Chapter 23: The one you destroyed
October 20, 2552 The Ark. 1900 hours

Nathan and the Chief were practically prancing from foot to foot as the lift ascended. "Why the hell is this taking so long?!" Nathan thought angrily. He mentally sighed in relief as the top came into view. The Chief hopped from the floor and climbed the lip before the elevator could even stop. Apparently they were both on as much edge as the other. Nathan wished he could be as calm as the Arbiter was.

Before any of them could enter the fray on the bridge, two humungous forms dropped from the ceiling, twitching and writhing as they stared at the three soldiers about to shoot. Nathan clutched his head as the same voice from earlier penetrated his skull. Though Nathan was able to control his body this time, he felt that it wouldn't be so easy next time...

"Do not shoot, but listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe!" The creatures gestured their club like arms down the towards the bridge as a flurry of infection forms scurried past their feet. The soldiers shared a glance before quickly running ahead. Nathan held back with his Sniper Rifle scoping in on the Covenant on the bridge, although, his sights drifted to the Flood fighting along side his teammates. His head tingled as the voice crept back into his mind.

"You are very untrusting of me, aren't you human?"

Nathan scoffed and picked off a Grunt hefting a fuel rod across the bridge. "You call it untrustworthy, I call it being prepared for when you turn on us." The Spartan shot back as he turned a Brutes skull into a pile of mush.

The Gravemind chuckled. "You are too smart to be a human... Hmm. Interesting..."

"What?"

"Something in you... It is not my place to say. It shall be revealed to you in time."

"Cryptic... Now, if you don't mind, I have a job to do." He said, sprinting forward into the next area to resume his sniping job. The Gravemind chuckled and kept his presence in the young mans mind. He was inside the Spartan, and knew everything he knew, read his thoughts, his body. And something took his interest.

"How long have you been dying, human?

Nathan froze mid-stride and sighed explosively. "Get out of my head! Now!" He yelled, only making the Gravemind chuckle again.

"Very well. I will see you soon enough, Spartan..."

The Gravemind receded once again, allowing Nathan a sigh of relief. What the Gravemind had said didn't surprise him, because he knew it was true. He was slowly, very slowly dying.

How many years it would take, he couldn't say, but he hoped he'd be able to see his child's first steps, her first words, and watch her grow up into a beautiful young woman. All he had to do was get back to Equis. Hopefully Death's agenda aloud for it.

Nathan had been running on autopilot the entire trek across the bridge, and before he knew it, he was at the end. But, what he saw at the end didn't make sense. Instead of a majestic Truth standing over the controls of the Ark, There were dead Brutes sprawled across them. Not to mention the Pelican that left a gigantic hole in the window behind them. There was no sign of life, none anywhere. Until they activated the bridge and saw Sergeant Johnson on the floor. "Oh thank God! He's-"

Nathan would have been happy to see Johnson alive, more than anything. The man was his oldest friend since day one. But who he was cradling in his arms was something he would have loved to see alive ten times more.

Her body was pale, lifeless and her cold dead eyes fixed on nothing. Nathan didn't remember falling to his knees, or dropping his gun, or that the inside of his visor became a little foggy. All he could see was the lifeless stair of Miranda. Johnson gave the man a sad look and shut Miranda's eyes.

"Stop the rings... Save the rest." He said, barely above a whisper. As soon as the words left his mouth, Nathan was up, fire raging in his soul. They took her, an innocent woman, the girl he knew; the sweet, caring, loving Miranda... She was gone from this world, taken so cruely, so violently. Nathan wanted nothing more than to rip whoever had done this face off.

"Who..." He growled. Johnson gestured to the spindly alien now in the Arbiter's grasp. Nathan snarled and stepped forward, just as the Arbiter was about to bring down his blade. "Wait..."

The rapidly transforming Truth and the Arbiter looked to Nathan curiously, one set of eyes had fear, one had anger. Nathan removed his helmet and got face to face with Truth. His face was red, tears streaking across his cheeks. "Are you afraid to die, you bastard?"

Truth smiled. "I shall ascend into Godhood!" He choked out as another tentacle launched from his face. "And none of you filth shall be left alive!"

"Her name was Miranda..." He whispered, ignoring Truths rants. "I hope you die slowly for what you've done..." Nathan nodded to the Arbiter, who brought his blade straight through Truths chest. Before the blade could kill him, however, he was given a heavy kick to the head by the enraged Spartan, snapping his spine all the way down with a sickening crack that echoed across the way.

The Arbiter and the Spartan stood, each one feeling completely different emotions. The Arbiter felt pride, finally ridding his life of the traitorous Prophet, who fed them nothing but lies and deceit. Nathan, on the other hand, was boiling with rage, anguish, guilt and every other emotion in between.

The three stood there, unsure of what to do next. Before any of them could react, the building began to quake beneath them before a flurry of tentacles shot up from the abyss below, followed by the bellowing laughter of the Gravemind.

"Chief! Get your asses aboard the Pelican, now!" Johnson shouted over the comm. The vehicle flew past quickly, forcing the trio to jump onto the landing skid. The Chief hung onto the Arbiter, and the Arbiter held onto Nathan. But the trio were flung free from the ship by a tentacle before it could make it to open sky.

"Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside; corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!"

The three went back to back as the Tentacles receded back into the Earth, but not before taking a souvenir with them. A tentacle snaked its way around Nathan's leg, dragging him into the pit below. The Chief and the Arbiter desperately made a grab for him, but it was to late. The Spartan was now being dragged across the surface of the Arc, faster and faster, further and further away. "That's right you bastard... Bring me home." He smiled deviously as High Charity came into view. "Time for us both to meet our fates."

The center of Equis had become a place of true Chaos, just as Discord had wanted it. The Spartan's turned ponies and the ponies turned Spartans were arguing amongst themselves, trying to regain order. It wasn't working in the slightest.

"Everypony please!" Celestia shouted through Cam. "This isn't the time to be arguing amongst ourselves! We have more important issues to be dealing with!"

Discord chuckled and snaked his way towards Celestia. "Oh, dear Tia... You should know that the human Brutes do nothing better. And I have a question for you actually. Does Cameron there know how to use magic?" Discord pointed a claw at Cam, who was still fumbling for footing in his new form.

"I... No I don't believe so." She admitted.

"Then tell me, who's controlling the Prometheans right now?" He cackled. Celestia's eyes became pinpricks as she slowly turned to Discord.

"Don't even-"

Before she could let the words escape her lips, a flurry of Prometheans, now glowing deep red, encircled the group, guns glowing bright. The six huddled close together, the Spartan's as ponies moving up to defend the girls as best they could.

"Now," Discord began. "I think my demands should be pretty self explanatory right about now." The Draconeqqus snapped his fingers, making a throne appear underneath him. He reclined lazily, polishing his talons on his armor. Celestia was at a lose for what to do at this point. Up above, her world was crumbling around her. Thousands were dead, countless more wounded, all of them homeless. She couldn't just let Discord run free and cause pandemonium. There had to be a way to defeat him. Everyone was useless now. Celestia was trapped in a foreign body, as were the four others to her side- Wait... four?

Celestia looked around anxiously for the missing pony turned Spartan. Which one was it? Who could have snuck off so- Then she saw her. It was Fluttershy, skulking in the corner, using Selina's small body to her advantage. Celestia looked back up to Discord, who was none the wiser. Celestia watched in awe and admiration as Fluttershy snuck up behind one of the machines, pulling out the knife on her chest.

"You big... dumb... MEANIES!" She shouted, plunging the blade into the mechanical face. The robot let out a series of buzzes as it fazed out. Fluttershy grabbed the scatter shot as it fell on shot it at another, causing it to disintegrate as well. "Oh, wow! GET SOME!" She hollered, laughing maniacally.

"Whoa... Alright everypony!" Rainbow called out. "CHARGE!"

Fluttershy dove onto Discord, who didn't have time to teleport himself away. She tumbled with him for about twenty feet, ending up on tip of him with the barrel of the scatter shot in his face. "If you try to get away, I will PULL this trigger." She seethed. Discord was not expecting this from the most timid of his pray.

"Um... Parlay?" He chuckled awkwardly, holding up his hands.Fluttershy pulled her helmet off and let the harshness of her stare take effect. Even with Selina's face, it was effective as hell.

"Fluttershy?! Holy horse apples! that was amazing!" Applejack hollered, running over to her, Fluttershy growled, which made Applejack halt in place. "Oookay, I can see you're busy... I'll be over here..."

Garry's pony jaw was literally unhinged. "Holy shit! I think I'm in love!" He gawked. Sharif snorted and nudged him.

"Careful now. Remember she's ah pony." He said, then rubbed his throat. "Damn this accent..." He added. Garry shook his head.

"I don't give a fuck. That was the sexiest thing I've ever seen! And don't tell me otherwise." Garry said, nudging his friend back.

"It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?" He asked. Garry nodded vigorously.

Fluttershy was now pressing the shotgun further into Discords face. "Now, you're going to change us back to our normal selves. You got that, bub?"

Discord nodded and snapped his fingers. Instantly, she was back in her body, and Selina was now on Discord, aiming the shotgun at him. Celestia, being back in her regal form, instantly snapped Discord up in a field of magic.

"Now, Discord. I think that was the shortest attempt at taking control." She chuckled. Discord tried to break free, but couldn't. He sighed and sulked in his ultimate failure.

Luna smiled deviously and sauntered over to Garry, who gulped instantly. "Well... Now that we art back to normal, wouldst thou like to... show us thine asset?" She leaned against the Spartan and batted her eyelashes.

"Luna!" Celestia instantly scolded. Luna huffed and backed away, muttering under her breath. Celestia rolled her eyes and turned back to Discord. "Now. Stop what you've done! Get rid of that ship you sent!" She ordered.

"I can't!" Discord snapped back. "It's already there, and it's contents are now taking over everything. Face it, your student is doomed!"

A bright flash filled the chamber, enveloping the group in it's intensity. When they looked up, Twilight and Pinkie Pie were standing there.

"Whoa... what happened?" Twilight muttered, looking around at everyone and Discord. "Did... We miss something?" She asked. Pinkie took one look at Discord and growled like a dog at him, taking a defensive stance.

"You did, but now we have bigger problems." Celestia stated. "So, tell us, Discord. Who is this 'master' of yours?"

Discord grinned deviously. "Even if I lost here today, you still will never win. So, gather round, little ponies and humans, and let me tell you about my friend, the Didact."

Author's Note

ugh... This... this was a pain. Bringing Discord into the story was a horrible, horrible idea on my part. I made him go out like a bitch, CUZ THAT'S WHAT HE IS! And I made Fluttershy a bad ass because THAT'S WHAT SHE IS!
So, I'm gonna say it. I'm busy on other stories, so Halo 2 isn't on my top priorities. To be honest, my ADD is just the worst. Oh well. And the revelation with Nathan? Hmmm? It'll play out in the end with some awesome shit through out the storyline in the last of the stories.
Until next chapter! Allons-y!