Your Human And You: Feet First Into Hell

As light began to steadily flood into the view of the ODSTs, the compartment that Maelstrom had thrown the brown alien into had began to give off some noise for a few seconds before silence returned. Maelstrom held up his Magnum to the door as he reached towards the handle, Melt leveling his SMG at it. With a single motion, the door swung open to reveal the creature sleeping on the ground again, snoring lightly this time. As he breathed a sigh of relief, Maelstrom closed the door on the alien and holstered his Magnum.

Before another word could be spoken, two consecutive knocks rang against the door to the tram car, and Black Eye opened it to reveal the volunteer from the refugees.

"Good to see you, Private," Maelstrom spoke as he grasped the trooper's hand.

They collided their shoulder plates before Black Eye moved on to repeat the gesture with Melt. The volunteer cautiously approached the ODSTs, fearfully gazing between their visors. Maelstrom held out his hand to the civilian.

"Sergeant Maelstrom of the ONI Prowler Lost in the Stars, leading operative of ODST fire-team Nightmare," he greeted.

The civilian looked between the hand and the Sergeant's helmet, craning his head up slightly due to the height difference. Slowly, with a visible tremble, the civilian's hand met Maelstrom's, and the trooper lightly moved it with a soft grip.

"G-Geo," he barely spoke.

"Thanks for volunteering, Geo. What experience do you have reading maps?" Maelstrom asked while motioning for Geo to follow.

"Um... I-I helped look over the map, before we got on here," Geo started, walking behind the trooper. "A few others know where to run to, but I don't..."

The ODSTs looked between each other before Black Eye motioned between his helmet at his side and his face before pointing to Maelstrom. Maelstrom nodded as he reached up to remove the helmet before turning back to Geo. As he revealed his face to the civilian, he spoke calmly and slowly.

"You're safe. We're all Humans here. Nothing's going to hurt you. We just want some answers."

"L-like?"

"Like, what did you mean by 'where to run to,'? Or maybe, why are all those civilians stuffed in cages?"

"Ugh... well... T-the ponies, the ones on this train... they, gathered us up to try and help us escape. They... they said, that, when we get to a certain landmark, we'd need to run for Minos, the Minotaur homeland. They said that we'd never have to worry about being mistreated again."

"Minos?"

"Escape?"

"Help?"

The ODSTs had the universally same reaction, unable to believe the circumstances.

"If these things want to help so bad, then why are all of you in cages, and being beaten to near-death?" Melt asked.

Geo shied away from the question, as if it would physically hurt him.

"Brick... wasn't the kindest to us."

"That's a fucking understatement," Black Eye commented.

"But, Meadow told us that we needed to be in cages, so when we pass by Ponyville station, we wouldn't draw attention."

"So their plan involves locking up a large number of alien civilians and bringing them on a barely guarded tram with no real direction besides 'that way'? Real fucking smart. Nobel Prize worthy, if you ask me," Melt stated.

Geo seemed to be shocked by the statement.

"A-a-a-a-aliens?"

The ODSTs looked between each other again, exchanging an ever-growing sense of 'What the Shit is going on' for yet another round of questions.

"Yeah, aliens. We're not exactly native to this planet. You know that, right?" Melt asked.

"B-b-b-b-but, w-w-we're all Humans, aren't you?"

The troopers all nodded.

"Right, we're Humans," Maelstrom added. "So what's the confusion?"

"Humans are native to Equestria, aren't we?"

Once again, glares met glares as the ODSTs felt several alarms go off in their heads.

"Tell us everything you know about 'our' history," Maelstrom said.

\\\//////

"Holy shit, I didn't think it'd be this easy to get answers from you," Icepick commented while swinging the keys in her grasp, tossing the ring between fingers and hands while the civilians all watched, freed from their cages.

The alien didn't even put up so much as a flimsy piece of a rusted fence in terms of resistance to the questions, simply answering them as they came along.

"But, just because you answered them, doesn't mean you're off the hook."

With that, the ODST flicked at her right arm's guard before a large, flat piece clicked out of the armor. She spun the piece of metal around, flipping out a long, serrated blade as she made the weapon dance. In a single flick, the knife slammed down into the floor of the alien's cage, cutting clean through the metal as a ring of keys jangled around it.

"We're almost done, though, so let's try and keep this going as smoothly as we have, alright?" she offered.

The alien looked between the knife and the trooper fearfully before nodding vigorously.

"Good. Next question, what was that you mentioned about one last stop?"

"We were going to exchange some bits for a large number of slaves from a Griffon hunting ring, halfway to Minos. About an hour after we pass through Ponyville, there's going to be a caravan with a red tent off about 50 meters north of the three-way intersection after a river. The bits are-"

"How well armed is the slaver caravan?" Icepick interrupted.

"Um... I-I wouldn't know. Probably around thirty or so altogether, but otherwise-"

"What about weapons and armor?"

"They're hunters, so they're probably wearing leather and iron, put together from-"

"That's enough. Congratulations, you've officially earned the privilege of being our prisoner. And that's really something, considering the UNSC hasn't taken prisoners in almost 30 years."

Icepick withdrew her kukri from the ground and spun it closed before locking it back into her arm. Before she could make her way back to the Sergeant, however, a group of civilians were helping the wounded one up onto his feet as he began to speak.

"Please... let... let her, go," he wheezed out.

"Absolutely not. That thing is-"

"She's... innocent. She just... wants to help us. Why are... you treating her like... that?"

"Alright. Give me one reason why I should let her go, then."

"She knows... more about this plan... than you do."

"All I have to do is ask, and she'll spill every detail."

"Please... she's not like... Brick... she cares about us... I... I love her."

Icepick nearly shouted in surprise, but managed to keep her cool.

"The fuck!? What... how does," she tried to speak, glancing between the injured civilian and the prisoner.

"If not... just let me... stay by her," he panted out.

Icepick had absolutely no idea how to respond to that, so she ended up calling Maelstrom over the comms.

"Sergeant, some kind of crazy is going on here," she spoke into the comms.

"I think I noticed," Maelstrom responded. "Did you know these civilians were all born on this planet? Or that apparently we've been on this planet for around 600 years?"

"Alright, what's Cowbell been inhaling this time?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Cowbell responded.

"Sure."

"Fuck you, Ice queen."

"So... he hasn't been on the comms this whole time... which means... oh, for fuck's sake."

\\\//////

Commander Matthias groaned as he slowly felt feeling return to his aging form. First came pain, then the relief of knowing he wasn't dead yet. He could hear several others join his pained joy of not being killed upon impact with the planet, before he spoke to the A.I.

"Lisa, status report."

"We've crashed into a large, open portion of this continent's desert," she began while appearing across the many screens of the bridge, "but we didn't have as subtle a landing as I'd have liked. There are at least seventy eight life forms outside the Prowler's crash site, covering up everything they can while setting up some kind of camp around us. Interestingly enough, their flag has a Forerunner symbol etched into the center, yet they don't have a single firearm or piece of electronic equipment. It's all wood and iron."

The Commander unfastened himself from his seat and shakily stood upright. He corrected his stance before he could fall, and approached the main view-port while raising a hand above his eyes, trying to keep out the intense rays of the planet's Sun. All across his vision, he could see yellow and purple tents being set up by unknown creatures, while a large flag waved above their site. Before he could ask Lisa about them, a brilliant light shone from the center of the camp, and rocketed upwards. When it reached the apex of its ascent, the ball of light burst, and almost like Forerunner tech, a massive bubble shield extended from the blast, darkening the sky while extending beyond the ship's crash site.

"What was that?"

"It appears to be some kind of cloaking method, if my drones are functioning right. We've just disappeared off the face of the planet, along with them."

"And what are they?"

The holo-table lit up to show a white four-legged creature with massive eyes, purple armor, blue hair, and a horn in an almost cartoonish detail next to a holograph of an ODST.

"I can't believe it myself, and I'm watching it all happen, but it appears that we're being hidden by unicorns."

\\\//////

"So, let me get this straight," Icepick sighed. "You want me to just let this thing come up to the front?"

"I said escort it here, Icepick," Maelstrom corrected, "that's an order."

"But what about the civilians?"

"Melt and Black Eye are on their way back there now. Just get that thing up here, quick."

"Yes, sir."

Icepick brought out the keyring and picked out a specific one before using it to unlock the cage that she kept the alien in, and made a motion with her hand as she drew her Magnum.

"Come on, boss wants to see you for whatever reason."

The alien stood up and walked alongside her on the way to the front of the tram. Before they got too far, however, the alien looked over to the injured civilian and made a gesture with its wings, causing the civilian to smile lightly before he laid down and slept.

\\\//////

Maelstrom looked back at the door to the car as Icepick and the alien prisoner came walking in. Icepick gave a firm push to the alien and almost sent it sprawling to the ground. It corrected itself before it crashed, however, and slowly approached the Sergeant.

"What do we have here?" he asked.

"Um... h-hello," the alien spoke.

"Do you have a name?" was all he asked.

"M-meadow," it answered.

"Would you mind answering a question?"

"Um, n-no."

Maelstrom turned around and scanned the horizon before singling out a specific pattern and pointing towards it.

"What is that, out there?"

Meadow leaned onto the controls to view whatever it was that he was pointing at before gasping.

"That's Ponyville. We're so close."

"Close to what?"

"Freeing your people."

"Bullshit."

Meadow looked up to him in shock.

"W-what?"

"My people are already free. We fought for the last three decades to make sure of that. You, however, seem to not know the order of things in this galaxy."

"Galaxy?"

"What did your kind do to these survivors?" Maelstrom asked with malice.

"Survivors?"

"I don't care what you told them, we have not been here for six hundred years. It hasn't even been half that time since we started colonizing other planets."

Meadow was beyond lost.

"So let's get something straightened out, right now. You work for us, now."

Icepick and Meadow were equally stunned at that.

"If what I heard is true, then we're not getting past that town without someone managing the controls, and seeing heavily armed ODSTs holding several hostages isn't going to be the sneakiest move of all time. So let's make a deal. You get us past this checkpoint, get us close to that prison camp, or caravan thing, and drive this thing down to whatever that border is, then you get to live."

Maelstrom offered his hand to Meadow.

"Deal?"

Meadow felt conflicted, considering she wanted to help the Humans in the first place, but now she felt as though they were angry at her for trying to intervene. Regardless of her opinion, she needed to help them, and wanted to live. She raised her right foreleg to the ODST.

"D-deal."

With that, Maelstrom gripped the appendage and shook once, firmly, before letting go and placing his helmet back on.

"Attention fire-team," he spoke through the comms, "we're about to hit a check-point for the tram. Hide in the shadows and don't engage unless absolutely necessary. We're trying to keep the element of surprise here, and the last thing we need is a bounty on our heads by local law enforcement."

Green lights of acknowledgement flashed across the VISR and the ODSTs blended themselves with the darkness again.

\\\//////

Princess Luna was beyond ecstatic, finally freed of Nightmare Moon's influence and having been welcomed back by the small town, as well as the Royal Guard. Her sister sat by her side, holding onto her as though they would lose each other while waiting for the train. She didn't mind, though. A thousand years of being apart from each other made the embrace far more comforting than that of their subjects, and she did not care how that came across. As they waited for the Royal Train to arrive, however, another one pulled into the station, with a pegasus as the front. When a few Guards began to close in on the transport, Luna swiveled her ears in the direction of the conductor as the Guards began to check through the cars.

"Any specific cargo, ma'am?"

"Um, y-yes. I have documents here for the Humans being brought out to Barnyard Bargains Mine Co. by the Minos border."

Luna didn't hear the next few words as she watched the Guards opened the car across from her to reveal several cages of Humans as they shied away from the light. Fear and shock gripped her heart when she saw the poor condition the Humans were being treated in. Their cages were cramped, and one looked to be severely injured. More cars opened to reveal more cages, all empty, but likely waiting for the prisoners.

"And the empty cages?" the station guard asked.

"Well, they told me to pick up another few dozen from a caravan a few miles ahead, and I've got the paperwork and bits if you need to see them."

"It's fine, ma'am."

As the Guards began to give orders to pack it up, Luna saw something shift in the darkness of the Human-filled car. She focused on her night-oriented spells and looked into the darkness. What she saw made her force herself to hold back a gasp.

Hidden in the dark corners of the car were armored Humans, covered head-to-hoof (or whatever they have) in black armor, save for their helmets, which sported silver plates of glass. They had crossbow-like weapons trained on the Guards as they moved about the station, while lights from their helmets began to shift in almost unnoticeable ways. Small red lines of light followed the Guards as they moved to close up the car, and when it did, her vision of the Humans was cut off for a brief period of time.

Luna cast a hollow-vision spell on herself to gaze through the wood of the train car, and found that several more were hiding in the cars of the train. One in the back held a small, slanted weapon while a massive one with two pipes rested on its back, and another opposite it was holding a weapon longer than her own wingspan, that hung a miniature skull by the back.

Before she could get a glimpse at the rest, however, the train sounded off and began down the tracks again. Luna felt a nudge at her side, causing her to drop the spell and look back at her sister.

"I understand you're confused about the Humans, sister, but I'll explain when we get to Canterlot."

Luna turned to watch the train leave the station, carrying warriors from beyond the stars away from her gaze.

"Thou best, dear sister."

\\\//////

Hours later, upon their arrival to the city of Canterlot, Luna had to be introduced to many changes.

First of all, their old castle had been lost to the ages, only seen as a relic, or a horror story. Luna already knew that, seeing as how she was in it when she had been freed. Secondly, there had been many adjustments to the system of Royalty, as well as new members being introduced. At first, Luna was convinced that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was actually her sister's daughter. It was only after half an hour of arguing that she agreed to identify her as an adoptive niece, rather than a blood-related family member. After meeting with some rather unpleasant nobles, one in particular that she despised, she finally had a chance to simply talk with her sister.

They were in the Royal Archives, simply strolling through as Celestia picked out several history books to fill in Luna over what had happened in the past thousand years.

"I'm so sorry to force this on you, again, sister," Celestia apologized for the seven thousandth time (Luna kept count mentally).

"Honestly, sister, we can't forgive thee any more times, lest we lose our own tongue keeping up."

Celestia giggled as she looked through more history texts.

Deciding to push the subject she had been mulling over since her return, Luna spoke up again.

"Sister, we wish to speak with thee about the Humans."

Her sister's smile almost entirely vanished before sighing lightly.

"When you start mentioning them, I keep forgetting that they've been around for only six hundred years. It must be confusing to see an entirely new species in Equestria."

"Especially these. Dost thou know how we, the Nightmare and I, escaped our prison?"

"I don't see what that has to do with Humans, Luna."

"Everything, sister," Luna said in a far more serious tone. "The Nightmare waited for the barrier to weaken, but yet it never came. We suspected that we would never return, trapped in a spell that ceased to weaken any further. That was, until something broke us free. Do you remember when these Humans first arrived? What was it like?"

"Well, when they did first arrive, they were scared and confused. So were our little ponies. They were beyond frightened by their arrival, seemingly out of nowhere. But when we approached, we saw that they had no idea or concept of magic."

That shocked Luna.

"Truly? How could they have arrived without magic?"

"I don't know. At first, I thought they were agents of Discord, or perhaps something from Tartarus itself, but I found no trace of either Chaos or Dark magic within them."

"What of their ship?"

Celestia paused and looked back at Luna.

"Their... what?"

"A vessel? Made out of metals? Did it perhaps fly over the land like a cloud, or did it roar like the mighty Dragon Skyholds? Or-"

Luna's questioning was interrupted by the sound of laughter from her dear sister. Miffed by the sudden change in mood, Luna pressed.

"What dost thou laugh at, sister? We are trying to understand the arrival of the first Humans."

"I-I'm sorry, but the way you said it," Celestia chuckled.

"Sister, this is no laughing matter. I believe the Humans are trying to send reinforcements."

Celestia responded by laughing again.

"Lulu, I love you, but the Human's aren't cut out for violence, or making any kind of magical ships like that."

"We know what we hast seen!" Luna proclaimed. "A Human vessel broke through the barrier that kept Nightmare and I at bay, and the demon dragged it down from the heavens. When we looked inside, we saw Humans in uniforms working several controls. Even when we were at the station, waiting for the Royal Train, we saw several armored Humans hiding in the darkness, with weapons we have never seen before."

"Luna, I assure you, the Humans are not from outside this planet," Celestia assured. "They can barely understand basic mathematics and reading. How could they achieve flying metal fortresses or become soldiers?"

"We know what we hath seen, sister!" Luna half-yelled. "Nightmare was just as shocked as I when the Humans arrived."

"Sister, please don't be upset," Celestia stated as she hugged her sister, "but I just think that maybe the demon tried to misguide you, again. It might have known it would be beaten, and thought about how to mess with your mind from beyond the grave. Don't let it get to you."

Luna contemplated her sister's words as she looked through the window, waiting for her time to come to set the moon for the first time in a millennia.

\\\//////

Night fell upon the land before the still train, the soldiers inside waiting for the opportunity brought on by the darkness.

Maelstrom stepped off the transport and motioned for others to follow suit as the ODSTs began to scan the land for their objective. Behind the Sergeant, Meadow stepped down and hefted a large bag that jingled with each step.

"Um, excuse me, but, I have the bits for exchange here," Meadow stated while offering the ODST the bag.

"Is it some kind of currency?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"We don't negotiate or trade with terrorists," he stated before walking away from her.

"Wait, how do you plan on getting those other Humans from the caravan, then?" she called out.

"We're ODSTs. We'll find a way."

With that, the group of soldiers walked off into the darkness, eyes locked on a distant red tent.