Halo: Equestrian Campaign

Twilight lay awake in her bed. Even though she had been out working all day and long into the night, she couldn’t seem to find sleep. Some may say it was the nerves or the stress, and maybe those things had something to do with it. But Twilight knew what it really was, it was the five ponies she had let go into the forest the day before. She should have just told them that she didn’t need their help, that there was no need to go into the Everfree. Now, nearly a whole day later, she had not heard a single word from any of them. Something horrible had likely happened to them. Probably eaten by a hydra, turned to stone by a cockatrice, or killed by the alien things that had appeared just after the meteor fell. Whatever the cause, Twilight had let those ponies go out into the woods and they weren’t back. Though nothing was certain, the guilt felt awful.

The sun was going to be up soon, and Twilight had barely slept at all. She was about to get up and make another glass of warm milk when something strange happened. It started off as low murmur, but soon turned into some type of whirring noise unlike Twilight had ever heard before. As the noise grew louder, a foreign glow descended onto ponyville, illuminating the town square with a faint blue glow. Twilight ran to the window to investigate, and what she saw made her jaw drop.

Floating in the dark sky above Ponyville was the weirdest thing she had ever seen. The top of it was a deep purple color, its underside was silver and dotted with cyan lights. there was no way to describe the shape of the thing, as there was nothing to compare it too. However, by the way its edges curved and how it just floated in one spot it reminded Twilight of a type of spirit, except corporal.

The floating device hovered in that one spot a moment longer before descending down to the ground. Twilight tore herself away from the window and ran to the door. Whatever this thing was, Twilight needed to deal with it immediately. The longer it went unattended, the more likely it would cause unnecessary panic to the remaining townsponies. Twilight burst through outside and cantered to the town square, arriving just in time to see the strange device finish its descent. Apparently she wasn’t the only pony left in town having a hard time sleeping, as a handful of other ponies had converged as well.

The floating thing got close to the ground and then froze again about four meters up. Everypony watched in amazement as a hole opened on the bottom of it, and a powerful blue light poured out. What followed the light caused a collective wave of gasps to escape from the onlookers. Descending from the light came the strangest, most intimidating creatures the ponies had ever seen. They stood upright on two legs, and had long arms that hung low at their sides. Their faces were grotesque, consisting of two beady eyes, and a jaw that split into four razor sharp mandibles.

Could these be the creatures Zecora and the fillies had encountered? Twilight thought to herself. Their appearance almost matched the descriptions she had been given. No, they couldn’t be. these things were not covered in black, and they certainly did have a face, a very grotesque one at that. That either meant the others had been horribly off in their description of what they saw, or there were now two different alien species in Equestria. Twilight wasn’t very comfortable with either idea. The largest of the aliens looked out at the assembled locals, quickly examining each pony before turning his attention to another. Finally, he turned to Twilight and their eyes met. gazing into it’s cold black pupils sent a chill down the unicorns’ spine. She could tell that there was something hidden behind those eyes, some type of ferocious hunger. Twilight prayed that whatever it was, that it wasn’t malicious.

You gaze to the east, squinting a bit as the first rays of sunlight peaked over the horizon. It had been a rough day for you and your ODSTs yesterday. It had taken a lot of effort to treat the injured ponies you and your men rescued. Three were relatively unharmed, needing only some bandaging to cover a few nasty scratches. The other two that had been directly hit required a lot more attention, having sustained several broken bones and deep gashes along their bodies. Fortunately, with enough bio foam, you had managed to stop all bleeding and stabilize their condition. However, your supplies were finite, and there was only so much your first aid material could do. That meant the ponies were going to need real medical attention if they were going to survive. After a few hours of rest, you and your men left camp with the locals to escort them back to town. You figured it was best to do so. If anything, the ponies that were with you could vouch for your good nature and help avoid any misunderstandings.

However, something had come up that put a halt on your plans. The Covenant had arrived and deployed elites into the town. It didn’t appear to be a military occupation, but the damn aliens wouldn’t leave. You’d been waiting and watching on the outskirts of town for nearly an hour now while the Covenant refused to leave.

“Ser, I have bad news.” whispered Brendan. “The bio foam is decomposing, and we don’t have enough to reseal the wounds. If we don’t get the locals into a hospital soon, they’re going to start bleeding out.”

“Noted.” you replied. “The way I see it, we have two options. Wait for the Covies to leave and risk the locals dying, or move into the town to make sure these guys get the treatment they need. Thoughts?” The soldiers mull the thought around in their heads for a moment before Calvin responds.

“I say we move in. Covenant’s been in there for a while now, I don’t think they’re leaving any time soon.”

“I agree,” chimed Dan. “We stay here, the locals will die. That won’t look good to the ones in town.” You look at the other three, they say nothing and nod in agreement. You turn to the three other ponies that had accompanied you thus far.

“We need to get to the hospitable, but our enemies are in the town. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were looking to hurt us. We’re going in anyway so that your two friends get the help they need. Where is the nearest place for them to get treatment?” They listen hard to what you say, and take a minute to respond.

“Hospital is on the other side of the village, close to the outskirts.”

“Thank you.” You turn back to address your men. “You heard them. We’ll make our way around to the other side of town. Once there, we’ll need to use stealth to make our way through the village and to the hospital undetected. If we move fast enough, we may be able to utilize the lack of daylight. Brendan and Tyler, you carry the injured ones. Everyone else, pair yourself up with a local. I’ll take point.”

“Yes ser!” they respond.

“Alright. Then let’s move out!” With that, all eleven of you briskly make your way to the other side of town. You stay low and keep your distance, the dawn gloom does well to hide you from any prying eyes in the village. It doesn’t take long to make your way to the other side, giving you plenty of low visibility time to work with. At the edge of town, you can vaguely make out the silhouette of the hospital in the distance.

“Gentlemen, target is in sight. It’s past a few buildings at twelve o’clock. Let’s stay off the main road and make our way to the back of the building. If we can’t find a rear entrance, we’ll be forced to circle around to the front of the building.” Your ODSTs nod and follow you down a back alleyway, their assigned ponies sticking close to their sides. As the sun climbs higher into the sky, you finally reach the back of the hospital.

“Dammit, no door.” curses Calvin under his breath. Looks like we’re gonna have to use the front.” Everyone crouches and slowly walks around the corner of the building and towards the front of the building. Something off to your left catches a ray of sunshine and glimmers. You drop down even lower and turn ever so carefully to see what it is. Your men immediately take action and lay low as well.

Walking down the street is a trio of Elite Zealots, each one wearing deep crimson armor and carrying plasma rifles. Accompanying them is a purple Unicorn. You could tell by the way she walked and sounded that she was nervous. However, she appeared unharmed. A good sign that the Covenant hadn’t taken military action, and instead chose to act diplomatically.

“This is where most of our more advanced facilities are located,” stuttered the unicorn. “This town is fairly isolated, so we don’t have access to the most advanced technology, but we manage.” It was like the mare was giving the Elites a tour of the town. Maybe they were using her as a guide to search for you and your soldiers?

The elite sputtered out some words in response to the Unicorn. It was hard to make out with your translator not working properly, but you’d managed to learn a bit of Sangheili during your time fighting them. It sounded like he was making some comparisons between the technology the locals had compared to his own. Strangely enough, the mare seemed to understand him. Maybe he had given her a translation or something? you’d heard myths about the Covenant having some kind of device that syphoned information from one organic to another, but no hard facts had been made aware to you.

“That certainly sounds impressive! We’ve only just begun research into efficient healing salves here. I never really expected it to work, but if your people managed then I don’t see why we can’t. Now, you mentioned earlier about looking for another species that you believe recently arrived on our planet?” The Elite grunted in confirmation. “Yes, we’ve had some strange encounters recently. Most have occurred near or around the forest. I can take you there right now.” With that, the pony lead the Zealots back the way they came.

“Close call.” Whispered Dan. “There could be a lot more of them crawling around here. Let’s get these guys inside and then get the hell out of here.”

“Copy that.” you reply. Slowly, you stand up and maneuver around the corner of the hospital. The front door swings open with ease as you back into it. You’re careful to duck your head down to avoid hitting your head on the ceiling. The lobby is completely empty, except for a lone receptionist at the front desk who is fast asleep. The ponies and ODSTs follow closely behind you as you make your way past the desk and towards the rooms further back. Fortunately, you encounter no doctors or nurses and find a room with two empty beds for the injured. Once they were tucked in safe, you turn your attention to the other three ponies. “This is where we leave you. Once we’re out of the building, press the emergency button to get a doctor in here. After the other aliens leave, let everyone here know about how we helped you.” The leader steps forward and lightly bows his head to you.

“Don’t worry, we will make sure everypony knows about what you did. And thank you, again, for saving us.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” You reply before exiting the room. You and your men make your way back to the lobby, careful not to make any noise to wake the sleeping pony at the desk. “Alright, now we just have to make it back to the forest undetected. If we can, we’ll leave the same way we came. Chris, check the door.” The sniper moves up and cracks open the door ever so slightly to get a look outside.

“Looks pretty clear to m-” He is cut off as a concentrated bolt of plasma blasts the wooden door open, the shot just barely missing Chris’ head.

“Sniper, get down!” shouts Calvin as he dives for cover. You kick what’s left of the door closed and roll to the left of it. A quick glance across the lobby shows all your men had made it to safety. Calvin and Chris hid behind the main desk alongside the now awake receptionist. Dan, Tyler and Brendan all shared cover behind an overturned bench. Knowing your men are all safe and accounted for, you risk a glance out the door. What you see doesn’t look good. At least two dozen elites have positioned themselves in front of the hospital, and chances were that others had placed themselves elsewhere in preparation for the assault.

“We got a lot of bogies outside!” you shout to your men. “We’re going to have to shoot our way out. Check your weapons, and get ready to go!”