“Fear makes us feel our humanity.”- Benhamin Disraeli

June 16 2530
8:00 am local time
Ponyville

Blissfully unaware of the carnage last night, Twilight Sparkle woke up. She got up from her new silk beds that was double the size of her previous one. She hopped out of the bed sheets and gave a small yawn.

Twilight remembered to stretch her new wings. That way, they wouldn’t get stiff later on while flying. She was fairly decent at flying especially considering that she never needed to learn how to fly in the first place. However she would never beat her pegasus friend Rainbow Dash in a million years.

She walked down the stairs of her renovated treehouse and used her magic to levitate her daily schedule to her. She checked the list and made sure everything was in place; meetings, people, books, time etc.

Feeling pleased with what she was about to go through today, she head down to the kitchen to get something to eat. While she entered the kitchen, she began to feel glad that she didn’t have a full on service of butlers, maids and chefs to attend to her every need. It would have likely overwhelmed her.

She was about to go have a quiet breakfast when Spike came bursting through the kitchen, panting heavily.

“Twilight! Twilight!” yelled the dragon.

“Spike, what is it?” said Twilight, trying to calm the dragon down.

“You got a letter from Celestia.” answered Spike who tried to catch his breath.

Twilight used her telekinesis to grab the scroll from Spike’s hands. As she opened it, she began to wonder what content it would include. She was used to getting messages from Celestia detailing some important task she had to do. She REALLY hoped it was not another meeting she had to do with some stuck up Canterlot Royal. Twilight glanced and read the paper:

To my regal sister

Twilight re-read the first sentence. She remembered when it had just been “To my faithful student Twilight.”. She continued to read on:

Something strange is going on.

Last night Princess Luna had detected something strange in the space around our humble planet. Despite countless hours and hours of observation and reasoning, she has been unable to pinpoint exactly what it is without getting some sort of headache. My sister says that the closest thing she can relate the object to is some sort of chariot/bird/hot air balloon hybrid. Anyway, Luna and her night guards lost track of said object when it landed landed deep within the Everfree forest.

Sometime later we received a message from a Griffin named “Blackwing” that stated the Griffin military unit stationed within the Everfree forest was going to investigate what had fallen. Before Luna could dictate her next move, two dragons were observed to have been flying very close to where this object landed, and never came flying back up. A patrol that was a reasonable distance from the object later arrived in Canterlot at 2:00 am and reported faint sounds of some sort of quarrel. We have sent an order for all guards near or in the Everfree Forest to report back to civilization.
Me and Luna believe that we may be facing some sort of cosmic enemy in the worst case scenario. We have not been able to re-establish contact with the Griffins, so I am sending you and the elements of harmony to investigate what is going on. If you run into any trouble, which I highly doubt, feel free to use the elements as they are an unbeatable force and may be our only hope in facing an alien enemy.

The object is believed to have landed approximately 55 Kilometers north of Fluttershy’s home.

Good luck and pray for the safety of our people,

Princess Celestia

Twilight read the letter one more time. She was starting to get anxious.

Strange object? Cosmic threat? Had Spike been right? Should she have asked that cursed question last night?
She had faced Nightmare Moon, Changelings, Discord, and Sombra but if there were aliens that were out for blood and had never grasped the concept of peace, she would be facing something on a new level. Plus what Spike had said about aliens in the books was right; it never went well for Epona.

She tried to reassure herself. ‘What if these aliens were friendly and just got into a verbal argument with the Griffins. That would make perfect sense. After all, Griffins don’t know the definition of a warm welcome.’

The dragon broke the silence.

“So Twi, what does the letter say?”

Twilight blushed a bit, she didn’t want to prove Spike right about yesterday.

“Well Celestia wants me and the other elements of harmony to check something out for her in the Everfree Forest. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone but I promise you it won’t be long. A simple teleportation spell and we’ll be home”

“Can I come?” asked Spike.

“Actually, I think this assignment isn't meant for a young dragon.” said Twilight nervously.

“Can you watch the library while we’re gone?” whispered Twilight.

“Yeah of course!” insisted Spike. “You don’t need to be so nervous”
Twilight tried to hide her anxiety. “Well, remember the last time I left you alone with the pets? This entire place look like a storm hit!”

“Oh yeah!” said Spike nervously.
-
After two hours of planning and collecting her thoughts, Twilight was ready to head out. Failing her mentor was always her biggest fear. True, she had technically ‘graduated’ when she ascended but Celestia was always a teacher to her. What scared her the most though was that this time, failure included the possibility of death.

Suddenly she remembered the technique her old foal-sister princess Cadance taught her. She took a deep breath, and exhaled. Everything calmed down.

She had re-read everything about the everfree forest and books about the cosmos. However, none of them went over extra-equestrians. The only information she could get about Xenos were fictional sci-fi stories like ‘Invasion of the Pony Snatchers!’.

Her head was still pounding from anxiety. She reminded herself that she had the elements of harmony with her. If the worst case scenario was true, she could just utilize the force that she used multiple times to protect herself.
At the same time however, she was very exited and curious. If the otherworldly beings were friendly and cooperative, she could find a way to learn about a whole new species! The idea of all that knowledge would make her drool like one of Pinkie’s famous four layer chocolate cupcakes.

Twilight also hoped that by learning from aliens, Equestrian society would evolve rapidly and finally reach the cosmos! That was a much more comforting thought than a thought about group of genocidal monsters.

But the alicorn still wanted to be careful. She remembered that she had given the other elements; honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, and kindness to their respective bearers; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and
Fluttershy.

With no more distractions, she said good-bye to Spike and left the door.

She looked around Ponyville, everypony was on their daily business. The fillies and colts were at school getting educated, the stallions and mares were heading to work and Derpy Hooves was of course, messing up her mail delivery again.

All was quiet until everypony glimpsed at the purple alicorn. As expected, everypony got down on the ground and bowed, muttering phrases like “I am not worthy”.

Twilight tensed, she despised all the formality. She had known these ponies in Ponyville for more than a year and yet, they were treating her like a complete stranger that would banish them to the moon if she got pissed off. But no matter what she did, it was like everypony knew her as a different person. She even got rid off that ugly dress she wore and refused to wear jewelry to blend in.

Twilight used her technique to cool herself raised her voice to kill the tension.

“Um, hi everypony. Uh there’s nothing important going on, I just want to get to the other element bearers for something important”

A voice startled her.

“Well look no further!”

Twilight squeaked and quickly turned around to see a rainbow maned Pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash, you really have to cut that out!” scolded Twilight.

The pegasus was on the floor laughing her flank off and trying to fight back tears.“Sorry Twi but your face when you’re scared is priceless!”

“Dash this is serious! Princess Celestia wants us to investigate something that happened in the Everfree Forest last night and I have the feeling that there’s something huge going on right now!”

“The...Everfree Forest?” whimpered Rainbow Dash.

“Yes! Will that be a problem?” asked Twilight with an angry face.

“Oh of course not!” said Dash, regaining her pride.

“You can always count on me! I am the element of loyalty after all.”

“Great because we have to get the others. Princess Celestia is counting on us!” snarled Twilight.
Twilight started walking towards Carousel Boutique where Rarity worked and lived. Rainbow Dash was flying behind her.

“By the way, I thought you don’t have to take orders from Celestia anymore. Aren’t you her equal now?” questioned Dash.
Twilight snapped. She turned around to face her friend.

“Well first off, yes I am her equal but Celestia is still one of the most important ponies to me! Second, I still haven’t reached her level yet so there’s still plenty of tasks for me to do and I don’t intend to fail! I thought the element of loyalty would get that better thany anyone else!”

“Yeesh calm down!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
Twilight did so. “Look I’m sorry. I’m just really anxious about this mission, there’s a chance it could be something huge!”
Dash wasn’t listening.

“Hey look we’re here!” pointed Dash.

In front of the two stood an elegant building that was the center of fashion of Ponyville also known as Carousel Boutique.
Twilight politely knocked on the door and waited for her friend to open the door. Sure enough, she heard the sound of hoof-steps inside and the door opened revealing an albino Unicorn with a purple mane.

“Twilight darling!” cheered Rarity.

“Its good to see you to Rarity.” began Twilight.

“Oh Twilight, you simply must come in!” cheered the white Unicorn.

“Um..Rarity?

“I have designed for you the most perfect garment in all of Equestria, fit for a monarch like you.” Rarity.

“Rarity..”

“You must come in and see!”

Before Twilight could resist, the Unicorn grabbed Twilight’s fore hoof and dragged her inside the store. Twilights free hooves dragged on the floor while Rarity went on and on about her stupid new design. Rarity was moving so fast that the
colors of the store and dresses all faded into a single blob.

Rainbow Dash started giggling as she flew into the store.

‘This is gonna be rich’ she thought.

Rarity finally stopped in her tracks and let go of Twilight’s hoof. The alicorn stood up and tried to get Rarity’s attention. Twilight noticed Rainbow Dash was spying from the doorway, snickering.

Rarity continued her speech about her dress while getting her materials sorted.

“Oh you should have been there Twilight, Fleur’s dress was just astounding and went so well with Fancy’s graceful suit.”

“Rarity!” yelled Twilight.

“Then Photo Finish came in with some pictures of candidates of Luna’s upcoming gala dresses and Celestia’s favorite gown...”

“Rarity!”

“I was so inspired by that point that I just had to have an idea hit me.”

“Rarity!”

“I took the liberty of looking through some of the dresses the royal weavers were making. Now no offense Twilight dear, but the colors would be absolutely horrid on you. But with the right amount of contrast, it might just work.”
“Rari-ARGH!”

Rarity dashed to Twilight and began measuring every part of her body, from her horn, to her wings, to her tail. Twilight tried to get her attention but;

“Now I just need to make sure that the measurements are 100% perfect. We really don’t want anything to look small or big on you during your next big royal event now do we?”

Twilight was getting really mad at this point. Her friend was generous and nice to be around, but when it came to fashion, it was drop everything else in life for Rarity.

Twilight was about to scream when-

“And done!” cheered the Unicorn as she shoved the dress down Twilight.

“So what do you think your majesty?” asked Rarity.

Twilight looked at herself in the mirror. She looked ridiculous.
First off, her dress was all pink and in ways that did not suit her. Second, there was jewelry on every single square millimeter on the dress. Had it not been for the only part of the cloth that was not covered, she wouldn’t be able to tell it was pink in the first place.

‘At least Spike would like it’ she thought.

Third, there were multicolored feathers EVERYWHERE. Enough to rival the gems. For a second, she thought Rarity had shaved off Dash’s mane and put it on the dress.

“What do you think dear?” asked a worried Rarity.

Twilight turned around and saw Dash on the floor laughing.

She quickly faced Rarity and gave the best fake smile she could.

“Um..it’s great. Thanks.” muttered Twilight.

“Fantastic. I knew you’d like it! cheered Rarity.

“Look Rarity, forget about the dress.” said Twilight quickly.

Twilight quickly used her telekinesis to remove the flashy garment and throw it aside. Before Rarity could say something, Twilight spoke up.

“Rarity, Princess Celestia has tasked us with something very important and we can’t do it unless we’re all working together!”

“Twilight dear, you know me, I am always willing to help my friends especially when it’s something for Celestia!” insisted Rarity.

“Good” nodded Twilight.

“The princess wants us to investigate something in the Everfree Forest-”

“The Everfree Forest?” asked Rarity nervously.

“Yes.” said Twilight. “I’ll fill you up on the details when we get the other elements of harmony. Come on lets go.”
-
Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash quickly exited the building. Dash was still smirking over the thought of Rarity’s new dress. Twilight noticed this and shot the Pegasus a ‘If you don’t wipe that smile off your face, Im gonna hurt you’ look.

Twilight turned to face her friends. “Ok, Pinkie is close by so I suggest we get to her-”

“I’m already here silly!” said a high pitched, friendly voice.

Twilight was caught off guard with a pink earth pony suddenly materializing right in front of her. Twilight recoiled back with a faint scream.

“Pinkie Pie, how did you know I was looking for you?” questioned Twilight.

Pinkie started blurting out her usual fast paced monologues all the while moving quickly;

“Well it all started last night when both my eyelids started blinking like super really fast and my Pinkie sense told me that something from space fell the sky. Then I woke up this morning and my hooves started twitching followed by an uncontrolled kick and my tail tieing up meaning that Celestia sent you letter. So since something fell from the sky last night, it was pretty obvious that Celestia wanted to check that thing and since you never do tasks by her alone unless she tells you to, you always go looking for us and since you weren’t at Rainbow Dash’s, Fluttershy’s, Applejack’s, mine or your home, you just had to be at Rarity’s right?”

Pinkie took a deep breath.

“And thats how I knew you were looking for me.”

“Pinkie, really? Something falling from outer space? Thats just absurd, even from you.” said Rarity with an unamused face.

“Yeah!” added Dash. “Even if something did fall from the sky, I’m pretty sure Luna would have checked it out by now.”

“Girls.” said a surprisingly calm Pinkie with a tone of sass.

“Remember the last time somepony questioned my Pinkie sense?”

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at Twilight. Oh how the Alicorn could not forget that memory.

Twilight spoke up. “Actually, Pinkie Pie is telling the truth.”

“What?!” yelled Dash and Rarity.

“See.” said Pinkie.
“Look, I’ll fill you all on the details but we got to get to Applejack first come on.” said Twilight, with a hint of worry.

Everfree Forest
June 16 2530
10:20 am local time

X-ray woke up after a very long sleep. He got up on his legs, eyes still closed, and gave out a barely audible yawn. He wasn’t awake enough to analyze his surroundings but he could still see three black blobs that meant his friends.

“Hey guys,” said X-ray slowly.

“I had the weirdest dream the other night. You were in.” he pointed to Scorch.

“You were in.” he pointed to Overwatch.

“And even you were in.” he pointed to Scarecrow.

“I had a dream where we were going to visit a planet. Then it turned out everything on it was animated like it is here. Then we were attacked by Persian speaking Griffins and Dragons that looked like those corpses over there....”

X-ray was fully awake now. “...and it was real.” he muttered.

Scarecrow and Scorch laughed.

“To be fair, I actually thought it was a dream to until I woke up.” laughed Scorch.

“How long have you three been awake?” asked X-ray.

“Me and Overwatch woke up only five minutes ago, and Scarecrow got up 10 minutes before us.” answered Scorch. “So given the fact we’re in fairy tale land, should we use our distress beacon to contact the Blackjack?”

“Nah,” replied Scarecrow. “We won’t be able to show any visual proof of the creatures with a distress beacon. Plus the guys on the Blackjack are really skeptical. They’ll just think we’re fucking with them.”

Scarecrow turned to around to find that Overwatch was cloaked and had set up a look out on a tree. Scarecrow then returned his attention to his other two squad mates.

“So how much ammo do you guys have left after our little skirmish?” asked Scarecrow.

“I only got one mag left for my rifle. Used up one grenade and I only used two mags for my sidearm. Still have all my pulse grenades” said X-ray. He turned to the recon drone hovering around. “I’m afraid the drones out of ammo. This thing ain’t made for combat.”

“Got no frags left,” chuckled Scorch “Used up half my rifle’s ammo. Only got one rifle grenade left and only one rocket remaining.”

Overwatch startled everyone by uncloaking. He spoke in a quiet voice.

“I used no frags. I still have half of my PDR rounds and two Sniper mags.”

Now it was Scarecrow’s turn to speak.

“Well, I only got six shot gun shells left. Have 100 shots in my LMG, two frags left and I only used up one of my pyro grenades.”

“I hardly think we have enough ammo to do our job until back up arrives.” sighed X-ray.

“Yeah.” added Scorch. “If this planet is full of billions of mythical creatures, we’re gonna need a lot of fucking ammo.”
“Well there’s no way for us to get ammo unless we use our beacons to call for a resupply....” said Scarecrow.

Overwatch was about to activate the beacon in his hand when Scarecrow stopped him.

“..unless”

“What are you getting at man?” asked X-ray.

“Lets head to the landing site.” Began Scarecrow. “I kinda remember that there’s an ammo locker we forgot to check out. With any luck..”

“Dude, there’s no way we can scavenge the VTOL, a dragon blew it to pieces.” interrupted Scorch.

“Yeah, but they tend to fuck up every now and then” said a smiling Scarecrow.

“Sounds like a good idea.” agreed X-ray. "As long as we're stranded here,"

“But before we move, I think it would be a good idea to collect a blood sample from one of those Griffins and Dragons for scientific research.” proposed Scarecrow.

“Overwatch, get a sample.” ordered the commander.

The sniper nodded and went to the site of the conflict. The Griffins lay on the floor, all mutilated by bullet fire. Overwatch took out two syringes and crept to a body of a dead Griffin. He impaled the corpse with the needle and watched as red, catoony blood seamlessly merged with the realism of his vial.

‘Interesting’ he thought.

He then ran towards a dragon corpse, the one he killed, and tried to shove another needle in. The dragon’s scales were tough to penetrate but he quickly got through. The dragon’s blood, however, was an animated violet.
Overwatch observed the two vials and sprinted back to his squad.

“Alright” said Scarecrow. “We’re Oscar Mike”

-

Pinkie Pie would not shut up.

“But what if aliens were made of cotton candy, they’d think I was one of them! You know my mane looks like it has a lot
of cotton candy so maybe they’d make me queen!”

Pinkie then materialized on top of the gliding Rainbow Dash causing her to flinch.

“Or it what if they hated Rainbows? Oh Dash you’d be in trouble!”

Next, the pink pony just popped up in front of Twilight.

“And just imagine all the super-duper facts and maths they could teach you.”

Then she started skipping in front or Rarity.

“And they’d be wearing cool space suits. I’m pretty sure they’d hate your clothes!”

Rarity cracked at the statement.

“Pinkie Pie! For the millionth time, there are no aliens. I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for what Celestia wants us to investigate”

Twilight remained silent.

“And besides, no one in the universe could ever resist one my charming garments. Even if their taste was the polar
opposite of what I design, that doesn’t mean I can change styles once in a while.”

“I don’t know Rarity” said Rainbow Dash with a sly tone. “I’m pretty sure there are ponies out there who think you make some pretty lame stuff”

“Rainbow Dash darling, I don’t mean to come off as rude, but you saw Twilight’s reaction earlier. I am certain that if I can please royalty, I can please anypony” replied the unicorn.

Rainbow Dash started laughing. Pinkie joined in even though she had no idea what was so funny in the first place.
Twilight and her friends were then caught by the site of numerous apple trees. That signaled that they were in Sweet Apple Acres where Applejack and her family worked. As their name implied, they made a living off farming the best apples on Epona.

The 4 mares walked across the field, there was no sign of Applejack.

Twilight heard a grunt and turned around to see a large, red, Earth Pony Stallion carrying a wagon loaded with apples. It was Big Macintosh, Applejack’s older brother. Him and his two sisters would keep the farm running but the younger sister, Applebloom was at school by now.

“Hi Big Mac!” cheered Twilight.

Big Mac turned around and gasped once he saw the Alicorn. Big Mac immediately dropped to the ground and bowed. Mummering in fear all the while.

“Oh not you too!” yelled Twilight. She gave a big face hoof.

“Twilight. Big Mac is just trying to be a respectful gentlecolt.” insisted Rarity.

“There is no reason why you should be so frustrated.”

Twilight ignored her and trotted to the stallion. In a sarcastic princes voice she yelled;

“You may rise young stallion.”

Big Mac did so. He still had the nervous look on his face.

“Can you tell me where your sister, Applejack is?”

The stallion nodded and spoke with his deep voice.

“She’s buckin em apples over there.”

Big Mac pointed his fore hoof to a pile of trees. Some had apples, some did not. The ones that did shook and their apples fell out.

“Thanks Big Mac” said Twilight. “Come on girls.”

Twilight’s friends followed the path of appleless trees.

Pinkie skipped alongside Big Mac.

“Bye Big Mac you silly willy.” she said before joining her friends.

Big Mac gave out a small sigh of relief before carrying on.

The group of mares had to gallop to reach Applejack. Her apple bucking had gotten so good that she could wipe a tree clean in two seconds if she was motivated to.

Applejack still had a lot of trees to go through. Her family received a large order from a juice making company in Coltifornia to supply them with enough apples for their fruit juices. Plus, she had to practice for Applebuking season. There was no way she was going to get through the huge orchid by slacking off.

Applejack got to another tree, turned around, contracted her hooves and was about to kick when-

“HI APPLEJACK!”

“AH!” screamed the cowpony. She lost control of her body and kicked back sending an object that was clearly not a tree a few meters.

The Earth Pony turned around to see Pinkie slumped against a tree. Her eyes rolling around. She quickly shook her head and popped right in front of Applejack.

“That was fun. I was all behind you saying hi and then you bucked me and I went flying as if I was a pegasus. Oh boy me having wings, that would be amazing”

Applejack spoke up with her western accent.

“Pinkie, ah’m really sorry. Ah didn’ mean ta hit ya. Ah just lost-”

“There’s no need to apologize silly.” cheered the Pink Pony. “That was fun.”

Applejack heard another voice call out.

“Applejack, Pinkie there you are.”

The cowpony turned around to see her friends Rarity, Twilight galloping with Rainbow Dash flying overhead.

“Well of course I’d be here silly.” said Pinkie.

Before Pinkie Pie could start. Applejack started talking.

“Howdy Twi, what brings y’all here?” she asked.

“We got an urgent message from Celestia telling us to investigate something in the Everfree Forest. We need all elements of harmony present.” answered Twilight.

“Um, Twi. Shouldn’t ya have them elements with ya?” asked AJ.

“Yeah where are they?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t worry everypony. I have the elements on speed-summon in case we need them” replied Twilight.

“Speed summon?” questioned Rarity.

Suddenly Twilights horn lit up and her eyes closed. She concentrated until there was a flash of light and a small box appeared in front of them.

The box burst open and there stood the 6 elements of harmony. There were 5 necklaces that represented honesty, loyalty, generosity, kindness, and laughter. Then there was a tiara that was not only Twilight’s crown that she wore during formal events but also represented the element of magic.

“Should we put them on now?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I think we should keep them out of plain sight until necessary.” answered Twilight.

“Not to mention we should still get to Fluttershy.” said Rarity.

“I know. What Celestia wants us to find out is directly north of her home anyway” groaned the Alicorn.

“Ah don’t know Twi, I got a lotta work do here.” mummered Applejack.

“Come on AJ, we’ll only be gone for a little while. Just a quick teleportation spell and we’ll be back.” Twilight paused for a moment. “I hope.”

“I hope?” whispered Rarity.

“Look I’ll fill you all in when we’re all together. Let’s just get to Fluttershy’s home first.”

“Fine, ah guess it won’t hurt as long as ah ain’t gone for more than a day. I reckon’ Big Mac and Apple Bloom will manage.”
-
After 10 minutes of walking, the group found themselves walking along side a path that led to a small hill that nested Fluttershy’s cottage. Since it was her job to take care of the animals in ponyville, the path to her home was littered with birds, rabbits, small reptiles and dozens of adorable creatures.

The equines reached the doorway and Rarity knocked on the door with her hoof. The door opened but Fluttershy was not the one who opened it. Looking down, the ponies saw a small white rabbit/bunny wearing a bib with a clearly pissed off frown.

“Hi Angel you funny bunny!” cheered Pinkie. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

Angel sighed. How he loathed Fluttershy’s friends. He turned ans pointed his nose up to signal the equines that his caretaker was upstairs.

“Thanks Partner!” yelled Applejack.

The five ponies made their way up to find Fluttershy pouring some food in bowls with multiple animals going up to enjoy their meal.

“Hey Fluttershy!” greeted Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy, taken by surprise, squeaked and hid in a sofa with her eyes peaking out.

“Fluttershy, its us!” said a high pitched voice.

Fluttershy moved her eyes to the left to meet another pair of eyes hiding with her.

The Pegasus flew out of the couch and turned to see her friends were the ones who greeted her. The yellow pony finally calmed down.
“Oh hello.” she whispered. “What brings you all here?”

“Princess Celestia asked us to investigate something in the everfree forest?” answered Twilight. “Let’s head outside so I can finally tell you all what this is about.”

“The everfree forest?” whimpered the yellow pegasus. “I don’t know Twilight I have to take care of my animals and I haven’t even fed angel yet.”

‘So thats why the bunny was mad’ thought Twilight.

“Look I know everypony is busy but we won’t be gone for very long! Why do I have to repeat this?” raged Twilight.

“Twilight, control your temper. That is no way for a lady to act especially if that lady is a princess.” scolded Rarity.
Twilight blushed.

“OK I’ll go ahead with this.” said Fluttershy. “Just give me a moment to feed Angel.”

After two minutes the Mane 6 found themselves outside the cottage. Fluttershy had asked Angel to look after the animals while she was gone. Much to the bunny’s dismay.

“So Twi, why exactly do we need the elements. Is Discord acting up again?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“No. I’m afraid Fluttershy did a good job with him.” the alicorn turned and winked at the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy smiled.

Twilight took a deep breath. “OK. Last night an object landed from space and into the Everfree Forest.”

“Just like what I said!” cheered Pinkie.

“But thats not the full of it. When Luna tried to track and observe the object, she got some sort of unnatural headache so she has completely no idea what it is. Then she received word from a Griffin soldier that the a unit stationed in the Everfree forest was going to investigate what had happened and that Equestria should send aid. Before Luna could decide what could happen next. She saw, two dragons fly-”

“Dra-gons?” said Pinkie slowly

“Yes.” nodded Twilight. “Luna saw two dragons go to the same spot where the object was believed to have landed.”
Twilight paused. “And they never came flying back up. There was no other word from the Griffins either.”

“Did Luna actually send aid?” questioned Dash.

Twilight shook her head no.

Rarity broke the silence. “Twilight you don’t think that whatever came from the cosmos is some sort of monster that-”

“No. No.” insisted Twilight. “I am sure there is a logical explanation why we lost contact.”

“Even that thing was a monster, nuthin could get past a group of em Griffins right?” whispered Applejack.

“Yeah.” said Pinkie. “I’m sure it was just a pretty space rock like the one Spike likes to eat and the Griffins and Dragons are just admiring how cool it looks.”

“That actually is possible.” muttered Twilight. “I wouldn’t want to keep my eyes off of something like that until I studied it thoroughly.”

“I still say we bring the elements, just in case we run into trouble.” said Rainbow Dash.

“So where is this thing anyway?” asked Fluttershy.

“It landed north of your home by around 40 miles.” explained Twilight. “So using my teleportation spell, we’ll move around 38 miles in the direction it landed and just hoof it from there.”

“Oh Celestia, I despise the woods.” moaned Rarity. She placed her hoof on her face from the thought of all that dirt.

“Quit complaining!” yelled Dash. “I’m ready Twi.”

The mane 6 gathered together. The elements of harmony were stored safely in a container with them.
Twilight’s horned glowed and there was a purple light that surrounded the 6 mares. And in a flash, they were gone.

VTOL landing site.
10:50 am

“I can’t believe that all really happened!” exclaimed Scorch.

“The fight with Griffins and Dragons?” replied X-ray.

“Yeah, just how we totally decimated them and ripped their bodies apart. Not mention we started moving at ultrasonic speeds and doing cool flippy action hero tricks. I mean, I know we pretty much do the same things for our human enemies but we don’t move that fast nor do we not have to take cover that much.”

“Well no shit, with the planet having a lighter gravity then what were used to, were gonna be flying like superheroes. Plus we were trained in simulations with gravity 30% stonger than Earth’s to add insult to injury.”

“Yeah but don’t you think that was too easy? I know guns have come a long way, but come on, when we shoot a damn pirate or insurrectionist they don’t have their limbs blown off that quickly unless their armor sucked or were sniped.”

“Well thats the thing, I’m sure the armor they had was at pussy medieval levels and since their bodies are built for a small gravity, they’re gonna be pretty frail.”

“Yeah but isn’t dragon and Griffin hide supposed to be all powerful beyond belief?”

“I guess, but in stories like that, Griffins and Dragons were on Earth so-”

“Would the two of you cut the chatter! You’re driving me crazy!” scolded Scarecrow.

“Yes sir.” whispered Scorch and X-ray.

“Aha we’re here!” cheered Scarecrow.

Before them lay a heavily damaged VTOL. Scorch had done a good job blowing it up. Pretty much everything had been vaporized.

“Look there’s an ammo kit!” pointed Scarecrow.

There stood a half smeared crate containing bullets and grenades. Half the stuff was beyond repair and use while the other side remained untouched. The dragon has still done a number.

Shadow squad sprinted to the crate and looked at its contents. Luckily for them, the part that was smeared contained rounds for guns they weren’t currently in possession of. One by one, they scavenged the ammo.

“I can’t believe we missed this!” yelled X-ray.

“Well I’m glad we did.” said Scarecrow as he picked up a few shotgun shells.

Soon enough they were back in black. Everyone had restocked and was back to full ammo. Even Scorch had all his explosives accounted for. The remaining ammo left in the crate was for stuff they didn’t want or need. It didn’t matter if it was discarded.

“Damn” whispered Scorch. “All Semtex grenades and mines are gone.”

“As if you need more explosives attached to you.” said Scarecrow. “If you had it your way, you’d be a walking mine. Take one hit, and we’re fucked.”

Scorch gave a near silent groan. He preferred explosive combat any day.

“Hey guys.” said X-ray. “If this planet has less gravity then what we’re used to doesn’t that mean we should probably do some exercise to avoid out muscle mass from I don’t know, deteriorating?”

“Wow, I never thought I’d hear those words from you X-ray.” laughed Scarecrow.

“I guess it also means that we’re gonna have to install artificial gravity generators if we’re gonna have this planet colonized like we did with Mars and moon colonies.” said Scorch.

“I doubt this planet will be colonized.” replied Scarecrow as he started doing push ups. “The columbus protocol says we can’t live on planets already inhabited by intelligent creatures to, well, not end up likes those colonial era dicks from a thousand years ago.”

“But I guess if all races are indeed hostile, I’m sure we’re gonna end up killing them all and taking this planet for ourselves.” implied X-ray. “Conquest motherfucker.”

“You know,” began Scorch as he started doing squats. “If Dragons and Griffins are real after all, what’s gonna stop us from encountering Hydras, Pegasai, Goblins, hell even maybe even Orcs?”

“It’s all a huge possibility.” agreed Scarecrow. “Good thing we’re armed and trained to the teeth. I suggest we immediately leave this place after a few minutes. I’m pretty sure the rest of the Griffin army is coming after us.”

“I wish we had that power armor like those super soldiers.” sighed X-ray.

“There’s no way you’d fit in one.” mocked Scorch.

“Neither would you fat ass.” countered the rifleman.

“Hey.” said a calm, collected voice that belonged to Overwatch.

Scarecrow got up and looked at Overwatch. His glasses/visor was glowing blue meaning he had magnetic vision turned on. It was what Shadow squad used to see in the very dark areas and find enemies hiding from them.

Overwatch was looking through his sniper scope tensely. Something was up.

“What’s going on?” asked X-ray.

“6 contacts. A couple hundred meters from our position. I can’t make out what they are though at this distance.” answered the hooded sniper.

“Probably more Griffins.” gritted Scorch.

X-ray turned to his wrist computer. “Scarecrow, I’m getting two massive radiation counts from the same direction. I’m getting gamma, infrared, electromagnetic, hell even fucking gravitational radiation simultaneously!”

Scarecrow raised an eyebrow underneath his mask. “Damn, whatever’s out there must be powerful. You said there were two sources?”

X-ray nodded. “One has a higher radiation count from the other.”

Scarecrow started formulating a plan. “OK, whatever’s there is probably gonna discover the battle site so-”

Scarecrow noticed that Scorch immediately ran off and cloaked. The demo man was the fastest one amongst them so he had ran off a respectable distance.

“Scorch get back here.” ordered Scarecrow through the COMMS, but it was no use. The commander, X-ray and
Overwatch followed after their comrade.

Sometime earlier

The Mane 6 found themselves surrounded by trees. Twilight’s teleportation had worked and they were in the middle of the everfree forest. Once they knew they were all together they started to walk in a straight line.

“Ah swear ah hate this place. It don't even work like the rest of Equestria.” said AJ.

“Come on girls we’re only gonna see what’s going on and then we’ll leave.” assured Twilight. Even she couldn’t get the worry out of her voice.

“Are you sure we have to do this Twilight? I mean its not that I don’t want to, he he. I’m perfectly fine with doing things with my friends.” whispered Fluttershy.

“Come everypony! We faced Discord and Changelings for heaven’s sake. If there’s any monster out there, I’m sure it can’t be worse than chaos himself!” yelled Dash.

“Yeah!” cheered Pinkie. “I might not think a lot, but if there’s a big meanie out there, I don’t think there’s any reason for us not give it a big-ol-buck to the face and a-.”

Suddenly Pinkie froze in the middle of her skip. She fell to the ground and suddenly her ears started to twist, then her tail turned 360, followed by her eyes fluttering non-stop for a few seconds.

Pinkie immediately froze. Sweat was pouring down the mare. Never before had her friends seen her this frightened.

“What did yer Pinkie sense tell ya?” asked Applejack.

“I don’t think that would ever happen.” whispered Pinkie.

“What do you mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“My Pinkie sense is telling me....that whatever is out there...has a half chance of destroying Ponykind.” said the pink pony slowly.

It was safe to say Pinkie sense was never wrong. For a minute, they stood quietly.

“Half chance?” finally asked Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie began to speak fast again. “Yeah, something’s wrong with this sense. You see, whenever that happens, either my left or my right back hoof is supposed to do a kick. If its my left hoof, were safe, but if its my right......were DOOMED!”
Everypony looked at her with their eyes wide open.

“But I’m sure it would have been the left. Who would want to destroy Ponykind!” cheered Pinkie Pie. She returned to her happy demeanor.

The Mane 6 continued walking in a straight line. They were all obviously paranoid.

“So how far are we exactly from this object Twilight?” asked Rarity.

“We’ve only been walking for a few minutes.” said a slightly annoyed Twilight.

“Ugh, its so damp and humid here.” moaned the white Unicorn.

Twilight was getting angry faster than usual. Pinkie’s revelation did not calm her down. “We’ll if you stop talking, we’ll get
there faster so-”

“OH MY CELESTIA WHAT IS THAT!”

Everypony’s face nearly lost their color. Pinkie’s mane it particular, immediately deflated and her color darkened. What stood before them was a sign of pure terror and fear. It was a big miracle that Fluttershy did not faint.

What tainted their vision was essentially a mass grave. What lay there was hundreds of Griffin bodies, all forced to a painful and bloody death. Blood was spilled everywhere, turning the grass and some trees red. The Griffin corpses were unrecognizable. Wings. lion tails, stomachs and heads were missing from numerous bodies.

Against all instincts the ponies began to walk forward along the path of destruction. They were knocked out speechless by the scene and didn’t realize they were getting blood on their hooves. Fluttershy started began tearing up. Even Rainbow Dash was dropped dead frightened of what she saw.

“Wh-what could have done all this?” she began to cry.

“I-I don’t kn-kow.” replied Rarity.

“Whoever did this must be a sick meanie.” whispered Pikie.

Twilight for once wasn’t prepared to deal with something. Celestia had been right, the object that fell from the sky was a cosmic threat that was claiming the lives of many.

Pinkie got green and vomited at the sight of a Griffin covered in burn marks.

Fluttershy and Rarity lost consciousness at the sight of a Griffin corpse with its hear missing and skull crushed to pieces.

They heard a whisper.

“shadow”

They turned their heads left.

“sha.....dow”

They walked towards the source and saw a lone Griffin, his lower stomach blown off revealing his internal organs, slumped against a tree. Fluttershy regained her confidence and flew towards him. She did her best to comfort him even though they both knew it was hopeless.

“sha.....dow”

“Don’t be afraid, everything will be alright.” whispered the yellow pegasus.

Suddenly, the Griffin’s eye widened at the sight of the Mane 6. He pushed himself away from the tree and clutched a spear head.

The Mane 6 started to back away from the Griffin soldier who had a blood thirsty look on his face. He spoke in his native language. "اگر من جان ...... من مایل - نیز ممکن است 'سرفه' را از اسبان بی فایده به عنوان بسیاری از شما با من است."

(“If I die......I mi--might as well ‘cough’ take out as ma-ma-many of you useless ponies with me.” he said.)

The Griffin took a few steps towards the frightened ponies. Suddenly, his eyes lost focus and he slumped to the ground.

He was dead.

The equines didn’t know that to be more afraid of; the fact that he attacked them and wanted to kill them, or the fact they watched a creature die. They went with the former.

“You know...” gulped Rainbow Dash.

“These Griffins are jerks anyway. I kinda guess they deserve this for bullying around other races. Maybe they got what’s coming to them.”

“Ah’m sorry partner!” scolded Applejack. “No one deserves tah die as horrible like this! Even if they were a no good, bloodthirsty Griffin soldier.”

Rainbow Dash nodded her head. Half in defeat, half in agreement.

“He said something about a ‘shadow’.” inquired Twilight. “What could that mean?”

“Maybe what fell from the sky was this magical orb that made your shadow come to life and kill you!” spoke Pinkie. Her mane had reflated but she was still scared like hell. “How do we know ours didn’t come to life to?”

“Pinkie, shadows do not come to life.” said Twilight. Although she looked at hers with some suspicion and fear.
The alicorn walked over to another dead Griffin and looked down at with pity. His eyes were open with full terror, as if he had seen the the most horrific ghost in the universe. His neck was open and blood was leaking from it like a burst balloon.

“Oh my gosh.” whispered Rainbow Dash.

“That’s Gilda’s brother. When she and I were still...friends,”

Rainbow Dashed looked to his side to see Fluttershy and Pinkie giving her dirty looks.

“we would sometimes pick on her older brother for fun and now....”

Something caught Twilight’s eye. It was burrowed deep within its neck. She used her telekinesis to pick it up. The rest of the Mane 6 looked at the object that claimed the life of the Griffin. When she was grabbing it with her telekinesis, she found that the object was much heavier than it appeared to be so she redoubled her efforts.

Soon the blood dripped off the small object and when everypony got a full glimpse of it, their minds started aching before going back to focus. The object looked completely alien, as if it existed from a different plane of existence. It was cylindrical, with a pointed tip. It was dull grey and smelled of smoke, as if it was lighted by fire.

“What...is that?” asked Fluttershy.

“Don’t ask me.” said Rainbow Dash. “Twilight’s the egg head.”

“I..I don’t know what this is.” whispered Twilight as she held the object with her telekinesis, moving it around. “I guess it’s some sort of projectile like a spear or cannon. Although there’s now way it can make a wound that big if it’s that small.”
Rarity tried to look at the object carefully but every time she did, she got the same headache, as if she was solving an impossible math problem.

“I’m no smith, by I don’t think this is made from any material here on Epona.” whispered the white Unicorn. “But you’re right, this does look like a projectile.”

“Everypony look!” yelled Pinkie. The pink mare had walked ahead a few meters.

The rest of the Mane 6 galloped towards her. As Twilight looked at the bodies, she saw that most of them had the same kind of small metal pierced in various places, creating deep, bloody holes.

Finally the ponies looked at what Pinkie was pointing at. Now this was beyond comprehension.

There was a corpse of a dragon. A DRAGON. Slain.

“Wow,” gulped Applejack. “We really are dealin’ with sumthin’ dangerous.”

Twilight looked at the Dragon’s face and saw that one of it’s eyes had exploded. Like a fountainhead, violet blood had leaked from the eye socket. The dragon was clearly killed recently as some of the blood had not dried yet. All of a sudden, Twilight was glad that Spike had not come along.

“Twilight look!” yelled Pinkie Pie. Pinkie pointed to the ground with her head.

Twilight moved her head to see what she was talking about and once again, her head hurt. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. There lay another one of those objects, only larger.

“Please, let’s go.” pleaded Fluttershy.

The Mane 6 didn’t have to think twice. They started walking ahead in a straight line and after a few minutes, passed the trail of bloodshed. They didn’t even stop to bother to look at the other dragon with its torso ripped out.

“You know,” started Pinkie. “Griffins and dragons are the biggest groups of...” Pinkie took a gulp, “..jerks in the world. I really think that whatever came from space was being bullied by them and acted in self defense.” The Pink knew she was just trying to make the best out of a horrifying situation.

“Ya know what?” responded Applejack. “ ‘Em Griffins and Dragons don’ know anythin’ when it comes ta hospitality. I reckon’ they got their just desserts.”

Suddenly everypony’s moods calmed down. They walked along the parth for a few moments, saying nothing until Twilight broke the silence.

“O.K.” said Twilight. “We’ve seen enough. We’re can can head back to equestria.”

The Mane 6 smiled in releavement. However, their smiles vanished when they heard a tree twig snap. Curious, the Mane 6 walked a bit closer to the source-

-and that’s when the being appeared out of thin air.

“DOWN MOTHERFUCKER! DOWN!”