I had a few minutes spare and a chapter lying around, so here you go! I see that both my reviews thus far have been by individuals who have not played the Mass Effect games, so I guess I should provide a link to a let's play of this game: watch?v=dL0vecqeCxE&list=PLA15BDBF7B7E551DF&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Seriously, if you haven't played Mass Effect, drop this now and go watch that. It will make this story actually make half of a bit of sense.

Also: I am too lazy to write in accents. Just read it with an accent.

"Engaging stealth systems."

The Horsandy began its descent into the atmosphere of Phillydelphia, undetectable to sensors. Quickly diving through the upper atmosphere, she settled into a low, terrain-hugging cruise, the better to hide from visual detection as well. "Somepony was doing some serious digging here."

"Your team is the muscle of this operation, Twilight." Celestia briefed Commander Sparkle in the cargo bay of the Horsandy. "Go in heavy, and head straight for the dig site."

"What if there are survivors down there, Captain?" Rarity asked from behind Twilight.

"Helping survivors is a secondary objective. The beacon's your top priority!"

"Closing in on drop point one." Dash reported from the cockpit as the cargo bay door swung open.

Derpy Hooves glanced to the other side of the cargo bay, and noticed another figure in the bay. "Neighlus, you're coming with us?"

Neighlus checked his weapons one last time before replying "I move faster on my own." With little ceremony, he descended the ramp, and jumped the few feet to the soil of Phillydelphia.

"Neighlus will scout ahead. He'll feed you reports throughout the mission. Otherwise, I want radio silence."

"Understood, ma'am."

"Good luck, Twilight!"

"Approaching drop point two."

The Horsandy came to a halt, and the trio ran down the cargo ramp before the ship took off again, racing away from any anti-air defenses that might have seen her.

"This place got hit hard, Commander." Came Neighlus' voice over their headseat radios. "Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up."

Twilight kept radio silence, and signaled the squad to draw their weapons. The standard Alliance combat armor was capable of holding four weapons, designed to attach themselves to the user's hoof when placed on the weapon. It was standard practice to carry all four types of weapon used by Alliance infantry; assault and sniper rifles, a shotgun and a pistol, but Twilight had only received significant training in pistols, plus a working knowledge of sniper rifles. Her magical abilities had consumed most of her training.

They journeyed from the drop point, heading towards the spaceport. Off in the distance, they could hear the sounds of gunfire, and occasionally the streak of an errant shot lancing into the sky. It wasn't long until they found their first signs of the battle: a pair of pony corpses, burnt by the look of it. "What happened here?" Derpy asked nopony in particular, worry starting to enter her voice.

"Steady." Twilight said, and led them on.

Two more bodies lay in the grass as they continued along, soon finding a trail running by a sheer drop. Twilight immediately disliked the look of it. Exposed area, surrounded by high ground with cover. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. Silently, she brought them to a halt, and after surveying the area for a second, signaled Derpy to scout out the area. Derpy moved forward, rifle at the ready, scanning the area above the depression for hostiles.

They heard them before they saw them. Or more precisely, they heard gunfire before the two small, flying, robotic attack drones flew out of the treeline, peppering Derpy Hooves with rounds. Derpy cried out and collapsed, and Twilight and Rarity sprung into action. Twilight unleashed a bolt of magic from her horn, tearing one of the attackers apart, while Rarity's pistol tore into the other, detonating it. The attackers down, they moved to check Derpy's condition.

She lay on her side in the dirt, eyes staring off into infinity, dull and empty. "Tore right through her shields." Rarity commented, closing the corporal's eyes. "She never stood a chance."

It was never enjoyable, having a squadmate die, but Twilight had long since learned not to become bogged down with emotion when there was a job to be done. "Marines die sometimes. The rest of us just have to keep moving on. We still need to find that beacon."

"Aye, aye, Commander." Rarity responded, and they made their way up the hill, leaving behind their fallen comrade.

Another trio of attack drones awaited them atop the ridgeline, but were swiftly dealt with by a barrage of pistol fire.

"I've got some burned-out buildings here, Sparkle." Neighlus reported in. "A lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out, and I'll try to meet up with you at the dig site."

Another three drones attacked and were defeated, and the pair found themselves overlooking a valley littered with rocks, winding between two cliffs. Only about twice the height of a pony, the cliffs would nonetheless be a significant terrain advantage to anypony who tried to take a potshot at them. That was when they noticed that the sound of gunfire had returned. They hadn't noticed it fade away, but its return was a sharp contrast to the silence before. As they watched, a light orange filly in Alliance armor bolted out of the valley and ducked behind a rock formation, pursued by two… things. They were ponylike in appearance, but mechanical. Their bodies were slimmer, and textured almost like muscle, while their head was little more than a hood over a light, at the same time creating a figure that was obviously mechanical and appeared almost organic. Twilight observed the machine through the scope of the sniper rifle she had drawn at the sight of the running horse, and twitched her hoof, sending a miniscule shard of metal tearing into it, knocking it to the ground. She switched targets and fired again, dropping the other.

Both targets down, they approached the filly, who saluted upon noticing the rank emblem on Twilight's uniform. "Thanks, Commander," she said, betraying her country accent, "I didn't think I was gonna make it."

"Who are you?" Rarity asked, holstering her weapon.

"Gunnery chief Applejack, 212th Infantry." She replied matter-of-factly. "You the one in charge here, ma'am?" She asked Twilight.

"Give me a report, Chief." Twilight ordered, suddenly recognizing the chief from the distress call, the one who had knocked the cameramare down.

She sighed. "We- we were patrollin' the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our comms. I've been fighting for my life ever since."

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Twilight asked. If they could cobble together a fire team, their odds of success would be much better in the face of more resistance.

"We tried to fall back to the beacon, but we walked right into an ambush. I don't think the others… I think I'm the only one left."

Twilight nodded. It was a little disappointing, but such were the realities of war. "Do you know what we're facing?"

"I, ah, I think they're grains."

"But the grain haven't left the range in two hundred years." Rarity observed. "Why are they here now?"

Applejack shrugged. "They must've come here for the beacon. The dig site's close, just through that trench. It might still be there."

"Take us there." Twilight ordered.

"Yes, ma'am. It's time for some payback."

The trench was short, and no grains attacked them. Quickly, they found themselves at the outskirts of the dig site, a circle of stonework with a pair of pillars rising a short distance up. Twilight again brought her rifle to bear, and between the three of them, the four grains in the ruin were quickly eliminated. Resistance eliminated, they moved into the ruin, where they immediately noticed the grotesque display that was presumably a recent addition. Four giant mechanical spikes rose from posts on the ground, each one bearing an impaled pony hanging limp upon it. The copses were desiccated, drained of bodily fluids, giving the impression that they had been there for weeks, but that was clearly not the case. The spikes must have somehow dried out the victims, sucked out their bodily fluids.

"What in tarnation is this supposed to be?" Applejack demanded, disgusted at the sight.

"I say it's absolutely horrid!" Rarity agreed, looking away.

"Beacon." Twilight brought their attention back to the objective. Or rather, that there was nothing that looked like the objective nearby.

"It was right here this mornin'. It must have been moved."

"By who?" Rarity asked. "Our side or the grains?"

"I dunno. Maybe if there's anypony at the research camp, we can ask them."

"Let's get moving." Twilight stated, not wanting to waste precious seconds that could mean the difference between victory and defeat. "Where's the camp?"

"Just up this ridge."

They set out, and Neighlus' voice entered Twilight's helmet again. "Change of plans, Sparkle. There's a small spaceport ahead. I'm going to check it out. I'll wait for you there."

Once again maintaining silence, Twilight led them up the dirt ramp and out of the pit dug by the excavation teams. Once out, they found themselves amidst what was left of what must have once been the research camp. It was a scattering of prefabricated buildings, most of them burning or reduced to rubble. A scattering of the giant spikes, ponies and all, left no doubt as to who was responsible.

As they cautiously made their way through the rubble, the sound of metal scraping against metal drew their attention, and they watched as the spikes shrank, folding down into their bases, and leaving the dried corpses of their victims resting against them. But these were not merely dried-out bodies of ponies. Some sort of circuitry ran through them, and glowing lights stood out across their bodies.

Then they moved.

"They're still alive!" Rarity cried out, panic in her voice.

"What'id the grains do to 'em?" Applejack asked, not expecting an answer.

"Open fire!" Was Twilight's addition to the conversation, and open fire they did, Twilight and Rarity blasting the abominations with magic while Applejack unleashed prolonged bursts of fire from her rifle. A few seconds later, it was all over. The husks of what had once been ponies lay scattered in the dirt.

"Now we know what the spikes are for." Rarity commented bleakly. "Turning our own dead against us."

"Stay calm. Check the buildings."

Only two of the buildings were still intact, one empty, the other sealed up with the door locked. Fortunately, Rarity had some training in getting past such electronic defenses, and the door was swiftly opened. They entered the one-room building, and found a mare and a colt hiding inside.

"Ponies!" The mare proclaimed, "Thank heaven!"

"Quickly!" The Colt hissed, "Close the door! Before they come back!"

"How did you end up in this shed?" Twilight asked. Maybe now she could finally start getting some answers.

"We hid in here when the attack came." The mare replied. "They must have come for the beacon. Fortunately, it wasn't here. We shipped it off the spaceport earlier today. We stayed behind to pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off for us to hide." She paused. "They gave their lives to save ours."

"Nopony is saved!" The colt interjected. "Our age is ended! Soon only ruin and corpses will remain!"

"What's wrong with your assistant?" Twilight asked, worried about loose cannons.

"Manewell has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit… unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."

"Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!"

"Hush, Manewell, go lie down. You'll feel better after your medication kicks in."

Twilight turned to the gunnery chief. "Applejack, take us to the spaceport."

Neighlus snuck across the spaceport's cargo deck, rifle at the ready as he crept towards the movement he had seen. Finally, he was in position, and jumped out of cover to confront the figure striding away from him. He lined up his weapon, and then recognized the figure. "Luna?" He called, surprised.

The dark blue mare, possessed of both wings and a horn turned to him, smiling, "Neighlus."

Neighlus lowered his rifle. "This isn't your mission, Luna. What are you doing here?"

Luna walked past Neighlus, patting him on the shoulder as she went. "The Council thought you could use some help with this one."

Neighlus nodded, gazing off into the skyline. "The situation's bad. I didn't expect the grains to be here."

"Don't worry." Luna said reassuringly, drawing her pistol and pointing it at the back of Neighlus' head.

"I've got it all under control."