Major Blizzard was a veteran of two wars before the Tiberium War had even started; once it did, his company had been through hell in no less than 15 engagements. They were given impossible assignments on what felt like a daily basis, but Easy Company had always pulled through in the end. Whether it was them being the only unit to survive with less than a 50% casualty rate on the aftermath of the Blueblood Massacre or being thrown into the front during the attempt to break through the Nod lines to reinforce the Crystal Kingdom after the Noddies closed the pass permanently, Easy Company was the infantry unit you called upon.

Today however, he was having a hard time believing that anypony in his company would make it out of this shitshow alive.

“Sergeant Herald! Get that gun back up and running! We aren’t going to last a hot minute in this mess without covering fire!” the old stallion heard one of his lieutenants bark over the comm. EVAs were scrambled by the residual EMP interference from the nuke, despite the distance separating the battlefield from ground zero, so comms were spotty at best and jumbled at worst.

Right now it was jumbled. Usually Blizzard would only hear the comms from his captains when he wanted to, not from platoon XOs. He was about to tell the young lieutenant to check his comms and make sure his message got through to the right pony when one of the smaller purple disc-like alien craft swooped over their position, leaving a trio of plasma balls in its wake.

The detonation sent half the company to their hooves while those caught in the blast were either killed outright or burned alive in seconds. To their credit, those that could return fire did so to the best of their ability, and for a moment the Major thought his ponies had managed to blow the bastard out of the sky as it burst into flames that matched the damn things color scheme.

Moments later a quartet of Firehawks buzzed their defensive line, nose guns blazing as they intercepted another group of those damn alien fighters. A small respite, but not a long one. Small arms fire, if it could be called that, continued to pelt their shielded trench.

While what was left of the Watchtower grid along their line kept those flying knives off of them easily enough, those walking guns managed to shrug off the bullets and keep coming unless they scored a lucky hit. To make matters worse, they weren’t alone. While the walking cannons continued to unleash beam after beam of sustained energy at the beleaguered company, what looked like large bulbs on legs sent plasma disks similar to the alien fighter’s weapons at them too.

With the alien infantry and air force equivalent doing their best to wipe his defensive positions off the map, Major Blizzard didn’t even want to think about engaging what armor he could see from his vantage point. Hopefully they were having an easier time holding back these monsters than he was.
__________

Two strikes of thunder rang out in the din that was the Battle of Canterlot. Their source? The Apple Pie. Both projectiles hit home, one hitting a six-legged gun platform significantly larger than the quadrupedal version, and the other nailing a floating contraption similar to a light tank that was slinging plasma disks at GDI armor. The alien vehicles, even with the strange shimmering shields around them, didn’t stand a chance against the main armaments of a Mammoth and were gutted instantly.

Usually the shields could hold up against two or three rounds from an Ursa, or one shot from a Predator with an upgraded main gun, but Mammoths were an entirely different story and the invaders were learning this lesson as quickly as Nod had.

“Targets down, reacquiring.” EVA announced in Big Mac’s ear. Usually the statement brought a smile to the stallion’s face, but today was not a day to enjoy every target knocked out. A broken tread had kept them dead in the water for nearly an hour had already soured his mood, and even with a squad of unicorn engineers adding shielding to the armor while they made sure the patch would work, the situation was dire.

“If this isn’t your last day I don’t know what is…” he murmured under his breath as another ball of plasma painted their hull. Button Mash replied with a salvo of missiles and two more rounds from the railguns. Everything within 20 meters of the hovering tank that dared attack them was turned into purple mist and debris.

“Colonel, we’re running low on ammunition. Those tib-eating tanks are taking more ammo to kill than I’d like!”

“Damn shielding... See if we can’t get a supply drone to get us back up to green, if not, we can always open up the hatch and start usin’ our sidearms!” the red stallion barked back with a harsh laugh, “EVA, find a resupply base with working drones and some Celestia-damn air support!”

“Will armor suffice, Colonel?” a familiar female voice cut in.

“General Shield?”

“Coming up on your six, Colonel Macintosh. Stalliongrad managed to secure the sector we were in and I figured you needed a hoof with this area. After all, you’re Army.”

“Always willing to get some help from a jarhead, ma’am, even if your EVAs are a bit slower than mine.”

“Budget cuts, Colonel, we can’t all get the same blank check as your sister.” Stalwart Shield quipped before Big Mac repeated his thanks and cut the channel. Moments later, the Adeptus Astartes rolled up a few meters to the left of Apple Pie, and along a staggered line the Predators and Mammoths under Stalwart Shield’s command filled in the spaces left by Big Mac’s decimated armor unit.

Normally, Predators either dug in to weather the storm, or worked as hunter-killer teams against enemy armor. Ursas weren’t as heavily armored or as well armed, but enough of them could easily wear down a Predator that was caught by itself. The main battle tank that these aliens were using had superior range and firepower in exchange for a lack of a turret. The only way the Predators could engage at the same rate as Mammoths was to constantly push the line, a line that even with armor support, the infantry couldn’t hold.

This left armor commanders with a difficult choice, Push forward without infantry and risk getting swarmed by the four-legged anti-armor ‘infantry’, or hold position and get taken down by the deadly-accurate hovering tanks while Mammoths tried to return the favor. In Stalwart Shield’s case, as the ranking officer on that part of the flank, the answer was to whisper “Bayonets…” under her breath and order a full-out armor charge on the enemy position.

Like beasts possessed, Predator and Mammoth alike surged forward in a way that would make any buffalo proud. Spacing between the Mammoths allowed Predators to weave as best they could, dodging as they went or at least making themselves harder to hit. Mammoths had no such luxury and shrugged off plasma with their already blackened, and in some cases melted, armor. Officially, it was the first counter-charge of the Battle of Canterlot, and had the invaders not thrown in a few last-minute entries into the fight, it would have been a perfect push that broke the back of the alien offensive.

However, like all things in this war, nothing was so simple. As the alien armor fell away under sustained railgun bombardment, the GDI armor was presented with the sight of the Nod defensive lines, or at least what was left of them. Marching proudly above the ruined trenches and the husk of an Avatar was something out of a nightmare, and something that would haunt Big Macintosh’s sleep for months on end. Three legs like those of a crab lead up to a bulbous center. Sprouting from what had to be the cockpit, if the damn thing was even a vehicle and not alive, were three arms each with forked prongs at the end. Each one was laying waste to the Nod line with sustained beams of energy as white as Celestia’s coat and as if that wasn’t enough, once it finished firing a beam into a screaming trench full of militia, the familiar sheen of an energy shield materialized around it.

As the smoke cleared, two more came into view.

The last thing Big Macintosh saw from the command chair of the Apple Pie was two rounds from his Mammoth forcing the shields on the first walker to crack and peel away, followed by a blinding, searing light.
_________

“Wolverines on me!”

Jet Deck lead the charge to the front, leaping into the air from his current vantage point and rocketing off to the newly-formed front, followed closely by the rest of his platoon. “Listen up ladies, General Shield is making a push against enemy armor at this very moment, and we are to make sure no bugs try to shoot our tanks in the back. The General herself is personally leading the charge, so give her a sight to remember you by!”

A few moments later the platoon descended upon their first waypoint, with their HUDs displaying the location of the next landing zone their EVAs had designated for them for their next jump.

“Come on troopers, on the bounce!”

At the apex of their second jump they were able to get a visual of the frontlines, with a few of them vocalizing what was on everyone’s mind that very second.

WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THAT?!

“EVA, update on the front. What were those things?!” asked Apple Bloom right as her suit touched down once more, wasting no time in getting set for the next jump.

“Unknown. Units identified as heavy enemy walkers of unknown origin or capabilities. GDI forces currently engaged.”

“Helpful as always, EVA.” Apple Bloom quipped before accessing the Platoon’s command channel. “Don’t know about you Jet, but I don’t trust our armor’s chances against those things.”

“I dunno, I’d say they have as good a chance of surviving as we do of throwing a Mammoth at those walkers.” Jet Deck replied before switching up to the platoon’s general channel. “Alright Wolverines, change of plans! Holster those MGs and warm up those railguns! We’ve got to make sure our armored ancestors don’t end up in a museum!”

“AYE GUNNY!” came the near-simultaneous response.

With that, the Wolverines made their last jump to the third waypoint, directly behind the GDI line.

“Spread out! Target anything that looks like a weak point!” Jet Deck ordered. In an instant, the orderly formation disintegrated into a swarm of suits, each jumping in a different direction, to a different position, getting as many different angles as possible to attack from.

The giant walkers paid them no mind, focusing their wrath on the tanks before them. Already a Mammoth had been mostly melted down the middle, with another one knocked out of action by virtue of its turret being warped into a boiling mess. Despite this, the line was almost single-handedly held by them as Predators were forced to either retreat or seek immediate cover. Already the result of the walker’s attacks on them were clear to see, with almost unrecognizable hulks of slagged metal lying around Mammoths. The super heavy tanks could resist a number of shots before quitting, but it seemed the Predators had no such luxury against these things.

A few seconds after the Wolverines spread, the first shots rang out each in quick succession after each other. Most seemed to do absolutely nothing to the monstrous machines, with the joints being far too well armored to serve as weak spots, and the length of their ‘arms’ being deceptively strong despite their seeming flexibility, and thus potential frailty. However some shots did seem to get their attention, particularly those aimed at its upper central ‘eye’, as well as the ‘eyes’ at the end of each arm. The sudden change of priorities from the tanks to the Zone Troopers came in the form of one the troopers responsible for those successful shots being vaporized before he could jump away, caught off-guard by the sheer speed with which the tripod walker reacted to his transgressions.

“That pissed it off alright!” yelled out Apple Bloom, jumping as soon as her shot left the barrel, and just in time to see her previous position being turned into glowing ash.

“Good! It means it’s got something to be angry about!” replied Jet Deck. “EVA, relay message to General Shield. Target the central eye, we’ll distract the arms!”

With another jump, Jet Deck targeted another one of the arms. As tempting as it was to shoot the railgun while in mid-air, doing so was an incredibly poor idea. The force required to even lift the Zone Armor, not to mention sending it flying into the air like a thrown brick, combined with the calculations carried out by the EVA units to ensure as safe a landing as possible on a relatively even landing spot meant that there was little room for error. The possibility of danger in this state was mostly a concern on long-distance jumps since the increased air time meant that there was more time for something to go wrong, while tactical combat jumps were ironically safer due to being barely more than a second long. However doing anything, for example firing an incredibly powerful weapon with enough recoil to break every bone on whomever was dumb enough to try shooting it without Zone Armor on, would most likely result in the mid-air trooper suffering serious injury as their skull became intimately familiar with the ground.

As soon as he landed on a semi-collapsed rooftop, his pre-aligned barrel immediately fired at the nearest arm’s eye, wasting no time to get back into the air. He was proud to see the other troopers doing the same, giving the arms no chance to target them individually. The roar of a Mammoth’s cannons and subsequent explosion on the central walker’s chest made his pride all the greater. And yet that still didn’t kill it, despite its central eye having a clear, fractured hole present like a macabre pupil.

Another trooper intelligently enough sought to exploit this, jumping to a nearby roof in front of the walker from which he could fire into it. He never made it there. Jet Set could do nothing but watch in horror as a beam swept across the air in a wide arc, catching him and another trooper in mid-jump, not even leaving ashes behind as their physical forms were completely annihilated.

“Looks like they’re done with trying to aim.” he said to himself. “Wolverines be advised, short jumps only! Don’t stay in the air too long!”

Another Mammoth’s roar filled their world immediately after, capitalizing on the direct hit of its compatriot. The central walker’s arms stood still momentarily before going limp, with the body in question appearing to rest on its own weight rather than being lifted by its three legs.

The next roar shattered the shields of the leftmost tripod, and Stalwart Shield’s wrath followed shortly after. A half dozen rounds from the Mammoths slammed into the tripod, coring the main pod with such force and destructive power that the arms flew off, landing on the ground shortly after the smoking husk that hosted them.

Just one more to go.

As the next round of concentrated fire pierced the third one’s shield, the Wolverines were already in action harassing its targeting systems, keeping their sights off the tanks. The risk involved in such action were extreme, with three more troopers falling to the remaining mechanical monster’s sweeping fire.

It almost became four, but Apple Bloom was able to jump off her rooftop before the arcing beam overtook her. However, with nowhere nearby to land on the destroyed landscape, she was forced to make a high jump which she was now regretting dearly as one of the mechanical eyes caught a bead on her. She thought she could hear a voice calling at her, yelling at her to escape, but at that moment all she could do was stare death in the face. Out of options, the end in sight, her mind could only think of one thing to do to get out of this.

In a single motion she pointed her railgun to the sky, then fired. The sheer recoil of the miniature cannon broke her ascent and left her motionless in the air for a split second before she began to fall. The sight of the beam passing over her was as relieving as it was terrifying to behold. She could feel the heat through her armor and it was making her uncomfortably hot even through the metal plating and climate controls. At least that was one death avoided though, and that by itself was worth a couple of first degree burns. Now there was the minor problem of her approaching date with gravity.

She suddenly found herself thrown off of that particular train of thought by a bright light directly to her side as a second arm charged up to fire. It looked like gravity would end up feeling dumped in the end. She closed her eyes, resigned to her fate as the light got brighter and brighter. So bright in fact that she could still see it past her polarized optics and tightly shut eyelids. But after a few seconds, she noticed that all she felt was the same uncomfortable heat from before and the light soon passed. Her eyes shot open as her wits came back to her and she could still feel herself falling, but to her left, the tripod was coming down along with her.

“What in the fu-” was all she managed to murmur out before the wind was knocked from her lungs and the familiar feel of armor in flight brought her fully back to the situation at hand. Needless to say, the two Zone Troopers landed hard, harder than suggested by the suit’s safety protocols’ manual. While it was possible to rescue fellow troopers and jump them out of a kill zone, no one had tested that theory when catching another trooper who was hurtling towards the ground at terminal velocity.

The heap of armor that came to a crashing halt didn’t stir for nearly a minute after the landing, and when it did, helmets were drawn back immediately so they could look each other in the eye.

“Don’t… ever do something like that again…” Jet Deck groaned, air still taking its sweet time to fill his lungs again.

“That… an order, Gunny…?” Apple Bloom panted back as she tried to get back to her hooves. At any other time, at any other place, she would have forgone any and all protocol and kissed the crazy stallion for pulling her ass from the fire, but the pain was too much, there were still aliens out there, and now Nod soldiers were walking towards them.

The one at the lead was wearing armor GDI Intel hadn’t identified yet, but the ones flanking the unicorn were obviously Shadows. The fact that they weren’t cloaked was hopefully a good sign given the surviving Zone Troopers had their weapons trained on them.

“Nice work, Apple Bloom… I wouldn’t have been able to get a charge on that last walker without you running around like that.” the unicorn mare at the lead told the battered earth pony.

“Do… do I know you, ma’am..?” she replied, finally back on her hooves and limping to meet this Noddie face to visor.

“Well I’d hope so…” the unicorn said, a green aura from her horn causing the helmet and hood she had on to come off. As they did, purple and pink hair began to show, giving way to familiar white fur and green eyes, “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders forever after all.”

Apple Bloom had heard she’d been kidnapped right from under GDI’s nose. The raid had softened up Ponyville for Nod forces, planted tib seeds on Sweet Apple Acres, and even got Diamond Tiara killed by friendly turrets. Yet here she was, in what could only be commando armor with the same confidence as an Apple on the battlefield. Just asking the name took all the effort in the world for the former farm pony.

“Sweetie Belle…?”
__________

Lightning Dust wasn’t a very popular pegasus when she worked for GDI; in fact she was single-handedly responsible for Spitfire being crippled. Working for Nod didn’t do much to calm her aptly named obsession with being the best pilot around and making sure everyone knew it however. The only person that dared speak to her outside of operations and battles was her squadron leader, Muffin “Derpy” Hooves. In combat though, the maternal mare managed to put her parenting skill to the test with Lightning Dust and reign her in when necessary.

Ever since her defection after the First Slavik Incident, Derpy had nearly beaten the insubordination out of her on more than one occasion, but this many years into the war, Dust was finally acting like a valued member of a squadron instead of the lone wolf wannabe that she had been with the GDIAF. The transformation couldn’t have been more timely, given what Derpy’s squadron was up against.

Even in top of the line aircraft, these alien fighters were almost impossible to keep a bead on when chasing them down, though that was more a design flaw for Nod than anything else. After months of advances in Orcas making the Harpy almost obsolete, Nod had responded with the Venom, a VTOL meant to out-maneuver and intercept Orcas. With an insectoid design courtesy of Changeling engineers and hovertech reverse-engineered from the stolen Canterlot, it was a nimble little craft that packed a surprising punch from all directions with its ventral mounted nose gun, an auto-laser capable of shredding Orca armor in seconds.

Against these invaders though, they were painfully outmatched. Nod squadrons were of 8 to 12 aircraft, as opposed to GDI 4 or 6, and despite that, Derpy was down to only 3 Venoms in her squadron, herself and Lightning Dust included. Despite this, the three desperate pilots were giving as good as they got, with the survivors having downed 6 of the alien craft and at least two dozen of the small drone fighters launching from the flying carriers that were engaging the Kodiaks.

Muffin would have been happy about that if it hadn’t gotten them a little too much attention from a flight of enemy craft. The only reason they were even alive was the fact that while the aliens outclassed the Venom in speed, the Venom was leagues beyond the aliens in maneuverability. Turns that would shear the alien craft in half were just another day at the office for Venoms as they continued to dance around the plasma being sent their way.

“We can’t take much more of this, Derpy! We need to pull back!” yelled Lightning Dust, doing her best attempt of breaking her flight stick by pulling back on it as hard as she was, ultimately resulting in her Venom doing a high-G roll to get an alien off her tail.

“No! We can’t outrun them so we’d only be giving them targets. Our best chance is to keep them dancing until reinforcement arrive!” replied Derpy, breaking off from her current engagement and flying directly at a pair of alien fighters. As expected, her pursuer pressed on and got behind her at a rather close range while those ahead of her moved in to intercept. At the last second she pulled a 90 degree spin, passing between the two, who then immediately collided with her pursuer.

“HOW IN THE FU-” began Dust’s train of thought before something more urgent interrupted it. “Reinforcements?! The Barricade’s a goner and all other craft are either escorting transports or the Everfree out of here! There aren’t any reinforcements!” she yelled into her comm. A moment later the alien she’d been trying to shake off simply exploded into a green ball of plasma. This was followed by even more craft they’d been fighting suddenly exploding in a similar fashion, courtesy of a missile barrage from incoming fighters. Soon after, the fighters came into view, engaging their VTOL capabilities and hovering in front of the Venoms now that the area was relatively clear.

“Attention Nod aircraft. This is Lieutenant Scootaloo, Phoenix Squadron. Let's get something straight. You don’t like us, and we sure as buck don’t like you, but I think we can agree that these space bugs are bigger assholes than either of us could be to each other. So, in the spirit of not dying horribly to space bugs, I’m offering you the option of either leaving since we don’t have time to deal with you, or helping us out since we could use all the help we can get.”

Lightning Dust was about to tell the so-called Lieutenant where she could shove her offer before Derpy remotely muted her comm and answered herself. “Lieutenant Scootaloo, this is Flight Leader Muffin. We accept your offer of cooperation. Just tell us where we can assist.”

“Right, good.” replied Scootaloo. “Before anything, cover your eyes.”

As soon as she said that, a bright, blue light blanketed the night sky as the Crystal Fury fired its spinal-mounted Ion Cannon, bisecting an alien carrier, with two smoldering pieces rapidly falling to the ground below.
__________

Jet Deck almost shot Sweetie Belle as she launched herself forward and hugged her childhood friend. Apple Bloom returned the gesture with gusto and before anyone could blink, both mares were crying.

“I thought you were captured!”

“Rescued from house arrest, I thought you were army not… a Zone Trooper.. wow…”

“They needed the best and Apples are the best GDI has.” Apple Bloom replied, smiling as the two pulled apart.

“Have you heard anything of Scootaloo…?” the Nod Commando asked, getting a bright smile from the yellow mare in front of her.

“Up in a fighter, she uh… she helped us take out one of your Avatars”

Jet Deck honestly didn’t believe what he was seeing. The most dependable Zone Trooper and most stalwart protector of GDI and its ideals that he knew was chatting up a goddamn commando like they were two fillies meeting up after going to different universities.

“Anyone want to fill me in on what the buck is going on here!?” he finally interjected, startling both mares and getting a sheepish grin from Apple Bloom.

“We grew up together… we even have the same cutie mark. Last time I saw her I was on a train heading to boot camp.”

“And last time I saw Ponyville, I was under guard of a bunch of soldiers all because my sister had to defect to survive.” the unicorn added in.

“Yeah that’s nice and all but what does that mean for us? You’re lucky we’re not gunning you down. Catching Shadows in the open is practically impossible for anypony without a detection suite installed.”

“You haven’t heard?” one of the shadows spoke up, getting a chuckle from the rest of the group before he continued, “Nod and GDI units have been working together all over the Blue Zone against these… things.”

“It’s why I took down that tripod for you... Well, that and saving my best friend’s plot.” Sweetie Belle added, a sly smirk gracing her features as she tossed one of her remaining det-packs up and down with her magic. “Looks like the only way we’re going to push these aliens back is working together.”

“.... General, are you seeing this…?” Jet Deck finally asked after a few moments of silence.

“Seeing, not quite believing…” the Marine General replied, her voice being projected via Jet Deck’s external speakers, “But nopony expected an alien invasion so working together with Nod right after a failed peace conference isn’t exactly the strangest thing I’ve seen today.”

“Orders?”

“General Ironsides told all commanders to win this battle by any means necessary… I’d say this qualifies as ‘any means’. Gunny, you have the green light to work with them, I’ll take the heat if someone decides to light a dumpster on fire over this. Staff Sergeant?”

“Yes, ma’am?” Apple Bloom answered.

“You’re our liaison with this Nod unit, behave, dinner is in the fridge, and be in bed by 11.”

“Aye aye.” she replied, a wide smile breaking out as Apple Bloom hugged her long-time friend a second time before bumping foreheads softly and carefully as to avoid Sweetie Belle’s horn.

“Well, we all heard her, and I don’t have enough rockers on my sleeve to argue with stars…” Jet Deck announced as his helmet slowly encased his head once more, “Let’s get to work everyone, it’s our job to find out if these aliens have asses, and then kick them.”
__________

“Are you sure…? Check again, I want to be completely positive before we bring it up…” Hyperion whispered to Mantis, who simply shrugged and had her EVA go through the calculations again. Seconds later, the same answer popped up, and Hyperion could only stare dumbly at the holographic projections on the table in front of him. Mantis snapped him out of it by nudging him in the ribs and he straightened up shortly after.

“No denying it, this… this is happening whether we like it or not.” she finally added, getting a solemn nod from her commander.

“Very well, I will inform the Council.” said Hyperion, steeling himself for the announcement he was about to give to the assembled heads of Nod just meters away. With slow yet deliberate steps, the large earth pony walked back over to the Council, most of which were busy muttering something or other to each other while Twilight was going ballistic about the invaders. If she had a whiteboard the damn thing would have been covered with stats and equations. Kane seemed to be the only calm one among them, even Luna was showing apprehension, but Kane was still just staring out the front viewport like he was admiring a sunset.

“Pardon the intrusion, everyone, but we’ve been getting…. Troubling news from the combat zone.”

“Define troubling, brother.” Kane replied without peering over.

“We have confirmed reports all over the Blue Zone of our troops working with GDI against the aliens.. And not isolated reports either, entire units are working with those heretics to fight whatever landed on our doorstep. For the time being it’s confined to pony-led detachments, but there are a few changeling, and even gryphon teams working with GDI.”

The news left Chrysalis in a stunned rage, unable to speak even without Steelwing pondering quietly next to her, keeping his wings ready to clamp against her muzzle. Luna’s eyebrows quirked up from the news and when her new EVA confirmed it, all she could do was sit back on her hindquarters in astonishment.

Twilight looked as though she might cry, as if this new threat was the key to lasting peace with her former homeland, a look somewhat mirrored by Rarity but not with the same intensity.

Kane however, no one seemed able to read. His expression hadn’t really changed since they were pulled out of Canterlot Castle by an Avatar. Yet, without turning, he inadvertently made a decree that would change the war as much as the Alien Invasion did.

“Well…” Kane announced, his voice oddly cheery as he continued, “It looks like GDI is going to get their precious truce after all.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long everyone, life got in the way, but luckily things have stabilized and we're somewhat back on track.