Operation: DRAGOON

Chapter Three

Spartan-A196, surface of unnamed planet, near unidentified energy source. 1722 Hours, December 03, 2552 (Military Calendar)

Neither party moved, silently watching the other.

Lisa kept her hands open and palm upwards, a way of showing she meant no harm, she hoped. Different cultures had different ways of saying things. What might mean a good thing in one country might be offensive in another, leading to misunderstandings and fights. But looking at the lack of hands, Lisa didn’t know if the message would come across.

She flickered from one horse to another, using the opportunity to examine them in much better detail. She saw strange pictures on each of their flanks, ranging from apple to butterflies to a rainbow coloured bolt of lightning, and filed away her curiosity about them for a later date.

One of the horses, the Pegacorn, took a tentative step forward, then another, before some form of recognition overtook the fear and it began speaking rapidly at Lisa who just stood there, not understanding a single word.

She didn’t respond, simply rapping the side of head as she shook it, trying to signify a lack of communication.

It took a few seconds of this for the message to get across to the Pegacorn and it gradually fell silent, Lisa dropping her hand when it did.

Above, the blue Pegasus continued to hover above them all, its face slowly morphing to excitement and curiosity. The pink horse seemed to have a goofy smile plastered across it’s face, contrasting the nearly hidden face of the yellow Pegasus who had backed away slightly, using their pink mane to further hide from Lisa.

The last two, the white unicorn and the orange horse with the hat, had similar expressions of fascination.

The Spartan let both hands fall to her sides as the Pegacorn said something to Blue Pegasus who suddenly sped off, leaving the same rainbow trail it had when Lisa first saw it earlier, before motioning for Lisa to follow, pointing at the distant town.

She looked at the town then nodded once, gesturing for the Pegacorn to lead on.

It smiled back at her then set off, the group walking slowly to make sure Lisa stayed level with them and chatting amongst themselves. They came up to her chest, putting the horses at five feet tall. The pink one stayed close to Lisa, still bouncing rather than walking, and the yellow Pegasus trailed behind her, accompanied by the white unicorn.

To Lisa’s right was the Pegacorn, discussing something with the orange horse.

Ahead, the town loomed, getting closer with each step. Lisa activated her helmet’s zoom and saw a number of the inhabitants were gathering in the streets, pointing hooves at her and whispering to neighbours. Blue Pegasus hovered above it all.

Evidently, the Pegacorn had asked it to forewarn the town of its newest guest and judging by the lack of weapons or sudden appearance of Insurrectionist forces, Lisa guessed they weren’t in league with the human rebels. There was the possibility that this welcoming was merely a facade to buy time for Insurrectionists to show up but the voice in Lisa’s head was saying nothing.

She’d go along with it, for now, but at the first hint of a partnership with the Innies, she’d bug out and engage in guerrilla warfare after contacting the Boxer.

They entered the outer limits of town. Up close, Lisa saw that the town’s inhabitants were mostly the same as Pink and Orange, lacking wings or horns, but she did see a small number of Pegasi and unicorns dotted here and there in the masses now lining the streets. Most of them had pictures on the back legs. The exceptions were the very small, young ones.

Lisa trawled through her mind for the correct word, settling on foal to describe them, before focusing back on the present. The noise level was growing, as were the numbers of horses. She guessed there was upwards of two-hundred watching her go past.

The Pegacorn led her to a giant tree turned building, the door seemingly opening of its own accord. Lisa frowned before raising her eyebrows in surprise when she saw a purple glow surrounding the handle and the Pegacorn’s horn. Was that how the door had been opened? If so, what was it?

She ducked under the low doorway, emerging into the tree’s hollow centre. Books lined the walls, stacked neatly, and a massive wooden horse’s head sat in the centre of the room with yet more books perched on the stand it sat on, also wooden. In one corner were a flight of stairs that led to a basement and in the other was a flight that led to an upper level, one containing beds and a few other items that made it look like someone lived here.

Craning her head around, trying to take as much in as she could, Lisa spied a small creature perched on the upper level, staring down at her. It was covered in purple scales with a light green belly and darker green fins on its head. Lisa classified it as a dragon.

The Pegacorn shut the door using that same purple glow once everyone was inside, including the blue Pegasus that had gone off ahead, then said something to the dragon. It said something back and scampered down the stairs, quickly grabbing a wooden ladder to reach a book on a high shelf, blowing dust off it, before bringing the item to the Pegacorn.

Lisa watched as its horn glowed purple, wrapping the book in that same glow, as a quill and roll of parchment floated from out of a chest of draws, quickly scribbling something down on it.

It floated the scroll over for Lisa to take. The moment she did and her gloved hand entered the purple glow, her shields collapsed almost instantly and began blaring at the Spartan as they tried to re-establish a protective barrier.

She looked up, alarmed, to see similar shocked expressions of everyone else’s faces.

There was a click and then a whine as her shields began recharging, quickly reaching full strength amid an orange glow. When it was done, Lisa scanned the scroll the Pegacorn had given her.

It showed a detailed drawing of her helmet with a cross next to it. She took that to meaning she couldn’t understand them. Next was a drawing of the book with beams of some kind shooting out of it, one of them connecting Lisa with the Pegacorn. The last picture showed her head again, this time with a tick instead of a cross. She frowned, not quite understanding what the pictures meant.

‘Is this... Is this book supposed to let me understand you?’ Lisa said, gesturing at the book as it floated in mid air. She tapped her helmet again, nodding this time as she pointed.

The Pegacorn let out a happy noise, clapping its forehooves together.

Lisa took this to mean yes.

She stood stock still as the Pegacorn began reading intently from the book, its horn starting to glow brighter and brighter with each passing second, until a wave of energy gushed out of it and went through everyone in the room, once again shorting Lisa’s shields out as they made contact. Only this time, Lisa was affected as well.

It started as a minor headache but quickly escalated to a full blown migraine, accompanied by a thousand voices each whispering something in a thousand different languages. Even so, she understood them all.

Then the urge to vomit cropped up.

Lisa fought it down but it was a losing battle and she quickly tore her helmet off to threw up directly onto the floor, falling to one knee as her stomach’s contents were deposited on the wooden surface. She coughed and spat some residual vomit out before sitting back as her headache subsided.

She wiped some sick from her chin and looked to see if the horses had been affected in the same way but all Lisa saw were looks of repulsion and concern. So, she was the only one who had thrown up.

Looking down at the pool of vomit, Lisa pushed herself up and brushed a few errant specks of sick from her armour and helmet before turning to face the Pegacorn.

‘Was that supposed to happen?’ Lisa asked as she donned her helmet, sealing her suit back up.

The Pegacorn opened and closed its mouth a few times before regaining some composure.

‘Are you okay?’ it asked in a feminine voice, answering two of Lisa’s questions. One, the book did have the ability to translate what the Pegacorn was saying so she could understand it and two, the Pegacorn was most likely female. She had leaned more towards it being female by the facial features but wasn’t about to assume anything without concrete evidence.

Lisa glanced down at her sick then went back to the Pegacorn. ‘Yeah. I’ve been worse.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know it would do that to you.’

‘Well now you do,’ Lisa said, watching as a bucket of water and some towels floated towards her before they started to clean up her mess. She watched them work for a second, seeing the purple glow manipulating them, then turned away. ‘You seem awfully calm about the fact an alien is standing in front of you. Most people would be freaking out.’

‘You’re an alien?’ the Pegacorn said. ‘I thought you were from a parallel world.’

‘Parallel world?’ Lisa repeated. ‘What makes you think I’m from a parallel world?’

The Pegacorn waved the issue away. ‘Long story. But if you aren’t from a parallel world, then you really are an alien.’ There was a faint trace of growing excitement in her voice and the other six let out similar noises, edging closer to the Spartan. ‘Oh, wow. I always knew that there had to be other sentient life out there. I just never thought I’d actually meet them.’

‘This. Is so. Awesome,’ the blue Pegasus said, hovering above Lisa. ‘An actual alien. Right here in Ponyville.’

‘Told you somepony was watching us,’ the pink horse said. ‘My Pinkie Sense is never wrong.’

‘You knew I was there?’ Lisa asked, turning to look at the pink one. ‘But, how?’

‘I told you,’ she said. ‘My Pinkie Sense. Twitchy knees, itchy back, fluttering eyes and flopping ears means something’s watching me and it isn’t a pony.’

Lisa opened her mouth and looked at the others, baffled.

‘Don’t fret it, sugarcube,’ the orange horse with the hat said. ‘It may not make much sense but, Pinkie here gets these little feelings and they tell her what’s gonna happen before it does.’

‘Uh, okay?’ Lisa said. ‘And that’s how you knew where to look?’

‘Yep,’ Pinkie said as she bounced around Lisa, suddenly stopping as her tail started to twitch madly. ‘Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail!’

Almost instantly, the others ducked for cover, leaving Lisa the only one stood and thoroughly confused, looking up when a book landed on her head from above. She saw a number of them were precariously perched and as she watched, another fell down.

As it did, Lisa sidestepped and caught the book as it drew level with her chest, placing it on the nearest shelf. No more books fell.

‘I take it that one means things are going to fall?’ she said as the horses came out from cover. ‘The twitching tail?’

Pinkie nodded and resumed bouncing around.

‘Clairvoyant body parts aside,’ Lisa said as she faced the bulk of the group, ignoring Pinkie as she bounced in circles. ‘Who are you? And where am I?’

‘Oh, my goodness. We completely forgot to introduce ourselves,’ the white unicorn said, looking to the yellow Pegasus.

‘There was a bit of a language barrier,’ Lisa countered. ‘Then things started falling down and tails began twitching.’

‘That is no excuse,’ the unicorn said. ‘Why, if I were in your hooves, I would feel so annoyed at not knowing the names of my hosts.’

It was looking like the vast majority were female. They all had feminine voices and features if Lisa scrutinised their faces enough. This was either an all-female friendship group of the ratios of males-to-females was incredibly unbalanced.

‘Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-A196,’ Lisa said, placing a hand on her chest. ‘Of the United Nations Space Command Navy.’

‘Rarity,’ the unicorn said. ‘Pleased to meet you, darling.’

‘I’m Rainbow Dash,’ the blue Pegasus said, performing a loop-de-loop. ‘Fastest flier in all of Equestria.’

‘Equestria,’ Lisa repeated. ‘Is that the name of this planet?’

‘Nah, it’s the name of our country,’ the hat wearing horse said as she stepped a little closer. ‘The planet’s called Faustia.’ She held out her hoof. ‘Name’s Applejack, by the way. Pleasure making your acquaintance.’

Lisa gingerly grasped Applejack’s hoof, taking care not to crush it, and shook it. ‘Likewise.’ She moved to the yellow Pegasus that had said nothing so far and seemed to shrink under Lisa’s faceless stare, made all the more daunting by her towering height.

She squeaked something out so quiet, even Lisa’s armour failed to pick it up and amplify the word.

‘I’m sorry?’ Lisa said.

She repeated it, quieter than before. If it wasn’t for the movement of her lips, Lisa wouldn’t have known anything had been said.

‘Right,’ the Spartan said.

Rarity moved and placed a hoof over the her back.

‘Come now, darling,’ she said. ‘You don’t want to make a bad first impression with an alien race, do you?’

The Pegasus shook her head and stood up, whispering, ‘I’m Fluttershy.’

‘Hello,’ Lisa said.

‘And I’m Pinkie Pie,’ Pinkie said before freezing in mid air, gasping loudly.

Lisa took a step back from her, alarmed. How exactly was she hovering in mid air?

‘You’re new to Ponyville,’ she said. ‘That means I get to throw you a welcome party!’

Before anyone could say anything, Pinkie zoomed out of the tree with a trail of confetti behind her.

The Spartan just watched, dumbstruck, before shaking her head and turning away. ‘I’m not even going to ask what that was about.’

‘Trust me, you’re gonna find out,’ Rainbow Dash said.

‘Uh huh,’ Lisa said as she faced the last two who had yet to tell her their names, the dragon and the Pegacorn.

‘I’m Spike,’ the dragon said, surprising Lisa with the fact it had a more male voice though it was more akin to a child than an adult. ‘I’m a dragon.’

‘Hello, Spike,’ Lisa said, leaving the Pegacorn to reveal her name.

‘And I’m Twilight Sparkle,’ she said, holding her hoof out like Applejack had. ‘Princess of Equestria.’

Lisa’s hand was already reaching out to shake Twilight’s hoof but the moment she mentioned her title, the hand went into a salute on reflex. It was an involuntary response for Spartans in the presence of a superior officer or head of state, human or otherwise.

‘Ma’am,’ Lisa said, coming to attention as she left Twilight’s hoof unshaken.

‘Please don’t do that,’ Twilight said as she stared pointedly at Lisa’s hand pressed against her head in a tight salute. ‘It makes me feel uncomfortable.’

The Spartan lowered her hand but remained at perpetual attention as her mind tried to think of what to do next.

She had read the UNSC’s first contact scenarios and followed them, establishing a means of communication with the native species, but beyond that it was drawing up blanks. Her role in dealing with aliens usually involved killing them, not starting diplomatic relationships with them. Maybe making contact wasn’t such a good move after all.

‘What, um, what now?’ Lisa asked, hoping her new hosts were better at dealing with this than she was.

‘I...I don’t really know,’ Twilight said, looking to the others for support. They just shrugged back. ‘This is the first time I’ve ever met an alien before. I guess we could start learning about each other’s culture.’

‘Yes, what a wondrous idea, Twilight,’ Rarity said as she stepped forward to better examine Lisa’s armour. ‘I would so love to learn what fashion is like on other worlds.’

‘And what kind of animals they have,’ Fluttershy added. She seemed to be becoming more confident around the Spartan, keeping her head raised rather than hiding behind her mane.

‘I’m not the best person to ask about those sorts of things,’ Lisa said. ‘I don’t have much in the way of interaction with those aspects of human culture.’

Both their faces fell.

‘Is that what your race is called?’ Applejack asked. ‘Humans?’

Lisa nodded.

‘What’s the name of your race? Or are there numerous ones?’ she added, glancing at the horns and wings on Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight.

‘Well, kinda,’ Rainbow Dash said as she settled to the floor. ‘See, you have Earth ponies like Applejack and Pinkie Pie who are great with their hoofs and can make almost anything grow, but then you have Pegasus ponies like me and Fluttershy who can fly around and control the weather and stuff.’

‘And then there are unicorns such as myself,’ Rarity said. ‘While all ponies have some magic in them, unicorns can actively use it to do, well, anything.’

Her horn glowed a pale blue and a similar glow wrapped itself around the two books that had fallen, lifting them back into position above Lisa.

‘Run that by me again,’ Lisa said, holding her hand out. ‘You can use magic?’

‘Yes,’ Rarity said.

‘Okay,’ Lisa said. ‘So we have unicorns, Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies.’ She looked at Twilight. ‘That leaves you, ma’am.’

‘She’s what we call an Alicorn,’ Applejack said as she stood next to the princess. ‘Twilight’s got traits from all three ponies. Wings from a Pegasus, horn of a unicorn and the strength of an Earth pony. She’s one of four Alicorns in all of Equestria.’

Alicorn. She hadn’t been far off in calling her a Pegacorn. Then another thought popped into Lisa’s head, recalling her shield’s reaction after it came into contact with the magical aura surrounding the scroll Twilight had given her.

‘You said you use magic,’ Lisa said to Twilight and Rarity, the only ones with horns. ‘And that there are only four Alicorns in Equestria, right?’

‘Right,’ Twilight said.

‘Would two of them happen to live close together?’

‘Yes,’ Twilight said. ‘Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They live in Canterlot Castle. How did you know?’

‘Because when our ship came into orbit, it detected only three powerful energy readings that we couldn’t identify,’ Lisa began to say. ‘I was sent to investigate them and figure out what they are. They’re messing with our sensory equipment, stopping us from getting a clear picture of them, but going by what happened to my shields when they came into contact with your magic and the fact that the interference was mobile, I’m going to say that it’s you.’

‘That’s not a problem, is it?’ Twilight asked.

‘Oh, no. No,’ Lisa said, shaking her head. ‘It’s fine. I just can’t radio my ship around you.’

‘You mean, there are more of you?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘Here?’

‘Yes,’ Lisa said. ‘There’s around ninety or so in orbit. We’re only a recon unit.’

‘Maybe we can visit it someday,’ Twilight said.

‘Maybe,’ Lisa said but she doubted it. The Boxer was supposed to remain hidden. With a powerful, sensor scrambling energy source onboard, Lisa wasn’t quite sure how that invisibility would be maintained. Colbert would never agree to it.

‘I guess the next thing to do would be start building diplomatic relationships,’ Twilight said, holding her hoof out for Lisa to shake. ‘On behalf of the Equestrian Empire, I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, welcome you, Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-A196, representative of Humanity and the United Nations Space Command Navy.’

This time, Lisa shook her hoof though deep down was feeling less than happy about the situation. Humanity’s first contact with a non-threatening alien species was being carried out by a soldier that had all the wrong experiences dealing with non-human life. She had, after all, become a Spartan to kill them.

On top of building relationships with the Equestrians, Lisa still had to search for and eliminate any Insurrectionist strongholds she came across.

This was going to be an interesting mission to say the least.