Celestia was tired, and for good reason too. she had just spent two hours talking with the president of the 'United Earth Government'. Celesia didn't trust the humans, they were violent, and after examining some of their history, she had decided to be very careful with them. She thought they looked a bit strange, too. She, Luna, and Twilight had come to the human homeworld of 'earth.' At first, she found herself surprised at the sheer awe inspiring sights, she had been expecting to see a war torn world, but instead, she was met with a world that rivaled Equis.
Now, they were riding in a strange vehicle, the humans called a car. The humans, to her, were lazy. Inventing things only so they could sit around all day. She sighed, and looked over at Luna, and Twilight. Twilight was talking to one of the human guards provided to them from the president. Luna, on the other hoof, was busy admiring the 'skyscrapers' of the human city they were in. the city was called, 'New York.' Celestia could admit that the humans were skilled scientists, engineers, and pioneers. She had learned recently, that the humans not only inhabited this world, but hundreds of others.
She looked out the window of the 'car', and marveled at the enormous ship hovering over the city. It had been the vessel to take them here, Celestia had been reluctant to get on board it, at first. But luna and twilight were very excited at the prospect of space travel.
Suddenly, she spied a building that caught her interest. They had driven out of the city limits and were approaching a 'spaceport', where they would be picked up and flown back to Equis. There was fields of grain as far as she could see, but the sparkling human metropolis still remained behind them. The building that had caught her attention, was strange. It was very large however, and more of these 'cars', were parked in front of it. Curious, she spoke up.
"Driver, what is that building?"
Everyone turned to look at her. Through the rear view mirror, she saw him smile.
"Thats the Museum of Humanity, your majesty."
"What is the, 'Museum of Humanity'?"
The guard that had been talking to Twilight, answered her.
"It details our species history, pretty simple... but it also stands as a monument."
Celestia was very curious, now. she looked over at Twilight, and immediately knew what she wanted. She looked to Luna, and she nodded to her. Luna nodded back.
"Could we take a tour?"
The driver thought for a moment, before finally saying;
"I don’t see why not, your majesty. Hold on, I have turn back around."
Celestia smiled, and only grew more curious as they turned around to go back to the museum.
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The museum was massive. they had been let in, and she had been surprised to see the amount of security present. The guard stayed close to them as they examined the displays. they looked at rockets, old clothing worn by past humans, they examined fossils of the first humans, and studied the military history of humanity.
Celestia was getting tired though, when something caught her attention. She trotted up to it. It was a hexagonal glass box, full of small figurines, there were humans, and... some other beings she couldn't recognize. they were fighting, there was explosions, and dead bodies everywhere. She brought her head away from the glass, and noticed Luna, and Twilight standing beside her in equal confusion.
"What is this, Princess Celestia?" Twilight looked up at her quizzically.
"I... I don't know." She couldn't help but feel disgusted that they would build something depicting this amount of violence.
"Its a memory." Celestia spun around and saw the guard, he was admiring the battle, and suddenly came on the verge of tears.
"Are you alright?" Celestia asked in genuine concern.
He wiped a tear from his eye, "I'm fine, its just.... this is very important."
Celestia looked confusedly at him, before asking, "How?"
The guard smiled at her, and cleared his throat.
"Things weren't always so peaceful here Princess." He looked again at the small battle in front of him. He sighed and said,
“This was the battle of Earth, the planet we’re on now.” He paused for a second before he spotted something not so far away from them. He smiled and turned back toward the princess's.
“You know what, your majesties. I think I see someone who could better explain it. Follow me.” They were confused for a second, but quickly followed him. He was walking toward what appeared to be an elderly male. Celestia could tell, due to his gray hair and wrinkled skin. He was staring at a strange weapon lying on a table. He was also wearing a hat, with the words, ‘U.N.S.C.’ inscribed on it.
“Grand father! it’s me, Andrew!” The old man looked up at him and smiled. They shared a hug, before he spoke.
“Andrew, what are you doing here?” The old man asked.
“I’m on the job. guarding some foreign dignitaries.” He jabbed a thumb back the princesses. The old man approached them, before holding his hand out to them.
“Hello, your majesties. My names, David. pleasure to meet ya.”
Celestia was the first to speak up.
“Hello, david. I am Princess Celestia, and this my sister Luna, and my student Twilight.” He smiled at them, before turning back to ‘Andrew’.
“Now, why are you bothering this old man?” He asked. Andrew smiled.
“Well, we were on our way to the spaceport, so that they could be sent back home, but they saw this place and wanted to check it out…” He trailed off. He looked a bit nervous, and the david only nodded.
He turned back toward the princesses. and sighed, he walked over to the model of the battle they had been at a few minutes before. He stared at it for a few minutes before he spoke up.
“I was in the 3rd Marine Battalion. We had mobilized when the covenant found earth…” He spoke the word ‘covenant’ with malice.
“I had seen battle with them before, i had seen what they were capable of. And I was scared shitless.” He closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly trying to remember something.
“Our battalion came in on pelicans, it was on the outskirts of New Mombasa. When we came in though… I thought we were gonna die.”
“They were all over us,banshees, small arms fire from below, I saw one pelican go down, and I saw them all inside, hanging on and screaming before it cashed and exploded.” He paused for a second. At which Celestia noticed a tear slide down his cheek.
“When we got down… it was bad. The wounded were crawling around for over, and we learned pretty soon that most of the commanding officers were dead…”
“We ran, and ignored everybody else around us. We made our way to the frontline, and when we got there… I saw a brute beat a group of civilians to death. There were children, and it grabbed one of them and bit his….” He stopped abruptly as a choked sob escaped him. Andrew walked over to him and placed an arm around him. He cried for minute before he continued.
“We tried to help them…. but it was too late. We kept moving to our objective, a covenant command and control center. we had orders to blow it sky high, we finally reached the street that led straight up to it, but when we got there, there was one hell of firefight going on.”
“Bullets were flying everywhere. There were dozens of bodies of laid out across the street. Suddenly i heard a roar to my left, and next thing I know, I was on my ass. It was a brute, I watched it kill my commander before it turned on me.”
“Luckily, someone had dropped a pistol not too far from me, I picked it up and blew his fucking brains all over the place.” He paused. He sighed before he continued talking.
“And that was it… we completed our mission and got the hell outta there… a couple of days later, we heard the master chief had blown up the ark and ended the war.” He looked at the monument for a few minutes before looking back toward the princesses, and was surprised to see them crying.
Celestia choked back a sob, and asked him.
“Why?.... w-why would someone do this to somebody else? why??” She all but begged the question. the man looked at her before he spoke.
“When I joined up, I swore to defend humanity and every human life. The covenant threatened everything. They wanted nothing but our demise, and they probably would have succeeded, if it hadn’t had been for the chief…” He looked at the monument, before speaking again.
“The chief is a hero… more than a hero, in fact.”
Celestia calmed herself before asking,
“Who is the, ‘chief’?” Luna asked. She too was shedding tears from the shear violence of his story.
“The chief, or the Master Chief, was a super soldier called a spartan.” He smiled at the word 'spartan'
“Spartans were strong, fast, and overall deadly. A single spartan could kill thousands of covenant soldiers, alone. The chief though… he was something else, he was a god. He slaughtered hundreds of thousands of covenant soldiers, and has seen things no man has ever seen... “ He paused for a long while.
“You know, they used to say, ‘Spartans Never Die, They’re only Missing In Action…’ and honestly, in the case of the chief, I believe it, the UNSC thinks he’s dead. But theres no way someone like the chief could die like that… He’s alive, i know it. And i thank him everyday for saving not just my life, but everyone’s lives.” They stood there, alone, for what felt like hours, before andrew finally broke the depressing silence.
“Well… we should probably be going princesses.” They bid farewell to david before returning to their car and driving to the spaceport. They bid farewell to andrew, and boarded the enormous UNSC vessel. Before they knew it, they were on their way home. Celestia stood on the observation deck, and stared at Earth as they made their way away from it.
Celestia could see physical scars left on the planes surface, a small area shimmering like glass, because it was glassed by the covenant. And as she looked upon the planet, she couldn't help but feel that the Humans were very strong willed, and just simply beautiful. In all honesty, she now looked up to them. They werent perfect, but neither were ponies. The humans were definitely creatures to stay on the good side of. She smiled at the beautiful world before her, before turning around and leaving the deck to join Luna and Twilight…
Author's Note
First Fic. Leave your honest opinion in the comments
