As the dropship set down in the IMC Cruiser's hangar, the pilot disembarked without a word. Walking silently towards the briefing room, he sighed. Entering the room, he was greeted with the face of General Marder glaring at him.

"Report, Scarecrow." Marder said.

"Yes, sir. By the time our troops reached the signal origin, the Militia was already on site and had reached the defector. While stalling our forces with Titan support, they extracted him to an unknown ship. They have also left the system, and we were unable to catch them, sir." Scarecrow said.

"What of the colonists?" Marder said.

"They paid for their mistake." Scarecrow said.

Marder scowled.

"This setback is disappointing, Scarecrow. I expected you to retrieve him."

"Sir, with all due respect, the Militia reached him before us. A successful mission was unlikely." Scarecrow replied.

"Regardless, you still failed. I want that ship found and everyone on it destroyed, Scarecrow." Marder said. "With or without the defector."

"Sir, wasn't the defector our original target?" Scarecrow asked.

"He was. Now, your primary targets are the Militia terrorists that now harbor him. I want their rustbucket found and put out of action. Get to it, Scarecrow. You know the consequences of failing me twice."

Marder ended the connection, and Scarecrow kicked the floor in anger. Grabbing a chair, he sat down in a very foul mood.

"Damn him." Scarecrow said. He got up and walked back to his bunk in the Pilot's dorms. As he lay down on his bed, a well-worn, faded photograph caught his eye. A boy of about eighteen and a girl of about seven posed inside of a hospital room. The girl was deathly pale, and her dark hair was cut short. Several needles and IV cables lay embedded in her arm. Scarecrow brushed his hands over the photo and sighed.

"I'm not fighting for the IMC." he said quietly. "I'm fighting for you, Angel. As long as there's a cure, I won't give up hope. You'll get better, Angeline. I know it."

Scarecrow sighed and turned out the light.

=======================================

Daniel and Kelly entered the bridge and walked over to the holotable that Captain Ellis and Professor Kowalski were standing over.

"You wanted to see us, Captain?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. Professor Kowalski has something to say." Ellis said, and the professor nodded.

"My data is safely aboard, and now I feel safe enough to reveal this."

Kowalski pulled up an image of an IMC pilot, the same pilot that attacked and burned the village.

"This is Scarecrow." Kowalski said. "A IMC pilot known in the field for his brutal treatment of prisoners and civilians. He was the one who led the IMC forces and burned the village."

"What's special about him?" Kelly asked.

"Scarecrow was trained to be a pilot-hunter, capable of taking on five trained pilots and winning. He's essentially an un-sanctioned assassin." Kowalski said. "Recently, he was hired by General Marder to find and kill me, and retrieve the data I developed for the Fold Core. I barely escaped, and made my way to Concordia to signal the Militia. He's hunting me." Kowalski said.

"That's why we're heading to Harmony to restock on supplies and gather reinforcements from the Marauder Corps and Commander Sarah Briggs's forces." Ellis said. "With them, we might be able to stop the Fold Core project for good."

Daniel was about to speak when a massive shake swept through the ship.

"Dammit! What the hell was that?" Ellis yelled.

"Sir, there was a malfunction in the core! Engineering dropped us out manually! We still have power, but we've got no warp capabilities!" A Grunt yelled from a console.

"Get me engineering!" Ellis said. "And where the hell are we?"

"Sir, we're in unknown space. We're off the map." A second Grunt said. "We're behind a moon, but I can't tell what planet we're near."

"Move us out into planetary orbit with whatever power we have." Ellis said. As the Baron shifted out from behind the moon, Ellis, Kowalski, Daniel, and Kelly, along with every other person on the bridge, gasped.

"Sir, is that star orbiting the planet?" a shocked Daniel said.

"It is." Kowalski said. "It appears that this world, however unlikely it may be, is geocentric."

"That's impossible." Kelly said. "That planet should be scorched earth from the heat."

"Yet it's not, which tells me that there might be life here." Ellis said. "Bio scan, now."

A Grunt tapped a few times on the console, and nodded.

"Bio scan indicates there is life on this world."

"Human?" Ellis said.

"Negative." The Grunt replied.

"What life is there?" Ellis asked.

"It's strange. I'm getting stuff I don't understand here. There's environments similar to Earth, but the life signs for each are unique. Like this rocky, mountainous area. The life signs here…" the Grunt said, pulling the image up onto the main screen. "indicate lizards with wings."

"Dragons." Daniel said. "Motherfucking dragons. Dragons don't exist. They're myth!"

"Maybe not myth anymore." Ellis said. "Take us down."

"Sir, if we do, there's no guarantee that we'll be able to keep the engines functional!" a Grunt replied. "We could explode upon surface impact!"

"Then make sure we don't." Ellis said. "Take us down. We'll crash land if we need to."

As the Baron descended, Ellis watched patiently as the surface of the planet came into sight. Then, the ship shook once more.

"Sir, the starboard engine just overheated!" a grunt said. "Without that, we'll crash!"

"Give me full control!" Ellis said, taking the controls on the holotable. As he pulled up, the ship sluggishly edged upward. Then, the ship landed with a mighty crash. As the dust settled, Ellis and the rest of the Bridge crew stood up shakily.

"Damage report." Ellis said.

"Hull damage sustained on lower decks. Major facilities are operational. Injury reports are coming in low."

"Can we still fly?" Ellis said.

"Engines are offline, as well as the Warp Core. We're stuck." A Grunt replied. "We have reserve power from the generators, as well as the secondary core, but for now, sir, our wings are clipped."

"Great." Ellis said. "Vance, Anderson, take two Grunt squads and your Titans and recon the area. First contact protocols. Fire only if engaged."

"Yessir." Daniel and Kelly said. As they saluted and rushed out, Ellis turned to Kowalski.

"Get me whatever data you can about this world's inhabitants." Ellis said. Kowalski nodded and turned to the table.

"May god help us all." Ellis said quietly as he looked out into the forest.

==============================

Twilight and Spike walked into Ponyville Town Hall to find most of the citizens waiting for them. Many were shaking in nervousness. Twilight took the mic, and sighed.

"As you all know, some...thing crashed in the Everfree. I have sent notice to Celestia, and she is sending the Guard to investigate. I and the Elements are going along with them. NOPONY is to follow us or go near the crash site. We'll handle this. Return home, everypony."

As the citizens walked out of town hall, the Guards arrived. Twilight rounded them up, and explained the situation.

"So, how should we handle this?" A guard asked. "Diplomatic?"

"Yes. As diplomatic as possible." Twilight replied. "Let's go."

As the group of thirty ponies entered the Everfree, they had no idea the Militia squad was heading right towards them. As Daniel and Kelly led the way for the Grunts following them, Daniel asked Kelly what she was thinking.

"I'm not really one to speculate." Kelly replied. "As long as we're safe from the IMC, we'll be fine."

"Can't say we're exactly safe." Daniel replied. "That Scarecrow Pilot is still after Professor Kowalski."

"True."

"Sir, we've got contacts, thirty or so bearing in close!" A Grunt said. The Squad took cover behind the foliage and waited. Then, they heard voices.

"Come ON! I doubt those aliens know the difference between my left hoof and my right going into their faces!" said an arrogant voice.

"Rainbow, might I remind you this is Equestria's FIRST EVER extraterrestrial visit? We need to make a good, diplomatic impression." Said a calm voice.

"Make an impression of my fist in their face! They can go back off to wherever they come from!" The arrogant voice said again.

"Ah hate to break it to you, Rainbow, but Twilight's right. We don't want a war coming up with some aliens. We don't really know what they're capable of." This voice was distinctly accented. At this, a few grunts looked over at each other and shrugged. Daniel made a "quiet" motion and radioed Ellis.

"Captain, this is McKenna. Contacts are close. Advise."

"Open contact. Ellis out."

"Confirmed. McKenna out."

As the Grunts and Pilots slowly advanced, Daniel made the motion for "Stay put" and started to move forward.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kelly said, grabbing his arm.

"Doing what Ellis told us to do." Daniel said. Standing up, he walked forward into the view of the locals, six of whom gasped, the twenty four others wearing armor raised lances. Daniel held up his hand, and took out his tablet. Typing a simple message, he displayed it.

"Hello. Can you understand this?"

=============================

Twilight was taken back. It was tall, wearing some sort of clothing colored gray and orange, with a cyan visor similar to that of a wing or a star. Armor was present as well, and a long metal object colored orange was on his back. A smaller L-shaped object was on his hip. Then, he drew some kind of pad and tapped it a few times. The he displayed it, and Twilight gasped at the message, written in Equish.

"Hello. Can you understand this?"

Twilight nodded and the figure flinched, then, he tapped the tablet again. A new message was displayed.

"Can you speak?"

"Yes." Twilight said. The figure flinched once again, and cleared his throat.

"Good to know." it said in a distinctly masculine voice.

"What are you?" Twilight asked.

"Human." The being replied.

"Humans are a myth!" Twilight replied. "Prove it!"

"Sure." The being said, and he placed his hands to his head and lifted. Twilight saw the star-burst mask was some kind of helmet, and to the shock of the ponies, under it was a human face, with kind features and worn brown hair.

"That enough?" The human said.

"Yeah." Twilight said. "What's your name?"

"Daniel McKenna." Daniel said. "Yours?"

"Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said.

"Pleasure. If you want to negotiate, come with us." Daniel said, and Rainbow laughed,

"Us?" Rainbow said mockingly. "There's one of you!"

"Thirty-two actually." Daniel said as the Grunts and Kelly came into view. The rainbow one dropped her jaw and began to sulk.

"Well, we going to get moving?" Daniel said.

"Yeah. Let's go." Twilight said as she motioned. As they followed Daniel and his team back to the Baron, Ellis watched the encounter through Daniel's helmet camera.

"Kowalski?"

"Yes, captain?"

"Come with me. We have visitors." Ellis said, and the Professor nodded. As they left the bridge, the moon peeked out from behind the clouds.