Prophecy of the Six - Earlier Than Expected

Chapters

A Surge Of Energy
First Impressions
Meet The SPARTAN - Part One
Meet The SPARTAN - Part Two
Emile is Not Happy
Welcome to Ponyville - Part One
Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Nightmare Begins
Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Haunted Pasts and Failure Lasts
Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Calm Before The Storm
Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Test of Strength
Welcome to Ponyville - Part Two

A Surge Of Energy

Boom"That one's for Kat!"Boom"That's for Jorge!"Boom"That one's for Carter!Boom

Emile sat at the massive driver emplacement, blowing up every Covenant ship he sees to kingdom come. Emile was never one for emotions, he always hid his with some humor. But something inside him snapped. At this very moment, he couldn't hold back anymore. The Covenant killed his only friends. It seemed only fair that he does the same.

"ALL OF YOU WILL FUCKING DIE!" Emile roared, continuously firing at the alien ships.

After he cleared the platform, he opened his comms.

"Six, you still there? Get the package to Keyes. I'll cover your escape." Emile explained, knowing fully that if he stayed behind he'll surely die.

There seemed to be a brief pause, before he heard a reply.

"Affirmative. Noble Six out."

He then got an alarming message from Captain Keyes.

"Cruiser, adjusting heading for the Autumn! Noble Four I need fire on that cruiser or we're not getting out of here! Do you copy?"

Emile looked out to the horizon and saw the approaching Covenant cruiser, its shadow looming over the barren wasteland.

"You'll have your window sir." Emile replied.

As Emile prepared to fire at the cruiser, a Covenant dropship appeared and rained fire on one of the two evac Pelicans. One went down. Emile, scared for the safety of his possibly last surviving teammate, paused firing and looked for him at the platform. As he saw Six crawl away from the burning wreckage of the downed Pelican, he failed to notice that the Covenant dropship was right on top of him. By the time he did notice, it was already too late. Two Elites, Zealot class, landed on the massive gun emplacement. Emile reached for his M45 Tactical Shotgun, shouted out a war cry, and fired at the nearest Elite. As the Elite fell over and hung limply, Emile crawled out of the gun and paused to look at the Elite. He was undeniably hurt now, hanging unto life by practically a thread. Oh, how Emile despised his kind. He pushed the barrel of his gun to his chest and fired, ending his miserable life.

"Who's next?" Emile yelled out, completely unaware of the danger behind him.

All he knew next was that an Elite grabbed him and stabbed him in the chest.

Emile looked at his body, and saw the Energy Sword protruding out of his chest. But instead of pain, all he felt was rage. All thoughts he had beforehand were dispelled , and only one thought remained.

Nobody. Fucks. With Emile.

As the Elite pulled out his sword, Emile pulled out his kukri.

"I'm ready! How 'bout you?!" Emile yelled defiantly, before he proceeded to stab the Elite in the neck.

The Elite was completely caught unaware. Fueled by rage and adrenaline, Emile kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing the Elite, until he knew for sure he was dead. After his rage fueled stabbing spree ended, Emile slumped down, slowly bleeding out from the stab wound so generously given to him by the recently deceased Elite Zealot. As his life slowly ebbed away, he looked at the two bodies in front of him. He smiled at the sight. Truly it was a work of art.

"You... you fucking bastards... you think you own us... you think you're going to win..." Emile halfheartedly chuckled.

No answer.

"Well news flash bitches" he proclaimed with a smile.

He forced his head to look at the dead Elite to his left.

"You didn't win."

He moved his head to his right.

"And you didn't win." He taunted.

Emile chuckled, before scowling.

"Did you hear me? YOU DIDN'T FUCKING WIN!" He declared defiantly.

Emile slumped even lower, and as he relaxed, he muttered out his final words before falling into a very deep sleep.

"You didn't win..."

"Hey Twilight!" Spike called out.

No answer.

"Twilight..." Spike continued to call out.

Still no answer.

"TWILIGHT!" Spike yelled.

The lavender mare with a book metaphorically glued to her face yelped in surprise.

"Spike! What was that for? You didn't have to yell at me!" Twilight scolded.

Spike groaned in exasperation, but he guessed it was expected. Whenever Twilight focuses on one thing she's stubbornly oblivious of her immediate surroundings.

"Look Twi, I was just going to say that I'm going out today to hang out with the CMC. They said they needed my help in cooking, or something." Spike explained.

"Oh, well, good luck then!" Twilight exclaimed. As her number one assistant walked out the door, Twilight called out.

"And be careful, you know how dangerous their antics can be!"

"Alright, mom." Spike joked as he closed the door of the library.

Twilight smiled. Now finally alone in the library, she can read her book quietly, with no distra-

A surge of energy washed over her. She felt like she just drank a thousand cups of coffee. She felt like she could run a marathon. She felt like she could do anything. But her new sensation departed as quickly as it had arrived, leaving the alicorn mare in a fatigued state.

"Woah..." Twilight mumbled, suddenly feeling dizzy. "That was... weird."

Twilight shook her head in an attempt to regain her equilibrium and immediately set out to find anything about sudden surges of energy in her books. Maybe one of them holds the answer...

"Hey Twiiiiiliiiiiight!" somepony called out in a sing-song manner.

Twilight groaned. She immediately knew whose voice it belonged to.

"Not right now Pinkie! I'm busy!" Twilight called out.

Twilight awaited a reply, but none came. She assumed the party pony left her alone, and continued her search for answers.

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

The alicorn groaned. She knew it was too easy. Nevertheless, she had no time to talk to Pinkie right now. Her best bet was to ignore her. Maybe she'll leave after a few knocks...

108 knocks later...

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

Knock knock knock

"Twilight"

"Arggghhh! I can't take this anymore! I can't think straight with all her obnoxious knocking!" Twilight thought to herself. Giving up on ignoring Pinkie, Twilight used her usual calming technique to quell her growing migraine and opened her front door.

"Hello Pinkie! What brings you here to- oh, hello everypony" she greeted.

This was unusual for her. Pinkie wasn't the only one on her front door. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were here too.

"Umm... what brings you all here?" Twilight asked.

"Didn't you feel it Twi?" Applejack asked.

Twilight didn't immediately catch what the farmer was asking until it dawned on her.

"Oh yeah... that energy rush... you guys felt it too? Twilight guessed.

"That's right' Applejack answered. "For I second ah felt like I could run around Equestria without breaking a sweat!" Applejack beamed, but her body language sagged immediately afterwards. "But then ah got dizzy afterwards. Ah felt like I couldn't stand on my own four hooves!"

"Same here. Did anypony else other than us felt it?" Twilight asked.

"We asked everypony else but us, but they said that they didn't feel a thing." Rarity answered.

"Well, did anypony see anything unusual lately? Anything that could lead us on what happened." Twilight asked again.

"Now that you mention it..." Rainbow Dash thought loudly, "I was trying to do an awesome trick I've been working lately, but then I saw this bright flash of light in the Everfree Forest. It was a pretty big flash, I could see it from where I was. After that, I felt the energy rush."

Twilight pondered at this. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't a good sign, especially if it was in the Everfree Forest. She needed to make a decision.

"Alright girls, here's the plan. We're going to investigate what Rainbow Dash saw in the Everfree Forest." Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, we need you to show us where you saw the flash while it's still fresh in your memory."

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Rainbow replied enthusiastically.

Twilight turned to the others. "Everypony else, follow her lead."

"Before we go Twilight, don't you think we need the Elements of Harmony?" Pinkie questioned. "I mean, whatever it was, it was powerful enough to affect us and only us."

Twilight smiled at the thought, but immediately shook her head afterwards.

"We can't Pinkie. While we're still connected to the Elements, we don't have them anymore, remember?" Twilight explained.

Pinkie Pie's mane deflated at the thought. "Oh yeah, the whole "Invasion of the Everfree Forest" thing..."

The party pony seemed sad at first, but immediately perked up faster than anypony could blink.

"Oh well! We might not need them anyway! Whatever it is, I'm sure it's something we can handle on our own!" Pinkie encouraged.

Twilight smiled at the pink pony in front of her. You could always count on Pinkie to lighten the mood.

"Now that that's settled, are we all set?"

"We're all ready Twi!" Applejack answered .

"Oh, actually, um, can I, uh, stay back, because, I need to, um... Fluttershy stuttered.

"Then let's go!" Twilight exclaimed enthusiastically, trotting off to the general direction Rainbow Dash headed off to.

Everypony else followed Twilight, and with them they carried the poor, socially awkward pegasus on their backs, completely oblivious to her quiet cries of protest.

First Impressions

“Striking fear into all he encountered

While wielding the wrath of a crumbling planet.

Equally vicious and strong,

His blade sharpened by battle.

He fearlessly cut through enemy forces,

Instilling hope in an entire race.

Marked by the skull scratched into his helmet,

He was the last his enemies ever saw of this world.

In recognition of this, his warrior's spirit,

We honor him as the merciless wrath of Noble.”

-The Monument to Noble Team

"Ughh... are we there yet?" Rarity complained for the umpteenth time. "My precious hooves can't take much more of this icky muck."

The rainbow maned pegasus groaned in exasperation. She was starting to grow irritated of the fashionista's incessant whining. Actually, scratch that. She was growing tired of the fashionista's incessant "complaining". A few Diamond Dogs already made that mistake, and with her growing headache, more "complaining" from her was the last thing she needed right now.

"Rarity, for the last time, the flash I saw was really far in the Everfree Forest. I already told you it might take us while to get there"

"But-" Rarity started.

"Rarity. We are good friends. And good friends listen to each other, right?" Rainbow asked.

"I... suppose?" Rarity answered in a questioning tone.

Before she can ask Rainbow to elaborate, the cyan pegasus proceeded to inch closer to her.

"Then listen very, very carefully to what I have to say." she demanded.

She inched closer and closer, until she was face to face to Rarity. Rarity shrunk under the hard glare given to her, courtesy of Rainbow Dash. Before she could ask what was her problem, the cyan pegasus muttered out two words, two words nopony has ever said to her before...

"Shut. Up."

Rarity huffed in annoyance, obviously peeved to hear that. Twilight could feel the tension in the air. It was so thick she could cut through it with a knife. She needed to end this if she didn't want animosity between the the two. Twilight walked next to Rarity, who was pouting at the uber-athlete's statement.

"Don't worry Rarity, after all of this blows over, I'll make sure you get the best treatment possible at the spa." Twilight assured.

That seemed to do the trick, as Rarity immediately perked up.

"You'll do that? For me? Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rarity squealed gleefully before wrapping the lavender alicorn in an almighty bear hug.

"Rarity... can't.... breathe...

Rarity, sensing that her friend is suffocating, pulled back from the hug and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Erm.. sorry about that dear." Rarity apologized.

Before Twilight could smile and accept her apology, she was rudely interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who tugged at her wings to get her attention.

"Hey Twilight, were here."

The alicorn mare was practically beaming after hearing that.

"That's wonderful! What did you see?" Twilight asked.

The cyan pegasus scratched the back of her head, obviously picking her words carefully before answering.

"Actually Twi... I'm not sure what I saw exactly..." she stated before trailing off.

"What do you mean? What did you see?" Twilight asked again.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I said I don't know what it is.. and I'm pretty sure I can't explain it. I think you have to see it for yourselves."

She motioned for Twilight and the others to follow her. Using her hoof, she moved the thick foliage in front of her and showed everypony what was so hard to explain to them. As they looked on, they immediately noticed that the area in front of them was a clearing. But that wasn't all. What piqued their curiosity was that on the other side of clearing, there was a metal object just sitting there. It was large and bulky, and it had wings too. Next to it was a smaller metal object, with wheels and something sitting on its back. Twilight deduced that the latter was some sort of land vehicle, but she was curious of the thing next to it. It was probably a vehicle as well, but it had wings instead of wheels. How was something as big as that supposed to lift off the ground?

"Hey girls! Look at the middle! They're so... shiny." Pinkie exclaimed.

In the center of the clearing, there were three figures. Two of them were colored purple, with sleek heads. The other was colored grey with a hint of red, with a round-ish sort of head. By the looks of it, none of them were moving.

"Whaddaya make of them, Twi?" Applejack questioned.

"I don't know Applejack. They look like a new species to me..." Twilight answered.

"Oh, a new species! That's awesome! Maybe I can throw a party for them when they wake up! "Welcome to Ponyville Recently Discovered New Species!" Yeah, that sounds about right. But wait, what if they're aliens? Ooh, then I can throw them a "Welcome To Ponyville Recently Discovered Aliens!" party! Wait, what if they're aliens AND a new species? That's even better! Then I can-"

"We get it Pinkie." Rarity interrupted the pink party pony. "Besides, I don't think you'll be able to throw a party for them. I think they're..." Rarity paused before looking at the the three. "Dead."

"What made yah say that Rares?" the farmer pony replied sarcastically. "Was it the fact that one's filled with holes, the other's got a knife sticking out its neck, and the third one ain't movin', or was it something ah missed?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at the farmer's sarcasm. But by the looks of it, she was right. Twilight confirmed Applejack's observations to the others. The first one literally had holes, mostly around the chest area. The second had an intimidatingly large knife sticking out of its neck. The third didn't even look like it was breathing, much less moving. The group grimaced at the sight before them.

"Twilight, I think it's best if we go back. Maybe send a letter to Princess Celestia perhaps?" Rarity suggested.

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "You're right. C'mon girls, let's head back."

The group began their leave. Fluttershy was the last one to move, still looking at the clearing. She was about to turn to leave, until something caught her eye. She gasped at the sight, her eyes widening in fear. The group noticed the absence of one member, and looked back at where they came. They saw Fluttershy, still staring at the clearing.

"C'mon Flutters! What are you waiting for?!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

No answer.

"Um, Fluttershy?" Twilight called out.

Still no answer.

Twilight picked up on her friend's lack of response and trotted up next to her. She waved a hoof in front of her to capture her attention, but to no avail.

"Fluttershy? What's wrong?" Twilight asked, concerned for the wellbeing of the animal caretaker.

The timid yellow mare, looking like she saw a ghost, held up a shaking hoof and pointed at the clearing.

"I th-think the gray one just moved."

Darkness.

That was all Emile saw. He was floating aimlessly in darkness. Nothing was in sight for miles.

Was this death? Was he to spend an eternity here, with nothing but himself and his thoughts to keep himself company? Was there anyone else here? And most importantly...

Does this spell the end of Emile's Covenant ass-kicking spree?

These questions, however, will have to wait for later. As Emile pondered at his own questions, he spotted something. A minuscule point of light was shining in the distance, earning Emile's curiosity. It was like looking at a lone star in the middle of the night. Emile cocked his head sideways, wondering how that light came to be. But then, the light began to grow brighter.

And brighter.

And brighter.

The light grew so much that Emile had to turn away, as even his visor couldn't block the resulting glare. It was like staring into the sun, face-to-face. As the light began to envelop his body, he felt a surge of energy wash over him. His senses went hyperactive, his heartbeat fast and erratic. So much energy was in him, traveling through his veins, surging in and out of his heart. He felt like he had the power of a god. Emile would've liked this feeling. To feel like the sun, ever-so radiant and powerful. Yes, Emile would've, no, should've liked this feeling.

If it wasn't so excruciatingly painful.

As powerful as he felt, it was like drowning in a vat of acid. Every fiber of his body felt like it was melting away. There was too much power. He couldn't handle it. It was too painful.

"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop..." Emile droned on in his head. Never before had he felt so much pain.

"Someone make it stop, please..." he kept pleading, hoping that someone, anyone, could hear him and get him out of this hellhole.

The pain multiplied tenfold, adding to Emile's dismay. His eyes began to water, his head felt like it was about to explode. He was practically paralyzed in pain. All hope of stopping it vanished. With nothing left to do, Emile took a deep breath...

And nothing happened.

Emile slowly opened his eyes, and saw that he was floating in darkness once again. Not a single ray of light in sight. He exhaled, relieved that the pain had stopped.

"That ...was fucking intense..." Emile thought. He replayed the events in his head, before chuckling to himself.

"Oh my God, I was going to scream. Good Lord, I was going to actually scr-"

A bright, white flash appeared before he could finish that thought.

Darkness.

That was all Emile saw. Complete darkness. But this was a different darkness. This wasn't the "floating in darkness" type of darkness. It was the "my eyes are closed and I can't see" type of darkness.

Emile slowly opened his eyes, not really knowing what to expect if he opened them. The first thing he saw was the sky. The blue sky, complete with a noon sun and rolling clouds. A gentle breeze was blowing, he could feel it blowing through him. Emile took in a deep breath, immediately noticing that his nostrils were invaded by a surprisingly pleasant smell. It didn't smell like burnt glass. It didn't smell like burnt flesh. Hell, nothing smelt burnt. This was a first for the SPARTAN, considering his line of work had him work closely with weapons that spit out fire and metal. With blue skies, warm temperature, cool breeze and pleasant smell, it was a relaxing day out. He exhaled, before thinking to himself.

"Fuck... my head hurts."

Emile twitched his fingers, not knowing if he can still move, before groggily sitting up. He felt strangely fatigued. With tired eyes, he surveyed the area around him. He was in a clearing, that much he could guess, but where was he? Wasn't he back in Reach, where his final act of defiance was yelling at a couple of corpses? The even bigger question however, wasn't he supposed to be dead? Emile examined himself, looking for any sign that he was hurt. But he found none. Not a single blemish in his armor. Not even a dent. Emile further surveyed his surroundings, before is eyes fell at the two figures in front of him. It was the two Elite Zealots who tried to, no, succeeded in killing him. Emile instinctively reached for his knife, before realizing it wasn't there. He looked around before he found it...

...lodged in the neck of the Elite to his right.

Emile was confused at first, until he replayed the recent events in his head. He smiled. Yes, the Elites had managed to kill him, but with the cost of themselves. If the SPARTAN was going to go down, then he'll be damned if he didn't bring his enemies down with him.

Wait a second...

He just said the Elites succeeded in killing him. Yet the SPARTAN was still here, alive and kicking, and they're dead. That means...

The Elites didn't win. He did.

He won.

Emile busted an ear-to-ear grin, before slowly getting on one knee.

"You... you think you're so fucking great. All high and mighty in your little throne, trying to kill us, one by one..." Emile chuckled before standing up. He looked at both corpses, and in an instant, his giggly demeanor was replaced with with an angry scowl. He approached the nearest corpse and gave it an almighty kick to the side, sending the body flying a few meters away from him.

"Well guess what motherfuckers..." he snarled, before picking the other corpse up by the neck. He angrily glared at it, pushing his visor to its lifeless face.

"YOU. DIDN'T. KILL. ME!" he roared, tossing its limp body next to the other corpse.

"I'M STILL ALIVE YOU SONS OF BITCHES. I'M STILL ALIVE! AHAHAHAHAHA!" he yelled out, a maniacal laughter escaping his lips. He kept laughing until his knees gave out under him. Replaying the past events in his head, Emile's booming cackle slowly turned into a small chuckle, and then breaking down into a quiet sob. This was so unlike the Emile everyone knew. He was supposed to be the battle-hardened merciless wrath of Noble Team. Whenever Emile had to deal with emotions, he would either mask them with humor or he would channel it into anger, utilizing it as a weapon. But after the events of Reach, he felt like he had nothing. His team, his friends, gone. Just like that. And at that moment, he wasn't humorous of his predicament or even angry at the Covenant.

All he felt was an ache in his heart and warm water running down his face.

As the SPARTAN wallowed in self-pity, Emile noticed something. Call it gut-feeling, but Emile could tell something was wrong. He looked at his motion sensor, paying attention to anything it can pick up.

The motion sensor was a standard for every SPARTAN, and with it it can pick up either friendly allies, which will show on the radar as yellow dots, or it can pick up enemies, such as the Covenant, and they would show up as red dots. However, when the suit's systems pick up movement that belong to neither friend nor foe and cannot decide which is which, they will ultimately show up on the sensor as grey dots. From there it is up to the SPARTAN to decide whether they are friend or foe. Emile eyed his motion sensor, paying very close attention to it. He might've just been imagining things, as he himself was questioning his mental stability after his breakdown. He was about to ignore it, until the motion sensor picked up something. He looked at it and saw...

...three grey dots, moving slowly towards him from behind.

Emile slowly turned around, being careful not to startle whatever was sneaking up behind him. He expected whatever it was, it was probably some civilians, or it could be the natural fauna looking for a bite to eat. It was probably the latter. As Emile turned a full one-hundred and eighty degrees, to say he was baffled was an understatement.

In front of him were what looked like three wolves, but what confused him the most was that they were composed entirely out of wood. A foul smell entered his nose, and Emile realized he was smelling their breathe.

"I swear to God if I'm just fuckin' hallucinating right now..." Emile thought to himself.

As the wolves continued to approach him, Emile assessed his situation.

"Alright, I'm in an unknown location and currently facing wooden wolves. I've got no help, no means of communication and worst of all..." he paused.

No. Weapons.

"This is so fuckin' great..." Emile inwardly groaned, before coming to a realization.

"Wait, my kukri!" he smiled at the thought, before groaning again. The knife was still in the Elite's neck, just painstakingly a few meters away. He also noticed a Pelican and a Warthog at the edge of the clearing. How he missed that the whole time, he didn't know.

"Way to go Emile..." he scolded himself for his stupidity. This was exactly the reason why Kat was the intelligence specialist.

The wolves began to circle the SPARTAN, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Emile readied a battle stance, ready to defend himself from any harm. The first wolf, in an attempt to surprise his prey and to help its pack members bring their very-soon-to-be food down, went in to bite its arm from behind. It clearly underestimated what the SPARTAN was capable of. Emile sidestepped inhumanely quickly and punched the wolf in the back of its neck, the wolf dropping faster than a sack of potatoes. It attempted to get back up, but Emile held it down and proceeded to brutally punch its face to the ground, each punch harder than the last. After Emile stopped, the wolf's face was hardly recognizable. The wolf's green eyes began to flicker before dimming out, the wolf's body collapsing into a pile of wood.

"Interesting..." Emile thought, before turning to the other two.

"So, who's next?" Emile asked with a cocky demeanor.

The other two wolves looked at each other doubtfully, before turning to the SPARTAN. They can't take this thing down alone. If they were going to bring it down, they needed to work together. At the same time, they both pounced at him, their fangs bared, ready to bite down at their prey.

Big mistake.

Emile both caught them by the neck mid-pounce. The wolves squirmed under his grip in an attempt to escape, but he was too strong. Emile simply smiled at them.

"You think you could kill little ol' me?" he asked rhetorically. "Well then, Mr and Mrs Wolf, I guess that you two deserve exactly what's going to happen next."

The two looked confused, until they felt the pressure around their necks growing tighter. They squirmed harder now, thrashing about in a desperate attempt to get away from this monster. Emile watched them, his eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"That's right, loosen the grip, make them think they have a chance, and then..."

SNAP!

That sound echoed throughout the surrounding woods. The eyes of the wolves began to dim, and then their bodies collapsed, leaving a pile of wood at Emile's feet. Emile smiled again.

"Little fuckers think they can kill me?" he thought to himself. "Well, two can play that game."

Emile looked around, half expecting more wolves, but none came. He assessed the situation at hand again.

"Alright, no more hostiles, but still in unknown location with no communications and no weapons, save for one knife." he thought to himself before ripping his kukri out of the Elite's neck and sheathing it at its rightful place.

Hold on...

Emile turned to the Pelican at the edge of the clearing. Every Pelican has an emergency distress beacon, a survival kit and most important of all...

...a weapons rack.

Emile sprinted to it, and hastily opened its back compartment. As it slowly opened, Emile made a plan. If he was going to survive out here, he needs to send out a distress beacon, make a camp, ration all of his items...

Emile didn't get to finish, as he began to gawk at what the Pelican had inside. What he saw made sure that if he was going to die right here, right now...

...he would die a very happy man.

Inside the Pelican was a weapons rack, but it was modified to hold even more weapons than usual, at the cost of space in the back. Emile didn't care however. He was still gawking at the sight before him. Other than being the assault specialist of the group, he was also a bit of a weapons fanatic.

Emile silently thanked whoever blessed him with this gold mine before scolding himself.

"Dammit, Emile. Focus! Gotta send out a distress beacon first."

Emile forced himself to walk past the ever-so enticing M45 Tactical Shotgun E-model, and went to the front seat. He pushed a button on the control panel, held it and recorded a message.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is SPARTAN-A239 of Noble Team requesting immediate evac. Prioritization code sigma zero two dash seven dash echo alpha two three nine."

He let go of the button and the message repeated itself over and over again, showing his beacon was transmitting.

"Alright, now that's in order, gotta clean up my mess if I want to make camp. Don't want to attract more animals with rotting lizard" he added, looking at the Sangheili corpses. The question though, was how was he going to get rid of them? No way he was going to bury them, they don't deserve that. He then looked at the piles of wood, courtesy of the wooden wolves. He could make a campfire with those, he just needed some matc-

The idea hit him. Yes, it would do. He went over to the survival kit and rummaged inside until he found what he was looking for.

"This would do very nicely."

Ten minutes later

Emile has gathered the rest of the wood and placed them all into one pile. Then, he grabbed the dead Elites and threw them on his shoulder. He proceeded to dump them in the pile as well.

"What a fitting way to say goodbye" Emile thought, proud of his brilliance.

He pulled out the matchbox and took out a match. He struck it on the matchbox's side and it caught fire. Before he threw it in though, he looked at the bane of humanity at its lifeless eyes, one last time.

"See you in hell." Emile snarled.

He threw the match in. The leaves at the bottom of the wood pile immediately caught fire. In no time, the small flame turned to a raging inferno, burning the Elites into cinders and ashes. Emile smiled. It was a sight to behold.

As he relished in the fire's warmth, his motion sensor picked up six grey dots behind him. However, they were moving away from Emile, and at a fast rate too.

"Must've been the rest of the pack" Emile thought. "Good, I scared them off."

Emile walked back to the Pelican with a little skip to his step, eager to assess the weapons inside.

Twilight and her friends rushed back to Ponyville as fast as their hooves could carry them. They were all completely terrified of the monster they had seen, Fluttershy even more so than the others. They have been running nonstop, away from the Everfree Forest, away from that...thing. It was already in the afternoon when they all made it back to Twilight's tree house. Exhausted, they all hunched over, panting and heaving.

"Monster... it's a monster..." Rarity murmured between breathes.

"Yeah it's a monster!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Didn't you see what it did? It obviously killed those purple guys, then it killed those Timberwolves by pulverizing the first and then snapping the other two's necks. And then he used the dead Timberwolves to burn the dead purple guys! And you know what's worse?! It looked like it enjoyed it for Celestia's sake! It could even talk!"

"Rainbow, calm down. We're safe now." Applejack assured. "But still, we need to deal with this properly. What if it find its way to Ponyville? How do we stop it then?"

Twilight tried to suppress her growing headache. There are too any questions going around and not enough answers. She looked over to her friends, who all looked as worried as she was. Well, almost all of them. Fluttershy didn't look like she was worried. She looked downright frightened . Ever since they got into the tree house, the yellow pegasus curled up into a ball, rocked back and forth and refused to come out. Every so often they would hear a small whimper, but that's about it. Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and tapped her very lightly on the head, as to not startle her.

"Fluttershy... are you okay?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy recoiled at the touch, rocking back and forth even faster now. Upon closer inspection, Twilight could see she was crying. She hated seeing her friend like this. Something needed to be done. Quickly.

"Twilight...*pant*...aren't you going to...*pant*...write a letter...*pant*...to Princess Celestia?" Rarity asked, still panting.

Twilight did not give Rarity's suggestion a second thought. She immediately conjured a piece of paper and a quill, and started to hastily write a letter.

As everypony reflected about the events that transpired, Spike walked in, carrying a bag of gems with him.

"Hey guys! I didn't know you'd all be- woah..." Spike greeted before abruptly stopping. Before him was the Main Six (as he would call Twilight and her friends) in an exhausted and worried state. Rarity looked like she ran a marathon and her mane was a mess. Rainbow Dash was currently throwing a fit, with Applejack trying to calm her down. Fluttershy looked like she was in a state of shock, Twilight was writing a letter, not even bothering with neatness and Pinkie's mane was flat and straight, a frown adorning her face as well. If the party pony's mane was flat and straight, it was a never a good sign.

"Twilight, what's the matter?"

She did not answer.

Spike assessed what was happening before realizing the gravity of the situation. Something must've happened to cause all this. Something bad. As he tried to figure out what's going on, Twilight gave him the letter she just wrote.

"I need you to send this to Princess Celestia immediately."

Spike looked at her, all signs of cheerfulness gone, replaced with a serious face and a grim tone.

Spike looked at the letter, then at her again before nodding his head.

"Consider it done." he said, as he blew his flames at the letter, sending it away.

Meet The SPARTAN - Part One

Princess Celestia sat in front of the fireplace, enjoying herself with a very generous helping of chocolate fudge cake. It was the finest cake she had ever tasted, even better than the last cake she had. The princess always wondered how the bakers managed to create such masterpieces. She closed her eyes and savored the bite, making sure to taste every single, last crumb. Using her magic, she decided to grab another piece of cake, only to find her saucer devoid of any.

"Aww... no more cake..." Celestia frowned. She turned to her grandfather clock, noticing it was almost time for her to lower the sun so that her sister, Princess Luna, can raise the moon. Ever since the Nightmare Moon debacle, Celestia could not express her happiness with words, knowing that her sister was brought back to her. Now, everyday no longer seemed to be a reminder that she was alone. Her sister was with her, ruling Equestria side-by-side, together.

All because of Twilight and her friends.

Celestia reminisced the time when Twilight was but a filly. She was very intellectual and hardworking for her age, but she was humble about it. She never bragged about her status as a student of the princess or showed off her prowess to others. That made Celestia very proud. It was a mystery to her how Twilight managed to not make any friends during her time as a student, but that all changed when the princess sent her to the small town called Ponyville. From there, she managed not only to gain friends and realize her position as an Element of Harmony, but reunited her with her sister. And for that, she was eternally grateful.

However, that was not, in Celestia's opinion; Twilight's proudest moment. Nor was Discord's Defeat, after he had somehow managed to escape, and neither was Twilight's intervention in Cadence's and Shining Armour's wedding; revealing that Cadence was actually the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. No, in her opinion; Twilight's proudest moment was the time when she completed a spell that she had given her, something not even the famed Star Swirl the Bearded could do. Using everything that Twilight had been taught and learned about the Magic of Friendship, she completed the spell, returned her friend's Cutie Marks to their rightful ponies, created new magic, and thus, was deemed ready. Twilight Sparkle was no longer going to be Princess Celestia's student.

She was deemed ready, to be a princess.

Celestia smiled at the thought of her student surpassing every challenge, every obstacle and every hurdle that was thrown at her, some quite literally. While she was proud of her former student, she could not help but feel lonely again, knowing that Twilight has duties of her own now.

"It'd be nice to hear from her again... she sighed.

As if on cue, a green flame appeared in front of her, and a letter materialized from the flames. Celestia was somewhat startled at first, before realizing it was Spike's signature message flame.

"Heh... you always had a knack with timing."

Celestia opened the letter, expecting good news, a greeting, or anything of particular interest that would compel her former student to send her a letter. The letter was of particular interest. But not the good kind.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It has come to my attention to inform you of recent events here in Ponyville. I, as well as those connected to the Elements of Harmony, have felt a powerful energy rush at the same, exact moment in time, and it was only us who felt it. Rainbow Dash informed me that a bright flash appeared in the Everfree Forest prior to the energy rush. This brings me to the conclusion that this was of magical means. We came to the Everfree Forest to investigate the source of energy before we found it, however, we were confused at the sight. We found three beings in a clearing, whom we believed were dead. We turned to leave and inform you of this, before one of the beings moved. It was different from the other two, as it was shorter and of a different color. However, the most surprising thing I have found was that this being was sentient. It was perfectly capable of speaking fluent Equestrian, despite the fact that this creature has never before been recorded in history. It was composed of what looks like metal, which leads to the theory it is some sort of machine. However, this is not the reason why I'm writing to you. While it was sentient, we have evidence that it might be insane, as it began yelling and kicking at the corpses of the other two. This might seem like an act of fear, but it was clearly aggressive at the corpses, yelling insults and vulgar language at them. We decided to leave it alone, until we saw what it was capable of. A pack of Timberwolves attacked it soon after, but they were quickly dispatched in a horrific way. The being moved with incredible speed and strength. It pulverized the first Timberwolf, before snapping the necks of the other two. The being was what I believe, giggling at the last two Timberwolves before it proceeded to kill them. That's not all. The being gathered the remains of the Timberwolves and gathered them all to one pile before it dumped the corpses of the other two beings with it. It then proceeded to set them on fire. And the whole time the fire burned, the being just stared at it. We left immediately and sent this letter to you, in hopes of advice, and, if necessary, help, if the being decides to wander and unleash its wrath on Ponyville.

Your loyal friend,

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia read the letter very carefully before putting it down, simplifying what she had read in her head.

"A fully sentient metal being, both powerful and insane, is running around in Equestria, with possibly nopony to stop it." she thought.

Seems like it going to be one of those days again.

As she continued to ponder at her former student's predicament, Princess Luna, her sister, walked into the room.

"Sister. Art thou ready?" she asked.

Celestia looked at her with a raised eyebrow before replying.

"You're slipping again."

Luna did not understand, before she realized what she just said. Flustered, she covered her mouth with her hoof, going through different shades of red.

"S-sorry Tia. I kind of forgot for a moment that we don't talk like that anymore." Luna stuttered, embarrassed at herself.

Celestia chuckled at the sight. It was nice to poke some fun at your siblings from time to time.

"Don't worry, its alright. By the looks of though, your conversation lessons are going great! However, I'm sure you have some important business to do other than to chat."

This time, it was Luna's turn to raise an eyebrow. Had she seriously forgotten it was time for her to lower the sun?

"Tia, did you seriously forget it?"

"Forget what? I'm sure I've finished all my jobs today..." Celestia put a hoof to her chin, deep in thought.

Luna's jaw dropped. Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria, raiser of the sun, had forgotten one job; possibly her most important.

The sun.

"Hello? Celestia? Raiser of the sun? Whose job is to raise AND lower the sun?"

"Raise and lower, raise and lower... oh! The sun!" Celestia exclaimed, the thought returning to her.

"Looks like we have a winner..." Luna thought, as she and her sister walked towards the balcony. Together, they stared out into the horizon. Focusing on their magic, Celestia used hers to dip the sun into the horizon, whereas Luna used hers to raise the moon, reigning in the night.

Several minutes of strenuous magic using had passed. Together, they returned to Celestia's room tired; Celestia even more so than her sister.

"Tia, what's wrong?"

Celestia looked over to Luna. She had a worried expression on her face.

"What do you mean what's wrong?" she asked.

"Tia, you almost forgot to lower the sun. Something must be wrong if its enough to distract you from lowering the sun." she elaborated.

Celestia continued to stare at her, before bowing her head and sighing.

"Yes, something has come up. Twilight sent me a letter today."

Luna's expression brightened.

"Twilight? We haven't heard from her in ages! What did she say in the letter?" she asked in a foal-like manner.

Celestia grinned. That's what she thought as well. She looked at her sister before returning to her stoic expression.

"It said that she and her friends felt a rush of energy and discovered it was by magical means. They located the source of the energy, and they found a sentient being made of metal."

Luna looked confused.

"A sentient being made of metal? I have never seen a living thing composed out of metal entirely. That is of course, if I haven't read about it yet..." she pondered.

"Don't worry." Celestia assured. "There has never been a living being made entirely out of metal ever recorded in history."

Luna seemed even more confused now "Does that mean... it could be a new species?"

Celestia nodded her head. "However, that is not all. Twilight reported that it was powerful in strength and speed. It was able dispatch a pack of Timberwolves without a scratch."

Luna was still baffled. "Alright, so Twilight Sparkle and her friends discovered a new species. I still do not see what's so wrong that you need to worry about it."

Celestia shook her head. "Well... Twilight did say that the being may be... a little bit... insane."

Luna shot her a questioning look. "Insane? Like, how insane?

"How does "kicking corpses and yelling insults at them, giggling while snapping Timberwolf neck and burning them all in the end." sound to you?"

"Yeesh." she cringed. Whatever happened, it must've not been a pretty sight.

While Luna continued to think, Celestia made a walk towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Celestia groaned before turning to her younger sister.

"Luna, this is an important matter. The creature seems dangerous. I'm going to Ponyville and ask Twilight to lead me to it. From there, I'll decide what to do."

Luna looked at her sternly.

"Tia, you're tired. You just returned from your business trip from the Griffon Kingdoms and you just lowered the sun. You're going to exhaust yourself at this point. Besides, its not like we haven't handled dangerous being before."

Celestia wanted to retort, but she was interrupted immediately by Luna.

"Do not fret, sister. I'm more than capable of handling the situation!" Luna stated with confidence, puffing out her chest and standing straighter.

Celestia looked at her incredulously, as if to ask if she was serious.

"What? You doubt me?" Luna deflated, obviously put off by Celestia's lack of confidence in her.

Celestia began shaking her head sideways vigorously, a desperate attempt to keep her sister from feeling depressed.

Luna beamed at her signal. "Does that mean I can go?"

Celestia began to shake her head again, but was cut off by Luna's reaction.

"Tia, I can handle myself. I'm younger than you, but I'm not a filly anymore. Whatever this creature is, I can handle it. I promise. Besides, I need to get out more. I can't just stay in here until Nightmare Night now, can I?"

Celestia continued to give the "are you serious?" look. However, in many ways; she was right. While she was younger, she was by no means defenseless. She could handle herself very well should the need arise. And, in truth; she really was exhausted. She gave Luna one last look before sighing.

"Alright Luna, you can go. I trust you that you can handle the situation"

She could tell Luna was overjoyed, but she somehow managed to keep a straight face.

"Thank you." she said, albeit a little too quickly; her excitement clearly showing.

Luna darted past her sister, giving Celestia no time to speak her mind. She felt like she needed to go after her, but she simply felt too tired. Maybe she was right after all. Using the last of her energy, she walked to her bed and unceremoniously plopped down on it; drifting off into a peaceful slumber...

... that was rudely interrupted by a returning Luna.

"Oh, and by the looks of it Tia, you need to get out more as well. All that cake goes straight to your hips, you know."

Celestia gasped at her sister's implications. She was going to give her a piece of her mind, if she hadn't gone already.

"LUNA!!!"

Princess Luna snickered, giggling as she walked down the hallways of the castle.

It really was nice to poke some fun at your siblings from time to time.

"Wait a second. So you're telling me, a weird metal guy that you thought was dead, got up, yelled at a couple of dead purple guys that you think it killed, killed a pack of Timberwolves, and then it burnt them all together in a raging inferno for no particular reason?" Spike questioned.

"Yeah it did! I swear, it was giggling while it killed them!" Rainbow Dash answered.

Spike cringed at the newly-formed image in his head.

"Gee, and I thought I've seen crazy when Twilight's friendship report was going to be late."

"Hey!" Twilight retorted. "It wasn't that bad!"

Spike shot her a disbelieving look.

"It wasn't that bad? It wasn't that bad!? Twilight, you enchanted your doll so that everypony in town would fall in love with it!"

Twilight shuddered at the thought.

"Alright, I did go overboard on that one."

Spike smirked and crossed his arms in victory. This lasted for a second however, as he had another question in mind.

"Alright, so the thing's insane. What's the big deal? We could always leave it alone." he suggested.

"We can't, Spike. What if it comes here? Whatever that thing was, it's dangerous. It killed the Timberwolves without a scratch with its... erm... thingies!" Applejack exclaimed.

Spike was unamused of Applejack's lack of a better term.

"Thingies? Don't you think you could be a little bit more... I don't know... exact?"

Applejack rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Well Spike, ah don't really know what he had. It kinda looked a hoof, I think, but it had five pointy things stickin' outta it. Sorta like your claw there." She said, pointing at Spike's claw.

"Five pointy things... wait a second. Was it walking on twos by any chance?" he questioned.

"It did, actually. How did you know that Spike?" Rarity asked.

Spike continued to wander in his thoughts before turning towards Twilight.

"Twilight, by any chance do you think it was human? By the way you guys talked about it, it kind of sounds like one."

"Human? You mean those people you met back at the portal?" Rarity guessed.

Twilight shook her head. "I'm very sure it wasn't a human Rarity. It was too fast and strong. It didn't look like a human either."

Pinkie Pie, listening in on the conversation, popped in front of Twilight, waving her tail in front of her face.

"Hey Twilight, look! My tail's a twitchin'! My tail's twitchin'!" Pinkie stated excitedly.

"Twitchy tail? EVERYPONY, DUCK FOR COVER!" Spike shouted.

Everypony in the library, having accustomed to the Pinkie sense, ducked under the nearest furniture they could find. They waited something to fall, but they only heard the sound of something outside the library. Nothing happened next, until the door opened, revealing Princess Luna and two bat-ponies, presumably her guards.

"Hello? Anypony home?" she asked no one in particular.

One by one, the Main Six, including Spike, moved out of cover and bowed their heads in front of her.

"Welcome Princess Luna, its a pleasure to meet you here." Twilight said as she rose.

Luna smiled. "Likewise, Princess Twilight Sparkle." she looked at the others, still bowing their heads.

"Rise, my little ponies. I apologize, Princess Celestia is currently unavailable at the moment. I'm here because she received a letter regarding an unknown being." She turned her head towards Twilight. "Is that correct?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes. We found an unknown being that is sentient and powerful, yet insane. We ask for your advice, as it can pose a danger to Ponyville."

Luna pondered about what to do. If she was to determine if this being was to truly pose a threat, she needed to assess it herself.

"Alright. Twilight, I need you and your friends to lead me where you last saw this creature. From there, I shall decide what to do."

She looked over the six ponies. Twilight and Applejack kept a stoic expression. Rainbow Dash was trying to suppress a growl. Pinkie still had her happy expression, saying something along the lines of "better bring the Party Cannon..." and Fluttershy visibly shuddered.

"Will she be alright?" Luna asked, looking at Fluttershy.

"She's fine, princess. It's just that when we saw the thing firsthand, it sorta... left an impression on little ol' Flutters here." Rainbow answered.

Luna raised an eyebrow before looking at Fluttershy again. "I see..."

"This thing must be extremely dangerous if it was able to shake these ponies."

She remained skeptical of bringing her with them, before making up her mind.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. Twilight, lead the way please."

Twilight nodded her head. "Yes princess."

Everpony walked out the door. Spike moved to follow them, before he was stopped by Rarity.

"Spike, you cannot possibly consider joining us. It's too dangerous."

"What?! Then who's going to protect you then?" Spike whined.

Rarity chuckled at his innocence. Seriously, times like these just make him so adorable.

"Don't worry Spikey-wikey, we can handle ourselves. Besides, I have an important job for you!" she exclaimed.

"Really Rarity? What is it?" Spike wanted to know. Anything for somepony as beautiful as her.

"I need you to warn everypony when the creature decides to come to Ponyville. You can do that Spike, can you?" she questioned.

Spike stood straighter and saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

And with that statement, she began to join the others; ready for their journey through the Everfree once more.

The forest was quiet. Eerily quiet; save for the odd chirp of a cricket or the hoot of an owl. Anypony in their right minds wouldn't dare to go into the forest; especially in the night, when the forest becomes dark. It's as if the forest had any light anyway, even in the day. Yes, everything was quiet. But if you listen very, very carefully, you could hear a faint voice, echoing in the distance.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is SPARTAN-A239 of Noble Team requesting immediate evac. Prioritization code sigma zero two dash seven dash echo alpha two three nine."

"This is getting annoying." Emile thought. He had been here for hours now, sitting in the Pelican on his own. The first few hours had been bearable, with him cleaning out and inspecting every single weapon inside.

Then he continued to look for anything of interest. He found the survival kit, MRE's, health packs and even some armor abilities. Upon seeing them, Emile immediately took the nearest Armor Lock. He tested all of them out, until he eventually grew bored and decided to camp out in the Pelican. He stayed in there since, twiddling his thumbs and listening to his distress call play out over and over again.

He looked out the window, and sure enough the fire he had started outside had shrunk into embers, barely letting out any light. The Elites were hardly recognizable; you could still see some purple, but their bodies were mostly charred to a black lump.

Emile grimaced at the sight; not because he hadn't seen sights like this before, but because of the presence of purple. Fighting the Covenant led him to a growing distaste of the color; one of the rare things he had in common with a certain heavy weapons specialist.

Upon reminiscing a deceased member, his thoughts wandered towards Reach. What happened after he died? Did the Pillar of Autumn escape? And what about Six?

Theories and thoughts continued to swirl in his head, until two possibilities became present. One: Noble Six will join Captain Keyes aboard the ship and attempt to make their escape. Highly unlikely, given the fact that they have a Covenant CCS-class battlecruiser on their tail. So, this leads to a second, more likely possibility. Noble Six will take his place on the gun emplacement, ensuring the Pillar of Autumn's safety.

Knowing Six, he'd probably pick the second option and stay behind. But that means he's going to die too.

Emile frowned. Then he smiled. While Six's report was covered in black ink, not all of it was covered. According to the file, Six was more of a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier; he's made entire militia groups disappear. If Emile knew one thing, it's that Six is going to be one hell of a pain in the arse for the Covenant before he's going down anytime soon.

He continued to think, before his gut-feeling went at it again. Emile came to trust this feeling; it's helped him out of sticky situations before. He slowed his breathing; using his senses to tell him if anything, if at all, was amiss.

His ears picked up something faint. There were voices, and by the sounds of it they were at the edge of the clearing. They weren't even trying to be quiet.

"Civilians? Maybe they can tell me where I am!" Emile thought. He looked out the window, zoomed in at the source of the sound with his visor and activated his night vision.

He was given the most bizarre sight of his entire life.

From what he could see, there were nine creatures that resembled technicolor horses. There was a white one with a curly purple mane; a horn on her head as well. There were four with wings; although there were two with armor and leathery wings, like a bat's. There were another two with both a wing and a horn; the navy blue one however is taller than the rest; it was almost six feet tall, including her horn. Then there were the last two. They had no special appendages on them, but they certainly were unique; especially the pink one. It was constantly bouncing along with the others.

This may have been a weird sight for the SPARTAN, but that isn't what got his attention.

What got his attention was that they were talking.

In perfect, fluent English.

Emile racked his brain for an explanation. Was he in an alien world? Was this a dream? A nightmare? So many questions and not enough answers.

All this thinking was becoming unhealthy for Emile; this type of stuff was more of Kat's specialty. Nonetheless, he had only one, rational explanation for this.

He must have overdosed on the combat stims again.

His thoughts were interrupted by a collective gasp. He looked out the window again, this time he saw the group shocked to find his little campfire; the yellow one with wings looked like it was close to crying on the spot.

Out of nowhere, the pink one was somehow in a fireman uniform. It approached the fire with a little bounce in its step, pulled a fire extinguisher out of its hair, and sprayed the pile with a white foam.

"All done!" it exclaimed with a squeaky, feminine voice.

"What the fuck is going on..." Emile thought. He was going to have an aneurysm at this point.

The tall, blue one however, turned stern. It walked up to the center of the clearing, and took a deep breathe.

"MONSTER OF THE EVERFREE FOREST. COME OUT THIS INSTANT AND SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Jesus Christ, that thing is fucking *loud*!" he cringed.

"I SHALL REPEAT. COME OUT THIS INSTANT!"

"Alright, *alright*! Jesus, that thing's going to burst my ears!"

He grabbed a M45 Tactical Shotgun E-model and a M6G PDWS; placing them on his back and his hip respectively. He pulled out his knife, checking it if it was in tip top condition before re-sheathing it in its rightful place. He pressed a button on the control panel; the back compartment slowly opening. He positioned himself in front of the mechanical door, steeling himself for what was about to come.

He was ready for anything.

Meet The SPARTAN - Part Two

Twilight Sparkle was not happy.

She, along with her friends, Princess Luna and her bat-pony guards have been trudging along the Everfree Forest, again - with the exception of the Princess and her guards. While Twilight was with no doubt perplexed about the creature, she would have very much preferred if she had the ability to study it from a distance; away from her or anypony else to be exact.

"Ughh... are we there yet?" Rarity complained for the umpteenth time. "My precious hooves can't take much more of this icky muck."

Twilight groaned inwardly. Being stuck in Rainbow Dash's earlier position, Twilight herself had to suppress an urge to tell her to shut it.

"Don't worry Rarity, we're almost there!" Twilight assured. "I hope..."

With the night reigned in, the forest was darker and creepier than usual. It was placing a heavy toll on the others' nerves; with the exception of Pinkie Pie, Princess Luna and her guards. The latter ponies, well, they're basically the embodiment of anything night-related. It was no surprise they weren't bothered.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was being Pinkie; bouncing along, giggling and pointing at anything that was remotely funny.

"Hey look at that tree! It looks weird; hunched over like that. Wait a minute, why are all trees in the Everfree Forest like these? Are these trees playing copycat? Oh! Maybe they're all brothers and sisters playing together and this whole forest is a family and maybe they had a meanie brother who was crooked and stuff and every tree else ju-"

Pinkie never got to finish her ramble. She was too preoccupied on the overgrowth to realize that Princess Luna was right in front of her. Pinkie bumped into her, promptly stopping her in her tracks.

"Heya Princess! Watcha standing around for?"

"Shh." Luna shushed.

"Whatever is the matter, Princess?" Rarity asked.

"SHH." Luna shushed again; more forcefully this time. "Listen."

Everypony held their breath; listening very carefully of their surroundings. All they could hear was their own heartbeats and the natural fauna. Crickets were chirping, owls were hooting, someone was saying Mayday, wolves were ho-

"Mayday?"

The group stayed completely silent; straining themselves to hear the mysterious voice.

"Mayday... Mayday... SPARTAN-A239... Noble Team... evac... Prioritization... sigma... echo... three"

"Is that the creature you speak of?" Luna asked.

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "That's it alright, but something's off. Why does it keep repeating that?"

Everypony in the group strained to gather a theory, but Pinkie bet them to the punch.

"Maybe it's some sort of of mind control spell! EVERYPONY HIDE!" Pinkie gasped. She grabbed a cardboard box out of nowhere and stuffed herself inside; yelling at the others to do the same.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the scene in front of her. Pinkie can be so random when she wants to be.

"It's not a mind control spell Pinkie. Whatever it is, we're getting closer to it."

Twilight looked over to the Princess, who nodded her head in confirmation. They continued to trek the forest whilst talking among themselves; trying to make the best of the situation at hand.

It felt like hours had passed, but they have finally reached the same clearing they had encountered the creature. However, said creature was nowhere in sight.

"What's that smell?" Luna asked, sniffing the air. "It's like something's..."

"...b-burnt?" Fluttershy answered.

"Why, yes Fluttershy. How did you..." Luna trailed off. She turned to the direction Fluttershy was facing and immediately her jaw went slack, a horrifying sight entering her eyes.

Meters away from them was what looks like a small campfire, but upon closer inspection they could see two bodies burnt along with it. The bodies were reduced to a charred, black lump with spots of purple; hinting its original form. The group gasped and instinctively moved away; resisting the urge to vomit at the sick image. Even Luna's bodyguards - ponies who remain stoic all the time - flinched at the scene. The only one who seemed unaffected was Pinkie Pie. Optimistic as ever, she had somehow turned up in a fire brigade uniform. She grabbed a fire extinguisher out of her hair - the logic behind that still eludes Luna - and proceeded to spray the fire with the white foam, effectively putting it out.

"All done!" Pinkie squeaked, standing straight while doing a salute.

That seemed to remedy the tension. Pinkie's distraction from the image was working; everypony began to relax. However, Princess Luna was still tense. Her facial expression turned stern; the possibilities of this creature running around unopposed was a terrifying thought. Whatever it was, she needed to stop it, now. She walked to the center of the clearing. From there, she took a deep breathe.

She wondered how she herself hadn't gone deaf after using the Royal Canterlot Voice for so long.

"MONSTER OF THE EVERFREE FOREST. COME OUT THIS INSTANT AND SHOW YOURSELF!"

...

"I SHALL REPEAT. COME OUT THIS INSTANT!"

This time, Applejack opted to yell out to Luna.

"Princess! I don't wanna be rude or anythin', but ah don't think it's here. Maybe we can try again tomorrow?"

Luna weighed her options. The creature must have surely left by now. All she had were the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony; who did not have their Elements, two of her personal guards and herself to handle it. On the the other hand, they can come back with reinforcements in the morning; the Royal Guard can help sweep the forest for any sign of the being.

She decided that the second option was probably for the best. While she was a powerful alicorn, it was better to be safe than sorry. She turned to the group, ready to head home.

Whiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr

The ponies snapped to attention and turned towards the source of the noise. They could see two large metal objects at the other side, but they could not get a clear sight; the shadows of the trees obscuring their view. The whirring continued to drone out of the larger object before coming to an abrupt stop.

There was a moment of silence. Luna and the others seemed confused. What was that whirring noise about?

Clang

Clang

Thud

Out of the large object, a figure jumped out and crouched over, staying in that position for a moment. Slowly, it stood up and angled its head towards the group; bringing a chill to their spines.

Thud

Thud

It walked towards Luna, time seemingly slowing down as its footsteps made a distinct thud on the grassy ground. Fluttershy cowered behind Rainbow Dash, who was gritting her teeth. Pinkie was somewhere in the background, watching the scene play out whilst eating popcorn. Luna and Twilight readied their magic, should things make a turn for the worst.

The figure continued to walk towards them until it was at the edge of the shadows of the trees. It seemed hesitant at first to show itself, but it proceeded to step out of the shadows; the moonlight illuminating the figure.

Luna was interested of this creature and took note of its features. It was taller than her; at least nine to ten inches taller. Twilight was right, it was completely covered in metal from head to toe. There were two items attached to it back and its hip, their purpose was unclear to her. What interested her, however, was its face. It was made of glass, but there was a carving of a skull etched to it.

The creature did not move or make a sound. It just stood there, staring at the group. The silence began to be unnerving; the only noise present was Pinkie eating the popcorn at a much faster rate.

The creature looked at Pinkie with interest, before turning towards Luna again. This time, Luna snapped out of her stupor and introduced herself.

"I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Night. State your name and business." she commanded.

The creature did not answer. Luna questioned whether it could understand her, before it answered in a voice she presumed was male.

"Designation: SPARTAN-A239."

Luna was perturbed. What kind of name was that?

"What is you business here?" she ordered.

It didn't answer. Luna huffed in annoyance.

"Very well. Under my command, you will be placed in custody and you are to be taken to Canterlot for questioning."

"Not a chance." it barked.

Luna remained unfazed at the tone of its voice.

"Whatever you are, you are considered a threat to this nation and its inhabitants." She readied her magic, her horn glowing with a blue aura. "We can do this peacefully and avoid any unnecessary violence, or we can do this your way."

The creature continued to stare at her; silence reigning once again. Luna prayed this didn't have to end horribly.

"You think that I will just take orders from someone like you?" it replied with a hostile attitude. It glared daggers at Luna, almost as if it was scrutinizing her very presence. Luna retaliated by glaring back.

The two went at this for a while, facing each other with looks that could kill. Then, the creature lowered and shook its head, sighing while doing so; as if it was disappointed in something.

"Well then, Princess." It said in a mocking tone. "I've made my decision."

It firmly planted its feet to the ground, crossing its arms.

"I'm. Staying."

Luna sighed. That's how it going to be then.

"Very well, creature. Guards, take it into custody."

Luna's guards approached the creature with caution, sizing up their target.

The creature snapped to attention. It grabbed the object from its hip, threateningly aiming it at the group of ponies.

Twilight instantly reacted. Using her magic, she grabbed the object and flung it away, far from its reach.

Capitalizing the creature's apparent confusion, the guards charged; intent on subduing this thing.

Like the wolves before them, they underestimated the creature's capabilities. The first bat-pony attempted to buck the creature, but his hooves only connected with the air. The creature backpedaled, leaving the pony's midsection exposed. Taking advantage, it brought its foot to the guard's chest. A wet snap was heard, the guard sent literally flying a few meters.

The other guard tried an even more daring approach; he was going to charge at it headfirst. The creature rewarded his bravery with a backhand to the muzzle.

Upon seeing her personal guard knocked out of action so quickly, Luna began to charge her magic; the energy building up in her horn. A blue ball of energy had materialized, slowly getting bigger and bigger every second.

"Do not make me do this! Surrender now!"

The creature ignored her warning and made a beeline for her; intent in doing her harm.

Luna did not give this reaction a second thought. Using all the strength and willpower she could muster, she aimed the her horn at it and fired the bolt of energy. The last thing Luna saw was the creature crouching over and slamming the ground. As if that was going to save it from the attack.

The bolt hit its target dead on. The resulting blast knocked everypony off their hooves. Luna caught the worst of it, being so close to the blast.

As the ringing in everypony's ears began to subside, Twilight walked up to Luna; bewildered at the show of power.

"Princess! *cough* What was that? I've never seen a *cough* spell like that before!" she exclaimed.

Luna had doubled over, visibly panting. Whatever the spell was, it took all of her willpower to create.

"That was my most powerful spell, Twilight." Luna had recomposed herself; her breathing returned to normal.

Twilight looked over to where the creature stood, only to find clouds of dust blocking her view.

"What happened to it?" she asked.

Luna hung her head and sighed, somewhat saddened of what she was forced to do. She turned to Twilight, frowning.

"I didn't want to do what I did, but the creature left me with no choice." she said. "It's gone now. Nothing could survive a blast of that magnitude."

"A BIT TOO EARLY FOR THAT, DON'TCHA THINK?!"

Luna froze. No, it wasn't possible.

She turned to the source of the voice. As the dust began to settle, she saw the creature in a crouching position, covered in a blue light. It stood up, unscathed and as menacing as ever. A yellow light began to engulf the creature, but it flickered on and off like a faulty light bulb. The creature seemed perturbed by this, muttering something along the lines of "what the hell is wrong with my shields...".

With timing that couldn't have been any more perfect, Pinkie Pie materialized behind the creature; a remote control with a big red button in her hooves.

"GOGOGADGETPARTYCANNON!" she blurted in one breathe.

Slamming her hoof on the button, the remote control transformed into her signature party cannon in the blink of an eye. Aiming it at the creature, Pinkie pulled the rope, spewing confetti and streamers at the metal being.

The creature was hopelessly confused by now. It gawked at the pink paper that covered its body, as if it could not truly believe that just happened. Time seemed to slow down for Luna as she assessed the situation. Attempting both a mind-reading spell and a sleep spell was a very risky move, both spells only working on living things. If the creature truly was a machine, this could end very badly for her. There was only one way to find out.

Exploiting this window of opportunity, Luna teleported right in front of the creature. It was too preoccupied at the situation at hand to even notice.

"Moment of truth, Luna"

She tapped its head with her horn, her consciousness entering the creature's mind.

Time to see what's in store.

Twilight watched with fascination at the scene. After sending Applejack and Pinkie Pie to carry Luna's unconscious guards to the hospital, she began to observe the two. Princess Luna and the creature looked like they were in a trance; neither were responding to any outside stimuli.

Rainbow Dash -who was controlling her anger the entire time - decided that now was the best time to vent her anger towards the metal being. It was nice to know that on that night, Twilight had learned at least seven new and colorful words; courtesy of yours truly.

"You ain't going anywhere near my friends, you hear me?! I'll turn you into MINCEMEAT!"

"Rainbow, please calm down. You're going to pop a vein if you keep this up." Rarity pleaded. It took the combined efforts of her and Fluttershy to hold her back, preventing any further harm that could happen.

"As if Rainbow could do any harm to it." Twilight thought. "It shrugged off Luna's attack like it was nothing."

Twilight wondered how it was able to come out unscathed. Alicorn magic was very powerful; the creature must've had something of equal or greater power to be able to defend itself from magic as powerful as hers.

She walked towards the object she had separated from the creature. It was vaguely L-shaped; also made of metal. There was what looks like a trigger mechanism on its underside and a hole on one end. She remembered how the creature threateningly aimed it at them. It was probably the best to leave it for now.

Twilight heard a sudden wheeze behind her. Turning a full one hundred and eighty degrees, she saw the Princess had collapsed; looking worse for wear after the excessive use of magic. The same had happened to the creature.

Everypony immediately rushed towards Luna, worrying for her health. Luckily, she didn't have any injuries; she was just exhausted beyond belief. She stood up; albeit groggily, and exhaled.

"Are you okay Princess?" Fluttershy asked, worried sick for the princess. "You look awfully tired."

Luna turned to her and smiled.

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. Thank you for your concern."

"Princess, what happened?" Twilight quizzed. "You were sort of staring out into space for a while"

"Do not fret, Twilight. I simply used a mind-reading spell on him." she answered.

"Him?" Rarity inquired. "Are you referring to the creature?"

"Yes. I went into the recesses of his mind to read his intentions, but he was actively blocking me out while I was trying to access his mind. I could only catch glimpses of information." she recounted. "Don't worry. I put a sleep spell on him before I left his consciousness. He won't be waking up anytime soon."

The group of ponies looked at this him. He was sprawled on the ground, lying face up; the only sign of life was the rise and fall of his chest.

"What do we do with him, Princess?" Fluttershy questioned. "We can't just leave him here."

"We need to bring him in to Canterlot. From there, my sister and I can decide his fate."

Using the last of her magic, Luna created a translucent blue sphere around the sleeping figure; effectively trapping it inside. Before doing so, Luna detached the other item strapped to his back and his knife, placing them in a separate sphere. She strained at the simple use of magic, exhaustion quickly catching up to her. She stumbled a bit after finishing before quickly recomposing herself.

"Let's go, my little ponies. We all deserve some rest after tonight."

Luna levitated both spheres, having it both follow her as she and the rest made their way back to Twilight's treehouse.

A pair of eyes followed the group, its red eyes the stalking their every move. The manticore had followed them ever since they stepped a hoof in its territory, intent in killing them for trespassing and disturbing its sleep. This was, of course; before recent events have transpired. After the show of power from both the tall, blue one and that thing, going after them was a decision only a fool would make. As soon as the group left, the manticore opted to return to its slumber.

Manticores are proficient hunters; their sense of smell, hearing and sight run unparalleled; making them the most vicious and efficient predators of the Everfree Forest. Nothing could get past the beast without alerting its many senses.

Yet the manticore was unaware of one thing. It didn't sense it or even feel like something was wrong. It was a mystery how this abnormality had gone unnoticed by such an excellent hunter of the wild, but you couldn't blame it. After all, who ever pays attention to their own shadow?

Emile is Not Happy

"Thank you so much for coming at such short notice, Cadence."

Celestia approached Cadence, the ruler of the Crystal Empire. She was still groggy from just waking up and raising the sun, but there are more important matters that needed to be tended. One that concerns a certain metal being. They both bowed their heads to each other in respect before hugging each other; ceasing formalities.

"Don't worry, Celestia. I'm sure my husband can take care things on his own while I'm gone." she assured as they both let go of each other. But then again, he did set the pool on fire while she was gone. It still boggled Cadence how such a disaster had occurred, the only explanation Shining could give at the time was "it's a long story". She inwardly snickered at the face he made whilst trying to explain himself to an angry Cadence. If only she took a photo.

Together, they walked towards the throne room. This is where the matter of the creature shall be discussed.

"Well, Cadence. I'm sure you have been brought up to date of recent news with my Royal Guard. Are you nervous?"

Cadence smiled at Celestia. Her adoptive aunt could be worrisome at times.

"I'm fine, Celestia. Actually, I'm a tad excited to meet it. It's not everyday you meet a possible new species; especially if it's sentient."

"Remember Cadence, this thing is also very powerful in its own right. We need to make sure it isn't some sort of power-hungry maniac dead set on overthrowing Equestria into... whatever it is power-hungry maniacs do." she stated, finishing the last part of her sentence quickly.

"Celestia, don't you think that's a bit unfair?"

Celestia sighed. She guessed from everpony else's perspective, she's biased in the decision of this creature's fate.

"I know, I know. But the thing is we don't want another incident where we have to deal with life-threatening problem at have it fixed at the last minute. This is just a precaution, don't worry. I'm sure we can clear everything up." she reassured.

Cadence seemed satisfied with her answer. However, she was still uncertain of one thing.

"I still don't understand why I'm needed here. By the sounds of it, you've got it in the bag."

"I need you here because I am afraid my biased views of this creature will hinder my ability to pass a just decision. My sister and I need a third party in this."

They had reached the throne room. The guards stationed at the bottom of her throne stood straighter; their expressions as stoic as always. They saluted as Celestia and Cadence passed them towards the thrones allocated for Celestia and Luna.

"Also, I need you to read its emotions. Knowing what it feels may help us get some insight of its intentions." she added. "I take it you are still able to read the emotions of others?"

"Of course. While finding love and helping others find theirs is my specialty, I am still able to read other emotions. Besides, its not that hard really. Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Celestia smiled at her reassurance. They sat together, idly chatting about recent fashions, gossip, the likes. They waited patiently for Luna to arrive, but she began to run late. Celestia began to worry before she heard very faint voices, past the doors to the throne room. Both Celestia and Cadence strained themselves to hear the commotion outside.

"Hey! That sounds like Luna!" Cadence exclaimed. "Who's she talking to?"

By the sounds of it, Luna and presumably an unknown male were having a pleasant conversation from the far end of the corridor leading to the throne room.

"When I get out of this bubble, I'll fucking rip you in half, you hear me?!"

"For the love of Celestia, will you please shut up!"

"Well I'm sorry to rain on your royal parade, Princess Mooncheeks, but not everyone likes having someone poking around in their fucking head!"

Alright then, maybe these two were having a somewhat hostile conversation.

"Let me out you stupid bitch, LET ME OUT!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?! YOU'RE GETTING ON MY NERVES!"

"GOOD!"

Scratch that, calling this a conversation was a gross understatement.

Celestia and Cadence continued to listen to the two bicker; unsure of what to do. As the argument went on, both princesses were dumbfounded at the amount of vulgar language the male voice was able to fit in one sentence. They were equally dumbfounded when they heard Luna's voice retaliate with her own vocabulary; losing her regal tone in the process. Celestia took a look at her guards. They stood as still as statues, but the small tinge of pink on their faces gave away their flustered expressions. Sure, their drill instructor would yell obscenities at them from time to time, but this is a whole new level of angry.

The yelling came to an abrupt stop just outside the doors. Slowly it opened, revealing an exhausted Luna. Celestia and Cadence rushed to her.

"Oh my. Auntie, are you okay?" Cadence asked. "You look awful."

"Thanks, Cadence." Luna answered sarcastically. "I'm fine, just tired, that is all."

She turned her head towards the levitating blue sphere behind her, Celestia and Cadence following suit. They were surprised to see the bipedal being for the first time, but they decided it'll be best to leave their curiosity for later.

Luna exhaled, exhausted from the trip. She clearly needed some well-deserved rest, but her duty as a princess of the nation was her motivation to keep going. Together, all three princesses moved towards their respective thrones. There was a simple chair next to the thrones; serving as a temporary seating arrangement for Cadence. They all sat down, the blue sphere hovering in the middle of the room. The guards approached it with caution and stood next to it; preparing themselves should this creature have any funny business. Confident that they were in no danger, Celestia cleared her throat, ready to speak.

Judgement begins.

Emile was many things right now. Shocked, confused, groggy; these were his current feelings . Any reasonable person would have said feelings, considering they suddenly find themselves in a blue sphere floating above the ground that's following a pony princess after blacking out for no particular reason. However, one emotion ran amok in his head; controlling his actions and thoughts.

Anger.

Emile had never felt so angry in his life. During the fight, his world suddenly warped when that pony princess tapped her horn onto his head. He no longer was in the forest, but instead in a room. It's walls were a dull, metallic grey and it was filled with monitors as well as various buttons on a control panel. He had no idea why, but he knew exactly where he was, what kind of place this was and its purpose; despite having no memory of being in there. He just knew.

He was in his own head.

He approached the monitors, curious of what they showed. Each monitor was showing a camera feed of a single room. Each room was labeled with names such as Subconscious or Early Memory. There was even one labeled Imagination. It all felt surreal, yet strangely familiar; like this place was sitting in the back of his head the whole time.

He continued to monitor the cameras, taking note of the different rooms of his head.

Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!

A blaring siren rang; the room illuminated by an eerie red flashing light. Emile's attention was brought to a monitor with the intruder alert warning plastered on its screen. He watched the camera feed labeled Personal Life. He peered in closer; the only occupants in the room was a filing cabinet full of folders and a horse.

Wait a second.

She's in his Personal Life. His personal life. Personal Life

"Aw hell no!" he yelled. He can forgive being ordered around by a horse. He can forgive being attacked by said horse. He can forgive being shot with confetti. But this? This is uncalled for.

He had no prior experience of the control panel of the room, but somehow he knew what every single button's function was. Pushing these here and there, he managed to jettison the pony princess out the room and slammed the door shut. He rewarded himself with a smirk as he saw the confusion on her face at what just happened, but immediately dropped it when he saw her running down several hallways; each one leading towards a different room in the deep recesses of his mind. He mashed the buttons faster now, determined to keep her out. One by one, the doors were slammed shut just before she could enter, much to her dismay. It wasn't very long before all the doors were shut. He exhaled, knowing that the contents of his mind were safe.

"Would've done me some good to have a big red button that closes all doors."

A big red button poofed into existence, sitting squarely in the middle of the control panel along with the other buttons and keys. Written on it was PRESS TO CLOSE ALL DOORS in a thick text. Emile deadpanned the button's sudden existence.

"How did it- oh right, this is *my** head."*

Emile looked at the camera feed once more, but was put off by what he saw. The camera feed showed the pony princess staring right at him, a smirk evident on her face. Strange, he should be the one smirking right now. Similar to her earlier attack; albeit scaled down, a blue aura surrounded her horn and shot it at the camera. The camera feed went dark.

"Hey! That's my camera you-"

He didn't even get to finish. The other camera feeds followed suit; blacking out like the first one. Emile conjured a computer in front of him and began to furiously type on it; a desperate attempt to bring the cameras back online, but to no avail. One by one, all the cameras blacked out and the room lost all power; leaving a very bewildered Emile alone in the dark.

Apparently, when the lights go out, so do you.

So yeah, that's the gist of it. He was stabbed at, died, transported to a different world inhabited by some really weird shit and had his mind read without his consent. Even worse, he fought a horse and lost. And to top it off, he was taken prisoner. By the same horse. Who also happened to be a princess of an entire nation of horses.

Jun would have a field day if he ever found out about this.

He'd just recently woken up from a dreamless sleep only to find himself trapped inside a blue bubble; following the pony princess closely behind. At first, punching through it seemed like a good idea, but he was only rewarded with sore knuckles for his efforts. With no weapons, no Noble Team to the rescue and no hope of escape, he chose the only option available.

Taunt the enemy.

Boy, was that princess pissed. It didn't even take long for him to get on her nerves. Both continued to bicker openly, earning horrified expressions from ponies around them. All the while, Emile took note of his surroundings. He was in some sort of castle similar to those back on Earth in medieval times. He was being led through a hallway; its walls adorned with stained glass windows. Each depicted a certain picture, but a recurring image for most of them were the same six technicolor ponies he saw the night before. His attention was still on the princess, intent of annoying her to death when they both came to an abrupt stop. In front of them was a large double door. All attention the princess payed to him vanished; instead taking a deep breathe and closing her eyes. Calming herself down, she opened the double doors, leading the two into a massive room. Emile took notice that there were two guards stationed here; both with horns on their heads. Behind them were two more ponies; both were similar to the pony princess. One was a head taller than him, with white fur and a constantly flowing mane. The other was a head shorter than him; the only difference this one had compared to the two was that her mane wasn't flowing. He presumed that from the features these two had, they were both females.

As the two rushed towards the pony that held him captive, Emile sat down and leaned back. He droned out their conversation, but he did notice the two turn their heads toward him. They nodded to each other before all three of them motioned towards their seats, the bubble following them before stopping in the middle of the room. The two guards moved to his sides; albeit hesitantly. All three sat down, the white one letting out an audible ahem before speaking.

"Greetings, creature. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and raiser of the sun."

"Raiser of the sun?"

"This is Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire." She motioned her head towards the smaller one to her left. "I believe you have already met Princess Luna."

Emile could only grumble as a response. Yeah, they've been... acquainted.

"I'm sorry we have to meet at these circumstances, but lately we've had to deal with nationwide threats. Multiple times. In the past year." she added. "We're just making sure that our citizens will not be harmed. To start us off, what is your name?"

"Is that how its going to be?" he thought. There was no way he was going to tell them his entire life story. But then again, if he doesn't say anything, they'll probably throw him in the dungeon or something. So little options.

"Well, we're waiting." Luna said impatiently.

He had no choice but to tell the truth. It was either that or his head goes straight to the chopping block. Well, he assumed that would happen, given these ponies' level of technology and their attitude. His gung-ho style was probably going to land him into deeper trouble than he already is. So he chose the next best thing.

He'll play along, Noble Six style.

"My name is Emile-A239."

The two were amazed to hear him for the first time, but both were confused. What kind of a name was A239?

Tell us, Emile, what are your intentions?" Luna interrupted, a spiteful tone evident in her voice.

Emile was not very happy with that. He glared daggers at her, signalling he had not forgotten their latest scuffle. He turned towards the other two. This "Celestia" held a stoic gaze, but the pink one looked at him not with fear or with anger, but with curiosity. He tilted his head; weighing his options.

"My intentions are to leave this planet."

All three were visibly confused with his statement.

"Leave this planet? Why?" Celestia asked.

"I do not belong here."

"So you're saying you're an alien?" the pink one said in a questioning tone.

"Yes."

They lost him. This was just a multitude of information to handle. An alien? Really?

"Well, how did you get here then?"

"I died." Emile said flatly.

Alright, this is just getting downright ridiculous.

"Enough with the games! Tell us the truth or you shall suffer the consequences!" Luna bellowed.

If he wasn't wearing his helmet, Emile would have given her a bored expression. Since he was, he could only reply in a monotone voice.

"I am telling the truth. I received a fatal stab wound through the abdomen and bled out shortly after. I died, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the forest you found me in."

Celestia turned to Cadence, who only shook her head. His story was completely absurd, but by the way he says it sounded real enough. She only hoped that it wouldn't get more confusing the more questions she asks.

"What is your species called? We've never had your kind before."

There was a brief pause. Emile pondered whether to tell them the name of his species or not, but decided to just go with it. Besides, by the sounds of it, these ponies have never even heard of humans before. What could possibly go wrong?

"My species are called humans, otherwise scientifically known as Homo sapien.

"Humans?" Cadence thought. "Didn't Twilight meet them through the mirror?"

She turned her head towards Celestia. She motioned to have a discussion together. Getting the signal, Celestia addressed Emile.

"Very well. My associates and I will discuss the matter together." With her magic, she created a binding spell on Emile's hands and feet; similar to handcuffs. He tested their strength, only to find them extremely hard to break. Even his increased strength was unable to snap whatever was binding his hands and feet. Satisfied, she de-materialized the bubble he had resided in; ungraciously dropping him onto the ground. The guards were on him instantly, their magic ready to fire at a moment's notice. Emile stood up, only to find his movement restricted. The most he could do was walk slowly.

"Guards, take him to the holding cell."

Both unicorns ushered Emile forward; presumably towards the holding cells. They made their way past the doors, disappearing from sight as soon as the closed shut. The three princesses found themselves alone in the room; ready to begin their private discussion.

"I do not trust him, sister." Luna hissed.

Cadence looked over to her. Luna was visibly growling; obvious she no intention of believing his story. Celestia stayed still, deep in thought. She turned to Cadence.

"Cadence, what information did you get from this?"

Cadence paused. His story sounded absolutely ridiculous; only an over-imaginative madpony sitting behind a typewriter with nothing else better to do could conjure such nonsense. However, something at the back of her mind was tugging the other way; prompting her to take his side and believe it. A gut-feeling, if you would.

"As absurd as his story sounds, I think it's true."

"What!? How could you possibly believe such nonsense?" Luna retorted.

"Hear me out Auntie. I just, feel, like he's telling the truth. And the name of his species, too."

That statement perturbed Luna. What has that got to do with anything?

"He says that his species are called 'humans'. Didn't Twilight meet them during the mirror incident?"

Celestia replayed the events in her head. Sunset Shimmer stealing her crown. Twilight going after her. Yes, it was still fresh in her memory.

"Yes, Twilight has mentioned these humans. What of it?" Luna mentioned impatiently.

"Well, firstly, Twilight is the only pony who can verify that Emile is a human. Also, since she's met them before and has understood their behavior, she's our best bet in coaxing any more information out of him."

Luna opened her mouth to retort, but found herself speechless. Cadence was right, Twilight could probably find out more about this creature in a span of a few days than all three princesses could in weeks.

"It's decided then. We shall let Twilight Sparkle... study him." Celestia finished, pausing for a brief moment to find the right word to describe the situation.

"Sister, are you sure this is wise? I have seen and tested what he is capable of." she mentioned. "He is a threat, and he should be dealt with accordingly."

"Auntie, we cannot just go around and arrest anything that seems like a danger. We have to make sure it is a danger in the first place. He's cooperating now, and besides, if what he says is true, then we can help him leave. The sooner he's gone, the better, right?" Cadence replied cheerfully.

Luna again found herself losing a battle of logic. Sighing, she decided to go along with their plans.

"If you feel it is alright... then it is alright with me as well."

All three nodded in approval. However, there was still one matter that needed to be taken care of.

"Who's going to send him to her?"

Cadence stared out the window, the scenery changing ever so quickly in the train carriage she had resided in. It was her personal one; specifically tailored to suit her every need. Need a manicure? Two doors down where she was. Full blown massage? Just a door further than that. A Jacuzzi? Back of the train. All of this and more. It was flattering to see her subjects create such a thing.

Personally though, she preferred to just catch a normal train like everypony else. But to avoid hurting her subjects feelings, she decided it was best to just play along. She had, however, made plans to renovate the train to accommodate more purposeful things.

Sitting directly in front of her was Emile; once again trapped in a sphere. This time, however, it was colored pink. Emile's grumblings of the color could be heard from where she was.

"Honestly, they could've picked any color. Any color, and they chose *pink*." he grimaced. His newfound hate of the color emerged when he was reminiscing how exactly he had been dispatched in the forest.

"Pink"

That lunatic had somehow gotten behind him. She had even got past his motion sensors. And if things weren't confusing enough, she shot him. With confetti. And - surprise, surprise - it was also pink. Why is everything in this god-forsaken land pink?!

His grumblings eventually stopped; leaving an awkward silence between the two. They were the only ones in the train. Attempting to start a conversation, Cadence spoke up.

"Erm.. nice weather we're having, huh?" she mentally slapped herself. Could she sound any lamer?

"Too colorful."

Cadence was surprised to hear him reply to her awful conversation starter.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite catch that. What did you say again?"

"I said this place is too colorful."

What an... interesting way of describing Equestria. Cadence decided to press on.

"How are you holding up?"

"I got beaten up by a horse just hours after getting here. What do you think?"

"Alrighty then." she thought. Her mind wandered a bit before asking a question.

"You said you died before coming here. Could you elaborate?"

He did not answer. Cadence wasn't sure whether he heard her or not. She was going to ask again before he heard him sigh.

"I received a fatal stab wound through the abdomen by enemy forces. I dispatched them, but the damage was already done. I bled out slowly and blacked out. Then, I woke up here."

This was practically the same words he had used in the throne room. Still, the curiosity of Emile's origin would not leave.

"Where were you born?"

"Luxor, Eradinus II"

"Are humans always like you?"

"Some are like me, but most humans aren't."

"What's your job?"

This time, Emile barely stopped himself from answering. Cadence thought she had spoken about a touchy subject of his and decided to quickly move on.

"Well, what's your favorite thing to do?"

Again, Emile did not answer. Cadence was curious to why Emile refused to answer such questions. Maybe it was a touchy subject, or was he hiding something?

She had more questions to ask him, but screech of metal signaled they had reached their destination. The train conductor went in to address Cadence.

"Princess, we have arrived. Do you need any assistance?"

Cadence shook her head politely. Standing up, she walked out the door; Emile following closely behind in his large, floating pink bubble. He was initially worried that he had no way of fitting through the opening. As he neared the door, the bubble literally squeezed through it; leaving him claustrophobic as the walls of his pink prison suddenly contracted. As soon as the bubble squeezed through, it poomfed back into into its original shape. Emile touched its walls, confirming that they were solid once more.

All the while, Cadence stood by with interest. From what she saw, humans seem to have no prior experience or even contact with any form of magic. It bewildered her how he was able to stand hoof-to-hoof against Princess Luna without magic.

"Ahem"

He turned towards her. Once confident she had his attention, Cadence decided now was the best time to formally introduce him to their world.

"Welcome to Ponyville, home of Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony. Please follow me."

Emile slumped down in his pink prison. As if he had a choice.

Welcome to Ponyville - Part One

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"NO."

"Pretty please with a chimi-cherry-changa on top?"

"..."

"No."

Discord walked along the path with the energetic Pinkie Pie, contemplating how exactly he was roped into this situation. He wasn't exactly very grumpy of the situation, it's just that he had so many better things to do. Take his cotton candy clouds for example. Those poor things needed a chocolate refill. But alas, poor Discord had been coaxed by Fluttershy to spend some time with her friends. Get to know them, have some fun, all that jazz.

In all seriousness, he would've much preferred it if he was turned into stone again.

But, this was Fluttershy we were talking about here. Sweet, innocent and frail Fluttershy. There was no way he was going to let down his new friend, much less her. It would break her poor heart into millions of itty-bitty pieces; something Discord really did not want to see. In the end, he reluctantly said yes.

Over the days he's been spending time with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Initially he believed that spending a day with Rainbow Dash was going to be the longest day of his life. That was, of course, before he discovered her love of pranking. She even had the audacity to challenge him in a prank-off. Him, the god of Chaos! Of course he was going to accept. Together, they spent the day participating in a number of harmless yet funny pranks in an attempt to outdo each other. They ended the day with her as winner; something Discord found extremely hard to believe. What could he had possibly done to lose prank points? Hmm... maybe that carton of milk to the face of a sleeping stallion was a bit much. Even he thought that was more harm than fun; especially the look on the groggy stallion when he woke up to find himself covered in an unknown white substance. Those kind of glares could kill on the spot.

While they had their fun, Rainbow kept a very close eye on him. Probably looking out for any fishy activity. Oh well, at least he's getting somewhere.

The next day, he had Applejack. She was suspicious of him, but payed him no mind as she continued to work on her farm. She did mind, however, when the pigs started to grow wings and fly around aimlessly. Boy, was she peeved. Don't blame him though; it wasn't his fault that the adynation of flying pigs could be so amusing in real life. He was literally kicked out of the farm; courtesy of Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee, otherwise known as Applejack's back hooves. They did say sorry though. Poor things were just misunderstood.

For the remainder of that day, he spent some time with Rarity. She too was suspicious of him, no surprise there. However, upon learning that Fluttershy sent him here, she actually made an effort to get to know him. Strange, were ponies always this trusting of one another? Perks of friendship, he guessed. She showcased him the dresses she had made recently; Discord was thoroughly impressed with the design. She even made him a spiffy new suit, and by the heavens did he look fabulous in them. He even had a matching hat to go with. True to her Element, Rarity was the most generous pony Discord has ever had the pleasure of meeting.

A few hours earlier from today, Discord's next pony on his (hit) friend list was Twilight Sparkle. He gingerly made his way to her tree house; preparing himself for what was probably an entire day of history lessons. He was going to knock to let her know he was here before he saw the note on her front door.

LIBRARY CLOSED TODAY

RETURN TOMORROW

We apologize for any inconvenience

"So Princess purple and her pet are gone for today." he thought. "Good. Her ramblings could probably drive me up the wall faster than the time I had an itch as a statue."

He shuddered at the memory. Being a statue in Celestia's garden was not a very pleasant experience. Especially those birds. Those damn birds, thinking they could just take a dump anywhere they want. The whole world was their bathroom. And apparently; he was some sort of god-toilet to them. Oh, sweet Celestia, that was the worst time to ever had his mouth stuck wide-open. He gritted his teeth at the memory of one particular sparrow; forever the bane of his taste buds.

"I don't know who you are," he gritted. "But I will find you. And I will kill you."

He remembered his promise to himself ever since that hellspawn took a dump in his mouth. So far, he had little success on finding said sparrow, but his burning passion for revenge pushed him forward.

"Hiya Discord! Why so glum?"

Discord spun at the new voice; only to find himself looking at Pinkie Pie - Element of Laughter. Good, he can finally rid himself of that distasteful memory; even for only a short period of time.

And that brings us to the present. He and Pinkie idly chatted and exchanged their own jokes as they made their way to Sugarcube Corner. Well, that was just a few minutes ago. Now, Pinkie was practically begging to have one of Discord's favorite cotton candy chocolate rain. The interaction between the two slowly transformed from a simple chat into plead and refuse; pleading in Pinkie's case and refusing in Discord's.

"PLEASE MR. DISCORD!"

He sighed in exasperation. What was he thinking, pitting himself in a battle of willpower and annoyance against Ponyville's resident Pinkie Pie? He knows what she was capable of; they were practically in a stalemate when it comes to such things. And yet here he was.

He moved his mouth to retort, only to find himself unable to do so. His attention was turned elsewhere; specifically a pink alicorn and the bubble following her. He was not surprised to see Princess Cadence in Ponyville; he was surprised with the big metal thing in the pink bubble that's following her. It somewhat resembled that Iron Will fellow; albeit smaller, made of metal and a hell of a lot quieter.

"Hey Pinkie, could you care to tell me who that is?" Discord asked, pointing his paw at Cadence's general direction.

"Oh, him? That's Emile! We met him last night in the Everfree Forest with Luna and then he tried to kill her and got pretty close too! Then I came in all 'SURPRISE!' and blasted him with my party cannon. He didn't get hurt, but I think I distracted him so Luna could move in and read his mind and put a sleep spell on him. And then Luna put him in this shield thingy and went with her all the way to Canterlot. And then we all went back home an-"

Discord gently pushed his talon into her face; signalling he had heard enough. Even so, she still kept on talking; her ramblings dialled down into incoherent mumbles. Oh well, Pinkies will be Pinkies, he guessed. He turned his attention to it again. Able to stand toe-to-toe against an all-powerful co-ruler of the nation; check. Most likely had an audience with Princess Sunbutt herself; check. Finds way back here; check. Headed towards Twilight's treehouse; check. While still in custody; check. Everything seemed to be in order. That means there was only one explanation.

This thing was going to go under the reformation process.

Discord realized something in his realization (realiception?). If the reformation process works on this guy, he can have someone to relate to. A once baddie turned into a somewhat trustworthy ally. He could have another friend. Hey, they could be the best of buddies, as thick as thieves, the dynamic duo! Oh, he can already imagine the fun they'll have together. The chaos they'll wreak! Yes, that will be his quest. Forget the sparrow, forget anything else. Right now, he needs the reformation process to work on him. He needs him to be his friend!

"Pinkie Pie, listen to me very carefully. I need to get to 'Emile' right now. My senses tell me that we shall become best friends and share smores in the future."

"You can walk to him, silly-billy!" Pinkie giggled at Discord's sudden behavior change.

"Pinkie, have you been taking drugs? One does not simply 'walk' towards a bad guy. You have to do it with style, with finesse with-" he glanced at Pinkie, looking confused at his display of drama. His grin grew wider as an impossibly wonderful idea materialized in his magnificent brain; Pinkie started to grin as well, probably thinking of the same thing. What was that saying again? Great minds think alike? Yeah, that was the one.

"You have to do it, with a cannon."

Emile never knew one could ever get tired of grumbling. It was a natural thing to grumble from time to time; everyone does it. If he was finding the act tiring, it must be a clear cut sign that he's overdoing it. Actually, he could not give a damn whether he was tired or not. He just wanted to go home. To just sit back, relax and kick Covenant ass once more. His trigger finger was getting awfully twitchy at the lack of a gun's presence. It seems like it was only yesterday that he tore a very big new one on a certain Elite. Oh wait, that was just yesterday. Damn, was it really that long?

He sat down in his floating pink prison, following a pink princess to this "Twilight Sparkle", who was probably pink as well. Or purple. He couldn't really choose which one he hated more. Cadence started to have a conversation with him, but it was mostly one-sided. He did listen in on some stuff she said. Apparently, there were four types of ponies; something Emile scoffed at. One type of pony was enough, thank you very much. Actually, one type of pony was one too many. There were the alicorns, which had both wings and a horn. Only four existed as of now. Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight and her. Then there were the pegasi. Like human mythology stated, they had wings on them. One addition to being a pegasus was the ability to control the weather. Emile wondered how they were able to fly with those wings. Maybe they were built like birds; having hollow bones and all. Next was the unicorn. Their distinctive feature was their horn. Apparently they can also control "magic". According to Cadence, magic was something unicorns and and alicorns are able to do; their magic manifests through one's emotions, specialty and experience. Cadence's magic for example is able to manifest through the power of love.

"Oh my God, could things sound any more *girly** here?"* Emile bitterly thought.

Finally there was the Earth pony. Emile initially believed they ended up with the short straw of evolution, until Cadence explained their most distinctive trait. They were easily the strongest ponies in terms of physical strength. They could easily shrug off blows that could cripple or even kill unicorns and pegasi. Still, Emile thought they were a bit dull. Except that pink one.

Emile's mind wandered towards magic. The entire concept of it was unusual to say the least; there was no such thing as magic. None whatsoever. That belief, however, was completely shattered in less that three seconds when Cadence transformed a rock into an apple right in front of him. He even crushed the apple to confirm it was not just some sort of illusion. Emile has seen a lot of stuff in life; marines eviscerated by Elites, a Jackal brutally biting into a small child's frontal lobe, walking in on his parents. He's seen enough to consider these normal, but magic? That type of shit was not normal. Not at all.

His thoughts were interrupted by a resonating bang. He turned his attention to the sound; only to find a red, blue and white blur whiz past him; just inches away from his bubble. It went too fast for Emile to discern any noticeable features of what was shot at him; only seeing a series of mismatched body parts. It was probably some sort of crash dummy. Emile turned to the pers- pony who shot him. Immediately his jaw went slack.

It was that same pink pony from last night.

"Oh God, please don't see me." he inwardly pleaded. He knew it was futile; seeing how she just attempted to shoot something at him. It seems, however, that God was feeling merciful today. The pink one just waved at him and promptly trotted towards a different direction. Emile exhaled; thankful he was spared from her. He turned to Cadence again. She hadn't even noticed the events that had transpired in the vicinity.

As they made their way through the town; Emile earned many fearful gawks and stares from the public. He guessed that was to be expected; he obtained the same stares whenever he was with civilians back on Reach. If he was scary to them then, imagine what these ponies were thinking of him now. They were probably transfixed by his helmet. They better be, he carved that skull with pride and joy.

One group that caught his attention was a trio of mares. Out of all of the general public, these three were the most... "fearful" of him. They all fainted. At the same time. In a very over-dramatic manner. Better keep an eye out of them for the meantime.

They had finally reached their destination; the dreaded "Twilight Sparkle". Much to Cadence's annoyance and Emile's glee, the place she called home was empty; the note on her front door confirming their suspicions.

"Huh, she's not here today. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait. I know this little bakery down the road. Maybe we can continue our conversation there?"

Emile inwardly groaned. Great, now he's going to have another conversation with her. A real one this time. He's going to have a heartfelt conversation with a pony.

"Oh God, kill me now."

"Dang, that stings"

Discord groggily sat up, eyeing his surroundings. He was very lucky to crash into a stand selling pillows; he was even luckier to have to pony supposed to man it on a lunch break. He could only imagine the earful he would receive if he stayed any longer. Fixing his red and blue star-spangled helmet and jumpsuit, he quickly fled the crime scene. Pinkie's a terrible shot, but that's not going to stop him. If anything, he was now more determined to meet this Emile character. He wasn't going to give up.

Not until he made a new friend.

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Nightmare Begins

Dawn.

That is the time when the sun has begun its rise and the time when the moon has begun its set. Despite the beauty of a sunrise, there are many who dislike this time of day; it signalled that the end of their sleep and the departure of their warm, snug bed was coming very soon. It was understandable that these individuals dislike waking up at dawn. Their willpower to leave the bed is greatly diminished; the lack of energy plus the comfyness of a bed are major contributing factors. Thus, these individuals choose the easier option; they return to sleep, in hopes that their peaceful slumber can continue for just a little while longer.

Twilight Sparkle is no such individual.

As a filly, she picked up the habbit of being an early morning pony. Every day, she would wake up early, organize her agenda for that day and then wake up her parents. She found that by waking up early, she could do more as she had more time on her hooves. Often her parents complained that it was "too early" or they plead "just five more minutes." Nonsense, it was a perfectly reasonable time to get up and enjoy the day. Now, she just had Spike to deal with. The only problem was he was more difficult to persuade than her parents when it comes to getting up.

On this particular day however, Twilight Sparkle had woken up extra early. The sun hadn't even begun to rise yet. She could barely hold her excitement; a chance to study an alien gave her a sense of giddiness. While dubbed as an unofficial "human expert", her knowledge of them is as you imagine; severely limited. She only had a miniscule amount of time to observe humans, as she had to focus on getting her crown back from Sunset Shimmer. Combined with a limited timeframe, Twilight was left with next to nothing when it comes down to them.

She could learn so much from Emile; he was practically a gold mine of information. Admittedly, she was quite interested about him as well. With the possibility that he's going to be stuck in Equestria for a very long time, Twilight made it her personal goal to get to know as much about him as possible.

Cadence mentioned that he "died". It was a scientific impossibilty, but Emile insists that's how he got here. Grabbing a notepad and a quill with her magic, she began to write down her thoughts.

"Subject Emile insists that his sudden arrival in Equestria is directly linked to his 'death'. Will ask him later to elaborate."

And that's where the problem arises. Emile outright refused to talk to anypony after what had transpired in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Strange, because Cadence reported that he was just fine with answering some of her questions. Though, most of the answers he gave were very vague. Other than that, he remained silent for the entire duration. Maybe Twilight could squeeze out more answers from him. Humans weren't much different from ponies after all; psychologically speaking.

Twilight has woken up at this time of hour because of two reasons. One, because her sheer excitement prevented her from a peaceful sleep. Two, so that she could observe Emile. He was sleeping in the living room; making himself comfortable inside the bubble he currently resided in. Cadence relinquished control of the bubble and gave the responsibility to Twilight; turning the bubble from pink into a vibrant shade of purple. Strangely enough, Emile reacted strongly to this. He begun shaking his head and groaning as soon as the bubble changed colors.

"Subject Emile has a visible dislike of the color purple. Will investigate more to why."

Slowly, she tip-toed her way to the staircase as to avoid any excessive noise. She passed by Spike, who was snoring peacefully in his basket bed. For once, she'll let him sleep in. Science was calling, and they needed Twilight.

Eventually, she had reached the staircase. From there, she had an ariel view of the living room; Emile's bubble was placed dead centre. She took out the notepad and quill; ready to record anything of interest. Particularly, she was going to wait and see if Emile has any behavioral patterns; as to help her understand him better.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. Twilight deduced that she had been on that staircase for a lengthy amount of time, because the sun had begun to rise. By now, ponies like Applejack and Fluttershy would be wide awake; as to tend to their duties as a farmer and as an animal-caretaker respectively. Many would say she was wasting her time; Twilight began to believe she was. But - despite her doubtful thoughts - she pushed on. Even with its complex and sensitive nature, science can be boiled down in two words.

Observe and report.

She soon found what she was looking for. It was a small thing; barely noticeable. But from there, it began to snowball into something much larger.

It started with his breathing.

"Subject Emile's breathing has increased exponentially at approximately-" she looked at the clock. "-6 AM."

Then, he began to stir in his sleep.

"Following Subject Emile's erratic breathing, he has begun to move in his sleep. It has started from light twitching, into tossing and turning."

Finally, he began to talk in his sleep. His murmurs were very quiet; just below the volume of a whisper. The strings of Twilight's heart twanged as she heard his pained groans.

"Combined with his erratic breathing and movement, Subject Emile has also begun to talk in his sleep. I cannot decipher what exactly he is saying, he is too quiet while doing so."

Twilight put the pieces together. Laboured breathing, tossing and turning, talking whilst sleeping; Emile was displaying all the signs. It has to be the only explanation. Despite their many differences, humans and ponies weren't much different from each other; psychologically speaking.

Emile was having a nightmare.

"You're on your own, Noble. Carter out..."

"We gotta hurry!"

"Where does he get off calling a demolition on a priority one- FCHINK!"

"3... 2... 1... NOW!"

"I'm ready! How 'bout you?!"

"No!"

"We made it, didn't we? We made it. "

"Please don't go."

Emile jolted awake. He did not scream. He did not shout. He did not make a sound. Instinctively, he grabbed the dogtags around his neck and clutched it tightly. In his head, he began to monologue.

"My name is Emile-A239. I am a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. I fought in the Battle of Reach with Noble Team. Noble Team is dead. I died. Now I'm alive. I live with ponies..."

The last statement put Emile to a halt. The surreality of it was ridiculous; enough to snap Emile out of his alarmed state.

That nightmare... it was no ordinary nightmare. Emile knew it too well, too vividly, to call it a simple nightmare.

It was a memory.

Recollecting his thoughts, he berated himself. He was a SPARTAN, for God's sake! Such petty things shouldn't be a problem for him! That memory was supposed to be buried, buried so deep, he was sure that it would never see the light of day again. But it comes back. In the corner of his eye. His thoughts. His dreams. It always comes when he least expects it, and it frustrated him to no end.

It was always like this since that fateful day. He would receive that same nightmare over and over again; taunting him, pushing him towards the border of his sanity. With the death of Noble Team, Emile could only assume that it will grow worse. Much worse.

SPARTANs were living war machines; made for war and nothing else. They were human, but at the same time, they weren't. Often, they lose their very being in the process of becoming a SPARTAN. They are broken; no longer considered human in the eyes of many. In the end, they become the soldiers humanity needed them to be, at the cost of themselves.

That's what frustrated Emile. A part of him - a single shred of his humanity - still lives.

Normally, one would object to discarding their past. To Emile, however, he would gladly forget it in a heartbeat. Memories of his past, his life before a SPARTAN; it brought him nothing but pain. And that pain was beginning to become a distraction.

Over time, he had learned how to hide his "predicament" with sleep. Waking up before anyone else does. Sleeping a minimum distance away from others. He has even managed to conceal it from the rest of Noble Team. Only Carter knew of this. He too, was plagued with nightmares once. It never bothered him anymore, but he showed Emile the technique he used to cope. To this day, Emile still uses that technique.

Emile shook his head sideways. All this reminiscing was beginning to take a toll on his very confused brain. No use wallowing in the past now. He began burying his thoughts, suppressing them just as he had done before. Satisfied with the depth he buried them in, he then focused on what was important.

The present.

He eyed his surroundings carefully. It was kind of strange, actually. He had imagined Hell would have a lot more fire. Not that he could complain, Equestria was Hell; in a way. If he closed his eyes, the lush environment can be the fire, the ponies can be the demons, and any one of the "Elements of Harmony" can be Satan.

Why does that thought terrify him?

In truth, it wasn't the whole "living with ponies" thought that scared him. He could probably stomach that down in the meantime. Probably.

No, it was the fact that he was stuck here. The thought alone almost put him into a spiralling depression. If he was permanently staying here, what would he do? What can he do?

Jun always said that Emile says he wants to win the war, but really, he just wants the enemy to die. He meant it as a joke; to portray Emile's overly aggressive behaviour towards the Covenant. Or any enemy in particular. What Jun didn't know, was that sentence was Emile's exact thought of the war. He doesn't want to win it, and neither does he want to lose it. For his own selfish reason that he kept to himself and only himself, he wants the war to drag on for as long as possible; so as to continue his job as a SPARTAN.

Because he was afraid.

He was afraid of what will come to him when the war ends. What will he do then? Go back to fighting Insurrectionists? If humanity does win the war, then the Insurrection won't stand a chance; now that the UNSC had SPARTANs at their disposal. A few skirmishes here and there, BAM! No more Insurrection. And then what? Live normally?

All he knew in life was to fight, shoot, kill, repeat. He never imagined himself ever stopping that cycle; he believed he would die before that cycle stops. He believed he would never see the day that he - Emile-A239 -would stop fighting for once, and settle down on other things.

Panic started to seep through his head. His whole life revolved around being a SPARTAN. The prospect of stopping the life of a soldier; it's like telling Emile not to breathe. He lived and breathed war. Anything else, and it might as well be poison to him.

Emile quickly pulled off his helmet and slapped himself; hard. It was enough to put all the spiralling thoughts of panic in his head to a stop. He grabbed his dogtags again and grasped them tightly.

"Gah! Goddammit Emile! Get. A. *GRIP*!"

Blindly panicking was not the answer; it will do his situation no good. What was he thinking, of course he's not stuck here! These ponies have magic, or whatever strange force these ponies seem to have control over. Surely one of them knows how to send him back home.

Right?

Calming himself down - and slapping himself again for good measure - he placed his helmet on his head. He instinctively made a grab for his kukri; as to sharpen it on his shoulder. Anything to get his mind off the situation. Sadly, it was not in its usual place. Emile panicked, but instantly remembered. He groaned, as he just realized who exactly was in possession of his equipment.

"They better not mess around with the shotgun. I've only got a couple of those E-models lying around."

He shook his head, realizing the futility of his wishful thinking.

"Who am I kidding, of course they're messing around with my stuff!" he grumbled. "I bet they're tinkering with them as I speak."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course this is, Celestia! We need to know what Emile is capable of with his weapons! I could barely contain him without his equipment; who knows what damage he'll do the moment he turns on us?"

"Are you even sure he will turn on us? He knows we have him outmatched; he's bold to attack you, I'll give him that, but he's not exactly stupid."

Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were currently discussing the matter of Emile's weapons in an empty room. Three other individuals were with them; two stallions and a mare. All three were garbed in a white labcoat and each had a quill and notepad in hoof.

Opposite of the group was a large, see-through window that led to another room. The experiment was to be taken in that room, while the princesses can safely watch from the other side.

"Do not fret, this is a precaution. Don't tell me you're not interested in this experiment?"

Celestia wanted to retort, but found no words to use. Truth be told, she was curious in Emile's equipment. A little testing here and there couldn't hurt.

Right?

"Dr. Star? You may begin." Luna announced.

Celestia, Luna and the scientists walked towards the window, ready to observe the experiment from the other side. Like the room they were in, the experiment room was bare; save for a pedestal in the middle. On that pedestal was a glass box containing a small, green orb they had "borrowed" from Emile.

An barrier enchantment surrounded that same room; courtesy of Luna's magic. It worked differently depending on who or what interacts with it. Ponies or items can enter and exit that barrier, but only if they were given proper clearance by Luna. Otherwise, said pony or item are either kept in, or out.

For example - Luna gave the proper clearance to the small, green orb; allowing it to enter the barrier and by extension, the room. She takes the clearance away as soon as it is inside, trapping it. Thus, the orb cannot leave the room, and neither can the possible danger that it can spawn.

Dr. Star, however, is given clearance at all times; allowing him to enter and exit as he pleases. Should the orb pose a danger to him, he can escape safe and sound, while the danger is effectively controlled by the barrier.

Unauthorized personel are given no clearance at all, preventing them from entering the room at all times. Simple as that.

A figure entered the room. It was hard to tell who it was or even what gender the figure is, it was covered in layers upon layers of protective padding. Large goggles covered its eyes, and its mouth was covered as well. The only visible body part was its horn. Celestia assumed this was Dr. Star; head of the science division. With all the padding on him, he looked like he had been inflated with a pump.

With great caution, he approached the pedestal - or rather, waddled. He eyed the green object warily; as if he might trigger it through sudden movement. With a deliberate slowness, he lifted the object; levitating it inside its box with his magic.

"Alright everypony. Start taking notes." he ordered, albeit a bit muffled. On cue, the three scientists raised their notepads and quills. Celestia and Luna continued to observe.

"Weapon #1 is a small orb, colored green with a handle containing a small red button." he announced. "9.25 cm in diameter, weighing about 0.4 kilograms."

He spun it around, making sure to take in every, single detail.

"Interesting. Weapon #1 has the words 'M9 HE-DP' imprinted on its side."

All three scientists scribbled away, copying Dr. Star's exact words. While they wrote down their notes, he attempted to scratch his chin; just like how a clichè scientist would. He was, however, prevented from doing so. Thanks to the padding, his movement was restricted.

He spun it around one last time, before looking at the princesses. He was silently asking their permission to continue. They both nodded.

"Here goes nothing. Pressing the small, red button in 3..."

Small beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

"...2..."

The princesses leaned towards the window in anticipation.

"...1..."

It was now or never.

"CLICK!"

Dr. Star instinctively flinched as much as he could; preparing for the worst.

But nothing happened.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. The green orb was still inside its glass box; levitating as per usual. He approached the box again in confusion. Something should've happened at least. He spun it, shook it and spun it again, but no avail.

"Huh. Seems harmless enough." he assumed. "Hard to see what all the fuss is about."

Slowly, he placed the green orb down. He was about to order his team of scientists to go fetch another one of the green orbs, as he believed the one he had was a dud. Placing the orb down, however, would prove to be a mistake.

A small spark escaped the orb.

"Eh?"

BOOM!

The resulting explosion was both blinding and deafening at a close proximity. The princesses shielded their eyes, surprised at the sudden explosion of light. Slowly, they opened them. As the smoke began to clear, the only remaining thing in the room was debris and shrapnel were the orb should've been. To their horror, Dr. Star was nowhere in sight.

"Dr. Star?!" Luna yelled out in panic.

They began to look around frantically for any sign of him. The only thing that stood out was a giant, equine-shaped hole that was now present in the door that lead to the room.

Wait...

"Let's go!" Celestia urged. All five ponies rushed out of the observation room and into the hallway. They found Dr Star lying prone on the ground; an unnervingly large crack in the wall was above his position. The explosion of the orb burnt most of the padding away, but it was still intact. His goggles were cracked, and the odd shrapnel was embedded into the padding. It seems the worst injury he had sustained was the crash against the wall.

The princesses needed to be sure. They rushed him; looking for any hidden injuries.

"Medic!" Celestia yelled. "We need a medic!"

As she shouted for help, Dr. Star's eyes fluttered open. Before anypony could say anything, he slowly raised a hoof, and pointed it at his scientists.

"Write that down." he ordered, before fading into unconsciousness again.

It was quiet

Too quiet.

It was so unbelievably quiet, it was maddening.

Chirp!

"Oh God, thank you."

Emile began shuffling in place; unable to find a comfortable spot in the bubble. He was growing incredibly antsy from the lack of stimuli. With no knife to fiddle around with, it was hard not to grow impatient.

Looking out a window, he saw the sun rise. Judging from its position, it was about seven or eight in the morning.

An hour. He's done nothing for one hour and already he was uncomfortable of his situation. How does he hope to survive this world?

His ears perked up. A sound came from upstairs; it sounded like a yawn. Emile listened carefully for any more sounds.

Footsteps. Something was awake upstairs. He followed the sound with his ears. The source of the sound moved from the upstairs level, to the staircase, and finally to the living room; where Emile can see whoever made those footsteps.

It was short in stature, and looked reptilian in nature. Its scales were a shade of purple, and its spines were green. Judging by its facial expression and half-lidded, bloodshot eyes, it wasn't fully awake yet.

Emile realized that this was Spike, the baby dragon who lived with Twilight. He encountered him in the Castle of the Two Sisters, along with the other six Elements of Harmony. He stayed back the entire time, staying out of sight. The only time Emile actually saw him was when he walked along his bubble on the way to Twilight's home.

As he passed by his bubble, Spike let out a strange half croak, half groan. Must've been his way of saying good morning.

He walked towards the kitchen. Some clattering could be heard, before he appeared in the living room again. In one claw, he had an open milk carton of chocolate milk. In the other claw, he had a ruby.

He took a massive swig with the milk carton, wiping his mouth with his other arm and sighing with content. Once again, he passed by Emile's bubble on his way to the stairs. As he walked up, Twilight went past him.

"Morning, Twi. Fridge is empty, by the way." he croaked.

"Good morning, Spike." she replied; adding a very unconvincing fake yawn between her words. With her body language and her ham-fisted attempt to pretend she was still sleepy, Emile theorised that Twilight has been awake for some time now.

He paid it no mind. Twilight greeted him as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Morning Emile! Had a good sleep?"

Bad question. Bad, bad question. She mentally slapped herself; of course he didn't have a good sleep! She just witnessed him have a nightmare!

Emile only grumbled in response. Twilight sighed with relief, happy that she had avoided a touchy subject. She walked towards the kitchen; intent in betting some breakfast. She opened the fridge, but only found a couple of gemstones and a half-full carton of chocolate milk. She looked disappointed at the lack of food; there weren't even any leftovers. She went through the cupboards as well, but to no avail.

Groaning, Twilight grabbed a bag of bits from the counter. She was going to buy some groceries from the market; it should be open at this hour. At the same time, she was going to get some breakfast; preferrably some glazed donuts from Sugarcube Corner. Maybe a coffee from Starbuck as well. Before she walked out the door, however, she announced she was leaving.

"Spike, I'm leaving to get some breakfast and groceries. Hold down the fort for me while I'm gone, okay?"

He replied with an okay from his position in his basket bed. Satisfied, she stepped outside her home and closed the door behind her.

"Where is everypony?"

Twilight thought to herself as she walked down the path to Sugarcube Corner; a steaming hot cup of coffee levitating beside her and a bag of groceries on her other side. She tentatively took a sip, trying to avoid scalding her tongue from the hot liquid. Thankfully, it had cooled down a bit; allowing her to take small gulps.

The first thing she had noticed upon exiting her home was the presence of everypony - the lack of it, to be exact. It was like the town had been deserted overnight; she even swore she just saw a tumbleweed pass by her on the way to the market. Thankfully, the market was open, but something was obviously wrong. The vendors were there and willing to sell their products, but their eyes darted back and forth; as if they were on the lookout for something.

The same could be said for Starbuck. The baristas who worked there were incredibly wary; periodically checking the windows from time to time.

As she continued to walk aimlessly, her train of thought had been derailed; particularly by a voice calling out to her.

"Psssst! Twilight! Over here."

Twilight turned, looking for the source of the voice. Her eyes fell on Sugarcube Corner; a pink hoof from the door was motioning her to come closer.

Twilight approached with caution. As soon as she was in range, the hoof grabbed her and pulled into the store.

"What the- Pinkie!" she scolded. "What was that for?"

"Shhh!"

"But-"

"Sh!"

"You-"

"SHH!"

Twilight immediately closed her mouth, giving up her attempt to talk to Pinkie. She decided it would better if she let her talk first.

Pinkie shushed her for one last time, and then proceeded to look out the door. Satisfied to see no one saw or heard them, she turned to Twilight again.

"Twilight, what were you doing out there?! You know it's dangerous with that big scary monster out there prowling the streets!"

"Big, scary, monster?" she questioned. For some reason, a strange sense of dèjá vu washed over her.

"Yeah! The one the Flower Trio talked about?"

"Flower Trio?" The situation felt awfully familiar...

"Big, metal monster guy? Tall, has a scary skull face? Doesn't ring a bell?"

"Big, metal mon-" she didn't even need to finish. She buried her face into her hooves so fast, Twilight worried that she had accidentally bruised her forehead.

"Of course." she muttered. This was the Zecora incident all over again.

She lifted her head drom her hooves, and saw Pinkie flashing her signature grin. Twilight just looked unamused.

"The Flower Trio caught wind of Emile?"

"Yup."

"Started rumours about him?"

"Uh-huh."

"Now everypony's hiding from him?"

"Mm-hm"

"And you're joining them because you think it's fun."

"Correctomundo."

Twilight suppressed the urge to groan. This was exactly the Zecora incident all over again. Only difference was, Twilight and her friends had already met the "big, scary metal monster".

"Pinkie, you already know Emile. He's not scary." she said. "Most of the time..."

"I know. It's just fun hiding from something again!" she explained. "He doesn't talk much, but I just know he's super funnerrific when he wants to!"

Upon saying those words, Pinkie giggled to herself.

"Heh. Fun and terrific. Funnerrific. I'm such a genius."

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Look, Pinkie. I'm just here to get a dozen glazed donuts. Can you do that for me?"

"I already have!"

Somehow, she had a box of donuts on her hoof; despite not moving an inch since the start of the conversation. Paying it no mind - as it was Pinkie just being Pinkie - Twilight gave her the sufficient amount of bits and turned towards the door.

"Wait! Let me come with you!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't thrown Emile a 'Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world' party!"

That same eyebrow only went higher. Twilight would've normally objected, but thought twice. While there was a good chance Emile hates parties - given his latest attitude towards anypony - if the public gets word of Pinkie attempting to get chummy with him, it might just help improve his image from "big, scary metal monster who wants to kill everypony" into "big, scary metal monster who wants nothing to do with everypony and is relatively harmless unless provoked".

Twilight just shrugged, motioning Pinkie to come along. The Cakes, who have been hiding behind the counter this entire time, waved from their position as Pinkie left.

As the two ponies idly chatted whilst walking, a small rumble was heard. Twilight - believing it was from her stomach - grew embarassed, and decided to take a bite of a donut.

The rumbling continued, steadily growing louder by the second. By now, Twilight realized the sound wasn't coming from her stomach. Looking around, she tried to find the source. Her discovery, however, would compel her to widen her eyes in horror.

A stampede- no, an army aproached from the horizon; a large dust cloud in their wake. But, this was no ordinary army. No, this was much worse than your average army. Journalists, reporters and cameras as far as the eye could see. It seems that news of Emile's existence and arrival travels fast.

Canterlot Sun, The Vanhoover Advertiser, Cloudsdale Express; you name it, they're there. And they were charging full force, ready to poke, prod and invade Twilight's privacy for what was most probably the biggest scoop in news history. Squinting her eyes, Twilight could see a mint green unicorn leading the charge.

Twilight trembled in fear. She had had her fair shair of paparazzi ever since her coronation; she barely lasted their assault of questions and flashing cameras. She could handle a small group one at a time, but an army?

It was suicide.

As she and Pinkie turned tail, a bright flash appeared in front of them. Half-expecting an assault of questions and microphones, she closed her eyes, preparing for the worst.

None came. She opened them, and was surprised to see a familiar draconequus in front of her.

"Discord? What-"

"No time. You two need to go. Now."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me, Twilight. I can handle these savages." he assured. As he spoke, a small smirk slowly became apparent on his face.

"Besides. You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this."

Twilight smiled. At that moment, she was both proud and grateful of him.

"Fluttershy really turned you around, huh?"

"Pfft." he scoffed. "Was there any doubt?

"Yeah, there was a lot of doubt." Pinkie answered.

Discord clutched his heart, as if he was physically hurt. His mock expression of pain slowly turned into a warm smile.

"Go on, get out of here. I have a scene to re-enact."

Both nodded, and dashed towards the other direction as fast as their hooves could carry them. As soon as they disappeared from sight, Discord turned to the army. They were much closer now; their rumblings were much louder. With a snap of his talon, he was instantly garbed in a grey robe, with a matching grey wizard hat. In his paw, he held a wooden staff. As the army grew closer, his grin grew wider.

"You!"

The army grew closer.

"Shall not!"

He raised the staff.

"PASS!"

Twilight and Pinkie slammed the door behind them. Paying Spike and Emile no attention, Twilight darted back and forth; making sure the windows were locked and closing all the blinds as fast as possible. Once the deed was done, Twilight leaned against the wall for support; exhaustion finally catching up to her.

"Hey Twilight!" Spike greeted. "Let me get those groceries for you."

Grabbing the bags, he walked towards the kitchen. He greeted Pinkie as he passed by her.

"Hi Pinkie. What brings you here?"

She wasn't paying attention; she was too transfixed in her attempts to start a conversation with Emile. Emile, however, had both his hands on the sides of his head. It was apparent he wanted to tune her out as best as he can.

Spike was surprised to see Emile for the first time, to say the least. He was even more so when Cadence said that he was actually human.

His first instinct was to disbelieve it. However, Cadence was hardly a liar.

So, Emile was human. Spike still found it hard to believe, so he made up some explanations in his head to why Emile looks like his current state.

His most prominent theory was that Emile was wearing some sort of protective clothing; a suit of armor, if you will. It would certainly explain all the metal, as humans were supposed to have skin made of flesh. Knowing it was the most likely theory to be true, Spike believed that Emile just doesn't bother to take off any part his armor, if at all.

As Spike disappeared into the kitchen, Emile believed he was having the time of his life. The worst time, that is. Pinkie had been attempting to talk to him the entire time, never stopping for a single second to breath in air.

"She... just... doesn't... stop." Emile thought to himself in broken words, unable to think straight with Pinkie's continous chatter. He couldn't believe it, but Emile found somebody - or rather, somepony, as the natives insist on using - who had a mouth that ran faster than Jun's.

"I'll do what's necessary, sir. Good luck."

Flashes of Jun leaving Noble Team to escort Dr. Halsey appeared before his very eyes. His headache grew tenfold, leaving a very bewildered Emile behind.

Why now? Of all the times it could happen, why was this happening to him now? Emile had no problems when it comes to masking his emotions before, so what brought this on?

The memories with Noble Team. The reminiscing. That must be why. It has to be the only explanation. The random flashes must be directly linked to Emile's wallowing in his past.

He knew what must be done. Emile began to bury any thought of Noble Team in his head; locking away the memories and throwing away the key. No more reminiscing. No more wallowing. No more Noble Team. He will move on; just as he had always done.

"A fat lot of good that's done to you." his subconscious whispered. "You haven't even moved on from-"

"SILENCE"

It was such a simple word. He didn't even yell that word in his head. It was all it took to end all traitorous thoughts; effectively shutting up his subconsciousness. That simple word had been laced with an undeniable rage; his mind had no trouble registering that emotion. However, his mind also registered something else. Something potent. Something supressed.

A hint of sadness.

"-and I haven't even thrown you a 'Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world' party yet!"

What.

That sentence was enough to snap Emile out of his stupor. Before he could demand her to explain, Pinkie gasped.

"Oh my gosh! I haven't thrown you a 'Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world' party yet!"

In the blink of an eye, she grabbed Twilight from the couch and Spike from the kitchen.

"Everypony out! NOW!"

She quite literally shoved everyone out the door; Emile's bubble included. Before Twilight could protest, Pinkie closed the door behind her and locked it.

"Pinkie! Open this door!"

Sounds of construction could be heard from inside. Only three seconds had passed since their rude shoving before Pinkie called out to them.

" ~Okay, you can come in now!~ " she replied in a singsong voice.

Twilight and Spike walked in; Emile was merely ushered in due to the fact that he cannot go anywhere unless prompted by Twilight. At first, the place was dark. It was hard to see anything, and Pinkie was nowhere in sight.

CLICK!

"Surprise!"

Emile jumped back in shock. As soon as he had registered his surroundings, he just stood there, dumbfounded.

Indeed, he was surprised.

The entire library had been decorated with streamers, balloons and - much to Emile's chagrin - confetti. Tables had been set with an assortment of food, music was playing in the background and to top it off, a large banner hung above everything; the words "Welcome to Ponyville and by extension our world!" were plastered on it.

Three seconds. Pinkie has turned a library into a full-blown party in less than three seconds.

"But, but how? HOW?!"

To make matters worse, the rest of the Elements of Harmony were with Pinkie. Each one of them just looked as confused as he did.

"What the..." Twilight started. "Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash? Rarity? What are you.. how did you-"

"Sugarcube, ah have..." Applejack ran her hooves across her body, trying to make sense of it all. "...no idea."

"What are you all waiting for?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "LET'S PARTY!"

By now, everypony had grown used to Pinkie's antics; no matter how strange or outright crazy. Pinkie could practically start a one-pony stampede across town and no one would bat an eyelid.

Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy simply believed that it was going to be one of those days again. Giving each other a nonchalant shrug, they just went with the flow and joined in the festivities. As they conversed with each other, Emile continued to stare at the spectacle in front of him.

"Hey... Spike, was it? Does this... happen a lot?"

"More often than you think." he replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, the Pin the Tail on the Donkey champion has to defend his title."

As he walked off, Emile looked even more confused. This was a normal occurrence?

Suck it up, Emile. Today's going to be a long day.

The "party" Pinkie orchestrated for Emile had ended, leaving Twilight and Spike to clean up the mess.

Applejack was the first to leave, as she had duties as a farmer to attend to. The next was Rarity and Fluttershy; Rarity needed to work in the Boutique and Fluttershy promised to help her with her dresses. Rainbow Dash was next; she was called in for a weather emergency. Finally, Pinkie made her leave. By then, it was late in the afternoon.

While Pinkie devised the party for Emile, he stayed out sight for a majority of the day. Twilight only noticed him once, and that was when she gave him something to eat. Emile took off his helmet that time, allowing Twilight to see his face. Now, Twilight had no doubt that he was human; that scratches off one problem on the list. Moving on to the next problem.

How does she send Emile home?

Her first thought was the same way she went to the human world; the portal that leads to there. Of course, that was completely out of the question. The portal had closed weeks ago, and it's going to take another thirty full moon cycles for it to open again.

She racked her brain for another solution, but none came to mind. There has never been a spell that could send somepony to a different world ever made; the only pony who comes to mind that can do that is the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded himself. Of course, that's another dead end. Star Swirl is dead, and most of his studies faded away over the centuries - much to Twilight's dismay.

"You know, Emile-" Spike started. "-you're pretty different from other humans I met before. For starters, you're pretty tall. Like dang, man, you're huge. And the metal. I haven't seen anything li-

"Stop right there." Emile interrupted. "You said 'other humans'. Explain, now."

Twilight immediately stepped in. She was going to tell Emile the news at a better time; preferrably when he is better acquainted with Ponyville, as to avoid his wrath. Spike, however, unwittingly let the subject fly prematurely.

"What Spike meant to say was, erm, he's never seen anything like you before!" Twilight said, attempting to steer the subject towards a different direction. "I mean, you're the first human here, and-"

"Stop lying to me." he growled. "Explain, NOW!"

"Hey!" Spike yelled. "You can't talk to Twilight like that!"

Spike and Emile glared daggers at each other; Emile growing irritated by the second. Before Spike could say anything, Twilight put a hoof in front of him.

"No, Spike. He has every right to know."

She sighed. There was no avoiding the subject now.

"Weeks ago, Spike and I went into the human world; Earth. The reason to why is not important right now. We used a portal to get there."

Twilight had Emile's full attention. His eyes widened, and for the the first time since waking up in the forest, he smiled. A full, genuine smile. A way home, he had a way home! The thought alone almost wanted him to jump in joy.

It did not last long.

"You have to take me to the portal. Please, you have to take me! They need me back there!"

Losing all form of seriousness, Emile put on pleading tone and begged her to take him to the portal. The idea of home, the nostalgic feeling of warzone, the thought of being able to fight again. Emile will do anything to get that. If his past self saw him right now, there was a good chance he'll be ashamed at the sight in front of him. But Emile couldn't care less. He just needed to get through that portal, contact UNSC forces, and all of this will just be a bad memory that needed to buried with the others.

"I'm sorry. The portal only opens once every thirty full moon cycles."

Emile was confused. He grinded some numbers in his head; converting thirty full moon cycles into something more manageable to understand. After he finished his equation, he felt as if someone shot him in the heart.

Two years. Thirty full moon cycles was approximately that long. It would take another two years before the portal would open again. Two years, before he could get home.

He went into shock. He leaned against the inside of his bubble for support, before finally slumping down. The gravity of the situation was kicking in; whatever confidence Emile had conjured this entire time, it went away as fast as it had appeared. Behind his helmet, he had a small frown; the feeling of despair finally blossoming in him.

He wanted to scream. To shout. To yell at Twilight to do something about it. Home was within his reach, so why can't he go home?

He did none of these. Instead, he reached for a familiar metal accessory from his neck. He yanked it, letting his dogtags settle in his open palm. He stared at the accessory longingly, before grasping it firmly. Fearing for his sanity, he knew he needed it more than ever now.

"Emile, are you okay?" Twilight asked, slightly worried that she had incurred his wrath.

He gave no response. Twilight was going to ask again, but she was interrupted by Spike, who placed a claw on her shoulder.

"I think it's best if we give him some space, Twi."

She wanted to retort, but the rational and sympathetic side of her agreed with him. She had just told Emile that he cannot return home for a very long time; if she was in his position, she'd want some space too.

Twilight and Spike moved away from him, continuing to clean the library in silence.

Darkness, his faithful companion.

He hid from sight, far away from prying eyes. No one in their right mind would ever come near the forest at this time of hour; if at all. It was the perfect base of operations.

He was known as many things; some of the names were creative, others were just plain simple. The King of Shadows, The Tyrant of the Crystal Empire, the list went on and on. As nice as they were, he preferred his name; the name that once spread terror throughout the Crystal Ponies.

King Sombra.

He stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest, his green eyes surveying the area. It was nighttime, his favorite time of all. One by one, the lights of the houses went out; putting Ponyville into a deeper state of darkness. He wanted so badly to move through the shadows again; to spread terror once more.

But that would go against the plan.

Behind him stood eight manticores; one male and the rest female. He found the male a few nights ago, prowling on its own in the forest. It was a fine specimen, clearly the alpha male of a pack. It would've been easy to corrupt its mind right there, but Sombra needed more.

So he followed it. The male unwittingly lead him to the rest of the pack; their numbers were still no match for Sombra's dark magic. They were mindless beasts; corrupting them and bending their weak minds to his will was relatively easy.

A wise pony once said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. If you looked into the eyes of the manticores, you will find none. Their eyes were jet black; no white or any form of coloration in their eyes were present.

Sombra would've loved it if he could send out the manticores now. But again, that was against the plan. It was much too early; allowing the cats out of the bag prematurely would mean disaster. For now, all he could do was spread fear as inconspciously as possible. Sombra had been given a second chance; he will not waste that chance. He thought he would never see the sunlight again, after that little hiccup with the Crystal Empire.

It was that blasted dragon's fault. He had that unicorn right where he wanted her, and then he came along. And then there was that Princess. She even had the audacity to take his throne.

No matter. They will all die in the end.

"Only if you were competent enough to see the plan through."

He shook his head, dispelling any lingering doubt. He will succeed. He will get his revenge.

He will not fail Master again.

Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Haunted Pasts and Failure Lasts

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Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: The Calm Before The Storm

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Emile VS The Magic Of Friendship: Test of Strength

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Welcome to Ponyville - Part Two

Welcome to Sugarcube Corner

Cadence approached the bakery; Emile following closely behind her. The shop's sign said welcome, but Emile could not help but feel put-off by it all. It could be his sociopathic tendencies at fault; his distrust of anyone other than his fellow SPARTANs were probably acting up again. Or it could be because the building simply looked too outlandish and unusual. His mind gave him a multitude of reasons why he should be on guard at this point, yet his logic erased those reasons in a heartbeat.

Emile took a double take, replaying what he had just conjured in his head. Did he really just felt threatened by a gingerbread house lookalike?

"This place is getting to me."

Emile chastised his growing anxiety; he was beginning to sound more akin to a marine greener than grass than an actual SPARTAN. If his team was here, they would've both reassured and berated him for such behavior. They were good guys like that.

Sadly, they were most probably all dead. And unlike Emile, they were - most likely - going to stay dead. Good God, he missed all of them. Even Jorge.

...

"Fuck, this place really *is** getting to me"*

The question of today was, where was this paranoia coming from? Everything screamed sunshines and rainbows and happy fun times; it made him sick to the core. There were no traps, no ambushes, no objective, nothing. For once, there weren't even any Covenant to deal with. As of right now, nothing could possibly be dangerous to his health.

Except the wildlife. And the all-powerful princesses that see him as a matter of national security. And The Pink One That Shall Not Be Named; who, in fact, was one of the main factors of his capture and imprisonment.

Maybe keeping an eye out for danger at all times isn't such a bad idea.

They both entered the building; Emile's floating pink prison once again squeezing through the doorway with ease. It seemed like a slow day for Sugarcube Corner; there was not a single customer in sight. In fact, the place would've seemed empty if it weren't for the clattering of pots and pans and the sound of voices in the back room.

Cadence approached the empty counter and rung the bell for service.

"Hello? Is anypony here?" She asked no one in particular.

"Back the fuck up, did she say anypony?"

There were no responses, other than the clattering of cutlery continuing its noise. Cadence rung the bell again, just in case no one heard.

"We'll be right there in just a moment, dear! CARROT! WHAT DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHEN I SAID HOLD THE THING STILL?!"

Emile could only flinch at the volume of the voice. If every single pony he meets in the future were this loud, then he can kiss his eardrums goodbye.

More shouting could be heard from the kitchen; intensifying in volume as two voices argued back and forth. It took a while before the doors swung open; revealing a blue Earth pony covered in flour and other ingredients used in baked goods. She was short and pudgy, complete with pink hair. She looked worse for wear; her body language and the bags under her eyes say so.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner." She announced in a monotone voice. "How may I-"

She didn't even get to finish her introduction. It seems that she had just realized that the pony standing right in front of her counter was none other than Princess Cadence; ruler of the Crystal Empire. Sugarcube Corner has been graced by the presence of a royal, and she was woefully unprepared for her arrival.

The mare darted back into the kitchen, this time talking in hushed tones with another unknown individual. Minutes had passed before she came out of those doors again. This time, she was accompanied by a tall and lanky yellow stallion. Somehow, they had cleaned themselves of any traces of flour on them; leaving them squeaky clean, and at a short timeframe too. They had smiles on their faces, but they were obviously very nervous. Both were practically sweating up a storm.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" The blue mare announced again; this time in a more cheerful voice. "This is my husband, Carrot Cake." She motioned her hoof towards the lanky stallion. "And I'm Cup Cake. How may we help you today?"

Both flashed a smile, but the beads of sweat running down their faces betrayed them. They were incredibly itimidated by the authorative figure; acting as if the princess would order their execution the moment they make a mistake. Some would say they were overreacting; none of the princesses had ever ordered out an execution in centuries. The Cakes, however, can never be too careful.

"Erm... this seems like a bad time." Cadence said, craning her neck to see past the Cakes. She could see that the entire kitchen was in disarray; flour, pots and pans littering its floors. A giant cake stood smack centre of it all; confirming Cadence's suspicions. The Cakes were working on something, probably for an important event. "I think I'll come back later. When you aren't busy with things."

"NO!" Cup shrieked. Shunning a princess from their bakery? Never! No one has left the bakery unsatisfied ever since Sugarcube Corner's grand opening, and Tartarus can freeze over before that ever happens!

She looked up, only to realise that everyone's eyes were on her. Her outburst had caught everyone's attention, much to her dismay.

"Ahem, I mean, we aren't busy today! It's not like we can't serve customers while baking a cake, right Carrot?"

She turned to her husband, only to find him dozing off; probably because of exhaustion. She nudged her elbow at him, gently reminding him that he was in the presence of a royal.

"...huh, what now?" Carrot jolted awake, slightly groggy from his rude awakening. " I mean, yep! Sure thing. Whatever you say dear."

For a moment, Cup turned to her husband with an unamused expression. This expression, however, went away as soon as she reminded herself of her current situation.

"Erm... okay then. Those cookies over ther-" Cadence started.

In an instant, Cup zoomed off and returned with a fresh batch of cookies in hoof.

"Oh! Alright then. Um... what about a mango mil-"

In a similar fashion, Carrot appeared with a mango milkshake; moving at a seemingly impossible speed to grab said milkshake.

"Uh... okay. I think that will be all." She stated. "May I ask, what's the cake for? You seem to be awfully busy with it."

"Oh, that? We're just working on a birthday cake, that's all. This place is reserved for a birthday party this afternoon. Normally we'd have Pinkie to help us, but she's helped us so much the past few weeks that we thought that it's best if she had a day off today, right Carrot?"

She turned to her husband, only to find him dozing off again. She elbowed him; much harder this time.

"...eh, what? Oh yeah, right. She said that she's going to hang out with that Discord fellow, then she was going to the The Castle of the Two Sisters, something about testing the organ there or something."

Cadence nodded in understanding. "Okay, I guess this all I want right now, so- oh wait! I completely forgot! Emile, did you want anything?"

Cup could only look at her with confusion.

"I'm sorry, princess, but who exactly are you talking to?"

Cadence moved the pink orb containing him; placing him beside her. It seems that the Cakes had been so focused on Cadence, they had completely missed the fact that there was a giant metal thing behind her.

"Oh my..." Cup could only stare in fear. She was unsure how to act, but Cadence seems to have the situation under control. After all, it was trapped. Still, its presence warranted a feeling of unease; the air that surrounded it just seemed... off.

"Would you... like something... sir?" She stuttered.

Emile's lack of a response only added to the tension. The Cakes were downright frightened; their knees were wobbling uncontrollably, ready to buckle underneath them at any second.

"He'll have what I have, thanks." Cadence quickly intervened.

The Cakes sighed with relief. They grabbed another set of Cadence's order and placed both orders on the counter. Cadence payed for it, then went to an empty table in the far corner of the bakery; Emile and the baked goods following closely behind. She sat down the table, while Emile simply sat down in his prison. She levitated the plate of cookies and milkshake to him; the baked goods phasing throuh the bubble. Emile could only stare at it levitating goods blankly.

"Well, aren't you going to eat it?" Cadence asked.

Emile continued to stare. Cadence worried whether he heard her or not, before he answered.

"If this is some sort of trick, I swear-"

"No, no tricks. I just thought you were hungry. You have to eat sometime, don't you?" she reassured.

Emile continued to deadpan her. Cadence began to think that the extended pauses were going to be a habit.

Emile was not confident whether to trust her or not, but really, he did not have a choice. He distrusted these ponies with all his heart, and while SPARTANs were able to go for weeks without food or water, it did not mean that such experiences were pleasant. He was a bit hungry after all; he could use the extra energy.

With a heavy sigh, Emile slowly placed both of his hands on the side of his helmet and unclasped it. A small hiss came out; signalling that the helmet was ready to be taken off. With a deliberate slowness, he took off his helmet, revealing his face.

It was Cadence's turn to stare at him. He had a shorter muzzle compared to poniess, a dark skin tone, green eyes and a cropped mane; almost to the point of completely shaven-off. His facial expressions seems to be stuck on "scowl" at all times. However, none of those were Emile's most notable features. Scars, and lots of it, adorned his face. Some were small and could go unnoticed, others were unnervingly large; running across his face. He grabbed the cookies and gingerly started eating.

"Is there something on my face or what?"

It seems Cadence had been observing him for a while now. She looked away, flustered.

"Sorry, it just that..."

"You wanted to know how I got my scars." he finished. Cadence meekly nodded.

Emile just shrugged. "Line of work."

As they ate their snacks, the Cakes began to set up decorations for the birthday party they had mentioned. Once in a while, they would look in Cadence's direction. They would smile warmly at her, while they would look at Emile with an expression of fear and uncertainty.

It did not take long for both to finish their snacks. As soon as they had finished, Emile quickly put on his helmet again. Cadence felt sorry for him; she had noticed the reactions that the public had been giving him. They were nice and were normally accepting of strangers, they just needed to know him better.

"I'm sorry, I know these ponies have been looking at you weird lately and-"

"Don't patronize me." Emile spat. "The last thing I need right now is your pity."

Cadence flinched. Apologizing is out of the question, then. She decided that the best course of action as of now was to keep asking him questions. She was, however, interrupted. Said interruption came in the form of a torrent of colts and fillies entering the bakery.

"Hey guys!" Carrot exclaimed. "Pinkie isn't here, but don't worry! We have a very special pony that's going to be here today! I'm just going to grab the food and the cake, so just hold on to your hooves, 'kay?"

The little ones didn't even notice him, they were much too hyped for the party to listen.

Carrot gave them all a smile. He returned to the kitchen, but behind his cheerful demeanour was a very stressed out baker. Once again, he started sweating profusely.

"Oh Celestia, where is that freaky clown pony when you need him?!"

As the fillies and colts waited patiently, one of them noticed something. Particularly a pink alicorn princess.

"Hey guys, look! It's Princess Cadence!"

All eyes turned to her. The tension in the air was thick as the fillies and colts slowly comprehended her presence. It wasn't long before a chorus of statements came out.

"She's here? Is she the special pony for the party?"

"I knew it! Told you a princess would come!"

"Dude, I bet you can't stick an entire hoof in your mouth."

"Oh yeah? You're on!"

Cadence could only smile at the spectacle in front of her, Emile on the other hand scoffed at their behavior. Both thought the same thing.

"Kids"

Cadence approached them, and instantly she was bombarded with questions by the mob of foals. Emile watched with disinterest as Cadence patiently sated their curiosity.

As he observed, he noticed three fillies break away from the group. All three approached him cautiously; he pretended he didn't notice them.

"What... is it?" the white unicorn asked anxiously.

"Ah don't know, but I saw it talking to Cadence earlier. It's face is pretty creepy." The one with a ridiculously large bow on her head answered.

"Gee, that's a nice thing to say to someone you meet."

"Naw, I think it looks cool." The pegasus with the fuchsia colored mane interjected. "Terrifying, yet radical."

Emile could do nothing but smile from that.

"Should we say something?"

"Have ya been hit on the noggin with a frying pan lately? What if it goes all psycho on us?"

"I don't know, it seems harmless enough. Besides, doesn't Cadence practically have this thing on a leash?"

"I can hear you."

All three jumped back in surprise. They looked around for the source of the voice, only to turn in Emile's direction. They looked at him with a mixed expression of surprise and confusion.

"Are you... talking to us?"

Emile rolled his eyes. Were these three actually serious?

"Yes, I'm talking to you. Now what do you want?" He asked indifferently.

The three fillies looked back, only to find the group they were part of still crowding around Cadence. They did not expect for it to speak, much less acknowledge their presence.

"Hey mister! Are you an alien?" The pegasus asked bluntly.

It was Emile's turn to jump back in surprise; metaphorically speaking. He half-expected the three to bolt as soon as he spoke.

"They are probably very brave or very stupid. Maybe both."

"Yeah, you could say that."

Again, Emile expected them to look at him in horror; just like the civilians back home. Instead, they looked at him with awe.

"That is so cool!" The white unicorn exclaimed. "Wait, if you're an alien, what's your Cutie Mark?"

For what he believed was for the hundredth time that day, Emile stared blankly.

"Cutie what now?"

"You know, Cutie Mark? Mark of yer destiny, it comes up when ya find yer special talent, all that jazz?"

Emile was scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. What the hell were they talking about?

"Cutie Mark, Cutie Mark..." he thought about these two words extremely hard whilst rubbing his chin. These three mentioned a mark that these ponies earned somewhere in there life, so it must be so-

The realization hit him like a wrecking ball.

Cutie Mark

"You call that-" he pointed at the image on Cadence's flank. "-a Cutie Mark?!"

"Well, yeah! Don't you have one?"

"What? No!" Emile yelled incredulously. These ponies receive some sort of mark of significance in their life, and they have the audacity to call it a "Cutie Mark"?!

"These ponies need serious help in naming things."

Emile exited his thoughts and turned to the three. They had a facial expression that was akin to that of a child who had just been told that Santa Claus didn't exist. Seems like his answer has had more of an effect than he had originally imagined.

"Whaddaya mean ya do-"

Cadence rushed in, cutting them short.

"It's been fun guys, and I had fun too! But I have to go now, I have some very important princess business to take care of. Sorry."

A collective "awww" rang out, putting Cadence on the guilty feels chair. She hated seeing crestfallen ponies; she needed something to change the mood.

"Hey look, the cake's ready!"

Welp, that was easy. Carrot had presented the cake just in the nick of time. Another pony followed him, and by God it was the scariest, most terrifying sight Emile had ever seen in his life. It was something that would make hardened veterans flee in terror, something that would horrify the monstrous Hunters, something that would make the legendary SPARTANs think twice about facing it. This monster could only be named in two, measly words.

A clown.

"Who wants to play pin the tail on the donkey?"

A deafening chorus of cheers was their response. Luckily for Emile's sanity, he and Cadence had already begun their leave. Unbeknownst to him, three fillies planned their next move.

"Didja hear 'im girls, he doesn't have a Cutie Mark!"

"Do you think..."

"Sweetie, it's an alien. If we can help it find its Cutie Mark, then it definitely has to be our special talent!"

"What, helping others find theirs?"

"Well, yeah. Besides, it won't hurt to try."

"Does that mean we gonna hafta let it join us?"

All three looked at each other. Slowly, but surely, a grin made its way to their faces; rivalling that of Pinkie Pie's. They thought and said the same thing; a testament of their like-mindedness. They nodded in confirmation and yelled at the top of their lungs.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, ALIEN HELPERS! YAY!"

"We're here."

Emile snapped to attention. Both have been travelling through the Everfree Forest, as these ponies call it. Nightime had fallen; only the glow of Cadence's horn as their source of illumination. Cadence deduced that if this, "Pinkie Pie", was in this so-called "Castle of the Two Sisters", then this "Twilight Sparkle" must be with her, along with the other "Elements of Harmony".

Never before had Emile used so many air quotes in one sentence.

Thet have arrived at their destination; a rickety old castle. Its tattered tapestries hinted its original glory, but now only serve as reminders of an older time. Debris were scattered everywhere; littering the castle grounds. This place must have been magnificent once, but now it was nothing but ruins.

From afar, it would seem that the place was devoid of life. Far from it, actually. Cadence and Emile can both hear the chatter of voices while inside. They followed the source, intent to find the speaker. Well, Cadence was anyway. Emile just wanted to get it over with.

They stopped in front of a large double door. The voices were much clearer now; the individuals in the room seem to be idly chatting with one another. Cadence pushed the doors, entering the room.

It was a library of sorts; dusty books were lined along the walls and on the floor. Among it all, six ponies of different colors turned to Cadence. A purple one with wings and a horn looked overjoyed.

"Cadence!"

Both ran and gave each other an almighty hug. Before Emile was given a chance to be disgusted at the sign of affection, both mares did something unexpected.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Emile blinked.

"What the fuck did I just witness?"

As all seven conversed, Emile observed quietly. He could not hear what they say as they talked in hushed tones, but he kept a close eye anyway.

The first one he noticed was the pink one with poofy hair. His eyed widened with realization; rage washing over him. However, he kept his emotions in check. In due time, he will have his revenge. All he needed to do was plan and wait. She'll get what's coming to her.

The next was the purple one. He overheard that she used to be Princess Celestia's personal protégé; a gifted student who surpassed her teacher. She was also supposed to be incredibly smart and a keen learner.

Then there was the rainbow. Once in a while, she would shoot him dirty looks. Emile shot some back. Clearly this one didn't like him. If the incredulous shouts of "what in the name of gravy is he doing here?!" wasn't a sign of hostility, then what was?

Next in line was the white unicorn. She looked reminiscent of the filly he met earlier in the bakery; the only difference was she was far more elegant in her movement and she had curly, purple hair. She also had a distinctive accent.

Blondie was next. She had an orange coat and for some reason a Stetson on her head. She also spoke in an accent, but it was completely different from the unicorn's. It sounded akin to that of a country farmer. Like the rainbow, she would give him a look. Unlike the rainbow, it was less glare, more suspicion.

Finally there was the coward. She had been hiding behind a chair this entire time, avoiding eye-contact with him at all costs. She was shaking in fear; every time she would peek out and look at him, she would squeak and hide again.

It wasn't long before all seven approached him.

"Great, more introductions."

"Emile, I'd like you to meet the Elements of Harmony." She motioned her hoof to the rest of the group.

"This is Fluttershy; Element of Kindness, Pinkie Pie; Element of Laughter, Rarity; Element of Generosity, Applejack; Element of Honesty, Rainbow Dash; the Element of Loyalty and Twilight Sparkle; Element of Magic. Did you get all of that?"

"Doormat, Lunatic, Snob, Inbred Hick, Skittles and Egghead. Should be easy enough to remember. And what is it with these weird titles?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Under orders of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you are hereby decreed to stay in custody of the Elements of Harmony until further notice. You will be both studied and accepted as their own. You will be kept under watch at all times. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Stay with ponies, kept under watch, blah blah blah..."

Emile's consciousness kicked in; the horror of the situation was beginning to unfold. He was going to live with ponies, for God knows how long, and studied like some sort of lab rat. And that's not even the worst part. During his stay here, unless he keeps up his scary demeanour, these ponies will - most likely - attempt to become his friend.

This was much worse than he could have possibly imagined. He had sealed his fate, and now he was frozen in shock. His mind, however, told a different story.

"No!"

"We have an extraterrestrial roomie? Awesome! We'll be friends, hold slumber parties..." Pinkie went on and on of the horrors Emile will inevitably face. Every passing second was hell; Emile wasn't sure he could last any longer.

"No, God please no!"

"Twilight, are you sure you can handle this?" Cadence asked.

"I'm sure I can handle it." Twilight reassured.

"And-" Rainbow interjected "-she's got us to back her up. Don't worry Cadence, if he becomes a problem, we can take him on. Just like we always do, eh Twi?"

"No! *NO!*"

Twilight was practically beaming after hearing that. Slowly, she made her way to Rainbow Dash and gave her an almighty bear-hug.

"Thanks guys. I'm so lucky to have all of you."

"Yay! GROUP HUG!" Pinkie exclaimed. In an unnatural manner, she grabbed all six ponies in one fell swoop and wrapped them all in a massive group hug. As they all shared a moment of friendship, Twilight glanced at Emile. He had remained motionless ever since Cadence had announced he was staying with them for her to study. She knew how humans acted and reacted during certain situations, so she was baffled to see him not react at all.

"He's taking it well."

Unbeknownst to her, Emile was far from stoic. Deep inside his complex mind, was a mini-him. This figure Emile had conjured in his head represented his consciousness. Right now, mini-Emile dropped to his knees and shook his fists at the sky; his wails of anguish could be heard from the heavens above.

"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Will Emile triumph in this ordeal, or will the ponies wear him down, enough for him to consider them - dare he say it - friend? Find out later in the next segment of this fic that I will so originally call...Emile VS The Magic of Friendship!