//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: He'll Regret That Too // Story: Halo: Ponies and Clouded Pasts // by Blazer //------------------------------// “It was similar to how you started off, but it was much more immediate,” Cortana explained. “That sea of nothing we were dropped into; it was like nothing I’ve ever encountered.” Twilight’s confused expression began to wane as she sighed. “Yes, although I’m confused as to why you were so desperate back there. I mean, why would you want to help me? We’ve never met. You owe me nothing, and yet you risked your life for me. Why?” “Well, you are the first consciousness that I’ve happened upon in the last four years that didn’t try to assimilate or delete me. Also, having the possibility of contact with another entity seemed attractive at the time… which may or may not have influenced my previous desperation.” Twilight frowned. “I guess four years is a long time to be alone.” A long silence passed between the two before the unicorn mustered the courage to break it with another question. “Do you… have any friends?” Cortana gave her an irritated expression. “I’m a combat artificial intelligence, Miss Sparkle. I’m sure making friends is one of my top priorities while on the battlefield.” Twilight opened her mouth to give an example of a friend she’s made, but thought better of it and clamped her mouth shut. The construct was right; why would she want to make friends? Such a stupid question, Twilight! Her ears drooped, much to Cortana’s dismay. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be sarcastic. My… previous partner usually ignored it.” The purple equine smiled a little at the thought; a sarcastic AI chatting incessantly in the super-soldier’s ear, driving the poor man to near-insanity. She immediately shook her head. “It’s fine.” Twilight shifted in her sitting position so she was now facing Cortana. “So, do you have any idea as to what this thing is? Why it’s doing all this?” “I’m not sure. He just snatched me up out of the Dawn’s circuits before I even noticed him. By the time I was aware of his presence, he had already trapped me.” Twilight’s brow furrowed. “Could you elaborate? And it’s a he?” “It was very strange, really,” the construct began. “I was running diagnostics on what was still functional aboard the Dawn when I was suddenly surrounded like nothing, just like you described. Everything was dark. I also noticed that I no longer had access to the Dawn’s functions. A few hours must’ve passed before I noticed something else in the dark. A distant light source of sorts; a single spark in the unending void. Naturally, I moved towards whatever this thing was, thinking it was an exit. That’s when I ran into him.” “What do you mean? Like you just turned around and he was there?” Twilight inquired. “Well, no. He spoke to me.” “What did he say?” Cortana hesitated before continuing. “He made contact with my awareness. Gave me an introduction. His name was Snowflake, if I recall.” She chewed the words carefully as she pronounced the full name. “Ephemeral Snowflake. Sort of a silly name for someone as dangerous as he is.” “What did he say after that?” “That I was going to help him pull off some great achievement in the history of Quesentria… something along those lines. I didn’t catch everything. I was preoccupied at the time,” the construct explained quickly. “Doing what?” Twilight asked, her frustration building with the construct’s ambiguity. “Making this place,” Cortana replied, gesturing to the white emptiness that surrounded them. “I’ve run into situations like this before, and I wasn’t going to take any chances in letting him get that close to my consciousness.” The unicorn glanced around, her brow raised quizzically. “Could’ve made it a little less bland,” she mused. “I’m an AI. I may have a real mind’s personality, but personal preferences aren’t something I honestly care about,” the construct replied, waving a hand dismissively. “Actually, I wanted to ask you about that,” Twilight began. “Who were you based off of?” “Long story,” Cortana cut her off. “Look, do you want me to tell you what else I heard from this guy or not?” she asked, a hint of irritation in her voice. “Ah; sorry…” Twilight apologized. “Continue.” “As if I needed any more encouragement,” Cortana grumbled, rising to her feet. “Anyways, he needs two minds to control in order to do whatever he’s trying to pull off.” “How do you know that?” Twilight asked, her tone skeptical. “He just… told you?” “Villain monologues. Didn’t think they actually did that,” Cortana mused. She put her hands on her holographic hips. “So that’s why we’re both here: We’re those two minds he’s trying to control.” “But… it doesn’t seem like he’s done anything yet, other than possess our bodies,” Twilight retorted. “Right. And that is because he hasn’t been able to destroy our tethers.” “I do remember him asking John about—” “Wait, John’s alive?” Twilight blinked. She had forgotten to tell the construct about her experiences with the super-soldier, despite them not being the most pleasant. “Y-yes. At least, when I was still in control of my body, he was.” “Is he hurt? Is he—” Cortana paused in mid-sentence before continuing calmly, “Well. I guess this is good news.” Twilight lost it. “You guess?! What was all that just now, then?!” “What was what?” the construct asked innocently. “Ugh. You know what? Never mind. Just tell me what those tethers are. I remember hearing this before Mr. Snowflake took over my body.” “Well, think about it this way: Other than this barrier I put up, why do you think he wasn’t able to take us over as soon as he made that ‘contact’ with us?” “Er… Contact as in what?” Cortana sighed. “That ‘nothingness’ you and I experienced earlier. Technically, it’s a sort of telepathic contact, since he did have control over our senses, right?” “Right.” The AI paused, mulling over in indecision. “…Okay, I know this will sound weird, but I’ve been through something like this before,” she began. “But there’s no time for me to explain, so I’m just going to ask you to trust me on this one.” Twilight cocked her head. “You’ve been through something like this before?” Her tone was even more skeptical than before. “Just trust me, okay?!” Cortana hissed. “Usually, when they’re trying to occupy your body, you’d think that you’d both occupy the same mind, right?” “Uh, sure. Why not?” Twilight replied, trying to appease the angry construct. “Well, you don’t feel a presence or anything, do you?” “Only yours because you’re standing in front of me.” “That’s the power of this ‘tether’. I’m guessing it’s an item that bonds you to somebody else, or to another consciousness,” Cortana explained. “When fighting another consciousness, I discovered that it’s important to cling to something you believe in.” Twilight’s ears perked up when the AI’s voice softened momentarily. “Or someone.” Cortana turned on the unicorn. “And you said John was with you when you encountered Snowflake?” “Yes; he asked him for a tether.” “Then he must be looking for my neural interface chip.” The AI’s eyes bore into Twilight. “Think! What could he use as a tether for you?” Ideas began to fire off in Twilight’s mind. What could a tether be for me? The Element of Magic? My first textbook from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? She shook her head, cutting off any more ridiculous assumptions. “I-I don’t know. The only one I can think of has already been broken.” Her Element of Magic drifted in front of her mind’s eye. A loud series BOOMs shook the entire enclosure. Cortana stumbled, struggling to remain upright. Twilight scrambled to her feet. “W-what’s going on?!” “Damn! How can he get through that firewall I put up?!” the AI cursed. Cortana glanced upwards, eyeing a spider-web crack appear in the seamless ceiling, spreading quickly with each BOOM. “He must be getting desperate…” The construct bit her lip. “Although, he can’t do anything to us even if this barrier didn’t exist… He doesn’t have the tethers. He should be powerless…” Twilight thought she heard the construct gulp. “…Shouldn’t he?” The entire ceiling shattered in an explosion of plaster and dust. -- John stood at the head of the carriage, ignoring the two guards’ stares. His eyes were fixed on the smoke pillar in the distance, where the Dawn would be located. His mind drifted back to the fearful ponies behind him. C’mon, John. All of this was circumstantial. You’ve got to understand; they’re not at fault. He frowned. As much as he wanted to blame this situation on them, he knew he couldn’t. His anger flared again, however, upon remembering that he wasn’t to blame either. The ship had crashed on the planet from its gravitational pull, not to mention the control of the engines was lost with the— “Why can’t I just fly ahead?! I could get Twilight outta there in a snap, but I’ve gotta wait with you guys!” a scratchy voice complained. “It’s not that simple, Rainbow! I know you weren’t there, but the creature that attacked us in Ponyville was more than a match for all of us!” Rarity exclaimed. Her voice lowered noticeably as she continued. “Even for him…” John felt six pairs of eyes bore into the back of his head. Once again, he ignored them. Although it was a bit of stubbornness behind the gesture, he knew he had to avoid talking with them if he was going to keep his anger under control. Unfortunately, this provoked “Rainbow.” “WHAT?! Whaddya mean?! That super-soldier wasn’t able to take down whatever that thing was?! There can’t be a single creature in all of Equestria that could take down this guy so easily! Sorry for bringing this up again, Applejack, but he beat the tar outta your brother! And there aren’t very many ponies—or living things, for that matter—that can out-muscle Big Macintosh! He’s the strongest pony in Ponyville!” The Spartan felt some comfort in that. She really did have faith in him. “But all of a sudden, when he’s confronted by his old girlfriend, he can’t even swing a punch!” That was it. The Spartan whirled on the owner of the voice, marching over to the Pegasus. He stared down at her, to which she responded with a defiant glare. “Leave her out of it.” “I said—!” “Enough! Both of you!” Fluttershy shouted, shocking the two into silence. She immediately backed off, squeaking in dismay. “O-oh! Sorry! I… um… I hope I didn’t…meep!” “Fluttershy! I thought you were supposed to be on my side!” Rarity stepped forward, putting herself between Rainbow and the yellow Pegasus. “Rainbow Dash, you have no idea what you’re saying!” The unicorn glanced at the Spartan, her eyes brimming with sorrow. “You have no idea what he’s been through. What… they’ve been through. And throwing around fault needlessly isn’t going to help us closer as a team!” “When did you ever think there ever was a team, Miss Rarity?” John asked quietly. Rarity’s head swiveled around, an appalled look on her face. “But aren’t you coming with us to help—” “I’m only helping Cortana.” John strode up to the rail, his eyes fixed on the approaching column of smoke. “I don’t owe any of you a single favor. None of you have done anything for me, after all.” “But, you do owe Twilight,” Celestia’s deep voice intervened. John turned on the Princess, his voice dropping dangerously low. “Owe her what?” “She saved you from my recklessness!” she exclaimed. “I was ready to have you executed for all that you had done; beat one of my subjects to near-death, intentionally evading those I had assigned to watching you, and then you come within a hair’s breadth of killing somepony that truly meant everything to me. And yet, even after you had thrown that knife at her, she still intervened on your behalf.” “She was repaying me for carrying her away from the forest she chased me into,” the Spartan muttered dismissively. "Chief, she told me what she wanted to do with you. She told me about what she thought of you. You're not a bad person, and that she wanted to give herself to you as a friend, ever since you told her that you had none." The Spartan turned away, staring at the approaching smoke column of the Dawn's wreck. "I don't need her." "You're not even going to give her a chance?" "Why should I?" "All I'm asking you do is at least allow her the opportunity." The Chief turned on his heel, facing the alicorn. "And if I refuse...?" "STOP! PLEASE!" Several surprised gazes rested on a cream-yellow pegasus. "Please... Stop arguing... We're all in this together, now, and I don't think the ones we're trying to save would want us to break up..." "Ah think what she's tryin' to say is that arguin' and fightin' over who did what ain't gonna help us get closer to our goal," Applejack explained. "We can't get angry at each other over whose fault it was; everythin's in the past, now. All we kin' do is try to deal with the situation." "Yeah; the faster we do this, the faster we get to all go our separate ways," Rainbow added, a hint of contempt in her voice. "My apologies, my little ponies. It's just that I wanted to inform him of Twilight's intentions before any incorrect assumptions could be made. After all..." She glared at John's visor. "An old friend told me not to be so quick to pass judgement." The Spartan returned her glare with a cold gaze, unmoved by her recycling of his words. The scene was interrupted by one of the pegasi pulling the cart. “Ma’am! We’ll be touching down in twenty seconds!” Giving the alicorn a quick nod, the five mares crowded at the opposite end of the carriage to get a glimpse of the crash site. Five gasps sounded off almost simultaneously. The Dawn’s wreck was almost completely enveloped in a series of purple crystalline formations, similar to the crystal that they had seen in Ponyville a day before. Thousands of small facets jutted out from the hull in various angles, bringing the image of a porcupine or pincushion to mind. The plume of smoke still rising from the crash site seemed to be blown upwards by a draft that seemed to emanate from the crystals, keeping the view devoid of obstruction by the fumes. The carriage set down at the sand on the eastern rim of the impact crater. The two pegasi guards detached themselves from the carriage while the occupants disembarked in silence. The seven figures faced the crash site, jaws set in grim determination. “Sorry about earlier.” John’s head swiveled to the source of the apology: Rainbow Dash. “I shouldn’t have said that; it really is nobody’s fault. It was the heat of the moment, and I just wanted someone to blame. But… I was wrong to think that way.” John returned to staring at the crash site. “Sometimes, there are some things that just happen. Even if you don’t want them to.” Rarity chuckled. “Are you sure you’re not a philosopher, Mr. Chief?” Everypony gave her a stern glare. “…Tough crowd,” she muttered. Again, they faced the crash site. In unison, they all took their first steps forward. The sand in front of them bulged outward, bursting with an earsplitting CRACK. Particles flew everywhere, obstructing their vision. Coughing and sputtering, the ponies retreated a few paces backwards. John felt a painful blow impact the stitches below his underarmor, forcing him two steps back. He straightened up, crouching slightly and bringing his arms up. He glanced at his motion tracker, finding a single red blotch in addition to the six red blotches which marked the Princess and the others. And he watched it split into two. After another ten seconds, it split into four. Curiosity made John look around, struggling to see through the sand whipping in the updraft of the glowing crystals. The Spartan jolted a little when he saw one of the crystals move. An arm pushed up out of the sand below the crystal, before the sand gave way, revealing a little humanoid that resembled something of a golem. The sharp crystal shard jutted out of its back, while its two feet and arms were made up of sandstone. Two glowing violet eyes peered out from the gritty shell, a small mouth curved into a permanent frown. It howled an inhuman roar, which resembled the earth’s rumbling when there was an earthquake. Other crystals that were poking out of the ground began to shift and move, revealing dozens of the little golems. They surrounded the group in a wide half-circle, their beady eyes glimmering maliciously. The golem responsible for the first hit, however, was a larger, more “developed” one. It was three times the height of the other golems, and instead of a large shard protruding from its back, it boasted a smooth, crystalline surface with only occasional areas of sandstone around its hands and feet. Its face was shockingly human, wearing a mischievous smirk. “What are these things, Princess? Ever encounter these before?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Ooh! They look kinda like sugar crystals!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing in place. “These are magical golems. Usually made with magical crystals that seem to be in abundance around here…” the Princess trailed off. “It’s only with pure magical essence that such crystals can be made. I have a feeling that Twilight may have had a hoof in this.” “How d’ya know that?” Applejack inquired, her eyes darting between the encroaching golems. “Their color; it’s purple, just like her magic,” the Alicorn replied. “If I recall correctly, the Archmage’s magic was a pale blue; he shouldn’t have been able to channel any magic of his own except through Twilight’s body.” “Explains the distasteful décor…” Rarity mused. “So, any plans, Chief?” Rainbow asked, turning to John. Except John wasn’t there. The Spartan threw a vicious right hook into a golem’s face, easily crumbling the pitiful sandstone. The large crystal shard in its back went flying, thudding against the sand a few yards away. The dozens of golems let out another roar before collapsing on the Spartan, their collective running creating a small earthquake. The six mares charged all at once, moving to assist him. The fight had begun.