Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

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.