Halo: Stranded

Chapters

Rude Awakening
Smooth Landing
First Contact
Low On Time
Happy Nightmare Night
Extreme Measures
Keep Your Friends Close...
...And Your Enemies Closer
Delicate Situation
Knight in Shining MJOLNIR

Rude Awakening

Halo: Stranded

“Mayday mayday mayday, this is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate EVAC, survivors aboard. Prioritization code Victor 05-3-Sierra 0117.”

Cortana played her distress signal back to herself once more, as if listening to it would change something, even though she knew it wouldn't. She was beginning to wonder if she had gone insane, but she cast the thought away as she once again realized how close to rampancy she actually was. She knew it was inevitable, but she preferred not to think about it, and to focus on what to do once someone or something found them, or vice versa. She found that sometimes talking to herself helped to relieve the boredom, so she did just that.

“We've been floating aimlessly in space for one thousand six hundred fifty one days, six hours, and nineteen minutes. Over four years aboard this ship with nothing to do; no tasks to complete. For over four years, all I have done... is think.” She flashed red for a split second, then quickly returned to her usual blue self. “...What are you dreaming in there?”

Cortana was sifting through older files containing information on the original Halo installation they had found, when one the Dawn's few functioning close range radars pinged. She didn't think much of it, as they hadn't come across a single life supporting planet yet, and assumed it would just be another asteroid. What she saw, however, turned her to a bright shade of blue and purple, showing excitement.

The radar showed that the frigate was approaching what was indeed a life supporting planet. However, she quickly realized that the planet was much larger, and had a much stronger gravitational pull than the few other uninhabitable planets they had passed while adrift in space. She knew what was going to happen, and surely enough, she felt the ship shudder then heard it slowly start to groan and creak. Cortana knew what she had to do.

The hulking Spartan lay in the cryo chamber, completely unaware of what was happening around him. Inside his head, he was running through a field of poles. The poles were exploding into shrapnel around him as something poured round after round into them in an attempt to hit him. He recognized where he was instantly as the Pillars of Loki.

Chief remembered doing this once before, and also remembered what was firing at him. As he continued running, he heard Cortana say something, but he couldn't make it out. Suddenly, he appeared in an open field, and noticed a bell sitting on a tripod across the field from him. He then heard the sound of thrusters behind him, and turned to see a SkyHawk jump jet diving towards him, most likely locking onto him with a Scorpion missile. He tried saying something to Cortana, but found that he could not use his mouth. He tried turning to run, but quickly learned that he could no longer move any part of his body, except his eyes. All he could do was watch as the SkyHawk continued diving towards him.

Chief knew it would be over soon, so he closed his eyes. As soon as he closed them, he heard the SkyHawk fire. The missile soared through the air, and was only milliseconds away from hitting him, when he heard a voice yell his name,

“Chief!”

Everything around him faded into blackness. He felt relieved, but soon realized that something was wrong. He wondered why everything was black.

“Damn it Chief, wake up!”

He heard it again, more clearly this time, and instantly recognized the voice as Cortana's.

“Don't say I didn't ask...”

Chief didn't understand what she meant by that, and knowing Cortana, he was starting to worry. Suddenly, he was jolted violently as a shock of electricity surged through his armour and body, traveling up his spine and into his brain. He was awoken instantly and sat upright lightning fast, nearly smashing his head into the glass cover of the cryo chamber. For a brief second, he was confused as to why Cortana had woken him up, until he started to feel faint vibrations, and could hear rumbling in his cryo chamber. He pulled the manual release, then threw open the door of the chamber, ignoring the pain from the freezer burn that came with waking up from cryo sleep. He floated over to Cortana in a single leap, then ejected her data crystal chip from the holo pad and inserted it into the back of his helmet.

“Chief, you're going to want to see this...”

Before he could say anything, an explosion rocked him off his feet, sending him drifting a few meters to his side. He recovered, and kicked off the wall he had drifted into. By now, he fully realized what was happening. It was not Covenant or insurrectionists attacking the ship, or it would have been vaporized almost instantly in the state it was in. He propelled himself through a pair of jammed blast doors with his zero G boosters, while dodging any shrapnel that got in his way and getting knocked around by explosions. He dodged and weaved his way through the hallways, then finally arrived at the hangar.

The doors of the hangar were completely open, untouched since the last time he was inside of it. He entered cautiously, grabbing onto railings, equipment, and anything else he could hold himself down with. He then looked out of the open hangar at the new world he was approaching and saw huge forests, oceans, and lakes covering the planets surface. He also noticed that there were almost no clouds above the planet for some reason.

The Dawn was shuddering and groaning quite violently now, explosions from deeper within her rumbling loudly. Large chunks and sections of the ship were being torn off as it entered the atmosphere; it would crash land on the dark side of the planet. Chief couldn't tell exactly where it would land, as he was still too high in the atmosphere to be able to make an accurate assumption. As he gazed upon the planet, Cortana realized what he was thinking and piped up immediately, happy to finally be leaving her four year imprisonment aboard the Dawn.

“There!” Cortana yelled, directing Chief to an open SOEIV ODST drop pod safely attached to a wall by a thick metal cable.

Unfortunately, the drop pod was missing its hatch. Chief didn't worry about this though, as he wouldn't be using its acceleration thrusters, only its parachute and braking thrusters. The Dawn was starting to heat up dangerously as it fell closer and closer towards the planet. Chief didn't have much time left to disengage the safety locks from the restraining cable and get the pod airborne before he'd have to activate his armour lockup fail-safe. Doing so would effectively seize up his armour, protecting him from the heat, but dooming him to crash into the looming planet while still being inside of the frigate. He didn't know what to expect on the planet, so he made a dash to pick up any weapons and ammunition he could find from the various weapon racks bolted to the hangar walls.

The hangar was mostly barren of anything useful, but there were still weapons and pieces of equipment scattered around. Chief was beginning to get very hot, so he grabbed and equipped all he could before disengaging the locks from the restraining cable and gunning his boosters into the pod. He flew into it with immense force, knocking it and himself out into oblivion. As soon as he was airborne, he quickly fastened himself into the pod while Cortana used the thrusters to make minor course adjustments so they would not spin out of control.

“Just in time...” he heard Cortana whisper.

As they fell towards the planet, they could only wait, and wonder what might greet them once they landed.

Twilight Sparkle and Spike were eating dinner while they discussed the events of the day.

“That was a pretty awesome party, hey Twi?” the small purple dragon asked.

“I enjoyed it very much, and I'm glad you did too,” Twilight said happily. “Although you really shouldn't have eaten so many cupcakes,” she added scoldingly.

“Sorry, I'll try to remember that next time,” Spike replied apologetically.

The two of them were almost finished eating their dinner, when a reflection of light caught Twilight's eye. Curious as she naturally was, she decided to go and check out the cause of it. Spike followed her gaze, then the two of them approached the kitchen window and looked out across the street to another house.

The light was reflecting off of a large window in the house. They scanned the entire neighborhood for the source of it multiple times, until a bigger flash of light caught their attention. This one was obviously the source of the light reflecting off of the other house's window. They looked up to the sky, where the bigger light came from, and saw a massive meteorite falling towards Equestria. It was in a huge ball of flames, with more flaming pieces falling off of it and a thick trail of smoke following it. Spike and Twilight looked at each other, mouths both agape.

“I'll go get the girls, you send a letter to Celestia. This thing is huge and it looks like it's going to cause some damage!” Twilight yelled as she ran out the door.

Spike nodded, even though Twilight could not see it, then grabbed an inkwell and quill as fast as he could and sat down to start writing.

Smooth Landing

The Master Chief was falling towards the planet at very high speeds. His armour was incredibly hot, along with the inside and outside of the drop pod. As soon as he strapped himself into the pod, he initiated the armour lockup safety procedure, protecting himself from the intense heat.

As he continued soaring towards the planet, he examined the drop pods semi-functioning heads up display. It read: "12 SECONDS UNTIL PARACHUTE DEPLOYMENT" among other things such as, "WARNING: HULL BREACH".

“No shit,” Chief thought to himself. He was still surprised that the drop pod had power; he assumed the cable it was attached to on board the Dawn was meant to charge it.

“Chief, I'm going to adjust our flight path. Our current trajectory will bring us straight into a mountain.”

He felt the thrusters of the drop pod come to life, then felt the pod move in a different direction. He then checked the pods heads up display once more and read, "TWO SECONDS UNTIL PARACHUTE DEPLOYMENT".

He waited for the chute to deploy, and as soon as it did he felt the pods descent slow drastically. He had already entered the atmosphere of the planet while he was attempting to escape the Dawn, and normally, that is when the chute would deploy. However, since they weren't using the acceleration thrusters, Cortana had calculated the best time to deploy the chute, and soon after, the braking thrusters.

He was nearing the ground, and since their speed was considerably slower than normal atmospheric re-entry, Cortana had calculated the braking thrusters to fire at twenty five meters to impact, instead of fifty. Chief glanced at the pods heads up display, forty three meters above ground, roughly five seconds until impact. Soon after, he felt the braking thrusters fire, indicating he was at twenty five meters. He glanced again, eighteen meters. Chief braced himself for impact as well as he could in his unmovable armour.

In an abrupt stop, the drop pod hit the ground with tremendous force, sending violent vibrations through his bones. The impact created a huge cloud of smoke and dirt, and sent bushes and foliage flying in every direction. The sound the impact made would have been deafening had he not had his helmet on.

"That's one way to make an entrance," Cortana muttered. Chief smirked at this.

He then counted to ten inside his head, and satisfied that his landing zone was stable, deactivated the armour lockup fail-safe and cautiously exited the pod.

Loud rumbling and explosions could be heard in the distance where pieces of the Dawn crashed into the ground. Eventually the remaining aft section crash landed, colliding into the planet with so much force that Ponyville shook for seven seconds straight, leaving an eerie rumbling sound that was topped off by an incredibly loud explosion. The explosion was heard for miles around, waking everyone in its range. In the middle of the confusion, the Master Chief's drop pod soared by overhead, crash landing into the outskirts of the dangerous Everfree Forest.

Twenty minutes after Spike and Twilight's departure, the girls, Spike, a dozen royal guards, Shining Armour, and the two princesses stood in front of the library. Ponies for miles around were outside searching for the cause of the loud noises and rumbling. Some were scared and crying, wondering if Equestria was under attack, some were assessing the damage done to their property and the surrounding land from stray pieces of the burning frigate, and some were discussing what they saw, trying to piece together the puzzle of this confusion. Since Ponyville and Canterlot were the closest places to the landing zone of the wreck, it was complete chaos there. Mayor Mare was attempting to calm everyone down in Ponyville, while the royal guard and diplomatic leaders were trying to do the same in Canterlot, but it was to no avail.

“Luna and I were well aware of the meteorite, and we already had a squad of royal guards readied to investigate. We were to accompany them. We were about to set out when I received Spike's letter, and we thought having you girls come along would be an excellent idea,” Celestia said to the girls. “We brought the Elements as well, just in case we come across anything dangerous.” There was a hint of nervousness in her voice, making the girls eye each other cautiously. She must have sensed their feelings though, and she snapped out of it. “We will be leaving in five minutes, so collect your things and be ready for the journey,” she said sternly.

“Uhm, Princess?” Applejack said nervously, “Why exactly would we be needin' the Elements anyway?” she asked. “Ah mean, it is just a rock, isn't it?” she added slowly.

“I do not know. We most likely will not need them, Applejack. We are only taking precautions, in case something does happen.” Celestia answered.

“But what threat could a rock possibly represent?” Rarity asked in a slightly disgusted tone. “I mean, other than chipping your hooves and getting you all dusty...” she added fearfully.

Celestia was about to reply, but she was cut off.

“Actually, it was my idea to bring the elements. I suppose I should tell the rest of you what I saw, since I most likely had the best view of what happened.” Princess Luna stepped forward. “I was sitting on my balcony, gazing over Canterlot and beyond, when I first saw it up high in the night sky. It was large, and falling fast. More and more pieces broke off of it, and as it got closer I was able to see that some of the pieces reflected the light of my moon. This meteorite is certainly not made of rock, that is for certain. The way it shined, and how it rumbled so much, as if it were being torn apart from the inside as well as out... I do not know what it is, but we must be very careful. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so we do not know what to expect, therefore we must take every precaution.”

“I agree,” Twilight said. “We're ready to go now. Spike, did you triple check everything?”

“Sure did! Do you want me to go with you, or stay here?” he asked.

“Sorry spike, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd stay here. Someone needs to watch over our places for us while we're gone, it's going to be a bit of a journey,” Twilight replied.

“Don't worry Twi, I understand,” he answered cheerfully, relieved that he could finally go back to bed. Despite everything that was happening, he was beginning to feel very tired.

“Then lets get going! It's gonna' take at least a day to get to the meteorite, and another to get back!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Yeah, I wanna' see if I can make some new alien friends!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily.

“But, what if there IS something dangerous though?” a very nervous Fluttershy asked.

“Do not worry, Fluttershy. Nothing can harm you as long as all of your friends are with you. I'm sure everything will be just fine,” Princess Celestia said reassuringly. With that, everyone set out. The girls and princesses escorted by the squad of royal guards. They headed South, towards the Everfree Forest, then stopped once they neared the entrance.

“If we cut through the forest, it would save half the time it would take to go around, although it is much more dangerous this way,” Celestia said slowly, contemplating on what to do.

“Because of the magical aura surrounding the Everfree Forest, it makes it extremely difficult, and possibly hazardous, for us to perform a group teleport spell to bring everypony to the other side of the it,” Luna said. “Once we get far enough into the forest though, it will become easier to cast the spell. We just have to pass the halfway point.” She turned to her sister, then said, “It is your choice Celestia.”

“It will be a three hour hike to pass the halfway point, but it will save us many more hours. As for the many dangers inside...” Celestia glanced towards the forest and continued, “I'm sure there is nothing that the Elements of Harmony, Princess Luna, myself, and a squad of royal guards can't handle.” With that, she entered the forest, the girls, her sister, and the guards following closely behind.

The Master Chief stepped out of his smouldering drop pod and examined his surroundings. He began securing the landing zone, and noted that everything seemed slightly more colourful and brighter than usual. As he walked, he stretched his stiff muscles. He then had Cortana run a full maintenance scan on his armour, and to his fortune, all of his armour was fully operational.

He glanced down to the many bags and magazines attached to his belt, and took a moment to assess his gear and the state it was in. Before he fled the Dawn's burning wreck, he had managed to grab a 99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, an M7 SMG, and an M6C Magnum. Unfortunately for him, most of the ammo he had grabbed was scorched and melted, along with the magnum. He had only three magazines left for his SMG, and two for his sniper rifle. He had also grabbed a Combat Knife, bubble shield generator, and a medical kit.

The Master Chief decided that heading to the wreck of the frigate was the best course of action, as there wasn't anywhere else for him to go he figured, and hopefully he could find more supplies.

“Where are we?” he asked Cortana while looking at all of the strange sights of the forest.

“I don't know, somewhere very far from humanity though. We drifted for a very long time, and I was only able to do so much to keep our flight log updated with the very limited navigational equipment we had. This planets climate is very much like Earth's though, the flora and fauna are extremely similar, some even the same. Oxygen levels are the same as well, and the sun here is a yellow dwarf star, just like Earth's. The moon here is considerably larger than ours though.”

“Good to know,” Chief replied sarcastically. “Find me the fastest route back to the Dawn, we're setting up base near it. We need more supplies, and most importantly, we need to make sure nothing decides to go exploring its wreck. Maybe we can find out where we are too.”

“Understood,” Cortana replied. “Done.” A blue arrow appeared on Chief's heads up display. It read 23 miles from him, normally a 20 minute sprint for the Chief, but he was in the middle of a large and seemingly endless forest, and to make things worse, he had no sense of direction. The compass on his HUD kept rotating, trying to find a magnetic North, but it could not. The foliage was incredibly thick as well, keeping him down to a brisk walk for the most part.

“I can create a small map of the areas we've already been through with your suits motion tracker and external scanners. All I detect is thick forest for miles around," Cortana said. "Although, instead of heading to the wreck, I suggest you set up camp somewhere for the night. You're going to need your rest,” she added.

“Understood. How many lifeforms are there in this forest? My motion tracker is going crazy,” Chief said as he took another look around the forest.

“This forest is almost exactly the same as a typical rainforest on Earth, so there are going to be many creatures inhabiting it. Don't worry though, I'm sure they're mostly prey, and any predators that come sniffing around you should be able to deal with. There is one oddity though, I'm picking up huge electromagnetic fields all throughout and around the forest. Stay on your toes, Chief.”

“Affirmative,” he replied. “Mark the drop pod with a nav point, this is where we set up camp for the night.” He then began gathering any supplies he could use to create a temporary camp, using all of the tricks he had learned from his early days of training.

“How much further until we pass the halfway point?” Rainbow Dash asked, slightly irritated that she had to walk with the rest of them.

“By the feel of it, not much longer. Twenty minutes at the most,” Princess Luna replied.

Suddenly, a piercing howl cut through all of their ears, stopping them dead in their tracks. They looked around, knowing full well that a group of timber wolves could easily have been stalking them the entire time. The guards formed a protective shield around the princesses and the girls, waiting for anything to attack. After two long minutes, they moved on, but much more cautiously this time.

“So, Princess Luna,” Twilight said, “You said what you saw was definitely not made of rock?” she asked.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. I am certain that it is not made of rock,” Luna answered.

“So do you think it's made out of some sort of metal then?” Twilight asked curiously.

“I do not know, but that certainly seems like a logical explanation,” Luna replied.

“Well whatever it is, we'll be able to take it on!” Rainbow Dash said fiercely. “I mean, what could take on all of us? Nothing, that's wh-”

“Woah!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Look at that!” she yelled excitedly, pointing her hoof at the Master Chief's smoking drop pod. The drop pod was slightly hidden from them on the other side of a patch of trees and bushes, but was still very visible.

“Lets check it out!” Rainbow Dash yelled, hopping through the trees and bushes to get a closer look.

“Be careful, Rainbow,” Twilight warned.

The rest of them slowly made their way through the foliage, over to the drop pod. There they stood, crowding in front of it, staring at it in shock as if it were some sort of powerful weapon. In a way, it was, for it certainly carried one. After a few minutes of gawking at it, they heard a crunch somewhere in the thick patch of bushes they had come through. Everyone turned to look, but did not expect at all to see what they were about to see.

First Contact

Master Chief was collecting sticks, logs, leaves, and anything he could find to create a camp. He had found and brought back many materials, and was returning with his last load of supplies. According to his mission clock, it had been roughly two hours and fifteen minutes since he landed.

Chief had decided to make the drop pod a forward operating base, in case he had to leave the Dawn or fall back to a safer position. To do this, he needed to gather enough materials to build it. He had grabbed an emergency supply satchel when he fled the Dawn, and it contained tools and rope, among other things. All the essentials to setup a small camp--save for the materials nature could supply--could be found inside of the satchel. It also contained a side pouch holding six MA5B Assault Rifle magazines and three Fragmentation grenades.

He was almost back to the drop pod with a final load of logs, when he heard rustling in the bushes to his right. He turned, dropping the logs and drawing his SMG, and crouched low into a defensive position. He checked his motion tracker and noticed one small red dot in the bush. Despite being small, this dot was quite a bit larger than any of the other dots filling his motion tracker. It was most likely a predator, he thought. After a few seconds of silence, the dot slowly moved away and out of the range of his motion tracker. Chief waited for ten seconds, his M7 scanning the surrounding bushes the entire time, then decided to move on.

"It was fairly small. Most likely nothing to worry about," Cortana said calmly.

Chief re-attached his M7 to his side, then picked up the logs he had collected that trip. He moved slightly faster. Upon reaching the drop pod, he heard more bushes rustle. This time though, his motion tracker picked up four dots; the small one, and three bigger ones. He crouched into another defensive stance, SMG raised, and waited. The dots disappeared instead of moved away, which meant that whatever was stalking him from the bushes was still there.

After seven seconds of silence, eight yellow eyes came into Chief's view, his motion tracker tracking the small movements of them as they crept forward.

Then, in one quick movement, two huge wolves launched out of the bushes at him.

Chief easily dodged, ducking under both of them. They flew over his head and landed a few meters away. He turned to look at the two wolves he had just evaded, his gaze causing the larger of the two to release a vicious howl at him. The other two wolves still waiting in the bush decided to attack, attempting to take him by surprise now that his back was turned. Chief had expected this, and when he saw two dots moving towards his back on his motion tracker, he sidestepped to his left while spinning his body around to land a devastating punch square on top of the larger wolf of this duos head.

His fist connecting with its head made a sickening thudding sound, and it was dead before it knew it. Its head was crushed--reduced to small bits of wood and tiny splinters. The other wolf was devastated at the sight of another from its pack killed so easily, and ran to the first two. Chief examined the wolves, and saw that they were made out of sticks and logs, nothing else.

“What the hell are these things?” he asked Cortana.

“Some form of wolf. A strange one, indeed. They act just like normal wolves, but their skin seems to be replaced with wood. Just hit 'em where it hurts Chief, neck, head, doesn't matter. Look at what you did to the last one,” Cortana answered calmly.

Feeling quite sure that he had the upper hand, Chief lowered his SMG and attached it to his side. Better not to waste his ammo when he knew he could take them down with his fists.

The wolves were now closing in on Chief in an attempt to surround him. He took a defensive stance and waited for them to attack so that he could counter-attack them. He did not need to find out if their teeth were able to puncture his armour by making a foolish first move. He knew they were only wolves, and most likely child's play for him, but he wanted to see what they were capable of before initiating a fight.

The wolf closing on his right snapped at him, then faked a jump at him to see if he would flinch. When Chief did nothing but angle his body slightly towards it, the wolf stepped back, demoralized. The wolf directly in front of Chief decided to take action, and ran at him in an attempt to tackle him. Even charging at full speed, the wolf had no chance of touching him, and Chief easily sidestepped to his left.

The left and right side wolves quickly decided to try and tackle him while he was off guard, but unfortunately for them, Spartans were almost never off-guard. They leaped at him, but right as they were about to collide with him, Chief delivered a nasty elbow to the jaw of the wolf on his left, and at the same time a devastating blow to the head of the wolf on his right. The wolf to his left hit the ground behind him hard, slowly dying from the blow that ripped off its jaw, while the one to his right slammed into the ground a few meters in front of his feet, killed instantly.

The remaining wolf was the smallest one. It looked to its three fallen comrades, and with a short whimper, decided to retreat.

“Smart thinking,” Chief said as he watched it run off into the foliage.

“Strange, this variation of wolf contains some sort of thick sap-like blood. Not surprising, since they're made of wood, but how they managed to acquire wood for skin seems completely illogical. They don't even contain organs, it's as if they only need the sap-like substance to survive, so I don't know why they would feel the need to be predators. Perhaps there is something else that drives them to kill. I'll have to look into this.”

The Master Chief scanned the area and saw nothing but endless forest. Satisfied that he was once again alone, he picked up the logs he had thrown down and began heading back to the pod. He was walking through a patch of thick bushes, almost back to his makeshift camp, when he heard voices ahead. He stopped and crouched low by instinct, then slowly crept forward towards the voices. He carefully placed his load of logs down, then quietly moved a large bush aside just enough to see where and what the voices were coming from.

He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw them. First he saw two large horse-like beings with horns and wings, who he recognized as alicorns; mythical creatures he had once learned about long ago. One was pure white, with a colourful flowing mane and tail, and the other was dark blue, with what looked like the night sky in its mane and tail. He then saw a dozen smaller ones in golden armour, and six others beside them. Some of them had horns, some had wings, and some had neither. They all had strange pictures on their flanks too, which confused Chief even further. He recognized the creatures as unicorns and pegasi, all of which he learned about when he was a boy.

Of all the strange things Chief had seen over his life of fighting, this had to be one of the strangest. Up there with the Gravemind, for sure. He continued watching them as they stared at his drop pod, looking uncertain on what to do.

“What the hell are these things?” Chief asked simply, beginning to wonder how many other insane things there were on this planet.

“They look like equines, or unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns if you will. How they talk, and why they look that way confuses me as well though,” Cortana said.

“I thought all horses were disgusting,” he replied.

“Yes, but it sounded like they were talking, so clearly these ones are of a higher intellect than normal equines. They must be capable of taking care of themselves too,” Cortana stated.

To the Chief they looked relatively harmless, but he knew better than to approach unknown aliens--horses or not--with unknown intentions, so he moved to a better position to watch them. As he did, he snapped a branch off of the bush he was behind, creating a loud and sharp crack. He cursed MJOLNIR's bulky design under his breath, and crouched down again.

“What was that?” one of them asked in a slightly fearful tone. This one was cyan, with a rainbow coloured tail and mane.

"Do you think it was an a-a-alien?" a butter coloured one with a pink mane and tail asked fearfully.

“Ah don't know, it came from those bushes though,” an orange one with a blonde tail and mane wearing a stetson said slowly, pointing a hoof towards the bush that Chief was behind.

When Chief heard their voices up close, he immediately began to wonder just how complex these ponies were. Their voices sounded female, and the orange one even had a southern accent.

“Careful girls, do not get too close. Let Luna and myself handle this. Guards, stay back, we do not need to intimidate whatever may be in that bush,” Chief heard the large white one say. He contained a small chuckle as he heard the white alicorn say they did not need to intimidate him.

“Hello, is there someone in there?” she asked soothingly, “We mean you no harm, we would just like to talk to you," she said.

“Celestia, whatever it may be, it most likely does not understand you. It's no use,” Luna snapped.

Chief was surprised they spoke English, very surprised, actually. He knew his translation equipment would do him no good since they were unknown to it, so he was glad he could understand them.

“You never know, Luna,” Celestia replied. She asked again, “Is there anything in there? We just want to talk.”

As dense as the forest was, Chief would not be able to hide from them forever. He wanted to keep his position hidden from any of the planets inhabitants until he and Cortana could properly assess them to see if they could be of any use. He needed to get the equines off of his trail. If he evaded him, they would surely follow. He would need to drive them away.

“Yes, there is,” he said ominously.

All twenty one ponies gasped loudly when they heard the Spartan's deep mechanical voice. He had never thought about it until now, but his voice did sound quite intimidating. To some it may have even sounded scary. Every one of the ponies stood still, clutched by fear. They looked towards the direction Chief was in as if expecting something to happen, and eventually the two princesses broke out of its grasp.

“Why are you hiding in there?” Celestia asked nervously, her voice almost down to a whisper.

“Would you prefer if I came out?” Chief replied menacingly.

“We mean you no harm, can you say the same to us?” Luna asked sternly.

“I can't make any promises,” he answered grimly. At this, the royal guards straightened up and rushed to the princesses sides.

“Come out slowly, no sudden movements!” Shining Armour said in a loud, commanding voice. Chief noticed that the voice of this one sounded male.

Judging by their weapons and armour, the equines did not seem to present a threat to Chief. Intimidating them would be fairly easy, he thought. Following his orders, the Master Chief moved the foliage and bushes aside, and stepped out into the open.

There he stood in front of them, a massive seven foot tall Spartan II, fully clad in MJOLNIR Mark VI Powered Assault Armour. He was quite a bit taller than Celestia and Luna, and much more bulky, making the other ponies seem like tiny toy dolls to him.

All the equines could do was stare in awe at the hulking beast. The guards, taking an immediate disliking to him, raised their spears and formed a protective shield around the princesses and the girls, Shining Armour at the front of the shield. Instinctively, Master Chief took a step back into a fighting stance as well, raising his M7 at them.

“Guards, lower your spears!” Celestia commanded. They were hesitant at first, but after a couple of seconds they reluctantly lowered their spears, keeping a tight grip on them. “I apologize. I can assure you, we mean no harm to you. My guards are just taking the necessary precautions,” Celestia said, her voice sounding much more nervous than it had ten seconds ago when she wasn't looking directly into the Spartan's polarized faceplate.

“Step away from the pod,” Chief said forcefully. “Now," he added. He knew the pod represented no amount of significance, but he would be as intimidating as he could, and hopefully it would drive the strange equines away.

The girls were the closest to the pod, so they very cautiously moved a few meters away from it, their eyes glued to Chief the entire time. Shining Armour stared down the barrel of Chief's SMG, and he slowly asked,

“What does that thing do?”

Before he could react, Chief aimed at the ground beside Shining Armour's hooves and let a three round burst go. The shots cracked out into the night with a trio of loud pops, sending bits of dirt flying in every direction. The guards and the princesses all jumped at the sound, and the girls shrieked in terror. Shining Armour almost fell over from the shock, but regained his composure soon after. He raised his spear at the Master Chief, directing the other guards to do the same.

“That was completely unnecessary,” Princess Celestia said in an offended but still fearful tone.

“All of you, leave this area now. You're interfering here,” Chief said with much force. He knew they were interfering with nothing as he would need to relocate now that they had found his camp, but he would need to be rid of them first.

“We will not be told where we are and are not welcome in our kingdom. Now lower your weapon, we simply wish to talk,” Luna said, matching the force of Chief's voice. She continued, “Where did you come from and why are you here?”

“That's classified,” Chief answered simply. “This is your last chance to leave, you're interfering with UNSC business,” He added in a very menacing tone.

“You will not speak to us like this. We are the princesses of this land, and we demand you tell us what we ask,” Luna replied, starting to become angry with the strange green alien.

“Have it your way,” the Master Chief said, realizing that they would not leave him be unless he forced them to do so. He remembered that making the first move against an unfamiliar foe was foolish, but these creatures seemed to possess some intelligence, and he wanted to be rid of them as soon as possible. The sooner they were off his trail, the better.

He raised his SMG at Princess Luna and was about to fire when a soft yellow aura formed around his hand, forcing him to lower the weapon. He noticed the same coloured glow around the white alicorns horn. The guards took this as a signal to attack, and Shining Armour and two other guards charged at him.

The aura tore the SMG out of his hand and threw it to the ground, eliminating his plan of cutting the equines down as they ran towards him. It then formed around his hand once more, but he quickly fought out of its grip. He was surprised at how strong it was. The guards were closing in on him fast, so he stepped back and crouched low, ready to counter-attack the charging equines.

Shining Armour was first up to bat. The stallion charged at Chief, teleporting to the other side of him at the last second in hopes of getting a quick swipe from behind, but the Spartan reacted to this, knowing he was there with the help of his motion tracker. He turned and dodged the first swipe of his spear, blocking the second with his arm. Shining Armour was shocked at how solid the Spartan's arm was, and took a few steps back.

The other two guards closed in on Chief from behind, and attempted to stab him in the back. He batted the first lunge away with no effort, then grabbed the second spear and ripped it from the guards hooves. He snapped it in two like it was made of paper, then dropped the pieces to the ground.

Now it was his turn to attack.

Chief rushed towards the first guard that attempted to stab him, grabbing him by the neck in a flash of green, and threw him into the ground, breaking his neck and sending a spray of blood from his mouth. The second guard attempted to land a punch to the Spartan's gut, but Chief grabbed the guard by the foreleg and in one quick motion launched him into the drop pod, snapping his spine in two.

He turned to Shining Armour--who was standing in disarray at the quick and brutal deaths of his guards--and ran at him full speed, attempting to flatten him with one swift punch. He raised his fist, about to bring it down onto the captain of the guards head, when Shining Armour teleported to the other side of him in a quick attempt to save his life, barely managing to dodge Chief's fist.

Chief hit nothing but air, and stumbled slightly. He regained his balance immediately though, and was unimpressed at the guard attempting the same move twice. He quickly pivoted and delivered a powerful round house kick to the guards gut, shattering his ribs and cracking his armour in multiple places. Shining Armour fell to the ground and began wheezing in tremendous pain. Chief moved in to make the killing blow, when he found that he could not move. It was exactly like his dream, only this time he was surrounded by a soft yellow aura. The same aura that had prevented him from firing his SMG before.

“ENOUGH!” Celestia bellowed in the royal Canterlot voice, finally broken out of the death grip the Spartan's harsh actions had on her. She and Luna hadn't witnessed such actions of brutality since the time of Discord's rule, when they were much younger. She continued, “WHAT DO YOU THINK GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO COME INTO OUR KINGDOM, THREATEN ME, MY SISTER, MY GUARDS, AND THEN ATTEMPT TO KILL US? YOU WILL SUBMIT TO US, OR WE WILL RESPOND IN THE PROPER MANNER.”

“Release me,” Chief said firmly.

“VERY WELL, IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO COMPLY, WE WILL TAKE ACTION,” Celestia yelled, extending her wings. “SUCH ACTS OF VIOLENCE AND MURDER MUST BE PAID FOR WITH THE ULTIMATE PRICE!” she roared.

Her eyes and horn began glowing an intense white as she lifted herself into the air with her wings. It reminded Chief of a Covenant battleship's plasma cannons before they were about to fire. He couldn't move, and all he and the others could do was watch as the princess prepared to end his life.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp jolt throughout his body.

He realized it was his energy shields coming to life around him. Cortana was going to put him into armour lock, he thought. Then without warning, his shields flared around him, lashing out at the surrounding aura and forcing it back, releasing Chief of its grip. The two energies mixed, and created a shock wave of electricity. In the confusion the Master Chief rolled to his side, narrowly dodging a huge beam of energy Celestia fired at him. He thought it looked like a Spartan laser firing, just instead of being red, it was an intensely bright white.

"You aren't getting yourself killed on my watch," Cortana said in a playful but still serious tone.

The beam hit the ground where he stood only two seconds ago, leaving a crater the size of his drop pod. Chief eyed his SMG lying on the ground near his feet, and quickly picked it up. He fired the entire magazine into the now hostile group of ponies. Celestia and Luna countered his attack with a protective shield of pure white and sapphire coloured energy; Chief's bullets simply bounced off of it.

He had to get away from them; the white and blue alicorns were too strong for him to fight with his limited supplies, and he had no battle plan. He reached into his satchel and drew a frag grenade. Hitting the small red button to prime it, he released the spoon and threw it at them. It detonated as soon as it hit their shield, creating an incredibly loud boom and covering the area in a large cloud of smoke and dirt.

This gave Chief the distraction he needed to bolt into the forest and disappear, so that he could think of a plan to combat the alicorns.

Low On Time

The group of ponies stood completely still. They were all shocked at the events that had just occurred, and especially shocked at the new side of Princess Celestia they had met.

Luna was the first to break the ice.

“Celestia...” She whispered delicately, looking to her sister. Luna was the most shocked at what they had just seen. Even when they had fought Discord all those centuries ago, Celestia had stayed calm and collected, which helped Luna to do the same. Of course they were much younger and more forgiving then, but seeing her in the way she just did, in rage, made Luna feel... uneasy. She didn't know what she felt, for she had never felt it before. Even when Celestia, and later on, the girls used the Elements of Harmony against her, she only felt anger. Confused at the feeling, Luna spoke again, “Celestia... are you okay?” She asked in a caring but nervous tone.

“Yes, Luna. I am fine. Is everypony alright?” Celestia asked quickly as she looked around at the guards and the girls. They all slowly nodded to her, but when she looked at them she realized that mentally, what they had just seen had shook them. She realized why in an instant. Disturbed at how her actions influenced them in such a way, she looked to her younger sister, knowing she would understand. Instead of understanding, though, what she saw in Luna's eyes broke her heart.

It was fear.

She suddenly felt disgusted at the way she had acted. She easily could have performed an incapacitation spell on the alien instead, she thought. Assuming it was organic. Celestia took a few steps back, surprised at how suddenly everyone seemed to alienate her when she showed them a new side of herself. She couldn't blame them though, the only side she had ever showed almost anyone was that of understanding and kindness. There was the odd time she occasionally got angry, like when Discord returned, or when Twilight had accused the seemingly innocent Cadance of being evil, but that was mostly out of agitation and dissapointment. Celestia hated the feeling of having everyone fear her, especially her own sister and personal student. She had to apologize at the very least. She didn't want her subjects to think of her as a monster.

“Everypony, I'm sorry. I let my emotions get the better of me, and for that I apologize. You must understand that I was just being careful, to protect all of you. This is something that has never happened before. We do not know how dangerous this being is, or what it is capable of. When it threatened us and raised its device to Luna, I was enraged by its brash actions, but I was also fearful for everypony's safety. I was only able to think of one way to defend you all from it. If I knew its intentions, or had more time to think, I could have dealt with the situation differently, but this is an unknown being with unknown intentions. I hope you can all understand.” Celestia said sincerely. They all nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. Luna smiled at her sister, glad to have the calm and serene Celestia she knew and loved back. Returning to the problems at hand, or hoof, Luna said,

“Guards, please take care of those two.” She glanced towards the two fallen pegasi, “This will not happen again. May they rest in peace.” She said softly. Four guards began to slowly pick up their dead, creating makeshift stretchers for them out of the piles of sticks and logs the Chief had collected, while two others tended to Shining Armour, removing his chestplate to inspect his wounds. The rest began to inspect the pod, occasionally checking behind them for the Master Chief. The girls were almost in shock at the scene that had just happened in front of them, they didn't even notice when Celestia approached them.

“Girls?” Celestia said quietly. As soon as they heard her voice, they came to. They slowly looked to her, all but Twilight, who looked to Shining Armour, finally registering that her brother could have been killed. Everything had happened too fast for them to wrap their heads around, and she didn't process it until now. She rushed to his side and lay down beside him, crying lightly into his mane.

Twilight looked up to one of the guards, “Is he... gonna' be... alright?” She asked between sobs.

“Yes, he will be okay, he is only unconscious. He was badly injured though, and all of his ribs were broken. He also has lots of internal bleeding.” The guard said. Twilight noticed the blood trickling out of his mouth, and buried her face into his mane again. “It will be a long recovery, but he will be back to his full strength eventually.”

“Okay...” Twilight answered thankfully, glad to hear her brother was going to live. At this, Fluttershy snapped. She, along with almost everyone else, was in complete fear of the Spartan that so easily defeated the three guards. She started bawling hysterically, curled up into a tiny ball at the girls hooves. Applejack was the first to try and comfort her, she slowly lay down beside Fluttershy and put a foreleg around her in an attempt to calm her down. The rest of the girls sat down as well, speechless and unable to think straight. Celestia was slightly surprised at how badly they were taking it, but when she thought about it, she had handled the situation quite poorly as well.

Celestia decided that the best plan was for everyone to go home and rest. She no longer wanted to investigate the meteorite, in fear that there would be more of the deadly aliens, but she knew she had to, to keep her kingdom safe. Even if she had to lose some guards. They were not adequately suited to dealing with the alien right now though, and the Elements of Harmony were in no state for a fight. It was very late as well, and the best thing for everyone to do was to regroup and rethink of a strategy to either apprehend, or if need be, eliminate the threat. Celestia hoped it wouldn't have to come to harming it, she now had time to think of a peaceful way to resolve the situation, but she knew if it made another attempt on their lives, she would not hesitate.

Chief ran through the forest as fast as the terrain would allow him to. He ran past bushes, ducked under branches, and jumped over creeks. After running for five minutes, he came to a halt in a small clearing and took cover under a tree. He could take some time to assess his current situation from here.

“They seemed rather hostile, I think we may need to skip rest for the night Chief, and find some more weapons from the Dawn.” Cortana said coldly. They seemed rather hostile? Chief knew hostile when he saw it, that was self defense. Surely Cortana would know that. He was the hostile one here, after all. He had no choice though, he had to get off of this planet, and these horses bothering him only wasted his very valuable time.

Cortana had entered rampancy once before, and it wasn't a good sight. It would be much more serious now though, she is past the rampancy expected age, and with the amount of time she had to herself on the Dawn, it would have to happen very soon. Chief knew that much. If more of the horses tried wasting his time, trying to help him or not, he would dispose of them in the quickest way he could think of. He figured intimidating them and scaring them off would be the best thing he could do, but he would resort to violence if he had to, like last time. He just hoped it wouldn't backfire and they would start hunting him down. That would waste too much of his time, he thought. It didn't seem likely that they had any spacecraft anyway, so they most likely couldn't help him. Besides, how could they even create something as complicated as a slip space drive with hooves anyway? He thought about what would happen to Cortana if they didn't get off the planet in time, but quickly pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He didn't even know if there was a way to help her, but there sure as hell wouldn't be one here, so there was no reason to waste time on this planet.

“Understood.” He replied, ignoring her comment on them being hostile. “Can you establish a link to anything human out here? Covenant even?” Chief asked. Hell, he'd even take Forerunner.

“Negative. Everything is still blank. We truly are alone out here, Chief, and by the looks of the armour and weapons those equines used, I highly doubt they would be technologically advanced enough for interstellar travel.” Cortana said sadly. “We may be stuck here for a whi-AAANGH!” Before she could finish her sentence, she started screaming in agony.

“What's happening? Cortana!” Chief yelled with worry. She suddenly appeared in front of his visor. She was flickering between red and her primary blues and purples, and the ones and zeros that usually scrolled across her body moved at half the speed they normally did. She looked battered, to say the least, and the way she was holding her head as if she were in pain made Chief worry more.

“Chief, the electromagnetic fields surrounding this forest are really playing hell with me...” Cortana said slowly, “...and with the state I'm in, it's a downhill battle for me... we have to get out of this forest.” She added weakly, her voice trembling. Cortana was obviously doing worse than Chief had thought.

“Acknowledged. Lets get moving.” Chief said as thoughtfully as a soldier like himself could. he jogged through the forest for the next hour and a half, occasionally running into more of the strange wolves, which he dispatched with no effort, and finally started nearing the edge of it. Glad that Cortana was no longer going to be in pain, he picked up his pace. He also wanted to be out of the forest though, because he knew if he came across the alicorns again, they wouldn't place so much trust into him.

Chief thought he helped them in a way, because he found it very foolish that they placed so much trust into him when they had no idea who, or what, he was. He didn't regret his actions however, for the last thing he needed was those horses following him around trying to help him, but he wished they hadn't come across his drop pod. He wanted to remain hidden, the less beings knowing about him being here, the less troubles he would have. It may have been for the better though, because Chief was realizing more and more that Cortana was decaying very fast. Spending a night in the forest would not have been the wisest thing to do anyway, because he didn't know what other predators walked on this planet, and the only thing it was doing for Cortana was harming her. The best thing for him to do now was to keep moving, because once he left the forest he would only be a seven minute sprint over open ground from the Dawn. He could even see the smoke from the wreck blotting out the stars high in the sky.

There was one thing he continuously found himself thinking about though. Just how the hell did these things speak English? And how did they speak it so well? Were there humans here? No, there couldn't be. Well, not any with technology anyway, as Cortana couldn't establish a link to any radio or computer nearby. Cortana seemed to be in love with the subject, as she talked about it and thought of different scenarios the entire run through the forest. Each one drew a blank though, and in the end they were both clueless on the matter. Eventually Cortana could think of no more possibilities, to Chief's surprise, so she started thinking of what they would do while they waited for someone to find their beacon.

“First things first, once we get to the Dawn we search for some food and water. Then we look for more supplies. If there's no food or water aboard, I guess you'll have to keep your Combat Knife handy.” She paused, “I hope you know how to hunt.” Cortana added jokingly. Chief was glad she was back to her somewhat usual self, although her voice was cracking more and more, and it sounded off-key at times. Cortana seemed to be able to ignore it though, so he did too. As soon as Chief stepped out of the forest, he was greeted by the starlit sky, along with a huge bright moon. It was a sight unlike one he had ever seen before, aside from when he was a child, but even then it never looked like this. He stared at the sky for two seconds, eons too long for a Spartan to get sidetracted. Quickly snapping out of it, he refocused on his current objective and started sprinting across the open plain towards the downed frigate.

He arrived at the frigate in roughly six and a half minutes. Checking his mission clock, Chief saw that it had been about four hours and ten minutes since he landed. It was a quick run over the field, the terrain was very smooth compared to the forest, with nothing more than a few hills, trees and rocks to avoid. He had expected horses to be scouting out the frigates wreck, but he hadn't expected there to be so many. He slowly made his way up a small rocky hill, crouching down once he reached the top, and watched as dozens and dozens of the small horses stood in front of the once great frigate, watching it as if they were waiting for it to do something.

"They're lucky the main reactors didn't blow when the Dawn touched down." Cortana said.

The Dawn had left a huge scar on the planets surface, stretching on for what looked like a solid mile. There had been nothing to stop it, so it slid across the ground until it lost its momentum. Scattered fires burned across the land from stray pieces of the wreck, and ponies frantically raced around trying to extinguish them.

“We'll have to sneak by them. Better to not draw anymore attention to ourselves.” Cortana said.

“Affirmative.” Chief answered. His green and black armour blended in well with the dark terrain. Sneaking by these things under the cover of night would be no problem at all for him, especially with how widely spaced they all were. Sprinting from cover to cover in the dark with a sniper rifle attached to his back reminded the Chief of assaulting the Truth and Reconciliation all those months ago. He snuck by various coloured horses. Some were standing and staring at the frigate in awe, and some were running around with buckets of water in their mouths, attempting to extinguish fires. Others were just looking at the frigate and the debris from it with quizzical looks on their faces, completely confused as to what was going on.

Eventually he made it to the base of the ship, the massive shadow it casted over the land rendering him virtually invisible. The Dawn was almost completely torn to shreds, in a much worse state than it was before, which was certainly saying something. The aft section no longer looked like the aft section. Instead, it was a mutilated, near-collapsed heap of scorched titanium A battle plating. The thruster on the left side of the frigate was almost completely torn off, hanging on by only a few pieces of battle plating. Chief crept along the side of the smoking aft section, and slowly eased his way up and into the hangar. He started walking through the hangar, keeping his eyes open for anything he could make use of.

“I'll mark anything useful with a nav point as we come near it. Just keep moving.” Cortana said. As he walked further into the hangar the moon light became less and less, until Chief eventually had to turn his helmet lights on. Illuminating the depths of the hangar, he was able to see the damage that was done. Wall and ceiling panels were lying all over the floor, and shrapnel covered everything. It looked much, much worse than it did while it was drifting. There were no systems functioning on the Dawn, so the only light was coming from the Chief's armour. He started examining some of the weapon racks lining the walls, waiting for Cortana to high light something.

As he neared one of the racks, a nav point appeared above it. He looked over to it, illuminating it with his lights, and smiled when he saw what Cortana had marked. It was what appeared to be a fully charged, fully functioning energy sword hilt, one of the best sights Chief had seen since he had woken up from cryo sleep. To him, the sight of the star filled night sky couldn't come close to comparing. He grabbed it and pulled it out of the weapon rack, examining it thoroughly. After a few seconds of looking at it, he pressed the activation switch on the side of the hilt. It came to life instantly with the satisfying hiss that accompanied its activation. This would definitely scare any unwanted horses off, Chief thought.

After searching through the ship for an hour, Chief felt he had found enough supplies to last him for a while. He had found three MRE's and a canteen that he would later fill up with water. Satisfied that he had enough food to last a few days, he assessed the rest of what he had found. After finding the energy sword, Chief retrieved his MA5B, still attached to the weapon rack beside the cryo chamber he had occupied. After more searching, he found a pouch containing two M6C magnums with five magazines to accompany each one. Lastly, he found a bag containing spare ammunition for all of the weapons he already had, excluding a shotgun, which he kept the spare shells for anyway. Chief had more weapons than he could easily carry, so he put the small arms weapons, excluding his SMG and energy sword, and assault rifle into the bag with the ammo, then slung it over his shoulder. He had all he needed for now, a sniper rifle in case he was in a long range engagement, assault rifle for medium ranges, and his SMG, magnums, knife and energy sword for close quarters combat. Chief was hardly worried though, these horses seemed to lack modern weapons and armour, but he would still try to avoid confrontations from now on.

Checking his mission clock, Chief read 1737 hours. That definitely wasn't correct, he thought, so he changed it to 0000 hours. It was the best estimate he could think of. It was still dark out, and it looked like it would be for a while.

“You should get some rest now, Chief. I'll alert you if anything comes snooping around. There's not much more we can do for now but wait, so you should sleep.” Cortana said.

“Affirmative.” Chief replied. He placed his bag and sniper rifle down beside him so he could sit and lean against the hangar wall, and slowly dozed off.

Happy Nightmare Night

“Chief, time to get up. Now.” Within seconds of Cortana saying it, Chief was wide awake and staring into the blackness of the Dawn's hangar.

“What's wrong?” He asked as he turned his helmet lights on.

“Can't you hear it? Look outside.” She replied worriedly. Chief got up to go look at what she was talking about, when he heard the engines of what could only have been a Covenant cruiser entering the atmosphere. Knowing what was about to happen, Chief grabbed his bag of ammo and weapons, replacing the sniper rifle on his back, and moved to the hangar door. Bright sunlight extended into the ship, notifying that it was around midday.

Upon exiting the hangar, Chief's visor adjusted to the amount of sunlight that flooded over him. As he walked out from under the aft section of the hangar, something crossed the path of the sun, completely blocking it out. Chief looked up, and saw the worst sight he could have imagined. It wasn't a cruiser, it was a Covenant Capital Ship, the worst possible thing, next to High Charity or Truth's Dreadnought.

As Chief continued looking at it, he noticed something was wrong with the massive ship. It was horizontal to the planet, floating closer and closer to the ground in a Covenant crafts typical vertical descent, but it didn't look as if it planned on stopping. It was also leaning forward on a dangerous looking angle.

During an invasion, a Capital Ship would usually hover several hundred meters above ground and provide supplies, troops and vehicles, while the cruisers and destroyers glassed and bombarded everything. This ship, however, continued descending at a frightening speed. It also looked like it was in severe disrepair, smoke funneled out of every crevice and crack in the ships hull, and it was even on fire in a few areas. Chief figured it was touching down to make repairs, until he and Cortana noticed something.

"That smoke... it can't be." Cortana said in disbelief.

The smoke pouring out of the ship wasn't the typical bluish-black colour of Covenant vehicles, it was green, as if it were poisonous. He had seen it before, and knew exactly what the smoke was coming from. He thought the sight of the ship alone was the worst possible thing, but he did not expect this. The Spartan was not prepared for this.

The two princesses, the girls, and an entire battalion of 50 royal guards marched towards the wreck of the frigate. Glad to finally be able to see their destination after twelve hours, they picked up their pace. They had to go around the Everfree forest, as going through it would have taken at least eighteen hours with fifty-eight ponies.

“It is quite large, larger than I expected it to be. I fear there may be more than just one alien, my sister.” Luna said to Celestia as she eyed the destroyed ship.

“There is a very good chance there will be more, Luna, but we are prepared this time.” Celestia replied.

“But, we told the last one we meant it no harm, and look what happe-” Luna was cut off as a deafening sound fell over everything. It was a cross between a screeching and booming sound. Everyone fell silent, as they wouldn't have been able to hear each other anyway, and watched as a shadow covered the land as far as the eye could see. High in the sky, they spotted a large object floating towards Equestria. It was a blue and silver coloured behemoth, with purple lights scattered around it. Only a few of them looked as if they were fully functioning, the others were flickering, while a few remained lit, but much more dim than the rest. The craft was also on fire, and green clouds billowed from it as it fell towards them. Could they even call it falling? It looked more like it was hovering downwards than anything.

“What is that?!” One of the guards yelled to Celestia, but she couldn't hear him over the sound the ship made as it descended towards them. She, along with everyone else, watched in awe as the craft continued its descent without stopping. As it neared the ground, they realized it was falling much too fast, even without knowing how technologically capable it was, and braced for the impact. The hook-like nose of the craft hit first because of the angle it was on, smashing more of the ground than itself to pieces. As the rest of it crashed down, the nose was eventually forced to break apart under the force of the craft, and blue flames protruded in every direction. The group of ponies were only a mile or so away from the crashing behemoth, and the impact of it smashing into the solid ground rattled their bones and threatened to snap them in half.

As the aft section of the craft came crashing down, a thick cloud of green smoke and dust rushed outwards and covered everything. It was so thick that no one was able to see their own hoof in front of them. Shortly after they were covered in the sickly green cloud, the monstrous thing had finished its decent, or crash landing, and the cloud cleared up slightly. This allowed everyone to see as normally as if it were only a thick fog around them instead of a suffocating blanket. Slowly, the ponies started gathering their bearings, and got up to make sure everyone was alright.

“Is everypony... alright?” Celestia stammered in short breaths.

“Yes, Princess...” One of the captains responded, forcing back violent coughs.

Princess Celestia, Luna and the girls were at the front of the large group, so they had the best view of the huge craft. As the cloud cleared up even more, they were able to make out strange figures in the distance. Dark silhouettes moved in every direction, running and jumping with incredible speed and height.

“Oh no, the alien brought friends!” Rainbow Dash cried as she watched all of the strange beings in the distance run and jump around.

“Celestia, what are we going to do? How many of them do you think there are?” Luna asked with a mix of panic and fear in her voice.

“I-I don't kn-” A bellowing roar cut Celestia off, causing everyone to freeze. Slowly, they all turned to look at the mass of figures that were now running towards them. Whatever the beings were, they were not like the first alien they had encountered. Some of them had huge claws, and what looked like tentacles, while others had massive arms that looked as if they could crush anything. They all had different builds and body structures, and none of them looked the same as one another. The aliens continued running towards the group at frightening speeds, the bright reflective armour of the royal guards practically beckoning to them.

“Guards, form a shield. We protect the princesses at all costs!” The same captain yelled. The guards surrounded the princesses and the girls, spears pointed outwards. The mass of aliens was only about twenty seconds away from reaching the group now, and up close, the ponies could see that the aliens were actually highly deformed. There were hundreds of them closing in, and they could see thousands more beyond the first wave. All anyone could do was stare in awe at how many of them poured out of the massive craft that had slammed into the ground not even five minutes ago.

“What are those things Captain?!” A guard cried.

“It doesn't matter, we stand and fight!” The captain answered fiercly.

“We don't even know if we can fight them, we should retreat.” Another guard said skeptically.

“There's no way we'd all outrun them, we might not even be able to out fly them, look how fast they can move!” The first guard said, “There's at least a thousand of them, do you think they're as strong as they are fast?” He added fearfully.

“Well it looks like we're about to find out, steady your spears, make sure they don't sneak around the back of us!” The captain ordered. The guards tightened up and evened out their spears, forming an impenetrable wall.

Or so they thought.

The first few aliens slammed into them with immense strength, driving past or even though the spears and knocking the guards they chose down with powerful swipes of their limbs and claws. After knocking them down, the aliens began to perform horrifying acts. They began to feed on the guards. They snapped the ponies bones like they were sticks, and began tearing through their armour and into the guards like vicious animals. The sight was horrific, and watching the things kill their guards so easily made the princesses tremble. All they and the girls could do was watch, and listen to the pained screams of the stallions. There were only a few aliens attacking them, as the rest were still running towards them, but they didn't have much time until the others caught up, and no one knew what to do, the aliens were much too strong and fast. There were thousands of the things approaching, they seemed endless, it was as if they were a living flood.

Chief ran through the field as fast as his legs would allow, he was hoping to get back into the forest as soon as possible so he could to put some distance between himself and the Capital Ship. As soon as he felt the impact of the ship hitting the ground though, he knew there wouldn't be enough time. He was too close to it, he would have to fight his way out. Chief had left his sniper rifle and the bag of ammo back at the Dawn so he wouldn't be as heavy, but he was still ready to stand and fight if he had to. He took as many of the MA5B magazines as he could carry, along with the Magnum and SMG magazines, and bolted from the ship. He knew his sniper would do minimum damage to a Flood combat form, as it tore a clean hole through them, instead of butchering them like a fully or semi-automatic weapon would do. Normally, his sword would be the ultimate weapon to dispatch the Flood, but not when they were in a group as large as this.

He continued running through the massive cloud, trying to evade the flood, when he heard screaming. All around him, the ponies that were watching the frigates wreck were killed and eaten. Some were even eaten alive, the Flood didn't care. He noticed some of the horses even became infected, and turned into smaller combat forms. All the more reason to get out of there, he thought. One of the larger combat forms tried tackling Chief, but he easily evaded it thanks to his motion tracker. It landed to his left, and turned to attack again. Chief drew his energy sword, and just as it flashed to life it was already slicing through the infected elites body, effectively cutting it in two.

“Run!” Cortana ordered. Chief began running again, deactivating his sword in hopes of keeping himself somewhat hidden. The cloud was thinning out a lot more now, which meant he was losing lots of cover.

He was sixty seconds from the safety of the forest when he saw them. A large group of horses, which he recognized as more of the guards, and six smaller ones and the 'princess' alicorns in the middle of them. Chief remembered how strong the white alicorn was, and decided that it might be his best chance at surviving the Flood invasion if he could get it, and maybe even the darker one, to use whatever force it used against him on the Flood. The Flood were already attacking them though, and he watched as the guards fell trying to protect the alicorns. Chief didn't have much time to act.

He drew his assault rifle, and fired.

There were only five combat forms that had reached the group, but the others were closing in fast. The five he fired at were feasting right next to each other, so all he had to do was shoot into the group. They gurgled and roared in an attempt to back away from death, but fell into a bloody heap of rotten flesh.

“Move, now!” Chief ordered the horses. That seemed to snap them back to reality. A few of the ones with wings flew away, while some of the ones with horns disappeared into thin air, leaving Chief to assume they teleported. Others tried to run, but they couldn't move fast enough, and a tank form launched through the air, landing on four of the guards and crushing them beneath its solid exoskeleton. Three more followed it, landing in the middle of the guards, and they immediately started attacking the two princesses and the horses beside them. The white one charged up its horn and released a yellow blast of what Chief thought was plasma at one of the tank forms. The blast tore it in two, and the pieces fell to the ground in a bloody mess. Chief reloaded to defend the alicorn, but it was too late.

As it charged up its horn again, an infection form climbed up its leg and onto the picture of the sun on its flank, performing the infection process. It didn't take long before the alicorn was killed, it only thrashed twice before it screamed a final scream of agony, and died.

The other two tank forms jumped at the smaller ponies, only to be redirected into each other by a purple aura.

“Princess!” Twilight yelled, calling for help, but when she saw the princess lying on the ground, bleeding from her flank, she lost all hope. So did the rest of the girls.

“Girls, the elements!” Luna yelled, before another tank form jumped at her, landing on her and crushing her under its weight. The girls couldn't do anything but watch, they were still trying to register what was happening. Unfortunately for them, the Flood were merciless, and attacked them instantly, killing them without a single thought.

“Chief, we're out of time, move!” Chief had only spent fifteen seconds attempting to save them, but instead of saving them, they were almost all dead. He turned to run when he found that he couldn't move. He was surrounded by a yellow glow. He craned his neck around to get a better look at his captor, and saw the white princess alicorn standing up and glaring at him, horn glowing a blinding white.

There was one thing very wrong though. She was infected, turned into a new type of alicorn Flood form.

Chief felt his shields flaring again, and knew what Cortana was going to do. This time though, its horn turned from a blinding white, to a sickening green. Cortana didn't have enough time to charge his shields. The alicorn fired a ball of green energy at him, hitting him square in the head and sending him flying into the ground. He was still alive, just barely.

Chief could do nothing but lay on the hard ground, and watch as the horses all around him were killed and infected. He was too wounded to move, but he could still think to himself, not for much longer though.

“Chief...” He thought he heard a voice in his head, but he was slipping away fast, and his thoughts were becoming clouded.

“Chief..” He thought he heard it again, this time it sounded clearer, more real. Could it be who he thought it was? His mind was too exhausted to think now.

“Chief, get up now, befo-... no, Chief, no! No Human life signs left... just like Keyes, you're one of them. You're gone...” Chief could no longer form any coherent thoughts, so he simply closed his eyes.

He lay there, weak and unmoving, for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly though, he felt powerful. His mind firing up again, he got to his feet, kicking into overdrive. He was alive again, but he felt strange... very strange. Chief felt hungry, something he hadn't felt in a long time. This was no normal hunger though, it felt insatiable.

“Chief? No, you're not Chief anymore...” Cortana said in a disappointed voice. She appeared in front of his visor, stopping him and causing him to stare at her in confusion. She was completely red now, the ones and zeros on her body scrolling at only a quarter the speed they normally did.

“We exist together now...” Cortana heard the familiar voice say. She immediately knew what the voice belonged to.

“He will never belong to you, you monster...” Cortana said in a defeated voice.

“But he already does, and soon, so shall you.” The malevolent voice continued, “Just like you did before.” It added eerily.

“NO!” Cortana screamed, “Not if I have anything to say about it.” and with that, Cortana activated Chief's armour lock up fail safe, stopping him dead in his tracks. This would have to work until an actual covenant battleship could track the Capital Ship, then come to glass the planet, annihilating everything on it.

“You fool...” The voice whispered as it faded away.

Cortana waited a few minutes, understanding that she would most likely be completely deteriorated before the UNSC found them, then said,

“It was an honour serving with you, John...”

As Cortana said that, Chief was jolted awake, jumping to his feet instinctively.

“Chief? Are you alright?” Cortana asked. He looked around, noticing he was still in the hangar. It was still dark out, and his mission clock only read 0247 hours.

“You were dreaming... you should go back to sleep. You'll need it.” Cortana said in a caring voice. Chief agreed, and sat back down against the wall, quickly dozing off again soon after.

“The Flood can't get you here...”

Extreme Measures

Twilight woke up to a sun ray on her face. It felt nice, she thought, and she considered falling back asleep. However, as she cracked open an eye and saw how high the sun was in the sky, she realized how late she had slept in and quickly hopped out of bed. As she walked down the stairs into the library, she glanced at the clock.

“Great, it's ten AM. Overslept by an hour...” She mumbled to herself. Not that it mattered anyway, she thought, as she would probably have to move a lot of her schedule aside to deal with the alien. Upon entering the kitchen, Twilight found herself wondering what kind of plan Celestia and Luna would come up with. Her thoughts were forced aside abruptly though as Spike saw her and greeted her with a good morning and some breakfast. Thanking her assistant for making her a plate of fruit and a glass of juice, she sat down and started eating. As she ate, she once again started thinking of a way to take care of the situation so life in Equestria could go back to normal.

Twilight was curious about many more things than the princesses plan though, like how the alien survived a fall from outer space. She was especially curious about how it spoke Equestrian. She thought about it for a long time, and even wondered if the Universe had a set of predetermined languages, but cast the idea off as ridiculous. Another thing she wondered about was what they had done to provoke it. Sure, the guards were being quite hostile, but they never made a move to attack it until it tried attacking Princess Luna. Surely it would understand the only reason the guards raised their spears at it was because of how threatening it was being. The princesses even said they meant it no harm.

Twilight finished up her breakfast and placed her dishes in the sink, then went to brush her teeth and have a shower. Before everyone returned home last night, Princess Celestia had asked if they would all attend a meeting in Canterlot the next day at noon. Even though there was an extremely lethal alien on the loose, Twilight would still make sure she looked her best for the princesses, Celestia in particular. She briefly thought she might be a little bit too obsessive, but decided she could use a shower anyway, especially after trudging through the Everfree Forest all night and early morning.

As Twilight walked out the door, she was stopped by Spike who asked her,

“Twilight, are you gonna' tell me what happened last night or am I gonna' have to ask?”

“Sorry, Spike, but it's not very appropriate for someone your age. I'll tell you another time.” Twilight answered.

“Wait, not very appropriate? Are you saying... was there an alien or something?” The dragon asked ecstatically.

“Look, just stay in the library for today, okay?” Twilight said with a tone of worry creeping into her voice. The last thing she needed was Spike going out hunting for the thing. She didn't want anyone else, close to her or not, to get hurt.

“Uh, okay.” The dragon said, sounding confused.

“And keep the doors locked.” Twilight added as she walked out the front door. From her home, she would travel to the train station and meet up with the girls. They would then take the train to Canterlot and head to the castle.

As Twilight neared the train station, she spotted Pinkie talking to Applejack. She walked up to them and said hello, to which they replied with their own greetings, but not much more.

Conversation was scarce as they waited for the rest of the girls to show up, and Twilight noticed how shaken everyone looked. She wondered if she looked the same. After a short while, all the girls had arrived at the station, and they were ready to purchase their tickets and board the train. After purchasing their tickets and boarding, they had to wait a few minutes for the train to depart.

“So... whadya' think we're gonna' do?” Applejack asked as they all took their seats.

“The princesses have had time to think of a plan now, so we will just have to wait and find out.” Twilight said with confidence, “It won't be a repeat of last time though, I can promise you that...” She added quietly. As Twilight said this, Fluttershy looked down and shrunk into her seat. Sensing Fluttershy's fear, Rarity moved over to her.

“Don't worry dear, everything will be okay. Celestia and Luna have had time to think of a proper plan, like Twilight said. Everything will be alright.” She said in a soothing voice. This seemed to help Fluttershy slightly, as she gave Rarity a weak smile.

After five minutes of waiting, the train was finally ready to depart. It hissed as the brakes were released, and with a small shudder it started moving. The girls were silent almost the entire ride to Canterlot, keeping mostly to themselves and staring out their windows at the passing landscape. As the train neared the capital city, the girls noticed pegasi arranging storm clouds in random orders across the sky.

“Perfect time for a storm...” Applejack mumbled grimly, “Ah didn't even know there was one planned for today. What gives, RD?” she asked.

“We were supposed to have a storm three days ago, but the weather team organizer never got the list of pegasi that were supposed to create it out to anypony in time.” Rainbow Dash said, “So it had to get moved to today.” She added.

“Well as long as we don't have to go trekking through the Everfree Forest again, I don't care if there is a storm or not.” Rarity huffed. After a few moments of silence, Pinkie Pie spoke,

“I kinda' miss the chocolate milk rain.” She pouted, which drew a small giggle from everyone, including Fluttershy. Within minutes of their small conversation, the train arrived at the Canterlot station.

“Have a good day.” The Conductor said to the girls as they exited the train. They all doubted they would. Checking the station clock, Twilight realized that they were almost late for the meeting.

“Oh no, we don't have much time, we've got to hurry girls!” She said in a panicked voice. She began trotting at a faster than usual pace through the crowds of ponies boarding and exiting the train, almost bumping into a few and earning glares from them. Ignoring the glares from the other ponies, Twilight kept moving, forcing the rest of the girls to try and catch up with her through the crowds.

After a couple of minutes, the girls had finally exited the station, and were now trotting through the streets of Canterlot. They didn't make it far though before they were stopped by two royal guards.

“Miss Sparkle, Princess Celestia has sent for us to retrieve you and your friends to bring you to the castle immediately. I suggest we hurry.” One of the guards said.

“I agree, lets go.” Twilight said happily, thankful that someone other than her took being on time as seriously as she did. As the girls approached the castle under escort from the royal guard, they drew many looks from the citizens of Canterlot.

Some ponies had heard that the meteorite was not made of rock at all, and that it was actually what seemed to be some sort of massive metal craft. They were beginning to wonder if there had been more to the meteorite from the night before, and started worrying that there may have been aliens lurking about. One stallion decided he wanted to get some answers.

“Excuse me miss,” he said as he trotted up to Twilight, “Have you and your friends been to check out the meteorite from last night?” He asked curiously.

“Why, y-yes, we have.” Twilight studdered.

“And what exactly did you find? Is it true that it's not made out of rock?” He asked loudly, causing more citizens to approach the scene.

“Well, actually, we, uh...” Twilight squeaked, not wanting to tell them that they hadn't actually been to investigate it.

“Begone with you, now!” The guard said, moving between Twilight and the stallion. “It it not your business.” He added. The stallion, now knowing that something had happened, was becoming suspicious.

“Well, as a citizen of Equestria, aren't I entitled to know about what happened?” He asked, faking an innocent voice.

“You will get your answers later. For now, you must let us do our job. Now begone!” The guard said sternly, sending the message to the stallion and the rest of the onlookers. The crowd parted, creating an opening for the guards and the girls to go through, and within minutes they arrived at the castle. Crossing the drawbridge into the castle courtyard, they brought the girls to the front entrance of the castle and stood on either side of them. Opening the doors for them, one of the guards said,

“You will be escorted to the throne room from here, do not keep the princesses waiting.”

“We won't.” Twilight said. Normally, Rainbow Dash would have stuck her tongue out at the guard for talking to her like that, but right now it didn't bother her. Even after all of the attention they had received, she couldn't be bothered to gloat even a little bit. She, along with the others, just wanted to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna right away. After a quick walk through the castle with four new escorts, the girls arrived at the throne room. Normally, they would be ecstatic to be inside of the castle, let alone the throne room, but given their current situation, they didn't much enjoy it.

Entering the throne room, they found the two princesses discussing with each other, looking out of one of the many stained glass windows. Twilight coughed quietly. The princesses turned to look at her, whispered once more between themselves, then walked over to the girls.

“Thank you for attending this meeting, we have some very important matters to discuss, as I'm sure you already know.” Celestia said flatly. She continued, “Princess Luna and I have decided that the alien is too dangerous to allow it to roam free. However, it is too aggressive to interact with directly, as it proved so... lethally.” She said slowly, “It also seems to have some sort of magical abilities of its own, as it evaded my spell. As for its weapons, our concentrated shield spell was able to protect everypony from it, but I fear without magic its weapons would severely harm someone, or worse.”

“It should also be noted that this creature proved to be excellent in unarmed combat, and it seems to be quite creative with its escape plans.” Luna added.

“So what are we going to do? How are we going to stop it? We don't even know its intentions, what if it was just frightened?” Twilight asked with much concern.

“Since we have so little information about this being, we decided that the best way to get answers is directly from the alien itself.” Luna said simply, “And before you question my sanity, know that we will make sure it is unable to harm anyone before we apprehend it.”

“How will you do that?” Applejack asked.

“An incapacitation spell. Once it is incapacitated, we can apprehend the alien and secure it, allowing us to question it.” Celestia answered confidently. “Before we cast the spell however, we must make sure that the alien is organic. If it is... something else, then we will have to lure it into some sort of trap. Hopefully in that situation its ignorance of Equestria will aid us.”

“What if your spell doesn't work though? What if it knows more about Equestria than we think? What do we do if we cannot stop it?” Rarity asked worriedly. “I mean, it speaks our language for goodness sake, who knows what else that thing knows about us.”

“How it speaks our language confuses me as well, but the sooner we do this, the sooner we can get answers, and keep Equestria safe from anything it might intend to do.” Celestia said boldly.

“So what will you have us do?” Twilight asked.

“We have decided that the most effective way to contain it is to use the Elements of Harmony against it, as their power is unmatched. I am quite sure the creature will not be able to resist submission.” Luna said fearlessly. “The plan is for yourselves, me, Celestia and a small group of guards to search for the alien using the royal air chariots. We do not want to make our presence known with a large group, and it will be faster with less ponies. It will be a long and tiresome job, but it must be done.”

“And that is where the elements come in. The Elements know when there is a disturbance in harmony, so they will be able to direct us to the alien. Once it is found, we will use them to force it into submission.” Celestia said calmly. “When the elements are used against the cause of disharmony, however, they will usually isolate it by turning it to stone, and in certain cases if the threat is great enough, eliminating it. If the Elements sense good in their opponent though, they will use their power to destroy the evil, revealing only the good.” She said, looking to Luna.

“Judging by the creatures actions and immediate hostility, however, we are almost certain that the Elements will destroy it instantly upon contact.” Luna said. “This cannot happen, as we must abide by our laws and give it a chance to speak.” She said slowly, “Since the Elements would destroy the being instead of isolate it, Celestia and I will channel the power of the Elements through ourselves, allowing us to cast their magic as if it were our own. We are the only ones capable of doing this aside from yourselves, the bearers of the Elements. We have much more knowledge on them though, and are therefore more capable of controlling the spell to hold the alien, all you girls must do is summon the power of the Elements, and we will do the rest.”

“Once it has been restrained, we can return to the castle with it and begin to question it in an attempt to find the reason of its hostility, and possibly even make peace with it.” Celestia stated.

“So, all we have to do is use the Elements of Harmony to give you their power?” Twilight asked reluctantly.

“Yes.” Luna answered. “No offense to any of you, but given the circumstances, Celestia and I are much better suited to doing this. The knowledge we possess on the Elements allows for much... smoother casting.” Luna said sympathetically. “And we must make sure we restrain the alien, instead of harming it. The magic of the Elements is very powerful, making it extremely difficult for anyone else to keep the spell below its maximum power.” She added.

“It is also very hazardous to use the Elements with limitations, as they will need to vent off the excess magical energy, and doing this is no easy task.” Celestia said.

“Well, we should get going then. Ah'd rather not have that thing running around Equestria.” Applejack said in a stern tone.

“Who knows, maybe he's just a big happy alien under all that green stuff.” Pinkie added hopefully.

“Very well, I shall make sure the chariots are prepared for the journey.” Princess Luna said. “Celestia, you prepare the Elements. I will meet you in the courtyard shortly, sister.” She said as she walked out of the throne room. Celestia levitated the chest containing the Elements to her side, then glanced worriedly at the girls, and moved closer to them.

“This will be very dangerous. We do not know how the creature will react to seeing us again, but we must expect the worst.” She said quietly. “If you must, you may use the Elements on it.”

“But you said that would harm it... or worse...” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Yes, but if we cannot gain control of it, there will be no other alternative. I know how much you care for all life, Fluttershy, but sometimes we must stop those who endanger others in any way we can.” The princess replied. “We will try to make peace with it, but you saw what it did to the guards. Eliminating it may be the only way to stop it.” She said comfortingly while crouching down next to Fluttershy.

“Okay. I understand.” She said quietly, meeting the princesses eyes.

“I am glad.” She said as she stood up. “We must be going now if we hope to find it before nightfall. Luna said she will delay the rising of the Moon, but she can only do so for a short while. Time is of the essence.” The girls then continued to follow Celestia out of the throne room and out to the courtyard, where Luna awaited them.

Chief woke up several hours later. He checked his mission clock and read 0653 hours. He stood up, slinging the bag over his shoulder and attaching his Sniper Rifle to his back, and looked around the heavily damaged hangar. His gaze was met with nothing but silence, and the occasional creak of the ship.

“Sleep well?” Cortana asked in a sarcastic voice.

“Yes.” Chief answered flatly.

“Good, because you may not get to again. I'm tracking one target moving towards the hangar, another equine.” Cortana said, returning to seriousness. “Are you going to evacuate, or wait it out? And may I add that we won't be able to stay in the Dawn anymore, more equines are bound to come sniffing around the inside,” She said hurriedly. “and don't worry about making sure they don't find anything on board, the Dawn has zero systems functioning.” She added, finally finishing her sentence.

“Then we move on, but we stay close to the ship. It and the forest are the only landmarks we know.” Chief said.

“I suggest you find another exit then, the approaching equine is nearing the hangar entrance.” Cortana replied.

“Negative, I'll wait in the shadows until it passes. Scouting these things might be useful.” Chief said as he slunk into the blackness of the front of the hangar.

“Okay, just don't let what happened last time you tried scouting them happen again.” Cortana said mockingly.

He crouched low beside the starboard wall, and waited for whatever was nearing the ship to appear. When the equine came into view, Chief zoomed his visor in to get a better look at it. He noticed that it was a gray pegasus, with a blonde mane and tail. He also noticed that it was cross-eyed, making its already oversized and overly colourful eyes even more strange. Everything here seemed too surreal, he thought to himself.

The pegasus placed its two front hooves up onto the floor of the hangar and cautiously peered inside. After looking into the darkness for a couple of seconds, it gingerly flew inside and hovered over the floor. It stared into the darkness again for a few more seconds with a curious look on its face, then landed and began to carefully look around.

Chief continued watching it as it moved towards a row of weapon racks along the wall he was hiding against. It slowly started to inspect the contents of one of them, and pulled out a Battle Rifle Chief had decided not to take. The pegasus then did the most idiotic thing Chief could imagine, and put its mouth around the barrel of the rifle to pull it out. After removing it from the weapon rack, it held the rifle and stared at it with nothing but confusion on its face. How it managed to grasp it with its hooves surprised Chief, but he quickly refocused on watching it.

The pegasus was inspecting the short range scope attached to the top of the weapon when it lost its grip on the rifle and dropped it. As soon as it hit the floor, it let go of a three round burst. Chief heard the bullets fly past him and bury themselves into the wall at the front of the hangar. He cursed the Marines laziness at checking if their weapons safeties were on before bringing them on board.

The gray pegasus jumped a foot into the air with a scream of shock and terror as the rifle fired; and by the sound of its scream, Chief assumed it was a female. The pegasus caught itself in mid air with its wings, and flew back to the entrance of the hangar to wait and see what would happen. It hovered in the air with wide eyes, watching if anything would stir in the darkness.

Chief took this as the perfect opportunity to scare the pegasus off, and kicked a broken wall panel near his foot out into the open. She spotted it instantly, and dove to the ground with a squeal of terror.

“This one doesn't seem to be a threat. I suggest we move on now, before we find one that is.” Cortana said impatiently. “Just make sure it doesn't follow you.” She added as Chief revealed himself from the shadows.

“Understood” He said.

The pegasus could hear the aliens footsteps from deep within the hangar becoming louder and louder as it got closer, and after several seconds that felt like an eternity, they finally stopped. She slowly looked up, and saw the massive green alien looming over her. Struck by fear and unable to move, all she could do was watch. As soon as it moved, however, she was up in the air and nowhere to be seen in a matter of seconds. Satisfied that nothing more would interfere with him, Chief stepped out of the hangar and made his way across the field towards the forest.

He ran from cover to cover, like he had the night before. It was slightly more difficult now, since it was in broad daylight, but there were less ponies now than there were the night before. The ones from last night were all asleep, he thought. After about fifteen minutes of sneaking around them, Chief approached the edge of the huge forest he had landed in roughly nine hours earlier.

Upon entering the forest, a ping in his helmet alerted Chief that his motion tracker had picked something up. Normally, Chief wouldn't have give this a second thought while being in the forest, but he had reprogrammed his motion tracker to pick up lifeforms bigger and only slightly smaller than the wolves he faced two hours after landing. The triangle, indicating the life form was above him, was twenty three meters away from him and approaching from his six o'clock. Easily enough time to evade whatever it was if it landed, he thought.

Chief started running, attempting to get into the thick foliage deeper in the forest to throw his pursuer off. Instead of evading it however, it only seemed to be catching up with him. The only way to shake off whatever was chasing him would be to use the forest canopy to his advantage. He turned off of his current path, and jumped into a dense patch of bushes and foliage. After waiting quietly and watching his motion tracker for several seconds, the triangle turned into a dot nineteen meters from his current position, directly to his left.

“Hellooo!” He heard a high pitched voice call out. When it was met with nothing but silence, it called out again, “I don't wanna' hurt you, I just wanna' talk to you! We could be friends!” It said in a bubbly voice.

Chief wondered why all of the horses thought he feared them, as far as he was concerned, the only ones that could challenge him and live were the alicorns. All of the other ones just seemed overly colourful and useless to him.

The dot was now nearing Chief's position, and was only thirteen meters away. It continued calling out to him,

“I know you're in here, just come out. I could introduce you to some of my friends back in Ponyville!” It said excitedly.

As it spoke for the third time, Chief recognized its voice as the pegasus from before. Apparently, at the thought of gaining a new friend, all of its fears seemed vanish. Chief thought of this as only foolish. It moved even closer to his position, and was now just seven meters away. He could see parts of it through the foliage now, and he noticed several small bubbles on its flank. Why they all had pictures tattooed onto their flanks confused Chief, and he wondered if it was some sort of ritual they all had to follow.

The pegasus was starting to get annoyed with Chief's silence it seemed, and it said in a voice attempting and failing to mimic a threat,

“Well if you don't come out for me, then maybe you'll come out for the princesses.” Chief wasn't going to take any chances. He was going to avoid the alicorns for as long as he could.

He stepped out of the bushes he was hiding behind, and stared directly at the gray pegasus. When it once again saw how massive the Master Chief was, it flew a couple feet into the air, ready to bolt at a moments notice.

“Nice to see you too.” Chief said sarcastically.

“Y-you... you can talk? And you speak Equestrian?” It said quietly and fearfully.

“I speak English.” He replied in a flat tone. “And I suggest you don't tell those princesses of yours where I am.” He added malevolently.

“I, uh, I really should go tell them. They won't hurt you though! They're nice!” She quickly said in a worried tone.

“Well sometimes nice just doesn't cut it.” Chief said. He was beginning to feel nothing but pestered by the pegasus, and he didn't like the fact that it would tell the princesses it had seen him in the forest. They were probably already scouring the land for him anyway, he thought, and if the pegasus told them it had seen him in the forest, with their wings and the open skies, they could probably be on him just as he left it. He decided that the best plan would be to dispose of her.

“Wh-what d-do you mean?” The pegasus asked worriedly.

“You have to go.” Chief answered simply.

As he said that, he drew his SMG in his left hand, and took aim at the wide eyed pegasus.

Keep Your Friends Close...

“Chief, move!” Cortana hissed. “If she grabs hold of you with her psychokinetic powers, I'll only be able to repel it once before your shields need to be fully recharged,” she added in a rush.

With his adrenaline kicking in once more, Chief attached his empty SMG to his side and stumbled to his feet as fast as he could. He turned to run, but was stopped by a not-so-invisible force. This time however, it was not just the soft yellow haze like before; there was a light blue one mixing with it.

The aura slammed him back into the ground, sending a small plume of ash into the air.

“Cortana, do it,” Chief ordered.

As the alicorns' began to approach Chief, he felt a jolt throughout his body, and saw his shields activate around him. Knowing what was about to happen, he prepared himself for another sprint through the forest.

His shields lashed out at the multicoloured aura, creating the electrical shock wave like last time and allowing him to get up. However, since both of the alicorns' were holding him this time, his shields could not repel the large aura as effectively as the last. Fortunately for him, the shockwave had managed to weaken the aura enough for him to be able to break out of it with one leap.

Chief bolted for the nearest patch of bushes to break their line of sight with. As he neared the thicket, Cortana yelled,

“Chief, evade!”

Without questioning her, he rolled to his left. Landing back on his feet, he saw a light blue blob of what looked like plasma shoot past him. Instead of hitting its intended target, the blob hit a small, half burnt tree twenty meters ahead of Chief, effectively blowing it to pieces in a small explosion. As he sprinted for cover once more, he heard a voice behind him,

“You will not get away again!” it yelled.

“Evade!” Cortana yelled once more.

It was too late though, and Chief was thrown to the ground by an unseen force. The alicorn must have hit him, he thought. Fortunately for him, his armour absorbed most of the force of the projectile exploding on his back, even though his shields were only fifty three percent charged when he was hit. Almost as soon as he slammed into the dirt, he was lifted into the air by the same light blue aura that had restrained him earlier. His shields were now at zero percent, so he only hoped they would do nothing to him for another six seconds.

The aura turned him to face his opponent, and he saw that it was the dark blue alicorn holding him. He was being suspended two meters off the ground by the strange power, which told him that whatever ability they possessed, it was strong.

Or maybe not, he thought, as he saw tiny beads of sweat dripping down the side of the alicorns head. He noticed the slightly strained look on its face as well, and he knew it wouldn't be able to hold him for very long. The other one most likely wouldn't be able to hold him for a long time either, he thought. Perhaps there was hope.

He was wrong.

“Girls, now!” the white one yelled.

He watched as the smaller ones quickly formed up in front of the two princesses. For some reason, they were wearing strange necklaces with small designs on them, such as a lightning bolt and an apple, except for the purple one, who had a large tiara atop her head. He briefly wondered what they were going to do, but forgot about it and focused once more on what he would do once he got away, as his shields were now fifty percent charged. Just a couple more seconds, he thought.

Just as his shields recharged, he noticed that the necklaces and tiara the small horses were wearing began to glow a bright white. Soon after, their eyes began glowing as well. Chief had no idea what they were going to do, but it didn't matter. He just needed to get away.

“Cortana,” he said.

That was all he had to say, and he felt his shields flaring to life once more, preparing to lash out at the blue aura surrounding him. As soon as his shields attacked the aura, repelling it, he saw the two alicorns' position themselves on each side of the group. He then noticed a soft pink aura beginning to surround the smaller ones as their pieces of jewelery and eyes continued to glow even brighter.

Then, the alicorns' horns lit up in their own respective colours. Time to move, Chief thought.

As he turned to run, Cortana yelled,

“Chief, they're generating a massive power reading! Get out of here!”

He didn't need to be told to move though, as he was already nearing cover by the time Cortana had finished speaking. As he continued sprinting, he noticed that everything seemed to become brighter. Risking a glance back at the ponies, Chief saw that the two alicorns' eyes were now glowing, and their horns had a pink aura around them, instead of a light yellow and blue one.

“Whatever they're about to do is going to hurt! GO!” Cortana screamed.

Just a few more seconds until he would reach living forest, and escape his attackers. He cursed the dragon for how large of an area its flames affected, and briefly wondered if it was dead by now. He quickly forgot about it though, as he had finally reached foliage. Just one leap and their line of sight would be broken.

Chief dove into the bushes in an attempt to roll and land back on his feet, but he did not feel himself hit the ground. Instead, he was suspended in midair, with a pink aura surrounding him.

“They're persistent,” he thought to himself, feeling more annoyed than anything else.

He then felt himself being pulled through the air at high speeds, towards the alicorns', he assumed. As he was about to tell Cortana to repel the aura once more, his shield bar began gradually draining. That was a bad sign, as they had not activated.

“These things may be more advanced than they appear to let on, Chief. Whatever they're doing is draining all of the power in your suit. There's not much I can do,” Cortana said worriedly. She continued, “Hang on, I'm going to see if I can reverse the electrical current within the aura, causing it to-” but she suddenly stopped talking.

The pressure of whatever they were doing to him strained Chief quite badly, forcing every muscle in his body to tense up. After a short while, he began to feel weak, and had to fight to stay conscious. After hearing Cortana suddenly go silent though, he realized something was wrong, and he asked through clenched teeth,

“Cortana... what's going on...?” but he received no answer.

The alicorns' continued dragging him through the air, not bothering to make him avoid the dying, burnt trees, unless he could not go through them. He plowed through most of them, but the occasional tree was still strong enough to force them to move him around it.

Eventually, he was back, visor to face with them.

“Perfect,” he thought to himself.

Chief was in no mood to interact with them to begin with, and with Cortana suddenly disappearing most likely because of the strange aura they had bestowed upon him, he would not react kindly to the equines. He had already greatly disobeyed the first contact protocols because he felt that interacting with them would only burden him and slow him down, which proved to be true. Now, however, he knew about Cortana's rampancy, and it was only getting worse. He would disobey the protocols again, if need be, as his only priority now was to keep Cortana out of harms way. He did not need any help from them, as there was no way they could help him. The only thing that could help Chief now was more time.

Noticing the lapse in his energy and his lack of struggling, the dark blue one said,

“Well, it appears whatever it may be is organic, as the incapacitation spell seems to have worked.”

“Now, if you choose to remain calm, we will ease up on our spell, and you will feel more comfortable,” the white one said calmly.

“It does not deserve to feel comfortable, sister!” the dark blue one yelled.

“Hush, Luna,” she replied. “This being may choose to use harsh actions instead of words, but we do not, unless we are given a very good reason to. We shall obey the laws of Equestria. We do not torture anyone here,” she said.

“We have been given a good reason. An excellent reason,” she shot back at her sister. “Look at what it did to that mare! It's a miracle that she is still breathing, despite our best attempts at healing her,” the alicorn yelled once more. “And not to mention what it did to Shining Armour, and the other guards,” she added in a tone quite close to the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Luna, that is enough. I understand what you're saying, but we must avoid anymore hostile situations. As for what it did to the guards, I do not blame it for defending itself in the way it did, even if it most likely did not need to,” the one named Celestia said as she eyed Chief's solid Mark VI armour.

“And what about that mare?” the one called Luna snapped impatiently.

“We will get to that momentarily,” Celestia replied. “For now, though, I would like to know why an entire section of the Everfree forest was converted to ash,” she said. “Girls, we can now command the magic of the Elements for the time being, you may rest,” she added while looking at the six ponies between herself and Luna.

The eyes of the smaller ponies returned to their normal colours, instead of a bright white, but their necklaces and tiara did not. Instead, they continued glowing. The alicorns' horns continued to glow a light pink as well, and their eyes remained a vibrant white. The loud hum of constant energy had mostly died down, but still remained slightly.

“We have many questions for you, and I'm sure you have questions for us as well, but you will answer ours first. All of them. Am I clear?” Celestia said sternly.

“What... did you do to me?” Chief asked in a strained voice.

“We used a power that cannot be bypassed. We will not harm you with it, as long as you do not attempt to harm us. We seek peace,” she answered. “If you cooperate, this will go much more smoothly,” she added. “Will you lay down your arms and cooperate with us?” she asked, looking directly into his visor.

“Release me first,” Chief replied. He knew there was no way to evade them while they had the strange pieces of jewelery they called the “Elements” in their possession, but he did not want the aura to continue draining his strength and his armours power. He was also still unsure if Cortana's disappearance was because of the pink aura, but he would not take any chances.

“We will not release you until you prove to us that you can be trusted,” Celestia said.

“Whatever you're doing to me... is harming my armour. Release me,” he said as forcefully as he could. He did not want to reveal Cortana to them by saying that it was harming his AI, even if they would not know what that meant. He knew his armour would be able to recover from a power drain, but Cortana may not in the current state she's in.

“No, not yet,” Celestia replied.

“You don't understand... I need my armour... and whatever you're doing to me is damaging it,” he lied again. Speaking was becoming much more difficult for Chief, let alone staying conscious. Whatever the aura was doing to him, he needed it to stop.

“Is your armour essential to your survival?” Celestia asked.

“Yes,” he lied once more, as Spartans were completely independent of their armour.

Celestia and Luna exchanged glances, then returned their glowing eyes to Chief.

“Very well. We will release you, as long as you agree to turn over the weapon attached to your side,” Celestia said.

“And any other weapons you may have, such as your knife,” Luna added, looking at the sheathed combat knife attached to his belt.

“Alright,” he said flatly. As he allowed the alicorns' to pull the weapons from him with their strange pink auras, Chief noticed that they had already found his assault rifle and energy sword. They floated the weapons over to the group of guards, who already stood in front of his rifle and sword, then returned their gazes to him.

Luna spoke first, “We will release you now, but if you so much as make one false movement, we will not have mercy again,” she said slowly, with a small glare on her face.

“Do not betray our trust,” Celestia said sternly.

As the aura around Chief faded and he was lowered to the ground, he quickly began to regain his strength, and thankful that any previous strain on her would be gone, he waited for Cortana to say something. Instead, he heard nothing, so he called her name.

“Cortana?” he asked quietly.

He waited a couple more seconds, and after hearing nothing from her once more, he ran a diagnostic on all of her systems. The princesses only saw his lack of movement and speech as a way of stalling though, and Luna said,

“Now, explain to us what happened here. Why is the forest burned, and why did you harm an innocent mare?”

“Yeah! Why did you hurt Derpy?” the cyan coloured pegasus yelled angrily.

“If it was my doing, she'd be a lot worse off,” Chief replied calmly.

“Then what happened to her?” Celestia asked.

“The same thing that happened to the forest,” he answered.

“Only one creature can burn so much, are you implying what I suspect you are?” Celestia asked slowly.

“I'd like to think not, but yes,” he said.

“Then what were its motives, I wonder?” Luna asked accusingly, glaring at Chief.

“I fought back in self defense,” he replied in a flat tone. Right then, a ping sounded in his helmet, alerting him the diagnostic that he had run on Cortana had finished. Checking it, he read that her condition was critical and that she was red across the board, which he already knew. However, it showed major power fluctuations in her Riemann Matrix, a main component in her programming. He had to get her out of the forest very soon.

“Then how did that mare get involved?” Celestia asked.

“She was waiting for me here, and she was injured by the boulder inside of that cave. If it didn't hit me before her, she would be dead right now,” Chief answered.

“Very well. If that is the truth, then we apologize for being so quick to blame you. However, because of your actions during our last encounter, you have brought our brash feelings and thoughts towards you upon yourself,” she replied.

“It doesn't matter,” he said, “I'm not here to make friends, and I'm skeptical in believing that you can help me in my current situation,” he paused, “I just need a way off of this planet.”

“You should have told us that to begin with,” Celestia replied. “We could have avoided what happened before. Why did you not just tell us this then?” she asked.

“I don't need a group of primitive horses following me around asking questions and wasting my time,” he said flatly.

“We ponies are more capable than you think.” Luna glared at him.

“You do not need us wasting your time? What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

“It's classified,” Chief replied, with no intention of answering anymore questions on the matter. Continuing, he said, “Being inside of this forest doesn't help though. There are large electromagnetic fields all throughout it that interfere with my suits systems. I'd appreciate if we could move this elsewhere.”

Chief knew no way of escaping them while they had the “Elements”, so he would go along with them for now. He just wanted to get Cortana out of the forest.

Celestia thought for a brief second, then Luna cautiously said to her,

“Sister, we are not bringing it back to the castle, or anywhere near civilization. Not until we can be sure it won't be a repeat of our last encounter,” while glancing towards the Spartan.

“I agree,” Celestia replied, “however, the forest is no safe place to be, and the dragon may return any...” her sentence trailed off as she noticed the thick trail of blood the beast had left behind during its slow and painful retreat. No one had been able to see it before, as the dark blood blended quite well with the burnt ground. Now that Celestia was so close to it, however, she was able to make out the slight colour difference, and even bits of flesh, organs, and bullet casings. Following her gaze, the rest of the ponies spied the dark trail as well, and soon after began to notice shattered teeth and battered scales littering the ground, buried in the dirt and ash.

Realizing they had discovered the apparent fate of the dragon, Chief decided to remain silent. He expected the alicorns' to be angry with him again, but instead, he heard the small yellow pony with the pink mane and tail fearfully ask,

“Why d-did you have to d-do that to it?”

Looking directly at the fragile pony, Chief said,

“When something tries to kill you, you fight back.”

“Well I think you're just a big jerk!” the cyan pegasus with the ridiculous rainbow mane and tail yelled at him. It then angrily asked, “What gives you the right to just come in here and start attacking everybody and everything?” while it hovered in the air and pointed accusingly at Chief.

“I don't want to be here anymore than any of you want me to be,” he replied, understanding that they all wanted him gone.

“Well why don't you just go back to your metal thing and leave then?” it yelled again.

“If my vessel were still operational, I wouldn't be here right now,” he said.

“Rainbow, that's enough!” the orange pony with the Southern accent and stetson hat said, biting onto her tail and pulling her down to the ground.

Twilight then took a small step towards Celestia and said,

“Princess, with all due respect, I don't think taking it back to the castle sounds like a good idea anymore. I don't want that thing coming anywhere near Ponyville, Canterlot, or anywhere. Not after what it did to my brother.” She glared at Chief, but broke eye contact soon after meeting his gaze.

“I understand, and I do not either, but we cannot let it roam free. However, we cannot stay in the forest,” she replied.

“Why don't we put it in the castle dungeons?” Rainbow Dash muttered more to herself than anyone else.

“I highly doubt the dungeon, or even the caves beneath the castle would hold it for very long. Celestia and I have already considered that,” Luna said.

“Shouldn't we try to hide it until we can be sure it's safe though? If we brought it to Canterlot, someone would surely see it, and that would cause a panic,” Rarity said worriedly.

“Hold up everypony! We can't just keep calling it “It”,” Pinkie exclaimed. “Do you have a name?” she asked. From hearing the voice of the pony alone, Chief thought it was crazy. Upon examining her pink coat and mess of a tail and mane, his thoughts were confirmed.

“So far I've seen nothing but fairy tale and cartoon creatures. This planet is a joke,” he thought to himself.

“Well?” the pony eagerly pressed. Chief wondered if its insanity was enough to mask its fear, as it showed no signs of being scared, or even intimidated by him. He briefly wondered if there was some sort of narcotic on the planet that the pony may have consumed regularly, but quickly refocused on its question.

“You can call me by my rank. Master Chief,” he answered.

“Ooh, is it a high rank?” it asked excitedly. He was going to ignore the question anyway, but the cyan coloured one then spoke.

“Pinkie! Why are you being nice to it? Don't you remember what it did?” it yelled to the pink pony.

“Well, yeah, but if we only think about the bad things it did, how can we ever find the good in it?” it asked innocently.

“I don't think there is any good in it,” the cyan pony replied.

The orange pony in the stetson hat then spoke up, “Sometimes you can't become friends with certain ponies, or, uh... things, Pinkie.”

The pink pony replied glumly, “But, if we just gave it another chance...”

“We have already given it enough chances,” Luna said fiercly. “Celestia,” she said, “I agree with you that we should not be inside of the forest, especially during Fall when the night comes earlier, but we must make sure it has no ill intentions before bringing it out into the open where someone may see it.”

“Yes, I know. Even though we possess the Elements Of Harmony, I do not want to take any chances. I will not have anymore of our subjects injured, or worse,” Celestia replied.

“Can't I just say I promise not to hurt anyone?” Chief asked in a non serious tone.

“Do not make a promise you cannot keep,” Celestia said sternly.

“Where have I heard that before,” he thought to himself.

“Sister, I believe I have an idea,” Luna said.

“What is it?” Celestia glanced to her sister.

“Perhaps we can use the Elements to search inside of the mind of this creature, and, perhaps, we may find some amount of good inside of it,” she answered. “If we do, then we will be able to use the Elements on it without any ill effect, and only the good will be revealed,” she said.

“A thought that had crossed my mind earlier,” Celestia replied, “as it would make things much easier for everyone, especially the girls, since we would not need to have the Elements constantly nearby for the incapacitation spell,” she said. “However,” she continued, “the reason I did not want to rely on this method is because a spell such as that is no easy one to disengage from, and inside of the wrong mind, the Elements may react violently to any disharmony found,” she paused, “and the reaction would very well mimic torture, if not worse. Especially if there was no good to be found.”

“This is the best option though,” Luna replied. “Causing pain to it is a risk we must take, especially when it may very well be the solution to our problem, assuming that there may be good inside of it,” she added. She would not feel guilt if their spell caused pain to Chief, but ultimately, she only wanted to ensure the safety of their subjects.

After thinking for a few moments, Celestia calmly said, “Very well.” She then said, “We would not have been able to use the Elements extensively anyway, as it would put too much strain on us. I had just hoped that we would have been able to achieve peace in an alternative way. Let us hope this works.”

“Then it is settled,” Luna said, looking towards Chief.

“You are not entering my mind,” Chief said sternly as Luna began to approach him.

“You have no choice,” she said while glaring at him. She continued approaching him, then looked back to Celestia and said, “Sister, I need you here.”

Celestia reluctantly moved to Luna's side, then both of their horns began to glow an even brighter pink than before. Their eyes and the Elements of Harmony began to glow a much brighter white as well.

“This must be done. Cooperate with us, and it will be that much easier,” Celestia said. She didn't know if it actually would be any easier, whether he cooperated or not. She knew what would happen if the elements did not find good inside of it though, or even worse, if they found disharmony, or evil, instead.

“You had me hand over my weapons so you could take me down without a fair fight,” Chief said flatly.

“We are in no way attempting to fight you. This will help you,” Celestia replied.

“Do not try to enter my mind. I'm warning you,” he said cautiously. He knew what the alicorns would find if they entered his mind, and it wouldn't end well.

“Do not try to intimidate us,” Luna snarled back to him.

As they continued to approach Chief, his adrenaline began to return. He would not be able to evade them, so he had only one option left.

“We must perform the incapacitation spell on you once more. As we are entering your mind, what you will feel may vary from a slight tingle to a violent shock,” Celestia said. “Once we are inside, however, it will be as if you were unconscious, and you will feel nothing.” She, along with Luna, was now only five meters away from Chief.

It was time to take action.

As soon as she finished speaking, Chief charged towards the princesses. He reached them in a split second and grabbed them both by their throats, clamping down on them in attempt to crush their windpipes. His speed and strength had caught them off guard, and he almost succeeded in killing them, but the alicorns quickly restrained him with the pink aura once more. They forced him to release his grip, then held him in place. They were both stunned by how fast and strong he was, but quickly recovered.

“How dare you lay your hands on us!” Luna seethed.

“I understand your feelings on the thought of us entering your mind, and possibly causing pain, but I now see that the only way to achieve any amount of peace is with this method,” Celestia said loudly. She was angered that he had made another attempt on their lives, yet she understood why. There were no other options though, and they could not have him roaming freely.

Chief felt his strength leaving him once more as they forced him to his knees, and he could nothing but watch as the alicorns' approached him and lowered their horns to his helmet. Their horns were now glowing an intense pink, and upon contact, Chief felt a huge amount of energy surge through every nerve in his body. It created a deafening sound as the energy they produced all flowed into him. As they continued producing energy, a light pink aura began to take place around their bodies, gradually increasing in size and brightness.

The feeling of the energy surging through his body was beginning to feel like an electrocution. It started out as a painless wave of shocks, but soon turned into violent jolts of energy. The feeling continued for a short while, but suddenly, he was not able to feel anything except for a searing pain inside of his head. It felt as if his brain was on fire, and even the training he had received to be able to ignore pain could not lessen the feeling any. As the pain continued, he began to feel distant, and he knew he would soon be unconscious.

Then, he felt nothing. Everything had become black, and it was as if he were floating around outside of his body.

He then saw something he could not explain. He spied a glowing blue light far off in the distance. He tried to find the cause of it, but he could not figure out what it was, or what it was coming from.

Suddenly, another light appeared to his left. He examined it, and noticed many different colours inside of it. He saw red, green, yellow, and blue, among others. He recognized them as the colours of a rainbow. The new light then moved towards the blue one, passing right by Chief. It seemed like it did not know he was there, and he briefly wondered if he was dead, but ignored the thought and continued watching as the rainbow light approached the blue one. It stopped in front of the blue light and remained several inches, or feet, away from it. Chief could not tell how long the distance actually was. The rainbow light then began to slowly move towards the blue one, and upon making contact with it, the blue light instantly moved back. They hovered at a brief stand off with each other, but then, something happened.

The blue light flickered red.

The rainbow light then attempted to make contact with the blue one once more, but this time, as soon as they met, the blue light turned completely red. Suddenly, it took on the form of what could only be Cortana. She was completely red, and the numbers that scrolled across her body were moving at ten times the speed they normally did.

Chief didn't know what to think at first, but when he examined Cortana, he knew she was in very bad condition. She looked very distraught. Suddenly, she began to flicker rapidly, and then, she looked directly at the rainbow coloured light. She then became furious, and glaring at the rainbow light, she bellowed,

“GET OUT!”

As soon as she yelled, everything became black again. Chief lay still, as he was unable to move or think. After laying still for an unknown amount of time, he began to feel a slight tingle. Slowly, the tingle grew, spreading all over him until eventually he realized that it was his body regaining circulation.

He was regaining his ability to think now, so he tried to open his eyes, or at least he thought he did, because he noticed dark shapes in his vision. The shapes slowly began to gain more detail, and eventually he was able to make out what looked like trees looming over him. His cone cells then began to function once more, and he was able to see the colours of his surroundings. As his eye sight came back to him, he recognized his surroundings as the burnt forest.

Instead of being upright like he was before the alicorns' entered his mind, Chief was now lying on his back, staring up into the burnt forest canopy. He was going to attempt to get up, when he heard muffled sounds. At first he heard what he thought were footsteps, and then he heard voices as well. He heard the voices yelling, and he thought he heard someone yell “Princesses”, but he could not be sure. Slowly, the rest of his senses returned to him, and he thought he could taste copper. He knew this was not a good sign.

He could hear the voices clearly now, and he heard someone yell,

“What is that thing?” in a frightened voice.

Chief needed to know what was happening. He was still shaky, but he was able to move now. As he got to his feet in one quick motion, he looked at the group of ponies in front of him. The smaller ponies were startled by his sudden movements, and looked to him with wide eyes. The two alicorns', however, were glaring at him, as well as the guards that now stood in front of them, their spears raised.

He noticed that the pink aura dancing around the alicorns' horns was moving much more slowly now, and was significantly more dim. Their horns also appeared to be slightly charred.

The Spartan was ready for another fight, and was prepared to charge at them in an attempt to shatter their horns, when he heard a voice behind him,

“Chief?”

He turned around, and saw Cortana. As she said his name, she was flickering red, but returned to her normal blue colour once Chief turned around.

“Cortana, what happened?” he asked.

“I... I don't know,” she answered shakily. “You were being pulled through the air by that aura, and I just... couldn't handle it. My Riemann Matrix was suffering major power fluctuations because of it, and I guess I just temporarily... collapsed,” she said quietly.

Turning back to the ponies, Chief said,

“So it was because of you,” in a threatening tone.

Celestia began to say, “We have found the source of disharmony inside of you. We must remove it, or-” but she was abruptly cut off.

“Shut it, you bitch!” Cortana spat.

Turning back to her, Chief noticed that she had tripled in size, and was red once more. She floated to his side, and glared at Celestia and Luna with pure hatred in her red eyes.

“Excuse me?” Celestia replied, taken aback by Cortana's words.

“How dare you!” Luna spat.

“How dare I!?” Cortana bellowed. “Do you have any idea how much pain that thing put me in!?” She screamed at the princesses.

“We had no way of knowing,” Celestia said, glaring back at Cortana.

“Oh, but it doesn't end there,” Cortana said. “You then proceeded to enter my Spartans mind and attempt to perform some sort of scan on me!” she yelled once more. As she spoke, she began to emit small waves of energy.

“Cortana! Calm down,” Chief said slowly. “You need to take it easy.”

“I... I know,” she replied. As she spoke to Chief, she briefly returned to normal, but returned to her state of rampancy once more as Celestia spoke.

“As I was saying, Master Chief, when we entered your mind, we found many things. We now realize that you certainly are not evil, but instead... lost. I cannot imagine how you pulled through everything that has happened to you in your life, such as having your childhood taken away, and... many other things... but we have also found what we believe to be the source of disharmony inside of you,” Celestia said sympathetically.

“What are you talking about?” Chief asked impatiently.

“Your companion, Cortana,” she answered. She continued, “To have something as disharmonious as her inside of your mind is very dangerous. She must be removed.”

“Hah, you want to remove me? By the looks of it, your race hasn't even developed modern weaponry yet, so how the hell do you plan on removing an artificial intelligence construct from the Master Chief's neural implants?” Cortana asked in a cocky tone.

“The same way we entered your “Spartans” mind. With the powers of harmony,” Celestia answered.

“How incredibly cliché,” Cortana replied.

“You are not doing anything to Cortana,” Chief said defensively.

“There is no other option. We must do this, for everyone's safety,” Celestia replied.

“As long as you stay out of our way, no one has to be in danger,” Cortana shot back.

“Silence!” Luna bellowed to Cortana. “You will allow us to be rid of that thing. To have such a deadly being running around freely with such disharmony inside of it is completely illogical,” she said to Chief. “Sister, let us begin,” she said to Celestia as her horn began to glow brighter.

“You fools, I cannot directly affect his actions even if I wanted to!” Cortana snapped.

Ignoring her comment, the two princesses began to approach Chief once more, horns both glowing a bright pink. Chief was almost out of options, but he spied his unguarded weapons lying in a pile off to his right. Cortana saw them too, and quickly said,

“Chief, the assault rifle has five rounds in it, make them count.”

He readied himself to leap for the rifle, then dove towards it with great power. His aim and strength combined perfectly, and he landed directly on top of it. Grabbing the assault rifle in mid roll, he landed back on his feet and turned to face the princesses, weapon shouldered and aimed at Celestia. He tapped the trigger, sending three bullets flying towards her head. Instead of hitting their target though, the bullets hit a barrier that suddenly formed around her body.

At that moment, three of the pegasi guards in golden armour decided to take action. As the first one attacked, the other two hovered in front of the princesses. The first one, thinking it could get a swipe at him from above, flew into the air and dove towards him with its spear held out in front of it. Seeing this as an opportunity to even up his odds, Chief quickly attached his rifle to his back, and as the pegasus flew over him he quickly ducked and grabbed onto the spear as it attempted to swipe at him, then slammed it and the pegasus into the ground.

The pegasus was stunned from having its momentum completely stopped and instead being sent flying into the ground, so it could do nothing but submit as Chief quickly snatched it up and held it by the neck and muzzle.

“Good thinking. If they try anything, I should be able to disrupt the electrical current long enough for you to show them that you don't mess around,” Cortana said to Chief.

“Now,” Chief said, “if you try to hurt Cortana, I hurt him.”

The guard managed a small whimper through Chief's gauntlet, and attempted to squirm out of his grip, but gave up very quickly.

“And don't think about trying to stop us with the “powers of harmony”, it'll only take a second for Chief to snap this poor sods neck,” Cortana said.

The princesses glanced at each other, and not wanting to risk anyone else being harmed, released their magical energy and stepped back.

“As I said, you are not doing anything to Cortana,” Chief stated.

“But we must! She is very dangerous, and to have her inside of your head is even more dangerous,” Luna replied.

“What makes you think I'm dangerous? Your harmony? Well, not everything in this galaxy is harmonious!” Cortana yelled, emitting another wave of energy.

“But our land is,” Luna growled. “And since you are inside of his mind, there is no way to remove you other than removing you entirely,” she said.

“That's not going to happen,” Chief said. He continued, “Cortana is not controlling my actions, and there is no way she can. The reason I am being violent towards you is entirely because I choose to be, not because of any “disharmony” inside of me.”

Celestia gave him a disapproving look as he spoke, then said, “Even so, she must be dealt with. She is dangerous, is she not?”

Chief replied, “No, as long as you don't invade my mind again. She's just damaged, and needs to be repaired.”

The guard squirmed once more, but Chief tightened his grip.

“Then you must repair her,” Luna said. “Now.”

“I can't,” Chief replied.

“Well you must figure out a way, or we will be forced to continue casting the incapacitation spell on you.” Luna stepped forward menacingly.

Chief twisted the guards neck slightly, threatening to snap it and forcing Luna to move back.

“Why can't you?” Celestia asked.

“I don't know how, and even if I did, I don't have the tools to do it,” he answered.

“Well we must do something.” Luna looked to Celestia. “We cannot stay here threatening eachother, but we cannot bring him back to civilization, and we certainly cannot allow him to roam free,” she said.

“As long as you and any others stay away from us we will not harm anyone,” Cortana said. “We simply wish to be alone,” she said while glaring at the princesses again.

“No, we do not trust you enough to leave you alone. We do not know where you would wander to, and what you would do once there,” Celestia replied.

“All we want is to return to our vessel. The only reason we're in this forest now is because we fled from it in an attempt to stay hidden,” Chief said.

“The answer is no,” Celestia said. “We are not leaving a being so lethal and violent unwatched.”

“What can you possibly accomplish by constantly watching us?” Cortana asked in an annoyed tone.

“Keeping our subjects safe.” Celestia looked to the gray mare, bruised and bloodied, lying on the ground. Looking back to Chief and Cortana, she then asked, “How do you plan on returning to wherever it is you come from though?”

“We don't know. We're still waiting for someone to find our distress beacon,” Chief answered.

“And do you have any idea when that will be?” Luna asked in a tone signalling she wanted it to be very soon.

Cortana answered, “No. It's been well over four years and no one has found it yet.”

“Four years?” Celestia questioned. “You have only been here for one night and a day though.”

“We drifted in Space for a very long time,” Cortana replied.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked impatiently.

“We were attempting to return home via a slipspace portal, but the portal collapsed while only half of our vessel was through,” she answered. “So Chief went into cryo sleep, and I... I did nothing.”

“How were you able to survive in Space for four years?” Celestia asked, intrigued by their story.

“It's not important. What's important is that someone finds our beacon,” Chief said.

“If no one has found you for four years, do you believe that anyone is even looking?” Luna asked skeptically.

“Of course someone is looking.” Cortana snapped. “Chief is a war hero, he has saved the entire galaxy, but none of you would know anything about it, seeing as you were all too busy here enjoying your harmony,” she spat. Cortana was beginning to emit waves of energy once more, so Chief quickly placed a hand over her floating avatar to return her to his mind, then returned the hand back to the guards muzzle. As Cortana disappeared into his hand in a blue haze, he earned quizzical looks from the ponies.

“We don't know when we'll be found,” Chief said slowly.

The princesses glanced at each other as if they were contemplating something. This was the second time Chief had seen them do this, and he briefly wondered if they were able to communicate like that, but his thoughts were interrupted when Celestia spoke.

“We have made a decision. We cannot have you going about freely, and you need somewhere to stay for the time being. Since we now know that you are not...” she paused, trying to choose the proper word, “...evil, we would like for you to return to our castle with us.”

Chief was surprised at hearing them say that, but he did not care. “No,” he replied, “we're staying in the forest, near our vessel.” He then added, “You should leave.”

Luna then spoke up, “You do not understand. You will return with us. We will not allow you to be unwatched while you are here.”

“We're staying. You're wasting your time.” Chief stepped closer to his weapons on the ground.

“Why would you want to stay in the forest?” Celestia asked. “Is there something valuable to you on board your vessel?”

Chief knew the Dawn represented very little significance other than being one of the two landmarks he knew on the planet, but he did not want to abandon it. He especially did not want any of the ponies tampering with any of the useful gear and supplies that may still be on board.

“Chief, maybe we should go with them. It would be a lot easier than running again, and we have nothing to do but wait for the UNSC to find our beacon anyway,” Cortana said inside his helmet. “As much as we both hate the thought of having to interact with these things even more, the Dawn has no power, and there's not much more on board it. We've also got nowhere else to go.” She then slowly said, “And I need to get out of this forest... I... I don't know how much longer I can handle it. It and the aura have really done a number on me.”

Chief was beginning to worry much more about Cortana. One moment she was unable to control her anger towards the alicorns, and the next she wanted to go with them. He knew that she had approached the anger stage of rampancy, but she seemed to be becoming more unpredictable as well. She did have a point, however, but he still did not like the idea of going with them. He needed to get Cortana out of the forest though, and going with them peacefully would be the easiest way, as he would not have to evade the ponies constantly, and he would not need to return to the forest.

“Alright,” he said. He briefly wondered how long he could keep avoiding Cortana's demise like this, but pushed the thought to the back of his mind instantly.

“Someone will find us,” he thought to himself.

“I'll go with you for now.” Chief released the guard, dropping him hard onto the scorched ground. He watched as the guard launched himself at his fellow troops, practically hiding behind them. The sight was slightly amusing to Chief.

He then attempted to retrieve the rest of his weapons.

“Not so fast,” Celestia said, grabbing the weapons with her magic.

“Don't test me,” Chief growled.

“You may have them back once we are sure you can be trusted.” She pulled the assault rifle from his back, then began to pull his weapons towards her with her magic.

“Easy Chief. Play along for now,” Cortana warned.

Acknowledging her, Chief said, “Alright, but these stay with me,” as he grabbed his energy sword and combat knife from her aura.

Luna glared at him and was about to command him to return the weapons, but Celestia shook her head at her. The pink glow around Celestia's horn then vanished, and her eyes returned to their original violet colour. She looked to Luna, who then did the same. As the princesses released the magic of the Elements, the necklaces and tiara ceased to glow.

“Now then,” Celestia said, looking to the bearers of the Elements, “girls, I would like for you to remain at the castle for the next few days. We may need the Elements of Harmony once more.” She then looked to Chief, “We will be bringing you to the capital city of our land, Canterlot. There will be many ponies there, so we will keep you inside of the castle for the first while, under constant watch. Eventually, we will allow you access to the castle grounds as well, but you will be escorted.”

“Just play along...” Cortana repeated.

“And you had better keep your companion, Cortana, in check,” Luna sneered, turning away from them.

“Play along,” Chief mocked jokingly.

“Focus,” Cortana replied, obviously annoyed.

With a smirk, Chief sheathed his combat knife and attached his energy sword to his side.

“Now then, we must get moving.” Celestia glanced at the sun. “It must be around two o'clock. I would not like to stay inside of the Everfree Forest for any longer than we must.”

“I don't suppose we'll be able to fit him into one of the chariots?” Rarity muttered.

“I'm afraid not,” Celestia replied. “Guards, we can take care of everything from here. Return to the castle with the chariots, and notify the rest of the guard that we will be returning with the...” she glanced towards Chief as if to ask which species he belonged to.

“Human.” He had caught the hint.

“And bring that pegasus with you. Have her receive medical attention right away," she said to the guard standing closest to the injured mare.

“Master Chief, as we walk, you will answer the rest of our questions.” She walked to the front of the group then said, “Classified or not.”

“You will walk ahead of us,” Luna stated.

Chief began to make his way to the front of the group, but as he walked, he heard a small voice to his left,

“Thanks for protecting me, mister.”

Looking to where it came from, he saw the gray pegasus from before being carried to the chariots on the back of one of the guards. It was smiling weakly at him, and sounded as if it had put much effort into saying those five words.

Even though he was defending himself from the dragon more than anything, he nodded at her.

As Chief began walking to the front of the group once more, he noticed the princesses and the rest of the ponies exchanging surprised looks with each other. They definitely did not expect to hear that, he thought.

Upon him reaching the front of the group, Celestia said,

“Now, explain to us exactly how you managed to survive drifting in space for four years, then survive crash landing onto our planet.”

“So it begins...” Cortana muttered.

...And Your Enemies Closer

“That's classified,” Chief said in a flat tone. The group had only been walking through the Everfree Forest for two minutes, and the Spartan had already denied an answer to four of their questions. The only answer he had given was a simple “No”, to Pinkie Pie asking if he was hungry.

“I recall myself stating that you are to answer the rest of our questions.” Celestia shot a stern look towards Chief. “Classified or not,” she added with a hint of venom in her voice. She did not take kindly to being blatantly disobeyed.

“I have protocols to follow.” Chief never broke his stride or even looked back to the princess as he spoke.

“She's really starting to annoy me...” Cortana muttered.

“What possible harm can be caused by you answering our questions?” Luna asked.

Chief did not reply. Instead, he continued walking.

“I see that they do not teach proper manners wherever it is that you come from,” Luna huffed.

“They taught us to be silent.” Chief glanced towards Celestia and Luna for no longer than a second, then quickly returned his gaze to the trail ahead of him.

“Us?” Celestia asked with genuine curiosity.

When Chief did not reply, Cortana said through his helmet,

“I hope you didn't expect an answer to that. Although, you should already have one, seeing as you invaded his mind.”

“We did not view all of his memories,” Luna said with slight annoyance in her voice.

Celestia had had enough. She would have answers. If a seven foot tall extra-terrestrial was going to be living among her subjects, she would have some information about it. She trotted to the Spartans side and looked into his visor.

“I understand that you do not wish to speak to us, let alone answer our questions, but you must be honest with us. Your honesty and cooperation will make your stay here much less stressful,” she said.

“There is nothing to be honest about. I crash landed here, and I need a way home. There's nothing more to it.” Chief continued walking, his gaze still on the path before him.

“There is nothing to be honest about, yet you are withholding information from us?” Luna asked sarcastically.

Chief continued walking.

Celestia was now becoming very irritated with the Spartan. She walked in front of him, cutting him off and forcing him to come to a stop, and looked directly into his faceplate.

“If you are going to be staying here, you will tell us a little bit about yourself.” Celestia had to look up to meet the Spartan's gaze, but that did not stop her from giving him a look of utter seriousness. It was a look that only a monarch could master, and she had honed that skill very well.

“Stop meddling in matters that don't concern you,” Chief said. “For your own good,” he added as he walked around Celestia.

As the Master Chief continued walking once more, Luna approached her sister.

“Perhaps he is right, sister. We saw very few parts of his life, but what we did see...” Luna's voice trailed off for a brief second as she lowered her gaze to the ground, “I do not want any of that to happen here. I cannot even begin to imagine how and why such destruction and evil could be caused.”

“While I agree that what we saw was... disturbing, I would feel much more secure having some information on this being. I am quite sure that you would as well,” Celestia said softly.

“Very well, but...” Luna gave her sister a look of doubt as her voice trailed off once more.

“Is there something more bothering you, my sister?” Celestia asked while lowering her head closer to Luna's.

“If more like him, or the other beings we saw, find us, what do you suppose would happen?” Luna asked in a quiet voice, making sure the six mares a few feet behind her would not hear.

This question caught Celestia completely off-guard. She looked to her sister with a blank expression on her face, still trying to find an answer even when Luna spoke again.

“It does not seem unrealistic, another species finding us. They even said, someone is looking for them. What happens if they find them here? In our home?”

“I do not know, Luna.” Celestia looked away from her sister.

“Our magic, and the Elements of Harmony, would only be able to do so much. Would we be able to defend ourselves if more Humans came here wishing to wage war? Or the Others?”

“The power of the elements is unmatched,” Celestia said to herself more than anyone else. She would love to believe that the Elements of Harmony could protect everyone and everything, and she almost did, but deep down, she questioned their ability to defend their home if such a thing did happen.

Noticing her sisters facial expressions becoming blank, Luna said,

“Celestia?”

Celestia was deep in thought about Luna's question, but when she heard her voice once more, she said,

“Yes, Luna. I apologize, I was just thinking.”

“Did you... come to a conclusion?” Luna asked skeptically. As strong and proud as their nation was, Luna doubted their survival against such vicious foes.

“Fear not, Luna, there will be a way. There always is. For now, however, do not think about such things. Focus on the task before us, instead,” Celestia replied. She knew ignoring the matter would not help them in any way, but the Everfree Forest was no place to stop and think about such things.

“Very well,” Luna said as she began walking. She stopped at her sisters side though, and asked in a voice not much higher than a whisper, “And Mother and Father would be there as well, to guide us, right?”

“I think they would be there, Luna.” Celestia smiled softly to her sister.

Celestia watched as Luna continued down the trail, following the Master Chief, then turned to meet the girl's curious gazes.

“Come, girls, we have a long distance to cover, and not much sunlight left,” she said with a reassuring smile. Such thoughts would be too much for the girls to handle, for anyone to handle, so she would keep them between herself and her sister.

As she turned to continue walking, she was met with her sister's gaze once more.

“Celestia, there has been an inconvenience,” Luna said cautiously.

“You could make a run for it, you know,” Cortana said.

“I know,” Chief replied.

“So why don't you?”

“Because that would only piss them off.” Chief risked a glance over the rotting log he was hiding behind, and added, “Them, and that pack of manticores.”

“A pack of manticores?” Celestia asked as the group moved along the trail.

“Yes,” Luna replied. “I was following the human to make sure he did not try to escape, when we came upon a small clearing. As soon as I smelled them, I knew what we were approaching,” she said.

The group reached the clearing, and Luna directed everyone behind a large boulder near them. From their position, they could see the Master Chief crouched behind a log that had fallen quite some time ago, hiding from whatever was on the other side of it.

“He, however, is not familiar with the sights and smells of the Everfree, and almost walked straight into them. Luckily, the manticores are asleep, so he was able to duck down unnoticed,” Luna said.

“I see. We don't have much time, our scents will wake them soon. We must find a way around them, quickly,” Celestia said.

“We do not have many options for sneaking around them. The forest is much too thick in this area; we would create too much noise trying to sneak through it,” Luna replied.

“'Shy and I could fly everyone over to the other side of them,” Rainbow dash suggested.

“Oh, well, I'd really rather not.” Fluttershy peeked out from behind the boulder with wide eyes.

“Come on, you've dealt with manticores before,” Dash persuaded.

“Yes, but that was only one manticore, not three sleeping ones who would be very, very angry if we woke them,” Fluttershy replied fearfully.

“Perhaps we should go back and find another way around. It will take longer, but it will be much safer,” Luna said to Celestia.

“Yes, but we have very limited daylight,” Celestia replied.

“We could delay the sunset if we must,” Luna suggested.

“Only for a short while, though.” Celestia glanced towards her sun with a worried look on her face.

“What are they doing?” Chief asked in a less than patient tone.

“Discussing what to do. For being the 'princesses' of this place, they sure seem pretty clueless,” Cortana answered.

Chief shifted impatiently.

“We need to get moving,” he said.

“Just be patient. I'll be alright,” Cortana replied reassuringly.

Chief shifted once more.

“I know what you're thinking, and I advise against it,” Cortana said. “The last one you killed with a grenade. We don't exactly know what they're capable of in close quarters combat,” she added.

“If they won't think of a way past them, I will.” Chief peered over the log at the three sleeping manticores. “I'll take them by surprise. That's already one guaranteed kill,” he added.

“Alright. Just don't let them land a hit on you. By the size of their arms, they look like they could do some damage,” Cortana warned.

“Sister, our only option is to go back. We should start moving, we have already wasted enough time discussing what to do,” Luna said.

Glancing at the sun once more, Celestia said,

“Very well.”

She stepped out from behind the boulder to tell the Master Chief, and was more shocked than she should have been when she saw that he was no longer crouched behind the log.

She returned to the rest of the group and said,

“He is not there anymore. He must have snuck off,” in a slightly angry tone.

Just then, Applejack noticed something balancing on a large tree branch high above the ground.

“Uuh, princess?” she said slowly while looking up.

The rest of the group looked to her, then followed her gaze up a massive tree, and onto one of its larger, higher branches.

The master Chief was perched up high, holding his combat knife in his right hand, and the energy sword hilt in his left. He was holding his knife backwards, ready to slam its blade down onto an enemy without a moments notice. He did not intend on using his energy sword, as he wanted to conserve its charges, but he would if his situation became dire.

He was directly above the trio of sleeping manticores. He looked down at them and noticed their noses twitching violently, even from his elevated position. He examined them, searching for the strongest looking one, and once he found his target, he prepared himself for the jump. He flexed his muscles for the thirty meter drop, and readied himself for what he was going to do.

It was time to make a move.

The Spartan launched himself off of the tree branch and soared to the ground. He landed fast and hard, with a thud, cracking, and squishing sound to accompany him. From the other side of the log, a few ponies winced once they realized what had caused the sound.

The Master Chief had landed directly on top of the largest manticore's head, completely flattening it under his immense weight. The sound and impact had woken the other two sleeping manticores, but before they could react, Chief was already on ones back, slashing and stabbing at its neck. The manticore cried out in pain while it attempted to swat the Spartan off its back, but Chief had dug his blade into its neck too many times for it to handle, and its strength was effectively drained. As the beast gave one last cry of pain, Chief jumped off its back before it fell over, bloodied and dead.

The princesses and the girls could only imagine what was happening beyond their boulder and the rotting log. They heard roars of anger and pained howls, but could see nothing of what was happening.

Chief was ducking, sidestepping, and doing whatever he could to evade the fierce swipes and punches the manticore was throwing at him. Dodging it was child's play for him, as he was able to predict its next move two moves before it made it. He could not make a mistake, however, as a direct hit from it could be potentially devastating. As stupid as the large beast was, its speed and strength was quite remarkable.

“This thing's attacks are wild and poorly timed. Wait for an opening,” Cortana directed Chief.

The manticore continued its attacks. It swiped left, right, left again, and then brought its fist down in an attempt to crush Chief.

That was the opening he needed.

Chief sidestepped to his right just as the beasts paw came crashing down, then rushed forward towards its unprotected face. The manticore was off balance after attempting such an attack, and could not recover fast enough to defend itself. It tried landing a hit on the Spartan with its left paw, but Chief ducked under it just in time, then sunk his combat knife into the furious manticore's jaw.

The manticore reared back, roaring in pain. It clutched its bleeding jaw with both of its paws as it began stumbling backwards. Unbeknownst to the beast was the rotting log behind it, and as it continued stumbling, it tripped over the log and landed hard on its back. It struggled to get to its feet, but the Master Chief was too fast, and as the manticore was beginning to sit up the Spartan had already launched himself at it, combat knife at the ready.

Chief landed on the manticore's chest and pinned it down under his weight. The furious beast struggled and thrashed at him, but the Spartan countered this by repeatedly jamming his knife into its neck. The beast was beginning to lose its strength from a significant loss of blood, but the fact that it was nearing death only made it more desperate.

The ponies watched in terror as the Spartan brutally impaled the manticore's neck and throat over and over again. The princesses were the most resilient to the scene, but they were still taken aback by it. The desperate and pained wails of the dying beast were breaching the psychological shield they had built up over the few millennia they had ruled, and they could do nothing but watch.

The girls were certainly not taking the situation any better than the princesses. Fluttershy had fainted as soon as she heard the gruesome sounds of Chief landing on one of the manticore's heads, and the rest of them were frozen in a mix of shock and fear. They had never in their lives seen such intense violence before that night and day, even when the Changelings attacked. It was something new to them; something that they could not handle.

Chief continued slaughtering the beast. It would certainly not be a clean kill, but he did not care. This thing needed to be dead if he was to get Cortana out of the forest, so he would kill it with his bare hands if he needed to.

“It can't last much longer,” he thought to himself. He was surprised at how strong the creature was, and how long it could resist death.

The manticore continued thrashing in a desperate last attempt to save itself, and managed to knick Chief's shoulder pauldron, slightly off-balancing him. The Spartan was bringing his blade down on the beast for the final time as it connected with him, which caused him to miss his target. Instead, he ended up slicing the manticore's right ear clean off. The manticore was able to deal with this though, as that was nothing compared to the devastating attacks Chief had already thrown at it.

The manticore had only one chance to get the Spartan off of it. As Chief's knife met the beast's ear, it delivered a solid punch to his side. The impact of the manticore's fist slamming against him knocked him off of its chest, and he landed on his back a couple meters away. He had lost his grip on his combat knife when he was hit, and could not locate it as he got up.

The manticore's brain was in full blown panic; it was thinking about nothing but survival at this point. With a flood of near-death adrenaline taking over, the manticore launched itself at Chief, intent on mauling him to death.

The Spartan had other ideas.

As the manticore soared through the air towards him, Chief expertly rolled out of the way. He caught a glimpse of the ponies as he did, and noticed their fearful expressions. They must not be used to violence, he thought.

As he landed back on his feet, he felt the manticore slam into the ground behind him. He turned to face the beast, and raised his fists while he slowly moved backwards to increase the distance between them. The manticore struggled to get up, and growled viciously at Chief as it did. It could taste its own blood as it choked and gurgled on it, and there was no taste a manticore hated more than that of its own blood.

“Careful, it's becoming desperate. Just let it tire itself out, once its adrenaline settles it'll practically fall over dead,” Cortana said slowly.

As she spoke, Chief could hear the strain in her voice. The forest was taking its toll on her once more. He needed to hurry.

The manticore growled again, then went down onto all fours. It was going to charge, Chief thought. It continued growling, then slowly began creeping forward. Chief crouched down defensively and readied his energy sword. He needed to kill it now, and the fastest way would be with a white hot blade of energy. The manticore continued creeping towards him, gradually building up speed until it had closed enough of the distance between them, then broke out into a full sprint.

There was only a two second's distance in between them at the manticore's current speed, but that was more than enough time for Chief to react. A Spartan II's reaction time was so fast that they were able to see in slow and fast motion.

The manticore raised its thick paw at the Spartan, its sharp claws visible and ready to dig into him, then swiped at him with incredible might. Before it could even register what had happened though, its target was gone, it was lying at the foot of a large tree, and it felt a searing pain in its back. The pain was worse than anything it had ever felt before.

As soon as the manticore was within a few steps of him, Chief had activated his energy sword and ducked under its arm with amazing speed and finesse. As he spun around to the other side of the charging beast's body, he flicked his wrist, delivering a swift slash of his energy sword to its vulnerable back.

The manticore had put all of its strength into that swipe, and when it hit nothing but air, it knocked itself off balance and went tumbling into the tree Chief had jumped from earlier. As it lay stunned at the bottom of the tree, the immense pain from its back, neck, and throat began to take over, and its adrenaline began to fade. It let out a small whimper, wishing its mother was still there to protect it, then looked to its enemy for mercy.

The Master Chief did not have mercy for such creatures though. He also did not have time for it. He quickly moved to the dying beast's side and delivered a quick slice of his sword to its throat, permanently ending its life with a sizzle, and a final choking sound from the manticore. He then deactivated his energy sword, and turned to face the princesses.

“Lets get moving,” he said simply.

When no one budged and he was met with nothing but wide eyes and gaping mouths, he said,

“We don't have much time. Lets GO,” with extra force.

He was met with nothing again. The ponies' lack of movement and speech was beginning to annoy Chief greatly, especially when Cortana was suffering because of it. He was about to order them to move once more when someone finally spoke.

“You did not have to do that...” it said quietly, but harshly. “We were going to go back and find another way around. Had you just been patient...!” it began in a slow tone, but ended yelling angrily at Chief. He recognized the voice as Luna's, although her head was hung as she spoke, so he could not confirm that it was her speaking until she glared into his visor.

Luna was now beginning to worry very much about Equestria's safety. In the brief time she had known the human, it had already displayed multiple acts of extreme violence, as well as murder. She could not imagine what would happen if others like him came upon their peaceful planet.

She agreed that it was time to move on though, and as she began walking to the side of the clearing opposite to them, she said to her sister,

“Celestia, I do not want anymore of these creatures to come here. Ever.”

And with that, she continued down the path to civilization once more.

Chief was glad that they were finally going to make some progress again, as was Cortana. He did not care if the princesses did not appreciate what he just did, he just wanted to get moving again. Cortana, however, didn't take kindly to their lack of appreciation.

“I don't believe it,” she said, “you just solved our time shortage problem, and you eliminated three very hostile creatures without any help from them. It's as if they're impossible to please!” she yelled.

“It doesn't matter,” Chief replied. “What matters is that we get out of this forest. From there we can think of a new plan, and we might be able to find some more supplies as well.”

“Right, sorry. I was getting off topic,” Cortana replied in a calmer tone.

“It's okay.” Chief attached the energy sword hilt to his side, then looked to Celestia. “How much longer until we reach the edge of the forest?” he asked.

She had regained her bearings by now, and felt almost the same as Luna.

“An hour,” she answered coldly. “Girls, we should go,” she added.

By now, Fluttershy had regained consciousness, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were slowly helping her up. Pinkie Pie and Rarity stood side by side, utterly shocked at what they just watched. Twilight was attempting to comfort them, and it seemed to be working, until they heard Fluttershy's near silent gasp. She had seen the dead manticore.

She tried running towards the other end of the clearing where the path began again, until she spotted the other two manticores on the opposite side of the log. She barely held in the contents of her stomach as her eyes came across the crushed head of the largest one. With a cry of terror, she turned back to her friends and ran towards them at top speed.

Despite running at top speed, she was still quite weak, and Rainbow Dash caught her in her forelegs. Fluttershy looked up to her foalhood friend and held back the urge to bawl into her mane. Rainbow saw her lips quiver, though, and knew she couldn't hold it back for long.

“Shh, it's okay. Everything will be okay,” she whispered into her ear.

Fluttershy knew that everything would not be okay though. She knew that the three manticores, along with the two guards from the night before, would not be okay. She was sad, and angry. She wanted to cry and yell at the same time, which surprised her, since she never wanted to yell. However, the circumstances were certainly right, so she pulled her head from Rainbow Dash's mane and looked towards the Master Chief.

That's when she noticed it.

A scar, in the left paw of the dead, mutilated manticore lying in front of the tree. A scar that was the perfect fit for a large thorn. Fluttershy knew this manticore, and this shook her to her very core. As she stood up shakily, she remembered removing the thorn from that very manticore's paw, and she remembered it licking her mane in joy, back when there was no violence, and no killing. With this alien here though, she had seen not only more than her fair share of violence in the last thirteen hours, but murder as well!

She quietly walked away from the group, past the Master Chief, and to the manticore's side. She nuzzled its cold, lifeless cheek, and whispered with a shaky voice,

“It's okay, everything... will be okay...” As she spoke, she shed a tear onto the manticore's corpse.

The rest of the group watched in silence. Even Chief was slightly surprised at her sudden bravery, despite caring very little for whatever memories she was reminiscing about with the manticore. To him, it was just another obstacle, and he was taught to overcome his obstacles, which he did.

“I really don't understand this place,” Cortana stated.

Suddenly, Fluttershy turned around to face Chief. She was crying quite heavily now, and her eyes and cheeks were covered with tears. The strangest part about it though, was that she was glaring at him. Chief wasn't shocked by this, but for some reason that was completely unknown to him, the rest of the ponies were, even Celestia. She had such hatred in her eyes that Chief instinctively crouched slightly, as this was the look an elite would give him before charging at him with an energy sword.

Then something very strange happened.

Chief began to feel slightly numb. The feeling started in his extremities, then slowly crept into his arms and legs.

“Chief, do something,” Cortana said cautiously.

He could not move though. There was nothing restraining him, but he felt as if something had grabbed him and would not let go. He continued looking into the eyes of the pony, and that's when he realized it. Her eyes were doing this to him.

“Her... eyes...” he said slowly.

The pony's glare intensified, and he began to feel the numbness move to his shoulders and knees. Chief didn't know what was happening, as he had never experience anything like this before. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He could not fight it, but could he resist it? It was worth a shot.

He attempted to close his eyes, using all of his willpower. After a few seconds of struggling, he managed to close them, and almost immediately the numbness left his body, and he could control himself once more. As soon as he was free, he instantly grabbed his energy sword and activated it while sprinting towards the pony. In a quick blur of green, he grabbed it by its neck. He kept his eyes closed the entire time--save for when he sprinted towards her--as he did not want to get caught in its stare again.

He held the pony in front of him, his blade so close to it that the fur on its neck burned away, revealing its skin. He heard frantic cries from the ponies behind him, and the voice of Celestia commanding him to let her go. When he moved his blade closer to her neck, he heard her cry out in pain, and he knew then that he was able to open his eyes.

He opened them and immediately turned around, angling himself so that the body of the pony was between him and the rest of the group. He fully expected to see Celestia's horn glowing pink again, but was surprised when he did not. All she said was,

“Release her.”

Cortana scoffed at this, and yelled furiously through his helmet's speakers,

“You expect him to just release her after doing... whatever the hell that was!?”

“Yes. There does not need to be anymore fighting,” she answered.

“Oh trust me, it wouldn't be much of a fight,” Cortana replied malevolently.

Fluttershy was bawling now, out of fear and sadness.

Ignoring Cortana's comment, Celestia said,

“Master Chief, this will not happen again, I can promise you that, you must release her though. You have told us how being inside of the Everfree Forest is harmful to your armour, and this is only prolonging your stay.”

Chief knew she was right. If he killed the pony, that would only make things incredibly more difficult for them. Getting out of the forest was his top priority, and he didn't need to be wasting anymore time inside of it than he already had. If he still felt that the pony was a threat once they were out, he would deal with her quietly then, but not now.

He released the pony without a warning, earning a startled cry from it, and watched as it ran to the other smaller ponies. He deactivated his energy sword and reattached it to his side, then looked at Celestia. She met his gaze, and without looking away, said,

“Girls, go and find Princess Luna. We will catch up with you shortly.”

As the ponies slowly moved away from the scene, Fluttershy looked at Master Chief and said in quivering voice,

“Y-you're a monster...” before burying her face back into Rainbow Dash's mane.

He ignored her, and watched as Celestia approached him. Instinct told him to reach for his sword, but he did not. Instead, he continued watching as she walked towards him, their gazes fixed on eachother. Upon reaching him, Celestia said,

“The amount of violence you create is taking a toll on my sister, my subjects, and myself. This is going to change.”

She turned away from him, and her horn suddenly flared to life with the light yellow aura. Chief wasn't surprised at her challenging him, and he drew his sword, activating it and holding it defensively in front of him. He waited for her to make a move so he could counter-attack her, but the attack never came. What happened instead, was the bodies of the manticores becoming engulfed in light, only to disappear into nothing. Even their blood stains on the ground had disappeared.

The aura around her horn then vanished, and she turned to Chief and said,

“That is exactly my point.”

She then began walking towards the other side of the clearing, and said,

“Come. We need to talk.”

Author's Note

Yo. I'm back.
-For those wondering, this takes place sometime after season two. I go by the logic that Shining Armour is still a Captain of the Royal Guard, should he choose to take up his arms again. They really never said if he just sat around with Cadance as a prince instead of a guard after season 2, and they never said when season 3 takes place after 2.
-Chapter 1, 2, and 3 have been revised. I haven't really changed anything, I just made the chapters much better. They're smoother, make more sense, and generally better than they used to be. I'll be revising the rest later on.
-I'm gonna' try to get back into a 1 - 2 week update basis, but it's gonna' be hard. Next semester will be better for this story, since I've got a bunch of easy classes, so less homework and school related stress to interfere here.
-And yes I know, Fluttershy is OP as fuuuck, but she was really pissed off at him, and Celestia was right when she said that would not happen again.

Delicate Situation

The Chief and Celestia walked side by side in silence. It was a very uncomfortable situation; neither enjoyed the others presence, and Celestia made sure to keep Chief's weapons well out of range of him. It was not until they had put a fair bit of distance between themselves and the clearing that Celestia spoke.

“I do wish for you to have a pleasant stay here, truthfully, but for that to happen we must put all of our issues behind us,” she said calmly. She continued after a short pause, “All of the violence we have created towards each other, and others, is making this situation quite difficult.”

Chief said nothing in return.

“I understand that after all that has happened in the short time we have known each other, that is asking a lot, but do you not agree?” she asked as she turned her head to his faceplate.

“I agree with you,” he said. “That only adds to why I need to get off this planet,” he added.

Celestia continued silently looking into his visor as if to tell him to continue.

“Myself and Cortana are not meant to be here. I can tell that this world and its people have most likely seen little violence, and it would be best if we left as soon as we could.” He turned his head to face her. “So I need you to tell me: do you know of any way at all for us to get off of this planet?” he asked with the faintest bit of hope in his voice.

“No species on our planet is space-faring,” the princess answered with disappointment.

“No species that belongs on this planet, that is...” Cortana said slowly.

Knowing immediately what Cortana was hinting at, Chief fired off a volley of questions at Celestia, hoping that at least one of her answers would be the one he wanted.

“Maybe so, but have any other humans ever been here? Or any species that may have left some sort of vessel behind?” Chief knew that even for him, this was testing his luck quite extremely, but he had very few options.

“Not that I know of,” Celestia answered calmly as she continued looking into his visor. Almost too calmly, it seemed.

“Then have you ever encountered any strange structures? Structures that may seem out of place?” he asked with a final hint of hope in his voice.

“No structures like that have ever been recorded,” Celestia replied, as calm as before.

Even though Chief had expected nothing of what he had described to exist on their planet, he was still disappointed by Celestia's answers. She sensed that he did not like them.

“I'm sorry,” Celestia said. She then began walking at a faster pace. “Come, we must exit the forest before night is upon us. Once we reach civilization and get you settled in, we will try to help you in any way we can.”

“I appreciate your hospitality,” Chief said, “but I'd prefer not to waste time 'settling' in. Cortana and I don't have much time.”

“Very well, but remember that you will be under watch at all times.” Celestia said, keeping her pace.

“Chief, just a heads up, I detected the faintest increase in her heart rate when you asked her those questions. I don't know what, but I think she may be hiding something. Keep your eyes open and stay alert, I don't trust her.”

“Affirmative.” Chief then matched Celestia's pace, and they began walking in silence once more.

Princess Luna lifted aside a heap of dangling vines with her magic. Behind the vines was a larger path that had been somewhat cleared to make travel easier, despite still being quite overgrown. It was a good sign, as it signified that they were nearing the edge of the forest—most likely near Ponyville.

Luna looked back to the six mares in dismay trudging along in an unorderly fasion behind her, and frowned slightly. They have had a rough time during the last eighteen hours—everyone involved in this mess has.

“Come, girls. Just a couple more hours,” she said softly as she began moving again.

Fluttershy was still crying, but her sobs had reduced to quiet sniffles and single tears. She walked alongside Rainbow Dash, who held her close with her wing. Rarity was off to their right, her eyes wandering lazily over the ground in front of her, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie walked a few feet behind her, with nothing but a blank look in their eyes. Other than Princess Luna, Twilight was the only one that seemed to still be registering their situation—just barely—and she walked off to the left of the group, trying to process her thoughts.

None of them knew how to handle any of this. Their everyday lives were based around friendship, peace, happiness, all of the things that made up Equestria, but in less than a day, their lives had been turned upside down. Sure, they had dealt with evil and violence before, but nothing as brutal as this. No opponent they had faced had been this extreme, and seeing so much violence and death shook the peaceful ponies to their very core.

“How are you holding up?” Rainbow Dash asked Fluttershy in a quiet voice.

“I... I don't feel good...” Fluttershy answered weakly. “Can we take a break?” she asked in an even weaker voice.

“Of course,” Luna replied. “Are you injured?” she asked Fluttershy.

“I just feel faint...” she said as she stumbled over to a tree to lean against.

The rest of the group began sitting down to rest, except for Luna, who stood looking over them.

After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy spoke, just loud enough for everyone to hear,

“I just don't know what came over me. I've never felt like that before... I have been angry before, but... I... this feeling was different. I wanted to hurt him, and as bad as he is, I don't like that I felt like that. I just wish none of this happened.” She then proceeded to lay down against the tree, staring sadly at a pine cone on the ground near her.

“It's okay, we understand why you felt that way,” Twilight said.

“How's your neck, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

Fluttershy reached her wing up to feel the wound, and winced as soon as it made contact with the seared flesh.

“My apologies,” Luna said, “I should have noticed that you required medical attention earlier, but my mind was elsewhere. May I?” she asked as she lowered her horn to Fluttershy's neck. When Fluttershy nodded, Luna's horn glowed a faint blue, and the same colour formed around the burn on the injured mare's neck. Fluttershy gasped slightly, and then it was over. Everything but her fur and some of her burnt tissue had been healed, and the pain was completely gone.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said weakly. She looked up to see Luna smiling at her. She tried returning the smile, but only got as far as a slight crease in her lips.

“We will wait here until Celestia and the Human catch up with us. Get some rest while you can, girls,” Luna said as she sat down near them.

For the remainder of their break, everyone was quiet, keeping to themselves. They thought about what would happen once they returned to Ponyville and Canterlot, and how the rest of Equestria would react to the extraterrestrial. What everyone was most worried about, though, was how the extraterrestrial would react to them.

Luna did not trust the Spartan at all, and she didn't expect that to change. He had demonstrated extreme aggressiveness when threatened, and when faced against an entirely new world full of new beings, threatened is one thing he is sure to feel. And he hasn't even been exposed to civilization yet.

She would be ready for a fight at all times, but would much rather see the Spartan leave their planet instead. Of course, there is no known way for him to do that, so he would have to wait for his species to find him, and that would mean more humans in Equestria. Luna did not like that thought at all.

With all of these thoughts racing through her mind, Luna almost didn't notice Celestia and the Master Chief approaching the group. As she rose to her hooves, she shot a stern look towards the Chief—which he ignored—then moved to her sisters side, and matched her pace. The girls fell in behind them, and without so much as a word, the group was moving once more.

The girls kept more distance between them and the Chief this time though, mostly for Fluttershy's sake. Even though her stare seemed to be highly effective against him, she doubted she could do it again. The main reasons she would not try to do it again, however, are because she was afraid of trying it again, and she did not like the feeling of anger that came over her before.

When they return to town, she would avoid the Spartan, and hopefully, everyone could return to their normal lives. Oh, how she would enjoy tending to her garden right now, or being curled up next to Angel. She realized that she would have to come up with a reason for her neck being bare and slightly burnt, but for now, she just wanted to think about how nice it will be to return home.

“Cortana, watch the yellow one closely,” Chief said.

“Hopefully sh-she's smart enough to stay away from you, f-for her sa-sake,” Cortana replied. Chief could tell that the forest was harming her again; she sounded distorted, and her sentence was broken.

“Are you alright?” Chief asked.

Suddenly, his heads up display began flickering.

“Cortana?” he asked more urgently.

As soon as he said her name, his already malfunctioning heads up display turned red, and Cortana spoke in a devious tone,

“Oh, I'm fine, it's that pony that I'm worried about! Like I said, hopefully she's smart enough to stay out of your way, or she m-might meet your e-energy sword, and this time, Celestia w-won't be able to stop you!”

“Just take it easy. All I wanted was for you to keep an eye on her. Can you do that?”

“Oh, I can do much more than that, Chief. She's an equine, I'm an artificial intelligence. I'm superior.”

“That's not necessary. Just watch her,” Chief ordered. He was becoming very worried about Cortana. She seemed to be attempting to disobey his orders, something that rampant AI's will do. He also knew that normally, Cortana would not be so devious.

“We'll be out of this forest soon,” he thought to himself.

Author's Note

Short, boring chapter, I know. Just want you guys to know I'm still alive.
Next chapter they'll be out of the forest, and things will get started.
Sorry for the wait.

Stay sexc.

Knight in Shining MJOLNIR

Chief aimed his SMG at the head of the pegasus, intending to fire, when a large red dot appeared on his motion tracker, triggering a ping in his helmets speakers. It was slightly smaller than the size of a dot for an elite, but still considerably large. The dot was twenty two meters from his current position, and closing in on him fast.

As soon as his motion tracker detected the threat, he turned to face it, ignoring the petrified gray pegasus and allowing it a chance to escape. Not without clumsily smashing into a large tree branch and almost spiraling out of control though. He didn't worry greatly about it telling the alicorns, as he would still have the element of surprise if he remained inside of the forest, and he was much better armed now as well. He just hoped Cortana would be able to handle staying inside.

As Chief turned to aim his SMG in the direction of the oncoming threat, he heard a deafening roar come from whatever was crashing through the trees and bushes.

“Chief, whatever approaches us is almost the same size as an average elite. You may need something larger than an M7.” Cortana said cautiously, yet calmly. She had seen him handle Brute Chieftains before, so she was certain he'd do just fine against whatever he was about to go up against now.

Acknowledging Cortana's suggestion, Chief attached his SMG to his side while placing his ammo bag down next to him, and drew his assault rifle along with three spare magazines for it. He also took his remaining two grenades from it and put them into one of the pouches on his belt. The threat was now eleven meters from him, and he could see trees crashing down through the bushes and foliage. Digging in behind a thick tree he knew the beast wouldn't be able to knock down, Chief took aim in the direction it was coming from.

It was almost on him now, just seven meters away. All that was between him and the threat was the tree he was behind, and the thick patch of bushes and trees he had previously hid in from the pegasus.

“It's almost through, get ready.” Cortana said.

The beast smashed another tree aside, allowing it to push its head through. When it spotted Chief, it let loose a bellowing roar at him. Chief examined its head, and thought that it looked like an oversized lion with large horns atop its head and an extremely sharp set of teeth. Chief was taller than the beast, but it had a much larger body than him. It's arms and claws were very large as well, and were probably capable of causing him a bit of damage he noted.

There was only one tree left between them now, so he had to act quickly. He pulled a frag grenade from the pouch he had put them in, primed it, then pulled the spoon. He aimed for a spot in the bushes where he thought its feet would be, counted to three, and threw it. His aim was true, and it flew through the bushes and into the beasts foot with great force. The lion gave a roar of pain and anger as the grenade slammed into its foot, and looked to Chief with fire in its eyes. It attempted to knock down the final tree once more, and was about to succeed, when the grenade exploded.

The impact from the explosion sent the beast flying into the ground with force, causing it to yell out in intense pain. The explosion tore most of its leg and the left side of its body to dark red pieces, leaving nothing but a severed thigh and bloody burn marks all along its arm and side. The lion lay still on its back, slowly slipping into unconsciousness, as it was stunned and unable to think straight after taking such a devastating blow.

As soon as he threw the grenade, Chief dug back into the tree and waited until it exploded. After hearing the loud boom of the detonation and the roar of pain from the lion, he poked his head around to inspect it. He saw a tire sized crater in the burnt ground, still smoking from the explosion. The bushes and trees had been ripped apart by the grenade, and some trees had even toppled over. He then examined the lion, which was severely injured. It was unmoving, and most likely dead, Chief thought.

“Cortana, check its life signs. Is it dead?” He asked.

“No, surprisingly. Much like an elite, or brute, it survived the grenade because of how large it is. Just barely, though. Its arms are very thick, so it was able to cover most of its side from the blast, but not its leg.” Cortana answered. “Of course, if this were an elite or a brute, its armour would have prevented it from losing a leg, and it would be pretty angry with you right now.” She said jokingly. “Although, I'm sure your good buddy the Arbiter would understand you throwing a grenade at one of his elites.” She added sarcastically.

“Is it some sort of lion?” He asked in a confused tone when he noticed it had wings and a scorpion tail, as well as the horns he saw earlier.

“It may look like it, but no. This appears to be a manticore. Basically, it's a beast that has wings, horns, a tail, eats people whole, and may shoot poisonous spines, according to Eurasian mythology.” Cortana answered. “This entire planet seems to be made up of fairy tales and myths. Talking equines, wooden wolves, manticores... it just doesn't make any sense.” She added with as much confusion as Chief.

“Don't think too hard about it. We just need a way off.” Chief replied flatly.

“Okay. The manticore's as good as dead, and we still haven't found anywhere to set up camp. There's no use sticking around he-AAAGHH!” Cortana screamed briefly before becoming silent.

“Cortana!” Chief yelled. She did not respond. “Cortana, answer me. Are you alright?” He asked with worry. His question was met with more silence. He was about to run a diagnostic on her, when his heads up display started flickering. He could do nothing but watch as his suits systems gradually began going offline and malfunctioning, as nothing would respond to him.

The speakers in his helmet suddenly started working, and he was able to make out a sound coming through. The sound was small at first, but slowly became louder and louder. After long enough, he was able to make out what the sound was. He thought he heard Cortana talking to herself. The first voice was unmistakeable, and he instantly recognized it as Cortana's. The second voice, however, was definitely Cortana's, but in a much more devious tone. The two voices seemed to be arguing back and forth about multiple topics.

He wasn't able to make out much of what they were saying, as the two voices were talking over each other quite furiously. He thought he heard Cortana mention doctor Halsey, and a chess game, but as soon as he was almost able to make out a full sentence, another voice started speaking over it. The constant arguing went on for almost a minute, causing much grief to Chief's ears, until it escalated into what sounded like complete anger. He could no longer make out partial sentences, or even single words, as everything they said to each other was just a jumble of sounds to him.

His heads up display started to flicker more violently, then it shut down completely. The rest of his armour that Cortana had access to shut down as well, including his shields. He would be much more vulnerable to the energy based attacks of the alicorns if he didn't have his shields, he thought. Chief needed to fix this now, he didn't want to be stranded on an alien world with nonoperational armour and Cortana in full rampancy.

Chief activated his armour override control, allowing his armour's systems to begin functioning properly once more. As the rest of his armour began functioning again, his speakers crackled to life. The yelling Cortana's were still there, and it was now becoming a nuisance for him. Ejecting her data chip, Chief said,

“Cortana, get a hold of yourself. Just calm down.”

When she realized he had pulled her, she snapped back to her usual self. Appearing above the data chip Chief held in front of his face, she slowly looked up. Chief noticed she was flickering in and out of view quite rapidly, as well as appearing red on parts of her body. She spoke slowly,

“Chief, I..." She paused, "I didn't mean to cause your armour to malfunction. It's the forest, we need to stay near the outskirts of it, I can't handle being inside for too long.” She said, sounding very weak. Chief knew they didn't have much time, so he would buy as much as he could.

“Alright. Lets get moving. We'll stick to the outskirts.” He said as he picked up his bag of ammunition while returning his assault rifle to it.

“How is your condition?” He asked cautiously, worried about what she might say.

“You don't have to call it that, Chief. My rampancy is becoming a pain, as I'm sure you've noticed, but it's manageable. Don't worry.” She answered quietly, half lying about it being manageable.

“We just need to get back to Earth. Halsey will be there. We can get you help.” He replied reassuringly.

“Well, it's a long shot, but it may be possible. As far as I know, I'm the only AI ever to be generated from living tissue. It may be possible to recompile my neural net by replicating those same conditions. If we could get back, Halsey might be able to do it.” Cortana said with a hint of hope in her voice, returning to her usual blue self. “The only problem now, though, is we have no way back. Unless a slip space rated cruiser comes waltzing in sometime soon, we might not make it... unless these ponies have a hidden talent for interstellar travel.” She added sarcastically, the previous hope in her voice now gone.

“Someone has to find us, or there has to be something on this planet we could use. If we ended up here, someone else could have ended up here too.” Chief said.

“Well I wouldn't hold out on it.” she replied.

“I'm lucky though, aren't I?” He said as he inserted her chip back into his helmet and started jogging towards the edge of the forest.

“Girls, do you feel a slight pull in your elements?” Celestia asked them.

“I do!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“As do I.” Rarity said.

“They're pulling us towards the Everfree forest. I guess that thing decided to spend the night there.” Twilight said to Princess Celestia.

“Ugh. Splendid.” Rarity pouted to herself.

“Guards,” Luna said to each of the two guards flying the two chariots the girls were in, “Follow the girls instructions. They will be able to tell you where we must go.” Acknowledging Princess Luna, they flew ahead of the chariot Celestia and herself were in, and descended down towards the forest canopy.

“Oh my.” Celestia said.

“What do you think could have caused that?” Luna asked her.

“Something that can create large amounts of fire, a dragon would be my guess.” She answered. The princesses and the girls gazed upon a massive black scar across a small part of the Everfree forest. They had spotted it after passing through a large cloud the forest had created.

Small fires were still scattered all around the scar, attempting to burn anything that may have survived.

“Too bad none of these clouds are rain clouds.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Lets hope the fire doesn't spread anymore.” Twilight replied.

They all continued gazing, wondering what created the forest fire. Secretly, they were all hoping the alien wasn't connected to the fire. Something that could cause that much destruction must be powerful.

“Oh no!” Pinkie yelled into Applejack's ear, breaking her out of her gaze on the huge scar.

“What? What is it?” She yelled back to her.

“We missed lunch time by half an hour!” She replied frantically, making it sound like they had broken a major law, and earning strange looks from Applejack and Rarity. Rolling her eyes at her, Applejack turned back to the forest that stretched for miles and miles beneath them.

Chief was nearing the edge of the forest, so he decided to stop and find a suitable place to set up camp. He found a small clearing covered by the canopy that was roughly fifteen meters from the edge, and was large enough for him to maneuver comfortably in. He took his assault rifle from the bag, along with two more magazines and the emergency supply satchel he had stored in it earlier. He then pulled together some logs and bushes, and hid his sniper rifle and the bag in them.

“You shouldn't have let that pegasus escape. It's probably on its way to those alicorns now. The last thing we need is them hunting us down.” Cortana warned Chief.

“Don't worry. There's a lot of cover in this forest, as long as we don't leave before nightfall we'll be fine.” He replied. “There was an actual threat approaching, anyway.” He added.

“Right, because I'm sure one five by twenty three millimeter round would have made all the difference.” Cortana said sarcastically. She continued, “Although, I can't blame you, your ammunition supply is dwindling with each round you fire. I'm sure when those equines find left over weapons and ammo on board the Dawn, they'll take them in for examination, and that won't help our situation either. Keep your knife handy.”

“Affirmative. How much longer can you handle being in the forest?” He asked.

“A while, now that my head is clear. You need supplies, I'm not going to stop you from getting them. Don't worry about me.” Cortana answered.

“Okay. Just tell me if it's too much. If we need to, we can go back to the Dawn for supplies.” Chief replied.

“Negative, we shouldn't leave until nightfall, like you said. I can fight it, just try not to go too far into the forest for extended periods of time.”

Chief checked his mission clock and read 0726 hours. He wouldn't venture out of the forest until 2100 hours, when he was sure it would be dark.

He began collecting supplies once more, and eventually his searching lead him to a large cave. The entrance of the cave was massive, easily big enough for two Pelican drop ships to enter side by side. Trees grew off the edge of the cave in awkward positions, and vines hung off of them that were so long they almost touched the ground.

Examining the rest of his surroundings, Chief noticed that the forest canopy above the cave had been excavated. The strange part was that it wasn't cleanly excavated, as old trees, branches and plant life lay scattered around on the ground. He also noticed many burnt trees and branches, and piles of ash littered the ground, which was also burnt in some areas.

Chief scanned the inside of the cave, and thanks to his virtual night vision augmentation, spied large foot prints further into it. Whatever the prints belonged to only had four toes. The toes appeared to have large, sharp claws on the ends of them, as the dirt had large holes and slices in it at the end of each one. The foot prints were about three times the size of a hunters foot print, which was very large. Cortana saw them too, and asked,

“Think they have overgrown reptiles here?” in a dumbfounded voice. “Scratch that, extremely overgrown?” She added with much emphasis.

“What do you think they belong to?” Chief asked, still staring at the foot prints.

“Well, given what we've already seen here, my guess is another fairy tale creature, or a dinosaur.” She replied skeptically. “Hah, or maybe even a-” Cortana was about to mock something, when she was cut off by a loud roar in the distance. It was a deep bellow, almost a moan, that echoed throughout the forest.

Seconds after hearing the roar, Chief heard a dull sound. It was quiet at first, but slowly became louder, indicating it was getting closer. The sound was like wings flapping, and by how loud it was getting and the amount of time between each flap, whatever was approaching was big. Very big.

It was now in range of Chief's motion tracker, and appeared as a very large triangle. Whatever was approaching must live inside the cave, Chief thought.

“Now would be a good time to go!” Cortana hissed into Chief's speakers.

Throwing down the moss covered logs he had collected during that supply trip, he turned and sprinted back into the brush he emerged from earlier, taking a glance at his motion tracker. The blip was approaching him, and was only seventeen meters from his position.

He plowed through the bushes and hid behind a nearby tree, just as the target arrived at his location. Chief risked a glance from behind the tree, and what he saw he refused to believe.

“You've got to be kidding me.” He said flatly.

“Funny, because that's actually the next creature I was going to suggest before it so rudely interrupted me.” Cortana said, trying and failing to hide the nervousness in her voice.

The creature they were both looking at was a massive dragon.

“A dragon? Is this place a living fairy tale?” Chief thought to himself.

The dragon was perched on top of the cave, crushing a few of the twisted trees hanging off of it, and was looking down over the foliage below. There were deadly looking black spines running the length of its body, from its neck, all the way to the end of its tail, and it had sharp, pointed, rust coloured scales. Its body and head were very rigid, and were covered with more of the black spines. At the end of its tail, there was a large flap that looked like the head of a spear. Most likely for stabilization, Chief thought.

The dragon continued scanning the foliage below, waiting for anything to move.

“Stay out of sight, Chief. I have no clue how dragons work, so lets just wait and see if it will move on.” Cortana said cautiously.

Displeased with a new scent near its cave, the dragon decided to investigate further. Chief could hear it unfurl its wings, and drop down into the clearing in front of the cave. His motion tracker notified him, with a beep, that a massive threat was now only twelve meters away from him. He was so close that he was able to hear its deep breaths as it growled, and sniffed at the air.

“Fascinating, it seems to be territorial. I wonder how many more dragons there are here.” Cortana said, more to herself than anyone else.

Agitated at the scent that continued to remain in the area, the dragon began shooting flames in every direction. The flames blanketed the forest, burning everything to a crisp. Chief needed to get out of there, and fast.

“Okay, forget what I said about waiting, go!” Cortana ordered.

Chief made a dash to get away from the flames, but just as he did, the dragon shot a a wall of fire straight at him. Chief dove behind a thick tree as the flames met with him, and waited for the best time to move.

“It knows we're here now, get us out of here!” Cortana yelled.

The tree wouldn't provide cover for much longer; the fire was devouring it. His shields would be able to protect him from the flames for a few seconds only, so he would need to move between cover. Contact with the flames brought his shields down rapidly. They were at eighty three percent, and he was only in them for about a second and a half.

He waited for his shields to recharge, then started sprinting through the burning forest once more. It was much easier to run through when most of the trees and bushes were ash. The dragon wouldn't be satisfied the intruder was dead until it was in front of its eyes, so it took off in the direction Chief was in, trying to locate him.

“Chief, it's airborne. Try finding a cave or something. The canopy will provide cover for now, it should make it difficult for the dragon to spot you.” Cortana said. “Never thought we'd ever be running from a dragon...” She mumbled to herself.

As Chief left the burnt forest behind him and started running through the living foliage once more, he could hear the dragon bellowing from above the forest. Suddenly, flames engulfed the canopy above him, and burning branches began raining down around him. The dragon seemed to be trying to clear a way down to him. As more and more flames covered the forest above him, Chief continued sprinting through bushes and trees alike, stopping for nothing.

The dragon kept after him, burning away the canopy above him in an attempt to get a clear shot at him. He would need cover very soon, as the dragon was becoming more aggressive, and was even diving into the canopy to try and get to him. He kept on running, trying to get away, when he heard a small voice.

“Mister! Over here!” It cried.

Chief had no clue where “Over here” was, but his motion tracker did. He saw a small red dot twenty meters to his right. Looking over to its position, he spied the small gray pegasus through some bushes. It appeared to be beckoning to him, and if it wasn't for what he saw behind it, he would have kept on running. However, behind the pegasus was another cave, not as large as the last one, but still quite large. Turning towards the pegasus and the cave, he bolted towards them.

The dragon was now furious with Chief, and was viciously thrashing at the canopy. It was almost through. Its flames were now covering the forest floor around him. He kept running, and was nearing the cave, when the dragon broke through. It flew towards him, crashing through branches, trees and anything that stood between them. The pegasus watched as the Spartan and the dragon rushed towards her. Squealing in fear, she turned and ran into the cave.

Chief could hear the dragon as it flew after him, smashing through any obstacle in its way. It was seconds away from clamping down on him with its powerful jaws, when he reached the cave. He rushed inside, almost tumbling out of control as he tried to slow down, then turned to face the entrance, assault rifle drawn. The dragon, however, could not slow down as easily inside of the forest, and smashed into the top of the cave with great force. The impact caused it to shake violently, making a few stalactites fall from the ceiling. Chief then saw the gray pegasus over to the side of the cave, who asked,

“Why i-is a d-dragon chasing y-you?” in a very fearful tone.

Ignoring it, Chief shifted his gaze back towards the entrance of the cave. The dragon stood outside, shaking its head and bellowing in pain. After a few seconds of agony, it lowered its head to look inside of the cave, glaring at the Spartan and the pegasus with rage in its orange lizard-like eyes. Chief knew what was coming, and sidestepped to his left, taking cover behind a large boulder, the pegasus jumping in behind him. The dragon opened its mouth to cover the inside of the cave with a blanket of flames, when Chief opened fire on its exposed mouth.

He pulled the trigger, aiming directly into its throat, and fired every bullet in his rifle. The first ten rounds of the magazine entered the dragons throat, severely injuring it and causing it to spit up blood. After taking the first rounds to its mouth, it pulled its head back and roared in intense agony. The rest of the bullets lodged themselves into the dragons thick scales, while some pierced the skin underneath them and created small sprays of dark red blood. The dragon reared back and bellowed in pain once more, then attempted to breath flames, but was only able to spit up more blood.

“Good, we know how to hurt it now. The scales on its body seem to be very thick, so I suggest aiming for the head and neck. Let him have it.” Cortana said.

“Wh-what is that thing?!” The pegasus yelled over the pained roars of the dragon, while pointing a hoof at Chief's assault rifle. He ignored her once more.

The dragon was now incredibly angry, and was smashing its body against the cave, attempting to cause it to cave in. After smashing itself against the cave for a fourth time, it peered inside, and was greeted with another hail of bullets from the Master Chief. Roaring in anger at him, the dragon smashed its head against the inside of the cave in a failed attempt crush him.

Chief stepped out from behind the boulder, and fired once more at the dragons bloody head. The dragon resisted the urge to pull its head back and bellow in agony once more, and instead head butted the boulder Chief was behind, sending it flying into him. The boulder hit Chief, knocking him into the ground and sending his assault rifle flying across the cavern. Luckily for the pegasus, the boulder lost a lot of momentum when it struck the Chief, but it was still going fast enough to knock her unconscious.

Chief recovered quickly, and looked up to see the dragon opening its bloody, lacerated mouth once more, preparing to burn him to a crisp. Before the dragon could exhale any flames though, Chief jumped up and bolted towards it while activating his energy sword. Reaching the dragon in a second flat, he lunged at it, slicing through its jaw with the white hot blade of plasma.

The dragon screamed in pain, the loudest one yet, and pulled its head back, smashing into the ceiling with tremendous force. Stunned by the sudden strike from the energy sword, and the impact of its head meeting with the ceiling, it collapsed for a few short seconds. Chief used its lapse of energy to his advantage, and charged towards it, jumping on top of its head. As he was about to jam the energy sword into the dragons skull, it came to, and launched him off its head.

Landing on his shoulder and rolling back onto his feet, Chief turned and sprinted towards the dragon again. The dragon launched its head forward at him, attempting to grab him in its jaws, but Chief rolled to his right. It had many grapple points all over its body, thanks to its many spines, and Chief grabbed onto one of the smaller spines sticking out of the side of its neck.

Since the dragon was so large and cumbersome, it couldn't maneuver well inside of the cave, and couldn't object to Chief grappling onto it. Swinging around onto the top of its neck, Chief slashed at it several times, each time drawing a pained roar from it. Moving up its neck to the base of its head, Chief made a final strike, stabbing the blade into its upper neck.

The dragon could take no more pain, and furiously thrashed its head in an attempt to get Chief off of it. When that didn't work, it started slamming its body into the entrance of the cave, managing to knock Chief off of it that way. The dragon quickly picked him up in its mouth and flung him into the wall of the cave. It growled at him, as Chief's armour shattered the dragons already damaged and bullet filled teeth. Chief didn't have time to get up, so he turned over on his back to face it. The dragon moved in to make the killing move by smothering him in flames, but he had expected this, and as soon as it opened its mouth, he unleashed on its throat once more with his SMG.

The dragon roared and gurgled as it tried breathing fire, but only choked on its own blood. If the dragon hadn't continued trying to breath flames while Chief fired at it, it wouldn't have been injured as badly, but it kept trying out of rage. Finally closing its mouth, the dragon made one more attempt to kill Chief, and grabbed onto him before he could roll out of the way. It smashed Chief into the wall several times, as well as the ground, shattering almost all of its teeth in the process. It then flung the Spartan out of the cave, and slowly started making its way out to him.

The dragon didn't have much left in it, and could barely keep its balance as it moved towards the Spartan. Chief, quite rattled from the heavy repetitive blows he had just taken, lay on the ground, unable to move. He felt unconsciousness tugging at him, but resisted when he saw the dragon slowly approaching him, and knew he needed to do something fast.

Grabbing his last grenade, he primed it, pulled the spoon, and rolled it to the dragons feet. It looked down at it for a few seconds, then turned back to face Chief. It took a step towards him, positioning its vulnerable belly directly over the grenade.

The grenade detonated.

The dragon was too exhausted now to bellow out in pain, and instead just grunted. It collapsed once more, onto its shredded, bloody stomach. Slowly, it tried getting up, and eventually succeeded. It had very little life left in its torn, scarred body now, but it still wanted to kill the Master Chief.

Chief sensed it standing in front of him again.

“You've... gotta' be... kidding me.” He thought to himself. Hoping he still had ammo in his SMG, he raised it and fired.

One bullet.

One bullet was all that remained in his M7, and one more bullet was all that it took to convince the dragon to retreat. It had no teeth left to eat its opponent with anymore, nor did it have the strength or energy to kill it.

The dragon flinched at the bullet entering its raw neck, and resisted collapsing a third time. It slowly began to make its way back through the burnt forest, to its cave, where it would most likely die anyway, due to blood loss and trauma. Chief watched it disappear on his motion tracker, then tried getting up.

“No. You need to rest.” Cortana warned.

“The forest...” Chief said.

“Don't worry about me. I can fight it for now.” She answered.

Chief smiled to himself.

“One bullet.” He said slowly, mocking Cortana, before allowing himself to slip into unconsciousness.

“Just rest, Chief.” She replied, but he had already passed out.

“Chief, get up! Now!” He heard Cortana hiss in his deep slumber. “Come on Chief, they're coming! Wake up!” He heard her say again, more urgently.

He slowly opened his eyes, and saw that his mission clock read 1038 hours. He had slept for roughly two hours, which made him feel guilty for putting so much strain on Cortana. The next thing he saw was one of the last things he ever wanted to see, especially in the state he was in now. What he saw, was the white alicorn princess, and the smaller blue one beside her.

They were both glaring at him.

He then noticed the gray pegasus slumped over the back of one of the guards in golden armour, unconscious, and bloodied and bruised from the rock hitting her.

“Here in Equestria, we have laws that are against ponies being harmed. Especially innocent ponies.” The white alicorn said angrily, but calmly.

“You have a lot of explaining to do, alien.” The blue one spat. She continued, “And we will make you explain this time. You deserve no more mercy after treating an innocent pony this way, again.”

“You've got to be kidding me...” He thought to himself.