HALO: The New World

I finally stopped crying after a good half hour, embarrassed that I had broken down mentally, once again. As I ended my constant rocking back and forth, I asked a single question that I feared the answer to, “Why?”

I knew not why she had tortured me and then come to comfort me, but she had helped calm me down, and the look of pure sadness on her face showed the sincerity of her sorrow. Her reply was, “Because I can. I can’t bear to see anypony cry, and I saw what you’ve gone through. You need a friend, not a fight.” I was shocked at this answer, and as I contemplated it, I realized she was right. I had pent up these emotions so long, that I had no one to confide in, and desperately needed one. I stood up, nodded in response, and we walked towards the town.

The lavender unicorn and I had nearly reached the entrance to the town, when I picked up a blip on my motion tracker. Seeing it was moving fast, very fast, and towards me, I sidestepped at the last second and activated my helmet cam.

What I saw was only a rainbow streak, that blasted by me and ploughed deep into the soil, bouncing comically with multiple oofs and aghs. My helmet cam barely managed to record it, before I turned it off to review later. I walked to the newcomer, who had finally ended it’s tumble a good twenty yards ahead.

-------------------- Twilights POV --------------------

I was startled when I saw the alien- no, the human- step to the side, before seeing Rainbow Dash blast by, apparently trying to attack the human. I stared as she argued with gravity, before finally conceding the fight and slumping to the ground a good distance away. I shook my head, before walking over to the pegasus.

I hoped she wasn’t hurt badly, because then she would start telling stories of how the alien had beat her up, if her pride would allow it. This would then cause a panic, the town would freak out, Mayor Mare would send for the royal guards, the human would get arrested, and possibly executed for attacking a pony, and the mental list of bad things that could happen grew on and on, before the human stepped forward to Rainbow Dash.

-------------------- Crimson’s POV --------------------

The unicorn seemed to recognize the attacker, and started to hyperventilate. I could hear the gears in her head turning, as she probably went through every possible ending to what just happened. I shook my head, for I had learned that worrying was useless in this world, and walked towards the ‘assailant.’ It was a pegasus, with a sky blue coat and a ridiculous rainbow mane and tail, covered in bruises and wearing the most preposterous look of disappointment on it’s face. I couldn’t help but laugh, before it suddenly whipped around, got in my face, and it’s eye seemed to bulge forward with suspicion and accusation.

“What’re you doing here? Why’re you holding Twilight hostage? Give me answers, buddy, or I’ll beat ‘em outta you!” She burst out, with a tomboyish voice. She was clearly a female, but spoke like a girl trying ridiculously hard to be a guy. Then a hoof swung out and hit my shields, snapping me out of my thoughts. I glared at the pegasus, and it seemed to feel my gaze through my helmet. Then the unicorn came towards us, lit her horn up, and we were picked up and set ten feet away from each other, as she started lecturing the pegasus, named Rainbow Dash, on attacking new ponies. I could only shake my head in amazement, both at the audacity of the pegasus and at the lecture.

It was apparently the wrong move, because then the unicorn, named Twilight Sparkle, turned to me and started on me. I was nowhere near prepared for the sudden onslaught of words, as she chewed me out for not paying attention and sniggering at science. I peeked at Rainbow Dash, who had a contemptful smirk on her face, as she watched the unicorn give me the verbal lashing of a lifetime. That was saying something, because Drill Sergeants can scare even a Spartan into behavior.

A good fifteen minutes later, she seemed to finish up, and told the pegasus to apologize to me. Rainbow Dash looked mortified, before mumbling, “‘M sorry for attacking you.” Then, under her breath, I picked up the words wimp and I’ll be keeping an eye on you. I merely nodded, before replying, “Apology accepted, and next time speak up before calling a Spartan a wimp. I’m fine with you keeping an eye on me, it’ll mean someone is actually going to watch for suspicious behavior. And it sure as hell won’t be me.”

That scared the crap out of her, and I smirked under my visor. I would enjoy those looks of surprise for a long time, if all these ponies were this cartoonish. We continued to the town, and went to the Golden Oaks Library.

-------------------- Twilight’s POV --------------------

I was surprised at the Spartan’s actions, because I hadn’t even heard what Rainbow Dash had said. I had learned something new about this human, that he was a Spartan, and I was excited to know more. But swearing in front of my friends was a shock to me, and apparently even more so to Rainbow Dash, seeing her jaw drop and eyes widen. It was rare that somepony could do that to her, and I was amazed at the ease with which the Spartan did it. We came to the library, and I immediately started questioning the Spartan on his name, what he did, why he was fighting, and a slew of other questions. There was just so much to learn, and I wanted to know all I could. I could hardly wait to start the research papers and experiments, to learn more about his biology and psychology and physiology and absolutely everything!

-------------------- Crimson’s POV --------------------

We entered the living tree home, and I had barely sat down on a couch that was way too small for me before I was flooded with questions. I couldn’t even answer one before five more took it’s place, and I had no choice but be carried away on the raging rapids of her curiosity. I never heard Twilight take a single breath, and I saw her face turn red, before I said -at half volume- “TWILIGHT!”

My outburst caught her in the middle of a question- as if it could happen any other time- and she sat down on her haunches, gasping for breath. I did not want to get trapped in another lecture, so I handed her a personal datapad I kept on me for entertainment when not on a mission. “Use this, it’s a datapad. Ask it a question, and it’ll bring up a page with an answer. But go slow, and take breaths, otherwise it may self-destruct from hopelessness. It contains a dumb AI, which CAN be overloaded. Okay?”

She nodded, but then a look of horror crossed her face, at the thought of losing either a fountain of information or the death of a creature. I had to cut that off at the pass, before she started believing that there WAS a little creature in there, “By dumb I mean it does not think. Not like we do, but more like… An ant colony. It follows instructions, has no feelings that can be hurt, but it can think to an extent. Just… Try and be careful.”

Another nod, and she started with a basic question, one I was shocked by, “What is Crimson’s real name?” The datapad blinked a light, before pulling up my service records, but not the stuff that was blotted out by the UNSC. As Twilight scrolled through the information, I watched her jaw slowly fall towards the ground, her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, and a look of… Was that awe? I cared about my service record because it stated my rank, my kills, my successful War Games matches, my lost War Games matches, and my total successful missions.

Then she looked up at me, before saying, “I forgive you, Alec. I forgive you for what you’ve done. I can only hope you feel the same way to me.” Then she turned back to the datapad, leaving me amazed. I had never expected her to do this, but it had been done. I felt a sense of hope, one I had hardly felt since coming to this world, and a sense of relief. I hoped that the goddess of the sun felt the same way, and that we could both redeem ourselves from our actions. I felt exhaustion, too, for I had gotten little in the way of true sleep for a few days, and I nodded off.

It had been a day since I had come to the library with Twilight Sparkle, and I had slept for most of it. I stood up and stretched, hearing the luxurious cracking that sounded so much like a Magnum firing a round. I looked for Twilight, before hearing the words “Go ahead and send it, Spike,” and a fwoosh of flame, before Twilight came down a stairwell. She looked relieved that there were no bullet holes anywhere, just me standing, fully awake. I wondered what had happened, before a flash of golden light appeared, one that I would always recognize, and the goddess of the sun stood before me. Twilight bowed to her, but I stood stock still, tense and waiting for the torture that I felt was to come. When nothing happened, I relaxed, before finding myself under a beautiful, huge white wing, being comforted by the deity. I could not understand this, and I never will, but she said, “I’m sorry. Will you accept my friendship?”

I was startled by this. The avatar of this planet’s sun was asking to be my friend, and had apologized to boot! What had happened to cause such a thing? My question was answered, as the goddess stood and said to Twilight, “Thank you for the letter, my faithful student. I am glad you have learned so much, and have helped calm the hu- *ahem* Alec, down. I had hoped that this grave mistake of mine could be fixed, and it appears you have solved it. Thank you.” I stared, as Twilight suddenly, tensed up, and then fainted. Apparently not used to praise, I guess. Then the goddess turned to me, before smirking and dumping a bucket of cold water on Twilight’s head. I had no idea where it came from, but the look of shock on her face was priceless, so I snapped a picture with my helmet. The goddess pointed innocently with a hoof at me, as if to say, he did it. I never expected a deity to have a sense of humor, and this was a pleasant surprise.

I shrugged, as if to say, I may or may not have done it. The world may never know, and waited. Instead of anger, the reaction was amusement, and shocked the goddess and myself significantly. After a bout of introductions and explanations, in which I stayed completely silent, I learned that the goddess of the sun was named Celestia- no surprise there- and was one of the two ruling princesses of Equestria. Celestia then turned to me, apparently with a mission.

She said, “Alec, I read in my student’s letter that you are a soldier. I have received word from my guards that there is trouble brewing from the Griffins and the Diamond Dogs, and there has already been casualties. I can’t fight directly, but I can’t lose any of my little ponies.” I snickered at that, the ridiculousness of the terms here was boundless. I had resigned myself to horse puns earlier, but this was too rich. “I would like you to fight in the name of Equestria, and I offer you a position as a Royal Guard. I will try and find a way to get you back to your species, if you will help us.”

A proposition? It sounded fair, and it would help get me back to the Infinity, so I agreed. Besides, she never stated what would happen if I refused, and I didn’t plan to find out. And it would just be a walk in the park, right?

Right?