Your Human And You: Feet First Into Hell

Princess Celestia watched as the armored train moved in under the cover of the dark morning. She had yet to raise the Sun, and was holding off doing so to see what procurements the First Reclamation had gotten from the alien ship. Apparently, this thing had come down at the same time that her sister had returned. After reading through several reports, and getting agents out to cover up the stories being spawned, Celestia noticed something that clicked together.

Luna mentioned that it was a ship that had broken Nightmare Moon out of her imprisonment. Not only that, but images that on-site recorders had found Equish writing on the hull of the alien vessel, labeling it as: "UNSC Lost in the Stars". How fitting, she realized, that the stars had aided in her escape. Destiny was a frustrating thing, the Princess thought, amazed by the event.

However, Celestia did not think it to be Human in origin, not by a long shot. This vessel's hull, the reports had read, is capable of withstanding dragonflame torches turned to maximum overdrive. No metal on Equis could stay in solid form for so long. Not only that, but its propulsion is non-magical in origin, and is powered by something unimaginably strong. Estimated output by the vessel in its inoperable state are estimated to be more than 8 million times the total electrical output of Equestria and the Griffon empire. To think that Humans, of all creatures, could have built something like that was something akin to comedy in the scientific community.

The Princess did not hold that against her sister, however, since it was probably Nightmare's influence over her psyche that made her sister see Humans as opposed to the actual aliens.

Her thoughts ceased as the armored train hissed to a stop before her, and several Guards began to file out and secure the platform. One in particular bowed to the Princess as she spoke.

"Good morning, Your Highness," the officer spoke as she rose from the bow with a salute. "We've readied the quarantine container with the unknown items, but before we left, reclamation found another crate inside the vessel."

"Oh?" Celestia asked with an eyebrow raised. "What was in it?"

"We have no idea. I suggest we let Science figure it out when we get it through processing."

Celestia nodded.

"Excellent. We've readied the lab's quarantine zone. Begin transport. I'll accompany you."

"Yes ma'am."

With that, the Guards began to line up along the darkened streets of Canterlot, blocking off any intercepting ponies that could see the hazard teams carrying orange boxes through the tunnels leading to the Castle, closely followed by a group carrying a crate with the picture of a skull with wings.

\\\//////

Maelstrom watched as the Sun finally began to rise over the horizon, bathing the landscape in a refreshing, warm light. The ODST could finally see the landscape for what it truly was now, and found himself staring at the beautiful scenery that sped by him.

It looked as though they were going along the surface of a broken lake, with large pockets of water separated by thin strips of land that had lush, green grass across each piece. The tracks beneath the tram seemed to be fixed on the surface of the water at a distance, but when it began to chug over the liquid surface, Maelstrom was amazed to see how clear the blue truly was. If he focused his sight, the ODST could see straight down through the surface and watch as multiple forms of aquatic life began to retreat from the tram. After a few seconds of time over the water, Maelstrom could see large support beams underneath the tracks, keeping them above the water.

The trooper let out a sigh as he slumped back into the space he was in. Opposite of him in the car, Meadow began to wake up and gave a light yawn as she regained consciousness. She blinked until her vision was clear and looked over to the Sergeant.

"Um... g-good morning," she spoke hesitantly. "Are you doing alright?"

"I'm fine," he answered automatically.

"Oh, sorry. I-It's just... that was scary, what happened last night."

"Boren's Syndrome only attacks once, then I'm fine. It passed."

Meadow seemed to visibly shrink under the words alone of the ODST. Wanting to change the subject, Maelstrom pulled out his Magnum and began to run an inspection over it while he talked to Meadow.

"How close are we to your contact's rendezvous?"

"Oh! I almost forgot! Um, hold on."

Meadow retreated to a small semi-office that the tram car had to the side of the control panel and began examining the map. As she did, Maelstrom released the magazine of the Magnum and popped out the round in the chamber. He glimpsed down the barrel and nodded to himself after checking the condition. Maelstrom placed the loose round into the top of the magazine and slammed it back into the Magnum before cocking it once more and held it in his hand.

The world seemed to fade away as he stared at his hand gun, and thought back to the attack of memories before he talked to the illusion of the alien's supposed leader. A certain memory clung to the forefront of his thoughts, and he decided to act on it. Maelstrom pushed his hand out forward and clicked the safety on as he let the Magnum spin on his trigger finger. The weapon spun a few times on his finger before Maelstrom caught it mid-spin and leveled it at one of the birds that got out of the way of the train. The safety kept him from killing the creature, but the ODST was sure that it would have been a nice, clean kill.

"Still got it," he said with a smirk.

"Wow."

Maelstrom looked over to see Meadow staring at him with a small smile which disappeared as soon as he saw it. Immediately, he tried to focus back on what he had asked only a few seconds ago.

"So, how long until we get to your contact?"

"R-right... uh... carry the... about, eight minutes?"

Maelstrom nodded to her before reaching over and grabbing his helmet. He slipped it on spoke into the comms.

"Wake up, buttercups. We're arriving at the unknown contact's location in 8 mikes. Prep for combat but don't open fire until I give word."

"Yes, sir!" came the chorused response.

The ODST began to stand up slowly as Meadow began to sit on the strange seat before the console and looked over the devices. Without a word, Maelstrom approached the console and looked out towards the tracks, finding a large rock formation roughly 600 meters ahead.

"I-If you don't mind me asking," Meadow started softly, "what was that spinning thing you were doing?"

Maelstrom sighed as he looked down to his hand at the Magnum.

"Picked it up a few decades ago, before the Covenant War."

"The what?"

"Big war that I spent most of my life fighting in. Doesn't matter. I didn't learn it for me."

"Well, um, why did you learn it, then?"

"My son loved watching old western-style movies. Always loved how the heroes would spin their guns like this," Maelstrom demonstrated once more to the fascination of the alien, "before taking down the bad guys. I spent months trying to figure out how to do it, so when I was on shore-leave, I could show him how cool his old man was."

"Well, he must be very happy."

Maelstrom slowly nodded as he felt his heart ache again.

"Yeah. He loved seeing it. I used to spin this thing about a hundred times a day when I was home. At one point, he asked if he could do that when he becomes a soldier, just like his old man. Proudest moment of my life, right then and there."

"Aw, that's beautiful. How is he now?"

Maelstrom gripped the Magnum hard enough to start losing feeling in his fingers, but eased off as he took a deep breath.

"I don't know. He signed up for the UNSC Marine Corps back in 2537, haven't heard from him since."

"Oh. What year is it now, then?"

"2557."

"Oh."

Silence fell between the two as the rock formation was now only 400 meters away.

Maelstrom had no idea why, but he felt the urge to continue the conversation.

"What about you? Any family or others?"

"Well... my parents were both Unicorns in Canterlot, the capitol city of Equestria. They weren't exactly welcome among their peers since I was born a Pegasus."

'Wow, that's racist,' Maelstrom thought to himself.

"When we moved to Ponyville a few years later, I think I was 9, we had adopted a Human child we found on the side of a road. He... he means so much to me."

At this point, Meadow's face began to turn red as a smile came onto her lips.

"We spent almost every day together. He would help me when we went to get groceries, and I would help him learn to read and write."

"The injured one."

Meadow blinked a few times as she looked up to Maelstrom.

"W-what?"

"It doesn't take a degree in Theoretical Physics to put two and two together to make four. Icepick, the lovely lady with the big knife, told me all about what you had said. So now a question: why are you trying to relocate him?"

"W-well, a few years ago, a law was passed that said that Humans and Ponies can no longer be wed by any courts in Equestria. So, we planned on moving to Minos, but there was already a law in place against Humans traveling as anything besides cargo. We heard about this shipment of Humans being smuggled to a transport, and since the Minotaurs view Humans as a subspecies of themselves, they have the same rights as everyone else there."

"Then why was that one guy trying to kill him?"

Meadow cringed at that mention.

"That... was Brick. He came onto the smuggling ring for the bits, and tried to sleep with me. When he found out Geo and I were going to Minos to get married... you saw the damage. And... stopped it."

"What we saw was an unknown element brutalizing an innocent civilian. We acted as any military or police force would and should have in that situation. I do not regret ordering my men to neutralize the hostile."

"I just... think you could have stopped him without-"

"Keeping an innocent civilian alive? Absolutely not."

"But... what if you just tried to stop him without hurting him?"

"He would have fought back and tried to kill us."

"But does that make it right to you?"

"We just came out of a three decade long war and were under the threat of extinction. Doing things that way isn't something ODSTs are used to, especially when dealing with anything that isn't Human."

Meadow seemed to droop as tears began to form in her eyes.

"Look, they're practically kids, compared to me. All they've known is 'shoot anything that isn't Human'. Obviously, not all of your kind support this look on my kind, right?"

Meadow nodded.

"Y-yes. There are several Dukes that are against the anti-Human campaigns, like Fancy Pants and Blueblood, as well as some high members of the multiple Guard divisions."

"And one of your Princesses."

"W-what?"

Meadow was looking at Maelstrom with a sense of confusion and fear before he spoke again.

"When I blacked out, your Princess did some weird communications thing. She was blue, had hair like the night sky, picture of a moon on her back, think her name was... Luna?"

"P-P-P-Princess L-Luna?" Meadow asked as she began to shake.

"Yeah, why? What's wrong with her?"

"S-she's... back? Is she no longer Nightmare Moon?"

'And this just got weird,' Maelstrom thought to himself.

"And she saw you? She spoke to you?"

"Apparently she's been wanting to help us since she saw us land. Didn't get a chance to talk until I had that seizure, though."

"Do... do you think she had something to do with your..."

Maelstrom paused as he thought about the possibility of Luna's involvement with his attack. Boren's Syndrome didn't actually cause spasms that violent, if any at all. She had been waiting to talk to him when he was unconscious, though, and that was eerie enough without thinking to connect the dots.

"Maybe... gonna have to talk this out later."

"Are you going to meet her?"

Maelstrom nodded.

"She gave me a vision of some kind. I know where she wants to meet me, and she even gave me a little tour of some secret passages. We're heading there as soon as this little excursion is over. Speaking of," Maelstrom trailed off as he saw the rocks begin to give way to the tram's path.

As the tram began to grind to a halt, the trails began to curve into the rock formation and broke apart to reveal a massive balloon-based vehicle. Outside of it were creatures that were certainly somewhere between the ODSTs' definitions of "friendly" and "shoot first, questions later".

"The Hell are those?" Maelstrom asked.

"Minotaurs," Meadow answered.

Their top halves were mainly Human, save for their faces which resembled that of the other aliens he had seen on the planet, thus far, except they had horns on both sides of their heads. Instead of skin colors, however, they were differentiated by fur colors, ranging from blues to browns, and everything in between. The legs of each one were colored similarly to their torsos, but were more like the back legs of the alien next to him. All of them wore some kind of plated armor, and were carrying swords and shields. When they saw the tram coming, they began to move for it, only to stop as Maelstrom hopped out.

"Nightmare, out of the tram, but don't open fire until I give word."

Behind him, several doors opened to reveal the rest of fire-team Nightmare, all exiting the tram with their visors turned to their signature setting, with the flaming skulls of the ODSTs overtaking the silver plating. Maelstrom did the same as he watched the reticle for his Magnum center on his HUD. When they were all close enough, Maelstrom signaled for the ODSTs to stop. The Minotaurs watched dumbfounded as the troopers held a line of only seven against fifty. A deep chuckled sounded through the area, and the largest one walked towards Maelstrom. This one was a dark brown, standing nearly six-foot, eight-inches tall. It had a ring going through its nostril, and wore round plates of armor that swayed as it walked, hanging off of some fabric. On its back was a massive hammer, the head of which was almost the width of an Assault Rifle.

"Well now," it spoke in a deep, masculine baritone, "what have we here? Humans in armor? What are you doing?" it asked with a wide smile.

"Hold on!" Meadow called from behind the line of ODSTs.

All the Minotaurs looked beyond the seven soldiers to see a pegasus moving to open each and every car of the tram and revealed several large groups of Human civilians. Just as a few Minotaurs began to move, Sputnik leveled his SMG at the group, shaking his head.

"Don't move," he threatened.

"Or what? You'll hit us with a miniature arrow?" one of the Minotaurs asked.

"I'd suggest you listen to my fellow troopers. We're very short tempered, as of late."

The large one was frowning slightly now, though it was more out of confusion than anger.

"What are you Humans doing?"

"Making sure this 'deal' isn't a trap. We heard you're taking these civies to some place safe for them. I want details."

"On who's authority?" the Minotaur asked, leaning down to look Maelstrom in the visor.

"My God-damn authority," Maelstrom responded as he leveled the barrel of his Magnum at the Minotaur's chin.

The two held that position as the tension in the air bean to boil. The civilians were weary of getting off of the tram, understandably, while the Minotaurs continued to eye the ODSTs with anger and confusion. Finally, the leader broke into a smile and backed away from Maelstrom, patting him on the shoulder.

"You've got guts like a Dragon. I like that. Alright, how about we all sit down and get this sorted out?"

"Sir," another Minotaur, this one much shorter than even the ODSTs, spoke, "we have to be back before the storm hits, otherwise we'll be stuck for another month!"

"Hmph. Right. Well, how do we get you to trust us?"

"We search your ship and watch the civilians being brought in. Anything we see that we don't like, we're out of here. All of us."

The Minotaur held out its beefy hand for a shake.

"Steel Battalion."

Maelstrom looked at the hand before placing the Magnum in its holster and gripping tightly.

"Maelstrom."

The ODST let go as the Minotaur stared at his own hand with wide eyes.

"My my, some truly strong Humans! I'd be happy to have you aboard the Freedom's Dream."