47:57:12 The digital counter blinked, the numbers blinking as they steadily changed to reflect the time passed since the stormraven had touched down.

"She's going to be late." Tyroch said dryly as he twiddled with a combat blade atop his bike, spinning the tip upon the vehicles armour plating.

"Probably." Micheangel shrugged, his eyes fixed to the dark horizon ahead, just like Gilifreid's had been.

Both Micheangel and Gilifreid were knelt before the stormraven gunship, about thirty feet from the open assault ramp at the ship's bow, of which Tyroch sat within atop his bike. Both the Astarte scouts knealt out in the open wielded their combat shotguns in hand, bolt pistols firmly holstered alongside their grenades and combat blades. Gilifreid, even with his recently developed senses and abilities, found it frustratingly difficult to see, smell or hear anything through the thick fog that washed before him upon a steady breeze. The smell of damp grass and thick air had assaulted his senses for the past six hours as the insertion team had waited with unshakable patience and resolve. However that patience was due to run out, and run out very soon. The team had their orders to take off as soon as the mission timer hit forty eight hours, and were not to wait around a second longer. Gilifreid knew that this was, of course, not going to happen, he knew he would be waiting a fair while after their forty eight hours were spent just to make sure that the team didn't miss an important opportunity to retrieve the mission data the space marines needed for the campaign ahead of them.

47:58:01

Two minutes remained until Gilifreid would be breaching mission parameters which would undoubtedly earn him and his squad a firm scolding from Chaplain Tyreth. Far from a death sentence, but irritating enough for the idea to stir a measurably degree of discomfort at the bottom of his mind. The scout sergeant sniffed at the air once again, taking in a vast range of scents, but one which still nagged at his curiosity. It had been in the air since he and his squad had sped into the cover of the nearby forest and stuck in the back of his throat the entire time. It was the familiar smell of ash, several different kinds of ash in fact. Wood, paper, clothe and flesh to name a few, and the source was near enough for each different smell to be distinct, however Gilifreid suspected the scents were aided in their travels by the damp native air. However what the last sniff of air was most notable for was that the smell of shes was infringed upon by a different smell, though not as potent, one certainly noticeable. It was an animal, to be sure, and held similar pheromones to many species female breeds. It held a soft, sweet, almost citrus tang to it and was mixed in with the more subtle scent of thick clothing and plastics. Right after noticing the odd, yet strangely familiar scent, the sergeant could begin to hear the soft rhythmic pat of footsteps approaching, pounding on soft, moist grass beneath.

"Eyes front." Gilifreid murmured over the squad comm channel through his throat mic.

Gilifreid's acute senses quickly homed in on the direction the footsteps were coming from, detecting the culprit was coming straight at them from the right ahead, and very, very quickly. The footsteps sounded as though they were at full sprint, overworked, even panicked in nature, almost leading the scouts to believe something was on the way to assault them. Ahead a small silhouette revealed itself through the fog and mist, its thin shape bobbing erratically as Gilifreid assumed it was the individual running at them.

"Take off!" Barked a husky young female voice.

The scouts found themselves somewhat at a loss for words or actions, utterly puzzled by what exactly was occurring. Gilifreid looked to his left at Micheangel who looked back at him with a sneer of perplexity. They looked ahead again, the figure gaining distance to be now no more than a hundred feet away, and revealing itself to be almost surely the native girl the insertion team had dropped off at this very location just two days ago. Her eyes were the first thing Gilifreid noticed, magenta orbs staring straight at the scouts with lids peeled all the way back to reveal a terrified expression. Her jaw was clenched tight, ears folded back and flat against her head, damp mane and tail flying about ungracefully as she sprinted forwards at the greatest speed her lean legs could carry her. He arms ceased their wicked swinging back and forth as she ran to wildly flail about in a bizarre attempt to signal those she sprinted towards.

"TAKE-OFF!" She practically screamed, still sprinting.

With that a flurry of bright red line hissed and sizzled through the air passed and around the girl, shooting into the dirt around the scouts. Gilifreid's head bobbed downwards sharply as a flinch a moment before the scout raised his shotgun as the misty air that hovered around the fleeing native. With the quick flick of his finger above his head, the sergeant flipped down a retractable eye lens to provide his vision with a HUD and multi-spectrum vision. Through a now greyscale version of his own vision, a number of light grey shapes revealed themselves in the form of infrared signatures, the lumpy blobs shifting and growing in the same manner any signature given off by approaching infantry would. The red lines that were the alien projectiles shot from their chemical acceleration firearms were being spat from the grey blobs from ahead of Gilifreid, giving him enough reason to level his weapon's iron sights at the strange shape and fire a heartbeat later. The weapon made a single thunderclap, dispersing the massive eight gauge payload out from it's stocky barrel and towards the target ahead. The shape expanded for a split second, no doubt due to the alien's inside rapidly becoming outsides before the whole blob fell to the ground suddenly. Gilifreid's fellow squad members soon followed by example and let loose their weapons, Tyroch arching grenade fire into the fog ahead from his bike's front-mounted weapon while Micheangel volleyed shotgun fire in rhythmic, thumping patterns of fire.

"Pilot, those engines had best be warm enough to fly soon." Gilifreid said through his throat mic as he kept up the suppressive fire, the alien troops up ahead beginning to take cover and go to ground, trading their advance for personal safety.

"Already primed for take off. Get everyone aboard and we can leave immediately." The Astarte pilot replied as the gunship's turbine began to spin up to a vicious screech.

Gilifreid was about to wave the blue-coated girl into the gunship, but found she had passed him with such speed she may well have had time to wave each scout in if she hadn't then busied herself with frantically locking her flight harness over her shoulders. The sergeant shrugged to himself for a second before quickly turning and taking to a low sprint towards the storm raven, Tyroch and bikes having already been loaded aboard, Micheangel in close tow. The alien fire seemed to narrow down towards the gunship, the ping and zip of chemical projectiles pitter-pattering off the reinforced ceramite armour plating of the ships hull. One fortunate, award-winning shot managed to herald a sickening liquid popping sound as it struck the soft-clothe of Micheangels battle fatigues, the round burning clean through the material and cutting through the flesh beneath. Gilifreid darted his head around to find his brother knelt half-way up the gunship's assault ramp, his face contorted in pain, a clean hole cut through the side of his throat, blood viciously gushing down all over the armour and clothing beneath the wound. Gilifreid rushed over and scooped his brother up by the arm, hauling him to his feet, the wounded Astarte coughing a mouthful of blood onto the deck as he stumbled forward.

"What happened?" Tyroch barked as he locked his bike to the deck of the gunship, mag-plates humming to life.

"What do you think? He's wounded." The sergeant replied, slightly irate.

He checked over Micheangel as he sat him into a flight seat, finding them thankfully the wound was a clean shot through the right side of his neck, no shrapnel damage, no round tumble, it was surgical in nature. Thus the wound was already beginning to heal, neatly as well, the Astartes accelerated physiology knitting the damaged tissue together and staunching the flow of blood to make the wound far less lethal than it would have been on any other infantry unit in all the galaxy. Gilifreid looked Micheangel in the eye and gave a thumbs up, shakily returned by the wounded scout. Gilifreid turned now to the native, who was clutching at the arms of her flight harness as the gunship tremored to life, ramp folding in to close as the vehicle began to take off.

"I trust you got what you needed?" The sergeant asked plainly, if a little loudly to raise his voice over the roar of the engines as the gunship sped from the landing zone.

"Yeah." The girl said, her voice hollow and strained with fear.

Gilifreid looked the girl over for a moment, having not had the chance to truly get a good look at her since she was running passed him like a bolt of lightning. Her face was dirty, hair twisted and matted with what looked like dirt and dust while her left cheek had some minor scratches grazed across it. Her hands were in a similar state, also slightly bloodied, her left outer bicep had a large, neat cut struck across it that was still gently leaking a bright purple blood, the wound seeming to be caused by one of the rounds fired from the alien weapons. A few similar wouds were dotted through the feathers of her wings, the area around each hole blasted through the feathers was singed, the keratin turned a nasty burnt black, the same as the fur around the wound on her arm. The girl looked up at the scout sergeant, her head turning slowly and unsteadily to bring her magenta eyes staring wide into his brass ones before speaking.

"I got everything."

--------------------------------------------------------

"Please, Miss, you should remain still so we can more effectively tend to your wounds." The creepy little hunched over alien robo-servant droned through it's mechanical grill that made up it's lower face.

"Uh, buddy, I gotta look at the princesses when I talk to them. This isn't exactly a spa appointment." Rainbow Dash huffed as she rolled over slightly to face Princess Celestia, Cadance and Twilight Sparkle, the alien nurse's mechanical arms flinching back from tending to her arm as she moved.

"It's fine, Rainbow Dash, let them do their work, they're just trying to help clean you up." Princess Cadence reassured.

"That crazy-paste they threw on is itching like crazy." The rainbow-maned mare groaned, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Thuk root solution can cause mild dermal irritation, however it will ensure your wounds remain clean and accelerate the natural healing process of soft tissue." The nurse informed, the cyborg wheeling about to see to a computer display upon it's tank tread lower half.

"Coulda' just bandaged me up." Dash grumbled.

"Miss Dash, if you would please, we need to know what you found." Celestia said, more concerned than irritated.

"Right, yeah. Everything I found on every console I hacked is on the 'Digi-majigy', but I got a good look at almost everything I was downloading. Turns out the eastern research facility might not be the best first stop for you guys, turns out that place has some pretty serious defenses plugged in to almost every room and corridor inside the place. Kinetic barricades, laser grids, auto-turrets, triple-layered blast doors and a small army defending it, almost as many ground units that are deployed in all Equestria are guarding that base. However, the facility has a massive power demand, I imagine they're working on some pretty freaky stuff in there judging by how much energy the whole place is soaking up. So to power up the facility, they need a constant supply from the Rainbow Falls generators." Dash informed as the alien nurse now began applying oil-soaked rags to wounds on her abdomen.

"Rainbow Falls? I thought those generators were powering the Federation's facilities in Manehattan and Filly Delphia?" Celestia asked.

"Generators?" Inquired Errithius, who had been standing near the medical room's door, just now striding over to the ponies.

"Uh, yes, they were one of the first facilities to be built by the Federation in Equestria. It uses whatever energies given off by the Rainbow Falls waterfalls to directly power whatever installations they have in the immediate vicinity, but it would seem that was just another lie." Cadence added.

"I found out that those 'geographic surveillance' operations the Feds were taking a couple years back were actually to install one giant-as-hay power cable assembly. I'd say we just need to dig a big hole and get ready a pair of rubber-handled scissors, but that cable is about ten foot thick and is buried about a hundred feet underground. But it runs to just one location; the eastern research facility, and the facilities backup generators are only just powerful enough to run the base's lights, doors and elevators. That means you guys just have to worry about the small army of soldiers inside the facility once you get inside." Dash said, turning to Errithius as she finished.

"Let's take this one step at a time for now. Are we sure the generators are the only source of power keeping the research facility functional?" Inquired the captain.

"Pretty sure, unless they have something else fueling them power that wasn't in the data-banks, but the way I see it is that Feds tend to obsess over documenting everything they find, build or own, meaning they usually document all their hardware. And not just what they have here, but on every planet they inhabit." Rainbow replied.

"Again, let's just focus on what lays before us. What will happen once the facility looses power?"

"Oh, uhm, well we have no idea how that specific base actually operates, but I have acquired information on the basic functionalities of Federation structures and buildings." Rarity interjected as she rustled through her sling-bag for the documents she'd acquired.

"Show me." The captain said as he took a few steps to come standing besides her.

The pearly white coated lady spent a few seconds flicking through what appeared to be a sizable collection of paperwork, some digitally printed, others hand written, before stopping to pluck out what looked like a blueprint of an angular building, its image adorned with alien text. The girl the marine loomed over through her head back with a small shake to bounce her mane out from her eye and back into a more comfortable location before clearing her throat to read from the paper she now held.

"All federation automated structures are reliant on a source of power to operate their vastly mechanical based nature. I don't think any door within any building I've seen isn't mechanically operated to open and close. However once power is cut to the structure it draws auxiliary power from a local generator, meaning operational efficiency is reduced to a little over ten percent. This means each door you would come across would need to be keyed in with a personnel multi-pass before being given eight seconds to cycle, only then will a door open. All facility lights are dimmed to provide minimum illumination and power fluctuations are to be expected as power is rerouted to priority systems. I think you can expect the lights to flicker on and off at times."

"Spooooooky~!" Pinkie blurted from in between Errithius and Rarity, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere judging by how the captain had not registered her presence until her announcement.

"This won't be a concern, but locked doors could prove problematic, I'd prefer to move as freely as possibly in such confined quarters." Errithius stated as he raised a brow.

"Well I'm afraid there's little else to do in that regard. Cutting the power will make traversing the facility sluggish to say the least, but the power deduction allows for all personnel to access almost all areas of the facility for the sake of evacuation efficiency. All you would have to do is acquire an access key from any Fed official or soldier." Rarity said with an upbeat tone that tried to capture the best of the situation at hand.

"Almost all areas?" The captain inquired.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but there was mention in a requisition order I found from a couple of years ago for level five security systems. These systems haven't been observably implemented into any facility's we're more familiar with, meaning they have most likely been installed into the research facility. If I were to rely on my keen intuition I would safely assume that these systems are keeping the Feds most controversial research locked up, research most likely linked to Equestrias magic."

Errithius thought for a few seconds, considering the implications of all he had just heard. The generators were an immediate priority for absolute certainty. Although dismantling the research facility one section at a time with such dire movement restraints was hardly ideal, cutting the power to communication networks, alarms, locks and defensive measures was far more important in assuring the success of the mission. But something about the aforementioned security requisition perked the astartes interest. If such containment measure proved to hold the federation's most valued research, then perhaps a thorough cleansing of the entire facility was not needed. Destroying, or at least disabling whatever devices lay within would mean the federation would be preoccupied with regathering their research and beginning their efforts anew. This could lessen the possibility of planetary annihilation by a fair fraction, leaving the Federation crippled in it's motives, but not entirely devastated enough to see them cut all ties to Equestria.

"Miss Rarity, see if can find out anything more about those security systems. Where they were installed and for what purpose."

"Gladly, darling." The unicorn replied spiritedly.

"We have our heading then. My brothers and I shall deploy with a small strike team to the facility generators, once power has been severed, however, I will require a distraction." Errithius said, turning to look at Celestia.

"I...I understand, Captain. What do you need from my guard?" The alicorn replied grimly at the thought of more of her kind perishing.

"Just a preoccupational revolt, and not from just your personal guard, from all the country. We need all who have gone into hiding to take up arms and harass the Federation's forces and all citizens to turn on their local benefactor units. Sabotage vehicles, destroy ammunition and fuel stocks, start riots, make the environment more turbulent for the Federation to traverse."

"I cannot ask my people to risk their lives in such a way, hundreds could be killed, maybe more." Celestia said in a voice shaky with worry.

"If they do not then Federation forces will be readily available to deploy against us. The Feds are efficient, but are not very adaptable, meaning any hails for reinforcements their forces receive will mostly go unanswered as they focus on the preoccupations at hand. And civilian casualties can be kept to a minimum, perhaps outright avoided if the revolt is staggered in the correct order. First issue and order for country-wide protests to start immediately, and all who take part are to escalate their protests to riots after three hours. Then order your guard and any native with arms available to strike at whatever Federation forces and hardware seems most vulnerable thirty minutes after the riots have begun. Once these guerrilla strikes are initiated have all rioters retreat to more secure locations, be it safe houses, local forests or mountain areas. The Feds should be too preoccupied with fighting your guard to notice the rioters retreat, and when they do, I advise all civilians who have remained inactive to the events prior to this to follow them. Once all civilians are away, have your forces fall back to their deployment positions and hold out, leaving population centers emptied. By this time my efforts to destroy the facility would, with any luck, be complete. The end result is the Federation scattered, confused and robbed of their most precious prize. With no one to arrest, question or blame it could result in them arguing amongst themselves for a time, if their previous behaviour is anything to accurately judge by."

Celestia listened intently to the captain's plans, pondering a moment after he had finished, he expression tense and contemplative.

"Princess?" Errithius inquired.

"This...This could work." The alicorn muttered to herself.

"A lot of ponies could get hurt in all the chaos. Families could be separated, torn apart even." Cadence said in a soft, concerned tone as her hand gently touched upon her lower stomach.

"Worse will happen if we do nothing, and utilizing only military forces will leave the population of Equestria to suffer for our provocation." Celestia said with absolute surety, pausing a moment to think before speaking again.

"I always knew it would come to this. One way another we would always have to have committed our efforts to an exodus. A mass exodus of all Equestria to flee into the wild, to save themselves from the thrashing of a wounded Federation."

All present knew it as well, had known it for a very long time now, and such a fact wounded some more than others. Rainbow Dash stirred for a second before sitting up, the medical serfs seemingly finished with patching her up.

"Well then let's get to it everypony, we have some stuff to break. I'd better come with you to Rainbow Falls, Captain, the Feds conscripted me to work at the generators for a while a few months back, and I've got a rough idea were to best hurt them." The pegasus said as she hopped off the operating table and to her feet, standing strong, but her discomfort due to her injuries seeing her stand in a slightly crooked state.

"I admire your conviction, Miss Dash, but I hardly think you are ready to travel in your condition." Errithius said with a bassy chuckle he could not help to contain.

"Couldn't stop me even if you tried, Cap', I don't need to fly there and I can still walk and run, so I won't slow you down. Plus I didn't plan on going alone, if anypony wanted to keep me company on our little expedition?" Dash inquired, looking almost specifically at the larger orange pony standing across from her.

"Oh, uh, ah gotta git tah Appleloosa as soon as this all kicks off. They'll want tah hear this plan straight from me." Applejack replied as she adjusted her hat.

"And I'd better get everypony in Ponyville in the loop for Operation 'Feds-take-a-whappin'." Pinkie announced.

"Uh...'whappin'?" Princess Twilight asked with a failed attempt at a concealed smirk.

"Ain't a baddie we've met yet that hasn't been beaten with a good whappin'" Pinkie shrugged with a sense of satisfaction.

"I'd better go alert Shining and his guard, Twilight, could you do the same with the Crystal Empire? There should be a crystal mill to the south-west of the city that will have a contact who'll get the word out to everypony?" Asked Cadence.

"Absolutely." Confirmed the purple princess.

"And I know ponies in Manehattan who can spread the word. But I'd would appreciate it if I could have a ride back here when I'm finished, Captain. Fluttershy is still pretty shaken by everything that's happened and she's only recently started talking again. I wouldn't want her resolve to slip due to a lengthy absence on my part." Added Rarity.

"Understood. Celestia?" The marine inquired, turning to the princess.

"I'll be accompanying Rainbow Dash, I'll make sure you are kept safe and it couldn't hurt to have somepony who can use magic lay a part in this operation." The princess said calmly, coming to stand next to the blue pegasus.

Errithius took a moment and ran the details of the plan several times through his mind, his eyes gliding across all who stood before him. With one final, deep breath the astartes lifted his gaze to address the group as a whole.

"My marines shall stand besides your guard throughout the operation, and shall keep us informed on the situation throughout Equestria as it develops. I will assign you all gunships to report to, ready what equipment you have, say your farewells, and get set for deployment."

--------------------------------------------------------------

"So, that leaves us with only one logical option." Gerin'Gov growled as he turned to Megna'Gilith.

"You're proposing we exterminate this planet? I thought we went over this you degenerate?" The pale female replied with a fierce expression.

"Just shut up and listen for once! We don't have to destroy this world or our facilities on it if they all truly mean so much to you all, but we can deliver a singular killing blow to these creatures. All we require is there location, and from there my ships can carry out the rest." The commander said with solid absolution.

"So we're just going to blast them out of the sky? Is that really your plan?" Unal'Gov interjected.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do." Gerin'Gov replied in a condescending tone.

"That alien ship's defences are of entirely unknown capacity to us, we could hit them with everything we have and not scratch a percent from their shield power systems!" The scientist blurted.

"You and I both know our sensors detected minor power fluctuations occurring within certain systems within their ship when their shields were being struck, that means they have limited power capacity, and although they withstood an assault from a single cruiser I could easily deploy thirty ships as soon as they are detected. Their combined firepower will surely bring their shields down, and soon afterwards breach their hull."

"This is all based on information that is utterly inconclusive, what if your estimations are wrong?" Unal'Gov groaned with his head held in his hands.

"And even if you're correct what will the cost be for our ships and troops?" Megna'Gilith droned in a monotone.

"For the greater good of the federation it will cost as many as I see fit." The commander replied with a huff.

"Not from my perspective. I already have to order and process dozens of replacement troops after Yuni'Gov's little underground stunt, not to mention repairs for a space cruiser. I can't afford for you to pile me up with extra requisitions." The Officiator sneered.

"I don't care! They just spat in our faces after we offered them the logical way out of their retarded little dilemma and have severed all communications. We couldn't even hold a long enough conversation with them to get a fix on their location! The longer we wait the longer they run amok with the criminal rejects they harbour and the more time and effort we all waist on this sorry excuse for a science experiment! Speaking of which, how the fuck are you and your scientist freaks getting along with your dumb little tests and theories?" The commander spat and sneered, his temper boiling over to send him into a full blown tantrum.

"Progress has been...ugh...slow. But we're close. We're so close to unlocking a crucial element in harnessing Z-density. It's like I can feel it, like I can feel it in the back of my head...talking." The scientist said, starting off irate before drifting into an almost half-hypnotized state, snaring the attention of all present.

"And just what the fuck is wrong with you?" The commander hissed in disgust at the scientists antics.

"I'm ju-...I'm sorry, I haven't slept in a while. I think I should...I should sleep...yeah, just...just maybe after today's research." Unal'Gov droned, acting almost as if having been taken a serious blow to the head and earning the immediate disdain of the other two Feds present.

"Great, so now the research is invalidated on behalf of our head scientist growing delusional." The Officiator huffed as she looked doown at the scientist who now muttered to himself in disgust.

"Is everyone around me just slowly going mad?! Why won't anyone just let me blast this fucking country to dust?!" The commander barked and shrieked as his fist slammed into the table sat before him.

"Commander Gerin'Gov, we have located a foreign entitiy moving into orbit from the planet's surface, and moving fast! I don't think it's one of ours, sir!" A federation officer yelled through the rooms local speaker system to address the Commander.

"Of course it's not ours you idiot! It's them! The aliens! They're trying to escape and return to wherever they came from with the princesses! Order all ships to pursue them and destroy their vessel with maximum efficiency!" Yelled the commander through the communication channel.

"Orders confirmed! Moving to attack the alien vessel!" The officer replied before the communication channel blinked to a close.

"Finally! We destroy them, utterly vaporise any trace of them and it will be as though they were never here in the first place. And the princesses would have had to be dealt with sooner or later, personally I can happily say good riddance to those freaks." Gerin'Gov said, starting to finally calm down.

"Sir! This is Canterlot Facility! Gate three has been breached, we are under attack! Oh reason, she's tearing right through us! Oh-gurk! Gaaaah! NyuuuUUUAAAARK!" The Benefactor's voice who spoke through this fresh communication link was half drowned out by a chorus of gunfire, explosions and screaming before being finished off by shredding the feed with the grim sound of flesh tearing apart along with bone being sharply broken and gore spattering the floor beneath the presumably dead soldier, leaving the room in a pause of silence soon after the connection had been cut.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!" Was the last thing Gerin'Gov screamed before flipping the table in front of him.