005

Heavier Than Most probed through the wreckage of the craft, searching for something, anything that would help he and his friend in this situation. Bleating triumphantly, he pulled a small still intact syringe from a box inside the wreckage of the craft. Turning it, he pressed the small needle into a crack in the Sangheili’s armor on his neck just below his split mandibles. Depressing the plunger, he watched anxiously as his friend stirred slightly, eyes flickering open.

“You are alright?” Heavier Than Most signed quickly, expelling gas from one of his flotation sacs, slowly coasting lower to the Sangheili’s head.

Blearily, Tsuka ‘Zhaad shook his head, replying in his own language: “I am bleeding… It is dishonorable to bleed…”

“I need you alive, friend…”

“No… I have dishonored… honor… dis…” The purple armored elite tried to speak, but instead could only manage a few strained words before his body was racked with a series of deep, throaty coughs.

Heavier Than Most sadly bleated again as he watched his friend descend back into unconsciousness, all the while frantically attempted to suppress the still-oozing wounds. Unless their carrier, The Long Night of Solace, picked up on their distress beacon… well, he didn’t want to think about it.

“So, as you can see,” James began, slowly bending the large steel beam the Lunar Princess had conjured for him, “the armor does most of the work… Though, I wouldn’t be able to even use this armor if it weren’t for my physical augments.”

“Physical augments… Such as?” the princess questioned, a sly look coming over her face.

“Classified,” he shortly replied. Even though he’d been unclassified since 2547, he wasn’t going to share the secrets of his augmentations with a still potentially hostile race. Besides, he didn’t really want to foul their innocent persona with his war.

Luna rolled her eyes. “You’re aware you’re stuck in what you humans call a micro-Dyson sphere, aren’t you? No chance of escape back to the UNSC. Furthermore, it’s not like us ponies would even need the same enhancements you do… One, we’re ponies, not humans. Two, we have magic, you humans do not. Three, even if somepony did wish to copy these augmentations, I would deal with them… Personally.” Her eyes flashed as she directed her third point towards the lavender unicorn, who had pulled a small blue notebook and quill from seemingly nowhere.

“My orders are clear. Despite the… circumstances.”

Silence fell over the small clearing. James could clearly see the princess was not happy with this, but she would deal with it. Orders were orders.

“So, uh, lemme get this straight... They took ya when y’all were little… An’ trained ya up real good ta fight? Now tha’ don’ make a lick ‘o sense ta me…”

“They made us weapons. Weapons to fight the Covenant.” He turned to the Princess again, noting she was still pouting over his refusal to share information. “You know what they’re like…” He chuckled. “…preach first, then kill everything in sight.”

The princess attempted a quick smile, which failed to hide her annoyance with him. Though it was still somewhat reassuring.

“Awh shoot. It doesn’t matter anyways. What matters is how in the hay are we going ta keep y’all from bein’ scrutinized by the public! Ah mean, most of Ponyville saw y’all smoking in that crater, but Ah reckon it’d be a bad idea for ya to be makin’ another appearance.”

“I got this,” the princess responded before James could, tossing him a small hunk of metal, made of the same purple alloy favored by the Covenant; a faint blue light pulsated near the center. James immediately recognized it as a stealth field, or ‘active camouflage’ as ONI called it, primarily used by higher ranking elites on recon or assassination missions.

Clipping the small device to his lower back, he quickly pulled his helmet back on, and was pleased to see a small ring flickering into life on his HUD showing how much power the tiny device had. “Now, how did you…” he began, before twisting the helmet back off his head.

“Not important,” the Princess cut in. “What is important, is that you find somewhere to lay low for a while.” She trotted up to him, placing both her front hooves on his shoulders and staring into his eyes. “Whatever you do though, don’t allow yourself to be seen.” Her eyes flashed pure white and James got the distinct impression she was staring deep into his soul; then she looked down at the pistol holstered at his hip. “Or any of your… belongings.”

He simply stared back at her, fighting her stern gaze with a blank yet equally fierce stare of his own. The moment lasted several seconds before the lavender unicorn spoke for the first time since the princess had mistakenly attacked him.

“I think I can help with that!” She beamed. “My basement has plenty of room, and I assume you’re going to want to take off that armor at some point… I have all the necessary heavy-lift gear down there!”

The princess nodded slightly before hopping off of him. “That would be fine, Twilight, I’m sure though he could be put to use somewhere around the village though. Sweet Apple Acres perhaps?”

James raised his eyebrows. “And what makes you think that I’m going back to that village? I’ve probably exposed myself, however indirectly, to too many of your subjects as it is.”

“It’s either the village, or the Canterlot dungeon,” the princess stated matter-of-factly. “Or, I could dispose of you here and now, if that’s what you’d prefer?”

“Woah now, ma’am. Don’t be starting something you can’t finish…” he joked as he brought himself to his feet. “The Library is fine…”

“Awh! But Ah wanted him ta stay with us!” came Apple Bloom’s voice as she, and the rest of the ponies, rose to their hooves.

“Now now, Bloom,” the orange one began. “James here will need his rest, an’…”

“Spartans don’t sleep,” James interrupted with a small smile. “At least, that’s what we want you to think. I’m sure Apple Bloom won’t cause too much trouble if she hangs around the library for a bit.”

Squeals of joy began to pierce the sharp air, as both Apple Bloom and Twilight began jumping about, Twilight presumably because she had another fascinating something to study in her hooves, and Apple Bloom because she could spend time with her new ‘friend’ once more.

“Clearly y’all have never met mah sister…” Applejack mused, raising her eyebrow and cocking her head at the display. “Well, if y’all wan’ ta be useful, there’s a position open on the farm... Normally Ah’d hire a few ponies every year for this but y’all look like ya coul’ take care of it real easy.”

“I’m not sure how much help I’d be… I’m a weapon, not a farm tool…” he cautiously replied. “I’d be happy to try of course…”

“A knife is still a tool, young one, it has many uses other than to kill. You’ll be fine,” the princess sagely added, before getting to her feet. “I must go now, the moon will need to be raised in a few hours…”

“I should be getting back to my research anyways…” Twilight began. “I’m starting to feel kind of sore anyways from this morning…”

James pulled his helmet back on, energy shields flickering to life as he rose to his feet and held out one massive hand to the lavender unicorn. “You need your rest; I’ll carry you until I need to become hidden.”

Twilight involuntarily backed away slightly from the giant as he rose, before giving him a small smile. “No, really it’s fine I - WAGH! What are you doing?!”

James gently hoisted up the lavender unicorn, holding her in the crook of his left arm, as one might hold a puppy. Leaving his robotic right arm free to draw his pistol, should any situation call for it.

“J-James… Put… Put me down!” Twilight exclaimed, hooves scrabbling against him as she did her best to cling to him, causing his shields to glow dully as they reflected the tiny impacts of her hooves.

“Ooh! Are we getting pony-back rides now?! Me too!” Apple Bloom excitedly chirped, darting to James’ left calf and excitedly hopping in place.

James rolled his eyes and let out a gentle puff laughter within the confines of his soundproof helmet. Reaching down, he gently scooped up the tiny yellow foal, placing her on his shoulder with the same care a mother would show when moving an infant.

Hearing a slight snort of laughter from in front of him, he directed his eyes towards Applejack and Princess Luna, both were openly grinning at the sight of the Spartan, at this tool bred for war turned hayride.

“Don’t tell me you two want to be carried as well?” James joked, gently adjusting his grip on the lavender unicorn, who had seemingly accepted the circumstances she was put in and was attempting to find a more comfortable position in the crook of his arm.

“Nah, Ah’m good,” AJ quickly spurted out as she began packing up the picnic the group had demolished. “Ah c’n walk jus’ fine, thank ya.”

The princess giggled slightly, unfurling her large midnight blue wings. “I, unlike these three, have wings. Besides, I must be off, royal duties and such.” Her last sentence was hurriedly added, as if in slight fear she too would be scooped up and treated to an impromptu pony-back ride.

James nodded at the alicorn as she flapped her powerful wings, propelling herself into the sky. “I shall be back in a few days to check up on you, Spartan. In the meantime, keep the ponies safe, goodness knows what your arrival here might do to the natural order of things. I simply pray nothing followed you through.” With another powerful flap, she was gone. Soaring off into the wild blue yonder to the pony capitol, Canterlot, he presumed.

“Well alright then.” He nodded his head at Applejack, who had just finished stuffing the last of the picnic into her saddlebags and was now staring at him expectantly. “Lead on, ma’am.”

“Just Applejack,” the orange pony corrected, before striking out back down the path leading to Ponyville, the great armored war machine turned pony-ride falling in step beside her.

Fluttershy hummed a slow, melodic tune to herself as she trotted gently through the verdant green field behind ponyville. Perched on her back was a basket filled with daisies – Twilight’s birthday was coming up soon, and they were her favorite. A strange smell permeated her nostrils, her nose wrinkling softly at the acridity of it. It smelled like it did over at the hydroelectric dam, electrical for lack of a better word.

Just then a soft bleat reached her ears, accompanied by the soft touch of something rubbery against her flank. Fluttershy squeaked, jumped a full pony-length into the air and promptly shot under the now upturned, empty basket.  The soft bleat became one of alarm as the owner of the tentacle presumably shot backwards as well.

Heavier Than Most shot backwards from the strange yellow quadruped, which had somehow managed to squeeze its entire body underneath a small wicker basket, which was now quivering uncontrollably. He had only attempted communication with the quadruped; he hadn’t tried to vaporize it, maul it to death, or hunt and eat the creature, like many of his fellow Covenant would. Why was it so skittish then?

Slowly, Heavier Than Most floated over to the quivering creature, and extended a tentative blueish purple tentacle. The creature ‘meeped’ in fear as the tentacle entered its vision. Gently, he flipped over the basket, revealing the odd shivering yellow quadruped. Which to his surprise took one look at him with a single teal blue eye, before jumping up and babbling excitedly in its odd vocal language – which he noted was very much like the language of the humans.

“Hey there little guy! I’m sorry… You scared me there, I saw the tentacle and I remembered those Neighponese comics I’d been reading…”

As for most of his kind, understanding different languages was not a barrier for him. What did astonish him was the quadruped’s sudden change from fearful, to ecstatic in the blink of an eye. As much as he wished to internally ponder the yellow quadruped’s mood swings, there were more pressing matters he had to attend to.

Purring urgently, Heavier Than Most gestured wildly towards the crash site, a faint tendril of black smoke still visible above the area where the Seraph had gone down.

“What’s wrong?” Fluttershy questioned, cocking her head slightly. “You and your friend crashed here, and your friend is in dire need of medical help?”

Heavier Than Most stared at the Quadruped with surprise, before blinking and nodding his snakelike blue head once. Odd that this seemingly primitive creature could grasp his message so quickly.

“Oh my! Can you show me?”

Heavier Than Most nodded once more, before tearing off in the direction of the downed craft, the yellow quadruped in tow.

James shrugged himself out of the heavy lucid green chest piece, which was held suspended in the air before him by a complicated hook and pulley system located in Twilight’s basement.

“Now Miss Sparkle, I can’t stress enough the importance of you NOT fiddling with my armor. Without it, I lose combat functionality, I won’t be able to effectively protect the town should something have followed me through the rupture I fell through.” James cracked his neck. “Besides… There’s a good chance that twenty seconds after you try opening up my armor’s systems, you’ll blow a crater the size of this town in the face of your lovely planet.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Twilight fearfully questioned.

“Well, you see, my armor is run off a tiny nuclear fusion generator. Without the proper access codes to the maintenance panel, or unless I’m wearing the full suit, the reactor is programmed to initiate core meltdown in order to protect our technology from Covenant hands… or tentacles.” Adding the last part as he remembered the oddly passive Covenant ‘engineers.’

“Well don’t worry, James. The princess said hooves off, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing. She didn’t say anything about questioning YOU however…” She snickered slightly at his apprehensive look. “Don’t worry, you are of course free to not answer my questions.”

“I intend to answer your questions to the best of my ability, ma’am.” Slightly more robotically than he had intended.

“No need for such formalities among friends, James. Just call me Twilight.”

“Most of my friends are dead, Twilight,” James quickly replied.

“Well, you do lead an… Interesting life… But I think you’re a friend, considering you’ve saved my hide three times today.”

James chuckled slightly, before spreading his heavily muscled arms. “Well, this is what I really look like.”

“Huh, you’re paler than I imagined…” Twilight began, before clapping a hoof on her muzzle and grinning apologetically up at the human.

“Comes with years of wearing nothing but that armor,” James replied, his stoic expression never leaving his face.

“You don’t smile much, do you?” she asked, a slight hint of snarkiness apparent in her voice.

“I smile when I have reason to.” At this, James cracked a smile, more for Twilight’s benefit than his own. After all, being stranded on an alien planet for the rest of his life wasn’t exactly something that warranted his mirth.

“See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Twilight remarked, returning his small smile with her own moderate grin.

“It’s just odd Twilight… I’m so used to following a set command structure. War, duty and my fellow Spartans are all I know.” He let out a short sigh. “We Spartans are trained to follow orders. Yes, we are far from robots, we think independently; however we rarely are able to act upon our own judgment. Through most of my life, I’ve been following orders, only being able to act upon my own judgment when in combat, for the greater good of the mission. Of course I have my own thoughts, emotions and feelings… It’s just… strange.”

“Strange in a good way, or strange in a bad way?” she asked, walking over to James and placing a reassuring hoof in the small of his back (the small of his back being the highest she could reach with her hoof).

“I haven’t decided yet,” James flatly responded.

“Well, either way,” Twilight began, “no matter what you decide, I’m sure we’ll find a place for you here. We know AJ will need help on the farm, but if you ever find that to be… unsatisfactory, I’m sure Luna could find a place for you in the guard, or any other branch of the services… Though, they don’t exactly do much, seeing as we’re an exceedingly peaceful world.”

“I don’t think I could exactly do that either, Twilight.” James turned his head to stare down at the unicorn. “I swore an oath to the UNSC, an oath I cannot and will not break.”

“Well, either way, we’ll find a place for you.” Twilight rubbed her hoof comfortingly across his back, while beaming up at him. “And now that you aren’t towering over everypony in that armor as much, I’m sure ponies will give you a chance, as opposed to bolting whenever they catch a glimpse of you.”

James barked out a short laugh. “Yeah, maybe.” He’d tried not to show too much emotion throughout the entire conversation, but he was beginning to feel a certain trust in the lavender pony by his side.

“Twilight,” he began, “for a Spartan, trust is not freely given. Earning my trust means you’ve earned the closest thing to friendship that I can freely give.” He gently reached down, opening himself up slightly to her as he gently ran his robotic fingers through her indigo mane. “If there’s anything you need from me, don’t hesitate to ask… Within reason of course.” He added the last part as Twilight gave an excited look at his armor and sidearm.

Letting out a short giggle, Twilight gently nuzzled his side. “Thanks James, it means a lot.”

Breaking away from the Spartan, Twilight began happily trotting up the basement stairs, levitating a plethora of quills, parchment and books ahead of her and into the main room of the library. James followed her up the creaky set of stairs, marveling at how he had brought his just over half ton weight down them in the first place. Magic must be in play here, he was sure of it.

“Well, now that you’re settled… I don’t think AJ will need you on the farm for a while, why don’t you meet our other friends?” Twilight began, before she noticed James giving her a confused look.

“Twilight, are you sure? Princess Luna and I were pretty adamant when we said no contact with other ponies unless absolutely necessary…”

“Relax James, they’re the other Elements of Harmony.” She frowned at his blank look. “Ummmmm, I suppose we’re kinda Equestria’s last line of defense against any and all hostile forces that threaten us. Each of us represents an Element of Friendship: loyalty, honesty, laughter, kindness, generosity, and my own, magic.”

James nodded slightly. “How?”

Twilight gave him a sly look. “You answer my questions, I’ll answer yours.” Levitating a roll of parchment and a quill next to her as she took a seat by a large fireplace, she said, “Now, I’d like to know about you first. Who are your friends, your missions, anything about you that you’re willing to disclose.” She glanced over at his left arm and blushed slightly. “I have to admit, I am curious to know how you lost your arm…”

“Are you sure Twilight? I’ve seen enough of your world to know that violence isn’t exactly commonplace…”

Twilight inhaled sharply, considering his words for a few seconds before looking into his eyes and nodding slightly. “I can handle it.”

James shrugged passively, before taking a seat across from the purple pony. “If you’re sure… I have mission recordings stored in my helmet’s flash memory – it would be easier for me to just show you.”

Twilight grinned, her horn glowing lavender as his Mark V EOD variant helmet blinked into existence in his lap. He pulled on the helmet, noting how odd it felt to be wearing it without the rest of his suit. He was also thankful that the helmet could draw solar power – it had taken him and Twilight a full hour and a half to get him out of the suit, and it probably would’ve been impossible without her magic. The thought of having to put the entire thing back on just to power his helmet’s video recorder probably would’ve given the poor girl an aneurism.

Gently, he brought the helmet’s internal power systems online, quickly chinning open the visual mission logs and selecting the appropriate file. “OK, go ahead and cast the amplification spell Twilight.”

As a soft purple glow enveloped his head, he pressed the playback button; judging by the small gasp from Twilight that the image of two massive hunters had appeared before them. As the playback continued, he could hear the purple pony’s quill scratching feverishly upon her parchment, as well as the pony’s own gasps of awe and horror behind the sounds of the playback. James merely stared at the screen, eyes unfocused and head elsewhere; he had viewed and reviewed the recording hundreds of times since that particular mission. Not to mention lived through it, and the parts the recorder didn’t show.

A soft low whistle brought James back from his thoughts. “Wow… That was… different. I can see why the Princesses wished us to remain as sheltered from the universe as they did…”

“Get some rest Twilight…” James said flatly, detecting a slight tired wavering in her voice. “I’ll stick around and wake you when AJ gets here. Besides, I want to familiarize myself with Equestrian history and such.”

“You mean analyze our social and political structure, as well as military defenses...” Twilight chuckled, levitating two large tomes and a set of reading glasses over to him. “All the information you need is here… The glasses should translate old Equestrian for you, and if you need help with any of our more… cultural words, don’t hesitate to wake me.”

The Spartan nodded as the lavender unicorn beamed at him before trotting upstairs. Gently he pulled open the large tome and began reading, taking care to not rip the ancient yellow pages as he turned them. For once in his life James became oblivious to the passage of time; he was so engrossed in the tome he almost didn’t hear the soft wing beats behind him, nor feel the gentle changes in air pressure that accompanied them. What he did undoubtedly feel was a soft pressure against the back of his neck, along with the metallic coolness and sharp pinch of what he assumed to be the serrated edge of a bread knife.

“Don’t move…” came a growling voice from behind him, accompanied by an increase in pressure from the object.

“Three…” James calmly began, his eyes stopping their back and forth movement as he was reading the lines in the book.

“Three?” it repeated.

“Two…” James kept counting, gently closing the ancient book and laying it on the ground before him.

“Now you listen here buster…” the voice began, but was cut off as James listed the final number in his countdown.

“One.”

With impossible speed and agility James rolled from his sitting position and rounded on his attacker, slapping the knife from the hooves that gripped it with his prosthetic before delivering a devastating roundhouse kick to the floating creature’s abdomen, sending it across the room to smack the back of the couch with a soft thump, before tumbling over the back of it. Taking two massive strides over he reached behind the couch, firmly grasping a struggling cyan mare in his titanium grip and planting her on one of its cushions.

“Lady, you need to work on your reaction time,” he passively stated, releasing the mare’s hooves as she rose back into the air and attempted to buck him, which he casually deflected with his prosthetic limb before grabbing the mare under his other arm and squeezing gently.

“LET ME GO YOU OVERGROWN APE!” it shouted, bucking and flailing her hooves wildly.

James shrugged. “Alrighty then,” he calmly said before dropping the mare to the ground with an unceremonious thump, gently pressing a boot down on her back to prevent her rising. “You’re the energetic pegasus who tried to attack me at the crash site, aren’t you?”

She froze. “You’re the one who was wearing all that armor?”

“How many bipeds do you normally see walking around town?” James replied, removing his boot so she could breathe. “Now, are you going to attack me again? I really don’t want to have to take the blame for a multicolored unconscious mess on Twilight’s floor.”

“Nah… That was just a test,” the pegasus brashly replied as she got to her hooves and brushed herself off. “If I were really trying, you’d already be an unconscious mess on the floor.”

James stared unamusedly at the rainbow-maned pegasus, who noticed this and backed away slightly, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

“‘Kay… Maybe not…”

“What in the hay… RAINBOW DASH!” Both the human and pony looked to the top of the stairs, and were confronted by the sight of a slightly frazzled and furious Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh ponyfeathers…”

Hey guys, sorry this took so long to upload. My Wireless card fizzeled out on my laptop about two weeks back, new card was on backorder e.t.c… Long story short, my PC’s been laying in the back of best buy being ‘fixed’ for the past two weeks. I’ve been using my tablet for everything… You have no idea how good my keyboard feels right now.