HALO: The New World

It was a few weeks after I was given my new armor. I had gotten used to life in Ponyville, and ended up taking flight lessons from Rainbow Dash. My Spartan enhancements applied to my wings as well, allowing me a high level of agility and speed, as well as stamina in the air. I found flying to be exhilarating, like I was in a Hornet screaming down from the heavens, pulling up on my unsuspecting target. But I was the Hornet. When I flew, I was a master of the sky. I even managed to beat Rainbow Dash on an obstacle course, although she kicked my flank on a speed run that lasted a couple miles.

I was still annoyed by my new mindset and choice of vocabulary. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even think the word “buck” instead of buck. Aw, COME ON! Anyway, I had learned to just accept my new life. Various little incidents kept occurring around town, including one where a bunch of Parasprites ended up devouring most of the place. I discovered that they tend to pop when shot with magic, causing them to swell, eyes bulging, body changing to a different color, and then exploding with the sound of a harp. I found it so entertaining, I decided to make it a game, calling it ‘Splode’.

-------------------- End of Journal Entry 1 --------------------

I looked up from my datapad, stretching my legs and wings as I exited the notepad function. I heard a sudden scream from outside, which I just shrugged to. There was one mare who ended up screaming and fainting at the smallest of things, so I couldn’t really be bothered by it anymore. Another shriek, louder this time, and I left my chair, grumbling.

As I opened the door to the library, I saw something ridiculous.

It was raining chocolate. I had a brilliant idea, ran to my room, copied a song from my datapad onto my helmet which I manifested, then went back out. I was just in time to see the Element Bearers and Spike walking over, soaked wet with chocolate. Spike suddenly belched out a scroll, and Twilight read it aloud, stating that we were wanted at Canterlot immediately. I, personally, was confused as buck. I decided the others could be confused as well, so I played the song I copied out my helmet’s speakers, laughing at the expression on the others’ faces.

Our group entered a familiar hall. Celestia was sitting on her throne, a grim look on her face. As we got up from our bows, Tohl sitting on his haunches, the Princess began explaining to us that the weather was caused by a being named Discord. I couldn’t help but snicker, it was such an obvious name for this place. Apparently he ruled Equestria long ago, being a complete asshole (Yes! That swearword is allowed!), until the Princesses used the Elements of Harmony to turn him into a statue. Celestia then proceeded to open a large vault and bring out a box that supposedly had the Elements in there.

I whispered to Applejack, “10 bits that the Elements are missing!” AJ just shook her head, only to gasp with everypony else when the box was revealed to be empty. “Called it! You owe me 10 bits!” Twilight turned to give me a look that said, ‘Really? Just, really?’, before focusing on the Princess. “How could they be gone? That doesn’t make any sense!”

A voice chuckled, reverberating throughout the hall, “What fun is there in making sense?” Celestia looked surprised then grim, stating, “Discord.”

The draconequus made his rounds, travelling through the stained glass windows, commenting on each of the Element Bearers as he joked around. Then he came to me. “And who are you? You can’t be linked to the Elements of Harmony, they’ve already got their own pet horses! Oh, and is that your dog? I never knew they came in metal! I should have thought of that.”

His carefree manner was starting to grind my nerves, so I manifested my armor, and aimed my Battle Rifle at his head. “My name is Alec, and I’m a Spartan. Stop fooling around like a jackass, and tell us what the buck you want before I blow your head off.”

Tohl spoke up when I ended, genuinely surprising the spirit of chaos, “You better listen, he will do it. He made a game out of popping Parasprites, and that was just for entertainment.” “Why, the dog TALKS! Ahahahahaha, that is too rich! Celly, you MUST teach me how you do it! And as for you, my dear thingamajartan, I’m having too much FUN to start making sense!”

I growled and raised my gun threateningly, only to have Twilight push it down gently, as Celestia spoke. “I did not make the dog, something else did. Now tell us, what did you do with the Elements?”

Discord tapped his chin with a claw, before swirling around through the windows once more, speaking, “To retrieve your missing Elements just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began.” He then vanished with a chuckle. “I know! The Elements are in the castle labyrinth!” Twilight shouted, pointing excitedly. I just facehoofed, because it just didn’t seem logical, or even illogical, just random. I followed the Element Bearers with a sigh.

We came to the entrance of a massive hedged area. Discord was above, laughing. He snapped a claw, and gigantic walls began sprouting from the ground, forming a complicated maze. “My rules are simple. No magic, no flying. Everypony has to play, or the game ends.”

I looked up at him with a bored expression, invisible from my visor, deadpanning, “What happens if you’re a human-turned Flood-turned pegasus? Do you have to play then?” Discord rapped a claw, before chuckling and shooting back, “Of course, you’re still a pony.” He snapped a claw again, and my wings vanished, as well as those of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and the horns of Rarity and Twilight Sparkle disappeared. “Oh, REAL fancy. It’s not like I need those to kick ass.”

Discord simply smirked, before vanishing. “Okay everypony, if we just stick together, we can-” Twilight never finished her sentence, because more hedges sprang up between us, separating everypony into different paths. “You were saying?” I quipped.

I had a fairly large section of the maze to go through, but it would be a cinch. I had loved mazes, even as a child, finding my way out of drawings and obstacle courses alike with ease. If this was just a big race to the center, I could be there in no time. I jumped a few feet in the air, before thruster packing ahead. “Ah, ah ah! No magic!” Discord’s voice whispered. “It’s not magic, ya bitch. It’s highly advanced technology based off of jetpacks and molecular propulsion.” I smirked, as I blasted by the draconequus’ face which was poking out of a hedge, leaving burn marks on his snout.

I felt rather excited and cocky, so I yelled back, “Do you need a bed set up at the BURN ward for that?” Discord pulled his lips into a frown, claws dragging them impossibly far. I forgot an important rule of mazes, to watch where you’re going, and ran straight into a large rock wall. My shields dropped by ten percent.

“Damn. Shoulda seen that coming.” I muttered, before having the wall blast into me, revealing Rarity. She had a massive rock that was cut like a diamond, and she was straining from the weight. “Get away from Tom! He’s MINE!” I backed away, before turning tail and charging down another path.

An unknown number of turns and straightaways later, I came to a large clearing. In the center was a Shade Turret, with nopony piloting it. Instead, Discord sat back in the Covenant weaponry, sipping a glass from a pina colada. “Well, fancy seeing you here. I must say, this hammock is very comfortable.” “What hamm-” I questioned, before shaking my head as the Shade turned into a Scarab, with a hammock stretched between two of the legs. “Were you going to say hamster? I can do that,” the draconequus said, before snapping a claw (again), turning his remaining pina colada into one of the furry little rodents.

“Now, my dear Alec, you have restrained yourself for far too long. Imagine if you had free reign to do what YOU want, no orders holding you back, no higher ups to answer you. Hmmm?” Discord tempted, tapping a finger on my helmet. “The world would end, Discord. If I had my way, all my enemies would be dead in a heartbeat, starting with you.” I felt… Strange. As if my mental filters were evaporating. Discord looked taken back, a hurt expression on his face. “Why me? I never did anything to you, did I? In fact, I’ve given you nothing but presents! Look!” He swept an arm back dramatically, flinging the appendage into the bushes. Behind him was… A Mantis. An honest-to-Celestia Mantis. I thruster packed up onto it, quickly opening the hatch and sliding in. The seat was still for a human, but I managed to settle myself comfortably, using the pedals and levers with my hooves. My visor linked up with the massive walking tank, and I stood up on my metal legs.

I had free reign. I had no commands to keep me in check. That’s not me thinking! What did Discord do?! Nothing. He gave us presents. And this is it. I’ll admit, a Mantis is pretty awesome, but… We vowed to PROTECT Equestria! Not destroy it! Starting with Discord. Okay, THAT I can live with. I call the final shot though. … Fine.

I turned the body on it’s chassis, raising the machine gun and sighting on the spirit of chaos. “Adios, amigos. Thank you for the gift.” I fired the gun, and launched missiles at my target. This is the ONLY one I’m going to kill! Got it me? No. We have free reign. Keep that up and I’ll derail the train. Error 666: We have no superior. That’s it. Execute Command! My armor dematerialized, unlinking the Mantis from my HUD. I climbed out of the mech, watching it slump to it’s legs in the resting position. I caught a glimpse of myself in the plating, seeing my body.

I was completely gray. Not like it matters.

I found the Element Bearers at the center of the maze. Rarity still had “Tom”, Fluttershy looked pissed off, and Pinkie Pie was snapping at anypony who smiled. Twilight just looked exhausted, hearing her friends bicker. “Hmph. At least some ponies actually made it here. Where’s Rainbow Dash? She should have been here already.”

Discord appeared above our group, laughing. “Oh, your dear friend quit! The game is over! Here, have your wings and magic back, I win! Ahahahahahaha! If you’ll excuse me, I have chaos to cause!” I found my wings had reappeared, and I bolted to the draconequus. I smashed headfirst into his chest, growling the entire time, “You do NOT LEAVE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!”

Discord looked unamused, before vanishing. “Grrr, where did that traitor go? I need to beat some sense into him.” “Alec, calm down. We should just get back to Ponyville and try to fix things.” Twilight attempted, only to have me bear down on her. “Calm down? CALM DOWN?! Nopony gives me orders, I give everypony ELSE orders! Now take me back to Ponyville, NOW!”

Fluttershy giggled at my berating of the hapless unicorn, only to have Pinkie Pie shriek at her for apparently laughing at her. This just caused the pegasus to say, “Ha, ha!” to the earth pony, making Pinkie more and more enraged.

One train ride to Ponyville later, my squad of underlings found the roads had turned to soap. Twilight shouted at Discord, who skated by. “Ah don’ see anything wrong.” Applejack lied, before slipping and falling flat on her face, “Ah meant to do that.”

We travelled back to the library, where I immediately started shouting at Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who were still arguing. We ended up taking the book on the Elements of Harmony and playing “Spike in the middle,” laughing at the baby dragon’s predicament. Twilight managed to snag it, so I went back to berating my commoners. While we were distracted, me yelling at the top of my lungs, Pinkie attempting to eviscerate Fluttershy, and Fluttershy taunting the party pony, Twilight slipped upstairs, slowly turning gray. About a half hour later, everypony else left, leaving me in the library. Twilight came back down, colored normally, before lighting her horn and striding towards me.

“What the BUCK are you doing, Twilight! You were never told to leave! Hey, I didn’t order you to come near m-” I stopped my rant as the horn touched my forehead, and memories swirled around.

Execute command, mother bucker. I’m back.

I shook my head, before slumping to the floor. “I’m so sorry, Twilight. I never meant to do all that. Well, I did, but it didn’t feel like me. It was like I was sitting in a passenger seat, watching myself treat everypony terribly.” I panted for breath, before finishing, “I at least managed to remove my armor earlier, otherwise everypony would have died because of me. I had to give the emergency signal, Execute Command.”

Twilight looked relieved, saying, “I forgive you Alec. Now we have to go get everypony else and bring them back.”

I nodded my head, a strange feeling welling in my heart at Twilight’s words. “Of course, Twilight. I hear you loud and clear.”

And I am NEVER going to lose myself again.

I’d rather die than kill everypony else.

now we have to save everypony else.

Execute Command. Acknowledged.