The Spartan's Reward

The Mane 6 had ran into town and were shocked at the sight. The fountain had been smashed and a ditch that was nearly five meters long extended from where the fountain used to be. At the other end of the ditch, was a large metal meteorite. "I don't think that's a meteorite..." Twilight said.

Celestia had seen the crash along with her sister and immediately teleported there. The princesses didn't have time to imagine what had happened to the ponies, when they saw the strange metal meteorite and the Mane 6. "Twilight!" Celestia called out from behind the Mane 6. "Princess! This thing just crashed here!" Twilight still had a hint of worry in her voice. "We have to be careful." Celestia said as she scanned the pod for threats. Then one part of the pod, which they assumed was some kind of door, blasted off it's hinge.

"Cynthia! Cynthia, wake up!" Came the voice of Aria. "The hell happened?" Cynthia said, lying on her back and rubbing her head. "We crashed and I'm detecting movement outside. Be ready." Aria said. "Great. I hope they're friendly." Cynthia said as she grabbed her MA5C and pulled down the release lever of the door and it flew outward and she stepped out. She began scanning for threats and immediately found movement to her right. It was coming in fast, but she managed to swat it away. She heard an audible groan and another movement to the left and kicked low. So much for friendly... Cynthia thought as she grabbed what had kicked her by the leg. She was surprised to find a small, orange pony dangling by its leg. "Lemme go!" Screamed the orange pony. What.The.Fuck. Cynthia didn't have time to react as she was pushed backward into a wall by an invisible force. She just got up like it never happened and charged at her attacker.

Twilight looked on in horror as Dash got swatted away like a fly and Applejack was dangling by her leg. Twilight took a good look at the strange creature that held Applejack in it's vice-like grip. It was a bipedal creature that stood even taller than Celestia and had fingers that held Applejack firmly. It seemed to have plate-like armor and black skin. The most terrifying thing about it was it's face. Or what it passed off as a face. It had nothing but a gold eye in it's face. A cyclops? Twilight thought as Celestia immediately seized it in her magic and Applejack scurried to the group. Twilight felt relieved that they got Applejack out of there, but their celebration didn't last long. The creature immediately got up like nothing had happened and charged at the Princess.

Cynthia managed to see a white energy charging in the dust cloud. That can't be good... Cynthia thought as she dodged the beams of energy coming from the dust cloud. She got hit by a beam, but her shields merely shrugged it off and continued her charge and met her attacker with brute force. She pinned the horse-thing to the ground and was about to pull out her energy blade and saw the fear in its eyes and she  deduced what the ponies were doing. They were fighting out of fear. She stopped trying to use her energy blade and started pummeling the creature, only to be stopped by a shield. She continued pummeling the shield and could feel it getting weaker with each blow. Eventually it gave and she went in for a punch. But she couldn't do it.

Twilight was shocked and horrified when the Princess was pinned down and the creature began pummeling her and was stopped by a shield. Twilight didn't have time to sigh in relief as the creature broke the shield and threw a punch that was capable of killing the princess right then and there. Twilight looked away, waiting for the terrifying sound of bones cracking, but it never came. Instead, the creature got up and pulled out a canteen of water and made the Princess drink. The Princess pulled away slightly when she finished and the creature walked over to the unconscious Rainbow Dash and put some sort of cream on her right side, where it hit her. The creature then got up and went over to the pod it landed in. Twilight decided to go over and talk to it.

When she had finished tending to the ponies she had hurt, Cynthia headed over to her pod and began removing the weapons inside. She put her MA5C and M45 on her back, while she holstered the Energy sword and M6G at her sides. She then picked up movement from behind her and she put up her hand to stop the ponies. Her motion tracker went silent and she went back to fixing her stuff. 'Aria, what the hell is happening?' Cynthia said to the AI in her head. "I have no idea." Aria said. Cynthia picked up more movement to the left, where she swatted the pony away. "You shouldn't be moving. Let the cream do it's work." Cynthia said, not looking away from her pod. She then heard three words so loud, she had to turn down the speakers in her helmet . "YOU CAN TALK!?" The ponies shouted in unison. "I'm actually surprised that all of you could talk. Although, I can tell that my species is far more advanced than yours." Cynthia said. "Excuse me, Ms. Alien..." Twilight said. "Call me 714." Twilight was perplexed as to why this creature would want to be called a number, but she didn't press the issue and asked another question.

"How do you talk without a mouth?" Cynthia let out a laugh and spoke. "No no, this isn't my face. I'm just talking from underneath a helmet." Cynthia said in a humorous tone. "Why didn't you kill us? The way you were fighting, you could have easily killed us." Celestia asked. "Listen, Not all alien races are murderous monsters. I didn't really have a valid reason to kill any of you and I'm paid to kill threats." "Y-you've killed?" Twilight asked in a shaky voice. "Like I said, I only kill threats and, judging by what you all showed me today, none of you have anything to worry about." Cynthia said as she finished fixing her stuff.

"Well now that you're here, where do you plan on staying?" Twilight asked. "What makes you think I won't leave right now?" "Because your pod looks like it was made to land, not fly. And it's destroyed." "Great observation. As for your question, I guess I could just sleep in the woods or something." Cynthia said as she pointed to the Everfree forest. "No.... You shouldn't, it's really dangerous!" Some of the ponies said.

"You really shouldn't worry about my safety, rather, worry about the safety of whatever lives in there. I could really use the meat anyway, I'm damn hungry." Cynthia said, rubbing her belly. "You're a carnivore." Twilight said as the ponies backed away. "Oh no, I'm an omnivore. I can eat plants. Also, horse meat tastes terrible. I wouldn't want to eat you anyway." Cynthia said. Some of the ponies took offense that they tasted terrible and Twilight spoke up. "We're ponies, not horses." "Eh, same thing. If you don't want me to stay in the forest, where do you want me to stay?" Cynthia asked. "You can stay with me." Twilight offered. "Thanks." Cynthia said as she picked up her pod. The ponies all had their jaws on the floor as Cynthia walked by them, carrying a pod that weighed a half a ton like it was an apple. Cynthia could barely stifle her laugh as she looked back at the ponies with their jaws on the floor. "Hey, don't let the flies in." Cynthia said as she walked ahead of them. "Well? Aren't you coming?" She said with a smile underneath her helmet.

They began their walk back to the library and received the ever so common response of fleeing and jaws on the floor. Cynthia chanced a look into the night sky and found it to be the most majestic sky she had ever seen on a planet. But nothing beat being among the stars. "This is the most beautiful night sky I have ever seen." Cynthia said, not letting her gaze leave the beauty above her head. "Yes, it is beautiful. Although, I don't really have anything to compare it to." Celestia said. "What is it like to be among the stars?" Celestia asked, her sister was also curious as to what it was like to be among her creations. "It's really beautiful. Although, I never really got a chance to just look outside a window and admire the beauty of the stars. I was often too busy trying not to get impaled by spikes flying at 150 miles per hour or getting burned by plasma." "That must be rough." Celestia said. "I can show you if you want." Cynthia said as she stopped walking, put down the pod and removed the cube from it and took out the Type 25 and tossed it to Celestia. Celestia caught it with her magic and stared at it quizzically. "This is a weird looking crossbow." Celestia said. Cynthia was getting a little annoyed and told her to pull the trigger at the back of the Type 25 while pointing it at the floor. Celestia jumped back in surprise and yelped a bit as the weapon fired blue globs of plasma at the ground and left small craters as the plasma evaporated.

"It looks like it shoots blue lava." Twilight said as she looked at the weapon and the crater. "If you want to compare it to that, sure. But that's not what it is at all." Cynthia said. Celestia decided to ask another question. "You said that you were often busy trying not to get impaled by spikes or being burned by plasma, does that mean you're a soldier?" Celestia asked in a sad, yet firm tone. "Yes, but not the regular kind." Cynthia simply said. "What kind of soldier are you?" Twilight asked. "I can't exactly tell you without having to kill you, and you know how that turned out. I'm supersoldier called a Spartan. I am genetically enhanced to be faster, stronger and overall, better than the rest of my kind." Cynthia said with pride. "So, your people messed around with your body to make you better at killing things?" Twilight asked with a look of horror and disgust on her face. "If you put it that way, sure it sounds horrible. But you have no idea why we did it." "What could possibly justify killing innocent aliens for a living!?" Twilight shouted. "First, these aliens are far from innocent. They turned entire planets into glass, for God's sake! Second, I don't do it for money, I do it for my people. You see, the aliens I fight are leading a genocidal campaign that aims to wipe my people from the face of existence." Twilight shrank back as Cynthia seethed with rage. She would not let some alien race who had never experienced a war like hers think that the humans were the bad guys. She personally thought that the war was good for the humans. It taught them to stop their stupid squabbling and focus on the real threat.

"We're sorry for bringing this up. You must understand that war is not something that happens regularly here." Celestia gave her an apologetic look. "It's alright. It should be me apologizing. Killing is killing and I have done more than my fair share." Cynthia said as she picked up the pod again and continued walking towards the tree home and put down the pod with a loud clang. "Thanks for letting me stay here miss...?"

"Twilight."

"Mah name's Applejack."

"Rarity, darling. Pleased to meet you."

"My name is Pinkie Pie! Just call me Pinkie!"

"Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria!"

"Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria."

"Pleased to meet you all. I just have one more thing to take care of. My vehicle landed in the forest and the process would be much easier if I had a guide." Cynthia said. Celestia stepped forward and spoke. "I'd be happy to guide you through the Everfree, 714."

The two trudged through the forest and eventually, they heard the sounds of something clanging metal and curses that were muffled by the distance and the underbrush. Cynthia cut through the brush with her knife and saw another horse-thing, except it was slightly smaller and it was a midnight blue. "Open already!" The other horse said as it pounded the door of the pod with a rock. "Sister? What are you doing?" Celestia said, her head tilting a bit. "I've been trying all night to get this stupid thing to open! What is that!?" The blue horse shouted as she pointed to Cynthia. "This is 714 and she is a human.""Hi" Cynthia said as she raised her hand. The horse then realized she had a hand and pulled her to the scanner next to the door. The door opened and revealed a Warthog with guns that could change out for another one or just put them at the sides and make room at the back for more troops. "What is this?" The blue horse asked. "It's my baby." Cynthia said as she climbed in the front and started the engines with a mighty roar that caused the princesses to jump. Cynthia laughed as she spoke. "Well? Aren't you getting in?" The princesses complied and climbed in the back. Very bad decision. Cynthia had a grin underneath her helmet as her Warthog lurched forward and jumped off the ramp that was made by the door of the pod and sped through the forest. Cynthia whooped every time they narrowly missed a tree and the sisters screamed in fright. Eventually, they broke the treeline and zoomed past Fluttershy's cottage and into town.

Twilight took a break from talking about Cynthia and took a walk outside. She saw something speeding through Ponyville, and it was heading straight for her! Twilight didn't have time to react as the thing stop mere inches from her face and suddenly, her legs felt like jelly and she collapsed, hyperventilating.

Cynthia had just sped through town in a Warthog and had stopped mere inches from Twilight's face. The princesses left the Warthog with shaky legs, but they managed. "Sorry, Twilight. Didn't see you there." Cynthia said while rubbing her neck. Twilight recovered and spoke. "Y-yeah... what is this?" Twilight asked as she looked over the Warthog. "This, my dear, is a Warthog. It is the main transport for our military." Cynthia said with pride as she patted the dashboard. "Shall we enter?" Cynthia said as she locked the Warthog and entered the library.

They sat on the floor and immediately started asking Cynthia questions. "I was wondering... what kind of magic did you use to just deflect the Princess' attack like that?" Twilight asked. "Magic? That wasn't magic. That was shield technology. Go ahead, do it again." Cynthia said as she pumped out her chest. "If you say so..." Celestia said as she fired a spell at Cynthia, only for it to dissipate. "Impressive." Celestia said. "Technology can do a lot of things." Cynthia said as she activated her active camouflage. "Where did she go?" Applejack asked. "Right here." Cynthia said from behind Twilight while she deactivated her camo. "You can turn invisible!?" Twilight gawked at Cynthia and Cynthia laughed. "And so much more. Technology is so advanced, that we learned to extend our lives. Humans used to live up to 100 years. Now, normal humans live up to 150." Cynthia said with pride. "That's a long time... Wait, you said you're a supersoldier, so how long do you live?" Twilight asked. "Right now, I am 53. Most Spartans live up to 300, but I'm a special case. They wanted a copy of humanity's greatest hero and they made me. I live up to 500." "500!? That's a really long time!" Twilight said. "Who was your greatest hero?" Dash asked. "No one really knew his real name, just like other Spartans. But he was called Master Chief. He defeated the Flood, destroyed some Halo rings. He became an inspiration for all future Spartans. I doubt that I'll ever find a human or Covenant who has never heard of the guy." Cynthia said with dreamy eyes. "You're into this guy?" Dash asked. "He was actually my childhood crush. I eventually gave that up, but the feeling is still there. I feel a certain respect for him now. We're the only two of our kind." Cynthia said as she pumped out her chest.

"About that thing outside... I wanna ride it." Dash said as she pointed at the Warthog outside. "Heh. No way in hell, squirt." Dash immediately had a pout on her face as she heard the nickname she uses on Scootaloo used on her. "Now, any more questions?" Cynthia asked as all the ponies in the room raised their hooves. This is gonna be a loooong night... Cynthia thought.