A Hell jumper through and through

Above the unknown ring world which dozens of small capsule shaped escape pods rained down on was a the sight of several enormous vessels doing battle, a couple of odd shaped purple cruisers were raining blinding blue balls of plasma into a shorter dark grey ship. It’s hull of coated in ruined point defense guns, melting metal, giant holes and numerous amount of purple pods that fed an array of alien life onto the the cruiser which was dubbed the Pillar of Autumn. Surrounding the cruiser were dozens upon dozens of bodies which either had been sucked out of breaches or had been ejected from destroyed escape pods, wreckages of defending fighters known as longswords, troop carriers known as pelicans, alien fighters and transports and chunks of metal from the cruiser.. Within the halls of the Pillar of Autumn fared little better than the hull as whole decks were engulfed in fire, were collapsed or didn’t exist anymore.

The halls that were still intact however were not much better as the sight of mutilated corpses of both humans and aliens, used shell casing and dropped weapons. The walls, floors and windows were coated in blood, bullet holes and scorch marks. Closer to the belly of the cruiser, the human defenders continued their losing battle as they were dropping as fast as they lost ground. Hallways were welded shut behind the defenders, though it did little to halt the advance of the plasma wielding aliens. The remaining fighters were clad in black armour that covered them head to toe with a helmet that had a large visor covering the face.

“Ah shit, how many did we lose?” One of the black armoured humans asked as he reloaded his assault rifle.

“Half our squad Sergeant” Another black armoured human said as she finished welding the door.

“Shit, come on, we aren’t far from the ODST launch bay” The sergeant said as he looked to his remaining squad who had finished reloading.

“Sir, how the hell are we gonna hold them back long enough to launch?” Another soldier asked as he shook slightly.

“There are several blast doors between here and the launch bay, including one at the entrance Peters.” The female soldier explained as the remaining soldier helped her to her feet. “Thanks Tony” she said with a nod.

“No worry Julia” Tony replied as he turned to the sergeant.

“Let's get moving before we get left behind” he said causing the group of four to begin running down the hall, closing doors as they go and blasting the controls before continuing until they reached the final blast door

As they reached it and Julia began to open it, the door at the far end detonated in a eruption of molten metal, shrapnel, smoke and blue plasma. The sound of high pitched talking in an unknown language was heard a few moments before a five foot tall ugly orange creature with a small purple C shaped device in it’s hand waddled through confidently along with several others armed with either plasma pistols and needlers save for a red one armed with a bronze shoulder mounted rocket launcher. Though the group’s confidence vanished as a volley of bullets tore through the first three, killing two instantly as bullets ripped through their chests, showering the walls and floor with their luminous blue blood. The third one managed to avoid any direct damage but the tank on his back was ruptured, sending the casing through the air as methane gas sprayed out. The grunt seemed to be alarmed by this and freaked out before collapsing and making a choking noise before falling silent.

The sudden attack caused the group of grunts to be sent into a frenzy, scattering them. Some ran back out the doorway while some dove into the small side passages while the red grunt armed with the fuel rod cannon screamed out orders in its language while it hid in one of the side passages.

“It’s open!” Julia said as the door began to open only for the grunts to find their courage and retaliate, filling the hallway with plasma and bright pink needles while the humans fired back when a grunt popped out to attack.

Though their firing was inaccurate, there was enough to force the ODST into cover, save for Peters as a volley of needles slammed into his chest, making him freak out moments before they detonated in a burst of pink plasma and blood. Peters then collapsed to the ground in a heap on the ground as the blast door continued to open slowly.

“Fuck… Tony, Julia how many grenades do you have?” The sergeant asked as he pulled two grenades from his belt before he looked to the side passage opposite to his to see Tony and Julia.

“I have a few” Tony replied as he produced three.

“I’m out” Julia said.

“Alright, well on my go, lob them at these fucks before making a break behind the blast door!” The sergeant shouted as the blast door was halfway open. “Now!” He ordered moments before the squad tossed all their grenades down the hall. There was an alarmed cry from the aliens as the marines leapt through the opening, just as the grenades detonated, filling the hall with shrapnel.

Once through, Tony activated the console to seal the door before looking around only to freeze when he saw Julia laying face down with blood oozing from her back and shoulders from shrapnel and plasma fire. “Julia!” Tony said as he ran over and gently flipped her over to see her visor was all but shattered with dozens of small holes in it. “No” Tony said as he shook her gently, only for her to remain limp in his arms.

“Come now kid, we don’t have time for this” The sergeant said as he placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I understand you both knew each other as kids, but we don’t have time to fuck around”. He said, gaining a nod from the man as he laid down the woman’s body before he fumbled around with the armour near her neck, causing the commanding officer to look at him confused before Tony produced a small golden locket from the corpse’s neck. “Really kid? This is no time to be robbing corpses”

“Sir, this is a locket i gave her before i was shipped off” Tony said as he opened the locket to show two teens, one was young asian woman with light blue dyed hair while the other was a young caucasian man with crimson hair.

“Oh, okay well let's go” The sergeant said as he pulled Tony to his feet.

“Yes… yes sir” Tony said as he tore his gaze away from his dead friend while he put the necklace in a pocket behind his chestplate. The pair then moved quickly to the ODST launch bay to find that the rest of the ODST’s had already launched.

“Fuck, Tony load up on everything you can fit in a pod, and take a jump pack also” The sergeant ordered as the pair began loading their pods with weapons and medical supplies.

As the men were loading up, the younger soldier was trying to lockdown a sniper rifle inside his pod, but the weapon refused to lock in place, leading to the man to start attempting the slam it in with an excessive amount of force. “Get… on!” Tony growled before he yelled and threw the rifle away before slammed his armoured fist into the hull of the pod. “Piece of shit”

“Tony” The sergeant called out moments before gunfire followed, causing Tony to glance at the inside of the pod to see his assault rifle was already locked in.

“Shit” He said as he drew his pistol and moved into the main room, only to see that it was empty and the blast door was still sealed. “Irish?” Tony called out as he moved around the room while scanning, only to have his foot come in contact with something solid. He glanced down quickly to see the front half of an assault rifle lying on the ground that had been cut cleanly, said cut was still glowing orange. “Shit” He said as he looked up just to see a blue energy sword come for him, though it fell short as the sound of a shotgun was heard. The blade deactivated as a spray of dark purple blood coated Tony while a large silver Elite materialised out of thin air and dropped to it’s knees while clutching the stump that was it’s right arm. Tony instinctively drew the eight inch knife from its sheath attached to his chest and plunged it deep into the fallen Elite’s neck before ripping it across it’s throat, coating the floor in a thick puddle of purple blood.

“Fucking cunt jumped me” Irish growled as he dropped his shotgun and collapsed to the ground as he clutched the sizzling wound across his chest. “He got me good too” he grumbled while Tony moved to and inspected the wound only to see that it had punctured deep and had ripped open some vital organs.

“Shit, let me get you some biofoam” Tony said as he went to get up and search but was stopped when Irish grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back down to his level. “Sir?”

“Don’t… I’m no good in a fight anymore…” Irish started only to start coughing violently. “Get this piece of crap of my head” He ordered moments before Tony removed the fallen soldier’s helmet to reveal the bald head of the ODST. Irish had blood dripping from his lip and his green eyes were focused on Tony. “Ah… much better… not i need you to listen to me… i need you to get down there… don’t you dare stay behind with me” He growled at the younger man, who nodded. “Go on, get the fuck out of here” Irish said as he shoved Tony away before he grabbed his shotgun and started to load more shells into it. “Go on… get” Irish shouted as he aimed the weapon at Tony, causing the man to head back to his pod quickly. As the man sat down in the pod and sealed it, he watched Irish get to his feet and stumble over to a console before he began punching in codes. “Okay, this should launch all the pods so it makes it harder to kill you.” Irish said as he hit the launch key, causing the entire pod to jerk suddenly before it pulled back only for the blast doors to blast open. “Fuck… i’ll hold them as long as i can!” Irish said before he tossed several grenades as an elite, several jackals and a dozen grunts rushed inside. The Elite and a mix of the smaller aliens were blown apart by the grenade, causing the survivors to scatter and be slain by the shotgun fire of the ODST sergeant. As Tony pod turned and prepared to drop, the man heard Irish give a warcry, which was quickly cut off before he heard and felt plasma slamming into pod a few seconds before he launched into cold vacuum of space.

As Tony fell from the cruiser, his view was greeted with the sight of the cruiser speeding up and flying towards the ring world that it had been orbit above. As it did, the Covenant cruisers took chase, one of which ran through the swarm of drop pods, obliterating most, which crashed against it’s shields, though either by blind luck or some cruel hand. Tony and three other drop pods were left okay, resulting in one of the alien fighters taking pot shots at them. Tony attempted to use the inbuilt rotational thrusters to evade but to his dismay, he discovered that they were damaged from the plasma fire of the ground soldiers when he was launching.

The man’s luck quickly drained as the fighter destroyed nearby drop pod, causing chunks of the pod to go flying out. A large piece of the door managed to slam into Tony’s pod, cracking the window and putting the pod into a spin. “Shit!” Tony shouted as he gripped on tight while he spun, listening to loud alarms blaring and the sound of the remaining pods being destroyed. As the man tried his best to regain control of the machine, his vision began to blur from the g-force just as a bright rush of purple light filled his view, making him close his eyes and brace for his death, but instead of dying, he was surprised to find that his pod had stopped spinning out of control. Once he felt this, the man opened his eyes to see that he was descending into a snowy landscape, which alarmed him as where he was meant to land was in a different kind of desert. The man started the sequence to slow down as he noticed that he was coming down on a strange city with a spire like building in the middle of it.

(Crystal Empire, a few moments earlier)

"Now hand over the Crystal Heart" the dark unicorn known as Sombra demanded, he had broken through earlier then expected and now stood between Spike and Cadence and the Crystal Podium. "I promise I won't hurt either of you too badly, hay i might even make you both my loyal subjects" he said evilly as he began to laugh.

Spike whimpered as he looked up at the now slightly strengthen Pink Alicorn of love who was already coming down from her high from the Crystal heart in Spikes possession, 'please Celestia help us' he prayed in his head

"We will never surrender to you, you foul monster" Cadence heroically proclaimed only for her legs to buckle from exhaustion making Sombra laugh harder before he wiped a tear away with his hoof.

"My my my, out of juice?” Sombra said with a sadistic smirk as he slowly approached, only to stop when he heard a soft boom from above him. The stallion looked to the sky, only to shrink slightly at the sight of a burning metal object falling towards them. Spike and Cadence looked up and were just as shocked to see the object

'Thank you Celestia' Spike thought as the large object slammed into the ground nearby, creating a small tremor, causing the small dragon to fall over. ‘Oh no, it missed’ Spike despaired. The two ponies however had completely forgot about what they were doing and started to cautiously approach the object as they could hear a loud irritating beeping sound. Though they didn’t get too close before hissing was produced by the rock followed by a large chunk of it was launch off and slammed into Sombra.

He grumbled in pain as he got out from under the chunk of metal and looked at Cadence, only to see that she had her eyes locked on the meteor. He was about to ask what she was so concerned about until he heard a deep groan come from the stone. “Fuck me sideways” a deep masculine voice said, causing Sombra to look over and see a tall, black armoured creature stumble out of the rock, only to collapse to it’s knees. “Ahh… stop spinning” It is annoyed as it swayed slightly. After a few tense minutes, Sombra began to slowly approach the creature. The unicorn stopped as his hoof had hit something, that clinked loudly across the ground towards the creature. The item in question was the Crystal Heart, and the little mistake gained the attention of the creature, causing it to turn and look at Sombra, Cadence and Spike then at the Heart, which was about a metre away from it.

“Hmm, this is interesting” It said as it pulled itself to it’s feet. The two ponies saw that it stood taller than Princess Celestia, maybe even as tall as an adult Minotaur Bull. It’s black armour was splattered with a mix of purple, blue and red that seemed to run down like blood. The thought bringing disgust to the young Princess.

Sombra took the initiative and flared his horn, this of course drawing the attention of the creature, which proceeded to draw a metal item from it’s belt. It then pointed the item at Sombra before in the space of a few seconds, a deafen noise was heard just as the Stallion’s horn detonated into hundreds of splinters. The sight caused Spike to faint and for Cadence to start trembling while the dark unicorn fell onto his ass while in shock at what just happened. Only snapping out of it when the creature had walked over. It proceeded to kneel next to Sombra and lightly smack him on the nose as if he was a naughty pet. “Bad pony” It said before it moved away to inspect its surroundings. It only got so far until it tripped over the Crystal Heart, that had been strewn across the floor. “What the?” It asked before kneeling down and taking the ancient and powerful artifact in it’s alien hand while the two Ponies watched helplessly. “This thing is pulsating like crazy” It said with a hint of interest before in rose to it’s feet and looked around. “Though why is it just on the ground?” It asked before it noticed the frightened form of Cadance looking at him with shaking uncontrollably.

Without saying anything, the creature slowly walked over with it’s left arm out stretched to her. “Easy, i’m not gonna hurt you” It said, as the princess attempted to retreat but only achieved falling head over heels. “Not that wasn’t clever” it chuckled softly before it rested it’s hand on her side, while placing the heart on the ground. “See, not gonna hurt you” it said as it gently stroked her side while it’s now free hand moved to her head and scratched behind her ear, gaining a few coos of delight from the mare as she relaxed. “There we go, just rela… what the?” It said, snapping Cadance out of her daze. She looked back at it but could get a fix on what it was looking at until it’s hand moved from her ear, only to lightly grip her thigh. This action caused the mare to blush brightly while she started to fear the worse.

“No that is an interesting brand… no, brands don’t have this range of colour, but painting the fur would not work either” It said as it studied her Cutie mark, causing the mare to suddenly give a sigh of relief. “And it sort of looks like this heart…” It said before it was interrupted.

“That is because the heart is a…” Cadence started in a nervous tone but stopped when she watched the creature suddenly recoil.

“You can talk?” It asked confused.

“Well of course i can talk, it would pretty silly if i couldn’t talk… seeing i am a princess” Cadence said moments before the creature let go of her and rose to its feet before drawing it’s weapon. “What are you doing?!” Cadence said as she watched in fear as the creature aimed it’s weapon at her.

“Identify yourself Xeno” It ordered while pointing the end of the weapon at her head.

“I… i… my name is Mi Amore Cadenza…” She said in a frightened tone causing the creature to lower its weapon and cock it’s head.

“You name is Italian for I Love Cadence?” It asked confused as the mare shrugged.

“I don’t know but that is what my mother named me” She said shaking as the creature put it’s weapon away.

“Well i guess that answers my next couple questions” It said before it picked up the heart. “Anyway… sorry for that, kind of not had the best run with aliens… though i think i am the alien here” It said .

“Yo...you didn’t make a very good first impression… and you are quite scary” She said as she relaxed a bit.

“Yea… my bad, anyway” it started before pointing to the artifact in its hands. “What is this thing and why is it connected to your flank mark?” It asked asked her.

“T-that is the Crystal Heart and i can only theorize why it is connected to me, though we don’t have time for that as we need to put it back on it’s pedestal before he can destroy it” She said before looking to Sombra, who was still looking at the creature in shock. “He is a tyrant that is trying to enslave the people and also…” She tried to continue but the creature stopped her.

“Well if it is for the right reasons then i will, but so help me if you are lying to me” It said before it walked over to the pedestal, where it felt the crystal item in its hands yank free and fly into the identical item floating above the pedestal, shattering it. At first nothing happened, so the creature moved forward and poked it, only for a blinding flash of light to erupt from the item, blinding the creature and releasing the vast amounts of stored love out .

Once the light had faded, Cadence was filled with strength again. “You did it!” She said happily as she got to her hooves. She gave a few twirls while looking at her now crystal body but she stopped it her tracks when she saw that the creature had removed its helmet, which was currently being held in it’s offhand and had it’s main hand against it’s eyes. The creature had a short mane of crimson hair, small rounded ears, tanned flesh and a small cut on it’s lip. “Are you alright?” She asked concerned.

“Yea… just shouldn’t have been staring straight at it when the thing went off” It grumbled, it’s voice coming through clearly and enough for Cadence to suspect it was a male.

“Oh… i am sorry to hear that” She said as he removed his hand from his face a blinked a few times.

“Why are you sorry?” He asked as he looked to her, giving her a view of his mismatched eyes. “Anyway, as much as i would love to stay and chat” He started before walking over to the rock he came out of. “I have work to do” He said before sitting down in the chair that was within and started using the console.

“What happened?” Spike asked as he came too.

“Oh Spike, the creature saved The Crystal Empire” Cadence said to the dragon.

“Oh cool… wait what?” Spike asked confused just as the pair heard the creature swear loudly.

“Are you fucking kidding me? How the fuck did it miss something the size of a moon?” He roared before stepping out of the object and walking over to the stairs, where he looked at the sky, then at his pod. “Where is it… it should be big enough and close enough for me to see” He grumbled.

“What is wrong?” Cadence asked.

“I should have landed on a ring world but my nav computer is saying i am on a planet.” He said while searching the skies. “But i can’t even the ring above either” He added.

“Um, i hate to inform you but, from all the maps and books about the stars i have read, i have never heard of a giant ring in the sky.” Cadence said.

“Fuck… then the question is, if i am not on the ring or the planet behind it… where am i and how did i get here?” He asked as he crossed his arms.