The Battle for Equestria

by GhostRaz6

Chapter 3: Chasing Echos

Everfree Forest 9:00 AM

Twilight knocked sharply on Zecora’s hut door. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood behind her watching the forest for any signs of movement.

“Zecora! Are you in there? We need to talk to you!” Twilight knocked on the wooden door again. No response came from the hut.

“Maybe she went out for a walk?” Rainbow suggested as Twilight was about to knock on the hut’s door a third time.

“If she did, we have to go find her.” Twilight turned and looked at the rest of her friends. As they discussed what they were going to do, Zecora looked over the strange equipment she had found. Most looked like metallic squares with writing on them. As Zecora poked and prodded among the crates, she heard a twig snap behind her.

UNSC Colony World Aegis 1155 Hrs

The warthog that Fireteam Winter had commandeered rocketed over the first tiny hill. Music from an older generation blared through it’s tiny speakers as it landed hard on the other side. Behind them, flying low and firing at them, were two banshees that had been tailing them for the past ten minutes now. Every once and awhile, one would get brave enough to attempt an attack run but would get shot at by Erast who was on the anti-air gun mounted on the back of the hog. Carmichael turned in his seat and fired at the pursuing banshees with a rocket launcher he’d found back at the half destroyed firebase. As the rocket left the tube and streaked towards its intended target, Carmichael watched as the banshee easily maneuvered out of the way, letting the rocket fly past, detonating harmlessly in the air behind it. Carmichael turned back around letting the spent rocket launcher tube fall from his grasp and out the open side of the vehicle next to him.

He hit the comm switch in his helmet as he pulled out his pistol,”Alison, we’re 3 klicks from the LZ. Advise on your position, over.” At first, all he heard in return was static, then gunfire followed by a few shots of a plasma pistol. “Alison?”

“Carmichael keep going straight. I can take out one of the banshees... Now.” As she finished her sentence, it was punctuated by a sniper rifle shot that tore into the leading banshee with deadly accuracy. As the banshee turned to find this new assailant, another shot tore right into where the pilot sat and caused the banshee to explode, sending the flaming debris into the other chasing banshee. As the still pursuing banshee dodged the flaming wreck, it was lit up by Erast on the AA gun. A couple of seconds later, it joined it’s comrade on the ground in a burning heap of metal.

20 Minutes Earlier...

“Carmichael. I need your squad to go into the research facility and retrieve an artifact the egg heads unearthed the other day. Apparently, it’s why the covenant attacked this system.” Captain Woolf spoke as another grunt fell to an onslaught of lead.

“Yes sir. We’ll get it for ‘ya.” The three spartans moved out of their hiding position. They had had a hell of a time trying to infiltrate the over run firebase. The wraiths were probably the most difficult part and had used up half of their rocket launcher ammo. To make matters worse, the covenant had had almost three squads of elite zealots guarding the entrance. The spartans cut across the parade grounds of the firebase and quickly entered the R&D area of the base. Inside they found a couple of grunt bodies intermingled with dead UNSC marines. Ignoring the bodies and moving deeper into the facility, the group saw the dead slowly turn from the occasional grunt and marine, to dead scientists. Carmichael fumed silently to himself as they continued on, farther into the bowels of the research facility.

As they rounded another corner, Alison spoke over the comms,”Carmichael. Two phantoms on approach, with four escort banshees.”

He keyed his comm,”Roger that.” Guess we better hustle then, he thought as he took off at a mild jog which turned into a run as they rounded another corner. The group ran for another five minutes before they came to a sealed blast door and had to stop. Above the door was painted in bright red lettering:

Artifacts & Weapons Research

Authorized Personnel Only

Alexander chuckled at the last line as he stepped forward with a block of C5 explosive in one hand and the detonator in the other.
Erast just shook his head and said,”We could always just run the hacking program and open the door that way.”
Alexander, in the meantime, had already placed the explosive on the center of the door with the two heavy pieces of metal met and spoke,”Yeah. But I like my way better.” Turning, he sprinted for one of the last corners they had rounded followed closely by Carmichael and Erast. Three seconds later a loud boom shook the hallway as Alexander peered around the corner. Sure enough the door was no longer an obstacle for them and neither were the two elites who had thought it was a good idea to stand behind the door. “Well look at that sir. I got three birds with one explosive.”

However, the victory was short lived as the remaining elite and his entourage spotted Alexander's head peering around the corner and opened fire. As Alexander ducked behind the wall again, his translator picked up what the elite said to the grunts.
"Carmichael. The elites keep mentioning some 'relic' left by the Forunners. I think this might be the artifact we're looking for." Alexander readied his rifle to go around the corner.
"Then let's go get it." Carmichael spoke as he pulled the charging handle back on his assault rifle.

UNSC Colony World Aegis 1156 Hrs

The artifact rolled around on the floor board. Carmichael picked it up before it decided it didn't like the ride and jumped ship. It fit perfectly in his gauntleted hand as he examined its surface features. No blemishes or imperfections marked its smooth surface as it glowed a faint blue. What secrets do you hold? As ke kept looking, he failed to notice the scenery changing around him. When he did look up, he noticed he was not longer in the passenger seat of the warthog, but was standing in an ancient catacomb, with what appeared to carvings of horse heads on nearly everything. "Where am I?" As he kept looking around, he noticed a set of ornate stone doors. On closer inspection, Carmichael noticed that the door had Forunner symbols inscribed into it. Where am I... He blinked just a second and found himself sitting in the warthog with Erast yelling at him.

"Yo Carm. Earth to Carmichael! We're here." As Carmichael looked up he saw Alexander halfway to the pelican while Alison was just leaving the woods. As they all boarded the pelican and it took off, Carmichael reflected on what he had seen when he looked into the small sphere in his hand. Horses and the Forunners... It just doesn't make any sense. As the pelican left orbit, a video feed was directed the the Spartans by a shaken pilot. It showed the UNSC Yamato getting fired at and returning fire with a Covenant assault carrier. Tiny explosions pockmarketed the space near the two giant ships. Yet, the Yamato easily towered over the assault carrier by probably four more whole carriers. As the Spartans continued watching there was a bright flash of light as the UNSC Grim Torment came out of slipspace in between Fireteam Winter and the Covenant ship. The pilot of the pelican slowly brought his tiny ship closer to the Grim Torment. As they got closer in the empty void of space, Captain Woolf's came over the comms. "Hurry up Pelican 897. I don't think you want to be out there when the Yamato comes about."

UNSC Yamato 1215 Hrs

Admiral Stevens watched in silent excitement as the Grim picked up the Spartans and jumped to slipspace again right as the Yamato finished turning towards the advancing assault carrier. "Ensign." He spoke to the thin man that was currently rechecking targeting coordinates on the weapons console. "Fire when ready."
"Yes sir. Firing Super MAC-" everyone on the ship felt a considerable lag as the 3,000 ton round was loaded "-... Now." The Yamato shuddered through all her decks as the round was launched, pushing the ship back slightly in space as it traveled at four tenths the speed of light. As soon as the round struck the assault carrier it was almost blown inside out before it exploded in a blue plasma ball in space. The entire bridge crew of the Yamato cheered as the Grim reentered space right next to them. In all, Stevens thought it was a very productive day.

Canterlot Excavation Site B 9:15 AM

Melody Delta looked at the large stone door as ponies behind her were busily cataloging every ancient artifact they could. This door had her perplexed. None of there spells could get through it and every other way they tried ended up breaking tools. The inscriptions on the door were amazing. They weren't any other none written language in Equestria or even on the planet. She walked closer to the door, her poofy brown mane almost touching it as she got closer to inspect what appeared to be a print of some kind. It wasn't a hoof print. It looked more like a dragon's claw print except without the claw part. Reaching forward with one hoof she touched it and a deep rumbling was heard throughout the catacombs.
"What in Celestia..." She was cut off as a loud whirring noise pierced the once prevalent silence of the room and the large door started to lower, revealing a cleanly polished room made of...
"Metal?" She finished her own thought as the door finally lowered into the floor and locked into place. She could hear the various "Oooo's" and "Aaaaahs" of the workers behind her as she turned to see a dark green earth pony bump into to pegasi statues that were facing each other with their hooves covering their faces.
"Careful with those! They're antiques." She scolded the stallion.
"Sorry ma'am." He backed away from the statues sheepishly.
One crisis averted, she thought turning back to the metal room in front of her.

It looked like the room had dozens of gems embedded in the walls and they all sparked with life of their own. Walking in Melody heard another whirring sound, this time however, a platform had risen in the center of the room with a large projected green button. Getting closer to the platform, she noticed the same writing all over what appeared to be some sort of console. Everypony froze when a voice rang out out of the blue.
"Greetings reclaimers. Your species has been dormant for some time. Are you ready to light the 'torch'." The voice was oddly feminine.
"Who built this place?" Melody asked looking around.
"The Forerunners did. Your planet being the farthest away from the Halo rings so as life would not be interupted by their being fired." The voice replied calmly.
"Why was it built?" Now she was even more confused. Halo rings? Forerunners?
"To study the odd energy exerted by almost every creature on this planet. If you wish to know more. Please press the icon in the center of the console. All will be explained then." The voice spoke. As far as Melody could tell, it wasn't trying to bring them harm, so she went ahead and pressed the button. As she did, a strong pulse of light shot out of the console and towards the ceiling of the room. As it touched the wall, it winked out of existence.
"Well that was... Different." She spoke as she moved away from the platform. "Somepony go and inform the Princesses of what we found."

UNSC Yamato 1230 Hrs

Admiral Stevens looked at the Forerunner artifact lying on his desk. It pulsed a faint blue color as he watched it. I sure hope that whatever this thing holds is useful. Lusankya's voice came over the comm in his office,"Sir. All non-essential crew have gone to cryo. Your turn." I'm getting to old for this shit, he thought as he slowly got out of his chair and headed towards cryo.
"Lusankya. Wake me if anything important happens." He said as the door to the cryo chamber closed.

Author's Note:

Yay I finally got around to finishing the third chapter. It on;y took me a couple of weeks into AIT to do it also.
Sorry again guys, it took so long. I got a case of severe writers block and the Army. I plan on starting chapter four sometime tomorrow after 1800 formation. Until next time. Later!

P.S. I'll give someone a cookie if they spot the references in here.

Comments

[Sarged]

Halo 3 wake me when you need me. To tired right now to look for the rest.

[Silent Scout]

The portion with the two banshees looked very similar to the Fall of Reach chase seen in the book. Is that the reference you were speaking of?

[GhostRaz6]

3007139 Well that was actually an unintentional reference on my part. There might still be a few more in there.

[Thunder--Clash]

WE DEMAND FOR MORE CHAPTERS

[GhostRaz6]

Just a little update for everyone. I'm going to try and get back in the swing of things and start writing again. It's been a long time and I will try and lengthen the chapters to the best of my ability.
-Sorry for the absence,
Ghost

[Dances With Unicorns]

Will you be including some new characters and species from the newer TV seasons and the 2017 My Little Pony: The Movie?

[GhostRaz6]

8284668
I most likely won't due to the fact that I just recently was able to get back on this site. I've been busy with life and have just recently gotten things settled to the point where I can start writing again. Other than that though, expect an update to this story soon. It has been a long time coming but I should be finished with it in the next few days.