Halo: The Interlopers

It had been twenty-four hours since Mark had emerged from the rubble in Manehattan. He was in a Pelican dropship escorting Twilight Sparkle back to Ponyville, where her friends had been worried about her and eagerly awaited her return. After he got Twilight home, Mark expected to be sent off on another mission.

“Colonel, incoming communication from Admiral Hunt,” The co-pilot shouted back.

“Put him on,” Mark responded.

A holographic figure appeared in the passenger compartment.

“Colonel, in one of the compartments above you should be your fatigues, and a travel bag with some clean sets for you to wear. When you get to Ponyville I want you to take some time off.”

“Sir, I need to be at the frontlines, or behind them. I don’t have time to goof around.”

“Thompson, you’ve been on mission after mission since the incident with the UNSC Just Cause four months ago, and then you had to fight through Manehattan just to survive. You’re bruised, battered and tired, and you need some serious R&R. Send your armor back up here, and find a place to stay. If you can’t find one, we’ll set you up with one. Get some rest, that’s an order. Hunt out.”

The transmission ceased, and the figure disappeared. Mark grabbed a set of fatigues and a few electronics, removed his armor and put the clothes on. In a daze, he’d put on the dirty fatigues he’d worn through Manehattan, and put the weathered set of M52B torso armor on too. He grabbed his dirty M6G sidearm and stored the M319 IGL. He sat down next to Twilight, who was also wearing her gear from the Manehattan campaign.

“So, Admiral Hunt wants me to take some time off. Mind if I stay at your place, Twi?” He asked reluctantly.

Twi gave him a smile in return. “Sure. I’ve got a guest bed that’s just your size. It was supposed to be for the eventuality that one of the Princesses would stay at the library, but they’ve got their own royal tents now.”

“What’re you gonna do when you get back?”

“Take a nice long bubble bath, wash and brush my mane. You?”

“Take a shower, sleep.”

The ride took another hour, and the Pelican landed outside the library. They walked in to find the lights out.

“Surprise!!” They heard from all around them, as the lights flicked on to reveal a gathering of ponies. Hanging from the walls was a banner that said “Welcome home!” Mark saw Ethan and Jason, and walked to meet them; Twilight went to hug her friends.

The partygoers snuck glances at the two of them, noticing that they still wore the clothes and weapons from their time in Manehattan. The bruises and scars from that time disturbed them, as most had never seen injuries so severe. And there was a human walking around covered in bruises and cuts.

Mark sat down next to his teammates.

“You look like hammered shit, boss,” Ethan laughed.

“And you look like some pretty-boy actor, but I’m not giving you a hard time,” Mark responded. “But yeah, I could use a shower and some bed rest, as much as I hate to admit it.”

“Not a shave or haircut?” Jason queried.

“Nah. I’m gonna leave my hair like this; the ‘Unsettler’ hairstyle suits me. At least, Emmerich calls it that. And the beard I’ll keep too. Good coverage but still short. Plus I can still comb my hair into something neat if I have to. Anyway, what’s up with you two?”

On the other side of the room, Twilight was talking to her friends.

“Twilight! It’s so good to see you,” Rarity said after their group hug. “But we really need to get you cleaned up, and out of those clothes. Spa, tomorrow at three, the six of us?”

“Sure, Rarity.” She said. “But just so you know, this was one of the most popular clothing styles while I was in Manehattan.” They all laughed at that.

The party lasted a few more hours, before Pinkie used something she called her “reverse party cannon”, which cleaned up the entire library and confused the SPARTANs, who were unfamiliar with Pinkie’s reality-defying antics. Everypony said good night, and left.

Twilight showed Mark his room, and he set his bag down in there. He plopped down onto the bed and drifted off.
Meanwhile, Twilight took that bubble bath she’d talked about, and got out half an hour later. She hugged Spike before getting under the covers of her own bed and falling asleep.

***

Mark awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of crying. When he investigated, he found Twilight crying into her pillow, and Spike trying to console her. The purple dragon just looked at him, his scaly features indicating a level of confusion; he had no idea why she was crying.

He kneeled next to her bed and put his hand on her lavender shoulder. “Hey,” He whispered. “What’s wrong?”

Twilight began to speak in between sobs. “Star-Swirl. I always wanted to meet him, always thought he was a noble pony. But he’s a monster! All my life I wanted to follow in his hoofsteps, but now I realize how horrible doing that would be. And to think any of my ancestors worked with him in creating the greatest tragedies and atrocities is too much to bear.”

Mark rolled her over and looked into her eyes. “You’re not your ancestors. You’re not bound by their sins, and they’re not as accomplished as you are. How old are you?”

“Twenty-two?” She sniffed.

“And at just twenty-two you’re the personal protégé of Princess Celestia, and an Element of Harmony. What have they done that comes close to that? You’ve saved Equestria more than once, and you haven’t let it go to your head. You’re better than him, and you’re better than them.”

Twilight smiled and sniffed again. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

They both went back to bed, Mark glad to have helped, and Twilight comforted by his words.

The next day she began to catch up with her friends, and hear about what they’d done while she was gone. Mark took a shower and changed into clean clothes, leaving his hair and short beard alone after he washed them. They read a few books and Twilight sent a letter to Celestia telling her about her experience in Manehattan

***

Earlier that night, Ethan was crawling into a tent he’d set up outside Ponyville. He didn’t have a place to stay, so he’d made a camp. He’d never gotten along well with civilians anyway, so he considered his newfound time off a sabbatical from civilization. He’d maybe do a bit of hunting, watch a few movies on his datapad, make s’mores and read some Robert Ludlum.

After getting inside the tent, he heard wings flapping outside, but assumed it was a nocturnal bird, although probably not an owl. It seemed he was wrong.

“Ooga-booga-booga!” Rainbow Dash yelled, popping her head into the tent. She smiled at Ethan’s deliberately goofy grimace and laughed at having been able to get him off-guard.

“Hey Dash, what’s going on?” Ethan said, removing his previous frown.

“Not much, Eeth.” She crawled into the tent. “Just checkin’ up on you.”

“Really?” Ethan smiled. “If you were ‘just checking up’ then you’d have gone already.”

Dash put her forehoof on the back of her head, obviously nervous. “Well, I was just wondering if you’d like to hang out tomorrow.”

“Sure. Where and when?”

“Sugarcube Corner at noon. We’ll figure out what to do over milkshakes.”

“Sounds good. See ya then.”

“Cool.” Dash flew off, leaving Ethan alone again.

Just before he fell asleep, he had a realization.

Holy shit, I’m going on a date tomorrow.

***

Around 10 PM, just after Fluttershy had finished putting her animals to bed, a knock came on her door. Angel went to investigate, and peeked out the window. On the other side was Jason, who held a bag in his left hand.

“Who is it, Angel?”

The bunny tapped out the visitor’s name in Horse code.

“Oh.” Fluttershy opened the door.

“Hey Fluttershy. I need a place to stay right now, and I was wondering if you had somewhere I could sleep.”

“Well, I um, I only have a couch and a bed.”

“I can take the couch.” Jason walked inside, stepping over Angel. He dropped his bag by the couch and plopped down.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I have to be up extra early tomorrow to help with the bunny census.”

“Fine by me. I’d like to help, actually.”

“Well, if you want to help, I won’t stop you. It’s really not necessary, though.”

“I’d rather help a lady out than sit on my hands. It’s as much for me as for you.”

Fluttershy smiled when he called her a “lady”. “I’ll get you up at five,” She said.

Jason dozed off, his head resting on a pillow on the cushions, just as his feet lay atop the sides.

***

That morning, Mark awoke expecting gunfire and explosions or the faint sounds of a starship and its crew; something familiar. Instead, it was just the sound of the branches of the tree-library swaying in the cool morning breeze. He suddenly remembered where he was, and smiled. He was surprised to actually be enjoying this peace and quiet.

He got up and dressed himself, rubbed his eyes and walked outside. There weren’t any birds singing, or any real ambience. A glance at his HUD told Mark it was a bit past six in the morning. A few ponies were out and about, going about their daily routines. He caught an occasional glance directed at him, but he ignored them; after all, he was still an alien.

He began to jog around the town, his direction random as he studied the layout and committed it to his memory. By seven ‘o clock, he had covered every road and alley in the hamlet at least twice. He returned to the library to find Rainbow Dash conversing with Twilight inside.

“-I’m saying is I’m worried. Manehattan’s been clear for days now, and her parents should be back,” Rainbow Dash stated.

“What’s going on?” Mark inquired. He took a seat inside and picked up a book he’d been reading.

“We’re discussing what to do with Scootaloo,” Twilight explained. “Her parents are still missing. They’d gone to Manehattan on business, and got stuck there during the invasion. We think they’re still alive, but-”

“They’re dead,” Mark deadpanned.

“What!?” Twilight and Dash exclaimed together.

“I saw them get crushed by rubble. I know it was them because I saw them talking to Scootaloo over a webcam hours before. They even said her name.”

And if I’d tried I could’ve saved them, He didn’t add. He knew with the augmented abilities his armor gave him he could have extracted them from the rubble before the whole place came down.

“Now what?” Rainbow Dash asked after a long period of silence.

“Somepony has to tell her,” Twilight responded.

More silence. The two mares alternated between looking at the ground and at Mark.

“We should probably figure something out before we tell her. She’ll need a place to stay, and there’re no orphanages in town. I don’t want to tear her away from her friends either, because now all she’s got is them,” Twilight said, breaking the silence.

“I know she’s like, my number-one fan, but I couldn’t take care of her full-time, even if I wanted to. Between being a weather pony and all the other stuff I do, I don’t have the time.” Dash’s wings drooped to the ground, which she stared at in what seemed to be shame.

Twilight was visibly consumed in thought. Her brow furrowed, her lips were pressed tightly, she squinted slightly, and her gaze drifted to a spot on one of the bookcases.

“Fluttershy already tends to animals most of the day, so she can’t do it. Rarity might be able to do it, but given that she already has trouble putting up with Sweetie Belle’s antics, that’s really not much of an option. Pinkie is, well, Pinkie. Applejack works most of the day and only has just enough time for her family, so I don’t think another filly would turn out well. Rainbow just said she can’t do it…” She donned a look of determination. “But I think I can…”

“You’d do that?” Dash asked, surprised. “I mean, I get it’s just temporary, but still…”

“It’s the right thing to do. I have enough spare time on my hooves to care for her, and since she’ll be crusading most of the time, it wouldn’t be a non-stop job either. It won’t be easy, but I can do it. I’ll take her in the day after tomorrow.”

“Alright. Thanks Twi.” Rainbow Dash left.

Mark and Twilight went to reading. Mark read an anthology of H.P. Lovecraft, and Twilight immersed herself in the new Daring Do book. They read for hours, both finishing their books in one prolonged sitting.

***

Jason had been helping with the bunny census for several hours now. With his advanced mathematical skills, he found it to be no problem at all. Fluttershy kept the rabbits still while he counted them with remarkable speed and accuracy. The first few times Fluttershy counted each family herself after hearing Jason’s quick assessments, worried that he wasn’t giving it real effort. Whether or not he actually gave an effort didn’t seem to matter however, as she found each assessment to be spot-on.

She quickly found herself relying on his skills, letting him count while she recorded the numbers. By noon, they had covered the area Fluttershy had been assigned. Previously it had been an all-day affair, but Jason had made it significantly faster.

“Thank you for helping, Jason. This used to take all day, but thanks to you I’m done already,” Fluttershy stated graciously.

“My pleasure.” Jason looked at her and smiled. While he looked at her, he tripped and fell over a large root protruding from the ground. Fluttershy cantered over to help him, only to trip and fall onto his chest as he rolled over onto his back.

They shared a brief moment as they stared into each other’s eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Fluttershy blushed.

“It’s fine. You’re one of the better things I’ve had on top of me.” Jason smiled softly, and then realized his innuendo as Fluttershy blushed even more. “Oh! I didn’t mean it in that context. Not that I uh, find you unattractive; you’re beautiful- Not that I’m trying to hit on you… Although you’re a pretty nice mare, and I-”

He was cut off as Fluttershy hugged him. After taking a moment to process what had just happened, Jason hugged her back. They released each other at the same time.

“Would you like to walk and watch the clouds together? I left enough food and water for the animals to make it through the day. I mean, if that’s okay with you…” Fluttershy proposed sheepishly.

“Yeah,” Jason responded, smiling. “I’d like that.”

***

Ethan waited at Sugarcube Corner for Rainbow Dash to show up. She did so, albeit fifteen minutes late. She trotted in and took a seat.

“What’s up, Eeth?” Dash greeted him.

“Not much. Just you bein’ late,” He joked.

“Hey, I never said exactly noon. Anyway, there’s a showing of ‘The Exponydables 2’ in an hour. It’s got Arnold Schwarzeneighger and Buck Norris in it!” She placed her hooves on her cheeks, inadvertently making an odd facial expression. “So awesome!” She removed her hooves from her cheeks. “You in?”

“Sure.”

They spent the next fifty minutes discussing various topics, like how Ethan used his armor if it was so heavy, flight, and rumors regarding the sexual orientations of the Elements of Harmony. The last one irked Dash.

“I mean c’mon! Just because we go on adventures together and our group is all-female doesn’t mean we’re all like that! And the tomboy-lesbian stereotype is the basis for singling me out, just because I don’t like girly stuff that much."

“Personally, I resent stereotypes like that. There’re manly girls and girly men, and based on my experience in the UNSC Defense Forces, those traits don’t have much bearing on orientation. I think they’re just a way of portraying the LGBT community as something besides normal in an effort to promote their exclusion,” Ethan agreed.

“That’s… Actually that makes a lot of sense.” Dash looked at the clock on the wall. “We better get going if we’re gonna make the movie.”

They went to the movie, and sat through its entirety. It wasn’t deep or philosophical, but neither of them really expected that. However, it was very enjoyable, practically an action comedy. Ethan, who was aware of the cultural parallels between humanity and ponies, and attended movie nights onboard UNSC ships whenever possible, understood most of the tongue-in-cheek references to other works of the actors.

***

The three SPARTANs stayed in town for another day before they were called back out. They got onto a Pelican and rode to Cavalia JSB, where they would receive their next assignments. When they got there they were escorted to a single room. In the center was Lieutenant General Jordan Taylor, who commanded the land forces of Eagle Sword. The gray-haired general officer pushed his glasses up and looked at the men before him.

The soldiers saluted.

“At ease. As you know, the Covenant fleet lost two of its smaller ships this month, bringing them down to eleven vessels. Right now they’re recuperating, making them ripe targets as some of their expeditionary forces retreat to the North Pole. Unfortunately, something else has come up.”

Taylor tapped a button on his datapad, which brought up a map of Unikraine and Equestria. Several red dots appeared on the two maps, indicating areas of interest.

“Thanks to data obtained by Major Greer and Captain Natick,” Taylor said, nodding to Jason and Ethan. “We’ve obtained invaluable, albeit disturbing, information regarding Unikraine and the CM alliance. It seems that the Unikrainians have recently begun providing support to the CMs, and vice versa. Now given that Equis was in the middle of a Cold War that stretched longer than our planet’s when we arrived, and still is embroiled in it, we shouldn’t be surprised. But while previous conflicts used proxy nations to do battle, with the two sides never really engaging in direct warfare between each other, this is using a proxy to directly attack the enemy’s homeland, something unprecedented in either of our histories.”

Taylor brought up images of Manehattan burning, and the Statue of Harmony heavily damaged.

“Unikraine provided the resources and transport for the CM attack on Manehattan, and even fired a few of their own SS-N-21 submarine-launched cruise missiles into the city in the confusion of the attack. What’s more, there are several army groups preparing to attack Equestria. We are on the brink of a three-way world war between Equestria, NETO and the UNSC, the Covenant remnants, and the new CMU alliance. Your implants will now relay the location of a briefing room for each one of you.”

They did indeed. In a single-file line they left the room, and headed to their new assignments.

***

Captain Ethan Natick reached his briefing room first. Inside was a platoon of UNSC Army troopers dressed in desert fatigues, and two ponies.

“Hey Eeth, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash greeted him. She wore fatigues that matched the troopers’. Applejack was there too.

“The fuck are you doing here?” Ethan was surprised that Dash was here, in the same briefing room as him. Had she gotten a military position without him knowing?

“I’ll explain that,” A black man spoke up. He walked to a desk and got the attention of the personnel assembled. “My name is Lieutenant Colonel Harold Gordon. All of you have been briefed on recent developments, and I’m going to tell you what you’re supposed to do about it.”

A large screen on the wall booted up and displayed a picture of the Equestrian West. A red box appeared around a section of it, and the box’s contents were enlarged to fit the whole screen.

“During a routine training mission near the settlement of Appleoosa, an REA helicopter flight took hostile ground fire from an unknown enemy. Presumably this came from a small quantity of CMU alliance forces operating in the area. You’re being sent to set up a station in Appleoosa and investigate this threat. The ponies here,” Gordon gestured to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Are familiar with the inhabitants of the area and will aid your efforts to obtain intelligence in the AO from the locals. You are to protect them with your lives. Once the nature of the threat is determined, we will judge the most effective means of response. You leave in five hours.”

***

Major Jason Greer entered the room he was ordered to go to, and found a group of ODSTs and an ONI officer.

“Gentlemen,” The officer began. An image of Unikraine appeared on a large screen, and zoomed in to an area in the northern reaches of the country. That area then appeared on another screen as it zoomed further to reveal a military complex in the mountains. “This is the OKB-512 Design Bureau, one of the top think tanks in Unikraine. We’ve assembled a scary picture using information from a variety of sources; a deep cover mole codenamed ‘CARDINAL’, intercepted SIGINT that covers the extent of that field, and a few double-agents, among other things.”

He tapped a button on his datapad, which brought up images of several UNSC designs; vehicles, small arms, armor. A few other objects appeared too.

“As you can see, the Unikrainians are using data from the Mamba PMC to manufacture UNSC weaponry, as well as make several of both group’s own designs a reality. They’ve already produced several hundred units of VANITY armor and accessories, as well as tens of thousands of small arms, hundreds of vehicles, and thousands of sets of body armor for the host ponies. Additionally, several types of walkers reverse-engineered from the earlier MJOLNIR armor versions and Cyclops exoskeletons have been designed and built there.”

“OKB-512 is headed by three individuals.” Three dossiers appeared onscreen, and one of them enlarged to fill most of the screen.

The enlarged image was of a completely bald Caucasian male who seemed to be in his mid-fifties with average fitness levels, and a salt-and-pepper beard wrapping around his mouth. “The first is James ‘Jim’ Ward. He heads the R&D section of OKB-512. He is well-liked by everyone and everypony in the design bureau. He personally oversees the development of all projects, and is in charge of a few, such as OKB-512’s version of the VANITY armor, and the aforementioned walkers.”

Next, a stern-looking Mamba officer appeared. His hair was black with a prominent widow’s peak, his features were plain, and his complexion fair. “This is Major Leo Sobec. He commands the security at the facility, both the ponies and the humans. He runs a tight ship, and has top-notch counter-intelligence work by the ponies at the Second Chief Directorate of the KGB; all of our intel comes from sources outside of the bureau’s staff.”

Last was a slate gray unicorn. “Major General Neighgovich is in charge of the entire facility, and has the final say on any major decisions made. His political clout is also significant, and is partially responsible for the facility’s success; he has had no problems obtaining funds for the facility, and its success earned it praise from the Politburo.”

The dossier pictures zoomed out, and the ONI officer straightened his uniform.

“Each of these individuals is to be terminated with extreme prejudice, and the facility destroyed to the fullest extent possible.”

The officer took a breath.

“This is a black operation; it does not, nor will it ever exist. If you are identified, both Equestria and the UNSC will deny all knowledge and claim you went rogue. This is a pre-emptive strike, nothing more or less. If you are captured or incapacitated and are no longer able to help complete your mission, you are to detonate a micro-bomb located inside your armor; this will destroy your corpse and equipment, rendering you unidentifiable. However, that must be an absolute last resort.”

“How are we being inserted?” Jason asked.

“The REAF has provided a B-2 Spirit for this mission. You will be flown in as close as possible and make a low-altitude jump out of the aircraft’s bomb bay, which has been modified to carry special forces. From there you will use your provided equipment to accomplish the stated objectives.”

***

Mark Thompson arrived at his briefing room last. Inside was a single earth pony stallion.

“You’ve been chosen by somepony very high up for this op.” The pony turned to reveal a navy blue coat and black mane, orange eyes gazing coldly at him. His voice was very gravelly.

“What are my orders?”

“Make contact with a friendly agent, a Griffon codenamed ‘Widow’, who is embedded in a cell of the Ponies’ Liberation Front. From there you will aid them in accomplishing a series of objectives, which will be radioed in. After we recall you in an undisclosed amount of time, you and Widow will execute your comrades without mercy. It cannot be allowed to escape that Equestria and her allies were in collusion with a known terrorist organization. You will be inserted into the mountain forests of southern Unikraine via a "civilian" cargo plane. Drop pods could be detected by the Unikrainian air defense radar stations, but a stealth bomber is the surest way to penetrate the area. I assume you know what to do if you’re captured?”

“Escape, or failing that I self-terminate.”

“Good man.”