The Skies Above

by Paradox

Chapter 3

Authors Note: Well here we are. I finally finished chapter 3. I'm sorry if it is rushed or anything but I just wanted to get it over with. This is the last chapter and I will not make another. I will still do other stories but this one is done. Hope you enjoy. Also, people who are detail nerds, shut up and read.

Voro ’Rolam carefully examined the ancient ruins of the castle they had landed in. Behind him were several Unggoy and a couple of shield-bearing Kig-Yar. He motioned them to search elsewhere and they left, the grunts a little hesitant to go without their leader. Walking into a room that seemed meant to be a throne room, he saw chunks of purple armor lying in the middle. Curiously, he picked up a piece and examined the crescent emblazoned on it. His mandibles twitched as he wondered what this armor could’ve come from. It certainly wasn’t covenant, so what was it? He turned to bring it back to the ship when something grabbed his leg.

“What is this madness!?” he shouted as he looked down at a purple tentacle gripping his leg. He grabbed a handle off his waist and pushed a button, causing an energy blade to spring to life. He slashed at the tentacle but it passed right through it as if it wasn’t even there.. Another tentacle grabbed his arm and pulled on him. Soon, he was standing spread eagle with the tentacles gripping his arms and legs. A ghostly apparition of some sort of quadruped appeared in front of him, holding the piece of armor he had picked up with another tentacle. It placed the piece of armor in between the gaps of his chest armor. All the energy that made up the tentacles was absorbed into the armor piece, and he dropped to the floor. His body convulsed as the magic coursed through him, corrupting his mind and body.

“Filthy heretic! Get out of my body!” he shouted, trying to dislodge the chunk of armor. He got no response, and lost consciousness as his eyes became a darker version of his usual brown.

“Is everything alright sir?” asked an Unggoy who had come back early.

“Oh, everything is fine.” the Sangheili said with a disconcerting voice. The Unggoy thought about running, but was impeded as a bit of purple smoke entered his mind.

“Gather the others.” he commanded.

“Yes sir!” the Unggoy replied anxiously.

“Finally, my time for revenge has come!” the Saingheili said with a maniacal laugh.

---

Daniel walked through the castle grounds with the princess by his side.

“So I’m able to use magic?” he asked.

“Yes but so far it seems you’ve only been able to do so while under extreme stress or anger.” she replied.

“Could you teach me how to use it?”

“I think Twilight Sparkle would be better suited for that. Her special ability IS magic.”

“I guess I better get started then, seeing as how the covenant is already here.” he said and got into a chariot that they had been walking towards. Roger and Rachel were already waiting impatiently, and the guards pulling it took off once he was in. He watched the trees and buildings go by underneath them and said nothing the entire ride.

“So what are we going to do?” Roger asked. “Those drop ships can carry at least ten of those things each, so we’re gonna be facing one hundred of them by ourselves? We’re so fucked.”

“No we’re not. We’ll conserve our ammo, and if we run out we’ll use their guns.” Daniel said.

“Kill them with their own guns? This is starting to sound fun.” Rachel said with a grin, which was wiped off her face when she looked up to see another slipspace rupture. Roger followed her gaze.

“GOD DAMN IT! WHAT NOW!?” he shouted. Daniel looked at the rupture and saw a small flaming ship come through.

“Looks like a Longsword, but I thought they couldn’t do slipspace jumps.” Rachel said.

“They can’t unless they’re very heavily armored and outfitted with a drive.” Daniel said, squinting to make out the ship. It spun to its wider side, and it was a Longsword, though he had never seen one designed like this. It had heavy armor and its rear was larger than the normal design.

“Looks like ONI’s been working on it.” Roger said. The Longsword continued to fall toward the surface of the planet until it finally landed in the Everfree Forest.

“Take us to where that ship just hit.” Daniel said to the guards. They leveled out and flew to the clearing where Daniel had sat that morning. Getting lower, Daniel thought he spotted movement through the window of the cock pit. The Longsword’s left wing was on fire, which was quickly dying out. Soon it sputtered out as they climbed off the chariot and walked around the ship to the back. The hatch popped open and they walked on board.

“FREEZE!” shouted a voice as the hatch slammed shut. They lifted their hands and Daniel looked around. Standing behind them was a seven foot tall giant clad in green armor, an assault rifle in his hands.

“Who are you?” he asked, keeping the rifle raised.

“We’re ODST’s, and I’m guessing you’re a Spartan.” Daniel said, causing Roger to jerk his head around to look at the Spartan.

“Glad to know there are some other humans on this planet.” the Spartan said, lowering his weapon.

“Actually we’re the only ones here besides you. This place is inhabited by talking ponies.” Rachel said, causing the Spartan to laugh.

“Talking PONIES!? You gotta be kidding me.” he said.

“We’re not kidding. If you go out in front of the ship you’ll find a chariot pulled by two pegasi.”

“This I gotta see.” he chuckled. The hatch hissed open again and they walked around, the Spartan towering over them in his MJOLNIR armor. When they rounded the corner, the Spartan froze.

“So you weren’t kidding.” he mumbled.

“Have any weapons on this ONI hunk of junk?” Rachel asked.

“Ya, plenty of them. They put a whole freaking armory on board.” he said happily. He led them back inside where they found plenty of guns and ammo.

“This will do nicely.” Roger said, hefting a SPNKR missile launcher.

“What are you gonna use them for? Aren’t the ponies peaceful?” the Spartan asked.

“We’re going to use them on the covenant who showed up not long before you did.” he replied.

“The covenant is here!? How many!?” he asked curiously.

“Probably around a hundred of them.” Daniel said.

“Oh this is gonna be fun!” the Spartan said happily, grabbing a pistol and more ammunition. “I’m Spartan-092, or as most people call me, Jerome.”

“I’m Daniel, and this is Roger and Rachel.” he said.

“Wait did you say Spartan-092?” Rachel asked. “That Spartan disappeared with the Spirit of Fire.”

“Disappeared?” he asked. “Kidnapped more like. Fucking ONI spooks didn’t want anyone learning about the flood or whatever that shit was that we fought. I hijacked this thing.” he said, patting the wall of the Longsword.

“Also, aren’t Spartans usually serious at all times?” Roger asked.

“That serious shit is boring as hell. I’m only like that when the bullets start flying and plasma starts melting the ground between your feet.” he replied. Daniel couldn’t be sure, but he thought that Jerome was most likely grinning under that helmet.

“So how were you able to enter slipspace?” Rachel asked curiously.

“Easy, they installed a slipspace drive into this ship. It’s smaller and doesn’t create as large of a hole, but it still works.” he said.

“How did you get here then?”

“I didn’t bother to enter any coordinates because they had their guns all trying to wipe me out of existence.”

“That makes sense.” Daniel had to stifle a laugh as Roger mouthed the words “No shit…”

“So what are we waiting for!?” the Spartan said suddenly. “We need to set up some damn defenses somewhere!”

“Ponyville could work, but we would need to evacuate the residents first.” Rachel said.

“Excellent,” Jerome said, clapping his hands together. “I’ll start loading up weapons and ammo for those ponies with wings to carry on that chariot.” He quickly dashed back into the ship and began loading the weapons into boxes he had found. Soon he began carrying out four boxes at a time and placing them on the chariot, which the guards were not happy about. After the fifth load of weapons, the guards managed to take off and flew towards Ponyville.

“Now let’s get going. We won’t have much time before the covenant finds us.” he said. Daniel led the way back to Ponyville, his squad mates directly behind him and the Spartan following behind with his rifle ready. They reached Ponyville moments later, where the chariot was waiting for them. The ODSTs helped Jerome unload the boxes of weapons and ammo before letting the pegasus guards return to Canterlot. Daniel looked to around to see that most of the ponies were gawking at Jerome. It made sense since he was a good deal taller than the ODSTs and they couldn’t see his face. He had a feeling that Jerome was watching them, waiting to see if they would turn hostile.

“What’s going on?” asked a familiar voice. Daniel turned to see Twilight walking up to them.

“The aliens we’ve been fighting are here.” he replied. “We need to get everyone out of here before they find us. I also have to learn magic as fast as possible.”

“The evacuation should be easy.” she said, acting eerily calm about this. “I’m not really sure I can teach you about how to use your magic though. Every unicorn uses their magic differently so I’m guessing it’s the same for you. You’ll have to discover your own way.” Daniel’s face narrowed but he said nothing. He hurriedly dashed to Twilight’s home and retrieved his armor and gear. Once he was outfitted, he picked up the rest of the gear as best he could and carried it back to Roger and Rachel. Soon, they were dressed in their black combat armor with their helmets securely on their heads. They didn’t look as intimidating as the Spartan but the armor was meant more for as much protection as possible. While they had gotten ready, Twilight had been busy talking with the mayor about the evacuation.

“We should be able to evacuate them to Canterlot but it may take a while to gather everyone.” The mayor said.

“Do it as fast as you can.” Daniel ordered, not wanting to think of what would happen if the covenant attacked before they were safe. Jerome was silent as he ripped the top off one of the boxes and lifted a belt fed machine gun and a tripod. He looked around and set it up facing the forest.

“You ponies wouldn’t happen to have any sandbags or something that we could use would you?” he asked.

“Ah think we may have some sandbags up at the farm.” Applejack said.

“Good, get them.” Jerome replied. “Are any of you three a sniper?” he asked the ODSTs.

“I’m the sniper.” Rachel said. Jerome pointed her to Twilight’s home which had the best vantage point. She saluted and went to set up her sniper rifle. Roger, meanwhile, was busy checking his shotgun and his newly acquired rocket launcher for anything that might cause a destructive misfire. Finding nothing wrong, he placed the shotgun on his back and sat down, placing the rocket launcher within easy access. Then they waited.

---

A zealot stood impatiently in front of two younger Sangheili.

“I’ve already told you that we cannot accept these creatures into our covenant. Have I not said they have allied with the humans?” he asked angrily.

“Yes, but they may be holding them prisoner. We never got any confirmation that they were helping them sir.” one of them said.

“What is going on?” asked a new voice. The zealot turned to see another Sangheili standing behind him. There was a piece of metal with a crescent moon emblazoned on it stuck between the armor on his chest.

“Voro, what is that between your armor?” he asked. Voro said nothing. Instead, he crossed his arms and stood there a moment. The zealot heard two gasps and turned to see the Sangheili he had been talking to both had glazed eyes and purple smoke entering their mouths. He reached for his energy sword when he noticed another trail of smoke coming towards him.

“Looking for something?” Voro asked. The zealot turned to see his energy sword in Voro’s hands.

“What are you doing? Give me my blade Voro!” he demanded. Voro twisted his mandibles into a smile and chuckled.

“I am not Voro.” he said. “I am Nightmare Helios.” At that moment, the smoke creeped into the zealot’s mouth. His mind went foggy and his eyes glazed over as it took control.

“There, now I just need to find the leader of these creatures. Once I control him, the Elements of Harmony won’t be able to win this time.” said the Sangheili formerly known as Voro. “Do we have any good weapons?” he asked the zealot.

“We have our plasma weaponry, along with our drop ships, a ghost, and one wraith.” he said sleepily. Nightmare searched through Voro’s mind to find out what this meant. Finding the information satisfying, she nodded Voro’s head.

“Where is your leader?” she asked.

“You are our leader Voro.” the zealot replied.

“Then let’s get started.” Nightmare said, and she left the room with the zealot close behind.

---

(1 hour later)

Daniel watched the ponies as they gathered in the middle of the town. Most of them had relatively calm expressions, but he saw a few with panicked looks. Twilight and her friends were helping the mayor keep everyone in line. It was just settling down when he heard something that chilled his bones.

“Covenant drop ship!” Jerome shouted. Daniel spun around to see the Phantom coming towards them. It was holding a ghost scout vehicle in its energy field.

“I don’t see the guns moving.” Rachel said over the teams COM channel.

“I don’t care, keep an eye on it anyway.” he replied. The drop ship loomed closer until it hovered almost directly above them. It dropped down a bit, then an elite floated to the ground from the bottom.

“What the hell is that on its chest?” Rachel asked. Daniel squinted to see a piece of metal emblazoned with a crescent moon lodged between the chest armor on the elite.

“My name is Nightmare Helios!” the elite said, its voice somehow magnified. “Surrender the Elements of Harmony or we will kill you all!” Daniel turned to see Twilight and her friends too scared to move.

“You want the ponies?” Jerome shouted back. “You’ll have to get through us first bitch!”

“I was hoping you would say that.” the elite replied, its mandibles forming a ghastly grin. It was lifted back into the phantom, and two more phantoms came into view over the trees. The ponies instantly panicked and ran for cover.

“I’m seeing two Phantoms, and one of them has a ghost with it.” Rachel reported. The first Phantom flew away, and the two took its place. The ghost was dropped off along with elites, grunts, and a few jackals.

“At least we don’t have to fight any hunters.” Rachel said encouragingly.

“Shut up and do your job.” Daniel replied. Rachel complied by quickly taking the head off an elite and causing some grunts to run for cover. Jerome took control of the mounted machine gun and aimed for the ghost. The ghost responded by speeding toward him. The Spartan jumped away from the turret and stood ready. As the ghost neared him, he jumped into the air. He landed on the hood and pulled out his combat knife. The elite driving the ghost tried to pull out its weapon, but only succeeded in grabbing the handle before it was stabbed in the throat. Jerome pushed its lifeless corpse out of the driver’s seat and took control.

“Let’s see how you like it mother fuckers.” he growled into the COM. Having used covenant vehicles before, he already knew how to drive and fire. He used the plasma weapons to overload jackal shields and cut down as many grunts as he could. Daniel took out the unshielded jackals and tossed a frag grenade at a group trying to set up a plasma turret. The turret operators were killed by the explosion and the others decided not to try again. The elites were taking cover behind buildings and trees, followed closely by grunts. From there hiding places, they opened fire. A plasma pistol overcharge hit Jerome’s ghost, and he was forced to abandon it. Ponies kept running past them, so it was hard to keep an eye on the enemy. A light brown pony running past Daniel was hit by a plasma round. He screamed as his fur and skin started melting from the intense heat of the plasma. A large pink needler round imbedded itself in his skull, exploding a moment later, ending his screams. Daniel caught sight of Twilight barfing onto the ground as she saw the dead pony. A loud crack sounded as an elite dropped dead with a bullet hole in his throat. Roger fired a rocket at the trees, taking out about ten grunts and two elites. Daniel turned his head and saw a grunt charging forward with a plasma grenade primed in each clawed hand.

“Roger look out!” he shouted into his mic. Roger spun towards the grunt and dropped his rocket launcher. Pulling out his pistol, he turned and ran to a safe distance before spinning around and putting a round in the grunts chest, causing it to drop its grenades. The plasma grenades exploded, sending a small heat wave and bits of grunt into the air. Roger ducked behind a building as needler rounds impacted the ground near his feet. He replaced his pistol and gripped his shotgun. Jerome was hiding behind some sand bags that had been set up, reloading his battle rifle.

“The Phantoms are coming back!” Rachel yelled. “This time they have a wraith!”

“I got this!” Jerome said, jumping over the sand bags and making a dash for the rocket launcher. An elite dashed forward, an energy sword crackling with energy in its hand. It swung, and would’ve sliced off Jerome’s head if he hadn’t ducked. He rose up, bringing out his knife as he went. The elite didn’t get to swing again as the knife entered the bottom of its skull. Jerome quickly pulled his knife out and grabbed the rocket launcher. Running over to a crate, he took cover and began to reload. The Phantoms opened fire, killing several ponies and barely missing others. Jerome popped up and fired, gutting both of the Phantoms with rockets. They exploded, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. When the dust cleared, Daniel saw a severely dented wraith. It fired, sending a high explosive plasma bolt towards him. He Jumped out of the way and ran as the explosion rattled his teeth and sent dead ponies flying. Jerome had already reloaded, and fired a rocket that hit the protective hatch covering the driver. It exploded, killing the driver and rendering the wraith useless. They didn’t get to rest though.

“I see eight Phantoms inbound!” Rachel said frantically. Daniel groaned and Roger shouted obscenities. Jerome was silent, hefting the rocket launcher. The Phantoms began to appear moments later and dropped off several waves of covenant. Jerome worked frantically, gutting Phantoms with rockets as fast as he could. The Phantom in the back spotted him as he took out a sixth drop ship that had dropped its troops. It opened fire and plasma arced towards him. He fired one last rocket, then rolled out of the way. One last Phantom remained, but Jerome had run out of rockets. He let the smoking launcher slip out of his hands, then took out his battle rifle again.

“What are you doing Jerome?” Daniel asked when he saw Jerome wasn’t taking cover.

“I’m tired of running.” he replied. “If I’m gonna die, I’m taking as many bastards with me as I can.” He dashed forward, firing his battle rifle. Even while running, he was deadly accurate. Grunts fell in groups of three and elites had to take cover to avoid his aim. Rachel helped as best she could, taking out jackals and elites as fast as she could before reloading. Roger was picking off grunts with his pistol while his shotgun rested on his back, still unused. During one of Rachel’s reloads, Daniel spotted an elite rushing towards Jerome from behind. Its energy sword blazed to life and he fired at it with his assault rifle. The bullets pinged off its shield and it reached the Spartan unscathed. It grabbed him by the neck and impaled him on the blade. It took its blade out of his body and turned him around.

“Nice trick ugly, but I’m not going out alone.” Jerome coughed through the COM. Daniel spotted Jerome holding two grenades with their pins missing. The resulting explosion killed both the elite and the Spartan. When the smoke cleared, Daniel spotted Jerome’s lifeless corpse lying next to a building. He heard a loud crack as another elite fell dead, and spotted a grunt with a fuel rod gun. He fired at it, but was too late. It fired twice, sending the fuel rods towards where Rachel lay hidden.

“Rachel get out of there!” he shouted as the grunt fell dead. He saw her get up and run to the railing of the balcony, but the fuel rods got there first, exploding and sending her flying through the air to the ground 20 feet below.

“NO!” Roger shouted, dropping his pistol and grabbing his shotgun. He rushed towards her body, killing every grunt and elite that dared get in his way. An elite with a needler took aim and fired, sending a pink needle directly into Roger’s chest, where it exploded. In a fit of rage, Daniel threw his rifle down, and his hands flared red. An energy sword flew to his hand and flared to life. Running faster than he had ever run before, he dashed up to the elite and cut his head off with one smooth swing. He turned to find another target, only to find all the aliens had lowered their guns and were looking up. He looked to see the elite with the crescent moon descending from the one remaining Phantom. Touching down on the ground, the elite stared at Daniel with dark brown eyes.

“You.” Daniel hissed. “You’re responsible for this. I’LL KILL YOU!” He dropped the sword and ran forward, intending to end the elite’s life in as much pain as possible. He was halted three feet from his target by an invisible wall.

“You’re pathetic really.” said Nightmare Helios. “You fight even when victory is hopeless. I could kill you where you stand, but I will humor you and let you fight. We will see how long you last.” Daniel grinned savagely.

“Big mistake bitch.” he said, bringing his hands together in a clap that vaporized the invisible barrier and killed an elite. Before they could react, he raised his own barrier around him and Nightmare Helios. He tackled the elite and grabbed the piece of armor lodged in its chest armor, figuring that was the source of its power. Nightmare Helios recovered and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him easily.

“I give you a chance to fight and you accomplish nothing. I expected something more from the one from the prophecy.” said Nightmare. “Now you will die and you will be with your pathetic friends again.”

“Never call the Helljumpers pathetic.” he choked out. Using all his left over energy and will, he slammed a fist into the piece of armor. The resulting magic explosion shattered his barrier and killed every covenant alien in Ponyville. The floating Phantom was vaporized along with every trace of the covenant. Nightmare Helios was vaporized along with the piece of armor that created him. Daniel dropped to the ground dead.

---

(5 days later)

Twilight stood next to her friends at the four graves. She looked at the names carved into them. They read Daniel, Rachel, Roger, and Jerome. All of them sacrificed their lives to save Ponyville and Equestria. She shed a tear as she remembered them.

---

(Unknown location)

Daniel’s eyes flickered open and he looked around. It was pitch black but he could see Roger and Rachel lying next to him.

“It’s about time you woke up.” said a voice, causing him to jump. He looked to his right to see a black unicorn with a snow white mane. She regarded him with crimson red eyes.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Final Hour, in charge of everyone who passes away. You’re fight has kept me busy for quite a while now.” she replied.

“So we’re dead?” he asked.

“Yes, but I can’t really keep you here since you’re not ponies. So I’m going to give you an offer.”

“What would that be?”

“I will let you return to Equestria as ponies. Just promise me not to start another fight like that.” she said with a grin.

“Deal.” he said. "But before we go, where's Jerome?"

"He said he was done, so I just sent him on his way," she replied.

"Okay, I guess we're ready then."

“Here we go then, and don’t worry about your friends. They’ll be with you when you wake up.” she said, then her horn glowed and everything went black. He woke up again where he had died, with Roger and Rachel groaning next to him. They woke up simultaneously and screamed when they realized they were ponies. Daniel explained why, and they calmed down.

“I’m just happy it’s over.” Rachel said.

“Aren’t we all.” Daniel said, looking around. He spotted Twilight and her friends looking at four graves next to the forest. He started walking over to them with Roger and Rachel close behind.

“Miss us?” he asked. Twilight jumped so hard he thought she took flight for a second, then he got tackled in the strongest hug he ever received.

“We thought you were dead.” she said with tears in her eyes. He looked to Roger for help, but found Roger was too busy kissing Rachel. He grinned and thought living here might not be so bad after all.

Comments

[fearanger]

oh... The end already? DARNIT! *sigh* It was fun while it lasted...

[NotABrony]

[Oatmeal Are You Crazy]

NOPE, chuck testa

[Captain Grim]

D'aaaaaaaawwwwwww

[Sven]

Halo and ponies? Life is good.

[CluelessDetective]

MOST AWESOME FIGHT SCENE EVER!!!!

[Nerdrage911191]

What happened to jerome?

[Nerdrage911191]

What happened to jerome?

[Paradox]

138529
The explosion from the grenades killed him. As for where he is while Daniel talks to Final Hour, I may have to add something there.

[Nerdrage911191]

138566 Oh, okay

Its always sad when a spartan dies

[FreedomChannelBA]

At the end of chapter two I really thought this was going to be a longer story, but I am surprised how AWESOME this one chapter is! I loved every bit of it, and look forward to more from you in the future!

[dafiltafish]

that was epic

[Eternal Rest]

Gotta say that was one of the better fics that I've read. Good job.

Where da fuck is Jerome he was my favorite Spartan besides the chief

[Paradox]

154765
Again, killed by the grenades. Still have to add something for where he is when they meet Final Hour.

[Gypsy]

1159177

36...weeks...ago...

and now you reply?