Halo: The Interlopers

Mark still sat opposite Star-Swirl the Bearded, now pondering the fate of his immortal soul. The injustice done to him by the universe, cursing him to a lifetime of war and pain and an afterlife filled with agony.

“Colonel, I realize this is hard for you, accepting what you really are. I know that men like us, who do terrible things for the right reasons, are abhorred by society. But in the Cabal, we accept the need for that kind of individual. We embrace that kind of pragmatism. I’d like to offer you a job.”

If you’re going to Hell, why not?

Because there’s still hope, that’s why. Still a chance that God will understand why you did this. Your fate isn’t set in stone. You could still redeem yourself.

Everything that’s happened to you is because of God! He robbed you of your family, your life, your friends, your future.

Humanity was given free will, your plight is not His fault.

Exactly, so the blame for your actions rests on your shoulders. You're going to Hell.

Mark looked up from the floor. “What’s the job?”

The elderly stallion smiled. “I have sleeper agents all throughout the world. Canterlot and other key cities in Equestria have sleeper cells perpetually ready to be activated. But they can’t act successfully if they don’t have an opening. I want to overthrow the Equestrian government, and replace it with one even more firmly under my control than the current one.”

“So what are you proposing?”

***

“So what are you proposing?” Mark inquired, seemingly intrigued.

“Simple. You assassinate Princess Celestia, my organization steps in and establishes a peace between Equestria and Unikraine. Kill her, and we can save millions. Sooner or later I will be able to discreetly usurp her power, but the sooner it happens the better off Equis is,” Star-Swirl answered.

Mark nodded. “I’ll give it some thought. Is there somewhere I can stay?”

“I’ll send you to the tertiary security room, it’s got some of the amenities of a hotel, and plenty of information that’s easy to access. It’s already got somepony else in it, but I’m sure she won’t mind.”

Is he talking about this room?

The feed on the screens switched between cameras as Mark headed down a hallway and rounded a corner. Outside her room, Twilight could hear heavy footsteps. Realizing that Mark was coming to her room, she hid as best she could. After stuffing herself inside a small cabinet, she shut the door and peeked out through a small patch of transparent mesh near the top.

Mark walked inside, his helmet on, and surveyed the room. After a minute of what looked like quiet pondering, he walked over to a cabinet, from which he pulled the weapons he’d originally brought to Unikraine. After loading and holstering them, he took a seat on a bench and removed his helmet again.

This time, he shut his eyes and clasped his hands, resting his chin on them. Cautiously, Twilight crept out of the cabinet without attracting his attention.

He’s not seriously going to take an offer from that monster. He can’t.

To her, Mark killing Princess Celestia was tantamount to inconceivable. She couldn’t in her darkest nightmares think of such a thing happening. He must’ve been thinking of a way to break out.

“If she were immortal she wouldn’t have shown fear during that raid. Immortality and eternal life are different things, and she clearly possesses the latter, and even that’s liable to exaggeration. A bullet to the head will do.”

No! No-no-no-no-no!

“You can’t,” Twilight whispered.

***

“You can’t,” A familiar voice uttered, breaking Mark from his semi-meditative state. He drew his black M6G and pointed it at the source before he opened his eyes.

Now he was holding a gun to the head of the mare he loved. The being he yearned to be with was but a finger away from having her brain and blood spattered all over him and the rest of the room.

And the look in her eyes. He couldn’t stand that look. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes began to stream as she looked at him. He knew this was her, not some changeling spy, and yet he still kept her a moment away from death.

“Please… You’re better than this, Mark. I know you, and you’re not a monster,” She spoke softly, with a sort of unadulterated sincerity permeating her voice.

“No. That’s all I am. I killed one-hundred-fourteen innocent ponies.”

“I know, I watched from this room… You didn't mean to, right? You were just following orders.” She tried to smile at him, but only managed to look nauseous.

“The Nuremburg Trials proved that ‘following orders’ wasn’t an acceptable excuse for slaughtering innocents. When Nazi war criminals were tried at those tribunals, they claimed to only be following orders. They were prosecuted, like they deserved to be. While the difference is that I did the wrong thing for the right reason, but what I did is still unforgivable.”

Mark reduced the pressure of his pistol against her forehead, and began to lower it slowly.

“You don’t need to join these monsters, Mark, you know the UNSC will take you back. Everypony still thinks you’re a hero.”

“No. I’ve given my whole life to the UNSC, and on dozens of worlds never even gotten so much as a ‘thank you’ from a civilian I’ve saved. I’m a monster to them and to everyone else, and now that I finally see it it’s because I’ve become a monster inside too. There’s no place for me anywhere but among my own kind.”

He pointed the gun away from Twilight, because he felt sick just aiming it near her. She relaxed some, until she saw the weapon was now pressed against the underside of his chin.

“Please, don’t…” Twilight pleaded.

“But I don’t really have much choice, do I? Either way, I’ll spend the rest of my life a miserable killer. Either way, I’m condemned to eternal suffering in Hell. Either way, I’ll be stuck doing the same kinds of missions, just for different reasons. If I join the Cabal, I’m being true to my nature but fighting for less than honorable reasons. If I stay with the UNSC, I lie to myself and continue to be treated like a freak.” He tightened his grip on the trigger. “Please turn around, I don’t want you to see this.”

A violet-red glow surrounded the pistol, trying to force it out of his grip. Twilight glared at him resolutely despite the tears flowing down her cheeks, her horn emitting an aura that corresponded with the force trying to disarm him.

“I can’t let you do this,” She stated bluntly.

“Give me one reason why not.”

The aura cut out and Mark’s sidearm flew downwards as the resistance he’d been putting up lost its counter-force and the motion carried through. Twilight lowered her ears, clenched her eyes shut and bit her lip before she shouted her response.

“I think Star-Swirl had me in here so he could break me too. I saw the feed of you saying that you loved me, but you weren’t good enough for me. I want you to know that-” Twilight broke to sob. “That I love you too.”

Mark holstered his pistol and dropped to one knee. With his head now on a level with Twilight’s, he hugged her and cried into her neck. She in turn sobbed gently into his, and wrapped a foreleg around his neck. They emptied their sorrows for several minutes.

The SPARTAN looked into the mare’s glistening amethyst eyes and grinned slightly. “C’mon. We’ve got a temple to bust out of,” He whispered.

***

After watching all this from his private study, Star-Swirl was satisfied, and he shut off the monitors. A contented look on his face, he wrote an entry in his journal and left. He'd failed to procure a successor. A shame, but he'd find another.

***

There was no resistance on the way out, nothing worth mentioning except the emptiness of the structure.

Once they were outside the temple, the two of them considered their next moves before they were interrupted.

"Raptor, is that you? Your armor went missing, we couldn't pick up the transponder. We just got it again a few seconds ago, and it said you were inside. What the hell happened?" Admiral Hunt demanded over Mark's comms.

"It's a long story, sir. I'll give it to you later, but right now, I need a new objective."

"I'll find something for you. Hunt out."

"Twi, can you get back to Ponyville?"

"I-I can find a way." Twilight nodded. "What about you?"

He sighed and bowed his head. "I can't stop being a SPARTAN. As long as I'm needed, I'll answer the call. I'm no good at goodbyes, but I'll try to visit for Christmas or Valentine's Day. Until then, I'll be a ghost... Take care, alright?"

"You too."

They went their separate ways. While they were sad to part ways for an extended period, they took solace in the knowledge that their love was no longer unrequited, and that when they reunited they could be open with each other. Twilight already had a plan to return home, and the first thing she would do would be to find out what how far away "Christmas" and "Valentine's Day" were.