Haylo: A Spartan Discovery

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.