As Noble waited with Cortana and the princess the group began further discussing training and the recent history of the A.I. turned pony, jumping into her history immediately Cortana explained what she had been doing with her time besides searching for Noble. Sitting down the team listened to her as started her tale watching her with rapt attention starting at the very beginning, Cortana never planned on leading the nation she had no interest in being a princess of Equestria instead she wanted to use her vast knowledge to advance the worlds technology aiming for it to be on par with UNSC at end of the war technologically speaking. But the money, scientists, and permits would only be given to her by Princess Celestia if she only concentrated on non-militaristic technologies as her nation was not of one of war and she had planned on keeping it that way, but in the last three years she had let Cortana concentrate on building better weapons and armor for the military. As Cortana built her corporation which she happily named Reach Technolgies it soon became the gold standard of technological companies standing at the front of every other company, as a side not she purposely leaked certain developments she thought would be waste of her time, it took the company eighty-five years but Equestria by Cortanas' speculation could be at the same level as Reach in ten years.

Turning to each other the SPARTANs had doubt in their minds that Cortana would simply agree to Celestia's demands, no they knew if she was anything like her creator, she had plans within plans that only few could guess. After a moment they locked eyes with Celestia to see her giving them a look awaiting their replies or questions, stepping forward Carter decided to speak for the group asking, "So is it true you didn't allow her to develop weapons at the beginning?"

"Yes, I had decided that it would be better to focus on making my ponies lives better and not focus on weapons," Celestia stated as her gaze softened, turning to Cortana she continue "I didn't believe that we needed such focus and I'm still proud of my decision we have everything that your government had technologically speaking, and Cortana actually is planning on going to our moon in a month."

"Yes, the test flights have gone well and with the base I'm planning to build I can begin experimenting with slipspace." Cortana stated looking toward the SPARTANs smiling at her Celestia sat back and gave a small nod "Yes I can't wait for the day our species travels the stars, but we are getting off topic."

"Now with the building of our nations arsenal Cortana has shown me the guards' newest weapons and armor, but sadly everything is still in the prototype phase of things and you six will be trained with these weapons over the next six months at one of Cortana's compounds."

"Is this where your guards are being retrained?" Kat asked looking up from her datapad staring at Celestia nodding her head Celestia said "Yes, at the moment she's trained four company worth of ponies. She does seem to break them down and separate the best from them to give more specialized training to. You six will be training with the fifth company."

Giving a small sigh the SPARTANs looked between each other each doing the math almost instantly, once the fifth company was trained, they would have one battalion worth of soldiers thinking this Carter asked "Ma'am how many active guards do you have in total ?"

"Active guards we have at least almost two regiments, I believe the last report I got we are at 5,486 including those alread trained while the guard reserve has another twelve hundred. Why do you ask?"

"Ma'am If what you've been discussing with us is true those numbers are not good, you will have to start a campaign to recruit from the population."

"I have been sending my guards to be trained in the arts war for two years now I have even overseen how Cortana is training them and the numbers we have will be enough to hold the line, by Cortana's estimation we should have a full division within the next three years. We have increased our efforts in recruiting for our guard so I could cycle through the senior staff first, I've even put word out to the reserves that they will be going through the same training but would still be considered reserves and only called upon in extreme cases." Standing up Celestia began to pace her tone even and firm as she explained the plan that the equestrian princesses had come up with three years ago before agreeing to train the guards under Cortana continuing, she said "Once they are all trained and the GCP has either been destroyed or pushed back we will announce to the nation what we know now and our restructuring of the guard creating Equestria's first military in two thousand years. From there we start looking for volunteer's while we send our guards to the front to buy time for the military to be trained, I've planned this out for over a year."

Keeping a stoic look on his face Carter was surprised by Celestia's resolve she already had a plan for a military and the means to build it up the question though is whether they could be given the time to build the military up so far, she had a descent battalion but that still left a little over five thousand ponies to train. But that didn't mean that Noble would be out of the fight this wasn't the covenant they were going up against the weaponry was a mystery till they saw it firsthand, but from what Carter and the rest saw of Celestia's guards they would have little trouble with other nations military. After all the guards looked like they came from the dark ages of knights and dragons, sighing he sat back and asked "So when do we expect to ship off?"

"As soon as-" hearing the sound of rumbling Noble dawned all their armor taking up defensive positions out of instinct looking into the void, soon the six figures of the elements of harmony stumbled out. Looking at the young ponies the SPARTANs quickly reminded of civilians who survived covenant attacks they were lost, scared and confused about what they had just witnessed. Looking toward the team Carter motioned for them to stand down giving acknowledgment of his order they put away their armor and waited for the six to get their bearings. It took a minute but the first to recover was Glimmer looking up at Carter she rushed toward him throwing her arms around his neck she began to cry into her shoulder, looking toward their friend the other five turned to the rest of Noble with the team gaging each of their reactions, Cloud and Apple had looks of respect and fear, Silk held Sprinkle close to her as they looked at the team silent tears running down their faces and Sunny the poor mare was in complete shock staring down at the ground unmoving. Noticing how each of the elements were acting Celestia slowly approached them and speaking her most motherly voice she said "Its okay, your all safe now."

Gently pulling Glimmer off him Carter set her down and tried his best to soothe the mare, but sadly dealing with civilians was not a SPARTANs strong suite. Placing a hoof on his shoulder he looked around for help only to see his team as lost as him and Celestia with her hooves full trying to calm the other five. Sighing he looked down at Glimmer and said "Your safe now, you'll be ok."

"C-carter I-i don't know what t-to say." Glimmer said looking up at the stoic stallion looking at the others again he motioned for her to rejoin them, giving a small nod she slowly joined her friends. Standing next to Apple Gem she laid her head on his shoulder while Celestia looked toward silently asking him to speak. Shaking his head, he thought 'Let's not screw this up.' standing before the group Carter spoke using the same tone he used when giving orders "Now I don't know what each of you saw, but if what Celestia has suggested to us it being your scare and confused. Let me say this what you saw is the past, nothing like that will happen to you here. I don't have a lot of experience in dealing with civilians, but you made it through, and this will make you stronger for that fact. "

"If you have any questions, we'll be happy to answer them about what you saw. But that will have to wait till you're in better state of mind and body, so what I will suggest to Celestia is for the next six months until we get back you six will see a therapist and talk about what you've witnessed amongst yourselves in a support group." Turning to Celestia Carter directed the next question directly to the princess "You can find a therapist for them, right?"

"Of course, Commander."

"Good, so until we get back what I am telling each of you to do till we get back is sit down and discuss what you saw with them and I mean discuss don't hold back because your tough or you don't think you need it. Now I think you six have had enough for today and should go off to bed while we discuss private matter." Carter looked over the group being reminded heavily of the civilians he helped evac during the war closing his eyes he took a breath and said "Now go and get some sleep."

As the last words left the commander's mouth the elements stood up and began to slowly walk away from the team and Cortana, watching them walk off Celestia looked to Carter giving a small nod to him she followed the group ready to guide them back to their rooms. Watching them go Noble waited a few minutes before turning to Cortana with Carter finally feeling safe he turned to Cortana and asked "So you mentioned earlier that you didn't talk about ?"

"Yes, we don't have much time to discuss it so I'll be quick. It's quite simple, I did not trust them when we first met Celestia is a wonderful leader and a dear friend I hold dear but i decided to keep what our world was like away from her. Especially after learning about this country's history, I didn't wish to deal with whatever scrutiny she would have towards me for coming from such a war like species. But over the years I did talk to her about my past but I left many many blank areas, and before my travels I spent my time digging into the history of this country." Igniting her horn Cortana began showing images of different creatures, cities, environments and ruins as Noble watched the images flash passed them Cortana continued "Now before you are the memories from my travels during my time traversing the globe looking for you i started seeing evidence of a global event that happened thousands of years ago. So I started my own personal investigation hunting for you and the truths that were scattered across this world and every thing i've ever found keeps mentioning something that is known as The Cataclysm."

"The Cataclysm?" Kat asked cocking her head to the side looking down at her Cortana gave a small nod before continuing "Yes from the evidence I have found this story dates back fifty thousand years ago and every story, every mention of this event is the same across the globe even in Equestria, one day the sky was alight for nearly a year with lights of green and purple the sky alight with fire nations burned kingdoms once great fell, and soon the lights dwindled and disappeared from the sky but not after scarring the land and leaving behind death and despair." as Cortana talked about this images of mosaics, tapestries, illustrations and carvings each depicting a night sky ablaze with the lights and meteors falling "From my guess and own personal history I think a battle between aliens took place over this planet, so I searched for those meteors or where great balls of fire fell and scarred the land and I didn't find anything only more legends and history. In the griffon nation a great ball landed destroying the king's palace killing his queen and five of their seven sons, but it left them a great prize ore like never before seen that he crafted into armor to protect his last two sons and weapons to defend the palace. What was left he crafted into the nation's emblem and anointed it atop the new palace to show the world they could and would always rise again."

"Now I won't go into detail about what I found and the legends instead I'll deliver my journals and you can read them at your own pace. But this Cataclysm caused the world to stop any and all advancements in technology and I can't find out why, the loss of life and national leadership did make since. There were riots and deaths, but nothing adds up there should be more evidence of debris or something, but then I found this wedged in a book twenty three years ago." at this one image popped up of an ancient script written in what looked like ancient Mongolian staring at it Cortana smirked "Let me translate 'Emperor Rising Steel, we have found the great meteor which destroyed the Idel province during The Cataclysm, my emperor I know it is above my station to make such demands but I request that you arrive in pony to gaze up this meteor this discovery will make our empire even greater your servant Abiding Linguist.' This letter is two hundred and twenty years old."

"So what does that have to do with us?" Emile asked rolling his eyes slightly at all this mumbo-jumbo frowning at the SPARTAN Cortana continued "The UPR has been an isolationist state for thousands of years so we don't know what is even going on there, but I think a ship crashed in there nation fifty thousand years ago and they're raiding its armory and using the weapons to arm the GCP but we can't prove that yet. That where you come in I know Celestia said your job will be to cripple the GCP which will be now problem for you, but I'm giving you a secondary objective find the weapons and bring them back along with any information about the UPR. Because when this war ends i want to send you into there country to find that ship and destroy it."

Looking between each other the SPARTANs seemed to have a silent conversation before Six spoke up "Does Celestia know your plan?"

"No, she doesn't but she will thank me when they UPR doesn't have those weapons. Plus, there is a great deal of classified information i need to show you. Information that Celestia is not privy to yet.........well none of the princesses but that's a problem that i'll deal with later." Cortana said in a dismissive tone while shrugging her shoulders sighing Carter couldn't help but be reminded more and more of Dr. Halsey doing whatever she wanted whenever she felt like it. But before they heard hoof steps of a returning pony looking up they were soon met with the site of Celestia smiling at them she asked "So what did I miss Cortana?"

"Just boring technicalities, I was disappointing Noble with the return to basics. Going over the next six months and what I had planned for them." Cortana said over toward Celestia who gave the SPARTANs a sympathetic look before turning back to Cortana and saying "I do know that it is late but would you seven care to join me for dinner?"

"I'm sorry Princess but we wanted to tour Cortana's facility and start training ASAP." Carter spoke up with the rest of Noble nodding their heads in agreement seeing this Celestia muttered "Well you are getting ahead by a month.... ok Commander that's a wonderful plan but before you go there is something I will need to give each of you, now all you need to do is dawn your armor and stand at attention."

Noble followed her orders each dawning their armor Celestia stepping before the soldiers Celestia looked each of them clearing her throat she began speaking "I know you six have only just arrived onto this new world and have already been asked so much, too much in fact, but I hope you six can be our shield protecting the innocent from harm and to bring the enemies that our country has to a halt. Upon you six I bestow you the royal crest of Equestria, with this emblem none will question you and you will have access to any and all garrisons and castles along with the restricted areas that only royalty and the highest-ranking ponies can obtain." igniting her horn the team soon had new emblems appear on their armor on their shoulder pauldrons, the emblem was of a sun sitting in a crescent moon. Looking down at the newest symbols carved into their armor Noble had conflicting emotions about this symbol being attached but buried those feelings as now was not the time smiling at them Celestia continued "Once your seven months of training is completed you will be stationed at the newly constructed garrison in Ponyville your daily activities will be outlined when you arrive to the garrison and Captain Unyielding Defense will give you the run down. But in the end once your settled and we hear from the griffons you will be deployed up until your deployments you will act as normal guards would."

"Ma'am if we're doing these covert runs how will you explain our absences?" Carter asked taking off his armor to look at the new leader directly, smiling Celestia said "I have my ways Commander plus, having you play war games with the guards once every few months shouldn't raise too many questions from my ponies and the captain. I will be taking my leave now to get my dinner, Cortana I look forward to seeing the SPARTANs after six months with you."

"Of course, now go enjoy your food." Cortana said smiling at her nodding her head Celestia ignited her horn and teleported away, as soon as she had left Cortana created portal turning away from it she looked at Noble team smiling she said "Come along."

(Undisclosed facility)

As the team walked through the portal after the mare they were soon met with a massive room the size of small arena, walking up to yellow safety bar standing next to her they looked across the facility. Taking a breath each was reminded of the military facilities of Reach the smell of smoke and medal as they stared down they saw dozens of ponies working on projects from rifles to armor along with what could only be described as a cut down version of the OWL, looking toward Cortana Kat smirked while saying "So you've only been working on military projects for the last couple of years?"

"What the rulers of this fine country don't know won't hurt them." Cortana said giving the SPARTAN a small smirk of her own turning back to the facility Cortana waved to it saying "I welcome you six to my pride and joy the Forge, only the best and most trustworthy of my employees earn their way into this facility. They workday and night developing the technology I have been trying to recreate from the UNSC, so far the Forge houses one hundred and forty three scientists and engineers. They have been the cornerstone to the war effort to come, what Celestia doesn't know is that the weapons that have been provided are only the early stage prototypes from eight years ago. You six will be introduced to the final product along with a select few from the battalions that have been sent here to train."

As they walked through the facility Emile and Jun noted a young mare with a backpack that had a metal arm extending from it, attached to the end looked like a cut down version of the MA37's they used back on Reach. Watching her she fired a few test shots each landing against the target turning to a table behind her they noticed three more standard weapons and one larger weapon awaiting testing. Seeing where their attention was Cortana cleared her throat catching their attention, she motioned for them to follow so she could continue the tour. As they reached an elevator at the end of the cat walk she motion to a small wing of odd looking planes. they looked to be cut down versions of the pelican but they had two rotors built into the wings, motioning to them Cortana ended the tour by saying "These will be used to guide you six to and from behind enemy lines they have jet engines that can reach speed from 400-550mph, they have the ability to switch seamlessly between the engines and rotors to go in silent, when the rotors are in use the speeds are 380-530mph. The troop bay can carry up to twenty troops but for now it'll only need to worry about six."

Stepping onto the elevator they began the ascent into the rest of the facility and not a single scientist or engineer looked at the departing group focused only on their work, as they rose Cortana began to further explain some of her secret projects that she had hidden from Celestia. Reaching the floors above the tour continued most of it mundane she showed them the mess hall, firing range, barracks and armor. But as the tour came to an end Cortana gathered the group by a large window overlooking a massive field of black soot, in the distance they saw a few stallions firing from behind a burned-out vehicle each taking turns firing at an unseen enemy. This must be the fifth battalion doing a live fire exercise, chuckling Cortana explained that they think their testing the weapons out before mass production. But what caught the attention of the SPARTANs was the sudden appearance of an old enemy rushing one of the stallions was 7ft tall bipedal reptile in bright blue armor using an energy sword to slice his weapon in half before stabbing him in the abdomen pinning him to the vehicle, he turned to the final stallion who turned too late only for the sword to slam into his chest lifting him off the ground. Feeling the sudden rush of adrenaline, they were about to move when a voice rumbled across the field "Battle scenario finished Manticore Squad you've been eliminated, match time four minutes and thirteen seconds."

Watching from the distance the elite slowly dissolved into cyan light as he raised his weapon letting out a triumphant roar, soon the two stallions pulled themselves shaking their heads in anger. Cortana then began explaining that the battalion were in their last weeks of training and that to finish the time training she had decided to recreate humanity's greatest enemy to give them proper action, the action and strategies used by the Covenant recreations were exactly the same as their real counterparts. Motioning for the group to follow her Cortana began explaining what the next seven months would look like for Noble until they had become proficient in both weapons and CQC again that they would not be pit against the recreated Covenant, as they reached the end of the tour Cortana motioned for the team to gather into her office as they each huddled into the spacious office they were instantly reminded of Dr. Halsey papers of various projects and blue prints littered the desks and walls, empty coffee cups and energy bar wrappers littered the floor and sat atop the papers. Noticing the SPARTANs wandering gazes she lit her horn dispersing the trash sighing she motioned for them to come closer while saying "Now there is much to discuss with you six and what I mean to talk with you will be highly classified no pony outside this room is too hear about what I am about to tell you."

"Yes ma'am." Noble team stated in an even tone of voice they all took stood up straight waiting for the mare to continue taking a breath she ignited her horn once again and a blue aura began to shimmer across the room she began to speak "Let's get started and caught up with what I've actually been up too."

(The next day Canterlot Castle)

Making their way down to the dining hall the main six were going to meet Princess Celestia for breakfast before going back to home and starting their sessions, looking over her friends Glimmer saw they all had similar bags under their eyes as she did. Not one of them had gotten a decent night of sleep being haunted by the images shown to them looking down at her hooves Glimmer could still feel the fire that had taken Carters life burning her body, she could still see his training and the war he had fought all the lives lost to the monsters known as the Covenant. Hearing somepony clear their throat Glimmer looked up to see a guard giving her a concerned look smiling at him she asked "Is Princess Celestia in there?"

"Yes Princess she has been waiting for you six with Princess Luna and Twilight." the guard stated as he opened the door for them, giving him a thankful nod they all filed into the dining area. Upon seeing her mother Glimmer raced over to her shoving herself into her mothers side she buried her face into her neck, bringing her daughter in close she whispered to her trying her best to calm her down. As they watched this happen the rest of the six took their seats and slowly began to eat the food spread across the table, watching each of them Celestia turned to her sister who did her best not to meet the elders eyes. Taking a sip of her coffee Celestia began to speak "You six will begin your first session today once you return to Ponyville, Dr. Sound Mind will be seeing you all and when we talked she thought it best that the first session be a group session."

Looking between each other the group didn't speak but quickly turned back to Celestia giving her understanding nods remembering what Carter had said last night. Smiling at this Celestia further explained that they would have plenty of time to better grasp what they had seen and form questions for their individual guardians when they returned in seven months. As the group began to eat the conversation tried to remain civil and stay away from what the group had seen until Luna decided to prod the subject by asking "It seems there are a few of you that have some questions for us, what may they be?"

Glaring at her sister Celestia was about to scold her until Silk Stitcher spoke "Princess's I don't mean to be rude or crass, but after witnessing what we have witnessed I must ask did Cortana ever tell you anything about her old home?"

"*SIGH*No Silk over the years Cortana never shared her past with us, both Luna and I on multiple occasions tried to talk with her," pausing Celestia took another sip of coffee she looked over to her sister as she continued "but she always dodged the topic and when she started her company and the search for Noble our meetings became less friendly and more about business. Asking for funding or approval of projects that would help our country prosper and grow, after all without her we wouldn't be starting out colonization of our moon, now that all this business with Noble is at a close and her company is one of the largest and self-sufficient maybe we'll be able to talk more."

"Can we be part of those discussions?" Sunny meekly asked looking up from her plate staring at the three princesses, looking at her Celestia was about to speak only for Luna to cut her off "I'm sorry to say young Sunny but the discussions we will be having will be.......classified and we cannot go any further with the information just by us speaking of it is telling you too much."

Hearing this the young group looked between each other again they didn't want to pry but they all had been hearing the whispers from the adults and the occasional stories that the news stories that would run online or tv, something big was happening up north with the griffon country and the GCP. Now with what they were hearing about secrets and meetings behind closed doors they could only guess but if was anything like those dramas Cloud liked it wasn't good, taking a breath Glimmer said "We understand Princess."

Smiling at her Luna gave her a nod of thanks and moved onto discussing Nobles roll in the six's life considering they all were attending Pony U the team would be stationed at the newly built garrison. Their duties would be about the same as any guards, but their routes of patrol and areas of station would revolve around you six and your schedules. Looking around the table Luna continued saying that Noble could enter the classes to supervise or walk through the classes, as she explained Nobles duties the six ate quietly listening as to how much the team would be in their lives until Luna said "But once and awhile they'll be contacted to come back to Canterlot for special training."

"Wait you'll be bringing them back for further training?" Apple asked giving the princesses a confused look sighing Luna shook her head and said, "Young Apple these individuals were once bipedal humanoids but are now equines, the training they will receive in the coming months will be extensive but to help them become better it would be best for them to come back to Canterlot for specialized training."

"How long would they be gone during these periods?"

"That would be up to the ponies training them, but at most it maybe a month." Luna said as she rubbed her chin in thought after a moment she continued "Now let us move on from such serious talks, it has been such a long time since you've visited Canterlot and I'd love to catch up before you left."

Smiling at this the group quickly did their best to move away from the serious talks catching Luna up on their lives and what they had been up to over the last few months, stories and laughs were heard around the table the six seemed to be heading back to normal. But despite all this Celesia's mind was engrossed with what was to come and the preparations she would need to make to help expand her military and stop the GCP and UPR, but for now she could find some solace in the fact that Cortana and Noble had experience with war and that they would help even the field when it came time for Equestria to join the fight.

Author's Note

I decided to add the names of the guns in the notes
Mid range rifle- M090-P2
Assault Rifle-MA02P
Sniper Rifle-SR120-P1
Shotgun- M02A-P09
Machine gun- H102M-P04