//------------------------------// // Extreme Measures // Story: Halo: Stranded // by The R0fl Guy //------------------------------// Twilight woke up to a sun ray on her face. It felt nice, she thought, and she considered falling back asleep. However, as she cracked open an eye and saw how high the sun was in the sky, she realized how late she had slept in and quickly hopped out of bed. As she walked down the stairs into the library, she glanced at the clock. “Great, it's ten AM. Overslept by an hour...” She mumbled to herself. Not that it mattered anyway, she thought, as she would probably have to move a lot of her schedule aside to deal with the alien. Upon entering the kitchen, Twilight found herself wondering what kind of plan Celestia and Luna would come up with. Her thoughts were forced aside abruptly though as Spike saw her and greeted her with a good morning and some breakfast. Thanking her assistant for making her a plate of fruit and a glass of juice, she sat down and started eating. As she ate, she once again started thinking of a way to take care of the situation so life in Equestria could go back to normal. Twilight was curious about many more things than the princesses plan though, like how the alien survived a fall from outer space. She was especially curious about how it spoke Equestrian. She thought about it for a long time, and even wondered if the Universe had a set of predetermined languages, but cast the idea off as ridiculous. Another thing she wondered about was what they had done to provoke it. Sure, the guards were being quite hostile, but they never made a move to attack it until it tried attacking Princess Luna. Surely it would understand the only reason the guards raised their spears at it was because of how threatening it was being. The princesses even said they meant it no harm. Twilight finished up her breakfast and placed her dishes in the sink, then went to brush her teeth and have a shower. Before everyone returned home last night, Princess Celestia had asked if they would all attend a meeting in Canterlot the next day at noon. Even though there was an extremely lethal alien on the loose, Twilight would still make sure she looked her best for the princesses, Celestia in particular. She briefly thought she might be a little bit too obsessive, but decided she could use a shower anyway, especially after trudging through the Everfree Forest all night and early morning. As Twilight walked out the door, she was stopped by Spike who asked her, “Twilight, are you gonna' tell me what happened last night or am I gonna' have to ask?” “Sorry, Spike, but it's not very appropriate for someone your age. I'll tell you another time.” Twilight answered. “Wait, not very appropriate? Are you saying... was there an alien or something?” The dragon asked ecstatically. “Look, just stay in the library for today, okay?” Twilight said with a tone of worry creeping into her voice. The last thing she needed was Spike going out hunting for the thing. She didn't want anyone else, close to her or not, to get hurt. “Uh, okay.” The dragon said, sounding confused. “And keep the doors locked.” Twilight added as she walked out the front door. From her home, she would travel to the train station and meet up with the girls. They would then take the train to Canterlot and head to the castle. As Twilight neared the train station, she spotted Pinkie talking to Applejack. She walked up to them and said hello, to which they replied with their own greetings, but not much more. Conversation was scarce as they waited for the rest of the girls to show up, and Twilight noticed how shaken everyone looked. She wondered if she looked the same. After a short while, all the girls had arrived at the station, and they were ready to purchase their tickets and board the train. After purchasing their tickets and boarding, they had to wait a few minutes for the train to depart. “So... whadya' think we're gonna' do?” Applejack asked as they all took their seats. “The princesses have had time to think of a plan now, so we will just have to wait and find out.” Twilight said with confidence, “It won't be a repeat of last time though, I can promise you that...” She added quietly. As Twilight said this, Fluttershy looked down and shrunk into her seat. Sensing Fluttershy's fear, Rarity moved over to her. “Don't worry dear, everything will be okay. Celestia and Luna have had time to think of a proper plan, like Twilight said. Everything will be alright.” She said in a soothing voice. This seemed to help Fluttershy slightly, as she gave Rarity a weak smile. After five minutes of waiting, the train was finally ready to depart. It hissed as the brakes were released, and with a small shudder it started moving. The girls were silent almost the entire ride to Canterlot, keeping mostly to themselves and staring out their windows at the passing landscape. As the train neared the capital city, the girls noticed pegasi arranging storm clouds in random orders across the sky. “Perfect time for a storm...” Applejack mumbled grimly, “Ah didn't even know there was one planned for today. What gives, RD?” she asked. “We were supposed to have a storm three days ago, but the weather team organizer never got the list of pegasi that were supposed to create it out to anypony in time.” Rainbow Dash said, “So it had to get moved to today.” She added. “Well as long as we don't have to go trekking through the Everfree Forest again, I don't care if there is a storm or not.” Rarity huffed. After a few moments of silence, Pinkie Pie spoke, “I kinda' miss the chocolate milk rain.” She pouted, which drew a small giggle from everyone, including Fluttershy. Within minutes of their small conversation, the train arrived at the Canterlot station. “Have a good day.” The Conductor said to the girls as they exited the train. They all doubted they would. Checking the station clock, Twilight realized that they were almost late for the meeting. “Oh no, we don't have much time, we've got to hurry girls!” She said in a panicked voice. She began trotting at a faster than usual pace through the crowds of ponies boarding and exiting the train, almost bumping into a few and earning glares from them. Ignoring the glares from the other ponies, Twilight kept moving, forcing the rest of the girls to try and catch up with her through the crowds. After a couple of minutes, the girls had finally exited the station, and were now trotting through the streets of Canterlot. They didn't make it far though before they were stopped by two royal guards. “Miss Sparkle, Princess Celestia has sent for us to retrieve you and your friends to bring you to the castle immediately. I suggest we hurry.” One of the guards said. “I agree, lets go.” Twilight said happily, thankful that someone other than her took being on time as seriously as she did. As the girls approached the castle under escort from the royal guard, they drew many looks from the citizens of Canterlot. Some ponies had heard that the meteorite was not made of rock at all, and that it was actually what seemed to be some sort of massive metal craft. They were beginning to wonder if there had been more to the meteorite from the night before, and started worrying that there may have been aliens lurking about. One stallion decided he wanted to get some answers. “Excuse me miss,” he said as he trotted up to Twilight, “Have you and your friends been to check out the meteorite from last night?” He asked curiously. “Why, y-yes, we have.” Twilight studdered. “And what exactly did you find? Is it true that it's not made out of rock?” He asked loudly, causing more citizens to approach the scene. “Well, actually, we, uh...” Twilight squeaked, not wanting to tell them that they hadn't actually been to investigate it. “Begone with you, now!” The guard said, moving between Twilight and the stallion. “It it not your business.” He added. The stallion, now knowing that something had happened, was becoming suspicious. “Well, as a citizen of Equestria, aren't I entitled to know about what happened?” He asked, faking an innocent voice. “You will get your answers later. For now, you must let us do our job. Now begone!” The guard said sternly, sending the message to the stallion and the rest of the onlookers. The crowd parted, creating an opening for the guards and the girls to go through, and within minutes they arrived at the castle. Crossing the drawbridge into the castle courtyard, they brought the girls to the front entrance of the castle and stood on either side of them. Opening the doors for them, one of the guards said, “You will be escorted to the throne room from here, do not keep the princesses waiting.” “We won't.” Twilight said. Normally, Rainbow Dash would have stuck her tongue out at the guard for talking to her like that, but right now it didn't bother her. Even after all of the attention they had received, she couldn't be bothered to gloat even a little bit. She, along with the others, just wanted to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna right away. After a quick walk through the castle with four new escorts, the girls arrived at the throne room. Normally, they would be ecstatic to be inside of the castle, let alone the throne room, but given their current situation, they didn't much enjoy it. Entering the throne room, they found the two princesses discussing with each other, looking out of one of the many stained glass windows. Twilight coughed quietly. The princesses turned to look at her, whispered once more between themselves, then walked over to the girls. “Thank you for attending this meeting, we have some very important matters to discuss, as I'm sure you already know.” Celestia said flatly. She continued, “Princess Luna and I have decided that the alien is too dangerous to allow it to roam free. However, it is too aggressive to interact with directly, as it proved so... lethally.” She said slowly, “It also seems to have some sort of magical abilities of its own, as it evaded my spell. As for its weapons, our concentrated shield spell was able to protect everypony from it, but I fear without magic its weapons would severely harm someone, or worse.” “It should also be noted that this creature proved to be excellent in unarmed combat, and it seems to be quite creative with its escape plans.” Luna added. “So what are we going to do? How are we going to stop it? We don't even know its intentions, what if it was just frightened?” Twilight asked with much concern. “Since we have so little information about this being, we decided that the best way to get answers is directly from the alien itself.” Luna said simply, “And before you question my sanity, know that we will make sure it is unable to harm anyone before we apprehend it.” “How will you do that?” Applejack asked. “An incapacitation spell. Once it is incapacitated, we can apprehend the alien and secure it, allowing us to question it.” Celestia answered confidently. “Before we cast the spell however, we must make sure that the alien is organic. If it is... something else, then we will have to lure it into some sort of trap. Hopefully in that situation its ignorance of Equestria will aid us.” “What if your spell doesn't work though? What if it knows more about Equestria than we think? What do we do if we cannot stop it?” Rarity asked worriedly. “I mean, it speaks our language for goodness sake, who knows what else that thing knows about us.” “How it speaks our language confuses me as well, but the sooner we do this, the sooner we can get answers, and keep Equestria safe from anything it might intend to do.” Celestia said boldly. “So what will you have us do?” Twilight asked. “We have decided that the most effective way to contain it is to use the Elements of Harmony against it, as their power is unmatched. I am quite sure the creature will not be able to resist submission.” Luna said fearlessly. “The plan is for yourselves, me, Celestia and a small group of guards to search for the alien using the royal air chariots. We do not want to make our presence known with a large group, and it will be faster with less ponies. It will be a long and tiresome job, but it must be done.” “And that is where the elements come in. The Elements know when there is a disturbance in harmony, so they will be able to direct us to the alien. Once it is found, we will use them to force it into submission.” Celestia said calmly. “When the elements are used against the cause of disharmony, however, they will usually isolate it by turning it to stone, and in certain cases if the threat is great enough, eliminating it. If the Elements sense good in their opponent though, they will use their power to destroy the evil, revealing only the good.” She said, looking to Luna. “Judging by the creatures actions and immediate hostility, however, we are almost certain that the Elements will destroy it instantly upon contact.” Luna said. “This cannot happen, as we must abide by our laws and give it a chance to speak.” She said slowly, “Since the Elements would destroy the being instead of isolate it, Celestia and I will channel the power of the Elements through ourselves, allowing us to cast their magic as if it were our own. We are the only ones capable of doing this aside from yourselves, the bearers of the Elements. We have much more knowledge on them though, and are therefore more capable of controlling the spell to hold the alien, all you girls must do is summon the power of the Elements, and we will do the rest.” “Once it has been restrained, we can return to the castle with it and begin to question it in an attempt to find the reason of its hostility, and possibly even make peace with it.” Celestia stated. “So, all we have to do is use the Elements of Harmony to give you their power?” Twilight asked reluctantly. “Yes.” Luna answered. “No offense to any of you, but given the circumstances, Celestia and I are much better suited to doing this. The knowledge we possess on the Elements allows for much... smoother casting.” Luna said sympathetically. “And we must make sure we restrain the alien, instead of harming it. The magic of the Elements is very powerful, making it extremely difficult for anyone else to keep the spell below its maximum power.” She added. “It is also very hazardous to use the Elements with limitations, as they will need to vent off the excess magical energy, and doing this is no easy task.” Celestia said. “Well, we should get going then. Ah'd rather not have that thing running around Equestria.” Applejack said in a stern tone. “Who knows, maybe he's just a big happy alien under all that green stuff.” Pinkie added hopefully. “Very well, I shall make sure the chariots are prepared for the journey.” Princess Luna said. “Celestia, you prepare the Elements. I will meet you in the courtyard shortly, sister.” She said as she walked out of the throne room. Celestia levitated the chest containing the Elements to her side, then glanced worriedly at the girls, and moved closer to them. “This will be very dangerous. We do not know how the creature will react to seeing us again, but we must expect the worst.” She said quietly. “If you must, you may use the Elements on it.” “But you said that would harm it... or worse...” Fluttershy squeaked. “Yes, but if we cannot gain control of it, there will be no other alternative. I know how much you care for all life, Fluttershy, but sometimes we must stop those who endanger others in any way we can.” The princess replied. “We will try to make peace with it, but you saw what it did to the guards. Eliminating it may be the only way to stop it.” She said comfortingly while crouching down next to Fluttershy. “Okay. I understand.” She said quietly, meeting the princesses eyes. “I am glad.” She said as she stood up. “We must be going now if we hope to find it before nightfall. Luna said she will delay the rising of the Moon, but she can only do so for a short while. Time is of the essence.” The girls then continued to follow Celestia out of the throne room and out to the courtyard, where Luna awaited them. - Chief woke up several hours later. He checked his mission clock and read 0653 hours. He stood up, slinging the bag over his shoulder and attaching his Sniper Rifle to his back, and looked around the heavily damaged hangar. His gaze was met with nothing but silence, and the occasional creak of the ship. “Sleep well?” Cortana asked in a sarcastic voice. “Yes.” Chief answered flatly. “Good, because you may not get to again. I'm tracking one target moving towards the hangar, another equine.” Cortana said, returning to seriousness. “Are you going to evacuate, or wait it out? And may I add that we won't be able to stay in the Dawn anymore, more equines are bound to come sniffing around the inside,” She said hurriedly. “and don't worry about making sure they don't find anything on board, the Dawn has zero systems functioning.” She added, finally finishing her sentence. “Then we move on, but we stay close to the ship. It and the forest are the only landmarks we know.” Chief said. “I suggest you find another exit then, the approaching equine is nearing the hangar entrance.” Cortana replied. “Negative, I'll wait in the shadows until it passes. Scouting these things might be useful.” Chief said as he slunk into the blackness of the front of the hangar. “Okay, just don't let what happened last time you tried scouting them happen again.” Cortana said mockingly. He crouched low beside the starboard wall, and waited for whatever was nearing the ship to appear. When the equine came into view, Chief zoomed his visor in to get a better look at it. He noticed that it was a gray pegasus, with a blonde mane and tail. He also noticed that it was cross-eyed, making its already oversized and overly colourful eyes even more strange. Everything here seemed too surreal, he thought to himself. The pegasus placed its two front hooves up onto the floor of the hangar and cautiously peered inside. After looking into the darkness for a couple of seconds, it gingerly flew inside and hovered over the floor. It stared into the darkness again for a few more seconds with a curious look on its face, then landed and began to carefully look around. Chief continued watching it as it moved towards a row of weapon racks along the wall he was hiding against. It slowly started to inspect the contents of one of them, and pulled out a Battle Rifle Chief had decided not to take. The pegasus then did the most idiotic thing Chief could imagine, and put its mouth around the barrel of the rifle to pull it out. After removing it from the weapon rack, it held the rifle and stared at it with nothing but confusion on its face. How it managed to grasp it with its hooves surprised Chief, but he quickly refocused on watching it. The pegasus was inspecting the short range scope attached to the top of the weapon when it lost its grip on the rifle and dropped it. As soon as it hit the floor, it let go of a three round burst. Chief heard the bullets fly past him and bury themselves into the wall at the front of the hangar. He cursed the Marines laziness at checking if their weapons safeties were on before bringing them on board. The gray pegasus jumped a foot into the air with a scream of shock and terror as the rifle fired; and by the sound of its scream, Chief assumed it was a female. The pegasus caught itself in mid air with its wings, and flew back to the entrance of the hangar to wait and see what would happen. It hovered in the air with wide eyes, watching if anything would stir in the darkness. Chief took this as the perfect opportunity to scare the pegasus off, and kicked a broken wall panel near his foot out into the open. She spotted it instantly, and dove to the ground with a squeal of terror. “This one doesn't seem to be a threat. I suggest we move on now, before we find one that is.” Cortana said impatiently. “Just make sure it doesn't follow you.” She added as Chief revealed himself from the shadows. “Understood” He said. The pegasus could hear the aliens footsteps from deep within the hangar becoming louder and louder as it got closer, and after several seconds that felt like an eternity, they finally stopped. She slowly looked up, and saw the massive green alien looming over her. Struck by fear and unable to move, all she could do was watch. As soon as it moved, however, she was up in the air and nowhere to be seen in a matter of seconds. Satisfied that nothing more would interfere with him, Chief stepped out of the hangar and made his way across the field towards the forest. He ran from cover to cover, like he had the night before. It was slightly more difficult now, since it was in broad daylight, but there were less ponies now than there were the night before. The ones from last night were all asleep, he thought. After about fifteen minutes of sneaking around them, Chief approached the edge of the huge forest he had landed in roughly nine hours earlier. Upon entering the forest, a ping in his helmet alerted Chief that his motion tracker had picked something up. Normally, Chief wouldn't have give this a second thought while being in the forest, but he had reprogrammed his motion tracker to pick up lifeforms bigger and only slightly smaller than the wolves he faced two hours after landing. The triangle, indicating the life form was above him, was twenty three meters away from him and approaching from his six o'clock. Easily enough time to evade whatever it was if it landed, he thought. Chief started running, attempting to get into the thick foliage deeper in the forest to throw his pursuer off. Instead of evading it however, it only seemed to be catching up with him. The only way to shake off whatever was chasing him would be to use the forest canopy to his advantage. He turned off of his current path, and jumped into a dense patch of bushes and foliage. After waiting quietly and watching his motion tracker for several seconds, the triangle turned into a dot nineteen meters from his current position, directly to his left. “Hellooo!” He heard a high pitched voice call out. When it was met with nothing but silence, it called out again, “I don't wanna' hurt you, I just wanna' talk to you! We could be friends!” It said in a bubbly voice. Chief wondered why all of the horses thought he feared them, as far as he was concerned, the only ones that could challenge him and live were the alicorns. All of the other ones just seemed overly colourful and useless to him. The dot was now nearing Chief's position, and was only thirteen meters away. It continued calling out to him, “I know you're in here, just come out. I could introduce you to some of my friends back in Ponyville!” It said excitedly. As it spoke for the third time, Chief recognized its voice as the pegasus from before. Apparently, at the thought of gaining a new friend, all of its fears seemed vanish. Chief thought of this as only foolish. It moved even closer to his position, and was now just seven meters away. He could see parts of it through the foliage now, and he noticed several small bubbles on its flank. Why they all had pictures tattooed onto their flanks confused Chief, and he wondered if it was some sort of ritual they all had to follow. The pegasus was starting to get annoyed with Chief's silence it seemed, and it said in a voice attempting and failing to mimic a threat, “Well if you don't come out for me, then maybe you'll come out for the princesses.” Chief wasn't going to take any chances. He was going to avoid the alicorns for as long as he could. He stepped out of the bushes he was hiding behind, and stared directly at the gray pegasus. When it once again saw how massive the Master Chief was, it flew a couple feet into the air, ready to bolt at a moments notice. “Nice to see you too.” Chief said sarcastically. “Y-you... you can talk? And you speak Equestrian?” It said quietly and fearfully. “I speak English.” He replied in a flat tone. “And I suggest you don't tell those princesses of yours where I am.” He added malevolently. “I, uh, I really should go tell them. They won't hurt you though! They're nice!” She quickly said in a worried tone. “Well sometimes nice just doesn't cut it.” Chief said. He was beginning to feel nothing but pestered by the pegasus, and he didn't like the fact that it would tell the princesses it had seen him in the forest. They were probably already scouring the land for him anyway, he thought, and if the pegasus told them it had seen him in the forest, with their wings and the open skies, they could probably be on him just as he left it. He decided that the best plan would be to dispose of her. “Wh-what d-do you mean?” The pegasus asked worriedly. “You have to go.” Chief answered simply. As he said that, he drew his SMG in his left hand, and took aim at the wide eyed pegasus.