The Astro mech seemed to understand her and trust her a little better, because it retracted a few of its arms and seemed to shake less. 

"My names Flutter shy, can you tell me yours… if that's okay with you?" 

The R4 unit simply beeped its name in Droid speak, R4-F6 

"I'm sorry, um, could you say that again? 

The R4 unit beeped again, saying that its name in droid speak, as it was the only language it was capable of speaking. 
"I'm sorry Twilight" she said, turning to face her "I don't understand what it's saying." 

"We'll take it back to the castle, see if we can find a translation spell" 

"Okay." She turned to face the Droid again "Would, um, would you like to come with us?" 
The Droid shook its head no. 

Twilight stepped forwards 

"I know you don’t want to come, but we don’t want to hurt anymore ponies. This includes you. But if we're going to fix things you need to come with us." 

The droid shook its head again and extended its zapper again and held it out towards the group as it began to roll towards the stairs. Suddenly Applejack whipped out her trusty lasso skills and coiled her rope around the droid, attempting to pull it over. The droid simply rolled backwards, and extended a circular saw from its chest, cutting the rope off and continuing its escape. 

R4-F6 was preparing to try and make a flying leap down the stairs when it was surrounded by a purple aura and held in the air. 

Twilight pulled him over to her with her magic. 

"Can you just listen? We don’t want to hurt you, but you need to come with us-OW!" Twilight said as he extended its small claw arms and pinched her nose and cheeks, causing her to drop him. 

The Droid attempted to turn and run again, only for Rarity to grasp him with her magic at a safe distance. Well, she thought it was safe. 

The droid extended a small hose and began to spew oil all over her from it. 

"EW, EW, EW!" She said, as Twilight zapped it with a stunning blast of magic. The droid let out a small whimper and fell limp. 
The droid was dropped to the floor, and Applejack tied around it with more rope, making sure to hold it saw panel shut. 
"Ugh, this is going to take forever to clean out!" Rarity said, as he tried to wipe the oil off her coat with a towel. "Just who the hay does this little ruffian think he is to attack such fashion!" 

Applejack pushed the droid upright and began to pull it on its wheels with a rope. 
"Alright, let's get this little troublemaker back to town." 

Twilight said, beginning to walk down the stairs. 

"When I get back, I'm going to the spa!" Rarity said quickly following her." 

Back in Pony ville, the Mane 6 all entered the Castle of Friendship. Outside, many of the Guards ponies were having a small party, for their first real victory, drinking cider and such in a drunk-like state. 

Inside, the Mane 6 were sitting around the cutie map, discussing the day's events and waiting for the captured Droid to reactivate for questioning. 

Rarity looked well refreshed, having gone to the spa as she declared, and Flutter shy had bandaging around her front legs and right wing, to help her heal from her Blaster injuries.

Spike entered through the door with a Unicorn Pony, who had been examining destroyed Battle Droids by order of Princess Celestia. 

"Hey Twi! Check this out!" Spike said excitedly. 

"What?" 

The sound of 2 sets of metal footsteps were heard behind him, and 2 battered reassembled Battle Droid walked in. 

Twilight got into her combat pose, opening her wings 

"Behind you!" 

"No, no wait! He said "Glowing Brilliance here managed to figure out how they work! Well, sort of. Turns out they're simple, all the computer bits are in their head. 

"So, what did you do with these two?" 

Glowing Brilliance, the unicorn who was studying the Droids, walked forwards with the 2 Droids following her. 
"Well, I sort of worked with a magic spell, that swaps some pony's perceptions. Basically, they're brainwashed to be on our side. Normally the Princesses would forbid this as it would be cruel to living things, but she let me do it because these things aren't technically alive." 

"Fascinating! Can we do it to them all?" Twilight asked 

"Well, no. You must interface directly with their central control systems in their head, and it takes a few minutes for them to reboot with the desired effect. And it turns out… these things aren't all that… clever." She said, "but at least they're on our side." 

"Well, we knew that we distracted some earlier with rocks!" Rainbow Dash blurted out. 

The Droids stepped up to Twilight and saluted her. 

"What are your orders commander?" 

"I don't have any, um… what's your name?" 

"I am B1-28401! 

"I am B1-77356! 

"Can we just call Ya One and Two?" Applejack said, "your real names are mighty technical and I'm not the one for all that." 

"Roger, Roger sir!"
 
"I'm a mare!" Applejack said, annoyed 

"Oh, um yes sir, uh mare… sir." The droid said, obviously not understanding that being a mare made her a ma'am. 

"So…" Twilight began "can they understand the little guy over there?" she said, gesturing to the inactive R4 Unit. 

"Roger, Roger! What are your orders?" 

"Can you wake him up, I want to talk to him." 

1&2 walked over to R4-F6 and pounded his head. The droid's motor activated, and he hummed to life. He looked around, 

taking in his surroundings. He thought maybe he'd been rescued! But… wait there were ponies in the room. 

They all came over and sat down in front of the droid. 

"So, let's start over again, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Flutter shy." She said smiling "who are you?" 

The droid letting out small grumbles before repeating his name, which 1&2 translated for the ponies. 

"RA-F6? What do you all have names of letters and numbers?" 

R4 explained that it was a designation code, no different than her own other than not sounding ridiculous like hers and her friends. 

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash said "our names aren't ridiculous! They're awesome!" 

R4-F6 ignored her. 

"We need you to tell us a little bit more about your friends, the Confederacy as they called themselves" Twilight said, shifting the conversation. 

R4-F6 shook his head. 

"No?" Twilight said in a bit of shock, expecting the droid to behave nicer now that they weren't fighting. "But if you don't tell us how to stop them, many more ponies could get hurt!" 

R4-F6 simply stated that he didn't care about them, as he didn't like them anyways. He continued by saying even if he wanted to, he was forbidden by protocol from revealing info to enemies. 

"Come on, please?" she said, making her puppy eyes face again. 

The droid simply refused again. 

"Fine, but just to be clear, we never wanted to do this. Flutter shy, stare." 

Flutter shy turned to Twilight 

"But, um, I really don't like to do the stare, remember?" 

"These things aren't alive Flutter shy, could you please just do it." 

"Okay… okay…" she said to herself as she stood up and let out her angry glare on the Astro mech. 

The droid turned its head away, only for her to turn it back. 

The droid began to whine a bit, but ultimately was unaffected. 

"What?! But the stare always works!" Twilight exclaimed 

"Not always, it didn't work on Discord, remember?" 

"Hmm… Discord! That's it! Maybe we could use his help." 
 
> Chapter 24: Chaotic Interrogation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are Ya sure that's a good idea?" Applejack asked 

"It will be ok, he's reformed now, besides we have the elements. Flutter shy, could you call him?" 

There was a bright white flash and a bizarre creature appeared. Its body was snake-like, but with limbs. Its tail, head and limbs were all mismatched, with a right arm being from a lion, its left hand being from an eagle, its right leg seemed to belong to a green lizard or reptile, and its left leg was from a goat. On top of this, it had a red scaly tail with a white tuft, and its head was horse-like, but with yellow eyes with red pupils. It had a deer antler on the right of its head and a goat horn on its left, and a sharp tooth that hung out of its mouth a white strand of hair on its chin. 

"Don't need to my princess" the creature said, "how might your local god of chaos and disharmony assist you today?" He said bowing 

"We need your help. This droid is part of a group called the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They have harmed part of pony Ville and other ponies." 

Discord peered at R4-F6 and laughed 

"This trash can?! You're interrogating a trash can!?" He said falling in his back laughing "I bet all its knowledge is garbage!" He spoke 

R4-F6 simply grumbled in anger. 

"But if you need help with this, I'll see what I can do." He said smiling evilly. 

"Well, are you aware of the battle that began the other day between us and these… machines?" Twilight asked 

"Oh of course! But I prefer to spectate, it is deliciously chaotic! But I'll still help my friends." 

"Why didn't you help us earlier? I got hurt!" Flutter shy asked 

"They hurt you?!" Discord exclaimed in shock, bending over to examine her bandages "THEY'LL PAY FOR THAT" he said his 
eyes flashing a glowing red for a moment. 

He turned back to Twilight "but what do you need? 

"Well, we've captured this little guy, and he won't tell us anything. Perhaps you could work your magic on his mind. Just don’t hurt him." 

"Of course!" he said, snapping his fingers and disappearing into R4-F6's literal mind. 

The droid began to shudder and let out various whistles and beeps of distress, and its head began to spin. After a short while the droid began to smoke and suddenly it shorted lit as electricity coursed through it. Discord reappeared outside of the fried droid in a flash. 

"So where do you want me to start, at the beginning or the highlights?" He asked 

"The highlights will do fine" Twilight said, as Spike retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill. 
Discord took a deep breath. 

"He's an R4 series Astro mech droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton in 20 BBY, he worked for the Droids a repairman and performed maintenance duties, he was transferred to the Ever-free Separatist Post under the command of his superior TA-175, who retreated following the equines attack and is now in orbit with the fleet." He let out a sigh of exhaustion before inhaling again "he was connected to the Separatist holo net and had access to tier 1 data." He flopped on the floor panting heavily." 

Spike wrote that down on paper and handed it to Twilight. 

"Thanks Discord, is he going to be, okay?" 

"Um… I don't think so. The put of a big fight when I was in there, and I had to corrupt a lot of stuff to get through, and corrupting his mind isn't like corrupting a pony's. In basic terms my dear, he brain dead." 

"I told you not to hurt him!" Twilight scolded 

"He's not hurt, he's just a vegetable! A metal, brain dead vegetable. And you didn't say not to!"
 
Twilight kicked herself for not being more specific, they could have let him decide to join them and start a new life to do good things, but that seemed impossible now. 

"Cheerio!" He said, disappearing in a flash. 

"So…" Rainbow Dash began, gesturing to the reprogrammed B1s "what about them?" 

"Well, we have a few options" Glowing Brilliance said "we can try to use them as soldiers, sidekicks or spies. 

"Wouldn't friendly fire be an issue? How can we tell them apart?" 

"That's for you to decide with the Princesses. They're yours now". she said, trotting out of the room. 

A few hours had passed and Celestia and Luna had joined The Mane 6 in the room, deciding what to do with their reprogrammed Droids. 

"If we used them as spies, we could gain knowledge about how their military works, and find the weaknesses" Luna suggested 

"A good tactic Sister" Celestia commented "but I think we should hold off using them for now. Besides, how would we communicate with them? Or tell them apart?" 

"We could paint them" Rarity said 

"Wouldn't that just make it obvious that they're spies?" Applejack asked, giving her a concerned look "spies aren't all fancy shmancy and glittery." 

"I didn't mean like that Applejack! Even thought it would like to that." Rarity replied "I mean like a dot on their chest or something! Maybe a hoof shape on their shoulder!" 

Celestia raised a hoof, signaling for them to be silent 

"We will have to discuss what we will do with our new friends in the future. In the meantime, we must all get some sleep. In the morning my sister and I will return to Canter lot." 

The door to the bridge opened with a hiss, and TA-175 stepped through. The bridge was dark, as nighttime had fallen and the planet was blocking the sun, with the only natural light entering the bridge being created by the moon. He approached Kraken who was sitting in his command chair, with a hand up to his beak-like "mouth", as if thinking. 

"Sir, I have returned. The only salvageable units that were able to be recovered were myself, my Astro mech assistance, 1 OOM Commander, 4 OOM Security Droids, 2 OOM Pilot Droids, 1 Droideka and my personal Sheathipede Class Shuttle. All data present at base has been erased, with the exception of this data packet which contains it." He said, handing the data packet to Kraken 

"The failure was unfortunate. However, we will not fail again. Prepare to be redeployed, I will brief you on your next assignment shortly." 

"Yes sir." he said, stepping back to the planning table, crossing his arms behind his back and waiting. 

Kraken activated his com link and contact the other 2 Tactical Droids, TJ-912 and TF-1726. 

"Report to my ship for future assignment. Today we begin the full invasion of Equestria.” 

OOM-340 entered the maintenance bay. He had been fully repaired, but he had one other thought on his mind: a nice refreshing oil bath. His deployment in the Ever free had caused his feet and leg joints to accumulate a fair amount of mud and grit in them, blocking certain servos and mechanisms from working properly. 

It was rare for a Battle Droid to get an oil bath, if at all, but sometimes Commanders and Tactical Droids were treated to them. 

Stepping into the maintenance bay there were various Battle Droids and other droids undergoing repairs. Various spare parts were hung on racks. 

OOM-340 stepped into one of the empty tubs and the floor lowered, before it began to fill with oil, and he was submerged.

Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all he thought. 

Nah it was still terrible. 
 
> Chapter 25: Invasion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doors to the bridge opened once more with a hiss and 2 T-Series Tactical Droids entered, the red and tan TK-912, and the green and tan TF-1726. They both stepped up to the holo table and stood beside TA-175. 

Kraken stood up and walked over to the holo table. 

"Our first attempt to launch an invasion of the planet has failed. We will now attempt a 2nd invasion on a continental scale. All 3 of you will be involved in surface operations." 

The 3 Tactical Droids all nodded and a hologram of Equestria appeared on the holo table. 

"TA-175, you will be deployed to the city known as Manehattan." Kraken continued, pointing to it on the map

"TF-1726, you will lead an invasion of the region known as The Crystal Empire, here" he said, pointing a finger to it.

"TJ-912, I have found the southern regions of the continent to be rather uninhabited, but I have located 3 significant settlements here, here and here." He said, pointing to Rockville, Appleloosa and Dodge City "you will land in the settlement of Appleloosa in the center, and spread out from there. Are your orders properly logged?" 

"Yes sir." They all said 

"Good. C-9979 Landing Craft will deploy mobile operation centers for you to operate at in each of your locations. Your Shuttles are waiting, go." 

They nodded and turned around, walking off the bridge. 

The oil around OOM-340 began to drain and he saw the lights of the room again as the tub he was in raised him back up to the floor level. His body appeared a bit shinier and glossier, but still showed scratches and scuffs from battle. He flexed his limbs, making sure all of them were working well. 

"Aah, that was good! I feel like I'm fresh off the assembly line again!" He stepped out, stepping through a dryer and leaving the room. 

Suddenly his radio buzzed in with new orders: obtain weapons and report to the hanger area. 

OOM-340 hurried off to the armory, grabbing a standard E-5 Blaster Rifle and a power cell for it, before he began to run to the hanger bay. 

In the Hanger Bay, among the various Vulture Droids wandering around, were 3 Sheathipede Class Shuttles, and 2 large battalions of Battle Droids standing in formation in front of a Single C-9979 Landing Craft, along with various other vehicles. OOM-340 came running out through and open door before he walked up to a battalion and took up position in front, where Commanders were generally expected to stand, standing up as straight as he could with his arms by his sides and his Blaster on his back. 

3 Tactical Droids walked out of a door, OOM-340 recognizing one as TA-175. They all walked and boarded separate shuttles before the shuttles departed. The massive landing crafts doors opened and a nearby Pilot Battle Droid gestured to it, signaling for the Droids to board. OOM-340 marched slowly up the boarding ramp with the Droids behind him following, making the loud clanking noise with each step that gave them their nickname "Clankers". 

It was back to work time. His 10-minute oil bath and relaxation time had been nice though. 

Once the droid and vehicles were all loaded onto the transport, the massive cargo doors closed, and the ship turned to the open Hanger Bay door. Various Vulture Droid that was stretching their legs and joints moved out of the way or transformed into their flight position, as the ship exited the Hanger Bay, being followed by a few Vulture Droids to escort it. Behind the 'Enforcement' was the fleet's massive Lucrehulk Class Control ship. Its two large hanger bay doors opened, and out flew many more C-9979 Landing Craft, all of them descending to the Planet of Equestria below. The invasion had begun. 

Twilight awoke and stepped out of her bed, seeing that all her friends except Applejack and Pinkie Pie were still asleep. She checked her guest room, finding that Celestia and Luna had already gone back to Canter lot, but there were still several guards around the castle. Twilight trotted downstairs to have breakfast, smelling toast and other breakfast foods. 

Twilight sat at the table reading a book, until breakfast was ready, and the rest of her friends came downstairs to eat. They all gathered around the dining table and began to eat their breakfast. 

Celestia sat on her throne with her sister Luna beside her on the dais, which was surrounded by various royal guards all bearing their stern expressions. Suddenly the throne room doors flew open, and Princess Cadance came rushing in carrying Flurry Heart. She was looking battered and beaten, with her mane and tail a mess and the look of exhaustion on her face. 
Celestia and Luna ran down the throne to her, catching them in their hooves as she fell to the floor in exhaustion. 

"Cadance! Are you alright?" Celestia exclaimed with worry in her voice 

"Those machines…" she coughed "they attacked The Crystal Empire! Tons of them!" She said getting on her hooves again "they came in these huge ships! I did what I could but there were too many of them!" 

Celestia felt grim, she knew those machines would return. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Yes" she sniffled "I-I think so. Flurry Heart was all I was able to grab before I had to flee." 

The sound of hooves clattering on the stone floors was heard in the hall, and a messenger came running to the throne room. The messenger bowed down to Princess Celestia and levitated her a letter. 

Celestia unrolled be letter and began to read it quickly. 

It was a letter from the Mayor of Manehattan, the Droids had attacked there too! This wasn't just a single attack anymore; this was a full-on invasion. 

"Luna, take care of Princess Cadance and Flurry Heart, I must message Princess Twilight immediately, we are under attack!" 
Luna nodded and embraced Cadence in a hug attempting to calm her down. 

Celestia levitated her writing easel over to her with a piece of parchment and dipped her quill in ink before beginning to write a letter rapidly, which she then rolled up and sent in a span of less than 30 seconds. 

"Send a detachment of the Royal Guard to The Crystal Empire and Manehattan at once!" She ordered 

The doors on the C-9979 landing craft opened and sunlight flooded the entrance ramp. OOM-340 pointed forward signaling for his troops to march out of the ship with him. 

The loud clanking of their feet was heard again as they marched off, he boarded the ramp to the outside. The ship along with others had landed in what's seemed to be a park in a city. Behind his platoon came a line of B2s and 2 MTTs. If he had a jaw, it would've dropped when he saw what the ship deployed next, 2 large Octuptarra Droids. 

His simulated moral boosted, and he began to lead his troops into the city. 

His radio buzzed in, it was TA-175 giving him orders, as well as everyone else in the army. 

"Today's glorious strategy will involved the taking of Manehattan. We will advance down the main street and capture the city's capital building and with it the rest of Manehattan. Annihilate any ponies who get in the way of your mission. Ensure the MTTs arrive to deploy their troops inside the city hall." 

"Roger, Roger!" He replied as he continued, his march into the city. The streets were littered with abandoned carts and carriages, and there were some makeshift barricades which police ponies were hiding behind. Some were levitating riot shields, and others just had riot batons. OOM-340 raised his left hand and pointed forwards 

"Blast them!" He shouted to his troops 

Various unicorns started levitating fruit from nearby bushels such as apples, oranges and lemons, which splattered against the Droids to little effect. It only got somewhat effective when they began throwing watermelons, which took out a few B1s, but by that point the Droids had virtually advanced right up to them and cut them down with Blaster fire. 

A few police ponies ran up to them with riot shields and riot batons, a few managing to take out some Droids before being put down themselves. One managed to get right up to OOM-340 himself. The pony smacked his Blaster from his hand and hit him with his baton, before OOM-340 punched him in one of his eyes causing him to scream in pain, before OOM-340 retrieved his Blaster and finished him off. 

The Octuptarra Droids began to fire their Blaster cannons mounted to their large ball shaped heads, as they stood and stepped over OOM-340 and his Droids on their long spindly legs. 

The skirmish between the Droids and law enforcement was over quickly, and the Droids continued advancing. 
Today would be a glorious day for the Separatist Alliance! 

At least what was left of it. 

Twilight and her friends had just finished breakfast and were starting to clean up. Suddenly, Spike gagged and coughed out fire which materialized into a letter. 

Twilight trotted over and opened the letter and read it aloud for everyone to hear. 

"Dearest Princess Twilight, 

Equestria is now under full scale invasion by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They have launched attacks on The Crystal Empire and Manehattan. Assemble the Elements of Harmony and Shining Armor, and come to Canter lot at once. 
Your friend and former mentor, 

Princess Celestia" 

The whole group gasped in horror. Twilight pushed the letter side and the Mane 6 rushed to get their things for the journey. 

Once they gathered the Elements and their necessary belongings, they headed off to the Pony ville train station, where they boarded the Friendship Express to Canter lot. 

Immediately upon arrival, they noticed the immense increase in security, but thanks to Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle's status they were able to get through and to the Canter lot Castle with ease. 

Rushing through the wide-open halls and pushing open the Throne Room doors the Mane 6, Shining Armor and Spike all ran up to the front of the Throne where they found Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance all waiting for them. 

Shining Armor darted for his wife Cadance and Flurry Heart enveloping them in a hug 

"I came as soon as I heard" he said "I'm so glad your safe. 

Cadence smiled but didn't say anything. 

Twilight was happy to see her sister and law and niece safe and sound, but quickly turned to face Celestia and Luna. 

"As I told you there has been an attack in the Crystal Empire and Manehattan." 

"Yes, your highness, we came as soon as we could." 

Celestia nodded. 

"Word has since come in that the Droids have attacked somewhere south in Equestria, possibly Appleloosa and Dodge Junction" 

"Appleloosa?!" Exclaimed Applejack "but ah've got family there! Like cousin Braeburn!" 

"Do not fear, I have sent a detachment of the Royal Guard to each of these locations to assist in repelling the Droids, but we need your help with the Crystal Empire. The Droids have deployed a large force, and my Guardsponies will need your help to liberate it from them." 

"You can count me and Cadance in" Shining Armor said "no pony attacks our home, especially not a bunch of machines that belong in a scrap heap!" 

Twilight nodded 

"We will go at once. What about Manehattan? That's a very big city." 

"I will send Starlight Glimmer and Trixie along with the Pegasi and the Wonder bolts to assist the Guards ponies there." Celestia replied "now go, before it is too late!" 
> Chapter 26: The Siege of Manehattan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The march towards the capital building of Manehattan had been relatively easy once they got past that first wave of police ponies and blown through the abandoned chariots in the road. The army of Droid was nearing the capital building but there were several approaching shapes in the sky. As they got closer, OOM-340 was able to identify their shapes, and it was just as he feared: Pegasi, several of them with blue and yellow flight uniforms, and others carrying storm clouds. 

"Up there!" He yelled to his B1 brethren who also looked up 

"What's that?" A B1 asked 

"Ponies you idiot!" Another replied 

"Oh. I think their kind of cu-" the other began 

"Blast them!" OOM-340 ordered. The B1s began to fire in the air, taking out a few of the normal Pegasi Guards ponies, but the uniformed blue ones were able to evade every attack with ease. 

Suddenly, the blue uniformed ones all lined up in an V shape and dived down towards the Droids and flew at them. The uniformed ponies flew into front waves of B1s, smashing though many of them before pulling up into the air again. 

Suddenly an arrow landed next to OOM-340 and he began to hear hundreds of hooves growing louder, almost drowning out the clanking of the Droid army's synchronized footsteps. 

He turned around and saw up ahead that more of those Royal guard's ponies had shown up, with several launching arrows from bows at them from range, while others charged at the Droid forces with spears, lances and swords. 

"Uh oh…" OOM-340 said in his high-pitched voice before turning around and pushing last B1s to get behind the battalion. He didn't want to be in front when the close-up combat began. 

OOM-340 began to think about what the best strategy would be in this situation. 

"Forward units, focus fire on the charging ponies, secondary units, eliminate attacking air units." 

He turned to the Octuptarra Droids. 

"Hmm" he thought. They wouldn't be accurate shooting in the air, they were long ranged anti-vehicle or anti-fortification units. He reached up to his radio "Octuptarra Droids, fire on their archers!" 

At that moment the sounds of melee combat and Droids being smashed and sliced at was heard as the front lines of both sides met, and the sounds of Battle increased. 

OOM-340's radio buzzed in again from command 

"You are 2 minutes and 30 seconds behind schedule, this delay is intolerable." TA-175 scolded 

"Sorry sir! Their army has arrived, and they have slowed us down!" 

"Protect the MTT transports, they are vital to the mission's success." 

"Roger, Roger!" He said closing the transmission in time to aim and fire at a pony who was charging him. 

"Advance! We must win! We cannot fail the commander!" He said, attempting to rally his troops. 

Although the ponies were taking out many B1s in the front rows of the army, they were still suffering heavy losses. Up 
ahead there was an amassment of storm clouds low to the ground, which the Pegasi had brought with them. 

"Ha, they think a little rain is going to stop us. We're water resistant!" he said confidently, marching on alongside his troops 
forward under the storm clouds. Rain began to pour down from the clouds, and although it made the already inaccurate B1's Blaster shots less accurate, they still hit most of their targets as they were directly in front of them. 

Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and flashes of lightning, as various lightning bolts shot out of the clouds towards the ground, striking many Droids and overloading their systems. 

"Oh…" OOM-340 began before a series of lightning bolts arched towards the lead Octuptarra droid and hit it directly in its head. The Droid shuttered and a mere second later, its head exploded in a massive flash, and the towering Droid fell to the ground crushing smaller Droids with its legs. 

"Oooh…. uh oh!" OOM-340 exclaimed suddenly realizing that the clouds were a trap. 

"Pull back! Retreat! Retreat! We must take an alternate route!" he ordered, sprinting away from the front line and pointing towards an intersection. 

"Go this way! The objective is this way!" He shouted, as the B2s and remaining B1s followed his orders, along with the MTTs. There was another loud boom, and the second Octuptarra Droid's head exploded, causing its falling body to fall into a set of nearby small shops and apartments leveling several of them. 

"What is the delay?!" TA-175 demanded in his monotone voice, with a hint of irritation in it. "You should be there by now! This delay is intolerable!" 

"Sorry sir! They had a trap set up and we had to reroute!" 

"Made haste, we must capture Manehattan before the Equians have a chance to bring in more reinforcements. Push forwards, sacrifice and make progress!" He ordered, closing the transmission. 

The group continued up the side street, where there were less defenses, meeting only half as many Guards ponies. 
The uniformed Pegasi came around for another strafe run, taking out a few B2s and B1s, before one was shot down themselves. 

The mare shot down was surprised, as she was brought down to the ground forcefully when a Blaster shot pierced her right wing, causing her to crash and tumble across the pavement, which tore up her flight uniform revealing more of her white coat. Surprise struggled to get up on her broken legs, before she was yanked up into the air by a nearby B2's mitt like hands. The machine held her up in its iron grip and carried her over to OOM-340 

"Sir, we have a prisoner." The B2 said in its deep voice 

OOM-340 activated his radio 

"Sir, we have a prisoner, one of their special Air Force units!" 

"Prisoners are not required, we will soon control the city. Execute the prisoner" 

The B2 heard this and simply blasted Surprise in the back of her head before tossing her body aside and carrying on its forward march. 

The Droids continued to close in on the capital buildings west side, finishing off the remaining guards outside as they neared the wall. TA-175 buzzed in over the radio again to OOM-340 and his army 

"The MTT transports have reached their assigned position. However, your time status is unacceptable. Initiate an interior building deployment of the droid garrison onboard the MTT. Capture the Capital from the inside, victory conditions approach." 

"Roger, Roger!" OOM-340 relied, pointing to the MTTs and then to the west wall of the capital building. "Initiate a breach insertion!" He ordered via radio to the pilots. 

The 2 MTTs advanced up to the wall until they were right in front of it, where they swiveled their ball Turrets and let out a series of explosive blasts at the wall breaking away the outer edge of it, before they rammed through the remaining stone into the interior. 

"Move in!" OOM-340 ordered his troops who slipped in through the holes while the MTTs extended their storage racks and deployed their Droid garrison. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trixie and Starlight Glimmer stood inside the city hall, which had been turned into a makeshift HQ for the royal guard's ponies watching the front street's guards finish off the remaining Droids from a distance that had been left behind in their retreat. 

"Yes! Our trap worked!" Starlight said, pleased. 

"These machines will soon learn that you do not mess with Equestria, for we are great and powerful!" Trixie said 
There was a series of loud booms and the building shook. 

A Guards pony ran up to them. 

"Ma'am! The enemy has breached the west side of the building! We'll hold them off while you escape!" 

"No! We will stay here and fight!" Starlight said as the sound of Blaster fire filled the rooms nearby. 

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is a stage performer not a fighter!" Trixie exclaimed 

"You have your fireworks, you have your tricks, use them!" 

Trixie hadn't thought about using them. 

"Give Trixie a minute to prepare!" 

"Well make it quick!" Starlight said trotting towards the breached room with nearby guard’s ponies. 

The inside of the room was filled with the dust of stone and plaster, as well as Blaster fire and War cries as the 2 sides tore away at each other. 

OOM-340 sat crouched behind an overturned table peering over every now and then to take a shot at a guard or two. 

Suddenly a bright aqua colored beam of magic cut through an entire squad of B2s! OOM-340 peered over the table again to see a light purple unicorn with a dark purple Mane/tail with a blue strike emitting the beam. He barely managed to duck down under the table again before she would've hit him with the beam. 

OOM-340 noticed a B1 carrying an E-60R rocket launcher walking nearby before it was cut in half by her beam. 
If he could just get that rocket launcher, he could potentially take out that Unicorn and help secure the area. He prepared himself mentally to dive out of cover, scoop up the rocket launcher and fire it at her. 

"Here goes nothing!" He shouted as he rolled out of cover, picking up the rocket launcher and aiming it at Starlight Glimmer, before he fired it while continuing to let out a battle cry 

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" 

Starlight Glimmer gasped as a droid dull mustard yellow markings rolled out from behind a table and picked up and black tube-shaped device and held it out to her, all while yelling in its high-pitched voice. 

She turned to face it ready to cut it down with her magic when suddenly there was bright flash at the end of the tube, and a small rocket flew out: Heading straight for her! 

She quickly attempted to raise a magic shield, but it was only deployed part way when the missile hit, resulting him her being launched across the room and out the doorway. However, she was the lucky one, as the nearby Guards ponies had been blown apart into bits and pieces. 

She tried to stand but screamed in pain as she tried to put weight on her front hooves, her legs were broken! 
"Some pony help me!" She said, trying again to stand before collapsing in pain. 

Trixie came running out of a doorway with her wizard hat and cape, along with her saddlebag of materials, before skidding to a stop when she saw Starlight sprawled across the floor. 

"Starlight! Can you walk?" Trixie asked attempting to help her friend up 

"No… I think my legs are broken. I think you're going to have to carry me" she said 

Trixie glanced at the doorway, the shadows of the Droids visible around the corner as they marched closer, before she threw down a series of fireworks at the doorway and lit them, before rushing back over to Starlight, picking her up on her back. 

The first group of Droids emerged from the doorway as the fireworks went off, blowing many of the droids apart in a colorful, loud series of explosions. 

"Get ready! I'm going to blow a smoke bomb and you teleport us out!" Trixie said 
"Alright! Go!" 

There was a sudden cloud of smoke and a poof, and when the smoke cleared, the 2 were gone. 

OOM-340 tossed the rocket launcher aside and walked through the doorway to the main hall to catch up with his troops. 
"Area secured sir!" A B1 reported 

"Good! I'll inform the commander!" He replied activating his radio "the capitol has been secured sir!" 

"Congratulations on your mission's success. The city will soon fall to the Confederacy. Establish a base of operations at the Capitol, I shall arrive shortly." 

"Roger, Roger!" 
 
> Chapter 27: The Battle of the Crystal Empire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mane 6, Cadence, Shining Armor, and many royal guard's ponies sat aboard the Friendship express as it carried them towards the Crystal Empire. As they approached their destination, the Crystal Castle came in to view with its massive spire reaching upward into the sky. However, also visible were enormous wings of several C-9979 Landing Craft which stretched over the numerous homes, many burning letting off black smoke clouds, a clear sign that the Droids had indeed landed. 
Cadence was visibly saddened by the sight of her home being conquered by merciless machines. Shining wrapped a hoof around his wife 

"Don't worry, we'll get our home back, everything will be alright." 

"I just don't understand how they were able to take the Empire so easily." Cadence said, "the Crystal Heart is supposed to protect us from evil!" 

Twilight rubbed her chin 

"It protected against evil magic, which must mean that these droids lack magic of any kind, or at least any sort that is known to Pony kind. They did seem pretty surprised when they found out we controlled the sun and moon, along with the weather." Twilight tried to think further, but one thought stuck in her mind. it was the same thought when she saw Rainbow  destroy a droid that was helping them. even if he was a bad guy she still felt bad. " Are we acting too cruel to them?" she thought before the jolt of the train as it began to decelerate as it neared the station pulled her back to reality. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shining turned to the Royal guard’s ponies 

"Listen up stallions! We are dealing with an enemy that Equestria had never seen the likes of before, but do not let that deceive you, these machines are ready for the scrapyard, and we will liberate our city from this metal menace! We will breakthrough their lines, advance to the castle, and restore harmony to the Crystal Empire! Any questions?" 

There was a unanimous "SIR NO SIR" from the guards, as the doors of the train opened and they poured out into the station, charging towards the front lines. 

On the edge of the defenses were a few Droid patrols who were quickly taken out by the horde of guard's ponies, as they advanced alongside the Mane 6 into battle. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF-1726 sat on top of "his" new throne in the Crystal Castle. The throne was oddly shaped, and a bit too large, being designed for an Alicorn to sit on it, but the Tactical Droid sat there nonetheless, as the Castle's new owner. 

Several BX-Series Commando Droids stood guarding him in the room, along with 2 Droidekas 

TF-1726 stood up from his chair and slowly stepped over to the window, gazing out at the Battle on the edges of the city. 

"The equines are weak and under equipped for warfare. I calculate it be a mere matter of hours before the city falls to us." 

he said confidently as he turned and headed downstairs to the open room that held the Crystal Heart in its pedestal. 

"Has the crystal's purpose been discovered?" He asked a B1 who stood nearby with a data pad. 

"No sir, its energy signature has not yet been identified." The Droid replied. 

"Bring me to the Prisoner" TF-1726 ordered 

TF-1726 was led to a room where an orange unicorn stallion wearing glasses with a dark orange Mane and tail, guarded by B2s and an OOM Commander, wearing binders around his hooves so tight he could barely walk. His hair was all messy, he looked exhausted, he was covered in bruises and had a black eye, it was obvious he had been beaten and tortured. 

The OOM Commander handed TF-1726 a data pad, which displayed the prisoner's known info. 

Name: Sunburst 

Gender: Male 

Species: Unicorn Pony 

Occupation: Chrystelle and Magical Advisor, formerly at a school for Gifted Unicorns 

"Restrain him" TF-1726 ordered, as Sunburst was shoved into a mobile containment field, where a cuff was clamped around his horn disabling his magic. The field was switched on and he hovered upwards, suspended in midair by a bluish force field. 

TF-1726 clamped his cold metal hand around Sunbursts snout and forced him to look him in the face. 

"You will reveal all the information you know to us." 

Sunburst weakly stared at the Tactical Droid who stared back with his bright unblinking photoreceptors. 

“You will remain conscious throughout the entirety of this procedure." He said, in his monotone voice. He turned to the OOM Commander "activate pain pulsars, inject him with X-C33, and prepare the Interrogation Droid. 

"Roger, Roger". 

He turned to face Sunburst again 

"What is the purpose of the Crystal formation under the castle?" He asked 

"It's the Crystal Heart, it's supposed to protect The Crystal Empire from evil." 

"It doesn't seem to have been effective. Most likely because the Separatist Alliance is not evil." TF-1726 replied 

"No evil doer thinks they are evil" Sunburst replied 

"Negative, my programming is simply to secure victory for the Separatist Alliance, to ensure freedom from the tyranny of the Galactic Republic." 

The OOM Commander stopped back in followed by a rod-thin built Droid which had thin metal arms and legs, and a bronze head and torso plating. The droid had a data screen on his right eye, and his right hand was replaced by a wide array of tools such as syringes, prods, and scalpels. 

"What does the Crystal Heart do?" TF-1726 asked, as the EV-Series Interrogation Droid injected Sunburst with X-C33, before giving him a jab with a scalpel to test the pain pulsars. 

Sunburst cried in pain, as the small jab felt like 10 needles all being injected at once thanks to the pain pulsars. 

"I told you, it's supposed to protect the Crystal Empire!" 

"Data scans show that you are holding back information." TF-1726 replied 

The EV Droid shocked him with an electric prod on its right hand, causing him to yelp in pain again. 

"How is it powered." 

"Love!" Cried Sunburst "just stop the torture!" 

"Love is an emotion, not a physical energy source" TF-1726 replied, as the Droid shocked him again. "Give is all the intel on the Crystal Heart and how we can utilize it, and the pain will stop. You decide." 

Sunburst knew that if he revealed the Crystal Heart's ability to give power to the Crystal Ponies, they would surely disable or destroy it, which would cause the Crystal Empire to be buried in a snowstorm. He couldn't fail his Princesses, he couldn't betray Equestria. 

"Never" he panted, sweat dripping from his mane. "I can't. I won't." 

"Continue." TF-1726 ordered the EV Droid, who continued to shock and torture Sunburst… 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mane 6 continued to press onwards into the Crystal Empire, breaking through the outer Droid defenses and beginning to press into the city streets. 

Shining approached his sister "if we take the castle from 2 angles, their commanders will have nowhere to run, the north is too cold, and to the south we have more forces on the way. They'd be trapped" 

"Good thinking" Twilight said 

"I'll send a small portion of my ponies to help you, good luck!" 

The clanking sound of another wave of Droids approaching grew louder. 

"See you at the Castle!" Twilight said to her brother, as he ran off to go lead his troops 

The Droids rounded the corner of the street and their Commander pointed at them 

"There they are! Blast them'!" 

Rainbow Dash darted forwards at incredible speed and smashed the OOM Commander Droid, along with several others as the battle began, with Twilight firing her magic blasts, Applejack dealing fatal kicks to the Droids, Pinkie Pie her trusty party cannon, Rarity with her martial arts skills, Fluttershy, who was hiding instead of fighting, and Spike, who was breathing fire on groups of Droids. 

The Guards ponies who were with them also charged on, taking most of the blaster fire from the Droids to protect the Elements. 

The last 7 Droids huddled together, attempting to make a stand against the ponies, but were suddenly surrounded by a rainbow blur as Dash flew around them. The Droids spun around disorientated, accidentally shooting 2 of their comrades, before being finished off by the Mane 6. 

Fluttershy gulped as she saw a B1s severed head, before turning her head. 

Twilight got a similar feeling, but didn't show it because she knew they had to keep going.

The Mane 6 continued to advance up the street, taking in the now desolate Crystal city. Homes and shops which once housed the families and businesses of happy ponies were now ransacked, their goods thrown out into the street with shattered windows and walls covered with scorch marks from blaster bolts. 

Even Pinkie was saddened by the sight but kept a small smile for she had hope. 

There was a strange sound as an AAT' approached their street, being escorted by a small squad of B1s. 

"Everyone, quick, hide!" Twilight said, gesturing to the shops. 

The Mane 6 and the remaining Guards ponies dove in through a shattered window and laid down low on the floor inside the shop. 

There was a loud scraping sound and the building shook. Twilight peeked out from behind a wall; the AAT had stopped. The street it was turning from was too narrow and it had gotten stuck between their building and one of the buildings across the street. 

An OOM Commander popped his head out of the command hatch, as did the AAT's Driver from the front hatch. 

"You bucket head! I told you we couldn't fit through there!" The commander droid scolded 

"I thought the buildings would break and we could smash through!" 

The droid face palmed 

"They're made of crystals! They aren't just going to crumble you idiot!" 

The Droids continued arguing as the nearby B1s attempted to push the tank back from the buildings it was stuck between. 

Twilight turned to her friends 

"Those Droids have one of their armored vehicles, and they're stuck. Maybe if we take them out, we can steal their ride and blast through their remaining defenses!" She whispered 

"Good thinking your highness!" Replied a guard "we'll distract them while you sneak around back and get them from behind!" 

"Okay… wait for it…" Twilight said, waiting for the Droids to try to push the tank again "wait for it… go!" She spoke. 

"Hey bolt brains!" A guard shouted out, throwing a rock at the tank. "Think fast! Come and get me!" 

"After them! The commander ordered the escort troops, who turned and followed them as they ran. 

The Mane 6 leaped out from behind cover behind the tank, ambushing the 2 gunners who stepped out of the tank's rear hatch. 

"We're under atta-" the one began as he was bucked against the tank by Applejack, making a loud metallic clang before separating into various pieces. 

The commander peeked his head over the Turret to look down at the guard 

"Hey! You're not supposed to be here!" He began as he was pulled out of the tank by Twilight and thrown at the driver with her Magic. The Droid commander and the driver quickly stood up, raising their hands. 

"Ugh, your color scheme is only slightly better than your comrades!" Rarity declared to the driver, noticing his camo-like coloring. 

"How does this thing work? I don’t want to hurt you. But you need to respond" Twilight said trying to look a little tough, but still holding a kind demeanor. 

"Okay, okay!" The B1 driver began "well, this is the throttle… and this is the forward cannons, and those are the gunner seats, this is the periscope, this controls the turning, and that up there is the primary cannon controls" he said, gesturing to the Turret. 

"Thank you, you've been most helpful, now behave and no one gets hurt" Twilight said. The group didn't notice that the Commander Droid had been slowly taking small steps to his right, nearing a storage compartment. 

The droid pulled open the storage compartment in split second and yanked out an SE-14 Blaster Pistol which he pointed at the Mane 6 and fired off 3 shots. The shots flew toward the group, 1 hitting Applejack's hat and 2 hitting Pinkie Pie, scorching her fur. 

Twilight blasted the Commander Droid with magic before smashing the driver, who attempted to throw a punch. 

This all happened in 2.3 Seconds. 

"Well, so much for that" Twilight sighed with slight sadness, grabbing the destroyed Droids and taking them out of the tank, before pulling it free from the building with her magic. "Pinkie, are you okay?" 

Pinkie had 2 scorch marks on her fur but didn't appear to have deep wounds. 

"I'm alright!" 

Twilight nodded. 

"So, who's driving?" 

"I'll drive!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash said in unison. "Hoof wrestle for driver!" They said, as they locked hooves and began to wrestle for the position. 

Twilight climbed up into the turret's seat, while Pinkie Pie took up position in one of the gunner's seats. 

Applejack slammed Dash's hoof on the ground, winning the match and attempting to climb into the driver's seat, only to discover she couldn't fit quite well. Dash began to laugh as she sat at the other gunning position, before Applejack suddenly kicked the seat out of the tank and sat in its place. 

"Let's get moving, we don't want to disappoint Shining now do we?" Twilight called from the Turret. 

"Hold on every pony!" Applejack said, as she reversed the AAT and turned it around, closing the boarding hatch. 

Rarity, Flutter shy and Spike all fell against the rear hatch as she threw the tank's control levers into full forward throttle, and the tank began to accelerate. 

"YEEEE-HAAAWW!" Applejack shouted out the open driver's hatch, before closing it. 

The captured AAT hovered towards the Droid occupied Crystal Castle at the center of the Crystal Empire 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TF-1726 was impressed with Sunbursts ability to resist electrical shock. He could pity having to use such cruel methods for data extraction, at least if he was programmed to. 

"I am impressed with your resistance, but your body is weakening, if you give us what we want, your suffering will end" said the EV Droid in its grating mechanical voice. "However, I am by no means saying give up, this is quite entertaining" the Droid continued, almost letting out a sadistic laugh "at least for me…" 

"You're sick…" Sunburst wheezed, sweat rolling down his face.
 
"It is my programming; you can thank my manufacturer for that. As much as they view my line as a failure…" the EV Droid replied. 

"Commander!" Said a B1 as it approached TF-1726 "we have reports of the 6 high interest equines in the city, as well as the alicorn who we captured the city from, they seem to be launching a counterattack. In addition, we've lost contact with our other defenses." 

"Activate our garrisons on the transports. Defend the castle at all costs. Collateral damage does not concern me." 

"Roger, Roger" 

TF-1726 turned to face Sunburst again 

"It seems your compassionate friends have returned in attempt to retake the city. Just as I calculated that they would." 

"They're more powerful than you think" Sunburst replied 

"I calculate a 78% Probability that you are incorrect." 

"Our Magic is more powerful than any force, be it machine or creature!" 

"EV-7S-F, continue your work." 

"With pleasure!" The Droid replied, extending its scalpel tool and beginning to cut at Sunburst's leg. The sounds of his screams echoed off the walls of the Crystal Castle... 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shining, Cadance and their forces had advanced up to one of the streets leading to the Crystal Castle but were encountering heavy resistance. The Droids, in what little time they had, managed to fortify the castle's arches underside into a well defended location. Various chunks of crystals taken from demolished buildings had been piled up to act as cover, and various B1s and B2 droids had taken up position behind them, along with Dwarf Spider Droids and AATs. 

"Bring up the cannons, we need to be ready to storm the castle when the Elements of Harmony arrive at the other side! Be careful not to hit the Crystal Heart!" He ordered, as several cannons were rolled up and fired. The cannonballs blew apart many squads of Droids but left the AATs and Dwarf Spider Droids relatively unharmed. Various squads of B1s stood around the Crystal Heart, making cannon bombardment of them impossible. 

"Keep firing on their heavy vehicles! We need to be ready to charge!" 

The Mane 6 raced the street to the Castle, as fast as the Tank's slow repulsorlifts could carry them. The AAT approached a barricade of Battle Droids. A B1 raised their hand to them, signaling them to stop. 

The tanks radio buzzed in, and B1s high pitched voice could be heard. 

"Halt AAT-647, you are out of placement! Return to your assigned position at once." 

The Mane 6 exchanged looks of concern, when Spike stepped up to the radio 

"Uh, sorry." He said, pinching his nose attempting to mimic the voice of a Battle Droid "We're umm… uh, just returning because… we need to speak to the commander…" 

"You sound strange…" 

"Just… my voice… thing… it's on the fritz." 

"Oh. Well… let me see your clearance code?" 

"Uhh…" Spike said, looking through storage compartments for data disks. All of them were written in aurebesh! He couldn't read that! "No…" 

"No time!"

Twilight then aimed the main cannon toward the barricades ahead. 

"I need to see i- what are you doing?" The Droid asked nervously, before Twilight blew apart the barricade ahead. 

"WHAT THE?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He exclaimed as Twilight popped open the top hatch "HEY! You're not a droid! Get do-AHH!" The droid was cut off as the tank suddenly moved forwards and rammed him and his comrades down before continuing ahead. even so Twilight still had a bad feeling from that action.

"So much for a low profile!" Spike said 

"Now where's the fun in that?" Rainbow Dash replied as the tank moved along the final stretch of road ahead, right up to the castle. 

Across from their street on the other side of the castle, Twilight could make out Shining Armor's forces. 

Sunburst's screaming halted as the EV Droid stopped the torture. TF-1726 grabbed Sunburst's face again 

"Speak now. Tell me the purpose of the Crystal Heart and how we can utilize it. A B1 walked up to TF-1726 again. 

"Sir! The equines have breached our mid-range defenses and are right outside the castle. 

TF-1726 turned quickly to face the Droid. 

"Your failure to defend is Unacceptable!" He turned back to face Sunburst "if I cannot have the information then you will be terminated, and we will destroy the Crystal Heart." 

Sunburst eyes widened 

"You can't! You'll destroy this entire place!" He blurred out, before snapping his mouth shut and sucking in his lips, but it was too late, he'd said too much. 

"Destroying the Heart will destroy this location?" 

Sunburst didn't see any reason to lie anymore. He'd spilled the beans. 

"Yes…" he sighed "the love from the Crystal Heart not only protects us from evil, but it also prevents the Crystal Empire from being buried in a blizzard! But you can't! There are still innocent ponies in the city!" 

"I don't care! They too will die for their allegiance!" TF-1726 replied 

"You're a horrid monster!" 

"I'm a war tactician, I'm not programmed for empathy. But I will oblige my promise to end your suffering" TF-1726 
continued, retrieving a nearby E-5 and pointing it at Sunburst's face, before pulling the trigger. 

He walked out of the room and into the Throne room. It was time to test how much snow these equines could take. He would pull a victory out of this defeat, no matter what. 

"We will retrieve the Crystalline formation at the base of the castle. Set explosives around the castle. We will bring the building down on them." He ordered a squad of BX Commando Droids and his 2 Droideka guards. 

Shining Armor and Princess Cadance slowly pushed forwards with the Guards ponies, with Shining blocking attacks while Cadance fired with her Alicorn magic. 

Eventually only 2 of the enemies remained: 2 AATs. 

"How are we going to take them out?" Cadance shouted, "their armor is too thick for me to get through!" 
"I'll think of something!" Shining said, blocking another AAT's shot with his magic. By this point, the AATs realized they couldn't hurt them. At least not alone. The main chassis of the tanks turned to face the other Guards ponies, before a series of loud booms were heard as the tanks launched anti-personal missiles at them, killing many of them. 

"Any time now Shining!" Cadance said, as another AAT tank began to appear behind the other 2. 

Suddenly, the 3rd AAT's Turret rotated and fired a shot at the rear power converters of the other AAT, causing it to drop to the ground and explode. 

An OOM Commander popped its head out of the other tank's hatch. 

"What are you doing?! Friendly fire!" It shouted, before its tank was destroyed as well. 

Shining and Cadance's jaws dropped as the 3rd Tanks hatch opened, revealing Twilight Sparkle 
"Twilight!?" They both said in unison. 

"Yep!" She said "you didn't think I'd bail on my BBBFF did you? 

The back of the captured AAT opened, and the rest of the Elements stepped out. 

"Shame we can't fit this thing inside the castle, it would be a blast!" Dash said. 

The castle door behind them opened, and out stepped 8 BX Series Commando Droids followed by a Green and Tan Tactical Droid and 2 Droidekas. 

"I must give you equines credit, your strategy is impressive, even by my standards." 

"Can it metal head!" You killed a lot of ponies today, and now you're going to pay for it." Dash shouted, darting through the air towards TF-1726 

"No Dash! No!" Twilight shouted as the Commando Droids fired a series of shots at her, knocking her out of the air. 

Dash groaned, struggling to get up. 

"Give back the Cystal Empire, and Celestia may be merciful!" Twilight said, spreading her wings and pointing her horn at TF-1726 and his Droids. 

TF-1726 didn't even flinch at this, and his Commando Droids simply raised their weaponry at them. 

"Negative, instead you shall surrender to us, you have lost." He said, retrieving the Crystal Heart from its pedestal and holding it under his arm with his Blaster pointed at it, as if holding it hostage.
 
"Don't!" Twilight shouted 

TF-1726 walked backward carrying the Crystal Heart, nearing one of the castle's exits. 

"Open fire!" He ordered his Droids, who quickly did as they were told and let out a storm of Blaster fire. 

Twilight, Cadance and Shining deflected their shots, before using their telekinesis to pull the blasters from the Commando Droids hands. This left only the Droideka's attacks to block. The now disarmed Droids charged towards them, preparing to brawl in hoof-hand combat. This turned out to be a terrible idea, as Applejack dealt with most of them quite easily with her kicks, and Pinkie Pie delivering a frenzy of spinning swipes, serving a Commando Droid in two and destroying another completely. This left only 2 of them left. However, these two were smarter. Instead of charging, they backed up and stood next to the two Droidekas. The 2 deadly Droids got back-to-back, protecting them from being flanked, and their shields blocking magic attacks. 

"Charge!" Shining ordered his ponies, hoping to overwhelm the 2 Droids with too many targets at close range. 

Various guard ponies attempted to stab through their shields with the spears before having their spears yanked from their grasp by the Commando Droids. 

The Commando Droids began to brutally beat the attacking Guards ponies with their own spears, breaking some of them over their heads and impaling others, before they were eventually defeated by the Unicorn Guards ponies magic attacks.
 
The Unicorn Guards ponies launched their spears at the Droidekas with the Magic, only for them to harmlessly bounce off their shields. 

"How can we take these things out!?" 

Twilight shouted 

“I’m going to attack them with full force!” 

Rainbow dash said 

“No Rainbow!” 

But it was too late as rainbow dash dashed towards the 2 Droideka’s., but not learning from the first time she bounced right off the shield and fell right behind the droidekas, luckily the droids didn't notice this time. as she was picking herself up, she noticed that her hoof was in the shield. 

Dash slowly picked herself up behind the Droidekas, unbeknownst to them, before slowly moving between the backsides of them, slipping through their defense shield and delivering kicks to each Droideka, knocking them forwards and off balance. 
The 2 Droids slammed down headfirst in the ground and let of several sparks as they picked themselves up. 

Suddenly, their shields flickered and fizzled out, leaving them exposed" 

"Their shields are down! Unicorns, now!" Shining called, focusing his magic with his fellow Guards ponies on the Droidekas. 
Without their shields, the Droidekas were quickly destroyed. 

They all breathed a sigh of relief, before suddenly remembering that the tactical droid had escaped! 
"Oh no!" Twilight shouted, "their boss! He got away!" 

"Not for long!" Dash said, racing high into the air and scanning the area for the droid, followed by Twilight 

Dash spotted the droid a few streets over, attempting to right a crashed STAP speeder. 

Dash zoomed down towards TF-1726, swiping the Crystal Heart from his hand in a split second. 

"What…" he simply said, before a purple aura appeared around him, followed by a white flash. 

He was confused, now he was back at the castle again! Surrounded by his enemies! This location did not match! He calculated every possible way he could have traveled that distance in that time, it wasn't possible!" 

"Does not compute!" He began shouting, raising his Blaster to defend himself, before it was snatched away by Rarity's magic. 

Suddenly a lasso landed around his neck, and he was yanked backwards, falling on the ground, followed by Applejack standing over top of him. 

"No! Does not compute!" He continued 

"Can it Ya coward!" She said, placing her hoof on his chest to stop him from getting up. 

"Negative equine, I do not take orders from you." He replied "All units withdraw to landing craft. Your mission is a failure."
He said, evidently talking through his radio. 

"Ah said shut before ah buck you into next week!" 

"I am programmed to resist intimidation." 

"Thanks Applejack, I'll take it from here" Twilight said, walking up to the downed tactical droid, before levitating him in the air with her magic. 

"Let's try this again, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, leader of the Elements of Harmony, and I order you to stop your evil doing and let go of the Crystal empire." 

"Negative." 

Twilight sighed 

"Then we'll have to do this the hard way" 

TF-1726 placed his right hand over his left wrist, clearly displaying a wristband which had 3 red buttons. 
"Correct Princess, now I order you to surrender, or else I will detonate charges and collapse the castle down on us. If you attempt to flee, I will detonate the charges. You are now on my terms." 

"You can't be serious, you'll hurt yourself too!" 

"Yes, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the advance of the Confederacy. It is my programming." 

Twilight had to give TF-1726 credit, he was brave, and he was a smart planner. 

"Your bluffing!" Said Rainbow Dash, flying in and placing the Crystal Heart back on its pedestal. 

"Allow me to demonstrate." He said, pressing one of the buttons. 

There was a beep and a small explosion on one of the castle's arches, creating a large crack in the crystals that held it up. 

"I do not bluff" he explained "However I calculate an 88% probability that you will not kill me because of the data I possess." 
Twilight had to think of a way to outsmart this Droid. 

"Come on think Twilight think!" She said to herself in her head. Then she had an idea... 

"You're right, I won't. But I will still stop you." She said, and the droid tilted its head. Twilight closed her eyes. She needed to be quick with this, she couldn't fail. She focused her magic on the Tactical Droid itself, and then on its left arm. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as she suddenly tore her magic bubble in two, with one carrying the Tactical Droid, and the other is now severed left arm. 

"Aaaaaahh" the droid moaned in its monotone, clearly feeling some pain as it twitches, several sparks leaping out of his exposed wiring. 

"Nice way to DIS-arm him Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said, laughing 

“Pinkie. That's just creepy.” twilight said

TF-1726 was humiliated. Outsmarted by equines with a fraction of his intelligence! Then he noticed something out of the corner of his vision. A small black and bronze shape sliding across the ground behind them. 

It was the top torso of a Commando Droid, its legs were severed, but it was still functional, crawling slowly towards a Blaster. 

"You're coming with us now" Twilight said 

There was the sound of a Blaster being primed, and everyone's eyes went wide as the sound of a Blaster bolt being fired was heard. The ponies all turned in shock to see a single red Blaster bolt racing towards the Crystal Heart, before making contact, and shattering it into thousands of pieces. 

Everyone gasped… except the 2 Droids. 

Twilight was so shocked that she accidentally dropped TF-1726 from her grip. 

The tactical droid backhanded her across the face with his right hand, before bending over to pick up his arm. 

Twilight and the rest of The Mane 6 all turned to face TF-1726, who now stood facing them holding his severed left arm in his right hand, with his index finger over one of the detonation buttons, letting out a small mechanical laugh. 

"You may have won the battle, but you have lost in the end" he said, pressing the button… 
 
> Chapter 28: The Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TF-1726 immediately turned around and began to speed-walk as fast as he could away from the castle, although it appeared to be little more than a slight hobble. 

There was a tremendous boom and the ground shook, as the charges above in the castle and on its supports detonated, and large chunks of crystals began to fall. 

Shiny and Cadance touched their horns together and combined their magic to hold the castle in place from falling. 
"Twily… Cadance... go!" Shining said, straining to keep the castle suspended in the air. 

"I can't leave you!" Cadance said, also straining to hold the Castle up 

"Flurry Heart needs her mother! Go! Get out of here!" He shouted, as the Guard’s ponies began to retreat from under the crumbling castle. 

"No! I love you and I won't leave you!" She protested 

"Go!" Shining yelled to Cadance, pushing her away 

Cadance began to cry and did as she was told, being followed by the Elements of Harmony. 

"I can't leave my big brother in there!" Twilight said, as the castle began to crumble more rapidly, before Shining's magic gave out, causing the remains of the castle to fall, burying him under a pile of rubble. There was no possible way he survived. 

Twilight and Cadance began to cry, mourning the loss of Shining Armor. 

The two embraced each other in a hug as they hung their heads over their shoulders. 

"I'm so sorry…" Cadance said, just before she spotted the Tactical Droid TF-1726 out of the corner of her eye, her sadness quickly turning to pure rage. She enveloped him in a magic hold and pulled him towards her. 

"That was my husband, you sick droid!" she shouted, proceeding to smack him across the face several times with her forehoof. 

"Victory… so close…" he said, his head twitching as a spark flew from his neck. 

She smacked him once more, and his head severed from his body, bouncing across the Crystal Road. 
His decapitated body began to twitch as Cadance stood up, breathing heavily. 

"I'm not programmed to feel hatred, but... I feel it anyway." the droid said, as its severed head came to a halt in front of Twilight. 

She levitated the head to her face, its eyes flickering, still clearly active to some degree. 
"No-not you again" he stuttered, his speech glitching. 

"That was my big brother!" She shouted 

"I can he-e-ear you-u. Cease shoutiiiinngg…" he droned on his monotone voice, as more sparks flew from his head. 
There was a crack of thunder, and they all looked to the sky to see a massive blizzard approaching. 

"We need to get out of here, there's nothing we can do for the Crystal Empire now that the heart is destroyed and buried under the rubble. If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be buried under the ice and snow!" 

There was a loud rumble as the various C-9799 Landing Craft lifted off and took flight, retreating to some other location the Droids had captured for safety. 

"It seems that even in your victory… that I still win." TF-1726's head said slowly. 

"ENOUGH!" Twilight said, handing TF-1726's severed, yet still active head to Spike "we'll take him back for investigation, someone grab his body." 

"I calculate that you will not be able to evacuate the entire city in time. Victory… loss does not compute…" 

"Shut up!" Spike shouted 

"I told you I am programmed to re-re-resist intimidation." 

Applejack finished folding the Tactical Droids decapitated body up, tying it and its severed arm over her back. 
Cadance turned to the remaining Guards ponies 

"Ensure that all the ponies in the empire are evacuated safely, no one gets left behind." 

"Yes, your majesty!" 

Twilight began walking towards the Train station 

"Come on every pony, we need to get out of here before it's too late." 

Back in the Throne Room at Canter lot, which had since been turned almost into a strategy and briefing room, Celestia and Luna stood over a map of Equestria. 

Suddenly there was a loud poof sound and a flash of Magic. The two sisters turned to see Starlight Glimmer and Trixie on the ground behind them, looking exhausted and beaten on the floor. The two royal sisters rushed over to help their subjects up 

"OW! Put me down!" Starlight cried, as Luna placed her back on the floor with her magic. 

"What hast happened? Art thou alright?" Luna asked concerned 

"The machines took Manehattan" Trixie said "we need to get Starlight medical attention immediately; her legs were injured in the battle." 

Celestia nodded and 2 guards set off for the palaces medical rooms carrying Starlighth on their backs. 

"What of the towns ponies in Manehattan? Were they able to escape?" Celestia asked 

"Some of them, we tried to hold them off as long as we could" Trixie said "I'm sorry…" 

"It is alright, you tried your hardest and that is what matters. Get some rest my subject" Celestia said, turning to Luna. "It's become apparent that we must enlist help from others in Equestria to win this conflict. I will have to contact Discord and the Changelings; only together can we defeat them." 

"Indeed sister" 

Suddenly there was a magic flash and Discord appeared. 

"Hello Tia, did you say my name?" He spoke 

"Indeed, she did" Luna said "art thou aware of the conflict that hast occurred between Equestria and the Confederacy?" 
"Oh! Yes!" He said, summoning 3D classes and popcorn "it's wonderfully chaotic, interesting to watch, I just wish there wasn't so much death… it's a little cliché for war, and excessive." 

The 2 sisters glared at him 

"I'm sorry is my enjoyment in poor taste?" He asked 

"Yes!" They both said sternly 

"Our subjects are fighting against them, and you're sitting around watching it as if it's some Manehattan Broadway performance!" Celestia said, clearly agitated by Discord. 

"Oh, well excuse me for enjoying chaos!" Discord said, "it's only my middle name!" 

"I thought your middle name was P?" 

"It is my dear I'm just messing with you." 

"I need you to listen!" 

"I'm all ears!" he said, literally turning into a giant ear. 

Celestia sighed and took a deep breath 

"We need you to help us defeat the machines! I know you enjoy chaos, but we have actual work to do Discord." She spoke. 
"Okay…" 

"You are free to use your magic against them to your full abilities." 

Discord grinned widely 

"So… I can enact total chaos on them?" 

Celestia sighed 

"Yes, but only them! No chaos on Equestria or any ponies, understand?" 

"Yes Tia!" Discord said "I hear you. I will aid Equestria and cause chaos on the machines from the sky." He said in a mocking tone. 

"Thank you Discord." 

"Although to be honest I probably would've gotten involved sooner or later, because if they hurt Flutter shy-" 

"I believe they did, Discord, when she was here last with the rest of the Elements, she had her wing bandaged."
 
"Oh…" he said, his eyes narrowing "then its personal" he continued, his eyes flashing red, before he disappeared in a white flash. 

Luna smiled 

"There may be hope for us yet sister." 

Kraken sat in his chair running calculations. Manehattan, the Crystal Empire and the settlement of Appleloosa had all fallen according to plan. By his calculations the probability of the planetary invasion being a success was 84.8%. He also calculated that at the current speed, the planet would fall within the week. 

"Sir! Incoming transmission from Admiral TF-1726!" A B1 shouted 

"Play it" he replied in his deep monotone. 

The screen in front of him instead of protraying a picture, instead prorated a mere line, which waved as the transmission played. 

"This is TF-1726. If you are receiving this prerecorded message, then I have failed to defend the Crystal Empire and have been captured by the Equines." Came his voice in its slow monotone. 

Kraken didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if he should attempt a rescue operation or not. TF-1726 was one of his capable commanders, and he needed one to help lead the invasion forces. However, this could always wait. There was also the risk of information being retrieved from him, but Kraken was not particularly worried about that. Even though the T-Series Tactical Droids were inferior to Super Tactical Droids like him, they were still very hard to interrogate. If the memory core was accessed without permission, then the whole data storage system would corrupt, essentially rendering the droid useless. 

"This is unfortunate." he finally said, standing up and walking forwards to gaze out the front window. "He is one of my capable commanders." 

The Crystal Empire may have been recaptured by the Equines, but there appeared to be a massive number of storms forming around it. 

There was a white flash and a poof sound behind Kraken… 
 
> Chapter 29: Of Chaos and Cold
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kraken turned to face the sound, to see Discord sitting in his command chair.
 
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY." Kraken said, raising his voice volume significantly. 

All the B1 Pilots turned to see what the normally calm monotone Kraken was yelling about, and several Red Security B1s rushed to protect their commander. 

"Hello! Hello! I'm Discord, and who might you be?" 

"You are unauthorized to be on this ship, arrest him!" Kraken ordered the Droids. 

Discord laughed and snapped his fingers. Suddenly he was behind Kraken and placed his arm around his neck and leaned on him sipping a glass of chocolate milk, or more accurately, drinking the glass itself. 

"You're too funny, I'm going to enjoy this!" 

"This does not make sense!" Kraken said, attempting to pull Discord off him 

"As I once said, what fun in there in making any sense?" Discord replied, before suddenly flipping gravity in the room causing Kraken and all the other Droids to slam against the ceiling, while Discord remained on the floor. 

"You can get a nice view of the Chaos from up there!" He said laughing. 

Kraken and the Droids stood up, standing upside down on the ceiling before they were suddenly dropped to the floor again. 

"Or do you want lower seats?" 

"Ugh… stop!" A B1 droid cried out, before all his limbs detached and then reattached in the wrong places. The droid fell to the ground, his legs attached to his shoulders and his arms to his hips. 

"WHAT THE?!" The Droid shouted 

"Enough of this!" Kraken said, standing up and drawing his E-5 from his hip, and firing it at Discord, only for the Blaster bolt to turn into water midair. 

Kraken looked down at his Blaster, to discover it had turned into a squirt gun. 

"WHAT…" he droned "WHAAT?" 

The Security B1s began to blast him with their own blasters, only for him to teleport away, and their Blaster bolts to hit the Droids across from them. 4 of them fell to the floor with smoking holes in their chest plates. 

"DOES… NOT… COMPUTE…" Kraken boomed, clutching his head in one of his hands as he tried to calculate what was happening. 

"I know, but that's the fun!" Discord laughed "it's chaos! It makes no sense!" 

Kraken began to step towards him only for him to slip, along with several other B1s as the floor suddenly became covered in ice. 

"What… are you?" Kraken asked again, struggling to stand up again and pointing at him. 

Discord skated around him on ice skates wearing an orange suit and hat. 

"Discord P. Sullivan, God of Chaos and Disharmony" he said bending over grabbing his hand and beginning to shake it rapidly as a he shocked Kraken with a palm zapper. "Although most call me just Discord." He said, tipping his hat "Arrivederci!" He said, before disappearing in a flash. 

Kraken sat there dumbfounded, and several B1s fell in disbelief. 

"Maker help me this is no way to live!" Cried the mismatched B1 droid. 

Kraken reached his temple activating his radio. 

"Cleaning crew to bridge room immediately." he said, before falling on his back once more, staring at the ceiling. 
OOM-340 watched as TA-175 approached the Manehattan Capitol building on a Flit knot Speeder escorted by STAP Speeders. 

He turned to face another B1 

"Is everything ready for the commander's arrival?" 

"Roger, Roger" 

"Are you sure the entire building is secure?" 

"Roger, Roger!" 

"Good." 

He stepped outside to greet TA-175 who was stepping off his speeder. 

He saluted his commander and walked beside him as he stepped inside. 

"The capital had been completely secured sir; all the ponies have been driven from the area!" 

"Well done. I will see to it that you receive a promotion for your success." 

OOM-340 felt happy. It had been a while since he was promoted. He was a sergeant, and with his promotion that made him a lieutenant! 

"Thank you, sir!" 

TA-175 ignored his gratitude and continued 

"What is the status on the rest of the city's capture?" 

"The ponies and guards have been retreating and evacuating the city on a train bridge that connects the island to the mainland, by tonight it will be secure!" 

TA-175 stopped walking 

"That timing is unacceptable! I want the city to be secure within the next 2 hours! Pursue the Ponies across the bridge to the mainland, ensure no one escapes." 

"Roger Roger…" he said, disappointed as he stepped away to go lead his troops again. 

Why couldn't he have been assigned a less active job? Like on a Separatist colony? Or maybe as a ship security officer? Or maybe something else entirely! Just about any other job would've been preferable to front line combat.
 
OOM-340 pushed open the back door of the building and stepped outside into the late sun, finding his battalion of fresh B1s and B2s ready, along with 3 AATs. 

"Prepare to move out!" he said, stepping into an AAT and taking a seat in the Commander's seat. 

In the Crystal Empire, conditions had severely worsened over the hours. The temperature had dropped almost 60 degrees, and snow was beginning to pile up heavily as the blizzard worsened. 

The Mane 6 neared the train station, battered and beaten, shivering as they walked through the desolate streets of the once lively Crystal Empire. 

Twilight tears had frozen on her face, and no one spoke until she broke the silence. 

"How much farther to the Train station?" She asked Cadance 

"Not much farther… only about 2-3 more blocks…" 

She paused 

"I'm sorry about Shining…" Cadance continued "it should've been me who stayed behind to hold up the castle."
 
"Don't say that…" Twilight said "he did it because he loved you." 

The group pressed on, as they walked up the frozen steps to the Train station 

One guard pony remained at the entrance, who opened the door to let them in. 

"Is the empire cleared?" Cadance shouted over the howling wind. 

"Yes, your highness!" The guard shouted, "the last train is about to depart, it's waiting for you!" 

The Mane 6 stepped inside. 

Inside the train station was a mess. Pieces of paper, tickets and the like were scattered all over the floor, along with abandoned luggage and suitcases. It was evident that they had tried to evacuate in a hurry. But the worst sight was what Twilight could only assume was dried blood on the floor, along with abandoned Guards armor. 

The group stepped out onto the platform, and from there into the battered Friendship Express, which was covered in Blaster scorch marks and scrapes. 

The inside of the train car was also chaotic, as there were numerous ponies, colts, fillies and foals inside, many of them having to sit on the floor due to lack of seats. The Mane 6 managed to squeeze into the back of the car and the door closed. 
There was a jolt as the train started moving, as it departed from the Crystal Empire. 

Twilight gazed out the window, beginning to cry once more as she began to truly grasp that she would never see her brother Shining Armor again. Cadance soon joined her, and they mourned their loss together while the rest of the Mane 6 tried to recover from the battle 

"I'll miss you… big brother… my best friend forever…" 
 
> Chapter 30: Pursuit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OOM-340 sat in the Turret of his AAT, watching as his battalion of Droids slowly marched towards Manehattan train suspension bridge. 

"Come on! The commander wants the city secured by this evening!" He yelled, hoping they would quicken their pace. 
OOM-340 began to wonder how the rest of the invasion effort was going. As for how he'd know, he didn't, because no one told him anything. 

There was a whoosh sound above him and he looked up to see several of the blue and yellow uniformed Pegasi from earlier fly over, several of them dropping rocks on the Droids below. 

"That's it, no one throws rocks at us and he's away with it! Charge!" He yelled to his Droids, who began to increase their speed from a slow clanking march to rapid thunderous clanking as they began to run full on towards the station. From what he could see from that distance, ponies stood outside and began to take up defensive positions, yelling out commands to each other that OOM-340 couldn't hear over the sound of his own troops marching. 

He pulled out his macro binoculars and looked through them to get a better view. 

They seemed to have positioned Cannons to defend the train station and bridge. They would be effective against his infantry, but he had a tank, and could very likely one-shot them each. They also had a large number of remaining Guards ponies and police ponies in position, along with what seemed to be makeshift militia, wearing only heavy clothing and wielding spears, construction tools or nothing at all. 

He lowered his macro binoculars and activated his radio 

"All units, charge! Eliminate all the equines defending the train station!" 

OOM-340 sat down in the chair fully, closed the hatch and looked through the Turrets sights. Swiveling the main cannon with the foot pedals, he took aim at a cannon, and fired. 

There was the loud boom of the tanks primary cannon firing, and one of the Equestrian cannons, along with several nearby ponies, was destroyed. 

OOM-340 began to hum as he began to fire on other nearby Cannons. It was a lot of fun when they wouldn't hit him! 
His tanks radio buzzed in, and the voice of another B1 came through. 

"Something's banging on my hatch! Wait… wha… what's this thi-" there was suddenly static, and the sound of an explosion outside. 

Suddenly there was a thud on the top of the tanks hatch, and the dent of 4 hooves became visible, before it was pried open, and light flooded the dark compartment 

He looked up quickly to see one of the uniformed Pegasi who grabbed him by his shoulders, pulled him out of the chair, and put him onto the top of the turret. The Pegasi was yellow with an orange Mane and tail 

"See you sucker!" She said, kicking him off the tank and dropping a lit bundle of fireworks and other explosives inside the command hatch. 

OOM-340 hit the ground with a thud, and the Pegasi flew off as the tank’s head turret exploded. This left the AAT without the main cannon and, but they still had one AAT left. 

"Aw, now I got to walk!" He said, standing up and retrieving his Blaster from his back, and moving to help his troops advance. 

His troops had steadily been advancing, as OOM-340 ran to command his troops at the front, he noticed the dead Guards ponies and Droids that littered the ground. 

His radio buzzed in again as he came to a stop behind a squad of B2s and a B2-HA. 

"Do not let the train escape the city. Destroy it if necessary." TA-175 ordered 

"Roger, Roger!" He said, walking up crouching down beside his fellow Droids, letting off Blaster shots and killing various Guards ponies as they advanced. 

"Die equines!" A B2 said in its deep voice as it picked up one of the military ponies and blasted it directly in the face. 
There was less than 25 feet between them and the stairs to the Train station, when the ground shook and a large amount of rock shards flew everywhere, knocking OOM-340 many other Droids down, and destroying others. 

OOM-340 picked himself up to see that the ponies had started launching large rocks and boulders at them with their magic, in an effort to destroy the advancing squads of Droid that had clustered together. 

He tapped the shoulder of the B2-HA, who turned and looked down at its shorter, thinner and frailer brother. 

OOM-340 was mildly intimidated by his larger B2 brother but continued with his plan. 

"Destroy the rocks, they are taking out our squads!" 

The large droid paused for a moment before uttering 

"Roger, Roger." and raising its right arm and launching rockets at the ponies. 

The rocks exploded into chunks and shards of gravel as the purple rockets hit them, completely and destroying them. 
"Huh. That was easier than I thought! Nice shot!" He said to the B2, nudging it with his elbow only to notice that it had simply moved on and did not care for his compliment. 

"Stupid brutes…" he muttered "why do I even bother…", shaking his head and aiming his Blaster to continue walking forwards once more. 

OOM-340 walked up the stairs to the Train station, with his Droids following him. 

He pounded on the door to the entrance, but there was predictably no response. 

"Separatist Authorities! Open up!" 

There was again no reply. 

"Open the door." He ordered a B2, who simply punched the door down with his metal fists and opened fire on the ponies inside. 

OOM-340 face palmed 

"I was going to give them a chance to surrender…" 

He walked inside the train station and raised his hand to signal them to stop firing. 

"Surrender ponies!" He said to Guards who backed against the train while it prepared to leave. 

"Never! As long as I live, I will stand and defend Equestria!" Replied a Guards pony. 

"Give up!" 

"I swore to protect Equestria, and I will!" 

OOM-340 simply shot the guard dead with his Blaster. 

"Anyone else want to have a strike of patriotism?" 

The others glared at them, showing their teeth to look fierce as they fired magic blasts at the B2s up front, before they were gunned down instantly. There was a hiss, and the train began to move away from the station. 

"Oh no! They got away!" OOM-340 cried out 

The B2-HA stepped up 

"Not. Likely." He simply started and fired a rocket at the locomotive. There was a loud explosion and screeching as the trains left set of drive wheels were blown off, and as it derailed on the bridge, the engine fell into the river below along with 2 passenger cars. 

"Capture them!" OOM-340 ordered, as they walked towards the wrecked train. 

Back in Canter lot, the Mane 6 and Princess Cadance returned from the Crystal Empire and headed to the Throne Room. Twilight and Cadance had started to calm down from the initial shock of Shining's death and were ready to talk to Celestia and Luna about what happened. 

Twilight opened the throne room door with her magic, and they stepped in. 

Celestia, Luna, and several royal Guards ponies were gathered around a map of Equestria, similar to the Cutie Map. 

"Greetings Princesses…" Twilight said sadly "we're back" 

"You seem troubled Twilight, is there something wrong?" 

Celestia asked. 

Cadance looked up 

"Shining Armor… he…" she began to cry again 

"He didn't make it" Twilight finished for her. 

Celestia and Luna both were visibly saddened by this, and hugged Twilight and Cadance. 

"We are sorry to hear of this" Luna said 

Spike cleared his throat and wheeled into a table which had the Tactical Droid's body, head and severed left arm sitting on it, partially tied down. 

"What is that Spike?" Celestia asked, as she stepped over to examine the partially disassembled Droid. 

"It seemed to be the one in charge, almost like their king." 

"Hmm…" Celestia said "yes, it does appear to be different than all of the others I've seen. However, it doesn't seem to match the one that called itself Kraken" 

"Maybe it's some kind of… captain? Or officer maybe?" Spike suggested 
"Does it still work?" 

"Last time I checked, it did." 

Spike picked up its head and shook it. There was a slight sparking from its neck cables, and its photoreceptors flickered on for a second, before flickering back out. Spike placed the head on the table. 

"Cannot… see… cannot… move." TF-1726's head spoke in its monotone. 

Spike lightly pounded the side of the head, and its photoreceptors flashed on again, lighting up their usual white color. 
"Not the E-Equines again…" his head spoke. 

Celestia bent down and looked the TF-1726 in the eye. 

"My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna. We'd like to ask you some questions. Do you understand?" 

Celestia thought she would try to be hospitable to their prisoner, as it was the proper thing to do, and at least show some compassion. Perhaps it would be more willing to cooperate. 

"No…" 

"Why not?" 

"You are my enemy…" he replied 

"Can we at least have conversation? That's all I'm asking." she said, smiling, hoping to try and appeal to it. 

"You want to interrogate me-e-ee." He spoke, glitching again. 

The droid was smart, able to see through Celestia's caring demeanor to her true intent. Though the interrogation part was too violent even for her, and she didn’t want to do anything like that. 

Dash flew over 

"Listen here you droid, when Princess Celestia wants to know something, you better tell her or I'll-AH" 

Dash was suddenly yanked back by Applejack, who grabbed her by her tail with her mouth. 

"Rainbow Dash! Mind Yer manners!" Applejack scolded. 

Celestia continued 

"Can you at least tell me your name" 

"Designation is T-Series Tactical Droid TF-1726…" 

"No, tell us Thous name" Luna clarified. 

"TF-1726, T-Series Tactical Dr-roid." 

"Okay…" Celestia replied "Can I just call you TF?" 

"It does not matter. You are my enemy." 

"Alright. If you just cooperate, maybe we can bring this war to a quicker end. Won't that be good?" 

"It doesn't matter, as long as victory is assured." 

"Luna, would you like to have a try?" 

Luna took a deep breath, preparing to use The Royal Canter lot Voice 

"THOU MUST TELL US ALL OF THOU'S SECRET" 

"I have informed you equines several times, I am programmed to resist intimidation. TF-1726's head replied. 

"Then we must do this the hard way sister." Luna said, as her horn began to glow along with Celestia's. 

"No… no…" TF-1726 began to shout in his monotone. 

The 2 royal sisters closed their eyes, and a beam of magic from both of their horns joined before arching into his head. 
The droid began to shout gibberish before letting out a sound of distress 

"A-AA-AH" 

Suddenly his eyes flashed red, and the sound of static and various glitches was heard before the lights in his eyes and mouth shut off, and he became silent. 

Celestia and Luna opened their eyes and looked at each other. 

"What happened?" Twilight asked 

"I'm not sure Twilight, it seems it… locked it memory to prevent us from gaining access with our magic. I didn’t even know that was possible for them, and we weren’t using violence" 

"What do we do now?" 

"I'm not sure, we'll have to see if there is any sort of spell in our library to get around it," Celestia said. 

Back on board the Providence Carrier 'Enforcement', clean-up crews had finally fixed all the damage caused by Discord's magic. 

In addition to this, Kraken had also ordered 4 Magna Guards, and 8 Commando Droids to the bridge to act as additional security. 

Kraken sat in his command chair, examining all the data logs his armies had created and sent him during their time in 
Equestria. He was looking for one file in particular, one on Discord. 

He only found one result, an audio log from OOM-340, recorded a few days earlier before the war broke out. Kraken hit play on the recording 

"That's so strange, I can't believe we have the same alphabet!" The voice of the pony which Kraken recognized as Twilight Sparkle. "I thought it was fascinating that that we could understand each other too! The odds of this are crazy! Maybe you are one of Discords creations." 

"Discord?" OOM-340's voice asked 

"Discord is the God of Chaos, likes being wacky, silly, and chaotic. He once main it rain chocolate rain from Cotton candy clouds!" 

That was all the transmission said. 

Kraken was mildly frustrated; he already knew basically all of that. It was too vague! 

He was thinking what to do when an alert beeped on the display screen. 

Kraken looked up to face it. 

'T-SERIES TACTICAL DROID UNIT TF-1726 HAS ENTERED MEMORY LOCK DOWN AND HAS CEASED OPERATION. IF FURTHER ROBOLABOTAMY IS ATTEMPTED THE UNIT WILL PERFORM A MEMORY WIPE. DO YOU WISH TO DO SO NOW?' 
[Yes] [No] 

Kraken clicked no. He was already on an extremely limited number of capable commanders, and Tactical Droids as is. He only had 3, in addition to himself, but he needed to remain in orbit to oversee the fleet's operation. He couldn't risk the destruction of a Tactical Droid, especially one as experienced as TF-1726. 

Kraken facepalmed at his subordinate's arrogance that allowed this to happen. Now he had 2 major issues to deal with. They would need to perform a rescue mission once again, an incredibly dangerous one at that, along with how strange it was for the Separatists to rescue droids to begin with. 

TF-1726's head corresponded to coordinates that were placed in the Canter lot Castle, the Equestrian capital. He would need heavy firepower to get in. 

He calculated that that Squadrons of Vulture Droids and Droid Gunships could escort a Sheathipede Class Shuttle to rescue TF-1726. 

All they needed was his head, but they could return him to full functionality if they had his body as well. 

However, once they got inside the Castle, the Princesses would likely destroy any forces they dispatched easily with their magic. Deploying a huge army would be efficient, as they would need to be quick, and they would have to sacrifice other forces elsewhere. 

Kraken continued to calculate… 
> Chapter 31: Fire to Fillydelphia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night began to fall as OOM-340 oversaw the rounding up of prisoners from the train in Manehattan. 

Ponies of various ages, genders and types marched across the bridge towards the droid occupied city, being prodded and pushed along by various Battle Droids. All of them shared the same expressions of fear, sadness and hopelessness. 

His radio buzzed in and TA-175 spoke. 

"Lieutenant, the next city on our list of priorities is the City of Fillydelphia. You are to escort MTTs through the city and capture it. You will have support from Hyena Class Bombers. Burn through the brush that stands between the city and us. 
The task should be completed by morning. Destroy the city if necessary. Do NOT fail me." He said in his monotone voice

"Roger, roger!" He replied, turning to see a line of 4 MTT's, 8 AATs, and a DDT, also known more commonly as a Defoliator Tank. 

OOM-340 began to chuckle as he walked towards his new convoy. 

OOM-340's convoy neared the city of Fillydelphia, its tall buildings appearing in the distance lit up the night sky. 

The retreating Equestrian forces had created barricades on the way to the city, placing many fallen trees, large boulders, abandoned carriages and pieces of farm equipment along the main road to slow the process. OOM-340 ordered his troops to take a route across the farms and fields to the city, as it would allow them to arrive more quickly. Squads of Droids marched ahead of the convoy, investigating the area head in the tall fields of crops and in the abandoned homesteads, ensuring there were no ambushes prepared. 

The convoy neared a large, seemingly infinite cornfield. 

OOM-340 peered through his macro binoculars from the command hatch in the Defoliator Tank, located directly under the cannon. 

He switched on the night vision mode, and the environment was illuminated by a bright green hue. 

The cornfield ahead was tall and densely packed, but the tanks should be able to push through it easily. However, that wasn't his concern. What was his concern was whether guard's ponies were hiding in it. 

"Squads 1 and 2, investigate the cornfield. Annihilate any resistance encountered." 

A loud series of Roger Rogers came in response from the droids, who began to march into the field. 

There was silence apart from the droid's mechanical feet marching across the dirt, before the sound of B1s yelling and blasters being fired was heard before most of it fell silent. 

He lowered his macro binoculars and turned to the gunner. 

"Fire the defoliator." He ordered 

"Roger, roger!" Replied the gunner, pressing buttons and aiming the cannon upwards. 

There was a loud boom, and the tank shook as the cannon fired the shell. The shell arched through the air, leaving a white trail behind it. The shell landed in the middle of the field and exploded. Immediately, fire began to spread rapidly, as the corn stalks and all the ponies waiting in them burned and turned to ash. 

Screams rang through the air and guard's ponies ran out of the field, many on fire, only to be blown away by tanks and other battle droids. 

There was silence again for a moment aside from the crackling of the fire as it burned away at the field, clearing a path. 
"Nice shot…" he said, before pointing his hand to signal them to begin moving forwards, to the edge of the city to begin their late-night assault… 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night fell in Canter lot as it did everywhere else in Equestria, but the halls and rooms of the Canter lot Castle were still lit by Candlelight, especially the Throne Room. 

Inside the Mane 6 and the Princesses stood around the map of Equestria. Manehattan, and the Crystal Empire had been crossed off with big red X's Signaling their fall to the droids. 

The doors of the Canter lot Castle's throne room opened, and a single guard stepped inside. 

He bowed before the Princesses; his body lit up by the candles revealing his identity of Flash Sentry. 

"My Princesses, Appleloosa and Rockville have fallen. We were able to evacuate most of the residents of Rockville, but Appleloosa was completely destroyed… along with most of its inhabitants. 

Celestia and Luna nodded sadly and crossed the locations off on the map. 

Applejack spoke up, a feeling of severe worry in her voice as she asked the question, she already knew the answer to. 

"Did… did any of Mah family make it out?" 

Flash Sentry shook his head. 

"No but rest assured Braeburn and the others fought to the end. Their sacrifices held off the enemy long enough for Rockville's residents to evacuate. Braeburn, the residents of Appleloosa and the Buffalo tribes will be remembered as Equestrian heroes." 

Applejack closed her eyes and removed her hat, placing it against her chest as she silently wept (and cried internally) for her lost family. 

"It has become apparent sister that this is not a war Equestria can win alone." Luna said 

Celestia nodded in agreement 

"I will write to Thorax and his Changelings, the Yaks and the Griffons for aid in this time of crisis." she said, walking over to her letterboard and beginning to write with her quill. 

Luna turned to Princess Cadance and the Mane 6. 

"May I suggest that you get your rest, we will need you strong and well rested tomorrow." 

They turned and left the throne room, embracing Applejack in hugs to comfort her as they went. 

Celestia and Luna were left alone in their throne room, with only their silent royal guards for company. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kraken walked through the door into the hanger bay, meeting with a group of 3 HMP Droid Gunships, which hovered nearby a Sheathipede Class Shuttle. 

The HMP Droid Gunships were equipped with droid deployment racks in addition to their missile launchers, enabling them to act as dropships. 2 of the Gunships were equipped with B1 Squads, and the other was equipped with B2s. 

Kraken turned to face a squad of BX-Series Commando Droids, led by a Captain. 

"Are you prepared for your mission?" Kraken asked 

"Yes Commander." 

"State your mission orders" Kraken said, wanting to ensure they understood their vital mission. 

"Orders are as follows. 1. Infiltrate Canter lot Castle. 2. Deploy droids as decoys. 3. Retrieve TF-1726. Are these orders correct?" The droid asked 

"Affirmative Captain. Proceed to the shuttle and complete your mission" Kraken ordered 

"Roger, roger." the Commando droid said in its deep voice. 

The squad walked up the shuttle's boarding ramp and the door closed behind them. There was a hum as the shuttle's engines came to life and it lifted off, being followed by the Gunships and 6 Vulture Droids as they whizzed through space towards the planet below. Kraken headed back to the bridge. 

Gazing through his macro binoculars, OOM-340 analyzed the defenses of Fillydelphia as his tank approached. Fillydelphia had obviously gained defensive information on the droid's style of attack from retreating forces from Manehattan. All entrances had been barricaded, and the police force stood at the ready, along with what seemed to be small and medium sized dragons. 

OOM-340 activated his radio 

"Uh sir, I think we have a problem." 

"State issue, Lieutenant." TA-175 replied 

"Fillydelphia's seems to have some kind of local military. made up of Dragons" 

"Impossible. The Dragon species was presumed completely eradicated when their nesting zones were destroyed" 

"But… we had to have missed some! I'm looking at them right now! What should we do?" 

"Proceed with the attack." 

"Roger roger…" he said nervously and shut off his radio. 

He pointed his left arm forwards 

"Battalions 1 and 2, charge!" 

The groups of B1s and B2s in front of his army began to pick up speed as they sprinted towards the defended city. 
Bright flashes lit up the scene as Unicorn Police ponies and Dragon Fire contacted the droids, whose red blaster bolts accompanied the light show. 

"We need to clear that barricade" OOM-340 reasoned, still gazing through his macro binoculars. The barricade appeared to be built from carts, kiosks, furniture and sandbags, and was for the most part flimsy put together. 

If they could eliminate half the threat, they would have only half of the enemies to deal with. 

Then he had an idea, something that battle droids very rarely have. 

He turned to face the gunner of the defoliator tank, which he was still riding in. 

"Fire the defoliator tank! We will burn through their barricades and police and blast those dragons to pieces!" 

"Roger, roger" the droid replied, as 2 B1s hoisted a shell into the loading chamber. 

The gunner began to press several buttons, angling the gun so the shell would hit the barricade precisely. 

OOM-340 looked through his macro binoculars once more, the first wave of droids was already depleted. 

"Hurry! Hurry!" He shouted 

"Almost ready…" the gunner said, "okay… there! Ready!" 

"Fire!" He shouted 
There was a loud boom of the defoliator's cannon launching the shell. The shell arched through the air before landing at the Fillydelphia barricade and exploding. The ring of fire typically produced by the shell was smaller, as when it hit the pavement the fire ran out of fuel to spread. However, the barricade (and all the police ponies in it) were quickly incinerated as the fire consumed the barricade. All the nearby droids, however, were unharmed, as the weapon had been specifically designed to do so. 

Unfortunately, in addition to the droids being unharmed, the Dragons fireproof scales surged off the heat as well. 

The dragons charged out, fire spewing from their mouth as they melted droids and tore them apart with their claws, almost as if they were cardboard. 

"Where are those bombers when I need them!" OOM-340 grumbled and turned to the nearby tanks 

"AATs 3&4, target those dragons! Maximum firepower!" 

"Roger, roger" the AAT Droids said, "firing main cannons!" 

The tanks began to pelt the dragons with shots, blowing many of the smaller ones apart entirely. The defense force began to retreat deeper into the city. 

"Pursue!" OOM-340 ordered, before he lowered himself inside the defoliator tank before closing the hatch and opening the exit ramp. 

"Uh, sir, where are you going?" The driver asked 

"I'm going to supervise the battle personally. This tank is only good against organic targets, and the city's material won't burn easily." 

OOM-340 stepped out of the tank and closed the exit ramp. 

"Well, I guess I'm in charge now." The driver said to himself before lowering a periscope to his faceplate to aim the tank's side cannons. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inside of the Canter lot Castle's many guest rooms, the Mane 6 settled in for the night. Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were fast asleep, but Dash, Flutter shy and Twilight still sat awake in their beds, staring at the high ceiling. Dash flipped through the pages of the latest Daring Doo book, before yawning and setting the book down to sleep. 

Twilight sighed 

"You can't sleep either?" Fluttershy asked 

"No…" Twilight said, sniffling as she held a photograph of her and her with her brother as a filly in her hooves. 
"Me neither, all that violence today has left me spooked, I'm scared." Flutter shy said, before she took notice of the tears running down Twilight's cheek. 

Fluttershy stepped out of bed and quietly walked over to Twilight and hugged her friend 

"I'm so sorry about your brother" she said, remembering her tragic loss. 

Twilight sniffled again and wiped her tears. 

"I can't… I can't believe he's gone." She closed her eyes to try and hold back the tears 
"It's okay, let it out Twilight." 

Twilight opened her eyes and began to cry quietly into her hooves and Fluttershy squeezed her in a hug, also shedding a few tears for their lost friend. 

Suddenly there was a loud boom and the castle shook, and the rest of the sleeping mane 6 all jumped out of bed. 

"What in Equestria was that?" Spike exclaimed 

They rushed over to the window, where they saw a large smoking hole in the wall of the throne room, many of the stained-glass windows shattered. 

3 circular disk-shaped objects leading a one of the droid's shuttles raced towards the hole, the 3 disks landing inside while the shuttle simply extended a ramp, several small shapes rushing inside the castle… 
> Chapter 32: The Capture
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The stained-glass windows behind Princess Celestia and Princess Luna exploded into a million pieces along with chunks of stone as the HMP Droid Gunship's missiles smashed into the side of the throne room. 

Guard's ponies burst through the door ready to defend their princesses from the attack, as the 3 Droid gunships hovered into the large room and began to deploy droids from the racks on their bottom. 

The droid gunships angled their chin turrets and began to effortlessly mow down the guards, as a shuttle also approached, opened its doors and began extending its boarding ramp as a series of thin black figures with glowing white eyes became visible. 

The sound of blaster fire filled the room. 

"Go Princesses! Take the prisoner! We'll hold them off!" One guard shouted 

Celestia and Luna sprinted for the door levitating TF-1726's body with them. 

The sound of blaster fire grew louder as the door to the throne room was flung open by a group of B1 and B2 Battle Droids 
"Look! There's the target! Get him!" One shouted 

Celestia turned around for a moment to fire a beam of magic, cutting down the droids before continuing to run. 

The Mane 6 all stepped out of their room, along with Cadence who was across the hall. 

Guards rushed past to defend the castle. 

"What's happening?" Cadance asked a guard 

"The castle is under attack! The enemy has launched an aerial attack on the throne room!" The guard shouted before continuing his way. 

Cadance and the Mane 6 ran after them to help defend the castle, running into Celestia and Luna in the hall. 

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed "are you alright?" 

Celestia nodded, moments before an explosion were heard down the hall and the bodies of several guards flew across the room. 

Around the corner out of the dark came the thin silhouettes of the Commando Droid Squad, only becoming illuminated in the moonlight once they stepped towards the windows. 

"Look out!" Twilight shouted and fired a magic blast at the droids, only for them to evade the attack entirely as if it was nothing to them. 

The droids charged them, leaping off the walls and performing various acrobatics as they fired their blasters in a fury.

The Princesses began blocking their shots with their own magic, when Luna looked to Cadence 

"Taketh the machine! We must unravel its secrets!" 

Cadance nodded and began to run in the other direction carrying TF-1726's body with her magic, as Flutter shy and Pinkie Pie followed. 

The Commando droids began to concentrate their fire on Celestia, knowing that she couldn't block from all angles at once while they moved. 

Luna and Celestia began to combine their magic to generate a protective bubble around themselves and Twilight, as Twilight shot through the bubble at the Commando Droids, hitting several and destroying them in a single hit each. 

Rainbow Dash darted into one of the Commando droids, sending it flying out a window where it would inevitably meet its demise at the ground far below, before bucking another into one of its fellow droids. 

The droid shoved its broken comrade off its body, setting its blaster to full auto and aimed it at Dash's chest for a kill shot, before a rope lassoed around its wrist and yanked, wrenching the blaster from its grip right as it fired. 5 shots burned through Dash's left wing, and she fell to ground injured but alive, Applejack's actions saving her from being killed. 

The droid looked over to see Applejack gripping the rope in her mouth, before tossing the blaster away. Looking for another weapon to use, the droid reached down, grabbed the body of its destroyed ally and threw it at her. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Applejack bucked the droid body back at it, and the droid was sent sliding down the hall from the impact. 

The droid began to slowly get up before a blue aura appeared around its neck, and its head was suddenly torn from its body. 

Rarity winked at Applejack 

"Thanks for the help!" She said, continuing to fight the other droids. 

There were now only 3 Commando Droids left, one being the captain of the squad who carried an E-5C Heavy Blaster. The droids back together against the shattered window, as Celestia, Luna and Twilight charged attacks to destroy them. 

Right as they fired, the droids jumped through the air, backflipping out of the shattered window. 

"Did they just do what I think they did?" Rarity exclaimed 

The sound of a HMP Droid gunship engine was heard and the ship hovered up, revealing that the droids had landed on top of it as it flew away. 

"After those fiends!" Luna shouted, before the sound of a B1's high pitched voice echoed through the hall 
"Hey! Ponies! Blast them'!" The droid said as it led to the remaining garrison of its droids through the castle. Evidently the throne room guards had failed to stop them. 

The group became engaged in combat once more… 

Cadance, Pinkie Pie and Flutter shy stepped out of the castle's front doors, being escorted by the guards they had found the way. A circular shadow from overhead was suddenly cast down on them. They looked up just in time for Cadance to raise a magic shield to block the laser blasts from the approaching Droid Gunship, which was followed closely by a Sheathipede Class shuttle. 

The gunship landed in front of them, and 3 Commando Droids leapt off the top, who killed the 6 escorting Guards ponies in a quick time of 1.8 seconds thanks to the captain's heavy blaster. 

Flutter shy cowered behind Cadance, while Pinkie retrieved her Party Cannon from nowhere one more. She fired it, and a tremendous amount of cake was launched at the gunship, splatting the barrel of its chin turret. The turret made a sputtering noise, as if clogged by the cake, before the gunship considered its other option. 

The gunship fired its remaining barrage of rockets into the nearby castle tower, which collapsed and landed on Pinkie Pie, burying her in its rubble. 

This left Princess Cadance and Flutter shy alone against the 3 droids. The Droid Captain and his 2 fellow BX Commando Droids trained their blasters on Cadance. 

"Surrender the droid." The captain demanded in his deep emotionless voice. 

Cadence uttered one word to Flutter shy 

"Run." 

Flutter shy didn't need to be told twice, or even once for that matter as she leapt into nearby bushes. 

Cadence charged her magic to create the final magic barrier to cover Flutter shy's escape, before her shield collapsed under the combined firepower of the Commando Droids. 

As it popped, she took flight, attempting to fly away; the Commando Droid Captain flipping a switch on its weapon.
 
Cadence's flight was cut short as a blue ringed pulse impacted her body, which was accompanied by a loud "WYZZZzzz" sound. 

Cadance dropped to the ground, all her senses in a haze as everything she could see faded to black… 

Flutter shy watched from the bushes shaking in fear as the droids dragged her limp body and the captured droid onto their shuttle, before it took off. 

There was silence for a few moments before a pink hoof suddenly burst from the pile of rubble, followed by the rest of Pinkie Pie's body. Pinke left down from the pile and shook herself, chunks of debris flying from her mane as she called out 
"Flutter shy? Cadance? Is any pony there?" 

Flutter shy slowly emerged from the bushes shaking in fear. Pinkie bounced over and enveloped her friend in a hug, the 2 ponies standing alone in the light of the moon. 
> Chapter 33: Securing the Palace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia blasted the 2nd to last droid with her magic, leaving only a single B1 Battle Droid left. 
"Uh oh!" The droid said, as it began to run away only to be kicked out the window by Rainbow Dash 

"OH, MY GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The droid cried, as it fell out to window where it smashed on the stone flooring hundreds of feet below. 

Dash collapsed on the floor once more, moaning in pain. 

Celestia, Luna and the rest of the Mane 6 nearby rushed over to her. 

"Rainbow Dash, are you alright?" 

Dash groaned and attempted to pick herself up only to fall. She tried once more, this time managing to stand up and brace herself well. 

"My wing…" she said, flexing her left wing and wincing in pain, 

As the wing unfolded it revealed several burning holes through penetrative it, exposing bone in some areas, and going through others. 

They all gasped, it was unlikely that such damage could be healed 

Dash spat on the body of the Commando Droid that shot her in the wing, before sitting down again by the window. 
"We need to get her to the hospital" Twilight said 

"Ah'll take her. Don't worry about us, y’all go find Flutter shy and Pinkie." Applejack said, picking her friend up off the ground and offering her support as they walked towards the medical wing… 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cadance's senses slowly came back to her. At first everything was fuzzy, and there was a loud ringing in her ears. Her body ached all over, and she struggled to take in her surroundings. Cadance was confused, she had no idea where she was. She tried to stand up, only to feel a strong tug around her legs. Cadance looked down, to see 2 sets of handcuffs like restraints bound together by beams of energy around her front 2 and back 2 hooves, binding each pair together and restricting mobility. She tried to open her wings only to discover they too had been bound to her back in a similar manner. She looked up to see one of the black machines from earlier standing over her, with its weapon trained on her. 

Cadance turned to look the other way, noticing several other Commando Droids nearby. Suddenly it all came rushing back to her. She remembered the attack on Canter lot, and the brief fight against the droids who seemed to have taken her prisoner. 

"Wh… where am I?" She asked 

"You have been captured by the Separatist Alliance. You will be taken into custody and questioned" the droid behind her said in a deep voice. 

Cadance tried to break free from her restraints, only for them to get tighter. 

"The restraints are specially designed for force users. Your struggle is pointless." The droid continued. 

She tried to use her magic, but she couldn't concentrate enough due to the pounding headache she felt. 

She accepted that she was helpless and at the machine's mercy. 

The flight of the shuttle continued for a few more minutes before the shuttle shook with a series of thuds as it extended its landing gear and touched down inside the hanger bay of the Providence Class Carrier 'Enforcement'. 

A door to her right opened and she was pulled up by her mane by the droid behind her and onto her hooves, before being shoved forward onto an exit ramp. 

"Move." 

She stepped slowly off the ship and into the massive hanger bay of the Separatist Dreadnought. She looked to her right and saw various machines and ships occupying the hanger bay, with the dark vacuum of space beyond some sort of blue energy barrier. She looked to her left, seeing the same, as the hanger stretched through the entire width of the vessel. 
Cadance slowly walked forward, several of the hanger crew droids gazing at her defensively, ready for her to try and make a move. She didn't; she knew she was as good as dead if she tried anything. The Commando droid behind her shoved forwards her once more. 

"Alright, I'm moving, you don't have to be so mean" 

"Quiet." 

They approached a door which opened automatically, revealing a seemingly endless corridor of hallways that she was ushered through… 

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Rarity stepped through the Canter lot Castle's massive entrance doors outside into the cold night. In Front of them in the courtyard lied Flutter shy and Pinkie Pie embracing one another in a hug as Flutter shy cried. The two ponies were surrounded by the bodies of 6 royal guards, and the rubble of a fallen castle tower was piled nearby. 
The group quickly ran to the aid of their friends. 

"Flutter shy, Pinkie Pie, are you alright? Where's Princess Cadance?" Twilight asked. 

"Shes… gone… they took her" Flutter shy said sniffling "we're okay though." 

"It appears as though the droids have escaped with TF as well" Luna said. 

Celestia looked over her dead guard's ponies saddened before turning to her sister. 

"Unfortunately, that does indeed seem to be the case." 

There was a pause 

"So, what do we do now?! They have TF, AND Cadance!" Twilight said, beginning to panic and breathe more rapidly. 

Spike grabbed Twilights face by her cheeks and pulled her down to look him in the face 

"Remember what she taught you, how to be calm under pressure!" 

Twilight nodded slowly and placed a hoof to her chest, before taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling. 

"As I was saying Princess, what do we do now?" 

"We will have to get our bearings first and tend to our wounded." 

Twilight remembered that Rainbow Dash had been injured and nodded. 

"Let's see how Rainbow Dash is doing." 

They headed back inside... 
 
> Chapter 34: The Canterlot Medical Wing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mane 6 and the Princesses walked into the Canter lot Castle's Medical Wing, where debatably the most advanced medical care in Equestria was available. They opened a large door which revealed a large high ceiling hallway like the other halls in the Castle, except this hall was lined with various rooms that housed patients during their stay. There were many rooms, but there were not enough. Patients shared rooms, some even having 4 patients at once, with the only sense of privacy being divided curtains between patients. Some of the less injured patients were even on rolling beds in the hall, while various doctors and nurses tended to them. 

As the mane 6 walked into the room, Applejack emerged from a room on the left side of the hall which had a sign above labeled 'Urgent Care'. 

They hurried across the room, meeting Applejack just outside of the room. 

"How is she?" Twilight asked 

Applejack sighed and took a deep breath. 

"She's in here restin, docs say her wing looks pretty bad." 

They all stepped into the room. 

Various guards were also in beds in the room, some missing limbs, others badly scarred, and some with blankets draped over them, seemingly dead. 

Dash lay at the far end of the room, lying in a bed by a window. Her left wing was completely bandaged up and, in a cast, and an X Ray on the wall displayed her wing compared to a normal Pegasus wing. 

There was clear damage to the bones and nerves, with entire sections of the nerves and bones missing entirely. 
2 doctor ponies stood nearby discussing her condition. 

"Is there any hope for her doctor?" Celestia asked "we need all of the Elements of Harmony if we are to win." 

"She'll live that's for sure, she's in stable condition. The real concern as your friend told you is her left wing. The injuries to it are severe" he said, pointing to the X-Ray "as you can see, the structure of the wing is badly damaged, with muscles nerves and bones being likely damaged beyond the point of total recovery. It would take a total miracle for her wing to heal properly." 

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Fluttershy asked 

"Unless you have the ability to spontaneously regenerate tissue and bone, no, I'm afraid not." 

Dash shifted in her bed and opened her eyes. 

"Oooh…" she moaned in pain, trying to flex her wing 

A nurse quickly rushed over and held her still 

"I'm sorry, you can't move, you're still too injured!" 

Dash grunted and turned her head to her friends, who offered her warm smiles. 

Dash's face changed to one of concern. 

"Where's Princess Cadance?" 

"She was taken by the machines!" Rarity said 

"What?!" Dash exclaimed 

She tried to get up again but was restrained by the doctors. 

"Pinkie Pie and I were trying to escape with her when this ship came down, and they shot this blue thing at her, and she fell down. But she was still breathing, so I hope that she's still, okay?" Flutter shy explained with worry in her voice 

"Of well that's just perfect!" Dash said sarcastically "what the hay do we do now?" 

"We will have to perform a rescue operation once you are able to fight again. I need all of you at your full strength if we are to rescue her and save Equestria. You should rest Rainbow Dash" Celestia said 

"If thou would excuse us, we must go see to see our other wounded." Luna said, walking away with Celestia. 

There was a pause in conversation before Twilight asked the doctor pony 

"What do we do if she can't recover? Will she ever fly again?" 

"Well, we've been discussing that" the nurse said, walking over to join the conversation "and we have decided that the best course of action would be a prosthetic wing replacement or brace." 

"What?!" Dash exclaimed looking at her wing in alarm "you're going to do what with my wing?" 

"A prosthetic" explained the doctor "it's like a pony-made replacement for a limb or wing." 

"Aw pony feathers…" she grumbled, looking at her injured wing. 

"If we must use this solution, we will try to save as much of your wing as we can." The doctor said. 

There was the sound of crutches and Mane 6 looked over to see Starlight Glimmer stepping into the room being guided by Trixie, her front legs on crutches and wrapped in bandages. 

"Hey, you weren't planning on leaving without saying hello to tell me where you were?" She asked 

"We didn't know you were here." Twilight explained as she walked over. "Are you alright Starlight?" 

"I'm alright. There was an explosion in Manehattan that broke my front legs, but turns out it isn't too bad, they say I should be good to go in a few days." 

"That's good." Twilight said 

"So, what are you here for?" Trixie asked 

"Rainbow got hit in her wing pretty badly by one of their droids. They say it's likely she will need a prosthetic." 

"Thats terri-er, that's unfortunate" Starlight said, not wanting to trigger a panic attack in Twilight. 

"Look on the bright side Twilight," Trixie said "It could have been a lot worse!" 

"Gee, thanks, that's reassuring..." she said 

"Excuse me, if you could leave now, it would be helpful." The doctor's pony said "Mrs. Dash is going to be needing her rest and we need some room to work here." 

"Sure, no problem." Twilight replied 

"Come 'on y'all, the docs need some space." Applejack said, ushering the others out "and we need to hit the hay, we'll need our rest" she added. 

Cadance was guided down a series of corridors that eventually came to an intersection. A squad of 4 Security B1s and an OOM Commander greeted them, appearing to be following a small black box on the ground that rolled on wheels. 

"Take this prisoner to bridge A-7" the Commando Droid Captain ordered "I must report to my other duties" 

"Roger, roger!" The droid commander said, before looking down at the small black box. 

"You heard him, take us to bridge A-7." He said, looking back up at Cadance "And you, follow us. And no tricks! We'll be watching!" 

The box squeaked in response and began to roll down a hallway as the droids and Cadance followed behind. As they walked, behind her Cadance heard the droid commander speaking to someone through its radio, no doubt its commanding officer. 

"Sir, the patrol has captured a prisoner and we are taking it to bridge A-7." 

There was a series of noises that sounded like a deep voice in response, but it was too quiet to make out the words. 
"Roger, roger, we'll meet you there!" He said, before ordering them to speed up. 

After several minutes of walking, they came to a door which opened to reveal a narrow passage with large metal doors on the left side. A tall green droid with 3 yellow eyes stood ahead with 2 red security B1 droids next to it, along with 2 tall grey droids with glowing red eyes and another red light on its chest plate. Both carrying staffs or prods of some type in their hands. 

"Halt." Ordered the security B1 droid that had been holding her at gunpoint as she was escorted throughout the ship. 
Cadance did as ask, and the OOM Command droid began to squeeze through the squad of escorting droids, before stepping around Cadance 

"Sorry. Sorry, excuse me" it said, before walking up to the tall green droid 

"Sir, this is the prisoner the breakout task force captured." 

"Well done OOM-58226, you may return to your duties." The droid said in a deep voice, before pressing a button on a control panel to its right. A door opened revealing a small boxy room with what seemed to be a pedestal in the center, illuminated by a red light originating from under the floor grated, creating a dark and sinister feeling. In the corner there was also a droid nearly identical to the one that had tortured Sunburst, but in a silver, color as opposed to bronze. 
Cadance was pushed down the stairs into the room by one of the security droids. 

"OW! You didn't have to do that!" She shouted 

"Quiet you" the droid said, stepping down the stairs and being followed by the other security droids. Moments later the 2 large red eyed droids stepped in, followed by the tall green droid with 3 yellow eyes. 

"Magna guards, activate restrictor fields and position the prisoner for interrogation" 

Cadance was grappled by her forelegs and hoisted into the air by the Magna guard droids, before being positioned with her front legs in the air in the cell's restrictor field, meaning that she appeared in a bipedal position. 

"I give you the opportunity to allow you to provide us with the Equine's tactical information, or you will suffer immensely. I want knowledge of your magic, how to utilize it, and Equine weaknesses. If you cooperate, you will not be terminated." Kraken said 

"As a Princess of Equestria, my duty is to defend my home and its subjects. I will not betray my home!" 

"Very well then" Kraken replied, activating the EV interrogator droid in the corner. The Droids photoreceptors lit up a menacing red color, and it walked forwards, examining Cadance. 

"Such an interesting specimen…" the droid said in a raspy mechanical voice. 

"EV-87-6, I want tactical data, her knowledge of magic, and her species weaknesses. You will keep her alive. Is that understood?" 

"Yes, Commander Kraken" the EV interrogator droid replied, and Kraken left the cell to return to the bridge, leaving the 2 Magna guards there for extra security attaching a collar around her neck which monitored her heart rate, breathing rate, brain activity, and other vital signs. 

"This collar will monitor your vital signs…" he said, "whether you are being truthful, and my personal favorite" he continued, stepping behind a control console in the corner of the room "pain…" 

A look of horror spread across Cadance's face as she tried to prepare herself for what was about to come. EV-87-6 twisted a dial on the panel and Cadance began to convulse as electricity tore through her body… 
> Chapter 35: Something Surprising
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“NO!” Twilight screamed as she woke up in her own sweat after having a nightmare.

It was morning, but Twilight knew it was going to get worse the longer it when day when. After last night when the droids took Candance, hurt Rainbow who now is in the medical wing and the loss of her bother. That this point she wished this was all just a dream, because she wanted all of this to be over. 

“Brother...I'm sorry I couldn’t save you.” she said, starting to tear up. “I will kill all of them for you.” 

Twilight then realized what she said. 

“WHAT I’M I SAYING!?” she thought to herself as she didn’t have this many violent thoughts before. Why would she, a Princess of Friendship, think of violence before trying to fix the problem? 

“Why do I feel bad thought. They were the ones that started this war in the first place, they killed my brother.” 

She didn’t want to feel bad for killing machines, but the more she thought about it, she realized that it was not their fault that this war started. And droids like her 2 assistants 1&2 were not bad anymore since they were- 

“Brainwashed...” 

Twilight took it all in. The droids were bad, but it was not the army, it was their leaders, and even then, they gave them a chance to live peacefully. 

“it wasn’t them that started this war. It was us.” 

Twilight knew something was wrong. They were pushing themself into a corner the more they try to fight the CIS. She then started to cry. These droids caused so much pain for her but would not have done it if they just left them alone. 

She cried quietly for a few minutes, before wiping her eyes. 

She didn’t know what to do and what could she do. But if she didn’t do anything it could Ethier end up with the Separatist alliance winning and putting up the pony race into salary or worse, if equestria wins they could not realize they are being too cruel to these machines and do worse things to them. She couldn’t imagen what her friends could do that they thought would be fine. 

“I know what I have to do.”  

She got up out of the bed and headed towards the door. 

As she opened the door to the room and left, she looked down the stairs that were nearby. She saw her friends enjoying a nice pancake breakfast that Spike made for them. 

She didn’t want her friends to spot her, but it was hard trying to leave. 

“I'm sorry, but I must do this. For Equestria.” she said with a tear before leaving the area where her friends were. 

She started to run around the hallways looking for 1&2, but she didn’t have to look for long as she ran into both droids as they were rounding a corner and she crashed into them trying to slow down. 

“OW!” 1 yelped in his high voice 

“Sorry 1 I didn’t mean to hurt you.” 

“No worry’s Sir...I mean ma’am.” 

“Why are you here right now” 2 asked “Shouldn’t you be with your friends?” 

Twilight quickly looked around to check if anypony followed them. When she turned to the droids, she Notice they had a small and not very noticeable symbol of the sun on their chest, but she let it side for now. 

“No time to expand right now. I need you 2 to come with me.” 

“Yes sir, but what about 1?” 2 asked 

“You bucket head! I'm coming too.” 

“Oh.” 

She then started to use her horn and surrounded the droids and her before a flash appeared and the three disappeared. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kraken was watching over the planet as he began to wonder. His plan was successful to get TF-1726, but he began to wonder about how close he almost lost a commander like TF-1726 even if they had one of their leaders as a prisoner. He took some time to calculate what to do next. One of the main ideas he had was to start construction of droid factories in the new Separatist occupations in Manehatten, Applelosa and Rockville as soon as possible. As they wouldn’t have to keep reserving troops every time they were fighting against the ponies. 

As he had his conclusion. He picked up a holo pad and contacted TA-175. 

“What is it commander?” TA-175 asked 

“I have decided that you and TJ-912 shall prepare construction on droid factories in your protected areas. Make sure that they start construction as soon as possible.” 

“I Understand. However, why are we starting construction on droid factories so soon? 

“We almost lost one of my Tactical droid generals TF-1726. And I cannot take more risks of our droids getting destroyed. If we plan our factories now, we won’t have to worry about resupplying ourselves and giving us more troops to risk. Unlike the ponies who have limit to how many they can send. Do you understand? 

TA-175 took some time to think about what Kraken said. He was right about resupplying and using more troops to risk. He wouldn’t have to keep using the same troops every time there was a fight against the ponies. Plus, his plans could be more successful with more droids at his command. 

“Yes sir. I will have my troops round up the salves of Manehatten to start the construction of the factory immediately. I will also contact TJ-912 to let her know about the construction.” 

“Good. I will let you know when the next attack is planned.” Kraken finished as he turned off the holo pad.  
“Umm...sir?” A B1 Security droid said as he came up to him with a data file in his hand. 

I found what you we’re looking for.” as he passed the file to Kraken 

Kraken held the file for a moment as he looked to make sure it was the right file. He then placed the file into the main computer of the ship as a hologram showed a B2 but larger with two extra arms on its torso that ended with blasters, a rocket launcher on its shoulder, and spikes on the back of its feet. 

“Well done B1-4783. Head back to your original post.” 

“Roger, Roger.” the B1 then headed back to its post.” 

“Once we transfer the Construction files to the first constructed factory. One B3 Ultra Battle Droid will be the one of the first droids to enter production. After its flaws have been extinguished it shall enter mass production and once it does, we will use this droid along with the new droid army to destroy the Equines Captial once we have been brought back to our full strength. They will suffer the consequences. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twilight and the 2 droids teleported to twilight castle with the droids falling over since they didn’t know what just happened. 

“Come on where is it! I know I have that book!” twilight franticly pulling books off their shelves trying to find the book. For what she remembered Celestia gave her book for her birthday called (How to teleport long distances: for Unicorns in training) 

“Ow my head.” 1 said rubbing his Faceplate. 

“Same here” 2 replied. 

“1&2 can I have some help please. Twilight begged 

“Just...Give us a seco-WHAT THE!” 2 yelled, looking at his surroundings. They were different now. 

“2 you don’t have to scr-OH MY G-” twilight put her hoof on 1 faceplate before he could finish what he said. 

“SHHHHHHHH. Be quiet. Somepony could be sleeping here.” 

“Sorry Ms. Twilight.” 

“But how did we get here the second we were in Canterlot?” 

Twilight sighed knowing she would have to tell them. 

“We teleported here.” 

The droids looked at each other confused about what she meant 

“Teleport. Like moving to a location in an instant?” 1 asked 

“Yes. That teleport. And now I'm looking for a book that can help me teleport even farther.” 

“So, I'm asking for your help.” 

The two droids looked back at each other again before turning back to Twilight 

“We’ll always help our commander!” 2 said 

“Yes sir!” 1 replied in agreement 

Twilight smiled. This was only the start of her plan. 

“Thanks, you 2, I don’t know what I could do without you right now.” 

For the next few minutes Twilight and the droids pulled books off the shelves to look for what was needed.  

“I still think books are an inefficient way of storing data.” 

“Let them do what they want to do 2” 

“I FOUND IT!” Twilight shouted has pulled a book with a maroon cover that had a gold unicorn on it with her magic. 

The droids we over to her to see what book she had with her. 

“Huh. I thought it was going to look different.” 2 said 

“Why would it look different. It's a book.” 1 told 2 

“Sh. Not right now.” twilight then started to flip through the pages. 

“Aha! Here it is.” Looking at page 171 (Long Distances beyond the continent lesson 4: (Warning: this lesson will require you to be heavily experienced with magic, even then this will drain most of your energy. you will need to be an alicorn and be able to lift the sun or moon to master this ability) 

Twilight looked at the final sentence (lift the sun or moon) and felt shocked 

“But...I can’t lift any of them. How can I do this spell.” 

She became worried and confused. How would she be able to do this if she doesn’t know how to do magic like that? 

But. She remembered that she could teleport from her home to Canterlot and back again without any trouble so how hard could it be, and plus she needed to do this for her plan to get into motion. She had to try. 

“Miss Twilight?” 1 asked moving his hand Infront of her face bringing her back to reality “You been staring at the book for 3 minutes. You, ok?” 

Twilight looked at 1 then back the book and signed 

“Yes, I'm fine, but let's get this over with.” 

Twilight turned back to the 2 droids. 

“Do you still remember what your old commander’s ship looked like?” 

1&2 both thought for a second trying to remember, but the brainwash didn’t help things as they took longer for them to remember, but then 2 replied 

“Well...from what I remember in my memory banks I think it had a pointy front with 2 blue and white spots... and at the point there was a bridge as well. 

“There’s a bridge at the front too? I know there was a tall bridge at the end of the ship near the engines and a hanger bay in the middle of the ship, but I didn’t know about a bridge at the front. 

Twilight got confused if the droids knew what they were talking about.  

“2 Bridges? Like what your walk across?” 

“No. Not like that, but you’ll need to see for yourself, and we can’t do anything to show you.” 2 said 

“Why would you need to ask that?” 1 asked 

Why not? It seems important for her to know.” 

Twilight knew she didn’t want to be here for much longer, but she had an idea where she wanted to teleport to. 

“The hanger it is then.” twilight while focusing on the topic of hanger. “Large, has plenty of space, on a big ship with two bridges, and a point with 2 blue and white spots. Hope this works.” twilight told herself 

“Sir? What are you-” 2 was about to ask before another blinding flash came from Twilight as she and the 2 droids teleported once more. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the hanger of the province capital ship hanger many B1 battle droids were moving different cargo to multiple landing crafts to send supply to TA-175 and TJ-912 to start construction on the new Droid factories that Kraken requested. An OMM commander was making sure everything when to the right ship. 

“Hey, you 2!” the OMM commander pointed at 2 B1’s taking a break 
“Breaks over. Get back to work.” 

“Roger, Roger.” one of the B1’s said 

But before they could get up a blind white light started blinding the droids in the hanger with some of the droids bumping into each other and falling over. 

“MY EYES!” 

“I CAN’T SEE!” 

“OW WHO HIT ME!?” 

Many B1’s questioned what was happening. 
But it all stopped as the blinding light slowly dimmed and revealed a purple alicorn who was panting after the teleportation spell she did and 2 other B1’s standing right beside her. 

“Ugh...did it-” Twilight said tiredly, but as she looked up the look on her face changed from tired to a scared surprised. 
“Work.” 1 finished her sentence 

“THERE’S A PONY ON BOARD THE SHIP! QUICK! SURROUND THEM!” the OMM Commander shouted 

One of the B1’s ran to an alarm button and pressed it which set off a loud blaring noise which warned every other droid in the hanger of their location. 

B1’s, B2’s and even Droidekas and Vulture droids surround Twilight and 1&2 trapping them where they stand. 
“Ma’am? What do we do now!?” 2 asked worried 

“Don’t do anything! Let me handle this.” Twilight told 2 

“Wait... why are those two droids listening to you?” the OMM commander questioned 

“Um...I met them in ponyville...” Twilight said worryingly  

The OMM commander thought for a moment before looking back at Twilight 

“Hold on. That doesn’t make any... wait...you reprogrammed them!” 

“Well that jig is up now.” 2 replied 

“Do make it worse than it already is.” 1 told 2 

“Quiet you 2. Princess Twilight Sparkle you're under arrest!”  

Twilight started to panic 

“Wait! Let me explain. I have a deal for your leader Kraken!” 

The OMM commander was confused for a moment 

“Why should we believe you.” he said pointing at her 

“Because I know more ways for you to get magic than Cadence. If you release her, you can have me instead. Just please let her go.” 

The OMM commander started to think once more 

“Let me call the Commander.” 

He then pulled out his Holopad and contacted Kraken 

“OMM-990 what happened in the hanger? I cannot have any more distraction until the supplies have been delivered” 

“Sorry sir, but an intruder managed to get on to the ship and it’s none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle.” 

“That is Impossible. They shouldn't know the location of our ships.” 

“Well sir she came with 2 B1’s. She might have reprogrammed them.” 

“If that is the case capture her and place her in a containment cell.” 

“Well sir, she gave us an offer that you might need to hear.” 

“Explain.” 

“Roger, Roger sir.” 

The droid then started to explain Twilight’s offer which intrigued Kraken. He wasn’t sure if Twilight was lying, but he couldn’t calculate an answer that could prove his point. Still if she knew more possibilities for magic and was willing to give it to them it would be a missed opportunity, but he knew he had to be cautious. And getting his hands on both ponies would be difficult. 

“Wait there and keep an eye on her. I will join you soon.” 

“Yes sir” 

The OMM commander turned off the holopad 

“The commander with be here soon. Don't pull anything funny.” 

Twilight fell worry once again crawling back her spine, but hid it with a kind smile and a relieved look 

“Ok. Thanks for understanding.”  

The droid didn’t respond back or care that much, but no matter. She would have to do something greater to impress a droid like that. 

As time passed it was a little weird just standing there around platoons of droids, but she did take time to Imrie them. Taking in what they were. 

The B1’s did look skinny and act dumb, but they looked harmless on their own and have some curiosity that always makes them feel alive and not a mindless soldier. She liked that about them. Even if after some events they still acted the same. The B2’s was a droid that she didn’t she active, but she seen them before, but they were usually dead. They definitely had a bold personality but had less of one as well. They did seem to act more like they were mindless, but still had something that made them alive. Droideka’s did even have a personality, but still fascinated their shields. They may be her least favorite droids fight against them, but in person without fighting they were her favorite droid just because of their complexity. But the Vulture droids were something she had never seen in person before. They looked like they could fly faster than a Rainbow dash, but it was unlikely, if she could fly again. 

“Miss Twilight.” 1 told her to bring her back to the present. 

“He’s arrived” 

Twilight looked back where the OMM-commander was and saw Kraken heading towards her and the droids. Following him were two much taller droids that had a red light of some sort on their chest and eyes and were holding a staff with balms at the end, 3 Commando droids, and an OMM-commander pulling a Cuffed up and very braised Cadence. 

She looked tired and in pain. 

“Twi.” she looked up to see her stand in front of Kraken 

“Quiet prisoner.” the OMM-commander warned her 

“Stand down” Kraken told the OMM-commander 

The Battle droid nodded that his request. 

“Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Kraken said as he turned back in her direction “I have thought about your request. If I return your friend back to the equine capital, you will take her place and give us all the information we need.” 

Twilight shudder of a moment. It didn’t help as she saw Cadence with a face of worry knowing what she was saying in her head 

“Twilight. Don't do it.” 

She felt regret coming in, but she knew what she had to do or the fate of equestria was sealed. 

“Yes. That is right.” 

“Then it has been setalled. Kraken turned to the Commando droid standing next to him 
“Captain. Take this princess back to the equine capital via shuttle. Proceed with caution.” 

“Yes, Commissioner.” 

The Commando droid then gripped Cadence cuffs and pulled her along and passed twilight and her droids. 
Twilight saw Cadence’s head turn to look back at her sister-in-law. Tears were falling down her cheeks, not understanding why she said yes. 

“I'm sorry Cadence, but I know what I'm doing. You will see it one day.” she thought as a tear fell down her cheek. 

She watched as the droids and Cadence ahead into a shuttle and flew off back into the open blackness of space and turned to head back to her home. 

“You sure this is a good Idea?” 2 questioned 

“Well... this is only the first part.” Twilight replied 

When she couldn’t see the ship anymore, she back the kraken 

“Oh. There is one more thing I want to mention.” 

“What do you mean. We have already accepted your terms.” 

“Well, that was part of it, but I don’t want to be your slave.” 

“I want to join you.” 
 
> Chapter 36: The Beginning of a Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Twilight?” Spike said, looking through a crack from the slightly opened door. 

It was almost 9:00 and he knew she would never sleep in, since most of the time she woke up early. This wasn’t normal for her. 

“Come on Twi. You have been up here for hours. I don’t even sleep for that long.” 

Spike then looked around the room. He didn’t see twilight anywhere, not in bed reading a book like he would have guessed. 

“Did she go back home?” he questioned himself. It would be the only answer he could think of. 

He left the room, still thinking about why she would leave without letting him know. Let alone her friends. 

As Spike went back down the stairs and into the dining room, he saw that the five ponies were finishing up their breakfast and started to put away their dishes. 

“Guys I can’t find her. She might have when back home, but I don’t know why.” 

“Wut ya mean you can’t find her?” applejack replied 

“She wouldn’t just leave like that without telling us.” Rarity joining in.  

“I don’t think we’ll need to be that worried. She might have just gone back home to get something, I'm sure she’ll be back.” he reassured 

“Oh, I hope so.” Fluttershy said with worry 

Suddenly the door slammed wide open, and a guard came through with a worried look on his face. 

“Princess Celestia needs your help! The Separatists have come back!” the guard shouted  

“Well, wut are we waiting for! Let's go everypony!” applejack encouraged. 

They all ran out of the room and headed outside to the front of the castle where Celestia and Luna and many guards were looking up at the sky. As a Separatist shuttle in the distance was heading towards their position. 

“Guards. Stay in defensive positions. This could be some type of distraction.” Celestia warned her guards. 

“Yes Princess.” 

“What in tarnation is going on out here?” Applejack questioned 

“Look above.” Luna said pointing a the shuttle. 

“EEP! THERE BACK!” Pinkie Pie shouted and ran along with Fluttershy to hide behind the doors. 

“Oh, great not those ruffians again!” 

Celestia looked back at the main, but she noticed that Twilight wasn’t with them. 

“Spike. Where's Twilight? Wouldn’t she be with you?” 

“I don’t know where she is, but I think she could be back home.” 

He would have said more, but the noise of the shuttle got everyone’s attention. 

The shuttle was right above them as it opened its boarding ramp. As they were getting ready for the worst, it all paused as they heard a familiar voice. 

‘Hey! Woah!” 

Celestia knew that voice. 

“Your highness. Should we attack?” A guard asked. 

“No. Candence is now that ship!” 

No pony had time to take in what was going to happen next. As Candence was pushed off the Shuttle and screamed with panic as she fell off since her wings were still clamped. 

Everypony gasped in horror. 

“Guards Catch her!” 

The Pegasus Guards quickly flew up to Candence. One of them got to her in time and caught her. 

As the guards caught her the shuttle quickly turned around and flew back to where it came from, but they didn’t focus on that now. 

The guard brought her down near Celestia, Luna, and the Mane 6 (or 4 in this case). They noticed she had scars on her body and how much pain she had been through. 

“Candence!” the Mane 4 said all at once 

“Candence! Are you alright?” Celestia said worriedly as she bent down to her. 
“What has happened on the ship?” Luna  

Candence looked back up at Celestia and Luna. She was still weak and tired from the torture she had been through, but she needed to tell them what happened to Twilight. She used the last of her strength to tell them. 

“Twi...light...hoofed herself...in...to...save me.” she said before passing out in Celestia's hoofs 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If Kraken had emotions, he would just laugh at what Twilight said, but since he was programmed not to have, he would even if he tried. Instead, he was surprised at Twilight’s answer. He was not prepared for something like this and wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth. He didn’t want to believe it, but if she was truly telling the truth then they could have a strong ally. 

He decided the best course of action was to play along with what she said. Then he could see if she was lying and trying to destroy his army from the inside or if she was wanting to join the Separatists and go against her kingdom.  

“This is interesting your majesty. When did you decide to go against your own kind” he said 

“Don’t make me change my decision Kraken.” she told him 

“I apologize.” 

“You don’t need to. I know you don’t trust me, but I want to show you that you can trust me.” 

Kraken plan of playing along fell right into the gutter. She already knew he didn’t trust her. 

“It’s that so, I'm afraid just telling me you want to join us with will not be enough.” 

“Well, I did say I was going to tell you info that could help you. And I always keep a promise.” 

“Precisely.” Kraken replied. “After you give us the information, we can continue this conversation. 

He then turned to the OMM commander once more. 

“OMM-990. Continue your work on packing the supplies.” 

“Roger, Roger.” 

The OMM commander said before turning back to the other droids. 

“Alright everyone back to work!” he commanded 

Every droid then when back to work or their post without question. 

“You.” Kraken pointed at a B1 that was the last one to understand the command 

“Yes sir?” the droid questioned 

“Keep an eye on the princess’s B1’s” 

“Roger, Roger!” the droid replied 

“Um. Kraken. That won’t be necessary.” Twilight said worried “They’re harmless.” 

“I’m afraid I will not take the risk princess. You Ethier except it or there will be consequences.” 

Twilight didn’t want to make Kraken not trust her. He was giving her the chance and it was the only one she could take. 

She sighed. “1&2. I need you to stay with this...B1?” It was the first time she ever said that. 

“Yes ma’am” both droids said 

Twilight smiled at the 2 droids. 

“Come along your majesty.” 

Twilight then followed Kraken and his 2 guards into the main hallways of the ship. Many droids were still looking at her with suspicion and ready to attack if she did anything strange. 

As they were heading through the hallways of the ship Twilight admired the look of the ship. The glowing light around the side of the hall and the fresh paint on the steel around the place. It wasn’t in it best look, but for an advance ship it wasn’t bad at all. 

As she was admiring the ship she accidentally bumped into a droid, but this droid looked strange. It was just a box-looking droid with two legs and some little gadgets around its body. What she didn’t know was that this was a Gonk droid, a droid that was designed to deliver energy for any needed task. She was surprised at the droid, but as she looked at the droid for a moment, she thought it looked kind of cute.  

“Sorry for bumping into you.” Twilight said to the droid 

“Gonk?” The Gonk droid replied in the only way it could speak 

Twilight pauses for a moment 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you.” 

The Gonk droid simply turns its body in a slight bent before bringing it back to its original stance. 

“Princess. Are you wasting your time talking to droids, or will you tell me what I want better in containment.” Kraken threatened her 

Twilight heard him and started to run to him as if he was farther away from where he was before 

“Sorry! It was nice meeting you! She said before catching up to Kraken 

“Gonk!” the Gonk said happily as it looked at Twilight until she was out of its sight 

“I think I just may have just made a friend in this place after all.” she thought as she smiled happily. Her plan was starting to go into action. 

She mange to catch up to Kraken before they started walking once more. 

They had to walk a long distance to get to where they were going, but when they finally made it to the bridge Twilight eyes widened.  

She could see her home planet from here alone. She was speechless. 

“So, your majesty about the information.” 

When Twilight heard this, she snapped out of her trance. 

“Oh right! What do you want to know about?” she asked 

“First, I want to know what tactics of Equestria’s military” 

Twilight paused then started to laugh nervously 

“Um...I don’t know anything about military tactics” 

The guards then pointed their staff at her with a blank stare, she needed to change the subject quickly or she could end up getting shocked. 

“But! I do know how you can use magic in some way.” 

The guards then pulled back their staffs 

“Continue.” 

Twilight sighed with relief. 

“You can’t truly control magic, but there are magic artifacts that can make any pony have magic if needed.” 
Kraken was interested in was she said about these artifacts. 

“Intriguing. What artifacts can help us utilize magic?” 

“Well. I have one back home in my throne room called the Alicorn Amulet. The amulet is supposed to bless the wearer with untold powers, but the more you use it the more corrupt you become.” 

“A large risk, but high reward. Interesting.” Kraken said putting his hand on his chin 

“I mean you can’t do things that are impossible like duplicating or invincibly, but it could work if you want to be corrupted.” 
Kraken thought of a moment before quickly answering. 

“The corruption shouldn’t be able to affect droids as we are programmed to follow orders and not let enemies control us.” 
“Theirs the Rings of Scorchero. Which is supposed to cause 800 years of unrelenting heat. Though the largest ring was destroyed by my friend Rainbow dash” 

“Disappointing, but it would be unnecessary to cause unrelenting heat on this planet.” 

“The only other one I know about is the Elements of Harmony, they have the strongest magic, but me and my friends can use them. So, you really can’t get your hands on them.” 

“Then it has been settled, we will retrieve the Alicorn Amulet from your throne room and utilize it for the Separatists Alliance.” 

“Yeah. That sounds about right.” 

Twilight might have put her home in danger, but if this plan of Her's was going to work, she knew it would have happened anyway, she knew she would end up fighting others, and she knew if her plan didn’t work equestria will fall. 

“Thank you for giving us the information we need. It is not all of it, but it will suffice for now.” 

Twilight really didn’t have much to say. She was doing something right, but it felt so wrong. Going against her home will be difficult for her. 

“While you here on my ship the best I can do is give you a task to keep the ship in its best condition.” 

Twilight knew he would just make her a slave. She wouldn’t be fooled easily. And besides she had her plan, so she knew what she needed to say. 

“Actually. I have a better idea.” 

“What is your idea?” Kraken replied in a confused way. 

“I want to help by becoming a general.”  

Once again Kraken was surprised by this, he couldn’t just let a pony immediately become a general in his army. 
“You cannot just become a General by asking. You need to prove yourself to be a general. Do you know anything about how to be a general.” 

Twilight started to laugh nervously. 

“Umm...HeeHee. Well not really, but my brother was one, and you know what they say, it’s always good to try something new!” 

With an answer like that he would never give Twilight the position of Commander, he didn’t even trust her, but with one of his best commanders in going repairs and how Twilight was willing to become one when he needed would be a waste. He could use an OMM commander, but they weren’t as efficient as a living being. He didn’t want to say it, but if he wanted a replacement commander this was his only option. 

“I will think about once my troops retrieve the amulet. In the meantime, I will get an OMM commander to help you learn the basics of becoming one if you want to get the role.” 

Twilight smile softly 

“Thanks. I want to help as much as I can to fix the mistakes in my home. I hope” 

“Thanking me won’t be necessary.” Kraken told her before going to the holo table to contact and OMM commander.” 
“So, who I'm I am getting?” she asked 

“Your majesty. There's only one I can give you.” 
> Chapter 37: A Strange Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMM-340 and still watching from the Defoliator as the city of Fillydelpia showed more of itself from the rising sun. He could hear no more blaster fire or missiles being launched; silence took over.” 

“What is happening over there?” He questioned 

He pulled out his holopad to contact one of the B1’s hoping he hadn’t lost them.  

“Come on! Pick up! Pick up!” 

Suddenly a holopad showed a B1 in a confused matter. 

“Sir? Is that you?” 

“Yes, it’s me! What's going on over there! Did you get all the remaining equines?” 

“Of course, we did. We're just securing the area.” 

“Oh, thank the maker! I’ll contact the commander to let him know about our success.” 

He then disconnected from the B1 and started contacting TA-175 

“Sergeant? Have you succeeded in taking control over the city” TA-175 asked 

“We have the city under control sir. The remaining droids are securing points in the city.” 

“Excellent. With the city now under our control the construction of a new base can begin. I need you to stay in this location and keep I secure, understood?” 

“Roger. Roger. Sir"  

TA-175 then disconnected leaving OMM-340 alone with the Defoliator once more. 

“Looks like I should head over to-” he pauses as his holopad started to ring again he picked it up to check would contact him. It was none other than General Kraken himself.” 

“OMM-340. I need you for a special task only you can do.”  

He was surprised, the General contacted him. And for a special task only he could do. 

“Really sir?”  

“Precisely. I have already told your commander about your departure, OMM-990 will take your place while you're gone. I will explain your task once you have arrived. Understood.” 

“Yes General!” 

“Good. A shuttle will head to your location as soon as possible. Prepare yourself to depart.” he said as he ended the call. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything was dark. She couldn’t see anything, and it was so quiet. 

The last thing she remembered was being in Celestia hoofs and telling her what happened to Twilight. 
“Candence...can you hear me?” an unfamiliar voice 

“Is she waking up?” another voice said 

“I think she is”  

Cadence could swear she knew that voice. 

“Cadence. It's Celestia. Can you hear me?” 

Celestia was here. She tried to speak but she couldn’t say a word. 

Lucky her energy was coming back and after a few minutes she was able to lift herself up. 

“Candence!” The Mane 4 and spike said happily. 

“Ugh...” 

“Settle down princess.” the doctor replied 

“You're still healing from your injuries.” 

Candence turned to the princesses. 

“What happened when I was out?” 

“Nothing much. All we did was bring you to a medical wing.” Luna told her 

“You said something about Twilight hoofing herself in. Is that true?” Celestia said worried 

“Yes, that’s true she hoofed her in. I don’t know why she did for me.” 

Everypony it the room was shocked. 

“But...Twilight wouldn’t do something like that if Equestria is danger.” spike said shedding a tear. 

“Don’t worry spike. I refuse to believe that she would have hoofed herself in for that reason, but I really want to know how she was able to get to you?” Celestia asked Candence. 

Cadence though for a moment. 

“I don’t know how she got to where I was. All I was able to see was a bunch of droids surrounding Twilight.” 

Celestia wondered, but she really couldn’t get an answer.

“I know how you want to ask more questions princess; nut Candence needs to recover for the next few days so I’m after you’ll need to leave for now.” 

“Yes. Thank you doctor for letting us see her.” 

The doctor nodded and headed to one of his nurses. 

As everypony was saying goodbye to her and started to leave. Fluttershy stayed behind to ask Cadence 
“Cadence?” Fluttershy asked 

“Yes Fluttershy.” 

“What do you think will happen now?” 

“I’m not sure...I’m not sure.” 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a separatist shuttle landed and opens its hanger door revealing OMM-990 and 5 B1 security droids following him. 

“Good luck on your task” OMM-990 said while saluting 

“Thanks.” OMM-340 saluted back before heading on to the shuttle. 

The shuttle then took off and flew back to the Province class Dreadnought. 

When it landed in its hanger and as he left the ship he had 4 B1 security droids to escort him to the bridge. 

It was silence the entire way there, but OMM-340 still wondered what his assignment was. 

If OMM-340 could talk in his head, he would have wondered what his task would be, if it wasn’t anything dangerous, he would be a little excited. 

When they when through the door to the bridge he saw Kraken standing at the Holotable. 

“Greetings General I'm he fo-” he paused as he saw a purple coat with dark blue hair and a purple horn right beside Kraken. It was Twilight. 

“Wha..Wha..You!”” he shouted 

“Um...hi again.” She said back 

“Stand down OMM-340. She is on our side.” Kraken Commanded him. 

“Sorry sir, but why is she here?” 

“She has decided to join the Separatist alliance and replaced one of our prisoners to give us important information. She has requested to become a General in the army. With one of my generals in repairs she is the best option we have for now. I need you to teach her the basics of becoming a general. You’re the only one that has a good connection with Princess Twilight Sparkle. Do you understand.” 

OMM-340 didn’t want to say yes, but he really didn’t have much of a choice. 

“Yes sir!” he replied 

“Good. Now go and take her with you.” 

“Alright. Come on Twilight.” he told her 

Twilight was slightly hesitant to go with him but followed him not long after. 
> Chapter 38: Learning to be a General
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a silent walk as Twilight followed OMM-340 to wherever he was taking her. 

“So. How was your day?” she asked him 

He turned his head in her direction. 

“Why would you want to know that?”    

“I was just wondering.” 

They when silent once more before Twilight confessed. 

“I just want to say that I'm sorry.” 

OMM-340 was confused for a moment. 

“Sorry? For what?” 

“For what is happening now. All you wanted was to peacefully coexist but pulled you and ourselves in a war.” 
OMM-340 was stunned. He thought she hated him just because he was part of a military. But seeing her say things that he wouldn’t have expected her to say surprised him. 

“Well, that is true. The General didn’t want your kind to be involved in the war against the Empire and just wanted permission to build droid factories.” 

Twilight turned her head  

“Although when we said no, he didn’t listen and decided to do it anyway. You guys really need to learn about what ponies want and not try to make them go against you.” 

“Is that a threat?” he asked 

Twilight eyes widened and lifted her hoofs up shaking them side to side. 

“No! No! No! Not a threat at all just...ugh never mind. I just when a little overboard.” 

“A little.” he said  

“Oh! You're making me frustrated!” 

“Sorry.” he replied 

Twilight sighed. 

“As I was saying. It was our fault. All we wanted was peace, but we pulled ourselves into something we didn’t want. We were blinded from what made us special and we got more violent thinking it wasn’t like that.” 

She was starting to shed tears. 

“All I wanted was to keep my home and my friends safe, but now my home is no longer safe, and my friends are hurt from the fighting. My brother even died just trying to save Cadence. I can’t lose anypony else! But no matter how hard I try I know that everything the happened to me was all because we started it!” 

Twilight then broke out into quiet crying. She fell onto the cold iron floor of the ship with her hoofs pulling down her head trying to hide herself the best way she could. OMM-340 didn’t know what to do. He was never programmed for this situation, but seeing her crying was something he really didn’t want to see let alone if other droids saw him, he could be considered incompetent. He had to at least try to get her spirits up somehow. 

“Well at least you're not like me.”  

Twilight paused her crying but still sniffled 

“Huh?” 

“You’ wouldn’t like how much I must go through. I had to deal with clone troopers at the front lines all the time during the clone wars. I usually have to command my troops to fight them, but I need to join the battle as well since they need me for further orders. I like battling but it doesn’t want to be on the front lines every time. Something like pirates would be great.” 
Twilight looked at him with a confused look. 

“All I'm saying is that you should be lucky that you live a normal life. Even at the worst of times.” 

She smiled as she got back on her feet. 

“You know. Even if you’re a droid you’re the first one that did its best to make somepony feel better. That special about you.” 

It was that word again. OMM-340 felt good again. Maybe even during another war he can still feel special. 
“Thank you, Ma’am.” 

“Oh, now you start calling me that.” she smiled cheekily. 

“Didn’t I always call you that?” 

“Not before.” 

Twilight wiped her eyes 

“I also should apologize about locking you in a cage.” 

“That was understandable for you lock me in a cage.” he reassured her. 

They would have kept talking if they hadn’t heard the noise of a falling crate behind them. 

They both turn to see who was behind them with OMM-340 lifting up his blaster. It was the same Gonk droid that Twilight saw before. 

“Oh! hi there!” Twilight waved her hoof 

“Gonk!” the droid replied 

It tried to get up but couldn’t because of its weight. 

“Let me help you.” 

Twilight when over to the droid a used her magic to lift the droid back onto its feet 

“There you go.” She smiled 

“Gonk.” the droid nodded 

“Twilight, we need to go.” OMM-340 told her 

“Ok I'm coming.” 

She followed him once more, but they didn’t walk for along once they knew the Gonk droid was following them 

“Hey you. Go back to work.” OMM-340 told the droid, but it didn’t move. 

“Wait. I think he just wants to come with us.” twilight told him 

“Well, he can’t. He has his own tasks to do.” 

“Come on. Just give him a chance, please.” 

“No.” 

“Pleaseeeeeee.” she begged 

“No. What you're doing won’t work.” 

“I gave you a second chance, why can’t you give this droid a chance.” 

He didn’t want to agree with Twilight at all, but he needed to start her training and he couldn’t do this all day without risking himself getting demoded for slacking. 

“Fine. He can come along.” he said disspointly. 

Twilight smiled happily and the Gonk droid said the only word it knew in a happy tone. 

“I think he’s thanking you.” she told him 

He ignored what Twilight said and turned to walk back down the hall 

“Let’s go.” he told both of them with his back towards them. 

Twilight turned to the Gonk droid. 

“Give him some time. Maybe one day you two will get along. Now come on.” Twilight told the droid. 

The Gonk droid eagerly followed her as both of them followed OMM-340. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

When they finally got to an elevator Twilight looked at it with confusion at first not knowing what an elevator is.
 
“Come on Twilight in here.” OMM-340 pointed to the elevator. 

“In there, but it’s a dead end.” she told him 

“You don’t know what an elevator is?” 

“No...” 

OMM-340 would have sighed if he could. 

“Come along you’ll see for yourself.” 

“Gonk” the droid tried to say something, but she couldn’t understand 

They both when onto the elevator along with the Gonk droid. OMM-340 when to press a button on the elevator and its doors close. 

Twilight then felt a small shift in the elevator. She didn’t know what was happening but didn’t question since she got her answer as soon as the doors opened. 

They were in an entirely different place, but it looked similar to the bridge she was on before but higher up.  
“Are we on a different bridge?” she asked OMM-340  

“Yes, we are. This ship has 2 of them, so this will be a good place to start.” 

“Gonk!” The Gonk droid said in reply 

Twilight looked at her surroundings and saw all the B1’s looking at her, but these ones have a blue chest unlike the red ones she saw on her way here. 

“Is that the pony that invaded the ship?” one asked 

“I think so?” another replied 

“Quiet you 2” OMM-340 told them “She did not invade this ship she simply got onboard our ship.” 

“She is now learning to become a general from the request general Kraken. I'm going to train her to be one So, listen to her orders”  

The Droids were confused but they didn’t question just like they were programmed to do. 

OMM-340 then turn to look down at Twilight 

“Alright Twilight the first thing to learn about becoming a commander is to command your troops with the task at hand. Right now, I want you to command one of those piolet droids to active a scan of the area. All ships need to have them on at all times to check for enemy ships.” 

He then turned his head over to one of the piolets. 

“You turn off the radar for a moment.” 

“Roger. Roger sir” the droid replied before turning off the radar 
He turned back to her. 

“Ok. Now your turn. Just tell that droid to turn it back on.” 

Twilight looked confused. 

“That’s it?” 

“Yes. Will get to more difficult stuff after.” 

“Umm...Ok then”  

She then turned to the piolet 

“Piolet. Turn on the radar.” 

“Yes...Ma’am?” 

The droid then turned to Twilight  

“Sorry sir but should I call you ma’am? 

Twilight looked at the droid with surprise. 

“I’m a mare, but you can just call me twilight” 

“Yes sir Twilight.” the droid replied before turning the radar back on. she would have question why they still call her sir, but she let it side for now.

Twilight looked back at OMM-340 

“That was easy enough. Why do we need to do something like this if it is just commanding somepony to do something you tell them to do.” 

He looked that her with his blank stare 

“Well, this is only the start. We will go through more difficult training soon enough.” 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
For the past 2 hours OMM-340 trained Twilight all the things she needed to know about being a commander. She already knew how to lead others, but he taught her how to do battle strategies. She had trouble, but she got the hang of it and learned different ways to attack an enemy. And all this time she was eager to learn. 

“Good job Twilight.” He told her impressed by how much she learned from him. 

She turned to him smiling. 

“Thanks. My brother may have shown me some stuff before, but you make it look much easier. Even if it took pretty long.” 
“For an organic you showed that you’re a faster learn than most others.” OMM-340 complemented. 

“Aw. Thanks. I knew you were good on the inside.” 

Even if he was a droid, he could understand complements and he never got many, so it was nice to hear from time to time. 
“Well, we have only started with one of the main things to know about being a commander, you already have good leadership and now you know simple battle strategies, next you need to learn from what I know is military culture and physical training.” 

Before Twilight could answer a beeping sound came from the side of OMM-340 head. 

“Hold your though.” He told her before turning on his com.
 
“Yes sir?” he replied. 

Twilight wasn’t sure what he was doing, but then remembered that he said something about a radio to contact his commander before. 

“Gonk” 

“Hold on just wait. He'll be done soon.” she told her droid friend 

“Roger, Roger sir.” he finished as he turned off his com 

“We need to head up to the bridge. Kraken has an assignment for you.” 

Twilight was surprised by this. 

“Now? But don’t I still need more training?” 

“Well, we will need to pause for now. He could be expecting you to be ready.” 

Twilight did feel a little worried, but she reminded herself that if she failed her plan equestria’s fate would be certain.  

“Alright then let's go. 
> Chapter 39: Retrieving the Amulet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(2 hours earlier) 

Kraken looked at the map of equestria where ponyville was standing. From Twilight explanation the Alicorn Amulet was in her home in the same village his army attacked went they had a base in the everfree forest before it fell to the ponies. Her house was also the same one where his commando droids retrieved OMM-340 from his prison. 

He knew he would need to make this mission a stealth one if it were to succeed. 

He turned on his com 

“I need a commando droid squad and 2 probe droids to the bridge immediately.” he requested.  

He waited for a reply for a minute before he got a reply. 

“Yes, sir I will send them up right away.” a B1 in charge of droid management replied. 

“However, most of probes are down on the planet, but we do have an assassin probe we can put to use.” 

Kraken was surprised by this there weren’t many droids like that anymore, the assassin was not just one of the smartest droids in the droid army they also were silent killers as they should be. Having one on this ship could make his plan even more successful. 



“Very well. Send that assassin probe.” 

“Yes sir!” the droid replied before ending the call. 

Kraken had to wait a few minutes before the Commando droid squad and the assassin probe to get to the bridge and when they finally got to the bridge, he was disappointed for them being late. 

“You are 3 minutes late.” he told them  

“Sorry General.” the captain of his squad replied 

Kraken then pointed at a crystal castle on the holotable 

“I have requested you and your squad to retrieve a magical artifact called the Alicorn Amulet. This artifact is located in the throne room of the former home of Princess Twilight Sparkle in the town of Ponyville. After our attack on the town, it is likely that the town will be under high protection. That is why we will place you in the Everfree forest far enough that you won’t get spotted by the enemy and close enough that it won’t affect this mission. However, since you will be doing it during the day you and your squad will need to be highly cautious. This is where the probe will come in and become a distraction so you and your squad can get inside the building. A shuttle will then come to pick you up once your squad has retrieved the amulet. Do you understand your task.”  

“Yes commander.” 

Kraken put his hand behind his back. 

“Good. Your Shuttle will be prepared once you get to the hanger. Do not waste any more time.” 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Celestia and Luna looked at the map of equestria, after their recent failures they weren’t sure what to do next. 

“What now sister?” Luna asked her sister 

“We have tried to stop them and protect our home, but we couldn’t even protect the crystal empire without it falling.” 
Celestia looked at her sister. 

“I know. We've lost so many ponies from this fight with the droids. I’m not even sure what we could do next without losing too many ponies. I want to fight back, but with limited troops the best I think we can to sister is just keep a defensive position until we get a reply from the others. If the droids want to attack, we will be ready for them.” 

She moved down as she started to show a frown. 

“I just hope Twilight can hold long enough until we can find a way to rescue her.” 

She knew that she could have teleported to the ship, she just couldn’t understand how she got coordinates to the ship. Without any way to get to her all they could do was hope she could hold on.” 

“We can try to find a way to get to her in her dreams. Even if she is not on our home world anymore, I could still reach her.” Luna told her sister. 

“I hope so sister. I'm just worried for my student.” 

Luna put her hoof on her sister's shoulder. 

“We are all worried about her sister.” 

They both had a moment of silence for a few mins before the door burst opened. It was Glowing Brillance, and she was panting like she ran a marathon. 

“Sorry to interrupt your majesties but 1&2 are just gone! I can’t find them anywhere in the castle!” 

Both sisters reacted with shock. 

“What do you mean there just gone!” 

“Like I said. I have no clue where they are. All I know is that a let them explore the castle so they could know their way around a place.” 

Celestia would have shouted something, but she instead thought about Twilight’s droids. 

She then realized how Twilight might have got onto the ship after all. If the droids could still remember where or what their ships were, she could have got the information from them and teleported them to the ship Candence was on. 

“Glowing Brillance. I think I might know where 1&2 could be.” 

Luna and Glowing Brillance looked back at her with confusion. 

“What do you mean you know?” Glowing said 

“She right sister. How doist you know?” 

“Well, the droids could have known something about their ships that might have helped Twilight get to Candence. It would have been the only way she could have got there.” 

“Well, if she did that then all I need to do is repair another droid and maybe after I brainwashed it then we could get some information about the ships.” 

Both sisters looked at each other and then back at Glowing Brillance. 

“How long does it take to fix a droid?” Luna questioned 

“Well. It would take a few days to fix one, but I do have one in mind.” 

Both princesses looked at her with a weird look.” 

“What do you mean you have one in mind?” Celestia asked 

“You know the small droid that discord destroyed using his magic.” 

“Yes?” both sisters said at the same time 

“So, I was thinking I might be able redo the damage he caused to the little guy. However, it could take longer since discord could have done a lot to the droid. If it alright with you I can get to work on it.” 

Celestia smiled

“If this droid can help us find Twilight, then of course I will allow it!” she said happily 

“I agree with my sister. We both will allow it.” 

Glowing sighed with relief. 

“Alright I’ll get to work as soon as possible.” She then left the throne room to get to work on the droid. 
“Good luck Brillance.” Celestia said before she left the room. 

The two sister looked at each other again, but this time with a little spark of hope. 

“Maybe will be alright after all.”  

“Yes Luna. I think we will.” 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
The sound of the shuttle landing in the Everfree forest was quiet, the prefect landing for a stealth mission 
As the shuttle opened its door. The Leading Commando droid commanded his squad to move out with the flick of his hand. And the squad followed immediately. 

When they got out of the shuttle the leading Commando droid looked around his surroundings, but it was all trees. However, one thing the droid knew was that this location was near the town with it being far enough away from the Separatist old base that they wouldn’t get caught by Equines forces. 

The team headed in the direction of where the town is, and it wouldn’t take long take long. About 5 minutes at most. 
When the squad came out of the forest, they found a problem. What cut them between the town was a large river. 
Without any way to cross it the Captain contacted Kraken 

“What is it, Captain?” 

“General me and my squad cannot make it pass this river that blocking our way. What do you suggest how we can cross it?” 
“That will not be necessary. There is a bridge that allows the train of the Equines to get through the town. It is advised that the assassin probe cause a distraction so you can get through.” 

“Yes General” the captain replied as he commanded his squad to start heading towards the location of the bridge. 
When the squad got near to the bridge, they noticed the many guard ponies that were standing around the bridge on high alert. If they weren’t as advanced in their stealth, they would have in caught.  

He got his squad to hide in a line of bushes before they could get spotted. Sending the probe now would cause more problems for the mission can potentially get captured if not careful. But they wouldn’t need to wait as the sound of a train whistle echoed through the plains as it came out of a nearby mountain. The train had been taking in more refugees from their fallen cities into ponyville which became a type of home for them until they could relocate any of them to different towns. 

This is what the captain needed 

The captain turned to the probe and told it to head to the back of the train, but it had to move back into the nearby forest to not get caught by the guards and once it got out of the forest it had to make a quick run for it but had to do it from far away.” 

The probe obeyed and headed back into the forest but then started heading left hidden from the guard's sight to the train that was slowly coming closer. 

When the probe got to the edge of the forest it waited for the train to pass through, and when it did the probe quicky ran with its many legs and hopped on to the Caboose of the train. 

One of the train’s crew members heard the noise of something moving around the cabin outside and he when out to investigate only to be met with a blade point inside his throat once he opened the back of the caboose. 

There was no sound of screaming from the pony. It was a silent kill. 

The probe moved the body back into the caboose and closed the back door before the train made it to the entrance of ponyville. 

“Sir. The probe made it onto the train.” the commando droid told his captain. 

“Good. Now we wait for the signal.” the captain told the droid 

In ponyville the train stopped at ponyville’s train station. Many ponies came out of the train, refugees from fillydelpa and a nearby village close to Manehatten. Many of them had faces of fear and sadness and just as many had luggage that they took with them that had some of their belongings, it was a miracle that they even fit on the train. 

“Where did some of these other ponies come from?” a pony guard asked another one. “I don’t think I saw them before when we came from fillydelpa.” 

“They came from starlight’s village. It was attacked before Ceslestia could send any help to defend the town. The best we could do was get as many ponies out of the town as possible.” 

“Do you think we could still beat these droids?” 

“Of course! We still have princess Celestia and Luna. And they know what to do in the worst situations,” 
Just as the guard was about to speak a mare shouting for help. 

“CAN SOME PONY HELP ME! MY LUGGAGE IS STUCK!” the mare shouted 

The two guards ran to the mare. 

“Where is your luggage ma’am?” 

She pointed inside the train. 

“It’s stuck under my seat 3 seats over on the left side. I might have pushed it under there too far.” 

The two guards when into the train cart and looked for the mare luggage. They found it under a chair, but when one of the guards tried to pull it out, he had trouble. 

“Hey, can I have help here?”’ 

The other guard came to help his friend, but while they were trying to get the luggage out a door opened behind them loud enough for both guards to hear 

“Conductor can you help us?” the guard asked as he turned towards the pony, but something seemed off.
 
The conductor's head was low to the ground, and it looked like his back legs were dragging across the floor. 

“Are...you alright?” 

The conductor slowly “Walks” over to the two guards. Neither of them were sure what to do, but then the conductor’s body was thrown right at one of the guards, which knocked him unconscious. The other guard couldn’t react in time before the probe lunged at him and stabbed him in the head before tossing his body out of the train and into a crowd of ponies. 
 
Everypony started to panic at the sight of the spider-like droid which started using other ponies luggage and threw it at them. Many guards tried to stop the droid but failed as it was too fast for them to get a decent hit on it before getting killed after. 

“You! Get as many guards as you can to get as many ponies out of here and stop this thing!” 

The guard that was told this immediately ran to the entrance of the town as it was the close one that had guards. 
When the guard made it there, he told all of them what was happening 

“Everypony! There's a droid of some kind attacking the train station! We need as many guards as possible!” 

“Alright. Everypony come with me, but two of you stay here.” 

Many guards follow each other to stop the threat while two others stay on the lookout so no one else gets in
 
“Sir. Mutiple guards have left their post.” 

The signal was shown. 

“Move out and intercept the targets.” 

The commandos then immediately jumped out of the bushes and ran towards the guards. The guards were about to charge at the droids but were headshotted by the captain. 

“Move in.” 

As the squad headed into the town, they kept themselves out of view by heading into allies of the town as more pony guards headed to the train station to stop the assassin probe. 

For the squad it was easy to get to Twilight’s castles, the only problem was that the castle was also heavily guarded. Even if some of them when to help some of the others guards at the train station there were still enough that one could get away and warn the others guard that were distracted with the probe, but that’s a risk they had to take. 

“Engage the enemy.” the captain commanded 

The squad then when on the attack. 

As blaster fire was exchanged with the enemy the guards tried to shoot back with their magic and others tried to charge, the droids dodge their incoming magic attacks, but two of them got tackled by two of the guards before they could fight back. 

The captain was able to blast the two that tackle his squad before resuming fire taking out 3 others’ 

The ponies then started to throw their spears at the droids, but only managed to hit one as the remaining droids dodge skillfully and the captain caught one in midair and returned it back to the pony who threw it stabbing him in the chest. 

The fight ended with the last guard trying to run away before being gunned down by the captain and 4 remaining commandos. 
Once no other guards came the squad headed into the castle. 

“Search the premise. Find the amulet.” 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
A guard got knocked back into a wall. He tried to shake it off, but he hit his head too hard and couldn’t focus his mind. 
The probe droid was still on the attack, outmaneuvering the guards with speed that only a skilled runner could catch up with and with skill melee combat that any hit the guards threw at it the droid either dodged, blocked, attacked, or threw something at them. 

This droid took out most of the pony guard, with the ones remaining tired of the constant movement of the droid. With the droid showing little signs of damage to its body. 

“I-I can’t....keep up....with it.” a guard panted 

“Come on....we got...this” another one said 

As they were ready to attack a blast of yellow magic hit the droid from behind. The droid toppled over and damaged ones of its photoreceptors. It turned to look what shot it from behind but was pin down by a yellow aura 

“It’s the princess!” the guard shouted happily at the sight of the princess coming down from the sky with Luna right behind her. 

“Are you alright my little pony’s?” Celestia asked. 

“Were alright princess.” 

Luna looked at the droid with curiosity, but moved back as it tried to attack her, but couldn’t and instead its body shook trying to move a limb 

“What type of droid is this sister?”  

“I don’t know, but I won’t allow it to harm any more ponies.” Celestia then used her magic to crush the droid slightly. As she did this the droid set some type of sound before its eyes shut off and the droid stopped moving. 

Celestia put down the droid with a calm matter. 

“It was just one droid sister. We didn’t have to kill it.” 

“I know Luna, but I don’t want a droid like this to kill ponies and get away with it. Not this time.” 

She turned to the guards who were still tired from the fight. 

“Were you able to get innocent pony away from the battle?” 

The guards looked at each other then turned back to her 

‘i think so I don’t see any civilian casualties.” 

Celestia sighed with relief 

“That’s good.” unnoticed to her that things were going to get worst as Luna heard a strange noise come from behind her and turn to see where it was coming from. 

“Umm. Sister. Thouist should see this!” 

Celestia turned to see what was going on 

The droid corpse had small droids with one large red eye and six legs coming out of holes on top of the droid head. They looked at the ponies in front of them and when for the attack. 



“Look out!” Celestia said as she set up a barrier between her sister and the remaining guards. Another battle was about to begin. This time with smaller hard to hit targets. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
“Sir. I found the throne room.” a Commando droid said 

The captain followed his droid companion to 2 large doors that were wide open. In the throne room was the sight of a triangular amulet with a diamond shaped gem in the middle and a small alicorn as a symbol. 



The captain walked over to where the amulet was in and smashed the glass that was protecting it. In hand the captain held in his palms looking at it strangely as if something was supposed to happen. 

The captain ignored that to contact the pilot droids. 

“We got the amulet. Requesting a pickup now.” 

“Roger, Roger. We are nearing your location.” a B1 pilot replied back 

The captain then heard the faint sound of a shuttle not far away. The squad then headed to a nearby balcony not far from the throne room to get picked up from. 

As the shuttle moved itself into position it opened its hanger and the squad entered. The mission was a success. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
As Celestia and Luna were finishing off the remains of the small droids that tried to stab them in the neck. They heard the sounds of something passing them from above. When they finished with the last one, they both looked up to see a shuttle they have now recognized so many times that it’s engraved in their brain. 

“Sister. Is that what I think it is.” 

“Yes. And I have a bad feeling that what we attacked might have been a distraction.” 
> Chapter 40: Preparations once more / part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door to the lift opened as Twilight, OMM-340 and the Gonk droid when into the elevator. Twilight felt worried, what assignment was she going to be assigned to? Would it have to do with her friends? Would she have to do something to stop them. She hoped she wouldn’t have to do anything like that. 

“Gonk?” the Gonk droid replied 

Twilight looked at the droid. To her it looked like it was trying to comfort her. She felt a little happy about that.
 
“You know if that droid likes you so much why don’t you name it. If you would want to.” OMM-340 told her. 

She looked at OMM-340 with a surprised face. 

“doesn't it have a name. Like the one you have?” she asked. 

He looked back at her with a blank stare. 

“No. It a Gonk droid. Why would it have a designation number.” 

Twilight was shocked to hear this. They were the same kind, yet they didn’t consider each other the same. 
 
“Why not? Are you not the same?” 

“Not really. They are just simple-minded droids that bring energy for what is needed” 

Twilight got frustrated at this but didn’t show it. 

“Well, if you aren’t going to make it feel equal then I will.” 

“Be my guess.” 

She turned to the gonk droid once more. 

“I’m going to call you Gonky. How does that sound?” 

The Gonk droid looked confused for a moment but replied with another gonk. 

“Ummmm. I think I'm going to need to learn how you speak first.” 

The elevator then opened. As they left the elevator Twilight saw Kraken holding something in his hand. She squinted her eyes to see it better, that was when she realized that he was holding the Alicorn Amulet. 

“You. Got it” she said with her mouth wide open. 

“Precisely.” Kraken replied 

“My droids had retrieved the Amulet with predicted success. And now we will find the best way to utilize it.” 

He then turned to OMM-340. 

“Did you succeed with her training?” 

“Not yet sir. There’s still a few more things she will need to know before she’s ready, but she has been doing well and knows most of the things to become a general sir.” 

“I'm afraid she will need to prove herself now as this is her only chance.” 

Twilight was shocked when she heard this. 

“WHAT! WHY!?” 

“This is a test to prove your loyalty to the alliance in a short amount of time, and just as planned you will gain the rank of general if you succeed” 

This was incredibly frustrating for Twilight, that you could see steam coming out from her ears. She wanted to say some about how it was not fair that she would only get one chance but stopped herself from going further. If she was going to gain their trust, she would need to do this mission. It was this or become something worse. 

“Alright then. I will show you what I'm capable of.” 

Kraken Ignore her and turn back to the holotable. 

“Your mission is to take over the small town of Vanhooyer. The Town has prefect area for construction of another droid factory and possibly has raw materials in its grounds. If you succeed, then we will have full control of the west. And you’ll gain the rank of general” turn back to Twilight. 

“Do you understand your mission?” 

Twilight showed a determined face 

“Of course. I’ll show you that I can do this.” 

“Then it has been settled. We start preparations in the next hour. However, I suggest before your mission you should design yourself a disguise. If you want to keep yourself undetected by your superiors. “ 

Twilight realized he was right. If she was going to do a mission like this, she needed to make sure she wasn’t Twilight Sparkle. She would have to pretend to be somepony else. 

“For course! I don’t want my friends to think I switch sides, but the only thing I have made myself was a costume of mine. I really don’t know how to sew much.” 

Kraken wasn’t sure what sew meant, but let it slide. 

“I suggest that OMM-340 should be able to assist you.” 

“What! Why me!?” he asked with surprise. 

“You are one of the few droids the princess trusts. I’m sure you have the right supplies to make a disguise for her.” 
OMM-340 was shocked. 

“But sir! I’m not a servant droid!” 

Kraken ignored this. 

“I will work on preparations for your mission princess. Till then. Good day.” 

As Kraken left them Twilight looked up at OMM-340 who looked disappointed. 

“Come on. You're not a servant. You're just going to help me.” 

OMM-340 would have sighed if he could. 

“Alright. This better not take long.” 

“Gonk!” the gonk droid bumped it side into the B1’s leg.” 

“Hey! What was that for!?” 

Twilight giggled slightly 

“I think Gonky wants to go soon.” 

“Ugh. Fine let's move. I don’t want to be up here for much longer.” 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Twilight castle was placed in high security after the attack that happened this afternoon. Both Celestia and Luna were looking around the castle to find anything that could have been stolen with the Mane 4 and Spike helping out. 

“How are you sure anypony would have been in here?” Rarity questioned 

“Everything looks just fine.” 

“That may be the case, but we are certain that something feels off.” Luna replied 

“But the only thing they could have stolen would have been...” Spike was about to finish his sentence, before he vagile remembered something.  

“Something wrong spike?” applejack asked 

“Sorry I just figuring out what they could have stolen?” 

“Hey guys! I found my party cannon!” Pinkie Pie interrupted. 

Apple jack turned to her 

“Why did you leave your party cannon here?” Fluttershy asked? 

“I forgot about it! Besides I still have many others!” 

“Umm...partners. Why is the room to the Twi’s Throne wide open?” applejack asked. 

That's when Spike eyes widen, and he ran into the room fast enough to only see a cloud of dust where he was before.” 

“Spikey! Wait for us!” Rarity shouted but he didn’t hear her. 

“We need to follow.” Luna replied before following. 

When they all got into the room, they saw Spike looking down at a shattered glass on the floor with around a pedestal.  
“I think I know what they stole.”  

Celestia was confused 

“What do you mean spike?” 

Spike moved out of the way for them to see. Celestia was shocked. 

“They stole the Alicorn Amulet.” 

Everypony stood there in silence before Celestia interrupted it. 

“We need to secure the castle! NOW!” she shouted” 

“Sister calm yourself.” 

“Sister if we don’t take action to them stealing magical artifacts, they could take more without us noticing.” 

“But how did they know about it?” Rarity questioned 

Celestia frowned. 

“I’m afraid there’s only one reason why they knew.” 

All but Luna were confused about why she said that before realizing what she meant. 

“She couldn’t have...SHE WOULDN’T HAVE!” Spike cried out. 

“It’s ok Spike. She would never betray us. I have a feeling she could have been through unbearable torture like Cadence and Sunburst.” 

“If that is true, sister she could be going through pain that even we wouldn’t be able to bear.” 
Pinkie pie then stepped in. 

“Those Meanies won’t get away with hurting Twilight.” 

“But we can’t do anything, we don’t even know which ship Twilight is on?” applejack replied 

“It’s likely that she could be on Kraken ship, but the best I can do is go into her dreams tonight and she could tell me where she is.” 

“I'm afraid she right my little ponies. Tonight, we will all need to hope that Twilight’s alright.” 

“But...What if they attack again?” Fluttershy asked. 

“They could, we will need to keep a lookout just in case. If do plan to come to steal another artifact or worse, try and attack Ponyville with the amulet.” Luna told her. 

“I will get more royal guards to protect all other cities and towns that haven’t fallen to the Separatists. We may not have as many guards as before, but it will be enough.” 

“Can’t we, do it?” applejack jack asked 

“Can’t we stop them?” 

Celestia did a slight frow. 

“I don’t know Applejack. I don’t know.” 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
The door to the armory opened as OMM-340, Twilight and Gonky came through. The room wasn’t much of an armory, it was more of a place to store extra battle droids, but it still had some separatist armor that was used by organics and a few smuggler armors that were captured then later executed. 

“I thought you said we were going to an armory?” she asked. Even if she didn’t know much about military stuff like her brother, she knew what an armory was. 

“This is the closest we have to an armory.” OMM-340 told her 

OMM-340 looked through the armor to see if there was a set that they could work with. 
 
“We will need to find some armor that we could work with and make it into something that could fit you. So, some help would be good.” 

When Twilight heard this, she joined in a started to look through the armor with Gonky sitting on the sidelines as he couldn’t really do much to help.  

As Twilight was looking through the armor she wasn’t sure what she wanted for this future like armor. It was all bipedal armor, but some of them looked like helmets the royal guard wore, but she did spot a peculiar one. 

The helmet was dark grey with a sliver finish with a pointed antenna, a black visor with was unknown to her, a pair of green lights beside the ends of the visor and two grills on the lower sides of the helmet. 



“Hey, Roger. I found one that could work. It’s a little too evil for me but it can work.”  

OMM-340 turned to Twilight. 

“Did you just call me Roger?” 

“Well yeah. I don’t want to call you by Number. And I think Roger suits you.” 

“Well alright then. Can you pass me that helmet. 

Twilight used her magic to float the helmet to Roger. 

“This will work. We just need to cut a hole for your horn and more room for your nose.” 

Twilight was a little unsure about that. 

“Couldn’t we find one that isn’t too dark.” 

“We need a helmet that can cover your face so it would be difficult for anyone to guess who you are. The ponies might think it’s someone else if you wore something that would be unlikely for you to pick like this helmet. and the ones that are too small for you since your head is larger than some of these helmets. This one look like it can fit you.” 

Even though she didn’t like the helmet. It was really her only option. 

“Alright. We’ll use it.” she sighed 

“You didn’t have much of a choice to begin with.” 

He then grabbed some similarly colored armor that matched the helmet in style. 

Here's the rest of the armor from the smuggler. Now we just need to make it fit you. 

“That's alright, but I got this. She lifted the smuggler's armor and the helmet with her magic, then he started to concentrate. 
The armor and helmet began to morph into her sizes with adjustments as the armor morphed from bipedal to all fours and the Helmet turned to her head size and gave it space for her mussel in just a few seconds. 

Roger and Gonky were speechless. 

“You can do that!”  

“Gonk!” Gonky came in. 

“Yep. It’s a hard spell to learn but I got the hang of it.” 

OMM-340 still was shocked. If she knew something like that it could be valuable. 

“Alright let’s see if this will fit me?” 

She then started to lift the helmet over her head and slowly put it on her head. When the helmet was on her head, she couldn’t see anything, but then light started to appear inside. 

“What kind of helmet is this?” She asked in a masculine tone which surprised her. 

“Was that my voice!” 

“Looks like that mask has a voice changer.” 

Twilight was shocked as she took it off 

“You have masks that can change your voice!” 

“We don’t have any. Just that smuggler must have used one.”  

Twilight didn’t know what to say anymore. 

“Wow. We may be at war but there is still so much I need to learn from you.” 

Roger picked up the armor and passed it to her. 

“Here you will need these.” 

She used her magic to put on the armor on her body which was a perfect fit for her. 

Once she was done putting her eyes widen on what she was wearing. 

“Woah...” she didn’t know what to say. What she was wearing looked though just like the helmet style. It was bulky, but flexible, light, and fitted her form perfectly. Kinda like the Royal guard armor.” 

“These fit perfectly. That spell was better than I thought.” 

“Well, it is yours.” Roger said 

“Gonk!” 

Roger then headed towards the door. 

“We should head down to the hanger. The attack will be ready in the next hour. So, I think we should meet your army that you’ll be leading to Vanhooyer.” 

Twilight was confused. 

“Wait, my army is ready?” 

“Not completely, but there should be some troops waiting in the hanger.” 

“Then let's go.” Twilight said confidently ready to follow Roger. 

“Why are you confident all of a sudden?” 

She paused for a moment before she answered 

“Just trying to sound like a general.” 

“Well good for you. Oh, and make sure to take that Helmet with you.” 

 
> Chapter 41: Preparations once again / part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the doors opened for them to head into the hanger, she saw a lot of droids hauling cargo to their respective carriers. She couldn’t help but feel a little excited to try out the things she learned. Even if it was for the CIS.

“Is this what I'm leading?” she asked Roger 

“Yep. The rest should be on the Lucrehulk.” 

Twilight paused for a moment. 

“Wait. What’s a Lucrehulk?” 

“It’s one of the ships we have commanded by TA-175.” 

“So, your commanders have their own ships?” 

“Sometimes. Droids like me can also have their own.” 

Twilight felt a little giddy 

“So, once I can get my own ship once I become a commander!”  

“Don’t get your hopes up. We only have 4 ships. And if the commanders are planning to build more it would take a long time to build you one.” 

Twilight was disappointed but shrugged it off, not allowing that to get the best of her. 

As they headed to the carriers many of the B1’s saw them and looked confused and surprised at her presence, but some realized that she was on their side and stood respectfully.  

“Are we going to be led by a pony?” a B1 whispered to another B1 

“She was picked to be a replacement commander. Now keep quiet.” another B1 whispered back. 

One of the B1’s then walked to Roger and Twilight. It had camo markings similar to the ones she saw during the battle in the Crystal Empire 

“Greeting sirs!” he replied 

“How many troops do we have here.” Roger changed the subject. 

“We have a platoon of B1’s and B2’s ready to go sir.” 

“Alright. Twilight is your commander so make sure to follow her orders. Understood.” 

“Yes sir.” 

Roger turned over to Twilight. 

“Twilight. This is your second command B1-4239. He will help give out orders when you're not around with your troops.” 
She when over to the droid and raised her hoof towards B1-4239. 

“Hi there! Nice to meet you.” Twilight said he wanted to get a good connection with the droid. 
B1-4239 was hesitant but moved his hand to shake her hoof. 

“Greetings general.”  

Twilight smiled at his respectfulness. 

“So, I have to lead all of these droids?” 

“Yes sir, but we will have 1 other platoons some AAT’s and an OG-9 Homing spider droid with Dwarfs spider droids to join us as well.” 

Twilight didn’t know what and OG-9 Homing spider droid let alone the Dwarf variant but decided to ask about them later. 

She then used her magic to grab hold of some wraps from the armor so it would cover her wings. 

This confused both droids and Gonky 

“Um. Twilight. Why are you covering your wings.” Roger asked. 

“Yeah, why are you doing that?” 

“Gonk!” 

“I don’t want my Friends or Celestia to know it’s me. If they see me as an alicorn they will assume that I joined, you. If I’m just a unicorn, it will take longer for them to guess it’s me.”  

The droids were still confused but understood what she was planning. 

Once she was finished, she turned her attention back to the camo droid. 

“Alright B1-4239 I want to meet my troops.” 

He nodded and moved out of the way so she could meet her small army. 

She felt nervous in some way as she had never led any alien army before. She may have lead guard’s ponies before, but this was her first-time leading Droids. While she had some good connections with B1’s she had none with B2’s and she wasn’t sure if these Bulky droids would listen to her.  

As she got to the middle of her platoon the droids looked at her, not sure what to say.  

It was silent for the moment till Twilight spoke up. 

“Hi ther-e everypony. I’m-your commander Twilight- spa-rkle. It’s nice to- meet you all.” She said nervously. 

A B1 then stepped up 

“Greeting commander.” the droid responded. 

“Greetings sir.” another one says  

“Awaiting your orders sir.” a B2 responded 

The rest of the platoons were answering her which started to overwhelmed her on how many respawned. 

“All right spread out. Give the commander some room.” Roger told them 

The platoon back out of the way give Twilight enough space to calm her down. 

“when will you head down to the planet?” Roger asked B1-4239 

“In 34 mins sir. Equipment and supplies will be sent from TA-175 Lucrehulk.  

He turned to Twilight who was still calming herself. 

“Ok Twilight. Once everything is ready for deployment you will be on your own.” 

“You won’t be joining me?” she asked 

“I have my own orders to follow, this is also your test, but from the training you have learned you should be fine.” 

“Gonk!” 

“What’s with him?” B1-4239 questioned as he the gonk droid trying to get Twilight’s attention. 

“Do you want to come with me? “ 

Gonky did the best thing it could do to make understand that he was saying yes by jumping up and down.  

Roger when up to the droid. 

“Alright that’s too far. You have your own orders to follow too.”  

Gonky bent its body down to show its disappointment. 

“Why can’t he come?” 

“He’s a gonk droid. He won’t be any help in battle and likely get destroyed if he isn't careful.” 

She turned and looked at the Gonky who was still sad about not being able to go. 

“Hey it’s ok. You'll still be able to help me once I get back.” 

“Gonk.” the droid said sadden. 

Twilight was sad that her new friend wouldn’t be able to join her, but she would see him again. That was when she remembered. 

“Roger. I have one question.” 

“Is it about the Gonk droid, because I’m not going to say yes.
 
“No. I wanted to ask what happened to my droids 1&2?” 

Roger paused for a moment. 

“Well...I don’t know. Though it’s likely that they could be getting reprogrammed.” 

She was shocked to hear this. 

“But-they were my droids!” 

“You did technically steal them and brainwashed them.” 

She was flustered at this and even if she didn’t want them to reprogram them, she really couldn’t do much now. Not until she became a commander. 

“Ugh.” she grunted 

“Sorry 1&2. I guess it will be a while before we can see each other again.” she thought. 

She looked back a B1-4239 

“Is there anything I can help with?” 

“Yes sir. There is some cargo that we still need to pack, but we got this.” 

“No. Let me help you” she said as they both when to help the platoon with preparations. 

Roger watched them leave him with Gonky. 

“Gonk.” 

“I think she do just fine. Come on, I need to let Kraken know that Twilight will be ready to go soon.” 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
The sounds of twisting bolts were about to go silent as Glowing Brilliance was add the finishing touches. She started to close the metal casing around astromech. 

“Please work. Please work.” Glowing Brilliance hoped. 

She looked at the droid hoping for some sign of life in it, but to no avail.  

“Ugh. Back to the drawing board.” Glowing Brilliance told herself as she when to her drawing board to see if there was anything she might have missed. 

“Alright. I use some parts from these battle droids. Maybe I need to connect some of this board looking thing to the main brain?” 

However, as she turned away the sound of beeping and booping startled her. 

The droid awoke from its very long slumber.  

“Um...Hello?’ 

The droid looked at her with a confused look even if it couldn’t show it. 

“Uh...Something wrong?” 


The droid beeped a few times. 

“Oh, I wish I had 1&2 with me.”  

The droid then got right up to her. Wondering who she was. 

She wanted to back up but couldn’t as she was right against the chalk board. She just hoped it wasn’t going to attack her. 

The droid stopped in its tracks as it looked to face worried that it made her scared of him and slowly backed away.  

Brillance realized that she made the droid uncomfortable, so she did her best to enlighten the situation. 

“My name is Glowing Brillance.” she told the droid 

The astromech noted this. 

“You're acting much differently. Did I mess something up that’s making you act like this? 

The droid got confused from her asking this. 

“You can understand me, but you're getting confused on what I say.” 

The droid once again was confused. 

“I’m going to need to tell Celestia about this!” 

The droid once more didn’t know what she was going at. 

“I’ll explain on our way to princess Celestia. Come long. 

“That was something the droid could understand and followed her. 

“Well, I guess you can understand that. now let's go” 

They left the lab and started to head over to the throne room. 

As they were heading to the throne room. Brillance had some questions to ask the droid. 

“So. what can you understand. Because to me it looks like you can’t understand things that are too complex for you.” 

For a second the astromech couldn’t figure out some of the complex stuff but got it down too. “You can't understand things that are too hard for you.” Which it nodded in agreement. 

“Hmm. That could be a problem. Do you know anything about the separatists?” 

“This the droid couldn’t understand. He never heard anything about what a separatist was” 

“Uh oh. If you do know anything about them that means your memory must have been heavily damaged by discord. Can that guy ever not ruin something in his way.” 

The droid then beeped up. Know who discord was. 

“Wait. Do you know him?” She questioned. 

The droid nodded. 

“You know Discord, but not the separatists. Whatever he did to you he must have made you remember him in some good way.” she sighed 

The rest of the time was pure silence until they got to Celestia throne room. 

“Alright little guy. Were here, I suggest you make a go impression of yourself.” 

She then opened the door. 
> The pause for the new stories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey everyone. You may have notice that this story is now paused, but it's not for the reasons you think. I want to continue this story, but I haven't had much time to write new chapters. I won't give up on this story, but I want to try some new stuff out as well. so if any of you a sad to see this story won't get new chapters. don't be. until I have more time for this story. chapters will come around as soon as I think of an Idea. now it up to you on which of the new story you want to see.

we have: The Ponies of Kanto, Equestria final fight, and The World Always needs more hero's.

you can place you votes in the chat where I have left for you to vote on

Happy reading.
> Stuff I had planned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

These were things I had planned to make there own chapters, but didn't have the motivation to write them, hope you enjoy

1: I Planed to give Twilight her own droid squad consisting of 2 IG-100 Magna guards named Dot and Peacu, 2 Commando Droids named Tear and Hunter, 2 Droideka named Rolly and Polly, a B2 Ariel droid named Skies, a Snail Tank named Leo, a B3 Ultra Battle Droid named Shining in memory of her dead bother.

2: There was plans to do a battle for Manehatten where the Pony side used reprogrammed droids and The cis Introducing B3 Ultra Battle Droids via Twilight droid partner Shining, but the ponies lose the battle.

3: There would be a choice of what the ending would be. Either the CIS ending or Friendship ending. 

If the CIS ending was picked Kraken would betray Twilight and kill her along with her friends and the 3 Princesses which would make the planet go under CIS control for about 5 years with it ending when a group of rebals escape on the small replica ship of a providence class ship as they got the knowledge to build on thanks to jobs the CIS forced them to take. they then reach a planet controlled by the Imperial and get in contact with, telling them about there problem which the empire agreed to helped them as they didn't want to deal with this CIS rebellion. which in the end after a long space battle the empire wins and takes over the planet.

The Friendship ending would have Twilight convince the droid army to betray there leaders which she is able to succeed. after that Celestia would apologize for what she has done to the droids along with her friends as they now have to take the time for how many lives where lost during the war Pony, Dragon, or Droid as this should be a time to recover and learn form this then dwell on it for to long. when a week passes Ponies and Droids start to learn and get used to live along side each other, OOM-340 becomes a general in the equestrian army, and Twilight Lets here droid squad learn to do new things like Farming, throwing parties and many other things as now they will leave the war behind them.