Halo: Equestria

Chapter Two: Interspecies Terms of Agreement

A very tired Celestia stared intently at the golden visor that stood before her. The owner of said visor stood stiff as a board in his armor, with four others behind him in the same style armor. Moments passed with tension as Celestia scrutinized the being before her. Finally, with a calm sigh, Celestia gave a smile and nodded.

"I do believe we can trust you...er, Spartans? Was it?" She asked a little unsure. Rachel nodded and removed her helmet.

"Yes, your highness, that is correct." She said with a smooth and calm voice.

"Very well. I thank you greatly for your assistance with the defense of PonyVille and its citizens. You and your comrades are allowed to go to the medical wing and seek treatment if needed." Celestia told Rachel.

"Thank you ma'am, but we'll be fine. We can take quite the beating." Rachel said with a slight smirk.

"As you wish, but please, visit the others in the medical wing. It would be a great relief to them knowing we have powerful allies in the fight against Discord." Celestia said as she waved them out of the Grand Hall. Rachel and the others gave a crisp and uniform salute, then turned to leave, the Royal Guards opening the doors for the four Spartans. Celestia spoke up and the the four stopped.

"I'm sorry for the corruption of your comrade." She said sadly. Rachel gave a simple nod and then four Spartans left the Hall.

The Spartans of Alpha Squad walked in silence behind Rachel as they approached the Medical Wing. The Guards bowed them through, and the nurses put 'Visitor' pins on their armor when they approached the desk and signed in. Walking down the hall, they received small 'Thank You!'s from various nurses, patients, and other medical staff. They entered a medium sized room and saw the six ponies they saved laying in the beds. The three young foals they encountered in the forest were sleeping in chairs scattered around the room, mainly next to their older siblings. Rachel motioned for the Spartans to remove their helmets and they did as one.

"Is anyone awake...?" Rachel asked quietly. She was met with a very hyper Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down in front of her. Pinkie had one foreleg in a sling and there was some medical gauze wrapped around her head, covering her left eye, and yet, both eyes still had bright cheeriness in them.

"I know I am! I know I am! But why is that? Is it because I'm all drugged up and can't feel the pain, or-." But Rachel cut her off with a raised hand.

"Pinkie. Calm down and go lay down young lady." She teased-ordered the pink pony. Pinkie saluted and bounded back to her bed and laid on top of the sheets.

"I don't know how she does it." Donovan chuckled.

"No one really does, and we just don't bother to ask her." Twilight said groggily as she woke up, most likely being woken up by a hyper Pinkie. Donovan chuckled again and sat down in a free chair as the others relaxed and scattered to sit down. Rachel sat with Twilight and slumped down in the chair as she relaxed.

"Can't remember the last time I sat down." She giggled. Twilight added her own giggle.

"I can't remember the last time somepony new had saved my butt from imminent danger." She said in response.

"You know, for a bunch of colorful ponies, your kind seems to have a lot of enemies." Joseph pointed out. Twilight gave the best shrug she could with the sling on her foreleg.

"I can't really explain why though. We just do I guess." She replied. Joseph gave a bemused grunt and look to Apple Jack, who seemed to be stirring awake.

"That Discord character is quite the tough one though. Did he messing with your minds?" Lizzie asked as Rainbow Dash sat up tiredly. She smiled at Dash and ruffled her multi-colored mane gently. "Hey there Speedy. How's your hammer hanging?"

"Feels like I got slammed into a mountain after preforming a Sonic Rainboom..." She said groggily, putting a hoof up to her half-wrapped head. Lizzie chuckled a bit and lightly punched Dash's shoulder.

"You'll be fine." She said playfully.

Apple Jack had popped her back and sighed with relief.

"Ah guess takin' a beatin' like that can really help out tha joints." She said laying down on her bed, only to jump in fright at the sight of Joseph sitting next to her bed with Apple Bloom. Joseph nodded his head and tilted an imaginary hat at the Earth pony.

"Howdy miss." He said with a smile. Apple Jack calmed down and smiled.

"Howdy to ya' too." She said.

As all this was going on, Twilight was studying Rachel's features, taking in ever detail of emotion.

"Are you alright miss?" Twilight asked her. Rachel snapped out of a small trance and looked at the lavender pony.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sort of..." She said meekly. Twilight sat up and frowned.

"Is it about your friend?" She asked. Her answer came in the form of silence from Rachel. "Want to talk about it...?" Twilight continued.

"I guess it can help..." Rachel admitted as she sat up and hunched forward.

~Seven hours ago~

The girls had become bored and very tensed from all the time they've been waiting underneath the dome. Apple Jack had decided to take a nap in the makeshift trench, Rarity was flicking the brim of her camouflage sunhat, Rainbow Dash was circling about in the air lazily, Flutter Shy was shaking like a leaf in a winter wind from all the tension, Twilight was searching about frantically for any sign of a break in the shield, and Pinkie Pie was playing patty-cake with a enemy. The enemy was sitting at the shield edge and Pinkie was at the internal edge, and the two were playing patty cake with the shield preventing them from touching.

"Patty cake, patty cake! Bakers bake!" They said together in cheerful stupidity, as if they forgot the current situation at hand. For the most part, the inside of the shield was silent, the Mini-Discords having long given up at trying to break the shield.

As Apple Jack slept, her ear twitched slightly. Few seconds later, it twitched again, and again. Stirring, Apple Jack sat up and turned in the direction her ear was twitching.

"Y'all hear tha?" She asked curiously. The others all turned to Apple Jack.

"Hear what darling?" Rarity asked.

"Tha' small pops." she replied. They all sat in silence, trying to hear what Apple Jack was talking about, but to no success.

"I'm afraid we can't hear anything AJ." Twilight said a bit worried. "I'm sure it's just the stress getting to you." she continued.

"No, Ah know Ah can hear 'em." Apple Jack shot back as she reared up and rested her forelegs on the trench edge, straining her hearing. Few moments of silence passed, then there was a loud, triple pop, and Apple Jack jumped.

"Y'all hear it tha' time?" She asked urgently. She was met with nods and the girls all joined her and look directly ahead of them, the pops getting louder.

***

"Of course there was a damn camp of the things inside the forest, of course there was!" Rachel scolded herself as her and the others, with pony foals in hand, crouched at an internal forest clearing and gazed upon the camp of odd creatures. Some were sparring, others were sleeping, and most were eating what looked like small woodland creatures, the small creatures still raw and uncooked, some were trying to escape with massive bites in their small bodies. The small ponies all let out a collective gasp, but their mouths were quickly covered by large, gloved hands.

"Shhh...we don't need to let them know we're here..." Joseph said in a whisper to one of the young foals. They nodded with wide, frightened eyes as they looked back to the sight in front of the group. Rachel signaled the Spartans to follow her back into the forest a bit. The obliged and followed quietly through the forest. What they failed to see, was one of the feasting enemies had spotted something at the clearing edge and had started in the direction of said movement.

"Okay, I'm I'm thinking is we stick to the clearing edge, away from the camp, until we reach the force field. Then we try to contact whoever is inside there to let us in. Agreed?" Rachel asked. The others had nodded, all except Antonio who had given a sigh and a shake of his helmeted head. "You disagree?" Rachel asked the ex-Commander.

"You know that is bound to fail. One of you or those ponies will be seen, and get us all captured, or worse." He said with fake sound of intelligence.

"Antonio, you forget who's in charge now, and I say, we sneak around." Rachel growled.

"I say we charge in guns blazing. Hey! Maybe we can use these little ponies as bait to lure some of those odd creatures away!" Antonio said as he made a little jump towards the ponies, who shrunk into the confines of their Spartans' armor.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Rachel asked, her voice rising.

"Not all of us, just you guys. I'll come out alive and get a ride back home, tell the Captain there was nothing of interest, and when he asks what happened to you all, I'll just say the terrain where we landed was dangerous and you all fell to your deaths." He said with an audible sneer.

"Why you-!" Donovan started, but as he started to get up, a cry of shock was heard.

"WE HAVE SOMETHING IN HERE!" It was one of the creatures from the camp. It started to turn and run, but Lizzie put it down with a single round from her Magnum.

"That's sure to attract a lot of attention..." Joseph said gravely as he and the others drew their own Magnums and switched the safeties off, priming them to fire. Silence passed by in pregnant seconds. The Spartans all sat as frozen statues, looking at each other as their motion trackers started lighting up with red. Soon, eyes started appearing around them. Yellow with red pupils, in the form of the Cheshire Cat, cat-like and squinting. Chuckles and evil cackles soon filled the silence.

"On my signal, we charge for the shield..." Rachel whispered. The others nodded, still looking towards each other. Rachel held up three gloved fingers, and she counted down.

3...

2...

1...

Her fist clenched and the Spartans all moved in blurs of movement as they stood, and ran for the shield.

"Ma'am! We're going through the camp, aren't we?" Donovan asked as he ran with Sweetie Belle in his one arm, clutching her close like a child would with a favorite teddy bear.

"Only path we can take!" Lizzie said before Rachel could answer.

"Lizzie's right! If we take the edge, those things can cut us off before we reach the shield!" Rachel yelled back. As she ran, one of the creatures hopped in front of her, only to meet her Magnum at point blank and be shot into a shadowy mist. The others soon started having to deal with the creatures as they popped up like Whack-A-Moles on either side of the running Spartans. The three foals cried as the sounds of gunfire surrounded them and they hid behind their small forelegs, trying to block out the sights and sounds.

Upon breaking into the camp, the Spartans all charged through like a out of control train. They formed a delta arrow head as they ran.

"Following my plan then?!" Antonio jeered.

"Antonio, when we're inside the shield, I'm going to knock you into Limbo!" Rachel yelled. But, before Antonio could reply, five of the creatures tackled him from the side with ferocity greater than that of a Jackle, or Skirmisher for that matter. Roars and snarls were all Antonio heard as he was taken to the ground and bound with some kind of invisible force, then knocked out, all in a period of fifteen seconds. The others stopped, only briefly, then continued to run. The amount of enemies was growing, and Joseph gave a yell of frustration.

"How many of these damned things are there?" He yelled as he switched his Magnum for the Battle Rifle on his back and fired the signature tri-burst into a pack of the creatures, banishing three from existence.

"We're almost there!" Lizzie yelled, but as she did, she was tackled from behind by two of the creatures. One ripped her Air Assault helmet off as its counterpart bit down on Lizzie's now exposed neck hard. She gave a sharp cry of pain and fell. Joseph stopped to see her fall.

"Lizzie!" He cried, as he tossed a still crying Apple Bloom through the air to a empty handed Rachel.

"Joseph, keep going!" Rachel yelled as she stopped to see what he was doing. She saw Joseph charge for the creatures on Lizzie's back and he viciously bashed them in the heads with the butt of his rifle. The creatures vanished and He picked up Rachel in a fireman's carry as he slung his BR and picked up her helmet.

"GO!" He yelled at Rachel as he ran past her and to the shield. Rachel fell in step behind him. She pulled up Lizzie's vitals on her H.U.D and saw that she was alive, but barely. If she didn't see any treatment, she could very well bleed out on Joseph's back if they didn't hurry.

***

The girls all stood on their hindlegs in the trench as they saw some even more odd looking creatures come running at their shield.

"What in the hay are those?" Rainbow Dash asked as she squinted her rose colored eyes trying to get some clarity.

"I have no clue, but Pinkie Pie, get your party back over here!" Twilight yelled at the pink pony. Pinkie stood, waved good-bye to her patty-cake friend, then bounded over to the trench.

"Girls! Look!" Apple Jack yelled in shock and pointed a hoof forward.

They all looked and gasped. Three foals, in the arms of three of the new creatures.

"They have the Crusaders!" Flutter Shy said in panicked shock.

"We have ta' try an' save 'em!" Apple Jack yelled as she ran over the top of the trench, with Rainbow Dash and Rarity in her step.

"Wait! Girls, wait!" Twilight called, but they were too full of worry and anger to hear her as they all charged for the shield.

"Don't worry Sweetie Belle, Rarity's coming to save you!" Rarity cried out as she ran.

***

Rachel's H.U.D. said they had about three hundred meters left before reaching the shield. They ran with all their might across the grassy plains towards the glowing shield.

"Come on! Only three-hundred meters to go!" She told the others.

"It's times like this where I wish we had Sprint on us!" Donovan yelled. Joseph ran past like a bullet train with a dying Lizzie on his back. He ran past Rachel with frightening speed that a even a Spartan shouldn't have as he approached the shield. Ahead of them, Rachel could see three more ponies charging for them.

Why are they coming at us...? Rachel asked herself. These three seemed to be older than the three foals they were carrying, but there was one thing they all had in common; A fiery look of determination in their eyes. Rachel picked up her speed and met Joseph at the shield right as the three ponies got to the shield.

"Let us in!" Joseph ordered.

"Give us our little sisters!" a white unicorn demanded.

"So that's why they were coming to meet us. They think we stole their sisters. Rachel said to herself.

"We'll give you your sisters if you let us in! We have a injured friend who needs immediate medical attention!" Joseph said. At this time, Donovan had caught up and was holding a crying Sweetie Belle.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO SWEETIE BELLE!?" The white unicorn yelled enraged.

"We did nothing!" Rachel yelled.

"Liar!" A cyan pegasus yelled.

"They're crying because of the violence that was going on around us as we ran to get here!" Donovan yelled. A dull thud could be heard, as an orange pony bucked the shield in attempt to break it herself.

"When Ah get to y'all, Ah'm gonna pound you inta applesauce!" She yelled with an angered country accent.

"Look, if you don't let us in now, your little sisters and us are going to become a new meal for those things in the forest! We've already lost one of ours to them, and the other got bitten and is bleeding badly. Please! LET US IN!" Rachel said as a collective roar was heard behind the Spartans. They froze and slowly turned to see the enemy army charging towards the shield.

"Put the foals down and draw your weapons! This is where we make our last stand!" Rachel ordered. Donovan and Rachel both put the foals down behind the Spartans and they made a semi-circle around the young ponies as they drew their rifles. Joseph put Lizzie on the ground with the three ponies as he drew his Battle Rifle with a demonic growl.

"They're going to eat lead..." He growled. The three ponies on the inside of the shield looked at them as they put the foals down with slight confusion as they turned to defend themselves.The Spartans all stood tall and still, their rifles to their shoulders, their eyes down the sights, trigger fingers lightly squeezing the trigger. The mod of an army came closer with every second. Each of the Spartans H.U.D.s each said the army was less than three-hundred meters away, and closing fast. Suddenly, the shield appeared in front of the five Spartans. With confused movements, the Spartans lowered their rifles and turned to see the three ponies again, but with slight confusion on their faces. That fiery determination in their eyes was now replaced with confusion, relief, and slight fear. A purple Unicorn walked up to the group and sighed, exhaustion showing on her face.

"I believed your story. I couldn't sit here and watch as you were taken down, trying to defend a wounded friend and three youngers." she said. The Spartans all slung their weapons on their backs. Joseph knelled down to Lizzie and checked her pulse.

"She's barely there..." He said looking to Rachel. She looked to the purple unicorn.

"Thank you for saving us and the others. Please, our friend needs medical attention, and we don't have anything on us. Consider this a favor for saving these three." She said gesturing to the three foals, all sitting in a state of shock that was wearing off as their older sisters held them close and gave re-assuring words. The orange pony gave Rachel a death glare, but mouthed a Thank Ya' as she held her yellow younger. The white unicorn was busy holding her younger sister, but was getting twigs and dirty out of the youngers' mane. She and the cyan pegasus both nodded a sign of thanks and went back to attending to the foals.

The purple unicorn looked to Rachel

"Yes, thank you for saving them. We can have Flutter Shy take a look at your friend and try to help. She's good with animals, but I'm not too sure about..." She looked at Rachel. "Whatever you are." She said meekly. Then, a sudden look of curiosity over came the purple unicorn. "What are you anyway? Where did you come from? Is that armor you're wearing?" And soon she was in a storm of curiosity that rained down a hail of questions. Rachel tried her best to not slap the unicorn right now. But the orange pony spoke up before she did.

"Twi, stop right there. Now's not tha time fer questions. Y'all can ask that later." She said scolding the purple unicorn. The unicorn in question stopped her torrent of questions and calmed down.

"You're right. Sorry Apple Jack. I guess the stress of all this had gotten to my head." She said sheepishly. She gave a collective sigh and started again. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, and these are my friends; Apple Jack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and the one hiding behind Pinkie is Flutter Shy." She said pointing to her friends as she named them off.

"And who might ya'll be?" Apple Jack asked. Rachel removed her helmet, which was a sign to the others to do the same.

"I'm Rachel, Spartan A Zero Ninety-Eight. The one kneeling is Joseph, Spartan B Zero Twenty-Two. Then there's Donovan, Spartan C Zero Thirty-Nine, and the injured one is Lizzie, Spartan B Zero Zero Two." She said pointing to her comrades in the same manner as Twilight.

"I say, you all have some very interesting names." Rarity said looking to them.

"Well, the numbers aren't a part of our name, it's just our call number. It goes name, then company, then number in said company." Donovan explained. He was met with slightly confused faces on the ponies. "I'll explain later..." He mumbled. Twilight looked at Lizzie and waved Flutter Shy over. The yellow pegasus walked over nervously, her face hidden behind her long pink mane.

"Can you help their friend Flutter Shy?" Twilight asked gently. Flutter Shy gave a squeak of nervousness as an answer and slowly walked over to the wounded Spartan. She met Joseph's stare and jumped back, even more terrified.

"You're gonna help me?" He asked simply.

"I-I can t-try..." Flutter Shy responded quietly. She knelt down next to Lizzie. "W-Where is she h-hurt...?" She asked. Joseph gently pointed a gloved finger to the massive red stain of blood that was still fresh on Lizzie's neck where she was bitten. Flutter Shy only took one look, and when she did, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted.

"Oh, I should've said she can't quite handle blood yet. Well, she can, in small drops, but not a whole bite wound..." Twilight said sheepishly once again. She walked over and looked at the wound. "She needs more advance medicine than what Flutter Shy has in stock." She said simply. As she said this, Flutter Shy stirred and woke up.

"N-no...I'm sure I have somet-thing that can do the t-trick..." She said trying not to look at the blood. Joseph save a slightly-relief sigh.

"When can you start?" Rachel asked.

"I can fly back for you Flutters! Just tell me what you need and I'll get it!" Rainbow Dash said extending her wings, ready for flight. But before Flutter Shy could respond, a clap of applause literally came out of nowhere.

"My my my...it seems you Ponies have new allies!" A laugh. "But it wont be enough to stop me or my army." The voice continued.

"Dang it Discord! We will stop y'all!" Apple Jack said.

"Yeah! It'll take more than your stupid army to try and stop us!" Rainbow Dash added.

"You will never defeat us Discord! We'll defend Equestria until the end!" Twilight said valiantly.

"Well then...let's just see what Canterlot has to say about that! All forces, mobilize for Canterlot!" Discord said as his voice vanished. The ponies all visibly paled as he vanished. Twilight spun around to Rachel.

"You have to help us. You can add a strength difference and help us win! Please, I beg of you!" She said hugging Rachel's waist to emphasize the urgency in her voice. Rachel knelt down to Twilight's level and patted the Unicorn.

"We'll help the best we can. But first, we need Lizzie back in action." She said sadly. Twilight nodded and dashed over to Lizzie. She stood there and her horn started glowing. She bent down and touched Lizzie's bite wound with the tip of her horn and pulled away. The bite mark was enveloped in a purple glow and soon the blood was being draw back into the Spartans' body, and the skin was being closed up. Once it was clear, Lizzie's eyes opened and she sat up with a grunt.

"Ugh...what happened...?" She asked placing a hand to her forehead.

"You got badly bitten and nearly died. Luckily I was able to use my magic to heal you." Twilight said proudly.

"Then what was the use for me?" Flutter Shy asked sadly. Twilight's ears flattened.

"Sorry Flutter Shy...I had forgotten I asked you to help Lizzie out..." She said.

Flutter Shy gave a slight nod and smiled. "It's fine Twilight." Then Lizzie spoke up.

"Can you explain why we're surrounded by talking Ponies, Rachel?" She asked.

"I'll explain on the way. Right now, we need to get to Canterlot. Can you quickly get us all there Twilight?" Rachel asked.

"I can try and teleport us there, but this many ponies and..." She stopped. "What exactly are you?" She asked the Spartans

"Humans." Donovan said simply.

"Right...humans, may take a strain on me and I may not be able to fight for a few minutes." Twilight said looking to Rachel.

"It's worth the risk. What do we have to do?" She asked.

"Just stand close to me and I'll start up the spell."

"Sweetie Belle, I want you and the girls to go hide in the Boutique. Alright?" Rarity asked. Her sister gave a nod and the three foals ran off in the direction of Carousel Boutique. Joseph helped Lizzie up and handed her the Air Assault helmet she wore.

"Thanks. Come on, let's make these freaks pay." She said.

"Alright everypony, stand close." Twilight said. They all stood near her and Twilight's horn started glowing. After a few seconds, there was flash, and the Spartans and Ponies were gone.

***

Antonio swam about in the dark sea of unconsciousness. His thoughts swam around his head and were echoed in the dark sea.

"Damn Rachel. Damn the others..."

If I were still in charge, I wouldn't be in this situation...

Maybe if I were to get revenge...

Then a different voice entered the dark sea.

"I can help you out Antonio, Spartan B Three-Hundred... it said with a charismatic tone.

"Who's there? How do you know who I am?" Antonio asked. He was answered with a chuckle.

"I'm the one who can help you put Rachel and the others in their place. I know who you are because I can see into your past thoughts and memories." There was a soft clicking of a tongue. "Oh my, such a harsh childhood. Such a terrible life in general. To be taken as as a child and trained to fight a war against a foe with greater power."

"Show yourself." Antonio ordered. A pair of crazy looking red and yellow eyes appeared before him, with a wicked smile.

My name is Discord. God of Chaos and Madness. And I have an offer for you, Antonio." The mouth said.

Antonio was taken a back slightly, then he changed his tone.

Alright Discord, I'm listening.

"How wonderful! Alright, here's the deal: If you let me inside your mind, I can grant you powers and strength you've never before had. Imagine the possibilities! You can take your old team down without breaking a single sweat! And once they're out of the way, You can help me take over this land, and I'll make you a king!" Discord said. Countless thoughts ran mad in Antonio's mind. Power, revenge, leadership. Yeah, he liked the sounds of that.

"Alright Discord. You have a deal." Antonio said with a smirk.

"Marvelous..." And with that, the mouth of Discord expanded rapidly, almost frighteningly, and swallowed Antonio whole.

***

Antonio laid on the ground of the camp. When he awoke, his eyes were a sickening yellow and red. A smirk crawled across his lips as he sat up. The last thing he remembered was the screams of terror the odd shadow creatures gave as he laid waste to them, his new powers taking them down, one at a time.