Halo Ponies: Headhunter Edition

Chapter 6: To Celestia We Go

Redheart, Richard, and Twilight Sparkle sat across from each other. Richard had his hands folded and resting on the table, Redheart nervously played with her mane, and Twilight gave the human a dirty look. They were all inside the library, Richard having been drug in by the librarian; her magic didn’t seem to work on his shields. Redheart had kept to her promise and met him inside, talking Twilight down from immediately turning him into the authorities. She might have been on his side, but neither of the ponies felt safe with him in the room, especially after having witnessed the scene of carnage outside. Richard himself was wary of Twilight, having been introduced by Redheart only moments before he could already feel hate coming off of her in droves. If he had to take a guess it would be because of the five corpses that rested just outside her tree-library, or the time-frozen phantom. The library itself was rather nice, spotless walls and a fresh natural scent gave the place some character, as well as the rows of books that dominated the main room. The three sentient beings weren’t in the main room but the kitchen, a side room to the main one.

“I want to know why those creatures are dead.” Twilight suddenly said, breaking the silence that had pervaded the kitchen. Redheart fidgeted more in her chair but didn’t say anything, though Richard could tell she wanted to know the same thing. He slumped back in his chair, wishing he could get some rest or food. But he knew he had to explain his situation to the Ponies in front of him, or risk making an enemy of their race which had shown to be more peace-minded than the covenant.

“If they weren’t dead I would be. So I killed them. Thank you for stopping the phantom by the way, I was too tired to deal with it.”

Twilight looked unsatisfied with his explanation, a scowl still dominating her other features. She moved in her chair, which seemed rather awkward for a pony to be sitting in. Suddenly Redheart cleared her throat; neither Twilight nor Richard had expected her to speak, so they both turned in surprise to face her.

“Were they the same creatures who attacked my ship? The ones you saved me from?”

Richard nodded in conformation; Twilight looked at Redheart in confusion.

“When did it save you?” she asked, sounding suspicious.

“When I went out to gather those sea-growing herbs, the ones I told you about, I heard someone stomping around up-deck. When I asked who it was he answered, I thought he was a pony before I came up, and by then he was already in a coma. I still don’t know what happened, but while I was below I heard odd noises and explosions, and when went to check after the noises stopped parts of the deck were on fire, and an odd machine, as well as the mast, were sinking below the waves. Richard told me later that he had stopped an alien flying-machine from killing both of us.”

Twilight sighed in exasperation, shaking her head back and forth while rolling her eyes.

“And you believed it? It’s obviously a murderer, how do you know he wasn’t the one attacking?”

As she was talking she waved her hoof accusingly towards Richard, who was currently trying to remove his helmet, finding it stuck in place. After Twilight and Redheart turned towards him he stopped, knowing how odd he must look.

“Well you can’t know, I don’t expect you to know. But I believe I have some questions for you, if you’ll humor me.”

Twilight’s frown deepened further.

“At least it’s well-spoken. Fine, I’ll answer some of your questions before you answer some of mine.”

Richard nodded, understanding her need for answers. It wasn’t every day a previously unknown alien species showed up and started killing other aliens.

“What technology are you using to perform all the telekinetic operations?”

Twilight looked at him, almost more exasperated than she had been with Redheart.

“What, don’t they have magic where you come from? Next you’ll be telling me you don’t breathe!”

Richard raised an eyebrow, then realized it was a pointless gesture inside a helmet.

“We don’t. Until today I would have brushed the belief of magic off without a second thought.”

Twilight looked at him sternly.

“If you don’t have magic how do you move your sun and moon? Or control the weather?”

Richard almost felt like smiling, he had found the craziest pony possible to talk to, just his luck.

“The sun and moon on the worlds we inhabit aren’t controlled by living organisms. They’re controlled by gravity, and the weather can’t be controlled by humans.”

“How can you not control them? How would you live!?”

She sighed.

“At least I know you call yourself a human now. It’s probably easier to identify with than ‘it’.”

Richard was annoyed the conversation had gone off track; he was supposed to be asking questions, not the Pony.

“I wish to talk to your superiors.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, stealing Richard’s idea, and put on a “oh please” face.

“Like I would let you near either of the princesses, you’d probably try to eat them.”

“I am omnivorous.”

Twilight gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves. She threw up a hoof accusingly and pointed it at Richard.

“I knew you were a monster!”

Richard sat back in his chair, letting his arms relax to his side. He really didn’t want to deal with an irate magician right now. He doubted anyone but the leaders could give him even the slightest help in finding his team.

“It’s not like I’m going to eat one of you.”

Twilight scowled, opening her mouth for another retort, but Redheart interrupted her, once again jumping into the conversation.

“Twilight, I highly doubt he’ll kill any of us. He just seems to be concerned with these ‘covenant’ creatures. Who knows, maybe the Princess would know what to do with him.”

Twilight ground her teeth in frustration, looking between Richard and Redheart.

“So now you’re on the human’s side?! We can’t risk the princess under any circumstances!”

Redheart looked as though she might back down; Richard knew he had to intervene.

“If your princess can control the sun and moon, or stop a phantom like you did, I doubt I’ll be a serious threat.”

Twilight bit her lip, looking divided. If Richard had to guess he would say she was torn between devotion towards the princess, and Richard’s sensible logic. He looked over to Redheart, seeing if she had anything to say, but she was looking directly at Twilight as if concerned.

“Twilight,” she softly said “Is this about the changeling attack? We all know what happened, and Celestia won’t be beaten twice.”

That piqued Richard’s curiosity, one of these god-princesses had been defeated before? And what exactly was the changeling attack, or a changeling? Twilight sighed, slumping her shoulders forward in a way that wasn’t too different from the ay Richard did it, looking resigned.

“I know… It’s just the princess and…,” she looked at Richard “I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you, it’s just that when you showed up all the blood and the flashes… It reminded me of a time I would rather forget. Please, accept my apology?”

Richard really wished to ask about the changeling attack, but realized the Pony was probably too sensitive about the subject. Be that as it may, he was glad for the apology, and a new ally in this world.

“Thank you Twilight, I accept your apology. I’ve been through a few battles before and I realize the stress it can create.”

Twilight smiled warmly, for the first time since she had met Richard in fact. She got up out of her chair and headed for the counter, levitating a few objects behind her.

“Now who wants coffee? I can whip up a pot if anyone wants some, I know I do!”

Richard thought that sounded pretty good, he didn’t know how the Ponies spoke English, or had so many human technologies, but it would be good to have some of his second-favorite drink. But a thought struck him, something he should’ve noticed from the first moment he woke up.

“Nurse Redheart, how did the doctors feed me in the hospital? My helmets stuck on my head, and there are no holes but breathing tubes.”

Redheart laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly.

“Oh that, see we-“

A sudden loud banging sound interrupted them, Richard cursed himself for letting his guard down; now the covenant had found him tired and sitting. He sprang behind the table, pulling it on its side and mashing it against the kitchen entrance. He braced himself against the hard wood, hoping that like the tree it would absorb plasma bolts. Twilight and Redheart stood in shocked silence; Twilight was the first to come out of her stupor. She pounded the ground with a hoof, her cheeks reddening in anger.

“Richard why did you flip my tabl-“

Richard cut her off, holding up a hand to signal silence, he flipped his pistol into his hand with a smooth motion, pulling back the slide to let a bullet into the barrel. He signaled for the two Ponies to get down, Redheart did so quickly, Twilight more slowly, grumbling all the way. Richard took a quick peek above his impromptu barrier, scanning the room for any sign of the covenant. He saw none, only a mint-green Pony who was… Wait, mint-green?! He ducked behind his cover quickly, hoping to whatever god existed in this part of the galaxy that it hadn’t seen him.

“I SAW YOU!” screamed the Pony, and Richard heard it charge toward him. He holstered his pistol, not intending to kill the Pony, which might hurt his relations with the locals. Instead he braced himself for impact, thinking it would try to jump the table. It didn’t. It rammed the table, sending Richard flying across the kitchen and into the coffee that was brewing; thankfully it hadn’t warmed up yet. The insane Pony continued that assault, tackling Richard and trying to pin him to the ground, to his credit Richard didn’t panic; he grabbed the Pony’s mid-riff, throwing her bodily into the counter. That didn’t seem to faze it however, as she leaped back into the fray with barely a pause to breathe. Strange, Richard thought, how I’m exerting my energy more on this pony than my firefight with the covenant…

He finally decided to end it and knock the Pony unconscious; he grabbed her around the neck and began to choke her, wishing to make her black out. She seemed to have the same idea, and wrapped her legs around Richard’s neck, who, to his surprise, found his airflow obstructed. Just when he had resigned to himself to death by Pony he felt a force take hold of his opponent. A shimmering aura encased it, forcefully ripping it away from Richard.

“Would both of you stop. It.” Hissed Twilight, her cheeks now burning red with anger, she looked pointedly at both the mint-green pony and the Spartan. She looked especially stern at the Pony.

“Lyra why in the great big world of Equestria are you attacking our guest!?”

Lyra looked annoyed at Twilight, giving her a deep frown.

“Twilight,” she said, almost whining “Why are you interrupting my observations?”

Twilight hardened her gaze further, giving a little whinny of exasperation; something Richard was seeing her do an awful lot.

“Lyra, answer my question.”

The Pony in question sighed, completely changing from the energetic mare she had been before, as if being drawn off the hunt for a single second made it lose its worth. It kept stealing glances at Richard, and despite her blank expression Richard could see the excitement in her eyes.

“Do you promise not to attack Richard?”

Lyra gave Twilight a look.

“Its name is Richard? That’s a rather un-climactic name don’t you think?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, expressing open contempt for the other Pony’s shenanigans.

“It still doesn’t answer my question of why you’re running around chasing him.”

Lyra suddenly grinned, ferociously her pupils shrinking like a madman’s; she openly stared in Richard’s direction. For the first time since he had awoken in the ocean Richard felt intimidated, madmen had always scared him more than anything.

“Because I know what he is!”

She tried to raise her hoof, momentarily breaking Twilight’s magical hold. It seemed only that she grinned wider, elation breaking through her previous collectedness.

“Forerunner.”

[A/N- I think this was my favorite chapter to write. Just having them interact without any violence or action was fun, as well as introducing both Lyra and Twilight as characters. Redheart still needs fleshed out more but I believe it's a good start. FINALLY broke the 2000 word mark (without any fighting), and have set up a good base for the next chapter. Ideas still requested, as well as locations and Ponies (or people) you want to see. Hope you enjoyed, don't forget to comment on what needs to be improved, and don't forget to like! (Wow longest author's note ever much?)]