Chapter Fourteen

****Appleloosa, Equestria****
9/14/Afternoon

The Appleloosan apple orchards were a sight to behold to the ponies in their relatively remote part of Equestria. Normally ponies would be tending to the trees, collecting the apples and such. On this fine sunny day though, the Apple family that ran the farm were cut off from their south-eastern orchard by a large, purple dome of magic.

Having heard that the Elements of Harmony had recently came to town, they were quick to put two and two together and leave that side of the orchard to them. Enough happened in the middle of nowhere that they didn’t need to go looking for more weird things or trouble. Especially if whatever it was took the Elements to take it down.

Inside the dome though five ponies gathered around an exhausted Twilight as she tried to stay standing after casting the shield spell. Applejack got next to her to get ready to catch her if she fell, “Twi, I think ya over did it a mite bit.”

“No... they were, near the edge...” Twilight responded after a few moments as if she was half awake.

“What if they just keep running?” Pinkie asked cocking her head to the side and scarring the feathers off of Rainbow Dash, who she appeared right next to.

Taking large breaths, soon Twilight answered, “They wouldn’t... risk it. Leon’s... to cautious.”

After stealing a glance at Pinkie, Rainbow shook her head, “Well, where are they? We can finally end this once and for all.” she said bumping her two fore hooves together.

“Or, we could leave this dusty place and contact the guard for them to search for them.” Rarity suggested as she used her traveling comb to try and get all the loose sand that had been kicked up out of her mane.

Fluttershy looked around the forest before turning to them, “Well I-I think-”

“It’s just some dirt Rarity, get over it. We’re hunting aliens. Aliens!” Rainbow stated, flying into the air slightly above them, “We need to be alert and ready for anything, not worried about our coats and manes.”

“Hey that kinda rhymed.” Pinkie said happily as she bounced around the group.

Fluttershy tried speaking again, “Girls we really shou-”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m not as enthused as you at taking somepony’s life away.” Rarity turned her head away, “And proper mane care is something you know nothing about, so I don’t expect you to know just how bad sand being in my mane and coat is.”

“Girls please qu-” Fluttershy tried once again.

“They’re aliens Rarity, not ponies. They attacked the Princesses, put all of us, some of the Royal Guard, and Twilights brother in comas. Then they put a few of the Royal guard back in the hospital during their escape.” Rainbow said closing the distance between the two of them, “I don’t like that they’re going to be killed, but they did the crime and they gotta pay.”

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were staring daggers at each other and Rainbow was actually growling. Just when it looked like a fight was about to break out, Applejack stepped between the two of them and pushed them apart with her fore hooves, “Both of ya quiet down. Shy’ been trying to tell us somethin for a while now.” the two glared at each other one last time before turning away and looking at Fluttershy, “S’all you Sugarcube.”

As Twilight and Pinkie also focused their attention on the shy pegasus, she began, “I’ve been trying to say we need to be quiet.”

Before she could continue Rainbow spoke up, “Well Applejack’s already got that covered, now let’s go- Ow!” she yelled out as Applejack yanked her back down to the ground by her tail.

“I don’t think she’s done yet Dash.” Applejack said with a deadpan expression.

“A-as I was saying, we need to be quiet because we could be as easily be hunted instead.” she said, lowering to the ground and hiding behind her pink mane.

“Fluttershy’s right, we need to be really careful from here on out.” Twilight said getting all of their attention, “We could end up just like the guards at the castle if we’re not.”

Fluttershy audibly gulped while Rainbow Dash flew up in the air, “Well I’m not scared them. I say let them hunt us, they’ll be easier to find.”

“Girls we need to get searching. They were in this direction when the scanning field went passed them.” Twilight said as she began walking, “Thankfully the sand and dust has settled a bit and we can actually see.”

“That way’s mostly hills before the desert Twi. Tracking them’s going to be a bit harder.” Applejack stated as they all began to follow.

Twilight grumbled something under her breath before responding, “All we got to do is wait a while for my magic to build back up and I can launch another scan and teleport us to them.” she finished before stopping.

Twilight’s horn crackled with energy before a large burst of magic shot out and into the sky. Upon contact with the barrier it dispersed and a shimmer of purple light ran over the entire shield. Holding her head, but staying balanced this time Twilight nodded her head back towards her friends and began walking again. In order to find the Spartans they would have to be perfectly silent and work together to the best of their ability to actually have any chance of finding them.

It was almost a full minute before Pinkie spoke up with her usual happy tone, “Anypony wanna play ‘I Spy’?”

After a few moans and facehoofs, everypony was sure it was going to be a long day.

****

All was quiet in the Appleloosan Apple Orchard. Not a single bird chirped, no wind blew through the trees, and no animals came out of their homes. They knew there were predators in the orchard. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of soft chattering between six multicolored ponies that made their way through the orchard. A fact that made Leon grinned at as he watched the group from a distance.

“Target sighted.” Alfred’s voice called over the radio channel.

“Affirmative. It’s been eight minutes since she set up the barrier, observe till she sets off a burst like Ghost Seven described.” Leon replied.

A light blinked to the side of Leon’s vision as an acknowledgement from Alfred as the ponies slipped out of sight, but not off radar. The small talk the ponies were having was nothing notable. The pink pony that had spoke to them earlier, Pinkie Pie, had been talking almost non-stop and the only responses that she got wouldn’t even count as small talk. The sight of a group ignoring a single, talkative individual reminded Leon of how Chase would do the same thing back when they were in school...

Shaking his head, Leon returned his attention to the here and now and moved to another tree to keep the group either in his sights or on his radar. The group came up to a small area that didn’t exactly strike Leon as important till he saw the boot prints that their armor had left in the dirt. Almost half-ton armor will do that.

Twilight at the front of the group was grinding her teeth before half turning and looking back at the group, “Pinkie please be quiet!” the pink pony firmly shut her mouth as Twilight turned to her, “We are trying to catch alien super soldiers, we need to be completely ready for anything! In order for us to be ready we have to be able to hear what’s going on around us, and we can’t hear anything with you constantly talking!”

Leon watched as the group froze and stared at Twilight, ‘How have they done half the things wrote about in the history book?'

“Oky doky!” the pink pony said happily as she hummed and bounced passed Twilight.

Twilight let out a large sigh and was about to trot after her friend but she stopped mid step. Her eyes closed and her horn lit up and not a second later a purple burst of energy shot up towards the dome. She seemed uneasy on her hooves for a second before the orange pony stepped up to support her side. After a few seconds Rarity spoke up and pointed out their boot prints.

“And there’s the burst, right on the ten minute mark.” Leon muttered to himself.

“Ghost One, we may have a problem.” Alfred said over the radio.

“Go ahead Ghost Two.”

“The Pink one is bouncing in a circle around the tree I’m in. If she lures the others over I don’t think I’ll be able to run and hide again with how open the orchard is.”

“Alright, if they begin to move towards you I’ll shoot off a round and get their attention to where I am. Once they move to investigate, you s-”

“Pinkie get over here we got a trail we can follow.”

From the ponies’ perspective, Pinkie just waved at the leaves of the tree and followed after them. From the Spartans’ perspective, she looked right at Alfred, waved with a big smile on her face, and left with her friends. Both Spartans spent a moment contemplating what had just happened when they finally moved on after the ponies that had ran off.

“Okay, I’ll say this.” Alfred spoke up over the radio, “She’s weird and acts to erratically to trust out right, but not selling us out is getting her closer to trust worthy.”

“Agreed. Now let’s not lose them. We initiated the plan in nine minutes.”

****

“And you say this was one of the ‘most effective' hiding spots your friend used?” Night mare asked as Josh finished with his plan of hiding from the ponies.

“We covered our tracks in the sand, now if we can get fully covered then they’ll just walk right past us.” Josh said as he stared at the large hole in the sand in front of him, “Hell, they might walk right over us.”

“How do you intend to breath?”

“My suit has over an hour of personal oxygen.”

“What if the wind uncovers a bit of you and they see it?”

“There’s no wind because of the dome thing.” Josh said looking up at the purple dome as it shimmered with newfound light.

“... This is so stupid they would never suspect it.” Nightmare said after a few seconds.

Josh just chuckled as he laid down in the hole, “Let me tell ya, you should’ve seen the time we used it on the battlefield. Elite was so surprised he didn’t even get to raise his weapon before Chase tackled him... Ah, good times.”

“So you’ve done this before?” Nightmare asked as Josh looked back towards the orchard a small distance away.

“Well... not me personally, but I watched Chase do it from the canyon's top that me and Alfred we watching him from.”

Nightmare was silent for a few seconds as Josh finished covering up his torso with a generous amount of sand, “Out of all the Spartan’s, why did I have to get you?”

“I don’t know, you’re just that lucky?”

After large sigh from nightmare, the two fell into silence as Josh finished filling the two foot deep sand pit. The Spartan looked down over his work and was pleasantly surprised that the sand covered him completely. With a good feeling about what he was doing the Spartan began covering up his helmet and finally dug his arms into the sand.

“If this actually works, and they walk right passed us, what then?” Nightmare asked as Josh locked his armor to prevent accidental movement.

“We just wait for Leon’s all clear and we get up and take off.”

“You know, if they get close enough, we could ambush them and take them by surprise.”

“Why?” Josh raised an eyebrow in confusion as he opened up the live video from Leon’s helmet cam.

“So that sparkle will be unable to send up the magic burst again. Did you not listen when I explained this to Leon?”

“They got that covered. We just have to worry about not being seen, something I think we got down perfectly.” Josh answered with a cocky smile on his face.

“Keep talking like that and-” Nightmare started before she was cut off.

Static blared through the suit’s comm channel, “..... Spa-........ to con-...... do y-........” the static stopped and after a look and Leon’s helmet cam that was still up, it looked like he had gotten it too.

“This is Fireteam Ghost, Ghost One speaking. We have a negative copy on last transmission. Repeat, negative copy on last transmission.” Leon answered as he made hand movements to Alfred to keep following the ponies.

“Could there be more than just you three from you universe here?” Nightmare asked as another chopped up message came in over the open comm channel.

“Normally, I’d say no, but considering all the unlikely crap that's happened to us already, there just might be.” Josh answered just as the static cleared on the next transmission.

“This is Spar-..... -ake trying to conta-........ Ghost. Do you re-.....”

Leon spoke up once more as the static stopped, “Still a negative copy on that, but it’s starting to clear up.”

“Oh for fucks sake.” a very familiar voice said over the now clear radio signal, “This is Spartan Chase Blake trying to contact Fireteam Dumbasses. Can you hear me.” Chase yelled, speaking the last words very slowly and loudly.

Everything seemed to stop for a few seconds as the transmission stopped. Leon had stopped moving entirely from the looks of it from his helmet cam. Josh just started to chuckle, then full on started laughing, “Hahahahahaha! I knew it! I knew you weren’t dead!”

“Oh come on Josh, it was just an army of Flood. Do you think so little of me.” Chase said with a happy tone, “Hey bro, did I give ya a heart attack from shock or something? You’re not talking.”

“.... How are you here?” Leon asked in a quiet voice.

“Oh well then, if that’s how you feel. Ethan turn us-”

“You know what I mean.” Leon cut him off, “The portal exploded and you were in a room full of Flood. If the explosion hadn’t-”

“Leon!” Chase said cutting Leon off “The explosion killed the Flood and knocked out all power in that section of the ring. To make a long story short, Ethan and Hank fought their way to me and together the three of us got off the ring.” the radio went silent for a few seconds, “I can show you the video if you don’t believe me.”

“Leon.” Alfred spoke up for the first time, “Time’s running out. She’s about to send up another burst in two minutes.”

“Where are they at?”

“Closing in on Ghost Four's position.”

From the view of his helmet cam, Josh watched Leon slowly nodded his head and begin to move, “Alright, Chase what all do you have with you?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Couple crates of ammo, a Troop Hog, a Pelican, an extra surplus of fuel for the Pelican... Damn it Hank, you forgot to pack the kitchen sink.” Chase said in a Joking way.

“Serious situation here Chase. We’re trapped under a magical dome with a team of heroes who have saved the world a few times over. We need an evac in a minute thirty, can you do that?”

“No, we’re fifteen minutes out, at best. We're straining the Pelican's engines as is, you’re on your own for a while still.” Chase answered with a somber tone.

“Got it. Meet up with us on the mountains to our south east. That’s where we’re headed. Going radio silent.” Leon finished as Josh started seeing some movement on his motion sensor.

“Show time.” Josh murmured as he switched the radio to receive only. At this point there wouldn’t be a fight, not with how one sided things were looking in favor of the Spartans. That made Josh nervous.

“Seems like victory is almost assured. Of course it’s times like this that the smallest mistake can lead to a loss.” Nightmare spoke up as the red dots stopped about fifteen meters away, “With how nervous you are, I believe you already knew that.”

While watching Leon’s helmet cam, Josh watched as Alfred stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed the orange pony that was at the edge of the group. Alfred had the pony in a headlock till her eyes began to flutter and she began to go limp in his grip. He slowly began to set her down after he made sure she was still breathing.

The ponies stopped a short distance from where the orchard ended and the desert started. Twilight at the front began to talk to the rest about a strategy to capture the Spartans, but she started to trail off as she looked amongst the group, “Where’s Applejack?”

The rest of the ponies turned and began to look for the missing pony. Rarity was the first to speak, “She was right by me, not even a moment ago.”

Suddenly Pinkie took a sharp intake of breath, “We fell prey to the most obvious of tactics. This happens in every comic Rainbow gave me.” she got real low to the ground and began to stalk around Twilight, “While we were all looking for them, they’ve been after us too.” she then zoomed to Rainbow Dash’s side, “Then when we weren’t looking they snatched the one that was farthest from the center of the group.” she zoomed to Fluttershy and kept talking.

Josh saw through Leon’s helmet cam and through the trees, that Alfred had gotten behind the tree closest to Twilight, ready to act. Pinkie zoomed to Rarity’s side and put a hoof to her forehead to over dramatize what she was saying, but Josh didn’t care. Alfred stepped out, grabbed Twilight by the neck with his left hand and her horn with his right before hiding behind the tree again. He either had a tight grip on her throat or threatened her as soon as her, because the other ponies didn’t respond to the kidnapping.

Leon began to move through the trees, always keeping the ponies either in sight or on sensor. It was easy to keep them on sensor with Pinkie constantly moving around. Alfred’s marker showed him moving away from the others slowly, probably on the off chance that the pony will break free.

After a few seconds, Rarity spoke up just as Leon was moving into position behind Rainbow Dash, “P-please Pinkie, she probably just stopped to admire a certain apple tree or something. We don’t need to jump to hastily to the worst case scenario. Right Twilight?.... Twilight?” the white pony turned and looked around, but no Twilight was to be seen.

Josh watched through Leon’s cam as Rainbow spread her wings and lowered herself to the ground, getting ready to take off. Leon backed off as Rainbow began to shout into the orchard multiple threats. She continued shouting as Leon backed away, but the whole world froze as a large crack of something stepping on a twig echoed through the air. Looking down, Leon was relieved to see it wasn’t him that had done it, but the sound sent the group into a full on panic.

Josh didn’t get to watch the full freak out as they fretted over what Leon saw was the orange one walking up to them. As Leon moved away, Josh heard the orange one shouting in a southern sounding accent. That made him chuckle a little bit.

“Ghost Two, what is the status of the package?”

“Package is asleep and secure, barrier should be down any second. Moving to the edge of the barrier now.” Alfred replied.

“Ghost four, I’m going to lure them away with a gunshot the moment I see the barrier go down. When they move away to investigate, you make a move for the mountains with Ghost Two.” Josh blinked his acknowledgment light and Leon continued, “Ghost Two, leave the package in a safe place as soon as the barrier falls.” another light from Alfred this time.

Josh closed out Leon’s helmet cam feed and got ready to sprint for the mountains. Josh then noticed that the dots on his sensor were no longer acting erratically. The ponies were either out of range of his sensor or they weren’t moving at all. A bad call here could lead to him being chased instead of getting away.

“They moved away.” Nightmare said casually, almost making Josh jump in his armor.

“Thanks for the heads up Moonie.” Josh said, letting out a sigh of relief.

Nightmare let out a frustrated sigh as Leon’s voice came through the radio, “Barrier’s down, firing shot.” Josh listened and he heard a muffled boom through the sand.

“Here goes nothing.” Josh said as he got up out of the sand, throwing it all this direction and that. Looking over, Josh could see the ponies running off in the distance through the trees, “Enemies have taken the bait, moving to the mountains.”

“Ghost Four, find a good spot for us to meet up with Ghosts Three, Five, and Six.” Leon said over the radio.

Josh blinked his acknowledgment light and took off over the small strip of desert and ran for the mountains, “And just like that, we’re home free.” Josh said to Nightmare as they ran towards the mountains.

“It looks like we are safe, but the others are not.”

“Girl, you need to chill. Leon and Alfred got it covered.” Josh said just as a large explosion happened behind him. The entire area lit up purple as Josh turned to see a small crater now amongst the trees.

“Everyone report in!” Leon yelled over the radio.

“Ghost Four, fine.” Josh answered.

“Ghost Two, fine. The package woke up as I was fleeing the area. She missed me though.” Alfred spoke up as Josh watched him running out of the orchard. Shaking his helmet, Josh got back to running up the hills that led to the mountains.

“Twilight had to of used up all her magic for that final blast.” Nightmare stated as Josh began accelerating to the top ‘safe’ speeds for running, “She’s gone well past what a normal unicorn would be able to do. If she’s not passed out by now, then she’s closer to an alicorn in magical reserves than a unicorn.”

“Alright, Josh are you at the base of the mountains yet?” Leon asked as Josh crested the final hill and slid to a stop.

“Yeah.” Josh looked up the rock face, “Lookin pretty steep. Might have to test out that myth about just punching into the rock for-”

Josh was cut off as something flashed across his motion sensor and struck him in the back. Josh landed on his face as his shield’s alarm began blaring. Looking back at the sensor, he saw his attacker move up and out of range of the motion sensor. Quickly he rolled right and sat back up to see a certain rainbow haired pegasus beginning to dive bomb him again.

Now that he knew the attack was coming, Josh rolled onto his back and propelled himself onto his feet, ignoring the questions from Leon as Nightmare answered them. He watched as she rethought her plan and moved back a little bit. Josh watched her turn and take her eyes off him for a second and he put down his hologram right in front of himself.

Just as he hoped, she suddenly turned towards mid glide and jetted towards the hologram. Using his thoughts to control the basic movements, Josh made the hologram take a step back as if it were surprised. Not even a second later and Rainbow passed through the hologram with look of shock on her face. She tried to turn and follow the steep slope up, but Josh was on her to fast for her to even start to angle.

Josh grabbed her tail and yanked her back towards him. Immediately he grabbed her neck and held it to his armor with his left hand while he dropped down to one knee. While she tried to struggle Josh brought his right arm over her right shoulder and bent it so her chin was almost above the bend in his arm, but more on his forearm. As he put his forearm against the left side of her neck he let go with his left and brought the palm to his closed right fist, completing the sleeper hold.

She began to struggle more, beating on his armor with her legs, “Points for trying, but next time you want to take on a Spartan, bring an army.” soon enough, her hits became softer and softer till she went limp in his arms. He held there for another six seconds to be sure she was out and would stay out longer than the orange pony from before. Soon he slowly released the hold and laid her out on the ground. After a quick check to see she was breathing, Josh faced towards the cliff.

“Ah, I remember the days when I could gloat at my enemies after a one sided battle.” Nightmare chimed in as Josh jumped onto the red rock cliff face.

“Yeah, Chase is gonna be mad he didn’t get to make a grand entrance.” Josh chuckled as two green dots rapidly appeared on his motion sensor, “Watch out for the idiot pegasus.” he called as he failed found another hand hold and pulled himself up.

Josh heard two more sets of armor collide with the mountain as he continued to climb. At the fast rate they were going, Josh figured they would be able to crest the top of the mountains and drop into the basin on the other side after only a few minutes of climbing.

“Climb fast, after we top the mountain we’ll be able to see the Badlands.” Leon said over the comm channel, “We can jump onto Chase’s Pelican from their, climb all the way down them, or jump and hope the overpressurized gel layer absorbs most of the impact.”

“You know Leon, this ‘mountains’ aren’t exactly that big.” Josh replied.

“They’re actually called Macintosh Hills, but they’re too big for just hills considering the other side.”

“What’s on the other side?” Josh asked as Nightmare groaned in his helmet.

“On the other side is a steep slope and then a drop off over half a mile straight down.” Alfred stated before Leon could answer, “From this side they just look like hills, from over there they are mountains.”

“Honestly, don’t you listen at all?” Nightmare asked, making Josh laugh a little bit.

“According to the last girl to ask him that, no. No he doesn’t.” Chase suddenly chimed in over the radio, “So, Josh, who’s your friend?” he asked as if he were talking to a little kid, "Heard her earlier, but it didn't seem like a good time to bring it up."

“How about we swap stories when we meet up.” Leon answered for him, “What’s your ETA?”

“Still about eight minutes. Get to the top of the mountains or hills, whatever you want to call ‘em, and our two excellent pilots should be able to fly close enough for you to jump on.” Chase answered.

“Alright then, let’s get to climbing.” Leon stated as he began to climb faster.

****

“Twilight.... Twilight!..... TWILIGHT!”

The unicorn in question bolted up right her eyes wide open and looking right at her friends. Applejack came into view, “Easy there Twi, you been out for a bit. Why don’t you jus try an take it easy.”

“What... what happened? How long was I out?” Twilight asked as she got to her hooves.

“We don’t know, but it’s only been a few minutes since your shield went down.” Rarity spoke up as she put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, “Darling, I think it’s time we admit it. We can’t win here.”

“What, but it’s only been a few minutes. We can still get them before they get to the border.” Twilight said as she began to move forward, but stumbled.

Fluttershy caught her and helped her back up, “Twilight, look at me.” she said out of her normal shy voice. Twilight found it hard to meet her gaze but did so, “We can’t win. They are just faster and smarter than the ponies we’ve fought.”

“More on the stealth side as well.” Rarity added.

“Quieter too.” Applejack chimed in.

“They’re like ninjas!” Pinkie said happily as she bounced between the trees.

“How i-”

“Twilight, we just can’t fight an enemy like this one. Even if we found them, we don’t know where Rainbow is to use the Elements.” Fluttershy said making Twilight’s head shoot up.

“Rainbow’s missing!? I heard one of their weapons go off earlier-”

“And you thought one of us got hurt. Right?” Applejack cut Twilight off, “Dash took off faster than a bat out of Tartarus towards the sound. We’d thought they’d done you in.”

“So she’s fine?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, saw her fly over head not too long ago.” Applejack answered.

“Now we just have to find Rainbow and my sun hat and we can leave.” Rarity said as she began to look through the trees with her hoof pressed to her forehead.

“.... No.” all eyes locked with Twilight, “The attacked the Princesses and broke off her horn. I can’t even imagine how painful that would've been for her.” Twilight took a few steps forward and turned to the group, “We’re going to find them, only we won’t give them to the Princesses.” that got shocked gasps from all of the ponies present.

“What do ya mean? How are we supposed to keep ‘em locked up?” Applejack asked.

“We’ll seal them in stone just like we did Discord. Then we’ll hide the statue till Blueblood is off the case then we give them to the Princesses so they can get a fair trial.” Twilight said with a smile on her muzzle.

“Hmm, I won’t like lyin to the Princesses and all, but it seems like the best plan we got.” Applejack said with a firm nod of her head, “Count me in.”

“We can keep the statue at my house. Nopony comes around much in the winter.” Fluttershy said.

Twilight’s horn lit up and, with a strained look, a small flash happened next to them and the glass case that contained the elements appeared next to them, “Conjuring spell.” she said woozily while rocking side to side on her hooves.

Applejack put a hoof around her to help her regain her balance, “I said take it easy Sugarcube.”

“Alright then, how do we find them or Rainbow?” Rarity asked as Pinkie bounced by them and Fluttershy grabbed the elements to give out to everypony.

“Oh oh, I know, pick me pick me!” Pinkie said as she suddenly appeared next to Rarity and raised her hoof.

Fluttershy distributed their elements with her own on her neck before Twilight asked with a slight groan, “Yes Pinkie?”

“They’re over there!” the pink pony said while pointing her hoof at Macintosh Hills.

Sure enough, Twilight turned around and saw that the Spartans were making good time going up the rocks. Twilight’s eyes widened, “We’ll never make it in time before they get over the top!”

“Yes we can, we just got ta hurry.” Applejack said as she galloped off with Twilight and the others hot on her hooves. Their hooves thundered against the ground as the charged the spot that the Spartans were going to cross the border.

“What about Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked as they ran.

“Knowing Dash, she's done gone up there and gotten knocked out like Twi.” Applejack called back.

‘It's about time this came to an end.' Twilight thought with a smirk on her face as she felt the weight of her element on her head.

****

‘Huh?... What's that sound...' Rainbow thought as she began to regain consciousness. Her eyes began to flutter open, slowly but surely showing her nothing but dirt and rock. She began to push herself up with her forelegs and shake her head to try and clear it. Looking around, it all came back to her, ‘He put me in a bucking sleeper hold!'

Growling, she flapped her wings and took to the air once more, looking around the area for any signs of the black armored aliens. A small rock landed on top of her head making her immediately look up the red rocky hill to see the two black Spartans almost at the top. Squinting her eyes and growling, she targeted one specific Spartan, the one she’s lost to twice now, and charged him.

Josh had just reached for another hand hold when Rainbow impacted him and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Taken by surprise, Josh was easily pulled off the mountain when Rainbow began to flap her wings. The weight of the armor was too much for Rainbow as she was forced to let go immediately.

Smiling at her small victory, Rainbow watched as Josh fell towards the ground, only to be caught by Leon half way down. Gritting her teeth Rainbow flapped her wings hard and took off into the sky. If she couldn’t use her strength to get them off the rock, then she knew just what could blast them off.

After a few seconds of searching she spotted her target, a lone cloud resting above the town of Appleloosa. Grinning she grabbed it and zoomed back towards the cliff the Spartans were trying to climb. The two had almost reached the top when she came back with the cloud, “This is for the sleeper hold you bucker!” Rainbow yelled as she kicked the hard with her two back hooves.

A lightning bolt jumped out of the bottom of the cloud and collided with the cliff face, scorching the area with large black mark right above Josh. Thinking of something quick for her missed shot she didn’t drop the cocky tone of her voice, “Give up now and that won’t be you.”

“Give up!? You missed! Why would we give up when we already won!?” Josh yelled back making her grit her teeth in anger, “Say cheese and wait for the flash!” he continued pointing up the mountain.

She looked up and at first she didn’t see anything till a large flash of light happened near the top and her ears started ringing. She shook her head to get the ringing to stop and was about to kick the cloud for another bolt when she noticed, there was no more cloud. She looked around in a full circle before looking back towards the rock where she had seen the flash come from.

She watched as one of the rocks moved up the slope and stood on top of the hill. No, not a rock. One of the aliens had somehow changed the color of their armor to match the color of the rock and blended in perfectly. Just like that, her plan to blast them off the cliff went up in smoke. Unable to do anything without risking herself, as the alien on top had his weapon pointed at her, she watched as the other two aliens reached the top as well.

“Rainbow!” Twilight’s voice called from the ground, getting the pegasus’s attention.

Rainbow turned to see all her friends being levitated up by Twilight’s magic. Smiling once more Rainbow joined them with staring at the Spartans, “What took you all so long?”

Twilight ignored her as she stared down Leon and panted hard as she exhausted the little of her magic that she had regained. She didn’t waste time with words as she closed her eyes and Rainbow did the same, focusing on the Element Twilight placed around her neck.

“Attention little ponies!” a loud voice called that didn’t belong to that had been present before, making Rainbow open her eyes in confusion, “You are about to attack a UNSC military vehicle. Cease and dissist or you will be fired upon with lethal force.”

Rainbow watched as a large metal ship of some kind rose up from behind the Spartans. It’s wings were twisted vertically as it hovered in place behind the aliens, a fourth one on top of it.

“I say again.” the new alien on top of the ship yelled as the three Spartans jumped onto it with him, “You are about to attack UNSC military personnel over non Equestrian soil.”

Rainbow felt her Element begin to glow as it’s harmonious magic began to flow outwards and surround the group with rainbow colored energy. Twilight wasn’t backing down, and Rainbow couldn’t stop smiling.

****

“Guys, they aren’t standing down!” Josh yelled as Chase watched the swirling rainbow magic.

“Ethan-Hank, get us out of here!” Leon yelled over the radio.

“Happily.” Hank said over the radio as the Pelican began to turn. They were suddenly stopped mid-turn as the ship became covered in a rainbow hued aura, “Some things keeping us held tight!”

“Leon what do we do!?” Josh yelled as he saw the orb of light the ponies were in brightened up more.

“Hell of a time to test this!” Chase suddenly yelled before Leon could answer. Not even a second later, a rainbow of energy shot up from the ponies and down towards the Pelican. Chase pulled out his energy sword in hopes of doing the same trick that had happened with the gryphon guard’s armor. As it materialized the energy narrowed and flowed directly to the red energy sword.

Chase’s mind felt like a cup that had been forced to take on a dam’s worth of water as he felt like his head was splitting. The others didn’t get time to react as Chase swung his sword back towards the wave of energy trying to get rid of the pain that had suddenly stuck him. The action resulted in an explosion of magic that could be seen for miles.

The last thing any of the Spartans, or the ponies saw was the wall of rainbow colored energy that consumed them.

****The Badlands****
9/17/Night

...

...*whispers*

...*shuffling*

...*whispers*

... ‘What happened?’ Chase asked groggily while he tried to move his head but a flash of pain put a stop to that right quick.

“Hey hey hey, easy now. Don’t try to get up.” Chase heard Leon say from his right side.

“Wha-... What happened?...” Chase asked as he tried to feel his body to make sure he was all there.

“We were hoping you could tell us.” Alfred’s voice chimed in as Chase tried to open his eyes. All he saw was a lot of bandages blocking everything out.

Chase chuckled, making his headache worsen, “Someone flash him the finger. I can barely move.”

“Covered.” Josh said from his left side.

There was the sound of gravel being moved and steped before Hank’s voice came next with a joking tone, “The slacker finally awake yet?”

“Josh-”

“Gotcha ya.” Josh interrupted as he undoubtedly flipped Hank off.

“Chase.” Leon began, “Do you know what happened on the Pelican?”

Thinking with his limited mental power, Chase slowly began to remember what had transpired before he blacked out, “I...” Chase stopped and closed his mouth, moving his tongue around to try and help his dry mouth, “I tried to use my sword to absorb the magic.” he took a large intake of breath, “I had done something like it when I touched the armor on one of the gryphon guards. Hadn’t tested it or did anything like it since... Till now apparently.”

It was silent for a few seconds before Leon spoke again, “Alright, how do you feel. Your suit had to administer electric shocks to start you heart again while we were all out... You died for a few seconds.”

As Chase heard the what Leon said he was silent for a few seconds before he began to chuckle. Then full on laugh before the pain in his head became apparent again and he stopped, “Never thought denial would actually make me immortal.”

“This isn’t something to be laughing about Chase!” Leon yelled making Chase cringe as he began to feel his heart beat in his head, “According to the Queen, you’ve got enough magic in you right now to destroy half a continent!”

‘... What?’ “... Who’s the Queen?” Chase asked first as he was pretty sure of how to solve the second thing.

“You’ve been out for a while. We’ve made some allies so we could get you properly treated.” Leon said, his voice calmer than it was before, but still edgy.

“Were it not for Queen Cocoon helping us we would of been spotted by the Royal Guard and forced to abandon the ship you rode in on.” a familiar female voice said from his left.

“Was that the Queen?” Chase asked.

"No, she's a princess." Alfred said from behind Leon.

"I know who Josh is, I was talking ab-"

“Later, right now we need to solve the magic thing. Do you have any idea how to release it?” Leon asked making Chase grin.

“That’s too obvious for me to make a sex joke, but seriously, is my sword still on?” Chase asked, praying that it would be a repeat of what happened in Red Thorn Bog.

“Yes, so do you know how to get rid of the magic?” Alfred asked from his right.

“Hold on...” Chase tried his best to move his arm and slowly began to relieve pressure on grip so as to deactivate it. Once his hand had moved enough to deactivate the sword, Chase felt like the dam in his mind had broke. He heard a lot of muffled shouting and armor clinking together in the few seconds after he let go. Wave after wave of magical energy radiated out from him and he felt like he was on cloud nine.

After a few more seconds of bliss, Chase felt the last of the energy dissipation and tried moving around again. After a quick check that he was still fine, Chase lifted his arm like he was never injured. Then he sat up and started stretching his arms and back, feeling like he just woke up from a long nap.

“Oh man that was awesome.” Chase said as he moved the bandages over his eye to see the others.

Looking to his right he saw Leon and Alfred stacked on top of one another in the corner of the cave like they were ragdolls that had just got tossed away. The two groaned as they tried to get up, making Chase laugh a little. Looking to the left, Chase saw Hank and Josh laying on their backs a small distance outside of the cave they were in. Both of which were starting to get up, groaning like Leon and Alfred.

Chase started to laugh once again at his team, “Man, what happened to you guys?”

“You did! What the hell was that!?” Leon yelled as he got to his feet.

Chase rolled on to his back and sprung on to his feet, “Sweet, sweet release.” he said with a goofy smile on his face.

Leon groaned loudly as Chase became aware of a buzzing slash humming sound that was getting louder, “From the sounds of it you got the Queen’s attention.”

“Who?” Chase asked as he looked towards the entrance to the cave where the sound was coming from.

“Our new employer.” Leon said with surprisingly no disdain in his voice.

Hank and Josh walked into the cave and turned around to see a large pony-like creature touch down. It’s skin was black and glossy looking in the moonlight. It’s hair was green and parted on either side of her jagged horn. It’s wings were partially transparent and seemed more fit for a bug than a pony. Her eyes had a ring of light green then dark green surrounded it’s cat like pupils. On Either side of it were two smaller versions, minus the hair and their eyes had no pupils.

“Wow.” Chase said as looked at the creatures.

“Chase, meet Queen Cocoon. Our new employer for a while.” Leon stated as the queen walked in passed Josh and Hank.

“So this is the famous Chase that I’ve heard so many tales of.” the Queen said in a feminine voice, “You really are a strange one aren’t you.”

“Yes and proud of it.” Chase said smiling, but keeping the energy sword hilt firmly in his hand, “So what’s our first mission then?”

“We,” Leon said putting a hand on Chase’s shoulder, “are going to leave in a few minutes. You are going to stay here and rest. Need I remind you that you died.”

“Yeah, then I slept it off.” Chase said, turning to Leon, “Now we can do this the easy way, or I’ll just follow you after you leave. You know I will.”

The two stared each other down for a few tense seconds before Leon chuckled, “Chase, do you at all feel a draft?”

Caught off guard by the question Chase looked down at his armor and was shocked to see he had no armor. He had what looked like a burlap sack like shorts and that was all he had on.

“... How-”

“Magic.” Josh answered from behind him before starting to laugh.

“When we’re long gone, Hank and Josh will tell you how to get your armor back.” Leon said, holding back laughing himself.

“We get to enjoy the peace and quiet a bit longer while we go and rescue her daughter.” Alfred said with happy tone.

“Don’t forget the guards she has with her as well. All of them are young and foolish, but they are my subjects and I don’t want any of them hurt.” the Queen stated with concern in her voice.

“We’ll do the best we can.” Leon stated to the Queen.

“We’ll bring them back, safe and sound.” Alfred said, walking up to Leon’s side.

“Wish I could go.” Chase finished with a frown on his face.

“Thank you for this. If you can get them all back safely, we will happily let you stay till your ship is repaired.” the Queen said as she turned to depart, “Goodnight to all of you. I shall see you at breakfast.”

As Queen Cocoon and her guards flew off Chase straightened up a little, “... Wait. What happened to the ship.” he asked looking back to Leon and Alfred, both of whom stayed quiet and tight lipped. Chase turned to Josh and Hank, “... Is the Warthog alright?”

“Well I’ll tell him if you all won’t.” Chase turned to Josh as a feminine voice came from the helmet on his head, “It fell off during the crash and the fall bent both axles as well as damaging some of the engine.”

Chase inhaled slowly and exhaled, “... Okay, I think it’s story time. Because I will not have time to talk to you idiots tomorrow while I work on the Hog.” Chase stated as he walked over and sat down against the cave wall, “You guys first.”

****Canterlot, Equestria****
9/18/Morning

... Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...

'That sounds Familiar.' Twilight thought as she began to stir in her bead.

“Doctor, I think she’s waking up.” a mare’s voice said from close by.

“Go send a message to the castle. The Princesses will want to know.” a stallions voice answered.

Slowly her eyes began to open to see a hospital room exactly like the one she had been in before. She moved her head and looked around the room and she was sure of it, this was the same room as last time.

“Aw Miss. Sparkle. I see you’ve decided to join us a few days earlier than last time.” the doctor joked as he used his magic to look at a clip board, “If it follows the same pattern as last time, your friends should be up soon as well.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked as the doctor put down the clip board.

“Well, all I know is what I’ve been told and I was told you were found by a squad of Royal Guards near the Badlands’ border.” he said as he began to check the machines to the side of her bed, “Pretty big magical build up explosion down there, took the top off one of the Macintosh Hills.”

Twilight tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes with her forelegs before she asked, “Where are the Princesses?”

“They’ll be here as soon as they get the message I’m sure. They’re dealing with a lot of stuff now since those aliens attacked and some nobility tried to overthrow the princesses while you all were gone.”

“What!” Twilight exclaimed earning her a shush from the doctor.

“A few members of the royalty tried to take power with an idiotic plan of attacking in the middle of a court case.” the doctor said as he finished checking the machine, “Apparently a member of nobility has already been arrested.”

“One of them wouldn’t of happened to be-”

“Blueblood? Yep, he’s finally were the pompous- uh, sorry. I really didn’t like the guy.” the doctor said rubbing the back of his head with his hoof, “You’re actually the third patient to ask me that.”

“So the spar- the aliens case is back in control of the Princesses?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but they haven’t changed the ruling. A friend of mine is a maid at the castle and she said they were just fuming when the Royal Guard discovered all of you.”

“Really, w-” Twilight was cut off as a bright flash lit up the room.

When Twilight opened her eyes again she saw Princess Celestia standing in the center of the room, her horn just beginning to lose its golden aura, “Twilight, thank the maker you’re awake.” she said as she walked up to the bed, “Doctor leave us and check on the others.”

“At once.” the doctor, who had been bowing, said before trotting to the door and leaving.

Celestia’s horn lit up and the door and windows were covered in a golden aura that dissipated after a few seconds. Twilight flinched under Celestia’s stare, making the Princess exhale a breath and calm down a bit, “I’m sorry Twilight, but things have been hectic lately and hearing what happened at the border would help me tremendously.”

“Of course Princess. We tracked them down and held them for a while at the apple orchard near the border using a barrier spell Shining had taught me.” Twilight began as Celestia listened intently. After ten minutes of Twilight talking about the spartans and the tactics they used, looking ashamed when she explained their plan to keep them as stone till they could get a fair trial. Celestia was secretly proud that her student put her moral higher than order, but she was becoming increasingly worried as the Spartans seemed to have a better understanding of magic than she thought.

“I levitated us into the air with the Elements and was just about to use them when... When this giant metal ship rose up behind them with another Spartan on top of it. He told us to stand down or they would use lethal force.”

“Did they attack you before you used the Elements?” Celestia asked.

“No, they never shot their weapons. Leon, Josh, and Alfred joined the new Spartan on the ship before we used the Elements. The last thing I remember seeing is the one that had been on the ship to begin with pulled out something red and started to absorb the harmonious magic.” Twilight said as she tried to remember, “Then he swung the object back at the beam and the explosion happened... I can’t remember anything but a bright white light after that.”

Celestia tapped her hoof against her chin in thought, “So there were more of the Spartans. They never once tried to kill you all?”

“Except for the explosion, no. They only knocked us out.” Twilight answered.

“Hmm.” Celestia said before nodded her head, “Thank you for clearing that up Twilight. What I’m going to ask of you next will be difficult.” Twilight braced herself for the order to go after the Spartans into the Badlands, “I need you to leave this to me from here on.”

“What?” Twilight asked as it was opposite of what she was expecting.

“Twilight, your sense of duty to Equestria is admirable, but I can take things from here. I doubt we would be able to find the Spartans now any way. We tried to search as soon as we got you and your friends back to Canterlot, but we couldn’t find a trace other than a few pieces of metal that I now think is from their ship.” Celestia stated, “You can write a report to me whenever your feeling up to it, but for now you need to rest, recover, and spend some time winding down.”

Twilight let out a soft exhale, “That sounds terrific.”

“Great.” Celestia said happily, “I’ll even give you an assignment next week to take your mind off of things.”

“Sounds perfect.” Twilight stated happily.

Author's Note

... Blame Pokémon, Halo, and my own procrastination for the lateness, but there it is. The end of Arc 1. There will be a time shift to accommodate season 4 and all that happened with in, but you all can probably guess what the Spartans will be up to in that time with the ending.

So, on to the community question: Who do you like better, the Master Chief or the Arbiter?

My Answer: Definitely the Master Chief, but I want to see what you all think... and I got a bet with a friend, but don't let that influence you at all.

Side note, more comments get me more motivated to make these chapters. Just throwing that out there.