CHAPTER 20
Commander Thomas Lasky wandered through the pristine hallways of Canterlot Palace, on his way to meet with the two princesses. The grandiose architecture reminded him of something out of a fairytale, but considering that the two beings he was going to meet were straight out of mythology, that did not seem like a far off conclusion. Lasky approached a large set of doors flanked by two guards. As soon as he got near, the armor-clad unicorns pushed the doors open with their telekinesis, revealing a lushly decorated room beyond. In the center of the room was a small table surrounded by several chairs. Along the walls were comfortable looking couches and bookshelves adorned with various trinkets. On one wall was a large fireplace, within which was a roaring fire, and sitting in front of it were Princesses Celestia and Luna. At the sound of the door opening, the diarchs turned to greet the visitor. Celestia smiled when she saw Lasky, and stood up to meet him.
“Commander Lasky,” she said happily. “It is good that you are here. We have much to discuss.”
“That we do, Princess,” the commander replied. Celestia turned to the table in the center of the room and walked over to it, taking a seat in one of the pony-designed chairs. Lasky was pleased to notice that one chair appeared to be intended for human anatomy, and he took a seat in that one. Luna took a seat by her sister, stifling a yawn.
“So Commander,” Celestia began, suddenly taking on a more serious tone. “What is the news of the Crystal Empire?”
“Reports are still coming in,” Lasky said, retrieving a small tablet from his pocket. On it, he pulled up several images and reports of the Crystal Empire theater. “But the main word is that all griffon forces have been eliminated. The first assault was stopped fairly effectively by Adam and Captain Armor, and ever since our Spartan left for Manehattan, they’ve done a good job at defending the city from smaller strike forces.”
“That is good,” Luna said, smiling. “And what of Manehattan? Our scouts have not been able to get close.” Lasky sighed, and averted his gaze.
“That news isn’t quite as good…” he began. The two princesses frowned, and prepared themselves for the news.
“We’ve lost contact with all UNSC forces in the area. Either their long-range comms are down, or they’ve all been wiped out. Additionally, we have lost contact with all air forces that were deployed to the region, which has discouraged Captain Del Rio from sending anyone else. Infinity is trying to get detailed images of the city from space, but it’s not looking good…” The sisters exchanged glances, then looked at Lasky sadly.
“Is there anything that we can do?” Celestia asked.
“Princess, until we know more about the situation up there, I wouldn’t recommend sending anyone anywhere close to Manehattan,” Lasky replied. “But don’t give up hope yet. Adam is a Spartan, and Spartan’s are the best of the best.”
“Thank you, Commander Lasky,” Luna said, her blue eyes shimmering with sadness. “We will plan accordingly…” Lasky nodded, pocketed his tablet, and stood up to leave. He stepped out of the door and back into the massive cathedral-like hallways, then began to head back to Perseus.
Adam crept silently through the abandoned buildings of Manehattan, attempting to make his way to where three ODST soldiers were in hiding. They, of course, knew nothing of him or his plans, but with their help, the Spartan hoped to take the city back. As he meandered through the hastily-evacuated rooms, he began to take in the state of the city. Every room he had gone through looked like the pony inhabitants had simply disappeared. Plates with food still on them rested on kitchen tables, books lay haphazardly on couches, and the rooms themselves were very messy. It was clear that, once the griffons had been spotted nearby, the previous inhabitants had simply taken what they could and left, not caring what happened to their homes. And it was his fault. Nobody else mentioned it, but Adam knew it was true. While war may have been inevitable, it would not have occurred for a long while. But because he was too hasty, and didn’t think the situation through, he had forced the hand of the Forerunner monitor and now the peaceful ponies were paying the price.
Adam shook the negative thoughts from his mind. It was no way to be acting on the battlefield. If his hastily strewn-together plan was to be successful, he would need to be completely focused. Checking the area map, Adam noticed that the three ODSTs were only a few meters ahead. In fact, he could see the bolted-shut wooden door in front of him. To any griffon searchers, it would just appear as a bathroom or closet, nowhere that a human or pony soldier would hide. Adam began to reach out to rip the door open, but then decided against it. His shield emitters were still totally burned out, and if he startled the marines enough that they opened fire, their combined shots could kill him before they realized he has friendly. Cycling through the various channels, he began to repeat a message.
“ODST soldiers, come in,” he repeated over and over. Beginning to think it was no use, Adam nearly gave up. But finally, on channel zulu, he received a response.
“This is Corporal Dunley, who is this, over?” said a deep male voice.
“This is Spartan D-014, what’s your status?”
“Crap… we thought you were dead, sir,” Dunley replied. “We’re all okay, but where are you?”
“I’m right outside,” Adam said, knocking on the door. “Could you let me in?” There was the sound of a bolt being moved out of place, then the door swept inwards, revealing an ODST with sniper variant armor.
“Corporal Dunley?” the Spartan asked.
“That’s right, sir,” the corporal responded, stepping aside. “Please, come in.” Adam stepped in to the small closet, and took in his surroundings. Standing at the other end were two other ODSTs, one of whom had biofoam coating the right side of his abdomen. He offered a weak salute, and then sat down.
“Sir, these are Privates Grant and Ward,” Dunley then said, pointing to each of the soldiers. Grant was wearing a close quarter’s variant, and was standing in the corner. The wounded soldier was Ward, who wore the default variant, and simply hosted an assault rifle. Adam nodded to each soldier, then turned back to the corporal.
“What happened?” he asked. The corporal sighed, then sat down. He motioned for Adam to do the same.
“I don’t really know, sir…” the ODST began. “One minute, everything was going fine. We had begun to lure the griffons into the main street, and were about to call in for bomber support. Then we heard an explosion. We all looked up, and saw one of our longswords get taken out by… something. Then, something big appeared. It was so big it blotted out the sun. We heard a loud roar, then suddenly everything just burst into flame. Buildings, ponies, marines, everything. We lost a lot of our soldiers in the first strike, before we even realized what we were dealing with. After that, the griffons called for surrender, and two huge dragons landed next to them. The ponies did, as did a few ODSTs. But some of us tried our luck with running… As far as I know, we’re the only ones who made it.” Adam nodded, then weighed his options. With just the three of them, there was no way that they could liberate Manehattan. They would need as many reinforcements as possible. But to get those, they would need to escape, and currently their only escape was in the form of a pelican dropship heavily guarded by griffon forces in the middle of the city.
“I might have an idea,” Adam reported. The three ODSTs all perked up at this, and nodded at him to continue. “We need help, and I don’t just mean more marines. I mean big help…”
“Infinity?” asked Grant. Adam shook his head.
“No, I was thinking something else…” the Spartan continued. “Obviously a MAC is too big. We’d kill pony prisoners and level much of the city. Point-defense turrets are too small, I doubt that they’d actually be able to hit too many griffons before they ran for cover… Archer missiles, however… They might just work.”
“Agreed,” Ward commented. “But where are we going to get an archer missile from?”
“Canterlot isn’t too far from Manehattan, only a few hours by pelican,” Adam began. “Perseus is right next to Canterlot, and she’s got a full complement of them. If I can get into contact with them, I can get them to send one our way.”
“But how will we contact Perseus?” Dunley asked. “Our radios don’t have a high enough range.”
“You just leave that to me…”
Adam silently crouch-walked through the debris-ridden streets of Manehattan, keeping a careful eye out for the many griffon patrols who were searching for him. The Spartan had decided not to use his active camo yet, as he would need to save as much suit energy as possible to use it later. After all, the main part of his plan did involve him sneaking back into the griffon-inhabited square. Checking his radar, he saw three yellow blips following close behind him. Turning around for visual confirmation, Adam saw the three ODSTs not far behind him, holding their weapons at the ready. He nodded back at them, then continued the slow-going process of crouch-walking. His legs were already beginning to burn, but he ignored it. This was too important.
“Sir…” one of the marines whispered through his mic. “I’ve got movement on the street perpendicular to ours…” Turning to look at where the marine was indicating, he saw three griffon scouts beginning to round the corner. The human soldiers could easily eliminate the winged creatures, but Adam did not want to risk them getting out a warning. If their positions were compromised, they would not have another chance at escaping.
“Get down,” Adam ordered as he lowered himself behind a stack of crates holding various pieces of fruit. The ODSTs each took similar positions out of sight of the griffons, then waited for them to move along. The three griffons looked around at the intersection, then began to turn in the direction of Adam and the ODSTs. Stopping in the middle of the street, the griffon in the center of the pack began to sniff at the air, his large eagle eyes scanning the perimeter. Over the next few tense seconds, Adam began to worry that their position had been compromised. Readying the assault rifle that had been kindly donated to him by one of the marines, he got ready to spring out and open fire on the trio. But only half a second before he did this, the griffon huffed loudly, and continued walking down the street. Adam watched the griffons as they rounded the corner at the opposite end of the street, then let out a sigh of relief.
“Let’s keep moving”, he said, then stood up from his hiding place. The three ODSTs complied and stood up, then began crouch-walking behind the Spartan. Recalling his knowledge of the layout of the city, Adam began to visualize where they were. He had not had to go too far to find the ODSTs, but now they were taking a different route that would bring them a bit closer to the pelican. If he remembered correctly, then the next street would lead directly to the large square. Peeking his head around the corner, he found that he was correct. At the end of the street was a hastily-constructed checkpoint surrounded by griffons. On the roofs above them were more griffons, these ones wielding crossbows. All of the creatures vigilantly watched the streets, looking for any kind of movement. Adam began to back up, and the turned to address the ODSTs.
“There’s too many for us to just sneak past, we need a different route,” he reported.
“What about one of the buildings?” Ward asked. “We could sneak through them to the other side. I mean, sure, they’ll probably be guarded, but much less than out here.” Adam nodded in agreement, then began looking around at his choice of buildings. He wouldn’t be able to cross the street, lest the griffons spot them. That narrowed his choice down to the buildings currently on his side of the street. Weighing his options, he finally settled on one that had less windows to offer them more cover from being spotted from outside. He motioned for the marines to follow him, then began crouch-walking to the door. Quietly, he turned the knob and pushed it open, eliciting a quiet creak from the hinges. Adam stopped to make sure nobody heard, then, once he was satisfied that no one did, he continued inside, assault rifle at the ready. Suddenly, at the end of the hallway there appeared a shadow. The shape of it clearly indicated it was a griffon, and it was getting ready to round the corner. Realizing that his assault rifle would easily be heard in here, Adam lowered it then reached his hand back behind him.
“Anyone got a SOCOM?” he asked. There was no answer, but the Spartan felt the shape of a gun press into his hand, and he closed his fingers around the grip. Bringing the silent pistol to bear, he waited and waited for the shadow to round the corner. When it did, before it could even realize what was happening, three bullets were sent down range, each one impacting into the creature’s head, splattering crimson blood against the pale walls. Adam waited for another griffon to come rounding the corner, checking to see what had killed his partner. He waited for a scream to ring out and alert all of the griffons in the city. But neither of the two events came, and Adam silently began to creep forwards once more, still holding the pistol at the ready. The four soldiers continued moving quietly through the building, keeping an eye out for enemies who might give away their position. Finally, they reached the next door, which would lead them into the square, where they could then escape into the dropship. Adam quietly cracked the door open, and fed a small fiber optic probe through the gap to check the surroundings. He linked the feed to his HUD, and slowly began turning the probe to get a view. As he expected, the place was full of griffons. Right as he was about to bring the probe back in, he caught sight of something that had not been there when he escaped the first time. Turning the probe ever so slightly, Adam got his first view of yet another one of Equis’s mythological creatures, the dragon.
“Sister, we cannot wait any longer,” Princess Luna pleaded to Celestia. “We must send a backup force to Manehattan!” Celestia briefly paused her anxious pacing to regard the princess of the night.
“Luna, you must understand,” she began. “We lost contact with the soldiers up there for a reason! It is not safe, and we must trust the humans to find out why!”
“Our ponies could be getting slaughtered, Tia!” Luna reasoned. “If we do not act now, even more shall die, and it could all be in vain!”
“Luna, please,” Celestia continued, trying to calm down her sister. “Shouting and making rash decisions such as those will not get us anywhere! We must be prepared for the battle here, and let the humans figure out Manehattan!”
“But-.” A knock at the door stopped Luna from continuing her sentence, and she turned to regard the newcomer. Celestia pulled the door open with her telekinesis, revealing Commander Lasky, a grim expression on his face.
“Princesses,” Lasky started. “I’m sorry, I wish I was here with better news. May I come in?” Celestia stepped aside and granted the human entry. He sauntered into the room, then looked at each princess.
“Infinity just finished gathering orbital images of Manehattan,” he said, pulling a small tablet out from his pocket. He passed it over to Celestia, who began to examine the image. It was from high orbit, so there was not much detail, but there were three very obvious fires raging in different parts of the city.
“Those fires are from the three bombers that we diverted to assist,” the commander continued. “They’ve all been destroyed, along with most of the pony and ODST force that was there.”
“What does this mean?” Celestia asked, sadness beginning to well up inside her.
“I’m sorry, princess,” Lasky said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Manehattan has been lost.”
Quickly pulling the probe back into the building, Adam turned to face the ODSTs, an expression of worry behind his golden faceplate.
“What’s the situation, sir?” Dunley asked. “We making a run for the pelican?” Adam began to think over the situation, trying to see if it would still work. But no matter what he thought up, Adam saw no possible scenario in which they would successfully escape before the massive dragon took them out of the sky.
“Change of plans,” Adam finally answered. “We’re still going to need that archer missile, we’re just going to need to point it at a different target…”
“What do you mean?” the ODST asked, confused.
“Do you have a laser designator, soldier?”
“Well, yes, but-,”
“Good, hand it over.” Dunley complied, and took a small laser designator out of his pouch, then passed it over to the Spartan.
“Now stand back,” he ordered. The ODSTs did as they were told, and took several steps back from the door. Quietly pulling the door open, Adam activated his camouflage unit and stepped through into the square. All around were griffon soldiers, patrolling every possible entrance except the one that he had come through. Setting his sights on the pelican, Adam began to jog over to it, then stopped at the back hatch. Fortunately it was unguarded, but inside, Adam could hear a griffon rummaging through his storage. Quietly, Adam jumped inside, then dispatched the griffon with a bullet to the head from his borrowed SOCOM pistol. He then stepped into the cockpit, sat down in the chair, and deactivated his cloak. Alright, let’s see… he thought. The pelican communications had been damaged in the crash of Lightning, and it could not send out any messages, only receive. However, with a bit of tinkering, Adam believed that it would be possible for him to patch his own radio into the pelican’s, thus boosting its effective range. Adam leaned down and took off the maintenance panel beneath the main console, then pulled a cord out of the tactical pad on his left forearm. Finding the appropriate slot, he plugged the cord in, then checked his communication diagnostics. As he had expected, the integration had boosted the range of his personal radio, allowing him to communicate with anybody on the planet.
“Perseus, this is Spartan D-014, please come in, over,” he said. He waited for a moment, and when there was no reply, he repeated the message. Once again, there was no answer. Finally, on the fifth repeat, the radio crackled to life, and a voice filled his helmet speakers.
“This is Perseus, Adam, is that you?” said the voice of Commander Lasky.
“Commander Lasky?” Adam asked. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“It’s good to hear from you! We feared the worst!”
“Yeah, so did I…” the Spartan continued. “But listen, I need some help here.”
“I’d love to send reinforcements, Adam, I really would,” Lasky interjected. “But Captain Del Rio has prohibited the sending of all forces to Manehattan. I’m sorry.”
“Not that kind of help, sir,” Adam said. “Listen, there’s a dragon in this city. Well, actually, there are two, but there’s one in the immediate area, and it’s preventing me from taking off.” As he said this, Adam looked out of the front window at the massive creature. Upon closer inspection, he was not surprised that it had been able to take out a longsword. Longswords, being atmosphere-capable air vehicles, were already made of a lighter metal than most other vehicles, but it still usually took quite a bit to take one down. However, this dragon had massive, razor-sharp claws on the front of its wings that looked like they could cut through titanium-A. Not to mention the scales coating most of its body were incredibly thick, and no doubt could survive incredible temperatures.
“A dragon, you say?” Lasky asked, bewildered. “When did they get involved with this?”
“I don’t know, sir, but they did,” Adam replied. “And now we need help. I have a laser designator, if you can fire off a single archer missile, it should be able to take the thing down, and allow me to escape.” There was a brief pause, then Lasky replied.
“Copy that, Adam. Archer missile is underway, ETA 30 seconds. Get that designator ready.” Quickly standing up from his seat in the cockpit, Adam activated his camo and rushed out of the pelican, then positioned himself where he had a good view of the dragon, but still plenty of cover from the explosion. He pressed a button on the back of the designator, and a green laser began to shine out of it, aimed right at the dragon’s chest. A few seconds later, Adam began to hear a whining sound coming from the distance. He craned his neck to see over the dragon, and finally began to see an orange fireball heading straight for them. Griffon soldiers began noticing too, and they all stopped their patrols to look at the bright light. The dragon too became aware of the missile, and squinted its eyes to get a better look. And mere seconds before the M58 ship-to-ship missile impacted, the creature let out a roar, and spun around to protect its exposed belly, only revealing to the weapon the hardened scales on its back. There was a bright flash of light, and an incredibly loud explosion, and all of the griffons in the area were lifted off of their talons and into the air, before falling back down. When the light cleared, all that remained of where the dragon had been was a dense black cloud of smoke. The griffons slowly picked themselves up off of the ground, then began to walk cautiously towards the cloud. Adam smiled with satisfaction that the creature had been killed, and was about to contact the ODSTs to run to the pelican when he heard a noise from the smoke. A loud groan, then an annoyed growl were heard as the cloud of smoke dissipated, revealing the dragon to still be alive. Angrily, it stood up to its full height, revealing that the once crimson scales had been stained a dark black by the explosion. It spread out its wings, then leapt into the air and began hovering, then looked around at the square. As the massive eyes scanned over the pelican, Adam ducked behind it and hid, even though his active camouflage still protected him.
“WHAT WAS THAT!?” yelled an angry voice that Adam recognized belonged to General Daggerwing. The voice that responded was much deeper, and seemed to make the ground vibrate with every syllable. Adam turned his head and noticed that it was the dragon who was replying.
“I do not know, General,” it said, the calmness of its voice not betraying its anger. “But it was not of pony make.”
“The humans did that?” Daggerwing asked. “Where did it come from?”
“Again, I know not, general,” the dragon replied. “It seemed to come from the sky, however… mmm…”
“What is it?”
“The humans have one of their devices, a ‘ship’, by Canterlot, do they not?” asked the dragon.
“Yes, they do,” the general said. Angrily, the dragon grunted, then stared at the general.
“Then the first strike for the battle of Canterlot has been made,” the dragon said, growling.
“That thing came from their ship?” Daggerwing asked, surprised. The dragon did not answer. Instead, it let out an ear-splitting roar as it rose higher into the air. This roar was answered by four more, and Adam watched with horror as four of the massive creatures rose from various positions in the city. The dragon in the center then began flapping its wings at an increased pace, and shot off for Canterlot. The four new dragons followed behind it, and soon disappeared from sight.
“Gather the equipment!” General Daggerwing shouted. “Follow them! We will meet up with the Canterlot assault group at Ponyville! Go, go, go!” The griffons then began running around, gathering their weapons and supplies, then began funneling down a street to exit the city. As soon as the last griffon had left, Adam stepped into his pelican, and reopened the communications channel.
“Adam, what happened?” Lasky asked. “Did it work?” Adam paused, choosing his words carefully.
“… No,” he finally said. “Get ready. They’re coming.”