Chapters Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
(A.N. undergoing editing)
UNSC Last Frontier Sergeant Grade II McClain Private Third Class Taylor Dawn Encryption: None
Hey, Kid. Meet me down at the mess hall, I need to talk to you about something. Try and be down there in 10. This is important and I think you're going to like it a lot.
Message: End
I wasn't entirely sure if I liked the short message, so I reread it about five times trying to get some meaning out of it but got nothing. With another sigh I went back to my bed and picked up a dull green short sleeve with my name etched across the back, and slipped it on. I then exited the room into the long hallways of Titanium-A. If you've never been on a star ship before the long corridors would surely confuse you until someone came by to help. It took me all of seven minutes to reach the mess hall where I found the Sergeant sitting at a table with a cup of coffee in his hands. I approached him cautiously watching as he took a sip from the steaming coffee. He didn't even so much as look in my direction when he spoke.
"Have a seat kid." he said motioning to the seat across from him and I sat keeping my eyes on him the entire time. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "You know I said ten minutes, not wait till Christmas."
I just shot him a glance that told him I could care less, and he knew it too. McClain wore the same standard issue fatigues I wore and black cargo pants. His skin was a dark tan that almost looked like wet sand. Like the rest of us his head was shaved and clean, never reaching above three centimeters in length. And his expression. His expression never changed except during combat, at which point he is usually gone. His face always looked twisted with anger and rage during combat and it scared the crap out of me. But other than that, it was always the same blank expression he wore. Even then he still freaked me out a little. I now noticed his muscular build on his arms and chest and figured he could take me on with ease. "So, what you call me down for?" i asked driving the conversation forward.
He simply shrugged looking into his coffee as if he was waiting for a fish to pop out for him to catch. "Well we've been floating in orbit for what? Two, three weeks now? Anyways, I got word that we're being transferred to Earth and you're a hard worker and a damn good soldier. So i requested the Admiral to promote you to a Grade I Sergeant since I'm not allowed too, but if I could I would here and now."
It took me a moment to register what he just said seeing that he always gave me the grunt work around here and there. "Sir... I.. I.." he cut me off with a raised hand.
"Its my pleasure really, and you deserved it." he paused to take a sip of his coffee. "Now don't go thinking that you're going to get your own squad right off the bat. You still have to go through sergeant training classes and the Admiral is going to have you do it once we get to Earth." McClain looked at the watch he had strapped to his right hand. "If I'm correct and I know I am, we should be entering slip-space in about thirty minutes." The sergeant took one last sip out of the mug and set it down gently. "I'll be seeing you around, rookie." McClain got up and calmly walked out of the mess hall. I don't know what it was about him but he did always seem... calm. Strange...
After brisk walk back to the sleeping quarters and sitting on my bed cleaning an SMG and ODST armor, the speakers crackled for a second before the ships AI: Renona began to speak. "All non-essential crew please head to your cryo bays immediately for slip-space departure. All non-essential crew." her kind but assertive voice rang through the ship. I set down my equipment and headed off to Cryo-B with a bunch of other crew members. When I got there the room was filled with large metal caskets that had a soft blue gel cushion inside them. There were red and yellow striped painted on the top and bottom of the tubes and each one had a name above it. Again the Speakers came on and Renona spoke again. "ETA to slip-space departure, two minutes." I quickly went to my respected tube and one of the tech guys came by and readied the tube. When he gave me a nod a climbed in laying against the soft gel cushion behind me. The tube then hissed and closed shut locking me in with the sound of sharp bangs. The air around me began to chill and within seconds ice crystals began to form on the edge of the glass canopy. I shut my eyes and waited....
Author's Note
So here it is guys, my first story! This is only the beginning of a long story that has yet to come. Hopefully you guys like this and will hit the like button. If there are errors I didnt catch please tell me in the comments, but dont be mean. I dont like mean people.
View Online
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
The past few weeks...: Part 1(part 2, 3 merged)
"Well.... ah.... the past few weeks? A lot of strange stuff..... I'm not sure where to begin with this."
"Start where it's most comfortable for you."
"...most comfortable? Alright, I guess. Ahem. Ah, I guess it all started the day I moved in...."
_______________________________________________
I made my way into the same house that I had met Lyra in on the first day here. Everything was the same, just like it was a week ago. The couch and coffee table in the middle of the room, and the walls decorated with the pictures of her and this pony name Bon-Bon. Lyra told me a little about her on the way to the house and told me about her different voice thing that she had going on.
Lyra wasn't far behind me and when she made her way in she immediately made a dash for the couch, sitting in a way I haven't seen her sit before. It almost looked like she was trying to mimic the way us humans sat, and it didn't look very comfortable either.
"Lyra is that you?" a feminine voice called from somewhere upstairs.
Lyra looked towards the stairs, "Yeah." was all she said before turning to me and offering me a seat, and I obliged taking up part of the couch as well.
After not too long I heard the muffled sounds of hoofs coming down a hallway and then down the stairs before they stopped. I looked over my shoulder to find a frightened mare with blue and pink curls in her mane, and the cream colored coat. I was about to open my mouth and say som....
______________________________________________
"Whoa, hold up. You said this pony used different voices? Like MPD?"
"Audrie, you're supposed to be helping me, not nitpicking every detail. But no, I think she was an actor or something, I don't know." I said taking a sip of the coffee that sat in front of me. "Anyways, she freaks, Lyra calmed her down and blah, blah, blah." I quickly downed the rest of the cup, setting the mug on the table gently. "So after all of that everything seems normal. I learned that Lyra and Bon-Bon were together, and mare on mare is ok here and so is stallion on stallion. Eventually after two or three days Lyra decided that I needed a mare and decided to hook me up with Twilight without me knowing..."
____________________________________
"Taylor! Get up, you're going to be late!"
I heard the voice but wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not until I heard my name again. I slowly propped myself up on the bed in the guest room, trying to wake myself up. The smell of eggs being cook filled my nose and aided to subside my grogginess. I was about to leave the room but I forgot my shirt and slipped it over my body. Once down stairs I saw Bon-Bon reading a book, so that meant Lyra was cooking.
"Morning..." I managed to get out.
Bon-Bon smiled at me before returning the 'good morning' and 'how are you this morning'. Once I had inquired about breakfast Lyra popped out from the kitchen. "You're not having breakfast here."
I stopped where I was immensely confused. "Uhh... why not?"
"You have a date this morning and if you don't get going you're going to be late!"
Now I wasn't sure if I'm hallucinating or what but I just got a bad feeling about this. "A date? As in I'm going to meet with someone who is not a human, that you're trying to hook me up with?" Lyra shook her head. "When did I plan this?"
"You didn't, I did. You already know her and if you'd give her a chance I think you would really really like her." Lyra pleaded. Bon-Bon sat awkwardly in the center of us, trying to read her book she currently had in her hooves.
"Uugghhh.... alright, alright..." I groaned, pressing my fingers into my temples to relieve the growing headache I got. "I'll go, but I'm not making any promises that I'm just going to fall in love with her or anything like that." Lyra's eyes lit up at my words and I could tell she wanted to start hopping around with excitement. I went back upstairs, donned my boots and light jacket before making my way down stairs again. "So where am I meeting her?"
Lyra had apparently gone back to the kitchen again and emerged from the door way. "At Twilight's place. You know where that's at, right?" I nodded my head as I made a break for the door. "Have fun!"
There it was. The large oak tree that served as Ponyville's library and Twilight's home. Honestly I didn't know how I allowed for Lyra to convince me to even so much as show up. It wasn't like I didn't like the lavender unicorn, but this was just going a bit too far. From what I've seen, Twilight constantly has her muzzle in books an what not. And the fact that she made time for me to visit on short notice didn't sit well with me.
Either way I approached the wooden door that was still a few inches too short for me, and knocked three time to be sure I was heard. There was a momentary pause before a purple-ish glow engulfed the wooden door and it slid open to the side with a slight creek. Inside the doorway was Twilight. She looked a little nicer today, like her mane was more neatly done than usual which only added to the uneasiness I felt.
"You showed up! And right on time too!" She exclaimed as she made room for me to come in.
Oh dear... I cautiously made my way into the lobby of the library and it all looked the same as before I was last here. For some reason I think the collection of books was larger than last time. I could smell something cooking in the kitchen but couldn't put a finger on it.
Twilight closed the door behind us and totted into the lobby, brushing past me uncomfortably close. When she passed by I got a whiff of her smell, and it surprised me she smelled just like the Lavender flower. Maybe a little sweeter. The smell seemed to intoxicate me and lost any train of thought for a brief moment. "Hello?"
I snapped out of the small trance and refocused my attention to the unicorn in front of me. "Hmm?"
"I said the pancakes should be ready, if you're hungry."
"Oh, yeah sorry. I got lost in thought." I replied quickly and moved to the kitchen, Twilight following behind me.
We both sat at the single table in the center of the kitchen, plates and forks neatly set up. A rather large plate of pancakes were levitated to us and set in the center. I let Twilight take as many as she wanted before I took an initial stack of six pancakes, all of which were cooked to perfection. Twilight's eyes stared in amazement to the amount I took compared to her stack of two. "I should've made more..." She said levitating the syrup jar and pouring a generous amount on the golden-brown circles.
I chuckled slightly. "Yeah, us ODST's have a larger appetite than most people... or ponies. But you don't have to make any more, this'll be enough."
Twilight and I ate in relative silence after that, only speaking to ask about each others morning or to pass the syrup bottle. Once breakfast was over we both set our dishes in the sink and headed into the lobby again. "Well, thanks for breakfast. I'm probably going to go now." I said moving towards the door.
"You're leaving now?" Twilight asked from behind me.
I heard the slight hint of sadness in her voice and turned to face her. "Unless you have some plans, yeah." I scratched behind my neck nervously. I could see so many ways this could go wrong right now and I didn't like a single one, except the one where she had no plans and I could go. Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case.
Twilight pawed her hoof against the ground, her nervousness radiating from her and seemed to fill the whole room. "I was wondering if you'd want to study things or we could read some books?" She gave me a sheepish smile.
"First time?" Twilight nodded her head, looking at the floor. "Well, those aren't really date type of things..."
"O-oh, okay. Umm, I also wanted to see if you would be interested in star gazing?"
Now that actually sounded fun. Never got to see the stars without thinking there would be covenant there, and they seemed to lose their beauty because of it. "Yeah, we could do that." Twi's face lit up as she looked up at me, making eye contact. You could see the excitement in them, the pure joy. "Alright, I guess I'll come by later then? Say, nine 'o clock?"
"Sounds good." Was all she said before she opened the door and let me out. As soon I was out and the door was closed I could hear her yelling "YES!" over and over again.
______________________________________________
"So what happened after that?" Audrie inquired as her and I walked down the metal corridors of the UNSC Now you see me Now you don't.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I think I went walking around the park or something like that."
Audrie seemed deep in thought so I allowed her to think. After a few more seconds she spoke up again. "What about later that night. You didn't do anything did you?"
I let out a defeated sigh before replying. "I guess I should talk about that."
_____________________________________________
Eight-forty-five. Fifteen minutes early, that's okay. For the second time today I approached the library doors, standing there for a moment to prepare myself. The lit torches in the doorway were the only thing that greeted me at the moment and they seemed to sit still. I knocked on the wooden door and a moment later it opened with the same creek of the hinges.
"Hi."
"Hi! You're early. Come on in, I already have the telescope set up along with my star charts and guide books upstairs." The lavender unicorn replied, beaming with excitement. She almost seemed overly enthusiastic about this. None the less I made my way in getting a good whiff of her smell and drowned in it. It made me begin to wonder what she tas....
Okay mind, you can stop wondering now. Need to stay focused. As soon as I was in the lobby, Twilight was already waiting for me up the stairs. I followed her up the stairs and couldn't help but notice how her hips swayed back and forth, thoughts began to run through my head continuously until we reached the balcony with a telescope set up at the edge. To the side of that were a large stack of books and scrolls.
Twilight moved over to the telescope and stars were already painting the night sky. "I have the telescope adjusted to see the milkyneigh galaxy." She paused. "What's it like up there? Where you come from?"
I shook my head at the memory. "That's something I'd rather not talk about."
"Oh... Sorry." She replied with her ears flat against her head now.
"No, it's fine. You didn't know." I let out a sigh as I sat on the wooden floor. The smell of lavender caused me to look to my left and Twilight's sitting next to me really close. I still felt a hint of uneasiness, but I pushed it away and pulled her closer to me. "I guess if you really want to know, I can tell you."
It was hard to see in the dark, but I think I saw a hint of crimson on Twi's cheeks when I pulled her to me. "I would like to know, if it isn't too much trouble." She whispered, wrapping her fore hooves around one of my arms and her eyes watching me in anticipation.
I let a sigh and looked in the direction of the little speck in the sky that was our old galaxy. "Alright, I'll tell you a story. But if it's too much I'll stop."
Arcadia III
Deploying ODST squads to sector 5 section 21: reports of Covenant activity
ODST: Deployed. Drop conclusion: 25 seconds. Remaining pods: 0
I sat in the metal container waiting for the rest of my team to get into theirs and strap in. Once everyone was in, it's show time. The pod launched along with the other twenty of of my team and immediately I could see the planet as it looked from space. The ring of blue atmosphere that covered the outer edge made it look peaceful from way up there. The inside began to heat up as we hit the atmosphere and red flames covered the window of my pod. Eventually we passed atmosphere and you could see the destruction already caused by the covenants presence.
The pod slowed down as the parachute opened and about five seconds later my pod hit something and sent it spinning. I cursed to myself as the pod continued to roll down a street and hit a few cars here and there before screeching to a halt. Once I recollected myself I found the pod dark inside, given the few lights inside. I found the explosive bolt release buttons and hit all four, after which a muffled bang rang through the pod.
"Well fuck meeee...." I said as I pushed my back up against the pod, trying to get my feet under me for more power. Got one..... Two.... "Fuuuck!" The pod rolled behind me as I finally pushed it off, the door embedded into the concrete. Not a moment later my squad came running up to the pod and found me out of breath.
I felt a hand slap my aching back. "Just like good 'ol time?" Ray cheered.
"Good old times!" I replied quickly grabbing the SMG and MA5-B assault rifle from the pod, making sure they were loaded and ready. I hurried over to where the rest of my squad was waiting.
An ODST with pitch black armor and blood red highlights looked around the group. "Alright, men. Command wants us to see if we can confirm any signs of covenant activity in this area. If we find 'em, we fix 'em! Lets roll out." Sarge said over the close range communications.
With that we began to move down the sidewalk using the broken down vehicles as cover. The further we went the less damage and destruction there was around us. It also seemed unlikely that covenant had even passed through this area, but command wanted us to check it out anyways.
"This is a waste of time! I'm not seeing anythi-agh!" Ray fell to the ground clutching his shoulder and everyone ducked behind a few vehicles, and Ray painfully pushed himself into cover. "Fucking jackal sniper got me."
An ODST with black armor and blue highlights and a red cross painted on his right shoulder pad made his way over to Ray. "Alright let me see that." As soon as Ray moved his band you could see the small hole made by a carbine. "Shit, it didn't go all the way through."
"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Ray yelled, panic dripping from his voice.
The medic took off his backpack and pulled out a medical kit. "I'm going to have to pull out the rod. If the wound doesn't kill you, radiation poisoning will. Those covenant carbines use uranium rounds that are hardened when fired. I need to get it out of you before it's too late."
Hardening referred to when the uranium rods are extra radiated. Because of that instead of it taking months for radiation poisoning to take effect, it was now only minutes.
"Alright, hold still." The medic took a flat metal tool and stuck it in the wound, pushing it to the side. Ray winced slightly, then the medic took a tool that looked like miniature pliers and stuck it into the wound. Ray was bitting down on a piece of cloth Sarge had given him as the doc dug around and eventually pulled out a slender rod that glowed green with radiation. "There we go. Now the bio-foam."
Once Ray had been fixed up we got ready to keep moving, weary of the jackal sniper still somewhere. "Command, this is Red Hawk-two, we have confirmed jackal snipers in the area. Unknown on any other hostiles." Sarge called over the radio.
"Ten-four Red Hawk-two, be careful out there. Command out."
Sarge motioned us to follow, running between cover to avoid the sniper. Every now and then the uranium rounds would hit a concrete jersey barrier or a car. I checked the mission time: fifteen minutes and counting. Only thing so far: Jackal sniper. So far the mission had been a bust.
By the time our team had arrived at LZ for pick up we had nothing except for the lone jackal. It was an hour long 'mission' and Ray's bio-foam injection was starting to wear off.
"How'd the huntin' trip go?" The pilot inquired over the radio.
Sarge shook his head. "Nothing except for some lone sniper we only encountered a few times. Other than that, a complete bust."
"Too bad. I was hoping you'd bring back a trophy or two for me."
The pelican began to take off as we all boarded, the engines roaring above us. I lost my balance slightly as the drop ship began to take off, only for the sound of an explosion from the left side and the pelican began to spin. "Shit, controls are jammed up! We're hittin' hard!"
Once I came back from the realm of unconsciousness I found myself inside the crashed pelican. Not too much damage was done to it, but something was off....
I rose to my feet, my assault rifle at my side, and limped my way out of the wreckage and nearly had a heart attack from what I saw. Sarge flew in front of my view, hitting into the side of a near by car. A low rumble shook me and I looked to the source. In front of me was the large eight foot tall monstrosity, fully dressed in armor from head to toe except for the exposed parts on its back and neck. There were large spines extending from the creatures back and on its arm a large plasma cannon.
Sarge was back on his feet and winded, but continued to fight it anyways. Around the large beast four men surrounded it, all at extremely close range. "Watch the hunters swing!" Just then the hunter threw the arm with the large shield on it behind it, smacking one of the guys back and into a concrete wall.
Another low roar came from the creature before it charged Ray, who was in front of it, but rolled out of the may before it could crush him. This gave them the perfect opportunity to start shooting at the exposed part of the back. The sounds of SMG's and assault riffles being fired filled the air. The hunter quickly turned around with its shield covering its body and neck.
The dammed thing took aim at me and the cannon glowed green as it was about to discharge. Once the ball of supper heated plasma was heading straight for me I hit the ground and the round went over me, the heat of the plasma singing and slightly melting the armor I wore. Behind me a vehicle exploded and shrapnel flew around. Once the smoke cleared I got to my feet again. A secondary explosion sent my to the floor again and once I started to push myself up I found myself face to face with the lumbering beast. Its shielded arm raised up, but recoiled when assault rifle rounds hit its soft flesh.
It turned to meet the new threat giving me a chance to hop on its back, careful to avoid the large spikes, and clung for dear life. The hunter began to turn its head knowing I was on its back, not knowing what to do it began to shake itself. It flung me around causing me to lose the death grip I had on it before I took hold of the helmet and tore it off. I was met the hundreds of eel like things squirming around inside. I took my magnum at began to shoot inside it until the hunter finally collapsed and died off.
I was covered in the blood and guts of hundreds of worm things. Not only that but it hindered my vision and had to wipe off chunks of soft orange flesh.
"Shit, dude! Looks like you took a bath in that crap." Ray pipped up.
"I don't know, orange seems to suit him." Sarge countered, reloading his weapons.
I took a quick look at myself, and they're right. I was completely covered in orange blood.
Danni came sprinting to us and stopped about ten feet from us. "Covies! Lots of elites. We need to move now and regroup with the other three squa...." he was cut off by a enraged roar coming from further down the street.
Standing about seventy feet away was a eight foot tall bi-pedal lizard like alien with maroon armor surrounding its body. It had an energy sword in left hand and a plasma rifle in the other. Its armor was that of a Field Marshal. "Kill them all!" It yelled in its deep voice. Just then at least twenty elites began to charge us all with energy swords and plasma rifles attached the side of their legs.
"Shit!" Ray yelled as he kneeled, bringing his MA5-B assault rifle to his shoulder and fired at one of the elites as it got too close. Its shield broke before it flinched from the rounds hitting it and eventually killing it.
Another elite found its way over to Ray and brought its sword above his head. Before it could bring it down, numerous small hole covered its armor and body, spraying a purple-ish blue blood all over the place. Ray looked over and saw the pilot with a shotgun in his hands and nodded at him.
Sniper rounds broke out, hitting a few elites and breaking there shields. The elites began to dodge the rounds, one scoring a hit occasionally. A blue armored zealot got close enough to the pilot while he was reloading the shotgun from a few well placed shots at a few elites, and grabbed him by the neck and lifting him off the ground with ease. It didn't bother to use its sword, but instead broke his neck by closing its fist tighter. Once the pilot was limp the elite tossed him to the ground.
I faced the elite with my SMG and began to dump the clip into the damned thing, breaking its shields after a whole clip. By the time it had faced me, its mandibles with the large razor sharp teeth. You could see right into its esophagus. The elite slumped over with a large hole in the center of its helmet and found my magnum hand made its way to my hands.
I picked up my SMG from the ground which was now covered in exploded brain matter and blood. After a quick wipe down with my glove and slapping on a fresh clip it was good to go again. There were still about twelve elites left and they were getting uncomfortably close. A deep rumbling roar was emitted from behind the elites and thanks to our luck the second hunter had found its way to the mass of elites. Its cannon charged up and fired, sending the supper-heated plasma my way.
I didn't move in time as the heat washed over me in a blinding light, and hit something hard. After a second I realized I wasn't dead or injured I quickly got my feet and found my entire team had been knocked around. An elite closed in on the medic and stabbed him through the chest. The blue energy sizzled as it burned and cauterized his organs and flesh, leaving nothing but blackened holes of burnt tissue in its wake. The elite pulled the sword out of the medics chest and turned to sarge.
Sarge got a few rounds off before it kicked him, sending him three feet back. The elite brought its sword up. I watched in horror as the elite began to bring the sword down, but stopped midway, its head exploding sending armor and brain tissue spewing out the back of its skull. An ODST landed just in front of the fallen body with a jetpack strapped to his/her back and a sniper rifle in their hands.
They shot a few more rounds off until their clip was empty, each one causing a elite to slump over with large holes on the back of their heads and the concrete painted blue, purple and orange. The hunter took notice of the new arrival and began to charge its cannon. It stopped as rockets hit it, the roar of hornets flying by filled my ears. More rockets launched at the elite along with the fifty- cal machine guns dumping rounds into it. The hunter did a blind fire, barely missing the hornet.
Another set of engines came from behind us, these ones much louder. I recognized it to be a pelican and turned to find my assumptions wrong. Overhead a large flying fortress know as the Vulture hovered with its four light cannons pointing at the hunter. The hornets broke off and the vulture began to fire, the sound of seventy- cal rounds filling the air. Eight hatches on the top opened and fired rockets down on the elites, sending body parts all over the place. Armor blood flooded the damaged concrete and a mass of orange blood sat on the curb, unmoving.
"Area cleared. Pick up should be here.... now." A voice calmly said over the radio and a pelican flew over the vulture, hovering, then landed with the ramp down. We all got on the drop-ship and the ramp hissed closed, muffling the sound of the engines as the pelican took off.
Her sudden outburst made me jump slightly. "Twilight, it isn't like that." I tried to explain, but she cut me off.
"Then what's it like?"
I jumped to my feet now irritated at the unicorn. "If your species faced extinction, what would you do? Sit there and do nothing? Or get up and fight?" I yelled, throwing my arms in the air in frustration.
Twilight's ears laid flat against her head, fear showing her eyes. "I'm sorry..." She whispered. "I didn't know it was like that." Twilight dipped her head down in shame.
"Forget about it." I replied coldly. Twilight recoiled at my tone. The air had gotten a slight chill to it as it blew in my face and decided it was time to go inside. I made my way into the bedroom that was connected to the balcony and sat on the bed. It was soft and was covered with sheets that had little stars and galaxies scattered across it.
Twilight joined me after a few seconds, closing the door behind her with her magic. She gracefully jumped onto the bed, making sure to keep her space from me. Probably because I scared her into thinking I killed things for the fun of it. I glanced in her direction and found her watching me. As soon as my eyes fell on her, her ears shot down and she turned away from me. "Twilight?" I called in a calmed tone.
Her ears erected again and she cautiously turned in my direction. "Y-yes?" Twilight's voice shook slightly but her eyes showed curiosity and fear mixed together.
"If you want, I guess we could do one of your ideas and read something or study."
Twilight jumped to her hooves causing the bed to squeak in protest. "Really?" she almost shouted. "I have the latest addition of Daring Do!" with that she rushed out of the room and down to the lobby.
"Huh, guess she's an egghead." I said to myself as I waited for Twilight to come back with the book. After a while I heard a few things crash and was about to go down and check on her until I heard another voice.
"Twilight, its eleven at night. What are you doing up this late?"
"I'm trying to find the latest book in the Daring Do series, Spike."
"It's right here."
I didn't bother to listen to anymore of the conversation between her and this Spike. Whoever Spike is. Not a moment later Twilight burst through the door with a giddy smile on her muzzle, and the book in her magical grip. She bounded towards the bed, levitating the book towards me and I took it in my hands. It had that fresh book smell you hardly got to smell anymore due to making everything electronic.
I moved to the back of the bed with the wall at my back, reclining against it trying to get comfortable. Twilight didn't help much either as she snuggled against my side so she could read along while I read aloud.
"Uhh, Twi?"
Twilight's cheeks turned crimson. "Sorry."
I again tried to get comfortable. Once I was I allowed Twilight to get comfortable next to me.
And another chapter complete with a completely sacked out Twilight. I closed the book and set it on the nightstand to my right, and looked down at the mare cuddled into my chest. Her hoofs rested around my waist and her muzzle poked at my ribs. It was twenty past one in the morning. I was surprised that I had stayed up as long as I did and not fall asleep on her.
I carefully maneuvered myself, releasing her grip on me and lifted her head off my chest, slowly sliding off the bed trying not to disturb the sleeping mare. Her hoofs unconsciously clung to my arms as I rested her head on a pillow before sliding my arms free. Her hoofs moved to hold nothing but air, a content smile on her face.
Dang she did look cute like that. I slowly pulled the star covered bedsheets over her and she gladly took them, snuggling into them more before she stopped and went back to her deep sleep. A yawn made its way out and I figure I should start heading back to Lyra's place so I could get some rest.
Audrie stared at me with a dumbfounded look stuck to her face as I finished my tale. "So let me get this straight. You went on a 'date' with a pony?" I nodded my head. "And you told her a story about our universe?" Again I nodded. "You then proceeded to lay in her bed, and read her a bedtime story?"
"It wasn't really a 'bedtime story'." I quickly countered.
Audrie gave me a suspicious look before continuing. "You sure?" I gave her a look that said 'wasn't my fault'. In all reality it probably was, but the fact that Lyra had set me up kind of negated that fact.
"Look." I began taking a sip of another cup of coffee. "That wasn't the last time we went on a 'date' together."
Audrie raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? It sounds like you have a thing for her." she teased, but it made my face burn as I felt my face turn crimson. "Wh-, no! You're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding, cause I swear to god if you're not.... I'm not even sure what I would do! What would constitute as something acceptable for something as stupid as that?"
"Hey!" I slammed my fist onto the table causing the cup of coffee to spill. I ignored it as I stared down Audrie. "You don't know her! So don't talk about her like that! Are we clear?" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Luckily we were the only two in the mess hall.
Audrie took a moment to collect herself before answering. "Yeah, okay. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." her voice was hushed now that she didn't want to get me angry.
I settled down and sat back down in my spot, which I didn't realize I was standing until then. That's probably what caused Audrie to back off. "Anyways, I'll get to that later. I don't know why but at some point Lyra got the notion that I was interested in stallions. And her being her, she set me up. That one I wont even bother getting into. Most awkward day of my life, and I think for the stallion too. I think his name was something like Thunderlane. Something like that."
Audrie is now looking at the table, playing with a fork that happened to be laying around. "So what else happened?"
"Well apparently I had attended one of Pinkie Pie's parties. I don't remember a single moment of it. If I remember correctly I had a hangover the next day."
"So that's why you were clogging all of the ships toilets. Ya know the recruits had fun cleaning that up." I glared at her for a moment. "What?" she asked raising her hands in defense.
I shook my head at her. "Uhh, this one time we got called from the Equestrian guard to go take care of some griffon bandits at Applebaloosa. So we went there. Turns out there were no griffons to take care of, but only a bunch of ponies and buffalo who decided they didn't like us and threw pies at us. PIES! After that we were about to go kick their asses until princess Celestia showed up to stop anything before it happened. Now that I think about it I think ray was chained up to a pole and everyone threw pies at him." I let out a small chuckle. "Eh, he was not happy to say the least."
Audrie let out a giggle of her own. I looked at the black liquid in the mug and swirled it around a bit trying to think. "Well, I pull a mission in thirty minutes so I should go get ready. Shall we continue this later?" Audrie nodded before I finished off the coffee and headed to my room.
"Men, today we will traveling to a neighboring kingdom: The griffon kingdom. These request came from Celestia herself. The ruler of the griffon kingdom has requested assistance from Equestria to aid in the capture and or 'execution' of twenty pirates that have been raiding the blimps that trade with Equestria." Sarge yelled as he paced back and forth between us while we stood in line for our debrief.
Sarge stopped in front of me, making eye contact. "Today, we have a special guest who will be joining us. She will be testing a new armor pattern designed for ponies. Celestia wanted armor that was light weight and had good protection compared to the Royal guards armor they have now. You should all know her by this point. If not..."
No... Out of the holding bay of the pelican a pony casually walked out wearing armor that covered her body all the way to her flank. A helmet designed for a unicorn to wear, and shin guards on her legs. Her ears stuck out of holes and her horn extended from the helmet as well. "Twilight..." The purple unicorn looked at me with surprise painted on her face. "Go home." I said with command in my voice.
Sarge got up in my face. "Excuse me? But did you just tell her to go home?" He whispered to me, never taking his eyes off mine.
"Sir, she will not join us on this mission." I replied through gritted teeth, loud enough for everyone to hear. "And she will never join anyone on any missions the UNSC performs. Do I make myself clear?"
Sarge's face contorted as I spoke, and took in a deep breath. "Do I need to remind you who is in charge here?" He yelled causing everyone to jump.
I dropped my voice down to a whisper. "She does not need to see what we do. She shouldn't even watch our training exercises. When it comes to her, I call the shots. Not you or the UNSC."
There is a silence in the pelican bay for a few seconds until sarge spoke again. "Everyone on. That includes Twilight." With that everyone began to climb into the back of the drop-ship. Twilight hesitated until I glared at her and she stopped. Sarge took notice of Twilights halt. "Get on." He commanded. She looked at me and I shook my head, which caused her to begin taking steps back.
Sarge began to grow furious at the unicorn. "I said get on!" Again she took another step back. Twilight is about to take another step back until Sarge pulled his magnum on her, causing her to freeze where she was. "You're going to get on. Understood?"
"You do not pull a weapon on her." I said while holding up my own magnum to Sarges unprotected head. Pressing the barrel on his temple. "Now you're going to put away the weapon, and let her go home. If you don't, I think you can guess what will happen next."
Sarge took a moment before slowly lowering the magnum in his hand and into the holster. "When we get back I will court martial your ass."
"You have fun with that. I'm sure princess Celestia will enjoy having to know her most prized student had a weapon pulled on her." I turned to the now terrified unicorn. "Go home and wait for me. I'll catch up in a few minutes." Twilight quickly turned tail and began to sprint through the pelican bay. I kept the magnum pointed at Sarge, telling him to take a seat, once he did I backed out of the pelican and took after the unicorn.
Twilight hadn't gotten very far. I found her in a corner trying to desperately take the armor off. "Whoa, slow down Twi. Let me help you." And she did. She stopped pulling at the straps with her magic allowing me to undo them. First I took of the armor on her fore legs, and then her helmet. I noticed she had been crying this whole time and quickly embraced her in a hug. Her tears began to soak the undershirt I wore while I gently stroked her mane trying to calm her down.
Minutes passed before Twilight began to calm herself and she stopped crying. I released her from the hug, giving her a warm smile which she returned. "Lets get the rest of that armor off." I moved to take off the body armor from her but she backed herself into a corner, looking really nervous.
"N-no it's fine. I-I can take it off later." She replied, voice shaking slightly.
I gave her a questioning look and I can see the panic growing in her eyes. "Twilight, take it off." She shook her head declining my demand. "Dammit Twilight!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I know I'm scaring her really badly but she was acting like something had happened. I took a moment to pace around for a second to calm myself before returning to the lavender unicorn. She's on the verge of crying again, and the fact that she could teleport away right now but isn't says a lot to me.
Breath in, and out. In... and out. "Twi." She looked up at me trying to keep herself from shaking with fear. "Please, take off the armor." Again she shook her head. I hate having to do this. I locked eyes with Twilight and she knew exactly what I'm about to do. She got her hoofs and bolted, but I dived and caught her midsection sending us both to the hard metal grating.
"No, no, no, no! Taylor!" She began to yell as i struggled to keep her still enough to undo the straps that held the armor in place. "Taylor, stop!" After another moment I undid the straps and the armor fell of her body and I released her from my grip.
I got to my feet and looked around for the lavender unicorn and found her huddled into the corner again. Now I've done it. I probably scared her enough that she wont want to see me again. Her tail covered a majority of her body so I couldn't see. "Twilight? Are you alright?"
I can now hear her crying again and I felt stupid. "H-he said if I t-told anypony, he would hurt me again." She said through her sobbing and her tail moved to show her body. I didn't see anything wrong. Went up to her for a closer inspection which revealed faint spots where there are bruises. "He told them to beat me, and they didn't want too. So he pulled out one of those weapons and pointed at them. I was scared for my life."
I feel bad for her. She seemed fine only minutes ago. "Who? Who said all of that?" I asked in a hushed tone. Twilight collapsed into my arms and let me hug her close. I quickly kissed her nose to show her it will be fine, once I get my hands on whoever did this to her.
"S-sarge..."
Author's Note
Updates all day, everyday!
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
"Taylor, can you stop that? Just sit down and relax. You'll get to see her in a minute."
I stopped my pacing and turned to face Jessica who has a worried look in her eyes. A sigh escaped my lips and I went back to my seat. "I'm sorry, I just haven't seen her in a few days and I'm really nervous." I swiveled my head to glance at the pure white coat of the sun goddess. Her regalia looking a little duller than usual, and her mane seem to have less of a flow to it as well. Luna on the other hand seemed like she always did, the color of her coat and mane doing little to blend her in against the dull gray paint of the ship.
"I'm surprised Celestia let you out of the dungeon to come see her."
I was about to say something until Audrie came out of a room wearing a sterile white coat and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Taylor, you can come in now." she announced with a slight smile.
I stood up and picked up a small brown bag that was resting on a chair and entered the room. It's small, with the bed in the center and many machines that maid various light beeping sounds and gave information in some way or form. The room has the same dull gray paint like the rest of the ship. In the bed laid a very pale looking unicorn. Her usually bright lavender coat looked worn with old age, but that wasn't the case. I moved over to a chair and pulled it close to the hospital bed which is slightly too large for the pony in it. "Hey there. How you feeling, Twi?"
A small smile formed on her lips and her eyes seemed to brighten at the sight of me. "Could be better." Twilight replied, her voice is horse and weak.
"Heh, yeah. Ummm, I brought you a little something so you wouldn't be too bored while here." I reached into the brown bag and pulled out a book, hand handed it to Twilight. Her eyes brightened even more at the sight of it. "Do you like it?"
She cradled the the muddy-brown leather that covered pages and looked at the cover. "I love it! Thank you."
I scratched the back of my neck nervously as I looked into the hallway with Celestia watching me before turning back to Twilight. "It was nothing, though I guess being Celestia's number one student has its perks." That got me a slight chuckle for Twi. I turned back to the hallway and smiled at the sun goddess. "You don't think you could get Celestia to let me out early, do you?"
Twilight's expression turned serious in a millisecond. "You did take one of the guard captive."
"For like fifteen seconds. And plus it was the only way to get to Ponyville faster without being smashed by relentless questions as to why you may have been in danger." I shot back in defense.
Twilight let out a short, irritated sigh before continuing. "Not only that but you also put Lyra in danger."
Now I started to get frustrated. "Okay, that wasn't my fault. She decided to follow me! I didn't tell her to do anything except hide in some bushes when we got to the library. And if it wasn't for me or her, you'd be six feet under right now." I pointed at the floor to add emphasis my point. "And you know what else? When you left the ship I could've sat there and done nothing. What would have happen then?"
I can tell that my words got to her because she began to shed tears and I can see the pain in her eyes. As if one cue both princesses trotted in, their hoof cups making a loud 'clank' against the iron floors. "Is everything alright in here?" Celestia asked, or rather it seemed more like a demand than a question, and directed towards me.
I took half a second to calm myself before answering. "Yeah, I just hit a soft spot while talking."
Celestia and Luna both raised a brow in unison. "I can see that." She replied in a slightly agitated tone. Least to say she looks agitated too. "We best be going. Luna and I have day court to attend to."
"We just got here. So basically you're say 'hey, we'll let you out for two minutes so you can go see your girlfriend who's in the hospital and get to spend time with her? Not to mention she's in critical condition." Apparently this caught both princesses off guard.
"I'm sorry, come again?" Luna asked but she looked like she didn't really want to know.
Now I'm confused. I look over a Twilight who's ears are laying flat against her head. She locked eyes with and gave me a 'I'm sorry' look. "Taylor. Outside." Celestia demanded as she trotted towards the doorway, and I followed close behind. The door closed once we were standing in the long hallway. "Guard! Tell the court that we will be late and that I grant my sincerest apologies."
"Princess." Celestia cut me off with a raised hoof.
She took a moment to recollect her usual resolve before speaking. "What... Yooou... this is unacceptable. I will not allow for Twilight or anypony else to have a relationship with something of the likes of you!" Celestia shouted loosing her resolve again.
I sat down on one of the chairs while Celestia lashed out at me. "Well ya know what? If you want to send me to the moon I'm right here. So please, don't hesitate to piss her off." I shot a finger in the direction of the door as I referred to Twilight.
This caused Celestia to try and think of something to come back on, but found nothing after a few seconds. With a sigh she sat her rump on the cold floor and looked up at me with a serious expression. "Do you lov..."
"I care for her." I replied before Celestia could finish her question.
Celestia's added confusion into her expression at my statement. "So then you don't love her?"
I locked eyes with the sun goddess for a second before rolling my eyes. "I never said that I didn't."
"And you never said that you did!" Celestia shot back, anger growing in her tone.
I threw my arms up in frustration. "It's only been a little over a week! Give me a break!"
This got Celestia to back off and not say anything for a short while. A silence I basked in while it lasted.
Luna watched as the two left the room and the door closed with a small 'click'. Luna went and sat next to the bed Twilight laid in. Muffled shouts made their way through the door as her sister and the human argued. "So, a human? Interesting choice if I may say so."
Twilight looked over at the moon goddess with the book still in her hoofs. "He's nice and all, but..."
Luna's ears perked at Twilight's sudden pause at the word 'but'. "Something is troubling you. Tell me, what is it?"
Twilight hesitated to answer but reluctantly gave in. "I'm afraid I guess. I don't want to make him angry and then he do something irrational. You've seen what he can do. I mean, look at me. I was on the edge of death two days ago."
Luna smiled a reassuring smile at Twilight. "He obviously has good intentions for you. I think he will be great assuming Celestia allows it."
The door emitted a small 'click' and silently slid open. Taylor and Celestia came back in, Taylor looking fairly mad, and Celestia waited by the door. Taylor moved to Twilight's side and got on his knees so he is at her level.
I kneeled down by the bed and smiled at the lavender pony in front of me. I let out a short sigh before I spoke. "Twi, I uhh, we can't be together, thanks to miss sassy pants over there." Twilight opened her mouth to protest but I stopped her. "Don't. Let me finish. She is also allowing me to be released early so I'll come get you when you're released."
I smiled at her again but she returned with a worried expression. "It'll be fine, I'll be here when you need me." I reached my hand behind her ear and pressed my head against hers. Her mane tickled my face slight while I sat there for a while, savoring the feeling I got before pulling away.
"Lulu, we have court to attend. We're already late as it is. Taylor if you're finished."
I stood up and locked eyes with Twilight for a second before turning to follow the princesses back to Canterlot.
Ugh. When are they coming to get me. Celestia was supposed to let me out today!
In the distance I can hear the sound of the dungeon doors squeaking open and the sounds of hoof steps followed. A few seconds pass and I can see the shadow cast by the torch light. The figure rounded the cobblestone wall and a pure white coated pony came up to my cell.
"I see you dragged yourself all the way down here to take me up yourself, you highness?"Celestia stopped in front of my cell. I stood to get to her level and moved to the iron bars that held me. "Changed your mind about you know?"
Celestia didn't answer for a moment but just stared at me. "No matter how many times you ask my answer will not change. Now if you'd stop pestering me about said subject I think you would like to get out of this place."
I mumbled something but I don't Celestia caught what I said. God forbid she caught what I said, for next thing I know I'd be on the moon. And dying by suffocating doesn't sound pleasant at all. Celestia's horn glowed and the bared door as well, and it swung open with a loud 'creak'. I stepped out of the prison cell, or dungeon cell so she calls it, and into the large circular cobblestone room. I have no problem seeing in the dim torch light sense I've been down here in this musty, cobweb filled pit.
Celestia began to make her way up the stone steps and paused to ask me something. "It's the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn II , correct?" I simply nodded as a reply and followed the white sun goddess up the steps.
The trek back up to the normal world is rather uneventful, so I decide to spruce it up some. "So, Celestia. I've heard around that you have a thing for Twilight." Celestia's cheeks immediately turned a deep crimson.
"N-no, I just value her as a student. Where did you hear such a thing?" She inquired while the soft 'clack' of her hoof cups against stone resonated through the stairwell.
I shrugged at her inquiry. "Just around. It's kind of a thing that I noticed floating around." Celestia didn't say anything after that. So much for messing with the princess.
After a few more minutes of stepping up stair after stair we can finally see the large archway hallways that lined around the whole castle. Every now and then a patrol of guards would pass by this area as commanded by Celestia. We began to walk through the castle corridors down to the courtyard but along the way Celestia stopped me at a pair of large doors. The thought of questioning why we are here popped into my mind but I suppressed it as Celestia opened the gold decorative doors.
I followed the sun goddess into the room and noticed something about it. Inside the room is the normal over-sized bed with dressers and the king, or in this case, princess sized bath rooms, but the room is painted dark blues and blacks with the occasional white speck. If I didn't know better I would've said it was the night sky.
"Luna?" Celestia called out into the blackness. "Are you here sister? Hmm... that's odd. She said she would be here."
"Maybe she went to get a snack? Don't forget that we need to stop at the barracks to grab my stuff. Not only that but I need a shower too so can we hurry up?"
Celestia glared at me from the corner of her eye before turning tail and exiting Luna's room, and I followed suit. We began to walk down the marble hallways towards the barracks. A few guards stopped to watch me pass before continuing with their work. "Guess some ponies still haven't gotten used to us yet."
Celestia eye me as we rounded a corner. "I think they're more worried about you."
"Me? Jessica's the one they should worry about. Remind me to introduce you two when we get on the ship." I replied with a smirk.
Celestia seemed slight confused, or worried, couldn't really tell with her ever changing expressions. I noticed another thing. She never did that around any of the ponies. She always had that single solitary face of a ruler around her subjects but never around us humans. I thought it strange but I guess it doesn't matter right now.
We continued to walk the marble hallways in silence, only the sounds of our steps resonated to accompany us. Within another few minutes Celestia stopped me in front of another pair, of less decorated, doors before motioning me to go in. I didn't hesitate to push open the doors and they sung open smoothly, no sounds, which surprised me.
"I will be in the dinning hall looking for Luna. Meet me there when you're finished." Celestia called behind me. I simply waved and arm to show I heard her and began down the smaller hallway.
I came to second door. This one just a singular wooden door tall enough for the Princesses to get through. On the other side I can hear talking and laughter. Without a thought a yanked the door open and everything is quiet. Inside are about twenty white coat royal guards without their armor on. They all stared at me as I casually walked in and went to the nearest chest, opening it.
I simply ignored him and opened the third chest and found what I was looking for. Jet black armor. More specifically, my ODST armor. I reached down and grabbed everything in it, setting it all down on the nearest bed. I made sure everything was there before slipping the chest piece over my head, the guards watching me carefully. Next I put on the shoulder pads, legging and combat boots. I picked up my helmet and tucked it under my arm before walking across the room. There my weapons hung on spear racks and are awkwardly placed. I took the BR first and used the magnetic clips to attach it to the back plater before sliding the magnum into the sheath and took the AR in my other hand.
"I'll see you guys around?" I asked while making my way to the door, donning my helmet in the process. None of them answered but just gave me looks from across the room. "Alright, be that way."
"Luna, can you eat any slower?" I groaned while sitting at one of the chairs waiting for the lunar princess to finish her snack.
We have been sitting in the dining room for the past ten minutes and Luna seems opted on finishing her meal before leaving and to me she is only waisting time I could be spending with Twilight.
Luna swallowed before giving me a look of annoyance. "If thou wishes, you could go. I don't see reason to stay here."
"I'm stuck here because she wanted to come." I pointed a finger at the sun goddess who sipped at a cup of tea. "And she wanted to drag you along too so we're waiting on you."
Luna let out a sigh before pushing away the plate sitting in front of her. "I guess if thou is so impatient, but I would be much grateful if we could get something to eat soon afterwards."
I quickly hopped out the chair and began to make my way to the courtyard, the princesses lagging behind me a few feet.
Celestia waited for Luna to catch up before following Taylor to the awaiting flying metal chariot the humans like to use so much. They walked in silence for a while until Luna spoke up. "He is quite eager to see her." Luna pronounced to Celestia with a smile.
A scoul consumed Celestia's expression at the statement. "Yes, he is. I wish he wasn't in a different speaking." Celestia replied coldly.
"I don't understand why thou is so oppressed at the idea." Luna countered trying to get reason out of her sister.
Celestia is begining to get frustrated with her sister prying on the subject, but answered anyways. "I do not think that interspecies relationships would be appropriate for both parties. Now if you would please drop the subject."
Luna walked in silence for a few seconds before adding more. "I had talked with Twilight when we visited her a week ago. She's fond of him. You should really take into acount what your student feels about this." Celestia didn't answer or even so much as acknowledge her. "She dreams abou..."
"That will be enough! I amnot changing my mind." Celestia yelled loud enough to make some of the near by guards to jump and Taylor had turned to face them in confusion, but he continued after a second. Celestia lowered her voice back down to her normal level. "I'm tired about being asked to change my mind and it will not be done. Now if you are finished pestering me." Celestia quickened her pace putting herself in between Luna and Taylor.
By the time both sisters finished their quarrel the three reached the courtyard and a pelican sat waiting for them. The pilot sat on the lowed ramp and when he saw the trio he quickly went to the cockpit and fired up the engines. The quad engines whined before climbing up to a roar. The trio climbed aboard and the ramp hissed shut behind them. The change in direction caused Taylor to temporarily lose his balance, using the seats as a way to keep himself from falling. Once the pelican faced the right direction it took off at high speeds.
Princess Celestia, Luna and I had recently just arrived on the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn II and had gone through the access ways, making our way to the med bay. The walk seemed shorter than usual but when we got there Twilight is sitting on one of the benches set up in the waiting room. Her ear rotated in our direction before her head did and she lit up like a firecracker at night.
Twilight bounded out of the chair and rushed forward to us, meeting in the middle. She quickly bowed to the princesses before turning to me. I kneeled down, taking off my helmet so she could see me smiling at her, which she returned. "Hey, Twi. See you're feeling better." In fact she did. Her coat got back it's normal color and she has a lot more energy.
"Matter of fact I am. I also read that book three times, it's really good." She replied throwing herself into me and wrapping her hoofs around my neck.I returned the hug by wraping my arms around her and we stayed like that for a short while until I began to stand forcing Twilight to let go. "So what held you guys so long."
"Princesses." I bluntly said shoving a thumb in their direction. "Luna is a bit hungry so what do ya say we get some lunch?"
Twilight happily agreed and all four of us began to make our way to the other side of the ship. Along the way we passed by the sleeping quarters so I dropped off my helmet and weapons in my room before continuing. A few times Twilight brushed up against me and I could hear Celestia mutter something from behind us but I didn't quite catch it. Most likely something about sending me to the moon at some point.
"So Taylor." Twilight began. "I was wondering when the next training run would be. I wanted to get some more notes...."
"No." I cut her off with a stern voice. She was about to protest but second guessed the idea.
Just when I thought she wouldn't try to pester me, she tried again. "Well, why not? They let me watch before."
I stopped and turned to her. "I don't care if they let you watch before. I won't let you. It's not something you should watch. And I would've thought those videos from two weeks ago would be enough, but apparently you're too much of an egghead to care." Twilight gave me the 'that's not fair' look, but I ignored it and continued to the mess hall.
"I assume you won't let me go on any mission with you?" I shook my head, and she let out a defeated sigh. "Can I at least get some books on the subject?"
I didn't bother to answer the question as we came up on the mess hall. All four of us entered and are met with aroma of freshly cooked vegetables and meat. Both princesses looked sick as soon as the smell struck them but Twilight didn't even phase. "You get used to it." I told the princesses as I continued further into the room.
A few marines sat around the tables laughing until one of the guys looked up at me, his face turning dead serious. "Hey!" the marines shouted as he got from his seat. The other two doing the same. "You're the one who broke my nose!"
This guy again? He can't be serious. "Yeah. What about it?" The marines came up in front of me, his buddies blocking my flanks.
"I'm going to make you pay for doing that." The marine looked over my shoulder and a smirk grew across his lips. "Well, who's this?" He walked around me and I followed him with my gaze until I couldn't see him anymore. I didn't dare to move not wanting to give his buds an upper hand on me, but dammit what is he doing to her?
"Ah! Let go of me!" Twilight screamed.
*Click!* "Shut up! And you two! If I see even the slightest bit of 'magic' , she's going to go bye-bye."
I turned my head so I could see what was going on but was rewarded with a fist slamming into the back of my head and sending me to the ground. I let out a groan as I picked myself up but found a boot slammed into my gut knocking the wind out of me and left me curled up a a semi-tight ball.
The marine came over to me holding Twilight by the scruff, magnum still to her head. "Not so tough, are yeah? She's pretty. I see why someone like you would hang out with her." he said in an extremely mocking tone, and I didn't the fact that he is even with in ten feet of her.
I rolled onto my knees and pushed myself up again, holding my stomach slightly. "Let go of her."
The marine held in a laugh. "And what do you think you're going to do?"
Wrong answer buddy. I swung my leg and kicked the hand holding the magnum, a shot fired off. I then reached for his arm and latched onto it with a death grip, twisting his whole arm until he dropped the weapon and let go of Twilight. Once he did I spun around him pulling his arm back until it couldn't go any further. I took my boot and buckled his knees from under him. Once on the ground I planted my boot onto his shoulder blade still holding his arm.
"Now I'm going to say this once. One good reason why I shouldn't snap your shoulder and arm right now." I demanded in a low but threatening voice.
The marine didn't answer for a moment, in that moment I looked up at his buddies who are stuck in place with fear. "Okay. I'll leave them alone! I wont hurt any of them I swear!"
I thought about his answer for a moment, then looked at Celestia, Luna and Twilight before returning my gaze to the marine. I let go of his arm and he began to push himself up until I brought my boot down on his hand. It made a satisfying 'crack' and the marine collapsed on the floor again, holding his now broken hand. "Fuck!"
I picked the marine up by the collar of his shirt. "Next time it'll more than your hand." I growled, shooving him in the direction of his buddies who caught him before he tumbled back on the floor.
The marine shook himself free from his bud's looking really pissed off. "Get him, you idiots!"
The other two hesitated for a moment before rushing foward clenching their fist so hard their knuckles turned white. The first guy, a tall black man, thrust his fist at my face which I dodged by stepping to the right. The second marine did the same thing, surprise taking hold of him when I caught his hand in mine. In his moment of shock I kicked his legs from under him and threw him against the metal floor. His head hit first and would probably give him a concusion and a headache later on.
"Taylor, wat-"
I did't hear the rest of the warning as I felt something hard hit my back, sending me into a wall. I recovered quickly and turned to find a boot being rammed into my stomach smashing against the wall again, pain going through my intire mid section. A third kick made contact, this one causing me to double over, clenching my stomach as I fell on my knees.
"Come on, back up." The marine said as he took hold of my armor and pulled me to my feet again, pinning me to the wall. I feel something cold being pressed against my temple followed by the 'click' of a pulled back hammer. "Im going to make this slow and pai- hey!" The cold metal disappeared and so did the marine pinning me.
Twilight watched as Taylor beat and got beaten around by the two marines the first one doing a much better job at it. She wasn't what to do until the black man took one of those white hand held weapons the y called a magnum and pressed it to Taylors head. The sudden fear of losing him kicked her into action. Her horn began to glow along with the weapon the black man was holding and the man himself, then dragged him to the floor with a hard 'thud'.
Twilight kept the man on the floor while Taylor stumbled over to them. The other two began to rush over to Taylor but Twilight quickly caught them and dragged them to the floor as well. "I would've been fine you know." Taylor complained when he reached the group.
"Sorry, Taylor." Twilight replied with worry in her eyes. And with good reason too. Taylor limped over to a table and painfuly sat down at it. "Are you alright?" Twilight inquired while she joined him at the table.
Taylor nodded. "Yeah... ah, never mind."
Celestia and Luna trotted over to the table, concern gripping the lunar goddess but Celestia didn't phase. Luna isn't sure what to do and looked to her sister to do something. Celestia being a good samaritan and not wanting to disappoint her student, her horn glowed and Taylor is consumed by a golden aura. A few seconds pass and Celestia's horn stopped glowing.
"That felt... Weird. At least I'm not hurting anymore." Taylor commented as he checked himself. "Well I guess we can get lunch now."
The three ponies gave him a confused look as Taylor got up and went to the food line.
Twilight, Taylor, Celestia and Luna all sat at one if the long tables used for sitting large amounts of hungry marines. Taylor and Twilight sat on one side, very close to eachother and Celestia giving the two looks from the other side.
"I can't take it anymore!" Celestia suddenly shouted throwing her hoofs in the air. Everyone gave her confused looks but didn't say anything. She let out a prolonged sigh before continuing. "If you two really, really, go so far as to give me hints and clue through the entire day, then I suppose I'll allow it."
Twilight and Taylor exchanges glances before Taylor spoke up. "Where did this come from?"
"You this morning, Lulu pestering me to allow you two to..." She paused and waved a hoof in circles in their direction. "And you giving hints. I can't take it anymore, so just stop bugging me about it." Celestia begged.
The sudden change in Celestia's decision to allow Twilight and I to go out caught me completely off guard. I'm not even sure how to react to the sudden out burst. "Where did this come from?" I inquired but didn't really bother to listen to her explanation.Nice to know Luna doesn't mind.
Warning! Large changing horde detected. All a available units prepare for hard contact. All long sword fighter pilots prepare for immediate take off. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill! Renona announced calmly over the ships speakers.
"Shit." I quickly got up from my seat practically knocking over the trays of food and sprinted out of the mess hall towards the sleeping quarters. My boots banged against the metal deck as I and other crew ran about to get to their stations. Along the way I had to dodge multiple people until I got through my door. My helmet and weapons sat on the small bed waiting for me to take them. I quickly picked up and loaded the assault rifle and magnum. I turned to leave the room with my helmet in my hands but stopped to see Twilight standing in the door. "Hey, Tiw, I got to go."
I began to head out the door but she stopped me by blocking the door. "Can I talk with you real quick?" she asked, voice dripping with worry. I took a quick glance around before sitting on the bed. "I want you to be careful. Changelings are dangerous and and are a big threat and..."
I didn't listen to the rest as she began to ramble on about how dangerous these changeling things are and she seemed to get worse by the second. "Twilight." She didn't respond but kept going on. I wasn't sure if it is on purpose or she didn't hear me, either way I got up and went to her. Her eyes stayed on me as she continued to rant, the worry in them never leaving. i cupped her face in my gloved hands and looked her straight in the eyes which caused her to stop her ranting. "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? Becau-"
I swiftly cut her off by pressing my lips to hers, and she let out a soft moan. She taste sweet and as much as I wanted to stay there forever I have a job to do and reluctantly pulled away. Twilight looked at me with her deep purple eyes with a hint of sadness. I smiled at her to try and cheer her up. "I'll be fine. I promise." I quickly stood up and donned my helmet. "I have to go so I'll see you when this whole thing is sorted out." With that out of the way I rushed out the door.
The changeling invasion didn't last long. It took all of thirty minutes for our weapons to drop them like flies and cause so many deaths on their part they retreated. Possibly hundreds, maybe thousands of these changeling things laid on the ground dead, and unmoving. It's hard to tell where our rounds hit because of the natural holes in their bodies already present. With the combined firepower of the Long-Sword fighters, ground troops and the ships point-defense systems we could've taken on an entire hive if we wanted. Maybe...
We had begun cleaning up the dead bodies about an hour ago and there are still more littering the ground with their bug like features and the air stunk with the stench of discharged gunpowder. We only suffered a hand full of casualties, most of which are just wounded in action and only two KIA's.
The radio crackled in my speakers before the voice of the captain came through. "Alright, men, when through with that you can all go home. You all did good out there."
"Oh shit! Covenant!" A marine shouted from no where. I looked to the scource and saw a marine pointing at the sky, people began to follow his gaze, as I did. Up in the sky a distorted black circle consumed a portion of the sky and coming out of it a sleek purple rounded 'hook' at the nose of the ship. The rest of its sleek body, the curves on the ship reflecting sunlight off it. Only three seconds pass when the slipsace rip closed leaving the assault carrier hanging in the air for a mer second until the ship began to plummet with large plumes of purple and black smoke erupted from the back of the ship.
"Dammit Renona, why didn't you detect this?" The captain roared over the coms.
"My scans read it as a magic influx, not a slipspace rupture. I'm showing the ships is heavily damaged and impact point will be about two miles from Applebaloosa. We may want to send troops to take care of any covies that may survive the crash." Renona quickly replied.
I watched as the Covenant ship began to gain speed and chunks of the hull fell off in small balls of purple fire.
"Pelicans are picking up marines and taking them to the impact point, Captain." Renona announced calmly.
Princess Celestia had been watching the camera feed the whole time in confusion. "Good, I want all troops on a combat ready level and all ships on Stand-by. I don't want any damn Covenant to go off and destroy this world."
"Who are these Covenant thou speak of?" Luna inquired while she watched the video feed with her sister.
Renona's hologram appeared on the holopad next to the princesses. "Well I suppose you should know. The Covenant are an advanced group of different aliens who decided that they should extinct humans. This of course was a decade ago, and after the events on the forerunner shield world Requiem, the Elites wanted to tie up some lose ends. Unfortunately for them they've been fighting a loosing war since the beginning." Renona explained in a matter of fact tone.
"Are they dangerous?" Celestia asked with much worry.
Renona's features turned serious for a moment. "If you though we were dangerous, you've got another thing coming."
Celestia expression went cold at the thought of so much destruction.
Twilight had been listening the whole time and recognized the word 'Elites' from somewhere, but she couldn't quite remember. "I heard about them before, the elites. They're like the leaders right?" Renona nodded in reply to Twilights question.
The radio crackled for a second until a voice broke through. "This is Brovo-3 to any UNSC ship. Requesting air support at the crash site. Hundreds of Covenant foot soldiers and they're hitting us hard!" In the background they can hear the sounds of human weapons being fired along with the discharge of plasma rifles.
The captain didn't do anything for a moment until he made his decision. "This is UNSC Forward Unto Dawn II, heavy air support is on the way. ETA five minutes." The captain replied. After he turned to Renona. "Renona, set course for the crash site. Daniels, weapons systems!"
"Archer missile pods are green, MAC is green. Point defense up and running sir!" Daniels replied quickly.
"Jacob, set reactors to one-hundred-ten percent." The captain commanded. The ship began to shudder as the engines roared to life and lifted the frigate into the air. "Daniels, charge the MAC. Divert any energy from tertiary systems into charging the MAC. I also want a firing solution for archer pods A-1 through A-6 and B-1 through B-6!"
"Aye, sir. MAC is at fifteen percent, firing solution acquired. Ready to go on you command, sir."
"I want a constant update on that MAC. Now lets go give them hell!"
It took all of three minutes for the ship to reach the crash site at full atmospheric speed. Down below everything looked like a bunch of ants moving around.
"Sir, MAC is at one-hundred percent!" Daniels announced to the captain.
"Fire."
The ship shook, signaling the successful firing of the MAC along with the muffled 'womph' that came from two decks bellow. From the window the princesses and Twilight watched as a blinding white streak raced through the sky and into the earth below, throwing up a massive cloud of dirt, sand, bodies and weapons. Soon after more, smaller streaks, raced after the MAC round and impacted, making smaller clouds of dirt as they exploded.
The three ponies watched, intrigued by what they are seeing but also horribly surprised at the amount of destruction caused in such little time.
"Thanks for the support, we can take it from here!" a marine called over the radio.
I sat in the back of the pelican heading towards the covenant ship crash site. From what I've been hearing it sounds like a lot of covies survived the crash. "Get ready to drop in thirty seconds! Light is green!" The pilot announced over the short-ranged coms. I pushed the bolt on my assault rifle forward, locking a round. In the distance the sound of a dying fire fight is going on. "Hit 'em hard!"
With that the marines piled out of the pelican seeking the nearest piece of cover they can find. Turns out the pilot dropped us a little way from the actual action so I began to double time it. The sounds of plasma rifles and AR's got louder, I can now hear the roars of the elites and the squeaks and barks of grunts. Plasma hissed pass me as I ducked behind a small hill a few other marines had also found to be suitable.
I peaked over the hill and in front of me is a crater at least fifty meters deep which told me they fired the ships MAC. About ten meters in front of me is a large elite in a maroon colored armor and its helmet is slightly more decorated than the others. Its mandible moved giving commands to the other, lower ranking, covenant troops.
I aimed my assault rifle at its head and let out a three round burst. Each round hit but the elite just shrugged them off like they were flies, and its shields flared slightly as well. The elite yelled something and movement to my right made me switch targets. A squad of grunt suddenly went suicidal and came charging at me with sticky grenades in hand. A three round burst caught one of the grunts in the head, sending a spray of blue-ish blood in to the air.
Something kicked me in the side, sending me on my and hit the ground. On top of me is the same zealot elite from before. The Zealot raised a hand which held a metal shaft in it. A blue blade of pure plasma formed with a sharp sizzle sound. The Zealot raised its arm high but stumbled when a sniper round hit it in the chest, causing its shields to flare. I took the moment to grab my combat knife and shoove it into the elites foot. The elite roared in pain as it reeled back and off me, another s iper round going through its head this time causing its head to explode in brain and bone.
I shakily stood up trying to recover myself until a large hand is placed on my shoulder. "You alright there?"
I turned to face the armored hand, then the helmet. "Thanks, Jessica. He really would've cooked my goose."
Jessica shrugged before bolting off to fight more of the left over covies. When I turned back to the battlefield there isn't much left save for a few fleeing grunts whos elite leaders had fallen. The mixture of sand and dirt is covered in a different arrays of blood and bones. Marines began to stand up with out the worry of getting hit by plasma bolts, and surprisingly enough very few of us actually got hit.
With in a matyer of minutes the last of the grunts and elites were picked off and marines began to pile the bodies. I for the most part carried around dead elites with the help of some rookie marine who had just joined the force. His name is Connor I believe but we were too busy carrying bodies for me to bother asking.
In side the frigate the radio crackled with the low sound of ground chatter. They had won the fire fight but the fact that covenant are able to reach here as well only caused problems. The three ponies who had been watching the short fire fight had decided to just sit around and eat some bowls of fruit, seeing that everything was taken care of.
"Pincesses." The captain called as he made his way to the three. "Because of this incedent I'm going to need to make drastic changes to the training schedual."
The three exchanged looks for a moment before Celestia turned to the captain. "What exactly do you meam by 'drastic'?"
The captains face turned dead serious for a moment as he thought. "Everyday for the next two weeks, starting tomorrow."
Celestias eyes widened at the demand. It simply wouldn't do. "I'm sorry captain, but I cannot do that for you. You're going tohave to work with what you have already."
"Who said I was asking, ma'am? Whether or not you allow it, we are executing traing for the next two weeks. That is final!" The captain roared at Celestia.
Celestia wanted to do something, but after the destruction she had just witnessed made her think better of it. "I will alert Ponyville of said pract..."
"More than Ponyville. I think it's time those nobles of yours to learn a thing or two." The captain cut in with a smirk.
Celestia hesitated a bit at the thought and turned to Luna and Twilight who both wore expressions of worry, yet Luna nodded in agreement. Celestia turned back to the captain with a hint of 'if anypony gets hurt I'm sending you to the moon'. "Alright, Captain. What do you have planned?"
Author's Note
Remember when I killed Twilight? I lied! (insert picture of meme here).
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
Citizens of Equestria
Rainbow Dash, Twilight and I rushed to the train station, the other four already waiting. We have been called by princess Celestia and Luna to an important meeting. A pelican flew passed us and landed about fifty feet from the station, the engines roaring in anger.
I have gathered you all here in Canterlot for an important announcement.
Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack stood at the station. We caught up to them out of breath from the long sprint. "Alright..... eve-everyone on the pelican. We ne-need to get to Canterlot, fast!" Every did as I told them and rushed towards the large metal bird.
What I am about to tell you will change everypony's life. It's imperative that you all cooperate.
The pelican hatch hissed closed, muffling the roar of the engines as the pelican took off. Everyone got strapped into the seats, and it didn't look very comfortable for the ponies. I sat next to Twilight and she seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday, and Dash has opened up to me in a whole new way she wouldn't even show her friends. I learned she's a bit of a softie sometimes.
Due to recent events, the UNSC will now be a permanent unit in the Royal Guard. As such, the UNSC has been giving full militia control.
"Twilight, darling, I hear you're going out with someone." Rarity stated soon after we took off.
Twilight's cheeks turn a slight Crimson. "Y-yeah, I am."
"Well go on sugarcube, who is it?" The orange mare inquired.
"Oh! Let me guess, let me guess!"
"Pinki-"
"Thunderlane?"
"No."
"Doctor Whooves?"
"No." Twilight groaned.
"Bra-"
"Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie stopped and everyone looked at Twilight. "He's not a pony."
"Oh, exotic! Is he a griffon?" Rarity inquired, pushing for more information.
Twilight let out a sigh and facehoofed. "No, it's Taylor."
To add, all able ponies are required to begin military training in two days. Failure to comply will result in consequences.
Everyone one in the pelican looked at me, luckily I had time to get my armor on and they couldn't seem me blushing through the visor.
"You're kiddin' us right?" Twilight shook her head and AJ just stared at me. "I heard what y'all did to Rainbow."
"That," I began, "was almost a week ago. We're past that and she knows it was her fault."
"You was going to break her wings!"
"Will you two stop? I don't need you two at each others throats!" Twilight interjected.
"Yeah, plus we're already cool."
"No Rainbow, we're not cool!" Twilight growled from her seat. Rainbow's ears laid flat against her head knowing what she did. "We'll talk about it later."
Rainbow exchanged worried glances to the rest of the group, avoiding my gaze. The rest of the trip is quiet, no one wanting to say something to make another go off. In what seemed like forever the pelican touched down in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle and the rear hatch opened.
Harsh light from the sun poured into the cabin but my visor adjusted. I undid my straps and helped Twilight with hers. By the time I got to the others they had already undone their straps and are walking outside. Twilight and I followed the rest out and are greeted by both Celestia and Luna, who's manes flowed through the air like water in a stream.
A smile flashed across Celestia's muzzle as she began speaking. "Thank you everypony for being here so early, I hope you all got a good rest. And I see you brought Taylor along."
I looked down at Twilight who isn't even giving a hint of a smile but instead, glared at Celestia with the 'deal with it' type of look. Celestia let out a sigh before looking up at the sky. "Your commanders should be here soon."
I followed her gaze and floating high above are all ten UNSC ships. Four frigates and six cruisers, hanging in the air like balloons made of steel. They almost blend in with the large gray mountains in the background and they would have if it weren't for the slightly darker grey paint.
After a moment lost in the view I turned to see both princesses and Twilight's horns glowing slightly, with Celestia and Twilight exchanging angry glares.He's a danger to you! Celestia thought but sent the thought to both Twilight and her sister. Twilight rolled her eyes at the comment but didn't reply. He is driving a wedge between us. What happened to the ol-
No he isn't! You are. Why can't you just accept the fact like everypony else? Twilight can tell Celestia is trying to think of a comeback but it didn't seem like she has one. Just accept it. Yeah he acted irrationally against Rainbow Dash but that was partially her fault.
He still had no rig-
He had every right to do what he did! I'm not saying it was the right thing to do but he still had that choice. Twilight shot back and took a step closer to Taylor.
Luna sat in the background listening and evaluating who is right in this argument. She glanced at Taylor and couldn't see his expression behind the reflective visor and quickly looked elsewhere so she didn't make an awkward moment. Overall she could care leas if Twilight is dating a human, it is her choice after all. But Luna couldn't help but agree with Tai on the fact that he may pose a threat to her, even if he doesn't do anything intentionally.
Twilight, I'm afraid I must agree with Tai.
What!?
You know I could care less about your courting an human, but she is right about he being an endangerment to your health. Not only that but your friends too.
Twilight looked hurt. Luna had supported Twilight on this subject and now she's siding with Celestia. She didn't say anything trying to think of the different possibilities that could happen.So that's it? You're just going to split us apart?
I'm afraid so. Celestia replied with a concern expression.
Twilight's expression turned into angry scowl, rage burning in her eyes. She turned and stormed off in a different direction. "Twilight?" Twilight stopped at the sound of her name and turned to face Taylor. He jogged up to her but stopped just a few feet short. "Twilight, where are going?" He asked, his voice dripping with worry.
Twilight back to the direction she was going and continued to walk. "I'm going for a walk." With that her horn glowed and disappeared with a small pop.
Taylor let out a defeated sigh and turned back to the others. He slowly made his way back as another pelican landed not far off and the UNSC commanders came out in their uniforms, each decorated with different metals and ribbons. Taylor lagged behind as the group began to file into the castle with Luna leading the way. Celestia slowed her pace to match Taylor's.
"I assume you can figure out what I have decided to do."
Taylor looked at the sun goddess through his visor and the realization hit him. "Fuck you, princess." He replied bluntly before facing forward again.
Celestia mentally flinched at the reply. Taylor has been a mostly respectful to her, more so to Luna than her, but hearing him say that made her feel bad. With a sigh, Celestia trotted faster leaving Taylor to himself. There are more important things that needed to be discus that a few of the commanders wanted addressed.
As Celestia trotted past the small group of five and the commanders, she received a few curious glances. Apparently Taylor had told her off loud enough for everyone to hear. She is slowly losing the side of the humans and she couldn't have that knowing firsthoof with what they could do. All they have to do is hold up one of those grey weapons at her head and she's done for.
Celestia hadn't realized she had made it to the court room which is completely deserted except for the human commanders, the elements of harmony, and Taylor and Twilight out somewhere in Canterlot. Celestia quickly took her seat next to Luna who had already sat herself in her throne. She gave the others a minute to settle in before speaking.
"So, if I may ask as to why you all decided to call this meeting?" Celestia stated with emotion drained from her usually regal tone.
A tall man dressed in a grey uniform, covered with metals and ribbons. His face wrinkled and dry from old age, and he has deep green eyes that peered at Celestia for a moment. "The UNSC is requesting full control of the Equestrian Military."
Author's Note
What the fuck did Rainbow do? I have an answer: I have a hidden chapter that I wont post UNTIL the story is complete. I will be doing a few of these so (if there is a part that seems to have story behind it but you don't know what. Assume there will be a hidden chapter), onto the next chapter!
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
I sat in the chair completely baffled. Celestia and Luna held the same expression I have and don't even answer for a good five seconds. "I'm sorry, but I cannot do that." Celestia replied calmly. "Now if that was all you called this for I believe this 'meeting' is ove-"
"Let me rephrase that then. We are demanding full control." The same guy shouted.
This caught Celestia off guard and she looks extremely nervous. "W-what would you need the equestrian army for? Surely you could do whatever it is you need to do without them." she tried to reason, but the commander won't have it.
"I assure you, princess, that they are necessary."
I can see Celestia pondering this along with Luna. "Well, I don't really see any reason for you to need them."
"Ma'am, as you may remember, we just had proof that the Covenant can enter this would. Last time we got lucky and I'd be damned if we aren't prepared for an invasion." The commander replied. "Now you may not know, but allow me to explain just what the Covenant can achieve. If an invasion fleet were to arrive here, two things can happen. One: They will glass this planet, destroying it with in hours. Or, they send ground troop because there is something they want and glassing isn't an option. Now you'd be damn lucky if you got option two because then you'd actually have a chance to push back the invasion and send their asses back to where they came from!"
"If I may," Luna interrupted, "I fail to see how this involves the guard. Last I saw you all held off the last attack rather easily."
"Allow me to show you then." The commander pulled out a small device and set it down on the railing in front of him. The device is a rectangle, the top has a slight slant to it and in the front is what looks to be a lens. With a press of a button the device lit up and projects a picture onto the wall. "I'll let the video speak for itself."
"Anything?"
"Nah, close range sensors are clear."
"Shit"
The marine looked over at his spotter from his side of the trench. He can barely make out his shape in the black night. He laid in the dirt looking through a pair of binoculars that were set up on a tripod. The marine shouldered a sniper rifle he had set up on the support stand that was attached to the rifle itself. Off in the distance is a large city. All the lights are off with the civilians evacuated.
"Come on, intel is jack. We need to move o-"
"Wait! Look at the sky."
The marine looked up and saw a large clumps of pitch black clouds covering they sky. It was quiet for five seconds. The marine checked the short range sensors again. "Shit, I'm getting hits on the sensor. Whatever it is it's big."
Both marines are quiet for another full thirty seconds before the clouds began to break up, streaks of purple falling through them. "This is King-Two, Charlies is touching down, over."
"Ten-Four King-Two. Move to position Alpha-Delta, how copy?" Another marine replied over the communications.
"Good copy, moving to heading One-Twenty, Four Zero Zero One." The marine felt a hand on his shoulder and lifted the sniper rifle up and retracted the bipod.
"Roger that, good luck out there."
The marine stood up and slung the sniper over his shoulder and pulled out an SMG. The marines began to make their way from the ditch and towards the highway they had been next to. It took them all of five seconds to reach the concrete railing and hop over it. Position Alpha-Delta was just another one-hundred meters in front of them when large bulbous craft flew past them with a roaring hum to them. The craft was a purple color and it went right over them.
"Looks like the Covenant are doing air and ground attacks."
The Marine didn't reply but watched as more phantoms flew over head. Another two minutes of sprinting the marines reached their check-point and are met with a tank squad. The two quickly hopped on the treads of the tanks and the column rolled forward. A large flash of purple lights in the clouds made the marines and tank gunners look up. Three large black things feel from the sky in quick succession and onto the group.
"What the hell were those?"
The radio crackled in the marines ear piece before a voice broke through. "Covenant ground forces are pushing. We have confirmation of three super scarabs! I repeat, three super scarabs are in the city!"
"Haha! Now we've got something to fight! Squad, sound off!"
"Cobra-Two, hit 'em hard!"
"Cobra-Five, we're mean, green squashing machine!"
"Cobra-One, rolling."
"Cobra-Three, ready!"
"Alright, Cobra squad, head to barring Zulu-Two-Four. Those scarabs are about to get a big surprise!"
Just after the call-off finished one of the rear scorpions erupted in two bright green flashes and the sounds of high pitch screechs passed by.
"Cobra-Five is down! Banshies in the sky!"
The marines in the turrets pointed their 50-cal's up to the sky and began to fire. The sound would be deafening if it weren't for the earmuffs. Streaks of white hot rounds penetrated the bodys of both banshies, tearing off pits and pieces of the wings and main body. Two well-placed tank rounds caused both banshies to detonate in the sky in bright flashes of purple plasma.
"Keep those guns hot, we'll be entering the city so--"
The video paused and I sat there still confused as to why we, then UNSC, need a bunch of ponies in the military. "That right there, Princess, is why we need control."
Celestia thought over this for a moment before looking at the wall with the projected picture. "As far as I'm concerned they took care of those things quite easily."
"Allow me to skip forward a bit then." The video zipped forward until the commander found a suitible spot to stop. The video showed the super scarab up close. Its main assault cannon fired a stream of pure plasma that burned green through the air. A whole corner of a street is gone with in seconds along with a large portion of a sky scraper.
Both Celestia and Luna watched completely intrigued by what they saw. Again the video zipped forward. This time squads of elites deployed along with hunters. A good five dozen marines tried to hold off the attack but eventually had to pull back. What used to be piles of sandbags are now just black smoking heaps of melted glass. The streets have numerous creators in them from the blast of wraith rounds hitting them.
"Alright, commander, I think I see your point now." Celestia announced looking back towards us.
"Hold on. Not so fast." Celestia gave him a raised brow along with Luna who seemed the up most worried. "If this is going to happen, we're going to play by my rules. Do I make myself clear?"
Celestia hesitated to answer for a moment but brought herself to answer. "Very well then."
A grin came across the comanders face. "Good. I want everyone in this city gathered at the courtyard. You're going to help me with a little something."
It took only thirty minutes for the royal guard to gather all the ponies in the cortyard, least to say some of the nobles didn't look happy. Celestia took a deep breath. This was not what she had planned. She is slowly losing control of her kingdom and losing the loyalty of her student. And all for what? What did she gain from this? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! She wished she had the power to send all the humans to the moon so she wouldn't have to deal with them again. But that's not going to happen.
The time came for Celestia to make her statement to the whole population of Canterlot, and they're not going to like it. Celestia trotted out onto the balcony and looked down at the thousands of ponies. "Citizens of Equestria!" She began in a strong and powerful voice. "I have gathered you all here in Canterlot for an important announcement that will change everypony's life. It's imperative that you all cooperate. Due to recent events, the UNSC will now be a permenant unit in the royal guard. As such, the UNSC has been given full militia control."
At the end of the last sentence an uproar of ponies getting mad and yelling. Celestia waited a while before continuing. "Everypony is required to start training in two days. Failure to comply will result in consequences."
Right as she finished that line, multiple black objects hurled to the ground and Celestia only now realised that there are only nine ships in the sky. The black objects landed outside the courtyard and opened revealing ODST marines. They quickly picked out stragglers and took them back to the courtyard.
I stood inside the courtyard with the ponies, not to keep them under control, but to look for Twilight. Surely the guard must have found her and brought her back here. Unless she teleported somewhere else. Some place I don't know about. Of course Celestia has to go and be a bitch and split us apart, and now I can't find her because of it.
I noticed that ponies began to leave, then the unmistakeable thump that metal made when it hit concrete went through the air. I look up to see ODST pods being dropped and landing outside the courtyard. The ponies waddled back in the courtyard with looks of disgust and anger.
"I assure all of you, this is for the best." Celestia continued even though she could tell just how restless they are getting. "You are all free to go, that is all."
With that being said ponies began to leave, pushing past the ODST guards who stood at the entry ways. I joined them and scanned for the lavender fur of Twilight but never saw it. I noticed a few unicorns teleport and I figured she either did that or never showed.
It's dusk. The sun sinking below the horizon and created a mix of oranges and purples. It looks beautiful. After looking for Twilight for hours I finally came to my last option. The tower she stayed in. It took me a while to climb up the flight of stairs but I eventually made it to the double doors. I knocked hard enough to make my knuckles hurt and waited.
The door opened and I'm met face-to-face with the princess of the night, and she didn't look too pleased to see me. "Ah, Taylor. I see you have come to grace us with your presence." she taunted in a rather bored tone.
"I came to see Twilight." I growled back in response.
"Hmm, so you did. Very well, but I do not think Celly will be happy to see you." Luna moved over to allow me room to enter and I did.
First thing I notice is how large the place is. On the far wall is a bed and to the right of that are rows of bookshelves that are built into the wall. There is also an upper balcony for the higher books. In front of that is a large window with a telescope set up in front of it.
Celestia and Twilight both sat on cushions on the floor, an extra one that lay empty where luna was sitting. Celestia and Twilight looked up at me and they seemed unsure of who I am because of my armor. Luna must have know it was me by my voice and the fact that I knew where Twilight stays. I took off my helmet and Twilight's face lit up, Celestia's darkened.
Twilight rushed forward and hugged me at the waist. "Taylor!"
I kneeled down to hug her back, the bulky armor making it slightly difficult. "Hey, Twi." I rubbed my head against hers while using my hand to scratch behind her ear. She unconsciously pushed her head further into my hand. I pulled away and I can see a hint of disappointment in her expression, but the smile on her muzzle did well to hide it.
"Ahem!" I looked up to see a very annoyed Celestia and amused Luna. "If you're finished."
Twilight and I went back to where the two alicorns waited for us. Twilight sat back down on the cushion and I took a seat next to her on the floor. Celestia glared at me so I decided to scoot closer to Twi. "Why are you here?" Celestia demanded not bothering to hide her annoyment.
"Why else? I want to spend one last night with her before your royal ass passes the new law tomorrow morning! Why the hell can't you accept it? It's not that hard, and as far as I'm concerned you could give less of shit about griffon-pony relationships, so what make me any different?" I yelled in protest, throwing my arms in the air.
"Because... because... it's...."
"Because it's Twilight? Is that your only reason? Because it's her. So you're telling me you could care less if I decided to hit on any other mare, but you care because it's her. Am I right?"
Luna rolled her eyes and let out an frustrated sigh. "Just tell them, Celly."
"No! I-I can't. It's not right, I shou-"
"Celly! You're making yourself sound stupid! Just. Tell. Them." Luna demanded now looking rather irritated.
Celestia looked back and forth between me and Twilight, a slight worry in her eyes, before she let out a long breath to prepare herself. "Twilight... I... have feelings for you."
Twilight's mouth dropped open, eyes wide with surprise. It took a moment for me to register what she just said to formulate my own reaction. I sat there motionless, waiting for something to happen. The reason is because she is jealous of me! Unfuckingbelieveble!
"Twilight?" Celestia called quietly, a look of anxious worry over taking her. I knew that she knew rhis can either make or break Twilight and her's bond.
"Out." Twilight stated calmly.
"What?"
"Out! I want everyone out!" she yelled this time, jumping to her feet. The unmistakeable look of anger twisted her expression. I moved to take her in an comforting embrace but she swatted my hands away with her hoofs. "Don't touch me!" I backed off and decided to move to the door.
Celestia and Luna joined me as I stormed outside and into the night's chilly air. I turned to Celestia with my fists rolled into balls. "I cannot believe this! All of this is because you're fucking jealous of me!" I stated without yelling but kept the rage I felt. "That's real fucking low princess!"
Celestia didn't respond but looked at the floor beneath her hooves. I can feel Luna watching me from the corner as I lashed out at Celestia. "You know, I thought this wall because I was a danger to her or you thought that it wasn't right, but apparently those were just coverups for what you really felt! You know, hearing that you've been alive for more than a thousand years I would've expected better." With that I stormed back down the stairs and to the nearest bar I could find.
Author's Note
Gasp! Sub-plot twist! Who would've guessed? Well me obviously, but still, gasp!
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
*KICK*
Two weeks
*KICK*
Thirteen hours
*KICK*
Forty-Two minutes and twelve seconds
*KICK*
The force of the kick caused the punching bag's chain to break and send it to the ground. It landed with a heavy thud and Twilight breathed heavily. The other ponies stopped what they were doing to look at her. These two weeks had really gotten her into shape. She isn't as pudgy as she used to be and she began to gain that tone muscle that Dash has.
All i've done is avoid them. I need more time to think, though.
"Who said to stop? Get back to it!" One of the drill sergeants barked and everypony went back to kicking punching bags. "Twilight! Front and center!"
"Yes sir!" Twilight replied and rushed over to the drill sergeant. "Sir?"
"You're off early. Go change and hit the mess hall."
Twilight did a crisp salute. "Thank you, sir." With that Twilight casually trotted back to the barracks.
She hated the tight sleeping spaces, but she had to deal with it. The whole guard is going through this training along with the whole pony population in Equestria. Twilight reached the barracks and went inside, closing the door behind her. Once again she's the only one here. She stopped in front of a mirror and look herself over. She is covered in the armor the UNSC designed for everypony. Helmet, flank guards, chest plate, hoof guards. All if it a drab green. With a sigh she took off the armor and slipped on a UNSC shirt that they had to wear along with her dog tags.
Once that was done she left the barracks and headed to the large green tent that is the mess hall. No one is inside it except for her. That sense of loneliness consumed her as she took a MRE over the actual food the cooks are preparing. Over time she came to accept the taste of the vegetarian meal and downed it quickly. She took a second one and ate it slower. She didn't hear the footsteps behind her.
"Hey, Twi."
Twilight jumped at turned to face him. "Taylor. Hi."
Taylor walked around and sat across from her. He took off his helmet, setting it aside. "So is this it?" Twilight didn't respond but just looked at the MRE in shame. "Two. Weeks. Twilight."
Twilight looked up, making eye contact with him. "I know."
Taylor let out a frustrated sigh. "Do you... do you not care about me anymore? Is that what it is?"
"I didn't say that."
"When you were in the hospital, do you know what Celestia asked me?" Twilight shook her head. "She asked me if I love you. Then I cared for you, but now..."
"I think I get it." Twilight cut him off not wanting to hear it. Two weeks and this is what he wants to talk about! I don't want to deal with this. Twilight stood up and began to trot out the tent.
Taylor stood up and threw his arms out in frustration. "Where are you going?" Twilight didn't answer. "Twi... fuck."
Twilight can hear Taylor's helmet hit another table as her hoofs touched grass. It smelled great and did wonders to improve her mood. The smells drowned out all thoughts and she was there. Just her and the grass. Nothing else. She quickly found herself laying on her back with her eyes closed, that grass tickling her.
Twilight rolled around in the grass for a few seconds before laying on her side, sleep trying to over take her. She opened her eyes and squinted as the sun's glare hit them. "Fucking sun..." Whoa... where did that come from? Twilight stood up again and found that she isn't very far from the green tent. She decided to go back.
When she entered she found that Taylor hadn't left. He still sat at the table but he had something in front of him. A closer inspection revealed an MRE of his own. Twilight can make out the smell of meat but ignored it. She hopped onto the bench seat next to Taylor and he didn't bother to look up. Some phantom feeling in the back of her mind poked and prodded at her but she couldn't make it out.
Twilight decided to take a gamble and scooted closer to Taylor, hoping that she hadn't ruined any sort of a relationship. Again he didn't move, just stared at the MRE. Twilight looked away with her ears flat against her head, doubts of even holding a friendship at this point consumed her.
"Do you think she will be mad? What if she decides to not be my teacher anymore?"
Taylor looked over at Twilight who looked on the verge of tears. "Hey, don't say that. You know she'll eventually accept it. And if she doesn't, that's her problem." he said in a soft whisper. His arms wrapped around her and embraced her in a hug.
"A-Alright."
"Can we talk about this later?"
"Sure." No.
Taylor nodded and walked out while putting his helmet back on. Twilight didn't go anywhere. She had no where to be and felt no urge to go any place else. She wasn't sure how long she had been there before the others began to join her in the mess hall. Ponies grabbed dinner and sat with their buddies and chatted about the day's awful training routines. It went like this every day. They finish training, eat, talk about how crappy the drill sergeants are, go to the barracks, and fall asleep to wake up the next day and do the same old bullshit. It made Twilight wonder if this was why some of the human soldiers were always so irritated.
The rest ate quickly and talked for a bit before heading to the barracks. Twilight was one of the last few to go and was about to leave until her friends showed up.
"Howdy, Twilight."
Twilight let out a slight groan. "Hey." she replied unenthusiastically.
Applejack caught wind of this and glanced a worried expression at her friend. "You feelin' okay, sugar cube?"
"Yeah, I'm great."
Applejack grimaced at the tone. She glanced at the rest silently asking them to help her. They all took a single step back except for Rainbow Dash. "Hey, egghead, I hear we're getting some really awesome armor tomorrow. I bet that sounds cool, huh?"
"Sure."
RD's enthusiasm deflated with Twilight's monotone reply. This time Rarity stepped forward with her usual poise, even in the combat armor. "I think you should talk with your coltfri-"
"He's not my coltfriend!" Twilight barked in Rarity's face. What had been a smug expression now showed one of rage, and she didn't know why. He hadn't done anything wrong, so why is she mad at him?
"O-oh, I didn't realize." Rarity stated before backing away. No one else tried to make some sort of comment, not wanting to make Twilight mad.
Twilight herself sat back down again, staring at the table. "He came by to talk to me earlier. I've been avoiding him the past two and a half weeks. I think he still thinks we're... well, I actually don't if we still are. I still like him, but... I don't know." Twilight at this point Twilight looked depressed. She wasn't sure how much longer they would be an item. Everyone knew about their relationship but for some reason she didn't get bugged about it except when it came from Rarity.
Rarity didn't say anything in reply and even Dash looked surprised. "So... did something happen?" Dash inqiured, now hovering above the group. Twilight nodded weakly but didn't say anything. "You going to tel-"
"No I'm not going to tell you because you feel that you should be in the know!" Twilight yelled at the cyan pegasus. After a moment Twilight is assured no one else had anything to say she glared at each of them. "I'm going to the barracks." She left without offering so much as a bye.
"This is getting rediculous! Three times this week you showed up in my office because you can't control your god damned temper!"
"I can cont-"
"You better get your act together before I decide to court martial your ass! Get out of my office."
Twilight glared viciously at the commanding officer but offer a salute and marched out the door, slaming it on her way out. "Court martial my ass. Who the fuck does he think he is?" she asked herself as she began to trot back to rally point. A pair of boots joined her and kept with her pace. A single glance told her they had assigned Taylor to 'escort' her back.
She could tell it's him due to the armor colors and emblem on the shoulder armor. He didn't so much as look at her or give her a nod of acknoledgement. Which is fine. She didn't want any of those. Now that she thought about it, this is the first time they've even seen eachother since two months ago in the mess hall. That whole time she had sucessfuly avoided him, and now the commanders assigned him to escort her probably to talk to her and snap her out of this new her. But conversation never came.
At this point he either didn't care about her anymore or gave up overall to try and even catch a glimps of her. But what really surprised her is that when she tried to continue one way he shoved her in another and pointed in the direction. The cruelty he displayed against her hit a soft spot and felt hurt by what he did. Again he pushed her in another direction, never saying a word.
Confusion and worry began to take hold of Twilight. This is someone she can and would trust her life with. Someone who wouldn't hurt her. And now that is being crushed as he led her to where ever they're going. They came up to a concrete building that has no windows and a thick one inch iron door. He opened it and again, roughly pushed her in.
As soon as she is in, Taylor spoke. "First room to the right." And then the door closed leaving her in a pitch black darkness.
A few seconds passed before she realized that who ever spoke wasn't Taylor. Or maybe it was. She couldn't tell. Her training kicked in to keep her mind from scrambling and lit her horn. She found herself in a small halway big enough for two ponies to walk through with ease. She began slowly at first before her pace increased to a brisk trot and stopped when she came to the first door on the righ.
Twilight entered the room which had no door and found it just as dark as the rest of the building. She cautiously made a few steps in before flood lights flashed on, temporarily blinding her. When her eyes finally adjusted she found herself in a cery large concrete room, devoid of all live except for one particular alicorn.
Twilight didn't bow like she normaly would have but stood there diviant. She watched the alicorns expression from one of boredom to one of curiousity. "Does thou no longer bow to her superiors?"
"I think I like you better when you don't mix old equestrian with new equestria." Twilight replied coldly.
Luna's expression soured at Twilight's blunt statement. A short sigh escaped her lips and testured for Twilight to sit, which she did without hesitation. "Twilight, I don't like what they've done to you. I prefered the librarian who always did her studies. Always loyal. Always caring."
Twilight sat there, not really listening, but one question lingered on her mind. "Was that Taylor who brought me here?"
Luna ignored the question and continued. "Due to your change, we feel that it would be best for your metal health if we pulled you from training. You will no longer server under the UNSC."
"Who's this we?"
"Me, Taylor and Tai."
The urge to correct Luna's grammar attcked her OCD but she pushed away the feeling. "I don't want to be discharged."
"It's not a choice."
"I'm not being discharged! I'm perfectly fine and I can handle myself!" Twilight objected, standing in a blind furry.
Luna seemed unfazed, unmoved. "I'm sure you can Twilight but it is for your own good. You will go home tomorrow and you will not set hoof in the training grounds again unless acompanied by an official."
"This is bullshit!"
"Twilight, language!" Luna yelled, flaring her wings to try and intimidate the unicorn.
Twilight stood up and moved towards the door, stopping just before she left. "Fuck all of you."
Twilight paced back and forth in the main room of the library. She's mad, no pissed off that they could send her off like this. She didn't want to read, eat, sleep or anything except go back to the training grounds. Eventually she laid down on the couch and let sleep take over her dispite not wanting to sleep.
Twilight felt something shaking her. She let out a graon and curled into a ball. She didn't want to wake up, she felt tired, sleepy.... Again she felt something shake her along with a distant whisper. She couldn't make out the words or recognize the voice. "Mmm... leave me alone, Taylor."
"Taylor? Tayor isn't here Twilight. Come on, wake up." the voise ushered her, again lightly shaking her.
This time Twilight opened her eyes and found herself in the main room, sleeping on the couch. She turned her head and is met with a mass of purple and green. It made her jump but she calmed once she realized it was just Spike. Now she remembered. Taylor isn't here because he has to train everyone else at the camp. Now that they pulled her out she's going to get pudgy again. It felt great being in this good of shape and she didn't want it to go.
"Hello, Equestria to Twilight?" Spike said while waving a claw in front of Twilight.
Twilight looked up, still tired. "What? I'm sleeping."
Spike gave her a worried glance. "You've been asleep for eleven hours, and you're still tired?"
"Eleven... hours?" Spike nodded. "What time is it?"
"Almost nine, and I'm starving!"
"Deal with it! Go find something yourself." Twilight commanded before closing her eyes again to fall asleep. A moment later the sounds of claws walking away and a grumbling Spike filled the air before it went quiet again. Some minutes passed and sleep never took her again. Annoyed, she tossed and turned trying to find a suitable position, but couldn't.
She felt the want of somepony or someone rather, to hold her till she fell asleep. She felt empty and alone. More alone than she has ever felt before, and it is unsettling. Twilight opened her eyes and sat up. She looked at the clock again and saw another thirty minutes had passed. She hadn't heard more from spike and got to her hooves and began to trot around the library.
First she checked the kitchen and didn't find Spike. She then went to the main room, upsatirs to her room. There she found the little guy curled up in his basket. A hint of a smile tugged at her lips before she went back down stairs. She wandered how he mannaged without her or anyone else to look after him.
Twilight went to the calendar she has set up in the kitchen and glances at.Two weeks before everypony finishes training. A sigh escaped her lips and she went to the refrigerator, opened it, and found a small basket of muffins from Derpy. Twilight gripped the basket in her magic and set it on the table, taking a muffin in the process. It taste great. A perfect mix of spices made the sweet savory taste of it so irresistible.
A roll of thunder brought Twilight from the muffin and glancing at the window. A second roll of thunder sounded, but further away. "It's not supposed to rain." She remarked to herself. Setting down the muffin Twilight made her way to the window. Out side she can see a black warped spot in the night sky that had a mystic blue edge. A large object jetted out other the black warping sphere. Its dark color makes it hard to see against the black sky save for the stars showing its outline. The hole closed with a thundering clap and the object hung in the air for a few seconds before faint lights appeared on the edge.
A sudden realization hit Twilight like a brick and she lit her horn and disappeared with a small 'pop'.
Luna laid on her bed, a book between her hooves. Her room is dimly lit but bright enough for her to be able to see the words on the hundred year old pages. She admired the staffs abilities to keep books in such great shape. Luna is torn from her book when three consecutive, distant booms interrupted her. This worried her as the weather wasn't due fro a rain storm in three days. Not only that but no more thunder came after a minute.
She glanced over at the small communication relay at the side of her bed. Only use it for dire emergencies. Luna toyed with the idea before finally deciding to wake her sister. She pressed a button with her magic and waited. On the other side she can hear a groan then a weak "What?". "Tai, I sense something bad."
"What, Lulu? You know I don't like being woken this late at night for some petty reason." Celestia complained in her grogginess.
Luna paused for a moment before replying. "I believe we should hail the commanders."
"Why didn't you do that first instead of waking me?" Celestia nearly shouted through the speaker.
Luna winced. "My dearest apologies, I will conta..."
"I'll take care of it."
Luna replied with a weak "alright" while she waited. A few seconds passed and no reply came from any of the ships. Luna can hear Celestia cursing under her breath as she tried again. "Bucking magical interference."
Another few seconds pass and a reply finally come through. "Good evening Princess, how can I help you?" A familiar female voice greets them.
"Hello, Renona. Luna here thinks something terrible is happening." Celestia said rather annyoed.
"Well if by bad you mean three Covenant cruisers just exiting slipspace, then... yes, something terrible is about to happen." Said Renona in a mater-of-factly tone.
No reply came from Celestia and Luna figured she was just being slow. "What's happening now?"
"All UNSC ships are engaging the cruisers while their shields are down. Also everyone is being prep for ground engagement. That includes your ponies."
"Thank you, Renona."
"My pleasure."
Twilight appeared in fromt of a mass of organized chaos. Ponies and humans ran in different direction, some with armor, others without. The humans shouted commands and ponies followed them without hesitation. Each ponies armor had attached weapon platforms that they used instead of the conventional weapons humans used.
Twilight sprinted towards the bareacks and found that her stuff is still where it was. Her locker and bed are in the same place along with her armor. She levitated the armor over her body, connecting the buckles that held it in place. She then attached her flank guards, hoof guards, and helmet. She enabled the weapon platform that's attached to the body armor and a mechanical arm lifted a weapon up and to the side slightly. A targeting reticle appeared on the eye protection built into the helmet.
Once satisfied, Twilight rushed out of the barracks and into the mass of ponies who began to hop into warhogs desgined for troop transportation. She quickly ran up to a line and waited until it's her turn to get on. She sat rather uncomfortably while more ponies got on. A few minutes later the warthog lurched forward at encredible speeds. It wasn't the first time she has ridden in one but it awaly made her feel queezy.
It wasn't long before she can see a mass of unicorns levitating sandbags into piles to build cover. Pegasi roamed the skies looking for enemies and choke points in the small town of ponyville. One particular pegasus caught Twilight's eye and she watched as the cyan pegasus gave out orders to the others.
The warthog stopped and everyone in it hopped out except the driver, who drove back to the training grounds. Twilight quickly followed the group to te center of the small town, and of course, who else would be in charge of the squad she so happily joine.
"Everyone on me! Lets go!" The whole group followed the one she had been avoiding this whole time. "Hold it!" He commanded and everyone stopped including Twilight. Taylor approached Twilight looking rather pissed. "You've got to be fucking me right now. I knew you had become defiant but this is pushing it, Twilight."
"Deal with it! I'm fight whether you like it or not!"
"This is unbelievable. Fuck...." Taylor turned around frustrated before facing Twilight again. "Fine, but you do everything I say without question. Do I make myself clear?"
Twilight didn't answer at first, glaring at him. "Yes. Sir." The only reason she even agreed is to stay on his good side.
Taylor again and began to sprint. Twilight and the other four ponies she didn't know followed him down one of the many dirt roads of Ponyvilled. Suddenly the black night sky is lit up in a neon green. Dirt is thrown into the air and waves of hear washed over Twilight. The brightness of the blast caused her to shut her eyes and when she opened them again she is on the ground, her ears ringing. Not far away she can see Taylor struggling to get to his feet along with three other ponies.
Roaring above Twilight caused her to look up and three Longswords fly pass, guns firing rounds at nothing. "Get up! Keep moving!" Twilight blinked at the sound of someone giving commands. She feels disorientated, confused. She rolled over and pushed herself up watching two ponies no three regroup with Taylor. The other is still on the ground.
"Twilight, get a move on!"
Twilight quickly regathered with what is left of the squad and they began to move again. Once the ringing in her ears had gone she can hear the distant sounds of weapons being discharged. Adrinalin began to pump into her bloodstream as they got closer to their destination. They quickly rounded a corner and the first thig Taylor did is got on his belly. Twilight and the others follwed suit and crawled to what little cover they had.
The firefight is happening else where as the gun shots are still distant but they stopped here. He's waiting for something, but what? To Twilight's left is Rarity who is laying on her belly as well. Waiting. To Twilight's surprise, the white unicorn's coat is more of anlight shade of brown than the once vibrant white, and she isn't complaining. This is the first she had seen her in two months.
Twilight took a peek over the cover and saw nothing. She looked closer. "Taylor, the fog." Twilight hissed in a low voice.
"Where? I don't see anything!" He replied in a similar tone.
"Spec-Op Elites. I'm taking the shot."
"Stand down!" Twilight ignored his command and fired.
Her whole body shook with the recoil of the forty-caliber rounds as each one hit and killed an elite, its head being torn in half. Twilight stared in horror at what she had done and couldn't bring herself to duck back down when flashes of blue sped towards her. *whizz*
"Dammit, Twilight! Stay down!" Taylor barked in her face. "Rainbow, we need air support!"
A moment passed where more plasma hit the sandbags, melting them into glass. "Roger, coming in hot!"
Twilight looked up at Taylor who is now resting with his back against the low sandbag wall with his assault rifle ready. Twilight looked up and saw a faint rainbow streak in the black sky. It slowly began to aim towards the ground. The sky lit up in flashes of white and yellows and the ground tore up as the forty-caliber rounds dug into it. "Now!" Taylor shouted as he looked over the cover.
Twilight did the same and saw at least twenty disorientated elites who's shields sparked as they tried to recharge. Gun fire filled her ears as they cut down the rest of the elites. Their bodies are torn apart and blood soaked the ground as each one fell, body parts flying off their owners. The urge to throw up took over Twilight and she hung over the sandbags, or what is left of them, and felt her stomach lurch. She quickly lost her lunch and what little dinner she had, coughing and gasping for air by the time she had nothing left to regurgitate.
Twilight took a quick moment to recompose herself and scanned the rest of the group. Everyone lookes just as sick as she did. Everyone except Taylor. Then again he is wearing his helmet so she can't really see his expression. He sat on the ground with his assault rifle at his side, watching them. More times than not Twilight caught him turning inher direction for a brief moment before going back to watching the others. Taylor stood up and looked off in a different direction.
"Come on, they need us on the west side of Ponyville." he said in a low voice. He began to walk and the other quickly collected themselfs and followed.
Author's Note
Well, here's the new chapter and the covenant arive. Can the ponies and humans win? Maybe... with a little help (foreshadowing).
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
It didn't take me very long to realize what is happening by the time we reached the west side of town. The Covenant ground forces had been retreating and two possibilities went through my mind. One: They're sending in hunters and don't want the rest getting in the way or two: they're about to glass the town. What I don't understand is that if they're going to glass us then why go through the trouble of sending ground forces.
I scanned around for the green glow of hunter cannons but found none. I looked up, and about a half click away is a cruiser with its belly glowing the deadly shade a magenta that grew in size as the ship drew closer. "Everyone in the pelicans!" It took everyone to process what I said before other human soldiers began to direct ponies onto the birds.
There are only three pelicans and only so many could fit in them. "Pegasi will fly. That's an order! Twilight, Rarity, follow me." I sprinted towards one of the pelicans that are being loaded and got both Rarity and Twilight on it. Before any of them could say anything to hatch began to close locking me out. I got back as the engines started and the pelican took off towards Canterlot.
There are still a lot of ponies and humans piling into the last two pelicans and I joined one of the lines. Luckily the line is still short and I clamored on, helping others get on as well. Once the pelican is full they drive a warthog up to the back and connect it to the tow hooks on the pelican. The same is done with the last pelican and the other warthogs began to drive out of town.
The pelican lurched as it began to take off and I glanced at the sky and saw the cruiser now hanging just outside of town as yellow flashes hit the side of it. Then a purple beam shot out and I followed it as it hit a UNSC frigate in the engines causing an near-instant explosion. The pelican got off the ground and flew forward just as the magenta orb on the cruiser shot down on the south side of the town, then began to cut through towards the pelican that is still grounded. The hot plasma hit the tail of the pelican just as it began to take off and sent it back down in a piling heap of melted metal.
A flash a mint-green in the warthog caught my eye and I looked up to see Lyra, and next to her Bon-Bon. She looked at me and we made eye contact for a second, although she probably didn't realize it.
The rest of the trip I watched the cruiser glass the town until it stopped, leaving a large area turned to dust and glass fragments. I can see the small shimmers of light that reflect off the glass and I could almost say it is beautiful. If I didn't already know what happened. I looked around to see a lot of depressed ponies. Some scared and others emotionless. It hurt to see Ponyville go like that. And it hurt to know that these ponies have no chance of survival even with our help.
Outside the pelican numerous pegasi struggled to keep pace with the pelican while carrying another pony in their arms. It seems that the flight training really did help. I laid down with my feet hanging out of the pelican slightly and rested my head down trying to avoid any pony's flanks. I closed my eyes and allowed memories to creep into my thoughts.
I laid down with my back propped up against a tree. The sweet smell of the grass filled my senses and the slight chill of Luna's night cut through my thin cotton shirt. In my arms is the soft feeling of the lavender mare's coat and her mane looking a little messier than normal. Her hooves dangled in the air in a cute way while she rested on top of me and gazed at the stars.
She enjoyed this a lot, but I never looked at the stars not wanting to remember the things that haunt them. Instead I looked at the scenery. This was one of the many trees in Ponyville's park but it provided the perfect view for Twilight and something to help me focus on other things.
"They're beautiful. The stars, don't you agree?"
I looked down at Twilight with a somewhat mad expression. "I don't like looking at the stars. Too many bad memories."
"Oh..." She paused and I could tell she was thinking. "Then why do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Why do you bring me out here to go star gazing if you don't like it?"
I smiled at her as she looked up at me with pleading eyes. I kissed her on the nose and a slight blush washed over her cheeks. "Because I love you."
She seemed to like that answer because she closed her eyes and snuggled into my chest with a short yawn. I held her tighter and closed my own eyes and let sleep take over.
"Hey, get up. We're almost at Canterlot." a voice said. I opened my eyes and found ourselves pretty far away from Ponyville. So much it looks like a small dot. Many more pegasi are now keeping up and all are carrying another pony. It didn't take long for the pelican to begin circling the courtyard of Canterlot castle and touch down. The warthog detached and bounced slightly before rolling away to allow the ponies out.
I hopped out of the pelican and went to an area by myself and sat down, taking off my helmet. There were already thousands of ponies waiting that had come from the Canterlot training grounds to help out. On the other side of the courtyard I spot Twilight by herself. I picked up my helmet and made my way to her. When I reached her I'm surprised to see her crying. I don't think she heard me approach her because she flinched when I put my hand on her shoulder, but she wrapped me in a hug none the less.
"W-we left S-Spike! W-why did we leave him t-there?" she cried into my shoulder.
I took off her helmet and set it aside before comforting her. I let my hand run through her soft mane while holding her close to me and cooed 'It will be alright' into her ear. Of all the times I've comforted someone or somepony, it's never been quite like this. I felt closer to Twilight than I had with the others, and I felt closer to her now than I had before, even though we aren't dating anymore.
_________
"You're supposed to be asleep."
"I couldn't. Too much on my mind to sleep."
"Understandable." I paused. "I'm sorry about Spike, Twilight."
She let out a sigh. "I think I understand now. I didn't before but now... I get it."
I looked over to her with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"
"Every night when you took me out to star gaze and I always asked you if you thought the stars were beautiful, and you'd say you don't like to look at them. Too many bad memories. I was trying to understand why."
I nodded without a word and turned back to the night sky. It looked peaceful and I finally allowed myself one small glance at the stars. "They are beautiful." I said to answer her question.
I felt something push up against me and faced Twilight who is now leaning against me. "Do you..... do you still love me?" I looked away from her and I can feel her looking at me. I can imagine her expression, but I didn't want to face her. "Taylor?"
Now I can hear the worry in her voice. The fear that I might not anymore and truth is I don't really know at this point. "I...."
"Please just tell me!" she begged.
"I don't know."
"Bullshit you don't know! You do know and you just can't to tell me because you can't face me!" Twilight yelled at me, pointing a hoof at me. "You're too scared! And you promised me that you would love me no matter what!"
Now I faced her. "You avoided me for almost three months and you expect me to just wait and hope that you'll eventually come through? As far as I was concerned you didn't care about me anymore! I thought you didn't want to see me anymore! And you're mad at me for not knowing if I still love you?"
Twilight looked at me with surprise at my sudden attack on her and shrunk slightly. "I'm sorry..."
"Damn right you are!" I shouted pointing a finger in her direction. She looked at me with a slight hint of fear in her eyes. "I thought you would have thought that through before trying to blame me."
"I'm sorry." she said again now looking down at the rocky earth beneath her hooves.
Her voice sounded sincere and hurt. I hesitated but I took my helmet off pulled her to me saying "I'm sorry" too. Twilight wiggled out of my arms before laying herself down on the rocks as she stared up at the stars and I joined her, letting our heads touch. Neither of us says anything for a while, just enjoying the cool breeze.
"I wonder how Luna makes them so beautiful. So... peaceful." I faced Twilight who has that look of distant amazement in her eyes. The same look she used to get before the Covenant attack. She looked at me with a smile. "What do you think?"
"I think," I wrapped my arms around her waist, "the most beautiful star is right next to me." I whispered as I drew myself closer to her until our faces were an inch apart.
A blush washed across her face and she couldn't help but smile. "R-really?"
I replied by closing the gap and our lips connect. She taste sweet with mint and it only made me want her more than ever. I closed my eyes and leaned it the kiss more and I thought I could hear Twi let out a short moan but quickly forgot about it as she pulled back, practically beaming.
"So... do you still love me?" she asked innocently with a glint of hope in her eyes.
I thought for a moment before answering. "I think you need make up for those three months of ignoring me. Deal?"
"Deal." Twilight replied looking giddy as one could be during the events that occurred only a few hours ago.
"Good. Now go get your flank to bed. You'll need the rest." Twilight let out a groan before getting up to her hooves. I pushed myself in an sitting position. "Good night, Twi."
She smiled at me before turning and leaving, leaving me to my duties for the rest of the night. I glanced around me and I noticed a shadow off in the distance and I recognized the night sky-blue alicorn who has a hint of a smile. The princess then melted in with shadows and is gone in seconds.Next day...
Celestia sat in the throne room on her chair, a highly decorated pure gold seat made specifically for her. She wore her pale green combat armor with her helmet sitting on the hoof rest. Her flank guards lay bare of her cutie mark. It's morning and she had just risen the sun, but everyone was already up by that time, working on whatever the UNSC needed.
Celestia let out a long yawn as she had not gotten enough sleep last night and wondered how the humans functioned on such low hours of sleep. Let alone do it every day. She sat there waiting for her sister to arrive so they could go to breakfast. The doors that led to the castle hallways opened and she smiled, but only for a moment to see it isn't Luna.
A brown coat pegasus trotted up wearing a saddlebag trotted up to her and bowed before rising up again. "Princess, the UNSC request an audience."
Celestia's mood darkened. "Tell them it'll have to wait. I have breakfast with my sister when she gets here."
"Your sister is already with them, your highness."
Celestia paused and thought for a brief moment. "Very well then. If that is al-"
"I also have a letter from a certain miss Sparkle."
"Oh? It's been too long." The pegasus pulled a letter from his saddlebag and Celestia took it in her magic. "Thank you. You may be on your way." Once the stallion is gone Celestia opened the letter and began to read it. As she did her anger began to rise, and it continued to do so as she read more. Upon finishing it, she stuffed the letter between her chest and the body armor before rising to head to the "War Room", as the humans call it.
She trotted down the hall to where the war room is at and took a breath before entering. Inside sat a table made of pure metal that has a silver sheen to it. It projected a map of Equestria in the air along with the AI known as Renona. Of course Taylor and the elements of harmony. All of them except Twilight which didn't surprise her. She either was late or didn't want to face Celestia just after she got the letter. Either way the mare isn't here.
Celestia glared at Taylor as she passed by and stood next to her sister. "Good morning Lulu, how was your sleep?"
Luna smiled completely oblivious to Celestia's glare towards a certain human. "It was well. To bad we didn't get to have our daily breakfast, I enjoy them." she said with a smile on her muzzle.
Celestia let a smile cross her lips too before turning to a voice. "Ah, princess, glad you could make it. Sorry for pulling out two from your breakfast, but this is very important."
"It's quite alright Admiral." I'm going to banish you to the moon if you do it again!
The Admiral looks please and presses a few buttons on the table zooming in the map and several blue and purple circles appeared. Celestia knew the color codes. Blue equals them and purple equals Covenant. She saw that borders are marked as well and territory they control is colored blue and Covenant again purple. Renona looked over the map ignoring everyone in the room. "Princess if I can have your attention." Celestia nodded and the Admiral continued. "As you know Ponyville was glassed last night. We have had pegasi doing espionage and they came back with this."
The map disappeared and is replaced by a video. In it she can see a somewhat transparent beam hitting the ground. Before reaching it the beam formed into the shape of what looked to be a sleek shape that had angles that point upward. In a few more minutes the beam slowly became solid until it disappeared showing nothing left but what she could assume is a Covenant base.
"We've never seen Covenant set up their bases in areas they glassed. Not only that but the cities of Manehattan and Trottingham have reported Covenant patrols scouting the area. They're not taking any chances. Not only that but the whole world is on out side. Both the Griffon Kingdoms and the Diamond Dogs are willing to help us in the war." said the Admiral as he explained. The video switched back to the map again. "We have devised a six month plan to eliminate the Covenant once and for all from this world. It starts like this..."
Celestia's head hurt for two reasons. One: She had to sit through two hours of a plan explaining how to get rid of the Covenant and two: she still hasn't eaten. She trotted down the hallway to the throne room and requested a guard find Twilight as she wanted to talk to her. Celestia entered her throne room and sat at her respected spot and waited. She waited for what seemed forever until the large doors opened and the familiar lavender mare poked her head in.
A moment later Twilight trotted in and up to the throne, not bothering to bow. Celestia raised a brown before speaking. "Hello, my faithful student."
"Save it. What do you want?" Twilight commanded.
"Did you really mean all of it?" Celestia asked, the pain obvious in her voice.
Twilight stayed quiet for a moment before answering. "If you can't accept the fact then I don't want anything to do with you anymore. You can't just deny him or anyone else the right to be with me just because you're jealous that you didn't get to have me. It's your fault you didn't say anything earlier. Now if you'll excuse me I have a job to do."
Celestia watched as Twilight turned and began to trot out. This is not over! She wanted to say more but that mare had other plans. No. Now is the time for vengeance. A flash of white and a glass pad appears in front of Celestia. She fills out two forms and sends them to the high command of the UNSC. She smiled at her success before retreating to the dinning room.
Author's Note
Government corruption!!! (who knew ponies had it in them?) I really imagined this chapter being longer, but I was having a difficult time writing it and I'm not too happy with it. I may go back later and edit it.
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
What Lives Under the Mountain part 1
Odd....
This shouldn't be here...
...I must run some more test.....
I wake up slowly, opening my eyes. The room is dark and I look over to the faint glow of the clock. O-five-hundred. Two hours before our mission start. I roll over in the small bed and across from me on the other side is Twilight still sleeping. Her mane is disheveled and she has a small smile on her lips. With a smile of my own I get off my bed to go check on everyone else.
Above my bed is Lyra. She faces the wall with the thin blanket over her body, her chest raising and falling gently while she slept. Across from her is the cream colored mare, Bon-Bon. She is slightly smaller than Lyra and has her UNSC shirt over her body, the blanket scrunched up at the foot of the bed. Next are Flitter and Cloudchaser. I smile to see Cloudchaser sleeping well before turning to Flitter, and frowned. I feel bad for her. Two weeks into the training they started to give fillies at her age injections to increase their growth, much like spartans. And unfortunately some of the side effects are the same. Flitter however was lucky. Most she went through were growing pains. The one orange filly, Scootaloo I think is her name, will never be able to fly.
There was one, Applebloom, she went into a squad with her brother Big Mac as a heavy. She, like Flitter made it through the process mostly unharmed. I did hear that she is now blind in her left eye and is deaf as well, so they had to instal hearing-aids in her helmet. Unfortunately not all of them made it. Some died weeks afterwards, some within minutes, some so broken they had to be put down so they wouldn't suffer. Rarity told me what happened to her sister, how her bones grew too fast and cracked and her muscles ripped and tore, so they but her down and Rarity cried for days on end.
With a quiet sigh I shake Flitter gently till she woke, yawning and stretching her limbs. She rubs her eyes with her fore-hooves and looks at me. "Morning, sir." she say's before yawning again.
"Morning Flitter. Why don't you get your mom up and hit the showers while I get everyone else?"
Flitter nods before groggily climbing out of bed and over to her mom's. I go back to Lyra's bed and shook her awake as well as Bon-Bon. The two said their good mornings to each other before Lyra kisses Bon-Bon after which the cream colored mare blushes profusely. I go over to Twilight who is still sleeping and lean down, kissing her on her nose. She squirms a little before letting out a long groan.
"Come on, Twi, need to wake up."
She groans again before turning to face the wall. "Twi, don't be like that." she doesn't reply. "If that's how you want it." I say as I stand back up and take a deep breath. "On your feet marine!" I yell as loud as I can. Twilight jolts up and scrambles to her hooves and almost falls off the bed. She eventually finds her way to the floor and stands at attention in front of me. The rest did the same, Flitter glancing at me from the far end. "Showers then get some grub, we have two hours before we deploy for our mission. And next time I decide to wake you all nicely I suggest you comply. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" they all reply in unison.
I glare at Twilight and her ears fall back slightly. "Morning Twi."
"Morning..." she replies meekly.
I smile at her and she returns it. "You're all dismissed." They begin to walk towards the door, but I stop Twilight. "Twilight, wait." The moment I say that she freezes in her tracks and I wait for the rest to leave. "You stayed up again didn't you?"
Twilight lets out a short sigh and sits on the floor. "I was just studying up on the Covenant more. I didn't stay up that late." she says, her tone agitated. I raise a brow and she gives me the 'what?' look.
I cross my arms and she continues to glare at me. "How late did you stay up?"
"I can take care of myself you know. I have been for a while in case you haven't noticed!"
I let out a sigh and uncross my arms. Kneeling down I stroke her cheek with my hand. "I just want to make sure you getting enough sleep." I say in almost a whisper. Twilight give me a half smile before pushing her head into my hand. I rub behind her ear and she lets out a short sigh.
I take my hand away and Twilight looks up at me, almost disappointed expression. "Why dont you go take that shower, you could use one."
She smiles before looking me up and down. "Same could be said for you too." she says with a slight gigle.
With a grin I follow her to the showers.
No! This cannot be right!
This shouldn't be here!
...Core overheating.... need to calm down and think, Renona...
.......no, this requires my every bit of attention......
I stand in the shower, the hot water running down my back and steam filling the air. The white walls are the only thing accompanying me sense the rest already finished their showers and probably went off the breakfast. My mind goes back to Rarity. I cam still hear her screaming for her sister back after she was told her sister didn't make it through the process. After that she completely changed.
She wasn't the only one either. Fluttershy disappeared, some saying she had ran away, others that she drowned herself in the Everfree. No one really knows so they listed her as MIA. After her sister's death Rarity became a weapons specialist and technician. Pinkie is now a code breaker and communications interceptor, and the UNSC is still trying to figure out how she breaks the laws of physics.
Rainbow of course became part of the air units and Applejack... I don't even remember what she's doing anymore. She had been moved around so much it started to take a toll on her health. Last I heard she was in the infirmary to recover from the flu. Twilight told me the flu could be dangerous for ponies if it wasn't caught within the first few days.
I come back from my thoughts and turn off the water, grab a towel and go back to the barracks. Like I expected the rest have already gone to breakfast. I quickly change into my clothes and make my to dinning room. It's a short walk there and the doors are open. I'm surprised to see so many already up, then again every squad runs on different schedules.
I find my squad at a table and sit with them. I look over at Lyra and I let out a long groan. "Lyra, how many times do I have to tell you to not take my stuff?" I say as i reach over and grab my tac-pad. Lyra let out a groan of her own and a look of disappointment.
"Sorry..."
"It's okay, it's just really annoying some time." Lyra's ears lay flat as I say this and Bon-Bon goes to hug her. Flitter, Twilight and Cloudchaser all eat quietly. I look over at twilight and she has her brow furled while doing something on her tac-pad. I lean over to see what she's doing.
Twilight looks up at me. "What?"
I shrug. "Just seeing what you're doing."
"Well I'm looking for those files I was reading last night but I can't find them."
I watch for a few more seconds as she continues to go through separate folders. As she went through them she begins to get more frustrated. I reach over, holding my hand out. "Let me see it real quick." Twilight levitates the pad over and I begin to search. I couldn't find anything in her personal save so I went through the data bases Renona had set up till I found a good compilation for Twi. I hand it back to her and she smiles, almost holding in how giddy she is.
Twilight looks over at me and then back to the pad. "This.... this is amazing! This is more than what i had last night by far!"
"It helps to know where to look." I reply before going through files on my own tac-pad. I quickly found that Lyra had somehow disorganized everything I have on the stupid thing and begin to reorganize. Debriefs, intel, message folder. I stop at the message folder and open it. In it I find a few things that don't really need my attention and delete them.
This is not good.....
....I must warn the rest.....
I jump from my seat as the sirens outside begin to blare out their warning. Everyone in the dinning hall got up from their seats and begin to rush out the door to get to the barracks. Renona comes on over the loud speakers.
"Warning: All units prepare for immediate combat. I repeat, prepare for immediate combat, this is not a drill."
It doesn't take much more to get the rest of the squad moving and I quickly decide that going out the main doors will be too much of a hassle and take my squad through the kitchen. "Guys, on me!" I burst through the doors and find the cooks already gone off to get their combat gear.
We run through the cluttered kitchen where pots and pans were thrown in random areas by the cooks and a few on the floor. I find a door and burst through it to find that it puts us on the wrong side of the castle, so I begin to sprint down the hall with the rest following close behind. We pass up other people and ponies already in the armor before reaching our section.
I rush to my locker and open it, grabbing the chest piece and sliding it over my body and connecting the velcro straps. I then put on my shoulder armor, leggings, boots, and helmet. Lastly I grab the silenced magnum and SMG. I pack a few extra mags with me before turning to help Bon-Bon get her armor on. Lyra and Twilight help Flitter and Cloudchaser get theirs on and the sound of weapons locking fills the room.
Bon-Bon is equipped with a sniper rifle variant of the armor mount weapon platform, and Lyra, her spotter, is equipped with a semi-auto rifle variant. Twilight and Cloudchaser both have full-auto/burst rifles while Flitter has a quad mount SMG variant mounted on stability wings for high-speed engagements in the air. During training they designed these to give pegasi more control in flight for air maneuvers and speed.
The stability wings also have options for attaching light-weight missiles and bombs or the slots can be used to quad mount small AMWP side arm variants. Flitter also has wingblades attached to her wings for close quarter engagements against any enemies. Not that the UNSC recommends close quarter fighting but she wanted them anyway.
"All units, please gather in the courtyard for immediate deployment status. Instructions will be given."
"All right, you heard the lady. Move!" I yell and the sound of hooves moving about fills the air. Outside people and ponies are rushing to the courtyard by the hundreds. The marble hallways are barely big enough for the masses to rush through and numerous times I almost lose track of my squad while we sprint through the halls. Pagasi fly overhead and unicorns teleport to the courtyard which made room for the humans and earth ponies.
"All units, please gather in the courtyard for immediate Evacuation. EOD teams, stand by for instructions."
"Evacuation?" I hear Twilight ask as we continue to run.
"They're taking us out on pelicans which means what ever is happening is really, really bad."
"EOD teams, please reroute to the Canterlot dungeons immediately."
"What the fuck is Renona doing?"
"Warning: Covenant forces inbound."
"Move it........."
I suddenly find myself on the floor, a bright flash blinding me and debris flying through the air. The floor is covered in small bits of marble, stone and dust and the air fills with smoke. My whole body hurts and I look over to see many ponies and people laying on the ground as well, then picking themselves up. I try to do the same but fall back down, and then everything goes black.
Author's Note
Alright, I'm back with part 1 of this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it.
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
What Lives Under the Mountain part 2
I lay on the ground, my eyes closed, and a cool breeze caressing me as I lay on the floor. I let my fingers feel the texture of what I'm laying on. Hard, bumpy with a few cracks in it, and something that feels like sand. The smell of smoke fills my nose but I don't feel in danger. It all seems peaceful, quiet. I could lay here forever, but a sense of urgency is tugging at the back of my mind.
I open my eyes to be met with the sky. Not the soft sky-blue color I remember. It has no clouds or birds flocking. Instead it's a dirty orange color, almost like rust, and instead of clouds large pillars of black smog rise into the air filling the atmosphere. A thin layer of what looks like dust hangs in the air. I look to the side, following the smoke stack to its source and find large building made of glass exteriors. Many of the windows are broken and parts of the buildings are missing. The iron frames holding the building together seem to be twisted and melted.
Another breeze flows over my skin, whisking the sweat off my forehead I didn't even know was there. With one last look at the building I push myself onto my feet only to be met by more buildings met with the same fate as the other. The whole world is covered in the orange light, large cracks covering the ground and some of the building threaten to collapse at any minute. In the streets cars lay in heaps of metal, blackened and melted.
I take a quick look around me and find an assault rifle on the ground. I cautiously walk up to it and pick it up, checking the ammo counter and sure enough a full mag is inside. A large crack then a low rumble that gradually grew to a roar catches my attention and I turn to see one of the many skyscrapers collapsing on itself. A plume of dust, smoke and debris rises above the other buildings, filling the air with the stuff. A few seconds later I can feel the gust of wind created by the falling building, silent whispers being carried with it.
Soon more and more buildings begin to collapse, the walls of dust taking their place. The seemingly large wall of dust is getting closer to me as the buildings around me begin to fall to their fate. The once mighty giants falling to their knees in submission to the damage caused to them. Soon the wall of dust is on my and engulfs me, surrounding me and blinding me, but I didn't move or falter.
The sound of whispers once again fills my ears and I try to listen to what they are saying, but so many voices are talking at once I can't focus on one for more than a second before another takes hold of my attention. They seem to get louder as the dust cloud got thicker and thicker, and soon the voices scream at me. I cover my ears but to no avail as they keep on throwing their rage at me.
Suddenly the voices stop and I cautiously uncover my ears. When I hear nothing I ease up, only to tense up again at the sight of a lone figure standing in the dust cloud. I can't make out its features, but I can see its outline. It looks unnatural, distorted, deadly. It takes a step towards me and I raise my assault rifle hopping to stop it in its tracks. The things takes another step and now I can feel the fear rising in me.
"H-hey!" I yell at it, but I doesn't answer. A moment passes where nothing happens but it begins to shuffle closer again. "Stop right there!" It doesn't stop. "I said stop!"
As it gets closer I can begin to see more and more of the thing. I freeze at the sight of it. It wears the UNSC marine armor, but I can tell it's not human. The thing is covered in rotting flesh, and pockets of whatever growing on its skin, causing lumps to form. The head, which looks like a human screaming in pain is pulled back in an almost unnatural way and the neck tore. One of its arms grew out and now looks like a claw while the other arm remain almost normal. The thing walks with a limp and it let out a blood curdling roar as it approaches me.
I can't say anything or move. I'm frozen in place by my own fear of this thing limping over to me. I turn to run but I suddenly find myself on the ground, pinned there by something on top of me. I feel a hand on my shoulder and a release of pressure, then am flipped onto my back to face the thing. Its hand grabs my shoulder and the claw raised up above its head. The claw comes down....
My eyes fly open and I take a deep, gasping breath. There's a pain in my chest and I see Lyra pull out a large hypodermic needle from that area. The sea-foam colored mare look at me then smiles before turning to whoever is behind her. "He's awake!" I notice I don't have my helmet on and try to look around for it but something is holding me in place. A tingling sensation is coursing through my body and my head hurts slightly.
"Good, we need to get out of here soon or we're going to get over run." another voice that's vaguely familiar calls out.
A loud roar erupts from outside the walls along with the frantic gunfire. People and ponies shouted, calling for medical attention or fire support, their strained voices crying over the continuous fire. I feel something under my armpits and suddenly I'm being dragged behind a wall. I then realize I had been out in the open that whole time because the wall had collapsed.
"Can you stand?" Lyra asked me, poking me in the stomach with her hoof.
I cringed slightly as she did that. "I think I can manage." I said pushing myself up. Lyra helps me up, letting me use her as support. As soon as I put pressure on my left leg I fall back down as pain shoots through it. Lyra caught me and gently set me down. I winced as I propped myself against the wall, leaving my leg stretched out. "Fuck, I think my leg's broken!"
"Guys, we need to get to the pelicans stat!" A very panicked voice pleaded before more roars came from outside.
"Lyra, drag me with your magic." I ordered and she nodded, her horn glowing along with the back of my armor. "Alright, let's go.. ah, my chest hurts. Lyra what did you do to me?" I asked as she begins to drag me across the floor. As she does I can see Twilight firing her weapon at something, but I can't see what.
"Adrinalin shot." she stated while continuing to drag me.
This made me worried a little. "What happened to Cloudchaser? I thought she had the medical training." I ask grabbing an assault rifle of a dead marine as I pass him.
"She died." Lyra said, her voice lacking emotion.
"Wait, what do you mean by did?" I ask almost causally.
Lyra didn't reply at first but eventually she did. "She's... dead. The explosion killed her the rest are fine."
I curse under my breath upon hearing this. I almost forget that we're in the middle of a fire fight if it weren't for the explosions in the background. "How far ar we from the pelican?" I ask half-heartedly.
"Shouldn't be too far, everyone but me and Twilight are there waiting."
"Good." I check the ammo counter on the assault rifle. With half a mag and no extra clips I'll have to make my shots count. I still have my magnum in the holster and a grenade or two. A bright flash appears in front of me, blinding me for a moment. Once I'm able to see again Twilight is there with a panic expression.
"We got to go, those things... they broke through. They weren't human, o-or or Covenant or pony... I-I oh crap I think I'm going to be sick!" she tried to explain before running behind a pillar and heaving quite loudly. Lyra had paused, waiting for Twilight to finish. After a short while Twilight comes back still looking a bit green.
"Twi," i say extremely worried now. I've never seen her this panicked before. "Are you alright?"
Twilight shook her head, turning to look behind her for something. "I thought they were harmless, just little ballon things! But then they latched onto some of the marines and, their screams... of Faust their screams. And then they started to attack the others so I teleported away!"
"Twi, you're not making any sense."
"Their bodies were mangled and torn.... I can't handle this anymore! How the hell do you cope with this!? I just watched Thunderlane get turned into one of those things! How do I deal with that?" She yells at me, her eyes swimming in tears.
I'm not sure what to say at this point, just looking at her confused, worried and scared all at once. A roar reverberates through the hallway causing Twilight to whip around in full panic mode. "They're coming, run!" she yells before turning tail, going past Lyra and I before we can react.
"Lyra, go! I'll cover us!" I bark at her. She nodds before going after Twilight, dragging me along.
We exit out of the castle area and into Canterlot, ponies and humans all slowly moving back towards the pelicans. The skies a filled with the purple behemoths, lurking over the battle and deploying troops elsewhere in Canterlot. What caught my eye though is what Twilight was talking about. The things I've only seen footage of and were thought to be long gone but here they are.
Large masses of the sickening green colored things run across the ground, tenticle like things coming from the front. They jumped onto marines and ponies, turning their bodies into what is known as the combat form. I'm frozen, watching people being over taken so easily then turning on their own, crying out in a raw rage as they lashed at them. I can see a few of the infection forms clamoring over to me, trying to keep up with Lyra's pace.
I aim my assault rifle at a large group of the infection forms and fire a short burst, causing most of them to pop. To replace them combat forms. I dump the rest of the clip into one of them but it seem to shrug off each round. The wall of infected limp towards us, slowly catching up.
"Lyra, run faster!" I yell pulling out my magnum and firing randomly into the crowd. "Or teleporting us would also be nice!"
"We're almost there!"
One of the infected jumps in the air and lands extremely close to me, wildly flailing its arm trying to hit me. I dump the whole magazine into the thing, killing it, them it getting up another two seconds later. Panic set in as I try to change mags but fumble with it and end up dropping the magazine. I curse under my breath as I reach for my last one and quickly load it in before aiming up only to find a combat form right in my face.
It roars at me and goes to swing. The things arm explodes and it tumbles backwards. More come up to replace it only to be torn apart by the machine gun fire behind me and am dragged up a ramp and into a pelican. The tingling feeling around my body goes away and turn to see my whole squad here.
I take a look at each of their faces. Lyra looks relieved, and Bon-Bon mortified. Twilight looks like she's on the edge of going into shock and Flitter looks down right depressed. Her eyes look down at the floor, not paying any attention to anything. I'm divided between checking on Twi or Flitter. Lyra and Bon-Bon can take care of each other so the leaves me with these two. I decide to pull myself over to Twilight first.
"Hey, how you feeling?" I ask, getting close to the lavender mare.
She looks at me but doesn't say anything at first. "I... okay... I guess." she says almost inaudibly. "How... how do you cope with this? It's been three days! Three days of combat and I feel like I'm going to lose it. If anything I'm going to die just from stress alone at this rate."
How did I cope with it? I can't even answer that question. "I'm not sure. I guess you get use to it over time."
"Get use to it? How do you get use to that? Killing things every single day and watching your friends die in front of you! How the hell do you get use to that?" Twilight yells at me, attracting the attention of everyone in the pelican. "You don't just get use to what I just saw!"
"Twi, please calm down."
"No! I'm not going to, because do you want to know why? It's because you humans just do whatever the hell you want to us and get away with it! Look at what happened to Sweetie Bell! Do you not care about that, or are you like every other fucking human? Do you even care about me anymore?" I hesitate to answer her trying swallow the lump that's in my throat. "No? Well fuck you!" she yells while jabbing me with a hoof. She then turns to the rest of the marines who had just gotten on the pelican. "And fuck all of you too!" she then sits back down away from me, throwing her helmet against the door of the cockpit.
The engines roar to life a few seconds later and the pelican lurches up. Outside the battle is still going on while we take off, but I don't pay much attention to that. Instead I watch Twilight fall apart in her own little world. After a moment I look over to Flitter who hasn't moved much. Her eyes are still focused on the floor. I again drag myself across the floor, this time over to flitter.
"Hey." I say just loud enough for her to hear. She looks over at me for a moment before returning to the floor. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." she snaps at me.
"You don't seem it."
"Shouldn't you be checking up on your marefriend? Or did you fuck up again?" I let out a sigh but don't reply. Flitter lets out a sigh of her own. "I'm sorry... it's just, it's hard."
I shake my head slightly. "Yeah, I know."
"She brought up a good point though." Flitter says without looking at me. "How do you get use to... this?"
I sit here and think about the question for a second. "I guess you really don't. It just happens so much you don't really pay much attention to it." I say while adjusting myself into a more comfortable position. "You just keep on fighting for what matters."
Our conversation ends when the sound of a distant explosion goes off causing everyone in the pelican to look out side. The mountain that held Canterlot is now a bright orange with a mushroom cloud forming at the top. The cloud continued to rise higher into the air while the mountain burns at the base.
"Can you fucking believe this?" one of the marines says, gesturing towards the plume in the distance.
"What was that?" Flitter asks from beside me.
I shake my head with slight disappointment. "They set off a nuke. Let's just hope it killed everything on that mountain."
"But... why?"
"Because it was necessary. Renona probably saw the flood coming and that's why she called for the EOD teams." I say resting my head against one of the seats, closing my eyes. "You should probably get some rest before we land where ever we're going."
Author's Note
Sense I'm no longer interested in writing this, I figured I'd post the last written chapter to this story and sadly I'm glad to say I'm done writing this one. As much 'fun' as it has been to write this, I feel an alternate story coming to mind that doesn't involve halo. For once. Anyway, I guess try to enjoy the last chapter I'll be writing for a while.
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
"I said I want to see her!" I demanded, slamming my fist on the desk. I'm in the Fillydelphia hospital standing at the receptionist desk where a white mare stares a death glare at me and Lyra at my side helping me stay upright. I had refused treatment for my leg for now and am more concerned about Twilight.
"Sir, she in testing right now. And besides she said she doesn't want to see you at the moment." she repeated for the third time. "Until her mental health exam is over you're going to have to wait until she's ready to see you. There's nothing I can do about it."
I glare back at the mare but she doesn't faze. "Fucking horses." I say as I limp over to one of the chairs. The mare snarls at me in return. Lyra gave me a worried look. "Why the hell aren't you in a mental health exam?" I trivialized.
Lyra shuffles her hooves nervously. "Because I didn't really see what was going on. I was too busy pulling you to the pelican to pay too much attention." she replied quietly.
I let out a heavy sigh. It was my fucking luck that right after we make up that something has to fucking screw it up again. As far as I knew both princess are dead having not seen either one. That or they were just making rounds and checking on all the ponies. I really hopped that at least Celestia burned in the explosion.
"Taylor," Lyra speaks up, anxiousness heavy in her voice. "don't you think you should get your leg checked on?"
I look down at it. No bone stuck out or anything, but it hurt like it was being stabbed multiple times. "Yeah, I guess." I say as I try to stand up, but Lyra stops me. "What?" I demand.
"Stay here, I'm going to get one of the doctors." she then trots back over to the receptionist desk.
"Fucking horses." I repeat to myself, sinking into the chair some. I wait some time before Lyra comes back with a doctor behind her. Luckily they're human and I get up, standing on my good leg. We walk to one of the empty rooms -with the help of Lyra keeping me from falling over- and they have me sit on the hospital bed. They go through the standard medical check up procedures before taking me to one of the few x-ray examining rooms.
It took Twilight several hours to get released from the hospital and maker her way to cafiteria -which was basically an apartment converted into one- after they determined her mental health was fine. She more concerned what the new threat -along with the Covenant and the humans already invading their world- would mean for pony kind and the other native species. She pondered this while slowly eating dizens of MREs to keep her mind from depicting the flood. Every few seconds her mind would try to imagine them again but she would purge herself of the thoughts before they ruined her appetite.
She has just finished another one and tossed the package aside and brought another one to herself with her magic. She ripped open the package and dug her spoon in before shoveling the food into her mouth. This must have been her seventh one. She felt full but she kept eating anyway. It comforted her, which probably wasn't a good thing. Either way she stuffed another mouth full and chewed it.
a bunch of the human marines watched her from the other tables and she glared at them when they stared too long. A few faces she could recognized and gave them a weak smile instead sense she had made a few acquaintances. They usually turned back around and talk with their buddies but some look as if they were talking about her..
Twilight soon decided she would do some more research on both the Covenant and the Flood, maybe even some human history. Acting on this thought she attempted to teleport her pad to herself but when nothing came she realized she had left it at Canterlot where it is now probably a smoldering pile of ash.
She scanned the room and noticed a few marines using theirs. Twilight got up and trotted over to one of the groups. The marines noticed and started to whisper amungst themselves until Twilight reached the table and cleared her throat, grabbing their attention. She offered a friendly smile -despite her now growing hatred for the human race- and spoke calmly. "Hi, I lost my tac-pad and was wondering if i could borrow one of yours?"
The men look at eachother with varied expressions as if they are having a private conversation. After a few seconds they turn back to Twilight. "What exactly do you need it for?"
"Research." She stated giving them a questoning glance.
"What kind of research?" One of them questions almost in an accousing way.
Twilight kept her calm collected self as she attempts to reason with the group. "Does it really matter? I know there's classified information and all but I don't think what I want to research is."
"Well if you're not going to tell us then no, you can't borrow our tac-pad."
Twilight sighed on the inside. "Fine, not a problem." she turned and began to make her way to another group, but was stopped when she heard the one marine from the last group talking to his buddies. The word 'crazy' echoed through her mind when the marine said it and she turned and went back. "I'm sorry, what did you just call me?" she asks through gritted teeth and an angry glare.
The marines look between eachother, exchanging nervous glances. One of them turned back to her. "I called you cra-" the marine is cut off as Twilight's magical hold grips his neck and throws him to the floor.
Twilight hops over the table and lands on top the marine. "You think I'm crazy? I'll show you fucking crazy!" she tightened her grip on his neck and cut off his air. The marine tries to struggle free but Twilight extends her magical grip and pins his arms and legs to the floor. "You humans fucking disgust me! You come here and you take over our land, make us part of your army, and expect us to fight your war and to deal with it like it's an every day occurre-"
Twilight is cut off as she feels arms wrap around her mid section and pull her off the marine. She tries to struggle free of the persons grasp but couldn't shake them off. She charged her horn and used her magic to pull the person off her, tossing then aside like a ragdoll. Twilight quickly turned around to find almost everyone in the cafiteria staring at her, some standing ad looking like they're going to charge her.
One of them steps forward and Twilight points her horn at him, causing the marine to back down. "You're all assholes!" she yelled at them, some of the ponies in the room giving her looks.
"Twilight!" a very stern voice calls oht to her. She knew who it was but hopped it wasn't him. She turns to face Taylor and he's standing amoungst the marines with his arms crossed. His leg now has boot on it. He steps toward her and Twilight poiints her charged horn at him. "What the hell is this?" he asks as he stopps just in fron of her.
Twilight glared at him, her hatred burning in her eyes. "Fuck you." Taylor and Twilight continue their stare down before Taylor steps up to her, Twilight feebly trying to back away, and snatches her in his arms with a firm grip. Twilight starts to struggle, kicking her hooves against his chest. "Let go of me! Put me down!" Twilight yelled at him, kicking harder but Taylor just ignored her.
Taylor took then to an empty hallway and dropped Twilight on the floor. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Twilight got up, brushing herself off momentarily before glaring ar Taylor. "What's wrong with me? You are! You're what's wrong with me! Everything that you put me through is what happened."
"I didn't do anything to you! Everything that happened to you I was against it. You want to complain, complain to the Officers. Or better yet go AWOL because I'm getting sick of your bull!" Taylor countered. "Go be like Fluttershy and go hide somewhere like the fucking coward you are!"
"I'm not a coward!"
Taylor crosses his arms. "Prove it then."
Twilight fumed. She has no idea what to do except stand there defiant and with her chin up. She looks down at Taylor's leg again. "What did they say about your leg?" asks, randomly changing the topic.
Taylor continues to glare at her for a moment longer before letting out a sigh and sitting down. "They say it's just a small fracture and that I should stay off it a few days for it to heal. They injected something into my leg, some sort of experimental healing agent."
"Oh..." is all Twilight said in reply.
"So why didn't you attack me?" Taylor asks after a while. Twilight looks at him, confused. "When I picked you up, how come you didn't use your telekinesis on me?"
Twilight looks down at the floor like she's ashamed. "Because I didn't want too. I could have but I didn't want too." she replied with what almost sounded like regret.
"Well either way you're probably going to get written up, and I'm not doing jack shit to help."
Twilight let out a short sigh. "He called me crazy-"
"And a crazy ass horse you are." Taylor cut Twilight off. Twilight looks at him with her jaw dropped at the statement. A small and simple insult that any pony took offense to sense the humans had explained what ponies were like back on their home world, horses being a larger cousin of the ponies.
Twilight closed her mouth and let a low growl out. "Take that back!" Taylor doesn't even acknowledge her. Twilight grits her teeth and hits his shoulder with her hoof. "Answer me dammit!"
Taylor looks at her, rubbing his shoulder. "That actually hurt." he states. Twilight just gives him a look. "Fine, I'll take it back." he finally says with a sarcastic tone, dismissively waving his hand at Twilight. Twilight hits again, this time a bit softer. "You know I'm a bad influence on you."
"How so?" Twilight inquires, sitting next to him.
"Well for starters, this." he waves his hand over her whole body. "I liked you better when you had a bit more meat on you."
Twilight cracked a small smile. "So you're saying you like a chunky Twi?"
Taylor shrugged. "I wouldn't say chunky, but yeah if that's how you want to put it. Not to mention your attitude is worse, you're more aggressive and you curse a lot too. I remember how you used to act really cute for me so that I'd read you a book before bed." he continued with a chuckle.
Twilight leaned against Taylor, letting her head rest on his chest. It's a bit uncomfortable for her considering that he still has his chest piece on. "Yeah, I remember." she says quietly. "It's just this whole thing with the Covenant and now this... flood. It's hard."
"I know. And so do they." he says pointing towards where they had came. Twilight lowers her ears and looks at the floor. "We're all going through the same crap so you don't take people seriously when they call you crazy. You just have a different way of handling things."
Twilight doesn't reply, she just continues to sit there in shame realizing that Taylor is right. She feels his hand and the back of her head, lightly scratching behind her ear and running them through her mane. Twilight sighs and sits upright again. "We should probably go back."
Taylor stood up along with Twilight. "Yeah, you probably need some r&r anyway. Just take it easy for a few days. Relax." Twilight nods in response before Taylor leads them back. When they enter the cafeteria again Twilight receives a few looks but other than that she was ignored. He continues out of the building with Twilight close behind up until Taylor dropped her off at their bunk area.
Author's Note
Guess who's back after a few months? Just a small chapter to get started up again. I got the urge to continue writing this so here I an with a new chapter. If there are any mistakes ignore them sense I did write most of this on my phone and it likes to not show mistakes I've made. Anyway expect more chapters. Also you may have noticed chapter 1 is down that us because I am re-writing it to better transition into chapter two. That's all I have you until the next chapter, enjoy!
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
Twilight lays on her bunk with a borrowed tac-pad in her hooves, reading in the dim light provided by a handful of candles because the generators producing the electricity are down. The technicians said it would be a few hours and she didn't want to waste any time reading up on the threats to pony kind. The Covenant, the Flood, and quite possibly...
She looks over at Taylor who's in the bunk across from her. The simple thought of he being a threat to her hurt on the inside but in reality she knew it was true. She had experienced the dangers of humans first hand, and barely lived to account for that fact. It worried her that even though they're trying to protect all races on Equis and themselves against such large threats without causing mass destruction may be the one thing that actually gets them all killed in the end. And even if they do use full force what would be left? Ponyville had already been glassed, Canterlot nuked, and who's to say Filly isn't next?
A quiet sigh escaped Twilight as she goes back to reading. It confused her why the Humans and Covenant were fighting if they had a truce, unless one of them violated it. And the Flood were supposedly eradicated but apparently after what happened earlier that day, that was proven to be false. What was next? Is there something else that could possibly come back and reek even more havoc?
Another thing the completely baffled Twilight is why the Covenant weren't being more diligent with their destruction? From what she had read they could've easily taken over this entire planet in a matter of hours, but they haven't. Her question is why. Why... she thought to herself as she scrolls through more data bases for information. Soon she came across a document about the Covenant before the truce. A sudden thought hits her. It clicked.
Twilight jumps up from her cot and bounces onto Taylor's. He gives a smile but Twilight is in partial lecture mode. "Taylor, you know how quickly Covenant can take over a planet, right?" she inquires.
Taylor takes a second to process the question. "Uh.. yeah, why?"
"Why? Why, because we technically shouldn't be here. This whole planet should have been glassed by now!"
"You're point?"
Twilight lets out an exasperated sigh. "Do you know why the Humans and Covenant were in a war to begin with?"
Taylor cocks an eye brow at Twilight. "Yeah, it was some religious war. What about it?"
"Think about it!" she exclaims, hopping of his cot and begins to trot around the room as more marines who are bunking in the same room look at her. "The Covenant worshiped these Forerunner artifacts, they never destroyed them!"
"So..."
Twilight turns to face Taylor. "So, if you think about it, Covenant worshiped Forerunner artifacts, the Flood were held on the Halo rings, which were Forerunner. Don't you get it? The whole reason we're even alive is because of this!"
Taylor slowly put the pieces together as Twilight gave him hints at what she was shooting at. It does make sense. The whole realization hits Taylor like a freight train as his skin goes pale. "You seriously don't me-"
"What if we are? What if this another Flood holding facility like the rings?" Twilight cuts off Taylor but doesn't seem to care. "If we are, that's one more thing on the list of bullshit we have to try and survive!" Twilight shouts at Taylor and everyone in the room just stares at the lavender mare.
"Y'all know what this means right?" one of the marines silently asks, but no one answers. They all know exactly what it meant.
Author's Note
Adding one more chapter to add one more thing to the list of BS they have to endure. Decided to make a short one before getting back to the action. Enjoy~
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
A new beginning: Part 1, P:2, P:3 merged
(AN: So sorry for the bad ending to chapter one, but like I said before I won't do it again. As such I feel some explanation is in order for what happened between then and now in the story so if you read on the story shall tell!)
There we were, standing in the large open room which held only a single round table at its center. Both princesses plus the captains and commanders from each of the ten UNSC ships stood around the large table discussing territory options for the UNSC to place its troops. Not only that but since we have seen no sign of Covenant activity we were basically out of the war until we got the slip-space drives repaired for all ships and go back to UNSC controlled space.
I looked over at Princess Luna who we had recently met not too long ago. Her midnight mane waved in the air like it would if there was a light breeze in the room. The hue of blue that painted her coat seemed to go perfectly with mane. Not only that but Princess Celestia had told me and Ray what the little symbols on a pony's flank was, and it seemed weird at first but the idea kind of grew on me. Apparently in this world Celestia raises and lowers the sun while Luna did the same with the moon. None of the higher command or anyone else the fact except me seemed to believe the fact. Although all the ponies we've met so far confirm the fact that the princesses did just that. Ray and I didn't really get that much information on the world here during the short Pelican ride to the castle in Canterlot.
Both princesses seemed to be looking at a certain area on the map that covered the entire table while a small device scanned up and down the map collecting information and sending it to the nearest ship available, after which that ships AI would then send that information to the remainder ships giving us all updated maps we could use. Unfortunately the ponies don't use a coordinate system so the on-board AI has to create one for us to use effectively. I went up to the table right as the small device finished scanning the colorful map. Princess Luna had been talking to her sister but stopped to look up at me, after which she continued to converse with Celestia on the matter at hand. I took a look around the map ignoring the glares I received from a few of the higher command. After a minute of scanning the areas I noticed a particularly uncontested area with in Equestria borders near a place called Applebaloosa. The princesses didn't seem like they had even considered the area nor had any of the captains or commanders.
"Uhh, how about here?" I asked pointng to the blank spot in a desert colored area. Both princesses and the higher command looked at the spot I had chosen. A few of the commanders began to converse amongst themselves along with the princesses who seemed to like me spot of choice.
"Sister I do think this might be the best place so far." Luna said her expression showing her pondering the area almost as if she was second guessing the spot.
Celestia nodded her head in agreement. "This very well be the only choice we might have." She looked to the still conversing group of commanders. "What do you think of it?"
"Well, it's a good spot and all. Only problem is that there isn't a source of water near by." I recognized the man who just spoke. It was one of the ships strategic ground commanders but his name slipped my mind.
"The human does pose a good point, Tai. Perhaps we could allow the humans to live with the pon..." Luna was cut off by a loud bang.
The sound caught me by surprise and looked over to see the commander of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn II with his hand in a fist and his expression hard pressed with anger. "For the last time no one is going to stay anywhere near your kind." Celestia seemed unamused by the outburst while Luna let out a defeated sigh.
"Actually..." a voice from thin air began. The little device lit up in the center projecting a blue hologram of a female figure that wore normal civilian clothing and her hair straightened. "I think it would be a rather good idea to let our soldiers mingle with a peaceful alien race. Not only that but reduced stress on the men and women would yield better combat awareness later on. About a thirty seven percent increase to be precise, commander." Renona said in her usually calm voice.
The commanders brow creased as he began to raise a question. "And how exactly did you figure that?"
Renona smiled. "I'm glad you asked commander. I took live combat training results from each squad in your ship and compared it to each of the other ships results and found that your strictness increased stress in the soldiers, thus reducing their ability to combat efficiently when the time arose." Renona looked towards the princesses who's expressions varied. Celestia kept her usual poker-face while Luna seemed intrigued by the blue hologram. "Now that I have taken scans of the map I would highly suggest letting us set up on the boarders of Ponyville. I believe the open fields should be optimal spaces for training. Plus it will allow the men and women the chance to interact with anyone in the town."
Celestia nodded her head and looked to the group of commanders for their approval. "If you all think this will be our best option I will begin arrangements to make your stay permanent and will be constructing homes for you. Lyra will also be accompanying you for the time being. I wish you all a good rest of the day. Lulu, I believe we have court to attend to." With that the whole room seemed to disperse their separate ways.
I walked through the large double doors on the opposite side of the room and found Lyra and Twilight sitting, waiting for me or anyone really to come through the doors. The pair looked up at me as I went to them. "So?" The lavender unicorn inquired.
"Well nothings really official yet." I began. "We have decided on a spot near Ponyville, and Lyra..." Lyra's ears erected upon hearing her name. "Princess Celestia decided that you will be staying with us for a short time. Why? I'm not completely sure."
Lyra was practically beaming and looked like she was about to burst. "So I'm assuming Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are going to be covering the topic more then?" Twilight asked looking at me with a curious gaze.
I shook my head. "No, everything is pretty much set except it hasn't been documented. However we are going to be finding a way to try and repair our slip-space drives. In the meantime we have nothing to do really." I let out short sigh before I began walking down the corridors of the castle, completely oblivious to the fact Lyra had decided to follow me. The echoing thud my boots made when they made contact with the marble flooring of the castle masked the soft clip-cloping of the sea foam green pony behind who was watching me the few minutes I had been aimlessly walking.
"Taylor?" said a voice from behind me. I turned to see Lyra standing there with what I could only guess to be a worried expression. "Are you alright?"
A moment of hesitation passed by me before I answered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why is something up?"
Lyra looked down at her hoofs....
____________________________________________________________________
I put down the small glass pad I had in my hand on a small pale mud-green cot that I slept on every night. Lyra was lying down on her own cot faced away from me, her mid section raising up and down in a steady motion. We were inside a tent and it had only been a few days since the final arrangements for all the soldiers to become Equestrian citizens was made, and now all we had to do is wait for homes to be built and we could all live a normal life again. No war, no fighting. It brought peace to my mind knowing that. I stole a look at the pad. Tonight I decided I wanted to write down everything that had happened to me since I got here just to see if I'm dreaming. Everything tells me I'm not yet, it feels like I should be.
A light breeze cut through the tent and Lyra involuntarily shivered. Lyra I thought I told you to use the blankets. I quickly grabbed the drab green blanket from the foot of the cot and gently laid it across her body. Her hoofs quickly wrapped around it pulling it tight across her body to keep warm. Kind of cute when she's curled up like that. Almost like having a pet... no... no that wasn't what I was looking for. Ah well. Remember, Taylor. Early morning field training tomorrow. Better get some sleep. I took the glass pad off my cot and slid it into a standard issue UNSC backpack with my name etched into one of the flaps.
With a light sigh I rested my back onto the green mesh and flipped the pillow to the cool side before closing my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
________________________________________________________
I woke to the feeling of something against my stomach, and I was on the edge of my cot for some reason. I gently pushed the mass away from me but it responded by snugging closer to me, almost like a dog would. I took a quick glance over at Lyra's cot then down at the mass that was wrapped up tight in blankets. "Lyra!" I whispered harshly. The blankets shuffled a little before a mint-green head poked out. "Lyra, get out of my cot!" I pushed forcefully this time and she finally gave in. Her mane was completely disheveled and messy, but made her way over back to her cot. I think I caught a hint of sadness when she looked in my direction.
Checking my watch I had attached to my wrist I realized that it was still an hour before we were supposed to be up. I let out a groan before turning on my side, the green wall of the tent greeting me. Lyra had gotten into the habit of sneaking into my cot during the middle of the night. I found it pretty annoying finding her curled up next to me. Mostly because I'm not used to it and partially because I didn't want to be found with her in my lap then get chewed out by the Sergeant. Most of the men and women had already gotten used to having Lyra around all the time, but they don't really seem to like her that much despite what I tell her. I turned and looked back over at Lyra but she was curled up facing the wall, a hint of regret beginning to engulf me.
"Lyra?" I whispered. She didn't even budge except for the light rise and fall of her chest. I let out a short sigh before standing, the cot also letting out a sigh. Well, might as well get ready before call time. I thought as I took my own blanket and placed it over Lyra since there was a slight chill in the air. Lyra huffed before she poked her head up making eye contact with me. "Hey." I said quietly with a small smile.
"Hey..." Lyra replied still a little drowsy from sleep. "Sorry for, you kno...." she let out a yawn before looking back at me.
I adverted my eyes from her for a split second. "It's alright." I said turning to my cot, just below that my ruck sack. I grabbed the ruck sack and threw it on top my cot before opening it and pulling out fresh clothes. My stuff I was wearing now was at least two days if not three old and desperately needed to be changed. After a few minutes I had completely changed into fresh forest green clothes. When I turned back to Lyra she was again turned facing the wall of the tent with both blankets wrapped around her.
I quietly exited the tent immediately greeted by a light breeze. The sun was just coming up making a few oranges and purples in the sky. There were no clouds out and the grass around me seemed greener during the twilight. The air also smelled immensely fresh, completely untouched by the smog that factories produced. It was also quiet. Not like a waiting in the trenches for all hell to break loose type of quiet, but just... quiet.
Just out of the corner of my eye I spotted a figure moving and faced it. There was Sarge walking around with a cup of coffee in his hands. He was already wearing his pitched black ODST armor except his helmet. I went up to him giving him a nod as he looked in my direction.
"Kid, what are you doing up?" Sarge said before sipping at his coffee.
I shrugged, "Lyra woke me up and I didn't feel like rushing to get ready." I then looked myself over. "Well I guess I still need to get on my armor, huh?"
Sarge let out a short chuckle, but I wasn't sure why. "Well, no need to rush. They're pushing back call time 'cause we have a few speacial guests joinin us. One of the higher command and the AI's thought it would be a good idea to let them in on this." Sarge took another sip of the coffee. "Although most of the higher command is against this..." He trailed off from his train of thought.
I thought for a moment trying to think if anyone besides Lyra was even allowed near here. After a moment I thought the princesses would have access. "The princesses are coming here? To watch?" Sarge shook his head. "Huh..."
"We'll also be doing a live fire testing of all weapons before hand. They wanted to see everything." Sarge replied.
Everything? "we're going to be out here all day then." A thought occurred to me. "MAC's too?"
"Everything." Sarge replied before lifting his watch to his face. "You've got three hours before call time. Why don't you go back to bed? I'll get you up an hour early."
I glared at him for a second before answering. "I can set my own alarm. Thanks." With that I turned and went back to the same forest green tent. When I entered it was dark on the inside and I could barely make out the shapes of the two cots. I quietly went over to Lyra's cot and found her sound asleep and I gently ran my fingers though her tangled mane, amazed at how soft it felt. I think she awoke again because she pushed her head into my hand. For a while I scratched behind her ear before I got up and went back over to my cot, taking out my SMG and cleaning kit.
I didn't notic Lyra get up until she jumped onto my cot laying next to me. She seemed more awake than she had only five minutes ago. "What are you doing?" She asked eyeing the gun in my hand.
"I'm cleaning it before the mission." I said as I took out one of the pins in the side of the weapon allowing me to open the top and see the inside of the SMG.
Inside it are numerous parts that moved, all made of metal and kept up at their most pristene condition. I took out the long metal cylinder on top, then throughly inspected it. In the front was the firing pin i. The center of two prongs which were used to grasp the rounds, then eject them once they had been fired. On the prongs were some gunpowder residue that needed to be cleaned off and I promptly grabbed a small rag and a bottle of cleaning oil.
I looked over at Lyra who is watching me intensly. She didn't move her eyes to me but kept them on the weapon. I continued cleaning the SMG, putting it back together when I was finished. I put a fake round into the chamber, then cocked the weapon, and fired. My ears heard the satisfying click as the pin made contact with the hard plastic fake, then ejected it not a moment later.
"Good as new." I announced to no one in particular, setting the SMG back down. I looked down at Lyra who was now levitating my silenced magnum in the air.
The mint green unicorn looked up at me with a confused expression. "You know I see everypony carrying these things. What do they do exactly?" She asked, her expression changing to worry.
"Well.... Uhhh." I hesitated not sure how to explain these things to a pony. Especially one from a peaceful civilization. "Lets just say that it can hurt you if you're not careful."
Lyra looked back at the magnum before asking the question I always hated answering. "Do they kill?"
Now I felt trapped. I wanted to tell her yes, but didn't want to scare her either. I decided to just avoid the question over all. "I'm getting hungry." I quickly pulled up my ruck sack and dug through it for any MRE's. eventually I found a few and tossed one to Lyra.
She quickly caught the pale green package with her magic and brought it to her face so she could read the label. A look of disgust distorted her mussel as she set down the package. "Do we really have to eat these?" Lyra complained like a foal.
"Its that, or going hungry till dinner." I quickly replied while opening the pale green package and dug my spoon into the mush. I took a bite then looked at Lyra who is watching me devour the meal. "Well?" I asked swallowing another bite.
Lyra slowly opened the package with her magic, then lifted it to her mussel and sniffed it a few times. She then leaned back again reading the label. She uttered something under her breath but I couldn't hear it, but he reluctantly picked up a spoon with her magic and began eating.
________________________________________________________________________________
Lyra and I stood in line with the other marines and ODST's while the commanders were talking amongst themselves, looking over a map of the surrounding area. I glanced around and saw that everyone was standing straight with their weapons at their sides, ready for the orders to begin the exercise. One of the commanders had looked up at some point when I turned my attention back to them. Following the direction her was looking I saw the princesses and six other ponies walking with them. One of whom I recognized was Twilight. The commander met the octet in the middle and greeted them before returning to the map, the eight ponies following.
I saw Lyra was starting to get antsy and was having trouble staying still. But just in time one of the commanders came forward and looked down the rows of men and women in body armor. "Good morning soldiers. As you know today you will be running two combat exercises. The first one will begin shortly but first I wanted to cover a few things. First off you have all been given lock down paint and should be treated as real ammunition. As such make sure you know where your team is and work together. Today Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be helping over see the exercises along with six of the "most important ponies" we should all know." The commander looked directly at Lyra, holding a stern expression. "Lyra!" He nearly yelled. All eight of the other ponies by the table looked in our direction.
Lyra stood straighter and kept looking forward. "Sir?" She replied trying hard to not let her voice waver.
"You're doing up close observations. Try not to get shot." The commander ordered before turning around.
"Permission to speak, sir." I yelled. The commander stopped then turned to face me. He nodded his head giving me the O.K. "Sir, I don't think it's wise to send Lyra in without any armor, sir. Not only that but she has not been trained in combat, sir. She also had no ear protection, sir!" I quickly listed while looking forward not wanting to see his expression.
The commander slowly made his way to me not saying anything. I felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of my face. He stopped right in front of me, his face only inches from mine. I kept myself from shaking while I waited for him to yell in my face. "Well then, I guess you're going to have to keep a good eye on her. Won't you?" He whispered slowly.
"Yes sir." Was all I got out.
The commander smiled before turning back to the group surrounding the table.
"Get down!" a voice yelled as shots raced over our heads.
I quickly slipped my feet from under me, landing on my stomach which didn't feel very pleasant. The sounds of assault rifles going off would have been deafening if it wasn't for the built in ear protection all the helmets came equipped with. I looked around trying to find anything that looked like a mint green color, but couldn't. Panic began to consume me as I scrambled on my hands and knees, crawling behind the hill that my squad was taking cover behind.
"Cover fire!" another ODST next to me yelled into his mic while firing short burst of his SMG.
I felt something touch me from behind and turned to see Lyra with a helmet awkwardly attached to her head. An explosion cause dirt to fly up over the hill we took cover behind. I checked the motion tracker in the bottom left of my helmets visor and could see numerous red dots on the edge of the sensors. After a moment I noticed a small portion of the red dots were moving to the right of the sensors. "All units, enemy if flanking right. Set up resistance in the buildings, I want sniper fire on them." I commanded into my mic and a few ODST's and marines with snipers went to set up.
We were trapped and had to figure out a way to get to the objective. I peeked over the top of the hill and found massive amounts over cover then enemy team was using to their advantage. Scattered around are flat metal platforms with another flat metal piece with a square hole in the center were set up. Standard UNSC barriers. In between those are sandbags piled to at least half the height of a normal person.
Both princesses and the six ponies, along with General Perez stood at monitor watching live cam footage from the cameras attached to each soldiers helmet. Princess Celestia was in utter shock at how vicious each soldier was, not hesitating to take shots at each other in attempt to score a hit. On the other hand Princess Luna seemed quite intrigued by the on going exercise. Fluttershy is huddled up in a corner unable to watch the shootings and the sounds of discharged weapons and people yelling as they pushed the front. AppleJack sat next to Fluttershy trying to help her understand what was happening.
The lavender turned her gaze away from the screen as the camera changed to a different soldiers view and shots rang out and screams came shortly afterwords.
"If its too much for you, you may leave." General Perez announced to no one in particular, but no one moved, their eyes fixed on the screen.
Rarity had wanted to tear her gaze away but couldn't. The sheer horror occurring in front of her had captivated her. Not in a good way, but in a way that if she did she might lose her breakfast and watching was the only thing keeping her mind off that. She hadn't been able to speak the entire time.
A rainbow maned Pegasus is hovering above the Princesses, grinning ear to ear thinking about how awesome the thing she is watching was. More sounds of shots being fired blared through the speakers but no screams or yells came. "This... is awesome!"
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity recoiled at the sound of hearing those words. "How can you say that? These brutes are causing a mess. And the color of their armor. Olive green?"
"GIRLS!"
Both Rainbow Dash and Rarity turned to face the lavender unicorn who is levitating a note pad and quill above her head, taking notes.
Twilight let out a soothing sigh to calm herself before continuing. "We're supposed to be observing, not fighting. Now either sit there and watch or leave the room." With that Twilight turned back to the screen and continued to write down notes on the events happening in real time.
The video feed changed again, this time showing footage of what Taylor was seeing. The camera turned to the right showing Lyra ducking behind a concrete barrier. Lyra had begun to peer over the edge of the concrete right as shots rang out and the camera view rushed forward, tackling the mint green mare,
The camera shifted upwards, showing Lyra lying on the ground unharmed. "Dammit Lyra I told you to stay down!"
"Sorry..." was all they could hear the unicorn say before the sound of SMG's and sniper rifles being fired engulfed her voice. Lyra stood and brushed herself off with her magic.
On a opposite monitor it had the map of the layout and little red and blue triangles, each one representing a soldier. Sometimes one would disappear signaling that someone had been hit and 'killed'. The blue triangles are attempting to surround the red ones, but more blue triangles winked out of existence by the minute. Every now and then a red triangle would disappear from the screen.
More shots whizzed over our head as my squad moved left to try and flank the enemy team and push them back. They had begun getting too cocky and took more casualties than the enemy at first but now that they had a foot hold they are pushing back. I stopped my squad and took cover behind a concrete wall, an after a moment I realized just how quiet it had gotten. It didn't feel right.
Without hesitation I pulled up the map on my HUD and did a location check on the rest of our team. Green triangles were scattered around in a semi-circle, moving forward on the yellow outlines that represented cover and buildings. It just didn't make any sense to me.
Again we began to move forward, keeping our heads low which wasn't a problem for the unicorn behind me. A shot rang out when one of us stuck our head up to high and we all ducked down further. I stopped my team when we came to a small open area between cover that we needed to cross. I went first and was met with silence as i crossed and crouched down when I made it to the other side.
I motioned for the next guy to do the same and again not shots were fired. Lyra is next in line and she looked a little afraid, shaking slightly. She took a few steps back before she sprinted forward. This time a loud bang came out of no where and the mint green unicorn fell on her side, halfway in the cover, halfway out. I sat there for a second trying to comprehend what I just saw before coming to my senses and pulled the limp mare into the cover.
Dammit! Fuck! I rolled Lyra onto her back, a large red blotch invading my sight. They hit her in the mid-section and can hear her gasping for breath. This told me she had the wind knocked out of her from the stun round but she'd be lucky if it didn't cause anything more than a large bruise considering she hadn't been wearing armor.
"...ield medic, over. I repeat, requesting a field medic. We have a hit mint green colored unicorn mare, mid section bruised and possible internal damage. Victim is hard of breathing an..." I turned off the mic not wanting to listen to anymore of the coms.
Princess Luna was the only one watching the exercise along with General Perez, the camera view continuing to switch between the each soldier on the field. Princess Celestia in the six ponies are enjoying cups of tea as they waited for the exercise to finish up. It had been going on for at least five hours. Six at most. An orange coat mares ears erected trying to listen in on the radio. She looked up, straining to catch whatever was happening.
"What's goin' on with yer thing over there?" AppleJack inquired, pointing a hoof at the small metallic box.
General Perez moved his gaze over to the radio before turning up one of the dials.
"We have a hit mint green colored unicorn mare, mid section bruised and possible internal damage." a voice rang out through the small speakers.
Perez's expression changed from relaxed to mild concern before turning back to the monitor. "Renona, switch the video feed to Taylor's feed."
"Yes, General." replied a unseen female voice. In an instant the screen changed showing a view of trees and a concrete wall.
Now everyone had gotten up and went to the monitor to see what was going on. The camera shifted down revealing the unicorn in the dirt, her eyes filled with fear and pain. Both Celestia's and Luna's mouths are wide open while, shocked at the sight of Lyra yelling in pain at the slightest movement or touch. Twilight stared in horror, unable to move her gaze away from the screen.
"Lyra, calm down. You're going to be fine. Deep breaths, Lyra." Taylor's voice came through trying to calm the distressed mare.
"Renon..."
"Already sent a medical officer, sir." Renona cut off Perez. She then appeared on a holopad and smiled at the group of ponies. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. The most she'll suffer is some internal bruising and external bruising, nothing too serious."
Celestia's face grew serious as she approached Perez. "I told you not to let her on that field, for her safety. This is exactly why I didn't want any of my little ponies out there!" Celestia began yelling, her hoofs making contact with the metal floor which emitted a loud clank as metal met metal.
Perez didn't even so much as flinch at the approaching monarch. "I assure you this wasn't supposed to happen. Everyone knew she was there and was told not to fire at her, and when we find out who had shot her he or she will be dealt with appropriately." The general said not daring to move his gaze from the white alicorn.
"For your sake you better hope it doesn't get her hospitalized, 'cause if it does I'm going to se....." Celestia stopped as she felt a midnight blue wing fall over her back gently. She looked over and glanced at Luna for a moment before she stormed out of the room leaving six shocked ponies and an unfazed Princess of the night.
Luna let a smile cross her muzzle. "She'll come around. Tai can be a little protective sometimes."
Perez turned back to the monitor which now showed a medical officer placing a plastic mask attached to an oxygen tank over Lyra's muzzle then gently put her on a gurney and took her to a medical pelican. Perez let out a short sigh. "Renona, alert all personnel that the exercise has come to a conclusion and that may return to their tents and prepare for later this evenings meal."
"Yes sir." Renona replied before winking out of existence on the holopad.
______________________________________________________________________________
"Lyra has minor bruising to her left kidney and severe external bruising on her midsection. I have her on a low dose of morphine right now and we'll also be keeping her over night to keep an eye on her. If there are no further questions I'll let you all be." Audrie said as she read from her data pad. The tall blonde left the rather bland room leaving just me and the two princesses.
I can hear Celestia letting out a low sigh of relief after hearing Lyra is going to be fine. Lyra is being really quiet for some reason. So are the princesses... "So, Lyra." I began trying to come up with something to say that didn't have to do with the incident. "What's life like in Ponyville?"
Lyra's ears erected at the question I presented her. "Well... it's usually peaceful and quiet. Nothing much really happens that I know of. Everypony there is nice and caring. You should really ask Twilight about it. I'm sure you'll get more out of her than I can give you." She paused and I can see the gears turning in her head and I knew which question was coming next. "Do you know who did this to me?"
Unsure of what to say I turned to face the princesses. I could see the growing concern on Luna's face while Celestia was shaking her head "no" at me. I turned back to the mint green unicorn, contemplating what I should say. "Well, uhh... why don't you just rest for now and we can talk about it later."
"And by later you mean never, don't you?"
My face grew serious before I said anymore. "I'll take care of it. Right now I just want you to not think about it, alright?" Lyra nodded her head in confirmation. "Good." I looked up at the clock and realized the time. "Well, I'll see you all around. I want to get dinner then I'll come back for while more. You have a good night, princesses." Luna and Celestia bid me farewell and I headed out of the med bay and down to the hangar.
___________________________________________________________________________
Ray took a large bit of mashed potatoes and swallowed it quickly. "So you're telling me that's why they ended the whole fucking exercise?" Ray inquired as I nodded my head. He leaned back now looking worried. "Shit, dude. That really sucks. Is she going to be... ya know, ok?"
"Yeah, she's fine. They're keeping her over night, don't want her moving around too much right now. They even had to put her on morphine." I replied digging my fork into a steak.
Ray was shaking his head in disappointment to whoever put Lyra in this situation. Just then a large group of guys come into the 'mess hall', all carrying trays of food and laughing to themselves. They all sat and one of the large table.
"Hey come on dude, tell us what happened!" one of they guys yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.
The other guy motions for everyone to come closer and they all moved in unison. I didn't bother listening for a while as me and Ray finished up our steaks. After a few minutes i tuned back into what they guys was talking about. "And so there are these ODST's running across some cover and I waited for the damn thing to pop it's head out, 'cause I knew it was with them. And sure enough the stupid unicorn ran across and I got her clean in the stomach. You should've heard the way sh........" The guys stopped what he was saying and looked up in my direction.
I had gotten up and moved over to their table. "So I hear you shot that unicorn, huh?" I asked in a friendly manner.
The guys face lit up at the question. "Oh man! You should have seen the way she just slumped over hit the ground!"
"That's interesting." I replied keeping my voice upbeat and cheerful. That was, until I rammed my fist into his face and he fell backwards in his seat. I shoved people out of my way and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him onto the floor where I got on top of him giving myself a clear shot at his face, and began to beat him down. I'm pretty sure at some point I broke my hand while beating the living shit out of the punk ass kid.
After a while I found myself being held up in the air and after I swung my fist a few more times, I stopped, my left hand aching and my right completely on fire. I looked behind me and found I was being held up by a fully armored spartan. Freezing I could feel the color drain from my face. Just standing ten feet away from one of them is scary enough, but being held up by it is terrifying.
The soldier had gotten up, his hand covering his nose and cursing as he was led to a medical officer. There is a small pool of blood on the floor which told me I most likely broke his nose. I looked up at the spartan who in turn looked at me. I can see myself in the reflection of its visor, and the people behind me too.
"Officer on deck!" someone hollered and everyone quickly snapped to attention and did a crisp salute.
The spartan set me down and I turned to face Perez walking down the center of the mess hall. I stumbled slightly having to regain my footing. By the time I had and looked up, Perez was in my face staring me down.
"What the hell do you think you're doing soldier?" Perez yelled. I stood my ground not daring to budge even slightly.
"I was simply taking care of a few problems, sir!" I started, "He was talking about how he had shot Lyra, so I decided to take matters into my own hands, sir!"
Perez narrowed his eye and I could feel them burning into my soul. He then took a step back before turning to the marine with the bloody nose. "I want you in my office. And Taylor, you're on suspension for the next three days. I don't want to see you anywhere near the training floors. You may have access to the med bay for tonight." he finished turning to me again as the marine went to the med bay with a few of his buddies.
I snapped a crisp salute before he exited the mess hall without another word and everyone else went back to eating or doing whatever it was they were doing before. The spartan had left as well but I didn't see him or her leave. Ray was about to say something but I decided to head down to the med bay and get my hand checked on.
________________________________________________________________________________
"So you did what exactly?" The Lunar princess inquired.
I shrugged my shoulders before replying. "I gave him what he deserved. Honestly I could've done a lot worse than just break his nose, but don't worry about it. Perez is taking care of him as we speak. Me on the other hand got suspended for doing justice for Lyra." My voice is calm while I speak. I trusted the princesses in that they would approve of my deeds.
A mint green unicorn let out a soft sigh before she turned to face the wall.
"Are you alright, Lyra?" Celestia asked in a voice soft and silky, with a hint of her usual regal tone. Lyra didn't reply at first but eventually turned towards us, looking directly at me.
She moved her gaze from me to the floor and I felt my heart sink. "I just wish you didn't do that. I know he did it on purpose but it didn't give you the right to hurt him back."
I had to strain to hear her and tried to formulate a reply. "Lyra, I... look he knew... and you... ugh." She looked further down. That's it, she won. "Alright, I'm sorry, you're right I shouldn't have done that." Lyra now locked eyes with me, he expression telling me she knew I didn't really feel sorry for the guy. "Lyra..."
"I'm getting kind of tired. I think I'm going to go to sleep." Lyra said, letting out a prolonged yawn that is obviously fake.
Luna gave the unicorn a look of confusion. "But I haven't even raised the moon yet." The lunar goddess complained. "Not only that but it's not even seven."
"Ahem!"
Luna looked to her right to see Celestia giving her the "I think she wants to be alone" look. I mostly recognized it from Jackie back during basic training when new recruits were throwing up on the ground from push-ups and five mile runs. Luna nodded before turning tail for the door along with her sister and I not far behind.
"Taylor, wait."
I didn't hesitate to stop at the door way, both princesses heading towards the pelican bays with guards following them. I turned to face Lyra who is looking at me like she's worried or something. "Yeah?"
Lyra motioned a hoof in her direction telling me to come to her. I complied and sat in a chair next to the bed. "I... thanks." she let a small smile flash across her lips.
"Anytime." I ruffled up her mane a little before standing again.
I felt a hoof on my arm and looked down and Lyra. "Are you going to come get me tomorrow?" she asked giving me the best puppy dog eyes she could. It's cute, I have to admit, but I shook my head knowing that tonight was the only night I can come down here without an emergency or broken arm. Her expression saddened and moved her gaze down at the floor again. "Oh."
"Hey, come on now." I began, leaning down so I am at her level. "It's not like I'm leaving you or anything. Perez just let me down here for tonight. I'd be more than happy too if I wasn't on suspension." Lyra quickly darted her eyes to me before returning to the floor. "I'm sorry I cant, alright. Just get some rest." I said the last sentence a little mean and flinched slightly at it, but Lyra didn't seem to notice.
I stood up again and she turned to face the wall. She let out a huff and pulled the blankets around her covering every bit of her except her head. I slowly made my way to the door and stopped just outside of it, turning to look at the unicorn again. "Goodnight." I was rewarded with her pulling the covers around her tighter and facing away from the door more. After mentally kicking myself a few times as I left the room and headed towards the barracks.
_______________________________________________________________________
I woke up with a light headache and there is a light tapping on my door. Who the hell is knocking at my door? looking at the time I begun to realize just how long I've been asleep. Again, more light tapping came from the metal door to my right which brought me back to where my attention is needed. I stood up, using my hands to balance myself as I shuffled towards the door.
"Yeah?" My groggy voice went through the small speaker on the side of the door.
There was a pause; a very long pause. Eventually a voice came through. "Is this working?"
I recognized the voice slightly, thanks to the low quality speakers. After a short moment I turned on the small external camera and my suspicions were correct. Outside my door was none other than princess Celestia. I let out a groan before answering. "Yeah it's working. What do you need?"
"Have you seen Lyra? She wasn't in the med bay. I thought you might have gone by to get her." Celestia said, worry dripping in her voice. "May I come in?"
I heaved a large sigh before pushing the small black button next to the door frame, and it slid open silently. Celestia casually trotted in the small cramped space and I took a seat on the bed. "So have you seen her?"
"No, I've been asleep until you woke me. Plus I think I upset her last night and she probably is still mad at me." I said pausing for a second to collect my thoughts. "I don't know why but it's like there's something that I'm not seeing. The way she was acting... It's like she.... I don't know."
Celestia frowned at my comment and took a moment to collect her thoughts. "I think..." She took a few steps in my direction, now wearing a smile. "...she feels that you're the only one who cares about her and that can protect her. That could be the reason she's so affectionate to you."
I thought about that reasoning and it did start to make a little sense. But I still feel like there's more to it than that. Something on a more personal level she's hiding from me. But none the less I accepted the fact for now. "You might be right..." I looked up at Celestia with an idea in mind. "You know she could be in the mess hall."
"I didn't think to look there." She said getting to her hooves and made her way to the door. It took her a second to figure out how to open it but found the black button. "Thank you for your help."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Anytime."
__________________________________________
"Now entering the royal court, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"
Large decorated doors opened at both princesses trotted in and everypony in the court room bowed. All except the small portion of human commanders in the room. The princesses took their respected seats at the front of the large semi-circle room. The stadium seating sat over five-hundred ponies, a majority of which are representatives and lawyers. Celestia raised a hoof and everypony sat again, not making a sound.
"Thank you everypony for being able to attend to this matter on such short notice. We are here to discus the residency of the humans that arrived here six days ago. Today will be the last day to discuss this so any decisions must be made by the end of the day. Now last time we discussed this topic we were talking about currency conversions and the construction of homes." Celestia addressed to the room in her regal voice. She paused to let what she said sink in. "Now I have invited four of the commanders and generals from the UNSC. They will be helping us on certain matters we will be discussing today. Lulu if you will." Celestia said turning to the dark blue alicorn next to her.
The lunar goddess smiled. "Certainly, Sister." Luna stood from her seat and trotted down the small set of stairs. "As you all know the human presence has been low. As Mayor Mare stated last time, "Human activity is next to none". As far as this, commander Lexi of the UNSC Now you see me Now you don't had ordered all troops to stay with in camp boundaries. Because of this human-pony interactions have been next to none with the exception of Lyra Heartstrings, my sister and I, and the elements of harmony."
"Princess, if I may interject." A brown pony stood. He had neatly cut mane and was a Canterlot Noble. Luna nodded giving him the go ahead. "I'd like to raise a health concern partly due to what happened to Lyra Heartstring. Humans pose an immediate threat to pony kind. I believe you and Celestia were "studying" human training activities."
Princess Celestia quickly stood flaring out her wings. "We will not discuss that topic at this time!"
The stallion grinned. "Why? Because you know you let on..."
"Lyra was released from human care this morning and is doing fine. What happened was an accident. Now nothing more on the subject!" Celestia interjected. She sat back down glaring at the stallion as he slowly took his own seat again.
Luna stayed quiet for a moment trying to think of a way to keep things from getting too heated. "Ahh, as I was saying..." Luna flipped through some notes she had with her until she found a subject that had almost been concluded. "I guess now would be the appropriate time to finish discussing housing. General Perez?"
Perez stood smoothing out his uniform. "I'll allow Renona." He laid out a small flat piece of metal that had circular indents in the center.
The center lit up and the same female figure appeared but wearing marine armor. Everypony in the room gasped and seemed to scoot a little further back than usual like the hologram was a manticor from the Everfree. Renona looked up at the princesses and smiled. "Good evening, princesses. It's good to see you again." Both princesses nodded their heads in acknowledgement. "I'm sensing a lot of fear... general are you sure this is a good idea?"
"It'll be fine. Just be yourself." Perez replied in a much softer voice than he usually used.
Renona let out a calming sigh before she took a step forward. "Well, from the information I've gathered about your infrastructure, data tells me that they hold up well in heavy storms possibly hurricane classed winds. They also have a self-managing cooling and heating system due to the design of each building rendering air conditioning needless." Renona paused to take a 'breath'. "As far as I'm concerned the housing should be sufficiant except the door space. My calculations show that the area of the of the space of the door way needs to be increased by seven percent. Other than that everything checks out."
"Now hold up here! We're not actually going to allow these things to stay, are we?" a pony from the crowd called out.
Celestia was about to speak up but Renona beat her. "We are kind of forced to stay considering out slip-space drives on all our ships are out of order and nonfunctional. Not only that but we also provide a strong tactical advantage in terms of military and transportation of goods. And if we really wanted too we would already have taken over the whole kingdom with in a few hours. So us staying isn't a matter of choice, it's a matter of making things work for the time being."
"Ahem..." Renona looked up to the sound of the voice and found Celestia glaring at her. "Thank you for that insight. So will that be all?" Renona nodded before disappearing. "Now that we have come to a conclusion on that matter, new floor plans will be designed with a seven percent increase on doorway space. I would now like to focus our attention to currency issues. Before we had discussed inflation issues the UNSC has encountered do to this Human-Covenant war." Celestia paused to flip through notes written during the last court session. "Now they say that the Covenant threat should not exist since they are no longer in their own galaxy, which is name the Milkyneigh galaxy, or the Milkyway galaxy so they call it."
Celestia waved a hoof in Luna's direction and her sister picked up where she had left. "Inflation on the bit will not be a problem. We had Renona work the calculations for us and she came up with that for every thirty dollars a bit will be produced. With this in mind we took in the account of each soldiers pay and added them together and spitting it evenly between all two thousand plus UNSC troops. This means each UNSC personnel will receive a total of sixty two bits. Any questions?" No pony objected or added anything. "Good."
Luna went through more notes until she found the next subject of the matter. "Ah, here we go. Second to last thing is, as another pony wanted to bring up, health care." The same pony began to stand. "Sir, please be seated, I will cover that matter here shortly." After the brown pony was seated again Luna began. "As some of you may have heard, Lyra Heartstrings had participated in a UNSC training exercise. Proper precautions were put in place to protect her but unfortunately for her some soldiers of the UNSC don't like to follow instructions. Because of this she was hospitalized for the night while she recovered from the incident. From what we hear she's doing fine and her protector, Taylor of the UNSC Last Frontier, is keeping a good eye on her."
"Thank you Luna." Celestia said taking the ball. "Because of this incident we learned that the human stun round can cause sever bruising, and if hit at point blank, can kill. However, these will only be used during UNSC training exercises. Back to the issue of health care." Celestia paused to let out a yawn she had been trying to stifle. "I will allow doctor Audrie to take advances."
At this a tall skinny woman with her brunet hair tied back stood from her seat. "Thank you. As the princess said stun rounds were designed for hitting armor and not bare skin. Although Lyra only had some bruising it still caused her a lot of pain due to the pointed tip of the rounds. To kill the pain we used a small dose of morphine and after a few hours she was fine to move around a little."
"Ok, can you explain what any of this has to do with health care? We're sitting here listining to you ramble!" A mare in the back rows yelled out.
Audrie paused and let out a frustrated sigh. "Some ponies, I swear!" she uttered to herself before continuing in a upbeat tone. "I was just about to get to that! I took the time to chat with a few of Ponyvilles nurses and doctors to get an idea of how good health care is. We can, with the agreement of local doctors, provide more advanced medical equipment and procedures to increase recovery rates of patients."
A mare with a pure white coat and a red cross for her cutie mark stood. Her light brown mane blending perfectly with the white on her coat, and a small hat with the same red cross sat on her head. "How big of an increase are we talking about?"
Audrie smiled at the mare. "Well, it depends. If we're talking about a broken bone and normal recovery time is two weeks, that recovery time will be reduced the five days. Although the patient will have to stay in bed rest for an additional three days with light therapy."
The mare thought about this and seemed pleased by the answer given to her, and sat down afterwards. Celestia stood from where she was at and moved down to where Luna was standing. "If there are no more matters that need to be covered, then I will have the final version of the Human-Pony agreement by tonight. Thank you all and have a good rest of the evening. Lulu, dinner should be ready soon."
_________________________________________________
2236 (10:36) hour
Per due to being in Equestrian territory, UNSC Military calendar will be unissued in twelve days. As such, all UNSC personnel will be official Equestrian citizens at 2400 hour Equestrian time.
Below are the Human-Pony agreement articles.
Article: 1
By agreeing to this document you are accepting citizenship to Equestria and will follow the laws embedded in its government. Also, you will recognize princess Celestia and princess Luna as your political leaders for the rest of your stay. You will be treated as a normal Equestrian citizen and will do as other Equestrians do.
Article: 2
All UNSC personnel will receive sixty two bits to start off and taxes will not apply for the first week of citizenship. After said week all persons will pay a .7% tax on all goods. Additionally there is a .2% income tax rate that must be payed in full during tax collection. Failure to comply will result in banishment to the moon.
Article: 3
The homes provided are free of charge, but in consequence the home value tax rate is doubled (.5% to 1%). A home is already requested to be built and you may ask for this to be canceled before construction of the home is started. This also means that a pony has invited you into his/her home and you agreed. A form must be filled by both you and the said pony to show you are now living under their roof and are a "guest". This is to keep legal issues from popping up later on.
Article: 4
All UNSC personnel will be given health insurance, the first month being paid curtesy of princess Celestia and princess Luna. After said month paying the insurance companies is up to your own devices. Home insurance will not be included.
Article: 5
Any driving of warthogs is prohibited in any part of Equestria due to safety concerns. Only allotted time for Warthogs to be driven will be during scheduled UNSC training exercises. Pelicans will be reserved for long range transportation of goods to out regions of Equestria or other kingdoms. (Please note the other kingdoms have been alerted of your presence and your equipment.)
Article: 6
All UNSC personnel will be given the same opportunities at a good paying job as a normal pony and will receive unbiased pay. If you see a work place that fails to comply, send a message to Canterlot Castle and one or both Princesses will deal with said work place.
(To see the pony-housing forms, click here)
If you have read and accepted these articles, hit the accept button. If you wish to make any changes to the pony-housing forms, send a e-mail to Commander Antonio.
(Accept) (decline (note that declining will result in banishment to the moon))
Lyra looked up from the pad as I finished cleaning my magnum and silenced SMG. I turned my head to see what she was doing and immediately got irritated. "Lyra, I told you not to mess with my stuff!" Lyra's ears folded as I scolded her and took the pad from her. I looked to see what she was doing with it and noticed the file and begun to read it over.
"I... I was wondering if you'd, I don't know..." Lyra began but didn't finish.
Curiosity got the better of me. "What? You were wondering if I would stay at your place?" Lyra nodded her head. Ugh, what am I going to do with this pony? Now she wants me to stay at her place. What's next? I let out a sigh and set the pad down beside me. "Look..." Lyra's expression changed from hopeful to torn in a split second. "I like you and all, but I can't. I just don't think it would be appropriate."
Lyra hopped off my cot and slowly went to hers with her head hanging low. "Lyra, come on I didn't mean it like that."
"No, it's fine. I understand." Lyra countered before jumping on the cot across from me and found a comfortable spot, and finally laying down. "I mean, I should've guessed you were going to say no."
Dammit, Lyra! Why do you always do that? I heaved a rather large sigh with my face in my hands as I tried to think, but kept drawing blanks except for 'say yes'. "Alright, alright. I'll fill out the damned form." Lyra looked at me with worried eyes as I reached for my data pad. The file was still opened and I clicked on the link that sent me to the form fill out. I glanced up for a second and caught Lyra's glare. "What?"
"You don't have to fill it out if you don't want too." she replied, her golden eyes watching me carefully.
I simply smiled at her before standing up to move over to her cot, sitting down next to her. "If you want me too I will." I began to scratch behind her ears and ran my fingers through her soft man. She almost seemed to purr as she pushed her head into my hand more, making my fingers press harder as I messed up her mane more than I meant too. "Alright, lets see what we have here..."
_____________________________________________________
After about an hour of filling out the pony-housing form, canceled my home construction, agreed to the document and sent it to whoever it goes to, Lyra and I were 'enjoying' dinner. Lyra grimaced with every bite of the vegetarian meal MRE while I quickly downed the spaghetti and meatballs. I sat in the opposite corner of the tent from Lyra to try and spare her the smell of meat as much as possible.
Over the past few days she got used to the fact that a majority of people enjoy eating meat, much like griffons. I even heard that Celestia is going to arrange trading agreements with them for the in-port of meat, just for us. Although I could probably live on a vegetarian diet, I just enjoy hamburgers too much to give it up.
Once dinner was over we stayed up for a little longer and chatted before deciding to hit the sack. Once I was in my cot and Lyra hers, we both eventually drifted off to our respected and well deserved dreams.
Author's Note
So here we are with the beginning of chapter two. I felt like I should probably write these in parts, dunno why I just did. So part two should come out soon. Get a little bit of action for anyone who was waiting for it.
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
The Past few weeks: part 4
Dammit, where the fuck is Pe... My thoughts are cut off when I run into someone when rounding the corner. Twilight is able to stop herself before she too became part of the pile. "Ugh, sorry 'bout that." I said as I pushed myself off the other person. It didn't take me long to realize I had ran into a spartan.
The spartan pushed herself up as well, smoothing out the shirt she is wearing. She is about a foot taller than me and her skin is almost a creamy white. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail. "Yeah, yeah. Just watch where you're going." She replied coldly. I backed up slightly allowing the spartan room to move. She took notice of the lavender colored pony next to me and quickly took interest. "Hey, you're that one pony that everyone talks about." A light shade of crimson formed and Twilight's cheeks. "Say, how was the armor testing?"
Immediately Twi's ears half-dropped at the question. "It went fine."
The spartan gave her a questioning look and seemed to scrutinize her. "No, something isn't right." Twilight backed away at the sentence. The spartans blue eyes scanned Twilight's body before shaking her head. "What did they do to you?" I leaned down to Twilight because it looks like she's about to cry again, but she just scooted away. I took the hint and stood again, facing the spartan who is watching me. "They didn't."
I shook my head and turned to Twilight who is wearing a brave face. "Yeah, they did. I was looking for Perez so we could take care of Sarge."
"Perez won't get you anywhere." The spartan replied before turning down the hallway. "I'm Jessica by the way. Come on." She said waving a hand in the direction she is walking. Twilight and I began to follow Jessica down the bland metallic hallway. Each of our steps made a soft 'clank' as we made our way to room I have never seen before. Inside the room are two rows of long sterile desks with stands set up on top.
Jessica moved to one of the stands, enabling a holoprojector and a screen lit up. "Sarge isn't who you think he is. He has been keeping this stuff covered for years and Perez has wanted to put him on court but didn't have any prove of his wrongdoings. However, I can access them."
Twilight and I joined Jessica at the computer, watching the screen as she explained. "What do you mean he isn't who we think he is? He's just a sergeant... right?"
"Wrong." Replied Jessica as she began to go through network systems. "Sergeant McClain is an ONI agent. That's about as much as I know about him. Dammit!"
"What?"
Jessica let a frustrated sigh escape her lips. "They locked me out. Not only that but I also have to deal with the damn magical interference."
Twilight seemed to shrink back slightly at Jessica's outburst. "I think I might be able to help." Twilight offered as she moved up to the desk. Jessica moved over to give Twilight room to do her thing. Twi closed her eyes shut, focusing on the computer. The computer became engulfed in a faint purple haze.
"Hello miss Sparkle." A familiar female voice came from nowhere. A hologram appeared in front of the computer from a secondary holoprojector. "I should have guessed it was you causing the drop in the magical interference."
Twilight's face lit up at the sight of Renona. "Hello, Renona."
Renona looked around the room. "Jessica, Taylor. I see you two have met since your last encounter. Tell me, what's it like to be held in the air by a spartan?"
I rolled my eyes. "How about you ask me later, we're kind of busy." I turned to Jessica with an annoyed look. "Don't do that again."
Jessica simply shrugged before returning to the computer. Renona glanced in my direction before turning her attention to the computer as well. "So, Taylor." A grin formed on Renona's lips. "How are you and Twilight doing?"
Jessica turned to face us, confusion written on her face. "Did I hear that correctly? That sounded like she was implying you're dating her." She said gesturing in Twilight's direction.
A sheepish smile formed on Twilight's muzzle and her cheeks burned a slight crimson. I can feel my face getting hot as well. "It's still kind of awkward for me sometimes." I looked over at Twilight and smiled. Twi rolled her eyes like I was just being childish. "Plus she's a little stubborn too."
"I'm not stubborn!" she quickly shot back.
"If you say so miss I have to finish this letter for princess Celestia." I mocked at the purple unicorn.
Twilight glared at me. "That doesn't make me stubborn."
Jessica watched us in confusion from the chair she sat in. She turned Renona. "Reno, how long have they..."
"I think its been about a week. They're a 'cute' couple, don't you think?" Renona replied with a grin.
Jessica wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to reply. She decided it was probably best to not ask and returned to the computer.
Twilight and I continued to argue about her being stubborn which eventually ended in Twilight winning again. I swear mares are like human females. You just can't win an argument against them. I thought as we both turned our attention to the computer as well. "So what are you doing exactly?"
Jessica didn't answer at first but she glanced at me then back to the screen. "I'm going through the ships files on every personnel. Renona here isn't making it easy for me." Everyone is quiet after that. Jessica continued to go through the files until she stopped. "Hey, Taylor. Why don't we take a look through your files. I'm sure something interesting will pop up."
My heart stopped for a second when she said that. "Sounds good." I replied quickly so my voice didn't crack. There are things on there I didn't want Twilight to see for my own good and hers. Jessica pulled up my files and immediately went to the video folder.
Jessica clicked on one of the videos I instantly recognized. The video is a medium quality, maybe closer to low. You can hear people talking such as Sarge, Ray and Drake. After a few more seconds we all got into our pods and are lowered into firing tubes on the ship. It seemed like forever but eventually the pod dropped and you can see the edge of the planet. Twilight watched both amazed and horrified.
The pod continued to fall until a red glowing engulfed the glass and the inside became hot. A few more seconds pass and you can finally see the forest we were dropped into. The pod landed with a heavy 'thud' as it hit the dirt. Explosive bolts threw the door off the pod and I jumped out, grabbing my weapons that are stored in side compartments.
"So that's what you do?" I hear Twilight ask.
I shook my head still watching the video, going through the whole thing in my head. My team and I moved quietly through the forest. The ground is covered in the large jungle leaves and the trees towed high overhead, letting little of the sunlight through the mix of branches and leaves. Through most of the slow creeping there is no talking over the radio. After a few minutes an enemy patrol came into view about two hundred meters away. Not far from them is a large concrete building with the logo of a snake on it.
"Alright, this is it. Rebels wont know what hit 'em." A voice came over the communication channels. Soon after the whole team began to move forward, spread out amongst the trees. A few seconds pass and I couldn't see anyone on my team anymore, save for the motion trackers. All of them are on the edge of the sensors.
About twenty meters in front of me a rebel guard stood facing away from me, assault rifle in hand. I moved around the thick jungle and pulled out a combat knife, coming from behind and sent the blade through the guys throat, my hand over his mouth so he couldn't make noise. A small amount of blood drained from the cut until the knife was pulled out and the guy held his neck as the jungle floor became drenched in his blood. He slowly died, the life ebbing away in his eyes. Once I had confirmed he was dead I continued on closer to the base.
I took my eyes away from the screen to look at Twilight. It seemed everything about me scared her somehow as her face was showing a lot of it. She even looked like she is about to get sick. I didn't bother to look back at the screen, I knew what happens next. All of a sudden the sound of gun fire played through the speakers and people being shot cried out in pain.
The look of horror is stuck on Twilight's face as she continued to watch the video. I didn't pay attention to how long the video went on for and only looked towards the screen once it was over.
"Play another one." Twilight demanded, her voice drained of emotion.
Jessica didn't turn to face the lavender unicorn when she spoke. "I think we need to continue to find McClain..."
"Play another one!" Twilight tried again slamming her hoof on the ground.
This time Jessica turned to Twi and saw the look on her face. "Are you sure?" Jessica tried to take the conversation elsewhere. Twilight simply glared at her. "Alright, alright." With the press of a button the next video began to play. After a few seconds Jessica moved over to the computer to the right and began to look through the files on that one while Twilight continued to watch video after video.
Eventually Twilight got to a specific video that would cause the most damage to any relationship we had left at this point. It's the recording of the battle I told her about, except, there are things I had left out for a purpose. Everything was how I told her it went with the jackal sniper and moving through the streets. Only difference is that I didn't tell her about the rebel presence in the city. I'm pretty sure Twilight recognized the video as well but I prayed she didn't.
About halfway through of walking through the streets we ran into the rebels. We took them out quickly, within a matter of minutes. We began to check the bodies for anything useful like data chips, ammo. During the search I had found one who was still alive, took out my magnum, and put a clean hole through his head. The concrete was now covered in blood, bone and brain matter. After that the rest of the video was how I told it.
I felt like an idiot. I wanted to disappear right there and never come back. Unfortunately that can't happen. Twilight began another video. "Twilight." No response. "Twilight stop." I pleaded but she continued the video without so much as acknowledging me. "Twilight please stop!"
Twilight turns to face me, anger and hurt contorting her expression. "Why? Are there more things on here that you don't want me to find? Is there something that you haven't told me about you besides what I've seen. I mean you even lied about that one."
"I lied to protect you!" I yelled, burying my face into my hands. I can feel two, technically three sets of eyes on me, waiting for me to say something more. "We're at war Twi, and I don't know if you've ever been in it, but a lot of those things I had to do. It wasn't a choice."
I looked up from my hands to find that everyone is here. Everyone but Twi. "Perhaps we should continue to search for McClain's files." Renona suggested even though she could bring up the files in less than a second.
I stood up from the chair I was sitting in and moved to the door. "You two have fun with that. Send me the files when you get them. I'm going to Canterlot."
The roar of the pelicans engines comforted me as the driver took me to Ponyville. I wanted to stop there first so I could get a few things from Lyra's house, then be on my way to Canterlot castle where I will wait for Sarge and the others to get back. It took a few minutes to reach the edge of Ponyville and the pelican landed, I got off and proceeded down the road to Lyra's house. On the way there many ponies glanced in my direction and began to whisper. ODST's made a name for themselves in Equestria and I think every pony knew the armor of an ODST.
I simply ignored them until I reached the front door to Lyra's. I quickly glanced behind me at the ponies watching, turned back and knocked on the door. It's quiet for a few seconds before the door squeaked open, Lyra peaking through the door. "Hey." I said in a monotone voice.
"Hey. Sorry, but now might not be the best time." Lyra replied slowly closing the door. I shoved my hand on the door and forced it open. "Hey!"
I gave little attention to the ponies out side who are whispering more amongst themselves. I am only halfway through the door when I see Twilight sitting on the sofa, her coat matted from crying. She watched me as I went up the stairs two at a time and entered my old room. Same as before.
In the room is a bed, an old wooden desk and a few pictures here and there of Bon-Bon and Lyra at different locations. I went to the bed and pulled out a large suitcase and a shoe box. Inside the shoebox is my old rookie ODST helmet which I traded for my current one. I opened up the suitcase and inside is a MA5 Assault Rifle, a thruster pack and a Battle Rifle. I took the thruster pack and connected it to the back of my body armor.
The AR and BR are already loaded and extra magazines ready. I stuffed the extra ammunition into pouches on the armor and attached the BR to the back of the thruster pack, and back down stairs. Twilight is still on the sofa with Lyra now next to her, comforting the mare. Both looked up at me when I hit the bottom of the stairs. I went up to the sofa and I can see the usual fear in Twi's eyes when she looks at me, except more intense this time. I kneeled down and took off my helmet, setting it aside along with the AR.
Twilight looked away from me but I won't have it. I take her face in my hands and make her face in my direction. Her eyes looked down at the floor. "Twi, look at me." She didn't respond at first but she eventually met her eyes with mine. I let a smile cross my lips for a second while I though of something to say. "I have to go here soon but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I had done."
Twilight's eyes dropped to the floor as I spoke but I didn't pay much heed to it. "I just hope you can forgive me at some point before we leave back to our system, if we ever go back." I stood up and looked down at the mare whose matted coat is stained with dried tears. "I'll see you around."
With that I collected my stuff, helmet in one hand, AR in the other, and stepped outside. Apparently ponies had been watching through one of the windows in Lyra's home but I didn't care. The ponies backed away or went back to their usual things or watched me as I donned my helmet. I noticed a faint beeping inside and opened up the com channels.
"Finally!" Jessica triumphantly yelled when we connected. "Alright I got the files even though Renona gave me a lot of trouble finding them, but I just sent them to you."
Not a moment later a file popped into the data storage in my helmet. "Alright thanks." I cut off the coms and flagged a way-point for the pelican to pic me up. I waited a minute or two before the iron bird road high above before slowly making its decent. Ponies scattered away as dust flew away from the drop-ship in an attempt to flee from its might. Once the bird came low enough I hopped onto the edge of the ramp and the pelican took off again.
I decided to open up the files I had just received and opened up the first document...
ONI: McClain>>>
Dear ----------,
Message>>> End
McClain>>>
The test were an success, we discovered that the parasite dose not have a specific choice of gender when it came to infecting. The process was quick and the infection forms took their full combat for in ten seconds. Once the test came to a conclusion we quickly burned the bodies and disposed of them. The whole test was recorded, click 'here'. The children unfortunately did not have enough bio mass to produce combat forms and instead produced carrier forms. I will await you reply for the next assignment.
I opened the link to the video and it began to play.
'Sergeant' McClain stood at a console that sat in front of six chambers each with a human subject inside it.
After a few minutes the technicians left the chambers and locked them. Sarge went up to the console and spoke. "We will begin the test, remember, deep breaths." With the push of a button, small hatches on the top of the ceiling opened up revealing pitch black squares. On the console the readouts began to spike as all three test subject's heart rates increased. After a moment one of the subjects began to yell and struggle to get free of the ball of flesh attached to his chest.
Yells of pain engulfed the man as the infection form burrowed into his chest and began to transform him into an infection form. First his arms deformed into claw like appendages, elongating them to fit the floods purpose. Next his body began to grow deformities that bulged out and his neck snapped back. The skin began to turn a rotten color as the infection form turned the body to suit its needs. It was over within seconds and internal flamethrowers burned the body to a crispy black charcoal.
The process repeated five more times as horror filled screams blocked out any noise and again the bodies charred. The video ended.
Once the black screen had dissipated I can now see the courtyard of Canterlot Castle. The pelican began to descend and royal guard began to gather at the landing. Not far off a second pelican sat and I felt a panic rise in me. Once the landing gear of the drop-ship hit the concrete I jumped of with my AR in hand and sprinted pass the golden armored ponies. Their shouts got further away, save a few pegasi who chased me but I had more important matters.
I made my way to the large decorative doors of the day court. Two guards stood at their post and turned notice me and the other guards chasing me, pointing their spears in my direction. I pushed them out of the way narrowly avoiding the spear tips and threw open the large, heavy doors. Inside is a large crowd of ponies all listening to another discussing some matter that meant little to me. I continued to run forward, my weapon still in my hands, and the ponies the court watched as I rammed into another guard.
Once I made it to the front of the large semicircle room I stopped slightly out of breath. Not a moment later I found myself on the floor with a heavy weight on my back. "I have him!" The pony on top of me cheered. I pushed myself up and the pony fell off me fairly easily.
I made it to me feet and turned to find a dozen spears pointed at me, and slowly raised my hands in surrender. The guard began to surround me blocking me from my weapon. I can feel the gaze of both princesses boring into the back of my head and turned to face them. The sun goddess didn't look very amused by along with her lunar sister. "What is the meaning of this?" Celestia roared in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
I threw off my helmet and clutched my ears, a loud ringing replaced my normal hearing. I had completely forgotten about the sound enhancements installed in the helmets and the Canterlot voice didn't mix well with them. When Celestia noticed it was me she became even more furious. "Taylor, you should know better than to barge into my court!"
"Where's Sarge?" I yelled unaware how loud I am.
This earned me a raised brow from the sun goddess. "They just left. He said something about having to talk with Twilight. Why does this concern you?"
"Shit." I uttered to myself and grabbed one of the spears still pointed at me and pulled the pony forward, held him around the neck and pulled out my magnum, pressing it to his head. "Back off or he gets it!" The rest of guard hesitated and both princesses have surprise written on their muzzles. Eventually Celestia nodded and the rest of the guard backed off and I moved towards my AR and picked it up with the pony still in my hold. I backed towards the large door and struggled to keep the pony in my grasp, but once I reached the doors I threw the pony unto the floor and bolted.
The hallway seemed endless as I ran to the courtyard, the sound of angry ponies behind me. The courtyard got closer with each step and I can see the second pelican taking off. My pelicans engine began to heat up so I assume the pilot saw me. The pelican lifted slightly off the ground and began to slowly climb, I went into a full sprint. When I got close enough I jumped and landed on the ramp of the pelican which took off as soon as I got in completely. I moved up to the cockpit door and entered. "Follow the other pelican!" I demanded out of breath. The pilot did just that.
Both pelicans flew over the town of Ponyville, ponies watching as the large metal birds flew overhead. Even though it had been at least a month ponies still watched the pelicans like they were alien or something even though that is technically true. Below rows of straw covered houses zipped by and I thought 'why not jump?', so I did. I stood on the ramp of the pelican, facing inside it, then jumped backwards. I can now see where I should land and used my thruster-pack to slow myself down. Unfortunately for me the pilot decided to fly really low and within a few seconds I found myself crashing through the roof of a random house. Not only that but I also went straight through the second floor and into another room.
"My muffins!" a voice cried out after a short moment of me laying on something hard.
I pushed myself up and found a smashed table under me and my black armor covered in small squished golden-brown pastries. "Well, that's one way to make an entry." I grunted when I got to my feet.
A quick glance around me told me I'm in a kitchen of some poor pony's home. As I continued to turn three-sixty I see a gray coat mare with a messy yellow mane. Her eye are something I didn't expect and overall caught me off guard. One eye looked at me while the other seemed... derp?
The gray mare turned to look from where I came and surprise consumed her. "My house!"
I in turn looked at the two giant holes. One in the floor and one in the roof. "Oh, shit. Sorry 'bout that."
The mare sat on her rump and just stared at the gaping holes, completely ignoring me. "Yeah, I'm gonna leave now..." I trailed off as I pointed at the kitchen door before bolting out of the house all together. Next stop: Lyra's... again.
I began to sprint down the roads of Ponyville using my thruster-pack to launch over food carts and other ponies. After a minute there's a large building in front of me that would take too long to go around. I activated the thruster pack, getting me up about three-quarters of the large wall. I used my hands and the grip on my boots to push me up a little further and grabbed hold of the ledge then pulled my self up. "This is 'high'" I said aloud before going into a sprint again. The edge of the building neared and I jumped when I reached it. About thirty feet below me is the ground and the distance shortened as I feel. I straightened out my legs, adding a slight bend to them. I hit the hard earth and threw myself into a roll transferring the energy to the ground instead of my body, then continued my sprint ignoring ponies.
Lyra's is just a few more feet away. 'CRACK!' The door to Lyra's home is no more as I rammed into, and further into the house tripping on the sofa from my inability to stop. Something hard is poking into my back and turned to see what it is. "Great, now I have to pay for two tables."
A very bewildered looking Bon-Bon sat on the couch, curled up in a tight ball, staring at me.
"Hey, Bon-Bon." Bon-Bon simply waved a hoof back while keeping her eyes on me while I went upstairs with a slight limp.
Again I'm in the guest room with the same boring bed and dresser. I dived under the bed and grabbed the same large box I had rummaged through before. I ripped open the top after I crawled out from under the low frame and donned the helmet. First thing I did is open up a secure com channel to Jessica's computer, hoping that she was still there.
"Ah, there you are. I see you switched helmets." Jessica's voice came through.
"Didn't mean too. I accidentally left the other one at Canterlot Castle after my little encounter with the princesses."
There is a short pause and a slight static. "I noticed. I hacked into you helmets coms sense you weren't picking up. They've been busy setting up guard for possible war. What did you do?"
I began to go back down the stairs while Jessica explained what is happening. "Well, I took one of the guards hostage for a few seconds so I could escape. Hey, you said you hacked into my com?"
"What about it?"
"See if you can link me to that helmet, I need to talk to the princesses. Sarge is on his way to Twi's and god knows what he has planned. Stay put so you can link me to sarges coms once I'm done." I replied quickly. When I reached the bottom of the stairs Lyra had joined Bon-Bon on the couch.
Lyra and Bon-Bon looked up at me and I moved to the door, but stopped when Lyra spoke up. "Taylor, what are you doing?"
I turned to face the mint-green mare, her golden eyes looking right at me. "Twilight's in trouble, I have to go now, can't talk." With that I rushed out the door.
"Wait! I'm coming with you!"
I ignored Lyra as she jumped from the couch and chased after me. Twilight's place is about a twenty minute sprint from here so every step is precious.
"...eed to set up guards on all entryways to the city." The voice of princess Celestia came through on the coms.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, it's Taylor. I need to talk to you. I can hear you fine." Said through heavy breaths as I continued to sprint through Ponyville.
There is a pause. A very long pause. "Taylor, I have sent four squads of my best guard to place you under arrest. Do not resist and no harm shall come to you."
"Princess with all due respect now isn't the time. You can arrest me after Twilight is safe, but right now I need you to stand your guard down. What's about to happen could cause some serious damage and I don't need any of these ponies getting hurt. Perez is probably at Twilight's right now and I don't know what could be happening to her."
"What are thou talking about?" Luna inquired.
I let out a frustrated sigh. Fifteen minutes. "Jessica, you still there?"
"Been listening in the whole time. Hello princesses, hope you're doing well."
"I still fail to understand what this is about!" Celestia shouted through the mic.
"Jessica, patch sarges mic feed through, make sure he can't hear us."
Again there is a long pause with a slight static. I can hear the sound of irritated sighs and muffled groans coming from the princesses. "Got it!"
Everyone got quiet as the feed patched through.
"Ray, gag her. If she won't stay quiet then we'll force her." Sarge demanded in a rough voice. In the background we could all hear Twilight screaming and yelling, and after a few seconds it went quiet. "Good, now make sure all the windows are covered and the doors locked."
A moment passed where there is an eerie silence. "All clear, sir." a distraught sounding Ray reported. A sound of two muffled 'bangs' went off, followed by the sound of a limp body hitting the floor.
"Ray's vitals just went flat. He's gone." Jessica quickly advised over the coms. This only caused me to sprint faster, up to the point where I began to lose my footing.
"Now, time to deal with yo......" Static.
"What the fuck just happened?"
I can hear Jessica pressing keys on the other side telling me she is trying to get connection back. "He shut off his coms. He knew somehow!"
A furious princess Celestia spoke up. "This is unacceptable! Guards!" The sound of numerous hoof steps filled the mics. "Go to Ponyville and meet Taylor at Twilight's, he may need assistance. Be diligent!"
Off in the distance I can see the large oak tree that is Twilight's home. "I'm almost there! Move out of the way!" I yelled at a rather large group of ponies. When they saw me they quickly scattered to give me room.
Fifty meters, forty, thirty, twenty, ten.
I skidded to a halted in front of the wooden doors of the library and caught my breath. After a few seconds Lyra joined me just as winded as I. "Ly-Lyra, y-you stay out here and wait for me." I demanded in a low whisper with heavy breaths. After a few more seconds I grabbed the AR attached to my back and double checked the readout of the ammo counter.
Lyra backed away from the tree house and hid in some nearby bushes and watched. With the AR loaded and ready and faced the door and drove my foot into it, sending the door open with a 'crack'. With the door open I moved into the lobby of the library. The curtains on the windows made it unbelievably dark inside the library and I can barely make out the silhouette of a pony who is bound together by ropes. I rushed forwards and I can now see Twilight with a rag in her mouth to keep her from talking and ropes tied around her legs.
Twilight let out a muffled 'yelp' when she saw me, tears matting the fur on her cheeks. I took the rag from her mouth and used my combat knife to cut the rope. Twilight embraced me in a tight hug and soaked the under shirt with her tears while she cried into my shoulder.
"You okay, Twi?" She responded with a light nod of her head.
I was about to take Twilight outside to safety until I head the unmistakeable 'click' of a magnums hammer being set. I turned my head to find the barrel of a magnum pointed right in between my eye, Twilight let out a small gasp at the sight. "Come to safe your girlfriend, Taylor?" Sarge said pushing the barrel forward until it hit my visor.
"No, I came to kill you." I replied in a cold tone. "Doesn't mean she isn't important to me, nonetheless."
A grin grew across Sarge's lips. "Too bad it's in vain."
I threw my arm at his throwing his aim off right before he pulled the trigger. Four shots rang out as we competed for control over the magnum. Eventually we both lost our grip on the weapon and sent it sailing across the room and into a bookshelf. Sarge pulled out his combat knife, a six inch stainless-steel blade with half serrated edges.
Sarge lunged at my stomach but I dodged it and took hold of his wrist, using my free hand I punched him in the stomach causing him to double over. I threw another punch at him but he caught it with his other hand before breaking my grip on him. He then grabbed my shoulder and brought his knee up to my stomach, knocking the air out of me. He did this about three times before I finally stopped his knew while it is in the air and sent him to the ground by kicking his foot from under him.
I pushed his wrist in his direction causing the knife to point down at him while laying on the floor. I scrambled to get on top of him and force all of my weight down on the knife, slowly pushing towards his chest while he fought to keep it up. We sat like this for a few minutes fighting for dominance, until Sarge flung me off him and I rolled into a bookshelf which in turn caused books to tumble from the shelves and onto me.
A groan escaped my lips as I pushed myself up again, ignoring the pain from fallen books, and found myself face to face with my own Assault Rifle. "It's a shame that you and your girlfriend here will go down just like Ray did. You always were a good soldier." A shot rang out but I didn't find myself dead. Some how I ended up on the ground, probably because of survival instincts. Something isn't right though...
I looked up at Sarge and found him completely confused for some reason. With the opening I took my own side are and pointed it at Sarge's head. He noticed and brought the AR up to bare but he slumped over before he could fire, his head exploding into blood, bone and brain tissue. It all covered the floor and walls of the library.
Once I confirmed him being dead I looked behind me to see a mint-green mare laying on the ground. "Lyra?" The pony looked up slowly, looking like she is in pain. A glance at her hoof told the story. "Lyra, I told you to wait outside."
"I know. I just heard the bangs and I thought you might have been in trouble." she replied with a slight, painful smile.
I was about to say something and until I heard my name being called in a pained and fearful tone. Cocking my head to the side I noticed Twilight holding her hoof on her stomach and taking short, staggered breaths. I quickly rushed over to her side, careful not to cause her any pain.
"Hey, I'm here. Let me take a look." I carefully removed Twilight's hoof from her stomach and revealed a medium sized hole in her side, and bleeding badly. "Shit." I quickly took off my body armor leaving me with just my black undershirt. I tore off a piece of fabric and balled it up, and pressed it against the wound. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." I said trying to keep panic from creeping into my voice.
Twilight looked at me with pained eyes, tears flowing freely down them. "I don't want to die..."
"You're not going to die, Twi. Just hang in there." I replied trying to comfort her. I looked into her purple eye and can see the life ebbing away from them slowly. More and more she began to get worse. "Twi, stay with me. Please! Come on dammit!" That's it. I couldn't do anything except watch her die. So that's what I did...
Author's Note
So here it is, the last part to chapter three. I know, I'm a jerk and I killed Twilight. Go on, hate on me.
Equestrian Battlefield: A halo crossover
The Town Shimmers at Night
It took me all of six minutes to get my armor on. I looked in the mirror in my room and felt proud of how I look. Most of my night-blue coat is covered in the pale green color of the armor. On the flank guards my cutie mark is painted exactly as it is. I had requested it unlike Celli who had kindly refused such distinguished markings. My mane and tail flowed freely and my crown rested on the helmet, held in place by some clips.
I glanced towards the window and curiosity drew me to look out it. The night looked normal, well it did a few minutes ago. Streaks of yellow, purples, blues and greens shot across the sky and further away in the town of Ponyville it's the same thing. The flashes are on the outer edges of the town on the west and north-west sides of town though I suspect it might not be like that for very long. None of the royal guard have seen any real combat, even during the changeling invasion that occurred about a year ago. And the same could be said for everypony else who is fighting right now.
Still, the plasma, as the humans called it, are ironically beautiful. The destruction they cause is horrific but at a distance it could fool anyone into thinking they're harmless. A bright light caught my eye and I looked up to see one of the Covenant cruisers belly glowing in an eerie magenta glow. It grew in intensity and a orb of plasma began to build, warping and burning the atmosphere around it until the ship hung over Ponyville.
The flashes on the ground ceased and I could only assume the worst is about to happen until multiple flashes hit the cruiser revealing a thin transparent blue shield around the ship. In the distance a human frigate rushed towards it. Along the side of the cruiser, purple lights intensified until a single streak hit the human ship, hitting the engine and causing a bright flash. Once the smoke cleared the human ship is obviously gone. All its crew dead.
The cruiser waited a moment longer before the still growing orb of plasma shot down in a single continuous beam that cut through the town with complete ease. A hot knife through butter. The town burned for only minutes before the ship ended the hell it created, still hovering above the town. My heart sank at the sight. The though of so many of our ponies perishing in a short time. Again, I noted the ironical beauty.
Even in the pitch black, the town shimmers at night.
Author's Note
First person(pony)-Luna
