It had been hours now since the so-called ‘first contact’ took place. Apple Bloom didn’t quite know or care the exact number. All she did care about at the moment was the fact that these aliens were actually pulling back. Despite the valiant efforts of both armor and infantry, the air force had been the one responsible of pushing the aliens back fully. Kodiaks had more than proven their worth this day, especially the Crystal Fury, as they put every weapon and air wing at their disposal to good use.

Comparisons between the damage reports coming in from the Kodiaks and the information from the GDA Canterlot’s black box which Dead Six retrieved almost a year prior helped clarify the mystery of the attack on that ship. Despite how badly a newly-classified Planetary Assault Carrier had damaged the GDA Canterlot the previous year, Spitfire and every other Kodiak captain proved to these aliens what happens when you face one of the aerial behemoths in open combat without an ion storm to cover you. Railguns tore into carriers and the floating artillery pieces the aliens brought with them. Alien fighters proved no match to the veteran pilots behind the joysticks of Firehawks, and the ponies of the GDIAF all went above and beyond the call of duty to defend the capital.

One pilot in particular, Flight Lieutenant Scootaloo, managed to get the single biggest kill of any Firehawk in the battle, despite losing her fighter in the process. After alien anti-air managed to shred her control systems and short out her EVA, she punched in a collision course for the nearest alien carrier. With all armaments aboard primed and ready to detonate, she ejected and watched the fireworks as her bird slammed into the propulsion systems of the skeletal airship. The detonation spun it around violently, sending it careening into another carrier before internal explosions completely obliterated the first and knocked out whatever kept the second one afloat.

Despite landing hard, the orange pegasus felt elated that she managed to cause that much damage with a locked out Firehawk. Her day only got better as her rescue team consisted of a Zone Trooper and a Nod Commando that she recognized the moment she saw them.

For the first time since the war had began, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were reunited.
_________

“Strange seein’ em run so fast after the hell they put us through…” Apple Bloom murmured.

“Even aliens know when they’re beat, and those…” Jet Deck replied, smirking as he pointed at the Kodiaks above the Blue Zone, “Are extremely good at showing why you shouldn’t mess with GDI when we have air support around.”

“Only you don’t have that many of them left, and I’m sure these… things… aren’t going to always attack where you have half your air force concentrated.” Sweetie Belle retorted, “We’re going to have to win this on the ground too… and that isn’t a pretty sight.”

“Didn’t look good from up in the air.” Scootaloo said, wiping her brow as she spoke, “Seems more like Tartarus on Earth down here. Hard to believe this was a Blue Zone only this morning.”

“We’ll rebuild, we always do. But first we kick some alien butt until they don’t want to mess with Equestria anymore.” Apple Bloom told them, giving a tired but confident smile. The smile was surprisingly infectious, getting grins and even a few worn-out chuckles from the surviving Zone Troopers.

It was almost enough to make her forget how few of them were left.

When the battle began, the Wolverines had 42 Zone Troopers leaping into action and taking the fight to Avatars and Ursas alike. By the time the fighting with the aliens had come to a close, only 10 remained, and not a single survivor had managed to avoid getting injured. Tripods, air strikes, and an unfortunate ambush by those buzzing flying blades had reduced their numbers like no other enemy could, and now Apple Bloom and Jet Deck were in charge of barely a squad instead of a full platoon.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo didn’t get off much better. Last Scootaloo had heard, Sky Stinger was shot down and hadn’t been able to eject in time. His Firehawk crash landed in Canterlot proper and while rescuers were on the scene, there was no news of his survival. Vapor Trial was understandably devastated. Sweetie Belle’s Shadow squad escort had been cut in half by a lucky shot from a tripod before a Kodiak brought it down, and her own armor had almost been fused to her fur from how close she was to getting evaporated by the very same beam.

“EVA shows a cooperative rally zone a few clicks interior, we should get moving, see about meeting up. I’m sure General Shield will want to see how many of her Troopers are left standing.” Jet Deck stated, his voice surprisingly void of emotion. He had his helmet back on, and the yellow farm mare was sure that the staggering losses were already beginning to get to him.

“Roger that… let’s move everypony, no sense standing around here watching the aliens run away.” she added, her own helmet closing around her muzzle once more and the HUD springing to life before her eyes. Ammunition was down to 2%, thruster fuel was completely expended, suit power was still above 50% though, and a silent thanks went out to GDI Magic R&D.
____________

The losses that day for both sides were staggering at best. What the Wolverines had gone through, almost every unit in Canterlot mirrored. Those who suffered comparatively light casualties had only lost 40% of their combat capable troops, while some units were completely wiped out. Officers on both sides, from the lowest of lieutenants to generals, had all suffered injuries as well. Applejack was already at a field hospital, Big Macintosh was on his way to the same hospital on a stretcher. Both Apple family officers were the only survivors from their ruined tanks.

As for the fabled and storied divisions they both lead, they existed on paper for the time being, but not even the EVAs had a clear picture of how many of the 2nd Heavy Armored or 1st Armored Divisions had survived what would end up being the largest armor engagement of the entire war.

Rarity’s 3rd Spec Ops Division had suffered heavily before being able to withdraw from the alien landing zone, if you could call hundreds of wormholes opening behind the Nod lines an LZ. The Black Hand served admirably as well, but nearly every unit that Sister Pinkie had to send into the fray came back with their numbers halved at best thanks to superior alien firepower and the fact that these things lacked the one thing Black Hand were experts at breaking; Morale.

The aliens did not show fear, mercy, or any other emotion recognized by soldiers, and to a military branch that depended heavily on their imposing reputation, it was like going into battle without a weapon. When the war began, Black Hand troops numbered in the tens of thousands, with the majority of their numbers being gryphons. The Battle of Canterlot was a crippling blow to the branch, leaving only a few thousand survivors to be reconstituted into a heavy-hitting alternative to the Nod Shadow Corps. Despite this, it was also a boon in disguise. Now only the best Nod had to offer both in skill and in the faith could be selected to join the Black Hand, and while their numbers were decimated, their fearful reputation only increased.

Both armies had thrown the best they had at each other in what could have been the last battle of the war, but the arrival of the aliens had changed everything in ways both sides never truly comprehended until well after the First Tiberium War was over. For the immediate future, both factions were content to lick their wounds, keep an eye on each other, and wait for the reports to come in about the new alien threat that seemed to target scorpions and eagles indiscriminately.
___________

Both sides went about securing their positions in their usual fashion, with GDI pulling into defensive positions, making sure automated and manned emplacements were repaired, re-armed, and in some cases had their crews replenished, and with speed that even surprised Kane and Ironsides alike, Canterlot’s perimeter was secure once more. The Blue Zone as a whole, however, would never be properly defended until years later.

With security usually comes complacency, especially in the heart of GDI territory, but the few officers that managed to stay out of a hospital, or at least still had access to their EVAs from their hospital beds, quelled all thoughts of relaxation before they managed to manifest in the minds of the beleaguered garrison. Despite all this, Kane’s statement to the Brotherhood Council held true, and General Ironsides soon found himself in a tent at the edge of the Blue Zone erected in the middle ground between the GDI and Nod lines, sitting across from the Messiah himself. Guards were left outside, and none of either councils were invited to this meeting, not that there was much left of the GDI War Council.

The initial fighting that Celestia started off escalated and caused a firefight in the throne room, and while plenty of Ironside’s branch heads made it out, there were still casualties. That mixed with the fact that the entire battle had been sparked by the Royal Sisters having another family feud left Kane and Ironsides with a similar notion that royalty and “upper-class” ponies had no place negotiating a necessary cease-fire.

“Honestly after the Princess lost her mind and went after you, I’m surprised that you want this meeting at all… aliens aside, that is.” the grey unicorn deadpanned as he looked up from the coffee that had been provided.

“We have aliens attacking both of us and while the Elements of Harmony may not be meant for warfare, we’re both still ponies. Working together for the greater good is in our nature no matter how much we fight it.” the brown earth pony replied, taking a sip from his cup. Both stallions had forgotten when they’d last slept and while coffee from a GDI field ration wasn’t the best tasting in the world, it had a kick to it that could make a mule jealous.

“I wish certain officers remembered that… not that it matters, I’m pretty sure your Black Hand managed to axe a few on their way out of the throne room.”

“A lot of earth ponies still harbor resentment for the Canterlot Elite… unicorns in general, really… calling their messiah low-born for standing up for them didn’t exactly help the issue, General.”

“I can see why that would ruffle a few feathers…” Ironsides replied quietly, sighing softly before looking up at his counterpart, “There’s a reason that before the other races got too involved with the war, ponies were calling the Brotherhood a rebellion. Some even referred to the initial fighting as the start of Equestria’s Civil War, but that’s not why we’re here today. As much as I’d like to rectify the sins of my peers, most of them have already met their ends at the hooves of your soldiers, but until we get these things off of our planet, that needs to stop.”

“Agreed, though I hope you realize that as soon as these… visitors are off world, hostilities will resume.” Kane said, “Your monarch will not compromise, you’ve seen that, and until GDI stops considering the crystal that Nod is embracing as a cancer that needs to be exterminated… the fighting will resume once the planet is secure.”

“Are you saying that the moment we know they’ve left you’ll resume hostilities?”

“Not the moment, no… I’m hoping we can agree to the terms of an… alliance, as much as my followers detest the thought.”

“Your non-pony followers.” Ironsides corrected with a half-smirk. He knew that had Chrysalis been here she’d be fuming, and that most of the dragons couldn’t care less. The gryphons however, were a bit of a wild card. Many saw the first days of GDI as Equestria abandoning the planet to save itself, like someone pushing everyone out of a lifeboat to keep it afloat even with the knowledge that those in the water would drown. Some however, had many good memories of working with Equestria, and saw the current unofficial truce as a chance to see what happened to old friends.

“You’d be surprised how many displaced earth ponies want blood nowadays, and the only thing keeping them from breaking this truce is the aliens.”

“Which brings us back to hammering out this alliance, which sad to say, is simply an alliance of convenience, and more of a promise not to get in the way of each other than anything else.” Ironsides retorted. Even when he was well rested and didn’t have an entirely new war to worry about, his tolerance for political chess was non-existent, but with literally the entire planet on the line, had it been on a numerical scale, he’d be in the negatives.

“And a suspension of the Crystal Kingdom Ultimatum.” Kane added, smiling as he saw the older stallion try to pick his jaw up off the floor.
___________

When Applejack first heard of the treaty, it was right after she punched a gryphon medic in the beak and had to be magically restrained by a nurse. The field hospital she was in hadn’t risked moving anyone, and all the proper hospitals in Canterlot were at maximum capacity with GDI wounded. Because of that, along with the mingling that had happened with the arrival of the aliens, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and the surviving Zone Troopers were being treated alongside Black Hand, Nod militia, and even a few Marked of Kane that were in need of repairs.

Despite this, Applejack managed to stay coherent enough to not only apologize to the medic she’d sucker-punched, but hear the biggest news she’d heard since Twilight’s defection.

“We’re… we’re not fightin’ each other anymore…?”

“For the time being, yes…” one of the Marked replied, a young mare that looked to be Apple Bloom’s age, only all of her legs were replaced with cybernetics and her voice was synthesized.

“Because of aliens… right… missed that part.” Applejack sighed, her gaze returning to her brother still asleep on a hospital bed. Apple Pie was a complete loss, and he was still badly burned in some places. She didn’t envy him in the slightest, especially considering the letters he had to write now that his entire tank crew was KIA. Luckily, she was distracted from these morbid thoughts by the arrival of a team of Zone Troopers and Applejack recognized the mare at the head of the group instantly.

“Apple Bloom!” she called out, causing her little sister to perk up in her direction. Once eyes met the younger mare smiled ear to ear and rushed over as quickly and carefully as she could. Applejack hadn’t seen her sister since the formal graduation ceremony for the Zone Troopers, and hadn’t had a chance to talk to her when they entered the Canterlot throne room in what seemed like years ago, but now here she was, alive, well, and only a little roughed up by the hellish day the entire planet had been through. Even with the armor in the way, Applejack hugged her sister close, ignoring how uncomfortable the metal made it. Her brother was alive, and her sister was fine, those two facts alone made this entire mess better.

“EVAs said you’d been hurt…” Apple Bloom muttered, looking over her bed-ridden sister as he smile began to falter, “Didn’t think I’d see you like this…”

“Just a few scratches, sugar cube, I’ll be right back and in the fight faster than your suit can jump you around a battlefield. Same with Big Mac.”

“I saw his Mammoth get slagged… it… it wasn’t pretty… none of this mess is…” the younger Apple replied quietly, her voice getting softer and softer as she kept staring at their brother. The only problem Applejack had was that it was soon apparent that her sister wasn’t looking at Big Mac, but through him.

“Apple Bloom…?” she asked, and sadly she got no response until she put a hoof to her sister’s shoulder. Once she did, Apple Bloom jolted slightly, head whipping around as if looking for contacts, only for her to lock eyes with Applejack again and start calming down.

“S...sorry, sis…”

“You holding up ok, Apple Bloom? You were… starin’ at nothin’ there for a bit.”

“I’m ok, solid. If flak hits the burners again I’ll be ready, nothing to worry about.” the younger earth pony replied rapidly, her breathing slowly going back to normal as she sat next to Applejack’s bed, “I’m just… we just…”

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to, sugar cube… it’s ok.”

For a few moments, Apple Bloom felt like taking her sister up on her offer. It would have been easy to just forget what happened, to forget and move on from so many casualties like the generals who lorded above them and made all the life and death decisions. But Zone Troopers were different. As far as she knew, there was still only one active platoon of Zone Troopers while the rest finished their training, and their chain of command was just Stalwart Shield, so any decisions and losses fell on her and Jet Deck. These losses weren’t like at Macintosh Hills so long ago, the initial suggestion to help the Mammoths was hers. The blood was on her hooves as much as Jet Decks, and no one could tell her otherwise.

“I got almost all of my unit killed, sis…”
__________

"You what!?"

“Signed a truce, Chrysalis, please try to listen better in the future.” Kane quipped, his expression surprisingly neutral for the news he’d just given the Brotherhood Council.

“Without the consent of the rest of the Council?! You’ve overstepped your bounds!”

“And this is exactly why no one who wears a crown on either side was allowed at the proceedings. My initial goading of Celestia was meant to make those in attendance hear what the ponies of GDI are unwilling or unable to say…” he told her, matching her stare with one of his own, “Your input was not requested or necessary, and made the situation worse, so I will give you one, and only one, warning… do not cross me again Chrysalis, there are plenty of queens waiting to take your place.”

“You wouldn’t dare…” the changeling matriarch growled, her stare intensifying as if she were trying to kill him with a glare.

The entire room went silent, and the apprehension filling the bridge of the Everfree was practically a fog that was permeating everyone aboard. Luna felt frozen in her seat, tense and waiting for Chrysalis to make a move. Steelwing was similarly unable to move, and the few Black Hand survivors that had been transferred to keep the Council safe were tensing as they waited for Kane to reply.

The Messiah didn’t give an order, he didn’t look around, and he didn’t flinch as Chrysalis continued in her attempts to intimidate him. Instead, he stared right back, as if fighting will power with will power, and before long, he slowly lifted his hoof and pointed to her empty chair.

“Sit down.”

“I will no-”

“Perhaps I wasn’t clear?” Kane interrupted, “I said… Sit. Down.”

The command sent shivers down the spine of everyone within earshot, and Chrysalis was visibly shaken. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, slowly pulling back from her standoff with Nod’s messiah, and without another word, she found her seat. She didn’t know what exactly caused her to back down, to the day she died she could never place her hoof on it, but it was like just his very presence was… forcing her to sit.

It was like she was in the presence of a god.

The feeling wasn’t restricted to her alone. Steelwing felt the same presence, and Luna could swear there was something oddly familiar yet off with his natural aura. She couldn’t place her hoof on it, but for all she could tell, maybe some of her magic had rubbed off on him. After all, he’d been in extremely close proximity when she made her transformation.

“Now then, back to business… unless anyone else has an objection to make about fighting these visitors?” Kane said. Silence answered him, and he continued with his signature smile, “GDI will be the powerhouse in taking on these aliens, their aerial navy is still leagues ahead of ours, especially with the loss of the Barricade. We will be providing intelligence and surveillance on alien movements, bases, and operations and will hide GDI staging areas from their view. When the time comes, after our forces weaken targets, GDI will send their own to deliver the killing blow.”

“You’re using them.” Steelwing observed, chuckling slightly, “You’re using them as cannon fodder while we recover.”

“Exactly. They will do most of the dying, and we will be stronger when the aliens are pushed back. GDI will be hard-pressed to fight on after we let them ‘heroically’ take the brunt of the invasion. Regrettably, this will mean we have to make concessions.”

“How bad a situation are we looking at?” Rarity asked.

“Any Nod territory not under the protection of a Disruption Tower Network is considered forfeit. We simply cannot fight these aliens in a fair fight, and anyone caught out in the open would be on the receiving end of weapons that even GDI has trouble standing up to. Until this alien threat is completely removed from the war, we’re going to have to become reclusive.”

“A step back, to be sure… but doable. Not to mention we can focus more on the areas we have locked down properly.” Spike said, rubbing his chin as he called up the tactical map on the table they were seated at, “We’ll be giving up over 40% of our territory though, sir, but what’s left we can still stage harassing operations in against GDI once the aliens are dealt with.”

“Assuming we can deal with them…” Rarity interjected, “You’ve seen the same casualty reports as I have, and that was with half of the GDI Air Navy engaged. The only way they’d be able to mount an effective resistance would be if they had access to the… You didn’t.”

“I did.”
__________

Stalwart Shield had been lucky enough to only get away with a few scratches and a bad bruise from the entire invasion offensive. Because of this, she was General Ironsides’ only branch commander capable of walking without assistance that was actually in Canterlot. Admiral Jet Set had been killed in the initial throne room and the newly promoted Admiral Carcharodon was still aboard his ship in the Celestial Sea. Little contact had been seen out there and what little there was, the fleets were able to quell surprisingly fast.

With a sigh, the tired unicorn continued to walk around the War Room, looking at feeds and tactical data, and tried to piece together the whole picture. What she could see was a mess, and it only got worse as she looked over it. The offensive in Canterlot was a diversion, and these things had used the offensive to hit Cloudesdale. While the city was still standing for now, the drydocks had been completely wiped out and were now a heap of scaffolding and a keels on the surface a mile below the cloud line.

“How many got out…?” she whispered to the lieutenant manning the station she was observing.

“Three Kodiaks had their engine pods installed and ready for flight; they made it out, but two of them were heavily damaged. The other was Crystal Fury’s sister ship, and she had some basic point defense weapons installed with a drydock EVA.” the stallion replied, “Five incomplete Kodiaks were lost with the drydock… nothing the air force could do for them.”

“Damn…. Spitfire isn’t going to like that… only other shipyards are Baltimare and ZOCOM HQ…”

“They’re en route to Baltimare, ma’am. ZOCOM HQ’s drydock facilities were all being used to get Crystal Fury up and running as quickly as possible, and just in time, too.”

“Amen to that. Well, given my command post is about to have three new gifts, make sure the EVAs keep me up to date personally on their whereabouts.”

“Aye ma’am, I’ll punch in the coding commands now.”

“Thank you…” Stalwart said, patting the lieutenant gently on the shoulder before her attention was diverted to the War Room doors bursting open. “Attention on deck!”

“At ease and back to work, everypony, we have a lot of work to do.” Ironsides replied in stride, his brisk pace carrying him to the main display where Stalwart Shield was waiting for him. Once there, his magical aura levitated a data crystal into the proper slot and the holo-globe that usually showed tiberium infestation levels switched to a strategic map. The usual yellow and red areas were there, but a new addition, large areas covered in purple, were added to the mix.

“What am I looking at, sir?” she asked.

“Dr. Dancer has already given me a list of priority targets that we need to hit.” Ironsides replied before magically pressing a few keys on the table projecting the holographic globe in front of the two officers. Once he did, a dozen of the 29 highlighted areas started flashing slowly, and the corresponding satellites nearest to them began blinking as well.

“Dr. Moon Dancer? Head of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit?”

“The very same, she’s been a very busy mare in the past few hours, as has her department. Had these aliens approached from orbit, we would have had a reaction system in place that would have given us at least an hour of warning… no one expected those wormholes, though.”

“No one expected Princess Luna to…” Shield began before cutting herself short, what had happened with the Lunar Princess was technically still classified, despite plenty of Zone Troopers bearing witness to her betrayal.

“Have that unfortunate accident, I agree, but we’re stuck with both realities, and right now your reality is preparing to deal with these 12 sites.”

“I take it you want me to take them before breakfast tomorrow?” Stalwart quipped, only to get a small laugh from her superior.

“Actually, I want you to do cleanup operations on them while we recover. One Kodiak should be enough to keep your armor intact, and hopefully the upcoming Zone Trooper companies can fill your ranks as well, but right now, your main mission is to ensure that there aren’t any survivors wherever ECU and ZOCOM hit hard.”

“How hard are we talking? Mammoths barely stand up to their walkers and my Zone Troopers went through nearly 80% casualties… all KIA.”

“ECU has been granted the necessary equipment to take on the aliens, and Kane agreed to a suspension of the Crystal Kingdom Ultimatum.. I also believe Zone training is about to graduate a few companies of new Zone Troopers, correct?”

“Three, yes. We’ll be back up to nearly 350 Zone Troopers available for deployme-wait. The Crystal… you’re kidding.” the unicorn mare replied, a wide grin breaking out across her muzzle, a smile that Ironsides matched in a rare open smile.

“The aliens are going to wish I wasn’t. Nukes are off the table and the Ion Cannon Array is ready to remind the world why GDI owns the skies. Prepare your division for sweep and clear operations in AOs hit by Ion strikes, and get Sky Admiral Spitfire on the horn, Crystal Fury is going to be your guardian angel until Project: Titan fills out your depleted roster. Dismissed… and be careful.”

Author's Notes:

We'd just like to take a moment to thank the wonderful Pridark for more awesome artwork, this time of Jet Deck and Apple Bloom. Check her page out here and commission her if you have the opportunity, her work is worth every penny she charges.