Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse
Ponyville, Equestria
1905 Hours

Today was like any other routine day for the Apple family on their farm. Applejack and her elder brother, Big McIntosh had returned from the vast fields of apple trees that surrounds their property with the latest haul of freshly grown apples to sell at the Ponyville Markets.

Applejack took off her signature Stetson style cowboy hat to wipe her brow of sweat. "Phew! Another successful haul of the season, this might be our best one yet, Big Mac!"

"Eeyep!" Big Mac simply nodded as he glanced happily over his cart full of freshly collected apples.

Looking back towards the farmhouse where she would normally see Granny Smith napping, Applejack notices three little fillies trotting up the dirt road to the homestead. These three were named Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, the later being the young sibling of Applejack. These three girls are also known by most of the locals as the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' as unlike most of the fillies their age they have yet to find their cutie marks which symbolises the unique talents for every pony in and out of Equestria.

"Howdy little buckaroos!" Applejack greeted the Crusaders.

"Hey, A.J!" The three fillies called out together.

"How was school?" Big Mac asked.

"It was a bit meh, not really the most exciting day of the week." Scootaloo replied.

"We have a mathematics test coming up so we've put our current cutie mark crusades on hold and were now the cutie mark mathematicians!" Sweetie Belle added.

"We'll be heading down to the clubhouse now to get started but we will be back by sundown for supper, A.J." Apple Bloom told her elder sibling before the crusaders started trotting towards the entrance into the vast orchard that surrounds the estate.

"Woah there, partners." Applejack stops the crusaders in their tracks. "The orchard isn't safe at the moment, me and Big Mac spotted a few Timberwolves amongst the apple trees while we were harvesting."

"What!?" The fillies gasped in shock.

"Sorry girls but the clubhouse is off limits for now. Ya'll have to have to do your homework and crusading from Applebloom's bedroom until the Timberwolves are gone." Big Mac apologised.

"Aw man..." Applebloom groaned. "Our year books are at the clubhouse and we can't do our homework without them."

"Me and Big Mac will go fetch em', Granny Smith just baked a fresh apple pie if ya'll feeling hungry?" Applejack offered.

"Thanks big sis, that would be great." Applebloom smiled and gave Applejack a sisterly hug.

"Anything for my little sister." A.J returned the kind gesture before turning to Bic Mac. "Ready for one more run big brother?"

"Eeyup!" Big McIntosh nodded in agreement and the two older apple siblings set off into the orchard where a pack of displaced Timber wolves roam and a hidden threat lies amongst the trees.

Unbeknown to the Apple family and the Crusaders their movements were being observed by the Emerald Angel. Wing Commander Michelle carefully monitors the Equines atop of a tall Everfree tree up to two kilometers away from the orchard whilst Paladin Victoria and her platoon of ten Railway Marines pass under the Battle Angel's position, loaded up in a LAV-50 with McKnight leading the APC in his Humvee.

Hailed as a grand successor to the LAV-25 family of wheeled amphibious armored reconnaissance vehicles, the LAV-50 was a real step up from its predecessors as a robust and heavily reliable troop transport in terms of multi-mission flexibility. Introduced in late 2035 the first batch of the LAV-50s featured a welded steel hull. They were twice the size of the LAV-25 and armed with a twin 40mm MK.8 Bofors turret. A 500hp diesel engine accelerated the LAV to a top speed of 120km per hour driven by ten wheels and crew number varied from 4-6 personnel with a troop carrying capacity of 12 infantrymen.

In the post-atomic era these vehicles were resurrected and heavily modernised with a multilayered armoured hull, improvements to the Bofors turret, a nuclear fusion reactor powering a 750hp turbine engine and were fitted with a state of the art Modular Active Protection System (MAPS) that comes standard issue on all Unified States armoured vehicles. Operating primarily in the Unified States Army, Marines and Railway Warfare Corps, two such vehicles operate as part of the "4-8-8-4"s Embarked Calvary with the second sporting obvious differences. Such as the Bofors turret being swapped out with a anti-tank missile launcher for carrying and firing 16 Javelins and a CROWS automated 50.Cal machinegun fitted off centre to the Commander's hatch. The troop bay was swapped out with a field hospital module for on site treatment of wounded soldiers in an active combat zone. Thanks to the modular redesign of the LAV-50 to allow different modules, weapon systems and external equipment and fittings to be rapidly fitted and removed from the vehicle to keep pace with an ever evolving battlefield.

Where the LAV-50 stands as a highly modern asset to the Unified States Military the Humvee which McKnight drives is seen initially as a few steps back in the evolution of modern FAVs where the current time period was concerned. The Atomic War saw much of the U.S military infrastructure devastated and the knowledge of some of the latest assets would be forever lost to time. The main reason for the reintroduction of the Humvee into Unified States service was the many surviving examples that have weathered the nuclear winter and benefitted greatly for being low maintenance and easily massed produced. The Gen. 2 Humvee's were built from lightweight but highly durable materials, and like the originals can be configured in many ways to fulfill all key roles it once served. Two such examples join the LAV-50s embarked onboard the "4-8-8-4"; The one McKnight is driving is based on the M1165 model with some improvements. Sporting a full ceramic armoured body kit with heavy armoured doors, smoke grenade launchers, quantum communications array and a CROWS automated turret that is fitted with a M134P Ion Gatling Gun. The other is based on the M998 Avenger mobile air defence system but configured on a four door 6x6 Humvee with a quad missile launcher fitted on the back bed of the truck carrying up to 16 surface to air missiles for short range air defense of the ArmCav. Both vehicles along with all Gen. 2 Humvees in service are powered by a hybrid 7.0 litre supercharged V8 Hemi that runs off liquid ethanol.

Lastly, making up the heavy hitter of the Embarked Calvary is the workhorse of the Unified States Armoured Divisions and McKnight's pride and Joy; the M3A5 'Mattis' Main Battle Tank. Named in honour of General James "Mad Dog" Mattis the M3 series succeeded the iconic Abrams family of MBT's and the M2 Prototype in the 2040s which proudly served the former United States military through to its final days before the Atomic War of 2098 with the M3A4 model. Following Unification Day and the establishment of the Unified States Military tens of thousands of M3 Mattis tanks were recovered throughout the American Wastelands and restored as the M3A5 model with massive changes and improvements to the tank.

The armour package that protects the vehicle and it's crew is comprised of a heavily reinforced hull encased in multi-layer plating up to over 900 millimeters thick on the front and sides, the plating protecting the rear engine bay is only 600 millimeters thick. The overall values can be significantly different with some sections being heavily angled to increase the thickness to over 1200 millimeters whilst saving on weight of the 120 ton war machine. The turret of the M3A5 houses a prototype 130mm Gauss Cannon that can accelerate Depleted Uranium Armour Piercing Sabot Slugs up to 1.5 times the speed of light leaving nothing short of total devastation to those unfortunate to be caught within the blast radius. For close range/urban environments the M3A5 packs a coaxial 20mm autocannon along side the main gun and four 50. Caliber M3M (GAU-21) remote heavy machine guns are mounted on the turret roof at the front and back. Additional protection have been added to McKnight's tank over the duration of the vehicle's service, ranging from reactive armour modules to the standard issue MAPS countermeasures and to bug out quickly or cover supporting infantry with smoke grenade launchers. Communications between the tank and "4-8-8-4" is almost never a problem thanks to the quantum relay system fitted onboard.

For a behemoth like the Mattis, it was surprisingly fast for a main battle tank powered by a supercharged twin turbine engine driven by two nuclear fusion reactor cores, allowing the tank to accelerate and maintain a top speed of 80mph/128kmh from 0-15 seconds. However in a very dense area like the Everfree Forest it doesn't serve much purpose for the crew at the moment as Captain Ryan only deploys the 'Beast' when the "4-8-8-4" has to deal with a Tri-Communist Armoured Brigade or as a heavy escort for the locomotive when traversing hostile lands. In all honesty, Captain Ryan would preferably like to have a few more M3A5's attached the war train's motor pool but there's only little of the latest equipment to go around in the Unified States Military with demand an ever constant high to keep the military industry running around the clock.

"Approaching final checkpoint, how's the D.P looking Wing Commander?" Sgt. McKnight announced over coms.

"Clear as Daylight, no sign of life." Michelle replied as she scanned the designated area through the infrared scope of her anti-material rifle as the two vehicles approached from a southernly direction. "Knight Paladin, you're clear to disembark as soon as you arrive."

"Copy that, Emerald Angel." Victoria acknowledged with a very authoritarian tone in her voice. "Marines, Prepare to disembark! Keep your heads on a constant swivel and your weapons on point. We're not in Kansas anymore ladies, we're about to set foot into unknown territory. Stay sharp!"

"Oorah, Knight Paladin!" The Marines replied to their superior in unison.

"Disembarkation Point in sight, hang tight back there!" The LAV-50 driver relayed through the troop bay intercom.

The vehicles still had a short distance to go, only a five metre slope to climb out of a dry riverbed they followed from the train before they reach a small opening close to the edge of the forest. McKnight puts his foot down and the Humvee roared uphill with ease and the LAV had no difficulty keeping pace with 10 wheels providing excellent grip and traction on the loose terrain. Both vehicles overcome the short climb and roll to a full stop in the centre of the opening, their engines idled down to a more quieter noise level and the rear troop bay door opened with a series of hydraulic hisses as it lowered down into a ramp like position.

"Pile out!" Victoria shouted as everyone embarked aboard the APC hopped out in synchronized order, weapons at the ready the second their feet touched the soft ground of the forest floor. McKnight and three Cavalrymen hopped out of the Humvee and joined up with Victoria's Platoon, the automated turret scanning the surrounding area for hostiles.

"Thanks for riding with us in the Railway Embarked Calvary! Hope to see you again soon!" The LAV Driver jokingly called back as Victoria exited the APC and the rear door closed up behind her.

"Keep the engine hot, we'll be back in a few hours." Victoria replied through the wireless as she knocked a fist on the side hull twice in good gesture.

"You know our motto, Ma'am! Where we go, we don't need rails! Stay safe out there, Menace Actual."

What quiet atmosphere the forest harboured was shattered the moment Wing Commander McKensey broke through the forest canopy as she rocketed towards the ground and with a last minute change of position she fired her angel wing like thruster to full afterburn as she touched down with a hard landing. Her shock boots transferred what kinetic energy built up around her down into the ground and outwards with a small shockwave that partially tore up the ground at the impact site, enveloping the Battle Angel in a cloud of dust. What would've been a crippling fall for the average human being, Michelle's enhanced strength allows her to walk away from such hard falls and still be fully combat capable as she slowly stood up from enduring the gravitational forces that pulled down to the ground. As she approached the group Michelle loosens the grip on her rifle but instead of falling out of her hands the gun started to deconstruct itself into a sizable mass of nanomachines before remoulding back into the super-soldier's nanosuit.

"Damn, I'd never thought I'd see nano-based weaponry in the field..." An onlooking Marine muttered.

"Yeah, makes me glad that she's on our side!" Another fellow soldier agreed.

Michelle's helmet deconstructed as she flashed a smile at the soldiers whilst passing through and approached Victoria who already had her anomaly tracker out and pointed in the direction of the apple farm. "How much further do we have to go?"

"A small ways to go." Victoria replied as she played with the touchscreen and various dials of the device to triangulate the position of the anomaly. "We still have another klick and a half till we reach the forest's edge and just a couple of hundred metres into the orchard where unit thirty five eighty seven last saw the anomaly."

"Alrighty then, I'll scout ahead and make sure the way is clear for you lot. By the way, you wouldn't happen to have finished that little module I asked a few weeks back?" Michelle nudged the Paladin.

Victoria looked up from the tracker in sudden remembrance. "As a matter of fact, I did!"

She then reaches for one of her protective cases mounted onto her suit and pulled out an hemisphere shaped device that Victoria made for Michelle. A full scratch built stealth field module to implement on the Battle Angel's nano-suit that will allow the super soldier to turn mostly invisible for a short period of time before needing to recharge. "I just finished it before Vegas and I forgot to give it to you as we left Nellis."

Michelle took the device of Victoria and positioned it between the shield generator and the wing base on her back where the nanomachines created a new hardpoint to mount the prototype module. The super-soldier then reconstructed her helmet and checked her Heads up Display to confirm the 'handshake' and the device is working properly. With a single thought process the stealth field module was activated and with a blink of an eye she was gone, only a distorted outline of her now fully transparent body could be noticed to the naked eye. Michelle then reappeared as quick as she disappeared expressing full joy and satisfaction with the device.

"It's perfect, I honestly didn't think you could pull it off! thank you, Knight Paladin." Michelle thanked Victoria with a handshake.

"I'm a woman of many talents, Wing Commander. It was actually nice to do something I used to enjoy back in my squire days with the Brotherhood. It is only a prototype however so be sure to take it easy on the first few cycles." Victoria returned the handshake.

A two tone beep chirped out from the anomaly tracker, highlighting the direction and distance that Victoria had predicted. There was no turning back for Victoria, securing the Space Time Anomaly brings her and "4-8-8-4" one step closer to getting back to Earth. How she was gonna get everyone back brings an onset of new hurdles to overcome.

"I got a lock on the anomaly, let's go get this damn thing so we can go home, Marines." Victoria informs her platoon.

"Oorah!" Her platoonmates chanted.

"I'm gonna move on ahead and secure the anomaly for containment while I play with my new toy, see you soon." Michelle farewell's the group before taking off high above the forest canopy and makes a beeline for the objective.

"Good hunting, Wing Commander. I'll be in touch ounce we've reached the orchard." Victoria replied over a short range radio frequency. "Ricardo, Dwayne! You have point, let's move out!"

What was supposed to be a twenty minute hike for the marines and the Knight Paladin took close to an hour and a half of traversing the dense terrain. Back on Earth most of the global vegetation have long died out from the nuclear winter that almost rendered our once green planet uninhabitable. Despite the significant loss of vegetation around the world there was still a significant amount of vegetation left to maintain the Earth's atmosphere and more importantly the O-zone layer that protects all life from the harmful UV rays emitted by the sun. By the time they had come close to the edge of the forest the sun was already starting to set and visibility quickly dropped to less favourable conditions. Victoria switches on her night vision while her platoon mates assigned a fellow squad mate to use a red light torch attached to their M19 service rifles.

"Is it just me or has it really gotten dark out here within the last few minutes?" A Marine whispered to Victoria.

"Yeah, the sun doesn't go down as quickly compared to what we're used to back home." Victoria spoke back in a hushed tone.

"Emerald Angel to Fireteam Menace, I have accumulated a full recording of the sunset for you and Serina to analyse. The way the sun was moving was pretty comparable back home, but as soon as the clock hits twenty hundred hours, the sun suddenly accelerated for the horizon. As if some artificial force got hold of it and gave it a push?" Michelle radioed in her observations.

"I have a possible theory that could explain the odd nature of the star's gravitational pull, but I will need to see the footage to prove it otherwise." Serina chimed in.

"Let's focus on capturing the anomaly first before we deviate off course with other projects." Victoria reminded the two. "Michelle, we've reached the edge of the forest. Do you have a visual on the target?"

"I have visual on the target, about two hundred metres past the orchard perimeter fence, next to an apple tree with a treehouse on top. I'm seeing a small group of those planetoid wolves nearby." Michelle observed the site from the infrared scope of her gauss rifle.

"Alright, we'll hold until it gets as dark enough to sneak in. Have you seen any of the locals yet?"

"I saw a group of natives not long ago, can't say one hundred percent if they are but they were a quadruped species that coincidentally resemble horses or ponies."

"Adorable... How do they fare technologically compared to us?"

"From what I can observe, I'd say they sit somewhere between the late industrial age to the early colonial era based on the architecture of the farmhouses."

"Then we have nothing to fear from them should things go south as long as we have the advantage over them."

The group waited out of sight of the dirt road for a while longer until the open world was in total darkness. Swapping out the red lights for night vision goggles, Victoria's Platoon moves from the safety of the woods and into the vast rows of apple trees lining the orchard. The platoon haven't covered much distance from the anomaly when Michelle spotted the two older equines from the farmhouse a few hours ago moving towards the anomaly site in a near galloping pace.

"Angel to Menace, I spotted two native farmers about eighty meters south-east of the site. They seemed to be moving towards ground zero judging from their direction and pace." Michelle informs Victoria as she observes the two ponies.

"You got to be kidding me?! The timing for this to happen could not be anymore perfect than a cliché movie scene..." Victoria deadpanned.

"I don't know if the term 'cliché' best describes this situation as well as, I don't know, coincidental?"

"I bloody think not! We're still over a hundred metres out, those farmers are good as dead if they get too close to the anomaly."

"Roger, I'll see if can distract them with something on my-. Oh no..."

"What is it? Sitrep, Michelle?"

"There's a pack of those planetoid wolves around the anomaly, and those farmers are about to up themselves as happy meals to them."

"Just hold your position, Angel Actual, we're almost in position. Do not intervene, It's too risky to give ourselves away now."

"Vic, there's no time to set up positions and I am not gonna stand by and watch some innocent civilians unintentionally kill themselves! I'm decking the first wolf that tries to take a bite out of them."

"Just don't do anything stupid, Michelle. Take the shot if you have it but stick to the plan. We're not here to play guardians with interdimensional beings."

"Copy that, staying in the shadows until intervention is justified."

"Save some game for the rest of us, we won't be far behind, out." Victoria ceases her communications with the super soldier. "Guns up boys, prepare for first contact!"

"On second thought Big Mac, I don't think this was a good idea to go out into the orchard tonight with all the Timberwolves out and about." Applejack whispered to her brother worryingly.

"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed anxiously.

"But on the bright side the Crusader's clubhouse is just passed those trees..."

The two Apple siblings slowed to a stop the moment Applejack spotted something unusual that could only be described as otherworldly. Sitting next to her little sister's treehouse was a transparent sphere like entity ten metres in diameter with a small black hole in it's centre. The presence of the Timberwolf pack sparked a flight reaction within A.J as she pulled her big brother behind the nearest apple tree before the wolves spotted them.

"What the hay is that thing?" Applejack spoke in a controlled hushed tone.

"I don't know, it wasn't there when we started the harvest this morning." Big Mac replied in a similar manner.

Applejack peaked out from behind the tree to observe the area, she counted six wolves who have taken a cautious stance around the entity. Whenever one tried to get close for a curious sniff the sphere would give the planetoid a painful electric shock, triggering an aggressive reaction from her packmates.

"I don't know what we can do in this situation, maybe we should head back home and tell Twilight about this?" Applejack turned back to her brother.

"Eeyup." Big Mac nodded.

The two siblings turn around to start a silent retreat from the pack only to nearly be knocked off their hooves by a titan of a Timberwolf taking a killing swipe at them, his right paw carves a chunk of wood out of the tree behind A.J and Big Mac. Standing at eight feet in height and nearly twenty feet in length the apex predator that towers over the siblings is one of Equestria's rarest and most dangerous carnivores in recorded history. Known for it's highly durable ironbark wood skin that is difficult for melee weapons to penetrate and mostly dead shrubbery for it's fur, the Ironbark Timberwolf stands as the pinnacle of the species evolution should one with the right genes be allowed to mature to such a stage in its life cycle. Both A.J and Big Mac look up in sheer terror, their skin devoid of colour like their souls abandoned their bodies in haste. The alpha male looks down upon them with liquid tree sap running from it's mouth expressing an animal like desire to feast upon his newfound prey.

Looking back the rest of the pack took notice of their presence and surrounded the siblings. Big Mac began to sweat nervously and Apple Jack's breathing became hollow with anxiety and uncertainty overtook her rational thinking. They tried to look for a way out, to intimidate the wolves in keeping their distance but the Ironbark made this encounter a one sided win for the predators. The two siblings look at each other believing this was the end of the road, that their lives were about to come to a gruesome end. A.J grabbed her Stetson and plopped it on the ground in front of her.

"Sorry Applebloom, your big brother and sister aren't coming home tonight." A.J whispered as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Mother Faust please help us!"

Big Mac pulls his sister into a final embrace as one of the female betas charged and leaped at them, her jaw wide open and ready to sink her teeth into Big Mac's exposed neck. The abrupt death of Big Mac however would never come as the site of the clubhouse and the brief surrounding area turned from night to day in a heartbeat and back to night again by a beam of highly concentrated energy erupting from a nearby tree and vaporised the attacking wolf. The rest of the pack invoke a heightened response of aggression towards the unknown source that killed their packmate. Applejack and Big Mac broke their hug and also stared at the apple tree in mild confusion, wondering who or what is hiding up there.

The tree shifted briefly and several small objects popped out from within and their bottoms ignited, launching them high into the night sky before diving straight down towards their targets. The wolves were spooked and attempted to run away but the small missiles homed in on them and just as it started it was already over with each of the Timberwolves being killed off by the small warheads of the guided weapons. Several small explosions equivalent to an anti-personal mines echoed across the orchard which sent Applejack and Big Mac galloping for their lives fleeing the scene as the now lone Ironbark dodged his tracking missile.

Infuriated by the loss of his pack the apex predator retaliated against the concealed attacker, not through sheer brute force but by utilising his unique abilities to cast offensive magic spells. The alpha telepathically summons a ball of highly unstable dark magic and sends it straight at the occupied apple tree, completely destroying it and reveling his attacker being the now decloaked Battle Angel. Wing Commander Michelle narrowly avoids being toasted by the Wolf's offensive spell with a last minute launch from her hiding spot breaking her concealment upon takeoff, accelerating high above the apple farm before diving back down and tackles the Timberwolf into the dirt at several hundred kilometers per hour. The sheer force of the impact alone should have dealt a crippling blow to the beast but the wolf suffered minor injuries to the left side where the super soldier slammed into him.

The massive creature quickly found his footing and knocked Michelle back a few feet and summons additional dark magic to fire a set of ranged magic attacks. Michelle's enhanced reflexes kicks in as she sidesteps the first blast, pulling her into a areal cartwheel to dodge the second blast and with the aid of her thrusters, performed a Yurchenko vault to avoid the third blast. At the same time the nanomaterials rushed to her hands to reassemble her gauss rifle and with a hastened aim took a blind shot at the wolf only for the accelerated depleted uranium slug to graze his left cheek and turn the trunk of an apple tree behind him into wood splinters. The creature yelped in pain and with renewed animalistic rage charged towards the Battle Angel as she turned and started running towards the tree where the Crusader's clubhouse sits on top. Michelle's wing like thrusters kicked up dirt as she sprinted vertically up the trunk with the large beast hot on her tail. The Timberwolf takes a swipe at the Battle Angel only for his prey to launch herself from the tree performing an areal backflip.

Michelle makes a hard landing back on ground level, the free nanomaterials dancing around her upper torso waiting to assemble the next needed weapon on her command. Michelle makes a quick decision to go close quarters and on que the millions of micro machines rushes to her left hand to assemble her signature elven themed Plasma Sabre. The machines rapidly construct the grip housing a core to project a superheated plasma blade. A blunt fuller extends out from the grip by five feet in length which acts as a projector to channel the plasma energy into its uniquely shaped edges and point. The central ridge completes the tip of the projection shaft and with the push of a button the Sabre erupts to life with a burst of blue plasma energy molding into a controlled inferno of a lethal blade.

The Timberwolf takes a crouching stance against the super soldier ready to pounce his prey as the two stare each other down in a wild western style standoff. Their eyes locked against one another waiting to see who will blink first. Michelle has her blade facing outwards and pointing towards the ground, the energy blade actively discharging excess heat ignites the exposed grass within a meter of the sword. The wolf digs his claws into the ground growling furiously to intimidate his challenger but Michelle stands unfazed, her face concealed behind the visor of her helmet expresses no sign of emotional fear but rather an expression that could be defined as a driven programing of her enhancements to assess, adapt and overcome her opponents. The standoff would continue for what feels like all night until the sound of a discharging Mjolnir anti-tank rocket launcher breaks the silence. The unguided projectile hurls itself towards the alpha predator but the beast jumps clear and the missile impacts the trunk of the tree behind him. A large explosion deafens the quiet equestrian night and the now destroyed tree topples over destroying the Crusader's clubhouse in the process.

With the wolf's stance broken he maintains his momentum and leaps for a killing takedown on the Battle Angel. Michelle breaks into a sprint towards the wolf, her enhanced mobility combined with the power servos and her main thrusters allows her to accelerated to a top speed of 60kph (37.2mhp). Michelle drops low and with the aide of her wings slides under the Timberwolf, taking a swing of her plasma sabre to cut off both hind legs of the wolf. The beast goes down yelping in agony now being effectively crippled. Michelle launches herself high into the sky and with a final battlecry, falls back to the earth, driving her sabre into the neck of the wolf. A final howl cried out into the night as the dying corpse was slowly ignited by the superheated plasma, growing into a fire that consumed the Timberwolf and reduced it to ashes.

Taking a moment to recompose herself, Michelle deactivates the plasma core of her sabre and the nanomaterials deconstructed the sword to be reabsorbed back into her suit. Her helmet also deconstructed as she reached for her pigtail and pulled her hairband off to set her long brunette hair free to flow in the gentle wind before settling down upon her upper back. Michelle takes a controlled deep breath to meditate her mind and put her body at ease of minor physical stress she endured during battle. The emerald iris' of her cybernetic eyes glowed in the dark with her night vision active looking around to see if the two equine farmers were still close by but could not reacquire them.

The closing sounds of heavy hydraulic footsteps drew the Angel's focus towards Victoria's platoon as they emerged from the surrounding orchard, the Railway Marines broke formation and scattered around to secure the area. Victoria approached Michelle holstering her laser pistol and took off her helmet to rest under her right shoulder. Her silver hair sported a youthful pixie haircut and like Michelle, shared similar cybernetic eyes but Vic's iris' are coloured blue. Some of the standardised facial features of a middle aged American Aryan female who grew up within the territories of the Silver Legion States of America prior to Reunification Day.

"What happened to saving some game for the rest of us?" Victoria joked giving the battle angel a playful punch.

"Should've been quicker on your feet, old girl." Michelle chuckled returning the gesture.

"Careful what you wish for, Angel. This Paladin is would be more than happy to oblige. Where did the sabre come from by the way?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, just testing the full limits of the nano-tech within this suit." Michelle replied as a ball of nanomachines took form in her left hand.

"Impressive, the Eggheads back in D.C are in for some gut loaded data once we send off your suit's performance diagnostics to HighCom." Victoria gave a thumbs up.

A fellow Marine approached the two ladies. "Ma'am, area's been secured, no sign of hostile lifeforms or the natives."

"Thank you, Sergeant Major. Bring up the Bug-Catcher, we're securing the anomaly, now!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The Marine jogged back to his platoon mates to give the word of sending in the drone.

Five minutes roll by and the Unmanned Ground Vehicle called 'Bug-Catcher' arrives at the anomaly site. This specialised drone is one of Victoria's improved designs sporting a 4x4 wheeled chassis and was the size of a standard bomb disposal robot. Mounted on top is a metal containment box containing a hadron compressor that compresses and isolates dangerous anomalies and entities within an artificial sub-verse. On the front end a retractable arm with a Particle Projection Funnel extends to it's full length and the remote operator guides the drone as close to the wormhole as possible. Victoria aids the operator in approaching the anomaly in the safest way until the arm was a meter away from touching it.

"Alright, that's close enough!" Victoria called out to the D.O who stops the drone short and switches off his controller.

"Drone's all yours, Ma'am! Do your magic." The Marine gave the Knight Paladin two thumbs up.

"I have control of the funnel, all units, find some solid cover. Ground zero is about to become a volatile kill zone!" Victoria warned the Marines as they scrambled for the closest tree and Michelle takes position besides Victoria. Her nanomachines assembles a particle energy shield projector on her right wrist and positions it to protect the two exposed soldiers.

Victoria pushes a button on her tracker to start the drone's containment sequence. The PPF opens up and a beam of particle energy shoots out at the wormhole, encasing it within a bubble of hard light energy and begins to compress the anomaly. The reaction from the entity was as Victoria predicted, bolts of highly unstable electricity shot out and struck at the trees some of the Marines were hiding behind with some bolts striking the energy shield Michelle had active. The anomaly began to glow white hot which bathed the area in a blinding light breaking Victoria's focus, increasing power output to maximum to allow the PPF to overpower the wormhole and suck it into the containment chamber of the hadron compressor. With the anomaly now secure within Bug-Catcher Victoria was now one step closer to getting the "4-8-8-4" back home and on track in the war effort.

"Menace Lead to Captain Homer." Victoria Hails the war train.

"Menace Lead, this is the Captain. Send traffic, how's your progress on tracking the anomaly? Over." Ryan responds over the net.

"Anomaly has been secured using Bug-Catcher but we had a bit of a rough first contact scenario with the local wildlife threatening two possible native witnesses on the way in, over?"

"Understood, Paladin. Make sure that anomaly is fully contained for transportation and get the hell out of there. With all the commotion that you guys made, there's no doubt that local authorities and some very unhappy farmers are going to be on top of you very soon!"

"Copy that, anomaly is one hundred percent contained. Fireteam Menace is Oscar Mike back to the transports, we are End-Ops! Repeat, End-Ops!"

"Status confirmed, mission accomplished. Return to base, Menace, "4-8-8-4" out!"

"Marines, assemble for extraction on the double!" Victoria barked, her platoon rallies on their commanding officer and starts into a jogging pace back to McKnight's vehicles with Bug-Catcher in tow. Michelle reassembles her helmet and powers up her thrusters to take off into the Equestrian sky.

Over in Ponyville the thunderous noises of the small skirmish between the Humans and the Timberwolves had awoken the town and upon seeing the small smoke trails raising up from the orchard prompted a panicked reaction from the townsfolks. Emergency services were scrambled and the local garrison of Equestrian Royal Guards deploy a Quick Reaction Force in tow. The other Element Bearers also made their way towards the Apple farm in fear that the Apple family was in danger. What they would find is nothing more than the charred remains of the predators and mild destruction of the scene left by their uninvited visitors.

https://youtu.be/9s_9W531ZLU