Halo: Equestrian Campaign

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Luna sat on the moon, staring intently at the strange objects that had invaded her night sky. One had appeared just after dusk, the second had arrived minutes later. As soon as both arrived they began to move in a strange way.

They shot bright lights back and fourth at each other, as if they were playing a game of tag. Wherever the lights touched a bright orange or purple flash would appear. Luna assumed they were possibly trying to ‘connect.’ What else would they be trying to do? For they continued to move closer and closer together while poking at each other with the solid masses of light.

“Has anything changed sister?” Questioned Celestia as she materialized next to Luna in a flash of light.

“No sister; these things haven’t done anything, but circle each other for the past several hours. Watching these things is even more maddening than banishment!” Luna raised a hoof to rub her aching head, “Anyway, has anypony questioned you about this?”

“Nearly Everypony in Canterlot is trying to see me,’’ replied Celestia, “I have Shining armor to thank for keeping them out of the castle. The only pony I’ve talked to is Twilight, she sent me a letter earlier asking about the ‘mysterious sky-fire‘.”

“What did you tell her?”

Celestia hung her head in shame as she answered her sisters question.

“I lied, I told her that it was nothing I hadn’t seen before, and that it would be fixed soon. I just don’t want her to panic, the last time she did the whole town of Ponyville began brawling over a doll.”

Luna wrapped an affectionate hoof around her sister.

“its alright sister, we do what we must to keep  the peace. Even if it means breaking a few rules.”

“Thanks for the support sister,” said a thankful Celestia, “it’s good to know I have somepony who-.”

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Celestia stopped mid sentence as the muffled noises reached her ears. Both her and Luna turned their heads to the two metal things just in time to see three shimmering specks fall from the larger, purple device.

“That cant possibly be good.” commented Luna.

“C’mon we have to get to those things before anypony else does and figure out what they are!” shouted an alarmed Celestia.

With that the two sister vanished in a flash of light to search for the strange falling objects.

________________________________________________________________________

You tap the sleeping ODST’s helmet with your finger.

“Calvin…..you awake?”

His head immediately jolts upright causing his helmet to slid back down over his exposed jaw, and knocking the cigar to the ground at the same time.

“What the fu-, oh!” Calvin looks up into your visor. The tiny camera in the corner of his helmet zooms in on you and clicks three times before sinking back to its original position. “Solus? Is that really you?”

You take you step back so he can see your whole persona.

“In the flesh.” you reply light-heartedly

“Its an honor to see you again ser,” he says while giving you a crisp salute “, Are you going to be aiding in the drop onto the Covenant ship?”

You answer “ill be leading it.”

Calvin laughs

“I’m fine with that, but only if I fly us in. I’m the best pilot on this frigate and you know it.”

“When was the last time you flew though?” you ask, “Can you still do it even with your damaged sight?”

“The last time I flew was about a week ago ser.” he put a lot of emphasis on the last word, “It was a GA-TL1 class Longsword to be precise, I gave air support to some SPARTAN while it evacuated civilians from New Alexandria. Besides, this helmet is meant to correct your vision and enhance it; meaning that my sight is even better then it was before the Arcadia incident.

Your eyes roll with slight annoyance due the massive amount of self confidence emanating from Calvin. He was usually modest, but when it came to flying he didn’t hesitate to boast. Before he can brag more you change the subject.

“So how are the prosthetics working for you?” you inquire with real interest.

“Not bad,” he begins as he rolls his robotic shoulder forward, “they’re a lot faster and stronger than my original parts, but they pretty much had to replace half of my head with machinery so I’m subject to constant headaches. Plus, my arm and leg feel tingly sometimes, as if the real ones are still there.”

Poor guy, it must’ve been hard for him to get used to the ‘upgrades’. In most cases a normal soldier wouldn’t receive robotic limbs, but Calvin was an exception. Now he was doomed to be half man, half machine for the rest of his life. He’d be lucky if he managed to reintegrate himself into society.

But he wouldn’t want you to feel sorry for him. He was the type of person who made their distaste clear, but didn’t want anything done about it. In a way, he enjoyed being angry.

Your conversation comes to an end as Calvin turns around and begins to walk away.

“That’s enough small talk for now, Solus.” he shouts over his shoulder. “I’ll round up the rest of the team and then we can get this show on the road.”

________________________________________________________________________

Luna burst through the set of massive wooden doors to the Canterlot Libraries.

“Tia, we’ve found them!”

Celestia turned her head away from the book she was reading and fixed her gaze on her sister.”

“Good, where are they being held?”

“Well,” started Luna, “one landed on the outskirts of Appaloosa, another one touched down on Turtle beach, and the last one smashed into an old rock farm near Trottingham.”

“Why weren’t they brought to the castle?” inquired a slightly annoyed Celestia.

“That’s the problem ,sister, we tried teleporting them here, but it didn’t work, then when we tried to carry them telekinetically they wouldn’t budge. They’re not receptive to magic, even I couldn’t get it to move!”  By the time Luna finished her voice was no more than a whisper, fearing that the dilemma would anger her sister.

Celestia sighed deeply, she had hoped to study the strange objects at her palace; where every resource she needed could be brought to her on a moments notice. Unfortunately, that would not be the case. Slowly, she stood up and allowed her sister to teleport both of them to the closest of the three strange objects. ________________________________________________________________________

The Elite Zealot opened the door to the com room and walked in. He knelt down on the receiver holo pad and waited for his Assault carrier to link him to the prophets. A moment later a vague image of the Prophet of Truth shimmered to life above the receiver pad.

“Ben-Hassrathee, is that you? Are you here to report your success in destroying that Frigate you so carelessly chased after, or are you here to beg for forgiveness as you hide in your chambers waiting for your immanent death to occur?”

The Zealot took a deep breathe to suppress his anger before replying.

“Neither, Great Truth, I requested your presence due to a matter deserving more concern than that floating pile of scrap the humans call a ‘ship!’”

The prophet leaned its head forward, its interest piqued by the urgency in the Zealots voice. He nodded his head and allowed the Elite to continue.

“We have found no records on the system we jumped into. Usually this wouldn’t concern me, but  the interesting thing is that there is a planet here! Our scans show it suitable for human life, but the probes we sent down went dark in a matter of minutes. We managed to pick up several heat signatures though, and I believe the planet to be inhabited by something!”

The prophet let out a disappointed sigh.

“Ben-Hassrathee, your fascination with humans and astronomy will be your undoing, you must focus on reality! If you continue down this path of dreams you will certainly meet an untimely and unexpected end!”

The Zealot squeezed the hilt of his energy sword in an effort to contain his anger. He didn’t like being told what to do, and he especially didn’t like being told what to do by the Prophets. He had contemplated their true power as religious leaders several times before, and with each move they made he doubted them more and more.

“I’m apologize for wasting your time, Great Prophet, I will report to you again once I have finished with the humans.”

“Do not disappoint me Ben-Hassrathee, now go and do the gods work.” finished the Prophet.

“Thank you,” replied the Elite, “and prophet, I’m certain you wont be.”

________________________________________________________________________

Celestia examined the strange purple object for what felt like the hundredth time. It didn’t look like anything special, just a purple metal cylinder with a few blinking lights on top. In a way it looked like a decoration of some sorts, like something a pony would put in their front yard during winter to commemorate Hearths Warming. Celestia new that it was much more than a lawn ornament ,though. It was much, much more.

She stood back and thought of a simple spell, levitation. With little effort she charged up her magic and then channeled it through her horn towards the piece of space metal. It wouldn’t budge! No matter how hard she focused on moving the alien object, nothing happened. She pushed herself further and further until she couldn’t hold the spell any longer. With an angry grunt she released the spell and slowly lowered herself to the ground.

She had spent the past hour repeating the same process over and over. Examine, test spell, and fail. It was a strenuous task, and she was starting to get annoyed. The worst part about it was that the only time the object moved had been when the search party first saw it.

The top half had risen slightly. then a tiny cylinder slid out, flashed red for a few moments, and than it folded back into its original shape. As if that description was of any help. No, Celestia would only be able to figure out what the items primary function was if she witnessed it work on its own.

On top of that, nearly everypony in Equestria was searching for her. Each and every one of them requesting that she explain what was going on. It was all so much, more than she was used to.

Celestia raised her head to the sky, scanning the strange fires for any sign of change.

Nothing was different.

“No surprise there.” she muttered to herself.

Her eyes shifted to the west to examine the moon. It was slowly descending from its spot at the top of the sky, and that meant that she would have to raise the sun soon. It was going to take a lot of energy to move the massive star, energy she didn’t have.

She needed rest.

Her eyelids grew heavy at the thought of sleep. She tried to get up, to keep on working, to make sure that her ponies were going to be safe; but her legs wouldn’t allow it.

A voice in the back of her mind whispered.

“Your ponies need you at your best. Sleep, and regain your energy. You are going to need it.

Her body went limp as her brain stopped working, and she fell into a deep sleep.

________________________________________________________________________