HALO: MANE TEAM
<<TRANSMISSION START>>
Chapter 6: Homecoming
The Absolution headed to the Sol system, en-route to Equestria. As it traveled, Scootaloo introduced us to a few more advanced components of our suits and weaponry in the kill house.
"Your suit has an integrated computer, able to measure nearly everything, including your pain. Start your on board computers, now."
My HUD flashed and sprang to life.
>>SUIT SELFCHECK COMPLETE.
"Which brings us to your on board medic. It's a spell that automatically dispenses medication to injuries. Painkillers, antibiotics, salves, stimulants, even some drugs. Don't over use it."
Lots of good that did to Pinkie.
"Your suit also has a magically enhanced backpack, with space for up to a fair sized table. Weaponry-wise... Walking tank status achieved. You can carry a max of three Primaries and two Secondaries. Grenades are limited to four of each type."
She walked to the vault and opens it. After rummaging around for a bit, she pulls out a hoof full of grenades. Placing them in a row on the table, She goes back to lecturing.
"Okay, before me lies all six types of grenades we've made."
"The Frags." She gestures to a spherical one with a simple greenish-black finish.
"The EMP." A tubular one, with a white band running the circumference.
"The Flashbang." A hexagonal tube.
"Antipersonnel." It looked like a bulked-up version of the Frag. Red band.
"Smokes, every color." a octagonal tube, colored with the color of smoke issued.
"Lastly, the QED." This one was encased in a clear Fiberglas box, which was encased in another Pexiglas box, encased in a vacuum box. What does this unassuming little spherical grenade do to warrant such precautions?
"Okay, covenant stuff. Most of these you know of."
"Plasma's." Glowing blue ball. Deadly, to be avoided.
"Spike's" Can on a stick, plus extra sharp thingys on it.
"And, lastly, Incendiaries." Looked like a Frag, but with glowing orange ends.
"This is the kill house. Its a good place to test fire new weapons. Why not give it a try? Lance, you're up first."
I barely had time to think before being shoved through the metal door way into the kill house. Drawing my BR-55, I waited warily for targets. I heard a faint whirring sound, and my BR-55 came up to adress it.
~~~~~
Three hours later, I slumped to the ground, panting. "Good job, Lance. Training simulation complete. Deaths, 2. Kills, 20948."
Damn. That kill house spanned almost the entire ship, with environments like crowded buildings to open fields.
"ETA Equestria, twenty minutes. Mane squad, report to your Falcon." The PA blared.
I got to my hooves and reloaded my BR-55. Trotting to the arms room, I grabbed the rest of my armament. Placing my weapons on their assigned latches on my armor, I made my way to the hanger. The battered and carbon-scored Raptor proudly stood there, with teams of engineers hastily giving it one last look over. I watched with semi-interest as one particularly yellow mare ducked underneath the Raptor and place a square object on the hull.
Hm... I could fell that itch to look at the box, but Twilight motioning me to a first aid stand, tucked away in one section of the hanger. I went to her. "What's up, Twi?"
"Medications, and let's refill your onboard medic." She plugged a hose into the section of armor over my thigh. She also takes out a long needle.
"What's that for?" I begin to shake as the needle approaches. Did I mention that I'm afraid of needles?
"Well, Equestria is overrun by Covenant, so not many ponies are left to take care of the world. Natural sicknesses and diseases are rampant. Now, this here is a mixture of potent antibodies and vaccines to help combat everything that nature dare's to throw our way. Now stand still!"
I try to jerk away, but the suit's onboard computer registers that the refilling hose is still attached and powers down the suit. Immobile, I can only gulp and hope it's painless.
I think my screech alerted the Covenant on the moon.
~~~~~
The Raptor blazed its way into the atmosphere, where several UPSC Ships hovered around. It seemed that the Covenant was beaten back space-wise, but it was a totally different story on the surface.
Parts of Equestria burned. I could see several firefights on the surface as we skimmed the clouds.
"Coming into Appleloosa AFB." Fluttershy announced over the radio. The four of us in the troop bay unstrapped and stood to stretch for a bit.
Suddenly, a large red crimson Wraith trundled up a hill and opened fire.
The plasma bolts stitched the engines of the Raptor and burned its delicate components. It belched vicious amounts of smoke and flames.
"Going down! Hang on everybody!" Fluttershy screamed over the radio.
The Raptor begun to do barrel rolls and the Gees pinned us to the sides of the Troop bay.
"What the hell was that?" Rainbow cries.
"There! It's flat enough!" Twilight pointed to a flat desert.
"Here we go! Hold on!" Fluttershy says.
The Raptor hit the dried plains and shredded. Armor plates, antennas and weapons pods all fell away. Then, it hit a rock and broke into two. I was tossed free.
I was spinning, falling and flying all at the same time. I felt, like a puppet, only without strings. Then the ground reared up beneath me and I hit the too solid floor with a sickening thump. The visor cracked like spiderweb and obscured my view.
I gasped for breath as my windpipe temporarily disconnected from my lungs. Finally answering my stricken bodies cries for rest, my mind shut down, and I blacked out.
~~~~~
Sounds... I could hear talking in the background. Slowly, I cracked open an eyelid. Bright moonlight entered my eye as I looked around.
"Great! You're awake." An familiar voice wafted through my woozy consciousnesses. I tried to see who it was, but I didn't have the energy. "Hang on. This will help."
I felt something being stuck to my foreleg, and my mind slowly cleared. Sitting upright, I blinked several times to get used to not having flaming plane parts flying around. I was in a small dingy little room. Standing off to one side was my armor.
I reached over my foreleg and tapped the pad. "What is it? And where am I?"
Applejack blinked. "Oh that. It's a stimulant pad. You're in Dodge junction. Place has been abandoned for several years now. But god, you were mighty strong just now."
"What happened?"
"Well. The jet crashed and Fluttershy broke her wing. Twilight was bleeding badly, and Rarity had half a rifle jammed down her throat. You immediately got up, even though you're bio showed you had a punctured lung, Picked up Fluttershy with your magic, and carried Twilight and Rarity. We barely got to Dodge and you immediately set Fluttershy's wing, patched up Twilight, and preformed the most amazing teleport magic on the rifle. Then you collapsed and had a full cardiac arrest. It was the Celestia's own work keeping you alive."
"I don't remember any of this. Then again, I'm not a smart pony." I give a small smile as I crawl out of bed.
Following her out of the room, I realized that it felt... good to be out of the armor for a while. Even with the large caliber pistol strapped to my flank, it just was nice to see the night sky without a visor.
A small campfire was going on in the middle of the town. As we approached, I felt at ease with the formally foreign ponies. Applejack and I sat down at the fire. Small talk about the sky ensued as I kept mostly to myself. I saw Rarity daintily touching Fluttershy's bandaged wing and heard a small "Ouch" every time. I saw Twilight with her many scars. I saw a large blue-colored object hurtling at me at speeds only-Celestia-knows.
"What'syourstory,huh?Howoldareyou?Doyouhavechildren?Aretheycute?Anypegasus?TELL ME!" The rainbow-maned pegasus shouted into my face.
I gave her my most deadpan look. "Mind getting off me first?" I suggested quietly. The pegasus blinked and backed off.
"Yeah Lance. What's your story? You're a blank slate as of now." Twilight asked.
Looking around, I sigh and move to the campfire. "Fine. Here's my story..."
~~~~~
"I was born in the year 2000, in Stalliongrad. As a child, I loved to play, oh yes... I was so childish back then.
The years passed. I failed a couple of important exams, meaning I couldn't get a nice job. I had to settle with a internship with my father, who was a businesspony. We flew all over Equestria, and I met many different ponies, even Zebras. When the idea of space came up, I was so intrigued that I studied day and night about it.
Of course, that meant that I was selected as one of the few lucky ones to fly with my family. The Pioneer was a comfy ship. We traveled over the course of five years, finding many suitable planets and settling some ponies down there as the pioneers of space colonies.
My family was dropped off on the planet Formor. It was beautiful. Lush green forests, clear blue lagoons. We set up camp, along with several other families. Then...
We waited. Soon, other ships arrived, carrying more ponies. Our small camp soon turned into a big bustling city. Life was great. I grew up, I got a decent job and I even met the love of my life."
"Seriously? What was she like?" Rarity interjected.
"Well... She was a light blue mare, had a really pretty red and white mane, and her name was StarLight. We met over the funniest of incidents. I was reading a book one day while walking in the park, when she crashed into me. She was doing the exact same thing, except she carried way more books. Both our spells popped and tons of books fell on our heads. We looked at each other and burst out laughing. I helped her up and we began to pick up the books. After a fashion, We cleaned up the mess and walked away. I completely forgot about the incident, until she knocked on the door of my modest apartment. When I opened the door, I asked her,'What are you doing here?' And she replies, in that sweet melodious voice of her's, 'I seem to have taken your book on warfare.' and gave it back to me.
Not knowing what else to do, I invited her into my apartment. We slowly started talking, mostly about ourselves and the worlds at large. By the end of the day, we knew each other pretty well.
After a few months and a couple more meetings, I finally screwed up enough courage to ask her to... marry me."
"Oh, that's beautiful! How was it?" Fluttershy asked.
I sadly smiled and shook my head."It never happened. On the day before the wedding, the Insurrection attacked my town. They burned and stole and killed. We ran. We ran like we never did before. I led her to my private ship, with Innies on our tails. We were on the ramp... the bucking ramp, when she took a stray bullet through her leg. She half limped, half dragged herself up the ramp. I helped her shock laden body into the ship's infirmary, before strapping down and taking off.
I rushed her to the orbital UPSC hospital, where they treated her wounds and saved her life. Then... One day, as I left the hospital to visit my parents on another guarded colony ship, they bucking struck again. Suicide Innie ships rammed the guard ships and disabled their heavy weaponry, just enough to slip a tac nuke onboard the hospital."
Gasps echoed all around as I started to shed bitter tears.
"They blew it up, my love, my life, my hope and dreams... All gone. That's when I skipped back to Equestria and joined the Army. I thought that if I could help stop these bastards, then there would be a few less lonely ponies in the universe..."
I screwed up my eyes and faced the ground, weeping uncontrollably.
"An... and I sti... still haven't... haven't gotten the buck ov... over it. Why?" I asked as my tears wet the dusty ground in front of me. "Why? I... I prayed to Celestia... asked for... for closure... and no difference..."
I heard the sound of approaching hooves, and felt the warmth of somepony's body around me.
"There there." Rainbow whispered into my ear as she hugged me. "Grieve your heart out. This is the time for your closure."
That I proceeded to do, cursing the heavens and hell, cursing Celestia and Luna, weeping with only the five pairs of attentive ear's around me and the stars to listen.
~~~~~
The warmth permeated through my every pore, as the sun slowly rose in the sky. I sat up and surveyed my surroundings. There were only crackling remains of the fire, slowly glowing to their doom. I enjoyed the rising sun to the fullest, then rose to get my armor strapped on.
After re-entering the confining space of my armor, I walked out and sat with my helmet off, watching the distant dust bunnies hop across the ground.
"Feeling better? I made a bit of cocoa" I turned to see Rainbow approach with two cups balanced on her flanks.
"Yeah, much. Thanks." I took the offered cup. Taking a sip, I gagged at the taste.
"Dear Celestia! What is in that drink?" I turn to see Rainbow rolling in the dirt, laughing her heart out.
"Everypony falls for the mud joke!" She cried out over he laughter.
Rolling my eyes, I trot towards the writhing pegasus. "I have a suggestion."
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she snorts."What is it?"
"You try it."
Her eyes widen as I advance with a glint of malice in my eyes. "Uh oh."
Understatement of the century.
~~~~~
As Twilight packed her own belongings up, she could hear shouts and sounds of a scuffle outside her shack. Confused, she poked her head out to see a very afraid Rainbow run past, followed by an infuriated Lance, who, weirdly enough, was wielding two cups with what looked like wet mud.
"Come back here, you little piece of dipshit!" Lance screams as he turned the corner, hot on Rainbow's tail.
Sighing, Twilight turned back to the room, where Applejack waited. "Just Lance looking to rearrange Rainbow's innards."
As Applejack opens her muzzle to speak, Rainbow dodges in and pants heavily. "He's a...a mad pony, I tell you."
Applejack nods. "Finally, one who can't take a good joke."
"He's fast too. I haven't met anypony as fast as that, except maybe you Applejack." Rainbow pants as she peeks out the door. She comes back in, but the door stays open for about half another second before shutting.
Applejack noted the discrepancy and started to edge away from Rainbow. Seeing genuine concern in her friends eyes, Rainbow asks. "What's wrong?"
"You haven't tasted your own mud, that's what's wrong." A voice with a slightly creepy tone emanated overhead.
Dash freezes, and looks up. Materializing from the rafters is an upside down Lance, nearly face to face with her.
He winks and whispers, "Gotcha!" before dumping the contents of the two cups on the surprised mares head.
Shaking her head, Twilight smiles as the stallion jumps down from the rafters. Suddenly, a loud howl echoed around the entire town.
The three mares look at each other, a bit scared. "What was that howl? Didn't hear it before." Applejack murmurs.
Only Lance reacted badly. He crouched into a fighting stance.
"What is it, Lance?" The three mares ask.
"Firewolves." He replied simply.
<<TRANSMISSION END>>
Writers note: OH CRAP! I DIDN'T POST THIS TWO WEEKS AGO? I'm so sorry. I though that this went up more that two weeks ago. Please forgive me for the long wait and frustrations.
Oh yeah. Next chapter will be a Q&A chapter. So leave a question in the comments below or PM me and I'll get right onto it.
PLEASE! I NEED QUESTIONS TO GET MY CUPCAKE MONEY! I NEED MY CUPCAKES!
Calamity, out