Odd Pony Out
A pod suddenly ejected from a UNSC frigate ship as it flew through space.
"What happen?"
"I don't know sir. All of a sudden the stasis pod just launched."
"Who was inside? Don't tell me it was 117."
"No sir, it was 1337."
"Oh, him."
"Shouldn't we go back for him sir?"
"Negative. We have an importing rendezvous to get to. Besides, 1337 has a knack for finding his way back to us."
As its thrusters propelled it into the cosmos, the pod began heating up as it passed through an atmosphere. There was no sign of a planet in front of it, but the craft's computers were detecting a gravitational pull as it plummeted down into the mysterious atmosphere. The forces pushing against it were wreaking havoc on pod as it continued to fall, breaking it apart. Suddenly the vessel stopped. An invisible force was holding it in place, the constant force pushing of the falling craft was causing it to break. The barrier cracked, but instead of passing through, the pod was disintegrated, leaving only the lone Spartan soldier that was inside to plummet to what appeared to be a planet down below.
"Come on Twiligh' we've gotta get movin' already! My sister and her friends might be at the forest already." said Applejack, impatiently tapping her hoof.
"Alright I'm coming. Sheesh, this could be the first ever alien encounter in Equestria's history, can you blame me for wanting to record this historic moment?" Twilight Sparkle said, coming down the stairs of her library home with saddles bags loaded cameras and film.
The two of them ran out of Twilight's library home and proceeded to make their way to the Everfree Forest, where recently something had crash landed from the sky.
Already at the forest, three young fillies were making their way to the crash site, along with their chaperone.
"Uh, girls, don't you think this is a little dangerous?"
"Not when we have you with us Fluttershy. If any animal comes our way you can use your stare on them," said Apple Bloom as she, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo continued to race towards the crash site.
"It's not the animals I'm worried about." Fluttershy whispered as she ran after them. Catching up, she saw the three girls looking over the edge of a crater. "Girls get back it could be dangerous."
"Fluttershy, look!" Sweetie Belle said, pointing into the hole.
Leaning in she saw what had the little unicorn so worked up. Without thinking, Fluttershy jumped in, sliding down to the green body lying at the center. Her hoof clanged against the creature's cold metal body as she tapped on it. "Uh hello. Excuse me, are you alright."
"Ugh… What happened? That was one help of a wakeup call," said 1337, rubbing his head as he started to open his eyes.
"Are you ok?" her pleasant voice chimed, as he got a clear look at her through his visor.
"Huh? What the—Covenent!" 1337 yelled as he rolled away from her and arose, posing a fighting stance. "You covenant think you can stop me? Well let me tell you something."
"Excuse me." Fluttershy said.
"Even if you don't want to know I'll tell you who I am…"
"Excus—"
"I am Spartan! 1337. Now let me introduce you to my little friend," he said reaching over his shoulder. "Uh, now where did I put that thing? It doesn't matter; I can still take you on with my bare hands. Bring it on!"
Fluttershy stood there, confused. "Excuse me; I've been trying to tell that we're not here to fight."
1337 dropped his arms in surprise. "You're not? Then why have you kidnapped me?"
"She didn't kidnap you." Scootaloo yelled out.
"We found you hear lying in this ditch," said Apple Bloom.
"Huh? More talking horses?" 1337 said looking up to the girls standing above the two of them in the crater. "If you haven't captured me then that mean… that means this is a dream, or maybe… Ah crap did I fall off out of a Pelican again?" he said to himself. He climbed out of the crater and started observing his surroundings. "Lots of vegetation, wildlife, by my brilliant deduction, I'd say I'm in a forest."
"Well duh," said Scootaloo.
"Uh excuse me mister robot but you really shouldn't be standing there, it's dangerous."
1337 stood up tall, striking a stoic pose as she rays of the sun shined off his visor. "You don't need to worry about me, for I am one of the strongest warriors in space."
"Sweetie Belle's right you should move away mister," said Apple Bloom.
How dare they ignore my awesome heroism? "Fear not, I am the strongest warrior in the kno—oh cra—" 1337 was suddenly interrupted as a group of manticore stampeded through the area.
Fluttershy poked her head out of the crater to find 1337 lying flat on the ground with dozens of manticore paw prints covering his back. "This is actually the path herds of manticore travel through dally."
Meanwhile, far above the skies of Equestria, A small Covenant cruiser was flying by. In its bridge, Elite navigation officers were trying to decipher something they picked up on their scanners.
"Commander, the scanners have picked up something odd just a moment ago."
"Humans?" the Elite sitting in the center chair asked.
"No clue sir, it was brief but our scans detected what appears to be a planet in this quadrant."
"Hmm, a cloaking shield on a planetary level. Prepare for transport, I want to investigate this invisible planet."
1337 stood, looking up to the sky with his hand to the side of his head. "This is 1337, can you hear me? Over. Chief, respond please. Can you hear me?"
"Yeah we can here you." said Sweetie Belle.
"Not you."
Scootaloo turned her head up, noticing something in the sky. "Hey what's that?"
All of them looked up, seeing a strange metallic object as it fell from the sky and crash nearby. 1337 ran off to investigate, with the four ponies following behind him. At the crash site, they observed what appeared to be a purple metal shell. Suddenly a hatch opened up and out came some creatures 1337 was all too familiar with.
"Covenant!" he yelled, pulling out his pistol and taking aim. "It's dangerous, get out of here," he ordered as he started opening fire to the aliens below.
As the four of them ran, a group of plasma grenades went flying straight for 1337. Quickly throwing a bubble shield to the ground, the explosives bounced away from as they went off. Fluttershy and the girls, still running, managed to avoid the blast radius as it cleared out a large portion of the woods. With his shield fading, 1337 aimed his pistol towards the cloud of dirt only to be punched away by one of the enemy soldier. Slamming his back onto a rock, he raised his pistol and opened fire at the plasma grenade in one the Elite's hands. Managing to hit it, the grenade went off, blasting the group apart.
The Elite commander, heavily injured and all that remained of his group, moved his wrist up to his mouth. "Send down the Hunter."
"But Commander, you're vital are critical—"
With the last of his strength he yelled into his communicator. "I said send down the Hunter, now!"
As 1337 closed in, something landed nearby. The force of the falling object knocked him away.
"What in Equestira is going on?" Twilight said as she and Applejack saw the chaos while Fluttershy and the girls ran over to them.
"Twilight, the weird metal fella fell from the sky and then these other strange monsters dropped down and they started firing these lights and there were explosions and that metal fella started fighting them and now another giant thing crashed down!" Apple Bloom said in a panicked voice.
"Okay Apple Bloom. I've already sent word to Princess Celestia. Don't worry me and Apple will see what we can do to handle this.
A mound of rocks started to rumble as 1337 rose up. "I not gonna lose. No way can I lose. I am Spartan 1337!" he said, looking up to the bright sunny sky as he staggered to his feet. "Since no one's around to say it, I will. The fact that I never give up, is one of my good points."
As the ponies all looked over to the warzone down below, the Cutie Mark Crusader noticed over on their left a familiar figure wobbling forward. "Oh hey it's that weirdo machine man again."
"Oh hey it's those colored horses again," said 1337.
Twilight and Applejack walked over to him. "Hello there."
"You two should stay back, it isn't safe."
Twilight and Applejack continued walking by 1337 sides. "We may not look it but we're pretty tough," said Applejack.
They marched on, approaching the giant as it started powering up. Their march turned into a charge, as they moved in. The Hunter turned, noticing them. Applejack ran up and bucked its left shoulder while Twilight used her magic to toss a rock to the other shoulder. The two of them continued their assault as 1337 was still running up to it with his fist aimed right for his gut.
"Yaaaaah!" 1337 yelled as his rushed up to the creature. His fist cut through the air as it slammed against it. 1337 stood there; his fist trembling as the Hunter was sent crashing to the ground. "I did it," he said breathing heavily as he stared at his shaky fist. He then lifted his fist into the air. "I did it!"
While 1337 was striking a pose, small sparks of electricity were jumping towards him. "Hmm?" he said as he noticed the Hunter rising back up.
"Oh no, It looks like its powerin' up," said Applejack.
"We got to stop him!" yelled Twilight.
A streak of colors zoomed past the three of them. "Then you guys should stop chatting and start fighting!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew towards it.
Seeing her headed for him, the Hunter raised its arm up and fired a blast from its cannon.
"Whoa!" Rainbow said, turning sharply to avoid the beam.
"Whoa Nelly!" Applejack shouted as she watched the large beam pass her.
Twilight vanished in a flash of light, teleporting away as the beam headed straight for 1337.
"Huh?"
While 1337 was knocked back into a rock formation, Applejack and Rainbow were having a close quarters brawl with the hunter, bashing their hooves on it while Twilight was pelting it with rocks. Blocking Applejack's kick, the Elite raised its hand at her and flicked her away. It then caught one of Twilight's boulders and chucked it at Rainbow Dash.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Waaaah!" The two ponies yelled as they were sent flying back.
"Oooof!" Twilight grunted as Rainbow Dash crashed into her.
While the girls were knocked away, 1337 made a run at the Hunter. The two rushed at each other, fist aimed at each other. The forces clashed, the explosion caused by their attacks knocked them both away. 1337 picked himself up, finding the tree mares standing next to him. They all watched as the giant beast in the distance, still powering up.
"What do we do? We did everything we could and it didn't stop him," said Twilight.
"That thing's really tough," said Rainbow Dash, shaking off the dirt from her coat.
"And it's getting' stronger ya'll," said Applejack as she cleaned off her hat.
"We're doomed," 1337 jokingly added. The girls all glared at him. "I'm just kidding. I gotta do something. Oh! Hey look at that!" he yelled pointing his finger behind the Hunter.
It raised it arm and fires another blast of its laser. The girls ducked as the beam just missed 1337's head by a few inches.
"I don't think that worked the way it was supposed to," said Applejack.
"Really, do yah think?" Rainbow Dash mockingly added, looking over to her.
The alien was brimming with so much energy that the sparks jumping off it were carving into the soil. The ground began buckling under its power as it growled into the air. Suddenly an orb of light surrounded it."
"What?" 1337 said quizzically as he watched the Hunter become surrounded in the orb that started rising into the air.
It roared as it pounded on the wall of light imprisoning it. The orb shined brighter and brighter. Down below, they all watched as the ball of light shot skyward, forcing the Hunter into the bottom of it as it continued to ascend.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" the beast cried the entire time as it was helplessly flew closer to its ship. The Covenant ship, struck by the light orb was blown to bits.
Outside the barrier surrounding the planet, a nearby UNSC frigate picked up the explosion on their sensor.
"Bring the ship in close. I want to know what caused that."
Back down in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were all bowing as Princess Celestia flew down in front of them. 1337, noticing the ponies kneeling decided to follow their lead. The large winged unicorn made her way over to the Spartan. "Please rise Spartan."
1337 got up, dusting the dirt off his armor. "So, you must be the boss around here right? I'm guessing you're here to thank me for my awesome job saving your world from the Covenant. But that's not necessary, it's just what a heroic warrior like me does. Wait a second, did you just call me 'Spartan'?"
"Yes I did. And I know what you and you're kind can bring by being here, that is why I cannot allow you to remain in my kingdom." said with a stern voice.
"I can understand that. But listen. Honestly, I don't have a clue how to get back. I don't even know where I am."
"That won't be a problem," she said as her horn began to glow.
Aboard the UNSC frigate a group of soldiers were huddled around a Spartan who had mysteriously appeared on board in a flash of light.
"Who is that?"
"How did he get here?"
"Is it the Chief?"
"No, it's just 1337."
"Aww."
Disappointed, the group dispersed leaving the 1337 still lying on the floor. After a few minutes, he began to wake up.
"Hu-What? Where am I?" he said looking around at his surroundings. "Back aboard the frigate? Did I ever even leave it? Was all that about the ponies just a dream?" he said to himself, rubbing his forehead as he got back on his feet. As he tried recollecting his thoughts, someone approached him.
"Hey 1337, what are you doing here? I thought I ordered all Spartans to remain in stasis until we've arrived. Quit goofing around and get back to your pod."
"Yes sir!" 1337 said nervously, saluting his commander before running off.
Arriving at the chamber, he climbed aboard another empty pod, seeing as his pod had mysteriously gone missing.