Halo: Equestrian Campaign

“All clear, proceed forward.” You whisper to Chris via your headset, one of the last remaining functions of your helmet that works.

“Moving up.” he responds as he leaves his position behind the tree line and advances towards the village ahead. He moves forward a few yards before pausing, dropping to one knee, and signaling back to you that it’s safe for you to advance as well. You do this over and over again until both of you are at an appropriate position to examine the town without being seen.

“Keep your finger off the trigger,” you remind Chris. “we’re only here to observe. If we are noticed and things go south, we will fall back to our camp in the forest.”

“Understood, ser.” responds Chris as he drops the bipod on his sniper rifle and activates the scope. He scans around the town for sometime, looking for any signs of intelligent life amongst it’s many rural structures. The sun has been up for an hour or two now, so it would make sense that someone was awake and active.  It was only by chance that you catch a bit of movement out of the corner of your eye.

“Chris, re-adjust your aim to the left. It looks like something is being moved from the settlement.” surely enough, there were five small animals following the road out of town. However, there was no one with them. Perhaps they had broken out of a pen?

“I see them, looks like some kind of equine species. Roughly the size of a large dog, but they look rather strange. How ‘bout you take the rifle, get a look at them yourself.” Taking the rifle from Chris, you zoom in on the animals and check them out.

Sure enough, they were equine, ponies perhaps? However, there was something different about them. Their coats were a variety of vibrant colors, not like the ones you were used to seeing. Also, their bodies were more rounded, and there eyes were enormous. It was almost like looking at a cartoon character in real life.

“You’re right. They do look like horses.” You tell Chris as you give him back his rifle. “Probably just a rowdy bunch that broke out of their stable.”

“I don’t know about that ser,” replied Chris as he peers down the scope again. “because to me, it looks like they’re…well…. Talking with one another.”

“Repeat that,soldier. Did you say talking?”

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Twilight gazed at the small group of ponies she had spoken to last night as they trotted off into the Everfree.

“Don’t worry, Twilight, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Reassured Spike. “Besides, you have a big day ahead of you. Like it or not, a lot of people here are looking to you for leadership. Try and put on a strong face, for them.

“I wish it were so easy, Spike. I know I need to be brave for the sake of everypony else, but it’s hard to be when so much rests on your shoulders. It’s even harder when there is a perfectly reasonable excuse to be afraid.”

“Well, you know what they say. You can’t be brave without being scared first. The emergency chariots will be here any minute now. C’mon, i’ll walk with you.” Twilight smiled a bit at Spike’s words. It always amused her at how wise he could be at times. Especially when he was so immature at others. Besides that, he was right. Not only did she have to act brave for the townsponies, but also for herself and the friends she surrounded herself with.

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“Luna, wake up!”

The princess of the night yawned as she was shaken awake by her older sister. In most cases, she would be mildly annoyed, but the past day or so changed things. Luna had been forced to work overtime to cover for Celestia, who was busy trying to figure out what was going on with this mysterious type of fire that had appeared in the sky.

“What is it, sister?”

“I think i’ve figured out what caused the little phenomenon above our heads.” responded Celestia. “ I wanted to tell you what I found first.” It didn’t take long for Luna to wake herself up after hearing this, she was just as curious as everypony else in Equestria as to what was going on.

“What did you find?”

“I’ve spent a long time examining these things that fell from the sky. They are unlike anything we have ever encountered before, and I think I know why.” Celestia paused for a second to make sure her sister was paying full attention. “ These things are obviously not natural, they were made by something that is far more advanced than our nation. They’re like large cameras that can be dropped or launched from great distances, and they can record much more than videos or pictures. Inside it, I found a device that was recording other information about our planet. It had picked up dirt samples, and had data on what our atmosphere was made of. Something from that fire above us sent that device down here to examine and learn about us. I think whatever it is plans on coming down here.” Luna was silent for a moment, all that information was a little too much for her to take in all at once.

“Sister, if what you say is true, then I believe we should start to prepare. There’s no way of knowing if what’s coming is a friend or an enemy. We must put our military on full alert, they need to be ready if this alien creature is dangerous. Do you have any idea where this thing might arrive at?”

“We can only guess at that.” responded Celestia. “I’d say it’s a safe bet that it will first appear near where one of the machines landed.”

“I’ll send a garrison immediately to those locations,” Luna interjected. “and what of the thing that fell into the Everfree? Should we send protection to Ponyville as well?”

“We will send something in time. Not only is aid already being sent, but also the six elements of harmony live there. I’m sure they’ll be alright until other cities have been secured.”

“Very well, Celestia, let’s get things underway immediately, we don’t have time to waste.”

“Agreed.”