The Spartan's Reward

Cynthia ducked behind cover as the bullets sailed over her head. "You're not getting away with that." She muttered under her breath as she rolled out of cover and fired her Fuel Rod Gun. The rod flew straight into the chest of the offending Spartan. The spartan fell backwards and his body disintegrated. Cynthia wasn't worried about being discharged for friendly fire. This was a simulation match, after all. She ran to the next available piece of cover behind a metal pillar. "You'll have to come out some time, Thia." A Spartan she knew as Tyler, or B-520, yelled from his vantage point on the walkways. Cynthia took her chance and bolted from cover, dive rolling and firing her Sniper Rifle straight into Tyler's head. Cynthia dropped the Sniper in favor of a pistol. Cynthia was always known for her luck. Cynthia charged straight into a group of Spartans who happened to be heading the same direction. Bad call. She pulled out an Energy Sword and bisected the first Spartan before the group could react. They reacted and one of them was knocked back by a punch and had a blade of plasma get plunged into him. He really couldn't feel pain, seeing as this was a simulation. Cynthia pulled out her pistol and fired four rounds into the next one's head. She picked up his assault rifle and emptied its deadly contents into the head of the nearest enemy. The counter showed that there was only one other Spartan in this elimination wager match. She knew him as Alex, or A-821, and he was good at this. Alex jumped from cover and fired two rockets at Cynthia. She managed to dive out of the way and opened fire on him as he reloaded. A Sniper bullet caught his launcher and an Energy Sword was jabbed into his neck. The match was over and the familiar foghorn-like sound emanated from nowhere, signaling the end of the match.

Cynthia walked out of her pod in her signature steel and silver colored armor. "Hey Thia!" Tyler called as he exited his pod. "That was one hell of a match!" Cynthia was used to being praised like this. "Yeah, you missed most of it, cause you were camping with your DMR." Cynthia said the last part with a deadpan tone. "Guess you won the bet, huh?" Tyler said, rubbing his neck. "Yeah I guess I do." Cynthia said in a much more cheerful tone. Cynthia and Tyler bet that whoever could win the next match, would get the losers share of rations for the next week. Cynthia walked up to Alex and gave him a tap on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey Thia. You were good out there." "Thanks Alex." The intercom sounded above their heads. "Commander Cynthia, please report to the bridge." Cynthia let out a groan and started for the bridge. "Well I gotta go. See you guys in the next match." Cynthia waved a goodbye and continued on her way to the bridge.

She reached the bridge and was greeted by a hologram of a woman. "Hey Thia." The Hologram greeted. "Hi Aria." Cynthia greeted back as she headed for the front of the bridge. "Thank you for responding immediately, Commander." "No problem, Michael." Cynthia said. "I'm sending you on a mission. You're gonna have to pack heavy. This'll be a very long mission." Michael said as he handed her a paper. The paper contained all the information that was needed for this mission. Drop point, Target and Extraction point. "Thanks Michael." "You will also be testing out an experimental set of equipment. It's waiting for you in the armory in the shuttle bay." Michael said. "Alright."

Cynthia said as she started making her way back down to the shuttle bay and was greeted by Tyler and Alex. "Hey Thia. You get the same mission?" Alex asked. "Is it going stealth on a Covenant planet and blowing up a lab that is six kilometers away from the drop point?" "Yup." "Then yes." Cynthia said as she moved to the armory. She picked up her MA5C, M45 and her trusty M6G. There was a small cube on the table to the right and a scientist standing next to it and Cynthia walked up to him. "Commander, Captain Michael has instructed me to tell you about this cube. Apparently, the Elites were kind enough to give us a technology that allowed us to carry their weapons in a near infinite space inside this cube. The only downside is that you can't store things that are bigger than weapons and they have to be of Covenant origin." The scientist said sadly. Cynthia was impressed. all that stuff in a cube. "The captain also told me to show you this." The scientist said as he typed a code on a keypad on the far wall and it opened to reveal a steel and silver suit of armor that was somewhat bulkier but somehow lighter. The visor was a brilliant shade of gold and it looked like the entire suit was customized for her. "If we could mass produce this, this will be the SPARTAN-V." The scientist said.

"This suit seems very close to my liking." "The captain had this made for you because you were the next best thing." The scientist said, obviously hinting to Master Chief. Cynthia put on the armor and instantly felt like she could maul a Brute with her bare hands. She grabbed the cube that was no bigger than a Rubik's cube and typed a code on it's keypad and put in a Type-25, a Type 51 and a Type 33 and the rest of the Covenant weapons she owned (which was all of them). "The suit also has an ammo replication feature for Covenant and Human weapons." Cynthia almost squeed in delight, but she manged to keep it down. The very fact that she could tear through Covenant forces with an unlimited amount of ammo was trying to break her moral code and make her open fire on the nearest alien.

"The suit is basically enhanced from head to toe. The armor and shields are twice as strong now. The strength enhancement is now multiplied by 20, the sight and hearing is much stronger, it features extreme adaptability and a little feature that was added by the Elites. Twin Energy blades on your forearms." Cynthia froze at the statement. I'm gonna have plasma blades on my arms.... If I wasn't a Spartan, I would make love to Michael. Cynthia thought as she fired up the plasma blades. They were the signature blue and white of plasma and it was shaped into the blade of a slightly curved combat knife, only much longer. "There's also another thing." The Scientist said as he brought out a weapon crate that was meant to hold a sniper rifle. "Say hello to the M95 Dragonbreath. The product of the minds of the Elites and the humans." The scientist said as he pulled out a rifle that had the sleek outer design native to the Elites and the rough and tumble design native to the humans. Cynthia was literally on the verge of tears. "It can fire plasma, bullets and a charge of Ignidium. It can also fold into your armor. You just have to give it a mental command." Cynthia mentally told the weapon to recede into her armor and sure enough, it did by coming apart and sinking into the various parts of the armor. "Alright, you're all set." The scientist said as Cynthia walked out with a 'thank you', but not before taking her trusty folding longsword.

"Looking good, Thia!" Tyler said from his point near the shuttle. "They said I was the next best thing!" Cynthia said, barely containing her joy. An airhorn-like sounded in the shuttle bay signaling the Spartans to enter their pods. Cynthia picked up Aria's chip and put it in her helmet and she put her human weapons in every conceivable, yet safe place possible and entered the pod. The alarm blared louder as the pod fired from the side of the ship and into slip-space.

Inside the slip-space tunnel, Cynthia's pod and a pod containing a Warthog was drifting off course and eventually shot out from the side of the tunnel. "This is very fucking bad..." Cynthia was fearing for her life. She could be stranded in space with no way to contact anyone. She looked out the window and saw a planet that closely resembled Earth. Well, at least I can find somewhere to stay here... Cynthia thought as her pod and the Warthog entered the atmosphere of the planet.

In Ponyville, Twilight was gazing at the night sky and saw Cynthia's pod. "A shooting star!" Twilight's expression changed from amazement to horror as the pod came crashing into Ponyville square. She sped out the door and to the homes of her friends and they all went near the object.