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Titanfall: Equestria's Guardians

by Xvern

Chapters

The Final Battle

"Enemy Pilot spotted!"

"Clearing balcony."

"Man down! Man down!"

"Balcony cleared, advancing."

Cervius sighed as he shifted in his seat. As usual, the radio was packed with chatter. As usual, it appeared that the forces of the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, or IMC as it was more popularly known, was losing the fight. As usual, Cervius would drop into battle anyway, ready to kill or be killed.

"Hey Cervius," began a female voice over the squad-com, "you good over there?"

The voice came from the Titan across from his. Like his, it was a Stryder model Light-Titan. The cockpit, which took up the entire torso, was a simple rectangle with the optical sphere set in the upper right corner when one was looking at it. The arms and legs held little armor, the inner workings out for all to see. Like everything else in the IMC, both Titans were an off-white color.

"He's fine Rachel," replied a gruff voice as the deck shook beneath Cervius's Titan. Turning his head, the optics following, Cervius watched as a massive, gorilla-esque Titan strode over. It wasn't massive in height but more in weight. The Ogre, as it was named, was a Heavy-Titan. Whereas the Stryder relied on agility and speed, the Ogre relied on brute force. A favorite saying amongst Ogre pilots was, 'With armor plating this thick, you don't need to run'. While it was true, the Ogres weren't invincible. A skilled Stryder pilot could severely cripple or destroy an Ogre by outflanking it. Two capable Stryder pilots would have no trouble with the slower moving gargantuan, a fact that Rachel and Cervius had proved many times.

"I do believe I asked him Cole, not you," was the snappy reply. Cole chuckled as he settled his titan above the drop door and turned to face Rachel and Cervius.

"I'm fine, Rachel. I just have the feeling that this is going to be a repeat of past missions," Cervius stated.

"Reaver Squad. Drop occurring in twenty seconds. Prepare to drop," Spyglass informed the three pilots. Spyglass was the name for the model of robot used by the IMC to relay tactical information to IMC troops.

Cervius rolled his neck before his hands danced across the controls. With ease born from months of constant combat, he had the Titan retrieve an ammo drum from the storage clasp and load it into the XO-16 Chaingun held in it's hands.

"Well. Repeat or not, I'm just happy to get back into the shit," Cole stated with a throaty chuckle as his Titan racked back the charging handle on the 40mm cannon in it's hands.

"Just remember that your not invincible will you? Cervius and me are tired of abandoning a hunt to drag your ass from the fire," Rachel replied with bite.

"It's not my fault they feel the need to gang up on ol' Ironskin here."

"Ironskin? Really?" Rachel asked, amusement in her voice. Cervius found himself chuckling at the nickname. Nicknames were rarely given to Titans as you were bound to have it shot out from under you during a battle. Such was the way of modern warfare.

"Shut up. Both of ya."

Rachel and Cervius both broke into laughter as the monotone voice of the Spyglass came back over the net,

"Drop in ten seconds."

"So," Rachel began after regaining her composure, "what do you think the Militia threw at us this time?"

"It's Demeter," Cervius replied, "they've thrown in everything."

Demeter was the IMC's main refueling point between the Core worlds and the Frontier. Without it... well, let's just say that it would be endgame.

"Five," Spyglass droned, "Four...Three...Two...Dropping."

Faster than Cervius could blank, the doors below his Titan retracted into the hull. With the ship inside the planet's gravity well, the three Titans were able to begin falling toward the planet.

"Engaging warpfall," Rachel stated.

"Engaging warpfall," Cervius stated not a second after. His left hand flew over the small keyboard in the cockpit. The world began to stretch and grow brighter before everything slammed back together with an audible pop. Cervius had only a millisecond to observe the refinery before flames swallowed his Titan. Not a second after that the Titan hit dirt, it's knees bending and left hand extending to catch itself. As with every warpfall, Cervius was left feeling like his insides had been torn out of his body and then haphazardly stuffed back inside. It was not a pleasant sensation but he had learned long ago how to push through it.

Rising to his full height, Cervius examined his surroundings. It was hell. The Militia were through the outer defenses and running amok inside the refinery. Spotting a squad of Militia Grunts, Cervius leveled his XO-16 on them and promptly blew them away.

"Cervius, hostile Titan near my position," Rachel reported. Looking at the map displayed on the Titan's screen, Cervius saw the icon that marked Rachel's position. She wasn't that far away.

"Roger, moving to support," he replied, turning his Titan and taking off at a jog. One unlucky hostile Grunt found himself underneath one of the Titan's feet. Rounds pinged off the Titan's shielding as both IMC and Militia Grunts threw rounds back and forth at each other. A rocket sped in front of the charging Titan before soaring through a window and detonating.

Rounding a building, Cervius saw Rachel's Stryder behind a Particle Wall that near failing. Down the street sat an enemy Atlas, a Medium-Class Titan, that had it's 40mm Cannon blasting away. Activating thrusters located on the back of the Titan's hip, much like Cervius's own jump pack, the Titan lurched forward to come up next to Rachel. As soon as the Titan stopped, Cervius threw up his own Particle Wall, Rachel's failing a second after.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Cervius replied as he began blasting away with the XO-16. According to the readout on his screen, the Atlas was nearing the Doom state. The Doom state was when a Titan sustained so much damage that the core began to overload, leading it to eventually self-destruct.

A boom and the shaking of the Earth signified that another Titan had reached the surface.

"Honey! I'm home!" Cole announced before booming in laughter. Two seconds later and the booming of his 40mm replaced that of his laughter. With the combined firepower, the enemy Atlas tried retreating but it was too late. The readout changed to show yellow and black bars and a red countdown timer, a sign that it was Doomed.

Acting quickly, Cervius hit the thrusters in three separate bursts. This brought him right in front of the enemy Titan. Punching his left hand through the outer shell, he grabbed the pilot and yanked him from the Doomed machine. With the enemy pilot in his grasp, he swung around and flung the man at the building next to him. He hit with a splat and the breaking of bones. Blood splattered as his body fell to the ground below.

"A bit brutal, don't ya think?" Rachel asked as she piloted her Stryder past his.

"War is brutal Rachel," he replied as he reloaded his nearly empty XO-16.

Cole boomed in laughter again, "Looks like Cervius found his balls!"

"Yeah, they were in your mom's mouth," he replied. Feminine laughter dominated the net for a full minute.

Minutes continued to tick by as Reaver squad fought against seemingly endless waves of Militia forces. As they fought, they heard the deteriorating situation over the OpNet. The Militia leader was making headway in rigging the reactors for detonation, an act that would blow up a quarter of the planet at the least. It began to look that no matter how hard the IMC fought on the ground, the Militia was still going to win. This was proven when the Militia leader hardwired the reactor for destruction.

"Shit. Alright Pilots, we're pulling you out. Dropships inbound," informed Vice Admiral Greaves.

"Negative," interrupted Spyglass, "evacuation cancelled. Capital ship override engaged."

"What are you doing?" Greaves screamed.

"Moving the fleet to a safe distance," Spyglass stated, whether in reply to Greaves or not, no one could tell.

"Son of a bitch!" Cole shouted, droning out the remainder of the transmission, "They're just going to leave us here to-"

Cole didn't finish as the reactor erupted. The resulting explosion engulfed the battlefield, Reaver squad included.

Meeting the Mythological

The first thing that Cervius noticed was the pounding headache that threatened to split his head in half. Is this what it feels like to be dead? he thought as he moved his hands to his helmeted head. The sounds of a reactor humming and that he was still seated was a surefire way of informing him that he was still in his Titan. Removing the helmet, he held it in his lap as he forced his eyes open. Blinking a couple times to clear his blurry vision, he was finally met with a clear view of the Titan's screen... and the forest that he was now in.

"W-what?" he croaked. He rubbed his eyes to see if the forest would go away. It didn't.

"There must be a glitch," he decided. Demeter had no forests on it's surface due to the sheer amount of industrialization on the planet. So to be looking at a healthy, if a bit brightly colored, forest was impossible. With this in mind, Cervius had the Titan crouch closer to the ground before he popped open the hatch. The screens died as the front of the cockpit opened up in multiple directions.

"Pilot exiting," droned the feminine voice of the suit's AI, "Assuming AI control."

Well at least that's still normal, he thought as he looked at the trees and shrubbery lying outside his Titan. With a deep breath, he slid out from the seat and onto the dirt. With him clear, the cockpit shut once more and, with the AI in control, it stood to it's full height with the XO-16 held at the ready.

Cervius ignored the actions of the Titan, though, as he was used to it. What he wasn't used to was the chirping of birds, the creaking of branches in the wind, and the howls of far off predators. With his helmet held under his left arm, Cervius knelt down and took a fistful of dirt in his right hand. Enclosing his hand into a fist, he watched as the dirt trickled back to the ground below.

"Cervius...you...anybody..."

The voice shocked Cervius out of his trance. Dropping the rest of his dirt, he quickly threw his helmet back onto his head. Ignoring the HUD as it came back to life, he listened for the voice.

"Cervius? Cole? Can you hear me? Is anybody alive?" came Rachel's voice over the Com. She sounded like she was on the verge of panicking.

"Rachel!" he began, putting his right hand to his helmet. Though it didn't help the transmissions, it was a habit that he found himself doing.

"Cervius? Oh thank God! What happened? Where are we? Where are you?" she asked in rapid fire.

"Calm down," he ordered as he turned to his Titan. Activating the Jump Pack attached to the back of his belt, he propelled himself onto the top of his Titan, which stood just a bit shorter than the trees around it. This brought the size of the forest to new meaning as the Stryder was about two stories in height. From his new vantage point, he examined his surroundings. So far all he saw were trees, trees, and more trees. To his utter dismay, it appeared that there were trees that were taller than the ones surrounding his Titan.  However, to the North, he saw that the forest seemed to end and to the Southwest-ish, a mountain poked out of the forest.

"What do you mean calm down? We don't know where we are or how we got here!" she yelled. Cervius sighed.

"Just fire a flare so I can see where you are."

"O-okay. Hang on," she replied. For almost a minute, Cervius could only hear the chirping of the birds and the whining of his Titan's reactor. A distant pop ruined the quiet as a red star shot out of the forest and into the sky. It had come out of the forest about two kilometers south of his current position.

"Do you see it?" Rachel asked, hopeful.

"I see it. I'll move to you, hang on," Cervius replied.

"Okay, just hurry up."

Deciding not to give a reply, Cervius hit a button on the Control Unit on his left forearm before jumping out in front of the Titan. The Titan moved quickly as it swung the Chaingun out to the side while bringing up it's left hand. With the gentleness of a child playing with their favorite toy, it plucked Cervius out of the air and tossed him into the, now open, cockpit. Thanking the heavens that Hammond Robotics had the foresight to put in cushioned seats, Cervius rolled his neck as the hatch closed. The four screens that made up the HUD came online one at a time before merging seamlessly into one screen. Looking towards where he saw the flare come up, he could see it still slowly falling to the ground. The Titan's computer marked the flare on his screen.

"Distress flare detected," informed the AI, "use caution."

Chuckling softly at the AI's assessment, Cervius got the Titan in motion. With earth-shaking impacts that sent the birds soaring from their perches, he began his charge through the forest. The sooner he could get to Rachel, the sooner they could figure out their next plan of action.

------

"What in the hay is that?" asked a prismatic pegasus as she hovered next to a certain lavender Princess in Ponyville's market. All eyes in the market were glued on the bright red light slowly falling back into the Everfree forest. The flock of birds taking flight from the Everfree mixed with the light was an obvious sign that something was amiss in the Everfree. Well, more amiss than usual.

"Looks like a flare. Only, I'm not detecting any magical signature coming from it," Twilight stated.

"Like the Gryphons use?" Rainbow asked, causing Twilight to raise a brow in her direction, "What?"

Twilight shook her head, "Nothing. The question is: what are the Gryphons doing in the Everfree? Spike, take a-"

"Done," replied the green Dragon on Twilight's back as he held scroll in front of her face.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight began reading, "I have spotted a flare of non-magical sources in the Everfree. I believe it is of Gryphon origin and intend to investigate. Still your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight blinked a couple times in shocked silence, "How?"

"Oh come on Twilight, you've had me send those like a hundred times! I think I know what you'd say," he replied before rolling up the scroll and bathing it in green fire, sending it off to Princess Celestia, "Now I'm gonna go and watch the Library while you go off on some other adventure."

With that, the green Dragon hopped off of Twilight's back and began to run in the direction of the tree made library.

"Okay?" Twilight replied dumbly, eliciting a laugh from a certain prismatic pegasus. This caused Twilight to snap back to the task at hand as she looked at the pegasus, "Dash, I need you to gather Pinkie, Rarity, and AJ and then meet me at Fluttershy's. I'll head there now and get Fluttershy and then we can all head into the forest to investigate."

"Got it!" Dash replied, throwing a quick salute before she took off at enough speed to blow Twilight's mane back. After using magic to fix her mane, Twilight took off at a gallop for Fluttershy's, already thinking of ways to get the timid pegasus to join them.

--------

Cervius burst into a clearing to find himself face, relatively, to muzzle with a XO-16 Chaingun. The sleek build of the Titan sized weapon was lost as the Pilot found his eyes drifting to the black abyss that was the inside of a tool of death.

"Cervius!" Rachel exclaimed as she quickly aimed the Chaingun away from her teammate, "Thank god!"

"Good to see you too, Rachel," Cervius replied with a chuckle as he twisted his Titan's upper body this way and that, looking, "Do you know if Cole is here too?"

"No. I haven't heard from him since before the blast."

Cervius gave a low growl. Spyglass, that robot had abandoned them! What irked him worse was that Vice Admiral Graves, their commander allowed it to! Fuck the IMC! he growled internally, When I get off this planet, I'm going to the damn Militia. He sighed at that second part of his internal rambling. It was hard to exact vengeance on someone when one had no idea where they were. So, first thing first.

"We need to find him," Cervius stated, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. In a way, it was.

"Find him? We don't even know if he's here," Rachel replied incredulously.

"We're here aren't we?"

"Yes but-"

Rachel quieted as booms resonating through the forest. They were distant but they were very familiar in both sound and tempo.

"Forty mil fire?" questioned Rachel, as she scanned the surrounding forest with both optics and weapon.

"Cole. Come on!" Cervius commanded as he took off at a sprint into the forest, his Titan leaving craters in the forest floor as it moved.

"Cervius? What if that isn't him?" Rachel asked, even as she took off after her squad mate. Hey, the buddy system worked even if one was in a two story tall metal killing machine. A technogeek may speculate that said killing machine could be counted as a buddy in such a situation but that was neither here nor there.

"Then we help whoever it may be," came the stern reply, "Whatever happened is bigger than any human."

"Even if they're Militia?"

"Especially if they're Militia."

Silence reigned after that as the two charged through the forest. The booming grew steadily louder, interrupted every so often by a deep, primal roar that sent both Stryder Pilots' imaginations wild.

-------

"Come on Fluttershy!" Dash exclaimed as she tugged, again, on the pink tail that grew from the squirrel hole in one of the Everfree's many trees. The roar still echoed from the trees around the group of six, the roar being underlaid by booms. The booms happened with one every half second, Twilight had counted. They sounded distant but none of the ponies could truly fathom how ear-splitting loud it must be at it's source.

"Fluttershy, surgarcube? Whatever is going on, it just means we need your help even more," Applejack reasoned, "Whatever is out there is fighting an animal. An animal that is going to be hurt."

"Oh my!" exclaimed Fluttershy. Well, talking in a normal tone is considered a Fluttershy exclamation. Just a little less timid, the yellow pegasus crawled out of the squirrel hole, apologizing to the family that lived there, and looked at her friends.

"I-I'm ready," she stated meekly, earning an eyeroll from Dash.

"Alright, come on," Twilight stated as the six of them continued into the forest. It wasn't long before the group entered a clearing. It was exactly twelve point two seconds after that, that Pinkie tripped and fell into a crater. Twilight, again, had counted.

"Wowie-Zowie!" shouted the pink party pony as she stood up to examined the crater. Looking around, Twilight could see other craters. All of the craters were of the same shape and size, of which was too symmetrical to be actual craters.

"Footprints," Twilight concluded with a gasp, which was echoed by the five other ponies present.

"Those are some big feet," Dash observed as she hovered above the group.

"Twilight, darling, you may want to see this," Rarity called from where she stood near the center of the clearing. Trotting over, Twilight looked at what Rarity was pointing at with a hoof. It was a clump of smaller impressions. Judging by the setup, Twilight concluded that they too were footprints. These were much smaller than the other prints and seemed to appear and disappear in that one spot.

"They don't go anywhere," Applejack observed.

"Or come from anywhere," Rarity added.

"How's that even possible? Can they teleport or something?" Dash asked as she scratched her head in confusion.

"Um, girls? I think that the larger footprints belong to the smaller being's mount," Fluttershy informed in a whisper.

"A mount?" Rarity asked, face contorting as if the word left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Well, yes," Fluttershy responded, "a mount is a-"

"Shush!" Pinkie hissed, her sudden seriousness startling everypony into silence.

"What Pinkie?" Twilight asked after a couple seconds, "I don't hear anything."

Her eyes widened in sudden realization as her head snapped to the direction that the booms had been coming from.

"Exactly silly goose!" Pinkie shouted as she started to bounce around the clearing.

"Lets move girls!" Twilight ordered as she took off at a gallop into the woods.

--------

"Ha! You slimy lizard thought you could best Cole, eh?" Cole asked he held up the head of a dragon in one hand so that it's dead eye, the other lost to the gaping hole in it's head, looked into the Ogre's optics, "Well, my dead mythological friend, you thought wrong."

Cole let the head drop to the ground with a splat. Giving a deep chuckle, Cole's Ogre rose back to it's full height while dropping the 40mm from it's skyward aim to rest in both hands once more.

"Warning: Two Titans approaching," warned the Ogre's AI.

"Faction?" Cole asked as he swung his Cannon to aim at the forest in front of the cave from which the dragon had emerged. With the mountain behind him, Cole smiled, whoever came would have to face his Ogre head on.

"Scanning... IMC tags detected. Identified to be Reaver Zero-One and Reaver Zero-Three. Warning: Titan Comm-Suite inoperable," reported the AI as a schematic view of the Titan overtook the screens. Two antennas that rested above the circular 'head' flashed red to show them to be missing.

"Fucking lizard," Cole cursed as he lowered his cannon. Seeing no other option, Cole opened the cockpit of the Ogre and slid down to land in a crouch on the rocky surface below. Just as he was standing straight and the Ogre closed it's chest, two familiar Stryders burst from the trees. The one to the left had it's Chaingun aimed at Cole's Ogre while the one on the right aimed at the deceased dragon.

As they lowered their weapon, the cockpit of the right-side Stryder opened, revealing a male in the standard armor of a Pilot Rifleman. His visor, shaped almost like a starburst, glowed blue as it observed the scene before it.

"Cole? What the hell is that?" he asked while motioning to the dragon with his Chaingun.

"Nice to see you too Cervius," Cole replied, crossing his arms. He jerked his head to the dragon, "The lizard ya mean?"

The cockpit of the left-side Stryder hissed open. Seated inside was a female in the form-fitting white armor of a Pilot Sharpshooter, a hood covering her helmeted head. The four blue 'eyes' of the helmet hid the glare she had affixed Cole with, "That is not a lizard and why are you out of your Titan?"

Cole shrugged, "Looks like a lizard to me," he jerked his thumb back at the Ogre that stood like a statue as it awaited command, "damn bastard tore off my antennas. No radio."

The larger Pilot, wearing the same armor as Cervius, watched as Rachel lifted a hand from her controls to tap the side of her head.

"Your armor has it's own comm-suite you imbecile. It may explain why we're not yelling and yet you can hear us clearly," she explained.

Again, Cole shrugged, "It was getting stuffy in their anyway," he made an exaggeration of stretching his arms, "needed to stretch my limbs."

Cole chuckled as he could feel Rachel's eyes roll. Looking over, Cole noticed that Cervius had disembarked from his Stryder was currently walking around the corpse, examining it, the Titan always a couple steps behind.

"When did it attack you?" Cervius questioned as he knelt at the base of one of the beast's large wings.

"Right after I got my bearings back from that explosion. Bastard came charging out of the cave spouting fire and snapping his jaws," Cole explained, "Speaking of the explosion, what the hell happened? One second I'm stomping on Militia, the next I'm fighting a giant lizard. All I remember is that the bastard Spyglass unit betrayed us."

"That's all there is to it I think," Rachel commented as she stepped up alongside Cole, her hip cocked to the side as one hand rested on her hip and the other rested on her Autopistol. Her Titan stomped to a halt beside the two of them, standing silent vigilance like it's two brethren.

Cole sighed, "So. Where are we?"

"Unknown," Cervius replied simply as he walked up to the two, his Titan following. Were one to like at it from a distance, they'd see the trio of humans standing inside a triangle formed by the Titans. Were they to come under fire, death would be delivered swiftly.

So, it was quite a surprise when six pastel colored horses stepped from the forest with wide eyes. It was with greater surprise when the three humans spotted the extra appendages upon four of them: the horn upon the white one, the wings upon the yellow one and the blue one, and the horn and wings upon the purple one. And...

"Is that one wearing a cowboy hat?" Cole questioned as the aim of his RE-5 Wingman revolver faltered at the sight. Upon his question, the orange pony wearing the hat looked up at the headgear in confusion. A quick scan of the group showed that while four of them stood in a modified delta formation, the yellow and pink winged horse hid behind the four and the blue and... rainbow winged horse hovered above the group.

"What in god's name?" Rachel asked rhetorically as she spared a glance at her compatriots, her confusion and hesitation obvious.

"They're just really colorful horses," Cole said with a chuckle as he lowered his pistol to wave a hand toward said beings.

"Uhm," hummed the purple horned and winged one, "we're ponies actually."

In a second Cole had his sights trained on the newly dubbed thing's head.

"Of course they fucking talk!" he shouted in frustration, "Can't be quiet mythological beings, no!"

"Hey pal! You're the mythological being here! Not us," shouted the blue and rainbow horse as it crossed it's forelegs and huffed in irritation.

"Says the fucking pegasus!"

"Says the ugly alien!"

"Ugly? Why I oughta..." Cole trailed into a growl as he holstered his pistol and held up balled fists, taking a step forward.

"You oughta what?" challenged the prismatic pegasus as she got muzzle to helmet with Cole within the blink of an eye. If Cole was surprised by this, he didn't show it. Dash, however, found herself clinging her wings to her side in shock when the ground shook and she found the black, depthless void of Tartarus pointed at her suddenly very tiny form. Behind Cole, the Ogre had stepped forward and aimed it's massive cannon at the perceived threat to it's Pilot.

"Dash, s-sugarcube," whispered the orange pony in a terrified voice, "perhaps y-you should leave the fella alone."

Dash visibly gulped as she gave a fake chuckle and an even faker smile to Cole as she began to back away, "Y-yeah, eh, sorry about that."

Cole snorted as he crossed his arms, making sure to type into the remote on his forearm as he had them crossed. When he was complete, the Ogre stood back to it's full height with the cannon aimed skyward in one hand.

"There, now that it won't interrupt," Cole stated as he raised his fists again, "where were we-"

"Cole! Down boy!" Rachel barked as she held her aim on the six ponies, only a twitch of the head showed her newfound attention in the large Pilot.

"She called me ugly!" he retorted with a spot on imitation of a five year old, complete with the crossed arms.

"That just means she can somehow see underneath the armor," Cole spat a curse, "but you need to act like the big Pilot you are and not pick a fight with the flying pony. Yeah?"

"Fine," he grumbled as he kept his arms crossed but fixed his starburst visor on the colorful ponies once more. Dash was now back within the safety of the group, her wings still closed at her side.

"You'll have to forgive him. He can be a bit aggressive to new things," Cervius explained as he stepped forward. He had holstered his pistol and now held his hands up in front of him in a placating manner.

"Same with Dash, I'm afraid," commented the purple pony as she shot a stern look to the mentioned pegasus, causing her to shrink back with a soft whimper.

"I'm Cervius, this is Rachel," he pointed at the woman who had yet to falter in her aim, "and Cole," he pointed at the large man who gave a nod.

"Yes well," began the purple pony as she stepped forward and used a hoof to motion to herself, "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. These ponies behind me are," she used a hoof to motion to her friends as she introduced them, "Rarity," the white unicorn with a stylized purple mane, "Applejack," the orange pony tipped her hat in greeting, "Pinkie Pie," the pink party pony was bouncing in place with a large smile, "Fluttershy," the yellow pegasus 'eeped' and hid herself further behind Rarity, "and Rainbow Dash," the prismatic pegasus nodded her head.

The short silence was broken by the boisterous laughter of a certain Ogre Pilot.

"I'm s-sorry!" he shouted between laughs, "I-I-I can't! Hahaha!"

"Cole!" Rachel shouted.

"Right, right," Cole replied, coughing to hide some residual laughter, "I'm mature."

Cervius just shook his head, hand firmly planted on the faceplate of his helmet. He was mumbling obscenities low enough that the microphone didn't pick them up.

"What's so funny about our names?" Applejack asked in her accented voice.

Cole gave a cough that suspiciously sounded like a laugh as he held a fist to where his mouth would be, "I'm good," he muttered.

"They were just... unconventional is all. Same as ours probably sounded to you," Cervius explained as he lowered his hands and looked back up at the ponies.

"They were," Twilight admitted with a sense of understanding, "now, I heard your friend... Rachel, was it?" Cervius nodded, "I heard her call Cole 'Pilot'. Is that your species?"

Cervius gave a soft chuckle as he shook his head, "No. Pilot is our title and job. Our species is human."

"Hu-mane?" asked Applejack before shaking her head, "Oh, Lyra's gonna have a field day."

Another suspicious cough from Cole.

"Darling, if I may?" Rarity asked as she stepped forward to be by Twilight's side. Cervius gave a slight tilt of his head,

"Yes?"

"What exactly do you pilot?" she questioned with a quirked brow. It went even higher when Cervius gave his answer with a jab of the thumb at the Stryder behind him.

"That."

"And what exactly is that?" Twilight questioned.

"A Titan; More specifically it is a Stryder chassis, Light-Class Titan."

A blue blur zoomed across the clearing with it ending with Dash flitting about the Titan, "How can you pilot this? There's no way in!"

"Ah, I guess a demonstration is in order," Cervius intoned before looking at Rachel, who had finally lowered her pistol, "What do you think Rachel?"

She shrugged, "Might as well show them the full extent of it."

"Would you do the honors then?" he asked.

She holstered her pistol and gave a mock bow at the waist, "Of course."

"Watch and learn little ponies," Cole commented as Rachel took off at a sprint. Instead of going toward the Titan, she headed for the rock wall behind it.

"Where's she-"

"Just watch," Cervius stated, interrupting Twilight's question. Close to the rock wall, Rachel activated the jets of her jump pack. This elicited gasps from the ponies as Rachel kicked off the wall, activated the jets again and began to fly over the Titan. Hitting a button on her forearm, the bipedal machine sprung to life with the hissing of hydraulics. The Chaingun found itself aimed skyward as the cockpit swung open. With it's free hand, the Titan reached up, plucked Rachel out of the air, and placed her inside the cockpit before withdrawing it's hand. With it's Pilot seated, the cockpit slid shut as the Chaingun dropped back down to be held at the ready.

Cervius looked back at the ponies to see them all with their jaws hanging open. They managed to open more as the Stryder strode up to stand right behind Cole and Cervius. With a hissing of hydraulics, the cockpit swung open once more to show Rachel sitting comfortably in her seat, hands on the controls.

"Th-that was... AWESOME!" Dash squealed as she took off to flitter about Rachel and her Stryder.

"Didn't that hurt darling?" Rarity asked with concern. Rachel stretched her neck before giving her reply.

"A bit of whiplash but you get used to it after doing it for a couple of years," she commented.

"And when you're getting shot at but," Cole shrugged, "when aren't we getting shot at?"

"How about now?" Rachel asked incredulously.

"Oh... right," he replied with scratching at the back of his helmet, "You know what I mean, though."

"Shot at?" Twilight questioned, gaining the attention of Cervius.

"Yes. Shot at. I have no idea where this planet may be in regards to the Human Worlds but..." he sighed, "Where we come from, a cluster of planets called the Frontier were rebelling against the IMC, the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation, which held claim to most of the Frontier worlds. The Militia, the Frontier rebels, wanted the IMC gone while the IMC wanted the resources that it had paid for. This plunged the Frontier into a long and bloody war."

"S-so those things you and your... Titans carry a-are?" Twilight stuttered, her eyes shrinking at the thought of what was pointed at Dash earlier.

"Weapons, yes," Cervius confirmed.

"I-I see and who's side were you on?" she asked.

"We were with the IMC. But considering they left us to die..." he trailed off. Cole pounded his fist against his open palm,

"If I get my hands on that Spyglass, I'll rip his head from his chassis."

"Spyglass?" Rarity asked.

"Another time," Cervius responded, waving the question away with a hand. He then looked up to see that the sun was close to setting, "It's getting late. Shouldn't you ponies be getting back home?"

"We are grown mares and can handle ourselves but, uhm, I assume you are correct," Twilight stated sheepishly as he she charged her horn, "I assume you'll be staying in that," she glanced at the dragon corpse, "newly vacated cave?"

"We will," Cervius replied with an unseen raised brow at the light coming from the Princess's horn.

"Very well then. Good night, Pilot Cervius."

Cervius gave a small bow at the waist, "And you, Princess Sparkle."

Twilight smiled before her and her friends turned and began the trek back through the woods. The light from her horn became apparent as she used it like a torch. The three humans waited until the light was no longer visible before speaking once more.

"Looks like Cervius made himself a new friend," Cole stated with a chuckle.

"Well, considering you killed yours," Rachel retorted, earning a helmeted glare from Cole, "Speaking of which, you get to be the one to move him away from the cave."

Before Cole could respond, Rachel closed the cockpit and strode into the cave, her Titan's footsteps echoing in the enclosed space.

"W-What?" Cole finally sputtered.

"Well," began Cervius as he climbed into the cockpit of his crouched Titan, "You did kill it."

With that, his cockpit closed and he strode into the cave after Rachel. Grumbling obscenities that would make even a hardened sailor cringe upon hearing, Cole let himself get picked up by his Ogre and placed in it's cockpit. Once inside, the Pilot leaned the 40mm against the mountain before grabbing the front legs of the dragon. With the hissing of hydraulics and the muted curses of an angry Pilot, the Ogre slowly began to drag the large reptile away from the cave.

Entering a cavern within the cave, Cervius raised a brow. Standing in the, admittedly small by Titan standards, cavern was Rachel's Stryder. Said human was disembarked, however, and crouched over a pink, frilly basket. Looking back at Cervius, she waved her hand in a 'come here' fashion. Disembarking, Cervius strode over to Rachel and crouched beside her, activating his helmet mounted flashlight as he did. The basket was pink and very, very frilly with lace and flowered. A pink cloth with a symbol of three balloons hid it's contents.

"What is it?" Cervius asked.

"I don't know," Rachel replied with a shrug, "I walked in and saw it sitting here."

"Have you looked inside?"

"Nope."

Cervius sighed as he reached out and lifted the cloth with all the flair of an EOD technician. With it finally raised enough to see inside, Cervius peered inside, the interior lit by the white light of his flashlight. Inside were three pink cupcakes and a card in a pink envelope.

"Whoever made this really like pink," Rachel commented as Cervius fully pulled off the cloth and set it aside as he pulled out the envelope. Opening it, he removed the card. The front held nothing but a smiley face. Opening it, he was met with a wall of pink scribbles. They were legible scribbles but scribbles nonetheless. The writing took up the entire inside of the card. With that much writing, you'd think it would be worth reading. After a minute of doing exactly that, Cervius was able to sum the entire thing in five words: 'Hi, nice to meet you.'

He groaned as his hand met his helmeted face. A giggle caused to remove his hand as a cupcake was shoved in his face.

"Try it, it's delicious," Rachel commented. Looking at the female Pilot, Cervius saw her with her hood down and helmet off, revealing her pale skin, brown hair in a tight ponytail, and blue eyes. A scar across her right cheek was the only thing to mar her beauty.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as he took off his own helmet to reveal short black hair and brown eyes. Setting his helmet aside, he took a hold of the cupcake, removed the wrapping and bit into it. An explosion of flavor cascaded across his tongue as he closed his eyes in sheer bliss.

"See? What I tell ya?" Rachel asked rhetorically before biting into her own cupcake.  The stomping of Titan feet announced the arrival of the last of their party. They both turned to see Cole disembark and wander over to the duo, his helmet light illuminating what Cole's didn't.

"I'm done with the... are those cupcakes?" he asked.

"Yes and there's one for you too," Rachel replied as she tossed the third cupcake at the large man. Before either Stryder Pilot could blink, Cole had his helmet off and had shoved half the treat into his mouth. The dark-skinned Pilot hummed happily as he chewed, causing Cervius and Rachel to chuckle.

After finishing off the treats, the trio curled up beside the now empty basket and promptly fell asleep. The Titans stood silently over them, always their faithful guardians.

Hoarding Magic

Cervius swore as he ducked into a doorway, narrowly avoiding being stepped on by the two Titans locked in combat in the streets. With proficiency awarded by repeated actions, Cervius scanned the room for threats. All he found were three Grunts looking at him. From the one whose face was visible, Cervius was met with wide eyes that spoke of primal fear.

"Soldiers!"

"Sir?"

"Get a hold of yourselves! You are warriors of the IMC, sent to the Frontier to put down this rebellion! Correct?"

"Yes sir," they replied shakily, the war going on outside the building almost drowning out their voices.

"Then follow me and fight. Fight not for the IMC but fight for your lives; for your glory," Cervius stated as he moved to a door on the other side of the small structure. He peeked out; the door led onto another street that, surprisingly looked deserted, despite the Titan battle happening a street over. He looked back to see the three Grunts loosely formed up behind him. Their hands shook but the one whose face was visible wore a face of determination.

"We're with you, sir."

Cervius nodded before stepping out into the street. He sprinted across the open area and barged through another door, his weapon up and scanning. While the battle raged around him, Cervius seemed to be locked in a bubble of calm.

It unnerved him more than anything else could. Being a Pilot meant that he was used to high speed, adrenaline fueled situations. To be in such a bubble of calm during a battle? Get a hold of yourself, Cervius. Those soldiers need you, he thought to himself as he glanced back toward the Grunts. They weren't there. They weren't dead on the ground or shaking themselves into a fit in the other building, they just... weren't there. It was as if they hadn't been there all along.

Hearing the clicking of a hammer being drawn back, Cervius spun around. A squad of IMC Spectres, combat-grade robots, had their SMGs aimed at Cervius. Standing in front of them was a Milita pilot, his Wingman revolver leveled at Cervius with one hand. His other hand held the Data Knife that had likely been used to hack the Spectres.

The Militia Pilot laughed, "The IMC is unwanted here, Pilot. They've been unwanted before they blew up hundreds of civilian ships," another laugher, sadder this time, "That was just icing on the cake," his voice hardened, "Now, like the IMC, you will die."

His finger began to tighten on the trigger. Screaming something that was lost to time, Cervius began to sprint toward his aggressor, his thought only on killing him. Finally, the required pressure of reached and the Wingman fired.

------

Cervius jolted awake, his body rocketing to a sitting position as he breathed heavily. Taking off his helmet, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Fucking nightmares," he muttered as he glanced about the cave. To his surprise, there was a small hole in the 'ceiling' that allowed light to filter in. The light also revealed another tunnel going from the current cavern. It appeared just large enough for the previous occupant. From the tunnel came a soft yellow glow.

"You see it to?" Cole asked, drawing Cervius's attention to the large Pilot. Cole had his helmet off as well, scratching at his scalp.

"Yeah," Cervius replied as he looked back at the new tunnel, "what do you think it is?"

"One way to find out," he answered as he stood up and moved to his Titan. Having it crouch down, Cole put on his helmet before reaching into the cockpit and pulling out a Spitfire LMG. The LMG was widely known for it's kick during the first couple shots but, surprisingly, it got to be quite accurate during sustained fire.

Cervius nodded as he moved to his Stryder, which crouched down as well, and grabbed his C.A.R SMG while putting on his own helmet. The C.A.R had almost the same length as a Carbine but was still considered a SMG due to it's clip size and rate of fire. Cervius's SMG had a holosight and suppressor attached.

"Don't think you're leaving me behind," Rachel piped up as she pulled a Longbow-DMR Sniper Rifle from her Stryder. It had a scope and, like Cervius's SMG, was suppressed.

"Never," Cole replied with a chuckle as he looked from the helmeted and hooded sniper to Cervius, "Let's move."

Cervius nodded as he let Cole take the lead, his LMG up and aiming. Some may have called them stupid to not use the Titans, but sometimes you just needed to feel the rush yourself. Such as what the three members of Reaver squad were doing now. With their Titans standing silent sentry over the first cavern, the three Pilots jogged through the tunnel, weapons held at the ready. Coming to a turn in the path, they slowed as Cole used his left hand to give a series of hand motions in a blur. Cervius and Rachel gave a nod as the three moved to the right turn.

When they were closer to the turn, they snapped into action as Cervius jumped onto the right wall and began to wallrun to the corner. With his SMG in his left hand, he reached the edge and stopped, hanging onto the wall with his right hand as he leaned around the corner and aimed with his left. Rachel wallran along the other side to a ledge that had a line of sight to the new tunnel. Jumping onto the ledge, she knelt and aimed down the scope of her rifle. Cole's job was the least theatric as he just ran around the corner with his LMG leveled.

"Clear," he stated as he began to move forward again. The glow had gotten brighter, to the point that anything beyond the tunnel's mouth was hidden by the glare. Not wanting to give up the vantage point, Cervius jumped to the opposite wall and began to wallrun as Rachel did the same on the other wall. When they could feel themselves begin to fall, they would jump, cross in mid-air, and continue to wallrun on the opposing wall. Seeing this, Cole took off in his own sprint, wanting to keep up with his teammates.

"Show offs," he muttered.

The three pushed forward until they got to the mouth of the tunnel. As Cole ran out into the new cavern, Cervius and Rachel dropped down on either side of him. All three had their chosen weapons leveled for any threats. All three found their aim falter as their jaws struggled to remain hinged. Rachel was first to form a response,

"Holy..."

"...shit," finished Cole.

In front of the three was a hill of treasure. Gold, silver, gems, it all sat sparkling in the sunlight peering in through another hole in the ceiling.  Cervius stared wide-eyed; the mound at it's peak was slightly taller than his Stryder while it would take three Ogres standing side by side to make up the width of it.

"That is a lot of dough," Cole stated as he began to step toward the pile of treasure.

"Well," Cervius begun as he too stepped forward, "now we know what the Dragon was defending."

"So is that first cavern the Dragon equivalent of a parlor?" Rachel asked incredulously as she advanced with her team.

"Just like a woman," Cole joked with a chuckle as he knelt down. Setting down his LMG, he picked up a gem encrusted, golden necklace and began to examine it.

"Jackass," Rachel retorted as she jetted up to land higher in the mound. She almost lost her balance as the gold and gems shifted but managed to stay upright until the treasure settled. With her rifle aimed skyward, she knelt down and picked up a ruby the size of her hand, "Still, I do like me some jewels."

Cervius plucked up one of the gold coins but remained standing, his SMG across his chest. Turning the coin about his fingers, he examined the stampings. On one side was the head of a unicorn with a mane that seemed to be gently flowing in some sort of wind, the full length of the mane unknown as it went off the coin. 'Under Her Majesty's Light' was carved into the coin, following the curve above the unicorn's head while 'Kingdom of Equestria' followed the curve at the bottom. On the back of the coin was an obvious depiction of a sun with 'May Her Light Be Eternal' curving along the top and 'One Bit' curving along the bottom.

"Huh," was his intelligent reply to the coin.

"What is it science boy?" Cole asked. Cervius looked at the large Pilot with his mouth open to reply. His mouth promptly closed upon seeing the pilot. He had multiple gem encrusted necklaces hanging from his neck, a golden crown with a ruby as the centerpiece atop his helmet, the silver handle of an onyx cane in his left hand, and, somehow had rings of different metals and gems on over his gloves.

"What?" Cole asked as Cervius just stared at him in helmeted silence.

"Haha! You look ridiculous!" Rachel shouted from her perch higher up. Two visors turned to face her.

"Says the fucking hypocrite," Cole retorted. Rachel stood with a red, probably silk, cape draped over her back, a golden scepter with a large ruby as it's top piece held in her left hand, and a simple ruby and gold necklace hanging from her neck.

"But I didn't overdo it you ape! While you look like a fool, I," Rachel struck a regal pose. At this, Cervius's palm got well acquainted with his faceplate, "look like a noble of ancient times."

"You look like a stuck up bitch."

"You look like a homeless man who got his grubby hands on a fortune."

"You even sound like a stuck up bitch."

"Says the Frontier Pirate."

Cervius removed his hand and then reapplied it to his faceplate as his squadmates continued to bicker, their volume ever growing louder. As they traded insults, they got closer and closer until they were literally butting forehead with each other.

"I... see you found the dragon's-"

Twilight was interrupted by the sound of a SMG coming to bear and two sidearms being drawn.

"-hoard?" she finished meekly, her body lowered to the ground as her eyes darted between the three in obvious fear.

"Apologies Princess," Cervius stated as he lowered his SMG and held a hand out to the Princess. Cole and Rachel holstered their side arms.

"I didn't know nobility could fight their own battles," Cole whispered to Rachel, which re-ignited their previous argument. As the two continued to bicker, Twilight placed her hoof in Cervius's hand and found herself being helped back to a standing position.

"I think I should be the one apologizing for sneaking up on you three," she commented with a sheepish smile.

"Normally you wouldn't be able to," Cervius commented as he jabbed a thumb at the bickering Pilots, who looked to be seconds away from punching each other, "but with these two's bickering."

"Speaking of which," Twilight began, turning to look at the two Pilots, "they aren't going to fight are they?"

"Nah," Cervius replied, "they'll burn out shortly and, hopefully, remove the jewelry and cape."

"It does seem to look rather silly over their clothes," Twilight agreed.

Cervius shrugged before remembering the coin he held in his left hand. Turning to face Twilight, he held out the coin, "Am I correct to assume that this is your currency?"

Twilight's horn began to glow again and, to Cervius's shock, the coin glowed the same color before being tugged from his hand and hovering in front of Twilight's eyes.

"The hell are you doing?" came Cole's gruff voice as he and Rachel disengaged from each other to stare at the breaking of every physical law they grew to believe.

Twilight quirked a brow and looked confused herself, "It's just a simple levitation spell."

"Like magic?" Rachel asked, her head cocked to the side to show her confusion.

"Well, yes-"

"That's impossible. There's no such thing as magic," Cole interrupted.

"Wait, you don't have magic?" Twilight asked, genuinely surprised as the coin continued to levitate next to her.

"Lady, magic is something to tell kids to spark their imagination. It is not real," Cole replied.

"B-but the Titans... a-and you," she pointed a hoof at Rachel, "flew."

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic'," Cervius quoted with a tone of understanding.

"Alright egghead, who said that one?" Cole asked.

"Arthur C. Clarke. It's my favorite quote," he admitted with a shrug.

"And for good reason, apparently," Twilight commented, "but I assure you that what I'm doing is magic."

"Right. Then do something magicky," Cole requested as he waggled his ringed fingers.

"Really?" Rachel questioned as she put a hand on her hip and fixed her gaze on the gaudily dressed Pilot.

"What?"

"'Magicky'?"

"What?! It's a word!" he defended.

"Both of you shut up for a second," Cervius commanded.

"Roger boss," Cole replied as he started to remove the jewelry from his body. Rachel followed suit, letting the cap drop back to the mound.

"Right," Cervius stated as he turned back to Twilight. Gently, he grabbed the coin and could feel something like static electricity run up his fingers at the contact. Twilight let the field dissipate as Cervius pulled the coin up to his faceplate. He twirled it in his fingers in silence, seemingly in thought. Without warning, he tossed the coin at Twilight. Gasping, the alicorn grabbed the coin right before it hit her between her eyes.

"What in the hay-"

"Can you teleport?" Cervius asked suddenly, interrupting the purple Princess.

"W-well, yes," she replied, thrown off by the sudden conversation.

"Teleport me then. To the Titans and back. Do this and I will begin to believe you," Cervius explained as he snatched back the coin and shoved it into a pouch.

"Fine," Twilight growled in frustration as her horn charged. With a pop of magical energy, the two were gone, only to reappear moments later, a smug smirk on Twilight's face. The smirk dropped when she saw Cervius standing as stoically as he was before, the SMG still held downward across his chest with his right hand.

"Shit! You okay boss?" Cole asked as Rachel stepped to Cervius's side, her rifle slung across her back. Twilight's smirk returned at Cervius's reply,

"My stomach did about fifteen flips in half a second but I'm fine," he replied as he turned his visor's gaze to the Princess, "I find myself a believer, Princess."

"Good. Now we can get on to why I'm actually here," Twilight commented as she magicked a blank scroll and a quill from thin air.

"Which is?" Rachel asked as Cole stepped up, devoid of jewelry, with his LMG pointed skyward.

"To learn, of course!" Twilight stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, looking between the three Pilots with curious eyes.

"About?" Cervius asked, almost fearing the answer by the look in the mare's eyes.

"Everything!"

Lessons and Recon

"So..." Cole began, unsure, as he and Rachel entered the cave system's 'parlor'. They had left Cervius and the Princess to 'nerd it out', as Cole had put, in the main cavern. On the way back, they were passed by Cervius's Stryder as it made to find it's Pilot.

"What do you want to do?" Cole asked as he strode up to his Ogre and set the LMG into the rack built inside the cockpit.

"I'm going to head south and see where those ponies came from," Rachel replied as she turned and began to walk toward the cave's mouth.

"You're not taking your Titan?" he asked, scratching his helmeted head.

"And alert half the world of my movements? Yeah, no," she retorted without breaking stride, "And no, you can't come. Your about as stealthy as your Ogre."

With that final quip, the sniper faded from view as she activated her suit's active cloak. In good lighting, Cole would be able to see the hazy outline of her body but, as it were, he couldn't see her at all in the dim lighting of the natural sun roof.

"Bitch," Cole muttered as he jetted onto the back of his Titan and looked at the remains of the Comm antennas. Seeing nothing else to do he started the process of removing the remains of the antennas. No point in having them if they didn't work, right?

I wonder what those two are talking about, he thought as he glanced at the softly glowing tunnel.

--------

"Voltage travels from the suit's nuclear reactor-"

"That's possible?"

"Yep. It travels from there through a high power switching module, which takes the voltage and disperses it throughout the Titan for use-"

--------

Probably talking about how great molecules are or something, Cole deduced with a groan as he got back to the task at hand.

-------

Rachel sprinted along a branch before jumping the small gap to a neighboring branch and continuing her run, slithering around the trunks with ease. She was smiling wide under helmet as she ran along the trees. She felt so alive. With no one trying to kill her and no battle to get to, she was finally, fully enjoying the sport of parkour that she had mastered. During battles, it was a means to survive but take away the threats and it was the most exhilarating thing in the world for the sniper. Add to that the Jump Pack and the sniper had to stop herself from whooping in joy.

Course, all of her excitement didn't derail her of the task that she had given herself. She wanted, no, needed to know where these ponies came from. It would give them an insight on how advanced they were and whether they were a threat or not. Judging by Twilight's position as 'Princess', she was expecting a stone castle surrounded by similarly stone walls while smaller walls protected the castle's surrounding city.

For all she knew, however, 'Princess' could be the term given to describe the local librarian of all things. This is an alien race, afterall, she reasoned internally as she jumped to another branch, not breaking stride. She knew the ponies came from the south and she remembered Cervius saying something about the forest ending before falling asleep last night. It was as good a place to start as any.

Her cloaking had given out shortly after starting her free-running adventure. This left her armored body for all to see, if one was to ever look up into the trees that is. The armor of a female Sharpshooter was extremely form-fitting, the suit hugging her curves just right. Rachel knew it was 'just right' because of the lewd comments Cole would throw her way... or how Cervius's eyes would drift occasionally.

Wonder what they're talking about.

-------

"The rockets for the rocket salvo actually take negative voltage to fire."

"Negative voltage?"

"Yeah, it's basically when the polar fields of the emitter are reversed but the charge is forced to still flow the same direction."

"Oh! But why?"

"So as to avoid accidental discharge, of course!"

-------

Whatever, she concluded with a shake of her head. With her rifle still slung across her back, she began to climb up one of the trees with the speed and agility of a squirrel. Reaching as high a point as the tree could support her, she looked out. She discovered, to her delight, that she was high enough to see where the forest ended and the plains began. From her vantage point, she saw what looked to be a village a little bit outside the forest.

With a destination and direction in mind, Rachel clambered back down the tree and again took off over the branches. Her mind, the war-forged organ it was, constantly scanned for threats with both eyes and ears. Rachel would rather catch herself in some frilly dress than be caught off-guard by some colorful pony, or other such creature.

------

"Um, Cervius?" Twilight questioned as she looked up from her note taking. Crouched atop the Stryder, as she remember him calling it, and peering into what she assumed to be a maintenance hatch was the human in question. He had removed his helmet at the beginning of the back and forth, letting the Princess examine every inch of it, and make a quick sketch of the features, before launching into the current 'Titan lesson'.

"Yes Princess?" he asked, glancing over at the lavender alicorn.

"Do humans always wear clothing or do you just because of your job?"

She watched as one of Cervius's brows skyrocketed before realization dawned, "Forgot that your technically naked."

Twilight felt her cheeks heat up at the comment as she tucked her tail subconsciously. Seeing this, a blush began to grace the human's face as well as he cleared his throat loudly.

"Anyway, yes, all humans wear clothes all the time except to bathe or... well, ahem, procreate," Cervius replied with a deeper blush as he quickly turned his focus back to open maintenance panel atop his Titan. Twilight's cheeks burned at the combined comment of her... nakedness and procreation. While Twilight, like every other pony, was normally naked, having it pointed out by someone else was embarrassing.

"I see. Well, in Equestrian society, clothes are usually worn only for special occasions," Twilight informed the human, who had pulled out his own 'pen' and paper during the start of the back and forth. Cervius chuckled as he jotted that down into his notebook.

"Well, every second is gonna be a 'special occasion' for us then," he stated, still chuckling.

Twilight joined in the soft laughter, dispelling the previous awkwardness, "Indeed it will be."

Cervius closed the hatch on his Titan before jumping back down to earth, his Jump Pack alighting enough to slow his fall. During the lesson on the massive machine, Cervius had mentioned that a smaller form of the reactor in the Titan was used to power the Jump Pack. Such a feat caused Twilight's mind to almost implode on itself but she had pushed it aside for the sake of continuing the trade of information.

"So, Princess," Cervius began as sat down cross-legged in front of the alicorn, who sat on her haunches, "tell me, who exactly rules your country?"

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the co-rulers of Equestria with Princess Cadence in charge of the Crystal Empire, which is a protectorate of Equestria," she explained.

"An Empire is a protectorate of a Kingdom?" Cervius questioned in disbelief.

"Well, yes, most of the Empire's land was either conquered or lost to the winds of the Frozen North after the Crystal City's disappearance."

"Disappearance?"

"Yes. See, over a thousand years ago, the Crystal Empire had been taken over by a tyrant known as King Sombra, the rightful ruler having been usurped of their throne. Sombra's rule was harsh and many ponies suffered underneath his iron hoof. It was when the two Regal Sisters and their Heavenly Army intervened that the true corruption became known. Using an army of ponies twisted by the way of Dark Magic, Sombra met their challenge again and again, slowly being pushed back each time. Finally came the the siege of the Crystal City itself.

"With hundreds dead in their Army, the Regal Sisters took off to face the tyrant themselves. A long battle ensued between the three immensely powerful beings as the armies of Light and Dark tore apart the outer sections of the city. With defeat growing close, Sombra placed a curse on the inner most sections of the Crystal City so that when the Regal Sisters used the Elements of Harmony against him, the city vanished into the void."

"But it reappeared?" Cervius asked, his full attention on the tale.

"It did, not even a couple years ago and, again, Sombra threatened the city. He was finally defeated, however, and the people were freed from his curse. The city now lies has a beacon of Friendship and Love for all the Kingdom."

"I see. And what do you rule over, Princess?"

Twilight blanked at the question. What did she rule over? A library and a sarcastic dragon.

"Nothing, as of yet," she replied with a sheepish smile, "I'm still new to being a Princess after-all."

"New to... how does that work?"

"Well, you see-"

---------

Rachel was frozen mid-stride. At her command, her armor had made her nigh invisible. She breathed slowly, her muscles twitching from the awkward position she was on. Her eyes stared at the ground below, a glare of annoyance within her blue orbs.

Below her, laughing as they wrestled in the dirt, were three fillies. Three fillies, each of whom were a different sub-species, that were wearing little red capes with a blue badge. At any other moment, Rachel would have called them adorable but the burning in her legs made her think of why the hell the fillies were out here.

"Stop! You're gonna ruin my mane!" whined the white unicorn with the pink and purple mane.

"Jeez, you sound just like Rarity," retorted the orange pegasus as she spat out the white one's mane. Put the unsanitary and rude act aside, Rachel continued to observe in silence.

"Hey!" squeaked the white one, "Leave my sister alone!"

"And if I don't?" within seconds, the two were butting heads again. Rachel groaned as she rolled her eyes. If this kept up, she'd collapse from lack of blood flow.

"Girls!" the yellow one shoved her way between her two friends, her pink bow bouncing as she did, "Can ya quit your fighting an' focus on the task at hoof?"

The white one blinked as she sat on her haunches but the orange one beat her to the punch it seemed.

"What was that again?"

Rachel felt the urge to facepalm. They were out in a forest, alone, and forgot why they were out here?

"To find the things that our sisters were whisperin' about?" the yellow one replied with an eyebrow raised and a look that asked: 'Seriously?'.

"Oh yeah!" the white... squeaked as her voice struggled with a range it wasn't meant for.

"Right! The aliens," stated the orange one in what Rachel had to guess was supposed to be a whisper. She watched as the orange one's eyes darted back and forth as if waiting for something to jump out. The Pilot found her eyes rolling.

"Seriously?" questioned the yellow one in her thick accent before shaking her head rapidly, "Never mind, let's go!"

With a childish battlecry, and giggles a-many, the three fillies took off further into the woods. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rachel dropped her cloak and turned to continue toward the village. She paused, however, as a howl sounded somewhere in the forest. Glancing at the way the fillies went, the Pilot sighed as she weighed her options. She could follow the fillies and make sure they didn't get into trouble or she could continue to the forest's edge and recon the village. Her maternal instincts screamed to follow the children while her war-hardened mind commanded her to recon the village.

Another howl and the maternal instincts won. That didn't mean that Rachel didn't groan and mutter a few curses as she turned around, however. I'll just recon the village real quick when they head home, she internally reasoned, calming her inner soldier.

--------

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were trotting through the forest but their earlier excitement was slowly seeping. They could feel the oppressiveness of the forest close in as they trekked deeper into the forest. Besides their hoofsteps and the rustling of leaves in the breeze, it was silent.

"I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea," Scootaloo muttered as she glanced nervously at the surrounding foliage, darkened by the canopy. Her ears were lowered to her head, which itself was low to the ground. Her tail had tucked itself between her hindlegs as every primal, pony instinct urged her to get to open ground and find a large group of ponies.

"Stop being chicken," Applebloom retorted, even as her own eyes darted from shadow to shadow as she walked backward at the rear of the group.

"I-it feels like there's something w-watching us," admitted Sweetie Belle, who was shaking like a leaf in between the other two. Her eyes were looking at the dirt, which meant that she didn't see that Scootaloo had stepped. "OOF!"

"Hey, what's the big-"

"G-g-girls," interrupted Scootaloo, fear evident in her voice, "I think I found what was watching us."

The other two girls peeked around their frozen friend, only to have themselves freeze in terror. Their ears were pinned to their heads as the being in front of them gave a mighty, if a bit smelly, roar.

"TIMBERWOLF!" the three cried in unison as they turned and galloped away, their tails tucked firmly underneath them. The wolf moved to follow but it only got one step before three-hundred pounds of cloaked human landed on it's back. A crack appeared in the Timberwolves head and, as the cloak crackled out, a knife became visible in the human's hands. It was halfway embedded in the creatures head and held there until the light died from it's evil eyes and it stopped squirming to get away. Satisfied, the Pilot looked up to see that the fillies were still running away, screaming their lungs out.

Yanking the knife from the Timberwolf, the Pilot once more took to the trees.

--------

"So you were molded for the position?" Cervius asked as Twilight finished her tale of her rise to Princess-hood.

"I... guess that's a way to describe it," Twilight answered with a hoof to her chin in thought. As she looked back on her time in Ponyville, Twilight could see what Cervius meant. Despite the more crazy instances, it seemed like Celestia specifically chose her to deal with the issues of a Kingdom that had hundreds of ponies within it's armed services. Yet, time and again, the Princesses put their trust in six mares from a small village.

"Still, it's amazing, honestly, how much power these Princesses seem to wield," Cervius commented, his mind reeling as he still tried to comprehend the act of changing one's physical and biological make-up through magic. It seemed surreal.

"What's your government like?" Twilight suddenly asked, her ears perked to ear every word and her eyes sparkled with curiosity as a genuine smile graced her muzzle. Despite such an innocent look being on an alien face, Cervius couldn't help but smile. It had been so long since he had seen such a look. Not since...

Mentally shoving those memories aside, Cervius smiled back at the alicorn, "Well, humans, with how wide-spread we are, have a wide assortment of governments to match. We have monarchies, republics, democracies, confederations, empires, clans, dictatorships, and so many more."

Twilight had her head tilted to the side and an eyebrow raised but the her smile had grown just a bit wider at the chance to learn, "What's a republic?"

"A republic is really a combination of ideals so to understand a republic, you need to understand the others," he explained.

"Oh?" she asked, her face scrunched in confusion, to which she received a nod, "Then what's a confederacy?"

"A confederacy is a governmental idea where many different geo-political entities, countries, join together under a weak central government for mutual trade and protection. The job of the central government is little as most of the work is done by the members themselves. Really, the central government just serves as a united flag for the confederacy to rally under and as a way for the representatives of the members to convene is mass," Cervius explained.

"That seems like it would be unstable," Twilight assessed with a quizzical expression.

Cervius shrugged, "It, like all other governments, has pros and cons that allow it to work in certain settings."

"I guess," Twilight agreed as she jotted down some more notes. As she wrote, she glanced up at Cervius, "What's a democracy though?"

Cervius chuckled.

"What?" Twilight asked, puffing her cheeks in irritation at being laughed at. Cervius looked at the glaring alicorn and gave a smile.

"Nothing, let's just continue with the lesson."

"Alright..." Twilight agreed, sounding unsure. She wanted to know why he laughed but her desire to learn took the front seat. She would find out though, when the sun was ready to set, she'd ask and get her answer.

-------

"AAAAAHH!" screamed three fillies as they changed direction to avoid a leaping Timberwolf. They a 'CRUNCH!' and whimper behind them but the girls continued to run towards the forest's edge. They had been ambushed at least three times now, each time narrowly avoiding being tackled and each time hearing the 'CRUNCH!' and whimper behind them.

"There's the orchard! We're almost there!" Scootaloo cried. Sure enough, almost a hundred meters ahead of them lay the edge of the spooky, wildly grown forest and the beginning of the organized orchard.

As if the world wanted to mock the orange filly, two Timberwolves jumped out at once, blocking the girls' path. Screaming, the fillies skidded to a halt as they stared down the wood beasts with wide, terrified eyes. A snarl behind them, alerted them of the presence of yet another Timberwolf. Shutting their eyes in terror, the girls gripped each other in their forelegs and hugged each other tightly. Tears ran down their cheeks as they each silently prayed for somepony to save them.

A thump sounded on either side of their terrified huddle.

The sounds that followed were terrifying for the fillies as they the roars and whimpers of Timberowlves, the splintering of wood, and howls that faded to dying whimpers. The most impacting noise for the fillies was that of a pained cry from the presence that stood over them. The noise caused to tears to flow faster and for the fillies to huddle closer. Through it all, the presence stayed standing over the fillies, protecting them.

As the sounds of fighting subsided, the only sounds left was the crying of the fillies and the heavy breathing of their savior. Feeling brave, Sweetie Belle opened her eyes to find a weird leg covered in a type of white clothing in front of her vision. Slowly, her eyes drifted upward, taking in the straps and design of the clothes, as well as the pouches hanging off the creature's upper leg. By the way the leg was bent, Sweetie Belle assumed that the creature was crouched in a defensive position. Finally, she found herself looking up at what she could only guess to be, and this brought a blush to her cheeks, the crotch of the creature.

Deeming it safe, the creature relaxed her stance and, after the 'shinck' of a blade being sheathed, stepped back from the huddle. Following her movement, Sweetie Belle found herself squirming in the middle of the huddle to properly face her savior. When she could, she stared wide eyed and jaw dropped as four blue eyes looked back at her.

As if realizing what she was looking at, the creature reached up and first pushed back it's hood before pulling off it's head to reveal another head underneath. A helmet, Sweetie concluded, sparing the headgear a brief glance before looking at the revealed face. It was obviously feminine with it's soft features, only broken by a scar on her cheek. She had her brown hair pulled back and a soft smile on her strange lips as her weirdly small eyes examined Sweetie and her friends.

"Are you okay?" it, she, asked as she crouched down to be more eye level with Sweetie Belle. The only thing the young pony could do was nod her head slowly, staring at the creature in shock. She watched a corner of her lips quirked higher than the other corner, "That's good. You got yourselves in quite a pinch there."

Hearing the soothing voice, the other Cutie Mark Crusaders opened their eyes. They squirmed in each others' grip and repositioned to face the creature, still too shocked to let go of each other.

"A-are you an alien?" Scootaloo managed to mutter as she stared at the being in awe.

"I guess to you, I am. However, to me, you are also an alien," she replied, the smile/smirk not leaving her face.

"Awesome," breathed the pegasus filly as a small smile formed on her muzzle.

"That is it," she agreed, "but what were you girls doing in such a dangerous forest?"

"We were trying ta find the thing our sisters found out here and were hidin' from us," Applebloom replied, feeling confident after watching the conversation between Scootaloo and the alien.

"And I guess we kinda found it," Sweetie added as she smiled sheepishly at the alien.

"I guess you did," the alien replied with a soft chuckle.

"Girls?!" shouted a familiar voice to both parties, "Where y'all at?"

The girls squirmed again as Applebloom and Scootaloo turned to the new voice.

"We're over here sis!" Applebloom shouted in response.

"Thanks," Sweetie Belle said to the alien, who had put her helmet back on. She raised her hood as she stood.

"Your welcome," she replied. With a flash of blue and a 'WHOOSH!', the alien went up and back. Startled, Sweetie Belle hesitated in watching her go. When she finally looked, the alien was gone.

"Oh girls, Ah'm glad you're okay but..." in the pause, Sweetie Belle turned to face AJ. Applebloom had since detached from the huddle in favor of trying to crush her sister's neck, "what happened here?"

"An alien saved us!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly, waving her forehooves into the air. Sweetie noticed AJ's eyes widen just a tad while a brow shot up in confusion.

"An alien ya say? What did they look like?"

Taking this as her cue, Sweetie Belle spoke up. She was the sister of the resident fashionista, afterall, "Well, she wore a white outfit that hugged her body and had a lot of straps on her legs. Oh! She also had a helmet that had these four scary blue eyes and a hood! It was scary but looked really awesome!"

AJ looked lost in thought as she glanced at the trees above them, "Well, she's gone now so why don't I take ya fillies inside for some pie?"

"Yay! Pie!" the three fillies screamed in unison.

"But," AJ began again with an authoritative tone, "We are gonna have a talk about y'all heading into the forest on ya own. Y'all are luck that alien was around when she was."

The fillies moaned in disappointment as they followed the older mare with their heads down. Not one of their party noticed Pilot watching them from the edge of the clearing with a smile hidden behind her helmet. Satisfied, and seeing that the sun was beginning it's downward path, Rachel jumped back into the trees and began the trek back to the cave.

--------

Twilight yawned as she magicked the stack of paper and quill back to wherever she got it from.

"Here, I'll lead you out," Cervius stated as he got to his feet and grabbed his helmet. Tucking the headgear under his left arm, he held his right out to the pony. Smiling, Twilight accepted the hand and was helped to her hooves.

"You are quite the gentlepony," she pointed out with a giggle.

Cervius chuckled back, "Well, I figured since you are royalty, that I'd try to make a good impression."

"So you're saying that if I wasn't royalty, you wouldn't be this nice?" Twilight asked with a teasing smirk.

Cervius's smile lessened as he scratched the back of his head, "Well, no. I guess the only thing that would change would be the me calling you 'Princess'."

As the two began down the tunnel leading back to the first cavern, the Titan stomped slowly behind them, staying close to it's Pilot. Twilight couldn't help but glance back at it every couple of steps, making sure it wasn't about to step on her. One look at Cervius showed that, besides the smirk that Twilight was sure was pointed at her, he was as calm as can be about a multi-ton machine stomping the ground right behind it.

"How do you do it?" Twilight asked, looking back again as the Titan's foot came stomping down just a couple yards behind the pair. Her wings twitched for her to take off and get ahead of the thing but she fought that instinct. If she were to continue to be the emissary between the humans and Equestria, she would have to get used to it eventually.

"Stay calm with the Titan behind me?" Cervius asked, the smirk growing.

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Yeah."

The smirked died slightly as Cervius glanced back at the Titan. By the way he walked, and the look on his face, the glance wasn't out of trepidation of being stepped on. No, Twilight knew that he was sifting through memories that, by the look in his eyes, were not the most pleasant.

"Months of practice," was his simple reply as he gave a sad smile to Twilight.

"Oh," she responded softly as she looked at the dirt in front of her. The duo walked in silence, the hissing of the Titan's hydraulics, broken by the stomping of a foot, the only audible sound between the two. After rounding the turn in the tunnel, Twilight looked back up at Cervius, "You've seen horrible things haven't you? The worst in po-people?"

Cervius smiled softly at the slip up but nodded with sad eyes that now seemed to belong to someone eons older than the young man Twilight saw. Giving him a comforting smile, Twilight reached her head over and nuzzled his side. This elicited a jump from the Pilot but, when Twilight retracted and looked at his face, she could see happiness return to his eyes and a genuine, if not confused, smile on his face.

"Thanks."

Twilight smiled up at him, "You're welcome."

They both looked forward and continued to walk in relative silence, both with smiles on their faces. Reaching the cavern, they spotted Cole curled up in the seat of his Ogre with his head slumped and eyes closed. When their Stryder shadow came to a halt, they could hear the large man snoring, causing Twilight to giggle while Cervius just shook his head.

"I can find my way from here," Twilight stated softly.

"You sure?"

"Mhmm," Twilight smirked, "Good night, Pilot Cervius."

Cervius returned the smirked as he gave a small bow, "And you, Princess Sparkle."

With a final laugh between the two, Twilight turned and started trotting from the cave, eager to get home before it truly turned dark. She also had to make sure Spike didn't eat all the ice cream... again. The alicorn gave a nod to Rachel, which was returned, when the two passed.

"Had fun nerding out?" Rachel asked as she got closer to Cervius, who was examining a pile of wood that sat where the basket used to be. Cole must've collected it for tonight, he concluded as he turned to face Rachel.

"Very. What did you do all day?" he asked as the female Pilot joined him at the pile of sticks and took off her helmet and hood.

She gave him a smirk, "Recon."

Unexpected Guest

A crunch of dirt, the soft clicking of teeth, the ragged breathing of being tired, the inconsistent crackling of the nearby fire.

All these sounds were processed through Cervius's awakening mind before numerous electrical signals were dispersed. Slowly, Cervius cracked open his eyes, greeting the flickering light caused by the fire. The Pilot was seated in his Stryder, the cockpit's seat proving to be much more comfortable than the ground. As well, it helped keep in the warmth as a storm raged outside the cave.

With his eyes open, he scanned the area in front of him through his unhelmeted eyes. There, at the edge of the fire and creeping closer, was what looked to be a member of the local population. Only, Cervius noted, this one was different. Instead of brightly colored fur, this one seemed to have a black carapace, the flickering flames softly reflecting off it's surface. The eyes, which Cervius caught a look at as the strange pony glanced back at his Titan, consisted of a dark blue over a lighter blue field. The pony couldn't have been very old if it's size told Cervius anything. It was much smaller than Twilight as it slowly approached the fire.

As it got closer, Cervius saw more. He saw the small, dangerous looking horn on it's head. He saw the strange, insect-like wings that were tucked against it's sides. He saw the water that dripped off it's exoskeleton. He saw the holes through it's legs and the gray, holed, tail that it had tucked between it's hind legs.

All of this wound down to one thing for the Pilot: This was not a pony. While he didn't know what it was, he did have a general idea why it was in their cave. It was cold, wet, and very alone. It made matters worse that the creature's size made Cervius think that it was a child.

Seeing the child-creature laying by the fire, Cervius slowly slid from his seat and climbed to the ground. His eyes never left the creature as he did. Child-like size be damned, this was an unknown creature and Cervius was not going to turn his back to it. The Pilot winced when his boot hit the ground with too much force, the 'thump' seeming to echo over the crackling of the fire and the distant sounds of the storm.

The creature jumped and turned, it's ears flat against it's head as it's eyes locked onto Cervius's. Cervius spotted the fangs poking from it's mouth as it lowered itself to the ground. Even with the strange eyes, Cervius could easily read the creature's expression. He saw fear, exhaustion, and... acceptance.

"It's okay," Cervius said softly as he crouched down, hands held in front of his chest, palms out, "I won't hurt you."

"Y-y-you won't?" it asked, surprised. The voice... it sounded as if the creature were both male and female. The two tones, while high-pitched due to age, conflicted enough to notice but combined enough to be easily understandable.

Mentally shaking away the revelation, Cervius gave a soft smile as he slowly took another step forward, "I won't. I promise."

"W-w-what are you?" it asked in it's strange, yet oddly melodic voice.

"I'm a human. My name is Cervius," the Pilot replied as he sat down, still a good two yards from the creature, "What are you?"

At this, the creature seemed to huddle into a smaller ball, it's strange tail wrapped around it's body. With it's muzzle hidden behind it's forehooves, Cervius had to strain to listen.

"I-i-if I t-tell you, y-y-you'll just y-yell at m-me."

Cervius's brow rose slightly in confusion and shock, "Why would I yell at you?"

"Because e-e-everyone h-hated us."

Cervius could see the eyes begin to glisten, "Hey, don't cry. I won't be mad or yell."

"P-p-promise?"

Cervius smiled softly, "I promise."

"I-I'm a... uhm... Ch-" the rest was spoken soft enough to be muffled by the child's, Cervius had no doubt of his age anymore, forelegs.

"Speak up bud," he commented in a soft tone with a friendly smile. This seemed to cause the kid to be even more bashful. However, it did listen.

"I'm a-a Changeling," it stated before closing it's eyes, as if expecting to be yelled at or hit. When nothing happened, the kid opened it's eyes and looked at the Pilot in confusion.

Cervius gave a sad chuckle, "Listen kid. I'm not exactly from around here."

"You're... You're not?" the kid asked, it's melodic voice picked up a tone of interest as the kid began to unfurl.

"Nope," Cervius replied with a shake of his head, "I'm from a place far away from here."

"Did you come across the ock-ee-an?" the kid asked, struggling over the last word.

"The what?" Cervius asked, his face a look of pure confusion.

"The ockeean!" the kid exclaimed in it's flanging voice, "I read about it in a book. It's where there's a lot, lot, lot, lot of water!"

"You mean an ocean?" Cervius corrected with a smirk on his face. The smirk grew to a smile as he watched the kid tilt it's head in confusion.

"Oh-sheen?"

"Ocean," Cervius repeated in a clear tone.

"O-cean?"

"That's it," Cervius stated with a smile only matched by the child's.

"Ocean. We don't have an ocean back home," the kid's happy look died almost instantly as sadness overtook it's features, "Home..."

Cervius scooted closer to the kid and, seeing that it wasn't going to run, sat next to it. When the tears began to come, Cervius carefully scooped the kid into his arms and, being careful with the horn, held the crying kid to his chest.

"It'll be okay," Cervius whispered, "I'll get you home."

He felt the kid shake it's head against his chest, "T-t-t-there i-is no m-more home."

Utter despair washed over the Pilot as he held the crying kid to his chest, tightening his embrace just a little. This kid was cold, alone, had lost it's home and, presumably, it's family and, if their first encounter was anything to go by, was a member of a species that was hated by the world.

Cervius didn't realize there was someone next to him until a white-gloved hand came into view and softly stroked the back of the kid's head.

"Shhh," Rachel whispered. She was crouched to Cervius's right and, from the look on her face, had heard at least the tail-end of the conversation between the Pilot and the kid, "It's alright. You're safe here."

"Y-you're n-n-not gonna k-kick me o-out?" the kid asked as the sobs slowed in tempo. It removed it's head from Cervius's armored chest to look up with sad eyes into Rachel's kind ones. The female Pilot didn't seem at all fazed by the strange flange effect of the child's voice.

She shook her head softly and gave a kind, motherly smile as she continued to gently rub it's head, "No, little one."

"T-t-thank... you..." slowly, the kid drifted to sleep in Cervius's embrace, final tears rolling down it's cheeks. Rachel withdrew her hand when the kid began to breathe in the slow, steady rhythm of a creature asleep.

"Thank you," Cervius whispered, looking over as Rachel stood.

"I couldn't sit by and do nothing," she whispered back, "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah."

"Alright," Rachel gave a soft nod and, after giving a sad smile to the Changeling, turned to return to her Stryder. Looking down at the Changeling, Cervius smiled. The kid had nestled into his chest and had it's chin resting on one of his pouches. Carefully, to avoid both the horn and awakening the child, Cervius shifted the two of them so he was laying back. The child, squirming softly, quickly readjusted to be laying entirely on his chest, body curled and head resting on the same pouch as before. Cervius gave the same sad smile Rachel did as he drifted to sleep, stroking the back of the child's head.

--------

Again, Cervius woke up to the sounds of activity. He noticed that the storm was still going, though a bit lighter than it had been. A weight on his chest and the feeling of bare ground underneath him reminded him of last night. His eyes opened as his face shifted into a smile. The Changeling had shifted in it's sleep so that it was laying on it's back, it's head still using the same pouch as a pillow. Cervius's left arm was draped over it's chest, it's hooves over his arm and holding it close like a blanket.

"I see we found another alien," Cole stated, having the sense to whisper from where he crouched on the other end of the dying fire. There was no more wood, which meant that the fire was well into it's death throes.

"Yeah," Cervius whispered back, "It's just a kid though. A lost, scared, lonely kid."

"We'll watch over it," Cole stated with a determined nod.

"Yeah. We will."

"Well," Cole began after a minute of silence as he lazily waved to the fire, "I was hoping the storm would have let up by now. Even if it did though, everything would be wet."

"What about the treasure?" Cervius asked.

"What about it?"

"It has chests. Wooden chests."

"Ah, and that's why you're the nerdy one," Cole replied with a smile as he stood, brushed off his hands and started toward the tunnel.

"Yeah, yeah," Cervius replied with a shake of his head as he lowered it back to the dirt. He briefly wondered if he should try to wake the kid. The day has began, after all.

"Here," Rachel stepped into view and crouched, arms held out toward the Changeling. Smiling, Cervius tried to remove his arm, only to have the kid's hooves clamp down.

"Dang. Strong grip," he whispered with a wince, automatically censoring his language.

"Baby," Rachel teased. Nonetheless, she helped get his arm free. With Cervius's arm free, the child let out a whine and began to squirm in it's sleep.

"Shhh. It's alright," Rachel reassured as she picked up the kid and held it in her arms. As Cervius picked himself up from the dirt, the child began to awake, removed from it's human-shaped bed and blanket.

"H-huh?" it asked in it's flanging voice as it's blue on blue eyes struggled to focus on Rachel's face.

"It's alright," Rachel repeated. Able to hold the Changeling with one arm, she used her other hand to gently stroke the child's head, "You're safe here, with us."

A pop and a purple flash sent the Pilots into fight mode. Two sidearms found themselves drawn and pointed at a startled lavender Princess. Rachel had twisted her body to partially shield the, now fully awake and very frightened, Changeling. Recognizing the Princess, both Pilots lowered their weapons.

"W-w-what's happening?" asked the kid, it's eyes wide as it looked up to Rachel's face. The woman looked down at the kid, her face softening into a comforting smile.

"Nothing, little one. We were just startled by a visitor is all."

"Little one? Who's that?" Twilight asked, trying to get a better view of the kid who had been accidentally hidden from her view. Her brow was quirked at the strange flanging effect

"A kid stumbled into the cave last night, soaked and seeking the warmth of the fire we had going."

"A human child?" Twilight asked, excitement and confusion alike seeping into her voice as she craned her neck to try to catch a glimpse.

"No," Cervius shook his head with an amused smirk, "Said it was a Changeling."

"Changeling!" Twilight exclaimed, excitement and confusion replaced with shock and rage. Things happened fast after her exclamation. Her horn lit, the kid shouted, and and Autopistol was leveled.

"Let go of him!" Rachel shouted, giving gender to the Changeling as her face was contorted in rage and determination. Seeing what was happening, Cervius stepped closer to Twilight. His pistol was still gripped in his right hand but he held it toward the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he hissed as the sounds of a crying child began in the background.

"It's a Changeling! They are evil!" she shouted, her telekinetic grip still on the kid but not giving pulling while looking into the barrel of Rachel's pistol.

"Let. go."

Twilight let go as she saw Rachel's grip on her weapon tighten. For a couple seconds, it looked as though the Pilot would shoot her anyway. Finally, the Pilot lowered her weapon and with a "Handle her" to Cervius, turned and began on her way to the other cavern. She holstered her pistol and Cervius could hear her working to calm the frightened Changeling.

"Care to explain what the fuck that was about?" Cervius shouted as he turned his gaze back on the fuming Twilight.

"Changelings are evil! They are not normal!"

"None of this is normal to me! Or did you forget that already?"

"They feed off your emotions!"

"And I eat meat! It's how they survive!"

"It can change it's appearance into that of a pony!"

"Probably to hide from people like you!"

"They attacked Canterlot!"

"After this display, I would too!"

By now, the two were inches apart. Twilight looked shocked, betrayed, and confused as she took a couple steps back from the fuming human.

"W-what?"

"If all of ponykind is as racist as you, then you deserved the attack!" Cervius shouted as he took a step forward. Twilight took a step back.

"H-how can you say that?"

"You threatened a child based solely on it-his species! You see them as lower than you for their appearance! You see them as monsters for how their DNA dictates what they need to survive! You degrade them because of a trait that was probably a mutation to get around your hate of them! You brought the attack upon yourself!"

"They... they killed ponies!" Twilight shouted, tears in her eyes as she took another step back.

"That's war! People get hurt! People die! Shit gets damaged!" Cervius shouted as he took a step forward, using his free hand to jab the points home with his index finger.

Twilight shook her head, flinging a couple tears to glint briefly in the soft firelight, "No! That... they..."

"They were left with no other choice!"

"Th-they could've talked-"

"You saw them as monsters!"

"B-but-"

"That 'monster' was scared and alone!"

"I-"

"You what?"

Twilight just fell back to her haunches, struggling for words as tears fell freely from her eyes. Cervius could see her emotions raging havoc as she tried to come to terms with what just happened. Finally, her horn lit up and she disappeared in a flash of purple and an audible pop as the air rushed in to fill the empty space.

Cervius snorted, "Of course."

"Well shit," Cole stated, "That was pretty fucking intense."

Cervius turned to see Cole dropping pieces of wood onto the fire. The fire quickly began to engulf the offered fuel, growing. The fuming pilot watched the crackling flames for a moment, the flickering fire serving to help calm his raging emotions. One thing rolled around in his mind: He had just yelled at a Princess and the only pony that has really talked to them.

"Something tells me our stay here is about to get a lot more interesting," Cervius stated.

Cole chuckled, "No shit. Figure that before or after you told her that her city deserved to be attacked?"

Cervius shook his head with a hand to his forehead as he finally holstered his pistol. He had really lost it, in hindsight. He should have had better control but the past is the past.

"Just watch the entrance."

"Not much else to watch."

Ignoring the reply, Cervius began the walk to the other cavern. As he did, the crack of thunder sounded from outside as the storm continued. The human listened to the distant storm as he walked. He forced his mind to be still as he walked, looking at the ground. He had made a mistake losing his temper but he would still stand behind what he said.

Reaching the larger cavern, Cervius easily spotted Rachel sitting on a chair of coin. The Changeling was curled up in her lap, head resting on her leg as she softly stroked his head. When Cervius got closer, he shot Rachel a reassuring smile.

"Where is she?" she asked.

"Gone," he replied as he looked at the kid with a sad smile, "How is-"

"He's fine. We heard your yelling."

"I was just so..."

"I know."

At their talking, the Changeling stirred. Sleepily, he looked up at Cervius, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey little guy. You alright?" Cervius asked as he crouched down to be eye-to-eye.

"I- I mean," the kid paused as his throat flashed a soft green, causing Cervius's brow to shoot up. When he spoke again, the flanging was gone to be replaced with a purely colt voice, "I'm okay."

"What happened to your voice?" Rachel asked, causing the kid to swing his head around to look at her.

"Well. You've been calling me a boy so I changed my voice to match."

"Hey," Cervius began softly, gently turning the kid's head to face his serious but kid composure, "Never change. No matter what."

"O-" he paused with a smile as his throat flashed green again. When he spoke, the flanging was back, "Okay."

"There we go," Cervius stated with a smile as he rubbed the kid's head, "Be proud of who you are. No matter what everyone else says be proud of what's here," he tapped the kid's head, "and here," he tapped his chest.

"I will. I promise," he replied.

"Wanna see something cool?" Cervius asked with a smile. The kid nodded enthusiastically. Cervius chuckled, "Alright, come on."

As he took the Changeling from Rachel, Cervius saw her mouth something: 'Name?'. Cervius mouthed back: 'Later.'. Rachel just nodded as the Cervius settled the Changeling in his arms.

"I-I can walk," the kid spoke bashfully as he looked up at Cervius with confused eyes.

Cervius chuckled, "You could but you would miss out."

"On what?" he asked as he tilted his head.

"On this."

Running to the tunnel, Cervius activated his jump jet and flew to the wall. A glance back showed that Rachel was following, wall running on the opposite side. Cervius found that wall running with a child in your arms was a lot more difficult than doing so with a weapon but, he also found out, that the giggles and squeals of delight were a lot more rewarding.

Seek Judgement

The throne room was silent. The ceremonial guard stared straight ahead and were as still as statues at their posts. No window was open to allow the afternoon breeze that would normally be playing with the royal tapestries. The older of the two Regal Sisters, Princess Celestia, sat in her throne, her gaze locked on the throne room's decorative ceiling tiles, the only movement being the rise and fall of her chest and the eternal motion of her ethereal mane.

The grinding of the room's doors broke the serenity the silence had brought.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Hm?" Celestia looked down to see a golden helmet peeking into the throne room, "What is it my dear guard?"

"Princess Twilight is here to see you, your highness."

"I see," Celestia replied with a giggle. When will she learn? "Let her in, please."

"At once Princess."

It wasn't two seconds after the guard's head retreated that the doors were opened wider, allowing entry to the newest of the Princesses. One would be hard to connect the alicorn appearance to royalty, however, as Twilight currently held her head and tail low. Even her wings appeared to droop a little.

"What is the matter Twilight?" Celestia asked, concern laced deeply into her voice as she took in the sight of her former student.

"I would like some advice, Pr- Celestia," the lavender Princess replied as she came to sit in front of the Solar monarch's throne.

"That I can provide, my dear Twilight. First, however, I require knowledge on what it is you seek my advice."

Twilight sighed, "Of course," she looked up at Celestia, "Do you remember the letter I sent to you? Of the disturbance in Equestria?"

"I do. What is it that you found?" Celestia inquired, truly intrigued.

"I found... humans. Three of them. Two male and one female."

Celestia almost began to giggle until she saw that there was not hint of deceit or joking on her face. Still, "Surely you're not serious. Humans are but a myth Twilight. You of all ponies know that."

"I know, Pr-Celestia. I know it sounds crazy but they are humans and they are significantly more advanced than the ones told in the stories."

"How much is 'significantly'?"

"They have these... machines in the rough shape of themselves that they climb into and use as if extensions of themselves," Twilight explained, "Not only that but the machines can still operate without the humans, Pilots they called their job, inside. These machines follow their Pilots around like dogs. They also seemed to find a way to achieve short flight using more machines on their waist that uses pressurized air and fire."

"This is..." Celestia put a hoof to her forehead, "difficult to accept, Twilight. I-"

"I know, I know. But it gets better," Twilight shrugged, "or worse, however you see it."

"How can it get any better or worse than that?"

"Last night, a young Changeling had wandered into the cave they claimed as their home."

"A Changeling?" Celestia asked with knitted brows, "Please, no suspense, what happened to the creature?"

"The humans... adopted it, for lack of better terms Princess," Twilight replied, forgetting to correct herself as she looked at Celestia with shameful eyes, "I may have overreacted and tried to... take the Changeling... by force. The humans responded by aiming their weapons at me. I got into a heated argument with their leader and, well, now I'm here, seeking advice and judgement."

"Judgement for whom?" Celestia asked as she took on a passive expression. This question seemed to startle the lavender Princess as her sense of shame and self-loathing was replaced with that of confusion.

"What?"

"Judgement for whom? The humans, the Changeling... or yourself?"

"Celestia I..." Twilight trailed off as she thought of that morning. When she heard 'Changeling', she had been reminded of the attack on Canterlot. She can still remember the screams echoing throughout the city, the crackling of the flames as they hungrily devoured buildings, the pleas of help by those injured and the pleas of release by those who were too far off to save. She remembered the fight against the Changelings at the Temple of the Elements and how she was forced to attack what looked to be her friends.

Still, she couldn't deny the fact that she had tried to hurt a child. A Changeling child but a child all the same. At the time of the argument, she had thought that Cervius didn't understand. Looking back, at the way he carried himself, the equipment he wore, and the aged look of his eyes, Twilight realized that perhaps he understood more than she did.

"For all of us, Celestia," she finally replied, looking into Celestia's passive stare with a look of determination. Whatever the punishment may be, she would accept.

"Very well," Celestia stated as she turned her head up to examine the mosaic on the ceiling. It showed the sun in the moon, both in equal proportion with silhouettes of the alicorns themselves over their representative bodies, wings and hooves outstretched. Breaking her gaze from the mosaic, the Solar monarch looked down at her former student, "You will bring the leader of the humans and Changeling to Canterlot. Then the human, the Changeling, and yourself will come before Luna and myself tomorrow at sunset. We will decide your fates there. Understood?"

"Completely Celestia," Twilight replied with a nod of her head, "Though, I do believe Cervius will want to bring his machine as well."

Celestia nodded, "Let him. As long as it causes no harm to my little ponies, I will allow it."

Twilight nodded, "I will go inform Cervius then, before I retire for the night."

Twilight waited long enough to receive a nod from Celestia before she teleported out of the room.

"You still have much to learn," Celestia muttered with a sigh as she went back to examining the ceiling mosaic.

-----

The Changeling child had fallen asleep half a hour ago, while in the arms of Rachel as she piloted her Titan through the cave system. He had been laughing and squealing in that flanging voice of his as Rachel took him on a ride in her Stryder. Dashing, sprinting, jumping, every action done by the Titan brought undeniable happiness to the child. This, in turn, brought happiness to the three humans caring for him.

Now, though, the kid was asleep. He was still in Rachel's arms but she was now seated cross-legged beside the fire that Cole had revitalized with broken treasure chests. The fire cackled loudly as it reached hungrily for more fuel, emitting sparks and embers in anger at not finding any.

The three humans sat around the fire, each lost in their own world. Rachel softly caressed the Changeling while he slept, cooing at him though he wasn't awake to see it. Cole was cleaning his LMG, the parts laid out on a rag. Cervius just stared into the flames, watching as it slowly but surely consumed the wood offered to it.

"Cervius?" came a soft, fearful voice from the tunnel leading to the cave's entrance. All three of the humans gave a sigh.

"What does she want?" Cole questioned.

"I'll find out," Cervius replied as Rachel gave him a look that gave the Stryder pilot an insight into the darkness that the human mind could turn to. However, it all boiled down to: 'I will protect the child, no matter what.'

Turning, Cervius walked to the tunnel to see the alicorn sitting three quarters of the way in the tunnel. As he approached her, he noticed that she refused to look up at him, her eyes focused solely on the dirt at her hooves. Stopping about a yard in front of her, he crossed his arms.

"You have a lot of guts showing your face around here so soon," This caused the mare to sink lower but she also looked up at the human with hope in her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing too."

Twilight winced, "Oh, well then can-"

"He's asleep," Cervius interrupted, "Even so, I think Rachel would shoot you if you came within a fifty feet of a the kid."

"I see," Twilight look back at the dirt and scuffed a hoof before looking up at the human's stern, disappointed face.

"Is there anything else Princess?"

"Yes, there is," she began, swallowing nervously, "Princess Celestia has requested that you, the Changeling, and myself go to Canterlot to stand before her and her sister."

Cervius raised a brow, "Why?"

Twilight shrugged, "I honestly can't say. I assume it is to examine you and the Changeling. As to why I am there... your guess is as good as mine."

"I see," Cervius stated as he rubbed his chin in thought, "In that case, I will attend. I will have to convince Rachel to allow me to bring the kid, but I assure that I will have him with me. When will this meeting take place?"

"Tomorrow at sunset. I have also received her permission to allow you to bring your Titan," Twilight informed the pilot. It was this that brought a hint of a smile to his face and an ember of hope to Twilight's heart that she could repair their friendship.

"That is good news. Tomorrow I will travel to Canterlot then."

"We have train- Ah yes, your Titan is too big."

"Indeed," Cervius gave an almost imperceptible bow at the waist, "Good night, Princess."

"And you, Pilot."

A flash of purple and a pop and the Princess was gone. Sighing, Cervius turned to the fireplace. Now he just had to convince Rachel into allowing the Changeling the accompany him to Canterlot. It'd be easier to take out a Titan with a lollipop.

Peaceful Journey

"I still think you're overreacting."

"I still think you're underreacting."

"I'm gonna have my Titan with me!"

"Will you be in it for this 'meeting'?"

"Well... no, but-"

"There we go."

"C'mon Rachel, this isn't you. What's up?"

"Maybe, Cervius, it's the fact that we now have someone besides ourselves to care for."

"I'm-" began a flanging voice before getting interrupted.

"Is that it? I think there's something deeper than that."

Again, the child tried to speak, "Hel-"

"Whatever you're thinking, stop."

"I'm thinking you're-

"I will tear off your ba-"

The Changeling just rolled his blue on blue eyes as the two humans continued to argue. Sighing, he settled his head on Rachel's thigh as he looked at the screens that showed the outside world. He didn't really know what was going on besides that Cervius had to be at a meeting. And, for some reason, he had to come as well. This led to Rachel putting up a fight before saying that she would come as well to protect the child.

Protect from what? the young Changeling thought as he watched the open fields zoom by. They had long past the small village that Cervius had spotted. Luckily, they had been able to skirt far around it and were no on course with a large mountain that held a glistening city on it's side.

"Hun?" Rachel began in the soft voice she reserved for the Changeling, "You okay?"

"Yeah," the kid replied with a sigh, "I just don't want you two to fight anymore."

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry. It's just that Cervius is a bit hard-headed, is all."

The Changeling heard Cervius's snort over the coms.

"Like the pot calling the kettle black," the Pilot mumbled, his microphone barely picking it up.

"What was that?" Rachel asked, the venom returning to her voice.

Groaning, the Changeling tried to bury his face into Rachel's thigh to drown out the arguing. It was going to be a long trip.

-------

The wind blew softly, causing the grass to wave lazily. The Changeling breathed deeply, enjoying the scent of nature, as he laid on his side in the green growth. He found himself closing his eyes in bliss as a hand stroked the back of his head. They had stopped a couple minutes ago to eat lunch. Now, at the Changelings asking, they were just enjoying the world around them... with gargantuan robots standing sentry, of course.

"Y'know," Cervius began as he stood with his hands on his hips, "it's amazing how much you tend to miss of the world when inside a Titan."

"Yeah," Rachel breathed. She sat next to the Changeling, her hand stroking the back of the Changeling's head.

"Miss Rachel?"

Rachel giggled as she looked down at the alien child, "I've told you before; just Rachel is fine."

"Rachel?" the Changeling began again, the uncertainty obvious in his voice.

"Yes?"

"What's my name?"

After a couple seconds with no answer, the Changeling opened his eyes and rolled to his stomach. With worried eyes, he looked up at the female human to see her staring at him with conflicting emotions: shock, sadness, pity, fear, anger. They all fought for control of her facial muscles. Finally, she settled for a soft smile at the young alien while her eyes showed nothing but kindness.

"No, hun, I don't. Would you mind telling me?" Rachel asked with that same smile.

"I..." the Changeling buried his face in his hooves, "I don't have one."

"You don't have a name?" Cervius asked, crouching down next to Rachel. The Changeling shook his head.

"I wasn't named before the..." the kid trailed off, his eyes growing distant. A caress on his cheek brought him back to reality and into focus on Rachel's kind smile.

"Would you like us to name you?"

The Changeling nodded weakly, "I-if you wouldn't mind."

"How about Onyx?" Cervius suggested, "Because his chitin looks like the stuff."

"I was thinking of Hope, because that's what he brought to us," Rachel stated, causing the Changeling to bury his muzzle behind his hooves in embarrassment.

"What do you think kid?" Cervius asked, looking down at the Changeling. The kid proceeded to bury his face further behind his hooves as he mumbled his reply.

"What was that dear?" Rachel asked.

"I like them both," the kid replied softly, taking his muzzle from behind his hooves.

"Onyx Hope?" Cervius tried, his mouth moving as if he was tasting the name.

Rachel smiled as she cupped the Changeling's face in her hands, "I think that's a great name. Don't you?"

The newly named Onyx Hope nodded his head with a large smile on his face. Onyx then thought of something, causing his face to contort to confusion.

"What is it bud?" Cervius asked.

"Well," Onyx began in his flanging voice, shifting nervously, "remember in the cave when you told me not to change my voice?"

"Yep."

"You said that I should never change who I am."

"I sure did," Cervius confirmed, a brow arching up in curiosity.

"Well, why do you guys speak of me like I'm a colt still?" Onyx finally asked as he looked between the two adults.

"Well-"

"Onyx, hun," Rachel interrupted, seeing Cervius struggle for the words, "We don't want you to change who you are. It's just that it's hard for us to call a living being an 'it'."

"Why?"

"Kid," Cervius began, "where we come from, calling something 'it' is like saying that it's not alive. 'It' is used to describe non-living things. To call you an 'it' would be degrading you."

"And we defaulted to boy, colt, names because where we come from a society where the males had important roles in society," Rachel finished.

"Oh," Onyx replied. After a couple seconds of silence, he continued, "So you call me 'him' because 'it' is for things like the dirt and grass?"

"That's it bud," Cervius answered as he rubbed the top of Onyx's head. Had he had a mane, it would've have been messed up by the action. As such it was just a soft noogie.

"Thanks," Onyx stated as he jumped into Cervius's chest and hugged him tightly. The Pilot returned the hug with vigor.

"You're welcome Onyx."

"Alright boys, break it up. As much as I don't want to, we should get a move on," Rachel stated as she looked up at the sun that moved steadily across the sky.

"Ya heard the lady, Onyx. Let's mount up," Cervius stated as he picked up the Changeling and moved to his Stryder.

"Are you sure you got him?" Rachel asked with a hint of worry.

"I'm sure," the male Pilot replied as he climbed into his Stryder one-handed.

"Be safe," Rachel chided.

"Just mount up," Cervius ordered. Rachel let the retort die in her throat as she saw the large smile on Onyx's face. Nodding, the female pilot climbed into her own Stryder and sealed the hatch. Within seconds, both Stryders were moving toward Canterlot once more.

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