Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

Chapters

prelude; chapter 1: past and present
Chapter 2: An Unexpected Suprise
Chapter 3: Diamond Dog Surprise
Chapter 4: Interesting Times
Chapter 5: An Advancement

prelude; chapter 1: past and present

Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

Prelude; chapter 1: past and present

It’s just another day on the U.N.S.C (phoenix-class colony ship REFIT) Winters Spite and Jacob is tinkering with his modified shotgun when he is disturbed by a voice behind him. Jacob turns to see Hannah his A.I using a robotic arm with a welding gun trying to fuse metal components together. Jacob shrugs his shoulders and returns to placing a more durable stock and handle onto his shotgun. A long while later his concentration is yet again disturbed when he looks around he sees his ghostly A.I in front of him with a heavily modified machine gun. He grunts and picks up his now fully modified shotgun they inspect each other’s work and after a while they both start arguing at who had done a better job at making a more durable weapon. “The shotgun has a new stock that can withstand and impact of three tonnes as well as the handle. This means that I can stop worrying about the stock being crushed by a tank, like last time!”

explained Jacob, rather enthusiastically.

“That wasn’t my fault! Besides I can’t drive a tank. My state of matter only allows me to take control of electronic items.”

“Like my armour for example”

“No I cannot control your armour. Besides by my calculations the machine gun can withstand 17.537 tonnes. That is enough to crash into a planet without getting deformed or broken. Also I built it from scratch so it should fire more rounds and should carry twice the amount of ammo.”

Jacob was about to make another comment when the speaker in his room spoke “spartan-088 to the briefing room! I repeat! Spartan-088 to the briefing room”

Jacob made a glance at Hannah and said “fine you win!”

whilst Throwing his arms in the air. He made his way to his bunk and pulled at a large wardrobe. The wardrobe contained his MJOLNIR mark VI power armour was and suited up. Finally he put his helmet on and he went over to a rounded hologram projector and looked at his A.I. Jacob thought for a moment about how glad he was that she couldn’t see his face when he ‘yanked’ her, he was grinning “well what are you waiting for? Pull me out already”

Hannah said folding her arms. Jacob pushed a button and a panel slid away. He then pushed a small chip in and pulled it out. Instantly Hannah phased out and disappeared. He studied it for a while “hello. Anybody home? We need to go remember?”

chided Hannah using the helmets inner speakers.

Jacob shook his head and inserted the chip into the back of his head and headed towards the door.

Two marines were having a conversation whilst waiting outside a door. Suddenly the door opened. The marines stopped talking. Out of the door came a seven foot Spartan, the marines instantly stood to attention. The marine hesitated and asked “Sir, are you Spartan-088”

the Spartan nodded “Sir we have orders to escort you to the briefing room”

Said one of the saluting officers. The other one just stood there with a blank expression trying not to look at the Spartan. “Lead the way”

replied the Spartan.

He followed them down a maze of corridors. Whilst thinking about the past events from his last mission on Cerberus IX.

He remembered the planets sentient species were under attack by covenant corvettes. He managed to assist defending the planet only to see a family to be instantly slaughtered in front of him by a plasma grenade. He remembered their faces as they died. Especially the youngest of them, the mixture of surprise, sadness and fear in that Childs face. He knew it would haunt him forever. He remembered going back to his ship, only to find a high ranking marine running towards him as he entered the firefly-class cruiser. The marine saluted at him and showed him a small microchip. “Captains orders sir! Protect this A.I with your life. Do not let the covvie’s get a hold of her. Even if it means destroying her. You got that”

he moved towards Jacob and stepped around him. He inserted the chip into the Spartans helmet and backed away. “There’s no time left Spartan this thing is going to blow any second now and you two are my top priority. Follow me!”

he jogged towards a pelican and told the Spartan to get on. He then boarded the ship with a group of O.D.S.T’s and ordered the pilot to take off. The pelican lurched and flew out of the hanger bay.

They flew for a minute before they felt a shockwave and a heard loud explosion. They knew that their ship was gone. There was silence in the pelican, no one, dared speak. No one could. Even the marine in charge had stopped giving orders and took his hat off in respect. The group entered a second ship and got out. This was their new ship. Winters Spite.

The spartan stopped thinking about his past when they got to the briefing room and stopped at the door. The marines saluted and went into their positions so as to guard the door. The Spartan entered. The room was small, almost an interrogation room. There was a small round table with two chairs, one of which was occupied by the ship’s captain. He was holding a folder. On it the words ‘read only’ was printed on the brown paper “sit”

Said the captain. The Spartan sat. “Jacob is it?”

The Spartan nodded, he was stunned, briefly, before reminding himself that a captain knew everything about everyone. He handed Jacob the folder. “My name is Captain Clark and I am this commanding officer of this ship. Now we have the pleasantries out of the way, this is your new mission Jacob. You are infiltrating a covenant super-carrier with a nuclear warhead. You are to meet up with a small band of heretics who are there to assist you with retrieving Intel on covenant plans and movement. They are also there to assist in planting the bomb and getting out of there. Once the ship has been destroyed and the Intel retrieved you are to send out a short range distress frequency with this device.”

He hands you a handheld device. “If you are to fail this mission and the super-carrier is not destroyed and the Intel is not retrieved. You are then assumed MIA. I’m sure you know what happens next?”

Jacob nodded and said “the ship won’t pursue me. Don’t worry I won’t let that happen”

“I hope not. Good luck Spartan you leave in 3 hours”

And with that the captain got up and left the room. Leaving Jacob to sit and think about what he had said. Jacob got up and left the room shaking his thoughts away. The marines in the doorway had left. Leaving him alone with his thoughts. He got to his room and picked up his gear including his new machine gun and his shotgun. “Hmm, so you do like it”

said a voice in his head. “Oh shut up!”

He replied smirking to himself. He looked at his makeshift workshop room. He sighed and left heading towards the armoury. He acquired a few grenades and plasma grenades and all the ammo he could carry. The armouries accountant looked at his stuff and admired his modified machine gun. He wrote down what he was taking and the Spartan was dismissed. Jacob walked to the hanger bay and found a marine waiting for him. He looked at his helmets clock. He had an hour and half left so he decided to sit down and get some rest.

He dreamed about sitting on an open field with nothing but his old friends around him. He recognised all of his squad; James, Clare, Simon, Geoff and Roland. He was back. But something felt wrong. He got up and stared in horror at the sight before him. James was impaled on a long iron bar. Clare had a needler shot to the heart. Simon was half melted due to plasma burns. Geoff had an energy sword through his chest and Roland was missing an arm and a leg and half of his face was blown off. He stood there unable to move and unable to cry. He felt an utter sadness from deep within. He wanted to throw up, to empty his stomach but he was unable to. He averted his eyes but when he did the sight was still before his eyes. He started to panic as he couldn’t get rid of the horrific sight before him. He heard a voice calling his name he blinked and the sight was gone. He blinked again and the ground was gone. He heard someone call his name again “Jacob!!” it was Hannah. He felt an electric shock coursing through his spinal column and he jolted awake.

He took in his surroundings. He was still aboard the Winters Spite and there was a marine in front of him “sir!” the marine said saluting terrifically. “Your banshee is ready and the ship is exiting hyperspace now. Your banshee is located in hanger bay 2B”

The marine saluted again and marched of. Jacob got up and moved towards the elevator and made his was to hanger bay 2B.

Jacob’s A.I spoke before he could stop her “your old team?”

He sighed and nodded. “That makes it the 5 time this week. You really should forget about them. There is nothing you can do for them now.”

She sounded sad. Hannah had been programmed with a personality. She was originally the A.I of a firefly-class carrier. And one of the few successful A.I's able to be programmed with a partial personality. Other A.I's went rampant and had to be terminated.

They made their way to the awaiting specially modified banshee. he placed his machine gun on a small holder welded onto the side of it and then entered it. He heard the hanger bay being cleared and then the room depressurising. He heard a countdown “five… four… three…”

He tensed, preparing himself for the things to come. At first he was sad… then he was angry he could fell his rage rising. He wanted revenge on the covenant. For what they had done and what they were doing. “…two… one…hangar doors opening”

The bay doors opened exposing a dark and never-ending void that is space. A COMM channel opened and he heard the captain speaking to him “Spartan you are green to go. And good luck.”

The Spartan hit the boost and he sped out of the hanger leaving the Winters Spite behind.

Immediately he found the super-carrier in front of him orbiting a gaseous planet. He made his way towards it and entered by a hanger door to the left just as instructed. He landed his banshee and pulled out his shotgun and attached it to his back. Then he pulled out his machine gun and turned around to see a small group of elite’s grunts and a pair of hunters fully equipped with all the weapons they needed. Jacob nodded at them and they moved towards the centre of the ship. There was little to no resistance along the way and the corridors seemed completely empty. They found the ships memory storage room. The Spartan hooked himself to the computer core and extracted the relevant files to his suites memory storage.

He unplugged himself from the computer and got Hannah to pull up the ships map. They navigated their way through the ships interior killing a few grunts on the way. They managed to get to the core of the ship and they were setting up the bomb when they heard the ships alarm going off. They finished planting the bomb and they felt the ship jump to hyperspace. They waited until the super-carrier exited hyperspace before setting the timer to the nuclear warhead. They hit little resistance on their way to the hanger. However when they got to the hanger it was full of elites. “The prophet has ordered us to go down to the planet and find the holy relic! We must discover what this holy relic wants us to find and then we can continue on our path to enlightenment!”

This speech was followed by a load of enthusiastic growls. At this point our small group was unnoticed until a grunt came round the corner and surprised us shouting “bah! Heretics! Run for you lives!”

The entire room was now alerted of their presence so it was at this point Jacob yelled “open fire”

He stood up and planted his machine gun on the edge of the balcony and started mowing down elite after elite. The hunters and the elites jumped down and started massacring the enemy room. The grunts had started to open the doors and were now firing blindly into the midst of the elites killing everything that got into their way.

But soon things turned bad. The grunts had killed their own elites and were now milling around leaderless. The jackals had died in the initial attack the elites were being slaughtered and the only ones of the battle were 6 enemy elites and their leader and one rampaging hunter. Jacob had emptied his machine gun’s first cartridge and had finished loading a second when he heard the last of the hunters go down. He looked over the balcony to see the leader of the elites finish off the last of the grunts, whilst one other elite with a carbine had sniped one fleeing down a corridor. Jacob analysed the immediate situation, he could kill the leader then get shot by a carbine and get killed, or he could kill the other elite and get stabbed in the back and die instantly. He had made his decision. He ran to the other side of the room and jumped onto the unsuspecting elite knifing him in the neck as he went down. Without thinking he rolled to the side, which saved his life, until he was picked up and held at the neck by an angry elite leader. Jacob looked left and right, he could feel his life ebbing away in somebody else’s hands, until he felt a grenade drop into his hands he couldn’t care less where it came from but he looked up into the elites face as it drew back its energy sword to end the Spartans life. He laughs in the elites face. The elite looks puzzled until Jacob shouts “catch this!”

And he shoves a plasma grenade into the elite’s jaw. The elite drop’s the energy sword and the Spartan to try and pull out the grenade from the recesses of his mouth. The Spartan drops and picks up his machine gun and turn on his feet and sprints towards the hanger bay’s energy field. The Spartan doesn’t see the explosion of the elites head as he jumps out of the super carrier not knowing where he is going.

He waits for the timer to reach zero. 30 seconds… 20 seconds… 10… 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Nothing happens he looks at the timer and sees it at zero. He panics. Maybe he didn’t set the bomb up correctly. No he knew he set it up correctly but maybe there was a fault in the progr-

he was stopped in mid thought when there was a massive explosion. It was beautiful. First the explosion took out the ships core taking out some of the hull with it. Then the shields collapsed as dancing magnetic fields flew in all directions. Then there was a large brilliant explosion as entire ship was engulfed in sparks, flames, liquid metal and shrapnel. A large burning piece of a molten phantom threatens to collide with the Spartan. The phantom hit his left hip and the Spartan was spun round and round in a dizzying circle. Using his head he brings his machine gun round and fires off a couple of rounds. This seems to work as the Spartan slowly stops spinning. He glances around him and he notices for the first time a small planet just getting closer and closer.

The Spartan now begins to really panic. He notices the planet being orbited by a moon and sun of equal size. He cannot believe his eyes. He asks Hannah if she knew what he was seeing to be true. “Hannah. Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

“This is fascinating…”

she exclaims. “Wait! Don’t forget to set off your distress beacon!”

The Spartan checks his side for the handheld device that can guarantee his ticket out of there. Then the penny drops. He looks at his side to see that the device has been ripped clean off of his hip. For the third time the Spartan begins to panic. Almost getting killed… twice. And now plummeting to his death as well as having no means to get a signal to the Winters Spite. This day was not going well for Jacob. He felt resistance as he began to enter the strange planet’s atmosphere. He instinctively went into armour lock up and he held his machine gun close. He felt the gel layer in his suit build up and his suit becoming locked up. He felt the blood flow in his extremities cutting off and he quickly felt very numb. He heard someone in his ear talking to him “it has been an honour being with you Jacob Spartan.” Hannah said

“I wish I could say the same to you”

replied Jacob said obviously joking. This made Hannah laugh a little as he spoke again with cheerfulness in his voice “I’m glad I met you Hannah. I really am”

They both waited for the sudden death that awaited them on the ground below.

Twilight was near the ever-free forest collecting data samples of different plant life with the assistance of her friends when she noticed a yellow spark appear in the sky. She called out to her friends “hay! Girls! Are you seeing that thing in the sky?"

she yelled.

“yeah ah’ see it! And ah’ think it’s head’n towards that clearin’ over there!” exclaimed Applejack

“an comet in pure daylight! my that is strange” replied Rarity.

“ooh! lets check it out!”

exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“Whoa there nelly!”

said Applejack grabbing a hold of rainbow’s tail before she could fly off.

“Ah think we should all go together. Yah know. Safety in numbers n’ all.”

“Good idea” replied twilight “all right ponies let’s see what all this is about.”

As if by an unspoken agreement they head towards the area they thing the object will land in. they all stand in awe as they saw a large meteorite collide with Equestria in the clearing Applejack suggested it would land in. “Hay Applejack! How did you know in that clearing over there huh?”

“sugar-cube if ah didn’t know where an apple would fall then most of the apples I give you would be bruised all over then wouldn’ they.”

“Point taken”

replied Rainbow Dash.

As they got nearer the clearing they could see dirt and leaves spread over a large area encompassing the newly formed crater. The entire group froze except for rainbow dash who had ignored the crater and was glaring at her friends for taking so long “We’ll what’re we waiting for? Let’s check it out”

Rainbow dash looked up to see a large object climbing out of the crater when it got out it stood to twice the height of pony. Only it looked like a large machine that only stood on two legs and had picked up a large metallic object and just stood there. The thing was practically encompassed in metal and it was very intimidating. Rainbow Dash looked at her friends who were trembling at the sight and then back at the machine. She was scared for her friends’ lives, she knew she had to protect them, so, just like Daring Doo, she charged at the large metallic thing head first.

Jacob was living the same nightmare he did every time he fell asleep. His friends faces as they died in his arms. He was crying in his sleep and he knew it. Only this time he knew he was dead. He had known himself to be a brave soldier; he had done great deeds in the face of terrible odds and had never failed to complete his objectives, ever. Suddenly he felt a small tingling sensation in his back for a split second. And then again, this time a little painfully. Then heard a voice “wake u… c’mon I need… there are some… six unknowns… WAKE UP!!!"

Another jolt of electricity down his spinal column sent him coughing and spluttering into wakefulness. He immediately took in his surroundings. He was in a crater and least 20 foot deep and 35 foot in diameter. “Thank goodness you awake. There are six unknown blips on our motion sensor and they’re heading towards us. You need to get out of the open Jacob otherwise your as good as dead.”

Jacob got up and looked for his machine gun. He found it half buried in the dirt. He uncovered it and slung it onto a hook on his back. He made his way to where the blips were closest, Hoping that he would be out of the crater before they got there. He made his way up the crater digging hand-sized holes into the side of the crater as he made his way up. He made it to the lip of the crater and pulled himself outs slinging his machine gun off of his back and onto the ground in front of him so he could climb out a little easier. He got out brushed himself down, pick up his machine gun and stood up to his full height. As he looked up he saw six quadrupeds in front of him. Two seemed to be ordinary earth ponies. Two were winged so he guessed that they were Pegasus’ and the other two were almost indefinitely unicorns, with their distinguishable long bones protruding on the top of their heads. They were slightly smaller than a horse, so Jacob guessed they were ponies. However the only thing that got him was the fact that they were all MULTICOLOURED!

Jacob was about to move forward when one of the Pegasus’ Dashed forward. He didn’t have enough time to react properly and he shifted his weight onto his back leg, big mistake. The Pegasus collided with him head on causing the ground beneath him to give way. They both tumbled into the crater. Jacob stops sliding and gets backup he drops his heavy machine gun and pulls out his magnum pistol. “Don’t kill it. It may be our only way to get off of this rock”

Whispered Hannah into his ear. He rolled to one side as the Pegasus flew at him again. This time missing him and burying its head into the side of the crater. Jacob flicks the safety on and points it towards the Pegasus. It pulls its head out of the ground and looks at the Spartan. “Freeze!”

yelled Jacob. Even though he knew it wouldn’t understand, him he knew he had to shout something at it to prevent it from charging him again. This seems to work as the Pegasus is now transfixed to the spot, staring at him in disbelief (Or so he thought would be disbelief if it were a human head).

As if on cue the other ponies had jumped down and were backing up their fellow pony standing in-between her and me. Jacob bent his elbows and pointed the gun upwards so as to not put the creature in harm’s way. He looked at the ponies and then at the way they came from assuming that the owners of these animals were somewhere in the direction they came from. He walked over to his machine gun picked it up and walked over to the edge of the crater again. As he was just about to start climbing he heard a muffled conversation “what in tarnation is that?”

“I don’t know but it’s sure as hay hard to hit. I think I’ve got a headache” exclaimed Rainbow Dash

“It’s heading towards the village!”

said Fluttershy

“We have to stop it!”

said rarity

“How? We haven’t got anything that can work against something like that!”

said twilight

“How about asking politely”

“Pfft! As if that’ll work!”

Retorted Rainbow Dash

“You never know until you try”

“Wait a sec who said that?”

Asked Pinkie Pie

“I did”

The ponies looked around to see the metal monster standing right behind them. “AH! It can talk”

“I was about to say the same thing”

said the Spartan

“But how, you haven’t got a mouth!”

“I’m wearing a helmet”

The ponies and the Spartan studied each other for a while before twilight finally broke the silence “maybe we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Twilight Sparkle. And this is Rarity, Rainbow Dash, the one that flew into you, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie”

She pointed at each of the other ponies as they bowed their heads in response to their names. “I am Spartan-088”

replied the Spartan. “And don’t worry… Rainbow was it? I have had my fair share of rough and tumble and your little display is nothing compared to what I’ve seen others do.”

This didn’t go down too well with Rainbow Dash as she grumbled and turned her head away.

“Sorry about all this”

said twilight. “Why don’t you come with us? We need to get ourselves out of here before something really nasty gets us”

The Spartan nodded and followed the group out of the crater. “Hannah I think I’m going to need a lot of therapy after this”

“You and me both”

“Wait your seeing this too?”

“Yep, and I must say, you handled yourself pretty well back there considering you almost died”

“Hannah I want you to do a full system scan. Make sure all the downloaded files are safe and I want you to record all of the events that are about to happen. I think there is going to be a lot of things about to happen”

“Ay Ay captain!”

she replied. He could just visualise what she would have done if she was still a hologram on the Winters Spite. She would have done that silly salute that he hated so much. Worst still was she knew he hated it. He chuckled to himself and looked up to see the ponies in front of him stopped and staring at him. “Who were you talking to?!”

shouted Rainbow Dash flying right up into his face “Umm…”

“Well!”

she glared

Jacob gave up and replied “my A.I”

He looked at their confused expressions and explained “my artificial intelligence. She assists me in thinking about things and does all sorts of things. Normally she would be on a hologram emitter. But because of previous events she is on a small microchip inside my suit”

“Wait so there is two of you inside of that thing?”

“I suppose you could put it like that yes”

They stared at him for a while. He gave up and reached behind his helmet and pulled out a small black plate and showed it to them “c’mon Hannah show yourself”

Suddenly a blue ghost-like figure fazed in and the ponies jumped back in shock “it’s a ghost!!” yelled pinkie pie

"I’m not a ghost!

exclaimed Hannah “I am an artificial intelligence that is capable of thinking on my own and controlling numerous amounts of electronic devises and assisting this particular Spartan in his missions”

The ponies stared in disbelief at the sight before them. Jacob then pulled the chip away and placed it back into the back of his helmet. The ponies shook their heads and started babbling amongst themselves as they turned around and started walking in the direction they came from

“This day just keeps getting better and better”

Thought Jacob as they headed towards the edge of the clearing

This is my first story in a haylo series please take this story and give as much feedback as possible. Thank you

P.S be nice with the feedback from now on please

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Suprise

This chapter is in first person so let me know what you think (about it being first person that is). Please give Creative criticism. I won’t bite this time I promise XD + sorry for the wait but i still couldn't get hold of a pre-reader (quickly enough) and i apologies for any grammar mistakes. but to keep things short, here it is, enjoy.

Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Surprise

I was walking behind the ponies thinking about the recent events.

How had this planet gone under the radar of the U.N.S.C for so long? The children back on earth would have loved this place. Although thank goodness they hadn't found it otherwise this place would be swarming with children by now.

My thoughts are interrupted when Hannah suddenly exclaims “there's something big heading this way on the motion sensors. There isn’t anything like this recorded in our database so I don’t think this thing is friendly”

The ponies are now staring at me. Unbeknownst that there is a possibly hostile monster heading in our direction

“Um... what’s she talkin' about?” Asks Applejack

“My suit has a motion sensor that allows me to see movement without actually having to see it. In other words, a large creature is headed this way.”

I look towards Rainbow dash and I study her for a few moments. “Rainbow Dash, could you fly above the trees and tell us what you can see?”

“No problem”

Rainbow Dash launches herself up and disappears over the trees. I look back at the ponies as they are now really confused as to what is going on. “I need you to stay away from that area over there. That's where the creature is going to come from”

I point towards a darker side of the forest, possibly a swamp, and motion for them to step away from it. A few moments later Rainbow Dash returned “Rainbow what did you see?”

Rainbow dash hovers for a second before looking over her shoulder. “There’s a hydra coming this way. We need to get out of here NOW!!”

I stare at Rainbow dash. I cannot believe my ears. 'A real life hydra? How is this possible?' I thought. The ponies look at me, wondering why I had not moved whilst staring at Rainbow Dash.

“Why are you staring at me?” Rainbow Dash asks "we need to go, like, NOW!"

I thought I heard a hint of fear in her voice, but quickly push that thought aside.

I shake my head in disbelief “A Hydra? Are you joking?”

I look at the ponies and think ‘well if there are talking ponies why the heck can’t there be massive Hydras as well?'

There's a roaring sound from the swamp and I find that I don't want to hang around to find out. “On second thoughts, I’d rather not find out” I say aloud.

They glance at each other and start running towards a small gap in the clearing. I follow close behind. I'm unable to run as fast with my machine gun, so I slowed the group down, but not by much. My augmentations, along with my armors enhancements, allow me to run at just under 20Mph. however with the machine gun, it makes it difficult to run at full speed.

There's another roar from behind the trees, this time, it was louder.

Knowing that if I continue to run, the Hydra would eventually catch up, I decide to ambush it as it comes through the gap into the clearing. The others see me stop and come back to see if there is something wrong “Hay! Are you out of your mind? C’mon we need to get out of here; otherwise that monster will get us for sure!”

Screams Rainbow Dash

“Get out of here! I’ll hold this thing off while you escape!” I yell back.

“That ain’t happenin’” Says Applejack “if you think we’re leavin’ you, you’ve got another thing comin’”

I look at the ponies, thinking they're mad. I glance towards the opening and see some movement behind the trees. I look around and I find a large bush close enough for them to hide in, but not too far so that they wouldn’t think that they were abandoning me. I point towards the bush. “There! get behind that bush and stay hidden!”

They look as if they are about to argue when there's another deafening roar. They all bolt for the bush and hide. I walk away from the bush so that the Hydra won't be able to spot them. I face the opening and hold up my machine gun, Pointing it towards the centre of the opening. I wait for what feels like an eternity, every second is stretched out. Seconds become minutes as I wait for the Hydra to appear. I watch the motion sensor, waiting for it to come within visual range. And sure enough, out it comes.

I see it as it comes crashing through the trees crushing tree trunks into the ground as if they are nothing but twigs all four of its heads lowered as it charges through them. I squeeze the trigger and instantly bullets start zooming towards the place where the creature is now standing. It roars in annoyance as bullets bounce off of its thick scaly hide.

The hydra charges at me. Heads lowered as it make its way to where I'm standing, its short legs barely leaving the ground as it makes its way towards me. I continue firing waiting for the right moment to dodge its attack. The Hydra is getting closer as I wait. I cease fire and throw my machine gun down knowing that it's useless to waste bullets against something so well armored. The hydra is almost on top of me before it suddenly quickens its pace to catch me off guard. Its tactic doesn't affect me at all as I easily dodge all four of its heads and duck underneath its body. As its belly flew over my head I punch its stomach, hard. The Hydra didn't expect this as it trips over, its heads scraping along the ground picking up grass and dirt along the way.

However I am caught off guard as its tail sweeps me up and sends me flying into a nearby tree. I get back up and run back towards the Hydra. The Hydra gets back up and it turns around quickly, its heads darting towards me like a scorpion would its stinger. I manage to dodge three of its heads and I roll over to prevent myself from getting crushed by its feet. However I was quickly caught by the fourth head as it scoops me up in its mouth, raising me off the floor and tries to crush my armor ‘thank goodness I have this armor on, otherwise I’d be in big trouble’ I think to myself as I struggle in its mouth. I use my arms to pry its mouth open and I use my legs to keep it open. Its tongue wraps itself around my stomach trying to pull me down its throat. I manage to spare one of my arms to wedge free my shotgun and I point it down its throat. I fire a single shot before Its tongue pushes me out of its mouth and I fall to the floor.

All four of the Hydras’ heads scream in agony as one of them has pellets down its throat embedding themselves in its soft insides. I roll to one side to avoid its legs as it runs back to where it came from, its heads colliding with each other in its panic to escape.

I get up and walk over towards my machine gun. I pick it up and brush some of the mud off. I then walk over to where the ponies are hiding. “It’s safe you can come out now” I say.

This however doesn't go down too well as the response i get is a raging Fluttershy. She jumps on me and pushes me to the ground. She starts stomping on my helmet so I did what I thought was the least aggressive thing I could do and grab her hoofs to stop her from damaging my armor (even though it's highly unlikely). “You monster, you hurt that creature. Did you hear its scream? How could you? How could you?”

It's amazing how such a timid and shy creature can become so aggressive in such a short amount of time, especially under high amounts of stress.

I lay there for a while as her tears fall on my armor. After a minute or two she gets weaker and collapses on top of me, weakened from crying so much, she falls asleep. I lift her up and gently place her over my shoulder. “Do you know where she lives? She needs to rest.” I say.

Rainbow Dash nods and I walk over to her “can you carry her there. I fear that when she wakes she is not going to want to see me”

She nods again and motions for me to place Fluttershy on her back. I gently lift her up and lower her onto Rainbow Dashes back. She slowly takes off so as to not disturb Fluttershy and disappears out of sight. I turn towards the other ponies and say “I think it would be best if we make a move. I don’t want to fight that hydra again if I can avoid it.”

The others nod glumly and we set off again, this time without the other two Pegasi following us. We make it to an open field where we stop. I notice a small village just up ahead and it is full of other multicolored ponies. I stifle the urge to laugh. aloud I ask “where is this place anyways?”

Twilight looks at me with a blank expression on her face “you’re in Equestria…”

Her voice falters but she rallies magnificently expressing eagerness in her voice “And this here is Ponyville. Where princess Celestia sent me to study the magic of friendship and also where I met all my friends. It might not seem much, but what it lacks in size, this place sure makes up for it in quality.”

I was trying my best not to laugh at this point and I almost regained control of myself, that was until Applejack had something to say “the only other place that comes close to ours is the great city of Canterlot”

That was it. I cannot help myself. I let out a small chuckle, which slowly grows into roaring laughter. Applejack looks at twilight who shrugs. When I regain control of my emotions I tell them that we have places similar to these but on a larger scale. This seems to make pinkie pie laugh for some reason, after she calms down we all walk into Ponyville. On the road twilight asks me where I learned to fight like that and why I look like this, she also asks what I am “Well when I was born, I was an ordinary human, that's the name of our species, however when I was a small child my ‘talents’ were noticed by a secret organisation, which I cannot tell you the name of, neither can I tell you what exactly they did to me. All I can say is that they changed me to make me what I am now.”

They nod and I resume “after that I was put into this suit of armor. This suit gives me faster reaction rates and allows me to; run faster, pick up heavier objects and interact with a variety of electronic devices. Also my suit does several other things, most of which I doubt you’ll understand, as well as allowing me to connect Hannah, my A.I, into my suit.”

Judging by the looks on their faces, Applejacks, Rarities and Pinkie Pies to be precise, I rephrase the answer “In other words you can just call me a super soldier. And this isn’t how I look like this is just my armour; it protects me from just about everything.”

This seems to surprise Rarity “you mean that is just what you’re wearing! And isn't what you look like at all?” I nod “Oh my, well thank goodness for that, No offense, but your Armour Just looks simply horrible.”

“None taken, plus, this armour isn’t designed to look good, it’s meant to protect me.”

This seems to somewhat surprise Rarity again and she collapses onto a couch that appears out of nowhere ‘drama queen’ I think to myself. I quickly add “although human civilians seem to have an extensive array of clothing that you might find fascinating.”

Rarity went starry eyed for a moment as if she had just had an idea; I doubt I'm going to like that idea very much.

As we arrive in Ponyville I notice that all the ponies have gone indoors, presumably hiding from me. When we arrive at what seems to be a tree-house of some description, twilight explains that it is the village library and also her home, she tells me to wait outside. I nod and wait outside, I place my machine gun down next to some shrubbery just outside the door. I notice that the door Is also much shorter than me so I will have to crouch quite low to get in. it is at this point Hannah talks “hey. I've been tracking something on my sensors; we’ve been followed ever since we left the forest back there.”

I look around to see if anyone was there but I see no one. I check my motion sensor and find that there was recent movement near a small vase next to a shop we walked past on our way to the library. I am about to move when I hear quiet voices coming from directly to my right. I look right to see if there is anyone there and I find no one, again, however I see small flash of movement to side of my hip. I look at my hip to find a small pony staring at the upper part of my leg. it had a white coat and a light pink and purple mane, as well as a horn. Intrigued I lose interest of the follower and turn my immediate attention to the small pony at my side. I crouch down and ask, In a lighter tone I assume you would use to a small child, “Why are you staring at my leg for?”

The small pony jumps “ah! it can talk?”

Two other small ponies appear and walk over to me. the first is an orange Pegasus with a purplish/pink mane; the other is a light yellow pony with a red mane and pink bow. The light yellow pony asks “excuse me um... we couldn't help but notice that you got two cutie marks, how'd you get em? And what do they mean?”

Now it’s my time to be surprised. I look at the three ponies in front of me and reply “I don’t understand. What’s a cutie mark?”

The jaws drop on all three of the ponies, which I thought was cute and humorous. Eventually the small white unicorn replies “you don’t know what a cutie mark is?”

“Nope”

The three ponies huddle together into a small group. Due to my helmets sound sensitivity I was able to listen in on their hushed conversation. “He doesn't look like he’s from around here”

“Could he be an alien?”

“Did you see the strange cutie marks he has? He has two of them! I don’t know what they mean.”

“Duh it's obvious he's an alien. And are we even supposed to know what they mean?”

“Let’s find out then”

“No, wait!”

“Excuse me sir, but umm... what exactly do those things on your shoulders and legs mean?”

I pointed towards the emblems on my shoulder and leg “what, these things?”

“Yeah, those things”

I shrug and tell them what they are. “Well this here on my leg is an emblem that we Spartans put on so that others can recognise us easier. Usually they’re different, describing what a Spartans personality is like. However in some cases there can be small groups of Spartans with the same emblem. And this here on my shoulder is my rank. It’s put on there to show others how high up I am in our army.”

I notice that they got confused at the ranking part so I decide to simplify it for them. “Ranks are like age. The older you are the more people you can order around. Only, it doesn’t really matter about age in the army. So this thing just shows others that I can order them around, however that also shows that others can order me around. Do you understand?”

The ponies, now knowing what I meant, nod in unison. Still intrigued about cutie marks, I push on “anyways, what IS a cutie mark?”

The unicorn prevents the Pegasus from explaining when she pushed in front “A cutie mark is something every pony gets when he or she finds out his or her true talent and it only appears at that specific time. Although we haven’t got ours yet you see”

They turn and show me their flanks. The Pegasus, seeing her chance to talk, complains aloud “Every other pony has one but we don’t. It just isn't fair”

I notice their sad faces and realize that these ‘cutie marks’ must mean a lot in this community and even more to these kids. I notice on my motion sensor that the follower has moved and is now hiding behind a small sign outside a bakery. The bakery was closer than the other shop so I lean in to the other ponies “can I ask you for a favour?”

I motion for them to come closer and I hush my voice so only the three small ponies can hear “there’s been someone following me around since I got into town and I was about to ask them why when I noticed you. So I was wondering if you could help me surprise the follower. Could you do that for me?”

The three ponies nod “great! Now you guys distract them. Whilst I sneak around behind them”

The ponies nod again, their beaming faces show enthusiasm, as they start walking towards the sign, where the follower was hiding. I move towards the other side and wait for the ponies to surprise him (or her).

The three ponies jump over the sign followed by a large “EEP”

I ran over to the sign and pick up the dark grey, medium sized female Pegasus, which explains the reason why I couldn't hear her. She has a dark grey coat and her mane is a dark shade of blue. I notice her ‘cutie mark’ is a small black mask (like something you would see on a superhero to hide his/her identity). I hold her up by the back of the neck and she lashes out hitting me repeatedly with her back legs.

"Finally" I say after she stops kicking me “if you've had enough I would like to ask; who are you and why are you following me and ONLY after you have told me, shall I put you down”

The pony squirms for a while before finally giving up. “Fine, if you really want to know, My name is Shadow and I’m following you because I have been ordered to. NOW can you put me down?”

True to my word I place her back on the floor. After I put her down she immediately bolts. I let her run off assuming that she wouldn’t leave me to my own devices for too long and that she would probably start following me again. However I doubt that she would want to get too close to me again, ever. I then look at the trio again and say “well she was charming wasn’t she?”

This seems to make them giggle and we head back towards the library entrance. Now that we're laughing I notice that several ponies have started to leave their homes and begin staring at me and the three ponies beside me. With the new attention I begin to get a little nervous. Fairly soon I was the epicenter of the whole villages attention. I didn't know what to do at this point as I never expected to be the center of attention. Eventually twilight and Applejack open the door to the library and begin clearing the crowd. Reluctantly the crowd leaves and the ponies seem to be resuming their tasks from before we came into the village. Twilight invites me inside the library so that I wouldn't attract too much attention.

I gladly accept the notion and follow her inside, crouching low so that I don’t hit the door frame. When I enter however, I am stunned by how well organised this place is and also by the height of the ceiling, I could almost stand up straight. The books are neatly placed on shelves that seem to be carved into the tree itself. Everything in this place seems to be practical and tidy. The one thing I didn't expect was the decorations, this library had decorations everywhere.

However the one other thing that got me was that they all said ‘welcome to Ponyville’

“Surprise!”

I flinch and forcefully refrain myself from bringing out my sidearm, or performing any other form of defensive reactions. I found myself face to face with a very pink and rather crazy pony I had been told this pony was called Pinkie Pie. A party hat is immediately and forcefully donned on to my helmet.

To the great amusement of the Pinkie Pie, she pulls out a large blue cannon, seemingly from nowhere, and fires it. My body immediately hits the floor as I was half expecting it to fire a cannonball of some sorts. The cannon, in fact, fired a large amount of confetti, painting the walls behind me with tissue paper. My immediate drop to the floor made the ponies laugh. As I got back up they were staring at me rather expectantly. I stood there speechless.

“See! he’s speechless!” Said pinkie pie, bouncing up and down on the spot.

“I um… thank you… I guess…” I reply, not being able to take in what just happened or what was happening.

I had never been to a party before. The U.N.S.C didn’t specify if you could party or not, but because I was a Spartan, I played a pivotal role in fighting terrorists as well as the covenant. So I was almost constantly fighting. “I’ve never been to a party before…” I said aloud.

Pinkie pie gasps “ooh this is going to be the best party ever, except that one time when I met twilight and I was like…”

at this point I stop paying attention as I look towards a giant chocolate fountain with marshmallows around the base. Next to that was a giant cake with the words ‘welcome to Ponyville’ written on it. I walk past pinkie pie and stand at the buffet table. Suddenly I am really hungry and I begin reaching towards the release valve on my helmet.

Hannah then asks “what are you doing?”

My hand freezes. I completely forget that the atmosphere could be completely different to earths. Inside my helmet I open up the atmosphere monitor on my HUD and to my surprise, I find that it is almost identical to Earths, almost. There is substantially less carbon dioxide here than on Earth, and a larger amount of oxygen in the air as well. Noticing this I lower the HUD down and I move my hand towards the release valve, again.

I flick the release on my helmet and small vents balance the atmosphere. I feel the air pressure drop slightly and I raise both hands to either side of my helmet. I twist the helmet to the left with a jerky click accompanied by a satisfying hiss. I raise the helmet off of my head and I take in the fresh air. Almost instantly my nose is ambushed by the smells of treats and other assorted foodstuffs.

I turn around to see the ponies staring at me in shock with the exception of pinkie Pie, who is still rambling on about sarsaparillas and kumquats, and twilight who is staring at me with an abnormal amount of interest. “What? Did you actually think I was going to take my head off?”

This is immediately met with embarrassed looks and mild relief. I was about to turn around when I hear Applejack speak “look at that scar! Ah’ve never seen one that big in all mah life!”

I sigh and look down glumly. I had looked in the mirror once, briefly, before I put my power armor on and had seen what I looked like. I had pale skin and bushy eyebrows, my hair was a dark brown and my eyes were a light blue, my cheekbones were more prominent in comparison to the other marines. Compared to other humans, I looked quite sinister. I also noticed the large scar going down the left side of my face, splitting part of my eyebrow and running down across my cheekbone “Well this is generally what happens if you’ve been fighting all of your life”

I still remembered when I saw the purple blade of an energy sword as it came far too close for comfort.

Applejack shakes her head and resumes eating her chunk of cake, quite noisily I might add. I look towards Twilight who had gotten up and started searching the library shelves again. She seems to be looking for a particular book, but I can’t exactly tell what she's looking for.

I turn around and focus on the chocolate fountain in front of me. I couldn't remember when I had last enjoyed myself this much. I had never tasted anything so good in my life, even the small chocolate rations weren't nearly as good as the real thing. They even had sarsaparilla, It was amazing.

After eating a quarter of the party food I sat down and watched Pinkie Pie bounce around and defy the Laws of Physics, as well as several other laws that I can’t recall.

“I would ignore that if I were you, the less you think about it the better, that and the fact it’s Pinkie Pie”

I turn to see Rarity pause and stare at Pinkie, before continuing to munch her way through a bowl of marshmallows. I don’t like the fact that Pinkie Pie is able to perform such feats but nonetheless I took Rarity’s advice and I decide to ignore Pinkie for the time being.

Shortly after I finished eating, Pinkie Pie decides to play pin the tail on the donkey, I am unfortunately dragged into this. The pink mare spun me around several times and stopped me. I shuffled forwards, uncomfortably, as I didn’t like being unable to see what was in front of me, that and the fact I had to crouch to get to the right level. I found a wall and planted the pin in a random position. The blindfold was pulled down, what I saw made me laugh a little, but I hid my emotions, the pin was stuck right in the center of the donkeys eye. This amused Pinkie Pie and she commented “ooh you were soo close, maybe next time you can do even better!”

I shake my head and chuckle at Pinkies enthusiasm. I go to sit down again when I notice that twilight is still reading and hadn’t taken part in any of the activities. I walk up to her, ducking underneath the welcome banner. I crouch next to her and ask politely “why are you reading a book? And why aren’t you joining in with the party?”

She looks at me and then looks back at the book, she repeats this several times as if comparing me to something in the book. Suddenly her pupils grow and she looks at me starry eyed. This makes me nervous and uncomfortable, so I shift slightly away from her.

“I cannot believe my eyes” She squeaked “I’m seeing real life myth. Your species has never been seen since the founding of Canterlot. And there have been very few sightings of your species just after the great city was built. There are even references to a planet named Earth, but it’s in old moonshine so I can’t understand most of it. Even so no pony has ever actually seen anything like you since that period. As a matter of fact that’s why your species was considered a myth in the first place.”

By now she was jumping up and down in joy, circling me as I stood there in amazement. Trying to understand what she just said I slowly reply “We’re the myth? From where I come from this entire planet is a myth, a make-believe, a wise-tale, something we would tell our children as bed-time stories.”

This surprises twilight but she gets even more exited “I need to tell the princess this, it’s so exiting. We’ve just discovered a mythological creature and this is the first contact, and that we’ve managed to make a... sort of... successful mutual relationship. There are so many questions I have to ask. I must know more! But first I need to write to princess Celestia. She must know of this new and exciting discovery”

She stops jumping and runs upstairs. The other ponies are staring at me as if to say ‘what was that all about?’ I shrug my shoulders and move back to my previous spot and sit on my heels. Despite the encouragement I refused to dance, this saddened Pinkie a little bit but she was unfazed and was soon back to dancing picking up a rather unenthusiastic Applejack. Time flew by and the party was over before we knew it. All the food was eaten and the confetti had been spent (to my great relief they didn’t have any fireworks). I ask for the time and Rarity replies saying that it was roughly ten o’clock.

Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie are all saying goodbye to me in the doorway and twilight has come down to say goodbye to the others, her previous excitement still there but the letter seemed to have been sent. There was the matter of where I would sleep, but this was quickly resolved when twilight offered to let me sleep in her basement. I agreed not only because it was a place to put my head but because it kept me hidden from other ponies. I secretly thought it was because she wanted to ask me lots of questions about me and my species, although, I wouldn’t be able to answer most of them (standard U.N.S.C protocol).

They had all left the house and were about to go their separate ways when down the street we heard Somepony yell “run for your lives!”

This was followed by another voice “diamond dogs! Everypony quickly, get indoors!”

Chapter 3: Diamond Dog Surprise

authors note: again I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors i may have made on this chapter. I also apologize for this chapter for taking so long. I currently still have no proof readers so it's mostly myself editing it constantly over and over again.

with that said. enjoy

Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

Chapter 3: Diamond Dog Surprise

I follow the 4 ponies outside and I move to grab my machine gun. I feel comforted by its weight, although, that can’t be said by several other ponies who were locking themselves indoors.

“Who are these diamond dogs anyways?” I ask “and why everyone afraid of them? I mean the dogs back home were only harmful to a bag of food at most”

The 4 ponies’ jaws drop. Twilight replies to your comment rather hurriedly “diamond dogs are the complete opposite to the ones you have from where you’re from in that case. They would rather eat you than look at you. They even managed to capture Rarity at some point. Although not for very long I might add”

With that said the 4 ponies look at the other end of the village and run back inside the library slamming the door behind them. The door opens slightly and the worrying voice of twilight asks “Are you coming in?”

I shake my head “No”

There is a stifled squeak; which I assume was Fluttershy, and the door closes again. This time bolting it, as well as shutting all the windows and turning off all the lights. This angers me slightly; these diamond dogs just ran in here and ruined my first party ever. Now they were going to pay.

I run forward and check my motion sensor; I see 6 red blips coming almost directly to my right. I think about the situation, I am unable to fire directly at the houses, otherwise I risk injuring the ponies inside them. There is also a risk of causing damage to the streets of Ponyville, but I highly doubt they will worry about their roads when there are invaders on them.

I turn round a corner and find 5, dog like creatures. They can stand on their hind legs or on all fours. They wear thick grey armour that partially covers their strange bodies. They remind me of brutes, a sight which sickens me even further, that and they are holding spears. Two are standing to one side paying me no attention at all; the other 3 see me and they raise their spears in my direction.

I raise the suits shields, giving off a bluish tint as the shield charges fully.

One of them, out of fear or sheer stupidity, throws its spear towards me. I easily dodge it and I raise my machine gun. The moment I raise it however the three dogs start running towards me. I pull the trigger. Bullets explode out of the barrel and one dog howls in pain as a bullet enters its neck. The two remaining dogs ignore their downed ally and continue their charge. I continue firing, the second dog is hit in the shoulder and the third has a bullet puncture its helmet, it falls to the floor, stone dead. A few bullets stray a little wide but the rest either graze their armor or embed themselves deep inside the metal plating.

I pull my machine gun away from the three unmoving dogs and focus on the two remaining dogs. I move to their side of the street so I don’t hit any of the houses. I fire my next burst into the two distracted dogs. The first is hit in the leg, then in its hip; it yips in pain and falls to the floor, the second mutt jumps into the middle of the street to avoid the onslaught. I aim the machine gun towards the middle of the street again; I hesitate on the trigger, not wanting to hit any of the houses behind him, and move back into the middle.

The dog has now figured out how to avoid my attacks and jumps from one side of the street to the other. Extremely frustrated I stand still and aim my machine gun. I wait until the dog is nearly on top of me, it makes a large leap at me and I fire a single shot. It hits it square in the chest, piercing its armour at close range; it flinches and collapses into a heap, sliding past me as I side-step out of the way.

All five of the diamond dogs are now either dead, or injured.

Something worries me; I remember seeing six dots of movement on my motion sensor. I look around and confirm that there were only five diamond dogs. I become more cautious and move into a more defensive position. I walk up to every dog I shot and inspect them, making sure that there's nothing hiding behind them. Eventually I got to where the 4th dog was shot.

I freeze. Next to the injured diamond dog is a small male pony, still in his younger years. He has a pearly white coat with light brown patches and a brown mane; he also wears an eye patch. The effect is rather spoiled by the fact that there is a large amount of blood flowing out of a bullet wound in his hip.

my thoughts immediately lower the suits shield system.“Doctor!” I yell, dropping my machine gun “this ponies been shot and he needs immediate medical assistance!”

I pull out a small med kit from my utility pack on my thigh and wrap a small bandage around the wound. This staunches the blood a little and the pony whimpers in pain. Ponies start exiting their homes and are beginning to inspect the bodies of the diamond dogs raiding party. I pick up the small pony in my arms and run over to nearest pony “where is the hospital?”

The pony, too frightened or shocked to speak, points in the general direction of the hospital. I sprint in the direction the pony pointed, hoping that the little pony won’t die on the way there. “Move! Outta the way!”

I yell as I run past surprised ponies in my attempt to search for the hospital.

I finally recognise the Red Cross on the front of a slightly larger building. I put on another burst of speed as I run towards the front of the building. I kick the doors open, removing the hinges as the doors fall inwards. I look inside before crouching and entering. Several ponies are shaking in fear, most are in bandages, and one is in a wheelchair. I find a pony wearing what looks like a nurse’s uniform and I place the small pony in front of her. She looks at me and glances towards the small pony in my arms, her expression changes from fear, to worry. I point at the pony and say “he’s been wounded. You will need to operate on his leg if he is to survive. In his leg you will find a small metallic object, Remove it. Then clean the wound up and stitch it back together again. Do you understand?”

The pony nods and picks the pony up. She runs towards a mobile bed and places him on it. I follow her, not wanting to leave the small pony I had shot. I curse myself for not being more careful.

“Way to go” Hannah finally speaks “now you’ve shot an innocent bystander”

I was about to retort when a thought suddenly occurred to me “Hannah, can you do a scan on the small pony?”

“No problem”

I see her scan activate on my HUD and I wait for her to finish before finally asking “anything we should know before advancing with the operation?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood before you found him, but now, even I’m not sure if he’ll make it past the operation, only time will tell.”

We get to a door with the sign ‘operating theatre’ and the nurse tells me to wait in the lounge, she looks around trying to figure out why she heard two voices, she obviously gives up and returns her look at me. I nod understandingly and I go back to the entrance of the hospital. ‘Damn these diamond dogs, damn them all to heck, why did they have to ruin the first day I got here’ I think to myself.

A sudden thought occurs to me ‘who are these diamond dogs anyways? Who sent them here?’

I remember that there are still some dogs left alive so I exit the hospital and run to where I injured the diamond dogs.

I arrive at the scene to find that three dogs are piled on top of one-another on the right side of the street, the remaining two dogs are tied up in the centre of the street. Two ponies are trying to pick up my machine gun, but to no avail. They see me arrive and jump away from my gun, acting as if nothing had happened. I slow down and walk up to the dogs, the first looks at me in fear, the other is unable to see me as they are tied back to back. I crouch in front of the first dog and grab its studded collar. I pull the dogs towards me, pulling out my shotgun with my other hand. I pump the shotgun, turning the safety off and priming the gun at the same time. I then point the barrel towards the face of the first dog.

It stares up the barrel of the shotgun, eyes widening and its pupils shrink to small dots. The dots seem to roll upwards and its body goes limp, it fainted.

I release dog and circle over to the other. It turns its head and spots me, this one frowns and glares at me, obviously unhappy with being captured. I walk up to it and grab it by its collar; it tries to bite my hand but only ends up scratching the armour. “Who sent you here?”

I raise the shotgun to its head; the dog stops biting by hand and stares down the barrel. Its pupils shrink as it looks into the barrels black depths. I smile to myself, thinking of different ways to scare the living hell out of these things. I repeat the question. The dog breaths in, as if relaxing, then it answers as if from memory “I ain’t tellin’ no one”

This surprises me; first in that it sounded male, second in that I thought it would be pissing its pants by now, like the brutes would during an interrogation. But this one seemed to be keeping its cool, I moved the barrel closer, “I ain’t tellin’ no one!”

He seems to be shouting this, as if it would make me go away. The barrel touches his forehead. He quivers as the cool metal brushes against his fur, I move my head closer. “I ain’t tellin’ no one!” He says again, this time he really was shouting.

My head is next to his and I speak into his ear “it’s a shame you aren’t more talkative. You see this thing I’m holding up against your head, it can make your head explode, decorating your face against the place behind you. If I were you, I would think VERY carefully about what you’re going to say next”

The dog whimpers and slowly speaks as if contemplating what he was about to say “pack called… grey hounds… live in… everfree forest… not far from here… alpha called… demon claw”

The dog shivers uncontrollably. I remove the gun from the dog’s head, he had told me more than I expected him to, I pat its head “good boy”

The dog calms down and slowly stops shivering; a smile appears across its face “no one called me ‘good boy’ before.”

I look at the dog unsure as to what it means, the smile slowly fades as starts to look solemn and hangs its head low “Imma outcast now, I broke pack law, I no longer part of pack, not know what to do”

I look at the dog, I think for a moment before inquiring “have you ever eaten pony before?”

The dog looks at me in surprise “No! Ponies meant for diggin’. Only alpha allowed to be eating ponies, others eat rabbits or other foods”

The dog looks at me as if I had offended him. The ponies sigh in relief, but are still uncomforted by the fact that the dogs still eats other animals, they’re still wary of the dog in case it makes any move to escape. I nod and say “if I untie you will you run back home”

The dog shakes his head and then winces in pain as it moves its shoulder “no home to run to”

I glance at the bullet wound, it dried up since I was away and it has started to scab over. I put the shotgun on the floor and untie the dog, separating him from his sleeping comrade. He shifts to get up and the second one starts bellowing at the top of his voice “traitor! You shall pay for this with your li-“

I fire a shot at the screaming dog. the shot echoes in the village, the dogs' shouting is silenced. Its mouth unable to speak as its head is now completely removed from its body. Blood spurts from its neck and covers the ground around it. The, now free, dog has quite literally pissed itself. The dog looks over its shoulder and throws up. Other ponies follow his lead and they too add to the contents of the floor. I lower my gun again.

I forgot that these ponies were not used to death, and I just killed that dog so violently it is unlikely that they will ever forget this moment, thank goodness there weren't any children around. I lower the gun and stand back up; the dog looks back up at me. There was complete silence. I sigh, today was not going very well. I look at the armour the dogs were wearing, they all seemed to be handmade and I could physically see the dents of multiple hammer strikes. For a bunch of dogs, their armour was very well made. I look at the dog in front of me, his armour seemed to gleam compared to the others, apart from the blood splattered over his armour it was almost shining “who makes your armour?” I say.

The dog splutters for a second then straightens up “I do” he exclaimed proudly “I make all armour for grey hounds…”

He stops and whimpers. I nod at him and bend back down again “is it possible that you’re saying you’re a blacksmith?”

The dog looks blank for a moment before answering “err… yeah, yeah I’m a blacksmiff”

I study him for a few moments longer; I refer to my A.I if he was suitable for finding materials and putting them together turning off my microphone so that no one else can hear our conversation “is he good enough?” I ask.

“He may be a beginner, but I’m absolutely positive that he’s able to make the equipment needed to call the Winters Spite”

I shake my head, knowing that I was going to regret this decision. I turn my microphone back on and ask the dog “would you like to be my assistant?”

“Assistant?” He gives me a puzzled look.

I rephrase my question “in other words would you like to be my right hand man? Or in your case, right hand dog.”

The dogs’ eyes grow wider and its expressionless face is replaced with pure joy, the opposite can be said by the ponies. He stands on two feet and puffs out his chest, he raises his right arm in an american salute (i'm not american by the way, it just suits the dogs character better), pain momentarily forgotten. “Would be honoured, Sah!”

I smile, the ponies around us look at me, horror stands out the most throughout the crowd. I think I realise what their thinking and turn my attention back to my right hand dog “on one condition though”

“Anything, Sah!”

“No hurting ponies or even talking about hurting them without my permission, ONLY if and that’s IF they attack you, are you allowed to defend yourself. Also no eating any ponies either.”

“Yes Sah!”

“Do you give me your word?”

“I give you my word, Sah”

I smile to myself; now I have someone to clean up after myself. Also the ponies look a little more relaxed, great

“Good, now for your first task I would like you to get rid of these bodies, take them to the outskirts of town and place them on the edge of the everfree forest. Then after you finished I would like you to meet me at the hospital, that’s the place with the giant Red Cross on the front of it.”

The dog salutes again and moves over to his dead former companions, grimacing as he goes, and begins the long process of disposing the bodies. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie (with her mane flat against her side) and Rarity had seen what was going on and try to respond to the violent deaths of these diamond dogs, they are unsuccessful.

After watching my new companion begin clearing up I walk over and pick my machine gun up, satisfied that my work was done, I start walking towards the hospital.

Along the way twilight and the other three ponies catch up with me, to my surprise they were happy “thank you so much, you have no idea how many times those diamond dogs have raided this village. They usually don’t get anyone. But this time... what happened out there? And why did you run off?”

After I didn’t answer the ponies got more pushing “well why didn’t you?”

Resentfully I tell them what happened “I accidentally hurt a small pony, I didn’t see him and I know I should have been more careful, but those diamond dogs were hiding him.”

I falter as I can feel the stares penetrating my armour and burning my skin, I push on knowing that I deserve any abuse that swings my way “when I found him I did my best to patch him up, but he needed medical assistance. I took him to the hospital, which is where I am heading”

The ponies stare in shock, I think that I was going to be hit by a barrage of abuse but instead I get something quite unexpected “you mean you hurt him… and then you… saved him?”

I shrug my shoulders; even with my helmet on I could feel the tension in the air. We walked in silence until we reached the hospital. I enter, crouching low to prevent myself from damaging the ceiling. I move towards an empty corner that's far away from other ponies, and sit down with my back to the wall. “Umm what are you doing?” asks Pinkie Pie “because if your waiting for a doctor you sitting in the wrong queue, you’re not hurt are you because that would be very upsetting if you are, hmm well are you?”

I shake my head “I’m waiting for the nurse to come back so I can ask how the small pony is”

The ponies look at me as if I had said something meaningful, almost as if I was doing the right thing for a change. The all nod their heads and move as if to stay with me “what are you doing? Don’t you have homes to go to, I know I am currently bunking with Miss Sparkle but you really don’t need to stay with me.”

“Don’t think we’re letting you get away that easy. We’re here to see how the pony is as well. Can you describe the little pony to us? We may be able to recognize 'em.”

“Applejack’s right. We all want to know how the little pony is, that and we also need to find out who this small pony is so we can tell his parents what’s happened”

I sigh and begin describing the pony to the group. When I got to his eye patch the group gasp, I guess they now know who the pony is and who he belongs to. “Who is he?” I ask.

Rarity is the first to speak this time “that’s little pipsqueak, oh my this is going to be a problem”

“What’s wrong? Can’t you tell his parents what’s happened?”

I suddenly regret asking the question as I see their faces look at the floor, Pinkie pies mane flattens again and Applejack starts dragging her hoof along the floor. “Oh… oh, well… I’m sorry I didn’t know…”

Even with years of fighting and people dying around me, nothing compared to the looks on their faces, I'm in shock. There are no other words for it, I can’t say anything, there is a lump in my throat and every time I try to speak I end up unable to say any words. Unable to verbalise my thoughts I sit there saying nothing. Eventually I find my voice “I think that little pipsqueak will need all the support he can get at the moment, I think it would be best if you stay here”

The ponies smile, relief on their faces, and walk up to me, taking up a small area around me and lying down. They lay down a little too close for comfort but I allow them to lay down wherever they want. We wait for a while, still unable to talk. 3 Hours pass and the four ponies are now asleep, the rest of the patients have returned to their rooms so it’s just me awake.

I check my ammo banks seeing how much ammo I have left, I still have another magazine of machine gun ammo, as well as half a magazine left in the machine gun at the moment. For my shotgun I now have 47 shells left (8 in the shotgun and 39 left on my waist. I also have 3 spare magazines for my magnum. I just finished checking my ammo supplies when, during her sleep, Applejack rolls over and one of her fore hooves rests on top of my leg. A few proximity warnings go off and I silence them, I look down and see quite an adorable sight before me; all the ponies were sleeping peacefully. Rarity was on my left scrunching herself into my side, Applejack was next to her, Twilight was on the opposite side to Rarity but she was stretched out ‘almost like a human’ I thought to myself. Pinkie Pie however was resting on my legs in the ‘I JUST DON’T GIVE A FUCK’ position.

At this point I was unable to move any part of my body without disturbing at least one pony. It must have been midnight when there was a blue dot on my motion sensor. That blue dot turned out to be my right hand dog. I spoke quietly so I didn’t disturb the sleeping ponies “get some rest” I said “you’re going to need it for tomorrow”

The dog nods glancing at the ponies and then raises its hand to its mouth, I could tell he was trying not to laugh. He finds a spot next to a chair, not too far away from me, and lies down.

I suddenly realize that he doesn't have a name “hay... Mutt… what’s your name”

“Don’t have one… got given name by pack … now not part of pack… now have no name”

Great now I need to name him as well. I think for a while thinking of the possible names I could give him. I couldn’t think of any at the time so I settled for the universal name instead “I got a name for you”

The dog was resting, his head over his arms looking away from me, probably still trying to hide the big fat grin on his face. When he hears me talk however, his ears prick up and stand attentively. Seeing that I now have his attention I speak again “Rex… that’s you’re new name… Rex”

The dog seems to lose interest and his ears flop down again. Sighing I bow my head, I need some rest as well and I begin to close my eyes “thank you”

After hearing that I close my eyes fully; I smile and slowly succumb to the peaceful tranquillity of sleep.

I wake up, I'm on Cerberus IX.

my mind goes into overdrive 'This is impossible, this entire planet's been glassed. There is no way that this planet could still be here. once the covenant begin glassing a planet, they rarely ever stop.'

I recognized the forest I am in. it was where I found the small family, hiding in the underbrush.

I found them by chance, my squad had been ambushed in the city. they were all killed and I was the only survivor. I had to start running when one of the covenants cruisers had opened fire on the city, flattening it to the ground. I was lucky to survive when I made it into the forest.

I found the family hiding in some bushes not too far out from the city. they were cautious of my appearance and I was lucky to gain their trust before the cruiser started glassing the surrounding area around the city.

I had led them to a small resistance base. when we got there however, the entire base was under siege. I managed to fight my way through to the base. protecting the family with my life, I managed to get them to a safe zone where a pelican would arrive and pick us up.

the drop zone got really hot, and the second wave took out most of the remaining marines, there was now only a handful of us when the pelican finally arrived. that was also when the third wave hit us.

the fight only lasted a few minutes, but that was enough time for a grunt to throw a grenade. I was too slow and I only managed to shoot him after he threw the grenade "grenade!" I yelled.

I watched as the plasma grenade took flight. ducking behind cover, I see it land on the floor, right in front of the family I had just rescued.

I will never forget the look on their faces before the plasma grenade took them away. fear... pure fear.

the last marine had found me and I quickly snapped out of my mind, my body took over, I ran for the pelican. ordering the marine to get on whilst I covered him. the marine managed to get on, but not before a plasma burst hit his elbow, eliminating the elbow piece, burning his skin.

When the marine was dragged on-board, I threw the last of my grenades. I hit the side of the pelican, signalling for in to take off. I jumped aboard as its engines blasted against the floor and took off.

The pelicans doors closed and I stayed standing. all the seats were taken, and the injured were being treated on the floor. everything was quiet in there, save for the engines and the wounded.

I mentally cried, all my friends had died in the ambush, and the family I tried to save hadn't made it. I felt cold and hollow on the inside.

I tried to ignore my surroundings and I felt the pelican exit the planets atmosphere. there was a whisper in my head, I tried to ignore it at first, but its voice got louder. I strained my ears and just managed to make out a few words before the voice disappeared “Spartan… Wake up...”

I recognise the voice and I become aware that I was in a dream. Remembering last time I was in dreamland I close my eyelids willing myself to regain consciousness. I open them to find that I was still there, nothing had changed. I repeat the process several times, failing with every try.

I wait for the tingling sensation in my spine. My wait was finally greeted with the now familiar sensation of an electric charge building up. I wait, the suspense was killing me. Shortly I feel the electrifying zap as the shock coursed its way up my spine.

I open my eyes, my armour already on lock, I'm unable to move. My body is in agony and I flinch, I feel the shock die down and my body return to normal, as well as my armour. I try to take in my surroundings but I find my vision obscured by blackness. I turn my helmets light on and I find that either it has stopped working or my vision is obscured by something much closer to my face. I switch my light back off and wait for my eyes adjust. Soon enough I start to see colour forming; it was a light shade of pink.

Suddenly I’m wide awake. Had Pinkie Pie actually fallen asleep on my head? I know that when I fell asleep she was somewhere, anywhere, other than my head (Pinkie Pie could literally be anywhere if she wanted to; she’s Pinkie Pie, enough said). I think about moving my arms to lift her off but I remember that the other three were next to me, so I couldn’t move my arms without disturbing them.

I tilt my head forwards. This seems to work as the pink ball slides off of my head. Finally she falls off with a ‘thunk’. I grimace, 'how had she not woken up?!' Pinkie Pie shifted position slightly and fell between my knees. Now I become really frustrated, not to mention embarrassed.

I take in my surroundings. There is sunlight entering through the broken door, I make a mental note ‘repair door, or find ways to pay them back’. I look down, Applejack has now started hugging my leg, Rarity is now also hugging my hand and twilight is leaning up against my arm; Great still unable to move.

I look around and find Rex, still lying in the same spot, although he seemed to have his legs flung out in all directions, he reminds me of a small game I heard some marines talking about, QWOP I think they called it.

My thoughts are interrupted by a voice in my head “you awake now? Good, did you sleep well? You know you're starting to make a habit of this.”

I sigh letting out a long breath, I inhale deeply and reply “this time it wasn't about my old squad”

“Well that’s good news”

“I suppose, but I still dreamed about Cerberus IX”

“oh well, at least your 'dream' didn't raise your heart rate too much, hold that thought someone’s coming”

I check the motion sensor, there is something moving in this direction. It's coming from inside the hospital. It wanders around walking in right angles, presumably going through corridors. After a while I decide that it’s about time the others got up. I wonder about the many ways I could wake them up. “An outside energy surge from the suit shield system should be enough to wake them up” I hear Hannah in my head

“We need to WAKE them up, not shock the living daylights out of them. Especially when it’s going to be ME doing the explaining afterwards”

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself, the thought of electrocuting the ponies seemed rather amusing ‘oh god now I know why Hannah does it’. I remove the mental image of the electrified ponies and think of a safer, more subtle way to wake them up.

All thought abandons me and I have no ideas of how to wake them up. My body is starting to get stiff, something I haven’t felt ever since I became a Spartan.

I try to stay still but the feeling just keeps building up. Unfortunately I knew that I had to do something to wake them, I allow my body to take over. I shudder, this stirs the four ponies a bit and Applejack cuddles me even closer. I was beginning to think that there was going to be no alternative when Applejack suddenly yelps and jumps up. The other three seem to hear this and they too awaken. Much to my amusement and relief, they all jump up and take a few steps away from me. With the exception of Pinkie Pie who groans and rolls over “mmm… five more minutes”

The others start laughing at their friends antics. I, however, was not enjoying the joke. I was fed up with being used as a cushion. I reached my arms out and pick the pink pony up. I shovel her to one side and dump her down to my left. However when I try to drop her I find that this particular pony is now clinging to my arm. I try to nudge her off, but I don’t want to harm her, so I call for assistance from the three ponies in front of me.

To my despair those three ponies are in hysterics and are rolling on the floor laughing their sides out. Eventually twilight calms down enough to separate Pinkie Pie from my arm.

Pinkie Pie pouts for a moment before her, almost permanent, smile returns to her face.

“Thanks miss sparkle”

“Please, call me twilight, all my friends do”

I hesitate, before answering “I think I’ll just stick to miss sparkle for now”

This seems to offend twilight, if I could, I would kick myself for being so stupid, I try to make up an excuse “It’s not you… it’s just that I don’t think that we’re at that kind of stage yet”

This lightens her up a bit but the disappointment is still there. Applejack sees her turn to speak “just so everypony knows ah think we should never speak of this again”

The four ponies nod and they add a kind of action, the movement ends with them all sticking a hoof in their eye. Another mental note 'I will have to look into this at a later date'.

I was about to say something when I heard Rex wake up. ‘Oh good, the beast finally awakens’ I think to myself.

I am about to ask him if he knew about alchemy when a pony with a nurses outfit and a red cross for a cutie mark enters the room. She looks at the four ponies and hastily avoids looking at Rex, her gaze finally settles on me. a serous look on her face.

'Please don’t tell me that poor pipsqueak has gone' i think to myself as the nurse walks over to me.

Chapter 4: Interesting Times

i will be putting Jacobs thoughts in blue so that it will be less confusing. also I'm sorry there isn't much action in this chapter, I will make it up to you in the next chapter

Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

Chapter 2: Decisions, Decisions...

The mare walks up to me and introduces herself “I am nurse Redheart. I remember yesterday you brought in a small pony with a wound in his upper thigh. You also told us that there was a metal object in there as well. Well thanks to you we managed to take it out and stitch up the main artery before he completely bled out.”

I nod “how is he now?”

The nurse hesitates “he is… stable at the moment”

I reply without thinking “Dead is stable” (if anyone gets that reference i will love them)

Shocked that I would say such a thing she freezes for a moment before recovering “he is alive if that’s what you’re implying. But he has no home to go to and the orphanage cannot pay for the treatments that could otherwise save his life… without treatment he won’t survive. Normally we would help him but the hospital is low on funds at the moment due to an increase in accidents so we cannot afford to undergo such procedures…”

Her voice trails off as she stares at me. I pull my hands up and remove my helmet. I look into her eyes and she looks into mine. “Do whatever it takes to keep him alive. Charge me, do ANYTHING you hear me ANYTHING to keep him alive. Just. Don’t. Let. Him. Die. I don’t want his death on my hands, not now.”

She slowly recovers, terror fading away from her face, she nods her head understandingly “very well but you will need to pay me back, if you don’t Celestia help you I will not rest until you come to justice.”

I nod my head “may I see him?”

This is met with a small smile “I’m glad you are taking full credit for your actions, follow me, I will take you to him. Are they here with you as well?”

Applejack comes out from behind twilights shield, presumable put up in case something terrible was to take place “yes ma’am we’re here to see pipsqueak as well if you don’t mind.”

She beams at Applejack “of course follow me. I must warn you though he is a little paler than usual, and he is still resting so you can’t really talk to him. But what about… the other one” She points to the dog that is now sitting attentively.

I turn my head, and I saw his jaw drop. I chuckle to myself and tell him to stay put. He salutes and moves back to his original resting spot before lying down and (probably) falling asleep. She leads us through a maze of corridors before showing us the room pipsqueak is in. we see him resting on the bed with what looks like a life support machine plugged into him, as well as a drip and a heartbeat monitor.

Their technology is similar to that of ours in 2070 but with less buttons. They also seem to be technologically advanced in some areas but less advanced in others’

I get to see part of his face, he almost seems comfortable, unfortunately I couldn't go and see him properly, so she pushes us back out the door.

We arrive back in the lounge to be greeted by the small purple dragon, which I was introduced to at Pinkie pies party, named spike. He is holding up a paper scroll with a red ribbon tied around it with a red wax seal.

The next thing I see amazes me. A purple aurora encircles the parchment and levitates it in front of twilight, I recall glimpsing at a book title in her library that read unicorns and magic but had assumed it to be a fiction. I realise that twilight is using a kinetic spell, allowing her to manipulate the object in front of her.

Twilight breaks the seal and clears her throat before continuing

Dear Twilight Sparkle and Friends (including Spartan-088)

I have received word of the Spartan and I wish to see him about his actions and what he can and can’t do. I have placed eight tickets in this scroll, one for spike as well, so you can all leave whenever it suits you best. If you are reading this aloud tell Spartan-088 that I know his stay is going to last a long time, possibly years. He will need to get himself his own house, not living with you twilight, he will also need to learn about our culture and all the necessary requirements. Tell him that he must see your town mayor and that he can go to the library afterwards so that he can pick up ‘the culture and etiquette of Equestria’ so he can memorise it on the train.

Your tutor

Princess Celestia

Twilight looks at me and I stare back “you know, staring at everyone is even creepier when you don’t have a helmet on. But it looks like you have a very busy day ahead of you.”

I sigh, being unable to leave this place for so long is unbearable, I have a war to fight and they need all the Spartans to help them with this. Ever since the fall of reach there hasn’t been many new Spartans. And those that are new don’t survive long enough to live up to our motto.

“Well I better get this sorted quickly” I say “Where is the town hall?”

Applejack offers to show me the way, saying that it’s on her way to the apple farm, I accept and I follow her into the centre of town. There are quite a few cautious ponies along the way, eyes turning in my direction before hurrying away. It looks like I will have to earn my trust within the village, as well as some more respect.

We eventually arrive at town hall where a brown pony meets us at the entrance. Applejack says her goodbyes and I follow the mayor into town hall.

The mayor leads me into a small office where she sits down. She offers me a seat and I kindly refuse, she insists and I am forced to oblige.

After I remove the last pieces of the chair from my armour I sit on the floor. I am still at the same height as her, even with my legs crossed in front of me. She carefully inspects me and I shift uncomfortably.

After a minute of close inspection she hands me a large pile of paperwork “the princess has told me that you are in need of accommodation, she has also told me that you also don’t have a job is that correct?”

I nod my head and she resumes “the first lot is the papers for your new home. Can you sign here, here, here and here”

After continual here’s we finally manage to fill out the entire lot of forms and she hands me the deeds to my new home. My hand is beginning to get cramp when she puts another, somewhat smaller, pile of paperwork on the desk. She points towards it “this is a number of job vacancies here in Ponyville, I took the liberty of removing all the Pegasus and unicorn only jobs and settled for a couple of jobs I think you will exceed at. The first of which is the job at sweet apple acres, the town’s main source of income and the best apples in Equestria. However if you would like to be a blacksmith, clockwork technician or an assistant librarian you are welcome to choose.”

She smiles at me and I ask which job pays the most, this is quickly answered by a courteous response “ah, I had expected you to say that, your answer is the job at sweet apple acres, I take it she has probably already offered you a job there?”

“No she hasn’t, do you know when I can begin work?”

“Of course, as soon as you arrive you are expected to begin work immediately, but I suggest asking if you can work there first”

I nod my head “then what are these forms for?”

“Billing address and some other important stuff that I’m sure Somepony of your intellect will understand”

I sigh and begin signing the rest of the paper work. After a while she files the papers away and turns to me “now that’s out of the way I must insist that your weapons are handed over and locked away safe-“

“No”

She looks at me and scalds me for refusing “I must insist that you hand-“

“No”

She seems to get angry. She cools herself down, taking deep breaths, after she calmed down a little she responds “very well then. Your weapons must be left inside your house and they cannot be shown in public”

“I think I can live with that”

She smiles and stands up. We shake hands… hooves… whatever, and I leave the town hall, Deeds in my thigh satchel along with a pair of identical keys.

Not wanting to waste a moment of my time I pick up Rex from the hospital and hand him the keys. I give him the number and directions to our new home and send him on his way.

Later, I arrive at the library and knock on the door. I am greeted by an altogether too exited twilight. She brings me inside and tells me to sit down. I sit down with my back bolt upright; I know that whatever twilight has in store is going to be altogether too long. I wait for some time before finally seeing her walk into the room carrying an extremely oversized book. The words on the front read “beginners guide to Equestria” I inspect the book further to find that, indeed, twilight had written it.

She places the monstrosity in front of me and tells me that I will have to memorise this book on the train to Canterlot. I place my helmet back on and begin to carry the book out of the library. I turn to find that twilight has put on a pair of saddlebags on her back. They are bulging and there is an abnormal amount of paper inside them. I ignore the overburdened pony and walk outside. Realising that I had left my machine gun at the hospital I ask her if I could leave my machine gun at hers whilst we’re at Canterlot. She agrees with me and I retrieve my machine gun placing it to one side in the library. I pick up the large book and carry it to the train station.

We were the last to arrive, the other five, as well as spike, had arrived earlier and were now waiting for us to turn up. They ogled the book I was carrying for a few moments and gave me looks of sympathy before boarding the train.

I wait for the others to board and I was about to follow them when another pony tells me that I haven’t got the ticket for accommodation but for luggage. I was slightly annoyed about this but my better judgement decided that it would probably be for the best. I enter the last cart on the train, which by luck is the one right next to where the other seven are sleeping and is also tall enough for me to almost stand upright.

The train creaks as I enter and the cart tilts to one side. I carefully make my way to the centre of the cart and sit down. To my relief the cart didn’t break and I place the book in front of me. I hear a pony outside call “all aboard” and the train blowing its whistle. After a few moments of silence the cart jerks forward, the cart quickly speeds up. I carefully open the book and begin flicking through the pages.

I skimmed the book to the last page. To my horror I find out that the book has a total of 3475 pages. I know I wasn’t going to memorise this book when an idea strikes me “Hannah, do you think you could take pictures from this and store it in your memory banks?”

“Yes I can but I thought the idea was that you were going to memorise it”

“Somehow I think the prospect of dying seems more pleasing than reading this book”

My A.I manages to pull off a sigh; this is an impressive feat as she hadn’t made this gesture before “fine but you have to read the book after my photographic memory has finished with this book”

“Okay, okay, just take pictures of this book before I die of boredom.”

I lost track of time when we got to the thousandth page, only after I noticed it had started to get dark did I finally close the book. I read a couple of pages that were of interest, such as unicorns and their magic. I also read how Pegusi and Earth-Ponies also have the same magic but do not have the right lay lines to channel it. Instead they have the magic channel through their bodies; making Pegusi have better control of the elements and making Earth-Ponies stronger and more resilient.

I decide to get some rest so I slide over to the back of the cart. It makes groaning sounds but I manage to prop myself up against the far wall without the cart disintegrating. I start to drift off to sleep when the door opens. I don’t move, I let my eyes look up but I am unable to fully see who it is. Very soon a yellow hoof came into view. I look up to see a very nervous Fluttershy jump back and make an effort to hide herself in her mane. This surprises me as well, I didn’t expect her to show up, or even get anywhere close to me for that matter.

I’m not sure how long we stood there, but I know we hadn’t moved a muscle. To show that I wasn’t as heartless she thought I was a raise my hands up to my helmet, she shrinks back in fear and my hands freeze. Seeing that she is scared I decide to break the silence “I’m just going to take my helmet off, you don’t need to be afraid”

She calms down a bit and nods her head, still trying to hide behind her hair. I continue to raise my hands, slowly, ‘how dramatic’ I think to myself. My hands reach the release and I activate it. Again there is a loud hiss as the suits air levels equalise. I yank the helmet sideways, which brought a muffled squeak from Fluttershy. I remove my helmet and place it down beside me.

Fluttershy stares at me; I can see a mixture of emotions. I’m not sure what she sees in me but she seems to reach a conclusion. “I-I still don’t forgive you for what you did, b-but I-I am willing to start over again, that is I-If you want to, if you don’t mind that is.”

“I thank you for being so understanding, and I would be glad to start over again. However I only ask that you can accept my apology.”

She smiles and looks into my eyes, I stare back unblinking, we hold gazes for a while before she finally breaks away, blushing heavily and hiding behind her pink mane again “a-apology accepted”

I sag with relief and show a small smile. She immediately sees my tension release and trots up to me feeling a little more comfortable. Curiously I ask why her friends weren’t here with her and she replies with a kind smile “oh well umm you see I-I didn’t want to wake my friends up and they all just looked so peaceful so I decided not to wake them up. I-I was a little scared that you were all alone. And no one had m-mentioned you today so I decided to see if you were okay, I-I noticed that twilight had given you such a large book to read. Umm if you don’t mind me asking w-what book did she give you?”

I pull the book over and show her the front page. She looks at the thickness of the book and then sees the title which she reads aloud “the beginners guide to Equestria, by Twilight Sparkle, oh my. I-I didn’t know that she had made her own book on Equestria. It’s so big, if y-you don’t mind me a-asking, h-how many pages are there?”

“3475 pages to be exact, I have completed 1288 pages so far”

As soon as I said this I hear a gasp from behind the Fluttershy. I look behind Fluttershy and see a shocked Twilight Sparkle. She is standing in the doorway with her jaw dropping on the floor. I sigh inwards and I was about to ask what she was doing her when she shuts her mouth and runs up to me, she glances at the book and then at me “how can you read that quickly? It’s only been a few hours since I left you with that book. Even with my dedication to knowledge I wouldn’t be able to read that fast, even if I wanted to.”

I pick up my helmet and put it on my head. “Open the book on any page, when you do so show it to me for a few seconds and then pull it away. Hannah will then recite the page, you will confirm if Hannah is copying the book word for word”

Twilight, eager to put this to the test, finds a page in the book and faces it towards me. She then turns the book away and begins looking at the book, waiting for Hannah to start speaking.

“Page 2769. In a market, foodstuffs are bought and sold with bits, bits being the source of currency. Depending on the quality and quantity of the items you are purchasing, the quantity of bits you need is increased or decreased…”

I stop listening to Hannah to watch twilights face as she reads the book and listens to Hannah talking. However this doesn’t make the situation any better as twilight gets frustrated quickly and slams the book shut “how can you do that? You only glimpsed the page for less than two seconds and you can still read out the entire page. It takes me a couple of minutes to read a single page and you only need a few seconds. AARRGGHH”

Hannah sees the distraught pony and explains how she is able to memorise it “it’s quite simple actually. The helmets visor acts as a camera, when I look at the page I take a small picture. I then translate the picture to text. And then I can delete the picture to save memory. Whenever I need the information it’s always in my memory banks, I can pull the information up whenever I want to after that”

Twilight calms down a little; she mumbles a complaint of being smarter than her and sits on her haunches. I begin to ask questions “in this book on the first hundred pages you mention that the sun is raised by princess Celestia and the moon is raised my princess Luna, is this true?”

“Yes of course, why would you ask?”

“That’s impossible! The sun and moon revolve around a planet due to kinetic forces and the planets gravity. It’s impossible to control such gigantic objects”

“They’re not gigantic they are in fact 100 times smaller than this planet and the princess do raise the sun and the moon. I’ve seen it with my very own eyes!”

I pull out the chip from the back of my head I hold it out on the palm of my hand “Hannah can you show Twilight harvests solar system.”

“Of course”

There is a slight blue fuzzy mist and then there is a large blue orb. Surrounding the orb are several smaller blue orbs, but not as bright as the one in the centre “this here is the sun, that one is harvest, surrounding harvest are three moons, the rest are just other planets. But they all take part in keeping harvest liveable.”

Twilight and Fluttershy stand there shocked. Obviously they hadn’t seen anther solar system, Twilight was speechless for once and Fluttershy looked at the solar system in awe. Seeing their faces was priceless, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I decide to compare their solar system to harvests “Hannah can you pull up a schematic for this planets solar system, following what twilight says”

“All right”

The image fuzzes again and there is a single planet, alongside the planet are two smaller orbs, one blurred and the other solid “this is what you’re saying; this is Equestria and these two here are the sun and the moon. The fact that these two are in such close orbit to the planet is a complete mystery to me, the sun should have crashed into the planet eons ago and the moon… well the moon I suppose could be able to orbit like that, I remember seeing a planet with a closer orbiting moon.”

Twilight sees here opportunity to defend her princesses honour “it can be explained. First reason is that the princesses use their magic to raise the sun and the moon.”

“Still impossible, first is because they would need to be constantly raising the sun and the moon, the planets circular after all. actually I suspect all they really need to do is push the sun a little bit back so that it doesn’t spiral down and crash. Okay, I guess it’s plausible, but I won’t believe it until I see it with my own eyes. As they say the proof is in the pudding”

Suddenly out of nowhere “THERE’S PUDDING, WHERE?!”

A pink pony jumped out from behind me, scaring not only me, but both the ponies in front of me. My hands were a blur; my right hand clenched the microchips blue lights were instantly cut off. My left hand pulled my knife from my shoulder guard and buried the knife up to the hilt in the wooden frame behind me. My senses went into overdrive, my hand had jerked up at the last moment and instead of the ponies face the knife cut deep into the ponies pink mane. Twilight and Fluttershy were completely shocked be my reaction.

“Silly billy that’s not where you pin the tail on the pony, it’s meant to go on the rump”

The pink pony jumped forwards as if nothing had happened, her hair bouncing back into its original fuzzy state. three quarters of us stood there in shock.

Eventually I managed to find my voice box “I-I *mm-hmm* I’m terribly sorry I didn’t mean to do that… it was a reflex action…”

My voice trailed off. I looked at Twilight and Fluttershy I saw the look on their faces they were horrified at what I had just done. Pinkie Pie decides to break the silence “so what you been up to huh?”

I couldn’t bare the tension “look can you all just leave me in peace for a moment. I think it would be safer and less… eventful if you would all leave me be for the rest of the journey, this includes you Miss Pie. And especially no more surprises, it isn’t… wise to surprise a Spartan.”

Pinkie Pie saw the seriousness in my face and her mane seemed to deflate, but she soon perked up again “okie dokie lokie”

And with that she dragged the other two out of the cabin; I sagged with relief when she left. I need some rest; this trip is going to be very long indeed. I pulled my knife out of the wooden frame and re-sheathed it; I then put my helmet back on and put Hannah’s chip into the back of the helmet. Feeling more secure I lay my head back, I opened up the suits database and pulled up a file named ‘music’ I opened it up and played a song at random ‘Skespsit-Reflux

I was glad to be listening to something with a steady beat, as I slowly let sleep take me away.

The rest of the trip was less eventful than I had hoped. On the fourth day on the train at around 11:00pm I saw a comet in the sky and it is on a collision course for this planet, I assumed that it was a natural occurrence and it must happen quite frequently, so I thought nothing of it. I was undisturbed for the rest of the ride; I finished copying the book and had just finished properly reading page 1982 when the train finally stopped.

Glad to be finally at my destination I got to my feet and picked up my oversized book.

What happened next however was unsuspected. A group of six ponies with spears entered and pointed their weapons at me. By instinct I raised my shield, the suits shield hummed to life and then the suit looked like nothing had happened. The ponies were put off, except one of them who stood forwards “you are the one known as ‘Spartan-088’?”

I reply in a lowered voice “yes I am. Why do you come in here with weapons?”

“It’s a safety precaution, follow me. And if I were you I wouldn’t make any sudden movements, there are over a thousand royal guards here and if you even think of harming one of her majesties subjects you will find that you will not even live to regret it.”

I grunted ‘so much for a warm welcome’. As we left the carriage I saw the other 6 ponies, including spike, get out of their carriage. I noticed Twilight hug one of the other guards. I was about to move forward when one of the spears rose menacingly, or at least as menacingly as possible when facing a seven foot Spartan super soldier. I sighed ‘well now what’ I thought to myself.

After what seemed like hours I was finally told to follow the group of six ponies to a large castle like structure. When we got there I was led to a large pair of highly decorated doors, presumably a throne room.

At the entrance I was asked to remove my weapons, when I didn’t oblige the guards at the door lowered their horns, their horns glowed ominously. Without seeming to move I was lifted slightly after a few moments the guards started panting heavily and I planted myself on the floor again. After a few minutes after they recovered they realised that I wasn’t going in without my weapons, I had reasoned that I was only going to use them in self-defence and that they were already holding their weapons at me.

My thoughts are answered and we enter a large open space, at one end was a pair of… cushions… and on these cushions is an even stranger pair of unicorn/Pegusi. I remember the book saying that these two were Alicorns and that they are also the princesses,co-rulers of Equestria.

When I enter I also notice that the six ponies I recognise are all bowing to the princess, except Twilight who just rushes over and muzzles the white ones side. Twilight sees me enter and blushes red. The two Alicorns watch me as I am escorted to the edge of a pair of stairs.

I stood there like a complete idiot, however being treated as a monster wasn’t my idea of a friendly welcome “well so much for the welcome par…”

I stop right there and glance at Pinkie Pie, who returns my look with a penetrating gaze, egging me on to finish the sentence “so much for the warm welcome” I state bluntly, much to Pinkies disappointment “are the spears necessary?”

The princesses eye me for a moment before nodding to the guards around me. As if on cue they lower their spears and back away. 2 of them seemed altogether too hasty in backing off. I release the tension in my arms and relax. Glad that I am no longer classed as a threat I continue “so I assume you are princes Celestia” I point towards the white Alicorn “and you are her sister princess Luna” I point towards the dark blue Alicorn, who as it turns out seemed to be drowsing off. She jumps at the mention of her name and gives me an annoyed look before turning to her sister who was glaring at her for falling asleep.

The princess returns her gaze at me and begins to look over me sceptically. Seeing that she wants to know my name I give it to her “my name is lieutenant colonel Jacob Spartan-088. But you can either call me Jacob, Spartan, or lieutenant.”

She seems satisfied but then she begins to focus on one aspect in particular, the large knife on my shoulder guard. I glance towards it and shrug my shoulders “this is only for self-defence, or getting food, but its main use is for cutting things”

She then starts to stare at my other weapons, I sigh ‘looks like I’m going to have to teach these ponies a little about my weapons. I pull out my shotgun and pistol, as I did so the guards moved forwards in front of me and take up defensive stances in front of their princesses. The princess wants an explanation so I am going to give it to her “relax guys I’m not here to hurt anyone, at least not intentionally. But I’m going to tell you what these things are”

“We already know what weapons you have. As to how they work we’ve no idea, maybe you will be kind enough fill in the blanks”

I almost chocked on my own spit ‘how do they know what guns are? and more importantly, do they have any of their own?’ “This here is a shotgun, it fires many small pellets, at short range it can be devastating, long range; it’s completely useless. This is a magnum, it has a single metal slug called a ‘bullet’, this bullet is special because its armour piercing, it’s pretty accurate mid-range and close range, however isn’t very accurate over long distances. I have a machine gun at twilight’s house; it fires many bullets, although they’re slightly bigger than the magnum and it is a little less accurate than the magnum, plus it’s extremely heavy”

I finish speaking, the princess eyes me warily. I hold steady and return her glare, with the assistance of my visor. Eventually we broke off hearing a loud snore coming directly to her left, princess Luna has nodded off again. Celestia huffed and shot a bolt of yellow at the sleeping Luna. Luna jumped several feet into the air and stayed there for a moment before gravity took hold of her. She landed on her cushion with a thump and glared at her sister, who returned her glare with an annoyed look. They seemed to look at each other for a couple of minutes. After a while Luna broke off, whatever seemed to be going on, it was obvious that Luna had lost.

Celestia looks back at me and stares, after a few moments she seems puzzled, and then smirks “who else is with you?”

I was surprised by her question ‘how can she know so much, yet so little about us? Is there another human on this planet? Or are they just spies sent by the covenant?’ “Well technically no one, but as to something, I think you mean Hannah, that’s my A.I. An A.I is an-“

“artificial Intelligence, I know”

‘how did she know that? She knows things before I can say them, she can’t possibly know these things, can she?’ I think for a moment before I suddenly notice a green blip on by motion sensor, it’s walking straight towards us.

I look right to find a pair of side doors; the princess sees my new-found interest “ah here he comes, Jacob I think you would very much like to meet him”

My heart skipped a beat; who is this guy? is he dangerous or does she generally think I would like to meet him?

The double doors glow as the two pony guards begin to open them using their magic.

Chapter 5: An Advancement

ah! finally! i managed to steam roll out another chapter... sorry it took so long to get out but the beginning of this chapter had me stumped... I couldn't think of anything at all... anyways again I apologize for bad grammar. yadda yadda yadda... hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it : )

Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

Chapter 5: An Advancement

I turn to my right. Ready to face whatever comes through the doors.

What did she mean that I would like to meet him? Is he someone I know? Another human perhaps? Oh no… please no… not one of the covenant, please… anyone but the covenant…

I face the door, taking a more defensive stance, my hand hovering over my pistol and me feet placed further apart. I check the motion sensor and I see the green dot get closer.

After a few agonising seconds, the doors open, revealing a large green Spartan with mark VI armour.

I recognise him instantly.

I stand to attention, my arms flat by my sides, feet together, back straight. I raise my right arm to my head, Palm facing forwards in salute “master chief! Sir! Spartan-088 reporting for duty! Sir!”

“At ease Spartan. Do you have a sit-rep?”

“Yes sir. I have set up shop in a small town called Ponyville, where I have a little helper as it were. I have valuable Intel I need to give back to Winters Spite, a Phoenix-class colony ship. Also I have no resources and no equipment, unless you happen to know where I can get some” I chuckle at the last part. I’m glad that I’m not alone on this planet.

“Yes I do. The Forward Unto Dawn is less than five miles due north-west-west of this position, Bearing 304 degrees. You should be able to get your equipment from there, along with any resources you need. If you can get a Pelican or an Albatross up and running that would be great.”

Were it not for the suit, my jaw would have hit the floor, I was surprised by his answer but I quickly got another plan together “Yes sir. I’ll be back in a few hours. princess, I won’t be able to carry everything I need from the Forward Unto Dawn, and can you spare a few ponies to help collect my equipment. Preferably the strongest, this stuff is extremely heavy.”

“I will send you with a four of each type of pony, each pony has a different ability, and I will also send you with Twilight and her friends. I am confident that nothing bad shall happen to them. If something bad shall happen to them you will be held fully responsible. I wish you good luck on your endeavour. Please come back safely.”

I nod my head understandingly “when will you be ready?”

I point towards the six ponies, they give me looks of ‘who… me?’ before they huddle into a small group. After a hushed conversation, which I can still hear despite their lowered voices, Twilight steps forward “we can leave now if you want, but we will be better prepared in about ten minutes, we will gather some of our stuff and meet you back here. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash doesn’t have anything to pack, so she will stay with you for the time being”

I nod my head again ‘this is the most times I’ve nodded my head in a single conversation’

It took me a moment to think about what to say next; I had a nasty grin underneath my visor “so to get this straight; Fluttershy is getting medical supplies in case anyone gets hurt. Twilight is getting books, paper, some ink-pots and quills. Applejack is getting food and rope. Rarity is getting some miscellaneous items and Pinkie Pie is getting… something”

All ponies in the room dropped their jaws, literally (master chief isn’t a pony). After a brief pause and some mild confusion, Twilight eventually gets a hold of herself “y-yes that’s right… c’mon girls we need to get our stuff… looks like I have a lot to ask you when I get back 088”

And with that said the five ponies walked out the door. As soon as the group walked out the door Rainbow Dash flew up to my visor and pushed her head against mine “how did you hear what we were saying huh?”

“I have enhanced hearing”

“En-han-said?”

“Better”

“Oh… well… you shouldn’t listen in on other ponies conversations, it’s RUDE to SPY on others”

I chuckle slightly, her face is a spectacle to behold, and it reminds me of the cartoons I used to watch in my spare time in between training. After a moment I walk up to a pillar and sit down with my back against it, I pull out my pistol and begin to take it apart. I pull out an old oily rag from my thigh satchel and begin meticulously cleaning every component; princess Celestia watches my handiwork sceptically. I piece the gun back together and load it, satisfied with my work I move on to my shotgun.

I pull it out and remove the bullets inside it, putting them in my thigh satchel. I pull apart my shotgun and clean the parts, double checking it to make sure I haven’t left anything un-cleaned. I put it back together and put the rounds back inside, pumping it once to make sure it was loaded and ready for anything. I look up to see that Rainbow Dash was fast asleep on a blanket and pillow 'where did she get those?'. Princes Luna is also fast asleep on her royal cushion, princess Celestia was busy talking to master chief and a group of twelve guards have arrived, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

I pull out my knife and begin to sharpen it against my arm guard, flipping it occasionally to even it out. Satisfied that it was sharp enough I re-sheath it. I look at the time and find that nine minutes have gone by, bored out of my mind I stand up and stretch my limbs, preparing for the short five mile run.

A few more minutes go by and we still don’t see any sign of the other five turning up. I was about to go looking for them when I see a pink blip appear on my motion sensor ‘odd’ I thought ‘isn’t it meant to show up; green, red or blue?’

I began to walk towards it when it suddenly disappeared, then it shows up again, on the other side of the building, I turn around and it disappears again. I begin to get confused ‘how could it move so fast? Is it teleporting?’

My suspicions turn false as it reappears at my side; I look left to find Pinkie Pie hovering just inches away from my visor, defying the laws of physics… again.

Unfortunately Pinkie Pie distracted me long enough to stop me from noticing the others arrive. The doors opened and the remaining four ponies entered the room carrying saddle bags. ‘How appropriate’ I think. Rainbow dash is woken up by Applejack and the six ponies gather in front of me Rarity speaks up “we’re ready to go!”

‘Finally’ I think to myself “great, let’s move out!”

I walk over to the doors and I stop on the spot, a thought just occurred to me ‘how I am getting out of this castle without getting lost’ I turn around and I look at twilight “twilight, can you lead us out of the castle, if I am seen with you guys following me, it will raise suspicions”

Twilight thinks for a moment before replying “hmm… good point… maybe if I cast an invisibility spell on you we can go through town without people stopping and staring at you… but that would take up way too much time to prepare, I guess the guards will just have to escort us until were out of Canterlot”

I sigh in relief as the twelve guards surround us, forming a box shape. They slowly trot forwards, I walk in the centre of them standing up straight, the tallest of the ponies only came up to just above my waist, and so they couldn’t cover me much. There was silence for a total of five seconds on the way out of Canterlot, mostly because Pinkie Pie wouldn’t stop talking all the way to the gates.

As I suspected a lot of ponies had started following us, other ponies just gave me various different looks. Eventually we got to the main gate, all the following ponies stopped and walked in different directions, except two who managed to stay partially hidden. Escaping the notice of the guards on duty, I made a mental note of this and made sure to keep an eye on their movement. Judging by their distance apart they hadn’t found each other yet, or were getting a better view of our little group.

“all right, we’re no longer in Canterlot, we don’t need to be boxed in any longer, if anyone needs a break now let me know because we’re not stopping until we get there understood?”

After a moments silence I moved forwards, the ponies got out of my way as I got to the front of the group “all right, we’re going to run to make up for lost time any questions?”

Another moments silence “good let’s get going”

I break out into an all-out sprint, causing the ponies to jump at my sudden movement. I return a few seconds later “let’s go!”

With that said the ponies galloped after me, for their small size they kept pace with me… for the first mile, after that fatigue and exhaustion kicked in and they slowed down, I slowed down so they could keep up.

The earth ponies and unicorns ran on the ground whilst the Pegusi flew above us, checking out for danger. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew just above us, Rainbow Dash carried Rarity, who kept complaining every once in a while.

Deciding that it might speed them up, I give them a little encouragement “c’mon let’s go! Who knows what could be in here”

This brings on another burst of speed for the next mile and a half before they slow down again, over the next mile trees become sparser and the jungle thins out, before stopping completely and opening out into a barren desert. I whistled a little under my breath, the eighteen ponies are now exhausted, but I can see a small smoke column rising in the distance “c’mon only a mile and a half left, surely we can make it there in a few minutes”

Very soon I regret my words, I underestimated the heat in the desert and the ponies’ energy quickly evaporates. We end up stopping under an old dead tree which provides very little shade. Applejack pulls out a few drinks from her saddle; they all share the drinks, savouring the soothing liquid inside them. I rest a little too, my suits cooling system is more than enough to handle this heat, but I am also thirsty as I haven’t had anything to eat or drink since the train ride, I daren’t take my helmet off in case the heat outside is too much for my skin. They must think I’m boiling underneath this armour

“You must be sweating like a pig underneath that thing. No offence.” One of the unicorn guards states ,almost reading my mind.

“Nope, this armour has a cooling system, so I’m perfectly normal at the moment, I’m only resting for a moment, but we can’t stay here long, we’ll soon dehydrate, if we can make the last half a mile to the ship we’ll be fine, there’s shade and water there that we can get”

Upon hearing this the entire group get up like a bunch of zombies and walk off in the direction of Forward Unto Dawn I chuckle at their enthusiasm, not even marines would act like this, preferring to just get the entire ordeal over with, probably running themselves to death if they had too.

I quickly shake the thought out of my head, I stand up and follow them picking up any stragglers and carrying them for a bit. Eventually I end up pulling all of them, including the Pegusi, on a large blanket that was carried by Applejack, even Rainbow Dash was resting, her chest heaving. As soon as we make it into the shade of the ship they get off and hug themselves against the cool metal of the ship. Even the sturdiest of the guards is embracing the cold of the metal. I wait a few minutes and they eventually cool down enough to think properly, if we were to walk back, they probably wouldn’t survive long.

A few more minutes pass by and they start gawping at the size of the ship, even in its wrecked state the immense size of the ship still stuns them. I look around the ship’s hull, looking for a good point of entry. Unfortunately the only point of entry I can find is several meters up, unless there was a very long stair case lying around, the ponies wouldn’t be able to climb up.

I sigh a little and make my way back towards the group; they seem to have cooled down considerably, despite the heat around them. I walk up to Twilight, who has already gotten out a parchment and started writing furiously “Miss Sparkle, I have found the best point to enter the ship, it’s several meters up, so the Pegasi will have to carry you up one by one”

The four guard Pegasi shifted uncomfortably, they seem to dislike my idea “is there something wrong?”

One of the earth ponies walks up to me “well flying us up there one by one takes a lot of energy and time, time is not on our side at the moment and we have little to no energy left from our little ‘trek’ across the desert, at the moment these guys can’t even carry one of us alone at the moment, however the others can just simply teleport us up there”

I freeze for a moment ‘did he just say teleport?’

As if on cue twilight stops writing, placing the parchment, quill and ink back in her saddle bags, she then looks at me taking in a deep breath “*breathing intermission* yes we can teleport and yes it is magic so deal with it, I could give you a lecture on it later if you like but I am extremely thirsty and you promised us water when we got here and so far I see nothing but a large hulk of metal!”

She practically yells the last part, the ponies start to back away from her, Pinkie Pie complaining about a wobbly knee. I stand there, chiefly from shock, but mostly from surprise “okay then if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where you can ‘teleport’ us”

A few moments later, I get up and brush myself off. My head eventually stops spinning and I can see straight again, I make a mental note ‘never teleport with ponies ever again unless absolutely necessary’.

The lights in the ship are dim, the ships emergency power generators are almost dead and the red lights are on, giving the ship an eerie feeling.

After a while we made it into the ships mess hall. The ponies seem rather amused by the name, but I put it down as: they would probably call it something else.

I venture into the kitchens, looking for any rations I can find, I get a few bowls of water and a cup for myself then filling up a large pot with water, the ships plumbing seems to still be operational. I gather up all the items and take them back to the awaiting ponies; the looks on their faces when they saw me arriving were PRICELESS. They all started drooling, literally. I put the pot in the middle of the group, who had got some seats near the kitchen door, and give everyone a bowl “no need to be so polite out here, it’s not as if anyone else is going to know that you let your manners go”

I say jokingly, this however starts uproar as all the ponies, except Rarity and Fluttershy, jump up and put their bowls in the water, splashing it everywhere. After the main bout of guzzling water down the ponies seem to calm down, unfortunately the water in the pot runs out, meaning I will have to get up and re-fill it.

I return a few minutes later with a larger and more filled pot. The ponies eye it hungrily, as soon as I put it down, the ponies swarm around it, this time being less violent to the great relief of Fluttershy. Soon the ponies are sated and the only ones left drinking are Rarity and Fluttershy, I bring out my cup and place it in the pot lifting it out and placing it in front of me.

I reach up and flick the release on my helmet, yank it sideways with a satisfying CLICK, HISS and remove it from my head, placing it on the table in front of me.

I then raise the cup in front of me and bring it to my lips, the water was cold and tasted slightly metallic, the ships filters have been slightly damaged upon re-entry, but that was only a minor disappointment. After gingerly tasting the water I begin chugging it down, my Adams apple bobbing up and down as I drank. I move to re-fill the cup when I see the slightly slack jawed guards staring at me “why does everyone think that this armour is my real skin, sheesh”

This seems to embarrass the guardsmen as some of them look away, some looks as if they weren’t really looking and the Earth pony gave me a look of annoyance.

I dip my cup in again and chug down its contents. Applejack meanwhile pulls out several apple treats from her saddle bags, putting out a large display, despite the size of her bags she seems to have put enough food to feed this group three times over. She knocks my question aside saying it was a special packing technique hoofed down the apple family line for generations, Twilight just giggles. Half way through I notice that although her treats were nourishing for ponies, they weren’t enough to give me the right balance of proteins and all that other mildly confusing doctoring stuff.

I get up and walk into the kitchens, I arrive back a moment later with a few nutrient bars and a rations pack, filled with a ready cook meal, that I flash cooked. I set it on the table. The ponies looked at the things confused; they looked as if I had just put down wooden plates. When I open the wrapper for the first Nutri-Grain bar, they seem to understand that it was wrapping. I eat several bars and store the remaining five in my thigh satchel, thinking that they would be useful later on.

Finally I get to the last wrapper, it was considerably larger than the bars. I smiled; this was going to go two ways, number one; they will hate me forever and probably banish me and chief from Equestria. Number two; they ignore this and find some way to compromise.

I rip the packet open, filling the room with the sweet smell of sausage and mash (bangers and mash if you’re British). The ponies all gag, and with two guards visibly throwing up, Fluttershy faints alongside Rarity and Pinkie Pies mane deflates. I tuck into the meal, eating it as quickly as I can; even as I eat this I feel a pang of guilt. But I know it is essential for a healthy diet. I quickly finish eating and replace my helmet.

Eventually Twilight exclaims aloud “well… that certainly is... interesting… I think I recall you mentioning that you were an omnivore before, but I thought you were joking…”

Her voice trails off, I sigh sensing a long explanation in need “look don’t take this the wrong way but meat is the main source of proteins or something or other in our diet and yes they serve all kinds of animals”

After a few awkward moments of silence one of the guards speaks up “y-you don’t eat… Ponies… do you”

“As much I would like to say no, I’m afraid to say that yes humans do eat ponies”

I see their looks of horror, on their faces, I hastily add “I haven't though… mind you. The ponies we have aren’t exactly… how can I say it… sentient… besides, to be honest, I prefer bacon.”

The ponies give each other nervous grins; I clearly gave out too much information “how about we move off of that topic. I think we would all be better off if we ignore this little bit and focus on the task at hand”

The guards get up rather nervously, obviously disturbed at the thought of eating meat.

I hear some pony’s being sick somewhere off in the distance. The two that were following me are still there and are much closer together now, they must have found out about each other a while back, I decide to drastically change the subject “besides we need to accommodate for the other two ponies following our little troop. I’m sure that they’re exhausted as well”

I hear a gasp behind the mess hall entrance where the followers were staying out of sight. I stand up and slowly sneak my way up to the door, they haven’t moved since I called them out. I push my back against the door frame and mentally count to three. As soon as I reach three I jump through the doorway, grabbing two hiding ponies. I recognise one instantly as shadow; the one I met outside Twilights’ library and the other was a green unicorn.

I grab them by their fore hooves and haul them into the mess hall, and sit them down, giving them a bowl of water each “drink up. And why you drink, would you mind telling me why you’re following me, starting with you shadow.”

I stare at the trembling Pegasus, she squeaks and tries to back away without actually moving ‘this is going to need to stop’ I think to myself.

“Twilight can you hand me a blank piece of parchment, a quill and some ink please”

She does as I order, shaking whilst I hold out my hand, the parchment wobbling I grab the stuff from the air and I begin writing

After I finish I hand her the piece of parchment and ask her to read it out. She clears her throat rather loudly before addressing the whole group.

I hereby declare that I will not harm any ponies; I also declare that I will protect all ponies so long as I live, to my last dying breath.

Ponies have nothing to fear from me.

Signed

Spartan-088

She finishes reading and rolls the paper up. All the ponies seem satisfied with the parchment, it was written and signed by me and I cannot break the contract.

I turn back to Shadow, who has stopped shivering, and ask her again “I never have been good with words... now that everyone here knows that, can you now tell me why you’re here.”

She hesitates for a moment before speaking “I have orders from Princess Luna to follow you and observe all your actions and words. I report to her every week giving her a full summary of what’s been going on. Does that satisfy your question?”

I breathe out; finally she told me her intentions, now I wouldn’t have to be over cautious of what I say “yes it does, now I won’t have to keep pointing you out every once in a while, you just have to stand right next to me… well maybe not all the time”

I turn to the other pony that has pulled out a writing kit and was starting to write more furiously than Twilight, I didn’t think that was possible. After a moments silence she notices that I was leaning over her, she jumps in surprise before scribbling things down even faster. I grab the quill and stop it writing and pull it out of her telekinetic grip “and who are you? I doubt that you two know each other very well. Considering you two found out about each other during our little journey”

She seems exited by the attention and jumps up “Hi! My name’s Lyra Heartstrings, I don’t really know much about shadow, we met in the everfree when we were both trying to follow you. We were quite surprised at first but we soon agreed to ignore each other. I’m following you because I LOVE humans, I knew that you existed I hadn’t had any proof until today, I just want to bring history up to date… excuse the pun… now I can prove everypony wrong”

At which point she cackled a completely NON-EVIL LAUGH. This slightly worried me, I made a note for future reference ‘try and avoid this pony as much as possible’

I straighten up and push the pot towards them “drink up; I don’t want to have to carry you back if my plan goes wrong.”

The two look at the water in front of them as if the only just noticed it, after exactly one second they jumped up and dipped their heads into the pot, I hear Hannah laugh at their adorableness.

After they had been filled with food and water and I had gotten myself a load of flash cook meals; carrying them inside a large sack, I also made sure to get an entire two boxes of MREs and another two boxes of Nutri-Grain bars. There was enough food to sustain me and chief for a few weeks, or if we push it we could last a few months.

I led them to the armoury first, were it not for the fact that it was half empty and almost completely destroyed, I would have jumped straight in. I cautiously lifted a couple of weapons and handed them to the earth ponies, showing them where they should never touch the guns, after emptying this armoury clean, I put all the stuff in separate bags, the unicorns modified the bags so that they would fit the earth ponies properly.

I stare at the modified bags briefly, then I shake my head; pushing the thoughts in my head aside. Next I take them straight to a hanger bay, once there I find a nearly empty hold, a scorpion tank is crushed against the side, completely unusable and there is no aircraft to be seen.

I move along to the next hangar bay. Here I find a bit more luck, the bay doors are sealed shut and there is one albatross in the centre of the room. And there is a severely damaged warthog just underneath the balcony we’re on. I jump off the balcony and inspect the warthog for any major damage. Luckily the engine is intact, but the front right wheel is damaged and the drive shaft is sheared.

Thankfully nothing I can’t fix, or replace. I open the albatross’ door and find that there was a load of dead marines inside, obviously killed by plasma fire from elite weaponry. I close the door immediately turning towards, the ponies; who had teleported down off of the balcony. Curious as to what was inside, they gather around the door “what’s in there Spartan?” Twilight asks.

“If I were you I wouldn’t look in there, it’s not a pretty sight”

I push them back and open the door again; unfortunately Pinkie Pie is the first to look inside. She whimpers and her mane drops immediately, I cry out pleadingly “no! Don’t look inside; you won’t like what you see!”

But I am too late; all the ponies are looking inside, staring at the corpses of the dead marines, thankfully they’re in too much shock to throw up. Regretfully I walk over to the marines an shift them over into a row, taking their dog tags, and then covering them in blanket. I open the door to the pilots’ cabin to find him with an energy sword wound in his chest. I pull him out of the seat and stack him up next to the others, taking his dog tags and pulling the blanket over him.

I look over the outside of the albatross. The engines haven’t been damaged and the ship hasn’t been badly damaged. Although the outside looks fair damaged by plasma fire, I get the warthog and drag it into the albatross, all the while ignoring the looks I keep getting from the ponies. I then tell them to stay here and walk off to find the engine room.

When I get there, I find some welding gear and a few spare canisters of gas. I grab a small generator and a few canisters of fuel and I carry the lot back to the hangar.

When I get there I notice the ponies are waiting, Fluttershy and Rarity are being comforted by Applejack and Pinkie Pie. I put the equipment in the albatross and walk up to the ponies, this place has taken a toll on the ponies that I hadn’t taken into account at the time, I walk up to the guards “how is everyone holding up?”

The highest ranking guard called Armoured Core walks up to me “some have been sick and the smell is horrible, even I’m starting to get nauseous.” He sighs “what else do you need?”

I nod my head and reply “yes burning flesh does have that effect… anyways I want you to go back to the armoury and bring back anything we missed, I’m sure you remember what I said previously and I’m sure you know what the stuff looks like, take the Pegasus group this time, I want you back here as quickly as possible.”

Armoured Core nodded and trotted off barking orders at the other guards. I sighed and walked back over to the albatross, double checking the jets for any damage, my second search it rewarded by a quick discovery that the back right jets fuel supply has been damaged; I pick up the MIG welder and darken my visors HUD. “Everyone cover your eyes, this may blind you if you look directly at this area”

I find a flat enough piece of metal on the floor and begin welding the item to the aircraft. After a few moments I pull the MIG welder away and brighten the visor. The fuel line is repaired and I put the MIG welder inside the albatross. I inspect the other jets for signs of damage but I find none. Eventually the guards’ ponies arrive with half full bags; I order them to put it into the albatross and walk up to the other ponies “I’m deeply sorry you had to see all this, I should have known better. Being in a war so long, I sometimes forget that civilians haven’t experienced what I see. I apologise and I regret asking for you to come along”

Twilight respond first “it’s okay, we wanted to go, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know that there would be…”

Her voice falters, which only makes me feel guiltier “Look… I’ve got everything we need, let’s just go” Twilight looks at me and stares at the large albatross/aircraft in horror. She must think that we’re going to pull it “just get everyone inside, let me do everything else”

She nods and starts to gather everyone inside the aircraft. I strap down all the equipment and cover it with a large blanket that was stored in one of the sides of the aircraft. After everyone sits down, planting themselves up against the walls, I walk up to a giant pillar; I grab the lever and pull it down. my luck seems to never end as the doors pull aside, the lights flicker and turn off almost completely, the door opens up fully and the lights return, although a little dimmer than before, the sunlight brightens up the interior a little, creating that effect. I walk up to the albatross and find that everyone was visibly confused as to what was going on and also seemed quite frightened.

I close the door behind me “All right everyone, get ready; I’m not sure if this thing will work.”

I get to the pilots seat and sit in his chair. I flick a few switches, turning on the ships battery system. Then I turn on the ships main engine, and turn on all four of the ships jets. The entire aircraft is buzzing with noise as I steadily take control and lift the ship up slowly. After a few moments I move the thrusters forward and the albatross lurches forwards.

As soon as I get out of the hanger bay I push the aircraft into a faster speed, satisfied that nothing will go wrong, I flick on the auto pilot. I release control of the ship and get up out of the pilots seat, I exit the cabin and find that the ponies are terrified “this is your captain speaking; I hope you’re enjoying the flight, next stop… Canterlot”

Rainbow Dash flies up to me “you call this flying, all that’s happening is a lot of noise and lurching around, it’s making my stomach queasy, I hate trains and this is EXACTLY what it feels like.”

I step past her and go to the doors control panel; I turn around “you might want to hold onto something, the air rush might pull you out”

I turn around again and open the door. As the door opened there was a rush of air, as I predicted Rainbow Dash was yanked forwards, almost flying out of the ship. I reached my out arm and plucked her out of the air. I placed her on the seat next to Twilight “I did warn you... now that the air has equalised, would anyone like to see the view?”

Some ponies got up and looked outside and saw that they were, indeed, flying. The rest chose to stay in their seats, including a rather shocked Rainbow Dash; Fluttershy and Rarity had to be buckled in because they still hadn’t woken up yet.

In case you’re wondering. Here is a picture of an albatross

After a few minutes I walk back up to the pilots’ seat and retake control. I make the ship ascend as we head upwards to get to Canterlot. As we start arriving, I notice a beam of light shoot up and a dome form around the castle. I slow down as we get closer, I open a secure channel to the chief with Hannah encrypting it “hey chief! What’s up with the big purple dome?”

“The princesses don’t trust me when I say that, that thing up there is you. I’ll try getting them to fly someone up to you and escort you down here.”

“Much obliged, we’ll touch down and I’ll take you and the others to Ponyville. Oh by the way, try not to mention meat, death or any other horrible things around ponies, it makes them uncomfortable. And I have seven KIA’s in here; we’ll bury them when we get to Ponyville.”

My voice was solemn when I told the chief this. He seemed to be quiet for a moment when he final spoke, he was confident and slightly angry “looks like I wasn’t the only one on the ship as it turns out. Looks like the covenant followed me here, most likely Sangheili rangers because of the lack of air when we got into space. Be careful, these guys can fly around and the leader can still cloak.”

“Duly noted sir” I check the ships surroundings with the ships cameras; I can see a squadron of Pegasus guards arriving. The shield opens up and lets them through, the group circle then us and a few fly in the back. I switch to a loudspeaker “this is Spartan-088 requesting permission to land inside Canterlot LZ how copy?”

Some Pegasus guards falter and others fly back slightly I change tactic “this is Spartan-088 requesting escort into Canterlot and permission to land… oh and this thing isn’t a monster it’s made of metal, it isn’t a living breathing creature, just a machine.”

Some more Pegasus guards fly back inside the dome and a Pegasus guard comes through the doorway “can you turn the noise off; it’s too loud! I can barely hear myself think!”

“No can do. Unless you want this thing to crash land!” I shout back.

The guard huffs “you’re going to have to turn it off; the princesses don’t want this racket coming into Canterlot”

“Can you find me a safe landing zone?”

The guard looks puzzled before answering “why do you… oh right… there is an empty field not far from here, you can land this thing there, follow me”

“Sure, just make sure you keep the others away from the sides of this thing. Lest they want to get burnt or injured”

The guard rolls his eyes as if saying ‘well duh’

I land the Albatross in the field and turn the engine off. I get out of the seat and walk out of the cabin. after a moments silence Twilight shakily trots up to me “how can you make this thing fly? It’s too big and heavy; I mean it doesn’t even have wings. And it’s not a hot air balloon or a zeppelin or that weird contraption of Pinkies”

I chuckle at her and give her a simple answer “technology… that’s how. You keep your magic and we keep our technology”

I walk past her and soon I am greeted by a group of annoyed guards. I go back in and re-check all the equipment, making sure it is secure and I can’t be taken. The twenty passengers exit the aircraft, trembling, and slightly shaken from their experience. Seeing that everyone has left the albatross, I close the door, the Pegasus guards; exaggerate their defence as they assume that I’m doing something dangerous.

When the door closes I check my motion sensor, remembering that the covenant is here. After scouting our surroundings I return my attention to the recovering ponies.

Very soon we all return to Canterlot, the dome is still up and we have to wait for a special guard to let us in. he bears a more unique uniform than the others. However he immediately recognises a specific member of our group. More accurately: Twilight Sparkle.

The high ranking guard let’s all the ponies in and ordered Armoured Core and his squad to take a break. The visibly exhausted guard ponies relax and trot away, disappearing behind a wall. The unique guard introduces himself again, this time greeting me properly, unlike last time “good to meet you first hoof. I am Shining Armour, captain of the royal guard. Why did you bring that thing with you?”

“Transport, and for the last time; no it’s isn’t alive, it’s a machine”

These ponies were even more difficult than ONI. And that’s saying something.

Shining eyes me warily “so it’s not roaring”

“The load noise is just its fuel burning up, causing immense amounts of air to rush out of the four openings; also it’s not breathing fire”

I got really fed up at this point. His eyes narrowed, he looked behind me at something I couldn’t see, I turned around and I saw a floating dot just outside my motion sensors range, it was staying still, that meant- I ducked right pulling Shining Armour down with me just as a laser zoomed past my head. I got up, picking shining with me and got us on the inside of the shield as it closed behind us “dammit! Quick, get everyone back to safety and get them away from the edges of the shield. I’m going to get my aircraft back and stop them from destroying my equipment”

Shining armour nodded; shocked by the fact that something had just shot a beam of energy at him.

I got up and exited the barrier, as soon as I left the sniper started shooting at me. I got a few grazing shots before I made it into the cover of the trees. I pulled out my shotgun and sprinted towards the Albatross.

When I got there I found the two Elites shooting at the door, trying to get the door to melt itself open, I charged out of the brush shooting the first with my shotgun and then hitting it in the head with the butt of my gun, killing it instantly.

The other Elite jumped up and used its jet pack to fly around, firing at me with its beam rifle. I opened the door, to the Albatross and hid behind one of the engines. I waited for the door to open enough before jumping in, closing the door behind me. I did a quick check of the inside, making sure I was alone (it never hurts to be too cautious) and then entered the cockpit, I sat in the pilot’s seat and started the engine. I pushed the jets to full force instantly; the large metal object lifted off quickly and lurched forwards.

I sped up as we came to the purple field, this time I didn’t stop to wait for an escort, I headed straight towards it. The shield opened up for a few seconds, allowing me to pass through, before closing again, stopping my pursuer as he slammed into force field. He recoiled and fell a few feet before regaining his balance. He lifted his weapon and fired it at the shield, the plasma beam dissipated on the shield harmlessly. The Elite roared in anger as he couldn’t get his satisfaction of killing me. I breathed out, my heart rate slowed down and I relaxed a little.

I saw a flurry of movement from the elite as a lightning bolt hit it. Suddenly it dropped to the ground, and disappeared from view. I laughed, the Pegasus ponies controlled the weather; I have to remember that.

I found a reasonably large garden where I could land and flew over there.

I thought about what chief was doing, although knowing him; I knew that he was probably looking for that unconscious elite. I smiled, glad that two elites were already gone… wait… two? Normally they came in threes, with one high ranking one with them.

I pondered on this thought for a moment, but forgot about it as I began landing.

I landed without a problem; the ground seemed stable, despite being held up by a few very thin pillars.

I relaxed, I had landed again safely. Landing was always the tricky part.

I began to get up when I saw a flicker of movement to my right; it looked like a cloaked energy sword being drawn back… ‘Oh shit!’ I thought as the elite de-cloaked, thrusting its sword at my chest.