“The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.”- H.P Lovecraft

There were many reasons why Twilight and her friends couldn’t move or talk. Perhaps it was because it just appeared out of thin air like magic (Twilight knew such a feat was possible). Or because the creature was more than 6 feet tall and towered them. (The ponies didn’t even make it to its waist.) Maybe it was because it was residue shock from the dead Griffins. Or it could have been due to the fact it looked like it was pointing a weapon at them. Not one anypony could recognize, but that didn’t change the fact it was carrying one.

It could have also been the fact it just spoke in their language. Scratch that, swore the most taboo word in the their language. Maybe it was because it didn’t look anything natural and its form was so alien and incomprehensible that trying to stare at it for prolonged periods of time gave them an unpleasant headache too similar to the effect of Flutershy's stare. Trying to decipher its appearance was like trying to solve Equestria’s hardest math problem.

Speaking of its appearance. It was something the Mane 6 couldn’t describe. Large size aside, it was bi pedal and stood on its two back hooves. What were supposed to be its fore hooves ended with a claw like shape that each had 5 appendages. Said appendages were wrapped around its weapon like a squid gripping prey with its tentacles. As much as they resembled a bear’s paws or a dragon’s claws, what these creatures had were not them. There wasn’t any sign of sharp nails or talons. There were also no signs of a wing or horn.

The Mane 6 presumed that the being was wearing clothes. The outfit it wore was made up of pants as black as night with an equally black top that had a dark grey vest with a digital pattern on it. There were also grey pads half way through its long, slender hooves.

Similar to a saddle bag, the creature held some objects with a rope-like-thing around its midsection. It wore something that looked like white socks to cover its appendages. Its face, if it had a face, was obscured by a black and white cloth which judging by a bump, was supported by its nose. Twilight noticed the creature was wearing something that looked like over large sunglasses.

What felt like an eternity was really 4 seconds. The creature stopped starring at them and put its weapon on its back. The weapon did not fall but rather stuck to its vest.

The creature spoke, judging by its voice it was male. The voice wasn’t pure however and sounded somewhat distorted as if he was speaking through a paper cup.

“Hold your fire!” it yelled. “Its just a couple of a horses.”

Twilight wanted to speak and correct him, but fear had taken over her. Suddenly, three more behemoths appeared out of thin air. Each time one of them appeared, her head exploded and she started hearing screeches. They each wore the same clothes and carried similar looking weapons with variations.

They didn’t all look the same now. One was even taller then the one that ambushed the ponies and slightly chubbier. The shortest was still as tall as Celestia herself but had thinner and at the same time, longer limbs and an equally small stomach. The last to reveal itself had a similar body type to the one that stopped the Mane 6.

The three who just revealed themselves unslung their weapons and walked towards the Ponies. The way they moved were peculiar but at the same time interesting.

Twilight looked back at her friends. Rainbow had fell to the ground and made no effort to get back up. Pinkie’s mane deflated again and her pink body lost so much of its color that she looked white. Rarity was borderline fainting. Fluttershy was starting to tear. Applejack was the least disturbed but her mouth hung open and was shaking.

She knew what all of the other ponies were thinking, these were the beings that Pinky spoke about in her vision. The ones that would probably destroy ponykind. However, the fact that these creatures made no effort to kill them assured Twilight that the other possibility would be the outcome.

Oblivious to the pony’s fear, the tallest approached the equines and spoke up in a calm, yet commanding voice. “They’re too small to be horses Scorch. I’d say they’re....ponies”

When he said ponies, Twilight could tell the alien felt uncomfortable at saying the word. As if he just got humiliated. How they knew of the phrase ponies, she did not know.

The large alien bent down. Its two hind legs started to curve. The giant curved its fore legs and placed his appendages on a bump that sprung from its leg. The alien started to press its face to the Mane 6. Its mask filled them all with terror. The 6 ponies saw their sacred refection in the creature’s cold, soulless goggles.

Its voice startled them.

“A bunch of mutant, alien, animated, midget, multicolored, fucked up ponies with..tattoos on their ass?”

Twilight could not believe the alien said such things about them. Had its appearance not been the sum of all terror he would have gotten multiple bucks to the face.

“Wow. their facial expressions aren’t too different from ours. It's as if they’re sentient.”

The large one suddenly backed off as the thin Xeno started to approach the ponies. Suddenly, his glasses glowed electric blue and white lines started appearing all over them. His voice shared the same muffled, speaker affect.

“I hope I’m not the only one who is completely oblivious but that white one has a horn.”

The alien extended one of his appendages that faced Rarity. Rarity gulped and fell back.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but that one’s a unicorn.”

‘What problem do they have with saying the names of our species?’ thought the purple princess pony.

Then the alien flexed another appendage and pointed both to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy respectively.

“Those two have wings, that makes them Pegasai.”

Then the alien looked straight at Twilight. The pain and screeching returned to her head.

“This one, has both. That makes her..a...uh?”

The thin giant was clearly lost in thought. The alicorn wanted to tell him that she was but could only let out a high pitched breath. The first alien they saw, probably named Scorch based on an earlier comment tried to correct him.

“An alicorn? he said

“Yeah that’s right.” replied the slender bi-ped. He looked back at the cowering ponies.

All 4 goggles immediately looked straight into the eyes of Twilight. Suddenly the Purple Alicorn got visions. Horrible visions.

Dead ponies were scattered everywhere. Blood leaking from holes in their bodies. Cities and land were on fire. On the top of the mountain of corpses sat those 4 aliens, clutching their weapons and sharpening a blade.

Suddenly the vision ended. Twilight tried to as much focus as she could and turn back to what the black clad aliens were saying.

“According to the stories I’ve read their supposed to be the ‘gods’ of the equines they rule over.”. The Xeno turned to face his allies. “Although she, I’m assuming its a she based on the fact the alicorn has eyelashes. They’re supposed to be gods, but-(his glasses glowed blue again)based on her statistics, she’s a god the same way I’m a women.”

Twilight felt as if some pony shoved a rock through her heart. Alicorns were the most powerful beings that have ever existed. They were gods. But if these creatures could see through her, analyze her powers and laugh them off, they must have a whole new definition for “gods”.

“And the other two?” asked the large one. He was probably referring to Pinkie Pie and Applejack.

“Nothing special. Just normies like the horses on Earth.”

Pinkie Pie and Applejack and opened their mouths. To any Earth pony, being insulted for a lack of wings was like being yelled at with the F-word. Normally an Earth Pony would break into a major speech by saying how special they really were to Epona, but with their behemoth form, they stood silent.

‘Earth’ thought the alicorn. ‘Maybe that was the planet they were from and based on the sound of what he just said, they have ponies too!’

Before she could loose her self in deep thought, she had her mind interrupted by the giant named Scorch. His appendages were stroking the cloth that covered the bottom of his face.

“Unicorns and Pegasi? This can’t be possible. They’re supposed to be made up myths.”

The large one crossed his fore hooves. “Oh really? After massacring an army of Griffins and two giant fucking dragons, now you decide to question everything?”

That sealed it. These four foul mouthed giant Xenos were the result of the horrible carnage behind them. These four managed to slay an army of the most celebrated Griffin soldiers and two giant, terrifying, thought-to-be-indestructible-until-now, beasts.

The 6 equines started to trot back in fear but the 4 giant bipeds just took a few steps to follow them casually. They still weren’t aware of the fear the Mane 6 felt.

“If I’m not mistaken.” started the slim Alien. “Unicorns and Alicorns should be able to perform magic and the Pegasai should have the ability to control the weather.”

“There’s no such thing as magic X-ray.” insisted the tallest one.

The ponies desperately wanted to prove them wrong but the uneasiness that they felt from the presence of the bipeds overwhelmed them. Twilight also took note of the name of the thin alien.

“We’re on an animated planet Scarecrow. Anything is possible at this point.” insisted Scorch.

The purple alicorn took a mental note that the large one was named Scarecrow. ‘And scary he was’ thought Twilight.

Twilight tried to look at the fourth alien. The pony realized that fourth one had not spoken at all at this point. His back was turned as if he was looking for something.

“Hey check it out!” yelled the alien now known as Scorch.

With speeds that surprised Rainbow Dash, the behemoth lunged at Applejack and grabbed her signature stetson before turning to his comrades. The orange Earth Pony wanted to get him back for stealing but was stopped by Rarity.

The 4 black-clad aliens turned their attention to the cowpony’s hat.

“Holy shit!” yelled Scarecrow as he grabbed the hat.

“Aren’t these the clothes cowboys and farmers are supposed to wear?” asked X-ray.

“How could they make them without hands?” questioned Scorch.

Their large friend ignored them. “If these ponies are capable of making hats, then that means they’re intelligent and have a social structure.”

“And a red-neck population!” added Scorch.

‘What the heck is a red-neck’ thought Applejack. She hoped it wasn’t an insult or these black clad aliens were gonna be taught a lesson.

“This hat is too similar to the ones we wore for hundreds of years to be a coincidence.” insisted X-ray.

“I doubt we have a similar culture.” said Scarecrow. “We’re light years apart, there’s no way they could gain such a thing from us.”

Scorch grabbed the hat and walked towards Applejack. The orange mare trembled.

The biped started to whisper.

“Its okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.” assured Scorch. He clearly didn’t look like he was expecting a response.

Applejack didn’t want to disobey it and started to calm down. She was still shaking nervously though and felt queasy. For some reason, Applejack felt a feeling deep inside of her that it was okay to obey the masked xeno.

Scorch placed the stetson on her head and then stroked the orange pony’s fur.

“Good girl.” he whispered.

Twilight felt as if the aliens saw them nothing more than childish animals even though they established that pony-kind was intelligent. She tried to raise her voice again but the sensation of casting a weary spell returned to her skull, silencing her.

“You know for an intelligent race with jobs and presumably, a class structure, they’re awfully silent.” muttered Scarecrow.

“Well no shit. I don’t think 4 giant bi-peds that aren’t built like anything on this planet are the best things for these creatures to comprehend.” said X-ray.

“Besides, it not like they understand any word that comes out of our fuckin’ mouths.” added Scorch.

‘Oh we can here every word that comes out of your potty mouth.’ thought Twilight. The purple Alicorn realized that she needed to speak to these aliens or else they were going to get nowhere. She used Cadance’s technique to calm herself. Right when she opened her mouth-

“Seriously, though this is awesome!” yelled Scarecrow in a non enthusiastic manner.

“Enlighten me.” said Scorch sarcastically.

“Guys we have revolutionized the way modern society thinks.” started Scarecrow.

“If this planet is really home to all of the fictional creatures that humans made up and can exist in an animated fashion, then imagine all the new things we can discover and the endless possibilities we can do with it. Plus, if this planet really has ‘magic’, then that means a whole new field of study we can exploit. I mean seriously, this discovery is going to take humanity even further!”

Finally, the giant alien calmed down. The ponies were too busy cowering at what the bipeds were going to do to them to focus on what Scarecrow just said.

“So, now what should we do?” asked Scorch.

“Well they don’t look like much of a threat. I don’t even think they can harm us.” started Scarecrow. His tone suddenly became sterner. “And you know the drill, we never harm civilians.”

The ponies started to calm down a bit. They were beginning to deduce that these 4 aliens belonged to some sort of military.

“I move that we go find out where these ponies come from and do some observations.” proposed Scorch. "If we're stranded here without evac or a rescue option, we might as well make the most of it."

The Mane 6 became nervous. Despite what the alien just said, having them near Ponyville was not such a good idea. They needed to find the courage to speak.

“One thing is for certain though.” muttered X-ray. "These ponies are so adorable."

The humans broke the tension with a series of laughs. Except for one anyway.

Rainbow Dash for one, did not like being called cute. With all her might, the pegasus yelled loud.

“Hey! You guys must have serious guts to come here and start doing whatever you feel like! I hate to break it to you pal, but Equestria is our home! We get to dictate what happens here. Not some two-hoofed monkey rejects like you!”

Chapter 7:

For 10 seconds, the Shadow Squad remained silent. They really hoped the ponies weren't sapient or else they would have violated 23rd protocol by revealing themselves, but the situation was already FUBAR since the Dragon attack.

Scarecrow broke the silence. “You...you can speak....English?”

Rainbow Dash flew into the bipeds face. She looked at her angered reflection in their shades. Realizing the giant could attack her any moment, she subtly flew back.

“This is....amazing.” whispered X-ray. “I swear I’m dreaming.”

SMACK!

“Ow! Damn Overwatch what was that for?” chastised X-ray

The silent biped gave a shrug.

Twilight finally spoke up as well. “I’m sorry for all the confusion but allow us to introduce ourselves.”

“You’re...intelligent?” said Scorch obliviously. Although it was more of a statement of concern as he had never revealed himself to civilians before. And to think his position would be compromised by talking horses.

“Yes partner.” piped up Applejack. “And ah would appreciate it if you didn’ go ‘round treatin’ us like toys!”

“Wow, this planet does have a redneck population after all.” laughed X-ray.

“What the heck is ah redneck?” asked the orange Earth Pony.

“Forget that!” yelled Scarecrow. He placed his hands on his head. “First contact, this would actually be amazing if we weren't stranded on a FUBAR op and it wasn't US of all people on this planet.” He paused.

“Ok, third contact considering the Griffins and Dragons. And I doubt those went well. Hey are you guys recording? I don’t want to miss a damn moment of this!”

“Would you control your language you brute?” scolded Rarity.

“Let’s try this again.” said Twilight, trying to break the tension.

She closed her eyes and spoke with dignity. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, former student of our ruler Celestia and current element of magic.”

They chuckled upon hearing Twilight’s name as if it was some kind of joke. The Alicorn felt they hadn’t listened to a word she said. She really didn’t like their attitude.

“Your land is called Equestria?” snickered Scarecrow. “How fitting.” He regained focus. “Are we in Equestria right now?”

“No” whispered Fluttershy. She wished she hadn’t answered because 4 pairs of pitch black shades were pointed at her.

“Um...you’re in the Everfree Forest. It’s what divides the nations of Epona.”

The commandos looked at each other. “Wow they call this planet Epona too. What’s next?” muttered Scorch.

Scarecrow pointed to Fluttershy. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Fluttershy didn't want to talk, but something told her inside to obey the command of the human. “I’m Flu...dirsy” squeaked the yellow mare.

“Could you repeat that?” commanded X-ray. He clearly didn’t know how to handle the timid Pegasus.

“I’m Fluttershy.” she whispered as she started crawling back. "Could you please calm down?"

"Hey, we're a little confused. We didn't expect to see english speaking ponies on a foreign planet." calmed Scorch.

“And there’s no need to be afraid. We’re not going to kill you unless we have no choice.” assured Scarecrow. "Or threaten to expel our existence to the public."

“Besides, who would dare hurt such cute ponies?” said Scorch with his fingers and hands on his cheeks.

“I find that hard to believe!” yelled Rarity.

“Seriously what is her accent?” asked Scarecrow.

“What did you say about my accent!” yelled the white unicorn.

“I believe its French, no wait British, hell maybe its Spanish.” contemplated Scorch.

X-ray raised an eyebrow underneath his shades. “And you are?”

Rarity put on a haughty expression. “I am Rarity, one Equestria’s finest fashion designers and personal dressmaker of princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight blushed.

“I thought you ponies just go around naked.” muttered Scorch.

“Most of the time we do. But on formal occasions, we put something on.” chanted the white unicorn.

“How well do you work with suits?” asked Scarecrow in a business voice.

“I say I am exceptional.” gloated Rarity. She broke her smile. “Although I’m afraid I have no experience designing for bipeds like you.”

The 4 giants nodded. Before they could ask another pony-

“HI I’M PINKIE-AH!”

Scarecrow screamed and threw the Pink mare onto the ground. Twilight and the other ponies rushed to her aid to pick her up.

“Damn it, don’t sneak up on us!” scolded Scarecrow. “Our motion trackers will count you as hostile.”

“You’re what?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Motion trackers.” began X-ray. “We use them to detect others around us based on movement. It’s how we located you ponies in the first place. They can also decipher emotions. If you’re blue, you appear yellow. If you’re hostile, you appear red.”

“That is impressive technology.” said an amazed Rarity.

“You sure it ain’t magic?” asked Applejack.

Meanwhile Scarecrow helped the pink mare up. The commander was mad at himself. He injured a civilian. That was not a good move.

Scarecrow tried to apologize. His mental condition wouldn't let him. "Oh. I thought an enemy was behind me and so-sor-sor"

Pinkie Pie quickly shook her head. “Oh it’s ok Mr. Alien! A couple hours of smiling will help out!” The squad, expect for the neutral Overwatch, couldn’t help but enjoy the mare’s positive attitude.

The party pony burst into the air. “I’m Pinkie Pie, Equestria’s favorite party planner!”

The humans were amazed on how she was suspended off the ground. Pinkie finally landed.

The humans were silent. Questions began racing in their head as they observed the pink pony’s movements. True she looked like a cartoon character, but that didn’t have to mean her movements went against reality. It was as if she was moving by magic but the squad well knew there were answers in the universe for everything strange.

“How do you even do that?” finally asked Scorch.

“Do what Mr. Alien?” replied Pinkie.

“Pop up everywhere and perform physics defying movements.” answered Scorch.

“Oh that’s jus’ Pinkie Pie bein’ Pinkie Pie.” chuckled Applejack.

X-ray crossed his arms. “Nah there’s an explanation for that. Now’s not the time though. Identify yourself orange one.”

Applejack did her best to put on a welcoming voice. “Name’s Applejack, and as y’all can tell by mah name, I work Sweet Apple Acres, growin’ apples for all of Equestria to enjoy.”

X-ray got excited. “You grow apples, as in that red, green, or yellow fruit with a stem on top and a core with seeds?”

The orange Earth Pony nodded.

“That is impressive! Believe it or not, our species grows apples too as food.” cheered the commando.

Applejack blushed. “Well, I don’ know how they grow ‘em on your planet but I promise you that ya haven’t tasted apples until you had one of ours.” She tried to smile at the xeno but had to look away once the painful sensation in her mind kicked in.

“You know Applejack is also the name of this alcohol I like.” chuckled Scarecrow.

“Damn, what is with all these cosmic coincidences?” Scorch sighed.

“I’m sure we’ll find out later.” assured Scarecrow.

Rainbow Dash flew up to Shadow squad. She hoped that the soldiers were impressed underneath their masks.

“Ah-hem.” she coughed. “I’m Rainbow Dash, Future Wonderbolt and the fastest flier in all of Equestria.”

“I’m sure.” said a sarcastic X-ray.

Rainbow Dash looked at him with one eye. “Don’t you doubt me bub. I’m the only Pegasus to ever perform a sonic rainboom.” she gloated.

“Let me guess. It’s like a sonic boom but it creates a rainbow explosion too.” said Scarecrow sarcastically.

“Actually you guessed it.” cheered Rainbow Dash. She did a twirl mid-air.

“An organic creature that can break the sound barrier? That’s impressive.” complimented Scorch.
Rainbow Dash blushed.

“Yeah but can you travel faster than faster than the speed of light amongst stars like our space ships?” mocked X-ray.

Rainbow Dash took it lightly. “You got me there.” she teased.

“Can pegasi really control the weather?” asked Scorch.

“Well duh, that’s how it’s supposed to work in nature.” answered Rainbow Dash. “Doesn’t your species do the same thing too?”

“We can do more than control the weather Rainbow Dash.” assured X-ray.

“But unlike you pegasai, we can’t fly or control the weather without technology that we developed in our later years” explained Scarecrow.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at them as if they told her an obvious lie. “Sure.” she said, unconvinced. She quickly flew away from the commandos as the closer she got to them, the pain and confusion got worse.

The squad got nervous. They really didn't want to be the ones to introduce humanity. Oh how they wish they had an evac.

Scarecrow started anyway. He didn't want the ponies to declare them enemies. “First up, you should know that we are Homo sapiens. You can call us humans if you’d like.”

The ponies tried to repeat the phrase until they got it right.

X-ray raised his hand and flexed his fingers. “You’re probably intrigued by these yes?”

The ponies nodded.

X-ray sighed under his mask. “These are called hands. We used them grab onto and point at objects. These appendages (he gave them a twirl) are called fingers.”

“They’re kind of like a bear’s paws.” whispered Fluttershy.

“Yeah except without the sharp claws.” replied X-ray.

Scorch raised his foot and placed and pointed at it. “This is called a foot; it’s kind of like a hand but not as flexible. We use it to keep balance, walk and stand straight. Like our hands, they have 5 smaller appendages too, except they’re called toes. You obviously can't see them.”

The Mane 6 failed to realize how annoyed Shadow was getting with them. They hated being casual.

“By the way, what are those marks on your flank?” asked Scarecrow.

The ponies were caught off by the use of swearing. Twilight was able to shrug off the insult from her mind and gave an explanation of their cutie mark.

“These,” began Twilight. “Symbolize a pony’s special talent. It’s not an artificial mark but rather a natural one. When a pony finds something they’re really good at, their body creates a mark to signal that pony and society their calling and destiny. My symbol represents magic.”

“They’re called cutie marks!” cheered Pinkie.

X-ray, Scorch and Scarecrow burst laughing and screeching. (Deep down in Overwatch’s black heart, he giggled. A bit).

The ponies had dumbfounded expressions on them. Cutie marks were very important to pony society and they were just laughing it off.

“Seriously, what are they called?” laughed Scorch.

“We’re not lyin’ pal. Cutie marks are really what they’re called.” assured Applejack.

“That’s rich!” joked Scarecrow.

“Seriously, it sounds so childish!” mocked X-ray.

“These cutie marks are essential to pony society! We would never be able to prosper so well had it not been for them.” defended Rarity.

“You could have at least given them a better name,” chuckled Scarecrow.

The Mane 6 waited until the soldiers calmed down.

“Hey, what are those things you’re carrying?” asked Twilight.

The bipeds unslung their devices on their backs.

“You mean these?” asked X-ray.

“Yes.” replied Twilight.

Scarecrow started off. “I won’t get into any of the technical details, but this a gun.”

“Could you repeat that?” asked Rarity.

“A gun, this is the weapon our species uses to kill.”

The atmosphere was deathly silent.

X-ray continued. “You ponies have bows and arrows, right?”

The equines nodded. The 4 black clad soldiers were beginning to deduce that the ponies came from a medieval like society. A peaceful and innocent society by the looks of it.

“Well a gun kind of works like a bow and arrow in the sense they fire projectiles. But instead of firing arrows, guns use a magnetic field to accelerate bullets. In the past we used explosions to fire them. Bullets are basically small but very dense pieces of metal, that when propelled at great speeds, cause a lot of damage. Some guns however, are outfitted to propel heavier projectiles like rockets.”

Twilight started to use her Telekinesis to lift the metal projectile she found earlier.

“You’re horn, its glowing!” yelled Scarecrow.

The 4 humans turned their attention to the piece of metal the Alicorn was levitating. They observed in awe as it started floating.

“You can perform telekinesis?” asked Scorch.

“Why, yes.” started Rarity. “But that’s just basic magic for a unicorn or in my friends’ case, an Alicorn. Like how humans have hands, we use telekinesis to grab hold of objects.”

“They’ll be plenty of time for discussing later.” said Twilight under the strain of lifting the object. The headache from her head did not help. “Can you please tell me what this is?”

The 4 bipeds took a closer look at what Twilight was holding. X-ray answered in a calm, uniform voice.

“That is 35 caliber Full Metal Jacket anti-personnel round.”

The ponies stared at him. They hadn’t understood a word he said.

X-ray looked at his rifle. “This is the type of bullet that my carbine fires.”

Rainbow Dash realized that she was looking at the killer of Gilda’s brother. Considering he helped take out two dragons, trying to get him mad would be the last thing she wanted. She decided to mask her emotions though for the sake of her reputation....and life.

“Mind showin’ us how ‘em guns work?” asked Applejack.

Scorch nodded. He held up the gun and aimed down the holo sight. “First you look through the sight to aim directly at your target.”

“Please be careful with that.” squeaked Fluttershy.

Scorch tried to assure her. “Don’t worry we’re profession-” he was caught off by the snicker of a certain mammal that the squad tagged hostile. Now was a good time to give a lesson, A VERY good time.

Scorch spoke in a casual voice. “You find your target.” the human pointed left. “Then you use your finger to pull the trigger. And-”

BANG!

The ponies watched in horror as an animal violently exploded at the chest. Its entire stomach was ripped open with blood gushing everywhere. The barrel of Scorch’s SCAR glowed red and trailed smoke.

“What did you shoot at anyway?” asked a calm Scarecrow.

“Well remember that raccoon that stole my data chip when I woke up?”

"What raccoon?" asked X-ray.

"You were asleep." muttered Scarecrow.

Scorch went up to the pool of blood at yanked a thin, blue, crystal card.

Fluttershy was starting to cry. The rest of the ponies were boiling mad. The raccoon lay dead with a hole in it like the ones in the Griffins.

Twilight started screaming; “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU KILLED THAT POOR, INNOCENT,-”

Scorch shoved his finger through the Alicorn’s forehead, knocking the purple mare back. The rest of the ponies gasped at the sight of their princess being shoved around.

“Don’t you dare call that raccoon innocent!” scolded Scorch. “That little bitch knowingly stole a highly important data storage device that I could get sent in jail for a life time if I lost it. I don’t think our CO needs to hear a raccoon stole it. Besides I asked it nicely a hundred times to give it back and just spat at me! I've already broken enough rules by talking to you all.”

“You didn’t need to slaughter it you barbarian!” scolded Rarity.

“Oh please! I did it a favor by shooting it. I originally had something worse planned for it.” responded the demo man.

“What could be worse than killing?” yelled Rainbow Dash.

“Would you rather be killed by multiple blows with a spear; slowly, painfully, uneasily. Or would you rather be killed by quickly, painlessly, quietly?” gritted Overwatch.

All yelling immediately halted. as the ponies couldn’t respond to that. They felt that nothing could justify murder. But there was some reasoning in the bi-ped’s words. Some

“The raccoon, who may we remind you, is a damn thief, didn’t feel anything. Our guns are extremely humane and guarantee that dying will be like falling asleep. That in my opinion, is preferable to agony.” explained X-ray.

“We should know, we’ve been shot as well.” added Scorch grimly.

The ponies remained silent. The fear returned. These humans were cold blooded killers, stranded on their world, who only met them by pure chance.

Fluttershy whispered, “Why....”

The four bipeds turned their heads to face the yellow Pegasus. She started trembling and sweating. Collecting all the breath she could;

“Why did you kill the Griffins?”

“It’s just.” Twilight inhaled. “I’d never thought we would have to see murder like this first hoof. Especially in the gruesome ways you committed it.”

Then something happened that nobody or no pony expected. X-ray bent down to the weeping Purple Mare and hugged her tight for a moment before letting go to comfort her. While touching the pony certainly didn’t help the migraines in her head, Twilight calmed down and felt a sense of goodness inside the counter terrorist.

“We all lose our innocence at some point Twilight.” assured X-ray in the least convincing manner ever.

The ponies tried to wipe their sad expressions of their face.

“I remember the first time the four of us had to kill.” contemplated Scorch. “I felt like such an asshole .I couldn't forgive myself after the mission.”

He wasn't telling the truth. He wasn't in the 23rd for no reason.

“We all did Scorch.” insisted Scarecrow to bulk up the lie.

Pinkie Pie tried to get everypony’s mind off the subject. She walked up to the 4 commandos and tried to ignore the pain in her head.

“The four of you said you had ponies where you come from?” she said in a slow way.

“Let’s not think about that now.” whispered Scorch. “You know we haven’t gotten introduced yet.”

Scorch stepped forward and extended his right arm. “I’m Ro-OW!”

“You’re not supposed to tell them our real names twit!” scolded Scarecrow who just hit him.

“As if ponies are capable of doing anything to us if they know our names.” argued Scorch.

The ponies felt insulted. After all they’d been through, they surely didn’t want to be called weak. Scorch took notice of their glum attitude.

Scarecrow turned to face the ponies. “As per military protocol, we can’t tell you our real names so you’ll have to go by our call signs. I’m Scarecrow, squad leader and heavy weapons handler. It’s an honor to be meeting a member of an alien race. Although considering Epona is your home planet, we’re the aliens.”

The equines giggled.

“I’m Scorch” said the commando. “I’m squad demolitions. My job is to blow shit up.”

The ponies gulped at him with wide eyes.

“I’m X-ray. Squad Intel, drone handler, diplomat, medic, rifleman and basically everything my friends didn’t choose while signing up.”

The Mane 6 nodded.

Scarecrow pointed to Overwatch and introduced him.

“This is Overwatch. He’s our squad’s marksman and recon expert. As you can tell, he doesn’t really talk much, but man you should see how he draws.”

Overwatch gave a nod. He stepped back a bit as Pinkie materialized in front of him.

“Overwatch huh?” she giggled. “That’s a silly code name.”

Overwatch spoke in an intimidating but quiet growl. “Your ACTUAL name is Pinkie Pie so shut the fuck up.”

The pink mare’s pupils decreased in size and she lost her smile. Pinkie sunk back to her friends, taken badly by the insult. She couldn't cope with someone no trying to be her friend.

“Where do you come from?” inquired Twilight.

“Well that depends on the human you ask.” trivialized X-ray. “Humans have been living on multiple planets and moons for quite a long time.”

The eyes of the ponies shot wide open and their mouths hung. All pain in their heads were all of a sudden very mundane and the screeches quieted.

“You live on more than one planet? That is so cool!” gasped Rainbow Dash.

“Has it always been like this for humans?” asked Rarity.

“500 Terran years ago,” began Scarecrow. “Humans only lived on one planet, Earth. But then we invented faster than light travel and terra formers. Using this technology, humans spread across star systems, colonizing worlds to house our population. All of us were born on these colonies. Except for Scorch, he’s an Earthborn.”

“More specifically, I was born in Vancouver.” added Scorch.

“Humanity’s shit hole if you ask me.” joked Scarecrow.

Scorch wanted to spit at Scarecrow before remembering he had a mask put on.

“I was born on the colony of Pandora.” explained Scarecrow.

“I was born on Auraxis. Overwatch was born on the moon Titan.” said X-ray. “However, our families moved to the colony of Requiem when we were kids. We met in school and we’ve been best friends ever since.”

The Mane 6 didn’t want to point out how hard it was to believe that the 4 humans could possibly be friends. Their attitude toward each other was how bitter rivals should behave, not chums. Regardless, they were excited by the idea of a space faring species.

“What’s it like, to travel across the stars and planets?” asked Twilight. She had a cute twinkle in her eye.

“You see one giant ball of flaming gas, you see them all.” chuckled Scorch. “Although the thought of something that is the equivalent of a billion hydrogen bombs going off at once is just riveting.”

“Are you soldiers?” asked Pinkie.

“Counter terrorists.” corrected X-ray.

“What’s that?” asked Applejack.

“Well a terrorist is someone who uses fear and violence to further their own goals. A counter terrorist stops them from doing so. They’ll do anything like take hostages, bomb communities, steal from and enslave people, and even hijack military space ships. It’s our job the protect the innocent from harm.” explained Scarecrow.

The ponies couldn’t believe what they heard.

“Why would somepony be a terrorist?” asked Fluttershy.

X-ray didn’t notice the pony pun in ‘somebody’. “A lot of people get messed up every now and then. It’s horrible, but it happens. I’m sure that for even a peaceful species like you, Equestria has seen such a thing at least once.”

The Mane 6 nodded. Memories of Discord and Nightmare Moon returned to their heads. Until now, individuals like them were the personification of evil to the ponies. But if humans were willing to kill, a pony could only tell what a ‘terrorist’ would do.

“We’re part of the 23rd counter terrorist division.” began Scarecrow. “It’s basically one of humanities' best armed fighting groups around.”

“We’re Shadow Squad.” added Scorch.

“So thats why the Griffin whispered ‘shadow’.” whispered Fluttershy.

“Shadow squad, that sounds ghastly, why would your unit be called that?” asked Rarity.

“The 23rd is known for scaring the shit out of all of its enemies. The way we handle missions is quite..contoversial to say the least. (The mane 6 gulped at the revelation) Our enemies never see us coming until its too late. So all squads in the 23rd are named after horror creatures like ‘zombie’ and ‘ghoul’. Also our unit is equipped with devices that let us cloak like ghosts and disappear into the shadows.” explained X-ray.

X-ray activated his cloaking module and disappeared. A few seconds later, he uncloaked and revealed himself.

There was a murmur of ‘oohs’ amongst the Mane 6.

Rainbow Dashed suddenly remembered an important fact. “Hey, I remember you guys saying you had ponies where you came from.”

“That’s right!” nodded Scarecrow. “Get ready, for a big cosmological mind fuck!”

“Don’t use that word!” scolded Pinkie.

Scarecrow ignored her. “On our home planet Earth, we have horses which are basically like ponies but at the same time aren’t.”

The equines were confused.

X-ray tried to explain. “Despite some physical and possibly, instinct similarities, horses on Earth are much larger than you, aren’t....cell shaded like you are, come in only 3 colors; white black and brown, don’t get cutie marks, can’t talk and are no where near as cute and cuddly. Hell they’re not even intelligent, they’re just...creatures. You could try talking to them if you wanted to, but you wouldn’t get a response, just a grunt.”

The Mane 6 was intrigued. The idea of ponies that were not an intelligent or dominant species was very fascinating.

“Also, there’s only one type of horse on Earth. Just normies like Pinkie and Applejack.” explained Scorch.

“We’re not called ‘normies’, we’re called Earth Ponies!” yelled Pinkie.

The squad froze.

“Earth....Pony.” said Scarecrow slowly.

“That’s interesting. The fact that the ponies on this planet that resemble the ones on Earth have ‘Earth’ in their name.” contemplated Scorch.

The ponies and humans started losing themselves in thought trying to look for an explanation. Although it was slightly hard for the Mane 6 to do so as everything about the humans seemed incomprehensible.

X-ray looked up and raised a finger. “Although, the name of our home planet ‘Earth’ originated from the Latin phrase ‘Gaia’ who was the fictional Roman and Greek goddess of the ground. You see, every planet in the solar system was named after a Roman deity. On the other hand, or other hoof in your case, I assume that the ‘Earth’ in Earth Pony probably comes from the Latin phrase ‘terra’ which just means ground. Is that correct?”

Twilight nodded. “Actually that is where the ‘Earth’ in Earth Pony comes from. And if I’m not mistaken, what you call Latin is actually called ‘old speak’ to us.”

“I swear, this planet is fucked up!” face palmed Scarecrow.

“Hey, Epona is an awesome place. Just because it’s a kinda like where you come from doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it!” insisted Rainbow Dash.

“It’s not just that our worlds are similar.” explained Scorch. “This planet can essentially be called ‘fairy tale land’ because the creatures and look of this planet resembles everything from children’s stories.”

“Wow,” whispered Twilight. “So for you, visiting Epona is like coming to the setting of a story book. And ponies, Griffins and Dragons would be like meeting the characters.”

“Next you’ll be telling me this planet has Manitcores and Minotaurs.” chuckled Scorch.

“Actually, they exist on this planet too,” squeaked Fluttershy. A certain minotaur popped in her mind.

The 4 humans burst into a high pitched laugh. It wasn’t the kind of laugh from telling a funny joke. It was the ‘please kill me, I can’t take it anymore’ laugh. The loud noises they were making certainly did not help the ponies’ migraines

After calming down, Scarecrow took a deep breath and yelled with his might.

“Seriously, once we get back to civilization, we are getting to the bottom of this!”

“By the way, what’s the nearest point of Pony civilization?” asked X-ray.

“Oh it’s around 54 kilometers down from here. It’s the town of Ponyville!” cheered Twilight.

Once again the humans burst out laughing. And as they did, they realized the definition of FUBAR was going to have a new meaning.

Author's Notes:

So as you can see, Shadow isn't going to drop the subject of an Earth like planet lightly. I believe that many HiE fics fail to capture the significance of having a planet full of mythical creatures and I don't like how the humans just blankly accept it.

We are not all skeptics, but come on, wouldn't humanity be freaked out we found a planet filled with humans?

Exactly....