Two very young alicorn sisters sat on the highest balcony of the Canterlot palace. One was slightly taller than the other, with a coat of the purest white and a rosy pink mane. The other was black as the night sky with a dark blue mane. Between the two stood a tall two-legged creature. He was made entirely of metal and cybernetics, save for his face. His head was that of a lynx. Brown fur and long pointed ears ending in black tufts. He wore a long, white cloak that almost seemed to glow. The sisters watched in awe as the creature then raised his arm up with his palm facing the sun. His feline face went into a deep concentration. Then, with the sisters hardly able to contain their excitement, the sun began to sink over the horizon. A dark shadow fell across the bustling city as day turned to night. When the Sun was fully gone, and the moon and stars took its place, the creature relaxed and let out a long sigh.

"Do it again! Do it again!" Exclaimed the dark sister.

The creature let out a chuckle, "I'm afraid it doesn't work like that Luna."

Luna looked down with a pouting face, disappointed that she would have to wait a whole night to witness the magic that moved the Sun.

The figure looked down on the bustling city below, "One day," he said, "The two of you will be the ones raising the Sun and the Moon, and you shall rule this land together."

The white alicorn looked up at him, "Why would we need to do that? That's your job."

A sad smile appeared on his face. He kneeled down and put his arms around the sisters.

"I won't be here forever. There are other worlds out among the stars that need my help, just as this one did."

Celestia looked down at her hooves. She was now old enough to understand how much of a burden they would have to carry. Luna however, was still quite young, "We'll be the best rulers ever!" Luna said enthusiastically, "Everyone will love us, and give us cake!" The other two smiled at this. Although it wasn't entirely true, it still amused them.
Celestia turned to face the hybrid creature, "Will we really be the best rulers ever Guardian?" He turned to look at her and smiled, "Of course, I'll teach you everything you need to know."

"Will we ever have to fight other countries?"

"I'll do my best to teach you how to not let that happen."

Celestia thought on this, then asked one final question, "So we'll stay at peace with everypony?"

"Forever and ever."

---

I was already awake when I heard the sirens. The alarms go off, the sound of frantic galloping coming from the hallway and growing louder, then the sergeant comes barging in yelling 'wake up maggots.' The arrival of an inter-dimensional demon army threatening to destroy Equestria or whatever sure is a terrible way to wake up.

"Come on you bunch of foals, get a move on!"

Good old Sergeant Heavyweight, always there to whip us into shape.

I bolted upright and snapped the release mechanism to activate the exo-suits. I felt the weightless metal spread over my body. When the visor slid over my eyes all HUD elements where replaced by blinking red alert signs. This was the first sign that told it wasn't a drill. So I scrambled out of bed and stood at attention in front of the door way, of which the sarge had already bolted back through, to wake up the other squadrons I could guess.

"Fall in line!" I shouted over the blaring of the sirens. Of course there was no need, thank you integrated comms system in the helmets.

"Assembled!" I heard my squad respond. Standard procedure. Give you three guess as to who drilled that into our skulls.

"March!"

We made our way through the corridors in single-file line. Once again, procedure. It was chaos. Ponies rushing back and forth. The never ending screech of the alarms. We made our way to the hanger, where procedure instructed us to go when today happens. (We gave the sarge the nickname Sir-Shouts-a-lot. I think he was also OCD.)
Finally orders came through the comms, it was Miss Relay herself. The pleasant-voiced mare who pilots our designated dropship.

"Alright Clover, today's the day. Just like we rehearsed. Get to the hanger and to our ship where I'll be waiting for you. The Sarge will debrief you on the way."

Great. More Commando Perfecto. "On the way to where sweetheart?"

Long sigh. She normally gets annoyed and cuts communication if sompony says something like 'hoorah.' So putting up with 'sweetheart' must really mean this is it.

"No Clovis, you know exactly where. On the way to the front lines."

Front lines? Well I know we did well on the standings but right where the party is, man that's something.

I know the main plan, keep the Hallowed occupied at the portal so the forces at Canterlot and the Crystal Empire can get prepared when they get pass us. How we survive this, please. This ain't no high level spell working or anything like that. It's as simple as 'shoot the enemy and don't die' that's what the sarge said. Just don't let our luck run out. Well I was killer at poker in Fillydelphia, so running out of luck won't be a problem. I was sure of it.

89% sure at least.

Author's Notes:

Welcome to the offshoot story of Extinction. The story of a squadron in the Equestrian military. Apologies if anything in this story is not how real-world military works. But I'd like to point out that this isn't in fact real-world military here, it's an army that Guardian put together so take it up with Him if you want.