The soft whine of engines sang throughout Ponyville. Federation forces had bulked up to over double their original size in the town, checkpoints and forces positioned at the edges of the town being reinforced the most noticeably. The locals had begun to become familiar with the sight of troops of various class, military structures and buggies, but just this morning the first APCs and even a trio of battle tanks had rolled up past their front doors. The locals had scurried back into their homes and few remaining shops, leaving the streets clear for the troops to move through. This, however, was not through a sense of duty or respect, but fear. The equestrians had never seen such terrifying machines of such gigantic size before, leaving them cowering within the shadow of their comparatively feeble structures.

A mare of various purple coloration, child filly in arms, made a hasty trot from one building to another, all the while her violet eyes fixed to the dark-armored solders just further down the street to her. Malcolm wanted to make her feel less endangered, less like he was there to gun her down and take her stuff. In truth, he didn't actually know why he was here in this town. As much as the private wanted to make her calm, for now he simply stood staring at her through his goggles. His attention was brought to the slight red hue to edge of his vision, the tightness around the edge of his eyes and the pressure against his jaw from the gas-mask fixed there. He looked vicious, he looked mean, he looked like a soldier.

I look stupid

As if by instinct the private pulled off his helmet and fiddled with the clasps at the back of his head. His mask and goggles came loose, falling down to his collar. He organised the equipment so that his mask was in front of his goggles, neatly stacked so they could be easily accessed if he needed them. Though he was fairly sure he wouldn't any time soon, he hadn't so far in all his two weeks of being deployed on Epona. He sure did like it here; The warm air, fair weather, even when it was raining it was still bright outside. Ponyville was one hell of a nice place, everything about it giving off a calming, almost motherly aura. Quite ironic Malcolm was on the side who wanted to see it all washed away with 'reason'.

Malcolm had read a lot of data logs on old agricultural life back on Earth, how simple and calm life had been for the farmers back then. It was very different now, everyone was closer together, everything was being watched all the time. Things had been desensitized, people got used to certain things that still seemed to pluck on Malcolms' nerves. Swear words, boasts, brutality, threats, insensitivity, it all rubbed Malcom the wrong way, and the UTF infantry had it in spades on Epona. Some respected this place enough to treat it fairly, some simply dismissed anything this world through at them as a stupid fairy-tale, and some used Equestria itself as their own personal punching bag. Malcolm had to admit, this place did funny things to a soldiers head, it was so very different from every other world the federation had walked upon. Creatures from story books centuries ago, castles and princesses, an overall 'bubble-gum' theme to everything and locals that would seem suspiciously friendly and sensitive to any human. To some, it was all just way too much.

"Joyman! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" Sergeant Major Fellks roared at the private.

"Just getting a bit toasty, sir!" Malcolm replied.

"You saying to me that a thousand troopers are feeling super fucking comfy wearing their kit, and you alone are the one having trouble breathing?! You need to see a fucking corpsman, Private?!" The stocky officer bellowed as he stormed up to the trooper.

"Sir, I would like to point out that it is not under federation regulations to wear hazardous environment gear unless a situation demands it, sir!" Malcolm replied in a very formal manner.

"Well shit then, Private! What you doing in the infantry?! You should be a fucking lawyer!" The sergeant obviously had something on his mind, Malcolm had expected another ten, fifteen minutes of being screamed at before the officer marched off again.

"Joy, why you always gotta poke the bear? One day you'll get us all in trouble." Banay, his squad-mate stated.

"Against regulations, Ben. If he wants to spank anyone, it'll have to be just me."

"Yeh, and one day I think Fellks isn't gonna give a fuck about 'regulations'."

"Probably when he gets sick of you using your 'regulations' as a shit-sponge. Hell, I'm getting sick of it." Jeorge added in, his deep voice rumbling through the air like a purring engine.

"They're not my regulations, man." Countered Malcolm.

His squad shuffled to the side of the street as an APC came rolling down the street. Malcolm was only nineteen years of age, green as they got, but he'd read about formations like this, only on a much larger scale. It was an active defensive initiative, lots of mobile units to shift the density of a defense around a population so evaluation tactics could be drawn to initiate actions that got more counteractive results.

"Fourth one in the last hour. Ships are dropping gear like it's going out of style. We expecting some kind of hostile encounter that isn't horses throwing stink-bombs at us?" Banay asked to no one in articular.

"We would have heard if we were being attacked, this must be in preparation for something headed our way." Added Jeorge.

"Twenty credits says Mega Corp has their eyes on the prize." Banay chuckled.

"Mega Corp, Neos', PRM, they all have reason enough to besiege us here. Corp wouldn't be able to resist wringing out this planet for everything it's worth. I'm sure the Neos' just love the idea of an alien civilization, another 'impure' form of life for them to step on. And the PRM can't pass up rooting out our foothold here, wouldn't be surprised if they sent half their fleet here to just make a point." Jeorge replied.

"Fuck it, I say it's Corp! Sure would like to kick some capitalist ass more than we did with these fuckers." Banay growled as he looked about.

Malcolm checked how his helmet was sitting on his head in a nearby shop window, tightening up his straps to make sure everything sat still. He wiped away a small smudge of dirt that had gotten on his pale upper lip, below his orange, bio-luminescent freckles.

"Oh! Oh, Joy! Try not to shit yourself too bad with your major man-gasm, but look what's here!" Banay called in excitement.

Malcolm turned about, not after he felt a steady pulse of quakes that rocked his feet. He peered up to see an Ogre power-suit striding past him and his squad, a twenty foot tall mech of dark armour. It's limbs were powerful hydraulic rams and heavy gear assemblies, its cockpit situated in what could be recognized as the machines 'chest'. In many ways the Ogre was just an enhanced version of a trooper made real with robotics. It held aloft a giant one hundred and sixty caliber chain-gun as a trooper would hold his thirty caliber rifle, upon its back sat a quad-pod missile launcher and around its torso were attached ammo pouches. Malcolm had always wanted to achieve his pilot license for the battle suit, eagerly awaiting his year-long service threshold so he could apply for one. The power and boundaries that fell down when within such a machine was not something that held appeal to the private, it was the solitude. Just him, no one else, locked up within the machine, leaving him time and quiet enough to really think about things, to perceive things around him. That, and three inches of titanium armour plate didn't hurt either.

"Can't wait for the day when I get to shut your annoying as hell voice out inside one of those." Malcolm said in his daydreaming.

"Sure, so instead you can concentrate on the sound of rail-gun rounds rattling around you. Nice and peaceful." Banay sing-songed in a sarcastic tone.

"It will be leagues better than hearing you."

As the Ogre passed them and stomped off to the towns' edge a nearby door creaked open. Banay and a couple other shot to attention, their rifles swinging to a semi-raised position as their arms tensed up.

"Really, Ben? Really?" Malcolm grunted, his arms helplessly hanging at his sides.

"Not my fault I'm staying ready in case of another Appleoosa." Whispered Banay.

From the door stepped out a grayish, lilac mare of an athletic build, light blue and white mane that made her appear to be moving at the speed of sound, matching tail and a pair of wings. Behind her came another female pegasus who must have been the first mares' sister, her coloration being slightly lighter, yet her light blue mane was longer and flowed down her neck. Both wore loose-fit vests and daisy duke denim shorts. The first mare wore a single thigh-high, blue and white striped stocking, quite the perplexing fashion choice to any human. The pair sheepishly approached the troopers, a cluster of ponies peering out from the door they had emerged from.

"Uh, excuse me, but a few of us were wondering-" The first mare began.

"That's close enough, now keep your hands where we can see them." Ben barked at them, sending a flinch through the girls.

"Ok, sure. Just, we were wondering what's going on?"

"What's it to you?"

"Well, um, this is our home." The second mare replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Ben said as he fully raised his carbine.

"N-n-nothing! I didn't mean anything! But don't we have the right to know why these machines are doing in our streets?" The second mare pleaded.

"Banay, go sit down somewhere and think happy thoughts." Malcolm sighed as he passed his squad-mate.

"Everyone else is shut away in there homes like they know they should be, so what makes these fuckers so different? What have they gotta know that nobody else has to?!" Ben growled in reply, Joyman ignoring him.

"Sorry ladies, but every command hub is calling for forces in every city to bulk up. Until reinforcements are dismissed it's going to be a little noisy." Malcolm shrugged.

"Ugh, do you have any idea when that'll be?" The first mare asked.

"Can't tell. We aren't even sure as to why we're here."

"That's a negative, private. We know exactly why we're here." Ben countered.

"Oh really, private? Enlighten me then." Malcolm asked in return, heatedly.

"Well, after all the trouble in Canterlot, we're here to make sure no one else steps out of line." Hissed Banay.

"Sure, and that's, what, official intel? Straight from the top?"

"It's the only reasonable explanation."

"W-w-well, we couldn't help but hear something about 'Major Crop', or something. Is that something we should worry about?" The first mare asked gingerly.

"You see! Sneaky little fucks are spying on us!" The private thrusted the barrel of his weapon at the ponies to emphasize his words.

"No! We just overheard after things went quiet a while!" The mare said as she backed away.

"Ben. Fuck-off!" Malcolm said as clear as he could.

The private kept his eyes fixed on the mares from behind his goggles, paced about for a second and finally wandered back to the ammo crates his squad was gathered next to.

"Look, it's best not to ask questions right now. No one's sure what exactly is happening, but I'm sure you guys'll be fine if you just stay in your homes for now."

"Ok, sure, thanks." The first girl said with a crooked smile before they both scurried back into their hideout, leaving the private free to walk back to his squad.

"Say, dumbass, why are you like that?" He spat at Ben.

"Because it keeps them scared. Scared horses are good horses." Ben replied.

"They're ponies. And let's not spread the bullshit too thin, why are you really that mean? You don't have to be, I mean, these guys are already scared as hell already."

"Fine, you want to know why I'm mean, why this whole fucking place rubs me the wrong way? Because it's dumb, it's all stupid as fuck, a dumb fuckin' fairy-tale! It may be hard to believe, but throughout school, I was the star biscuit. I showed up early, I worked hard and let the lessons sink in deep. For my whole life I learnt that facts are facts, that science and maths is what's true and solid. I couldn't stand those damn lessons about how people used to believe in stupid stories, how they used to read that shit to kids, man. They read that crappy stuff to kids for fun! And after all that, all I needed was to spend a couple years in the infantry to get a good gold stamp for a nice ass college in the Vekta sector, or at least the best back home on Requiem. I work hard and I get good stuff in return, that's how everything happened. Until I came here. Until the army dropped me on fairy-tale central where I'd be put on a shitty roller-coaster ride of pretty-pony-princesses and stupid magical creatures that make-no-sense!"

"It's not fair, ok! It's not fucking fair that we, the UTF, have to work hard, innovate, advance ourselves to gain success, and these dumb fucks just sit back on their magic flower beds and just let 'magic' solve everything! Now they get to work for their shit! Now they get to give and take. No more magic! No more stupid fairy shit!"

Malcolm gave the physical impression he'd just been hit by gale-force winds, his eyes wide and expression blank.

"I think I smell magic-envy." The private half giggled.

"Oh, sure, just brush it off. That's what we where taught to do as kids. Whenever a question comes up, just ignore it and stay happy. Say, that sounds awful familiar, Joyman, maybe you belong here with these dumb animals."

After that, Banay simply stormed off, leaving Malcolm a little overwhelmed, but for the most part unshaken. Obviously his own Europa roots mirrored that of Bens' Requiem heritage. Back home there was a very noticeable Planets Rights Movement presence, keeping the whole planet tight under UTF surveillance. School was more casual, kids were a bit more rough-and-tumble than that of more 'developed' colonies, taxes were a hell lot lower than many other worlds and UTF presence was fairly low. Things were a bit more laid back on Europa, sure they didn't cook up ten ships a months and they still mostly relied on wheeled transport rather than that floaty stuff the UTF came up with. In many ways, other UTF worlds saw Europa as the lazy, slackers of the federation.

"So, I can take it you don't quite like it here?!" Malcolm chuckled out loud to Ben, who ignored the tickled private.

A sudden, but visible movement caught the troopers' attention. A quick absence of light that had once been within an alleyway. Malcolm took a full tenth of a second to try and convince himself he didn't notice anything. After hat failed, he spent the next tenth of a second trying to convince himself he couldn't possibly know what it was he saw. After that failed, he tried convincing himself there was nothing he could do to intervene with the situation at hand.

Aw hell!

"Hey, sarge. Thought I saw something back here, gonna go take a look, sir." He radioed to his CO.

"Fine, but make it quick."

Malcolm took a deep breath in and out again before heading off into the alleyway. In caution of what he suspected the situation to be, he slung his rifle, fixing it to his magnetic plate. He came to the edge of the first alleyway, coming to a T-junction. The trooper took a right in the direction the shadow had moved in, carefully advancing as to not get caught unawares. He quickly brought up his left goggle lens to his eye to peer at his motion tracker, finding no targets present. He kept his ears on alert for any noise beyond the sound of soldiers and their machines in the background, but still nothing. Malcolm began to wonder if he'd just imagined it, or maybe it was just a stray animal of some sort.

Probably just a bird

Malcolm dropped his tension and decided it was better to be safe than sorry, and the next corner was just a couple of steps away. However something else caught Malcolms' attention, some disfigurement on the wall to his right. It was wording, badly painted graffiti of some kind. Taking a step back he could see them to be big, bold, dark crimson words painted onto the wall, spelling out a very simple message.

REMEMBER APPLEOOSA

Malcolm felt that same tug in his chest, like someone had plucked at his spine, causing his chest to tighten and his expression to drop. He hadn't been around when Appleoosa had been burnt off the face of the planet, but his whole platoon had been taken there on his second day here. Dark, charcoal skeletons of what used to be homes and buildings stood amongst a field of ash and deep craters. At one point Malcolm had strained his eyes to see something he wish he didn't, something that had sealed his stance on what was happening on Epona. A figure, presumably a female native, burnt and broken crouching behind what was once some kind of barn. Her arms were wrapped around something small and for the most part unseeable, but Malcolm was far from stupid, he knew what was within her arms by the way she clutched desperately to it.

Yeh...the few for the many....sure...

Malcolm sighed, knowing he'd rather see the inside of a cell than be behind one of the triggers that wiped away Appleoosa from existence. He wondered what whack-job actually had such little heart as to give the go-ahead for such an operation. The trooper backed away lazily, backing towards the next corner before turning into it. His face hit something.

Boobs!

"Ah! Fuck!" Malcolm blurted as he stumbled backwards, taking a second to steady himself before he looked up at whatever he'd just wandered into.

The mare was huge considering what one would expect from a female Equestrian. She pushed the term 'towering' as her six foot two frame vastly exceeded Malcolms own five-seven. Malcolm wasn't particularly tall, but this girl made him feel minature, excessively so when taking into account her muscle mass was easily triple the troopers. Her blonde mane was a river of gold that flowed from her head and was choked away by a red band, along with her tail. Malcolm spent but fleeting moment taking into account her figure, one he had experienced first hand/face just a second ago. However what was hard to ignore was her face. Her scowl, her fiery eyes of deep emerald framed by dark lashes leading to a deep orange coat twisted into an image of dense hatred for what she looked upon. Such a look Malcolm had gotten used to over the two weeks he'd known about this mare, the first meeting they'd had was him studying her 'wanted for questioning' page on his data pad. Their first official meeting, he'd nearly put holes in her as he watched her pulling apart the support links around a communication disk. He had certainly considered making he a lot dead-er, but in the end a mixture of fear and pity had kept his finger off the trigger.

"Ahem." Applejack coughed.

"You can-not be doing that shit! What if it wasn't me who'd....run into you." Malcolm sputtered.

"Please. Ah can smell you pasties a mile off. What's happenin'?" The mare demanded.

"Getting a lot of that today." Malcolm mused.

AJ raised an eyebrow and took a step forward, "You start talkin', or we gon' have a lil' session lak we done the second time we met."

"Right, right! I got you! No twisted vertabrae needed here. Short of it is, I dunno. We dunno." Malcolm shrugged.

"Come on now, pasty, yah'll better not be holdin' out on me." She took another step forward and cracked her wide-set knuckles.

"Whoa, fuck! I'm telling the truth! I mean, seriously, can't you trust the one guy who isn't out to put your head on a stick?"

"Can't be trustin' none ah yah'll."

"Really? You know how much troouble I would get in if someone saw us here, right now? I'd be looking at years, AJ, years locked up. Or worse. And if I'd wanted to rat you out I would have done it a long, long time ago."

"Well, yah'll be forgivin' me if ah have trouble takin' your whole 'writing wrongs' story a little weak."

"What exactly will it take for you to trust me, just me?" Malcolm asked as he flew up his arms just to drop them again.

"Yah'll not bein' here." AJ replied blandly.

"Well I happen to be with you in regards to that ideal, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Whatever's got us all out here has the fleet spooked. I'd say it was an incoming enemy fleet, but we'd be informed of it to have tactical initiative. From what I can tell, the fleet must know as little about whatever's freaking them out as we do."

"So wait a sec', you're tellin' me your big, scary spaceships you lahk tah scare us with on posters are scared of something themselves? That is all kinds'a' rich right thar." Applejack seemed to find that idea tickled her a fair bit.

"Yeh, seems so." Malcolm murmured.

"Well hay, sure wouldn't lahk tah run intah whatever's makin' yah'll jumpy and such. Heck, they might just go ahead an' finish the job yah'll started with Appleoosa." AJs' expression turned from amused to stone cold in a frightening space of time.

"Right. I assume that's your handy work right there?" Malcolm asked as he shot a thumb at the graffiti behind him.

"Lahk the color? Remind yah of anythin'?"

"Yeh, just haven't seen much of it myself."

"Yah'd say that, wouldn'tcha?" AJ hissed.

"The fuck do you want from me?!"

Malcolm was flung back against the wall as AJs' significant mass hit him like a bolt of lightning. The large mare pinned him against the rust colored brick work, her right arms flexed with the elbow braced against the wall. Her chest pressed firm against his collar, all of it.

"Ah want you to spill all the beans on your lil' operations in mah town. I want you to give me every last word every lil' birdy tells yah. Then ah wanna become such a big pain in the flank for yah'll that yah high-tail it on back up intah the sky an' stay there!" AJ ended up roaring the last sentence at point blank range of Malcolms' face, her eyes burning into his.

"It won't work....will it? I get what you want, and in many ways I want that too. But you are one girl against an army of millions. It is, to me at least, the greatest miracle of our time that you haven't been caught yet. But one day they will catch you, they will hurt you and they will make an example of you. And as much as I want to help you, I can't stop that from happening."

Applejack pressed herself off of the trooper and wandered backwards a couple of steps.

"Then that's when ah go tuh Plan B." She said, her eyes falling down to gaze at the ground beneath her.

"Joyman! Where the fuck are you?!" Fellks barked over the radio channel.

"Sorry, sir, just being thorough. Headed back now." Malcom turned his attention away from AJ to focus on keeping his words steady, "AJ, I gotta get going or I'm in deep shi-"

AJ was nowhere to be seen, seemingly having melted into the earth or some equal feat of a disappearing act.

"Damn. Stay safe, cowgirl."