From War to Peace

From War to Peace
“Just Another Day in Paradise”

Ponyville, Equestria
1:30 A.M.

Twilight frowned as she looked through the telescope at the star splattered sky. Sighing, she rubbed her eyes and looked up. The stars have been blinking out in a rectangular pattern, almost always in a small area. Twilight, the ever-curious one, had been trying for the last three nights to track and identify it. Yawning loudly, she placed a hoof over her mouth, stretching the stiffness out of her muscles.

Looking up, Twilight noticed a bright star falling. Smiling in remembrance of an old tale, she decided to wish on the shooting star, " I wish I could learn about more new and exciting things" smiling as the star flashed almost as if in response, she looked to the moon's position and decided that it would be prudent to call it a night. Stretching and walking back into the house and straight to her bed, she fell into a deep sleep. However, had she taken her telescope and looked at the falling star, she would have seen that the star was a metal pod containing a being who could very well help her with her wish.

-Eight hours earlier-
UNSC Infinity War Room
5:30 P.M.

My mind raced as tracers passed over my head; I dove behind a flipped warthog Matt followed in right behind me, water splashing up around his knees. “Jesus Christ, they got that position locked down,” Matt muttered while ducking as a Sniper round ripped through the fuselage of the warthog. I stood up, firing off a mag of my assault rifle, and then ducked back down and reloaded, flinching as more tracers flew by.

“Well, that mantis is not making this easy,” I said, glancing around the corner to look at the towering base. Matt grunted in agreement and stood up, trying to let lose a mag of suppressive fire.

CRACK

The sound of a sniper rifle rang out from the other side of the narrow box canyon. Matt's head snapped back as blood and bone flew through the air before his body went limp. I yelled in surprise as my breathing hitched and my emotions got the best of me. I grabbed his corps, pulling it up and next to the warthog. I check for any vitals but already knew he was gone as I stared at the bloody hole in the front of his EOD helmet. I sighed heavily and, suppressing my emotions, striped Matt of any useful ammo.

I loaded up, and after a few seconds of planning out the trajectory over the hill, I sprinted to the next piece of cover. As I ran, the mantis spotted and started shooting at me. I felt my life slow down; dirt flew up into the air, tracers screamed passed me, fellow Spartans fell one by one trying to take the position. It was complete and utter hell out here. I slid behind the nearest rock, my eyes searched, trying to find a weapon that would destroy or at least disable the mantis.

I spotted a plasma pistol not too far from me, probably only a few feet. I crawled over and picked it up, hitting the holographic button. The pistol hummed to life and glowed a bright green. I charged the pistol, and an orb of energy formed at the end of the pistol. I took aim and fired off the overcharged shot at the mantis, the shot found its mark, the mantis shuddered to a stop in front of the fortress, its massive weapons now steaming in the smoke-filled air. I hopped over the rock I was hiding behind and ran straight at the mantis, while running I primed a frag grenade and jumped on the back of the mantis and after jimmying the door open a tad, shoved the grenade in the cockpit.

Before jumping off, I could hear the pilot cursing his head off as he proceeded to play hot potato with the now live grenade in his lap. The mantis exploded violently, causing the giant two-legged mech to fall lifelessly to the ground. I turned to the now exposed fortress to renew our assault before a loud booming voice interrupted me.

“FLAG CAPTURED, GAME OVER!”

My surrounding flashed a bright white and then faded to a flat grey atrium as Spartans picked themselves up and stretched while others groaned in pain. I walked over to Matt and picked him up. As he stood he shrugged his now paint-splattered helmet off and began to rub the red paint off his faceplate. Face scrunching up in frustration as the paint refused to come off. “God damn it! Damn sniper every fucking time.” Matt angrily announced. I smirked and rolled my eyes. Matt ALWAYS lost when snipers were involved,

“Rule number one, Matt, always keep your head down,” I replied with a mirthful smirk on my lips. Matt, momentarily distracted from his now red splattered helmet, leveled a glare that could kill and, in the flattest voice possible, droned, “You don’t fucking say.” chuckling, I motioned for us to move on.

We both walked over to the mantis, and I looked down at the Spartan who piloted it. Raising my eyebrows at the now red splattered Spartan before me, I spoke, “Blake, watch your flank next time.” He picked himself up, dusting himself, and shrugged playfully.

“I tried, but the turning sensitivity was too low. You just barely stayed in front of the reticle,” Blake said, somewhat annoyed.
Glancing over at Matt, Blake smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Besides, at least I didn't die the same way I have for the last eight matches."

Now a very bright red, Matt stammered a retort, "Wha- I- Oh fuck you too, hey at least I didn't get so close that Mike didn't have to aim the plasma pistol to get hit, just missile spam him next time." I rolled my eyes as Matt continued to rub his helmet free of paint vigorously, and Blake broke into a slow drawling laugh. We walked out of the War Games room and then headed to the locker room.

As we changed out of our armor and cleaned ourselves off, Commander Palmer strutted into the locker room in her skin suit bottom and an army-issue tank top, marching over towards our little group. Matt looked up with a huge smile and flirtatious grin. He patted his crew cut blonde hair down and brushed some paint off his skin suit as he drawled out, “Heeey Palmer, what do we owe the honor of your rather... Different attire change and visit?”

Matt's eyes were scanning her rather, well skin-tight skinsuit. In my peripheral vision, I could see credits changing hands and vague whispers of "Here we go" or "Bet you 20 creds she slaps that grin off his face." Palmer glanced over and, with a laughable look and sardonic smile quipping back.

“I think I am a bit out of your league, trooper.” She smiled, and Blake snorted as she placed her hand on his shoulder and leaning next to his head, and said, “And next time, do keep your head down.”

The locker room busted out in a series of collective damns and light chuckles. As Palmer backed up, Matt shrugged playfully and muttered, "Yeah, yeah, the story of my life."

Smirked and walked over, placing a hand on his back, “Better luck next time, right Matt?” I said, trying to perk him back up.

Shaking his head and shrugging on his shirt Matt replied with a sarcastic “Maybe next time Mike, maybe next time.” I lightly chuckled and grinned as Blake gave his run at the condolence act while slipping on his boots. We'd been doing this activity since we all got stationed on the UNSC Infinity over a year ago. Matt would always make a move, get shot down, and after some condolences, he'd reply, 'Maybe next time, maybe next time.' it was almost a routine.

“Captain Hill, Del Rio needs you on the observation deck in 20.” I perked up at the mention of my name to notice Palmer standing there with a mirthful yet analytical gaze. The orders registered, and I smiled and nodded my head in confirmation.

“Tell Del Rio I’ll be there in 10." I continued to change out of my jumpsuit, and after switching to a clean one, I reattached my armor then made my way to the Infinity’s observation deck.

I opened the door to the observation deck to see Del Rio looking down at the planet we were orbiting. Walking forward, I glanced at the large planet beneath us. Sometimes you just got to stop and stare. Snapping out of my revere, I moved up next to Del Rio, activating my calm persona.

“Palmer said you wanted to see me, Captain,” I said calmly.

Del Rio turned around, a pensive and untrusting look on his face. “Spartan, I need you to run a recon op.” He waved for me to come over. I looked down at the planet. It was one massive continent with extensive green forests and gigantic mountains. I looked back to Del Rio and asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“What is it that I am looking for, sir?” Del Rio turned back to the window and continued to stare off into space.

“Orbital scans show signs of life, but we are not entirely sure what it is yet, so that’s why we are sending you down first as a scout. Meet with Palmer in the briefing room for the rest of the Intel.” I snap to attention and salute.

Nodding to me, Del Rio flatly replied, “Be on your way Spartan.”

I exited the observation deck. Walking out, I sigh in frustration. Regs are good and all but Del Rio has a stick so far up his ass he could be used to fend off the Covies. Upon arrival in the briefing room, I meet Palmer, as I walk in she stands over a holo map studying the planet's surface. Walking up and rolling my shoulders I scan the map and ask, “So what is the mission objective commander?” Palmer zoomed the image into what looked like a village. “Your mission captain is to recon the area and observe the local population,” she said showing the layout of the land, it was mostly woods and plains with some mountains here and there.

“What is the local population?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
Looking over at me with a confused glance, Palmer replied, “Captain, if we knew that, why would we send you down?" I briefly flush at my mishap and chuckle lightly. Rolling her eyes, Palmer shuts down the table projector.

“Well if that's all the conversation, get to your pod and ready to drop,” Palmer said.

I snap to and salute before replying and heading for the pod bay. “Yes, ma’am.”

I made my way to the pod bay, running potential scenarios through my head and planning out my course of action. As I entered the bay and walked up to the briefing table, the ship’s armory master walked up and placed a box of weapons and ammo on the table.

Smiling vigorously and rubbing my hands together, I gleefully chimed, “What are my weapon choices today?”
He reached into the box and handed me an assault rifle and magnum, both fitted with suppressors, "Here, standard quiet op gear," he said, reaching into the box and rummaging about.

“Do you have any ammo types I can choose from?” He raised a hand in a waiting gesture and peeked back out of the box with four boxes of assault rifle mags with different colored strips going across the side of them.

“We got armor-piercing, shredder, explosive, and non-lethal.” He handed the mags to me one by one.

Weighing the ammo and considering my options, I eventually nodded and pocketed the explosive and non-lethal rounds, “Get me five more of the explosive and three more of the non-lethal.” I requested. He handed me the mags for my weapons, and I stored them in my ammo pouches. Patting the pockets down, I sat down in the drop pod, then the door closed, sealing shut with a satisfying hiss. I felt the pod detach from the ship, giving me the feeling of weightlessness until the thrusters kicked in, pushing me back down into my seat. I looked up to see the Infinity slowly shrinking into the distance.

"This thing even on?" I jumped in surprise and looked down at the comm panel to my left, noticing a crackling image. Reaching over I adjusted the signal until the image cleared; in the image was a small briefing room and several off-duty personnel.

Sighing, I realized what was going on, "What the hell are you guys doing?" I asked my squad as they perked up partly in surprise that Gunny's jury-rigged comm system even worked.

The black-haired one of the groups smiled and grinned in victory, "What else do you think? We're enjoying some Saturday afternoon entertainment,” laughed Gunny as he sat down next to Blake and Lane.

Blake smiled and lifted a beer to his lips; "Yeah, besides, somebody has to critique your work, and Lane is too busy modding his gear to critique." drawled Blake as Lane looked up.

"Nah, really, we're all just bored, and Del Rio won't let us set up a game of infection on the war games deck." Gunny shrugged and smiled, trying to conceal his laughter. I sighed in resignation, knowing that nothing I could do would shake them off, this would be a pretty dull op, and some running commentary would be nice.

Glancing at the screen again, I noticed a distinct lack in the typical audience, "Where’s the rest of our merry band of misfits?" I asked while quirking an eyebrow, Gunny opened his mouth to respond but Lane beat him to it.

"Matt's getting his nose reset, Wolffe is busy fetching more beer and food discretely, and Braden is sleeping off last night's drunken shenanigans," Lane says without missing a beat or looking up from the helmet he was working on. For several seconds we sat in silence as Lane busied himself away with the armor mods.

Eventually, I broke the silence with a simple "What?"
Lane sighed and leaned back in his office chair holding the helmet he had been working on in one hand like some metal skull in a play and gesturing with his other hand.

"Matt broke his nose when a rookie engineer down in hangar 4 was working with a mantis and sacked him, so now he's in the med bay getting it set." Lane paused for a second to stretch and place the helmet on the table and stand to look out the window, "I need not explain Wolffe's measures, and Braden got drunk and went on a rampage in last night's free for all on Ragnarok last night." I nod in understanding and smirk at Matt's misfortune. The guy can't catch a break sometimes. I glance down and notice that I'm beginning reentry.

"For the record, I hate that god damned map." Groaned a voice over to the right, we all glanced to see a bruised Matt limp into the room dressed similarly in casual attire as the rest of the group.
Blake grinned and laughed at Matt. "Still amongst the living, I see."

Lane only sighed and proceeded to work on his helmet while Blake and Gunny laughed at Matt's bruised ego. Rolling his eyes, Matt replied, "Yeah, yeah, kick a man while he's down." noticing the comm TV, Matt nodded my way and proceeded to grab a beer and plop on down in a seat. Shaking my head in resignation, I looked out at the planet, thinking to myself it would suck if I died on this planet. It seems too beautiful to die on.