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. Next Chapter: Hoarding Magic Estimated time remaining: 58 Minutes