Author's Note

Hey Everyone, so here it is... only 2 days later then i promised... sorry about that. i have made some drastic changes to the story to make Tony more likable i hope and also turned a 1.8k chapter into nearly a 5k chapter so that's something haha

Anyway i hope you all enjoy :)

Chapter 1 - Pillar of Autumn

UNSC Pillar of Autumn,
Current Location - Lower Flight Deck, ODST Armoury/ Launch Bay,
Status - Under Heavy Covenant Fire, Boarded
ODST's Orders - Abandon Ship, Locate Suitable Location for Forward Operating Base

The halls of the Pillar of Autumn were filled with alien chatter, screams of dying combatants and gunfire, the air was thick with the musk of sulfur and gore. The presence of human life was swiftly vanishing as the survivors quickly abandoned the ship. Soon the only remaining Humans aboard the star ship was a group of black armored marines.

These marines were known as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or ODST’s for short, they were the special forces of the UNSC (If you exclude Spartans of course). The Group was divided into squads of four ODSTs each. Each squadron was given a specific task, the majority of the squads were located in the ODST drop bay while a select few squads had volunteered to run interference with the alien forces on the ship.

One of the few squads not preparing to drop was a small team of marines who were defending the only entrance to the bay. The squad consisted of one of the remaining Lieutenants and a trio of Warrant Officers. The commander of the squad was herculean in stature, standing at a height of 6 foot in height and by far the youngest member of the squad. His name was second Lieutenant Abraham “Irish” Murphy, his Onyx armor was spotless and undamaged. he wielded a Shotgun and a magnum along with a steady supply of grenades.

Kneeling next to him while using the doorway as a brace for her Sniper Rifle was Chief Warrant Officer 3 Julia Ling. Ling’s body type was nearly the opposite to Murphy’s, she was willowy in stature and stood around 5 foot 4 inches tall. Her armor was plain in appearance save for a moon painted on her torso. Ling was equipped with a sniper rifle, a silenced pistol and silenced smg, she would occasionally glance at the other two ODST who were stacked up against the other side of the doorway.

These Hell jumpers were set up in a similar way to Murphy and Ling with one standing and the other kneeling in front of him. The standing ODST was a well built man known as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jamie Peters and stood around 6 foot 1 inches. Like Ling and the remaining ODST, he had a moon painted on his chest plate which was well worn and mostly faded. He wielded a silenced smg, assault rifle and a trio of plasma grenades he had looted earlier.

The remaining marine was a muscular man though not to the same degree as Peters or Murphy. His name was Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Bell who stood at a height of 5 foot 11 inches. He was holding a smg, magnum and an assault rifle while returning the glance back to Ling. The squad had volunteered to hold the door and wait for the remaining surviving squads to arrive and drop onto the mysterious ring world below.

The hallway that they were over watching was their kill box, with it’s grey walls painted mostly an electric blue color with splashes of dark purple. Managed alien corpses littered the hallway along with discarded weapons. The squads in the drop bay had already launched and the radio had been dead quiet for the last few minutes. The ammunition that the squad had stockpiled to use was nearly depleted along with the majority of their explosives.

“I think we may have to close it up sir and leave” Peters said as he looked to Murphy.

“Wait no there are still a few more squads to come” Ling protested as she looked between Peters and Murphy.

“I don’t think they are coming, Julia” Bell said somberly as he got to his feet. “We may be the last ones in Autumn and staying here longer than needed will only be a death sentence.” Bell said as Murphy nodded to him before he signaled Peters to seal the blast door. As he reached the controls, Murphy noticed the air in the hallway beginning to shimmer.

“Contacts!” Murphy roared as the group did their best to get into cover, though Peters wasn’t fast enough as a volley of glowing pink translucent spines pierced his chest, hip, left arm and his neck. Bell and Murphy began firing down the hallway as Ling lunged for the door controls.

Peters was on the floor, gripping the trio of needles in his neck which pulsed violently. He gurgled something out towards his squad mates but a mixture of blood filling his throat and the slight distortion from speaking through his helmet made it incoherent.

Ling managed to activate that door control as she noticed Peters waving to get their attention while the needles began to glow furiously. The sniper gave a confused look to the wounded man as he was pointing at his hip where half a dozen needles sat vibrating and glowing furiously. “Peters what are you doin…” Ling started before she realized that the needles had struck around the trio of plasma grenades attached to Peters’ hip. “Scatter!” She shouted moments before the spines detonated. As the spines detonated, Ling dove for cover while Bell turned and tackled Murphy behind cover and shielded him with his body.

A second passed silently shortly before the deafening explosion of plasma filled the area, the entire room rumbled from the force. The heat from the blasts filled the room shortly before vanishing along with the ringing. As Bell and Murphy regained their ability to hear, they were greeted with another disturbing sound.

The sound of meek sobbing and grunts of pain coupled with the sound of approaching footsteps. Without missing a beat, Bell was on his feet and preparing a frag grenade while keeping his eyes focused on the still partially open door and not the graphic mess that once was his long time friend. He took a single step forward before arcing the primed grenade between the gap shortly before it detonated. The sound of alien cries was heard as Bell pushed up to the door, checked his rifle’s ammo count before firing into the breach, finishing off the rest of the wounded advancing covenant.

Once the hall was cleared, Bell briefly inspected the ruined control panel and cursed under his breath. “Sir! The door is not going to close. We need a game plan.” Bell asked as he moved to find Ling. He quickly found her behind a mostly melted table, her armor was heavily damaged and her left arm had been all but melted away. The moment she noticed Tony, she whimpered louder as her entire body shook. “Hey, I got you” He said as if addressing a small animal as he knelt down next to her.

With the greatest of care he picked up his wounded friend bridal style and got to her feet as she sobbed in pain. “I got you, we are getting out of here” He repeated softly to her as he looked over the horrifying mess that once was Jamie Peters, a veteran ODST who was now only a mess of melted armor, bones and bits of viscera. “Sir! What is the plan?” Bell asked again as he looked around for his commanding officer. “Murphy!” Bell called out, the calm tone in his voice quickly turning to concern as he couldn’t see the young marine.

“J-Jamie… what hap-happened to him?” Julia squeaked out between grunts of pain.

“He’s gone, here let's find somewhere to lay you down and fix you up.” Bell said, his voice returning to a nurturing one as he carried the woman over to a large table. He gently laid her on top of the table and quickly inspected her injuries. Her left arm was missing from the elbow down with only bone and charred muscle up to her shoulder. The armor plating on her right leg, above her femur, appeared to have melted into her leg and exposed the bone.

Her chest plate was sizzling and her visor was shattered with large chunks of it missing. Bell’s heart sank as he inspected his friend before he removed her helmet and placed it next to her body. Once free, Bell saw that her once smooth features had been severely damaged from broken glass. Her once blonde hair was now stained red from blood while her breathing was shallow and more like wheezing.

“Hang on, I'll get you some morphine, then… then… you’ll be alright” He said as he gave her left hand a squeeze while trying to keep composed. Ling looked up at him, her blue eyes gave him a comforting look as she sluggishly lifted her hand out of his grip and to his helmet. Bell nodded to her and removed his helmet before smiling down at her softly as he took her hand once more. His ice blue eyes meeting hers as she gave him a smile. He had crimson hair, a few cuts on his face and a short beard.

“I-it’s fine T-Tony…” She wheezed out before coughing harshly.

“I’ll get you some morphine” He said to her, gaining a nod from her before he let go of her hand. Tony took a step away from the table and looked around for Murphy as he moved to the storage. As he approached the storage, he noticed Murphy was curled up into a ball where Tony had left him. The sight of the cowering commanding officer left a bitter taste in Tony’s mouth as he moved quickly to the storage.

Tony reached the adjacent storage room in a few moments, where he quickly grabbed several pen sized objects that had Morphine written on the side along with lots of words Tony didn’t know. He placed the morphine injectors and some bandages into his rucksack before grabbing several assault rifles, shotguns and placed them onto the storage room’s table. He noticed several wrist mounted PDA’s and attached one to his left wrist.

Tony then grabbed several loaded magazines and a couple of boxes of shells, which he put into his rucksack. Once his bag was back on his back, he grabbed the guns and carried them out into the main room quickly. When he reentered the room, he dumped the weapons and bag next to Murphy before retrieving an injector. He walked over to Ling and removed the armor from her left forearm. “It’s gonna be okay” He said softly as he took the cap off the injector and placed it against Julia’s now exposed skin before applying the painkiller and quickly bandaged her as best he could.

Julia seemed to quickly relax as she looked to the ceiling barely conscious. “Rest for now” Tony suggested to her before he moved to Murphy. As he stood in front of Murphy, he noticed that the lieutenant had removed his helmet. “Murphy” Tony said in a stern voice, causing the much younger man to look up to him as tears ran down his face.

“I… we… how are we meant to live through this?” Murphy sobbed, his voice breaking as he talked. Sighing, Tony knelt down in front of the man, grabbed the officer’s chest plate before lifting him to a standing position.

“Not by sitting and crying we won’t” Tony said in a calm, supportive tone of voice that seemed to catch Murphy off guard. Tony then placed his hands on Murphy’s cheeks and smiled warmly. “We’ll get through this, I know it” he said in a fatherly tone of voice, gaining a hesitant nod of approval from the young officer.

“What should i do?” Murphy asked, his composure returning.

“We load those weapons and i want you to kill anything that comes down that hallway while i set up the drop.” Tony said as he let go of the man and knelt down to start loading the shotguns and assault rifles.

“H-how do you stay so calm and focused?” Murphy asked as he knelt down next to Tony and started loading.

“Simple, I remember a phrase my father taught me.” Tony said as he placed a loading shotgun on the ground while Murphy looked to him patiently. “Would the Child you were yesterday admire the person you are today? If not, adjust for the desired result.” Tony explained as he finished loading another shotgun.

“It's just that?” Murphy asked curiously as he loaded the last shotgun.

“There is another.” Tony said as he got to his feet holding an assault rifle. “Duty and fear follow the same path, we must follow one and conquer the other” Tony explained as he loaded the rifle and loaded a round. Murphy nodded and picked up the loaded weapons and carried them to the doorway long with his supply of grenades. Tony walked over to Murphy and handed the lieutenant his helmet.

“I still don’t know how you aren’t terrified.” Murphy said as he put on his helmet while Tony placed his hand on his commanding officer’s shoulder.

“Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absences.” He said with a smile before putting on his own helmet. Tony picked up the barely conscious body of Julia and carried her to the launch bay. Where he strapped her into a drop pod and went to retrieve a new helmet for her. As he returned and put the helmet on her, she grabbed his shoulder and looked at him.

“I’ll see you on the other side.” She said as she squeezed his shoulder briefly before her grip seemed to fall limp. Tony leaned forward and checked her vitals only to sigh and removed her dog tags.

“Yes you will” Tony replied somberly as he stepped away from her and closed her pod before moving to the controls. Bell quickly put in the launch commands before he heard the briefest sound of gunfire followed by a cry of pain and a disperse of energy. “Shit!” Tony said as he unholstered his smg and moved to where he left Murphy.

As he stepped into the main room only to see Murphy was laying against the doorway with a inch wide slash on his chest running from his left shoulder to the right side of his hip. The edges of the slash were glowing brightly as the gravely wounded man attempted to remove his chest plate with one hand while aiming his pistol around the room.

Bell was about to approach when he heard a noise that made his heart sink, the sound of an energy sword engaging. He noticed the brilliant blue light suddenly come into frame to his left, causing him to dodge backwards. As he did a twin curved energy blade passed in front of him, barely missing him but managing to cut his smg in two pieces. He glanced at the attacker, only to see ripples in the air as he quickly back stepped and drew his magnum. As he moved back, the rippling air seemed to shift into an Elite warrior wearing purple armor.

The Elite lunged forward, but seemed to not suspect Tony moving forward and rolling between its legs. As Tony finished rolling, he pushed himself to his feet, turned around and started firing into the Elite. Although his first couple of shots were panicked and missed, the three following rounds struck home, resulting in the Alien’s armor to glow brightly with a spiderweb of energy. The Elite quickly rolled out of the way of the following shots before attempting to run Tony through.

Tony couldn’t react fast enough to get out of the way and felt a sense of dread overtake him only for a trio of sniper rounds to strike home into the Elite from behind Tony. The first round hit the Elite in it’s left shoulder, depleting the rest of it’s shields and putting a decent hole in the alien, the second scraped against the side of the Sangheili’s face, removing two mandibles. The last round struck into the Elite’s right arm, blew apart the arm, sending a way of purple blood over the floor, the elite and Tony.

The Sangheili was sent into a horizontal spin before crashing into the ground hard and sending it’s weapon to the ground by Tony's feet. Without missing a beat, the ODST grabbed the weapon, activated it and drove it into the spine of the wounded Elite, killing it. Tony released the handle of the blade, causing the energy sword to deactivate and send it onto the corpse beneath him.

The man’s heart beat fast as he took a few steps back and looked towards the person who shot the elite. He quickly noticed Murphy, who was leaning against the launch bay’s entrance with a sniper rifle in his hands which he was barely holding. Blood was quickly flowing from the man’s wound and pooled at his feet.

Tony approached Abraham, who slowly sunk down the wall with a soft hollow chuckle. As Tony was about to reach Murphy, the man fell quiet and still. Tony knelt down next to him and checked for a pulse. The man’s heart sank as he didn’t feel a pulse as he picked up Murphy’s body and carried it to an empty drop pod.

Tony gave a lingering look on the young man’s body before shaking his head, removing Abraham’s tags and closing the pod. “Load up and drop, this isn’t the time for sadness” Tony told himself as he collected Murphy’s sniper rifle, a discarded smg, ammo and rations. The ODST proceeded to load up his drop pod with the gear before setting up explosive charges in the ODST operations area.

“That should be enough” Tony said as he activated the launch protocol and returned to his pod, locking it shut and strapping himself in. After a few moments he felt the pod shift as it pulled backwards, as it was pulled backwards, he watched a huge group of covenant swarm into the operations room. This brought an evil smile to his face as he glanced down at the trigger in his hand.

He heard a familiar beep repeat a few times, steadying his breathing ,Tony activated the trigger as his pod was dropped. His entire pod shook as the explosion’s shock wave hit it while it dropped towards the ring world below. Tony felt his stomach drop as the pod entered the ring’s atmosphere, above a vast forest moments before a brilliantly blinding light and deafening noise flooded into his drop pod, causing him to look away and activate his visor.

“What the actual fuck?” He shouted, barely hearing himself as his Pod shook violently, forcing the man to grip the handholds to avoid getting thrown around as he felt the straps he was in straining. Soon the shaking stopped, along with the noise and blinding light. “Okay, okay it pa… the fuck?” Tony said as he noticed that he wasn’t heading towards a forest anymore, let alone a ring world anymore, he was landing in a frozen tundra on a planet.

“How the fuck did i miss a fucking giant ring!” Tony shouted as he descended.

Location - Crystal Kingdom
Status - Under Siege

“My don’t you look tired?" a tall Unicorn expressed in an amused tone. The Unicorn was a dark grey stallion with a flowing onyx mane. His horn was curved with a sharp tip which was a deep red at the tip. He was dressed in segmented plate armor around his neck and legs with a crimson red cloak. His eyes were green with red iris’ with purple energy burning from them. This stallion was known as Sombra, and he stood proudly in front of a glowing pedestal which shrouded his features in darkness, making him seem more ominous. Laying next to him was a pair of ponies who were partially encased in black crystal. A alabaster Unicorn with a blue mane known as Shining Armour and the other was a violet Unicorn mare known as Twilight sparkle who had a dark purple mane that had a stripe of purple and pink running through it.

He stood proudly in front of an exhausted looking pink Alicorn mare and a terrified small light purple dragon who was clutching a pulsing crystal heart identical to the one on the pedestal that Sombra guarded. All the entrances were blocked off by black crystals and more quickly rose to protect the pedestal.

The Alicorn mare, known as Cadance, struggled to get herself standing straight, her mane was filled with dirt, snow, sticks and blood. Her wings were encased in the same black crystal as her husband and her sister in law. Her normally beautiful features were tarnished with scratches and cuts from recently crashing into the staircase leading to the pedestal. Her pink eyes locked on Sombra as she stood defiantly between herself and Spike the dragon.

“Well aren’t we determined? You may think you look menacing…” Sombra started before his horn glowed, illuminating his face before smiling revealing his sharp teeth. “... But you look like a strong breeze could knock you over.” He said as he took a step forward while his shadow seemed to extend out along the ground towards the princess, stopping short at her hooves. Candance refused to move as her horn weakly glowed in defiance, gaining a dark chuckle from Sombra before he looked to Spike.

“Come now child and give me the heart.” He said with a wicked smile. “So many have fallen against me without so much as scratching me, for the sake of whatever pride you have. Surrender the heart.” He said in a strangely comforting voice only for Spike to shake his head.

“N-no you are like super evil and i’ll never give you the Crystal Heart.” Spike squeaked out heroically, gaining a chuckle from Sombra.

“I am so sorry it seems I wasn't being clear.” He stated, the comforting tone melting away to an apathetic one as long needles made of black crystal rose from his shadow in front of Candance and aimed towards her. “Give me the Crystal Heart before I tear out hers!” He announced in a dispassionate tone.

“Spike, do what you have to do.” Cadance said in a determined tone of voice as she straightened her posture.

“My dear, you have failed just admit it… there is nothing in this world that can possibly stop me!” Sombra declared confidently moments before the crystal wall next to him detonated inwards, sending a strong gust of air into the area along with rubble. Sombra stood there slack jawed as Cadance dove onto Spike to protect him. “I just had to open my mouth didn’t i?” Sombra growled to himself as he glared at the heavy smoke cloud. A few moments passed before the sound of an explosion was heard and a large piece of metal flew out of the smoke and into the crystal protecting the pedestal, shattering it.

Quickly the smoke cleared revealing a black armored being stepping out of a large metal rock. The creature appeared to either be a cyclops or wearing an elaborate helmet as it pulled a pair of long metal items from the rock. Once it had obtained its weapons being turned and surveyed the room it was in, the black visor on its helmet vanished to reveal a face beneath it before the visor reactivated. The being seemed to quickly notice the group of ponies and dragons in the room.

“Help us please!” Candance called out to the being, causing it to raise its shorter weapon and point it towards her. “He means to kill us!” She sobbed as she pointed a hoof at Sombra, who was still trying to process what was happening. The being turned its attention to Sombra. “Please save us.” She sobbed out as the being looked back to her and gave a short nod before turning his weapon onto Sombra.

“Oh buck.” Sombra said as he summoned long black crystal spikes and pointed them towards the creature. “Walk away or... “ Sombra started only for the creature to fire it’s weapon at him in an intense volley of fire. Sombra’s crystal spears were shattered before he could launch them and his armor proved ineffective at protecting him against half a dozen bullets hitting him.

Sombra collapsed onto the crystal floor in pain as he praised and cursed his partial immortality for saving his life while he gasped for air. He could feel his body beginning to quickly regenerate from the damage when he noticed the creature had approached him. He tried to conjure up something to defend him as the creature stood above him but as his horn began to glow it was swiftly crushed under the creature’s boot.

He would have cried out if he could as he watched the creature unleash another volley of fire into him. “You are resilient, I'll give you that.” It spoke in an apathetic tone of voice as Sombra continued to curse his immortality which made him endure through the numerous mortal wounds that covered his body. He struggled to move away from the creature, only to gain another volley from it before it replaced a small black box on it’s weapon.

“You have to put the Crystal Heart on the pedestal or else he won't vanish.” Cadance called out, gaining the creature’s attention. It looked down at Sombra then looked to Spike and the Crystal Heart he was holding. The creature moved away from Sombra and gave a lingering look towards Shining and Twilight before approaching them instead. It knelt down next to the pair and reached out to Twilight causing Spike to get to his feet quickly and run over to it. The young dragon swatted the creature’s hand away and stood between it and his friend. “Spike!” Candace called out as she tried to run over to him but was too tired.

“Don’t hurt her!” Spike threatened, seeing his reflection in the creature’s visor. The creature cocked it’s head softly at the small dragon that was knee height to him and gave a chuckle before it removed it’s helmet. It placed the helmet in front of it and gave a heartwarming smile.

“I don’t mean her any harm, I am just checking to see if she is alright.” He stated in a gentle tone of voice before patting Spike's head and taking the Crystal heart from him. He pulled his helmet back on and carried the Crystal Heart over to the pedestal, stepping passed Sombra, who watched him, unable to move to stop the creature, which he had no intention to do anymore. The creature placed the large crystal on the pedestal, which caused a powerful ripple of blinding white energy to explode out, obliterating Sombra and all the black crystals.

The ODST looked back at the scene to see the dragon cuddling his friend and the Alicorn trying to make her way to her husband. Tony silently walked over to Shining, holstering his smg, and picked up the unconscious unicorn and carried him over to Cadance. The mare looked at him with a smile and tears in her eyes. “Thank you” she crocked out as Tony laid the unconscious stallion next to her before returning to his drop pod.

He tapped on a screen within the drop pod before downloading all the data it picked up during the drop onto his PDA. he grabbed all his things and made his way to the stairs leading to the city when he heard the mare call out.

“Please don’t go.” She said as she looked at Tony while cuddling her husband. “Please, we haven’t thanked you for saving the kingdom.” She said.

“I’m sorry but i have to figure out where i am and how i got here.” Tony replied.

“Twilight can help with that when she is up and so can my aunts.” Cadance replied, gaining a long lingering stare from Tony before he nodded and sat down on the stairs watching the city.