Chapter One

“Against the world”

The radio crackled and buzzed with many distress signals and jumbled orders. "Echo sierra post is down and out, retreating!"

The sounds of battle could be heard even from the Terra Nova Federation field command, which was ninety-seven miles away, and it was deafening. It would be terrible for the men at the front. It was a losing battle. They were pinned down on their own territory and running out of supplies. Battle reports indicated they had lost eighty-four percent of the troops, and the local populace had been reduced to half of its original number, but the Federation forced the newspaper companies to report otherwise. After all, an ignorant citizen is a happy citizen; they wouldn’t know how hopeless the situation was until they were right in the fray of it. Thus was the way of the Federation.

There were still elections and polls and everything that makes a citizen happy and ready to fight for his country. That’s how it worked. That’s how it would always work.

Yet all the while more soldiers were marching blindly to their deaths. The commanders of the brigades and platoons were simply trying to crunch the numbers for their promotions and glory. Yes, there were a few that weren’t glory hogs, but not enough. Not by a longshot. All the while the heavy guns of the Consortium were raining death down on the hapless troops. The generals couldn’t allow Providence fall into the enemy hands. The last strongpoint on the planet was under siege, the TNF couldn’t take the planet until it was taken out, due to the strong tactical advantage of it.

Lord Artemis Kenshelt watched from the balcony of the capital building as the New Felsomeer burned. He realized, with a grave chuckle, how similar it was to when Rome was being burned to the ground. That was eons before, but he still found that history seemed to repeat itself. The pockets of gunfire from without the city were being drowned out by Consortium Crusader warbots. His forces were losing. He looked up as an eardrum shattering explosion ripped through the air. The Federation Guardian Class Battle Frigate, ‘Light of Saint Areus,’ was descending. No, falling. It was billowing fire and smoke from what was left of it, half of the ship was destroyed, seared into atoms by a particle deconstructor. There was now only a single warship left in the sky, and it was outnumbered. The Missionary class warship ‘The Soana,’ was a moderately armed ship. It had fine armor, but it was mainly designed as a scout ship. With The Federation losing its control on the galaxy, Septisimo Arrendaus, it was caught while it was refueling in the retreat.

Captain Genarious Greeves knew that the ship couldn’t take much punishment. It would be against orders to leave the city, and if he did, he and all his crew would be executed. If they were caught, that is. Greeves was born in New Felsomeer, and when it was lost, he would have no attachment to The Federation. He gave the order. The ship’s faster than light drive whirred up. After a few brief seconds, the ship disappeared with a crack as a sonic boom was caused, and the air filled in the relatively huge area it was in.

Twilight Sparkle opened the library door. She had been at another of Pinkie’s parties and was tired, if still winding down from the excitement of the merrymaking.

“Spike, are you still awake?” she asked the area. It was dark, and the silence meant that he was asleep. Twilight smiled that he had went to bed when he was supposed to, as far as she knew of course. She wasn’t completely ready to go to bed, so she walked out on to the balcony of the library. When she was a filly, she always enjoyed looking at the stars. They calmed her and seemed to always hold secrets in them. Something was different however, as she noticed one that was brighter and moving.

“Is it a shooting star or a comet?” she asked nopony.

Roscoe hated when the ship went into FTL. He had no idea why they did, as far as he knew, they were supposed to be defending the city. Before he could even recuperate from the FTL launch, he was called to the bridge on “important matters.” Roscoe started off down past the barracks and towards the front of the ship. ‘Important,’ thought Roscoe, ‘I wanna know why it is so fucking important to send us into FTL without any damn warning.’

When he arrived on the bridge, he was immediately greeted by Captain Greeves. He gave a salute, which the captain returned.

“Roscoe, I am sure you are wondering why we just did an FTL jump.” Roscoe nodded

“I’m also wondering why I’m up here.” Roscoe added.

“We are traitors now, Roscoe,” said Greeves. Roscoe’s eyes widened in surprise.

“We have no idea where we are, and we didn’t have time to stock up on rations.” The captain continued, “The engineers are looking into the FTL Drive’s malfunction, but it won’t be fixed for a while. Luckily, we have spotted a planet that seems to have life.”

“We’ve seen planets with life before sir, why are you so surprised?” Roscoe asked.

“This life is intelligent.” The captain answered

“We’ve seen intelligent life before sir, why is this so different?” Roscoe asked. So far, intelligent life that had been found was only primitive. A fleet would be sent to protect the planet until the population was high enough to have a chunk of it abducted, and brought to a planet closer to the federation until they were advanced enough to be contacted.

“This life is much more advanced than any life the Federation has ever found.” Greeves said, “We have spotted skyscrapers, and cranes. They appear to be quite advanced, but the only life we have seen is equine in nature. I’ve ordered our Psi ops to see if they can find anything else.”

“Well sir, I’m sure you know what I’m gonna ask next,” Roscoe started, “Why did you bring me up here?”

“Well Roscoe, to be quite frank, we needed someone that was high enough ranking to handle the mission, but not too high as to mean losing him would be a large problem. You fit the bill.”

“Well. I’m your man I guess.” Roscoe said. Greeves nodded.

“There is a dropship in C-hangar ready. I sent a squad down there to accompany you.” Greeves said.

Roscoe gave a salute and headed towards the hangar. He was already in his gear. The standard Federation trooper kit was made up of G-9 armor. The armor was a dull navy blue color for Federation Navy troops, and dark grey for ground troop armor. Along with the kit was a Viper Watch pistol, eight rounds per mag, with three extra magazines, a Trench Breaker combat rifle, Thirty-five rounds par magazine, with five extra, and a Neo-Steel combat knife, all the metal in a kit was Neo-Steel, which made it lighter than standard metal, while still having good strength. In their knapsack was a ration kit which had enough for two days worth of food, a handheld water purification system, and a weapon cleaning and repair kit. Roscoe arrived in the hangar, and headed towards the Hammerswing dropship.

Twilight had taken out a notepad and was furiously jotting down notes on it. The object wasn’t a comet, or a meteor. It had moved quite a bit in the last hour, from its original position the object had moved over at least a tenth of the sky, and it seemed to be getting brighter by the minute. At the same time, Pinkie had just finished cleaning up after the party when a new type of ‘Pinkie sense’ wracked through her body.

“Uh oh,” she said softly, “Something big is gonna happen,” and then she returned to her normal self.

Twilight looked back at the object. After watching for a few minutes she noticed a small, not as bright light branch off the object. The light seemed to be getting slowly brighter, no, closer. She watched for a few more minutes as the light grew steadily brighter until it flashed bright for a few brief seconds, it was entering to atmosphere. Twilight let out a gasp, the object was slight visible now. It looked like some kind of carriage or cart, but she couldn’t see any Pegasi flying it.

Atmosphere breached…

Activating speed reduction engines…

Ideal speed achieved…

Scanning for suitable landing zone…

Optimal landing zone spotted…

The words flashed on the screen. Flight Technician Lain Felds surveyed them, shouting out the information when it appeared. The ship took a sharp bank, heading towards a small clearing in a forested area. A Hammerswing shuttle is a light, maneuverable aircraft, equipped with four Claw 8 Engines. The ship is armed with two Felderson Multi-Battle cannons, capable of ripping even the most hardened of tanks to shreds. It also had four Felderson Assault Turrets, made for taking down armored and unarmored infantry. The ship landed, with a thud, in the clearing. The troops filed out before the assault ramp even finished lowering.

Roscoe surveyed the squad. In front of him were five Troopers, from left to right, they were Trooper Marx Henfeld, an average sized fellow, born in New Felsomeer, Thirty Two years of age. Scout Cyrus Velar, she was from Terra Nova, and as is typical for a scout, was short, and was Twenty Nine. Engineer Gad Renkseln, from the hellish planet of Neyda Prime, Thirty Five. Logistics Trooper Yerit Sedwens, also from Neyda Prime, although he didn’t look the type, people from that planet usually are stout individuals, but instead, Yerit was a tall, lanky Trooper, resembling someone from New Felsomeer, and he was Thirty. Then there was Officer Philip Carneget, hailing from Earth itself, as most officers do, the difference was, he was nearly One hundred and eighty, and was technically dead. He wore an advanced suit that keeps death away, one of his eyes is augmented, and he has advanced hearing. Roscoe had seen other ones like him, but it always sent chills up his spine.

“Lieutenant Roscoe, I understand you may have some… misgivings, about me and my role in this mission,” Carneget’s voice was that of a person, except, different, a hard to detect undertone that is simply put as unsettling, “But I assure you, I am simply here as a link to the Telepaths on the ship.”

“Well then, it would seem we are on the same page,” Roscoe responded, “Now then, Scout Velar, I need you and Henfeld to check the area,” Cyrus gave a nod and was off, Henfeld close behind, “And don’t shoot unless you have to!” Roscoe called after them. He turned to the other five, the pilot and co-pilot, or Flight Technician as they are technically called, had stepped out and were busy ferrying out supplies. Roscoe gave a nod and the two troopers got the hint, and they began to set up a base camp, and Carneget stepped to the side and began examining some flora. He picked it up and examined it further, it was a blue color, and upon examining further, he dropped it.

“Poisonous on contact, blue in color,” he said into a audio log, then shut it off, and turned to Roscoe, “It would appear that this is poisonous on contact with living material, so tell your men to keep watch for it.”

“Wilco,” Roscoe replied.

“What the fuck is that?” Henfeld muttered. In front of them was a beast that looked like the cross between a lion and a scorpion, along with wings. It was asleep, but the sun was coming up, meaning that it would probably be waking soon. He had seen some scary things. Back in the lower area or his home city, there was much less security, meaning on occasion some of the wild animals from the surrounding area would wander in. He had been in a gang called ‘The Fives,’ for his own survival, which was scary on its own. And in his years in the Federal Military, he had seen some frightening creatures, so this was nothing new.

The creature stirred, waking up, Henfeld had been holding this position while Cyrus scouted ahead. He pulled out his rifle, and clicked the safety off. He had the suppressor on, and the trees would probably take care of the rest of the sound. The creature looked around and noticed him. It let out a bestial call, and charged. Henfeld pulled the trigger, the creature’s head in his sights.

Nothing happened.

It was jammed.

“SHIT!” He yelled, grabbing his sidearm, just having time to punch three rounds into it. Another shot rang out, and the thing dropped dead, a hole punched through the side of its head. Cyrus walked up, her Cobalt 3 Scout Rifle hoisted over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” Henfeld said, coughing.

“No problem,” she responded.

Twilight had just walked outside, about to go see what had crashed, or landed, when she heard what sounded like thunder, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. She walked past Applejack setting up her apple cart.

“Howdy Twi’” Applejack greeted her, “What ‘chu doin’ out n’ about at this time of the day?”

“Hi Applejack!” Twilight responded, “I was hoping I’d bump into you!” she continued, “I was outside when I saw something in the sky, long story short, I saw something crash in the everfree forest!”

“And yer jus’ plannin’ on walkin’ right on in?” Applejack asked.

“Oh,” Twilight said, “Forgot about that…”

“What do you think this is?” Henfeld asked.

“I’m not sure,” Cyrus began, then her eyes darted to the left at the sound of movement, “But I think that might be the least of our worries, locals inbound.”

The two bolted for cover, hiding in the shrubs.

“I don’t think we should be ‘n the forest for long Twi’”  a country voice said,

“Well, it shouldn’t be too lo-” another voice began, before the two were grabbed and bound.

“Talking horses?” Henfeld whispered, Cyrus simply shrugged.

The orange country horse was struggling and yelling, but the gag made it no louder than polite conversation. The purple one tried struggling, but realized it was futile, and looked at the two legged creatures with fear with and an underside of curiosity.

“Damn it, what are we going to do about this one?” Henfeld asked, gesturing to the orange mare. Cyrus walked up to the pony, taking out a needle of morphine from her medkit. The pony looked at her with hatred in her eyes, and started hollering even louder when jabbed with the needle. After a few minutes, she began to struggle less, and her eyes lost focus, lazily looking around. The two hauled up the equines, and began walking back to the base camp.

“So much for a human colony,” Henfeld muttered.

Roscoe looked at the two prisoners, and turned to Carneget.

“What do you think? They don’t look like scouts,” Carneget shook his head.

“No, they look like townspeople, err, ponies.” Roscoe told Henfeld to take the gag the purple one.

Applejack stirred from her drugged state.  Henfeld walked towards Twilight, and untied the rag that was acting as a gag. She coughed and looked up, “W-what are y-you?” she stuttered out fearfully. Roscoe approached saying, “We are Humans, but who are you?” Twilight responded, telling them her name. “What are you d-doing here? And where are you f-from?” Roscoe looked at her, “That is not something that I’m willing to tell you.” Applejack started struggling again. Roscoe nodded at Henfeld and the trooper walked over, removing the gag.

“YOU SACKS OF HORSEAPPLES UNTIE ME RIGHT NOW OR I’M GONNA-” she was shushed by Twilight.

“Don’t make things worse AJ,” Twilight pleaded.

“But Twi’ they foalnapped us! ‘n I’m not too happy ‘bout that!” Applejack began, her voice getting louder. Roscoe pulled out his Kobren sidearm and let out a shot into the air,

“Now you just quiet the hell down, or we won’t be so nice.” He growled out.

Rainbow Dash was flying, enjoying the wind in her mane, but mainly looking for her friends, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle. She heard what sounded like thunder from afar and scanned the skies.

“There shouldn’t be a thunderstorm today,” she muttered to herself. The sky was completely clear, and she looked at where the sound came from; the Everfree forest. Not being one to just let things go, she flew towards it to investigate. She came across a giant metal thing, she thought of a crane at first, but realized it couldn’t be. She was startled by shouting.

“YOU! Get down here right now or we’ll kill you and these other two!” someone yelled. She looked down, seeing two legged creatures, pointing what looked like shaped metal tools. Then she noticed Twilight Sparkle and Applejack, with another of the creatures holding a smaller metal tool to Twilight’s head. She flew lower, a startled expression on her face, which she righted as soon as she realized it.

“And how are gonna do that?” she asked. The two legged creature pointed the thing in his hand at the ground, and a flash came out of it, and Rainbow saw the ground torn open. She gasped. Her ears drooping, she slowly descended, sitting by her two friends.

“We’re sorry we did that, but we had to, this is a covert operation.” Henfeld said to the three.

“Why are you telling us now? Isn’t it a bad idea to explain your plans to your prisoners?” Rainbow asked.

“It isn’t when you have one of these,” he said, gesturing at the combat rifle leaning on a tree. Twilight had an idea, if they weren’t paying attention, she could get the ropes that were binding them free with her magic, then she could get one of those rifles and… she didn’t want to think about what she might do after that. She also realized that if she did, her friends would be near defenseless, as she would be the only one able to work the mechanism used to fire the thing.

As if reading her mind, one of the people walked up, picking the rifle off the ground. It was the one that was referred to as ‘Carneget,’

“Yes miss, I did read your mind.” He stated, shocking her.

“B-but how?” she asked. He tapped a finger on his head.

“I’m Psionic, I can read your mind, influence your emotions, and do many other things that your kind calls magic.” Twilight looked stunned. He was saying that it was not magic, but psychic powers. It was pure blasphemy.

“Sir!” Sedwens called out, “The ship’s Psi officers are telling us something is coming. Something bad.”

Pinkie looked up. The same instance of Pinkie Sense she had earlier came again. “Its closer.” She whispered to herself, and it took her a moment to return to her normal self.

Authors note: well THAT was interesting. This started out as a short story I was writing, then it turned it into a MLP fanfic. Hopefully there aren’t too many errors, but its late and I’m just gonna get this out here.