Chapter 6 First Strike

At town hall the next morning, Josh, Applejack, and Princess Celestia prepared to speak to the gathering crowd. It had taken the girls all night to spread the word, so Josh was going to do his best to convince the crowd that there was nothing to fear. Of course, having the pony you supposably murdered and a Princess back your story does help. The Mayor of Ponyville stepped up.

"Thank you all for coming. Now, I'm sure that you have heard the rumors of a strange creature murdering one of our own. Princess Celestia and two guests have come to put those rumors to rest. Princess..." She said, motioning for the Princess to take the spotlight.

"Before you hear the creature's story, you will hear testmonies from Applejack and myself. When I first saw the creature, he was near a strange craft, a craft that many of you no doubt saw fall from the sky yesterday. The craft's interior and the ground close to it were covered in blood and there were several fresh graves nearby. I immediately assumed he had killed innocent ponies, and so I attacked him. He was clever enough to be able to disrupt my magic, and soon, I was at his mercy." Several ponies gasped at this.

"However, instead of simple ridding himself of me, he gave me a chance to be reasonable. He then explained how the graves were for his crew, who had died when the craft crashed. Afterwards, I invited him to Canterlot to meet with my sister and I. We decided that while we looked for a way to get him back to his home, he would assist us in protecting Ponyville." She finished. She walked off of the stage as Applejack walked on.

"Howdy, yall. Now when I first meet him, he was introduced to me by my friend, Rainbow Dash. I had left to get some applejuice and when I returned, Josh was alone with the body of a Changeling. It had disguised itself as me to try to kill my friends.

"I decided to trust him when he told me the truth about what happened, instead of trying to place the blame on somepony else. He went with me to explain to my friends what had really happened and, in the process, got beat up by the Princess." Now the ponies laughed and both Josh and the Princess blushed heavily.

"Ah had to defend him from her wrath. If ah hadn't, he wouldn't be here today." Applejack finished. Josh readied himself for whatever reaction he got from the ponies as he stepped up.

"Ehem." He said to get their attention. "I am Captain Josh Ramierez. To understand my story in Equestria, you have to know my story from home. I grew up in Palmdale, a small city in the middle of the desert. When I was in college, my entire country came under attack by Communists. Communists are people who want a government that controls everything instead of offering libreties to its citizens. Me and two friends escaped and through a series of events that I am not at liberity to disclose, joined our armed forces and became the Captain of the first skycruiser." He activated his Wristcom and pulled up a large holographic model of the massive craft. There were several ooos and ahhs.

"Its name? Horizon. Its purpose was to persuade the Communists to back down, or, failing that, end the ensuing war. Little did we know, they had several of these cruisers. A particularly large one was able to shoot us down. All surviving personel were evacuated.

"My evacuation Dropship was hit by anti-air artillery and began to fall. As well fell, our pilot struggled to control our descent. He was then killed by fragments of an artillery shell. I unstrapped myself from my seat to try to reach the controls, but before I could reach it, I was thrown out of the ship by another blast. I fell into a lake. When I woke up, I went to the crash site. After, though, an encounter with Miss Sparkle and Spike." He said. "After careful consideration, I decided to protect this town to the best of my abilities. I look forward to serving you all."

As he sat down, he noticed several nervous-looking ponies at the back of the crowd. Not a fearful nervous, but rather an I-know-whats-about-to-happen nervous. On a hunch, he switched to EM vision and, as he thought, the ponies were repleced by changelings.

"Changelings!" He shouted as he drew his gun. The changelings dropped their diguises and more of them poured into the town square. There were dozens of them, all of them armed. He fired into their forces, but quickly ran out of ammo. Then he had an idea. He sprinted off of the stage and towards the orchard. Dash saw this and decided to pursue him.

/

"I can't believe that after all you've said, you're leaving!" Dash yelled. This was all he heard the entire way to the VTOL. Instead of climbing in as she thought he would, however, he opened a compartment on the side of the jet and began to place armor pieces on his suit. The armor, along with the helemet he doned, made him look much larger than he was. Then he pulled out a medium sized SMG, silencers, and ammo for both of his weapons.

"I'm not leaving. I just need a little extra firepower." He said as he began the long run back.

/

It hadn't taken long for the Changelings to overpower the unarmed ponies. The creature that seemed to be the leader had had an amulet that cancels out magic. Now, Princess Celestia knelt on the stage, bound by rope and forced to face her captive people. She was ashamed that she had trusted Josh to protect them, only to have him run out at the first sign of fighting. She was a fool to think that a human would keep his word. The legends portrayed them as cruel and selfish.

"Now, ponies," The Changeling leader spat. "You will watch the death of your Princess and your hope. Beta, hand me that sword."

"..." Thump. The Changeling turned around to find Beta dead on the floor with a hole in his head. He saw movement at the edge of his site. He spun to face this new threat. He wasn't prepared for a six-foot-six metal behemoth.

"You have exactly zero seconds to surrender." It spoke.

"Or what?" The Changeling said through gritted teeth.

"Or else you and your soldiers die." As if to prove its point, it aimed a metal object at a group of Chageling. After a series of poofing noises, the soldiers feel down dead, struck by some unknown force. Then the creature charged at him. Though he thought he was ready, he stood no match for the stranger's weapons. He only lived long enough to see his amulet crushed under its foot.

/

Celestia was overjoyed! Her people's hero had returned to save them. She felt her bonds drop away and her magic return. As Josh began slaying Changelings, she began to fight as well.

/

Within minutes, the survivng Changelings were driven off. Celestia approached Josh as he checked his weapon. She bowed to him, and everypony followed her example. He only noticed this when she spoke.

"Thank you, brave warrior." A cheer went up among the liberated ponies.