Thankfully before I could reflexively push the pink...thing away, the same rainbow hued pony from earlier swooped down and dragged her wiggling and writhing into the crowd.  The crowd that was doing little more than staring at me while they got their first good look at the human.  Wonderful.  Well that was until a massive voice burst across the cavern from the side opposite of me.  The voice was both sound and pressure, making fabric and fur alike wave under its fury.  Through my armor it still rattled my teeth as the translator software scrolled in a corner of my vision and a monotone voice recited in my ear.

"This is Sergeant Rodriguez.  He is both our ally and ambassador to his people.  Any affront to him is an insult to the crown.  With that said, he is looking for some items of his that were removed from the crypt recently.  The largest should have been a metal canister about the size of a large filly.  If you have seen anything, please report it immediately to your superiors."

Well, that wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but sure whatever.  I'll take it.  As the ponies milled around, several bursts of color were working through the crowd.  Well, dividing the crowd to be more precise.  The assortment of equines parted like a sea as both royals and officers strode through.  Kind of odd to see in motion, but everything since I had awoken had been odd.  Par for the course and all that.  Before I could get caught up in the oncoming mire, I reminded myself to issue one more set of commands.  A few finger swipes on my tablet sent the Raven drone to perch on the rock face above the cavern entrance and act as a network repeater.  A moment later, comforting diagnostics were scrolling down the pad.  The final pair of notices brought a small, yet grim smile to my face.

>Connected to AWACS... Network Status <Secure>

>All units beginning SAR AI Core "Seven"

With that taken care of, I tucked the pad back into its proper resting place just as the gaggle of ponies reached my position.  Several of them I had been introduced to already, mainly being the royals and Armor.  The rest were ones that I had seen throughout the camp doing different tasks.  Leading the way was the grim looking behemoth of what I could only assume was a red pony from the small bits of fur that poked out from under blackened and bloody plate mail.  I still had no idea how it effectively used a maul as a weapon, but there had been lots of surprises lately.   Beyond that monster, there was the rainbow colored one that always appeared suddenly.  She, and I'm assuming a lot here from the figure it was a she, was simply wearing a mixture of silver chain and scale mail.  The leading edges of her wings and hooves all seemed to have some manor of blade attached, and made me somewhat wary.  It also reminded me how much worse it could have been when I woke up.

The pink one was quietly following in the footsteps of the Valkyrie.  Her previously scattered hair looked deflated and limp to match the depressed look on her face.  In the back of my mind, I could swear that I saw this pony manning a cannon at some point in the melee.  Flanking her were the royals and three ponies that made my mind hurt.  First was a golden pony wearing a stetson.  The hat I could get around.  What got me was the pair of hand scythes strapped to her sides over a mixture of padding and simple plate.  Either way, if she could use a weapon like the big one, she would make one hell of a mess.  The final two were...confusing.  They wore no armor and carried no weapons, yet walked with the confidence of one who has seen many battles.  The first was a spotless ivory unicorn with a purple mane.  Yes, the colors.  I know.  The second was a yellow and pink pegasus that looked at me with a mixture of anger and sorrow.  Both parts of the duo wore little more than a set of saddle bags.  Any other thoughts were pressed to the side as the massive pony stopped shortly with the crunch of gravel before running into me.  He was close enough for his breath to fog the armored windows of my helmet.

Knowing that this was probably going to be a long conversation while the drones searched, I unlocked the armored faceplate of my helmet and rotated it up with a few soft clicks as it locked.  It certainly made an impression on the ponies as a few of them, including the large one reeled back a hair.  Granted, with the emergency procedures done by Seven didn't do much to improve my looks.  Moreso was probably the odd colors of light reflecting on my face from the displays embedded in the glass.  Thankfully, Celestia took this chance to curb the awkwardness somewhat.

"Sergeant, I'd like to introduce you to the leaders of our... resistance.  You have already met Captain Armor and from what I've heard, had an interesting encounter with Rainbow Dash.  All of the ponies present are the leaders of their various units.  Since you've already met, Rainbow Dash is the leader of our Stormwings.  They are a creation of my sister that blends the speed and agility of the best pagasi flyers with their inherent elemental magics."

As Celestia spoke, the rainbow maned one did little more than nod her head softly with a small blush at the praise from Celestia.  Moments later, the hardened and distrustful look came over her features yet again as she brought her gaze back toward me.  Even with my armor enhancing my hearing, I couldn't hear what the pink one was whispering in Rainbow's ear.  Either way, it broke the stony countenance slightly.  It was just a hint of a grin and small laugh, but it was a start.

"Pinkie Pie, is there anything you would like to tell the group?"

That made the pink one snap her head up like a scolded child before she tried to keep a straight face while using her frazzled mane as a screen.  She failed miserably.

"I...I was asking Dashie if she thought he could shoot lasers out of that red eye of his."

It was pretty apparent that the group was expecting me to take grave insult as they all turned toward Pinkie before swiveling my way again as it was damn hard to keep from laughing a bit.  Freaking laser eye.  That would have been useful more than once in the last afternoon or so.  Note to self: get Seven to have the nanites fix the rest of my face.  Where metal and skin met was a bit chilly even in my temperature controlled armor.

"Don't be mad at her.  That was kind of funny.  Only sort of funny but it's been a rough day and a half for everyone.  Would be neat if I could do that though."

"I know!  You'd be like PEW! PEW!  I'M FIRIN' MAH LASER!"

If it were possible to facepalm in my armor I would be.  That pink menace was going to be the cause of many headaches, I could already tell.  A soft chirping and flashing red icon in my vision grabbed my attention just as Luna opened her mouth to speak.  Apparently the network reacts differently with the royals, as all four pairs of their eyes glazed over for a fraction of a second.  Being linked like I was, I already knew what was going on.  Control had found Seven.

Yanking the tablet out of it's pouch, I pulled up the feed from the drones and was graced with a bird's eye view of a shattered city.  Great heaps of shattered stone marked where buildings once were.  More importantly was the three heat traces that somehow had passed through the sensor network without tripping anything.  Somehow they were only seen on IR, not regular cameras.  Despite that, I could clearly see the large outlined canister between the figures.  Once again, my fingers went to work on the ever familiar tablet.

"They found Seven.  The network is back up for now, so if you need me just message me.  The facility is still off limits until we get this figured out.  I'm heading into the city to find Seven but will be leaving three support units here in case the Minotaurs come back."

With that said, a free hand grasped the armored faceplate and tugged it down.  The darkness within my fully armored helmet was welcome as the new displays flickered to life and began scrolling information.  Most importantly was the confirmation for the orders I had issued.  I could already hear one support drone whirring softly as it started to inch its way out of the cavern.  

>AI Core <Seven> set as: High Value Target>No collateral damage allowed

>Unknown units in vicinity HVT: HOSTILE

>Rules of Engagement: Immediate LETHAL force authorized

>Units en route to intercept HVT

"One of the drones is outside the cavern as well.  The display on the rearmost support drone will change camera views every few seconds so you can see what is going on with Seven as well as outside the cavern.  I've gotta go, those bastards are already outside the sensor net."

With that, there was little left to do but a quick chamber check to make sure my rifle was loaded and then run toward the darkened city.

Fifteen minutes.  Fifteen fucking minutes I've ran across this shattered city.  Through it all, I've not come across a single living thing, just burnt out homes and collapsed businesses.  Some of the fires had burnt so fierce that it cracked and crazed the stone sidewalks.  The random scribble writing of the ponies only seemed to drive home the fact that I truly wasn't in my time anymore.  A dull buzzing had started a minute or two ago as the first of the airborne drones got a safe shot at the creatures that were dragging the AI core down a side alley.  From the white spatter on the display, I'm going to mark that as a kill.  Pretty sure one of the white blobs was a severed leg or something.

Either way, life was starting to get a little more interesting.  Control had spotted a small group of minotaurs slipping through the remains of buildings and down alleys toward where the last pony was holed up.  Presumably to recover Seven from the soon to be deceased ponies that stole him.  Control couldn't get any clear shots, so I had decided on a hail mary.  The support drone was simply lobbing grenades into the distance toward where the AWACS estimated the cows would pop up.  It gave me enough cover fire to slip down one of the last side streets.  I barely had enough time to dive behind a collapsed wall before a burst of green energy ripped down the street screeching like a madman.  Naturally, that is exactly when a series of high pitched chirps grabbed my attention.

>Hostile and HVT moving away from position at rapid pace.  No firing solution available at this time.

>Hostile units will intercept HVT before solution can be found.

Looking at the map, there was only one place they would be heading with the AI core.  The bastards were trying to get it back to the castle.  It was the only "safe" area in the city.  This was going to turn out to be one hell of a mess, but there really wasn't any time to do anything but double down on insanity.

###Send burst transmission: User(s): Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Cadence

>They are taking Seven toward the castle.  No other activity on the streets hostile or otherwise.

>Issuing new orders for the support drones.  Two will enter city, two will defend cavern.

>Keep yourself and ponies near the drones.  We are retaking your capitol city tonight.

>New ROE accepted.  AI Core <Seven> HVT

>HVT Scorched Earth ROE accepted.  Exclusion zone approved

>All other none associated units <Hostile> Lethal force authorized

###Camouflage settings> Dynamic optimization

God help me if this doesn't work.  If those bastards manage to get Seven near the castle, Control will drop it's entire payload on top of the AI core.  With that in mind, I triggered the camouflage routines in my armor and began to sprint down the street toward where Control said the minotaur units were headed.  Echos of my pounding feet traveled with me as the armor did its best to cushion each step.  To most, I would only look like a smear of color while moving.  It took too much power to render backgrounds while running, so the system would just adjust as needed to "blend" me in somewhat...ish.

I never did pay any attention to the shattered and dismembered pony that Control shot.  It was little more than a blur out of the corner of my vision as I ran past.  If I had noticed sooner, it would have saved me so much trouble later...