Chapter Fifteen

****Southern Minotaur Empire****
Eight Months Later/Noon-ish

After the peace treaty went through between the Gryphon Kingdom and the Minotaur Kingdom all was well for the first seventy-two hours. The coupe on the gryphon king had been fixed with the help of the Spartans, but no one was there to help minotaur king when it happened to him. Instead he fought his way through his own army with the help of the most loyal of his guards and servants.

After being forced out of his castle, the King began to rally those for peace to the northern half of the empire. Those for war began to gather in the captured castle of the king, and a civil war had begun with lines being drawn in the months that followed. Besides King Steel Heart’s escape from his own castle there had only been a few battles between the two fronts. The D-B Kingdom had come in to try and make peace between the two sides, but the new ruler of the side for war, King Bronze Shield, wanted no peace. He wanted War.

Not just with the Minotaur Dominion or the Gryphon Kingdom, but with the D-B Kingdom, the Equestrian’s, the Diamond Dog Empire, and every small little piece of land that held the title of a nation. He wanted to see the world burn, and he would show this with the execution of the next generation of rebels who would fight him. In the cell he was on his way to were those set for todays execution, rebels who had tried to restore balance and the rightful king back to the throne. With them were their families from the elderly to the youngest child.

The brown minotaur walked down the stone corridor leading to the prisoner’s quarters. King Bronze’s dark armor loudly clinking and clanking along the way as he casually walked to see those he would be killing later. As he approached the cell with all the prisoners he saw an elderly taur wrapped in a cloak trying to help the situation by telling stories to the children, even a good number of adults were listening as not a single taur noticed his arrival.

“The dragon had taken the bait and swallowed it whole.” the children let out a little ‘yes’ as the elder continued, “The dragon then began to move steadily closer to the Spartan it had injured. The ground shook as its monstrous claws came down, but the Spartan seemed not afraid of the beast as he raised his hand into the air. He looked as if he were about to wave good by to the life he had, but instead, his open hand closed into a fist and Boom!” the children jumped as the old taur raised his voice for the last word.

“The dragon was blown up from the inside out. The bait it had swallowed had contained a bomb and the dragon was none the wiser.” the elderly taur began to laugh as he continued, “The Spartans disappeared after that. As they had done so many times before.”

“Can you tell us another story of the Spartans?” a child asked making the elderly minotaur begin to laugh.

“I’m afraid there are no more to tell.” the cloaked minotaur said before adding quietly, “But you can be in the next one.” his hood shifted slightly upwards to look at the King.

King Bronze snorted as he looked upon the filth gathering all their attention. The prisoners would be dealt with within the hour. As they began to whimper and move away from the bars with the parent minotaurs putting themselves in front of the children the elderly minotaur began to laugh.

The King let out a small chuckle himself, “And what is it you find so funny prisoner.”

The elderly minotaur stood up showing to be at least a full head or more higher than the King, “I’m laughing that we’re getting paid more for this job than the dragon.” he said as he pulled off the hood of his cloak to reveal the widely known helmet and visor of Spartan Chase Blake, “Honestly.” the King began to back up, his eyes wide, “This job was almost double what we got for the dragon and we just got to take you in alive.”

The King growled as he drew his sword, “Guards seize him!”... nothing happened. The King hazarded a glance back down the corridor and saw both his guards on the ground and another Spartan standing out of his sword’s reach with their weapon raised. The King turned back to the cell only to have handful of powder thrown into his face. He brought his free arm up to his eyes and shake off the powder when he started to feel the effects.

Everything began to become hazy, out of focus. He could see the room anymore as his eyes were shut, but it felt like he was moving or spinning. His arms began to feel tired and he dropped his sword as he no longer had the strength to hold it up. With his whole world spinning, the King began to tilt every which way before finally leaning too much forward and...

“Timberrr.” Chase said casually as the King face planted into the hard stone floor of the castle making Chase wince, “Ooo~ that’s gotta hurt.” shrugging his shoulders, Chase casually walked up to the cell door and broke the lock, “Now, if everyone will kindly follow my friend here we can have you all somewhere safe before night fall.”

There was a few seconds of silence before a barrage of thank you's and other things were said to the Spartan as they all began to follow Ethan out of the dungeon. Chase watched them go, smiling to himself as he picked up the knocked out Bronze Shield, “I love my job.”

****Changeling Hive, Badlands****
Morning

“So I tell him, you either give me an egg or I’m out of here.” A blue haired changeling told the Spartan on the other side of the table. Her eyes matching her hair, wings, and the shell on her back that covered her wings when not in use. The rest of her body was black like all the other changelings.

“Damn. You go girl.” Josh said taking a drink of his smoothie. A few little facts the Spartan’s learned is that, while changelings need love to live they still needed other food as well, but not very much. Since Changelings could feed off their love for one another this made the hive very rich, resource wise. The first thing they noticed though was that male changelings have the fin-like thing on the backs of their heads while females actually have hair. Another was that the guard had a uniform type deal and all those within turned into the same version of a heroic changeling that died protecting the current queen during the founding of the hive.

Lastly, once you get past appearances, they are very nice and don’t judge based on appearances like equestrians are known for, “You know, sometimes I just wish I could drop it all and leave. Explore the world, maybe meet a someling that’s actually worth a damn.”

“We’re working hard so you can do just that.” Josh said happily before gulping down a bit of his smoothie, “Got the biggest ones out of the way and now we’ve recently got an offer from one of the big five.”

“I know, and we all couldn’t be happier since you Spartans started helping us.” the changeling stated smiling, “Well I got to get back to my job, see you around Josh.” she went back to waiting on the other customers in the brightly lit up dinner.

“See ya Azure.” Josh said as he finished his drink and put a few bits down on the table.

As Josh left the dinner and put on his helmet, he took a look around the lone city that made up the Changeling Empire. Multiple building made out of or into the rocks that made up the cave all lit up with the bioluminescent moss that grew in the slightly damp cave. The entire cavern was dome-like with water accumulating in the center of the city making a lake.

An island had been made in the center of the lake and a castle fit for something out of a story book was erected on it. The castle could be seen from almost any part of the main center cavern. There was a whole network of tunnels and caverns that had been separated, sectioned off, and organized. Each area outside of the main cavern was either residential or owned by the queen for special projects. Then there was the cavern that was given to the Spartans for the storing of their equipment and personal use.

As he looked at the large ceiling and surrounding buildings, a familiar voice spoke up, “You know I thought that maybe you were all bark and no bite, as they say, when it came to this, ‘play-ah’ thing, but now I am one-hundred percent certain my opinion of you can get no lower.”

As they walked back to the castle lit up by the moss that grew all over the Changeling Empire, Josh just shook his head, “You know Moonie, each time you say that ya just know I’m going to do something to lower it more, so why do you even say it?”

“Wishful thinking apparently.” the spirit turned AI replied.

“I don’t see a problem with it if it’s what everyone here is doing.” Josh said in his defense, “Besides, with how open the topic of sex is here, I feel like I did the last time I got some shore leave and headed to Vegas Quadrant with the guys. There’s just less alcohol involved.”

“So were the citizens in this ‘Vegas’ also confined to living underground for fear that they would be killed on site above?” Nightmare asked making Josh sigh.

“You know just how to kill the mood.” Josh said as he past a few more changelings on the path to the castle. Instead of hair they had the fin like things on the backs of their head showing they were male. They two had the only two colors just like Azure and the majority of changelings, one being a light purple and the other a light green. It's a little rare, but not unheard of, for a changeling to have different colored eyes, hair, and wings with there black insect-like bodies, like the hero of old the guard copies.

Realizing he had been staring as they approached, Josh waved to them. They returned the gesture and went on their way, “Had I been here when Chrysalis did her whole speech and rant about the way they were living, I can’t say I wouldn’t of been tempted to join her in the attempt to capture a kingdom of their own. Leon would of talked me out of it, but I would of been tempted.” Josh looked around as all the changelings moved from place to place in the hive as he walked down the straight road, some with a smile, some with a sad look, many in between, “They lived what they thought was a good life, but Chrysalis told them of what they could have and quite a few citizens joined her.”

“Yes, any ruler worthy of the title wouldn’t let their people live in fear like this, no matter if they are ignorantly happy or not. They deserve to be able to leave and not fear just the prospect of the surface, but Cocoon has been trying her best to make the world more accepting.” Nightmare said with a sigh, “At least the dragons accept them and don’t kill on sight now that we helped them with the rouge.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s just baby steps now since the failed assault on Canterlot. Now we got changelings that were part of it telling everyone else that the ponies were weak and not to be feared like they thought. Which I guess is true since the attackers were civilians and still only barely lost.” Josh stated with a small chuckle as he turned a corner halfway down the street and passed two of the guards on the bridge to the castle.

“If my other half had been there to help then I assure you, it wouldn’t of been so. Maybe it’s for the best though as, by some miracle, there were no casualties.” Nightmare replied as they walked towards the looming stone castle.

“Oh yeah. One of the Big Five’s capitals gets invaded and not a single death came from it.” Josh began to laugh, “It’s so absurd I can’t believe it. No one is even missing! I just refuse to believe a teenager was behind what could've been one of the biggest military victories in this planet’s history.”

Nightmare began to laugh lightly, “I would hardly call it the biggest military victory had it succeeded. I remember battles between empires that have both fallen to time that would make what she did look like a foal trying to take a toy from another foal.”

“I’d like to hear some of those stories sometime, might bore me enough to get some sleep.” Josh chuckled as he walked around one of the castle’s many corners and proceeded down a flight of stairs.

“If it get’s you to stop falling asleep during mission briefings then I’ll try it. Oh and next time that happens, I’m not telling you what Leon said.” Nightmare replied with her own chuckle.

“Josh.” a deep voice called out as Josh reached the bottom of the stairs. Turning Josh saw hank walking towards him with a few guards at his sides, “Were about to go play some football, you in?”

“Wish man, Leon wanted me for something.” Josh stated as he began to move passed.

“Right, just don’t want to get beat by me again eh?” Hank stated crossing his arms and looking at his fellow Spartan.

“Oh it’s-”

“As much as I would like to see Josh get taken down a few pegs, we do have to meet with Leon.” Nightmare stated, interrupting Josh.

Hank nodded his helmet, “Looks like someone was saved from embarrassment. Come to the stadium when you’re done and we’ll see who’s better.” he walked away with the guards in tow.

“Oh I’ll be there.” Josh called after him, but he didn’t seem to hear him.

“I’ve still got you muted.” Nightmare chuckled while Josh groaned and continued down the hallway as, “What do you think Leon wanted you for?”

“You’re in my head, can’t you tell?” Josh asked.

“It will be a cold day in the ninth level of Tartarus when I read your thoughts again. I can’t think of a day, in recent memory, when I was happier than the day I learned how to block your thoughts.” Nightmare answered.

“Right, good for you.” Josh said as he rolled his eyes, “In truth though, I ain’t gotta clue what to expect if Hank isn’t going to be there. Usually when we go on ops it’s either me and him or me and Chase, but since Chase is with Ethan are wrapping up our job with the Minotaurs I don’t think we’re being deployed. It was about time Leon stopped trying to protect him like an overprotective mother.”

“I almost forgot the rare moments you use logic.” Nightmare said with a smug tone, “I still don’t think Chase is fit for deployment though. Once I saw the video from that mission... well I just find it hard to believe that after he lost his mind the UNSC actually kept him as a Spartan.”

“He says he doesn’t remember anything after... well after Reaper tore apart his team.” Josh stated as the mood of the conversation took a major turn downwards, “That and the Energy Sword can’t leave his side so to discharge him with a weapon like that wouldn’t of been a very good idea either.”

“True, true... I suppose since he has yet to go on a killing spree that he’s fine for now, but I won’t be recommending any high tension missions for him in the future.” Nightmare stated, “Though the three of us handled the dragon issue very well I thought.”

“You mean besides my side getting tore open and it taking two weeks for the best and most magically adept changelings to repair my armor?” Josh asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re lucky they were able to repair it at all. The high grade materials that you armor is made out of can’t be repaired as if it were a linen cloth. For the spell to work it takes not only time for the materials to duplicate at an atomic level, but also a lot of magic and precision for such a spell.” Nightmare stated as they rounded another corner, “An average magic user would of been killed under the strain and still a few of the changelings had to be treated for magic exhaustion.”

“...”

“Nothing to say? I guess there is a first time for everything... Josh?” Nightmare asked as Josh didn’t answer, but continued walking.

Before Nightmare could ask again Josh interrupted her, “I don’t think I was ever as happy as the day I learned to mute you.” he said with a smile on his face and the mood took a turn up again.

“I can still override it~.” Nightmare said with a happy tone as Josh groaned.

“So, what do you think Leon wants?” Josh asked as he rounded another corner and began to pass some random rooms that he never learned the purpose of.

“Probably to get you to stop this whole sleeping around business.” Nightmare answered.

“He hasn’t talked to me yet once we figured out the magical side of safe sex.” Josh said as he turned another corner and came upon a door, “This is where he wanted to meet us right?”

“Yes, but we’ve never been here before. I wonder why Leon requested we come here instead of the cave...” Nightmare thought out loud.

“Red flags are starting to go up.” Josh stated as he stopped in front of the door, “Isn’t this the way to the dungeons?”

“... Get your rifle out, I’ll probe for magic.” Nightmare stated as Josh’s EOD helmet visor, which was just two eye holes, lit up a shade of blue.

Josh grabbed the MA5D off his back and carefully began to push the door open with the weapon lowered. The lights were dim and only the occasional torch lit up the stairs in front of Josh, enough light just to see, but enough for something to hide. Weapon raised, Josh began to slowly descend the stairs, “Why in the hell would Leon want me to meet him here?”

“I don’t know, but magical scans aren’t showing anything out of the ordinary...” Nightmare answered as Josh reached the bottom of the stairs. Torches lined the walls and most of the cells appeared empty, as did the path in front of him that branched off to the left and right. As Josh got closer to the intersection a green blip appeared on his radar. The constant signal of a friendly IFF tag. Josh put away his weapon as he continued down the path, but Nightmare stayed alert for magical activity.

As they rounded another corner Josh was relieved to see Leon standing in front of one of the stone walled cells, “Josh, there you are.” Leon said as they approached, “I’ve got the other’s thoughts, but I need your take on how to handle... this.” Leon gestured to the inside of the cage.

Josh got close enough to look inside and saw-, “Uhg, what’s she doing here?” Nightmare asked with venom in her voice. Inside the cage was a well known pink earth pony mare, with her trade mark poofy pink mane, Pinkie Pie.

“Hi!” the mare stated happily with a smile on her face.

“Hey.” Josh replied in kind before turning to Leon, “What’s she doing here?”

“She got my letter in reply to her invites. Our not being able to come apparently warranted a visit as soon as that news channel caught us working with the changelings after the dragon meeting.” Leon explained before turning to Pinkie, “I just told Alfred over the comms to ask Chase and Ethan what they think we should do. Alfred said he trusted my judgment as long as we don’t kill her.”

“What?!” Pinkie exclaimed as Leon finished.

“Calm down, we aren’t doing that.” Josh said before turning off his external speakers, “We aren’t, are we?”

“No.” Leon stated before addressing Pinkie, “What were you hoping to accomplish by coming here?”

Pinkie cocked her head to the side, “Well since we couldn’t have your party in Equestria, I decided I would just bring the party to you. I would of brought a few of my friends, but they had other things they had to do. Twilight was getting situated into her new princess position in Canterlot. Applejack was checking something with the bits the farm made this year. Rarity-”

“We get it.” Josh interrupted, “Why did you want to throw us a party though?”

“That’s what I do for all my new friends. I also do it for any new ponies that come to Ponyville.” she stated happily, “It’s also an ‘I’m sorry for chasing after you halfway across Equestria’ party. I would say I’m sorry to the changelings who I fought in Canterlot, but that was in self defense. Oh! I do have to say sorry to Chrysalis though. When I heard that she was rescued by you guys from the castle we trapped her in, I was sad because I thought about how scared she must of been stuck in that tiny room with....”

“...” both Spartans were quiet as she continued to talk... and talk.... and talk.......... and-

“For the love of the night, shut up!” Nightmare yelled through the external speakers. The whole room grew si-

“Oh! Is Princess Luna here?” Pinkie asked as she began to look around.

Josh looked as Leon facepalmed at the situation, “Go ahead, show her.”

Shrugging his shoulders Josh reached to the back of his helmet and brought back in front of him, “Pinkie, I think you know Moonie.” a small holographic image appeared over the chip earning Pinkie’s undivided attention. A swirling mist began to materialize over the chip before Nightmare Moon spread her wings and the mist became her mane and tail showing off all her eight inch tall glory.

“Laughter.” Nightmare stated with a hint of malice behind her voice.

“Whoa...” Pinkie dumbly stared at the projection, “Are you really Nightmare Moon?”

“What’s left after you tore me apart and purified me from my other half. A very painful process I assure you.” Nightmare said, making the pink mare shy away from her glare.

“I want to say I’m sorry, but-”

“No need to explain Element. I know what I tried to do was foolish, I’m fortunate enough Leon did not leave me to that miserable existence in the castle ruins.” Nightmare said earning a raised eyebrow from everyone in the room.

“A decision I’ve yet to regret, and I don’t think I will.” Leon stated.

“Moonie just said something nice.” Josh said slowly, “So when are you going to start reading my thoughts again because I’m pretty sure the ninth level of Tartarus just froze over.”

“Oh, my friends say I make that happen a lot.” Pinkie said, once again her happy self.

That got a chuckle out of Josh while Leon crossed his arms looking at the mare in front of him, “You don't have to appologise to Chrysalis either, she wasn't trapped in the castle, she was still using it as a base to plot another attack..." Leon sighed as he uncrossed his arms, "No matter what I decide, I’ll have to check it with Queen Cocoon. It's still her empire after all.”

Suddenly Leon’s comm came to life, “Leon.” Alfred started, “I just got off the long distance with Chase and Ethan... You’re not going to believe their idea.”

“Both as in they both thought it up, or Chase suggested it and Ethan agreed?” Leon asked while Josh returned Nightmare to his helmet.

“Actually Ethan suggested one thing and Chase built on it for what could be the most idiotic thing I’ve heard.” Alfred replied.

“Oooo, this is sounding like my kind of plan.” Pinkie said with a smile that was starting to creep Josh out.

“What’s the plan?” Leon asked.

“He’s heard that she’s a party planner, so he wants her to throw a hive wide party...” Alfred said slowly, “I want no part in this, whatever you decide leave our cave out of it.” the comm went dead.

The Spartans were just standing there in a stunned stupor while Pinkie had a smile practically a mile wide, “This is... the best plan... ever!”

“Please tell me you’re not thinking of doing this.” Nightmare stated.

“We’d have to tell everyling about her before hand...” Josh thought out loud.

“I’d have to iron out a lot of things with Cocoon...” Leon murmured.

So engrossed in their thought they had failed to notice the green blip that had been moving towards them on their motion sensors, “A lot of things.” the new comer stated making them turn to see the Queen standing there with Chrysalis by her side, “But it might even be a good learning experience for Chrissy and the hive as a whole.”

“Am I the only one here who thinks she could be a spy?” Nightmare asked dumbfounded that everyone around her was quick to trust a high profile enemy.

“She willingly submitted to a memory search with no restrictions. I had one of the guards go get the best magically adapted, and most unbiased, changeling to perform the search and he claimed there was no tampering to hide anything. Even the memories she has of her dreams showed no signs of any influence, though afterwards he wanted to eat something called a chimi cherry changa.” Leon explained, making Nightmare’s argument dissipate into thin air. One does not simply allow another to view their memories unless they are true of heart... or at the least very stupid.

“Then it’s settled, a good number of changelings’ first exposure to Equestria will be through Pinkie Pie and her party.” Cocoon stated before turning to Pinkie, “You will have a guard by you at all times and if you move to far away from that guard it will be thought as suspicious activity and you will be put on even tighter security. A third strike and you will have your memory wiped and you will be thrown out into the middle of the Badlands. Understand?”

Pinkie nodded and made a mock salute with her hoof, “I Pinkie Promise to be on my best behavior.” she stated before making a bunch of different hoof movements, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” she finished with a smile.

“Okay... " Leon said slowly, "So who’s going to be her-”

“Hank.” Josh said quickly, interrupting Leon, “He has a lot of free time since Chase finished up the Warthog and he has more sway with the citizens than I do.”

“No he doesn’t.” Nightmare joined the argument, “A lot of the guards respect him, but we’re trying to sway the citizens, not the guard. You have more sway with the citizens because you’re always out there in the city.” Nightmare had wanted to state that he had probably dated half of them, but she held her tongue... for now.

“You realize if I get the guarding position we will have to follow her, we will have to help her set up the party, and we will be protecting her, right?” Josh asked.

Leon ignored Josh and Nightmare as he watched Cocoon and Chrysalis have a mute argument between just the two of them. Cocoon, who was on par with Celestia in height and just below eye level for the Spartan, seemed to have muted their argument from being heard. Chrysalis, who was on par with Luna in height and barely reached his chin, seemed to be pissed at whatever she was suggesting.

After a few seconds of silence, Leon was about to speak up when Nightmare finally answered Josh, “Then again the guards all go home to their families at the end of their shifts and they could just as easily, if not more so, spread word that she is a good pony.”

“Alright then, since you both made such good reasons why you would be guards, then all three of you get the job.” Leon stated happily.

Josh turned on the spot and both him and Nightmare shouted, “What!?”

“Yep. End of discussion, unless you wanted to add something Cocoon.” Leon added as he saw her drop whatever spell.

“Yes actually, she’ll be kept in a guest room for the next few days while I tell the hive then proceed to wait for them to calm down. During that time I’d like it if my daughter stayed with this pony so that she might learn a lesson. I hope that will be no trouble?” Cocoon asked while a very angry yet defeated looking Chrysalis looked on with a scowl.

Before Josh could object Leon answered, “Sounds terrific, I’ve already got three of my own guarding Pinkie, so it shouldn’t be any problem to add another for them to look after.”

“I don’t need protecting.” Chrysalis stated with absolute hatred in her voice making Cocoon take on a saddened expression.

“But-” Josh tried to say before he was interrupted again.

“Alright then.” Cocoon said before turning back to Chrysalis, “If you need anything, have Josh get Leon. Me and him will be going over our plans for the reveal of Pinkie and how to make sure that we can contain whatever inevitably goes wrong.” she leaned down a little bit and nuzzled the side of Chrysalis’ head. The younger changeling hesitated before returning the affection then quickly pulling away.

The Queen smiled, “Come Leon, the sooner we start planning at get this over with the sooner we can handle the mess that comes after.”

“Agreed.” Leon stated as he began to move after her.

“Hey. Hey!” Josh called after them as they left him alone with Pinkie Pie and Chrysalis, “She’s still in the cell, where are the keys!?”

“Oh I was never locked in here.” Pinkie said happily as she moved to cell door to the right of the rest of the bars and opened it easily, “I just wanted to see what it was like in these dungeons.”

“... We’ll be in an asylum before the end of this won’t we?” Nightmare asked as Josh groaned and turned around to see Chrysalis beginning to leave.

“Hey! Wait-” something latched onto the back of Josh’s helmet and hooves dangled on either side of his head as pinkie took a seat on his shoulders.

“Onward to the party planning room!” Pinkie cried out before bursting out laughing.

“We’ll be lucky if we last the day.” Josh groaned before moving forwards with the pink mare on his head. Suddenly though, an idea began to form. Turning off his external speakers as he followed after Chrysalis, Josh explained, “Okay, what’s the one way to get and keep a child’s attention?”

“We’re not dealing with foals and fillies, we need more than just an attention grabber for these two.” Nightmare stated as they got close to Chrysalis.

“A trick I learned from helping Hank on his first job.” Josh said with a smug tone before turning on his external speakers, “How would you two like to sample my people’s culture-”

“No. I will not accept your protection for I have no need of it.” Chrysalis stated before storming off towards the stairs leading out of the dungeons.

“Well then, I guess it will just be me and Pinkie to watch all the action packed movies I’ve got...” Josh stated casually yet in an enticing sort of way.

“Oh cool, you’ve got movies!” Pinkie stated happily, “What kind? Romantics ones? Action? Scarry? Funny?”

“All kinds.” Josh stated as he noticed Chrysalis had stopped, “We just need to get some popcorn, a few drinks, and a projector and I can show you any kind of movie you want.”

“Dibs on first pick!” Pinkie stated in her usual happy demeanor.

Noticing that Chrysalis was actually considering joining them Josh continued, “Yeah, and it won’t even really be guarding since we’ll all just be a bunch of people hanging out, watching movies, and overall doing nothing actually serious, productive, or anything to do with work.” Josh was specifically mentioning the work part because he knew that Chrysalis was still doing her three-thousand hours of community service.

"Pretty please with sugar and a few cupcakes on top?” Pinkie asked.

“... Fine, I suppose I do need to learn about your culture if you’re going to be our allies.” she stated before continuing up the stairs.

“This might not be as bad as I thought it was going to be.” Nightmare stated as Josh followed Chrysalis up the stairs.

“Do you have any movies with ghosts?” Pinkie asked, “Wait, watching a movie with ghosts wouldn’t be racist towards Moonie would it?”

While Nightmare groaned Josh couldn’t get the smile off his face. It’s clear to see why Pinkie Pie was the element of Laughter, “Maybe a movie night won’t be so bad.” Josh stated as he got to the top of the stairs and Chrysalis began to lead the way to the guest rooms.

“Why’s that?” both Chrysalis and Nightmare asked at the same time, making Josh and Pinkie start to laugh.

“Because, Hank is one of the easiest people to scare.” Josh said with a smirk hidden under his helmet.

“Really? I thought Chase would be the easiest since the spiders thing.” Chrysalis said as they backtracked through the hallways of the castle.

“Anything Hank can hit or shoot, he’s not scared of. Get into somewhere haunted he’ll start shaking like a white boy in the wrong neighborhood. Chase is the second easiest to scare on our team, just get a spider near him or get him near the ocean and he’ll start flipping out.” Josh stated.

“Chase is scared of water? Did he not travel over the water to get to here from the Gryphon Kingdoms?” Nightmare questioned.

“Why would a white boy be shaking if he’s in the wrong neighborhood?” Pinkie asked before Josh could answer Nightmare’s question.

“Chase isn’t scared of water, he’s scared of really deep water and open ocean.” Josh held back his laughter as he answered, “The white boy joke is a human thing.”

“More like a racist thing.” Nightmare chimed in making Josh burst out laughing, “This guard deal might just be as bad as I thought.”

****Pelican, Over Storm Central Sea****
Afternoon

The Storm Central Sea, named such as it had more storms happen over it’s waters than any other body of water in the known world. Yeah, known world, despite the best of efforts only the northern half of the planet has actually been mapped. There was an entire strip of land called The Everfree Rainforest, ponies named it, that was considered to be not one of, but thee deadliest place on the planet.

Some speculated that it was all that covered the expanse of the southern hemisphere, other’s claimed it’s the first barrier one has to cross to become a god. Books have been written about it, many have spent their entire careers studying it, and finally, our Spartans had a running bet on it. For that reason, Ethan and Chase had taken a little detour from their path straight back to the hive.

They were currently flying high above the south faction of the Minotaur Dominion, skirting the water as per Chase’s request. They still had plenty of surplus fuel and the detour wasn’t that costly on it, but they were still looking into a possible magical alternative. The Pelican didn’t run on water like the Warthog, sooner or later it was just going to be a decoration piece.

While Ethan piloted them over a storm front, Chase sat in the cozy back of the Pelican, with his feet propped up on a few bags full of bits, watching one of his favorite movies, Tremors 2: Aftershocks. Chase was watching the montage of graboid killing near the beginning of the film when the video paused, shrunk down, and another image took it’s place. Sighing in annoyance Chase tapped the image that the holoprojector had made and different charts and gauges appeared with a small wall of text to the side.

Chase’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the scans on the projection. Slowly, without taking his eyes off of the images, he grabbed the few bit sacks he was using and toss them onto the other twenty or so near the wall at the front of the troop compartment of the Pelican. He pressed on one of the scanners that was slowly rising making it take up the entire screen, “Hey Ethan, I’m getting some abnormal electromagnetic readings back here. Did we drift into the storm clouds?”

“No, still over it.” Ethan droned out as Chase watched the meter rise. After a few seconds of watching it fill up, the moment the number on the gauge read fifty a lot of things happened at once. The Pelican violently shook, the holotable powered down, and Chase found himself slammed into the ceiling of the Pelican as it’s engines stopped and it began to drop like a rock.

“Ethan status!” Chase said as he slammed his boots onto the ground and activated their magnetic properties.

“EMP, magical source.” Ethan stated as Chase watched the holo table start to flicker on and off.

“Can you get us air born again!?” Chase stated as he moved passed all the floating gold coins to get to the holotable.

“Both engines spun to zero.” Ethan was silent as Chase sat down in one of the Pelican’s seats and began to strap himself in. The holotable came back online and, but they were still in free fall, “Recycle the engines now!”

Chase’s arms were a flurry of movement as he moved screens aside, pressed on others, before finally an image of the Pelican’s engines appeared. A small timer to the side of the holo screen read out thirty-two seconds. He began pressing all sorts of different buttons, getting the individual systems back online, before finally swiping along the last screen. A rumble went through the entire Pelican as the engines began their starting process for coming online.

While it did that, Chase moved the top left corner of the screen down, shrinking all of the engine and system’s stuff and brought up the maps of the region they were in. Slowly but surely they were drifting into the Everfree Rainforest and had actually crossed the boundary a few seconds earlier... ‘Wait a minute...’ “Ethan, as soon as the engines are ready pull us around and get us away from this fucking forest!”

Two things popped up on the screen again as Chase observed the map. The first was the timer showing ten seconds before they crashed. The other was the EM meter that was once again slowly starting to rise, “Oh shit. Ethan the EM meter is starting to rise again, we need to go now.”

As soon as the timer hit seven seconds, the whole Pelican lurched forward and the gold bits were thrown into the floor and the ramp of the Pelican. Chase locked his armor as he felt the Pelican pull a one-eighty and the emergency thrusters activate. All the landing thrusters on the bottom of the Pelican were angled backwards to give even the tiniest bit of thrust. Chase watched with clenched teeth as the EM meter slowly rose past forty.

The Pelican began to shake again as it plowed through the storm it had been above seconds earlier. Chase got ready to over pressurize his armor for the worst case scenario, considering they were now over the water. As he thought that, Chase’s heart began to race. He had seen the type of things on the internet about what lurked in the depths of the deepest ocean. As the EM meter slowly went passed forty-seven Chase began to try and calm himself by taking deep, shaky breaths.

Before the thoughts of if the water pressure would kill the two of them or if they would be forced to slowly run out of air entered Chase’s mind the EM meter stopped at forty-eight point four and slowly began to go back down. Chase let out a huge sigh of relief as he disengaged the armor lock and let his arms go limp onto the seats. He didn’t even care about the turbulence anymore as the engines slowly began to wind down and go back to normal propulsion.

As the Pelican slowly began to rise above the storm once more, Ethan’s voice over the radio made Chase jump, “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah. I’m fine.” Chase said through his panting, “Get a hold of Leon, I’ve got to tell him about this. Though when we come back, we’re stopping the moment the EM meter get’s the tiniest bit of a signal.”

“Affirmative.”

“One thing’s for sure though, we got a mystery on our hands.” Chase said with a small smile before that smile dropped upon looking around the Pelican’s interior, “And one hell of a mess to clean up.”

Author's Note

So, here is Chapter 15: Skipping Time and Catching up Part 1. As you may of noticed, we've now got chapter names! There will be another time skip from this one to the next chapter as I've realized I couldn't of picked a worse time to put these Spartans in Equestria. It needs to be summer for the start of Season 4 to happen and so I have a lot of time to make up for. Almost a full year will have passed for our Spartans before the actual story behind Arc II starts. For us though, it's going to be covered in two chapters.

Alright, community question: How's your guys opinion on the Halo 5 beta?

My answer: ...I haven't gotten to play the stupid thing yet. For some reason I can load Youtube videos in seconds, but the moment my Xbone connects to the internet it only downloads at 12 kb/s or somewhere around there... It makes me sad.

At least The Master Chief collection is in playable order now, I just got through winning a Blood Gulch Big Team Battle on Halo CE and I went 9 and 9... Don't laugh, my internet sucks... and the guns were broken... and insert another random reason here. Point is, I had fun... really wish I could play the beta though... Please spare no detail if you chose to describe an awesome moment.