Soldier Like No Other

Chapters

1) The soldier in green armour
2) Back in action
3) Warning
4) Parasites
5) Guard duty
6) Mission start
7) Going down
9) Calm before the storm
10) Down in the deep
11) Nightmare Beta
12) When the crystals fall
13) The conflict rages on
14) Sombra
8) Nightmares plan

1) The soldier in green armour

I woke up in a white void, my body feeling lighter than air. I looked down at my hands and saw my entire body was made of light. "Wha... what happened?" I asked to no one.

"You died, that's what happened." I turned my head to see a young man, probably no older than nineteen, walking towards me. He wore a dark purple trench coat, a grey t-shirt underneath as well as purple jeans and grey boots. He had piercing purple eyes, his hair was long and grey, he also had a small buzz of a beard growing below his lower lip. "Hello Marcus."

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" I got to my feet, confused out of my mind.

"My name is Neo Rayliegh, but you may call me Symbol." He gave a respectful bow before standing straight. "As for how I know your name, that will take some explaining and I don't think you are in any mood to sit and listen while I talk."

Looking over my body I nodded, he was right about what he said. "You said I died, how?"

He sighed and turned away slightly. "While you were walking across a road a drunk driver hit you, killing you on impact. This place, is what your people call purgatory."

"So, you're here to judge whether I go to heaven or hell?" I asked, knowing where I would end up anyway.

"No. I am here to give you another chance at life."

I just raised a brow.

"I have the power to give you a whole new life, as a new being, in a new world." He smiled as he explained this to me.

"I'm sensing a catch to this."

He frowned and nodded. "There is indeed a catch my friend. You will not be brought back to life in your original body, I have to put you into a separate body of a character of fiction from your world."

I took a moment to think about what he said. Place me in the body of a character from fiction? There was no way that could be true, then again I was supposedly dead and talking to an inter-dimensional being that was telling me I could be brought back. "Do I get to choose who I'm brought back as?"

Symbol shrugged. "I guess, there isn't any rules saying I can't let you choose. Go ahead, think about it for a second."

There was always the chance I was just having a very surreal dream, so I might as well make the most of it. I decided on my favourite video game character of all time. "How about Spartan 117, Master Chief?"

Symbol scratched his chin in thought before nodding. "Alright, the Chief it is." I smiled and stood straight. "Prepare yourself, this might sting a little." He placed his hands together and created a ball of light. Floating in the air slightly he gently pushed the ball towards me, where is made its way into my chest with the slight sting I was warned about. My vision went black and I passed out. "Sweet dreams Marcus, enjoy your time in your new life. I'll be watching you in case you need assistance." Before I had completely blacked out I felt something being placed on my wrist.

Equestria: Before Nightmare Moons banishment

Princess Celestia and Luna both sat on their thrones, both harbouring the burden of the loses that the current war between Ponies and Griffins had brung. Luna sat in her armour, covered head to hoof in dark blue metal while holding her sword in her magic. Celestia also sat in her gold plated armour, a spear by her side. The two were ready to join the battle so that they could give Equestria a fighting chance against the naturally born warriors.

As they were about to step off of their respective thrones a metal capsule came crashing through the roof of the castle. "What is this, an enemy attack?" Celestia asked, reading her spear.

"We do not know dear sister, let us take caution." The two sisters slowly circled the green capsule. As they approached it some latches opened and a few puffs of steam escaped as the door to the large pod opened to reveal a bipedal creature. It wore a set of dark green armour with a black under layer. It's helmet had an orange visor with a line going across the middle but bent downwards once it reached the centre. On the left breast of the creatures armour the numbers '117' were painted in white. On its wrist there appeared to be a purple band with a small gem imbedded in it.

Beside the creature was a selection of weapons that the two sisters had never seen, although they recognised two of them as a sword and a war hammer.

"Do thy have any clue as to what this creature is sister?" Luna asked Celestia as she readied her sword.

"It is clearly too advanced to be of Griffin origin, it almost seems... Unworldly." Suddenly a note floated down to Celestia, catching it in her magic she smiled. "Luna, I think we just found our way to end this war."

Over 1000 years later, Canterlot Invasion

As Princess Celestia battled Queen Chrysalis, the two broke apart and fired beams of magic at each other. Eventually Chrysalis won the battle, causing Celestia to slide across the marble floor with her horn burnt and smoking slightly. Chrysalis looked to her hooves in shock, her lips curled into a smile. "Well, it seems feeding off of Shining Armours love has made me even stronger than Celestia!" Giving an evil laugh the Queen flew over to the balcony overlooking Canterlot as it was besieged by her changeling army.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends rushed over to Celestia to make sure she was alright. Celestia opened her eyes and placed a hoof on Twilights shoulder. "Twilight... I need you to go to the basement of the castle, you'll find a green pod with a creature inside. Press the big red button on the side of the pod and tell the creature 'Canterlot is under attack.' Can you do that for me?"

"What about the Elements of Harmony?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"The changelings have more than likely set up a small swarm to protect the Elements. Go, while you still have a chance."

Looking to her teacher unsure Twilight ran towards the door of the wedding hall along with her friends. As they rand down the halls Twilight blasted the occasional changeling that got in her way while Rainbow flew ahead to deal with a few others and Pinke used her party cannon to clear a path.

They eventually reached a stairwell leading to the basement of the castle. Looking back at the oncoming swarm of changelings Twilight set up a magical barrier to buy them some time.

Quickly trotting down the stone steps the group walked into a room with dormant machinery with a glowing green pod in the middle of the room. While the others looked about the room and barricaded the door with a few pieces of furniture, Twilight walked up to the pod and did as her teacher had instructed.

Pressing the button on the side, the glass casing on the pod released steam and slowly opened. As Twilight was about to walk closer she heard a deep voice come from the pod. "What's the situation?"

Remembering what Celestia had told her Twilight cleared her throat. "Canterlot is under attack."

A hand reached out of the pod and gripped the open casing. Pulling himself out the warrior in green armour rose from his thousand year sleep and looked around at the mares who stared at him in awe. "I'm sorry but introductions will have to be exchanged later, right now I have a city to save." He stepped out and approached one of the dormant machines. Typing in a code on a keypad the machine opened to reveal a selection of firearms and explosives. "What is attacking the city?"

"Uh, changelings sir." Twilight responded shakily.

"Right." He looked around his weapons and took two out. An assault rifle, a rapid fire rifle with a magazine containing 32 bullets, good for close courters combat but not so good for ranged. He also picked a DMR, a semi-automatic rifle with a magazine size of 15. It had a 2x zoom scope and was great for long ranged battles. "You ready to go Eris?"

On a small podium a blue light created a hologram of a blue female Draconequus. "As ready as I'll ever be." Walking over to the podium the creature pulled out a chip and the hologram disappeared. He slid the chip into the back of his helmet and the voice of the hologram could be heard by only him.

"Excuse me, sir?" He turned around and saw Twilight looking at him in fascination. "Before we go out there to fight the changelings, what do we call you?"

He turned around and walked towards the door. "Call me Chief." He kicked the door open and aimed his assault rifle at the oncoming swarm that had died down thanks to Twilights spell tiring them out. "Show time."

Chief opened fire at the swarm and steadily started to mow them down, each going down in just one bullet. After the magazine ran dry he switched to his DMR to pick off the last few. Aiming carefully he blew each ones head off with the rifle, spreading green goo on the walls of the staircase. As his magazine ran dry on that rifle he used his inhanced strength to crush his opponents with a single punch.

Once the path was cleared he looked back to the mares that were looking at him in shock. "Come with me if you want to live." He reloaded his guns and sprinted up the steps, the mares following his lead. As they reached the hallway Chief looked down the hall and spotted a lone squad of changelings surrounding a group of guards. Aiming his DMR he managed to pick them all off without using the full magazine.

Running down the corridor he placed his back against the wall and leaned around the corner. The wedding hall was just up ahead, but was guarded by quite a few changeling drones.

'You got a plan for this Marcus?' Eris asked, knowing the answer.

"I do." He put away his guns and pulled out two frag grenades, pulling the pins off them. "Wing it." He tossed the explosives towards the swarm and they landed in the centre of the crowd, a few seconds later the grenades exploded and only left a few drones that were picked off with a few shots from the assault rifle as Chief ran up the hallway.

"You are really violent you know that?" Twilight stated while running alongside him.

"I get that a lot." As they reached the giant gold doors that were smeared with changeling blood Chief kicked the door open, surprising the current occupants.

"What in Tartarus are you?" Demanded Chrysalis as she buzzed down to the floor. "Where are my guards?"

"There's a bit of them here, a bit over there and a bit on my boots." Chief walked forward and put his guns away while holding up his fists, "and there's gonna be a bit of you on my gloves when this is over."

2) Back in action

Chrysalis and Master Chief stared each other down, a smirk on the changeling Queen's lips. "You honestly believe that you can defeat me without magic or a weapon?" She laughed evilly and charged her horn. Aiming it towards Chief she fire a huge magic blast, enveloping him in the beam of green light. When she stopped firing she looked at the dust cloud in satisfaction. "Foolish biped. Now then, since that little annoyance has been taken care of I can commence draining you all of your magic and love."

"Let me give you some advice," the dust settled and Chief was still standing, a layer of yellow electricity covering his body, "Make sure your opponent is down before you turn you back."

Chrysalis snarled and turned to her opponent. "I guess your endurance makes up for your foolishness, very well, I could use a little bit of target practice." Charging her horn she shot multiple smaller beams which Chief dodged by running to the side. Once he reached a stone pillar he jumped and kicked himself off the wall, rising into the air and falling towards Chrysalis.

As the Queen attempted to dodge Chiefs fist landed on her left cheek and sent her sliding over the smooth marble floor, a small line of green goo following her. "Get up." Chief slowly walked around her as she shakily got to her hoofs and spat a broken fang out of her mouth with a bit of green blood.

"You'll pay for that!" She raised her head and let out a high pitched screech. Everyone present shielded their ears, the frequency was strong enough to damage Chiefs energy shield. Soon a large number of changelings broke in through the windows and the walls of the room, surrounding Chuef.

'This isn't looking good Marcus, you better have a plan that isn't you winging it this time.' Chief looked around the room as Eris began to rant on about his recklessness.

"What's the matter Chrysalis, scared to face me alone?" Chief mocked as he shook his head.

'Smart move, put her pride on the line.'

Chrysalis snarled at the Spartan, all of her changelings looking to her for orders. "Fine, I'll fight you myself."

As Chrysalis stepped through the swarm of drones Chief noticed the ponies trying to free Celestia and Princess Cadence. "Alright, your move."

Chrysalis buzzed her wings and shot towards him in a green cone of energy, carrying him across the room and slamming him against the wall, breaking his shield. Breaking free of the Queens grasp he grabbed her horn and began to repeatedly punch her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her before tossing her into the crowd that caught her.

Quickly recovering the Queen shot multiple beams at the spartan, hitting him in the chest and leg. Once she finished bringing down his recharged shield she shot forward and nailed him in the stomach, causing him to stagger.

Chief recovers and threw a punch which Chrysalis dodged but he then brought his other fist down on the queen, slamming her into the ground. Picking her up he spun her around before sending her flying into a wall.

"Go my children! Feed, destroy, kill!" Hissed Chrysalis, having had enough of the battle. As the army of drones charged Chief he pulled out a small metal orb and threw it in the air, it then emitted a blinding light that temporarily stunned the drones. He ran through the crowd and nailed the blinded Chrysalis in the neck, causing her to cough and spit out blood.

Chief readied his fist but it was covered in a golden aura. Looking over he saw Celestia standing up with a smile on her face while shaking her head. Looking over to Cadence and Shining Armour he saw the two floating in the air, their bodies then bent to make the shape of a heart and a huge pink wave of energy passed over Canterlot, sending the changelings flying off in all directions.

'Talk about anticlimactic, deus ex machina much?'

"You know, I was thinking the same thing." Chief shook his head and walked over to the smiling Celestia, giving a salute.

"Enough of that Marcus, you're off duty for now." Chief dropped his hand. "It's good to see you again after all this time."

"Likewise Celestia." Chief looked to the right and saw the rest of the ponies walking up to them. "Looks like we'll need to answer a few questions."

Celestia nodded and turned to the group. "Before anything else, I would like to thank you all for your bravery and heroism during today's events." The ponies smiled and looked to each other. "Now, I'm sure you're wondering about the armoured creature beside me." She was met with nods. "Well, I guess I should tell you a little about him then since he isn't one for long conversations." She looked to Chief with a smirk but he just looked away. "Alright be like that then. Now, does anypony have any questions?" Everyone raised their hooves. "Twilight, what is your question?"

"What species is he? I mean his body is shaped like a Minotaurs but with the way his proportions are he can't possibly be one."

Celestia smiled. "My friend here is what is known as a human, a species evolved from great apes millions of years ago on a planet called earth."

Twilight just smiled widely. "You mean he's not from this world?"

"That's right. As you can see the techs he has with him and his suit of armour are far too advanced to have come from anywhere on Gaia. Next question." Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. "Go right ahead."

"What are those things on his back that he was using to kill those changelings?" Chief had found a question he was more than willing to answer. He took his assault rifle and held it in his arms.

"They are called guns, they fire small projectiles called bullets. Depending on what kind of gun you use, one can either make a hole in someone or blow them sky high." Rainbows eyes lit up as she looked at the gun. "Sorry, professional use only."

Celestia cleared her throat. "Anypony else?" Applejack raised her hoof.

"If ya don't mind me askin partner, but why did ya come to this world if there is one with yer own kind?" Chief lowered his head slightly and sighed.

"I'm here because I died once." The group all looked at him confused. "When I was in the plane between the afterlife and the land of the living a man named Symbol came to me and offered me another chance at life. I had done some bad things in my past life so I would have ended up in hell if I chose to not accept his offer. He brought me back to life and placed me here, in this body and armour."

The group looked to each other with saddened expressions. Celestia sighed and comforted her ponies, telling them to go get ready for the real wedding while she and the Royal gaurd repaired the damages. The mane six left the room, leaving Chief with Celestia, Cadence and Shining.

"Excuse me, Chief was it?" Cadence asked receiving a nod. "I'd just like to thank you for stalling Chrysalis while I freed my fiancé and helping us save Canterlot."

"Just doing my job ma'am." Chief turned to Celestia. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to stasis." As he was walking the door was closed by Celestias magic.

"Marcus, you've spent too long in that pod, you need to be out and about for awhile."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do in that time Celestia?" He asked, turning to her.

"Talk to somepony, make some friends, have a life." Pleaded the solar Princess.

"I'm a soldier Celestia, I don't have the kind of personality for making friends." Chief forced the door open and began walking back to his pod.

'You should have listened to her Marcus.'

"I did, I'm just going to have a rest and recover from that fight first."

Equestria: During the Griffin War

The being inside the capsule slowly woke up. It opened its eyes underneath its helmet and looked around the lit throne room. His eyes then fell on the two ponies in front of him. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things before looking at his hands, surprised to see them covered in green armour. "Wha..."

"Greetings Marcus." Marcus froze as he looked to Celestia.

"Did... Did that pony just talk?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Get it together Marcus, you're just having a bad dream." It was at that point that he noticed the difference in his voice, a voice only one man could ever hope to have, the voice of John 117 Master Chief.

"Marcus, are you alright?" Celestia asked again.

Marcus looked at her in shock. "Ok, this h to be a dream." He clenched his fist and punched himself in the arm. He didn't know his own strength and broke his energy shield. Feeling the pain of the punch he held his arm and grunted. "Ok, definitely not dreaming!" After recovering from his self elicited injury he stepped out of the pod and looked down at the two younger sisters. "Where did that guy send me?" He asked no one.

"Thou are in Equestria." He turned to Luna who was looking at him with caution. "What, pray tell, are you?"

"Ok, I must be going crazy, there is no way a pony can talk."

"I can assure you that ponies certainly can talk and comprehend speech of various languages Marcus." Replied Celestia.

"Who are you, how do you know my name?" Celestia gave a respectful bow.

"I am Princess Celestia, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"And we are Princess Luna,my he pleasure is all ours." Luna added with her own bow.

"Why are you saying 'we' instead of 'I'? It's coming across a little weird, even for a talking pony with a horn and wings."

Luna looked dumbfounded at his question. "In Equestria, its traditional to use the Royal We when addressing our subjects."

Marcus rubbed his helmet with his hands and groaned. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening."

"Marcus, are you alright?" Celestia asked with concern.

"I don't know anymore. I started today off normally, then I somehow end up dead, now I'm in a fucking supper suit in a room with two talking Pegacorns!" He slumped back against the pod and sighed. "If I'm gonna do this I'll need a drink. You guys got any booze around here?"

The two sisters looked to each other and vpback to the Spartan. "F-Follow us, we'll get you some alcohol to try and calm your nerves." Luna said as the two led him down the hallways.

Meanwhile Symbol sat up on one of the beams on the ceiling smiling. "I can already tell this will be interesting."

3) Warning

Chief walked down the stone steps and into his armoury. The lights on the ceiling automatically turned on, illuminating the room filled with technology from the U.N.S.C. from the 26th century. Walking over to his pod he opened the door, looking inside his place of rest. Turning his head he saw three other pods with similar designs.

'Are you ever going to wake them up Marcus?' He heard Eris ask in his helmet.

"Maybe, when they are needed." Pulling the chip out of the back of his helmet, Chief placed it in a slot on the podium beside the pod.

The chip slid in and the small blue hologram of Eris appeared. "When exactly will they be needed?"

Climbing into his pod and closing the hatch he looked at Eris through the glass. "When Equestria needs us to stop another war." With that he activated cryosleep, leaving Eris to go over the data she acquired during his fight with the changelings by examining some of their blood that had got on Chief's armour.

"Well I might as well, have nothing better to do anyway." She brought up a terminal and began examining the data.

Celestia sat on her balcony, overlooking the rapid recovery of the city. As she watched her ponies work her mind wandered to Chief, she knew there was many more dangers that need to be dealt with, such as the remaining changelings, Diamond Dog factions, griffins and a very old enemy from after the great griffin war.

Looking up to the sky Celestia squinted her eyes, making out a faint object concealed by her magic centuries ago. Sighing she turned around and walked into her chambers. A knock at her door took her out of her thoughts and back to reality.

"Your highness, there is a visitor here to see you." One of her guards called in, waiting for an answer.

"Send them in." The door opened a stallion with a dark blue coat and short grey mane walked in, his mark was a small necklace with a sun medallion. "Oh, it's you again."

The pony smirked and his body was covered in a black liquid. He began to change shape, when his transformation was complete Symbol was standing there with a smile. "It's good to see you too Princess Solena."

Celestia frowned at the name. "Nopony has called me that in millennia, my name is Celestia."

Symbol folded his arms. "Interesting that you would take up the name of your grandmother, why did you choose to be called that?"

Celestia sighed and looked to the floor. "That's personal, extremely personal. I do not want you poking your nose in anymore history, I know you come from the void but keep your knowledge of my family hidden."

Symbol rolled his eyes. "I have already vowed that I will not interfere with you or your plans, I was just asking a question."

"Well then you asked the wrong question." Celestia glared at the displacer. "If you have no valid reason for being here then can you please leave?"

Symbol pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "No no, I have a reason I just wanted to start off with a friendly conversation."

"Well you failed at that."

"Don't remind me." Taking a calming breath of air Symbol looked at the alicorn. "I just came here to deliver a warning."

"A warning? A warning from you is never just a warning."

Symbol rolled his eyes and held out his hand, a magic screen appeared and expanded for Celestia to view. "Watch this closely." As the images played Celestia's eyes widened in horror at the sight.

"W-What are they?"

"They are a parasite, they exist to cause nothing but destruction and to spread their spores throughout the universe. Having just them here would have been manageable, but..."

"But what?"

Symbol growled at the next image. "... but they joined forces with another parasite." The image was of a creature made of a dark purple substance, almost like a small cloud of mist, that had two glowing yellow eyes.

"What is that?"

"Like I said, it's a parasite." Symbol closed the screen and walked towards the door. "I'll keep you updated and inform Marcus if anything goes wrong, with this I'm taking no chances so I'll be assisting when I can."

Celestia nodded and watched him transform back into a pony before walking out the door. Looking to her hooves she placed her head in them. "This is only going to end badly."

The wedding began a few hours later, after all of Canterlot was rebuilt with the aid of a few nearby settlements and cities that could be reached via train. Celestia stood at the front of the hall filled with ponies, with the mane six, minus Fluttershy who was floating above the door with her birds, standing on the steps in their respective dresses. The door suddenly opened and Chief walked in, with an assault rifle on his back. He walked to the left a bit and leaned against the wall at the back of the room with his arms folded.

Celestia smiled at him and he nodded back. Glad to see Chief out of his pod for more than a mission, Celestia temporarily forgot about the images she had seen earlier that day. As the wedding began and the Cutie Mark Crusaders came hopping down the isle tossing flower petals as they went, Chief watched everything with interest.

Cadence began walking down the isle in a dress comprised mainly of flowers like roses with some birds holding the back of the dress that was trailing behind the mare. As Celestia spoke her lines Chief was confused slightly, she wasn't saying things that would normally be said at a wedding, instead she was saying things specifically about the soon to be married couple. This gave it a more personal touch, making a nice difference.

As the couple kissed after being being wed, Rainbow Dash tossed her dress away and preformed her sonic rainboom. Chief and Eris watched it with amazement. 'Wow, so colourful.'

Chief waited for all of the ponies to exit the hall before walking out, he got a few odd looks, especially from the nobles, but that was to be expected. While he was walking through the castle he noticed a few parts of the building hadn't been fully repaired. As he looked at the small droplets of green blood slide down the wall he began thinking about when he first arrived.

Equestria: During the Griffin War

Marcus sat in the Castles kitchen with a small hatch on his helmet open around his mouth, allowing him to douse himself in the miracle cure that was alcohol. He sat and downed an entire bottle of hard apple cider, with the two Princesses watching with confused expressions on the opposite side of the table. Once he was done Marcus set the empty bottle on the table with his arms as he leaned on the piece of furniture. "So let me get this straight, you're saying I'm in a world populated by talking pastel coloured ponies that can have wings and horns, there are creatures of myth like griffins and Hyrdas, the ponies are at war with the griffins, you two control the sun and moon and ponies control the weather?"

The two sisters looked to each other then back to him. "Yes, that's what we're saying." Celestia replied.

Rubbing the side of his mask with his right hand Marcus picked up another bottle. "Well if that punch from earlier was any indication I'm not dreaming and all that stuff with Symbol actually happened." Taking a swing of the cider in his hand he shook his head and sighed. "He wasn't kidding when he said a new world." Pushing the bottles away he looked to the ponies. "Since this is really happening I'll ask you something, what is it you want be to do exactly?"

Celestia cleared her throat and passed the note from the pod over to him. "According to this letter, you are to assist us in our current conflict and any others that require a... specific set of skills."

"You mean killing people." Marcus said with ice in his voice. "I've done some messed up shit in my life but I've never killed anyone, and now that I know heaven and hell are real I don't think I wanna be the one that sends those griffins to an eternity of torture."

Celestia and Luna looked to each other with concern. "A... valid reason, but sometimes doing the right thing calls for actions such as that."

"You mean what you see as the right thing." The two sisters looked at him confused. "To the griffins what they are doing is the right thing and to you it is wrong, to you they are in the wrong and you are in the right. Unless these griffins are deliberately trying to be assholes and do this solely to to get a kick out of the thrill of war you can't immediately say that they are in the wrong."

"I know what you mean, but this is a battle of survival, if we don't fight back the griffins will take over and we will be subjected to slavery and abuse. Life as we know it would change for the worse and the balance of this world would be disrupted." Celestia explained as she put a hoof on Marcus' hand. "Please, help us. You don't have to do it right away, just when you're ready."

Marcus looked over his new body, conflicted and confused.

"If it makes you feel better, you'll be saving more lives than you'll be taking." Luna tried to encourage him, but it only worked slightly.

"But I don't even know how to fight let alone use a gun." Marcus placed his head in his hands before looking at the note. As he read he found out his pod was built with a VR training system. Picking up the note he began reading the details of the training, how it would train him in many different ways, with various weapons and combat techniques. "Hmmm..." He rubbed his helmet again and looked to the pleading eyes of the princesses. Looking from the note to the ponies several times before sighing he looked up at the sisters. "Alright, I'll help you with your war."

"Thank you Marcus, you have no idea how relieved we are to hear that." Luna stated, relief evident in her voice.

"It's not like I have much of a choice anyway, I might as well do this as it seems it's what I was brought here for." Getting up the trio made their way back to the pod where Marcus climbed in and attached a cable to the back of his helmet. The two alicorn a watched as the door to the pod closed and sealed Marcus inside, the VR training bringing him to a white void.

Shaking the thoughts away Chief continued walking through the castle. Passing a few guards he had saved he was met by multiple ponies saying thanks and complimenting his skills in combat. Giving mostly nods as responses Chief managed to get out of the small crowd and walked down the hallway towards the Canterlot Gardens where he would wait until the party later that night.

Meanwhile a being made of a dark purple mist with two glowing yellow eyes watched Chief carefully. It gave an evil echoed chuckle before fading into shadow.

4) Parasites

The sun shone brightly down on the Canterlot Gardens, the gentle breeze blowing through the bright green leaves of the trees and bushes of flowers. Chief was walking through a section of the gardens that contained various statues. His heavy footsteps were the only cause of sound other than the birds chirping and the soft whisper of the wind.

As Chief looked to each statue Eris began describing what each one represented. Soon they came across a familiar looking statue.

'Well, looks like he's still here.' Eris said as Chief looked up at the statue of a male Draconequus, Discord.

"He's in a different pose." Chief pointed out.

'I noticed, he looks almost... scared.'

"Maybe he escaped and was trapped by the elements again." Suggested Chief as he looked at Discords new pose, a small smile appearing from under his mask as he looked back on his first few weeks of living in Equestria after the Griffin War, including the times he had faced off against the spirit of chaos.

'That may be so, either that or Celestia wanted him in an even more ridiculous pose.' Eris chuckled and Chief remained silent. 'You used to laugh at my jokes Marcus.'

"Yeah, used to." His smile faded and was replaced by a frown. Taking one last look at the statue he continued on his way, enjoying the peace and quiet of the garden.

That is until a curious mare decided to join him. "Hey Chief, wait up!" Looking back Chief spotted Twilight quickly walking up to him. She caught her breath when she reached him and looked up at him with a smile. "Mind if I join you?"

"I don't." With his reply Chief turned around and continued walking with Twilight by his side. The two of them walked in silence, comfortable for Chief, uncomfortable for Twilight.

Twilight just walked alongside him, only reaching up to his thighs height wise. She began thinking of conversation starters to begin talking on a more friendly note, rather than just bombard him with questions like she wanted to, but she knew that would just annoy him. "This garden is beautiful isn't it?" She finally asked.

Chief said nothing and merely nodded.

"Did they have gardens like these back on your world?" She asked, trying to reach at least some level of communication, but only received another nod. "You don't talk much do you?"

"Twilight, is there a reason you wanted to join me or did you just want to ask me questions?" The spartan asked turning to the mare.

"Well, I just wanted to talk, maybe be friends." Twilight answered nervously.

Chief reached to the back of his helmet and pulled out the chip that held Eris and gave it to Twilight. "If you wan to talk, talk to her."

Twilight looked at the chip confused until the small hologram of Eris appeared. "Hello." Twilight jumped slightly at the sudden appearance. "Oops, sorry if I scared you."

"No no, it's fine, k just wasn't expecting somepony to appear from this thing." Twilight looked the chip over with interest. "What is this anyway?"

"It is my portable AI chip that allows me to connect with various forms of technology, including Chief's suit." The small hologram replied happily.

"AI? You mean artificial intelligence?" Asked Twilight with great interest.

"Yes, although I may appear to be an AI, I am actually a normal Draconequus. I merely took this form to help Chief here with technical stuff and to feed him information without having to pester him to listen." Eris smirked and looked up at Chief who turned his head slightly.

"You must have a ton of information archived in your memory, can you perhaps share some with me?" Twilight asked, eager to learn something new.

"Sure, but let's move away from Chief, he needs some time to himself right now." They both looked up the the silent soldier and walked down a different pathway. "Now, what do you want to know?"

Twilight placed a hoof to her mussel in thought. "Do you have any files on Chief's home world?"

"I do, ask away."

Meanwhile in an unknown location, Queen Chrysalis shakily got to her feet as she felt her wounds being healed by a strong, dark presence. Looking around she found herself in a small clearing in a forest of dark brown trees with black leaves, the sky was grey and a small amount of dark purple mist seeped out from the forest floor. There was no light other than the faint purple glow of the mist. "Where... Where am I?" The Queen looked around in confusion.

"Queen Chrysalis..." A dark, crackled voice spoke from the air around the changeling.

"Who's there? Show yourself immediately!" She demanded, her horn glowing slightly in caution.

"Relax my dear, I am a friend not foe..."

A small portion of the mist gathered in front of Chrysalis, sliding to the spot like snakes under her hooves. The mist shaped itself into the shape of a humanoid. "What are you?"

"A creature of darkness, of a species labelled a parasite by the beings of this world, like you and your... children..." The figure dragged its feet across the ground as it approached the changeling while slouched, it's dark purple body seeping more of the mist and its piercing yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. "I... We, are the Nightmare Fuels."

Chrysalis chuckled. "Oh what a ridiculous name for a species."

Nightmare stopped and glared at the Queen. "Our name, must like the name changelings, represents what we are. What we can do. What we can be. It is a name given to us by our victims, not by our own choosing was that name given, now all that stand against us call us by such a name."

Chrysalis looked around and saw many more Nightmares exiting the shadows in the trees, accompanied by strange creatures that looked like ponies and humans with plant-like limbs and three strange antenni growing out of their faces, with tiny creatures similar to them. "What are these?"

"They are another parasite, known as The Flood. Our kind found common ground and an alliance was forged." Nightmare placed a claw on Chrysalis' shoulder. "We would like the changelings to join this alliance."

In a black void there was a circular white platform. It had a door leading to nowhere on the edge, two white couches at one side, a desk and chair on the other and a large magic screen showing multiple videos of different words curved around one side. Symbol stood staring at the screen with watchful eyes, taking in every last detail, searching for any sign of the Nightmares.

"Are you still looking?" The boy heard a female voice ask from behind him. Pausing the screen he turned around to see a mare with beige coat. Her mane was brown and tied into a ponytail. Her eyes were sapphire blue and her cutie mark was a grey cloud with a sun behind it and a four pointed star in front.

"Yes Abi, I'm still looking, and I'm not gonna stop." He turned his attention back to the screen.

"Why is this any different from any other Nightmare sightings? You are never this serious when it comes to this." The mare said as she looked at him in confusion.

"Because all other times we were dealing with one or two Nightmares, this is an entire swarm of the things and now they've joined forces with the Flood. This is a dangerous situation and I will not allow it to go unchecked. Not after what happened with the world we visited last month." Both shuddered at the memory of what they had seen, everything was destroyed and torn corpses of ponies and other creatures were scattered everywhere with Nightmares feeding off of the dead bodies and leaving them half finished.

"Ok, I see your point." Abi sat down beside Symbol and started watching the screens. Meanwhile a man in a green hoodie with a metal sash over his right shoulder looked into the room from the doorway that was now open, revealing a long hallway of similar doors. He breathed through the green scarf that hid his mouth. His green hair was styled much like Vegetas from Dragonball.

"Hmmm, this could be troublesome." The man stood up straight and walked into the hallway of doors, closing the door behind him and concealing the hall.

Chief returned to the castle after his relaxing stroll and headed to the dance hall where Pinkie Pie was putting the finishing touches on the party as the sun was beginning to set. He wasn't going there to see Pinkie, he was looking around for Celestia. After a few minutes of walking down the marble hallway he came across a large door leading into the dance hall. Opening it up he looked around at the decorated room, streamers were everywhere, confetti floated freely in the air and there was a ton of different treats and foods layed out

"Hey there!" Chief stepped back a little by the sudden appearance of Pinkie Pie who bore a huge smile. "Come by to help with the decorating?!"

Chief looked at the mare and shook his head. "No, I am looking for Princess Celestia, do you know where she went?"

Pinkie scratched her chin in thought began a lightbulb appeared above her head. "The Princess said something about that room me and my friends found you in, she might be heading there."

Chief frowned behind his mask. "Thank you Pinkie." With that Chief turned around and walked out the door.

"Glad I could help!" The energetic mare called after him.

A few minutes later Chief arrived at the steps that led to his armoury. Sure enough the lights were on and faint beeping could be heard from someone typing on a console. Walking down to the room he spotted Celestia by the other three pods typing at a control pad at the side.

Chief walked over, pushed Celestia out of the way and cancelled the activation of the pods. Celestia frowned and glared at him. "What was that for?"

Chief turned around and looked down at the alicorn. "We are not waking them up, not yet."

"There is a huge threat to Equestria that could show up at any time, we need to have them ready for battle." Celestia was about to restart the activation when Chief stepped in her way.

"No, whatever this threat is it hasn't shown itself, there is no reason to have them walking around." He stated firmly.

"Marcus, move aside." Ordered Celestia.

Chief stepped closer to her and their faces were only a few inches apart. "No ma'am."

"I'm giving you an order Marcus."

"With all do respect Celestia, I'm refusing to follow it."

The two stared each other down before Celestia sighed. "There's no arguing with you right now is there? You're in soldier mode." Chief remained silent. "Very well, but at the first sign of danger you are to activate them, are we clear?"

"Transparently." With that the two walked out of the room together, Chief keeping a watchful eye on Celestia to make sure she didn't try something she'd regret.

5) Guard duty

Later that evening, when the sun had set, all of the ponies that had attended the wedding were enjoying the party on the castles outdoor platforms. The guards had reported a few changeling stragglers that had most likely hit by walls when the magic wave struck. So to make sure none tried to ruin the party Celestia had put Chief in charge of security, also as a reason to get him to the party and to hopefully mingle with a few ponies.

Eris had asked Chief to leave her in the armoury to work on something. Not questioning his holographic friend he did as he was asked. He was sticking to the outskirts of the party, patrolling around the area ignoring the nobles stares and cringes. He never like nobles, and it seemed to him that these ones were worse than the ones before the fall of Nightmare Moon. Celestia just watched him as he slowly walked around with an assault rifle in his hands.

As he reached an area without ponies he sighed and reached for his helmet. Lifting it off it revealed a man in his early twenties with messy brown hair and blue eyes, a scar under his left eye. This was how Marcus looked before his displacement, Symbol didn't know what Master Chief really looked like so he just recycled Marcus' real appearance except changing aspects like his muscles and height to suit his armour.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you without your helmet on Marcus." The super soldier heard Eris say from behind him.

Turning around his eyes widened as he saw a mare with a light grey coat and messy white mane walk up to him with red eyes. "Eris?"

The mare smiled. "You didn't think I was just gonna stay down in the armoury and calculate stuff did you? You like it, managed to make it with some changeling dna and a little help from Symbol." She struck a pose and laughed.

Chief rolled his eyes and held his helmet in his hand. "I'm not even going to ask how that is possible." His voice however was the same a Chiefs.

Eris shrugged and walked to his side. "So, what are you doing over here and not back at that party?"

Chief looked to his friend and then to the sky. "I'm not one for socialising."

Eris groaned and began tapping his leg. "When are you gonna stop acting like this, you've been so antisocial ever since..."

"Go ahead, say it." Chief closed his eyes.

"... Ever since Sasha." Eris watched as her friends arms fell limp and he lowered his head in shame. "It wasn't your fault Marcus."

"I could have saved her."

"No Marcus, it was impossible for you to save her. You need to stop this, you don't socialise, you don't smile, you won't let our friends out of stasis and you crave action, this isn't doing your mentality and wonders Marcus." Eris stepped in front of him and glared.

Chief just looked at her, devoid of emotion. "I know." With that he put his helmet back on and looked to his mini-map, seeing a faint red dot behind him. Looking around he spotted two yellow circles in the darkness. "Eris, go to the party and make a request for some loud music."

"Why?"

Chief aimed his gun at the two circles. "I don't want anyone to hear the gunshots." Eris nodded and ran back towards the party. The creature in the darkness began to move to the side, circling Chief and analysing him as it moved around on all fours.

Chief continued to track its movements, keeping it in his crosshairs as it slowly prowled around him ready to pounce. Soon Chief could hear booming music, nodding in satisfaction he aimed at the creature and it pounced. He began firing at it in small bursts, trying to stay as accurate as possible resulting in every bullet finding a new home in the creatures flesh.

As it landed it grunted in pain and pushed the buckets out of its body. Chief now had a good view of it, it was made of a dark purple substance and its body was the shape of a young human male on all fours with claws for hands. It had four tendrils growing out of its back which freely swayed from side to side.

Not questioning it Chief replaced his empty magazine and began firing again. The Nightmare dodged and shot a tendril towards him, Chief barely evaded the attack with the tendril scrapping his energy shield.

Chief then returned to shooting the creature, missing a few shots as it dodged and weaved. Soon it stopped and stared at the assault rifle, looking to two of its tendrils they began to shift. The tips of the tendrils became gun barrels and were pointed towards the advancing Spartan.

Chief placed the gun on his back and reached to his side grabbing a handle-like object. Once he held it in his hand he pressed a button and a two bladed sword of blue energy appeared. Charging Chief was about to stab the Nightmare when it pointed its gun tendrils (we'll just call them gundrils) and began shooting out small bullets that were coated in the dark purple mist, leaving a trail in the air as they flew.

Chief dodged some of the fire but enough hits landed to break his energy shield. He ducked behind a stone wall while the Nightmare continued to shot in his direction. As his shield began to recharge he pulled out a small purple ball and press a button. He then got out of cover and threw the ball at his foe, it landed on one of the gundrils and stuck itself to it. It surrounded itself in blue fire before exploding, knocking the Nightmare off its feet and destroying its tender and gundrils.

As it tried to get to its feet it was impaled through the chest by Chiefs energy sword. It screeched in pain before bursting into a small cloud of mist which gathered to create a small purple orb. Chief put away his word and stared at the orb. Picking it up he began to inspect it, finding nothing particularly noticeable other than a soft purple glow outlining it.

He thought for a moment before looking to the purple band on his right wrist that had a blue sun gem. He pressed the gem and it glowed. "Symbol, are you there?"

"I'm here Marcus, what is it?" The voice of his displacer emitted from the glowing gem.

"I just took out a strange creature, it was made of a dark purple substance and left behind a purple orb, any idea s on what it was?"

The gem was silent for a moment. "I'm on my way Marcus, keep your eye on that orb, I'll be there in a second."

Chief did as instructed and waited for his displacer with the orb in his hand. A portal appeared and Symbol walked out with a serious expression on his face.

"Where is it?" Chief held out the orb and Symbol took it. "Thank you." As Symbol looked at the orb in his hand he effortlessly crushed it in his hand, the shards of it turning to dust and fading in the air.

"What was that thing?" Chief questioned in curiosity.

"That was a Nightmare Fuel, a parasite of the multiverse. I can't go anywhere without these things following me. If you ever find one kill it on sight and then deliver the orbs they leave behind to me as soon as possible so I can destroy them." Symbols voice was filled with anger and hatred.

"Shouldn't I just destroy the orbs myself?"

Symbol shook his head. "No, that would be impossible. You need a certain power to destroy these things completely and I was born with that ability, I'd give you the ability of I knew how. For now though just contact me if you see one." Chief nodded and Symbol walked back into his portal.

Chief just looked around the area, noticing all of the bullet holes and burn marks. "I don't know how I'm gonna explain this to Celestia." He shook his head and resumed his patrol.

Meanwhile Chrysalis, Nightmare and a Flood drone watches the battle and looked to each other. They nodded before disappearing into the night to plan their next move. This was just a test, they need to study their for further and then strike at the right moment.

6) Mission start

4 weeks later

In the icy tundras of Equestria, the snow fell violently as the strong winds turned it into a raging blizzard. This was however only a minor inconvenience to a certain figure walking through the snow. Master Chief walked with his battle rifle, a burst fire rifle with a magazine of thirty two bullets with a x2 scope sight, in his hands as he looked around. For the past four weeks he had been updating himself with modern Equestria and testing out some new weaponry that had been delivered to him, like the new model battle rifle from the more recent halo games and a few covenant weapons.

He and Eris were sent out to the tundras to investigate a strange magical surge along with Shining Armour and a few of the Royal gaurd, although the only one that had actually showed any results was Shining, the other guards were just there to...something. Anyway, the only one that could actually stand the harsher weather was Chief with his Spartan 2 armour, so they had sent him out to explore.

Looking around using thermal vision to actually see anything that came out of the snow storm his sights fell on a large mountain silhouette that started to come into view. Not having any other leads or anywhere else to investigate Chief picked up the pace and began jogging, his heavy armour preventing the winds from blowing him down.

'Hey Marcus, can I ask you something?' Chief heard Eris from his helmet.

"What's up?" He asked while walking around a large block of ice.

'When Celestia sent us on this mission, did you think she was acting...strangely?'

Looking back on when he was briefed about the assignment he did remember Celestia being somewhat more tense than usual, only making him believe that this mission was far more important than it was made out to be. "I did, whatever is out here can't be good."

'Well the only thing out here is ice, snow and that banished King that we heard about from Luna, you think maybe he's trying to free himself?'

"That could be a possibility, but we can't assume that until the Crystal Empire returns, if it returns." The two continued walking through the harsh snow until they reached the mountain, finding it was made entirely of ice. Walking along the right side of it Chief came across a cave leading deep underground, seeing multiple red dots appear on his mini-map. "I think we found whatever we're looking for."

'Should we call the guards to back us up and investigate?'

"No, they would take too long through the snow and they'd only get in my way. We do this alone." Chief replied as he placed the battle rifle on his back and took a plasma pistol, a small firearm that could either fire small bursts of energy rapidly or could be charged up to deal more damage although it will cause the pistol to overheat for a few seconds, from his hip and cautiously walked into the cave.

Eris switched on the torches in his helmet and he looked around, finding small black insect like creatures that seeped black smoke from their bodies.

"Nightmare Fuels?" Chief asked as he blasted one that tried to pounce on him.

'No, some kind of dark magic summoning spell, whatever created the magical surge made these, I'm sure of it.'

The creatures were like large roaches, reminding Chief of Radroaches from Fallout when he used to play video games on earth before the accident. There were a few that took a few shots to kill but none of them possed any real threat. Chief continued his decent through the cave, finding tougher 'Shadow Bugs' as he went. As he came into a large dome-like chamber he looked up and found the cieling covered in black webs. Looking to his mini-map he found a huge red dot right above him.

He rolled to the side to avoid a large thread of black web shot down at him. Looking up he found himself staring at a huge tarantula-like Shadow Bug that was five times his size, it's huge fangs could easily piece his armour if he wasn't careful.

'We should have brought the rocket launcher or at least the fuel rod cannon.'

"Guess we'll have to make do with my guns and grenades." The huge arachnid scuttled along its giant web, shooting long threads down to try to hit Chief who dodged each time, using every chance he could to shoot the spider with his now dual wield plasma pistols. He charged them as he rolled and fired when he recovered.

The spider eventually jumped down from its web to face the super soldier head on. It lunged towards Chief but missed and dug its fangs into the ice walls of the cave. As it tried to free itself it shook the chamber, causing large chunks of ice to fall from the ceiling. Seeing a loose chunk of ice directly above his enemy Chief charged a shot and fired. As the energy burst hit its target the chunk of ice it fell on top of the Shadow Spider, trapping it as more blocks of ice fell.

'Get going Marcus, I don't wanna get in the same room as that thing.'

"Why, scared of a little spider?"

'Cute little jumping spiders I can handle, giant demon Goliath bird eaters however, not so much.'

Chief turned away from his fallen foe and resumed his trek down the icy caves to continue his mission. As he walked down he encountered a few Shadow Spiderlings, most likely upset that their mother was killed. To avoid future obstacles Chief destroyed any black egg sacks he found, because if any adventure game has taught him anything it's that eggs in caves are closer to hatching than you think.

Meanwhile

Above ground at the camp where the Royal gaurd and Shining Armour we're currently resting, said captian of the gaurd was looking out at the icy tundras. He had read the stories and was even informed by the princesses about the monster in the tundras, a pony with a literal black heart, who would keep all of his people as slaves for his own sick and twisted wants and desires. The banished King, Sombra the Shadow Pony. It didn't take a genius to know that it was indeed the dark King that created the magic surge, especially when the white unicorn stallion watched as something rose out of the icy fields and towered over the camp. "The Crystal Enpire." He said before walking into his living quarters and began writing a letter. "I need to inform Cadence and the princesses at once, hopefully Master Chief will notice on his way back so we can deal with this swiftly."

7) Going down

Canterlot

Celestia had received the message from Shining Armour a half an hour after the Crystal Empire had returned, she stared at the letter with Luna by her side, both unsure of hats to do. After much discussion and debate, Celestia had proposed that they use this event as a means to test the young Twilight Sparkle as a way to see if she was ready to ascend to alicornhood. Yeah I'm not even gonna be subtle about it we all know that's what happened.

The two sisters replied to Shining Armour and instructed them to travel to the empire and help the citizens get a grasp on their reality and inform them of what was happening in hopes of calming them down. Celestia also put a note at the bottom saying that she was sending Twilight and her friends to help, and to allow Master Chief to do as he sees fit as a test to see what he does without orders for a change.

"Are you sure that is wise sister? The last time we let him take charge of his own mission half of the Griffin Castle was destroyed as well as most of their high council, destroying any chances of a peace treaty and causing the Griffins to flee out of Equestria or to Griffinstone." Luna asked with concern.

"I'm sure Luna, Marcus may be reckless, but I feel he has matured since the days of the Griffin Wars."

"He was a loose cannon back then wasn't he? Always cracking jokes, charging headfirst into battle and a lot of crude language was used. Nowadays he's mature, collected. I wonder what happened to make him this way."

"You and I both know what made him this way Luna." Celestia replied with sadness. "And it's the reason he doesn't let his friends out of their pods, he's scared of loosing them too, like he did Sasha."

Icy Tundras

Chief descended further into the depths of the mountain, determined to find whatever had created the magical surge. As he walked he stopped as he felt the ground shaking, running a few meters forward to avoid falling icicles. As the tremor stopped Chief looked around as his torch on his helmet flickered slightly from the vibrations.

He had failed to notice the cracks in the ice floor, as he stepped onto the fragile ground the heavy weight of his armour caused it to collapse under him. As he fell he gripped the edge of the newly formed hole in the ground and attempted to climb up. However, he was too heavy and the piece of ice he was gripping broke off from the rest of the mountain and sent him falling into the depths of the cavern below.

As he was falling he managed to get himself to the wall of the cavern and dug his feet into the ice. It started to slow his decent as he managed to position himself in a surfing position and the wall began to curve. He jumped once the ground came into view and landed with a loud bang, only slight damage being dealt to his energy shield while he was knelt down with one knee and one hand on the ground.

Chief rose to his feet and looked around at the new area. It wasn't ice, but stone, with one cave leading further downwards with strange symbols engraved in the walls. Seeing no other route to take he pressed onward through the newly presented path.

'I got a bad feeling about this Marcus,many not in the cliche way, I mean that there is literally something wrong here. Those markings aren't from any language I've seen before, from what I can tell they shouldn't even exist.' Eris stated worriedly in Chiefs head.

"Well we're going to find out what's going on here and put a stop to it." Chief replied with determination as he held his assault rifle in his hands while pressing forward.

'Maybe you should contact Symbol, it may be a Nightmare down here.'

Chief thought about it for a second before pulling the purple band on his right wrist out from under his forearm plating. "We won't contact him yet, we'll wait until we actually need his help."

Along the way he encountered more Shadow Spiderlings that were dealt with by a shot from the assault rifle, being weak enough to go down with one bullet. He also found himself in the presence of a different type of Shadow Spider, they were bigger than the normal Spiderlings and had black plates of armour on their legs, body and abdomen and its fangs dripped with black venom.

They took a few extra bullets to defeat and some took a full magazine to kill. Chief changed tactics and opted for using his strength to crush the armour plating before shooting the spider with the plasma pistol.

Soon he came to a large dome shaped section, hearing a voice he ducked behind a pillar and hid. "Damn...looks like whatever they left here was either destroyed or taken by the minions." Chief heard footsteps at the far end of the room. "Guess I'll search deeper in, can never be sure that you've got everything unless you've checked everywhere you possibly can." With that the sound of a door opening could be heard followed by the sound if said door being shut.

Chief walked out of his hiding place and looked around the room, seeing many more markings on the ceiling. The room had pillars around the outer parts and was lit by mounted torches on said pillars. There was a stone table in the centre with various open containers made of dark metal. 'What do you think has been going on here? That voice wasn't anything I recognised.'

"Only one way to find out." Chief began walking towards the large wooden double doors at the end of the room.

Little did he know, a Nightmare was watching his every move from the shadows. Following him through the dark tunnels and various chambers if stone and ice, waiting for a chance to strike. But it had to be careful, with who else was in that cave could end its existence if it came into contact, it had to play it safe and make sure it could catch Chief off guard.

There was a plan in the works, the Nightmares had recieved word from a world beyond that a 'New Generation' had been created...and this Nightmare was part of that new line of demons.

9) Calm before the storm

Tundras

Twilight and her friends were riding the train to the recently resurfaced Crystal Empire after being tasked by Celestia to help stop Sombra, as well as Twilight looking to pass a test given to her by the solar princess. As the train began to enter the icy landscapes Twilight looked back to her friends. Applejack and Rainbow were playing poker, Fluttershy and Rarity were just talking and Pinkie sat alone, her mane deflated slightly.

Seeing her friend in that state Twilight walked over and sat beside Pinkie. "Hey Pinkie, what's wrong? You aren't smiling and you've been quiet the entire journey."

Pinkie didn't look to Twilight but instead just kept staring out the window at the passing blankets of sift snow. "I just have a feeling."

"What kind of feeling?"

Pinkie turned to Twilight with an extremely worried expression. "I have a feeling that something very, very bad is going to happen. And I don't mean just this empire coming back, it's something bigger, bigger than anything we've gone up against before." Her voice was filled with terror. "I don't think we can stop whatever it is that's coming Twilight, not alone." Pinkie then started shivering.

The rest of the group picked up on Pinkies discomfort and gathered around to comfort her. "Hey, it's ok Pinkie, I'm sure whatever you're feeling isn't as bad as you make it out to be."

"Famous last words." Applejack said quietly, causing Twilight to look at her with a raised brow. "What? You know how Pinkie and her senses work, if she says somethings gonna happen then it's gonna happen, there hasn't been a time where she's ever been wrong about this sorta thing."

The group nodded in agreement and looked to Twilight. Sighing as she knew the apple farmer was right, she turned to Pinkie and placed a hoof on her back. "Well, you say we can't do it alone, but maybe there are others that can help,us beat whatever is coming." She suggested with a cheery voice, trying to cheer up her friend that had cheered her up on multiple occasions.

"Yeah, like the big guy." Rainbow stated.

"You mean Master Chief?" Twilight asked receiving a nod. "Well, Princess Celestia did say he was out here on a mission, maybe he can help us out."

The group all nodded in agreement. After hearing the name of the Spartan, Pinkoes hair inflated slightly. "Hey, that might be the answer." Pinkie gasped in realisation. "Whatever is going to happen Chief must be the key to stopping it!"

"Alright girls, so we all know what we have to do?" Twilight asked, determination running through her.

"First we save the Crystal Empire..." Rarity began.

"...then we stop,whatever is coming with the big guy!" Rainbow finished.

Meanwhile

Chief shot a lone Shadow Bug with one of his plasma pistols as he walked deeper into the temple hidden under the ice in pursuit of the stranger from the main chamber. As he shot a few more enemies he noticed that one of his pistols were drained of energy, now useless. He placed it on his side and switched to his battle rifle.

The stone hallways seemed bare, only having a few carvings here and there that broke the plain walls. There were a few lot torches lighting the way forward, probably lot by the stranger that was ahead of them. Suddenly Chief stopped as the ground shook violently, the sound of something groaning echoing through the hallways and chambers. 'Should we be worried about that?' Eris asked with an uneasy voice.

"We can find out later, we have something else to do right now." Chief replied as he continued his journey into the temple.

The sense of emptiness began to set in as the walls became completely bare, no torches or carvings in sight, the only light coming from Chiefs headlights on the side of his helmet. Everything was completely black other than the spots his torches were pointed to, they would be unable to see anything coming from far up ahead or to the sides, so Chief payed close attention to his mini map on his HUD, watching for any red dots that appeared.

Keeping a steady pace he was able to travel through the halls without interruption and had nothing to hinder his progress. As he traveled further he spotted a light at the end of the black void that surrounded him.

Keeping the same pace he warched the light grow closer and closer as he approached, the sense of emptiness leaving him as the darkness began to fade away with the warm glow at the end of the abyss.

Stepping out of the hallway Chief took a moment to enjoy the warm glow while his eyes adjusted to the new light. Once he could see clearly anything positive that came from stepping into the light was shot by firing squad as he looked to his new location.

He was on a cliff overlooking some underground operation. A giant cylinder-like building went from the top of the large underground cavern to the bottom where it seemed to be Nightmares and Changelings mining some strange mineral, glowing red gems that made him feel uneasy, just by looking at them he got the sense that whatever they were they shouldn't even exist.

"Oh, so you caught up." Surprised by the sudden voice Chief immediately turned around and aimed his rifle at the newcomer who immediately raised his hands defensively. "Easy there trigger finger, I'm on your side, another of Symbols agents." Miller quickly stated.

'He's registered as a friendly Marcus.' Eris confirmed.

Chief lowered his weapon and nodded. "Sorry, not used to having people sneak up on my for friendly reasons."

Miller shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine really, I've had it done to me a few times in my existence."

'No wonder, being a Nightmare Fuel is sure to put people on edge around him.' Eris commented.

Chief looked back down to the mining operation below. "You know anything about this?" He asked.

"Yes." Miller walked up and began taking photos with a small camera with no flash. "The Nighmares and Changelings have banded together and are planning a full scale invasion of this realm, those crystals down there are essential to their plan. They are filled with an energy known as 'Apocalypse Magic,' think of it like a steroid for beings of the Multiverese, grants the being that absorbs the crystal emense powers but also corrupts their very being."

"Well then we have to put a stop to their operation." Chief stated as he readied his rifle. "Do you perhaps have any ammunition on you? If I don't get a refill I'm going to have to punch my way down there."

Miller nodded and handed Chief a small bag of ammo magazines that he had brought with him for the Spartan. "Alright, let's get going." With that the two jumped off the cliff and began sliding down the curved cave wall.

10) Down in the deep