"Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them?" Captain Keyes strode back and forth in the command room, occasionally glancing at the AI's blue hologram flickering as she spoke.
"Yes, but only for a few days," the AI replied. "They're bound to catch up to us soon; the Covenant has always been faster."
"Can you give me an exact estimate?"
"About three days, four hours and twenty one minutes until Covenant arrival on our location. Our engines are damaged so we can't make another jump until a week from now."
The captain sighed at the news. "Is there anywhere we can make a fortification? Anywhere that we can make a last stand until reinforcements arrive?"
"Scanning nearby solar systems."
...
"Done. We have two choices," Cortana told the Captain. "Number one is a habitable planet, but it's flat and barren. It's not suitable for a defensive fortification. Number two is similar to Earth; varying terrain and climates with known intelligent life. First contact has not been made yet so the the reaction of the inhabitants cannot be predicted; they'll probably be scared out of their minds."
"Cortana, please specify the species of the inhabitants." Captain Keyes, said, staring at a diagram of said planet.
"There are multiple, but the most advanced civilization has an equine species very similar to ponies on Earth, but smaller and multicolored. Some are capable of flight and others can utilize powerful energies, but they're mostly used for utility such as picking things up. The society, based on what information we have on them, is very peaceful and has not seen war in decades."
"Good; that's where we'll be landing. Prepare protocol 11867b, or just unconditional landing."
"Yes sir," Cortana replied.
-------*&*-------
"Attention, all combat personnel: Please report to your action stations." Cortana's voice blared over the intercom.
"5th platoon, secure airlocks and drop pods on Deck 11. 14th Platoon, rendezvous with 22nd Tactical at bulkhead Charlie 14. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Prepare for unconditional landing."
Marines scattered and ran to their assigned locations, preparing for the upcoming rough landing.
"Captain, there's a large, flat field surrounded by mountains and it's about a mile and a half east of a small town, separated by low hills. That is the most ideal area to land." Cortana said.
Keyes nodded. "Good. Before we land, I want ODST's dropped down there to secure a landing area. I want to know that it's clear so that I don't crush any of the locals."
"Yes sir, alerting ODST units now. They will be briefed immediately. Are you going to land manually?"
"Yes, I am. It's always been better for me that way. And, Cortana?"
"Yes?"
"Let's give our old friend a warm welcome."
"I'm way ahead of you."
-------*&*-------
Lieutenant Second Class Montgomery led his platoon of ODST's to the drop pods on Deck 11. The marines of the 5th platoon gave them a nod and stepped away from the entrances, allowing the lieutenant and his troops to climb into their own pods.
After climbing in and shutting the hatch, he waited for Cortana's order to deploy.
...
"Deploy."
-------*&*-------
In Canterlot, Luna felt something strange. It felt like something, or someone was breaching her stars.
It was a cloudy day in Ponyville, making the whole town feel gloomy. Despite the depressing atmosphere, the town still buzzed about, the market filled with ponies buying and selling and others just taking a walk.
Sunlight began to peek through the clouds into the market. As the ponies looked up at the sky, they found out that it wasn't just the clouds shifting; no, it was something much more menacing.
Black dots fell through the clouds, flaming and smoking on their descent. The ponies in the small town looked on in horror, frozen to their places. They knew that those couldn't be meteors. If they had been, they wouldn't have even made it to the cloud layer before burning up in the atmosphere.
The dots fell behind the hills, no longer visible. Loud booms and shockwaves followed by bright flashed marked their landing.
The bravest of the pegasi, Rainbow Dash among them, flew their way over the hills to catch a glimpse of exactly what had landed.
What Dash saw blew her mind. One by one, the front of each black "thing" popped off with a loud hiss and clang as they hit the ground. Out came tall, bipedal figures in all black, their faces shiny and blank. There must have been thirty. Maybe even forty.
Scared, panicked, and disturbed, the pegasi flew back to Ponyville and told the other ponies what they had saw. the whole town was shocked. The news spread like wildfire, bringing the whole town to a panic.
-------*&*-------
With a loud hiss, the hatch was launched off of the lieutenant's pod, clanging to the ground shortly afterward.
Disoriented and dizzy, Montgomery clambered out his pod. He'll never get used to that. Dropping, as the rest of his platoon liked to call it.
Shaking his head, he turned on his radio. "Status report," he said into the microphone.
A voice came over the radio almost immediately. "Nothing wrong, sir. We're just a little dizzy."
The lieutenant nodded his head. "Good. Prepare to secure the area. I don't want a single moving thing left on this-"
Another voice cut him off. "Hey what the hell are those things?"
Montgomery snarled. "God damnit, Private Redmond. Don't interrupt me when I'm talking. Now-"
"No, seriously! Hovering above the hills seventy degrees to the east. Look!"
The lieutenant turned with the rest of his soldiers, towards the hills. He saw some figures hovering above the hills. It was a little blurry, so he zoomed in with VISR to get a better look.
"Holy shit."
Princess Celestia stood silent on her balcony, eyeing the hulk of a thing currently lying in the field nearby Ponyville like a slumbering beast waiting to be awakened. She was stressed; of that there was no doubt. Why wouldn't she be? Contact with an alien race was imminent and she didn't know how her citizens would handle it.
As she observed more, she noticed some blackish-green dots hovering or flying around the large hulk of metal like bees around their hive. She saw some slightly smaller ones on the ground too. She watched as they grouped up and stopped again, as if preparing for something. She couldn't bear to stare any longer; any more suspense and guessing would probably set her off on a moody streak. Right after she turned around, a faint pop went off and a low green flash came from inside the bedroom. When Celestia went back into her quarters, she found a letter waiting for her on her desk. She went to the letter and opened it. It read:
Dear Princess Celestia,
It's Twilight. I have all five of the other Elements in the library right now and I will give you a brief description of what is happening:
Rainbow Dash has claimed to have seen the "aliens" and is going crazy, Fluttershy is hiding in my broom closet, too terrified to come out, Pinkie Pie is bouncing around the house thinking of ways to throw a welcome party for the "aliens", Rarity has fainted on my couch, and Applejack is frozen in place. I cannot find a way to calm any of them down! Please provide assistance immediately. I await your reply.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Surprised, Celestia put the letter back on her desk. By what Twilight has said, she could infer that most of Ponyville is also panicking. This fact didn't surprise her; the fact that the Elements of Harmony, of all ponies, could be this chaotic even after all they've been through together.
She grabbed some parchment off of her desk along with a vial of ink and a pen. She wrote:
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I know you can figure it out. I apologize, but I must focus my efforts on these visitors too.
Princess Celestia
She hoped the short letter would be enough. After all, she did have much more important issues to attend to.
3:42 PM, 22 September 2552, UNSC Standard Time
Lt. Montgomery had had some interesting experiences in his life. Some very violent, disturbing experiences. but nothing topped this.
He and his squad rolled up in Mongoose ATV's and got off about 50 feet away from the base of the hill. As he and his squad began sneaking up the hill to scan the town nearby, he pulled out his DMR and turned on the scope. Peering through the scope and bushes, he scanned the town. But there was a problem: The town was seemingly empty. Nothing walked the streets, no shops were open, nothing.
He radioed into the Pillar's control center. "Hey, techies. Yeah, we need you. Can you do a quick scan for life signs on this town real quick?" He wanted to make sure that what he saw earlier wasn't just him hallucinating from the drop impact. Shortly afterwards, the techies responded.
"We're getting tons. Looks like they're holed up in the buildings around the area. Hell, they even turned a giant oak into a house. Weird." Montgomery nodded. "Thanks," he replied, switching comms to a different channel. "Hey, Captain. Everybody's holed up in their houses. Want us to do a quick recon mission through the town? We won't open fire unless we really need to."
All he heard was silence for a short minute. Then Captain Keyes spoke. "Go ahead. Weapons free only under extreme circumstances; use them as a threatening factor."
Montgomery nodded even though the Captain couldn't see it. "Alright, moving in." He got the attention of his squad and made the two fingered hand motion to move in. They sneaked down the hill and hid behind a large cart. All five other members of his squad crouched and pressed up against it. Montgomery peeked around the the cart to see if it was clear. The street was virtually empty and it led to that oak tree house the techies talked about earlier. He turned back at his men, signalling to slowly and surely walk down the street.
They crept out from behind the cart and got in standard mobile defensive formation. As they crept through the town, they stared at the buildings around them. Montgomery noticed some eyes peeking out of windows, but no signs of hostility. The slowly got nearer and nearer to the oak tree.
-------*&*-------
Twilight's friends were still going nuts until Pinkie Pie saw something outside the downstairs window. "Guys! Look! There they are! Should I go out and say hi?" she asked. Everyone else froze, including Twilight, and slowly moved to the window Pinkie Pie was looking through. Their jaws almost hit the ground as they saw the group of aliens heading straight for the library. Pinkie hopped out of the group and went for the door.
"Pinkie! No!" Twilight yelled.
It was too late.
-------*&*-------
The lieutenant whipped his head toward the oak tree house when he heard the door smash open. The rest of his squad did the same and pointed their weapons at the door, safeties off.
The squad was not, and had never been, prepared for what they were about to experience.
A small pink horse rushed towards them and started jabbering away in some foreign tongue while bouncing around them in a circle. She bounced like a rubber ball; how was that possible? The team still stood their guard as the creature went around and around them.
Montgomery had had enough. "STOP!" he yelled. The pink pony stopped in mid-air, fell to the ground, and stared at them quizzically. He holstered his DMR and pulled out his M6D Magnum sidearm, pointing it at the pink creature. He looked back at the oak house and noticed other creatures in there, all different colors. There was even a couple of what seemed like pegasi and even unicorns. The lieutenant felt like he was on some hallucinatory drug. He simply couldn't believe his eyes.
Another one of the ponies began to step outside. This time, it was a purple unicorn.
-------*&*-------
Twilight stepped outside, her friends gasping as she went outside.
She spoke softly. "I apologize for my friend. She gets a little excited when we get newcomers, so..."
She couldn't shake her feeling of fear and intimidation as she stared at the alien's blank, reflective face. "..so please don't hurt her!" she exclaimed, visibly nervous.
The alien lowered the object in his hand. He tilted his head slightly as if asking a question. Suddenly, its gaze quickly shot upwards and behind her, towards the library. Rainbow Dash was visibly angry. "How dare you scare my friend?" she yelled. Twilight could only stand and watch as Rainbow shot out of the library, flying at full speed, towards the lead alien.
The alien ducked quickly, and so did his companions, but one wasn't quick enough.
Rainbow's outstretched hoof struck it square in the face, causing him to fall backwards and crash into the ground. He didn't move.
The lead alien pointed his object at Rainbow and ran over to his fallen ally. The struck alien sat up, shook his head, and stood back up. A small crack could be seen on the alien's face. The leader looked like he was speaking to something or someone, but she couldn't tell.
Rainbow went to another strike, blinded by her wish to defend her friends.
"RAINBOW! NO!" Twilight yelled.
A bright flash and a loud explosion went off. Rainbow kept gliding, but her facial expression turned into shock as she hit the ground, writhing in pain. The aliens stared for a moment, then began to run back to the hill.
-------*&*-------
Lt. Montgomery ducked as the cyan blue flying one flew over his head. His squad ducked too, but Private Redmond didn't react fast enough. He was struck in the face and hit the ground. Redmond didn't move for a few seconds. Montgomery rushed to his side. As he expected, the high velocity impact cushioning system in his helmet took most of the strike and Redmond just sat up, shook his head a little. "Patrol team to Pillar of Autumn. First contact made, one inhabitant seems hostile. Weapons not fired yet, we will deal with it accordingly."
The response came back swiftly. "Affirmative. If the hostile inhabitant attempts to use force, you may use weapons. However, do not kill the contact, only injure it."
He nodded. "Affirmative. Montgomery out." He finished his sentence only to see the same creature coming back for another strike. His defensive instincts kicked in. He raised his pistol as the purple one screamed something.
He fired a single shot. It struck it in the right wing.
The cyan one hit the ground and began to writhe in pain. "Montgomery to Pillar of Autumn. Single shot fired; retreating."
"Affirmative," came the response.
He signaled his squad to hustle back to the hill and the safety of the Pillar. They began jogging, weapons readied just in case anything else went down.
They made it over the hill, shocked and dumbfounded. They boarded their Mongoose ATV's and sped back towards the Autumn.
to be continued