Chapters Slipspace, November 8, 2552.
Thomas Hunter Kirby XIII. My fathers were unoriginal. All they were were colonial farmers. And so was I. until insurectionists burned our farms, slaughtered my family, then got blown to pieces when ODSTs dropped in on them. The UNSC took me in after that. I was passed around a lot. It taught me what most civilians didn't learned of the rebels and later the Covenant. From knowing nothing to knowing almost everything. it wasa big thing for a little kid.
My family was never registered in the UNSC databanks despite directly supporting them with our massive farms. So, when I came of age and joined them, I could become whoever I desired. Tempting, but I decided to simply omit what founded my past, becoming Thomas Kirby, UNSC trainee.
My training started right away. It was hard, but not so much after tending massive fields as a little boy. I blew through training, the best of the best supposebly. They gave me a test of varying circumstances. I excelled at them all. They decided I'd be the perfect ODST. Just like the ones who saved me.
I've been through countless Hells since, both spawn by Covenant and terrorists. I was even there when the Earth was attacked, helping to counter the Flood infection while Elites, or Sangheili, and soldiers jumped through a gate to stop the Covenant and Flood mastermind once-and-for-all. At the cost of the revered legend, Spartan-117, or the Master Chief. Despite our truce, the Covenant still exists, albiet in the outer reaches of known space. That's where me and a few dozen other ODSTs have been since that fateful day.
One day happened to be the shittiest. Covenant forces had taken a human colony, supposebly wiping out everyone. We drop in to take them out. Right as the insurgents pop out of their holes to do the same. And they fucking shoot us even with the alien bastards within their sights, too. A three-way fight was never expected, so we were utterly out of our leagues against half-a-city's wirth of rebels plus a shipful of alien bitches.
Soon, I was the only one alive, only because I was the sole sniper. Didn't even get a spotter. I was on a low building, directly next to it's landing pad, exhausted from my run-in with some hostiles duking it out below. There's a whir of engines, making me look up. Human ship, able to carry a dozen men and make slipspace jumps. Fuck.
Well, it turned out to be a squad of heavily-armed Spartan IIs who saw my distress beacon. They stormed in and slaughtered all hostiles. They barely needed my covering fire. Afterwords, they informed me the Covenant had shot down my ride and offered me one with them. How could I deny such a kind offer?
So, I joined them as they patrolled the outer reaches, giving them support since I had nothing better to do; they had a mission and couldn't turn back to drop me off if they wanted to. (They seemed happy to have a good sniper who is both tough and disciplined with them.) It was on a long jump from one system to the next that the shit hit the fan.
Electronics went crazy, dropping us out of slipspace into the middle of nowhere, before shutting down entirely.The pilot worked at reactivating the ship while we gazed at the giant black circle dead ahead of us. What had us drawn to it was that around it was speckled with stars. And our momentum. It quickly filled the window. We were going through the black hole. Darkness hit us all as we did.
November 8, 2552, unknown location. Last known realspace: outer reaches of known space.
The first thing I notice as consiousness returns and I snap my eyes open is that my HUD is offline in my helmet. The thing I notice next as feeling floods back is the pain in my head and neck as I lay on the roof-window kinda upside down. I realize that my head-stand-lean is precarious and I can't get down without help lest I smack into the electronics with all my weight. That's when the window starts to crack under me.
The Spartans faired better and got to their feet and their bearings. "Er, help," I say. "You know, before I fall and break something." I think I heard a sigh and spotted a slight shake of the Spartan's head as he lifts me up and drops me on the roof-floor with an "Oof!" from me.
I stand up while the Spartans retrieve their equipment. I hurry to retrieve my own, my suit rebooted automatically from my movements, as they climb their way out of the ship. I follow after them and stand on top of the ship's back, sniper rifle ready overwatching the Spartans. To one side of our crashsite is a town. To the other, a dark forest. The Spartans seemt o have opted for the town.
I drop off from the ship, following a bit behind. We eventually make it to the once-cheeful town, now filled with splinters and other signs of battle. We keep to the outskirts, circling to find a main road where we can view what we might be up against. Then I spot a group of four and just get an odd feeling about them. I point them out to the Spartans and convince them to talk to them.
"Hey! You four!" one of us calls to them. They turn and aim old-design guns at us.
"Who are you?" asks one with purple hair and a stripe of a darker purple highlight, weilding a simple 9mm pistol.
"Spartans, obviously."
"And an ODST," I add.
"Are ya'll here for Discord?!" asks a tanned one with blonde hair and cowgirl's outfit, weilding a shotgun.
"Who's Discord?" I ask before the Spartans can say something stupid.
"You... don't know Discord...?" asks the pale one with dark purple, curly hair. I notice the revolver in her hands. We shake our heads. "Then how did you get here?"
"Our ship." I point over my shoulder.
"OOH! Is it, like, a giant ship of metal with guns?!" asks the pink-skinned one with pink hair, looking like she could jump straight into space, weilding her flamethrower dangerously.
"Actually..." -I don't think that she was thinking what our ship really is- "yeah. And who are you all?"
"I'm Twilight Sparkle," the purple-with-purple-hair answers.
"Ah'm Applejack," answers the cowgirl.
"Rarity." Pale-and-purple-hair.
"Pinkie PIE!" Pink. She bounced as she yelled "pie."
"Pinkie, shh! Don't let Discord's minions know we're here!" Twilight chides.
"Oh, an' this here is Fluttershy," Applejack adds, indicating a pink-haired one ducking behind the others.
"Is she always like that?" asks a Spartan pointlessly.
"Not good, gang!" interrupts a rainbow-haired one that just flew in on light blue wings- wait, what?!
"How do you have wings?!" I cry out, pointing at Rainbow-Hair, interrupting whatever she came in about.
"Rainbow Dash is is a pegasus, just like Fluttershy. Well, was until Discord turned everypony into humans," says a purple baby dragon who popped up onto Twilight's shoulder from her back. WAIT!
"HOLY SHIT!" I burst our, having remembered of an ancient kids show I used to watch known as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. "You" -I point at the dragon- "are Spike," -I indicate all six women- "and you are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony!" I hesitate. "And that means you were talking about the God of Chaos."
"You know about us?"
"There was a show -basically a magic box playing scenes that look like they are real instead of plays in a theatre- that I watched when I was a kid, or a colt. It was of six ponies, the Bearers of Harmony, living in Ponyville with many other ponies. It started with Twilight moving to- wait, is this Ponyville?! What happened here?"
"Discord." Helmet stares. "He has been opening portals to bring these guns and metal humans he calls robots. They've taken Ponyville and we are here to take it back."
I glance at the others. "You lead the way; you seem to know this place."
"I used to know this place."
"More than we can say."
"...Right. ...Alright." I turn back to the Mane Six + Spike. "Take us closer to these robots; we'll take them out."
They nod and lead us farther towards the center until I spot an odd glimmer. I halt everyone. I nod to the spartans. "Stay here, you seven."
"Stay he- We want to get them!"
"You are neither experienced nor equipped properly to deal with robots." They relent. "ODST." I glance at the Spartans, about to climb a house to the rooftops. "Sync to our comms." [I disclude their channel and password; Spartans love their privacy, especially against the military.] I nod, syncing into the channel, then climbing to the roof.
I look straight where I saw the glimmer through my scope. "Blue and white humandoid robots. Looks to be of human origins, too. But, that's not possible..."
"This Discord has gotten weapons from our past. These robots may very well be from our future."
"Feeding you my cam." I sen my visual over. "Weak points are the limbs. Knowing humans, the head contains the important stuff. Moving to a better position." I charge and leap across two roofs, heading closer to the center. "And there are a lot of them. The entire space is filled with the things wondering around, carring random ancient guns. Ready when you are."
I wait for a while as they get ready for the massacre. "Fire." I blow the head off of a bot and the Spartans storm in, spraying bullets into the chasis. I ensure none get up. Dozens fall at our our hands, their ancient weapons unable to do anything to the Spartans' shielfing, let alone their armor. It's not long before they are all dead, or the equivelant of dead for robots.
I hop down from the roof and join the Spartans, beckoning the Mane Six over. "See, easy for us," I tell them when they join us.
"How did you not get hurt?!"
"Shields."
"But bullets rip through magic shiel-"
"We don't have magic where we come from. We rely on bending the elements of nature. It's our own form of magic anymore, at least from your perspective. Anyways, our shields were meant to withstand our guns. Your guns are way behind our tech, making them futile against us." Hopefully that didn't blow right past them. I shrug at the thought.
"Okay. Now we know what we are against. Can we use these robots to repair the ship?"
"Nope. Wrong stuff."
"Damn. Then we must take care of Discord; he obviously brought us here. If we defeat him, we might be able to fix all that he has done. It would also help this place out."
"Yes! Everything should be undone with his fall!"
"Then it's settled. Where is he?"
Canterlot, Equestria, November 9, 2552.
They took us through rough roads filled with robot parts straight from Ponyville to Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, name of the land. The patrols slowed progress down and we have arrived after the sun set. We look around, the place abandoned and ruined. Odd. There's suppose to be a ton of robots here protecting Discord.
We continue down the main street stright through into the royal gardens. A sniper's shot narrowly misses us and we duck behind the shrubberies, hiding from the sight of the snipers in the castle. Ah, here we are!
I pop out and snipe off the snipers, ducking around to avoid getting shot myself. It takes quite a while since they kept coming, but I eventually get them all. I follow behind the others as we sprint into the castle through the main grand doors, my nearly-out sniper rifle on my back and my Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) -a semi-auto rifle capable of accuracy of firing quickly- in hand.
We burst through, the doors swinging wide from the strength of the Spartans leading the way. They blast away the robots that charge at us and I sever their necks, ensuring their deaths as usual. We storm through the hallways as we make our way up to the throne room where Discord should be, probably grinning on Princess Celestia's throne.
We finally burst through into the royal chambers to be greeted by a massive amount of robots just standing there, looking at us, no guns in hand. Behind them all, in Celestia's throne is not Discord but instead some woman. I get the automatic hatred towards her as I notice the white-hair sticking out with light purple tipping it, the yellow eyes glaring hatred, and the wings on her back. She's another character from the show. Someone I had grown to hate.
She stands up on the raised platform of the throne, her leather punk outfit now visible. She points a huge-ass revolver at us, her hands tipped like claws as they curl around the handle and trigger. Damn is that gun big! "Discord said some fresh blood would be coming my way!" she cackles in a crude female voice. "And you even brought the rebel bitches to me!"
"Gilda?!" me and Rainbow exclaim, recognizing her voice.
"Hey, Dashie! It's been too fucking long!" she aims it right at Rainbow and I barely knock the ex-pegasi down in time. A deafening bang resounds in the throne room and glass breaks back out through the throne room doors. "FUCK THEM, BOYS!" And the robots charge.
The Spartans drop their weapons and meet them in an epic melee, crushing dozens of them at a time. I aim my DMR at Gilda only to get an empty click. My HUD confirms I'm all out of ammo. Fuck. I charge straight through the robots, leaving the gun behind, sidestepping as she fires again, the round pinging off the side of my helmet. She leaps down at me and uses her momentum to send her flying into the ground behind me.
She twists around, using her legs to knock my feet out from under me. I land on my toes and palms while she aims that giant-ass barrel at my visor. I manage to smack it away from her as she fires a third shot. She uses her free hand to punch my helmet into my nose, breaking it. Fucking bitch! I roll away and jump to my feet as she does the same, the two of us facing off.
"You think you got what it takes?" she laughs. "Bitch, you don't stand a chance!" Rage boils in me. She charges at me again and I attempt to sidestep her. She's prepared and lands a punch to the gut, bending me over. She uses the position and momentum of her fist to send me flying upwards with unnatural strength, sending me smacking into the high ceiling. I hear a crack as I land with a second smack on the floor.
I struggle to get up only for her to grab my chestpiece, lift me to my feet and toss me striaght into the throne. I hear my ribs cracking more. Shit! How does she have so much strength?! I groan painfully as I get up onto the throne farther. Away. Away is good right now. I crawl towards the tall slab end of the long throne as she marches towards me. No, back, no, can't take much more.
She grabs my boot and drags me back towards her. I groan as the dragging bounces my ribs around. She uses my leg to spin me before flinging me into a robot. I drop with a thump. She marches towards me as a robot stomps on my leg, envoking an unbecoming scream from me as I feel the bone thrust out of my flesh. Shitshitshitshit! Now there's a giant black thing- SHI- BANG!
The gun fires a giant round into the floor next to me, raining shattered floor onto me. I glance over to see that one of the Spartans had tackled Gilda and the two are now seemingly equally matched as they duke it out. I also notice the revolver just a crawl away. Ugh, I hope it's accurate...
I roll onto my stomach and crawl forwards slowly until I finally reach the gun. I pick it up and aim with one hand, tunnel vision setting in. Comeon, stop shaking hand! Give me the shot, Spartan...! The two won't stop moving...! FUCK IT! I pull the trigger right as the Spartan gets a firm grip on Gilda and spins her into my shot. And then darkness swallows me whole.
Canterlot, Equestria, November 10, 2552.
"Ugh..." I moan as conciousness returns to me along with the pain of my bruises, broken ribs, broken nose and broken leg. I blink my eyes open as I notice cool air against my face. My helmet is gone?
Fluttershy is sitting over me, her face brightening as I regain conciousness. I notice a Spartan move to stand over me, hard to miss with their size and the noise they make with each heavy step. "I've used my biofoam for your ribs and leg. She patched up your nose and set you leg right again."
"How do you feel?" she asks fretfully.
"Like shit, but I'll manage, thanks." I prop myself up onto my elbows, then sit up. "Ugh, that was too rough. It was like playing chicken with a Warthog." I glance at the Spartans, knowing they probably have against the idiot drivers in the UNSC and the rebels. "Mind you, I don't have super strength or heavy armor."
"What's... a Warthog...?"
"A military jeep, super fast, super light, and deadly if smacked with one."
"Oh..." That didn't really help. Oh well. I struggle to my feet, groaning from pain. "Oh no! You need to rest!"
"No, we don't have the time. Ugh, we need to look for signs of where Discord could have gone. We need to find him and fix this." I limp over to Celestia's bedroom to find it has been turned into an office. I walk around it and check the drawers. The only thing I find of worth is blank rounds. "Huh, 9mm blanks, used to be used for shows and all. Why would Discord have three of these useless things?"
One of the Spartans had followed me inside. "Don't know, but they won't help us find him." I start to put them back when Pinkie Pie jumps into the room.
"No! Don't put those back!" I freeze.
"Why not?" Instead of answering, she just stands there, probably trying to figure out the answer. "Pinkie sense?" She nods. "Good enough for me." I don't need to know what might replace her tail for her Pinkie sense. I tuck the blanks away while the Spartan protests.
"You're keeping them based on the whim of a crazy pink girl?"
"You don't question the Pinkie sense," me and the others say in unison. We blink at each other.
"O-kay then..." I close the drawers and scan through the papers on the desk. I find a note hidden underneath a bunch of random and useless papers.
" 'I am going to check on our interests in Baltimare. I leave you in charge of Canterlot. I expect our guests to check here first. Show them a good time.' "
"Baltimare, eh? Do any of you know where that is?" Everyone shakes their heads. i pick up a folded paper.
"But this map does," I say, handing it to the Spartan. "Now, lead the way, navigator."
Manehattan, Equestria, November 12, 2552.
It was a long walk, but we arrived not far from the massive city of Manehattan. It took about two days. It was painful for my legs and tiring for the Equestrians.
I use the scope to scout out the city's edge. "The roofs and windows are riddled with snipers. And it looks like the streets are just as filled, by the glimmers coming from them."
The Equestrians moan while Spike the baby dragon asks, "How are we going to deal with those odds?"
"There's not likely going to be a difference which direction we come from," Gage answers; "they likely have the entire filled top-to-bottom. At some point, we'll need to be blunt against the entire city. The question is when, where, and how do we manage to avoid that for as long as possible. Any ideas, Cross?"
I shake my head, the link to their comms connecting my systems to theirs and giving me their IFF's when I look at them. They also now remember mine since it's on their HUD with my vitals. "I don't know anything except Ponyville and a bit of Canterlot. The other cities I've only heard referenced, no more." We turn to the Equestrians.
"Don't look at us!" Twilight says. "We've been busy elsewhere!"
I sigh. "And none of them have a history with big cities. Except Twilight, who grew up in Canterlot."
"Hold on," Mack speaks up. "If this is a sophisticated city, wouldn't it have sewers?" I nod. "Then we can sneak right under them."
"Ugh!" the Equestrians voice together. "You would go down into such disgusting stuff?" Rarity asks incredulously. We shrug. "And you would have us follow you?!" We shrug again.
I add, "We never told you to follow us. You can leave any time you want. Just note that, if we find Discord, you won't be able to make sure that we get the job done. If you find Discord, you will likely not stand a chance against what robots he might have with him, either." They sigh.
"With reactions like that," Gage enters again, "I don't think we will have troubles in the sewer tunnels."
* * *
"Great job jinxing us, Gage!" I yell over the roar of a minigun carried by a robot down the way. It clangs as it gets closer with each step, an endless chain of bullets trailing behind it as it keeps firing.
"How was I suppose to know this Discord guy would be crazy enough to have a robot with a minigun and unlimited ammo down here?!"
"God! Of! Chaos! He doesn't do anything the normal way!" I groaned as it gets closer. We had managed to slip into twin cubby-holes on either side of the water in the middle. Soon, as the robot clangs close, it will turn to the flanked Spartans on the other side. In that instant, I will pop out and snipe the robot. Which happens now!
I pop out from the hole and position my rifle to aim- "DUCK!" I drop on command, a whoosh overhead and then an explosion blows up the robot. I roll over towards the wall, aim quickly and take the shot. I miss, instead hitting the tip of the newly-loaded rocket, blowing it's launcher and wielder to bits.
"That was too fucking close!" I yell, releasing the fear pent up from the fighting. I get to my feet quickly, then cycle in the bolt-action sniper rifle's next and last round. I pop it out, drop the empty magazine, pull up a new one and slip in the extra round partially before shoving the clip in and cycling the round back into the chamber. "Ready to move!" I pop my neck as the Equestrians catch up after we had cleared the way as planned. It had taken us all day and first robot we found had a light machine gun that nearly peppered me and our unarmored friends. After that, we decided they would stay behind until we told them to move up. It had mostly proven for the best as the weaponry got bigger the deeper we went. Except that one time a robot ended up coming onto the Equestrians from behind. They learned their lesson about staying attentive then.
"Cross, you coming?"
"Oh, yeah!"
I jog after the Spartans as we continue to troop on.
* * *
I climb out of the ponyhole and join the rest of our party as we look into the town hall. Fortunately for us, the snipers are watching the ways here, not expecting someone to pop in from under them. Inside the only ancient building in the city, the main lobby is deserted. "Oh no, not again..."
"What?" asks Spike. "I don't see anything."
"Exactly, purple lizard," answers Kim for me.
"Dragon!" huffs Spike, green fire poofing out.
"I smell a trap," the Spartan continues, just barely hesitating at Spike's interruption. "And I'm not the only one." Me and the other Spartans nod.
"Well," Rainbow cuts in, "it doesn't matter! Discord is in there and this is the only way in!"
"Says the one with wings," I mutter. Louder, I add, "Then let's spring this trap." I push my way through the door, the Spartans right behind me and the Equestrians a few paces behind them. I hear the metallic pattering of tiny feet but ignore it, heading for the stairs behind the round desk dominating the center of the room. They drop from the floor above onto said stairs and from the vents, little steel-like robots with tons of red glowing bits underneath. They screech, their faceplates splitting open and I feel rounds impact my chestplate and helmet but get no warnings of injury. But, if I felt each of those, then they are causing damage. "Move!"
I dive to the right, aiming at each of the little buggers, picking the ones on the stairs before rolling over and shooting the few remaining ones on the right side. I jump back to my feet and glance around for any strays. "Any injuries?" Seven no's follow. "Then let's move forwards. And watch for more of these."
Kim leads the way up the stairs. I follow, hesitating to puck up what's left of the little buggers, the rest seeming to have evaporated into nothingness. As I pick up a bar, the rest of it lifts up and forms the general form of a gun, and glowing tubes lift up from the other remains and input themselves on the red interior, similar to the glow of the buggers. My HUD identifies the pistol, I think, as a Boltshot. Curious.
I rest it next to my hip and, as I'd guessed, it remains there through some form of advanced tech. I hurry after the Spartans upstairs where I find them scanning the room. "Somethin's up..." mutters Applejack behind me. I tuck my rifle onto my back and pull out the Boltshot.
"It's those buggers," I mutter back, noting the reds scurrying around on my radar. "Get back." I aim the pistol at the vents, no iron sights on it. Who made these things?!
Then, they come. I fire their own gun at them, quickly getting the hang of it as I rain destruction on them. Blank. Damn! The gun pulls apart, some of those rods shift inside as more join them. It pulls itself back together and I continue to massacre the buggers until none are left. Amazing! I get an idea and think "Reload." The idea is confirmed as the gun reloads again. I notice the Spartans watching me. "What is that?"
I point at the remains around us. "Think, and it will do. Must be from our future, probably some alien project." I watch them each grab a gun before joining me as we head to the top floor. I kick open the door, cringing as my injured leg is jarred. We burst inside the mayor's office to find a tall woman waiting behind the desk. I moan as I note her battle-dress, her height matching the Spartans, her dark blue hair and her pale skin. "Let me guess: Nightmare Moon?"
"And how do you know, outsider?" she ask in her dark, melodic voice.
"Because I know how you were as an alicorn." I glare at her, guns still pointed at her. "Surrender and we won't harm you."
She laughs wickedly. "Harm me ?!" Her hair glows with the night sky, her arms lifting up as dark aura's wrap around her hands. I notice the horn sticking out of her hair and the wings protruding from her back. You are foolish mortals with no power over me !" She jerks her hands forwards, sending us out the building through a set of conveniently-placed windows. She leaps out after us, firing shadow balls down at us as we fire back. Many rounds rip through her, black goop trailing behind in the air.
It's when I chance a shot at her head that I notice Twilight falling behind her, Rainbow wrapping her arms around her, ready to save them both while Twilight catches us with her magic at the last second. Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon, unable to use her wings with the holes in them, splats into the ground, becoming a black, blooding mess. I cringe. I glance at Twilight and her horn, which I just now noticed, as we are all set down, the two Equestrians huffing with exertion. "Are you all okay?"
"Fine." "Uninjured." "Nothing noteworthy." The Spartans sound off, as would be expected. "As good as I was," I answer before cringing as I feel the burning of my right hand. I look at it to see shadows smoldering off of it. "Almost..."
Twilight jumps in and offers to help. She uses he magic to fix it quickly and efficiently. It still burns, but now it's healed enough to use more. A glimmer catches my eye in the goop. I gingerly stoop to pick up a little flash drive, avoiding seeing the remains of-. I pass it to the nearby Spartan.
"It's a message from Discord, saying everything checks out in the Crystal Empire with King Sombra. It doesn't sound like he stayed there, though."
"It's out only leas," Twilight points out. "And Sombra isn't exactly a tough one to beat. Not in the Crystal Empire itself."
"It's not going to be like before, Twilight," I remind her. "He's in control this time and we don't have Cadance to trap him. We will have to kill him when he's in pon- human form." Wow, this world has drawn me back to it's train-of-thought. So much for leaving that behind when I was a kid. I shrug. "Anyways, let's move. Spartans, I'll explain as we go. To the north once more!" I lead the way back to the sewers, our of this city and then north.
Crystal Empire, Artic North, November 16, 2552.
Three days of traveling nonstop. My injuries are acting up from the stress and the cold. I forgot that they had an arctic. And that it happened to surround the Crystal Empire. The cold easily penetrates my armor, which wasn't designed for the cold. Or the snow. The Equestrians barely seem better themselves, this time shivering with each slow step.
A blizzard decided to blow in moments after we got into the Artic North, so visibility has been very low. Fortunately, it's not effecting our radars, so we keep a straight course north. The Spartans in front of me look fine; they probably have ways to keep the snow and all out of their suits. Lucky brutes.
The Spartans start to move faster and we're unable to keep up. The blizzard hides them from view and I check my radar; the've gone beyond it's range. I panic. I stumble straight into a giant black crystal with a mack. "OW!" I move around it and find the Spartans crouched down as we overlook a gap in the blizzard, keeping the corrupted Crystal Empire safe from snowing over.
The Equestrians join me and gasp at the sight. Everything is covered in the evil black crystals and pony-people wander around, visibly depressed. On the balcony of the tower is King Sombra, his tiny form just visible before he disappears into the tower, which rests in the center of the town. "Let's get moving. Keep down and watch your fire."
Mack leads the way through town, moving from cover to cover. Nothing pops in the roads until we reach the entrance to the castle. We spin around as the red marks appear. Four crystal-black people emerge from the crowds as King Sombra forms from shadows. His hair billows black and backwards, his red curved horn protruding behind his demented crown, his face bold and his eyes filled with evil hate. He is big, muscular, and evil, wearing full steel plate with a thick red cloak. Intimidating. This won't be easy.
"You were foals to come here." His voice has a hollow echo to it and comes from all five of them, even though only the real him is moving his mouth. "You don't stand a chance without your pecious Cadance and Crystal Heart."
I shrug. "Maybe. But we have these." I whip my pistol out and fire at him. He turns to shadows, escaping injury, while the others divide to beat up the fakes. Well, if the fakes weren't good. I'm left to deal with Sombra by myself. Not again!
I charge the shadows and fire at any forms I see. Head there, gone. Hand there, gone. I fire a bunch, wasting ammo. Or so he will think. Blank. Reload. Nothing. I'm out. I glare at the gun, then at the shadows before me, dropping the gun. Something hits me in the back, hard, sending me flying.
I smack the ground, bounce and roll my way away. I flip onto my feet and stand ready as the shadows race towards me. I watch it only to get a punch to my back again. I try again and again to no avail. Right when I can't take anymore, a purple shield wraps around the tyrant kind, trapping him. I grin as he rerts back to his human form and Twilight passes me my gun, fully reloaded. He glares out at us.
"This doesn't help you," he growls, his voice muffled.
"Oh, but it does," I reply as everyone joins us. "You see, now your solid." I smile mockingly as the shield is dropped and I fire a shot straight into his skull. His eyes are filled with shock as his body disentigrates first into shadow, then into nothingness. "Good work, Twilight." I smile at her before unconciousness envolops me.
Las Pegasus, Equestria, November 20, 2552.
It took two days to leave the frozen north and arrive in Las Pegasus. We had gotten a refresher in the Crystal Empire and left at about noon the day I woke up. It's noon now, two days later. And, like how it's namesake was once like, Las Pegasus is a city of spaced-out skyscrapers and casinos.
It's quiet as we walk through the sreets, knowing it's a trap. But, they won't have guns like us. Or have Spartans. Oh, shit... They can-
"Ah, good, you made it," says a tall, thin woman in mock happiness. She wears an odd black-green outfit, has pale blue hair, sickly green eyes, a curved black horn, green bug wings and holes in her arms and legs. Queen Chrysalis. "Looks like our dinner has come to us for once!" Men in black tight get-ups walk into our street, surrounding us. They have the same horns and wings as Chrysalis, but they are all bald and have pale blue eyes.
We draw our Boltshots as more pack behind them. "Well, I was not expecting so many changelings..." I mutter, trailing off at the end.
"Changelings, attack them!" They turn into Spartans and charge. SHIT! I saw this coming too late! Wait... we watch as they stumble and smack each other. Uh, what?
"They are barely used to human bodies; they myst not know that the MJOLNIR armor enhances our already-powerful bodies." I nod, recalling my illegal study of the SPARTAN-II program.
"You fools! Stop trying and change into the black-armored soldier!" yells Chrysalis. Some army she has. They freeze and comply, all of them turning into me and able to charge at us successfully. I fire at the helmets' visors, quickly shattering them and killing the changelings. I relay the tactic to the others to notice that the Spartans had met the charge head-on and are literally sending each changeling flying. The sight makes me gulp.
The charge meets the rest of us and I duck under punches and beat up the fakes with ease. But the sheer numbers of them quickly start to overwhelm me. I use the Boltshot to keep numerous off me, a charged shot wasting quite a bit of ammo but having a mighty knockback.
Dodge, punch, dodge, fire, kick, dodge. I take down countless changelings, the bodies piling up fast. But I quickly run out of ammo. And I'm swamped. I decide to end this quickly before we are taken out ourselves. I use the bodies of the changelings to run across the throng until I reach Chrysalis herself.
I land on the other side of her and spin to face her. She stops the changelings from charging at me. "I will handle him myself." She cracks her knuckles while I crack my neck. Then I charge at her. I avoid her punch as I feint past her, my other fist connecting to her stomach. It catches her offguard, her body reacting as she spins away from me for a high back-kick. I catch the leg and punch behind the knee. Automatic reaction as I let go and strike for he head. Her horn glows sickly green as she throws me backwards through the air.
The changelings at like a pushy wall, stopping my skid, lifting me up and tossing me back into the fray as their Queen gets up from the splits. We face each other again, she favoring her injured leg. I watch her new patterns, obviously the only one familiar with how bodies work.
She rushes forwards, intending to punch me in the face. I slip past the punching side, grabbing the arm, pulling it back and shover her to the ground and breaking the arm. A scream escapes her as I pull out my rifle and aim it at her head. "Where is Discord?!" He horn flares again. "Ah, I'll blow your head off if you try anything." I press it against her head. "Now tell me where he is." No answer. Growling, I shoot the ground next to her head and cycle the next round.
Silence. Silence... "Everfree Castle!"
"Thank you." I fire. The changles stumble, then turn to me. They panic and flee into the streets and sky, reverting back to their normal human forms. "Everyone alright?!" I yell to the others left alone in the middle of the street besides the bodies. The Equestrians all give the thumbs up and the Spartans' vitals calm, confirming they are the same. "I got good news and bad news," I inform them when we regroup and I lead through the streets. "First, I know where Discord actually is. Second, he's in the Everfree Forest." The Equestrians moan and I explain when they are done that the Everfree is that forest on the other side of our crashed ship. I see the exasperation in the Spartans' stances.
"So, we've been around the land, fighing robots and villians, for no reason?" Gage asks incrediously. We nod. "Ugh."
"Yup."
Everfree Forest, Equestria, November 23, 2552.
We carefully walk through the darkness of the Everfree, most of us knowing how dangerous it was before Discord probably twisted those dangers when he twisted everypony into humans. I have explained it to the Spartans and they've agreed to take it easy, but I don't think I convinced them that they may need to avoid trouble for their own sake too. Oh well, as long as we all-
"Stop!" I order as I spot the blue vines ahead. No... I shiver visibly. "Kill-Killing Joke!" I indicate the vines.
"Killing... Joke...?" asks Twilight.
"This story by a fan of you guys that takes place 200-some years after normal now had Poison Joke, but it was a worse plant due to the darkness of this forest, growing into those."
"An' what, might ah ask, do Killin' Joke do?" questions Applejack.
"If you have said something rather stupid, then it will grant it to horrible effect. It led to a male Diamond Dog becoming a female pony and FLuttershy..." I glance back at her. "Well, she became a tree for 200 years, watching the Killing Joke use her as bait." I catch a barely audible "Eep!" come from Fluttershy. I nod.
"So, how do they work? How do we get past them?" Rainbow asks bodly."
"They use their roots to touch you for a cruel laugh. Getting past them? Don't know, because this won't be the only patch around; there must be tons of them covering the forest. They have long reach and sense our footsteps."
"Sense our footsteps?" asks Twilight. I nod. Then point at my feet as I recall they had hooves, not feet. "Oh... Then, shouldn't we, you know, move before they pop out of the ground?" I turn around to face her. "RUN!" we yell. And run we do, the blue vines bursting out of the ground where we just were and weave after us.
It's only fear is fire... And we have some! "Spike!"
"What?!" he asks, popping out from behind Twilight's head.
"You need to breath fire at the vines!"
"I can't!"
"Ugh! Then have Twilight turn it into a fire on them!"
"My fire only transports things to Princess Celestia!"
"Doesn't matter! It looks real enough!" He sighs and puffs out fire. Twilight catches it in her magic, expands it and then tosses it behind us. The vines react as predicted, shrinking away from the oncoming flames, returning to the ground before the flames reach them. "Clear!" I inform them as I slow to a stop, gasping from exersion.
"That was too close!" gasps Rainbow. We all nod. I turn to the Spartans.
"Convinced yet?" They shake their heads. "Had they touched you, they would realize your armored, wrap you up, tear off your armor and gotten to your skin." They shrug. Ugh. "Fine. Anyways, let's get moving." I lead the way again, then stop. "Er, which way?"
Everfree Castle, Equestria, November 20, 2552.
We had survived the dangers of the forest but have arrived at the castle. Inside is Discord himself. And who knows what chaos he has stored with him. Well, we'll find out soon enough. We step inside the ruins' great entrance, gently ushing the rotten wood aside to reveal the creature inside.
It has the head and front-half of a dragon with bat wings and the rear-half of a lion with a scorpion tail. A manticore-dragon hybrid. Yeah, that's something Discord would create. ALl but the Spartans draw back as it breathes fire at us. I hear the alarm of the front Spartan's shields as they're wiped out.
"Move in!" I order them as they gape. "And don't let it kill you!" I add for good measure as we flood inside. I pull out the Boltshot, knowing that normal weapons wouldn't work against dragon scale, and fire at its head. Some shots go wide due to my constant running, but me and the Spartans work together while the Equestrians deal with the softer parts, like the tail and rear.
While the Equestrians hurt and maim it, we have little luck; the rounds can't penetrate deep enough before evaporating. I give up and charge head on, leaping and grabbing hold of the dragon's head, shoving my gun in its maw and unloading upwards. In its dying throes, it bites down on the gun, my hand barely safe, the gun grotesquely crunching. I let go and jump off as it collapses.
I return to the head and force it's mouth open. I groan at the wreckage, the gun left in little pieces with no glow emenating anywhere. A Spartan drops his own Boltshot with mine. The others follow suit. I look at them. "No ammo left." Oh. I nod and let the Equestrians stealthily lead the way. We strangely encounter no more resistance as they lead us just outside of the throne room, its doors wide open. We duck behind the walls and plan what we are going to do.
One of the Spartans peeks around the corner and reports what he saw through the comms. "Discord is in there with two bulking bots, neither wielding anything but they resemble the crawlers from earlier."
"They probably have guns attached to them, then," I reply.
"Yes, but we can't do much about that."
"We can charge them all with as much fire as we can send them," says Gage.
"Best thing we can do," Kim adds. We nod. We pop out with a cry of "Charge!" and a roar of weapons. The bots quickly block a line of sight with Discord and our rounds harmlessly ping off of their armor. Click click click. Some of us are out while the bots aim their right arms at us. Shit. Those are guns.
"Drop the guns or I'll order them to fire," comes Discord's voice. We glance at each other before complying. The Equestrians follow suit. "Good children," he smiles while the bots seperate. "These Prometheans are a lot better protection than Changelings, Crawlers, robots or anything else for that matter." He chuckles. "You have been great fun, but, sadly, your time is almost up." He pulls out a 9mm pistol, pulls out the clip and the chambered round, and counts them for us. "Six! Six rounds! One choice!"
"Choice?" I ask, glaring at him.
"You, ODST, will choose wether you all die by trying to shoot me, or to kill the Equestrians and earn your ticket home!"
"Me?!"
"Yes, you. You care about them. The Spartans, bred for war, don't. Now, decide." He tosses the gun to me and I catch it. I hestitate before looking at it, drop the clip and examine it. I return it and get my grip steady.
"You will hold up your end of the deal?" He grins. I blink and aim it right at Twilight Sparkle. A lot easier than the Boltshot was. "I'm sorry." I fire. BANG! And spin around to face Discord, firing a shot that barely misses as he sidesteps. "But you chose the wrong guy." He just grins and cackles as he charges me and the Spartans go fist to blades with the Prometheans.
"You make it so much more fun!" I block his fist with my forearm to his and try tao aim for him with the pistol but he bats the arm away. I spin around him and misfire my second round right next to his ear. "Two!" he chimes, haviing figured out I had used a blank the first time. I push him forwards as I jump forwards myself, facing him with gun almost ready as I pull the trigger, his arm keeps mine off and it goes wide as he slips back in close again, aiming to punch me in the... chest. "Three!" I spin past it, my barrel right next to his head... he ducks with "Four as I fire. I growl and dodge his uppercut meant for my... stomach and try aiming again. Again, he deflects it as I fire. "Five!" I punch his inner elbow and try my last shot. Nearly... he punches my arm and another misfire offtarget. "Six! And you are all out!" I kick him away and aim at him. He grins. I growl and toss aside the gun and charge at him.
I aim for his face and he spins downwards and to the side. I bring my foot up to kick him but he catches it with one hand as he stands up. I spin and free my foot before using to knock his feet out from under him. He jumps over it with ease and backs up as I try to uppercut him. And that's when the Spartan who picked up the 9mm shoots the last real round and kills Discord. His eyes grow wide as I pull out the last blank. "You left three in your desk. I slipped in two." He stumbles backwards into the middle of the ring-gate, which is flooded with blackness that spreads and envelops me. Darkness follows. Again.
Far reaches of known space, November 8, 2552.
We awaken in our ship, lost in space, like how it began without the actual black hole. It was like nothing happened. Except that the scars on both body and armor remained. And we all remember it clearly. And I still have that blank, which was all melted down two hundred years before.
ONI wants us to keep quiet, saying it never happened. They threaten us. I don't care. Something like this shouldn't be kept silent for the abuse of the military. There is a lot that not even the legendary Forerunners knew about. Don't let the UNSC get away with such crimes. Never let up on the fight. From an ODST to you, fighting this tyranny makes you braver than an ODST jumping feet first into Hell.
I challenge you to be braver than an ODST. For the sake of us all. Be heroes.
Crystal Empire, Artic North, November 17, 2552.
I moan awake for the third time in a week. Or has it been longer? I haven't been keeping track. Either way, this is becoming a havit. A bad habit. I think I've pushed myself past my point. But it doesn't matter; we've got to stop Discord if we're going to get back to our world. Er, reality.
I sit up and look over to see Fluttershy curled up next to me, asleep. I glance around and notice that the other Equestrians are asleep, too. The three Spartans sit waiting for us to wake up. I get up and carefully join them, managing ot not wake up anyone. "Do we have a plan?" I ask quietly.
"Yes, there was another note here," answers Kim. "Discord has gone to Las Pegasus to check on another ally named Queen Chrysalis."
"Chrysalis. Then we will likely have to fight ourselves."
"Ourselves?" questions Mack.
"Chrysalis is the Queen of Changelings, like a queen of bees. Except that changelings survive on emotions, esepecially love, and, as their name implies, they can change to look like anything."
"Wonderful. But, we'll let them rest for a while more; we've been pushing them too much." I nod and settle down, waiting with the other Spartans.
