Equestria, Canterlot, Great Hall
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Twilight Sparkle and her friends burst out of the Wedding Hall in a panic. Barely ten minutes earlier, she and the real Cadance had exposed the Changeling Queen, only for Celestia to be defeated, the real Cadance captured, and a full-scale assault on Canterlot to begin.

"We've got to get to the Elements!" Twilight cried as the Changelings penetrated the shield.

"Don't need to tell us twice!" Applejack replied as she bucked an encroaching Changeling in the throat.

"There's so many of them!" Pinkie cried. "Those meanies!"

"I think that's the least of our concerns!" Twilight cried as they came to a sudden stop. The Hall of the Elements had a full battalion of Changelings surrounding it, and by the looks of it, ready to fight. Twilight and her friends dashed into an abandoned cafe' to hide. Applejack barred the door shut with a few tables as the others caught their breath.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked.

"I... I don't know." Twilight said. "There's just so many of them."

"Well, we better think of somethin'." Applejack said from her post at the window. "More Changelings are coming."

"And there's no way we'll be able to fight them off on our own." Twilight said. "My magic reserve is nearly depleted."

"There's no way we'll be able to physically beat them, either." Rainbow said. "We need help."

"We need a miracle, more like." Rarity added. Twilight nodded and tried to think, while the others sat in a circle.

"Alright girls, it's a longshot, but I have an idea." Twilight said. "If some of us can keep the Changelings occupied, the others can find a way to the Elements undetected. Problem is, said pony will have to keep them sufficiently occupied as to not notice the others sneaking in."

"I'll do it. Causing a big scene is my specialty!" Pinkie said. "I need my...oh, here we go!"

Pinkie pulled a shoebox out of her hair, which was marked in black text, "EMERGENCY DISTRACTION KIT-USE IF A RATHER LARGE COMMOTION IS REQUIRED". Pinkie pulled a string on the box and hurled it out the window, right in front of the changelings, who snarled and lunged at it. The box then began to spit out fireworks and confetti, giving the ponies the opportunity they needed. As they dove past the Changelings and into the hall, Twilight mustered enough magic to reinforce the door.

"What's with the Elements?" Rarity asked, pointing to them. True to Rarity's observation, the Elements were all glowing a vibrant blue, before six beams of light came out from each Element and formed a sphere. The sphere then began to pulse quickly and slowly in turn, then it pulsed one last time before going out.

"What was that?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know." Twilight said.

"Maybe it has to do with the GIANT SPACESHIP!" Pinkie cried, pointing to the window. Twilight was about to dismiss it as Pinkie's imagination when the room went dark. The six ponies rushed to the window to see a rectangular, rounded spaceship come out from behind a cloud bank. It had two large engines on the stern, and it was colored white and orange. There was writing in black on the sides, along with a skull logo.

MCS BARON

Twilight's jaw, along with the jaws of nearly everypony else in Canterlot, dropped in a flash, but it was only a few moments before the chaos outside resumed.

"What is that?" Twilight asked, her voice quivering.

"I don't know…" Rainbow said. Then, the doors blasted open, revealing a squad of very annoyed and angry Changelings.

"I don't know what you did, pony…" the leader said. "But once we're done here, that ship is next! ATTACK!"

As the Changelings charged, Twilight and her friends prepared themselves for battle. Then, there was a deep booming sound, and something large smashed through the roof of the hall The last thing Twilight and her friends saw before being knocked unconscious by a blast of dust and debris was a blue dome appear and a robotic voice speak.

"Smart Core...Online."
================
One hour earlier
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The MCS Baron dropped out of warp into the view of a pristine, blue-green world. On the bridge, Captain James Ellis watched from the viewport as the ship began to descend into the planet's atmosphere.

"Sir, all decks are reporting green!" a Grunt yelled.

"Combat teams are calling in ready!" a second said.

"Good work. Prep an expeditionary force to deploy when we land, with Titan support on station at moment's notice. Get to it!" Ellis said. The Grunts relayed his orders, and Ellis smiled.

"We going to see some action, Captain?"

Ellis turned to see Pilot Daniel McKenna walk up and cross his arms.

"Possibly, Pilot McKenna." Ellis replied. "How's your squad?"

"Ready to go whenever they're needed." Daniel replied. "They're already standing by with their Titans in the Deployment Bay."

Ellis nodded and smiled.

"Good. Head there as soon as you can, McKenna. Dismissed."

"Yessir."

Daniel walked out, and Ellis walked over to the Captain's Console.

"This is Captain Ellis." Ellis spoke over the intercom. "In one hour's time, we will commence ground deployment for initial contact. I want all Grunt teams at their assigned dropship and every Pilot on standby. Be advised, this is a possible first contact situation, so check your aim and be careful who you shoot at. I understand this is, for many of you, your first time in the field with the Militia. Let's keep our honor clean, soldiers. And we are engaged by hostile forces...let's show them what we're capable of. T-minus one hour to deployment. Ellis out."

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"Sir, we're receiving a unknown signal!" a Grunt cried. Ellis walked over and frowned at the display.

"What is it?" Ellis asked.

"I'm not sure, sir." the Grunt replied. Then, a blue ring appeared at the front of the bridge. The Grunts raised their rifles, but Ellis held up his hand as pictures began to display, showing the Changeling Invasion and the chaos in the city. After a few moments, it vanished. Ellis and the bridge crew were silent.

"Sir?" A Grunt asked. "What was that?"

"I do not know." Ellis said. "But what I do know...is that those beings are in trouble and we're not going to stand to the side when we're needed most. We're going in. Fast and hard."

"Yessir!"

Ellis activated the intercom.

"This is Captain Ellis. Our time's up. We're going in. All Grunt teams, deploy in. Pilots...standby for Titanfall."

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

As Daniel McKenna walked into the deployment bay, he saw his fellow pilots already preparing their Titans.

"Hey, Danny!" Chase Dawes, pilot of Legion RC-1039, cried from the cockpit. "Ready to go?"

"You know it, Chase!" Daniel replied as he mounted his Vanguard, IN-2632 and settled into the Pilot Seat.

"Who's buying the first round?" Sasha Voryunov, pilot of Northstar PL-3431 asked sarcastically.

"You ask, you buy." Kelly Anderson, pilot of Ronin KT-4375, replied. "That's the rule."

"I can already taste it." Sean Walker, pilot of Scorch Titan GT-5929 replied.

"Wish I could say that." Romero, a Pilot Spectre, joked from the cockpit of Tone KV-0617. As Daniel nodded and shut the cockpit door, the MRVN attending his Titan swung into salute. Daniel nodded and initialized the Pilot Link.

"You ready, IN?" he asked.

"Always ready, Pilot." IN replied.

"Standby for Titanfall!" Daniel cried as the air went out from under him, and the drop began.

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

As the Element bearers recovered, their eyes immediately widened. A massive, bipedal beast plated in thick armor and colored a dull gray was slaughtering the Changelings with some kind of multi-barreled cannon with lethal efficiency. Twilight stood aghast as a Changeling squad fired repeated blasts of magic at it, only for the beams to bounce off harmlessly and do no damage whatsoever to the beast.

"What is that?" Rainbow gasped.

"I don't know...but I think it's on our side." Twilight said, numb from the carnage around her. Then, as the last of the Changelings was killed, Twilight saw some kind of door open on the beast, and a small figure stood up. It was clad in gray armor unlike anything Twilight had seen, and a helmet with a glowing blue visor covered its face. Then, he called out in a loud voice.

"I don't know what to call you beings…" he yelled. "But find some cover and keep your heads down! If you can't do that, you're dead!"

The being then dived back into the beast, and the hatch closed. Then, the beast spoke.

"Pilot controls, online."

The beast then smashed effortlessly through the door, breaking into a sprint. Twilight watched wordlessly at the scene.

"Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Let's go." Twilight said. "I'm going after it."

"That thing killed the Changelings!" Rainbow protested. "What makes you so sure it won't kill you too?"

"Enemy of my enemy, Rainbow." Twilight said. "Grab the Elements and let's go."

The others did so and followed Twilight's lead back into the city. To their shock, strange metal birds were flying all around, and every so often, they would descend and fire cables at the ground, and smaller beings like the one inside the beast would zipline down to the ground and ready what Twilight assumed were weapons. The bearers ducked behind some rubble to watch them.

"Stay in formation, eyes forward!" one cried, making him out as their leader.

"Roger that, oscar mike!" a second added. As they began to hustle away, Rainbow tried to move towards them, but Twilight blocked her path.

"I don't think they're here to hurt us." Twilight said. "If anything, they're attacking the Changelings, which means they're friendly to us."

Rainbow nodded reluctantly but she was still unsure about it. As the six of them continued to push through the city, bodies of dead changelings and rubble were scattered all around them. Then, they heard the sound of engines, and they turned to see a second beast, this one slimmer and less armored, hovering towards them, kept aloft by multiple engines on its back. On it's nose was a drawing of a white polar bear. It lowered itself to the ground and a hatch opened. A third being clad in an armor with a fur coat of some sort let itself fall out of the hatch. Twilight was about to catch it when blue flames came out from it's lower body and slowed it down enough for it to touch the ground unharmed. It started to walk forward, and it reached for its head. Twilight and the others gasped as it pulled its helmet off, revealing a female face with black hair and deep green eyes. It smiled, and then kneeled and tapped Twilight on the head twice, snapping her back into reality.

"You six okay?" it called out in fluent Equish.

"Yeah…" Twilight said. "Who are you? What are you?"

"Name's Sasha Voryunov, Pilot of Northstar Titan PL-3431, Frontier Militia Fleet, human race." the being said. "If you're wondering why we're here, well, we saw the battle, thought we'd stop in and lend a helping hand. I figure you know what's going on better than us, so...what's going on?"

Twilight gave a hurried explanation as to what happened.

"Really, attacking during a wedding? Geez." Sasha said. "Thanks for the intel. I'll relay it back to Captain Ellis. In the meantime, you six stick with me. Polar and I can keep you safe until we reach higher ground. Polar, if you will?"

"Understood, Pilot." PL said as it grabbed Sasha and deposited her in the cockpit. "C'mon, let's go!"

As the ponies followed the human, Chrysalis watched the battle from the throne room in horror and growing rage. Her link to all of her drones was filled with the screams of the dying and frantic calls for help, but she could do nothing.

"You've lost."

Chrysalis turned to see Cadance glaring at her.

"I don't think so." Chrysalis said. "Those things may have changed plans, but that doesn't mean the battle is lost. I still have you and the solar Princess, and dear Shining Armor. That alone gives me three bargaining chips should I need to retreat. And if I do...you'll be coming with me."

Cadance scowled angrily at Chrysalis, who laughed and turned back to the window to watch the carnage.