Halo: The Interlopers

Mark and his team retrieved the FC team’s Pelican, after describing the establishment of peaceful relations with the leader of a nation to Vice Admiral Hunt. The three-star admiral sent a recovery team to collect the bodies of the dead FC team, as well as several Pelicans and Albatrosses to set up a camp on the Apple’s farm.

The Pelican, being flown by Jason, headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack, her friends, and her family gazed in awe at the dropship. The rear bay door opened, with Mark standing inside. The setting sun glared in Mark’s eyes.

“Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike,” he sounded off their names. “You’ve just been invited to attend a diplomatic summit in Canterlot Castle. Come on, it starts in half an hour!”

Rarity spoke first. “Only half an hour? But we’re almost a hundred miles away! How would we make it in time?”

“Well, hop in! This ain’t a living being, it won’t eat you.” Mark shouted over the din of the Pelican’s thrusters.

“You’re saying that you can get us a hundred miles in thirty minutes with that thing?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No, I’m saying that we can get there in ten minutes, now get in, it’s perfectly safe!”

Reluctantly, the group obeyed, jumping onto the dropship’s step and trotting inside. They displayed concern when the doors closed, although Mark quickly allayed those fears.

“Just relax, we’ll be travelling at about six hundred miles an hour, so buckle up.” Mark used the imperial measurement because earlier speech indicated that was what they used, and he had a slight preference for it too, although the UNSC used the metric system primarily.

“S-s-six hundred?” Fluttershy stuttered, clearly scared.

“I don’t trust any wings that aren’t my own,” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Relax, the D77-TC Pelican is a perfectly safe vehicle. It’s vacuum sealed, reliable, and well-armored. It’s more dangerous to swallow toothpaste than to ride in one of these,” Mark assured them.

“Quit being such wussies, you’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re being shot at or anything,” Ethan piped in.

Mark took off his helmet for the first time in his nineteen hours on Equis. His face was a fairly handsome one; Caucasian, black-brown hair, hazel eyes, clean-shaven, mildly tanned, a crew cut, and a thin scar running along the left side of his jaw. He was undoubtedly the first human the ponies had ever seen, and now the first they’d seen the actual face of. The ponies stared at him for the remainder of the trip, although they tried not to make it obvious.

A bit later, the passengers felt the dropship decelerate. The bay doors opened, and they could see that they were landing in the courtyard of the castle. Mark, Jason, Ethan, and the ponies exited the Pelican.

The courtyard itself was expansive, filled with trees, flowers and birds. What Mark assumed were royal guards stood rigid alongside the various pathways. Most of them sported a gold-colored armor, and spears. Either ponies had primitive war-fighting technology, or these guards wielded the spears ceremonially.

A white unicorn with a red vest and blue mane stood just outside the door to the castle to greet them.

“Twili!” he shouted, and Twilight galloped towards him, embracing him. “I haven’t seen you since my wedding!”

“Mark, this is my brother, Shining Armor. He’s the captain of the royal guard. Shine, this is Mark and, um, I just realized I don’t know your names.” She indicated Ethan and Jason were the ones she and her friends didn’t know.

“Major Jason Greer, at your service. I’m the silver one with the blue visor. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Captain Ethan Natick. Mean ‘n green.”

“The shield on your vest is crooked.”

“Oh, thanks!” Shining Armor looked embarrassed, considering he was trying to make a good impression on a visiting delegation.

“No problem.”

There were escorts for the delegates, both ponies and UNSC personnel, each wielding their own weapons.

Once they were inside, Mark and his team sat down on chairs that had been specially provided just for them; some cushioning, and a very sturdy frame to support the weight they possessed while wearing their armor.

Oddly, Mark’s team was not asked to relinquish their weapons; in all likelihood, their pony hosts did recognize them as weapons, given that Twilight had immediately recognized his rifle as one. The same went for the human delegates’ escorts, who were using Army uniforms and equipment. Perhaps Princess Celestia wished the humans to feel more at ease, or was confident that their weapons wouldn't be able to really harm her and viewed them as a parent would view a safety blanket.

All guests besides the escorts sat at a large, well-made oak table, about ten meters long and two meters wide.

Various non-carnivorous foods and desserts had been provided by the hosts as sustenance for the guests, and the delegation brought gifts of technology, literature, and replicas of various human artworks, ranging from Da Vinci to Cézanne to the art of the modern day. It seemed rather lopsided to Mark. Then again, humanity was trying to display good intentions: they were the ones with something to prove.

Ethan and Jason removed their helmets to eat. Ethan revealed a sandy tan face, with golden-blonde hair and green eyes. Jason had swept back brown hair, almost generically attractive Caucasian features and sky blue eyes. They set their helmets down on the table, and waited for permission to start eating.

Princess Celestia used her magic to tap a glass with a spoon. Any idle chatter ceased immediately.

“I’d like to say something. This has all been very abrupt, what with this rapid transition from first contact to establishment of diplomatic relations in less than twenty-four hours. Our peoples are quite different, and I imagine our ways of living as well. But as the very existence of the late first-contact team indicates, there is clearly a mutual interest in peace. Your race is welcome to our vast and great nation, and may travel as they see fit, as long as reasonable order is kept. I plan to disseminate information regarding this momentous event to the world, so that nopony on this planet should be alarmed. None of us wish for panic, fear of the unknown and anarchy to take Equis, in fact I hope for the opposite: joy, wonder and a new peace. I hope that our societies can prosper together, and that we can lay the groundwork for a better tomorrow, today. I will certainly work to make this vision a reality.”

The speech was met with a standing ovation by the humans, and the ponies performed their equivalent. Celestia introduced her sister, Princess Luna, and she spoke too, saying largely the same thing. The same reaction was produced as well. The hosts allowed the banquet to commence.

Mark, Ethan and Jason skipped straight to dessert, not for a lack of discipline, but because Black Forest Cake was a tantalizing dessert for men who rarely even had ice cream. They all took reasonable slices, grabbed sparkling apple cider, some silverware, and took their seats again.

The cake was delicious, as was the cider. The SPARTAN-IIIs of Knife team savored this meal immensely. They likely enjoyed it more than any other person or pony in the room.

***

Fleet Master Rolo’Duronee gazed upon a spec-ops team’s transmission of this gathering from orbit. His fleet of Covenant remnants had been in system for months, studying the society on Equis. He believed that such unique races as existed on the planet would reinvigorate the Covenant were they to be integrated. The vast mineral wealth on the planet below would certainly aid in both the economic and logistical reformation of the Covenant.

His “fleet” consisted of a mere thirteen ships, but they were crewed with able bodies, still faithful to the cause of the Covenant. They all still believed in the Great Journey, regardless of the San ’Shyuum betrayal of the Sangheili. And even in those relatively few ships, there were thousands of soldiers that stood ready to follow his orders.

He knew that the human fleet would cause unacceptable losses on his fleet, being outnumbered two-to-one; so he held back his fleet on the opposite side of the planet, where he could preserve his ships and his stealth. In times past, heavy casualties and reckless maneuvers could be tolerated; the Covenant had near-bottomless resources then. This time, it would a careful game of attrition.

In his observation of the planet below, he determined that by incapacitating the leadership of the most powerful nation on the planet and conquering it, the rest of the planet would fall without effort. Eliminating a group of prominent humans was a fringe benefit, but one he particularly savored.

“Capture the princesses alive. If possible, capture the others; if not, they are expendable. May the gods aid our cause.”

***

After second helpings, Knife team left their seats, picked up their helmets, carried them under their arms, and began to socialize.

“So uh, you dropped onto Equis in a metal pod? What was that like?” Rainbow Dash asked Ethan.

“Well, the temperature inside the pod approaches the boiling point of water, so it gets pretty hot in there. Most people who use the drop pods don’t have the benefit of wearing advanced armor like Jason, Mark and I have, but they still put up with the heat. Don’t get me wrong though, only the toughest humans can take the heat, and they go through the some of the hardest training there is.”

“Yeesh, that sounds nasty.”

“Yeah, no shit.”

A bit further away, Fluttershy conversed with Jason.

“So, your armor, it’s kind of a dull color. Why?”

“Well, this is grey-silver is flashy compared to most UNSC armor. Mostly we use dull colors because gaudy colors attract a lot of attention, and make the wearer easier to see.”

“But what problem would that create? You humans seem peaceful, everypony thinks so.”

This drew a chuckle from Jason. “True, but sometimes natives aren’t too friendly when we’re, ah, exploring.” Jason smiled, and Fluttershy returned the gesture.

“I see.”

Mark was looking out the skylight as the stars above, leaning against a wall as he did so.

“Any constellation in particular you’re looking at? Maybe your home star?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, I don’t really know the constellations too well, believe it or not. I guess it’s because they change every time you go somewhere else. I ain’t telling the name of my star or anything, there’s a whole protocol about that. It’s better that way anyhow.”

“Why is it better not to tell the name of your home star?”

Mark was opening his mouth to answer when he heard the distinct discharge of plasma weaponry.

That's why.

It seemed that Ethan and Jason did too, because they all put on their helmets and drew their weapons. Jason chose his M6G magnum sidearm over the SRS-99 AM sniper rifle slung over his back, and Ethan likewise chose his MA37 assault rifle over the M41 rocket launcher he usually carried. Mark kept his M319 grenade launcher slung and drew his M392 DMR.

There was panic in the hall, as the UNSC Eagle Sword escorts urged all non-combatants to take cover, and took defensive positions. Ethan kick-flipped the table to use it as cover, and rested his rifle on the solid oak.

“Shit, Covenant!”

“Everybody down!”

“Get behind something and cover your ears, it’s about to get loud!”

A half dozen Grunts shuffled down a hallway, firing plasma pistols and needler rounds as they went. Behind them was a trio of Jackals, their shields interlocked in a phalanx, and behind them were three Elites. Knife team opened fire, their armor piercing rifle rounds tearing the diminutive Grunts to ribbons, and splashing the hallway with phosphorescent blue fluid.

Mark tossed a grenade behind the Jackals, which blew them forwards and shattered their fragile bones, simultaneously taking down one of the Elites’ shields, which prompted Mark to deliver a killshot to the exposed gullet of the roaring alien, severing his spinal column.

The other two were dropped by a combination of fire from Knife team and the Eagle Sword escorts, leaving a fresh layer of indigo paint on the hallway.

The SPARTANs and ES infantry reloaded and checked for casualties. Miraculously, nobody had been hit, the only damage done was to the walls of the castle.

“Damn it!”

“Okay, does this castle have a safe room, somewhere with sturdy walls and no windows?” Mark asked, hoping for a "yes".

“N-no,” Celestia said loudly, her ears clearly ringing from the staccato of gunfire and explosions that had just made their debut to an audience of Equestrian nobility. “Well, there’s a cellar that should be safe, but it’s on the other side of the castle.”

“That’ll do. Surgeon, Maverick,” Mark began, using his teammates’ callsigns, “Split up and take Alpha and Bravo squads, clear the building. Charlie, you’re with me. We take the VIPs. Move out!”

“Alright,” Celestia began, “We follow the red carpet until it forks into blue and green carpets, and we take the blue path. Then we take the staircase at the end of the path down and we’ll be safe.” She was visibly shaken from the assault, likely never having seen firearms used in person, or lives taken so quickly.

“Got it. Charlie Five through Eight, watch our asses. One through Four, take point.”

“You’re acting like you’ve done this before. I thought humans were peaceful!” Twilight said, half questioning, half exclaiming.

Mark proceeded down the path Princess Celestia indicated, and saw Charlie Two impaled by an orange Elite wielding an energy sword upon entering a larger room from a narrow hallway. The hulking alien drove the two-pronged blade right through Two’s chest and into the wall, boiling the poor man’s innards for a few moments before he died.

Mark hit the alien officer in the side of the head with the butt of his DMR, punched him in the gut, and grabbed one of his mandibles before slamming the alien’s head into a beautifully painted wall until purple blood stained the mural. He drew his knife and stabbed the beast’s throat, just to make sure he was dead.

Two more Elites dropped from the skylight. Mark fired six shots to kill one of them, with five to take down the shields, and one to the head to kill him. The other fired his plasma rifle at Mark and Charlie team, hitting Four in the thigh. The heat from the three shots burst an artery and scorched the impacted area, resulting in her leg being reduced to a thin composite of blood and bone, killing her by the third hit.

That one was finished by the rest of Charlie squad, but not before Mark’s shields were taken down, and he dove to the side and shot out the enemy’s own shields.

“Yeah, well that isn’t exactly reality, Twilight. Truth is, we’ve been fighting these bastards for thirty years. We finally beat ‘em two years ago, but there’s still remnants here and there. Besides, you knew we were military, what’d you expect?”

Mark’s shields had begun to recharge about halfway through the first sentence, and finished by the end of the second sentence. The ponies could see the golden shimmer as they reached full strength.

“I know, you’re military,” Twilight replied, flustered, “But I thought it was to fight feral beasts and protect from disasters, not to fight other sentient beings!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize your race was so idealistic about the behavior of potential aliens,” Mark began sarcastically, “I’m a pessimist, I prefer to assume the worst. That way, when things turn out better than ‘absolutely horrible’, I’m pleasantly surprised, and when they are that bad, I can just walk it off. Although, we do perform the duties you mentioned as well.”

“And you withheld the existence of hostile aliens why?” Celestia demanded.

Mark and Charlie squad proceeded to the staircase, with most of them guarding the rear as the human and pony VIPs made their way down. Mark took point, and made sure there was no cloaked Covies in the room.

“It didn’t seem relevant at the time. We only see remnants sporadically, and we didn’t think they’d try something with a fair sized UNSC fleet in orbit.”

“How did this whole thing start? I mean, you didn’t hesitate to kill them at all, it’s like it was personal!” Twilight demanded an explanation, and her friends all seemed to be equally curious.

“The short version of the conflict is this. Thirty years ago, on the planet Harvest, we made first contact. It was with the Covenant, who considered our very existence an affront to their gods. So they waged a war of extermination against us, burning the surfaces of entire worlds into glass, killing civilians and military alike without any miniscule amount of mercy. Before the war, we had colonized dozens of planets, and had a population of thirty-nine billion people. By the time the war ended, we had only sixteen billion, most of whom were refugees. I saw my parents die in front of me, so did a lot of other kids. So for most humans, this is personal, because most of us have lost friends or family to the Covenant. And I’m damn sure that this isn’t a case of Covies following us and attacking us after we make contact with friendly aliens. It’s one of the very few things I’d stake my life on. If they’re here on Equis, there’s something they want on this planet.”

Fluttershy started to cry at the thought of so much death, and her friends did their best to comfort her. All of the ponies seemed visibly shaken. Even the ones who thought of a million deaths as a statistic were horrified by the notion of worlds burned from the sky. Equally shocking was that these aliens had slaughtered a quantity of humans equal to Equis' entire population almost four times over.

“Look, I’m sorry about this,” Mark started, addressing the whole room, “If I thought it would spare your planet pain and suffering I’d personally push for a withdrawal of forces from this system, for whatever good that would do. But it won’t help. So I need you to be strong, so that when we win, you can live happily ever after.”

If there is such a thing.

The rest of Charlie squad had made it into the cellar. They checked each other for wounds of any sort, and administered biofoam to a few burns from near-misses by Covenant plasma weaponry. That would help stabilize the wounded.

Mark opened up his comms. “Surgeon, Maverick, give me a sitrep!”

“Surgeon here, we’ve mopped up the last of them. I got what looks like the strike force’s leader, an Ultra. He had a datafile on him, heavy encryption. Emmerich should be able to break it.”

Emmerich was the new “Prodigy” AI that Eagle Sword had been issued. Prodigy AIs had the same abilities as regular “Smart” AIs, the only difference was that they had an estimated average lifespan of about seventy-seven years as opposed to the mere seven years of a regular smart AI.

“All right. Deliverance, we have just countered an assault by Covenant remnants. Advise base camp be set near here, and a significant presence be established at the castle for security purposes.”

“Affirmative, Raptor. We’ll set up a garrison at the castle ASAP.”

“Copy, Raptor out.”

“What was that about?” Applejack queried.

“I just advised the fellas in orbit to set up a base down here, to protect against further incursions like this.”

“I can’t believe they got through my guards so easily,” Shining Armor said to himself.

“Look, they didn’t stand a chance to begin with. I don’t know if they even had fighting skills in the first place, or if they were a ceremonial group. What I do know is that we can protect this castle, and possibly train some ponies in the use of UNSC weaponry so that you can better defend yourselves.”

A few minutes later, the “all-clear” signal was given, and Mark brought the ponies out. Backup had arrived, and it was wearing ODST black.