Axle walked through the corridors of the castle. The guards gave him cold greetings that he answered with a wave of the hand. Currently, something else than guards greeting him occupied his thoughts. 'What does she want? Why does she want me to meet her there? And with her sister nonetheless?' He thought as he walked in the throne room.

As he entered it, he realised that there was no guard around. Celestia and Luna were there, waiting for him. Axle smiled softly when Celestia looked at him. 'It's been, what, ten days since she and I are a couple... Although no one outside the castle knows.' He thought. When Axle was finally beside the two Princesses, Celestia let out a sigh.

"I have something to say to you."

"What is it, sister?" Luna asked, eager to know.

"Well, you see, it has been ten days since, well..." Celestia said with a blush as she looked at Axle who answered with a knowing smile.

"Carry on, dear sister."

"Well, Luna, you know as much as I do that most ponies, including ourselves, thought that we could not have foals. Well..." Celestia trailed off.

Luna's face lit up as she understood what her sister meant.

"You don't mean that..." Luna said, both forehooves covering her mouth.

Celestia nodded, a few tears of joy rolling on her cheeks. Luna gasped and hugged her sister tightly. Axle looked at the two, confusion washing up on him.

"And?" He asked, completely oblivious of the obvious.

Luna glared at Axle for a few seconds before breaking the hug with her sister. She slowly walked to Axle, getting on her hind legs so she could whisper something in Axle's ears. When Luna finally fell back on all four, Axle had a huge grin on his face. He almost jumped on Celestia, kissing her tenderly.

The next day, Celestia held a press conference where she officially gave the humans full support from Equestria. She also sent the invitation that they could settle in the country and live happy lives.

Chuck was smiling. After almost a month of relations and diplomacy, the humans finally gained the support from the ponies. And he was well aware of the invitation to live down on the planet. He was actually expecting that much. But something kept nagging at him, preventing him from getting any real rest at night. He could only go into some sort of half-sleep.

He was not yet ready to tell the crew members about the possibility to settle. There were still some things that needed to be taken care of.

Far from the planet Equis, a hyperjump portal opened, and a huge carrier got out. All over its hull were marks signaling impacts of objects as well as scorch marks, as if it had been attacked. The ship itself seemed empty. It slowly drifted towards the Redemption, a single signal coming from the ship. A single word.

Help.

As the signal reached the bridge, the carrier's whereabouts were already monitored. Chuck was waiting for something else than what came. A search team was immediately sent to the ventral hangar, and off to the carrier they went.

As the shuttle landed in the carrier's main hangar, the team members took a good look around. All the fighters were still in their housing. The support vessels were still where they were supposed to be, but there was no crew, and no signal. The team got off and split in small squads of five soldiers.

One of the squads had a new recruit in it. The recruit was looking around frantically, his PR-45 swinging left and right, up and down.

"Come on, Victor. Calm down." The leader of his squad told him over the radio.

Victor's breathing was frantic, and the visor of his helmet was getting fogged by his breathing. It was his first mission, and he was feeling nervous. Plus, the current seemed to be out, which meant that the hallways were pitch black and cold.

"Yeah. Right." Victor said between big breaths.

Victor calmed a little, and managed to swipe the hallway ahead with his PR's light. As they reached the end of the hallway, Victor almost threw up.

"Guys, come here."

His four squad teammates came, and they all had the same reaction: disgust.

"Whatever did that, it sure seemed hungry."

The walls of the hallway were covered with blood, and several corpses half-eaten littered the floor.

"Let's keep going."

The small squad kept going through the hallways, eventually reaching the bridge. More half-eaten corpses were there, and a lot of bullets littered the floor. The squad walked down the stairs to the lower part of the bridge. One went to a console, but could do nothing as the power seemed to have been cut off from the source.

"Let's keep searching for survivors."

The small squad wandered through the hallways for three hours before they reached the more heavily protected part of the carrier, the living quarters of the possible colonists. They opened the door and entered the wide open area where small 'farms' could be seen.

As they all entered the area, the sound of a shotgun made them turn around. They saw a man in his thirties.

"Lower that gun, sir. We're here to help you."

"Thank God." The man said. "Follow me. Those things just kept attacking."

The man led the small squad to a room where several people, some armed with shotguns or handguns, were gathered. The leader of the squad gestured to one of the soldier, and he said the discovery of the squad. Victor then heard something. He informed his leader and went to look for whatever did the sound.

As he walked down some hallways, Victor heard growls. The closer to the power plant he got, the louder the growls were. As he turned around one corner, he saw what was the origin of the growls. There were dozens of small creatures. They had a wolf-like aspect, but no fur, and an exoskeleton covering its body.

Then, someone moaned, and Victor gasped. The creatures turned and faced Victor, giving him menacing growls. Victor began shooting the creatures, killing several of them. But he soon ran out of ammunition, and he had to run. He turned one corner and ended in front of a dead end. The creatures were blocking his way.

Then, several creatures let out their last breath as a shotgun was heard. A man in his sixties, a hand to his left side, can, holding a shotgun. He shot three more times before he was out of ammunition too. Then, four PRs fired at the remaining creatures.

"Let's get out of here." The leader said.

In the medical bay, Chuck was looking at the injured old man. The captain of the Eldorado. The man then spoke.

"All the colonists are alive, I made sure of that myself. Those creatures ain't livin' this one out. The carrier's safe, once those bastards are all dead. Take good care of her, Chuck."

Then, the medical equipment gave off an alarm as the old man passed away.

"The ship is all clear, sir. We found three other groups of survivors. All colonists. Power has been restore to the ship, too. We just need to clean the blood and the corpses."

"Okay. Clear everything and come back home. End of transmission."

Chuck let out a sigh. Whatever had happened was now over.

"Contact Celestia. I want to discuss about a military alliance."

The technician nodded, and a hologram of Celestia appeared. Chuck noticed she seemed to have gained weight, but he dismissed it as being an illusion caused by the holographic projection.

"Yes captain?"

"Listen, how about we give Equestria technologies and weaponry? We already have a carrier ready to receive a crew."

"That would be interesting. What do you want in exchange?" She asked.

"The immediate integration of the humans. We have a few dozens ready to go and settle on the planet."

Celestia stayed silent for a few second.

"Okay... Send them to Ponyville."

The hologram then vanished.

It had been 43 days since the humans came to Equis. Katrina was glad to have a mother, glad to have friends, but she missed the company of humans, that is until the first colonists arrived in Ponyville. It had been about twenty days since then arrived, and it already seemed like they had been there forever.

She was walking around her mother's cottage, looking for a bird friend to play with, when she heard people talk. She slowly crept to a hiding place close enough so she could hear what was said.

"...think the plan'll work?" A man in his thirties said.

"Maybe. You know I ain't a fan of those dormant super-soldiers, especially when they're not on my side." Another man in his thirties replied.

"And the lil' Katrina? Think she'll be the first to rise?"

"Nah. I think she's not gonna wake up at all. After all, she's the youngest super-soldier even created. The poor girl's parents died for the stupid Runners, and the mother's dying wish was that she'd be a super-soldier. But she never said on which side."

At that, Katrina almost yelled. She put a hand over her mouth, but not before letting out a small gasp of shock that attracted the two men's attention.

"Crap. Someone's spying on us."

Katrina got up and ran. She ran without stopping and until her legs hurt, not giving up on her one goal. To reach Twilight's library. When she reached it, she allowed herself to take a breath. As she reached for the doorknob, the door opened and Spike was behind.

"Hey, Katrina. What's up?"

"Hey Spike. Where's Twilight?"

"I'm right here, Katrina." Twilight said as she walked down the stairs.

"Great... Send a message to the captain and to the Princess. I found two men talking about dormant super-soldier, one of them being me."

Chuck walked quickly down the hallway to the detention block. In the last few days, three men were arrested for treason, and he was going to interrogate one.

When he received Twilight's message, he couldn't believe it. But he did his homework and found out that Rebecca's project had been brought to fruition, and the fruits of her research were used in those dormant super-soldier. Once activated, they would attack any member of the run away fleet as well as any creature that helped them.

Chuck reached the detention block. He quickly checked where the chosen man was held, then he went to the cell. He walked in.

"So, do you have anything to say about dormant super-soldier being a plan from the Federation?"

"I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about." The young man said.

"Answer. The. Question."

"I did."

"Okay, smartass. You wanna play this game? Then we'll play this game."

"What do you mean?" The young man said, now terrified.

"Oh, just that it will be the worst day of your life. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait while they go get her from the surface."

"Oh, God. Please not her."

"Will you answer the question?"

"Yes, yes. I will."

"Good." Chuck said as he sat down in front of the detained man. "I knew we could come to... An agreement."

The man gulped, and he told Chuck everything he knew about the plan. When it was done, Chuck got out of the cell and went back to the bridge. Once on the bridge, he asked for a communication with the carrier.

"Yes, sir?"

"Is it clean?"

"Yes, sir. We were about to leave."

"Good. End of transmission. Get me in contact with Celestia."

After a few seconds, the hologram of not Celestia but Luna appeared in front of Chuck.

"Yes, captain?"

"Where's your sister?"

"Unable to talk."

"Okay... As a gift for Equestria's acceptance of our kind in your country, I am glad to offer you a ship, and its crew shall be mostly ponies."

"This is a kind gesture, captain, but not only are ponies non-violent, but we are at peace."

"Not for long. A war is getting prepared, and whether you like it or not, the ponies' kind nature will cause them to be wiped out simply because you helped us. I am not asking the ponies to forget who they are, what I am asking is for them to make the decision that could save their lives."

There was silence for several minutes as Luna processed the information.

"Send transport vessels to Canterlot. We will send some soldiers to become the crew of this vessel."

"Wise decision, Princess. End of transmission."

The hologram flickered, then was smiling, glad that they now had a military ally as well as friends.

The ponies were uneasy in the hold of their transport vessel. Three of those had been dispatched to Canterlot to pick them up, and they were now making the final approach of the carrier. All the ponies inside the transport vessels were Royal Guards, with about half-half of Day guards and Night guards.

One of the Night guards was slightly more nervous than the other as it was his biggest mission ever. The stallion had a dark blue coat, a purple mane and ice blue eyes.

"Is everything okay?" A Day guard asked the nervous stallion.

"Yeah..." He muttered.

"Attention, ponies. We are currently entering the main hangar of the carrier. Please remain calm while we dock." Came the voice of the pilot from the speakers.

The dark blue Night guard gulped. He looked around frantically, then took several deep breaths to calm himself.

"Night Assault, sir, are you okay?" Another Night guard asked the dark blue stallion.

He nodded, and regained his usual stern expression. There was a loud clank and a sudden movement of the vessel, causing the ponies to stumble a little. Then, the pilot spoke through the speakers.

"Alright, we are now docked. Please watch your step as you go down the ramp."

A buzzing sound was then heard as the ramp slowly extended itself and the door slowly opened on the hangar. Night Assault took one last deep breath before he spoke to the guards.

"Alright, fillies. Get out of here in a single line. And trotting! GO! GO! GO!"

Federation of Nations Space
Earth

Assassin-class Photon Canon Destroyer Annihilator
High Earth Orbit (HEO)
12:14 AM Stellar Time (ST)

"...and be sure to remain out of sight. End of transmission." A man whose voice was modified via a computer program said through the speakers on the bridge.

The captain of the ship, one of the youngest and most successful of the entire Federation of Nations fleet, let out a sigh as his gaze slowly drifted to the viewing bay in front of him. The Earth was taking much of the space despite the vessel being in HEO. The green, beige and blue of the orb was a source of inspiration for the young captain.

A small smile slowly crept on his face, breaking his contemplative expression. He got up from his chair to adress the bridge crew.

"Everyone to their station. Prepare hyperjump drive for jump. Coordinates are in the computer already." He said, then he sat back down.

The crew immediately obeyed the order, and the destroyer was soon moving out of orbit towards the exit coordinates. As the destroyer reached the coordinates, the hyperjump drive kicked in, and a red hyperjump window opened in front of the destroyer, and the destroyer slowly entered the window which closed once the vessel had completely entered the window.

The captain got up from his chair and went to his living quarters, which were directly on the other side of the corridor. He walked in and immediately went to his desk, where a computer was waiting. He opened the computer, and opened the files about his baby. He read the content of the files out loud.

"'Assassin-Class Photon Canon Destroyer Annihilator. Length: 3.6 km. Width: 1.4 km. Height: 1.5 km. Current Captain: Hugo Drake.'"

Beside these information was a rotating image of the destroyer, showing its curved lines and onyx hull. Hugo kept reading out loud for himself.

"'The Annihilator was built at the same time as the Redemption and the Eldorado. Its main armament consists of two prototype Photon Canon, and its secondary armament consists of five energy beam turrets. Unlike its two sisters, it has a curved hull and is colored onyx as its primary use is stealth observation of enemy assets.'"

Hugo was smiling broadly. He loved his ship, and he loved destroying and killing with his ship. So his newest mission was perfect for him.

Satisfied, he closed his computer. Then, the internal comm system sounded.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to jump. Estimated time until arrival at our destination: two hours."

Hugo once again smiled, feeling eager for the upcoming victory.

I AM ALIVE! Sorry for the seemingly long wait, but as you might have noticed, this chapter is shorter than usual. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Night Assault belongs to Specialist ODST.