Ever wonder what's up There?

Chapter Three
Running a Marathon

February 14th, 2531
Unknown star system, Cygnus arm
UNSC Destroyer Marathon
Captain: Commander Michael Preston
Mission: classified
Destination: unspecified

"Commander, are you sure about this? It could be dangerous down there?" Lieutenant Tiffany Gates inquired, expressing her concern over the Commander's plan to personally head down to the surface of the planet they had discovered.

They had arrived in the current star system and had found several planets, though only one was inhabited. Upon this discovery Commander Preston ordered a dropship be prepared so he and a Marine Combat Team could deploy to the surface.

"Yes, Lieutenant; scans show that the only beings down there are some kind of quadrupeds. I don't think there's any danger" Commander Preston replied.

"Well I guess I can't stop you, Sir. Stay safe down there" Gates requested, almost pleading with the Commander.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant, I'll be OK" Preston said, standing from his command chair and turning to face the holo-tank that housed the Marathon's 'dumb' AI, Everlasting Fall. "Fall, I advise you not to steal any classified information while I'm gone. You're in charge."

"Of course, Commander" the AI responded as Preston left the bridge, making his way through the ship down to the hangar bay where he found a D77-TC Pelican dropship and Marine Combat Team 7 waiting for him.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Get on the ship and let's get down there" Commander Preston ordered, boarding the craft along with the Marines as it took off and streaked down towards the planet.

*-*-*

Twilight Sparkle sighed as she stepped out of the library, staring at Canterlot several miles away. Thar 'Saramee had gone to Canterlot to discuss something with the Princesses while his ship explored the rest of the planet in search of other life. Of course they would find plenty, such as Canines, Griffins, and Dragons.

In the preceding days Twilight had learned a lot about the Sangheili and their religious group, the Covenant.

The Sangheili were apparently a proud and honor-centric race, focusing on archaic beliefs of honor through death and combat, an ideology Equestria abandoned after the Discordian rule.

Twilight also learned that all Sangheili are raised to be warriors, being taught to fight as soon as they are able to walk. All other societal roles such as becoming a doctor are treated as secondary endeavors or even hobbies. In addition to this she was told that Sangheili never know their fathers to prevent social status from being inherited, forcing Sangheili children to make their own way in the galaxy.

The thought of most Sangheili never knowing their fathers saddened Twilight greatly.

In addition to their society, culture, and anatomy Twilight also learned about their technology, which she found to be most exciting.

Thar had personally shown her a device he called the Type-1 energy sword, a weapon which was very important to the Sangheili Shipmaster. According to Thar the energy sword was more a ceremonial tool than a weapon, though they were used on equal fronts.

Twilight had been skeptical about a sword that had light for blades, and had requested a demonstration, leading the Sangheili to the edges of the Everfree forest and telling him to cut down a tree with the weapon.

In one quick swipe the blade had slashed through the tree, and at first nothing happened until Thar pushed on the trunk firmly and the entire upper part of the tree fell over, separating at the spot where the blade passed through.

The Unicorn was both excited and horrified by this; she could only imagine the effect it would have on organics.

Accompanying the energy sword was a weapon called the Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle, or plasma rifle; according to Thar 'Saramee the plasma rifle fired a superheated ionized gas called plasma, and direct hits from the plasma bolts would cause up to third and fourth degree burns, and near impacts and misses could cause first and second degree burns, or if you were really lucky would just cook the fur off your skin.

The weapon horrified Twilight greatly, and what was worse was that there were bigger weapons in the Covenant army that fired the same kind of plasma.

At the end of the night their discussion came to Thar's ship, a CSO-class supercarrier; the supercarrier was the largest ship model in the Covenant navy next to their space stations, clocking in at around 17 miles in length, or 28 kilometers. It was armed with numerous plasma turrets, energy projectors, pulse laser turrets, and plasma torpedo tubes. For defensive purposes it sported what the Shipmaster called an energy shield, which could be used to absorb tremendous amounts of damage to protect the ship.

Twilight sighed once more, resigning herself to a day of boredom; Thar would be gone for several days, and the Unicorn was excited for his eventual return.

The Unicorn was about to head back inside when a faint humming caught her attention, making her turn around and look up at the sky where she saw a craft descending from the sky which swooped to a stop in front of the library, flames jetting out some tubes on the wings and scorching the grass under it.

Perhaps my day won't be so boring after all Twilight thought as a ramp on the back of the craft dropped and a group of bipeds thundered out, levelling large devices in their hands. The majority of the bipeds were adorned in a gray armor and metal hats but there was one who wore only cloth coverings; his shirt had several ribbons and medals on it and his mane was cut short, running gray around the edges.

Twilight guessed his age at around late thirties to early forties.

"Spread out! Look for any kind of sentient life! Somebody built this town" the cloth-covered biped barked, apparently being some kind of captain like Shining Armor as the other bipeds did as he told.

"Um, excuse me, can I help you?" Twilight asked, unaware that the day was about to get a lot more intense than she hoped it would.

*-*-*

"Holy crap, did that horse just talk?"

"How the hell do horses talk?"

"Are they aliens?"

"Am I still high?"

All of these questions rang out from the Marines as they crowded around Twilight, encroaching upon her personal space and making her feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic.

"Alright, cut it out, there's no way in hell that horses can talk. It must've been some kind of planetary anomaly. Let me get on the horn with Everlasting Fall and see if he can detect any kind of radiation that we missed" Commander Preston declared, approaching one of the Marines and preparing to snatch the radio phone off his back.

"But I can talk! See? I'm talking, you're not crazy, I promise" Twilight exclaimed, making the Marines step back in fear and level their weapons at her.

"This place is messed up!" the Marine sergeant, Christopher Grimesy, yelled, rubbing his eyes making sure they were clear as he looked at the Unicorn.

"What is wrong with you aliens? Is my existence really that implausible to you?" Twilight exclaimed, stamping a hoof into the ground for emphasis.

"Commander, it's getting agitated. We need to defuse this situation fast or we're screwed" Sergeant Grimesy announced.

"Alright, alright, everyone just calm down! Horse, what is your name?" the Commander demanded, making sure the Marines had stood down before approaching her; everyone was jumpy, and the last thing Preston wanted was one of the Marines shooting the horse and causing an incident.

"I'm a pony, thank you, and my name is Twilight Sparkle" the horse- pony, spat, angry at the 'horse' moniker.

"OK, 'Twilight Sparkle'? Really? This planet really IS messing with us" Commander Preston sighed, getting on the radio with the Marathon.

"Everlasting Fall, come in, this is Commander Preston."

"Yes, Commander, how may I be of assistance?" the AI asked, his cheery artificial tone indicative of 'dumb' AIs that have no complex personality.

"I need you to run a fully detailed scan of this planet, primary search parameter is radiation; there's a horse down here and it's talking to us" Preston said.

"I'm a PONY!" the horse yelled.

"Understood, Commander. Running the scan now... No significant amounts of radiation have been detected beyond the usual background radiation, and even that is in extraordinarily low quantities. Your horse is real, Commander" Fall stated matter-of-factly.

"PONY!"

"Knock it off, your yelling is hurting my ears... So you really are real...this was unexpected" Preston said, frowning.

"Why? Why is it such a big deal?" the pony inquired, anger still in her voice. Hopefully her anger will die down and the situation won't blow wide open.

"HEY! What the hell?! Get off of me!" Sergeant Grimesy suddenly shouted, prompting the Commander and the Marines to whip around and draw their weapons.

The Sergeant was being mauled by a pink pony.

"OH WOWEE MORE ALIENS! You guys look so dull and boring like you need to have some fun you wanna come back to my place for a good time?! I'm sorry my friend Rainbow Dash taught me that one she said it was a great way to pick up guys whatever that means! Hey, do you know Thar?! He's this big scary alien that we know well I thought he was scary but my granny said I can just laugh my fears away like HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the pony ranted, jumping up all around the Marines and hopping in their faces, coming to the Commander last.

"YOU WANNA PARTY!?"

BOOM!

Time slowing down and her ears ringing Twilight looked on in horror at the device in Preston's hands, part of the top of the device sliding back and a brass cylinder soaring out into the air, smoke trailing out of it as the top of the weapon began to close. Turning her eyes to Pinkie Twilight saw her body falling to the ground, blood spilling out of her rear left leg and tainting her pink coat like a cancer spreading throughout her very essence.

Her body hit the ground, time returned to a normal speed, and Pinkie Pie began screaming.

"Holy shit, Sir...you shot her!" Private Leroy Jenkins said, staring at the Commander in disbelief.

"She'll live. UNSC Marathon, send a fully-armed Pelican down, we got a situation here" Commander Preston stated.

"Yes, Commander."

"What did you do to her!? Oh my gosh, she's bleeding! HELP HER!" Twilight screamed.

"SHUT UP!" Preston bellowed, feeling like he wanted to shoot her too. The pink one had thoroughly broken proximity protocols and the Commander should've shot her the moment he saw her hopping all over Sergeant Grimesy.

Suddenly a bright flash of white filled everyone's vision, the Marines stepping back and crouching down, aiming their MA5B assault rifles at the being that had appeared out of the white flash.

"FREEZE!" Commander Preston thundered, aiming his M6G/B* at the large white horse standing next to the purple pony.

"Wait! Please calm down! We don't want to hurt you!" the white pony exclaimed, raising her wings as if to still the Marines.

The humming of a Pelican dropship filled the air and the craft swooped down above the Marines, the 70mm chain-gun sweeping back and forth as the pilot looked around the town.

"This is Echo-419, orders, sir?" the pilot asked, watching the tension fill the air so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Stand by, Foehammer, this situation is hairy; these ponies already broke proximity protocols" Preston replied.

"We DON'T want to hurt you!" the purple pony shouted, charging forward a small distance.

"WASTE HER!" Preston ordered.

"NO!" the white pony yelled.

The Marines all gripped their MA5Bs so tight their knuckles were glowing white, and Commander Preston himself had a really itchy trigger finger; they either needed to get the hell out or calm everyone down.

"Commander, what are we doing?!" Grimesy shouted, his hands on his shotgun like a vise.

"Foehammer, set her down and prepare for immediate dustoff. We're getting the hell out of here!" the Commander declared, turning tail and running along with the Marines as Echo-419 soared some distance from the town and began to lower.

"WAIT! COME BACK!" Twilight screamed as she chased after them, Princess Celestia following close behind.

"Twilight, wait!"

The humans reached the Pelican and jumped in, the ramp sealing behind them and securing them from the assuredly psychotic ponies as Echo-419 rose into the air.

Preston rushed into the cockpit as Foehammer turned the dropship around to face the two ponies on the ground, staring up at them.

"Get us out of here" the Commander ordered, Foehammer complying as she pushed the control sticks forward, rocketing the dropship back into space on a course for the Marathon.

*-*-*

"Well, that could've gone better" Commander Preston lamented as he sat in the command chair, overlooking the report he had drafted up to send to the Office of Naval Intelligence.

"At least there were no casualties; all human personnel got out alive and unharmed" Everlasting Fall piped up, his avatar appearing on the plinth next to the main screen. "The horses are in disarray, Commander, and I'm sure they're very angry at us. What will be your next move?"

"Get out of this system, but make sure the planet is tagged for the UNSC" Preston answered, leaning back in the chair and smoking a Sweet Williams, a cigar brand popular with naval officers.

The commander broke at least three regulations igniting a combustible on the command deck, but didn't care; things had gotten too stressful down on the surface.

"Sir! You've got a message from the planet's surface! Records indicate it's from the same thing that sent us the original message" the communications officer announced.

"Ah, hell. Play the message, Lieutenant" the Commander ordered, wondering just what the message had to say.

"Fear was abundant in all of us, and we were met with a misunderstanding. Please return to us, we are truly friendly" the same regal voice from the original message said.

Commander Preston sighed and looked at Everlasting Fall, saying "tell MCT 7 we're heading back down there; full combat load, it might be a trap."

"Yes, Commander."

*-*-*

Echo-419 came to a stop and swooped around on its horizontal axis, dropping the rear hatch allowing the Marines of MCT 7 and Commander Michael Preston to step out. The dropship retreated into the air and provided overwatch for the humans.

The Commander approached the same large white horse from earlier and stopped a safe distance before her, the two sides symmetrical; flanked by the white horse were six others, three on each side, Preston recognizing one as Ms. Twilight Sparkle. On the Commander's side he was flanked by the six Marines that made up MCT 7, three on each side.

Each of the Marines kept their MA5Bs trained on the horse directly across from them.

"I am Princess Celestia, you are?" the white horse inquired, taking a step toward the Commander. The Marines focused their rifles on her.

"No, keep your weapons trained on the horse across from you. I'll handle her if need be" Preston commanded.

Each of the equines bristled at the word 'horse', and the Commander suspected it was derogatory in their world.

"We're not going to hurt you, but you hurt one of us" the Princess Celestia stated, silenced when Preston raised a hand.

"Save it, that pink one there broke proximity protocols, she could've very well been a threat. She should be dead, but I spared her... I see you patched her up just fine. I trust there was no significant issue removing the bullet from her leg?" Commander Preston asked.

"No, there was not" Princess Celestia replied.

"Good. Now, I will concede to the point your made in your message; this was all a misunderstanding. We are travellers and this is the first time we've ever made contact with a species such as yours; both Ms. Sparkle and the pink one made us very uneasy with their confrontations, though I suspect our shock at finding a race of intelligent horses also played a hand" the human naval officer explained.

"Could you please stop calling us horses? It's very rude" Twilight Sparkle requested, she herself taking a step towards the humans.

"Alright, alright, all of you step the FUCK back. You're breaking proximity protocols again and that started all this in the first place" Sergeant Grimesy yelled, his shotgun trained tightly on the butter-yellow horse directly across from him.

The horse was shaking in fear.

"What distance are we allowed to stay at?" the Princess inquired.

"The minimum is 7 feet; 6 to 4 permits less-than-lethal force to subdue, and 3 to 0 permits to take whatever measures necessary to ensure UNSC First Contact forces make it out alive" Preston explained.

"What does all that mean?" Twilight said, perplexed.

"It means that if you come any closer we will kill you" Grimesy exclaimed.

"Exactly. Now, if the matter can be cleared up we would like to establish a peaceful relationship between our two species" Preston said.

"Gladly, this was all just a big misunderstanding after all. All I request is that you apologize to Pinkie Pie for shooting her" the Princess told him.

"I'm sorry."

"Excellent. Now, for official peace talks we must travel to my home of Canterlot and-" Celestia said, cut off when one of her guards stepped up and whispered something into her ear.

Sighing in exasperation the Princess dismissed the guard and said "I apologize but I must be going; my sister is having a tough time handling Thar. I'm sure my student and her friends can handle you all if you'd like to stick around for a while."

"So what? You're trusting us to just stick around here unsupervised? We're all friends now?" Preston stated.

"Did I not say my student and her friends will keep an eye on you?"

"Who precisely is your student?" the Commander asked, watching as Celestia pointed her hoof at the purple one, Twilight Sparkle.

"Awkward" Private Leroy Jenkins commented, earning a firm tap in the ribs from Sergeant Grimesy's elbow to shut him up.

"Well, this certainly is very awkward. I'm sorry for this terrible misunderstanding" the Commander stated.

"I'm sorry for being so enthusiastic when I met you; looking back I can see my behavior was very inappropriate when making contact with an alien race" Twilight responded, shame in her eyes.

"Would you like to come into the library where we might be more comfortable? I've got a lot of questions."

"Lead the way" Preston said, following the purple pony as they went into a large hollowed out tree.

*-*-*

*This is the magnum sidearm first seen in Halo: Reach.
Hey, Blackburn, since we always play off each other and do whatever the other is doing/has done does that mean you'll write a remake of FFE One?

Legal note: Shipmaster Thar 'Saramee, Commander Michael Preston, and all related characters belong to me. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro. Halo belongs to 343i.