As bio and nano-technology advanced, the rift between heavy augmentees and those who lacked the funds to afford advanced augmentation became larger. Corporations usually preferred augmented workers who could function more efficiently and in a wider range of conditions over those who could not.

The rapidly advancing technology however would spur increasingly common fights between the two groups. On December 7th, 3009, colonist Rolland Hallman was brutally murdered on the human colony world of Irtal during a street fight on one of the many bridges of the city. The perpetrator was the heavily augmented Michael Bolter. The augmentee with little effort overpowered Hallman, forcing him to the ground, and subsequently curb stomped him. This resulted in Hallman’s immediate traumatic death.

The incident itself raised the attention of the entire population of the USC. Soon, street fights ceased to be a weekly phenomenon and instead became a daily occurrence. Extremist groups were formed, one of these being the “Pure Hearts”, a conglomeration of heavily armed anti-augmentation terrorists.

Adam Becker stood still, watching the main virtual window of the Vector’s command bridge, which displayed a group of pastel colored quadrupeds standing defiantly in front of a barn. In their mouths were an assortment of farming tools and torches, some of which were actually hovering in mid air. On the upper corner of the window was the serial number “MAC-2945”.

“Don’t tell me those things are actually floating...” came a voice next to the Admiral. He turned to see that Infantry Commander Jack Silverback, the Vector’s second in command, was standing behind him. His armor was of a dark shade of grey, while his shoulder pads were crimson red with the logo of the Colonial Guard on one and a star on the other. His face showed years of experience and told the story of his brutal service with the Guard. Several scars displayed themselves prominently; despite the ease at which they could be removed, he chose to leave them as a reminder of his veterancy.

“It appears so,” the Admiral said, looking back at the window. “Our sensors have lit up a couple times; there’s an anomalous field around the planet, but we can’t quite put a finger on it. It almost seems like it purposely stays away from us.” Becker sighed and began pacing around, the Commander’s eyes never leaving him. “There are also several pockets of energy scattered around the exosphere. They should pose no danger to us, but the technicians are still trying to find a reason as to why they’re there.”

The Admiral stopped walking about and turned to the main window. He pressed a yellow button on a nearby control console, and the image displayed in the window changed to the planet’s sky; the sun was setting, and some stars could already be seen.

“They look just like stars,” said the Admiral. “And something is odd with the orbital pattern of the planet. Our sensors say that it’s neither actually spinning nor orbiting the sun. In fact, they show that it’s the other way around. I’m thinking some of the sensors burned out during the jump. That’s the only explanation that makes sense at the moment”

“Maybe the anomalous field has something to do with all of this, sir?” the Commander said.

“Perhaps,” Becker responded, “But we cannot be so sure as of now.” After finishing his statement, the Admiral turned to Commander Silverback. “We managed to schedule a meeting with the leader of this planet’s inhabitants.” He pointed at the window, which was still giving them a view of the sun hiding behind the horizon. “ ‘Once the sun sets’, they said, so I better get moving. I’m taking sections Apex four and five, as well as my personal team.” Admiral Becker then turned on his heels, “You have the bridge in the meantime. Farewell,” he said, heading out of the command bridge and towards the tram station.

“Yes sir,” said Silverback. He turned towards the main window and folded his arms, watching as the sun went down.

“‘Personal team’,” he scoffed, “Those little pets of his...”

The dropship’s ramp lowered itself, allowing Atlas to walk out of it and into one of the Vector’s many hangars, followed by Torres and Mac. He spotted a few empty crates near the ship, and decided to walk over to them and sit down on one.

He sighed, “What in the hell did we just see?”

“Sapient quadrupeds that speak Terran, and can also levitate things,” Torres muttered, “as well as a sapient lizard. And I’ve never seen such colours on any living being...” she trailed off and sat on a crate next to Atlas. “How badly did the jump go? I mean, we got here almost instantly, but it’s impossible that this planet hasn’t been touched by the USC if it’s that close to explored space.... And how is it possible that they speak the same language?” She looked up, groaning, “Where are we...?”

“Maybe not even in the same galaxy...” Atlas said. He watched as Mac walked around the dropship, examining the remains and the skid marks left by both fruit and vegetables that had been thrown at it.

“Perhaps they weaponized vegetables, but it does not work on us?” the android asked, looking at Torres and Atlas, the latter which looked down upon his stomach.

“There is no reason for you to be worried,” said Mac, “The apple pie you ate was perfectly edible, but perhaps it works the other way around for those quadrupeds. Besides, your body is more than capable of eliminating toxins, bacteria and viruses.”

Atlas huffed and looked around the hangar: it was the same one from before, with the same ships stationed in the same landing pads. He noticed a large group of pilots nearby, all chatting with each other. One of them looked at him and broke away from the rest of the group, heading towards Atlas and his two companions, with the eyes of the other pilots following his path. Once the man was close enough, his visor highlighted him as “Squad Commander Tiller Dunkam”. None of the three acknowledged the presence of the man as he walked over to them.

The Commander gave them a mock salute. “I’ve never seen you three,” he said, lowering his hand. “My display isn’t showing me your data, either. Who are you?”

“We’re nobody,” Atlas answered.

The Squad Commander scoffed, “Oh, I see. You three are special, aren’t you?” Both the Commander’s and Atlas’ expressions remained hidden, but the way they both stared at each other from behind their faceplates gave away the fact that both of them were probably frowning.

“Anyways,” the Commander continued. “You were part of the ‘First Contact’ team, weren’t you?” he asked, “You see, my boys are getting quite... anxious. So I was hoping that you could tell me some of what happened down there.”

“Well...” the Raider muttered, standing up and folding her arms. “I mean, we have direct orders from the Admiral not to say anything, sir.”

“Come on,” The Commander took a step forward, gesturing towards the group of pilots. “I’m not asking for details, just something I can tell to my boys so they calm down.”

“I—” Torres sighed. “Fine. We found a civilization of sapient quadrupeds, more or less on a medieval stage....”

“Really?” said the Commander, “That’s interesting... Thank you for sharing that, Raider.”

“No problem, Commander...” Torres said, not sounding entirely enthusiastic.

The Squad Commander turned around and walked back to the conglomeration of pilots. Torres sighed and sat back down on the crate next to Atlas, who shot her an inquisitive look from behind his visor.

“You realize that soon, everyone on the ship is gonna know about this?” Atlas asked, adjusting his position in order to face her.

Torres sighed. “I know, but don’t you think that they deserve to know?”

“...Point taken.” Atlas stood up. “You’re lucky the Admiral is capable of taking this from you. If it was anybody else, they’d be on cleaning duty for months,” he chuckled, then pointed towards the hangar’s entry. “Speaking of the Admiral....”

Entering the hangar was Admiral Becker, followed by a large squad of troopers, composed of regular soldiers, a couple Heavy Troopers, Combat Techs, Combat Medics, and a Raider. Sergeant Morris, the technician, and Corporal Allen, the medic, were also following the Admiral.

Atlas watched as the squad divided itself in two groups, each with one pilot, and then boarded their respective dropships. The Admiral, Morris and Allen walked towards him and his two companions, causing him to smile behind his faceplate. Meanwhile, the other men and women nearby looked at them with inquisitive expressions, but Atlas simply shrugged them off. He was already beginning to get used to such things.

“What’s up, boss?” asked Allen, who clasped his hand together with Atlas. Allen’s armor was a white version of the regular armor, with both the shoulder and knee pads painted red. His left shoulder pad bore the logo of the Colonial Guard, while the right pad had a white outline of a cross on it.

“Hey Allen, nice to see you again,” Atlas said, then turned towards Morris. “And hey Morris, how’ve you been?” he asked, letting go of Allen’s hand and offering it to the technician.

Morris grabbed Atlas’ hand, shaking it. “Ever since the jump, I’ve been helping out in fixing fried systems and the likes. Lookin’ forward to gettin’ out and breathin’ in some air that hasn’t been sterilized and scrubbed who knows how many times.”

Atlas smiled behind his faceplate and released his grip on Morris’ hand. “I tell you, the air out there is almost as clean as it is in here.”

“Ahem.” All eyes turned to the Admiral who had been standing still during all of the chit-chat. Atlas, Torres and Mac turned to him and brought their hands to their forehead, saluting him. Becker then nodded, and they brought their hands back down.

“That’s better,” he said, smirking. “Anyways, we have a meeting to go to, and the sun’s already going down.”

Luna trotted briskly down a long stairway. She had to, as there was not much time left before she was to raise the moon. Further down at the end of the stairs, her path was blocked by a large, metallic door flanked by two unicorn guards. Upon noticing her, the former brought their forehooves to their heads, performing a salute which she returned with a nod. Immediately afterwards, the two ponies turned around and inserted their horns into a pair of sockets set on the adjacent walls. Shortly, the metallic barrier began to slide open, allowing the Princess to walk further into the depths of the castle.

Just like the majority of the building, the floors were made of the whitest of tiles. Yet, this part of the castle lacked the many decorations and antiques that filled the rest of it, and instead the walls were lined only by large, identical doors.

This was the palace’s keep, where the most precious and dangerous objects that were known to ponykind were kept, all of which kept behind doors that could only be opened by a select few individuals.

She continued trotting at a fast pace along the hallway, past several vaults, some of which contained objects as old or maybe older than both herself and Celestia. She rounded a corner and now found herself standing in front of her destination. A large iron-plated door which, if you looked carefully at it, was shrouded by a shimmering field of multiple, defensive, magical wards. Just as the guards had done, she inserted her horn into a hole by the wall, and with a click, and the soft grinding of gears, the door slid open. she walked in without hesitation and the door shut behind her.

The ambience had abruptly changed; no longer was she standing in the palace’s vault, instead she found herself in a small hospital surrounded by impenetrable walls and a door made of the strongest of metals. Several ponies were walking back and forth along the hallways, all of them wearing white overalls and masks.

She telekinetically took hold of a nearby overall and placed it around her body, then grabbed one of the many masks and placed it over her snout. She made sure the whole attire was in perfect shape before continuing.

Luna began to walk across the small hospital’s hallways. After a few seconds, she walked up to a grey unicorn stallion with a black mane who was scribbling into a notepad.

“Doctor Sharp Scalpel,” she said, causing the unicorn to turn to her. One of his eyes was covered by an eye patch, while the other was completely fine.

“Ah, Princess, I’ve been expecting you,” he said.

“I see.... Have you made any progress?” Luna asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Scalpel said. He placed the notepad and the pencil he was using into one of his overalls’ pockets. “We have been unable to heal it completely; magic is just unable to do the trick.” He began walking through the hall, with Luna following him. “I have to admit, for something with two broken legs and a severed arm, it had no problem fending off an entire group of guards.”

They soon reached a room with a one way window on it. On the door to this room were four guards, all of whom wearing overalls underneath their armor with masks upon their faces. Luna and the doctor stood in front of the window, looking inside.

The room was filled with a varied assortment of medical equipment, all of it centered around a single medical bed. Several ponies were in the room, taking notes and managing the equipment hooked to the creature that lay on the bed.

Luna had never seen anything like it. The creature’s body was a mixture of metal and flesh crudely assembled together. It had no hair, and only the biological parts had skin. Both of its legs were bent in awkward angles, and the only arm it had ended in a hand with claws as sharp as a dragon’s. Its face was no more than a metallic skull with patches of burnt skin on it and two glowing red eyes.

It was disgusting.

Yet she had no choice but to help it, despite the fact that it took the life of three guards and severely injured another. After all, the safety of Equestria depended on it, since it could very well be one of these “Humans” mentioned by Twilight Sparkle.

The Princess walked over to the door, with doctor Scalpel still following her. The four guards that stood next to the door stepped aside and, just as before, opened the door by inserting their horns in various holes by the walls. The door then gently slid open, allowing Luna and the doctor to walk in.

Once inside, the supposed Human lifted its head and looked at her, speaking in a distorted, raspy voice. “Luneh...” it coughed out, fluids seeping out of its mouth. “Are you... looking for more conversation... or are you here to end me?”

“I am here to ensure that you live.” Luna sighed, starting to pace around the bed. “A ‘starship’ has appeared over our land, seemingly called ‘USS Vector’.”

“Ah...” The creature allowed its head to rest upon the bed once again. “Humans... I see the situation is not as complicated as I thought.”

Luna came to a halt, turning and facing the broken biped. “Yes... I take it that you are not human, then?”

“A long time ago... I was.” Its head flopped over to the side, staring at the Princess with its glowing eyes. “I now am what they call ‘Ubor’... I am their enemy.”

“Do explain...” the blue alicorn said, raising an eyebrow.

“We are a race of machines... We use biological parts in order to build ourselves. My existance... is an abomination.” It looked back up at the ceiling, coughing. “I murdered a father and child because the true machines controlled me. They are not like me... I am cannon fodder, a psychological weapon, and a monster. The true machines take organic beings... and place them under their control, creating thousands upon thousands of soldiers that... cannot think for themselves.”

“What about the humans?” Luna asked, concern filling her voice.

“They fight the machines... They have done so for centuries, to the point in which we are at the verge of extinction. We... are desperate.” The hybrid of machine and man looked at the Princess, a trail of yellow fluid seeping out from its mouth. Luna shivered as it made eye contact with her, still unused to the cold and unnatural stare it possesed.

“I warn you, Princess... be careful with them.”

Luna sighed, looking at Doctor Scalpel, who had been listening intently and scribbling the conversation into his notepad. “Make sure it’s in the best condition you can possibly achieve. It is time for me to raise the moon.”

Twilight watched as the three crusaders fell asleep atop a bale of hay, all huddled together. She had spent the last minutes of daytime making sure that the three fillies fell asleep, and that “Everything is going to be okay”. She had to. After all, it was her fault for yelling out that Equestria was at war. And thankfully, Big Macintosh was kind enough to offer to take care of them while she and her friends were in Canterlot. The quiet stallion was currently sitting next to her.

Nearby, the rest of her friends were quietly sitting by the main table. She left Big Mac with the crusaders and approached her friends, sitting down next to the rustic piece of furniture. They regarded her with a concerned look, causing her to shrink under their gaze.

Rarity was idly brushing her mane, looking worried. “When is the chariot going to arrive...?”

“Soon, I think. The sun’s already goin’ down,” said Applejack.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash groaned, “I hate waiting...”

Fluttershy sighed, “I hope everything goes well with the Humans...”

A distant flap of wings could be heard, and the six mares turned to the barn door, which had been left open. As the sound got louder, they were able to distinguish the shape of a chariot being pulled by four pegasi of the Royal Guard. Sooner rather than later, the chariot landed in front of the barn.

“Twilight Sparkle?” asked one of the guards.

“That’s me,” Twilight said, walking over to them. Four of her friends followed suit, hopping onto the chariot. Applejack, meanwhile, was giving her goodbyes to Big Macintosh, who hugged her. She then leaned down and kissed the sleeping Apple Bloom’s forehead before trotting towards the chariot to join her friends.

Once everypony was in position, one of the guards asked, “Ready?”

“Ready as can be...” Twilight replied. The guards then took flight towards Canterlot.

Twilight looked up as the chariot flew under the Vector’s underbelly, the thousands of lights upon its hull mimicking stars in the night’s sky. “Speaking of stars...” she looked at the horizon and saw that the sun had already set, making way for the moon to rise and for the stars to shine, if only the Vector was not in the way.

Her ears flickered, picking up a distant sound that roared loudly. She looked behind the chariot just as three machines flew past it, and various loud booms reached the ponies’ ears and shook the chariot as the three flying contraptions broke the sound barrier.

Luna finished raising the moon and dropped back to the balcony, standing on her hooves. She turned around and walked back into the palace, sighing.

“Incoming!” one of the guards called out. She looked out through one of the hallway’s windows to see that three flying objects, all of them slightly similar to what she found near the Everfree forest, were rapidly approaching the castle. She took in a deep breath.

“THEY ARE HERE! TAKETH POSITIONS!”

She began to run through the palace, along with many guards, waiting to see where the visitors would land.

“The courtyard!” another guard yelled. Luna unfurled her wings and began flying through the hallways towards the courtyard. Once she was there, she found Celestia standing in the bare grass amongst a group of guards. Above were the three machines, flying in circles over the courtyard and roaring loudly.

Luna took her place at Celestia’s side, both of them flanked by several guards with retractable spears on their sides, waiting for the machines to land. She looked up at them, noticing that they were gouting fire out of their wings. Once they began to lose altitude and get closer to the ground, the grass under them was instantly consumed in flames.

The Princess stood perfectly still, making sure to maintain her composure while the humans arrived. She watched as steam shot off from the machines while they opened, a ramp on each of the two outer contraptions began to lower painfully slowly towards the earth below. Luna discreetly bit her lower lip, bracing herself. It felt like ages, just looking as the ramps got closer to the ground, yet still hiding what was inside. She closed her eyes for just a moment, then opened them as a loud thud reached her ears.

The ramps had touched down, allowing a group of hulking bipeds to walk out, all of them wearing the most imposing sets of armor the Princess had ever laid eyes on. Even the shortest ones, those with metallic wings, towered over both her and Celestia, while others were easily two times as tall. They all walked out of the machines in perfect unison, the sound of their feet as they took every step making the ground quake. Once they were out, they stood in a “V” formation, the tallest and bulkiest ones standing closest to the ponies. Luna noticed how they all held what she assumed were pieces of weaponry in their hands, which were nothing like any weapon she could recognize. She had to repress a gulp, still unsure of what was going to happen next.

As soon as the soldiers had taken their positions, the ramp on the machine that sat on the middle began to lower itself. Out came another figure, clad in a bright white suit of armor with large, yellow shoulder pads and with nothing protecting its head, leaving only bare skin and a short-cropped mane. Accompanying it was an enormous figure with dark grey armor and an orange slit on its faceplate, followed by a slimmer figure with metallic wings and a fully orange helmet upon its head, a creature wearing a suit of white armor with a red cross on one of its shoulders, one with silver armor and blue shoulder pads with a yellow stripe, and another silver figure with blue eyes.

The helmet-less one approached the Princesses, followed by its guards. Its features were not as alien as the ‘Human’ she was keeping inside the vault, which surprised her, while at the same time it made her feel more comfortable.

The contingent of guards assembled were clearly unnerved. It was a woefully ill prepared rag tag group of under trained recruits and rookies. It did not help matters as the guard next to her began to shake in fear.

The creature stopped right in front of the sisters, looking them over.

“I assume that one of you is Princess Celestia?” it spoke, its voice neither distorted nor raspy. It was the voice of an old stallion, with years of accumulated experience.

“That would be me,” Celestia answered.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Celestia. I am Admiral Adam Becker,” he said, and extended his arm towards the Princess of the Sun, causing the already unnerved guard to thrust his spear into the human’s belly.