Halo: Contact Equis

The Covenant Assault Carrier hovers above the planet somewhere between the Troposphere and Stratosphere. The ship, which had been given the name ‘Fire of the Mighty’, sits in the sky, watching over the unknown planet. Many Sangheili are at the controls when the door to the bridge opens. Many turn as a rather large but gracious Sangheili enters, escorted by two of his best Spec-op officers, and sits down in the Shipmaster’s Chair. One of the pilots then approaches the Shipmaster before quickly bowing.

“Shipmaster Khota ‘Mutamee.” The pilot said to the Shipmaster. “We have valuable info about this mysterious world the Humans have led us to.”

“Do tell me what it is you have found,” Khota replied. He was clad in golden armor, similar to a zealot, but he wore a much bigger helmet. On the right side of his face was a massive plasma burn scar that covered his right eye. The eye in question was also cloudy, signifying it was blind.

“This planet, and the accompanying space around it, is uncharted.” the Pilot replied. “Meaning this world has not been discovered by our great Covenant or the human forces, until now.”

Shipmaster Khota became intrigued, so he ushered his subordinate to continue.

“The planet itself appears to be inhabited by an unknown species.” the Pilot continued. “We were about to contact them when our forces made a shocking discovery. Despite the inhabitants having no advanced technology, they appear to speak the language of the humans.”

The entire bridge fell silent. To many on board the bridge, this fact has left them confused, and somewhat angered. An unknown species speaking the human language is both an impossibility and an affront to their beliefs. Khota slowly leans forward and interlocks his fingers together. He was most fascinated by this discovery.

“Interesting…” Khota said while interlocking his fingers, kkeeping his stoic mannerism. “Tell me. How was a discovery on this scale made?”

“We were able to tap into the Human battle network for only a brief moment.” the Pilot answered. “Through one of their radios, we heard them talking to each other. I will play the audio for you now of what we were able to hear.” said the pilot as he pulled out a data pad.

After pressing a few buttons, it started to play a conversation from a soldier’s radio.

“Eagle Nest to Spartan-A776, this is the Captain. Can you confirm what the inhabitants are? Over.”

“Yes, sir.” a voice the Shipmaster knew all too well replied. Khota let out a soft grumble as he heard the radio message as heard the transmission was coming from a Spartan.

“So,” said Khota. “The humans were able to save some of their demons from their doomed planet.”

“Unfortunately so, Shipmaster.” the pilot said. “And we can confirm this demon is–”

“Commander Maverick; I know.” Khota interrupted before lifting a massive hand to touch the scar on his face. “I will never forget him, or the sound of his voice.”

It was well known amongst the Mighty’s crew that their Shipmaster shares a history with the demon known as Maverick. They have had a few skirmishes for the past two years, but everyone else onboard knew very little of how they first met.

“Anyway, we listened as long as we could before our connection was severed. But we were able to hear this.” said the Pilot as he skipped the audio to the moment he wanted him to hear most. “The Spartan led the native to their bridge, and the foolish human stayed at the bridge, allowing us to hear the conversation through his radio, have a listen Shipmaster.”

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Very well.” A feminine voice replied. “What do you have?”

“We have Water, Tea, Coffee, Whiskey, or Soda.”

“I’ll take a cup of tea please.”

“Now that I have told you my name, could you give me yours?”

“Of course. I am Twilight Sparkle; the Princess of Friendship.” Khota’s eyes widened upon hearing the native say ‘Princess.’ He clenched his hands into fists, his knuckles popping loudly the tighter he makes his fists.

“The humans have already made contact with this world’s leaders!?” Khota stands up quickly with a loud angry growl and forcefully knocks the pilot onto the ground with a strong backhand. The pilot scurries away from Khota before standing up and retrieving the datapad. Khota began to breathe heavily as he looks down at his own fist. “Is there any more to that transmission!?”

“No, sir.” said the pilot, now standing a few feet away from Khota. “That’s when our connection was lost.”

Khota gave a disappointed sigh before sitting back into his seat.

“Then, we must prevent these heathens from siding with the humans!” Khota shouted. “Send out the troops! I want no less than 20 lances on the ground escorted by a few dozen Mgalekgolo now! Attack their puny ship, and send a squad to deliver a message to this, Princess Twilight Sparkle, that they are not to intervene or we shall decimate her planet as well!” The Pilot nods before going to his station to relay the command to the rest of the ship.

“Forgive me, Shipmaster,” Jykan, one of Khota’s Spec-Op officers spoke up, “but why show mercy to this planet? Why not destroy them now while we are here?”

Khota turned to look at Jykan

“Because, we are too far away from the rest of the armada.” Khota answered with a calm tone. “We cannot signal for any backup if we were to glass this planet. Only until our fleet gets closer will the fate of this planet be decided.” Khota sits back down in his chair before interlocking his fingers again. “Besides, I wish not to start destroying this planet until we confirm whether or not any evidence of our gods have been here. We destroy anything sacred, we would be tried for heresy, and I worked too hard to please our gods for them to forsake me now!”

“I understand, sir.” Jykan replied with a bow.

Khota then looks at the Spec-ops Officer before speaking again. “I want you down there as well, Jykan. You and your squad shall lead and spearhead this attack.”

“Very well, Shipmaster. I shall not disappoint you.” said Jykan as he turned to leave.

“You best hope you don’t.” said Khota turning back to face the front of the ship.

Ponyville…

Twilight and her friends had just gotten back to Ponyville after visiting the Ad Meliora. They look around as some ponies had already started to clean up the litter left by the destruction earlier. Twilight then sees Spike approaching her and the others with Starlight.

“Twilight!” Spike joyfully exclaimed before hugging the lavender alicorn. “You’re back! Did you find where that huge flying thing landed?”

“We sure did.” said Twilight with a less than excited tone.

“And something tells me whatever you found wasn’t good.” said Starlight.

“To be honest, not really.” Twilight said with a smile. “It turned out to be a Spaceship.”

“A spaceship?” both Starlight and Spike said in unison.

“Uh-huh, and we met…” Pinkie dramatically paused. “AAALLLIIIEEENS!”

“Aliens!?” Spike exclaimed as his eyes widened. “Aliens are real and I missed out on it!?”

“It’s okay, Spike.” Twilight said while comforting her assistant. “You’ll probably get to see them soon. They were rather friendly and cordial… And have been through a lot.”

“What kind of aliens were they?” asked Starlight.

“You won’t believe this,” said Twilight. “but they were Humans!”

“Humans!?” Starlight exclaimed in disbelief. “But…Humans are just a myth!”

“I thought so too! But they fit the description of them, and their captain even called themselves that! Not only are Aliens real, but so are humans!”

"Twilight?” asked Spike.

"Can you imagine the book I’m gonna write from this!?” Twilight said loudly. “It’s going to be fantastic!”

“Twilight!?”

“I could learn so much from them!”

“Twilight!!” Spike exclaimed, snapping the Alicorn out of her fantasizing.

“Oh, sorry.” said Twilight. “What’s up?”

“There’s still one more question.” Spike answered. “Why are the humans here?”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply as if to respond but she hesitated. The image of the burning Planet resurfaced in her mind. She hadn’t taken the moment to dwell on that fact.

Spike flaps his wings so that he is level with Twilight’s face and began knocking on Twilight’s head. “Hello? Equis to Twilight, focus back to us.”

“Twilight?” Starlight asked the lavender Alicorn. “You okay?”

“…From what the humans told us,” said Twilight, “they were fleeing.”

“Fleeing?” Spike asked. “Fleeing from what?”

Twilight let out a long sigh, her friends behind even became a little uncomfortable.

“The humans told us they are currently in an intergalactic war, a war of genocide.” said Twilight.

“…Genocide?” Starlight asked as Spike’s eyes widened.

“Yes. An alien religious cult known as the Covenant has deemed the humans unworthy of existing in the name of their gods. So they have been wiping out all known humans in…our whole galaxy.” Twilight continued. The two almost couldn’t believe what they were hearing. “Captain McCormick said they target all humans no matter how old… or how young… he even showed us the planet they had escaped from. All it was…just a ball of fire and rock. I don’t know what it looked like before… but it was awful to look at.”

Everything seemed to grow quiet after Twilight, filling in the two on what they had learned.

“What are they doing now?” asked Spike finally breaking the silence.

“They said their ship was damaged,” said Twilight. “So I imagine they will be staying here for the time being.”

"You think that’s a good idea?” asked Starlight.

“Whether it is, or isn’t…” Twilight began, “they have nowhere to go Starlight. They’re refugees. I can’t imagine the kind of pain they are all in. Just imagine if we were in their horseshoes, what if it was our planet on fire?”

That thought alone sent shivers down everypony’s spine. Twilight then looks at Spike as she had almost forgotten something.

“Spike, did you receive a response from Princess Celestia yet?” asked Twilight.

“Oh! Yes, it arrived almost an hour ago, shortly after you left. Here you go.” said Spike as he handed her a scroll and she began reading it.

Dear Twilight,

Your message was deeply disturbing, but very informative. I had sensed some sort of shockwave here at the Canterlot Palace before your message had arrived. When I stepped out to see what it may have been, all I could see was a massive floating object in the sky. I was making preparations to investigate until I received your letter. I am unaware of this “Second Object” and I will be coming to Ponyville immediately with Luna. I want to hear your full report when I arrive.

Your’s truly,
Princess Celestia

Twilight lets out a sigh of relief upon learning that the Princess was on her way. This would be easier to get her to meet with Captain McCormick.

“Princess Celestia is on her way here.” said Twilight, which everypony seemed to have perked up hearing that. “Normally, I would say we should make the town presentable for her arrival, but…” she looks back to the town, most houses still in shambles. “that wouldn’t be possible.”

“Yeah.” Applejack agreed wil. “It’d be best if we just wait ‘ere.”

“I feel like we should be doing something.” said Rainbow Dash.

“What is there for us to do?” Twilight asked.

Before the eight friends could suggest any ideas, they were startled when Pinkie suddenly screeched, “TWITCHY TAIL!!!!”

“P-Pinkie! What the hay!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“My tail’s twitching and my knee’s pinching!” Pinkie exclaimed, much to everypony’s worry, as that only meant one thing.

“S-Something’s gonna fall!? Spike asked with a worried tone. “But what!?” Starlight is heard gulping hard.

“M-Maybe it’s that!” Starlight yelled while pointing up with her hoof. The Mares and dragon all looked to where she was pointing.

Coming right for them was another flying aircraft, but this one was much smaller than the others. It was an ovalish shaped craft, with purple plating on top, and silver on the bottom. It came to a point near the front, and had two turbine engines in the front. It almost looked like a turtle, and something long and glowing slightly hung down at the bottom that was turning from side to side.

It approached them fast and seemed to be heading right towards them. The aircraft starts to pull up to stall and begins to hover in the air. The ponies stared at the strange aircraft in awe, but they could see more coming, a whole bunch more. However, they continue to fly and quickly pass Ponyville with lightning speed, going into the Everfree Forest. The ponies turn back at the single one hovering over their town square it began to open up on it’s sides. That’s when they see a new group of aliens jump out of the craft and land on the ground. They could see three types of aliens exiting the craft.

The first 10 aliens to exit the purple vessel were short and stubby, standing roughly at the height of a pony, but still walked on two legs. They possessed a pair of oversized forearms, each having at least four fingers. These aliens appeared to be wearing strange sets of armor with glowing textures, compared to the humans the ponies met; the first being orange with a vaguely pyramid-like shape, the other being red with two prongs jutting out from the wearer’s back. Each of these small aliens also wore gray masked around their mouths, which left their eyes exposed. There were at least ten of these small aliens; eight orange ones, and two red ones.

The next four aliens to jump out resembled bipedal avians, but lacked any feathers. They possessed elongated heads with bulbous eyes and beak-like snouts, along with plumes of spiny quills at the back of the head and elbows, and digitigrade legs, allowing these aliens to stand significantly taller than the shorter ones. These four bird-like aliens were wielding glowing wrist-mounted shields that were bigger than their entire bodies.

The final two aliens, one crimson and one blue, were the most imposing, as they towered over the rest of the group. Not only were these last aliens bipedal, but digitigrade as well, lumbering along on three toes and possessed four-clawed hands. From the small skin exposed on them, they appeared to be reptilian. Had they possessed wings and a tail, Twilight would’ve assumed they were some unknown breed of dragon.

The ponies stood still as many of the town’s residences also stopped what they were doing to see the aliens get out. Though they didn’t run, they were very cautious and gave the aliens plenty of room. The smaller aliens pointed strange devices at the ponies, but the alien in crimson armor seemed to bark an order at them, causing them lower their arms. That’s when the alien in red armor began to look around, counting all the ponies.

“Which of you is Princess Twilight Sparkle!?” the red alien spoke in deep, guttural Ponish, revealing it’s mouth had four-hinged mandibles rather than a lower jaw.

Many ponies began whispering to themselves while many were frightened by the alien. After nopony said anything, the alien then let out a loud frustrated growl before speaking again. “Reveal yourself, Princess! NOW!”

Out of fear of making the Alien angrier, Twilight stepped forward. The Alien looks at her till she is standing right in front of him.

“I-I am Princess Twilight Sparkle…” Said Twilight. "What is it that you want?” The alien in red looks to his blue companion, he chuckles before turning back to her.

“This is what I want, ‘Princess’” He mockingly answered, then very quickly grabs Twilight by her neck, giving her no time to react. Her friends and many other ponies gasp as he then lifts her into the air by her throat. He squeezes tightly, causing her to gasp for air.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled in horror. The alien only chuckled at her attempts to get away. He pulls her closer till she is right in his face.

Twilight could see all the teeth on his mandibles, and his vertical eyes had a look of death. He then reaches for a device on his hip, and with a flick, a large glowing sword appears from the device. He held it up to her face as she could feel the heat radiating off of it.

“I have a message for you, ‘Princess’ from my Shipmaster.” He began to say as Twilight continued to gasp for air. “You and your species are to stay away from the humans! Their annihilation is the will of our gods, and we will not hesitate to do the same to you and your pathetic race if you get in our way!”

Twilight’s face began to turn blue as he continued to squeeze her throat. Once again, the alien only chuckled at her, finding amusement in her suffering. He then suddenly lets her go, causing her to fall to the ground with a hard thud. She gasps loudly, sucking in a large quantity of air. Without warning, he then delivers a hard kick to her side, a few cracks are heard as intense pain grew across Twilight’s side and chest. The kick sent her flying towards her friends and rolling on the ground.

"TWILIGHT!” The Element bearers, Spike and Starlight yelled as they scrambled towards her. The lavender Alicorn held her side as she tried to suck in large gulps of air, but the sharp pain prevented her from taking anything larger than short breaths. By now, all the aliens had begun laughing at her.

“Allow me to make this message clear, not just to you, ‘Princess,’ But to all of you!” The crimson alien said, now turning to talk to all the ponies standing in watching. “Allow me to elaborate on what will come if you are found anywhere near the humans!”

The alien then barked a new order, causing the small aliens to chuckle maniacally. They aimed their devices again, and from all of them, a green glow begins to emanate from them.

“That doesn’t look good!” Starlight yelled when they suddenly released their charge, firing large balls of hot plasma at the pony’s hooves, striking the ground in front of them.

The grass instantly caught fire where the plasma hit, sending the ponies into a frenzy. They began screaming and running as more blasts from their devices struck buildings, market stands, and some hay bales, setting them all a light.

“What they hay are they doing!? yelled Rainbow Dash. “Who are they!?”

“They… must be… The Covenant!” Twilight said in between her painful breaths.

The blue alien then pulls out his own sword device and approaches the fountain in the square. with one swift motion, his blade cuts the Ponyville statue in half cleanly and he pushes the top half onto the ground. He and the red one began to also laugh at the destruction they were causing.

“That’s it!” Rainbow yelled as she then darts towards the blue alien.

“Rainbow, No!” yelled Applejack.

Flying as fast as she could, Rainbow Dash plants her hoof in the side of the blue alien’s face. Small electrical jolts surround him, but quickly shatters as he is then knocked down to the ground. The crimson one turns to her and lets out a loud growl.

“You want some too, punk!?” said Rainbow Dash as she darts towards him as well. She is then stopped in midair as he catches her in his grasp, again by the throat.

“You dare attack us, creetin!” said the red alien lifting up his sword.

He was seconds away from plunging it in her gut when Applejack ran towards them. She skidded to a halt before quickly turning around and bucking his leg hard. Another aura surrounds him, but Applejack’s hooves break through and hit his leg. The force of her buck causes a loud snapping sound coming from the alien’s leg. He lets out a loud yell as he then drops Rainbow Dash. She takes a second to catch her breath before flying away.

The alien falls to his knee as he holds his injured leg. From his other side he pulls out another device like the smaller aliens were holding, but it was larger. He aimed it at Applejack as she backs away, she could see the fury in his eyes as he began to fire, shooting large blue plasma balls at her. She closes her eyes and braces for impact, but the plasma hits a shield. She looks back to see Starlight stepping forward and using her magic to hold up a magical shield.

The blue alien had just now gotten up and turned towards his companion. He steps forward with the same weapon aimed at them. He roars at them as he too was about to fire, that’s when a large mass from the sky shadows the both of them. They look up to see two large alicorns like Twilight in the sky. they both land with force landing in between them and Starlight. They glare at the two aliens with anger in their eyes. It was Celestia and Luna, the two aliens were taken back by them, as they were larger than any other pony around them.

“We give you this one chance to leave peacefully!” yelled Celestia.

“If you choose to stay, you will be severely punished!” said Luna.

"Ha! What can you do to us, vermin!?” said the blue alien as he stepped closer.

Without hesitation, Celestia fired a blast of magic from her horn at the alien. It punches through his shields with ease and shoves him back quite a bit. He looks down at his armor, and sees that it has been slightly melted. The alien then glares at the two alicorns again.

“We gave you a decision. What is your choice!?” demanded Celestia.

The two aliens then whisper to each other. with no other choice the red alien called for the smaller ones to retreat. They fall back in formation around their leaders as the craft they arrived in then hovers above them. A hatch opens up underneath the ship as one by one they begin to rise up into it through the grav lift. The last one to leave was the red alien, who was still on one knee. He glares at the princesses until finally ascending into the aircraft, which then turns around and heads back up into the sky.

The town still has some small fires, but the bigger ones had already been snuffed out as the Princesses then turn approach the eight friends. Celestia sees her former student on the ground, who appeared to be having some trouble breathing.

“Are you alright, Twilight?” She asked, genuinely concerned for her fellow Princess.

“He… kicked me…” Twilight replied. “Can… hardly… breathe.”

“It sounds like he has broken some of your ribs.” replied Luna. “We shall prepare an advanced healing spell at once!”

Luna’s horn began to glow and she lowered it to Twilight. Some cracks are heard, as the spell repairs the ribs as they snap back into place. When she was done, Twilight could finally take in a deep breath.

“Thank you… Luna.” Twilight said as she began to stand up.

“You are most certainly welcome, Twilight.” said Luna who looked a little drained after performing the spell.

“What in the name of me is going on here, Twilight?” Celestia asked while trotting up to her former student. “We were on our way to Ponyville when we saw those creatures destroying the village."

“It was the Covenant!” Twilight replied, much to Celestia and Luna’s confusion.

“The what?” Luna asked.

“The Covenant!” Twilight responded. “It’s who the humans warned us about!”

“Humans?” Celestia replied dumbfoundedly. “On Equis? That’s very unlikely, Twilight.”

“It’s true! We found Humans on that other ship I told you about in my letter! They crashed near your old castle in the Everfree Forest!” Twilight pointed towards the castle as they all turned to look in that direction.

To their surprise, coming from that direction sounded like some explosions and other noises.

“Oh no… The Humans! We saw more of those aircrafts heading right for them! They must be under attack!” said Twilight as she broke into a sprint back towards the forest.

“Twilight! What are you doing!?” Celestia yelled as she and the others began to chase after her.

“We have to help them!” Twilight yelled. "We have to help the Humans repel the Covenant!”