Waking Up From A Long Nap
High above a planet that’s very similar to Earth is the GNA *Galactic Nation Alliance* flag ship, Honor. It’s a Charon-class light frigate much like the famous Forward unto Dawn. Its only staff is a small skeleton crew containing fifty androids, an AI called Freya after the Norse Goddess who was currently in the ships bridge and a single human who’s in cryogenic suspension. Freya’s hologram form is a dark red color with long hair tied into two braids on either side of her head. Freya was doing a routine scan of the planet when he noticed a strange anomaly in a dessert. “These energy readings are going crazy! What is happening down there? Freya weighed her options for a moment before nodding. “I guess it’s time to wake him up.” Freya’s hologram disappeared from the bridge only to reappear moments later in front of a Cryo-chamber. “Time to wake up Partner.” Freya said as she started the program that would wake up the inhabitants of the chamber.
*Inside the Cryo-chamber Sigmund 1st person*
In my opinion waking up from a Cryo-sleep sucked, mostly because my mind is fully awake in seconds while my body is slow as molasses to respond. After what felt like hours but was only five minutes I could move again. Once I climbed out of the Cryo-chamber with ice falling off my silver MJOLNIR Mark V styled armor I heard the voice of my old friend.
“Slow to wake as always Sig. You really need to do something about that.” Freja said smirking.
“You know me Freya . Cryo-sleep and I mix like water and oil. So, what’s the situation and how long have I been out?” As I said this I began the walk to the ships armory and Freya’s hologram form disappeared.
“I picked up an energy anomaly six minutes ago, and decide it would be best to find out what happened, and you’ve been out for five hundred years.” Freya said her image appearing on each screen in the corridor.
“How on Earth are you still fully functional? Don’t AI’s have a seven-year life span before they degenerate and go insane?” I ask my confusion evident.
“Normally yes. I’m not quite sure myself as to why I haven’t degenerated. I have gone over multiple possibilities but I don’t have anything to backup my hypothesis, but we’ll have to save this desiccation for later. Right now, we have a strange power anomaly coming an unknown source on the planet we’re orbiting.” Freya explained.
“How long have we been over a planet?” I asked as I past one of the androids which had sparks shooting out of its neck before it short circuited and collapsed. Sighing I ignored it and continued. “I can’t believe that any of these models still function! They were out of date when I got on this ship. We really need to find a way to upgrade them.”
“I agree with you there but we need to keep focused on your mission right now. We’ve been above this planet for about six months, and the energy that’s been radiating from it was been stable in all that time, but it’s a completely unknown energy signature. The GNA’s never come across anything like it, not even any of the Covenant or Forerunner tech comes close to this kind of reading.” Freya stated as I entered the armory.
Nodding I looked over the different racks considering which weapons would be the best suited for this mission. “I see, since this is the first time that your readings have changed you thought we needed to investigate it, right?”
“Correct. For this mission, I would suggest you travel light.”
Thinking for a moment I said. “Remind me, do we have any tranquilizer guns?”
“Section 3, cabinet 25.” Freya said her image appearing on a nearby screen.
“Thanks.”
Moving over to the cabinet Freya mentions I opened it and pulled out a single a M6D PDWS *Personal Defense Weapon System* handgun with a silencer attachment, that fired powerful tranquilizers instead of the normal M225 SAPHE *Semi Armor Piercing High Explosive* ammo that was standard for this kind of gun. As I made sure the gun would function properly Freya said. “You should probably have other ways of defending yourself, just in case the tranqs don’t work.”
“You read my mind Freya. I was thinking a Stun Knife and a BR55 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle.” *A BR55 is also called a Battle Rifle* As I was talking I was already pulling out the Stun Knife and attached its sheath on the upper part of my right leg.
“Better hurry that anomaly’s reading is spiking again. I’ll prep a Pelican.” Freya said before her image left the screen it was on. Moving quickly, I grabbed a Battle Rifle. did a quick check to make sure my chosen weapons worked before grabbing some extra ammo and making my way to what I called the Hanger.
“Pelicans ready for you Sig. After doing a more in-depth scan of the area I found a small town where the anomaly seems to be coming from. I’ve set the coordinates for as close to the town as I could. Once you land you need to head east.” Freya said her hologram appearing next to Pelican’s open entrance hatch.
“What’s the ETA for landing and what time of day is it down there?” I asked as I walked into the Pelican and locked my Battle Rifle in place next to the driver’s seat.
“Eta is fifteen minutes, and its currently an hour before sunrise down there. I had a Transport Hog attached to the Pelican. I know you prefer them to the Mongoose.” Freya said over the radio as the Pelican’s hatch door closed.
“Thanks Freya. Now let’s find out what this anomaly is.” I replied. Once the Pelican’s systems showed I was good to go I said. “Everything’s green here Freya. Time to let this bird fly.”
“Understood, launching… and do you have to put it that way?”
“Nope but I wanted to.” As I said this the Hanger doors under the Pelican opened and cranes holding the Pelican released dropping the ship into space.
“Your insufferable sometimes you know that?” Freya huffed.
“Where’s the fun in being serious all the time? Besides I barely kept my sense of humor after all that damn training I went to through.” I said some of the harsher days flashing through my head.
“Uggg just get on with the mission already.”
“Already on it. I’ll radio in when I’ve found something.” I said smirking under my helmet.
*Sixteen minutes later. On the planet*
The flight down to the planet had been quiet, but then again, I wasn’t expecting any trouble until I reached this village. Once I was hovering ten feet above the ground I released the Warthog before parking the ship next on the spot Freya had marked as the drop point. I grabbed my rifle and placed it on my back so the automatic magnetic clips could keep it in place before opening the hatch. The first thing I noticed was the complete silence of the area. “Not even a single insect seems to be around, perhaps whatever this anomaly might have scared them away.” Activating the radio on my help I said. “Freya there doesn’t seem to be any of the normal animal or insect activity going on, but I would like for you to put the pelican on lockdown until I get back just in case, all right?”
“Roger Sig, the Pelican is now on lockdown. Be careful alright? We have no idea what kind of life inhabits this place and being in the Cryo-Chamber for as long as you were might have some side effects.” Freya worned.
“Affirmative.” Getting into the Warthog I turned on the engine and began to drive towards the town.
After a few minutes, I pulled up next to a cliff and turned off the engine. Getting out of the car I crouched on the edge and activated the binocular feature of my helmet to get a closer look at the town. “Sheesh all but one of the houses are the exact same. That just screams something weird’s going on.” I thought. Grabbing my handgun and Stun Knife, switching the safety off I slid on the cliff side and slowly approached the town.
“What’s your status Sig?” Freya asked.
“I’m approaching the town and let me tell you it just screams that something’s up. It’s made of two rows of perfectly identical houses with one expiation at the end.” I replied.
“That does seem suspicious.” Freya said.
“I thought the same thing. I’m going to move towards the last house from the back of the houses on the right side. I’ll update when I’ve got more info.”
“Got it.” Freya said as I moved along the houses. When I reached the last one I heard something that sounded like an old-fashioned PA system.
“Freya I’m hearing some kind of PA system in the last house on the right. I’m gonna peek through a window.”
“Be careful we have no idea what’s going on.”
Carefully looking through a window I was shocked to see six sleeping women inside, from what I could see there wasn’t any furniture inside just a few piles of hay. “Freya whoever is running this place has six hostages in the house. From what I can see the only ‘furniture’ in there is just a few piles of hay. What do you make of this?”
“Sounds like a very old-fashioned attempt of mind control. We may not know what’s going on but that’s always illegal. We’ll have to find the anomaly later, get those six out of there!” Freya ordered.
“Understood.” Quickly moving to the front door, I found that it only opened from the outside. Quietly opening the door, I moved inside only to find that the occupants weren’t as sound asleep as I thought.
“Who are you?” One of them asked. In the dim light, I saw that she had a horn and wings.
“Sigmund, and I will be your rescuer tonight. Is anyone injured?” Everyone shook their heads.
“That’s good, come on let’s get away from this place.” I said before activating my radio again. “Freya, you getting this? I need you to bring the Warthog down here.”
“It’s already behind the house, once you get them to a safe distance ask them about what’s going on.” Freya ordered.
“Will do.” I said.
“Who are you talking to?” Asked a woman with rainbow colored hair.
“My friend over a radio. I have a transport vehicle behind the house, does anyone need help getting to it?” Again, everyone shook their heads. “All right follow me and be as quiet as you can.” They nodded and followed me outside only to be greeted with a wooden staff pointed at me to which I responded by pointing my gun and the person holding it.
“Well, well what do we have here?” the person said, and from the voice I could tell the person was a female. Quickly examining the woman, I saw she had light pink skin, purple hair with a light blue streak in it and like the one who first talked to me had a single horn on her forehead. The woman was dressed in a simple pink nightgown.
“I’ll be asking the questions here, considering your armed with a stick. Who are you and why were these six women locked in that house.” I said.
“I am Starlight Glimmer and you just interrupted the normalization procedure.”
“Thanks, that’s all I needed to know.” I said.
“What do you mean?” Starlight asked.
“You are hereby under arrest for attempted mind control.” I said before shooting her in the arm with a tranquilizer dart causing Starlight to fall unconscious. “Have a little nap, when you wake up you are going to pay the piper for your crimes.” I said as I holstered my gun and kneeled next to Starlight. “Freya, you picking up anything?”
“Yes, as soon as you knocked this ‘Starlight’ out the energy anomaly dipped a little. Whatever it is she’s the cause of it.”
“Thanks Freya, I’ll ask the people I rescued about what’s going on.” I said before looking over my shoulder. “Change of plans, we’re getting out of the open. We’ll talk in that house.” I said pointing at the on the right. “I have a feeling she lives in that house considering it’s the only one that’s different.” I picked Starlight up and the seven of us walked into the house. I placed Starlight on a chair a looked around for something to restrain her, finding nothing I shrugged and asked. “You know my name. May I know who the six of you are and what going on?” Now that we were in the light I could see what they look like.
The woman with a horn and wings had purple skin and long purple hair with a magenta streak that went down to mid back. She was wearing a light blue long sleeve shirt with a purple skirt, which for some reason had the symbol of a black equal sign on the sides. I know noticed that their legs somewhat reminded me of a satyr’s. “I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.”
“I am Rarity and thank you very much for saving us.” Rarity had porcelain white skin and had her purple hair in a unique hairstyle that I couldn’t quite describe with any other word but curly and like Twilight had a horn on her forehead. She wore a sky-blue dress with purple highlights when I noticed her dress had the same black equal sign I looked to see it was on the other’s outfits as well.
“I’m Pinkie Pie nice to meet you.” True to her name Pinkie had pink skin and hair. Her hair looked like it was made of cotton candy. She wore a white shirt under a blue jacket and bubblegum pink pants but for some reason her voice had little to no emotion.
“Names Rainbow Dash the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!” Rainbow Dash huh? Makes sense with her rainbow hair which was tied up in a ponytail. She has sky blue skin and wings and wore a dark blue jacked which covered her shirt and blue jeans.
“Ah’m Applejack and that’s some fancy looken armor ya got there.” Applejack had orange skin and freckles with hay-blond hair under a cowgirl hat. She wore a white button down shirt and blue jean shorts.
“I…I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy had soft yellow skin and wings, pink hair and had a forest green dress with a flower filled field on it.
After everyone had introduced themselves Twilight explained why they were here, and when I asked what a ‘Cutie Mark’ was, explained they when a ‘Pony’ as they called their race, learned what their destiny is they gained a mark which showed what it was. Twilight even explained about the so called ‘Magical artifact’. “So, the fact that she can steal Cutie Marks is something that basically goes against everything you know and the laws of your world?” I asked to make sure I fully understood what was going on.
“Yes, as far as we knew it should be impossible. The fact that she found a way to do this is terrifying.” Rarity said. Thinking about what they said I thought struck me, as I began to walk towards another room Rainbow asked.
“Where are, you going?” Twilight asked.
“To get some water and a towel. Something about this was bugging me, and now I have a feeling I know what it is.” I said.
“What do you mean?” Applejack asked which caused me to stop in my tracks.
“You said that your Cutie Marks represent you and when you lost them Twilight and Rarity lose almost all of their magic right?” I said looking over my shoulder.
“Yes…where are you going with this?” Pinkie asked.
“How can she have the power to remove Cutie Marks with a fake artifact if she doesn’t have hers?” I said continuing out of the room before anyone could respond. When I came back a few minutes later, with a cup of water and paper towel I saw that Twilight and the others were staring daggers at Starlight. “I’m going to need one of you to see if my idea is correct.”
“Why’s that?” Rainbow asked.
“Seriously? A fully-grown man undressing a fully grown unconscious woman in front of six other fully grown women? I’m a soldier and this is not the time for ME to do a full body search.” I replied chuckling
“…Good point.” Rainbow said blushing a little and rubbing the back of her head.
I handed the cup and towel to Twilight saying.
“It’s not a problem, everyone makes mistakes. I’ll check the house in case she has anything interesting.” After I left the room I headed up stairs. After a few minutes of searching I radioed Freya asking. “So, what do you make of this situation Freya?”
“I’m not sure but I have no reason to believe in their so called ‘Magic’.” Freya replied and I could almost hear her rolling her eyes when she said magic
“Come on Freya this is a completely different kind of world. It’s not impossible that they have access to magic. After all the Universe is a big place” I said shaking my head a little.
“That’s a good point, I guess we’ll just wait and see.” Freya replied.
After Freya and I finished out small conversation I found six glass jars, each with a glowing image in them. “Another ‘villain’ who keeps the only thing that can stop them in an easy to get place and not in a secure vault. Good thing those bastards gave us some fantasy books to read in our off time or I would have never thought of this.” I thought as I opened the jars and one after another the images flew out the bottle and out of the room. When I went back to the others I was surprised to see Pinkie Pie literally bouncing around the room.
“Where did you find our Cutie Marks?” Twilight asked as she looked over at me.
“In glass jars, upstairs. Was my hunch about her Cutie Mark correct?” I asked.
“Completely.” Rarity said.
“You said your name was Sigmund but can you explain a little more about who you are?” Applejack asked.
“As I said before my name is Sigmund I’m a Sixth-Generation Spartan, designated as V-9512. My official rank is Grade 3 Lieutenant Colonel.” I said while moving to look out the window.
“That’s not much of an explanation.” Rainbow said. “What the heck is a Spartan?”
I didn’t answer right away instead I just looked out the window. “ I said it before. I’m a soldier so let’s leave it at that.” I replied.
“That still doesn’t explain much but if you don’t want to talk about it we understand.” Twilight sighed.
“What do we do with her?” Applejack asked.
“Take her to jail. What else would you do with someone who break the law? Especially if she can do something that allows her to steal Cutie Marks and convince an entire town to give theirs up, and besides. Brainwashing is always illegal.” I said walking over to the window. “How do the six of you plan to tell the village about her lying to them.”
“We tell them the truth. And show them her Cutie Mark if necessary.” Twilight said.
“Well the towns waking up and people are starting the come outside, so I hope all of you are ready.” I said. As I walked over and picked up Starlight.
Luckily the explanation to the town went well, after they learned the truth the town charged off to break the Cutie Mark Vault. Afterwards the others enjoyed the thank you party the town threw, I was keeping a close eye on Starlight and tranqed her again when she began to stir. Once the party started to slow down I looked at Twilight and asked. “Do you have any plans on how you and your friends are going to get home?”
“Same way we got here, a train. Why do you ask?”
“I could give all of you a lift, plus I need to know where take Starlight.”
“We would appreciate it. Thank you.” Twilight said.
“K, give me a few minutes and I’ll bring over the Pelican.” I said walking off.
“Pelican? What does a bird have to do with this?” Twilight asked.
“You’ll see.” I called over my shoulder.
Getting in to my Warthog I turned it on and heard Rainbow ask. “What’s this?”
Looking up I saw that Rainbow was hovering next to my Warthog and replied. “It a vehicle nicknamed the ‘Warthog’, This version is for troop transport.”
“So where are you going?”
“I’m heading back to my ship, then I’m going to bring it here and give you and your friends a lift home before taking Starlight to the proper authorities.”
“Mind if I come with?”
“I don’t mind but you’ll need to let the others know, don’t want them thinking you vanished on them.”
“Be back in a moment.” Rainbow said before zooming off leaving a rainbow trail behind her.
“When she said, she was a fast flyer, she meant it.” By the time, I finished saying that Rainbow was already back.
“Lead the way.” Rainbow said.
After a short drive Rainbow and I arrived at the Pelican. “What kind of ship is that?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s just a standard GNA dropship though this model has been used for quite some time. Now if you want something special wait till I show you my Sabre or the Honor, now those are something special.” I said as I turned off the Warthog’s engine.
“I’ll take your word for it, so how do we get inside?” Rainbow asked just before the hatch opened.
“That’s how.” I chuckled as I walked into the ship.
“How many people can this ship hold?” Rainbow asked as I locked the Battle Rifle in place.
“Depends on which version of the Pelican, you’re talking about. This one can carry two light transport vehicles like the Warthog and carry fifteen people not counting the pilots. You might want to take a seat and strap in, lifting off can get bumpy sometimes.” I said pointing to the chair that was closer to the window.
“Got it.” Rainbow said as I helped strap her in.
Once Rainbow was ready I strapped myself in and started the engines “Lift off!” As I said this the Pelican began lifting off the ground. Using the sensors on the bottom of the ship I maneuvered the Pelican over the Warthog and activated the magnetic clasps to pick it up and secure it. “Alright, now that the Warthog is secure it’s time to pick up your friend’s.”
“Sig, I thought you should now that the energy anomaly I was picking up just disappeared, and everything’s back to normal.” Freya said over the Pelicans radio.
“Thanks for the update Freya .” I said before glancing at Rainbow who was looking around trying to find where Freya’s voice came from. “Freya’s not here, she’s talking to us over a Radio from the Honor.”
“And where’s that?” Rainbow asked.
“In orbit.” I said casually as we flew over the town. Brining the Pelican down to the ground I opened the hatch and spoke over the speakers which could connect to my armors system. “All right everyone. Clime in.” Looking over my shoulder I saw Twilight and her friend’s climb in with Applejack carrying Starlight. After closing the hatch when everyone was in I turned to Rainbow and said. “I’m going to head back and help everyone get strapped in, don’t touch the controls alright?”
Rainbow nodded giving me a thumbs up. It took a while getting everyone strapped in and handed Applejack the tranq gun and explained how to use it before saying. “From what I’ve seen you’re the most level headed of the group so I can trust you not to shoot her unless she starts to wake up.” When that was done, I went back to the pilot seat and called back to the others. “Which way do you need me to go?”
“North west, when you see a tall mountain with a castle built on the side that’s the place.” Twilight called back.
“Got it. Hope you’re all comfortable, this could be a long flight.”
*One hour and forty-five minutes later*
During the flight my passengers explained about the different races of their land and they asked me lot of questions. Much to Twilight’s annoyance I couldn’t answer most of them due to their answers being classified. After a quick flyover, the city I saw a nice open area which I thought might be the castle’s garden. “All right everyone I’m setting the ship down in what looks like the castle garden.” I said before carefully setting the Pelican down and opening the hatch only for two armed soldiers to run in. “Hello welcome to my ship. I was just dropping off Princess Twilight, her friends and one convict, now can you please lower your weapons before you damage something?” I said after I got out of my seat and standing before the guards who ignored what I said and pointed their swords at me. I looked at Twilight and asked. “Do the guards here always welcome strangers with such hospitality Twilight?”
“No and I am incredibly disappointed in them.” Twilight said and upon hearing her voice the two guards jumped in surprise and saluted. “I want the two of you to take this Unicorn to the dungeons, we’ll explain everything to Princess Celestia shortly.” Twilight then pointing to Starlight, and the two guards nodded before moving to cut her loose from the restraints.
“Hang on I’ll get her out of there, I don’t want my ship damaged for no reason.” I said as I took a step forward, the two guard’s eyes me wearily before they took a step back. I quickly released the restraints then I nodded to the guards. “She’s all yours.” I said taking a step back, the two guards quickly grabbed Starlight and left my ship. “Well they were pleasant.” I said sarcastically as Applejack gave the tranq gun back.
“Please don’t think badly of them, before today we’ve never seen anything like this ship before.” Rarity explained.
“Ya, I’ve never seen the Royal guards be such big jerks before.” Pinkie said while crossing her arms.
“I agree my guards shouldn’t have been so hostile.” Looking to my right I saw who the new voice belonged to. She as a tall snow white Alicorn in an incredibly elegant dress which portrayed a cloudless day and her multi-colored hair flowed in a non-existing wind, from the description Twilight and her friends game me this must be Princess Celestia. “Hello Twilight everyone, who is this?”
I brought my hand up and saluted. “I am the Spartan Sigmund, Grade 3 Lieutenant Colonel, designated as V-9512. Bringing one convict and escorting Princess Twilight and her friends, ma’am.” If Princess Celestia was surprised she didn’t show it.
“How come you didn’t do that when we met?” Twilight asked crossing her arms.
Holding up two fingers I said. “One I didn’t know you were a Princess when we first met and two something tells me you’re a little more lax about that kind of thing.”
“Perhaps we can move this outside so we’re a little more comfortable?” Celestia suggested.
Nodding everyone filed out of the Pelican and sat in a semicircle. “I’m still shocked about how advanced your ship is.” Twilight said.
I shrugged. “This kind of ship has been in use for over five hundred years. Ever since the days of the UNSC, but still the Honor or my personal Saber are far more awe inspiring if you ask me.”
“You mentioned them earlier,” Rainbow said. “When do we get to see them?”
“Sooner than you would expect.” Freya said over the Pelicans speakers. “I just finished a scan of the ship and the Honor’s haul needs some repairs. It might have taken the damage after going through that wormhole that brought us here and I don’t trust the androids with trying to fix the haul in zero-g thanks to their poor condition.”
At this I looked up and exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me we had gone through a wormhole when I was in cryo-sleep earlier Freya!?”
“I didn’t feel like it was necessary at the time.” Freya said her amusement obvious.
I could only face palm and reply. “What’s your ETA?”
“It will take at least two hours. I need to be careful bringing the Honor through the atmosphere, to make sure the haul doesn’t take any more damage.” Freya said.
“What kind of ship did you say the Honor was?” Applejack asked.
“I have a feeling most of what I could say about it would go over your heads so all I’ll say for now is, it’s a spaceship.” I said.
“YOU CAME HERE ON A SPACESHIP?!” Twilight screeched in surprise strands of her mane sticking up at odd angles.
“You mentioned something called the UNSC, would you mind explaining what that is and a little more about yourself?” Rarity asked as she tried to calm Twilight down.
“United Nations Space Command, it was the military, exploratory and scientific part Unified Earth Government, but after the first Covenant War, it became the Galactic Nation Alliance or the GNA for short because the original leaders of the Covenant died and the new one, an Elite known as the Arbiter was allied with the UNSC. Unfortunately with the exception of my diffrent suits armor none of the gear I have on the Honor is from the GNA, it's all UNSC, Covenant, or form some place that is a complete unknown to me. Although the only reason I’m telling you about the GNA is so you understand a little more about me since my situation’s been odd for a very long time.” I said.
“What do you mean by that?” Rarity said.
“I guess we’ve got some time so I don’t mind explaining. Before I was on the Honor I was one of the many Spartans in the Alliance-Covenant War. You see five hundred years after the war a small group of the GNA splintered off and made the New Covenant.” I sighed as I looked up to the sky explaining what the Covenant and Forerunners were which took almost an hour to fully explain because of all the questions Twilight kept asking. “They disappeared for five years before they returned but when they did their army was just as powerful if not more so then the GNA.”
“How is that possible?” Applejack asked.
“No one knows. The only way it makes sense is if the army was cloned but that’s impossible and it doesn’t explain how they got so many weapons and ships in such a short time.” I replied.
“Why’s it impossible?” Celestia asked.
“No one has EVER been able to make working cloning tech. Not even the Forerunners and they were the most technologically advanced race the universe had ever known. If they couldn’t find a way I doubt anyone could.” I explained.
“What does this have to do with your situation?” Twilight asked as she finished writing down what I explained about the Covenant or Forerunners on a large scroll. Where she got that scroll I have no idea.
“During the war the Covenant sent a ‘small’ force to Earth. During one of the battles I noticed a sniper aiming at my commander and died taking the bullet for him only to wake up seconds later on the Honor.” As I spoke I remembered the moment flashed through my head and my hand reach the center of my chest where my scar was.
“If you died how are you here?” Celestia asked.
“I have no idea, but I know that wasn’t a dream because I have a scar from that shot.” I said.
“You said a Spartan was a solder but you never said what kind.” Rarity said doing her best to change the subject.
I took a deep breath before saying. “I can’t tell you much considering almost everything about the SPARTAN projects are highly confidential but I will tell you that I’m much stronger and faster than normal GNA soldiers. Heck this armor weighs just over a ton.”
“A TON?!” Twilight yelled in surprise as everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
“Not even the strongest Earth Ponies can lift that much by themselves!” Applejack gasped.
“Just to let you know I’m almost at the surface. I’m going to set the Honor down near the base of the mountain.” Freya said through my radio.
“Freya says she’s almost here and is going to set down at the mountains base.” I said to the others who all nodded.
“How come you haven’t taken off your helmet?” Celestia asked.
“That’s because standard protocol for the Sixth-Generation of Spartans. Never show your face to anyone you don’t trust with your life, and I mean outside of the normal ‘you’re the shield to the solder next to you’ thing. I mean in more of a ‘you’ll willing to take a bullet for them because of who they are’ kind of way. To this day only three people know what I look like. Commander Avery Johnson the fifth, who’s the one I died for and my two fallen teammates. Hippolyta who was named after an Amazonian Queen and Cú Chulainn who’s named after and Irish/Celtic hero while I’m named after a Norse hero and Freya’s named after a Norse Goddess.”
“Where both of your partners human?” Twilight asked.
“Hippolyta was but Chulainn was a Snagheili or Elite if you want to use what most Humans called them during the days of the UNSC. Man I miss those two.” I said .
“What were your main rolls on your team?” Rainbow asked.
“I was the sniper and tech expert, Hippolyta was our explosive and heavy weapons expert and never went anywhere without her Brute Shot, while Chulainn was our close combat and stealth expert and a monster with that energy spear of his. There were other Spartans we worked with but I’ve been told that when the three of us worked together it was more like three bodies with one mind than three different people working together.” I explained.
“How did they...pass on?” Celestia asked looking away unsure if this would bring up painful memories.
“Hippolyta was pinned down by twenty enemy tanks when she was protecting a satellite uplink and we couldn’t reach her in time but DAMN did she put up a fight! She single handedly took down half of them! Chulainn got swarmed by fifteen Brute Chieftains as he was escorting some rescued soldiers through enemy lines, reports say he killed every last one of them and finished his mission before surrendering to his wounds, but the thing about Spartans is we never die. We’re just ‘missing in action’.” After I finished the clouds parted and the Honor became visible.
“There she is, that’s the Honor, what do you think?” I said looking up.
“Amazing…” Twilight gasped, as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sniffed tears still falling down their cheeks.
“Come now dry those tears, I’m alright and what was done in the past while it can’t be changed we can learn from it, but I am sorry I upset you.” I said and in a split-second Pinkie’s hair went from straight to its normal fluffiness as she exclaimed.
“It’s decided! I am throwing you the biggest and best party you’ve ever been to!”
I couldn’t help but smile underneath my helmet. “I’ll hold you to that, and just so you know. NEVER throw me a surprise party. I’ve had far too many ‘surprises’ during the war and I don’t want to hurt any civilians.”
Pinkie narrowed her eyes before nodding and said. “Challenge accepted.” Then everyone began laughing as one of the castle guards ran up.
“Princess do you know what that thing that came out of the sky is? Should we be worried?”
“Don’t worry My Little Ponies, everything’s under control. If Luna’s awake please let her know I’d like to introduce her to someone.” Celestia said before in a flash of light two people suddenly appeared. One was an Alicorn like Celestia and Twilight; she had dark blue skin that reminded me of the night sky, and hair that look like it had stars in it. She was wearing a dress that was made in the same style of Celestia’s and it showed a cloudless night with. The other person looked like someone threw at least ten different animals in a DNA splicing blender. “Well that was easy.” Celestia said grinning.
“Why didn’t you tell me we had company Tia? I would have put on something special.” The strange being said pretending to be insulted.
“I would have, but I didn’t know where you had gone to Discord. You really need to give us some way to contact you.” Celestia said. “Sigmund this is my sister Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and monarch of the Night, Moon, and the Warden of Dreams. And this is Discord the Spirit of Chaos. Luna, Discord this is Sigmund.”
“It’s very nice to meet you Sigmund. Sister we saw two of the guards dragging an unconscious unicorn who gave off an incredible magical power to the dungeons; do you know why that is?” Luna said.
I brought my hand up to my helmet and exclaimed. “We completely forgot!” I then turned to look at Celestia. “Who your sister described is Starlight Glimmer. She not only managed to convince several people to give up their Cutie Marks but she also tried to use old-fashioned mind control tactics to convert, Twilight and her friends to join her cult after forcefully stealing their Cutie Marks and by the laws of the GNA anyone who attempts mind control must be taken into custody immediately or failing that killed.”
“Thank you for bringing her here Sigmund, I dread to think what would have happened if she succeeded.” Celestia said as everyone but Luna, Discord, and herself looked shaken at the mention of someone being killed for breaking a law.
“If you were in that kind of trouble why didn’t you call me, and I mean that literally! I would have been there in a moment to help.” Discord said looking at Twilight and her friends it was obvious they were embarrassed.
“With everything happening and being thrown into that awful room we forgot you could come help us. Sorry Discord.” Fluttershy said.
“Well I’m annoyed but I forgive you. After all it's thanks to all of you I’m learning what it means to be a true friend.” Discord said before giving Fluttershy and her friends a giant hug before snapping his fingers and disappearing.
“Well how about I give the nine of you a tour of the Honor? And does anyone know where Discord went?” I said trying to lighten the mood.
“It would be interesting to see the inside of a spaceship. Guard please let the captain know where we’ll be. As for Discord he tends to come and go as he pleases so there’s no real way of knowing where he went.” Celestia said.
“Well, then shall we?” I said as I walked over to the Pelican.
“I got dibs on the co-pilot seat this time!” Twilight said. “I want to see what kind of controls the Pelican has.”
“I don’t see a problem with that if you don’t touch the control without permission, it takes at least three and a half years to learn how to drive the Pelican and that’s not counting combat training.” I said as the ten of us walked onto the Pelican.
“It’s that complex?” Twilight asked as I helped Celestia and Luna strap in.
I didn’t answer until Twilight and I were in the cockpit, glancing at Twilight I said. “I don’t know you tell me.” Twilight didn’t answer and just stared in awe at the controls. “I’ll take that as a yes,” I chuckled. “That’s the co-pilot’s seat.” I said pointing to the correct seat, Twilight nodded and sat down and used her magic to quickly get everything in place. “Taking off.” I said as the Pelican lifted into the air.
“This is incredible, not even our most advanced airships can take off from the ground so easily.” Celestia said. “So how many people do you have running the Honor?”
“Apart from Freya and I, there’s only a skeleton crew of fifty androids, but they are in some DESPERATE need for upgrades.” I said.
“What are androids?” Luna asked.
“Robots that are built to be human-like in looks but these are VERY old model so they tend to glitch and need repairs frequently, and now I welcome you to the Honor.” I said as the garage bay doors on the top of the ship opened. After I landed the ship and killed the engines I looked at Twilight to see she was almost bursting with excitement. “Are you going to just sit there while I give everyone a tour?” I said shaking my head amused as I got out of my chair.
“Don’t start without me!” Twilight yelled as she scrambled out of her chair only to be met by everyone’s laughter. After everyone had gotten out of the Pelican they looked around in amazement. “This place is amazing!” Twilight said.
“Welcome to the Honor’s garage bay, please don’t touch anything on the ship unless Sigmund or I give you permission.” Freya said as her hologram form appeared.
“Everyone this is my friend and AI partner Freya.” I said. “Hey Freya, after I put my weapons in the armory I’m going to give everyone a small tour.”
“Actually Sig, while you were asleep I’ve had plenty of time to study what little Forerunner tech we have and made a few upgrades for your armors, but since you were asleep for so long I didn’t have it active.” Freya said. “Just focus on sending your weapons back to the armory and they’ll be teleported back. However I haven’t figured out how to teleport vehicles or equipment like the Bubble Shield yet or how to send equipment to you and we’ll need to test to see if you can do this on the field.”
“How long has THIS ability been active Freya?” I groaned and followed her instructions making my weapons disappeared.
“I activated it half way through the Honor’s descent down to the planet, but I didn’t want to interrupt you’re story.” Freya said before asking. “Are you going to show them the rest of your equipment?”
“I was thinking about it, but I was mostly thinking of showing them the bridge, Cryo-chambers and med bay.”
“Where is Freya’s body?” Rainbow asked as Pinkie kept poking through Freja’s holograph body.
“Would you please stop doing that! I have no true physical body. An Artificial Intelligence is in many ways the copy of a person’s mind in the form of data, but that doesn’t mean we like people’s fingers going through us.” Freya as her hologram form disappeared and she reappeared on one of the screens that was used for video chat that was set up throughout the ship.
“HOW! WHAT! WHY! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!” Twilight yelled her mane looking as if she had gone weeks without brushing it.
“I must admit, just from seeing this I am incredibly impressed with your technology.” Celestia said.
“I agree sister, and you said the ship we came in is a standard version?” Luna asked.
“Yup, there’s nothing special about this Pelican. Before I went into Cryo-sleep I had started on some blueprints to upgrade it, but when we ran low on provisions I had to go into the Cryo-chamber but that’s no longer an issue. So now that we’re here I can show you my custom Sabre.” I said as I walked over to a console and began typing in commands. “Just give me a moment to call for it… and done.” Above us a magnetic crane moved above the Pelican.
“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked as the crane picked up the Pelican.
“I forgot to mention that certain parts of the Honor a much bigger that they should be, the garage for example has an incredible amount of the UNSC, and Covenant vehicles from the humble Mongooseand Ghost to the powerful Scorpion tankand Wraith I even saw a few Scarabs and some kind of giant bipedal robot in here.” As I spoke I brought up images of the vehicles so the others could see what they look like.
“I hope we never need to see them used in battle.” Celestia said. “While it’s comforting to know, you won’t abuse their power, it still worries me if they fell into the wrong hands.”
“No worries there, all the vehicles here come equipped with a scanning device to detect GNA soldiers so they can’t turn on without someone in GNA gear and yes Freya and I checked the non GNA vehicles too. I also keep all armor and weapons locked behind high security doors. It would take a master to get past them and even then, it won’t be undetected.” I said as my personal Sabre was place where the Pelican was by a magnetic crane. “And here is my personal Sabre. It’s been customized with better engines and thrusters that I found in one of the storage bays so it’s faster than, all the other YSS-1000 Prototype Anti-Ship Space plane. I haven’t gotten around to the weapons or armor yet but now that I’ve got some time and I don’t have to worry about rationing supplies I can get back to working on it. So, what do all of you think?”
Everyone was speechless apart from Rainbow who let out an “Awesome!” under her breath.
“So, who wants to see the bridge?” I asked as I sent my Saber back.
"ME!" Twilight yelled excitedly making everyone chuckle.
Author's Note
Forgot to put this in chapter's 1 Author's notes. This is one of the first stories I wrote when I noticed that most of my stories when I noticed that most of my stories had a large focus on magic so I wanted one who focused on tech. I'm also a fan of Halo 1-3, ODST and Reach and I threw in the MGS tech just to add some more verity.
As for the GNA I've never played Halo 4 or 5 but I do know a little of what happens and I'm neutral to 4 and not a fan of what little I know of 5, so I decided to make a different time line. Hope you all enjoy the story and what does everyone think of the GNA and this alternate time line?
