Luna sat in her room and waited… waited for the moment she felt a specific mind enter the realm of dreams. And soon her target did just that as Luna felt her magical trap take effect and force Six into a state of dreaming.
Her deception had worked flawlessly with ‚Six‘ not even being aware of her current dreaming state. The spell was a special one. Known only to her and the most trusted of royal spellcasters, it could create a self-writing and self-perpetuating dream that catered to the afflicted‘s own subconscious and memories creating a seamless transition between reality and perfect fiction.
Currently, the real Six was curled up on the ground next to her bed, her helmet attached to her hip as the scarred and still, armored mare slept soundly, a smile on her face as the spell did its work. The paper on the desk was covered in the magical graphics needed to infect its observers with this powerful spell.
Now all Luna would need to do is conceal her presence, enter the dream, get what the info both she and her sister wanted, and finally remove the evidence of her ever being there. So with a deep breath and a calm mind Luna lit her horn and entered their guests' dreams.
Willing herself transparent, she could watch Six unimpeded as they dreamt of being contacted by… whatever that symbol was Six had perceived the spell's origin to contain. It was an upside-down diamond, its shape akin to that of a kite with a dark sphere sitting at its core.
Noting it down for later she continued to discreetly follow Six as she traversed through her deception all the way to meeting this ‘Dr. Halsey’ and Six willingly giving up her armor if it meant a way to get home through the strange alien archway, wherever that may be. The technology on display was nothing like Luna had ever seen. It was graceful yet oppressive, Modern yet Ancient. It was simply indescribable to the Alicorn.
‘So this is what she believes could bring her home…wherever that may be’
She listened to the conversation between the Doctor and ‚Six‘ her mind trying to draw conclusions and piece the information together in order to understand this pony. The appearance of Changelings in the dream helped the Alicorn massively in that regard. She had been actively fighting and killing them and saw no problem with these ones.
‚It must be how her subconscious perceives the individuals of this organization. They must be her version of SMILE. If so it would explain why she would see them as Changelings‘ Deduced Luna as she studied the room the pegasus was walking through. Seeing many more changelings and various pony tribes clad in strange yet similar armor to Six‘s own. ‘If the changelings were to know of this weakness then it could spell disaster.‘ Was the grim thought that came to mind.
Luna made another note of this as she kept following the Spartan to where she was standing now, her mouth agape listening to this soldier's tales of battle.
‘No, these are no mere battles. She is no normal soldier… Oh, sister, what have you brought into our home?‘ Thought the Princess of Dreams, her gaze locked onto the smiling soldier's face as she recounted the tale of her massacre of somecreatures called ‘Covies‘ and ‘Elites‘. The constructs around her were cheering and laughing along at the sheer brutality she described in dispatching something called ‘Brutes‘ as well.
Were this a thousand years ago even Luna could see herself sitting there next to her sister listening and cheering along at a battle won and enemy slain. She would be holding up a mug of the finest Ale in Canterlot, her sword by her side as she tried to outdo their tale with one of her own. But this… The death she described, the numbers she faced, the weapons they used against her, and she in-turn. Luna couldn‘t top that… and it worried her greatly.
‘Who, no… what are you?’ Was the thought that came to the forefront of her mind as her body unconsciously shifted into a deeper and more combat-orientated stance as her haze remained firmly locked on this ‚Angel of death‘ that stood before her. This was no mere pony, that much was made clear. She was… something else entirely. Something that even Luna herself didn't want to cross.
Even as one of the only three Alicorns in existence and one of the most powerful beings on the planet this pegasus was somepony to be feared and respected. And Luna was thankful she was on their side and not the changelings for if she were… may the creator help those who face her in battle.
Sensing the dream coming to an end slowly, Luna quickly left the Spartans' mind and returned back to her physical form outside the dream-realm. Opening her eyes Luna found herself standing over the sleeping form of Six as she could sense the morning approaching. Taking care to cast a silence spell to hide her presence she carefully grabbed the paper on the desk and teleported back to her room with a silent *pop*, her mission a success and her target none the wiser.
Gathering her thoughts Luna ruminated on what she had learned about this 'Six'.
So… She is looking for a way home and appears to have been brought here at the brink of death. And the way she recounted her exploits… she may not have been a pony before her arrival here…‘ She would need to inform her sister that much was clear. But when it came to what they should do about Six herself… That was a question best answered later. As for right now, however, the Princess of the Night required some doughnuts. The night may be ending but much still needs to be done before dawn.
Meanwhile back in the Spartans room, its only occupant began to stir an hour later as the Sun and moon swapped places on the horizon bathing the room in the warm orange light of Celestia's Sun causing the Spartans eyes to open slightly in response.
Blinking the sleep out of her eyes Six checked her surroundings with a hint of confusion.
‘What happened?‘ Thought the Spartan in confusion, standing up from the floor she had fallen asleep on. ‘Was it all just a dream?‘ was the thought that went through her head as she stretched the knots out of her spine hearing and feeling several satisfying pops shudder through her body.
A hint of sadness infected her mind when she looked down at the desk and found it empty signaling to her it was all a dream. Her comrades in arms were all nothing but a figment of her imagination toying with her emotions. Teasing her with a way home and the ability to fight the Covenant once again. She needed to clear her head.
Deciding a shower and then some training would do her some good, she began the slow process of removing her armor piece by piece like she had done in her dream before. Disengaging its locks through her neural interface she removed her chestpiece first. After that came the rest of her armor and before long her armor was placed down on the floor before her, every piece nicely organized. Now all that was left was to remove her black undersuit that served as the armor's base. Without it, the armor was unusable, but still highly dangerous if handled improperly.
‘Heh if they can even pick it up that is’ Thought the Spartan amused as she looked down at the removed armor pieces before her.
It was at this moment Six realized that this would be the first time she would see her new body in the flesh. Not even in her dream was she completely visible with her having chosen to keep the undersuit on.
As she slipped her last hoof out of its Titanium-alloy-crystal-lattice home she looked into a nearby mirror and saw her new self completely for the first time, save for the pair of dog tags hanging around her neck. Her body was still the same light silvery color as the fur on her face with the faint lines of various battle and surgical scars visible all across her body. Her wings followed the same color scheme but with a slight difference at her feather tips. They were colored pitch black with a gradient turning the black silver as it got closer to the feathers' base.
Two things caught her eye, however. The first most glaring one being the dark grey outline of a Spartans helmet being emblazoned on her flank. Just like the rest of the ponies she had seen around. It seems as though she had also gained what ponies called a ‘Cutie-mark‘ on her flank. She could think on that later though as the other, more prominent, feature she had taken priority.
Down on her chest were the unmistakable burn markings of an Elite‘s energy sword having stabbed her. There was no fur surrounding it leaving a double slitted patch of burned but healed skin for all to see as the long fur of her coat surrounded and highlighted the mortal injury.
Staring at the injury in the mirror Six said nothing opting to simply stand there and study it before she made a small *tsk* and looked away. Turning around Six made her way to the bathroom to clear her head. Before entering however she turned back and gave herself one last look in the mirror.
And a dead Spartan looked back at her.
WAIT! IT WAS ALL A DREAM!? WTF CONNOR! YOU HAD US GOING!
yes a update nice chapter
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Unfortunatly Luna did a little trolling at the behest of Celestia
♪Hello cliffhanger my old friend, I'm not glad to see you again...♪
Magnificent chapter!
Clever Lunar Princess...
Wonder if Celestia fucks up or plays smart staying relaxed in the face of the Spartan...
Celestia attitude of 'Tarterus Banishment and forget the Threat within' never bite her in the ass after all
Six looks good, for a dead spartan.
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Six is not gonna be in a good mood when she wakes up... and likely to be in an even worse mood if she ever finds out what Luna did
But Spartans never die
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AMEN
Damn. Poor six. So much for backup.
Honestly? I'm glad it was a dream. I didn't really want for there to inexplicably be more people from where she was. I like watching her act in a new world.
Given that this appears to be a form of reincarnation, she probably has no life back in the Covenant war at this point. She's probably starting to suspect this, given how she sees herself when she looks aback in the mirror.
The biggest threat, however, would be if Chrysalis ever found out about any of this. If she could offer the Spartan pony a way to flip species a second time and become a Chrysalis pony, shapeshifting makes a whole bunch of options possible. While Six might not want the strings that come attached to it, I could see her being horribly tempted by it regardless. After all, who cares if she's actually a different race now if the folks back home can't tell the difference?
As for Six's lethality vs. the Princesses... Not sure about that one. Considering Luna is the pre-eminent immortal champion of the Pony races, I found it a little questionable that she was so scared of Six. She might size her up as a potential opponent, yes. Even run a tactical evaluation on her and prepare some "what if" scenarios just in case. But to shrink back in fear at the mere suggestion that Six is a lethal combatant? Doesn't ring true. Sorry, that paragraph just doesn't feel like it does her justice.
I think six is like V from Murder Drones
Ok i am officially i bit disappointed. I honestly was hoping for the rest of the noble team landing here too with that whole idea
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Ah dont chu worry. With the most recent halo infinite announcements i am on a godamn halo binge. And writing chapters for nobe is a lot easier than writing for Sunspot.
Mhhmn... I think that Spartans are physical unable to transition slowly from sleep to awakened state, much less one with that kind of record and Luna will be not wiser about it, so I think she must have been catched red hoofed, even if she does not know it or six does nothing about it trying to get more info, but lets told that it does not happen because story plot.
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I require some Sauce as I could find nothing about this in my research on Spartan Biology and augmentations
Well SOMEONE didn't do their campaign playthrough on Legendary it seems! Not naming names.
Spartans never die, they're just missing in action.
not gonna lie, I'm really happy you decided to go this route, even if it does kinda feel like backpeddaling lol. Just the idea of Halsey and all the other soldiers being there didn't really feel right to the story you've set up, and the way you did this chapter made a ton more sense. I forgot about this story for a while due to the lack of updates, but I am super pumped to see more of it again. Looks like the Halo bug is going around, huh?
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well no wonder the Covenant took three days and nights to take her down, shes on normal difficulty
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Fucking lol
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If you want to, there are the Light novels that are prequels and explain a lot about the spartan program, but sadly y don't have a link to share to them.
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six is the secound spartan after masterchief to acive hyper leathal but yes luna have way more tools to use agains six aka magic to use agains her easily. but if it would come down to only hoof to hoof? and strength and fligth she is likely have advantage when i comes to flying being native pegasuse and all that.
but hoof to hoof i se six breaking all off lunas bones as spartans are really fast when fighting and it is said that if you play the campain on >easy<
that is cannon on how lethal spartans are
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1KVaOTLXdM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZZfetZoJsQ
so backround that would potensialy be use full
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Here's a thought. Alicorn levels of magic (like the kind Luna exerts on shadows) might greatly disrupt the motion tracker and radio. This advantage combined with alicorn strength and the ability to become undetectable in shadows might be enough to let Luna get the jump on S-B312. However, this would likely only work once and I give it a %55 chance of success because conditions have to be perfect. It is also the only advantage they have, but they don't know that.
I don't believe Luna would do this but it's not my story, so...
It's a. It annoying that it happened regardless. From a story standpoint not acriticism standpoint. Huge invasion of privacy, and Six is none the wiser. It's not really information that she can learn of, either, side from overhearing a conversation about what Luna did.
Good to know it was just a dream though. It was very much so 'out there', and was a very strange plot.
Wow what a tease, the old ‘it was all a dream’ scenario, my only question is - where did Luna get that symbol from?
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Luna didn't get the symbol from anywhere, she explained that the spell she used constructs a scenario from the targets memories and subconscious. So with that, everything that was portrayed in the dream, such as the ONI symbol, Halsey, the Forerunner teleporter, and the other soldiers, all were drawn from and created by Six's memories and subconscious mind.
Oh you sneaky little bi-
The fish has been revealed! Now let's hope Six never finds out...
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Indeed. I can understand a leader being cautious towards a potentially dangerous individual, even going quite far to learn anything to better understand this 'unknown' person. But what Luna did was a large breach of privacy. Some of it can be excused since dream-walking is something Luna was given permission to do for her subjects, and can be partially written up as a cultural difference between foreign nations.
But, Six is not one of Equestria's subjects, and invading their privacy to trick information out of them when you are trying to gain their trust...
Let's just hope the Spartan with 'hyper lethal' status never finds out. Otherwise, she will try her best to make do on her promise and eliminate any document-or person-with classified evidence.
Wow. On the one hand, it makes sense, having no real contact between equestria and UNSC space, and having no real clear path for the story to follow after that point. On the other, damn, that's a dick move luna. The real question though, if none of that was real, why did the interrogator have that reaction? And moreover, will we see this 'Smith' that got mentioned? That feels like a thread that could come back later. I'm looking forward to it.
Me after last chapter :DDDDDDD
Me now D:<
Rip chapter headers
Damn!!!!