From War to Peace
Chapter 8
Strangers in Town

The morning air was cool on my face as I looked out the door into the open fields facing Ponyville, the sun was due to rise in about half an hour, and I knew that after last night’s emotional venting session, the guys could probably use a break, if only I were so kind. Smirking, I turned and clicked the radio on, “Lane, hit them with Reveille.” The sound of the age-old song roared over the speakers, and I withdrew a standard M6D with an affixed silencer and loaded a small clip with beanbag rounds. Trumpets roared over the speakers as scientists and my men groggily limped out of their rooms, and in the case of my men stood at attention.

“All right, gents, be dressed and ready for PT in five minutes, you’re the only defense this base has got, and as such, you WILL be ready to defend this complex at all costs and at any time. Now move it!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as my group ran back into their rooms and then outside into the field.

Grinning like a madman, I turned to the assembled scientists, who all had mixed looks of awe and terror. “Don’t you all worry. You may go back to sleep if you like.” I said with a slight chuckle as the music ended, and most all of the scientists returned to their dorms save a few who headed for the mess hall.

Clicking my radio on, I called up Lane in the control center, “That means you as well, Lane.” I laughed as a loud groan sounded over the radio, and several curses and complaints sounded over the mic.
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After we completed our morning PT routine, Gunny and Wolffe split off to supervise a few experiments that the eggheads were working on. Deep down, I was sure that while we pitied them, we were all glad that it was them rather than any of us; the eggheads had a nasty way of blowing stuff up with you near it.

Bidding farewell, the five of us settled into the mess hall for some breakfast. We all sat together at a table underneath the projector as scientist shuffled into the mess hall and sat to eat. Our group discussed the typical Spartan-IV conversation material; explosions, black ops, scuttlebutt, and weapon performance.

“Hey, Mike, you remember that time on Hades Gamma VII when we rigged a Phantom with some C-12?” Began Matt as he messed with his unappetizing mush from the mess hall, “And when we finally had all the charges set, an elite fleet master walked underneath it?” I grinned at the memory as Matt began to chuckle lightly.

“Yeah, the look on the fleet master’s face was priceless. Probably would have been funnier if we didn’t laugh so hard and alerted the elites.” I said with a laugh as I remembered the Elite’s wide-eyed look right before the burning husk of the phantom crushed him in a brilliant blaze of azure.

Lane quietly snickered, “Hope their life insurance covered friendly fire.” Lane said in as dry a voice as he could. Immediately we all laughed in an uproar, drawing more than a few stares and glares for the early morning noise, including a certain pilot whose raven hair was in a mess and her expression induced a four-foot safety zone around her.

As we were talking, one of the scientists approached me and handed me a tac-pad with mission specs on it. As the rest of the team was talking and going on, I was examining the mission specs. The scientists wanted us to go to where the most powerful energy source is, which is located in what we might believe is the capital city. Also, while we need to collect food samples, the scientist believes that the food might hold the secret to the pony’s telekinesis.

“Alright, Gents, listen up!” I yelled to my merry crew. Off in the corner of my vision, I could see Sasha approaching our group, a look of interest upon her face. “The scientist just gave us a field trip. So Armor up and load up in Albatross in fifteen mikes.”

“Oorah!” Yelled Brayden. Fast as lightning, the group shot out of their seats and ran to the dorms. I could see more than a few impressed faces from the eggheads and even Sasha at the guys’ speed; I guess those enhancements did more than just make us armor capable.

Dumping my tray to follow after the guys to get armored up, I look over to Sasha, and she just nods her head and walks out to get suited up. Heading into the room Lane and I share, we both don our armor weave and grab whatever we will need for the trip.

As Lane and I exit into the hallway, the rest of our group falls in behind us as we head out into the early morning sun and over to the massive three-story facility about a hundred yards away from the firebase. The shale colored science facility was both large and compact simultaneously; over a hundred labs all packed into the area approximately the size of a college library facility.

We enter through the garage and pass several of the technicians tending to the woodland green Albatross, fueling the massive airship and calibrating its engines for now lightened load. Passing the garage by, we entered into a large circular room with seven alcoves. Each alcove had various weapons and armor modifications in them, but six of the alcoves had large armed machines, each with its own set of armor.

Breaking off from each other, we each headed to our respective alcove. I entered my own and began to slide the sage-colored greave plate pieces on. It was moments like these that I adore my rogue specialized armor, allowing me to slide my armor on and off, unlike my comrades.

Looking across the room, I saw Lane flat on his back in the air, suspended in a ring of mechanical arms, with each arm placing a piece of his dark purple recruit armor. I smiled as I placed my chest plate. Lane was the only one of our group who decided to stick with the traditional recruit armor, though that’s more likely because it was just easier to hack and modify than anything else.

“Hey, just uhh… popping a question here, but what happens if the power were to go out WHILE we were in these machines?” Asked Matt off from the right side of the room where he hung face down as the machines strapped his brown EOD armor to his back, the arms screwing the armor to Matt’s suit until an audible hiss could be heard from the pressurization.

“What, pfft, please.” Drawled Blake off from the left of my spot, peeking over to Blake, I watched as Crimson Soldier pauldrons were screwed into his shoulders before finally releasing Blake, who walked out into the center of the room, his helmet under his arm. “The Generators are reinforced at the center of the science facility. I doubt that anything on this little planet could even scratch the thing. “ Said Blake confidently as he placed his helmet on his head, the red glass of the eyespots lighting up as the helmet powered up.

Grabbing my own helmet and walking, Matt and Lane walked out to meet me halfway. “I suppose so, but it’d suck to be stuck upside down only half armored because the enemy had the good sense to hit the generators first.” Said Matt as he subtly shrugged.

“Bout damned time you ladies got dressed, we only got three minutes before we need to be ready to fly.” Looking off next to the door, we all saw Brayden, decked out in his usual CQC variant of ODST BDUs, standing there with a bored expression on his face and his infamous modified 8-inch K-BAR, “The Devil’s toothpick,” dancing around in his hands. Standing up and walking out into the garage, I could just barely make out Brayden’s complaints. “God damned women and their gossiping…”

After a moment, Lane remarked, “Well, somebody is in an excellent mood.” Matt only shook his head as we all followed after Brayden. Eventually, we arrived outside the garage to find the Albatross sitting in the field while Brayden and Sasha stood and talked. However, my attention was more on the small group of six ponies gathered around the pair of humans.

“Hey, Twilight!” I yelled. “Where y’all heading?”

The violet unicorn turned to answer. “We were just on our way to the train station to go to Canterlot. We just swung by to say bye because we’ll be gone a day or two. Where are you guys going to?”

I walked over, pulling up a map of the location of where we’re heading on a tac-pad. “I don’t really know, but here’s a map if it helps.” I threw the tac-pad in her direction, and she caught it in a haze of purple energy. As she levitated it to herself, she closely examined the map, taking a few moments to orient herself. She eventually smiled and floated the tac-pad back towards me.

“Yes, that’s Canterlot. Care to join us.” She asked with a smile.

“Well, how ‘bout we offer you guys a lift, the Albatross will have us there in twenty minutes flat,” I said while pointing my finger towards the woodland green boxy looking aircraft. Twilight starred at the Albatross intently, examining the aircraft as if she a chief mechanic.

After a few more moments of speculation, Twilight finally answered with a shrug that suggested she was more than a little bit skeptical, “Sure. Why are you guys heading to Canterlot for?” She asked her curiosity, wiping whatever remained of her skepticism.

“The scientists are having us gather food for an examination, that’s all,” I answered as our large group proceeded towards the titanic aircraft. Mid stride towards the vehicle, Twilight stopped for a moment with a look of realization on her face.

“Oh, I almost forgot, if you guys are going to buy food, you’re going to need some bits,” Twilight remarked.

“Bits?” I asked in confusion, our group coming to a halt. Twilight rummaged through her backpack and pulled a small gold coin, and levitated it to me. I took the coin and examined it in a few seconds before handing it around our group; on one side of the coin, I recognized the imposing face of Celestia, a strong and inspirational look stamped onto the coin. On the reverse side was another figure with what looked to be a billowing mane of stars imprinted onto the coin, the small lettering beneath the visage said ‘Luna,’ and I briefly wondered if the ponies somehow had two god queens.

Suddenly the radio on my HUD lit up green, and the typically skeptical tone of Matt flooded over the TeamComm, “Oh lovely, this is why I prefer digital credits, no place to imprint the face of the current ruler or important person, much less egotistical if you ask me.” Snarked Matt as he handed the coin to Lane. Lane then began to examine the coin with an almost rabid curiosity.

I silently deactivated my audio, “Then it’s a damn good thing nobody asked you, Matt.” I snarked back, trying not to provoke a fight between the ponies and us. Light laughter and snorts reigned over the comms as Matt shut up and shook his head.

“Mind if we borrow some bits then, we’re sort of hard for cash, military pay, and all that,” I said jokingly, as the rest of the squad silently laughed at the inside joke.

Twilight smiled and levitated another small pouch out of her saddlebag, “Sure, here’s a hundred bits, food is pretty cheap, and prices are open to a certain extent of haggling if you want the price cheaper.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” I paused and looked over Twilight to see the rest of the pony gang. “So how many of you lovely ladies care to join us today?” I asked; briefly, I heard Blake cough ‘Kissass’ and the familiar sound of armor fists bumping together with Lane, Matt, and Blake’s snickering sounding over the comms, I silently made a note to shoot the three of them with the training pistol the next opportunity I had.

Applejack Shrugged, “Wish I could, but I can’t. I need to work at the farm for a while. I was just here to see them off.” Nodding her goodbyes, Applejack turned and began to saunter off back towards Ponyville.

“Yeah, think I’ll stay here and clear the skies, not really one for big cities or cramped spaces.” Rainbow Dash replied dismissively as she spread her wings and began to run to take flight. I silently frowned beneath my helmet. While the two of us didn’t really get along with each other, I kind of wanted to get to know her so that we could stop being so antagonistic towards each other.

“You sure?” I paused; I quickly made up a plan. “Oh well, you’re missing out on some good flight time,” I said, trying to taunt Dash into joining us. My plan worked as Dash stopped midflight and turned to our group, eyes full of mistrust and skepticism.

“Psh, that flying box couldn’t keep up with me.” Dash scoffed as she looked at the metal titan with a slightly disapproving look. I could quietly hear Sasha mumbling into the TeamComm about how her bird was being dissed. Seeing my opportunity to make a push, I placed my hands on my hips and smirked.

“I wasn’t talking about the Albatross. I was referring to myself.”

I could tell my comment threw Dash for a spin, “You don’t even have any wings. How are you going to fly?” Dash asked in confusion as she tried to make sense of an armored giant flying.

I smirked in victory; I knew I had her attention and that she was curious. “Got one good jet pack. The things are just as good if not better than wings. You game?” I said with a grin. Dash narrowed her eyes in consideration. It looked as if she was going to back down for a few moments, but then she smirked and spread her wings and crouched towards the ground.

“It…is…on,” Dash said with an intense stare that spoke of competitive fire.

“Well, with that settled, let the best man or pony win,” I said as I extended my hand for a knuckle bump. After a brief moment of hesitation and confusion, she bumped her hoof against my fist, sealing the deal. “Alright, Dash, jump on the Albatross, and on the way to Canterlot, we’ll do our little fly-off.” Nodding her head, our group resumed our walk towards the albatross. After a moment, I felt a tap on my back, and I looked back to see Matt’s brown EOD helmet staring back at me. After four years of working with Matt, I could tell that behind that mask was a smirk unlike any other that spoke of a unique mix of pride, cynicism, and assurance.

“Mike… you are so screwed,” Matt said, barely holding back his laughter as he brushed past me and headed into the belly of the titanic flying ship.

After loading the Albatross with the necessary equipment and gassing it up, we all piled in. The cargo hold was windowless and dark with a few red lights lighting the interior, seats lined the wall, large enough to fit a whole platoon of marines. Sasha was doing a last-minute system check in the cockpit, making sure that her bird was in safe working order.

“Alright, kiddos, go ahead and buckle up. Once we get in flight and at a stable altitude, you may move freely about the cabin. The Estimated Time of Arrival for the Landing Zone is 30 minutes. Thank you for choosing UNSC airlines, please fly with us again.” Said Sasha with a laugh. Twilight examined the interior, staring intently at it as if she had x-ray vision, ‘she must be trying to piece together in her head how the Albatross works.’ I thought with no small amount of humor, ‘She and Lane will get along famously, I can tell.’

“This thing is massive. I won’t even get off the ground.” Dash said with no small amount of skepticism as she knocked a hoof against the metal interior of the airship.

Sasha overheard the comment made by Dash and whipped around in her seat to glare at the azure horse. “Well, someone is an aerospace expert. How did you think we got here in the first place, Toots?” Sasha said defensively with a slight barb at the end of the phrase. The entire bay was silent save for the sound of the engines warming up.

Dash rolled her eyes quietly, knowing she had pressed a nerve. After taking our seats, we sat there for a moment in silence as the cargo hatch sealed shut, making the red lights the only source of light available.

“Keep yourself seated at all times and your cargo secured when we reach ten thousand feet; you may use electronic devices and walk about the cabin. Thank you for flying with us today.” Sasha said over the Albatross’s intercom, a hint of her original humor returning. The Silence was broken with the engines' sudden roaring. The ponies jumped at the sound of the engines while the rest of us stayed relaxed. The Albatross began to lurch, giving everyone the very distinct feeling that the vehicle is in motion.

For a brief time, we sat in silence. It seemed only as if everyone lost interest in talking to each other. Idly I checked my clock to see it had only been a few minutes. Frowning, I decided we needed something to liven things up. “Hey, Sasha!” I said, breaking the silence, “Got any music you could play?” I asked desperately that flip music crap would be better; if nothing else, it might cause some interesting discussion.

“Yeah, sure, got any preferences?” Replied Sasha as her fingers flew over the command board.

“Umm, 21st-century music… Anything you got that’s of a more rock genre.” I replied. Even though it’d been 500 years since the 21st century, there was still a large population today who listened to music from the 21st century.

“Let’s see what I got.” Said Sasha as she began to flip through a few menus on her console. Eventually, she perked up as she read from the album selected, “How bout Linkin Park?”

Almost as I heard my group quietly groan as I smiled ear to ear, to say I liked Linkin Park was like saying people enjoy being alive, just a bit of an understatement.

“Dammit, Sasha,” Groaned Matt as he slapped his faceplate in a movement familiar with a facepalm. “You have no idea what monster you have unleashed today.”

Rolling my eyes and giving a good punch to the arm as my thanks to Matt, I defended myself. “Ignore them. They’re just a bunch of philistines without the ability to enjoy quality music. What songs you got anyways?”

Ignoring the grumbling from my compatriots, I focused on Sasha as she laughed heartily and replied, “The better question is what music don’t I have? My little brother loved this band, so I learned to love it too. Got any preference?”

“Bleed it out, if you could,” I replied as I sat back in my seat. It didn’t escape my attention that Sasha had said her little brother ‘Loved’ as in past tense. Hopefully, it was just because the lad had moved on.

“Gotcha, one kick-ass song coming up.” After having said that, she flips the song on over the speakers. I started tapping my foot to the song's beat; Matt and Blake started singing along, while the rest of my squad sat there mellowed out.

“Alright, gents, we were about 5 minutes out from our LZ. Mike, if you plan on settling this bet, your best bet is to do it now.” Sasha advised me. I grinned as I stood and unbuckled a Jet pack from the wall of the albatross. The model T-49 Jetpack was a backpack-sized jet that Spartans and, in some cases, ODSTs would strap to their backs to achieve short bursts of flight. Usually, the Jet pack’s safety feature would only allow for 30 second short bursts of flight to prevent the pack from overheating, ‘Usually.’ I thought with no small amount of mirth. Still, with Lane’s help, I’ve managed to counteract the safety feature allowing the jetpack to keep me flying for well over fifteen minutes of flight before I’d have to worry about the pack exploding.

“Alright, drop the ramp,” I said as I adjusted the jet pack, making sure the pack was secure. As the ramp opened, I looked outside. There was a grand and large city built into the mountain's side. Towers and spires all reaching up to around buildings and plazas and at the center of it all built into the mountain were a large and illustrious castle, battlements, towers rising out of the main structure like ridges and trees hill. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed that a species without opposable thumbs had managed to build all this.

Shaking off my Awe, I looked over to Rainbow Dash, “You ready to rock?” I asked with a challenging tone.
Dash stood up and stretched her wings out, smiling as the wind caught her wings. “You ready to fall like one?” I heard a round of suppressed laughter behind but managed to shake off the burn. We both stood near the ramp, looking out into the clear blue sky.

I stood on the edge of the ramp and looked down past the buildings and spires to a relatively clear spot on the far side of the city. I then turned to Dash. “The first one to the far side of the city to that clearing wins,” I yelled and pointed out the specific spot so that she could understand. “On the count of 3. Got it?”
“Ok…3!” Dash yelled, Grinning like a madwoman as she jumped out of the Albatross.

“Oh, you tricky little bastard.” I jumped out after she tries to keep up. Dash was in a full nosedive, and so was I. Speeding towards Canterlot, Dash opened her wings, and I activated my jet pack to get into sustained flight. As we flew through Canterlot, I jumped and rolled roofs and spire walls, bobbing and weaving through the intricate mess of buildings and trees.

Dash was still relatively close, as she had to hit the airbrakes to maneuver through the mess of buildings and trees.
Seeing my chance to take the lead, I jumped off a particularly low spire and fired my jet pack at full throttle. The jet pack screamed. My vision grew dark around the edges as the jet pack sent me flying past Dash. Just inches over a building, seeing a pony hanging some rags on a line, Spartans can react at about 300% the rate that a normal human can, and that’s probably the only reason I survived that little run. I managed to make it over the line, but while I had pulled up, Dash had caught up, and we were on the final leg of the race, the clearing was only about half a kilometer away. Going full speed, me and Dash we neck and neck when she yelled to me over the screaming wind, “Hey Mike! Think fast!”

“Ready for what! OHH SHIT!” I yelled as Dash broke the sound barrier causing a flash of light that blinded me. After the shock wave from the sonic boom hit me, I went tumbling towards Canterlot, I tried to bob and weave past the structures as my jetpack failed, but the best I could do was slow myself down. I bounced and skipped both the buildings and the ground.

Finally, I bounced off a particularly ramp shaped roof and flew through the air, I was finally able to activate my jet pack again, but my modifications came back to bite me. As I fired it, the engines screamed and went full throttle, launching me forward with a thunderous scream as I broke the sound barrier. Trying to regain control, my Spartan reflexes kicked in as I flew towards one of the towers of the castle, faster than they’d ever moved; my hands undid the clasps holding the jetpack to me and fell.

As I fell towards the ground, the jetpack, now free of its load, skyrocketed and screeched as it flew upwards and exploded in a cloud of fire. That’s when reality hit me in the form of another spire. Pain racked through my shoulder as I bounced and rolled against building after building before finally being launched off a final roof and into the clearing where Dash and the others were waiting.

“Mike, you okay? I didn’t know that thing would explode!?!?!?!?” Dash yelled with a tinge of worry in her voice as the others gathered around, and Brayden and Lane helped me to my feet.

I shook my head, trying to lose the ringing in my ears, and gave her a thumbs up. “Yeah, I’m good. Just a few sprains and bruises, nowhere near as bad as it was back in the war.”

Almost immediately, Dash smiled and lost the worry to her voice, “Hehe, you know what, Mike, you fly pretty good… for a brick.”

“Thanks…. Ouch, that hurts,” I said as I rotated my shoulder to loosen it up. I thanked Brayden and Lane and dusted myself. Once we came together, I started to think of how we should split up. “Alright, listen up; here are assignments; Brayden, Fluttershy, and Matt, you guys head to the Market district and get the food samples. Blake and Pinkie, you guys, head to the academy and see if you can learn some Intel of tactics. Lane, Twilight, and I will head to the historic district.” I looked over to Dash, Rarity, and Sasha. “The three of you are clear to do as you wish,” I said as I rotated my shoulder again, that spire frigging hurt.

Author's Note

AN: So…. It’s only been a couple weeks since we last updated right?... No? What do you mean it’s been a month and a half? Oh, uh… EMERGENCY PLAN GOLF GO!!!!
Spartan: So in all seriousness I am so sooooo sorry about the lateness, what with finals, moving, and the fact that my co-author is a lazy procrastinator we’ve had a hell of a time trying to get this thing out. BUT FEAR NOT!!! This is only half of the chapter, the other half is almost complete and just needs a few more touches to it, instead me and the co-author; Hunter-113, decided to keep this first half as a chapter just incase we didn’t finish the second half before I moved… which is exactly what happened.
Hunter-113: In my defense I did have I just have to make it look pretty and for once we’ll actually update without a month in between updates. There are really miracles : D
Spartan: so in summary, my compatriot is a lazy deadbeat, we’re sorry for the slow updates, and we’ll have another chapter out as soon as my internet returns after my move. Till next time.