Spartan and Pony

"Bloody right you do." Price said to the strange man. Soap watched as the soldier looked back at him. His helmet had a golden visor, but the rest of his armor was green. Save for what looked like black under armor. The soldier stared back at Captain Price, clearly not intimidated by the old man. This was not something that you saw very often, almost anyone who stared right at the captain would break under his unforgiving gaze. This soldier, however, seemed to not have any problems with staring him down.

"What do you want to know?" He asks calmly. Price uncrossed his arms and stepped closer. He observed the soldier's armor, carefully inspecting each feature of it. Looking up, he stared right through his visor, trying to intimidate the man, who still somehow managed to hold out against Price's glare. Soap crossed his arms and looked over to the strange ponies that had accompanied the soldier. One of them, a yellow one, was trembling, appearing to be on the verge of crying. An orange one was hugging her and trying to shush her. All the while, a blue one stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Who are you, and why in the heck are you here?" Price asked. Looking back over to Price, Soap saw the soldier look down, as though pondering his thoughts. The soldier looked over to him. Although there was he had a helmet on, his stance was more honoring when facing him than it was for Price. It was almost like the soldier respected him right away, as where he didn't respect Price yet. Soap nodded at the soldier. Despite what Price probably thought, this soldier didn't seem to be a threat. He fought against Makarov after all. When he looked back at Price, Yuri nudged Soap on his arm, and he looked over to him.

"Are you as confused as I am?" He asked as he watched a white pony wipe dirt off of her foreleg, while she gave disgusted groans.

"If not more." Soap said. The soldier stood straight, and looked Price in the eye.

"Master Chief. UNSC. I'm here to help these ponies... Captain Price." He said. Soap's eyes widened as he nearly gasped in shock. This man... Knew Price? But... He had never even seen this guy before! Price quickly grew wide eyed and pulled out his pistol. He rammed it against the chin of the soldier, who still stood still, not giving any indication of fear.

"HOW... IN BLOODY HECK... DO YOU KNOW ME?" Price shouted, bringing his face within inches of the soldier's. Soap couldn't stop staring, his arms had come uncrossed, and were now suspended in front of his body.

...

John calmly watched as Price glared at him. His face was defined by hatred and anger, but if his knowledge of psychological reactions were correct, he knew that Price probably also had feelings of uncertainty, and probably fear. Although not much of the latter. History books said Price was tough as nails, and the only time he showed emotion was when an ally died.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He said. Price growled and shoved the barrel of his weapon further into his chin. It looked like a Desert Eagle, which John knew fired 50 caliber rounds. This weapon was considered honorable, and was only allowed to be kept by longtime veterans of at least twenty years. Although they were heavy, it was able to penetrate Spartan armor including it's shields with a mere 4 shots at close range. However, with how close Price was, it could probably penetrate right now, and while it wouldn't kill, it would destroy several vital nerves and cause severe pain.

"TELL ME!" Price shouts. John thinks for a moment. How likely was it that Price would believe he was from the future? Let alone that in his time, Price was considered a war hero?

"You have nothing to lose John. We both know that you can prove it." Cortana said assuringly. Her voice was filled with an unusual wave of concern, which she only used when she was scared or John was conflicted. In this case, John was concerned that Price, being the hothead he was, wouldn't believe him and pull the trigger. But Cortana was right, he could prove it. With a breath, he spoke.

"I'm from a time over 500 years into the future. And you, are a war hero that inspires many of our soldiers." John said. Price rose his eyebrow, and loosened the pistol. Looking over, John saw MacTavish and Yuri also questioning this. John looked back to Price, who was still conflicted, but seemed to still be holding out. He shoved the pistol back into his chin, gritting his teeth. John calmly stared him in the eye as he heard one of the ponies gasp.

"Prove it, or I'll do what the marijuana couldn't and make sure your eyes never open!" Price said with a growl in his voice. John almost chuckled. Price thought he was abusing a drug that was no longer grown? Then again, it was still popular in this time, so it wasn't surprising that Price would think that he was delusional. John nodded and looked over to MacTavish.

"That man over there is Captain John "Soap" MacTavish. He joined your SAS team in 2011, and since then you two have become like a father and a son. He even sent you a father's day card last year, when you stood up for him in front of his real dad, who abused him as a child. Saying that you were like a real father, and jokingly called you "Old Man"." John said. MacTavish widened his eyes.

"H... How in the heck could you know that?" He asked, clearly confused and frightened by John's accuracy. Looking back to Price, he noticed that there was no longer a look of mistrust in his eyes, and his pistol now pointed at his gut rather than his chin. John continued.

"The man next to him is Yuri. A former Spetsnaz operative who served for six years. He was also once an ultranationalist, who served beside one Vladimir Makarov..." John began. At this, Price grew outraged, and threw John aside.

"WHAT?" He shouted as he marched over to Yuri, who was backing away into a corner. MacTavish looked over to Yuri as well, clearly shocked. Price was about to strike at Yuri, but MacTavish used his hand to stop him.

"Price, relax. I'm sure there's an explanation for this." He said as he looked over to Yuri with an angry expression.

"Or at least there had better be..." He said barely above a whisper. The pink mare excitedly bounced up and down, raising her front hoof high into the air, while exclaiming happily. The two Task Force members rose eyebrows and looked over to the pony, while John just crossed his arms and observed her.

"What's an ultranaturelist? Is it a pony who does things that aren't supposed to happen? You know, ultra natural?" Just then she gasped, levitating in the air.

"No! Maybe it's a pony who takes something natural and..." She tried to say, but the orange mare placed a hoof on her mouth, causing her to only give muffled cries of confusion.

"Hon, he done said ultraNATIONALists, not ultranaturelists." She said with a bored expression. The pink mare gave and acknowledged nod and giggled.

"Oops! Silly me! So, what's an ultranationalist?" She asked as she continued to bounce. The blue mare gave an audible groan as she planted her hoof on her face. MacTavish pointed at the pony, and was about to speak before John interrupted.

"No, I don't know how they are able to talk." Price glared angrily at Yuri, who was beginning to sweat profoundly.

"A terrorist who murders innocents just for fun." He says with grit teeth. Pink's smile vanishes and she gives an audible noise of disgust.

"Well they don't sound very nice or fun at all!" She says as she crosses her forelegs. Yuri raises his arms, begging for a chance to explain.

"No need. I can." John said with crossed arms. Price turned back to him, as did MacTavish. Yuri also looked at him, clearly frightened with what was occurring. John took a step forward and began to explain.

"Yuri was just a man who made sure the ultranationalist got weapons for their cause. He never actual did any of the terrorist actions, nor did he even know it was occurring. The first time that he even knew was ten years ago, when Makarov, his best friend at the time, recruited him to help him bomb a bus stop. He thought it was full of corrupted politicians planning on destroying Russia. He only noticed after the bomb, when he saw a group of families in the train station. He never forgave himself for this, and vowed to stop these attacks. When Yuri became Makarov's right hand man, and witnessed a nuke kill 30,000 marines, and felt unbelievable guilt and hurt over this. He stopped a nuclear launch that was supposed to be sent to America in the year of 2014, and prevented a massacre in England. 2 years later, he tried to rat Makarov out, before he could commit a massacre at an airport, but he was discovered, shot, and left for dead. He still tried to use a security guard's pistol to kill him, but he was too badly hurt. His life was saved by a medic in the airport, and since then, he vowed vengeance for the lives lost under Makarov's lead in the ultranationalists." He said. Price's face loosened, and he looked back over to Yuri, who was both shocked, and nodding his head rapidly. Price sighed and walked away from Yuri, who sighed in relief.

"What day is it?" John asked. Price rose an eyebrow at this question, but answered nonetheless. October 11th, 2016. Just as John suspected. He crossed his arms and leaned against a wall.

"Looks like I just changed history." He said. Price stepped back in confusion, and MacTavish cocked his head to the side. Both of them were obviously not sure what to make of John's statement,

"What in the devil are you talking about mate?" MacTavish asked. Just as John was about to speak, the purple unicorn walked up to MacTavish and tapped his leg. The Captain gave a quick shout and jumped, giving an annoyed groan when he saw the pony.

"Excuse me, sir? I'm Twilight Sparkle, and if you want, I can show you what he means. I can show you what was supposed to happen had he not come." She said. MacTavish backed away slightly, and gave an exaggerated sigh as he nodded. The purple unicorn closed her eyes as her horn began to glow an eerie white color, making the soldiers around him somewhat creped out. John was used to it since he saw plenty more use magic before. The scenery around them began to shift violently into shades of orange, where shapes of humans formed. One dived, and an explosion trailed it. A faint outline of Price was seen carrying MacTavish while Yuri provided cover. Gunfire rang in John's ears as he watched the scenario play out in front of him.

"Hang in there Soap!" Could be heard from the illusion. It shifted, and the scene of Price glaring down at Yuri appeared. Price slowly walked down the stairs as blood flowed from an open injury in Yuri's head, who was staring at the captain with fear in his eyes.

"Soap trusted you..." Was heard as Price readied a pistol and pointed it at Yuri. Quickly the image shifted again, and this time, it showed a badly injured MacTavish lying on a table with Price right next to him. MacTavish was bleeding very badly, and appeared to be barely conscious.

"Price... Yuri..." Escaped from the illusion's mouth, and the image shifted again. As it did, cries of agony and sorrow could be heard, Price's. He begged and cried for MacTavish to stay with him, as the image finally faded to one final picture. This was one where Price had his head bowed in respect and placing a pistol on MacTavish's chest. MacTavish had ceased to move, and his entire body had gone limp. Yuri was standing to the side, his mouth agape as a single tear rolled down his face.

"I'm sorry..." He heard as the image faded away, returning to the original scenery.

...

Soap stared with his mouth agape at the wall on the far side, breathing heavily. To his side, Price had his mouth agape as well, and was looking over to Soap. Yuri was just standing there, a stunned look on his face, not sure what to say. Soap looked down to the ground as a wave of emotions flooded over him.

"I... I was supposed to die?" He asked, barely above a whisper. He felt a hand against his shoulder, and turned. Price had his hand on his shoulder, and stared at him sympathetically. The pony called Twilight nodded, and looked over to the Chief.

"He saved your life." She said calmly. Soap looked over to the soldier, who nodded. Just as he was about to speak, an explosion sounded, and the building rumbled.

"Makarov's guys are moving in, we gotta go." The chief said as he pulled a weapon from his back. Price gave Soap one final pat on the back, then told him to lead the way.