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What I Am

by Knight Breeze

Chapter 36: Chapter XXXVI

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Chapter XXXVI

“Okay, everypony! Today, we’ll be learning about the history of Canterlot!” Miss Cheerilee said as she quickly stuck a picture of the beautiful castle on the blackboard. “Now, Canterlot is the capital city, and is the very seat of our country, but does anyone know why Canterlot was founded?”

Several ponies lifted their hooves, though most kept them down. This was a fairly new subject for most of them, though they had been on a field trip to the city before. Cheerilee let her class wave their hooves for a few more seconds, before finally singling a pony out. “How about you, Twist?”

“Ith becauth after the Banethment, Printheth Thelethtia needed a new home?” the small earth pony asked.

She sounded confident in her answer, which made it all the harder for Cheerilee to shake her head. “I’m sorry, Twist. While that was when Canterlot became the capital, it is not why or when the city was founded. Canterlot is actually far older, dating back to the Founding of Equestria, and one of the few cities that wasn’t completely destroyed during Discord’s Reign. Now…”

Miss Cheerilee continued to talk about Canterlot, but Apple Bloom just wasn’t into the lesson at the moment. Her eyes were currently on the window, through which she could see the actual castle, and her mind was on what her sister could possibly be doing there.

It had been just about a month since Applejack had been called away on official, save-the-world business, and since then, she’d seen neither hide nor hair of her older sister. Applejack had sent them a few letters, but apparently whatever she was involved in was so important that she couldn't talk about it.

As much as Apple Bloom chafed against her sister being so closed lipped, she knew that whatever was happening was super important, especially with all the rumors that were flying around town. Apple Bloom might have been young, but that didn't mean she was stupid, nor did it mean she kept her head in the sand. She paid attention far more than some adults would give her credit, which was both a boon and a curse if she really thought about it.

Changelings in Canterlot… More guards everywhere… That weird monster in Whitetail… Something’s about to happen, and whatever it is, it sure as sugar ain’t gonna be good… Applebloom thought to herself.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the sudden silence that had overtaken the class, nor did she notice the muttering all around her that followed. She did notice when Miss Cheerilee cleared her throat, though, the thinly veiled fear in her voice quickly snapping Applebloom from her musings.

At the front of the class, Miss Cheerilee was standing next to a very serious-looking unicorn guard in golden armor. A quick look around allowed Apple Bloom to spot two more standing at the doorway. "O-okay, class, the princesses have chosen our class for a very special field trip. If you could all gather in close, we can get going."

"Where are we going?" Sweetie Belle asked, her voice a barely heard, terrified squeak.

"We'll be going to Canterlot!" Cheerilee said, clearly trying to sound far more chipper than she looked. "If we could all gather together, we can-"

"Uh… I can't leave without Mom's permission," Button Mash chimed in, looking extremely uncomfortable. "She'll be super unhappy if she doesn't know where I am."

There was a scattering of murmurs that followed this, mostly from the rest of the class as they agreed with the normally-unpopular pony. Apple Bloom stayed silent, though, her eyes locked onto the guard. He was completely stony and implacable, but Applebloom couldn't help but feel like he was nervous about something.

Cheerilee seemed unsure how to proceed, but before the situation could deteriorate any further, the guard next to her cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, children, but we really don’t have time. Your families will be joining us, but we need to leave now." He then walked to the center of the class, then turned to face the front. "Everyone, please, gather close, and hurry-"

Before the pony could finish, there was the sound of distant thunder, but it was different than any thunder Apple Bloom had heard before. This one was bigger, deeper, and accompanied by the sound of an alien-sounding scream of pain.

Several foals jumped from their seats, their eyes nervously flicking towards the windows, while others sat frozen. Still more looked to Cheerilee, while a small few quickly moved to where the soldier was.

The soldier, to his credit, did not seem flustered, or even worried by the sound. All he did was clear his throat, and stamp a single hoof. "Everypony, gather close. We're leaving now."

The foals finally seemed to get the hint, especially when more screams suddenly sounded out in the distance. Apple Bloom quickly moved towards the stallion in the center, her mind strangely calm as she gathered in close with her fellow classmates. Something deep inside her told her she should be more worried about the situation, but for some reason, she was having trouble figuring out why that was. She looked up at the soldier, and noted faintly that his horn and eyes were glowing a light-pink color. "What are you doing to us?" Apple Bloom managed to ask through the haze covering her mind.

The unicorn looked down at her, and for the first time in her life, Apple Bloom saw the expression of one of the guards change. He looked so sad, yet at the same time, his smile seemed hopeful.

"I'm saving your life, little one," he said, before the entire class was encircled in purple flame.

Apple Bloom felt like she should be more worried about this than she was, but as the floor quickly crept up to meet her, she found it rather hard to care.

* * *

Private Qu’zzil checked his weapons one last time, his outward appearance that of a seasoned veteran, while inwardly he was a quivering wreck. It’s justice, I suppose… he thought to himself as he patiently waited for his pod to clear the outer atmosphere. Show cowardice once, sent to the front lines. It’s an execution any way you look at it…

The private briefly glanced up at the monitor, the feed showing the quickly-oncoming, garish planet. They were aimed at what looked like some kind of city center; the tall, alien buildings far too brightly colored for the krin’s taste. He knew he was headed to battle, knew he would be fighting creatures that, while primitive, had access to whatever power the quzin held, but somehow, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief at what was coming.

They were basically demons given physical form, but at least he was trained to fight them. He had a plan of attack, his armor would work at least partially against their weapons, and there wouldn’t be any quick, evgaroth-looking primates shooting at him.

Just the thought of his last, botched mission forced him to suppress a shiver. He wasn’t sure what it was, but just the way that those bipeds moved pulled out something primeval from his subconscious, a desire to run so strong that it honestly made him gag.

Well, look on the bright side, Qu’zzil thought as the pod’s landing thrusters engaged and the grey warning light began to flash. At least I got my wish.

The pod hit the street fairly softly, its landing thrusters doing their jobs marvelously. However, these pods had a secondary feature, a feature that was just as dangerous for the people inside as it was for the ones outside, and that was its built-in ‘Immolater’ warhead, an explosive designed to bathe the entire area in a thick, mucus-like flammable substance, while simultaneously igniting the whole payload. The chemical had its own oxidizer, and thus could burn even without oxygen or when doused in water, and the temperature it could reach could melt steel.

The pod was designed to protect those inside from this intense heat, while safely delivering its occupants to their destination, but they had a reputation of failing. Sometimes, the thrusters became damaged during re-entry, making the impact far more deadly for all involved. Other times, the warhead would detonate its payload directly into the pod, covering its inhabitants with unquenchable flames and destroying the mechanisms that allowed the doors to open. While the latter wasn’t immediately fatal due to the suits the soldiers wore, it was the former that caused the most deaths among the emperor’s droptroops. Luckily for Qu’zzil and his squad, this time the pod held firm, protecting them and giving the soldiers inside a pre-cleared landing zone to defend and strike from.

“Remember, boys, we’re only supposed to make a ruckus. Advance, shoot, fall back. Rinse and repeat until we get the all clear,” Sergeant Carthus barked at his troops. “We’re not kidnappers here, so no need to leave anything alive. No heroics, either. If things get crazy, don’t hesitate to pull out.”

The rest of the squad nodded, their resolve set. Qu’zzil, however, did not acknowledge his commanding officer, instead choosing to stand and take his place at the door. After all, it was time for him to regain the emperor’s trust, and anything the sergeant might say to the troops probably wouldn’t apply to him in a few minutes.

The sergeant didn’t open the door immediately, though. He was busy counting under his breath, giving the fires outside plenty of time to make their landing zone a secure one. After a few tense moments of this, the sergeant finally punched the release, popping open the door and revealing the inferno raging outside. “Alright, that’s long enough! Let’s move!”

Without missing a beat, Private Qu’zzil rushed out into the blaze, trusting his armor to do its job. Standard krin battle armor was designed to be airtight and fireproof, and when powered, was capable of redirecting and redistributing immense amounts of heat energy, and could do the same with a limited amount of electrical energy as well. It had a far better track record than the pods themselves, and while most soldiers did not trust the ‘coffins’ in the slightest, they all trusted their armor.

It was still extremely difficult, though. The armor might have shielded him from most of the heat, but it still felt like an oven. On top of that, he was effectively blind, since all his sensors and vision could make out was the flames and thick smoke around him, making this by far the most dangerous charge the private had ever made.

Strangely enough, as the private moved through the curtain of fire and smoke, he never tripped or stumbled over any bodies. All his crustacean-like legs encountered were the smooth cobblestones of the road, still untouched by the extreme heat of the Immolator.

They must’ve known we were coming, then. Evacuated all the civilians before- he thought to himself as he finally pushed his way out of the curtain of fire, only to stop short at the sight that greeted him.

The streets of this city were surprisingly clean for a major metropolitan city. There wasn’t a scrap of trash anywhere, or any alien in sight, for that matter. Between the buildings, Qu’zzil could see carts full of foodstuffs and other things to sell, as well as a few round bins, presumably for any trash the locals might create. All in all, it felt like a fairly standard city, even if the architecture and general feel were completely alien.

None of this, even the empty, people-less nature of the city around him, was what caused Qu’zzil to stop short. Instead, it was the large wall about twenty feet down the road. It stood about chest height on a krin, and seemed to be made from the street itself, having been lifted and formed from its resting place through unknown forces. Qu’zzil could see a number of helmeted, equine heads peeking just over the wall, the brush-like plumes of their helmets making them easy to spot. What was far more alarming, however, was the unknown energy that seemed to crackle from their horns.

Reacting on pure instinct, Qu'zzil dodged to the side, his four legs skittering on the cobblestones as he made a break for a nearby alleyway. The alley was short, and ended in a high wall, but it was deep enough to allow several krin a place to hide. His quick thinking saved his life, because the moment he broke from the smoke and fire, the natives released their held energies, firing beams of unknown powers at him. They barely missed him as the krin's implants allowed him much faster reflexes, but the soldiers behind him were not so lucky.

They had been warned, though. The krin's implants, while not necessarily the most up-to-date, were still some of the best in the galaxy. They were capable of feeding the drop troops real time battle information from their commanders, updating orders, and accelerating reaction and decision times.

However, such a warning system meant very little without a place to go, and with the fire filling the whole street, Qu'zzil had only really relayed a single point of safety: the alley he was currently hiding in. Because of this, many of the troops that poured out of the pod were hit by the barrage of magical force. Some of the krin soldier’s suits were punctured by the blasts, exposing them to the raging inferno, while others were shoved backwards with enough force to shatter chitin once their limp bodies hit something solid. Some krin signals disappeared entirely, only to briefly be replaced by simpler brain patterns, which quickly devolved and disappeared as the hosts to the implants burned alive in the inferno created by the crash. A later diagnosis of these signals would reveal that those poor unfortunate souls had been turned into animals of some kind, but had died seconds later when the fires of the drop zone consumed them.

Qu'zzil took in all this information in a matter of seconds, swallowed his fear, then turned the corner slightly and opened fire. He knew that with all the fire coming his way he wouldn't be able to focus enough to get a clear shot, but he knew enough about how his weapon worked to not care. The plasma from his weapon was exceptionally hot, and while it might not have been hot enough to change stone into gas, it was certainly enough to change it into a liquid.

A single bolt would only melt so much, though, and just from a glance, Qu'zzil knew that it wouldn't be enough to even make it through a few inches of the barricade before him. He did know, though, that such fire would have a cumulative effect, and make hiding in such a place far more dangerous than it would be otherwise.

So Qu'zzil opened up his rifle, and emptied his entire hydrogen cell in a stream of plasma that would have blinded anyone looking directly at it. In only a few seconds, the barricade exploded in a torrent of shrapnel and molten rock, piercing hide and armor and covering those that thought they were safe in a rain of fire and ash. Quzzil looked at the destruction he caused with a critical eye, noting those that survived seemed completely unharmed by the fire. Even those that fell looked like they had only died due to the shrapnel caused by the explosion.

The answer to this oddity was fairly easy to grasp, even with Qu’zzil’s fairly limited grasp on the native’s power. Every single suit of armor that the natives wore were covered in strange, glowing symbols, which caused the lava that splashed onto the equines to run off their bodies as if it was merely water, leaving no burned flesh or melted sinew, but fresh, uninjured fur.

"Shul…" Qu'zzil swore, before he reloaded, took aim, and fired at one of the retreating equines. As the bolts impacted the soldier, Qu'zzill noted that the runes covering his armor seemed to grow brighter and brighter, but then suddenly became a pitch-black color. In that moment, whatever protection the fleeing soldier had seemed to fail, and his body and armor were quickly consumed in the plasma enveloping him, melting gilded steel and vaporizing flesh in an explosion that would have caused the krin's nasal ducts to fill with a disgusting smell had his suit been open to the elements.

This whole exchange, of course, allowed those that were still inside the pod to escape their fiery prison and swarm out into the streets. Only ten of the original twenty inside the pod had survived the initial landing, but ten plasma rifles could do a lot of damage, which the krin proved as they opened fire on the fleeing equines. Most of the bolts glanced off or were absorbed by the native's armor as they scrambled for new cover, though a few without horns tried to charge, surprisingly enough.

As brave as they were, Qu'zzil had already proved that there was a limit to the punishment they could take. Seven more natives fell before they even reached the invaders, and before Qu'zzil knew it, they had cleared the initial landing site. Qu’zzil could still hear the native’s strange tongue, but they were clearly retreating, probably falling back to their next line of defense.

"Good job, private," Sergeant Carthus said as he waltzed up to the soldier, his rifle held at the ready. "Didn't think you had that in you. Now, we need to link up with the other squads and cause as much damage as we can. All of you grab more munitions from the pod. We'll be heading out in five minutes."

"Yes sir," Qu'zzil said, before he went and did as he was ordered. The fires directly around the pod had pretty much died out by this point, which made the task of restocking a fairly trivial one.

Once he was ready, Private Qu’zzil came back out, and immediately noticed the glazed look on his superior’s face. He knew that it meant that the sergeant was receiving new orders, and that it would most likely mean more fighting for the private. As the sergeant’s eyes refocused, though, the private found it rather hard to care. Even with the burnt bodies that littered the ground around him, even with the knowledge that at any moment, reality itself could unravel and hurl him and his comrades into the void, he found that he felt no fear. Instead, during the scramble of the initial fall, the private had come to a realization. A grim certainty filled his soul, now, and each step he took was with purpose.

Private Qu’zzil had found his center, and nothing on this planet could move him from it.

“Alright, troops, we got to move, and move now,” Sergeant Carthus said, gaining Qu’zzil’s attention, but not breaking him out of the almost peaceful state he had managed to reach. “The brass wants us to make our way to the center of the city. There’s apparently some kind of large building there, probably for administrative purposes, but that’s not important right now. What is important is that that building has started broadcasting some radio signals, and they want us to find out why.”

“Radio signals?” Corporal Spalz asked, somewhat confused. “Why should that matter?”

“Because, up until a few seconds ago, there weren’t any artificial radio signals on this planet to speak of,” Carthus chided him. “It’s something out of the ordinary, and the brass doesn’t like it. There’s people talking over the radio too, but whatever language they’re using isn’t anything we’ve got in our databases.”

“So we find them, and politely ask them to shut the hell up, then?”

“That’s the idea,” Carthus answered with a nod. “Be on the lookout, though, we’re still in deep. The natives clearly were waiting for us, and they’ve apparently had enough time to evacuate and prepare, so we really don’t know what to expect. Just keep your eyes peeled, and don’t let them sneak up on you. Qu’zzil, you’re on point, let’s move!”

Qu’zzil nodded as he took his position, his eyes darting back and forth as he slowly made his way through the deserted city. Inwardly, he wished he had some active camo for this part, but he already knew why that couldn’t be the case. Such luxuries couldn’t survive the flames of a drop pod’s initial fall, and generally weren’t worn with standard issue combat armor.

That’s not to say that it couldn’t be worn with combat armor, it’s just that the two combined were far too bulky to be useful, and the active camo systems could only really take a single hit before it became worthless.

While Qu’zzil could hear the sounds of combat in the distance, the streets he and his team walked were almost eerily quiet, the only immediate noises he could pick up being the sound of his own breathing, as well as the skittering sounds of his teammates behind him.

“I don’t like this…” Corporal Spalz whispered, his voice tinged with unease through the team’s implants.

“I don’t either, but-”

Whatever the sergeant was about to say was suddenly cut short as his presence completely disappeared from the team’s network. A few of Qu’zzil’s teammates gasped in horror, but before the private could turn and look, something like the sound of thunder in the distance suddenly shook the private to his core.

He didn’t need to turn to know what had happened, and without even realizing that that was what he was going to do, Qu’zzil immediately turned and sprinted down one of the alleyways, panic filling every fiber of his being. Behind him he could hear his fellows shout at him for his cowardice, but he didn’t care. The sound had been different, and quite a bit louder, but deep in his heart he knew of only one type of weapon that was capable of making a sound like that.

As if to confirm Qu’zzil’s growing fear, the street behind him suddenly came alive with loud, alien, yet all too familar pops and cracks, and one by one his team disappeared from his network. Qu’zzil didn’t care, though. He didn’t even care that he was being shouted at by his superiors through his implants.

The only thing running through the terrified private’s skull was how he could get as far away from the nightmares that had followed him to this world as possible. That is, up until one of those nightmares popped around the corner, the butt of its weapon perfectly level with Qu’zzil’s skull.

Qu’zzil tried to turn away, tried to duck and run, but his momentum was too great, even with his enhanced reflexes.

The last thing the krin heard before the street rose up to meet him was his superiors labeling him as a traitor through the network. Which, if Qu’zzil was being honest, were absolutely horrible words to die with. Strangely, though, Qu’zzil found that he could cope with this. The Battlewatcher may turn me away at the door… but at least there won’t be any of those damn monkeys there to meet me… he thought, right before the sweet embrace of unconsciousness claimed him.

* * *

“My Princess! More of those firebomb craft incoming!” Lieutenant Shadow Heart shouted in alarm.

Princess Luna looked up to the sky as she swore silently under her breath. Though she and her sister had had plenty of notice, the evacuation of their citizens was far from complete. Many of the larger cities, such as Baltimare, as well as Luna’s present location of Manehattan, were still only in the beginning stages of a full evacuation. As for the outlying towns and villages, she had basically turned over the task of evacuating to the local changelings and had prayed for the best.

That’s not to say that no work had been done. Their new changeling allies had been invaluable in moving and hiding vast swaths of her people, but there were still so many of her little ponies left in the crossfire.

And when one added to the fact that the aliens periodically sent more of those dreadful bug troops directly to her every few minutes, it was easy to see why she would be somewhat put out.

She knew what they were doing. She had already received word from her sister, and knew that she was having similar issues in Baltimare. The aliens had evidently learned that she and her sister were the most dangerous, and were doing their level best to tie them down. It was abundantly clear that was what they were doing, but with the princess’s forces stretched so thinly, there wasn’t all that much they could do about it.

The worst part was that some of her more powerful abilities were next to useless in this battle. There were still civilians in the city, after all, which immediately threw out any of the more… devastating spells she had picked up over the years. As for her dreamwalk abilities, while she could successfully force the aliens into a nightmare if they were within her sight, her most powerful spell, something she lovingly dubbed Sandmare, was next to useless. Something about their implants counteracted such a wide-ranged, unfocused sleep spell, and there were far too many to force into dreams one by one.

That didn’t make her useless, however. It just meant that she had to become more creative with how she used her powers. It also meant that she had to rely upon her military far more than she would have liked. Luna took a few seconds to watch the burning balls of fire, judging by eye where they would likely land, before she turned to the lieutenant by her side. “Lieutenant, order any pegasi you can find to gather some storm clouds over to the market district. We’ll need the water after the more unnatural fires burn themselves out. In the meantime, I will deal with as many as I can..”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the lieutenant said with a salute.

Luna didn’t hear her, though. The lunar princess had already launched herself into the sky, the sound of the wind as well as the chorus of battle playing out around her easily drowning out the lieutenant’s words, even with her superior alicorn senses. She didn’t need to hear the lieutenant’s affirmation, however. She was confident in her troops' ability to carry out her will, and to act in the best interests of her nation in her absence. Instead, her focus was solely upon her targets, her war scythe singing its deadly song as it spun in the air next to her, her form turning into little more than a streak against the evening sky.

The pods that dropped from the sky were heavily armored, but this was of little use to them as the princess wrapped herself in a cloak of stardust and moonshine and passed right through the hull of one of them into the interior without leaving so much as a scratch on the outer hull. The alien bugs inside were surprised to see the princess materialize in their midst, to say the least, but their confusion only bought the princess a few nanoseconds at best. Whatever machinery they had augmented themselves with allowed them to react with lightning speed, giving them the ability to turn, aim, and unload upon the princess in less time than it took her to blink.

While Luna wasn’t nearly as adept as her sister in commanding thermal energy, she still had a few tricks of her own that allowed her to survive the alien’s brutal weapons. Specifically, she had yet to remove her cloak, meaning that such physical energies were little more than a light summer’s breeze to the moon princess, causing them to pass harmlessly through her still shimmering form.

Her scythe, on the other hand, was all too real as it began its deadly dance, slicing through the occupants of the pod as the lunar princess channeled her magic through her horn. The screams of the aliens and the sounds of their terrible weapons created a dirge of death that nearly broke the princess’s concentration, but she would not be so easily swayed from her task. After a few seconds, all that remained of the pod’s occupants were the puddles of their foul-smelling grey blood, and a few scraps of their armor. With a single nod, Luna released the energies she had wove, causing the spellform and, by proxy, the now solidified air around her, to violently expand around her, tearing the ship apart from within.

Strictly speaking, the moon princess did not need to cut them up before casting such a spell, but as she once again took to the night skies and the terrified song of the city below rose to greet her, she couldn’t help but feel just ever so slightly better that she had.

As much as she would have liked to take a few more seconds to admire her work, she knew she had no time, and instead turned to another one of those ugly landing crafts, fully intent on making it join its brother. She had no illusions at whether or not she could get them all, but each one she did take down was one less for her troops to worry about.

As she charged towards the soon-to-be unlucky craft, her magically enhanced alicorn ears picked up an odd noise that she had never heard before. It sounded like somepony opening a bottle of fizzy pop, but much, much louder. It was quickly followed by other such sounds, and they all seemed to be accompanied by an odd hissing noise, one of which seemed to be getting louder.

Luna had been in more conflicts than she could count, and throughout all of those, it was her finely honed warrior instincts that had saved her more times than not. Without knowing what this new sound was, or indeed what it could possibly be heralding, the night princess quickly turned, fully intent on taking this new evil head on. Before she was even halfway through the turn, however, the loud hissing noise quickly passed her by, and she barely caught sight of something small and silvery with an orange tail wiz by her head. The smell it left wasn’t anything she had ever encountered before, but if she were forced to put a name to it, she would have said that it reminded her faintly of some of the lava pools that surrounded the dragon lands.

Princess Luna quickly turned again to watch the odd, glowing object as it hurtled upwards to meet the craft Luna had been intercepting, and for a brief second, she wondered what it could possibly be. All thought was quickly and violently pushed from her mind when the two connected, creating an explosion that, even in her wispy ethereal state, seemed to rattle her very bones.

When the smoke cleared, the craft’s once controlled descent was now a much quicker tumble through the air, and as it passed the lunar princess, she couldn’t help but notice that fully half of the craft was missing, its occupants either dead or dying as they flailed helplessly inside, or fell out as the craft continued its death spiral to the earth below.

Before Luna could comprehend what was happening, more explosions rocked the air around her, causing her to turn in alarm as more and more of those infernal pods either became too damaged to make the landing properly, or were destroyed altogether. She didn’t know what to make of this strange, yet welcomed miracle, but she was hardly one to turn up her nose at a gift from the gods. Without missing a beat, she turned back to the streets below, fully intent on aiding her people as they fought off the invaders already inside her city.

However, as she began her dive, she noticed a subtle change in the sounds of the city below. The oddly muted noises of the alien weapons were still there, as was the spellcraft of her unicorns, the strikes of her earth ponies, and the lightning from her pegasi. The screaming hadn’t changed in the slightest, either, nor had the crackle of burning civilization collapsing in on itself. Over all of this, though, a new sound had joined the cacophony of death and destruction that had almost constantly followed the lunar princess since the battle had begun.

Pops and cracks could now be heard, accompanied by the occasional explosion that sought to rattle Luna’s teeth, but also added a strange bass element to the rhythmic drumbeat that seemed to now underline the otherwise confusing song of battle. As she drew closer to the streets below, her sharp eyes spotted several new-yet-familiar forms mixed in with her little ponies, their deadly weapons spitting thunder at the invaders as they ducked and wove from cover, while her ears could now hear the harsh, alien barkings of their strange, yet familiar language as they shouted orders and answers to one another. She only had the most basic of understandings of their alien tongue, but she did not need to comprehend their language to know why they were here.

Humanity had answered Equestria’s call, and had brought her own instruments for the deadly symphony of war.

Author's Notes:

Well, here it is! The next chapter in What I Am! I know a lot of you were expecting a pony meets human chapter, but as I hammered into it over and over again, I just couldn't figure out a way that could make it work. So, I went with what my gut was telling me, and had the humans jump in feet first, guns blazing.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!

The usual links:

My book:
=> What I've Become! <=
My patreon
And that tvtropes page that Alias_The_J made.

Next Chapter: Chapter XXXVII Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 22 Minutes
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