Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

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!”