Before tiberium and the rise of Blue Zones, technology was not necessarily spread evenly throughout the world. While certain items like television and radio were common in cities like Manehatten, they were not so common in villages like Ponyville. With tiberium fueling the economy and with civilization reduced to walled cities however, the illusion of equally spread technology was achieved.

This was both a blessing and a curse for the GDI. While they could control most news networks, the widespread use of broadcasting stations was still relatively new and, as such, was susceptible to being controlled by an outside party.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were enjoying breakfast together in their situation room when every channel on their news monitors went to static and changed from various news anchors to a sight that would fill Celestia’s nightmares for the rest of her life.

Standing in the frame was a stallion with no mane or tail and a black coat made of what appeared to be leather, of all materials. There was a pin on his left lapel showcasing the symbol of Nod, and his eyes seemed to burn with a passion unmatched by mere “mortal” ponies. To his right, Twilight Sparkle stood proud, wings tucked neatly at her side outside of the black lab coat that hugged her frame.

To his left, Sister-Field Marshall Pinkie Pie stood tall and surprisingly still in full Black Hand armor, save for her helmet. The cape flowed off her back between the dual napalm canisters on her flanks with the nozzles retracted back into their carrying sheaths. Rarity was the farthest left, wearing a stylish jacket that matched the color scheme of her peers but with crimson trimming. As per her usual since her infestation, she had her mane down, styled to cover the entire right side of her face and neck.

“Good morning, Equestria. Especially you, Princesses.” the stallion spoke with a broad smile, “Over the past few months, citizens under the banner of GDI have been misled, manipulated and denied of truth. Your Princesses have told you that GDI is still strong, fighting the spread of tiberium unopposed, and will soon be making even more breakthroughs on how to contain and eradicate it.

“I am here to tell you that that is a complete lie. For months now, families have been forced to keep quiet as their sons and daughters fight in vain against my own disciples. You have heard of the Brotherhood of Nod, you have heard of the promise we guarantee all those who come to our side and embrace us, our belief in living with tiberium and those afflicted by it instead of self-destructive isolationism. You have heard of Nod’s Messiah, Kane, and his promise to save this world through Tiberium, not from it, but you have yet to put a face to the name. You have no visage to give this legend born of flame and fear.

“I am Kane, Messiah of Nod, Leader of the Brotherhood, and the only one who can protect you from the two so-called ‘goddesses’ who would imprison ponies who survive tiberium infestation! Standing before you are are two of the only three ponies to have ever survived coming into contact with Tiberium, and what did Princess Celestia do? She put them in prison, locked away to rot until a cure that she approved of could be found.” Kane said, gesturing to the mares next to him,

“Sister Pinkie Pie, leader of what is known to your soldiers as the Black Hand, and Brigadier General Rarity, commander of our elite cadre, are such survivors. Their salvation, the work of Princess Twilight Sparkle whose work your princess ordered destroyed. I implore you my children, choose the right side as this Tiberium War escalates. Join the countless ponies, gryphons, changelings, dragons, and diamond dogs who work together in harmony not to fight Tiberium, but to survive through it. Together we can end this war before it truly begins, as one. Peace. Brotherhood. Unity.”
___________________

Three Hours Later

“I said fall back! Pull back to the Heart Shield!” Shining Armor shouted into his earpiece as the vehicle he was riding in took another glancing blow from a laser weapon.

His current ride, a light, four-wheeled vehicle with a .50 caliber machinegun on top lovingly nicknamed by all those who used them as “Timber Wolves” was going in reverse as fast as it could. While the armor made it resistant to bullets and the occasional buck by a mutant, it wasn’t meant to take direct laser fire.

To say that things were bad on the northern front would be nothing short of an understatement. It had all started with a number of patrols being ambushed by Nod insurgents near the Crystal Mountains and asking for support. It didn’t take long for help to arrive, only for Shining Armor to realize that he had just rushed the Crystal Empire’s garrison into an even bigger trap.

Artillery rained upon them from the mountains, with Nod’s attack helicopters showing no mercy as they peppered the retreating forces and obliterated groups with their devastating rocket arsenal. It made Shining Armor wish his ORCAs were allowed to do more than just strafe the enemy’s infantry with their cannons, or try to cut off the helicopters’ tails.

Shining Armor didn’t have to admit to himself that he had made a mistake. The chaos around him made it explicitly clear they had been routed and would die here if they didn’t make it to the Crystal Heart’s shield. Now, a Timber Wolf was a fast vehicle, nimble and adaptable as was needed. However, it wasn’t capable of taking an RPG head on, which made it even more fortunate that the fateful round impacted the ground underneath the vehicle rather than the vehicle itself. What wasn’t fortunate, however, was the position Shining Armor found himself in now, trapped inside a flipped vehicle, the only saving grace being the front had landed facing the Crystal Empire.

“Sergeant? You ok back there?” he half-asked, half-groaned as he tried to figure out just why everything was upside-down outside. When he didn’t receive an answer, he turned as much as he could to see the unicorn operating their radio. As he turned, he grimaced, noticing that the driver was riddled with shrapnel that had ripped through the bottom of the driver’s station.

“Poor kid…” Shining muttered as he continued to turn, only to find that Sergeant Stonewall’s neck was bent at an unnatural angle and blood was trickling from his nose and mouth.

There was nothing else he could do for them now. Gathering what strength he could muster, Shining blasted out the windshield with his magic, using the ruined vehicle as momentary cover while he gathered his wits. What ponies were left were running away at a full gallop, many having abandoned any semblance of consideration for covering fire. However, the next few seconds left Shining’s blood colder than the ice on the mountains. With absolute impunity, gryphons started swooping down on the fleeing ponies, carrying them away into the clouded sky and… dropping them. Their terrified screams resonated louder than all the gunfire around him.

Shining Armor was trapped. If he stayed where he was, he would be found and killed by the advancing forces. If he ran, there was a good chance he’d be caught and dropped. One was a guarantee while the other was a risk. He went with the risk and ran towards his only hope for survival, the Crystal Shield surrounding his home.
______________________________

While Shining Armor was busy running for his life, Lt. Colonel Big “Mac” Macintosh was busy providing security for a ZOCOM detachment cleaning up parts of the Dodge Junction Yellow Zone. For the past two months, the site had been one of five involved in a project to try and reclaim part of a Yellow Zone, with the intent to make a new Blue Zone. With the onset of Nod’s sudden unification of every terrorist cell in Equestria, Dodge Junction was now the only Reclamation Project still under way. His job was simple: keep the ZOCOM specialists safe, don’t shoot to kill if anypony shows up, and don’t let any of his ponies get killed by Brotherhood soldiers.

Big Mac tried to relax into the Timber Wolf he was riding in, but with reports of everything GDI related getting ambushed--and in some cases completely wiped out--relaxing was not on his schedule. He kept quietly looking to the horizon and along the hilltops, hoping that if Nod was there, some rookie would skyline himself prematurely.

“Bring us around near the sensors on the cliff edge,” Big Mac ordered. His voice was low, and he willed it to be inaudible outside the vehicle. He tapped the ‘enhance’ control on the side of his helmet. Once he did, his view zoomed towards the gorge to their north and he scanned it once again. Nothing appeared, but his gut told him that they were definitely next on Nod’s list.

“Aye, sir,” his driver replied, magically turning the wheel and starting the LRV around a group of ZOCOM pegasi who were sweeping a small tiberium cluster towards the ponies dug in near the cliff sensors. Before the unicorn could finish the turn, he shuddered. The windshield burst into fragments of glass, and Big Mac’s left side was coated in a light spatter of blood as the insides of the driver’s head became its outsides.

“Sniper!” the radio operator screamed. A unicorn pony by the name of Pokey.

“Eeyup!” Big Mac answered, grabbing the wheel and ducking his head down to avoid making himself a prime target. His RO immediately put a magical shield up around the Timber Wolf and began moving the body of the driver into the open seat in the back.

“All stations, all stations this is Apple Pie Actual! Snipers are hitting the AO! High Alert, I say again, High Alert!” the radiostallion barked through his headset. By the time he finished his announcement, Big Mac had gotten into the driver’s seat and had full control of the LRV.

“Hang on!” the red stallion barked, swerving his ride hard to the left near a small swell that sent the TW into the air before landing hard and screaming off towards the cliff patrols.

What Big Mac saw when he got there was a total nightmare. No less than three Black Hand dragons accompanied by at least a dozen gryphons in heavy armor had pounced his northern line from inside the cliff. By the time Big Mac got onto the turret of his Timber Wolf, nearly 30 of his ponies were dead and the rest were engaging.

“Pokey! Get on the horn with Canterlot and call down an Orbital Friendship Strike!”

“Right away s--” the unicorn began before the vehicle flipped and sent Big Mac sprawling to the ground. Shaking his head clear, he got back to his hooves and ran back over to the Timber Wolf that had landed upright, though it was missing the rear right wheel and a sizable chunk of its light armor.

“RPGs…” Mac muttered with a scowl as he climbed back into the turret, “Pokey, get that call in for reinforcements!”

Once back on the .50, Lt. Colonel Macintosh opened up on anything that so much as looked in his direction. He knew the rounds wouldn’t do more than annoy a dragon and maybe send the Black Hand gryphons diving for cover, but it was better than nothing. For a solid five minutes, he focused solely on covering for his ponies as they started falling back into secondary positions, barely even flinching when bullets and lasers grazed his position. It wasn’t until he noticed that his rear hooves were getting wet that he looked down from the gun sights and saw Pokey with a hole burnt cleanly through his chest and radio that was still smoking.

Panic flashed across Mac’s mind for a fraction of a second before giving way to training. In an instant he brought the gun around towards where the beam had to have come from and opened up again, sending bursts of fire towards anything that could give the enemy cover, still barely noticing the tracers and beams of energy flying past his head. After a few more minutes, ponies started filtering in past him. Some were running in a full-tilt sprint from the battle while some held discipline and tried to cover for their friends. Big Mac brought his turret to bear again, only for his trigger pull to answer with a heavy “clack” of finality. He’d run it out of ammo.

“Fall back to tertiary positions!” he shouted to anypony that could hear him.

“They’re gone, sir!” somepony screamed back, “They’re all gone!”

“They hit from all sides!” another mare shouted.

“Why isn’t the Network firing!?”

“Everypony for themselves!”

“They’re all dead!”

“Run for your lives!”

“IN THE NAME OF KANE!”

“Ah buck.” Mac groaned as that last declaration cut through his soldiers’ panicked screams. He turned towards the war cry and his fears were brought to life when he felt a talon slash across his face. His helmet went flying and claws dug through flesh and fur straight across his left cheek, sending him to the ground again. What the gryphon didn’t account for was that his opponent fought best when facing away from his opponent.

Big Mac bucked his legs back straight into the Black Hand who was preparing to executing him, spinning his head around and snapping his neck. The Black Hand fell in a heap with his head facing the wrong direction as Big Mac stood back up and spit out a large glob of blood. Before he could fully recover, bullets impacted his armor and knocked the wind right out of him. By Celestia’s grace, none of the rounds penetrated, yet the Nod troops still didn’t finish him.

“Macky…? Is that really you?” a female voice cut in through the wind. Mac’s eyes shot open and he looked up, not quite believing what he was seeing.

“Pinkie Pie…?” he whispered, staring at the mare who still held his heart flanked by gryphons, two dragons, and dressed in full Black Hand armor with flame canisters ready to fire. She removed her helmet and revealed that her mane was flat, devoid of all its signature “poof” while her expression was somewhat manic. Once her helmet touched the ground, her hair went back to normal, she smiled wide and warmly, and tackled the beleaguered officer.

“Oh it IS you!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hugged the red stallion, “I’m so glad my snipers didn’t turn your brain into confetti!”

“P...wh…. eeyup…?” was all Big Mac could muster as someone who was both his lover and his sworn enemy continued to hold him close.

“You’re not too beat up though, right? Right? Because Gilded Beak there got a little too into the whole ‘slaughter them all’ order from Kane and I’m still inviting anyone who wants to join up to my ‘Welcome-to-the-Brotherhood-Party Party’ and I’d love it if you would come with us! We could be together again!”

“Pinkie Pie… what are ya’ talkin’ about…?”

“Isn’t it obvious Mac Attack?” she replied, nuzzling him for a moment, “I’m giving you and your troops a choice! You can either join Nod and come with me or… well… join the ponies who fought back already.”

“Pinkie, ah can’t.” Big Mac told her, holding the pink mare at a little bit more of a distance, “Ah swore an oath to GDI an’ the Princesses… you know ah can’t go back on that.”

Pinkie Pie’s mane flattened out again like air being let out of a balloon and the 10 Black Hand around her leveled their weapons straight at Big Mac’s head. Before they could pull the trigger though, Pinkie put up a hoof and gave a small growl towards the gryphons behind her.

“Macky… I can’t spare you more than once… Commander Hallowed Claw?”

“Yes, Sister?” one of the gryphons spoke up.

“Secure the survivors. Anypony who doesn’t join us is free to leave with Big Macintosh without being attacked again.”

“As the Prophet wills.” He bowed respectfully, and his wings flapped hard, launching him from the ground, in the direction of small arms fire. Once he was gone, Pinkie walked back up to Big Mac.

“Take your survivors and head back to Canterlot… but please never face me again, or else I can’t leave you alive…” the former party pony whispered to him as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck.

“Thank ya kindly, Pinkie.” he murmured back, returning the embrace and nuzzling her cheek, “You know I still think ya joined the wrong side, but that doesn’t change… well…”

Big Mac was cut off by the Founder and leader of the Black Hand booping his nose playfully and giving him a weary smile.

“I know, Mac Attack, it’s why I need you to stay out of my way from now on. Last thing I want to have to do is hurt you.” she finished, put her helmet back on, and gave a subtle gesture with her head to the troops behind her.

Big Mac could only watch in relief and grief as his special somepony walked away through the carnage of what was left of the Reclamation Effort. All around her militia ponies, zebras, and changelings bowed as she walked past and went about their business policing the dead and their gear. After an hour of wounded being stabilized, the dead being loaded up on the only remaining APC that was still working, and the Black Hand recruiting any of the survivors they could, Big Macintosh watched 50 of his remaining 80 soldiers walk off with Pinkie Pie and her bodyguards. Of the 30 who remained, not a single one was left unscathed from the slaughter that he had just survived by luck. With a tired sigh, he dropped to his knees and shook his head slowly.

“Sir…?” one of Mac’s loyalists asked.

“Find a radio that works, call in a ride for us.” Big Mac ordered quietly, “an’ let Princess Celestia know what happened…”
___________________________________

Applejack’s eyes were set over the ridge. She could hear the weapons fire across it, see the lasers and tracers the Nod were spitting out at her brother’s unit. The radio chatter didn’t even give her the illusion that they were holding. She could tell it had been a complete rout; no support from her platoon had left them overrun, though she had doubts that even that would have been able to help.

Her fears had been realized when four IFVs bearing Nod colors and insignia sailed over the ridge. They wouldn’t be able to penetrate her Predator’s armor, nor those of the rest of her platoon--but they were speeding closer as fast as they could without throwing their riders off of their backs. AJ whickered. The Brotherhood hadn’t even bothered to try and modify the Hounds they were riding. They were unarmored, light, the things almost entirely chassis, with ponies and gryphons dangling from the sides as they came closer.

The Hounds, made of a tubular steel chassis, a massive engine in the rear, a long .50-caliber turret on the back, a driver in the middle, and a front-mounted general purpose machine gun next to the driver, were built for speed and driving through infantry. They weren’t made to go toe-to-toe with Predator tanks. The only reason, in fact, that they were any worry at all was that the infantry on them didn’t appear to be carrying full-sized rifles. They had stuck with smaller weapons, things they could carry that would let them carry other things. Things like explosives. They couldn’t be allowed to get close to her tanks, or they’d make quick work of them.

Two of her tanks turned to engage--the Wild West and the Stalliongrad Hero. She stopped paying attention to them, though their radio operators transmitted a small portion of their plan. She wasn’t listening, but the radio operator filled her in a little. Something about “engaging the Hounds to try and cover the retreat”. She heard the chatter of their pintle mounts come to life, the ponies in her tanks starting to tear the non-armored vehicles to shreds.

There was a single, hard boom in the air. It wasn’t a Predator gun, it seemed to be of a slightly higher tamber. But then she heard the impact--PONK--and a noise that would make any tanker shit themselves. She heard the crunch of a broken tread, and the noise of its treads getting locked up in its wheels.

BUCK. That was the only word she could think for a split second before she glared at the ridge. She could hear more incoming fire, but the rest of the Nod tank platoon’s first salvo seemed to have missed the rest of her tanks. She cursed loudly and creatively as she threw the rules of engagement out the window. Four Brotherhood Ursas had crested the hill and were working their way towards the wounded Predator.

The Ursa was based off the Predator design, only lighter and faster due to having less armor and a smaller 90mm cannon. How the Brotherhood of Nod had gotten their greasy hooves on it she didn’t know, but they weren’t as hard to crack as her own tanks.

“Buck it! Shoot to kill!” Applejack shouted. The gunner had been tracking one of the tanks as it moved over the hill. She could see the barely armored roof of it, she knew he could, too.

“Ma’am!?” the pony at fire control exclaimed back.

“Ya heard me! Nod ain’t playin’ fair so we ain’t neither! Fire one!” Applejack barked. There were no more questions. The turret twisted, barely, adjusting its aim, and the Granny Smith replied with gusto, her 150mm cannon roaring to life. The recoil was hard enough, even past the dampers, that it made her tank shudder. There was a collection of loud “PING”s in the crew compartment below her when its shell ejected automatically, and in short order, she heard the loader shout “CLEAR!”. They could fire again.

The Ursa’s thinner armor wasn’t enough to stop the Granny Smith’s round. The round tore through the its front and must have found the ammo store. There was the sound of a multitude of detonations--krmpkrmpkrmpkrmp--and the Ursa’s turret was blown off the chassis. A small inferno poured from the open turret’s ring as the turret sailed through the air, its flight ended by the front end of a passing Hound.

“Good kill! Let’s keep moving ladies; Bon Bon, full speed so we can get under’em! If we’re lucky we can hit’em from behind.”

“You got it, ma’am!” the former candy maker replied as she gunned the accelerator, and the mass of metal and guns that made the tank roared up the ridge’s incline, spitting rocks and dirt out behind it.

“Roseluck, HE.” Applejack continued, not bothering to wait for the mare in charge of their ammo to acknowledge the command. “An’ Lyra, tell all units to shoot to kill an’ get mah helmet radio a line to the Ponyville Puncher.”

“On it ma’am.” the teal unicorn stated before giving her CO a nod.

“Colonel? That you?” a male voice asked through the static.

“You bet yer fat flank it is! Sweep your gal along the left side ‘a that ridge, we’re goin’ over together. Confirm?”

“We confirm, on our way, ma’am!” the stallion replied before the channel shut off and Applejack gave a hint of a grin. If this worked, they may actually survive this.

Applejack swept her periscope around in a quick 360, checking everything she could. She could feel their orientation change as they reached the steep part of the cliff face and, very shortly, they were airborne.

Unfortunately for the Ursa immediately behind the cliff face, the Predator wasn’t in their field of view for very long. It soared over the ridge like the Hounds had earlier, though it seemed to personify some sort of cosmic vengeance. The commander could only see a spinning tread sailing over his head, falling. He ducked into the tank, but it wasn’t enough.

The armor that Nod had removed from their tanks to make them faster and more maneuverable might have saved him. As it was, 70 tons of GDI fury landed on the roof of his tank, and it buckled with the screech of tearing metal.

“... two down, let’s go find more!”
_____________

Two Days Later

Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, General Ironsides, Colonel Applejack, and Lt. Colonel Big Macintosh sat around the conference table in the Canterlot Royal Situation Room; thirteen chairs were vacant. Supervisor Fluttershy was busy with a cleanup operation and was unable to attend the meeting. The other twelve officers who were supposed to be there were busy with a meeting of their own in the morgue, courtesy of the Brotherhood.

“This meeting of the GDI Military Council is called to order.” Princess Celestia stated, “General Ironsides, as you were the one who called the meeting, would you like to make the opening statement?”

“Yes, your highness, I would. I’ll cut right to the chase; as you all can see by the empty chairs in the room, we are not capable of facing Nod with our current military doctrine. Colonel Applejack not only survived her encounter, but managed to repel the Brotherhood’s onslaught, because she broke regulations and gave the order to shoot to kill, thus saving her troops. Macintosh made it out alive because Pinkie Pie spared him, and Shining Armor barely made it to the safety of the Crystal Heart’s shield in one piece.”

“Mostly,” the younger unicorn added with a slight scowl that highlighted the ragged scars across his jaw and neck, left by a Black Hand gryphon who tried to drop him.

“The point is, Princesses… we need to change. We can’t keep losing ponies because they can’t fight back. If we don’t rapidly remobilize and put more funds into military research, we’re going to lose this war.”

“An’ believe us when we say it, your majesties, we are at war with the Brotherhood.” Applejack added.

“Are you suggesting that I give an order to the entire Initiative to engage and kill on sight any member of the Brotherhood, General?” Celestia asked quietly.

“I’m suggesting that we engage them on even ground, Princess.” Ironsides replied, “When Nod shows up, our troops not only need the weapons and support to openly engage them, but proper authorization. Colonel Applejack isn’t the only one who’s broken the rules to save ponies, but the sooner we let the army know that they can actually do everything in their power to save their own lives, the sooner we can start winning this war.”

“I… you’re asking me to make the lives of ponies, regardless of creed, forfeit.” Celestia murmured.

“I’m telling you that this is the only way we can save the lives of our own ponies, your highness. With half of the Element Bearers now fighting for Nod, the Orbital Friendship Array isn’t operating anymore. Pacification is no longer an option; open war is the only choice we have left… it has come to that.”

“And how does the rest of the Council feel about this course of action?” Princess Luna asked.

“As much as it pains me to say it, Twiley is on the wrong side, and her troops need to be treated as they treat us.” Shining Armor stated, “Even if that means… she becomes an enemy combatant.”

“Ah may be happy that Pinkie Pie spared mah brother, but she crossed the line when she started leading these raids. If they’re willin’ to kill anypony wearing a GDI eagle, then we need to be willin’ to do the same to any scorpion tails we see.” Applejack added.

“Anything to add, Lt. Colonel Macintosh?” Luna inquired.

“General Ironsides is right…” he said slowly, deliberately, “An’ even if we’re facin’ our friends, we have a duty to protect tha Blue Zones an’ everypony in’em no matter the cost. Ah can’t go soft on Pinkie if ah face’er again, no matter how ah feel, just like Prince Armor may one day have to arrest or hurt Twilight Sparkle… it’s the hand we’ve been dealt, your majesties.”

Princess Celestia looked at each member of the council as they spoke, each one in favor of General Ironsides’ plan of action. With each vote towards full mobilization and militarization of what was supposed to be a peace-keeping government reform, her expression fell a little more.

“Sister, it would appear that this is the only way.” Luna told her.

“We have no other choice, auntie.” Cadence chimed in quietly.

“I can’t do it.”

“Your majesty!” General Ironsides exclaimed before Celestia held up a hoof and he fell silent.

“I cannot, in good conscience, give such an order… but you can, General. If Luna will agree with me, I will cede all military authority of GDI to you. From there, you can do what it takes to win this war and I will… I will focus on the political aspect.”

A moment of silence passed as the Council took in the significance of her words. “Very well.” the elderly unicorn replied, “All in favor of approving a GDI Military Mobilization Bill?”

Every surviving member of the council raised their hooves in near-perfect unison as quickly as they could manage.

“Majority has it, we will start drafting the document immediately. Now onto the business of approving new military research and pressing old projects into production….”

Unbeknownst to the gathered heads of GDI, there was another pony watching the entire meeting progress. The ceiling of the Situation Room was not built like a bunker for safety from attack, shields were responsible for that. Instead, it was hollowed out and full of surveillance equipment, counter-intelligence hardware, and the necessary shielding to make a Faraday Cage. The only issue with this design was that there was ample room for a pony to fit inside, and the ceiling was even reinforced so technicians could have much easier access to do maintenance and repairs.

While convenient for GDI workers, it was a security oversight that no pony seemed to think about except for those wishing to exploit it. A Nod Shadow sat cloaked and comfortable by a bundle of wires that fed into the security cameras with a small device hooked into it. Twilight Sparkle invented the machine as a way to help with repairs and simply see if a cable was sending the proper electronic signal to a monitor, but with a slight adjustment and a little bit of Brotherhood thinking, it was turned into a wiretapping device that was currently feeding live footage of the meeting straight into Kane’s office back in Mareajevo.

The Messiah smiled as he saw the Princess of the Sun balk at violence, and let that smile turn into a predatory smirk when the vote came through.

“And now the game truly begins.”