As I stared down the street, things were surprisingly quiet. It caught me a little off guard to be honest. I raised my rifle and grabbed the charging handle, giving it a good tug back toward me. SHUCK-KING! Nothing is more satisfying like the sound of a round being chambered. Well looks like I’m fully committed to this fight now.

I promptly sprinted my way to the left and hugged the buildings, knowing full well that if I came under attack, being stranded in the middle of the street is most certainly suicide. As I worked my way down the street, I headed for the courtyard. I had made it about a block, that’s when I saw a mare and a filly run right in front of me, I froze at the site, gun at the ready.

The mare sliped into the nearby alley, but the filly stumbled and fell to the ground. With terror and fear in her voice she screamed “MOMMYYYYY!” and began to cry into her forelegs. I slowly holstered my weapon on my back and walked up to the crying filly. Upon hearing footsteps, she looked up to see me towering over her.

It doesn't help that I’m six foot five inches tall, 200 pounds, and my armor is an extremely dark red with cherry red secondary color, and purple highlights. I have what most call the proto armor; it was an experiment that was thrown together with haste in mind. What can I say; humanity was on the brink of extinction at the time.

Anyway, I took a knee in front of the filly and began to extend my arms to pick her up. Before I could touch her I heard a female voice scream, “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!” Looking to my left toward the voice I saw the same mare ready for a fight.

I looked back down toward the filly and cradled her in my arms anyway. She was shaking like a leaf and was probably scared out of her mind. I slowly rose to my feet and walked over to the young mare. Once again taking a knee, this time in front of the mare setting the filly down in front of her. I rubbed the young ones head with my hand and with the calmest voice I can muster I said,

“You have to be brave young one.”

I looked the mare in the eyes and with a hushed whisper I said, “Stick to the side streets, stay low and stay out of sight, and find a safe place and hide.”

I rose to my feet to get back to the situation at hand, that’s when I felt a tap on my thigh. I looked down to at the mare, and with tears in her eyes she asked, “Who are you?”

My response was simple, “My name is Excalibur Prime, and I’m here to help.”

And with that I made my leave down the street. I grabbed my weapon and watched the streets and sky. As I began to make my way further down the main road I noticed there was nothing, just… nothing. Obviously, the meeting I just had showed that the threat was not gone, but they weren’t here?

I began to close in on the courtyard; I could hear the fighting intensify. Once I reached the end of the street, I took cover behind a cart and observed that battle in front of me. I could see these black creatures overpowering... what I would presume to be the local military by the looks of their armor.

The dead and the wounded littered the battlefield. Most of which were the ponies. It looked like the mass of the army was concentrating on the castle, who, or whatever was in there must be what they're after.

“Alright let’s get this party started,” I said to myself while vaulting over the cart. Without hesitation, I took aim and lit the place up with my rifle and watch as bodies begin to fall from the sky. It was a glorious sight... unless you have a weak stomach.

The gunfire caught the attention of the creatures. As I stood there smoking gun in hand, I was reminded of the fight back on Earth. The ground fight before we ran the Sentients from our atmosphere. I stood there outnumbered, yet I never took a hit. That was one of the proudest moments of my life... but it has haunted me for centuries.

I’ve been in situations like this so many times I didn’t even realize that I was on the other side of the courtyard and I had reloaded… twice! I came into this fight with 1000 rounds, now I’m down to 600 rounds or three mags. Backing my way toward the castle, I noticed a small rock wall. Well it’s wasn't a lot, but it was cover and I’ll take what I can get.

I leaped behind the barrier and continue my volley of fire. I quickly noticed that I’m running out of ammo and fast too, 'They just keep throwing themselves at me,' Generally it’s a terrible tactic, but when you have the numbers it’s a pretty effective one.

CLICK!

Well there goes another mag, with speed and precision, I already had the next one locked and a round chambered. Looking down at my rifle I could see the barrel glowing bright orange, and the heat waves were just radiating off of it. I’ve never had to put this much continuous fire out in one sitting. I had to think of something and quick.

THUD!

I heard what I presumed was a door opening behind me. Not knowing if what came threw was friendly or not, I treated it like a threat. Spinning 180 degrees on my heels I lined up the rifle, only to see six mares looking right me. Except four of them look like something from Greek mythology, two were pegasi and two were unicorns.

Looking left to right I saw an orange one with blond hair, green eyes, and was she was wearing a brown cowboy hat. Something I hadn't seen in a few hundred years. Cowering behind her was a little yellow Pegasus with long pink hair and bluish green eyes. Next to them was the pinkest pony I’ve ever seen. I mean everything on her was pink, except her eyes which were similar to the yellow pegasus.

Flying above her was a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow hair and pinkish eyes. She was defiantly out there, I mean I’ve never seen colors look so precise, it was… kinda creepy. Just below her and to the right was a white unicorn with a purple mane, and light blue eyes. I don’t know what it was but something just screamed diva, and I hate divas. And finally, out in front stood a little purple unicorn, she had a dark blue mane with a light purple streak running right down the middle. As I looked her over I made eye contact with her, something said to me, ‘she’s going to do something big’.

As I sat there, I remembered that there was a battle going on behind me. I ignored them and swung around to deal with the incoming onslaught; that’s when something hit me directly in the chest, knocking my rifle out of my hand.

“OOF!” I yelled as I fell on to my back.

I look up to see this creature.

“HISSS!” was the only thing that came out of its mouth.

With one swift move, I gripped the creature by the throat with my left hand and with my right, SHA-KING! I open my glaive into its head with the tip of the blade just barely protruding out from between its eyes.

I sheathed my glaive and jumped to my feet. I drew my Skana Prime and charged forward.

Slash, jab, cut, roll, repeat, slash, jab, cut, roll, repeat.

Now I am master swordsman, yet the overwhelming number of enemies was more than I could handle. I began to take hit after hit, kicks, jabs, and some sort of laser shot.

“OOF, GAH, *COUGH* I can’t keep going like this,” I mumbled to myself with pain in my voice.

“Come on girls we need help to that thing,” was all I heard behind me.

These creatures began to overpower me. I used every ounce of strength I had to throw them off of me, but to no avail. When I threw one… two would take its place. They just began to pile on top of me as I hit the ground. That was the worst dogpile I’d ever been in.

With strength out of the question I was down to my last option. I channeled all my energy into my shields, causing it to glow and surge with power. My shields made a loud noise that sounded a lot like glass breaking. This is my shield overload. It’s very effective for clearing large areas, but it has a down side. My shields are left depleted and I’m physically drained. Basically I’m like a new born puppy, I’m very vulnerable.

Bodies were launched in all directions. As I laid there on my knees and elbows, looked up to see the carnage I just created, and I was pretty impressed. But the onslaught just kept coming. A small squad began to advance, and I was still in no condition to defend myself. That’s when I heard a raspy female voice scream, “TAKE THIS!”

I watched that little blue pegasus kick one of those creatures in the head. She landed in front of the squad and took a defensive stance right in front of me.

BZZT, ZAP, BZZT.

I watched the last three in the group get hit by a purple laser.

As I rose to my feet I said, “Ordis, I need help, bring the rain.”

I heard him respond over the comms, “I’m making my pass now.”

I looked around me to see the same six ponies surrounding me, not to attack, but to help. They looked up in awe when the Liset flew overhead, and from it fell a large blue creature. It rolled when it landed and took its place at my side; this is Storm, my Raksa Kubrow.

She stands at about six feet tall, is about five feet long, she is the only thing that loves me more than herself. She is one of the last things I can trust in life.

“Storm, anything that looks black with insect wings in a threat. Everything else is not to be harmed.”

She responded with, “BARK BARK!”

The nice thing about Kubrows is they can understand complex orders with relative ease. This was one of the few things the Orokin got right when they decided to play with the realm of genetic engineering.

Feeling more confident with Storm by my side and my new temporary allies I gave Storm a simple command.

“Storm… KILL!” I ordered while pointing towards the enemy.

With a powerful leap, she went straight for the hoard. Thankfully, she’s always been able to hold her own. Which means I only have to worry about myself, and the ponies fighting beside me. The fighting was intense; I slashed and hacked my way with every swing of my blade. Storm bit and clawed at everything she could sink her teeth into. My new squad mates kicked and “punched” as hard as they could.

‘We can do this, we can come out on top!’ was all I could think of. We were winning this fight… until.

“GAHHH!” screamed a female voice.

In unison the rest of the group screamed, “TWILIGHT!”

I turned back and looked at the little purple unicorn on the ground, “No,” I whispered with worry and shock. I felt a cold chill run up my spine.

I was the first to her side; my mission had now gone from a defense to a rescue mission. She was hit badly, there was a large black mark on her left side and she was bleeding from a minor gash on her head. She needed medical attention... immediately!

I felt a shot hit me in the back; I looked over my shoulder to see the swarm beginning to gather their forces for one final attack.

“Ordis, deploy the archwing!” I ordered.

“Yes Excalibur.”

I watched as my allies began to back up and huddle together expecting to be finished off… for good. The creatures began to move up blocking out the sun. It reminded me a lot like the scene from the movie 300, when the Persian arrows blacked out the sun. That’s when I looked down at my radar to see a familiar blue dot working its way toward my position.

I looked down the street to see my Odonata Prime coming right at me. There was no time to hesitate. The horns on the top of these creatures began to glow, and that’s when I knew... this was their final attack. I looked to my left and saw five ponies hugging each other with tears in their eyes.

I gave Ordis one command...

“Ordis, pilot the arching to the small group to my left and active the Energy Shield!”

“Yes Excalibur!”

I watched the wing come to a stop over them and saw that familiar shield open up. I spun around to cover the small unconscious unicorn to prevent any further harm to her. In that moment everything went silent… until they opened fire. My body began to react to the fire that I was taking; I just sat and watched as my shield began to drop from 740 to 700… 620… 548… 499… 401… 300… 292… 188… 92… and finally… 0. This is where I began to feel pain surging through my body. The suit maybe powerful... but it only goes so far. I watched my health meter drop from 100% down to 2%. Most frames would have died by now. But thanks to some modifications to my armor I can survive massive hits like this.

And as fast as it started, the attack was over. Well there are two things these creatures did, 1) they failed to kill me, and 2) they pissed me off.

Rising to my feet I screamed, “ENOUGH!”

Raising my right hand over my head I felt a sword materialize, and with a quick fluid motion I fell to one knee, shoving the blade into the ground making a very familiar TING. I sat there watching the sky open up as bodies begin to fly in all directions, revealing a beautiful blue color. As I drew the blade for the ground, it made a powerful SHING! Upon rising to my feet the sword vanished, that’s when I heard a large boom from the castle.

I looked up to see a large blue hue bleed from the windows and doors. It began to engulf the area. But instead of hurting me, it fazed around me. I looked to the sky to see these creatures being expelled from the city. This was when I knew we won, the day was ours.

But my victory is short lived; the young unicorn at my feet was still severely injured. I dropped to the ground and began to assess her injuries. The burn mark on her side appeared to be the worst of it all. I tried to treat her like a downed teammate, but there was one huge difference here.

Tenno are human, she’s a pony.

I put my hand on her neck looking for an artery to try and find her pulse, “There we go,” I said victoriously when I found her pulse I notice that it was weak, but it was there.

Now, onto her breathing. I looked at her chest and listening to her breathing, I could tell that it’s labored. I rose to my feet and held my left hand over her and release a mixture of medications.

Generally the mixture is absorbed by the armor a Tenno wears and is administered straight into the bloodstream via small doses. But she was about to get the whole thing at once. When the medication hit her skin she began to squirm and scream in agony. I hated that I had to hurt her, but she needed help.

I wasn’t even half way through the application when that little blue pegasus screamed, “GET AWAY FROM HER!” and began to charge.

Responding to the threat I drew my Lex and point it right at her. She froze in her tracks, and gave me a menacing look. We stood there for a few seconds before I said, “Your friend is hurt, if you value your life you will let me finish the treatment.”

We stared at each other once again until the white unicorn spoke up.

“Rainbow... let it help.”

The pegasus looked back at her then me before she began to back away and rejoin the group. Right when I finished the application of the medication, I kneeled down and lifted her into my arms. Much like the little filly I helped earlier in the day.

“Where is the nearest hospital?” I asked.

“Pardon?” asked the little orange one with a heavy southern accent.

“I said, where is the nearest hospital!?” responding with frustration in my voice.

After a few seconds of silence I gave up and said, “Ordis, I have a casualty I need you find me the nearest hospital stat!”

“Yes Excalibur. I am scanning the area now.”

After another few seconds of waiting in silence in the air he spoke up again.

“Excalibur, I found a building resembling a hospital I’ve *BZZT* SENT YOU THE COORDINATES *BZZT* … my apologizes Excalibur.”

“Its fine Ordis. Thank you for the coordinates,” I said responding to his statement.

Following my mini map I headed for the hospital in a dead sprint. I could hear hooves hitting the stone street behind me; I assumed that it was the group following me. But the sounds began to disappear as I began to create distance between me and them. After various turns down multiple streets I finally ended up in front of the hospital.

The building consisted of multiple stories and was topped off with a red cross. But what really sold it was the sign out front saying "Canterlot ER.”

I burst through the doors to see the hospital staff running around in a frenzied state, but they froze when they saw me standing there.

I looked around I broke the awkward silence with, “I need a medic,” revealing the head of the small unicorn in my arms.

After a few more tense and awkward seconds a stallion walked up to me pushing a stretcher.

I laid the small unicorn on the bed and begin to list her injuries.

“She’s been hit; she has first degree burns on her left side, a small gash on her head, a weak pulse and labored breathing.”

The doctor looked at me with confusion but turned his attention to his new patient. He came around to the other side of the stretcher and began to push it away, explaining what I just told him to what I assumed were nurses.

I turned and walked outside. This is when I began to feel my adrenaline wearing off. And the pain began to set in. I began to stumble on my feet. Stopping where I was, I grabbed my head, giving it a quick shake trying to regain my composure, but everything began to go hazy. I fell to ground and began to lose consciousness. The last thing I saw were five ponies running up to me, then everything went black.

Author's Notes:

Well our hero's dead and so is Twilight t'was fun everyone.
...
Wait he's not dead?
...
Twilight isn't either?
...
Damn
...
Never mind people false alarm.
...
Lets see what happens next.