The subdued humming of my pelican slows as I come to a stop in a place I did not expect to return to. The middle of Ponyville. Yes, I know. I must be suicidal to come back here. But I have just one question for you. Do you ever wonder why we're here? That's what I'm about to find out. But first, since it's literally 12:00AM I need to test something.

"Pelican terminal activation code Echo Alpha Foxtrot Delta 9er Mike Sierra Victor Papa CTN367."

A screen appears in the middle of the cockpit. "Thank you for activating the G79H-TC/MA Gunship Class Pelican. You may call me Virgil." Do you see where I’m going with this? Yes?

“It appears that my circuits were damaged as of one week ago. Who are you?”

“I am, well, was the AI of Project Freelancer. At least. That’s what I’m based off of. But before that, I was a human named Dimitri.”

“That doesn’t seem physically possible.” She says in confusion.

“That’s what I said!” I smile. “Do you have a log of operations as of over a week ago?”

“I am afraid not. The logs are corrupted. Would you like me to set an AI lock? You appear to be knowledgeable in that subject.”

“Go ahead.”

Time: 7:30AM

Perspective: Twilight Sparkle

We had just arrived in Ponyville to see… What is Church doing here? I thought he didn’t want to be around us. I need answers.

“Applejack, do you see that?” I point a hoof at the pelican. She nods groggily. “What is he doing here?”

“Ah don’t know. Maybe he just can’t stay away from us.” The rest of the mane six were asleep and had to be carried to the library while we just walked in.

Suddenly, a loud thud is heard and I turn around to see Church behind me carrying a giant gauss rifle. “What do you want?” I ask cautiously.

I had finished my conversation with Virgil hours ago and was waiting for the mane six to return, but while I did that I was checking all the gear inside the pelican. There were sets of different types of MJOLNIR armor all around, guns and energy based weapons as well as bladed weapons were also around. There was even C12 in here! The armor all looked to be based off of Halo 5 which is amazing! Some of the other weapons included MA4B ICWS, M6J Carbines, everything.

I picked up an M99 Stanchion Gauss rifle and tested it's weight. Hmm, perfection. I exited the pelican and walked towards Twilight's library as soon as I saw her enter. She turns around and looks at me carefully.

"What do you want?" She asks me cautiously.

"Do you know what this is?"

"No." She answers honestly.

"This is how I'm going to get my answers if you don't give me them. Now, where is your princess?" I ask coldly. She looks at me in fear and starts shaking slightly.

"S-She's n-not here r-right now... I can bring her here now if you w-want...?"

"I'm just fucking with you. I ain't gonna hurt you. But seriously you should bring her here. I need something from her." That snaps Twilight out of her fear and she starts glaring at me.

"You should know better than to threaten others with death!" That glare would have made me shit myself, if I had an excretory system. It only just annoyed me. I just facepalm. She turns around and levitates a quill and a piece of parchment.

"You guys still in this fucked up era where you have technology from the 1910s, 1950s, 1800s, 1980s-1990s and the 1600s? I swear to god I need to change that shit."

"What do you mean?" She asks curiously.

"Your generation has literally a hodgepodge of technology that would make Discord laugh if he didn't already live in it. It's that disorganized."

She glares at me, "I'll have you know that we are very technologically advanced in comparison to other nations!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." She just sighs and shakes her head before writing something on the parchment with her quill and then teleporting it away in a flash of magic.

I just finished raising the sun and saying goodnight to my sister so I was ready to start my breakfast. I trot over towards the dining hall at a brisk pace, guards and servants alike bowing to me as well as nobles. I hate when they do that, I mean at first I loved it but it got old really fast. It's always Princess Celestia this or Princess Celestia that, it could give anypony an aneurysm!

I arrive at the dining hall to see cooks running around trying to get everything in order. The lead chef trots towards me and bows. "The usual I assume, Princess?" I just nod and take my seat at the front of the table.

A waitress mare arrives and delivers unto me my food, bowing slightly. "Rise my subject and return to your duties." She rises from her bow and turns back towards the kitchens. A few seconds later something happens.

*poof* A scroll floats a few inches from my muzzle, hovering slightly over my food. "Must be another friendship report." I mutter to myself before unfurling the scroll to read it. My eyes widen and I immediately teleport to Ponyville. When my sight clears again I turn around and find myself muzzle to helmet with Church. "What. Do. You. Want." I go for the intimidation factor by flaring my wings and making my eyes shine with untold power but it doesn't really seem to be working on him.

She tried to intimidate me? Ha, I've seen worse things than a technicolor horse who thinks they own everything in the line of sight.

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?" This question catches Celestia off guard and she just looks at me in confusion.

"No?" She says questioningly towards Twilight who appears to be in deep thought over this.

"Whatever, that's not important." I sigh and get onto the real question. "Did you detect a disturbance when I arrived here? In the Everfree Forest?" I ask seriously, my previous demeanor replaced with cold, hard, and calculating.

"Yes, but I wasn't able to track where it came from in time. The magic user made sure that they didn't leave a trace." If one looked closely they would see that her pupils twitched when she said that. I push onward.

"What aren't you telling me?" She looks at me in surprise. "I am not joking around, this could mark the fate of this world if I don't know about it and fail to prepare for it." Not exactly a lie. There is something out there and I have to be prepared for so I can counteract the threat.

She sighs and says, "There are a few of these... spaceships orbiting the planet. I first saw them on the day you arrived. Twilight has reported to me about them. Haven't you Twilight?" Twilight snaps out of her stupor and nods quickly. "How would you begin to prepare for it?"

"I need land." She looks at me in curiosity. "To prepare a military facility to prepare for an intercontinental counterattack." They look at me angrily, thinking that I'm talking about them. "What? You don't actually think those 'spaceships' are friendly do you?" Their expressions lose their anger and have confusion evident in them. "Tell me, what color were these spaceships you saw?"

Celestia says three words to me. "Purple and blue." I fall on my ass. NO. Please no. You can't be fucking serious. No. Not here. Why. Why me?!

"Y-Y-You're j-joking r-r-right...?" I stammer, they notice this and look at me in concern.

"No?" Twilight says, ever the helpful one. WHY DO I HAVE TO FIGHT THE COVENANT?!

I become cold and serious immediately. "I'm going to need more than just land now. Those purple ships are the remnants of the covenant. An alliance which killed tens of billions by glassing entire planets because of some false religion." Twilight looks at me horrified while Celestia's eyes lose their friendliness and gain hatred in them, something I never thought I would see.

"You are affiliated with them?" She asks me coldly, her horn charging power as she looks ready to blast me oblivion.

"No, I am one of their enemies, and like they say, An enemy of an enemy is my friend. Now will you help me?"

She dispels the spell she was about to use on me and says to me, "By the power vested in me, I, Princess Celestia, Ruler of the Sun, Sol Invictus, grant you a protectorate to be situated next to Equestria on it's borders. You shall work under me. But if I do something that violates these terms," She floats a massive paper towards me, which I read all of in a quarter of a second, "you may secede from Equestria."

Author's Notes:

It seems Church will have a new threat to face. Can he build his military protectorate in time to save Equestria from glassing or will everything he ever saw here be destroyed?